Saturday morning dance party

Two video posts in a row? Don't be alarmed. You know I only bring you the best. I would never waste your time, dear readers.

I haven't talked about Whitney Houston's death here on the blog. Truth is, it still makes my heart really sad. She was a treasure and one of my favorite voices of all time.

When I heard this cover (of my favorite WH song), I knew it had to be shared. Not only because Ben Rector is brilliant and talented (and so nice!), but in honor of one of the greatest. So turn up your speakers and dance! For Whitney.



I'm moving this weekend, so I need all the happy energy that I can get! See y'all on the other side.

Thursday laugh

These two sketches from SNL last week made me laugh pretty hard. Maya Rudolph is an absolute genius.

I love the Cosby Show, and the skill it takes to play a character playing another character makes my head spin.



And this! My favorite is the J-Timberlake cameo.



It's almost Friday!

40 Days of Fasting

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I've been reading a book called Hunger for God by John Piper. It's about fasting and its place as one of the "Christian disciplines" in the modern Church. I will just say right now that I suck at fasting. My motives are always messed up, and I end up feel like a failure. But reading this book has slowly started to help me understand some really cool things about fasting. Here are a couple short quotes...

“If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.” 

“Will I find spiritual communion with God sweet enough, and hope in his promises deep enough, not just to cope, but to flourish and rejoice in him?” 

I've just started to think about how fasting is a way for me to say with my body that I want God more than I want the thing I'm fasting from. I want His presence more than I want to eat or check twitter or whatever thing. In the past when I've attempted to fast, I haven't turned to God in my hunger and asked for His presence to be enough and satisfying. I'm like the Pharisees in Matthew 6 who want everyone to know that they're fasting for the Lord and look how righteous I am! So as I have been processing this, I knew it was time to pull the trigger and actually practice this discipline. And what do you know, today is the beginning of Lent. I'm going to be giving up the sugar (as I like to refer to that), and by that I mainly mean  sweets but also as much refined sugar as possible. I know you may be thinking that this is very cliche, but I've started to realize how constantly my body craves sugar. It's crazy how I feel like I need it daily, and I don't like that feeling.

As I prepare my heart to celebrate Jesus defeating death and sin during this season, I know this will be something that will reveal a lot of my own sin. I want to pray in those times that I would physically and mentally crave the eternal God and His unfailing Word, rather than something like sugar that will never satisfy for more than a couple hours at most.

So here's to the next 40 days!

race weekend

Howdy, friends. I wanted to give you the skinny on my weekend. It was all about getting mentally and physically prepared and relaxed for the race on Sunday. On Friday, I caught up with my old grad school classmates and ate pizza (great race fuel, right?!). It was so great to see them, talk social work, and trade business cards!

I woke up Saturday morning and headed to the race expo to pick up my packet. While I was there, the race director gave in-depth details about the course. I had made myself familiar with the course already, but it was good to see it all put together. I got my packet and walked around looking for some free swag. Just being there among so many other runners got me really excited.

getting details about the course

Side note: see anything wrong with my race bib?

I spent the rest of Saturday making myself busy cleaning so that I didn't think about the half-marathon. Then my parents came! We went to Maggiano's, a family favorite, for a pre-race dinner. The service was great and the food was amazing. My parents gave me lots of encouragement and pep talks, and at this point, I was just getting more and more excited.

gnocchi and sausage

#1 Fans

The Frawleys (notice the tea and cookies)

It was an early night and an early morning. I woke up ready to go. All the nerves were gone, and I was ready to run my little heart out.

Me and 18,000 of my closest friends.

Waiting to start.

The Texas Capitol.

Mile 1.5 (from my friend Lindsey)

Mile 2ish

Mile 8 (from my mom)

Mile 11ish

Mile 12...where I thought I was going to die

I had a great support team. My parents and friend Lindsey went all over the course to cheer me on, and I saw them 3 times during race! Another friend of mine, Maddie, ran about a mile with in the middle when I was struggling with some blisters. It was the little boost I needed.

At 2:18:02, I sprinted across the finish line. I was SO ready to be done and so proud that I finished. My goal was 2:15, but I am content with the way things happened. I had to stop a couple times to grab bandaids for a nasty blister, so all in all, I feel great about it. I'm already setting goals for my next one!

so tired

Afterwards we went and had a big brunch (migas!) and then I proceeded to hobble around for the rest of the day. I'm actually still sore as we speak.

Have I mentioned it was hard and hilly? But I had so much fun, and it feels like such an accomplishment. And I can cross #22 of my 25 Before 25 List! 

I have a couple posts coming up with basic advice about training and race day for rookies. I took lots of mental notes so I'd have some good things to share! Stay tuned.  

#febphotoaday [2]

(A recap of my race is coming up tomorrow. Spoiler alert: I finished.)

Round two of photo a day...

"Front Door" // only for a few more days

"self portrait" // work Shannon

"makes you happy" // Cracker Barrel on a road trip

"inside your closet" // it's only clean because I'm prepping for moving.

"blue" // my work mug

"heart" // V-day treats

"phone" // call me, beep me if you wanna reach me

"something new" // new dress from Target

"time" // stop, candy time

"drink" // lots of water and a little iced tea

"something you hate to do" // run really steep hills 12 miles in to a half marathon 

time to run

The time has finally come. This weekend I'm running a half-marathon! This has been a goal of mine since I first started running almost 5 years ago. Back then, I hated it, and even a mile was torture. But I stuck with it and eventually, I came to love it. The feeling of pushing through the physical exhaustion and mental battles and finishing a run is so satisfying. I've tried training for half-marathons before, but I always ended up injured or with tendinitis. Some things clicked for me this time, and I'm closer than I've ever been.

