Happy Halloween

Today for Halloween I'm stuck in Florida because of Sandy. However, last night I was able to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) for the second time this season!

Here's what I wore:

 Black under armor, red t-shirt, Minnie tutu (girls section in Disney stores), and of course it's never complete without ears! (also bought in Disney) It was a bit chilly, so good thing I had my Minnie Mouse hoodie!

Can you tell we had a great time?!

What are you wearing or already wore this Halloween?! I love seeing kids costumes too!

Linking up with Lindsey @ The Pleated Poppy for WIWW

Training Tuesday - The Missing Week

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You read that right. It's time for a fresh start. I think after two race weekends in a row and hitting 13 miles on my plan, I've hit a major roadblock. For some reason I'm so intimidated by the second half of my marathon training. The thought that my long runs are now 15, 17, and 20 miles without a scheduled race to hold me accountable is very daunting.

I feel like every week I promise to do better but still end up missing runs. Running 3 days a week really isn't a big commitment. I CAN DO THIS! No better time then now to get serious.

So this week? Even though I am traveling for work again, I have NO excuse not to run.  Since I'm intimidated by these long runs and that I took a week completely off from running, I think I will do 3 miles on Tuesday, 3 on Thursday, and 4-5 on Saturday.

As for now, here's some motivation to get me going again:

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DIY - Light Up Pumpkins

After a fun trip to Vegas, I'm on the road yet again for another trade show. This time I'm in sunny Florida with no pending hurricanes coming my way! And for those of you who were wondering, yes I will be making an appearance in Disney World when I have the time.

As for today, I wanted to show you a project my friend Mandy (from Totes Delish) and I did together. And if I may so myself, they are pretty much the cutest things EVER! (not to mention, super simple and easy to do)

Ok on to how you make these little beauties. First, we went to Michael's and picked up our fake pumpkins. We wanted to use artificial ones so we could reuse them year after year. Plus, hollowing out a pumpkin is super messy! We got our pumpkins for 50% off so they were $15, $7, and $4. The other supplies we used were Christmas lights, and ribbon. The Christmas lights were super cheap because we got the shortest strand they hand.

The hardest part came next. We had to decide what design to do on each pumpkin. I chose, a big "B", random holes for my small pumpkin, and of course a Minnie Mouse!

The easiest way to make your design is to sketch it out on the pumpkin with a pencil then take anything sharp and make little indents where you want the holes to be.

 If you look close, you can see the outline of the "B" before I drilled.

All you have to do now is take a drill and drill those intentions all the way through to bring you pattern to life!

Thanks Mandy for demonstrating! Oh and, don't forget, safety first!

Cut a whole in the bottom of the pumpkin and that will be where you put the Christmas lights. Now all that's left is to tie a bow or add decorative ribbon however you want to the stem and there you have it! You too are now a proud owner of an ADORABLE light up pumpkin!

I LOVE how they turned out! Now it's your turn. Send me pictures of how yours turned out!

Linking up with Molly @ still being [Molly] for YOLO Monday!

High Five for Vegas!!

Saying goodbye to Vegas today, but so happy to have had the opportunity to go even if the trip was short!! Here are some pictures I took during my quick stay. Enjoy!

1. The Gondola boat rides at the Venetian looked so much fun! Would have gotten on one if I had more time.
2. The lobby of the Cosmopolitan had these awesome LED screens that looked like bookshelves. Probably one of the coolest things I've seen in a hotel lobby
3. I treated myself to a Vegas Pandora charm from the hotel at the Venetian. 
4. I stayed at the Bellagio and this was the view from my window. It really doesn't get much better than that!
5. I couldn't get over the Venetian's decor. It was so grand! I was so happy to get to see it in person. It really is breathtaking.

Time to fly home! Have a great weekend everyone! Linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk for H54F!

Training Tuesday - Week 16

I cannot believe I've been training for this Marathon for 16 weeks now! I'm halfway done and I feel like know the worst is yet to come. As you read from last week's update, I feel like I'm in a good place with my Half Marathon time so that's comforting. The scary part is next. Those last 13.1 miles seem impossible to me. I can envision running 13.1 miles because I've done it 3 times, but 26.2?!

That's my freak out moment of the week hour. With that out of the way, let's talk about how I did this week!

