The Great Urban Race!

Two weeks ago my bff Britt and I ran in another adventure race called The Great Urban Race! We placed 65th out of 305 teams and had a great time figuring out clues and running around downtown Tampa! :) As veteran adventure racers, we decided to map out our route BEFORE blindly running to a clue we knew. We were calling, texting, and googling answers for the first 25ish minutes, but it paid off when we made one big circle around the city. In this race their was a public transportation option, but we opted to just use our feet for the 4-5 miles we went! Below is our race in pictures! :)

We had to unscramble menu items and take a picture from the deck with UT in the background.

We stopped by the YMCA and walked barefoot on glass... wow!

We had to learn a dance at a dance studio..

We had to blow three ping pong balls in a row into 3X3 solo cups...

Britt had to throw this tire over my head from a short distance...

Finished!

We had to find a group of 5 people and line up descending order! Thanks family of 7!

Our custom made shirts!

Celebrating after at the Splitsville!

-Ashley

Britt's Bday!

Approximately 2 hours after I got off of our cruise I was heading out to celebrate my bff's bday/St. Patrick's Day! Lucky for her - they are on the same day! :) We met in S. Tampa at World of Beer and had a great time hanging out! I played D.D. since I was so tired from my vacation (lol, that sounds funny) ;) but Britt had a wonderful day surrounded by friends AND family! After sipping on water all day her dad had pizza delivered to us at the bar and soon after we called it a night... by 8pm! I guess when you turn 26 you can't hang with the big dogs anymore when you start at 2pm! Hehe. Below are some pics from the day - even though I realize they are the same people, just in different order, in each one! :)

Girls!!

Girls 2!

The bday girl and I!

Girls 3!

-Ashley

Ryan and Steph!

A couple of weeks after the bachelorette party Z and I were able to attend Stephanie and Ryan's wedding! It was beautiful! We stayed at the hotel the wedding was at, which made it nice because Z could go up to bed when he was ready and I could stay out! :) Their colors were yellow and gray (which I have really liked for awhile) and everything went together so well! The food was honestly the best wedding food I've ever tasted - can't be a nice piece of steak and asparagus! Mmm! So happy for both of them!

Our table's centerpiece!

They had a photobooth... LOVE!!!

My bff and I! What a hot bridesmaid!

I like this one of Z and I!

Not such a good shot from the phone...

Z and his buddy Kyle!

-Ashley

Stash Bash Madness!

Back in Februrary my BFFs brother got married to a wonderful gal named Stephanie! I have been meaning to blog, but of course life got in the way and after a few glasses of wine and some quiet time during my THREE day weekend, I thought I'd catch up on the past couple of months! We met at her house for some drinks and games and then a bus (that may or may not have had a stripper pole) came and picked us up and took us to S. Tampa for a night on the town! We had a blast and I absolutely loved the "mustache" theme! So cute!

Todd, the blow-up doll they made me carry around... this was when I got half of Hulk Hogan's mustache to wear!

I won the "Who's Stache?" game! Sadly I left my prize at Stephs...

The girls! Not sure why I thought laying on Britt was needed! :)

The bride to be and I!

Showing off one of my many staches!

Happy my hair made it throught the night..

My bff using her stache as sunglasses!

So happy Steph invited me! What a blast!!

Cruise Recap!

Just a quick picture recap of our amazing week long vacation! :) I can't believe I go back to work tomorrow... And it's crunch time for the next month because of state testing in April! Eek.

Leaving St. John, USVI

My first shellac mani... that lasted 3 weeks! :)

Nassau!

His and hers frozen goodies! :)

Waiting for the show to start!

We watched many late night comedy shows @ the Punchiner!

View from our balcony!

Driving to the ship!

Miami Vice in hand... got such a good tan! :)

Our boat! What a dream!

My favorite towel design... Night 7!

St. Marteen and St. Thomas were absolutely amazing! The beaches and water were so beautiful! I'd love to go back and spend days there... instead of hours! Z and I were so lucky to be able to have such a great Spring Break! Until next time...

-Ashley :)

5k... Completed!

Well, today was the day of the Gasparilla 5k! It had been awhile since I had posted a running update because I got injured! I was so bummed because things were going SO well! There is something wrong with my hip - every time my left foot lands when I run, it's usually pretty painful, but I took a few Advil before the race and sucked it up! I beat last years time, but only by about 2 minutes. I ran the first 1.25 mile, but had to slow it down. It was a crisp 83 degrees this year, a slight wind in my face, and no shade! I'm glad I got to do it because it's such a fun experience, but hopefully next year my hip will cooperate!! Next Saturday we leave for our cruise, we get back the next one (st. Patrick's day) and then the next one I'm doing an adventure race called The Urban Race with my BFF Brittany! It's a lot more miles than a 5k, but also a lot more stops and challenges/obstacles - cant wait! :)

Happy Valentines Day! :)

What an amazing "Hallmark Holiday" this has been!! Zach spoiled me rotten with my amazing ring, two dozen roses delivered to me at work, and an iPad2... Also while at work I had 21 more little valentines waiting to celebrate with me! How did I ever get this lucky?! I seriously wonder if I really deserve all the good I have in my life - I'm oh so blessed and couldn't be more thankful :)

Upgraded!!

