Charlotte

Happy Monday! My sister is a wife!

| cheriarmour

I am celebrated this weekend by going down to Charlotte to witness my little sister getting married. She called me up two weeks ago and told me she was going to get married, so Godspeed dear little sis, as folks are reading this, you have said your “I dos” and you are a married woman!  BAHHH! Make sure you help me to congratulate Deb, but not too much, cause she’s super private and might kill me when she discovered that the paparazzi shots I took are all over my world-famous blog.  Pardon the photo-dump, but you didn’t think i was going to watch my little sister get married without taking any photo evidence, right? PS you HAVE to tell me if anything about this post is weird – WordPress was crashing on me left and write as I was writing it, so let me know 🙂

DSC_0731DSC_0732DSC_0733DSC_0742It was really cool to see, and it literally took two seconds.  We enjoyed some dinner later on that evening, and I had a good time exploring my parent’s new building in downtown Charlotte – since they’re almost empty nesters (they will be as of August), and they moved to a party pad downtown, so I read by the pool, lifted at their gym, and explored for a little while.  I really didn’t want to leave when it was all said and done, but I’m down to my last few days at the old job, and I have to work hard to end on a good note.

How was your weekend? 

Clean eating + the weekend.

| cheriarmour

The weekend was full of a lot of joy.

And a lot of food that was just horrible for me.

Saturday afternoon, after I taught a killer Zumba class, I attended the graduation party of a friend, where there were some amazing sides (life of a vegetarian), and what I ate was not limited to:

  • Two types of macaroni and cheese.
  • Potato salad
  • Guacamole + Chips
  • Pasta salad
  • Deviled eggs
  • Baked beans
  • Diet Sierra Mist

Followed by…

  • A lovely thick slice of cheesecake made by my boss’s boss.

I ate disgustingly – and I kind of want to try something to kind of get rid of the nasty I ingested this weekend.

Before that!

Let’s review my weekend!

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Because I am so beautiful and gorgeous, I did another photoshoot for Headbands of Hope.  Okay, I kid, I kid, but I did another, and don’t worry, I will share those photos with you as soon as they are edited and ready to go!  But I did get this sweet buff that made me feel like a fun hippie all weekend.  I think I’m gonna buy a ton of these, because these are randomly really absorbent too!

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WARK!

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I ran home to my parents’ in Charlotte, and got to see my newly-engaged younger sister.  Everyone thinks that I’m younger because I’m only 5’8″ and she’s like 5’10-5′-11″.  I look SO short compared to her!

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My brother kind of impressed me with his burrito making/folding skills and he made one for a ton of folks.  I told him he needs to open something up and that he could give Moe’s a run for their money.  He’s showing promise in the cooking arena.  Between him, my dad, me, and my sister Kimmy (who cooks like a pro), we could have an excellent little family restaurant situation.

photo 5And my mom is liable to murder me, but there she is, feeling much much better.  Not sure if you remember, but my mom suffered a stroke last year, and this time last year, she was not smiling.  Good to see it this year 🙂 🙂

Onto the gross stuff that I ate this weekend and what I’m going to do about it.  

I’ve been reading this week about clean eating, and to be 100%, I feel like I’m kind of fumbling around blindly with the idea.

I don’t believe in fads, and I don’t believe in cleanses, but I totally believe it eating good stuff, and prepackaged foods like my yogurt and my Fiber 1 bars are making me feel like crap.  For a week, I’m prepping my foods, avoiding alcohol and coffee, and staying away from anything that comes in a wrapper.

My only hope is to alleviate some tummy troubles, and to get rid of this gross stuff that I spent this weekend eating and drinking.

Now….with all of that….what did you do this weekend?  

 

Mommy judgement.

| cheriarmour

So, after the memorial service on Sunday, we were close enough to the Whole Foods in Charlotte to grab some lunch/dinner, and chat before we all had to go our separate ways that evening. 

