notes on running

a collection of mental snippets that i think on while pounding the pavement.

-i got little blinky red clip on lights for safety (the flashing headlamp is now only for reading at night again). and whenever i see my shadow i, without fail, think my light has turned off because i cant see it in my shadow.

-approximately 78% of people driving on my running route smoke cigarettes and like to try to exhale directly into my mouth as they drive by. additionally 48% of people drive big honking or old hoopty cars with beastly exhaust that taste like a fossil fuel lolly. it's the delish-est!

-there is some contagion of flying ant-like bugs that comes out randomly on certain nights. running with these in the air can get as bad as running in rain--they are hitting my face and body that frequently. they seem very delicate and die on my skin at first contact (toxic keight!), but i am dotted with thoraxes, antennae, and leg pieces from their corpses when i am done. it's like i am a wet piece of chicken and they are my batter-dipped coating. the worst part is the 3 to10 bug's worth of parts that i find down my sports bra that i motor-boated into the grave. pestilential fools!

-i have this weird fear whenever i go over a bridge or runoff or culvert that someone is going to push me over. whenever i approach one i look all around me first like a big paranoid freak and then when i am parallel to the drop off, i stay far away from the edge. think about how easy it would be for some bully to just sneak up and push me over! does that even happen, in a world?

-my POWER SONG right now is robert randolph and the family band's "ain't nothin' wrong with that." holy cow it gets me going. perfect beat for my pace, and no matter how exhausted i am, when this little number comes on, i book it. i also tend to do my signature dance move while running: rhythmically pointing to the sky and making a kissy-duck face and. can you imagine driving by me while this is happening? (you'd have to blow your ciggy smoke up my nose because my ducky dance mouth is closed tight, suckazzz!)

i defy you to listen to this song and not want to get up and move. i may submit it as our official team song for the half marathon.

chubby blinking white chick running at a 12 minute mile pace covered in a crispy outer layer of exoskeletons? ain't nothin' wrong with that.

giveaway winners!

"i think i can, i think i can!"

so once again, on a totally blind caption judging, my dad had my favorite. maybe it's not fair because he and i have a genetically similar sense of humor. but his was just perfect. captured the train and the potty and did both so subtly. for the record, the caption i came up with in my head was, "all aboard the potty train! chugga-chugga, chugga-chugga, POO POO!" not so suble on the potty or train references.

obviously my dad will not be winning any etsy giftcards to my shop because i would just make him a bib for free if he ever needs one (and he probably will one day, and i will be the one feeding him).

i tried to get him to pick his favorite, but he refused. he wants all yall to like him, guys, and couldnt be the villain (he is a principal! he should be used to it!). coward. sweet, tender coward.

so i wussed out too and just did 2 randomized winners. eesh. the apple doesnt fall far from the sissy baby tree.

after deleting a few folk's accidental duplicate comments, we were left with 31. so here we go:

Kaci said...

"Tinkle Tinkle Litte Star..."

8/10/11 2:47 PM

and the other winner:

Ashley said...

Poo pooooooo! (instead of "choo choo")... so mature, right?!

8/9/11 12:38 PM

congrats ashley and kaci! email me or send me an etsy convo when you know what you want to use your $15 for!

thanks to everyone who played along. that was stressful! like a high (not really) stakes game of apple to apples.

toweling off

...because that's what you do after a shower, right? oh, yikes.

well i think the baby shower was a smashing success. this could because i got a hearty to-go plate trough of food and stuffed me face with pigs in a blanket and pumpkin bread all weekend long. it's also partly because everyone seemed to have had a great time and natalie got some great gifts.

will this shower be in a magazine? probably not. we were on a budget bigtime and focusing on things that would last momma and baby for a long time and not just be cute and then thrown away. but i think we managed some cute for our dollar.

did it go off without a hitch? why, no. i got locked out of the venue with natalie's mom for 30 minutes with melting goodies and faces (mine) when we first got there, my co hostess abby got lost on the way and i may have blasted her with some of my locked-out stress anger on the phone, i forgot my sammie rollups at home and had to drive like a roid-rager to retrieve them 30 minutes before start time, and one of our good friends who was bringing 1/4 of the food was 2 hours late thanks to FREAK atlanta traffic followed by a speeding ticket. oh, i hurt for her.

