Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of our readers/people who find our blog by accident! I must have been a good Single Gal this year because Santa and his helpers were so kind to me! As always, the best part is having so many friends and family to see and visit with this holiday season and all year round.  While I am tired of eating and drinking until I am stuffed every weekend, I am lucky to always have food on my table and if not, then food on someone else's table and a standing invitation to stop in for a bite. 

Today it's been completely rainy and gross but hopefully it will let up for a nice Christmas walk for Hogan since it's our very first Christmas together.  We had a wonderful breakfast with Kay Woww today and we were happy to hear that The Situation's surgery went well and they were releasing him from the hospital today.  We missed him last night at our Christmas Eve celebration.  Let's all send some extra thoughts and prayers to him over the next few weeks. 

And, in case you needed an extra delight today, I received a special gift in this morning's email with this photo-shopped angel attached.    

Love you. Mean it. 

~the Single Gal~ 

The Christmas Card

Last year I did a dual purpose Christmas card/birth announcement with #1's newborn pictures. It was a pretty awesome card if I do say so myself. Which means this year I was faced with having to keep up with those high expectations. I know most of you face the same dilemma of having Christmas card awesomeness. I finally got my cards out so here ya go........this is the picture we used this year. Too much marathon training to schedule family photos.

The Housewife

The Grinch

A post from the Single Gal! It must seem like a Christmas miracle to y'all.  No, I didn't die from running the marathon.  But, I did almost die the week after I came back when I caught a terrible, awful stomach bug.  I won't go into the gory details but it involved a lot of vomiting. And, I doubt I can ever eat another can of Campbell's Select Harvest Italian Wedding soup ever, ever, ever again. 

I just wanted to say "Hi!" and check in with all my favorites.  The Housewife summed up the Marathon (I think "marathon" should be a proper noun, don't you?) pretty well.  It was hard--like really, really, really hard. It was cold. We felt sick to our stomachs. The last 7-8 miles were complete misery.  I would swear never to do another one again, except I didn't meet my goal for a 4:30 time and the fact that I know I can do better is seriously nagging at me.  But, for now I think The Housewife and I will stick to nothing longer than 13.1 for 2012. 

Seriously though, Christmas is here! How did that happen?!  And The Housewife is right--it came too fast! It has been really hectic to get my shopping done post marathon and try to decorate and cook and wrap and get through these next couple weeks at work while so many are out on vacay. Here are some things Hogan and I have been up to--like hanging stockings by the chimney/large-TV-mounted-above-my-mantle with care: 

*Note, Single Gal is technologically challenged. So, I do realize I have some light strands out on my tree. But when Single Gals run Marathons, somethings gotta give. 

In other news, I am trying hard not to be a straight up Grinch this week. Not because I am single during the holiday season, but because Sunday night the bank called me and some Jerkface in Canada swiped just over $235 out of my account on a bogus charge.  First, the Jerkface was really lucky I even had that much in my checking account.  I was also lucky that charge didn't overdraft my account. They will put the money back, but not for 10 business days--which is obviously after Christmas. This also means I have to get a new debit card, which also won't be here for 5-7 business days (again, after Christmas). I am supposed to get a "temporary" debit card at the bank. You know, because I haven't had to work through lunch all this week just to keep my head above water.  

Also, when I attended a holiday party on Friday night I guess Hogan Monster (see above photo) was unhappy because he wasn't invited. So, he ate my eyeglasses. Like, totally crunched the lens out of the frame and made one of my ear pieces bend in an unnatural way.  I am very tempted to put coal in his stocking. Not. Even. Kidding.

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

All I Want for Christmas- Housewife Edition

Christmas feels like it came too fast this year. I blame most of that on marathon tunnel vision and then post marathon blues. Really all I want for Christmas is for someone else to wipe off the high chair and highchair mat. To be able to go get my eyebrows threaded and get a mani/pedi. To go to Barnes and Nobel and walk around for an hour plus. I don't even care if I buy anything. I'll just get a coffee and go read magazines off the rack and put them back. I want to spend time with family and have mimosas for breakfast. But should you be looking for any last minute gifts I will give you my materialistic list. And Amazon.com was my best friend for toys and a few gifts. I don't know why anyone would want to go to Toys/BabiesRUs. I usually find better deals on toys on Amazon and we are Prime members- that means free two day shipping on almost any damn thing.

HD MakeUp Forever Foundation. Let's face it ladies. You get what you pay for in the makeup department. I want my foundation to last all day with minor powder touch up. I feel like I found my best color match with this line too. I ran out like a month ago.

If you're looking for any last minute gifts for the gal who loves make up in your life try www.birchbox.com. You can sign someone up to receive great makeup samples once a month. You can do three months all the way up to a year. (I just think this is a good idea. I can assure you no one is sponsoring anything on this blog.)

