Happy Birthday to Me.

Thanks Rachael and Carrie!

The (mostly) Finished Product

Other than a few finishing touches and some decorating ...

here is the finished bathroom -

which I LOVE!!!

Just Add Grout

TILE!!!

Dad brought down some tile guys to do the master bath this weekend - it's looking really good! Here are some sneak peaks...

Fall Decor

Having a house is fun! Let's start decorating for the seasons! I bought a reverable table runner for my new dining room table. You know I left it on the stripe side, but at least I have the option to branch out and see the other cute side. I also moved all the pics on my mantle to a sofa table that I relocated to the LR. Not sure if I love or hate the sofa table where it is - but it serves a good purpose.

The GuardDog

This is what I found when I checked on Paisley this afternoon.

But take a closer look...

and that squirrel was up there talking smack to my Paisley!

Annie Oakley Reborn!

I have been invited several times to go shooting with some of the Brink's Office of Strategic Services team (my developers for the SLA Reporting System) and so finally, today I went! I love shooting, but haven't done it in what seems like forever. Tonight was a good time! I shot with several guns - mostly there were all .22, .45 and 9mm - oh and something between the .45 and 9mm, maybe a .38? - I'll have to ask tomorrow.

I think it looks good on me! What do you think?

Kitchen FourSquare

No, I dont play FourSquare in my kitchen, but if I did, it would be quite a workout for a one man game! This is the location of my new table (except mine is coming with 4 chairs and I am going to buy 2 benches for it)!

Oh What a Night

It all started when I got home from class last night and decided to go for a quick 2 mile run with Paisley to release some of her energy from being locked up in the house all day. I went out on the back porch and noticed my motion sensor light was out. This sort of freaked me out because I thought it was odd and wondered if someone had cut it so they wouldn't be seen in my backyard (not that anyone would be looking). So I decided to lock the back door and leave from the front door - where I could return to a lit porch. Off I went and back I came; everything was okay.

I uploaded my class notes to the web from my new Livescribe SmartPen (which so far, I love) to share with my classmates. Then it was so nice outside, I opened the windows in both spare bedrooms and two of the windows in my bedroom and was off to bed. So far, so good. It wasn't until 4:58am that it started. I was startled awake to a crash and a growl - Paisley had just busted through the bedroom window to the backyard (which I didn't think she'd do since the nightstand was in front of the window - but she proved me wrong). I was so startled, and must have been dreaming about my brother (though I don't remember that dream) that I shot up in my bed and yelled "Jeremy!" closely followed (like it was one word) by "Paisley!" - because the moment Jeremy came out of my mouth I thought "that's not her name". When you are in such a deep sleep and are startled awake - it hurts your head! I think I might have a slight headache all day. I looked at the clock to see what time it was (because even when it's time to get up, it's still really dark outside - I was hoping it was just time to get up) - 4:58am. Bummer.

So I went to the backdoor to let the dog in though the proper entry/exit. Of course, she didn't come to the door, which made me think somehow she got out to the front yard, which I wouldn't be too pleased about. I went back to the window - told her she was a bad dog some - then had her climb back through the window. I then lowered the window to just a crack.

Of course, when I went back to bed, I started thinking about the noise I heard, the growl, which struck me as an odd sound - I don't think it sounded like her normal growl. And I tried to think of what she must have gone after. What if it were a person. What if she was protecting the house. That was not a pleasant thought to think before returning to sleep.

From 5am - 7am, nothing but bad dreams about people watching me in my house and breaking into my house. For instance, I had a dream:

The Sears A/C man (which is odd because I didn't use Sears to fix my A/C) showed up to my house in the wee hours of the morning while it was still dark outside. I saw his feet cross my front patio and heard the doorbell ring, but laid in bed hoping he would think I wasn't there or was still asleep. He then proceeded to yell at me to tell me we needed to talk about my A/C because it was only running every so many minutes (cant remember what he said - but it was obviously unacceptable to him) and that he needed to check it. And I thought, "Yeah I know, that's cause it's OFF! because my windows are OPEN!" In my dream, I went back to sleep and when I got up and started moving about, I saw the A/C man's van was still outside my house! He then leaned down and knocked on my bedroom window and said we had to talk. "Fine." I thought. So I went to the front door, sure to step outside and not let him in my house. He handed me a canvas tote that I own and said it was outside and that I might want to take it in. But I knew full well that that tote had been sitting at the end of my bed for at least a few weeks. He had been in my house!

Totally Freaked out now. I know I had some other dreams about the A/C guy and other people lurking outside my house. And I had the thought that maybe I should get a gun for safety. Then I woke up and realized it was 7am. Dang it! I'm late!

Oh what a night (or early morning, that is)

8 miles

It's been quite a while since I ran the Team in Training Route in Flower Mound, but Rachael and I needed to run 8 miles and we knew this was 8 miles. It's kinda hard with all the hills, and the wind blowing against you (and you know, the wind only blows when you are running - not when you are taking a break). It was a good time. Below is the map and elevation from MapMyRun.com.

Unwelcome Guest

Paisley has been trying to inform me of this guest - or just keeping her eye on it - for probably a week. I just thought it was weird that every time I turned around she was sitting in the corner. Today as I was cleaning, the thought occurred to me that maybe one of her balls was stuck behind the kitchen cart - no, no balls! LIZARD! Oh how I wish I wouldn't have looked behind the cart (but my Dad did make the good point of finding it now rather than on my pillow when I wake up)! My stomach was immediately in knots. I don't do well with creepy crawlies. I immediately called my parents to see how to perform an extraction. Then Melanie called and I summoned her to come help. She was doing really well (as I watched on from the living room) until she poked it to see if it was alive - AND IT WAS! Then her heart was in her stomach (but she did make a good point that it was a lizard and not a snake). I need a man! So I went and got one - my neighbor! Praise the Lord that men can handle lizards (and other gross things). So yay - as far as I know - I am lizard free.

Just looking at the pictures makes my stomach turn!

New Goals

With the San Antonio Rock n Roll Half Marathon just 45 days away, I need to pickup my miles! As I looked at my miles for last month, I was glad to see miles, but there should be more. I saw last month's miles stacked up against August and it was just sad:

Whats with the decrease? I should be increasing!! I only ran half as many miles in September as I did in August! I need to pick up the pace. Good thing though, Rachael and I went on a run tonight. Sadly, though, we haven't really run since our last run on 9/21. There was a short run between now and then, but it was with Paisley, and she can only last about 2 miles right now. Its hard to run at a good pace while you are dragging a dog along.

Tonight's run was good. Our average pace ended up at 10'56" which isn't too great, but a) we havent run since 9/21 and b) we really ran faster - mostly between 9'00" and 10'30" but I was dying so we took more walk breaks. Also, when I get bored with just running, we tend to run fartleks toward the end of the run. 100 paces at a faster speed than normal, and 20-30 paces of recovery. Our recovery needs to be at a faster pace though. Here is the effort chart for tonight's run:

So, for October - the goal is to run a whole lot more! So I joined a challenge at nikeplus.com - 100 miles in October! Whew thats a lot. But look at it this way: that's about 5 miles a day for 20 days. That's not too bad - I did 4.8 tonight and our weekend runs are usually longer. I think this is do-able!