The Happiest 5K on the planet...no, really.

Today I ran the most fun 5K ever, The Color Run. I never thought I'd say that about a 5K, but I already can't wait to run it again next year!

 There were THOUSANDS of people there, but I went with Krista, her sister Nicole and sister-in-law Becky, along with her aunts Jill and Mignon, and had an amazing time! After we tatted ourselves up (with the tattoos included in our running packets) and got our numbers on, we headed to the starting line, where we had to wait for our heat to start.

I started the race at a nice pace, but then (as no shock to me) my shins started killing me and I committed to walking the rest of the way. It has been a while since my last 5K,(which was a lot of walking, with sporadic running and weaving through crowded Atlanta streets), so I wasn't surprised that my endurance was not that great. However, I got a nice surprise at the end when I decided to finish out the race running and still shaved about 12 minutes off my last 5K time. I guess even my walking pace has improved over my old running pace. As embarrassing as that is, I'll embrace it.

I am already planning another 5K in May with my cousin and her daughter, and possibly a "graffiti run"??? But, hey, I'll go for any gimmick that gets me a "free" t-shirt!!

Baby snuggles.

Bristol Lynn Hammond is here and I am absolutely smitten with her. I mean, I just met her 4 hours ago and I am already missing her! I couldn't get to the hospital fast enough to snuggle that sweet little bundle and I am already counting down to my next snuggle session. I'm gonna need them on the reg.

BAH!!

  I picked up big sister Brogan from school and off to the hospital we went. After a pit stop at the gift shop to purchase one giant birdie "baby girl" balloon (picked out by Brogan, of course), we were off to meet the newest Hammond. I can already tell that Brogan and Bristol are going to have tons of fun together.

I mean, really girls? Lets be a little cuter, shall we?

  I'm really looking forward to seeing Miss Bristol in her adorable nursery and also to taking some sweet newborn and family pictures with these sweet girls! In the mean time, I'm going to continue my current slumber party snuggles with Brogan. Aunt Vic loves you both so much! XOXO

Popping and Buzzing...

Well, my New Year's resolution was to blog more. Seeing that it is March 7th, we can all see how that turned out. But, things have been busy indeed, celebrating babies and birthdays!

Three weekends ago, we had a Baby Sprinkle for my dear friend Sarah Beth, with a "Ready to Pop" theme. I think the details came together quite nicely and it was so fun to see all the little girly gifts that Sarah Beth and Miss Bristol Lynn received!

The menu consisted of cake cops, oreo pops, pop-tarts, rice krispie treats, popcorn chicken, jalapenos poppers, toosie pops, ring pops, pop rocks, and bubble gum. There was a popcorn bar that featured buttered popcorn, caramel corn and Poppy Chow (thank you Pinterest!)

 

We had a few shower activities, but my favorite was "Mommy's Late Night Diapers". Everyone wrote Sarah Beth a little joke or some encouragement on a diaper, for those late diaper emergencies, when she made need a little smile or laugh.

 And then some of my personal faves...the big sister enjoying her first Ring Pop and some snuggles with Mols The Dog!!

The following weekend was buzzing with celebrations for Miss Brogan's 3rd Bee-day! Sarah Beth did an UH-MAZING job with the bee theme, and everything came together so perfectly!

The menu for B's party was perfect! Bar-BEE-Que sandwiches, HONEY BBQ chips, peanut butter and HONEY sandwiches, HONEY nut cheerio treats, HONEYdew melon and HONEY COMB cereal! 

Too cute, right??

And HOW ADORABLE is the birthday cake that Sarah Beth MADE???? And trust me, it was delicious too!!

Sarah Beth also made the favors...Honey bee and bee hive shaped chocolates and honey sticks, with a tag that said "Thank you for beeing at my party, Love B!" I mean really?!

Thankfully we got all the parties completed when we did. I am currently sitting down stairs at Sarah Beth's house, with sweet Brogan asleep upstairs and Nick and Sarah Beth are at the hospital because precious baby Bristol will be here TOMORROW!! I could not be more excited and I cannot wait to hold that baby girl! I love baby snuggles and I have been waiting a long time for some snuggles with Miss Bristol! Stay tuned, because I will have some nauseatingly adorable posts coming up soon...(and maybe a give-away as well!)

Just a little ukulele.

I'm at the beach this week. Torture. But my mom is watching the Big Brother finale, and since I don't keep up with that show, I've had to find something else to occupy my time. So I took to Hello Giggles. I've blogged about Hello Giggles once before, but tonight I just went scavenging for some videos and music to entertain me for an hour and a half. So I will share.

Here are some of my old favorites...

And bust out the tissues for this one.


And here's an new one that I just love love loved.

  I know this was a bit of a random blog, but I've been out of blogging world a bit and I need to get back in the swing of things. So enjoy these and please go read Hello Giggles, it's hours of entertainment.

