Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Holy Gossip, Batman!

I used to read celebrity gossip all.the.time, but I've scaled back a little and now I'm starting to really feel out of the loop.

My favorite gossip website is Popsugar.com. They have a celebrity gossip blog, but also ones for fashion, beauty, all things techy, babies, homes, etc. Pretty much you can find something you're interested in among the PopSugar family.

Anyway. While we were in the Miami airport about two weeks ago {for our 3 hour wait} I saw on a gossip rag that Jesse James was caught cheating on Sandra Bullock. I saw it, but completely dismissed it as false because I'd been a cruise ship all week and had heard nothing about it. Turns out it's true and so devastating. Poor Sandra. I really like her {hello, she has a house in Austin!} and I thought they were really great together -- especially after her Golden Globe {or was it Oscar} speech.

This isn't the mag that I saw, but obviously it has a similar cover.

So, after the Sandra story, I've been back to checking PopSugar a lot more regularly. 

Have you read about all the concern for Lindsay Lohan? I mean it's really nothing new -- hello, she's been spiraling out of control for a while now. But when some LA policemen weigh in on the fact that she might be close to death, I think it might be time to take some action. 

I found this picture in some links from PopSugar.


The girl is leaving a house party with suspicious white powder all over her feet and shoes. 

She loves to have a good time, but really? Leaving the house with that all over yourself? You'd think she has some friends who might be looking out for her best interest.

Get the girl some help.

So Close

As soon as church is over on Easter I'm heading to the closest grocery store to purchase a bag of these! I can't wait to have chips back in my life!

Monday, March 29, 2010

35 Years Young

Today is Gus' birthday. He turns 5 and I cannot believe that we've had him in our family for that long! I remember going to the breeder's house and just wanting to "look" at puppies.

Gus was the smallest of all the puppies and all of his brothers would crawl all over him to get to us, but he would stay in the back and let them have all of the attention. He was {and still is} the most handsome of all the boys, and we were immediately drawn to him.

The breeder told us that if he was going to keep any of the puppies, he would have chosen Gus. We took him out of the pin and put him in the grass for the first time -- and he's LOOOVED grass ever since!

Gus has definitely kept us on our toes for the last five years -- "running away", chewing on Lily's blanket, getting trash out of the trash can, getting into the trashcan and so many other hilarious things. We love to come home to he and Lily because they're always happy to see us!

Happy 5th {35th} birthday Gus!!







How can you resist those eyes?!




Poor guy almost lost a claw!


Gus' summer 'do -- I thnk we'll give him a mohawk again this summer!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Payoff!


Since this is the only picture I have from this morning's half-marathon {sorry guys, I'm not SkinnyRunner}, I'm posting it with a little recap of the race. 

The gun went off at 8 am, and the girls I was going to run with took off! I knew there was no way I'd be able to keep up that pace, much less get back to my normal one if I ran that fast at the beginning so I lagged back.

I was feeling GREAT until about mile 11. I got a little crampy {I think I'd had too much water/gatorade -- is that even possible, or am I just making an excuse??} and I slowed down for a few, but I knew I didn't have far to go, so I kept pushing it. 

{By the way, my 10 mile time was 4 minutes faster than it was when I did that length training run!}

Then I saw the mile 12 marker and told myself I'd walk for 15-20 seconds. Uhh, then I saw that some of our friends were right next to that marker and there was no way I was going to walk right in front of them! Ha ... so I pushed a little farther and walked for 20 seconds and then picked it up again and ran to the finish. 

I ended up only a couple minutes behind one of the girls I started with and only about 20 seconds behind another one.

All in all, I feel really good about my first half. My time was about 2:07 -- I forgot to stop my Garmin, so I'm not sure what my exact time was, but I definitely pushed it in the end to stay under/at 2:07. 

Friday, March 26, 2010

The time has come

This Sunday is my very first half-marathon.

I've been training for {an absurd} 4 months or so. And, after running 10 miles {and feeling really great during and after}, I guess I'm ready.

