Christmas Eve with the Family

Amy and I are enjoying our time home for the holidays

We are a bunch of daddy's girls :)

My precious grandparents

Striking a pose...trying to be fabulous

Love my sisters

Hanging with my cousin Tiffany at my grandma's house

Christmas with the Jeffers

I love the traditions of the holiday season and one of my favorite traditions is our annual "Jeffers Christmas". Caron and Michael were the first friends that I made when I moved to Tennessee and they are like my family. They welcomed me into their Christmas traditions 5 years ago and it's still going strong. Our traditions includes eating dinner, opening gifts and then watching the gifts :) I'm always in charge of bringing the desserts and this year I made our favorite, funfetti cupcakes! Here are some pics from the evening's festivities:

Caron and I

Michael and Tam with their Christmas gifts that we get to watch

Me, Caron and Margaret (Tam's fiance)

Me just hanging with Chewy

Margaret, Tam, Caron and Michael

I'm trying...

to get into the holiday spirit but it's definitely been a challenge this year. I believe that it's been due mostly in part to an insanely busy and fully consuming work schedule which has demanded of me a fair share of travel and bringing work home almost every night. I believe this combination has somewhat robbed me of my normal enthusiastic outlook on this time of year. I believe this is the first time ever that I have NOT put up a Christmas tree or decorated the house. And I do realize for those that know me well...it's shocking!

All hope is not lost...I have been saturating myself with a lot of Christmas music lately and I think it's actually improving my mood. I have mailed out my first round of Christmas packages to friends, began working on Christmas cards, wrapping presents, took care of all my December birthdays ( i have like 6 close friends/family that have December bdays) and even took time to bake a dessert for a Christmas party that I went to on Friday night. Impressive for someone who feels like she is a borderline Scrooge this year.

Blah Blah Blah

I seem to have caught a case of the blahs...which is really unfortunate given this wonderful time of year. I've always loved the Christmas season for so many reasons but this year...at the moment anyways...I have seemed to lost my "joy". There are a couple factors that I feel have robbed this joy but I won't bore you to tears with my whoas. I just know that I have about 15 days to snap out of it and get it together before heading home for the holidays. Here's hoping...


I will leave you with a couple pics from our Sunday School Class Christmas party. Let the holiday parties begin...

Me and my friend Katie

We always do a Gift Exchange/Yankee Swap and Amy traded out her gift for a thousand piece puzzle of a map of Santa Barbara that just happened to come in this handy dandy suitcase.

My friend Patrick won the craziest Christmas Tie contest...his tree tie even had working lights (thanks to the clever battery pack that fit in his front pocket)

Terah, Katie and Amy = Group Hug

Highlights from November

Since I've been MIA in the blogging world, I thought it would just be easier to just share some highlights from November.

1. Work has been insane and I have made multiple trips to Parsons (West TN) and to Unicoi (East TN) for multiple events.


2. Took a spontaneous weekend-road trip to hang with Florida Friends


3. Got Bronchitis and spent about a week on antibiotics.
4. Was able to make almost every Monday night TR2 Running Group.
5. Went to midnight showing of "New Moon" with my friends Amy, Tammy and Julie.
6. Cleaned my room thoroughly and brought the rest of my winter sweaters and such out of storage including changing to flannel sheets.
7. Went back to Indiana for Thanksgiving with the family.
8. Ran a Thanksgiving Day 5k with my dad and thanks to the cold conditions posted a 30:30 finish time.
9. Started Christmas shopping.

Warning Labels

I know that warning labels can be very helpful and stear us from things that might bring us harm but have you ever seen this warning label?
This was the label that was on the inside lid of the storage bin I bought to pack away some summer clothes. I mean...really?? Are you serious?? Who thinks they can store away a small child? It's laughable but a child has probably suffocated to death from being placed in a storage container hence the need for a warning label. Just when I think I've seen it all......

It can't already be November?

