We Did It!

Color Run is DONE!

We weren't able to run the whole thing, but that was more logistics than a lack of trying. The race was sold out, with 6,000 people packing the trail. We had to walk through the color zones where you get colorfied, which meant 3 stops (we ran around the outside of the 1st of 4 zones), but still...WE DID IT!!!!

I couldn't have done it without this group - co workers and amazing friends who trained with me, slowed to my pace when I needed it, and made sure I got plenty of birthday wishes on the run courtesy of the decorating they did to their shirts in my honor:

Team ROYGBIV, lovingly named after my neurotic desire to color coordinate my closet.

And I couldn't have done it without my amazing friend Elizabeth, who inspired and encouraged me through training and met me on race day to cheer me on. LOVE her!

Girls' Night Out.

Oh my how times have changed! Instead of drunken debauchery fueled by tequila and uncomfortable yet sexy shoes, girls' night out now looks a little more like this:

Yep, my camera lens is still not working, so cell phone pictures it is!

Thanks to my (childless) brother who won 3 complimentary tickets to the Disney on Ice Princess show, Luca and I got to have a girls' night out last night. We decided to invite one of her BFFs, Madison, whose mom just had a sweet baby girl less than 2 weeks ago, partly because we figured mom and dad would appreciate a quiet evening with the newborn while their toddler was entertained.

Sweet blonde buddies and Capitalism. Ahhh, America.

In the spirit of girlie fun, I even broke out of my super-cheap ways and bought Luca some obnoxious piece of plastic with a spinning top and lights and I let the girls share a snow cone in a collector's cup which cost more than the last pair of jeans I purchased for myself. But that's neither here nor there. Because, honestly, these faces right here made the hassle of driving downtown and finding parking and being price-gouged undeniably worth it:

I confess to getting a little choked up during the night over how sweet these two are together. On the long drive to the arena, they sat holding hands in the backseat, reaching across the empty space between car seats so they could touch. They giggled and told each other stories in their little chipmunk voices, each girl one-upping the other with their silliness until finally the backseat was nothing but a fit of high pitched giggles.

Both girls were light enough that they had trouble keeping their theater-style seats from folding up on them, so several times throughout the show I'd look over and see nothing but little-girl sandals and hair sticking out the folded-up seats.

They ended up sharing one fold-down seat about halfway through the show, with Luca wrapping her arm around Madison and them giggling like co-conspirators. It absolutely melts my heart to see them together, smiling and giggling and sharing a little world. After we dropped Madison off at home, I asked Luca what she thought about her, and she said, "I just love Madison. Even, she makes me happy."
 

I have a lot to say about Disney and Princess and girls and feminism, but that's for another post.

PS: No idea what's going on with the weird formatting, but I give up on trying to fix it.

Weekend Update.

I have been feeling swamped and overextended lately, and my back is paying the price. I have a pain that shoots from my lower spine into my hips and thighs. Not sure what this is about, but it needs to go away soon.

This weekend our friends Isaac and Emily, and the fetus within Em's belly, came to visit. We had so much fun seeing them. No matter how long we go between visits, it's like they never left. And then, you know, they DO leave and it's sadness. Em is 18 weeks pregnant and looks amazingly good. I can't wait for her to find out if she's having a boy sprout or a girl sprout. In fact, I find that I am typically more eager to find out what the sex of my friends' babies are than I was to discover if Luca was really a Schnitz (she was not...or shall I say she didn't have the little schnitz we originally suspected she had). I'm sad that they left for St Louis despite our best efforts to convince them to move back to AZ, but I can't wait to go visit them in the MO and meet little Goff.

We also had a girls' night out this weekend, in honor of Brandi, who's moving to the motherland (aka Oregon) in less than 2 weeks. Mill Ave gets a little dull once school's out for the semester, so we girls (I think at our height of fun there were over 20 of us there) pretty much had Fat Tuesday's to ourselves. It was great, until The Douche came to visit. Brandi and I were talking outside when this dude comes over and decides to pull up a(n uninvited) chair. He tells us he's from Boston and quickly reveals himself to be...well...a douche. First, he tells us he's older than he looks. Mind you, no one asked, as B and I are both happily married with child. Nonetheless, he asked us to guess his age, so we offered up a courtesy guess, and he told us we were wrong and he was 38. This rousing game of no one gives a shit please leave us alone went on, and soon Douche was informing us that he was, indeed, not really 38 (sure fooled us, buddy! way to go!), but was rather 'practically a newborn'. I assured him we were smart cookies, and even with a Superman and a Orangesicle under my belt, I was still not fooled. "No, really, I'm a newborn!" he exclaimed. To which I replied, "If I passed something that looked like you from my vagina I would be scared." Oddly, The Douche found this comment to be 'HIGH 5!!!' worthy. Go figure. My favorite part was when he informed B (who looks not a day over 28) that she looked like his best friend's mother...and then quickly reassured her this was a compliment, as he apparently has some sort of 'Stacy's Mom' complex. Ewww. Oh, scratch that. My favorite part was when he attempted to impress with his tale of 'bagging' a midget while serving as wingman for a friend once. Riiiiight.

