A Little Bit of Everything

Yesterday, Chey and I shared a chocolate banana smoothie.

Sometimes, my small business buys me stuff from guitar center. I bought something really random for my VIDEO business…it's a keyboard stand for my one man crew. Random, right?

Dakota's idea of Yoga.

Me: "Dakota take a picture with Cheyenne."
Dakota: "NOOOOOO!!!!!"

Dakota in a better mood.

Hiking with the Girls

Today, I took the girls hiking. We went to one of my favorite trail running spots.


We spent the majority of the time by the creek, throwing rocks.

Cowtown 50K Ultra Marathon Virtual Race

Saturday, I completed my 5th ultra. I was nervous. I wasn't sure I had it in me to run 31 miles solo. Imagine, no race support, water stations, aid stations, nothing for 31 miles…just a protein bar, a bag of granola and a water bottle. Trey wanted to meet me during my run, but since I planned to run on the Trinity Trail for the majority of the distance, he wasn't sure he'd be to meet me.

For breakfast I ate 3 eggs, a third of a sweet potato and a wheat roll.

Around 4:45 am, I started the clock and I let it roll until I was done running. I didn't stop my watch like I normally would during a training run. During training runs, I might run for 3 miles and then stop my watch for like 20 seconds to take a sip of water, not this time. If I took a walk or water break - I kept the time rolling. I didn't have to take a bathroom break, so that was nice!

Trey and the girls met me around mile 29. They were on their way to get breakfast. Trey parked about 50 yards in front of me. The girls ran to me. I paused for a moment to give them hugs and kisses. At that point I was out of water, I had been stopping off and on and refilling my hand-held bottle every time I'd see a water fountain. Well, the last water fountain I passed was not working. Luckily, Trey had some water waiting for me, when I met him. When I got home I sat on the front porch for 10 minutes, to cool down.

An hour later, I took an ice bath. It was terrible, but science says it's beneficial for recovery. I've only done 2 ice baths in my entire life. The rest of the day, I re-hydrated, refueled, stayed in bed and napped.

I Have Bangs, Again...

I was starting to get bored with my hair, so I decided to get bangs, again. I kind of like them.

The lady who cut my hair, forgot a few long strands! I didn't get too far, before I noticed. I went back immediately and asked her to fix it. It was fine. after she corrected it.

I Got All Crafty: Sock Hop

Tonight, I took the girls to a Sock Hop at Cheyenne's school.
None, of our friends had a poodle skirt she could borrow, so I decided to make her one.

This is probably a one-time wear skirt. It looks put together and cute, but it will most likely fall apart at the waist, if she sneezes. We managed to make it through the night, so perhaps -- it's a 2 day old skirt?

Cheyenne is so kind. She told me I have the best fashion skills and she said it like she meant it.
She also kept twirling around. I mean who would want to twirl in a poddle skirt?

P.S. Dakota kept using her Frozen superpowers to freeze me. Dakota had a ball dancing! After the sock hop, we went out with friends for dinner. I'm going to see if maybe my mom can make the girls real poodle skirts, that they can wear longer than 5 hours.

Craving Warm Weather and Family Time

I thought I'd share a little short film I made of our family at Six Flags. This is actually a new service I'm offering. I'd love for family films to become as mainstream as family portraits. Wishful thinking, but wouldn't that be wonderful? Can you imagine how wonderful it will be for the girls to have all these short films to look back on when they are adults? I'm not talking about static portraits, I'm talking about excitement you can see in motion! I showed the girls this film and I promise, Dakota watched it at least 10 times. Finally, I had to say, "Ok, that's enough."

Dakota wants to know when we will be going back. Now, I'm hungry for weekends and warmer weather. Dakota can ride a lot of the rides in the kid area, as long as I ride with her. Trey gets motion sickness on small rides, so I'm the parent who gets to have all the fun.


The Anderson's (Family Film) from Dominique Anderson on Vimeo.

Spring Break at Six Flags

Trey took the day off and we spent a few hours at Six Flags. We had lunch there and the girls rode about 6 rides. The rest of the time, the played on the jungle gym. It was sprinkling when we got there, but about 30 minutes later, it stopped. We have season passes and I'm looking forward to going more often, when Cheyenne is out of school. We also have season passes to Hurricane Harbor! Is summer here, yet?

