Life Update

Since it has been a month of Sundays (phrase credit goes to my friend Tom) since my last post I thought I would give you a little update on what has been happening in my life and what is to come.

I have started to read books for leisure. I never have done this. I hate have never been a big reader. The books we had to read in school put me to sleep and lets be honest who reads assigned readings in college? ;) Anyways, I have developed this love for reading! I am enjoying every second of it. My favorite author is Nicholas Sparks. Many of his books have been made into movies. The Notebook. A Walk to Remember. The Last Song. Dear John. The Lucky One. A Bend in the Road. Safe Haven. I have read 2 of them so far! You may be thinking well that is hardly an addiction to reading well if you know me that is quite the accomplishment! Safe Haven is by far the best book I have ever read. If you haven't read it you need to! Have you seen the movie? I was waiting until I finished the book but I haven't heard the best reviews about the movie so I am now waiting until it comes out on Redbox.

Joe's older sister is due at the end of May. They are expecting a baby boy! Family and friends can.not.wait! This will be the first grandchild in their immediate family so needless to say Grandma and Grandpa are very excited! Prenatal has been a new interest of mine working in the health and nutrition field so it has been fun.

Prom season is starting. At my sisters high school, as most high schools these days, it is a Junior and Senior Prom. My younger sister is a sophomore and sophomores are only allowed to go if they get asked by a Junior or Senior. She is dating a Junior so she is very excited she gets to attend! Dress shopping with her has never been that easy for formals and such but it went a whole lot smoother this time around! I will post pictures.

As you may from previous posts I am an avid runner but I took quite the break during these long winter months. Finally, FINALLY it is Spring weather here in Iowa and I have the motivation to run again! My friends and I are doing Dam to Dam again this year and I couldn't be more excited :) This is by far my favorite road race I participate in. A marathon is not on my To-Do list for this year. I hope to continue to run them and reach my goal of 10 marathons.

SUNDAY!! Sunday is the day I find out if I get a dietetic internship or not. An internship is part of the process of being eligible to become a Registered Dietitian. And let me tell you it has been quite the process. I started working on my application in August and sent it in in February. So it is quite a waiting process. The anticipation is killing me and just this week I have started to feel nervous. Keep your fingers crossed!! I know that if I don't get it this time around I have a wonderful job that I love to stay at. BUT it will be tough to have to wait another 6 months to reapply and almost another year until I am eligible.

Happy Friday!

Life Update!

Hi followers!

I know I haven't bloged in a while (or eternity possibly) but life sure does fly by when you're having fun right?! Here I am writing this blog entry at 10:35 p.m. ...P.M. If you know me at all you would know that I do not stay up this late ever. I have always been the person who loves my sleep and 9:30 these days has become my "late nights".

Half Marathon and Marathon Recaps:

Sarah, Lauren and I after finishing our races!

The half marathon went well. I started to cramp a little toward miles 8-9 but I still finished under my 1 hour and 50 minute goal time so I was more than happy! :) That is what I love so much about running races. It's the feeling that you get when your finished and you feel as though you accomplished something great. I feel like the sky is the limit... after I've had a couple minutes to catch my breath! The marathon weekend was so exciting and rewarding. Although I didn't beat my last years marathon time I still finished and lived to tell you all about the experience. Where do I begin? I had heard the race was going to be hilly and I had been to Kansas City multiple times... I mean I was born there so you'd think I would remember ;) Well, turns out it was a lot more hills and I mean steep and looonngg hills than I had remembered. I should have picked up on that since it was called: The Northface Endurance Challenge. It was good to spend time with my parents and catch up with some old friends! Kansas City is a beautiful town with sooo much to do. Nonetheless, I learned a few lessons that day: Never run a marathon in Kansas City again... that was a one time deal! Second, Use what felt like defeat and turn it into strength and remember you always have someone from above to give you that strength. This leads me into my next update...

Thanksgiving:
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. I LOVE the food! Green bean casserole is my all-time favorite and must-have at Thanksgiving dinner. What is your must-have staple at Thanksgiving Dinner? This year Joe and I spent lots of our time with his family. We sat and played Apples to Apples for hours, Have you ever heard of this game? It is so much fun and we had a great time playing it together!  I also love Thanksgiving because it seems to remind everyone, whether or not they realize it at the time, what they are thankful for. This year I decided I was thankful for life. It may be a short, 4 lettered word but within that word says so much about a person. I am thankful for the life God has led me through, all the challenges and successes I have endured. He gives me that strength to run marathons. He gave me a great family. (Another entry will be posted in regards so stay tuned!) God led me to a new church to follow faith regularily again. He gave me Joe and his family whom I would run out of room if I wanted to mention all the things they do for me! I may not show that I am thankful for all the things in my life but I could not be more happy with my life as it is today. What are you thankful for this year? Don't think to hard. It's right under your nose. It doesn't have to be ellaborate. Think simple. :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Holiday weekend! May the holiday season bring joy and love throughout your household :)

Take care!
Mary

Run.

