weekend

A Ludacris weekend.

| cheriarmour

So, over the weekend, I celebrated Elon University’s homecoming.

First and foremost, if any of my readers have kids that are thinking about schools right now, Elon is fantastic if you’re looking for a small liberal arts school where you’ll form amazing relationships with your professors?  Elon is the spot.  I went to a big state for graduate school, and the experiences were night and day for a student like I am.

Anyhoo, so the time has flown, and I’m celebrating 5 years since I graduated from Elon University.  And each year, homecoming has blossomed – from an intimate celebration in the parking lot on the north side of campus to a full-blown tailgating experience where all of the student organizations are represented.

So on Friday, I arrived on campus juuuust in time to pick up my packet and tickets for the events I was registered for.  I had a little time to burn, so I explored a little bit, and found some food.  Side note: there is a Biscuitville on Elon’s campus, and I thank the good Lord above that that wasn’t a thing when I went to school there, because there is a distinct possibility that I would have gained like 60 pounds when I was in school there.  Woof.

I went to the step show, which is really more about seeing who is at homecoming, and socialized a little bit before hitting a bar that allowed smoking at one point when we were in school.  Things have changed – thank you North Carolina!

Saturday, we hit the tailgate, and enjoyed some insane food at the Elon Black Alumi Network (EBAN) tailgate, before making our way over to the Twisted Measure tent where my barefoot singing buds were chilling so hard, that we realized 30 minutes after the game started that we hadn’t made the game.

And Saturday night, we hit the Ludacris concert which actually was the literal bomb.  He was SO good, and I was ridiculously impressed with his intelligence, and his performance.  I was totally hoping to meet him, so my heart was just a teensy bit broken when I saw his Escalade pull off.  Maybe next time, Chris Bridges?

Wanna see a few grainy pics I was able to take before the mosh pit swallowed me up?

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A few quick facts about Elon Homecoming 2014?

  • I lost my Fitbit on Friday night!  I was dancing at the step show, and it slipped off my wrist.  I’m pretty sure someone picked it up and just saw a silicone bracelet and they were like “Omg ew TRASH!” and threw it away.  I’m obsessed with it, so I ran out to Target when it opened the next morning, and replaced it.  I’m in the process of contacting their customer service department now to see if I can get a small rebate or something – I get that it’s not 100% their fault, but evidently this sort of thing happens with this product – there are a few desperate forum posts to support that.
  • Luda is awesome.  The concert was so so good.  Minus the fact that I had to get a little buck on this chick that was shoving in the front.
  • I got to hear our wedding song performed again by Twisted Measure.  They killed it. I cried a little.
  • I ate Cookout. Delightful.  I will also be running like a million miles a week to work this off.  Woof.

How was your weekend?  

Weekend updates.

| cheriarmour

While you’re reading this, I’m actually sleeping in my little brother’s room at my parent’s party pad in downtown Charlotte.  I’m in town here only for a day or so, but that’s totally cool, because it gives me a new terrain to run on, and keeps things interesting.

So a few interesting points about this weekend.