I guess fall is officially here with the time change and all this weekend. I saw on some one's facebook status that Christmas was like 7 weeks away or something crazy like that. WHAT?!? Where did this year go? I was just getting used to summer and then I look at my calendar and it's already November. Whoa......

Life has been moving at warp speed but all is well. Just got back from spending time with my family in the sunshine state. It's always nice to take a little break and just get away. It's amazing what a change of scenery can do. I got to spend some much needed face-time with several friends, made some new friends and missed some dear friends. Seems like even when you go on vacation, there is never enough time to see or do everything you want to do.

So tomorrow is November 1 and it's going to be a crazy month. It's sad that when you are trying to organize a time to spend with friends and only have 3 days to offer out of a month that contains 30 days. Time to just buckle down and enjoy the most of this busy season of life.

Beachy Goodness

I know that not everyone gets to visit the beach so I thought I would post this video that I took on Monday when I got to enjoy the ocean one last time for 2009. Enjoy!

Busy Busy Busy

How is it that we allow ourselves to get so darn busy? I hate feeling "busy" and that somehow I'm letting life just pass me by. Guess that just shows you how much I hate feeling out of control. In the grand scheme of things, I'm not really "in control" but I sure do like to fool myself into believing that I am in control. Anywho.....

Work has been...you guessed it...BUSY! The family is leaving again (after only being back 3 weeks from a previous 7 week trip) so I've been moving at warp speed keeping everything in order and on schedule as well as making the necessary preparations for this upcoming trip. I do get some sort of little break while they travel but we are fast approaching the holidays and they have planned several big events so it's going to get insanely busy.

So I'm going to take a little "vacay" as soon as they leave and head to the sunshine state. Goodness knows that after all these days of gloom and rain that we, Tennesseans, could use some much needed sunshine. I'm really looking forward to this trip and am actually going to leave all work behind and truly take a vacation. We'll see if that actually happens.....

Mission Accomplished

I am thrilled to report that my 12 weeks of training finally paid off and I completed the Evansville Half Marathon yesterday setting my best PR. This was the 4th Half Marathon that I have completed but the first one that I was actually able to run the entire 13.1 miles. HIP HIP HURRAY!

Here's the official stats:
Time: 2:24:46
Pace: 11:03
5k (3.1 miles): 32:23, pace 10:26
10k (6.2 miles): 1:05:10, pace 10:30
15K (9.3 miles): 1:38:51, pace 10:37
Overall place: 1351 out of 2185

And I thought this quote tied in perfectly..."Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

I puffy heart Chick-fil-a

I couldn't say it any better myself....click here to watch the video

Quote for the Week

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are CONSCIOUS of our treasures."

- Thornton Wilder

W in Atlanta

Besides good times with friends and the great shopping that ATL has to offer, I was most excited about finally getting the opportunity to stay at a W hotel. I admit that I got a little camera happy but it was such a cool experience. And the icing on the cake was that we ended up getting the room for $60. We can't quite figure out the how or why but we are taking that....not too many people can say that they stayed at the W for only $30 :)

This was a shot of the lobby
Another view of the lobby....the decor and colors was phenomenal

Our room was 822

These beds were the most comfy hotel beds that I have ever slept in

We were absolutely thrilled with our room

This was shot of the tv/workspace that we didn't really have to use

I guess everyone should always have a backup plan(aka toilet paper)....Amy found this in the bathroom

View of bathroom complete with Bliss spa products

This W even had a rooptop bar, Whiskey Blue (owned by Randy Gerber, husband of Cindy Crawford and club/restauranteer extrodinare). No wonder if remined me of the Skybar in LA. He owns that one too. It was the perfect night out, so we hopped in the elevator and went to the roof. I didnt take any pictures inside but it was equally extravagant and hip in it's decor.

We got all glammed up for Whiskey Blue

View from our table...you can see skyline of downtown Atlanta

Did someone say ROADTRIP?!?

