Marathon Relay

I always thought it would be amazing to be a part of the Under Armour Baltimore Running Festival. They have a marathon, half-marathon, four-person relay, 5k, and a kids fun run. I knew I could do a 5k, but I also knew I would feel dorky running 3 miles when there were people running 26 miles. I thought maybe someday I could work up to being able to run 6 or 7 miles to do the relay.

When I first started running (note - everywhere I say "run" I really mean "jog" because I am very slow) about eight years ago, I couldn't even run a mile. I set a goal to run a 5k and accomplished that. Since then, I've been perfectly content with running three or so miles at a time and haven't had any desire to run further. I don't know what changed that. Maybe it was because my friend Cathy was training for a half marathon. I threw out the idea to her and we got a team together. I trained for several months, through a combination of treadmill running, Jillian Michaels videos, and long runs on the Ma and Pa trail.

The week of the race, I kept thinking, "Why am I doing this?! I hate races!" I was so nervous about everything--driving and parking in the city, making sure I got on the bus to the exchange point on time, finding my teammates at the exchanges, the sheer volume of runners--there were 25,000 total, and of course, the run.

The morning of the race was freezing. I couldn't stop shaking and I wasn't sure if it was the nerves or the cold. After I got on my bus I started to warm up and calm down. We left a half hour before the race started so I didn't get to see the start (bummer). We had a police escort to the exchange point (how cool is that?). We unloaded the buses and everyone got in line for the porta potties. It was crazy. I think I was in line for an hour. Lots of people had to drop out of line because they knew their teammate would be there before they were done. Luckily, I was able to use the bathroom and get in place to meet Tiffany. She rocked the first leg and all of it's crazy hills. Then it was time for my leg--seven miles--starting at Johns Hopkins University, down to the Inner Harbor, through Under Armour headquarters, and back to the harbor.

The first couple miles, I thought I was going to die. But that's the way I always feel when I start running. Then I kind of get in the zone, or I just figure out how to ignore the pain, or something. I started enjoying the run. I was amazed at how many people came out to cheer us on. They had posters, rang cow bells, and called out words of encouragement. One lady almost seemed to have a speech prepared, "You are going out and doing what you said you were going to do. You have prepared for this day..." It was awesome.

My leg was over before I knew it. I felt strong at the end. Maybe too strong? Shouldn't you feel like dropping at the end of a race? I felt like I could've kept going. I probably should have pushed myself harder. I wasn't going for a certain time, my goal was to run the whole leg without walking, which I did. I finished in 1:20, about 5 minutes less than I thought I would. I loved being able to watch at the finish line as everyone came in. There were runners of all ages, shapes, and sizes. There were barefoot runners, people running for a cause, people who ran the last 100 meters with their kids by thier sides. It was inspiring.

Despite all of my nervousness and fear, I am so glad I did it. It was so much fun! And I am so proud of myself for acomplishing something I never thought I could do. So what's next? The full marathon? No way. Could I be talked into doing the half? Maybe...

Emma's First Day of Preschool

Today was Emma's first day of preschool. How did she feel about it? I think this picture pretty much sums it up:

I talked up preschool all summer long. Her sisters told her how much fun she was going to have. We laid out her clothes the night before, including her new purple "first day of school shirt." I tried everything. When I woke her up this morning, she started kicking and screaming and crying becuase she didn't want to go to school. It took both Greg and me to get her dressed. He held her down while I put her clothes on her. I kept telling her that we'd go check it out--see if they had nice teachers there, see if there were fun toys and good snacks. When it was time to leave, she said through her tears, "We'll see how it is."

When we got there she wasn't crying anymore but she was still clinging to my leg. I took her around the room and we saw the tiny water fountain, the tiny toilets and sinks, and all the toys. She was starting to warm up a little...

She willingly went to the rug for circle time while I went across the hall for the parents' meeting. The parents all left from there and when I came back to pick her up she had a smile on her face...

She had a great time! And I don't think we'll have any problems when we go back on Tuesday. So to celebrate a successful first day of school we went to have some ice cream down on the farm. Nothing makes for a happy ending like Broom's Bloom.



No, I did not order her three scoops. That was a kiddie cone.
And yes, she ate the whole thing.





Painted Piano

Who doesn't love a free piano? This one was given to us by a friend. It was given to her by a friend some years before that. I have no idea how old it is. It can never be perfectly tuned. The bench top used to be cracked and upholstered in worn orange fabric. It was the perfect candidate for a makeover. I would never have done this to a newer piano. This picture was taken after I had Greg replace the top and reinforce the bench because I was afraid it would collapse every time I sat on it.