I would love to find this book in my stocking. I've been resisting the purchase because it's something I want to start in January with the beginning of the new year. Anyone else intrigued? You can also check out the blog and follow the author on twitter- www.happiness-project.com. 

I could really use a nice pair of flats. I'm loving the look of these Marc Fischer Leopard ones.

I'm sure I will be getting some money for Christmas as well and I will be heading to Loft or J.Crew to purchase some much needed clothes. I have 6 pairs of jeans and hardly any tops to wear with them. I told the Turtle not to get me anything because I got my sewing machine a few months ago. But I am excited about what I got him this year. I think he might actually keep it and not return it. I'll fill you in later.

Hope y'all are done with your shopping and just have a heap to wrap like myself.

The Housewife

Nightmare on the Strip

I know everyone has just been on the edge of their seats waiting to hear how the race went, riiiiiight? Well, it went. That's all we can really say about that. There were some logistical issues that Competitor (people who put on the race) needs to fix. For reals. However, every story should start from the beginning. Flights were ok ....the Single Gal sat next to someone fun and chatted to the whole way.  I forget how long and boring it is heading all the way to the west coast. It was a long day and the Single Gal and I were both pretty tired upon arrival but up and at 'em the next day to the Expo. I felt sure the Expo would be at the convention center at Mandalay......not so much. It was all the way down at the Venetian. So we figured we would take the tram to MGM and from MGM get on the Monorail. Big waste of time and money. The casinos are so big and are designed to keep you in so it's difficult to discern which way you actually need to go. So after much back tracking and bitching from me and the Single Gal we eventually found the damn Expo. There was no signage directing you even once you got into the Venetian.

Yay! We finally have our bibs!

After way too much walking and standing in long check out lines for gear and gels we finally made our way out and waiting for Turtle's Sister and Brother-in-Law who came to run the half. We had a nice lunch where the Single Gal and I broke down to have one glass of wine to take the edge off. The we took a cab back to our hotel which was the best damn decision we made all day (besides the wine of course). The Turtle went to take a nap and we met up with some other friends and ended up sitting in the Sports Book at Mandalay and got educated on placing sports bets. This really thrilled us and we put up some money on a 3 leg parlay bet for some NFL games. Sadly the Patriots busted us early on Sunday by not covering the spread on the damn Colts. But it was fun while it lasted and we wanted something that came with a bigger reward should it have come out like we wanted it to. 


Race Day was long. We walked out to what we thought was the starting area which turned out to be the finish area but had a good idea where everything was. We went back to our rooms for a bit and then went somewhere to eat around 11:45. This was the last meal before the race. Then more waiting.....and waiting. Finally it's time to get ready! 

Notice the Single Gal's short shorts. See, we are all smiles pre-race. I won't bore you with an every mile recap. We started quickly because apparently out of 44K runners only 6K happen to be doing the marathon. Hmmm....we start thinking that is a big difference and that will be a lot of people once they start releasing the 1/2 Marathoners onto the strip an hour and half after we start. I didn't really mind being out in a more industrial/residential area off the strip for the first 13.1. We were just zoned out and trying to keep on pace. There were several hills which we did not account for but we didn't walk at all the first half and finally made it back on the strip. There were many marathoners that complained because they could not get through the crowds of the half to stay on pace and most marathoners didn't have times they expected to get. (Put us on that list too.) We are doing okay at this point. We are hurting a lot earlier than expected which is weird. We walk a little and start running again and The Single Gal and I separate around 16.5. I'm not feeling well and we are both not taking any more gels as the smell of the sewers and the food establishments are making us nauseous. The Single Gal catches back up with me and we end up walk/running the last 8 miles with a finish time of 5:09. 


I think the temperature drop is what got me. I was very warm when we started on the strip only to become very cold from the weather getting colder and due to walking and my core temperature dropping. I could not get warm. My muscles and both knees were hurting. I wanted to stop. If I could have actually found anyone taking runners back I would have pulled off. It was that miserable. The strip lights were not doing anything for me but giving me a headache. The Single Gal got me through. 





We finally make it back to shower and then go get something to eat. Apparently being Sunday night all  of the food establishments closed early. The ones that were still open had long lines (as in over an hour) and were running out of food. Turtle finally rounded us up some Chinese at 12:30 am. 


I know this was long so thanks for reading if you did. We are taking away positives from this and we know we trained for better times we just picked a bad race to run. So our review is not to do this race EVER. They want to make it 60K next year. I sure hope they resolve some things before that. It just wasn't worth the expense for me. High race fees, long travel distance, etc all to run a bad race. This is a large charity event (which is great) but I had no idea how many of the half marathoners would literally be walking the entire race. 

