Honey, I'm HOME!

Finally, I'm back to my home, my routine, and most importantly...my bed! So far the month of November has been a blur thanks to a long weekend trip to Austin followed by a grand total of 30 hours back in Colorado Springs only to get on a plane to Louisville for a 7 day trip. Somewhere around my second night in Louisville I hit a wall - possibly because my body had been through three time zones and a time change in just three days. Sorry internal clock. My bad. Anyway, I promise there are posts coming on my recent adventures. Stay tuned. 

Until then, I thought I would share a few personal revelations that were a direct result of my recent travels. 

1. Somewhere along the way I became a home-body, introvert. I don't know when this happened, but upon reflection I have to admit I'm not surprised. In the last five years I picked up and moved to Texas, moved back to Florida, and then picked up again and moved to Colorado. I think I've had five different addresses in those five years. Oh, then there were those months with Student Life thrown in there where I quite literally took a tour of the United States by 15 passenger van. All of that to say, now that I have a steady home (and one that I own none the less) I discovered I just don't like to leave it and constantly being surrounded by people is no longer my cup of tea. 
2. It's nearly impossible to abide by a strict running schedule while traveling. Don't ask me why, it just is.
3. There is no need to freak out when you miss a few days on your running schedule. Just because you miss a few days or even get a week behind doesn't mean you are going to completely lose the strength and stamina you've built up over the past few months. I may have had a brief freak-out session in Austin.
4. Hello my name is Danielle and I'm addicted to running. Is this because I realized that I just absolutely love running? Nope. It's because my body literally started revolting against me after about five days without a run. I couldn't believe it. My back started aching. I was constantly tired and sore. After a few days of misery, it dawned on me that this was not just because of the travel. After a three mile jog by the river in Louisville I was good as new. Unbelievable. I get it now. Runner (and I'm not calling myself a runner) don't necessarily run because they want to. They run because their body will start to revolt against them if they don't. 
5. No matter how much time goes by, some things never change.
6. Holy cow, next week is Thanksgiving! 

So how did I spend my first weekend home in the entire month of November? Well, first of all I slept in!

Then when I finally descended from my bedroom around noon, I went for a 10 mile run. You know what? I'm just going to go ahead and toot my own horn here...I finished the run in two hours and that was with 60mph wind gusts that resulted in a loss of feeling in my limbs for the last three miles. Toot toot.

After the run and a long, hot shower I crashed for a few hours. 

Then it was on to a little weekend project. I kept my number from my mud run and I have a lot of great photos from the day. It was my first race ever so I wanted to do something to put the memory on display. I've been wanting to use one of those clear, shadowbox-like frames for a while and I saw this as my opportunity. 

 I arranged the photos and the number to my liking, and then got ready to hang it in my office.

It was then I realized...I have no idea how to hang this thing. For real, does anyone know how to easily hang this sucker?

Now if someone posts an answer to the above question I'm going to feel really stupid. But because I'm not patient and didn't feel like calling or texting anyone, I took matters into my own hands, which is rarely a good thing, but always ends up working out. I made a few trips to the garage and found a saw hook and a few nails that were small enough to nail into the back of the frame without shooting out through the front. After a few minutes I had frame I could actually hang - novel idea. At least I was smart enough to take the glass out...just in case the hammer got away from me. Yeah, that's how much faith I have in my fix-it abilities.

Finally I was able to put the glass back in the frame and hang it. Project = Done!

 I know the wall looks a little bare, but I'm hoping to add another frame with my number and pictures from my upcoming half marathon along with mementos from future life adventures. 

I think later tonight or tomorrow I'm going to try out paint colors for my living room. That will be the Thanksgiving weekend project. Get excited - I am! 

Turtle Power

Let me be upfront and honest about the sole reason for this blog post - to show off my Halloween costume.

I don't typically do Halloween. I'm really into friends and parties and candy, but I'm just not into dressing up. Costumes are so uncomfortable. They look cool for a while, until you decide to sit down or walk more than a few feet. Plus what if you have to stop for gas or run a quick errand? That "awesome" costume you spent weeks putting together seems like pure genius until you actually have to walk outside with it on.

