It all led to this

18 weeks of training,

countless miles,

2 pairs of new shoes,

lots of E-gel, sports beans, & cashews consumed,

many boring Friday or Saturday nights

because of a long run the next morning,

quite a few cuss words uttered as the

dang alarm went off before daylight,

countless miles,
{yes, that deserves a 2nd time on the list}

hundreds of leg raises performed,

gallons of water & Powerade drank,

etc.

It all led to this...

And I am excited!

I am ready!
It will all be worth it when it is over!

And I should be starting right about now!
{approximately 5:30 AM EST}
:)
goal time: 26.2 miles in 4:30:00

Update to follow...if I am still alive!
:)

Want to win something good??!

Of course you do!

How about a fabulous mini-kit from Midnight Rooster in honor of the January kit reveal that will be happening tomorrow??!!

Delish, huh!!?

How about just leave me a comment telling me how 2011 is treating you so far!

You have until midnight tomorrow night (that is 11:59 PM CST on 1/9/11)to leave a comment!!

YAY!!!

:)

gretchen

It's a new month!

And that means a new Midnight Rooster kit!

And I have been scrappin' with it!

The reveal comes on Sunday!

{ooooh but i get to give away a mini kit tomorrow!}
:)
gretchen

Getting misty

There is a new challenge up at Noel Mignon!
The challenge is to use mists on a project.
Whereas for most of you this probably isn't really a challenge, it was quite the challenge for me!

I am a misting rookie and I have to admit that it kind of scares me!
I am a messy scrapper anyway, so if you add some mist into the mix I might have to move my scrapping out of the house completely!
However, I will admit that my first experience with misting was fun!

I was just practicing on some white cardstock but I liked the way the silver mist (from the Very Virginia kit) looked so I used the practice cardstock as the background for my printed journaling here.

I hand cut "funny" out of white cardstock.
But it was just too white for my liking so I gave it a little spray with the mist too!

And this is how it all turned out...

{I used the Noel Mignon Bedford Falls kit here. The mist is from the Very Virginia kit though!}

The challenge runs through next week so you have time to pull out your mists and play with us!
I mean, everyone is doing it.
*****
And while you are thinking about challenges, Paper Issues has a fun one up!
It's a NEW year and that means a NEW challenge!

Scrap anything "new": New Year's resolutions, new baby, new clothes, using new scrapbook products, etc etc.
If it is new in any way, we want to see it!
Link up your projects here!
There is a great Nikki Sivils prize pack up for grabs!
*****
:)

gretchen

In Cozumel

Morning folks!

I am a little behind scrapping various trips we have taken over the past 1-2 years.

However, I did manage to scrap 1 picture from our cruise this past September for the Focus on Sticklers over on the KI blog!

One picture down; 347 left to go!

:)

{everything here is from the new
Over the Rainbow collection from KI Memories!}

OK short and sweet from me today!
:)

gretchen

Remember this...

Hey!

What do you do with cards you get from other people?

I have to admit that the ones I get usually just end up in a box on a shelf in my

scraproom.

I surely can't throw them away!
But I got a card this Christmas that needed something more special than a place in that box.

So I scrapped it!

***
OUT FOR

PUBLICATION!!
***

{using the Noel Mignon Bedford Falls kit
of course!}

And speaking of Noel's kits...

She is running a sale on past kits!

It ends today so hurry up!

{check it out here}
There are a few Bedford Falls kits still available if you are looking for something to scrap your Christmas & winter.

*****
One more cool thing at Noel Mignon...

Virginia is going to be teaching an online class starting January 15th.

How cool does this class look!!?
Virginia describes it like this...
a bit of a whimsical, creative venture at the start of this new year
a study and sampling of our daily lives
something fat and full of odds & ends sticking out
the truest form of the word: *scrap*book
quotes we love, piece & fibers from our day
what it was like to be us
at this time
a proof of our life

You can learn more about it on her blog (here).
Check it out!

Totally cool!!

*****

I hope the new year is treating you right so far!
:)
gretchen

Year in Pictures

January
{happy birthday to me}

February
{Mercedes half marathon}

{March}

{the annual oyster boil in Savannah for Lee's Grandmomma's birthday}

April
{there is supposed to be a picture from the spring race at Talladega here but in the process of trying to clean up all my pictures & move them to an external hard drive, i have lost a bunch of pictures & i am not at all happy about it}

May
{Lee working hard in the yard}

June

{rockin' Carrie Underwood concert}

July
{a tennis-filled weekend in Birmingham} August
{scrapbooking weekend with Mom & friends}

September

{cruisin' to Mexico}

October
{in the thick of marathon training
with Charlie Brown}

November

{Misner Thanksgiving in Mississippi} December
{celebrating 8 years in Gatlinburg} And here's to hoping for another great year in 2011!!
{and that i can recover all those pictures}

Happy New Year!

:)
gretchen