Saturday, December 31, 2011

Ringing In The New Year



Hooray for 2012!

I love new beginnings so when New Years Eve rolls around I am always excited.  Fresh starts are amazing opportunities.  Some of the things I am looking forward to this year are:

1) I will run a half marathon and full marathon.

2) I will lose 30 more pounds.  This goes hand in hand with number one.

3) I will learn to cook using fresh produce and whole grains.  Processed foods will be limited in this house from now on.  This one will be tough but our bodies will thank me.  I will give up those 5 Hour Energy shots.

4) I will grow my business.

5) I will improve my friendships and cast my net wider for new relationships with new and exciting people.

6) I will take that class to learn how to use my awesome big girl camera.

7) I will learn to knit or crochet.

8) I will repair the relationship with my sister.  I love her.  She was my first best friend and I miss her.

9) I will go to church more.

10) I will be a better mom.

I have many other items on my list that need to be more specific or tweaked.  I'll get to those eventually but these are my top priorities.

By the way, 12 years ago today, my husband and I had our first date.  Just another reason why New Years Eve is so special to me.  I fell in love with my perfect match and started a beautiful family with him.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

TEEN FICTION Phenomanon


At thirty-four, I consider myself to be a responsible, mature adult with a wonderful husband and awesome three-year old son. Yet, I hide a shameful secret; I love teen fiction.

As soon as I jumped on the Twilight bandwagon, I was hooked. At first, I thought something was wrong with me when the bookstore employee (who was probably still in high school) became my most trusted literary advisor. I promptly go in for more books as soon as I am done with one and, let me tell you, she knows a full synopsis on almost all of them. I was giddy with excitement over meeting her. I asked myself, what is wrong with me? Do I have a problem? Am I disturbed in some weird psychological way to be so interested in books aimed at an audience two decades younger? Even worse, am I a Twilight Mom? Ew.


I do not want to be any of those things, so naturally, I rationalized my obsession, and this is what I came up with:


First, I am 34 years old. Around our mid thirties, women start to go through what I call the notice-every-wrinkle-we-aren’t-young-anymore phase. We are well out of our roaring fun twenties and headed for our (ugh) forties! In a nutshell, I feel old. These stories make me feel young again with all of the angst, romantic boyfriends (that doesn’t even exist in high school), resolvable problems, and simple relationships. And furthermore, I have a grown up adult mind to process such things.


This brings me to my second rationalization: life experience has made me much smarter. How many times have we said, “I wish I could go back, knowing what I know now”? Well, we can, in a sense. And with our mature brains, we see just how unimportant the crises of those few short years of high school really were. Specifically, the “mean girls” who made me hate high school. I was tortured by “The Tammys.” Back then, these two witches were the bane of my existence. I also thought they had it all. Now I know better. I know now they were probably just insecure. Or maybe they were just buttholes. Maybe they still are buttholes, and hopefully buttholes with really ugly husbands. But at least now I don’t care.


My final rationalization is that the story lines are far less complicated than reality. As a mother and a wife, I constantly have my hands in several complicated projects at once. I am trying to start a business, raise a gentleman, and run a household in a real world with real and complicated problems. I don’t need more complication. I don’t need more sadness and worry. Maybe that is why I seldom read nonfiction. I know a sexual abuse victim who struggles to raise her daughters without bitterness. I know a mother who lost her eleven-month-old son to a rare disease. I know a cancer patient who right now is just waiting to die who agonizes over leaving behind two young children and a wife who adore him. Teen fiction is a simple escape from the tragedies and complications facing us each day. Books like Twilight offer a temporary refuge where I can escape for a few short hours and enjoy a time without real-life worries, like when we were teenagers.


So I am not weird. I am a busy lady whose innocent escape into teendom is healthy and, well, uncomplicated…

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Revenge, Mad Housewife style...



Revenge, worthy of The Bloggess' approval (I hope).

Two nights ago, my husband and I had a small spat.  He said something kind of mean, so I (naturally) retaliated like a mature adult.

First, instead of going to the gym, I ran all of the gas out of his car.  I mean, I got it down to 10 miles within empty, so he would have to stop on his way to work.

