Photo an Hour

SO apparently I am always a day late and a dollar short (isn't that the saying or am I just making it up). Anyways, I completely missed yesterday's Photo an Hour link up that Meg is hosting because I was taking the photos yesterday. So today, you get to see what my Thursday looked like. It's pretty much a good representation of my week. I like to stay busy :)

6:45am- I have to wake up and get ready. Clark gets to sleep in. 

7:45am- We are ready and on our way. 

Clark goes to Grandma and Grandpa's (aka my parent's house) most days.

He is very excited.  

8:45am- dropped Clark off.

Cleaned up after the stray puppies my parents are currently housing.

And I am off to UH to drop something off at the DZ house. 

9:45am- 2 hours after leaving the house, I finally make it to work.

And yes, I am running really late.

(But if you look closely, there is another lady that is just as late as me)

I love having a flexible work schedule.

10:45am- since I was late, I figured I should actually get some real work done. 

Lots of papers on my desk.

And a jumbo Whataburger cup.

I may have stopped for a breakfast taco before coming to work.

I was already late so it didn't really matter, right?!?!?

11:45am- still doing some work.

12:45pm- LUNCH

The most important part of the day.

And today, I got the Southwest Salad from the cafeteria.

YUMMY!

1:45pm- Because I've already worked a full 2 hours today, I decided to do some of my other "work"

I'm going through Extension packets for sororities interest in coming to UH.

2:45pm- bathroom break. Uh oh!!!! The bathroom is out of service for the millionth time.

I go to the basement but there is a line.

So I have to walk over to the main hospital to use the bathroom.

The joys of being housed in an ancient building. 

3:45pm- counting down the hour until I can leave.

This is my view out my window. 

4:45pm- Leaving the med center.

Yes, I know the I only worked 7 hours today. 

I love this about my job. 

5:45pm- The fun doesn't end. I have a Rodeo Meeting tonight.

Sidenote- I'm selling Wine Seminar tickets for the HLSR. If anyone is interested, let me know.

Everyone could use a little wine and country music in their life.  

6:45pm- still in the meeting. Talking about the Wine Auction.

Apparently people pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy lots of wine.

I wish I had that kind of money. 

7:45pm- I have now left the Rodeo meeting and driven back to UH for a recruitment meeting.

There are many nights where I have 2 meetings like this back to back.

Can you say "overprogrammed?"

8:45pm- finally leaving UH and on my way to pick up Clark. 

9:45pm- Clark is in the car and ready to go home. 

I awoke him from his slumber at Grandma and Grampa's. 

He was not pleased. 

10:45pm- watching a little "Millionaire Matchmaker" to wind down the night. 

Maybe Patty can find me a husband. 

And then somewhere in between 10:45pm and 11:45pm, I fell asleep. This is pretty much a normal day for me. I was exhausted. And I'm so glad it is Friday. And I have nothing to do tonight. 

Ice storm 2014

Hell has frozen over!!!!

Not really but we did have two ice/snow days in Houston in the past week. Tuesday was a big one. They shut down schools, delayed work, closed bridges, etc.

All for this-

If you look carefully, you'll see ice on the fertilizer bag in the backyard. 

And a layer of ice on this plastic box. 

I really have no idea how we all made it through this storm. But we survived. 

And I will live to blog another day. 

The ice storm also brought this with it. 

Apparently, my car hates cold weather.

Hoping dad can fix it this weekend.

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was one for the books. I had a packed weekend full of fun. So much fun that I took hardly any pictures.

Sidenote- I don't really like to take pictures of myself. I don't like the way I look so I often find myself taking pictures of things (mostly food and alcohol). Is there something wrong with that?

FRIDAY-

Stayed at home and got caught up with Downton Abbey and ate Thai food. 

SATURDAY-

Blogger Meetup at Hearsay downtown.

I love this place. I've never had anything bad here. 

This was only my 3rd or 4th meetup but I feel like I've known some of these girls for a long time.

I read their blogs almost every day. 

So that means we're BFFs, right?

Anyways, we were talking so much that most of us forgot to take pictures. 