Anyway, at my Dirty Girl Mud Run I saw this girl with an awesome Ninja Turtle costume and I knew right then I wanted to be Donatello for Halloween. When I was little I LOVED the Ninja Turtles and Donatello was my favorite, first of all because he sported the giant "D" which was conveniently the first letter of my name and second he was the purple one, so that made me an instant fan.

Now that the hardest part (figuring out what to be) was out of the way, it was time to actually make my costume. First I had to fight every urge in my body to NOT put on my Tim Tebow jersey and a giant fake diamond ring on a certain finger on my left hand and say I was Timmy's wife. Make no mistake, that would have been a totally acceptable costume and one I am keeping on reserve for next year.

Second, I spray painted one of those pans you roast a turkey in - does that have an official name? Once I had my green half shell, I poked some holes and used some string so I could wear it as a backpack of sorts. Then I cut a circle in a piece of paper, painted it silver, and drew a big letter "D" in the center. I then took my homemade belt buckle and taped it to one of my thick belts. Finally I threw on spandex, black running shorts, a green shirt, and a purple headband. Unfortunately I couldn't find a giant stick.

I went to a costume Bunco night a few days before Halloween, so thankfully I got to wear my sweet costume twice! This is me and my friend Megan. She is an "owl." I know, just let her have it...

Next up was Halloween at the farm. My friends the Clark's threw a giant party in their barn. They had a little haunted maze and plenty of food and candy. The adults all put their cars in a circle, decorated their trunks, and gave out candy to all the kids. We were supposed to have games for the kids at each car, but I just don't believe in making kids work for candy on Halloween, or ever. I mean they are already dressed in these crazy costumes, and it's Colorado so they are running around in literally 30 degree weather. In my mind, they have more than earned a fun size candy bar.

Me with Mandy (Princess Leia to go with her family's Star Wars theme) and Kaci (who just grabbed camo from her husband's half of the closet). This time next year Kaci will have a little baby GIRL!

Me with the party's host Kacy Clark

I'm sad I didn't get any pictures with my little friends, meaning the kiddos. They had some pretty impressive costumes this year. Plus, if you're going to buy candy anyway, it's kind of nice to get to hand it out to kids I actually like instead of the random ones that come to my door. I see Halloweens at the farm becoming a tradition among my group of friends and I'm pretty ok with that.

Happy Halloween friends! 

Turtle in a half shell...TURTLE POWER! 

Dirty Girl

That was the name of my race back in September. For real - the Dirty Girl Mud Run. I was waiting for more pictures before I finally blogged about it. I didn't think it would be almost two months later, but better late than never, right?

A group of women from church decided that since the guys did a mud race last summer, we should do one together. I'm always up for stuff like this so it took very little convincing. I started training for this thing about 10 weeks in advance. We did the race as a team and although I don't mind going slower for team other members, I wanted to make sure it wasn't me who was holding everyone up. Thus, that is how the running began. Basically, the Dirty Girl was the beginning of the story of how I started training for a half marathon.

I volunteered to take charge of the event for our team - team Muddy Buddies. This included planning a team practice. The original idea was for us to meet at a local park and exercise and run together the week before the race. Well, it rained that night so we met at Village Inn for pie instead. I know, coach of the year. Honestly, I partially believed everyone was training on their own...turns out, not so much.

Well, the day of the race we drove to Calhan, CO and I think all of us were a bit nervous about what this race would look like. This was my first race ever and I had no idea what to expect. Before the race started we said a prayer together and then made our way to the starting line.

I think we all expected the race to be much harder than it actually was. The obstacles were pretty weak, and our team walked most of the trails. I'm not convinced our entire team understood we were supposed to be running the whole time, but that's fine. 

About one mile in, one of our team members said, "This is so great! How often do we have the chance to just talk without kids around?"

For team Muddy Buddies the race was obviously more about building relationships than it was about actually racing. If I hadn't already made the decision to do the half marathon I probably would have been upset that my weeks of training were for nothing, but because I had already started to train for a bigger goal, I could just enjoy the mud run and even the time we had to take a leisure walk without kids around.

Even though it took us nearly an hour to do a three mile race, the finish line still seemed like an accomplishment. 

I finished my first race...ever! Plus, it was a great feeling to accomplish something as a team, and as a church. We had quite the cheering section waiting for us at the finish line. That alone is reason to celebrate. 