Second, I programmed all of his XM radio stations to the Studio 54 channel (that's all disco, all the time, bitches).

Third, and this is not so awesome, but whatever.  I re-wrapped his Christmas presents in little boy birthday themed wrapping paper. 

Take that.

He apologized, We are all good now.

But FunJen said I should definitely apologize for the disco channels.

Cheers!
Mallorie

Thursday, December 15, 2011

FunJen:  I think I have shoulder cancer
 
Me:  WHAT???
 
FunJen:  my shoulder hurts really bad
and i cant lift my arm
or push things
 
Me: you dont have cancer. stop that
 
FunJen:a degenerative joint contition that will result in my arm falling off
i dont know if i'll be able to run with one arm
I'll probably fall down
 
 
Me:  i'll hold you up.  and give you an arm
i am an organ donor
 
I think I aggrivated a pre-existing condition last night when I made ginger snaps
 
 
Me:
i wont wait til death. i'll give you anything
 
FunJen:
with the mixer
because I dont have a kitchenaide mixer
so I had to hold it myself
 
Me:
you can have mine...and my arm.
 
 
FunJen:
LOL
you need your arm to pick up your kid

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

I Am A More Evolved Life Form Than My Husband...

...and I have proof.



My husband browses through my Facebook page.  When I say browsing, I mean he uses my account to find old friends (girlfriends), etc.   He will occasionally notice what some of his employees type in their status updates too (to the ones I am friends with, I'm so sorry and watch out) .  He does not snoop, trust me.  We aren't that couple.  I swear.  Anyway, I said to him "Why don't you just start your own Facebook page?  Its really easy," (he is 40ish and typed his college papers on a typewriter, if you are a youngin' reading this, it really happened.  We didn't have computers).  His reply?  "Facebook is for freaks."

Um, ok?  Whatever.  It isn't a battle I would choose.  I accepted it as one of his quirks.  Well, yesterday we were discussing my awesome-totally-badass-BFF that you will hear a lot about in this blog (FunJen) and something about where she went to college, because there is some major shit going down there.  Anyway, so we were discussing this news story and here is how the conversation went:

Husband: Oh, did you hear about %$#@&*^ waiving his trial? (I changed this sentence to protect my totally badass friend from shitty comments)

Me: Oh, yes, FunJen said something about it on Twitter.

Husband: Oh.  Does she twit?

Me: What the hell?  (laughing so hard I'm snorting)  Its Tweet, honey.

Husband: Whatever.

In order to evolve as humans, we have to change.  My husband has no desire whatsoever to learn anything about social networking.  I googled "hashtags, and how to use them" when I signed up for Twitter.  If I cannot find it on the Internet, I'll ask my 20 year old niece (she can keep a secret) or my teenage nephews.  Which by the way, are in their "stupid decision making sexual prime", so I use Facebook to make sure they aren't doing anything stupid that will wreck their lives.  Social networking is good, folks.

I use it to promote my blogs, increase my business, stalk my exes, keep in touch with other busy moms, stalk my exes, find and register for awesome races...you get it.

Anyway.  My point is, I am more evolved (take that, honey, women are better) than my husband because he absolutely refuses to social network at all, or even learn.  I did, and do, or whatever.  Maybe there is hope for him yet because he did start texting (ha, "texting" was not even in spellcheck) this year.

Have a wonderful day!  And Happy Running!

Mal

Friday, December 9, 2011

AMAZING friends.

I am dealing with a delicate situation regarding my child at my house right now and have some really crappy feelings: guilt, a little depression and fear.  I lean on my best friends during these times, and let me tell you, I have some ass-kicking, amazing friends.  I thought this reply to my "pity-party/bad feelings/venting" was awesome.  It is what my best girl friend said to me (during our daily FB chats):

he has two amazing parents who love him
look at all the shit you two had to go through to get him
it's not like you just got drunk and forgot to wear a condom one night and were like, well ok i guess i'll have a kid.
he gets to spend his whole life knowing that his parents really really wanted him
 
I love her so much, and thought this warranted its own blog post.  I hope everyone out there has a friend like this.  It makes life easier.  And this particular friend has actually made my life a hell of a ride. Love you, FJFC!
 
