Heart Shaped Sweat: BIRTHDAYS

Monday, April 15, 2013

The Kind You Just Want More of.... {Weekend Recap}

I know we all have those weekends we wish would never end.

This was truly one of those weekends.
Hubs and I took some time out for just the two of us, then spent hours in the sun with our boys and the rest of our weekend was surrounded with as much family and friends we could fit in the backyard.

That time for just the two of us? yea that was spent downtown Richmond in a crowd of 32,000+. We had no wrist bands, no haute outfits, instead we wore race bibs and running shoes. Up bright and early we got our youngest to the sitter and said goodbye to our sleepy tween. After waiting WAY TOO LONG in line for parking, shuttle bussing, and porta-pottying we finally joined the wave one behind what we'd signed up for. All was well and Afrojack began my soundtrack for a 6.2 mile race along side the best running buddy a girl could ask for. High fives, a quick dry heave, and Florida Georgia Line Remix concluded those 62 minutes.
(more on those 2 minutes and all that fun later!)

Lance is already showing signs of the dreaded teenage years. He'll be 13 this summer (yes, I know CRAZY!!) and the typical sleeping late, "I know more than you", and this is what the cool kids wear issues are slowly creeping in. We got home from the race around 12ish and walked right in to him passed out on the couch. Rough night of partying kid? When did he grow up so fast? We reeled him back into reality with lunch cooked on the grill and playtime outside in the summer like weather. There was so much to get done in prep for Landon's bday that his help watching and playing with Landon was hugely appreciated!!

Getting a 2 year old to sit pretty in an attempt to recreate last years birthday pic was a dream I had to let go. While I'm thinking I may get him in agreement with this idea later in the week, this just wasn't on his list of things to do on his birthday!!! Couldn't blame him, there were trucks, balls, friends, grandma's, grandpa's and chocolate cake to worry about. Oh and lawn mowers. Little Landon is still my barefoot baby and he's still so in love with anything daddy can do...so when gifted with a kid style lawn mower crank sound effects in all, he lost sight of everything else. It went down as his proudest moment ever to start up that mower and cut grass. My BFF long time caught in him playing in the balls and collaged it against last years pic.....

uh, how awesome is that?! Look at all the changes in one year! I'm forever grateful that she caught these pics and love looking at them together!! Naturally I'd be the first to like it and if allowed by IG I'd keep liking it 100 times over! Landon was such a good boy at his party, he loved each and every present and more than that, he loved up on everyone. He got uber bashful during the Happy Birthday song, something we'd practiced all week and wouldn't tell a soul how old he was but I think he knew this was a day all about him.
I know he loved every minute of it :)

Once I crack through all 300 thousand pics from Saturdays race and Sundays birthday party, you can bet I'll post more. And hopefully, fingers crossed I'll get the perfect pic with those letters T.W.O.

Happy Monday ALL!!!
Hope your weekend was filled with love and happiness!
We've got Lance's first track meet today, so excited for this!!!

*If you're feeling lucky check out this giveaway I'm part of.
Tarole's got a reason to celebrate and she's gathered up a few of us to spoil one of you!

**And there's this one still up and running too! Have at it!!

post signature

Linking with Weekend Shenanigans, YOLO Monday, BlogLovin Hop, Monday Mingle

Friday, April 12, 2013

Love Me a FRIDAY and a Giveaway!

Over the last few weeks I've gotten more brave with just hitting "publish" on my post instead of combing over them one (really ten) more time. On twitter I'm trying my best to not over think tweets and/or wonder what others will gather, instead I'm just opening up more and sharing pieces of the days worth in an attempt to just be more there. I've gotten back into Instagram. I had IG (and twitter) long before my blogging days and seriously - I fell in love with IG, like hardcore, then ~~life got busy~~ Pinterest erupted and stole time from IG. But I've gotten better at taking a few minutes to share what's happening and document life, it's been fun! Within minutes I can easily catch up with friends and fave bloggers.

Now, even bigger than all of this is sending out emails. Can I just say how important it is to reach out to other bloggers? Just checking in on bloggers and following up with more personal notes, really taking time to let them know you care makes a huge difference. It's funny because all of this is most likely easy for others but I've def struggled with a/ balancing time and b/ just being more me and vocal. It's a safe place to hide behind the blog but it's also a very boring place.

It has all made a big difference in my blogging journey. It's made this place more real and tangible. It's helped me be more secure with my decisions here and more creative with my future wants. People are kind, people are nurturing they want to help, they want to encourage. They want to know you. I for one am ALWAYS open to emails and having more sideline talk....I've yet to meet another blogger who isn't the same. So as you blog on, I encourage you to reach out :)

Things I'm loving this week.....

1// hubs breaking away from work for a random lunch with me.
he never does this! total work-aholic that man... seems he was having a debbie downer day in the office and needed some wifey time. I ate up every french fry and every minute of extra time with him :)

via

2// enrolled in the AFAA certification class offered at my local gym!
this is more exciting than you may think. It's been a bucket list item for sometime and I've always hesitated to go through with it. But, something just clicked this year. Maybe it's the pending move, maybe it's frustration with the same job field for 13+ years, or maybe it's just time I step up and focus on my passions.
AFAA certification is globally accredited and applies to all gyms. There's a lot of studying involved and much more required than this one day but this is a necessary achievement to make my way towards possible group fitness instructor or personal trainer :))

via

3// FINALLY freed up storage space on my iphone by using Dropbox. People I had soooo many photos on my iphone that I couldn't take another one -much less update. But, I can't stand not having my pictures available on my phone. Dropbox and all you twitter loves helped me fix my phone and not loose a single memory! thank youuuuuuuuu :)

4// Hydrated like a maniac this week and dropped to just walks, in prep for Saturdays 10K.
I really missed my workouts and runs this week but with being so busy and knowing that an hour long run was ahead of me, it was the right thing to do. Last year hubs carried his 60+ lb. ruck sack for the race...we did intervals to make the distance more manageable. This year we're leaving that sucker behind and running the whole 6.2 miles. I love to run for about 30 minutes, after that I start wondering "why am I still running?" (hehe) but this race is full of energy that pushes you through to the finish line! Wish us luck!!

5// Wishing a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my youngest! You may have already caught this but he's turning 2 this weekend. These are pics from last years big 1st bday :) He loved every second of smash the cake and totally cheesed for me through almost every picture. This year I'm not so sure I'll get as lucky with the photo's, the boy is an explorer, a curious one, and strong willed active tot. He's my little sweetie, love him to pieces and can't wait to celebrate his 2nd birthday with family and friends!

*Take a moment to reflect on the big and small things that make your week more beautiful.

I know this weeks H54F looks a tad different, just felt like changing it up! Hope you don't mind!
Another little twist on this Fridays post.... a GIVEAWAY!!!

Kara at Happy Go Lucky is hosting this Fun Friday giveaway along with me and 7 other funtastic bloggers!

Be sure to say HELLO to Kara!

Her blog is rich in DIY's, fun linkys & hops and family//kid friendly treasures!