Run Kami run!

After many, many months of training and I can't even begin to imagine how many miles run, Kami completed her first marathon on Sunday!!  This was originally supposed to happen back in December before the Icy Disaster swept through and cancelled the race, so here we are almost three months later with a baby road trip over to Fort Worth for the Cowtown Marathon on a beautiful spring-like day (a million times better than the ice and snow!).  The perfect day for a run!  You know, for you people who like to do that kind of thing...

Check out the awesome medal - it's a spur!  I love you, Fort Worth.

Go Kami!  Winnie the puppy dog was not cooperating on the picture-taking, but I promise she was very supportive.

I have absolutely no desire to ever run a marathon in my life (I probably wouldn't even wake up for it...), but I'm happy to support my friends who do.  It gives me an excuse to create inspirational craft projects that look as though they were inspired and executed by a seven year old (giant bubble/block letters!  pink glitter paint!).

So proud of you, Kami!  And just watching her run 26.2 miles made us hungry, so Carolyn, Eva, and I had frozen custard from Curly's and delicious brunch at Cafe Brazil in her honor.  You know, we had to walk a little bit from where we parked to the finish line...there was even a very small hill involved.  Definitely exercise.  And then I promptly went home and took a nap.

Ice, ice baby

We've been stuck in the midst of a wintry blast here for the past few days...ummm, I thought we were supposed to have patio weather in Dallas in December!  Isn't that one of the perks of suffering through the ridiculously hot summers?  Oh well, I guess we'll take a little actual cold; it makes it feel more holiday-ish, anyway.  I actually escaped from the ice (well, the start of the ice - still had to face the aftermath) by driving down to Austin Thursday night to go to tax school on Friday.  And since Dallas got covered in a thick sheet of ice Thursday night and Friday morning, I really didn't mind being in Austin where there was no ice in sight.  Especially since my office decided to say, "hey, you guys go ahead and brave the ice and come on in today!  If you can't make it, you'll probably just need to take some time off, ok, cool?"  Not cool, actually, especially when sanity says to stay off the crazy ice slick roads and you have a twenty-something mile drive that takes 45 minutes on a good day.  Anyway...happy to be in Austin so I didn't even have to deal with that.

No one wants to hear about tax school, so I'll just share my version of highlights, which you know includes food.

I picked up dinner Thursday night from Hyde Park Bar & Grill, which has one of my favorite restaurant landmarks - a big ol' giant fork outside.  It's awesome, and so is the food. 

I was originally planning to drive back Friday after the conference, but decided to stay an extra night, knock out some Christmas shopping, and face the icy disaster on Saturday instead.  Which meant one more delicious Austin dinner!  So I went to Maudie's and indulged in Tex-Mex deliciousness.  And yes, the margarita is virgin - no tequila for baby, I promise.

I waved at the Capitol on my way out of town.

The drive back on Saturday actually wasn't quite as horrendous as I thought it might be; the ice and mess really only added about 45 minutes to the drive and didn't get too dicey.  Although coming into south Dallas, the first bridge I went over had two smashed-up cars and flashy lights on the scene...oh boy.  Fortunately, sand had been laid out in force and most people were actually driving with caution instead of stupidity.  The worst part of the drive was our neighborhood, which with minimal traffic was still basically a ginormous sheet of thick ice.  I slowly pulled into the driveway...and slid right back down.  Oops.  Street parking it is.  But then Craig the Brave went out and made it up the driveway and into the garage - I just didn't watch it happen.

Our poor, sad tree-bush-thing in the backyard has quite a few broken branches.  Wah wah.  Hopefully it's salvageable and not a total goner.

Total ice slick out there!  And temporary street parking since the driveway got the best of me.

Brrrrrrrr.  So we've kept it pretty low key and have mostly stayed holed up at home with the fire going.  I've actually been semi-productive and knocked out Christmas cards last night and this morning, woot woot!  Now it's time to get my baking on.  And maybe I'll do the boring stuff, too, like laundry and a touch o' cleaning.  Stay warm, y'all!

Piles o' Christmas card goodness make me happy

H-town adventures

A few weekends ago we flipped our normal schedule - and by "normal" I mean a wackadoodle schedule that isn't really "normal" at all since we don't really live in the same city these days - and I went to Houston for the weekend instead of Craig coming home.  I'm sure he missed the puppy, and maybe even the crazy kitty, but it was so great to just have a couple of days of FUN instead of laundry and grocery store and flower beds and, you know, life stuff.  We had mini-vacation!

Craig picked me up from the airport and asked if I wanted to go drop off stuff at the hotel or head straight to dinner, and I think I grunted some primal version of "food, now, MEXICAN" and we headed straight for El Tiempo and proceeded to...wait. And wait.  And spill an entire margarita while waiting (yup, that was me).  But we finally sat down and went straight for the parrillada section of the menu.  Holy freaking grilled meat deliciousness.  I proceeded to take a truly horrendous and underlit phone picture, then we dug in and failed to make much of a dent in the giant pile of food.  I promise we tried.

