My face went red

First let me define two terms for everyone.
date/dating- you go on several dates but are not boyfriend or girlfriend nor are you exclusive.
Relationship- you are exclusively dating one person, and are boyfriend or girlfriend with that one person.

This is what my I looked like, but with better hair, obviously.

This is what I wanted to do.

Now onto the story. I used to date this one kid. We "dated" (refer to definition above) for probably about, I'd say 7 months. We are not dating anymore. Lucky me I ran into him, and when I say ran into I mean I had to be in the same building with him for an hour. We didn't have any nasty breakup because we weren't ever official but we just suddenly stopped talking. I'm completely fine with it and don't really care.... The only problem with a run in is that I tend to go bright red anytime I am in situations like these as well as many others. The problem I have with turning red is that it comes across as embarrassed, and even if I am.. I don't want people to know that. I mean who would! I just would rather not see people. sorry, not sorry.
Anyways when I ran into him yesterday, yep you guessed it I went bright red. I had been thinking about it all day and I thought I'd be so nervous that I'd for sure go red in he face. Which therefore gave me more anxiety because blushing would make him think I sill care, and I don't. Well the anxiety built and like I said I turned red. Well awesome nicole way to play hard to get and the I don't care card. He had to have known how awkward and uncomfortable I felt by just looking at me even though I was in fact talking quite cool and calm to him. So in the end my dang face let me down. No matter what I do I just turn red and blush so easily.
How do I make it stop, Anyone? Does anyone else ever turn red? How do you make it stop? I mean I did consider standing out in he sun and giving my face a sunburn to be red, but I decided against it. So how do I stop this problem. I mean for goodness sake I then saw his dad this morning... and there isn't any reason to wonder what happened then, of course I turned red! What is the secret! Because I need it quick.


nicole

26.2

I cannot believe that my marathon has already come and gone. I registered for it back in November and had 6 months to prepare which felt like a lifetime. I was already running quite a bit before but I followed an 18 week training schedule to help keep me on track. All last week I was nervous as can be. I tried to keep myself busy by running errands, working on a bunch of DIY projects, and baking! When Friday (Marathon Eve) came, I could not distract myself. I could hardly eat lunch and had to force myself to eat dinner because I knew I needed the carbs and protein. The marathon was up in Ogden, UT. I live about an hour and a half a way and there was NO way I was wanting to get up that early and drive that far. Conveniently my Aunt who lives about 15-20 minutes away was also running the marathon with me and she lovingly let me stay the night at her house. (I blame her for making me sign up in the first place!!) I was worried about not being able to sleep because let's be honest I NEVER sleep before races, even when I do half marathons that I feel comfortable doing. My nerves and anxiety just keep me up all night. Luckily I took a 1/2 of a sleepy pill {best decision ever} so that I was able to get some sleep. We woke up at 4am, got ready and headed up to the buses. We stood in line waiting to load the buses and nervously made friends with two older men/seasoned runners. I think the worst part was waiting. I just wanted to start already and get it over with. Once we got up to the top of the canyon the sun was already starting to rise. It was absolutely gorgeous. I was so glad to get going. I absolutely thought that the first 13.1 was going to be a breeze. It wasn't. My knee starting bothering me around mile 3 which was so odd because I never have problems with my knee but I just had to push through the pain. At miles 14-16 there was a pretty good uphill section that was killer. Just when you are really starting to get tired you have to run uphill!! The rest was pretty much downhill, which you think is going to be easy but it really isn't. You have to control yourself and you are using different muscles. At mile 19 I was ready to be done, I tried to occupy myself with the beautiful scenery but my tired legs were screaming at me. Then mile 22 came and I started seeing more and more spectators. Every time I saw some spectators it would give me a little boost to keep going. I also might have teared up a little when I saw people cheering me on. I knew the end was near and people rooting for me was just what I needed. I saw my Uncle at mile 25, he encouraged me to keep going and I got another push to keep going. JUST KEEP RUNNING!!! When I started coming down the main street in Ogden I knew I only had about 1/2 mile to go and I could see the finish line. Just as I was about to cross the finish line I saw my amazing family cheering me on, holding up posters. It honestly means so much to me to have had that support. I am not sure they understand how much I needed that. While I was running I had to keep telling myself I could do it and was fighting the voice in my head that was telling me "You cant't do it, Just quit, this is TOO hard." To see my family there supporting my craziness really meant the world to me. Once I finished I walked through the runners station then found a shady tree and practically fell down onto the ground to rest and wait for my family to come find me. I SWORE up and down that I would NEVER EVER EVER do a full marathon again. My stomach was killing me and my legs were so tired. WHY would I ever want to put myself through that misery again? I have heard everyone says that after they finish their first marathon. It really was the hardest thing I have ever done and now I know that I CAN DO HARD THINGS. I am so glad it's over and for now I will just stick to my half marathons. It was a great experience overall. You really learn alot about yourself, how to persevere and just keep going.

