That Redheaded Sister

The last time I had a week off was about two Christmases ago when the end of the year was slow for me and I always had two weeks to take off.  Since then I have probably taken off a total of a week in two years.  After the massacre of July, I decided its ALWAYS a bad time for me to take off, so this week was my week to take off.  I made my to do list and looked forward to a week away from it all.  The week ended up being the complete opposite of what I expected.

Saturday:
Went dress shopping and found THE dress!

Sunday:
Had to work for about an hour because a show was moving in
Went to the Braves game and had pretty great seats.  The game stunk because we lost and I fried in the sun

Monday:
Took Barley in to get his vaccinations and the poor guy ended up having a fever and a possible respiratory infection so they had to hook him up to an IV and give him a shot of antibiotics.  No vaccinations for him.  Twice a day we have to give him an antihistamine and because it is in pill form, they gave us pill pocket treats.  Have you ever tried them with your pet?  Amazing.  He has no idea there is a pill inside

Tuesday:
Reorganized the whole kitchen.  I wasnt quite sure why we had it setup the way we did, but it needed to be redone

Got new cell phones to cut down on our monthly payments by $50.
My friend hosted a small jewelry party and I did not buy anything.  Remember…Im on a budget and that stuff was a little pricey for me

Wednesday:
I did absolutely NOTHING.  I wanted to go to the pool, but I was still too sunburned to sit in that sun again.  I wanted to go to the gym, but could not find my motivation (note I could not find it at all this week).  I sat around in my pjs on pinterest all day and felt guilty.

Thursday:
Started to get a little stir crazy so got up and ran a few wedding related errands.  I ran over to JoAnn’s in search of something to be inspired by.  Inspired I was.  I bought two little baskets in navy blue for the flower girls (not sure how I want to decorate) and created my garter.  It was so easy and I am so in love with it.  I ended up making two, one to keep and one to toss.

Then I napped.  Again

Friday:
I asked Matt to take this day off so we could spend time together (remember we really only see each other 1.5 days a week).  We met with my mom and looked at the two last venues I have on my list.  I love both of them, but I left completely confused.  One is a historical barn they converted for events and its perfect.  It fits the theme to a T.  The layout of it is not strange, but its hard to envision 10 tables in there with a dance floor.  They will fit, I just dont know how.  I also cannot have the ceremony there because it is wayyyy too tight and the outside isnt that nice.  I am not against having the ceremony elsewhere, but its hard to find where.  The second place is actually my grandma’s clubhouse in her neighborhood.  It has a lodge feel to it and is extremely cheap.  There are a large lawn in the back for the ceremony, but the inside is laid out in a way that might make the space cramped with tables and a dance floor.  I emailed both locations for suggestions.

Both images of location 1

What does Matt have to say about all of this?  He likes the clubhouse more because its more “finished.”  I like the barn because it fits the theme perfectly and there is more room for everyone to be seated in one room.  He has this notion that we have PLENTY of time to pick a location (except I have had to change the date three times because venues are not available).  He also would rather go to Vegas and elope.  Sigh.

Saturday:
Nothing wedding related happened (expect buying these super cute pencils to sign the guest book with).

I walked around my small downtown area to see what shops were there and there wasnt much.  Matt and I were lazy most of the day (and at this point I was going crazy) until dinnertime and we headed to Home Depot for project supplies and to the driving range to practice our swings.  Oh and there were no zombie sightings this time.  (In case you didnt hear in the news, the range Matt goes to was attacked by a man on bath salts whatever the kids are doing these days a few months ago.  He ran from the woods naked and it took multiple officers to restrain him while he yelled he wanted to eat their faces.  Check the story and video out here.)

And now it is Sunday.  There are only a few things I didnt accomplish off my list:  pick a color to paint my Craigslist buy, work on Trails and Tails, and work on my resume.  Oh well.  I can tell you this: I am not ready to go back.  I have been trying to keep up with my work emails while out, but they give me such anxiety lately.

