Life right now

Just wanted to give an update on where things are right now.

Craigslist is still my new best friend. I can barely take myself away from my computer for fear that someone is emailing me about something i've listed for sale. And no, i don't have email on my phone, ha! Right now, we're really trying to sell Daniel's durango. It would make life a lot simpler right now, if someone bought it.

We are packing, which translates into making a bigger mess and just moving piles around. We have to be out of our apartment by Saturday. My mom, the EXPERT packer is coming up tomorrow night to help us finish packing and sort through what is staying here, what is going with us to East Asia, and what needs to be sold/given away. I'm trying not to be emotionally attached, so i can get rid of a lot more. There's definitely freedom in having less belongings.

Here's the guest room. I try to never go in it.

More piles.

The clothes i'm getting rid of. Yeah, that's 3 trash bags full. And i've already given away 3 other bags so far this year. Clearly, downsizing was called for in my life.

All the hanging clothes are what i'm planning on taking with me. It doesn't include my running clothes or pj's. But i feel pretty good about it. i'll probably wear most things for at least 2 days in a row, so less is more!

 And this pic is for Sarah. I called her about 2 weeks ago and told her i found a really cute shirt and tank i wanted to layer together. She instantly had a fashion panic attack and could not believe i would layer a tee with a tank. I think it looks cute! Also, ignore the nosepiece marks, i was wearing my glasses and took them off for the pic.



Had a good 5 mile run this morning. And i'm going a little stir crazy. Usually i can stay indoors for days-reading, watching movies, etc....but because there is so much to do and pack, i'm needing to get out a lot more. I also have the desire to go shopping, which is pretty much wrong on so many levels (hence the trash bags).

We are buying our tickets tonight. It's becoming real. Sometimes i think we're crazy.

love

laura

Runnin' Around

This week has been pretty busy. Now that i'm officially not working, i'm trying to get things done to prepare for our move. Craigslist is my new best friend. Seriously, i had some doubts, but it has been wonderful! I post something and just sit and watch my laptop for emails of people who are interested. It's kind of sad, but exciting at the same time, ha! We've been able to sell some stuff and make a few extra dollars along the way.

Yesterday was the last long run before the half next week. I did 10 and felt wonderful! I love finishing a long run knowing i could go further if i needed to. It was a little drizzly, but i was thankful that it wasn't hot out. Sadly, Daniel had to stop after 4. His achilles has been hurting pretty bad. He iced it last night and been stretching, but it's still pretty painful today. We're REALLLY hoping that after some rest this week he'll be okay to run the half on Sunday.

After our run we ate our weight in chick fil a, then ran some errands. We paid off Daniel's car yesterday!!! It feels SOOOOOO good to know that we are car payment free and SO close to being completely debt free. woo hoo!

We went to a new running store, and actually had a gait analysis done on us both. We found out that I have a very neutral stride, so i don't need anything too flashy or anything. Daniel runs insanely weird and crosses his legs over each other, pretty much scraping his own ankles.

After a few test runs at the store, i walked away with these purty things!

They are Nike Zoom Vomero 6's.  I was pretty surprised that i bought Nike's actually. I love their running gear, but my friends that run always recommend Saucony or Mizuno's. But apparently those are too narrow for my foot, so i went with what felt the best! And now i'm obsessed and feel the need to buy a new purple shirt or shorts to complete my new look, ha! we'll see......

Daniel has had his eye on these.....

These are the Merrell Trail Gloves. They're designed for more of a barefoot approach to running. And they look pretty sweet in person too. We're just sad we can't break them in yet, we'll have to wait till after the half. I can't wait! I've been wanting new running shoes for about forever.

Last night we hung out with the fam, eating and playing games. We only survived one round of Uno before quickly switching to Catchphrase, my fave!!

This morning was church! It's practically flooding here, so getting from our front door to the front door of the church without getting soaked was interesting. Let's just say Daniel wasn't successful.

I've got TPW's drip beef in the crockpot, and i'm about to celebrate the end of Lent! I gave up sodas, and am SO ready for a Sonic Coke!!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter and a great weekend!

love

laura



Long Weekend Rewind Part 2

Let's backtrack a bit shall we?

Thursday, the 14th was my last day at work. I came home to a homecooked steak dinner, with pasta and asparagus (remember, its the vegetable of love :). Then Daniel treated me to chai and cupcakes.

Sorry i can't get this pic to turn!

