Run for your life!

Watch out for those zombies!

Bush has good taste

My dad said no bad person has ever gone to Baylor... and maybe we should extend his theory to basketball games as well. Check this out... old Prez is a closet Baylor basketball fan!

Sic 'em, Mr. President!

Dicey Icey

It was a treacherous drive in to work this morning. My driveway was a solid sheet of ice. The streets near my house... solid ice. I slid straight through a stop sign. And a red light. Lost control in the parking lot of my favorite donut shop (because even an ice storm won't keep me from my favorite breakfast stop). I skidded my way into the hospital parking lot. Once there, it was too frozen to walk, so I sat in my car and patiently waited for a shuttle. While waiting, a truck barreled through the parking lot, losing control and spinning in circles. It narrowly missed me.

But once I made it safely indoors, the day got really good. Reporters were desperate for ice-related stories, and I happily complied. We'll be featured in our local paper tomorrow, and tonight we should have a couple of stories on the local news. So all that danger was well worth it.

Lately...

Did you know I can rip a phone book in half with my bare hands? I'm trying to perfect my technique, I think it would make a great party trick.

Sending you on an adventure

Someone recently asked me how I find blogs to follow. My answer... I don't know. I just seem to stumble across them... friends send me their favorites, I read a lot of news sites that refer to others... some are friends of friends of friends. Here's a couple of recommendations.

Texas Rangers Blog - I just discovered this. It's done by the Star-Telegram. I'm sure my friend Michael has been reading this for eons, but now I can be even more up-to-date on my favorite team's trivia. Except they're no longer my favorite team after their huge gaffe with Michael Young. Geeze.

Bachelor Blog - I may have mentioned this one before... but this gal is hilarious. I'm not even watching this season, but I still love her recaps. Plus we share a slight crush on Jim from The Office.

Business/Marketing Blog - If you like to think outside the box, this guy's for you. He's a marketing guru that I discovered about four semesters ago... he has great ideas, but if you read him for too long, it does get a bit repetitive.

My friend's baby blog - Here's a shameless plug for Tiff's baby blog. Little Sevyn is just precious.

And finally... I cried twice today because of this story. Once when they talked about it on the radio as I was getting ready for work (there went the make-up!) and then again a few hours later after Sister Sarah emailed me the same story (you'd think I wouldn't get so choked up EVERY time I read it!). Typically if I cry over football, it's because some stupid boy is forcing me to watch a game.  But this story is really touching. Boys... go read it!

Hug it out

January 21 is National Hugging Day. (insert shiver here)

I'm not a hugger. I know it has health benefits but it still makes me uncomfortable. If I'm not related to you, or dating you, then I would prefer to wave awkwardly instead of exchanging hugs. Especially the frontal kind (insert shiver here).  That's just oogie.

The worst kind are the at-work male-female hugs. I don't know why some men feel like they can substitute a hug for a handshake. This happens a lot at chamber of commerce events. Luckily I'm quick at the draw and can wiggle myself away from a hug faster than most people can say "Leave me alone creepy old man!"

I realize some of you may think that makes me an ice queen, but I prefer to think it makes my hugs more valuable. I don't just give them out willy-nilly... so if you ever DO get one, you should consider yourself lucky. Or you can assume I'm cringing (insert shiver here).

Pedicures... my favorite hobby

This is in honor of Tiff and my sisters... the ultimate pedicure buddies.

Nachos & Benedryl

Oh, my faithful friends, have I had a doozie of a week! It's a shame I have a self-imposed gag-order on the subject of boys (most of the time) because that area would provide for some quite interesting and unexpected posts! But alas, we'll have to discuss it in person. Or maybe I'll change the names to protect the innocent or something. We'll see.

So in the meantime, as I finish my late-night dinner of nachos and Benedryl, I'll post a picture of my good friend Tiffany's new baby. I've been waiting to meet this sweet baby girl for awhile now. I figure we have lot's of adventures ahead of us.

Potty Blog

I know I love my sister, because today I cleaned her toilet. In her brand-new house. Previously sat on by strangers' hineys. 

Excuse me while I puke a little in my mouth.

I'm not watching, but you should

I'm still undecided about this season's Bachelor. I find Jason to be a bit vanilla. Boring. And a little too familiar. I caved and watched episode 2 last night, but it was a total snoozefest.