Random Pre-Race/Travel Ruminations

I'm trying not to freak out right now. Poor Single Gal. I mean, I've done two of these before and I'm just a step below a serious panic attack. I just now got on the computer to check in for my flight and successfully secured the last aisle seat available. Karma speaking already? Perhaps. Or is it fake out Karma like "ha ha, you think things are going well but they aren't." Only time will tell.

Did I mention that I have not even packed my suitcase yet? Nothing in it. I still need to shower and have not even settled on my "airport chic" look. Serious white girl problems going on here.

The good news is, The Single Gal and I love Las Vegas. Who doesn't get excited when all those damn strip lights come on? And they stay on until the sun comes up. Which is good because we are usually out until the sun comes up. Except for this trip. The partying happens after the race.

Oh, and I've never been away from #1 for this long before. I'm sure I can find some distractions though.

Can we talk about how much it's costing me to keep #1 in nice shoes? Even the ugly ones are $30 a piece.

I'm signing off for us until we get back. The Single Gal may be reporting from a far if she has time. You can always follow us on twitter @housewifeblogr  and @the_single_gal too.

Love to all who read (which is nobody but our stepmom probably) and wish us luck!!

The Housewife

Figments of the Single Gal Imagination

Well,  our trip to Vegas is basically here.  The Housewife and I leave on Friday! {gasp!}

The Housewife is clearly not in the same mental position I am in because she already has two 26.2's in the bag {what a beotch}.  I have really been super stressed this last week or so.  I am trying to squeeze in the appropriate amount of workouts so that I will be well rested but enough to feel energized when I get to the big day.  Last week I really wimped out with Thanksgiving visits, cooking, cleaning, etc. so I never really was able to squeeze in much gym time. 

I have been trying to get some really good mental images in my head to help me think positively but this week I am also trying to reflect on my journey and other things I have learned (don't worry--no more pictures of me in tiny shorts, I promise). 

{other things I have learned}  

Don't ever say this to yourself or you might not make it through all the training: 

"Oh, I will train for a marathon...then I will look like that chick in the Victoria's Secret catalogue!" or "In 5 months I will straight up look like that bitch Giselle. Eat your heart out Tom Brady -- you could have been with me instead!" 

{mental image of what you may look like after you marathon train}

And...in reality, you just look the same if you are me. Sure, you changed your insides. I can outrun people. I can climb more stairs than most without fatiguing. Blah, blah, blah. Every once in a while I can eat a whole pizza if I want when I run 20 miles.  I may have lost 1 pound.  ONE.  My hair didn't even fuller and thicker either. Lame.  

{BUT...}

I have had the best time with The Housewife these last few months!  People always ask how we are able to run for 3 1/2 hours on our long run days,  but we just hit the road and talk each other to death like any normal day or outing.  On really good days, sometimes we barely even notice we are running.  You can do anything with your best friend beside you supporting you and loving you the whole way through and that is an incredibly rewarding experience even if you don't get your Victoria's Secret angel wings. 

There is no way I could have done this without The Housewife. She is the master of discipline and the best training partner this Single Gal could ever ask for.  And, I think she is even a little surprised that I made it this far.  (Ok, let's be honest...I am surprised, too.)  

Hope y'all are having an inspirational week and gearing up for some new goals in 2012! I am not sure how I will top this one but I sure am going to try next year. 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Life Lesson #345: Pay Attention When Ordering Online or You'll Look Like an Ass

This is seriously as close as I will probably ever get to starring in a porno. I invite you to the mini-documentary of part of the Marathon Outfit.  

{A sunny October Monday...}

Single Gal: I am ordering my Race Ready shorts today. What size are yours? 

Housewife: Medium. 

Single Gal: Thanks! Mine are now on the way!  

{A few days later...}

Single Gal: I am holding these shorts up that just came in the mail and they look really small. Are you sure yours are a medium? 

Housewife: Yes.  I just went and checked mine. 

Single Gal: Well, ok.  I guess mine will be fine then.  

---------------

So, I try on these shorts.  They. Are. Outrageous.  And, they really don't look like the ones The Housewife usually wears.  Basically, my ass is hanging out.  But it's kinda too late to send them back and they fit in the waist so I figure I will just deal.  

 (Please keep in mind I have shelved my dignity for your entertainment this week.)

I know what you are thinking -- "Single Gal--those really aren't that bad.  Why are you freaking out?"

Why am I freaking out? Let's just think about this photo.  This is how exposed I am when I am not moving at all.  Just me being still.  In tiny shorts. 

And just for extra emphasis -- That. Is. My. Ass. Hanging. Out. Of. My. Shorts.  They really, really, really don't look like the Race Ready shorts that The Housewife has. 

