Audrey's Blog

My Obsession

I love to read.  I have since I was a little girl.  I got it from my mom.  She got it from her dad.  I plan to give it to my children.  It's one of the gifts that truly does keep on giving.  When I was a pre-teen/teenager, there were *always* at least one or two books in my purse.  Over the years, I have read everything from Steven Covey to James Patterson to Johanna Lindsey.  Once I find an author, I devour pretty much anything I can get my hands on by that author.  I did it with the James Patterson's Alex Cross series.  I did it with Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series.   I did it with almost every trilogy that Nora Roberts ever wrote and her "in Death" series (written as JD Robb). I did it with Johanna Lindsey's Malory family novels. 

I hit a dry spell when I didn't take the time to read much.  It lasted more than a couple of years (I'm sad to say).  But, when I had surgery on June 1st, I knew I'd have a weekend of hanging out on the couch without a lot on the boob-tube.  So, I asked Angie for some reading recommendations.  Little did I know that she was going to get me hooked all over again.  Now, not quite 2 months later, I've devoured 2 new authors - Julia Quinn (specifically the Bridgerton Family series ... God bless her for writing about a family with EIGHT kids!) and Lisa Kleypas.  In total, I've polished off 19 books (totaling 6000+ pages) since June 1st. 

I mostly read a chapter or two at a time while I'm waiting for something - at a doctor's office, waiting to meet an appointment - or at night before bed.  I have to admit that I find myself reading sometimes way too late into the night.  The penultimate of that has to have been last night.  I picked up "An Offer From A Gentleman" (Benedict Bridgerton's story) at 11pm.  I finished it at 4am this morning.  I only planned to read the prologue.  Then I was only going to read a chapter or two.  At 1am I thought that I would put it down by 2:00.  At 3:00, I said screw it and just finished it. 

I've often wondered if there is something lacking in my life that drives me to read somewhat ridiculous romantic drivel.  But, I've come to the conclusion that is simply a great escape.  The characters aren't even close to real.  They're lives are so far removed from mine that I completely forget whatever might be stressing me out.  Being happily married to a wonderful husband means that the heart stopping romance doesn't happen quite as often as it did 13+ years ago.  So, it satisfies that girly side of me.  And, there's always a happy ending.  How can you argue with that?

So, now I'm off to bed to read the last book on my list in the Bridgerton Family series - Anthony's story "The Viscount Who Loved Me" (which Angie loaned me this afternoon ... Thanks, girl!).   

Bumped, Bruised, and a Little Bloody

Chris and I ventured out to Rowlett  Creek Preserve for a ride.  Rowlett is typically a long distance ride (6+ miles) with a myriad of obstacles - mostly roots, logs, a few dips (at least on the loops we usually do).   Unfortunately, the first major obstacle I came to proved to be a bit much for me.  It was a medium sized log on Loop 3.  I got my front tire over it, but the back tire was a different story all together.  At that point, I went forward and slightly to the left (which is *not* a good thing when your bike has more or less come to stop).  The result - a new scrap on my left knee, 2 new bruises on my left thigh, and a solid bump on the head (thank goodness for helmets!).  <groan>  Worse yet, it totally rattled my confidence (as if I had any after the ride at Arbor Hills on Sunday).  I balked at most of the rest of the logs ... until the back side of Loop 1 (no, you don't necessarily ride the loops in numerical order).  I finally remembered that momentum was the key along with executing one of Chris' favorite phrases - "pedal like you stole it".  Well, it worked!  I made it over the last 2 major logs we encountered as well as some other tricky rooty dips.  Yea! 

In the end, it ended up being about a 35 minute ride totaling about 4 1/2 miles.  The bummer is that I pretty much only broke a sweat because it was slightly warm.  I probably didn't get very far into Zone 2 as far as a cardio work out goes.  But, at least I can feel a little superior to anyone who spent their evening vegetating in front of the TV, right?

We don't have any trail rides scheduled again until next week which is probably a good thing.  I think I need a little recovery time.  We're slated for spin class Saturday morning and Sunday morning (Cycle 90!), and I'm really looking forward to the work out. 

