Relay for Life Weekend

Happy Monday!

As y'all know, I'm a big Relay for Life fan and am a part of our local Relay for Life Event Leadership Team. Well, we had an event leadership conference this past weekend, so that's where I spent my Friday evening and most of Saturday!

It all began at a dinner on Friday night, honoring the top fundraisers, events, and teams in the state. I was invited because our Lake Charles relay was the top #7 in the state as far as dollars raised!

We had a great dinner and enjoyed networking with others!

On Saturday morning, we needed breakfast and coffee...so I might have convinced my travel buddy to ride along to the nearest Target with me.
#1 - I needed to check out their Chip & Joanna section...ours is kinda small.
#2 - I NEEDED to check out their dollar spot because it's WAY bigger and less picked over than ours!
#3 - There's a Starbucks inside of their Target - ours doesn't have this luxury.
Hello - we accomplished 3 goals at once...enough for me!

Although I didn't purchase any Chip and Joanna items, I did rack up at the dollar spot - Brayden's stocking is done!

Oh yes, and Starbucks...there's that!

We even arrived in plenty of time before the event began!

One of the highlights of the conference was a "branding" class. They made these boards to show the difference in "service" you receive from various companies (Disney World was up there too). On the airlines section, someone decided to make their own "Southwest" section and started placing sticky notes on the blank wall! I might have followed along as Southwest is my airline of choice....although I do fly United and Delta when Southwest isn't available.

On Sunday morning before church, I hit the roads for my long run. I tried to time it so I would finish before Jason had to leave for church, but that didn't quite work out. It was time for him to leave around the time I hit 8 miles. Since Brayden was awake at that point, I got out the jogging stroller and together, we finished the final 2 miles.

It was nice and cool although I was slightly overdressed.  In all, it was a good run and seemed to go by pretty fast!

Sunday morning smiles!

This outfit cracked me up! I'm just loving the tie!

After lunch, we realized it was close to 2 p.m. which meant buy one get one free holiday drinks at Starbucks! Our restaurant connected to the Starbucks parking lot, so it was a no brainer! We had about 10 minutes to spare, so we waited around, then drove through the drive thru!

I might have also ordered a snowman cookie! It was yummy, too!
 

We sat in the car with our drinks because Brayden was asleep at this point for his nap. In all, it was a fun little surprise mini-date! Sometimes, you gotta take them when you can!

Last but not least....LOOK at these PJ's! Aren't they precious!? I saw them and was instantly in love!

Well, that's it for my weekend!

I hope you all had a great one, too! :) Have a great week!

Christmas, Football, and the Weekend

Last week was a bit crazy around my house. We had something to do outside of our home almost every night of the week last week and I had to plan a big church function that I oversee which took place last night. Needless to say, I was exhausted every evening and went to bed as early as possible (hence the sparseness of my blog posts last week). This weekend however, we had a blast!!

On Friday afternoon after work, I had a few tasks to complete. Brayden's 6 month pictures were ready, so I picked those up on my way home. I love them, especially considering how cranky he was that morning!

I also put together several Operation Christmas Child boxes to ready them for delivery. The girls group I'm in charge of at church sponsored these boxes with the kids bringing items to stuff them with. We have been teaching them about foreign missions and how it's possible to impact a life right here from home. I love this organization and the cause! We were planning on five boxes, but the girls brought enough items to stuff seven boxes! I'd say that's a win win!

My last task of the day was to help Jason get the Christmas items out of the attic. I know it looks like a lot of stuff, but it's stuff I've accumulated over 10 years and there's a few boxes in the mix that we no longer use. I definitely need to take the time to throw away, donate, and downsize. Maybe one day!

When Saturday morning rolled around, so did a COLD front! It was in the 40's for our run and I was at a loss on how to dress. It's been so long since I've had to deal with really cold weather! Yes, that's REALLY cold to me! 

My running buddy Heather and I ran our last really long training run before our next half marathon! We ran 12 miles and it was an amazing run...I'll tell you all about it later this week! :)

After my run, I stopped at Starbucks for my usual Saturday morning coffee. I'm so hooked on their new Chestnut Praline Latte. It's a Christmas beverage and oh so delicious! I might have also picked up a snack for later in the day. :) Yay for red cups, too!

Brayden has a few Thanksgiving outfits so he had to start wearing them early! :) This is one of my favorites. Well, I lie...I love them all! These pants are especially adorable - they have a little turkey on the butt and they have turkey faces on the feet!

I spent a good portion of Saturday afternoon and night setting up our Christmas stuff. This Mickey village takes a while to setup, so that was my first big task and I tackled it during Brayden's nap time. So far, the entire inside of the house is complete minus the tree...I'll get to that this week!

My dad and mom are season ticket holders for our local university's football games. Well, they were unable to attend the game on Saturday night, so they gave their tickets to us! Bonus: we all (my dad, mom, Jason, myself) graduated from this school! Fun times!

After dinner, we bundled up and headed to the stadium. It was SO COLD, y'all. Thankfully, I had a blanket, too.

Brayden LOVED the game. Jason and I took bets on how long he would last and we were both WRONG! He loved all of the movement on the field during the game, ate some puff snacks, then intently watched both bands during halftime (a total of 5 songs). Our band even played the theme from the Incredibles! How fitting for our little Disney guy at his first football game! :)

He started getting restless after halftime, so we decided to call it a night. I couldn't believe he lasted 2 quarters plus halftime - it was definitely past his bedtime too!

Remember that cold weather snap I mentioned? Yeah well, it was enough for us to turn on the heater AND I got to wear my hoodie footie pajamas for the first time! My dad bought this pair for me last Christmas and I love them!! :)

For our "Thanksgiving Sunday" morning, Brayden wore his fall/Thanksgiving outfit.

On Sunday night, we had a function at church for our girls program and I spent most of my afternoon working on last minute things for the program. We also dropped the Operation Christmas Child boxes off at a local church.

Whew. I definitely slept well last night!

Here's to another fun week! Hope you all have a great week! Happy Thanksgiving prep!