Saturday, October 6, 2012

What I Woke Up To This Morning....

A winter wonderland...In October  :)
And no I am not on vacation.  Went upstairs to the deck of my house and shot this beauty as the day was dawning.  Ended up with 8 inches of snow total for the day.
Simply beautiful!

I love my life!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Adios...Sayanora...Auf Wiedersehan...Goodbye



Well folks...this is it for a while.  For how long a while I have no idea, but honestly it might be permanent.

Life (YAY!) has taken over and I no longer a) feel compelled to b) have the time for and c) even want to .... blog anymore.

Those in the know, besties and through personally being connected via Facebook know already how wonderful life is for me now here in Nebraska!!!

I am finally all settled into the new house (the past 2 weeks of meeting movers both in Houston and then here in Nebraska have been exhausting) and it was wonderful to just walk out the back door this morning to run BEFORE WORK again and take off running in the 50 deg weather btw...It was 39deg Saturday morning!! 

Yesterday was the first real day of absolutely nothing .... cooking, laying around, and napping...it was indeed glorious!!!

The house is fantastic and obviously I still need a few things having all that extra space now, but all in good time.

Additionally I just never get around to reading blogs anymore either.  I read a few of my besties here and there when I find some spare quiet time maybe during lunch (like right now), but it isn't often and quite frankly I would rather catch up on my celebrity gossip and blogs with whole/real food recipes than reading day to day humdrum, I ran a 100 miles today because I dont have a job and/or supported by my husband and maybe I will have a baby and complain about that making me fat kind of blogs...

So anyway...its been real and its been fun, but it ain't been real fun :O) ...

But now its time to say Goodnight Gracie.  Until we meet again.

Goodnight Gracie.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Quickie...

I cannot begin to tell you how much I hated being in Houston those couple of days while the movers were doing what they do. The weather was exhausting along with the bazillion things I had to do…It was a quick down and back trip with me being so utterly exhausted by the time I left and then got back to Denver, only to have to drive a couple of hours just to get home…and then everything showing up here yesterday just meant another long day and a few more before I am all the way settled in, but I AM MOVED INTO MY NEW HOUSE!!! Only 20% of my stuff is out of boxes, but it will be complete when its complete. :O) The kitchen boxes (why are there SO MANY!??!?) will be tackled next and probably not until tomorrow as I am beyond physically exhausted.

For a week now I have barely eaten and barely slept….

Anyhoohoo…..

Thankfully Sunday when I met the folks after church to do the walk through on the house, it was spotless and my OCD self didn’t need to do any additional cleaning before the truck arrived with my stuff. I was a total slug on Sunday and it was glorious. And thankfully Monday was a holiday so there was that…I did get out for a short run/walk (still so sore from Saturdays run (not with KW afterall) and then CrossFit) that I didn’t know if I was going to be able to run…but it worked out OK; I just took it reallllly easy.

I have to say that the initial moving and new job did impact my training/running somewhat, last week and probably this week are really going to take the biggest hits in that department.

There are…and I never knew when this day might come that I thought this…but there are just things more important and more fun than spending my free time training (and running).

There. I said it.

Life is so wonderful. I am so blessed and completely happy. Its amazing.

I am still in the process of working through some of the mentality I had for so many years…about running…about what part it played in my life…and the folks that impacted my life during it; both positively...and negatively.

I obviously still love running, but I obviously love others things just as much, if not more.

I love my new house. I love love love my new job. I love my new friends. I love my new life.

And yes, I still love running.

But I also enjoy hiking. And exploring. And road trips :O) And of course I still love CrossFit.

So what does all of this mean?

Well right now it just means that I will run when I can, if I can, and for however many miles I want. Or don’t want.

I will still try to stick to my KW schedule, but I won’t be a slave to it.

I know that January will be here before I know it, and I’ll be ready.

Or ready enough anyway :O)

Friday, August 31, 2012

Texas in My Rearview!


Bye bye stuff!  See you later stuff!  Have a nice trip to Nebraska!!!

See you in a couple of days!!!

Monday, August 27, 2012

What Did I Say About No Plans!?

On Saturday morning while I was out doing my long run, my friend D had called and wanted to know if I wanted to drive into Ft. Collins for sushi and then on to Boulder to catch some of the 6th leg of the Pro USA Cycling race...

