Movie Review: Zootopia!

This week Jared and I went out to see Zootopia! It's been on our list for a while. But if you know me, I can barely stand going to see a movie when I know it's nice outside. Low and behold a rainy day came and we made our way out to our local movie theatre for an afternoon showing.

Now, to give a review without a spoiler...

The premise of the movie is that Judy Hopps wants to be a police officer. Thing is, bunnies don't become cops. So her whole career is mostly trying to prove everyone wrong.

Judy unsuccessfully trying to make friends.

On the other hand, there is Nick who is a sly fox and lives up to societies standards that no one can trust a fox.

The two end up working together when Judy is assigned a case that her career as a police officer rides on. 

The great message of this movie is that society tries to bunch us together. Bunnies do this, foxes do that, zebras do this, etc. But for much of the movie animals wrestle with this. Do they go for it and break out of the stereotype and chase their dreams? Or do they concede and become who society tells them to be? 

In a day and age where many of us are grouped and labeled and those labels are used to divide us, this movie couldn't be more timely. Whether we group ourselves by race, faith or political views, many loud platforms try to then take these differing groups and pit us against each other. Why? Political gain, news ratings, who knows what goes on in our hearts to motivate this. However, it is so interesting that we can take a "kids movie" to gain perspective on what's going on in our society. We have gotten to a point where we are so divided we don't talk to anyone of an "opposite label" because we want to avoid the confrontation we are told we are supposed to have.

While life has kinda beat me into a realist, I can't help but hold on to a little bit of idealist that still lives inside of me. I know not everyone is going to believe the same things that I do. But I do believe we can still respect each other not despite, but because of our differing views. 

So as the title song goes for this movie, "I won't give up and I won't give in." "I wanna try even though I could fail."

Trying even though you may fail and make mistakes, is one of the purest forms of courage. 

Geocaching: Road to 600

So in case you didn't read all my other posts, Jared and I are big geocachers! Many of our trips camping or otherwise include geocaching. We find it enhances our trips and makes things fun. We not only see beautiful views but we learn a ton historically and educationally.

I've been trying to complete my "Finds in on a day" calendar. Basically, find a geocache for every date of the year, including Leap Year. Here's how I stand to date.

Only 163 more to go!

Naturally, trying to achieve this makes my geocaching find rate go up from 0.3425 caches/day in 2015 to 1.0849 caches/day. You then quickly rack up the numbers. So while it seemed like only yesterday we were celebrating 500 geocaches, 600 was coming up really soon.

Thing was, we had also started a Lord of the Rings themed series while this was all going on. We had found about half of the needed geocaches over subsequent trips. So when Jared came around and asked me if we wanted to not only grab all the rest of them, but to make the Puzzle final my 600th, I was game. There was only one catch...I needed 16 more caches and we only had 10 left in the LOTR series. So we had to make up the extra as we went along. 

But why read about it when you can watch the adventure! Check out the video below to see what the fuss was all about! (Keep in mind, it took us much longer to find the final geocache than 4 minutes, but I clipped most of the stuff out so you won't have to watch 22 minutes of dark screen haha). 

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is a pretty special day...it's my mom's birthday!!!

My mom is a pretty special lady. ;) Not only is she absolutely beautiful, but she is an amazing woman! I am completely blessed to have her as a role model!

Here's what I love about Mom:

1. She introduced me to Disney and chocolate. What else does a girl need???

2. She's a hard worker. She has tirelessly worked her whole life to be the best at what she does and she never gives up. I hope I can be the best at what I do just like her.

3. She is the most loyal person I know. If I'm into something or my brother is into something, she jumps in 100% and learns about that thing with you. From my days working at the winery to our new runDisney obsession, she loves sharing what you love. And to boot? She sticks with you no matter what.

4. She loves to travel! I have had the opportunity to travel to so many places because of her love for travel! I am so blessed to have had all the experiences I have had and I know my love for travel comes from her and Dad. Thank you for schlepping me all over the world so that I could experience so many things!

