5 states, 5 days

I started in Texas on Friday - delayed three hours, Landed in Louisiana, drove to Mississippi arrived at almost midnight Friday --- back to NOLA on Saturday to pick up Bill, back to MS to the anniversary party for my aunt and uncles 50th wedding anniversary and then back to Louisiana on Sunday where I sat in an airport for close to 10 hours (does not include the two hours we spent in the french quarter) to catch a flight that would take me to TX and land me in my door at 1:00am only to leave at 7:30am to head out to Philadelphia on Monday and then drive to Delaware on Monday afternoon to be in a three day training session...I leave DE to drive to PA to fly to TX ..... to be HOME on Thursday night.

*BIG FAT YAWN*

It's been crazy crazy around here - which would be the reason I haven't posted in 14 days.  Workouts have been limited at best...and I have a sprint tri on Sunday which is going to KILL me... seriously I may die... which would suck b/c then I would be able to make my BIG ANNOUNCEMENT HOPEFULLY NEXT WEEK....keep hagin' in there...

Up on the docket this weekend... Wedding Friday night, baseball playoffs Saturday, Tri Sunday.... I'm tired thinking about it... Monday I hope to get a massage... I need one to RELAX!

Anyway - just thought I'd check in from DE and let you know that I was in fact alive and racking up the airline miles (hello Hawaii........maybe one free ticket at least)

We will return to your regularly scheduled programming soon......

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**

Catching up {and a totally awesome giveaway preview}

I think this is officially the longest I have gone without posting.... it's been a whirlwind of the last ten days.

Holiday weekends are notoriously super fun; but also jammed packed with activities, family, baseball, pool parties and not enough lounging.  But I did get to lounge a little today.  So holla!

Over the last ten days; my grandmother passed away.  Thank you for all your supportive comments and concern.  She passed on Saturday and her services will be Wednesday with a viewing tomorrow.  Keep my family in your thoughts if you have a few extra moments over the next few days.

I also traveled last week - so that totally knocks my schedule around and makes it all cattywhompassss... yes it's a word... at least for me it is... I went to Little Rock last week and had a great visit with some clients there.

Friday was early release from work; but I worked a little later just to get somethings done and not have them hang over my head all weekend....Bill and I went to dinner at our fav Greek spot (as usual on Friday nights) and then saw the Hangover 2.  Have you seen it?  What did you think?  I thought it was funny (but don't want to talk too much about it and ruin it for those who haven't seen it)... But I will tell you it's VERY similar to the first... ok enough with that....

Saturday was jammed packed with Baseball - Bill had two games, Coop had 1 and Kaylee had 2 - I made it to one of Bill's game and one of Kaylee's game...go me..... after that we had a baseball team party at one of the players parents houses.... THAT was fun; they have a SUPER HUGE AWESOME house and pool.

Sunday I got up and went to Yoga (first time in YEARS) and Bill had 2 more games (they lost in the championship) and I hung out at the pool all day at a friends house.  Drinking my fair share of John Daley's (the alcohol version of an Arnold Palmer - sweet tea vodka and lemonade...YUMMY!)

Today - I did and hour and a half cycling/lift class and then 45 minutes of Yoga followed by laying on the couch and watching the replay of the Biggest Loser (since we missed it due to weather) and Bill worked (no holiday for alcohol reps).  I am sore for the first time in a long time.  Just sayin'

Tomorrow I have my spin audition - as well as my grandmothers viewing...and the first game of the Mavs vs. Heat series... big day.... wish me luck.

I did put together my "routine" for my audition - I'm super pumped about it, but really nervous as well.  I'm hoping it goes over well and that I can start teaching sooner rather than later.

Now on to bigger and BETTER things (b/c I'm sure you read this to find out what I do every second of the day)

MARK YOUR CALENDERS: JUNE 10.....

Why you ask?

It's an ENTIRE DAY OF GIVEAWAYS over at Mrs. Adventure.....

