Three Strikes You're Out

Last week, MS won a contest at his office to throw the first pitch at the company family night at the Barons.

Like any good wife, I let him warm up solo on the roof of the building while I fixed my hair.

We headed out and met his biggest fans, who thought he was playing the whole game.

I'm merely his publicist. Anytime Uncle Mac leaves, all I'm useful for is answering questions about where he is and when he's coming back. It's a glamorous job.

We ate some very questionable bbq and waited for MS to take the field.

He did great and got it across home plate - even if it was high and inside.

I mingled with the other celebrities.

After his big game, we made a stop for a celebratory drink and dinner that we could identify.

Great start to the weekend!

This Time Last Year

This time last year I was dreading our afternoon run. I'm really glad I went.


I was lucky to have a boyfriend who made the proposal special, a fiancee who helped with every detail of wedding planning down to stuffing and sealing invitations and now a husband who shows me he loves me every day.






It's been a fun year, and that calls for pasta and wine. Happy engagement anniversary, MS!

Practice

Saturday mornings race went splendidly - I love when a good training plan comes together. I have zero pictures, as I spent the first mile of the race trying to undress after quickly realizing 54 degrees and windy was too hot for long sleeves. Who knew. Luckily for everyone, I had a sleeveless shirt on underneath.

In case you were wondering all weekend, official results had me ahead of MS by a jillionth of a second. True story, he totally should have beaten me, but slowed down so we could cross together.

After MS collected another jewel in his heavenly crown, we headed down to Tuscaloosa for A-Day. Remember when no one went to A-Day because it was practice? Those days are behind us.

It's always good sense to practice stadium dog and yellowhammer consumption. True or false: We love these so much we served them at our wedding. (Hint:true) MS's dad got us some sweet seats. Nick was excited to see us. We do what we can. Also, I've decided Namath needs a houndstooth hat.

Country Roads, Take Me.... On Vacation

At the end of football season, MS came out victorious in his fantasy football pool. Instead of rolling around in all the cash, he thought it was a good idea to take Namath on vacation. He let me tag along too, in order to document.

So off we went.

First stop - Walgreens, where we blew $20 on candy and magazines. Second stop - the mountains. I was too excited to fix my hair. Or even run a brush through it.

It was all fun and games until we had to drive across this -

I pink puffy heart electricity - besides salvation I think air conditioning may be one of God's greatest blessings - but I do. not. like. dams. I used to have nightmares I was getting sucked in the turbines and wake up nearly screaming. I'm not making this up.

Which raises the question, what are these fools doing?

We held on for dear life and made it safely across.

We arrived, unpacked and had a little quality family time.

After the dam and the dam curvy mountain roads, I was never so happy for a glass of wine.

Namath wasn't so sure about my pool game. It is frightening.

I think him and MS were even whispering about it.

Saturday morning after heading into town for pancakes and telling MS 492 times we weren't taking old time pictures in costume, we headed out to see some wildlife.

Unfortunately, the closest Namath got to nature was the leather in the back seat.

After a relaxing dinner Saturday, Sunday morning we headed back down the mountain and towards the city. After stopping for more caffeine and candy.

Our first family vacation was a success. We both had quite the food hangover Sunday night. I can't imagine why.

Village to Village

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to run a sweet little 10K. It being 27 degrees, I was decked out in everything fleece (and pink.)

Holy hills, Batman. I was not prepared for those first two miles. Luckily, no other than my new father in law was working the water station at mile 3. We've never gotten an "Love ya'll!" at a water stop before, but it was motivating.

I didn't know the course very well, so I was gripped with fear at every turn that another hill awaited.


It was all worth it, since we got these roses.

Syke. The real trophy was the tall stack of pancakes and bottomless cups of coffee the father in law treated us to.

This running thing might be good for weight loss if it wasn't for my equally loved hobby of carb loading. One cannot live on egg whites alone, right?

A Goal is a Dream with a Plan and a Deadline

Don't you love a good quote? This oldie but goodie came to mind when I started writing this post. I'm jumping on the bandwagon and sharing some of our goals for this year in hopes of being more accountable and more transparent.

Another tradition we began this year was our Goal Lunch. You can imagine how thrilled my Type B husband was when I put this on the books, but he always goes along with my requests. I like to think all the talk of good balance in pre-marital counseling has something to do with it.

We had loosely talked about some of the things we wanted to accomplish in 2011, but something about commiting to them on paper makes a big difference to me. I thought we would make this a little more festive, so we made a date of it at one of our favorite restaurants.

Here's a sneak peak of what we are aiming for this new year. I left a few of the more personal things off. No, those don't include a bambino. Yes, we broke them into categories.

Physical

1. Sub 2 hour half marathon

2. Run Statue to Statue 15k- main goal is to survive the mountainous climbs

3. Run two 10ks - time goal TBD

Spiritual - We've been visiting a church for a while now and we both feel this is where we want to be and want to further our involvement.

1. Find a Sunday School and become involved

2. Join the church. We are looking forward to this process and having a church home.

3. Continue devotional time together. We started this a few weeks ago and its something I really look forward to. Having a specific time to talk about our relationship and praying together can be a little awkward at first but I believe the benefits to this time together will be priceless. After finding this on a favorite blog this morning, I was even more inspired to spend this time investing in Matt.

Financial - This was the easiest category for me. If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know I'm nerdy about the budget. It is refreshing this year to have a partner in budget goals. 2010 mainly went towards paying off the car and a wedding, so this year we're playing a bit of catch up in some other areas and trying to find some balance and enjoy life. Sorry Dave, I just can't get on the rice and beans plan.

1. Triple emergency fund savings.

2. Begin saving for a house downpayment - I got seriously burned in the housing market crash and I will never, ever again buy without a good e-fund and a down payment. One of my bigger regrets. Although, it is what fueled me to be more responsible with money. See, always an upside if you look for it....

3. Pay cash for travel. This is one of the things I'm most excited about this year. I'm really looking forward to doing some traveling with MS. We are already enjoying throwing around ideas for potential destinations.

That's what 2011, hopefully, looks like for the Searsons.

After all, "A goal properly set is halfway reached."

*I'll be changing blog addresses, since we are no longer 'soon to be'. I'll keep you posted!*

Where's the Confetti?

A few small milestones for the Searsons these past two days.

One month anniversary yesterday.

100th blog post today.

Fifth birthday for our favorite bulldog.

We decorated our first Christmas tree.

It was fun to pull out the ornaments and remember what we have.

See the resemblence?

Namath working security on the tree. It just thrilled my soul he didn't try and pee on it. NILIF!

I was so excited to find the champagne ornament! Thank you, past self, for buying this.

Matt's parents bought this for us at the beach. I thought it was hysterical.

We got this last year at a Christmas party dirty santa. We're trying to find the perfect spot for it.

In the meantime, now that you mentioned it....an eggnog and Kahlua would hit the spot.

After pulling out all our ornaments and putting the tree up, we realized we only had three ornament hooks. Well, we got in the spirit anyways. Pictures of the finished product to come.

What better way to end a holiday themed evening than with a movie about the vicious rape and beating of a little girl in a newly integrated Mississippi?

It's been a Grisham themed week at the Searson's. Mainly because it's been a Grisham themed week on TNT. We've watched The Rainmaker, The Client and A Time to Kill. Its hard to find movies we both enjoy, so it's been nice to have three straight nights of unisex movies, although this one kept me up way past my bedtime.

I'll get over it.