Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Half Marathon

This weekend was filled with tons of excitement; it was marathon weekend in Houston! For those of you who are new to my blog, my posts range from devotionals, little anecdotes, my artwork, and things that inspire me. Running definitely falls into the inspiration category for me.

If that's not motivation, I don't know what is.

I had a few friends running both the half and the full marathon yesterday, so I whipped up a few signs to cheer them on. During my first half marathon almost a year ago, I remember seeing a grumpy cat sign that said "I ran once...it was terrible." My mom and I thought it was so funny- okay maybe I thought it was funny. She didn't really get the whole "grumpy cat" thing. That sign gave me a little jolt of extra happiness, and I wanted to do that for my friends this time around.

My friend Kaitlin and I were actually interviewed on ABC News, and a few of my signs (as many as we could hold) were on TV, too! One of the anchors really loved the Hunger Games sign. I guess the odds were in our favor. 

I am actually working on some posters to sell, so if you are interested, send me an email at bkraftydesigns@yahoo.com.

There are so many great stories behind each runner, and the experience is an awesome thing to be a part of. Our friend Lizzie Voss ran the full marathon in honor of her dad, who is battling cancer. We cheered her on at mile 8, and she looked great! Here is an excerpt from her Team in Training page:

 "I am running the 2014 Chevron Houston Marathon as a Run for a Reason Hero and a member of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training. I will be raising funds for LLS in honor of my dad, who is currently fighting a rare leukemia (primary myelofibrosis). It is my hope to help find cures and better treatments for blood cancers. Please consider making a donation in support of my efforts with Team In Training and together we can help in the fight against blood cancers." 

I'm not sure if fundraising is still open, but if you happen to stumble across my blog and want to reach out to Lizzie, here is the link: http://pages.teamintraining.org/txg/houston14/lizzievoss

My friend Meredith actually got a PR in the half! This picture was taken right after she sped past me on mile 8. She was flying! When Ryan Gosling says run, you run. Fast.

With Meredith (and Ryan Gosling) at the finish! She finished 84th over all for women and 9th in her division...wow.

Last but not least, Kaitlin's sister Camille ran her first half marathon yesterday! For her sign, I channeled my inner scrap-booking guru and made an owl out of construction paper! Camille's college mascot was an owl, and even though you can't tell from the picture, the owl is totally rocking some Nike's and a chevron headband. We are all running the Disney Princess Half Marathon together in February, but Camille is awesome and decided she wanted to do both! We were all so proud of her!

That's my weekend round-up; thanks for stopping by!

-BK

June June June!

Hey y'all! Summer is off to an awesome start. The first few days of June were SO fun, and I have been getting more and more orders every week. This month kicked off with Houston Free Press Summerfest! It's an outdoor concert festival with all different bands and stuff like Arctic Monkeys, 2 Chainz, Matt and Kim, Passion Pit, Macklemore, Calvin Harris, and Bassnectar. I have never been to anything like it before, so I was overwhelmed by the amount of people there! It was crazy! Some friends and I worked our way to the front for Bassnectar, and that was an unforgettable concert. Here are some snapshots I snagged with my phone from Summerfest:

 

Houston Texans!

Okay, so for some reason my iPhoto won't recognize my iPhone, so when I try to plug it in..nothing happens. Hence, importing photos has been a tad difficult. I decided today I would just upload them to Facebook, drag them into my iPhoto library, and go from there. Now...let's talk TEXANS!




Tomorrow is the first round of the playoffs for the Texans, and I really wish I was going to the game! In the spirit of the game, I am going to post the Texans cooler I painted for a friend's Christmas present. All of my friends and I are SO pumped for the game.  My favorite player is Brian Cushing, and Erika's is JJ Watt! Okay, so I definitely have more than one favorite player, but I doubt y'all want to hear me name the whole team.

Ps. SIDENOTE: I got like 4 new orders today!!!!! This is how I feel right now:

So FINALLY here is my favorite cooler that I have done so far!

Houston Texans Cooler!

scene I based my painting off of! 

My brother went to the playoff game last year (our first in franchise history) and took video footage on his GoPro camera. It was NUTS. The stadium was packed, and everyone was going crazyyy!! I don't know if any other stadium is as loud as Reliant is. The Texans have the best fans! So jealous of anyone going tomorrow, but I'll definitely be watching at home!

painting based off of last years home playoff game

bulls on parade, baby

Bulls on parade was a must for this cooler! Their favorite players are JJ Watt and Brian Cushing!! What a coincidence...!

this is the family I made the cooler for!

I threw in some Texas bluebonnets for a simpler affect! She LOVED them! Thank you Nicole!

I also painted wine glasses for them!

 I hope y'all like the cooler! I definitely wanted to keep it! That's all for now, but hopefully I can figure out what is going on with my phone so I can post more of my paintings! Xoxo

GO TEXANS!

From Texas with Love

Recently I got an email from a Melissa in California who requested a personalized Texas flag canvas! The best part? She lives in Cali! It was a present for her Dad! I thought it was so awesome that someone who is now in California still wanted to be connected to their Texas roots!

Then of course I have to post something about the TEXANS because they clinched the AFC South Division Title for the second year in a row!!! I made my mom go with me to get the t-shirts as soon as they hit stores. They already sold out on line. I really wish I could go to the game against Minnesota this Sunday, but my old high school's football is playing in the District 5A State Championship for the first time EVER in Dallas on Saturday night!!

santa came early to our house!

Like I mentioned above, my old high school is going to state!! When I heard Lamar won the playoff game, my mom and I went over to my friend Audrey's house (she's one of my close family friends and a varsity cheerleader!) and decorated their doorway with lots of goodies!! When I was at Lamar, I was her older brother's football buddy when I was a cheerleader! So we joked that now I'm just her cheer buddy. I'm so excited for her and for the team!! Love you Audrey!

LAMAR IS GOING TO STATE!

Audrey and me!

in the spirit of this weekend's events I thought I would post a little throwback to senior year!

once a redskin, always a redskin! go lamar!

Lots of red white and blue this week, LOVE IT! Good luck at STATE, Lamar! Go Skins!

ps. I'll be posting some coolers soon! Get excited!

It's football time in Houston!

This weekend was so crazy! I got to go to the Houston Texans vs Tennessee Titans game with my roomie from last year Morgan and some of our friends! Her older brother plays for the Titans, so it was SOO cool to see him play! The Texans won, and we had such a great time. Here are a few pictures from this weekend!