Monday Motivation

Pretty things and words of encouragement to kick off a busy week!

Happy Birthday to My Love!

Celebrating Chris's birthday today! He's my world and there are just no words to express everything I feel for him. So grateful for another year of health and happiness!

Monday

Here's what my desk looks like this Monday morning!

Sunday Evening Stroll

We wrapped up a very fun weekend with an evening stroll through Hyde Park Village.

Saturday!

We woke up to another beautiful Saturday in Tampa Bay so we packed our dotted beach bag with towels, sunscreen, and my favorite J. Crew straw hat and headed straight for the beach! 

(hat: J. Crew; sunglasses: Ralph Lauren; bikini: Oakley)

After we'd had enough sand and sun, we went to Bazille in Nordstrom for our very favorite salad and I took my very favorite pink Rebecca Minkoff MAB.

(headband: Kelly Elizabeth Designs; tank: Target; jeans: Citizens of Humanity; bag: Rebecca Minkoff)

Date Night!

A sparkly Kelly Elizabeth Designs headband and my new Tarte lip gloss in blushing bride - I'm loving the color! I'm also really loving Essie's Fiji nail color.

Whole Foods Haul!

Best late night trip to Whole Foods ever! Somehow these beautiful pink peonies hadn't been snatched up yet and the Kalicious smoothie wasn't sold out.

Happy Saturday!

My first peony bouquet of the year!

Date Night!

Last night was movie date night with my love! I've been loving fishtail braids lately because it's incredibly hot outside. It was also the perfect choice because this cute top I found at Nordstrom Rack has a little keyhole in the back and delicate lace cap sleeves.

top: Nordstrom Rack; headband: Kelly Elizabeth Designs; lip color: Chanel

Last Day in DC!

During our entire trip we kept seeing lamp post signs for the Anchorman Exhibit at the Newseum. We saw the movie together in 2004 on our one year dating anniversary and we've been quoting it to each other ever since. We had a few hours before we had to be at the airport so we decided that we had to squeeze it in before we left!

Ron Burgundy's suit.

The "yazz" flute.

"I'm in a glass case of emotion!"

Fulfilling my dream of sitting at the news desk from the movie!

We made our way through the rest of the Newseum and saw a section of the Berlin wall, a piece of the broadcasting antenna from World Trade Center's North Tower, and the front page of newspapers dating back before the Revolutionary War with headlines from important historical events. We also got to see the On Notice board from the Colbert Report!

Race Day!

 I was up before the sun and so excited and nervous! I'd been looking forward to this day for so long and working so hard to get ready for it. 

Walking to the start line was a little crazy because everywhere I looked I saw excited runners. The streets and sidewalks were flooded with women in their cutest Nike outfits. 

View from the time corrals.

As I inched closer to the start line I kept thinking: I'm about to run the Nike Women's Half Marathon!

Almost to the start!

Drum crew just past the start line.

Making our way towards the Washington Monument.

Running by the Washington Monument.

Lincoln Memorial.

Chinese Dragon Lion dancers and drummers.

Arlington National Cemetery.

George Mason University marching band.

Beautiful cherry blossoms along the Potomac River.

Jefferson Memorial.

Running along the Potomac River.

Approaching the finish line!

I made it!

Glamour shot with my goodies! 

I was so happy to cross the finish line and make my way to Chris in the crowd! I got my Whole Foods finisher's goodie bag and my Tiffany necklace and we waited in line so I could buy even more Nike swag. Once I spent another small fortune, we found the nearest restaurant and I had a big burger and fries!

My finisher's necklace from Tiffany & Co. 

The Nike Women's Half Marathon DC was even better than I hoped it would be! The event raised over $5 million for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! It was really well organized and the course was beautiful and filled with entertainment and people cheering us on. The sense of community among the runners was really great to see. People were wearing shirts with the names of their loved ones and friends that they were running in memory of and spectators held signs thanking us for running for those that can't. Seeing those names and faces left me feeling so incredibly grateful for my own health and the health of the people that I love. 

It was one of the coolest things I've ever done and the most physically difficult thing I've ever done all in one. After getting a taste of the triumph you feel after doing something like this, I'm officially hooked and starting to think about the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco.

Second Day in DC!

On our second day in DC, we decided to head over to the Capital Building and walk through the National Mall to the Lincoln Memorial. Our hotel was just a couple of blocks away from the White House so we stopped by on our way to the Capital.

Tulips in Lafayette Square.

Andrew Jackson statue in Lafayette Square.

Front view of the White House.

Back view of the White House (with a zoom lense).

Capital Building.

View from the Lincoln Memorial.

Always wanted to pinch the top of the Washington Monument!
(top: Target; shorts: H&M, sandals: Gigi by Sam Edelman; sunglasses: Prada; headband: Kelly Elizabeth Designs)

Outside of the Lincoln Memorial.

Statue of Abraham Lincoln.

First Day in DC!

We took a super early flight to Washington DC so we could make the most of our first day there. Once we landed, we took a taxi straight to our hotel to drop off our suitcases and headed to the Nike Women's Half Marathon DC Expotique. There were a ton of volunteers that helped us make our way through the tents to pick up my race packet and shirt. Once all of the important stuff was out of the way, we were directed outside for a photo opp with the huge We Run sign in the courtyard.

After striking a pose in my race shirt, we walked down to the water to the big Expotique tent with all of the sponsor booths and giveaways.

Expotique entrance.

The entrance of the tent was set up to read the chip in each runner's race bib and a personalized welcome message popped up on the big video screen for everyone. 

The video welcome screen.

After everybody snapped a picture of their name up in lights, we were directed to the counter to receive a little reward for the miles we had logged on the Nike+ app during our training. 

Everywhere I turned there was some kind of eye candy - a video wall streaming the lastest social media posts or the half marathon course up in lights on the wall. The music was great and all of the volunteers were so nice and seemed genuinely excited to be there. 

After I'd taken about a million pictures of the first part of the Expotique, we made our way over the the sponsor booths. Nuun and Luna were giving out all kinds of product samples and runners could have their hair styled at the Paul Mitchell booth.

Luna let runners and their fan clubs print out custom race day signs.

As we made our way out of the tent, there was a big signing wall for runners to write their name and a little message of encouragement.

The Nike Georgetown store was just up the street so we made the small uphill hike so we could find my name on the wall of runners and do a bit of shopping.

I spent a small fortune on race merchandise and we decided that since we were already in Georgetown we should make a day of it and walk around the neighborhood. We climbed the stairs from the Exorcist and strolled by cute little brick townhomes, including one where the Kennedys lived. 

We also had our first Sprinkles Cupcakes experience! I had the dark chocolate cupcake with sprinkles and I like to think of it as pre-race carb loading.