The Marathon.

'Hey barefoot guy, need some shoes?'

If you ever want a pick me up, some motivation...or to just completely restore your faith in humanity, go to a marathon, a triathlon, an ultra. You meet the most incredible people.

Sunday, May 5th meant it was time for the Pittsburgh marathon. This meant getting up at 4am so we could get downtown before the sun made an appearance, and me taking a nap in a parking garage for two hours because Ashley doesn't particularly care to be awake at that time of day.

Last year my Darling ran the race in about three and a half hours. That was when he was hoping to run it in four hours and he took a break half way through to drink a beer. This year he decided he'd run it hard and PR (personal record). He hoped for 3:20, maybe even 3:18 if he got lucky. Now as incredible and impressive as all of that is, it's not the point I'm trying to make with this post. When I was still waiting at the finish line and 3:30 went by, then 4:00 and he still wasn't there, I was wondering what the heck happened.

His friends and I tried tracking him, but all we found was that his timing dropped off halfway through the race. Then my phone rang from a number I didn't recognize. I answered to find my Darling on the other end, saying he had some problems but only had five miles left. About thirty minutes later (and five hours into the race), we see him practically sprint across the finish line, looking completely unscathed, in a brand new pair of running shoes.

For some reason, that neither myself or his cross country friends can comprehend, my Darling decided running the marathon in his cross country shoes would be a good idea, and maybe it was...until mile thirteen. By then his feet were so messed up he had blisters on his toes. He realized he couldn't finish in those shoes, took them off and trekked on for another two miles. That's when another guy running the marathon said, 'Hey barefoot guy, need some shoes?' The kid lived close by, pulled out his cell phone and made a call. Moments later his mom met my Darling on the street with three brand new pairs of running shoes, asked "What's your size?" and handed him a pair so my Darling could finish the marathon.

These days all you have to do is turn on the news and it's pretty easy to become bitter or always expect the worst. My grandmother doesn't turn it on anymore except to watch the weather, and I don't blame her. Don't get me wrong it's good to know what's going on in the world. We shouldn't bury our heads in the sand, but it sure would be nice if there was more promotion of positivity.

What happened with the kid, the mom and the shoes? We have no idea of their phone number or where they actually live. We have no clue how to give them their shoes back. So if you know a kid named Sam who lives around mile 15 of the Pittsburgh marathon route, we owe him a pair of running shoes...

30 by 30: My 27th Birthday Update

Earlier this year I made a post listing 30 things I wanted to do by the time I turned 30. With the recent passing of my 27th birthday, I thought it'd be a good idea to update the list, seeing what I've accomplished in the last few months...

