workin for the weekend

i don't want to be at work. i want to be home, in my bed, just like i was all weekend. it was awesome. i really think it'd be better if i just stayed at home all day, every day. i could get so much more done. i could make some really cute things (like the 2 really cute aprons i made this weekend). i could do some cooking and baking. i could get some great runs in. i could sleep. i could read and read and read. i could snuggle with the puppies. it'd be awesome.

but no, i'm at work now. and i'm not having any fun. i even have music and am about to start "catching fire," the second book in "the hunger games" series. and i'm still not having fun. i wish it was still the weekend. luckily i only have to wait 4 more days instead of 5 this week.

i am proud of myself for at least doing something this weekend rather than laying around doing nothing like i normally do. i kicked off the holiday weekend with a trip to gainesville for their summer sounds series. the square shuts down for the night for a concert with beer and food. weird for gainesville, which was dry until just a few years ago. anyway, the show was great and i got to collect my "holler time" shirt that was my reward for some hats i made the boys over the winter. i love my shirt. it's the perfect weight and softness. love it.

saturday began with a 5 mile run in which i nearly died. i kept looking around to see who would help me if i passed out. when i seriously thought about quitting, i was already to 4.1 and at that point there was no justification in quitting. so i pushed through. it's just so hot and humid around here. it's gonna be a really long 4 months before the misery ends.

i got home and cleaned up and headed back to gainesville with kaitlin and tony (from the great zoo run). we enjoyed some fried pies and ran by paige's shop. then hit the casino for some more fun times. unfortunately i wasn't a big winner like i was on mother's day and lost my 7 bucks. fortunately i wasn't as big of a loser as tony, who lost about 50.

sunday was another busy day. we went to a different church to see alex's cousin for senior sunday. then i stuck around with the in-laws for the banquet thing afterward. i was surprised that i enjoyed hearing about people's kids that i've never met. after a quick trip to barnes and noble (they bought me "water for elephants." i've heard nothing but great things) and the yogurt place, i came home and whipped up a really precious apron. i'm pretty thrilled with it. then we went for a walk with the puppies and that was delightful. and then still managed to watch "flight of the navigator." alex has been wanting me to watch it for years. if pee wee herman wasn't in it, it'd be one of the most worthless movies ever. thank god for pee wee herman.

monday i made some delicious pancakes. blueberry coconut pancakes with bananas instead of eggs. a little tangy, but good. i knocked out another apron that's also really precious. that makes 3 in a row that haven't been a complete disaster. i took a nap for an hour or so and woke up for a run at johnson branch. i haven't been there since before the half. it went pretty well considering how lame my runs have been lately. i stopped after 5- partly from the heat and exhaustion, and partly from the wildlife coming out. i did get to run really close to a deer, which was pretty cool. then a rabbit charged me and nearly gave me a heart attack. it came about a foot from my foot. terrifying. sadly i had to wait another 45 minutes before the guys were done mountain biking. at least i got some good alone time.

so overall, pretty good weekend. busy, but at least productive. and now i'm just waiting for next weekend to do nothing again. at least i have some good books to look foward to in the meantime.

winning

yesterday was a day of victory and defeat.

work went by pretty quickly thanks to a book delivery from our friend buck (of trivia fame). he'd been yelling at me to read "the hunger games," so he brought it by to encourage me a little more. i'm having a tough time deciding how much to read it. i've heard by the time i get to the middle of the book, i'll run right through it. while this is fantastic, i'm terrified that i'll get hit with things to do and not be able to give it the attention it needs (or at least that i want).

i got home and put on my running gear. this was exciting in itself, seeing how it was almost 90 degrees outside and my stomach kind of hurt. i waited around till alex got home so i could see him before he took my car for a bit. turned out he decided to wait to go till today. i figured i might as well take off and get the run in so i could make some dinner. it was tough. the run itself felt okay, my body wasn't sore or too tight and my breathing was fine. it was just hot. but with a really strong headwind for most of the run.

when i finished i felt like i'd just been hit with a ton of bricks. everything just started hurting the second my run turned into a walk. i got home and hit the floor. then a weird headache came over me and my stomach hurt turned into sharp pains. i was pretty sure it was just not being used to the heat, and probably drinking a little less than i normally do. whatever the case, i decided it was time to take it easy.