Mrs. Adventure and I have been bloggy friends for quite sometime; I feel like we are real life friends but literally have only had one conversation over the phone....but she is super awesome chick who hosts THE BEST giveaways!!!  On June 10 - she is hosting a full day of giveaways... I've won things from here like these....

and these...

pancakes, toast and milk not included...bummer.....

Do you want in on the fun???

Check back to Mrs. Adventure's site on June 10 to enter to win in  10 giveaways in ONE DAY!!!!

Feel free to share the excitement and grab the button up there!

Sneak Peek of a two of the giveaways (just b/c you are special readers and I love you)

http://www.sodastreamusa.com/

www.easycanvasprints.com

More sneak peek's to come - so stay tuned!!!!!!

oooo - and go leave Rach some love :) tell her I sent you!

Rock and Roll Dallas Half Marathon Race Report

**Warning Major Picture Overload**

Let me first start off by saying what a great race RnR Dallas was.  The race and expo were well organized and moved quickly (and on schedule) and overall the race experience was a great one.

I haven't talked much on here about preparing for RnR Dallas for two reasons.... 1) I was using it as a "long training" day run three weeks prior to NOLA70.3.  2) I was running with Amber for her first 1/2 mary and I was more excited for her than I was for me. Honestly, it's kinda like Christmas - I get WAY more excited about giving gifts than I ever do about getting my own.  Make sense?

We like to take silly pictures

Saturday I had a work philanthropy event in Las Colinas for the Make A Wish Foundation a 1mile fun run and 5K.  I signed up for the 1 mile b/c my friend at work's daughter is a wish kid and they were walking the 1 mile; plus I didn't really want to run a 5K on my "off/rest" day....but had to participate since I chair our philanthropy committee.  It was a great event and if you live in DFW (or any city where they host this race as a fundraiser) I recommend you participate in the next one.  Seeing all those kids get so excited was truly heart warming.

After that Amber, John and I ran some errands and then headed downtown for the expo.  I.heart.expos.  I spend way too much money, sign up for too many things, and genuinely get too giddy - but hey - that's me.  Packet pick up was smooth sailing and then we began shopping. I found my new favorite obsession, HoneyMilk Chocolate.  Seriously try it - it will change your life.  I picked up my SPI Belt (that I've been putting off buying)  I know I will need it in NOLA and it was 20% off so SCORE!

We wandered around the expo for awhile and picked up some nutrition, sport beans, chomps, honey stinger waffles (read my review here), and then matching headbands to wear on race day.  We then had our gait analyzed by the Brooks team (videoed while running on the treadmill), scored a free tshirt and then headed out.  (OH! Don't forget our Elvis Pic)

Hunka Hunka burnin' love......

Amber and John booked a hotel room at the Magnolia that was 2 blocks from the start of the race; so I crashed with them since Bill is out of town.  ( he is in Phoenix at Rangers Spring Training)  We showered and headed out for dinner at Coal Vines (the same place I ate (and bloggy meet up) before White Rock).

Cayla, Me and Amber

We shared pizza and pasta and made it our own "family style dinner".  It was a great night with good friends - I'm sad Bill wasn't there to join us and to enjoy the food but he's mingling with pros so he's not suffering :)

Amber and John

After Dinner we headed back to the hotel to prep for the race!  CONFESSION - I have a thing - I have to set out all my race gear the night prior to any race.  It makes me feel prepared and I look at my outfit right before I fall asleep and visualize the race the next day.  It can be called a little OCD but - hey - it works :)

