Enjoying Nature in it's Baldness

Not only did my legs need a little breather, but Patrick and I needed to make sure our hiking shoes were nice and comfy, so we headed out to the Oak Point Nature Preserve to enjoy some dry land before the big thunderstorms rolled in. 

I've yet to see this place in it's prime, but still think it's totally beautiful with all the bare trees hugging the winding creek. 

I'm not sure what's up with this albino tree sprouting out of the ginormous log, but love it's uniqueness. 

Does anybody else spot something like a collapsed tree laying over the span of a water and immediately have to fight the urge to see if they can cross it? It was like a free mud run was made by nature, just for me, luring me to come play. 

I'm no geologist and I'm betting you aren't either, but isn't it fascinating to see the layers of the earth? I wonder if we can just bring a couple of floaties down there this summer and let the dog run around while we chill in the peacefulness and admire this view. 

The 2 miles we covered entailed so many diversities for such a retrospectively small place nestled in the city. 

The puppies, of course, loved every minute of their adventure. 

"What will I smell if I stick my nose over here?" "What will I hear around the next bend?" "I wonder if I start running and pull really hard on my leash if those pokey humans will put some pep in their step?"

We got home just in time to clean out/organize the garage and detail the inside of both our cars under the sprinkling clouds before dark. Then I made some homemade chili, in leiu of the mild cold front, to eat with some tamales and watch movies after a pleasantly productive day. 

What's your idea of a productive Saturday?

Must Be Doing Something Right (Project Pretty Week 6)

(Project pretty is a personal commitment to share my weekly journey of keeping my non-New-Year's-Resolution: staying fit to improve quality of life while inspiring others to do the same. Let's all jump on the endorphin wagon!)

I joined a gym!
Just go ahead and add me into that post holiday statistic, I guess.....

I tried not to, but being at the Yoga Studio really reminded me of how much I love group fitness (not that I ever forgot, I was just trying to save money), and I needed another method of getting some low-impact workouts in. The good news is it's a really cheap gym, but has a lot to offer with a super laid back and friendly atmosphere! When I joined they literally said, "Welcome to the family.".........How sweet is that?

Speaking of sweet, Patrick is a little concerned. I don't know if it's because I've been letting my hair grow, the relocation to the other side of town, or glowing Project Pretty results, but I've been getting quite a few compliments lately........in the raw. I'm talking no make up, always in workout clothes, and in one particular situation, completely drenched in sweat after a long, vigorous workout.
"I just wanted to tell you, you are very beautiful," the guy says as a steady stream of sweat is dripping from my pigtails. He even tried to give me his card......until he saw my diamond and gracefully bowed out.

Although I felt amazing, I wasn't looking so hot on mine and Cristina's 4 mile hill run after work. She is a gifted beast born to sprint up hill and left me trailing in the fog with every incline, which actually turned out to be a good thing since it pushed me to run an average of 10:49min-11:09min miles (about 30-40sec faster than what I was running on flat land a few weeks ago).

The cool air and heavy fog misting in my face was probably another contributing factor; I really do love those kind of conditions......and we both loved watching all the cardinals out and about.

The downfall was developing a serious knot in one of my calve muscles that took me about 3 days to untie with lingering soreness afterwards (I'm blaming it on Shawn T's Insanity). So I took it easy and went to the beginners class for yoga again. Although I don't get a "workout" at theses mostly instructional classes, I do enjoy learning about the theory behind why we do poses the way we do, and sometimes even learn I've been doing something incorrectly. I stayed after class and got some one-to-one instruction on how to properly vinyasa from Plank-Pushup-Up Dog-Downward Dog (I've been slightly lifting up my feet and moving them to how I want them to go instead of rolling my toes) and was finally successful! I seriously felt like a million bucks, especially when some of the other beginners who stayed to watch were "Ooooo-ing" and "Ahhhhh-ing" over my accomplishment!

Jess and I finished off the week strong with a 7 mile afternoon run with......
.......wait for it........
Absolutely no route planned out. We just hit the road and winged the entire thing!

How do you make sure you're getting enough variation in your weekly workouts? Do you have a schedule, or just wing-it?

