Farewell (For Now At Least)

This blog started out as a place to record my half marathon training and running experiences. When I first decided to run, I looked around on the Internet for any examples of a complete nonrunner succeeding at finishing a half. I found little snippets, but I wanted to know it all---the good, the bad, the ugly. Since I never really found a "start to finish account", I posted it all here--what my training was supposed to look like vs. what it actually did (often quite different!), my horrible first half, my tolerable second, and my enjoyable third.

The "running phase" of my life is on hold for at least the next 9 months because I'm:
I know some people run throughout their pregnancies. Good for them. I will not be in that crowd. I am following a walking program, but it's too boring to post about--which must be why I've neglected this blog so much lately.

While I first began blogging about all things running, along the way, I posted recipes I liked, talked about my family, my vacations, and all my cutie pie nieces and nephews. What I've loved about blogging is the opportunity to write--about nothing and everything. I also love that I have a written record of the last year. I've not been successful at journaling as an adult so this is my "virtual journal" of sorts.

So I've decided to keep blogging, but to start the slate clean. Maybe I'll start running again and pick this thing back up one day. If not, I'll leave it here as proof for some poor old out of shape gal that if I can do it, anyone can do it. Seriously...

If you want to follow me, my new blog is here. Farewell...for now at least!

Belated Birthday Post

Well, this is belated. Hubby turned 32 on Sunday, and I'm just getting around to "publicly" proclaiming the big day. His birthday always falls on Memorial weekend so we usually go out of town for his birthday. I was trying to remember where all we've been for the last 9 birthdays we've been married and came up with a list:

1. 2001-Lake Tahoe (first vacation as a married couple, other than our honeymoon)
2. 2002-Houston (we lived there at the time, and I kinda remember going to a Memorial Day picnic and listening to his grandmother's "band" perform)
   
3. 2003-Boston (we lived in New Jersey at the time so it was a quick hop over)
4. 2004-Amarillo (He lived in OK City while I clerked in Amarillo so he drove in for the weekend to see me.)
   
5. 2005-Amarillo (I lived in Lubbock while I studied for the bar exam so it was "kinda" like a trip coming to see him for the weekend!)
   
6. 2006-Dallas
   
7. 2007-Threw him a party in Amarillo for his 30th
   
8. 2008-Chicago
9. 2009-Oklahoma City (for the Big 12 baseball tournament)

And just because it seems to be a list-kind-of-day, I'll list the 9 things about him that continue to knock my socks off:

1. He's devilishly handsome.
   
2. He has no idea how handsome he is. No ego. No arrogance. I never have seen such in all my life.
   
3. He's laugh out loud funny. When I look back at my journal from the first year I met him, I repeatedly talk about how much I laughed when I was with him. I'm still amazed at how much he can make me laugh (even on days when I'm positive there ain't a thing in the world worth laughing over).
4. That man can organize him a garage, some drawers, and clean a window like you've never seen.
5. His touch. If we're in an argument, the first thing I say is "don't touch me!" Because he definitely knows the quickest way to disarm me is to touch me. I'm a sucker for his touch.
   
6. He's a "glass half full" kind of guy.
7. I don't phase him one bit. Sure, it's a little frustrating at times, but he sees right through me. Throw a tantrum and go completely postal? I'm not proud of it, but I've done it (way more than once, sadly). Unphased. He just waits for it to end, dismisses it, and waits for his rational wife to return. Start using big words and get all"hoity-toity" ? Yep. Done that, too. Unphased. Points out my roots and helps me get over myself. I've definitely met my match.
8. He can pray. As someone who has done a lot of public speaking, I often fall into a trap where my prayer feels like more of a formal presentation than a heartfelt communion with God. But him? Man. It's like this intimate conversation that I almost feel guilty listening to--like I'm intruding on a private moment. He won't pray publicly, but he'll pray with me, and it always knocks my socks off.
9. His devotion. Talk about digging your teeth in and never letting go! His staying power is unbelievable. He has maintained relationships and taken high roads I never knew existed! And as for his devotion to me and our marriage, it still baffles me. At a time when I was struggling to love and forgive myself and really struggling to accept God's blessings (especially and primarily, the blessing of Jonathan), I worked as hard as I could to push that man on to greener pastures. He would not budge, and he wouldn't let me either. I continue to be amazed at the shower of blessings that have rained down since I accepted that first one (him!).

