2 mile morning

I am in a much better mood this morning! Why? Because I have money! It's a little embarrassing to talk about being broke, but in our defense, we did pay off every bill we had prior to our journey back to Charlotte. That might not have been the best idea, but oh well.

I went for a short 2 mile run this morning. I should have started a lot sooner than I did. I wanted to do some hills but I was creeping up on the kids wake up time.

Also, remember that new neighbor of mine that complained about my dog getting out? Well, on my way down the driveway this morning one of her poodles charged at me and started barking like it was going to latch on to my ankle. Stupid dog.

It wasn't scary. She started apologizing from her front porch. She has a ton of social anxiety and it makes me feel bad for her. She was just letting her annoying, stupid dogs out for an early morning romp in the front yard. I think that's fantastic! We could all be getting along just great, having margarita's and laughing together, fully accepting that our dogs get out sometimes. But they had to go and make things awkward (for themselves) by knocking on my door, interrupting my bath and my kids nap time for a complaint that they themselves can't keep from doing.

Happy Tuesday!

Memorial bust

Hi. It's Memorial Day and I am in an extremely foul mood. We tapped out our bank account with the pilgrimage back to Carolina but kept saying to ourselves, no big deal, we just have to wait until Monday when I get paid. A low key weekend of unpacking and getting back to basics was just fine by us. However, today we had thought that we would head up to the mountains for some river fun. Nope. Not going to happen. I'm so pissed right now. Pissed that the bank can withdraw money from my account on any day, but a direct deposit can't go in on a holiday. Also pissed at my company since payday is technically on Friday but the checks can't be deposited until Monday. I'm just all around mad. I was really looking forward to getting my run in at the mountains. I'm going to take a nap now so I don't snap.

Back in NC

I'm finally back in North Carolina and with that comes a regular internet connection.

I feel a little bit recockulous for making such a big hooplah about my return to Texas. I only lasted two months but it wasn't all in vein. I get to stay with the company that I was working for, except instead of waking up at 4:45 and having the kids in daycare by 6, I will be working from home doing a job that can potentially make a lot more money. I'm kind of excited about it.

So here's a recap of the last two weeks....

Last Friday was Slumber Dong. We went to the Wildflower Festival in Richardson to see Lit and Fuel play. How many of you even remember who those bands are? They were both fantastic in the late 90's and they were both seen by me at more than one Edge Fest. Let me refresh your memory.

This one isn't my favorite Fuel song, but Shimmer doesn't have an embedding code.

This isn't my favorite Lit song either, but definitely the most remembered.

These are a few pics from the rest of the evening.

I'm not very good at arms length group portraits

My husband flew in to drive back with us so we got in some good quality family time before heading out. We went over to Bitchy Angie's house to swim.

She did a lot of this, because she's so good at arms length portraits

On my way to the airport to pick up Brad I cruised around Frisco, my old stomping grounds, just to see how much things have changed. I even stopped by my old alma mater. It only took, like, six years to get me a fancy degree from this place.

I'm ready now to get my running routine back in order. Angie is already on week 3 of marathon training and I haven't even begun!!! I will not have a repeat of last years Chicago marathon!

A 5k, a face plant and family

This Saturday I ran my worst race ever. The race itself was fun, but my less than steller performance left much to be desired. But first I'll give a little race review.

It was the Rock Roll and Smile 5k in Gunter, TX, a little town just west of where I live. The race was close and only $20 so I was in. It was labeled a "trail" run and I guess it kind of depends on what you deem to be a trail. It was an out and back course on 1 part pavement, 1 part mowed grass path, and 1 part gravel road. They had a few of the local kids who were in their own little garage bands come out and play at the start/finish line and at mile 1. They were pretty good too. They had water at the turn around and bagels at the finish. They let us all wait for the race start and use the restroom in the clubhouse. The race was at an equestrian center/golf course so the facilities were really nice. They didn't time us, but that's ok. I have a stop watch and it's not like I was out there to kick everyone's asses and win a trophy. All in all, I had a really good time. It was cheap and I still got a t-shirt. That's a win in my book.

