A List of Happenings.

-Happy Halloween! My Halloween celebrations were on Saturday. I had SO.MUCH.FUN. Pictures:

Do you know who I am?

I had to show this one. He dressed up as a stripper pole! Seriously?? Haha!

-I had a choir concert on Sunday and my parents and younger brothers came here to watch. I've missed them.

-I got TWO packages in the mail today!!! One from Brianna (best friend who lives 5 hours away) which was a Halloween card and Smarties! (My favorite candy). The other packages was my iPHONE!!!!! I preordered it way back on October 14th. I was so excited to get it today! Yippeeee!

-I got my first blogger award! (Post on that later).

-It's my ex-boyfriend's birthday today so I'm all up in a flux because it's weird.

-Kim Kardashian is filing for divorce?!?!?! Wowwww....

-I already cannot wait for the weekend...HUNTING. Really there is nothing more to say. My bother and his babe (my niece) are also flying in from Illinois on Thursday. I can't wait to see them!

How freaking adorable is she???

Hope you all are having a great start to the week!

With love,

Ali

P.S. I wanted to give a shoutout to my blog friend, Christie, who just ROCKED her first half marathon! Great job, Christie! :)

Mail Time.

I absolutely LOVE getting things in the mail. Once I order something I track it constantly and wait anxiously for it to arrive!

What I have recently received...

-The CUTEST little baby outfit for my niece. She's such a little 4 month old turkey so I got her this:

The butt also has a turkey on it. How sweet is that?

-I just received my PureFit health bars in the mail. I hafta admit that I don't really like them. I honestly think if I would have gotten a different flavor I would really like them, but I got chocolate brownie and it's just too much chocolate for me. SO I've decided that if anyone here wants them you can have them! I'll ship them to you because I just don't want them to go to waste! Let me know. :)



I am currently waiting on...

-My iPhone 4S which I preordered 3 weeks ago and it finally shipped today!

-A surprise package from my best friend who lives 5 hours away. The only reason I know I'm getting something is because she asked me how I get packages since I live in an apartment. She's not very sneaky and not good at lying.

-A bracelet from Ashley! She is making the most awesome bracelets to sell because her poor baby pup needs knee surgery. :( Seriously though these bracelets are legit...she'll even customize one for you! That's what she did for me! :)

Hope you all are having a great weekend! Tomorrow I'll be running errands and cleaning all day until I partake in some Halloween celebration festivities! :) And on Sunday I have a choir concert and my family is coming here. I am beyond excited.

With love,
Ali

So P.S. If you guys want to send me something in the mail, I would love you forever! ;)



News Flash.

Today the official times for my 10K were posted.

AND...

My time was 59:51!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, I am so dang excited about this. My goal was to get in under an hour and when I crossed the finish line the timer said 1:00:13. I will admit I was bummed. I knew that was the unofficial time but I didn't think it could be more than 15 seconds off!

So today I am in a super good mood. Besides the fact that I have to read 60 pages for a class tomorrow. But let's not worry about that!

Another thing...

I signed up for another race! It's only a 5K but it's on Thanksgiving morning and I'm doing it with my mom and aunt and maybe a few other people that we are trying ot recruit to do it. It's called the Baxter Turkey Run. How cute is that??

So on Thanksgiving I'm going to get to do two of my absolute favorite things...RUNNING and EATING!!!

Thought this was so funny.

My grandma makes the BEST Thanksgiving Day dinner. So I'll get to run in the morning, go home and get ready for Turkey Day, and then go to Grandma's and eat eat eat. Gosh I cannot wait.

With love,
Ali

FOOTBALL.

I love me some football. However, I'm not one to pay attention to any other teams but my own. Except this week. My most hated team plays MY team. In fact, they're playing right now and it is such an intense beginning I don't even know where to start describing it. Did I mention they are league rivals?

GO VIKINGS!

I LOVE my team. Now I just wish I could be at home screaming ridiculously at bad calls OR pure JOY at the tv with my dad!

