running down a dream

Well, I set a new record for myself! I finished the Cellcom marathon 5k (3.1 miles) in 27 minutes, 27 seconds this morning. Last year I did a 29:03 so I took a minute and a half off of last year's time! It was chilly this morning, but it was great running weather. The best part of the run is the lap through Lambeau around the field.

Now I'm super-excited for the Bellin Run (10k) on June 14th. I want to finish in under an hour. Last year I was a few seconds over an hour so I was bummed. I've been training like crazy though, so hopefully I can do it this year.

Sunny day, sweeping the clouds away...

This is hands down, one of my absolute favorite childhood memories. Try not to laugh...it's impossible. The little girl's laugh is medicine for life. Make sure you catch the last 3 seconds, too. It's the sweetest thing ever.


John John was also a big hit in my house as a kid. I remember watching this with my mom and sister and laughing. Again, wait for the last few seconds to overload on adorableness.


Seriously, folks...if you're ever having a bad day, just watch those clips and your bitter grown-up heart will melt.

I love Angela Chase.

If you really think about it, there is no better tv show about what high school is like than My So Called Life. Here's an awesome video from Rich at fourfour (one of my fav sites!) entitled The Collected Wisdom of Angela Chase. And what happened to Jordan Catalano? What a waaaaaste.

Goin' to the chapel

I'm so happy! My little sister just called and told me that she got engaged! She lives in Portland so I don't get to see her nearly enough. She is my best friend in the whole, wide world. I'm just ecstatic for her and her fiance (how cool is that?) She brought him home over Christmas to meet everyone and he is a wonderful guy and will be an excellent brother-in-law.

Here's a picture of her awesomely beautiful ring.

Congratulations, Emily!

(Here is a picture of Em and I all dolled up one night. We're natural beauties.)

I can't believe this was 1986...

Did you ever have a song pop in your head out of nowhere? One that you hadn't heard in years, but knew all the words to and adored it like some old friend who has known you forever? I have. Music is everything and I love my 80's tunes. Lately I haven't been able to get this song out of my head. Actually, the entire album is awesome start to finish and once I think of this song my mind automaically goes to the next one because I listened to it over and over and over again when I was a kid. I know the picture quality isn't the best, but oh well. The song rocks my socks off. Cyndi Lauper is the shit.
(and I was 12... or maybe 13.)

Check it out!

A friend told me about this interesting and different website. It's called For You. I spent about 30 minutes just checking it out. After I looked at it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Isnt' it neat? Let me know what you think in comments!

All she wants to do is dance, dance!

Maddie started a dance class at the YMCA this week. It is quite possibly the cutest and most enjoyable thing I've ever witnessed. We went shopping this week for the necessary accoutrements. I was a little freaked out when I realized that I would be shelling out about $150 for everything if I bought it at retail price (I mean c'mon - she's 3...who knows if she'll even want to go to class is 2 weeks).
Here is what we needed to get:
1 pair of tap shoes
1 pair of ballet slippers
1 or 2 leotards
1 or 2 pair of tights
possibly a skirt (many of the little girls were wearing them over their leotards and Maddie really wanted one)
bag to carry all of the crap listed above (again, there were oodles of pretentious pink bags with names like "Hannah" and "Courtney" embroidered on them.)

So after checking ebay and almost winning a few auctions (I wasn't going to pay too much for something I couldn't see or have her try on) I decided we would head over to Once Upon A Child. Now I have some issues with this store. First of all, the customer service sucks. Also, the clothes are generally overpriced for used clothing. Occasionally you can find a bargain., but anything name brand is marked up. It does save time if you aren't into thrift store shopping, but I enjoy heading out to the Fox Valley Thrift Store and picking through the crap to find the diamonds. However, I figured that Once Upon A Child would be better for finding specific dance-related items. Also, the children's section of the thrift store is a little seedy. 'nuff said.

So we go to Once Upon A Child and within 5 minutes I found tap shoes that fit her perfectly, 2 adorable leotards that looked virtually unused and a new pair of cotton tights. I spent $14. AWESOME! I also have the perfect fabric to make her a skirt and am already halfway done sewing the kick-assest (yes, it's a word) dance bag to hold her things. I will post pictures of both when they are finished. We stopped by Walmart and found ballet slippers for $5. They aren't the perfect Capezio brand leather ones, but they have leather soles and they are made by Danskin so I was more than happy.

You know what? Someone else was happy, too. :)