Note

. . .

It's true.
Even when you're busy filling your mind with architecture.
Sometimes, especially when you're busy filling your mind with architecture.
Basically, always.



image via jaime ibarra + weheartit

Running Love

David just returned from his first 18 mile run of his training schedule for this marathon. He ran it at a 7 minute 26 seconds pace. I'm so proud of him. We got no sleep last night and the heat decided to pick back up. So all things considered, it was a pretty good pace. Just a few minutes over the qualifying time for the Boston Marathon.
We really, really hope he can qualify, because we've been trying to decide where we want to go for our 4th anniversary this Spring, and the Boston Marathon falls really close to our wedding date.
I've never been to Boston, but I really want to go. It's one of David's favorite cities in the US and he's been dying to go back, so this would be perfect!
Here's the shot I forced him to take post-run.
He's a good sport to let me chronicle his training!



As soon as he got back and started stretching, David had me play one of his favorite songs for him. It's by his favorite band, Yo La Tengo. I love this song. It makes me think of David and it makes me happy.

A few days with the fam

David and I headed up to Toccoa this past weekend to visit with my Aunt Brenda and Uncle Doug (that's my dad's sister).
I was so excited when my mom called two weeks ago to tell me they're coming into town AND we're having a big Dunn family reunion in Hartwell.
David had LOTS of school work to do, as usual, but he was wonderful enough to set it aside for a day to come visit with the fam. We had so much fun seeing my aunt and uncle. The last time we saw them was almost four years ago at our wedding. I love being reminded of how funny and fun they are and how much I love and miss them.
They brought a bag full of Dunn family photos with them and let me go through them and choose which ones I wanted to take with me. The bag was full of photos of my grandmother. There are photos of her as a baby all the way through photos of her as I remember her, as an older lady. Also, there are some pretty amazing photos of my dad from his college days. He had a full head of curly, long hair - I hardly recognized him! I'm so excited to start scanning them into our computer. I'm sure I will be posting some of the photos on here!
Saturday night, David had to head back to Atlanta to get started on his work, so I kissed him good bye and started missing him as soon as he drove away.
Before he left, we snapped a couple of shots with my aunt and uncle.



Sunday was reunion day! Well, first Aron and I got up at 7:30am and went for a 4 mile run in the rain. It was one of the best runs ever, and I'm so grateful to my big brother for getting up with me. After our run, we got ready and headed to Hartwell in the torrential rain, praying that it would let up, as the festivities were to happen in an outdoor pavilion. Luckily it did let up, and turned into a drizzle - great for outdoor gatherings, also great for inducing new heights of frizz in my hair!
The food was awesome, and seeing aunts, uncles, and cousins was even better!

my mom and my great aunt Marie

me and my little brother

all of the Dunn cousins

Daddy and Aunt Brenda with their uncle Louie

my great uncle Stuart (on the left) with his farmer friend
I have so many great memories of visiting him when I was little.
I never got to meet my grandfather, Stuart's brother, so I always
imagine that my grandfather must have been exactly like Stuart is.

The reunion was wonderful. Family is such an interesting concept. I have lived within 40 miles of pretty much all of the Dunn family members for my entire life, yet I only see them once every 4 to 5 years or so. I have so much fun when we all get together, yet it so rarely happens. I don't know why extended families aren't as tightly knit as the primary family. Or maybe some are and mine just isn't. I do however, plan to stay better connected with some of my favorite cousins. And the internet is such a great tool for keeping in touch with people you don't see that often. Thank goodness for Facebook and email!

Since I'm only working part-time right now, and my schedule is really flexible, I decided that I would spend a few days in Toccoa helping my mom get all of the closets purged and organized. Boy, was it a job. I worked for at least 7 hours a day, Monday through Wednesday, but the closets look great! In between cleaning, I got to spend time having fun with my family.
We played games and talked. On Tuesday, after a very long day of work at the hospital, we surprised my mom with a birthday celebration complete with a delicious strawberry cake.


On Wednesday afternoon, Dawson and I had a brother-sister outing together. I took him to Seneca to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which was actually pretty good. Then we went to dinner together and spent the night talking and having fun. I miss my little brother. It was nice to spend some time together, just me and him.

Thursday morning, I headed back to Atlanta via Amtrak. Aron took me to the train station at 6:00am and I took the two hour trip back to Atlanta to find David waiting on me with a big hug and a kiss.

It was a good trip.

It's in the light and the air

Every year, around mid-September, I start getting butterflies in my stomach. I can see and feel a difference in the light and the air. When the butterflies arrive, I know that Fall is coming!
I think the butterflies are a result of my extreme obsession with and adoration of all things Fall.
I've checked out several of my friend's blogs, and it looks like they have the feeling, too!

In anticipation of the coming season, I thought I would do my first Fall post.
As mentioned several hundred times before, I love lists, so I thought I would do a combination "Happiness Is" post with a rundown of my loves for Fall.

So . . .

FALL Happiness is:


1. the best weather: breezy, crisp, with a slight chill in the air that slowly builds to perfection
2. holidays: my two favorite, to be exact. Halloween and Thanksgiving (this is excluding the mother of all holidays, Christmas, of course)
3. Fall fashion: cardis, scarves, blazers, cords - everything in nice, rich hues.
4. Fall colors: nothing is better than sitting in the park surrounded by the beautiful reds, yellows and oranges of Autumn
5. camping: blankets and pink noses, huddled around the campfire, drinking hot chocolate - pretty much perfect
6. watching Fall come to the city
7. running without dying of heat exhaustion or freezing
8. the food: caramel apples, the return of soups and other cool weather-friendly meals, and Thanksgiving dinner - minus the turkey!
9. birthdays: 5 of the 9 members of my family (the Dunns and the Cates) have Fall birthdays
10. the best reason of all: cool weather = lots of cuddling with David!

