Thursday, January 31, 2013

Sewing Circle

I got a sewing machine for Christmas in 2009. It sat in my closet until recently when I figured I should actually learn how to use it. A couple of my friends and I all want to be more crafty so we now have a "Sewing Circle." Our first project was a tote bag we found here-
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/07/17/how-to-make-a-simple-reversible-totebag/

Here is the finished project-
 This one is mine!

I think they turned out pretty well for my first try. I use mine as a lunch bag since it's a little smaller than I thought it would be. I have extra fabric so I'm going to make a bigger one and put a pocket on the inside. 

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

My new favorite app

I came across this fun app called 3 initials. I am obsessed with it! I can't stop making different wallpapers for my iPhone! If you have an iPhone, check out the app!






Tuesday, January 29, 2013

That one time my life became an episode of the Bachelor...

I watch the Bachelor. I will openly admit it. I have for years and even though I know the show is less than high quality, it sucks me in each season. I even read the spoilers (and yes, I know that's cheating) and I still watch the show.

Recently, my life has become like an episode of the Bachelor. I joined an online dating site in hopes of meeting Mr. Right (or Mr. Right for me now). It has been one crazy adventure so far. While I will say there are plenty of normal guys on the site, there are also some interesting characters.

Example #1- Guy sends me a message complimenting my picture. Except every word in the message is misspelled. And then he asks me out without telling me his name in the entire message. Ummmm... I don't think so. While I'm not a fantastic speller, I do at least try. And I'd like to at least know your name before I agree to meet you.

And the craziness goes on and on.

Here is my most recent story. I've gone on several dates in the last 2 weeks with a variety of guys. First of all, dating is hard work. I have to dress nice, wear make-up, fix my hair, I can't just say whatever I'm thinking, you know... trying to make a good impression. It's exhausting. And to top things off, I can't remember what stories I've told each guy. I need a notebook or something to document each date and conversation so I keep it all straight. There's nothing worse than talking about yourself and retelling the same story two dates in a row. That's a tell-tale sign you are dating multiple people. But anyways, moving on.

So most of the guys I knew right away I didn't have a connection with. I'm not hard to please but I do have some standards (even at my age). But there was one guy. We emailed a few times, texted, and talked once on the phone. He asked me out and I thought it'd be worth a shot. Here's the kicker though- he wanted me to go to a bar to watch hockey. While I'm not opposed to going to a bar, I know nothing about hockey. I don't even really like it and wasn't going to really pretend to. But I'm single and needed Friday night plans so off I went. My expectations for the evening were low, almost none. If anything, I'd get some food and a few drinks out of it. Well, it ended up going well. We got along, had a good conversation, it was fun. I was pleasantly surprised.

So when I got home, I did what any other online dater would do. I looked him up on facebook. And then hear is when it all went downhill. We had one friend in common. This friend was a girl I had worked with who I hang out with on a regular basis. I knew she had been doing the online dating thing too and had just moved to Houston so I had a hunch that they knew each other through the dating website. So I sent her a text the next day as any good friend would do. Here response- "Oh crap! I'm out with him right now!" So this guy went on a date with me one night and then saw her the next night. Now I know that online dating is like this but really, this girl is my friend. I'm not going to compete with my friend. I pretty much gave up then.

Automatically, it's like an episode of the Bachelor. All the girls become friends and they're fighting to win one guys love and affection. Not really for me at all. So I decided that I wouldn't pursue anything with him since she had been on more dates than I had. The following day, he texted me and told me he had met someone and wanted to see where that went. Ugh.... I didn't get the rose. Oh well, I responded saying that I knew who she was and we were friends. I don't think he liked that very much :)

So I'm back on the hunt again. Actually, I have a date tonight. I may blog about it tomorrow. It's kind of therapeutic.

Lesson learned from this- the world is smaller than you think!

Monday, January 14, 2013

13.1 on 1.13

One of my bucket list goals was to run a half marathon. I am not a runner at all. I would love to be one of those people who puts on their running shoes and without any effort, goes for a run. That's just not me. When I run, I pretty much look like I'm dying from the very beginning until the very end. It's a struggle.

