So I guess I've been busy......that's my excuse I guess, because why else would I have a 6 month gap in posts?!
Well, since 2011 is now over & I did oh so much enjoy my year in review post from last year, I thought I might as well do that as my first post for 2012, so here it is:
January 2011
Back to school & routine & just regular life, but I did throw in a little visit to Vegas there with my best friends from the Valley. We went to celebrate Miss Cristina's single-dom one last time! It was a weekend filled with lots of laughter, food, gambling, & fun! I'm so happy to have taken this trip with this group of ladies. The rest of January was pretty much par the course, which isn't a bad thing
February 2011
During this month we celebrate love, right?! What better way to celebrate than to host a Twilight Movie Night! DUH! This party was so fun to put together. It also "snowed" in San Antonio & we got a day off for it, then had to make it up on President's Day. The same weekend of the "snow" was also my first race of the new year. I ran a 5K in New Braunfels with Michelle, which ended up being a great race, the weather started off chilly, but warmed up nicely & we ate Chicken E on the way home. Any day that contains Chicken E is a good day in my book!
March 2011
Happy Anniversary Lake & Happy Birthday! :)
On March 1st Lake & I celebrated our 3rd anniversary, crazy how time just flies on by. During this month Cristina got married & we had a great time celebrating her & Dyver. Spring Break was also in March, I spent the week being lazy & relaxing, it was awesome! During March I also ran my first half marathon for the year in Dallas & hit a new personal record! It was a great race.
April 2011
April was all about Fiesta fun & starting to look forward to summer! Lake & I had a very laid back Easter & just celebrated together, it was quite perfect actually! :)
May 2011
May began our race training for the fall. I'm still not sure why, but I made the decision to run the FULL marathon in San Antonio this past year & my training started the last weekend of May. We quickly went from running 3 miles the very first weekend to 12 miles by my birthday at the end of July. To say that the training was "hard" & "intense" is quite the understatement. Although, while I was going through it, it wasn't so bad, it's now that I look back on it that I realize just how crazy I really am! May also shoved me out of my comfort zone when it came to public speaking. I'll pretty much do anything to avoid having to stand in front of people & speak....I know what you're thinking, "but Erica, you're a teacher!" There's a HUGE difference between standing in front of a group of high school students versus a group of your peers. The position I currently serve in the Junior League of SA is New Member Chair Assistant which basically does lots of the background work for the New Member class, however, the New Members have a big kickoff before their year "officially" starts & it's run by the NM Chair & Assistant. As far as the presentation stuff went, I was in charge of showing off the website. To say I was nervous doesn't really begin to describe how I really felt. Alas, I did survive (obviously) & I think I've taken a positive step forward in public speaking. I still don't like it, but I now know I won't throw up on people even when I'm THAT nervous! May also brought my brother & his family to San Antonio. I am beyond grateful, happy, & blessed to have them so close, even it's only for a few years. I love seeing Maryn all the time & seeing her grow up right before my eyes. I'm also really loving being close & seeing Hayden during his first year, it's so exciting to see his new "tricks"
June 2011
Ahhhhh, the lazy hazy days of summer! I would say that I thoroughly enjoyed myself over the summer. June was filled with laying out, running, a super fun beach trip, & being lazy! I also was in Dallas for a week at the AVID Conference & got to meet up with some Dallas friends! SHOUT OUT to Misty, Mary, & Holly. They were all very sweet & came to pick me up from my hotel. I ate italian with Mary, ate mexican & saw The Bachelorette with Misty, & ate burgers with Holly & got all caught up on her life as a newlywed! So not only did I get to attend a really great conference, which I will go to again this summer, but I got to spend time with friends that I never see, it was a super fun week!
July 2011
July is my favorite month of the year, why you ask, because it's my birthday & the heart of summer! I turned 29 this year & had a great birthday, all thanks to my husband & friends! On my actual birthday I did a day bar crawl with Kristen. We covered a lot of territory. We hit up The Friendly Spot, took the downtown trolley to Esquire, & walked over to Zinc. It was one of the funnest birthdays that I've ever had! To top it off, Lake surprised me when I got home & said to pack a bag & we were headed BACK downtown to have dinner & stay the night. We took our time the next morning & did lots of fun touristy SA things! I really love doing that. That next weekend we bowled for my bday. It was a really fun night! :) Thanks to everyone who was able to make it!
