2009 Cowtown 5K

I decided back in January to run the Cowtown 5K. It's probably been two years since I last ran 3 miles at once, so it required a little bit of conditioning. Thankfully, I had a friend, Whitney, running it too, so it gave me just the accountability I needed to get off the couch and get to it. Thank you, Whitney!

So there I was downtown this morning, wondering where all that beautiful, fabulous, springy weather we've had all week ran off to. At racetime, it was 34 degrees with a windchill of even lower. I really can't think of a moment in my life when I have been more cold.


Here I am, wondering what the heck I was thinking
signing up for this freezing business.


After we got out into the sunshine, it was a beautiful morning. I look ridiculous in this hat, but I was so glad I had it on!


After the race with the husbands (Whitney's husband Bryan ran too.)

FORE!

They call it golf because all of the other four-letter words were taken.
~Raymond Floyd

Brad played yesterday in Houston at the home of the PGA Tour's Shell Open, Redstone Golf Club, with a couple of his buddies. Here are a couple of my favorite pics from the day. Clearly there were no women on the trip, because you know there would've been a group picture on the 18th hole.


On the First Tee, where there would have been the first group picture.


Working on the short game


You can see them preparing the course for the tournament behind the man. More short game work.

Book Report: Vanity Fair

I mentioned last month that my first book of 2009 would be Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. I could make this little book report short and say "longest, most verbose book ever written," but I feel like that would be a disservice to Mr. Thackeray and his classic satire, even though it was indeed long and verbose. The story was written in installments for a contemporary periodical of his day, so I was able to forgive him a little bit. I liken it to LOST--get on with it! (Seriously, how many times is the island going to skip?)

The narrator describes it as "a story with no heroine" which is completely true. We follow the main character Becky from her selfish, terrible late teenage years to her selfish, terrible middle age years. She was a backstabber, a crook, and shameless through the whole thing. But of course, it has a little romance with the drama, and I was totally satisfied with the ending.

(But let's be honest, the only reason I read it was to have a frame of reference to the Reese Witherspoon movie version.)

I'm hopping back on the reading rainbow--this time with something a little shorter, The Catcher in the Rye.

I didn't even know he had a broom

A tribute to The Nuge.

Slow Saturday

Recently Alisia recommended Yucatan Taco Stand to us, and seeing that we were having a slow day and feeling adventurous, we decided to try it out. There are any number of great taco stands on corners all around DFW, so you can imagine how hard we laughed at ourselves when we got to the restaurant and realized this was not your average taco stand. It was a stylish and modern restaurant in the medical district, rather than a converted Winnebago. Think Fuzzy's Tacos, but a bit more upscale.


The food was delicious. Hands down the best thing we tried today was the garlic beef taco, but we saw some nachos being delivered to another table that we plan on ordering on our next visit. You'll find Yucatan close to the corner of Hemphill and Magnolia. The next taco stand we intend to visit is Tacolote, as mentioned by the Laramores.


We also did our taxes today. Boring.

Ashley's Baby Shower

This past weekend, some of the girls in my SS department and I threw a shower for our friend Ashley. She is decorating little Cooper's room with a vintage baseball theme, so that's what we ran with for the theme of the shower. It was a lovely afternoon, and from what I saw of the gift opening, she got a ton of great stuff.

(Mama, looking cute in the middle)
When we decided on a theme, I immediately called my dad for shower decorations. He used to run a youth fall baseball league and had a couple of cases of balls for the borrowing. Brad's glove rounded out the sign-in table. I used my apothecary jars with more baseballs and some of Brad's old baseball cards up on the mantle. While he was collecting these "back in the day," I'm sure never in his wildest dreams did he think they would someday function as baby shower decor. Now I'm glad I didn't make him sell everything in the garage sale when we married.






I've been on a crafty kick lately, and one of my projects was this banner.


I can't say enough good things about the cake! I ordered it from Creative Memories over the phone, and it turned out exactly as I had hoped. They did a great job and were easy to work with.

Congratulations Ashley & Chris! We can't wait to meet Cooper!

Valentine's Day 2009

It may be a couple of days late, but I'm posting about Valentine's Day anyway. I kicked off the weekend by getting sick (mostly the sniffling, coughing stuff going around), so that put a slight damper on things. But I fought through it, and got up Saturday morning to make my man a Valentine's breakfast of puffed pancakes, scrambled eggs, and not-burned-bacon. (I was very proud of that last part considering this history, to say the least.)

We spent the day cleaning the house and running errands for an event at our house on Sunday. I have to take a moment to brag on BWG right here. He cleans the floors at our house--mopping, vacuuming--all of it is Brad. This is a huge blessing, and I appreciate it so much. That's just one of the many ways he is a blessing to me. I keep thinking that I want a Dyson vacuum cleaner because of its miraculous cleaning capabilities (and because I ♥ gadgets), and then I remember: what do I care? I don't do the vacuuming! So maybe some Christmas or birthday I will surprise him with one. (I know he will be just so excited.)

