Allison Fay Photography

So, it's been August since my last post. If you don't know me in real life, you may not know what I've been up to. Luckily, I'm about to tell you! 

I decided photography was something I honestly love, so I decided to pour my heart and soul into it. I started learning as much as I possibly could and practicing as much as I could, all while trying to train for the St. Jude half marathon and work 40 hours a week. Needless to say, I was busy.

I started taking pictures for friends and family in order to practice, then a few other people asked me to take their pictures as well, and it's just kind of grown from there. 

Several people were interested in photographs for their Christmas cards, and here are a few of them...

Lots of other great things have happened and are happening, and I can't wait to share it all with you! I decided to get started early on my resolutions for the new year, and blogging is one of them. I'm not doing so hot with trying to eliminate soda, so I figure it's a lot easier to blog. 

If you are interested in checking out my photography pages, my Facebook page is here and my website (which is a work in progress) can be found here. Give me some love if you have the time!

Boycotting Overtime

I've decided I'm boycotting overtime shifts. I picked up waaay too many (as in, one per week) for the past 3 months, and I'm over it. 

Sure, I get paid more money, and that is super fun. But in exchange for the money, I have to give up my time. And that means I have less time to spend doing the things that I love.

For example, spending time with this sweet girl.

I have spent time with her every day for the past 6 days and I still can't get enough. 

Spending time with her also means spending more time with my sister. We've been planning Anniston's birthday party and our complete Fall wardrobe. It's been great.

I also got to have a girl's night with my best friends in the whole wide world, who live far far away and I haven't seen in a few months. It was way way too long, I missed having friends. 

Also, I get to run. While enjoying it! 

I was still running while I was so busy, but running is so much more fun when I'm not super stressed. 

The only downside of less overtime is less shopping. Which I'm working on dealing with. I'm trying to develop a "Fall Shopping Plan" and attempting to "only purchase what I really need".  As my sister and fellow shopaholic stated, spending time together is not good for our wallets. 

But getting to see this sweet face more often is so, so worth it!

I'm Ready!

My training schedule for the St. Jude Half-Marathon officially starts today!

You guys will be hearing about this for the next 17 weeks (and probably for a few weeks after that), so for now I'll just say that I'm more excited about this race than I have ever been about a race before.  

Everything is in place, and I'm SO READY to get started. 

1.) I'm in such a good place mentally- my confidence has been boosted after finishing the San Francisco half feeling strong and happy. I was really nervous about this race- I really doubted my abilities to do well. For the 2-3 weeks leading up to the race I was busy and stressed, working too much, feeling like I hadn't trained for long enough, and had a few (or several) bad runs.  

Now, that weight has been lifted, things have slowed down (a little bit), and I'm going to enjoy getting back at it!

2. I've got Adam on my team. I have really enjoyed having him coach me- it's great to have a schedule custom made for me according to my needs, paces and abilities. I love having the extra accountability and encouragement. 

It's also really nice not having to worry if I'm doing the right things to be prepared for a good race- he takes care of all of that for me, leaving me to focus solely on the actual running. 

3. I've got motivation. What is better to start a new training cycle than watching the Olympics. It's been said before, but I'll say it again: I cannot take my eyes off the TV! Galen Rupp! Lolo Jones! Allyson Felix! Beach Volleyball! So inspiring. 

In case you haven't seen this picture 10 times already today, here you go.

Literally makes me cry. I'm so proud of them for showing that you can be hard-core and competitive while still being encouraging and supportive of others. This reminds me of me and my sister- she would totally pick me up off the ground after a race if I needed her to. 

Olympics!!!!!

4. I've got the gear, including neon stuff.

 I decided not to splurge on the $150 neon green Nike running shoes many of the athletes seem to be wearing, but I did buy two pair of my faithful Nike Frees for $120 total. I'm so sensible when it comes to shopping. (Well, at least in this case I was.)

Running Shoes on Sale + Tax-free weekend + Free Shipping = Stockpiling!

And because I got my pretty neon pink ones dirty after the San Fran race because the finishing area was in grass (instead of the normal pavement) and was sort of muddy. Yeah, I'm still mad about that. 

Anyways... let's get to the neon stuff. 

 I have this cool jacket:

Which was also seen on some very cool and successful people:

This beauty was also pretty expensive (IMO) but I was able to find it at the Nike Outlet here in Memphis for about 60% off the regular price. 

See? Sensible shopper, right here. 

(We are just not going to mention my many recent Lululemon shopping sprees.)

St. Jude Half-Marathon training week 1 begins, 17 weeks until race day!

San Francisco in Pictures

We went to San Francisco. 

We ran across this bridge.

We visited Pier 39....

.... and Fisherman's Wharf... where there was sourdough bread. 

We went to see the redwoods in Muir Woods. They were beautiful.

and very tall.

We went to Alcatraz

and a Giants game

saw a few other things

We ate lots and lots of really good vegetarian food. 

But it's kind of ok, because did I mention we ran a half marathon? Oh yeah, and we walked everywhere. Up humongous hills like this.

San Francisco is probably our favorite city we've visited. It's a beautiful city with gorgeous weather, active people and fabulous food!