I've been taking it easy this week {as my training guide said I should} and I've run a total of 9 miles.

Everyone that I talk to tells me that if I can do ten, I'll be fine. And, I have to say that I'm beyond glad that I'll have other girls to run with to encourage me and push me through the entire 13! Thanks guys! {I wish John could be there -- he has a bachelor party in OKC this weekend}

I know I've mentioned that this course is mostly downhill, but some of my friends have run it recently and said that those hills at the end are kinda killer. Ok, maybe not killer, but they're definitely hills and we'll definitely notice them.

Here's the elevation map of the course:


It's not Mount Everest, but let's be honest: Around mile 8 or 9 I'm not so sure I'll be too excited about climbing a couple hundred feet. And, if I'm being totally honest, I try to avoid hills if at all possible, so this should be interesting. Oh well, it's what I signed up for. 

I have my shoes, my Garmin, my dri-fit socks, my music and my Jelly Belly Energy beans and Gu {which I'm still not sure I'll take}. I plan on taking my camera, which means I'm planning on a race recap, complete with pictures! 

Wish me luck!

Cruisin'

I've been wanting to blog all week, but due to the fact that we've been crazy, I haven't really wanted to spend my down time captioning pictures and coming up with witty posts to entertain my one reader. So, what does this mean for you? This means that {if all goes as planned} you'll get two, maybe three posts tonight! I'll pause while you guys do a little happy dance ...

Finished? Ok ... onward.

Here are pictures from our cruise. Keep in mind that I was sans camera for the first 3 or 4 days {I know... a tragedy}, so these pictures are from last 4 days of our trip.

Whoops, I take that back. I took this picture when we were tendering {taking a boat from the ship to land} into Grand Cayman. It's a bride {if you couldn't tell from the large white dress, veil and bouquet}

Isla Roatan on St. Patrick's Day {that's not our ship in the background}

Isla Roatan is off the coast of Honduras. We didn't venture far from the shopping area right off the dock. We talked to a couple of the people who worked there, and they said that this area was only 2 months old. And the Mayor of Isla Roatan had built the area and then sold it to Carnival for 34 million dollars. Nice little chunk of change, eh?

Roatan is home to the second largest barrier reef in the world, and it's a SCUBA diving hotspot. This was a sunken ship in the cove where our ship docked. As we were leaving it was pouring rain and the winds really picked up. We had to delay our departure until the winds could die down some.

The ship had a "Shogun" casino, complete with warriors. This was taken on my birthday -- one of the formal dinner nights. {Check out my rockin' skinny arm!}

Me and my birthday buddy, Johnny. I think it was a lot more fun that we shared a birthday {and the attention}. 


Me, Savio {bartender at the Bronx bar} and John. Savio was our favorite Carnival Valor worker!


Kayla and me {with Edita being RUDE in the background}. We tried to take this picture several times, but some of our "friends" coerced other casino-goers to follow us and ruin the pictures!


The group {minus Vic, who was usually MIA and Gracie -- how did we lose her??}.








Vic met some ADPis from Jacksonville State in Grand Cayman. This is what they did in their pictures. That's the only explanation I have.


Vic met some Sigma Chis from George Washington, and they had to take a group pic.

Monday, March 22, 2010

I'm Baaack!

I'm not sure if anyone noticed {hello? Anyone out there??}, but I was away all last week on a fabulous 7-day cruise.

We did the Western Caribbean {Grand Cayman, Isla Roatan -- Honduras, Belize and Cozumel}. We had a great time, but I can't explain to you how happy I was to get home and see our favorite puppies! And, hello! we missed that random spring snow!

We missed them terribly!

And, I was sad that we were in Belize on my birthday and I was unable to talk to my family, but luckily I was able to get in touch with them on Friday. Love them all and thanks everyone so much for thinking of me on my birthday!

I promise I'll have a post of pictures in the very near future, but for now, this is what you get.