{Flash Forward -- Our Saturday Run}

Single Gal: Housewife, my shorts seriously don't look like yours! WTH?! 

Housewife: Ooohhhh! You got the Kenyan kind!

Single Gal: I take it yours are not the Kenyan kind? 

Housewife: No. 

{And, end scene.}

Sars for my dirty, streaked mirror in those photos.  Life has been busy lately--I haven't even had time to prep any other Vegas outfits.  I guess if I get in a bind, I can throw these shorts on with some heels and gain entry into any club I want with no problems...

Oh. and I am also sorry if this post has emotionally scarred you for life. 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Whoa Baby(Lock)!

Christmas came early at the Housewife household this year! Well, for the Housewife at least. I have really been down since I took my sewing machine to the repair man and he did not deliver the best news. There was no point in repairing her. (Sigh.) So bless the Turtle he told me I could go ahead and get a sewing machine. He must have been tired of seeing me have the sads. In the world of sewing many of the machines go on sale in the fall because they are trying to make room for the new models. So I took #1 over to K-Woww's one day and ran some errands and was able to stop by the sewing place where a sweet old lady helped me find a machine. I introduce you to my BabyLock Grace........

Nickname: Stitch

She is a computerized baby and I love her. She is certainly not the top of the line but she is the middle of the pack. The great thing about where I purchased Stitch from is that if I decide to upgrade next year for any reason they will give me a credit for my trade in. It's very similar to car dealings. Who knew? Unfortunately for the Turtle I will now be unstoppable in my desire to buy patterns and fabric. I will get #1 in some things so you can see that I have some sewing skills. Well, at least some skills for someone who never took Home Ec and has mostly self-taught herself ("taught" equals experimenting and praying I don't make too huge of a mistake).

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Previews and More Random Musings

I promise we will be blogging some more this week! I had big plans for the weekend for catching up on lots of stuff -- a long chat with The Housewife, long run, errands, housework, craft projects, blog (!) etc. -- but I couldn't get to all of my "To Do" items. 

So...I thought I would just give a sneak peak for some upcoming posts. I am sure you are just dying to see what will come next.   I truly have good intentions every evening to sit down and write the blog I have in my head but I plop into bed with my laptop only to log onto Pinterest and lose 1 hour of my life or more. 

 {Upcoming!}

-Great things about being "single". I know I joke and talk about finding "the one" a lot but if you have been reading the other parts of our blog I obviously have a full, happy life filled with other stuff.  It's time to remind the general public of the good life. 

-Pinterest Inspirations and recent small home projects

-You can also expect a few more Marathon themed posts in the next few weeks.  I am so consumed by this and also tired of training that I realized today I haven't even stalked great restaurants try or started imaging what I will wear while I am out in Vegas! It's shameful, really. 

-I am sure we will squeeze a Thanksgiving moment or two in as well.  

Also, Friday night I randomly started watching Pride and Prejudice and forgot how beautiful some of the moments are for this remake...sigh. Don't you just love these two? And the quotes. Gorg. 

"You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." 

Jane Austen 

Ok, thanks for checking in and reading my lame post. 

Love you. Mean it. 

~Tired and Lazy Single Gal~

Thursday Musings on Man-Pillows

Sometimes when I am cruising the "world wide web" there are images I come across that  immediately make quite an impression on my soul.  While many on Pinterest found this image to be quite humorous I wondered when I saw it for myself if I was staring into my not-so-distant future. 

Looks fairly harmless and easy to use, right?

Except even Headless Pillow Guy appears to be coping a feel...

I will obviously need to find some brothers/sisters for Hogan before I resort to buying stuffed man-pillows.  Nonetheless, I guess both options are significantly less frightening than going back to online dating.   

Then again...

Large Stuffed Man Pillow -- $20 on overstock.com

No backtalk or heartache -- priceless. 

Thanks for reading my random Thursday musings. 

~the single gal~

Happy Halloween!!

~Happy Halloween from The Single Gal and The Housewife~

Hogan masquerades as Spiderman!

#1 Meets Her First Carved Pumpkin!

Y'all be safe and have fun today!

As God As My Witness...This Single Gal Will Never Go Hungry Again -- Well, Not This Week Anyway.

First off, many thanks to The Housewife for keeping the blog up and going for basically all of
October. This last month has been incredibly busy with training/complaining about training,
social activities, family stuff, etc.

