Seven years later....

And he is still the one I choose.

Bill and I shared our seven year anniversary on December 30th, while visiting with my parents.  There isn't much to say about it, but I wanted to share this collage.

Life just keeps getting better.  

Will Travel for Color

It is 6:30 here in good ol OKC and we've been traveling for over an hour. Oh the things we do for a little bit of color! What better thing to do when traveling than take self portraits? I know, you're welcome. Also, you will have to wait until I'm at my computer because I don't know how to upload on my phone. Or look on Facebook. If you are not on Facebook, perhaps you should join the 21st century. (not you, dad. Stay where you are, you are just fine). I barely got any sleep last night I was so excited about today's racing activities. Lack of sleep always creates a sarcastic, aggravating Jodi. Racing and sarcasm, could the day get any better? It also makes me clumsy, more clumsy than usual, which is why I will be starting to the color run with my white shirt stained brown thanks to a coffee spill this morning. Or as Bill said, it looks like the baby pooped on you! It's not my fault, they are the ones who let me wear white. The goal for this mornings run will be to get as much color as possible. This evenings run, the goal will be 8:00 pace. There, I said it. Out loud. My Legs just cramped in revolt.

Color Me Crazy

Let the weekend of running fun begin!  My friend Ashley is in town visiting this weekend and what better way to celebrate than running!!  Tomorrow morning we will be up bright and early for the Tulsa Color Run.

As crazy as this 5K is, outfits were in order!  We spent Friday evening in the 80s time capsule that is our outfits!

He's obviously a hard worker!!

Life is so much better when you just slow down

I am the type of person who goes and goes and goes.  I cannot help it, it is just who I am.  It seems that I am always thinking about the next thing we have to do, the next big vacation I want to take, etc.  For example, I have three great vacations lined up for this summer.  However, this week I found myself talking with Bill about where we should go next summer. It is like my brain has to have something to think about, plan, or schedule.

Today started with Evan waking me up at 6:30.  We played for a little while and then I decided to go for my morning run.  The plan was slow, easy miles to just enjoy the morning.  True to Jodi form, I found myself halfway through the run trying to figure out how fast I could go so that the run could be over.  This is mind boggling to me since I truely love to run.  So, I made it a point to just slow down and enjoy the ride.  I made detours twice to check out neighborhood garage sales and ran down roads I had never been down before, just because.  It was great.

A little later, Bill, Evan and I decided to head to the Edmond Farmer's market.  Four peaches, pasta and a bushel of green beans later and we were ready to go.  The next step was a grocery store about a quarter mile away.  Determining to slow down and enjoy the day, I convinced Bill to walk to the grocery store, taking a detour through downtown Edmond along the way.  The walk itself was very enjoyable.  What was even better were the things we discovered on the way.  We first discovered a barber shop (with a barber's pole and everything) and Bill stopped to get a haircut.  How fun is that?!?  We also discovered the most amazing thing:

Sorry Starbucks, but we have to break up.  Its not you, its me. I have found someone new.   He's local, he's handsome, and he draws me pretty pictures:

(sorry, I wasn't able to take a picture of my coffee, but it had a heart in it, similar to the middle photo)

This is heaven.  Well, it is commonly known as Evoke, a new coffee shop in downtown Edmond. You could also call it the house of crack, because I am officially addicted and will definitely be coming back for more.   Seriously though, this coffee is just like my beloved coffee slingers in downtown OKC, but cheaper and only minutes from my house.   I had a latte with cane syrup and it made my day.  

After our short walk back to the car, Bill, Evan and I came home to cook cook up our farmer's market goods for lunch.  All bellies are stuffed, Evan is down for a nap, and I am thinking a nap sound like a great idea.  All before 2:00 p.m.  Proof that you can accomplish so much more if you just slow down!

Memorial Day

I cannot believe it is Friday and I am just now writing about our Memorial day weekend.  You'd think I am raising an infant or something.

We arrived at my parents Friday evening by the lovely Hantz's.