ONLY man who looks sexy with a mullet.

Leads the whole dang league in sacks.

His wife is having their first baby.

I'd say he's pretty damn awesome.

Well, we just got ANOTHER touchdown.

Score: 14-7 VIKINGS!

We're looking pretty damn good with a rookie quarterback. Christian Ponder is making his first NFL starting debut today. And I hafta say that with how impressive he looks, I hope he is making Leslie Frazier (Vikings coach) regret every decision he has made about keeping Donovan McNabb in for way too long.

With love,

Ali



Race Day!

This morning I woke up at 6am for my race! It was definitely an early morning but I was so excited about the race that I wasn't even that tired. The race started at 7:30 so at about 7 my mom and I drove to the start line. The start line was only a few blocks from my apartment so that was definitely nice! We waited around for a little bit and then things were ready to get rolling!

My mom left a couple of minutes before we started and walked a little past the starting point so she could get a picture. Needless to say she didn't really know where I was in the huge crowd of racers so she didn't get a picture. She did drive to the finish line to catch some pictures there where it actually did work!

After that we were off! Everything went swimmingly (oxymoron?) until my shoe came UNTIED! Seriously...I run every day and my shoe NEVER comes untied. So I stopped to tie it and that was that.

I skipped the first water station because I wasn't feeling I needed any...which is a good thing! I grabbed some at the second one, though, and got most of it on my face and chest because I wasn't going to stop running to drink some water!

There was a pretty big hill that we had to run down. It literally was a half mile long so I used it to my advantage and BOOKED it down that hill! Good thing I didn't fall flat on my face. ;)

I got to about mile 5 and was feeling it a little bit. I took a few Ibuprofen before the race and that helped A LOT but my legs were just feeling a little dead. However, I pushed through it and finished strong! I saw the finish line and sprinted to it...and my mom was there to congratulate me when I finished. Seriously, she is the most amazing mom ever.

Pictures!

Love this picture.

I customized my Nike Frees to say 'Carpe Viam' which translates to 'Seize the Road!'

Such a perfect slogan for running shoes. :)

Before the race...it was a little chilly!

Start line!

Almost to the finish and still smiling!

I made it!

Tying my shoe...hmm...reminds a lot of when I had to STOP and tie my shoe during the race...

Tired and sweaty after...but feeling great!



Even though I had to do this race by myself I still had one heck of a time. It is so inspiring to see so many people out running and really encouraging to see all the people on the sides of the WHOLE route cheering for EVERYONE...even people they don't know!

My goal time was to get in in under an hour but my unofficial time was 1:00:13. THIRTEEN seconds...really? I blame the shoe tying. I was still pretty excited about the time though because it makes it about a 9:40/mile pace. I'm definitely not running in races for the speed because I know I am not fast! I just do it for the fun and excitement. I was also super proud of myself because I ran the whole dang thing. Minus having to stop for the untied shoe lace, I never walked. And that, for me, is really an accomplishment.

I hope you all are having a great weekend.

Any upcoming races you are participating in??

With love,

Ali

I'm alive!

Just a quick little post to stop in and say YES, I AM still alive!

I know I've been a bad blogger lately but LIFE has gotten so busy with school, work, and trying to train for my race TOMORROW in between.

Yep, I am doing a race tomorrow! So excited I can't even contain myself. It's only a 10K but my mom is driving 3 hours to come watch! Love her.

My original running partner backed out because she hurt her knee running the other day. Personally I think she could suck it up, but that's coming from someone who has chronic shin splints, bad hips, and bad knees! Anywho...good thing she doesn't blog. ;)

I must go check on the banana bread I am baking right now. It smells sooooo good!

I hope you all have fun weekend plans! Check back soon because I'll post about the race! :)





Cheers to the weekend! And, no, unfortunately I'm not drinking that right now for purposes of the race tomorrow. But you can bet I wish I were!

With love,
Ali