At first I said no, but once I got home and showered I changed my mind and called to see if she had already headed out...

Nope she was just filling up with gas...

So she swung by and picked me up...I was expecting her in her truck but nope...she had Barbie out for the day!!!





Then we were on our way!  Thank goodness for short hair!!!

Just entering into Wyoming


Dessert after a fab sushi lunch!  We split it :)


Cheese Importers...it was SO cold in there...they provide coats if you need one, but at least I had a long sleeve on and jeans...
I bought some fab cheese, fresh kalamata olives off the olive bar, some garlic olive oil, Bruschette and some orzo.  (We had a cooler in the trunk)

Approaching the Front Range of the Rockies...

Entering into Boulder

Trek Cycling had a patio with free Chipotle, beer and wine...I didnt end up buying anything but Diane got some new high dollar Shisamo (sp?) clip in shoes for her Trek


Jens Voigt made an appearance at the store and here he is signing Dianes Trek jersey she had bought in Singapore on her trip..

The sunset in our rear view on the way home....a long but wonderful day!!!!
 Honorable mentions with no photos...
Antelope, buffalo, deer, Clydesdales (all roaming around)

And then last but not least....3 camels!!!

I was like WTF?  But going 80mph in a convertible and seeing things almost last minute doesn't bode well for getting a photo op!!!

Friday, August 24, 2012

Digits and Miscellany - Week of August 20th

Monday: Run

Tuesday: Nada

Wednesday: Run

Thursday: Run/CrossFit

Friday: Rest Day

 
I will be sooooo glad when I am moved into my new place and back to some sense of normalcy. It’s truly exhausting mentally to be in temporary housing. I cannot eat/cook like I am used to and 5 weeks in, it is definitely taking its toll on me.

 
I’ve mentioned before how extremely busy I am at work and by the end of the day I am just exhausted. Mostly because I have to run from one side of the building to the other all day and then on top of that climb stairs and climb stairs and climb stairs.

It’s somewhat easier now, but I still hate stairs. :O)

Additionally even though I am waking up still so early in the morning I find it difficult to want to run from the doors of where I am staying, and I don’t want to get dressed and drive to where I like to run, therefore it gets pushed off to after work and well…like I said…

 
One more week (ish) and I will be moving into a permanent home and I cannot wait! Then I will be more apt to just walk out my front door each morning and run…or as it gets colder I still might wait until after work…but the bottom line is that I am certain my head and my body will want to do the things I haven’t been wanting to do and basically forcing myself. Thankfully yesterday was a light day at work and I had no motivation issues except I didn’t feel like running, I just felt like CrossFit but whatever.

 
I’m excited for the weekend as its going to be quite the lazy one. I will get my long run in tomorrow and then church on Sunday. That’s really all that I know for sure will be accomplished!

I might start packing up things for the move just to get a head start; only keeping out things I will need. I will be leaving for Houston on Wednesday and I am not bringing a bag or anything since I still have clothes there so it will be an easy commute back to HTown.

Hoping to get the keys to the house before I leave otherwise I will just get them on Sunday. I am only staying in Houston for a couple of days as I will be anxious to get back here and get most of my temp housing contents moved before the moving truck gets here on probably what will be Tuesday after the long weekend. Sure would be nice if they could get here on Monday!! Crossing my fingers.

Looking at the forecast the first week of September looks to be a cold one here! Woohoo! Low 40’s in the mornings and only about mid-70’s during the day. Hope that forecast sticks!! Would be awesome to be in the new house with all the windows open putting things in their place…Can’t wait to be all settled in, and I know the Nugget will be super excited too! Wondering how he is going to react to stairs and a basement. So much extra room for him to expend all that damn energy he has! Plus it will be weird for me having 1600 sq ft of wonderful to just roam around in!!!!

 
But for me I just cannot wait to cook! I am already trying to figure out the first thing I want to cook and I think it’s a big pot of my wonderful spaghetti! Along with a roasting a big ol’ chicken!!!!!!!!!!! Probably do both in the same day!!! Ha!

OK, well I need to get back to work…Just wanted to take a few moments out to just write down a few things….

Monday, August 20, 2012

Because I Said So...That's Why

Without going into too much detail or boring text, I wanted to answer a few questions that I have gotten since leaving Texas.

