christmas vacation

During December, Kyle and I went to Nashville for a weekend full of fun and friends. We left on a Friday and I just had to go see the Opryland hotel. I wanted to see all the Christmas decor!

Below are pics with us in front of many Christmas trees!



huge tree

huge ornaments

 

more trees

 

Oh Christmas tree!

We walked and looked. One day we'll stay the night there!

Next we drove to Carol, Jason, and Norah's house to stay the night. We went to dinner and then for some yogurt. I have never seen a 15 month old act so great! Norah is a doll! I only pray when I have kids that they will be as fun and well behaved as Norah!

Sweet Norah!

The McCoys and Stouts!
The very next day, we went to the Dickens of a Christmas in Franklin. It was fun! The Main Street area travels back in time to the Charles Dickens era. People are dressed in characters from Charles Dickens stories.

150 years back in time.

 

The town was bustling!

 

We met up with Julie (good college friend) and Steph and her hubs Ray.

 

It was packed! I highly recommend you going. They have food vendors, pony rides, dancers, and much more!

We had a PACKED weekend. Next we left Franklin and checked into our hotel downtown. We had plans to meet up with Kyle's friends from his home town and go to the Saints/Titian's game. Come to  find out, my friends had planned to go to the game too. I never got to meet up with them but I do see them all the time!

Kristen and her hubs

Tiffany and Kyle.

We hung out for a while downtown but was in bed by 11.

Football Sunday! We were with major Saints fans. Since Kyle is from Central Mississippi, everyone supports the Saints. I heard "Who Dat" all weekend  long!

Posing on the walk to the stadium.

Our nose bleed seats. And a view of the crazy Saints fans!

My 1st NFL game!

This man was crazy. As the game went on and his drinks got in his system, he started to take off more clothes. He cracked me up. It was very cold that day. Crazy Saints fans.

The Saints ended up winning so the group I was with was happy.

Kyle and I headed back to our hotel to go home. We really wanted to get back so we are riding illegally in the very back of the van. This is a special picture for Kyle =) He knows why!

We had such a fun weekend! That was our Christmas present to each other. Well, one of them!

 

my fluffer

Kyle is a trooper. He says he likes it when the house is decorated. It reminds him of growing up. It is true. We put the tree up a week later than usual since we were out of town for Thanksgiving then the next weekend was the marathon. Kyle's jobs includes: getting the decorations out of the shed and....

fluffing the tree! 

Thanks to Kyle, our tree looks full and fluffy! He does it with a smile and with Christmas music blaring in the background!

food for finance: occupy marathon

(healthy) food for finance is a column where we talk about how fitness and finance correlate with each other. join us on our journey to be both physically and financially fit.

Ever since writing a story on paper about being the 99% or 1% became the "in" thing to do, I wanted to be "in" and do one. The marathon was perfect! Research shows that anywhere from .1% to 2% of the world's population ever completes a full marathon. So I took the average and came up with 1% for the sake of my picture! We ARE the 1%!

Here is where I got that info: Memphis Runners Track Club said...

Soooo....we did a search to see what percent of people run a marathon and this is what we found on more than one site:

"Depending on who you ask, people who have completed a marathon make up anywhere between 0.1% and 2% of the world’s population. I had sort of dismissed that statistic as bunk and folklore until I stumbled upon this Web site, which has all sorts of interesting statistics about marathon finishes in the United States.
There were 382,000 marathon finishes in 2005. Guesstimating the U.S. population at 295 million in that year, it works out to about .13% (and you have to take into account that many of the people who finished were not first-time marathoners). These numbers are incredibly rough, but at the very least they don’t completely dispel the 0.1% statistic most often quoted by anyone who has ever run a marathon."

I never wanted to do a full marathon. Kyle signed up back in April to do the St. Jude full marathon in December of 2011. I created a monster! Kyle went from running a 45 minute 5k in 2007 to running a full marathon in 2011. I am so proud of him!

 Before the big race.

I told Kyle I did not want to do it. So to make sense, I trained with him. Say what? Why in the world would I do that? I figured I could at least train and if I changed my mind, I could then sign up last minute. I wanted to see how it felt to run more than 13.1 miles (I've done a ton of half marathons) before I signed up for the full 26.2.

Before the race when life was good.

So, I ran 14 miles...it wasn't too bad. Then I ran a 16 mile run with him. I still felt good. Ok, ok, I'll sign up. OH NO-I went to sign up and it was capped out!?! Here I am, running 16 miles for nothing. I was not happy.

