Run, Leslie! Run!

Wow...it has been awhile. I had forgotten what it felt like to write a blog post. Considering I haven't written anything in  several months, I probably don't have any readers. That's ok.

I have decided that I want to run a 5K. This is a big deal. It is a REALLY big deal. In school, I could never run the 1-mile run that we were supposed to do each year in P.E. I always started out running, but about 10 or 15 feet in, I had hit my wall and would start walking. I was ALWAYS the last person to cross the finish line. ALWAYS.

I was also always a chubby kid growing up. I could never sit with my knees pulled up to my chest, or make it across the monkey bars, or do a cartwheel. I have many fond memories of fantasizing about not being fat. I remember I once thought how awesome it would be to lose a bunch of weight and wear a fat suit while I was doing it, and then just show up one day - skinny. Somehow, I always thought that would show all the mean kids. Like I would somehow be getting back at them. Vengeance is mine!

So this is where I find myself, at age 31, out of shape and overweight, but none of that is new. I have now had a few sessions of Couch-to-5K (C25K), and so far, well, at least I'm not dead. I just keep telling myself over and over again - I can do this. I can do this. I can do hard things. As I'm jogging around the makeshift track I made out of desks in my tiny classroom, I'm telling myself this IS possible.

Here are the reasons I have previously believed this was NOT possible:

1. I'm out of shape.
2. I have plantar fasciitis. And heel spurs. And crooked metatarsals.
3. I'm about 100 pounds overweight. (shhhhh, that one's a secret)

I've tried to come up with other (physical) reasons why I could not do this, and there really aren't any. They are all psychological

So what am I going to do about it?

Here are the reasons that this HAS TO BE possible:

1. I'm out of shape - so what? What better way to get in shape than by DOING IT??
2. Losing weight will take care of most of my foot (feet?) problems (except take care of the fact that they are ugly, and that I have crooked bones).
3. Duh. If I want to lose weight, I have to do this.

So here I am on day 4 of C25K.

I am going to do this.

I CAN do this.

I WILL do this.

.......So I should probably get rid of the talking cookies in the background, eh?

RT 2011: Part 2 Texas

Yeeeee-HAWWW! Here we are in Texas, the land of the free and the home of my birth. In church on Sunday a lady mentioned in her testimony that Texas was the best state. Only in Texas do you get so much state pride. In fact, when I had Texas History in school here, I thought everyone in the country took it. Our time in Austin was wonderful. We spent good, quality time with Bill's sister, Jamie and her family. Jamie's husband, Dallas is a dentist and he checked out Taya's teeth and gave her a thorough cleaning.

 I thought it was really nice of him to do that, and it was cool seeing him in action. He wore some kind of glasses while he did that….can't remember what they were called…whirly-gigs maybe? no, that's not it…opticlas? I dunno. 

Our first morning there we went to Round Rock donuts. The gods of fried-dough-drenched-in-warm-sugar-glaze has definitely given this place their blessing. I don't know if I would have even been able to say - ENOUGH! - so luckily we didn't go for a whole dozen and each got our own donut, er, donuts. The only problem was that they have no indoor seating, so we ate them outside at a concrete picnic table and it was SO HOT.

(Hmmmm, maybe the dentist pictures should come AFTER the donut pictures....)

 After that we went to IKEA. I love love love IKEA. It's probably good that they don't have one too close to us, because I would be going there all the time. I was not sure how the kids were going to do there, but they had a blast! Jamie gave them each a paper measuring tape and they went through the store measuring everything, including the arrows on the floor. I think I've convinced Bill to take me to the closest iKEA we have - in Atlanta. I think the phrase "let's go to a Braves game while we're there" really won him over. 

One night we went to Rudy's - a really great Bar-B-Q restaurant with a gas station attached (which somehow makes it that much cooler). 

(I love this picture! Andy has a FIRM hold on Taya, but she just kept on smiling!)

