Summer Goals

Alright so it's time to make my summer goals! I know technically school had been out for 3 weeks...but this minimester class has kept me in "school mode". Today being the last day of my minimester class, Summer can officially start!! :)

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Click here to check them out!! I know that I'll definitely be adding more to the list but for now, this is what I've come up with!

-Amy

Do you ever make goals for yourself?

What keeps you on track?

Fountain Hopping!

TODAY ROCKED!

I got my Running Streak on this afternoon! I knew I would want to sleep in this morning and that I had a bunch of work to get a head start on before I headed to my 1 o'clock class so I knew I wouldn't have time or feel up to a run this morning. So I promptly texted two of my friends and asked them to join me for a 1-miler on the bear trail (plus walking the rest) this afternoon after I got out of class! Hooray for accountability! I knew that if I didn't tell them I was going that I'd probably ditch it, since it is just so dang hot outside in the afternoons! Anyways...we ran 1 mile of the 2.3ish long Bear Trail on campus and walked the rest. Here's our adventure:

It was in the 90's when we ran/walked the Bear Trail so we were all sweaty and HOT afterwards! Baylor just happens to have a bunch of fountains on campus....so I decided to cross an item off of my Baylor Bucket List and go Fountain Hopping (aka take pictures in all the fountains on Baylor's campus). It was so fun. Plus it was a great cool off after running! Check it out!

Outside of Brooks Flats

also near Brooks Flats

new fountain outside of the SUB

same fountain by the SUB, but I love love love this pic
of me and the bestie!

Sid Rich courtyard

super sad that the construction crews on campus
had the fountain by the BSB off!
This would have been the  most epic picture y'all.
Promise I'll get a real one with it on before the year is up!

fountain by North Village

Me, Zane, Solange

My friends are awesome! They like to be spontaneous like me!

My last day of minimester is tomorrow! I've learned so much from this class!! Wish me luck on my presentation! I'm presenting on healthy living for college students.

Headed off to bead! Night all.

-Amy

Running Streak!

Well I am officially back in Waco! Just got finished with today's class (YES! only 2 to go and I'll be done with mini-mester) A million little things got added to my to-do list today, in order to finish out this class strong. I have to finish up a bunch of my projects to turn them all in on Thursday! phew! I've got a busy night ahead of me...

So...besides my to-do list for class, I've added a "to-do" to my Summer To-Do List (which I've yet to post about yet):

join in on the Summer Running Streak

read about it here!
 

One of the fitness blogs I follow has consistently been posting and reposting about this "streak" and I last minute decided to do it today! So, yes, I technically started one day late but to make up for it I ran an extra mile today. Total I ran 3.54 miles...with occasional breathers. BOY WAS IT HOT TODAY! (upper 80's) Excuse all the sweatiness but here I am after today's run!

It felt awesome to get back outside and run again! When I run, it's usually every other day so that my muscles can recover so I'm a little nervous that this "streak" is EVERY day, but I think if I take it easy and not push myself too hard that it will be okay.

also, I don't have a twitter, so I won't be able to follow everyone else who is doing the streak, but I do have an instagram and I plan on documenting every mile with that and of course I'll tag it with #rwrunstreak. Find me on instagram and follow me! @amy_kate

Here's to accountability and staying in shape!

-Amy

ArtsFest 2012

Every year on memorial day weekend, downtown in Fair Park, ArtsFest happens. Mom and I have been to many other local arts shows but I've never been to the one in Fair Park. We decided to check it out yesterday.

We took the Dart train downtown, which conveniently lets you off right at Fair Park!

Here we are, waiting for the train to pick us up!

We ended up walking around and looking at exhibits for about an hour and a half. That's about all we could take. It was SOO hot yesterday!!

One of my favorite sights of Fair Park: The Texas-sized Ferris Wheel :)

Cooling down with a refreshing tropical smoothie!

I've had such a fun time with my mom this weekend! It's been so nice to get to spend so much time with her and at home before I finish up my mini-mester class and then head off to camp for the summer!

