Sunday, March 18, 2012

First Half Marathon Completed together!

My sister, Nicole, and I have been training together for the Flying Pig Marathon since September.
Due to our schedules, the most miles we have run together is 12 miles.
(Last week's 16 miler was brutal for me--bloody socks, chaffing in sensitive places, sore muscles--
 but I made it through!)

This week we were ecstatic to complete our first half marathon together.
Here we are all sweaty, but VERY proud of ourselves!

What made this week's run better than last week's is that I truly enjoyed the run.
There are days when I push myself so hard that I no longer enjoy it,
I'm just running to get finished.

The best advice that I have been given about the Flying Pig Marathon is to "just soak it in and enjoy it."
I cannot be worried about a time, I just need to enjoy the run.
I learned what this meant on Sunday.

Congrats to us both!
47 days until the big race...
Flying pig, here we come!



Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2012

On Saturday, March 17th, Keith and I, and 10 other friends,
began our St. Patrick's Day festivities at 10:30 A.M.
That's right friends!
I said 10:30 A.M.

We began our day with breakfast at Jason's.
There was bacon, breakfast casserole, eggs, donuts,
Woodchuck cidar, and of course the boys took shots
of Jamieson to get our festivities started.

 We call this our before pose...let's see how we look later on?!!

From Jason's, we hopped in a van with our very own designated driver...
...and headed to our first stop of the day:
St. Bernard Eagles.
 Notice we have a little friend joining us.
We named him Carlos Kegger.
We stole him off of Jason's porch!
We were determined that everywhere we went,
Carlos Kegger had to add something new to his wardrobe.
Here he is getting a shamrock tattoo!
 Carlos flips for green beer!


It's at the Eagles that I also helped Linda win $700!
I was a lucky charm that day!

After our time at the Eagles,
we hopped back in the van....


...and headed to stop #2: O'Malley's in the Alley.

These people tried to steal Carlos Kegger,
but we weren't having any of that!


Carlos is always ready to party!
Look at him raising the roof!
Notice his new addition: green beads!
What did he have to do to get those I wonder?!

I also found this lovely lady in the alley...
co-worker Tami!

From O'Malley's we headed to Fountain Square...
....and then to Newport...

I was a pro at getting Carlos new addtions!
It must be from all of my experience with
"Michael" at bachelorette parties!
This picture was taken at Brothers...
 ...and this one is at Bar Louie...
We sat at the same table that we did on New Year's Eve...
Oh the memories!



After Newport, we headed to Covington...


...and then to The Oak in Oakley.
That's where I found this girl!
My great-grand-little Katie!
Such a surprise to see her since she now lives in Dayton!


Our final stop for the night was back where we had started...
The St.Bernard Eagles.
Unfortunately, I do not have a picture here.
I think my phone was about to die and I didn't want to use energy taking a picture!

Keith and I walked through the door,
still alive,
at 12:30 A.M.

What a fabulously fun 14 hour day!
Cheers friends!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Happy Birthday To My Favorite Godson!

After our fun morning,
Keith and I headed over to the O'Connor's for Ben's 1st birthday party.

Before I post pics from the party,
I wanted to flash back to one year ago.
 

 

  

Flash forward one year, and we're "hoppin' on over" for Ben's first birthday party.



 Homemade Kermit the Frog card...
Melissa's best friend Carissa is amazing!
 I absolutely love this one---
Ben is practically laying on the present!
Here comes the best part....the cake! 



 Getting ready for the first bite...
 Does he like it?
Oh yeah!
 He thought about sharing with Daddy....
 ...but then changed his mind!
Hands off, Dad!
This is my cake!

Charlie-man all dressed up again!
He is so imaginative!
 My Godson & Me

I would say that Ben's first birthday party was a success!
His mommy, Melissa, is so creative and comes up with the best themes and ideas for parties.
Ben is one lucky boy to have such a loving family,
and we are so honored to have him in all of our lives.
Happy birthday Ben!
We love you!

Twice is nice!

Saturday, March 3rd was a jam packed day for the Messers.

We started off our day by eating lunch with Deacon Gerke from St. Clement Church.
Why were we meeting with Deacon Gerke you ask?

Two years ago, Keith and I were married at Immanuel United Church of Christ in St.Bernard.

There were many reasons that we chose this church.
First, many of my family members have been married in this church.
It is ABSOLUTELY beautiful and feels like home to me.
The church has wonderful people working in it,
and I would not change getting married here for anything!

The Catholic church that my family and I attend is not located in an excellent area of Cincinnati,
so it wasn't ideal for our guests to be traveling to this part of downtown.
It also does not have air conditioning, and on June 19th, 2010, the temperatures had reached their highest up until that point.  I can remember the day of the wedding my Opa looking at me and saying (as he's wiping sweat from his face), "It's a good thing you didn't get married at St. Mary's!"

Finally, I was raised Catholic and Keith was not.  
At the time of our wedding, I did not think it would bother me not being married in a Catholic church.
We still planned on having our children raised in the Catholic church,
so what did it matter if we were not married in a Catholic church?

Well, it didn't bother me.... until lately.
Again, I will say, I would NOT change anything about my wedding day.
It was everything I dreamed it would be 
(minus my flower situation--but that's for another post!).
It was absolutely perfectly for me!


However, Keith and I have been talking about our futures a lot lately,
and I started to think that our children will not have one parent receiving communion in church when they are growing up.  I believe that the rites of passage are important: First Communion, Confirmation, etc. and I want to be there with my children every step of the way.
So one day I asked Keith, "What do you think about getting married in a Catholic church?"
Being the wonderful, amazing husband I know and love, he said,
"Whatever you want."  :)

So that brings me back to Saturday, March 3, 2012.
We met Deacon Gerke for lunch at Sugar 'N Spice.

Keith and I literally live down the street from this restaurant, and have never eaten here before.
Wow! Have we been missing out!
It was absolutely delicious!
Another best kept secret in Cincinnati--for sure!

During lunch, we discussed the possibility of having our marriage recognized in the Catholic church.
Deacon Gerke said that since Keith and I have never been married and divorced previously,
all we need to do is meet with him and his wife a few times,
and have our ceremony.
So here we are--saving the date--AGAIN!

June 19, 2012 we will be married in front of our immediate family,
and will be having a cookout at our house afterwards with family, our bridal party, and close friends.

I am excited to once again be planning a wedding!
Twice IS nice!

To celebrate, Keith and I went to Dairy Queen.
Our Dairy Queen is only open March-October and it's opening is an event that I look forward to every year.
Here I am enjoying my first delectable bite of a Medium Heath Blizzard with extra Heath.

It was over our ice creams that I asked Keith to marry me
(I thought it was only polite since he asked the first time).
He said, "Yes."

Next up on our agenda: Benjamin's 1st birthday party!
Stayed tuned....