No, not those Hantz's (though they are lovely).  These Hantz's:

It took Eli a little while to warm up to Evan and he definitely wasn't a fan of Evan getting John or Savanna's attention.  But, after a little warming up:

and they were fast friends.  Eli loved helping Evan play with his toys and Evan, of course, loves the attention.

Lately, Eli has been all about showers, but after finding out that Evan was taking a bath, it was all bath all the time:

We woke up early and started the day off right with a 7 1/2 mile run.  Bill and dad ran a few miles with me, then biked the rest.  Originally, I wanted to run 10, but it was hot!   After the run, we soaked up the sun.

Evan loved the swing, so much so that it put him to sleep.  

I spent most of the morning attempting to get the most serious of boys (AKA Eli) to smile for pictures.  Success! 

 Eli spent most of the weekend stating "Hi Evan, how are you?".  Evan's still working on his response.

We did try a dip in the pool:

 But Evan mostly enjoyed hanging with mommy:

 And soaking up sun with daddy:

My sister Emily arrived with her little girls and my cousin Sadie Saturday afternoon:

Those two are so adorable.  Nyah wanted her baby to do everything that Evan did, including the swing:

 

We finished Saturday evening off with a crawfish boil, Pappa Joe style.  The boil included crawfish, mushrooms, onions, corn, okra, little smokes, sausage, broccoli, and potatoes.  Evan was so excited he even dressed for the occasion. 

The meal was awesome and I was asleep by 9:30.  Perfect Saturday!

Sunday was spent checking out John and Savanna's new place.  They recently purchased 7 1/2 acres in Santa Fe, next door to her moms.  It is a really nice place and I am so happy for them.  Sunday night was spent relaxing with Mom, Dad, Bill and Evan.  As much as I love all my family, it is really nice to be able to have one on one time with the parents every now and then.  

Today was the last full day I will drive my Nissan Sentra.  While I am excited about my new car (and many say its long overdue) I cannot help but to be a little, OK maybe a lot, sad.  There are so many memories wrapped up in this car that I feel sad to see it go.

I graduated college in that car.  I moved to Oklahoma by myself and not knowing a soul in that car.  I got married, graduated law school and drove Evan around for the first time by myself in that car.   I have lived hours away from my family for years, but that car made it easy for me to visit anytime I wanted.  But most importantly that car was purchased for me with more love than many people ever experience.

When I started college, I drove a 2000 Honda Civic that my mom and I purchased without my dad test driving it (big mistake, dad).  The Honda turned out to be a POS (OK, maybe not turned out, but always was) and left me stranded on the interstate multiple times.  My parents, concerned about my safety living 8 hours away, decided to purchase me a new car.

I still remember driving to visit my dad at the deer camp in the fall of 2003.  He had researched every single entry level sedan and entry level SUV on the market to see what car would be best for me. He had every single one written down on a legal pad with information such as MPGs, cost, etc. Most importantly, he knew the different safety features of each vehicle and in fact choose an 2004 Nissan Sentra because of its safety features.

Little did he know, a short nine months later I was in a pretty scary wreck in which I hit a tire with rim still attached on the interstate going way too fast (probably over 80 fast).  My car started spinning and I became what could only be described as a pinball between two guard rails.  Thanks to the hours that my dad had so selflessly put into looking out for my best interest, I came away from that wreck with only a seat belt burn on my shoulder.  Who know what would have happened had he purchased the trendy Eclipse I was hoping to drive.

I remember not wanting to call my parents to tell them about the wreck.  I just knew that my dad would be so disappointed that after all the time, effort and money put into getting me a new car, this happened.  But he wasn't.  Dad simply did what dads do and made life better.  He bought me my 2005 Nissan Sentra.  That was September 2004.

Since that time, I have driven that car everyday grateful that I have parents willing to make sacrifices for not only my safety but my convenience.  They didn't have to buy me the first new car, and most certainly didn't have to replace it when I stupidly decided to speed down the interstate.  But they did, and for that I was grateful.

