30 Day Blog Challenge

I'm setting a goal to blog everyday for the month of November. I'm linking up with Katie's Journey and ripping off her 30 day blog challenge topics.

So here's the schedule:

Day 1: Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts
Day 2: Meaning behind your blog name
Day 3: Your first love
Day 4: Your parents
Day 5: Your siblings
Day 6: A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 7: Favorite movies
Day 8: A place you've traveled to
Day 9: A picture of your friends
Day 10: Something you're afraid of
Day 11: Favorite tv shows
Day 12: What you believe
Day 13: Goals
Day 14: A picture you love
Day 15: Bible verse
Day 16: Dream house
Day 17: Something you're looking forward to
Day 18: Something you regret
Day 19: Something you miss
Day 20: Nicknames
Day 21: Picture of yourself
Day 22: Favorite city
Day 23: Favorite vacation
Day 24: Something you've learned
Day 25: Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs
Day 26: Picture of your family
Day 27: Pets
Day 28: Something that stresses you out
Day 29: 3 Wishes
Day 30: A picture

I think this is a good way for some of you to learn some new tidbits about me. If you're reading this, you should join in the fun also!!!

See you tomorrow for Day 1!!!

Mind Games

I havent blogged much about my running or training schedule, so here goes...

I need to run 11 miles tomorrow.

I just have to convince myself that it's not really going to kill me. So much of running (for me) is a mind game, telling myself to put one foot in front of the other. And something that i've been struggling with the past 10 days is consistency. 2 weeks ago I ran 9 miles with no problems. Sure I was tired, but my excitement over actually finishing greatly outweighed the jelly legs. Since then, I can hardly make it to 4 measly miles. I've got 15 days left until the Rock & Roll San Antonio Half Marathon and tomorrow is the pinnacle of my training, because next week I'll taper off.

So here are my goals:

1. Run 11 miles tomorrow.

2, 3, & 4: Finish the half marathon; Beat my PR; Cross the finish line in 2:30.

I hope that I'll be motivated enough after this half marathon to continue running consistently. Maybe I can find another race in January to sign up for and keep me on track. Someday, I'd love to really enjoy running. I toy with the idea of someday running a full marathon, and I think maybe --just maybe-- I'm stubborn enough to go through with it.

Anyone want to buy me a treadmill for my efforts??

Overtime

We hosted another Overtime this past friday night at FBCR. This event is also known as Fifth Quarter- it starts as soon as the football game is over and ends sometime around midnight. Its a place for students to go and have fun and this past week was no exception.

3 words: Sumo Wrestling Tournament.

We also had ping pong tournaments going on. The gal playing on the right table won last night AND won the first tournament, which was held a few weeks ago at a prior Overtime. I think it's safe to say she lives up to her player name: "Rockstar!"

The sumo wrestling was a HUGE hit. (get it? HUGE?? hahaha)

We'll host one more Overtime before the end of the football season. Ultimately, we hope the unchurched students who come to have fun will return and get plugged in. Who says good, clean fun doesnt exist anymore?? We had somewhere around 75ish students stop by to ping pong, eat pizza and bump around in sumo suits. Success!

Fall Retreat 2010

It's taken me long enough to post about this. Life has been hectic and packed with goodies for the last 3 weeks and things have now slowed down. I am excited just to have a lazy day and finally update my blog in a good way (and not the cop-out way... see last post for an example.)

The FBCR Student Ministry Fall Retreat 2010 (for girls only!) was great. I was massively nervous about this weekend, but in the end, everything went really, really well.

Girls in a Circle

We had a total of 24 girls come by throughout the weekend. What a blessing!!!! Because of the busy fall sports, some girls made it Friday night, some came for Saturday night and lots came for both nights. I'm hoping that next year, we can have the retreat in an out of town location. (Yes- I'm already dreaming up next year's retreat!!!)

Holly Matthews came and led music for us and was AWESOME. She was sweet enough to spend the night Friday and stay all day Saturday, getting to know the girls and facilitating relationships.

Dont let this picture fool you, the girls didnt actually sleep.

Hahaha... the van shot... pre-"shenanigans." I want to say thanks to Destiny for being my official weekend photographer. (as I was a little busy with other things)

I'm really excited that the folks we "visited" were so tickled by our outpourings of "love." We even received some forked cupcakes at Tribe on Sunday night. Hilarious!

