Virginia’s Run

Saturday was the 1st annual Virginia’s Run. It was held out at the beautiful “The Waters“, which is a charming almost beach-like neighborhood out in Pike Road (neighboring community to Montgomery). Here are my photos, and if you click on the Virginia’s Run website, there is an awesome video of the day! You can also read more about this “race” and why it came about, which was to honor and remember Virginia Jacks! She was a 17 year old member of our church and student of Browder’s school who died in a car accident a year ago Sunday leaving an Auburn football game. She was a remarkable young lady, and it’s no surprise over 700 runners came out Saturday to run in Virginia’s Run! I think all in all there were well over 1,000 people there to enjoy the day. My family was included!! Jeff ran the 5K which I trained for and then the whole fam ran the 1 mile fun run.

Us before the race! Even Mallory got a bib. That morning Jeff left early for the 5K while I got us and the kids ready. I got several curious stares and questions from my children as to 1) what was I wearing? 2) do you have daddy’s clothes on? and 3) are you going to wear that? They don’t see me exercise or run… EVER! Mallory still asks me to this day why I wore pajamas to Nancy’s Italian Ice that time (because I had a tshirt and black exercise shorts on).

Yes, she ran in a turtle dress, pink crocs and a big hair bow! 🙂 She was the cutest runner out there! In reality she had nothing else to wear – haven’t bought her new Mary Jane Keds yet this year!

This precious middle child of mine RAN THE ENTIRE MILE!!

Browder wants his 2 front teeth for Christmas…

 

This is actually me about to cross the finish line! Yes, a pregnant girl (Jessica) beat me!! In my defense, she is an avid runner and runs several miles a day.

These are backwards ~ this is the fam when we first started. As you can see Mallory is running, but quickly jumped in the buggy and rode the rest of the way (not a bad idea!). As I said before, G ran the entire mile!! Me… I ran, then walked, then ran some more, then walked, then ran some more, then walked, then ran the last stretch so as to look like I ran the whole mile! I was out of breath and am just now recovering from sore legs and muscles.

 

Here is a beautiful banner with crosses drawn by all of Virginia’s classmates and of course, Virginia’s Cross in the center. She was an artist and would have been a Senior this year!

Applique Cafe was excited to sponsor the Pre-Race Nourishment Station! Most of you know we have been selling the Virginia’s Cross applique design with all proceeds going to Virginia’s Run. We’ve sold 232 cross designs total thus far, some at regular price and some at various sale prices. All proceeds went towards the sponsorship of the race, and the rest came from Jeff & I. We will continue to sell Virginia’s Cross and proceeds will always go to Virginia’s Run, whether through donations throughout the year, or towards next year’s 2nd Annual Run! We’re excited to be a part of this event! We also got to keep our banner so I’m thinking we need to find a spot for it in our sewing room/office!! ps: the announcer announced Applique Cafe several times throughout the morning as a sponsor and had to be corrected by Jeff when he called us “Apleeeeek Cafe”!

This was later Saturday afternoon! HA!

Jeff and the kids “ran” Monday around the neighborhood. I was too sore to join them, but hope to do so next time! When I was growing up my family of 6 ran several races together ~ my parents were avid runners and the races really are fun and exciting! I think it’s something my kids will remember!

Today is COUNTERTOP DAY!! That means we get our cooktop back and also a KITCHEN SINK! I’m officially OVER washing dishes (and grapes this morning) in my bathroom sink! Tomorrow will be backsplash day and then painting on Friday. Last night I painted all over the kitchen 5 samples of paint and we narrowed it down to 1. I’ll be sure to post photos!

Days 9 through 12

Do you sometimes wonder if I do any embroidery? I have been knee deep in this renovation lately ~ I can be found at Home Depot on any given morning looking at faucets, knobs, light fixtures, etc. We are finally at a stand-still and are waiting for counter tops. Jeff & I rode up to the boondocks Wednesday and picked out our granite, so now we sit back clean, dust and vacuum and wait for that to happen, hopefully BY next Thursday. I’m squeezing in a customer order here and there lately and have a few “jobs” to work on this weekend and next week. Here is a towel I did and I love this fabric! It’s Riley Blake and I’m a sucker for green and pink. This is the AC Whale.

Here are the kitchen pics from Days 9 ~ 12. We’ve come a long way!

 

This will be a “buffet” type cabinet. You’ll see it with the corbels added a little later.

Our pre-marriage washer and dryer look a little rough with the new laundry room, and the washer has actually made a crazy noise since we moved in. But, hopefully they’ll survive a little while longer!

LOVE the cubbies ~ you’ll see an updated photo down below!

Love the hood! This is before any molding.

Funny side note here ~ you may notice Jeff in his YMCA soccer coach’s t-shirt. What you can’t see is that it was WET! There is nothing like frantically getting ready for soccer and realizing A) both boys’ shin guards are unwashed from the previous game and scary FILTHY and B) Coach’s shirt is in the washing machine. He dried it for 5 minutes and then laid it out on the dash of the car on the way there hoping it would dry a little more. We are still catching up on laundry.

