May the horse be with you.

OH.EM.GEE y'all. Even with all of the rain, the Kentucky Derby was an absolute BLAST. I can only imagine how much fun it would be with beautiful weather. It's just such a spectacle, and I really love watching horse racing (and the betting). It's so fun to cheer on your horse(s). Thankfully, there were no injuries or anything, because that I can't take.

It was GORGEOUS when we got there on Friday, and we were so wishing the weather would stay that way. Unfortunately, that was not in the cards but the rain stopped at opportune times, like when we were arriving at the track and for the actual Derby race. The sun did not even come close to coming out all day except right when they started bringing the Derby horses out of the paddock. Apparently, God loves the Kentucky Derby. ;)

We bet on races 7-11 and won twice, putting us up a whopping $33! I don't know what made me like Super Saver before the race, but I decided on Thursday that he was one of my horses and bet him across the board. We had several other Derby bets, one of them being a trifecta box with horses 4, 10 and 11. Well, the top three were 4, 2 and 10 so we were SO CLOSE to a $2200 win on our $2 trifecta box. Betting is a lot easier in hindsight. ;) Without further adieu, let's get to the real fun... pictures!

Calvin Borel on #4 Super Saver on the left of the picture.

#4 to the lead for the win!

On the way home, we had to go through (and around because roads were closed) Nashville, and here is some of the flooding we saw...

My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected. It's unbelievable what water can do.

Nada

I'm having blog brain freeze. Nothing too exciting to say. No pictures to share. Had a fun little weekend of our first visit to a Super H grocery store (Korean grocer), putt putt golf (seriously haven't done that in ages, I beat Matt!), Madelyn's 1st birthday party where I was the unofficial photographer and official cupcake maker, the Georgia Philharmonic concert where we got to see Matt's aunt play and his aunt's father conduct, and lots of yard work (it never ends) on Sunday. I was in Orlando for work Monday and Tuesday and on Friday, we are heading to Louisville, Kentucky for the Derby! Woohoo! I can't wait to drink mint juleps, don my big ol' hat, and bet on some horses. I just hope the weather holds out. Promise lots of fun large hat pictures next week. :)

Master Bedroom

So, I think via my house updates, I've pretty much established that I SUCK AT DESIGN. Seriously. Finance? Good. Real estate? Good. Math? Good. Design? FAIL. I'm just not very creative or artistic. And, that's okay. We all have our talents. Thankfully, mine earn a decent paycheck so that I can hire someone else to be creative for me.

Enter: Capella Kincheloe Interior Design's genius IDESIGN program. Please choose one of the following: Matt and I... a) are cheap thrifty, b) are saving for a kitchen renovation, c) like to DIY, d) all of the above. If you guessed d, you win! Sorry, there's no prize, but isn't knowing you're right good enough? It is in my world. But, I'm always right so it gets old (my husband, mother and best friends will laugh at that... the rest of you will just think I'm conceited... well, my husband does not read my blog and he'd actually roll his eyes, but that's neither here nor there).

Anyway, back to design... where was I? So, Capella has this program where you fill out a questionnaire about your style and what the room is used for, give her the room floor plan, pictures of the room, and inspiration images (and a fee, of course), and she whips up a super sweet design that you can execute yourself (or yourselves, as the case may be). PERFECT for the cheap thrifty, saving for a kitchen, DIY couple.

Our bedroom has a sort of odd layout in that it's two rooms and there's really not a whole lot of usable wall space in the main room. The only wall you can put a bed on is the bottom 12' wall and even with a queen size bed, it doesn't leave a whole lot of room for a piece of furniture on the 7.5' wall on the right. It's a pretty tight squeeze now with our bed and armoire. So, I'm looking forward to a fresh look and a good space plan (and maybe even a king size bed... maybe).

Just a few of my inspiration pictures. Can't you tell I like upholstered headboards/beds? So pretty and cozy. I'm definitely over the matchy-matchy furniture deal... give me a Dorothy Draper dresser and some mirrored side tables any day. :)

Friday musings

• I was in NY Monday and Tuesday for work. I love that I can travel for my job, especially now while Matt isn't at home and we don't have any kids. I ended up wrapping up all of my work on Monday and my flight wasn't until 3 on Tuesday, so I had the day free. I did a little shopping at H&M and came away with four dresses and a pair of shoes for under $150. I love that place, and I swear the ones in NY (especially the 5th Ave store and the 34th St store) are better than the one here. And, I love NY.
• Because of said shopping trip, my Kentucky Derby wardrobe is complete (outfit to wear out Friday night and Derby day dress). My Miss USA trip wardrobe is also complete (same outfit I'm wearing to go out Friday night for the Derby, plus a couple day dresses). I already got my dress for the pageant, and I LOVE IT. I ended up only paying $30 for it, because I had a $50 gift certificate (from an auction where I only bid $25) and a 20% off coupon. Score!
• We need tickets to the Derby. I officially do not want to be in the infield. I will deal if we can't find some reasonably ($150 or less) priced tickets, but I really want to be able to see the race. That is why I am going! If any of you happen to know of anyone selling them, let me know.
• Matt is going to Wanee (a music festival in Live Oak, FL) this weekend, so I'm spending some QT with my favorite family of three tonight and tomorrow. We have major plans of going for a walk, playing with Jenn's new hair accessory, and taking a picnic to the Dogwood Festival tomorrow. The days of hitting the bars until 2am are long gone, my friends. Although, we do need to save up our energy for the Derby in two weeks.
• Apparently, I'm very approachable and have a sign on my fiveforehead that says tell me things. Because, NY cab drivers always tell me semi-interesting stories that I'm not sure they'd tell every rider.
• TGIF!!!! Have a great weekend!