Dinner was quite a production, so we went back to the hotel, dodged the armies of dance girls (some epic convention/competition/enormous shrieking slumber party was going on - I've never seen so much makeup on such tiny faces), and just crashed.  Saturday we actually woke up and met some of my dearest, dearest friends for a really delicious breakfast at Lankford Grocery...

Lankford Grocery is super cute, extremely down to earth, and also possibly a little on the dive-ish side - an excellent combination

mmmmm, BACON!  Along with quite possibly the most amazing french toast ever - my migas were good, but this french toast was GOOD

 ...and a trip to the zoo!  I was so glad the weather held out - we were threatened by clouds and teased by raindrops, but it never full out rained on us.  The most threatening part of the entire trip was really the parking lot adventure - that thing was FULL.  So we parked a mile away and got in an extra workout.

Feed the birdie!

Sneaking in a peek at the chimps

Craig and I fed the giraffes!!  It was so cool - their tongues are these crazy-long twisty blackish-purple things, and they would just amble up and take the lettuce.  Nature is so cool

An all-around awesome little man, and maybe just a little bit of a ham for the camera

Carousel time!  Mr. Alan insisted on the bench seating

Saturday night we drove out to Katy where Katie lives (Katie in Katy!  I just giggle at that) with her husband and two sweet boys (well, one sweet and one of the verge of that whole "I'm approaching my teen years and think adults are not with it" kind of...sweet...) to join them for burgers and catch-up time.  Well, catch-up time for Craig because he's known Katie his entire life* and "hi, nice to meet you!" time for me.

* it really is a small world, isn't it?

The aforementioned possibility of rain?  Yeah, it kicked in on Sunday, so we just slept in and nixed any outdoor plans.  Oh, what's that you say?  Maybe indoor activities like brunch?  And shopping?  Sign me up!  I think the only way I got Craig to brave the Galleria was a promise to go in the Microsoft store, and things almost took a turn for the truly expensive when I sent him in the Sony store (what was I thinking?!?) while I went to Sephora.  We embraced the moment, though, and even had fancy brunch in Saks at 51fifteen.  Bottomless mimosas making shopping better for anyone.

Technology. It can be a little perplexing.

We ventured out and about into Houston proper and did some exploring, but when we drove past Wabash Antiques and Feed Store, the cuteness got to me and we just had to go in.  I said it smelled like home (animal feed, hay, and leather), and they also had chickens, and crazy yard art, and a store cat.  Also a giant charcoal grill in the shape of a pig, which fortunately Craig didn't actually want to buy.  Phew.

Hi piggie!

Random shopping and driving and thinking about how much the ridiculous houses cost and making some laps of Memorial Park (laps in our car, not actual jogging - don't be ridiculous) = one Sunday afternoon and one too-quick weekend.  It's good to just get out and play every once in a while.

Are the extra large pictures too much?  I feel like they're exploding a little bit, but I also kinda like them.

Back to the mountains, please?

I'd like to go back to the mountains for a plethora of reasons.  Very near the top of the list is absolute relaxation, which is due in large part to Day 3.  For Day 3, we spent an obscene amount of time basically living at the Allegria Spa at the Park Hyatt.  Massages, spa lunch, poolside time, excessive amounts of reading and relaxing in these amazing heated stone chairs...pure and utter bliss.  Now THAT is vacation.  No pictures necessary.  Not even small children poolside with plans to flood every possible dry surface could dampen our relaxed spirits.

After becoming semi-human again (since our spa experience transformed us into blobs of happiness and not much more), we had high, high hopes about an evening at the Ritz in nearby Bachelors Gulch.  Just look at these smiling faces ready to go.

Maybe we were setting our expectations a little too high.  But the Ritz...the Ritz was a bust.

Fail #1 - lack of options for drinking and/or dining.  As in...apparently the Ritz is the place to be in the winter only.  So many things were just closed!  How sad.

Fail #2 - table stealers in the form of sweaty mountain bikers.  Noodle-heads.
Fail #3 - incompetence and basic lack of caring from wait staff.  And bar staff, for that matter.  Even if you don't know how to make a champagne cocktail, you pull out the interwebs and just look it up.  So much for customer service.  Not that we don't love just plain ol' champagne...

...but come on, even the Blackberry browser with spotty mountain reception can get you to a champagne cocktail.

So we gave up on the Ritz and headed back through the Beaver Creek gates for dinner at Rocks Modern Grill.  And it was pretty tasty, and they took good care of us, and they sold us another bottle of wine to take home when we realized we all just needed one more glass and everything was closed.  Thanks, Rocks.  Rocks 1, Ritz 0.  Day 3 in the books.

