UP for some Real Me?

I lived in Africa for a year as many of you may know.  While there, I met this amazing girly who I absolutely love and we now have skype dates on Saturday that seriously make my week.  But, see, here’s the thing.  She doesn’t like movies. Like at all. And she rubbed off on me.

I have yet to go to a movie theater since being back in the States, shame, eh? I did thoroughly enjoy Earth from Red Box and would be so incredibly happy to own that entire DVD series.  My “bonding time” with my mama over “The Bachelor” is just about as poppy as I get when it comes to this stuff.

All of that to say that yesterday, I watched a movie after I went on my long run (and yes, we were friends!).  Remember how I told you that I ran 16.1k, well, that was on the docket again for this week.  Though, this time I ran outside (woot! woot! love me some warm(er) weather and running tights and wearing mittens to carry things) and listened to a whole jumble of worship songs*.  Plus, I improved my time!

Despite my speedy running and motivation to attempt to arrive on time, I didn’t…plus, when I got there I stopped and chatted for a bit with the pastor’s wife (love her and hey! relationships matter! and yes…still working on the time thing).  Thankfully, my friends (yes, I’ve been home long enough to even make “friends”) usually extend an extra big dose of grace. Hey, they must be friends if they’re already learning to not let me get away with my answers that aren’t answers (aka indecision) by helping me commit and they put up with my half inviting myself by saying that I so want/need to see said movie they are talking about watching.

By now, you must REALLY be wondering (or you’ve given up on this long post–usually I dislike long posts greatly and even spent time trying to make this shorter, but there’s just too much fun stuff to share….) what movie I would want/need to see….dun dun dun… UP.  Confession: the main reason I wanted to see this movie was because another fabulous girly I met in Africa watched this movie on the plane ride home (I fell asleep..I do that often especially during movies) and told me about an absolutely gut-wrenching line that simply made us BOTH teary eyed or should I say bawling (oh, side note: my eyes turn an amazingly gorgeous green when I cry)…as if we weren’t already since we were leaving “home.”  Today, I didn’t cry nearly as much as I would have if I had watched it then…I only got teary eyed and missed my people and my home.  All because of a few lines:

“It might sound boring, but the boring stuff I remember the most.”

“Thanks for the adventure, now go have a new one.”

Congrats to you if you made it this far!  So, your turn: have you seen UP? do you run on africa time?  do you like movies? tell me something I don’t know.

*Running Playlist for the day: Battlefield by Jordin Sparks, Everything Falls by Fee, More Like Falling in Love by Jason Gray, Rain it Down by Carlos Whittaker, There’s Only One by Caedmon’s Call, How He Loves by Kim Walker, This Day by Audio Adrenaline, You Said by Shane and Shane, Let My Love Open the Door by Audio Adrenaline, Glory to God Forever by Fee, This Could Be Our Day by Addison Road, God of Wonders by Third Day, Show Me Your Glory by Third Day, From the Inside Out by Hillson, Tomalo by Hillsong, Not Enough by Caedmon’s Call, Madly by Steve Fee, All We Need by Charlie Hall,

Running Around

“Authenticity has less to do with what I look like and more to do with what I say and do.” –Sarah

A while back there was thing called “Real Me” running around the “blogosphere.”  I kept intending to participate, but never ended up having a camera after those real me moments. Until tonight…

See, the real me loves to run.  I haven’t always. Back when I played tennis like it was my job, I loathed running.  But then, tennis season ended and I love the feeling of a good workout…

So, on a whim, I picked up running. I hit the pavement searching for cute little neighborhoods and found myself loving the mixture of music, God time, and the feelings afterward (from i hurt to okay I did that!).   Give or take about three years, here I am still running.

Now, as for the picture…I took this little gem right after my 16.1k (or 10 mile) run–sometimes I wonder why I do this to myself…  My legs hurt. I did not smell pretty. I’m pretty sure I had salt on my face. I had just listened to Battlefield on repeat 22 times to remind me to get my armor on (yes…I counted while I ran and I wanted to get my $1.29 worth out of the song I bought in part just for this ridiculously long run and check out Ephesians 6).

I’ve got my cross and heart necklace around my neck (I’ve worn the cross since high school and June gave me the heart last year–yeah…I never take it off…literally).  I have a watch on my right hand (and no, I’m not left handed, I just like that hand better for watches).  I’m wearing flip flops because that’s how I roll even in negative temperatures.

I’m missing my big earrings and sunglasses, but  just imagine they’re there because they normally are.  Oh, and yes, I’m taking a cheesy self-portrait hand out smiling style picture because I like documenting things like this and yes I smile in them…iPhoto has plenty of these stored away.

So, there’s a little glimpse into the real me. I’ll try to share more as these moments pop up, but I’ve written more than enough me…tell me something about the “real you” because I so would love hearing from you!!! (and yes, I use multiple exclamation points or question marks to emphasize that I really do want to know..I do) 🙂