So...happy belated birthday, hubs!

I'm Back! What I Thought of Twilight~

Okay, seriously, enough is enough. I have officially closed the last Twilight book.

I can't believe I enjoyed them as much as I did! I usually like "snobbier" literature, though I certainly make time for "lighter fare" like the Shopaholic Series when I just need a funny, mindless read. But in general, I like "heavier" reading, particularly books that incorporate other cultures. And I despise all things science fiction. So reading Twilight wasn't on my radar at all. Except that several girlfriends kept bringing up their obsession with it--girlfriends whose opinions I generally trust. I wanted a mindless read for my trip to Kauai, so I decided to give them a shot.

And so the obsession began...it really is hard to describe. Teeny bopper vampires? I really can't explain it. Her descriptions really put you right there. I found myself reading descriptions of a variety of Bella's emotions as she talked about high school and how she didn't feel like she quite fit in thinking..."I have felt like that and didn't know how to put it into words, and that captures it perfectly!" I love that. It's definitely a word lover's book.

So now the books are closed, and I'm back to blogging!

What Is Going On?

I cannot believe it's been almost a month since I've blogged! I have four reasons for not blogging:

1. Twilight
2. New Moon
3. Eclipse
4. Breaking Dawn

I've only got about 1/5 of Breaking Dawn to go so I should be back to "normal life" after this weekend!

One Year Anniversary

It was exactly one year ago today that we started the program to learn how to run 30 minutes. Since then, we have:

Ran 5 5K's
Ran 1 10k
Ran 1 12k
Ran 3 half marathons

Guess how long since I last ran though? March 11! Wow. That's a long time. I'd be lying if I said I haven't enjoyed the break. But strangely enough...I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it. I really have. Weird.

I'm getting back in the saddle again. Monday I start a training program for an 8k that's being held June 27. Then I'm going to run in another half marathon held locally on September 12th.

I also broke down and bought the 30 Day Shred based on a friend's recommendation. We'll see how it goes...

Happy Birthday, Brody Parker!

Little buddy, you have no chance with a mama and 2 older sisters that adore you like they do (not to mention your Aunt Min!). You have the cutest disposition, will say anything, and you take to me like we've spent more time together than we really have which just thrills me to no end! It was the sweetest thing in the world when I came to stay the night and you cried because you couldn't ride in my car (your sissies beat you to it)!

Love you to the moon and back!

Kauai Day 7: Last Day Here

Well, the sun has finally set on our time in Kauai!

What a trip! Thank you, thank you, sweet sister of mine for providing us with such a lovely place to stay!

We had to be out of the room by 10am so we got up, had breakfast, and packed up. The resort held our bags for us and had a hospitality suite where we could sign up for an hour window to shower and such before catching our flight at 10:45pm tonight. What a bonus! This allowed us to spend the day at the beach and not worry about getting on the plane so grimy.

We went to church in Lihue after we left the resort. It was a tiny, friendly little church that we really enjoyed. Then we stopped for a burger and milkshake at Doug's Ono Burger. Finally---some meat! We have sustained ourselves on mostly fish since we got here, and my word, that burger tasted good!

On our way to eat after church, we saw whales! Hallelujah! My streak is broken! We saw one jump from the road and pulled over at a lookout to watch. There was a mama (or daddy?) whale and a baby whale. The larger whale really put on a show, jumping and splashing and spouting for us (just for us; I'm sure of it). It was incredible! I didn't want to take my eyes off of it to grab the binoculars or camera so my memory will have to do. What a memory.

We enjoyed the beach north of Kapa'a after lunch. It was fun to people watch; lots of kids were surfing. I've certainly seen some interesting non-bathing suits and tattoos (not to mention tattoo placement!) since I've been here.

