The Turkey Trot

I am the worst blogger ever - but I don't think anyone really reads this so hopefully I haven't disappointed too many people :)

I'm sitting here the Sunday after Thanksgiving counting my blessings. I'm thankful for my amazing, healthy family that I got to spend Thanksgiving with. We've all changed a lot in the last few years, but I think most of it has been for the better and we've all turned out okay! These curveballs we get thrown in life really make us stop and think, which is sometimes a good thing!

I'm also thankful for my fantastic friends, most of which I got to spend time with this weekend, some while we were yelling at the TV praying for the Sooners to pull off a win (Boomer Sooner!) and others while I was jogging through Dallas during my first 5k! That's right, I finally followed through with something. I've been running - if you can call it that - for about 8 weeks in hopes that I could finish the Turkey Trot without stopping.

Before Thursday, I'd only run about 2 miles straight so I was a little nervous. It was cold, windy and there was a chance of rain, but thanks to three of my amazing friends, I made it through. The first mile was a mess, dodging strollers, walkers and dogs - probably added at least a minute onto my time. The second mile was the longest and included a little dry heaving thanks to a dog that decided to poop in the middle of the road. But the last part was fantastic - running down the streets of downtown Dallas was just beautiful and I almost choked up for a second when I heard someone say the finish was just around the corner. I crossed the line at about 40 minutes and immediately felt my lungs screaming for air - but I didn't care - I did it!

I've been stuck in a rut lately - I know I'm happy with my life, but I've had nothing to work for lately, nothing to push myself for. I've always wanted to be able to run a 5k, and even when I was in the best shape of my life in high school, I could barely make it a mile without stopping and reaching for the inhaler. But now, I can officially say I've done a 5k and can somewhat call myself a runner. So what's next? I really want to improve my time, and I think I will especially with a smaller race and less cross country action (I had to do leaps and bounds through thousands of people in the Trot and probably ran an extra half mile in the process).  I've signed up for a race in Addison in January and hopefully can knock 2 minutes off my time. Not sure where I want to go after that, maybe a 10k?

Next goal? Making it through December 23... bring on the parties, work and Christmas cheer!

Best. Breakfast. Ever.

Hello blogging world! I realize it's been awhile, but I really hadn't been inspired to blog about anything until today. That is until I went to Smoke at the Belmont Hotel in Dallas for brunch today and had the most amazing breakfast ever. My iPhone doesn't really do it justice, but here's some food porn coming your way:

Heavy Handed Blueberry & House Made Ricotta Cheese Pancakes with Vanilla Poached Apricots and Cream

This was hands-down the best breakfast I've ever had. I don't know if it was the apricots and blueberries or the fluffiness of the pancakes or the amazingness of the fresh cream, but it was to die for. There was also the bacon. Smoke does all of their own meat smoking and LH and I had originally decided to split an order of the bacon, but then went back and ordered another plate because it was that awesome. We made a new rule: No one shares bacon. 

It was a beautiful day for a birthday brunch for Joy! We will def be heading back to Smoke for more brunches in the future, whether its for someone's birthday or not.

View of Downtown Dallas from Smoke on Halloween morning!

**sidenote - I realize none of this is on my diet (for my trainer/life coach Kathryn who is reading this... I proceeded to work out and eat vegetables and soup for the rest of the day!) 

Numbers Game

I've been busy. Busy like I have three things to do after work everyday and I don't have time to make anything but spaghetti for dinner. And even then, I go to bed every night with my mind racing and I have to talk myself down to fall asleep. Then I usually wake up in the morning and as soon as I hit snooze on my iPhone, my e-mail pops up and I'm quickly reminded of all the things I need to do that day, week, month, before I'm 30, etc..

So you get the gist of it, I've been stressed. I went on vacation (which I promise I'll blog about) and came back to work + 3 days of being behind so I was stressed to the max. I really wanted to hide under my desk and call in sick, but I made it through the week and decided to end it by going to see Eat Pray Love with my awesome roommate Friday night. Since I finished the book just over a month ago, I've been dying to see this. It mostly lived up to it's expectations and it was a good movie. The real message I took from it though was to stop dwelling on all these little things I've been stressing out about. And then I realized, all the things I stress out about are numbers: my age, my weight, deadlines, money, the list goes on and on (more numbers!) No wonder I hate math so much, I do it in my head all day without knowing it and it drives me bonkers.

It took seeing Julia Roberts bawling on the bathroom floor to tell me that I need to just chill. It's okay to be concerned, but I don't need to give myself ulcers over this. So where do I go from here? A few starting points:

1. Stop stressing out about my birthday - 25 is awesome, I love birthday cake and I get to spend the weekend with my friends.

2. Get my ass in gear - literally. I have a new work out plan/diet plan and personal trainer that I'm using to get in shape. I'm tired of looking the way I do and don't like the way my clothes fit. Time to stop sitting on the couch eating spaghetti and do something about it

3. Re-evaluate my finances - this is going to suck. I am going to put myself on a pretty strict budget to get me through June 2010. The fact that I've only bought clothes from Target this summer is embarrassing - I need to save up to buy nicer things and look like an adult.

