Another Dirty Birthday!

Remember this day last year?  Well guess what race I participated in again this year...

So. Much. FUN!

This year the mud run fell on Danielle's birthday, and we celebrated another year of her fabulousness by trekking through the mud and hills for 6 miles.  Her sister, Jana, and one of Jana's friends joined us in the excellence.  Out of sheer brilliance, Jana came up with a great idea for costumes for us.  Hopefully I'll have better pics soon (once the Dirty Dash team releases the 'official' ones) but can you tell what we are??

1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish!!!
Jana took old sweatshirts, cut off the sleeves and made us into cute fishies!

Here's the "face" of mine

Here's Danielle and I pre-mud.  Notice the lovely beer in her hand.  We took second in the costume contest and our prize was, among other things, BEER.  At 8:30 in the morning!  Lol... it made the 6 miles interesting!

Danielle and I post-mud.  However, this is also post shower and after stripping off our layer of sweatshirts, which weighed a ridiculous amount once filled with mud!!

After the run we got together at Jed and Danielle's to continue the celebration with family and friends. 

Joie loves a good party.  

She also loves good cake...

May I Always Remember...

Simply Me.

Fake it 'till ya Make it.

Lately I've been doing a lot of this...

That is to say, that I've been forcing a smile on my face.  It's a handy little way of ensuring there's a smile there, reminding the world (and myself) that life isn't bad.  In fact, life is pretty darn stinking good.
Really.  It is.

And when I "fake" smile enough, eventually a real one pops up, before I even realize it...

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• SMILES!
• Random conversations late at night (randomness really does make the world go round)
• "boo"
• New plans brewing
• Family visits
• My super cool niece in her super cool shades...

Grateful

Things I'm grateful for today:

• Happiness, for myself and others
• Vacation plans coming together
• Happy hour with a long-lost friend tonight!
• Text messages that make me smile
• Bills being paid
• Coffee
• Sinus medication
• Cough drops
• Smiles
• Hugs

PS - I think this will forever continue to be the 

best text ever.

Summer is for...

Time with my niece...

Ice cream dates...

Road trips with friends...

Swimming...

And even more swimming...

Dancing in the living room...

Riding bikes...

Cheering your sister-in-law on to marathon glory...

Setting new goals...

Drinking wine in your favorite city...

Hikes to Tablerock...

and more!

More to come, but I needed to get an update on here on what I've been doing this summer.  Sorry to those who have missed me, and thank you for noticing!

Grateful - Day 2

The 10 things I'm grateful for today:

• sleep
• humor
• friends who truly "get' me
• challenges
• awakening
• my giving spirit
• people who wear their heart on their sleeve
• leaving town for the weekend
• chance to catch up with a good friend on this road trip
• love

Grateful - Day 1

I was inspired yesterday by a random visitor to our offices.  She said she had started a new morning routine.  Each day before getting out of bed, she lists 10 things she's grateful for.  She speaks them out loud in order to let them sink into her brain and then gets on with her morning routine.

What a GREAT idea!

I decided to copy her idea by listings 10 grateful things of my own, but I decided to take it a step further...  I'm going to post these 10 items here daily.  This way I can look back on the the amazing things in my life any time I start to feel bogged down or stressed.  Try it!  I've only done this one day so far, and it's already impacting me more positively than I could have imagined.

Here's my 10 for today:

• loving and supportive family
• good friendships
• the awareness to see lessons as they're happening
• healthy family members
• loving and caring niece
• my own health
• ability to workout
• ability to pay my bills
• opportunity to learn from mentors
• the gift of salvation