31 Things About Me On My 31st Birthday

So, I totally stole this idea from This Guy - he posted 30 random things about himself for his 30th birthday and I thought that was pretty cool. Sooooo, here are 31 random things about me in honor of my 31st bday!

1 - My middle name is Corinne (after a cage dancer, no less) and I spent a good portion of my childhood trying to get my friends to call me Corinne or Cori instead of Ashley. I always hated my first name. Nicknames like ash-tray, crasher, trashley, and smashley are a little rough growing up. But I have since embraced the nicknames of Ash-Hole and Smash. ;)

2 - I have been bungee jumping (at the age of 13!), parasailing, and skydiving. I hope to one day go hang-glidinging. I also want to ride in a hot air balloon, but my husband has NO desire to take me.

3 - I've never had stitches (other than post-childbirth), and up until 2 years ago, I had never broken a bone either. Then I slammed my finger in our basement door (and I mean SLAMMED) and shattered the tip of my left middle finger. The x-ray showed that bone just completely pulverized - it was in at least 8 pieces. I severed most of the nerves too and have very little feeling in that finger now.

4 - Despite not ever having any "serious" injuries, I still managed to land myself in the ER 3 times in 2007 (after having NEVER been to the ER in my life prior to that year). The first time was for a severe kidney infection, the second time was because I had a seizure, and the third time was due to the previously mentioned finger smashing. And ironically, I had the SAME doctor in the ER all three times. By the third time, I'm sure he was rolling his eyes and thinking "what NOW??" LOL

5 - I once savagely killed a lightening bug with my bare hands.

6 - I LOVE avacados and think they go with just about EVERYTHING - sandwiches, burgers, salads, burritos, etc. YUM!!!!

7 - I also love ranch dressing and think it goes with just about anything too, esp pizza!

8 - I love - LOVE - Chelsea Handler. It's probably an unhealthy obsession...but yeah, I've been following her since she was on Girls Behaving Badly, then The Chelsea Handler Show, and now Chelsea Lately. I've read (and own) both her books, with the third one on pre-order. I even had a onsie made for Harper that says "I Love Chelsea Handler" and submitted it to Chelsea's "Big Fat Baby Contest." Oh, and did I mention that Chelsea's bday is just 2 days before mine??!!

9 - My dad is a musician and was actually a full time professional musician up until I was a year old. One of his bands even put out an album. He still plays now for fun, doing shows on the weekends and he's friends with MANY talented musicians. I grew up around music, going to festivals, and even got to meet a few "famous" people. My dad's former band opened for Rick Trevino and Eddie Rabbit, and my dad has also played with Reba McIntyre's sister.

10 - I love lamp.

11 - I have had the same best friend for nearly 24 years. We've decided we are taking a trip next year to celebrate our 25th Friendiversary.

12 - I did NOT get up at 7am on my bday to post this....and I totally *heart* the "post options" on here so I can set up a posting ahead of time. ;)

13 - I LOVE sushi. And cheese. Not together, tho.

14 - 2 friends and I managed to convince my entire home town that I married a guy in New Orleans as a drunken Mardi Gras mishap. The rumor spread like wild fire and was even brought up by the head of the Sociology Department in one of my soc classes 2 years later. To this very day, there are SEVERAL people that still believe this story!

15 - I draw really great stick figures.

16 - Each of my kids has a "special number" tied to the day they were born. Rylie's number is 7 - she was born at 4:47am weighing 7 pounds, 7 ounces. Harper's number is 8 as she was born on August 18, 2008 (08/18/08). What's even cooler about Harper's birthday is that my great-grandmother was born on July 17, 1907 (07/17/07) - exactly 1 century, 1 year, 1 month, and 1 day before her great-great-granddaughter.

17 - I could probably manage to eat my weight in chocolate on any given day. And I'm determined to test this theory one day.

18 - There are times when I think that my husband and I are such polar opposites (you might even say BI-POLAR opposites, lol), that I honestly wonder how the hell we ended up together. But yet, despite our extreme differences...we just FIT.