I have been going non-stop for the last few weeks -- and I am exhausted.  Not
Scarlet O’Hara I-Lived-Through-The-Civil-War exhausted, but pretty close. I haven’t
been able to properly devote as much time as needed to my training this month
(Dear. Jesus. When. Can. I. Stop. Training. And. Run. This. Race. OMG.) 16 miles on the pavement this morning and our last 20 miles next week. We are in our training “peak”and it hasn’t worked out well with all the family activities, engagement parties, birthday parties, and squeezing in much needed time with The Housewife and our girlfriends that all ended up happening in the month of October. I tried my best to be everywhere and pretty much accomplished that goal.

So this weekend I gratefully fell into the black hole of “I’m {Happily} Not Leaving the House
(Except to Run and Maybe Go To Starbucks)” syndrome...or, we could dub this weekend -- “The Weekend I Finally Made Stuff from Pinterest!”

Since I am sick of microwaving almost all my Single Gal Meals I happily dusted off the crock pot and actually made a real meal (I am just as shocked as you are, trust.). One that I might be able to finish by Friday.

{chicken taco chili}

 

I ate this while having several severe heart attacks during the GA/FL game on Saturday. It
needed more chili powder and maybe some Tabasco to really get a good flavor, but since this
was my first try I’ll call it a sloppy win-- just like The Dawgs had this weekend. Georgia played some seriously sloppy football but thankfully ended up with a W.

And if you are wondering what I will be eating the rest of the week...

I also snagged this recipe off of Pinterest as well to try this weekend:

{pumpkin scones}

I am not sure why this picture is blurry.

 

Ok, these mis-shaped triangles of goodness don’t exactly look like they fell out of Southern Living Magazine, but they were delicious! And, as this example shows, no matter what they look like just throw them on a fancy plate, drizzle them with spiced glaze and ta-dah! 

Scones aren’t always my favorite because they are kind of crunchy and can be a bit dry but the spiced glaze really adds a lot to this fall pastry.  My house also smelled wonderful this morning while they were baking away in the oven.

{currently reading}

And, for those who may care about literature I also finished the book Dracula In Love by Karen Essex and managed to get more than halfway through a new book, The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen on my Kindle this weekend! I might even finish it tonight!!  I am not huge on book reviews so I have just linked them up to Amazon for your perusal.  I enjoyed/am enjoying both but they weren't/aren't 5 stars or anything.  

I love cooler weather where you want to cuddle up with the dog and your chicken taco chili and read all day!

Love you. Mean it. 

~Incredibly Productive Single Gal~

I ain't afraid of no ghost.

Halloween will be here Monday. I'm glad it will be over on Tuesday. Then we can begin to celebrate fun and beautiful Holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's not that I'm anti-Halloween...I'm just indifferent about it.  I'm pretty sure traffic on the night of Halloween is some of the worst throughout the entire year. AND let's not talk about scary movies.  The Turtle loves scary movies. The Housewife does not. Paranormal 3? Para- no-thank-you! I don't even like to hear the scary theme music while I'm locked away in the bedroom with a happy chick flick on. Something like You've Got Mail or When Harry Met Sally. Don't pretend you don't love a good Meg Ryan flick. 

 No trick or treating for us this year. Not because we don't believe in it but because I'm not buying a $20 or $30 costume to be worn for maybe 20 minutes. Plus, we don't live in a neighborhood and no one trick-or-treats on our street. We'll do it next year when #1 might understand and be excited about it. There goes parent of the year awards. The secret is out. #1 hits the sack at 7 p.m. anyway. 

Eating a sweet gum ball. Yummy.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend! Here is a Pumpkin Patch picture of #1. It was very hard to get her face because she looks at the ground most of the time and tries to eat leaves, bark and the like. Sigh. That was much more interesting than the silly orange things laying around in her way. We don't have a fancy DSLR camera which is practically a parental requirement these days. (This post is just full of parental fails.) So we maintain our slow shutter speed and *might* get a picture where she is looking at us.

I do have an old dog Spiderman Halloween costume  that I dug out for Hogan. BUT.....like everything else in this house it has now disappeared. You hear me, Turtle? I'm talking to you. I know you did something with it because I left it on the dinning room table and it has vanished. Please return it.

The Housewife

It's the Final Countdown

No. It's not really the finally countdown but the Single Gal and I are in the final throws of marathon training. It's not pretty. We are whiny bitches at this point, seriously. In reality since we only run 3 days a week and occasionally 2 days depending on how far our long run is for the week there are only maybe 10 running days left in the plan. But it's almost 10 runs too much. We started base training in June. (That's the training you do BEFORE the "real" training.) Not that it wasn't great for the Housewife because I'm pretty sure I've lost some mad inches. I haven't weighed myself in forever and I'm okay with that because I have some slouchy jeans that basically fall off of me. Sometimes I'm afraid if I wear them in public I might be ticketed for them being too low off my waist. Like this. 

Yo Dog! Was up?