Afterwards, we went out to dinner at Olive Garden. Now, we are relaxing at home. Have a great weekend!

Rainy Outside. Puzzle Inside.

You wouldn't be able to tell by the weather, but it is spring break. Last week, it was snowing and so far it's been rainy and gloomy. Cheyenne has the week off from school. I took yesterday off of work and I'll take another day off, later this week and spend time with the family. We don't have big plans, but we are thinking about going to Six Flags.

Yesterday, I got a new lens, it's a 40mm aka pancake lens. It's perfect for an everyday lens…something easy to throw in a purse and not have to carry around bulky equipment.

I took some pictures with it, yesterday while Trey and the girls were putting together a My Little Pony Puzzle. They are pretty obsessed with all things MLP.


I'm glad I have little subjects who don't mind the attention.

Afternoon in Dallas at Sixth Floor Museum

How was your weekend?
Saturday, Trey and I toured the Sixth Floor Museum. We took the self-guided audio tour. If you are in Dallas and looking for something to do, this is a wonderful tour.
Rich in history.



JFK Memorial.

After the tour we walked around and ate at Hard Rock Cafe. Later that night, we went shopping at North East Mall, went to the movies and watched Kingsman: The Secret Service and ended our night  eating dinner Carrabba's. That was the first time I had ever eaten at Carrabbas's. I got a pizza, it was alright.

Celebrating 11 years of Marriage and The Time I Fell on the Concrete (Chin First)

Today, Trey and I are celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary. The girls are spending the weekend with grandparents. Before they went to Abilene, I was walking around the house and didn't notice a patch of ice. I fell on the concrete chin first! It hurt so bad. My chin is banged up and my head felt rattled, but I'll be okay. I'm thankful I didn't break anything!

Tonight, Trey and I are going out and celebrating our anniversary. We are actually, looking forward to celebrating the entire weekend, kid free. We love our girls, but one on one time is so important.

11 years of marriage and this is what we have to show for it...two beautiful girls.

2015 Cowtown Half Marathon

Distance: Ultra Marathon 13.1 miles Half Marathon 

Duration: 2:00:26

Average Pace Per Mile: 9:12

Gender Place: 565 out of 3428

Overall Place: 1924 out of 6571 Half Marathon Runners

Friday morning, it started to snow and within hours the roads were icy. Saturday, the ice didn't melt…so, Cowtown 5 and 10K races were cancelled. All day Saturday, I was anxiously waiting to hear if the marathon races were going to be canceled like the 5K and 10K events. Well, around Saturday evening, they announced the cancellation of the marathon and ultra…BUT the half was still on! It was going to be delayed by an hour start time, but the half was going to happen. Anyone signed up for the marathon or ultra could run the half. As you know, I've been training for the ultra. This would've been my fifth ultra finish. 

Saturday evening, the city of Ft. Worth had sand trucks out pouring sand on the race course. Workers and volunteers worked through the night and through the morning - preparing the streets for the race. 

Saturday, the roads were slick and I didn't want to take my chances driving to the expo. I decided not to get my packet and I decided to wait until race morning. I arrived at the expo at 6 am. It was pretty empty! I had to remind myself that it was 2 hours before race start, but still! Were people going to show up????

Around 7:30 am I noticed a crowd. It wasn't nearly as packed as previous years, but there were runners there ready to make the most of race day.

Running conditions were wonderful (considering the circumstances), but I was cautious and I know I held back on speed because I was afraid of slipping. I know I could've ran faster and harder, but I didn't and that's ok. For me this race was "I've been at home for 2 days iced in…I need to run race." It was not a PR go all out and prove something race. Also, I had been training for a few months, I was ready to race, even if it wasn't the distance I had initially signed up for…I was ready.

2 hours of running went by so fast!

I took the above photo around 11 am, as I was walking back to my car. Spectating conditions were terrible. I don't blame anyone for not spectating this year and I don't blame anyone for not wanting to run.

I was hoping to run 31 miles on Sunday and instead I ran 13. Honestly, I'm grateful everything worked out, even though I couldn't run the 50K. It would've been easier for race officials to cancel all racing events this weekend, but they didn't. I'm thankful, I ran. I'm thankful, I did not get injured. I'm thankful I made it safety to and from the expo. I love my city, I love the Ft. Worth running community and I love Cowtown.