A Day of Extremes

I started the day pretty stressed out. I had to go to a funeral in the middle of the day, so I had to dress for it. For some reason, I waited until this morning to decide what to wear, which took me 30 minutes. This may be typical for a lot of people, but not for me. I have clothes that all match each other, for the most part, so I don't have to do a lot of deciding in the morning. But, alas, that was not the case this morning. I had to wear something that was (1) good for a funeral , (2) appropriate for work, (3) comfortable, and (4) looked good. Not a simple task. I finally settled on a black dress with a button-down shirt under it and a suit jacket. The fun part of it is that I didn't realize that this particular suit jacket matched this dress. So, I get a prize for my 30 minutes of dedicated clothes-trying-on...a new matching outfit!

The weather was mild and cloudy when I finally left for work. Then, mid-morning, there was a tornado watch. I was a little concerned for my safety in my office with two walls of windows. It was very dark outside. But I survived. The weather decided to settle in on cloudy and I left in the middle of the day to go to the funeral.

The funeral was, in itself, a case of extremes. The deceased was the mother of a man I work with. The service was in a Catholic church, but part of the family is Jehovah's Witness. I apparently sat on the Jehovah's Witness side because, when they had communion, no one on my side of the church (including me) got up to receive it. There were several interesting things about the ceremony. I'm way too observant sometimes and way too critical all the time, so I won't say anything else.

So, the weather cleared up and, by the end of the day, was crisp and clear and gorgeous and sunny and beautiful. I was very surprised when I walked outside and it was really cold. I was racing out of the office to get to my class at the gym. But it was so beautiful that I went running instead. This was a bonus...I would never have left the office at this time except to go to my class. Once I walked outside, I had to go run! Such a blessing.

I started the day stressed and with clouds in the sky, had some stormy weather in the middle, and ended it crisp and clear and feeling so refreshed. What a great day!

January Fun

Whew...it has been quite a month and I got so busy I didn't get around to blogging (big surprise, huh?). Well, I'll hit the highlights...

I finished the Houston Half-Marathon in 2:19:21, which is my best time in a half-marathon. I ran the whole thing...didn't stop at all to walk or stand, which makes it the longest I've ever run without stopping or walking. It was a perfect day and I was very blessed to have my friends Jill and Mandy there to cheer me on. They ran the 5K and did awesome in it! The night before the marathon, my sweet friends Heather and David cooked us dinner to "carb up" for the race. It was the nicest thing! And dinner was fantastic...David cooked us giant steaks on the grill and Heather made veggies and we had a lovely salad and some delicious bread. It was great!

Also that weekend, I got to go wedding dress shopping with Barb (Barb is engaged!!) and it was great. I'm not much help because, for every dress she tried on, I said "That's beautiful." She managed to find the perfect dress at a different store : ). Rachel and I took a beading class through leisure learning that same weekend...it was so cool! I really like doing crafty stuff! I also managed to fit in a birthday party for 4 friends and going to an open house. Speaking of open house, I am searching for a house to buy. It is quite stressful for me because I have lots of constraints (all of which I put on myself, of course). I have "fallen in love" with 2 houses and they both immediately went under contract to someone else. So, I am trying to wait patiently for the perfect house. The crazy part is that I don't want to buy a house until April, so I don't know why I'm suddenly so determined to find and purchase one now. But, that's the mystery that is Jenny : ) !

The weekend after the marathon, I had a somewhat low-key (although busy) weekend. We did Friday night dinner at Tookies (best hamburgers in the whole wide world!) and I watched Out of Africa for the first time. It is a very scenic, romantic movie and it's one of Maradee's favorites. Since I had never seen it, we watched it together. It was pretty good, but I'm more of a romantic comedy kind of person, you know? Anyway, I also got to catch up with Liz that weekend. We scrapbooked together all day at her apartment (aren't we geeks?) and it was great. I made lots of progress on one of my scrapbooks and had a lovely time catching up on what's going on with she and Heath. That same day, I also squeezed in salsa lesson and the symphony. This was a great symphony performance. It opened with a Beethoven piece, which I think was my favorite of the night. They had a visiting cellist for a cello concerto. After intermission, they did a "Music plus Vision" piece where there was a photo montage along with the music. It was very beautiful. Although I must admit that it was so relaxing the my eyes were drooping quite a bit. A few of us braved the cold to go to Hard Rock for dessert afterwards, too...yummy!

This weekend has been equally low-key, but busy. Friday night, I hung out with Barb. I helped her make a dessert that was kind of complicated. Fun times catching up and seeing how much she has gotten done on sprucing up the townhouse...it looks so different than when I lived there! Saturday we celebrated Maradee's birthday with one of her favorite things...dim sum. Even though Houston is so diverse, we had to drive across town to find a place that served real dim sum (with the carts). There was a small group of Maradee's close friends and we had a wonderful time...figuring out what all the food was and trying new things. Maradee had a good time, which is the important part : ) !

