Primrose Joins the Family

Here I am with my first "real" post back in blog-land, after quite a bit of a hiatus. And I know, I know.... I'm sure you were all hoping that I would jump right in with wedding recaps and what-not, but I just can't dive back into the blog-pool straight into the deep end, before I wade around in the shallow end first. Plus, I haven't actually gotten the professional photographs back yet, so I'll wait for those before sharing all of the wedding stuff :)

So today, we're starting out with our newest addition to the family - little miss Primrose!

Last Saturday morning, we were sitting on the front porch drinking coffee, and I said all I needed to make it perfect was a little furry friend sitting all warm and cozy in my lap. So I grabbed my laptop and starting searching Craigslist. I ended up on the website for the animal shelter, and before we knew it, we had added that as a stop on our list of errands for the day.

We got there around 3:30, and found out that if we donated blood before 4 pm, we would get a voucher to waive the adoption fees! So Jeff went in to try, but couldn't while on antibiotics. Fortunately for us though, they gave us the voucher anyways! We saw a couple of cuties, but once we saw this one, we knew pretty much immediately that she was a good choice. We had them take her to the little dog-walk-section, and we fell in love with her fun little personality!

So we decided to make her our own little baby! She's a 2-year-old Dachshund mix, although we're not really sure what the mix is. It could be a little bit of Beagle, it could be a little bit of Jack Russell, but who really knows?! She's already been spayed, but sadly she is heartworm positive. Luckily for us though, the shelter has an assistance program for dogs that are heartworm positive when they're adopted, so we get a discount on her treatment at a "partner vet." Jeff dropped her off this morning actually for her first shot, then we have to take her back in a month for a second shot. Then after that she will be perfectly healthy!

She is seriously one of the sweetest little dogs ever. She absolutely loves cuddling and getting petted and scratched. She loves sleeping all curled up on my chest on the couch while we watch a movie, or between my legs at night in bed. She walks right by your side both inside and outside, and doesn't even like to be alone to go to the bathroom. She doesn't eat much, but that might be due to the heartworms. She does however love marshmallows as treats! And she also jumps up on top of her crate trying to get to the kitchen table ;)

First family picture, right after adoption :)

She's been a perfect fit for us so far, and I can only imagine it will only get better and better as she gets more used to us! We both love her so much already, and I'm so glad we have our own little fur baby. She's the first dog that's ever been "all mine," and she's the greatest little doggie. Oh, and this is another thing I get to mark off my 30 Before 30 list, of "have my very own pet!" I am so excited to have my own baby dog to love and play with and have as a part of our little family! So very glad to have found this sweet baby girl - our little Prim! :)

Much Love,
Halie

P.S. - Yes, her name is from one of my favorite book/movie series, "The Hunger Games." It's perfect for her really, because she is quite prim & proper. It's pretty funny so far :) But in spite of it being from a favorite book of mine, it also starts with my favorite letter, so it was perfect. And of Primrose Pullen has a good ring to it, right?! :)

Paint-Splattered 5K Finisher

YOU GUYS!!! I ran my first 5K last weekend!! I've been training for this for the past nine weeks of the summer, by running "longer" distances three times a week, and just one mile two times a week, meaning I ran at least five days a week. I got up at 6 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday in order to follow Hal Higdon's 5K novice training plan, and ran before work three times a week. It was not always fun, and sometimes I hated it - but obviously I'm so glad I did it, and completed a huge accomplishment for me!!

For my 25th birthday, I created a 30 Before 30 list, and I had included "Complete a 5K." I had every intention of doing that, I just didn't know that it would get done before my next birthday! So now I get to cross that off my list! Oh, and for my summer bucket list, I get to cross off "train for a 5K," now that I completed my training plan and the actual race itself!

I had only run the actual 5K distance about two or maybe three times before the race, but I knew all along that I wanted my goal to be under 40 minutes for the race. My couple of training runs had come in under that time, so I was pretty sure I could do it on race day as well...

My wonderful fiance, amazing parents, and sweet Granddaddy all came to support me in my first race. And then my awesome aunt and uncle surprised me and showed up too! I had such a fantastic cheering section! They were at the starting line, then they walked up to one of the color stations, and then found a new spot at the finish line, so I saw all of them three times on my run. It was such a great feeling running past them, while they screamed and cheered and clapped, and of course took pictures. It was like my own little fan club and paparazzi! 

What I didn't take into consideration in my training though, was that it was going to much hotter from 9-10 a.m. during the race, as opposed to 6-7 a.m. when I usually ran. And it. was. super. hot. So hot in fact, that at one point, I had pretty much given up on thinking I could finish in under 40 minutes. My goal changed to "Just finish, Halez - just finish." 