Well followers it's here! The weekend of my half marathon is finally here!! I couldn't be more excited, either that I am ready for it to be over or I am excited due to the fact that I LOVE half marathons! This is my absolute favorite distance to run. I am running the IMT Half Marathon. Last year I ran the full marathon! It was a challenging and very rewarding experience! My friend Lauren and I have been training together for about a year and a half now. We have run a few races together. Unfortunately, last year she was unable to finish the marathon with me but this year she is all healed and ready to run! I couldn't ask for a better training partner. She is so dedicated and has an uplifting spirit. This weekend our strategy is to run together at a good  fast pace and use this race as more of a run to train for the marathon rather than a half marathon race.

Our count down to our next marathon is less than a month! I could not be more excited for it. After my first marathon I knew I wanted to run more but it took me awhile to get back into the training mind set. It is a lot of hard work to train for a marathon. It takes time and effort. Once Lauren kindly reminded me early June that we had about 6 months to train, I finally realized it was time to get serious. We had been training since the last marathon and had some shorter races in the meantime so we were already on track to run a half marathon. It took us awhile to decide where we wanted to run our marathon. We settled on the Northface Endurance Challenge in Kansas City! There are a few Northface Endurace Challenges in various locations. Some are trail runs but the KC one happens to be a road run...Thank the Lord! Check out the website! http://www.thenorthface.com/en_US/endurance-challenge/kansas-city-mo-road/?stop_mobi=yes Doesn't it look like so much fun?!

After my first marathon I set a goal for myself... run 10 marathons in my life. Later I got to thinking when did I want to accomplish that by? I decided I would just run one a year until I reached 10! I'm well on my way to accomplishing that. After November 17th I will only have 8 left. That's 209.6 miles... :/ This number may change, meaning it will probably be higher coming off all the excitement of my second one! The feeling I got when I crossed the finish line is unexplainable. I just started crying. Either because I was SO glad to be done running for the day or I had just finished a marathon!! Running 1 was on my bucket list and now I've uped it to running 9 more at 10 total. Am I crazy? Possibly. Next years marathon is taking place in Las Vegas! Running the Vegas Strip at night with all the lights...Can't wait! Who wants to join?! I would love to qualify for the Boston and NYC marathons someday. Until then I will train a little bit harder and become a little faster. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it and stay focused on your goal right?! Here I come Boston/NYC 2014! If I ran the NYC Marathon I would get to see Katie and Josh!

I grew up in a very active family. My mom and dad are both avid exercisers. My mom has been my training partner since I was 15 and was somehow convinced, by my neighbor, to run cross country in high school. That is when I began my love affiar with running. I have had a great support system through the years which helps A TON. My family and friends may think I am crazy but they are always running beside me or cheering for me from the curb!

I got two of my friends to run the Dam to Dam this summer with Lauren and I. They weren't big into running but they did it for fun! During the race they said they were asking themselves "Why did I let her talk me into running this?" but when they both finished they were overjoyed and so happy they did it! If you are from the area and love to run but don't think you are cut out for long distance running you need to sign up for the Dam to Dam. I promise you will feel overwhelmed with happiness when you cross the finish line. It may open a door or two to a whole new you! It is in early June and it is such a fun run. The course is full of runners...ones that are out to win and ones that run just for fun! You run from Saylorville Dam to Downtown Des Moines. It's about 12.4 miles. There are bands playing at every mile marker and people are cheering you on the whole time! It would be a great starter race. I have run it 3 times now and I can't wait for next year!

Have an active day! Happy Running!

Slow Dance

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever
watched
kids

On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to
the
rain

Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a

butterfly's erratic flight?

Or gazed at the sun into the
fading night?

You better slow down.

Don't
dance so
fast.

Time is short.

The music
won't
last.

Do you run through each day

On the fly?

When you ask "How are you?"

Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done
do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores

Running through
your head?

You'd better
slow down.

Don't dance so
fast.

Time is
short.

The music won't
last.

Ever told your child,

We'll do it tomorrow?

And in your haste,

Not see his
sorrow?

Ever lost touch,

Let a good
friendship die

'Cause you never had time

To call and say, "Hi".

You'd
better slow down.

Don't dance
so fast.

Time
is short.

The music won't
last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere

You miss half the fun of getting
there.

When you worry and hurry
through your
day,

It is like an unopened
gift....

Thrown
away.

Life is not a
race.

Do take it
slower 

Hear the
music

Before the song is over.

