Just for Sara!

Pumpkins of Halloween's past...

Picture Dakota at McDonald's...

Hel-lo??

Many of you know that I have a very illusive cat, Grady. It's not often that someone gets a glimpse of my sweet kitty. You are in for a rare treat today! You will get sights and sounds!!

Scott and I just got back from a 10 day vacation. We had a terrific time even though it was 0 for 2 on the launch attempts. Maybe one day Scott will share some of the 700 pictures that he took! :-) (I only took 100ish; what an amateur!)

Grady was given an opportunity to be the man of the castle while we were gone (Dakota was in Mexico). We were even so kind as to arrange for a servant to arrive every couple of days to provide meal and drink; a.k.a. a college student, Meghan. Even with these amenities, Grady is a sensitive feline that does not like being alone. This means that when we return, we are constantly bombarded by his need to have me in his sight lines at all times. Most of you have heard stories about Grady repeating the word, "hello?" Well after being gone for over a week, this was a prime time to record him speaking!

This first video was actually taken last. I had been talking to Grady and without Dakota here, he was brave enough to barge up the stairs.

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There's really nothing to watch in this video; it's really just about the sound. You may have to turn up the volume on the computer. He was downstairs and around the corner. You should hear Grady say 'hello' about three times.

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Two Years Down!

As is a tradition of mine, I am showing pictures of my anniversary flowers. We are at one of those points where I cannot believe that two years have aleady gone by, but at the same time we both feel like it has been a lot longer. We had a very nice dinner and then a quiet evening on our computers. Not super exciting, but it's us. Scott is trying to finalize our vacation plans and I'm trying to finish a class.

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Otherwise, Scott is busy with his usual summer work of juggling football camps and cheerleading camps. (Preferably not both here at the same time!) And I'm about to fully enjoy summer vacation.

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Happy summer to you all!

Oops...

So this past weekend we got a pretty heavy storm. At one point the rain was so hard that we could not see the parking lot outside of our window; and those of you that have been here know that the parking lot is pretty close. Monday rolled around and everyone went back to work and heard the various stories of flooded basements. I was feeling pretty good about things. Overall we had gotten off easy. There was one huge bolt of lightning that hit a sign North of us and caused one very scary boom. Immediately after that we had a window start leaking. Very freaky to see water draining from the vertical blind track! Anyway, on Monday evening Scott and I decided to go out to dinner. Since we usually take the Mustang, Scott thought we should take the Accord for a change. As I was approaching the car I suddenly hear Scott saying, "Oh, no...no....no..." And then I saw it!

Last week was very nice. It was so nice that one day Scott decided to drive with the sunroof open. And I'm pretty sure you know what comes next:

Water standing in the back floorboard.

The cup holders are nearly full.

It took Scott over an hour to pull the water out. And a stack of blankets and pillows got a good spin in the dryer. Unfortunately there are a couple of small cracks in the back seat now. Fortunately, that seems to be the only permanent damage. So boys and girls, the lesson is: don't leave the sunroof open when the weather is forecasting rain for the 6 out of 7 days!

Update on the "fight against the flab"

If you ever looked at the weight loss ticker to the right of the blog, you have noticed that it hasn't changed lately. I have been going to Curves about twice a week for the past month+. I finally got my print out from last week's weigh in. As you can see, I gained one pound; however I lost 1% body fat. The rest of the results are mixed as well. I lost a little here and gained a little there for a total average loss of 1". (I'm most excited by the 1.5" lost at my waist!)
Today I started with my Curves Smart card. This card (among other things) tracks my progress, shows the amount of calories burned per workout, and sets the difficulty of the machines for each individual person.
After taking a couple of years off, my first workout in March was a doozy! I had gotten back into a groove until today. The Curves Smart program is set you kick your butt every time you work out. But it also claims to help you get into shape 19% faster. I'm looking forward to that! It should be an interesting journey. Keep watching the ticker to see if I can manage to make any changes from month to month!

The Amazing Race

Some of you know from keeping up with me on Facebook or through conversation that I have been training for the last two and a half weeks to enter Northwest’s Residence Hall Association (RHA) 5K Run/Walk. To set some back story, I finally got off my lazy caboose in February and have been working out regularly for about 2 ½ months now. I prefer elliptical machines as versed to treadmills and running by a long shot. Anyway, one day about 2 ½ weeks ago, I headed down to the fitness center (it’s in the basement of our building… convenient!) and found someone had just started on the elliptical. I decided instead of waiting I would just do something different and get on the treadmill for a run. After about 10 minutes, it began to dawn on me that I was doing pretty well. I had read the advertisement for the 5K a few days prior and after putting these two thoughts together, training for the race was on.


I spent about a week doing indoor running on the treadmill and another week’s worth of running the actual course outdoors. After doing the course several times and improving my time each outing (that is after hitting the “wall” really bad on Wednesday… that was an ugly run), race day finally came today.

Getting race instructions from Matt.

I had a simple goal. Complete the course in less than 30 minutes. I had timed myself twice at under 30 minutes with my best training time coming in at 28:10. As for today… when I showed up no other runners were there! Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided today was a great day for a downpour. A few minutes before race time, two other runners did show up. I had told the race organizer that if no one else showed up, I was probably out. I’ve done the course by myself enough times I didn’t need to prove that ability again. But, two others did finally show and the race was on! I was actually kind of relieved. Despite the weather, I had been telling everyone my goal and they were pulling for me to succeed, so it just wouldn’t have been right not to do it.

Loving the rain... the race is on!

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At 9AM the pistol started the race. Tari, one of my student Desk Managers at work, became my running partner for about half of the race. In my training, I hadn’t been doing hills to avoid wearing out too fast. But, I kept pace with her for a full half of the course – running through three hills I normally walked. It was pretty cool not having to walk at all until being around half way done. At that point, we hit a big hill and I pulled up. Tari ran on, but I quickly picked back up the pace. A few more stints of walking the hills did happen, but I ran (not walked) a good race!

Tari and I head out from the starting line in the parking lot.

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When I got to the last few minutes of the race, there was another place I normally walk, but my competitive spirit got up and I forced my way through it. It was kind of comical as I verbally and loudly cheered myself on (hey, you gotta do what ya gotta do). Anyway, I crossed the line at 26:23 beating my best time by 1:47. Woo hoo! I finished about a minute behind Tari. Quentin, the other male runner finished at 21-something. So, yes, I came in last. But, I blew my goal out of the water (or the rain as the case may be) and that is a pretty big deal for me!

Coming in on the last leg of the race.

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Just a little bit to go!

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Crossing the finish line... 26:23. 

Yeah, there was a big fist pump when I heard my time!

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What I didn’t know was that there were medals for the race. I got the second place medal for the men’s category. While, yes, it kind of was by default because there were no more runners, to me it is a great symbol of being able to do whatever I put my mind to. I’ve just kind of been smiling to myself all afternoon.

No rain, no pain, no gain!