Watch gear ring = awesome!

Another gift from David came after Christmas from this steampunk-
inspired shop called Dust & Co on Etsy. It's a ring made with the
insides of an antique watch. This photo doesn't acurrately depict its
awesomeness. I love it!!!

His other gift to me was a new coat, which I picked out, so it was
nice to have a surprise gift.

9:30 and she's still going!

We plan to leave at 6 tomorrow and the cake balls are only the first
thing on the list of things to finish...

Cute little purses!

After a million throw pillows (or at least what seemed like a million)
I have graduated to the coin purses for my cousins. This is more of
the fabric I got in NY. I think they came out really cute!

David is in the background where he's been most of the day--on the
chaise playing video games.

Sewin' fool

Seven pillows today. I'd say that's a good day. :-) (five pictured.)

We also finally got the tree decorated. We watched Love Actually for
the millionth time...and I still cried at the end, as always.

My first creation-- a throw pillow!

I made my first thing with my new sewing machine -- a throw pillow! I
got the fabric in Brooklyn while I was visiting Amanda. It matches
our current bed spread and the guest one, and I have enough to make
two. Yay!

Birthday fun begins!

David surprised me at work and stole me away for lunch at Asian Mint.
He got Vic to tell me I had a lunch meeting to be in so I wouldn't
make other plans. It was very tasty--summer rolls, pad Thai and
green tea ice cream cake.

We just got to the Whirly Ball court for team building fun! Pictured
is the cake I got from GAP. :-)

Goodbye, 'stache

Today is a wonderful day. It's the last day of Movember. You may think, November is already over. Oh no, this is Movember. Where men across the country grow elaborate moustaches for the purpose of looking absolutely ridiculous for the sake of competition.

David's office participates every year with their own version, and I've been able to dodge the bullet the past two years with these awesome excuses:

1. Our wedding is November 11.
2. Our First Anniversary is November 11.

But this year, I couldn't use the same "anniversary" excuse again, and David participated in growing a silly 'stache. Here it is (pictured.) But today is the day it goes away, and I am thrilled!

Okay, so it wasn't so bad. You get sorta used to it after a while...but that doesn't mean I won't be happy to see it gone!

Home

I finally made it back to Dallas, after several delays in the Newark airport. I pulled up in my driveway around 3:00 AM last night. Luckily, I had slept pretty heavily through most of the flight (no one sat next to me, which really helped!) I still have only seen David sleeping, except when I was half asleep and he kissed me goodbye this morning. So I'm looking forward to some one-on-one time at home tonight with my hubby and puppies, away from all the hubbub of the last few days!

New York is a wonderful place, so culturally diverse and with a million things to do. I can see why Amanda is just loving it. Part of me is jealous; I would love to live the "New York" lifestyle of bustling about, not owning a car, having access to anything you would ever want and just being part of such an amazing city. But part of me is also glad that I can go to the store and just load the groceries in the trunk of my car and drive home, and that if I want green space, all I have to do is walk out my back door.

It's good to be home.

Broadway!

Going to see the show. Glad we chose this one since it's closing in
January. It's won a bunch of Tonys.

M&M store

Supposedly the doors were closed right before we got here because Tom
Cruise was inside.

Times Square!

The Village

Spent the morning traipsing around Brooklyn and went to the fabric
store. We got tickets to see "Spring Awakening" on Broadway tonight.
Right now we are having a croque Monsieur and Madame at the French
Roast then off to China Town to shop.

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge

Air tram to Manhatten

After watching a silent film at MoMA we are on the air tram from
Roosevelt Island, on our way back to Brooklyn.

Bloomingdales

It's Christmas time!

Strange art

A room with videos on all walls, meditative music and a couch in the
center at MoMA.

Museum of Modern Art

We're waiting to get inside MoMA. The line wraps around the block
since it's free on Fridays. Just ate a hotdog from a street vendor to
tide us over til dinner. We may go back to Brooklyn for dinner and
walk across the bridge with Amanda's friend James. It's warmer today,
which is nice. Just enjoying the city and people-watching.

Starting the day: Prospect Park

We started the day with a tour of Brooklyn, where Amanda lives. This
is one of the largest parks in the city.

Thanksgiving times two

After the parade, Amanda and I picked up some tulips and a pumpkin pie
to take over to our first Thanksgiving meal of the day. Two friends
from her Bible study had invited her to a dinner at an apartment near
In uptown Manhattan near Harlem. Dinner was awesome, and we hated
having to leave so soon, but we needed to get to the second dinner, at
Amanda's friend Jesse's place in Brooklyn. That's where we are now,
where Jesse and Amanda are working on a rather gourmet meal. I'm on
dish detail. :-). It smells awesome already. I'm just starting to
really drag after only 2 hours of sleep last night...