We ran back to the resort and got cleaned up after the beach then went and watched the sunset (again!) at Hanalei Bay. I think the sunsets have to be my favorite thing here!

We had a farewell dinner at Kauai Pasta in Kapa'a before heading to the airport, and it was delicious.

The perfect ending to a fantastic vacation...

Kauai Day 6: Finally...Some Down Time!

Ahhh....finally...a day we can relax...

We woke up to a sunny morning so we decided we would stop at the lighthouse, walk along a neat "boardwalk" we saw, and walk into Kapa'a and have breakfast. We got coffee and breakfast at Java Kai then sat at a picnic table by the water and enjoyed the view...
Then we went to Hideaway Beach, a secluded beach near our resort and hung out for several hours. We haven't enjoyed the pools at the resort very much so after the beach, we hung out at our pool and enjoyed the views.
We intended on going to a nice dinner, but guess what? We just picked up sushi rolls instead. We enjoyed our last evening at the resort before heading home tomorrow.

Kauai Day 5: Kalalau Trail and Ke'e Beach

We were tuckered out yesterday so we planned to take it easy today. It was supposed to overcast and rainy on the north shore, but we thought we'd just hang around the resort and rest. However, when we woke up, it was sunny! We decided we couldn't waste the good weather so we decided to hike the Kalalau Trail along the Napali Coast. There's a 2 mile hike to a beach, then if you go another 2 miles you reach a waterfall. It was billed as "moderately strenuous".

We were literally walking along the ridge of the Napali Coast. Incredible. We started at 9:30am, and the guide book said it would take 6-8 hours. It took us 1.5 hours to get to the beach and another 1.5 hours to get to the waterfall. The views of the coast were nothing short of spectacular. We were in the woods from the beach to the waterfall which was disappointing, but when we got to the waterfall, it was...so majestic. No other word for it. We were literally sitting at the base of a waterfall. We planned to swim in the pool at the base, but the water was freezing! We decided we liked the idea of swimming in the waterfall better than the reality so we skipped the swim.I really wasn't sure how I was going to hike out of there. I was "moderately put out" at the difficulty of the hike. Over half of the hike was literally climbing over or down rocks that were slippery. It was difficult. I was low on morale and high on attitude on the hike back. We fell in behind some other couples, and found that we had gotten off the trail about 30 minutes into the hike back. You can imagine what this did for morale---now we have to hike longer???

Some of the men decided they would wander off and find the trail (so cave man!). One of the men got separated from his wife, and before we knew it, all of us had reunited (3 couples total), but the husband. Naturally frantic, I totally sympathized with Kara, the wife. We had visited a bit on the way back, and I really liked her. She said exasperated, "he always wanders off!", which I totally identified with, and I said a silent prayer that John would be found soon. We were all yelling his name, and one of the other husbands packed a whistle he began blowing. Eventually (probably 15 minutes later, but it felt like 50 minutes!), we found John. After such an adrenaline rush and really wet feet from having crossed back and forth on the stream looking for John, I gave up on "careful feet placement and water/mud avoidance" and just trudged through it. This made the way back much easier.

Finally...finally...finally...we reached the end of the trail! The trail starts (and thus ends) at Ke'e Beach, one of the more well known beaches on the island. We stumbled out of the trail, washed the red mud off us, and switched into our suits. We relaxed at the beach until sunset, watched a glorious sunset, grabbed takeout, and called it a night. We were worn out from the hike!

Kauai Day 4: Wings Over Kauai & North Shore

Oh my stars. If you ever come to Kauai, do the Wings Over Kauai flight. I'm too chicken (and frankly too cheap) to go on a helicopter tour. So based on some awesome reviews on Fodor's and Trip Advisor we did a WOK flight. I'm not much for planes or heights so I was skeptical to say the least. I'm happy to report that it was incredible. Bruce and his wife Ellen run the business. They're from Virginia and met in grad school. Bruce worked for Stoneville in Greenville, MS on genetically engineered cotton for boll weevil eradication (PhD in Agronomy) and got transferred to Kauai to work on genetically engineered corn. He did that for several years before starting WOK. Since I grew up on a cotton farm, worked for John Deere in my pre-law life, and my bro-in-law worked for Stoneville, Bruce and I really hit it off! (Lori---you have to tell Denver.) Nicest couple. Loved them!