after i got out of the shower, alex volunteered to make baked spaghetti (his now specialty since i can coach him through it from the couch) so i could rest. in the mean time i got to do some embroidery on a pocket for the apron i did the other day. by the time dinner was ready i was feeling normal again.

we were excited to watch "the biggest loser" finale, fast forwarding through most of it. but then we remembered that there were tornadoes the night it came on. which meant weather for the last hour of the show. which meant we missed the entire end of it and still don't know the winners. i do know that irene was voted the third finalist, so i guess my ten votes paid off.

after a couple episodes of "united states of tara," i finished up the apron while alex watched the mavs game. i can't watch good games. i need to be in another room. i get too anxious and nervous and i can't sit still. once again we were losing when we turned it on. and once again we came from behind for the win. i felt really bad for the thunder. granted, we should have destroyed them. but it's so heartbreaking to more or less lose twice each game when the other team comes back from a 10-15 point deficit. whatever the case, the mavs are in the finals, so everyone's really excited around here.

despite the fact that my run wasn't the best, i was excited that i managed to get in a run, eat a good meal (no, i didn't fix it myself, but it's my recipe and i gave instructions), get some sewing in, and watch some great shows. overall my day was a win.

rambling

i think my sewing skills are improving. monday afternoon i came home and cut out some fabric, thinking i'd just get it started and slowly work it out. after a quick trip to gainesville and a surprise dinner with alex's parents, i came home and got started on an apron while alex watched tv. i'm happy to say i only had to rip about an inch of stitching out this time (vs. about 4 or 5 feet last weekend). it came together quickly, which was even more incredible since i sort of made it up and put different pieces together. i felt like a champ. now i just have to put a few decorative details on it and i'll be good to go.

last night was trivia. we were awesome as usual. more tornadoes came through, somehow missing denton. the sirens were going off in town, but we were stuck at the bar. several tornadoes touched down around the area before moving north and east. i'm grateful for getting skipped but sad for the destruction others faced.

i just finished kristin armstrong's book "mile markers," based on her blog. a lot of the chapters were repeats of the blog entries, but a nice reminder of how running and life come together and help each improve. now to begin "the hunger games." i'm not even started and i'm already excited about the cast of the movie.

today i'm hoping to get back on track with my nutrition and running and embroidery. we'll see how that actually happens. until then, reading time at work.

avocado-tequila whole grain spaghetti

over the weekend i made some delicious pasta. i wanted to use some of the very few things that my garden has produced so far. i also wanted to try something out without alex so he wouldn't complain. so i made this pasta dish, a very slightly modified version of the recipe on foodgeeks.com. it's got a ton of my go-to ingredients and is delicious without being heavy. it's also ready in about 10 or 15 minutes. it's great warm, lukewarm, or chilled.

avocado-tequila whole grain spaghetti

serves 4-6

1 lb. whole grain spaghetti

1 tbs. olive oil

1/2 an onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced (you can use less, but i like a little extra kick)

4 tbs. tequila

4 tomatoes, seeded and chopped

2 tbs. dry basil

1/2 c. cilantro, minced

1 avocado, peeled and chopped

salt and pepper to taste

cook the spaghetti and set aside.

heat the olive oil in a pan and saute the onion and bell pepper about 5 minutes. add garlic, jalapeno, tequila, tomatoes, basil and cilantro; cook about 5 minutes, until tomatoes are softened. stir in avocado and pasta. season with salt and pepper.

atx

i had a fantastic weekend, though it began with a few hiccups.

i arrived home with the best domestic intentions for my weekend without alex. i made some delicious dinner out of my garden. that's right. i used stuff from my garden. yes, it was barely anything, but i've never cooked with something i grew myself. it was awesome. recipe to come.

then i headed to the fabric shop to pick up some embroidery thread and some yarn i've been needing to start a couple hats that probably should have been done months ago (though they aren't needed until october, so i'm okay). i decided that since i was out i might as well get some ice cream. i was being domestic and deserved a treat. there's just something about banana shakes from sonic that just get to me.

i came home and began my apron. i was excited. i was motivated. i was less excited and way less motivated when my back started hurting from cutting out the fabric. and even less excited and motivated when i kept having to rip out seams when i screwed up. and i was just plain angry when i burned my finger on the light bulb on my machine. so i quit. until mom could fix everything the next day.