Do you rush through life? Do you call a friend just to say "Hi"? This poem sounds like my life sometimes. I would love to be in more contact with some of my friends. Do you use excuses? I know I do sometimes. Most days I think my life is so busy and I couldn't possibly fit one more thing in my schedule when in reality I drive an hour to work which means I have two hours a day of driving... TWO hours a day when I could make those phone calls to those friends far away. I know I rush through my day. After reading this I am going to make that effort to call those friends if it's just once a week or once a month. It is relieving to catch up with friends and not always hear that voice in the back of your head "I should call... but I just don't have time". I am going to take things slow and not rush through life. I mean isn't that one of the reasons we are on earth... to enjoy life, the people we interact and encounter each day. To enjoy our surroundings? Here in the midwest, if you haven't taken a walk/run outside to enjoy the things of fall do it today.

Do it today. Don't wait until tomorrow.

Happy Friday Friends!

Best.Week.Ever.

We went from elementary friends to high school and college besties and now we are celebrating her wedding day! I want to say Congratulations! She got married last Saturday :) The day could not have gone any better. Not only did we celebrate her big day we got to enjoy the weekend with all our high school friends that live near and far. Lately we have seen each other quite a few times with all the weddings this summer. Boy do we LOVE weddings and the dancing that comes with it! We are on the dance floor all night!! The weekend was just full of fun! I was in the wedding so I don't have many photos from the weekend but here is just a few. I will post photos in a future recap post!

You know the feeling when your favorite shows start back? For all of you Revenge watchers out there... IT.IS.BACK. What did you think of the first episode? I cannot wait to see what this season holds. I love this show! I have 3 shows that I watch pretty religously and they are all back on now. Revenge is by far my favorite. Hart of Dixie is light hearted and cheesey but I love watching it! This is Gossip Girls final season. I got hooked on it in college and have kept up with ever since! Thanks Katie and Kristin for the persuasion. Katie provided me with Gossip Girl Season 1 and 2 on DVD and I am pretty sure I watched it every waking second, while I wasn't in class of course! Needless to say I do love the show.

The 3rd and most important reason why it was the best week ever. Joe and I celebrated our 7 years of dating! 7! My sister is a sophomore in high school and it's crazy to think that's how young we were when we started dating. I know, I know it's cheesey to celebrate dating anniversaries but it's nice to go out just us 2 for a nice dinner! We ate a great Italian restaurant in Des Moines called Centro. It was delicious! If you live around the area you must go! This year we found out we may not be cut out for big city living. We drove around the block once... okay maybe twice before we found a good parking spot. We normally take the first spot we see. We parked and starting walking to the restaurant. We only had a block to walk which is not too far right but we saw all these open spots that were litereally right in front of the door... so we thought. It took us a couple steps to realize we wanted to walk run back to the car and park closer before anyone else took our front row spots. We parallel parked AGAIN in a spot right in front! Come to find out they were 15 minute parking metors. So we drove around the block a little confused about the one way's and finally found a good spot and parked! It was about the same distance away from the door as the initial parking spot. We just laughed at ourselves and enjoyed the rest of the night. Needless to say we had a great dinner! The food was amazing!
You don't know how many times we've heard this... "When are you guys getting married?" or this "You guys are next." Joe and I were voted by our entire senior class to be the first to be married out of high school. Boy did we prove everyone wrong. :) Yes we have now been together the longest out of anyone from our graduating class but we are in no rush to get married. We are only 22 and 23. Yes, we have been talking about marriage for a few years now but we are perfectly happy with everything right now. Joe wants to finish up school and we both would like to become settled in our jobs. Don't get me wrong I can't wait to plan my wedding but it will be just as exciting when that time comes as it would be for me now!
Our relationship has had it's fair share of ups and downs but I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this guy. We always find something to laugh about. We know exactly how to push each others buttons and yes we do that on purpose every once in awhile. ;) No matter what we always go to bed happy.
 

 Our first school dance as dates! (way back in our sophmore year of high school)

Senior Homecoming Coronation

Senior Prom!

Getting crafty at after prom

High School Graduation

 4 year anniversary (and we thought this was a long time...little did we know!)

We love going to the Iowa State Fair and seeing Country concerts!

(we were early...we may have been just a little excited)

Cheering on the ISU Cyclones freshman year!

Halloween

We roadtripped to Kansas City to see one of Joe's favorite Country singers. Kenny Chesney!

For my 20th birthday Joe through me a surprise birthday party!

We love fishing on the boat!

Celebrating one of my favorite holidays St. Patrick's Day

Smelly and Stinky

Life Update and Wedding Bliss

Wow! Life is in full force right now but I am enjoying every minute of it. :) Sorry for the lack of blogging! Here is what I have been up to lately...

