High 5(K) Friday! (And a special offer!)

Happy Friday!! football weekend!! It's time to hop in the car and head to Houston to cheer on my Cowboys! I'm so excited for a four day weekend + football. If you know of any Houston Musts, let me know - we'll have tonight and tomorrow night to have some fun.

Anyway, it's time for high 5's, Color Run Edition! The Color Run™, also known as the Happiest 5k on the Planet, "is a unique paint race that celebrates healthiness, happiness, individuality, and giving back to the community." I haven't had the opportunity to participate in a Color Run yet...but I'm about to! The Color Run is coming to OKC on October 5, and I can.not.wait! I've been told The Color Run is "less about your 10-minute-mile and more about having the time of your life, The Color Run is a five-kilometer, un-timed race in which thousands of participants are doused from head to toe in different colors at each kilometer." I also keep hearing rumors of tutus and lots of giggles. Clearly, I'm in, even though I'm not entirely sure glitter will be included since I'm not sure if they consider glitter a color...

Anyway, do I have to convince you to sign up? Okay, well, just in case, here are 5 reasons why YOU should sign up for the Color Run.

1. Just because you're awesome and read Sprinkles & Glitter, you can get $5 off registration, for whatever city you want to run in! Find your city here and sign up, just use the code COLOR5OFF to get the discount! Discounts = awesome always.

2. Do you see those beautiful colors? Pink and orange? You can be coated in PINK and ORANGE (and other colors too). It's like stepping inside the pages of a coloring book.

3. Because exercise is always a good thing. In the words of Elle Woods, "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy." This also leads me to think of the Be Happy Friday song on the Sports Animal, and I may just dance around like a two year old in a tutu singing the Be Happy Friday song thanks to endorphins. 

4. Speaking of a two year old in a tutu, do you see those girls in that picture? THEY'RE WEARING TUTUS. You guys, this is a perfect excuse to wear a tutu. Maybe even a tiara, if you wanna go that far (I mean, I won't judge you. My invisible tiara is always on...just ask my momma). Of course a white tutu would mean you could get more colorful as you go, but I'm thinking of using some glitter tulle to create an already-amazing tutu just to add to the excitement. And a giant white bow, of course. Don't go stealing my idea. Just wear white at the start like you're supposed to!

5. Because this would be a perfect way to get pumped up for the football games taking place later that day. I'm going to call the Color Run Extreme Tailgating. What better way to get in a winning mood than by starting the day with some exercise and laughter? After you're done running, just wash off the colors that don't match your team (or just avoid those non-matching colors to start with), and you're already painted and ready to be the best fan in the stadium! 

So what are you waiting for? Find your location and don't forget to use the code COLOR5OFF to get your discount! The runs fill up fast so sign up, like, now. The OKC Color Run benefits the Oklahoma Zoological Society which promotes and supports the OKC Zoo. Considering how much I love the zoo, I'm pretty sure this reason number 6 you all should run. I can't wait!

I was compensated for this post with entries to the OKC Color Run. All opinions about why you should run are definitely my thoughts, though. Quoted text is from the Color Run team, and all pictures & videos in this post are owned by the Color Run.

Back to School day!

Not for me, but for my mom and brothers! My brothers are in 10th & 7th grade and mom is going back to the classroom to teach computers and (drumroll...................................) cheerleading! This means I'm officially the only one in my family to have never been an AmPo Panther (can I be an honorary Panther at least?). I'm excited for mom to start this new adventure and branch out to do new things. I know she believes in her kids and will push them to do their best, no matter what subject she's teaching or sport she's coaching. And a word to my brothers: stop growing up, for crying out loud. Kale had on his Junior High baseball uniform on Monday and he didn't look like my baby brother anymore. In just a few weeks, I'll have TWO teenage brothers, one who'll be able to drive! That's just weird, ya'll.

Anyway, since I was that girl who loved school supplies and back to school shopping (who are we kidding, I still am), I decided to put together a quick back to school list.

