If I could make the sound of a bugle call into words that would be the title of this post......

I will have to finish up on my post(s) about my week of vegetarianism later…. Because this is just too freaking fantastic to wait….

It was scheduled to be a “normal” weekend for us, dinner on Friday with an out of town friend, training, baseball, a little lounging, a birthday for Bill’s niece, and celebrating Father’s Day with Bill’s dad.  Busy but typical.  I had a scheduled hair appointment for 9am Saturday morning.  I love going to get my hair did.  It is probably one of my most favorite things to do.  I woke up early on Saturday; refreshed and ready to start the day.  I hopped in the shower, piddled around, got dressed and picked up my friend Laura (who’s in from out of town) and we went to Starbuck’s.  She went with me to get my hair done.

Our plan for after my appointment was to head back to my house, meet up with Karen and her boyfriend, Randy, grab Bill (after his baseball game) and head to lunch before we spent the day getting’ mani/pedi’s and just having a fun girls day.  Laura had never been to the house since I relocated to Bill’s abode so we were going to meet there.

We pulled down my street and up to the house…. I saw my mom’s car in my driveway.  I was very confused; but thought maybe she stopped by b/c she was in the neighborhood or something.  Laura walked in before me as I stepped through my front door I heard “SURPRISE!!!” and about 25 people were standing in my living room!

I had zero idea of what was happening.  

Then I started looking around and saw the 30^th bday decorations, the premade drinks that Bill made; the Happy Birthday plates, cake, and napkins.  It sunk in…. **Yes it took me a while to figure out that this was for me! **

Bill had Cayla hand me a gift wrapped box…. I opened it and inside was a new dress and a HUGE FLOPPY HAT!!! It was so cute…. Then he told me that in about an hour a party bus was picking all of us up and taking us to the horse races.  

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!

I was stoked!  I ran upstairs and changed into my new outfit as fast as humanly possible.

When I came down; people kept showing up – and I was definitely brought to tears at one point for how thankful I was and how loved I felt.  I have never been short on words; but all I could say over and over was THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

The party bus arrived and we were off to the races…..

We arrived at the track and I saw this……

And this…..

And then this when we walked into our air conditioned semi-private room (complete with all you can eat buffet….boo ya! And private bar!)

The ponies raced, we laughed, drank, won some, lost some –but it was an epic way to spend celebrating my impending birthday!  I cannot believe Bill went through all this trouble for my birthday.  I know it must have taken him weeks of planning, secret keeping, and all around sneaky-ness and I was nothing but SURPRISED!!!!  

I thought I would share some pics with you…. HOW FUN IS THIS!!!!!?????!!!!!!!!!!



On the party bus!

Little Stinker Laura told me she was in town for her own going away party!

 

Cayla and Amber - best secret keepers ever!
Amber hadn't spoken to me all week b/c she was afraid she would give it away!
Cayla - talked to me everyday and didn't once give me a CLUE that this was happening!




GIRLS!!!



Cayla and me in our Derby hats!




Cousin Sheri, Me and my mom

  

Guy's Wife Stephanie couldn't be there so he pretended to pose with her!



Best boyfriend ever.......

 

Loved his hat!



Even Dave-o loved my hat!

 

Paul (bill's brother) and Alaina - Paul had lasik on Friday and STILL CAME! (hence the weird goggles)

 

Jonas and Cayla




Newly engaged TIm and Claudia!



I had to get one of our new outfits... Bill went all out - ordered his pants at vintagethreads.com, bought the horse shirt and the gambler Fedora hat... all for my Derby themed 30th bday party!



The tickets even had my freakin' name on them!



Precious Della - 22 weeks pregnant!



John, Amber, me and Bill!  LOVE THEM!

 



Bill and Jonas sharing a moment; I mean margarita




Me and Cay

I am so thankful to have so many wonderful friends and family to celebrate turning 30 with.  Wednesday's the big day - for now I'm going to enjoy the last 48 hours of being in my 20's... **Tear**

Brownie Batter and Bill

Thanks for all the super awesome comments on my race report and Tribute Tuesday... you guys rock! 

ALSO - WELCOME NEW FOLLOWERS!!! 

Hope you enjoy my crazy posts!

As I mentioned a few times Bill was out of town Saturday until yesterday.  He was having a manly weekend at Spring Training in Surprise, AZ watching our beloved Texas Rangers.  I was (and maybe still am) a little jealous.  (I'm a lot jealous he is going to opening day WITHOUT me on Friday),

I love having Bill around...we laugh, goof off, argue, talk, watch insane amounts of TV and just genuinely have a wonderful time together.  Bill also (as of late) has been the chef around the house.

