I Love My Family

Ok, so the 10k wasn't so bad.

Sarah & I stayed together for most of the way, but at about mile 4 I got this sudden urge to run really fast so I finished about 4 minutes ahead of her. It was a great fun & the weather couldn't have been more perfect. My mom, Heather, & Ava were waiting at the finish line for us. It was perfect.

Here! Enjoy some pictures from this weekend!













Sincerely,
Laura

Who I'm Sleeping With Tonight:

Ava is coming to visit! My sister Heather, my mom, and of course niece Ava are coming to Wichita for the weekend to see us & watch Sarah & I run the 10k. Lucky them! NOT.

Fetish

I love cake stands. A whole lot.

In fact, I love antique shopping. A whole lot. If I could have a job where all I did was antique shop from dusk 'til dawn, I'd be the happiest gal alive. But then my cable, electricity, cell phone, and internet would get shut off and I'd have to find other means for bringing in income. Let's not even think about that.

But really, antique shopping is not only a fun hobby, it's also a great stress reliever (for me). There are great little shops downtown where I work that I get lost in on my lunch break. Back to my point.

I started collecting kitchen-esque antiques about a year ago and my three main items of choice have been aprons, table linens and cake stands. I really can't even bake that well and never make any baked good from scratch (thank you, Duncan Hines) but a beautiful cake pedestal can make anything look good. Really! I've been ebaying all morning for a new cake stand (I know, not as fun as finding it in the corner of an old shop called Cat's Meow or Linger Longer Antiques, but it works) and have came across a few that I don't think I can live without.

I don't have room for anything I buy at antique stores, or Target for that matter, but thing is, antique pieces are not like mass produced ceramic dishes you find at Wal-Mart. They are rare and I get this weird feeling in my stomach that if I don't buy it, I'll dream about it for the rest of my life picturing me making pretty cakes and having nothing to put them on because I left that cute, pink, milk glass cake stand on the shelf of MiMi's Antique Mall in Dewey, Oklahoma. Tragic!

Hey! It could be worse. I could be all about collecting Precious Moments figurines.

Torture

Why do I keep registering to run in timed, organized races? Really someone needs to stop me from embarassing myself and spending money that I'd rather spend on a pair of shoes.

With that being said, I'm running a 10k this Saturday. My sister, Sarah & I are running it together (like every other race) and I'm not looking forward to it. What is a 10k? Like 6.2 miles? That's more than the distance from one end of my hometown to the other. Ugh. It's supposed to rain too, so that'll be even better. I'll be looking even more dorky wearing a hat to keep raindrops out of my eyes.
I'll tell you why I run these things. I think it's peer pressure. People at work sign up for these races and then I'm usually all "oh I want to run that too because I love getting t-shirts & coupons to Quik Trip," then I sign up, pay my dues, and cry under my desk. I don't even think about the running part when I register.

There are a few pluses to running this race on Saturday though:
1. My mom, sister, & niece Ava will be waiting for us at the finish line.
2. Running in this big of a race has motivated me to exercise regularly for the past 4 months.

Why am I complaining again? These races are the key to the bikini body I've been daydreaming about!

Tunes

So I'm sitting at work watching CMT (I know, they gave me a tv for my office, swank huh?) and I had a bit of a case of dejavu. When I was a little girl, I would wake up extra early before I had to leave for kindergarten so I could go down to the basement and watch country music videos on CMT. If I didn't get my dose of Clay Walker and Wynona Judd, I was one little grouchy six year old.

When one is asked "So what kind of music do you like?" and the response is "Oh, you know, I'll listen to anything," it's usually a lie. Not with me, though, I love discovering new tunes and finding beauty in songs that go unlistened to by many. I'll give any song an open-minded shot.

I'm a rare breed, I think, with my music taste. I don't know many 20 something white girls who can put a mix cd in and sing along with "Handy Man" by James Taylor, then switch to the next song and know every single word of "Regulators" by Warren G. I really take pride in my knowledge of music because it's something that I'm passionate about.

I was thinking about this today and realized that there is probably only a 10-15 minute span during my day that I am not listening to some sort of melodic track. I think I've actually made having music on during the day (and night) a necessity.

I hope my children are just like me in this sense.

Longing for Autumn

I've always wanted to get married in the fall (October to be exact), and still plan to (a million years from now probably). I have the whole wedding planned right down to the color of the bridesmaid dresses to where in my hometown we're going to take the outdoor pictures. Kinda gross, huh? I don't mind. I just think of it as being overly prepared.

I am tired of the heat, that's for sure. I am so very ready for the windows down, long sleeved, socks, perfect, jacket, orange, brown, yellow, red, type of weather.

I have a friend coming to town on Thursday from Austin, Texas. I met Amy when I attended a small private college in Oklahoma. She has become one of my very best friends and I can't wait to burn the town when she arrives. She's crazy and we have so much fun together. Amy recently purchased a moped which will be attached to the back of her SUV when she arrives. The thought of her pulling into my neighborhood with a small machine attached to her vehicle makes me chuckle.

Our plans consist mainly of getting lost in antique stores, going out, waking up early, going to farmers market, and driving aimlessly through the streets of Wichita, Kansas.

Wow. We sound like a couple of 70 year old besties.

Here is a picture of Amy & I during one of her visits last winter.

Refreshed

Isn't she adorable? That's my oldest (and pregnant) sister, Heather.

The weekend was amazing. I saw so many friends and slept in my childhood room - what more could I ask for?