My Week in Instagram Pictures

Yesterday, we went to Nanaw's funeral. It was a beautiful service in Ranger, Texas. It drizzled the entire time. Do you know that every funeral I've ever attended, it has been rainy or gloomy? Weird, right?

Here are the roses we placed on Nanaw's casket.

Trey and I took bereavement leave, yesterday and today. We've spent the majority of our day running around shopping and taking care of finances. Here is an older photo of Nanaw with the boys. I know they miss her...

You know, I'm expecting -- but I bet you didn't know sassy little momma is expecting too.
Speaking of pregnancy, I'm still uncomfortable. I have a doctors appointment soon, so I'm looking forward to talking to her about some of my concerns. Trey encouraged me to take several days off from exercising and I agree -- it's gotten to that point where I need a break. I want to see how much that helps. One day of no exercising and I still feel the same. And by "the same," I mean I still hurt. So, we'll see how the next few days go.

Gotta fed that appetite....

I've been wearing this necklace a lot lately. I'm trying to recall where I got it from. I think it was Macy's.

It's time to put up new photos. Do you guys rotate photos out of old frames? It's a good idea. I've had this photo of my Grandma Mary for a while, but I think it's time to frame her. I think I want to start a "grandma wall."


Mom's, I need pictures of the grandmas! 

A friend of mine posted this photo and it made my day ----
Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you all have a great weekend!!!!!!! If someone annoys you, just high-five them.

A Running Joke & The Cowtown Marathon Bridge Everyone Talks About

It's kind of a running joke, but whenever Trey and I are driving around Fort Worth, it's common for me to say hey -- I've ran over here before. I sound like a broken record because apparently I'm ALWAYS telling him that. When you've ran an ultra in the city, you cover a lot of miles, so yeah, chances are I've ran a good portion of the surrounding neighborhoods near the downtown area.

Last week, Trey and I drove a portion of the Cowtown Half Marathon Course. He wanted to see the  bridge on main street everyone is always crying about. Most of the runners hate this particular part of the course because it's a long and steady uphill battle, right before you hit downtown. I believe this is main street and that historic building is the original courthouse.

Last year, I recall seeing a runner puking his brains out. His head was over the bridge and everything, it was quite dramatic. Yay, for running memories!

Once you reach the courthouse and take a right, you think you've reached the top of the hill, but NO, there's more. Just a little more of an uphill battle and then it evens out, with more gradual hills. At this point there is about 4 more miles to go to the half marathon finish line. It's about 22 more miles for the ultra marathoners. That was me, last year.

8 Years of Marriage

Yesterday, Trey and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary.
Eight loooooooong years, I've been with this man. Ha, it's been a great journey so far.

Sunday, we celebrated our anniversary at Posada's Mexican Restaurant. Mmmm, Mexican food. We also went out for dinner, last night.

Here's a throw back photo from 2006. So, young and in love.

Yesterday morning, I woke up and I saw a bag of Hershey chocolate kisses (my favorite chocolate) and a card for ME.

I don't know if it's the pregnancy or just my normal wacky hormones, but this card got me all teary-eyed.



Trey is the best gift giver. I got the better end of the deal in this relationship, but I should really step up my gift giving game and take notes from him. He gives chocolate (too many blog posts to link an example), small kitchen appliances, and diamonds. That's good stuff, right there. Other than the card and sweets, he ordered my treadmill replacement part --- which is pretty much on the same level of diamonds, if you ask me. I AM BEYOND EXCITED!!!!!!!

The photo below is from our wedding, during our first dance. We danced to Song #41 by Dave Matthews and Time Reynolds. It seemed like every college girl in my graduating class listened to Dave Matthews. It's a beautiful song, here is the link if you'd like to hear it.

My wedding dress was strapless and every time I see this photo, I think oh my goodness -- I should've worn clothes to my own wedding!!! Strapless dresses, do that --- if you are photographed a certain way, you look NAKED. Am I right ladies? Hey, at least I wore pretty jewelry and my hair looked good.

8 years down, here's to a lifetime.....

We Will Miss You

Early Monday morning, Trey's 91 year old, great grandmother, passed away. Nanaw lived a long and wonderful life. She had the best sense of humor, she was always cracking jokes. We will miss her smile.

Please keep our family in your prayers as we mourn her loss, celebrate her life, and reflect on her passing. Thank you, friends. Here are some photos of her, I've captured over the years.

Christmas 2006

I always enjoyed playing Skip-Bo with her. Grandma had some serious game! And she was not humble about it, <-- and that's what made her so charming.