Today I'm just sitting around the house, mainly working on my projects that I have left to finish and turn in this week! I can't believe my class is almost over! It went by so fast! TOTALLY WORTH IT, for a 3 hour credit class! DONE :)

Happy Memorial Day to everyone and thanks to everyone that this day is supposed to recognize! We are forever grateful for what you do!

-Amy

Celebration Time!

Well I've just had the most wonderful weekend already...and it's ONLY Saturday!

Mom and I had a slow morning this morning, made scrambled eggs for breakfast and sipped on coffee until about noon!

We then headed downtown (with Hank too) to check out an art festival she saw in the newspaper...well turned out that you had to pay to get into the festival. ($50 for both of us!!! outrageous if you ask me!) So we ended up not going in. Well, the trip wasn't a total bust. I got a couple shots of downtown and we both enjoyed the gorgeous weather, if even just for a little while!

Hank sun-roofing it up!

Since the art fest was a bust, we went to the mall to do what girls to best, SHOP! I found a new swimsuit for summer and both mom and I bought new dresses! I knew she'd need one for her surprise tonight!

So like I said here, Mom's birthday is next week, but I surprised her tonight by taking her out to dinner!! She knew all day that we had plans tonight and that she was going to need to dress up for it, but she had no idea where we were going. We came home after shopping and got all spiffy-ed up and hopped in the car! I drove, of course, and headed to dinner. By the time I turned on the street where the restaurant was, she totally knew, but boy was she surprised!!! SUCCESS!! Wanna see some pics from our dinner? Of course you do!

The atmosphere was wonderful and the service was fantastic!! Doesn't my mom look beautiful?!

The birthday girl!

Our delicious appetizer!

Mom's dinner: (soft shell crab, her fav)

My dinner: (The Cafe Pacific Sampler; salmon and spinach, sea bass on top of corn risotto, and almond crusted pan-fried sole on top of green beans with new potatoes!)

Mom's birthday treat:

I was so impressed by the service and the friendliness of the wait staff! Our food was literally perfection! I couldn't have asked for a better place to spoil my mom for her birthday!! You should totally check this place out for a special occasion meal in Dallas!

After dinner we drove down the road a little bit to take a mini-photo shoot in one of mom's favorite parks in dallas, Turtle Creek.

I just LOVE birthdays! They are my favorite holiday for sure! There is just nothing like celebrating the life of someone you love. My mom is amazing! She is the most beautiful woman (inside and out) that I know and the strongest. She's always my shoulder to lean on and I'm so blessed to have not only such an amazing role model but a best friend in my mom :) She definitely deserves way more spoiling than I'm ever able to give her! Love you mom and Happy (early) Birthday!!

-Amy

Home.

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I'm home for the weekend! I got out of class today and headed north to spend the weekend with mom!

We're headed out tomorrow to do what girls do best, SHOP. Can you say Memorial Day Weekend sales?!

I also have a little surprise in store for her tomorrow night.

We'll just say her birthday is coming up this week and since I won't be in town to celebrate, she deserves a little spoiling while I'm here!

HAPPY WEEKEND TO EVERYONE!

-Amy

iPhone life.

I just love my iphone camera! It's not the best camera obviously but nothing can beat it's convenience! Out of the 500 some odd photos I have on there....sheesh! Well according to the past couple picture I've taken, here's what's been going on in my life.

The past couple days have been filled with lots of "studying", aka. composing/arranging, 

knitting, and mason jars.

A peek at my strawberries and cream overnight oats! (One of my favorite summer breakfasts) My mom recently got rid of, i.e. gave me, a ton of mason jars she has had just sitting around in her garage. I gladly took them off her hands and have been using them for drinks and food! I'm sure a couple DIY's will appear over the next week or so!

I love summer lunches and big glasses of

ice water!!

A friend of mine asked me to make some baby booties for one of their friends who is having a baby girl soon :)

Baby Bootie #1 finished! This is the first baby bootie I've ever made. I think I'll add some pompoms to it to finish it off :)

and the arranging continues! I'll be sure to post a recording of the finished product once I'm done :)

Do you use your phone camera a lot?

What been going on in your world, according to the pictures you've taken lately?

Galveston!

