Exercising, Anniversaries and Football!

Like most people, I'm on this "getting in better shape kick" and I went running this weekend. Kory and I went together on Saturday, but he kicked my tail. His long legs make him much faster than me, in addition to the fact that I am WAY out of shape and couldn't make it very far at all. I went running again yesterday afternoon to try and get this habit going. I did MUCH better, but of course was by myself so no one could see that.

After running two days in a row, doing lunges and crunches in my living room and wearing high heels yesterday, my legs are KILLING me! I'm so sore and I have shin splints, which are extremely painful! Now I really want to keep running so I can work the soreness out and get in shape. The main problem is that it's always dark outside my work hours. I might get Kory to run with me tonight so it won't be so scary. Otherwise, I might just run laps around our apartment parking lot! haha He can just look out the window every once in a while to make sure I'm still going and haven't been abducted. (If you don't know, I'm really scared of the dark. Like a little kid but maybe worse. I hate it, even in my apartment when I'm alone...because how do I know I'm really alone??)

I was thinking today that if I am this sore after working out for 20-30 min for 2 days, I can't even begin to imagine how sore the people on The Biggest Loser are when the show first starts!! Those workouts are crazy intense--I bet they can hardly move and then they have to keep working out so hard-core! Plus they have so much weight to carry around and might not have worked out for years and years. I'm so impressed by them!

Last night, Kory and I went to dinner for our 2 year dating anniversary. There is a casino about 20 minutes from where we live and they have a really awesome, fancy restaurant we'd never been to before. The food was delicious!! It's pretty pricey, but the atmosphere and delicious food make it well worth it. We were the only people in the place too so we got great service and lots of attention! Tonight we're going back to the casino to see a comedian. We wanted to do dinner and a show on the same night, but the restaurant is only open on weekends and the comedian is only on Mondays, so we're having an extended celebration. We were SO full after dinner that we had no room for dessert last night. We'll go back and have dessert tonight before going to the show.

I did quite a bit of cooking this weekend. On Saturday, I got this wave of ambition and wanted to cook, so I have to take advantage of it when that feeling comes--it's not very often! I made Fettuccine Alfredo, African Peanut Soup and Pot Roast. The soup is for a staff luncheon at work that I'm co-hosting tomorrow. We have a staff luncheon each month and this month our theme is "New Year, New Recipes". Everyone is bringing a dish they have never made before, so this could be really fun or quite a disaster! haha The soup turned out well, but the peanut butter taste just overpowers everything else. It's still good, but I just wish you could taste the other stuff more and not just the peanut butter.

I hope that I won't have to cook this week because I can just reheat all the food that I have already cooked. I made the Pot Roast in the crock pot and it was delicious! It's only the second time I've used the crock pot, but I love it! When we got home from church Sunday and could smell the roast cooking, it was an awesome moment! Very nostalgic.

We're so excited the Cowboys won!! What a fun game to watch. Kory had some of my soup for dinner, which he claims was drugged, and he was asleep for the entire game--and the game started at 5:00 p.m. here! It was pretty funny though. As soon as he finished the soup, his eyelids were droopy and he was really fighting to stay awake. There aren't a lot of Cowboys fans here, but we can always log onto Facebook and get to share our Cowboys excitement with our Texas friends!

Football and Resolutions

National Championship tonight! Hook 'em Horns!! It starts at 5 on the West Coast, so I will have to rush out of work and get home so I don't miss too much of it.

It is now illegal to talk on your cell phone while driving in Oregon unless you use a wireless hands-free device. I still haven't got one...I probably need to get on that. I think it's a great law, but it's seriously annoying to me as someone who enjoys talking on the phone in the car. Yes I know it's dangerous and I would NEVER want to put my life or someone else's in danger...so I guess it's good they passed a law to make people like me be more careful.

I am not going to Lubbock for Master Follies this year...and I'm very sad about that. Two years in a row now! :( I can't believe I haven't been back since I have been out of college. Oh well--I suppose this is the price I pay for living in cool, far-away places. I care way less about seeing the shows than I do about seeing people.

We're taking the youth group inner tubing in a couple weeks and I am SO excited about it! I am not sure why, but I am beyond pumped. I know it will be fun, but I might be getting my hopes up a little too much. I do love playing in the snow and we haven't got ANY here, so maybe that is part of it. I never would have thought that Southeast NM and West Texas would get more snow than somewhere this far north. It's probably because we're so close to the coast I guess. I will get to wear some of my new super warm clothes to play in the snow too, so that is exciting.

The holidays continue for Kory and I! We have Christmas, New Years, 2 year anniversary, my birthday and Valentine's Day all within 8 weeks of each other.

Ty got me My Spanish Coach for the DS for Christmas and it's awesome! I feel like I'm learning a lot and it's pretty fun. My favorite is this game where you get to whack gophers on the head if they say the Spanish word you're looking for.

I think we're all aware that most of the time when we tell someone we are praying for them or we will pray for them, we actually don't. Ok, well I'll just speak for myself...I don't actually spend much time in prayer after saying that. I am really trying to work on that. I have good intentions when I say it--it's not that I want to lie and make them think I care when I really don't. I just forget about it and never remember it again to follow through with the prayers. So, two people have asked for my prayers this week, and I have prayed for both of them several times. So far, so good!

I'm also trying to read the Bible through this year and I have read every day so far (you only read 6 days a week). I realize we're barely a week into January, but I'm celebrating the small victories. I rarely make New Years Resolutions, but this year I decided this was a great time to start making some spiritual improvements in my life. If you feel bold enough, I would appreciate you asking me about these resolutions from time to time to keep me accountable. I will do the same for you if you'll tell me what improvements you're trying to make this year!