The flight was top notch. We were worried about the weather because guess what? Still overcast and rainy here on the north shore. The flight was great though. I just have to share some of the views.

Unbelievable! Bruce shared some "tricks" on not getting sick, and I did pretty well on the flight. I cannot recommend it enough. And guess what? Bruce let me "help him" with the checklist. I told him that "I have a thing for checklists." He has no idea...

After the flight, we grabbed lunch in Lihue at Tip Top Cafe--another dive I found in my guidebook. And dive it was--I totally forgot to take a picture of it. It was in the bottom of a seedy looking hotel on a side street. They serve breakfast all day, and we ordered what was recommended in the book---banana and macadamia nut pancakes and pineapple pancakes. Uhh---as good as it sounds!

We then decided to stop at some beaches along the north shore after checking out the Kileau Lighthouse. I hoped to spot some humpback whales here. No luck. I haven't seen any marine animals yet, but I'm hopeful. I must have a scent about me. I'm always hoping to spot famous people and unique animals when we travel, and both seem to evade me. I'm hoping to break my streak here.

After a pit stop to the resort, we headed out to find a fish market to buy items for dinner, drove to the edge of the north shore, and did a quick hike to Queen's Bath, a neat water hole in some lava rocks near the ocean where some people are brave enough to swim.

Then...we crashed. Go, go, go....CRASH. That's how we travel. I have no idea why I vacation this way. Come to think of it, I pretty much live my life this way. I don't know why we can't just take it easy and spread things out, but we don't. We cram as much as possible into the days then eventually just wear out. Oh, well. At least we see a lot.

We had a relaxing evening cooking out. We picked up a sushi roll at the fish market for an appetizer, bought some ono (a local fish) to grill, had Hawaiian sweet corn, stir fried green beans drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and eggplant prepared the same way. Doesn't that sound delicious?

It wasn't.

Not by a long shot.

The ono and corn were fantastic. The beans and eggplant--not so much. Neither of us had ever eaten eggplant before. Jonathan said it best when I asked him how it was (I wasn't going to taste it first!), and he stared thoughtfully at me and replied, "It tastes like a weed."

We planned on cooking in another night this week. We think we'll stick to picking up sushi rolls and eating them in instead of experimenting again...

Kauai Day 3: Wimea Canyon

It was raining again on the north shore so we went to Wimea Canyon on the west side today. Wow. We stopped for lunch, then had a shave ice at Jo Jo's, which is supposedly the best shave ice on the island. It was yum.

Then went to the Canyon and stopped at several lookouts before going on the Canyon Hike. It was a 3 mile round trip.

Not too long, but it was basically 1.5 miles going down and 1.5 miles going up (yep-it felt like descending stairs for 1.5 miles going in, then climbing them coming out). Let's just say my my quads felt the burn. Literally, there were stairs:
We saw a small waterfall first:
The highlight though was Waipoo Falls, an 800 foot waterfall. Here's a pic of the waterfall from a lookout--notice the red cliff shelf to the left of the waterfall in the right hand corner.
That's where we hiked! Here's a pic of us standing on the shelf:

Then of Jonathan sitting on the edge of the waterfall (heights freak me out so I didn't join him):

After we hiked out, we went to the farthest 2 lookouts in the Canyon and saw our first views of the Napali Coast:
Gorgeous. We hope to hike there later this week, however, it is supposed to rain all week on the north shore, and the trail is closed when it's slippery (since you're literally walking along the edge of the ridge) so we'll see how it works out.

We drove to the farthest west point you could drive on the west side and sat along the beach to watch the sunset over Ni'ihau, a private island.
We topped off the night with pizza at Brick Oven, "the best pizza on the island". It was. (Hmmm...who spends too much time in her guide book??)

Great day. G-R-E-A-T day.