Amber's outfit on the left - mine on the right

We drifted off to dream land around 10:00ish.  At 2:30 we were rudely awaken by the noisy neighbors next door.  I assumed they had just gotten in from a long evening on the town and would be passing out shortly thereafter.  After listening to them yell, scream and screech I had enough.  I called the front desk (6 times before they answered) to report the room next door.  The front desk sent up security which promptly shut the neighbors up for 2.5 seconds.  Literally.  When they got loud again (and I was increasingly getting more irritated) I opened our door with intentions of knocking on theirs.  The security guards was still in the hallway.  My statement to him "Are you taking care of this" - I wanted to follow with "or do I have to" but he answered before I could finish.... He was in deed "taking care of it".  At 3:30 he knocked on their door the second time.   Politely asked them to quiet down. They now have had multiple complaints and after two warnings with no attempt to pipe down he would call the Dallas PD.  One of the gentlemen (use this term loosely) went out into the hallway and talked to the guard - for another 20 min.  I heard their entire conversation.  We are now almost at 4am.  y 4:30 I was back asleep and waiting for my alarm at 6:15.  It was a restless (nearly  sleepless) night.   Good thing I picked up those 5 hour energy's at the Make a Wish event.

Did I tell you we LOVE Silly pictures?

The alarm went off and we were up and at 'em.  Dressed and feeling strong - we were ready to head to the start line and get this party started.

At the start line in our corral

WINNING!

We met Joe Dirt/Brett Michaels in our corral

The lines started moving and we made our way to the start..... off we went.

Not much to report miles 1 - 8.  It was a great run...I enjoyed showing Amber parts of Dallas she had never seen before.  We saw John and Cayla around mile 7....

 Right before the 15K mark - nature called 2 times (if you get my drift).  I didn't want to stop - by this time we were in the middle of Swiss Ave (no port-a-potties).  Great - this could be fun.  My stomach started cramping so we backed off the pace and I just hoped to make it to the finish without crying.  We saw the port-a-potties at mile 10ish but I didn't want to stop - we were so close and I was hoping to beat my WR time (even if by a few seconds).

Mile 11 and 12 sucked...as usual..... it hurts by this point and I think I said about a billion times "HOW ON EARTH AM I GOING TO DO THIS AFTER BIKING 56 F'ING MILES!" 

We entered fair park and the cheering picked up, the bands were playing and we saw our support system.

Finally a kind of cute running pic......

We finished holding hands ... I know so girly..

 

Cayla Amber and me after we finished

I really only do this for the BLING!!!!

We ROCKED RnR Dallas!

Official finishing time: 2:20:47 (40 seconds slower than WR - I blame the stomach cramping)



Silly Picture Outtakes:

Friday!!

I've never been so happy to see Friday :)  Pretty much today has been a dooooozie... I have been swamped at work today...glad to finally have a breather :)

Not too much else going on - I still feel like working out sucks so I skipped my run yesterday. I know - sue me.  But I have an 11 miler this weekend so the cupcake marathon is still in my sights.  I also REALLY want my shirt to come in before I start loggin' those miles for the virtual race.

Gets me thinking.... I really want a cupcake.

Bill and I went out last night for dinner and drinks.  Can I tell you how much I just love hanging out with him?  We just have so much fun.... just the two of us ... it makes me smile!

That's about it for me!

Look out on Tuesday for our first Tribute Tuesday post..... It's going to be f-u-n!

Also - 6 more followers and I'm hosting a giveaway :) Tell your friends!!

Off to finish up work so I can have some relaxing workouts this weekend and regroup!

xoxoxo

A hill country weekend and 10 miles

This weekend was very fun!  We celebrated Cayla’s 30^th birthday in Austin as well as Fredericksburg and Luckenbach.  (If you aren’t from Texas - You’ve probably only heard of Austin).  Fredericksburg is a small German settled community in the middle of the Texas Hill Country.  It’s located about an hour and a half outside of Austin and is known for it’s local Texas Wineries (Check out Becker Vineyards if you are ever in the area),  Downtown shopping district, and 15 miles outside of town is Enchanted Rock State Park. The neighboring town, Stonewall is famous for their peaches; Former President Lyndon B. Johnson’s ranch is in Stonewall also, he and Lady Bird are both buried there.  Luckenbach is a tiny (and I mean tiny) town, it’s not even a town really…it’s basically a dance hall, a store and a walk up bar.  It was made famous by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson when they released the song “Luckenbach, Texas” – the town slogan “Everyone’s Somebody in Luckenbach”.

