COLOR RUN

 Sean and I ran in The Color Run 5k in Memphis Saturday morning. It was a care-free, stress-free but NOT mess-free run, and it was a WHOLE lot of fun!!

 {pre-race}

 

The atmosphere was funky and cool with people in crazy costumes ready to get covered in color along the way.

 

We waited in line with Erin and thousands of others for it to be our turn at the starting line. The crowd was so huge, they started runners in groups of 1500 to 2000 in 10-15 minute windows.

 

Excited!

 

And finally we were off!

There were different color stops along the way with volunteers lining each side of the road, ready to throw, dump, or squirt their colored powder on the runners. It looks like we had just passed through orange. 

I though it would be chilly and prepared with long sleeves...but it was a HOT run! Once at the finish, the energy level was so high, the music was awesome, and the people were crazy!

 

 

 All done! (Is there something wrong with my pose, Team Yellow Lady?)

 I looked like a ninja turtle.

 We waited with the crowd for the first "color throw"...

 

Which turned the bright sunny day into a colorful, smoky club!

 

And made everyone go nuts 'inside', dancing to the music as the powder rained down.

 

 

 How cool is that view from outside!?

  

 Stretch Armstrong caught me a pair of socks!

I can't wait to do it again, maybe with a big group of friends. It would be a perfect run for a family.

Love my partner!

Once we had our fill of the festivities, the Grays headed to the drive-thru...

...In all their fifty shades...

 

 Happy Sunday!
The Grays

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Sit and Watch the Leaves Turn

Happy Fall!

Our first fall weekend couldn't have been more perfect. It started with a fountain coke after an early finish on Friday afternoon, followed by joining a friend for her first combine ride! Since the Seattle-girl has lived here, Nina has wanted so bad to ride and I finally seized the opportunity to take her when Joan said that Dad and Uncle Phil were working right on the highway. So easy to stop by for a ride...Why not!

 She asked Uncle Phil every question she could think of, and I relived a piece of my youth. When I realized how long it had been since I'd ridden, I felt the need to slow down a bit...if I can make myself...and enjoy simple moments like that that aren't on any agenda or to-do list. The fun and relaxation...and now the memory... was worth more than any project I would have finished in that time. Lesson learned.  

:: It's harvest time in this little town
Time to bring it on in, pay the loans down
Fill our diesel tank up, make another round
There's a big red moon comin' up in the sky
Combine's cuttin' in a staggered line
The only time of year we miss the church bells chime
It's harvest time  ::

~Luke Bryan

Our crisp, fall weather officially graced us after that afternoon. Friday night a storm came through and we drove through the rain to dinner for Devin's birthday. After dinner we headed downtown. We walked into the bar through mild, gentle temperatures that felt like nothingness on our skin. By the time we walked out it was C.O.L.D!! I spent the weekend finishing up projects and fall decorations, while our first warm fire of the season crackled in the fireplace. I rode the combine cutting soybeans, went out with friends, had dinner with family, watched a scary movie while bundled in warm quilts (Cabin in the Woods...I recommend:), and nested in our festive home. 

 The Front Porch

I bought those little scarecrows for $2 each at a thrift store (my favorite holiday decor is always second-hand!) It was so meant to be because the stick on the boy scarecrow is WAY longer than the one on the girl. No matter how hard I pushed into the ground, the boy stands a foot taller than her...Like another couple I know...

I did slight repair work after I realized that the boy's clothes wouldn't stay up. I looked out our window to see only a head on a stick. Disturbing but funny. I tied his overalls to his hat and he's been decent ever since. 

My mums came back again...Haven't killed them yet! Yay:)

The cornstalks are from my family's cornfield.

I love how in this picture, the wreath on the door looks like it could be a hot-air balloon flying in the sky above the trees...At least in my vivid imagination it does!

The 2 pumpkins on the top step are real, and the others lining each side are plastic pumpkin buckets I got from the thrift store for $.40 each. I removed the handle, spray painted them in Krylon's Pimento, and placed a battery operated flame-less tealight candle in each one.

It was hard to capture on camera, but they glow reeeealy pretty at night!

