Bitten the bullet

Just back from a run with Amy. It was a later one tonight - 8pm - so I had some dinner earlier which I could feel all the way around! No scary car manoeuvres or near misses tonight. I have to admit I nearly ran over a runner yesterday just outside the gym as I forgot to check if anyone way actually on the pavement as it such a rare occurrence - but this time there was! He clapped his hands loudly but by that time I was already moving so I just waved apologetically! Then this morning I had to negotiate a cyclist coming the wrong way up the dual lane road - I know cars in Houston don't like cyclist but I think going the wrong way up a reasonable sized road is just pure madness - it is amazing the guy had reached old age!

I finally bit the bullet and said I will cycle the first day of the MS 150 with Amy so today they gave me all John's registration information and the team cycling jersey - oh help, I really am doing it! I decided to calculate the mileage based on the wee rest stop card provided in the pack and I thought it was a mere 90 miles on Saturday, but it is actually 96.6 miles - eek! I will of course tell you all about it in the blog, but lets just say the most I have ridden is about 40 miles in one day! I have been told we have to start carb loading for it tomorrow so I guess pasta is on my dinner menu!

Oh and I have a three year old admirer - Conor, Amy's youngest, has taken a bit of a shine to me. Apparently tonight he was dialing a number on his toy telephone and when Amy asked who he was calling he said 'Emily'!!! Stuart you better watch out :)

I was quite a wet last night being in the house by myself. Alarm was set but I ended up reading my book until midnight until I decided I just had to put the book down and get some sleep. Of course by that point I wasn't really tired so I ended up lying awake listening to all the creaks and groans of the house! I must have drifted off but then I woke ahead of the alarms this morning as I was paranoid I was going to sleep in because my phone alarm has been decidedly unreliable recently. I set the big bell alarm clock and even though I was awake it nearly made me jump out of my skin when it went off!

Well I think that is all from me so good night sleep tight and lets hope there are no funny noises tonight!

Warm pool!

I am home by myself this evening as Stuart drove up to Whitney, just south of Dallas this afternoon. He actually got up there in good time and we have just skyped. He sad it is a small hick town with not much going on so he is hotel bound. Hopefully he will meet some course folk tomorrow to go outwith tomorrow evening.

Stuart finished my gardening yesterday and all the marigolds are looking good, I just hope the squirrels at the front don't eat the ones around the bottom of the tree below the feeder.

The gym is an absolute nightmare at the moment because they have closed some of the other ones for refurbishment. So I tried to go swimming only to discover there were about 50 kids having a lesson in the ADULT only lap pool. That meant I had to swim in the kiddies pool which is very hot and worse still probably full of pee! There is still at least two weeks of this to go.

I have just put on a loaf of bread for the freezer and now need to go and do some laundry, oh joy!

Who's 'Lupe' now?

Saturday's morning cycle was cut short just after the first 12 miles because it rained and pretty hard, again. What is it with rain on Saturday's; we get barely any rain any other time of the week! So after drying out, I dragged Stuart on a number of chores which included visiting the bank to get a joint account and generally sort out stuff. I went to try on rash guard, they are those UV protection tops, because when I go for my field trip to the Bahamas snorkeling I need something to stop my back getting burnt (hard life!). When I looked at them on Amazon, someone had commented that whatever size you think you need go up two sizes - they were right. Shamefully, I need the XL if I am not going to be strangled and cut all my circulation off! I didn't like the ones in the shop so I am going to order one online, but at least now I know what size to order! I did buy some beach shoes and factor 70 so I am getting set for the trip :) I still need to practice with my fins, goggles and snorkel in the pool - maybe next weekend.

Last night we had a night out to Lupe Tortilla Mexican Restaurant with John and Amy, the neighbours, and Bill and Marah, that is cycling Bill -aka no filter Bill :) Anyway, Lupe's is hugely popular so we got there at about 5:30pm to get a seat. Let me tell you their strawberry margaritas are fab and go down very easily. I had two, while the others had polished off four before the end of dinner! The beef fajitas were pretty damn good as well - the beef was full of flavour and the only mistake I made was eating the grilled jalapeno that came with it. It was burning soooo bad, when the waiter saw my wobbling lip he brought me a large glass of milk! It did the trick! This was also an opportunity to celebrate - John's birthday is only a couple of days away, we told them it was his birthday, so he got the special birthday serenade!

