My Weekend

Apologies for my vague blog post last week regarding my "Big Weekend" plans. For those of you who don't know, I auditioned for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders on Saturday! I made it through preliminaries (on Saturday) to semi-finals (on Sunday). It was a LONG and crazy weekend filled with gallons and gallons of hairspray and more lipstick and lycra then I knew what do with.

Day 1, over 600 girls arrived for prelims. The "DJ" spun some techno form of a random Top 40 song and we had to freestyle dance for 2 minutes. I, of course, had a mini combination I was going to do, but when I got out there to perform, my mind went completely blank. Literally. NOTHING was coming to mind. I had ZERO brain activity. All I could hear was my brain telling my body to just do SOMETHING! I busted out some kicks and some pirouettes, and by the grace of God made it to Day 2. I honestly could not even tell you what song I danced to. After 12 LONG hours, they cut the group down from 600 to 93.

Day 2, you learn choreography and a kick line. We got to learn the dance on the field, which was an awesome experience. Apparently none of the other girls at the auditions sweat, because I was by far the sweatiest person there! Oh by the way, if you ever decide to audition for DCC make sure you choose the brightest color lycra hot shorts and bra you can find and make sure you bedazzle them until you can't bedazzle them anymore. I was in a black and white sports bra and black hot shorts, and stuck out like a sore thumb. I did have some big hair though- you know what they say..."The bigger the hair, the closer to God" :)

After another 12 hour day, I, unfortunately, did not make it to Finals. The judges clearly have something VERY specific they were looking for and I didn't fit the bill. However, I had a GREAT time and scratched the itch to try-out I've had for the last few years. All in all, it was a very unique and fun experience. NOW, I REALLY hope I don't show up as the 'reject' in the show. Yes, that's right, they are filming season 5 of "Making the Team". Great.

A Big Weekend...

Some of you know what's happening this weekend. I'm not going to post what is happening this weekend here, as I'm not revealing what is happening this weekend, until it happens (sorry for those of you who don't know what is happening). Anyway, I'm nervous/excited about what is happening this weekend. I will update next week regarding what happened during the weekend. All you need to do is wish me luck :)

The Land of Wine and Plenty

Last weekend, my good friend Hanna and I traveled to the quaint little town of Fredericksburg, TX to visit the one and only Emily Mickelson. What might you ask is in Fredericksburg, TX (aside from Emily of course)? The answer...WINE and LOTS of it.

You see, flanking the outer perimeter of this adorable little town are wineries. Life consists of sitting outside, sniffing lilacs, drinking wine and listening to some good 'ol Texas country live music. Emily's parents have a beautiful home on 5 acres with a fire pit on the patio and all. Check out her neighbor below. We chased this guy around with cheez-its for a while, but he couldn't be LESS interested in our antics.



After a homemade breakfast featuring Mr. Mick's bfast tacos and visiting some antique shops in town, we plopped down at 2 of the Mickelson family's fave wineries in town, Becker and Tori. We even got to take some pics with the infamous Texas Bluebonnet flower. Did you know that if you run over one of these beloved flowers, you will be charged $250 and be declared a hater of all things Texas?! Well the second part may be an exaggeration, but the fine is true!





Once we got back to the house, Emily showed off her domestic skills and cooked Hanna and I a delicious homemade dinner. This is what we did while she was cooking...



But then she decided to join us and for some reason, sunglasses became a mandatory for the remainder of the evening...



All in all, it couldn't have been a better weekend, oh minus Hanna and I getting lost on the TX Chainsaw Massacre highway in the pitch black with pouring down rain. Great wine, delicious food, and undeniably fabulous girlfriends. What more could a gal ask for?

Bad Blogger

Welp, it's official, I am now one of "those" people who has a blog that they never update. I wish I had all kinds of excuses about why I haven't been blogging, but really I've just been lazy, and haven't wanted to do any additional thinking outside what I'm forced to do all day long at work. Lame, I'm aware.

I honestly have nothing more to say, but just wanted to make you all (all 3 of you) aware, that I know I'm a bad blogger. I'm hoping that one day soon I get inspired to post about something. Maybe this is why I need a husband, a house or a dog... That way I would never tire of things to discuss. Ah well, one thing at a time.

Great weekend team, Great weekend!

Each Monday when I get into the office, everyone is always asking how the weekend was, and my response is typically "It was fine, relaxing, etc", but this weekend- this weekend was beyond just "fine", it was GREAT! I'm not sure which point exactly in the weekend made it so good, but all of the excursions combined together made for one heck of a productive/relaxing (if that's even possible) weekend experience.

