Birthday Shout Outs

One thing I hate about living far away is missing out on sweet friend’s and families birthday celebrations!! This week or shall I say month seems to be full of them. So I’d like to wish the following people a special Happy Birthday.

Jackson Sprayberry ~ our sweet nephew turned 4 on March 27th. We heard he had an awesome FIRETRUCK/MAN party :) He also just had his 1st tball game, which I would have loved to have seen! We hope to see you soon and will be bearing gifts !!!

Haylea Williams ~ another wonderful friend (my college roommate) turns the big 3-0 on Friday, 4/1. She is having a Bday Bash in Huntsville Friday night that I am very sad I will not be attending :( I’m hoping we can celebrate and visit soon!! :)

Lesley Hutchison ~ my sweet BFF since the 4th grade joins the 30 something crowd today, 3/29. She is a great friend and a beautiful person inside and out. I’m looking forward to a visit to Bham soon for a late celebration :)

Jeremy Cruse- another one of my great friends since the 4th grade. He welcomed 30 on 3/19. He always keeps all of our friends laughing. He was definiteley deserving of his Who's Who title in high school "Most Fun Loving"....and still is!!

Uncle Ken (my mom's brother)- he celebrated his 49th this week ... I believe 3/27...so many bdays I'm losing track of them. He lives at the lake and is in is happy place on the water. I hope he gets to enjoy some boating soon!!

And last but not least....the newest addition to our family arrived yesterday....

David “Graham” Robinson ~ my cousin Amber gave birth to a healthy baby boy yesterday in Savannah, GA. Mom and baby are doing great. I can’t wait to meet him :) His sweet big brother, Reed, is holding him.

**photo courtesy of proud aunt, Amy Allen's facebook page :)**

Happy Birthday to my friends and family that span from Huntsville to Savannah. I truly miss all of you and think of you often. Although we are far apart….you are always close to my heart!!!

A Run and Spring Fun!!

I'm happy to say we finished our 1st 5K this morning in Jackson!! Jason's goal was 32 minutes and he finished around 30:40. My goal was 36 minutes and the clock hit 36 right as I was crossing the finish line. We are glad to have our 1st one behind us and are looking forward to the Double Decker 5K in Oxford, MS in April and hope to set new time goals.

Our friend Kayla also ran w/ us and did awesome. She is definitely a more experienced runner having finished a 1/2 marathon recently, so this was nothing for her. Her husband Jason joined us and cheered us on from the street w/ his coffee (I may join him next time-ha).

We did it!!

Happy to have Kayla join us :)

We managed to have a little fun too!! We went to Shuckers last night and loaded up on shrimp and oysters (the non-runners ate the oysters)- great seafood by the way, but don't go for the ambiance (ha). If you want some good people watching go to that place on a Friday night. I think all the River Rats from the Reservoir invade it.

**for my friends back home the biggest redneck in the place had a t-shirt on from Mt. Cheaha Harley Davidson, which of course is located in my hometown of Oxford, Al- thought that was funny!!

Jason and I rewarded ourselves at lunch today with a good cheeseburger from my favorite- Five Guys. We are now back home and looking forward to some R&R and enjoying the rest of this beautiful weekend!!

Friday Favorites

There are so many projects Jason and I want to get started on in our house....updates to kitchen, painting, re-do some bathrooms, new deck, landscaping and the list goes on and on......

However, we MUST SELL our Montgomery house first. Renters are OUT and house is on market, so hopefully it will move fast. We decided our first project will be the kitchen. Our kitchen is pretty updated, but could use a little facelift. We updated the appliances when we moved in last year, but we also would like to add granite countertops, new backsplash, new hardware and a new sink.

So my favorite for this Friday is the FARMHOUSE SINK. I just LOVE them and hope to soon be on the hunt for the perfect one. Do any of you know a great place to find them at a discounted price?? They don't come cheap so I'd love to find a great deal.

Love the copper sink, but may be out of the price range

Our cabinets are very similiar to these above. I love this sink and the brick tile backsplash

I think I'll become a designer in my next life. I love all things involving design and decorating!!!

Happy Friday :)

Closer to the day of our 1st 5K!!!!

I thought I would post a quick update on our running progress. As you know from previous post we have been doing the Couch to 5K program. We completed the 9 week program last week and I'm telling you it WORKS!! Neither one of us were runners at all! Although Jason is very athletic, even playing college football, he never had ran more than a mile. His position in football did not require much running. Just like Jason, I've never been a runner. I can speed walk with the best of them, but that is a close as I've been to running. And yes....we plan to do a 5K next week!!

I registered us for the St. Paddy's 5K in Jackson next Saturday. I know 3.1 miles doesn't sound like much, but it's a LOT to me!! I'm very proud that we have stayed committed to this. I actually find myself looking forward to my runs after work. I'm thankful that Jason wants to do this with me because it definitely holds us accountable!! I'm also very thankful for a husband that is committed to being active and healthy :)

If the 1st 5K goes well, we have some others 5K runs we plan to enter in the upcoming months. Our next goal is a 10K and maybe one day a 1/2 marathon?? Although I'm not quite so sure about the 1/2 yet. So look for a post soon of us completing our 1st race!!

