A girl's gotta bounce

This past weekend BJ and I were invited to a 2nd birthday party for one of his good friend's son. Now BJ is quite a fan of this little dude, but in all honesty we weren't thinking that it would be a swell time for us given that we're pretty much the only ones in the crowd without munchkins of our own. I assured him that we could show up, give our present and sneak out early if we were bored to tears and his friends would not take offense. When explaining this train of thought to another couple who were going (with their munchkin of course) we were told, "oh no, you'll love it! That place is fun!" Apparently the party was being held at one of those playland sorts of places with inflatable bouncy things - we were told most explicitly to wear socks or we wouldn't be allowed to play (seems a bit Fascist to me, especially considering the types of filth children carry about on their hands, but whatever)

Despite being still a bit skeptical about the fun factor, we put on our socks - I made sure BJ's had no holes, and I picked out a cute hot pink argyle pair from my dresser to go with my "Red Hair Gives Me Super Powers" tshirt. We arrived fashionably late at Party Central and that's where the fun began!!

We immediately started bouncing in one of the bounce chambers and it was a good one!! With all of the adults in there, I was getting some good air.























You can't see me well in this video since I'm in the back corner ... and falling down but we (me, BJ and two of BJ's friends) are totally doing the YMCA as we jump.


There was also a cool slide that you had to climb up .... whee!!
and since when do BJ and I stand around and talk in a super hero stance??? Seriously, what's up with the Superman poses?? (though my pose is a bit more slouchey)

and the most tiring part was the obstacle course. You climbed through tunnels, over small walls, between moving posts and then had to haul yourself up a wall to go down the last slide. This is me hanging "precariously" ... I think I was yelling "Save me, save me!" and BJ was trying desperately to save me from falling off the cliff (seriously, we have some good imaginations!)

By the end of it, we were thoroughly exhausted, and the next day my arms and abs were sore. I'm guessing from pulling myself up things and stabilizing myself whilst bouncing.

I don't know what the birthday boy (pictured here) thought of the whole thing, but we had a blast!!

Thursday's Trip Down Memory Lane

I can recall the exact moment when I first decided that I needed to lose weight and start to work out, it was after I saw this picture from my 32nd birthday and realized that my jeans hadn't shrunk, my ass had just gotten larger :)
Of course that was September and it took me two months to actually take action, hire a trainer, meet with a dietician and get at it, but this was when I finally realized that what I saw in the mirror was not reality.

Yes, blog readers, I love you so much as to reveal my most unflattering picture. Don't say I never gave you anything.

Plan of Action

There's no point in pretending, I have fallen off the training wagon ... again! I've had such a hard time motivating myself to run lately, despite the fact that I always feel so good after a nice workout. Instead of being something that I look forward to, it's just one other area where I feel like I'm falling short. I think part of it has to do with not getting together with my running club lately. My work schedule has conflicted with most of the group runs, but there have been nights where I just haven't gone. I was running well in the Spring when I was meeting up with the Hot Legs at least once a week - I think that I should really try to incorporate that into my running regimen.

Another thing that I've been pondering since moving back to Little Rock is getting back into cross training and back into tris. I had such a good thing going when I lived in Columbia and had the awesome university swimming pool and rec center at my disposal and areas to ride my bike right outside of my door. My travel nursing gigs have totally killed my cross training because of the constant moving and inability to get hooked up with a pool or a place to ride my bike where I feel safe. Now that I'm staying put, I really need to get back at it. I'd like to do some races in the Spring and I promised a friend of mine that I'd do a women's tri with her in Chicago next summer. I think that if I had a more rounded exercise plan, I'd be happier and more fit.

For the immediate future, I'm needing to find a goal to work on. I'm planning a half-marathon with BJ the first week of December, but since I've blown off most of my training thus far, I'm really not going to expect to PR or do anything exciting. I've learned the hard way that you can't "catch up" on your training and mileage - last time I did that I ended up with a sore IT band. So now I'm pondering a little more long term. The Little Rock Marathon is exactly 19 weeks from today, and my training plan is 20 weeks long. I wouldn't have to play catchup, I'd just be starting at week 2. I'm thinking that I need to just go for it and take it one week at a time. I just know that if I'm going to be serious, I need to put in my four runs a week and stop making excuses. Ever since I saw the big ass medals they hand out at this marathon (they're the largest in the world according to Runner's World), I knew that I had to have one. Since it's in my own back yard, I'd be silly to not take advantage of it. We'll check back in next week and see how my first week of honest training has gone.

