austin

White Ford Bronco – Where were you?

| cheriarmour

So on Wednesday, Austin turned the big 2-8, so in celebration, I took Austin on date to the first place we ever went, which was the Rockford downtown.

The Rockford is really cool spot, and was an excellent choice for Austin to take me to because the food is good, fresh, and it has a little bit of a vegetarian lean – I could easily find something on the menu without having to do too much wiggling to figure out something to eat.

So I took him there, and we had the best time.  He brought me flowers.  I hope we never stop “dating.”

Date NightThis poorly lit, sorta blurry photo is the only documentation I have of the night cause we asked this guy at the bar for a photo, and he snapped a terrible one, and I was too embarrassed by his terrible photography skills to ask him to do another one.  Oh well!

Okay, so let’s make a right turn.

Bronco Chase 6-17-94The other night, Austin and I watched this ESPN documentary that documented June 17th, 1994.  Which was 20 years ago, by the way, if you’re looking to feel super old.

I’m not really interested on anyone’s opinion on OJ’s guilt, however, what I am interested in is finding out what you were doing when this chase was going down.

For me, I was with my family (there were only 5 of us at this point), at Smuggler’s Notch in Vermont.  I remember it being one of the most amazing vacations in the entire world – I also remember coming back to the condo from a swim or something, and my parents being transfixed by this chase that was happening in real time.

The Knicks were also losing a game, if I’m not mistaken.

Where were you during this chase? 

 

Yoga pants?

| cheriarmour

Don’t take this the wrong way, I love workout stuff – it’s nearly as essential to my workouts as my will to workout is.  That might sound ridiculous, but if you’ve ever worked out in the wrong shirt or a bra that’s chafed you, you know exactly what is is I’m saying.

So even though between my job and teaching classes, I spend a lot of time in any variety of workout gear – yoga pants, sports bras, and technical tops, I was really puzzled when Austin, the boy behind the blog, gave this thought-provoking answer to one of the questions I asked him during an interview last week.
The question was:  What’s a popular fashion item for women right now? 

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My uniform for classes.

His answer?

Yoga pants!!!

 

Okayyyyyy. So I was really trying to figure out where this answer came from. Again, it’s not that I find yoga pants offensive, but really, when you think of popular women’s fashion items, you might think of things like, the color mint green, sparkly ear cuffs, or cropped tops with jorts, especially for Coachella. But yoga pants?

So I asked him to clarify, and this is what he had to say.  Imagine this in a southern accent.

Well that’s all I see those girls wearing when I go to shop at the Cameron Village Teeter [Harris Teeter].

Annnnnd that would explain it. Every single girl who shops at the Cameron Village Harris Teeter, which is where you go if you want to make sure someone hits your car when they drive 30 mph in a parking lot to return their Redbox DVDs, is a student at either Meredith or NC State. Their uniform is either Norts (Nike Shorts) an oversized sorority tee, with an option of swapping the Norts for sweatpants with a pair of boat shoes, Nike Frees with high socks, or Rainbows.

The moral of the story? Austin is taking his fashion cues from the Harris Teeter.  Cool.

Austin gets interviewed, or Sh*t Men Say

| cheriarmour

My husband-to-be is hysterical, even though he doesn’t always try to be, and folks, when I tell you he didn’t disappoint in this interview, I am not lying.

First, I stole this from Pleas and Carrots, who saw it on  Maegen spot.  And then I’m gonna up with Amanda and Danae.  Do you follow?  If not, just pretend you are following so we can move along.  

 

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Onto the interview!!

Me: What is the name of my blog?

Your blog used to be named Running for Haiti, but now you have switched to Overactive blogger.

Me: What do I typically write about?

Usually about running, lately though lots of writing about wedding related items <-True dat. 

 Me: What’s a popular fashion item for women right now?

Yoga pants!!! <-I’m really trying to understand what fashionable women he’s been witnessing running around in yoga pants lately, because unless I’m working out (which is a lot of the time) I try not to just randomly wear yoga pants.  And they’re not really fashionable….