I hope to look this joyful and refreshed crossing the finish line....

Crazy Dreams!!

For as long as I can remember I’ve had VERY VIVID dreams. I dream in color, can recall most details of my dreams and sometimes I’m just PLAIN worn out when I wake up. Well, my dream last night has topped them all and I just had to share it...

**Remember- this is just a DREAM**
Jason and I were at an AU basketball game with my parents. I’m sitting beside my mom and she looks at me w/ a very serious face and said she needs to discuss something with me. If you know my mom, you know she likes to joke around and in “real life” we don't have many serious conversations. Anyway....she proceeds to tell me that she is pregnant (my mom is 59) and just doesn’t know what she is going to do. She then tells me that she wants Jason and I to have the baby and take care of it. She is about to retire from teaching and said she wants to enjoy her retirement. Jason and I both think it is a great idea and agree to take care of the baby. Then we go back to watching the basketball game. Thankfully I woke up minutes later and I’m so glad it was just a DREAM!!

I know my mom would like a grandchild, but lets hope she doesn’t take matters into her own hands (haha)!!

Mississippi Girls....

I went home this weekend to attend of one my favorite friend's wedding showers. I know she reads the blog sometimes and thought I'd share some memories of one of my favorite Mississippi girls ...Miss Dana Knight!! The girl that taught me about MS before I knew I would become a Mississippi girl.....

Dana and me in Destin 4th of July 2008

So most of you probably think my first MS friend is from Kosy. Actually my first MS friend came into my life the summer of 2004. I had been out of college a year and was living in an apartment in Homewood/Birmingham w/ Katie White. We noticed this cute girl moving into a one bedroom apartment below us one hot summer day. She had a MS license plate w/ a Southern Miss Alumni Tag. Being a friendly neighbor, I decided to introduce myself. I mean this girl is from out of state, living in a 1 bedroom apartment…she may not know anyone?? Well, actually she did know a few people, but was happy to meet some Auburn girls :) We “hit it off” right away…..she was the type of person that you almost felt you had known your entire life.

Dana Knight and I became fast friends that summer and had many fun times together. We were both single, 23 yrs. old and ready to take on the world (haha). We called our apt. complex Melrose Place. It seemed the place was far too similiar to the hit show. Unfortunatley I didn't look like Heather Locklear and I never saw a guy as cute as Andrew Shu :) Young Professionals, law students and medical students mostly lived there and the residents of “Melrose Place” always provided some form of entertainment and drama!! At the age of 24 I decided it was time to move on from “Melrose Place” and get a place of my own. I bought a townhouse and Dana decided to leave the drama of “Melrose Place” as well and move in with me.

Our days at Hayesbury Lane were pretty uneventful. Our life consisted of work, watching Wife Swap, The Bachelor, The Hills and Laguna Beach. We would usually get a $5 Little Ceasar’s Pizza on Monday and one week I think I ate Little Ceasar’s 5 nights in a row. (and I wonder why I gained weight after college?) Yes, looking back, our taste in TV shows (and cuisine) was pretty poor. I will confess, trashy Reality TV is a guilty pleasure of mine. We even housed a Hurricane Katrina evacuee for a few months. Dana’s fun friend, Brittany, re-located from NOLA to Bham in the fall of 2005. She, just like Dana, was someone I felt I had known forever. I guess it was just fate I would move here one day. I moved on from Hayesbury in Feb. 2007 when Jason and I got engaged and moved to Montgomery. Dana bought my townhome and still lives there today (she is trying to sell it for any of you needing a cute place in Bham). In the midst of all this, Dana did meet her future husband, who just happens to be a childhood friend of mine.

To back up to Fall 2004, one my best childhood friends, Jeremy and his cousin, Nick (also a childhood friend) decided to come hang out in Bham one night. When there wasn't anything going in Oxford or Anniston they would come visit us "big ciy people" in Bham. Dana and Nick hit it off that night and now 6 years later will be tying the knot this June in Hattiesburg (her hometown). It is so funny how life works out. She is moving from Birmingham to Oxford, AL (where I grew up) and will even be living in the same neighborhood as my parents and where I grew up. And here I am in MS (ha). Doesn’t it seem like it should be the other way around...haha ??

I truly believe God places certain people in your life for reasons. Dana and her fun friends taught me LOTS about MS way before I even thought I’d be living here. I learned the difference b/w “Coast” people and the rest of MS, where to shop in Jackson, and heard a lot about a little hangout called “Mugshots” in Hattiesburg before it became a chain (now my favorite burger place in MS). Dana even bought me my first subscription to MS Magazine when I moved here as a “welcome gift”.

Although we have swapped home states, she will always be a MS girl to me! Who knew that cute, sweet girl from Southern Miss I met 7 years ago would be keeping me “up to date” on gossip in my hometown. Life can be definitely be quite funny sometime!! Looking forward to the wedding, June 4th and reuniting w/ my first group of Mississippi friends :)