Lola's Half Marathon

Two Saturdays ago my friend Meredith and I decided to "wing" a half marathon. When I say "wing" I mean neither of us really trained for this half, but both of us had been running/working out. I would have trained for it had I known about it, but I didn't find out about the race until the week before. The advertisement said "Most Scenic Half Marathon in Minnesota," so I figured I had to run it! Luckily, my friend Meredith is a runner and when I asked her if she wanted to sign up, she of course said yes! ;)

Our day was quite the experience. We arrived 10 minutes after the start of the race only to have to run the first mile and a half rather fast to catch up to the rest of the group. Then Meredith took off and I didn't see her until I crossed the finish line (In my defense, she was training for a full marathon up to three weeks prior...18 miles was her longest run...mine was 7 ;)...).  Anyway, I had my music on the whole race and decided I was going to walk when I needed to. Doing a race using that approach is actually the best way to run a race in my opinion. No pressure, just out to get some good exercise, fresh air, and move those legs!

We both finished in better times than we had anticipated considering our lack of appropriate training. We had a great time and enjoyed a bloody mary post-race!

Jagger's morning bone.

This is where I find Jagger every morning waiting for his morning bone...

Happy Mothers Day!

I think this is my first Mothers Day away from my momma! As sad as I am that I am not with her today, the good news is she is coming to visit me on Friday with my little sister! YAY! I cannot wait to see both of them. 

Mom and Dani helping me get into my wedding dress; Mom and Dani together

My mom has been the best role model and friend I could ever ask for. I can talk to her about anything and everything, and she always gives me the best advice. I do not know what I would do without her and thank God everyday that he chose her to be my mom. She is the best! 

I have also been blessed with a wonderful stepmom who has put up with me since age 11...and I know I wasn't always the easiest, kindest, or most considerate kid ;) but she has always been there and loved me anyway. She also brought my gorgeous little brother into this world and for that I am forever grateful :) 

K and Dad <3

And last but not least, I have been very blessed with a great mother-in-law. She has been the inspiration behind many of my adventures..two of them being running and blogging! She has always been SO welcoming and has truly always made me feel like family. I love her for that and am so glad I have such a kind hearted woman to call my mother-in-law. I am so blessed to her in my life!

(I also married into a very good looking family :) Here I am with my sister-in-laws and my mother-in-law at my bridal shower)

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day and were able to spend it with their friends and family <3

Our first "garden"

I just LOVE this time of year. Everything is green, flowers are blooming, and the sun is shining brighter and longer. It is just gorgeous! Since our house was just built, we are still waiting on a few things to be done...one of them being SOD! Until the sod is laid, I cannot start my gardening, which I have been so looking forward to! In the meantime, I bought a planter and decided to start a little garden on my front porch :)

My garden is made up of: 
Celosia (the colorful little guys)
Vinca Vine (the vine-y looking ones)
Spikes (the spikes in the middle)

Up next...vegetables!

Does anyone have good advice on how best to grow tomatoes on a porch!?

My night time run turned photo-shoot.

A few nights ago I decided that it was too beautiful outside to go to the gym, so I laced up my running shoes and headed out of our development. The weather was SOOOO gorgeous! 68 and sunny with a nice cool breeze. And to make it better, the sun was setting. Ahhh, I love nights like these. It felt so good to run outside with the breeze blowing in my face...I couldn't help but feel so grateful that I have two legs that work and a healthy body that allows me to go for a run. How blessed I am!

I probably did not get the most "efficient" exercise, but I could not help but stop to take pictures! I have been running every night since this "photo-shoot," and am thinking it is time to register for another half-marathon (this will be my 4th). Anyone want to join me!?

Crazy Storms!

Man, I do not know what is going on lately but there have been some CrAzY storms out here in Minnesota! 


Last night, Mickey went to his teammates house to watch the Floyd Mayweather fight, and asked me to come but that was about the LAST thing I wanted to do. Boxing makes me sick to my stomach and I end up getting a headache from squinting my eyes and smacking myself if the head with my hands when I try to cover my eyes too abruptly. ;) 


Long story short, I stayed home to read my "Blogging for Dumbies" book, since I am still planning my blog redo/revamp/reworking/re-something. I laid in bed happy as a clam reading until Mickey got home around midnight, and then we went to bed. 


I love thunderstorms and listening to them while feeling comfy and safe in my bed. I do worry about all of the people who are homeless and all of the animals who are left outside :( , but other than that I love storms. 


I am not sure what time it was but I was abruptly woken up by Jagger barking his head off and Mickey yelling for me to get up...my heart raced and I sat up thinking that someone was trying to break in our house. I jumped out of bed as Mickey screamed "hail!" HA! drastically different from someone breaking in our house, but the car was outside so he was worried. 


We ran downstairs, pushed his new football pitching machine out of the way and he pulled the car in without any dents (thank goodness). But the hail was the size of quarters and was piled up on our windshield wipers. Crazy!


I wish I would have taken pictures but I was half asleep and I didn't get a chance. Hopefully the other cars in the area were okay, too!

Our Wedding 6.25.2011

I found this linky party on Absolute Mommy's blog...she is hosting "WIW: Wedding Edition." I had the most amazing wedding day, so I figured I would share my day with others, too!


