Layton's Quilt

Four years ago next weekend I found out Erin was expecting a baby. Once I knew how she was decorating the nursery, I found fabric that would coordinate and started on a baby quilt for Layton. I knew it wouldn't be done with it before the baby shower, but my goal was before Layton was born. Well, I worked on it for a little bit off and on. I even got it 95% done and gave it to Layton for his 2nd Christmas. But took it back to finish the binding. Two years later, it  is completely done and in his possession. He turned 3 this past November. Whoops!

The fabric coordinates with his room that is decorated in navy and green. The picture makes this look more 'olive green' but I don't think it's actually that same color. As for the pattern, I literally just cute strips of fabric in different widths, sewed them together, then cut rose strips in different color. It didn't turn out exactly like I had envisioned, but I doubt a boy cares much about a quilt pattern. And it's a little weird shape. I just kind of made it whatever size I felt like it should be, but now I know what size a baby/crib quilt is supposed to be for future quilts.

The front view of my totally random pattern.

I wanted the back to be fun, so it's a navy chevron pattern. I had thought about putting a color stripe through it, but decided to just make it a solid piece. I hand stitched the three layers together and used navy binding and hand stitched it on, as well.

You can't see it, but Layton's name is in the bottom corner along with my name. I put "Emily" because "Fairy Godmother" was a lot to stitch. :)

Since getting my sewing machine fixed from the terribly awful squeaking noise it made last time I used it, I have been in a big quilting kick. I've been pinning cute quilts like crazy. I found an adorable new fabric shop in Clintonville that makes me want to buy all of the fabric and make all the quilts. They have a 'quilting lounge' that anyone can use, so I plan to do that in the coming weeks and then this weekend I plan to go quilt with Jennifer and Stephanie.

I have one quilt that's about 75% done in my basket, another that needs the larger squares sewn together, one that has the fabric cut in the first round and then I ordered fabric today for a fourth one. The first two are just quilts I started 4 and 5 years ago for myself and the other two will be gifts that need to be done soon! So much quilting!

Weekly Workout - February 8-14, 2016

One week until my first marathon....relay race. Ugh! I should have been running more for this, but I think doing one mile at a time, with 5 people running in between me, I will be able to do it! 

After working out with Tyler last weekend, I started taking C4 pre-workout drink. I went for the watermelon flavor and it's pretty much like drinking a watermelon Jolly Rancher. Delicious. But, one thing I didn't pay attention to on the label was where it said "Some individuals may experience a harmless tingling sensation." Well, I fall into the "some individuals" category. About 10 minutes into my workout, my arms started tingling and I felt like every hair on my arms, leg and head were being singed! (If anyone ever used 'tingling' lotion in the tanning bed, that's what it feels like, minus the painful part. That tanning lotion stuff was PAINFUL so I don't know why anyone wanted to use it, I only did it by 'accident' when the attendant gave me a 'free sample' and I had no idea what 'tingle' lotion was. What the heck dude? High school Emily was so naive.) 

I also made it to the gym two mornings BEFORE work! Granted I came into late one of those days (and the other was before my 9am class), but they were both days I already had to stay late for something after work, so it evens out. 

Monday: rest (I have zero time on Monday's to do anything)

Tuesday: strength training in group fitness (55 minutes)

Wednesday: C4, 2.5 miles on the treadmill at the gym, various other weights, lunges and squats 

Thursday: C4, 2.5 miles on the treadmill at the gym, various other weights, lunges and squats; strength training in group fitness (55 minutes) 

Friday: rest day (overslept), but danced a lot at Night to Shine.

Saturday: C4, 2 miles on the treadmill at the gym, various other weights, lunges and squats

Sunday: rest day (had a gym visit planned, but other things came up and I ended up driving halfway home and back)

Back in a Workout Routine - February 1-7, 2016

Over winter break (for the students, I didn't get any time off) I decided that I needed to enroll in some type of fitness class to help get me motivated to workout (I had been once a month in October, November, and December) and to help with some confidence and social anxiety issues I was dealing with again. (Also, I have a half-marathon coming up at the end of April and a marathon relay at the end of February.) So I picked a group fitness class that spends time on rhythmic aerobics, strength training,  step aerobics, kickboxing, 'boot camp', and dance/Zumba that is the entire semester and then I'll be learning to play softball the second half of the semester! Yipee!