So I sanded it down, primed it, and after some deliberation, painted it ivory. My intent was to match it to the couch, but for some reason the paint in the can was much lighter than the paint chip. I would have taken it back to Lowe's but I didn't realize it until after I painted the piano. I definitely didn't want to do that again. So...the piano is lighter than the couch but it's not white. I'm pretty happy with it. I also reupholstered the bench. Maybe someday my girls' piano skills will exceed this piano and we'll need to get a new one. But for now, we're happy to be using this one.

Watercolor Memories

I miss our old house. I missed it really bad when we first moved. It was the house where we brought three of our babies home to. We have so many memories of our kids being little there. We had great neighbors, a great ward, and a great school. Our new house just didn't feel like home yet.

Now, more than two years later, I still miss it but not as badly as I did then. Our new house is starting to feel like it's actually ours. I can walk around in the dark without feeling uncomfortable. The kids have loved their teachers at the new school, and we've adjusted to our new ward. But I still wanted something in our new house to remember our old house. So I decided to dust off my watercolors and do a mini-painting. It's only about 3.5 by 5.5 inches and it is now framed and sits in my foyer.

Progress

My living room is finally starting to come together! I decided to keep the rug for now since it's fairly neutral and nice rugs are expensive. I painted the walls a warm gray color that I pulled from the rug. I bought the end table and lamps for a steal at Ross (a.k.a. my happy place) and TJ Maxx. Greg hung the picture over the sofa but that might just be temporary since I would like to have something more interesting there. I am still on the lookout for accent pillows for the couch, something cool to put on the coffee table, and drapes. I'm hoping the new Home Goods store will have some amazing finds for me. Is anyone else as excited as I am about Home Goods coming to Bel Air? Now that we have Wegmans and Home Goods is coming, all we need is a Trader Joe's and all of my shopping fantasies will be fullfilled. Well, almost all of them. If H&M came to Harford Mall I think I would die.

Anyway, I got a great deal on a damask stencil on ebay. My plan was to use the same color paint but in a high gloss but I've seen a few damask walls done differently and I'm giving myself some more time to think about it. Did anyone watch The Biggest Loser? The walls in their dining area have the damask pattern in a lighter shade than the background color. Then there was J.Lo's bedroom in the movie The Back-up Plan, which was so bad I'm embarrassed to admit that I watched it. But at least she lived in an amazing brownstone which almost made the movie worth watching. Look closely and you can kind of see the damask pattern with a goldish sheen to it. (Hello, beautiful headboard.)

So that's where I am on my living room project. If I can get the girls to clean up their piano books I'll show you my painted piano!

2nd Day of School

Audrey had gradual entry on the first day of school, which means that I took her for two hours and then brought her home. The second day of school was her first full day and the much-anticipated first bus ride. She was so excited. We took plenty of pictures while we were waiting for the bus to arrive. This girl really knows how to strike a pose.

The Hurricane Post

We knew the hurricane was coming and it was going to be bad. I did everything I could think of to prepare: bought tons of extra water, cleaned the whole house and did the laundry in case we were without water and power, bought downspout extenders to direct the water away from our house, filled the bathtubs with water for toilet flushing, bought food that didn't need to be cooked or refrigerated, but I was still scared. I think deep down inside I knew something bad was going to happen and I think I knew it would be The Tree. The Tree that I've been worried about ever since the other tree fell last year. We even slept in the basement just in case. After a pretty restless night, I got up in the morning and went up to my bedroom where I heard this ominous creaking sound. Something was putting a lot of pressure on our house. I went outside and saw that The Tree was leaning on the point of our roof, right above our master bedroom.

After some debating, we decided to call 911. They sent a fire truck out and they said there was nothing they could do and that we should evacuate the house. We went to my parents' house, where Greg called a tree company and amazingly they said they'd be there in twenty minutes. The tree guy came and said that they couldn't do anything until the wind died down. Not long after that, the wind blew the tree and it slid down the roofline and landed on our deck.

This is the point where the tree was leaning:

That is Greg's shed underneath the deck:

It didn't rain at all after the tree fell, that's just how much water was in the ground:

That evening the tree people came back and chopped up the tree and took it away. Our cable was out for three days which also meant we were without internet and phone. Our power was out for 5 days and 3 hours. Luckily we have a generator that powers most of our house so we didn't lose any food and I was still able to cook. But it doesn't power our dishwasher and washer and dryer. I had never been more happy to do laundry and dishes than after the power came back on.

Since then we've been playing the waiting game . . . waiting for the insurance adjustor to come, waiting for his report, waiting for contractors to give us extimates. Nothing is fixed yet and it will probably be a while until it is. But through it all, I feel extremely blessed. Before the storm came I kept praying and asking Heavenly Father to protect our home and I really think my prayers were answered. It was a miracle that that massive, heavy tree didn't break the roof and crash into our house.