Sorry, no more hair washing sink!

 

 

Here is the buffet area again ~ molding has since been added and this will have granite counter tops as well. You may notice the door 2nd from the right coloring is a little “off”. It is, and will have to be replaced. The right drawer is actually off too. I’m excited about this piece and am already thinking of commissioning AMR Art to paint something for the space between the counter and the top cabinet!

Day 11 ~ we can now microwave and bake! Not that we would, but we can!

The island is taking shape.

 

Fridge back in place! Yeah ice and water!! Still missing my sink.

Day 12 ~ Details! Molding and trim were added and it looks great!

I like a little bead board too!

It’s coming together ~ you’ll notice a few knobs as well.

Anddddddd our cubbies!

Super excited about these ~ finally a place for the backpacks and soccer cleats!

Finishing touches on the island. You may notice the dust. We will be battling it for a while!

I had a couple of people ask who did our cabinets. I happen to have a connection! Jeff works for Bishop Cabinets during the day (and Applique Cafe at night). So that’s where they came from, but we used Adams Interiors to figure it all out and help us “design” the kitchen, and a guy named Aaron Corbin did our tile, cut out the wall to the den and 1,891 other things we asked him to do. We’ve been super duper pleased with everyone involved! Like I said, now we wait for the counters, then backsplash, painting (picking out paint colors now) and we still lack some molding and our drawer pulls. We also redid Sissy’s cabinet and are redoing the other guest bath cabinets, so I’ll post pics of those later too.

Did anyone get in on the Target Missoni craze? I saw it on the news but didn’t think much about it. Wednesday morning I went to Target to return something, and when I walked in I saw a friend of mine and another girl I knew hovering over the ladies who were restocking. A few minutes later a couple of other girls I knew came in. I ended up with a pair of tights, mostly because I felt like I needed to buy something Missoni after all the craze!

Off to soccer! We have Virginia’s Run in the morning! Jeff is doing the 5K and then we’ll all do the 1 mile fun run (the 5 of us). This might tell you how much of a non-excersizer I am… I found myself at Academy today buying some of the cute trendy Nike shorts for my mile run! I must dig out my sports bra tonight….

Day 7 and 8

Yesterday I managed to squeeze in a couple of customer items. It seems lately I am turning my machine on once a week. The rest of the week I am running errands (18 stores today to find leotards for Sissy ~ she starts ballet Monday!!!!!) or doing homework or cleaning up something or watching the kids play outside. The below bib was brought to me so I do not know where to find them (other than Embellish (local store) here in Montgomery). It matches the gown I monogrammed and posted not too long ago (may have posted on Facebook?). The font is MWP Sunny and I did the burp cloth ~ 4×6 ply cloth diaper from embroiderthis.com. One day I will compare these diapers to the Gerber ones you get at Walmart! I love these – they are thick and even (with straight edges). AC Tutu design and I dusted off my sewing machine once again to sew the ruffle ribbon on the bottom. I’m sure there is a real name for this trim/ribbon, but I have no idea what it is!? I have it in hot pink and turquoise too.

I also did this towel ~ AC Pirate Ship. The striped fabric is “Children at Play by Sarah Jane for Michael Miller”.

On to the kitchen… Yesterday nothing much happened ~ they brought our washer & dryer back in (HOORAY) so I was able to wash clothes again! I washed 2 loads Sunday at my SIL’s house and that has been it, so I have piles!

 Today the cabinets came in to the house. They are scattered everywhere and they will start installing tomorrow morning! When we started this we decided we’d do the kitchen, eating area and laundry room, plus Sissy’s bathroom and that would be it for now. Later we’d do the guest bath downstairs and our bathroom and maybe the 2 baths upstairs. Today our contractor came by to take out Mallory’s cabinet (while we weren’t at home), only he accidentally took out the guest bath cabinets instead. Uhhh can we say OOPS! Jeff & I thought it was hilarious and were quite surprised to find no cabinet in the guest bath, and now we’re ordering a new cabinet for that ASAP.

Imagine walking in to see this when you didn’t expect it! I guess if this is our only major snafu then we’re OK! Mallory’s cabinets will be white!

Here are several pieces of the island which will be a new feature to the kitchen. Our old kitchen did not have an island and we’re doing it in a darker stain.

And the rest of the cabinets are scattered across the kitchen and eating area! I was excited about this one…

We’re in the process of picking out our knobs and pulls, but here are some of the cabinets! These are taupe with mocha glaze.

 

I can’t wait to see what all they do tomorrow! It’s all coming together! Still lots to do – countertops, backsplash, painting, lighting, etc.

I am exhausted and going to bed ~ for a short week it has been a long (busy) week! Have a great weekend and I’ll be sure to post pics of Day 9 (tomorrow ~ Friday)!

We managed to do a design this week and we are working on more as I type! Here is our Christmas Wagon, which I will try to sample tomorrow! Have a great weekend ~ dare I say War Eagle!!