What I Did For Summer Vacation - Urban Dare

Have you ever had one of those days that made you want to throw up your hands, crawl into bed and read until midnight... Yeah, well for me that day was yesterday. Yesterday, I would have come home and watched paint dry to escape the ridiculousness of the day. Y'all I would have volunteered to watch a Maury marathon on TV. I would have volunteered to weed the garden... or wash the dishes. It was just awful. It was made even MORE awful by the fact that it was only Wednesday, which meant that I still had (have) to deal with two MORE days of this craziness before a long weekend. Sometimes, friends, it just isn't worth it.

As I sat in my bedroom, eating my stress away and contemplating getting a new job (again), I decided to write about something that makes me happy. So I picked up my iPhone and looked at some photos from this summer. Summer was (is) a super busy time around here. We always end up traveling more than anticipated. Sometimes we get roped into street fairs, spontaneous celebrations, family outings or outdoor workout sessions. Because of the hectic schedule, we also have more "rest" days than anticipated. Lefty and I wake up with lofty dreams of Do It Yourself projects around the house and we end up sleeping late, procrastinating and saying we will do it "next" weekend. Things like that happen during our summer. We are ok with it- because things (mostly) get done on an acceptable timeline.

One of the events we have made time for the last two summers is a race called the Urban Dare. Think Amazing Race meets your city. We had a groupon in 2013 and decided that it would be fun to run walk quickly though some neighborhoods of Columbus, seeing some things that are often overlooked when you live in a city. And we had an absolute BLAST. We didn't come in last (I mean, it IS a 'race') and we didn't come in first (I'm going to emphasize the fact that there was NO running) but we did show some amazing teamwork and the attitude issues were few and far between. This summer we did the race again-- we ranked a bit higher in the standings (woot, woot) and still had a fabulous time. I recommend that when the Urban Dare comes to your town, you put together a team! You learn a few things about the city you live in, learn about your partnership, the obstacles are do-able... and you don't have to eat gross stuff :) Check out their website: http://www.urbandare.com/adventurerace.php Depending on where you live, they have races into the fall- we will be doing the race again in 2015!!

Here are some pics from our 2014 adventure... a Throwback Thursday photo array in the hopes that today will be a brighter day than yesterday! Happy almost long HOLIDAY weekend y'all.

Beginning of the day...

Before we took off in the heat. I had a fresh haircut and no sunscreen, what was I thinking?

One of our stops- on the statehouse lawn. WWII letters on a monument, made these history nerds happy campers, indeed! 

Extra points, identifying and finding this sculpture, while on the run! :) 

Getting towards the end. That is the face of a Hot, Black and Bitter, tired mess, y'all!

One of our obstacles- Lefty had to "propose" to a stranger. She was in the park... with her husband. We saw them again, after this stunt... She told Lefty they were over, since he was cheating on her after he proposed! LOL 

Good times- summer in the city. 

International Day of Happiness

**Bring me down… can't nothing, Bring me Down!**
**Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth**
**Clap along if you know what happiness is to you!!**

Today was the International Day of Happiness. While I think that it is sad that we are all so preoccupied/depressed/needy/unhappy that an International Day of Happiness is necessary, I did take some time out of my day to think about what I am truly happy about. Other than the normal things that one would be happy about having, like a home, food and a place to go and be tortured daily job, there are just a few things that I am happy about… the constants in my life. I know I take to the blog and express my opinions about everything, without (generally) being very personal. This post is going to totally be the antithesis of that. Below I will show you what I am happy about (most days), my family, my pets and my very sweet husband who puts up with me on a daily basis with a grimace smile.

In the past year I have learned that friends (often) come and go, sometimes extended family is iffy and really what is necessary is that you cling to the people that have always been around, showing you love and support. I am lucky enough to have a large group of people who do that… and kinda look like me! :) Happy International Day of Happiness, y'all. Hug your loved ones. Hug 'em hard, hug 'em often… even if they hate it. Tell them every day that you love them. Let them know that they make YOU… happy.