If you haven’t been to the Whole Foods in Charlotte, it’s time to go, PS.

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Photo via Kelly Davis/Creative Loafing

Deb made fun of me and said that I always force her go go when I come up.  But whatever, it’s awesome, and I need my hot bar every now and again.

So here’s where the mommy judgement came in. 

As we were about to check out, I noticed a mom with a slice of pizza in one hand, and a screaming child hanging off of the other.  I might have imagined this, but I think she was wearing workout clothes, and she was practically begging this child to use her own feet and stop flipping out.  As she wove her way to the workout, one mom after another caught my eye and gave their best judgmental looks as if to say, “my child would NEVER!” I was embarrassed that these women thought I was in their same club, and I didn’t want them to think that their judgment was okay, like their kids had never flipped out.  

As all three of us, Mom, baby, and me approached the check-out line, I did the best thing I knew to do. 

Y’all knew I was a baby whisperer, right?  

“Would it help if I picked her up?”

Mom wearily mumbled something, which I took as a yes, and I reached down, scooped up little miss cranky-because-she-just-woke-up, and we chatted for a second while mom could pay for something.   When mom was done, I handed her back, and all was right, plus the cashier gave me my sparkling water for free.  

So what was easier?  Making faces at a struggling mom?  Or getting to snuggle with a really cute kid while the mama pays? 

 

My memorial service.

| cheriarmour

Okay, before we get into this post, can I just tell you how many times I have wanted to punch the router at my parents’ house?  I think I said this yesterday, but it must be federal law that if you are an old person, that that wireless at your house must suck, because trying to blog here?  I have been tempted to tear each and every one of my locs out.

Moving right along.

So the reason I’m here at my parents’ house in the first place is actually kind of somber.  A friend of mine, of ours, mother passed away after a long, long battle with cancer.  Her two daughters are me and Debbie’s age, so the whole family made it out to a beautiful, beautiful service.  Seriously, this church was packed.

As soon as we walked in, displayed was a beautiful picture of Wendy and her two daughters.  As we entered, we entered to beautiful singing, and were handed the most fun program I’ve ever seen.

And the service was great.  Full of friends, the service was more singing than talking (as was Wendy’s wish,) and the talking that was done was reflecting on Wendy’s life, her smile, and most of all, her love for Christ.

The service had me thinking, what would my memorial service be like?  What do I want to be remembered for?

I haven’t gotten as far as thinking of how I want my service to be done, or where, but I do know what I want to be remembered for.

photo (23)When it comes to this, I want to be remembered for:

  • My ability to love.  I’ve always loved love.  I love so much.  I love my family.  My family-to-be.  My home. My animals.  Writing.
  • My love for animals.  I am the proud Mama of two animals, and the stepmama to a third.  That is really more than enough but I love love love them all so much.
  • My love for music.  I was named after a Stevie Wonder song.  There’s no way I wouldn’t love music.  I love it all, I sing it all, and I dance to it all.
  • My love of laughter.  Ladies and gents, I love to laugh.  I love to laugh at myself, and more importantly, I love to make fun of others.  All in good fun, of course, I’m not gonna like, make fun of someone’s cockeye or something, but I love a laugh.
  • The right thing.  I think above all, I want everyone to know that I always tried/will continue to try to do the right thing.  I may not always.  I’m human, and I’m gonna screw up, but I really, truly have always tried to do what I thought was the right thing.

Now I hope all this wasn’t too morbid for you, but you have to understand, my mind has been on this, especially with the passing of my grandmother, and now Wendy.  If you’re comfortable with it, how would you like to be remembered?

 

 

End-of-weekend recap.

| cheriarmour

Hey folks!  I hope you’re having an amazing weekend, my weekend has been nothing short of insanely busy, and my life shows no signs off slowing down for the next few weeks.  But I can’t complain, I think my problem is one of the most beautiful to have, and I’d rather a little too much to do, than too little.