Hope everyone had a great Spring Break!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Random Thursday

• Do you read The Pioneer Woman's blog? She always has the best looking food on there. I've only ever made a couple of things that she's posted {stuffed mushrooms -- they were a hit!, and quesadillas -- I think she made shrimp, we made chicken}. The recipe I want to try the most is her macaroni and cheese. I am a sucker for mac & cheese. Anytime I see it on a menu, it's automatically one of my sides, or a first course, or desert, or my main meal, or all of the above.

Have you tried it? Or any of her other recipes?

• It's my birthday, which means I have birthday money. I already have a little bit of it earmarked for something I want for our bedroom.

See, I have these nasty {not really, but since I'm now 27 and I've had them since I was 19 or 20, I consider them nasty} plastic drawers that I keep my socks, underthings, pajamas, etc in. While I love that I've had them since living in the sorority house, I think it's time to move up to some grownup furniture.


I found this bookcase on target.com and I've loved it for months. My plan is to use the drawer on the bottom for said underthings and hopefully socks {if they'll fit} and then get some baskets for one or two of the lower shelves. Thus, eliminating the need for my nasty plastic drawers.

• Do you watch Young and the Restless? I've watched this soap for a really long time, but I recently {about a year ago} got back in to it and I DVR it every day. Can I tell you that it's getting gooood! If you don't know anything or don't care about this at all ... you can move on, but if you care, keep reading.

Adam, Victor's son, is in the midst of his life falling apart. All of Genoa City is figuring out all of his lies and misdeeds and he's finally having to answer some questions. And, finally, Sharon and Nick are figuring out that their baby is alive! I hate everything Adam did to all these people, but at the same time I feel bad for him. He loves Sharon, and I think he really wants to do good by her.

Anyway, I know it's a little crazy to be so into this show, but I can't help myself. It's really good, and I can't wait to see what happens with Adam next. And, when will Nick and Sharon figure out that Ashley's baby is actually their baby {conveniently named Faith, also}?

• Word on the street is that after this nice weather we're having this week, we'll be back to cold snaps and more "active" weather. Yes! {not.} I can handle rain -- in fact, I like a rainy day ... when I get to be at home. But if rainy weather comes along with colder temperatures, I'm not really going to be a fan. But, I do like the fact that rain is a sign that Spring is on the way!

What I really want is warm weather, and beers on a patio -- preferably on a day when I don't have to work. Thanks!

• I'm only a little over a week away from my first ever half-marathon. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I'll be running with some friends, and hopefully when we get to the hills {my nemesis ...} they can encourage me and push me through. I'm using my great 10-miler as inspiration for 13.1!!

Today's the day!


Happy Birthday to me!!! (I'm 27 ... and proud of it!)

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day

from here

Hellloooo! Today is St. Patrick's Day. I hope you are all wearing green {or expect a pinch} and sippin' a green beer!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Random Thursday {on Friday ... again}

As I mentioned last Thursday, things have been so crazy, and I really wanted to do a Random Thursday post yesterday, but it didn't happen. How about a Random Friday? Ok, cool, 'cause I was going to do it no matter what.

• I ran 10 miles yesterday. Yep, 10 miles, in one workout. And, although it took me about 6 minutes longer than I wanted, I'm ecstatic that I did all 10. Also, I felt great the entire run. No problems, not out of breath and my legs were great. After yesterday, I'm getting really excited about my first half-marathon!

Unfortunately, I haven't quite mastered the idea of charging my garmin after every run, so I had to just my iPhone app, Runkeeper. I like the app fine, but I really prefer my garmin -- I just think it's more accurate. Not to self: charge your Garmin after each run.

• I've been to Walgreens and the grocery store a couple times this week, and all of that glorious Easter candy has been calling my name. I was able to resist, until yesterday. I had to pick up a prescription from Walgreens, and I couldn't take it anymore. I had to have a Reese's PB egg. It was amazing, and honestly, I could go for another one now. {Uhh, there are 170 calories in that thing. It was worth it yesterday -- hello, 10 miles! -- but not so sure it should happen again...}

mmmmmmmmm!

