China!

So I’m aware it has been forever since I’ve posted anything, but hopefully now that I’m looking to fill my time there will be plenty more, especially since I’ll have a whole new world (or country, at least) to write about!

So I’m officially in China – the journey itself was pretty uneventful if not extremely long… and I only say extremely long because very uncharacteristically I was unable to sleep on the 14.5 hour flight from Newark to Shanghai and had a particularly chatty older gentleman sitting next to me! Haha… So rewind a little bit...

I took a Leave of Absence from my job starting March 1st, and spent March getting things organized with the house (we have renters from Spain, a family of 4), moving out and coordinating with the packers/Curt’s company/relocation company, etc., seeing people and spending time with family, getting a plan together for Maverick (that one was particularly stressful, but thank goodness a miracle happened and he is with old neighbors in Fort Worth who adore having him), and just getting things in place in general. We also took a family ski trip vacation to Breckenridge which was a fantastic last getaway with the 4 of us full of bluebird skiing days, and lots of laughs!

After getting the house ready, packed, cleaned, and ready for the renters, I had one week at home (parent’s house) to pack and finish things up, and then yesterday it was time to make my way over! The day before was a great last day – finished packing in the morning, went rollerblading, spent time outside and with Kendyl watching her play softball with her company team (it was such a gorgeous day), then got home, went on a motorcycle ride with Kendyl and Dad at dusk to enjoy the last of the sunlight, spring, and trees, and then we had homemade waffles for dinner – SO yum!! When it was time to say goodbye to Kendyl she was a wreck, which caused me to fall apart after she left – thank GOODNESS I’ll be back in May or else it would have been a lot harder… and also so GREAT that Dad will be visiting here in China in a couple of weeks (he’ll be here on business) so I have a lot to look forward to!

So yesterday morning (or Monday morning, but as my day yesterday was very long, still kind of in my “yesterday” category even though I fast forwarded a day), my flight was at 6 a.m. so I woke up at 3:30 a.m., got ready, me and Mom got to the airport by 4:45 a.m., and because we were a little rushed, we were both tired since it was so early, there was no time for a blubbering goodbye… a blessing in disguise, but she stuck around and made sure I was good to go with my luggage and checking in, and then I ran outside to grab a $20 from her as I didn’t have any cash – LOL! She’s such a good mommy…

Got on the flight ok, and promptly went to sleep for pretty much the whole flight… yea for that! Got to Newark, and didn’t have a ton of time on my layover, so made my phone calls, chatted with everybody, and this is where I started to feel the weight that I was moving to China. I did a decent job (for me) of holding it together but I was staring out the windows into the rain and was feeling the same way inside… just going to miss everyone so much and of course the thought of going into the unknown is scary, etc. Got on the plane, got settled, and was *hoping* to have the whole row to myself as up until the night before I did, but turns out an older man had decided to sit in my row as well – fine, whatever, but he was SO CHATTY! Ugh… I just wanted to kind of be by myself to think about things, etc. and instead I had to make small talk for 14.5 hours. Haha – exaggerating, we obviously didn’t talk the whole time, but even when I was watching movies or listening to music he’d motion for me to take my headphones off to talk about the most random things! Sigh… so didn’t really sleep too much on this flight which made time inch by, but watched 4 movies, listened to music, wrote, did take one nap for an hour, read, and went to the bathroom a million times just to have an excuse to get up and walk around. Enjoyed the plane food, though, and was thankful to be on an airline that I loved with the route that I was on versus a million connections, so overall it was a great flight.

When I got to Shanghai I was so tired, but my bags all came quickly, made it through customs without event, and had a laugh (a tired, resigned laugh) maneuvering this weird cart with 4 huge suitcases plus my duffle with one hand (difficult because it has a brake of some sort that if you let up on the lever it just STOPS) and rolling my laptop thingy with the other hand around some serious curves and queues to make it through to where the waiting people were… and then when I got through the doors there were even more twists and turns, and a million people waiting, so I just started looking for Curt, who in the 3rd turn was waiting with a sign for me (like all the other people), haha. I have to say that after over 2 months of not seeing him it was really surreal to see him there – his hair is SO long (he will be seeing JJ when he comes back to the states in a week), but thank goodness he came to get me… was nice to see a familiar face and to just fall into my exhaustion and be led around.

I met our driver, Han (don’t be fooled by the name, he is Chinese), who seems to be very nice. He doesn’t know a lot of English but hopefully we can widen his vocabulary from “home,” “Baker,” and “coffee,” and likewise he can widen our Chinese vocabulary as well. He’s a young guy, maybe about my age, and he got us settled and got us on the road through Shanghai and on our way to Suzhou. Rush hour was beginning so it took us awhile to get through Shanghai, and I didn’t see much of the city itself, just the outskirts and freeways, but it did smell weird there (pollution and cigarette smoke) and there was like an inch of just dust or dirt everywhere it seemed – like a coat of grime? So dirty in that way, but not with a ton of trash… Curt says it rains some, but I guess not enough to just wash everything clean. It was also really hazy when I got in – could see a pale yellow orb that was the sun but it might as well have been overcast… will miss my sun, I think. It was also a little overwhelming as we were going along to see all of these billboards, and writing, and not being able to read a word… I got a little emotional (I think because I was just so tired, and not anything crazy, just weepy) and Curt laughed and said it would be ok, and suggested we turn on the radio – there’s a station that plays English speaking songs, so felt better when a Kelly Clarkson song came on that I could sing to! LOL!

