Christmas Cards! :-)

Thanksgiving is in a few weeks and I find myself smiling. Tis the season. Putting together Christmas cards this year (first). E-mail me your address so I can send you one. Love all you girls. I hope you are doing well.

PS-I am adding new rule that we have to post a new pic of our lives every time we add a post. I want to see your smiling faces wherever they are.

Yay for me!!!

Today, I was totally excited because I ran 9.3 miles. Sure it was a bit slow (10:30 min miles), BUT who cares. That is now the furthest I've even run.

So then I get home, and I check the mail, and I get the results from the THEA (TX Higher Education Assessment) exam that I took a week or so ago, and I passed (with very good grades too)!!!

So for those of you who don't know, I'm going to start a Teacher Certification program this next semester through our local community college, and that was one of the requirements to get into the program.

Lalala... just wanted to share with you all. I am very excited, and we are going out tonight for Mexican food to celebrate (Susan - at Dos Charros, the place we took you too).

Goals for the rest of 2008!

Just a thought, as I was actually trying to catch up on posting here, about our goals we set for ourselves. I never like goal-setting for the New Year, and actually struggle with setting goals at all. I am a glass-is-half-empty kind of person, and cannot set lofty goals for myself as I get discouraged so very easily. But over these last few years, I had set some small goals for myself, and am finally seeing some of them come to fruitation (which is totally cool).

1st goal for me was discipline in daily workouts. Getting to the gym 5x/week with a goal of at least 1 hour of cardio. Now, I know that this is a much easier goal being single or with no kids, and a much tougher one once there is a baby there too. But I have done that, and have enjoyed that consistency (with slack days every so often).

2nd goal was just trying to eat healthier... more veggies/salad... more home cooked (not from a box) meals... more wholegrain... less additives, etc... blah blah blah, the list goes on. Done pretty well with that. Not always, but overall have a good well-balanced diet.

3rd goal more recently has been to push myself physically (first with this was running, which I still don't like doing). Before my surgery, I was up to 8 miles, and though I am not back up to that yet, it's okay... now I know I can do it, and am encouraged. I am also inspired to begin swimming again (yay Phelps), and want to add that into my workouts, but will only do that as time allows, as I don't want it to take the place of anything I am currently doing, so we'll see how that goes. But I did a half mile the other day, and really enjoyed it.

4th goal, and one I just started a month ago, was to go for a while counting calories. And that has been fun to do, and I can already see a change in my eating habits, and even a bit of weight loss too, from it.

So overall, I guess my goals are all fitness related, but that is not a bad thing. I have been excited recently by how well I am doing physically, and I can fit in a size 4 jeans (from Old Navy, who knows, they may run big for all I know)... and I don't even remember when I EVER fit in a size 4, which is totally exciting for me. :-)

Anyways, sorry for blabbing on. I am procrastinating going to the gym (haha, isn't that funny considering my post). So I suppose I should go now. Let me know your own personal goals and encouragements recently!

Sex in the Suburbs: Creature comforts

Here's a short one! What do you do to feel better? Maybe you've had a rough day, week, month...... or maybe just because. What do you do to make yourself happy?

Party thread

Here we can talk about things like we're at a party together. First topic: Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion.

Sex in the Suburbs: A Blast from the Past

Elizabeth stood in thought as she gazed longingly at the sweet inviting confections. They had the same deliciously welcoming grin as Bear who was at that moment reaching for her hair with his slobber-drenched fingers. "Gosh, is it really worth the extra fifteen minutes on the stair-master?" she finally sighed. "You know, I used to be able to eat a whole candy bar every day and it didn't affect me." 

Meadow was not so concerned. This already being her second breakfast, her eating habits were more closely mimicking a hobbits'. "A chocolate croissant, an apple tart and a chocolate milk, please." How liberating it must be to not have a period and eat whatever you want! Meadow made her sick!

Elizabeth finally caved to the peer pressure and ordered a crumble cake and her own hot chocolate before joining her friend in a luxurious velvet cushioned oversized chair. She noticed the two empty seats that also faced the antique-looking table. "So do you think they'll be joining us?"

"Well, one of them did just have a baby and the other one will probably join us once she sees just how much fun we're having," winked Meadow. 

Elizabeth emitted a single giddy giggle, "Too much fun!"

The smooth jazz saxophone piped over the speakers changed its tune to resemble the artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince now once again known as Prince. Meadow's eyes flickered, "Do you realize that next year is the 10 year anniversary of our graduation from high school?"