Thursday's Trip Down Memory Lane

This trip takes us to a time not so long ago .... me and BJ's first date part 2. (There was some controversy as to whether we had one or two dates the first time that we met, I still firmly believe that there were two separate and distinct dates). There is no photographic evidence from our true first date which was a lunch that ended up lasting SIX hours!! Later on that evening, I met up with BJ and two of his friends at Sticky Fingerz to hear an all girl's band that does a lot of 80s covers. There was a photographer there from a local "social" website that took our picture so now for all time we will have a picture of the first day that we met.
This was of course before BJ nearly got us killed by taking me to a gangsta' bar where my presence was most definitely not wanted! But that's another story for another time.

In other news, the home inspection went well so it's full speed ahead to mortgage land!

Woo Pig Sooie!

I'm not a fan of football - never have been. I was raised in a town where the high school didn't have a football team so basketball was the major sport. I understand basketball, I was a cheerleader for basketball, I GET basketball. Now football is an entirely different animal. When I changed high schools I suddenly found myself in major football territory, as a matter of fact I would have been shocked if our men's basketball team could have beaten most of the women's teams in town. I spent four years in the marching band on the sidelines and in the half time shows at football games, but I never understood or cared what was going on. I cheered when others cheered, exclaimed in disgust when others did and basically just chatted with my girlfriends the whole time.

In college at Illinois State, football was not a big thing. I think I went to one or two games as part of a sorority/fraternity mixer but honestly I was in it for the tailgating and beer. In nursing school at Mizzou, I often had clinicals on the weekends as part of my program or I was working so again - no football, no care.

Now I find myself in the midst of football fanatics and apparently I'm marrying not only BJ, but his season tickets to the University of Arkansas Razorback games..... yippee for me ... NOT! Now before you give me grief, let me make it clear that I did NOT misrepresent myself in regards to sports. I am certain that we covered sports in our first lunch date which lasted 6 hours and my thoughts on football were not sugar coated. The only sport I enjoy watching is college basketball, if I'm plied with liquor I can watch hockey or go to a baseball game (I'd rather put my eyes out, however, than watch it on TV), when the Olympics come around I can sit and watch various sports for hours, but that's it. I have had many opportunities in my life to care about football - for example, my stepdad coaches my former high school team, my stepbrother played college ball for four years, I've been to more Super Bowl parties than I can count
and still I don't like football.

All of that clearly has to change now because I'm in love yada yada yada and marrying into a family that not only watches their own personal teams, but has to watch ESPN and see highlights of every other important game going on in the country - UGH! Since I do want my marriage to work, and I was told that nothing gets a guy hotter than seeing his main squeeze dressed up in his team's colors and loudly disputing a crappy call, I boldly went to my first Razorback game this weekend.
Let me be clear that I still don't really understand football, though I was making a concerted effort to make some sense of the madness on the field. I'm a pretty sharp gal so once I actually *sigh* started to pay attention and care, the downs, yards, penalties and strategy were starting to make some sense.

For those who don't know Razorback football, let me just say that these people are nuts! Grown women and men were passionately cheering for this team, booing the opponents, exclaiming loudly at the "unfair" penalty calls. I seriously would have feared for my life if at a quiet point in the game I decided to shout, "I think the Razorbacks suck ass!"

Another distinctly Arkansas tradition is to call the hogs. This is done prior to the team taking the field and as a type of cheer at all of the kick offs and other special moments. It had been demonstrated to me half- heatedly by BJ once and very enthusiastically by my future brother-in-law prior to the game (who interestingly enough is an Auburn fan). After seeing what it means to call the hogs, I told BJ outright that I was NOT going to do that, but I did compromise and wear a ball cap with the "hog call" on it.

So picture this, tens of thousands of men, women and children at the beginning of the game .... standing up wiggling their hands in the air "spirit finger" style yelling "WOOOOOOOOOOOOO PIG SOOIE!" Seriously the first time I saw it, I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pee. This video clip gives you an idea ... seriously the ENTIRE stadium was participating!

In the end, the football game was not a horribly painful experience, by the end of it I felt like i had some vague understanding of what was going on. I wouldn't mind going two or three times a season but I don't know if and when I would ever feel so moved as to want to call the hogs.

One other fun part of the weekend was getting to meet BJ's sister and her husband for the first time. She's a dyed in the wool Mizzou and Georgia fan while he can be found wandering around aimlessly shouting "War Eagle!" (click here for reference) They flew in for the game to sit in the Auburn section and we all had a rousing weekend of football together - and thankfully there was plenty of beer to dull the pain for Jenn!!