Are you a Woman of Influence?

This past weekend I was fortunate to attend a Woman’s Event at my church, this year is was called “Woman of Influence”, and I feel as though it was the perfect title to the stage in life that I find myself in these days. Although truth be told, we are all in that stage in life no matter our age. During this event they had giveaways and if you won something you were encouraged to whoop and holler in excitement, a 92 year old women won something and she joined in and even gave a little dance. She dressed up in a purple flowery blouse with a purple hat and her joy of life was evident, later I glimpsed her with her walker which was also decked out.  Her personality was vibrant and all I could think about was how she was influencing so many of us in that very moment. WOW!

92 years old and loving life!

I struggle and have struggled as a mom so many times, I wonder if I’ve done anything right this whole time and if I will ever get the motherhood down or if by grace somehow I manage to be a woman of influence – mind you with the right kind of influence. I think back to my son when he was three years old and at the time he didn’t call me “mom” or “mommy” he called me “Yvonne”. As I started to go to church and change my life and my priorities, one day Chris got behind me in the crowd as we exited the church and just like that his voice cut through the crowd and he called out to me “Mommy!” The whole world stood still and my breath was caught. What a change in the influence my life was having on him.

Guest Speaker - Pam Tebow

I was able to attend this event with a couple wonderful ladies I love very much and in the moment you realize the influence they have on your life. Momma Rachel (my best friends mom) and anyone else’s mom if you so need her to be or my daughters other grandmother in my case. Her influence has impacted my life for more than 15 years showing me her unconditional love.

Connie from Momma of Dos, is a woman of influence in the blogging world leading and paving the way for so many bloggers that have followed her footsteps. In so many ways a woman of influence showing me that hard work and consistency pays off – follow your dreams and don’t let someone tell you it can’t be done or that (worse) it’s a waste of time. There is a good chance that she’ll take you up on that offer and show you otherwise.

What kind of influence are you? Do you inspire, encourage and love? Maybe you are a teacher,  protector and nurturer - I hope you are and I hope you realize that years from now you’ll step into the knowledge that you have inspired someone along the way. 

Women of Influence 2016

DIY Grilling and Chilling Caddy

Follow the link to find a workshop near you! 

A few weeks ago I came across a great post on Facebook for Home Depot and their “Free Do-it-Herself” Workshop! I love the idea of Home Depot having a workshop for the ladies! I have been painting rooms and helping my brother redo kitchens and bathrooms in one way or another for years. I have always felt comfortable with your basic power tools and I love the challenge of learning more when it comes to building and creating things.  

What does surprise me, is how many women out there do not feel comfortable with power tools or household projects. When talking to a friend about changing out a light fixture she said “I’m not comfortable with something like that” or when looking at my latest creation DIY Planter Box “How do you even make something like that?”

Earlier in the year I was able to interview Kayleen McCabe from the DIY’s Network show Rescue Renovation and she sparked a new interest in wood working for me. Giving me the encouragement to tackle the use of power tools with a whole new minds set! If she could do it, so could I. Home Depot is now giving women the opportunity to do a project and be hands on with power tools to make and create something they otherwise might not have felt they were capable of doing.

I was not able to make it to the workshop that week but I did take the image of their project and make my own that weekend. As you know I have been working with a good stock pile of Pallet wood, so I pulled out some pieces and made my very own Grilling Caddy. My husband and I do quite a bit of grilling, as soon as I saw this Caddy, I knew I needed it in my life!

Using scrap wood, I played with the size I needed and the angle of the cuts. Eventually I managed to get everything cut down to size. I used my grilling tools to figure how long and wide I needed my caddy to be. 

After sanding and staining everything I was able to put it all together. I even used my wood burning tool and stencil to customize it just a little bit :) 

Because when we get together to burn some meat, we like to call it - Grilling and Chilling time! 

Using Pallet Wood gave it that texture that I love!!

I couldn't leave off the handy dandy Bottle Opener! 

The Grilling Caddy! 

Also known as The Chilling Caddy!! 

