Yep, I'm officially a grown up! I had my very first Christmas cookie exchange with my girlfriends this year! I stayed up late the night earlier melting chocolate and coating pretzels in sprinkles for this party instead of going out.
The picture above is a picture of all the girls who participated - this is of course after a few glasses of wine. So maybe I'm not as grown up as I think I am, but it was still a blast.
This past Sunday I went to a friends wedding that was just amazing! As I’ve mentioned before, I am in prime wedding season right now as I’m the perfect age for people to get married, have babies and buy new houses. So, I go to a lot of weddings which I absolutely love!
Being to a lot of weddings make you realize how each one is so different and things at each wedding stand out. Well, at Lauren’s wedding I can only say amazing things. The flowers, the lighting, the tables, the atmosphere, the people – all of it was truly amazing!
One thing I realized I want after being at Lauren’s wedding was a video of my day. I had shopped around and never found the right person to do it. They were all the same - long and boring (sorry). Probably not boring to the couple but boring to me – which made me think, why waste the money on it? Who is really going to want to sit down and watch this? Me, my kids – Yeah right? Life will happen and the next thing we know we’ll be at our own kids weddings.
But, Lauren’s videographer Studio Z really blew me away. So much so, I scheduled a meeting, met him today and plan to book him shortly. His pieces and stories are so well told it evokes emotion and joy, as if I were right there with them the whole time. The best part, they range from 2-6 minutes long – WOW! Of course he still gives you the long, boring version you may never watch again – but the short version is all worth it! You can show people who couldn't make it and review your magical night in less than 6 minutes. And, with all this mass mingling occurring you can post it anywhere!
Don’t believe me – check out my friend’s same day edit that played that night at their wedding! It’s gorgeous!
This past weekend I competed in the Cinciditarod, which is a race that takes the Alaskan Iditarod and makes it urban - to put it simply we used shopping carts instead of dog sleds.
Teams consisted of 5 people and you had to do some pretty creative things along the way, including dress up and perform a minute song and dance. Our Team decided we would be the Oompa Loompas and call ourselves "The Golden Ticket". We made our Oompa Loompa costumes, wrapped our shopping cart in gold foil and started to hash out a plan.
The day of the race was pretty fun. About 50 teams came out all dressed up - anything from Amish Teams, Mario Brothers, Kegs and Eggs and much more! Our outfits were hilarious. The race started downtown and ran about a 5-6 mile route with stops along the way. The first stop was in Mt.Adams, which if you live in Cincy is an area of town atop the steepest of hills. So imagine running up a hill for about a mile pushing a shopping cart.
After huffing and puffing our way atop Mt.Adams down we went to our second stop, Senor Roy's Taco Stand. Now, they have delicious tacos but not when running. Our challenge, to each eat a burrito and polish off a vitamin water. I'm going to say we gave those food eating competitors a run for their money, I was so proud of our team. We polished them off in about 3 minutes and continued on our way.
The rest of the stops consisted of mind challenges, obstacle courses, and buying items from the grocery store. It was about 4 miles, so imaging shoveling burritos down your throat with a 32 ounce vitamin water and running 4 miles after you just about threw up from running up a hill - it's tough.
All and all we had a blast! We didn't come in first, but a marathon team has won it 3 years in a row and we are convinced they cheat. There are easy ways to cheat, like having someone buy your groceries and meet you at the finish line (you basically cut 3 stops out and about 2 miles) but what fun is that? It's more about racing around town and giggling with your friends but Cinciditarod if you are reading these, you need to fix the kinks!
We were disappointed our dance didn't place, it was amazing. You can watch the video below. One of the winning teams was Jersey Shore, they basically fist pumped for a minute, not sure how they placed? I think it's because the judges like Jersey Shore. We are definitely doing this again next year - I recommend it!
So, with all this sad dog talk I thought I'd switch it up and post a lighthearted blog. I wouldn't have thought to post about this funny conversation, if it wasn't for Paul who is obsessed with my blog and it's all he ever thinks about.
So today at work we got talking today about dogs and how you can totally tell a lot about the dog owner by the personality of the dog. I'm sure you've heard of this, right? Like, somehow magically the dog owner and the dog share a bunch of tendencies.