That said, when I finally get my house painted/get my car cleaned/get my wedding save-the-dates sent out/get bills paid, I might be a little more relaxed than I am now.

Now onto the weekend recap!

I worked at Fleet Feet North Raleigh on Saturday, which was pretty amazing.  I actually don’t dread ever going to work there – and it’s really always nice to be around like-minded, good fitness people, who you don’t really get as much of when you’re working in an office, like I do during the week.  Sometimes, it’s a little tiresome being the freak in the office when you brings salads for a lunch.  At Fleet Feet, you’d sometimes WISH someone would bring a damned Lean Cuisine up in that piece cause the little fridge would be stuffed with people’s healthy lunches!

So Sunday, I had to head home with a friend for a memorial service, so I put Coco’s Thundershirt on her, packed her in the car, and headed home.

photo 2photo 1She was a really good sport, and endured the trip pretty well, which is good because we’re going to the beach next weekend, and she’s gonna have to hold up for a few hours.  But we’ll stop for lots of coffee and bathroom breaks for her, and we’ll get her a little more used to the car.

photo 3I walked into my parents’ home, and looky what was sitting on my dad’s bar!  So I promptly took it to read while I was running my 5 on his treadmill.  I still love Bieber, and I know he’s gonna pull through this rough time.

photo 4And now, here I sit, blogging to you all from the relative comfort of a McDonald’s dining room, because the WiFi at my parents’ house needs life support.  Is it a law that that WiFi at all old peoples’ house has to be horridly spotty at best?  It really doesn’t seem to bother them!

So the plan tomorrow before I pack it in and head back is to wake up semi-early, run, spend some time with my Moms, and head out to Raleigh with the dog before we get more snow.  This blasted snow is going to cause me to kick a hole in a wall, I swear it.

How was your weekend, beautiful folks? 

 

 

 

Weekend recap! (Best weekend evahhh)

| cheriarmour

So, after the photoshoot on Saturday, I ran, and hopped in the car to head to Charlotte because I got me and Deb some tickets to see Demi Lovato. So first things first, after a 10-miler at my parents’ I met up with Deb and some of her work friends at a place called Georges Brasserie in the Southpark neighborhood of Charlotte.

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The place was super nice, and turned out to be a French place, which means the menu was baller.

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Bottomless Mimosas were $12. Yes please!

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Cheers!

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We started off with an order of beignets for the table….

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And literally, almost every single girl at the table ordered the French Toast which was AH-maze. Go to Georges, and tell them I said hey!

So next up, the Demi Lovato concert!

If you guys know anything about you, you need to understand that I am ride or die for Demi.

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P1160216Me and Deb found giant Demi before the show, where the median age was like 15.  Seriously, besides moms, we were like the oldest people there.  But I knew every word so suck on that tweens!
photo-1Deb and I found the Tampax (weird) photobooth and took some really really cute pics.  I’m gonna hang onto these for a while.

P1160218The hot one from One Direction?  Zayn?  His lady-friend is in this group.  They were really cute, and played a bunch of adorable covers from the 90s, including a TLC cover of ‘No Scrubs’.  No one but us and the moms knew this one.

And finally!!!!

P1160223Demi!  And the seats were really good!

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P1160221She was amazing.  Seriously amazing.  She seemed really happy, and sang strong for the entire time.  It wasn’t super overproduced, and the show really boiled down to her and the music.  Demi played the new stuff, the old stuff, and played the drums, the piano, and the guitar.

P1160225The coolest thing?  The Neon Lights app that you could download before the show.  During Neon Lights, the app created this really cool effect on everyone’s smartphone blinked to the beat of the song.  Such good energy!

So overall, that concert was amazing, and I actually found myself boo-hooing during her incredible rendition of ‘Let it Go’ from Frozen and ‘Nightingale,’ where she threw in this amazing key change at the last chorus.

