Happy Memorial Day!

First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day!  I hope that everyone has taken some time to be thankful for all the brave men and women who have given their lives for us or have served our country in some way.  Thank you!

We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them. -Francis A. Walker

This has been one very, very busy long weekend.  We celebrated a friend's big 40th birthday in Houston on Saturday, and then on Sunday, we drove to Crockett to spend some time with our friends, Don and Kris.  While in Crockett, we also got to spend some timewith some new friends, Jeff and Michelle (actually, we'd met them once before, almost two years ago).  When we met Jeff and Michelle, they had just found out she was pregnant!  And yesterday, we got to meet Jaxson!!!  Precious, precious!!!  Really, the most well behaved, happy child I've seen!  I'm in love!! 

Even with all the traveling, I managed to get all the training in!  (I even got on the elliptical today to make up for eating pretty unhealthy, but very tasty, things.)  I know today was supposed to be a rest day, but guilt got me... :/

I was really hoping that Saturday's run would be great!  It wasn't.  It wasn't terrible at all, but it wasn't great either.  My little app that I put on my phone to track my pace and distance somehow got messed up, so I don't have a very accurate picture of how the run actually went.  All I know for sure is that I ran for 22 minutes, which is well over the two miles that the schedule called for, but not knowing my pace and exact distance is irritating. 

I haven't taken a day off of the weight training since Friday, and I think my body is asking for one.  I'm pretty sore.  I may skip the weights here and there.  I don't want to over do it.  But I can now say that I have a week of following the schedule under my belt!  It wasn't too hard, and I think I'm off to a nice start!  I'm excited to see how next week (really this week) goes.  I've noticed how much easier the elliptical is.  30 minutes on that thing is NOTHING compared to running, especially in this heat.  I don't dread the elliptical at all.  Now, I'm just hoping (and expecting) the running to get easier.  It's so strange...  In the past, running was much easier.  Maybe that's just my memory of it?  Not sure... But I don't remember it being such a challenge.

I've started another book while my soon to be book club friend finishes up what she's currently reading.  One of these days we'll both finish our books around the same time and be able to read one simultaneously!  I'm almost embarrassed to actually say what I'm reading, but oh well!  I'm reading 50 Shades of Grey.  Knowing nothing about this book, I put it on my list of potential reads after seeing it on Pinterest quite a bit.  I kept hearing the title here and there, so it seemed like the new "it" book.  Then I found out what it's about...  Sort of.  Then I had a friend tell me she's reading it and how her friend just could not put it down.  She encouraged me to read it because she was interested in my take on it, and she gave an a general idea of what it's about.  Not what I was expecting, but I decided to give it a chance.  So far, I'm not all that impressed.  Okay, I'm only a few chapters into it, but it seems like it's going to be very predictable.  The main character is a bit too sheltered to be believable, but I'll give it  a bit more of a chance before I really form an opinion.  Surely it's popular for a reason, other than the main male character is supposed to be this ultra suave gazillionaire.  More to come on that.

Back to this weekend, Michelle is an avid blogger, and I'm catching up on her blog and learning a lot about her!  Sounds a bit stalkerish- sorry Michelle! :)  But she's got some great challenges, crafts, recipes, and tons of other fun things on her blog, and I'm really enjoying it! Here is a link to her blog, if  you're interested: Michelle's Blog. Her and Jeff also took tons of pictures of Jaxson.  I love that!!  I was thisclose to bringing my camera to Crockett, but at the last minute, I decided not to.  I wish I had!  I want to start taking it with me more often.  She suggested I put photography tips on my blog, so I'll probably do that from time to time.  Maybe I'll get some feedback, too!  You never stop learning!