19 - 2 of my all time favorite albums are "Doggystyle" by Snoop Dogg and "Eazy Duz It" by Eazy E. Some may find it hard to believe that an all American blonde (former) cheerleader would be into gangsta rap....but you should have seen me back in the day doing drive by shootings with my supersoaker water guns while blaring some Boyz In Da Hood. Srsly, I couldn't make this up if I wanted to!

20 - I sometimes communicate with my house plants via interpretive dance.

21 - I have lived in 3 states - Kansas, Arizona, Missouri. The next time I move will hopefully be to Mexico. This is something Randy and I hope to do in the next few years. We'll see if it really happens...

22 - Chipotle is my fave post-race (or post-long training day) meal. Oh yes, don't mess with me and my burrito bowl, b!tches!

23 - Beer must also be included post-race (or long training). Or wine. Or BOTH!

24 - There was a time in my life where I could drink an entire case of beer in one night without getting alcohol poisoning. Wow...was that really ME??

25 - I own my own company dedicated to raising and breeding Chia Pets.

26 - My favorite kinds of candy are anything with chocolate, Jelly Bellies, Tootsie Rolls, and Twizzlers. Oh, and I will accept any and all of these as birthday gifts, fyi.

27 - I totally have the hots for Dr. Drew. That is one buff silver fox that just turns me on with his intelligence & sexiness. Rawr.

28 - One of my favorite quotes in the world is something my dad once told me: "Happiness is not a destination, it's a journey." These are truly words to live by.

29 - 7 of my "random things" involved food/drinks/candy...and I find this to be a shockingly LOW number for me.

30 - My future goals involve traveling the world to spread my teachings, and eventually, I would like to fight myself to the death.

31 - I clearly have found it difficult to come up with 31 things about myself and went ahead and threw a few randoms in there for ya. ;)

Hope you enjoyed learning some randsom schtuff about me on my bday! And hopefully I'll have a really awesome weekend to report on come Monday! :)

I Was Tagged!

I was tagged by my dear friend Erin at Dancing Sweet Pea!

Instructions are to copy these 35 questions and fill them in with the answers that suit you then pass it on to 6 favorite bloggers (notify them that you've given them an award!)35

Questions:

1)Where is your cell phone? in my purse in my desk drawar

2)Your hair? blonde with loose curls today

3)Your mother? is amazing

4)Your father? a lot of fun

5)Your favorite food? sushi, chipotle burrito bowls

6)Your dream last night? something only I would dream...

7)Your favorite drink? water, crystal light, frozen margs

8)Your dream/goal? IRONMAN!

9)What room are you in? my cubicle at work

10)Your hobby? triathlon-ing, internetting, blogging, drinking, acting a fool

11)Your fear? failure

12)Where do you want to be in 6 years? somewhere WARM

13)Where were you last night? At home

14)Something that you aren't? emotionally stable (lol)

15)Muffins? yummy!

16)Wish list item? new house, another vacation, and that my kiddos don't get the swine flu!

17)Where did you grow up? Emporia, KS

18)Last thing you did? Talked to my desk partner about the flu

19)What are you wearing? Black pants and a charcoal colored sweaterd

20)Your t.v.? needs to be bigger

21)Your pets? are the best pets in the world!

22)Friends? mean the world to me

23)Your life? is crazy!

24)Your mood? stressed

25)Missing someone? since Sept 12, 2005...

26)Vehicle? an old Pathfinder that needs upgraded

27)Something you're not wearing? glasses

28)Your favorite store? Maurices

29)Favorite color? Pink!

30)Last time you laughed? this morning

31)Last time you cried? a week ago

32)Best friend? I have too many...oldest is Melissa (AKA The Militia)

33)One place that I go to over and over? the lake!

34)One person who emails me regularly? The Throuple (Running Lawyer & Running Dork)

35)Favorite place to eat? Chipotle, Kona Grille

Six people I will pass this on to:

The Running Dork
The Running Lawyer
Lindsay @ Chasing The Kenyans
Heather @ RUN FASTER MOMMY!
Jamie @ Sweaty Hugs
Jess @ All Things Creative

Should FWR Be Taught A Lesson??

