I'm back in New Jersey after spending 5 days in Mexico and it's somehow hotter in NJ than it was in Mexico. Hello 101 degrees temperature! Whew, take me back to Mexico so I can have a break from the heat! Last week, Stephen and I packed our bags and made a run for the border! As a graduation gift to me, Stephen told me he wanted to take me on a trip so last Monday we headed to Playa del Carmen in Mexico! Up and ready to catch our flight to Cancun! This was Stephen's first trip out of the country and he was ready to get his first stamp in his passport. He got his first passport late last year and since he's a huge Cowboys fan, I got him a personalized passport cover for Christmas. Stephen was so excited to get a window seat...until we got to our seat. He was seriously the only "window" seat without a window. I blame the Krutz Kurse. We decided to stay at the Hilton Playa del Carmen and it's smack in the middle of town but also a beachfront property.  Afte...

  Oh June, you were so so good to me this month when it came to reading. I was able to read seven books and loved almost all of them! I had a nice mix of books this month with two inspired by real events, three beach reads, one chick lit and one suspense/thriller. I started the month off strong with Keeping Lucy . I picked this book up on a whim while at a bag day of a used book sale. Those days always get me. As many books as you can fit in a paper bag for $5-10?!? Yes please!! This book is set in the early 1970s and is based on the story of a woman who is forced to give her daughter up because she has special needs and that would reflect poorly on her family. The daughter is sent to a "special school" and they have no contact with her. When articles are released in the paper saying how horrible the school is, the mother kidnaps her own daughter to save her. While the story is fiction, it was inspired by true events about homes that were labeled as schools for children with ...

 What a whirlwind week it's been! I ran a half marathon last Sunday and then hopped in the care Monday and drove back to West Virginia. I feel like I haven't stopped since I got out of the car Monday evening. Get ready for photo overload from the race. It was Stephen's first half marathon so I wanted to make sure it was documented well and took lots of pictures. After breakfast at our favorite diner in Westfield, we hopped in the car and set off for Atlantic City where our weekend was. We drove straight to the convention center where the expo was to pick up our race bibs and packets. We were pumped to get our bibs. One step closer to the race! I'd never used the Normatec leg recovery system so when they had a free demo, I quickly jumped in the chair and let the compression take over. Looking over the course map to get a little bit of a bearing of where we'd be running the next day. Not only is the distance of the race 13.1 miles, my lucky number is 13 so I'll ta...

Happy Friday!! The weekend is almost here, we just have to make it through the day. This weekend is a big weekend over here, not only am I running a half marathon, but my boyfriend Stephen is running his first half marathon! I'm linking up with Erika and Andrea to share my Friday Favorites and in honor of the upcoming race, this post is dedicated to my favorite running things! I've only had these shorts a couple of weeks but they have quickly become a favorite of mine. So much so that after I wore them the first time, I went out and got them in another color. All my running shorts have to have a pocket so I can store my keys but these have TWO pockets!! The pockets are large enough that I can fit my phone into it so I don't have to worry about wearing my arm band. The price on these is great and they're from Old Navy so there's almost always a sale going on! For size reference, I had to go up a size. When I was training for my first marathon, I had the worst bli...