From Haiti to the Balcony

A couple of weeks ago, Meaghan and I participated in a fund raiser run for a medical mission stationed in Haiti. It was called the 24-hour Tour d'Esprit. The premise of it is that teams have 24 runners who run in one hour blocks so that there is someone running around the clock. We ran together for the 10am hour and logged 6 miles for our team, the UT Medical Students. When it was all over, our team had logged 103 miles over the 24 hours.

That evening, after the run was over, we went to dinner and then went to the symphony. The title of the show was "Music as Muse" and was a compilation of music that inspired screenwriter Craig Brewer as he wrote his movies. If you don't know who Craig Brewer is, he is the writer and director of the films Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan as well as others and is a Memphis local. He was at the performance that evening and talked about how different classical pieces inspired different aspects of his films. The pieces ranged from the Overture from West Side Story to a few movements from Mozart's Requiem mass and a little bit of everything in between. It was a very enjoyable evening. Even Meaghan had a good time!

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend where we were able to enjoy some local events in this city of ours. The End.

Sweet 26

Two weeks ago from today I turned twenty-six, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Maybe that's why I have put off this post. I was ok with twenty-four because I was still in my early twenties. When I hit twenty-five, it hit me that I was in my mid-twenties, which I was still ok with. I am twenty-six now, and I for some reason get depressed thinking about it. Maybe because my mother had me at twenty-six, and I always wanted to be a young mother. I just have to remember that Brandon and I are in a completely different situation than my parents were in at our age. Anyways, now that I am twenty-six, birthdays aren't like they once used to be. I don't look forward to them just to turn a year older and get gifts. I look forward to them to spend time with family and friends.

For my birthday dinner, Brandon took me to Pearl's Oyster House here in Memphis. Every year for my birthday, he makes me a strawberry shortcake, so we came home for dessert. Everything was really good, and we had a great time!

The next weekend we went home to celebrate with my family! It was so good to see everyone! Saturday night, we celebrated with my mom's side. We had Mexican for dinner and then mom made Paula Deen's banana pudding! On Sunday, we celebrated with my dad's side. He grilled lunch for everyone, and then we had banana splits! Can you tell I'm not your traditional birthday cake kind of gal? Thank you mom and dad for making my birthday weekend so special! I love you!

When I got to work on my birthday, I had this

birthday card waiting on me. Carter had worked

hard on it for me. He's so sweet!

Brandon got me a memory foam mattress pad

Strawberry Shortcake

Banana Pudding Birthday Cake

My sweet family

Opening gifts

On Saturday, Brandon and I were finally able to go over to my cousin Kelly's house and meet her adorable twins, Hutch and Anniston. We got to play with them for a few hours, and I got to catch up with Kelly! I just want to eat them up!!