In the group fitness class I have to keep a log of my daily physical activity, so I'm snagging Jenny's model once again and am going to do my best to keep track on this blog so at the end of the semester I can just refer back in order to do my assignment. 

Since I have class on Tuesday/Thursday, my goal is to run at the gym the other three days and then one weekend day. My distance needs to step up big time in the next two weeks. I have to do 6 miles on February 21!

Monday: rest

Tuesday: strength training in group fitness (55 minutes)

Wednesday: 2.5 miles on the treadmill at the gym, various other weights, lunges and squats

Thursday: strength training in group fitness (55 minutes)

Friday: 1.5 miles on the treadmill at gym, various other weights, lunges and squats 

Saturday: rest

Sunday: 2 miles on the treadmill at the fire house, squats and lunges with weight, bench press (a whopping albs on each side of the bar!), sit ups and whatever else Tyler told me to do. Recovery 'milk shake".

That's not me, but I did get those pants at Dick's Sporting Goods this weekend. Same thing basically.

And side note, the class is helping with the self-confidence side of things because doing the grapevine  in class makes me feel like the most coordinated person in the world. Thank you 4-H camp! ;)

A Compassionate Day

Yesterday started off as any normal Thursday, well my new Thursday where I go to my group fitness class before going to work (more on this fitness thing, but apparently taking a class for a grade is what I needed to do to get my butt in gear). I have been listening to The River on the radio lately because it's "Uplifting & Encouraging" and that starts my day off better than hearing a sappy country songs that makes me sad. (I still love country music, don't get me wrong.)

The River has been sharing commercials for Compassion, which is a Christian organization that does a number of things, but the part of the group they were advertising was their child sponsorship program.

Sometime around 2008-ish when I started reading blogs, I read a post on Kelly's Korner about the child her family sponsors. She even went on a blogger trip to the El Salvador and got to meet the little girl. I have thought about Compassion off and on over the last few years and in early November after hearing about it in a few different ways all within a few days, I took that as my sign from above that it was something I was supposed to do. So I did. I decided to sponsor someone who had been on the waiting list for the longest and picked a cute little girl named Valey. She's 6 and lives in Togo. I had no idea where Togo was (it's a country in West Africa, right beside Ghana) but she was being raised by her grandma and likes to play with dolls. I was hooked. She was 'mine'.

A week or so later I got a packet with information in it about Valey, her family and a picture. There was a little form in it for me to fill out about myself. There was a map of the USA and I put a star on my town (I did both Columbus and Piketon) and I answered a few questions about what I do for work, etc. I was told I'd get something back from Valey too and then we could write back and forth. I was getting a pen pal! (Squeals! I love mail!)

Valey hanging out on my fridge. 

Over the past three months I have written to Valey about 5 times. I try to send a letter every two weeks. Besides the first letter, the others I have sent through the website. They have a template that you type the letter and can upload pictures. There is an area where the letter will be translated into the child's language (which is French, I took Spanish in high school). You can also send a letter thru the Compassion app on an iPhone, so I actually spent a few minutes writing a letter while I was in the hospital waiting room last month.

So back to Thursday. I heard the Compassion commercial on my way to campus, then again on my way from class to work. They were doing an event like a telethon to get more children sponsored in West Africa and they kept mentioning the country of Togo. Again, I had never heard of this country before (and I like geography!). So I thought of little Valey and how it was about time for me to write another letter.

Part of my morning work routine is to read a few blogs that are found on the left sidebar and Jessica at The Macs had posted about Compassion that day and the bloggers that were in Ecuador. I followed the links and read their blogs, which made me think of Kelly's posts from 7 years ago, so I went and read those too, and then read other blogs about their experiences and looked at those pictures. Before long I was in tears. Some of the posts were so sad, but others were so happy and I could see the great things Compassion was doing for these children and their families. So I wrote her a letter, telling her about ice skating and included a picture of me on ice skates.