Amanda's favorite place in NYC

Grand Central Station. It's packed today with the Thanksgiving crowd.

Santa!

The end of the parade, and Christmas officially begins...on
Thanksgiving.

Macy's Parade!

I'm in NYC, visiting my best friend Amanda and taking in the parade!
Fun, but crowded. I know there have been some celebrities in the
parade, but it's hard to tell who anyone is. It's really cool watching
the balloons come across between the buildings--it's always a surprise.

Living Room Complete

We picked up the chaise lounge this morning and finally finished the living room. Now we've just got a couple of accessories to buy and have to get those DVDs out of site.

New furniture!!!

Lauren and I adventured around Mesquite for about 4 hours on Saturday and ended up buying a new coffee table, end table, entertainment console, and a hutch from Rooms to Go. We also ended up buying a chaise lounge from The Room Store (coming this weekend) and another end table from Pier One (not pictured). Crazy thing is... we don't have to make a single payment toward most of it until July 2010.

Now we've got to fill up that empty wall above the TV with a bigger wall mounted TV ;)

Great minds think alike?

David and I both had the same idea for our two year "cotton"
anniversary.

Two years of marriage...And he knows me well!

Gerber daisies were delivered my office this morning, my
favorites!!! :-) How sweet is that?

These were the flowers we had in our wedding, too. My husband is the
best.

Hair cut

I liked this hair cut so much, I'm actually keeping up with it. Got
it cut again today, then got my nails done with Anjali and Ashley.

Halloween!!!

David and I went to our friend J-Rod's house for a fantastic Halloween party! Although I was sick almost all week before, I started feeling better Friday evening and was able to go to the party and have a great time.

David and I went as the Doctor and a sexy nurse:



I was really pleasantly surprised at all the time and effort people put into their costumes! Some of them were really impressive, particularly our friend Erik and his wife Anita, who went as the Joker and Poison Ivy:






We also had a super tall guy, Mario, the Wicked Witch of the East complete with house on top of her, Frye, Sarah Palin and John McCain, a cowboy and and Indian, a mad scientist, and lots of other costumes I either don't have time to name or just didn't get.

More photos are on Flickr, but friends and family access only. Let me know if you need help viewing them!

6 random things

I was asked by Amanda to write six random things, like her post on the subject. Actually, she called for a list from Lauren + David. So, here is our list, as the collective consciousness that married couples seem to become:

1. I discovered recently that not only do David and I talk to each other in our sleep (something that wakes me up from time to time), but David also solves problems in his sleep. I woke up Saturday night to David's mumbling, something that happens on occasion (I once heard him exclaim that the answer was 54...to what, who knows). I was trying to make out the words when he suddenly sat part of the way up and leaned over across me, tapping his fingers on my stomach like it was a keyboard. Then he reached under the blanket and was moving his hand back and forth, which I assume was the mouse. It was all the self control I could muster not to giggle. After just a few moments of this, he decided to lie back down and roll over.
2. We both love horror movies, even the cheesy ones that are more laughable than frightening. Much of the training we do can be justified as preparing for survival in a zombie apocalypse...which I swear is just a coincidence.
3. We could probably eat different kinds of pasta every night for dinner and be perfectly content.
4. Part of the thrill of all the crazy things we do (run marathons, climb mountains, skydive, etc) is having the vast majority of people think we're crazy for doing it. The other part of the thrill is the accomplishment when we succeed. (We each thank the other often for being equally as crazy.)
   
5. Unlike some couples (it would seem), we actually do prefer to hang out with each other, and haven't yet found the need for time away - we mostly just do it because we know our lives should be well-rounded, and because we have other people we love and want to spend time with. I know it's mushy, but it's true.
6. We've decided that Denver is probably our favorite place in the country, but we're not sure if we'll ever live there, since being closer to family is much higher on our list of priorities.
   

There ya go... Now back to work.

Reimer's Ranch climbing

We went camping and climbing outside Austin today. We spent the day
climbing at Reimer's Ranch with Steve, his two friends Cameron and Emily, and Shaheena and Francisco. David and I each led our first climb on a route called "Roly Poly Coco Kitty" on Dead Cats wall, a 5.7. The entire route was bolted, making it a little easier than the route Eli was leading us on in Estes Park, but it was a great first route.