Christmas 2007

Brandon and Maghen's Wedding 2009

Drake Concert at College Park Center Part 2 of 2

Friday at work, I was scheduled to close, so that meant -- no leaving work early, not even for the Drake concert. It was fine. Tasha met me on campus around 4' ish and we twiddled our thumbs until it was closing time.

My Telly Awards look beautiful, I MEAN my little sister -- Yeah, that's what I meant. My little sister is a senior, soon she'll be off at college, somewhere. I would love to see her at UTA, I really think it's a good match for her.

Before walking over to College Park, we took shots to get us pumped-up. Just kidding, but we did get our caffeine drink on at Starbucks. Real CAFFEINE, not decaf -- whoa, look at me, such a pregnant rebel!

I'm the type of Starbucks customer who feels overwhelmed by the plethora of drink options. Caffeine, decaf, whole milk, 2%, fat free, soy, syrup, cream on so on --- all those decisions and then I still have to pick a DRINK!!!!!! It's too much! I never know what to get. So I looked around the cafe and saw a promo poster for the skinny mocha. I had that, as is... It was delicious and not too sweet.

Tasha introduced me to a goodie too, she got an iced carmel macchiato.

Shortly, after that we walked to the concert venue. While I was in line, I saw Breanna and Nathan. I first met Natahan when he was a work study in my department. I got to know him and his wife over the years. They are a darling couple. They've been over to our house a few times to watch football and Trey and Nathan play PS3 online together, every now and then.

This is UTA's new BABY, College Park Center. The Drake concert was the first performance in the brand new venue. This was pre-show, so people were still filling in. The venue is real intimate and this was probably one of the smallest places Drake has performed at, during his Take Care Tour.

The most unflattering angle of the most flattering friends and sister....They still look beautiful.

Probably my favorite song he performed was Headlines. GREAT SHOW! Now, I want to go to another concert.

Related Blog Post: Drake Concert at College Park Center Part 1 of 2 

P.S. the event, I supported at work, today went well. Now, I can take a breather. (exhale).

Something You Might Not Know About Trey...

Cary Services, Dallas-Ft Worth branch, was highlighted in this months company newsletter. Do you remember the team photo I took of all the guys, way back when? (blog post here). Well, it was featured on the front page.

Also in the newsletter, was a little bio/information column about Trey. I thought I'd share it with you guys. Maybe you'll learn something new about him.

Most favorite season: Winter because work is more relaxed.
Least favorite season: Summer because work is CRAZY --- BUSY!!!!!

Cell Phone Etiquette  
This article was also in the newsletter about Cell Phone Etiquette. What are some of your cell phone do's and don'ts? I can tell you right now, my  biggest cell phone pet peeve is when girls are in a public bathroom and they decide to have a phone conversation. RUDE & GROSS!

Trey is guilty of the first one mentioned....
I'm sure I'm guilty of the third one....

Sunday Family Time 
This evening, Trey took Cheyenne on a bike ride, while I tagged along on foot, running alongside. I spent the rest of the evening getting ready for the work week: 5 loads of laundry, lunches, shopping, and cleaning. I usually have Monday's off, but tomorrow I'll be busy with a special video production. It's going to be a BIG day, for me. A video I've been working on for about 12 weeks will be previewed in front of a large crowd (a few hundred people). I will also be filming during that lunch event. -- So say a prayer for me. Thanks!

My DailyMile training from last week
3 miles on the bike, 70 minutes on the elliptical, and 10 miles of a run/walk combo.
 

Drake Concert at College Park Center Part 1 of 2

Last night, I took my little sister Tashsa to the Drake Concert at College Park Center, at the University of Texas at Arlington. We met up with Brittany and Artrese. I've been following Artrese on Twitter for a while now, but it was great to finally meet her in real life. All of us have been looking forward to this concert for weeks, now. WEEKS! If you remember, I surprised Tasha with theses tickets and Brittany harassed me to take her. She didn't have to harass me, I love hanging out with that girl -- she's crazy-fun to be around.

Before the concert, I called the staff at College Park and asked if I could take my DSLR camera to take photos and  they said, no. That answer didn't surprise me, but I figured I'd rather find out beforehand, than show up with my Canon and be turned away. They only allow point and shoot cameras, so I used my phone and a SonyCyber Shot. Unfortunately, I left the USB cord at work, so I'll have to wait until I get the Sony cord to download the rest of my pictures.  This is the lobby area of College Park -- being around all the college students made me feel young again. Ha!