Darby did take some pictures. You can see them HERE.

And if you look closely, this is the reason why I hate pictures. I just make weird faces all the time. 

I then ventured over to Reliant Stadium to pick up a wine case for one of my buyers.

I'm on the Wine Sales Committee. We sell wine.

If you want to go to a wine seminar during the rodeo, let me know.

I have tickets for you to buy.

The rest of Saturday is a blur with no pictures.

I went on a date.

I went to a birthday/housewarming party.

I went to a second birthday party. 

I was in bed by 10:30pm.

SUNDAY-

Went to brunch with a few friends at Brick and Spoon. 

We had to wait an hour to be seated but the wait was worth it. 

I sipped on this while we waited.

Berry mojito

Grown up grilled cheese

And a mimosa sampler in the background. 

I then went over to my parents house to go to a neighbor's open house.

My mom didn't want to go alone fearing that the neighbors would figure out that she was going through their house. 

But she really wanted to see what they had done to their backyard since my parents have the same exact house 2 doors down.

And she made me take pictures to show my dad. 

Screened-in patio under the deck. 

They converted part of their garage into a room.

It was pretty cool. 

And then this happened. I had seen these two dogs camped out on the corner by my parent's house.

They were just chilling waiting for someone to come get them.

Upon talking to the neighbors, they had been there for at least a day.

Knowing that it was going to get cold this week, I mentioned it to my dad.

He and I went and got the dogs. 

They are now living in our backyard/garage. 

Sweet puppies who will hopefully be going to the rescue place this weekend. 

Unless of course anyone wants a dog or two. 

Five on Friday

Another week has come and gone. This week seemed really really long for some reason. I am so glad it's almost the weekend and I have a lovely weekend planned for myself. But first, my Five on Friday.

1. If you live in Houston, you should know that we are currently experience icemageddon (or it just got really cold and the roads froze). Because H-town rarely experiences freezing temps, this is a really big deal. So big of a deal that they didn't show the Today show this morning because of the news coverage. Don't get me wrong though. It was cold and there was definitely ice on the roads. And Houstonians definitely don't know how to drive in it. I stayed home from work until about noon. I'm not going to lie. I fully took advantage of the bad roads and slept until about 9am. Tomorrow it is supposed to get up to 70 degrees. I don't understand Houston weather at all. Check out this link and you'll see pictures of the craziness we experienced. And this picture about sums it all up.

2. I am going to a blogger meetup tomorrow. I am so excited as we haven't had one in many months. I hope to catch up with Amy, Lauren, and Whitney and also meet lots of new bloggers!

3. A few posts ago I reference a new "Mr. Right." Well, things have since gone south and he is no longer "Mr. Right." Guys just suck. There is nothing worse than hearing the words (or text because that's the way people do things now) "I'm just not ready for a relationship and I want to be friends." So, I'm going to be nice and friendly with him. But I am in no way waiting around for anyone to get their act together. I found this on Pinterest recently and it about summed out how I felt and made total sense of the situation. 

4. I'm trying to get my finances in order in 2014. The struggle is real people! For an attorney, I make well below the average salary. I work for a non-profit if you know what I mean. I have a plan though. And I am determined. And I really hope I get a rather large tax return to boost the plan. 

5. And if you are facebook friends with me (friend me if you aren't), you may have seen this picture I posted. Dogs are so smart. 

Have a wonderful weekend! See you next week!

Thursday Thoughts

*I woke up this morning and really thought it was Friday. I even looked at my pill box and thought I had forgotten to take my meds yesterday. Then I turned on the TV and realized it was actually Thursday. VERY disappointing.
*I may have drank an entire bottle of wine by myself last night at dinner. Sometimes, you just need some wine.
*My body is finally recovered from the half marathon last Sunday. And I'm looking forward to going for a run tomorrow (which I actually thought was going to be today because I believed it was Friday)
*Relationships and guys suck sometimes. It's been a hard week but it's something that needed to happen. I'll just leave it at that for right now and move on.
*I have to do laundry tonight. I had to wear my almost denim, non-approved pants to work today because I had no other pants clean. I'm getting the "that is not approved dress code" look from several people in my office. I think I'll just hide in my cubicle.
*I'm also trying out a new trivia place tonight. We'll see how it goes.
*I really hope it sleets/ices around 7am tomorrow so I don't have to go into work. Weather Gods- work with me here!!!