Now that you’ve had your Texas history lesson for the day:

We had a blast….if you know me or have followed me for awhile you will know that my all time favorite band is Reckless Kelly.  In college we used to travel hundreds of miles and probably spent thousands of dollars on tickets (and beer…and merchandise)….although my time traveling to see RK has been drastically reduced since becoming an “adult” – I still try and see them whenever I can including last year on my birthday when I combined my two favorites – The Texas Rangers and a post game concert by RK.  Too bad it was 107 degrees outside…I thought I was going to die….I thought my mom was going to die….

I digress….this was supposed to be about Cayla…

We loaded up Friday after work and headed to Austin where we met up with Cay’s childhood friend McKenzie and Cay’s little sister, Katy.  We ventured downtown and had dinner at Iron Cactus (I actually turned down a margarita…*gasp*!)  Then zig zagged around Sixth Street where we ended up at Pete’s Piano Bar.  No matter how many times I go there, and am fully aware of their shtick…. I have fun.  We sang, danced, got Cayla up on stage and had a great time! 

Saturday we headed to Fredericksburg for an afternoon at the spa, some good German food and Reckless Kelly in Luckenbach. 

It was a great celebration of a great friend and I’m so happy Cayla had a great time for her 30^th bday!

I got home yesterday around 4:30 – took a short nap and headed out for a 10 mile run. 

I laced up my shoes, strapped on my Road ID and Garmin and hit the pavement.  I knew it was going to be tough….I wasn’t properly hydrated (I drank a 40 oz bottle of water on the way home in preparation but knew it wasn’t going to be enough) and I missed my last long run last week b/c of house stuff.  But alas – I was going to push through.

I headed out of our neighborhood and planned to run 4.2 miles to the nature preserve….one loop around the nature preserve ~1.5 miles and then head home for a total 10 miles … (throw in an extra turn to round out the 10).

I started out feeling great….I was averaging about a 9:50 pace for the first 2.5 miles.  I knew I wasn’t going to last at that pace so I backed off…plus the street that takes me from our neighborhood to the nature preserve is pretty hilly…hilly in Texas terms mind you…..at mile 3.5 I saw road kill. EWWWW!

I reached the nature preserve and felt awesome…. This is where I ran my fastest six mile time last week in 1hr flat so I knew I could pick up some time here.  I pushed it…and finished my loop then headed back.  The sky was starting to get dark and I was afraid they were going to open up on me and pour.  Luckily – I missed the rain…I got a few sprinkles but nothing like it appeared was going to happen.

At 7 (and the second dose of road kill) I bonked out.  It felt like I had nothing left in my tank.  Zero…empty….no energy, no water, no fuel.  I blew through my chomps when I hit mile 5 at the preserve and stopped at the water fountain there. (I hate running with water bottles so I try and plan my runs where there is adequate hydration stops…be it fountains, gas stations, friends houses, etc)

I had only about ½ mile to go before I could hit up the 7-11….*high five to me for remembering cash in my belt*

I ran in 7-11 (letting my Garmin track every step until I was in the store) purchased a bottle of water *best purchase ever* and headed home.  3 miles to go.  I knew that even if I had to walk every step of that 3 miles – it could take me 30 minutes, an hour, 3 hours, whatever I was going to finish this run.  Even if f it killed me.

I hit the pavement (water in hand) and started running again.  I pulled off my ipod and just listened to my feet pounding the pavement….my breath *in and out, in and out*, and visualized being three miles from the finish in NOLA.  Then psychosis set in.

I started talking to myself…. I realized too I wasn’t talking to myself in my head but I was ACTUALLY vocalizing my thoughts.  (Hope someone doesn’t hear me and call the looney van to pick me up)

I remember saying…

“You can do this”

“You are going to finish”

“You do this b/c it makes you happy at the end and a better person”

“You do this b/c you want to be healthy and live a long time”

“You do this to give your future kids an active/healthy mom”

“You will do this b/c you love it”

“You will do this b/c you set your mind to it”

“You will do this b/c people believe in you”

“You will do this b/c you believe in yourself”

Then low and freakin’ behold I was around the corner from my house and the run was over

10 miles – 1hr and 48min – 10:48 pace

One last thing – I’m so close to 100 followers!! When I get there I’ll be hosting a giveaway of my favorite things!  I’m so excited – 9 more to go – so tell your friends!!!

