Christmas Spoil

Atalie (left) at Christmas in 1989.

Surprisingly, Atalie won despite the two holes in the wall.

This is the dart board painted by Mrs. A. for me.

Mrs. A. made this for Atalie- it's an Aztec calendar that she mounted onto a small table.

Thanks to everyone for a great Christmas!

Back to the grind

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all (belated of course)! I hope everyone got as spoiled as we did over the holidays- our families were very generous! We, as most people around the world, started back to work this week so we ended up driving back to Missouri last Saturday. It turns out that we brought snow and cold back with us. We're bummed that we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to, but are happy we got a chance to visit with the people we did see. Just a short blog tonight, it's late and time to get ready for bed. We'll post pictures of some of the spoil later on this week (hopefully).

Also, wedding plans are kicking up a notch, so keep an ear out for more info... it might be sooner than you think.

Moving on...

It's official- I have completed my Master's Degree! I turned in the final printed versions of my thesis 8 minutes before the office closed on this past Friday afternoon. It is 131 pages long (215 with Appendices) and about 2 inches thick. The printed copies are unbound, so they will be shipped off to be bound by an outside company and then returned to the school in around 4 months where I am to pick them up.

After Christmas break, I'll begin looking for a job more aggressively and we'll get this whole marriage thing sorted out...

We hope to see most of you over the break!

Memphis 1/2 Marathon!

Last Saturday, December 5th, was the day of reckoning! Could I jog all 13.1 miles in the St. Jude's Children Hospital fund-raising race? I was a bit nervous that I wouldn't be able to! The weekend prior, I had jogged 12 miles, so I knew I was capable (a race atmosphere is very encouraging and motivating too); however, I also felt like I was on verge of getting a flu or cold a few days before we left (fabulous timing), I've developed a few minor runner's ailments (inflamed tendon, for instance), and the race course involved a bit of hilly terrain that I knew would tire me more than the flat school track I did most of my training on. Fortunately, after time off from work to rest, and encouragement from friends and family, I was feeling pretty good on race day.

The morning was brisk- low 30s- but sunny, so it ended up being nearly perfect running weather with the appropriate clothes. At 8AM, the first group of runners took off! We started in waves, sorted by mile pace. I was pretty far in back since I'm a slowpoke, but the volunteers and spectators make you feel like you're the first people they see. Bands, people in costumes, belly dancers, etc. were arranged at various points along the route for morale, and residents, shop owners, and loved ones lined streets in-between to cheer and offer words of encouragement. Patrick & Pat stationed themselves along with them, to cheer me & Jackie on and get a few pictures.

Well, I'm telling you- that kind of support feels so good that the first 5 miles went really fast and felt wonderful. But come miles 8 & 9, that was starting to wear off, and by miles 12 & 13, I was barely trudging along. My one goal in this was to jog the entire way though, so I knew I would be very disappointed if I had to join the many others around me who slowed to a walk when I was so close to the finish. It may sound a little dramatic, but I prayed several times to God that he would give me the strength and endurance to accomplish that last leg of the journey!

He delivered, because after 2 hours, 34 minutes, and 7 seconds of jogging, I crossed the finish line. I was feeling pretty out of it, but I had enough mind left to be proud of myself, especially since I thought I would take about 2 hours and 45 minutes. My place wasn't what you'd call stellar at #4659 out of 6845 finishers (placing me in the 32 percentile), but I'm not too worried about it, especially since I found out that I finished 6 minutes faster than Jackie (who I consider to be much more athletic and fit than myself) did in her first 1/2 marathon the previous year. Jackie was pleased to discover she shaved 20 minutes off her last year's time (her finishing time this year was 2:20:58)! In the fifteen minutes between her finishing time and mine, 1050 people crossed the line (which astounds me!), putting her in the 47th percentile- good work!

As for the rest of the weekend, we drove and walked around downtown, relaxed in the hotel (all 4 of us were tired after the race), and delighted in the food of some new restaurants. On our way home (it's a 5-6 hour trip in the car), we made a stop at an ice cream shop with all sorts of scrumptious flavors served in generous helpings at a reasonable price. (Thank goodness Jackie & I burned like 4,000+ calories each the morning before!). But, I've carried on long enough- I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking!

Jackie and I just got done warming up, and are about to take our places with the rest of the runners.

Good thing I knew Patrick would be cheering me on at Mile 3- I had to drop off my coat!