Our wedding ceremony was held at a large historic Methodist Church in downtown Harrisburg (Grace United Methodist). 


We chose this location because:


a) it was big enough to hold our 278 guests 
b) my pastor (Pastor Brian) is friends with the pastor at Grace, and since my church was booked the day of our wedding, Grace's Pastor let Brian officiate our ceremony! (Which was so nice and Pastor Brian did an AMAZING JOB!)
c) the church is GORGEOUS! It is an old gothic style church sitting on a charming street. I fell in love with it!

My dress was a Justin Alexander gown from an adorable little bridal boutique in my home town. It was a champagne color with little rose buds along the neckline and continuing down the back of my dress. There were little rose buds on my train with crystals. On my left hip, there was one big rose with crystals.

 Me admiring my dress :)

 My mom (in purple), my sister (in the blue) and my step-mom (brown) helped me get my gown on.

Weddings by JDK was in charge of florals, food, setting up and designing our reception, etc! They did it ALL and were absolutely awesome. I would recommend them to anyone in Pennsylvania!


Our reception was at my Aunt and Uncle's estate. I owe them A MILLON thanks for letting us use their gorgeous home and property for our reception. It was truly magical and no other venue would have been as special....Here are some pictures of Mickey and me where you can see some of the amazing details of their property.

 Old iron fence shaped in little hearts :)

 Steps coming up from their pool, and the side of their home. I wore blue shoes which I think turned out so neat in this picture!

 Picture of us in their garden.

 My bridesmaids and I down by the creek. Notice the old bridge to our right and that amazing stonework.

 The whole wedding party.

 The 5 horses were out in the backyard for our reception. 

 The boys down by the creek. Love that broken picket fence behind them!

 Strolling through the gardens.

 Infront of an old wooden cottage on the property

 Pool shot :)

 Standing on the bridge over the creek.

 The reception tent off the back of the house.

Me and the love of my life <3

Our cake was OH SO YUMMMMMMY!!!! We had it made by Dingledein's, which is a cute (and dangerous) bakery in our home town. And of course, I got cake to the face...but I totally didn't mind. I actually am glad Mickey did it, because I like the pictures :)

The speeches given by my dad, sister (Maid of Honor), Mickey's sisters, and Drew (best man) were so touching and I had to cry through all of them. Here is my little brother comforting me during my dad's amazing and heartfelt speech:

 Mickey's sisters speech

 My daddy <3

 My sister's adorable speech

Drew did an amazing job. So heartfelt!

And to finish up, and few more pictures:

 My mom had these made for Mickey and I. I loved them and they were such a nice surprise!

Our signature drink...the Pink Mick-tini!

A few of the tables before the reception started.

We had beautiful weather and our day went so smoothly. It was truly a fairytale and a dream come true!

We hired a videographer...you can watch our highlight reel here: our wedding video!

Hope you enjoyed looking through our pictures, and happy happy happy anniversary to Megan at Absolute Mommy!

I need suggestions!!!

I feel like I need a blog MAKEOVER!! When I started my blog, I had no idea what I was doing. I did not  know at the time that my world was going to expand and I was going to find a million blogs/meet a bunch of people who inspired me and taught me how to make/cook/try things. That being said, I think I limited myself a bit with my blog name. Although the intention of this blog was to write about Mick, Jagger, and my adventures as the "New Rolling Stones," we have now settled into our own home and are coming up on our 1 year anniversary :) That being said, I don't feel as though we are "so new" anymore.


I want to start incorporating more cooking and DIY projects into my blog, and maybe change its direction that was it was originally intended for. Does anyone have any SUGGESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS?  Should I start a new blog completely or just totally switch this one up. I feel as though it may be easier just to start a new one instead of totally tearing this one apart...


Any thoughts/comments would be greatly appreciated!!!

me being "artsy"

Before Mickey and I drove out to Minnesota I had a Tickled Pink party at my mom's friend's house. When I walked in the front door, there was a large piece of art hanging in her foyer. It said, "be still and know that I AM." This verse is from Psalm 46:10, which reads, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." 


I love this whole verse, but I found the shortened version on that poster to be so intriguing and COOL! So, instead of buying a big sign for a lot of money, I decided to make my own using a $3 black canvas from Michael's and some pastel crayons. Here is the finished project, which was then covered with Krylon's Clear Gloss so it wouldn't smear. I think it is super cute and is hanging in my mud room so people see it when coming through the garage.

we have a WALKWAY!

I never thought I would see the day that I got excited about "household stuff," like my vacuum (Dyson ball..ohhhh yeah!), my appliances, my toilets (we got cool flusher thinger-majiggers), and every other thing in/around my house. I used to think my parents were CRAZY when they got excited about things like this. I would think "really? you are ecstatic that you got a new vacuum, are you nuts?" But now, that is me. What have I become?!


Anyway, the LATEST exciting addition to our home is...a walkway. We used to walk from our stone driveway onto an ugly piece of wood to walk, then up our front steps! But now, we have this baby:

Jagger checking it out. Maybe now we won't have as many MUDDY PAWPRINTS all over our hardwood floors?!!

Anyway, now I am going to be cleaning my house since poor Mickey had a stomach bug...time to disinfect my awesome toilets. ;) Have a great Friday!