Ever have a day

...that just made you feel like you were run over by a train? That was me today after work. We were just busy busy busy. But it is over now, yoga helped me find my inner peace. And tomorrow I get to see 2 of my favorite peeps on the planet.
We are meeting them in Austin, where Joe is running the half marathon and Boom the full on Sunday. I'll be taking lots of pics!

Happy {belated} Valentine's Day!

These longer days at work are a bit stressful, but I keep reminding myself that it is so worth it to have every Monday off! And TGIF!

Joe and I went to T'afia for dinner last night. They had a fabulous tasting menus. We started with some cheese and bread. I got a salad and Joe ordered fennel soup for our 2nd course. My 3rd course was scallops and his was filet and for dessert he got a chocolate cherry bread pudding and I got a chocolate cake. We also ordered the wine pairing for each course, so needless to say, after dinner I was nice and red.
Prior to dinner Joe humored me with a mini photo shoot. {I think he sometimes gets tired of me taking so many pictures, but whatcha gonna do?}

He is my sweet and silly boy and I love him!

Long day

As a part of my new work schedule with every Monday off comes longer days when we only work Tues-Fri. So I was at work from 7:45am to 6 pm. Which is fine, but doesn't give me much time to goof off. I went to yoga after work, which got me home around 8, so I don't have much time to do anything but watch AI, surf a little and go to bed. So this post is going to be short and sweet with no photos. Hopefully I'll be more inspired to post tomorrow. Good night!

Fashion Week

I wish we could have gone again! Tinger and I had such a fabulous time last year. And since I didn't post any photos this time last year, I thought I would revisit them tonight.

Cute print

So I met Peg for lunch at a new sandwich shop on Westheimer called Bewitched. I had a yummy Cali Club sandwich while she enjoyed a turkey and avocado sandwich. They served the sandwiches with this garbanzo bean-lentil salad which was delicious as well. And since they are located right next to a bakery, I had to have a red velvet cupcake for dessert.

While I was waiting for Peg, I noticed a free newspaper with a very pink cover. It is called Skirt and caters to women. The reason I noticed the cover was the cute illustration:
The artist's name is Bella Pilar and she does watercolors. Turns out I have a piece of her art, a limited edition T that I got on sale at Tar-jay because I loved the design. Looks like a scrapbook page in the making...
This last photo is my self-portrait for today. Just a snapshot of the shirt I am wearing today. A bit boring, but I wasn't in to mood to take too many photos today. {And yes, the shirt is supposed to look a little stained}

Today

has been a good day so far. I mean, who doesn't enjoy a 70 degree sunny day in Houston. I wish it could stay this way! After our run I went to work for about an hour. We actually skipped yoga this morning to have breakfast at Baby Barnaby's with Cindy, Marc, Darryl, Ingrid (Cindy's bff) and Blake (Ingrid's financee).After breakfast I scrapped a little before we met Marc on Allen Parkway. Joe did his 2nd run of the day while Marc ran a bit to loosen his muscles.We also wanted to check out the new skate park they are building.Joe and I walked LuLu for a bit while Marc was running.

And I enjoyed a healthy snack.My life may not be perfect, but it ain't too shabby either.

Another Saturday night...

and we are old. Not going out tonight. Work seemed long today. But at least I still have Monday off!

Some self portraits:
yesterdaytoday
I am feeling a little blue, but it's nothing a little ice cream cannot solve!Beforeand after!
And some photos from dinner with Cindy last night

Long day

I haven't edited my self-portrait for today. Had to get to work at 7 am, went to yoga after work and just got home from dinner with Cindy and the boys. Cindy is a good friend I met through Marc a few years ago. I have actually known her for longer, but we didn't become friends when we first met. Unfortunately she moved to Cali just as we were getting to know each other, so I miss her now! Here is photo of us from her last visit.She is such a cutie!
More to come tomorrow. Good night!

Fun with the camera

I got a new camera lens for Christmas (Tamron 28-75mm 2.8) {thanks mom and dad!}, which I love. It is allowing me to take somewhat more "artistic" snapsots without too much effort. The key is a smaller aperture. Joe got me a 50mm 1.8 fixed length lens for our anniversary last year, which can take even cooler shots because of the wider aperture, but they can be harder to compose. I have been using the Tamron non-stop since I got it, however, I want to practice more with the 50mm. So this next week, all my SLR photos will be with the shorter lens. Here is my self-portrait for the day:I still have about 15 more minutes to goof off before I need to get to work, so here I go!

A typical morning

Joe and I ran this morning. The past few days the weather has been pretty hot and humid - 60s and 70s. Of course this morning it was 45 when we got to the park! Although it's hard to get started, once I get warmed up I much prefer the cold weather. Again, just the getting started part is hard.

Usually after I have showered and eaten some breakfast I like to do a little surfin' before getting ready for work. Hence the inspiration for the self-portrait today. I am really enjoying doing this as it is helping to spark some creativity in me!

