Friday, January 23, 2009

Marathon Pics

Here you go... Finally, White Rock Marathon pictures.
Remember, I just ran 13.1 miles, so I look a bit crusty. (I hate that word, but I think it's the most fitting)

The Starting Line at Victory Plaza or Park or whatever it's called.
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Me with the white sweatshirt tied around my waist, running at Mile 11
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My two friends Virginia and Erin came down to cheer me on at the 11 mile marker, and it was the PERFECT timing! I was in PAIN, and I was so encouraged to see some familiar faces in the crowd.
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This is after the race, with some of our team, Tina and her husband did the race together, and Jackie helped coordinate all the racers... She was supposed to run... long story. =) haha
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I know I have to do another one of these at some point in time, but until then, these will suffice to make me proud for a while. =)

Saturday, January 03, 2009

working my way out...

...of the TV addiction that is.
And, I honestly have to give a little 'what-what' to Stephenie Meyer and her highly addictive crack cocaine, a.k.a. Twilight, for seriously getting me off of TV for a record 10 days in order to fall back in love with reading.
Okay, that's a little dramatic... I am always in love with reading, BUT, with CARES business, work, toddler, husband, new church, oh yes, and my other work, reading kind of took a back seat for a while. I'd say I read pretty steadily the entire year until July when our whole world seemed to change in about 10 seconds. SO, in November when I really picked up Twilight and was sucked into a black hole of awesometown (yes, I think I'm rapidly turning into "Comic Book Guy" from the Simpsons...), I remembered just how wonderful it is to lose yourself in a book... or any hobby I suppose that doesn't involve a lot of "No, stop doing that" or "Hola! I'm Dora!".

So, I have set some pretty strict restrictions on myself for 09 as far as entertainment goes.
I really am going to try to limit myself to following only a handful of shows:
24, Lost, Fringe, Office, Gossip Girl (duh) and maybe Grey's. This is a big deal, people!! But, I am determined to work on my brain, soul, and body this year, and I don't think TV can really assist me towards that end. I'm sure we could sit and debate that, and I'm not going to be anal about this; I'm sure I will cheat. BUT, the goal is to read more, educate more, work out more, look out for my health a bit more (w/o veggies of course) and spend as much time cultivating my relationships with family and friends as possible.

Here are a few of the tangible goals for the year:
1. Another Half-marathon - probably the Austin Half, or the Big D in April
2. FULL Marathon - White Rock or something earlier in the year, not sure yet
3. BOOT CAMP - starting next month!
4. Set a reading list and actually finish each and every book (working on compiling that at the moment... feel free to offer suggestions!!)
5. VOLUNTEER in some way or another. I am going to get our apartment community to help out once a month at Genesis Women's Shelter in some form, as we adopted a family for the holidays, and it was such a great experience purchasing and collecting all the items on their wish list. Niles, Reese and I took them to the dropoff, along with $175 in gift cards for the family!! It makes me cry every time I think about it.
6. Find some way to do something for the troops. (Niles is making fun of me, but we watched Lions for Lambs tonight, and I'm all inspired to do something important and encouraging. Currently doing research, but again, all suggestions are welcome!)
7. GO TO SOME CONCERTS. My friend Sarah and I have talking about this for some time as we have similar music tastes. This is something I always think about, but just get caught up in the rut of Grapevine, Chilis and Sonic (sigh) and forget all about it. But I truly love music and I hate that there is sooo much out there I don't know about. =(

Okay, so, it's almost 1:00 am, and considering I just got over being grossly ill, I should head to bed.

peace out.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Me and Edward Cullen

He's sooo dreamy. =)

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Books I Read in 2008

A Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing - Melissa Bank (you know... i may have read this last year...)
Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Bilbert
The Last Lecture - Jerry Pausch (FAN FREAKING TASTIC)
Stori Telling - yes, i believe you know her...
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khalid Hussein
Chris Farley Show - colaboration (this was actually a great read, but very very sad)
Freedom From Fear - Neil Anderson & Rich Miller
Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
Skinny Bitch
Marilyn Monroe - Barbara Leaming
Midnight Sun - Stephenie Meyer


Books I got halfway through, which is tragic, but I just was not interested. Seriously.
The Shack - ugh, i don't remember
Marley & Me - John Grogan (I always want to say Josh Groban)
Atonement - Ian McEwan (I still may try to suffer through this one... but I just can't care enough about it)