Let Us Give Thanks

Friends and family, I am so thankful for you! While I know I couldn't spend the holiday with everyone, those who I didn't spend it with were in my thoughts for sure.

My Thanksgiving started out on the couch in my pj's watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with Millie.

I got dressed and went to 1st Thanksgiving at the Browning's house. There are always SO MANY OPTIONS, but all the food is so good!

Begin time, temp, and miles

After leaving the south side, I drove to the West End to have 2nd Thanksgiving with my aunt, uncle and cousins. Mmmmm... meatballs! I drove my cousin to Walmart to get one of the door busters at 6pm while I sat in the car and knitted, she went into the madhouse. At 6:15 we got back (yup that's right, 30 minutes for the whole trip) and hung out for a while.

Look at this baby girl! :)

Then I hopped in my car and drove back to the south side for 3rd Thanksgiving with the Stones! The third one was really only dessert, but I got to celebrate with them as they had the big reveal that Keller is having a baby GIRL in April. Becca is having a baby (gender TBD) in January and I gave them each a hand knit hat for their bundles of joy! :) Sadly, I got there too late to see Cole and Caleb before they went to bed, but as always it was a wonderful time of hanging out with the whole fam!

End time, temp and miles

So, almost 80 miles in the Richmond metro area, 3 Thanksgivings, and a VERY full stomach later, I settled down for bed and now I'm ready to start thinking about CHRISTMAS! :)

30 Goals Update

I gave myself a list of 30 goals to complete before the year. You can read that blog here if you want. But see below to see how we're doing here!

Honestly, I am making some progress, but still have a little work to do!

1. Start a blog (check) AND write a post at least once per month (January, February, March, April,May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December)

2. Visit three or more new places - Ha! I visited 7 new STATES nevermind places!

3. Lose at least 15 pounds (I would love to lose 30, but I want to make a realistic goal) - working on it

4. Get back in shape or at least become more active by doing some form of exercise frequently - I have gone on a few walks here, AND did a 5k

5. Be specific about doing something kind for someone at least once per month 

• January  - I brought my older neighbor's recycling bin out to the curb for her 
• February - I sent a card/gift card to a family who is going through a rough time and needed some encouragement
• March - Went with my friend to go hang out with her mom, and brought dessert!
• April - Helped one of my friends out by emptying her dishwasher for her when she wasn't feeling well :(
• May - Drove to NC to watch my cousin graduate from college
• June - Made dinner for friends who had their baby! (Chicken Parmesan)
• July - Prayed for my friend every day while she was on her three week trip to China
• August - Helped my friend with last minute things before she left to go to AFRICA for two weeks
• September - When my nephew was here for Labor Day weekend he was so helpful, so when I sent him his sweatshirt back (that he left at my house) I also sent him $10 so he could do something fun!
• October - Brought dinner to my friend who had a baby AND to my aunt who had surgery
• November 
• December

6. Try six new recipes (Who saw the blog posts about Chicken Delicious, Turkey Breast & Turkey Tetrazzini?, Creamy Italian Chicken - Thing 5, Chicken Parmesan, Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies)

7. Make a new friend

8. Watch the sun rise - Saw the sun rise on our way back from Lake Gaston!

9. Enjoy a sunset - Totally saw the sunset on our road trip!

10. Swim in the ocean - Totally did this in Sandbridge!!! :)

11. Do a charity run or walk - April 6 the SCAN 5k See my Blog Post!

12. Raise money for a charity (Can be combined with number 11)

13. Donate to a new charity - I did actually donate to the organization for Sharon to go help orphans in China

14. Get a facial

15. Take a dancing lesson of some sort (salsa, country line, etc.)

16. Go to more than two Flying Squirrels games - so this goal will not be completed because I went to ONLY ONE game and then the season was OVER! - I am replacing this goal with "shoot a gun" totally did that a few weekends ago!

17. Go to at LEAST one Hokie football game - Totally hit up the VT vs. UNC HOMECOMING game last weekend!

18. Participate in a murder mystery dinner - Murder at the Juice Joint was AWESOME!

19.  Attend a horse race at Colonial Downs Look!

20. Pay off my car?!?! Or at least come close -Paid off last week!

21. Ride my bicycle more than once - I have ridden the bicycle once at this point

22. Read a non-fiction book (I know this might not be a big deal, but I 100% stick to fiction books)I read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand I would SERIOUSLY suggest it!

23. Build something

24. Go through my house and get rid of things/clothes/etc that I haven't used in the last year (This is partially complete. I went through my closets and got rid of 6 paper grocery bags full of clothes & shoes. I still have more things to get rid of but that is definitely a start!)

25. Organize my basement (especially the workroom) - I totally started this... I broke down SO MANY BOXES

26. Hang the rest of the pictures, art, and shelves that I haven't hung

27. FINISH UNPACKING from when I moved (yup, that's right folks, there are still boxes in my attic)

28. Volunteer for something I helped with Laura's Church (Third Pres) at their annual Stop Hunger Now event and we packaged 80,000 meals for kids in Haiti

29. Spend some serious time in my backyard weeding, killing weeds, and planting pretty things that don't take much effort to keep up - Totally paid for "16 Man Hours" of labor to do it for me, but it was an amazing change! you can check it out.

30. Have the BEST 30th Birthday party EVER!!! :) (Especially since Laura is planning it!) - Holla! This was REALLY fun! Laura's party planning was A-MAZING! Check out my Birthday Blog!

Back to the Windy City

Oh my has it been a long time since I have posted! Soooo... way back in February, I received this Facebook message: 

So I worked out my schedule and, in October, I traveled to Chicago for the second time this year to see my wonderful friends Meredith and Allison run the Chicago marathon! I love traveling to WATCH races, I'm pretty much done with participating in them. Chicago was a great race for spectators! Though I only saw the ladies twice, they both got to see their dad three times, so that was great! What a wonderful weekend and the weather was GORGEOUS!

My flight got in Saturday morning around 9AM. I took the train into the city and met up with Meredith and walked to the hotel. When Allison and the parents got there we went to the expo to see what kind of things we could get (besides their numbers so they could run).

Allison running with the Kenyans

Oh yes... they look EXACTLY like the photo :)

Pre-race photo at the "start line"

Then, after it rained for a few minutes, we went to Millennium Park and hit up the bean! :)

Allison, me and Meredith at the bean

Mrs. B at the Bean

Find the family - It's like Where's Waldo?!

Then we had an early night to get up for the race the next day!

Yup, this was 7AM - see the sun coming up? 

Last photo - see ya ladies in 26.2! 

The only photo I got of Anyone during the race - Go Allison!

The map I LIVED by!

Just some pirates cheering on the runners?!?!

Hey we're done! Free beer? Yes please :) 

Allison made it to the finish! 

Seriously, who has this much energy?!?! :) I love that
Meredith has energy after running 26 miles :)

Dinnnnnner... yummm!

Breakfast on the day after the race...

This is what I ordered... yeah I didn't run a marathon, nor did I eat MOST
of this! But it was DELICIOUS!

Navy Pier, Chicago

Chicago from the Ferris Wheel

Beautiful Allison and Meredith on the Ferris Wheel!
Oh look, there's Chicago in the background!

I got my shirt! :)

I even got to see my friend Courtney when I was in Chicago. Sorry there aren't any photos of her, but there ARE photos of her pets! :)

Pumpkin! :)

Meredith and Pumpkin!

Lola and Oscar!

So fun! :) I loved every minute of it!