The other tricky thing was that I didn't have my phone with me, mapping my distance. I was afraid it might get messed up, so I didn't keep it on me like usual. So I had no idea how far I had gone, since there were no mile-markers on the course. (At least none that I saw...) I did however wear my Polar heart rate monitor and watch though, so I could time myself. So I was burning up, and had no idea how much was left, but I kept on trucking. And when I hit that last color station around 35 or 36 minutes, I kicked it up a notch, and ran the rest of the way, just hoping it wasn't too much further.

Once I realized how close I actually was, I picked up my speed just a little bit more, and as I crossed under the finish banner, I stopped the timer on my watch as fast as I could. And to my astonishment, I then looked down, and saw I had made it in 38:45!!!!

I finished the race with a fair amount of color on me. Not really much at all. But then I went over to the stage for one of the celebratory color parties, and that's when things got crazy. We all counted down, then we each threw a color packet up in the air, and danced and jumped around in a colorful powdered haze for a few minutes. And it was so much freaking fun! When I returned back to where my family was waiting for me, my Mama kinda shrieked and laughed a little, and immediately got the camera back out. Because after this awesomeness below, I came back looking like this.....

Check out the sweat-concentrated areas around my lips. That's just lovely, right?!

Then I had Jeff follow me around for a little bit, being my personal race-day-photographer, snapping all kinds of pictures here and there. What a great future husband I have :) He got an awesome one of me jumping up in the air with the color party happening behind me, but some large woman decided to get all up in my way, so she ruined it. Jeff's going to Photoshop her right on outta there though, and then I'll share that awesomeness with y'all. 

This was something that even just a year ago I wouldn't have thought I would even try, nonetheless actually finish. And hello - not only did I finish, but I actually had fun too! I am honestly just so stinking proud of myself. I've always hated running, but crazy something happened in February, and I just gave it a try one day. Now, just a little over six months later, I ran my first 5K, and I would actually call myself a bit of a runner. What kind of craziness is this?!

This was a great first race for me to do, because it's kind of given me a little bit of a taste to try out more now. I think if I do find other races to run, they'll need to be sometime fun or different or unique - not just a boring, serious race. I've heard rumors that The Color Run will be back in Tally in March, and if that's true, I'm signing up faster than you can imagine. It was a blast, and I would love to do it again!

Much Colorful Love,
Halie

Oh, and P.S. - I also painted my nails kinda cool for The Color Run. I tried out a new tutorial for paint-splatter nails, and it turned out pretty decent. It's not my favorite mani I've ever done, but I didn't hate it. And it started growing on me even more as I wore it. I think I might try it again, but just with only two colors, instead of six. But for this super colorful event, six colors was absolutely necessary.

P.P.S. - I'm linking up with Glitter & Gloss for Mani Monday, and Sami's Shenanigans for Weekend Shenanigans!

Pre-Registration is Open!

I am so excited! And it's for something I never thought I would get excited about. Because this is something I've always hated and simply would NOT do before. But that was before I decided it was time to get myself healthy. And now, I'm excited about running. About running a 5K that is! Who is this girl I'm becoming?! I think some people might say I'm becoming a "runner...." And who thought that would ever happen? Not me, that's for sure.

Back on my 25 Before 25 list, I wanted to complete a Couch to 5K program. Well that didn't happen at all. I didn't actually even start one. I ran maybe four times, and then quit. Then I put Run a 5K on my 30 Before 30 list, and felt more serious about it this time. In February, I started running one Sunday, and quickly picked it up and was soon running multiple times a week, to lately I've been running about 5-6 days a week! And now comes the time where I start trying to "train" towards something, towards a goal.

My friend Sara asked me like a year ago to do a color run with her - and I almost immediately shot her down. It wasn't my thing. I wasn't a runner. I wasn't going to do it. And so we missed the ones that were all close to here, and I barely even noticed, because I didn't care about running. But she still really wanted to do one, and so she kept on asking me about it. And eventually she planted a bug in me, and made me want to do one now too! 

And so we started researching and trying to find one that we could do together. But the Florida ones have all happened already. Sad day. And the closest Georgia or Alabama ones are on dates that don't work for one or both of us. But then I started doing more research, and found another race called Run or Dye! And they have ones planned for Orlando & Atlanta (both about 4.5 hours from where we live), but the dates weren't announced for those yet. And it's not very smart to register for a race in another city if you don't know the date, especially when you're as busy as I am...

But then last night, I saw one of my old youth post a picture on her Instagram, saying that the Run or Dye race was coming to Tally!!! And I got so excited. And then this morning on Facebook, another friend posted  a link to pre-registration, and I immediately hopped over there to start checking stuff out. Technically, the dates of this one aren't announced yet either, but I scoured over hundreds of comments on their Facebook page to see that one girl mentioned when you pre-register, they give a tentative date of September 7th. And September 7th works for me!!

