Texantiff

Man, that was a crazy long week that just finished! I love looking back and ticking off the good fun stuff I did.
Sunday: H4 Red Dress Run.
Hilarious time with all the best running friends I could ever ask for. Walked through Midtown and ran through Montrose in our get-ups. I even won best dressed female!

Red Dress Run

Monday:  Well, not much to say about Monday except that I battled a hangover from Sunday, and worked at the bar for Valentine’s Day.  Lots of red & pink balloons, wine sales, and fake sappy people.

Tuesday:  Hot Yoga – ahhh my favorite. Hung out with my awesome niece Roma on her 6th birthday & gave her a sweet magnetic “paper” doll set that came in a metal box – perfect for car trips to Grandma’s house & vintage trailer rally camping trips! Then off to work for a surprisingly good show.

Wednesday:  okay, this day actually wasn’t so great.  My allergies were so overwhelming that I really thought I was getting a head cold.  I volunteered at the HANC and my absolute favorite activity, pond dipping, was fogged by my half open eyes.  Ended up calling in sick to work.

Thursday:  awesome day! Spent the early afternoon crafting with my super cool cuz Alex.  She was making these sweet pennants out of fun fabrics – I really wish I had gotten a picture of the one she was sewing.  I am working on this cute Heather Bailey Market tote with some fabrics I got a great price on at SewCrafty.  In the evening I went on a run with the hubs – we love this iPhone app called RunKeeper.  We both just got new shoes so, for the time being, we’re motivated.  That night was Broken Social Scene concert!  Love this crazy loud over-populated band.  woo hoo!

Friday:  More volunteering, February Full Moon Hash!

Saturday:  More HANC volunteering, lunch on the patio at our very favorite beer  bar, gardened, & an awesome night at work!

Sunday:  Helped the BFF pick out fabric for her future daughter’s bedding, discovered a fabric warehouse in town with the BEST prices!  Very excited about this.  Although their selection of trims and do-dads left a lot to be desired.  Then  . .  Sunday is a hashing day!!!  A run that was advertised as 4miles turned out to be closer to 7, and I lost my shoe in a muddy water crossing around mile 3.  That left almost 4 miles to run in just my shiggy socks.  So many bruises on my arches!  The hares got lots of down-down accusations, and the hashers enjoyed making fun of their inability to do math.

I've been wanting to try barefooting, but not through shiggy!

Wow. Is it really already Monday again?

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What a cold and rainy day it is here in Houston!  Again!  My awesome inlaws up in the Great White North gave us some delicious Tim Horton’s hot chocolate over Christmas.  Came in handy today as I got home from leading 5th graders around the Arboretum in damp 32* weather.

marshmallows required

Just last week at this same time we got one of the worst freezes and ice storms that we’ve had in recent years.  It was cold, slippery freeways, and the whole city went into a tailspin.  Luckily I got to stay warm at home mostly and cuddle with the dog on the couch.  I did go outside last Friday morning to snap these few pics on the trusty iPhone though!

haven't seen icicles in Houston in loooooooong time

neat to see the leaves totally encased in ice

My fault for not covering it up the night before! grrrr

I really hope it warms up soon.  My toes are cold.

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I really did mean to get a post up on this here old blog before January was over. I was all gung-ho with New Years’ resolution energy. Now here it is Feb. 9 and I’m just getting around to it. Eh, that’s the way things go. But, I didn’t want to let too much time pass and not mention the incredible feats of strength I witnessed last Sunday. I had a really great time being a volunteer at mile 24, the Hash Mile aka Beer Mile, for the Houston Chevron Marathon.

About a year and a half ago, I started running with a local group called the Houston Hash House Harriers. You may have heard of them, there’s usually a group in every major city. They claim to be a drinking club with a running problem. It’s funny, and probably true for a lot of folks, but I’m proud to say that in the H4, there are some elite athletes. We had lots of runners in both the half and full marathons on Sunday.

Essentially, at the Hash sponsored mile, we set up tables and hand out small cups of beer to runners as the pass us by.  It’s really amusing to watch some runners grateful and excited that they get a beer, others just think we’re silly and a nice distraction from their pain, and some don’t listen to the yelling that we have BEER and think its water.  That’s the best, watching the faces get all pinched and the looks of disgust when they realize it’s beer not water.

Super cool fort made by the hasher A** Grabber

It was a fun and exciting thing to be a part of, and if I’m not running in the marathon or the half next year, I’ll definitely want to volunteer again.  This year’s theme was Cowboys and Indians – I can’t wait to see what kind of cool stuff we do for next years’ theme, Pirates – Arrrrrrrr!

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Hot yoga is one of the best things that I do for myself. It allows me to get rid of all the sludge that is normally occupying my mind. When the room is that hot, and the poses are really pushing me to my limits, it’s nearly impossible to think about anything other than my body and my heart.  Money, love, health, work, school, all of it disappears for a while.  When I come out of class I feel cleansed, refreshed (even though I feel completely limp & weak), and happy.  At the end of the class today, as the instructor lead us through the short meditation part, he said to us, ‘happiness is yours to take.  be happy this week and no one can take it away from you.  you create your own happiness’.

Here’s what wikipedia has to say about happiness:

“Happiness is a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy.”

I kind of like how they say happiness can be lots of things!  It could be any of those descriptors alone, or any combination thereof I’m sure.  I think, in the effort to create my own happiness, I will try to really be happy because of any of those things.  First I think I’ll focus on contentment, not too hard not too easy.  Then we’ll see how that goes and move to another. Might be fun.

Anyhow, hooray for hot yoga and the blessing of more time to go this semester see I’me already working on trying to be content with that little situation!

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