I can not run.

So when Jason goes out for a jog it's usually 4-5 miles and that's just the warm up for his work out. I go out to the park to "run" and I make it one time around the track before I fall down from exhaustion. And I can guarantee that track isn't even a mile. I just can't do it. I don't have whatever it is inside me that can block the burning legs and the screaming lungs and go for miles on end. And trust me when I say that I only "run" in places where I know no one will see me...at least no one that knows me, because it is not a pretty site. I compare myself "running" to an old lady speed walker gone horribly wrong. My feet barely leave the pavement and my steps are inches from one another. It's like the opposite of the crazy Phoebe run...I move as little as possible to conserve what small amount of energy I have for such a torturous exercise.

You may be thinking, but Natalie why run at all when there are so many varieties of exercise out there. This I know, and I look and feel just as bad doing them all. I recently started Zumba after work. I was thinking I used to be an Irish Dancer, I have a fair grasp of a beat and can move my body, and not to toot my own horn, maybe even graceful. Oh no. I. Am. Not. Graceful. Awkward, yes. Gangly, yes. Tripping over my feet, oh hell yes. I've determined never again to actually look at myself in the mirror as I Zumba. I instead focus intently on the instructor thinking to myself, I'm totally doing what she's doing so I must look that good.

Please someone invent some sort of something that I can increase my heart rate and burn calories while not getting off the couch...that would be fantastic. I mean, I never saw Captain Picard or Number One running around a track, so there has to be something in the future that keeps us all fit and lean. Yes I am a nerd, thank you very much.

There is a Gus in my lap

He usually doesn't stray too far from a person to cuddle with.

Jason and I accidentally wore the same t-shirt today...we're matching. That's how we roll.

I'm playing on the new laptop...it's massive. I've asked Jason why he felt the need to get a 17'' screen. It was the same conversation we had when he brought home the flat screen TV, why did he feel the need to buy the 54'' screen.

So mom passed away almost two months ago, but I received a gift in the mail from her today. She never ceases to amaze me even in death. It's a heart necklace with a cross in the middle and on the back is poem about daughters being gifts and friends forever. I cried...profusely.

Still no word on the puppy or the Iraqi...but I'll keep you updated.

This used to be our blog

Maybe I'll start posting some blogs again, we shall see how it goes. Updates from the last year or so

1. We had to give Trevor back after only a few months, he was aggressive towards mom and her aides, and had some serious seperation anxiety resulting in him biting and chewing and causing damage to his little pug body. He's happily found a new home that loves and cares for him.


2. Mom passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on February 18th...something that a family can never fully recover from, but each day the pain and the sadness lessens.


3. Jason regularly jumps out of airplanes for the army now...he makes sure to text me immediately after landing so that I know he's not a human pancake


4. I got a promotion, it was an offer that I couldn't refuse. Whether that was the best decision for me still remains to be seen.


5. My relationship with my estranged father is slightly less estranged. He comes to church with us sometimes. It's baby steps.


6. Jason will graduate from his MBA program with a focus in Project Management in December of this year...he's looking for a job if anyone out there is hiring.


7. There's a very good chance that we will adopt a puppy named Otis. We happened to be driving down the street and saw a litter of puppies hanging out in someone's front yard. The most natural thing to do of course is to immediately stop, say hi to all the puppies, and inquire after their "for-sale" status. You can't say no to puppy breath.


8. We shall in the next few months have an Iraqi living in our basement. Not so sure how to feel about that one.


9. I've been desperately trying to convince Jason to take me on a vacation. We haven't been anywhere, with no other purpose than relaxing, since he came back from Iraq.


10. Jason currently works part time at Home Depot in the paint department while he works his way through school...interesting.


11. My shoe collection has grown approximately 20% since the last blog post.


12. I'm still trying to convince Jason that "what I need" to cope with my grief is of course another pair of shoes.


13. My all time favorite book "Water for Elephants" has been made into a movie coming out April 22nd. I'm very excited, and highly recommend the book.


14. My cute little one year old computer has decided to implode...it needs a new motherboard...I didn't buy the extended warranty...I'm very upset...and I can't access Facebook. Sorry Facebook.

The End.

What...we have a blog!?

It's been a very long time since we posted. If anyone still reads this thing, we're alive, I promise. It's been more than easy to let life get in the way. Work is going well for me, I moved my cubicle on Friday...for the sixth time since I started working there. Pretty soon someone is going to be stealing my red stapler and moving me to the basement. But at least I'm back to where I can look out a window and watch the married squirrels.

Jason is kicking butt and getting straight A's in grad school. Of course he is...he's a smart guy. And we now have to be on a strict budget until grad school is over. How strict? No new shoes strict. In theory that shouldn't be a hard thing to do. I mean, it would be for a relatively short period of time until Jason graduates and gets a much better paying job. And that should be a sacrifice that I should be more than willing to make in order for my hubby to be happy. But then I see these...

And I want them. Or these...

And I can't live with out them. Or these...

Every girl needs a pair of red satin pumps with a bow! Or these...

My life will not be complete until these are on my feet. So do you undertsand how hard this is going to be for me!? Two years from now when Jason has graduated my shoe collection will be two years out of date and I'll have two years worth of shoe buying to make up for. The thought is making my head spin. Lordy mercy.