Day 4 dawned...well, it didn't really dawn because it was pretty rainy and kinda gross.  We kept our hopes up, though, and drove over to Vail to check out some different hiking trails.  It took a bit of doing to actually find the trail we were going for, but our brave mountain driver got us there safe and sound!  However, when we got there...

...we encountered this kind man, a real hiker, with poles and shoes and double layers of clothes and the whole shebang...and he basically told us we would die if we tried to tackle the slippery trail.

So...we turned around and went back home.  But at least we got to see Vail.  And we proceeded to take our hiking picnic and turn it into a living room picnic, which isn't entirely a bad thing.  It also gave us the chance to do some fireplace testing to make sure our s'mores plan for that night was a go (and by "fireplace testing" I mean "stuck our heads into the fireplace to make sure the flue was actually, truly, 100% open"), and I brought in wood, which made me feel like a good provider...or something.  Really don't be impressed, though - the wood was pre-chopped and sitting on the deck approximately ten feet from the fireplace.  Still, it had to be done.

Then to work off our picnic, we made the uphill trek back into town, stopping along the way to make some more new friends.  With inanimate objects.  But friends all the same.

We chilled around the fire pit for a bit...

...and then some ominous clouds starting rolling in pretty quickly, so we decided it might be in our best interest to hurry home and have a roof over our heads.

Ahhhh, more relaxation at our home away from home.  Thank you, mountains.  At least until the bat showed up.  Next installment.

Adventures in moving

"Adventures in moving" is just a little broad.  Let's also file this one under (1) the poor kitty who couldn't fly (Harrison was supposed to fly out Wednesday...and then Friday...and now MONDAY!  Poor little guy) and (2) what happens when a door seal is broken during Snowy Icy Disaster Times (bazillions of cold air molecules rush into your home, creating a thermostat reading of...freezing.  Not good to see your breath in your house.  Heat is now on and the door seal is now fixed, phew). 

Possibly also file under (3) North Texas goes Super Bowl crazy (but at least the Pittsburgh and Wisconsin fans know how to drive in ice and snow, right?) and (4) reacquiring your four-wheel drive vehicle in place of rental car on the day The Great Melt begins (although in its defense, the little Nissan Versa did just fine as long as I went slooooowly - driving on the frozen equivalent of a Slip 'n Slide isn't exactly my idea of a good time.  Glow sun glow!  Melt that snow!).

Who would have thought that I'd need to worry more about snow and ice blanketing North Texas than attacking D.C. this time of year?  After powering through Snowpocalypse 2009 and Snowmageddon 2010, I sent up little prayers to Mother Nature for her to please go easy on the East Coast during late January, early February this year.  Too bad I forgot to account for crazy Texas weather.  Dallas has been blanketed by ice ever since Tuesday...and another six inches of snow fell on Thursday night.  At least I was fortunate enough to be traveling on one of the few flights that actually made it from DC to Dallas on Wednesday.  Egads!

However...I'm remarkably impressed that both the movers with my giant truckload of stuff AND the car carrier got here TODAY.  Thanks for battling the elements, guys!  And thanks for unpacking my ridiculous amount of stuff while I spend the day tethered in, knocking out things like address changes.  And blogging.  And wondering how the heck to arrange the living room.

It's starting to actually feel like I'm back here now and not just on a short visit.  Phew.  Now, if we could just get poor little Harrison here...

Partyin' and chillaxin' in the NYC

Time to catch up on blog-worthy events!  And I definitely consider a weekend in NYC a blog-worthy event, especially when it includes time with my favorite (and likely only - it's a pretty unique name) Gajderoroberts clan AND celebrating upcoming wedded bliss with Dana and her stellar family and friends.  Although there wasn't really much that was all NEW YORK CITY about this weekend, which was a nice change.  I kinda like going to New York with some degree of familiarity and navigating Penn Station with minimal confusion and knowing how to get to various places in the city without appearing totally lost and just spending time with some good friends.  Works for me.

Setting:  approximately three weeks ago.  Not bad considering I've been in a blurry haze for the last month or so.  I blame Craig (not just "the boy" anymore - that's right, he gets a name!).  New York City - multiple boroughs and many train/subway adventures.

Reason:  Dana's bridal shower prompted the trip, and it's also impossible for me to go to that city and miss a chance to spend time with two dear friends and my adorable pseudo-nephew.

Friday evening arrival.  Greeted by friends, cheese, crackers, fruit, and wine.  Living room picnic ensues while cute little one snoozes the night away.  I love our living room picnics filled with tastiness and wonderful conversation.  A lot of life to catch up on in those couple of hours.  Delightful.