I got home that night and Molly told me I had gotten two pieces of mail from Compassion. One envelope had "a letter from your sponsored child". After three months of anxiously waiting to hear, I was so excited to get something from Togo. It was a form, similar to the one I sent her with a map and questions about what she liked. Her favorite color is violet, she wants to be a midwife when she grows up, and she likes to play with jacks. Her prayer request was to live a long time and her prayer for me was that I live a long time! I hope those are both answered too, Valey! :)

I waited many years to do this and I wish I had sponsored a child years ago. It's $38 a month and really, that's not that anything that I can't afford. I unfortunately spend more than that on a Target run buying a new nail polish, make-up, a coffee mug, a sweater, footie socks, a Mt. Dew and a pack of gum. None of those things to I need to survive!

So if you're looking for a way that you can give that will truly change someone's life, consider Child Sponsorship through Compassion.

Life in January

So here it is February 1. Bowies face in the picture below accurately shows what I thought when I realized it's already February!! Which means we are one month closer to warmer weather!!

Being cute. Wanting attention.

January flew by. Earlier in the month, my family was in town for more than a week for a hospital stay. While I hated the reason they were in town, I loved that I got to someone every day and spend some one on one time with Papaw while every day on my way home from work. Or during lunch. Or both.  Everyone is home now, which is great!

My niece Emery's class did the Flat Stanley project and she sent him to visit the great state of Ohio. Molly and I took him around to a few different place in Columbus, our hometowns, and NYC (Molly went there on a trip). It was a lot of fun putting together the little scrapbook to send to her and her class telling them about Ohio and Columbus.

He visited my dad's Fire Department!

During Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend, it was Molly's birthday. On Friday night we went out to eat with friends Caitlyn and Summer. The next day we did a little antiquing and that night went to dinner for Alicia's 30th birthday, followed by a little bachelor party crashing/pizza with the guys for Molly's birthday. Sunday we went back home to have dinner at Mam and Papaws, along with cake and ice cream.

Monday, on Molly's actual birthday, we got up and went skiing at Mad River Mountain. She and I did this last year on MLK Day/her birthday, so I hope it becomes an annual tradition. It was so cold that day. Probably the coldest day of the year so far. We bundled up though. It wasn't nearly as crowded as it was last year on this same Monday holiday and there were no little kid ski classes, but we still had a good time. We skied for probably about 3.5 hours, taking two inside breaks. Since the lodge burnt down earlier this fall, they have a temporary structure that just didn't fit all the people it needed to fit! After her birthday, we went to Joe's Crabshack for dinner and then dropped my sewing machine off to be fixed at JoAnn Fabrics. We finished up the weekend/birthday celebrations by watching The Bachelor before bed.

Cold, but skiing anyway!! :)

Last weekend, Scott's antique market was in town, so we went to that after spending the day in Mt. Vernon with the Caughlan ladies. There weren't a lot of great finds at this market, mostly because it was supposed to be bad weather that weekend (and it was everywhere south of Columbus), so it was kind of empty. There were some cute things, but not things I needed to buy. Molly got an ice cream poster to hang in the kitchen and I got floss and needles to get my quilt on (another post on that coming soon.)

Kind of the opposite of the cookbook for ladies!

Like I mentioned earlier, I have been quilting a lot lately. I finally got Layton's quilt done and will deliver that baby quilt to the 3 year old child this weekend! Coopers quilt is almost done with the exception of quilting on the four corners and then adding the binding. And his name! I have two more quilts to get done this spring, so I'm making myself finish one before starting another. I have so many quilt tops pieced together but not actually quilted. It's ridiculous.

Also ridiculous, my cat is obsessed with sewing. If I'm on the machine, she's on the other side of the machine watching. If I'm hand stitching she is. right. there. too. I have to constantly push her off of the hoop. And as soon as I sit it down for any reason, there she is to climb back on. Oh cat.

Thanks for quilting a great place for me to sit Mom.

This past weekend I went to a Farm Bureau conference for young ag professionals. It was ok. So many of the topics of the workshops didn't pertain to me because I'm not directly in production agriculture. But it was fun seeing people that I hadn't seen in a while and so forth.

