Friday night under the stars

Admit it. You read this blog title and thought oh, Anthony and Lyndy had a romantic evening out...they probably sat on a blanket and listened to an orchestra, sipping wine and cuddling. Ahhhh

WRONG-O

We went to the Vandy/South Carolina baseball game.

Gotcha!

A few observations from these brown eyes & this warped mind...

#1  The net thingy, although I certainly realize is there for our s-a-f-e-t-y is a visual impairment. Depending on where ya sit.

#2  I <3 people watching. You can't do that very well from the 1st row.

#3  Baseball, as I've been saying pretty much all of my adult life is b-o-r-i-n-g.

#4  I need to send an email to Vandy. Hey Dores - quit sellin the knock off cheapo imitation dippin' dots. I'm gonna need the real deal. #disappointing

The one cool thing about the night is we ran into Blaine Bishop, former Tennessee Titan, currently a local legend & radio host. Ok, so maybe Blaine isn't a local legend, but he's a real cool dude. And he smiled at us like we were old friends and commenced to fist bumping Anthony. Cool points for Blaine. *Note: No, I did not ask for a pic. I do have some self restraint. I figure we already have 2 or 3 so I'll leave the guy alone for once. 

Another highlight of the night was a return visit 
here

Tips for a good LONG RUN

Last Saturday I was supposed to run 8 miles. Yeah, you heard me right - EIGHT. But I didn't. I only did 7 and had to walk a bit of that last mile. 

As I reflected on it, I realize I didn't really set myself up for a good run last week. 

Mistakes I made:
~I didn't eat a good meal the night before. 
~I ran 3 miles the day before. The day before is supposed to be a "no exercise day."
~I didn't get out there early enough and it was 77 degrees last Saturday. It was a hot one. Running in the middle of the day during an unseasonably warm feels like July or August kinda day... dee-you-em-bee dumb
~I didn't have enough to eat before going out to run AND I only had a small amount of water. 
~I ran at my faster, short run pace. The.whole.time.

I pretty much did everything wrong last Saturday. :-( Shame on me!

So this week I was determined to do everything right. 

And I did.

THE DAY BEFORE - First off, I did not exercise - not at all. Second, I had the right kind of dinner Friday night thanks to my sweet hubby... Anthony grilled us some chicken and I also had spaghetti. And a bit of rice too actually. Carbs the night before with some protein is a good prep for the following day's long run.

FUEL UP & GET OUT EARLY - I got my lazy tail up around 6:30 and was out the door by 7ish. I had a nice bowl of oatmeal and about 8 oz of water. (Not too much or you may hafta find a bush & some privacy. Lol)

WATER OR SPORTS DRINK - I stowed a ziploc bag of ice with my Gatorade in it along my route so I could grab it around mile 6 or 7. It totally helped!

PACING - While I was running, I slowed my pace down from my usual 10-10.5 minute mile pace to around 12-12.5. So the first 6 miles I was following the LSD rule (long slow distance). They say on long runs you're not supposed to be concerned with speed AT ALL. You just wanna f-i-n-i-s-h. Doing that allowed me to speed up my last three miles. So I did my 9 miles in 1 hour 50 minutes. 

GOOOOO ME ! 

As the joyful runner blog girl says...
go here for her blog ~

But I'll soon be in the club... I'll be able to say Why yes, I have run a half marathon... 
A 13.1 sticker or magnet will be attached to my car, oh yes.
 
Be jealous, very jealous. Or you can think I'm crazy, whatev... 
 

Riley's 4th birthday

Yes, I'm behind in blogland. I figure the 3 people who probably read my blog will forgive me. :-P 

Last Sunday was Riley's 4th birthday. 

Side bar: Our good friends Lisa & Alan are the proud parents of this sweet boy I'd love to steal. We hang out with them and sometimes watch Riley for them. 

Riley's all into superheroes now. 

He got lotsa cool Superheroey toys and stuff to play with. We got him some kinda of Light Speeders Hot Wheels play set thing he wanted.

 the happy birthday boy

 with his chums

Since Riley likes several different Superheroes, it was only fitting that his cake reflected that.

Cue Lyndy.

A guy at my work dabbles with cakes on the side. So we gave him some inspiration from the world wide web and here's what he came up with - 

Pretty cool, huh?

And IT TASTED GREAT, too. 
Sometimes the fondant icing, while pretty and neato, will be chewy and um not so yummy. But this was the best fondant I've ever had. And the cake was super moist! 

