{Brody's 4th Birthday Party}

can't believe this kid turned 4 last month.

 he asked for a minion party.  so a minion party he had.  

 we had it at our local playground, which we love to visit in the summer.  

it was a little chilly, but we survived.   

bow on the head.  tradition. 

 b and emma.  so cute.

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now, the details...

I made a pinterest board a month or two before the party of all the DIY things i was going to make.  then, 3 or 4  days before the party i figured i had better get started. yep, i through it all together in a few days.  I wish i would have given myself more time, but... can't do anything about it now!

my friend Alyssa made me these adorable fondant minions for the cupcakes.

goody bags... 

they included a minion cup, a freeze ray (water gun), lipstick taser (chapstick), anti-gravity serum (bubbles), a minion bouncy ball, and banana shaped erasers.

 minion twinkies

 apple sauce

 our food spread.  

we had minion graham crackers, bananas, cookie robots, minion twinkies, cupcakes, applesauce, hotdogs, chips and salsa, apple juice and chili! the food all went pretty fast.

(i'm not sure why i don't have a photo of the other food table...)

presents!

i can't believe my little boy is 4.  

aren't we cute?!

 (ps. i am back-posting this so that it falls in order whenever i go back looking through our posts!)

{new}

i wanted to let everyone know that i have redesigned my blog a bit, and given it a new address.  It is still going to include bits about life with brody, but also stuff regarding my fitness journey, marathon training, etc that all the family doesn't specifically want to read every time.  

on top of the fact, that this sweet baby boy i brought home not that long ago, is a stubborn, independent litlte guy.  chasing him around with a camera for the perfect "blog photo" is just not all that fun anymore!  

so... check it out http://taralinruns.blogspot.com

{fashionABLE}

several months ago, i learned about a company called fashionABLE.  i was really intrigued by their mission, and how i knew that my purchase was specifically helping to make a difference in someones life.  

i immediately followed all of fashionABLE's social media accounts, but it was several months before i actually made a purchase.  

my first two fashionABLE purchases. 

the company hosts a fashionABLE friday contest every week, where you can tag your photos of how you style your fashionABLE scarf.  i was so happy to have been selected as a weekly winner with the photo above! 

{here are a few other ways i have styled my scarves}

and it always seem to be with my denim jacket... strange. 

excuse the beer.  or not :)    

                            

here are the two items i selected with my winning credits.  a purple scarf, and a gold leather bracelet.  

it makes me feel good to be making a difference. 

i am going to buy things anyway...this way i'm helping others as well.  

give them a try.  do something good.

{rock n roll Chicago} race recap

first things first... i sorta fell of the face of the planet there for awhile.  I'm not going to apologize for not posting, as i needed some time away from my little blog.  but, i'm back with a recap of my latest running adventure!

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susan and i headed up to chicago by way of amtrak.  for a round trip total of $54 and neither of us having to drive, there wasn't even a questions.  it took about 7 hours before we arrived (due to some rail construction/signal problems).  not a problem, as susan (& hailey) had recently introduced me to grey's anatomy on netflix.  passed the time!

 8 episodes later, we arrived in chicago!

we walked from the train station to our hotel and got checked in.   

we stayed at the palmer house hilton, which was one of the headquarter hotels for race weekend.  i had heard a few negative reviews of this hotel, but to our surprise, our room had been upgraded to the executive level.  we ended up with two bathrooms (important for two girls), drinks and meals/snacks. we were ultimately pretty happy with our choice. 

once we got settled in, we headed over to the race expo.  we decided to walk because my gps said it was only 2.8 miles away.  i am pretty sure that was the longest 3 miles i have ever walked (or... its possible that my gps was wrong).  

 our view during our million mile walk.  we met up with brooke, another blog friend for the walk over.  somehow, we never took a picture together though.  (blogger fail)

we finally made it to the expo. 

 i was super excited to finally have the chance to meet katie from the moms little running buddy blog.  and i felt like a super nerd when i realized we were dressed alike. 

 i bought a tshirt from the merchandise booth 

(a bit of useless knowledge for you: i only buy tshirts at the expo of half marathons and jackets/pullovers for full marathons)

 i of course stopped at the apera booth, where i talked with their rep Stacey and left with my very own apera yoga tote.  i seriously have been in love with this bag for months, and after walking away from the booth in nashville expo empty-handed, i knew today one was coming home with me.  

my bag.  in its new home.  the gym

moving on... sorry.  i'm a little excited about this. like its very own post excited...

after walking a million miles back to our hotel, we lucked out with our free "appetizers" of a pre-race pasta dinner.  i did a little carb load before heading back to the room.  

all of my race day essentials laid out.  i may be a little ocd.

 and i ended the night with a little hotel room pajama yoga.  

now, for the race day details.

the plan for this half marathon was to pace susan through her 2:30 race goal.  the westin hotel had these cool pace bands at their expo booth.  i wish i would have grabbed a few different times.  

 on our way to bag drop and the start line

 lined up in our corral 

 crossing over the start line.  i loved the skyline behind Rock n Roll banner.  so cool.  

 we passed this runner, dressed head to toe in his fireman gear.  he had a patch on his jacket that said Team Jake, and a cancer ribbon.  so inspiring.  

 this was one of my favorite signs along the whole course.  

"you started from the bottom. now you're here"

 the traditional brooks rock n roll runner.

 and the finish line.  

it was so fun running this race with susan.  i was really able to enjoy the course, check out all the scenery and have a great time.  it was nice not to be worried if i was going to be able to come in under a certain PR.  

speaking of susan... i am so proud of this chick.  she kicked butt during this race!

after the race, we headed back to our hotel to change and then out to grab some lunch.

when in chicago, one must eat deep dish pizza right?!

after lunch, we headed back to our room and ended up taking a glorious 3 hour nap.  i can't remember the last time i took a nap like that.  then we headed out to do some sight seeing, and met up with becky at grants park.  

 of course, we had to take some touristy "bean" photos...

we had dinner with becky, and i failed to take any pictures (or remember the name of the restaurant), and then headed back to our room and crashed for the night.  

the next morning started with meeting becky for coffee at my favorite place.  i 

so wish they had a caribou in st. louis!

stopped for pedicures, and had lunch at Potbelly's.  it was delicious.

 we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather in grants park.  

 i could have laid under these trees all day.  but alas, we had to walk to the train station to head home!

thanks chicago for the memories.  it was a great trip and a great race.  

and thanks susan for asking me to join you!