And I'll leave you with a picture of this sweet guy. Right now, I think he's the only guy I need in my life :)

What did you do this weekend?

This weekend, I ran 13.1 miles! And I beat my time last year by 4 mins. I had a goal to run the half marathon in under 3 hours and I did it in 2:58:58. I was cutting it a little close but I'm still in the 2 hour range! This race was perfect! I started off really strong and felt good the whole way. I was running about 12 min miles the whole way. I even saw several of my friends around mile 9 cheering me on. They gave me that extra push to keep going. I pretty much stuck to my run 9 mins and walk 1 min plan too. Until I got to mile 11 where I think I pulled a thigh muscle and could hardly move. And that was the hilly part of the race. It slowed me down a lot but I still made it through and finished. Once I came around the corner and saw the finish line, I practically sprinted the rest of the (which told me that I could have pushed myself a little harder throughout the race). I need to work on pacing myself and pushing my body to the max without overdoing it. This was also my 3rd half marathon so I felt like I knew what to expect with this one. I am still amazed that my body can go for 13.1 miles. It's an amazing feeling and accomplishment. I'm thinking a full more half marathons and then I might go even crazier and try a marathon. Although I am super sore today though. I'm walking around work like a little old lady :)

Here are a few pictures I snapped of the weekend!

Race morning- 25,000 people getting ready

Clearly I can't take a selfie. And it was really early in the morning. 

My bling! I now have 3 half marathon medals. 

So cool!

Friday Five

Since it's Friday and I'm tired and sick, I'll give you my Friday Five bullet point style

• I'm sick. I have a doctor's appointment this morning. I just want something to make me feel better for the half marathon on Sunday.
• I'm running a half marathon on Sunday (unless I'm dead before then)! Bib #33626. Watch for me if you're out there cheering on the runners!
• I'm so excited for the Race Expo tomorrow. I get to pick up my race packet and also do a little shopping. I love shopping for running stuff and this expo is a runners dream.
• I'm going to Florida in a few weeks! My grandma is turning the big 8-0 so I'm attending her party!!! (I'm pretty sure this will knock me into granddaughter of the year :))
• I am checking things off my to-do list left and right. It feels good!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! I'll be back Monday with a race update (good or bad).

The life of a runner...

In May of 2011, I ran my first 5K race. I had always wanted to try running and I finally decided to give it a go. I remember it being so hot and humid on that day and me thinking 3 miles was a really long way. But I made it through the race and didn't die.

Flash forward to January 2012. I ran the 5K race that goes with the Chevron Houston Marathon and the Aramco Houston Half Marathon. That year, all 3 races were on the same day. It was at this race that I decided that the following year, I was going to be running the half-marathon with all those crazy people. I loved the feeling of the race. The excitement. Everyone cheering you on. And the bling you get when you finish doesn't hurt either.

So in 2012, I ran a few races. I signed up for the lottery and didn't get in. So I raised $500 to get an entry into the race. I didn't train for it like I should have and many times thought about deferring to the next year. But I couldn't because all my friends had donated money and I didn't want to let them down. Until race day, the most I had ever run was 10 miles. And I had only done that once. I figured 13.1 couldn't be much different than 10. Well, I was wrong. On race day, it was almost freezing and pouring down rain. But I made it through and finished in 3:03:38. My goal was 3:00:00 so I missed it by just a little. All year long I have thought about those 3+ minutes and wondered what I could have done differently to get under that 3 hour mark.

So when the registration came around this past summer to sign up, I entered the lottery and this year actually got an entry into the race! I was so excited! I vowed to myself that I would actually train for the race this year. So I signed up for a half marathon in New Orleans in October to see if I was still up for running. This race was miserable. It was 80 degrees, humid, and I pretty much had to walk the last 4 miles because my foot was killing me. SO after that race, I got a little discouraged.