  1. My Fitbit is turning me into a lunatic. I don’t think people really believe me when I tell them that my competitive nature has taken me to really really ugly places.  But to put things into perspective, my first summer working at Camp Pocono Trails, I was playing Gaga with the kids, and they would make fun of me for how into the game I would get.  At the top of my lungs, I’d scream that I would be the “LAST. WOMAN. STANDING,” as I picked kids off with the dodgeball, one by one.  They thought it was a game.  I knew better.  Well now that I can see how many steps I’ve taken, a friend of mine and three of her coworkers challenged me to a “Daily Showdown,” so I proceeded to walk to the bar, walk home from the bar, and continue walking well past 11pm.  I came in second, and I can’t really talk about my defeat, that’s how painful it was. Fitbit Competition
  2. We had a shed put in the backyard on Saturday.  So I wake up on Saturday to check out the shed, and it actually was pretty cute!  Then I look over at one of the guys installing it, and he’s wearing swim trunks and no shirt.  No judgement here, I’m just truly curious about his choice in attire.  Shed Install
  3. And finally?  I’m feeling really ready to sign up for something serious.  I got over my running hump, and running is starting to feel like a natural state of being for me again.  I’m playing with a few options – I ran Shamrock a few years ago for my first full, and I’d be interested to try it again to see if I’ve made any improvements.  I also have an entry for Rock ‘n’ Roll Raleigh set up, but since they haven’t released the full course, I’m not sure if I’m ready to commit without knowing the course.  Raleigh is terribly hilly, and that race can either be really really awesome, or kinda miserable.  I also am playing with the idea of like a 50k or so, to delve into the world of Ultra Marathons, but don’t tell my husband.  We watched a documentary about Dean Karnazes, and for some reason, I still have the itch to see what I can do.  I have zero interest in being a regular 90+ mile a week girl, especially with all of the teaching I do, but once or twice?  I think it would be worth it!

What did you do this weekend?

Weekend Update

| cheriarmour

I hope you guys had a good weekend.

I’m officially swimming through all of my workouts.  The heat and humidity in North Carolina is absolutely unbearable – both classes I taught last week were nuts, and then on my run on Sunday evening, sweat was literally dripping down my nose,and into my eyes.  I’m desperately continuing to run, and hoping that my heat training will turn into something good by the end of the summer.

So on Sunday morning, I woke up early, and we had some friends over for brunch.

I got the idea a couple of months back in DC.  In DC, a lot of my friends, both married and single, live in these group house type situations, and last time I was there, I went to a brunch at one of the group houses.  It was cool, it was kinda like being at Bob Evans, without having to go to Bob Evans.  Plus here in the Bible Belt, they can’t serve alcohol out until 12pm, so if you try and go to brunch much earlier you’re all…

FridayRookie mistake. 😦 😦

Then you have to drag out brunch for a very long time while people glare at you for not giving up your table.

So we decided to do brunch at our place.  Wanna see why the South has such a problem with weight?

DSC_0728That would be a biscuit, eggs, some really really good hash brown casserole, some fruit for good measure, scones, and some mimosa.  All of which I ate.  I ran after cause I felt really bad!

Your favorite breakfast food??

How was your weekend?

How was your weekend?

| cheriarmour

So for your personal enjoyment, I will share with you a few of the pics me and Kimmy went through after my brother’s graduation on Thursday night.

photo 2We were very active kids.  Animals in fact.  There were like two other pictures of us doing things on the swingset that are not OSHA approved.

photo 3That’s me in the mask,  I had a sore throat when my brother was born, so I had to wear this so I wouldn’t get the baby sick.

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Preciouso.

photo 5And lastly, my brother as a sheriff.  How cute right?

Anyhoo, so this weekend was really good.  I was not as productive as I would have liked to have been, but I got a ton of rest, and woke up Sunday morning almost at 10.  I have not done that literally in forevs.

Saturday, I went and checked out a performance of Marcus Anderson, a pretty sweet saxophonist (did I spell that correctly?!) The really cool bit about him is that I’ve been watching him for like 4 years when he came down to regularly perform where I worked in graduate school.  I have semi-fangirled him over the past few years, and now he’s playing with Prince.

tumblr_mi2qao3J2M1rdnvweo1_400Prince guys.

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I need to get my life together.

From there, we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings in Cary where the female server treated us like garbage. But the dranks was poppin!

And from there, I had a semi-lazy Sunday.

We started the day off by binge-watching 3 episodes off Orange is the New Black, and then I cleaned, and topped off the day with some time in the woods on an almost 4-mile trail run.

photo 1And since you asked so nicely, here’s a pic of my poodle.  We were in full-cuddle mode, which includes me talking in strange voices.

How was your weekend?

 

 

Where is the time going?

| cheriarmour

I’m sitting in my apartment after a full day, and I’m seriously wondering (as I gear up to spectate the Raleigh Half-Ironman tomorrow) where the hell the time is going.