That night was a winter social for students at work, so I went to that. It was at the ice skating rink so the last half hour I nabbed the skates of someone who was turning them in (we had met our limit of rentals) and I skated a few laps, pretended to be Nancy Kerrigan, but really probably looked like these kids.

Some of my FH boys.

And I returned home on Saturday night to quilt until 1am, because that's what you do at 30 years old! ha. See below, a nosey cat wanting to help me.

Also, Sunday at church, the nicest couple introduced themselves to me and invited me to come to their small group that is going to be doing a six week study starting in a few weeks. And she's a quilter! She has a whole quilt room!!!

2016 Goals and Plans

Use phone less. As I'm typing this, I ironically just watched a news story about people being on their phones too much when they're walking. It's actually all. the. time. I get so annoyed when other people are on their phones so much, whether it be my mom or sister when I'm trying to tell them something and I see they're mindlessly scrolling thru Facebook or instagram or if I'm at a restaurant and an entire table of adults are all on their phone! Seriously? So I'm going to do my best to not be on my phone and not even have it out in sight when I'm around other people. I don't have any social media apps on it anymore, so that tempts me from even checking something while laying in bed, or at a stop light, or while I should be working, or doing anything else productive in life.

Use phone more. So opposite of my last goal, I'd like to use my phone more - as in the actual phone part of the 'phone'. With the exception of my mom, sister, and my grandma, I don't ever talk to anyone on the phone anymore - I just text them quickly. So my new goal is to start texting less and calling more! I have a list of people to call, so if you randomly get a call from me, it's not an emergency, I'd just like to catch up and call you on the phone!

Take a class. I think it's really important to always be growing and learning and I've done a crappy job at this over the last few years. AND I have this tuition assistance thing that I should be utilizing, so I signed up for two classes this semester - a group fitness class and softball! The group fitness class is paired with a wellness class, so I am going to learn about health and fitness and go to an aerobics like class twice a week first thing in the morning. AND I have to keep a 'fitness journal', so there is my motivation to get to the gym every day since it's part of my grade! And I signed up for the softball class because I've never played, I don't know how to play, I always wish I did know how to play, so I'm going to learn how to play! It's only a 7 week course, so I'm hoping it's warm this March-May while I'm outside. Other classes I have on list to take over the next several semesters: circuit training, golf, volleyball, basketball, swimming, horseback riding, ice skating, figure skating, tap, ballet. Maybe even skydiving! ;) Not only will I be learning a new skill, but hopefully increasing my self-confidence which I have found falling over time.

Study my bible every day. I've been going to BSF for almost four years now. That is crazy. I'm almost halfway done with the entire study (8 years). I remember hearing that it would take that long to do the whole thing and it seeming like eternity away. I haven't been doing awesome at doing my lesson every day (I usually do it all at once), so I need to get better at that. I also got a new study to do at home to go along with the "Keep it Shut" book I read over the summer. It's more applicable to me and my many faults right now (but I'm still enjoying Revelation), so I need to start reading it every day and doing a few questions.

Don't have less than 1/4 take of gas. I made this resolution right after I graduated and it was a good one. Then I started shopping at Giant Eagle and their Fuel Perks were so great that I didn't want to waste them on just a half-gallon. So I started waiting til the light came on. You know, to get my moneys worth (of the discount). After running out of gas once (just once) and pushing it too close a number of other times (don't have time to stop, it's too cold to get out of the car, it's too late, it's too early.....all the excuses) this is one I really needed to set again.

Communicate better. This is a carry over from last year. I started out the year with such high aspirations, and then overtime they withered back to what they were before. So I'm going to make a better effort this time - like don't quit going to my counselor for help with social anxiety when I *think* I'm doing ok. Cause I'm probably not.

Be organized. Ugh. Looking at my desk right now makes me think this will never happen. I did download A Bowl Full of Lemons 14 week plan and did week one on my kitchen. I will say the kitchen is a lot less cluttered now and feels more organized. So I hope to keep up with this each week for the first three months of the year and get rid of clutter that I don't need anymore, which I have a lot of. Yard sale this spring anyone? I also got a new planner for 2016, first time I've had one in a few years, and have been doing pretty good about putting stuff in it.