I found a really funny picture of a girl with her jeans hanging off but it was borderline pornographic in my opinion and we don't totally support that here. A little too much plumber butt for my taste. I got my new pair of marathon shoes to break in before the big day and some new running socks. I'm not sure if we covered the socks in our gear post but dry fit socks are a must have. 

The Single Gal and I are also on the detox train pre-race day. (Except for coffee.....that would just be dumb. Obvi.) We are off the drinking train until race day. (Only I cheated and had one glass of wine last night. Ugh......confession. Maybe the Single Gal won't read this.) So I'm starting over again today. The Turtle peer pressured me. I'm weak. And it really sucks that detox is during football season....especially when Alabama is going to play LSU next week. Only I won't be able to stay awake after running our last 20 miler and attending something for 4 hours immediately after that. 

PS.- Anyone else panicking about Holiday shopping yet? (I'm raising my hand.)

The Housewife

Who Let the Dog Out?

Me. I let the dog out. My worst nightmares coming true!!!!!! But before I tell you that story I should start at the beginning. The Single Gal had to go to Savannah Saturday night for our friend Little A's engagement party after our morning run. So she entrusted the Housewife household with taking care of Hogan. Which was apparently a big mistake on her part. (Just kidding. We really are seasoned pet owners we are just out of practice since Bailey has passed on from this world. She was blind in her last few years so she never strayed far in the end and would not run away.)

We picked the H-Man up on Saturday and no worries. He's visited here before and #1 quickly began following him everywhere and doing her "woof woof" speak and pointing at him. She loves dogs. A lot. Thankfully Hogan tolerates her shenanigans very well and shares his toys with her. Sunday morning we wake up with relatively little drama from H-Man that night. We get everyone ready to head out of the door to church and we are loading #1 up in the car so I run back inside because I want to make sure I "doggy proofed" everything that Hogan might think is tasty or fun to tear up. So come in my laundry room from the garage and go move two things and head back out but I pause........WHERE IS THE DOG???

Panic, panic and more panic. I hit the laundry room and the damn door is OPEN!! Why????? Who left the friggin door open? (ME! Stupid Housewife.) Turtle is waiting in the car at the opposite side of the garage and I fly through the door and spy Hogan just past our other car at the top of the driveway. Major panic now. I can't breath. How could this be happening? For those of you who don't know Hogan is a runner should he be let off the lease or escape the clutches of your home. I'm thinking the Single Gal is going to spike my head on a pole for this. The Turtle is highly confused as he sees me bolt down the stairs  in my skirt and boots chasing and yelling for the dog very much like Julia Roberts in My Best Friends Wedding when she is running after Michael who is chasing after Kimmie. Oh the drama.

So the dog bolts. Turtle gets out of the car and I run in the get the collar and leash and he goes after the dog. I yell at him because I'm not seeing enough sense of urgency. And he tells me no wonder the dog kept running because I'm yelling like a lunatic and chasing after him. True, I think to myself. So he goes off and I get the car and do a round and luckily when I'm coming back down the road Turtle has at least gotten Hogan back up on our street even though he's still lose. I jumped out of the car and calmly and rationally got the dog. Thank you baby Jesus. Disaster averted. Then as Turtle and I drove to church we debated the pros and cons of telling the Single Gal.

The Housewife aka Professional Dog Chaser

Dog Lady

Hi, I'm the Single Gal and I'm obsessed with my dog. But I'm sure you knew that.  Anyway, I scheduled a small family portrait session for myself and Sweet Hogan a few months ago and we had our shoot a little over a week ago and I have been dying for the proofs.  Seriously.  I thought I would die before I saw them.  I tried to show some of them to Hogan on my computer when I got home but he still just likes to do "dog stuff" like play with Nasty Squirrel.   And, I don't think he was cut out to be a model because poor guy slept for the entire afternoon once we got back from our adventure in photography.

Love and Sunshine

Our photographer was the lovely and talented Kaylan and she is based out of Atlanta.  She is super organized, totally nice, and gorgeous.  She was so nice to put up with my dog-lady self before I even had my morning coffee. 

View here website {here}.  Stalk her fun {blog} like I do. "Like" her page on Facebook.  Check out all of her lovely work.  Hire her for goodness sake!

You can find lots of our proofs on her blog from {our session}, and I will leave you with a few of my favorites, even though I love them all.

That's right, Hogan can do "Blue Steel". 

Besties.

~black and white~

<3

Happy Tuesday Y'all! It's a bit gray in Georgia this week but I hope you find sunshine, love, and happiness in something before the week is over. 

~the single gal~

Party Like It's 1999

OR........like you have to run 20.5 miles for marathon training BEFORE having #1's first birthday party this  Saturday. Yeah. Seems like a great idea. I'm only starting to mildly panic about the party prep (or lack of prep).