It was really good food that comes in a plastic tray with butcher paper. They give you several pieces of white bread with which to eat your meat, and you order sides to go with it. We got the cream(ed) corn and it was really good. It was kind of like a thin custard with some corn in it. Super rich. Super good.

We had some authentic Mexican food the next day along with some horchata, which is a refreshing, sweetened rice drink, which usually has nutmeg. Kind of like the taste of rice pudding, but without the pudding...or the rice. It's been awhile since I've had some good authentic horchata. 

We really enjoyed our visit with Jamie and Dallas. They have great games and we had a great time playing with them. Many memories are built around game play. 

(I have to explain this. We played a pictionary-type game. The topic was hairstyles. Bill was the artist. Can you guess what they were? 1.) braid 2.) bald 3.) spikey 4.) ponytail 5.) afro (?!) 6. crew cut or buz cut (I can't remember) 7.) bun 8.) (this is the best!) BEEHIVE!! Bill did a great job because Dallas got all of them!)

Jamie and I were talking about how the little things that people say sometimes make the biggest impression on us. I remember Dallas telling me once that his mom would go and "inspect" after he had completed a chore, and that really made an impression on me. So I do that with Taya now. I also go and check out what she has done, and I think that makes her feel a sense of accomplishment and she knows I'm going to check out what she's done, so she wants to do a great job (at least that's what I tell myself is happening).

Here are a few more pictures of our fun time in Texas:

Sweet faces!

Yes, they were praying. I just had to take the picture - they were so sweet!

Having fun destroying our bed after church.

Tug O' War

Flying kids!

Ready for the pool!

Dinner at Rudy's.

According to Dr. Dal (and my dad) lemons aren't really good for your teeth...but every once in awhile a little extra citrus never hurts anyone.

Rudy's!

Anyone else think of Sasquatch?

 There's just something about that pose...

She slept like this the ENTIRE night one night...I guess stuffed animals make great pillows!

Taya LOVED playing with Caleb! They made many Lego masterpieces.

At the pool.

Another Lego masterpiece.

Jamie making funny faces with Andy. He would mock what she did and said. Super cute!

Waiting for Uncle Doctor Dallas! I loved this giant tooth they had as a chair!

We left Texas and headed towards Roswell, New Mexico. There was just something memorizing about the landscape. It's kind of hilly, and really pretty, in a different sort of way. There was one little town that we went through that has pecan orchards. I wish we would have stopped to get some, but we went through so quickly that I didn't realize it was be so cool.

As I was looking out the window at the cows on the side of the road and it reminded me of something my dad said once. It might have actually been his father or his grandfather who actually said it. He said that a cow can have a huge open field of the greenest, sweetest grass and on the other side of the fence is a desolate field. But if there is a hole in the fence somewhere the cow will find it and go to the other side - without the grass - just because they can (and they are stupid). I wonder how many times we go through the hole in the fence just because we can. 

We went through San Angelo (where I was born) so that I could look around the town that I grew up in. We got lots of pictures. Although it was SUPER DUPER hot, and I think Taya was kind of bored, I'm glad we went because I found out they are going to be tearing down part of one of my elementary schools pretty soon. I got to walk around it a bit and take some pictures. It was just how I remembered, but just a little bit smaller. It's funny how certain memories stick in your head about certain spaces. I was surprised that I didn't recognize more places, but it has really changed since we were there - it has been 20 years after all. 

We got shaved ice one day in Round Rock, and it came with a paper umbrella. Taya liked to wear it in her hair like a flower, and she did until it just fell apart.

Texas is THIS big!

One of the streets

The former home of the BEST pizza place EVER - Shakey's!! They had really good pizza and these round fried potatoes called Rojos. Even the ketchup was special - it seemed to have a little kick to it. This is also where my love for salad in little wooden bowls came from.

I'm standing in front of the little apartment my parents lived in when I was born. Theirs was the top, corner apartment.