Of course since dinner was so early we had the beset part of the night left. We all went off to a bar nearby, I think it was called G's and it was very quiet - quite scary for a Saturday night but we sat outside and that it is when the conversation officially went downhill. Bill had corrupted us all :) My story about the latex dolls program I had seen on BBC America just a couple of nights before was just a small part of the evenings conversation. Amy and I did some of the most horrific mixing of drinks trying apple martini's followed by amaretto sours I was surprised to wake up this morning feeling as well as I did. Well, 8am was our regular Sunday ride and we were all there on time raring to go! The sun was out this morning so we managed to do the full 26 miles and there was only a couple of cycling Hitlers out - like the one that shouted after Amy and I saying wears your helmet?! Amy was wearing a baseball cap! Amy and I lived up to our reputation that the more we talk the faster our legs pedal - we had to wait for the boys while they caught up - slow coaches :)

As a reward for our hard cycling we went off to Egg and I! Stuart had the crab cake Benedict's that he has been dreaming about - however, I think it was a little better in the dream. My regular eggs Benedict were pretty good, but you can't beat homemade :) Following breakfast, the boys had important business to attend to - helping John put up his new massive (52 inch) TV (birthday present). I think they will have to turn their heads to see the full picture!

We then went to go and buy gardening things, including grass seed, weed killer and some plants for the garden as it needing some work. Basically the gardeners are rubbish except for cutting the grass and blowing the leaves! Stuart did all the manly tasks, while I did the weeding and planting. It took much longer than I thought as the ground is already rock hard and I only have a wee hand trowel and fork. By 6pm I was having a bit of sense of humour failure, it was hot (in the 80's) and the mosquitoes were biting. Stuart said go and shower or have a swim and he would finish up tomorrow - so with that I was straight into the pool. Yes it was chilly but it felt fantastic, even with Stuart chasing me around the pool with the hose pipe!

Another night of steak, but this time rolled with feta and spinach, BBQ'ing cant get much better.

Balls!

Gosh, I can hardly believe it is Thursday already and my first blog posting of the week. Last night I had no excuse just pure laziness and not wanting to see another computer for as long as possible.

Monday was the wine dinner. It was a smaller group than we normally have with just eight of us. It was actually quite nice because you could have a conversation with the whole table rather than a few around you. The wines were from Washington State and there was only one that was memorable for me - a Riesling called 'Next' - it wasn't like a usual Riesling as not too sweet. It wasn't quite as late as usual which was no bad thing!

On Tuesday afternoon we then got asked if we would like to go to a baseball game with one of the service companies that had a suite. Well having never been to the baseball and it was for free we just had to say yes. So I rushed home after work to pick up Stuart as we were going to the Minute Maid Stadium in Downtown. The journey was far less painful than I thought it would because we were going against most of the rush hour traffic. So it is called Minute Maid after the orange juice company that sponsors it, apparently it used to be called the Enron Stadium! In the theme of orange juice it has a train with fake oranges in it. The whole stadium roof can slide open and because it was a nice evening we were going to be in the open. We found our way to the suite, which wasn't a very big room but had a bar with a bar tender and food. It then had french doors that opened out into the stadium. Everyone asked whether we knew the rules - well we just said it was like rounders :) The game was the Astros (Houston's team) versus the Giants (San Francisco), and this was the second of three games they were playing this week. They were all rubbish at hitting the ball, even if it was coming at them at about 90 mph! Only three points were, ie three people back to base and no home runs, were achieved in the evening and that was by the Giants in one innings the rest were very dull with most people getting out due to missing 4 balls! However, the ice cream and cake in plastic baseball caps made up for it:) It lasted approximately 1.5 hours and the journey home wasn't as straight forward as they had closed down I10 totally near downtown for road works so we ended up being forced north before eventually getting back on I10 after a big detour! Ah well, we got there in the end.

Last night I took Karen to the gym to let her check it out as her and Dave need to decide where they want to join. It was a little unfortunately as we have currently got one of the other gyms using ours while theirs is being refurbished and that means the numbers are over doubled to normal times. We did however manage a swim although I am not to keen to go back until things quieten down. Tonight I had arranged to go running with Amy after cancelling on her on Tuesday. We did a 5 miles round trip which was just fine as I haven't actually run since the half marathon.

