Hello Again!

I didn't disappear, I swear. Only from the blog. Here is exactly what happened:
I got so busy living my life I just stopped taking the time to write about it. 

It's a good thing to have happen, really. A very good thing. But I've missed blogging. So here I am, trying to get back to it.

A few updates:

Being in your 30s is AWESOME! 

Seriously, it is. I love it. A switch really does flip in your brain and you care less- about looking perfect, acting perfect, living the perfect life. You sit back and just enjoy more. Sure, you want more. You still strive. But it's easier; more care free. I highly suggest skipping 29 and going straight to 30.

This is NOT old!

So not old. Not even a little bit. Everyone giggled at us when I first relocated to Texas and said we'd get used to having each other there all the time. Nope- not true. People are still giggling at us, but because we are still completely, ridiculously happy together and they just don't know what else to do. We still love going to the grocery together, we still love going for walks, we still talk at least 3 times a day regardless of whether or not we see each other, we still drive her husband crazy. It doesn't get old, people! Move to live with your best friend now.

This happened!

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a boyfriend! A real, live boyfriend. You never thought you'd see the day did you? Me either. But he just followed me home one night. Seriously. That's how it happened. His name is German (Her-Mon), he's Colombian (sexy, I know) and he's adorable. :)

This is gone...

No, I really am not OK. I'm better, but not OK. I miss her desperately! But her hip gave out completely and there was no chance of her walking again. So, as much as it killed me, I let her go. It was the right thing- but it was awful. It's been almost five months and I still cry, I still reach for her. She's buried at home in Florida under the same tree where my horse is buried. And yes, I buried her with a tennis ball. 

It's almost football season!

Not technically an update, but very pertinent information none the less! 39 days, people. 39 days until LSU kicks off the 2013 season. I...AM...READY!

Being an Aunt is still completely amazing!

It truly is. My friend Sally said to me the other day (about her nephew), "I never knew I could love someone so much." That explains it perfectly. I had no idea that my heart could contain so much love and joy surrounding four little people. Holy Moly- they are awesome! 

Louisiana Warrior Dash

I am so awesome, people!

Seriously. I don't even know how to tell you how awesome I truly am.

I did the Louisiana Warrior Dash with Niki and her family. And I was pretty sure I would
#1: die
or
#2: not finish.

But I did neither! I made all of the obstacles, finished in an hour and a half, and LOVED it! I was pretty nervous the week before. See, up until 3 weeks out I had no idea there were obstacles... or fire...or barbed wire... I thought it was a nice, fun, stroll through the mud. And I love mud! Nope- it has 12 obstacles and is described as 3 miles of pure hell on the website. I am a clumsy oaf, folks. I was scared!

And then they send the release form, which informs you that you must have insurance, the obstacles are extremely dangerous, there will be fire, barbed wire and other forms of torture (my words, not theirs), you have to swim through water of unknown sources, there may be harmful plants and bugs... and, of course, they are responsible for nothing that may befall you. It was a good read...

Let's review:
It started off as about a mile of trekking through knee to ankle deep, slippery, sliding, mud or muddy water. That alone was quite an accomplishment. Then there were 12 obstacles and more running (walking in our case) through sand and mud:

Capsized Catamaran:
We had to jump into muddy water, swim up to, and climb on some floating plastic "stuff". Then you balance your way across and climb down.

Teetering Traverse:
This was my first big challenge. It was a (muddy) balance beam about 8 feet off the ground. Sounds easy, but I am afraid of heights. Almost barfed, but I made it. This nice girl named Kathryn held my hand. :)

Trenches:
A crawl through a dug-out trench with barbed wire. The bad part was you were crawling over pebbles. My knees have scars to prove it!

These nice people got hay to crawl on!

Warrior Wall:

I dreaded this all week! I have zero upper body strength and I am petrified of climbing and heights. But I wanted to at least try. The guy in front of me saw me quaking in fear and told me to use my arms only to hold on, and push myself up with my legs. I made it!! I was ridiculously proud and Niki and I hugged and jumped in circles after we both made it. 

The little "steps" are not even half an inch deep! And our wall was taller than this. 

Storming Normandy:

This was more under barbed-wire and net crawling. 

Barricade Breakdown:

This obstacle was under/over hurdles. Which doesn't sounds too hard until you remember you have been going for a while and your legs really don't want to push you over!

Hard Rain:

A wall to climb up with water pouring down on you the entire way. The worst part for me was having to jump 10 feet down on the other side. I almost crawled back down and walked around.

Tipsy Tightrope:

This is two ropes, one about your head and one under your feet. You have to shimmy along the rope to the other side. 

Cargo Climb:

This one was fun! Climb up, over and down a cargo net. There was a camera projecting to the finish and waiting area so I took the opportunity to wiggle my mud covered booty at everyone!