1. Participate in 6 craft fairs with my crochet stuff
   I've done one craft fair. It wasn't very successful, but I did manage to come out in the green.
2. Don't let others get me down and remember this every day, "You is kind, You is smart, You is important"
   This one is still hard, but I'm working on it every day.
3. Read 30 new books (yes Sabrina I stole this)
   I've read 4 new books so far, and I've got 2 others started. (Damn you Harry Potter for trapping me in and making me want to reread you. You don't count!)
4. Remember the little things and don't fight over money
   Another continuous effort, but significantly easier than #2.
5. Learn Italian or Spanish
6. Get 10,000 fans on my Facebook model page
   I haven't worked on this much, seeing as my modeling is at a hiatus, but I am up to a little over 1200 fans.
7. Run a marathon
   I was halfway through training last spring and had to quit. A later blog post will reveal those details.
8. Remember to send out birthday/anniversary cards to my family/closest friends without them being late
   I've actually done a pretty good job of this one. I've sent out more than I ever have, and only one or two have actually been late.
9. Join a crochet/scrapbook/women's group (or 2) here in PA
10. Continue learning how to fix my '71 Camaro by myself
    I learned how to fix the secondary fan attached to my radiator and I will soon be learning how to touch up small paint chips and surface rust.
11. Reach 300 blog followers
    So far I have increased my followers from 3 to a whopping 8, but with so little blog activity, that's not surprising.
12. Have an official date night at least twice a month
    We have an official date night once a week!
13. Fill the 4 journals I have sitting on my bookcase
    I'm half way through the first one; my journaling took a vacation around the same time my blogging did.
14. Crochet 4 afghans
    I've finished two afghans, and am over halfway through with my third. I've also done a 3x3 baby blanket.
15. Be old fashioned "pen pals" with my Grandma and Sabrina
    I continue to do this.
16. Build a clientel for my hair styling work
    Still working on this one, but as long as I'm a stylist, there's always room for my book to grow. I'm off to a good start.
17. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or nursing home
18. Take enough pictures to fill my two Christmas/Winter scrapbooks
19. Finish Grandma Molly's memorial scrapbook album
20. Remember to take photos with Nate, friends and family year round so I can scrapbook our memories
    Got my camera charger back from Oklahoma, and have been doing better for vacations, but not smaller events. Of course this means I need to pull my scrapbook stuff out of the closet...
21. Start my own racing scrapbook
22. Reread Writing Down the Bones and follow her suggestions for writing topics in my journals
    I've got my own copy, and started...
23. Remember to share good news, not just the bad news
    This I've gotten much, much better at doing.
24. Get some legitimate, paid modeling work
    I've had a several offers for around Christmas!
25. Sign up for 30 modeling contests
    I signed up for three. I didn't win them, but on a different note,  I have been published in a magazine! That is definitely better than a contest :)
26. Attend pilates or yoga classes
27. Run the NYC marathon
    Maybe in 2014?
28. Take a cake decorating class
    Honestly not sure if I still want to do this one. I might need to come up with something new.
29. Take up ballroom dance lessons again
30. Visit the top 10 places to go in Pennsylvania as listed here: http://midatlantic.choicehotels.com/pennsylvania-hotels/top10attractions
    I've only hit one place on this list: Falling Water, but I've also been to Kentuck Knob (Frank Lloyd Wright's second house in the same area). While I didn't get to Kennywood, I was able to make a trip over to Sandcastle, the water couterpart.

Of course some of these things will never be finished. They are continuous works in progress, but everyone should have a few guidelines in their life. What are some of your goals? Are they bucket lists or things to do before a certain milestone?

Not even the DMV.

As a hair stylist my weekend starts when I get off work Saturday night and I don't have to go back in until Tuesday. Sometimes it's a bummer not having the same weekend as people with "normal" jobs, but having an entire weekday off does have its advantages. For instance I still need to switch my driver's license, tag, and title from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania. Now that I'm getting more hours at work, I finally have enough moo-lah to pay for all that and I thought yesterday would be a pretty good day to get it all done.

First things first, I call up my pals over at USAA to switch my insurance. It's a little more expensive here, which I expected, but all in all, it was easy as pie and I got it transfered without a hitch, and even before breakfast!

I head back down to our room in the basement to get a shower, make the bed, etc. I even curl my hair so it'll be nice for my driver's license photo. Nate got all of his car stuff re-registered about a month ago, so he told me where I could go to get it all done; I put the name of the place in my GPS and off I go with the windows rolled down and some good tunes on the radio. I'm in a pleasant mood because I plan to roll through all of this and then go home to crochet the rest (or most of the rest) of my afghan.

Well I follow that GPS to a tee, but surprise surprise Pittsburgh's done it again and Google isn't updated so it takes me to the wrong location...one without a building. I pull into a parking lot, re-Google the place I need to go, and head back out. Luckily it's only 6 minutes away from the first incorrect location. I said, FIRST incorrect location. Now I've been led to an abandoned building, which probably used to be the AAA place, but it certainly isn't anymore. So I pull into the parking lot, park, search my GPS, search Google and finally decide it'd be best to call the phone number and ask for directions.

