The Color Run 5K, Louisville KY

I've been running for about 8 months now... and finally got the

chance to do The Color Run 5K last month in Louisville, KY.

My sister lives there, so me and two other friends drove in

to run with her and some girls from her church.

 

This 5K is perfect for beginners - it's not timed and it's meant

to be just for fun.  There's always lots of walkers, so you wouldn't

be the only one walking if you needed to stop.

 

In Louisville, there were approximately 9,000 runners - it was crazy!

They send waves of runners - we were actually in the second wave, so

we got finished at a decent time.  But as we were finishing, there were

still people that were just starting! 

 

Here's a BEFORE picture of our group...

 

They have color stations every so often throughout the 5K. The

first station we came to was BLUE. I was having so much fun that

as I ran past the first volunteer, I threw my arms up and cheered

loudly.... only to have a ton of blue powder hit my face! I got

smurfed! Powder in my mouth, on my teeth, in my armpits...

 

When you finish, you get to throw your packet of color in the

air and get even more color on you. They do this periodically

so people can participate shortly after they finish running.  

 

And here's the AFTER picture....

 

There's all kinds of cute signs for photo ops...

 

Showing off our stained armpits!

 

 

After we signed up for the run in Louisville, the Color Run added

a location in my hometown! So it looks like I'll be doing it again...

this time, we've talked our mom into going with us - this will be

her very first 5K! I'm excited for her!  If you want to sign up, it's

August 31 in Huntington, WV. Come on out to the "Happiest" 5K!

Here's the website to register.

 

It's kind of a pricey run but it's totally worth it to do at least

once!  An individual costs $50, but a team runner costs $45.
You could sign up with our team - River City Runners (Hinerman)
to get the discount! Also try entering the promo code
COLOR5OFF for $5 off the entry fee. It worked for me!

 

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE COLOR RUN:

Pick up your packet the day before the race. 

You can have someone pick up your packet for you, but you have

to fill out a waiver form and send it with whoever is picking it up.

Wear stuff that you don't really mind getting stained - from your

shirt, shorts, sports bra, underwear, socks, shoes, headband - literally

anything on your person could get stained.

 

The color packet you get is for the END of the race. You will have to carry it with

you during the race, unless you have someone at the finish line hold it for you.

 

Put your cell phone/camera in a plastic baggie or something similar.

It will more than likely get color on it too!

My sister's iphone case was a fabric material, and it got stained.

Bring old towels or blankets to cover your

seats up in the car for the ride home.

 

Decide ahead of time a specific meeting place/time for your team

members. Not everyone takes their phone with them for you to
call and find out where they are. 

 

The closer you are to the volunteers who are distributing the color, the more 

you will get! If you run in the middle, you will get less color. You can go slowly

through the color stations if you want and twist and turn to get more color too!

 

Runners stay to the left, walkers stay to the right. Please!

 

Don't plan on going anywhere for a few hours after the race.

Getting the color off isn't easy! It takes quite a bit of scrubbing.
You will have color in your ears, up your nose... 

 

We were told that if you wanted your shirt to stay stained, you

could spray vinegar on it before washing it. I don't think anyone in

our group tried it. But I might for the next race!

Twine Initial Wreath

I've been working on a TON of different projects all at once, but

most of them aren't quite finished yet - that's a big reason why I
haven't been able to post anything lately... But hopefully I can get
some projects wrapped up soon so I can share with all of you!

 

What I do have ready are these two simple, cute wreaths. Now that

I think about it though, can you call it a "wreath" when it's not round

at all? Not really sure what else I would call it... maybe door decor??

I don't know. Whatever. I'm sticking with wreath. ANYWAYS...

 

My sister made this H wreath. She used cardboard to cut out an

H, and secured the twine to the cardboard using hot glue. A few

paper flowers, a bow, and a ribbon completed the look. How cute?!?

I loved this wreath so much that I literally took it off her

door to put on mine! It's very convenient that we both have the

same last initial (actually, we have all the same initials, RLH).

One of my prerequisites for a husband was that his

last name had to begin with an H! Kidding... not really... :)

 

After putting up the H wreath at my house, I bought pink flowers

to put in planters on either side of the door. I think it's a cute

summer look, even if it is more girly than what I usually do.

 

Anyways, two weekends ago, we had a bunch of people

over to the house for a new bible study group. One of the girls

liked the wreath and said she would love to have one, so I made

her one on Sunday =) She asked for the ribbons to be black. I

ended up just getting a D from Hobby Lobby (40% off too with

a coupon!)  and I already had the other supplies. It isn't as

big as the H wreath, but it's still adorable!