I also managed to go to another salsa lesson yesterday afternoon and then met up with a group to see Jersey Boys, which is part of the Broadway in Houston series. It was awesome. Erika and I were the only ones in the group that loved it, but we did. It had all this 50's style music and I loved it. I didn't realize how many great songs The Four Seasons had sung!

Today was church and lunch and then I (miracles will never cease) took an actual nap!!! It was heavenly!

OK, that's probably more details than any of you wanted to know. So, farewell for now. If you'd like to see pictures of my escapads, check out my Picasa albums at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jenzu2417

What a Week of New Things!

Not intentionally, I have started 2 new things this week...salsa lessons and world affairs.

On Tuesday night, I went to my first salsa lesson. I think I might actually be able to do this. It's at a cool dance studio on the other side of town. They have lessons 7 days a week. I'm signed up for 4 weeks of Beginning Salsa. My friend Jana is going, too. The first night was uneventful, but neat. We spent over half the time learning the moves kind of in place. The rest of the time, we rotated through dancing with partners. This was a good thing because quite a few of the guys aren't all that great and a lot of them have bad breath. Hello...they provide peppermints for us for a reason. Oh well, I still had a great time.

Then, Wednesday night, I went to a presentation and reception at the Houston World Affairs Council. I've been a member of this organization for about 6 months, but haven't made it to an event, yet. They have speakers about 3 times a week, but my schedule has been crazy. Anyway, I made time this week because I was very interested in the topic. It was "The Putin Generation: How Russian Youth See Their World". The speakers were experts on Russia. It was sooo interesting. After the main session (which had over 500 people), there was a reception at another location for the Young Professional Group of the council. The speakers came and had a less formal discussion about it. It was so neat! Of course, I knew nothing about anything they were saying. I think next time I go, I'll try to read up on the topic before I go so I can at least ask intelligent questions.

Apparently, I'm expanding my horizons and I didn't even plan on it! Tomorrow is a jewelry-making class in the Heights!

LSU Wins!!!!

Geauxxxxx Tigers!!!!!!!!! That's all I have to say about that.

New Year, New Blog Resolution

My plan for this year is to actually blog more. I tried in 2007 and did a lot better than in years past, but still not good enough. I am committed to bringing the people what they want (all 3 of you!) and write more about my life. To catch you up, here is a piece of work I like call "Jenny's Year in Pictures (and Words)" Enjoy!

January
I started the year at a wonderful wedding on New Year's Eve. We rang in the New Year, then celebrated Brian and Alyssa's nuptials at the Science Place in Dallas. It was a fantastic party and pretty neat place for a wedding. The rest of January is kind of a blur...at the end of the month, I got to go to a gala for the Challenger Education Foundation. If you don't know, I'm kind of a space geek. I am very in awe of the whole space program, which makes living in southeast Houston pretty cool for me! The gala was a fun, black-tie affair filled with astronauts, cool ice sculptures, and awesome music by the World Class Rockers (including the guitarist from Lynard Skynard). We danced until they shut down. I was in awe of getting to talk to Barbara Morgan, who went up on the Discovery in August.

February
The highlight of February was a weekend road trip to Austin. I ran the half-marathon with two of my running buddies. The rest of the weekend was lots of fun, too. We stayed with my dear friend, Ta, who opened up her home to us and we kind of took over. We enjoyed a great visit with Ta, her brother Pat, and his girlfriend, Ai. Saturday afternoon, we ended up on a random tour of northwest Austin, looking at super-expensive houses and stopping for random scenery pictures along the way. The race was pretty tough...there is no way to train for Austin hills in Houston! But we all finished, just not together. It was my best half-marathon time yet (2:25:16), so I was pretty happy.

March
In March, Mom, Missy, and Mia visited one weekend and we had a fun afternoon at Clear Lake Park...such a great park for kids! The next day we took an afternoon drive to Galveston and ran around on the beach...in the wind. Here is a windy picture of Missy, Mia, and I. Mia gave me two shells from the beach to keep for her until she comes back to visit. March was also Houston Rodeo time. I got to go to 2 concerts this year...Sheryl Crow and Josh Turner and they were quite entertaining! The Rodeo, as always, was a blast.

April
What a fun month full of travel and celebrations. I started the month in Charlotte, NC on a recruiting trip for work. Just a few days later, I went home for Easter and enjoyed the weekend with the fam. The following weekend, I met Mom and Dad in St. Louis for a running trip. We ran in Columbia, Missouri and Lawrence, Kansas. Very fun weekend…we got to see the Lewis and Clark Museum and Harry Truman’s home. We randomly ran into some college friends of my parents, one of whom was my junior high English teacher…life is so full of fun coincidences. Also in April, we had a birthday party for Matt and celebrated Tommy and Kinsey's wedding.

