Tulsa Bound

I had a packed weekend.  After the late night with the girls and closing down the dive bar, I got up early on Saturday and headed to pick up my mom and aunt for a weekend in Tulsa.   

I don't think I've ever mentioned on this blog who my absolute favorite person in the whole wide world is... Aunt Ethel aka "Aunt Granny".  I call her Aunt Granny because she is my aunt, but since I never had an active grandmother in my life, so she doubles as my granny too :)  She is the coolest lady you'll ever meet. At the young age of 72, she is my favorite person to go anywhere with - she seriously makes me laugh until I cry and occasionally until I pee my pants.  We've taken several road trips together and have a blast every minute.  This says a lot because I do not do riding in a car for long periods of time very well. I'm kind of a bad passenger.

We made several stops before the hotel - here we are at Panera Bread. 

 You may notice the Firebird cup.. that's because I don't like Panera Bread, so I dropped mom and Aunt Granny off and moseyed over to Firebird's for a burrito.

We logged some shopping hours and then checked into the hotel.  After we settled in we went out for dinner at Red Lobster.  I'm not a fish person, but I love crab legs and shrimp and cheddar bay biscuits.    

My mom and Ethel.  Don't they look happy? :)

The food didn't stop there...  we went to the Cheesecake Factory for some cheesecake (what else! lol).  We couldn't settle on one flavor, so we got THREE to take back to the hotel room with us. 

Raspberry Lemon, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and Chocolate Truffle
Heaven on Earth.


We went to the casino for a little while, but eventually made it back to our room for a game of Phase 10.  

The hotel had an excellent table for playing cards - we will
be staying here again. 

If you could read this you'd see that I lost.  I hate losing, but
I'm pretty sure my mom cheated.

 I cannot think of anything that would have made this weekend any better!  Now - take a minute to call your favorite aunt - She would love to hear from you!!

Girls Night and a Dive Bar

Friday night was Girl's Night.  We went to a local place called Paint and Palette.  We bought this on a Groupon (surprise, surprise).  Because we were procrastinators, we had very few options for which painting we'd do, so we settled for the OKC skyline.    Don't get me wrong - I love our skyline, but this rendition was not my favorite.  Here's my work in progress...

Blank canvass, clean table

OKC outline

Finished product

 I am not a fan.  I thought the last painting I did in Tulsa was much more fun to do. You can read about that here.

Ashley, Kendall, Me, Angela, Elizabeth

The company was wonderful though! We have all been friends since Junior High.  Can you believe that?!  I love these girls!

We were starving by the time we left the art studio, so we ventured over to Toby Keith's.  The one man band was pretty good and the food was amazing!

This stage is inside Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill.
If I'm lucky, I can talk people into dancing with me :)

We parted ways after dinner and Ashley and I found ourselves alone - both husbands were gone.  We tried to call them to come home, but they were having too much fun out with their friends. So, we met up with them.  They wanted to go to a bar that we've never been to before... and this note was on the entrance door!

Appropriate Dress Required. No Sagging.  NO GANG COLORS!
OMG.  What were we doing here?!!

It turned out to be a cozy hole in the wall dive bar, but I will NOT be going there alone. Ever.

C25K Update

So, last Tuesday and Thursday rounded up my first week of C25K training.  Since it was so cold and dark before work, I opted for the warmer, safer alternative and busted out the elliptical.  This thing has been a dust collector for the past year (maybe longer).

Please note the plastic is still on the screen.  I got this elliptical THREE
years ago, y'all.

230 calories.  I thought burning 230 calories was good until this.....

This is the drink I have after workouts to help with soreness and build up muscle.

 Post Workout Recovery has 230 calories!! Is this someone playing a joke on me or what!  Exactly 230 calories in this drink :(

Oh well, Coach Gary aka Ashley's husband assured me I didn't undo my workout.  I'm going to trust him... at least until I get back on the scale.  

Couch to 5K Training

Future Runner?  Not quite.

I decided that I would start my Couch to 5K (C25K) training today and try to keep my sessions scheduled for Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  Today is day 1.  Here are some facts: 

Today is: Sunday, January 13th

Time of run: noon'ish'

Temperature: 27 degrees

Wait..... let's stop there for a second.  TWENTY-SEVEN (27) Degrees?!!  What was I thinking?!