5. She is the best teacher. Yes, yes she teaches at Rice. But she's also a great teacher for life. If she doesn't know how to do it, she finds someone who does (hello Spanish and music!). But she's taught me so many things. Like how to make a cheesecake (and cook in general). She taught me about history, how to read and write, how to do a resume, how to make friends. She builds fences, can do-it-yourself on many things around the house, and knows how to shop sales!!!! I have the best person to learn alongside with.

6. She is super compassionate. But what's awesome about her compassion is that she doesn't just look at your plight and go "poor baby" and bring you some milk. But she tells you the things you need to hear to give you that extra push to move past it. I think this is super rare. I'm able to talk to her whenever I'm having a meltdown and be able to move on with her encouragement.

7. She's my best friend. We get together and we can just talk! From Disney to running to clothes she and I just can go on for hours! It's a problem when we are on a trip and we need to get up early in the morning, but it's one of the most cherished things about her that I love!

To thank you Mom for being so awesome. Today we celebrate you!

Love always,
Madelyn

Pumpkin Patch Date!

Every year Jared and I like to visit a pumpkin patch. It's something I did as a kid and we always have fun visiting and searching for the perfect pumpkin!

In addition to the pumpkin patch, there was a corn maze that we got to do!

Corn! I am in love with my new phone and the pictures it takes!

We love pumpkin patches!

Obligatory selfie.

Jared was just a little bit too tall for this photo set up!

Cute little pumpkins!

We loved that they had pumpkins of every kind!

Cheesin!

Well, we shouldn't get lost!

We had a ton of fun looking for ur pumpkin. Plus, we were able to just talk and decompress from some of the stuff we both have going on at work. But what's really awesome is we had more fun in the corn maze...which we actually got lost in!



Just another fun idea for you and your loved one to spend some time together!

Camping at Enchanted Rock State Park!

A couple of weekends ago I got to go on a fantastic trip with two of my very best friends, Ashley and Amy! We backpacked around Enchanted Rock State Park and had a blast!

Up at the top of Enchanted Rock!

We hiked, had great girl talk, had to take a trip to Fredericksburg for a stove malfunction, and also did some geocaching!

GPS was vital as we didn't have cell service for a lot of the weekend.

Found a benchmark at the top of the rock!

This tree looks like a Toucan! 

For the full scoop (and to see my friend Amy's fantastic doodles) you can check out the electronic scrapbook here!

Group vs. Solo Running

Group photo from Social Running's Facebook Page!

Hi everyone!

So I have been upping my mileage the last couple weeks and this last week was my first week of running five days out of the week! I was thinking running the same course in my local park might be monotonous. And now that I'm officially a member of my local running club, I figured I would take advantage of the social runs that they host and recommend!

So Tuesday, I joined three fellow runners downtown for some hill repeats. The hill we ran up and down had a serious incline...much higher than my treadmill! I had a really great workout with them. Hill repeats are much easier when you have someone to chase! We all got along well for sure and met a fellow Disney fan. It was fun listening to everyone talk about their past race experience, upcoming races planned, what they did for a living...all that good stuff! I loved the break from my normal running routine and appreciated the company for sure!

Wednesday, Jared got to come with me to our first large social run. Also downtown, there were about 100 people that met up at the local food truck park and took off on a four mile out and back course down the riverside and back. While my introvert seriously came out and I didn't get to meet many new people, it was really fun to see the diversity of runners. There were moms with strollers, people with dogs (us included!), fast runners, slow runners, runners that sit on rocks (haha). There was a camaraderie that made the finish feel like the finish line at a race with people cheering you on as you came to the food truck park! We all gathered for a group photo at the end. Many people stayed for a beer and food. We opted out for our pocketbook's sake. I see this Wednesday routine being a really great way for me to meet new friends locally!

So the question is, which is better...group running or solo running? While I think there is something to be said for solo running and the need to be able to find it within yourself to keep going when things get hard, group running definitely helps breaks the monotony of training. While you still get your miles in, you can get your mind off the training on easy runs and meet new people. So I say both...I'm an "and" kind of person! If you get a chance to try group training in your local area, I highly suggest it!

