Why I shouldn't run at dark anymore

I was so really excited to post a picture of my new shoes and the reason behind them. But as luck would have it, as I was on a run in my brand new shoes mentioned above, a little past dark, on my awesome running path that is a new housing development that has no traffic but has streetlights...I began to feel as though I should not be on that awesome running path in the new housing development that has no traffic, because although there are streetlights, no one can hear me scream.

I should mention I usually run this in the morning during daylight so it's not an issue.  It's a giant circle with a school in the middle, but it's basically all wooded area ( no homes yet )

I'm halfway through the circle, when a car turns from this side road going probably 10-15 mph, way to slow for comfort but nonetheless, the car is eventually out of sight.  Until I round the next corner and the car is now facing me. Stopped. On the same side of the road.  

Immediate thoughts:

Did they see me, can I turn around?

Does anyone know where I am?

How far to the end, can I make it there fast enough?

If these people do not kidnap me I will never run at night by myself

Hmm maybe they're just having car trouble

Then I hear, "hey gurrl, I love your stamina"

Uhm Thanks - run as fast as possible to the main road

So this is my vow to run no later then 7:20, or at least to not run in my neighborhood after dark.

The shoes were supposed to be the focus of the post. I've been so excited about these babies because I've had them for almost a month. Since February I've logged a total of 400 miles. 400! That's broken down to 50 miles per month. Which to me was a pretty huge deal.

                     

xo A

             

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

So instead of doing Disney after the 5K, this year we decided a trip to Universal would be better. And we bought season passes, so if you come visit me, you know where we're going....

This is the entrance to Hogsmeade :) There were so many awesome photo opportunities but I firmly believe you should see them for yourself!

Hogwarts castle! There's a ride through it and it's spectacular the detail they put into it.

 The back entrance to Hogsmeade

You can take the Hogwarts Express to and from King's Cross Station (Platform 9 3/4) which also takes you between parks, so you need Universal && Islands of Adventure.

Diagon Alley is behind some janky wall (exactly like the books/movies!) and opens to pure madness, chaos.

The best ride was probably the "Escape from Gringotts"  just spectacular. We ended up doing the "single riders" line otherwise it was going to be a 60 minute wait. It only took 30 minutes and was well worth it!

It's no surprise by now that I am terrible at blogging and also taking "tall" photos/videos that can't be rotated.

Naturally we ended the day with a Butterbeer :)

Frozen 5K at Epcot

Disney Princess 5K! (It was actually the Frozen 5K, and it was actually freezing) It snuck up on us and we ran out of time to order shirts. So I stenciled them duh. I used Illustrator to create a stencil

Printed and cut out while watching basketball

This is stupid and won't turn. whatever

Kat and I picked up race packets Thursday afternoon with our t-shirts and race bibs, and received these awesome crowns that I made her wear throughout Target. 

"Kat, we're so close to Disney, I'm sure people wear weirder stuff inside Target!"

--everyone stares at us, they are all in normal clothes--

It was 35 degrees the morning of the race in Orlando. It was ice cold and we had long sleeve Tshirts on under our shirts. We ran fast just so that we could be done and get in the car. 

Fireworks at the start of the race

At about mile 2 1/2 - Anna, Elsa and Kristoff were there to cheer us on so we had to stop and get a picture with them.

This photo was taken after I photo bombed someone.

 Group photo!

xo A

Down the Rabbit Hole - Night of!

The dance floor, with 200 balloons. We used 2 different colors ribbons, and fishing line with cards attached

I made a hairpiece headband out of this $1 mask and some red feathers

Sydnie with Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

I made bank at Poker. $6000 to be exact. Still in my purse when I got home

Made it through the whole night except the last hour in these bad boys.

Towards the end of the night

I didn't get many pictures of the photobooth, but it was pretty sweet, lots of awesome props. We also had a magician, who was spectacular. He pulled my dollar out of a lemon. I screamed

^^^This last one is my favorite

Down the Rabbit Hole - Centerpieces/Decorations

 Painting the roses red for table centerpieces

Thrifting for old books (that I'm now finding FABULOUS places to put them at home) and cutting paper hearts

A mock up at home

A few of the actual centerpieces

Chad's dad bought a huge chess set and let us use a few pieces

We wanted to make the entrance like the beginning of the movie, where Alice has to Drink to be small enough to get through the doorway. Each tag was cut, hole punched and tied on. Then each bottle got a shot of Hypnotiq. And after all this, we were ready to finish the bottle....

This was our keyhole doorway Justin cut from hardboard and we painted. (It later broke in 3 pieces due to the wind and came crashing down before the party started. It was nailed to the doorway)

Big and Small cards hanging from the trees at the entrance with a table of Drink me bottles

Once you got in the doorway we tried to play with proportion as much as possible and had a lot of over sized props.

A proceeds of the ticket (and any donations) went towards Crohn's and Colitis Foundation