August 2011
August always signifies the end of summer.....we had our last few pool times & last few lazy days, but back to work was definitely on the horizon. Coming back to school is always so stressful, no matter how many times you've done it! You're nervous & you feel unprepared, but just like every other year, you make it through those first couple of weeks & get back in your groove & things are great! August pretty much involved getting ready for school.
September 2011
Now's when the marathon training was getting a little crazy! We were approaching our "milestone" run & during this month I ran some pretty crazy amounts! The farthest & by far worst run was the 15 mile run. There was one point in the run where it was 90 degrees & this was in LATE September! UGH, South Texas, you make me sad! Although the first "cool" front to blow in was over Labor Day weekend, which coincided perfectly with a 5 mile race that I ran with Leah & my friend Dawn. It was a very hilly race, but I PRed with a 49 minute run, I felt amazing after! There really is nothing like a runner's high! :)
October 2011
October was more of the same, running & school & junior league, but all fun! During October my training group hit our "milestone" run which was 21 miles. I actually didn't run this with my group though. The weekend that we were scheduled to run this was also the weekend of my friend Monica's bachelorette party at SPI, so Lake & I got up extra early & headed out to the Valero Trailhead & ran. We ran the first 6 miles together & by that point the sun was up, so Lake felt OK to let me run on my own, so he finished his 12 & I powered through to run 21! WOW! Lake picked me up, I showered & was at the airport by 12:30, I was on the beach by 3:00, haha, it was a great & tiring weekend, but lots of fun!!! For Halloween I dressed up as the Tooth Fairy, thanks to Leah's help with my accessories.
November 2011
Monica & Tommy got married the first weekend. Since Connie (another bridesmaid) & I both live in SA, we decided to carpool to the Valley. We made it just in time for Monica's Bridesmaids Luncheon. Later that day was the dress rehearsal & rehearsal dinner at Pappadeux, yum!! The next day was make-up & getting ready in the morning, then wedding time! The reception was at Quinta Mazatlan, which a beautiful outdoor venue in south McAllen. The whole weekend went by in a blur, but it was a great time! The very next weekend was the marathon! The weather wasn't shaping up to be on any one's side & I started getting really worried. It had been so long since I'd trained in warm weather, then it totally freaked me out to see it would be in the mid-80's when I was supposed to finish! So the race didn't go as I wanted, but I did finish, and I suppose that's what counts, at least I have to say that! This race seriously taught me that running really is just putting one foot in front of the other AND I quite possibly have the greatest friends EVER! Seeing them sprinkled throughout the course cheering me on made me feel so happy & very special. Although I am glad that only Lake saw me between miles 16 - 22, I looked rough....someone only a husband could love! But having him pump me up during that point was definitely needed! Special shout out to Anne who literally ran with me around mile 6 & Kristen, Mireya, & Matt who walked with me around mile 24, I'm sure they would have run with me, but I was walking at that point, so they didn't have to! ;) We were off to Tulsa for Thanksgiving & I left with a very worried mind. My dad was hospitalized the Friday before Thanksgiving with pneumonia & stayed for an ENTIRE week! Things got scary around Wednesday, but he's made a full recovery & is doing great now!