Post-Thanksgiving Update

Thanksgiving break was so fun and relaxing for me! I can't really explain why, but for some reason, Robby and Lynsey's one-year old daughter, Anna Kate, thought I was the coolest person ever! Of course, I loved the attention and the fact that she was always looking for me, letting me hold her, sitting in my lap and giving me the goofiest smiles ever. The second I walked in the door, she walked up to me and held her hands up for me to hold her like we'd known each other for years. She has the cutest little fake smile she would flash at me every time we made eye contact. We laughed at her "stranger smile" many times during the weekend.

We went to see The Informant the day after Thanksgiving and I wasn't really impressed. It doesn't really have a plot and isn't too entertaining, in my opinion. It's based on a true story and it's really just setting up this very quirky character the whole time. It's also really hard to follow and I spent almost the whole movie just trying to keep up. I did enjoy New Moon, however. I know it's corny and geared towards teenage girls, but I am a sucker for a love story. I can handle a little cheesiness if it is a happy ending :) I'm definitely Team Jacob. After seeing him, Edward just seems like a pale, skinny, old guy without much of a personality. Yes, I'm totally shallow and Jacob's good looks don't hurt either.

My wallet went missing about a week ago. It was such an ordeal because basically my money was trapped in my bank account and I couldn't access it. I had a hold put on my checks and went ahead and canceled my debit card just in case. I had other checks so I tried to use them, but nowhere will accept a check without picture ID. My driver's license was in my wallet so I had no picture ID. I also couldn't withdraw money from my account at the bank without picture ID. So, I figured I could just get another Driver's License and then be able to get money out. Well, you have to pay for a DL and they don't accept checks, so I couldn't get money to pay for that! Ugh! Anyway, hopefully it is all worked out now, but it's been such a mess. Luckily, my wallet was found and hadn't been stolen, so no money was gone at all. It was a good way to not spend any money for about a week or so at least!

It's Civil War week in Oregon! That means that Oregon State University and the University of Oregon are playing each other in college football this Thursday. People have been talking about it for months and I'm getting really excited for it. Of course, I'm a Ducks fan and hope they win. We'll go over to watch the game and eat pizza with a very fun couple from church. They are a divided family--she loves the Beavers and he is a Ducks fan. Should be interesting!!

I just realized I haven't taken any pictures in quite a while...so this blog is probably boring you all with just stories. I'll try to take some pictures and post them this week.

Football Fun

The Oregon/USC game on Saturday was AWESOME! It was such an exciting and fun game to watch--especially in person. The crowd was so into the game and did such a great job of being LOUD! Many times, I couldn't talk to Kory who was standing right next to me because we couldn't hear each other. It only rained for about 15-20 minutes the whole game and wasn't really too cold. You can look at this Facebook album to see my pictures from the game: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019075&id=160201160&l=f31df4e6cb

Apparently, people think they can call the Employment Department if they have questions about ANYTHING at all. I got a call recently from a guy who wanted to know the city bus schedules and routes. Today a lady called asking me if this random welding college in Idaho will accept the Pell Grant. I have also answered calls where someone asked me if it was supposed to rain, how to hide from an ex-husband where he couldn't find her and to list every job currently open in the State of Oregon.

With all the recent rain, it is beginning to green up around here! It's so pretty! I love seeing green grass and autumn leaves at the same time.

Weekend Update

This past weekend was pretty busy and this week looks to be the same. I went to a volleyball game, homecoming, 2 soccer games, and 3 church meetings over the weekend. South Umpqua's homecoming was Friday night, so we went to the football game to enjoy the festivities. There were a few things that I think should have been changed...the homecoming court was all smushed up on the track with the cars and you could barely see them, while the announcer was out on the field in full-view of everyone. There was also only one convertible and so with all the other cars, you couldn't even see the girls inside. They also didn't have enough cars so several girls were in the back seat of a mustang. Anyway, it was fun because we found two families from church and got to watch the game with them. They even treated us to fried bread with apple butter, which was quite yummy!

Saturday morning, I had my last soccer game coaching the Green Dragons. They were so much fun and I'm really glad I got to coach them! I'll miss the cute kids, but I definitely won't miss getting up early on Saturday mornings. We also went to a high school boys' soccer game on Saturday afternoon to watch one of our youth group kids. Unfortunately, he didn't get to play, but it was an awesome game! It was the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the state and our team won 2-1 in overtime to beat the undefeated team. Very exciting!

A couple months ago, I found a book in Barnes and Noble called The World According to Twitter. I don't use Twitter, but thought this book sounded interesting so I picked it up to start reading. It was SO funny! I was laughing out loud in B and N and really loved this book. The author, David Pogue, is a NY Times columnist who wrote a question on Twitter each night and then recorded the best answers he got (his followers on Twitter replied and the entire book is made up of their responses). The questions are about all sorts of topics from first kisses to movie sequels to lifelong regrets. I didn't end up buying the book because I was already buying a couple others. I found the book again this past weekend and it was on sale, so after reading some more of it in the store, I just bought the book. I spent Saturday evening/night reading the entire book. It's just SO stinking hilarious! The book also includes many inspirational, heart-breaking and really smart tweets, however. This book has me seriously considering getting a Twitter account now. I'll post some questions/responses in the next couple days from this awesome book!

Lost Pictures

I found quite a few pictures on my camera this evening that I never put online, so here are some random photos from the past month.

South Umpqua High School (in Myrtle Creek) football field

It's no Bulldog Bowl, but the view is pretty great!

These boys found these clothes in a closet in the church building and ran into youth group Wednesday night in these outfits. It was hilarious!!

They played a game of hot potato with an onion and if the music stopped while you were holding the onion, you had to take a bite of it!

First birthday celebration--cupcakes at youth group!