I was trying so hard to stay awake but was doing the head-bob (laughed at myself when I did this, haha), so finally decided to take a small catnap on my VB duffle and woke up about 20 minutes later – Curt was busy working and emailing on his BB, and then we finally got to Suzhou with our first stop being Baker. I got to see the plant and meet a few employees that were still there (they leave at 4:30 p.m. each day on a bus, and it was about 5:15 p.m. by the time we got there so just a couple local people there) and see all of his hard work. You can tell a lot of work has been done, but of course there is still much to do, hence Curt’s very busy schedule. So he dropped off some paperwork, then we got on our way to the apartment. I could tell rolling into Suzhou that it was going to be nice – lots of trees, lots of greenery, NO birds anywhere which when you see that many trees is really strange – their absence is very noticeable! I practically shouted out when I finally did see a bird, so I can say I’ve seen one, haha.

We pulled up to the apartment/resort, and it was so good to know that home was close… or the place that I would call home. Everything looked very nice so I was just excited to get in and see everything! Curt gave me the tour of the place, got a little settled and took a shower (that shower after a really long day/flight is always SO nice), he ordered take out for dinner as he has like 3 things in the fridge/pantry, and then he had a chicken dish and I had a Cajun sea bass dinner with a few fries – it was good! Then we ventured out and he showed me where the market was within the resort, the gym, and just pointed out things in general that I might be interested in exploring today while he’s at work. The market has a lot of familiar brands – even Betty Crocker cake mix and icing! – so I think food wise we’ll be fine. It will just take some time to learn everything, of course, where to find good produce, meats, etc. The gym looks good, too – lots of classes, a million employees running around, good equipment, so that’s exciting. Then we got home and I crawled into bed. Slept mostly all night from 8:30 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., then followed my own jet lag rules and laid awake until I fell back asleep, which was soon, until around 7:30 a.m. when Curt was up and getting ready for work.

So he left for his day, and so far this morning I’ve chatted online with my whole family and a few friends. I chatted online with Ashley for quite awhile on IM and we had fun talking about IM and college, etc. which was fun – she also skyped me and I got to say goodnight to Cody, Cade, TJ, and her… she said that now Cody would want to say goodnight to me every night (my mornings) which I said was great by me as it totally made my morning, haha. I also got to skype with Kendyl, and Mom and Dad which was so nice – I can’t even say how comforting this technology is and will be to me here. Also got all unpacked, and have been making a list of things we’ll need around the house to maintain a normal life here (laundry basket, more trash cans, tissues, magnets, etc.) so am in full list mode. Also have a list going of things that I can do if I should run into a wall of how to fill my time!

Now am off to go exploring now that everyone in the states is asleep, and then to the gym to do my Crossfit workout! Yes! Funny note - Mom said she went to go see Taken today, and I haven't seen it but have heard about it and that it's a good movie, though now she's completely paranoid for me and probably wasn't the smartest movie for her to go see the DAY after I leave for a foreign country! :-)

Will keep everyone posted on how things go, and will take the camera out today to take a few pics of things... Take care...

Love,

Steamboat for the Cowboy Downhill!

Thought I'd take a quick minute to post some pics from the Houston Half Marathon from last Sunday, and give a short update!

So I went skiing this past week which was GREAT - the weather was perfect, very much like spring skiing which of course is my *favorite* and the mountain was pretty empty as far as people go... we went to Steamboat to see the Cowboy Downhill which was comical... a bunch of cowboys on skis and boards (some of which who have never skiied EVER) who are in town for the Denver Livestock Show & Rodeo trying to compete for prizes by going through an obstacle course on the slopes - hilarious and the purpose for our visit as my mom has always wanted to see this "spectacle." It was great - of course a lot of wipeouts by some rough and tumble men that would make most people not want to get back up, but we had to remember these were bull riders and bareback bronc riders, etc. so if they totally ate it they just got right back up and kept on going... it was great! We had an awesome time - it was me, Kendyl, Mom, and Michael and although a really quick trip, good quality family time (Mikey is pretty much like family - probably the closest thing I have to a little brother I would say)!

As far as jury duty goes - man, what a long story... it makes me tired to even think about writing it all down in a blog post, but basically I took it really seriously and it was an interesting experience I won't soon forget. What was scary about it was how many criminal testimonies we had to hear and it really opened my eyes to another world that we all tend to forget about in our respective "bubbles" of daily life... I heard testimonies from criminals that had been in and out of jail so many times from everything to DWI's, to drugs, to burglary of habitation (houses) and commercial (businesses), and apparently there was supposed to be a murderer testify as well that didn't show up (WHEW!) so needless to say it was very interesting. Despite their rap sheets, I listened intently to what they had to say and believed them, for the most part as they didn't really have anything to gain by taking the stand (on the contrary, to the subject they were speaking about they had a lot of pride to lose, and I can only imagine how it was probably difficult for a lot of them, despite their pasts). It revolved around a incident of sexual misconduct, but that's all I'm going to say about it here - if you want to know more I can share with you via conversation. I thought the system was very fair, though, and I enjoyed doing my civic duty!

And here are a few pics of the half marathon - I know I said I'd write more but I'm not really sure what else there is to say, really?? I mean it was totally great and I was so proud of myself, and I'm really going to try and keep up the running thing (like doing a long run on the weekends and shorter ones during the week) so I don't lose it, you know? I did 5 miles yesterday which was the first time I'd run since last Sunday, and it was fine... I can tell a few of my joints are still a little sore in my feet, but I think skiing really helped my muscles stretch some so muscle-wise I was fine!