Please note: "Feels Like" 14 degrees.   It's a good thing I didn't look at this until after I got home, or there is no way my happy butt would have left the couch and the romance novel I've been reading.

So, in my head I was thinking.. "Day 1, surely it will go be pretty simple and ease me in slowly." I was wrong. Perhaps for the people who haven't been active for only the past 6 months it would have been considered simple.  But for me and my completely out of shape, haven't really worked out in a couple of years, body - It. Was. Torture. 

I've got to be completely honest with y'all (and myself).  I did not do the first workout exactly as designed.  Day 1 is supposed to be a 5 minute warm up, then alternating 90 seconds walking, 60 seconds jogging for 20 minutes, then a 5 minute cool down.  30 minutes total.

Understandably, the warm up and cool down - I got perfect ;)  The jogging... well, I only jogged 3 of the times the lady told me to.  But I did keep up the jog for the full 60 seconds, which I'm calling a "win", even though the overall workout wasn't quite a success. I'm not sure I would have been any more successful if it were warmer out, but I can say that the extra cold and piercing air didn't make it any easier to breathe.

I went to my town's park where they have a decent running trail.  Part of it is a little scary, so I kept to the more public space.  I was the only one on the trail, but there was a man with a metal detector and a small shovel (weird). During my cool down, I snapped a few pictures of the lackluster scenery.

Playground in the distance. No kids are playing though,
because it is.... twenty-seven degrees!

Glad I'm making use of my tax dollars

As for my attire... So remember, I got the sports bra (Moving Comfort is the brand in case you are wondering) - it worked perfectly. I have a large chest, so this is a big deal.  I sported my armband for my iPhone. This worked great too. I listened to the C25K lady talk me through when to walk and when to jog (even though I didn't listen every time).  Shoes - I'm impressed so far, no real issues.

Here's where I failed.  Pants.  I don't own any jogging pants or wind breakers. So, I thought I'd wear some sweats.  The sweats I wore are capri length.  So, I put on some tights (that are meant to be worn with my work dresses) thinking that would help keep me warm.  Nope.  Even though they aren't see through, the wind managed to make its way through those stitches with no problem!

Here's a shot of my black tights. Not exactly the coverage I needed.

My next decision is whether I will be working out before or after work. 

As far as timing goes, I feel like I should work out before work - that would get it out of the way and hopefully make for a more productive day.  The biggest issue with this (aside from waking up early) is that the sun hasn't been rising until well after 7am.  That means I'd be running in the dark.

Running in the dark poses several safety issues, but one that sticks out in my head is this....

This creek is very close to the running trail.  Two things: One: I don't want to get off course and accidentally fall in this thing. Two: I don't want someone to attack me and dispose of my body in the creek.

These are the things that go through my head folks. Sick - I know.  So, unless I can talk Ashley into waking up early and joining me... I may have to stick to evening workouts.


More C25K training updates to come.  Hopefully sharing my stories will help keep me accountable.

Future Runner?

Several times when I've gone to Tulsa, Adriana has wanted to go for a walk/run. She lives right off of the river and they have an awesome running trail.  I'm always ill-prepared (no shoes, sports bra, etc), so we've only gone twice (and I got blisters) and I whined a lot.  

Adriana is an avid runner.  She runs half marathons.  The most running I've done lately is a quick jog from the kitchen to my bedroom in the middle of the night because I'm convinced someone is watching me through our dining room sliding door window (that's a post for another day).  What I'm trying to say is, I can barely walk for an extended period of time, let alone run.  

We've tried to go to Fleet Feet (runner specialty store) the last couple of times I went to Tulsa and it just never worked out.  So, for Christmas Adriana gave me a gift card to Fleet Feet. She was very generous, so I had enough for a pair of running shoes (which we know for me will be walking shoes for now).  She even called to make sure they'd be open on New Year's day so we could get the shoes before I left town. Fool proof, right?

Naturally - it didn't work out as planned.  They were open from noon-3pm, so we go there right at noon.  Within about 15 minutes of being there, the store turned into a madhouse.  Apparently they were doing a 'Fun Run', which sounds like an oxymoron to me... at least for my currently out of shape, lazy body. Working on changing that!

