Trip to Surprise Aunt & Mini Family Reunion in Texas

      At the end of March, hubby and I went to Texas to attend a surprise birthday party for my aunt Mattie. In addition to surprising my aunt, I also go to meet my recently discovered brother as well as his girlfriend and his mother. Although the weather was hot, it was wonderful to meet and interact with family members from my father's side of the family that I hadn't previously met before. We found the perfect family group outing opportunity when we discovered a nearby fair occurring near the hotel where we were staying.

Me & Aunt Mattie

Bro's girlfriend, bro, me, and hubby

Cousin, step mom, bro, me, cousin, aunt, and dad in front

     Since we were flying out of Austin, we decided this was the perfect opportunity to visit Rabbit Food Grocery, which is an all vegan grocery store. I really enjoyed visiting this store because they had a variety of items including, food, clothing, dog food, and toiletry items.  

Entrance to Rabbit Food Grocery

Items bought at Rabbit Food Grocery

     Before we fly out of Austin, we stopped for lunch at next level burger in Austin which was located in Whole Foods. The burgers were delicious and the beerchez fries were divine. So glad to find so many vegan options in Texas and we'll definitely plan to visit there again in the future. 

Beerchz fries

Beerchz burger

Maverick burger

After visiting my aunt, meeting my bonus bro and enjoying lots of delicious vegan food, my father has decided to plan an official family reunion to be held in Spring of next year. Below are photos from our trip.

 

First Visit To Hometown Since COVID & Little Rock 1/2 Marathon Race Recap

     In an effort to complete my life long goal of running a half marathon in each state, I signed up to run the Little Rock 1/2 Marathon in Little Rock, Arkansas. Since the race occurred on Sunday, March 6, hubby and I decided to fly in early and drive down to my hometown in Alabama to visit my best friend as well as my parents (which I haven't seen in person since 2019. I was happy to be able to meet up with my best friend and her son over lunch before visiting with my dad and my mom.

Best friend and me

Dad and me

Hubby, dad, and me

Mom and me

Me, mom, and hubby

      After our brief visit to Alabama, it was time to return back to Little Rock to prep or the half marathon on Sunday. While taking a break from race prep, I was able to enjoy some delicious vegan food from Blue Sage Vegan Bistro.

Spicy mushroom tacos

Chick'n fried steak sandwich

Vegan grilled cheese with mushrooms and arugula

Spiral fries

After a good night's sleep at the hotel, it was time to get up and run the half marathon. The half marathon was fairly uneventful expect for a brief period of sprinkles followed by a later period of brief rain. Luckily, I made sure to pack a poncho in my pants pocket so I didn't get too wet during the race. 

Me before the half marathon

Bridge I ran on during on during race

Communion on the Run tent

Arkansas Governor's mansion

Me with half marathon finisher's medal

Close up of finisher's medal

Although there were many interesting tents set up along the race route, my favorite was the "Communion on the Run" tent in front of a church which gave runners the communion experience using pretzel bites to represent the body of Christ and a cup of grape juice to represent the blood of Christ. This to me was a very creative idea! Overall, the Little Rock 1/2 Marathon was a wonderful race to run and I loved how many community members come out to support us runners. I'm looking forward to visiting my family for a longer time sometime soon as well as looking forward to my next 1/2 marathon which will be the Las Vegas Women's 1/2 Marathon next month. 

Hometown for the holidays

Happy New Year!!!!! Over the last week of the December, me and hubby visited my hometown of Huntsville, Alabama and I also ran my first race of 2018 which I'll write about in a later post. The trip was filled with high points (hanging out with my best friend and finding out the sex of a another friends twin babies) as well as lows ( a friend passed away at the young age of 34.) I was happy to be able to see family and to maintain my running workout schedule. Below are some photos from my trip to Huntsville and  I posted all of my trip photos on Facebook.

Also my friend Martinus Evans from the 300 pounds and running podcast was highlighted in Runner's World magazine so of course I had to buy the magazine and support my friend. As a bigger runner, I'm excited to see more magazines and society are starting to show more runners that look like me or just look different from the white, skinny runners I usually see highlighted.

Free gift wrapping table at Huntsville airport

Working out with hubby

Me and hubby taking a morning walk

Fried chickun tofu from Huntsville Whole Foods

Me with best friend and her son

Me holding magazine with friend's photo

A lake seen while workout out

Me with mom and little sister

Me with step mom and dad

Hubby, bro-in-law, me, mom and little sister 

Hubby in front of Star Wars Christmas tree

Me and hubby having dinner with friends

It was super cold in Huntsville

July 2017 friend's wedding/anniversary trip

This past July, we took a trip back to Alabama to celebrate a friend Kelly getting married as well as have a belated 11 year anniversary wedding trip for me and hubby. After the wedding, we spent a few days in Disney World and tried out some yummy vegan food. It was a wonderful trip and I can't wait to visit again.

Friend's wedding program

Happy couple after wedding

Kelly & Cody at wedding reception

Me and friends having fun at wedding reception

Me and friends with our husbands at wedding reception

Hubby holding friend's baby

Me and my best friend at wedding

Hubby and me with newlyweds

Hubby with my mom

Me and my mom

Driving into Florida

Where we stayed while in Florida

Yummy vegan food and ice cream from DaJean Eats in Orlando, Florida

Hanging out with sister-in-law,brother-in-law and nephew at Pandora in Disney World

Epcot selfie with hubby