 About to start.

So I waited it out. I just knew that someone would get injured and I could get their bib number. So I waited and waited.

 April did the half! Go girl!

Finally, the day before the race, I got a bib number from someone that injured themselves training. A DAY BEFORE! I only had 24 hours to mentally prepare for 26.2 miles. I had lost it!

Our cheerleaders! Jen-Leon-Marianna. Such funny signs! All the runners loved them! 

Not only did I have 1 day to mentally prepare for the race, I also did 2 other race no-no's. I ran in new shoes and new shorts! I honestly think I left my brain somewhere that week. The good news is that my new shoes were awesome and I did not get a single blister. My shorts were great too! I don't recommend anyone doing what I did!

At mile 10 and feeling great. 

At every mile I would reassess myself and see how I was.  If I felt bad at the split, I would just do the half. But I decided to complete the full with Kyle.

Here comes Lauren and I at mile 17. I look ok here.

Oh but look at this picture. Not so good!

My friend Marianna lives at mile 17 and she had cheering station for us. I even decided to go up to her house and use the bathroom. I ate something and went on my way. Kyle was a little ahead of me as Lauren and I decided to walk/run because we both were hurting at mile 14. I told Kyle to go on! I also felt VERY safe running with Lauren because she's a doctor! I had all my bases covered!

Mile 17 cheerleaders were the best!

Around mile 18 Lauren and I saw Kyle walking. He joined us. He started to hurt. He knew he needed to slow down and save himself for the next 8 miles. So the 3 of us walked/ran. Mile 19 to mile 26.2 was miserable! I hated it. Then I saw a sign that said "you chose your pain, we didn't" and it was true. If I could only get through 8 more miles, I'd be done. But the kids that have cancer can't say that. They did not choose to have pain. That is the only thing that got me through it because I was hurting. We started out at 11 minute mile pace and ended up doing a 13 minute mile pace because of the walking. But that does not matter. WE DID IT!

YAY! We are the 1%. Our official time was 5 hours and 48 minutes. Our goal was to finish.



I told Kyle that I will never do another marathon again. One and done. 1st and last. I think I know how it feels to be old and it's not pretty! But you never know what the future holds. I might eat my words. Congrats to us! Thanks to all our cheerleaders, including my in-laws!

I compared the pain I felt afterwards to the flu. I ached all over. I did not feel good lying down or standing up. I hurt either way. But the pain finally subsided and Kyle and I even went to our friend Randi's Rum Ball fest that very night. It is doable! No pain, no gain right?!

delta tour, basketball, football OH MY!

My last post was about Thanksgiving and how I wanted Kyle to take me on a tour of his family land while we were in the area. So here it is "the to be continued" Thanksgiving trip.

Welcome to Thornton, Mississippi. Population: I don't know! I was all ready to see a town square. There is not one. I guess that is why it is called " touring farm land!"

This is where my mother-in-law grew up. It used to be a cotton farm. Now they lease it out to corn farmers.

This is the tire swing in the back of Kyle's Mimi's old house.

And that was it. Kyle said, I told you we'd be done touring in about 10 minutes. I had a good time and it was nice to see some family history!

Then we went north to Greenwood, MS. Home of where the movie The Help was filmed.

Finally, a town square! It is a such cute downtown area. I'm sure there is farm land there too. Kyle showed me Mimi's "city home!" They spend so much time in the city, they needed a place to sleep! We had lunch at The Crystal Grill. It was one of Pappy's (Kyle's grandfather) favorites.

After walking the streets of downtown Greenwood, we drove east to Starkville to complete our Mississippi tour.

Another game of the century was about to happen. That's right! The battle of the McCoys happened again. Read about the 1st battle here. Round TWO! Mississippi State vs UT-Martin basketball game!

I had to take a picture when the game was tied. It counts even though the game just started right?



The boys in action.
I tried to count the UTM fans. I counted all 6 of them. I think those 6 fans were parents of the players. But I sure did stick out like a sore thumb when UTM would make a basket and I stood up to cheer. I'm a true fan!

To bad UT-Martin lost.

The very next day was the Egg Bowl. Ole Miss vs MSU.



Leah and Josh-the newlyweds.

a game of football at the tailgate.

the hash tag. #hailstate

Mississippi State was the 1st college to put a hash tag in the end zone for people to tweet during the game. MSU made a social medial breakthrough!