A Note About Tonight's Spin Class

After I got home yesterday from what I'm deeming a successful "1st" ride of the season, I jotted off a quick thank you to my favorite spin instructor, Monica.  I included a link to the post about the ride just in case she didn't have anything better to do.  Little did I know that she would end up purusing the entirety of my blog.  (You might have noticed a couple of her comments.)  She was most captivated by my post about one of her common closing song choices, known as "The Race", and my comment about how it motivated me.  When i got to class tonight, she asked if she could share a passage from that post with the rest of the class (names to be changed, or course, to protect the guilty).  She felt that it might also motivate others in the class.  First, I have to say that I was humbled that my random ramblings might do anyone else some good.  But, second, I have to admit that I felt pretty honored when she read the passage during the intro of "The Race". 

Having said all of that, that wasn't really the point to this post.  The funny that I wanted to share was more about part of Monica's introduction of the post to the class.  She told us that she had never read a blog before and was a amused (I'm not sure I'm remembering her words exactly) that she was being blogged about.  So, the whole point to this post is to blog about Monica mentioning being blogged about.  Figure that one out!  Hah!  (Okay, so maybe it was funnier in my own mind, but who cares?!? <shrug>)

Days 9-22 - Confessions & Celebrations

Well, I have to admit that I haven't been very faithful with blog posts on this topic (as though that's not obvious).  I was more than a little annoyed to find out that my first week of efforts went largely unrewarded.  I've still been pretty diligent with my efforts to curb my eating and increase my dedication to working out with a few minor stumbles from grace.  So, instead of a numbers post today, I'm going to work in a bulleted list Confessions & Celebrations.

Confessions (Geez, where *did* this come from?  I'm not Catholic, not even close - having been raised Southern Baptist. But, it does seem to fit. <shrug>)

• Alcohol - I've never been a big drinker, but social situations are definitely my downfall.  At the Amerprise Poker Night last Monday, I had 2 very yummy limbic beers  both of which were probably so far from "low cal" it's not even funny.  This past Saturday night with our neighbors, the Nylecs, brought the enticement of Darren's famous Long Island Iced Teas.  Two of those, and I'm a happy camper!  ;-)
• Appetizers - Speaking of last Saturday night with the Nylecs ... We decided that it would be an all appetizer night.  So, between the 4 of us (more people might have shown up, so we had to make sure we had enough, but, of course, they didn't) we had 6 appetizers: Chili Con Queso, Cream Cheese w/Raspberry Chipotle Sauce, Tortilla Roll Ups, Toasted Salami w/Sour Cream & Basil, Bacon Wrapped Artichoke Hearts, & Pork Egg Rolls.  Frankly, it was just beyond too much food.  But, we made our best effort to make a dent in it, and we succeed.  Ugh!
• Chocolate - This topic probably deserves a whole other post, but suffice it to say that Chris and I have gotten into a little bit of a late night chocolate habit.  ;-)

That's probably enough for the confessions.  You get the idea.

Celebrations

• Clothes - Although I have avoided the scales after having been burned in that first week, I have been pleasantly surprised to feel that my clothes are fitting better.  And, I'm seeing a little less flab in my bike shorts.  If someone saw me in my jog bra and bike shorts, I think I would only be a little embarrassed instead of completely mortified.  :-)
• Spin Class - We've been hitting spin class with as much regularity as possible (2-3 times/week).  Mostly Mistress Monica's class, but peppering in a few others where necessary to keep up the count.  We even went back to Cycle 90 once and are planning to go again this Sunday.  (That's one class I will only go to when Monica is teaching, and she only teaches every other Sunday.)  Most importantly, I've begun scheduling out when we're going to spin class or going out trail riding 1-2 weeks in advance and then scheduling everything else around it.  Protecting that time is a huge win for me!
• "1st" Ride of the Season - thanks to the afore mentioned spin classes, our "1st" ride of the season was a pretty big success for me!  You can read more about it here.
• Drive Thrus - Well, more like avoidance of there of.  One of the words of wisdom that Monica imparts at the end of each class is to fill our tanks with good things (protein, good carbs, etc) 30-45 minutes after we leave class and that this should not (and probably cannot) be done at a drive thru or at almost any establishment that sports a drive thru.  That just makes too much sense to ignore, and I've been largely successful.  The only exceptions being fries from Burger King after those 2 beers at the poker night (come on ... alcohol and greasy fries just go together!) and getting a Diet Coke at McDonald's a couple of times (although, I'm quite sure that there are many people who would try to argue that the Diet Coke is just as bad as anything else at McDonald's, but that too is for another post).  In my line of work, I spend a lot of my time in my car and on the go, so abiding by this rule is tough sometimes, but I know it's well worth it. 

