life lately, according to my iPhone pictures

A lot has happened in 2 weeks...

I graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas with my MBA!

Some of my extended family came into town for the occasion

and my mom cooked an amazing meal.

A lovely co-worker treated me to lunch

at a precious teahouse called the Chocolate Angel.

These guys have been helping me plan my India trip for

Ashish's wedding - and I leave in less than a month!

Doesn't this look like a Norman Rockwell painting?

What a great Christmas.

And we had my aunt, uncle and cousins over to my parents'

house for Christmas dinner. I love my cousins - haha.

Oh, and I got a new car! Although I don't have a picture of it yet...

4th of July Amazingness

Went to Addison's Kaboomtown this year
to watch fireworks and they were amazing!



Picture courtesy of the Baking Queen

The group after a rockin' game of pool volleyball.
My team won, by the way. :)

St. Paddy's Day & Grasslands Races

Fun race! Honestly, I don't remember much about it though - it went by so quickly. There were about 6,000 runners and walkers, so it took a while before we could actually start running. Once I got passed the thick of it, I took off and kept a pretty good pace throughout. My adjusted chip time was 31:12 (though I think it was closer to 29:45), but either way it was a 5K PR. Great weather, too!

This was definitely a fun run - everyone was dressed in green (except for the random girl dressed in a baby blue running suit who apparently did not get the memo).

I ran with a these guys from my MBA program and we ran into some more cohorts at the St. Patrick's Day Parade after the race. We stuck around after the parade and ate burgers at Fudrucker's. I think it tasted so good because we were all so hungry!

This was basically an all-day affair and let's just say I'm glad I rode the DART instead of driving because there was a lot of St. Paddy's Day celebrating going on! (*Also notice my awesome green tights. I borrowed them from Brad, who dressed up like a leprechaun for Halloween, haha.)

I didn't run Grasslands this year (though I unsuccessfully attempted to sign up for the half at the last minute), but I worked an aid station. It was fun being on the other side of the race.

The Outback Gate aid station was positioned at mile 36, so we got all the 50 milers. It was a pretty hot day - in the 90's in March! - and was definitely not Mudlands like last year. There was hardly any rain prior to the race, so there were lots of sand pits. Many of the runners were complaining of blisters and wishing for last year's conditions.

I went out with "the boys" (i.e. my dad & his partners in crime/highly decorated ultra-runners, Drew & Mark). We met at Whataburger for brunch beforehand and finally got home around 9pm. By the end, I was sunburned and exhausted - and I didn't even run!

Forts, Feathers & Finishing

Hello there!

Oops, it's been a month since I wrote last. What have I been doing? Good question. Let's see...

My dad is amazing & ran 100 miles on the Elliptical,
raising $6,400 for the National MS Society.
18 hours, 28 min.
He is my hero.

Plus he got a really snazzy belt buckle.

I went to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time in
ten years and immediately got a headache.
(pic of my roommate haha)

The Gamenight Groupies cheered the
Lake Dallas Fightin' Falcons onto another b-ball victory!
(While posing for the pic, some of the players were like,
"Who are these people?" Haha - We are obviously beloved.)

P.S. We were awesome cheerleaders and we even
(almost) did a human pyramid! And the middle school girls
asked us to lead the crowd in the "Falcon Rumble" cheer.

We have now hosted our first two Standard dinners, raising
about $200 for A21, an organization that fights human trafficking.
We will continue to host dinners every 2nd & 4th Thursdays.

Oh yeah, and I survived the blizzard of 2011.
My roommate and I made a fort (which we slept in),
I invented a new sport (snow surfing), and our group ended up
throwing paper balls at each other to try to knock over plastic cups.
Cabin fever, shall we say??

Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep up with school,
getting involved at Gateway, and hanging out with friends and family.
BTW, one of my friends who is a new Christian was baptized tonight!
So excited for her! (2 Tim. 2:8)

I miss these kiddos

But I had fun seeing them for Christmas : )

THE STANDARD

• Did you know that 27 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking?
• Or that human trafficking brought in $32 billion last year, making it larger than the drug industry?
• Tragically only 1-2% of victims are rescued from human trafficking each year.

With statistics like these, it is easy to be overwhelmed. However, by each taking action, we can make a difference.

In response to this injustice, my group of friends has started a project called The Standard. We plan to host family-style dinners on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month for a low cost of $7. We will donate the proceeds, minus the cost of food, to a non-profit organization called The A21 Campaign.

For every $112 we raise, A21 can provide welcome packages to two young women whom they have rescued from the sex slave trade. The young women come into the shelter with literally nothing but the clothes on their back, but these packets provide them with hygiene products, pajamas and other necessities as they work through the healing process with A21's counselors.

Our goal is to host at least 20 people at each dinner, which will allow us to provide packages to four young women in need every month.

Tonight we hosted our kickoff dinner and had 18 people! It was definitely a success and a great time of community and fellowship. And did I mention Nancy's delicious cashew chicken? Too bad we didn't get a picture of that!

• Follow us on Facebook and attend our dinners if you're ever in the area.
• Donate directly to A21 by clicking here.
• Contact me if you'd like to donate to The Standard or sponsor one of our dinners.

