Columbus Half Marathon!

Gonna keep this short and sweet. 

The Columbus half marathon is finally here.......

Maybe if I trained for it a little harder I would be a bit more ecstatic....

No For Realz. 

The farthest I have ran to train for this is 9 miles.... 

"But Joanna, you only have 4 miles after that to run"

Yeah. I know. Annnnddd... 

running 4 miles sucks. 

So Jo(W)anna do me a favor? 

Please refrain on bringing cake to bribe me to finish because this WILL happen.

Can't wait to cross that finish line...

...so I can take tons a pics with my new medalllll and post all about it...

Yup.

Have a good weekend.

1 Month till Marriage Life!

1 MONTH TO GO!!!!!

But who's counting?

High five....

...I am.

I honestly can't believe it was 10 months ago when Tony proposed. Gee wiz a year really does fly by and boy I am ready for this last month to fly by too. 

Cause:

Typically, I am very sappy about love and weddings and stuff, but here's what's up. We have a very serious problem in Facebook's recent world. Although I LOVE Tony (and like to share the fact that I do), and although it is quite obvious that I LOVE social media... a marriage and honeymoon are meant to be shared with your loved ones first and your creepers, er, acquaintances, second. Yes, I admit, I am a creeper too, BUT, in this case, everyone that I want to see my eventful wedding, will be there to see it!

Sooooo, I am going to make a promise to you right meow. I solemnly swear, pinky promise, cross my heart, stick needles in my eyes, and whatever else, that I will not:

1. Post a Facebook status referring to Tony as "Hubby", "The Hubs" or "Hubster" immediately after marriage. Example: "Sitting at the airport with the Hubby!!! <3 <3 <3"

Like, no. 

2. Change my relationship status the day after I get married. I've got more important things to do, if ya know what I mean.... 

3. "Check in" on Facebook during my honeymoon. Example: "Joanna just checked in at the "beach" in Sanibel Island - with Tony"

I didn't marry Facebook sooooo ummm... 

...not gonna spend time with it.

So what about after the honeymoon and back to reality? Will I log on to facebook, create a facebook status on how amazing everything was and post pictures??????

But Jo(W)anna know what? All I'm sayin is no matter how addicting social media is, whatever it is you want to share with the world can wait when it comes to your wedding and honeymoon. Take the time to give your undivided attention to your spouse with no interruptions. Replace the phone in your hand with a nice cold beverage and enjoy the beginning of married life.

No but seriously. 

If at all you catch myself doing ANY of these things for the week and a half after my wedding... screen shot it and publicly scold me. I will punish myself by watching Honey Boo Boo for a whole month.

Apple Pickin and Apple Makin!

Have I mentioned I L.O.V.E. FALL?!  

Seriously. It's the best. Makes me wanna dance.

I am on a HUGE hot apple cider, smoked Gouda cheese, candle lighting, craft making kick lately. 

Where do I even begin? 

Oh I know... Hobby Lobby. 

I don't know what it is about this season but for some reason my legs are forcing me into hobby lobby and my hands are uncontrollably grabbing craft supplies left and right. 

DIY Wreath Supplies: 
Hobby Lobby grapevine wreath: $4
Hobby Lobby Fall leaves: $6
Hobby Lobby Mini pine-cones: $3
Wreath Hanger - If you don't already have one, Hobby Lobby has all kinds from magnetic to over the door hanger. 
Hot Glue Gun - Again, if you don't already have one, you can certainly find these at Hobby Lobby or any other craft store! 

To Begin: Warm up apple cider, slice some cheese, and set up craft shop! :)

Next: Cut the leaves off the vine/stems and place them/hot glue them onto the wreath.

Cut the mini pine-cones (or whatever these are) off of the stem and begin to place them/hot glue them around the wreath!

And BAM! You have yourself a hand-made fall wreath!

oh hey there.

So with an hour of your time, a good snack, and some good hot apple cider (and when I say good, I mean it should be spiked), and you have yourself a hand-made wreath for under $20!! Don't want to spend the hour? Welp, good luck finding a pre-made one cheaper than that! ;) 

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My next fall excursion includes apples!.... lots of them. I mean like 60 of them. 

Helloooooo MacQueen Apple Orchard!

Warning: Picture overload up ahead! 

(It was really hard for me to only pick a few to share with you!)

If I was jussssst a little taller...

Jenny is extreme apple picking. Climbin trees and what not.

I prefer the ladder.