After work yesterday, me and Matthew made a much, much-needed to Coquette, a local french spot where I killed two glasses of wine, and truffle fries.  An amazing way to end the week.

photoAfter that, we headed to Total Wine (cause the two glasses just wasn’t enough), sampled some full-bodied Spanish wines, and I took  a nice bottle home to enjoy by my lonesome while I waited on the man-friend to get done doing boy stuff.

This morning, I headed to teach a Zumba class, met up at Starbucks with some folks for a meeting, and finally, drove down to Durham with my man to pick up some more goodies for the wedding off Craigslist!

By the time all was said and done, it was 8pm, and I’m really wondering how I can squeeze a few more hours of the day.

Today, as you read, I join some friends with a few cowbells to spectate the Half Ironman in Raleigh, and I couldn’t be more pumped!

What did you do this weekend?

 

This weekend’s to-do list.

| cheriarmour

First and foremost, I totally am feeling much more confident without makeup, because I started using Proactiv +, and my skin isn’t quite as horrid as it’s been in the past.  So I did the blogger thing, and I took a makeup-free selfie.  This is after a workout too 🙂

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I’m feeling so much more confident, and who knew that a little forehead fix would give me confidence to post a selfie without makeup?

Okay moving right along!

I’m not sure about you guys, but the only way that the things on this to-do list are actually going to get done is if I lay it out, and if you guys yell at me on Sunday, which is when I’m giving myself til, to get this stuff done.

What’s at stake here?

I will let myself get a VENTI caffe espresso from Starbucks, courtesy of Austin’s wallet, should I be able to complete these tasks in a timely (and complete) fashion.  So I don’t feel guilty, I will do it with skim milk and no whip.  UGH. You guys are no fun!

So…here goes.

>>I’ve got to vacuum my carpets.  There is pet hair everywhere.

>>I need to shampoo my carpets because someone had a little accident behind the table in the breakfast nook.  And no, it’s not what you’re thinking, it was not me.

>>I need to order some more brooches of of this Etsy store I found.

>>I’ve got to email the girl who’s doing our invitations to see how things are coming along.  Cause I need to get those suckers printed and in the mail in the first week of June or so!

>>Update our wedding website.

>>Schedule a date (probably next weekend) when me and Austin can go down to Greensboro and then to Charlotte to taste some food for the wedding/rehearsal dinner.

>>Pour a few candles to test out my candle making skills for wedding favors.

>>I got this weird-ass call from one of my student loan people, so I will be needing to give them a call this week which is what I’m dreading 😦 😦

>>Make a list of all of the little one-time bills I have that are coming up due.

Okay, I think that’s it (ugh) that I need to get done for the weekend.

What’s on your to-do list?

Weekend happenings…

| cheriarmour

So this weekend.

I did not get as much done as I would have liked, but I got a good bit of things done one the list.

I wasn’t feeling well at all on Friday at ALL, and when  client went off on me and told me in no uncertain terms that I could go do something to myself which I’m pretty sure is illegal in this state, I took that as my cue to leave early and lie down for about 30 minutes.

I could only do 30 minutes because I had to demo my Zumba class for the woman at Rapid Fitness who was going to sign off on me being a Body Pump instructor.

Well, I showed up to the gym ready to demo the class, and I had a creepy feeling that I’d made a mistake.  YEP.  I showed up to the WRONG RAPID FITNESS.  So after pretending to cry to myself for a second, I got into the car, and pulled a speed racer all the way to the right gym, where Renee was waiting on me.

And I nailed. That. Demo.

I’m actually a pretty decent teacher because the woman who taught me was amazing, as both a teacher, and a human being, so I soaked up as much as I could from her.

I then proceeded to go to sleep until my Zumba class the following morning at the Y, and then I talked to a group of teacher hopefuls about being a teacher blah blah blah.

Saturday afternoon….

Saturday afternoon….