His biz is called Big Daddy's Cakes n More. He's on Facebook so look him up. I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

Pretty sure Riley had a HAP HAPPY birthday and I'm glad we were able to share his special day with him. Hard to believe the little booger is 4 already! 

Heather's gettin H I T C H E D

Last Saturday a package was on my front porch. Just.in.time.
Heather's bridal shower gift.
Tinsley had to inspect it, sniff it, lay on it, play with it...

This is a second marriage for both Heather and her man, so for the shower they suggested gifts like $$$ or stuff for the honeymoon. They're going to Mexico. Lucky dogs. But I got em a cool personalized welcome mat for the hizzouse. Isn't it presh?!

Angela, Heather & me
Friends since we were kids. Still are! 

 Heather and her fella John Paul - cute couple!

Teddy Grahams swimmin and sunnin - could it be any cuter?! 

Congrats to you Heather - lookin forward to the wedding. Oh how I <3 outdoor weddings!!!

Friday night fun

Friday night Anthony went with his uncle (the one who lives next door to us) to the NCAA tourney. 

That meant I needed a buddy. And some plans.

Enter Bridgett.

I asked told her to do something with me.

We did the important shtuff first - SHOPPING! 

The mall - less appealing the older I get, lemme tell ya. I did find some curte that's cuter than just cute peep toe pumps in a nice fleshy cream shade of pretty for a new dress I just got at Ross. We also hit the TJ Maxx. It wasn't my night there. 

Next stop - food! 

She was hawngry for a salad and baked potato. To the Barrel we did roll. 

I had talked to my bro earlier in the week to see if they'd be home Friday night because I had a couple things for the kiddos. 
 
I have to play the role of the aunt who spoils. It's a curse really. No, I really just love buying miniature clothes & shoes. Anything is cute when it's little.

Anyway, the kids were apparently kinda excited for us to visit cuz Jonathan text me while we were eating to ask when we'd be there. Said every time they mentioned that we were coming by, the kids commenced to jumpin. And I like to think there was some squealin or laughin mixed in. I have that effect on people sometimes.

 Kerby, Kerlandy and dear ole dad (my brother who's 10 years my senior) 

The kids loved their shtuff and I got tight, choking hugs of thanks. :-P 

Kerlandy showed me her latest spelling test - she got 104 on it cuz she got the bonus words. Kinda cool considering she didn't know a lot of English a handful of weeks ago. She also sang a couple songs for us, danced a little and snapped (something she just learned). Told us her favorite food is corn. 

I'm a still picture kinda girl and too tech-challenged to figure out how to flip this so just turn your head to the side and deal widdit...  I shot a little video of Kerlandy doing the Pledge of Allegiance - pay attention to the "one nation under God" part. Do you hear it?

One cute little Haitian under God, indivisible... 

If I muster up enough patience, I'll post a video of Kerby sayin some stuff. He doesn't perform on command quite like little sis. lol But he's one cool dude, too. He's still claiming bacon as his favorite food. And he learned how to blow a bubble the other day. Cool stuff!   

11 or 12 weeks ago these little dark skinned kids were new to the fam, new to the U S of A. Now I can't imagine em not being part of us. I sure do love em.    

just lettin ya know

~ the springin forward
I like it but I don't. . . It was dark this morning when I rolled outta bed.
So.not.cool. 
But, on the other hand the sun didn't go down til after 7. 
Makes me :-) 

~ the run
I went in to work a smidge early today so's I could get my 5 mile run done when I got home before the sun went to bed. 
Check.

~ the meal 
Because I know you're dying to know... the spouse grilled some pork chops he marinated overnight. 
Oh how I <3 a grillin man. 
We had green beans and corn with the chops. I guess my body needed somethin on the healthier side cuz it totally hit the spot!

~ the rest o' the evenin
Since I'm a great wife, I went upstairs to "watch" the hub play video games. 
Ok, so I wagged the laptop upstairs and I've been on Pinterest like the whole time, but hey, at least I'm in the room with my beloved. 

the goings on

First things first... 
Dad is improving every day from the ole back surgery. He walked around the block yesterday and even showered and shaved and stuff. I cooked lasagna and we took it to their house to eat and visit last night. Dessert was sopapilla cheesecake. It was yummy. Anyway, today Dad was able to go to church and he seemed to manage pretty well. No lunch with friends though - he had an appointment with Mr. Recliner :~) 

Thursday this little box appeared on our doorstep. 
YAY! 
How I <3 amazon.com 

That's right - I am now the proud owner of a Garmin Forerunner 110 running watch. I know you don't care. But I do. It's super cool. It's a GPS enabled device that tells me how far I've run, my pace and my time. And when I wear the heart rate monitor (purchased separately), it links up with the watch and shows my heart rate. Haven't tried that yet. 
So now I can hop outta the car, walk out the door of my house, whatev, and just go. No more driving in the car to mark off routes. F R E E D O M

So Saturday I did my 6 mile run. 
(ahem) This was my first time to run this far. Before Saturday, the farthest or is it furthest... I had ever run in one trip was 5 miles. So this was a bit of a MILESTONE for me in my marathon training. 