I'm sure that there are other Confessions & Celebrations that I ought to mention, but these seem indicative of the past 2 weeks, so I'll just leave it at that and sign off for tonight. 

"1st" Ride of the Season ...

And, boy was it a doozie!  But, first a little back story -

The "1st" ride of the season in July???  Late July at that?  Believe it or not, yes.  We actually did get one ride in back sometime in March or April out at Rowlett Creek.  It was a leisurely ride and a nice way to get back on the bike for the year.  But, then the rain set in, and we were resigned that spin class was going to be our "ride" for a while.  Unfortunately, not only did the rain set in, but so did the renewed issues with my thumb/wrist.  Back in April, I finally went back to my orthopedic.  Not only had the pain started again, it was worse than ever.  Pretty quickly, it became apparent that even spin class was too much strain, and I was relegated to step aerobics (which ain't a pretty site, I promise) or the elliptical trainer (which is fine, but not nearly the work out of spin class).  Anyway ... In May, I finally made the decision to go forward with surgery.  I had surgery on July 1st, and 4 weeks later my doc cleared me to go back to spin class.  And back I went!!!  The first week, I went Monday night, Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning (Cycle 90!).  Needless to say,I was a little sore but gloriously so!  Since then, I've made it to class 2-3 times a week, and today made me grateful that I had.

(For most posts talking about Mistress Monica's spin classes, check out http://audreyreed.typepad.com/audreyreed/for_my_health/index.html). 

That brings us to today and the "1st" ride of the season.  We decided to hit Arbor Hills, and the trail was in great shape considering the months of rain we've had.  There were a few muddy spots that were pretty easy to circumvent.  Overall, I had a good ride.  I had always called Arbor a great cardio burn.  Last season, I could barely make it through 1 lap without feeling like I was going to toss my cookies at the end.  Well, not today!  (Thank you, Monica!)  Spin class has gotten me into better shape in the last 3 weeks than a whole season of trail riding last year.  Yea!

The only catch is that spin class doesn't exactly help me practice the fundamental elements of trail riding.  Oh, you know ... technical things like navigating treacherous obstacles, dangerous downhills, and root ridden uphill climbs all while thinking about shifting gears and keeping my balance so as to stay upright on the bike.  Not to mention those times when all of those skills fail me and no matter what I do to prevent it, my downfall becomes painfully inevitable.  Then the challenge is trying to separate myself from my bike (unclipping and "ejecting") so as to minimize the damage that's sure to be done.  Unfortunately, I had one of those disastrous moments about 1/2 way through the trail.  I hit a root without enough momentum to carry me over it.  The bike stopped, and, instead of getting unclipped quickly enough to put a foot down, I panicked a little, lost my balance, got stuck in my clips, and simply fell to the left - my lower left shin firmly landing on the offending root ... hard.  9 hours later, the resulting bruise is just now developing into its full glory. 

I have to admit that fall shook my confidence a little, and there were some subsequent obstacles that I chose to walk, but, at the end of the trail, I breezed through the switchbacks (which used to kick my a**) and finished in right around 18 minutes.  Not a great time, but considering it was my "1st" ride of the season, I'll take it! 

We were at the trail with 3 of our ride buddies - Scott Gruber and James & Tanya Davis.  After the first lap, we decided to go see what condition one of the "bandit" trails was in - specifically, the hill trail that Tanya used to train for Angel Fire.  It was in surprisingly good shape as well.  So, we all did a couple of ups/downs of that hill. (I never quite made it all the way up the hill, but almost!  It shouldn't take much more training and it'll be pretty easy.)  Then we wrapped up the ride with a fast concrete lap. 