Back to the grind

The Tuesday back to work after three days off is always hard. Even though I've had a break, usually by lunch I feel like I need another one! Fortunately we weren't super busy today, which makes it a bit easier. We are on a new schedule this month where we have every Monday off! I am very excited about it. And my new time at work will allow me to practice yoga every day. I usually arrive at mysore practice early which I like so I can get a good spot. But I discovered today that arriving later (after 6) means that many people are already done by the time I get to the places I need help and Yannis helps me more. He definitely pushed me into more poses today so I expect to be sore tomorrow. But I think I can make major improvements in my practice if I go 5-6 days a week. We'll see if I can make it!

Productive day

My Mondays off are usually fairly productive. I prefer going to the store (be it clothes, food or Tar-jay) on Mondays because they simply are not as crazy as they are on the weekends. And I like having the feeling of playing hooky, like I should really be something else. I wonder if this is what people who don't have to work feel like everyday. I could get used to it!

So Joe and I ran at the park this morning. I think I tied my left shoe too tight yesterday so my foot was bothering me. I don't typically break any land speeds when I run, but I was especially slow today. But I worked my way through it. We were hoping to see our friend Marc out there (he started a 2 week Seal PT course) but we must have missed him.

After doing a little scrapping (I was on a roll last night and it continued onto this morning), I went to yoga. Then off to Tar-jay for some random house items. I really have to control myself because they have such cute stuff there!

I met Joe at the Center Club for an intro to Pilates reformer class. It was cool to see how the machine works - like using weights but you have to concentrate on your core. I just don't want to have to pay extra for any classes!

We had sandwiches at Pot Belly for lunch. Yum!

I bought a cool headband and sweater at this cute workout clothes store - Lulemon (or something like that) before heading to Central Market for some fresh veggies, fruit and fish. I am cooking some Chilean Sea Bass tonight. Looking forward to it!

Whew - so that's been my day in a nutshell. I think I need a nap.{My self-portrait of today, modeling the aforementioned headband}

Uh oh

We have partially been watching the Superbowl and while I don't really care who wins I will be a little sad if New England loses. One because they had a perfect season this year. Two because Tom Brady, while he may be somewhat of a dog, is still cuter than that Eli Manning guy. And three because my brother-in-law BoomBoom will be most disappointed if they don't win.

My self-portrait today:
The back of my head:

Haircut

Just a post of my self-portrait today after my haircut. Until tomorrow...

A daunting task

So I have been diligently cleaning/purging my closet this morning. Every time I would open it up the mess would be mocking me but I just didn't have the energy to tackle it. Since I have a long weekend I figured today would be as good as any to start. I have organized my clothes and purged what I want to give away (some to Mom and some to GoodWill). I have gotten rid of some shoes (mostly old workout shoes - I haven't really been into shoes the past few years). Now I just have to organize the stuff that's in there. Not quite ready for that yet, hence I am blogging instead.

I do want to clean out some more clothes to get ready for this:

The new Go line at Tar-yah by Jovovich-Hawk which will be out 3/2. I think some of the dresses may be a little young (I hate that I have to think about "dressing my age" - sigh) but some of the stuff looks pretty cute!

I have also been stalking this:Stella McCartney is designing a travel line for Le Sport Sac. Looks cool and maybe good for workout gear. I just haven't seen it available yet.

Back to the organizing...maybe

A little red in my life

My self portrait today is based on the prompt "When I haven't any blue, I use red." (Pablo Picasso) Luckily I was motivated before starting work to take the photo because I got very busy and I didn't have time to think about it the rest of the day!It's a rather silly photo, but I like the way the light is coming through the window. The coat is a few years old, from my favorite store The Gap.
I am looking forward to a nice 3-day weekend. Tomorrow is time for hair color and cut - I love getting pampered.
P.S. I have been working on getting organized this year. And then of course I leave my planner at the office...

Yay me!

So I made a scrapping goal of completing 31 layouts in 31 days - techinically one for every day in January. While I did not scrap every single day of the month, I did finish the 31st layout today! The page I completed today was my word for this year (ORGANIZE) as well as my goals on how to organize my life. We'll see how they work out!

My next project is a self-portrait everyday in Feb. There are a multitude of 365+ photos of the day challenges out there but I just don't see myself undertaking such a large task. Since Feb is the shortest day of the month I think I should be able to manange. Actually, last March I took a photo of Joe and me everyday and made it into a layout. It was quite fun to do!

Brrrr

Another cold morning! It was about 39degrees when we started our morning run at Memorial Park. I feel hard core when we run in this kind of weather :).

400th post! {+ fun with brushes}

So instead of getting ready for working out and getting ready for work, this morning I have been scrapping and experimenting with digital frames for photos. I am not into digital scrapping as I like the feel of paper in my hand but I do like the look of different frames around photos. I have been playing around with some free frames off of Two Peas. Of course the really cool ones cost $$ but I don't know if I am ready to make that investment.

They are certainly fun to play with but now I must go and deal with real life - boo!

Starting the week off right

I like when I am able to drag my a$$ out of my warm bed and run in the cold (well, it was 49 degrees out so we have run when it's been colder, but still). I am hoping today is not too crazy at work. Wish me luck!