138. Try a New Restaurant, 141. Visit a New State, 152, Go onVacation & 158. Road Trip

158. Road Trip
141. Visit a New State
138. Try a New Restaurant
152. Go on Vacation

What do you do when one of your friends gets married in another state? And a state you haven't been to??? You decide to drive cross country and see your friend get married and combine that with a vacation!!!

I met a lovely lady named Melissa a few years ago at the The Barn. She has been an encouraging force in my life. She is one of those people you want in your life forever. She is a beautiful person inside and out. So naturally, when I got the text that she was engaged, I immediately asked if I could come to the wedding. lol.




After a little planning and begging from my boss to give me time off, I committed. Some say driving cross country with your ex-boyfriend is bad idea. But I did it. We drove out, and then I flew back home since I had to be back at work before he did. The trip started off a little rocky. If you didn't know this about me, let me fill you in... I get motion sick. Easily. So like 90% of my road trips, I got sick within 45 minutes of leaving Springfield. Did I mention it was about a 15 hour trip???




So I turned my side of the car on blast AC, reclined the seat, and took some dramaine. I was awake off and on, but I slept for most of the trip. I woke up once we got to Ohio and stayed awake for the rest of the trip. We drove through West Virginia and then finally we were in Maryland. After getting lost, thanks GPS, and traveling around back country roads, we finally got to where we were meeting Melissa and Matt.





Since I don't want to bore you with all the details, I'll hit the highlights. Thursday, Matt (Melissa's soon to be husband), John and I ran errands for the wedding decorations and hung out. And we went to lunch at a place called Castiglia's Italian Eatery in Keyser, WV. It was delicious!!! So much food, for not a lot of money. I would totally recommend it if you're ever in the area.

I had 5 full days of no work. I brought my computer to do work, but I didn't. I do not regret not doing anything work-related. It was nice to get away, enjoy spending time with people, and not thinking work.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful. I have helped plan and been to a lot of weddings. The best weddings are the ones that fit the couple. That reflect their love. This one did just that from every aspect. To the way Melissa was stunning in her dress, to the way Matt looked at her with adoration when she walked down the aisle. The hymns, the love shown to family and friends. They really love each other and it was very evident. I was happy to be a part of such a special day for an amazing couple.

Wedding Selfie... because why not?

Friends reunited. Sue (and Ben) came to the wedding from Rhode Island. 

It was good to see her again! 

The wedding picture collage. 

10. Get a Tattoo, 65. Visit an Art Museum, and 130. New Hair Do

10. Get a Tattoo
65. Visit an Art Museum
130. New Hair Do

August 22, 2015

I decided to do something different and a little drastic with my hair. I wasn't sure if I liked it, but I went for it. ha ha.



John, Cameron and I decided to spend the day hanging out. First stop, the art museum. We went to the Springfield Art Museum. I had never been, surprisingly. It was a lot of fun. At the end, we went to the gift shop and saw some temporary tattoos, so we decided to get them.

After the museum, we went to Bambinos for dinner and then to see the movie Straight Out of Compton.

Fun Day.

126. Participate in a Half Marathon

126. Participate in a Half Marathon


Half marathon number 2. To say that I wasn't prepared would be an understatement. I signed up on a whim after a pastor at church had asked how my running was going. He talked to me a for a while and said I should sign up for the Run for the Ranch half because its an easy 4x loop and its flat. After thinking about it, and lacking motivation for the past few months, I decided to go for it. One, because I thought for sure this would help me get back in to it. And two, because I wanted a medal. We all know I have a thing for medals.

So I did it. I signed up a month before the race. And then life and job and everything got in the way of training. The morning of the race, I woke up and I did not want to go. I felt self conscious. I felt insecure. I felt like it wasn't worth it. But there was a small part of me that said "do it for the medal." So I woke up and got ready. Still trying to convince myself to go. I got in the car and felt decent about going. Then I pulled up and I wanted to turn back around. Here I was, out of shape and in no way ready to run this. I had my mind made up to walk. And thanks to my doctors appointment two days before I would be walking. I felt alone.

Then I got a call. The same pastor from above called me to find out where I was in the crowd. I thought he was just coming to say hi. Instead, he said he had fell and couldn't run but still wanted to walk, so he asked if I could use a walking partner. Before he called, I was about a minute away from leaving. But I stayed. We walked for almost 4 hours together. We finished. I was not easy. It was easier than my first because I was in a "whatever" frame of mind. There were no crowds of my friends and family waiting for me at the end. There was no fear of disappointing anyone but myself. It was really just me and myself walking. Yes, my pastor was there, but I was finally doing something for me.

I don't know if I would say it was my favorite, because if I'm honest it was a little anti-climatic crossing the finish line with no cheering squad, but personally, it was the best for my mind. I overcame my insecurities and faced it. Did I mention the medal is silver and blue??? LOVE!!!

165. DIY Project

165. DIY Project


Bri and I both turned 30 this last year. We decided early on that we wanted to do something with each other to celebrate being 30. So we decided on a do-it-yourself project: mugs!

We spent a morning talking about life and decorating our mugs.

175. Go to a Springfield Cardinals Game

O175. Go to a Springfield Cardinals Game

July 4th, 2015


John, Cameron and I got the all-inclusive seats for the July 4th Springfield Cardinals game. It was a blast. The fireworks were okay, but the company was awesome.

#117. Sign up for OMRR

#117. Sign up for OMRR (Ozark Mountain Ridge Runners)

So I've wanted to sign up for OMRR since I heard about it a few years ago. However, my insecurity and excuses have always gotten in the way. I am actually quite good at talking myself out of something I really want to do. It is something I have realized and am now trying to fight against. But I blame it on circumstances, but when it comes down to it, I am just afraid. Afraid that people will judge me. Afraid of meeting new people.

This past weekend, I decided I have had enough of talking myself out of things. I just to do it. So I did. (insert nervous smile here). Yes I am nervous about meeting new people. Yes I am scared people will judge me. But I am not who I used to me. I have grown so much in the past year. And I need to step out. So here goes...

114. Challenge Myself

114. Challenge Myself.


Challenge myself. That could be any number of things. After the craziness of the past few months, I have decided to get back to working on me. I have let circumstances, relationships, and outside forces get in the way of working on me. Some of those have had a positive influence, but some have had a negative influence. It's time to do me.

As I was going for a run last week, I realized I needed a new challenge in my life. Something to keep me accountable to myself. To make myself healthy. And not just physically, but mentally, socially, emotionally and spiritually. I've focused so much on being healthy physically that I let the other stuff go. I'm not saying I went to any extremes, but I didn't make decisions based on a healthy whole person. I made them simply based if it would be good physically. I'm probably not explaining myself well, but stick with me.

It takes more than physical health to make a person a healthy individual. You can run marathons and eat clean all you want, but if you are not making good decisions about what you do socially or dealing (or not) with your emotions, it will reflect eventually.

So I decided to start a challenge for myself. #100daysofhealth. I started yesterday (June 1st) and will continue through the second week in September. 100 days of good decisions. Mentally. Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually. Socially. Not that every decision every day will be good. That is not the purpose. I would end up beating myself up for the wrong decisions. But one decision a day will be a healthy one. I am going to document my healthy decisions. The goal is for it to become second nature to make good decisions.

So yay! We'll see how it goes. :)