New Template Design

Blogger just updated their template designs...yay, it's about time! I'm sure I'll be playing around with this in the next few days. :)

I'm so excited!

Ps. It's the simple things in life; like new design templates.

Triathlon Training

A few years ago I began training for a triathlon. Unfortunately, two months before race day I had surgery to remove half my thyroid. Needless to say, the triathlon was put on hold.

I enjoy working out. I enjoy sweating (when you're suppose to be sweating ie. working out; not ie. b/c it's 103 and humid outside and you're simply walking 20 feet at a leisurely pace). I enjoy the feeling after a good work out, when you're tired but energized. AND I do much better about motivating myself when I'm working toward a goal.

Recently, I decided to look up triathlons in Texas with hope for some motivation. With triathlon season coming to an end, I'm pushed to find times/days/places that would work with my transition from here to Georgia. I found one the weekend before I leave. That may be pushing it. So I started looking for some in Georgia. There IS one at the end of August. After getting super excited and mentally preparing for training, I realized that's the day of our doctoral retreat. Bummer.

All this to say, I've begun training anyway. I'm following some sort of schedule from beginnertriathlete.com. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find a race this season or not, but if not, I'll just be ubber prepared for next season (if I keep it up). ;)

I'm going to do a sprint... someday. Although distances varying, the general milage is as follows (usually no more than):

800 meters (.5 miles) swim

18 mile bike

10k (6.2 mile) run

For me, the sports get progressively harder. Swimming is my most comfortable, then biking, and then...running. I want to be a runner. But I don't love it. Anyway, I swam a couple of days ago (I'm out of swimming routine/shape), ran 5 miles yesterday (I didn't know I could run that long), and biked 12 miles today. I think I can do all three individually just fine. It would be a matter of putting the three together, yikes.

Anyone who has ever done a triathlon, any tips? Or anyone who wants to train for one, feel free to join in the fun! :)

Thoughts!

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going! I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will doesn't mean I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you! And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always, though I may seem lost, and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone!

Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

Cabo

I go through spurts. Sometimes, I blog often. Other times, I go weeks without a post. In reading a friends recent post, she made mention that it's often harder to post about bigger life events such as travel, vacation, or holidays. I'd agree. I'm not sure why this is exactly, but it seems to be true for me.

So here is a picture diary of our Cabo trip.

Sunday.

In order to save over $150 dollars on a plane ticket, Sarah, Karen, and I flew from Austin airport to DFW. There we had a 6 hour layover.

After closedown, moving, and everything else involved at the end of an academic year...we were tired. We spent part of our 6 hours taking naps :)

We also spent part of our 6 hours walking around the airport looking for dunkin' donuts and developing new forms of exercise.

This was the view from the plane as we began to land in Los Cabos. It was a beautiful sunset!

Monday.

We woke up Monday morning, leisurely, and thought we'd just hang out by the pools and scope out the resort. However, Meg's family decided to go into town...so we scurried and hurried and joined them. Additionally, we decided to take a self take each day. We, however, have MORE than one self take from each day ;) We've gotten pretty good at them.

The sunset view from our balcony. Beautiful.

So Meg and I shared a room, and Karen and Sarah shared another. After a long day of walking around, we decided to use the jet tub to relax our feet. We had some bubble bath supplied by the hotel and little did we know...you only needed half a cap full. And even that with the jets was...ummm a picture's worth a thousand words. Needless to say, we also had bubbles in the tub the next day.

Tuesday.

We had a leisurely day hanging out by the pools! I could have probably spent all day in the pools!

The resort had a free appitizer dinner sort of gathering for all the guests. We got dressed up and enjoyed all the freebies...especially the guacamole!

That night, I decided to set on the 'beach' and watch the sunset. Pure. Bliss.

Wednesday.

More pool time at the resort. Lovely.

Thursday.

We headed into town for breakfast, then 'lunch' at Senior Sweets, then a few hours at the beach.

It's a pastry, with coconut gelato inside, and chocolate drizzled over the top. Yumm.

After time at the beach we met up with Meg's family for a sunset dinner cruise.

Friday.

More pool time. Did I mention I brought Harry Potter audio books?! I made it through half of number 6 while laying out! :) In the morning, Meg and I learned how to make mojitos and chiliquiles.

That night, after dinner, the four of us and Meg's family headed to the file pit for smores. After taking a few self pics, we look over to Meg's mom, dad, and aunt to see this...oh the mockery ;) LOVE it!

Saturday.

We hung out at the pools during the day, took a little walk on our private beach, and more hanging out at the pools :)

That night we headed into town to check out Cabo Wabo! It was a hilarious experience! We watched some overly confident, fully independent, interpretive dancers...and so many more!

Sunday.

We planned to have a leisurely morning. However, after receiving a phone call from Meg's dad at 9 that check out was at 10...we scurried. But seeing as how our shuttle to the airport wasn't until 1pm, we had breakfast at the resort and then hung around until it was time to go home.

I took advantage of the few extra hours and went back to the beach, listened to Harry Potter, and waded through one of the pools while the others took naps in cabanas ;)

We were sad to leave...but happy to have experienced Cabo together!

The End.

Baylor Memories...

Office Hours

It's hard to hold normal office hours when your office looks like
this. I can't take much more of the chaos. I don't know about you, but
I'm one that if my home (and preferably also my office) are organized
and clean, I can take on the world. But right now, I'm fighting the
disaster...and it's winning.

Praise!

Moving across the country (or world) can be a stressful ordeal. There is usually a laundry list of things to do prior to moving. Here are some of the things on my list, in no particular order.

Get boxes

Sort through everything I own!

Pack

Move (to another apt on campus)

Look for roommate

Find apartment

Choose which large items go to Athens with me

Have a garage sale (this Saturday!)

Plan move

Rent moving trailer

...and another laundry list of things to get ready for school. Anyway, I had been looking for a roommate for awhile with little success. I had even become started looking online for a roommate. Yes, it's probably a bit like online dating only MORE commitment. If you agree to 'be with them' you're committed to a lease...for a year. There were plenty of 19 year old females who wanted to be my roommate and even a 46 year old male. He didn't make the cut, he's a smoker.

After lots of thought and prayers I decided to look into on-campus housing, at least for my first year. The prices were decent enough but come with the perks of proximity to campus, cable (although I don't want much TV), internet, water, garbage, etc. Although it doesn't include electricity, they own their own meters and so electric is a reduced rate.

However, after calling UGA they seemed to think all their apartments had already come available and been spoken for. They simply told me to watch, wait, and stalk the site for openings. As luck would have it, an apartment became available later that day...but alas, when I went to claim it, the site said no records found.

So I did what any sane individual would do, I kept refreshing the page over and over again in hopes that my fate would change. It didn't.

The next morning, I called UGA at 7:07 my time. After stating my plight, the man on the other end said that the system only refreshes itself so often and someone must have snuck in and nabbed it before I did. Okay, well, he didn't say it quite like that but close.

After going about my morning and talking with a colleague about it, we devised a plan. I was going to ask my family to stalk the site as well as have some of my students keep an eye out.

Unfortunately, my plan did not get implemented.

An hour and half after having the conversation with my colleague I was online and securing my spot in UGA campus housing. Thank you Lord! It was the price I was looking for, has carpet, and is on the first floor.

Again, thank the Lord! What a blessing to have this item off my checklist.

I will be moving into my new home on July 14th.