• I love shoes {honestly, who doesn't?} and I would really love a pair of fabulous shoes! Any would do -- Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, Chloe, Giuseppe Zanotti ... I could go on. Here are a couple of the Loubs I'm crushing on {honestly, if I'm paying that much for shoes, I just want a classic pair that will last me forever. I can go crazy on the second pair.}


Nude Patent Platform {$625}

Black Crescent-toe Pump {$695}

There are many other pairs that I love, but these are the only two I had the patience to post the picture, name and price. For more from the CL classic line, go here

• John's brother and I were talking last night, and we figured out that there's something going on every weekend until the end of April. I'm talking birthdays, half-marathons, trip places, Easter and other things I can't think of right now. Anyway, times are crazy, but I'm glad we're entering Spring!! Bring on the warm weather and eating on patios!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Ch Ch Changes

I'm sure most of you noticed immediately the subtle changes that have emerged here on Montycosm, but I'll go ahead and point them out anyway.

Somehow I googled just the right thing {I'm really good at Google} and found exactly the tutorial I needed to get rid of those annoying boxes from around all of my pictures on here. Yes, I'm one step closer to making this blog look a little more custom!

And, did you notice that the header is no longer too big for the box around it? I didn't shrink it down, I just happened upon another great tutorial that helped me get rid of the box from around the header, too!

While these aren't monumental changes, I'm pretty proud to be patting myself on the back for finding the right html tutorial and then actually locating the html code that needed changing, and changing it correctly, without completely screwing up the blog in the process.

Anyway, maybe when I have a little more time on my hands {not sure when that'll happen} I'll get around to diving a little deeper into html and work on more customizations. But, I won't do it too fast. So, for now, I'll let you all settle yourselves into the frameless pictures and headers.

Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Busy Busy!

Life has been busier than I expected lately, and although I've been a bit MIA, I'm still alive and kickin'. I promise to resume regular posting sometime soon.

On a happier note, the temperature for today reached 68, and although those Oklahoma winds were in full effect, I loved the sunny, warmer weather!

I'm dreaming of {even} warmer weather {that sticks around}, sandy beaches and golden tans.

from here

What are you dreaming of?

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Saturday Clean Up

J and I have been wanting to pack up a bunch of the glasses we got when we got married {champagne flutes, wine glasses, margarita glasses, martini glasses} since we only regularly use a handful of them. Plus the cabinets that they were occupying is much more suitable for our pantry {since our house is without a true pantry} than the cabinet we were currently using. 

This morning {after a deliciously successful second attempt at making coffee and using that bomb creamer I bought}, J dove right in! Yah! 

We pulled out all of the glasses we wanted to put in storage and wrapped those in newspaper {we're overflowing in newspaper, here} and then moved the glasses that we use more regularly to the cabinet that used to be our pantry. Then we moved the pantry into the larger cabinet that used to house our glasses.

Confused yet??

I don't have any before pics, but here are a couple of afters.

The cabinet that was previously our pantry -- pretty darn small, huh

The new pantry -- so much bigger and it's way easier to see everything that's in there!


Boxes of glasses. We loooved registering for glassware!

Sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get J to take part in some kind of spring cleaning activity {honestly, it's any cleaning activity}, but he's the one who jump-started this one, and I'm so glad he did! 

Friday, March 5, 2010

Random Thursday {on Friday}

This week has been way busier than I thought it would be...hence, Random Thursday, on Friday.

Let's get to it:

•The weather couldn't be much better today. After weeks of cold and way too much snow for the state of Oklahoma, it looks like the gods of Spring are finally smiling down on us. The high for today was 67, and the sun's been shining it's pretty little face all day! But, I'm sure, just as I hit "publish" on this little post, the sun will sneak back behind the clouds and the wind will pick up and we'll be on the verge of some kind of "winter" storm.