But seeing people posting about their training has gotten me motivated and I actually trained this year for the half. I've done several long runs (7,8,9,11 miles) and feel a little more prepared. I had a cold for about the first week of January so I missed my last long run which has kind of freaked me out. But I've been sticking to it. I did 5 miles last Sunday and felt pretty good about it. I have 2 more short runs this week before running 13.1 on Sunday.

I've set some goals for this year's race. Given that it will be my 3rd half marathon and I know what to expect, I felt like putting some goals on paper was appropriate.  

-finish in under 3 hours which is a little over a 13 min pace (Not a really fast pace but it's 1 min faster than last year- baby steps people)
-stick to my run 9 mins, walk 1 min pace
-enjoy the race (last year was so miserable that it was hard to enjoy, I just wanted to finish)

Now that we're about 4 days out from the race, I'm starting to get a little nervous. Just writing this post makes me nervous. But, I know that I'm as prepared as I'm going to be and I'm really excited for the race. Can't wait to post about it next Monday!

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was a whirlwind of fun. I'm pretty sure I need a weekend to recover from my weekend!

Friday night I went to El Tiempo with a few of my friends. The wait was 1 1/2 hours so we ventured over to the bar next door for a few pre-dinner beverages. And then we went back to El Tiempo and had a margarita (or maybe 3) and yummy fajitas before venturing out to another bar where we all sat down and realized we were tired and decided to go home. It was 11:30pm. I can officially no longer party until 2am like I used to. I was in bed a snuggled up with the dogs by 12:30am.

The girls

Apparently we can't take the boys anywhere because they spill salsa all over the table.

And then we try to clean it up using the chips. 

Saturday I went to a housing warming/ white elephant party for one of my favorite couples. They moved into their new house in the Heights a few weeks ago so they had an afternoon party. Their house is beautiful! I'm super jealous. 

And then Saturday night I went to dinner at The Grove in Discovery Green and then to the symphony with a couple other friends. Dinner was yummy! And the symphony was the symphony. I'm not a fan of that type of thing but this one had an Earth and Planets video that accompanied it so it was a little more interesting. My friends are part of the Young Professionals Backstage and this was one of the shows that they support so the tickets for the symphony were only $25 and there was an after party at the Houston Club. It was free drinks and lots of good people watching. Although I wore really uncomfortable heels and I thought my feet were going to fall of walking to our car afterwards. They are still killing me! 

And I guess I had so much fun on Saturday I didn't take any pictures. Oh well!

Sunday I went out for my last "long" run before the half marathon next week. I did 5 miles and it wasn't all that pretty (probably because I drank the night before and was tired). But now I'm tapering this week and resting for the big 13.1 miles next Sunday! The rest of Sunday was spent with Delta Zeta getting ready for the upcoming semester. Lots of fun!

This week is going to be a busy one so I'm sure it will fly by. I really want to take a nap but that's not happening today. Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Why I do what I do...

Happy Friday! This was one long and busy week for me! I stayed up way too late a few nights this week and I am paying for it dearly as 5pm approaches on this Friday.

Earlier this week I was talking with my new "Mr. Right" (who will eventually get his own post if things get serious but right now everything is still a mystery to me) and he asked me what I was doing this weekend while he's out of town. I went through all my weekend plans and then ended it with "Sunday afternoon, I meet with the Delta Zeta Executive Board because school starts on Monday." He then made a casual comment about how he doesn't understand how I can like all that drama and he thinks I still want to be in college.

Ummm... excuse me. Did he just insult me and attack something that means so much to. I'm sure you can imagine that this did not sit well with me at all. In my nicest, most non-angry defensive (and not wanting to scare him off) voice , I tried to explain to him why I volunteer as an advisor for the chapter. I'm pretty sure everything just went in one ear and out the other though because let's be real. He's a guy. And he just doesn't get it. He wasn't in the Greek system during college but he did go to A&M so that's sort of similar (I'd think). And again, he's a guy.

