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I started Week 6 on Wednesday.  The Day 1 program is 5 min run/3 min walk/8 min run/5 min walk/5 min run.  Plus warm up and cool down of course.  For whatever reason, this day was not a good running day.  It was so much harder to me than the 20 minute run from Week 5.  I suppose you can have good and bad running days, but seriously, I was so happy when this one was over!!  I wasn’t sore the next day or anything, I think it just wore me out.  On to Day 2 - probably not until Sunday or Monday though.  I have lots to do in the next few days!

I did my usual upper body workout with free weights yesterday morning.  My biceps hate me today.  I upped one exercise to the 10 lb weights and now today I am regretting that decision.  Who knew the jump from 6 to 10 lbs would be so difficult?  Apparently my biceps knew that.

Blake and I executed a contract on a lovely 2 bedroom townhouse in the ghetto yesterday. Now, when I say “lovely”, that is because in my head it is beautiful. They actually aren’t built yet and there isn’t even a model, so for now we will just imagine its fabulous. And when I say “ghetto”, its really more just a lot of vacant land and a few random wandering people. The area is called The Cedars, and it is a couple of miles south of downtown, on the south side of I-30.

The Cedars is an up and coming area of Dallas. Land has been pretty cheap, but as developers started noticing it, land prices have gone up quickly. People are starting to notice it because of how close it is to downtown, but is still affordable (at least for now). Last week Blake and I went down there to look at a loft property his friends had told him about. Although the loft was awesome, it was a bit out of our price range and still required some finish out before we could even move in. The current owners turned the bathroom into a dark room, so we would have had to turn that back around so we could shower! It also didn’t provide any covered parking, although the building was secured by fencing and some very prison-like barbed wire. After we viewed the loft we drove around the area a little bit and saw some of the sights. Right now, there isn’t a whole bunch to see. South Side on Lamar is the old Sears building that is converted into lofts and art galleries - its very cool and has a coffee shop in the building as well as a few other amenities. There are several other condo properties under construction as well. A few restaurants and bars, and some very neat old Victorian homes that are under renovation (at least we hope that is why all that crap was in the front yard). Someone is also renovating an old Ramada hotel off I-30 into a boutique hotel. And, the DART Rail Station is only a few blocks from our house, which is a big deal for property values.

The townhouse is 2 story and has a small backyard for the puppies. It also has a garage that is detached from the townhouse at the very back of the backyard. The best part is the rooftop patio on the second floor. It is in the front of the building and will hopefully have an awesome view of downtown. We plan to have several margarita on the patio events!

We are set to close mid-June at this point, but I know it always changes with home construction so I’m not holding my breath! Once it is ready we will have a margarita party and invite everyone down to our home in the ghetto!

I finally completed week 5 today.  I have a feeling when the creators of the Couch to 5k program published this plan, they did not think Week 5 would actually take almost 4 weeks to complete.  I actually didn’t think it would either!  But all in all, I finally finished it today with the Day 3 20 minute run.  I did pretty good until around 14 minutes, when I felt my legs start to tire and the heat in the workout center kicked on (the vent is directly in front of my treadmill).  But when I made it through the 20 minutes, I felt pretty damn good.  I finished with a long cool down walk and a bunch of stretching.  I’m likely to be sore tomorrow, but Week 6 looks less frightening now that I made it through this run!

My pace is still pretty slow - somewhere around 11:45/mile.  But I’m still not really concerned.  Running 20 minutes consecutively is a first for me - that’s a huge deal!

On Christmas Day 2006, Shelby and Tucker were given an extraordinary gift by their Granny - a stuffed Reindeer. After ripping away the tissue paper (and probably eating it) Shelby joyfully discovered her new Reindeer. After a thorough inspection, a happy chewing began. Within minutes she had discovered that Reindeer rattled when he was shook, and if you bit the right part of the nose, a loud squeaking could be heard throughout the house. The squeaking, she decided, was the best part of the whole gift.

After a few hours of playtime, it was time to pack up the gifts and go home. Shelby and Tucker had a great Christmas, and easily went to sleep on the car ride home. The next day, Reindeer was left forgotten on the countertop while other Christmas toys were enjoyed. But soon Shelby realized her prized toy was sitting on that counter, and she was helpless to retrieve it. So with all her schipperke smarts, she sat underneath that toy and started whining. After a few minutes her silly parents finally realized what she wanted - but sadly Reindeer has seen some abuse on Christmas day and needed repairs before he was ready for playtime. Ten minutes and some dental floss later, Reindeer was stitched up and ready for action.

Shelby and Tucker played with Reindeer until it was time for bed. But first thing the next morning, Shelby made sure her favorite friend was where she had left him - even before she made it to the door for the morning walk. Satisfied that Reindeer has not disappeared again, Shelby trotted out for a stroll. But after she returned and had a full belly, it was back to Reindeer for more hours of fun.

Within minutes, Shelby’s mom realized something was not quite right. After inspection of Shelby’s mouth, Reindeer’s tail was revealed. Apparently the bit of fluff was too much temptation for Shelby, and she removed it from poor Reindeer’s body. Seeing that the stitches were still in place, the tail was tossed and Reindeer went back to playtime.

A few hours passed when Mom realized something was yet again, not quite right. Both Tucker and Shelby were enjoying some Reindeer chew time - but from opposite sides of the room. Apparently Reindeer’s antler had become too heavy for him, so Tucker so kindly removed it from his head. And then removed the stuffing from the antler. So the antler was pitched and Reindeer’s head was repaired again.

Shelby was very happy to see Reindeer return from surgery, and immediately grabbed on to his neck and ran away.

