Texas Lou

7 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be the Happiest Person on Earth, an article on Lifehack, explains exactly why I write my Thankful Monday blog posts every week.  The first item on their list, “Practice gratitude once a week.” says that “Expressing gratitude, or counting your blessings, does not just make you happy—it also improves your health.”  I wholeheartedly agree and have noticed a big difference in my health and happiness since I started practicing my gratitude weekly.

I also agree with every other item on their list, particularly number 2 “Make friends and invest in your relationships.” and number 4 “Take care of your body.”  I used to exercise because I wanted to look thin and feel good physically, but these days, my motivation to exercise is driven more by my desire to feel happy and mentally healthy.  I also used to be extremely introverted and didn’t have too much desire to put the work into relationships, but now I realize how wonderful they are despite the hard work that goes into maintaining them.

I’d definitely read the article…its a quick read but its full of wonderful advice!

Good morning and happy Thankful Monday!

Today, I am thankful for the following:

1. I’m thankful for my health!  I have lost 19 pounds in the last 9 weeks and I feel really great!  I so grateful for the self determination and hard work that has taken me this far!
2. I’m thankful for my good friends and family!  Friday night, Sarah and I watched Hocus Pocus together to get into the Halloween spirit, Saturday evening, Lindsey and Greg had us over for a cook-out where we enjoyed delicious ribs and chili by the fire as their kiddos entertained us, Sunday morning, we picked Fuji and Granny Smith apples with Ben’s parents at Carter Mountain Orchard, and Sunday night, we watched The Walking Dead and enjoyed festive snacks at Robin and Craig’s house!  What a wonderful weekend filled with wonderful people!
3. I’m thankful for a nice long phone date with my cousin Megan!  We hadn’t had a good chat since we saw each other in Seattle back in July so it was nice to catch up!
4. I’m thankful for my husband.  I love Ben so much.  He keeps me warm when I’m cold, he reaches things for me that I’m not tall enough to reach, he brings me back down to reality when I’m overreacting or being immature, he takes care of the dirty work for me, and most importantly, he loves me for me.  I’m so happy, lucky, and grateful to be able to share my life with him.
5. Lastly, I’m thankful for my kitties that bring me smiles, love, and cuddles every day.  I can’t imagine life without them.

Have a happy Monday!

Good morning and welcome to my weekly Thankful Monday blog post!

Today, I’m thankful for the following:

1. I’m thankful for life!  Life is a gift and an amazing one!  I’m thankful for my life and all of the lives around me and every single day, hour, minute, and second that these lives encompass!
2. I’m thankful for the chance to celebrate my friend Dana’s marriage to her new husband Evan.  They hosted a small party on Saturday to celebrate and I got to meet and talk to so many wonderful and interesting people.  I’m wishing Dana and Evan a lifetime of love and happiness!
3. Although it gets old and I don’t like it, I am grateful for all of the rain we had last week and this weekend.  Its good to know that our area is very healthy this year when it comes to rainfall and water levels.
4. I’m thankful that I married into a fun and loving family.  Last night we had dinner with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, mother-in-law, and father-in-law and the meal was filled with great conversation and delicious food. I’m so lucky to love and enjoy the people in my family, both by marriage and by blood!
5. Again, I’m thankful for life!  I just can’t say it enough!

Have a wonderful week!

Good morning and happy thankful Monday!

Here’s what I’m thankful for today:

1. I’m thankful to be back home with my husband and kitties after a week away in Reston for training.  I missed them alot and being away from them always makes my heart grow fonder! <3
2. I’m thankful to my work for giving me the opportunity to attend a really informative and well-done Learning Tree course last week on web development.  I learned so much and got to check out Reston, an area I had never been to.  My hotel and training center were in Reston Town Center, a really cool place if you ever have the opportunity to check it out.  The whole experience was wonderful and I’m really grateful to my work for paying for the trip and giving me the opportunity to learn!
3. I’m thankful that I got to see my yaya Cris last week.  She lives in Northern Virginia and since I was there for training, we hung out Thursday night and went to Mister Days with some of her friends.  I had a great time and was soooo happy I got to catch up with her!
4. I’m thankful for date days/nights with my husband!  Yesterday, we went to see Gravity with free movie tickets I had and then we had lunch together at one of our favorite places, Sticks Kebob Shop.  The movie was really good but caused me alot of anxiety…if you see it, you’ll know what I mean!
5. Lastly, I’m thankful for a healthier me.  In the past 7 weeks, I’ve worked really hard and lost 14.5 pounds!  I’m at my lowest and healthiest weight since 2007 and I am motivated and excited to lose more!

Have a great week!

Good morning and welcome to my weekly Thankful Monday post.