At what point does it become overkill to wear an outfit that consists of a cardigan and a skinny belt at mid-waist? I forwent the belt today, but I'm just saying... it's been my go-to outfit this week... and part of last week... and the week before.

I got worms!

Ten points if you know what movie that quote is from. Jenn, you don't count. ;)

So, as I've gotten married, bought a house, talked about getting a dog and having children one day, and just generally have become an old fogie, I realized I actually like working in our yard. I mean, I have always been fairly outdoorsy, but when asked what our plans were for the past weekend, my response was that we were working in the yard and that I was EXCITED about it. Sad, but true.

So, that's what we did... racked up nice bills at Pike's Nursery and Home Depot and spent most of the day Saturday and Sunday working in the yard and around the house. In fact, we didn't turn on the TV for 48 hours straight. We're not couch potatoes, but we are definitely TV people, so that was pretty big.

However, this is all a bunch of rambling and has nothing to do with the moral of this story, which is this... gardening and digging in the dirt are NOT hobbies for someone with an unfounded, irrational fear of worms (me). Every time I would accidentally pick one up or see one when I dug a hole, I'd get the heeby jeebies. At one point, I actually forced myself to stare at it to try to conquer my fears. It kind of worked. As long as no one puts them in my bed (Brandi and Steve, I'm talking to you...), I think I'll be okay. Maybe I'll even start to like the little creepy crawlies. I am appreciative that we have so many of them since that means we have healthy soil. Just don't try to make your way into my house, little wormies, or we'll have problems.

Rip

Having a birthday on a Monday, especially when your husband works out of town, does not lead to a very exciting day (which is why we celebrated this weekend). All day people asked me what I was going to do that evening to celebrate... my response... go to the gym. Trust me, it was needed after this weekend. So, for my birthday, I got to do a total of 100 box jumps and 76 pull ups (not all at once) in addition to some other fun. Do you know what happens when you do 76 pullups in the course of one workout? Apparently when you get to somewhere around 72, the skin starts to rip of your hands. I have one spot on the palm of my left hand and two spots on my right hand (palm and callus area below the finger) where my skin ripped clean off. Yowzer! Let me tell you, the washing of the hands, body and hair does not feel so good on the raw skin.

Oh, and my mom did not forget my birthday, but since she waited until the end of the day to call me, I thought she did. And thinking she did was almost as bad as if she really did.

But, a lot of other people remembered my birthday (earlier in the day), like all those people on Facebook. ;) My friend Mary Stuart took me to lunch at Souper Jenny (love), and another friend Meredith joined. It was a lovely girls' lunch with lots of good conversation. You've heard me boast of Mary Stuart's awesome realtor abilities before, and I am so glad that we have stayed friends! We started attending the church that she and her husband are very active in, which is also how I met Meredith, who happens to be the wife of one of my coworkers.

And, this weekend was chock full of eating, because that's what I do to commemorate any situation or milestone. Matt took me to Canoe on Friday, which was delicious and in typical fashion for us, something was slightly off (in this case, we didn't get our wine until more than half way through our entree... we did order it a bit late in the meal, but they should have held our entrees and then the bottle we ordered was out), so we ended up with two free glasses of delicious pinot noir from Willamette Valley (Oregon) that rivals my love of a good Russian River Valley pinot, as well as two free desserts IN ADDITION TO the birthday dessert they brought me. That plus Chick-fil-a for lunch on Saturday and Fox Bros BBQ for lunch on Sunday with friends = must workout on birthday. One year older, maybe wiser, and thankful for my life.

hmph

Pretty sure my mom forgot that today is my birthday. Sweet. Thank God for facebook to boost the self esteem. ;)

FAT

I have excess fat. Officially. (Tell me something I didn't already know, why dontcha!?)

So, I mentioned in a previous post that I started working out at CrossFit North Atlanta a few weeks ago. As part of your initial training, you get a free Bod Pod test. I finally was able to schedule mine this morning. It looks like a little space ship. After getting on a scale, you get into the machine, and it pumps in some air (you don't feel anything) and measures your fat, fat free mass, body volume, body density and thoracic gas volume. It also gives you an estimate of your resting metabolic rate (RMR) and your total energy expenditure (TEE) for various activity levels.

It is what it is, and in order to hold myself somewhat more accountable, I am going to share the results with the world wide interwebs. I will NOT, however, share the pictures I took this morning in my super sexy sports bra and hot shorts. I'm sparing your eyes. I am 5'3", I weigh 133.548 lbs (I prefer to round down to 133), and my body fat percentage is........ 30.4%! I am, how shall I say, well endowed... so, I'd like to safely attribute a few percentage points of body fat to my bust. ;) If it makes me feel better, let me have it. This is actually right where I thought I'd be... I estimated that I weighed 133-135 before going in with 30% body fat. 30-40% body fat is considered excess fat, or an excess accumulation of fat over time. So, it really shouldn't take too much for me to drop into the moderately lean category, and I will anxiously await those test results (I'll probably get re-tested in 12 weeks to see how I've progressed).

I will say, however, I can definitely see an improvement since I started just three weeks ago. I can *almost* do a pull-up with the lowest resistance band and was able to complete 40 yesterday (not all at once... took breaks every 3-5 pullups) with the second lowest band. Being strong is fun.

I'm so excited!

I just booked our tickets for our vacation this summer to........

drumroll please.........

GREECE and TURKEY!!!!

Woot woot! I am sooooo excited not only to go there, but because thanks to SkyMiles, the tickets cost us a whopping $75!

I can't wait for the turquoise Mediterannean, lots of delicious food (seriously, I am going to eat my way through both of those places), amazing scenery, and ten whole days in a row with my hubby. We're going to have a blast. We're flying into Athens and out of Istanbul, but we have no itinerary for the in between yet. If you've been there before and have any recommendations, please let me know!