Where do I begin.

So, a good friend, Devin, called me and Michael over and just told us to come over. No itinerary, no agenda, no nothing.

So a few vodkas later, we crashed a crawfish boil.

And a few more later?

photo 1 (10)

So, I had a pretty good weekend, I’d say.

How was your weekend!  What’s one random thing that you did? 

What I did this weekend!

| cheriarmour

I am a naughty naughty blogger.

Instead of being the good blogger I know I can be, I did not preschedule out posts like I should have for this weekend, so that’s why things were a little quiet around here over the weekend.  I’m sorry!  But I’ll refresh you on all the cool stuff I did this weekend.

Saturday:  I taught my Zumba class like normal, and then, I went down to a friend’s to pick up a new toy!  I don’t have photos just yet, but my new (to me!) toy is a little commuter bike that I am going to start using – I think I’m gonna try to ride to work once or twice a week for a little extra exercise and to save a little bit on gas.  Any of you guys commute this way to work?

Then, I headed down to Elon (I know, you guys are getting sick of me talking about how great Elon is,) and I headed to the 15-year anniversary party for my a cappella group, Twisted Measure.  The concert was so so great, and they released another CD, available now on iTunes.

My frands!

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These kids throw a killer, killer party, and the evening consisted of yard games, barbecue, Jack Daniels jello shots, and Fireball (which I had to kindly decline).

Somehow, but the grace of god (and a package of this electrolyte stuff), I managed to get up, get a run in with a friends from the group (I LOVE DOING THAT!) and even managed to take the little bike out for a test ride!

Okay, that was mine,

How was your weekend? 

Weekend recap.

| cheriarmour

I hope you had a really really good weekend.  I would say that not only was my weekend good, but it was really really productive, and it’s high time that I’ve been productive on a weekend.  Unfortunately, that means that it kinda feels like I didn’t stop working all weekend, but at least I got shiz done, right?

So Friday night, I’m pretty sure I told you guys that since I went to body pump early, that I went to bed pretty much when I got done with work.  That was that.

Saturday, I headed down to Elon, about an hour away, to teach at Elonthon, a 24-hour Dance Marathon that benefits the Duke Children’s Hospital.  To say it was nuts (in the best way possible) would be the understatement of the century.

DSC_0214Since I get sort of nervous before I teach any class, walking into this group of spirited college students made me a little nervous.  But I hopped on stage, and as soon as I started my first song, I felt he nerves sort of disappear, and launched into 30 minutes of a class, that I hope pumped everyone else for the last 4ish hours of the marathon. As always, Elon kids continue to do amazing things, and I’m impressed by their spirit.

I managed to continue my little personal tradition, and go for a short little run around Elon’s campus, and as I was doing that, I couldn’t help but wonder if I looked old, and if folks could tell that my old ass didn’t belong there.

I’d planned to stop by the wedding venue since it was right down the street but as usual, I overbooked myself, and I didn’t have time to stop anywhere because I stopped by a few art stores to grab more buttons for a project that was to come later on this week.

And, to wrap up Saturday I headed to Raleigh Beerfest to drink, and to hang out with my hubby and his friends.  I drank enough until my old self was ready to go home and go to sleep.  God bless you folks out here in these streets who was able (proper southern grammar) to keep the party going after Beerfest, my hubby included, but that was not me.

10171077_10100299026849773_1888318097_nBeerfest!

And then on Sunday, once I woke up, I scrubbed the apartment (thanks to the foster Beagle, I had to scrub a few really ripe spots in the carpet), and then set out to getting down to wedding stuff.  Do you guys mind if I give you a little sneak peek into Wedding Wednesday?

10151197_10100299276958553_1782262188_nI spent a few hours creating a practice bouquet that will act as a template for my girls.  It took a while, but I’ve given myself enough time to make a unique bouquet for each and every one of my girls, and one to throw, so that they will have something to keep as a token from their time spent with me.  What do you think?

Okay loves, how was your weekend?