 

 It's Harvest Time! This old wreath is timelessly cute.

 I love a chalkboard on the porch! I put burlap in an old red country basket and placed my flowers inside.

 

 

 A straw broom, bronze mums, cotton, a cornucopia of woven pumpkins and pinecones, and a mason jar candle of corn formed this fall vingette. 

 

I love fall colors.

Come On Inside

On our entryway table, I put  a pair of unique silver pumpkins I found at Goodwill years ago. I spray painted a pheasant figurine to look like a black crow for fall. 

For the dining room centerpiece, I put a large ceramic pumpkin from Goodwill ($3), small pumpkins from Goodwill I painted white, cotton in vases with twigs from the yard, and a wooden crate of pine cones. All on top of a black and white polka dot runner I cut from a fabric remnant. 

The mantle displays a new (to me) painting I bought for little to nothing at City Thrift on Summer Avenue. It's gorgeous, HUGE, and lights up the whole room. I spray painted the center pumpkin bronze (need I say it...from goodwill) and placed my white spray painted owls beside 2 more thrift pumpkins. 

I'm hoping for more weekends just like that one.

Blessed...

~The Grays

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Flyers Field Inaugural Wiffleball Tournament

 "Flyers Field", our backyard wiffleball field, was inspired by the baseball classic, The Sandlot, which follows the story of 'Smalls' as he remembers the summer of 1962 when he moved into a new town and was able to finally make friends through backyard baseball. 

It was a childhood hope of Sean's to have his own field one day. Although the players in our backyard are no longer boys, but men, the premise remains the same: Building bonds and memories fueled by friendly competition, new adventures, and challenges. 

All for the love of the game. 

A game that hasn't changed since the first time they played. A game they've spent a lifetime learning and perfecting, always trying to push past that personal best. 

Hit better. 

Do better. 

Be better.

It's America's favorite past-time and we've brought the game home. 

The field features a semi-circle of trees shading the outfield, a PF Flyers park bench reminding you to always strive to be better, and even the neighborhood "Hercules" on the other side of the fence!

    

        

Sean had four teams for the "Inaugural Tournament at Flyers Field." 

 

 We chose yellow for the tournament t-shirts, which his dad made with the movie tag-line from "The Sandlot."

 He constructed the fencing, foul poles, backstop and strike zone himself and asked the local parks and recreation for old bases. He just gave them a fresh coat of white paint.

 

 

 

In one grove of trees, sits this vintage ad-inspired bus stop bench that Sean fixed up. He used an old metal bench frame his Dad had in the backyard, added new planks and a large board back with an ad for "PF Flyers." 

The shoes, dating back to 1937, were popular in the 50s and 60s and later bought out by Converse (our wedding shoe of choice :) 

 In the movie, they were the shoes "guaranteed to make a kid run faster and jump higher." Benny was able to retrieve the baseball from Hercules' yard and narrowly escape "The Beast" while wearing them.

Sean did the painting himself using the projector and contact paper to create a stencil. I only gave a few final touch-ups!

 We cleaned up a 6-seater stadium bench, obtained from the local dog track, painted F, L, Y, E, R, and S on each seat back, and added a Coca~Cola drink table to replace the missing middle seat.

 

" Remember kid, there's heroes and there's legends. Heroes get remembered but legends never die.

~The Babe, The Sandlot

 

 " Let me tell you something kid; Everybody gets one chance to do something great. Most people never take the chance, either because they're too scared, or they don't recognize it when it spits on their shoes. "

~The Babe, The Sandlot

" Man, this is baseball. You gotta stop thinking. Just have fun. "

Benny, The Sandlot

 

 One happy boy!

 

 Oliver getting some water from Daddy.

 

A few players on the bench between games.  

The puppies love that they're welcome to come to games too. :)

Friends stopped by the field for the first tournament.

Like Lindsay and my baby girl Avery.

  

Who bounced like a jumping bean in the grass.  

Be. still. my. heart.

 

 Here, the guys can live every man's dream...of still being a kid.

  

 " Follow your heart kid, and you'll never go wrong. "

The Babe, The Sandlot

Play Ball!

~The Grays

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