Gah. The Turtle and I have not even started to practice her smash cake yet. Not to mention now I want to make some of these adorable rice krispie treats for the party guests as well.  Similar to these except minus the additional hooker pink glitter on the top. Seriously, it's like clear heels on a stripper. Bad accessorizing rice krispie treats, bad.

I'm either doing to do a plain pink smash cake or a Cookie Monster smash cake. This doesn't look difficult at all does it?  I'm sure I can whip it together in a few hours perfectly. Right? The Turtle's mom made all of their cakes for their birthdays when they were growing up. Not just some cake with icing and piped on "Happy Birthday" but elaborate cakes. Therefore Turtle says "we" should make it. Does your husband or boyfriend ever "we" you? I get "we'd" all the time. ( "We" should change the sheets which equals the Housewife changing them.) As the Single Gal and I say it's about to be Cake Bossy up in here. #1 will probably cry because her cake is "looking at her." I'm kind of freaking out just looking at this picture of six cupcakes staring at me. They really do look like they are coming to get me.

If you need me I will be running errands to pick up party and baking supplies and when I'm running on Saturday I'll just pretend these cupcakes are chasing me with their large weird eyes and a cookie in their mouths.

The Housewife

Dress to Impress. And eat some protein for goodness sake.

Hi. I hope the Single Gal kept you entertained while the Housewife family was on vacation. Everything was wonderful with a few minor annoying details. Good news is #1 started walking while we were away. I mean, I guess it's good news. Someone asked me about it and I said, "Well either she's chasing me around the house or I'm chasing her."

We vacationed with Turtle's entire family and we had decent weather for most of the week. The only storm cloud seemed to be that certain family members didn't think we feed #1 enough protein and her pajamas were too small. I JUST bought her new 9 month pajamas people. I can't help that she is a little long for them in the feet and legs. I will take you to the baby store and show you the 12 month size that frankly looks like it's meant for a small giant. They are way too long for #1 right now. While I realize these comments were meant with love in their hearts I did get tired of the protein question by the 5th time it was mentioned. AGAIN. Over and over. Then the comment "I guess there are vegetarian babies out there" comes out.  Look, #1 just won't eat a lot of meat right now and generally the pediatricians say they get most of their proteins from the formula/milk. I'm not worried about it. Peace protein.

LOVED the beach. LOVED it. 

Back to the point of this post. The first birthday party is quickly approaching and I promised a sneak peak of the birthday girls attire. Again, it's not perfect but it's not too shabby for someone who didn't know how to sew a button on anything before making it. For real. Before I started sewing I mentally made a list of all the things I knew how to do. I can cut the grass, blow the driveway off, weed eat, and drive a five speed. (Obviously I can do more than that but I was thinking more of the "life skills" that I have.) I figured I was more suited to learn how to run a tractor than figure out how to use a sewing machine. But now I can sew. I clearly need to acquire more "housewife" like skills.

Ignore my dirty front door. 

There you have it. And can I get any shout outs for it not being pink??? I think the birds are darling. It reverses to polk a dots. She will probably have to wear some little white bloomers under it because the hem is a little shorter than I would like in the back but that's okay.

The sewing machine repair man called yesterday. Looks like it will cost more than what my vintage machine is worth to get it in good working order. Please send donations for a new sewing machine.

The Housewife

"I Don't Want No Scrub..."

So, I come home the other day and I am utterly horrified and embarrassed to find this in my mailbox: 

Yeah. That's right.  I seriously got pegged with a singles flyer.  A direct mailing and not some internet ad.  So I come in the house and I am thinking to myself, "Sweet Jesus.  Is this what rock bottom feels like? How did they find me? How did I get on this list!"  Basically,  I am standing in my kitchen dying a small death on the inside... 

...And then I turn the card over.  Sweet baby Jesus it was addressed to my neighbor and clearly put in my mailbox by mistake! 

At first I was relieved, but then I was super offended. I mean, Neighbor Pete was arrested for murder last year.  Murder people! I mean, I guess it's still alleged at this time....pending trial and all. (Note: I don't live in the ghetto, this is just a weird "All My Children" story-line that seriously occurred in real life -- basic love triangle, mistress and lover [Neighbor Pete] are just trying to be together and set mistress's husband's house on fire oops her husband just happened to be found dead in his burned up house.)  Anyway, this basically ends up bringing several concerns to the forefront of the "Single Gal Worries" section of my brain: 

• Why is neighbor Pete getting this mailer instead of me? He is clearly a murdering Scrub. Or rather, a Scrub suspected of murder.
• I will obviously be doing background checks on potential mates...which could get costly.
• I need to start praying harder to Little Baby Jesus if I am going to find someone to "put a ring on it" that's worth a damn. 
• Life isn't like all those songs Taylor Swift keeps releasing. What a liar. 