Friday, after the long run we headed to Dallas. We spent the night with my parents, grilled out, and played cards. I haven't played Spades or Hearts in so long! Sadly, neither had my spade partner (mom) and it showed, ha!

Saturday morning we went to IHOP (i LOVE me some cinna stix pancakes, this is why i run!). Then Saturday afternoon we headed to my friend, Julie's house. Julie and Natalie wanted Daniel and I to share a bit more about our future. It was also a great way to see friends and catch up. We were pretty excited and looking forward to this afternoon!

These girls know me well, because they had chicken salad sandwiches...which is my fave!

Daniel was pretty excited too!

We had the BEST time hanging out with dear friends, catching up on each other's lives, and sharing about our future a bit. I hadn't seen some of the girls in over 3 years, so it was about time! I used to work with all these girls.

Jules, Nat, me, TPG, and Laurie.

The girls were so sweet to pray for us during this time too. We had such a good time chatting it up, that it made it hard to leave.  We had to drive back to Oklahoma that night, so we had to get on the road. The whole afternoon was just a blessing to us both. It was fun for everyone to get to know Daniel too (other than thru the blog.)

On the way back, we had to stop at REI. I'm in the market for some sunglasses. I don't have any right now, and i know running in the summer is harder when you're squinting half the time.

The poor older man who was in charge of sunglasses that day! He had to keep unlocking where the sunglasses were so i could go back and forth trying them on. He even let us take pics, because i do not trust the regular mirrors.

I'm realzing that if i want good sunglasses, i'll prob have to sacrifice style. Esp if i want them to stay on while running.

Bless Daniel for being patient with me.

We took about 20 pics or so. And i ended up walking away empty handed. I just couldn't commit.

That was our busy fun weekend in a nutshell!

love

laura

BIG news!!!

Okay, a lot has been going on in the last 7 months. So much i've been wanting to share with ya'll, but needed to wait for a few things to happen before giving ya'll the big life changing news.......

We are moving to East Asia!!!!!!

If you remember, Daniel and I met while we were both living overseas in 2008. We met, dated, fell in love, got engaged, moved back to the states, got married.

Over the last several months, we have been seeking the Father about where He might lead us as a couple. After much prayer, we feel that Father is leading us to move to East Asia to study language and live our lives in a different culture. The last several months have been spent praying, figuring out finances, sorting through details, etc....

My last day at work was this past Thursday. We move out of our apartment the end of this month and will spend the month of May travelling to see friends and family, and start the hard process of saying our Goodbyes. We are intending to move to EA on a pretty long term basis. We are selling our cars and furniture.

We are planning on moving the first week of June. We are so excited for this next chapter of our lives and to be living out what has been our dream/desire for a long time.

I seriously cannot express the joy that is in my heart about our future! Father has been working in an amazing way to bring it all together-He has provided so abundantly for us!

AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH the excitement of it all!!!

I'll be writing a lot more about all this! And don't worry i'll be blogging while in EA too...might look a little different, but i want to keep the blog so friends and family can feel a part of our lives, even if we're thousands of miles away!

love

laura

(feel free to email with any questions!)

Long Weekend Rewind Part 1

I don't think i told ya'll, but the running hasn't been going so well. That is, until Friday.

The two weeks prior were filled with good-intentions to run, followed by stopping after 2-3 miles because i felt so lightheaded and sick. I was feeling pretty defeated and seriously wondering if i should not even run the half marathon in 2 weeks. I've never felt so sick from running like these past 2 weeks. No clue what is going on, but after every run i felt like such a loser for not being able to finish or go further.

So up till Friday i was having a lot of doubts about my running ability. At one point, i was like, "wow, what if God doesn't want me to run long distances anymore?!?! what would i do????"

(i'm hoping i never have to really answer that!)

Anyways......Friday morning the temp's were in the 30's and 30 mph winds. Perfect. ha!

My goal was 11 miles. Yeah, crazy long considering i hadn't run more than 4 in the last 2 weeks. I was determined to start reallllllllly slow, because if i couldn't run 11 miles i certainly wasn't going to be able to run 13 in two weeks.

I ran S-L-O-W........like 30-45 seconds slower per mile than my average pace. Whenever i felt myself getting too 'fast' i would make myself slow down. Even though it was pretty cold and brutally windy, i felt really good the entire time.

I mentioned before I had tried Gu and hated it. BUT i tried a new flavor, the Vanilla Bean at mile 6. Right after mile 7, i totally felt that bad boy kick in. I imagine it felt the same as people who use steroids or something. For the next 3 miles i was completely on cloud 9 and feeling AMAZING!!! Seriously, where has this stuff been?!