Me: What’s the best place to shop for women?

Zappos is usually a good bet.  Plain old amazon works too though if you know what you want to buy.  <-He knows I hate to shop, so he’s spot-on for me with this one.  

Me: What’s a Hunter wellie?

Ummm, Im not 100% sure but I think it is a women’s shoe or boot style. <-Nice job to Austie!

Me: What does YOLO stand for?

 YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE. <-Nice touch with the all caps!  A little aggressive, but you know….

Me: What is our favorite thing to do together?

Go out to a nice dinner and have a beer. <- 🙂

Me: What does a perfect evening look like to me?

In an ideal world I would say your ideal evening would include the following

 A good run

Going to get sushi and a beer with me

Getting to watch Girls/Real Housewives/ Courtney Loves Dallas/ Teen Mom/Keeping up with the Kardashians and blogging about it

Me: What do women keep in their purse?

I dont really ever go in them….but it seems to me that they clearly do not generally keep their phone or their keys in there <-He’s making fun of me because I lose my keys all day long.  

Me: What do I do when I’m home alone?

Nap, blog, run, watch your stories and clean

Me: And what do you do when you’re home alone?

Watch netflix documentaries and fall asleep on the couch.  Practice spanish and pet the cats

Me: What’s my favorite accessory?

This one is pretty broad, I would say perhaps your Garmin 610 

Me: What’s an acceptable amount to spend on a makeup item?

$10.00 <-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. 

Me: What is your favorite trait about me, not physical?

I really like that you are always so kind and loving to our pets and animals in general

Me: What’s my favorite TV show?

The order of these seems to change over time but right now I think this is the lineup

 1) Real Housewives of Atlanta

2) Keeping up with Kardashians

3) Courtney Loves Dallas

 Me: What is my cocktail of choice?

Vodka and club soda

Me: Anything else you’d like to say?

 I love you very much!  I really love all of the work you are doing on your blog.

And there you have it!  The boy is back!

Voyage of the Mee Mee

The boy behind the blog.

| cheriarmour

You guys every wonder who my man-friend is?

You can lie and say you don’t, but the truth is that I can see everything that you google to find my blog, and one of ya’lls nosey selves has been googling to find out what my relationship situation is.  And typically, I won’t talk about him a ton, but this is Austin, the man I’m set to marry in a few very very short months.

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A little bit on the boy behind my blog.

  • We met in grad school, when we both were working at NC State’s Department of Campus Recreation.  He was a cycling instructor, and I was a Zumba instructor.  I was dating someone else when we first met.  It didn’t work out, and I like to tell myself that Austin jumped at the chance to ask me on a date.
  • Our first date was at the Rockford in Downtown Raleigh.  On this date, I ordered a burrito without chicken and he ordered one with.  They gave me that burrito with chicken and we didn’t notice til I ate about a quarter of it.
  • Austin is stupid smart.  He’s very math-minded and analytical, and these are really really useful skills for me to learn and to have, since I’m all artsy and loosey-goosey.
  • Austin likes to eat everything in sight.  EXCEPT mayo.  If someone brings him out a sandwich with mayo, he gets really really sad.
  • Austin pretended to like the Real Housewives of Atlanta for a short time when we were first dating.
  • Austin loves the NFL to the point where we scheduled our wedding so it wouldn’t interfere with his fantasy draft.
  • I once hit Austin’s car when I was rushing off to do something and he barely go mad (probably because my car got jacked up, and not his).
  • Austin want for me to feature him on the blog for eating disgusting items off fast-food menus, and then writing about it.  He wants to start with Taco Bell breakfast I think.  He also makes a habit of trying fish sandwiches from fast food joints, and then comparing them in-depth.

And that, ladies in gents, is the boy behind the blog.