Here is the rough draft of the cuts that you need. I am still playing with the layout of building plans - I promise they will get better with time :)

Weekend Snapshots 7: Mother’s Day

This weekend came through fast and furious per the norm in our casa. It was of course Mother’s Day on Sunday, our whole weekend pretty much centered on the mommas. Without realizing it my hubs started my weekend off (almost) perfectly, joining me at the Pearland Pear Run. We were supposed to actually participate in the 5K run but due to unforeseen oversleeping we missed joining the run! We were there to cheer on the runners, Lety, my dad and my little brother. We also were able to get little bear signed up for the kid’s mile run, she cracks me up when she runs! She starts of full blast and gets totally bummed when she gets tired, at which point she insist on turning back – I explained to her it was the same distance either way so she had to keep going. Suddenly she catches her second wind and took off again finishing her little run.

“For those people who don’t like to run, they don’t know that you’re going to get tired and want to stop but then you get crazy and lots of energy – so they should just do it” ~ Little Bear

The rest of the day was spent shopping for Mother’s Day gifts, including my own! My hubs hinted to me earlier in the week about my gift, asking if there was anything I really wanted, like a new handbag.  I argued that I could probably get a new grill for the same cost and that is exactly what we did!! SCORE! Plus a new nail gun – DOUBLE SCORE!

Sunday was the Mother’s Day Madness 2016 :) Trust me we love our mommies, very very much! It just so happens that my hubs and I have mommies who love us very very much – which translates to a lovely art of juggling time and attention. We spent the first half of our day with my hubb’s mommy and the second part of our day with my mommy. Thanks to the crazy wait times at all the restaurants we took advantage and had a few mini photo-shots.

I was lucky and snagged a few minutes at the airport in between mommies, always a good day when we get to stop by and explore. Also, in a weekend where we are running from around, it was nice to sit with my loves and just take a breather! Most Sundays at the airport are quite and pilots will be doing “touch and go’s” we get to watch a few airplanes land and take off. By Sunday evening we all passed out on the couch we woke up sometime before midnight only so that we could all make our way to our beds and fall asleep again. Busy Busy but lots of memories made <3 o:p="">

Don’t forget to join the ladies at 3twentysix & TheReinvention of Jessica!! 

I miss the finish line!! But I am so proud of my dad and Lety for being so awesome!!

Shopping!! 

I hope you enjoyed your Mother's Day! I know we had a great one! 

The Not-So-Marathon

4 5K's +3 half marathons + 2 marathons =  104.1 miles 

As most of you have figured out by now, I didn’t run the Chevron Marathon instead I did the Aramco Half completing it for the 3^rd year in a row. Ultimately it was the best choice for me, although I was the die-hard captain encouraging everyone to train hard and do the marathon last year. I’m not sure exactly when I fell away from the goal of doing marathon maybe it happened in bits and pieces now that I give it more thought.

I have always been the poster woman for “running is awesome” “if I can do it anyone can” and I always would explain it this way – When I started running the closest gym to me at the time was about 20 minutes away and I figured a good work out would take 45 minutes (at least right?) so why go to the gym taking an hour and a half out of my evening when I could walk right outside my house and run for 30 minutes and end up at my own front door! Running is awesome!

Except at the peak of my training I would go out for an 8 mile run on a week night and take me over an hour and a half, come home stretch and shower and taking up almost two hours of my evening at home! or a Saturday morning for a 17 mile run?! Wait what? How did that happen?!

The answer is easier than you think, if you ever thought running was impossible and suddenly you train and realize you can run 3 miles, you feel invincible! You feel like you’ve accomplished something you didn’t realize your body could do, so if you can run 3 miles that must mean you can run 6 miles and if you can do 6 miles you must be able to do 12 miles and 12 miles is almost a half marathon, right? Of course if you can do the half marathon you must be able to do a full marathon. See easy right?

