Saturday Projects!

Sometimes I am certain that Matthew thinks I am crazy and addicted to Pinterest. There is a constant flow of ideas or projects to the house. I have always wanted a gallery or collage wall, but wasnt sure how it could all come together. Well with a few purchases from tj maxx and actual use of wedding presents... TA DA!

I also snatched some frames from the target college section, they were cheap and they work perfectly!

I love the way the bookshelves, chair, pillow, and wall all came together!

13.1

I did it. That is right....I ran my first half marathon in Nashville, the last weekend in April. It was the St. Jude Rock n Roll country music marathon. There were over 30,000 runners....WOW!

It was one of the more remarkable things I have experienced...I feel like the best way to describe this might be in bullet form

• 30,000 plus runners - CRAZY! it was like playing frogger for 13 miles
• i didnt cross the starting line until 37 min after the official start of the race
• apparently these races are big events for local spectators - the people of Nashville make this event look like gameday at Alabama
• people were tailgating and drinking mimosas cheering on the runners
• the cheers - i have never been so happy to hear so many random people telling me to keep going, they were ultra encouraging and humorous
• next time - I will do better at pacing myself
• misery loves company - i loved the comraderie of the runners and everyone suffering together
• my goal time was 2 hr 30 min -- I finished at 2hr 31...I was DEAD at the end and the last couple of miles were torture but I finished!
• this was something on my bucket list and a fear of mine. (check and check!)
• frozen strawberries were delicious after the race
• my body was covered in my own salt...gross.
• by 2pm that afternoon i was gone. so tired.
• i cried/teared up multiple times for multiple reasons

Needless to say - I cannot wait to do another. I plan to sign up for the Disney half in January.

Don't worry there were tears and pain and tingling feet/numbness but I did it! Looking back is always easier right? Don't worry Disney...I am coming for ya!

here are some not so great pics!

Thanks Denton clan for coming alongside Matthew to support me! Y'all rock! Man I was looking rough....

Got Hitched

On February 4th 2012, we officially tied the knot! We heard the phrase "it's about time" about 1,000 times over the course of the engagement/wedding process. It truly was a wonderful day and weekend. We were surrounded by so many people that we know and love and their support for us  as a couple is something we are incredibly thankful for.

Here are a couple pictures from the big day....

My sister-in-law/photographer posted some of the pics on her blog, she did such an awesome job every step of the way (engagement, bridals, wedding...) so thankful to have her around! Check out the posts here...

Our Stanford Life! -- Finally back!

Hello All!
I know, it has been what seems like a decade since I have posted on the blog...but in that time I have graduated, worked a couple jobs, got married, honeymooned, worked more, got a puppy, ran my first half marathon, and pretty much ignored the blogging aspect of life! (Of course I still read a bajillion blogs daily...)

Due to these life changes you may recognize a name/look change of the blog - no longer am I a college student (sad) and now I am going to blog about what it looks like to be a part of our little "Stanford life" (hint: Stanford = new last name).

Matthew and I are loving married life, we have a house that we love and are daily rearranging, re-placing, and refurnishing until we get it just right --- at least for that day anyway! I am going to need a lot of posts to catch up but I wanted to jump back into this because I do think it is a great way to reflect for myself and recap the happenings in our life. Let's face it, I will never be able to scrapbook or consistently journal so this is about as good as it can get! I am happy to be back - make sure your google reader/feed updates with the new name change! See you guys sooon!

New blog name suggestions?

So as of tomorrow I will officially be an alumni of The University of Alabama. My blog name chronicles the life of a college student...that of which I will no longer be. In February Matthew and I will marry and our last name will be Stanford, I have been trying to think of maybe a cute or catchy way to tie that in or just find some inspiration for a new name?

I would love to hear some suggestions, comment or email me! Have a fabulous weekend

Top Books List

Let's start this off by saying that I LOVE reading a good book, there are few things more satisfying than flipping through (or swiping, thanks to the kindle software) the last page of a good story line. I just finished...

I finished the entire series yesterday and oh. my. word. They are absolutely fabulous! I cannot wait for the movie to come out and in fact I am sort of sad I am done with them because well, they were THAT good. If you have not read them, do not let the post apocalyptic storyline scare you (because it did me, at first) ...it is a MUST read.

After finishing this I was thinking about "what are my favorite books...." and to be honest I really cannot rank a first, second, or third because so many stories or fantastic for many different reasons so instead I will just list off a few of my favorites.

The Help - What an incredibly eye opening and insightful/humorous/heart wrenching story. I loved the book and thought that the movie was actually a pretty good depiction, but you can never out-do the book. The author also went to Alabama... Roll Tide =)

The Great Gatsby - This book to me is a classic, I think we had to read it in 10th grade and since then I have read it numerous times. I am stoked that they are making this into a movie with Leo Dicaprio --- it better be good. I just love love love the story.



Redeeming Love - This is hands down one of the best and most riveting books I have ever read, it is sort of lengthy but I could not stop turning the pages. It is deemed a Christian novel, it parallels the book of Hosea in the Bible. But you could read this and not know that and it is still an incredibly compelling and amazing love story. I have read it multiple times and it still astounds me.

Skinny Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

Over the Thanksgiving break, I was really craving pumpkin + cheesecake. I LOVE cheesecake and I really like pumpkin and I decided to try out skinnytaste's mini pumpkin cheesecakes. I forgot to take pictures myself and so below is the picture from the website.

I had trouble actually swirling the mixture, but I will say they were pretty tasty but maybe not quite as "cheesecake-y" as I wanted. (probably due to the "skinny" recipe aspect) but do not fear... a family member decided to bring this for our actual thanksgiving meal...

That would be pumpkin cheesecake from the cheesecake factory - I do not even want to admit how many heavenly pieces I consumed....

I hope everyone had a splendid thanksgiving, and now it's Christmas time!