Officially an expert

Dear Blog,
You read right! I am officially considering myself an expert on marriage now that I've been married for a year and a few days. This past Monday, May 26, was my and Aaron's first anniversary! What a lovely day it was. We celebrated the big anniversary/Memorial Day weekend by going to Savannah, Ga. We stayed at the purty Westin Harbor Resort and enjoyed ourselves way too much. Aaron kept referring to it as our honeymoon so I tweaked the name a little bit and started calling it the "mini-moon." We had so much fun during our mini moon that we vowed we would take one every year no matter how busy our lives became.

At the risk of sounding absolutely cheese-a-licious, I never imagined that being married would be this easy and fun. This past year with Aaron has been one of the best of my measley 27 years on this planet. He is my best friend, biggest fan, constant companion and knows all of the quirky, OCD, expensive habits I have and still loves the heck out of me anyway. We've taken some great trips, had a lot of laughs and learned that communication really is key; "Aaron, I promise, I really DO need that pair of shoes. I'm only telling you now that I'm going to buy them so you can have some time to get used to that idea."

I can only hope that the rest of our years will be as easy as this one was.



P.S. The cake was freezer burnt. Booooooo.

xoxo,
Alison

A little of this and a little of that

Dear Blog,

I'm always on a diet and that means that Aaron is always on a diet too! Isn't that so fair? Well, thanks to my Internet BFF, us being on a diet has been so much easier. Like a good Internet BFF she told me about a recipe of the day from Cooking Light. All you have to do is sign up on Cooking Light's website for their recipe of the day and like *magic* a new healthy recipe appears in your inbox everyday. I've been cooking at least one of these recipes every week and generally trying to eat healthier for about the past month or so. Tonight we decided to have Elk burgers. Yes. Elk burgers. 90% Lean Meat. Virtually fat free. With organic baked potatoes and organic corn. I know. WTF? Have we completely lost it? Yep. Cause that burger was DISGUSTING. After one bite I thoughtfully looked at Aaron and said, "I don't think I like this burger." He took another bite and said, "Yeah, this is pretty gross." We then decided to screw the diet and go to McDonald's!! I mean, who can go wrong with 100% beef? Not me. Definitely not Aaron.

Two quarter pounders, two fries and one large DIET Coke later, we were much happier people. Even with the addition of about 2,000 calories.

xoxo,
Alison

Damn hippies

Dear Blog,

It's no secret that I work at the BEST yoga studio in Charlotte. For reals, I went to another one this past week and was seriously UN-impressed. I won't mention the name of it but just recognize that Yoga One is the best. You can check out their website here, Yoga One . You can also check out my phatty profile, it's a little embarrassing but you already know all about me anyway so what to the ev, Here

There's nothing better than some shameless self promotion, right? One of the things I love about the studio is the different types of people that work there. In my previous jobs I have not encountered that much diversity but at Yoga One everyone is so different and it is quite fun. So, that being said, all of this diversity has introduced me to a couple different things, some good and some bad, that I never would have known had I not worked at Yoga One.

Hippie Butter Seriously people, this stuff is good. Put it on a banana and wham, you've got yourself a nutritious little snack and it keeps you full because it's got twice the amount of fiber as peanut butter. Can we say a healthy digestive tract? Holla.

Jesus Bread Now, if you use the Hippie Butter on the Jesus bread, then you are really feeling good because that's two organic things that you are eating, at the same time! Now pat yourself on the back and call it a day.

All Hippie Butter and Jesus Bread aside, I think one of the most important lessons I have learned from working at the yoga studio is that every day is what I make it. I can either let myself be in a bad mood and reactive and be stank with everyone I come in contact with or I can choose to be in a good mood and let things roll off my back. I know that sounds all crazy and hippie like, but just think about it, then try it, and then thank me. You're welcome in advance.

xoxo (or Namaste for all you enlightened ones)
Alison

Seacrest...OUT

Hey ho's and bro's,

The Shurts' need your help! Aaron has entered a design contest for Doc Marten. Remember Doc Marten's? Yours truly had a pair in the 7th grade, you know that's right! I was going through my discovering myself phase, I probably looked like such a dork. Anyway, the winning designer will have their design printed on boots and sold in stores. Obvy, we want Aaron to win so his notoriety can grow and spread throughout the U.S!! The designs are below. Click on the image and vote "Love it"! If you vote "Hate it" then I will personally find you and kick you with my good leg.

Design #1

Design #2

Design #3

And the answer to your question is yes, I am obviously the model for Design #3.