I also want to knock a few more things off my bucket list and maybe do some traveling from my "Let's go there" board on Pinterest.

What are goals that you have for 2016?

Holidays 2015

The holidays came and went pretty quickly.

This year was a very chill holiday season for me. I had one gathering with friends and then our family stuff on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Back in mid-December, I got together with all the girls I met through blogging (or through blogger friends) for our annual Christmas get together. I blogged earlier in December that it was 5 years ago that I met these girls at an early December get together, and we have been doing this every year for 5 years now. These are my best girlfriends here in Columbus. I'm so glad to have them all in my life.

Bestest Girlfriends

I didn't take any vacation time off around the holidays because I would just have been sitting around my apartment doing nothing, or sitting around at my parents house, so I worked. No one was in the office so I was able to work in the quiet, which is sometimes torture and sometimes a blessing. I'll take my vacation days this summer when I can be outside in the sunshine!

Molly went home the weekend before Christmas so I had three days to myself in Columbus. Since Molly moved in with me last March, alone time has been far and few between for the both of us. So it was nice to just hang out by myself (and Bowie, of course).

Wednesday evening (Christmas Eve Eve) I was done with everything I had to do, I was all packed and I just sat in my recliner and stared at my pretty Christmas tree. My tree is full of ornaments from places that I've traveled or significant events in my life, so it was nice to just sit and look at them and reflect on all the great things I have in my life.

On Christmas Eve I headed to my parents place and my oldest sister and her family, along with my dad's brother, sister, and cousin Amy came to visit. Usually Christmas Eve is when we celebrate with my older sisters and their families. Holly, Eric and the girls didn't come to Ohio for Christmas this year. :( We had a good time and Cooper enjoyed all of the attention from the 10 adults. And he looked pretty cute when he was grilling for us with the little grill that Molly got him!

Wickham Family

Later that night, Molly and I got dressed up and went to Christmas Eve Candlelight Service with Teresa at Grace United Methodist Church. They do a great service that combines scripture readings and songs that walks you through the birth of Jesus Christ.

Christmas Day we didn't go to Mam and Papaw's until about 1pm, so we did gifts with my parents and little sibs that morning. I got a nice pair of Victoria Secrets satin pajamas that I asked for, along with a cute sweater from my pinterest board. Molly got me a book of things to do around Ohio, so we'll be making lots of little trips once the weather warms up and Tyler got me a new Buckeye Nation shirt from Homage.

At Mam and Papaws we had lunch, so it was different than the typical Christmas morning breakfast that I've always loved, but with Papaw being a little out of commission this year until his surgery, I held no grudges. About four years ago, we started doing a Secret Santa type thing instead of everyone buying for everyone. This is nice because you get a really nice gift usually (and you don't have to spend so much to get stuff for everyone) but it also means that you don't get to buy for everyone! Ha. So usually Santa Emily delivers something to Mam and Papaw prior to or after Christmas. I can't help  it, I love my grandparents and want to show them that.

My cousin Kate got my name and I got a stepstool (which I'd been wanting and hinting about) along with a JOY decoration and some candies. I had Lauren's name and knew that she was wanting a mustard color throw for her bed, and I found the perfect one at Homegoods. I also got her these little magnets that look like Pantone color swatches.

We played a "Deal or No Deal" type game with fun Christmas gifts. Some where nice, some were "zonks". And we also watched the Cleveland Cavs game on TV. Since Grandma Primer passed 5 years ago, we don't go anywhere on Christmas night to get together with that side of my family. :( Instead, we headed home and Molly found old videos of us when we were little and we watched those for a few hours - basically just doted on how cute Molly was as a child and how awkward I was. #nothinghaschanged

Saturday and Sunday of that weekend I spent at Mam and Papaws and also played "supermarket" with Layton and his new cash register. The Holiday Tournament was during the week, so I didn't even get to go to that and run in to a bunch of people I hadn't seen in years!