The rest of the trip was nice, very easygoing, with a great group of people. They're also terrific climbers, so it was nice to watch their techniques - including Steve's crazy lead up a ridiculous climb to set a top rope, and joking about Emily's "sea lion technique" on that same route. We came back from climbing tired and sore and took a dip in the lake to wash off before settling down to bratwurst for dinner.

The pups had an absolute BLAST! They love camping. They were nervous when we were actually climbing and they were tied up, though. They kept whining, which usually isn't something they do for very long, but I think they were just worried about us. They had a long, fun day and even let us sleep in until 7:30!

Halloween costume: complete

One great thing about having the...ummm ... more "alternative
shopping" mall so close to work: easy access to cheap "stripper"
shoes. Hehehe. These beauties officially complete my Halloween costume.

What will I be? It's a secret.

Boo!

It's Halloween at Gap Broadcasting!

What should we be for Halloween?

A giant fluffy bee?

Our run in the morning... wish us luck!

A new week, a new perspective

Well, after the past week's craziness (my new job, David's family visiting, David's birthday, the birthday barbeque, etc) we need to get back on course for our training and weight loss goals. So, starting tomorrow, it's back on track: keeping the WW Points down and tracking them in our spreadsheets, sticking to the FIRST program's marathon training schedule, as well as getting enough nutrition and enough rest to really bounce back from the slump we've been in. I'd say that although we've been getting in our long weekly runs most weeks, we haven't been fully committed to eating and exercising on plan in over a month. So, tomorrow, we're starting back full force.

Also, this week marks the second week of the new job, which is when all the real work is going to start rolling (or deluging) in. So I'm expecting to need a proper schedule to keep me focused and motivated as things start to build up.

If you were wondering, our barbeque for David's birthday went well. It was "Talk like a Pirate Day" themed, with eye patches and paper hats and a stuffed parrot for David to wear that our friend Nick brought. Lots of meat of all kinds and plenty of other food to go around, including my attempt at cake balls which everyone thought was quite yummy. All in all, another great get-together. And, my Tigers won over those other wannabe Tigers, so all is right in the world.

17 Miles... Or Not

The schedule today actually called for 20 miles, but last weekend also
called for 17 miles, but our little Denver trip forced us to miss that
scheduled run. With that in mind we were to run 17 today and 20 next
week.

At least we're both in agreement this time... We're tired. Lauren
started her new job this week and my family has been in town, throwing
our schedule so completely off. So we're taking the morning off to
sleep in an we'll pick up the pieces of our running schedule Monday.

Long bike ride tomorrow?

Super fancy new desk

Complete with yellow chairs!

Happy birthday, David!

David's mom and two of his brothers, Matt and Jon, came to visit to
escape the hurricane damage of Houston and to celebrate David's 25th
birthday. We had hibachi and sushi at Edohana. Of course, David had
to get the odd obligatory witch-like hat, offbeat drumming Happy
Birthday song, and yummy lump of fried ice cream.

A step up

Our IT director, Joe, got my new laptop and dual monitors set up
yesterday on my card table. The electrician is installing another
outlet today, and my furniture should be here tomorrow or Thursday.
Things are starting to shape up already. :-)

New job, new digs

This is currently my desk at GAP Broadcasting for my first day. Yeah,
there behind the boxes. They picked out some furniture today, and my
laptop and dual monitors should be in today. Yay! I'm about to go
start digging around in the sites....and finish up the paperwork for HR.

Saying goodbye

We drove back over to Lumpy Ridge to take some photos. The peak in the
middle of this pic is the Batman, with the point in front being the
part we climbed.
Now off to the airport!

Downtown Estes Park

As much of a tourist town as Estes Park seems to be, we did find the
back half of downtown and it really is quite picturesque. Now to buy
some Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory chocolate. Yum!

At Bob & Tony's Pizza

Giant pizza!

We earned it.

Back on the ground

We made it!

The view from the top. This was the hardest climb we've ever done.
Lots of cracks and pull-ups and difficult footwork. If that is a
5.6-5.7, I think I'll be there for a while.

First pitch

This is our first pitch. Up high! Almost to the top.

Getting ready for the big one

Taking a little break while Eli sets the top rope for our next climb.

Climbing Location

We're climbing "Batman & Robin"

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.405312,+-105.530527

Sent from my iPhone

First climbs

Finished two small routes now. This is David tying in to do the
second route. The rock here is different, granite, so we're getting
used to it.

Getting ready

Our guide Eli setting our top rope.