My cute little cheerleaders

The Finish Line

Just about to cross the finish line

 26.2. DONE&DONE. Thanks for the poster Nicole! Ha ha.

XOXO,
Whitney

Chalk

For f.h.e tonight we headed down to main street to see all the Chalk Art that had been done over the weekend. My favorite was the avengers, thor looked just like thor... shocking I know. Anyways we walked the streets and enjoyed the lovely art. Good f.h.e in my book. It's definitely a personal goal of mine to become an amazing chalk artist, put it on the summer list.. done and done.

nicole

Support

We came out today to support Whitney in her marathon! We made some awesome posters and gave her tons of support so we are basically the best family around. Congrats Whitney you did it, and we are so proud of you!!!! 26.2, you are an animal... in a good way.

nicole

35 hours

In approximately 35 hours (give or take a few minutes) my Marathon begins. Yep, I'm officially freaking out a little bit. I have been training for so long and know that I am prepared but I guess I am getting cold feet. I just have to keep thinking positively. I can't believe it is here already.

I THINK KNOW I CAN DO THIS. Since I needed a little positivity and motivation I found a few quotes to keep me going and laughing too:

On Saturday I am sure I will feel this way:

And then I will join the:

Wish me luck. Oh and to all my family/friends, I could use all the support I can get. So if you are free on Saturday please cheer me on! Here is the marathon info.

XOXO,
Whitney

Tray {DIY}

This is kind of a DIY post but it wasn't really difficult nor did it take much effort. I found this tray in my grandmas basement, she was going to throw it out. I stopped her from doing such an awful thing. It was all the color of the bottom as shown below { I forgot to take before pics because I got so excited to start on it... sorry}

I sanded the tray down the tray at first with medium course sand paper. Then I painted on my first layer of paint. With the first coat of paint comes lots of unevenness and not perfection. Don't worry though. I let the paint dry. And next I sanded the one coat painted serving tray with very fine sand paper. Then I painted it again and this time the paint went on smoothly. I was liking where it was at, but I've heard that you at least want to paint with three coats. So I let that layer of paint dry. After it was dry I took the fine sandpaper to the tray yet again. As a side note you don't want to sand off all the paint with the fine sand paper. I just sanded the tray so that it was smooth. Anyways I then added my third layer of paint and I love how it turned out. It has been great for pictures and serving! Love this find from grandmas house.


nicole

Cookies & Cream Cup[cheese]cakes {Martha Stewart Recipe}

So what do I do when I am trying to fill my time and deny the fact that my marathon is in 4 days? I bake! This weekend for Mother's day I was in charge of bringing salad & cookies to our family get together. Well, I love cookies and all but I wanted to do something different and a little more fancy if you will. So I made these Cookies & Cream mini cheesecakes. Thank you Martha Stewart! These are delicious, creamy and filled with America's Favorite Cookie: The OREO! Such a simple recipe. Instead of making a crust for each cupcake you just place an oreo cookie at the bottom of each cake.

You can WOW your guests and make them think you spent hours and hours making these when really they are a cinch. {Thats our little secret though}

XOXO,
Whitney

Cookies & Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes
Recipe Courtesy of Martha Stewart

Makes 30

Ingredients:
42 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 30 left whole, and 12 coarsely chopped
2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt


1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.

2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.

3. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.

4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.