Ren Fest 2012

They had discount tickets to the Renaissance Festival's opening weekend so a few of my friends and I decided to check it out. Ren Fest is an annual festival that lasts about 6 weeks and is about a 1.5 hour drive outside of Houston. I had to come late with one other friend but we still got to see lots of cool things. And the people watching is outstanding. 

The juggler/magician.

This guy was from Paris and he had performed for 

President Bush

 Jousting

 Jeff throwing knives

 Jen throwing knives

 Dan throwing knives. 

No knife throwing for me- I didn't want to injury anybody.

 My head was too big for the face hole :(

 Elephant rides. I'm too cheap to pay for one so I just watched

 Waiting for the closing show

 Fire juggler

Fireworks as the finale!!!

The non-Bachelorette Bachelorette party

One of my friends I went to law school with is getting married this weekend. In order to help her celebrate the festivities, her bridesmaids organized a lovely bridal shower and then we all went out for a non-bachelorette bachelorette party. She didn't want the traditional (and inappropriate at times) party so we called it a girl's night out. We went to dinner at Molina's (more mexican food) and then went to Pete's Dueling Piano bar. This place is kind of like karaoke but you just get to sing along to all the hits that the piano players play. And if you want a special song played, you just give a tip with the song request. I took a few pictures of the night-

The bride and Erin

 She's reserved for her fiance Ben

 The UT game was on also. This is how Lauren watches football.

 Dancing at the Piano bar

 The bridal shower before the one and only game.

I am not a fan of games at showers so 1 games was good for me. 

Half Marathon Anyone?!?!?!

I'm officially training for the Aramco Houston Half Marathon this coming January 2013. I'm really nervous about it because I am REALLY not a runner. Like I feel like I'm dying when I run. But I figure I can do it. I have to keep a 13:45 pace for the first 9 miles though so I'm a little concerned about that. But they do give me 4 hours to complete the whole thing so even if I walk most of it, I'll still finish. But my goal time is to finish in under 3 hours which works out to a little under 14 min miles. In order to be able to run the Half marathon, you had to enter into a lottery to see if you get selected. Well, I didn't get selected so instead, I had to fundraise to be able to get an entry. I have to raise $500 by Nov. 1st. I'm $183 away from my goal but I'm hoping a few friends of mine will chip in and help make up some of that money. If not, I'll just pay the difference and get my entry. This week, my training schedule says to run 3 miles, 3 miles, and then 4 miles. So I ran 3.6, 2, and 3. Then on Saturday, I plan on running the 4. I'm not running the entire thing but I'm doing about a 13 min mile so I'm happy with that so far. I'm also running a 10K in the Turkey Trot this year on Thanksgiving Day. I'll be about 6 weeks from the half marathon so I figure its a good time to be half way into the training. We'll see how I do. My goal time for that is 1 hr 20 min.  Running the half is on my bucket list of things to do so I'm really excited about it! My body is definitely paying for the training though. I am so sore in places I didn't even know had muscles. And my shins are killing me. It'll all be worth it on January 13th though!!!
If you'd like to contribute to my fundraising, here's the link:

http://www.chevronhoustonmarathon.com/Donate/PersonalPage.cfm?MID=9019&CID=416

DZ is always a good time :)

I'm the Recruitment Advisor for the sorority I was in when I was in college. Each year, I help them run their recruitment. It always brings me back to my college years and I love hanging out with the girls. Things have changed a lot since I was in school and they are consistently reminding me of how old I am :) This semester, they were blessed 24 new girls, which was the biggest pledge class they've had in a long time. It was so amazing to see everyone working so hard and to get so excited to welcome new women into our sisterhood. Next year I won't be the Recruitment Advisor because I am taking over as the College Chapter Director. It's a lot more work but an equally rewarding experience. I'm going to miss focusing only on recruitment but I'm excited for the new opportunity and experiences I will gain!