May
Missy graduated from nursing school. We celebrated by taking a week long trip to New York City, just the three of us sisters. I had been there for an afternoon once, but Missy and Laury had never been. We had such a great time. We saw just about everything there is to see there, including the top of the Empire State Building, a Broadway show (Chicago starring Joey Lawrence), and running in Central Park (OK, I was the only one that was running, but it was awesome!). The best part was that we all have the same tolerance for touristy things...we want to see them, but we don't feel the need to spend a lifetime poring over them. For example, we spent only one hour and fifteen minutes in the Museum of Modern Art and all had our iPods on the whole time.

June
June is my birthday and I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY. I turned 32 this year and had a great birthday party at Maradee's house, hosted by Maradee, Heather, David, and Matt. It was so much fun! We had a rigged-up version of a drive-in movie...we watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off on a screen set up in Maradee's garage, complete with a projection and sound system. I got lots of presents and just had so much fun. My friends rock!

July
July was full of fun! I got to visit the Johnson Space Center for a behind-the-scenes tour with a friend who worked there. The highlights were that I got to sit in the simulator where the astronauts train for ascent and entry (take-off and landing) and I got to listen in on the loops in the REAL MISSION CONTROL while they did a simulation of a landing at KSC. It was so cool! Later in July, I went on a shopping adventure and bought not one, but two, flat screen TV's. It's a long story, but I'm very happy with my purchase. They are both so cool and I love them!

August
In August, I took a weekend trip to Portland to run a race with Dad, who was there with Maw (my grandmother) for her 80th birthday. It just so happened that Maradee was there, too. We ended up hanging out with Maradee and her grad school friend, Judy, on Saturday and had a great time. We went to a bookstore that is four stories tall and takes up an entire city block...I was in heaven. I restrained myself and only bought four books. We also went to Mount Hood, which is the tallest something or another (I forget all of those records) and very beautiful. We finished the day by watching an Iron Chef competition at the Bite of Oregon festival...so neat! The weather in Portland is awesome in August and it was a welcome respite from the Houston summer.

September
Wedding, wedding, and more wedding! My dear friends Heather and David got married in September and the month was full of preparations leading up to the big day, including a girls' weekend in the Texas Hill country and a lovely bridal brunch at the Hotel Galvez in Galveston (they had a whole room of just desserts!). The big day was perfect...an outdoor wedding at sunset on the lake and a fun reception afterwards full of well-wishes from everyone. The last weekend of September, I took a trip up to Dallas to visit the Von Tress family. Cara and I were roommates in college and I just love visiting their family. Their three children are beautiful and amazing and we had such a good time hanging out! We ended up at the Texas State Fair participating in a Chili cook-off while I was there. We wandered around a bit and got a shot of Cara and I with Big Tex, a large (and kind of disturbing) mechanical man that has a voice reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz!

October
I was very proud of myself to finish the USA Space City 10-Miler at just over a 10-minute pace. It was a good race although it warmed up quite a bit for the second half of the race...ahh, the joys of living in Houston. I got to take my annual recruiting trip to Louisiana Tech for a week and enjoy the quiet, slow-moving pace in Ruston. It's such a beautiful campus. We also celebrated Mom's birthday and I got to see Mia play in a soccer game. Later in the month, my roommates and I hosted a Halloween party at our house that was ridiculously fun. Everyone that came dressed up and (I think) had a great time. We partied till the wee hours of the night.

November
Whew...November was a whirlwind! I took a trip to Baton Rouge for an LSU football game (Geaux Tigers!) and had a great visit with friends and family. The game was a blowout of my alma mater, Louisiana Tech, but a good time anyway. I met up with Mom and Dad again for a running trip, this time in Alabama and Georgia. It was a pretty uneventful trip. We did stop by the Talladega Speedway and got to see Turner Field (where the Atlanta Braves play). After running our races in Alabama and Georgia, Dad and I have run in 17 states...just 33 to go! Thanksgiving was pretty mellow, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Lots of good food and some of it was even healthy!

December
As usual, December was full of festivities. I would list them all, but that would make this obnoxiously long (as if it isn't already), so I'll just hit some of the highlights. Jamie, Rachel, Maradee, and I watched the Kemah Christmas Boat Parade from under the Kemah bridge. This is so much fun...people decorate their boats like you would a float in a parade, then they parade up and down between Clear Lake and Galveston Bay. Our spot was close enough to the turnaround point to see most of the boats twice. I also went to a Third Day/Jars of Clay Christmas concert and it was fantastic! It really got me in the Christmas spirit. There were two work Christmas parties, a cookie exchange, and, then, thankfully, Christmas at home with my family. We opened presents until 2:28am on Christmas Eve. I think it's a record for us. I got great gifts and really enjoyed my family opening the gifts I got for them, too.

These are some of the highlights...there was way too much going on to tell you (i.e. bore you with) all of the details. I hope that you have had a blessed year this year. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

In Christ,
Jenny