It rained, then it stopped.

Then it rained. But it was not a cold rain. So I was able to hang...until the end of the 1st quarter when my SIL Leah wanted to leave and go to BWW to watch the game in dry air.

Leah saving us a parking spot at BWW.

Mississippi State ended up winning the Egg bowl 31-3. They've won 3 years in a row and that has not happened since the 40s I think?! Needless to say, I was with a happy family.



What a great weekend!

thankful for family and...applebee's?

It was our year to do McCoy thanksgiving at the deer camp in the deep delta of Mississippi. We can't make both so we switch each year.

MIL and Annlea (Kyle's cousins baby)

The spread was amazing.

Mimi (Kyle's very funny grandmother) and Aunt Eloise (Kyle's great aunt)

4 generations

Last spring was full of tornadoes. One passed by the deer camp.

Only a city girl would take this picture.

After thanksgiving, we went to Jackson, MS to spend the night with Kyle's cousin since Mimi is now moved to a retirement home in Meridian. I wanted to take a tour of his family land in the Delta where Mimi lived and my MIL grew up. Our drive to Jackson was about 1 hr and 15 mins and about 15 mins from Jackson I had the best idea. I said "Kyle, why did we not stay at a Bed & Breakfast in Vicksburg or Greenwood? Then we wouldn't have to drive all the back tomorrow and you know I want to stay at a B & B in the Delta." Kyle said  "Angie that was a great idea....1 day ago." I was not on top of my game. A little too late.

Then...we needed to eat dinner and wait for his cousin to get back from her in-laws. I just knew there would be at least 5 options for me to choose from. My pet peeve is eating at chain restaurants. So we drove around for about 15 mins and there was nothing open. I kept dwelling on my B & B idea.

eating good in the neighborhood

The chain of chain restaurants was the only place open. APPLEBEE'S! Really? Seriously? That place reminds me of the movie Talladega nights. So we made the most of it. We sat at the bar and had some salads. And I had a great time. It felt like I was at someones home. They were putting up the tree. Very nice people on a thanksgiving night. If you are ever feeling down about missing out on a great idea, go to Applebee's. It will make you have warm fuzzies.

By the time we were done eating, Kyle's cousin was home. Perfect timing. We hung out with her family and I tried to talk Kyle into going shopping at midnight while I slept (HA). I really wanted a Dyson and black Friday had great deals. He didn't go for my idea (got shot down twice that day) so we utilized cyber Monday and now we are proud owners!

Next post will be my delta tour!

thankful for friends

Maybe my new years resolution needs to be to stay on top of blogging!

Back to November...I love the fact that my friends do a "friends thanksgiving." Some of them are my friends from college that are not from Memphis but ended up here. Some are work friends, bible study friends, Memphis friends...friends of all kinds. I am thankful that we take time to do this. Some of them have family far away but it is nice to know that they have a family right here in Memphis when they can't be near their loved ones.

Betsy-Emily-Amanda-me

April-Cindy

So...April's boyfriend Nathan pulled Kyle aside and told him he was going to propose to April on Thanksgiving day in front of her family. Kyle DID NOT tell me! I got a text from April on Thanksgiving night. I can't believe that boy didn't tell me. Don't married people share everything? Even secrets? Congrats April and Nathan! Too bad Kyle didn't think I could keep a secret for 4 days. I guess I understand why he didn't!

 

Mariana-Fergie-Jen-Shelly

deserts

Cindy loves to make crazy faces. Can you pick her out?

The secret keeper and me

Maybe this is why he didn't tell me. I met up with April the next day with a couple of friends to have lunch with our sorority sister who is expecting. Maybe he didn't want me to look like I knew something. He knows I keep good secrets!

me-Betsy-April-Shelly-Jennifer-Holly (and her baby bump)

I am very blessed to have such a wonderful Memphis friend family.





enchanted forest

I am a member of TWIGS. We raise money for Le Bonheur Children's Hosptial. Every year, TWIGS hosts the Enchanted Forest at the Pink Palace. My department always decorates a tree.

Rachel-Amanda-me

Our tree-we got 2nd place in the Le Bonheur category.

In years past, we hosted a preview party where people bought tickets and viewed the forest before it opened. We decided against it this year and just had a reception for the donors. I was the bartender. And by bartender I mean I gave out sodas, beer, and wine. But I liked calling myself the bartender!

Thanks to all who came to the forest and supported Le Bonheur!