Peace Love and Happiness

At the risk of sounding dramatic, I was devastated after discovering G Love and Special Sauce was coming to town and I was scheduled to work. But as luck or skill has it, I was able to pout my bottom lip out far enough for someone to feel bad enough to switch with me so I could surprise Patrick with tickets!

The next morning I stopped by our favorite donut place, tucked the concert receipt into the donut bag, and left it in the car for him to find on the way to work. 

Granada Theater is a such a cool, grungy place, packed with art and music history. But even if you don't care about any of those things, a really great feature is the details of the floor.....especially if you weren't blessed with being the tallest tool in the box. 

From the base of the stage, continuing all the way up the balcony, the entire floor is separated into sections that are higher than each preceding section, marked by shelved partitions to lean on and rest your drinks, which also helps keep the crowd from pushing forward. The best part is no matter where you stand, it's with an unblocked view!

We arrived just in time to pick out our ideal location and listen to the opener band, Swear and Shake. Although good, I think a lot of their music was a little slow to be performing in front of a new audience, but we did love the ONE song featuring the banjo, Marbles.

Patrick stopped by their booth on the way out of the bathroom to tell them they did a good job, and the female lead held her hand out to shake his {soaking wet hands, according to him}. "Sorry," he said, "I just washed my hands." Oh. Em. Gee. How I wish I was there to see the embarrassment on his face and the shocked horror on hers!!

When G Love came out singing Peace Love and Happiness, the energy of the entire audience changed. We couldn't stop dancing and G Love's legs couldn't stop moving. He played all our favorite songs with a few new ones, and while singing "Who's Got the Weed" actually took a hit off a joint someone in the front row passed him. Please keep in mind this is TEXAS; that's what I call ballsy. 

One of my favorite parts of the night was when he killed a guitar solo by playing the tabs with the microphone during Baby's Got Sauce. 

And again when he took a beat break at the end of song to do a free-style flow with subjects from the audience......but I think the people in the front row had a little too much of.....something......because they weren't exactly full of useful phonics. 

Another one of my favorite parts was when he sent the Special Sauce off stage for an impressive acoustic session. I'll never understand, though, how so many people were talking through Gimme Some Lovin'........but then again, they probably don't have spouses that sing them that song, so they might not be so personally captivated by it. 

Okay, okay, so all of it was my favorite part, actually. His music is just such a perfect combination of blues, funk, rock, hip-hop, and generalized genius-ness that I can't help but think everyone who hasn't experienced one of his concerts is missing out, and this one was the best one yet.

I was having some major video posting issues that I'm not clever enough to solve, so you'll have to click on the links I provided to hear what I'm talking about (with the exclusion of Marbles, that's a borrowed video from another time).......and one more, because I can't help myself!

Have you heeded my suggesting yet??? If not, you should check this band out! They've been around for 20 years, so get to it already!!!

A Strange Month

I'm so glad my husband doesn't behave like the typical "man cold" victim; otherwise who would take care of me when I'm not feeling up to par?

Lets be old and talk about the crazy weather, shall we?

It's literally been warm and sunny......

Frigid and snowy.......

Medium cold and weepy......

And back to warm and sunny again..............all in a matter of days........for weeks now. 

To top it all off, the beautiful sun showed it's face every day of my working stretch while I bid it adieu at sunrise and slept until dusk, only to completely disappear behind a mask of dingy dullness for my stretch off. 

All this titter-tottering has everyone I know in a constant state of sickness, and although I haven't been stricken with anything diagnose-able, have battled a strange lethargy lasting the entire month of January. 

.......which is why I can't seem to muster the energy to put away a single pair of my shoes after removing them directing in front of the couch (the socks are on the coffee table because the dogs carry them off when I leave them on the floor, which is probably why I have so many singleton socks.....and I promise I clean the coffee table before visitors come over....if I have the energy.) 

 Oh look! Winter boots and flip flops in the same week!

