Adventures in Friend Making

Happy New Year! I know it's a little late, but, whatever.

This year I made a goal of being more social. If you know me, you know I don't like to meet new people, and they don't usually like to meet me either. I have decided to be more active and to build more of a life here in Houston.

I am attempting to do this by saying yes to everything I am invited to, even if I don't want to go. This was going well, except I can't do things on friday night because I have early long runs on Saturday, and now I have my foot in a boot which makes it a hassle to do anything.  Anyway, here are some of my attempts.

1. Cake Decorating

I have wanted to do this for a while, so I finally signed up. I figured it wouldn't hurt to do something I love and meet people at the same time. Good in theory, until I showed up to class. My class is full of grandmothers and moms. Technically I could be "mom age," but I am referring to ladies 30+ with kids. No offense to these ladies, but I don't want to hang out with people that could also be my mom's BFF. There is one girl around my age, I think she's 15. I sit by here in class and we have fun, but she makes me feel soooo old.

I really enjoy cake decorating. So far we have learned how to decorate with butter creme and royal icing. We have focused on the basics: boarders, flowers, and basket weaves. The worst part about cake decorating is that my poor little hand mixer can't take the heat of mixing royal icing, and it has now been retired to the dump. Bummer. Luckily I have a special edition Daniel mixer who know takes care of this fun task for me.

2. Team in Training - The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

I previously participated in Team in Training (TNT) back in 2007 when I ran the Rock n' Roll Marathon to raise money for LLS. I met some fun people last time, so I figured I would give it a go. What's better than raising money for a good cause, physically and mentally challenging yourself, and meeting new people? Nothing!

I was so excited to meet everyone at my first team run (and hopefully scout a new BFF), only to realize that everyone on my team joined with someone they already knew. WHY??? I figured I would force friendship upon these people, like I do most of my current friends. This plan had potential to go far until I fractured my foot. How? Did I do this running? No. I actually did this walking in a very low (1.5" wedge) on flat ground while I was in a rush to the airport. Long story short - I had a terrible day with my swollen foot shoved into my little shoe. So now I have a fractured foot that keeps me away from training with my team. Instead, I am restricted to aqua jogging. It's a great workout, but boring.

Anyway, I have now switched marathons and am training for one in October. I look forward to reconnecting with and befriending my team as soon as I am released by my physical therapist.

Visit my fundraising website for more information and to make a donation. Thank you in advance.

These are my two main attempts. I can't really say that I have found any new BFFs yet, but I'm working on it.

I should be packing . . .

But instead I'm updating!

Last weekend was a lot of fun! On friday my friends came over and we ate pizza and played games, and I dominated 4 out of 5 times. Not too shabby! A lot of them stayed over, so I got to start saturday morning off at IHOP with a few of my favorite people. I then went shopping with Kasey, and did my best not to influence her shopping habits. She says she alwas buys more when we go together. haha. We were going to have full on girls night but Katie was tired and Kasey became sick, so instead Car, Ashley, and I just went to dinner. Sunday Kara took my graduation pictures! I had so much fun with her. I can't wait for her to get her new computer so she can edit them and show me. I have been trying to be more social this semester and I have rarely passed up the opportunity to hang out with my friends. I am trying to spend us much time with them as I can because we only have 6 weeks left together.

I am so excited to see Daniel tomorrow!

******I just noticed that I saved this post to my drafts, and never posted it. It was written the week before spring break.

The last six months...

work. work. work. Daniel. work. work. work. Daniel. work. work. work.

You get the idea.

Work consumes too much of my time! when I'm not actually at the office, I am thinking about it. Sales are way too stressful.

Here is a breif overview of the non-work related activities I have done:

May:
Since I wasn't working yet (man do I miss those days), I was able to cook more often. I tried some new recipes from Cook Yourself Thin.

This is the only meal I took a picture of. It's Tomato Soup and mini Turkey BLT's. Daniel really enjoyed the tomato soup, but I wasn't such a big fan. So far our favorite is the Chicken Parmesan.

June:

Daniel and I floated the river and Lindsay was able to join us. That pretty much made the trip worth it for me.

July:

The girls at work and I started going to lunch together everyday. I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but if you knew my job, you would understand why this was very important.

August:

My birthday! The girls got me an ice-cream cake and Daniel got me a purse. It was a good birthday.

September:

Kari moved to St. Louis. :(

I got to see B.Spears again!

October:

We had a girls weekend in Dallas.

Charity Chicks hosted BRAtober to benefit Save the Ta-tas Foundation. This was a really fun event. We got to vote on bra art while enjoying cocktails and cupcakes.

On the pink carpet.

This was my favorite bra.

This was Daniel's favorite bra.

Handing out swag bags.

New Phone!

I loved my little white slider phone, and was very sad to watch it die. It all started when I came to Houston for the B.Spears concert. . . I have dropped my phone many times, but I guess it was finally too much for it on that particular day. When it hit the ground one side came unattached. Dang. It was still together, so I was going to make it work for a few more months. When I moved to Houston I dropped it again and the other side came unattached, but the strip that kept it working was holding the two pieces together. So I figured I'd just be extra careful not to break the strip. That night I went to a book signing by the fabulously funny Jennifer Lancaster where my phone fell out of my purse and completely separated! OMG!

I had to wait a week to get a new phone; the longest week of my life. I am now a proud owner of a red LG Xenon. It has a full keyboard that slides out and a touch screen. It is more complicated than my last phone and I am still having trouble answering my calls, but I have the texting part down. Now all I need to do is get some better ringtones on it because the ones it came with are crap.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

14 days ago I graduated. 8 days ago I moved to Houston. In 13 days I start my new job.

uggghh.

After I left Lubbock I stopped by Winnsborow to see Kasey and Matthew. It was really nice to see the cute town that they call home. I did not stay as long as I intended because I was too eager to see Daniel. 

Now I am in Houston and am living a similar version to what I would call "the dream." My daily activities include some cleaning, laundry, tv, working out, laying at the pool, and some cooking. I hope someday Daniel makes this my everyday job.