i woke up saturday ready for a new day. i thought a run would be a great way to get started before the rain hit and it got miserable. i took the puppies since they were going to be stuck at home most of the weekend anyway. it was miserable. part of the problem was uzi running on the wrong side and getting tangled in gandalf's leash. part of the problem was gandalf stopping every 10 feet to smell or pee or do whatever he does. part of the problem was the 87% humidity outside. not an exaggeration. 87%. i cut the run short because it looked like uzi was limping. she was faking, turns out. but i got home feeling like i just got out of a shower. took a real shower and headed to mom's house.

mom helped me get the apron together. i spent a few more hours working on the embroidery for it and finally finished, vowing to never sew again. then i got over that. and then i came home and made banana cinnamon cookies. i made them with whole wheat flour, so they were a little weird, but delicious with coffee.

i left town the next morning with mom and paige to head to austin for the renegade craft fair. it was a really fun time.

after a frustrating start to the morning (turns out denton starbucks aren't open at 6:30 on sunday morning), we arrived in austin ready for some guero's. delicious as always. and as usual, i ate way too many chips. we walked around south congress for awhile, then made our way to the craft fair.

it was delightful. it's hard to beat a place with a free photobooth (with props) and filled with creative people. it makes you want to do fun stuff. and spend a whole lot of money. unfortunately i had no money and was given a spending limit. i still made the most of it. i got 2 new t-shirts- one from the same people that made my "nobody puts baby in a corner shirt," and a wayne's world inspired foxy lady shirt. it's awesome. i'm hoping that it's as awesome on as it is on the hanger. yellow light-weight t's aren't always great at hiding frumpiness. i also bought about 5000 (or 5) new prints for my walls. and i got some really cool bill murray stickers, some embroidery kits and an iron on ball of yarn. i could have spent another 500 bucks without batting an eye. someday i'll be rich and it'll be awesome.

i ran into my friend joy (of sad accordion fame), who i was secretly hoping to see, given the setting. she's preggers and is gonna be even cuter when she gets a bump. i'm absolutely in love with she and her husband, nathaniel (also of sad accordion fame). they're gonna be the funnest, cutest parents ever. and their kids will be way cooler than i could ever hope to be.

we hit up curra's (more and more chips) on the way out of town, then braved storms to get back home. sadly, the storms were much worse for a lot of the country. poor joplin, missouri really got hit hard and a lot of the town was destroyed. so sad.

the rain is continuing today and looks like for a lot of the week. i'm going to try to get in some exercise one way or another and get it together. i'm looking at swimsuits today in hopes that that'll keep me honest. and thankfully, i only gained a pound in austin (a miracle in itself). so here we go, a new week begins today. why am i still looking at cookie recipes?

tacos for all

last night i met up with an old coworker (and now friend) to catch up on what's been going on over the last few months in each other's lives and the life of the company (read: gossip). we both are disgusted with our we look and feel but still make sure we meet over chips and salsa and eat till we're even more disgusted.

so last night we decided to go to a new place where we couldn't eat quite as many chips. normally we go to gloria's and enjoy basket upon basket of delicious chips with their sent-from-heaven black bean dip. i can really inhale come black bean dip. last night we tried out yucatan's taco stand. it was delicious. we shared ONE basket of chips and salsa/guac/queso, a feat in itself. and we each had some tacos- tempura fish for her, veggie for me. delicious. absolutely delicious. the meal wasn't really overpriced, but a little more than i'd expect to pay for the food. however, i think if the food was even a dollar less, i'd order way more. so i'm somehow happy to pay more to eat less. i know.

anyway, it was a great night to catch up. we shared the gossip and filled each other in on the latest news personally. mostly i just talked about how bad of an influence my friends are (at least one in particular) and how much i've been eating and not running. the usual in my life.

we finished up dinner and enjoyed some frozen yogurt while we continued to yap to each other. plus it gave us a chance to watch part of the mav's playoff game (sad day, dallas). i'm happy to say i've seen like 4-5 games this year, probably a record for me. i've been quite the sports fan this year. 4-5 basketball games on tv and one rangers game live. it's amazing.