After the race, we were given a complimentary cocktail. Any race where they give you a post-race mixed drink is a great race. 

Me and a few of my favorite team members following the race.

Team Muddy Buddies BEFORE the race... yes, the all black and matching headbands was planned.

Team Muddy Buddies AFTER the race...

By the time we left the race festivities it was nearly 2:00 and we were starving. So where do you go when you are desperate for food and covered in mud? Sonic, of course! 

Do you ever feel like everyone is staring at you? Well, imagine the attention you get when you get out of the car with six of your friends, all covered head to toe in mud and then sit down to eat. We made quite the scene. 

Fun times. Great memories. Dirty or clean, I'm blessed to have these women in my life. 

Fall Favorites

Last Sunday was a pretty big day. First of all, Tebow started! Unfortunately, he started at 11:00, the same time church starts. Fortunately, I live in 2011 and we have DVR, and my new friends Alicia and Aaron came over after church to watch the game with me. 

Aaron played on the mighty Phat Bhatts with me and I am starting to get to know his wife Alicia. They are great. I feel a long term friendship coming on with these two. 

If you're my friend I feel like I don't have to tell you that after three of the most boring quarters of football I have ever seen in my life, and I truly mean that, Tebow had what my friend Megan refers to as his Matt Saracen moment. 

I mean seriously, look at Saracen's face. Add some stubble and change the jersey and I would think I was looking at Tebow last weekend. The whole fourth quarter and into overtime it was like watching season 1 of Friday Night Lights. The lovable, QB2 becomes QB1 in a matter of seconds. It's rough for a while, but then Tim, just like Matt, remembers he CAN in fact play football and the game starts to turn around. Welcome to the fourth quarter of the Broncos' game my friends. 

Do I even need to tell you what happened? Well, just because watching the highlight reel still gets me fired up, I will go ahead and tell you anyway. 

After my heart rate slowed to a reasonable pace, it was time to carve pumpkins. For the first time ever I tried out one of those pattern books. Next year I'm stepping up my game. The patterns were pretty lame. Alicia was so proud of Tim she had to carve a pumpkin in celebration of the win. Aaron, well, he was there to take our picture afterward.

Where the Magic Happens

They always say that on MTV Cribs when they get to the master bedroom. I know what is implied by this statement, but unless you are Hugh Hefner, I'm not quite sure what's so "magical." You know what's "magical?" The fact that high schoolers get it on in the bathroom without vomiting or getting caught. That is magic.

Anyway, quite a few months ago I painted my master bedroom. It's still the room I am the most proud of in my house, probably because it's the only one that is actually finished, minus replacing the ceiling fan, which is purchased but still sitting in an unopened box in my garage. I gave my parents the guided tour via iPhone FaceTime months ago, so I guess that's why I wasn't in a huge hurry to post the pictures.

Unfortunately I only have one picture of the room on move-in day and it isn't very good.

Just so you have a better idea, this was the color of the entire room before I painted. No offense to the color yellow, after all, my kitchen is yellow, but my bedroom is just not the place for it.

The first order of business was removing the horrible TV stand that was screwed into the wall. You may remember that fiasco from a former blog entry. 

Once the stand and screws were removed and the hole was patched, it was time to paint. I wanted to live on the edge a little with the decor in the rest of the house, but my bedroom is like my safe place. It needs to stay cool and tranquil, and above all, remind me of the beach. What color can bring me all of these things? Tan! 

When my roommate and I were renting the townhouse, I went a little crazy and painted an accent wall in my bedroom. I know this isn't crazy for most, but for me it was like dying my hair pint and getting an eyebrow ring. I actually liked the accent wall, so I decided to do the same thing in the new house. What color goes perfectly with tan and will complete the beach scene? Blue of course! 

My roommate also had this great idea to paint my entry way into my bedroom the accent color instead of tan. I have to hand it to her, the idea was genius. The entry way looks awesome in blue and it really added a unique touch to the paint job.

I've never been a fan of curtains. I don't know what it is, but my whole life I've been so happy with just plain white blinds. However, I think something inside me finally snapped, because after a few weeks of looking at those plain blinds above my bed, I knew something had to be done. It just looked terrible. A $15 (on sale) valance from JC Penny's and this curtain thing from Wal-Mart did the trick. It's a window treatment that is not really curtains. Perfect. Plus, it frames the bed so nicely you pretty much forget I don't own (and have never owned) a headboard. 