 These wreaths would also look perfect in the spring and fall,

just by switching out the colors of the ribbon. Hope you like them....

(but I mean, honestly, if you don't, you're a little weird!!!)



Cabin Bedroom Part 1 - The Bare Bones

My husband and his side of the family are building a cabin

on Summersville Lake in West Virginia. It's to the point

now where I get to decorate... so of course, that's what I'm

excited about doing! I'm going to do a series of posts about our

bedroom at the cabin, but it'll be a little while before it's "finished."

Especially since I am the queen of changing my mind...

 

So for now, I'm sharing what I consider the bare bones of the

room.  While the square footage of the room is pretty small

(about a 10x12 ft room), the ceilings are very tall, so it

really does make the room seem bigger.

 

I chose Benjamin Moore's Rockport Grey paint color for

the walls. The ceilings and floors are the same as the rest of

the cabin - hardwood, stained walnut I believe.



Since I picked the paint color without having anything else

picked out, I set out looking for something to be an inspirational piece

for the room that would coordinate with the paint color. I didn't have

a paint swatch of any kind, but I pulled the color up on my phone

to kind of help me see what would coordinate. I found these pillows

that had a mixture of blues and green's, and these curtain panels that

looked good together. The colors were soothing and a great balance

of not-too-girly-but-not-too-manly.

 

Curtains up close

 

I actually bought 2 white quilt sets and 1 gray quilt set to see what

I would like best in the room. I ended up keeping the lightweight white

quilt with a rectangle-thread pattern. I also got a darker gray blanket

to help visually anchor the bed since we aren't going to have a footboard.

Isaiah's mom already had a frame for this queen size bed that she gave

us. We put the bed on risers to help maximize under the bed storage.

 

 After making the bed, I quickly realized I was going to need a bedskirt

to hide the storage under the bed. Originally, my plan was to get another set of

the curtains so my mother-in-law could make a bedskirt to match. After searching

at about 7 different TJ Maxx stores, I couldn't find anymore of the same curtains.

So I bought 6 OTHER curtains hoping one would coordinate.  I found one to

coordinate, only to realize that I would actually need 3 curtain panels to complete

the bedskirt, and I only had 2. I haven't been able to find another yet, so it's on to

Plan C... I went to Target and bought 2 different white bedskirts. Time will tell if 

these work - I haven't been back up to the cabin since I bought them.

 

I found this accent table at Home Goods. It's a good height for a nightstand

considering the bed is 5" higher than what most beds are. Unfortunately,

we don't have room to put a nightstand on the other side of the bed

(unless we moved the bed off center of the room, which I didn't particularly

want to do either)... so I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do on that side,

but I've got a few ideas in my head for it. But at least I didn't have to find

matching tables! AND... my sister-in-law got $20 knocked off the price by

pointing out two places that looked slightly damaged - one place was on the back

of the piece, which will never be seen. The other place was a piece of wood that

was chipped off the inside of the drawer... but the piece was actually in the drawer,

so we were able to glue it back to where you would never know! Thanks Kelly!

 

At the same time, I found this other piece of furniture. The room isn't really

big enough to have an entire dresser in it, so I like that this is a smaller piece

that complements the bedside table. And adding the same baskets to both pieces

helps to make them look more like coordinating pieces.

 

 I bought four different mirrors for our room to see which one I'd like

best... I decided to keep the one that had some color to it, but was still

pretty rustic looking.  It just went better with the furniture I have.

However, up to this point, I've only returned 1 mirror - we hung one

in the living room at the cabin, and Kelly (my sis-in-law) might use

one in her room. So that worked out pretty well!

 

 

I found these 8x10 picture frames that are a perfect match to the mirror.

While I don't love the fact that they are so completely matchy-matchy,

I decided I can't be TOO picky, and kept them. I also wish I could have

found more than 3, but I'm keeping my eyes open. Hopefully I'll get

pictures in them sooner rather than later, but I'm notoriously bad about

hanging pictures up and never putting anything in them!

 

I bought two rugs that have a woven basket look, but they are actually very

soft and cushiony! I actually wanted a runner-length rug to help soften

the room up - but Kelly and I decided that if we butt the rugs up together

and put a few stiches in to connect them, it would look like a single rug.

 

I am pretty excited about everything so far - but it still has a long

way to go!! Headboard, lights, closet, bedskirt, blinds, storage,

and some other decorative pieces are all on my to-do list.