Wedding Wednesday!

| cheriarmour

I really can’t believe it’s Wednesday, and I’m kicking myself trying to figure out where the time is going.  Is anyone else feeling like the time is seriously rocketing past us?  I will be middle-aged before we know it, and you’ll be there reading, and I’ll be sitting here writing about how it is to be working out as a middle-aged interracially married woman.

That will be fun.

Anyhoo, let’s chatty chat because it’s HUMP DAY.  Woop woop!  Sike, I’m kinda done with that joke.

Okay, so where are we in this Wedding Wednesday process?

Well, for starters, the fact that I started linking up with Kristyn, who is unfortunately taking a break from blogging has really kept me accountable for some of the things that I need to get done because I don’t want to show up on a Wednesday or a Tuesday night with nothing to show you guys. It’s not cool!  Also Kristyn,  I will miss ya girl, but hopefully you’ll be around and giving a lot of commentary!

So where am I with wedding stuff?

I’m at a really really good place where I’ve actually started to get stuff done and schedule some appointments that we’ve really been needing to have.  Weddings Bands:  For starters, tomorrow, me and Austin are going to go get our wedding bands tomorrow.  I’ve shown you guys what I’m planning to get…

photo (9)Ignore the fact that my nails were not painted for once, and check out my ring(s).  I’m doing two rose gold eternity bands, and they look amazing either on their own or with my wedding band.  Austin is wanting to go with a tungsten carbide ring, which I think is impossibly sexy, and I like it a lot.  I kind of want to see what a rose gold band would look like on him too!  So the appointment for that is set tomorrow at 4pm and then we’re going to sushi.  Best. Evening. Ever.

Save-the-Dates:  A newly-married bride friend of mine told me about inkinvite.com, a service that allows people to log in, put in their addresses, and for you to be able to easily and quickly compile them into an organized space.  It’s cool because I’ve had to do minimal hounding to get people to give me their addresses because it’s so easy!  Thank God for a service like this.

And finally….

The invite list:  This has, by far, been one of the toughest parts of the planning process.  So our venue can only hold 150 people, which sounds like a lot, but it really really isn’t when you include your family, his family, and then the friends and things you might share.  I’m terrified that I’m leaving someone off, or that someone may get insulted by not receiving an invite.  I assure you, it’s (mostly) not personal with anyone, and I really want to have every single person I’ve ever seen in my life basically at my wedding, but we’re not made of money, and the venue literally can only fit 150 people.  What that boils down to, is people we care about and people who are special to us.  No more, and no less.

::Deep breath::

How’s your Wednesday going?  Any brides out there doing the same thing as I am? 

 

 

The finances #weddingwednesday

| cheriarmour

I started this last Wednesday when I previewed the March of the Brides with Diamonds Direct Crabtree, and I’m keeping it going!!!  I’m essatly 149 days away from the big day (eep) and it’s time to get serious.  I think I officially got serious last week when I kind of looked at the official wedding countdown and realized that no, we weren’t throwing a Superbowl Party, but that we were throwing a wedding.

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Anyhoo, let’s move along to talk about something that’s not so fun.  And something that I probably need your help with.

The finances. 

So regardless of how you guys choose to do the money after you get married, whether you smoosh it all together, or keep it completely separate, there’s going to be some merging because you probably want to be on the same cell phone plan.  You might want to have both names on the deed when you buy a house.  You might want to buy an SUV together.  You get what I’m saying.  And then the issues of who makes how much will arise, and if you’re like me, you’ve talked about it already.

I am a social worker by day, and Austin is an engineer.  Social workers generally do not make a lot of money, and engineers make a little more.  And though Austin has never in the least made me feel this way, I fear, in the tiniest spot, hidden in the darkest corner of my brain, that because I make so little and he makes a good bit more, that I’m considered the “dead weight” in the relationship.

I know with my brain that it’s a silly thing to think, but sometimes, usually when I’m feeling self-conscious about other things, my self-consciousness about money will creep back in, and I feel the feverish need to find some crazy job, completely unrelated to my field that will make me lots of money so that financially, Austin and I will stand on equal footing.

