It Gets Better

I’ve been on-line dating for over a month now… and it does get better!

Okay, when I say “it gets better”, I don’t mean that all of the sudden I’ve found the secret formula to attract the right guy, but I say “it gets better” in that I have so much more to share with y’all!

What’s your number babe

For real?

And the transition right to “well, let’s hang out then”.

I sent back a page of my schedule that ended with basically, it’s a month before I’ll have any free time.  And I fully expected that to be the end of him.

It wasn’t.

The guy went on to ask me 5,000,000,000 questions.

I’m not even exaggerating!

But, it gets better!

A few days later he messages me again… and very obviously isn’t paying a bit of attention.

Good to know?  Good to know?  What part of I was sick was good to know?  I don’t even have an answer for that one!

Yeah, no.  I just can’t even.

But wait – it gets better.

Enter a new beau.  And he falls under the category of “Did you just say that?”  I mean, I can’t tell you how long I stared at his message in disbelief.  It’s not so much whether or not you have religious beliefs, it was just the disrespect he has towards those that do.  Take a look. 

I sent back to him that I found that comment out of line and didn’t want that attitude in my life.  To which he responded “Ok”.

See – I told you it got better!!! I don’t think you can top these!  But, rest assured, my fingers are in top form for taking screen shots just in case someone comes along who can top these!!

Speaking of top form – I do have a race this weekend.  A 5k for the college my son attends, the alumni put it on every year, and I’m happy to be able to participate! I am not racing this one, I’m just having fun with it, so I hope to take lots of pictures – the school had a poster making day – and I can’t wait to see what they came up with! I’ve been staying at my parents house this week, and they say that hills make you stronger – but I swear the hills in my parents neighborhood are out to kill me.

 

January Recap

I can’t think of a catchy title for this blog… and since it will be a smorgasbord, I figured that “recap” is fine.  Okay, disclaimer over with it! Let’s get started!

One of my SMART goals this years, under “Personal Betterment” is

I welcome January 2017 in as a sharp-dressed woman, as I have made an effort to be more presentable, and accountable in my attire and stepped outside the house always dressed for success.

Honestly, I really thought this was a good idea.

And I’m not ready to abandon it yet… but…

Yeah, that happened.

This month, we celebrated my mom’s birthday with a family gathering.  Mr. T had to work, so he spent time with her and dad earlier in the day and had a pleasant lunch with his grandparents, but since I was busy, I wasn’t there and don’t have any pictures – so we’ll start with a picture I snapped of the two of them a few days prior!

They were having an intense discussion! Cassius, Lee’s boxer, came over for a visit, and if you look closely, even Shorty was taking part!

It was a fun gathering, and at the end of the night, it was time to take some pictures!

The best part was when Grammy wanted some pictures with her grand-kids.  This is what we posted:

This is the behind the scenes of what all we have to go through in order to get just a few good shots! I am sure this is something most of y’all can relate to!!

Notice how we were all jumping in to help.

Yeah.  Not so much.  We are more of a sit-back-and-laugh family!!

Remember that I mentioned being busy that morning so I couldn’t join Mr. T during his visit with his grandparents?

Boom! First 5k of the year done! *happy dance* Heroes for Hope run benefiting St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

BA ran with me, and after we had cooled down, grabbed some food and water, I checked, and they didn’t have a computer set up for us to check our official times, but they gave me the site I could log onto later – and then pointed me in the direction of the guy that had the print out!

I did not medal.

Well, if I’m not getting a medal, then we could go.  Not going to lie, there were 30 more minutes to go until the ceremony, and I couldn’t hang!

The next day I got on and checked the official time.

I did not medal, BUT…

I knocked 3 minutes off my race time!! 3 minutes y’all!!  It was insane!  I did start way too fast, and it came up and bit me in the butt at the 2.5ish mark, but again, I’m just amazed at the love of runners, I was struggling, and another runner came up beside me and slowed down, told me I could do it – and then stayed to run with me for a bit!  She and I kept together for a good bit, and it felt good.  I love the sense of community that has come with running, I really do!

As long as I was checking my time, I pulled up BA’s time.

And then I called him and asked “When I was checking the time sheet for me – did you happen to check it for you?  I think you medaled.”

No, he hadn’t checked the sheet, so I contacted the race coordinator, and sure enough, BA came in 3rd place in his group!  They are mailing his medal – it took several hours for it to really sink in with him, but all of the sudden, I think I can convince him to run with me again!