However, within just a few short hours, Reindeer’s last antler was removed. Then his stuffing started pouring out from the loosened stitches. Mom’s inspection revealed that Reindeer was no longer fit for playtime. Reindeer, minus his antlers and tail, agreed that it was time for him to retire to that giant puppy playpen in the sky.

After a short period of mourning, Shelby soon returned to normal. A few laps around the house and what did she come up with? Good old squeaky Monster - the only toy to have survived since she first arrived here in Texas. Shelby still sometimes misses her friend Reindeer, but a few loud squeaks on that Monster’s belly and her tail is waggling again in no time.

You know those people, the ones that run 5 miles every day and do weight training and eat well? How in the world does that happen? I realize I’m not in the best shape in the world, but trying to fit in 3 days a week of running, plus weight training every other day, plus two days of ballet is impossible! Well, technically its possible, but my body hates me! I just don’t see how those people do all that working out and still have time to eat well, go to work, have a life, watch TiVo, etc.

I need a rest day after each day of ballet because it is very strenuous on my lower body and back. Ideally you should have a rest day after each day you run, but that just doesn’t work with my schedule. So I’m trying to stick with my previous plan of running M/Th/F, ballet on T/Sat, and rest days on W/Sun. But the upper body weight routine I found takes about 45 mins, and I can’t fit that in every other day. So now I’ve divided it into two shorter routines and I do one routine each day of the week. I’m freaking tired people! And the eating well plan went to crap the last few days. I’m back on target today though. Well its only 10:30 so I’ve got a long way to go.

I’m still on week 5 with the running plan. I did the Day 2 8min/5min/8min routine for the 3rd time yesterday. In favor of progress, I’m planning on doing the full 20 minute run on Thursday. I’m tiring of the music on this week’s podcast so I have to get on to Week 6 before the techno beat is permanetly imbedded into my brain.

I’ve looked around and found a running club that does 5 and 10k races once a month. If I ever make it to Week 9, I think I’ll start looking into one of them. Although that does mean I’ll have to get off the treadmill and actually run outside. Maybe it will be warmer by then…

About this time last year I snagged a great pair of brown cowboy boots on sale at DSW. Those after Christmas sales are really fantastic! I love them and wear them as often as I can, considering my wardrobe is mostly black clothing. They make me feel cool and relaxed. I love shoes. They can do wonders for your attitude!

So last night I ventured back to DSW, hoping to find an equally fabulous bargain on some shoes to wear with my wedding dress. I did not want to spend a lot of money on this, since no one will really see them and they probably won’t get worn after the big day. Unless I can find some way to dye them another color. That’s a topic for another blog though.

I wandered the aisles and was surprised at how many options there were in white/ivory dress shoes! Backless, slides, pumps, wedges, low heels, high heels, heels with rhinestones - it was every bride’s dream! Well, every bride’s but mine. The smallest size I found in any of these shoes was a 6. I wear a 5, 5 and a half if I’m lucky. Manufacturers just don’t make as many shoes in this size, if they do at all anymore. So while there were fabulous shoes as far as the eye could see, I couldn’t even try a pair on. Normally this would upset me, but I went in figuring this would happen since it was clearance time and all.

So I headed to the clearance racks to see what they had in a 5. I couldn’t even find the size 5 rack. What is that about? Instead I browsed the 5 and a halfs, hoping to find some fabulous deal on any pair of shoes. I did find a cute pair on dark brown heels that would go great with a pair of pants I already own. As I was trying them on I noticed one was a five and a half, the other was a 6 and a half. Nice. Trying to be optimistic, I went over an aisle to the 6 and a halfs to see if I could find the other mis-matched pair. That is when it happened… I found the rack of size 5s! Somehow the store organized the shoes to go from 5, to 6, to 6 and a half, to 5, to the 7s. I do not understand this thought process, but what happened next caused me to care very little.

I found them. I found my shoes for the wedding. They are a size 5. They are Kenneth Coles. They are ivory. They have a good heel height. AND THEY ARE MINE!!!! What is the best part? They were freaking $12. Yes, only $12. I love you DSW.

Please excuse my crappy photography.

But today I realized that the skinny heel isn’t going to cut it in the grass lawn where our ceremony will be held.  I can just see my fabulous heels being left behind, stuck in the grass where I sunk while exchanging our vows.  So am I going to return these shoes?  Heck no!  If I have to buy a piece of plywood to stand on during the ceremony, I’ll do it.  These shoes are just too fantastic to pass up!

Last night was rainy, cold, and all around undesirable weather. I was not in the mood to leave the house, but I had a meeting set up. At 7 p.m. I was to meet with someone driving a silver 4 Runner in the parking lot of the Atlanta Bread Company on Spring Valley for a transaction. I needed to bring $25 cash in exchange for the goods. Blake, feeling that this situation might be a bit dangerous, decided to join me. Please, I took a whole month of kickboxing!

So we arrived promptly at 7 and pulled in next to the 4 Runner. Cash was handed over, a box was deposited into my car, and each car departed quickly. So what was in the box? Cuban cigars? Illegal drugs from Mexico?

NO! It was votive candle holders! I’m planning a wedding, what else would get me to leave the house in that weather (besides happy hour)? The whole situation was very innocent. While reading messages on the DFW Knot message board, I saw someone selling 60 votive candle holders for $25. This is about the same as the online prices I’ve seen, minus the $20 in shipping. They were all from Pier 1 and looked pretty nice in pics, so I contacted the girl and we met up. Turns out she’s a friendly girl who just wanted to get rid of some of their wedding stuff and make a few dollars back (probably to pay some wedding bills). The puppies greeted her when I opened the trunk and everyone was very cheery.

So step one of wedding decorations has been completed! Now on to step 2 of 500 or however long it takes me to get that figured out. I guess I should probably get some candles to go in these things.