Tis the season <3

This year will be the first year that I will not spend the holidays with my family. Plane tickets were almost $500. Yikies! I will certainly miss my family and all of our wonderful traditions. We always spend Christmas Eve with my mom's family and then we used to work around my Dad's schedule for the events of Christmas. This was the first year that my Dad would be free for both days...bummer! Thankfully I will be going to Phil's hometown in South Carolina to spend the holidays with his family. I love pinning new ideas about holiday traditions. It is interesting to see what traditions each family has. I will also get to spend the holidays with two adorable cats and Phil. 

What are some of your holiday traditions?

A Time for a Little Gratitude...

Thanksgiving is the time to be grateful for all the small things in our lives. 

Phil bought me this flower the other day just because (aww...he is awesome!)

"The best things in life are not things."

First and foremost, my family who has always support me through the silly and often stupid decisions that I made throughout my teenage/young adult life. They have always been there for me and I will always be grateful to the support family provides. 

The great state of North Carolina: it may be odd to be thankful for a state but this state has provided me with a happier life since moving away from Maine where I suffered from seasonally affective disorder. I have also found my passion for teaching here.

My Friends: This would thankfully take a long time of all the awesome people I have in my life but those people know who they are... I remark that they are awesome because of course they are. Each person has uniquely helped me through hard times and great times and we all share amazing memories. 

My Relationships: Old and new because they have taught me to learn from my mistakes and who I deserve to have in my life. I am grateful to have so many relationships that are meaningful that it would be difficult not to thank them.

My Students: They are awesome! If it weren't for my students the job would certainly not be worth it. They teach me patience, make me laugh, teach me things and allow me to open their mind to new things.

There are so many things to be grateful for and I hope that I continously live in the abundance of all the awesome things (people) in my life.

<3

Celebrations!

The trip to Maine is always a celebration. We are always excited to see one another and everything seems to be squished into a short trip. This time we were celebrating our family. 

I feel like my sister Sara says it best: "My family reminds me, by their very steadfastness, that truth, beauty and goodness exist in the world and that, no matter what there are and always will be people loving people through thick and thin."

I am honored to be a part of this family. They have been through so much in their lives and yet they always remain positive and constant. I can't imagine the impact that these people have had in shaping the person I am today but I am so grateful to be able to celebrate and honor them. 

My Uncle Pete gave a wonderful speech about my grandmother who is always kind and patient. It was so nice to see so many people gathered for such a wonderful person! In my family, you can always count on laughs. Watching my Aunt Kim start a fire, or literally not being able to find coffee for an hour, or sharing stories of when we were growing up...it is always entertaining!

Beach to Beacon 10k

I won the lottery to get into this race! I called my parents saying I had won the lottery and it sure felt like that a few months ago...not training for a weeks prior did not feel like winning the lottery on race day.

It was a cold day with lots of clouds in the sky which to me is perfect running weather so I at least had that going for me. My Uncle Fred and I shuttled from Hannaford parking lot to the race site. The most grueling part of the day...waiting in line for 45 minutes to use a port a potty. There is never enough of them at any race site. There were approximately 6,500 runners that day. The wheelchair group was first...they average 3:30 min./mile what awesome athleticism! Then we were off well....the elite athletes were off....approximately 7 minutes later my Uncle and I were off. 

Mile 1 was great. There was a slight sprinkle which felt great and a man running in a lighthouse outfit which was really interesting. The spectators were amazing for this entire race. Almost every corner had them which is good for me since I tend to push myself more when people are watching.

Around mile 3 I realized that I had not worn the right shorts and I was in quite a bit of pain but I stuck through it. At the half way point of that mile I saw my Uncle Pete and Dave as well as my Aunt Kim and Wendy. I was thrilled. They were screaming and taking photos which motivated me for a really long time. 

At mile 4 I was so surprised because I knew I was close. Surprised because I usually see mile 4 on half marathons and think nothing much of them but mile 4 was awesome. I knew I was getting there.

My Uncle had warned me of a large hill around mile 4 which was no where to be found until mile 5. This hill wasn't the worst hill I have attempted (Chapel Hill!) so it wasn't that bad at all. 

At mile 6, I was looking everywhere for my parents knowing that I should be running when I saw them pushed me more and more to keep with pace. Then right before I saw the gate I see a poster that said: "Way to go Steph!" The rest of my family was giving me high fives (Sara, Amy, Sydney, Uncle Steve, my Dad, Katie and my mom). It was awesome to have so much support coming in. The announcer called my name which my grandparents found to be very exciting.

The only 2 downsides to this race: after the finish there was no metal... And, to get to the food/event afterwards you have to climb a larger hill than was in the race... My hips were not happy.

Positives of the race: beautiful landscape, great expo: lots of free giveaways, and most importantly, my family was there! 

(Image: google images)