When God and Passion Collide

So this morning I got a rare opportunity. I got to combine my love for running with outreach for my church.

It created itself out of a random conversation with my boss. He planned an outreach event for Saturday morning. I plan my long runs on Saturday morning. I told him about it, he said run while you are at the event. So I did!

I took a handful of flyers. After everything was set up at the park for the kids, I started down the road towards White Rock Lake.

People were sparse on the first two miles. I guess they were all watching Saturday morning cartoons. But as I came up on the road to the lake, there were TONS of people. I'm always scared to start up a seemingly random conversation. Plus, I didn't think about the fact that runners were going to have to stick my invitation somewhere or carry it in their hand. Some rejected my invite on the excuse they didn't want to carry it, but hey...once the first rejection was over and I didn't die, I got more confident and bold. I talked to a couple of guys running ahead of me, several couples and moms walking their babies in their ginormous strollers. The conversations were short, but powerful. So here's my short yet powerful takeaway.

We go through life and we seem busy. So much to do and so little time! But if we take a second and look around at the amount of people running along side us in the same neighborhoods, we have an amazing opportunity to just take a chance and invite them to experience the only institution Jesus established on Earth: the church. Jesus had the audacity to look up when he was busy in the middle of a crowd and see Zacchaeus. Jesus invited himself over for crying out loud (culture shock!) and life change happened.

Some people at my church are good at preaching the Word of God. Some are good at music. There are others that are good at lights, welcoming people, inviting people, taking care of kids, organizing things, making food. These are all good things, but the aggregate component of our parts as a church don't make life change happen. We can have the best people for all these things and not have a single person come to Christ. But if we put God in the equation, then the aggregate parts come together as a whole and supernaturally cause people to come to Christ and eternities are changed forever.

I'm good at running and getting better at screwing up the courage to talk to random people. I had way more rejections than people accepting the invites. Jesus warned that would happen though! (Mark 4) However, I have complete faith that Jesus will take those tiny conversations I had and turn them into life change, some way or another.

My question is, what has God called you to do at your church and are you doing it to the best of your ability? You can have faith with your gift too and I dare you to use it and watch God make it bigger and better than you could have dreamed.

Running Communities

So I have the best running buddies in the world. I have my two legged handsome one (my husband) and my four legged fluffy one (my dog). We have run several places together. Our main place is our local parks. They have several trails that we can run on, paved and unpaved. We've run down our street and through the neighborhood next to us. We've run through the back road country of my in law's house, out in the middle of nowhere at campgrounds and in the heart of Downtown Dallas on the Turkey Trot.

What's great about running with people in different places is you get to learn more about them. Through running with my husband I've learned more about him.

This was especially true today. I've been reading that I need to make sure that I train in conditions as close to the race day as possible. My next race is a 15K trail run through Huntsville State Park. Once upon a time, Jared and I rode our mountain bikes along one of the trails there. I remember it being very uneven terrain and had many ups and downs along the winding trail. Much different environment than my flat paved road I've been training on.

So Jared and I hit the bike trails today next to our park that are very similar to the ones in Huntsville and they KICKED MY BUTT. I was so tired and we weren't even halfway through. I went very slowly and yet, I made it alive and with all my stomach contents!

As we were running, I have to admit, it was beautiful. When Jared and I were talking about the run after we were done he said he loved running in that kind of environment. He felt like he could forget about the run a bit more and it was much more enjoyable. Jared doesn't normally speak up about things he likes. He's pretty easy going and likes to do things that I like to do. I've always known he loves being outdoors, but I'm only now discovering how deep that love goes. Let me tell you people, it's deep! I don't necessarily understand him and his likes all the time, but I am sure going to learn how to encourage it!