I warn you ahead of time, I'm not typically one for long blog posts (I tend to keep them short and sweet), but there was just so much awesomeness packed into this weekend, that this one may be a little long. You don't have to read this post all at once. In fact, you don't have to read it at all. I just thought I'd preface the post with a warning to be kind. Do with it what you want.

So it all started Friday night with a delicious homemade pasta dinner. My running buddy, Carlye, and myself were carbing up for the Fort Worth Cowtown 10K race on Saturday morning. We made wheat pasta with turkey marinara sauce, spinach salad and italian bread with oil and vinegar. Sidenote: my favorite part about running is that I get to eat all these carbs and not feel bad about it. YUM! After dinner I headed home, where I took a hot bath and layed in bed reading gossip magazines and watching FRIENDS until I fell asleep. Honestly, laying in bed with FRIENDS is my idea of a great night. FRIENDS the DVD's you pervs, come on!

So Saturday morning, Carlye picked me up at 5:15 am and we were on our way to boot knockin' Fort Worth, TX, where over 20,000 people showed up for the Cowtown. Lucky for us, we got a great parking spot up front, so we were able to get right in and right out with no angst or anxiety. We ate bananas, got our bib numbers and we were off. We ran 6.3 miles in 62 minutes, and it was a beautiful clear, crisp, sunny morning. We couldn't ask for better weather. After the race, we were off to eat breakfast at Dream Cafe, an adorable little cafe in Uptown Dallas, and we were home by 11am- where I preceded to take a 3 hour snooze. The snooze was followed by a spa mani/pedi (hey, my feet needed a treat) and a night out on the town with good friends and even better cocktails!

Sunday, I decided it was time to hit the Nike outlet for some sweet running gear. I have yet to invest in any aside from a pair of shoes, so I felt it was time. I called Erica as I was driving out to the Allen Premium Outlets (a good little 30 minute jaunt), where she informed me she was laying on her couch watching Grey's Anatomy re-runs (lame). As soon as I mentioned the word outlet mall, she asked if I would come pick her up. We hit up a few stores, did some damage to the bank account and then finished off the excursion with a meal at Olive Garden. To which our tab only cost $6.96 each! Don't ya just love splitting meals? I, of course, inhaled my food and was done before Erica had even taken 2 bites. Typical. So I sat there and stared at her whilst she finished her meal. Sunday evening consisted of 5 of us Dallas girls discussing our new business plan. Yes, we are starting a business (more to come on that later). After a riveting discussion on positioning, communication strategy and immediate next steps, we hit up Goodcents for dinner. What a perfect way to end a GREAT weekend!

Now it's Monday, oy.

"It's okay, I'm a Cheerleader"

Most of you know that I spent most of my college career cheering on the Wildcats (literally). I sported the purple and white proudly and had the opportunity to travel to most of the greatest temples of athleticism and perform sweet cheerleading moves in hopes of aiding the Cats to Victory.

Being a cheerleader makes me qualified for some very important things in life. For example, I'm always qualified to bust out a "High V" when I get excited or throw out a high kick when a friend needs a little nod of encouragement. I suppose I'm also qualified to judge other cheerleaders and make fun of bad technique or ugly uniforms.

However, I would say that the list of things I'm NOT qualified for, highly preceeds the list of things I am. But not according to my dear friend Rachel Knight, she is always trying to give credit where credit is due.

Last night during our weekly Bachelor viewing, Taryn was complaining of some back pain (most likely from slaving over her computer all day long in her dank dark cubicle). She wanted so badly for someone to give her back a good pop, but was "scared" of being popped on the floor. She informed us that she's used to "Nicole, the large shot put thrower" picking her up and giving her a good squeeze to get all the vertebraes back in place. Taryn, how you spent your college days are between you and Nicole. No judgement here.

Regardless, I told Taryn that I could pop her back, and that I'm actually quite capable of this task. She was apprehensive, but good ol' Rach assured her that it was okay because "I was a cheerleader". Yep, that's right- apparently being a cheerleader, makes me experienced enough to perform acts of the medical kind.

Anyone need heart surgery or a baby delivered? Give me a ring. It's okay, I'm a cheerleader!

I'm sensing a trend...

I spent most of my time last week in Chicago for work, where I accordingly gorged myself at every meal. You see, when you travel for work and you are entertaining clients, you tend to eat like you're on vacation. Or maybe that's just me. Either way, I somehow got away with rationalizing dessert at every meal. So you can imagine how I felt when I got back late Friday night. If you guessed like a 500 pound greasy french fry, you guessed right.

I immediately went to the grocery store and bought all my usual healthy items. You see, if I can stick to what I have at home to eat, I'm good to go. The problem is when I'm out in the free world- I have ZERO self control.