So it looks like I'll be running my very first 5K race on September 7, 2013, in the Run or Dye race, here in Tallahaseee!! Who can recommend the best training app or schedule? I need some suggestions!

Image via the Run or Dye Facebook page

Also, I definitely want to get a team together to do this. Really it just means you save $5 off of your registration, and that's about it. But I also need the support and camaraderie that comes from running with friends. So even though Pre-Registration is Open now, I'm waiting a bit until I can scrounge up a few friends to all register with me :) But no matter what, I WILL be running this race, and I'm strangely so excited for it!

Promises - My 30 Before 30 List!!

As of yesterday, I'm officially a quarter-of-a-century old. That's a big deal, right? Maybe, but also maybe not ;) Either way, I'm excited about it! Most of you should know, that for the past six months, I've been working on my list of goals for 25 Before 25, and I've had so much fun! Some were easy, some were hard, some were quick, some took longer, but all were enjoyed. (You can read my final recap in case you want to see how I did on those goals.) One of the things on my previous 25 Before 25 list, was to create a brand new list of 30 Before 30!!

Sent this to a few family members yesterday, just for some fun :)

And of course I've done just that. I haven't written it down and made it look pretty yet like I did with the last one, but I will definitely be doing that soon, so that I can display it as a constant reminder! So without further ado, here's my list of goals for the next five years!

  1. Buy a DSLR for myself, and really learn how to use it
  2. Bake homemade bread, all from scratch
  3. Visit Bridget, wherever she happens to be living at the time!
  4. Read and watch "Gone with the Wind"
  5. Take a cooking class or a painting class - or maybe both!
  6. Get married! (October 5, 2013!!!)
  7. See another Broadway play, or go to any Cirque du Soleil performance
  8. Meet a blog friend IRL (in real life) DONE 5.9.13 with Angie
  9. Complete a 5K (Did The Color Run on 9/7/13)
10. Be healthy! (Hesitant to set specifics, but I'm thinking I want to weigh 150...)
11. Host a dinner party at my own house, cooked all by myself
12. Watch at least 50 of AFI's top 100 films, from 2007 list. (At time of posting, I've already seen 21)
13. Fly on a plane again! (October 6, 2013 - to Cancun on the honeymoon!)
14. Read at least 50 books
15. Visit a state I've never been to before
16. Be in a job or career that I love
17. Eat something I've never had before - maybe something a little bit weird and different?!
18. Travel outside of the country (October 6, 2013 - to Cancun on the honeymoon!)
19. Triple my blog followers, blog posts & number of page views (Today: 298 followers, 262 posts & 19740 views)
20. Completely pay off my student loans
21. Be a part of a flash mob
22. Learn how to drive a stick shift, flawlessly and without stalling
23. Live in my own place (with my husband maybe?!) and decorate it just the way I want it
24. Attend a renaissance fair
25. Go back to New York City again
26. Go to the Epcot Food & Wine Festival to taste all the yummy foreign foods!
27. Have a pet of my own (adopted Primrose 11/9/13)
28. Figure out how to start putting away money for retirement, and do it
29. Go on a spontaneous weekend trip/vacation, without pre-planning anything!
30. Celebrate my 30th birthday in style!!

So, a few of these things are very similar or exact repeats of my 25 Before 25 list, and that's because I didn't do them before, but I would still really like to accomplish, i.e. complete a 5K. But for the most part, I tried to dream bigger and broader than I did with my first list, because now I have five full years to complete these, instead of only six short months.

I really believe that these are things that I will enjoy doing, as well as actually be able to accomplish. However, I will say this: I have no idea where in my life I'll be in two or three or four and half years - so if some of these need to be tweaked or re-worked or deleted with new add-ins, then I'm giving myself permission up front to do that. I mean hello? Five years is kind of a long way off to plan for. So I'm just going to be flexible on these if need be. Because honestly, I'm the only one truly worrying if these are all accomplished anyways!

And besides, the main purpose of this kind of list for me is simply to experience more, travel more, expose myself to more, love more, learn more, treat myself more... LIVE more. And that's exactly what I plan on doing. I plan on living a great life, and enjoying every day that God blesses me with! And while doing that, I plan on doing some awesome things over the next five years :)

Have y'all made any lists like this before? What kinds goals and dreams are on your lists? I'd love to hear more ideas!

Oh, and P.S. - Here's my super short Weigh In Wednesday -- I only lost a pound this last week, putting me at 204 today. I'm blaming that on the very untimely woman issues and some extra bloating because of that... ugh.