I would like to say that from that day, I vowed to drive this car for as long as possible, but that is simply not true.  There were times that I wished I had a bigger car, times I wished it was more trendy, and most definitely times I wished it was not grandma gold, but in each of those times, I could not imagine trading my car for something else.  It may not be much to look at and may not mean a lot to many people.  But to me, it is a symbol of love from someone who has always had my best interest at heart.

First Mother's day

What a great weekend.  I love celebrating me! Just kidding.  Kind of.

Bill's parents came in this weekend for Mother's day and we had a great time.  On Friday night, I cooked taco salad and Bill's mom thought it was a goolash of leftovers.  It kind of was.  Welcome to our humble home. Please make your food selections from the following items that were cooked last week.  Thanks for coming. :)

On Saturday, we ate breakfast at this great little local restaurant.  I, of course, had oatmeal.  After breakfast, Bill's mom and I checked out the Edmond farmer's market and Sunflower market, a new grocery store.  The remaining Saturday was spent relaxing.  Saturday night the guys treated us to mother's day dinner at Cattleman's.  My dates were extra handsome:

Sunday was spent mainly relaxing.  In fact, Evan slept for  2 1/2 hours.  Happy Mother's Day to me. Perfect present little guy!  Bill bought me a beautiful necklace that I will try to take a picture of later.  Sorry, to lazy to get up tonight. 

On a more exciting note, Bill and I have begun the preliminary steps to look at new cars.  Fun fun! 

Family dispute has been settled

With there being 5 children in my family, we are always giving my parents a hard time about who is the favorite.  I am happy to report that the dispute has finally been settled.  Today went a little something like this:

Text from Mom:  Thanks for the fruit, I love it.
Me: ???

After school phone conversation with mom:
Me:What were you talking about, I didn't send fruit.
Mom:  Well, I received an edible arrangement and it was signed from your favorite daughter, so I instantly thought it was you.

Just kidding!! She actually said, "I received the arrangement and remembered that Bill had bought those for you in the past and you liked them, so I thought maybe you sent me one. When you sent back question marks, I was like UH OH.

She then had to confess to Ali, the true gift giver, that she had asked me first. Sorry Ali, you set yourself up for that one.  We all know I'm the favorite!

Hunger

I did not think I could be any hungrier than when I was pregnant.  Then I started breastfeeding.  Here it is, 9:00 a.m. and I have already ate my breakfast, two snacks and I am contemplating digging into my lunch.  Not to mention, the glass of chocolate milk (best post run drink ever!), cup of coffee and the 20 ounces of water I just guzzled in the hopes that it would pacify my stomach for a while.

 Bill and I have been trying really hard not to eat out so much, both for health and budget reasons.  Not so easy to do when you eat both your breakfast and lunch by 9:00 a.m.  I should really sign up for an eating contest; I could probably give these guy a run for his money. (Sorry, eating contest are gross, I know).

How to blog everyday about the everyday?

When I started this blog I made a promise to myself that I would blog every week day.  I have done pretty well so far, only missing a few week days, including one yesterday.  I actually intended to blog about Evan's bath time, but it was taking forever to upload the video to you tube and was interfering with my internet searching, so I became impatient and stopped.  Hence, the lack of posting yesterday.  I am still going to attempt to upload to you tube later tonight and hopefully post about that tomorrow.

Anyway, how do you blog every day when your day is anything but exciting.  I could tell you what I did all day: drove to day care, dropped Evan off, drove to work, worked, went to feed and visit with Evan at lunch, went back to work, worked, picked Evan up, drove home, dropped Evan off with Bill, went to get my eyebrows waxed, came home, ate dinner that Bill cooked, decided not to do boot camp tonight, starting packing for our Easter trip this weekend, feed Evan, cuddled Evan, started this blog post.  There you have it, my day.  