In less overly dramatic news. A new pug has entered our lives. Trevor aka "T-bone". He came from the Ohio Pug Rescue (always use a rescue please) and he is a super sweet little guy. His head is about twice the size of Gus' so they look really funny standing next to each other. He's easy going and laid back and we haven't had one fight since he's been here. Granted that's only been a day...but still, I think he's going to fit right in to our little pack.

Now if only we could figure out why he incessantly licks!

Many of you may already know that my mom is now living with us. She's doing surprinsingly well given the unfortunate circumstances. Your prayers for some sort of resolution to the continuing family drama would be much appreciated at this point.

Corporate Retreat

This picture pretty much sums up the whole week. 25 property managers, two huge cabins, and four days of beer drinking, ping pong wars, and food fights. I was going to write about all the excellent fun we had and all the cool things we did. But no, I think I'll just leave it at this.

Awesome.

Antigua and such

It seems fairly rediculous that it's fourth of July weekend, and we've been home from vacation for over two months now and I'm still blogging about it. Sometimes life gets in the way.

Jason completed his first summer semester of grad school, straight A's of course. He's also attempting to quit smoking. I dangled motorcycle classes if he can go six months and a motorcycle if he can get through grad school. That's been a very tempting carrot for him to chase. He's also trying his best to get me to regret that decision. You never realize what kind of mood alterer nicotine really is until it's removed from the body. We have to relearn how to live together with tempers, and short fuses, and lot's of stress.

But I did promise swim up bars, zip lines and bees.



One of the "fun" things we did in Antigua was go about thirty minutes inland into the rainforest and zip line over the rainforest canopy. I tend to shy away from all things adventerous/dangerous/adrenaline infused, but I try to make exceptions for my adrenaline junky hubby. I was terrified during the whole safety briefing and harnassing. Soaring three hundred feet above the ground and through the tree tops....sweaty palms, racing heart, get me the hell out of here. Jason was in Jason heaven, just itching to get out on those lines. I have to admit it ended up being a lot of fun. After the first line, I felt safe and secure in the harness and started pushing myself off to even get more speed. Jason and I were having a blast!

Then we got to the last line. And no one was moving. At the other end of the line there was a huge nest of bees. Angry, aggressive, stinging type bees. Umm we were stuck on a platform in a tree fifty feet off the ground with no way to get down. Which meant we had to go back up the line we had just zipped down. Back UP. The workers pushed us out on the line as far as they could and then we literally had to hand over hand climb back up the line. Husbands went first and the workers pushed the wives next so that husbands could wrap legs around wives (we're weak and girly...or something) and hand over hand back up the line we went.

After that point I was sore and tired and beyond sweaty and just ready to go back to my poolside bar. But wait there's more. A rope adventure course! Down a thousand stairs we climbed so we could balance ourselves on various rope courses and work up even more of a sweat trying not to fall. Which meant of course that I fell. We had safety lines, so I didn't fall thirty feet to my peril. But my legs were all scraped up and sticking through the slates of the wooden bridge I was trying to traverse. I knocked Jason off the course completely in my attempt to steady myself, and the two workers are shouting different instructions to me "Grab your safety lines! Grab your safety lines!" I just sat there hanging almost upside down wondering how the heck do I drag myself vertical at this point. Needless to say I was not a happy camper and not so politely informed Jason that I earned a whole lot of brownie points for this little excursion. I actually did manage to pull myself up and finished the course with no more incidents, and then climbed back up those thousand stairs. And as soon as we got back to the resort nursed my wounds here,



The end.

Happy Fourth of July all, enjoy the beautiful weather.

Antigua Vacation Part 2

Jason and I had the privilage of doing many fun things while on vacation. I saw this thing sitting on the side of the beach and knew instantly that we just had to try it.




I mean it looks cool, right. Who wouldn't want to give it a try. We pedaled our little butts off, for sure thinking that we had gotten so far out in the ocean that our resort would be a tiny speck in the distant...we had traveled five feet. We were going against the current and the darn thing just wasn't efficient at traveling. It was pretty much at that point we said, "well at least we can say we tried it", and headed back to shore. And by heading back to shore I mean, letting the current bring us back in as we steered. But other activities proved to be much more fun and fulfulling.



Snorkeling by far was the most fun. We had been snorkeling once before on our honeymoon, and that time we were surrounded by a huge group of people and three other boats that also had huge groups of people. Not to mention the fact that there was only one fish that wasn't icky brown colored. But this time...this time was awesome. We went out to an actual reef with maybe ten other people. The reef was absolutely teaming with fish...literally we saw teams of fish!



Before Jason went to Iraq we invested in this heavy duty, crazy cool camera that could withstand extreme cold and hot and sand and impacts...and water. I must admit that I was very nervous jumping into an ocean with a camera that had no other protection other than a little note on the side saying it was safe at up to 10 meters depth.



But the camera didn't fail and Jason snapped away. We ended up pulling away from the rest of the crowd and it was just Jason, me, and our guide nicknamed Sharkbait. I don't know how safe I felt about that...But we spied the biggest puffer fish I had ever seen.



The thing had to be over a foot long. The coral all around us was gorgeous, and we made sure to be very respectful and didn't touch anything.



There was a lot to look at. We could have stayed out there all day exploring the ocean, but Sharkbait and our Captain "Squeaky" signaled us in after only thirty minutes.



Getting back into the boat was fun because they had thrown out food in an effort to attract some fishies.



This is me reaching out trying to touch one. The fish weren't too happy with that idea, for some reason they kept swimming away.



Part 3 will include swim up bars, ziplining, and bees!