Hope everyone has had a great week and enjoy the pics!

Love,

Half Marathon Pics

Me and Dad at the gathering point for Wave 2

Me waving at Curt and Dad before the Start Line

A picture of racers in general

(Curt took these pics with my Nikon and I thought this one was so neat!)

Me running before the finish line

Me and Curt after the finish!

(Note my cool signs that Kendyl and Mom contributed to as they couldn't be there - this one says, "They were my magic shoes" from Forrest Gump)

Me and Dad

Me and my shiny medal with the finish line in the background - YEA!

One step closer to the full marathon...

2009 has been eventful thus far!

So today I ran my first half marathon and it was great! I completed all my goals - did it under the time I wanted (no speed records of course), my foot didn't bother me enough to take me out of it (thank goodness), I ran every step of the way, and I finished with a smile and didn't want to totally keel over and die! YEA! So a success all around... I'll write more about it later...

Also had jury duty this week for 3 days which was interesting to say the least, and I'll write more about that later, as well.

On my way out to Steamboat tomorrow, so will have a few days of skiing with the family as a "goodbye" to the slopes for now, so that will be a blast and I'll write more about that later, too...

I'm basically only posting this I think for my own health since it doesn't seem that anyone reads my blog, as I don't get any comments whatsoever even when I say something crazy like oh yeah, we're moving to China... oh well... here's to writing a blog for my own health/record anyway!

Love,

Ni hao!

(Pronounced knee-how, we'll be saying that a lot...)

So yes, after many allusions, rumors, and panicked-looking faces, it is now an open fact that we are moving to China - Suzhou, China to be exact.

Curt received an offer to be plant manager, and as it's a great opportunity that we can't pass up, you will soon be reading of our experiences living in a new country... so here are a few answers to the questions we most commonly receive:

Where will we be? Suzhou, China about 100km outside of Shanghai
How long will we be there? Anywhere from 1-3 years (I'm shooting for 2 or less)
What will I be doing? To be determined - I'm discussing options with my work at the moment but it's up in the air
What are y’all doing with Maverick? To be determined (and yes, this is what keeps me up at night)
Where will we live? A high rise condo where many other expats live with some nice views of a lake, and fireworks all the time - LOL
What are y’all doing with the house? Leasing it out (know anyone?)
When are you leaving? Curt is already back and forth and Tasha will join him in February/March timeframe

We are hoping for as many visitors as possible - we have a guest room begging for friends to come stay with us, so I hope that many of you will splurge and take the opportunity to see China while you have a free place to stay! :-) Our only request if we are blessed to receive you as a guest is that you bring a comfort from home for us (break n' bake chocolate chip cookies, Lucky Charms, CoCo Wheats, or something like that). Seriously, though, anyone is welcome and it is more affordable than you'd think - ticket prices start at $800 roundtrip, which heck, these days you can't even get to New York for that, right?!

The good news is that Curt, who of the two of us is more averse to this sort of thing, has adjusted well enough while he is over there, and we do think it will be easy for us to make friends as there is a large expat community there. And other GREAT news is that we have a gym membership already at a gym that is an American franchise, and they have HIP HOP classes! Yes! That might be interesting, but I'm looking forward to it, and I'm happy enough that we will have a gym complete with normal equipment, it's really nice with a pool, and they have classes that I enjoy taking (along with hip hop they have pilates, yoga, belly-dancing, etc.) so hopefully I will occupy myself having fun there - haha!

So of course things are busy in between daily life activities to try and get us ready and mobilized for this new adventure...

Also, in one week I run the Houston Half Marathon which, with my fasciitis whatever, I'm getting nervous about (no improvements there, I've just been trying to stretch and not tax it so somehow I can run the whole thing on Sunday)...

So that's our big news - stay tuned for more details, and in the meantime here are a few pictures of our new home (they're a little dark as it was night time when Curt was checking it out, but it is furnished, which is nice, though we'll have some work to do to make it "home") - enjoy, and again, we hope you will plan to visit us!

Living Room

Master Bedroom

View

Another View

Dining Area

Kitchen

Love,

Agreed!

Yea! I'm so glad I have friends who share in my obsession! I am still waiting for my hardback copy of New Moon (book 2) to come in and I’m dying of anticipation… (my mom bought the paperback in case I couldn't wait but I'm letting anticipation build b/c I want to read my OWN copy – I’m weird about that sort of thing, I *love* hardbacks and “wearing” them in)…

Elizabeth, I *completely* agree with you about the movie. After much internal debate I decided I wanted to go see it – I’d heard of course it wasn’t as great as the book, etc. but what I was MOST worried about was the movie characters changing the version of who I see them as in my head… I had clicked around on the internet and seen the cast, and while I think K. Stewart is a great fit for Bella, whoever the guy who plays Edward is good looking, but not how I pictured Edward in my head, and I was so worried that for the rest of the books I’d have HIS face in my mind and not MY version of Edward if that makes sense (I think MY version is a cross between Channing Tatum and Henry Cavill - swoon!)?

But curiosity won out – we didn’t have any plans last night so Curt and I made a date of it ( this is him humoring my obsession, such a good sport) and I enjoyed it as well, though I was thinking the same thing (that to non- readers it was terrible and probably on the cheesy side)… I think it's amazing how in your mind everything fits and it's all perfectly normal and when put on film (like him sparkling in the sun or how fast he can run, etc.) that it looks a little silly – I guess I'll stick to my imagination's version, then! p.s. I did love that Stephenie Meyers had a cameo - I would SO do that, too! lol!

