Birthday toes!

Birthdays are fun. Some people may think I make too big of a deal out of them, but each new year is worth celebrating! It doesn't matter if you're turning 1 or 31, let's party! Luckily, I have the sweetest friends who join in on the fun, and today was birthday pedicure day! Oh, man. I knew we'd laugh a lot. I had no clue it'd be that much! 

Four of us met at the church and carpooled together and met another friend at the nail shop (what do you call those things? Salons?). 

I can't take a group picture with the camera turned around and look at the camera. Impossible.

We all filed into our seats, turned on the massagers, and tried to relax. Well, I think everyone else wanted to relax, but I can't just sit there and not talk. I had to know the guy's name, and there was nervous laughter and chatter galore. 

This is called "Cari can't handle the massager and it's hurting her spine, but she refuses to turn it off so she just winces and laughs because she's supposed to be relaxing". Ha!

And this, my friends, is Lee. What a hoot! When he came bee-bopping over to me I knew it was going to be a good day. He was such a poser and wanted to see every pic I took of him. So fun! 

See my nasty big toe? It ripped a few days ago and was all jagged and nasty. I confessed immediately to Lee and that's when he told me to relax, he'd be a miracle worker. 

Miracle worker, he was. He pulled all kinds of goodies out and got my toes whipped right into shape!

This is when I told the girls of a time I had fake nails put on my toes for a wedding and the pinky toe was so long it hit the ground when I walked and I sounded like a dog walking across tile so I made them shorten it. Seriously. It was weird.  

Someone was a little ticklish! Lol!

So I have bad feet, ok? And sometimes a cheese grater is necessary.

I had picked out a color, but it apparently didn't make the Lee cut. He decided I needed to just trust him and let him perform his miracle. And I never get a pedicure (obviously or I wouldn't need the cheese grater!) so I figured I'd just go along for the ride.

He kept pulling things out. Acrylic paints, rhinestones, and a fan!

My sweet friends wanted to pamper me with the fan too, but then Lee ditched my feet for them. He was a little clingy! 

Oh her face!! Y'all, he attacked her. He wouldn't quit hugging her. And, bless her, she just went along with him. But look at her face. Nervous laugh like no other! Lol!

I think this is right before he grabbed my ankle for the millionth and I had had enough, thew my head back and said "Let go of my tendon!!!!!!!". I can't stand for my tendon to be touched and it had endured enough touching for a lifetime! 

He finally finished up and I left with a french pedicure and a hibiscus on each big toe. With a rhinestone. 

Why is he coddling my foot?!

Thumbs up! Lee approves of his handiwork! Miracle Man, I tell ya! 

I had a great time, girls. Thanks for putting up with my nervous laughter and chatter. Y'all know how to make a birthday girl feel special!

Catch up!

So it looks like I forgot to blog about all of life's happenings for the last, oh, three months. Oops. That's just how I roll, I suppose. A lot has happened, though, so let's play a little catch up. :)

The week I almost died.

Let me just put this out there...Get your flu shot. Instead of continuing Easter traditions & making new memories, I was on the couch for a week. It started on Monday and I kept thinking it was just a virus. Who gets the flu in April? But when Brandon and the girls left for the Good Friday service at our church and I woke up and my fever had spiked to almost 104 and my heart was racing, I figured it'd be best to go to the hospital. So, yeah. The flu bug bit me. Not cool. But definitely an Easter to remember!

I had to wear a mask in the ER & was this close to getting an IV of fluids.

B "cooked" Easter lunch this year. And by cooked, I mean he went to Fresh Market and bought food he could heat up after church. It worked! :)

We did manage to dye Easter eggs after lunch. Not sure why. We didn't even hunt them. :/

Aww. I felt like poo, but tried to participate in the fun. 

We climbed a mountain!

That was an adventure, let me tell you. B drove to Pinnacle Mountain to just "check it out". The next thing I know we are going up the mountain. We weren't prepared, except for our tennis shoes. There might have been a few breakdowns, but we made it. And it was such a good example of conquering hard things. 

Look at those rocks! Oh man, I sometimes forget we actually had to climb that mountain!

Posing with my boy. Look at Cay in the background. She wasn't happy at this point. Ha!

We did it! 

Baylee and Caylee turned 12!

Y'all, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around this one. Next year they will be TEENAGERS! Wowza. Ok. I have a full year digest that, back to their celebration...Brandon and I were so thrilled to fly in their BFF, Hannah, from South Carolina for their big day. There was some (ok, a lot) of school skipped, laughter through the roof, and wonderful memories made. Definitely melted this momma's heart to have my "three"girls all together again. 

Picking Hannah up from the airport after a million delays! 

The girls are obsessed with The Hunger Games so I surprised them with a decorated dining room. 

All dressed up and ready for dinner. 

Beautiful girls.

And this is just an example of the silliness that was had all weekend long. Good times. :)

I'm a 3.1!

The last time I blogged I was trying to work my way through this new thing I had taken up -- running. I had a 5K on the horizon and I was freaking out just a bit. The flu set me back just a little, but I'm happy to say I did it! I am officially a 3.1! Where are those stickers? ;) It was hard, but I did it. I finished in 43 minutes and ran almost nonstop. I ran the first mile without stopping -- that was the first time I had EVER ran a continuous mile. Once I hit the one mile mark I walked for a block and then took back off. When I came to the 2 mile mark I saw the water table. I didn't want any water, but I wanted to pretend I was a real runner, so I jogged over to the table, grabbed the water, and then threw it down like they all do. I had to laugh at myself at that point. And then I walked another block and took off again. So I ran it all but two blocks. Not bad, right? It feels good to have that behind me and if I ever lose my mind again I might run another one. ;)

Starting line

Finding Dad and Brandon at the finish line. I promise I'm "running" even though it looks like I'm barely moving. :/

I could NOT have done it without these girls' encouragement.