December 2011
And finally the last month of the year! So I started 2011 with a trip to Vegas (see January 2011 section) & I also ended it with a trip to Vegas. Lake & I ran the Las Vegas Rock N Roll Half Marathon the first Sunday of December. I was really thinking.....hey, you already ran a full marathon, you've run more than 13.1 miles on SEVERAL occasions over the past 6 months, this half, well it's gonna be CAKE for you! But boy, was I ever WRONG! UGH! The weekend overall was fantastic. We flew in on Saturday, checked into our hotel at Aria, which was awesome by the way...highly recommend! After check in we made our way to The Venetian to packet pick up & here's where I learned that 44,000 other runners would be joining Lake & I on our run down the strip the next night, that's a whole lot of runners. This was the largest race I'd ever participated in by far! I was excited though, running on the stip, at night, pretty cool! Well, the weather was OK, a little chilly, but after running a 1/2 marathon almost 2 years ago while it was sleeting, I thought, hey, it's not THAT bad! The race started at 5:30pm & right away I could tell I would be annoyed. There so many people in my corral (Corral 15) who were NOT supposed to be in there. You are given your corral number based on your estimated time of completion, so everyone that SHOULD be in your corral would have --### (ex: 15339), so I know that I'm supposed to be in Corral 15 because of the first two numbers on my bib. Well, looking around me there were tons of people with 20, 25, 30, 40, 21, 19....well, you get the picture & I'm thinking....hmmmmmm, so moving up a couple corrals isn't the worst thing, but jumping 25 corrals IS! And just like I predicted they release my corral & BAM, a whole bunch of walkers. I mean, more power to ya if you are going to walk 13.1 miles, that's awesome, good luck, God Speed, but MOVE OUT OF MY WAY! I'm sorry, but when I spend half of my energy saying "to your right" or weaving in between people because YOU chose to move yourself up when you had no business doing so, YEAH, it's going to annoy me. I actually had one lady call me a SUPER mean & disgusting name because after I'd politely said "to your right please" & she didn't move I passed her anyway & while I did that I acidentally bumped her & wham....super mean disgusting name, what the?!?! After about 6 miles (yes, almost half of the race) things finally starting clearning up & I was feeling great! I was right on track to hit my PR. Then mile 9 rolled around, which has always sorta been my personal mile nemisis & it reared it's ugly head again. I physically could not make myself go any faster than I was going, it was sad....I finished the race, my 3rd best time, which isn't saying too much considering that my 2 slowest times are REALLY REALLY slow. And to add insult to serious injury I felt AWFUL after the race was over. I still don't know what happened, I'm not sure if it was too cold, if I didn't hydrate well enough, if I was too tired because we'd walked around all day or maybe my body just wasn't ready to run for that long of a time. Who knows, oh well.....Lake PRed though, which is awesome! YAY! December saw the end of the 1st semester of school & a 2 week much needed break! During those 2 weeks Lake & I traveled to jolly old London to enjoy holiday! That's a whole other long post though. Stay tuned.....
All in all 2011 was a fabulous year! I learned a lot, got way more involved at school & in Junior League, to which I'm so grateful for all that I've learned & the leadership skills that I've gained. I've lost a few relationships, but gained knowledge from the losses & also gained some amazing friends, so thank you 2011, for being fun, awesome, & pushing me out of my comfort zone! Ready to take on 2012, let's see what you've got in store!
Well, since 2011 is now over & I did oh so much enjoy my year in review post from last year, I thought I might as well do that as my first post for 2012, so here it is:
January 2011
Back to school & routine & just regular life, but I did throw in a little visit to Vegas there with my best friends from the Valley. We went to celebrate Miss Cristina's single-dom one last time! It was a weekend filled with lots of laughter, food, gambling, & fun! I'm so happy to have taken this trip with this group of ladies. The rest of January was pretty much par the course, which isn't a bad thing
February 2011
During this month we celebrate love, right?! What better way to celebrate than to host a Twilight Movie Night! DUH! This party was so fun to put together. It also "snowed" in San Antonio & we got a day off for it, then had to make it up on President's Day. The same weekend of the "snow" was also my first race of the new year. I ran a 5K in New Braunfels with Michelle, which ended up being a great race, the weather started off chilly, but warmed up nicely & we ate Chicken E on the way home. Any day that contains Chicken E is a good day in my book!
March 2011
Happy Anniversary Lake & Happy Birthday! :)
On March 1st Lake & I celebrated our 3rd anniversary, crazy how time just flies on by. During this month Cristina got married & we had a great time celebrating her & Dyver. Spring Break was also in March, I spent the week being lazy & relaxing, it was awesome! During March I also ran my first half marathon for the year in Dallas & hit a new personal record! It was a great race.