So a photoshoot, a long run in beautiful weather, time with my sister, time with my parents, mimosas, and a Demi Lovato concert?  I’m now exhausted, but what a fantastic weekend.

What was the coolest thing you did this weekend?

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Belated Christmas, folks!

| cheriarmour

I think it’s the law that the WiFi in your childhood home has to, has to, be incredibly horrid, so I’m blogging a little late from the McDonald’s a few minutes from the border of South Carolina.

I’m avoiding eye contact with like 4 youths who’ve taken an interest in me, and seem to be trying to catch my attention.  I’m wearing my headphones and pretending I can’t hear them – but nothing is really playing.

But I digress.

I hope your Christmas, or whatever you celebrate, was wonderful.  Mine was really really nice.

I started with some Redbox action with my brother upon my arrival.  We watched that Melissa McCarthy/Sandra Bullock cop movie, ‘The Heat’, which I was totally sure was gonna be hysterical, but it was honestly a little off-putting.  There wasn’t a minute in the movie that you didn’t hear the f-word.  Now don’t get me wrong, I totally live for some some dirty language, but it was really too much for my delicate sensibilities.

Christmas Day, I woke up, and once we got everyone up, we started opening presents.  The fan fave?  This:

Soda Stream

The Soda Stream!  My pops, like me, is a huge fan of some seltzer, and we got into making a few glasses before we even started breakfast.  My dad kept looking at his glass and saying, “This is amazing!”

So I’m pretty sure I went with the right choice.

So knowing that I’d be probably indulging in a few more cookies than I usually do, I made sure to hit the run in some way, shape, or form a few times while here at home.  So when I was sent out for our Christmas dinner, some key Chinese dishes (veggie lo mein, sesame chicken for my brother, and general tso’s chicken for my dad), I put in the order, and left the restaurant on foot to make sure that I wouldn’t make an excuse to skip my run.  I ran around the back of the building….and right onto a golf course.

Golf 1

Seriously.  I ran, and found myself on a golf course, and it almost looked like another planet, with the amount of balls (hee hee) that were back there.

Golf 2

Like, doesn’t that look just like Mars or something?  So my quick run turned into one that was a little longer, around a local golf course as the sun went down.

Golf 3As predicted, I ate a few more cookies than I planned to before I went to bed last night and watched some Sherlock Holmes with my brother, so this morning, I hit it again, with some time on the treadmill, followed by some time spent with weights.

Some of today’s highlights?

  • I got to be lazy, aside from my workout, which was fabulous.
  • I used the Starbucks gift card that my mom got me!
  • I went to the Whole Foods in Charlotte, and they have a wine bar there.  A glass was on special for like $3.00, so of freaking course I indulged!  I also walked around, picked some produce with my mom, ate lunch from the hot bar, and got some handmade soap, which is super spensive, but awesome.
  • And I found my wedding dress today!  I’m keeping it super secret, otherwise, I’d post a little pictorial evidence for you.

So onword and upword!  Next up!  New Years!

What are your New Years plans?  Any running related ones?

Merry Christmas Eve!

| cheriarmour

A quick check-in with you all.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday.  I’m finally tucked in in Charlotte with most of the family, but not before I put in a full day in Raleigh.

I started with a plan to leave the homestead for my parents’ around 12 noon, but that was not to be.

Thankfully, I don’t think my mom will be reading this before she gets her gift tomorrow morning, but my dad asked me to stop by the Best Buy to pick up something called the Google Chromecast.  Little did I know that this was such a hot item in Raleigh, North Carolina.

I hit the Best Buy on Capital.  Nope.

I hit the Best Buy near my home. No way.

Wal-Mart told me they had them.  I drove there.  They did not.

I hit Tiger Direct.  They didn’t even stock the item.

I tried the AT&T store.

And finally, I had to call my sister in Charlotte to run to the Best Buy near my parents’, hours after I’d embarked on my journey.