There were still people there to help us with our purchases, but turns out - they didn't have the shoes in stock that I needed.  So, I ended up with a sports bra that will hold me in place, an armband for my iPhone, and some new ear buds that stay put. 

Hopefully listening to music will distract me from the fact
that I'm working out :)

I promised Adriana I would go to OK Runner in Norman to get some running shoes... and I did!

Pretty slick, right?

I'm linking up with Mel's blog today!  If you are visiting - WELCOME! These shoes are Brooks Adrenaline GTS 13. So far, I love them! Super comfy and light.

Now that I have the proper attire, I guess it is time to get moving!  

Welcome to 2013!

For New Year's, we went to Tulsa to stay with Adriana and her boyfriend, Daniel.   James and I drove up on Monday afternoon excited to catch up with our friends.  Once we got to Daniel's we went to eat lunch, then went to my favorite Tulsa bar, Valkyrie. You can read about my first visit to Valkyrie here. 

I tried a new drink... the bartender was kind enough to allow me to take pictures of the progression of this concoction.

We start with an egg... a raw egg.

I was a little nervous at this point.

Surely that sifter will protect me from salmonella. 

I had no idea what she was doing at this point.

And done!

Best. Drink. Ever.

We left feeling good and happy and went straight home for games.  

Jenga

Adriana and Daniel

I didn't post the picture, but one of us fell asleep before midnight... I have to admit, I was watching the clock around 9pm thinking that I wouldn't make it either.   We toasted at midnight and then headed to bed for our beauty sleep.

Adriana knows my love language. She made sure I had
Martini and Rossi Asti. So good.

Have you ever wondered about the song that plays at midnight? Auld Lang Syne.   Well, I have - so I looked up the meaning behind it and found this:

Auld Lang Syne is about old friends who have parted and meet again. To celebrate their long friendship, they share a drink together and reminisce of memories from long ago. The basic message is that we should not forget our old friends and should celebrate a reunion with them.

When the clock strikes midnite on New Year's Eve, gather everyone together at your party or celebration to sing the New Years Song and remember the good memories of family and friends from long ago.

I got this information from here, and you can get the lyrics and translation there as well.

Daniel made us black-eyed peas, ham, and cabbage for New Year's day.  So, we will have good luck and prosperity in 2013.. not to mention it was delish!

Happy New Year!!

Christmas Joy!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

I don't have a family of my own yet, but I can imagine that one of my favorite things to do each year will be watching my children open their presents Christmas morning.  I get such joy out of seeing the look on people's faces when they open their gifts.  

My cousin Julie and aunt Cindy

James and Mr. Mike (mom's boyfriend)

Miss Kaylynn (Ashley's daughter)

Grayson (Ashley's son)

There was no shortage of gifts at James's grandma's house.  We usually draw names, but this year we bought for everyone.  There was A LOT of presents.

Roman liked his spiderman getup.

This is Maggie opening the wine glasses we got her.  I wanted these for myself,
so I knew she'd like them! That's part of Jeni on the right.

And another Christmas surprise - WE GOT SNOW!  I was so excited that we had a white Christmas.

I kind of cheated on this picture- it was taken from my office after Christmas,
but I forgot to take a picture Christmas day, oops!

North Pole City and Villages

There is a store in Oklahoma City. It is a very special store because it sells nothing but Christmas items!  It is called North Pole City and it is really cool. 

From floor to ceiling, this place is decked out - I dream of the day that I can put a 14 foot tree in my house! 

I met my SIL to drop off a couple of gifts for the kiddos and seeing them dressed to see Santa was an awesome bonus!

Miss Olivia

Roman

North Pole City has a whole room dedicated to Christmas villages.  They have a variety of villages: Christmas in City, Snow Village, New England Village, etc.  My SIL and BIL have a set at their house that I've admired for years. They buy a new piece every year to add to the collection and I think this is such a fun tradition.

This is the village that Jeni has - we were eying this
 banana split "house" for her next addition.

I'd also like to start a collection, we just don't have the space in our house to appropriately display it - but one day, I will definitely have one!