I'm running the Livestrong Austin Half-Marathon on Sunday morning. I'm excited but I've also got the nervous butterflies. I'm ready for it to be here. I've put in the time on hills, and I've pushed through some really physically and mentally tough runs. Now my only goal is to finish this thing. I've been working all week on creating a playlist that will keep me pumped up and excited throughout the 2+ hours I'll be running, so I thought it would be fun to share a little sample...

"Young Forever" - Jay-Z
"Up Up Up" - Givers
"Charlie Brown" - Coldplay
"Robot" - Trip Lee
"Montezuma" - Fleet Foxes
"Riot" - Tedashii
"Barton Hollow" - The Civil Wars
"Jesus Walks" - Kanye West
"Trainwreck" - Mat Kearney
"American Girl" - Tom Petty
"Countdown" - Beyonce
"Mess of Me" - Swithcfoot
"Good Vibrations" - Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch
"The Beat" - Ben Rector
"Swagger Like Us" - T.I., Kanye, Jay-Z, & Lil Wayne
"The Reckoning" - Needtobreathe
"You, Me, & The Boatman" - Quiet Company
"Stay Young, Go Dancing" - Death Cab For Cutie
"Lose Yourself" - Eminem (my power song)

The playlist is ever-changing, so please feel free to share suggestions!

My parents are coming in town tomorrow to cheer me on, and I think the energy from the crowd and other runners is going to be incredible. I can't wait! Maybe I'll even see Lance Armstrong.

I'll be back to let you know how it goes Monday...if I live to tell the tale.


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wednesday words to live by.

via B Charles Murphy

Observations from Schmalentine's Day

First off, some Valentines that I adore...

1) I love Valentine's Day for the same reason I loved it when I was 7. It's a day of chocolate, candy, and baked goods. What's not to love?

2) Most people are generally nicer and kinder on February 14th. I really like that.

3) Love is worth celebrating. Not just one day a year, but why not take a day to say some extra I love yous, I'm sorrys, and Be mines. Love is a gift, and it's no small thing to love another person. It's God's call on our lives and a reflection of our Creator, who is Love.

4) It's not just a day for lovers. I'm talking to the ladies on this one. Your worth is not found in whether a boy sends you flowers or takes you out on a date on Valentine's Day. Your identity is not defined by being in a relationship. Please believe a former V-day hater on this. I want you to know and believe that you are loved with an unceasing, relentless, unswerving love by the God of the universe, and nothing can separate you from that love because of Christ. And I'm also willing to bet there are more than a few humans that love you too. It's all pretty cool when you think about it.

So can we collectively agree as a gender to stop the wallowing, pity parties, and man-hating? It's just not healthy or an accurate depiction of reality. If you don't have a significant other, tell (and show) your friends and family and maybe even a stranger that they are loved. I think you'll find Valentine's Day to be much more enjoyable that way.

As for me, I spent Valentine's Day with some lady friends that I love and appreciate, eating M&M's, talking about Hunger Games, and watching Drive. It was awesome and just what I wanted.

And hey, I love you. Happy Valentine's Day.


valentine 1
valentine 2
valentine 3
valentine 4

fútbol

My friends! I had such a great weekend. On Friday night I saw The Vow with some friends. I know it's gotten mixed reactions, but I enjoyed it. Channing Tatum may not be the best actor, but look at the man. It's worth watching but maybe wait until it comes out on DVD.

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On Saturday, I woke up early to head to Dallas. The U.S. Women's National Soccer team was playing against New Zealand just north of Dallas, so I roped some friends into heading up there with me. I love road trips, and this one did not disappoint. We had girl talk about everything under the sun, and I absolutely loved it.

The Big D

Once we got into Dallas, we stopped at In-N-Out, one of my faves. It's good to see they've some to Texas.

Y'all, it was so cold. The temperature outside was probably around 35, but we were in the shade, and let's just say my feet were icicles by the end of the first half. BUT it was so fun and so worth it to be there, and to see such good teams play each other.

warm-ups

National Anthems

Friends!

After half-time, we moved to a much warmer spot.  I'm not sure if we were allowed there, but it was amazing to get warm after feeling frozen.

The game itself was fun to watch, even though we didn't play that well. We were actually down 1 to 0, until the last 10 minutes or so, and then amazingly Alex Morgan scored two goals within minutes! The place went crazy. It was so fun and made me so glad we made the trip! Here are the highlights (it gets good around 3:40)...

This may seem like a random picture, but the dude in the fur hat and Where's Waldo scarf is Brek Shea. He plays for the U.S. Men's soccer team and FC Dallas. I think he was trying to hide from everyone there who wanted a picture/

Shortly after the thrilling victory, we got back in the car to head southbound. We also stopped at Cracker Barrel on the way home, and that's right around when we found out Whitney Houston had died. My heart is still sad about it. But it was such a wonderful, memorable day!

Sunday was filled with sleeping in, running my last run before the half marathon, trying to be productive, and then holding babies in the nursery and going to church. That was my weekend! I can't believe it's already 9 minutes to Wednesday!

#febphotoaday [1]

Round 1 of February Photo A Day...

"Your view today" // foggy day in Austin

"Words" // courtesy of Jarah
 

"Hands" // nighttime in Austin

"A stranger"// Lots of them at the Color Run

"10 AM" // breaking in the new shoes

"dinner" // A bachelorette feast

"Button" // late for work

"Sun" // great is Thy faithfulness