You know it's a tiny race when cars are driving behind the runners at the finish.

So anyway, lets talk about how horrible my run was!

Part of what made my terrible run fun was that it turned into a family event. From the left we have ME! trying to stretch and calm a cranky 4 year old at the same time. In the middle is my step sister, Mandy, doing pretty much the same thing with a cranky 2 year old. Then on the right we have my step-bro-in-law, Johnsa, not calming any children... at the moment.

And here's me stretching.

My Dad ran too, but I'm not even going to talk about that, or how he beat me by at least 1/4 mile. Nope, not gonna mention that. But I did see Haven (on the right) and Brittany (on the left)! They are sisters and their family owns and runs my favorite place to eat. This was Haven's first race and She was AWESOME! Brittany is a bit of a veteran and she was equally AWESOME!So, in a nustshell, this is how my race went... I wore my vibrams just so A) I could look awesomely weird, and B) try them on a "trail" run. The lesson that I learned was that vibrams are fantastic on grass, and small crushed gravel. However, they fail miserably on large, just dumped it out, holy shit that hurts gravel. I had to walk through most of the gravel. I also started way to fast. I got a little cocky about it being "just a 5k". Then, at the very end when I was back on the pavement I decided to pick up my pace. I was coming around the left side of a girl who had passed me back at gravel hell. Just as I got in front of her this crazy, misplaced shadow tripped me up and I went down. The girl, of course, yanked out her ear buds and turned to help poor little ole me. I jumped up as quickly as I could and pretended that I meant to that.

So short story long, this 5k kicked my butt and left me with a scraped knee, a sprained wrist, and a bruised ego... but it was still a lot fun, and I still managed to finish in 30 minutes. Not too bad considering I bit it.

Then immediately after the race I headed to Oklahoma to hang out with my Grandma. Every time I go there, I get pulled over in the same little town of Alex. Both times I have been let off with a warning. I like to think that this time it was because of my leopard skirt. That cop had to be thinking "this poor stripper has two kids, and from the looks of things she probably isn't making that much money".

I had a great time at Grandmas. I got to hang out with my favorite uncle and meet my cousin's wife and see his two boys. It was pretty fantastic weekend.

Got it in

I got in a 3 mile run on my lunch break today. It was HOT. I felt like an ant under a magnifying glass the entire way.

I ran in my vibrams again. I have actually run very little in real shoes lately. However, I have also run very little altogether lately. I got a blister in a weird spot.

It's not very big, so I had to point to it. It doesn't hurt that bad, just interesting where it ended up. I'm viewing it as a good thing though. You're really suppose to start running barefoot, well, barefoot. When your feet start to chafe, then you know you've hit your limit and that's how you pace your mileage. This little blister tells me that I'm at peak mileage for these shoes at this point. When it turns into a big ugly callus, then I'll be able to go further.

I have such pretty feet.

it's been a while

Geeze, I haven't posted in about a week.

I also haven't run in about a week. I did sign up for a 5k next weekend though. It's local, it's a trail run, and it only cost $20.

I haven't been on the internet, period, all week. I've been really tired and lazy. I take that back. I wasn't too lazy to watch Glee on Tuesday night.

My mind has been loaded up with thoughts and decisions about where I need to be. There haven't been any opportunities within my husbands company to come back to Dallas. I finally came to the decision that I need to go back to Charlotte so my family can be whole again. Plus, being back home isn't as cool as I thought it would be. I tend to romanticize things in my head and this was no different. I haven't hung out with my friends very much. I still run by myself. I have enjoyed spending time with my mom, and the kids getting to spend time with her too. When we pulled up to her house today Braden waved from his car seat and started yelling "Ganny, I-I-I Lus you!!!"

So now the goal has changed. Instead of my main focus being to get "home", I just want our little family to be together, wherever that might be. There are a couple of opportunities that have crossed our path that would take us to new places. Now I just, kind of want to spin the arrow and see where we land. If we land back in Dallas, great. And if not, well that's fine too.

So at the end of this month my husband will buy a one ticket from Charlotte to Dallas and we will all make the pilgrimage back to the blue house on the hill together.