On the 30th, it was Mom's birthday (57) but also the last day that Erica, David and little Charlotte were going to be in Ohio, so I drove down to Piketon and had dinner with the entire Shepherd family, held Charlie until she didn't like me anymore (or needed to eat) and played a Frozen memory game with Elle and Sawyer. It was a fun evening. Oh, and Greg made peppermint ice cream which was delicious! I did visit my mama and took her her birthday gifts from us. And some peppermint ice cream too!

I didn't have any plans for NYE. I actually kind of wanted to just sit at home and not do anything, but I knew that would have turned into a pity part eventually, so Molly and I went to Cincy and stayed with Cara. We got all fancy and went to J. Alexanders for dinner, got cheesecake to go from the Cheesecake Factory, and then went to the Include Public House for a drink with an awesome view of the city. We finished the evening out by being home in time to watch the ball drop, all while we were wearing our silk pajamas and jewels with a glass of champaign! It was a pretty good NYE in my book!

Satin PJ's, jewels, and champaign. Bring it 2016!

New Years Day we stayed in Cincy and watched the Bucks beat the luck out of Notre Dame! It was such a good game after the lack luster games we had watched the night before. Horrible, horrible games!!

Our favorite emoji!

Three queens in the Queen City!

Then Molly and I headed home to Pike County to do a little visiting with the grandparents and shopping at antique places in Greenfield. And such was the end of the holidays.

But you wouldn't know the holidays were over by looking at my apartment. I still need to get all of the decorations down! This week is my goal!

My mantel this year.

My cute little trees.

Garland around my window with my Christmas cards from friends/family.

2015 New Years Goals - End of the Year Update

Here we are, at the end of 2015. Gheesh this year went by fast. Now to see how I did on the goals that I set for myself last year at this time.

1. Be at work on time every day. If 9am is "on time" then I did this one. After Molly moved in and left for work at 8am every day, I started to cherish that hour after she left to get my hair done, do my make up, watch the Today Show all at my leisure instead of rush, rush, rush, "are you done in the bathroom" craziness. BUT, I'm going to do better in 2016 since I am going t make it a goal of going to the gym every morning before work. (ha!)

2. Cut back on 'after school activities'. I have been doing this and it's giving me a lot more time at home. We'll see how it keeps up in the new semester. I've been praying about a few different ways to get involved/uninvovled in different organizations so I'm thinking there will be some changes coming over the next few months.

3. Sign up for a half-marathon and get to the gym. 
While I didn't run in a half-marathon this year, I did get signed up for one today that is in May 2016. Another reason I'll be more likely to go to the gym every morning is because I spent $90 registering and I'm not about to waste that money!

4. No fast food. I did really good at this probably the first five months of the year. Then I totally bombed at it.

5. No social media. This didn't go so well. I completely deleted my Facebook page. I just don't need it and the people that I am friends with on there are people I should be checking on IRL and not just through a screen. I also only check twitter while I'm at work, but really, does anyone use that much anymore? I only use my one for work and usually a lot of my stuff is scheduled in advance. I blocked instagram, twitter, and Facebook from Safari on my phone, so I can even creep!

6. Study my Bible daily. I've been doing really good at t his. Since BSF is on a break right now, I've been doing the "Keep It Shut" study on "what to say, how to say it, and when to keep it shut." It read the book at the beach over the summer and it was eye opening, so when I found it on Amazon for a few bucks, I went ahead and ordered it so I can take notes and reread when I need to and I ordered the study guide along with it. It's been great to read and answer questions, which has really pointed out a lot of things I need to change.

7. Be a better communicator. This is still a huge work of mine. I have started going back to my counselor that I saw a few years ago for help with this and other issues, which mostly stems from social anxiety that I have dealt with all my life, but has caused a lot of issues in my adult life over the last 5-10 years. So I'm setting some new goals for 2016 that will hopefully help me deal with SAD and my struggle with communicating with others - mostly those that are close to me (or that I want to be close to me).

So toodalu 2015 goals! May I do better in 2016! 

Late Fall and Stuff

It seems like football season started just a few days ago, and here we are the week between Christmas and New Years Day. Crazy.