The concert was great! I didn't realize this, but this was Tasha's first big concert. She was blown away with the stage lights and monitors. Here is a recording, I captured this clip during the show.

I feel like I mainly go to concerts when I'm pregnant. When I was pregnant with Cheyenne I went to a Jay-Z/Mary J Blige Concert and a few weeks later I went to a Radiohead Concert. I guess, it was Dakota's turn to experience a show. She was kicking me all night long. It must've been the bass.

Drake put on a show, singing so many songs. I was actually surprised how long his set lasted. The concert ended around 11 pm. Tasha and I had a late dinner or early breakfast (depends how you look at it), at Waffle House. By the time I got to bed it was after 1 am. Whew, I was exhausted! I'm still tired.

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Today, we spent the day visiting with my mom, Angleica, Bella, and Tasha before they left town. We went shopping and stopped at the food court to enjoy lunch and frozen yogurt.

My perfume is almost out, so I'm in the fragrance market. I like this Victoria Secret Body mist. What type of perfume do you wear? I wear Curve for Women.

Burley Bike Trailer & Low Rider, Dakota

A huge thanks to our friends, Casey and Krista. Thanks to them, we now have a Burley bike trailer to tow our little one. Yay, for new toys!

You know how I'm obsessed with running? Well, that's how our friend Casey is with cycling. He has a bike trailer for his two kids, this trailer was given to him, so he gave it to us. We really appreciate it.

As soon as Trey got home, Cheyenne was bouncing up and down, yelling, " The sun is up!" Meaning, since the sun was still out, she could go for a bike ride. She loved, loved, loved, the bike trailer! She was giggling and saying Yay, Wee!

I hopped on the bike to get a feel for it. It's not as much of a drag/pull as I thought it would be. It was actually smooth.

Trey took her on a one mile ride, while I made breakfast for dinner.

Do you think we could hitch the trailer to the scooter?
NO!

Well, do you think I can convince Trey to let me ride in the trailer?
Probably not.

I don't think Chey would be willing to share.

I'm pretty sure, this will be included in our weekend plans. What are your plans? My mom, Tasha and Bella will be in town, so I'm excited to see them.

Shuffle Walk

At the moment, I'm quite frustrated. Since Sunday's half marathon, I've ran 3 miles. I shouldn't even say it was running, it was more like a shuffle: Stop, shuffle, walk -- exercise. Here's the deal, the running-bouncing motion feels uncomfortable. I really don't want to say painful, but to be honest - IF I try to run my normal pregnancy run pace, it can be painful. When I was pregnant with Cheyenne, she felt like she was in this tight bubble of a cushion within my belly and the only run-pain I experienced was knee discomfort from the extra weight I gained. Dakota feels like a low rider, with less cushion. My legs don't hurt at all, I think I'd rather be experiencing that discomfort, tho. To be safe, I have resorted to walking and elliptical training. No squats, no weights over 5 lbs, and I don't carry Cheyenne unless it's just loading her in a basket or the car.

Several of my friends, mentioned they experienced this same kind of discomfort with their second child. It just sucks and I'd rather be comfortable, again. Who knows, maybe in a week, things will go back to normal, but at the moment, it doesn't seem like it will. I'm bracing myself for walking the duration of this pregnancy, but who knows, right?
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UPDATE --- EDIT
I contacted my doctors office and the nurse recommeneded I take Extra Strength Tylenol and apply an ice pack to alleviate any pain. She said, my symptoms are normal and unless there is spotting, there is nothing I should worry about. Ok, now I have some peace of mind.

Official 2012 Cowtown Half Marathon Race Photos & A Family Visit

But first --- Let me tell you about last night.

Jason, Shelly, and Trevor were in town for the day. Once Trey and I were done with work, we all went out to eat with them at one of my favorite restaurants, Chuy's. Like last time, I got the nachos, but I remembered to ask them to take it easy on the cheese. Ohhhhh, and I ate so much chips and salsa. Today, I haven't had much of an appetite. I could probably go into hibernation mode and be just fine. The food was delicious and visiting with our family was a nice mid-week treat!

Okay, now for the official Cowtown photos. This was right after I crossed the finish line.


I had about 3 more miles to go....

And now, for your amusement....
Please laugh WITH ME. It's not a successful race, unless I have at least one terrible race day photo. Am, I right? I was probably thinking, "Whatever you do, don't pee your pants." 

And for the wobble, pregnant finish...

If you want to see video of me crossing the finish line you can view it here.