All in all, it was tremendously successful day. I got back on my bike, kicked some cardio butt, and didn't really hurt myself too badly.  I'm totally looking forward to our next ride!  And, one last thank you to Monica!  ;-)

Putting on a Poker Face

Last night, Chris and I ventured down to Trinity Hall at Mockingbird Station for our Ameriprise Financial Advisor's monthly client appreciation event.  This month, we joined in the weekly Texas Hold'em Night at the Irish pub.  The Ameriprise group had 2 tables to ourselves, and we had a hoot with another couple and another lady who was fairly experienced Texas Hold'em player.  Having played more than a few times with our neighbors, I had a general knowledge of the game if not a good strategy for playing it.  But, that didn't stop the fun!  Overall, I didn't exactly do fabulously, but the few hands that I managed to win were big.  So, when at the end of the first round, all the chips were counted and the top 6 chip holders who would go to the finals table were announced, my name was called!  Who knew I could bluff my way that far!?!?

I almost had the inkling to forgo my place and let someone else play instead (after all, it was already 9pm - quickly approaching my bed time!), but my competitive streak got the better of me.  I took my seat and held my own for over an hour.  I won 2 really big pots (one of which I did bluff my way into with a measly 2 pair!), but in the end an "all in" bet ended my night around 10:15.  Oh, well - easy come easy go, right? 

In honor of the night's activities, enjoy Today's Musical Inspiration.

Today's Musical Inspriation - The Gambler

As inspired by last nights activities.  Interesting how many deeper meanings one can glean from such a seemly superficial song. 

Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn481KcjvMo

A Photo with the Yell Leaders

Oh, how life changes ... 10-12 years ago, there would have been no way in the world I would have ever gotten my photo taken with a Yell Leader.  But, with age comes benefits (I guess), and this happens to be one of them - I got to have a photo taken with the 2 Junior Yell Leaders, and they seemed happy to do it!  :-)

For all of you non-Aggie types out there, the closest thing I can liken a Yell Leaders to is a cheerleader, but even that is a little bit of an insult.  There are 5 Yell Leaders - 2 Juniors & 3 Seniors - which are elected each year by the student body.  Yell Leaders are usually the some of the cutest and most personable guys on campus.  For more info, you can check out their webpage or Wikipedia.  And, ladies, who can say no to a man in uniform!?!?  <sigh> Someday, I'll have to post the story about how an almost-bald-headed, BDU-clad Chris followed me back to my dorm room like a lost puppy dog looking for a place to take a nap. ;-)  But, I digress ...

The opportunity was really quite easy, so I shouldn't make too big of a deal about it.  The McKinney A&M Club sponsored a bbq get together with the Yell Leaders.  The turn out was pretty low, so we got to just hang out and talk with these guys (right - Fletcher Massie & left - Lance Martin).  What we found out is that they pretty much spend their summer traveling to events like ours.  They're kind of like ambassadors of Aggie Spirit.  They often split up, like they did this weekend, with the Juniors going to a set of functions and the Seniors going to a different set of functions.  Then they all head back to Aggieland to attend each and every Freshman orientation session and then they attend all of the Fish Camps.  These guys are devoted to say the least!  All in all, we had a great time getting to hear about their adventures and some of the current happenings in Aggieland and getting to reminisce about Ol' Army days on campus.  That's what we call "good bull", Ags!  Gig 'em!

Just Another Manic Monday

Today did NOT start out well.  I woke up with a killer sinus headache, and it didn't get any better after that.  I couldn't seem to get my tail in gear, and it was almost 8:45 before I finally made it into the office.  Once I got there, I spent an hour on the phone with Konica Minolta support trying to get my printer installed on my laptop (under my newly installed instance of Vista - that's a whole other rant, I mean, post).  Suffice it to say, I finally figured out that I completely screwed up the entire Vista build and that I will likely have to rebuild my laptop again.  In the meantime, doing my day to day work is almost impossible - not quite, but close enough to be a serious pain in the a**.

In the middle of trying to figure out how I had gone so wrong, I had a client crisis to deal with and then, to top it all off, I lost the ear bud that keeps my bluetooth headset anchored in my ear.  CRAP! 

The day did get better - I got to look at really nice townhomes in Dallas with a new, very sweet client this afternoon and, finally, I got to go to spin class.  So, I guess it could have gotten even worse, but it didn't - I think I'll count my blessings now and head to bed! 

On a final note - check out today's musical inspiration:  http://audreyreed.typepad.com/audreyreed/2007/07/todays-musica-3.html

Today's Musical Inspiration - Manic Monday

This song pretty much sums up my day, but, if you'd like more explanation, check out this post: http://audreyreed.typepad.com/audreyreed/2007/07/just-another-ma.html

Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jih9qD4mnp4