Maybe you're sick of me posting about running. But this is a big deal for me. And posting about it keeps me accountable. Helps me stick with it. Cuz some days a case of the lazies creeps up and I have to squash em like a bug! 
See, sometimes when I'm runnin, the thing that keeps me goin is knowin I'm gonna get on this blog and tell y'all about it. So does that make ya feel important? 

And to end this post on a good note - today I did some headshots for a girl I used to work with (thanks to a dear friend who recommended me). It was an easy, fun shoot. We even talked about God, church and worship. She recommended a book that I may read soon. Gotta love good peeps like that, right? Anyway, maybe I'll post a couple of her shots later... 
Anthony was out with the fellas for a movie tonight, and it was so weird... as I left the photo shoot my car seemed to drive itself to Ross my favorite store. And by George they're open til 9:30 amazingly on Sundays. Score! I found a dress I couldn't live without and a couple shirts. Oh and a couple things for Kerby and Kerlandy. Every time I'm out shopping lately, stuff for them seems to be jumping into my cart. Weird, huh?

Til later - keep it easy & real ...

Sunday Sawyer shots - an infant portrait session

At the time of this shoot, Sawyer had been outside the womb a mere 19 days. And I've probably already taken his picture 150 times. He's just gonna have to deal.

Stuff I don't wanna forget about this shoot - 

• Joey (aka MacGyver, aka The Professional) gettin a 2x4 to hang the flower basket from
• Bryson puttin on a cap, messin his hair up in the process, then goin and slickin his hair down (think Alfafa from the Little Rascals minus the twig in back) which meant Jen had to blow dry it and fix it a second time
• McKenzie diggin a shirt out of the dirty laundry pile to try to wear (we vetoed her on that one)
• Bryson givin me ideas on poses/setups every 5 seconds (who knows, he may grow up and be a professional photographer one day)
• McKenzie eatin on Bryson's melted chocolate milkshake while wearing her white shirt (scarrrry)

For anyone interested in the technical stuff - 

EQUIPMENT - I shoot with a Canon EOS Rebel xTi camera (no, this isn't the most recent digital SLR by Canon). The lens I typically use (and used for this session) is a 28-90 mm so as you can see, I don't have the most cutting edge, up to date equipment. If you know your equipment and its limitations, you can utilize it to its full potential without breakin the bank.

LIGHTING - Window light...natural, beautiful light created by God... no flash needed if you get the right exposure and figure out what you want out of your setup. Picture it before you shoot it. People who click and hope for a good shot are l a z y. Sorry if you think that's too strong, but it's true.

SETUP - Use whatcha got! Try to think outside the box. You don't have to go buy a bunch of expensive props to create a nice scene at home. If you do buy things, keep your receipts in case they don't work out for ya. As long as they're not damaged, I don't see an ethical issue with this.

PHOTOSHOP - Yes, I use it. I try not to overdo it though. Adjusting or removing color, removing a scratch or blemish, adding a vignette, just the small finishing touches. And of course a 2 week old babe can't hold his little noggin up so I just Photoshop'd Dad's hand outta the shots in the coffee cup planter. Ain't I talented?!

Hope you enjoy these shots. I sure did enjoy doing them! 

random weekend things & Dad is H O M E

Thursday night was the talent show at our local high school. My friend Lisa (Riley's mom) is the choir teacher, so she asked me to take up $ at the door and Anthony was on for a judge's seat. Counting back change and adding multiple entry fees - not my bag. I hope I didn't short anybody. If I did, I'm sorry! 

When we finished with the gate, I was able to go inside and watch the show so I of course found the seat closest to this little dude. 

We played and I kissed him. Several times. And told him I loved him. And that he's a good boy. Many times. Cuz I pretty much <3 him all to pieces. Wish I could clone him.
I ended up havin to take over for one of the judges who had to leave. So then I had to pay attention. Riley didn't seem to mind. He ran off to his mom. I like to think she's the only other woman in his life 'sides me. 

At Anthony's judging table, these were gonna be left behind. 