Cooked a little tofu, banged out a nap, and stole away for a few miles before I had to get into the Lancer (which someone hit in the parking lot of Best Buy while I was trying to make my way back home, at this point, almost with tears in my eyes).

Greenway
A swollen Crabtree Creek after a night full of rain.

And…

Greenway 2
Some chilly greenway – if nothing else, Raleigh is hilly!

Anyhoo, I made it. Have a Happy Holiday! I will check in with you guys soon!

Ya missed me? This post is so jam-packed with goodies, I can’t even stand it!

| cheriarmour

I took a few days off from writing, and it drove me peanuts.   But I logged the events of Thanksgiving break in my head so I could keep everyone filled in on the events, which were events a-plenty.

Wednesday, before the holiday, I skipped the run (I know, shame on me,) because I went in for an endoscopy after work to figure out what was going on with my stomach, which you’ll remember has been acting really nuts since my bout with a stomach bug in September.  It was an upper endoscopy, so as far as prep, it just required that I fasted for a bunch of hours.  Rude.

I went in, stripped down to a sexy gown, and they started me on an IV.  The whole process was fairly non-dramatic.  I was wheeled into a room, laid on my side, given oxygen and the process began.  First the Lidocaine to numb my veins, and then the Propofol, and next thing I knew, I was out.  I woke up a really short time later – apparently, while I was under and they tried to shove the camera down my esophagus, I started flailing, pulled my IV out, and they had to pull me out of my sleep to reset the IV.  It was no big deal, and next thing I knew, I was out, and Austin was ready to take me home.  But not before in a haze, I told the nurse that “I looooove him,” and “did you know we were getting married?”

The final verdict? Gastritis.  The lining of my stomach was inflamed and has kicked acid up into my esophagus, which was burnt up too.  The morning of Greensboro, nerves and something I ate the day before probably aggravated my already-raw stomach, causing me to throw up.  Which burnt my esophagus even more.  Yumz. They did a biospy and I should know what’s causing it and what I need to do in the next 10 days or so.  I’ll keep you posted.

Hospital

Thanksgiving Day.  It was awesome.  I woke up, went for a slow and steady 4 miler (I’m streaking til New Years Day), cleaned up my house, and headed down to my parents’ for the holiday.  I cooked, and it was so lovely to spend the time with my family.  That evening, I was able to trick my brother into watching Pitch Perfect with me.  Score.

BroFriday morning, me and little Derek suited up for a run – and I will be gosh darned – the kid can run!  He’s a cross country star, and 18, so truthfully, the run consisted of me chasing him around Waxhaw, NC, which he regarded more as a casual jog.  My hamstrings were mad at me afterward, and I will definitely have to utilize him more for those speed workouts.

DressWe went wedding dress shopping.  That is all I can say, and this is all I will show you because I’m keeping dress negotiations top secret.  But my mom and I had a blast shopping for dresses.  She did try to negotiate a tiara and a set of silky gloves out of me, but I’m not budging, much to her chagrin.

CarAnd in the single greatest moment of the holiday, possibly of the year, my brother offered to drive us to Harris Teeter to buy my dad seltzer, and we needed to, since I drink up all his seltzer every time I go home.  Anyhoo, my brother drives a Benz.

Fancy?

Well, it’s an ’87, and when he started it, he had to pump the gas like a madman before we could get moving.  Then, when we arrived to the Teet, we had to leave it running while we ran inside.  Hood.

Brosky

And finally, I finished out the weekend by enjoying a dinner where I spent my 16th birthday, Kristopher’s in Matthews, NC, with Austin, the husband-to-be, and Derek, my brother.  It was so fun, so delicious, and an excellent way to wrap up the weekend.

Thanksgiving was awesome.  It was a lovely visit, and I finished out the weekend by running, running a little more, and working at the running store, which always puts a smile on my face.

How was your Thanksgiving Holiday?