Anyway, enough rambling, but as my comment started to become a novel I decided a post would be more suited… sigh!

Love,

Happy Birthday to Curt, and I'm obsessed...

I have a new obsession, and I knew it would be, but was building up the anticipation so it would be even better… I just read Twilight by Stephanie Meyers, and along with the entire population of teenage American girls, I’m in love with this book… I asked for the whole series in hardback for Christmas even though I hadn’t read one of them yet, but as I knew I would love them I went ahead and asked anyway. I finished Pride and Prejudice over the weekend (love that book, too!) and went straight into it and had to refrain from staying up all night to read it… I wanted to *savor* it so forced myself to stretch it over 3 days and it’s all I’ve been able to think about…

I’m going to try and wait a few days to start the second one otherwise I’ll have to be like a couple of our family friends’ girls who keep reading them quickly and over and over (they’re each on their 3rd time already because they’re so good)! I think the thing about it is that I remember high school so well, even if it is getting farther and farther away in years, and how I would have swooned over someone like Edward Cullen – I guess that’s why it’s fun? I don’t know – whatever the draw is, I’m hooked! In the meantime, though, I’m satisfying myself with Stephanie Meyers’ draft of Midnight Sun… it kills me that she’s not going to complete this book, though!

We celebrated Curt’s birthday over the weekend in Giddings, which was a ton of fun as Courtney and Adam were also there! It was more low-key than last year as of course you can’t have huge bashes EVERY year, but we did a lot of celebrating, first with Curt’s Dad and Judy (we also did Christmas with them as well as they were in Illinois with Judy’s family), then on Sunday night Carrie, Don, Courtney, and Greg came up for dinner – Curt’s choice was Saltgrass and I had one of the best steaks I’ve had in awhile (I love filet mignon and their mashed potatoes)! So that was awesome… then my Mom came over Monday night to give Curt his present and enjoy some cake, so it’s been a great New Year, so far!

Also enjoyed The Bachelor Monday night, and holy smokes! DeAnna comes back saying she made a mistake?! Maybe she did, I don’t know, but my heart broke for Jesse – what torture it must be for him to watch something like that! But it looks like Jason’s heart breaks before he gets to the end – should be a great season, interesting, no doubt!

On another note – training for the half marathon has taken a down turn, NOT because I’m breaking resolutions already or anything, but the arch of my foot has been paining me since I ran those 11 miles that day… I had felt it before in a 5-mile run, then the 11 miles went well but walking home felt the pain was more pronounced, and then as my muscles settled, relaxed, and then got sore, it started to hurt! I took it easy, went for a short run and then it was really painful, so took a week off, bought some new shoes with more cushion, have been icing it into a hypothermic state, and trying to do everything right b/c by gosh I will run that 13.1 miles in two weeks!!! Even if I have to hobble and walk it, I’m determined to get a finisher’s medal and t-shirt, so please pray that I can stretch it and ice it into submission (the sports medicine guy at Luke’s Locker think it’s the tendon that runs from your toe, to heel, to achille’s so it’s fasciitis something – most likely due to shortening of my calf muscles from wearing high heels all the time, so that tendon and my calve muscles aren’t as long as they would be or something)… ugh… it’s hard being a girl! I bought Yoga Toes though, so hopefully that will help, too – Judy swears by them!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful 2009 so far – Happy New Year!

Love,

Not ready for 2009 yet!

So tomorrow is the last day of the year, and I can't quite believe 2008 passed so quickly...

I feel like we're still recovering from Christmas a bit but it was SUCH A GOOD ONE! We had great family time, great friends time, and did anyone notice how the days fell *perfectly* to maximize days off of work?! So exciting... and I have Thursday and Friday of this week off as well - whoop!

I'll write more soon but wanted to send best wishes for a **Happy New Year!**

See you on the flip side...

Love,

Merry Christmas Eve!

I so love this day... Merry Christmas!

In the spirit of the season, and trying to do better, thought I'd take a quick minute and post a pic or two from last night. I hung out with Ash and the boys again (TJ is included in the "boys" part) at Market Street... we had a great time looking at the *huge* tree, playing around, eating dinner at Potbelly (and listening to Jonathan in his Italian picture taking voice), and playing in the lights (what normally is the water/lights area) until it was time to go back to Miss Cindy's. Then I had hte pleasure of taking Cody over there (he asked if he could ride with me) so we sang Christmas Carols in the car on the way there, and I showed him how Aurora is "magic," which was hilarious! Because most of the controls for things are on my steering wheel, I was saying things for her to do (like turn the music up) and doing it on the steering wheel which Cody interpreted as magic, which of course I went along with... it was too cute for words!

Here a few fave pics:

Dortch Family Photo

TJ, Tasha, Cole, and Ashley

TJ and Cade (could Cade be cuter?)

Our beautiful godson, he's adorable...

I'll see them again maybe today or tomorrow to give them their presents, and I LOVE that they're in town for so long and we are here as well!

Love,

Merry Christmas - almost!

Shameful, I realize, that it's been so long since my last post... same excuse as always though so nothing new but just busy - sigh!

I've been working a lot lately and commuting farther for work, so it just came down to me not having any desire to look at a computer screen once I was home for the evening... but I'll try and be better as coming up we'll have plenty to keep everyone posted on!

So it's Christmas-time, and officially my favorite time of year! I feel like a little of it has passed me by this year, but I guess time just keeps going faster and faster...