I started my first post college graduation job! I am absolutely loving it. This is my dream job, so I think :) With a college degree in Dietetics, I wanted to work with communities and children. Starting in October, I will be traveling to the local school districts teaching Kindergarteners through 4th graders about a variety of different fruits and vegetables each month. How fun right? I get to perform tastings along with the lessons, which I think will be SOO much fun! When I am not traveling to the schools I spend my time in WIC Clinics. Heard of them? They are in almost every state in the U.S. It is a great program and the women, infants and children really benefit from it! I get to travel around Central Iowa. I don't mind the traveling. I use it as time to think and relax. It is the "me time" of the day! Needless to say I am loving my new job :)

I am known as the snack lady at the schools! 

Enough playing catch up with the big girl details... let's get to the fun!

Labor Day weekend was probably one of the best weekends! Football season started so my friends, Joe and I cheered on our favorite team... the Iowa State Cyclones :) Tailgating is so much fun! But the absolute best part of the weekend was that I got to see my east coast bestie, Katie! She moved out there shortly after college graduation. She works for HGTV Magazine! So fun! She is loving the east coast but her friends and family miss her back here in Iowa!  She has been dating my cousin Josh for 6 years now! So we can thank him for our introduction :) College wouldn't have been the same without her (sorry Katie, I had to put this up)! This same weekend Josh moved out to NYC to join her. Hopefully Joe and I can plan a time to visit them sometime soon! It was great to see her and catch up but sad to say goodbye to her and Josh til Thanksgiving! I am so happy and excited for them to start this new adventure together! Good Luck in NYC Katie and Josh!

Wedding Bells!

Many of my high school friends have gotten married this spring and summer! I am so happy for all of them :) and I love love love that we are all still in contact and good friends to this day! I am so thankful that I have been able to celebrate their big days with all of them. It's crazy that in high school you feel like getting married is such a long ways away! Let me just say this... Man did it come faster than I thought! The parties leading up to the wedding are so much fun, especially the bachelorette parties ;)

Getting Crazy with the bride-to-be!

A few of my beautiful friends celebrating with Ashley before she gets married! 

Wasn't she just beautiful? 

One of my besties, Jessica and I helping our friend Cara celebrate her big day!

We all love weddings!

Almost all of my high school friends with the beautiful bride. :)

Our friends wedding was on St. Patrick's Day! One of my favorite holidays so needless to say we had so much fun!

Joe and I :)

Kelli Jo's bachelorette party... We had too much fun!

Still all such great friends! Love it!

I was honored to be a bridesmaid in my boyfriends sister's wedding!

My favorite part of the reception... the dancing! I am one lucky girl who has a boyfriend who loves to dance just as much!

The group at Kelby's Wedding!

My love!

We all road tripped to Missouri to help her celebrate! 

Me and Kelli Jo! She lives in South Dakota so all of us Iowans LOVE to see her :) Oh, and she has the cutest, almost one year old, daughter!

The last but certainly not least bestie getting married this year!

The group celebrating at our favorite bar in Clear Lake! #Rookies

Brook and I with the bride-to-be

Mustaches. Just a fun little addition to the party. They were a huge hit with the locals :) 

 This was a very brief synopsis of all the weddings. I wish I could post more about each of them but I would run out of room! I love weddings :) The flowers. The dancing. The friends. The family. The love. and The fun! I love all of it! I want to wish my wedded friends a life full of love and happiness!

What I've been up to lateley!

Birthday Surprises!

July 21st was my wonderful mom's 50th birthday! (I know you're thinking why did I wait so long, right?) I was a busy bee these past few weeks! Anyways back to the important stuff! She is such a great mom! My mom is and has always been very involved in my life. I appreciate everything she does! Last year when my dad turned 50 she planned a surprise party! He LOVED it! My dad had absolutely no idea. It was great! My mom is such a giver so she loved planning that party. We couldn't pull off an entire surprise party for my mom because she is so quizzative that she would have found out but we had something else up our sleeve. She has 2 sisters and a brother. Her sisters live down south, one in Texas and one in Louisiana so we only see them about once a year! We get to see her brother quite often because he only lives about 3 hours away. The Friday before her birthday her sisters flew in to Des Moines! Her sisters wanted to surprise her at work. She already ruined that plan because she took a vacation day! She had made plans to go on a motorcycle ride with her brother-in-law and his wife. So we used that as a cover-up. This way she thought she had big plans that day! Needless to say she was SO surprised when she found out her sisters were in town! The party was such a success! The only thing missing was my little sister. She was away in New Orleans for the youth group gathering! She had a blast but we missed her during all the birthday excitement!



 My mother and I! Love you mom!

                                                   

  Joe (my long time boyfriend) and I celebrating my mother's b-day!

                      

          The bromance. Joe and Tom. Tom and his new wife Kari (in the next picture) have been our double dating couple for about 2 years now! We all went to high school together!

                

Kari and I!



This is my brother's girlfriend! We love her :) (I thought this was a cute picture minus the fact that I was not quite ready.)



 Happy Monday!