It could also be contributing to my mild psychosis, which didn't seem to amuse the old veteran in front of me at Tom Thumb when I thought the two North Texas Food Bank bags sitting at the end of the conveyor belt were his and that maybe he just forgot to scoot them forward with his case of beer, so I put it all together for him, and after the cashier rang it all up, he wondered why he was purchasing food for donation. I quickly admitted to my doings and apologized, laughing about the silliness with the cashier and the person behind me......but the old veteran's face remained sternly serious and annoyed and he refused to look my direction.........ummm.....can we say, "Awkward?!?!?"......

But at least the puppies got a make-over! 

And after months of complaining about having to wear glasses all the time, Patrick FINALLY went to the eye doctor to get new contacts!!

January was a really strange month, so here's to expecting better things from February!!!

What's your most awkward grocery store story? Do you get sick when the weather is so fickle?

Small Big World (Project Pretty Week 5)

(Project pretty is a personal commitment to share my weekly journey of keeping my non-New-Year's-Resolution: staying fit to improve quality of life while inspiring others to do the same. Let's all jump on the endorphin wagon!)

It's funny how small this very big world can be.

Stay with me here. 

There I was, stretching before yoga class began, when a lady introduced herself to me. After our conversation turned to me working night shift, she introduced me to the sweet lady responsible for keeping me in line last week, who's son is married to the first lady's daughter. The second lady kept saying how familiar I looked, and after a few minutes of me trying to convince her I just have a familiar face, she figured out why; our paths must have crossed when I worked at Medical City in the MICU, since she is a anesthesiologist there. Then as it turns out, after discussing dates, we realized her son and I also worked at Cedar's Sinai (in California) during the same time!! 

Of all the yoga studios and all the hospitals..........

I've been focusing on increasing mileage in my minimalist shoes with absolutely no heel striking and more consistent road running than ever before. Patrick says I look good now when I run.......I say, tell that to my calves and plantar muscles. They start burning around mile 3, but are slowly getting stronger. At this point, I can proudly say I'm up to 6 miles, with absolutely no IT band issues thus far in my training, and my knees are hurting less (yay!).

I ran so far the other day that I stumbled upon another park I knew nothing about (Bob Woodroff Park), and followed it for a while; it's nice to get away from all the commotion. But I should keep in mind after my next long run that going to yoga the following day to "stretch it out" might not be such a bright idea when the instructor plans to focus mainly on legs and balance. 

And then there was that time when I was taking the dogs for a quickie in the neighborhood around the time school let out, and I seriously thought some weird kid was yelling strange things at us from his house. I remembered my manners and didn't look, in fear of being rude. But on the way back home curiosity got the best of me. Turns out the situation was even more bizarre that I thought, and the "weird kid" was actually two talking squawking birds on someone's front porch!!!

What's the weirdest thing you've ever encountered while out on a run? 

Super Bowl and Fruit Pizza Wal-lah!

Super Bowl weekend will forever hold a special place in my heart. 

It's the anniversary of the time I jumped out of a hot tub into a 4-foot pile of snow, in nothing but a itty-bitty-bikini, and back into the hot tub, losing my newly gifted engagement ring in the process (I hadn't even worn it for 24 hours yet and was it a few sizes too big). 

Some people may remember that weekend in Steamboat, CO for the epic amounts of snow, but to me it's the weekend my love asked me to spend the rest of my life with him, suspended in the air on top of a mountain, literally and spiritually. 

At the risk of becoming a one-trick-pony, I brought my old faithful dish over to the White House for this year's Super Bowl shenanigans. 

In my defense, it's been requested by the Mr. White I bare a fruit pizza with each visit.....and since my special recipe is both reliable and desirable, who am I to deny such a request for the sake of variety?

To be honest, just as I did those years ago in The Boat, I spent way more time drinking and blabbering 
to friends than I did watching the game, but the power loss episode was pretty entertaining.

 And just out of curiosity.......why was everyone on my social media bashing Beyonce's performance?? She squeezed in a ton a upbeat hit songs and danced her ass off with some pretty cool stage effects. It took all my self-control not to get up and try some of her moves.