April 2011
April was all about Fiesta fun & starting to look forward to summer! Lake & I had a very laid back Easter & just celebrated together, it was quite perfect actually! :)
May 2011
May began our race training for the fall. I'm still not sure why, but I made the decision to run the FULL marathon in San Antonio this past year & my training started the last weekend of May. We quickly went from running 3 miles the very first weekend to 12 miles by my birthday at the end of July. To say that the training was "hard" & "intense" is quite the understatement. Although, while I was going through it, it wasn't so bad, it's now that I look back on it that I realize just how crazy I really am! May also shoved me out of my comfort zone when it came to public speaking. I'll pretty much do anything to avoid having to stand in front of people & speak....I know what you're thinking, "but Erica, you're a teacher!" There's a HUGE difference between standing in front of a group of high school students versus a group of your peers. The position I currently serve in the Junior League of SA is New Member Chair Assistant which basically does lots of the background work for the New Member class, however, the New Members have a big kickoff before their year "officially" starts & it's run by the NM Chair & Assistant. As far as the presentation stuff went, I was in charge of showing off the website. To say I was nervous doesn't really begin to describe how I really felt. Alas, I did survive (obviously) & I think I've taken a positive step forward in public speaking. I still don't like it, but I now know I won't throw up on people even when I'm THAT nervous! May also brought my brother & his family to San Antonio. I am beyond grateful, happy, & blessed to have them so close, even it's only for a few years. I love seeing Maryn all the time & seeing her grow up right before my eyes. I'm also really loving being close & seeing Hayden during his first year, it's so exciting to see his new "tricks"
June 2011
Ahhhhh, the lazy hazy days of summer! I would say that I thoroughly enjoyed myself over the summer. June was filled with laying out, running, a super fun beach trip, & being lazy! I also was in Dallas for a week at the AVID Conference & got to meet up with some Dallas friends! SHOUT OUT to Misty, Mary, & Holly. They were all very sweet & came to pick me up from my hotel. I ate italian with Mary, ate mexican & saw The Bachelorette with Misty, & ate burgers with Holly & got all caught up on her life as a newlywed! So not only did I get to attend a really great conference, which I will go to again this summer, but I got to spend time with friends that I never see, it was a super fun week!
July 2011
July is my favorite month of the year, why you ask, because it's my birthday & the heart of summer! I turned 29 this year & had a great birthday, all thanks to my husband & friends! On my actual birthday I did a day bar crawl with Kristen. We covered a lot of territory. We hit up The Friendly Spot, took the downtown trolley to Esquire, & walked over to Zinc. It was one of the funnest birthdays that I've ever had! To top it off, Lake surprised me when I got home & said to pack a bag & we were headed BACK downtown to have dinner & stay the night. We took our time the next morning & did lots of fun touristy SA things! I really love doing that. That next weekend we bowled for my bday. It was a really fun night! :) Thanks to everyone who was able to make it!
August 2011
August always signifies the end of summer.....we had our last few pool times & last few lazy days, but back to work was definitely on the horizon. Coming back to school is always so stressful, no matter how many times you've done it! You're nervous & you feel unprepared, but just like every other year, you make it through those first couple of weeks & get back in your groove & things are great! August pretty much involved getting ready for school.
September 2011
Now's when the marathon training was getting a little crazy! We were approaching our "milestone" run & during this month I ran some pretty crazy amounts! The farthest & by far worst run was the 15 mile run. There was one point in the run where it was 90 degrees & this was in LATE September! UGH, South Texas, you make me sad! Although the first "cool" front to blow in was over Labor Day weekend, which coincided perfectly with a 5 mile race that I ran with Leah & my friend Dawn. It was a very hilly race, but I PRed with a 49 minute run, I felt amazing after! There really is nothing like a runner's high! :)
October 2011
October was more of the same, running & school & junior league, but all fun! During October my training group hit our "milestone" run which was 21 miles. I actually didn't run this with my group though. The weekend that we were scheduled to run this was also the weekend of my friend Monica's bachelorette party at SPI, so Lake & I got up extra early & headed out to the Valero Trailhead & ran. We ran the first 6 miles together & by that point the sun was up, so Lake felt OK to let me run on my own, so he finished his 12 & I powered through to run 21! WOW! Lake picked me up, I showered & was at the airport by 12:30, I was on the beach by 3:00, haha, it was a great & tiring weekend, but lots of fun!!! For Halloween I dressed up as the Tooth Fairy, thanks to Leah's help with my accessories.