 

 

 

 

I am a Runner

Happy Pre-Friday everyone! The other night I clicked a link on Twitter, read this blog  and then shed some tears. Several of you have been here for the last several years and know my journey to get healthier, and how I’ve started running and stopped, started and stopped more times than I can count.

It took some time to for me to actually start “running”. I worked up to it. I walked. A lot. I did the elliptical. I tried outside. And came right back in. It’s hard. And there are people out there. People that could see every jiggle and bounce my body took with each stride.

It has been almost a year since I started “running”. And up until a few weeks ago, I still wouldn’t have called myself a runner. Y’all remember my first 5k from a few weeks ago? Remember those two girls talking and I distanced myself from the conversation because I thought they were friends – but come to find out, they were strangers too – they just had allowed themselves to embrace the running community, where as I hadn’t yet. I was standing there waiting for someone to tell me that I didn’t look like a runner. That I shouldn’t even be there.

That’s the little voice in my head that I live with. That I think most of us live with. That voice that can come up with 1,000 reasons why you shouldn’t do it. Why you shouldn’t run that race, why you shouldn’t take the new job, why you shouldn’t move across the country. Or even why you shouldn’t say yes to that invitation that your friend issued.

But you know what? Not once has that voice been right. I always have fun when I say Yes to the invitation. Taking the new job led to an amazing life, one I couldn’t have imagined that allowed me to be there more for my son. And you know what, not a single person at that race told me I wasn’t supposed to be there. Not a single one even gave me a sideways glance. Everyone I encountered smiled, and spoke, and invited me in.

And now I can say that I’m a runner and not put the quotation marks around it.  Now I can share with all of you what, up until this point, was pretty much only known if you follow me on Instagram! I was afraid to put it out there.  I was afraid to declare my intentions.  The little voice was telling me that I wouldn’t find acceptance.  Fortunately, I am stronger, WE are all stronger, than that little voice.

So, go run.  Go paint.  Go capture a soul through your photography.  Go step outside your comfort zone and take the new job.  Move.  Explore.  Do.

And go read Ashley at Rather be Runnin’: 

Rather Be Runnin’

P.S. I linked to some old posts of mine, which was weird, because (1) they were old and apparently my writing style has change (hopefully for the better) and (2) they were not even telling the story the way I thought they were!  So, you don’t have to bother to go back and read them!

Apparently My Profile Picture Sucks

And thank goodness for that! We were hanging out in the concession stand Saturday night, working a very slow playoff game, and I’m not sure exactly how it happened, all I know is all of the sudden one of the teenagers was going through my photos to pick a new profile picture.  Because mine wasn’t very flattering.

So I’m looking around at everyone – what do you mean? I love that picture! It’s an awesome picture!!

And I got “you know, kudos to you for using natural light.”

All I know is that more people should speak up when a profile picture isn’t good!

But, do it in a nice way! And that teenager really was so sweet!  Later that night I tagged her on Instagram and asked if the one I picked was better – she agreed, so whew, I have a replacement! I’ve been trying to figure out where all I have the old picture so I can replace it! 🙂

Okay, I have two replacements.  I’m pretty much afraid to make any decisions on my own at this point!

Oh! You want to know what is not my profile picture? 

That is me at the start line of my very first 5k run!  It was a last minute decision… like 3 days before the race I decided to do it!  I’ve never run that far before, it is 3.1 miles and I run about 2.7 most mornings.  I had no clue what I was doing.  At all.

And, I am so shy that I was in line and these two girls were talking and included me in the conversation, and I ended up scooting a bit out of it, cause nerves and insecurity!

At the end of their conversation, they introduced themselves.  To each other!  They didn’t know each other, they were just there in a shared experience!

AGH! I have got to learn how to do that!!

But that’s not the point!  Spoiler alert, I lived to tell about my race!

I finished!

Not only that, I finished in the top 5 of my group!  I was pretty darn proud of myself and now I think I’ll have to do another one!

Of course, if you follow any runners at all, it’s all about the meals.  The meals leading up to the race, and naturally the post race meal.  And boy was I thinking about a post race meal!

And then I remembered that I didn’t run but less than 1/2 a mile more than usual – LOL, it’s not like I burned an extra 1,000 calories that day!

So, I compromised.