It's that time of year...the temperatures are starting to change...long gone are the hot, humid days of summer...the leaves are starting to fall....and this can mean only one thing....ROAD TRIP! My friend Crazy Amy and I have taken this Friday off from work (although something tells me I'll end up doing some work anyways). Nevertheless, we are heading south...to the ATL (Atlanta, GA). Last year along with Amy's friend, Claire, we went to ATL for the weekend and enjoyed the shopping (specifically stores like H&M and Nordstroms) and just enjoyed the weekend out of town. I know that there are probably lots of things to do in Atlanta but this trip is specific to shopping, enjoying a luxury stay at the W and also getting so see my friend Lauraine.

Amy's first road trip in her new little Saturn Roadster...it was more comfortable than I thought.

It was a gloomy day when we left but the hills of Chattanooga sure did look pretty.

I am uber excited about our stay at the W. I've never stayed at a 5 star hotel. Expect pictures a plenty.

Toodles for now....

Quote for the Week

"God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "Thank You"?

-William A. Ward

Finally feeling like fall

Can i just tell you that it felt so great to wake up this morning and see the sunshine along with blue skies and crisp autumn breezes after what was 10 days of gloomy rain storms and humidity. I hope that this fall like weather will stick around for a while. It's been a great weekend and I actually don't feel any sort of dread for the work week. Life is Good :)

I am quickly approaching the Half Marathon date and my training is going really good. I wasn't able to do the Shelby Bottom Boogie 15K on Saturday morning because it was stormy (think clashes of thunder and lightning bolts) but since I was up early, I headed to the gym and did my 9 miles. And thanks to my boredom, I increased my speed the last 3 miles and finished in a good time of 1:34:15. I'm feeling really good with my long runs and hope that the feelings last long enough to finally grab a personal best for the Evansville Half Marathon on October 11th. My goal is to finish in under 2 hours and 30 minutes (my training pace of 11 min. miles would equal 2:20 but I'm giving myself some lead way). My fastest (which is really slow) time to finish was when I did the Evansville Half Marathon in 2007 and finished with a time around 2:45. Here's hoping that I don't fall apart in the next two weeks.

Quote for the Week

"Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. IT'S A WAY TO LIVE."

- Jackie Windspear

"Personal" Day

So I took a "personal" day on a Sunday. I had such a full weekend of birthday parties and was a little on people overload so after getting a good night's sleep on Saturday night (just shows you how exhausting it can be, being around people) I woke up on Sunday and decided to take a "personal day". Nope, it didn't require me to get time off approved, but I made the conscience decision to skip church and indulge in some "me" time. Clearly it was the best option!

I had to be up early so that I could take care of my bosses dog so after doing that errand I went to the grocery store. Here is where i realized that the best time of day to do grocery shopping in Nashville is around 9:00 am'ish. My guess would be that either people were in church or tailgating for the first home game of the TN Titans because the grocery store was like a ghost town. Talk about little slice of heaven :) I grabbed Starbucks, a muffin and the Sunday paper and spent a solid hour at home enjoying my morning. Then I went into productive mode for the next 4 hours and cleaned/organized my closets (clothes, shoes, cd's, handbags), my dresser, under-the-bed storage, bookshelves and bathroom cabinet. I took a late lunch around 3pm and then returned some phone calls from friends and then headed back to Green Hills to take care of the dog yet again and then did my 8 miles on the treadmill. Whew....it was too rainy outside to run so thankfully I had the Emmy Red Carpet Coverage to keep me distracted and motivated (nothing like seeing the skinny starlets in glamorous designer dresses to keep this fat girl running). Other than feelings of boredom, my fun was good and I managed to finish in 1:23:08. I'm feeling great about my training this time around.