November 2011
Monica & Tommy got married the first weekend. Since Connie (another bridesmaid) & I both live in SA, we decided to carpool to the Valley. We made it just in time for Monica's Bridesmaids Luncheon. Later that day was the dress rehearsal & rehearsal dinner at Pappadeux, yum!! The next day was make-up & getting ready in the morning, then wedding time! The reception was at Quinta Mazatlan, which a beautiful outdoor venue in south McAllen. The whole weekend went by in a blur, but it was a great time! The very next weekend was the marathon! The weather wasn't shaping up to be on any one's side & I started getting really worried. It had been so long since I'd trained in warm weather, then it totally freaked me out to see it would be in the mid-80's when I was supposed to finish! So the race didn't go as I wanted, but I did finish, and I suppose that's what counts, at least I have to say that! This race seriously taught me that running really is just putting one foot in front of the other AND I quite possibly have the greatest friends EVER! Seeing them sprinkled throughout the course cheering me on made me feel so happy & very special. Although I am glad that only Lake saw me between miles 16 - 22, I looked rough....someone only a husband could love! But having him pump me up during that point was definitely needed! Special shout out to Anne who literally ran with me around mile 6 & Kristen, Mireya, & Matt who walked with me around mile 24, I'm sure they would have run with me, but I was walking at that point, so they didn't have to! ;) We were off to Tulsa for Thanksgiving & I left with a very worried mind. My dad was hospitalized the Friday before Thanksgiving with pneumonia & stayed for an ENTIRE week! Things got scary around Wednesday, but he's made a full recovery & is doing great now!
December 2011
And finally the last month of the year! So I started 2011 with a trip to Vegas (see January 2011 section) & I also ended it with a trip to Vegas. Lake & I ran the Las Vegas Rock N Roll Half Marathon the first Sunday of December. I was really thinking.....hey, you already ran a full marathon, you've run more than 13.1 miles on SEVERAL occasions over the past 6 months, this half, well it's gonna be CAKE for you! But boy, was I ever WRONG! UGH! The weekend overall was fantastic. We flew in on Saturday, checked into our hotel at Aria, which was awesome by the way...highly recommend! After check in we made our way to The Venetian to packet pick up & here's where I learned that 44,000 other runners would be joining Lake & I on our run down the strip the next night, that's a whole lot of runners. This was the largest race I'd ever participated in by far! I was excited though, running on the stip, at night, pretty cool! Well, the weather was OK, a little chilly, but after running a 1/2 marathon almost 2 years ago while it was sleeting, I thought, hey, it's not THAT bad! The race started at 5:30pm & right away I could tell I would be annoyed. There so many people in my corral (Corral 15) who were NOT supposed to be in there. You are given your corral number based on your estimated time of completion, so everyone that SHOULD be in your corral would have --### (ex: 15339), so I know that I'm supposed to be in Corral 15 because of the first two numbers on my bib. Well, looking around me there were tons of people with 20, 25, 30, 40, 21, 19....well, you get the picture & I'm thinking....hmmmmmm, so moving up a couple corrals isn't the worst thing, but jumping 25 corrals IS! And just like I predicted they release my corral & BAM, a whole bunch of walkers. I mean, more power to ya if you are going to walk 13.1 miles, that's awesome, good luck, God Speed, but MOVE OUT OF MY WAY! I'm sorry, but when I spend half of my energy saying "to your right" or weaving in between people because YOU chose to move yourself up when you had no business doing so, YEAH, it's going to annoy me. I actually had one lady call me a SUPER mean & disgusting name because after I'd politely said "to your right please" & she didn't move I passed her anyway & while I did that I acidentally bumped her & wham....super mean disgusting name, what the?!?! After about 6 miles (yes, almost half of the race) things finally starting clearning up & I was feeling great! I was right on track to hit my PR. Then mile 9 rolled around, which has always sorta been my personal mile nemisis & it reared it's ugly head again. I physically could not make myself go any faster than I was going, it was sad....I finished the race, my 3rd best time, which isn't saying too much considering that my 2 slowest times are REALLY REALLY slow. And to add insult to serious injury I felt AWFUL after the race was over. I still don't know what happened, I'm not sure if it was too cold, if I didn't hydrate well enough, if I was too tired because we'd walked around all day or maybe my body just wasn't ready to run for that long of a time. Who knows, oh well.....Lake PRed though, which is awesome! YAY! December saw the end of the 1st semester of school & a 2 week much needed break! During those 2 weeks Lake & I traveled to jolly old London to enjoy holiday! That's a whole other long post though. Stay tuned.....
All in all 2011 was a fabulous year! I learned a lot, got way more involved at school & in Junior League, to which I'm so grateful for all that I've learned & the leadership skills that I've gained. I've lost a few relationships, but gained knowledge from the losses & also gained some amazing friends, so thank you 2011, for being fun, awesome, & pushing me out of my comfort zone! Ready to take on 2012, let's see what you've got in store!
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