Junkyard Jump:

Run through tires and climb over junk heap cars. This is pretty fun because, really, when else do you get to jump up and down on the top of a car?

Warrior Roast:

Poor Niki almost didn't go for this one- you jump over fire. We held hands and screamed the entire way. Luckily, there were photographers at this one so I'll be sure to post those lovely shots when available. 

Muddy Mayhem:

You have to scramble/swim through muddy water under even more barbed wire. These people loved their barbed wire. 

This is our post race victory photo!

The Pink Warriors: Niki, Ashley, Mama Ruth and Staci (team captain)

I have never done any kind of a race (and seeing as I hate running, I don't plan to)- but this was an absolute ball! It's a great thing to do with friends and go it together for some laughs. I was a little sore the next day, and I think it was three showers later before I got all of the mud, leaves and grass off- but it was completely worth it! 

As one lady behind us commented: "This is just an excuse for adults to play in the mud."

Yep! 

Triathlons (An Instructional Post)

I have recently became a triathlon fan. Not because I think exercise is fun, but because my friend Allyson decided to start participating in them. Let's be clear: she is completely nuts! There is entirely too much exercise involved in these events. And all before 9am. Not rational. However- in my ever present effort to make all things fun (even waking up at 5:30am on a Sunday to watch people hike and bike), Marissa and I have worked out a system to make these races entertaining for ourselves as well as Allyson.

First and foremost, sign making is a must. This is how your evening should look the day before a race:

Signage must be bright and involve glitter, and if you are getting up before daylight on a weekend you owe yourself a glass of wine. 

Do not use standard signs. Customization is a must.

Our first attendance was a Mother's Day race, thus we thought it'd be funny to pretend she was our mom.

Standard "Fan Club" signs are OK if they have glitter.

Signs that involve alcohol get comments from other racers as well. One we received: "Can complete strangers get a mimosa?" Uh- yes! But only if you hurry because Marissa and I are good drinkers, there may be none left.

On the way to the race, get coffee. A lot. You are going to need it and you'll kick yourself if you think you can wait until after. You cannot. 

Do not follow the directions for parking a half mile away. Whatever! Do YOU look like a triathlete? No. Leave the exercise to them and drive into the neighborhood next to the event and park on the street. 

You are going to be waiting around a lot, so your best bet is to bring a friend. 

Generally, you hurry up to get to the first part (swimming), see the racers and then wait for the next section (biking or running). You might get to see them going for the transition, but the best idea is to get to the point where they'll be coming out on the bikes. They're going to need the encouragement to get going. Yell, jump and act a-fool to get them going. Their faces should look something like this:

The goal is laughter on their way off. But if you get this:

It's OK. She's just trying to figure out #1: WHY she puts up with you and #2: WHY she signed up for this crap.

After they are off for round two you wait. Find a comfy spot, sit down, and get out your cooler.

Don't bring a heavy one because you need to be mobile. This one's perfect- has handles, keeps things very cold and has a pocket to store stuff in. It's also monogrammed, so that helps. 

Be sure to bring water, because you're going to need it. Conceal any alcoholic beverages inside the cooler. You're probably somewhere that open containers aren't allowed. However- I recommend bringing the alcohol. It really helps when you're kicking yourself for being awake. 

While you wait, people watch! You will be surprised at the people who participate. You have a few of what you'd expect: buff, steroid-ed, crazy people going all out. But a lot of the people are just doing it for fun (???) and there's a lot of older men with beer bellies. Who knew?

Every good triathlon needs a bag pipe player in a kilt. 

In the mean time, keep an eye on the people coming in from the current leg of the race. You don't want to miss your person! A good tip is to watch the numbers on their arms. It'll help tell you what wave they are in and you'll get an idea of when your athlete is coming. When you see them coming, be sure to start creating a huge ruckus. Jump, leap, yell, cheer! Glitter should be flying from your sign, folks. Just be careful, if they're coming in fast on their bike they're about to have to dismount. Wouldn't want to distract them so much they nearly miss the jumping off point and fall (Sorry Allyson). 

While they are transitioning RUN (this is the only exercise you get, it's OK) to the next starting point (biking or running- whichever hasn't been done). To be a good fan, you HAVE to be there to cheer them into the last leg. Commence acting a-fool again.

Wait again.

This little girl is a good example of how you might feel after watching hundreds of people run around as the sun comes up. 

Make sure to run at your athlete, yelling their name, after they finish. This is a nice touch. Also give huge hugs, regardless of sweat. I mean, come on, they just swam, biked and ran. They earned it!

Honestly- I have really enjoyed the two I attended. It's a lot of fun to cheer on a friend and you can nap later. 

Making New Friends

I'm kind-of having a hard time with this. I've gone to quite a few networking events and Meet Up groups over the past few months. I'm pretty proud of myself, actually, because I am content to just stay with Niki. But it's bad mojo to base your life on one person (even if that person is perfection). So I've been branching out.