After the walls were painted I gave the trim and doors a fresh coat of white paint. I couldn't believe what a difference it made. It was like a brand new room.

The closet in my room is pretty big, especially for an older home, but the closet doors were terrible. It was like looking at a wall of wood. Unfortunately I forgot to get a before picture, but you can at least tell from this picture what the closet doors looked like after I removed them.

The doors were ugly, but they were in good shape so it seemed pretty pointless to buy new ones. Plus I had an entire gallon of white paint. So I painted the doors white and bought some silver knobs. 

That's it, my new bedroom. Once I install a new ceiling fan this room will be 100% completely finished. 

I Need Your Support

WARNING: This letter is entirely a joke. Please read it in the spirit in which it was written and do not take this seriously. This letter is purely for the amusement of the five people (including my own mother) who happen to read my blog.

Dear friends and family,
I am writing you because I have a great mission ahead that I want you to prayerfully consider being a part of. I am currently raising support for my latest endeavor - serving as a missionary for organized sports, specifically NCAA football and the NFL. I realize you may think this is a mission that does not need your time, energy and support, like raising money to fight the common cold, but I assure you, we are in desperate times.

I have positioned myself among the most un-reached people group; the least likely to ever become football fans of any kind. I work every day in the IT Department. Just this week I was told, "I bet you are excited Kevin was named the starting quarterback for the Broncos." Are the names "Kevin" and "Tim" easily confused? I don't think so. Someone else told me he felt bad for Brett Farve because Tim Tebow took his starting position. Sorry sweet friend, I think you meant Kyle Orton. Then there was the most shocking conversation of all. One of my coworkers said he had a lot of respect for the owner of the Denver Broncos for reasons outlined in an online article he read earlier that morning. His reasons did not make much sense because I believe he had the roles of the owner and the coach confused, but when we informed him of the name of the owner - John Elway - his response was, "The guy who owns the car dealerships?"

These conversations are happening, on a daily basis, and I know people even among the most resistant people groups, are open to hearing the message of football. They are hungry for knowledge; like this week when I spent almost two days trying to explain why football teams do not and should not go for a 2 point conversion after every touchdown.

The last few months of living among the lost have been an eye opening experience for me. I thought everyone was just like me. Doesn't every family plan vacations around football schedules and raise their kids to be a fan of their alma mater? The answer is NO! There are people out there who desperately need our help. There are children right now all over the United States living in households void of team jerseys and without any knowledge of mascots or fight songs. They will never hear the roar of a crowd on a fall afternoon or experience the emotion of a last minute touchdown.

My hope is that one day everyone can say they have watched at least one football game in its entirety. You can help make this a reality. I have learned to stay the course and to fight even among those who would rather talk about servers or computer configurations than a game winning field goal. We must not be discouraged but let our passion for the game speak volumes to those we come in contact with.

If these stories have moved you, I urge you to not only prayerfully support my ministry, but to start one right where you are. There are lost people all around you who may never experience the happiness and joy that football can bring unless you intervene in their lives. You do not have to work in the IT Department. The fields are ripe with harvest right where you are. Your local theater, seminary, video game store, library or nail salon are all great places to start. We are also working with a team to develop curriculum to help you better share your message.  

I urge each of you to consider the difference football has made in your own life. Thank you in advance for your support.

Your humble and grateful sister,
Danielle

The Commercial That Still Hasn't Made Me Famous

In honor of my favorite season...football season, and the fact that Tim Tebow was named QB1 for the Denver Broncos, I wanted to pay tribute to one of my favorite commercials of all time, Under Armour is Football.

Did you see me? I'm in the commercial! Replay the last few seconds. Do you see everyone rushing the field? Well, I'm there...somewhere on the field. 

That infamous scene in college football was the night Texas Tech beat #1 ranked University of Texas and in a few seconds robbed them of a trip to the National Championship. I still can't believe I was THERE when it happened! It's such a bummer this night will probably trump my wedding as the best night of my life. Sorry future husband. 

Me and my friend Suzanne right before we rushed the field