So let's start here... and see where it takes me!

Promise my next post won't be such a downer :)

Gossip Girl goes to Paris

Sorry for lack of blogging... I've been on vacation! I will blog about all things Panama City Beach/Bachelor Pad/etc related soon... but for now I leave you with the preview for Season 4 of Gossip Girl... and they're in Paris!!

Photo courtesy of  www.instyle.com 

Commencement

Well I've been bookin' it lately and finished yet another book this weekend (ok that was an awful pun, I apologize). This weekend I settled into the pool at my parents' house and started reading Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan.

Right off the bat I was immediately reminded of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - except these girls were a little older and more twisted. The scene is set at Smith College - which apparently is known for breeding and attracting lesbians. Which, as my mother would say, there's nothing wrong with that, but I sort of think it's an odd setting for a chick lit book. The four main characters meet because they live in the same dorm: There's Celia, who arrives with a bottle of vodka and cries like crazy because she misses her friends at home. There's April, a feminist who has her guard up. And Sally, a well-bred and wealthy girl who's just lost her mother to cancer. And Bree, a girl who's already engaged at 18.

The story begins with the girls coming together for Sally's wedding back on the Smith campus. They have too much to drink the night before the wedding though and the truth comes out from all angles and they all end up in a fight.

Well like three years later - they all start drifting back into each other's lives when one is pregnant, one goes missing, one's living in New York and one is living in San Francisco with her lesbian girlfriend.

Still want to read it? I'm probably making it sound worse off than it really is, but it just didn't click for me. The stories were just off and the setting was just not what I look for in a book. I did though finish it in one day - so I must have enjoyed it to some extent.

I realize I'm the worst book reviewer ever. But you should be my friend on GoodReads and tell me what you're reading - I'm always open for suggestions.

I leave for vacation tomorrow night - Panama City with the Carter family for the rest of the week! I'm sticking the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in my bag and My Fair Lazy is waiting for me in my beach bag. Any other good reads I need to get in this summer?

The Help

I finished one of the best books I've ever read last night - The Help. I picked it up last weekend and realized I couldn't put it down. I found myself reading it at night - something I haven't done a lot of lately - and ended up making myself stay awake last night so I could finish it.

*spoiler alert - I won't give away the ending, but if you want to go into this book with an open mind, don't read the rest. Just know I'm excited for the movie!

The book by Kathryn Stockett takes place in Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1960s. The book revolves around a group of young white Junior League women and their black maids. One of the women, Skeeter, isn't like the others though and finds herself writing a book about the maids and their stories of raising children. She was inspired by Constantine, her maid that raised her but disappeared while she was in college. She begins interviewing all the help that will talk to her and they begin meeting in secret to share stories. Along the way she also discovers herself and falls in love for the first time while dealing with her family that might drive her nuts, but they have good intentions underneath. The book tells the story from the perspective of maids Abilieen and Minny as well as Skeeter. I went from loving Abilieen to Skeeter to Minny - and by the end of it they were all my favorite characters.

I'm anxious for the movie to come out in 2011 - but I'm not 100% sure I love who the characters are being played by. Emma Stone for Skeeter? She was great in Superbad, but not sure she's ready for this thought-provoking role. Love that Bryce Dallas Howard is going to play Hilly though!

What did you think of the book? Ready for the movie?

Things I would have said in 2005

I'm a month away from turning 25.. God that's a big number. Not just big in that it's halfway to 50 or anything like that, just big in responsibility and and reputation. If you'd asked me when I was 10 or even 15 where I'd be at 25, I would have said married, or at least engaged, with a great job. Well, second part is true! Still though, my generation is redefining age limits and expectations. If we go back to our parent's generation and especially my grandparent's, I would have at least one kid right now and would be at home being a mom. I think about everything I've accomplished so far on the verge of 25 though, and that over shadows everything that I haven't.

Five years ago, I had just finished my freshman year of college at OU. My only responsibility was to get up and be at work (aka Lifeguarding) at 11:00 or 12:00. No make-up, no prepping for meetings and no stress about what was next. I worked with my best friends (at the time), and we spent the whole day getting tan, planning the trouble we were going to get into that night and trying to find someone to make out with at the end of that night. I knew the real world was getting closer, but I felt like if I just focused on having fun that summer, I could avoid it as long as possible.

When I got back to school that fall, I had the group of girls that are still my best friends today. We partied three nights out of the week and lived in a sorority house where our meals were prepared and our bathrooms were clean - not too shabby right?

Turning 20 was one of my favorite birthdays. I celebrated with all of my friends and got obnoxiously drunk at a frat party where I demanded the whole party sing happy birthday to me at midnight - which they did!

I spent a good portion of college freaking out about what happened next. Not just with schoolwork, but with internships, relationships and then looking for a job. I wish I could go back and tell 20 year old Carterface that everything's going to be okay.
I'd say:
* Love your friends and the memories you're making, you're still going to talk about them five years later.
* Don't be afraid to fall in love - it'll just make you stronger
* Keep working your ass off at work - it's going to pay off
* You're heading in right direction, I promise!
* It's going to be okay

Now I just need 30-year-old me to come tell me some words of advice. Sigh.