Talk about a boring blog post.  So, instead, we will talk about grapefruit.  As you may know, grapefruit is one of the best fruits you can eat.  Apparently.  I did not know this and strongly disagree with this statement because I think grapefruit taste horrible.  Bill, however, loves grapefruit and is trying to eat more of it now that we are working to get beach ready for our summer vacations.  That is why when we went to the grocery store Sunday, Bill insisted on getting the biggest grapefruit known to man.  Don't believe me?  Here it is: 

Wait, this picture really doesn't do this freak of nature justice.  We need something to compare it to.  A baby, you say?  Yea, I thought so too. 

There, that's better.   

While Bill likes to eat grapefruit, he hates peeling it. So this little gem has sat in our fridge for days.  Today, I decided to be the good wife everyone knows I am and peel it for him. Imagine my surprise when I discovered  the biggest rind known to man. It was like a sponge.  Yea, I got a picture of that too:

[side note: until today I thought it was rine, not rind.  Thank you Google for confirming that I do, in fact, make up my own words 75% of the time.  I blame my parents.  They are cajun and moved me to Arkansas during my prime grade school years.  Not the winning combo for spelling, grammar, and all things related to the English language. Just kidding Mom and Dad ~ I love crawfish and met Bill in Arkansas, so I don't think it could get more better ;) ]. 

Anyway, back to the grapefruit.  Once peeled, it looks like a normal grapefruit.  Bill said it was delicious.  I wouldn't know, it looked like crap to me.

So there you have it, my life today is as exciting as a big giant grapefruit.  Be jealous!  One last thing, I realize that gigantic grapefruits are probably pretty common among you grapefruit lovers, but just go with me here.  I need something to make my day worth blogging about. 

Night life

Happy hour, drink specials, naked baby dances.  Oh yes, don't be fooled, I still have a night life and it looks a little something like this:

I know, right! He's the best date, dance partner and cuddle buddy ever.  When I wrote my day in the life post, I talked about how Evan is generally really fussy from 8 until bedtime.  I'm not sure if it is the fact that he isn't sleeping as much at daycare or that he just loves to cuddle with his mommy, but he hasn't been fussy once this week.  Instead, I bath him around 7, play for a little while, and he is peacefully sleeping by 8 and is sleeping through the night (all but one day this week I have had to wake him up at 7 a.m.)  I know I could put him in his pack and play but I just do not want to.  All to soon, he will not want to snuggle with me, so I am milking this time for all it is worth.  I do put him in his pack and play when I go to bed.

I wanted to try to video his laughter this evening, but by the time I actually settled down enough to get out the camera, he was tired and having none of it.  I will try again this weekend.

Wonderful Wednesday

Today turned out to be a pretty good day.  Bill works from 6 am to 2 pm on Wednesdays so he was able to get Evan early from daycare.  That made me so much more relaxed at work this afternoon.  When Evan is at daycare, I am constantly worried about doing everything as fast as humanly possible so that I can go get him.  I am not sure why I place that stress on myself because: (1) it is not as if I could leave work early to pick him up even if I had nothing to do at work, and (2) it is not as if I would stay any later at work even if there is stuff to do.  I think subconsciously I worry that something will happen at work that will make it difficult for me to get him on time, so I stress all afternoon.  However, today, even though I planned to leave at the exact same time as Monday and Tuesday, I was so much more relaxed.  Knowing that Evan was at home, hanging out with his dad, and was safe, comforted and being loved on just gave me so much peace.  I am very thankful that at least this one day per week I do not have to stress about Evan the entire time I am at work.

When I got home, Bill and I had our usual hang out with Evan and bath time routine.  Here is a picture from bath time:

This picture makes me laugh, and it makes me sing Arabain Nights from Aladdin.

7 mile Saturday

I did it.  I actually ran 7 miles.  It has been over a year since I have ran that far and it felt good.  Well, actually it felt quite painful while I was running, but I was so happy after it was over. It was a really slow 7 miles, but I just have to be OK with that for now.  I keep telling myself to focus on mileage, not time, in preparation for the OKC half-marathon in April.  After that race, I plan to focus on more strength and conditioning as well as speed work to increase my speed.  Maybe I will even go back to boot camp.  We'll see.