Cupid came early to the Sechrist household this year!! Zach had quite the scheme to get me to give up my old ring for five whole days so he could buy me a new one and get it sized and soldered without me knowing... The story starts on Tuesday afternoon while I was busy teaching Reading to my crazy 5th graders! I was wrapping up guided reading and realized my phone was lit up, meaning a text or call had occurred in the past 60 seconds. I go to check and see that I had quite a few text from Z asking what time exactly my lunch break started, what I was doing, etc. Right before I was about to respond my class telephone rang and the office secretary told me my husband was in the office. Wondering what was up, I lined up my students, dropped them off in the cafeteria, and went to the office to see Z sitting in a chair waiting patiently. He took me outside and showed me a letter from Kay jewelers saying that if we didn't have our rings checked out by the end of the day we'd lose the lifetime warranty. *Sidenote: I hadn't had my ring checked in almost 5 years Z said - oops!*. Anyway, I hesitantly give him my ring and head back to the lounge to eat my lunch. A little later in the day Z texts and says something on my ring was cracked, and because it wasn't a diamond issue, they would fix it for free, but because it was so close to Valentine's Day it wouldn't be fixed until Friday. Well, at least it was getting fixed ... I'd just have to suck up having a naked finger! Fast forward to Friday! I was anxiously awaiting getting my ring back... it was really annoying freaking out every time I realized it wasn't on my finger. lol. It was a teacher work day so I went in around 9:30 and got a lot done during the day. I texted Z asking if he had heard anything about the ring, and he said no, but he'd go to the store and see what was up. Eventually he called and tld me he had good news and bad news ... I told him bad news first. Bad news he said was the guy who was fixing it had a family emergency so it wouldn't be ready until Monday. Good news? He argued so much he got a 50$ gift card to the store. lol. Nice job, babe. I was sad, but nothing he or they could do so I whined for a few minutes, then moved on. Saturday (yesterday) I woke up and had to run some errands. I thought Z had to work on Tuesday so we had decided earlier in the week we would do VDay on Saturday. I knew what I wanted to get him, I just hadn't bought it yet, and I had to go to Target to pick up a gift for my friend's baby who was turning one so I went out on my own. While I was out Z texted that he had had some errands of his own to run, but he'd be back soon., but after me. I bought his gift and the baby's and got home quickly showered for the bday party and when I got out Zach was home. He told me he needed help getting something out of the trunk. I walked out with him and didn't see anything in the trunk, but as I got closer I noticed a little silver box. Had my ring really been picked up already or did he get me a new one? Or was it not really a ring in there at all? I gave him an are you serious look and proceeded to open the box... a shiny, white gold ring with a beautiful princess diamond stared back at me, soldered do a white gold band lined with small diamonds! ARE YOU SERIOUS!? I looked at him in shock... it's seriously so beautiful and in the sun in was blinging like crazy! :) What a wonderful surprise! He took the ring from me and placed it on my finger -a perfect fit!

He really never ceases to amaze me... He swore I wouldn't get a new one until at least 20 years of marriage! He bought the one I had previously when he was 20 and I was 19. At the time it was what I wanted, but since then my preference had changed greatly. I always said our 5 year anniversary was when I wanted it/deserved it (lol), but I guess the extra 6 months wait was worth it since that day passed back in August! :) He did such a great job with the surprise and went to great lengths to keep me and my "Sherlock Holmes" ways surprised with fake "official" letters and gift cards - what a keeeeeeper!

My bling bling from the front!

A little zoomed in look from the side! Gorgeous, right??

Happy Valentine's Day (a little early!)

-Ashley

Gasparilla 2012!

Last Saturday Zach and I headed down to Bayshore Blvd. near downtown Tampa to celebrate a day dedicated to pirates, Gasparilla!!.A friend of mine from work hooked us up with tickets to the Captain Morgan tent which meant we had free food and drinks all day, and had amazing seats and were supplied with tons of goodies - it was amazing! (thanks Teresa!) Before we went to the tent we stopped at my friend Cristina's boyfriends house. He has an amazing home just a few blocks away from the parade route so we started super early with mimosas and some snacks there. The weather was absolutely perfect. There we also ran into a few people from work and some I knew from high school. We had a blast, to say the least! After the parade we went back to Brian's house and hung out with some of my friends I had not seen all day until it was time to go home (8:30!?) lol. Can't wait for next year...

Some of our loot!!

Work ladies (Ashley, Denice, Ashley!)!!

Zach having a blast...

After... Getting stabbed - no biggie!

Before Zach found the wig/sword!

More girls from work... (Teresa, Ashley, Cristina, Annmarie)

Waiting for the parade...

Love him :)

-Ashley

Week 5, Day 3!!

I'm so happy to post that as of today both Allie and I are finished with Week 5 of the Couch to 5k program!!! Today we both ran a whopping 20 minutes without stopping! That means not a second of walking for those of you a little slower... Hehe. Anyway! The most we had ran without stopping previous to today was 8 minutes, so I'm super proud of both of us for doubling our time and then some! Exactly 4 weeks until my 5k I signed up for... And 3 weeks until I finish the program! So excited and look forward to kicking last years time by at least 5 minutes! Congrats to us!!!!!

-Ashley