We're going!

We just got tickets to the Spurs vs. Lakers game in San Antonio tomorrow night! I am strangely very excited!

Now, I have to go to the gym. I have a playoff game to watch from the elliptical.

Another week down!

A few observations from the week...

-It is not nice to take a girl who is trying to lose weight to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Bad K!

-Not everyone has the same work ethic as I do. This continues to amaze me.

-I was offended and angry when we received a letter from K's father urging us to get premarital counseling through the Church.

-Running in 90+ degree heat is hard. (although I was happy that I had another run without shin pain!)

-I am so ready for the upcoming 3-day weekend. We don't have much planned, which is kind of nice for a change.

-I worry about money a lot.

-I am mildly interested in the NBA playoff games right now...so much so that I haven't been able to get off the elliptical for an hour because I was watching a game 3 nights this week at the gym. I would like to go to the Spurs vs. Lakers game in San Antonio on Sunday, but tickets are obviously expensive.

-I miss Holly's daily blog updates. I keep checking though even though I know she is gone in hopes that she will get internet access in Europe and tell us all the cool things that they are doing.

Productive...

That's how I would describe this weekend.

My big Friday night fun again was a trip to the gym. Then, I got up early on Saturday morning to meet Sadie for a 7-mile run on the trail. We saw lots of friendly faces along the way...Erin, Tara, and Kellie among others. Overall, it was a pretty good run...the weather was good, no shin pain!, and great company as usual. K and I spent the afternoon out taking care of some shopping errands, including a trip to Rogue where Katie helped me pick out some trail shoes. I signed up for the Loop 10k in a couple of weeks as well. We spent the evening starting to transfer some files from my old computer to the new one. Big fun, I know.

Took care of more shopping errands today. And, I got a massage this afternoon. K got a new Wii game yesterday, so he spent a lot of time playing with his new toy. Lucky me.

Next up on our to-do list is to clean the house! It's amazing how OCD that I used to be about cleaning and how I am so not that way anymore. Yet another change to attribute to K! Not that it is necessarily a bad thing...just a change in priorities.

We don't have a lot going on this week (as of now), so the goal will be just to make it to Friday for the 3-day weekend. Yeah!

What's new this week?

-The display on my laptop went out at the beginning of the week. Here's an example of how my problem-solving style differs from K's style: Once K identified the problem and we considered the expense of getting it repaired vs. replaced, I ordered a new laptop later that same day. We got a good deal, and K picked it out so I'm sure it's good quality as well. It arrived yesterday and it's already up and running. Problem solved! K would still be "doing his research" at this point and the problem would not be taken care of...and, I would be irritated.

-I picked up my wedding dress from Unbridaled yesterday. I'm not going to try it on though because I know it's going to be big. We ordered a larger size based on my chest measurements, so it is definitely too big everywhere else. I'm just going to wait to try it on until I get fitted for the alterations 6 weeks before the wedding. I ordered my veil yesterday when I picked up the dress. It's so pretty, and I think it really complements my skin tone and dress. Now, I need to find some shoes.

-I had lunch at the end of last week with a colleague in private practice who presented me with a very interesting opportunity. He has a well-established practice of almost 20 years, but is really looking to slow down and retire at the end of the year. So, he inquired whether I would be interested in buying his practice. This would certainly alleviate the instability and initial set up time, which are two of my major concerns about private practice. As expected, K was definitely supportive of this possibility. We'll see what we think as we get more details about it.

-I have been the gym queen this week. I've put in a lot of time over the past few weeks in the gym doing weights, swimming, and using the elliptical. I've been very consistent and have definitely made this part of my daily routine again. I've also been more mindful of what I am eating (thanks Sadie), and I am relieved that I am seeing positive results in terms of my weight and body.

-My supervisor approved my time-off request for the wedding/honeymoon. I'm taking off on Friday the day before the wedding and then 2 weeks after for the honeymoon. That's all the time that I have. We're still trying to settle on a destination though. K hasn't been to Europe so he would really like to go there. However, I just want to relax on the beach. Greece may be a compromise.

-After another weekend of traveling last weekend, we're looking forward to a low-key weekend at home. We're headed to Buffalo, NY in three weeks for a wedding. Busy, busy, busy!

On the road again...