Anyway, back to yesterday's run.  I spent Friday night reading running blogs for inspiration.  (Side note - my current favorite is the Daily Garnish).  I know that may sound boring to some of you, but reading the running struggles and successes of other people really helps me get motivated.  It reminds me why I love running so much.  After reading these blogs, I went to bed ready to run.

I woke up Saturday by the sound of a text message from my friend, Carlie, who I recently started running with on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.   She was going to run 15 miles that morning and wanted to know if I wanted to meet up for a few.  Perfect, I need to run 7 and a running partner would make that so much easier.  Here is the thing about Carlie, she is fast.  She has ran Boston, so in my mind she is REALLY fast.   While I was really excited about having a running partner for these 7 miles, I could not help but to think, crap now I am going to have to run fast.  Throughout the seven miles, I continued to think that and continued to think I was slowing her down.   I was mentally beating myself up before I even gave myself a chance to succeed.  I wish I could have just relaxed and ran.  In the end, Carlie had graciously slowed down for me and we ended up running the same pace that I would have ran had I ran the entire 7 miles by myself.  So, you see, I got completely worked up over nothing.   Next weekend, I'm scheduled to run 8 and I am making myself a promise that I will just relax and run.

I finished yesterday's run just in time to get home and prepare for my friend Candice's arrival.  She and her husband arrived at 12:30 and we pretty much spent the day hanging out, visiting, and reminiscing about the good ol' days.  Oh, and we had Which  Wich for lunch, yumm!!

Evan had a great time and was such a good baby this weekend.  Now he is catching up on his zzzz's before our big day tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Great times with great friends

What a great day it has been.  Evan and I relaxed this morning and met two great law school friends for lunch, Kendra and Christin.  Christin and her husband, Blake, are relocating to Houston from San Antonio and Kendra recently opened her own practice in Oklahoma City.  I am so excited for the great things happening and my friends lives and it was so great to see these two.  And, lunch at Iron Star BBQ is always a plus.

Speaking of great things, my friend Candice is coming to visit this weekend.  Candice is pregnant and her little girl, Mia, will be here this summer.  I like to refer to Mia as Evan's future girlfriend.  Evan is so excited about little Mia that he even bought her a little present but I cannot post a pic until Candice gets here tomorrow.  He is so excited to give it to her.  I'm not sure what we will do this weekend, but I am sure it will involve lots of talk about babies, babies and more babies.  This little guy will probably also provide loads of entertainment:

I know, hanging out with mom all day is hard work.    On a side note, look at those thigh rolls! I could just squeeze him.

Full Cup

Isn't it amazing what a cup of coffee can do.  I love finding new locally owned coffee shops.  Don't get me wrong, I can enjoy a good Starbucks with the rest of the world, but there is just something about going into a local coffee shop that makes you want to sit and stay a while.  Once you enter, clocks stop, the to-do list goes out the window and for at least ten minutes you can sit, enjoy a perfect cup and all is right with the world.

Lately, I have been going to Full Cup Bakery and Cafe in Edmond at 2nd and Fretz.   Here is the Facebook page.  So far I have only had the coffee, but the donuts and pastries look delicious. See:

Hungry yet?  I am and I'm hoping I will be able to go by on Saturday morning for a big delicious cinnamon roll.

Well that was an expensive day!

Yesterday turned out to be a rather expensive day.  I spent the morning shopping for work clothes because nothing I have fits and I start back to work on Monday.  Shopping was, in one word, a nightmare, especially for pants.  My waist and legs are literally two completely different sizes.  Despite trying on no less than 20 pairs of pants, I could not find one pair that looked right.  Either they fit in the legs and could not be buttoned, or fit in the waist and looked baggy and ridiculous in the legs.  So, work friends, if you see me wearing the same dresses week after week, just go with it. :)

After Bill got off work, we had to shop for a new computer.  I know some people could survive without a home computer for a little while, but I am not one of those people.  Bill diligently worked on the other computer, but in the end, the coffee prevailed.  That was one expensive cup of coffee!  Bill has now made a rule that I cannot have food or drink by the computer.  My thoughts:  Well, that settles it. I am excited to be going back to work. How am I suppose to sit at the computer without a cup of coffee?  Impossible.