But I may keep watching anyway because of this new blog introduced to me by my pal Charity. She's hilarious, and even better, she's a Baylor girl. And like my dad told me sternly after I was threatened to go to (gasp) that evil Texas A&M...

There has never been a single bad person 

who graduated from Baylor. Ever. In the 

history of mankind.

But that was in 1998, before we had those basketball players kill each other. And before the baseball player skinned a cat alive. But technically, I don't think either graduated.

So go check out her blog. And for the record, my favorite bachelorette is Spray Tan Lauren.

The New Me!

After only 268 posts, I finally changed my blog design! If you typically read me in a Reader, come on over for a real visit to check out the new digs! I'm still tweaking it a bit, but I do promise... NO MORE DOTS!

Also... I have been working on a doozie of a post for a week now! I've got just a little more polishing to do, but I should be done very soon. Boys... you'll like this one.

Starbucks & Stilettos

If I had known I was going to spend my day running through the hospital, I would have worn my Ugly Friday flats instead of my stiletto tall boots. Luckily, tucked away in those stilettos were some orthopedic shoe inserts!

In the midst of playing hostess to a group of community VIPs who stopped by for SEVEN hours worth of tours and presentations, the mayor called to say that one of the network news stations was coming to do a story with us... in five minutes. Such good news, but terrible timing. So I sent my ducklings off on an impromptu tour and scrambled to find a primo interview spot for my major market reporter. We nailed the interview, then I flitted over to surgery to give a tour. After all, who is more qualified to give a surgery tour than the chick who has seen THREE WHOLE surgeries in her lifetime? Besides, I've watched more than 100 episodes of Grey's Anatomy, which helps me fill in the blanks.

I just enjoyed watching our story on the 6:00 news, and now I sit here on baby watch, as my best friend Tiff waits patiently for her little superstar to arrive.

It's a good thing I had a gallon of Starbucks this morning.

Who's afraid of heights?

Bet you never expected THIS from me...

Well my friends, I finally did it. I crossed over to the dark side.

I auditioned for a reality television show.

Well, sort of.

There wasn’t much of an audition. I just filled out an application and turned it in at an open casting call. That was it. No on-camera interview, no being looked up and down to see if I was good enough. No eyes peering at me expectantly, analyzing my very being. Nope, I just handed some chick my application.

But oh, what an interesting night it was! After handing over my application, they had us “mingle” around and they said they would “watch” us. I want that job. Because the people-watching was FANTASTIC. Best ever. I definitely got my money’s worth.

I should mention that the show was The Bachelorette. So everybody there was single, looking to mingle. The guys were prowling around the room, almost animalistic in the way they carried themselves, with their designer clothes and $200 haircuts. The girls were stuffy and stuck-up, trying to portray their awesomeness in a way that would catch the producer’s attention. Everybody had a sparkle of desperation in their eye. It was like a strange mating ritual, with birds puffing up their feathers, trying to out-puff each other to gain the coveted trophy… a spot on a dating show. Folks are funny when they compete while trying to look like they don’t care. I just tried to stay out of their way.

I didn’t go thinking that I would be chosen. I know that’s crazy talk, and I’m not sure I would want to be put in a position where my father and my pastor had to watch me kiss boys on TV anyway. Plus, I would be the world’s most BORING bachelorette… who wants to watch a nice, wholesome, Christian girl act like a lady on a date? That doesn't make for good TV. But the curiosity was so great, and my sisters were so persuasive, that we just had to go. With the advent of a new year, we decided to be adventurous. I’m glad I did, because it was an experience unlike any other I’ve ever had. We even made a few friends of the male persuasion while we were there. I got to talk with Jeremy, one of the top three bachelors from Deanna’s season (we have a mutual friend, and I actually made a guest appearance on his softball team last summer), and I said hello to one of my favorite radio DJs from Kidd Kraddick (JC). All this, and I was still home by bedtime.

I'm glad I lived my adventure. But I'm glad to be back in Normal Land, where folks are real and more relaxed and don't puff up their feathers and prowl around.

PS--just for kicks, here's an old post with  my advice to Bachelor contestants.

Now what?

I flipped open my trusty MacBook and what to my wondering eyes did appear? About ten blog posts from my trusty blogging friends. So fun! To my friends who have been a bit sluggish in their posting lately (you know who you are... said with slanty eyes and a slight sneer), just know that I love reading my friends' blogs! So go ahead, make a girl happy and write something!