Our church building.

My first grade classroom!

The house we lived in.

The Concho River

The hospital where Ben (and maybe Alli) was born.

Our favorite Mexican restaurant.

We had a GREAT time in Texas!

Next stop - Roswell, NM (with a little visit to the UFO Museum) and Arizona!

Road Trip 2011: Part 1 Mississippi

Road Trip 2011 is well on its way! 

We headed out Thursday leaving about 12:30 from Memphis with a car loaded to the gills! Since we left later than we had hoped, we didn't have a chance to stop off in Hattiesburg to see family we have there - but don't worry Aint D - we'll be by to see you soon! 

We even had to change out our coolers so that we could fit in our luggage - yeah, that's right - we know what's important. Although I think Bill was secretly hoping that we could have enough room for a few cases of bottled Barq's Rootbeer....

The trip down to the coast went great. Portable DVD players are AWESOME! 

Road trips have come a long way since the days when my siblings and I made up episodes of Sesame Street and Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood in our heads to pass the time. Actually, my parents, in one of their (many) moments of pure parental genius, devised a way to tell us how much more time was left using what we were familiar with: Sesame Street = 1 hour, Mr. Rodger's = 30 minutes. I still sometimes think of time that way. 

We arrived late that night and visited some with Bill's grandma and aunt and cousins. Then we went to the hotel-in-a-casino that Bill's aunt Liz got for us (with a view of the water where we just watched a couple of guys go fishing - can't wait to take Taya fishing!). 

This morning we got up and had a high-protein breakfast (does having milk with your muffin and jelly donut qualify it as high-protein?), and then headed over to Grandma Nancy's. We visited there and then trekked over to Pirate's Cove where they serve the best Po-Boys west of, well, anywhere! Bill and I got the Roast Beef with gravy (SUPER TASTY!), and Taya had the cheeseburger Po-Boy. We washed it all down with a Barq's Rootbeer (from the bottle no less!).  

(Not pictured: Barq's Rootbeer)

After that we headed to the beach. After a timid entrance - she was holding on to my hand and shaking when we first got in - she kept venturing out further and further and had a great time! 

Bill had this towel over his head (after I warned him that his head would burn - badly), but he refused to let me take a picture of it that way. You'll just have to use your imagination...

We attempted to make a sand castle, but really it was just a pile of wet sand. It was HOT!

The boys got to go out pretty far, but she had to stay close to us.

I foresee more beach trips in our future...although I did learn that if you see a dead fish on the beach, do NOT turn it over even if your 7-year old cousin tells you it is a baby shark. 

The ensuing smell is NOT. WORTH. IT. 

(Sorry, no pictures of the rotting fish (or possible baby shark). As you did above with Bill and the towel, use your imagination.)

After the beach, we made our way  to Grandma Nancy's for some more swimming and then more family came over that night just to hang out. 

(Cousins!)

I got to drive a 2010 (maybe 2011?) Mercedes 747 (or something like that - I'm sure it was the latest and coolest model as Bill's late Uncle Dayton would buy the latest and greatest new vehicle every 5 years). I've always wanted to see what the big deal was about the luxury cars. It was nice. It made U-turns like a hot knife through butter, or maybe even the electric knife through Grandma Nancy's ham (...hmm, ok, maybe not so much...). And I've been getting that new (to me) car fever lately....better watch out, Bill! Speaking of ham...

Bill got to carve it...it was like passing along the (not so) proverbial electric-knife torch. I know what Bill is getting for Christmas this year!

We have had a wonderful time here on the coast! Taya got to meet a lot of new cousins and aunts and uncles and a grandma, experience the beach,  see a few guys fishing, experience "soft water", take a bath in a Jacuzzi (thanks for that, Aunt Liz!), and have her first Po-Boy and Barq's Rootbeer (at the same time!). What a great start to our first family vacation!

Next stop - Austin!