I know that’s crazy.

But does any one else ever feel this way?  How do I push these nasty feelings away and focus on my skills, rather than my self-perceived shortcomings?

Wedding Wednesday

LINK UP!!!!

5 most memorable moments in life. (Part I)

| cheriarmour

Firstly, I’m having a blast of a time with the new camera that my future mother-in-law got me.  Seriously, I don’t think that you will be hearing any horror stories from me, she’s awesome.  I made sure to play with some filters, and took photos of brunch on Sunday morning with a friend.

DSC_0141 DSC_0142The place was Coquette in North Hills, and in addition to some delicious french toast, they had bottomless mimosas for like $10.  I’m not mad at it, plus I got to hang out with a friend who I’d not seen in a while 🙂  that is the literal best.

Anyhoo.  

I totally stole this idea from Sara at Loving on the Run, but it got me thinking – what are the 5 most memorable moments in my life (thus far)?  This one is tough, but I’ll do the best to get a few of the biggies together.

1.  This is really dorky, but my senior prom was pretty awesome.  I was a big reader in high school and in middle school, and I’d always read about proms and stuff, so I really built the magic up in my mind.  Senior prom was sick awesome, and I think that was one of the most fun nights that I ever had in high school  (and I’m 26 now).  I honestly just remember that I didn’t stop dancing the entire time.

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I’ll leave that right there….

2.  My entire experience at Elon University.  I’ve talked nonstop about how much I fell in love at Elon, but I really learned so much there.  I had incredible classes, incredible teachers, and incredible experiences there.  Incredible incredible incredible.

3.  Years and years ago, I dated someone, who, when I told him about my plan to become licensed in Zumba and teach classes, told me “You aren’t even athletic,” and made fun of me for wanting to try to teach.  I think he apologized later, but it still hurts to think that someone that cared about you could say something like that.  Years later, miles later, and plans later, sometimes when I’m feeling lazy, or when I’m feeling like I don’t want to work  I think about this, and it pushes me through a rough time  I AM athletic.  I AM fit.  I AM strong.  What someone says shouldn’t determine how you live your life.  And I’m so happy I went through with the licensing process, because it was the gateway to all the running I do now.  And I feel like it changed my life.

4.  Us.  Our first date, our second date, the whole getting-to-know you phase, and us, all the way to our engagement. 

308199_738548441023_853436731_n-1We’ve been together for almost three-and-a half years, and the entire process has been fun.  He started out as that guy I kinda was interested in, and he moved to being that guy that we would go on beer dates with each other, to this guy I went on a date with and now we’re getting married and having 5 babies.  Just kidding (kinda!).

5.  Running my first half-marathon.  My first half was the Hallowed Half in Wake Forest.  There are not any pictures unfortunately because Austin was out of town at a funeral, and the entire time I ran, I just thought about Austin, how much I loved him, how I needed to get back home to him, and how bad my inner thighs were chafed at the time.

Okay, so I think I have a few more, so I might split this up into parts, but this is what I got for my 5 most memorable (thus far).  I have some more, but we will get more into those at a later time.  Give me one of your favorite memories!

Why we Work

| cheriarmour

Time for a mushy-gushy pre-Valentine’s Day post.

264558_696428549623_6702677_nI’m marrying this guy in 190 days.  And I couldn’t be more thrilled about it.

I could tell something was different about him, because from the beginning of our relationship, I really really protected it.  I didn’t talk about it a lot to others and I didn’t feel the need to gush to cover up some sort of shortcoming he might have had.  Trust me, I’ve been there.  He took me on real dates, not just to Applebees.  He insisted he pay, and I always felt safe with him.  And now, three, almost four years later, here’s why we work.  