Last year I did the 5k that is with the Houston Marathon and Half-Marathon. Seeing all those people out there was a huge motivator for me and I decided that next year, I was running the half-marathon. It's a pretty big deal here in Houston and you have to enter a lottery to be able to register. Well, I didn't get selected in the lottery so my other option was to fundraise for a charity to get an entry. In the 4 months of fundraising, I raised over $500 and was able to register for the race! I ran on behalf of the Houston Center for Literacy.

Side note- did you know that 1 out of 5 adults in Houston are illiterate? Crazy and scary!!!

I was so excited and a little nervous. 13.1 miles is a long way. Just looking at the race route made me exhausted! But I had committed so the training began. I ran the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day which was 6 miles. December was a horrible month and I didn't run hardly at all. After Christmas, I had an "oh crap" moment when I realized on January 13th I was running the race. So I spent about 3 weeks hardcore training. I did 2 longs runs (9 and 10 miles). Looking back on it, this probably wasn't the best way to train for a half-marathon. But I figured I knew I could run 10 miles so 13.1 wouldn't be so bad.

Race Day- all week long I had been obsessively checking the weather. The forecast varied all week from 30% chance of rain to 70% chance of rain and the temps were anywhere between 45 and 70. The rain would be horrible but 70 degree humid Houston weather would be worse. On Sunday morning when I woke up, it was about 45 degrees. A cold front was in the process of coming through. AND it was RAINING. It went from misting to drizzling to downpour. The race started at 7am and I went through the start line about 7:20am. By that time, it was pretty much a downpour. There was nothing I could do but keep going. It rained. A lot. For the entire first 5 miles (about an hour). I was drenched. My gloves were so wet I could wring them out. I lost them about mile 3 because it was just too uncomfortable.

Seeing the people cheering us on in the rain was fabulous. It brought tears to my eyes several times. In fact, I had to walk if I felt like I was going to cry. You see, I'm one of those ugly, can't breathe, criers so running and crying doesn't work.

The way the route was set up, I knew if I could make it to mile 5, I would be good to go. Thank goodness for me, the weather gods knew that also and at mile 5, the rain stopped. I was soaked and freezing but at least the rain wasn't pelting me in the face any more. At this point, I'd take what I could get from the weather gods. Mile 5-9 were awesome. I walked some but mostly ran. I felt good.

Then at mile 9, you turn around and run the other way on the same street for 2 miles. It was probably the most boring part of the run. And to make matters worse, I could see the race crews cleaning up the other side of the street so I knew I needed to hustle.

Once I got to mile 11, I knew I was on the home stretch. 2 miles is no big deal normally. My legs disagreed with me. I could not make them move any faster. I knew I was on pace to complete the whole thing in 3 hours (my goal) so I gave it everything I could. About mile 12, I saw my dad with our 2 dogs on the sideline cheering me on. It gave me the final push to finish! The last mile was amazing. People were lined up on the streets cheering you on. I was able to dig down deep and run the last mile. Once I could see the finish line, I had an overwhelming feeling of success. And to cap it all off, my mom was cheering me on at the finish line! I had set a huge goal and I couldn't believe I had actually ran 13.1 miles.

Crossing the finish line was the best feeling in the world. I all of a sudden forgot all the pain I was in and how tired I was. I took my race picture, got my food, and met my mom. All I wanted at that point was a warm shower and to get out of my wet clothes. It was about 40 degrees and windy by the race finish so I was miserable.

I finished the entire 13.1 miles in 3:03:38. I ran a 14 minute mile. Finished in 8,877 place (out of about 10,000 people) and 4,727 in the women's category. I was #877 in my age division. For my first race, I was pleased. I didn't finish last (by a long shot) and almost met my goal. I'm already planning for my next race and am excited to start training again!



And I haven't purchased the official race pictures but if anyone if interested in seeing how wet and tired I looked, here's the link: http://www.marathonfoto.com/Marathon/Houston-Marathon-and-Half-2013/offering/myMarathonfotos/RaceOID/26792013W1/Language/en

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Pay day...finally!

I've been working at my new job for about a month and I haven't gotten a paycheck yet. It's been a nightmare getting hired on and getting everything processed. And it's a huge hospital system that I'm working for! Finally, I was able to pick up my paycheck today. Except they didn't pay me for the full amount they owe me. Oh well, I'll get paid eventually I hope.

Documentation that I got a real paycheck~

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

January 1st

This is what I was doing last night. Bedazzling my New Year's toast cup. I hope your New Year's celebration was as awesome as mine.


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