We Bought A House!

Sorry for being MIA… I swear it was for a good reason:

After spending the past 3 months looking at short sales and having no luck, I stumbled upon a fantastic offer from Ryland Homes. It’s in a neighborhood that we love, but always thought was out of our price range. Ryland just introduced a new series of homes, and it was right in our budget! So on Saturday, we headed down to the sales center to take a looksie. And of course, we signed a contract to build a home:

Here’s the artist’s rendering of our new house:

And our floor plan:

And our lot:

We haven’t picked colors or anything yet.. that’s this week. They’re going to start building ASAP, so I’ll be posting about a million updates! We are so ridiculously excited about everything and greatly looking forward to moving into our new home in June!

Fashion Friday

I’m bringin’ it back, y’all: Fashion Friday!

Here’s what I’m loving right now…

This pink-peach  colored shirt from Charlotte Russe with adorable roses on the left breast:

And these Christian Siriano for Payless black flats:

How can you NOT love those?

What fashion trends are you loving this Friday?

Excuse the Mess..

I’m in the middle of a face lift. 🙂

Acne Progress

For the past year, I have struggled with acne. At first, I assumed it was stress due to wedding planning. But it never went away. In January, I finally had enough and called a dermatologist. This is how I looked on Super Bowl Sunday:

Inflamed. Red. Breakouts all over my forehead and chin. My skin looked awful. I was embarrassed by it.

When I went to the dermatologist the first week of February, she prescribed me Doxycycline, Differin and SkinCeuticals clarifying cleanser:

It’s been about 3 weeks, and I’m starting to see some results:

I’m not as inflamed or as red! Is it healed? Not yet. But I have hope.

26.2 With Donna Recap

Finally, my 26.2 with Donna Marathon Relay Recap!

I apologize for the ridiculous delay on this recap. I was really sick on Monday, then last night I was entirely too preoccupied with my new iPhone. Sad, I know.

I met up with Stacey, Trish, Beth, and Maureen super early on Sunday morning. After a coffee stop, we got to the race site around 6:45 a.m. Stacey, Beth & Maureen had to rush off to their shuttles, and Trish and I wandered around and froze our asses off.

Around 9 a.m., I got on a bus to take me to my leg: Miles 15-20. The course was fantastic! It was a mostly shaded neighborhood trek through Atlantic Beach. So many people were in their drive ways to watch the race and cheer on the runners. The camaraderie was great! It was really inspiring me to run a full marathon.

Despite hacking up my lungs, I ran a new 5-mile PR according to my Garmin: 58:14! I was pretty stoked.

Honestly, I had a really hard time pacing myself due to adrenaline and my congested lungs just couldn’t keep up. I know I would’ve ran it even faster than that had I been healthy.

In the end, our relay team ran a 4:40 marathon. Awesomesauce! And we earned our medals:

For anyone considering this marathon, I highly suggest it!

Nature’s Beauty

Good morning!

Goodness its a gorgeous day outside. Even though I’m racing the Breast Cancer Marathon Relay tomorrow, I decided to sneak in a quick 3 mile jog this morning:

1. 11:53
2. 11:45
3. 11:28

Perfect negative splits! I had to keep laying off the pace since I didn’t want to push it too hard today. I know that a lot of people wouldn’t run the day before a race, but I always have better runs on the 2nd day. I think I’m looser and more relaxed. I hope that’s how it works tomorrow morning! Check out the scenery of my run:

I know, I can never complain about running outside again. Isn’t the Intercoastal gorgeous?! When I got home, I did some ab work:

• 50 crunches
• 25 knees-to-chest
• 25 reverse crunches
• 50 twisting crunches
• 50 bicycle crunches

It feels good to get nice and sweaty.

I’m meeting up with my relay group bright and early at 5:45 tomorrow. I have batteries in my camera, and I fully intend on bringing her along for the run. I’ve got to do a bunch of laundry since I know I’ll be in desperate need of a nap when I get home tomorrow. I also need to pack up my race day essentials and go ahead and KT Tape my legs tonight.

What preparations do you make the night before a race?

Have a great weekend!

Money For Nothin’

Fo’ sho.

Practically right when I walked in the door at work this morning, we lost our power.  Not gonna lie, I prayed it would stay off and we’d get to go home.  Sadly, about half an hour later it came back on.  But……. Our internet was down.  Totally fried.  So what did we do?  Yeah, sit around and do nothing and get paid to do nothing.  You don’t see this girl complaining!

We finally got up and running just before noon.   And since then?  I’ve been slammed.  Designed and laid out a new ad for the boss man, took care of a bunch of clients, hit the the mall at lunch with a girlfriend… It’s been a busy afternoon! 

Is it 5:30 yet?!