i have the place to myself this weekend while alex camps with some of his friends from high school. hopefully this means a weekend of being good and actually doing something. we'll see. then i get to spend all day sunday with mom and paige in austin. it'll be fun. and more food. but at least it'll be austin food and i'll walk around all day. i just want to end the weekend where i began it, or maybe a pound or two less. we'll see.

ketchup

it's been awhile since i posted anything, partly because i felt like there wasn't anything going on. in reality, there has been a lot going on, but nothing overwhelmingly exciting. or at least when there was, i didn't have time to write about it. quick recap of the last few weeks:

with easter arriving (and lent ending), i've eaten nothing but junk and have gained about 5 or 6 pounds. i've barely run and have become a lazy blob. i've become a little more social, meeting up with people i rarely get to see, so i tend to eat everywhere i go. somehow birthday parties, friends from out of state, mother's day, and tuesdays have become the death of me. plus i kept filling in weird hours at both jobs, and therefore grabbed food at random times. more of this nonsense will continue for another week or so, so i'm hoping to get it together soon. i have to. i can't begin my summer 10 full pounds heavier than last summer. it's just not okay. i know it's completely possible, but i need to get it into gear. so with the exception of dinner out tonight, fried pies on saturday, and a quick trip to austin on sunday, i think i can get things. maybe i can work in a good run friday and saturday despite a rainy weekend.

went to "prom redemption" at my sister's store. there were about a dozen of us that showed up on saturday night to relive (and hopefully redeem) our high school proms. we pulled into town and found out that the high school was actually having their prom that night as well. sadly, our fake prom was decorated much much better than theirs. no one can live up to a davidson decorated prom. it just doesn't happen. we ruled that school. as we turned the corner to my sister's place, i saw my parents seated in lawn chairs, margaritas in hand, across the street. they provided the crowd for everyone's entrances, complete with photos and clapping (dad made sure to clap anytime anyone entered or exited the building... or stood near the windows). we had a really good time. the music was incredible, which was the main reason i hated my proms so much. i know a lot of what i like isn't danceable, but they really could have played some better stuff. there's enough good hip hop out there to make a great dance, they just chose to not play any of it. so we danced and danced and danced. we crowned a king and queen. we had fun. a few of my favorite people from high school were going to show up, but didn't, which threw me for a little loop. as i got more and more tired, i got more and more annoyed that they didn't show, and felt fatter and fatter (just telling the truth) so then i just shut down. i'm super stubborn and when i finally quit, i'm done. so basically prom redemption ended the same way my real prom did. luckily i had a really good time throughout the night and considered it a success (i'm doing a really good job pretended that the end didn't happen).

in other news, alex and i went to see wilco a couple weeks ago. i've been in love with jeff tweedy since 2002 when i moved to austin and watched "i am trying to break your heart" with tommy at the dobie theater (r.i.p.). i've been obsessed ever since. the great thing about this show was that it was in denton. i didn't even have to drive all over dfw trying to find some venue. so we left for the show, got there in less than 10 minutes, and were ready to go. i got a beautiful new poster for somewhere in my house and a basic, but cute, t-shirt. we watched it at a small auditorium on campus, which provided a cozy atmosphere for my loves. we sat closer to the back, but i'm not going to start to complain about it. the only downfall to the night is that now that they have about 500 albums, it's hard to fit all of my favorites into one show like they used to. i heard my loves and got to hold alex's hand during "i'm the man that loves you," which we used as our wedding recessional. overall, great night, complete with tweedy stand up. my sister, her boyfriend, and a few friends were scattered across the room, so it was fun to see a few faces throughout the night as well.

the only other exciting thing in my life? my garden. yes, my tomatoes are dying a slow death, and my peppers look really pitiful. but i planted more tomatoes (please work, please work, please work). and my little jalapenos were picked last night, waiting to be consumed in the next few days. AND i have a new baby squash. this was the last thing i expected, since my squash plant is about 8 inches tall, while my zucchini is about 2 feet tall. but that little squash is really trying. so far he's about 2 inches long, but he's trying, and that's all that matters. if i can just get my tomatoes to take, i'll feel like a success.

so that's about it. more or less, i just feel fat and need to get everything together. i have a lot of projects i want to do, but just haven't. and there are a lot of miles i need to run, but just haven't. maybe i'll find the motivation to get going. until then, tacos tonight. i still can't wait.