Everyone needs a great backpack, right? This one lasted me all through college, and even survived being hit by a truck. Best backpack ever.

via

Reading books, taking notes, emailing, whatever - it's easier to do it all on the iPad than carry heavy books, millions of folders and papers, pens, and everything else. So clearly, dressing up the iPad = totally necessary. (PS - if you want to buy me anything, this iPad case is on my wish list for sure. I can definitely give you my color choices upon request.)

via

The last thing on my back to school shopping list is new clothes! I can't pick a favorite outfit, but the Mint Julep is one of my new favorite shops. They post new arrivals to Facebook all day every day, and I am pretty sure I "like" every.single.post. I'm not a fashionista, so outfits that are easy to put together are totally my thing. I signed up for their email list and got a $10 off code, so help me find the perfect outfit to order, please! Leggings + long shirts + boots + scarves are totally my thing during the fall. Fall = football. Hurry fall!

Oh, and if I was one of mom's cheerleaders, I would need plenty of these :)

via

Go Panthers!

don't forget your spirit fingers!

PS - Ladies, go sign up for the Hot Mamas 5K! It's on September 22 & benefits the Regional Food Bank! Feeding hungry kids + getting a good workout = #winning!! Bonus: I'm running, so it's guaranteed you won't be the slowest one there #KennedyGenes :)

#BabyTate

Sorry, kid, you're never going to outgrow that. 

One year ago today, my best friend had the cutest tiny human ever. He popped out smiling and I everyone immediately fell in love. We've had lots of fun adventures - shopping trips, slumber parties, eating sour pickles, hilarious conversations that no one else understands, yucky diaper changes (you seriously need to save those for your mom though), dance parties, and lots of selfie pics of course - and I just know there are a million more ahead of us until I become the uncool old Auntie.

Happy, happy, happy birthday Tater Bug!

I love you more than all the glitter and bows in the world!

❤ Auntie Shae

Catching a Calf at Midnight (aka, #RanchLife)

Last night was a great night. Matt came over. Grandparents came over. Cousins came over. Delicious food was consumed. Laughter was abundant. Molly was a brat (needless to say). And then everyone left and things started falling apart.

Less than five minutes after Matt left the house, Kale came running up to the house yelling that one of the calves we're weaning, named Jet, was on the other side of the fence. We quickly ran outside to help get him back in his spot. Side note: we just pulled these babies from the other pasture, away from their mommy's, about 24 hours before. So they were crying (mooing) a lot. Well, we couldn't hear him, so the mini search quickly turned into a full-scale "search and rescue" with dad on the fourwheeler, mom in dad's truck, and me in mom's Jeep. Dad was sure he was in the field just to our north on the other side of our fence (that field is of course not fenced) so our efforts were concentrated there for quite a while until we had searched every square inch, when we began driving up and down the road, into the little turn around things at field entrances, etc. We covered the entire stretch of road that we live on, including side roads, searching for the calf. Eventually, a call for help was put out on Facebook and we decided the search would have to commence in the morning when we could see the jet-black calf that had escaped into the middle of nowhere with NO lighting to help us see.

We come in and everyone gets ready for bed, all slightly discouraged over not finding this calf. I laid in bed and thought I was hearing things - there was mooing coming from somewhere close. You're just hearing things because you wanted to find that calf so badly. Go to sleep, he'll be found in the morning. I laid there for a while longer and the mooing continued. Oh yeah, there are calves being weaned on the other side of the house. It's probably just them. After a few minutes, probably 5 total, I realized that mooing was not coming from the west side of the house, nor was it made up in my head - it was definitely coming from somewhere outside my window.

I hop out of bed, run down the stairs and tell my parents what I'm hearing. We all pull on our boots - in pajamas of course - and head out, thinking the calf is in the front yard and we'll be back inside in no time. We quickly see the calf isn't in the yard and take off for the road, thinking he's just on the other side of our fence, but in a spot we have to use the road to get to. False.

He was down the road, across the road, and in an entirely different field. How he got in, I have no clue. Thankfully dad thought well enough to bring the four wheeler, although unfortunately I had NO IDEA how to work it. Mom ran to get a rope, halter and gloves for dad. As she climbed the fence, she lost a shoe and ended up needing to borrow my right boot - leaving me with one bare foot (I forgot socks - brilliant). Also, the spotlight we had would only work if the four wheeler was on AND you shook it up. #sketch. Anyway, Daddy should have been a calf roper because he quickly got Jet roped. Holding on to the calf was an entirely different story though... he is definitely not halter broken and he gave dad quite a ride. At one point, running across the field to get him, my dad tripped in a hole and took a nice roll (definitely a 10 in the olympics of falling gracefully). Somehow, as mom was trying to explain to me how to put the four wheeler in drive (I had been reversing or putting it in neutral and pushing/pulling - no wonder I'm so sore!), the calf got out of the fence, ran across the road, ran down another road, and into the north field we originally thought he was in.