Now for my Fall loves . . .

J Crew is tormenting me with their amazing Fall looks. Every year, around this time, I start drooling over the catalog and website.
Luckily, I have a lovely husband and mother who saw fit to contribute a few key pieces to my Fall wardrobe.

Like the toothpick ankle jeans and cords.
Finally, a jean I don't have to get altered!
I love the fit, the rinse, everything. Plus, I thought they would be hard to breath in, but surprisingly, they're not!

They look great with a cardi or blazer, a bright scarf and ballet flats or heels. I love having simple pieces that can be switched around to form dozens of looks!

I'm sure as October approaches, I'll have much more to say about Fall fashion, food, crafts and general happenings!

sidewalk image via simply photo
clothing images via polyvore and kaboodle

Might

For the past several weeks, I have been training for a half marathon that I plan to run in November. I feel that I should preface this post with an explanation of my relationship with running.
I played soccer all through middle school and high school, but I was only average; never great.
I ran as much as my position required of me, but never more. I'd say that the most I ever ran at once was probably 3-4 miles. I have never considered myself a runner. Once college came, I would run a few times a month, for no more than a couple of miles and only because I had probably eaten something I felt guilty about and wanted to "run it off".
Then I met David, my hubby and fitness role model, and my health and exercise regime totally changed. I started working out and eating MUCH better. We have become pescetarians and I have seen my weight go down and my health and energy go up.
Yet I have still resisted running. Which is no simple task when you're married to a running enthusiast like David, and that's putting it mildly. Running is more than important to David. It's his means of meditation and re-centering. It's helped him maintain his sanity during these early stages of grad school.
I see all of the great things running does for David, but for some reason, I have always felt that it couldn't or wouldn't be the same for me.
I have always regarded running as an exhausting, lonely sport. You run and run until your lungs feel like they're going to explode, and if they do, you'll die all by yourself because you're probably running alone on some long solitary road.
So a couple of months ago, David started talking about a marathon in November that he wants to train for. I told him he should sign up for it. I'm very supportive, just non-participatory.
Then I was visiting with some of my girlfriends and they mentioned that they are going to train for the half marathon of the same race. I started thinking about how much fun it would be to run with all of my friends, so on a crazy whim, I decided that I should train for and run the half marathon, too.
I started my training at the beginning of August. My training schedule is nice, it's slow and builds up very gradually. My first week went great . . . and then I got sick. I had to take a week off from running and I was worried that those seven days would deter me and I'd give up on my goal. But I didn't. I started back the next week and have kept going.
Last weekend, while David was slammed with schoolwork; I headed home for a weekend with my family. That Saturday I was scheduled to run my first six-mile run - pretty much the half-way point as far as mileage goes. I thought that I might blow it off in favor of spending time with my family, a legitimate excuse, but I pushed those thoughts aside and told my parents about my run and suggested that we all go to the track Saturday morning. I don't think anyone wanted to get up early on Saturday, but my family loves me, so they all got up and we headed to the track.
I was really nervous about my run. It would be the first time in my entire life that I had run six miles at once. I know some running buffs out there would probably scoff at my apprehension, but six miles is a big deal to me.
My mom and dad walked together while my older brother, Aron, ran and my little brother, Dawson, rode his scooter and jogged alongside us for a few seconds. I got ready to sink in to my six miles.
The run was really hard. It was a hot day, and the track is not exactly a stimulating place to run. Plus, the constant turning is not too friendly to the hip area.
I can't express how nice it was to have my family there. My dad would announce my current lap as I ran past him, and my mom and brothers had a water bottle waiting for me when I needed it.
I really wanted to quit at about mile four. But as soon as I thought about it, a quote from one of my favorite books/movies came to mind. I love the scene in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Charlie's pessimistic grandfather is telling him that no one is ever going to get to go into the chocolate factory and Charlie feels so defeated. As he is going to bed, he leans down to say goodnight to his grandmother and she whispers "Nothing's impossible, Charlie."
I don't know why that line means so much to me, but it became my mantra that day, and has been ever since. I looked at my little brother, watching me run and I wanted to show him and my family that I could do what I had set out to do. That it might be hard for me, but never impossible.
And I completed it. It was a horrible run, as far as my mile time goes, but I completed the run and reached the half-way mark of my training.
So how do I feel about running?
I am still very green on the running scene, so I'm not to the point yet where I crave the actual act of running, but my spirit has been uplifted, so I continue to run. Running has allowed me to understand that the only limits that exist in my life are the ones I place on myself. It's been a hard year, for a lot of people and it's nice to know that something like running can provide a little encouragement.
So here's to the second half of my training. I know if I stick to the program and look to people like my David and my family and friends for support, it's going to be a great run.

p.s. in case you can't tell, it's impossible for me to do a post without an accompanying photo.
Here's one from the vault.
Two of my favorite people in the world. This lady ran a half marathon with David just a few months after giving birth to her first child. Love you, Krista!
Thanks for the inspiration.