Not so easy, some of us take more work than others. In the end I knew I could do the marathon just not in the time allotted to do it (6 hours). I had become quite obsessed with the idea that I could do it too, no matter the time it took, or the pain (running injuries) or the stress. Then we went on vacation and it was the first time I missed two of my long runs, although I made a vow to run while on vacation I quickly gave into the fun and relaxation instead. I came back thinking I would make up for lost time but I found myself stressing out about it more not to mention covering up nagging injuries. I found that just a few years earlier when I first started running and when I was healthier and fit and full of energy I now was sore, tired and just plain worn out (and hungry)!!

One morning during Christmas break I woke up worried about not having gone out for a run like I was supposed to on my training plan, I made up my mind that I would bust out the jogging stroller and I would take my little bear with me on a run. Until that is, my little bear crawled into bed with me – I asked her about going with me on a run and she said yes and we both fell right back to sleep. Maybe that'e when I made up my mind...

One day I’ll meet that 26.2 for now 13.1 will do the trick :)  

New Beginnings - Part One

This is what happens when I don’t post in a really really really long time – you get a two part post! HA!

This is what a silly little Pre-K Grad looks like!

So much going on lately my mind has been in over drive and my emotions have been scattered but like many say “there is a clam after the storm” My “storm” isn’t over but this is a good storm, this is a- I could sit outside on my porch on hot summer day and watch the clouds roll in, feel the breeze pick up and wait for rain to start as the sky lights up with that deep in the clouds lightning show kinda storm.

I have a 5yr old little girl finally moving on from daycare to elementary school to start kindergarten, just in time to have my 18yr old boy graduate from high school. Can you say double gulp? Can you say emotional?

If you know me personally you might have guessed by now that I do not very often show my emotions outwardly believe it or not I can very much be an introvert in many many ways – this gets confused with being tough all.the.time which might also hold some truth to it except when my babies are concerned.

Whether you like the little ones having an all-out “Graduation” or not, the simple truth is that all I care about is that she is excited (right now) about going to her big girl school. The ceremony was cute and the memories are awesome. The kids in Hailey’s class have for the most part been with her since she was 1 ½ and they are so close and adorable together. They have been in the same daycare, in the same classrooms, down the same hall of this little building for 4 years. In August she will be going to an elementary school that swallows up her little daycare in one gulp.  

My whole world right here... 

Hailey Bear has come a long way… in August of 2011 I enrolled Hailey Bear into Kids R Kids and I swear for a whole month she cried every.day. I got to the point where I told my husband that I was going to quit my new job I couldn’t handle it. Every day I picked up Hailey, as soon as she saw me she burst into tears, not a "I’m so happy to see you tears", no, they were little miserable tears and pudgy hands reaching up to me – her  little tiny self, burying she face into my chest day after day.  The following week I told myself if it didn’t change I would quit (and I really would have) and then somehow one day that week I came to pick her up and she smiled. A little "Hi I was getting worried there for a second kinda smile" BUT it was a smile. To this day I pick up my little bear and she squeals Mommy! And runs full speed at me and I catch her in my arms. Yes this happens every.day. All I can think about is how one day she will ask me not to hug her or kiss her in front of her friends - my heart will ache. 

Class of 2015

This Saturday Chris will walk across a stage I’ve never seen myself. A stage that has been part of a goal for years… oh about 18 years to be on point. I am overwhelmingly proud of him, if you know my Christian you know he is a good kid, he has a good heart, he loves deeply and has matured in this ah-inspiring way that draws people to him to find comfort and acceptance.  He is not just a good kid, he is an amazing kid, and he is my kid.  
Can you hear the thunder? 

Goodbye November...

It used to be that February was the month of choice for me, being my birth month I would expect the greatest most life altering moments to occur in that month.  Sounds silly but it was almost a romantic notion for me, I could go down a list of things I would tell myself must be accomplished in February.  When I first started running I wanted to make sure that I could and would run 3.1 miles by my 34^th birthday, and I did, it wasn’t pretty and I was as slower than a heard of turtles stamping through peanut butter but I ran!  

Truth is that there is no magical power surrounding my birth month, no, I am a firm believer that things will happen in God’s timing not my own. With that being said I wanted to give a quick re-cap of my November 2014 – it’s not all running related or is it? For me running grounds me and helps me cope with all other crazy in my life.

