How Well Can You Spell?

Spelling is NOT my gift as many of you have probably seen from my blog. Not having spell-check is one thing I would change about Blogger. Well, here it is the Encarta "How Well Can You Spell?" quiz. I can't. I made 5/15. This puts me on the B Team or even the C Team for the spelling bee. Tell me how you do...
http://encarta.msn.com/quiz_36/how_well_can_you_spell.html

Goose Hunting

The only thing I had ever huntd before was a good sale Old Navy or Ross until Saturday. Saturday I hunted me a goose. I have gone to the pond to feed the geese before, but never went out to kill one. This was WAY different. You have to wear camo, water proof boots, a hat, and lots of bug spray. Did you know that from the sky the geese and ducks too can see your eyes?? That's why we had to wear the hats, so they couldn't see our eyes.

The funniest part was getting me dressed to go...as you can see from the picures. The pants I wore were Josh's old ones. They have cinches on the sides and we pulled them ALL the way in. And we borrowed some boots from his parents that were a womens size 8 and I wear a 6 1/2...I deff had some clown feet going on.

My only jobs were to remeber the bug spray, and to carry my bucket (to sit on) and my Propell. Josh did the rest..he even had to carry me and my bucket a few times over the water.

We saw one goose, but he was on the ground and Josh said that killing it like that is not very sportsman like. So we came home empty handed. (I was kinda glad...what in the world would I do with a dead goose???)

We had a great time! The best part was spending time with Josh doing something he loves. He was SO excited about me going that he has talked about it all week. And I will deffinitely do it again.

Fall Education

We all need to always be learning about something, especially things we love...like Fall. I found this little quiz and thought I would share it with you. It's only 10 question...I only got 5 out of the 10. I had a few things to learn. What will you learn???

http://encarta.msn.com/quiz_13/Getting_to_the_Bottom_of_Autumn.html?GT1=8506

FALL...it's coming!

it's coming!!!
What's coming? you ask. FALL is coming!! i knew it was on it's way the other when i was sitting on my porch putting on my shoes for a run and there was this refreshing breeze. it wasn't hot and thick like it is in the summer. another big clue is that i sweat less on my run after work. and everyday i have the great urge to make chicken soup or chili for dinner.
fall has to be one of the greatest things about living in south carolina. all of the seasons are here in s.c. and they each are special. summer as a kid was hands down my favorite..no school and my birthday is in july, but as i have grown up fall fall has caught up. fall was the worst as a kid b/c that ment back to school and no more swimming which was my absolute favorite thing to do. there is spring that is beautiful and full of life. and winter is great for the rest it brings and the slower pace of life.
the funny thing about me writing about this whole "love" for the autum season, is my brother and my sister and i used to harrass our mom about how only "old" people rant and rave about how beautiful the leaves are and how wonderful fall is. so i have now graduated to be an "old" person who loves this time of year. it was the middle of august and i was dying to start decorating for fall, but i did restrain myself and i waited to the first weekend of september. i hope that you all grow "old" in you love for fall this year.

My first 5K race

Well I did it! I ate pasta and chocolate cake the night before. I got up on time. I ate some breakfast. I picked up my bag of stuff. And I ran...the whole time! I have never run and not stopped to walk at some point in time. That was the GREAT accomplishment of the day. It was the perfect morning for a race. It was cool, even a little chilly to me, and the sun was just starting to come out when we were running. Beautiful! There were maybe 100 people in the whole race. It was a good first race, not too big and over whelming. The majority of the people were older, there was one man who was 73! I did not see many people my age. At the end of the race I had a BIG surprise...I place 2nd for my age group (19-24). My first race and I placed! That was very exciting. Though I may have placed I was very humbled by the fact that there was a lady (probably in her 30's) who beat me while pushing her 2 year old son in a stroller. She passed me once, but then I passed her. BUT on the last stretch down hill she passed me again and beat me by 30 sec to a min. I cannot imagine running faster than I was on Saturday. I was faster than I have ever been (I finished in 28 min. and 42 sec.); she was faster and was pushing a stroller!!!!