It wasn't until today when I was eating my lunch that I realized, I have a serious problem. Tell me if you can see the trend here:

Dinner last night- Pita Pizza
Ingredients: Whole wheat pita bread, pizza sauce, reduced fat mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, TURKEY pepperoni

Breakfast today- 2 pieces of TURKEY bacon and a hard boiled egg

Lunch Today: Sandwich
Ingredients: Whole wheat bread, muenster cheese, mustard, lettuce, sliced deli TURKEY and TURKEY pepperoni

Dinner Tonight: Tacos
Ingredients: Whole wheat tortillas, cheese, black beans, rotel and ground TURKEY

Gobble gobble anyone??

Snow Day (in Texas)!

So, as this crazy wintery tundra takes over America, us Dallas folks weren't missing out on any of the fun. I was laying in bed last Thursday night about to fall asleep to my FRIEND's DVD's, when the TV shut off. Awesome, no power. Thank you again winter for ruining my life.

Okay, I'll just go to sleep and it will turn back on shortly. I had to remind myself not to get startled when the lights flashed in the middle of the night and FRIEND's started playing again. It was the episode where Ross buys a new couch and is trying to get it up the stairs- "PIVOT, PIVOT". Oh Ross and his silly antics.

I digress.

So you can imagine my astonishment when I woke up at 6am (no thanks to an alarm clock), and noticed that the power still wasn't on. I jumped out of bed and put on my NCA Cheerleader hooded sweatshirt, and opted for a heavy pair of sweatpants, in lieu of my VS PINK boxers. BRR, it was cold!

So now what do I do? All the stores/restaurants on my block were also without power, and my car was iced in. Lucky for me, I have good friends. No sooner than I was plotting how to build a fire in my bathtub out of bath beads and matches, did Rachel Knight call me to tell me to come over. Apparently Erica and Heather were without power as well, but Rachel was a chosen one, who DID still have heat and lights. I immediately call Erica to tell her to pick me up from my ice cube of a bed, and we're off.

Besides the fact that Heather had to go into work (stupid NBA All Star Weekend), it was a pretty fantastic Snow Day. We got Panera for breakfast, Chipotle for lunch and Tiff's Treats (a fabulous little cookie shop in Dallas that delivers fresh baked cookies and ice cream) for our afternoon snack. Erica printed wedding invitations, and I yelled at the cat. It was good day!

Thanks again to the city of Dallas for not having the capacity to handle a little snowfall and ice. I'm pretty sure people are STILL without power. You rock!

See below for our hot Snow Day pictures.



Erica all bundled on the couch taking a break from being Super Bride.



Rachel clearly looking annoyed at me for making her be photogenic on a Snow Day.



Me on a conference call. The only spot in Rachel's house, near an outlet where I could get cell phone service. Since I had no power all night, my iPhone and it's really awesome battery were dead.

1/2 Marathon Update...

So a couple weeks ago, I told you all that I would be participating in a Half Marathon. I have now completed 2.5 weeks of training, and I'm still going strong.

The farthest I've ran so far without stopping is 4 miles. I did this in 41 minutes and 20 seconds. A BIG thanks to Taryn for sticking with me and running at a Grandma's pace. You see, my training partner was out of town so I needed a fill in- if you didn't know, Taryn ran in college on a scholarship- she doesn't mess around. I felt like she was one of those horses at the races who can't wait for the gate to open so they can get out- except, the gate never opened. Ah well, she stuck by me through and through. Thanks T.

This weekend will be a doozy- 5 miles on Saturday, 2.5 on Sunday, and 4 on Monday. Since it's President's Day, I will be off from work, so I want to get one of the bigger weekly runs in.

Honestly, the only thing keeping me going is that I have promised myself a brand new running outfit for the Big Race. I may be the slowest one out there, but you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be the most stylish. It's all about the priorities people.

Life is Painfully Precious

I found out this morning that a very close friend of Josh's family passed away in a car accident last night. He was a firefighter for the FTW Fire Department. His wife and 16 year old step-daughter are left without him.

Him and 3 other of his firefighter buddies were driving to Colorado for a "guys ski trip" and late last night hit a patch of ice and lost control of the vehicle. Two were ejected from the car (Dave included) and passed away. The two survivors happened to be wearing their seatbelts.

My heart is breaking for Dave's family and friends and all that were touched by his contagious laugh and 'live in the moment' mentality. We had the pleasure of spending this past Saturday night with him at Josh's mom's birthday party, and he is just one of those guys you want to be around. Always the life of the party and always smiling.

If any lesson is learned, it's that life is just far too precious. It only takes an instant for everything to change. I hope if anyone is reading this, they remember that. Sometimes it takes a tragedy for us to take a step back and see how blessed we all are. It shouldn't be that way.

Please keep Dave and his family in your prayers today. I love you all.