Elizabeth blinked while she translated that statement to regular people English. "Our 10 year high school reunion?!?"

"Yeah, to think ten years ago boy bands and bouncing blondes ruled the radio waves with their candy pop and our economy was also doing so well...You know, at the end of the other Bush's term there was also a recession and all the music was grunge. Here and now we have another recession but our music has no defining or unifying sound. I mean, when you think about the political songs that protested the Vietnam War it was all folk music - hippie stuff. But now, what does pop music of today sound like? Take your pick. It's as if we are all suffering on our own, alone......" Feeling that she was losing her audience, Meadow changed the subject, "We should celebrate.*" 

Elizabeth was lost in a different thought. "Wow! Ten years. I'm kind of torn. I've kept in touch with those I really cared about. So part of me wants to go and show off but I bet all those people I hated are still rich and snobby."

"We've changed......haven't we?"

That's when they thought: How much have we really changed? If we met our high school selves, what would they think of us? What would we think of them? What advice would we give ourselves, if any? Is this how we thought our lives would be?

So here's the challenge, write about your character remenesing of the olden days, thinking about how life has changed, and possibly exploring feelings about returning to the high school.

*This story has an interactive feature! Since we can't actually party together, we can pretend we are. Watch Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, drink chocolate milk, and look through your old high school year book and jam out to some music from the 90s. Check out the party thread to discuss the movie.

Sex in the Suburbs: A Tasty Treat

Another charming aspect to the show was that they had a signature drink. We, too should have a special drink! What's your favorite drink(s)?

Sex in the Suburbs: A Who's Who

The new Sex in the City movie opened recently and heralding its premiere are the male critics collectively groaning. At first I wondered why but then after listening to one of them it became clear to me: the characters are really quite horrible. Could it be that some of the appeal of the show is that audience members take delight in the demise of mean but fabulously wealthy individuals? I'd like to think that we can rejoice in the happiness of others and construct stories around characters that we not only admire but can relate to very personally. After all, in real life I have three fabulous friends (one of whom is a Charlotte!) and we are wonderful people indeed! Surely the show speaks to so many because of its themes of solidarity, friendship, and shopping; and surely, too, those themes can just as easily be portrayed with characters that are loving and genuine. Are people so base that they need bad characters to feel better about themselves or can we find entertainment with inspiring characters?

So here's the first challenge: Design a character that you can write your stories about. It can be as close to the true you or as far as you want. As this is primarily a work of fiction, we can assume that most of it is make-believe unless you choose to tell us otherwise. After all, it helps to work out reality in a fiction sometimes. Post your character description as a comment to this post, please. Oh yeah, and enjoy!

Writing Stories!

Dear Girlfriends,
Robin had an idea for our next caper. Sex and the City prompts. Bring on the fun.

Dara :-)

Running Wild for A Bit.

The day is beautiful. A new medium has been opened before my eyes. Never been interested in cameras, but the casio is captivating. The best glimpses so far have been the shutter clicks captured seconds before the first rain drop falls. Life is far too exciting these days to try and run another game this year so it would appear unless Susan wants to run one, you all are out of luck.
Instead, let's all celebrate the positive changes in our lives. The marriages, moves, and in some cases new babies. Can't claim to have it all figured out, but for now very blessed.
Visited an old fishing spot recently to think. The beavers have come so it looks as if the secret will shortly be buried in a watery grave. Everyone thinks beavers are so cute, but they remain one of the most destructive habitat creatures in North America short of man. Here's a huge tree they've almost circled. It will probably be fallen by summer and part of their dam where little beavers can play on it.
Still working on people. Plants and trees can't move, but the camera makes this annoying sound every time you turn it on so it's hard to snap shots without them being aware. Haven't gotten it all down, but hopefully will figure out something soon. May have to resort to reading the manual. A sure sign I'm desperate. Well, I'll leave you for the month. My day field trips have become possible due to this little gadget on my right. It's called a bento lunch box. An old Japanese invention that is positively clever. You put tea or drink in the bottom and fill the top two layers with all sorts of food. It's insulated and clean up is a snap as you just throw the whole thing in the dishwasher at the end of your adventure. This is a picture of my lunch perched on a huge fallen tree trunk over a creek where I stopped for lunch before the rain cut everything short. It has helped solve my dilemma between my desire to go on adventures and dislike of energy bars or gas station foraging.