But the truth is- it's difficult making new friends. The friends I have just clicked. We were friends right away. Sure, we spent time getting to know each other. But it was always easy and we were comfortable together. And friendships go through phases- sometimes it takes work to stay in touch, sometimes you argue. But in the beginning I never had to push myself to do things with them. Now I do. Even when girls seem nice, eeeeeh, not for me. I don't believe in forcing friendships. And I'm not looking for acquaintances.

So what have you done? What things have worked for you?

Summer + Weekend Pics

So, who decides when summer officially starts? The sun? The calendar (Memorial Day)?
I'm gonna go ahead and say it was 2 to 3 weeks ago when we started having 100+ degree temps EVERY DAY! I don't care when the summer solstice is or when the sun's rays hit the equator directly - if it's 100 degrees in June, it's summer. End of discussion.

Speaking of summer, we had a rather summery weekend. We loaded up the kids and headed to Galveston on Saturday. (AC, don't judge) Let me just tell ya, Perdido Key it aint! I am accustomed to beautiful, white sandy beaches. Their sand is brown and their water is brown too and their water will turn you brown. I made the mistake of wearing my white bathing suit and it's still soaking in stain remover. I mean, it's not dirty in a trash in the water kind of way. Just in a silty water kind of way.

At any rate, we had a blast regardless. The bonus to Galveston over Perdido is that you can take your dog with you without the risk of a $500 fine. This goes a very long way in my book.

Cutest beach baby ever!

Van and I hitting the surf

We could hardly get Nathan to come out of the water. The same goes for van

Playing fetch with Van

Love her!

Most adorable best friend ever.

This is Van obliging me for about 5 seconds before trying, again, to figure out how to get off of the fishing pier and into the water. 

Most precious nephew

This would be me torturing Nate and Van by making them pose instead of play in the waves. 

All in all it was a great day and we'll head back again (wearing black bathing suits!!)

Time Management is Hard!

Lately, I've been totally stressing about fitting everything in. It is HARD, folks! I have to keep up some ruse of an exercise routine because of my hormonies, my sweetie puppy girl is perfect all day wile I work and must get out to exercise, work takes up TOO MUCH TIME, I need to eat healthy which takes some type of preparation and not a drive through window, I haven't been reading as much (until I picked up Unbroken) and I miss books, I need to get out and network and make new Texas-type friends, I don't want to be alone forever... and did I mention work takes up too much time? All of this is weighing on me while the truth of the situation is that I really just want to spend my time with my BFF and her two kids because I am obsessed with them (in a good way).

I can not fit it all in. If I keep up the work-out routine I did in P'cola I come home, work out (leaving my dog alone again), take Van for a swim, eat something quickly, shower, got to bed. Did you see anything fun in there - because I did not.

After much stress, prayer, and self berating I decided to make some priorities.

#1 is a tie between The Kickels and Van. (Don't judge. My dog is my child)

#2 is exercise for the sole reason that it keeps my hormones balanced. If it didn't I would ditch it.

#3 Is work. It kinda has to be a priority because it pays the bills

#4 Reading (I heart books, OK??)

I have condensed my workout. I don't need to be buff- I just need to be me. Time with Van and Niki keep me balanced and happy and was the purpose of packing up my life and moving to Texas. Though I would one day like to work part time or from home and have horses and cows and pigs and chickens and a duck- for now work is an office and a desk and a necessity so I may as well not fight it. I've been spending more time reading and it really does make a difference for me and my mental state.

It ain't perfect, but it's working.

Am I the only one? How do you guys balance things?

Weekend

Reliving this

With the addition of this

Can't wait.

Weekend

Reliving this

With the addition of this

Can't wait.

A Day of Blessings

Birthday Party, Take 1

So the deal is- for the past three years I have had to fly to Texas to spend my birthday with my best friend. This year I was already here! So Niki , the kids and I had a little party after work. It was a ball! There is nothing like celebrating with a three year old to make it really, REALLY feel like your birthday.

Best Friend Ever Reason #1: Niki sprayed Nate's hair with Lime green & glitter. It was completely and utterly awesome!

Purple & Lime Green cake. These are the colors of mine and Niki's room in the sorority house senior year. 

Being the amazing Auntie I am, I just let Nathan dig in.

Cake face!

There's not many things as cute as babies eating cake.

Best Friend Ever Reason #2: She took me to Coldstone to have ice cream for dinner.

Birthday Cake Remix

Birthday girl!!!

Best Friend Ever Reason #3: She also bought Coldstone ice cream for Van, as in her very OWN ice cream.

People inside the store: She's feeding her dog her ice cream!

Niki" Oh no, that's HER OWN ice cream! 

It was a completely great day! I am so completely in my bliss here. 

Tonight Jade is keeping the kids and Niki and I are hitting the town for tapas! Then Monday is indoor bouncy castle fun. Can't wait!