Hooray! We did it! And all finishers received a medal for reward! I wore mine to work on Monday to show it off to my coworkers. :)

The same spot I dropped off my coat, we revisited later that night to see all lit up. I didn't realize it at the time, but how nice that a "Memphis" sign was right above us to commemorate our trip in this photo!

This restaurant was a perfect dinner choice for relaxing and unwinding after a hard day's work. Cushy leather seats, cozy atmosphere, window view of downtown, a glass of wine and delicious Italian food!

busy, busy, busy... sort of

Thought I'd post an update on what we're up to down here in MO...

I'm "done" with my thesis and waiting to get proofs back from the Graduate College so that I can print the final version and submit it to be bound. In the mean time, I've been working part-time for the school to bring some more cash into the house. The rest of the semester will be working on a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal.

Atalie has been training for her half marathon coming up in a few weeks. She has slacked off a little, but now it's crunch time (as if you can cram for a half marathon). She's up to ~10 miles as of right now (yay!) so she'll probably be ok on race day.

As some of you know, I'm addicted to a new drug: rock climbing. The past two Saturdays we took day trips down to Arkansas so that I might get my fix...

Trick or treat!

We started Halloween with something a little different this year... a 10K race! My friend Jackie and I are training for a half marathon in December, and part of the training includes running in a smaller race or two. The weather was beautiful and the atmosphere was very encouraging, so the 6.2 miles felt better to run than any of my exercise sessions have been yet, despite more uphill areas than I expected or prepared for. I'm not speedy but I jogged the whole way, and with more topography than I'm used to, I suppose my 1:07:10 time wasn't too bad. After the race, Patrick & I were busy decorating, cooking and cleaning all day for a little party we hosted that night. Our place had great ambiance, the food was delicious, and there were some creative costumes! The weekend was tiring, but overall very enjoyable. :) Take a look!

Meeting at Pat & Jackie's before the race. It was a chilly morning when I put my number on, but later I got warm and had to unpin and repin it to my shirt w/o stabbing myself while running, since I wanted to take off my jacket!

Patrick got this picture of the crowd gathered at the starting line in front of the store. We're about ready to take off!

I'm almost finished! Patrick & our buddies were cheering me on!

Our decor included jack-o-lanterns! Here's Patrick's- it didn't feel so well and had a bit of an accident on our cupboard.

Mine is a bat that looks a little like an owl.

Isn't Jackie's costume awesome?! :) She made it herself! Pat is Sam Adams (he made the vest on his own). To their left are our friends Ben & Scott.

It looked really funny seeing the two of them kiss though!

Derek made a great Captain Ahab, and Erin made a cute Moby Dick when she flipped her fins around. :)


You can see more of Pat's costume in this photo, which looks really good. And Patrick dressed up as his German grandpa- some of his pieces were authentic! (I think he looks quite cute. hehe!) He even had an Oktoberfest mug from Germany he broke out later.

I raided my closet and dressed as frumpish as possible. I think it worked! haha! Notice the lipstick on my teeth and smeared on my face- my friends seemed to like that small touch- and the Happy Valentine's day button. If I had turned around, you'd see the granny panties sticking up out of my pants.

October Rock Climbing at Horshoe Canyon Ranch

A few weeks ago was Missouri State University's fall break; so with the 4 day weekend, Patrick & our friends decided to go for an extended rock climbing trip. They left on a Wednesday night (the 14th), climbed all day Thursday & Friday, and I joined up with them after work for the rest of the weekend. After a full day of climbing on Saturday, I wasn't sure how they held out for so long, because even that was tiring & challenging. However, it was a good time & we all saw improvement in our performances, so that must have been what fueled them!

Patrick is already past the overhang, and nearly to the top to finish setting up the route!

At Horseshoe Canyon, somebody has to climb up first to set up the anchors/rope/etc.. Here I am, about to clip into a bolt on my first route lead-climbing!

Patrick and Jackie climbed routes next to each other so she was able to get this awesome picture of him with an autumn view in the background.

Patrick climbed a route ahead of me and waited at the top so he could make sure I set up the anchors properly and could get a new perspective caught on camera.

The view was a fabulous reward for making it to the top of a route.

When we got back from climbing on Saturday, I found this guy waiting for me on my sleeping bag in the tent! (shudder) I'm not looking for another roommate, so I promptly escorted him out!