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  • We’re really different.  But our insides match. We’re obviously interracial.  I am all over the place, wildly creative, and he is analytical, and he thinks things through before he does them.  I decide to do things, and do them.  But inside, there are a few things that are really important to us.  Health/wellness.  Animals.  And treating others the way they deserve to be treated.  These are our cardinal rules.262787_1937735048582_6179921_n
  • When we fight, we fight fair.  You’re a rotten dirty liar if you want to claim that you have a relationship with someone and that you never fight.  And we do.  But when we do, we fight fair.  We don’t hit or scream or call names.  And if we slip and do one of these, we put it in reverse, and asses where we need to apologize and do better next time.  Besides the hitting, we’re not animals.  We don’t do that.
  • He supports me.   I say I want to run a marathon, and he watches me cross the finish line.  When I started this blog, he was all about it.  When we first started dating, and I went to audition for X-Factor, he gave me his iPod FM transmitter thing for my car, and kissed me goodbye.  I made it that year, and part of it was the support. Similarly, whatever he needs or wants to do?  I want to give it to him.  If he wants to start a business?  A new website?  Wants to take apart the washing machine?  I don’t get it, but I will be behind him.
  • I feel safe with him.  When I used to run into trouble, I would call my Dad.  Now I’m a grown-up, and getting married, and I feel 100% cool calling him for help.  He can change a tire, one drove to DC to pick me up when I was stranded in the middle of the night, and dusted the snow off my car and my steps today.  It means so much.

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  • We laugh together.  A bunch.  I could go on for days about our inside jokes but that’s why they inside, playa!
  • He keeps me grounded.  I am a weirdo.  A beautiful, tall weirdo.  And sometimes, my ideas get a little crazy.  I adopted a dog out of the blue a few weeks ago.  I still did it, but he asked me all the important questions.  And I keep him fun!  Life wouldn’t be any fun without my randomness.
  • He went out in a snowstorm to get me coffee today.  Can I please tell you that I didn’t ask him to do this, it was a surprise.  But it was still a nice surprise and it made me feel like he pays attention to what I like 🙂 .

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it’s what comes to my mind when I look at our differences and still can see why we work.  Big ups to Life of Bon for the sweet idea on the day before V-Day!

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And if you love it, grab that image ^^ and link up!  Why do you and your significant other work?  

Things every bride-to-be goes through.

| cheriarmour

But before that – look how gorgeous I looked at the gym yesterday!

photo-1I had to run my 7-miler on the treadmill today, and I paused to snap a pic of my gorgeous sweaty face before I finished.  Once I broke through the first 4 miles of horrific boredom, I was able to finish.  But I’m begging the gods of weather, please, please stop with this horrible weather.  I can honestly say I’ve never logged so much mileage on a treadmill, and this winter has been awful.  I really thought last winter when I was afraid I was going to lose a finger was the worst, but this is the absolute worst.

Moving right along!

So, this thing is not going to turn into a wedding blog, but you will get a few little morsels of wedding brownie.

Wedding stuff is really fun.  I love my husband-to-be, and I bring to you today, things that future brides go through.

  1. You’re not yet engaged, but you swear you’re gonna be the coolest effing bride to ever walk the face of the earth, should someone want to marry you.  “I bet you we’ll just get married at the courthouse, and have a great big huge party later!”  You swear you’ll wear like a white dress from ModCloth, and you don’t even need a diamond to be happy.
  2. The ring is on your finger, and you’re blissfully, unadulturatedly happy.  I literally called people that I hadn’t spoken to on the phone for years.  I would tell the cashier at Whole Foods.  We didn’t have a venue, but I was doing backflips and envisioning me in some insane dress.
  3. “I am an independent woman! I will NOT be changing my last name because I make my own money and pay my own bills so kiss my ass!”
  4. OMG I’m getting married.  What does this mean?!  Any bride who wants to pretend like they did not feel mortal anxiety at some point during their engagement is a liar.
  5. Oh em geeee I’m getting married!  And all you do is dance around all day cause you’re so excited.  And I’m confident that we will be together for a looooong time.  ::evil laughter::

So I’m not at the point where I’m freaking out stressed.  But did I miss any of the phases?  Especially you married ladies!