I finished the second Twilight book a few minutes ago. It wasn't nearly as fun as the first one, but I still read all 600 pages in just two days. I hope you think I read at super-human speed, but actually it's just a very quick, easy read. I figure I'll have the other two finished before classes start next week. If I don't, I might not manage to get any homework done.

So I have a full evening ahead of me with NOTHING to do. This is a rare occurrent indeed! I'm not in the mood to watch TV, and goodness knows I don't need to read anymore, so I'm excited to tackle random projects around my house. I like to get my life back in order before classes resume and the chaos that goes along with it. 

I'm a bit excited that life is about to get back to normal. I absolutely love the holidays, but there's something very comforting and refreshing about getting back to a routine. Normal can be very peaceful indeed.

And just in case you're keeping track... I ran five miles yesterday. It was a glorious 72 degrees for my morning run on what should have been a frigid January morning. I was worried that I might have lost my stamina after a few weeks of taking it easy, but it was right there where I left it. And running for fun, instead of doing it to prevent a certain death if I ran 13 miles without training, is much more fun.

Twilight

I'm such a teenage girl... I have finally succumbed to the hype and read Twilight. It was so good that I read the whole thing in two days... all 550 pages of it. Of course, it IS written on an eighth grade reading level, so flying through a hundred pages an hour isn't really something to brag about in this case.

So I read the book. Then I went straight to my local bookstore to buy the other three in the series. And then I dragged my friend Andrea to see the movie with me. It's sad (me, not the movie). Reading these silly books is probably wasting valuable brain cells, but I figure I'll grow those back once I start tackling my media ethics class next week. Then my life will be consumed with long, boring readings written just to make my life miserable and to put me to sleep.

It makes me feel less guilty about reading my Twilight series now. It's like sneaking a few warm cookies and milk into my diet. The meat and potatoes will come soon enough, and a girl has to enjoy some dessert every once in awhile.

Speaking of dessert... I'll take Robert Pattinson with a cherry on top. 

Resolved

It's January 1, which means it's time for my new year's resolutions. Here are my resolutions from last year:

1. Get organized

2. Keep plugging away at school

3. Try not to overcommit my schedule

4. Have a plan for studying my Bible

5. Work out a little more

(and here's a bonus feature... my goals for 2006...)

This year, I'm only doing two:

1. Run

2. Rest

It's really all I want to focus on right now. I'm pretty decent at the other stuff... I admit to having a lot of areas that need improving, but being self-motivated has never been a problem. 

So for 2009, I want to rest... to pace myself, not overcommit my schedule, and take some time for me to just be me, and to enjoy life at a slightly slower pace. This is a big challenge for the girl who LOVES to do everything. I just get too darn excited--I love to do things, go places, be with people, take up new hobbies, conquer new challenges, buy stacks of books, and constantly reinvent myself... and I never seem to leave room to sleep and hang out around my house doing nothing. So I want to do just a little more resting  this year... but not so much that I become a hermit. Or boring. Yes, "become a hermit" is not on my to-do list. I just want to rest.

And I want to run. Maybe another half marathon, maybe not. I just want to run. To not stop what I worked so hard for in 2008, to enjoy the benefits (like eating whatever I want), to enjoy being outside, and to work off the stress that tends to build up in my soul during my crazy week. I want to run, and I want to enjoy it.

Everything else that happens will just be a nice bonus.

I'm off to go rest. See, these resolutions are working already.

Don't do this, 2009!

Now 2009, we had an agreement. This is going to be a fantastic year, filled with fun, adventures, friends... the works.

Having my car broken into a few hours into the new year is NOT part of our agreement. This is not the tone I want to set for my new, fabulous year. 

At least you made it better by gifting me with a stupid robber for me to laugh at. Because really, risking your life and jail time in order to steal a bag full of KNITTING SUPPLIES is a bit sophomoric. Moronic. I'm irked that in that bag was the blanket that I have been knitting for more than a YEAR. But I'm so very thankful that my asinine imbecile of a thief only got that. He (or she?) didn't take anything of real value (except for the HUNDREDS of hours I spent knitting that beautiful blanket!), nobody was hurt, and he didn't break into my house. Maybe he needed that blanket. Maybe my theif is a serial knitter who has to resort to thievery to placate the raging desire burning in his heart to get his next knitting fix.

Yes, I bet that's it.

So 2009, this is strike one. You'd better be on your best behavior from now on, because I'll be watching you like a hawk. I know you can do better, and I still have high expectations for you. Don't let me down.