Peace,
 
Mal

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

TEAM Sparkle

I ran across this group on Twitter.  The word "sparkle" definitely got my attention and they tweet a lot about running, which is my new thing if you haven't guessed.  So I decided to check them out.  I found their facebook page right away.

Before I go on, let me add this little note.  I noticed some really cute girls at The Hot Chocolate 5K rocking some too cute tutus.  My interest was piqued but I quickly forgot about it after that hot mess.

Anyway, back to the story...
TEAM Sparkle is a group of women that promote active lifestyles through running, walking, biking, etc.  I read this about them on their facebook page:

Originally debuted at the Huntington Beach Surf City Marathon, Team Sparkle Running Skirts are poised to take the running world by storm.

Team Sparkle Running Skirts definitely are not the latest & greatest in high-tech athletic gear. Instead they are designed with the “wow” factor in mind…Why just run, when you can sparkle?

When you purchase a sparkle skirt, you join Team Sparkle. A group of wo
men who understand YOU and who YOU are. While wearing your sparkle skirt, not only will your family & friends be able to spot you a mile away, you will (literally!) receive compliments galore, and you will have the confidence that comes with knowing you have Team Sparkle, a collective group of women in all ages, shapes, size & ability, “at your back.”

So go ahead, pull your skirt on & let out your inner sparkle.


And then there is their mission statement (which rocks):

We provide sparklesational running skirts that inspire & motivate women to run... whether it's their 1st, or 100th race.

Everyone is looking for a little motivation from time to time.  Right now, my friend Julie H. says she needs some.  Maybe she will find it with TEAMSparkle.  I'm ordering a skirt, for sure.

And all I have to say is RUN GIRLS RUN!

Be active! 

Mal

Holiday Gift Ideas

For Runners...





For Writers


For Moms





Good luck in your shopping fellow runners, mothers, and writers!

Mal

VBR's 5K Playlist

I made this playlist to get me through the 5k's I do.  I am now able to run the entire 3.1 miles thanks to the beats and motivation I get from these songs.

Rolling In The Deep, Adele
Not Your Fault, Awolnation
Boom Boom Pow, Black Eyed Peas
Howlin For You, Black Keys
Blackout, Breathe Carolina
Get Some, Likke Li
Uprising, Muse
Punching In A Dream, The Naked and Famous
I Know You Want Me, Pitbull
Krazy, Pitbull (Im a HUGE Lil Jon fan, follks)
The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie, Red Hot Chili Peppers
My Body, Young The Giant
We Found Love, Rihanna
Lovin every Minute Of It, Loverboy (a true classic)

What are your "running playlists" looking like these days?  Do you hear any songs that make you want to totally get moving?

Mal

Who is Virginia Belle Running?

I am a thirty-something female who was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.  I was transplanted to the beautiful state of Virginia in 2002 when my dear husband accepted a job here.  I love Virginia.  Its beautiful.  The only state with mountains, beaches, wineries, and farmland!  Virginia has some amazing horse farms and I love horses.  I secretly hope we get to stay here for a long long time.  I love my community and feel really at home here.  And let me not fail to mention, Washington DC is just north and it has some fine running clubs!  Oh, and did you know Virginia is for Lovers?

First off, I am a mom.  I adore my son.  I brought him home from the hospital just over three years ago.  The first year was rough.  Really rough.  Everything from my marriage to my sanity was tested by this sweet little guy.  But it was all worth it.  Every mom knows how trying it is, but how worth it, it is.  But I am also a wife, a friend, a runner, a writer, a humorist and one generally happy lady.

After my son turned one, I was pushing 200 pounds, pre-diabetic, smoking almost a pack of cigarettes a day and depressed.  Why was I so depressed?  I had everything in the world I had longed for, for so many years.  I had the husband I had dreamed of since I was a teenager.  I finally, after years of fertility treatments, the baby I had longed for.  Simple answer: I was unhealthy.  And fat.  And unhealthy.  I could not walk up a flight of stairs without becoming winded.  How sad is that?