So what's new? Probably the biggest thing is that I'm training for the Houston half marathon in January - doing good so far, ran 11 miles yesterday which of course is the farthest I've ever run before! I have one month left of training, and the big day is in January!

Curt's also been in China a lot lately, and I just got back from Canada this weekend after spending a VERY COLD week in Calgary! I'll post pics soon, but we had a great time visiting Lake Louise, Banff, and enjoying being indoors in -40 F weather (so cold they tell you not to be outside with ANY skin exposed for more than 90 seconds or you'll get frostbite and your skin will FALL OFF - well not the last part but pretty much)!!! It was cool, though... Calgary is definitely a place I could live... sigh!

Also exciting, Ash and the boys are in town! YEA! I always love spending as much time as I can with them when they are in town, so they got in earlier this afternoon and Curt and I went over for dinner to hang out for the evening. The boys are getting so big...

Anyway, have to work tomorrow and am exhausted (my body is still recovering from yesterday) but wanted to let everyone know that I'm still hear and will make more of an effort to keep everyone posted on things!

Love,
Tasha xx

Falling in love with Fall

So this past weekend was a ton of fun – perfect weather and a bunch of fun activities make for one of those fall (well almost) weekends to remember!

Friday I went to the big rival high school volleyball game to see some of my YL girls (playing on both sides!) in action! It was a very intense game that came right down to the final set/match/whatever this one out of 5 is called?! My family was there as well as we have a family friend that plays, too, so it was a lot of fun to have YL there, the family there, and to float in between the two crowds.

Then we headed out as a family to go to dinner as Dad had just gotten back from an overseas trip that afternoon and he and Mom were turning around for Germany the next day, so that means… Marco’s! Whoop! For whatever reason Curt is still not over the moon about Marco’s, but me and the rest of my family totally are so oh well… it’s the enchiladas, though, they seriously are the BEST in the world!! A good family friend that has known my dad for years joined us as he’s in the process of moving his family back to town, so he had some funny stories from the old days that cracked us up!

Then Curt and I went home and I dropped him off, got on some warmer clothes (it was chilly!) and went to the local high school homecoming football game. It is also my alma mater which is doubly appropriate so killed two birds with one stone (going for YL and for me) and it was a lot of fun as well… gotta love football! We won which was great, and it was a great night!

The next day was Aggie football day, and we were playing Army! I remember from back when I was in school that when we played Army the last time they had parachuters jump from a helicopter and chute into the stadium, and I LOVED it, so I was REALLY hoping for a repeat performance, and I got it! First they did an amazing fly over with some very intimidating helicopters, and then they said to look higher into the sky and there was another helicopter poised very high up and I knew it was coming! Man, talk about those jumpers being the luckiest guys out there. Can you even imagine how *cool* it would be to jump out of a helicopter with a HUGE field as your target and land right smack dab on the center A&M logo (which they all did artfully, it was incredible!), I mean what a lifetime high!

Flyover... think Apocalypse Now song!

One of the 4 parachuters coming in (with an American flag!)

On the field after the drop

It was so cool… and it was a great game. We weren’t perfect, but thank goodness we won, and thank goodness they finally put Lane in – geez! The weather was so sunny, a little hot at times but sometimes breezy and we all reapplied sunscreen like 8 times each. I ended up with a perfect tan and no burn as a result which made me so excited, but by the end of the game we were so pooped that I took a deep nap on the way home (Kendyl drove this game) so I was refreshed when I woke up as we were pulling into home.

The First Lady of A&M at her second football game debut (she's such a cute puppy!)

The *enormous* American flag being unfurled in honor of Military Appreciation Day... there were goosebumps EVERYWHERE!

And my favorite... an old Ag that stayed til the end of the game and wheeled himself on out of there - the shirt on his seat says "Old Army Tailgate Permit," I mean can we be any cuter please? Note that this will be me in 60 years, I promise!!

That night for dinner I made my famous chicken casserole (made famous by my mom, originally) and Curt and I watched Netflix movies and had a low key evening.

Sunday I had to be outside… it was just so gorgeous. I went on a another long rollerblade, then when I got home I still wanted to be outside so Curt and I decided to take his motorcycle out for a ride which was a blast.

Then we did miscellaneous things until it was time for a YL leader’s meeting at our house, and then we watched some TV and another movie, then on to another week!

We had our first YL club of the year last night and it went so great… we had a lot of new kids there, the songs were fun, the games were hysterical (I love being a leader, it is a blast), so I’m looking forward to this year with everyone.

Should be great…

Hope everyone has a great day!

Much love,

Extreme Rollerblading

Ok, so since the hurricane rollerblading has been a bit hazardous and I decided to take a couple of pictures of my adventures on the bikepaths... the weather has been gorgeous lately in the low 80's and sunny with gorgeous sunsets, etc. so I haven't been able to resist enjoying it before the winter comes.

Here are a couple of my favorite points along the way...

This field is gorgeous, especially with the sun setting on it as it shines the grass a beautiful gold and the lake (which you can't see in this pic) is a nice gray blue.

Coming over the lake on the bridge... the best is when there are tons of shells and rowers (I so wish I knew how to do this!) with a few sail boats, kayaks, families at the park and people sitting at the picnic tables.

My favorite downhill - currently covered in trees, leaves, sticks, everything so I have to go precariously slow to avoid completely eating it (see the tree at the end?)!

More trees...

More leaves...

The tree where the mosquitoes attack!!! I climb over and under this one with amazing speed!