So....did anyone happen to read Fair Weather Runner, the Self-Proclaimed Running DORK 's blog post yesterday about us getting together today? If not, you should go read it right now. THEN you should let me know if I should go ahead and wear this get up when I meet up with her in an hour? Cuz I'm thinking:

A) This little you-know-what needs to be dealt with. ;)

and

2) I really can't wait to see the look on her face when I show up wearing this. LOL....priceless. ;)

JoBros, Yo!

So, thanks to my homie Fair Weather Runner, the Self-Proclaimed Running DORK, I got the opportunity to enter my 6-year-old in a contest to win Jonas Brothers tickets here in KC. To enter, you have to submit an essay in 96 words or less (the radio station is 96.3) on why you are their biggest fan. I entered the following in Rylie's words:

"OMG, the JoBros are SOOOO awesome! Nick is my fave cuz he dated Miley and she's like totally my hero! I'm their biggest fan cuz I have JoBro EVERYTHING, even a lunch box. I know the words to all their songs and rock out to them with my BFFs Mannon and Henley. One time I saw the Jonas Brothers walking down the street with a pizza. My daddy said it wasn't them...but I know it was. Cuz I'm their biggest fan, so I know what they look like. Please pick me - I LOVE JoBros! "

Wish us luck!!!! :)

Workouts - what??

So, I still have a few weeks to go before I can get back into training. But as most of you know, it is soooo hard to not do something that you love. Don't worry, I'm not running. In fact, I haven't done any biking or swimming either, tho I probably will start to ease back into that next week. But I have managed to do a little this week as I have been ridiculously stir crazy!! So, here are my "workouts" (if you can call them that) for the past few days:

Saturday, June 20, 2009: 2.5 mile walk (took about 40 minutes, avg pace = 17:04)

Tuesday, June 23, 2009: light weight lifting (focusing on arms, back, shoulders)

Wednesday, June 24, 2009: P90X Kenpo (1 hour video - kickboxing)

The P90X video was probably way more intense than what I should be doing right now...but it was so much fun and such a great workout! Once my girlfriend gets back from her honeymoon in a couple weeks, we plan on doing the full P90X series. I am definitely sore from the Kenpo video from yesterday.

In other news:

Miley Cyrus is coming to town October 3rd and I am pleased to announce that I am the proud owner of 2 tickets. They will be Rylie's birthday present and the look on her face is going to be worth the extreme price we paid for them. I am SOOO going to be Mommy of the Year with these babies! The only downfall is that Rylie's birthday is not for another 2 months and I have to keep these tix a secret for that long. Sigh....

MORE "other news" - yesterday I made a trip to the hair salon to get a few pink extensions put in my hair A) cuz pink is my favoritest color in the world and 2) I like to mix it up a bit and do something different from the norm from time to time. Well, needless to say, as soon as I picked Rylie up from school, she promptly stated that she too would like pink hair. Soooo, being the cool mom that I am, I drove back to the salon and got a pink extension put in my 6-year-old's hair. She's even more of a diva now than before. But she really does look cute. I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow.

Work has been crazy busy this week...but I prefer crazy busy to long and slow any day. I've got some new projects coming my way, which I'm VERY excited about! I left work yesterday with a great sense of accomplishment and a very clear head. I wish I could say more...but I'm sure it would just bore all of you anyway. ;)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!! If any locals would like to get together for a walk, a light bike ride, or even some swimming, feel free to hit me up email stylee. **Amanda, this means YOU!! Or anyone else that is interested...** :)

If...

you had a package of something and it read "0mg caffeine," would you take that as it has NO caffeine (or 0 milligrams, if you will)...or as "Oh...my...god - caffeine! There's a buttl0ad in here!" Cuz I took it as the latter...which was apparently wrong. LOL

Friday Foto!

