Downtown Chandler: Model Shoot for U@RBlessed

This morning, I had the opportunity to do a magazine shoot for Suzi who owns U2RBlessed, an online store that sells t-shirts, hand-stamped jewelry and hats that I absolutely adore. In fact, Suzi is the artist behind my line of portrait jewlery. What I love the most about her and her company is the positive message that Suzi has built her business upon, which is that no matter what our circumstances in life may be, we are blessed.

Suzi thought it would be a great idea to do the shoot in downtown Chandler, since that is where her business is based. She enlisted the help of her gorgeous friend Rhonda, who totally rocked the look we were after. I love how it turned out!





We are planning a bigger shoot in a few weeks using more accessories and locations. My head is already spinning with ideas for the shoot!

Feeling Inspired: PF Chang's Rock-n-Roll Marathon

Sunday morning found me up at 5:37, out the door at 5:50, and by 6:30 I was somewhere in Scottsdale prepared to cheer on the Rock-n-Roll Marathon runners with my daughter and her cheer team. I was totally dreading this day. I didn't want to go. Turns out, it was a BLAST!

The girls made posters, hung streamers, and they chalked up the street with inspiration and love for the runners:


They also decorated themselves with as much red, fru-fru and silliness they could pile on:




The mom's got into the act as well. That's me, on the right:

They cheered and cheered, for about 4 hours straight!

You could tell that the runners really appreciated it:


These two are the team coaches. Cute, huh?

These were the last runners to go by and our girls were still at it, cheering and excited:



What really amazed me was that the runners were in so many shapes, sizes and levels of fitness. I had always thought that those who ran marathons were the "fittest of the fit." But what I saw was people who looked like everyone else. Some had awesome physiques, but most were just average looking people, out there pushing themselves to be better than they were before. I started thinking that I could do it too.

So now I'm really looking forward to next years marathon, but what I'm thinking somewhere way back in my head is: Wouldn't it be cool to participate this time? Could I do it? Do I even want to try, considering I've never been a runner in my life and I will probably fail?

I think I do.