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.

Just reached the peak

We'll be climbing a place called "the batman" which is a few hundred
feet up from here.

Lumpy Ridge

Getting ready to go climb. We are so pumped.

Italian dinner

At the Dunraven downtown. I was craving some good pasta and we
happened to spot this little place. If the smell is any indication,
this should be pretty tasty. David moved when I took the pic but I
told him I was posting it anyway.

Our cabin

Very cute. Full kitchen, fireplace, living room and king bed. Robes
too. :-) There's also a hot tub nearby that we plan on taking
advantage of later. Right now we're about to go back into town to get
some groceries and take some photos.

Arrival

Our first glimpse of Estes Park

Rainbow

A beautiful rainbow we spotted on the way to Estes Park just past
Boulder.

Driving through the mountains

We are taking the recommended back way to Estes Park from Evergreen,
through the mountains. Beautiful.

Elk sighting!

Right inside Mark and Sherry's fence. Crazy Colorado... They weren't
afraid of us at all.

Food and family

Two of the best burgers in the country at the Country Road Cafe, owned
by David's Uncle Mark and Aunt Sherry.

The Denver Adventure Begins

Lauren and I are currently cruising down the moving sidewalk at DEN after getting off of our 8:30 flight from DFW. We actually checked a bag for once, so we're off to baggage claim. Hope our bag made it. I wonder what the TSA agent when he scanned the harnesses and carabiners in the purple backpack Lauren is dragging.

Leaving for the last time

Last day at TDMN. It's a happy-sad, bittersweet ending.

A great start

I kind of started my new job this week by attending the annual
conference for GAP Broadcasting's southwestern stations. It was held
at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. So far, so good. Everyone seems
really nice and down-to-earth. And, the work doesn't sound like
anything I can't do...at least, not yet.
The photo is of our "guest speaker" this morning, Kidd Kraddick,
although you can't really tell who it is in the photo. Vic really
wanted to get a photo of me with Kidd, but he had to leave quickly.
Since the president of the company is good friends with him, though,
the opportunity may come around again.

Defeated by that North Texas sun...

Our run today did not go quite as planned you could say. It started
out great: running down 549 in a crisp 70 degrees with a nice breeze
and plenty of water and tunes.

Things were still going well around mile 10, then the water started
getting low as the sun got higher and brighter and hotter. We stopped
at Cane Middle School, refilled and caught a bit of shade for several
minutes.

Back on our way I started to feel cramps building up in my calf
muscles. "Uh-oh," I started to think, "that's what happened last
time." 2 miles later I couldn't run any more and even walking hurt. I
tried cooling down and working through it, but to no avail.

I can't say it was my proudest moment, but I got Lauren to run the
rest of the way home to get the car. Ick.

Oh well. Big improvement over last time. We're skipping next week's
run to hang out in Denver and I'm looking forward to that.

Sent from my iPhone

RCP Critic's choice

This is me, dressed up all fancy for the Rockwall Community Playhouse
Critic's Choice banquet at the Hilton Bella Harbor. We had fun seeing
all my Grease castmates, but Grease only won two awards, for People's
Choice best actor (Drew as Danny) and our vocal coach won an award.
Singing in the Rain cleaned up! Just means I have to do another show.
Definitely doing Kiss Me Kate. Mrs Ragsdale is Asst Director for The
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and was telling David how he'd make
a great Mr Tumnus...hehehe. I'll at least get him up there working on
the set or something this year.

Blast from the past

One of my best friends from college and former roommates, Renee, came
to visit randomly this weekend. She just wrapped up PT school and
hasn't started the job she took in Brookhaven, Miss. yet, so she
decided to come visit us in Dallas. It had been over a year since we
had seen each other and over two years since we got to really talk.
It was great. There is really something to be said for having good
friends like that, with a history. So many things about who you are
and where you came from are just understood, even after years apart.
I was surprised to find that the comfortable, easy friendship was
still there after so much time had passed.

She got to spend time with some other Dallas area friends, too, and
met my new circle of friends here, who were so welcoming and friendly,
it reminded me why I love them so much.

Sad cube

It's hard to believe that after next week, my cube at TDMN will no
longer be where I spend my days. I've actually already packed up a
lot of the stuff that was hanging on the walls. I'm a little sad, but
I'm ready for a new start.

Ready to run

Bring it on, 7 mile tempo run. This is my game face.  No silly cold, or "girl problems" or the fajitas I had for lunch will hinder me.  Raaa!

Sent from my iPhone

Wherever you go, there you are...

I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=33.072220,+-96.072113

Sent as an experiment from my iPhone.

This is where I work!

How d'ya like the new look?

Yep, that's our pups in the header, Sadie in front and Jammy in the back with the ball, and David's legs running the Big D Texas Marathon. Yay Photoshop filters!