How cute is she?!?!?

These pictures are of my friend Lindsey's kid. I am posting this without her ok, but Emma is too dang cute not to share pictures of. And, seriously, the HAPPIEST kid you will ever meet. She's always got a beautiful smile (courtesy of her mom..and shared by her beautiful older sister Lauren). Enjoy! I hope seeing her smile brightens your day like it brightens mine!




And, PS, that is her awesome dad Jeff pulling her along on the suitcase. Gotta give credit to good dads like him!

More Friends.

God, I love these people. Seriously. Alas, no matter how many times I begged and Darrick offered free beer and Luca batted her lashes, they refuse to move back.

Kindly ignore my wild eye in the above picture.

Friends.

Once upon a time, I worked at an animal clinic. I loved the job, save for the insanely mean egomaniac who ran the place and the cult-like trance the Office Manager inficted upon us all. While working there, I became friends with Lindsey, who was one of the funniest, most upbeat people I'd ever met. I remember when she started she was leaving a 'telemarketing' job where she worked late night hours. Uh-huh....sure, Linds. I read between the lines and was pretty sure she was a phone sex operator. She heard from the trance-inducing Office Manager that I wanted to be a Vet when I grew up, so she thought I was super serious.

How wrong we both were.

Anyhow, fast forward 8 years later. We worked at 3 jobs together. We were there for each others' weddings. I watched her belly grow when she was pregnant with her first daughter, Lauren. We drove to class together and talked about politics and religion, and gay marriage and love and kids and our boss at job #3 together, who we nick-named Mommy Dearest. We went out for coffee and snuck cigarettes. We met up at the Legislature during our internships. We went to movies together (Me: "So, does your husband like movies?"....Her: "Yeah. He does. Does yours?"....Me: "Yeah.".....silence....). She was a great friend, and still is. But in the time span of a little over a year, Lindsey and 3 of my other good friends all moved away. First, Meredyth went back home to Chicago. Next, Lindsey to Salt Lake City. Then Em and Isaac (2 friends in one) to St. Louis. Last, Tiffany to Alaska.

Life moved on. I was sad, but this is what happens when people grow up, right? We marry, have kids (or not), take jobs, move, move on....

When I was pregnant, I would say that's when I missed my friends the most. I remember being so excited and nervous and anxious and hopeful....and not having them around to share it with. I remember the day my pants stopped fitting...and I had no one to laugh about it with. I remember seeing our sweet baby's profile on ultrasound....and my friends weren't here to share the pictures with. And when Luca was born....they weren't there to visit us in the hospital or to hold my sweet baby girl in their arms.

I know this is what happens when we get older. I know this is part of growing up. And I know I am lucky. I have some wonderful friends. Great family. A fantastic husband who's the best friend I could ask for.

But a place in my heart is still really empty. It misses them.

I saw Lindsey today, with her two beautiful daughters and her fabulous sister in law (who ALSO worked for Mommy Dearest!). And it was like she never left. I sat on the floor with her and ate pitas and garlic dip. We talked and laughed and had a blast. So, thanks, Linds...and all my other friends close and far....for reminding me what's important in life: the people we love.

Luca and Lydia

Our friends Troy and Jessica were in town on Friday and Saturday from Vegas. Jessica and Lydia came to visit (we missed Troy, but he had to study...apparently that is a necessary evil when one wishes to become a Doctor). The girls seemed to enjoy seeing each other. Lydia loves babies and just wanted to hold Luca's hand or touch her toes. And Luca has just recently started to notice things like other babies and animals, so she was very interested in Lydia.

The visit was too short (they always are when you miss your friends), but we loved seeing them!