Once Upon a Time...16 years ago.

I am an Olympic junkie. Winter. Summer. It doesn't matter. I love all the events. Even curling. Yes, curling is one of my absolute favorite winter sports, and I never miss seeing the USA team. And yes I understand how it works.

 But when it comes to summer Olympics, I love love love swimming and Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings. Every time that Misty and Kerri play, I find myself on the verge of a heart attack. The fact that in their Olympics careers they have never lost a single match, let alone a single set leaves me on the edge of my seat with every serve and spike.

Legends.

 In Beijing, I was all about team Phelps. That said, I am also on team Lochte this go around. Not to jump on any bandwagons, but I just got hooked on Lochte's "this is my year" attitude. I was glad to finally see some fire out of Phelps today in the 4x200. To hear him cheer at the end of the final, was bone chilling. Props Michael. Props.

I mean he has and American Flag grill. What more could you ask for people?

Now that I've spilled my nerdy Olympics guts...I feel I should somewhat justify this nerdiness. When I was 10, 16 YEARS AGO!!!!!!!! (ugh.) I was in the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1996 Centennial Olympic games in Atlanta. I was selected from my elementary school to join other children, ages 6-12, from the metro-Atlanta area to participate in the ceremonies. At 10 I had NO IDEA how big of a deal this kind of was. That makes me sad. I would give anything to be given that opportunity again now that I have this nerdy/emotional obsession with all things Olympic. But I digress.

So since everything was super uber secretive, I was shuttled from a local elementary school to the Olympic stadium all summer long for hours long practices. I also wasn't allowed to tell my parents anything about what went on at the stadium. Not to be put out, the IOC made sure we got pampered. We got to keep all of our practice gear, along with our ceremony costumes and we were sent home with those wonderful and oh so coveted limited edition PINS! Gasp!

If you watched the Opening Ceremonies, and you remember the white 100 and the flying dove that was formed on the field during The Call to the Nations, I was one of those tiny little kids that was dressed as a floppy white Pringle. I was the bottom right corner of the second zero, and the front/bottom line of the right wing on the dove.

If you watched the Closing Ceremonies (which I'm surprised how many people don't...but the Spice Girls are performing this year so you better BET I will be glued to the TV...Ziggazig Ahh.) I was one of the little children in the various white, much-more-normal-than-a-Pringle outfits, who held a flashlight, sang Power of the Dream (serious flashback to the 90s!) and formed the Atlanta torch emblem.

Oh, and don't worry, if you missed either of the ceremonies in 1996...I got some youtube for you right here. You're welcome.

 The Call to the Nations
Summon the Heroes
 Power of the Dream

Now I'm not writing this to sound conceded, but I just think that Olympics are such an amazing and beautiful thing that allows people from all over the world to put aside their differences and come together, if only for 14 days, and show that even while competing, we are all the same. Feel the flame forever burn ;)

Ok so. If you don't watch the Olympics...WHAT THE HECK IS YOUR PROBLEM??!!! Stop reading this and go watch. Now. For real.

I dye for these.

So last night, I decided to bite the bullet and Ombre dip dye the shirt I made last weekend. I went to my local (not favorite) craft store and bought some Rit liquid dye in Wine. I followed the directions from the Rit website, but I cut everything in half (except the dye measurement, because I wanted dark color). I also made another shirt for my mom, 'cause she said she wanted one...the only problem is, I dyed each shirt differently and now I can't decide which I like more.

Before

I dipped the shirt in half way for about 15 secsonds. Then I lifted it just a few inches and held it up for 2 minutes.Then lifted it up another few inches for 5 minutes. And for the back "tail" I rigged up the hanger on my kitchen cabinets (yes. I had to get a chair to reach.) and let it sit in the dye for 10 minutes. For the second shirt I then dipped the top half of the shirt (previously white) into the dye just long enough to cover it. Then I rinsed the shirts in my kitchen sink until the water ran clear, and hung them in my shower so that they could air dry.

 I untied the seam from the racer backs and fully dyed them so that they would be the darkest shade of wine and would contrast on both shirts.  I think they turned out nicely and now I can't wait to Ombre dye some other things...there is a beautiful Teal that I can't wait to try!

Cuttin' Up

So I've been feeling relatively "crafty" lately. In the clothing department. Scissors and old t shirts have been my delight. So here are some of my recent endeavors.

First I made some head bands. I just started with an old frat shirt from college that was in the throw away pile. Then followed the tutorial. (with the braided headband, just keep saying "outside, inside, middle, out.")

Next, I stole one of my dad's tshirts and decided to make a bathing suit "cover-up" for the beach. (a.k.a. work-out shirt)

Before

After (front)

After (back)

This was really simple to do, but now I want to ombre dip dye the finished product. So I'll be picking up some RIT tomorrow at the store. Hopefully it will turn out ok!