The Standard
"community dinners with a purpose"
2nd & 4th Thursdays

Isaiah 59:19 - "When the enemy comes in like a flood,
the Spirit of the LORD shall raise up a standard against him."

Country Music & Being Lazy

Now that we're about 2 wks into 2011... Happy New Year!

"What are my New Year's resolutions?" you ask? Well, this year I just have one: BE LAZY.

I have decided that I invest waaaay too much energy and effort in things - with little marginal results. It comes with the territory of being a partial perfectionist. Last semester I stressed out about school and then found out that I got all A's and aced my Finance mid-term (which I thought I had failed).

Haha, we'll see how long this lasts before I start color coding my closet again (I wish I were kidding).

I'm also turning over a new leaf this year - Country Music. I used to make fun of the "hicks" who listened to country music. But I now have 2 country radio stations programmed in my car and find myself singing the Zac Brown Band, Tim McGraw & Rascal Flatts. And I must say, I like the song "Good Directions and Turnip Greens" ; )

Anyway, here are some pictures from the past few weeks that make me happy!

Our pretty tree - complete with the 1980's,
wooden Mississippi state Christmas ornament : )

Me & my awesome (and highly energetic) 2nd cousins.
Don't know if you can tell, but Ethan had chocolate ALL over himself.

bahaha - Nancy w/Angel Tree gifts

My Cohort went ice skating after finals and we were
transfixed by the Zamboni...

...and I love that someone took not 1, but 2 pictures of us.

So, funny story - This pic is of the American Airlines Center before
the Trans Siberian Orchestra show. I walked in and started to
legitimately freak out. I normally do fine with heights,
and it doesn't look like it from the pic, but these seats were
high up there. Nancy tried to distract me with funny stories from
work while I tried to look at my shoes and not get dizzy.

I was glad when the show started.

ELLIPTICAL100 THIS FRIDAY!

Trans Siberian Cookies!

Instead of a girls trip to the Nutcracker Ballet this Christmas,
we got our group together to go see the
famed Tran Siberian Orchestra.

We felt so grown up hosting
appetizers at our place.

The guys

The girls
(Can you tell the guys have been MIA lately??)

Me and my roomie

***

Making cookies!

Me & Nancy, our amazing baking queen

Thanksgiving in Pictures

This post has been a few weeks delayed due to finals (which are now over!)

Some of my fellow cohorts came over for their
first American Thanksgiving.
Three guys from India and a girl from China.

Delicious food!

Homemade sweet potatoes = YUM

In keeping with the Christmas song,

my cousin's kids and I told "scary ghost stories."

As always, Callie assumed everyone
came over just to see her.

I Ran the Rock

Because school and life have been so hectic lately, I was planning to give my spot in the White Rock Half to a friend who forgot to register. But then she ran in someone else's shoes and got a stress fracture. So, I decided to give it a go anyway.

Though I should have brought gloves and eaten more, it was a great run. It was a chilly 37 degrees at the Start, but I soon warmed up and took off my outer layer despite the fact that my ears and fingers were a little numb.

My legs began to hurt - my joints, specifically - but I knew I had the race in the bag at mile 7 when my legs went numb, too. From that point on it was just a mental decision to keep moving forward. I took quite a few walk breaks in the first half and then found my rhythm and just cruised in the second half.

Apparently this year was a new course. Around mile 3 I heard the guy next to me say, "This is weird. This is normally the Finish."

But like always, the community came out to support. One lady stood outside of her house playing her trumpet and cheering, people brought out their stereos, a local high school orchestra played to runners passing by, and a nice couple even handed out water bottles. The race also had bands set up along the course playing rockin' tunes like "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Eye of the Tiger." And I can't forget the creative signs and t-shirts:

• "Run like Hell!"
• "If it were easy, I'd be running with you"
• "If you can see this, I'm not in last place"
• "You just got passed by a mother of 3"
  
• "Run like a Chilean miner!"
• And my favorite poster held by a 7-year-old girl: "Hurry Up! My legs hurt!"

The race went surprisingly well, considering that I had only run 2 miles in the past three weeks since Rockledge. My goal was to finish between 2:30 and 3:00 and I came in - sprinting with a smile, actually - right at 2:30.

I'm definitely not fast; I was passed by a couple in their 70's, someone on stilts and a woman with a prosthetic leg. But in the end, I passed the lady with a wedgie, so overall I felt pretty good about it.

Marketing Case Competition

A few weeks ago, we heard about the Marketing Case Competition at Wake Forest University. Out 90 teams who applied last year, they only selected 8 to compete. We had 3 teams from the Cohort program apply & so we were scrambling to get the application videos done in time.

They are all really creative! Enjoy! (P.S. I'm in the first one)

The SWOT Team




Team Volcano




The Magnificent Seven

Rumblings

Pre-Race

Strong finish

Words of wisdom from Ultra Grand Slammer Drew Meyer:

If you're being chased by a sweaty crew
So that you could become trail stew
And your pace is too fast
To let them get past
Just stop to tie either shoe