I started out at the gym three to four times a week with another mom-buddy of mine.  It was my chance to be somewhere completely for myself.  I got to talk to adults and exert some serious energy.  After a few months, it really became a habit.  A good habit.  I felt great.  So my next goal was to quit smoking.  I stopped smoking on May 17, 2010.  I have had some slip ups due to stress because I conditioned myself to deal with stress by lighting up.  I have to find another way to deal with stress, although its very little these days.  I continued going to the gym but increased my workouts to six days a week.  It works for me.  I am not a health nut.  I don't eat grains regularly and I don't brush my teeth with twigs.  I'm not a tree-huggin, grain eating yogi, but I'm healthier.  And I am learning how to eat better and treat my body better.  There is always new and ever changing information.  I am finding what is right for me.  I am happy and confident and healthy in a size 8.  I threw my scale out the window.  When I started working out at the gym I was  a size 16.  As far as I'm concerned, I am half my size.  In September 2010, I ran my first 5k and absolutely fell in love with running.  Especially running races.  Its competitive enough for me.  I like to compete with myself, not others.  I found it was a perfect fit.  And I had a very close friend by my side who also fell in love with running.  We have the most fun finding unique and fun races in the metro area.  I will be running my tenth race very soon.  I guess it is sort of a milestone for me.  I have done 8 5k races and one 10k race.  I start training for my first half marathon in January.

I am not only a runner as I am not only a mother.  I am a wife to a good man.  I grew up without a strong example of a marriage and as a result I was very picky when dating.  I did not take marriage lightly.  I certainly went through many jackasses (my twenties were my donkey years) before I found my perfect match.  My husband and I enjoy good wine, good food, and good friends.  He likes to play golf and sail.  We are very mellow people, until it comes to the University of Georgia and the University of Kentucky facing off in any sport.  That gets ugly between us.

I hope you found some good information here as to who I am.  I love to write and they say write what you know.  I know my life.  I know me.  And I would love to get to know you, too.  Feel free to leave your comments.

Happy Running!

Mal

Monday, December 5, 2011

Canton, GA Child Abduction and Murder

As a mom, this just breaks my heart.  This is my hometown so it hits close to home for two reasons.
I pray God is holding this little sweetheart in Heaven and wrapping his arms around her family while they grieve.

Photo courtesy of www.ajc.com


What a horrible tragedy.

Sadly and with a heavy heart.

Mallorie

Virginia Belle Running

This is my first blog post, as a test really. I have another blog that started out completely related to my son and doing fun things with him but I went on to include some topics that were just mom related, or wife related, or life related. So I wanted to start another blog for those other things here.

Thank you for stopping by. And I hope you enjoy the topics I have rumbling around in this head of mine. I'll cover everything, I'm pretty sure, from running to motherhood, to wife hood and beyond. I love to write and I seriously need the outlet.

Washington DC Hot Chocolate 15/5K

My awesome and fun
running buddy and BFF, Jennifer


We all know what a fiasco this was. I do not have to re-iterate all of the complaints being posted to facebook, yelp, active, and even the Better Business Bureau.

I would like to write about some positives for this race. But believe me, there is no credit due the race organizers for these pros.

First off. I got to spend some nice quality time with my best girlfriend and some of her friends. Which in turn, will probably become my friends in the future once we get to know each other better. You cant have too many friends, in my opinion. We're facebook friends already, so that means we are well on our way.

Me, post race.
Secondly, that quality time was spent without my trying three year old pulling on my clothes, running around screaming, knocking shit over, etc. It was nice and quiet adult conversation. With a few "motherfuckers" thrown in because my kid was no where close to repeat it. And I love that word.

Third, I got to go to a restaurant after the race. A grown up restaurant. Okay, it was a bar, but even better. I had two bloody marys and a beer. I can't do that with my kid around. Okay, I could but someone would surely call child services on me.

Did I mention we had mimosas in the parking deck after the race? That was fun. We toasted to ourselves for surviving our worst race ever.

Happy Running!

Mal