Bring it On Twenty Ten!

Wow. It’s New Years Eve. And am I the only sappy-loser-of-a-person who is going to miss 2009? I’ve read nothing but positive Facebook statuses all day about how people are excited about 2010. I mean, let’s take a step back and look at what’s happened for me this past year and why I don’t want to leave 2009 behind.

Numero Uno and most importantly – Bryant and I brought into the world the most amazing little person. She has taught me more in the past 12 months (yes, even PRIOR to her birth) more about life, living and happiness than I ever thought possible. Plus, she’s made me sack up and learn to deal with all kinds of bodily fluids and human feces. I never thought I’d see the day….

So why am I NOT looking forward to 2010? Well, I guess this is what happens to most people (except for genetic freaks like Jennifer Anniston and Heidi Klum, who I swear are aging in reverse) , but I’m going to get another year older. I’ll be twenty seven come the end of April. Twenty seven is one of those random ages that has no real significance. For real, think about it. At eighteen, you’re an adult. Twenty one, you can legally drink (bring on the binge-drinking!). Twenty five, you’re mid-twenties, not just a college “kid” anymore, and can officially rent a car (oh, and you’ve moved on from Natty Light beer to sophisticated red wine by this age). Twenty seven? Well….you’re just in your late twenties. Boring. And depressing. I don’t want to be in my “late” anything. Would you? I think I’d rather turn thirty than twenty seven. At least that’s some sort of LEGIT milestone, right?

Okay, okay – I’ll admit it. The age thing is a lame excuse and McKenna is the best reason I have for not wanting to say goodbye to 2009. Alright, so let’s flip that around (this is me playing Devil’s Advocate with myself…apparently, this is one of my best “features” according to my friends. Which sucks. I’d rather be the funny one, or the empathetic one, or the good listener, but no…the “devil’s advocate?” That’s just a nice way of saying I’m the annoying one. Fantastic. Anyway, sorry – I digress.). In 2010, I’ll get to watch Little MK learn to crawl (she’s so close right now it’s not even funny! Whoop! Crawl MK crawl!), walk, and even speak. So I guess it won’t be so bad, right?

I also have some big plans for next year….I’ll be running in my first Half-Marathon (See my Georgia On My Mind blog for details!), I’ll be traveling to Indonesia to visit family in the fall, I’ll continue to grow my relationship with God, and I plan on completing some personal goals of my own. So 2010 has a lot in store for me! Alright – so my “devil’s advocate-ness” has turned my bah-hum-bug attitude towards next year around! That’s it. Attitude adjustment made….

Bring it on Twenty Ten! I’m ready and waitin’ for ya!

Closet Photographers, Non-Coordinated Outfits, Negative 30 Degree Weather = Our First Christmas Family Photos!!

So let's just say I know how to pick my friends.  And I know how to use and abuse them.  And they never even realize they've been had.  Let me give you an example.  I have a one friend who is a closet photographer.  (As in she's uber talented, but is dumb and hasn't come out of the "I'm not good enough" closet yet.)  But once I found out this juicy detail about her, I planted the seed.  The seed about how us Funstons, despite how vain we may be (I mean come on. Take one look in our home at the number of photos of ourselves there are, and you'll agree.), don't have any "good" photos of the three of us.  (Well, that part is true.  We only have good pictures of Bryant with McKenna.  No good ones of the three of us or of me with her.  OKAY!  So maybe I just wanted more photos of myself...geez.)

Anyway, my friend Lacey agreed to take some Christmas photos of our family, and I was quite jolly to say the least.  I went to church that morning, prayed I had a good hair day, came home and in the good Christian way started bossing Bryant on what we need to wear.  The decision was that he and I would wear jeans with a black top and McKenna Rayne would wear red with black pants.  That way her outfit would contrast with our black tops and still be "Christmas-y".  Well, it turns out that Bryant doesn't have a black shirt that was warm enough to go outside or nice enough for these type of photos.  And it also turns out that McKenna needed a coat to go outside, but doesn't have a red one.  Damn.  Two strikes.  It also turns out that it had rained for about a week straight prior to this day and everything outside was super wet.  We had planned on taking photos outside at the Botanical Gardens here in Memphis, because its super pretty and would be the perfect setting for outdoor photos....had the sky been blue and the ground not sopping.  Ugh.  Three strikes.