Then I got to thinking. Maybe he didn't get it or that the impression that he's gotten from it all is because I'm not doing a good enough job of explaining it to him. People have so many misconceptions about sororities. I hear it quite often and even some of my close friends question why I do what I do occasionally.

And I started thinking about why I do what I do. Why I spend countless hours working on things for a chapter that I'm not even in anymore. And I found it really hard to put into words why I do what I do. I am a firm believer that God sets the paths for you. And this is just one path that, at times, has been a struggle but I couldn't imagine my life right now without the sorority in it.

So to clear up some misconceptions.

No, I do not want to be in college anymore. I was in some sort of post-secondary schooling for 8 years. I think that's enough for me right now.

No, I do not like all the drama. Although I secretly chuckle at the things the 18-22 year female thinks is a "big deal." But then I remember that just a few years ago (ok, well maybe 12 years ago), I was in their place and things that just seem insignificant now were a huge deal to me.

I do what I do because I like it. I committed to it and I don't back out of my commitments, even when things get rough. I like helping the girls. I love working with the chapter that gave me so much in the 2 1/2 years I was part of it. I know that I am the person I am today because of being in a sorority. I have grown and learned so much and it is because the chapter pushed me out of my introverted bubble.

I like spending Sunday and Monday nights with 60 college women- I keeps me young. It makes me proud when I see them graduate and go off and find jobs and become leaders in the community and I know that part of that was because of the experiences they have had in the chapter.

I also like that I still have friends that were in the chapter with me. Yesterday, when I had my minor meltdown, the first person I reached out to was one of my sorority sisters because I knew she would just get me and I knew she would know how to explain things in terms that I could relate to. While being an advisor means giving up a lot of myself and my time, I also get so much from it. And I wish people could understand that.

One of the girls recently posted this blog post on our chapter facebook page. Even though the author is a 20-something, she really hits the nail when it comes to so many of the misconceptions that people have about sororities.

I really like this quote of hers-

The real sorority woman is your average woman- complete with flaws, embarrassing stories, and aspirations for her future.

I think that about sums me up. Everyone has to find their "thing" that makes them who they are, gives them pleasure, and keeps them busy. And right now, this is it for me. Will it be my "thing" in 5 years? Who knows! But for now, I'll take it. So when someone says that they are in a sorority (or any group out there that gets a bad rap), know that they have their reasons. And while you may not agree with them, be respectful of it.

And now, to get the new "Mr. Right" to understand this... That may be a work in progress.   

The internet is a scary place

(my doctor looks nothing like this though)

Now that it's the new year and I have health insurance that isn't crap, I've decided I should probably start seeing a doctor and making sure I'm healthy as can be. I don't really have any history of being unhealthy but as I get older, I wanted to get some baselines just in case something does come up. I also didn't have any regular doctors and had just been going to urgent care if I got sick which is not how I want to live my life. So, I've been poked and prodded a lot in the last month.

Well, I recently (as in today) had a minor health scare freak out as a result of my new initiative. Without going into to many details, I got the results of some bloodwork/tests I had done with the doctor and got a surprising, somewhat scary result from it. It was something that completely caught me off guard. And to make matters worse, the nurse made it sound like it wasn't serious at all and it was no big deal. She just casually dropped this bomb on me and then went about her day.

So I immediately dropped everything I was supposed to do at work and went on an internet researching binge. There is some scary stuff out there, y'all! I had convinced myself that it was the end of the world and I was dying. Clearly, I'm not dramatic at all :)

And then I remembered I had a few rational friends out there that may be able to talk me off the ledge. After a frantic quick email to one of my good friends, I realized that what I have isn't so uncommon and that I'm not dying and that the world is not ending. Now I just have to be more aware of my body and take better care of myself. After mulling over this for a few hours, I think I'm going to be ok.

Moral of the story- 

The internet is a scary place and will tell you you're dying if you google enough things!

Go to the doctor regularly (i.e. don't wait 3 years in between check-ups)

And trust your friends. They always have your back. Thank goodness!