And finally I get to the lake!

The ducks were all sleeping in the shade before I got there!

Rollerblading is the best... just can't wait until it's all clear again but I'm fine with that being a very low priority considering everything that's out there at the moment. So I'll be improving my dodging skills until then!

Ike, yikes!

So I’m a little behind – mostly because of Hurricane Ike but I’ll do my best to catch up!

Things have actually been pretty good despite the hurricane – overall it’s the aftermath of Ike that is still a hassle but we were very lucky so I feel very blessed! I was at the house for the actual storm, along with Curt’s mom, stepdad, stepbrother, and stepbrother’s friend so we had a house full! We lost power the night of the hurricane, and we all tried to tough it out, but they all left for Ledbetter and I followed about a day and half later (Curt’s grandparents place is there).

By the time I got to Ledbetter Curt’s mom and fam had gone back to Clear Lake as they had power, so I spent the rest of the week there relaxing and hanging out with Nonnie, PaPa, and Heidi (Curt’s Aunt) and they are just awesome. We watched movies, I slept a LOT (I also happened to get sick soon after Ike which was another wrench) to recover, and we went antiquing and exploring, it was a ton of fun! Maverick and Kinsley had a great time, too – Kinsley is their beautiful chocolate cocker spaniel and he’s adorable. They were fast friends!

Through the actual storm, though, I was totally scared… I kept listening for the freight train sound (signal of oncoming tornado) as hurricanes spawn tornados, and the wind was whipping HUGE trees around like they were noodles. The house shook from the wind and although I did sleep, I woke up often to check on things in general. The transformer blew at around 4:30 a.m. on Friday night so then the fun began… Like I said though we didn’t have any damage, just an oleander bush that was flattened to the ground, which is now tied and staked upright again and looks like it will be fine, so far!

Curt is now back from China (on Monday night) and has yet to get on the roof to make sure we have all of our shingles, etc. but we were definitely lucky!

And yes, Curt was in China the entire time, and I was in Dallas for training right before Ike – the Houston participants all rushed home on Thursday/Friday and I was SUPPOSED to go to China on Saturday morning, which of course didn’t happen because Ike was a big ol’ monster… by the time the airlines could get me out (Tuesday was the earliest) I would have only had a few days before it would have been time to turn around and hop on a plane back with Curt, so China didn’t happen. I of course was bummed but it’s not the end of the world as I’ll probably get another chance sometime this fall (I hope?).

So in the aftermath of everything I’m thinking it will take quite awhile to restock the fridge/freezer as literally everything had to go unless it was soda or something, and what is crazier is a lot of Houston is still without power so it’s hard for us to get back to normal. Traffic is awful, and the mood in the air is definitely still in recovery mode… some of the pictures are just unbelievable! My heart goes out to the many who lost anything and everything – how devastating. Here's a link someone forwarded me via email that has a lot of pictures to give an idea at how much destruction there is: Click Here for pics.

Besides Ike, all is well and things are beginning to return to normal. I’ve been out trying to rollerblade since the hurricane which is comical as there is so much debris on the paths that it really is hazardous. I am pretty good at rollerblading (no tricks or anything crazy) but I can go fast and I don’t fall (knock on wood) but I had some pretty funny recoveries over the past few days when I couldn’t avoid every single twig! LOL! On my “route” there are currently 3 huge trees that block my way so I literally have to climb over them… last night I got attacked by mosquitoes so I was trying to go super fast, swat my entire body, avoid twigs so jumping and swerving, and trying not to fall… sigh! But it’s fine which is why I do it…

Other than that it’s great to have Curt home and to start Fall activities… Fall is my FAVORITE season so I’m looking forward to everything that comes with it. Football has already begun (yea), Young Life is starting, Renaissance Festival is set for October, and we also have our anniversary as well as a trip to NYC. It’s gonna be great!

And as a sidenote, I have a few new favorite songs that I can’t get enough of:

Forever – Chris Brown
Come on Get Higher – Matt Nathanson
Famous in a Small Town – Miranda Lambert
Love Story – Taylor Swift

Love them!

Tasha xx

Lately

So am a little tired tonight but thought I would give an update...

Curt's in China (he left last week) but am keeping busy while he's gone. I enjoyed the holiday weekend and got a lot of relaxing in...

On Saturday me, Mom, Kendyl, and Carrie (Mother in Law) went on a girl's shopping trip at the new outlet mall which was a lot of fun! Then we headed out to see the first Aggie game of the season which, while a lot of fun and made me excited for the "events" of Aggie football season, wasn't the best game ever so that was a bummer... sigh... hope they get their rears in gear for the rest of the season!

Sunday and Monday I just lounged around really... got good workouts in (a 4 mile run and 1.5 of rollerblading which was GREAT!), watched about 4 movies, swam in my pool and read 5 magazines, baked, had dinner with the fam, and just hung out here at the house with Mav. So it was a fun weekend!

Besides that will be up in Dallas for training next week, and then to China for vacation after that, so will have lots to write about - stay tuned!

Love,
Tasha xx

I'm an Ironbabe Triathlete!

So I did it yesterday – my first triathlon! WHOOP! I’m actually really excited – it was so great! I’ll start with my time: 1:28:26! Before I start recapping, keep in mind that while this is respectable for a tri time, I’m obviously not even close to some of the REALLY hardcore women that were out there… The tri was the Ironbabe (all women’s) triathlon, and there were 400+ women competing, and to quote Kendyl, for most of them, “this was not their first rodeo,” and man is she right.