How was your week?  How was your weekend?  One of the last few of the summer.

Hi everyone!  Happy Father’s Day first of all.  I hope you are all having a great day so far…I know most of you are probably still sleeping.

This week was a big week for me and I wish I could say it was for running.  Not even close.  It all started Monday morning……

I was sitting at my desk working away when Matt’s sister sent me a gchat asking for help.  She said their close friends just told her they had dropped two of their dogs off at a shelter.  The shelter happened to be a high kill shelter and one dog’s time was nearing the end.  I posted cry out for help on facebook and sent an email out to friends and family in the area.  His sister could not take her because they currently have two dogs (one being elderly and needing extra attention).  I called Matt to ask him to help and and after sitting in silence for a few minutes he told me to get her, but we could NOT keep her.  Instantly we became foster parents.  Oh boy.  His sister got the dog and filled me in on WHY all of this happened.  Apparently the friends decided they no longer wanted to deal with the dogs and the costs associated with them.  There was a second dog, but since he was a great dane and the dane rescue came in to help.  Could we handle a dog?  We had to, she needed help!  As the week went on, I realized her living in our apartment was too much.  She is scared of the cats, the cats hate her, there just isnt enough space, and with work falling into busy season, I dont have the time. Plus a dog needs a yard to run around in.

If you are friends with me on Facebook, you have seen all of my Peanut posts.  Hopefully it is working though.  I have two families that are interested in meeting her.  She is such a great dog and deserves such a happy life.  She has been through a lot and I just found out she was also abused in that household.  It just kills me to think someone could do such a nasty thing.

Hi, I am Peanut and I am the sweetest!

I hope these meetings go really well.  I know both families and I would give them to her in a heartbeat.

With all this being said, I think this event was the biggest sign I have ever been given.  I dont know if you believe in that sort of thing, but I do and this was the cherry on the cake.  A few months ago I was inspired by another blogger to start this.  I did a lot of thinking and a lot of planning to see if something like this would actually work.  Anytime I had down time to think, all I thought about was this.  When I told people about it, they were so positive and supportive I just knew I had to.  Then Peanut came into my life.

Since there was nothing like this in my area, I started an animal rescue aid called Trails and Tails.  We are a group of people wanting to help shelter dogs exercise and be adopted.  We are going to take dogs out on runs, walks, and hikes.  Like I said, there was nothing like this in my area and knew I had to start it.  I am still in the itty bitty baby phase, but I have done a lot of ground work so far.

I am so excited about this and cant wait for our first run/walk/hike.  I hope we can help all of the animals!!  Please like us on Facebook!  I will post more on this as things progress.  My main focus is to find Peanut a home and get through busy season.

Ok, onto running.  There hasnt been much this week because of work and the dog (not leash trained).  Yesterday I did run the Braves Country Father’s Day 4-miler.  I went in with ZERO expectations because of my lack of training this week.  This was literally one of the toughest courses I have run so far.  We started uphill…just cruel.  We ran 4 miles of rolling hills where the uphills were steep and the downhills didnt give you much recovery.  Its Atlanta, you have to expect that.  I started really strong and I was really proud of how I kept it calm.  Of the many hills, there were only 3 that after running 3/4 of it, I just HAD to walk.

But the really cool part was we finished inside of Turner Field at home plate.

It was a well organized race and I was really happy with course, tough or not.  I would definitely do this race again.

I was totally motivated after this race to keep racing.  I WANT to run my half, I just feel under trained at the moment and I dont know if I will be able to get my long runs in during July.

Anyways. With this race, I bought tickets to last nights game.  What a disappointment.  The Bravos really stunk it up against Baltimore.

And last but not least

******

Dont forget to enter the Larabar giveaway!  Its ends tomorrow night!  Peanut says DO IT!

And go call your dad!

How was your weekend?

Have you ever taken in a foster animal? 

Seems like everyone ran a race or had a great run this weekend?  Tell me more

Are you working on any projects right now?