We made a quick trip to Dallas over the weekend for Mother's Day. We left early Saturday morning in order to meet my mom for lunch. Thankfully, it was a smooth, easy drive up and we made good time (I was driving). We had been talking about going to the Rangers game in the evening, but at the last minute K changed his mind. He wanted a night out on the town instead (that's asking a lot from the girl who goes to bed at 10:30pm). We had a yummy sushi dinner at Blue Fish on Greenville Ave. with Pete. We even had a sports celebrity sighting since Dirk Nowitzki of the Mavericks was there. After dinner, we went to the bar in Hotel Palomar for drinks (well, K drank, I didn't). We managed to stay out until after 11:00pm, which was a feat for me! And, to think that I used to be getting ready to go out at that time! Times have certainly changed...

Despite the "late" night, I convinced K to get up with me "early" the next morning so that we could go run at White Rock. K had never been out there, so I wanted him to see it. So, we ran the full 9-mile loop (again, no shin pain!). Then, we met my mom for Mother's Day lunch before hitting the road back to Austin. We were both really tired when we made it back late yesterday afternoon. I caught up on some tv shows from last week, did laundry, and napped. Now, it's already Monday again and another work week ahead...I'm ready for a "real" vacation though. :)

St. George...

I found out on Friday night when the lottery results for St. George were (finally) posted that I got in for this year. This was precisely what I didn't want to happen because then I would have a decision to make...run this year or defer to next year. It was a really tough decision for me. On the one hand, there's the excitement of getting in and looking forward to running this year, especially since Sadie and Chad are going again. However, with the marathon just under a month away from our wedding, then the timing of it would not be ideal in terms of peaking in my training. We're planning on taking a 2-week honeymoon, so it would make it nearly impossible for me to get in the last 22-24 miler during that period. I still think that if I'm going to BQ anywhere, then it's going to be at St. George with the elevation drop working in my favor. I'm not in BQ shape right now, so I want to make sure that I'm going into training for St. George with my fitness level up and my weight down. So, in the end, I think I made the right decision (besides I think K would have killed me if I decided to train this summer with all of the wedding planning and events coming up). I just called to defer my entry to next year, which means that I will have a guaranteed entry for October, 2009.

In the meantime, I think K and I are going to give trail running a try. This will be a good way to keep me running (without the pressures of marathon training) and to try something different. Rogue has a program that is training for the Palo Duro Trail Run in October, so we are considering doing the 20k "fun run" there.

Good start to the week...

Yesterday was a pretty good start to the week, as far as Mondays go. I managed to wade through all the phone messages and emails from last week and get organized without feeling insanely overwhelmed.

I ran 4 miles on TLT after work...without shin pain. I'm so happy about that. Crappy cardio is another story though...

We went to a great concert at The Paramount last night...Lyle Lovett (who I love), John Hiatt (who I also love), Guy Clark, and Joe Ely. We got tickets last minute a couple of weeks ago, so we ended up in the very last row of the upper center balcony. Regardless, it was a great show. I'm getting old enough now that is the only way that I want to see a concert...with seats and A/C. :)

Good weekend...

What a good weekend! My big Friday and Saturday night fun was going to the gym to swim. I was surprised that the lanes were busy on Friday at 9pm, but was relieved that I had the pool all to myself at the same time on Saturday night.

I slept in on Saturday morning and it felt so good. I went to Unbridaled before lunch to order my dress, and I ended up picking the alternate one than I was originally expecting. Both are beautiful, so I couldn't go wrong with either one. I'm happy with my choice though. K and I went to Rogue afterwards to pick up my packet for the trail race that I did today then met one of my friends from my previous job at El Sol y La Luna for lunch. I had only been there once before for breakfast a long time ago, so I was pleased that my food turned out so yummy. We'll have to go there again sometime. I went to see Made of Honor later in the afternoon (her wedding dress at the end of the movie is VERY similar to mine). I love going to the movies on Saturday afternoons. K had a yummy dinner waiting for me when I got home yesterday. Then, I went to the gym to swim.

We got up early this morning to head up to Walnut Creek Metro Park for the Maze 10k. This was my first trail race and only my second trail run. I didn't really know what to expect. I just wanted to experience something different, get a few miles in, and have a good time. Mission accomplished. I ran pretty easily, which in some ways I was forced to do since the trail was pretty much single track and it was difficult to pass folks. When the lead person stopped to walk a hill, then we were all forced to walk (which I didn't necessarily mind). This was my first run since the marathon last weekend, and I was happy that my legs felt relatively good (no shin pain either).

I was super tired when we got home from the race so I crashed out for several hours. We went to Holly's late in the afternoon for a P*Dipps get together and bbq. As usual, it was a good time at Holly's. Yummy food (and lots of it) and good company. Now, it's time to get ready for the week ahead. Back to work tomorrow (ugh).