a snapshot into my thoughts

sometimes i feel like blogging, but i don't know what to say. let's call it entertainment anxiety. what if this blog isn't entertaining? will you hate me? so i thought i would just write my thoughts on some pictures that i have taken recently. i'll try and keep the stories to a minimum. consider this stream of conciousness blogging...

this photo is of the fantastic thomas in front of the saint louis temple. we were able to go on saturday. thomas drove, i slept. i sometimes i amaze myself at my sleeping abilities. i drive myself all the time and i am fine. put me in the passenger's seat and i am dead. i brought several magazines and scarlett's baby book with me to entertain myself on the 4 hour trip, but to no avail. i was dead to the world after only an hour of traveling. during my dreams in the car, i thought i was awake. i was dreaming, "oh, i'll show that thomas. i'll stay awake the whole time. he always jokes about my narcolepsy. well, haha! looks who's got the last laugh now!" and then i would wake up to tell him and realize that i had been asleep for an hour.

the lovely me in front of the temple. my faithful readers will notice that i wear that green shirt ALL. THE. TIME. it's in nearly every picture. i promise i have other clothes. it is just my go-to shirt. everyone has a go-to shirt. this is mine. funny thing is, last summer's go-to shirt i NEVER wear anymore. favorite shirt overkill. after this summer you will never seen ol' green scoopy puff sleeves on my again. also, i always think that when i pull my lusterous locks in a pony tail that i look sophisticated and then i see pictures and i know better. the look is a little more 12 year old gym-chic.

what can't i take a normal picture? seriously. SER.IOUS.LY. bring out a camera and i make stoopid faces. then i am surprised at myself later. it's like i am one of pavlov's dogs. camera=dumb face

my sister is pretty hottt though.

while my son is the spitting image of his father, he got his sleep habits from me. this was after a quick jaunt to the pool with jamey. reagan had a meltdown to end all meltdowns. it was quite unusual since he has always been such a compliant child. mostly. sometimes. anywhooo. there was kicking and screaming and hairpulling. the hair pulling was a newly developed skill that i would like to blame on the bad influences at the YMCA. i should have been embarassed by this outburst, but i kept laughing. it was comical. i felt like a cartoon character. reagan's body was like rubber. contorting and squishing into different positions that seem impossible. perhaps someday he will be a yoga instructor. better yet, a contortionist. i would love to visit him at the circus.

please note meatball patiently waiting for reagan to be completely asleep so that he can steal his crackers.

the end.

or is it?

no really, the end.

bless this mess

this is what i am currently up against:

the front entry:

the playroom:
the living room:
the monster who created this great mess:
(not me of course, the smaller person in this picture)

and that monster too.

how it makes me feel:

not mad, not sad, mostly just that emotion when your face scrunches up and you breathe heavily out of your nose all at once. exasperation? perhaps i should BOL? i am neither diligent enough to keep messes like this from happening nor fastidious enough to want to fix it any time soon. i am like a hamster on a wheel. why clean it up when that is just creating another opportunity for the monsters to mess it up again?

the end.

but not really.

perhaps in 20 years when my children are seeking their own fortunes far far far away and thomas and i have retired to the battery in charleston, i will not have to worry about messes anymore. each morning i will go out to my garden and pick flowers while singing, sooong! song of the south! sweet potato pie and uh, shut my mouth!



i can't see any messes here in charleston...

i conquered the hill

on saturday my sister and i completed the 35th annual hospital hill run, the grandfather of all kansas city road races. it was a race that almost didn't happen. i didn't sign up until last minute and somehow my fantastic sister, heather, convinced me to run the 10k even though i have never even dreamed of running that far in my entire life. seriously, there should be a million dollar pot of gold at the end of any race over 5 miles. a 10k would guarantee like a million bucks and some change and a birthday cake and ice cream and a full body massage.

plus, everyone in the universe kept saying how completely awful the hills are in this race. and then the evening before i ate at my favorite mexican restaurant and had tons of chips and salsa and a gigantic bean burrito. not exactly the ideal pre-race meal. that night before i woke up every 20 minutes to check my clock so that i wouldn't oversleep. the race started at 7am, so heather and i were on the road at 5:30am in order to park and stretch and pretend to be really good at running with the other racers. then the worst thing ever happened. occasionally, certain circumstances will trigger morning sickness. i am not pregnant-REPEAT- i am not pregnant, but sometimes by body remembers what it is like to be pregnant and wants to perform an encore. my deadly-barf-inducing-combination is honeycomb cereal and sneezing. the two of those together is what i call a perfect storm. and this perfect storm happened as i was driving down the interstate. heather nearly had to grab the wheel as my eyes rolled back in my head and waves of nausea overtook me. there were many fed exed prayers as i made my way downtown. by time we got there, my pre-race jitters overtook my nausea and i was ready to strut around with all the other 4,000 runners and pretend to stretch and discuss my "strategy" and be knowledgable about racing. and i am sure that i fooled nobody. my strategy was this: don't ever stop running. EVER. no matter how much it hurts. i am sure the others were impressed.
pre- race, still smiling.

the final stretch to the finish line.
closer now so that you can see it is really us and not two other extremely sweaty yet cute sisters running nsync. at this point i was fighting back tears i was so proud of myself. i also cried during the national anthem. i am tearing up as i type this.

and by the finish line, drenched in sweat and pride. that sounds like an gospel or classic rock album title. heidi and heather, drenched in sweat and pride, the greatest hits.

the best part of the race was the swag that gave you for participating.

my bragging rights t-shirt.

i nearly wore this ensemble to church today:
the visor, the sweat-wicking running shirt, the tote bag, the flip flops that said "finisher" across the toes. and drumroll.....and a huge freaking medal!!! i didn't know that everyone got one and i nearly kissed the girl that put it around my neck. i still haven't taken it off. i hope my mom doesn't mind me wearing it in the next family picture. do you think i can get on a plane with that around my neck?