Food, Family and Fun

It was another successful Thanksgiving this year. Brian and I stretched it out over a long weekend, eating with my family on Thursday and his family on Saturday. We ate, we talked, we ate some more, talked, and then kept eating. Both of us gained some poundage, and that's with me running ALOT in one week. I actually ran 25 miles this week, which is a lot for me. Not for this guy, though. My fam was talking about him at the Thanksgiving table and so I had to Google him when I got home. Is it just sheer craziness to exercise THAT much? 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days!! He runs 70 miles just for PRACTICE. And now that he's done all those marathons, he couldn't just take a break, no. He's running back from NYC to San Francisco. Running home instead of flying. Who is he, Forrest Gump? insanity.

Anyways, where was I. Oh yeah, I was eating. I did run the 8 Mile Turkey Trot this year, which is fun, and a good way to justify eating 3 pieces of pie. And that was just the afternoon serving. I ate MORE for dinner. Gluttony. Sheer gluttony.

It was good to see the family though, my aunt and uncle now have a second set of twins, but instead of my twin cousins, this time they have a boy and a girl. Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. So cute! I LOVE dogs, in case you didn't know. Puppies are just the best.

So, yeah, it was a great holiday weekend. I'm ready for Christmas now!

Best Bond Movie EVER

Go see Casino Royale. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Did this one have a different director? Or have they just changed a few things about it? He's more of a lone ranger in this one. No Q, no nifty toys. But Daniel Craig is now my favorite (favourite) Bond.

Blue. Eyes. Wow.

Get your tickets now!

Central Park: How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways...

Well, I am back from NYC. I wouldn't want to live there, but I sure could have stayed longer. The weekend flew, as always. It was a different trip than I had expected. Normally the group is split half-way into those that are doing evangelism/street ministry and those that are doing service work. I'm always the later. We have some very bold people and I'm not one of them. I'm always the designated painter, and it seems to be a good fit for me. However, we only had 8 people working 1 day on the painting and just 2 of us on another day. Normally there's a "young" group and an "older" group, but this was an older group and it just had a different feel. Not bad, but different. I hung out with a family of 3 all weekend and we quickly became a family of 4. We enjoyed Central Park every morning, late night Starbucks and even later talks, riding the subways, and I did my first walk-through of Little Italy and Chinatown.

The weather wasn't very cooperative, in fact, I never even saw the top of the Empire State Building, it was so cloudy. It rained some, was cloudy alot, and pretty cool. But it was THE CITY, and I love it there. Here's some reasons, in no particular order...

1. Junior's Cheesecake (we split slices of Strawberry, Cherry and Carrot Cake Cheesecake. ooh la la),
2. VERY helpful New Yorkers. One that walked us blocks and blocks to take us to a French Fry place we wanted to try.
3. Seeing friends at the church every year.
4. Getting out of my comfort zone can be a good thing sometimes.
5. Central Park, Central Park, Central Park.































6. Christian Hostel. It's so very quaint and precious.















I have more pics (of course) but Blogger is being stubborn. Hopefully more to come later.
Thank you for your prayers!

Get a Rope

Do you remember the old Pace commercials? "This Picante sauce was made in San Antonio, where people know what real picante sauce is supposed to taste like. Where was your sauce made?" (says sheepishly) "New York City." "NEW YORK CITY?!?!!" "Get a rope".

Well, get ready to hang me b/c I'm headed there tomorrow morning. Although I might not buy any hot sauce there so on second thought, hold the hanging.

Yes, I'm going on the annual service/mission trip to NYC with a group from church. Yea! I'll probably be really excited tomorrow but for now, I'm just nervous. Why? Because I need to:

Pack
Write a 2-5 page paper within the next 3 hours
Spend 3 1/2 hours at school
Finish up chores around the house
Mentally/Spiritually prepare for the trip.
And I won't be home until 9:30 tonight to do the above tasks. AUGH!!!

So, prayers are coveted for the trip and for my sanity in preparing for it. Please pray for safe travel, blessings for the 16 of us going, and that we will be used as God pleases.

Gotta get going on that paper now. Latras!

Needing a Foot Massage in the Worst Way

Well, I did it. Without the necessary training and without losing the weight I had hoped to. But, I did it. I ran (and walked) a 1/2 marathon yesterday morning. I woke up at 5am to get into my running gear, get my stuff together and head to Dallas. My feet covered a whopping 13.1 miles around a lake, mansions, and rolling hills. Hills you'd never notice in a car but feel every step while jogging. It's a sense of accomplishment to know that I really did it, I earned the medal I received at the end for finishing. wahoo!

I saw my one of my English teachers from high school volunteering at the race, one of my high school classmates, and a jr. high crush. Very surreal. My sister finished about 50 min. before me, in just over 2hrs. I finished just under 3 hrs, but it's actually better than I thought I'd do. Sure Lance Armstrong covered twice the distance in only 9 extra minutes, but who's counting.

I did it. Just don't ask me to stand up.