It's totally true, think about every person you know that has owned a dog for awhile and then think about the personalities of each of them. I'll give you some examples. Take Paris Hilton and Tinkerbell, or Jessica Simpson and Daisy, Perez Hilton and Teddy - the list could go on and on. So, I began to think about people I know and what their dogs would be like...I mean we did this for hours so I just wanted to name few. After reading this blog, immediately waste some time thinking about the people you know.
I decided that Jim's dog, if he had his own and didn't share one with me, would be the dog that likes to seclude himself from others and is always getting into the liquor cabinet and is absolutely appalled by rolling in the dirt. Paul's dog would be the dog who is always trying to clown around for everyone and make them laugh, you could also find these dog running the streets alone late at night looking into every one's window. Annie's dog would be the one who's sweet in front of all the owners, but as soon as it is just the dogs and no humans, is the biggest trouble maker. Finally, Emily's dog would be the one who tries to sell you drugs and later cuts you with a switchblade.
Again, I could do on forever but I do find it to be a very interesting fact and very true. PS, if you don't know Emily and you meet her on the streets run the other way.
This past weekend I had the chance to go to the Meijer 300 at the Kentucky Speedway. It was my first NASCAR Event and it was totally awesome!
I went with a group of friends, pictured to the left, except the guy in the NASCAR jersey we just met that day! If you notice the man in the hot denim vest, that's my friend Ben - who made this lovely purchase that day for $5 in the BP parking lot! Funny thing is, not one person even batted an eyelash at this outfit.
It was everything I imagined it to be and more. Lotsa beer drinking, tapered jeans, jorts, cut off T-Shirts, mullets, shirtless men, feathered bangs and much much more! We did our tailgating in the Ramada Inn Parking lot across from the track - sounds classy huh? Nothing like tailgating in a hotel parking lot with a strip joint as your back drop - couldn't have asked for more.
We then went to the race and enjoyed an awesome concert by Pat Green! We danced, sang and polished off some tall boys to get ready for the race. We took our seats and sat for 29/300 laps. It was SOOOOo loud and only entertaining for the first few laps. If you ever go to a race, make sure you get headphones so you can hear what is going on, if not, it will just be cars going in circles and really really loud.
Then, we went to head back to our hotel. A group of us had a bit of a detour, as we hitched a ride from some shady folks and ended up an exit beyond the track (kids, don't do this in Sparta, KY where it's just you and the woods). But after being rescued by Crystal we were driven back to our hotel to meet our friends! Not the smartest decision ever made by us, but it made for a good story and details that can't be shared here.
We hung out and parties some more in the lot until going to bed in our smoke filled hotel. I mean, this hotel smelled like they had cigarette potpourri pumping into it- it was gross. We had 2 Queen beds and an air mattress in the middle to make one giant bed for the 6 of us! So it was not the best nights sleep.
The experience was awesome and we had a great time. At the end of it the only thing I wanted to do was get home and shower!!!
This past weekend we had our first official Gigglemoor trip of the summer to celebrate my 28th birthday. I was a little uneasy at first because of my teeth, but come Friday evening I was feeling much better.
As usual the weekend was filled with great food, laughter, friends and all sorts of fun! We shot potato guns, played whiffle ball, went wake boarding, jet skiing, hung out on the dock and much more.
One of my favorite moments from the weekend was my birthday dinner on Saturday night. We cooked pork tenderloin, shrimp, veggies and much more and it was delicious!!! I have the best boyfriend who planned it all and even bought me a surprise outfit to wear for the night! Plus, my friends were the greatest and surprised me with a nice gift as well.
After all this, had to make room for the birthday cake complete with sparklers and all. We popped a little champagne and enjoyed! It was a great birthday and a total surprise to have the nice additions. I can't wait to go back. I posted a group photo above as well as some snaps of the birthday cake! I couldn't have asked for a better birthday surprise!
Living in the 'Nati and love spending time with family and friends. You've landed on my blog, lucky you, here you will find intersting things I come across and tidbits about my life. It's totally random and I try to update regulary so feel free to follow and enjoy!
Yep, I'm officially a grown up! I had my very first Christmas cookie exchange with my girlfriends this year! I stayed up late the night earlier melting chocolate and coating pretzels in sprinkles for this party instead of going out.