So I highly encourage YOU to run with a buddy occasionally. If your buddies are far away, you can still do it electronically. My family has been communicating about our runs via email and Facebook as we prepare for our Disney Marathon Weekend. Nike now has a feature on their website and app where you can add friends and "compete" each month with longest distance or number of runs! Communities are important to us just as humans (God wired us that way!) and running communities just gives us an entry point for deepening our relationships with each other!

"And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy. And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works, not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day drawing near.<sup>"

~ Hebrews 10:23-25</sup>

God's Love

So last night Jared and I had the privilege of attending the Redeemed Gala at the Bayou Music Center! It was amazing and full of tons of people!

One of my favorite parts was definitely the entertainment. An acappela group called Homefree performed. It was AMAZING. I love the show, "The Sing Off" so I was in acappela heaven watching these guys live! You can check them out at the link below!

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Wfm2eCN6Aug&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWfm2eCN6Aug

One song they performed was Josh Turner's "Your Man." One part of the lyrics stuck with me all the way to today. They say:

"I can't believe how much it turns me on
Just to be your man."

I thought this was a weird thing to say at the time.

As Jared and I were in the car most of the day moving stuff for our Garage Sale at church (Advertisement: Raising money for Kids Camp! April 20th!) I had much time to ponder these couple of lines. I don't know what Mr. Turner was thinking when he wrote this song but I thought about it through my situation (a marriage between a man and a women who made a commitment to each other for life, just FYI). As I thought about it that way, I thought about Jared. Out of all the women in the world he chose me! As I thought about that I thought about one of my favorite characters in the Bible, Esther. She, out of all the girls the king could have chosen, was chosen by him. I always thought she would have been scared, yes. But when I think about Jared choosing me, there is this feeling inside of me that I don't know how to describe. The best I can do is say that I feel loved. I feel cherished. I feel special. There's this flutter in my heart, I almost feel weightless and all I want to do is kiss Jared. I imagine Ester may have experienced some of these things even if the marriage was "arranged." After all, she helped save the king when people were plotting to kill Him! But Jared choosing me causes me to love him and want to express it to the world!

Let's take it a bit further. In the Bible is says is 1 Peter 2:4-5, "As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." God chose us because He loves us! Just like my feelings toward Jared, knowing that God chose me and loves me makes me feel that inexplicable feeling again and all I want to do is show the world that I love him the more and more I realize the extent of his love. And this feeling is actually different than the one I have for Jared. When it's God I'm loving, this feeling is greater and deeper and more powerful because God is greater and deeper and more powerful than Jared (sorry babe but you know it's true).

So my hope for everyone else that I meet is that I hope they also realize the depth and the breath of God's love for them. It's one thing to ask him to be your savior; it's another to accept his love and let it infiltrate your life.

The best way I can finish this up is to quote another song that I absolutely love. I don't know the author, but it's called, "The More I Seek You." Think of is as brain candy for your next run!

The more I seek you
The more I find you
The more I find you
The more I love you

I wanna sit at your feet
Drink from the cup in your hands
Lay back against you and breathe
Feel your heart beat
This love is so deep
It's more than I can stand
I melt in your peace
It's overwhelming

Inspiring the Inspiring

So today I want to brag on someone very near and dear to my heart. She's been a best friend of mine since 6th grade. We have math class crazy stories together, roommate fun nights and fun girls outings to go on for hours about. I have a crazy love for this girl. Let me introduce to you, Ashley!!!

Ashley is always someone I have looked up to. She lead the high school tennis team, had some of the best grades in our class, was ALWAYS organized and has amazing fashion and decorating sense that I covet. And men...she's single! I will be taking applications and be performing a thorough background check and personality screening before you can date her! :) She's that awesome!

Unfortunately, we have been in separate cities ever since college. We have gotten to see each other a couple of times, but it is not enough! Thank goodness we live in a world with Facebook. We got to talk back and forth about life after college and lo and behold, she tells me she is running too! I was double shocked when she told me she was inspired by my postings about MY running journey!