Can't have that. Poor little Cokes might get an inferiority complex. Feelin unwanted like that. So we snatched em up. 

But guess what we don't have at our house - you guessed it, a bottle opener. So I googled how to open a bottle without a bottle opener. And it seems there's a ton of ways to accomplish this little task... Some were interesting to say the least - a piece of paper, a chainsaw, a lighter, your wedding ring or your iPhone apparently have dual purposes. I opted for the old timey can opener. So anyway Anthony has enjoyed a few bottled cokes thanks to my ingenuity. 
*Side bar - Lyndy doesn't drink cokes (and by "cokes" I mean any carbonated soft drink). Stopped drinkin em in 9th grade as a New Year's Resolution. Only NYR I ever kept. Just thought you should know that. 

Friday was a work day, but the weather got rough in a lot of places here in the south, so I ended up coming home early. Thankfully where I live, we were blessed that it only rained hard. 
*Side bar - We had a storm a while back that had some terrible lightning and thunder with it and we're pretty sure lightning struck in our back yard. It was so strong it knocked the mirror off our wall in the master bath. Anthony was home at the time, along with our cat of course. Anthony said it was so loud he just knew he'd walk into the master bath to find a gaping hole in the wall. Fortunately no hole. But there was glass everywhere. Took him 3 hours to clean it up. Ever since then when it storms very bad, the cat goes behind the couch in the living room. When it stormed on Friday, Anthony said Tinsley was in her "safe place." I thought that was clever. And cute.  

Anyway once we knew the storms Friday had passed, we headed off to Cracker Barrel with Joey, Jen & the boys. McKenzie missed out, she was spending the night with her bf. 

I've been lovingly referring to Sawyer as #5 - cuz now they're a family of five.

Bryson was excited about playing checkers after we ate. It was a bit too chilly on the front porch, so they played near the fireplace. Anthony said it had been so long since he had played, he kinda forgot how. Bryson wasn't complaining.

Saturday I did my 5 mile run.  

Dad didn't get to come home from the hospital Saturday so we went to see him. He sat up in a chair while we visited. I was amazed at how well he can walk already. The getting up from laying to standing - slow and steady. 

We swung by a few places on our way home and made a few purchases. Nothing really blogworthy though. 

Sunday was church of course and in the afternoon I shot some more super cute pics of Sawyer. CAN'T WAIT TO SHOW YOU. 

Dad also came home from the hospital today!! And he might have been sittin on the front row at church tonight. But I won't say cuz his doctor and nurse might read this here blog. Idk 4 sure...it is the WORLDWIDE WEBBY ya know. 

Update on my dad

The serious stuff
In a nutshell, he had a bulging disc in his lower back and he's gotta be in the hospital about 4 days.
I reckon they shoved it back over where it belongs and put a cage around it. Maybe some kind of spacer, too cuz there was a nerve getting smushed because of the bulging, off to the side disc situation. Stop misbehaving little disc!
 
The funny stuff
When you come out of surgery, the meds do a lotta talkin ya know... and my dad's a NUT CASE normally anyway. So when he gets the meds, it's always entertaining.
 
~I'm looped (said multiple times).
~They gave me some goofy stuff.
~I saw some weird stuff in the recovery room when I was wakin up.
~Someone asked him (in recovery) what he had done. His response - I think they tied my tubes.
~I haven't been this drunk since I was a sinner.
~Gimme a cigarette (mind you he hasn't smoked since the 70s)
~Boy, you talk about sore.... Shazam!
~I wanna know somethin (said over and over, but he'd go back to sleep before we could figure out what he wanted to know)
~Mom told him - your breath stinks! He said - I ate a skunk.
~A nurse came in and checked one of his machines...as she left the room he called out to her - come back when you can stay longer !
~When the night nurse came in to check some things Anthony and I ended up leaving the room when she started talking about looking at his incision, etc. When we came back in Dad asked Mom where did Lyndy and Anthony go? Did they leave? I spoke up and said we're here, we just went out in the hall cuz I didn't wanna see your crack. He said well, it looks just like everybody else's. I said well I didn't wanna see it. He said I saw yours when you were a little bitty thing. 
 
He's doing therapy and walking, sitting up in a chair, etc. a little each day. 
 
I'm really hopin he's done with the surgery scene. In the last several years, he's had both his knees replaced, heart bypass & both eyes operated on. I'm thinkin when he gets to Heaven they won't bother with giving him a "new body" cuz it seems to me he's gotten his here on Earth. Lol No double dippin Dad..uh uh no