I don't know how I let my two mid-week runs go by the waste side, but I did. I'm not proud of it, but like I always do, I'm moving on. After all, that's the beauty of training for a Marathon, there's always next week, and the next, and even the week after that!

Sunday was the Army 10 Miler and I was apprehensive going into it. I don't enjoy messing with the chaos of the city and being in unfamiliar territory with 30,000 other people. While there will be TONS of people at the Disney Marathon, I'm ok with it because I know the course like the back of my hand and my surroundings are familiar. I am fully aware that I'm a nut job and my logic is not so logical. :)

Regardless, I went into the race with one goal: To not lose my friend. No, I wasn't worried she wasn't going to make it, I was worried we would get split up. With all those people and not having a cell phone I could only imagine what it would be like trying to meet up later. So the plan was to run side by side. When one of us needed a break, the other took one too. We were a team.

I stayed at her house the night before because as I previously mentioned, city traffic is not my strong suite. Oh and did I mention how much I hate early mornings? It was best I had someone make sure I even got up.

After a crowded, but not long metro ride, we got to the race and realized we needed to get in line for the bathroom before it started. Look at those crazy lines!

 Yep, that's us before the race with the Pentagon behind us. It was a perfect fall day!

 So happy to be done!

The Army and various sponsors had tents everywhere. It was nice to walk around a bit after the race.

This week my schedule looks like this:

Tuesday - 45 min run
Thursday - 45 min run
Saturday - 15 miles

Let me know I'm not the only one with crazy long runs out there. Grab a button and link up with me for Training Tuesdays!

Race Bib Keepsake DIY

If you are like me and have participated in various races here and there over the years, you might need a place to keep all the race bibs you've collected! I've been wanting to do something with my bibs for a while, but haven't gotten around to it until now.

Here is my collection of bibs that span from 5k's to half marathons.

Up until now, I have been keeping track of my race dates and times (as they are not always written on the bibs) on the back.

After buying a $12 frame from Walmart I had everything and was ready for my project!

It only took a few minutes to play around with the bibs to get them to fit just right.


I realized that once I taped down the bibs, I would have a hard time accessing the dates and times of the races, so since I had a little space in one corner, I wrote down the race name, date and time on a piece of paper.

Once everything was taped down, this was the end result! I am going to hang it in our garage next to the treadmill for inspiration. These bibs are very important to me, and if you have earned 1 or 50, you feel the same way. That bib ran each and every race with you. It's an original artifact from that race you can treasure for years to come!

Linking up with Molly @ still being [Molly] for YOLO Mondays!

High Five - October 19

1.  So happy I completed my Half Marathon with a PR of 2:17!
2. Got to grab a quick glass of wine while on the job on Tuesday afternoon. I enjoyed taking a quick 20 minutes and sitting by myself with my wine and a fire. It's the little things!
3. After the race on Sunday (and Friday, don't judge!), we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant to get big beers and queso!
4. My sister and her adorable family got some pictures done by B.L. Penfold Photography. I am in love with these two girls!
5. Fall is my favorite and I am so happy to live in a place where we get all the seasons! I got this picture while sitting in traffic on my way home from work. Makes the commute a little better. 

Looking forward to next week. I will share my Army 10 miler results with you AND I'm going to......VEGAS! I'm going only for a few days and its for work, but it's still Vegas right?! Follow me on instagram to see what I'm up to! Mbolt16

As always, linking up with Lauren and Jeannette.

Countdown to Disney

I know what you're thinking....Didn't she JUST get back from a Disney trip?! What can I say? I love that place! The next 3 of my upcoming trips are very different from the other (that's my justification anyway) so I am equally excited about each of them individually!

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (Part 2)

12 days

I'm traveling to Orlando for work so naturally I convinced one of my coworkers to buy tickets to MNSSHP on Oct 30th. I CAN'T wait! I love going to Disney with people who have never been or don't go often. I get to relive the magic all over again!

Disney Marathon

86 days

This number is scary because I have to be able to run 26.2 miles by then! Regardless, I'm pretty excited to be running my first full marathon in Disney AND on the 20th anniversary of the event! Kinda cool huh? We are going to be able to see the New Fantasyland AND eat at "Be Our Guest Restaurant"!

