My 25

I was "tagged" on Facebook to fill this out, and since it took me so long to do it, I'll repost it here.

Here's my 25:

1. I've never filled one of these out, although I've been sent them many times.
2. I love carbohydrates and am pretty sure I could live on candy alone (if my heart didn't explode first).
3. I was a founding member of "the cool kids club" in high school. Hello Jennifer, Abby & Lauren (can't remember who else was in it).
4. I enjoy listening to Delilah on Sunny 99.1, especially when she starts giving out cheesy advice.
5. I am pretty much always cold. I keep my heater on at my desk at work pretty much all day, every day.
6. I LOVE the movie "The Sound of Music" and can't count how many times I've seen it.
7. For real, when I was a kid, I really wanted to BE Amy Grant. I actually had criteria in my mind that my future husband had to have Grant as his last name so I could legitimately call myself her name. Not kidding.
8. I am EXTREMELY literal. I named a stuffed animal "Machine Washable" because it said it on the tag and so I thought that was the proper name. Seriously.
9. I am the middle child and am pretty sure that I have full-blown middle child syndrome. I always get the smallest piece of chicken (literally and figuratively).
10. I almost got sent to the Principal's office in high school for eating wheat thins in Spanish class.
11. I am an aspiring super-blogger. I just started our family blog a couple months ago and am really enjoying it so far. (In case you didn't know it, you are currently viewing the blog of which I speak.)
12. I love Arbonne and am an aspiring white Mercedes driver.
13. My husband and I started dating in 1995. (Yes, you read that right.)
14. I once had a guinea pig named Iggy. He squeaked really loud when he was hungry.
15. I am NOT a fan of amphibians/reptiles/etc. My most hated animal ever is a snake.
16. I have huge aspirations when it comes to reading books, but I rarely live up to them. It has to be really good to motivate me to finish a whole book (e.g. The Twilight Series).
17. I really enjoy 80s music. The dorkier the better.
18. Flowers make me really happy. My favorite is raununculus.
19. I was obsessed with pink, purple and blue as a child. As far as I was concerned, those were the only colors that existed.
20. I was a Political Science major in college, but before I settled on that, I was a Psychology major, and before that, was gearing up for Biomedical Science (until I realized I don't like blood).
21. I've broken my left ankle twice and sprained it once, all in the span of about a year.
22. I went to Istanbul in 2001 and ate a lot of McDonald's while there (bad choice, I know).
23. My middle name is Louise. I never liked it as a kid, but now I really like it a lot.
24. My choir teacher in high school made me be Cosette in Les Miserables. I was not happy.
25. I know my purpose in life, and am blessed and challenged by that knowledge daily.

A baby shower, a half-marathon, and some advil

This past weekend was really busy, but a lot of fun.

First off, on Saturday I helped host a baby shower for my friend Jaclyn. Jaclyn has been such a great friend to me. Great is probably not the word...ridiculously amazing is probably a better descriptive. But seriously, she and her husband (Blayton) have been such faithful friends to me and also to Wyatt. I have thanked God for them so many times, and I know I'll continue to in the future. They are going to be such great parents, and we can't wait to meet their baby boy in February!

As for the shower itself, there were a couple of recipes that seemed to be hits amongst the shower-goers, so I thought I'd post them here. First off, I made cinnamon coffee (actually Blayton was the master of the coffee maker, so he deserves credit too). This recipe comes from the Taste of Texas, a great restaurant here in Houston, and the coffee is oh so good. Just watch how much you drink. I think I had 3 cups of it, and I was seriously wired at the end of the shower.

Cinnamon Coffee (for drip coffee maker only):
Pour 10 cups of water into machine. Put 4 whole cinnamon sticks and 3 heaping teaspoons brown sugar into the glass pot. Put 1 cup ground coffee (we grind fresh Colombian beans) and 1 teaspoon cinnamon into the brew basket. Brew and stir it well. (The longer it sits, the better it gets!)