Additionally it’s going to be short and sweet because frankly blogging bores me now. Which brings us to the 1st question.

1. Why aren’t you blogging much anymore?

a. Mostly because I am super busy. Or tired. Or unmotivated to do so. My job is very demanding and when I do get out of work I generally have something else to do, therefore the amount of time I spend not doing anything has greatly diminished from when I was living in Houston. And if I don’t have anything to do, I treat it as ‘me’ time and I want to just be a lazy bum. Plus I Facebook quite a bit and I guess that has become a way of me connecting to my friends and family. True I have a lot of readers I don’t even know, but again, blogging just seems to have lost its appeal. It fed a hole I guess you could say for quite some time, but now there isn’t a hole anymore.

2. Why on Earth did you move to Nebraska?

a. A job offer and opportunity that I would have been institutionalized if I hadn’t. Seriously the job that I was recruited for not only put me back in IT (information technology), but it’s with a fast growing company (who has already been in business for 50 years) that has staying power first of all, and second of all the growth opportunities here alone are enough to make your head spin. Coupled with the fantastic weather here (actually having seasons?!?!? Humidity around 12-15% the majority of the time etc?) I mean really, come on now…… yes, yes it’s a very very very small town, but its where Corporate is and that is that. Honestly I haven’t felt so at peace and at home in I can’t remember how long. In Houston, I was miserable. Not just because of the weather, but because I just always felt like a fish out of water. A lot of people might say they just can’t understand that, but it’s the truth. I was very unhappy and the only reason I ever went back to Texas way back when was because my Dad got cancer and then I stayed because of Mom. I always knew I would leave again. It was only a matter of time.

3. Did you take the job because they offered you a lot of money?

a. No. While I will admit I pretty much doubled my salary coming here, that wasn’t it at all. The job itself is one that I absolutely love, what I am great at and what I missed doing since I had left STG in late 2008. Plus when I first flew here for the interview at the end of June, I knew the moment I arrived here in this small space of the world that I had found somewhere that I could be completely and totally happy with as being a part of my life.  Plus the relocation monetary package was very very lucrative....

4. What IS your job?

a. As I said I am back in IT, working as a SrBA supporting Merchandising, Inventory and Planning, with a bit of my week being allocated sometimes to Marketing. I have my eye on the next stage already though and with about 6-8 months under my belt here I see no reason why that goal is not attainable in a short period of time.

5. What do you miss about Texas?

a. Um. Nothing. What I do miss is running with KW on Saturday mornings. Only because it’s a supported run with different routes planned out for you and I made some good friends there. Not that I ran with any of them, but good friends nonetheless. But again other than that honestly there is not one single thing that I miss. DEFINITELY not the crappy hot humid ass stupid weather. Good grief I am so glad to be gone from that.

6. But doesn’t Nebraska get really cold in the winter?

a. Yes. Yes it does. But I am told that it’s been 3 years since the temps dropped below 10deg. :O) And last year they didn’t even have that much snow, but did have cold weather. Here is the thing: I would rather be freezing cold than live in heat (10 months of the year) and humidity (12 months of the year). I would much rather have my summer mornings start in the 50’s and 60’s instead of the mid 70’s and 80’s. Even now we are getting 40’s some nights/mornings. Just depends. It still gets hot during the day but when its 12% humidity….I mean really? 90 isnt hot with that low of humidity!!! I am so looking forward to being able to wear Fall clothes, Winter clothes, Spring clothes and Summer clothes instead of just Summer clothes and 2 months of Fall clothes!!!!

7. So running in Nebraska is way better?

a. Yes. I am still adjusting to the hills and try to avoid them at all costs though :O) Its just not possible unfortunately. Unless I want to just run around in circles. I still have some issues with the elevation, but its better. I mostly battle fatigue and shortness of breath but as I said, its much better. It’s only been a month and some folks take longer than others. But because of the most awesome weather…..I looooooooooooooooooooove running here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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That’s all for today….I won’t promise to update more often because with me moving into my new house in 2 weeks its going to be even crazier!!!!!!!!!!! But I am so super excited!!!!!!!!! Got a refrigerator this past weekend at a decent price (under budget) and I have secured a clothes dryer (free) and possibly a clothes washer as well (free). All the utilities are set to be turned on in my name so its just a matter of time! Just over a week from now I will be in Houston to get all my stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!