Austin

Austin impressions:

Nice, nice city. It was much bigger than I expected, very sprawling. Traffic was horrific. No other word for it and I am not exaggerating. I think nothing of driving into Midtown Manhattan on a weekday and I was still aghast at the traffic on I-35. Sunday afternoon, it was stopped in both directions. Whenever we mentioned it to the locals, their response was identical. "Oh, I never, ever take 35. I avoid it!" We got in Sunday, picked up our rental and headed to San Antonio to see the Alamo.

Most everyone we met was from somewhere else - mostly the northern midwest. I did talk to one person born and raised in Austin and they were not happy with the growth of their city.

People were very, very nice, very friendly. We hit some nice vegetarian restaurants:
http://www.mrnatural-austin.com/
We ordered the chips and salsa here as an appetizer. I could not believe the amount of chips they brought us! I told the wait staff they could take half of them back and we still wouldn't be able to finish the remainder! I love chips and salsa so in addition to my tamale plate (just what do the corn husks add to the dish?) I did my best to tackle that plate and ate myself sick. LOL

http://motherscafeaustin.com/
The husband had the TLT sandwich here and said it was one of the best sandwiches he's ever had. They offered us chips and salsa and looked a bit askance when we demurred (askance and demurred????? How highfaulutin'!) but we learned our lesson at Mr. Natural. I had the tofu enchiladas. Simply divine.

Man, oh, man, how I love mexican food.

I was hoping for nice weather as a break from our usually crappy spring but it wasn't too be. It wasn't really bad weather but it wasn't lay out by the pool, nice weather. Monday was breezy and decent - I did get my 7 mile run in. Hotel gave me a route that took me up and down a couple of canyons. WTH? I thought Texas was flat! LOL It was hard and I did have to walk once for a couple of minutes but I got the job done.

NYC trip

Guess I still suck at blogging. I don't know what it is about this time of year - I always seem to experience a slowdown of my life - the inability to focus and accomplish. I actually seem overwhelmed which is ironic since my life is fairly carefree and stressfree.

Big event lately was a weekend trip to NYC with my 69-will-be-70-in-May Mother. She is originally from the south - born in Louisiana and grew up in Mississippi and Alabama. In past years, my parents have left NY after Christmas to go south but haven't lately. They also live about 1.5 hours away from me and their winters are much much harder than ours. All this is to say that my parents were getting on each other's nerves and needed a timeout from each other - hence the NYC trip.

Before leaving, I asked her what she wanted to do. Three times she said she wanted to see a Broadway show but she knew they were very expensive. Needless to say, the husb said to get her old lady butt in a Broadway show seat no matter what. LOL We decided to see Mamma Mia! in a Saturday matinee because it rained ALL DAY Saturday. The husb ordered the tickets online Friday night about 11:30 and had they held at will-call. My mother thinks he had some kind of influence in order to get tickets in the middle of the night. She really doesn't understand the internet all that well LOL.

She was so psyched about that show - it was all she could talk about. She told people on the subway she was going to see a show. As we walked through Times Square, she told the men handing out free comedy club tickets, "No thank you, we are on our way to see a Broadway show, my son-in-law got me tickets!" She called my dad during intermission and told him she was at a 'real' Broadway show.

Her proof that she saw a 'real Broadway show':

Walking through Time Square after the show - Mom treated her granddaughter to some frozen yogurt:

Styling Mamaw and granddaughter in the rain:

Bryant Park (I think), my mother wore that oversized rainjacket and lugged that big old purse around every day!:

One evening we walked half way across the Brooklyn Bridge - it was a magical:

My daughter works part-time for a hosiery company in the Empire State Building. She is computerizing and organizing their inventory. I joke around that she could just be folding socks and who would care? It's on the 50th floor of the Empire State Building. First of all, my mother was told she worked at the ESB but until we went there, it didn't dawn on her that it was THE real Empire State Building. And then, she heard me talk about the sock folding and didn't realize I was joking. She started bragging to people (she talked to EVERYONE - on the subway, on the street, in stores anywhere) that her granddaughter worked in the ESB, only folding socks but it was a start and might turn into a real important job if she continued to do well. Oy.........

My daughter lives in a sixth floor walk up. My mother, after pounding the NYC pavement for 10 hours straight on both Saturday and Sunday, then had to climb all those flights. It was amazing. I only hope I am capable of the same when I reach 70. I tried to snap a pic of her heading down the stairs. The first time she was moving too quick for me!

Then I got her:

My mother pretending to be asleep on the subway. She couldn't keep from laughing.

Take a good look at her face and her skin. When we were kids, my sisters and I used to make fun of her because every night she slathered Ponds cold cream on her face and vaseline all around her mouth and lips. We used to laugh at what we called her greasing up routine. Well, she is 70 years old and her skin is amazing. I have just put Ponds and vaseline on my shopping list for this week.

My mother with some new friends she met on the subway. They were tourists from Equador and Argentina that she started chatting up. We were on our way to the Staten Island Ferry and so were they. Because of subway construction, getting to the Port Authority was mixed up so she volunteered her 'city granddaughter' to lead they way for everyone. I told my daughter to raise her umbrella like a tour guide so we could all follow! LOL

It was an awesome, awesome trip.