He gets home from work before I do - so by like 6 he's worked, worked out, showered and started dinner.  I'm a pretty lucky girl since lately training and work has been taking up a lot of my time.  Anyway.... he cooks.  And he cooks like a freakin' rock star.  One night he made rack of lamb (on like a Tuesday), some nights it's a fish creation, others a salad....either way .... he feeds me and he feeds me yummy delicious (and mostly) healthy food.

Bill was gone............I didn't go to the grocery store........ I ate what I could find....... here's what it boiled down to.....

Saturday:
      Breakfast:  Starbucks
      Lunch - McAlister's with Amber and John (1/2 of a tuna salad sandwich and baked potato soup)
      Dinner - Coal Vine's (pre race dinner with the peeps - pizza, pasta and dessert)

Sunday: (race day)
     Breakfast: Luna bar, 1/2 of an orange, a 5 hour energy, and water
     Lunch: Chicken Fried Steak Fingers and cheese fries (don't judge I was hungry)
     Dinner: Cheddar's with Cayla - A veggie plate.... (a little better)

Monday:
    Breakfast:  Normal weekday breakfast - coffee and a granola bar
    Lunch: A sub sandwich from the deli downstairs from my office
    Dinner: Brownie Batter and Hummus

Tuesday:
    Breakfast: Normal - coffee and a granola bar
    Lunch: La Madeline
    Dinner: Salad and a pizza (bill was home and we ordered in b/c we were both exhausted)


7 out of 12 meals were eaten out, one meal consisted only of brownie batter and hummus made by mojitio masher. 

*side note* I couldn't find the blender, the food processor is at my house (the one being sold), so all I could find to mash garbanzo beans was a the little utensil you use to mash the mint in the mojitio.  Please don't judge me.

As you can see - things may fall apart slightly when he isn't around....what am I going to do when he is gone for a week at the end of May?  Anyone want to adopt me? (and the three dogs?)

L.O.V.E

First of all - Welcome to my new followers :) We are up to 83 which is totally rockin' my socks off right now.  Thanks to all of you 83 who tune in and follow my random-ness :)

It's Monday - again - which instinctively blows because it's Monday.  But it also means, a new training week and one day closer to my ultimate goal NOLA 70.3....Oh yes - it's Valentine's day also.



Happy Valentines Day :)

I'm so thankful to have Bill.  I'm not typically all lovey-dovey on here.  But I am so grateful for the love and unconditional support he gives me.

He deals with me when I'm extremely grumpy - usually stemming from hunger or fatigue.  He supports me in all of my crazy ideas (#1 this 70.3), he showers me with I love yous, kisses, hugs and more laughs than you can possibly imagine.

I think that's one of the things I love most about him - his innate ability to  make me laugh until I cry or puke.  Yes I've puked because I laughed too hard.  Actually it was last week.... I was drinking water; he said something funny, I choked, spit water out of my nose and then upchucked.  It was awesome and one of my finer moments for sure.

He surprised me this morning with a pearl necklace....get your mind out of the gutter - not THAT kind.  A real extended strand, freshwater, pearl necklace that has it's own pretty little case that folds open like you see in the movies.  It is gorgeous.  I changed my outfit so I could wear it today.  It is amazing..... he always picks up on the little things.  I had mentioned once that I wanted a longer pearl necklace b/c the one I have was my grandmothers and it's almost choker style.... he remembers which is also another reason why I love him.

We are going out to dinner tonight after we workout.  I have to swim 2500yds and he has weights and cardio.  My weight training is getting done during lunch so we can finish at approximately the same time at the gym, shower, and head to dinner.

In case you are wondering, I surprised him yesterday with his present.  I had our friend come over and hang the TV on the wall in the living room.  We bought a new TV right after the holidays (55inch 3D LCD) ... it looks great on the wall and makes the sound so much better.  Amazing what a little lift can do.  He was so surprised when we got home yesterday from my nephew's bday ... stunned actually.  It was great to see his face.

His 30th is on Friday - I can't wait to celebrate :)

In training news:

I had a great training week this week.  This was the first time we've stepped up my running since WR b/c of the issues I was having with my shin/calf.  I ran like the wind last night in my six miler.  In 1 hour and 1 min. I ran a hilly six miles through North Dallas.  I felt a little tight last night in my shin and IT band but did some stretching and felt good this morning.

Saturday was a BRICK (biking and running in combination) workout.  20ish mile bike ride and then a 2 mile run.  I rocked it.  Bill thought so to and treated me to our favorite Greek place for dinner (Zorba's) and then we went and saw The King's Speech. (go see it - it is a great movie).  I didn't have popcorn or soda either.....or butterfingers...which are my true weakness....along with Reese's peanut butter cups.  I like candy can you tell?

Like I said today is weights/core at lunch then swimming tonight....and then a night on the town with my honey....wine will be included :)

What are you doing for Valentines Day? Training, spending it with loved ones, trying to forget it's Valentines?????