Back in November I attended the first wedding of former students. Blake and Brent were married in Columus and I was able to go to the reception that evening and a lovely country club in Powell. The reception was very nice and very classy! It was a formal reception and everyone was dressed to impress! Blake and Brent were both students in my department and Brent was an officer in the fraternity I advised. They dated all through college and are now living in Atlanta! While I didn't get a picture with them...whoops!...I did get a picture with Caroline who came into town for the wedding! 

Me and Caroline

The following weekend was my friend Jill's wedding. All my pictures from that weekend are on my Canon camera that I have yet to upload to a computer, so I'll do a whole post of pics from that sometime in the near future.

BSF is still going well on Monday nights. I have totally gelled with the group like I did last year, but I also keep looking back at my wonderful group from last year and realize that at this time last year was when we were all starting to know each other better. That group from last year is so wonderful, and a small group of us that also did a bible study this summer got together for a little fellowship before the holidays. And baby Cora came too!!

BRB....gonna go steal this baby!

Thanksgiving was spent back in Pike County. Molly and I ran in the Larry Cox Memorial Turkey Trot in Chillicothe. It was a little cold that morning, but once we got running it warmed up quickly. I didn't finish with a good time by any means, but I ran a race at 8am on Thanksgiving Day, I think that is good enough for now.

Post race selfie

One of my goals for 2015 was to cut back on after school activities so I have time to just be at home and not running all over the place. I have been doing better at that, but now I need to get better at being productive when I get home and not just sitting in front of the TV all night! I don't have cable, so my options are limited to what I can watch, but dang that sun for going down at 5pm because once it gets dark  and it's cold, I just want to snuggle under a blanket and not move!

So instead, I end up doing this for 4 hours each night:

Yes, this night I ate dry cereal for dinner. Do not judge me.

Usually I have this on my lap. Especially if I have a book or computer that takes my attention away from her.

 I'm going to add productive things to my schedule for my evenings in 2016. I have two baby quilts to finish and another two to start! I must get those done this winter. Sewing party at my house anyone?

A few weeks ago I went to the Ohio State basketball game with Abra. She got tickets through work and we went on to cheer the Bucks to a victory over Air Force. Our seats were for waaaay up at the top, but since it was a non-conference, early season game, the place was empty! So after halftime I moved us down a 'few' rows. 

Our original seats were just below that Big Lots sign. 

Friends for 12 years! 

New Ornaments for 2015

Each year when I decorate my Christmas tree I'm able to reflect on all of the wonderful things I have been blessed with in the past because of my collection of Christmas ornaments. About 5 years ago, I started collecting ornaments if I travelled somewhere or if something happened in my life that I wanted to note.

This year, I was able to add a handful of ornaments to the tree from places that I went while I was traveling. I know I'm missing some, so I am just going to have to keep an eye out for them and add them to my tree next year. I also 'stash' them somewhere and then forget where I put them!!

I spent New Years Eve and New Years Day on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, so I of coursed picked that to be my NOLA ornament. We had such a good time. On that trip!

On our way home from NOLA we stopped in Nashville and visited the Belle Meade Plantation. 

And my Buckeyes won the National Championship over the Oregon Ducks, so I have an ornament for that too!

In March, Molly and I took a long weekend trip to South Carolina to visit Lauren in Columbia and went to Charleston. We visited Boone Hall Plantation, which is where the Notebook was filmed and has the lovely Oak trees lining the driveway.

In early May, Molly and I took a spur of the moment trip to Niagara Falls and Canada. So commemorate the trip I got this cute ornament at the official Niagara Falls gift shop and also one to represent my first trip to Canada.

In June, Jill, Amy and I went to Myrtle Beach for a little girls trip and I got this crab ornament. It ended up being the theme of our week because we kept seeing these little crabs on the beach and we had a hay day in the "Crabby Jill's" store at Broadway at the Beach.

In August I rode in Pelotonia, so I got an ornament for me and Stacie and personalized it for our event.

I slacked on some events at the end of the year and still need to order an ornament to represent these life events:

Trip to Texas A&M in June
Trip to Savannah with the family in July
Trip to DC for work in August
Weekend trip to Lima for Blairfest
Trip to Louisville in October

Some of my past ornament additions:
2014 (apparently I didn't blog about new ones last year)
2013
2012