Wow. I suck blogging. My excuse? It is March. We have 2 ft. of snow on the ground. Gray skies and it was 2 degrees when I woke up a few mornings ago. Yuck. Don't feel like writing - nothing interesting enough to write about even if I did want to write. But in the interest of keeping the millions of fan up to date on my life miniutae, here is a breakdown:

1) PTT's biopsy came back - it is cancer. However, the margins were clean, if a little short for the lab's liking in one area. There is every possiblity that she can go on and have a healthy life. She will need to be monitored for new lumps diligently, though. Now we just need to try to find a appropriate home for a 6 yr. old, cancer surviving bounceback.

2) Still running - our long runs are up to 10 miles this week. It is hard. For the first time in training, yesterday, we didn't hit our tempo run times. That was discouraging. But we did get the distance in. 8 more weeks to go.

3) I am not running Tipp this weekend. I was wishy washy on it. Last weekend, we were to do a trial run and I woke up to snow, wind and cold. Nope. Not gonna do it. And what's more....I decided there and then I wasn't going to run Tipp. It is my protest against our sucky weather.

4) Instead........can anyone say.........ROADTRIP???? Woo! Leaving Friday with the Mater to spend the weekend in NYC with the daughter. The daughter has been pushing hard to the hoop, trying to get me down there for a visit lately. Frankly, when a kid requests your company....well, it doesn't happen often, so you better go. The Mater is going, because, frankly, the parents could use a time out from each other. LOL We will be back Monday. This is going to be lots of fun!

5) Other trips on board: Austin, 3/16. Never been. Looking forward to this. And the creme de la creme.....Miami in July. Yeah, I don't care if it is hot. We will be on the beach! Take a look at this:
http://www.miamibeachresortandspa.com/ Damn, I hope they let us in! I don't think I have ever stayed in anyplace that swanky.

Accomplishment!

As of this past Tuesday, our little Weight Watcher's group of 4 has lost a grand total of 97 pounds. All since 11/6/07. I tell ya, these women are gonna be tearing up the local race scene this spring and summer.....

My poor PTT. Cancer. She is going in for surgery 2/20.

Monday minutiae

Today's run:
7 miles/speed intervals.
One mile warmup
3 x 1600 @10:22 w/800 recoveries
Cool down

It was the freakingest, been-to-hell-and-now-I-can-say-I-am-back-and-survived run. I have never had a run that hard (and remember - all my runs are hard for me LOL) and I hope never to have a run like that again. I am not going to belabor it because it will cause me to relive the run in all its suicidal hysteria, except to say that it was 18 degrees and 20 mph winds and we did it.

Onto nicer and brighter news....... Dinner party last night :-) Didn't take many pictures - I had 3 glasses of wine and I am a cheap drunk. And you can bet those 3 glasses will show up on the scale tomorrow night at weigh in. Some random thoughts from last night:

Bazu brought this coleslaw. Yeah, I know, coleslaw, right. Pretty standard fare. USUALLY! This wasn't your usual coleslaw though- it was to die for. Pure and simple.

If I had thought about it during the run today, I probably would have dropped dead right there between the pain of the run and the thoughts of the coleslaw glory. Oh, and she wore this cute little scarf tied around her head. That combined with her cute little haircut, well, it was almost cute overload. If I didn't like her and she wasn't so nice......I don't know what but something. You know if I tried to wear something like that, I would probably be mistaken for a drag queen version of Cher from her Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves era. (this is the real Cher - who would know I couldn't find a drag queen singing GT&Ts on youtube?)

SD and Sue both looked stunning - I am used to seeing them in workout clothes, with sweat dripping. It was awesome to see them both in 'regular' clothes. And I think I am going to have to beg for a makeover by SD. Man, if I could get my makeup to look like hers instead of making me look like Bozo the Clown, I might actually wear some.

SD brought her greyhound boy, Pre. For his first time in a strange house he did great. He did get warnings from both the snarky present females, PTT and Lucy. He took those warnings in typical greyhound male fashion, they bounced right off of him and he moved onto the next interesting thing he saw. LOL He was a wonderfully happy boy.

PTT's lack of social skills had her relegated to the bedroom about half way through the evening. She was just way too uncomfortable with so many dogs and I was too distracted to help her cope. She gave a few warnings and then was put away where she could relax. The Black Widow, Lucy, had to keep her muzzle on all evening, but really did good considering all the dogs. Of course, it probably helped that she decided to slut it up towards the end of the evening and was promptly rewarded with overwhelming attention....

And last but not least, a visit by Bridget is never complete without adding another chapter to the Ode to Cosmo and Bridget saga.....

Even Jesus isn't safe!

As an avowed, responsible pooper scooper, I love this. Watch out. Next time you don't pick up after your dog, instead of throwing the poo back in your yard, I might decide to liberate something.....or someone.......

C'mon people.....we all know what Jesus would do. He would scoop!