After we finished up with that for the evening, we headed to Joe T. Garcia's for dinner. We have decided that we don't enjoy the crowds that go along with Valentine's day dining out. If we want to pay over $100 for dinner, we'd prefer to actually enjoy it. Joe T's is known for being able to accomodate large crowds of people, so it's a perfect spot for V-day.


We sat on the patio, and with the big heaters going, it was probably warmer there than inside. The night was perfect--great company and good food. We ended the night with more cleaning and me finishing off a box of kleenex with the nose that will not stop running. Incredibly romantic, right?

Here's a parting shot of the Valentine I gave Brad. I think my fellow children of the 80s will appreciate it...

Four Years Ago

I woke up that Friday morning and drove from my north Dallas apartment to my office. I moved to a new cube that day, my Team went bowling, and I got off work early that afternoon.

I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and took a long bubble bath because I had time to kill before dinner with my boyfriend.

I thought we were meeting up with some friends of his from high school.

I was surprised when instead he picked me up all dressed up.

I was shocked when a limo picked us up and took us to Thanksgiving Square where he proposed. (And where he first told me he loved me several months before.)

I said yes (because I love him too.)

I decided that I ♥ February 11th way more than I ever did the 14th.

Big Green Bites the Dust

It's been an unexpected kinda week around here!

Saturday Happiness

I ♥ happy pink cookies.

A Puppy Story

A few days ago, in a backyard not that far away lived a dog named Penny Lane. Penny Lane was no docile man's best friend. No, instead, she might have what can only be described as a textbook case of hyperactivity. (Or maybe she is just being a puppy. Whatever.)


One day, Penny discovered she had a friend in the neighboring backyard. She liked to prance and hop along the fenceline, flirting with her new friend and squeaking at him. Yes, squeaking and hopping, embarrassing canines neighborhood-wide with her mouse and rabbit act.


After a period of time squeaking and hopping, Penny and her new friend discovered a crack in the bottom of one of the pickets of her People's fence. It was leftover from a rabid game of horse shoes with their Sunday school class over Memorial Day weekend last summer in their pre-puppy days. Penny thought, "A-ha! I will work this cracked piece of wood until I can break it free! Then I will be able to see my friend better."

So Penny went to work and managed to break away the small piece. Her People just laughed at her when she wedged her body into the hole and discussed among the two of them how they should really replace the fence board before she got stuck.


One Wednesday night, Penny's Girl got home from church and heard her squeaking as usual in the backyard. When Girl finally had enough of the squeaking, she opened up the back door and called the little puppy, but the puppy would not come to the door! Upon further investigation, it was discovered that Penny had squeezed through the hole into the neighbors' yard and was scared to death that she had lost her family forever!

So Penny's Girl went next door and rescued her, and she was a good dog for at least two hours after that time. Her Boy fixed the fence the following day.

THE END.

The Thrill of the Hunt

This past weekend we flew south to Corsicana for an overnight. Saturday morning found me at Canton with my mom and Brad on the golf course with my dad. We stayed off of the beaten path this Trade Days, mostly because I feel like I have seen everything there on repeat for the past year, and because I was in need of some junk. I will post more on that when the junk has sufficiently been repaired or remade into not-junk, which will be in the upcoming weeks.

In the file cabinet of my mind, I have no less than 5 craft projects going on at one time. Unlike my pillows (of which I still have at least 3 more to make), most of these projects are not so quick enough to buy everything in one spot, sit down, and assemble. Some of them require a little bit of treasure hunting to find just what I'm looking for, so at any given time, my hall closet is overflowing with random "stuff." A few months ago I came across an idea for a shadow box, but it has taken me a while to seek out the treasures for the little box. I bought the frame awhile ago, but this past week on my lunch hour while hunting in one of my Drew-inspired treasure locations, I finally hit the motherload--a box of assorted hotel silver that I dug out of a bin of old cafeteria forks and spoons. I polished some of them, hung them in the box, and am now loving the display hanging in my dining area.


If you look closely, you can see old monograms and such on the handle, and one of the spoons is stamped Ritz-Carlton on the back. I wonder what journey brought them to rest in the box in which I found them.

My husband doesn't understand why I find it necessary to shop on my lunch hour (or just about any other hour that renders itself available for that purpose), but I think it's something he should relate to very well. Just like climbing into a deer stand at 4 in the morning or stomping through a field for pheasant in frigid temps, it's searching through store after store, tracking down exactly what I'm looking for, and then scoring it at a great price that makes it so much fun. Sometimes you find what you're looking for, and sometimes you don't, but quite simply, it's all a part of the thrill of the hunt.