This is why this is crazy people...Ashley is the one who introduced me to the Biggest Loser in the first place. An episode of the Biggest Loser is what inspired me to run a marathon in the first place! So in essence, Ashley inspired me to run. And now she's telling me I'm inspiring her!

Then Ashley tells me she's running a half marathon! I ask when and she tells me TOMORROW! I was floored and so excited for her! She ended up running the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Dallas and finished in 2:29:58. Everyone join me in giving the girl a rousing round of applause!

I totally stole these photos off the web so acknowledge these were taken by really good people!

Look at her go!

   

Photo Finish!


So here's where the gift keeps on giving. My mom has gifted me with a sponsorship in the Walt Disney Marathon in January for my birthday (THANKS MOM!!!!!). I was really debating if I wanted to do the half or the full. But what I realized was I was giving myself excuses to not do the marathon because I am still scared. Ashley doing her half and pushing herself that far has inspired me to push that fear aside and go for it.

Ashley inspired me, I inspired her, and she has inspired me back. That is what true friendship is all about and I am honored to have her as a friend. I love you Ash!

Uncharted Territory

So yesterday and today mark the longest I have ever stuck with a workout plan EVER. As in my entire life. It is amazing to me to see the changes that have come about in myself even in as little as two weeks. I am running longer and faster. In my cross training workouts I can feel my core engaging and actually making the workout easier! It is so overwhelming to me when you actually understand the truths that you have been chanting to yourself over and over again. Things like, "I can do this" and "God has given me the body to be strong." I have heard motivating things like this said on shows like the Biggest Loser and on workout videos. I have told them to myself in workouts. But to actually experience these truths coming to life in my body is a whole new experience and it is exhilarating!

I bought a new book this weekend entitled "A Year With C. S. Lewis." It is a daily devotional for a year using snippets of C. S. Lewis' books and letters as the content. Today's first devotional just make me laugh at the brilliance of God's timing.

I know that we have all seen those TV shows where there is something that's dead and it starts moving. Then it is followed by the quintessential exclamation, "It's alive!" followed by everyone running for their lives. C. S. Lewis talks about this phenomena in his book Miracles. We all look for God. We all seek His blessing and His will for our lives. We volunteer, go to church, give to charity and participate in Bible studies. But what happens when things start to get hard or not go the way we thought it would? We start experiencing life and we run!

C. S. Lewis put it like this:

"An 'impersonal God' - well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads - better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap - best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband - that is quite another matter ... There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion ('Man's search for God!') suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?"

God was never meant to just be "over there." He was never meant to just be found in nature where we hike on our vacations. He isn't just a nice idea in our heads that provides positive thoughts. He isn't just a cosmic force to ask for help from in our times of need. He is an entity. A being. And He wants a relationship with you.

Relationships take action. Relationships take risk. Just like working out, relationships can bring about pain. However, if we can experience pain and push through it, we experience hindsight on the other side. In workouts, we gain the ability to look back and see how far we have run or how much more we can lift. In life, we see the work of God in our lives! It is a perspective that we are never capable before going through the pain.

Instead of running away from life in fear we have the choice to push through the fear. God is intimidating! He has wiped out the entire human race with a flood! But He LOVES. More than anything He loves us. He want's a relationship with us. But we can't control God. If we enter into a relationship with Him we have to learn to lean in on the God who is in control and trust him. Think of God as not only our friend but our life trainer. He made life. He knows how to do it best! Trust your trainer! Trust the process!

The best part is with God we become more reliant on Him and yet stronger on our own all at the same time. We begin to see the changes. We begin to feel the core of our being becoming stronger as we go through our daily tasks. We begin to have new perspective on what is hard.

We begin to do what we thought was impossible.

If I could do anything right now I would encourage those of you who know God but don't trust Him to let Him free in your life! Let Him out of the little box you have Him in in your mind. Let Him transform your life like He has mine.

If you don't know God, I encourage you to ask around you. Ask Him into your heart and ask Him to transform your life. It will truly be the best decision you could ever make.

Let the impossible begin.