Long story, not so short, i ran 11 miles and finished feeling the best i've ever felt after a long run. AND i think i could've kept going, too bad the half marathon wasn't this past friday!

I'm pretty excited about the half now, but not uber excited because a. i'm not sure if anyone is going to be there to cheer for me or watch me cross the finish line (Daniel will beat me by at least 30 minutes and is going to church to teach Sunday School. b. you NEVER know how race day will go...weather, temperatures, hills, etc....no matter how much you train, a race is always a little bit different than running in your own backyard.

Daniel and i are both in the market for real running shoes. We both run in trailrunner shoes and are looking for something a little lighter to run in. Hopefully we can hit up the local running store this weekend to see what they have AND get some more Vanilla Bean GU :)

are ya'll training for any races??

Stay tuned for part 2, Dallas!

love

laura

I'm alive...

I think, ha!

Life has been beyond crazy with family stuff, getting over sickness, and a to do list that continues to get longer each day instead of shorter.

Just wanted to say a quick 'hey' and i will post soon i hope. I've been feeling so disconnected from the blog/twitter world lately.

I feel like the last 2 weeks have been a struggle just to make it thru. Even though we've still had some fun times recently, Daniel and i seem to gasping for air and trying to stay above water.

There is SO much i need to blog about, but want to do it all justice...so all in good time :)

love
laura

Kindred Spirits

I'm writing this post from the comfiness of my own couch. Yep, i'm home sick today.

I've been feeling bad for the last several days and nothing has been working, so i made a dr's appointment for this morning. Not shocking, i have another sinus infection. This is the third one in about 5 months. I am blaming the state of Oklahoma because i've never had so many allergy problems in my life. The dr today recommended moving to Arizona.......stay tuned on the moving part :)

So I called my dad (in Texas) cos he's been feeling sick too. He also went to the dr and we both got prescribed the same RX and same diagnosis. Our fevers were pretty close in temp too. I call us prescription buddies, ha!

And because i believe you can totally buy my happiness, i got a  CFA choc milkshake and sandwich on the way home. I KNOW how many calories are in those things but i technically left one sip left, so i didn't finish the whole thing, ha! But it has been helping my throat. I want to keep something soothing on it at all times...i really want to buy stock in Panera's iced green tea. i love it!!!

anyways....i'm at home. Waiting for the meds to kick in and do their thing and dreaming of days when my throat didn't hurt......

love
laura

Running Update

Thursday I registered Daniel and I for the OKC Marathon...we're running the half. It will be my second to run and Daniel's first.

I'm going into this race much more undertrained that the last one. When I ran my first in October, i was diligent about keeping to the training schedule. Of course, i got really sick right before and had a horrible race. But at least i finished!!!

I was hoping this one would be much better, but life has us SO busy, which means our long runs happen about every other weekend. Lately we've been running only 2-3 times a week. Not great when trying to prepare for a half coming up. But not much we can do about our schedules either.....

Anyways....we got in 4 miles on Thursday and set out to do 10 this morning. However, i wasn't feeling good all day yesterday. Daniel went bowling with friends from church last night, and i literally laid on the couch bundled in a blanket watching House Hunters.

I was feeling better this morning, but not great. But i also didn't feel like i had a lot of options...i needed to do this run.

The first 6 miles were right on pace, and i felt like i should've stopped then. But I did another 4 mile loop. My body just broke down at mile 9. The last 2 miles were SO hard! I wanted to stop and walk home. I finished. Mostly out of pride because i knew Daniel was finishing a good 20 minutes before me.

Daniel had an awesome run this morning!! He is going to do so well at his first half.

I'm hoping that in 2 weeks (cos we're out of town next weekend), my 12 miles will feel better than my 10 did today. I'm mostly feeling tired, and there is something def UP with my left side No matter what position i'm in, my left side (lower back/hip area) is clearly unhappy with me.

i'm SO SO SO thankful that we are having a low key weekend. I hate to throw around the word 'deserve', but we totally needed this :)

I'm currently watching golf on tv...it's so relaxing to me, and strangely i always get pretty into it, ha!

If i get motivated i'm going to straighten up the house a bit and go get groceries. Then tonight is DATE night!!! We're going out to a real restaurant (not fast food!) and then spending the evening in watching Despicable Me....we haven't seen it yet.

It's beautiful outside today and hope everyone is getting to enjoy it!!! are you??

love

laura