Proud parents came in for the big day. Even at 30 years old they're still cheering me on. 

My medal and my official time. I did it!

End of 6th grade!

The girls said goodbye to middle school and will be entering junior high in August. Again, what?! So crazy! Luckily they still want me around and I got to document some of their final moments in middle school. 

Track and Field - crazy girls fell back from the rest of the group on purpose to run side by side.

Field trip! This was right before the power went out and we had to leave early. Ha!

Awards assembly!

Last day for Cay

Last day for Bay

And this is how most of our pictures look. Silly girls. ;)

Brady graduated high school!

I still can't believe Brady will be starting college in August. COLLEGE! My brother sent me a picture of Brady's college i.d. last night and I cried. Good grief. What can I say? I'm a proud aunt. :)

Getting recognized for his scholarships. 

Receiving his diploma.

Celebration! I LOVE his face in this pic. 

Oh, my sweet Brady. 

The fam. 

Charleston!

Brandon had a couple days of meetings in Charleston and I was able to tag along! His meetings fell right before the Memorial Day weekend so we made a very long (almost a week!) weekend out of it. 

Lots of walking downtown and along the battery. 

Stopping for a break on the big swings. 

We were able to do a lot of the "normal" stuff we used to do when we lived in Charleston. 

Cathedral of Praise was a definite highlight. 

Isle of Palms

Love walking hand in hand along the water with my boy. 

So much delicious food.  Curry! Irish breakfast! Pimento Cheese! Buccatini at Lucca! Chilaquiles! Jack's! Husk burger! Shepherd's pie! Crave brunch! Yum, Yum, Yum! 

Paul and Veronica (and Chino!) were very gracious hosts and welcomed us into their home for the weekend. We loved the time we had with them. 

The crew

We had a great time and I'm ready to go back. :)

So. I think that about covers it. I'm sure I left something out, but I hit the highlights. Whew! 

But I'm a 0.0

In my quest to continue to lose weight, I've realized it's not going to happen unless I stay active. In addition to the time I spend with my trainer, I also decided to join a local women's running club. Women from all over Arkansas participate in a 10 week clinic and the graduation is a 5K in May.

There's only one problem. Umm, y'all. I'm not a runner. Not at all. 

A few months ago Brandon, the girls, and I were walking through the parking lot of a popular shopping center. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the most perfect bumper sticker I had ever seen. If there was ever anything to describe me, this was it. I whipped out my camera, much to the girls' embarrassment, and captured it in all it's honesty.

Come on! How perfect is that? Instead of those 13.1 or 26.2 bumper stickers that real runners display (and proudly so, I might add), this person was straight to the point. When Nelleke (my friend/trainer) tells me to go run, I remind her "but I'm a 0.0". Then she just laughs and sends me on my way. She's not much for excuses. :/

So. Being the 0.0 that I am, I'm not quite sure why I decided to join this running club. Maybe because it's free. Or the camaraderie. Or maybe just the challenge of it prompted me to go. Well, all of that, and my friend Melissa who sweetly took me to the kick-off and continues to insist I can do this. I was placed in the intermediate runner group simply because I can run one minute without stopping. Ugh. I totally should've lied on that questionnaire. I'm kidding. Kind of. ;)

We just finished week three and it's going good. I've had some crazy calf pain and realized my foam roller is my best friend. I keep waiting on that "runner's high" to happen, but so far I still hate running. Everyone says it'll come. We'll see. 

As much as I hate running, there was a breakthrough moment last week. Our workout for the evening was uphill repeats. We did our warmup and headed for a hill in a nearby neighborhood. Our leaders showed us the proper form for running uphill and instructed us to pick up speed and "chop down that hill" with our arms. And to run that hill six times. Did y'all hear that? Run a hill SIX times. (Granted, it's not like it was this mammoth hill, but still. It was a hill. And I'm a 0.0, remember?)

I kept to myself that evening. There was no time to be chatty when there was a mountain, I mean, hill, to climb. I knocked the first one out of the park. One down, five to go. On my second trip up, one of the leaders came along side of me. She encouraged me each step of the way and before I knew it I was 1/3 of the way finished. We started back up the hill and, again, my leader Cindy was by my side. 

And then the breakthrough.

At the top of that hill, halfway through my workout, I lost it. I started crying. I looked at Cindy and said, though tears, "if you would've told me one year ago when I weighed ***pounds that I'd be running hills I'd laugh in your face". She patted my back as we walked down the hill so I could catch my composure and said, "I'm so proud of you. And you know who did the work? You did. And you're doing awesome". 

Somehow her encouragement got me through the rest of the workout, but I was a wreck on the inside. I couldn't get back to Vanna White (my van) fast enough. ("Fast" is a funny thing to say because I was the very last person to get back to our starting point. The hills kicked my booty and that cool down hurt!) Once in Vanna I lost it again. I think it was a culmination of being proud of myself, plus the pain of running, plus the realization of how much work I still have left to do. I was crying and shaking and pretty much emotionally and physically wiped out for the rest of the night. 

I knew that night was a night I'll always remember so I wanted to document it with a picture. Brandon wasn't home yet, which meant I had to take a self portrait (always awkward). 

Oh, you like the poncho? Yeah, this breakthrough night happened to be in the middle of rain, sleet, and snow. This 0.0 has officially lost her mind!