Today, I mastered the stairs.

This weekend was pretty busy- Tom F's birthday was yesterday, so we celebrated! Yay! We saw a movie at the drafthouse, then visited some folks we know and love in nursing homes (including his dad, of course), and then went to dinner at the Treehouse (yum)- and to see Rock of Ages at the Long Center. And of course it rained almost all day.

Today after church I went to deliver some food to a friend and his wife, who was just in an accident, and then hit the gym. Geez, I sure know a lot of people that are down and out right now. Hope that changes soon!

So- the gym. I was a little nervous- it's been like... two months since I have been to the gym. I did the stairmaster- the stair mill, actually. You know, one of these monstrosities:

I looked way cooler than that lady, of course. I did it for 20 minutes, and sweat a LOT. Hopefully that will help me feel better, like the acupuncture guy said.

Then we went to Kohl's (and I didn't buy anything), then to HEB for our weekly trip, which took too long, as always, but we did buy a giant bottle of cabernet.

I have a crazy busy day tomorrow, and I can't wait! Bring on the new teachers! Oh, and I'm trying something radical tomorrow- instead of trying to get up at 5 and then feeling guilty for not, I'm going to sleep in until 5:45 and then go to the gym after work. Whaaaat?

Exciting day?

I went to an acupuncturist today! I am keeping Austin weird! They told me that I needed to sweat... And I talked about how I'm a little scared still to start running again, so we decided that I'm going to do the stair master. And they stuck me with some needles, and honestly I got extremely relaxed.

Also, today I was sitting at a table with three other mentors, and we got to talking and all three of them are married to people who are the same sex as them. After realizing this, they looked at me and said "what about you?" I told them I was married to a man (a cute one too) and asked them to stop oppressing me.

Here's to a happy day!

Today I get to go to a training and see all the other mentors, which is always a treat.

Speaking of treats.... This is a pic of my breakfast (complete with Obama family coffee mug that I bought in the White House gift shop this summer!)Its oatmeal with strawberries and a scoop o chocolate protein powder... YUM.

Have a wonderful day!!

So, I had kind of a grumpy weekend. However, I had a great voice mail from Sarah that made me feel great, and helps remind me that I shouldn't be so hard on myself!

She and I like to joke about "winning at life" or "failing at life"- naturally, both of these mean the same thing. We send text messages about it all the time. On Saturday, she called and told me that she was having a day where she felt that she was failing at life, and then she said that it's ridiculous that people like she and I actually feel that way, because we are awesome! We aren't failing!!! We are working at jobs that we love (and are darn good at!), working on keeping our marriages awesome, and being responsible citizens (voting and paying taxes and having a social conscious and such).

We really shouldn't even joke about this. I might joke about how I'm winning at life when I have spilled my morning protein shake not once but TWICE... but come on. At least I was up in the morning making something nutritious so that I could go to work with teachers at low income schools. If I was really failing, I would be eating a packaged cupcake in my bed at two in the afternoon, and washing it down with a 16ounce High Life. I would really be doing that.

So... let's be winners (for real, not in a sarcastic Charlie Sheen sense). Let's remember that we are winners. Winners that occasionally have a rough morning, or day, or week. AND, lets be winners that help each other out while we're down!

Have a wonderful day!

Recovery

I haven't been posting much lately... because this is a running blog, and I haven't been able to run lately.

I had back surgery two weeks ago. Its still a little hard for me to believe that this happened. Recovery has been going pretty well, but this weekend was rough. I've been having pretty bad pains in my lower back and in my leg (that was being affected before the surgery). The doctor's office said this was pretty normal, so I stopped freaking out about it, but I did rest a lot this weekend (and I feel tons better).

Some things that I learned from all of this:
- sometimes you really do need to get an MRI.
- dear friends will send cards, call to check in, and bring you meals.
- your own parents are awesome, and there is no substitute- my parents came and were the second and third people I saw after my surgery (after my husband).
- I don't need to take care of anyone besides myself when I'm sick or injured.
- being sick is lonely. I have spend the entire weekend alone. I can't wait to go back to work tomorrow for some human contact.