I was also humbled by the fact that the man gave me the wrong trophy. They called my name, I walked up there, and on my way back to Josh I looked down and he had given me the 3rd place trophy. Not wanting to make a scene, after it was all over I walked up there to ask which was right, they had called me as 2nd, but the trophy said 3rd. And the lady in charge said, "No, you were second. I'm sorry. He gave you the wrong trophy. Come back next year." So, the whole coming in 2nd thing you'll just have to believe me. But I felt bad for the 1st place girl, b/c she got the 2nd place trophy. And the 3rd place girl got lucky b/c she got the 1st place trophy.

The best part was having my #1 fan there cheering me on. Josh sacrificed Saturday morning sleep, he funded my running even though he thinks it's carzy to pay seomone to run when I can run for free on my own, and he was very encouraging. His last words of advice were, "You are like the Little Engine that Could, you keep running, don't stop." I would have walked if he were not down there waiting for me.

Pics...#1 starting line (you can see by my puffy eyes that I am not used to being up that early). #2 final stretch (this is where I had just been passed by the lady with the stroller). #3 the girls from Dottie's Body Shop. #4 me and Josh.

Springwater Festival

This Saturday is the big Springwater Festival in Williamston...There will be the car show and you can ride in the old-timey fire truck. Bascially it will be the gathering of all the hillbillies from the surrounding towns like Opossum Kingdom, Pelzer, Cheddar, Slab Town, Belton, Grove Station, and Piedmont. You probably have never even heard of these places (except for maybe Pelzer b/c of the light people)...Ya, I had not either until I moved to Williamston. All of this to tell you I will be running my very first race this Saturday at the Springwater Run. I am pretty exctied and VERY nervous. I thought about running in it on my own, but I chickened out. But then..

A few weeks ago I found this little gym to work out at called Dottie's Body Shop. Yesterday I went to join and Dottie, the owner, sucked me in to running with them. They have a group of girls running in it, but no one in my age group (20-24). So I met up with them last night and we ran the route (there are some major hills), well I was last but I did finished. It was pretty humbling to be beat by 50 year old ladies. =) I have no idea what a "good time" is but I ran it last night in 30 min and 9 sec. Marie, is that an OK time? What do you usually run??

I don't think 4 days b/f the race is when you are supposed to start training, but we'll see how it goes. And I think I may try for the Midnight Flight next Friday...I've got to talk to Josh b/c I think that one is like $30.00 to run in. I really think that they should pay me to run...I must be crazy to pay money to run. Hopefully I'll get a cool shirt and then it will just be the most expensive t-shirt I've ever bought. Still sounds crazy!

I'll let you know how it goes...pray that I don't sleep through it. It starts at 7:45 am and I love to sleep late on Saturdays. Gotta Run!!!

12 days with OUT A.C.

Yes, on July 28th our AC went out...and we did not get a new one until August 9th. Ya, that addds up to 12 days. And then the day after we got our new AC unit I heard on the radio that we just had the 2nd hottest July in US history. True or not it was deff the hottest July for Josh and I. Not only was it the hottest it was the longest and the cranckiest. Needless to say Josh and I have never bickered or gone to bed mad in the 1 year and 2 months that we have been married as we did those 12 days.
This is the old AC unit...very old. Our landlords could not even remember how long ago they had it put in. (right)
Our new AC (top left) came with a remote control, a digital thermostat, an energy saver option, and a filter system. I never thought buying a new AC would be like Christmas...I'm a dork.
Well, that fancy new thermostat read 89 degrees when we turned in on...no joke! Can you see me sweating???
Now that my pics are all out of order...Marie I need some help with that.
Any way, it took 3 or 4 hours to take the old one out and put the new one in, but it was worth sleeping with the covers on that night.

my first post

Thanks to my friends Marie, Mary, and Hope I have now officially entered the "Blog World." Wow! this is SO much fun and it's only been 3 1/2 minutes!!
My first real post will be about Josh and I installing our new air conditioner...