In tackling the weekend's events, one must always consider what Mother Nature has in store.  Unlike last year's horizontal rain and crazy random wind tunnels during this time of year, this year we just had...normal rain!  I know, I know, you were hoping for perfect skies and stories of "dreary winter?  what dreary winter?" - but alas, it was not to be.  At least Saturday was relatively weather-free, and I had a fantastic time catching up with Dana and spending some time with my surrogate East Coast family.  Love the Duffins!!  

Doesn't the bride-to-be look festive in her bedazzled sombrero?  I LOVE the sombrero flair!

Most of Saturday was consumed by the epic awesomeness that was the bridal shower and what I'll refer to as the after-party at the Duffin home, and then that blasted rain confined us to the indoors for a better part of Sunday.  Not that I'm really complaining.  I mean, we indulged in Eggs Benedict (homemade!!  way to knock it out of the park, Jason) and oodles of coffee and and spent quality time with a certain cute kiddo and just chilled.  Which was awesome.

So curious.  And adorable.



Ummm...Alan...you're not quite hiding all the way...



I see you!

Did you know you can have the Wii entertain and educate your small child?  How awesome is that?!?  Good work, Alan!

You can get the full spin from the weekend here on Picasa.

And the party never ends

Well, actually, I suppose the party does end when you pass out on the couch around 11:00, but when the party started at a 7:30 breakfast, that's really not a bad day.  Especially if you have another party to get to around noon the next day.  Phew.

What's the cause of all this partying?  Oh, just a little thing at Pdub we like to call "you've busted your butt for xxx years and finally reached a milestone, so we'll celebrate this occasion with a promotion day celebration" and maybe another little thing that involves two very wonderful people deciding to bring a little Peanut into the world, and you know, they do need lots of diapers and things to take care of that little Peanut, so I think we'll have this thing commonly referred to as a baby shower and celebrate a new little life coming into the world.  Phew again.

Oh, and I live halfway across the country from the aforementioned two very wonderful people AND the dear work friends I'd like to celebrate that promotion day with, so yes, this party weekend was a delightful trip to Texas for me.  Delightful other than this...

...which would be sad, sad raindrops and wet, wet runways and a total stay at DCA of about six hours, which means I missed a delightful celebratory dinner with a few of those dear work friends, but I did go to Potbelly three times.  You have limited dining options in that terminal.  So I started with a sandwich.  Learned of delay.  Treated self to amazing cookie.  Learned of further extensive delay.  Drowned sorrows in chocolate malt.  All totally needed.  Finally made it to Kami's and collapsed to sleep as soon as possible so we could be ready for that 7:30 breakfast.

Aaaannnndddd....happy promotion day, Pdubbers!  I'm so, so glad that I could head back to God's country and spend the day with some very dear friends to celebrate this whole making manager business.  Dang, that makes me feel a little old.  Anywho, we started out with a tasty breakfast at Original Pancake House and one rather adorable baby...

...and made our way to the office, which was decked out in all manners of Vegas.  And everything else under the sun.  Some people really go all out, and it's AWESOME.  Champagne at 10 (don't mind if I do!), pretty quickly followed by an early and long lunch at Gloria's with a few of my favorite gals.  Post-lunch celebration included our what-I'm-now-declaring-an-annual-event-dancing-in-the-car-par-tay, and then a few hours at House of Blues (thanks for still having a real party, Pdub Dallas!  Pdub DC doesn't believe in this, which is just sad and wrong) with a million tipsy accountants.  Good, good times.

Manager Kamster (woohoo!) and Jenny P, mother-to-be of Baby Girl P and our first, much-appreciated designated driver of the day

Stephanie!!  One of my dear DC buddies who's in Texas full-time now, and I'll be there before I know it.  Please notice the animated ctg and Justin (our second, much-appreciated designated driver) in the background.  They're awesome.

We walked/stumbled/somehow made our way down the street to Victory Tavern for a little more partying.  Just a little.  And then after all that celebrating, we definitely needed Jake's burgers to cap off the evening.  I know I wasn't quite myself because I forgot to order the jalapeño bottlecaps.  A true travesty.  AND there was no cheese on my burger.  There's always cheese on my burgers.  Yes, that burger was definitely needed.  And Justin kindly drove us home.  And Kami and I fell asleep shortly thereafter.  It was a really great day that wouldn't have been nearly as great if I hadn't spent it with my friends.  Love you guys!

Oh, that other party I mentioned?  The one celebrating the sure-to-be-adorable baby?  Yes, it's the day after all this debauchery.  Don't worry, I rally.  You'll hear all about it next.

Believe it or not, I actually didn't take excessive pictures for this day.  I'm counting on cameras of friends for several important shots.  Shocking, I know.  However, the pictures I did take are up on Picasa if you're into that kind of thing.