Summer Trip 2010

Travis and I got to spend a little bit of time with my family in August. The trip actually started out as a mountain cabin adventure in the Ozarks with Melanie, Mike, and Zoe. We planned on spending three days there (Arkansas), then driving back home. But during the trip we realized that we were really pretty close to Texas, so we decided to drive to Cameron to surprise Mom and Eddy for a few days. School hadn't started for me and Travis was all finished with CPA exams. The whole trip was soooooo much fun! I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Zoe showed us her super-duper ABC skills when we stopped at her house on our way back to SC.

Mom bribed us (with Promised Land chocolate milk) to help cut back the tree line on the farm road.

Here is the end result! Oh yeah, it was like 200 degrees out that day. :)

Mom starting teaching the girls on the farm how to sew pillow cases. Livvy loved it, so we got her to sew some for us (I didn't get a picture of ours, but they are lovely).

Eddy and Travis talking shop.

One of Mom's many flower gardens.

Here's another. Yes, that's Travis mowing the lawn.

Pretty Zoe at the cabin.

I think Zoe should be a hair model.

This is the cabin we stayed at in the Ozark Mountains. Very relaxing and fun!

The men cookin' up some steaks.

We spent lots of time on the hammock....

....and especially in the hot tub!!!

We cooked 'smores almost every night we were there. Yum!!

One afternoon we had lunch at this quaint little restaurant and inn. The food was yummy....

....and the view was even better.

Outside the cabin at the tree line we could fill up the deer feeder with corn. Travis is showing Zoe how it's done. The first time we saw deer, we were at the window snapping pictures like crazy. Then we realized the deer never really leave. It was pretty cool.

There really weren't any bad views anywhere you drove.

Zoe got to feed the fish in the pond every day. It was right out the front door of the cabin.

View from the front porch.

Stick bugs are apparently really scary (well, according to Melanie). :)

A few more random pictures:

ps--good luck to my brother, Scott, who is running across Idaho tomorrow!!!

Training Update

The biggest change in my training is that I'm running regularly now. It feels great to feel like a runner again. The only thing bothering me is that I'm running a lot slower than I was before (8 months ago). And I really feel like I'm getting slower with each run. I guess I can blame that mostly on the heat. Hopefully with the cooler temperatures I'll see some time improvements. My long run is up to 16 miles and it's not pretty. Usually (8 months ago) at the end of my long runs I feel like I can muster out enough to finish a marathon. These days I'm lucky to even get to the end of the long run. I ran a 16 mile run with Melanie in Texas and wimped out before the end. We had like 2 miles to go and I was like, "Just go. I'll walk until you turn back around, then finish with you." Ugh. But I found a new mantra--thanks to Melanie or Jen (I can't remember). "Nnnnever give up! Nnnnever surrender!"(in an alien voice). I use that A LOT these days! It makes me laugh AND motivates me.

My goals have definitely changed, as well. I'm still going to hobble through Goblin Valley--and with Melanie and Jen nearby I'm sure there will be lots of alien voices motivating each other! I'm laughing just picturing it! Seriously, my only goals for that race are to enjoy it and not push too hard. ...Then there's Greenville. Oh Greenville. I would love for this to FINALLY be my sub-4 marathon. But, if training continues like this....it ain't gonna happen. Travis says to be positive, but I'm just being realistic here. It's just over 2 months away. So, I will press forward. Here are my Greenville goals (just remember that my current training is ugly and I will be running an ultra marathon exactly one week earlier):

a. sub-4
b. sub-4:18
c. finish

Okay, remember this half marathon I did only 6 months ago? Yeah, that stamina and pace and everything is so not in me right now. So I'm thinking it might be plan c for Greenville. And I'm okay with that. It's all about the journey, right?

I got to run a few times with Melanie while we were vacationing in the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. Here are some pictures from a trail run we did. And if you're wondering, yes, it is just as hot in the mountains in Arkansas as it is in the rolling hills of north Texas and the armpit of South Carolina (Columbia).

Beautiful trail.
Here I am pretending that the technical stuff did not cause my shin to flare up and force us to end our run early. :)



Melanie was right at home on the trail. And she even took the front for most of it (to catch the spiders!). This girl can run forever!

I hope I didn't depress anyone with this post. I am confident that I'll be back to normal soon so all of this slow, hot stuff isn't bothering me too much. I'll try to post pictures of our awesome trip to Arkansas and Texas soon.

Cross Stitching

Random new hobby: Cross-stitching.

Okay, it's not the greatest, but it's a start. This first one was a really simple pattern that I wanted to start off with just to see if I had the patience and interest. It was easy enough, so I moved on to the next project.

This was a pattern I got from a basket at church. They were all grandma-related, so I didn't have much choice. This one was a little more complicated than the "be ever thankful" one, so I thought it would be a good one to try. This one definitely took longer, but I had plenty of time to finish it up in the hospital. I'm not really sure what to do with it now (no, Mom, I'm not pregnant), but it's kind of cute, huh?

I'm working on one now that's a lot more complicated called "Country Schoolhouse". Lots of colors, lots of stitches. I'll probably frame it if I ever finish... :)

Okay, this post was all about showing off my awesome new hobby. Don't worry, I'm still running. 13 miles tomorrow!!