Pile On The Miles-November Challenge

This November I've decided to participate in a blog challenge called Pile On The Miles with Monica at RunEatRepeat. This looks like a super-fun challenge and something that will help me keep up my miles while I'm in between race seasons.

I don't want to undo all of the hard work from summertime and make sure I can maintain my fitness level for next spring and another race season.

My goal for November is to run 50 miles. I know this is going to be difficult and I'm really going to have to make myself get those miles in, even if it means hitting the treadmill at the gym.

My dream of running in the evening, like I did in the Spring, just isn't happening. I have been working non-stop and by the time I get home and Mike gets home the night has fallen. I should just run at night but I don't like the idea. I'm afraid of being hit by a car or having some creepy person attack me. Crazy, I know, but fears none the less.

Check back on Sunday for my weekly goals! If you sign up for the challenge let me know and I will follow your posts. :) Happy running, friends!

a recipe

This is a recipe from my mother-in-law that we absolutely love! It's super easy and very adaptable to what you have on hand or like the best. Enjoy!!

Brocolli & Cauliflower Salad

1 head of cauliflower (broken into small pieces)
1 bunch of brocolli (broken into small pieces)
1 cucumber (peeled and chopped)
1 small tomato (chopped)
1 small red onion (chopped)

In a bowl mix 1/3 cup Vinegar, 1/3 cup Olive Oil, 1/4 cup Sugar, 1/2 cup Miracle Whip, salt & pepper to taste.

Pour the mixture over the veggies, mix together and put in the fridge for 30 minutes. The longer this salad sits the better it gets. You can also add carrots, radishes, or any other veggie that you like.

a hobby

Well, I'm not sure what my hobby would be. Unlike my husband who has many hobbies; fishing, hunting, taxidermy, soccer, softball, and cooking. I do not have many hobbies. I love to read book, as my previous posts show, and recommend them to other people.

I also got into card making thanks to my friend Amber. I still dabble with it but not nearly as much as I did before baby. I made our Christmas cards for several years along with Wyatt's birth announcements and birthday cards.

I love to travel, even if it's to the next town. My dream is to take Wyatt across country in the Summer and show him the great US of A.

I also like to buy things for Wyatt, don't know if this is really a hobby but it is definately something that I enjoy and do a lot of. (Just ask my checkbook!)

a talent of mine

I don't know if I really consider this a talent but I know Lindsay really got a kick out of in high school. All I need to hear is the first couple words of a country song and I can send the chorus. I may not know the singer or title but I know the chorus. Don't ask me how or why but I just knew old country songs.

a piece of art

Okay, I know this says a PIECE of art but these 3 are all pretty good and have great stories behind them! 



Guernica by Pablo Picasso is my FAVORITE piece of art. I love this piece so much because of it's significance the bombing in Basque Country in Spain during the Spanich Civil War. Picasso was commissioned to paint this piece for the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. Since then it has been an anti-war symbol for the reminder of the destruction that war causes. I also got to see this painting up close and personal when visiting Spain at Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid. It is huge and just the magnitude of it's size if overwhelming much less when you see the images up close and realize their symbolism.

This piece is a self-portrait of Frida Kahlo that she did herself. She was infamous for her self-portraits and used them to tell the story of her life and how she was feeling at the moment. I have this portrait as a poster in my room and it hangs on my closet door so that even if I may not be able to see what is going on all of the time, Frida is!! :) It's also great because of the monkey. My para and friend, Gayla, had a monkey as a child and this makes me think of her and the fun times that we had in my room working together.

American Gothic by Grant Wood. This is a painting I have hanging in my room and as an art project I have the kids make their own "modern" version of American Gothic. Well last year I had a student join our classroom in late October. He got to see this poster a lot because he had to sit by me a lot for not following directions. One day after being next to the poster for a period of time he comes up and asks me, "Is that you in the picture?" I asked him which picture he was talking about, assuming he meant the one of Mike and I on my shelf. Of course, he pointed my poster on the door and told me it was cool that I had a picture that big.  Love it!! Do you see the resemblence?!

a song that makes you cry

Oh my goodness, I'm such a baby when it comes to hearing songs on the radio and having them bring up memories. And then of course comes the tears! Right now the song that makes me cry that I hear on the radio is The House that Built Me by Miranda Lambert. It brings back such childhood memories of being at my Mom and Dad's house and being with my brother and Zach and all of the running around that we did as kids. Oh the days of our lives. :) I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about the song and all of these memories. I gotta stop now before they really start coming down.

Fanfic

You might be asking yourself, like I did as well, what the heck is fanfic? So I got on the every trusty Wikipedia and looked it up. Note my sarcasm at the last statement!  A fanfic is another piece of writing or blog that you read that is written by a non-professional author. They write for the enjoyment of themselves and that any other readers are probably friends or fans of theirs and know the stories as well.

So I love to read blogs and aside from being a Fanfic of all of my friend's blogs and their friends blogs I also enjoy a couple of other blogs that are written by people I don't really know.

My favorite educational blog is It's Not All Flowers and Sausages. Mrs. Mimi is a former teacher who blogs about her days as a 2nd grade teacher in the New York City school district. She writes about her life of dealing with administrators, parents, and her little friends as she likes to call them. If you are a teacher hop over and check it out. You will laugh out loud!! I promise!! :)

Non-fiction books :)

Well I'm a huge non-fiction reader, in fact it's what I enjoy reading the most. I enjoy mainly biographies; biographical or autobiographical. Here are a few of my favorite non-fiction books and if you need any other recommendations please ask me. :)
-sTori Telling  & Mommywood by Tori Spelling
-Belly Laughs, Baby Laughs, Louder Than Words, Mother Warriors by Jenny McCarthy
-Life with My Sister Madonna by Chris Ciccone
-Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin
-Multiple Blessings by Kate Gosselin
-Honeymoon with My Brother by Franz Wisner
-French Toast by Harriet Welty Rochefort
-Are You there Vodka, It's Me Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
-Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
-Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

There are more but this is all that I could think of. Hope this helps. I also have a number of educational resources that I read on a regular basis.

a fictional book

Wyatt's current favorite fictional book is "Scooby Doo: New Friends At the Zoo". My Grandma gave him this book when we were down visiting in July and he has been in love with it ever since. This is his current go-to book for reading. He especially loves it because the first page has a picture of a train and when we read it we add a choo-choo sound and pull our imaginary horns. He LOVES doing this. In fact, he is already choo-chooing before we can start reading it.