My bestie and I pickin apples! :) 

Look at all dem trees!

Breathtaking! 

Yay for apples!!!

yum yum yum

It took team work to carry this bag of apples to the car!

 So we rewarded ourselves with Maple Donuts! So. Effing. Good.

Dessert time! Peeling apples to make Apple Crisp! <-- Recipe here!

Didn't even realize until after I took this picture that the apples are smiling! :)

12 sliced apples or 10 cups of sliced apples!

Lay the sliced apples in a 13" by 9" baking pan.

Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.

Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.

Sand Castle?

Oh yes... we added mini Hershey chocolates to our recipe! :)

Before oven - Cook on temp. 350 for 45 minutes!

DING! All done! :) 

Yum yum yum! 

It would taste delicious with vanilla ice cream but since we indulged in donuts that I am 100% positive were not low calorie, we had to opt out of the ice cream.

(But I have a ton of left overs so I will be sure to pair it with ice cream this weekend!)

So Jo(W)anna know what? I am obsessed with Fall, Food and Pictures. End of story. 

Not sure what to do this weekend? Find a local apple orchard or pumpkin farm near you, they seriously make great day trips and especially great photo opportunities! 

Have a great weekend! :) 

Shout Out To a Local Celeb!

The other day I was having a conversation with a friend about the path's that people walk down after high school and college. You always imagine the pretty, popular girls growing up and getting everything they could ever dream of. You always imagine the cute, popular guys getting full rides to college because they either play sports or are just that really good looking.

Well, it's funny how life plays out sometimes. 

You grow up and see that most of the time, those who get everything handed to them just settle for contentment of where they are in life. And those who have had to work for everything (friendships, weight loss, education, etc.), well, they're living pretty damn good lives. Maybe not financially, no, not yet, but maybe eventually. Everything they have had to work for, they have more appreciation for. And for everything they have more appreciation for, they gain more humbled confidence. They are moved out of that white fenced, picture perfect, little old suburban town and pursuing their careers, dreams and passions in big cities. 

Where have we seen this before? It all sounds so familiar. Your right, this sums up every Taylor Swift song ever written. 

Let me just show you what I am talking about:

I am sure you can tell who this is just by the big ears and the crooked smile. If you could hear his lisp, you would know for sure who it was. Exactly the characteristics people made fun of him for in high school. 

Michael Phelps now?

 BAM! Girls on girls on girls touchin those abs. 

In yo face high school.

Ok next...

Who in the hell is this four-eyed, chubby McChubster with braces?

Ooooh ya know. 

Just this sexy piece of man meat who is only worth $75 million.

Ryan Seacrest. Marry me?

Ok now wait for it... 

O.M.G. Megan Fox????... nerd alert.

But ya know... Nothing a pair of tweezers and braces can't fix. 

Damn. Wish I looked like that after a good tweez job and braces. 

Anyways... you catch my drift. Never judge a book by it's cover because chances are that book is going to sell lots of copies. 

So where am I getting with all of this? Well, I wanted to do a local shout out to show support and appreciation for a friend who is working hard to reach her dream despite the criticism and hardships along the way....

Who is this gem? 

 

Taylor Dukes ladies and gentlemen!!

Bah hahahahaha!

(Sorry Tay. It was on Facebook so it's fair game!)

But in all reality. This talented, genuine, beautiful woman has come so far to be where she is today.

Begin Taylor Dukes shrine now. 

Taylor's voice, talent and passion for music keeps my coming back to her website and listening to her songs. If you are wondering, they are work friendly too. 

Take a listen: Without Me - an original. - My fave of all your originals by the way. 

There are more here: Taylor Dukes the Talented!

Girl you have such a uniqueness to you. I love it! 

But for real though. There are lots of other people I see from high school pursuing their careers and making it big and I couldn't be more happy and proud for them. I admire you all.

So Taylor... Jo(W)anna know what? WHEN you make it big, remember that I was the first person you ran into the law with (hehe), remember that we used to record songs on our super little speakers in our huge Mac computers together, remember that you attended my wedding, and MOST importantly, always remember how hard we used to laugh at this.... 

(Remind me why we thought this was so funny? Watching it now, it kinda creeps me out.)

Anyways... remember all of these sweet, sweet memories of ours because someday, I want those effing front row tickets when you open for Justin Bieber. To support you of course...

Keep up the amazing work, Taylor (and all you other dream chasers from high school) and see you in November!!!!

Gonna end the work day with your rendition of Pumped Up Kicks. Word.