The first phone number I call is a wrong number. A very confused State Farm Agent informed me that the AAA hasn't been at that phone number in at least 10 years....ok, lovely. I sure do love a wild goose chase. I find another number, dial, and praise the heavens a woman from AAA tag agency picks up! So before I ask for directions, I figure I should probably make sure I am calling the right one and they can actually help me before I drive over there. I tell her what I need and she proceeds to tell me that I can't get my driver's license switched without 2 forms of proof of residency. Now I'm all too familiar with what that means from my days working at an insurance company, and I also know that I only have one form (my pay stub) because all the utilities are in Nathan's parents' names. I explain this to the representative and she informs me that in my case I need to bring in someone I live with who already has their PA license. I thank her for the information and hang up, but I'm pretty irritated by this point because I just spent two hours driving around and calling people only to find out that I need to wait until Nate finishes his finals so that he can go with me.

Once Nathan gets home, I explain everthing to him, so we hop in the car and head over that way. He's been there before so it's a straight shot. (Man was my GPS and Google both off.) It's 4:00 PM and the photo license part of the AAA tag agency closes at 4:15, so we're smiling thinking maybe we've gotten there in the nick of time. We get up to the window and a lady politely informs us that we can do everything EXCEPT a driver's license there. I tell her that's not what I was told on the phone, and she apologizes, giving us a phamplet with a list of our choices. Of course those all close at 4:15...

Needless to say, I still need my Pennsylvania driver's license, tag, and title.

30 Goals by 30 Years

I've been trying to think of how to pick my blog back up. My main problem is that I want it to be more focused. I follow blogs that are all about cupcakes, writing a book, wedding ideas, etc. and their entries are nice and focused. I've come up with a few ideas and think I have it narrowed down, but for now I thought I'd try this...

I completely stole this idea from my bestie over at Sabrina's Writing Reflections who is turning 30 in the fall, but I thought it was such a great one. Lately I've been so focused on all the things I can't do, when what I need is to focus on all the things I can do. My 30th birthday will be October 12, 2015, so I've definitely got a little bit of time. Maybe I'll finish early and have a whole new set in a year or two...but for now, here's my list and I'll probably repost it with stuff crossed off every 6 months in order to see how I'm doing. In no particular order:

1. Participate in 6 craft fairs with my crochet stuff
2. Don't let others get me down and remember this every day, "You is kind, You is smart, You is important"
3. Read 30 new books (yes Sabrina I stole this)
4. Remember the little things and don't fight over money
5. Learn Italian or Spanish
6. Get 10,000 fans on my Facebook model page
7. Run a marathon
8. Remember to send out birthday/anniversary cards to my family/closest friends without them being late
9. Join a crochet/scrapbook/women's group (or 2) here in PA
10. Continue learning how to fix my '71 Camaro by myself
11. Reach 300 blog followers
12. Have an official date night at least twice a month
13. Fill the 4 journals I have sitting on my bookcase
14. Crochet 4 afghans
15. Be old fashioned "pen pals" with my Grandma and Sabrina
16. Build a clientel for my hair styling work
17. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or nursing home
18. Take enough pictures to fill my two Christmas/Winter scrapbooks
19. Finish Grandma Molly's memorial scrapbook album
20. Remember to take photos with Nate, friends and family year round so I can scrapbook our memories
21. Start my own racing scrapbook
22. Reread Writing Down the Bones and follow her suggestions for writing topics in my journals
23. Remember to share good news, not just the bad news
24. Get some legitimate, paid modeling work
25. Sign up for 30 modeling contests
26. Attend pilates or yoga classes
27. Run the NYC marathon
28. Take a cake decorating class
29. Take up ballroom dance lessons again
30. Visit the top 10 places to go in Pennsylvania as listed here: http://midatlantic.choicehotels.com/pennsylvania-hotels/top10attractions

Okie dokie, now I've got 3 years and 7 months to get it all accomplished!