Some of the ladies out there were amazing, like this is what they live for… it was cool to just be a spectator to witness. So back to me – not anywhere close to this level, but after training for the past 4ish weeks and a couple practice triathlons, I thought I could improve a little from my last practice time of 1:44:30 to have a goal of 1 hour and 40 minutes. I told Curt what my goal would be, and he encouraged me to go for 1.5 hours and I was skeptical. So I said I’d still go for 1:40, and if it looked like I could get to 1:30 then I’d kick it into a higher gear for the run at the end.

So here’s how the morning went… we woke up in the 4’s (hate doing this) and while Curt was loading I made my famous scrambled egg whites and cheese… usually when I’m nervous it’s hard for me to eat (especially so early in the morning) but I forced them down and we made our way out to pick Kendyl up at 5:20 a.m. Then we headed over to the race site (Duessen Park off of Lake Houston) which was about 45 minutes away. We got there in good time, I went and got marked up, got my chip, and started to stretch, etc. and hydrate up to get ready… saw my boss and we chatted, then I got my swim cap on and we lined up.

By this time I was pretty nervous… a lot of people had prepped me for the mass swim experience but seeing all of those people (even if we were in timed waves) was intimidating. Kendyl gave me great advice and told me to just play it safe and not worry about any times (as my overall goal was just to finish and not stop) and stay alive and away from the group on the outside. Good advice, I say, so I tried to do just that. I let the really hardcore swimmers pass me by, and tried to do some freestyle strokes initially, which I quickly figured out weren’t going to work for me as I was just hitting way too many people and it was weirding me out. Literally the scene in Lord of the Rings came to mind where Frodo and Smeagle are crossing the marshes and there are all these dead people looking up at them through the water – with every stroke one of my limbs would hit someone else’s even if it looked as if you weren’t close enough to someone to hit them (hence the thought of all of these limbs all over the place in the water) – weird, I know but just sharing my creepy thought.

So I just ended up doggie paddling most of the way, with some backstroke once in awhile to rest… I rationalized that swimming strongly exactly where I needed to be going, just slower in pace, was better than me attempting to keep my head in the water to go faster and getting off course. At least doggie paddling when I hit people I could quickly steer out of the way and keep my breathing steady. There were many women that were having trouble though – I think something about the open water provokes a different kind of anxiety in a way. There was a noodle lane, lifeguards, and kayakers with one boat to monitor everyone, and there were quite a few people that needed one of the above services.

As I was rounding the last buoy and getting close to the last 40ish meters a girl yelled for help from one of the lifeguards behind me. The lifeguard was just in front of me and got to her quickly but made me thankful for the fact that even though I might not be fast, I’m a strong swimmer and did fine in the swim. When I could see Kendyl and Curt I started waving at them which made Kendyl laugh – she was like “swim!” LOL – I was having a good time… So I finished my swim in less than 10 minutes (practice time in the lap pool was usually about 8.5 minutes so I didn’t do too bad considering?) and ran out of the water into the transition area. As fast as I could I got into my socks and bike shoes, threw on my helmet and race number (Kendyl was telling me to slow down as I was getting tangled in my belt – LOL!), ate a Goo, unracked my bike and was off!

Kendyl and Curt were right there to cheer me on which was so fun… I got on my way on the bike, and the route was really great and enjoyable! I was keeping a great pace – my only goal was to keep her above 15 mph and I ended up averaging over 17 so I was really thrilled! I passed a lot of people that had passed me in the swim, so I definitely made up a lot of time in this leg! What was amazing to me was how many women I saw on both ends of the spectrum, bike-wise. There were some women out there with mountain-bike types that I would think would be so difficult to cycle on for this kind of purpose, and there were women with the funky race helmets, arm resters and special water bottles with the super aero-dynamic bikes… everyone was encouraging one another (which I loved about the all-women’s feel about it all day) even if they were super hardcore and really competing for a top spot.

So the bike was great – when I rounded the corner to come in saw Kendyl and Curt again (Curt was the photographer for the day with the new camera) and they clapped for me all the way into transition. I got out of my shoes, threw on my running shoes… out of my helmet and threw on my hat, ate another Goo, chugged some Gatorade, and ran out again. The run was enjoyable, too. The course ran right up against the buffalo pen, so there was a lot to look at, and just kept going… was feeling pretty good throughout, and was pretty excited when I got to Mile 1 marker (almost there)! At Mile 1 and 2 there was a water station (same place – just turning at 1.5 mile to come around again) so passing through Mile 1 I grabbed a cup of water to drink on. It was SO cold which was nice to drink, though drinking while running is very difficult and hilarious! LOL… so I had a couple of sips, took one last gulp, and threw the rest on my head. What’s funny about this is that I wasn’t particularly hot, but thought that since runners do this just to cool off an extra bit, hey, why not, except it backfired on me… I had taken that last gulp and thrown it on my head, but the water was SO cold that it made me gasp a lungful of water, thus making me choke and cough on what was in my mouth! I opened my mouth and all the water tumbled out and I just laughed at myself… that’s what you get, I guess! :-)

When I got back to Mile 2 I checked my watch to see how I was doing, and noticed that I was going to be close to the 1.5 mark! I kept up my pace, and as I got into the last ½ mile I was really thinking I could make it… I saw Kendyl from far off (she wore a bright green shirt which was brilliant on her part though unplanned) so I started waving at her again… as I got closer I saw that she was on one side, and Curt was taking photos on the other, and as I passed her she told me to pick it up, so I did and jogged it home hard – man it was a great feeling to cross the finish line and hear my name! I did it! They gave me a SWEET medal, a cold wet towel, and I went to go meet Curt and Kendyl. She told me I did my run in 35 minutes, so I knew I would be close to the 1.5 hour mark… I went up to the tent (feeling good, no problems at all!) and checked for my name and I saw I had made it in under an hour and a half – 1.28! I couldn’t have been more excited! So then we waited around and chatted, took some pics, enjoyed the moment, and then packed up to leave at around 9:30 a.m. It was so fun… I’ll be looking for another one to do, I think!