Of course after running, I sent a couple work emails since I was at the mini-mansion (where my work laptop is) and then headed home to eat (my stomach was growling during the drive home...guess that's what happens when you burn over 1100 calories running). I took a quick hot soak in the tub cause I thought it would feel good on my legs but I was quickly reminded how much I hate being in the bath tub...UGH! Well let me re-phrase that, if I had a garden tub that i could fully submerse myself in, I would take a bath every night. However that is not the case and I simply don't fit in a standard bath tub so it's not a pleasurable or relaxing experience. I grabbed some dinner and watched a little bit of "You've Got Mail", one of my favorite fall movies, and then talked to my friend Caron before bed time.

It was a great day and I realized that i should definitely take more "personal" days! Life is good!

Weekend Full O' Birthday Parties

Tis the September weekend to celebrate friend's birthdays. Friday night we celebrated Stacey's 40th Birthday (friend from church). It was about a group of 15 or so and we had a great space at the back of BB Kings in downtown Nashville. Here are a bunch of pics:

The Birthday Girl: Stacey

Katie, Amy and I

Jon, Patrick and Chris
Amy (Striking a pose), Me and Heather
Amy, Me and Jill

Then on Saturday night, we (mostly an entirely different group of church friends) got together to celebrate Patrick's birthday at South Street. I actually realized that I didn't take any pics of the birthday boy on Saturday so I'll use this pic from Friday night and then other pics from his bday bash.

Patrick (birthday boy) and Katie

Me and Crazy Amy

Mike and his pub chicken (more like half a chicken...it was HUGE)

Timmy and Michelle

OK...I'm about "peopled" out after all these parties

Lists

Seriously....I don't think that I would be able to do my job if I wasn't able to write out lists. List of things that I have accomplished, things that I need to do, things that I need to organize, things that I need to shop for, etc. etc. etc. Strike that last sentence...I don't think that I could live life without keeping lists. I have lists in notebooks, on legal pads, on post-it notes, in my agenda/day-planner, in my journal, on my bathroom mirror (gotta love the dry-erase pens). It's actually a little scary to think about all the lists as I write this post.
Just call me a list-a-holic!

But as much as I love making lists....there is nothing better than crossing things off the lists and watching it disappear. Now that really makes me one happy girl :)

Busy-ness

Do you ever wonder about the how or why of being busy? As we hit the halfway mark of yet another month, life continues to be moving at warp speed. At this rate, I'm afraid that I'll wake up tomorrow and it will be Thanksgiving. Sheesh!

Work is busy...SUPER busy and about to be SUPER DUPER busy with the return of my boss next week. My "social" calendar is also rapidly approaching "busy" status as I have something on my calendar everyday until next Monday and then another 5 day stretch of social activities starts again. My "workout" calendar is busy because I am trying to stay disciplined to following the training schedule at hand for my upcoming half marathon. Looks like with the increased evening activities I am going to have to make the switch to running in the a.m. And if you know me at all, you know how vital it is for my own sanity to have "alone time"....where do I find time to fit that in???

Quote of the Week

So I've always loved reading through books of quotes. My friend Tra'Cee always writes quotes on the envelopes of the letters she writes to me. I love coming across those quotes that just turn the "bright light" on upstairs. There can be such power in words.

So I have decided to post a "Quote of the Week" every Monday and I will try to post this first thing in the morning (unlike my late posting now). Please feel free to share your favorite quotes with me and I'll be happy to use them too.

"Unless I accept my faults I will most certainly doubt my virtues."

Hugh Prather

Run Run Run

Could it be that I have finally found my groove for running again? I'm telling you for awhile there I wasn't sure that I'd ever enjoy running again but the past 7 weeks of disciplined training is paying off and I'm starting to feel comfortable in running distance again. Hallelujah :) And just in time....I'm running the Evansville Half Marathon on October 11th and as I'm approaching the half way mark in training, I actually feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel..