November 4^th – my son (my baby) the first little guy that made me fall head over heal in love turned  18. Although I have nicknamed him “Gigantor” around the house because, let’s face it, he is bigger and taller than anyone else in our house…or anyone that visits our house…he is taller than his father, his uncles and to put things more simply we are all VERY short- he will always be my baby! This is his senior year and life is just way too harsh to let time fly by me the way it has been these past months and years.

November 16^th – I ran my second half marathon. I finished the “bridge series” with this run and gained a bond with my running girls that make us stronger together; although we run each race at our own pace we are never alone. I came to a deeper understanding of this during that cold and wet 13.1 miles where along the way we realized that knowing that the other was out there runnning the same race and waiting for each other at the finish is one of the best ever feelings a runner can have.

November 24^th- my little bear turned 5, and I still can’t wrap my head around the quickness of these years. At 5 years old she walks around and will suddenly move or act in such a way that catches my breath because I can see a glimpse of her older self.  Knowing that she is growing up in the culture that we are surrounded by today makes me think… many more miles will have to be run through  the upcoming years if I am to keep sane and clear headed to keep up with this sassy little one.

Of course – November 27^th – We had Thanksgiving in our home and although in my family probably slightly more than others consist of family that was born family and family that is chosen family, somehow this year it rang more true and more vivid than it has in the past. I am so very Thankful for that!

November 30^th – on the morning of the 30^th I ran 10 miles with my sole sister, Cindy, and I was grateful to have her by my side. Would it be too much to say that for a brief moment I thought she might not run with us again?  Running and training is mostly done alone… opening us to a floodgate of emotions and time alone to process those emotions… I am happier than ever to have her running again – 13.1 here we come!

Oh but there is more… November 30, 2014- my mother was married that evening. If you know anything about me personally then you know my mom and you might cringe or giggle or both at the thought of coming across her. She is strong willed; she speaks her mind and is very independent. Although she was a single mom, that didn’t speak English, she is proud owner of her own home, her own car (s) throughout the years), and much more than that her own life. Not letting limitations limit her. Not allowing society to dictate what or when she did and how she overcame.  My mom and I are not always on the same page but I attribute that to the simple fact that we are very much alike :)

That being said. Good luck to her husband!! LOL just kidding. I do wish them both much happiness, and years of love and a future that will envelope them in blessings.

Invisible Maracas!

One of my favorite things right now is the zumba classes at the gym, they are such an outlet for me because I love to dance and this now combines my love of something with the idea of working-out and makes working-out super fun. Last week we were in the middle of moving our hips to some Salsa music when I noticed one of my gal pals really getting into the rhythm of the music, gone was the instruction of pumping your arms this way and that way. She turned around and looked at me and said we might as well have fun while doing this! Damn right!

If you are a Salsa dancer and you don’t have to be a good one, you know that when you are really into it, your shoulders are rolling to the beat and your arms are keeping you in step. If I could post you a video breaking it down for you I would – too bad I’m not that blog savvy!!!!

Today I was totally following her lead and when Salsa time came around I was like WOO-HOO!! Suddenly I caught my self in the mirror and almost fell out laughing! I was dancing like my -MOMMA! I was taken back some 20 years ago (or more gulp…double gulp!) and we were in one of my moms friends house, the furniture pushed against the walls, floor cleared and music blasting. There in the middle of the floor kickin’ it ole’ school is my momma and her invisible maracas!! Back in the day that’s what I would think when I saw her dance, I must have been 9 or 10 (yes more than 20 yrs ago!) maybe even younger. All the kids would be playing chase running around like crazy or in a room watching T.V. before real dancing even occurred to us. I would be getting something to eat or goofy dancing with the grown-ups and I’d see my mom tearing up the floor, I’d think what the heck is she doing?! It looks like she has invisible maracas in her hands and she is shaking them to the music! I thought she looked silly, the same way I did today! In my defense, isn’t everything retro cool now and days? Therefore so am I!