Weekend Wrap up

Thank you again for all your sweet comments on my post regarding my BFF - as usual I'm thankful that I have a wonderful community of bloggy friends that allow me to express my inner most feelings and thoughts on not only the fun happy stuff, but the hard stuff too. 

Our weekend was jammed packed with traveling.  We left on Friday and drove to Houston - met up with Kristin and Nick and then headed to Galveston for Texas Mardi Gras.  Long story short - it's amazing what drunk college girls will do for some cheap plastic beads. {insert your imagination here}.

On another note...

Saturday we had a wedding.  It was a beautiful wedding between on of our college friends and his perfect bride!  She looked gorgeous and the wedding was so fun!  Congrats Stu and Kelly!

Saturday night we plopped down on Kristin and Nick's couch and set in for some good ole TV time.  I got 1/2 way through Food, Inc and then passed out.  I want to pick it back up on Netflix and finish it b/c I was very interested but eyes were just SO tired!

I woke up before everyone else on Sunday so I went for a run.  I was scheduled for a seven miler so I mapped out the distance from Kristin's house to Memorial Park, one loop around the park and back and it equaled right over 7 miles.  SCORE.... I strapped on my Garmin, my shoes, and a head band and headed out.

I didn't eat breakfast and hadn't drank much water - the first three miles were fine.  I got 1/2 way around the park and found a water fountain.  SCORE....

Then the humidity set in - and the heat - it was like 86 degrees which is normally fine but considering I haven't ran in heat AND humidity in quite sometime it wasn't the easiest run of my life.  Then my Garmin died.  Then I got stuck waiting for a train.

It was a terrible, terrible run but it got completed and I logged the miles.

I was supposed to have this Friday as a rest day - but I ended up taking today.  I stayed up watching the Oscars (which Anne Hathaway mildly annoyed me - shoot me I know, but it was just a little.....I like almost all of her but I had just a twinge of annoy-ment during a few parts) so I scratched Master's Swim in an effort to get some sleep.

Other Oscar News:

My 10 Favorite Dresses: (in no particular order)



Mila Kunis - looking lovely in lavender



Celine Dion - LOVE this dress



Sandra Bullock - always Classy Sandy



Natalie Portman - sporting the baby bump and looking amazing

Reese Witherspoon - resembles a little Julia Roberts circa 2001 when she one her Oscar for playing Erin Brockovich

Jennifer Hudson - weight watchers did her gooooood



Anne Hathaway (the dress she walked the carpet in) - stunning and timeless



Hailee Steinfeld - looking well above her 15 years

Scarlett Johansson - not crazy about her smile in this one - but that dress was hot!

Melissa Leo - has made every other persons worst dress list - but I loved the high collar and plunging neck line!

10 that should have stayed on the rack...

  

Gwyenth Paltrow - looks like shes wearing tin foil....and although she has the body to rock this hip hugging aluminum foil dress - it should have stayed on her designer's rack.

Marisa Tomei - it's hugging in all the WRONG places

Anne Hathaways (blue rubber dress worn during show)



Penelope Cruz - although she looks HOT only a few weeks post baby - her dress choice wasn't my fav



Cate Blanchett - remove the boxy sleeves and this is a win for me!

Nicole Kidman - I love the colored shoe with the white dress - but the dress is a FAIL

Halle Berry - Love her and she always looks fabulous but this resembles a three year olds attempt to put tulle on a dress.

Helena Bonham Carter - Her face is a perfect accessory to this dress choice - sour face = sour dress



Lynne Harless (Justin Timberlake's Mom) - more support needed - enough said.