Anyway, after spending way too much money yesterday, Evan and I are taking it easy today.  Originally I planned to send him to daycare so that I could finish any last minute shopping and errands before work starts on Monday, but it is going to rain all day, and besides, my bank account cannot handle any more shopping!  So, my sweet little man and I are going to relax at home.  My favorite kind of day.

Coffee + computer = no bueno

Sorry for not posting yesterday. Turns out that you should not spill a whole cup of coffee on your computer. Just take my word for it, it's not good. Hopefully Bill can fix it and until then I am forced to blog from my phone. Not fun!

Today is Evan's first full day of daycare. For some reason it is especially hard today. I really need to buy more work clothes because it doesn't look like I will be losing any more weight while breastfeeding and I hope to breastfeed until Evan turns one, so I need clothes! But I keep thinking I have dropped Evan off just to go shopping which makes me feel so bad. I would much rather hang out with him or have him with me, but I know it will be easier to try things on without him. I just miss my little man today!!

Weekend Ramblings

We had a great weekend.  My friend Linsey came down from Tulsa to see Evan and hang out on Saturday.  We went to the outlet mall and had a great time.  I also took Linsey to Uptown Grocery and we picked up the ingredients for Taco Pizza, found here:

We made it Sunday night and it was so delicious! In fact, I think I am going to have left overs for lunch.

Sunday morning, Bill, Evan and I slept in.  Evan started daycare today (more on that here), so I wanted to take advantage of this last opportunity.  Once awake, I ran my weekly long run, six miles! That is the farthest I have ran since before Evan was born and it felt really good.  I think I can finally say that I am ready for the Capitol 10K in Austin at the end of this month.  I am also feeling more confident about the OKC half-marathon at the end of April.

The rest of our Sunday was pretty relaxing.  We did go to Lowe's for ferns and flowers to plant in the front flower beds.  Now if only I could find the time to plant them.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Uptown Experience

I absolutely love walking into a new store and instantly feeling as if I am on vacation.  You know that feeling, where you get lost for an hour or two and forget that you are actually minutes from home.  A mini-staycation if you will.  This happens to me often at bookstores, movie theaters, and while browsing shops in downtown Edmond and Oklahoma City.  Today it happened the moment I walked into Uptown Grocery.

Uptown Grocery is a new store that opened in Edmond this week.  It is a division of Buy-for-Le$$ offering both upscale and everyday grocery items, including items that you do not find at run-of-the mill grocery stores.  To me, Uptown Grocery is a cross between Whole Foods and HEB, with prices cheaper than Whole Foods.  Architecturally, Uptown Grocery is designed after New York's warehouse district, which I love!  Evan and I had a great time exploring and taking photos of this new grocery store.

In the center of the produce/food to-go section is a sushi bar, YUM!  There is also a station for sandwiches, soups, salads and cooked entrees.

I didn't look long at the prepared to-go section, but they did have a seven layer dip that looked so delicious.

There is a great little seating area where you can eat lunch while watching chef demonstrations.  You can even sample food cooked during the demo.  I had garlic potatoes.

And my delicious lunch, chicken salad sandwich and tomato basil soup. I accidentally cut the orchid out of the picture.  Yes, I know I need to continue working on my photography.

I took this picture because I knew Bill would love this section.  Tons of nuts and chocolate covered goodness.

I wanted to try one of everything in this case.  I did get a caramel brownie and it was to-die-for good.

 Last, but definitely not least, fresh bread made daily.  I picked up some rosemary garlic bread to have with spaghetti tonight.  We dipped it in an oil, garlic, balsamic vinegar mixture and it was really good.

Thank you Uptown Grocery for allowing me a big city adventure in small town Oklahoma.