Okay, this is my first time participating in Foto Friday, so I picked a totally random pic, but it's one of my faves cuz it ALWAYS brings a smile to my face!

Background story: in October 2007, Rylie (who was 5 at the time) approached me and said, "Mom, I want to be a Dalmation Cheerleader for Halloween." This is typical Rylie - always coming up with off-the-wall ideas that are so creative, yet so random, that you often have to wonder where she comes up with this kind of stuff. Though I was caught off guard, I did not need to think it over one bit - the answer was immediately YES. I love Rylie's creativity and I will always encourage her to follow through with her ideas. And though combining 2 costumes into 1 could get costly, she already had a cheerleading uniform in her myriad of dress-up clothes, so all we needed to do was accessorize it with dalmation stuff.

So, we set out for the dalmation part of the costume, and you would be surprised at how difficult it was to find the dalmation ears, nose, and tail. Oh yeah, we had to get a collar too - it even had a little bone on it, LOL! After hitting up SEVEN costume shops, we FINALLY found the dalmation accessories. I also got some black & white make-up so we could do the spots on her face. Just when I thought the costume was complete, she said to me "But Mom, what about my paws??!!" Ugh...so I went and bought some white gloves from Wal-Mart and some black iron-on patches from the sewing section and cut out small "spots" and ironed them on the gloves. THIS:

is what we came up with! Could she possibly be any cuter?!? And THAT, my friends, is my Friday Foto! :)

Give Aways, Work Outs, and Randoms

Hey everyone, go check out Tall Mom On The Run's blog for an awesome give away!!


Update on the calf: I woke up this morning with pretty much no pain. Typically, it's tight in the morning, but loosens up throughout the day. This morning was the best it has felt first thing in quite awhile. I go back to Dr Jesse Walden again tonight and will hopefully go on my last run tonight before the HM - ONLY 3 DAYS AWAY!!!!

Last night I had every intention of hitting the pool for some laps (have I mentioned that April is half over and I have not swam this month AT ALL!?!?!?!), but it was a hectic night with Rylie having gymnastics and Randy trying to finish up our taxes, so I never made it there. I did, however, get in a nice little bike ride after work before Rylie got home from school. It was so beautiful out, so I got in a quick 8 miles before Ry's bus arrived. Now, I use the term "quick" loosely...cuz our neighborhood is so darn hilly that 8 miles took me a good 40 minutes. :\ So it was a good workout, even if it didn't involve that many miles.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009: muscle conditioning, 8 mile bike ride

Random question of the day: do you ever happen to think of something funny while you're out running (or cycling) alone and start laughing to yourself...and then wonder what passers-by must think when they see you running down the street laughing? This happens to me all the time...LOL.

It's a Miracle!

The pain in my calf is now pretty much 99% GONE! I can't even believe it! Here I've been limping on it for the past week, and it's been non-stop hurting for about 10 days...and now, it's almost back to normal! This is the best I have felt in WEEKS!!!! And it is seriously all thanks to Dr Jesse Walden at Quest Performance Center.

I went to my lunch time yoga class and on my way there, I realized I was walking pain-free and thought to myself "wow...this is crazy! I have no pain!" Then after yoga, I felt even BETTER! I cannot praise this guy enough! I can't even believe all the pain I went through and how quickly he got me all fixed up. I will SOOO be going to him with any sports related issues from now on. And I can't wait to go back tomorrow. St Louis, here I come!!!!

On a downer note...the forecast is calling for scattered thunderstorms in STL for Sunday. :\ I'm hoping that changes...

Random question of the day - are there any bluegrass fans out there? I always find myself giggling when, in the midst of all the hip hop/rock/pop music I have on my MP3 player, a Split Lip Rayfield song pops up and I totally rock out to it on my run. :) Just wondering if anyone else has Split Lip on their Ipods?? ;)

I <3 My Followers!!!

Nothing brightens my day more than to come into work and read all of your sweet comments first thing in the morning. :) Thanks for getting my day off to a good start!

That is all. ;)