A fictional series that I absolutely love is a 4 novel set by Diana Peterfreund about a girl in college and she joins a secret society. No it's not just about a sorority because she actually joins a fraternity and she is in the first class of the fraternity to have women join. They are easy reads and have great juiciness in them as well. I would highly recommend them!! And I own all 4!

a beautiful evening outdoors

It was so nice last night that Wyatt and I had to go outside and play a little before bedtime. He loves to play with his sidewalk chalk so we grabbed the bucket and headed out.

a photo taken of me recently

This picture was taken of Wyatt and I about a month ago. There is one more recent but this was the next recent. We were sitting on the couch reading books and then of course he wanted to play with my sunglasses. The previous blog challenge day was to show a picture of me taken 10 years ago. Well...I don't have one. So I'm cheating by skipping that day. ;)

a photo you took

I'm not a PHOTOGRAPHER at all!! I'm learning how to use my camera and all of it's different settings besides "Auto". So as I'm practicing Wyatt is definately my model.

This is my current favorite picture because I think it shows off his personality to the best of it's ability. As my Gram would call him Mr. Personality Plus was definately around for the camera.

a photo that makes you sad

This photo makes me sad because I don't get to see my family nearly enough and I definately should, especially for Wyatt's sake. This photo was taken at Wyatt's 1st Birthday party and I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off and didn't get to talk to them at all. I think I talked to my Gram for a total of 5 minutes and the only thing I remember talking to my dad about was to use his lighter to light Wyatt's candle. Crazy day!!

a photo that makes you happy

This photo makes me so happy because this will be my new purse very shortly! Mike got a new boat and I am getting a new purse. This is the Hipster in Hello Dahlia and I can't wait to say "Hello"!!

Whatever Tickles Your Fancy

A picture of Wyatt AND me, for a change! That definately tickles my fancy. :)

Favorite Quote

"To love a person is to learn the song that's in their heart and sing it to them when they have forgotten it."-Garborg

It doesn't get much better than that. ;)

Favorite Book-A Day Late!!

Sorry this is a day late but we were camping and came back early (that's another blog post to come shortly)!!
My favorite book is Palindrome by Stuart Woods. If you haven't read this book you should definitely check it out. It's realistic fiction and based on Cumberland Island. I didn't know what palindrome meant but after reading this book I know and it's one of my favorite words of all time.

I LOVE books and read many. My favorites are generally fictional but I've come to love biographies recently and I'm going to start Sarah Palin's book Going Rogue soon on my Kindle.

Favorite T.V. Show

I can second what a fellow Mommy blogger said, "My name is Sara and I'm a t.v.aholic!" I love to watch t.v. and will watch pretty much anything, within reason.
My favorite non-reality t.v. show is Grey's Anatomy. I L-O-V-E, big heart, love medical dramas. Before Grey's there was E.R.. And after the 2-hour season finale of Grey's last season I cannot wait to see what this season is going to start off like. :)
Of course, since I'm a t.v. junkie I love to watch reality television. Here are a don't have enough space to list them all few of my favorites: Flipping Out, Kate Plus Eight, Any of the Housewives series, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Raising Sextuplets, Bethenny Getting Married, 19 Kids and Counting, Real World, Teen Mom, Top Chef, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, House Hunters, and House Hunters International. Pretty much you name it and I probably watch it.
My favorites for non-reality are: The Closer, Rizzoli and Isles, Law & Order: SVU, Army Wives, Secret Life of the American Teenager, The Office, Mad Men, Weeds, The Tudors, Big Love, and Gossip Girl.

Like I said, I like to watch television. Believe it or not I can actaully get stuff done besides watch t.v...promise!! :)

Favorite Movie

I know the post says "movie" as in the singular but I can't choose just one. There is a 3-way tie for my all-time favorite movie. They are, in no particular order, Steel Magnolias, Fried Green Tomatos, and Hope Floats. They are all chick flicks but I can't help it and another common denominator is that they are all movies set in the South!! When ever I watch them it makes me want to slip back into my North Carolina accent. Y'all watch out now!! There's just something about the wonderful cast of women that play in each of the movies. These actresses are still my favs and will watch their movies over any others, I do declare!

Favorite Song

A few blogger mom friends and I decided to do a 30-day blog challenge. This is a great way to get to know your friends or if you blog-stalk people like I do their friends whom I pretend to know since I read their blogs when they post new things. I read their blog so it's like I know them right?!

The first question is, "What is your favorite song?"

Well my "current" favorite song is Kesha, "Take It Off". Not sure why but it's just so catchy. I know she's not a lyrical mastermind or anything but I like it and it makes me want to put on some skin tight jeans, a low cut top, sky-high heels, and way too much make-up and hit a dance floor somewhere.

As far as my all-time favorite songs that would be anything on Sirius channel Classic Vinyl. It's just like it sounds. The best of the rock from the late 60's and 70's. I can listen to this channel all day long. I even tried to get Sirius Radio added to our school districts list of  "safe" websites so I could stream it live from my computer but it takes up too much bandwidth!! :(