The next recipe is for Romanoff sauce, which goes over fruit (traditionally, strawberries). If you've ever had Strawberries Romanoff at La Madeliene, then I think you'll love this recipe. It is definitely not low in fat, but it's a great treat when you're in the mood to indulge.

Strawberries Romanoff:
SERVES 4

Ingredients
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon brandy or vanilla
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons sugar
4 cups fresh strawberries

Directions
Mix sour cream, brown sugar and Brandy in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, whip cream until starts to thicken and add sugar--whip until thick.
Fold cream into sour cream mixture and blend well.
Serve with fresh strawberries.

On Sunday, Wyatt and I ran the Houston half-marathon. This was the second one for both of us. Overall, it was a great experience. The weather was beautiful and neither of us had injuries to speak of by the end.

The main frustration we had was the start of the race. We were supposed to be in the first "wave" of people to start, but we somehow didn't find our group and so we started towards the end of the second group. That meant that we had a few thousand people in front of us for the first few miles, many of them walking in big groups. As a result, we started off really, really slow, and there was nothing we could do about it. If I was claustrophobic, I might have had a panic attack during the first couple miles. After about 4 miles, the crowd thinned out some and we were able to pick up the pace.

Wyatt ended up with a time of 1:57:53, and me with a time of 2:00:29. My sister, brother, mom and dad came out to support us, and we really appreciated it. We went to Empire Cafe afterwards, and it was a great treat. The rest of the day consisted of a lot of sitting, taking advil, and then more sitting.

Here are a few pictures of Wyatt running:




And me running...



And us running (we didn't smile that much throughout, we just knew our pictures were being taken)...


That was our weekend. I have pictures from the shower that I'll post as soon as I get them uploaded.

Ailments, Injuries, and Prayers

So, I never posted pictures from Wyatt's ski adventure in Winter Park. That's because he got sick and ended up flying home early, so the pictures were non-existant. He did have a great time skiing on his one healthy day there, though. He's feeling much better now, so we're happy about that.

If you know me well, you know I rarely get sick. I do get injured fairly often, though, usually due to my own clumsiness. Wyatt says I am an injury magnet, because there have been more times than I can count where I've been hit by a softball, surf board, soccer ball, or any variation of these. And these hits are usually in the face, which is extra fun.

Well, I've been running a lot over the past year or so, and a lot of it has taken place when it's dark out (due to the joys of it being the non-daylight savings time of the year). In July, I had a complete wipe out while running. I tripped on an uneven portion of the sidewalk, a portion that was on a down ramp, and I completely ate it on the concrete. I was bloodied and bruised on my lips, shoulder, knees, and hands, but proceeded to run home anyway. I figured there was no sense in walking, since that would only prolong the time I was away from bandaids and neosporin. So, I run home looking like I've just been violently mugged, passing neighborhood walkers as I go. That was the funniest part; people just kind of looked at me, registered that I was bloody and wounded, smiled, and kept walking. I wonder what I would have done had I been in their shoes.

Fast forward to yesterday night. I'm about 2 miles from home, passing two ladies on the grass because they are on the sidewalk. I'm feeling pretty good about my run and my pace, minding my own business, when I wipe out on some huge tree roots that I didn't notice until I am face to face with them. I get up, smile at the people I just passed, knowing that I probably freaked them out, and assure them that "I've done this before, don't worry." I feel ok other than one finger on my right hand, which really hurts. Again, I keep running, using the same rationale as used in wipeout sequence #1. I get home, and the finger is beginning to swell and turn blue. By this morning, the finger is almost twice its normal size and almost completely purple on the palm side. My dad, who never tells me to go to the Doctor, says "I think you better get that checked out."

I'm wondering if I need to find a new hobby...

Along with all that, Wyatt and I are running in the Houston half marathon this coming Sunday, me with my swollen and purple finger. Prayers for no injuries and overall health would be greatly appreciated. As you can tell by this post, we definitely need it!