When we got home I felt good still, but we decided to take a nap as we had woken up so early… after we woke up I unpacked from Connecticut, did laundry, cleaned the house, and went to a movie with Kendyl (Vicky Cristina Barcelona – good overall though different). Then Curt and I got ready for a dinner with Carrie, Don, Courtney, Adam, Greg, and Greg’s friend Frankie. They came in and we went to dinner at Babin’s, and then headed over to Market Street for dessert. Was great to hang out with them! When we got home Curt and I got ready for bed and watched the Olympics and then hit the hay… what a day!

Enjoy the slideshow!

Love,
Tasha xx

Connecticut...A nice week away

So last week I spent my days in Stamford, Connecticut. Apologies for a delay in posting but I HAD written a nice post for the week that got erased when my hotel internet connection expired – ugh! I just gave up and went to sleep so am now going to attempt to rewrite the post.

I have to say I had some pretty high expectations for Connecticut, though, and in some places they were met but in others not so much. I mean, to start I have always loved Gilmore Girls and love the idea of a "Stars Hollow" existing somewhere - I realize this is a made for TV kind of place, but I was hoping the colonialism would really seep through aspects of the culture here. In some ways it does - I mean I can walk down the street and see a house that was built in 1699, and that is amazing, but there's a lot more industrial influences as well. I mean you pass amazing houses like the below, and then a block away is an apartment that looks like project housing? Downtown is small and semi-sweet, but I just would have thought it would be sweeter somehow?

It was a long journey to get there (fly to Newark, layover, and then a 2 hour train ride) and the train ride allowed me to see some of the “country” along the way. Well scratch country – it was actually pretty industrial looking the whole way there which I didn’t expect, but ok. Connecticut is one of the few states left that I had not been to and even though I realize the picture in my head wasn’t going to be completely accurate, I still couldn't help the image of what towns in Connecticut should look like. I mean for goodness sakes – it’s expensive and people from the city commute back and forth JUST to live there, so surely it would have to knock your socks off to go through that kind of trouble?

Overall the trip was great, and I have resolved myself to keep my eyes open for the Stars Hollow equivalent as in the areas that are less populated I can see the beauty so easily in the landscape and the hills - for instance the corporate campus I was on is just a few miles from my hotel and has a *fantastic* view of the mountains and forests in the distance, so I know if I had the time I could find those gems of places... Their gardens are admirable for sure... plants that don't have a fighting chance in Texas grow that are so beautiful! I was planning on going to the arboretem on Friday but of course it's been pouring rain since 3 p.m. so my plans for this evening were sunk, but oh well! I did have a GREAT time exploring everything within walking distance to my hotel over the week, though... caught a movie (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 - loved it), and watched the Olympics every night - sometimes until far too late but gotta love them! So it was good, though was excited to get home!

And my triathlon was on the Sunday! It was a bummer that I had to be flying and traveling up until late on Saturday and I wasn't able to stick as closely to my training schedule (improvising with elliptical and the small free weights at my hotel gym) but was hoping it would be ok. Hilarious story - I specifically chose this hotel because it had a pool, so brought my swimsuit ready to train - I go down to the fitness center/pool area just to see exactly what I had to work with, and LITERALLY the pool is like 15 feet by 10 feet - might as well be a baby pool because I think I could maybe fit 2.5 strokes in before my head hit (or toes in the 4 foot water). So that was out - bogus!

Anyway, I’ll be going to NYC later this year for my uncle’s wedding, so hopefully will have more fun around the area (and this time with Curt and the fam!) and get a chance to go out more as we’ll have a car!

Below are some pictures from my trip!

A beautiful Victorian home on the way to downtown from my hotel.

A beautiful home and garden close to downtown (the pic doesn't do it justice).

Some cute giraffe sculptures positioned to be "eating" from a "snowball" bush on the side of an amazing English style house. Not sure of the real name of a Snowball bush but LOVE the look of it and thought it was just so cute with the giraffes!

The beautiful stained glass of the Fish Church - a local site to behold. Talk about amazing... I was in the church alone and it was pitch black save the dim light coming from a rainy outside - was really amazing.

Love,
Tasha xx

John Mayer Concert

Favorite Photos with the new camera

More photos

Rockport Weekend

Photos!

So here they are - photos we've taken since my birthday party!

Enjoy the slideshows - tried to break them up so it wouldn't be too long.

Did well training this week and was relatively uneventful overall (in a good way - yea!) and had a great weekend! Enjoyed a wonderful day yesterday with a good workout, a hike to take photos (some featured) but it was SO hot so enjoyed sme time in the pool before we had to get ready for a GREAT concert and picnic evening at Town Green Park. Vicki joined us which was so fun as she is a fan of John Mayer (more than Curt) and it was a perfect summer evening... good food, no crowds, and a relaxing and wonderful evening in the park! See below posts for pics (couldn't put all in one - was having difficulties)!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Love,
Tasha xx

Birthdays & Friends