I'll be pondering these questions and more this week while I am busy putting down 32 miles over 3 days for the start of another really hard training block for the marathon with The Housewife.  I would complain, but I am pretty enthusiastic about the post break-up work outs I now have time for because I love to get "revenge hot".  And this time I mean business. It's not that I wasn't completely fabulous before, but I am seriously in the throes of getting Kate-Middleton-I-Told-You-Prince-Will-That-You-Would-Come-Crawling-Back revenge hot.  I figure running 19 miles on Saturday has got to have some sort of lasting benefit. 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Gear Up

Our weekly mileage is really creeping up into serious double digits these days. We will probably be looking at 30-40ish miles per week until a few weeks before the marathon. It's only right that we share some of the things we love that help us through those long (and sometimes short) workouts. I'm not going to post our specific running shoes for one reason; you need to be fit for the shoe that is good for YOU (no more picking shoes because they're pretty). We recommend going to a local running store that specializes in this and they can hook you up with shoes that are like running on clouds.

shoe that fits you

Again, everyone is different but if you're going long you need fuel. This would include a fuel belt and getting calories back into your body. I prefer a larger water bottle instead of four little tiny ones. That little bottle attached to it is to fill with gel (see below) so you don't have 400 gel packs and trash to get rid of while you are running. We certainly don't condone littering on this blog people. Save the planet. 

Nathan Elite Plus Fuel Belt

Power Bar Gel Strawberry Banana

This is our flavor of preference because I can't seem to stomach the Vanilla flavored ones at all.......or anything chocolate for that matter either. This flavor also has caffeine in it.........and who wouldn't like a hit of caffeine when you're running insane amounts of miles??? Also, when you buy these at the grocery store it never fails that the cashier will question what they are and what the heck they are for. 

Last but not least the infamous Nike Tempo Track Shorts are the go-to for us when we are out sweating to the oldies.  It's hot in Georgia most of the time and hey, you really need something that dries out fast if you sweat like we do!  These are awesome and worth the money.

And here's the PS for you. I won't explain it; I'll just let you figure it out. This is a must have product though. Trust me. 

Happy Running! What products do you love? Can't live without something? Let us know! Also, anyone know much or tried these Sweaty Bands headbands? We have read great reviews but still don't believe there is a headband out there this cute that doesn't slip!

~The Single Gal and The Housewife~

Sunday Funday = Monday Bumday

The Housewife has seriously been wearing me out with all this running! I was so tired from 17 miles on Saturday that I made a lackluster attempt at having a few cold ones on Saturday while we were watching football (Sooooo sad about The Dawgs!).  On top of that I was a little overzealous yesterday when I was @Phipps Plaza patio lunching and shopping with my bestie EBM (does it get any better?). Ok, I was really overzealous.  A bottle of wine and 1 vodka soda later we happily ate our Tavern Chips and cruised the mall for hours.  Except that I felt like utter, complete poop today at work.  Seriously--I think I drove into work with the sweats at 7 this morning. I had to put the air conditioner on full blast for my entire commute. And I am a morning person tried and true.

No joke, this was the brand of Sauv Blanc we were drinking.  Should have listened to that label -- but this could be a legitimate instance where "no means yes". 

In reality, other than the accomplishment of the longest run of my life (to date) it was really not a productive weekend for The Single Gal -- unless you count the awesome Lilly Pulitzer sale items I snagged at Belk. A lot of DVR was conquered, some laundry, and a serious day o' fun with a friend on Sunday.  But here are few things I totes meant to put up last week when I never got around to blogging. 

Found a new Essie color -- "Over the Edge"! I am seriously obsessed with all things gray and this shade is so gunmetal without being too Twilight...I think. What are your thoughts -- is it too "Sons of Anarchy"? Does my hand look fat because I cut part of it off in this photo?

Starting a new collection for the gold stack. Sure, would I love all the new Michael Kors stuff? Cha. But Hogan would be starving if I bought any of them. And me too, probably. These beauties can be found at your local Forever 21 store. I know the panthers/jaguars/whatever that is are kind of out there. Fashion is hard y'all. I'm taking some chances these days.

Also, currently reading and fairly disappointed in the following:

One Day by David Nicholls

 

Now I'm off to prep some beach necessities for The Housewife -- ironing some cover-ups for her and making a pile of goodies for her to wear while on her vacay.  Now that I am back from St. Simons and most lake days and pool days are gone with the advent of Fall it is only fitting I send them with her for one last voyage.  After all, all good things must come to an end -- even this blazing hot summer we have had in Georgia this year.