Mom headed to get an actual vehicle while dad and I started across the field on the four wheeler (with him at the wheel and me trying to avoid cutting my foot on the six foot high weeds). We find Jet and (eventually) catch him. We sent mom for the trailer so we could load him up, and dad had me drive the four wheeler on around to the other side of the calf to give better light (or something). Somehow during all the crazy driving of the four wheeler, the spotlight cord got pressed up against the muffler. As I'm sitting on the four wheeler with one shoe on and dad is holding on to a rope on the opposite end of a 500 lb. crazy calf, I see sparks. Then I smell smoke. Then I realize there's a mini fire. Dad tells me to get off the four wheeler...and a few seconds later, he realizes there's a legit fire going on. He hands me the calf rope (because clearly given a choice between me barefoot on gravel and nothing I was the obvious choice to hold the calf #not) and runs over to fix the fire. Apparently the nice way I had rolled the cord had fallen off when I hopped off and it too had turned into a ball and caught fire. During all of this, I was convinced Jet was about to rip a t-post out of the ground and break away (I believe he did bend a few pretty well).

As we get the fire put out, mom pulls up in the trailer. We start to get the calf on the trailer, and it looks like a successful try...when he slips loose. Dad re-catches him, and again we were just inches away from having him in the trailer when he decides to make a break for the fence...forcing his dead through, then his shoulders, then his entire body. Well I guess we know what fence to start with when fixing at least...

Dad headed back to the barns on the four wheeler to fix fences so we don't have anymore escapees tonight, and I was locked in the trailer for the ride back (there was no way I was walking more than a few feet on dark gravel in an overgrown field where I had no idea where the next snake would come from). When we got back, I looked like a trapped child peeking though the gate, mom and I wished we had a camera, and decided this was blog material, if nothing else (although I'm thinking some sort of terrible initiation).

Lessons learned: keep your fences in tip-top shape, don't go out to catch cattle without your socks on, don't let me touch anything that could potentially start a fire, and keep a running tab at the orthopedic doctor for the Kennedy family (dad's arm/ribs may need to be checked, and mom and Kale just went in today).

This story probably has some hilarious parts left out, so it may be edited as mom and I continue laughing about our misadventure in retelling it for the next few days.

Also, catching a 150 pound lamb is much easier than catching a 500 pound calf. #TeamSheep

on being one of "those people"

In a recent conversation, I was called one of those people - you know the kind - the super annoying health nuts who drive you crazy being all super excited over working out and eating salads - because I made a comment about how excited I was about healthy changes. I'm not a health nut or super in shape - if I made that claim it would be nothing but a lie. However, I do want to be the best me. I want to feel good. I want to enjoy life. So lately, some changes have been taking place.

Water and spark have replaced diet cokes and coffee (I'm pretty sure my body used to be made of 90% diet coke. bad, bad, bad, I know.)

Last night's run.

Pinning great workout plans has been replaced with actually lacing up my shoes, turning on MapMyRun, and putting those great outfits to use (I take extra care to avoid all the cars in my path. No more getting run over!).

A piece of chocolate following last night's run. :)

And slowly, most (not all, I'm working on this!) "bad" food has been replaced with Herabalife shakes for breakfast/lunch and healthier options for lunch/dinner...even cooking meals occasionally and eating a salad or two. I mean what's the point of drinking water and sweating if I eat nothing but junk, right?

I already had to make changes to what I ate about a year ago when I discovered "lactose" was a bad word causing me to feel terrible 24/7. I really liked milk. And ice cream. And cheese. And yogurt. So all of those things are mostly gone (occasionally - very occasionally - I'll let myself have something with dairy. And then I take medicine or risk wanting to cry all day because I don't feel well).

So am I one of those people? I don't think so. I'm working on being the best me possible, but I'll never judge you for eating a cupcake - unless you eat one without asking me to join!

Also, to those people - what are your best tips for becoming one of you? ;)