Weekend Wrap-up

Lately it seems as if every weekend has been jam-packed - leaving little time for some quality R&R. But, I'm not complaining. I certainly enjoy making memories, there will be a season for rest later. Speaking of seasons, before I jump into my weekend, Bath and Body Works has their fall 2014 inventory online already! Can we please talk about how glorious the Pumpkin Cupcake is? Inventory is not in the stores yet, but you can definitely stock up on some of these online (it looks like they are doing $1 shipping if you spend $25 today):

Get these HERE

Enough about fall, and more about how I spent all day Friday in the same outfit (faux pas for sure). Work: because I work in the Education component of our department, we really run our year much like they would do in the schools. Our busiest time of year happens to be now through about May. What I love most about my job is the creativity I am allowed. I do our newsletter, which enables me to have creative freedom in developing content. I also get to have some fun with our events! But, enough about that. I like to treat myself every now and then. I knew I had a busy day on Friday, so I started the morning off with one of these:

My Friday treat.

Thursday night was a pretty intense bootcamp- involving too many of these. 

Photo courtesy   

 Yeah- it's not really a cute look when you've been sweating so much (an hour to be exact) that it gets all over the floor, and a fellow participant notices your sweat pile and throws you a new towel after you've already gone through two of your own. Oh well, I think a lot about those last .2 miles of my marathon (if those last .2 miles of a marathon, are anything like the last .1 mile of a half- I'm in for some trouble :) ). If a star jump will get me through, then I'll do however many it takes.  After all those jumps, I thought my Friday morning deserved both a latte and a Starbucks carrot cake muffin with pecans. One of my all time faves. Delish. If you haven't tried it- do it- thank me later. Sidenote: everything about La Boulange speaks to me - the pink bags, the display, the taste..... love it and love the partnership.

After work, I was dying to go meet baby Jackson. So, Krob, Aaron and I rushed over to the hospital to meet him. He was pretty presh. Slept the whole time - my kind of baby. I even held him, but am not in ownership of the photo evidence :) He will be such a lucky guy, with some pretty cool parents.

Right after that, we had reservations for John's birthday, so Aaron and I had to rush to dinner- thus, my same outfit ALL day. We did some hibachi, which is always a good time. I thought I would have time to run home and change after dinner, but nope. It ended up taking a bit longer, so we headed straight out to additional celebrations after dinner. It was a great evening to celebrate John's 1st year in Texas, as well as his birthday!!!! (again, no photo evidence, I was slacking).

Saturday was a long (HOT) run, and a pedicure. Now- I'm actually not a huge fan of manis/pedis (I don't like waiting, sometimes they hurt me and many times I leave thinking I could do a better job myself). That being said, I have been dealing with a lingering blister on the bottom of my foot from all the hills during the Austin half-marathon back in February. I do have a picture of that, but will spare you the visual. It was about time to get that thing taken care of, so this pedicure was more of a necessity. Krob, Katlin, Aaron (he decided he needed to clean up his feet a little) and I all went. We actually got in pretty quickly. I looked over to this- and it made me giggle a bit:

Now, running has left me with some pretty janky (for lack of a better term) feet. I have blisters, scars from blisters and two missing toenails, which have since grown back rather awkwardly. The things we do.... and I felt like my lady, Trish, really helped me out. Thanks to Trish, I have some beautiful toes..... for now. I did enjoy a natural watermelon snow-cone following our manicure/pedicure session. Thank you, Texas Blizzard. 

Sunday brought it's new set of "experiences." John's birthday celebration continued, and Aaron and I agreed to go kayaking with him Sunday morning. Now, I love me a good kayak session. I enjoy being out on the water, getting a different kind of exercise in- and just having a good time. I was told we would be kayaking through the Armand Bayou. What everyone FAILED to tell me, was what would be in the water once we got there. I saw Aaron pack his knife- and decided I should probably give this place a Google. Sure enough- the bayou happens to be home to GATORS, SNAKES and other REPTILES... Oh lord. I don't do snakes. And especially not gators if I'm going to be in their territory. It was too late- they already had me in the car. So, I decided to just go with it.

Now, my big win for the day: when we got to the kayak place, they told us the Armand Bayou tour would be closed for a bit because of some water issue. I was thrilled disappointed. Instead, they told us we could kayak in Clear Lake, which would eventually lead into the back end of the bayou. I was fine with that. If the lake allows people to water ski, wakeboard, paddle board - I assumed it was safe. So, Aaron and I hopped into a tandem and John and Jessica were in singles and we were off. The weather was beautiful:

Please note my very cool water shoes.

 And we were having a great time.... Until we got to the bayou portion of our trip. Here is a photo of us before we entered the Bayou:

Look how happy we are. Please also note Aaron's hat- which I did make fun of him for, however, will now be purchasing one of my own because I see the practicality of that purchase. Yeah, I get it- I'm cool. We were going along our merry way, until we hit the bayou. It was SO quiet. Much less choppy and more wild-lifey. There were birds and fish jumping out of the water. I was in the process of looking at the faces the jumping fish make- when I heard it. There was an enormous splash about four feet to my right. The splash only one thing could make. I tried to ask if maybe it was a large fish. But, John confirmed my suspicions- it was an alligator. And I was in a small kayak. O.M.G. So, I did the thing you aren't supposed to do, and I panicked. It's a good thing Aaron and I got the tandem- otherwise, I'm pretty sure he would have had to tow me back in- or something along those lines. Until we left the bayou portion of our excursion, I did the logical, grown-up thing- and shut my eyes. Yep- mature. Now I enjoy and respect the outdoors. I am fine with seeing gators from a distance (such as my bike), but certainly not in their own territory. They have the advantage in the water for sure- and it's just not something I care to mess with. Now, the bayou was beautiful and calm. They apparently have some bald eagles, as well as some otters. And I would like to go back- but probably in something a bit larger and not as exposed. More on that to come.

For now, happy Monday!!!!