With my dad in tow, we did The Franklin Classic 10k on Labor Day. Of course, I had to tweak my training schedule to accommodate a race on a Monday but did a spin class on Saturday (45 mins of cardio) and took Sunday as a rest day. I knew what I wanted to goal myself but I'm always apprehensive about setting a time goal because I tend to freak myself out, panic and then ruin my run. Thankfully, this wasn't the case on Monday.

My goal and comfortable pace averages around a 11 minute mile. I knew this course was hilly so I could prepare mentally but I forgot just how hilly it was. Nevertheless, I seemed to be on goal at each mile marker and here is my final time: Gun Time=1:10:16 Chip Time=1:09:28 Pace=11:13. I am not going to lie...I am pleased! This just backs up one of my personal running mottos "Slow and Steady finishes the race".

Fun Family Weekend

I enjoyed the long holiday weekend with a visit from my parents, sister Holly and niece Elaysha. They arrived into town on Friday night and stayed until Monday afternoon. We filled this time with shopping, shopping and more shopping, good food (even did our own grilling on Sunday night) and just spending quality time together. I am so blessed to have good family :) And I had to snap a couple pics of the star of the show....Elaysha Bug.

We were trying to take pics and realized that she was busy snacking on a cookie

Which then caused us to break out in laughter and silliness...

She just keeps growing up so fast....my beautiful Elaysha Bug

Little Blogger Hiatus

I'm back and it's already September. I just have one question...where did the summer go? I'm going to write more later and recap the summer but make sure to go back through some of my posts as I am going to do some backdating posts with pictures of the past 2 weeks that I "disappeared".

Roaring 30's Birthday Bash

Last night one of my dearest friends, Crazy Amy, had a themed birthday party "Roaring 30's" to be exact. She totally dressed the part as did quite a few. Digging in my closet only got me to the 50's with a high-waisted pencil skirt, fun blouse, fishnet pantyhose and heels...but I should get points for at least dressing up. The crowd consisted mostly of those that work with Amy but a few friends from church came as well. Here are some pictures from the evening(thanks to Patrick for capturing the night in film):

Birthday Girl - Crazy Amy

Katie, Amy and I all dressed up and roaring to party

Amy's friend Sims hosted the party at her home, poolside and it was a perfect night.

Birthday Party Group Picture

Not my ideal "vacay"

I guess this vacation was just another example of why it's good to not build up big expectations when planning a vacation that correlates with weather cooperation. I arrived in Pensacola on Friday and saw a beautiful sunset and that was pretty much all I saw of the sunshine (with the exception of a few cloudy covered sunrays on Tuesday). We had planned to spend pool time on Saturday but we had to change plans because it was completely overcast. Sunday was more of the same and then I headed to Panama City Beach just in time to arrive for Tropical Storm Anna. Monday was such a rainy day so I took full advantage and worked all day (at least I had this option so I could save my vacation days). Tuesday I woke up to sunshine so I took advantage and went for a run only to watch the cloud cover move off of the beach and then the sun was gone, yet again. I did actually take the day off on Tuesday and enjoyed some quiet time by the pool and read a book. Probably the most relaxing day of my trip! But with the weather forecast not looking promising, I decided to call it and headed back to Pensacola to work my way back to Nashville. I realized when i was driving away from PCB that I didn't get one picture of the beach so I pulled to the side of the road outside of Seaside, FL and snapped these photos. Another storm was coming in but it made these pictures look perfect.

I love how this picture is like the perfect beach-made aisle that leads you to the ocean...gorgeous

I guess there are always blessings in disguise like the fact that I was able to attend Seven22 (midweek service at my sister's church) and was incredibly blessed and refreshed by worship and the teaching. And I also got to spend some time catching up with Pensacola friends. I actually spent the entire day on Wednesday working in FL (how did I get sooo much work that needed to be done?!?) and then headed back to Nashville. It was a long drive and I got back later than I had hoped, but it saved me having to take time off and it was such a productive day. It all worked out for the best in the end!