I hope that some of the gals who participated enjoyed themselves. I also more importantly hope that they spent some serious time learning God's word. We covered topics like loving yourself, loving God and loving other people. We talked about modesty and purity. It was nice to even remind myself how important it is to spend quality time reading the Bible and improving my relationship with Christ.

What a great group of girls!!!!

Blog Neglect.

The last week has flown by at a ridiculously fast pace. Hang in there friends, there are fun stories and pics to come.

Here's a ridiculously fast update:

1. Girls retreat = success.

2. Deidra's house post retreat = Trashed.

(2.5 Deidra & Holly = Love these ladies!!!)

3. Hair = brown.

4. Tomorrow = 9 mile run.

5. Mauve's new BFF = Tinsley Pazera.

Chicago

We spent last weekend visiting the windy city! It was our first trip ever to Chicago and we specifically went to see the sights and catch up with our good friends Philip & Samantha. You may remember them from the Disney World trip & subsequent blog post. Yes, they were kind enough to both put up with our whining for a week in June and then let us stay with them this past weekend!

I had entirely intended to write about this much earlier, but my week has been consumed with work and preparing for the Girl's Retreat this weekend! It starts tonight and I've still got a few things left to accomplish. I'd say i'll write about this weekend on Sunday when I get home, but I'll probably spend the afternoon catching up on the sleep I didnt get over the weekend! (that and I need to run 7 miles on Sunday! Woohoo! That calls for an ice bath!)

Anyway.... a quick pictorial of our Chicago trip:

When we arrived Thursday afternoon (gosh, could I look any more tired here?), we met Philip downtown and ate some real Chicago deep dish pizza at Gino's East. Asking someone from Chicago where the best deep dish pizza is located is kind of like asking someone from South Texas where the best mexican food is. Everyone has a different opinion. My opinion? It was yummy and filling! One piece of pizza was like a gut bomb!

Pretty city. I think that while I am a city girl at heart, I also love owning a house that doesnt cost a ridiculous amount of money. Also, there was a small period of time in H&M where I got a little claustrophobic from the crowd. I'm over that now.

Yay Bean Picture!

Anyone who has read my blog for even just 5 minutes knows that I cannot turn down Sprinkles. So of course, we made a trip and it was divine as usual. I got a strawberry cupcake (my fav!) and a vanilla cupcake. I should've gotten out of my comfort zone and tried a cinnamon sugar or chai latte cupcake but oh well. There's always next time!

Philip & Samantha insisted that we try Molly's cupcakes also. This little shop was right around the corner from their old place in Lincoln Park and is super cute! After we got home, we noticed while flipping channels one night, that they were competing on the Foodnetwork show Cupcake Wars! (Being that I'm no longer a reality show fan however, I did not watch it and therefore dont know if Molly's was victorious.) The cupcakes were pretty tasty and the flavors were a little more eclectic than strawberry, vanilla or chocolate. We got a peanut butter & Hazelnut cupcake and a cookies & cream cupcake.

In the end, there was a clear winner in our cupcake war.... and I'll give you one guess as to who that was.

I cant wait to visit Chicago again... although it'll probably be next April or May. My warm-blooded Southern self just cant handle the cold!

Giveaway Winner & A Work Funny

My husband was roped into a very scientific and fancy method of choosing the giveaway winner. I told him to pick a number between 1 and 27.

So .....

Congratulations Becky!!!

Everyone go visit Becky @ Arms, Farms & Fam and tell her how jealous you are of her new *FREE* goody! She has some yummy looking enchiladas on her blog that I may just have to test out soon. Thanks to everyone who entered & be looking again for another giveaway soon!

Other things a-comin soon... Chicago! With pictures!

And now a work funny: A patient comes in to be induced. I walk in the room to put the monitors on the patient. I like to make small talk with my patients. It usuallly seems to facilitate bonding, but then there are sometimes where I can hardly contain the chuckles...

Me: So how far dilated are you? Did your doctor check you in the office?

Pt: (silence. She looks at me like I am speaking greek.)

Me: (thinking I dont know why this question is so difficult) Has. your. doctor. checked. you. to. see. if. your. cervix. was. dilated?

Pt: *whispering* Like check me with with his hand?

Me: Ummmmmm...yes.