Sew it is

I completed my first garment! Considering I had never even sat down at a sewing machine, had no knowledge of how to even thread a needle, this is huge guys. It takes serious patience. And, that is not one of my strong suits. So leading up to this garment completion, we have learned all sorts of different methods, seams, on different parts of clothing...but never put anything together per say. My blood pressure rapidly increased as I watched our professor explain the different steps involved with creating this shirt. We spend an entire afternoon in the sewing lab and not once have I completed our entire assignment before the lab is over. I have to go back during the week to finish our assignment, which most people do. So, this assignment I was most definitely going to be spending time in the sewing lab. Much to my surprise, I completed about 75% of the shirt before lab was over. Yesterday, I went back to sew the sleeves into the sleeve openings. The sleeves were tricky to say the least. The puff around the top of the shoulder, we used a method called crimping...and this shit ain't easy kids. I normally have to rip out my seams at least twice before I get them just right...not this time...first time. Kind of proud of myself. So are you ready to see the end product? It is nothing fancy but considering it consists of 6 pieces put together with 4 darts...its harder than it looks. And NO i will not be wearing it. It's minature, not that i would wear it anyway. Do do you know what goes into making a roll up cuff puff sleeve? Ok check this out....

p.s. do you see my lovely flowers in my backyard?

Run Forest

I came up with some stellar motivation today to run. Everytime I have a conversation w someone about my goal, it holds me more accountable. My friend Jen is on me to sign up for this half and I think the reason why I haven't done is bc I am scaaaaaaared...and I guess just lazy and haven't gotten around to it. But I am committing myself to doing it asap.

So today, I ran 5.5 miles. Well 5.58 to be precise. My watch told me. And I tell you what, it felt real good. I wasn't even struggling the entire time, and I kind of almost enjoyed it. I mean this isn't the hardest terrain. I hit 4 miles and had a grand idea...I would just stop by my friend Taryn's at the beach on 41st and have her take me home. Because my goal was 4 miles today. Once I hit 4 and I wasn't dying, I talked myself into pushing through and just running the rest of the way home. Now, we won't get into how much actual time it took me. EEEeeeek....I have to improve my pace.

So today was an accomplishment. I am going to give myself a big pat on the back and then go chow chipotle. Ha.

You know you want some Mac n Cheese Now

Today I woke up pretty darn unmotivated. After rockin my to do list yesterday which included steam cleaning the carpets, grocery store, prepare for mac n cheese cook-off, run the dogs, clean my room, do 2 loads of laundry, pick up my mom from the airport and then the iron chef games began at 5pm....I couldn't get it together this morning. Finally, I made it to Kinko's to print off all my new garments to sketch this week...because ugh i lost a cable to my printer and i have to keep going to Kinko's which is a huge pain in my ass. So...I ended up accomplishing a lot. But, I tell you what...Monday's are the absolute worst days for me to workout. I dread it and dread it, all day long. I am meeting Mom at spin at 4:15, so i had to think about the dreadful task all day.

I won 2nd place last night in our homemade mac n cheese contest. Nick and I cooked at Nissa's and Courtney and BV cooked

at Brian's. John put an entire spreadsheet together after the votes were in. I was so sick of looking and smelling cheese for the last 2 hours, I barely tasted any. Pretty sure mine was the best though. It was made w Gouda cheese, carmelized onions, and apple honey bacon. YumO. Lindsay Harrison gave me a precious Anthropologie apron for my bday, so I was stoked to get to utilize it. Nick is like #1 cook so he was all tooting his own horn, confident he would win and so we all found it quite humorous he got 4th place. He made it with lobster and crab which was delicious but it was sort of more of a pasta dish than actual mac n cheese. Lovely end to the weekend in which contributed to the 5 lbs I have to loose before 2 weeks. Eeeek.

31 years

Today is my 31st Birthday. Ahhh. Taking it much better than I did my 30th. In fact, I almost forgot it was my birthday. I celebrated w my family and Oklahoma friends this weekend in Tulsa. It was great to have all my favorite loved ones in one room for dinner. My favorite gift was this fancy Garmin GPS training watch/heart rate monitor. How cool is this?

I am training for the Huntington Beach Half Marathon in February and I am telling you what...this is a must have. I have to have something to push me, to track my time and miles, to navigate me. I haven't quite figured out all the crazy features but I did run 4.5 miles this morning to the beach, down the boardwalk and home.

I have so much homework due tomorrow and I didn't have any time this weekend so I spent my birthday cramming it all in. I have a few things left to do but for the most part, I accomplished a lot. I managed to treat myself to a bagel sandwich at lunch and Romeo went along for the ride. I am now contemplating going to get my nails done and a back massage from my favorite chinese lady, "Happy"...Yes, her name is Happy and she makes me happy.

I must say, facebook makes you feel quite special and remembered on your birthday. Wow...the amount of happy birthdays are incredible.

Sisters baby shower pics to come.