 Despite the array of yummy food options available, complete with crawfish cornbread made by a New Orleans native, all Patrick could think about was ice cream, so we stopped at Sonic on the way home and got him a butter-finger blizzard. It would only make perfect sense that he dropped it while getting out of the car, spilling it on the driveway, right??? Good thing he was feeling greedy and ordered a large, so there was plenty left over in the cup to satisfy his craving (but you should have seen the look on his face when that cup when flying out of his hands). 

And as promised, here's all my secrets to the best fruit pizza in all the land.......

Fruit Pizza:

Ingredients:

2 bags of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookies (I've tried a few different kinds of sugar cookie dough for the crust, and this works the best)

Cinnamon

2 Eggs

2 sticks of Butter

1 8oz tub of Cool Whip

2 packages of Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup of Sugar or desired type of equally ratio'd sweetener

2 TBS Vanilla

Orange zest (optional)

Fruit (I use grapes, strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, blackberries)

Directions:

1. Mix the cookie dough per bag directions; sprinkle in cinnamon before adding the wet ingredients.

2. Lightly coat cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray and spread dough evenly over sheet (The dough will grow/spread while cooking, so it's best to use a pan with edges to prevent cookie spills, but not too high edges or it will be hard to get the slices out later. I use a flat cookie sheet and make edges around it foil and it works like a charm, then the foil can be removed after baking the cookie.)

3. Cook cookie crust according to bag directions

4. Mix cool whip, cream cheese, vanilla and orange zest in container (use a blender), then chill in frig

5. Wash and slice fruit

6. When cookie crust is golden, remove from oven, set out to cool. After 10-15 minutes of counter cooling, may place in frig to cool  faster.

7. Just before consumption, cover crust with frosting/topping, and layer on fruit

Wal-lah!!

What's your must-have Super Bowl celebration food?

Family Fail

I should have known it was going to be an interesting day when it started out with a lady standing in her front doorway wearing a muumuu yelled at me for taking a picture of the limb of a tree in her yard. It was the first moment of many that day, I could have kicked myself in the butt for not being armed with my real camera. My iPhone miserably failed to capture the beauty of the tiny iridescent rain drops lingering on each tip of the tangled branches, separating itself in class from the gloomy sky. 

I called my mom to verify the family's arrival time to help move my brother and to make sure they were equipped with kolaches. Turns out they stopped and bought some for themselves, but not for Patrick and I........family fail.

When we arrived at my brother's new place, Saturday's story ripened..........HE HADN'T PACKED A SINGLE THING YET!

Then this nerd patrol asked me, and only me, to come with him to his old house to help him "pack the kitchen". Turns out "packing the kitchen" translated into packing everything, and he only had 3 soggy un-taped boxes with no packing supplies to make this happen..........you can imagine my disgust. 

In the meantime, Patrick went on an excursion with my dad, navigating him to 3 different Lowe's to get a couple of things, but they soon became stranded with a flat tire and spent the rest of the day at Discount Tire. 

Would you believe me if I said after 3 trips to Lowe's they still didn't buy the right thing?

Completely distracted by the unprecedented monopolization of one of my precious weekends off work, Patrick interrupts my agitation with a question, "Is it your Nana's birthday today?"

All I heard was "birthday". I completely dismissed his inquisition, "No," wondering why in the world he would be so crazy to ask me that, "But it's Haley's birthday today!" 

We called our niece immediately to wish her a good day.

A few hours later, unwinding over dinner and margaritas at La Hacienda with the best beef fajitas in the world, the subject of Nana's birthday arose again. 

OH. MY. GOSH. It really was Nana's birthday!
"I tried to tell you that, but you weren't listening to me!" Patrick chimed in. 

All day long I spent with my grandmother and completely did not realize she sacrificed her day to submerge herself in the ciaos of helping my retarded brother move ON HER BIRTHDAY ..........never once did she complain or say anything about it being a special day. 

At that moment, I felt just as ridiculous as everything else that had happened that day..........another family fail!

Luckily, I think Nana already knew her family is crazy, so none of this was a big surprise to the wisdom of her 74 years young. If everything else went wrong, at least we ended it right; celebrating a fantastic lady  that I don't know what I'd do without. 

Are birthdays a big deal in your family?