•I posted about a swimsuit from Target {I think it was in my last Random Thursday post}. I decided not to get that one, and instead got this one:


I really like the green color and I love the jewel in the center of the bandeau top {yes, I'm getting rid of those center straps, asap}. Unfortunately, I ordered this beauty with the intention of taking it on our upcoming cruise, but I checked the status of my order yesterday and it's scheduled to be here between March 18 {my birthday, thankyouverymuch} and April 2. Nice. And, the coolest part is that I could have gotten it when I was in Austin last weekend, but didn't and now I may be {new} swimsuitless! boo!

•Ever since J's truck has been at the body shop getting fixed {yep, still there, and that rental he got? we lovingly call it the smoke wagon}, I've been driving more than usual. We took my car to Austin last weekend {thank you Enterprise Rental Car, for your "no leaving the state" policy} and I've been driving to work most of this week. What does this have to do with anything? I hate that I'm putting so many miles on my car. I mean, I know cars are meant to be driven, but seriously, I have way too many miles on there! I wish that whole driving backward to take miles off the car thing worked. Damn you Ferris Bueller and your foolish attempts to make Cameron happy!

•I got a letter in the mail the other day about going back to school. Even though I applied for this thing back in July or August and I had the opportunity to start in October {thanks for the short notice, btw}, it looks like I won't be starting until this August. Ugh! But, my plan is to buy the books and supplies for the classes and potentially start in on the work, and maybe, just maybe, I'll put myself ahead of the game??!!

•We don't have big plans for the weekend, but I have a to-do list {what? me? have a list? never!} of things that need to get done around the house before we leave. Lots of laundry, cleaning and a little rearranging, which always gets J's blood a-pumpin' {not}.

Have a good one, peeps!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Travelin' Pugs

J and I made a spur of the moment trip to Austin this past weekend.

My grandfather {Popi} has been on the mend, and we wanted to see him asap. So, since we didn't have any plans for the weekend, we loaded up the pugs and hit Southbound 35.

I love Austin. I'm so proud to have grown up there, and yet, I don't even know the city that well. {Come on, I was young and, quite frankly, I was a bit nervous of all those one-way streets downtown.} But, since I've gone to college, I really appreciate what Austin has to offer. And, this past weekend, it had family time, good mexican food and gorgeous weather to offer.

And, I say, yes please to all of the above.

On Friday night J and I had plans to meet my friend Kelly for dinner. J has been really jonesin' for some "tacos and beer" at El Arroyo ever since he figured out that that was the line from the Pat Green song. I hadn't been there in a really long time, but it didn't disappoint, as far as mexican food goes. And, the company wasn't so bad either {jk, Kel!}

On Saturday, I ran 5 miles -- in the crazy north Austin hills, I might add {hello, my first half-marathon is this month!} -- and then the whole fam {brother and aunt included} loaded up and made our way up to the hospital to see Popi and then have lunch with my grandmother {Mia}. Popi looked pretty good and I think after this short hospital stay, things might be better -- they got special instructions on dressing his wound, talked with a nutritionist and really figured out what they should be doing/looking out for. Yeah!

That night we planned to go to dinner. It was my job to call Texas Land & Cattle to make reservations, but I got caught up in the tsunami warning for Hawaii and forgot to call until about 4:30, and it turns out they don't take reservations after 4. Whoops!

Everything worked out, and we had a great {and super spicy} dinner!

Although it was a super short stay, I'm really glad that we got down to Austin to see Mia and Popi and my family. And, it was a nice bonus to see Tisa {my aunt}, too!

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so no pictures. But, let me tell ya, the weather in Austin was awesome. It was sunny and in the 60s on Saturday -- definitely the kind of weather I'd welcome any day now in Oklahoma.

Anyway, like I said, I'm always glad to spend time in Austin.

Oh, and can you believe it's already March?

Countdown to my birthday: 17 days!!