Anyway, I got over it really quickly and decided we would still meet Lacey to take the photos, since I knew we wouldn't have another chance before Christmas.  And besides, I needed to mail out our Christmas card ASAP since everyone who was to get one was undoubtedly already sitting at their mailboxes just waiting for ours to arrive!  I know I would have been.  So off we headed to the Botanical Gardens.  Upon our arrival, there were a couple technical difficulties with the camera, but Lacey took care of those with her new-camera-battery-purchasing-skills.  So we were good to go.

Despite my O.C.D.ness with the fashion coordinating, despite the nasty dirty Memphis rain, and despite camera battery mishaps, our photos turned out beautiful.  Lacey did an amazing job and I couldn't be happier with the ending results.

And no worries, I was able to get the Christmas cards in the mail in plenty of time!  ;-)

Georgia On My Mind

Let the drums roll.  Let the bells ring.  I'm doing it.  Taking my hobby to the next level (to read about said hobby click HERE!!).  I've signed up for my very first half marathon.  AHHHHH!!!!  What the HELL am I thinking??  I'm not really sure, but here's my thoughts on the reasoning behind my impetuous actions.

Despite how uber-motivated I am in my daily running activities (pause not), my running may have reached a rather steady platue of about 3-4 miles per occurrence.  Ugh.  And for the self-proclaimed stellar runner that I am, 3 miles isn't much (okay, okay...you caught me.  Not really stellar.  More like inferior. Ugh! I'll never admit that again.  Be glad it's recorded.).  So I needed something to kick my snail-like ass into gear.  I mean, for real.  Nobody wants to look at this post-partumness much longer!  Trust me.  I don't either.  So why not sign up for a race that's longer than my typical run?  Ok, cool.  Good plan Kristin.

Here's a basic script of something similar to what was going on in my head during this decision making process:
"What local 5K's are going on in town?  Oh wait....5K = 3.1 miles?  Hmmm....hopefully my math is wrong.  It's not?  Damn.  That's not going to work.  Alright....go big or go home, right?  ATLANTA FULL MARATHON HERE I COME!!!  Oh wait.  $100+ for registration?  Hell-to-the-no-thank-you.  I guess I can go for half of that with the half marathon.  That means only HALF the pain of a full marathon, right?  That sounds more way appealing.  And Storm is doing it also?  I could have company during the race.  Done.  Sign me up."  (Storm would be Bryant's crazy ass sister....as equally crazy as me it appears).

It was only AFTER I placed my registration order online (NO refunds!  Who DOES that??) that I really thought through what I had done.  I WILLINGLY signed up for one of the most tortuous-self-inflicting human activities known to man.  Granted it's not the full 26.2 miles, but still.  Really?  What was I thinking?  Running long distances should probably be a form of capital punishment.  (For real.  People lose toenails at this kind of stuff!)  But no worries, I somehow persuaded (quite easily, I must say) another friend of mine, Kelly, to join my sister-in-law and I in the possibly suicidal activities come March 21st, 2010.  (Sucker!)

Alright, but seriously....this means I have to start running.  Like REALLY running.  Not just prancing around the office with my co-workers in our cute Nike's during what we like to call our "lunch run."  No.  I have to focus.  Harness my chi so to speak.  And it's going to suck.  I do have one goal though, and that's not to walk at all.  To run the whole thing.  I think I might be able to handle that.  Though, it may take me all day to finish, I think I can do it.  Well....let's HOPE I can handle it and not have to stop to use the "lavatory."  That's another main worry of mine.  I've heard horror stories about people crapping down themselves during marathons.  Let's just say, I'm not so down for that.  I'll sacrifice my months of training to stop and plop my constipated self down on a possibly not-so-clean porter potty if that's what it takes to keep my drawers clean.  But we shall see.  I promise to update you on this situation after the race!  ;-)

On another good note, this week I officially started my training.  Yep, that's right.  The week before Christmas...smooth.  Great planning Funston.  'Cause that Christmas Eve & Christmas dinner isn't going to slow me down at all.  The streets of Lincoln, Nebraska may have Christmas dinner chunks down them next weekend.  I apologize in advance to the locals there.  But ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right?

And if....IF I am to make it to the end of this race without walking...you know my exhausted former-cheerleader-ass will find another gear and be doing back handsprings over the finish line!

To be continued March 21, 2009....