Galentine’s Day!

So, for the past 3 years my roommate and I have hosted a Galentine’s Day Party. It’s a day (usually a Sunday afternoon) in February where we celebrate our best girlfriends. Everyone is invited to squeeze into our little apartment and eat and talk and best of all: craft! I encourage people to bring things they’ve been working on but I also provide easy crafts for those less craftily inclined. This year I thought I’d add a little something extra, as well as beef up my Valentine’s decorations.

I was inspired by this craft blog post http://misskristurner.com/2014/02/04/kiss-kiss-diy-lipstick-artwork/ But I wanted to include all my guests so I sent out a note to everyone telling them to bring their favorite lipstick/gloss with them for a special craft(reassuring them it would come to no harm). I found a perfect frame at Goodwill for $5.99 and decorated a piece of watercolor paper with the title, date, and appropriate quote. Then the kissing commenced!

“Ovaries before brovaries”

My favorite lip color, L’Oreal Paris Infallible Lipcolour in Beyonce red

Smooch!

 

Overall the party was a great success, I was a little worried we wouldn’t all fit and I always worry that different groups of people won’t get along, but it all worked out for the best! Can’t wait for next year’s party!

After the party, I drove an hour and a half to Bryan College Station because a beloved friend was attending a work conference there. Since Jessica lives in Florida and works ALL THE TIME, this was an excellent excuse to spend some time together. Leah, Britt, and Pete drove down from Fort Worth and almost the whole gang was back together. It was great, we laughed and caught up on all the frankly life changing things that have happened in the year+ since we’d seen each other (Peace Corps volunteering, house buying, going back to school, job promotions etc.) and talked about how old we’re getting. Though frankly, I can’t see it.

Jess, Pete, Britt, Sti!

 

Okay, it’s dinner time so let me leave you with some kittens (er- they’re a year old now so I guess that makes them cats?)

If you run, you are a runner

“If you run,  you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.” -John Bingham

For the longest time, if anyone mentioned running I would say there are only 2 reasons I would ever run.

Zombies, can you blame me?

And more importantly

When the Doctor tells me to run

But apparently there’s another reason.

This girl

When I last saw Brittney in March, she had just gotten engaged to Peter and she mentioned that, rather than go on a ‘wedding diet’ she’d like to train for and run a half marathon 2 weeks before the wedding. She also said she’d like to have some of her friends run with her. Since I was already training for a 5k, and I’m incapable of saying ‘No’ to my friends, especially if they’re a bride, I said I would train for it too.

So Keith helped create a training schedule for me and I’ve actually been running in a consistent and sustained basis (something that has never happened before) since then. Our friends Jen and Leah also took on the challenge and Jen even used my training schedule.

All during training, I’ve thought of the race as an inevitability. I was never afraid that I would finish it. I wasn’t out to run the entire way, I knew I’d walk large portions of it. I’m not terribly competitive, I knew I wouldn’t be winning. It was my first race, so whatever time I got would be my personal best. I mostly just wanted to say that I’d accomplished it. A lot of people asked me beforehand if I was nervous or excited, nope. Just determined.

This weekend, Jen and I drove up to Austin and Brittney and Leah drove down from Fort Worth. The weather was a little gloomy (rare, as we’ve been in a severe drought, especially in central Texas) but we were all excited as we tucked into our carbo-loading Italian dinner. When our 5:00am alarm went off, we looked out  at a soaking wet Austin skyline backlit by lightning. Lovely. We drove to the starting line just in case, but just as we feared the race was cancelled.

However, due to my aforementioned determination, I demanded that we run a half marathon anyway. Lightning and possible flash flooding made running outside impossible and unsafe, but 24 Hour Fitnesses are open and safe at 6:45am. I insisted suggested that we run our 13.1 on treadmills, depressing as that may be.

So we did.

Exhausted but triumphant on our treadmills

 

We even had a fan cheering us on!

So the race was cancelled but we ran a half marathon. And we still got swag, free champagne and chocolate, and soon we’ll get our finishers medals. The rest of the day was spent showering, napping, eating, and drinking (not necessarily in that order). And we all felt a little like Barney after he ran the NYC marathon…*

There’s been talk of trying another race in the near future, but I’m not sure. Going to have to think about it.

All in all, I’m really proud of myself. And a little amazed that my body could do something that I had always thought it couldn’t.

 

 

*today I’m good, but I’m worried about being sore tomorrow. It’s always the second day that’s really awful, right?