I know I'm a little bias...but I think I have the most wonderful friends in the world!

And my girls make my life so smily!

(left to right) me, Emily, Shelby, Marcie, Erin, and Solange

Marcie's fam has a bay house down in Galveston and invited us all out for the weekend! We all headed out there last Friday.

Friday night we all went out for some DELICIOUS burgers! I had the most scrumptious turkey burger I've ever had, plus these ginor-mo onion rings!

me and my Baybuh!

We spent Saturday morning at the beach swimming, laying out, and enjoying each other's company. What else are friends for?!

We headed back to the bay house for lunch and spent the rest of the day relaxing some more. fishing. napping. laying out. and KAYAKING!

One of my favorite moments of the weekend was kayaking out into the middle of the bay with Kev!

My friends are wonderful and I am so blessed to have gotten the chance to spend the weekend out of town with them! I can't wait to take more adventures with them!

...And for now I'm back in Waco and almost done with my second out of 3 weeks of my minimester class! and then I'm off to camp!!

night all!

-Amy

One amazing weekend!

Stay tuned for a recap of my amazing weekend...coming later today!

Galveston Bound

And I'm off! I'm headed out of town to the beach for the weekend with an amazing group of friends!

Kev is joining us too :D

Bring on the sun!

I'm so excited to spend the weekend with my man and all my lovely friends.

I'll be away from the blog for the weekend, but I'll be back in a few days to share my adventures!

-Amy

Ho Hum Hump Day

Golly!!! My legs are killing me! Jacob's Ladder kicked my butt! literally! My thighs have been on fire all day yesterday and this morning when I woke up! It's a good pain though for sure ;)

Headed out for a run this morning. Okay, so does anyone else just have "off" run days?? I went on a 2-miler later this morning. I started off feeling good...the first mile was fine but then I turned around for mile number 2 and I just felt like the whole last half of my run took so much effort and a lot of will power to not stop...bleh. I felt awesome once I finished. I mean, I always feel great afterwards but it just seemed like a lot of work today. I guess it could have been the heat....I was out later than normal and the sun was definitely up so maybe that's what dragged me but I don't know.

Here I am: happy that I ran...but not happy about
how the actual run went. 

Hope Friday's run goes better!

On a more positive note, the view during my run was fabulous! Can I just say how much I LOVE Cameron Park! Us Wacoans are so stinkin' lucky! I enjoyed this view after I cooled down while I was stretching:

I headed off to class this afternoon and we spent most of it working on our "Notation Project". For mine, I'm arranging a four-part a cappella version of The Lord's Prayer. I'm super excited to finish it :) It's super awesome to already be proud of something I just started!

Now I'm off to practice choir music for next year! Let the memorizing begin!

Have a lovely evening everyone!

-Amy

Do you ever have "off" running days?
What do you do to get over them?

Challenge Accepted

...and my summer begins!!! well...kind of. I finished out my semester strong and passed all my classes with flying colors :) Now it's time to start the Maymester. I'm taking an Intro to Music Software class for 3 weeks. It's Monday-Thursday for 3 hours. We had our first class today and I'm actually really looking forward to it! I consider myself pretty technology savvy, but I could definitely learn some more tricks ;) Our teacher is probably in his late 20's and is a super nerd...but it's in the best way possible. He's kind of a hipster nerd. It's cute.

I got home and needed to go for a run. I drove in to Waco this morning from my dad's so I didn't get a chance to go workout this morning so I decided to treat myself and I headed to Cameron Park for a run and a new challenge!

I usually just run around the trail that goes around campus but have been dying to find a trail that is run-able in the Park. I think I'm going to become a huge fan of this one. Points of it had lots of overhanging trees but when they cleared there was always a great view of the river :) Pretty rad running view if you ask me!

I also challenged myself to run up and down the Jacob's Ladder. It's a huge series of steps and not only did I run them once BUT I did them twice! Check them out:

It feels great to take on a challenge and complete it :) Here's to a challenging next 3 weeks. The class...probably won't be that challenging but I will challenge myself physically while I'm here for the next 3 weeks! :) For sure will be running more! I've missed it!

-Ames