Here’s what I’m thankful for today:

1. I’m very grateful that my work is sending me to a 4-day training course covering ASP.NET, web application development, JQuery Mobile, and many other tools and technologies.  Since I have no formal training in web development (everything I know, I taught myself or learned from coworkers), I think this class is going to greatly benefit me!  Thanks to my job for the wonderful opportunity!
2. I’m thankful for good friends!  Over the past week, I was able to spend a lot of time with great friends.  Last Wednesday, I went to the free beer tasting at Market Street Wine Shop with Sarah and my friend Marian who I hadn’t seen in months.  Then Marian, her daughter Katie, and I checked out the new Livery Stable for dinner.  I also got to spend a wonderful evening drinking wine, eating Lindsey’s homemade chili, enjoying music, and watching the sunset at Carter Mountain Orchard‘s Sunset Series.  It was great to hang out with Sarah, Ian, Lindsey, Greg, and their family!  Then Saturday, we got to hang out with my friend Becky and her family at the race we participated in.  To top it all off, we had lunch with Robert and Crystal at Olive Garden on Saturday!  What a wonderful week filled with great friends!
3. I’m thankful that a lot of important people in my life have made it through surgeries safely lately.  My dad and some friends have had recent surgeries and though they are still recovering, I’m very grateful they made it through risky medical procedures and are on the mend.
4. I’m thankful for the opportunity to help raise money for a little girl in need.  Saturday, Ben and I ran the Benefit 5K for Shiloh Thompson.  It was a really fun race with great prizes and they had a skydiver show at the end of the race where we got to watch 3 skydivers jump from a plane and land in the neighborhood where the race took place.  Ben even won 4th place in the race and 1st place in his age group!  Most importantly, it was great to help a little girl in need and her family!
5. Lastly, I’m thankful for a close family.  My brother got to go to Houston for his birthday this weekend and even though I wasn’t there to help him celebrate, I’m very happy that the rest of my family was there to help him enjoy his birthday weekend!

Have a wonderful week!

Good morning and welcome to my weekly Thankful Monday blog post!

Here’s what I’m thankful for today:

1. I’m thankful that I got to watch the Houston Texans game on TV here even if they did lose against the Baltimore Ravens.  Very rarely do they show the Texans games here but since they were playing a team that is based not too far from where I live, the game was shown on CBS.
2. I’m thankful for winning the Big Greasy Office Pool last week!  I’ve played the last two years and never won, but last week, I had the most accurate NFL picks for the week and won a $30 McGrady’s Gift Certificate, a Wild Wolf Brewery Prize Pack, a Gift Pack from Century Link, a $30 University Dive & Hobby Center Gift Card, and 4 passes to the Virginia Chili Brews n’ Brews Festival in Waynesboro!  Sarah, Ben, and I went to the Chili Cookoff/Festival on Saturday and even though it rained, we had a blast and tasted some interesting chili!
3. I’m thankful that my husband is so handy and seems to have fixed our TV!  With everything that we’ve had break in the past couple of months, it’s nice that there is something that seems to have been an easy fix (fingers crossed it is actually fixed and will stay that way)!
4. I’m thankful for the opportunity to start mentoring at Computers 4 Kids again.  I’ve mentored two students in the past and had taken a break during wedding planning and house searching but now I am ready for student number 3!
5. Lastly, I’m thankful for the cooler weather.  Although I’m not crazy about the shorter days and it getting dark earlier, I am loving the cooler weather, especially with two broken AC units!

Have a great week!

I read this article that someone posted on Facebook and it really rang true with me in a smart and witty way.  At the very least, I’m posting it here so I can refer back to it in the future.

http://www.waitbutwhy.com/2013/09/why-generation-y-yuppies-are-unhappy.html

Good morning and happy Monday!

Here’s what I’m thankful for today:

1. I’m thankful for a healthy body and strong legs that allowed me to have a wonderful 6.2 mile run on Saturday morning in support of the Special Olympics.  Ben, Sarah, and I ran the Gene Arnold Memorial Special Olympics Pepsi 10K.  The weather was beautiful, the temperature was perfect, and the company was great!  And we got to catch up with our friend Jamie who we hadn’t see in a long time!  My time was an hour, 4 minutes, and 53 seconds which I think is pretty great!
2. I’m also thankful for free tickets to the Charlottesville Top of the Hops Beer Festival.  Ben and I went the previous 2 years and had a blast but we decided not to go this year because tickets are pretty expensive.  Well last week, I won tickets on Facebook from Champion Brewing Company, one of the newer local breweries, so we were able to go for free.  We had a great time together, tasted some amazing beers, saw a lot of friends at the festival, and even tried a new restaurant, Now & Zen, for some delicious sushi!
3. I’m grateful for my in-laws and the endless supply of fresh eggs and homegrown vegetables they give us.  This weekend, they sent us home with 3 dozen eggs laid by their chickens, basil, salad greens, and beans.
4. I’m thankful for such a hard working husband.  Ben works hard as a programmer every day and then comes home and spends hours taking care of our yard, house, plants, and cats.  And he always finds time to workout too!  He is my superman!
5. I’m grateful to get the chance to see good friends for dinner tomorrow night at the Tavern on the James!