Disney Cruise 

135 days

We have had this trip in the works since March and the fact that we are less than 5 months away is so exciting! We had an absolute blast on our first Disney cruise last year and couldn't wait to book another one. We are going for 7 days instead of 4 (should be a REAL treat!)

So there you have it. Three very DIFFERENT Disney trips planned for the next 5 months! I love having things to look forward to. Sometimes the planning and prepping is just as fun as the trip itself!

What to Wear - Bubble Necklaces

I've totally jumped on the fashion bandwagon with my most recent purchase....BUBBLE NECKLACES! I absolutely ADORE this trend! Thanks to Caroline G, I am the proud owner of two of these great necklaces for only $15 each! You saw them on a previous High 5 post when I first got them, but now I'm going to show you how I wear them. I'm sure if you read ANY blogs out there, you've already seen outfit after outfit with these necklaces, but here's how I style them!

As you see, I got both the teal and white. Caroline G was great to work with. She was super responsive and answered all my questions. Not to mention I got my necklaces within just a few days wrapped in colorful tissue paper...what a treat!

If you're looking to purchase your very own bubble necklace use code: "Melissa" at checkout for 15% off your entire purchase! Visit Caroline G's shop.

Linking up with Lindsey @ The Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesdays  (WIWW)

Training Tuesday - Half Marathon Results

So as most of you know, I ran my second half marathon ever this past weekend and it was....AWESOME! I went into this race with a good amount of confidence due to the fact I've done a fairly good job keeping with my training. Instead of just finishing (I knew that wouldn't be a problem) I set a time goal for this race. My goal was to finish in under 2:30 which would be 14 minutes faster than the Disney Princess Half Marathon.

When I walked up to meet my friends Sunday morning, I suddenly got very nervous and immediately regretted setting a time goal. Regardless, I was there, and had no choice but to run.

It started our cold and dark (the sun wasn't even up yet!) but within a few minutes, I was warmed up and feeling good. We ran 7 miles without stopping which I was very happy with our pace. At that point I realized finishing under 2:30 was not going to be an issue. Now the game was to see how far under 2:30 I could get!

Mile 10 was when things got super challenging. Mike had running gels and was able to refuel which made him energized and able to keep me going. The last bit of the race was a lap on the high school track and let me tell you, there is nothing more defeating then turning the corner and hoping you are done only to have to get on a race track and run one last giant circle. At the very end, Mike stopped and waited for me to catch up so we could cross the finish line at the same time. Talk about being a team!
 

Dying to know my time?!!! Drum roll please.....2:17:15!!!!!!! Yes, you read that right, I beat my time by 27 MINUTES! Can you tell I'm happy?!

So what's on the schedule this week? I am recovering by only running 2 short easy runs before another race on Sunday, The Army 10 Miler.

Keep me updated on your training programs! If I can do it, so can YOU!

High 5! - Oct 12

Who doesn't love a good Friday?!! Lots of fun to look forward to this weekend. Anniversary celebration, half marathon with friends, husband's birthday, and football! (Should make for a great High 5 for Friday post next week!)

First things first. I need for you guys to vote this adorable little baby in the Macy's Little Stars Photo Contest. All you have to do is follow this link, click "like" and then vote when you see this adorable face pop up!

 I mean seriously, how do you get a 3 month old to pose like this?!!!

Without further ado, here are this week's highlights!

1. Started decorating my house for Halloween!
2. These are hard to see, but they are Mickey Pumpkin Head cookies. They are the take and bake from Pillsbury. They seem to have had all sorts of Disney ones this year.
3. Found this adorable box of tissues for my desk at work. Only $1 from the dollar store!
4. My niece Hadleigh and I trying to take a picture in the dark. I don't think she is fond of the flash. Makes for a cute picture though! "No paparazzi please!"
5. Lastly, it was our anniversary yesterday so here is one of my favorite wedding photos.

As always, linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk and Jeannett @ Life Rearranged.

10.11.12

Isn't today's date fun?! For me it's more than just a series of consecutive numbers, it's our wedding anniversary!  Two years ago today, I got to marry my second half, my best friend, my everything. In the past two years we have laughed, cried, fought but most importantly loved each other unconditionally. I'm not going to bore you with all the details, but instead thought I would share some of my favorite wedding photos! (I apologize, there are a TON!)

 Well there you have it. Our wedding in a nutshell! Enjoy!