but the good WAY outweighed the stressy.

so let's hit up a pictoral rundown, eh? all the good pics are by abby. and we didnt get many good group shots because we hostesses were the only ones with cameras and we were lots of busy.

why we did it: for this gorgeous mom and that little nugget in there.

that little boy in there is the second son of robert and nat, who have been on the mission field in england for 4 years. they had their first, benjamin, while over there, and now that they are moving home have had to leave ALL of their accumulated baby gear/necessities behind. stop and imagine having to start over getting everything you would need for a newborn when you already have a 2 year old and are changing jobs, homes and continents. hello, challenge! but we're here to help.

cohostess abby and i had a crafting day the week prior to the shower and churned out some cutesy from our little factory. i bought that paper puncher with a joann big coupon. if i ever host a shower for you: expect scalloped circle-shaped decor because i must make the investment go the distance. colors are negotiable.

natalie's mom had access to a sweet venue that is the meeting room and library of a local orthodontist she knows. most random thing ever? yes. super nice and free? YES! the building was so nice and very ski-lodge in style, which made it hard to totally baby-fy, but whatevs since we hadnt the money to do that anyway.

home made pom poms hanging from the central light fixture, flag bunting i sewed, pics of natalie as a baby and with bejamin on the hearth, and a MOM throne (with added comfort booster cushion). not mine: canoe painting and the after-braces glamour shots of some of the orthodontist's satisfied customers.

i am in love with these. natalie gets to keep them forever for any festivity!

thank you, martha, for your know-how

the food room. i used MADE's streamer sewing tutorial to pimpify regular crepe (not "crate" OUCH, i hate a homophone error and i committed this bad one. thanks, carrie!) paper. so easy in theory yet my sewing machine hated me and i peppered the streamers with an F bomb every few stitches due to constantly breaking threads.

with her first little man in the center of the table. she is awesome earthy hippie mother!

drink table. (their last name is braden, BTW)

yikes. the bargain drink dispenser i snagged from ross to serve ice water sprung an immediate and torrential leak. punch for everyone!

activity/keepsake/guestbook

baby will be born in october, so the completed autumn tree will be perfect. you cant tell, but there is a heart with "r+n" "carved" into the tree. after baby is born i will add his name and birthday and frame it for the family

i love an iteration. decided last minute to make these "easy" favors thanks to a pinterest spotting.

they are easy. to make. as in AFTER you've unwrap 250 individual hershey's kisses. i forfeited my portion because i decided to try one while the chocolate was still soft and warm and ended up eating about 20 and washing it down with some of judahs whole milk right out of the jug. oops.

how i packaged the favors. computer paper rubber cemented in a tube and then sewed down on the ends. i filled the top spool and the bobbin with different thread colors and flipped over after one line of zig zags to get the mutlicolored line the easy way.

abby's cupcakes were the best i have ever eaten. period. adorable little toppers never hurt.

the food placard holders were just some of judah's blocks hot glued to painted clothespins.

yuuuuuuuumz

holy cow. i have never been a believer or understander of the cucumber sammie phenomenon. well, nat's sister joj, converted me. i ate approx. 7,649 of these.

gifts! adorable hand drawn card.

because you never know when you're gonna need black tie attire!

i might be "obnoxious overly-helpful, needs-to-back-away, shower friend." dammit.

extolling the virtues of the 5 little monkeys treasury. what hijinks these primates will get into after their head injuries!

hahaha. 3 pretty ladies looking kind of pissed. dont be fooled. they talked and laughed the whole time and were very disruptive.

yes! emily and lena. probably judging me off camera.

big brother benj lost his pants during a game of chase. always a sign of a good party. he also got 3 or 4 big brother gifts...all of which he spurned for christine's iphone. typical!

hahaha i swear everyone wasnt mad the whole time. this was before we turned on the music and things got cuh-razy!

abby might have tried to steal this precious lil guest.

me and the godmothers of my kids! the wardrobe was unplanned. we are like an equation. they have been warned that they may not have babies for at least 3 years because i need time off before my next party-planning caper.

all 4 bradens. and yes, guys, you will love his little brother this much too. yes, natalie is married to justin timberlake.

seriously, we would do it all over again a hundred times for this chick