BONUS:  I’m thankful the Texans won yesterday!  I didn’t get to watch the game because it wasn’t shown here, but I hear it was a close game ending in overtime!  Go Texans!

Have a great week!

Good morning and happy Thankful Monday!

Here’s what I’m thankful for today:

1. I’m thankful for beautiful weather this weekend that allowed me to spend a great deal of time enjoying the outdoors.  I’m especially grateful for this since the weather will soon be turning cooler and the days are already getting shorter.  My husband and I enjoyed the weather by running several miles and doing lots of productive yard work.
2. I’m thankful for a wonderful and amazing massage I got at Oasis Day Spa & Body Shop and I’m also so grateful for the gift certificate that my sister-in-law sister and brother-in-law gave me for Christmas.  I’ve been saving it for a special occasion and I decided to treat myself as a reward for losing 9 pounds on Friday.  The massage was great and they worked out several crazy knots I didn’t even know I had!
3. I’m thankful for the chance to support a great cause on Sunday by running the inaugural 9/11 Heroes Run on the University of Virginia grounds.  The race was in support of the Travis Manion Foundation which supports our nations veterans and service members and their families.  This race is especially close to the hearts of firefighters and rescue squad members, like my father-in-law (who told us about the race and has been an active rescue squad member/firefighter for over 3 decades), because the race benefits first responders and service members like Travis Manion for whom the foundation is named.
4.  I’m thankful for a new phone!  There are probably more important things to be thankful for, but sometimes you’ve just got to focus on the simple things.  I’m very thankful that Verizon shipped me a new phone for free(thanks to my foresight in choosing to pay for phone insurance) especially since last week we had 2 broken air conditioning units, Ben’s broken car, my broken phone, and a leak in our bathtub.  My old phone had been acting up for months and continued to get worse and worse so a new phone that, so far, works seamlessly is a blessing!
5. Lastly, I’m thankful for the opportunity this week to get together with some of my old friends from VGT and catch up.  A VGT Girl’s Night Out has been long overdue!

Have a wonderful week!

For the past six years, I’ve run the Charlottesville Women’s Four Miler, the most popular local race that raises breast cancer awareness and money to support local breast cancer research.  The race is overwhelmingly popular, so much so that it increasingly closes in record times.  Last year, it closed in 10 hours and this year it closed in 5!  I usually set my alarm to wake me up so I can sign up as soon as race registration opens so I can secure a much coveted spot.

This race is especially important to me because it is the race that got me started running.  I’d always been into treadmill running throughout high school and college but let’s face it, treadmill running and outdoor running are just not the same.  Back in the summer of 2008, I joined the Charlottesville Women’s Four Miler Training Program where they taught me everything from how to run properly to how to choose the correct type of running shoe.  Since then, I have run the Four Miler ever Labor Day weekend with my sister-in-law Sarah and many other amazing friends and women.  My sister even ran it unofficially a couple of years ago because she was in town visiting.  I’ve also gone on to complete 2 half marathons, the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in San Francisco and the Yuengling Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia beach, the Charlottesville Ten Miler (hardest race I ever ran), and many other smaller races since I got my start in the summer of 2008.  I owe my love for the sport of running and my incessantly improving skills to the many people who have organized the training program and the Four Miler.  If it weren’t for them, I may have never found this hobby or shared it with my husband (we run together alot).

I’m so proud of myself and all of the other women out there who run this race every year. This year, the winner of the race even beat the 30 year old record, running the 4 miles in 21:39…AMAZING!  I can’t wait to run this race for many years to come and maybe one day, if I have a daughter or a granddaughter, she might run it with me!

Sarah and I before running the Four Miler for the 6th year in a row!

Good friends and I getting pumped before the race!

This year, I beat my personal record for the Four Miler coming in at under 42 minutes.  Not bad for a 30 year old!

Here are my stats for the past 6 years:

2008 Charlottesville Women’s Four Miler Results

2009 Charlottesville Women’s Four Miler Results

2010 Charlottesville Women’s Four Miler Results

2011 Charlottesville Women’s Four Miler Results

2012 Charlottesville Women’s Four Miler Results

2013 Charlottesville Women’s Four Miler Results