Monster Mash

This afternoon we did the Monster Mash 5K/10K. A while back, we decided to do this race. I got my mom, Karen, and Vanessa on board too. They started training for it and it was going to be a fun thing for us all to do together. Three weeks ago, the race organizer sent out an email that said the race had to be changed from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon because the race track double booked the events. Sunday afternoon race isn't really ideal for those traveling from out of town so one by one, my running buddies dropped out. I'm sad we couldn't all do it together, but I don't blame them. I called my buddy April this morning and was like "hey, wanna do a 5K this afternoon?" We both pulled costumes out of our closets and she came to run with me. Neal was a sport too and wore Willie Nelson braids. He was wanting to run the 10K but his ankle was giving him problems so he just did the 5K. When April and I finished, he was in the medic tent with ice on his ankle. The route was ugly and there weren't many people there because of the date change, but that's how life is sometimes I guess.

Ziegenbock Music Festival

We have had so much fun this weekend. Couldn't ask for better weather. Sunny and in the 70s. Saturday we went to the Ziegenbock Music Festival. What's better than beautiful weather, cold beer, good music, and good friends? When you figure it out, let me know. It's been a while since I've had fun like that. Here are some pictures from the day.



And for your viewing pleasure....drunk random guy with his shirt tied up like Daisy Duke. These type of events rank high on the people watching scale!

Storybook Pumpkins

I remember getting to wear Halloween costumes to school and calling Halloween parties Halloween parties. Of course, all of that is gone now in public schools. We celebrate fall and the harvest. This past week, we had a pumpkin decorating contest. Since it's not a great idea to give troubled kids sharp objects, the classes painted their pumpkin to look like a character from a book. They were sooo cute and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Sometimes we forget to have fun at school because there are so many demands.




HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Being Grown Ups

Over the summer, a rock from the lawn mower hit one of our windows and cracked it. Then randomly one day, the screen fell off of the same window and shatterd one of the panes which left us white-trashing it with a piece of cardboard covering the hole. We started pricing windows and talked to everyone from the super cheap people to what we called the "Cadillic of Window" people. Seriously, this one company wanted $3500 for just ONE of our windows. Since the windows were original to the house (51 years old), we knew it would look ridiculous to just replace one window and not all of them. So instead of booking a vacation which we really want (notice want, not need), we bought new windows. Here's a confession: We're only replacing the windows on the 2 sides of the house you can see from the street. The windows in the back are long windows that are high up and can be replaced later. This Friday was the big day for the installation. Neal took the day off to supervise since there would be huge holes in our house as they were replacing the windows. I wish he would have taken a picture of the "between" stage so I could see what our house looked like with no windows.

Before picture of the kitchen windows...

After picture of the kitchen windows:


Before picture of the big window in the front of the house:

After picture with a cute little puppy dog as a bonus:

Part of the "deal" was that we agreed to sport this bright yellow sign in our yard to promote the window company. I'm secretly hoping our home owner's association sees it and removes it for us!


So that's the story on our most recent grown-up purchase.

Almost There

So I've been meeting with our Girls on the Run group at school twice a week since September. Our big 5K is coming up in a couple of weeks. Today, we staged a mock 5K to try to prepare the girls. We decorated our "track" (which is actually our parking lot blocked off since our real track isn't completed) with balloons and signs. We pulled out the Ye Olde Karoke Machine and had disco music playing. Today was even the day the girls got their brand new tennis shoes from the program. Super cute pink and grey New Balances. The girls had to make it 30 times around the parking lot. These girls have come a long way. It warms my heart to see them so proud of themselves and to verbally express things like "I feel proud" and "I am so happy right now." A few of them are having a hard time getting motivated. With a little encouragement, they were all able to finish the 5K. The GOTR director gave us our "surprise" site visit today and it couldn't have fallen on a better day. The parents were there cheering the girls on and they're also excited about the program. I've seen a few of these girls change dramatically by going through this program. One little girl didn't say anything the first couple of sessions and today she was the biggest cheerleader for the other girls. Her teacher even said she's come out of her shell in the classroom. So. Cool.

P.S. I can tell I'm really out of shape. I ran the whole thing today and my body feels like I just ran a half marathon. This might be the wake up call to get out of my exercise funk that I've been in lately!

Footloose!

One of my favorite movies growing up was Footloose. Love the 80s movies. I'm pretty sure I didn't see any of these in the theaters because I was too young, but vividly remember dancing with my friends in the living room while watching Footloose and Dirty Dancing. Over and over and over. I was hesistant when it was announced that Footloose was coming out. I had a Groupon I needed to use so I drug Neal to the Alamo Drafthouse to see the new one Sunday night. It was actually really good and true to the original. Even the script was exactly the same in a lot of the movie. The new kid(don't even know his name) was no Kevin Bacon but I still give the movie two thumbs up!

Really?

Did I really watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation last night? Did I really order Christmas cards today? Yes. Yes I did.

Hello! I'm a....

...Homebody! Somewhere along the way we've turned into Homebodies and I love it. It's much more appealing to spend time at home then go out these days. Does that make us losers? I think not. We've had a low key weekend. Lots of eating and relaxing.

Last night we saw a full arch rainbow driving home from dinner. We even drove right under it and were inside the rainbow for a minute. That's never happened to me before and it was breathtaking. It continued to rain today. We've learned to appreciate every single drop of rain this year. It was pouring this morning and we almost didn't get ready to go to church. Neal insisted that we go and I'm glad we did. Never hurts to have a pep talk for the week. Father Puckett(or Puck as Neal calls him) talked with us for a while after church. He's retiring at the end of the year. We've become very comfortable in this church and hope this continues as a new priest comes. It's still weird for me to say "priest". Episcopal priests can marry. We're learning too that Episcopals and Lutherans really aren't that different. In fact, I learned today that Episcopal priests and Lutheran pastors can conduct each others services without notifying the Bishop. After church, I took a long nap. Something about the rain makes me sleep so good. We had the windows open and it was so nice to hear the rain all afternoon.

The best part of all of this....I'm not working tomorrow. Thank you Columbus for coming to America and taking the land from the Natives. This girl needs a day off.

Hello Fall....Is It Really You?

Today was an amazing day. Fall has finally arrived in Houston. Don't know how long it will last but Fall definetely showed its face this weekend. We've been on walks and a bike ride. We've had the windows open. It's been a nice reprieve from the 100 degree weather that we've had.



This morning we went to our first class about the history of the Episcopal church. I love that Holy Spirit has a contemporary service that still includes all the traditional elements that I grew up with like the readings and the creeds. I love that we hold hands and sing the Lord's Prayer. Part of joining the church is learning the history. So our journey begins....