Please Rock the Vote!!!

xoxo,
Alison

Upd8

Dear Blog,

Man, it's been a busy week. Sorry for the neglect but I'm back. The quote unquote lineage holder of our studio is making his first trip to the SouthEast this weekend to hold an All Day Immersion* and you're looking at the event manager. It's been a little overwhelming but the way I see it is the event is going to happen so let's just get it done right beotches. It's been a little challenging hobbling around on my gimp leg but I'm not letting a gimp leg hold me back. I think all the years of walking around in uncomfortable shoes has prepared me for this Vespa wreck. Everything happens for a reason. I keep singing to myself "It's hard out here for a gimp, trying to make that money for the rent." But, not that many people get the reference so my suggestion is to watch the movie Hustle and Flow and then come back and read this blog.

Now, I bet you didn't know that I am a total hypochondriac. Poor, poor Aaron for having to listen to all of the musings of what can go wrong with my leg. Here are a couple, in chronological order of course.

1. The night I came home from the hospital I was convinced I was bleeding internally and was going to die in the middle of the night. I asked Aaron how would I know if I was bleeding internally and he said if my pee had blood in it. So what did I do? Drank a lot of water throughout the night and made myself go pee pee about 27 times to check and make sure there was no blood in the urine. There wasn't.

2. On about the 3rd day of recovery my foot got really swollen and I was convinced it was infected. I made Aaron look at it like 35 times during the day to see if it was okay. I looked up gangrene on the internets and thought I was going to have to get my whole leg cut off from the knee down. I was imagining all of the cute shoes I could no longer wear because those prosthetic legs only fit in like New Balance or something.

3. Now that I know my leg isn't infected there isn't much to worry about, but I've managed to come up with a few. Everytime I stand up and the blood rushes back into my leg and it HURTS SO BAD because of exposed nerve endings or something like that and I am constantly saying "F*CK MAN" (I say it just like my friend Paul and he's where I learned it from so blame him for my profanity usage.) So, after I get over that crazy hurting sensation I think that my leg is going to have that phantom hurting for the rest of my life and I'm going to be known as Aunt Gimpy forever. Aaron and Leigh have repeatedly told me there is no way that can happen.

We'll see.

I have been fortunate enough to never have been really hurt in my life until now. I think we all know why. I'm annoying.

*An All Day Immersion is one day chock full of hot yoga in a hot gymnasium with about 200 sweaty yogis. If you're not doing anything on Saturday, come on down!

xoxox,
Alison

Let's be honest

Dear Blog,

As the title suggests, let's be honest here. Didn't we all think that at one point or another I would wreck the Vespa? I mean, if it was going to happen, wouldn't it be better to do it sooner rather than later? I think so. Alright, so if you put your context clues together then you will concur that I indeed wrecked the Vespa yesterday. The following is a true recount of what had happened.I go to the grocery store to get some chicken for dinner. I'm riding home and a guy in an Acura I believe, cuts me off. So, I overcompensate by swerving and braking extremely hard. Well, wouldn't you know that I just flipped right over and skid a few feet? After I come to a stop I just sit in the middle of the road like hmmm...did that just happen? I then check to make sure that my sunglasses and new top are still in tact. They are. Some nice gentleman comes to my aide and helps me over to the side of the road. As luck would have it a fireman was right behind me and saw everything that happened and came over and started asking all of the appropriate questions. This is all I would say;


"What I need you to do is call my husband. I need you to call my husband. Call Aaron. Can someone call my husband? Please someone call Aaron."

Finally, someone called Aaron. He came a runnin'. Literally. About 10 minutes later I see Aaron sprinting to the wreck site.
"Hey honey, I wrecked the Vespa."
"I see that, are you alright?"
"I think so."

At first I refuse medical treatment cause I hate hospitals, etc. But, then I couldn't walk on my leg so they load me up in the ambulance and away we go. The medic with me was super cool and she helped me calm down. Once we got to the emergency room she had to leave me and I started crying. She just told me to breathe like I do in yoga and I would be alright. She was right! Aaron had to deal with the cops and then he came to be by my side at the hospital.

Alright, so the emergency room is ghett-o. I was not a fan. My room was all gross and had like cheeto's on the floor. Uh-uh. Someone better get that up. So, props to my boy Chris Restrepo for being a doc. Holla. Anyway, back to me. The doctor was like trying to send me home without triple checking that my knee was okay. So we got in a little fight. I was all "LISTEN HERE DOC. My knee hurts. The only reason I even CAME here is because I was seriously worried that my knee was messed up. I am not exaggerating. I want you to check and then double check and then TRIPLE CHECK that my knee is okay."

So, we did three x-rays. And guess who was right? That damn doctor. Ain't nothing wrong with my knee. It just hurts cause I don't know...I got in a wreck?!?

We stayed in the hospital until about 10:30 and then I came home and had to get in the tub to clean out my wounds. I think that was the most pain I've ever experienced. That was the first time I really cried. I just sat in the tub and cried and cried.

Then I ate a pb&j and went to sleeeeeep.

So, it's all good. I'm a little banged up but I'm going to heal. Will I ride the Vespa again? Prolly.

The end.
xoxo
Alison