We are both feeling full after eating way too many BBQ'd shrimp (again!) I swear I am going to be looking like a flamingo soon :)

A quiet Easter Sunday

Most of Saturday was wasted waiting around for the air conditioning man who was coming to service it. He said he would be there in the morning, then to phone and say he will be there at lunch time, well in the end, he pitched up at 4pm! Grrr....

Last night, after an afternoon of sunbathing and braving the pool, we went off to Cecelia and Eric's couple shower. Having never been to one we were a little unsure about what we needed to bring. It is sort of a pre-party before the wedding. They had a fiesta theme that was fun with lots of margarita's and fajitas being served. It was lovely to meet the parents for both couples and Cecelia's sister, who actually did all the preparation for the party. They had a huge cake that said 'look who lassoed Cecelia' on it! It was a Tres Letches '3 milk' cake and is a Mexican type of cake. The sponge at the bottom seemed to be soaked in milk making it all moist and then the icing was composed of milk. From the recipe it looks like it has evaporated, condensed and semi-skimmed milk! Let say I could feel it after I ate it, mind you just look at the size of the pieces, but it was very nice. The dogs, Lucy and Rita, were also dressed up for the occasion with their own named neck scarfs with a chilli pattern. At a couples shower, as we discovered, presents are given but these are not the wedding presents as I understand, they are just extra presents. Not realising this we were a little embarrassed but had at least brought a bottle of bubbly so we were not totally empty handed!

Since we were near the recycling centre, I had packed the car with the intention to do it on route to the party, however, the air conditioning man and an accident on I10 meant we were running late so we did it on the way home at 8:30pm. Amazingly it doesn't seem to close but it was pretty dark so we used the car lights to see where we were putting all the bottles. There was also a policeman there (with gun in holster) so we felt pretty safe.

This morning was the regular Sunday morning cycle. It was pretty quiet as most people were at Church for the Easter service. Actually, I heard singing while in the house and realised there were lots of people in the nearby cemetery taking part in a sunrise service. After cycling we had a special Easter brunch - eggs bendict - yummy. Easter is like Christmas day here and most places are closed up including the supermarkets so we were at a bit of a loss at what to do. Not to mention, it was pretty overcast and humid this morning. In the end we went to see if the driving range was open, and it was. I got asked if I was German, which is a first! After one large basket were both too hot, as by now the sun was out and it was at least 30 degC. We took a drive up Westheimer for entertainment (we were desperate!) and noticed 'half price books' was open so something else to do! Three new books later, two of them costing just $2 each!! we went off home.

More sunbathing and another swim for me, Stuart is still refusing to swim, our very quiet Sunday was nearly over. We had another BBQ with left over food from the other night, however this time we were prepared for the mosquitoes who are back with a vengeance. 'Skin so soft' seems to have kept them at bay this evening although Stuart said he smelt like an old lady :)

What a weird day

I can only describe yesterday as an eventful day where lots of things happened!

In the morning we got up to go cycling to George Bush. It has been warming up in the evenings so the early mornings are no longer chilly and you could almost suggest slightly humid! Bill, who is a regular weekend cycler, has recently changed out his thick and rugged tires for slightly thinner and certainly smoother tires and so with increased ease of pedalling we all whipped along at 15 mph average and were back within two hours. The wind wasn't too bad either this, making it more pleasurable than previous times!

I had a quick turn around to go and meet Laura for nails. Since sandal weather has started I need to get back to going to get pampered! I can't have been since before Christmas because the nail bar has been refurbished. They have new big chairs where you sit to get you toes done. The massage setting on them is now not so painful - the old chairs used to pummel you! They have also changed how they deal with you, they no longer do you hands and feet while you sit in the big chair, instead we had our pedicure and then they moved us to the normal seat and desks to do our manicure. Not quite as relaxing and we discussed that we may have to consider looking for a new nail bar - not that is a hard thing as they are on every strip mall but you have to find one you like! I now have very bright pink toes that are lovely. My guy who did my pedicure decided to attack my blisters, which I am not sure was the best thing to do, but hey ho. When he did my hands he was surprised at my cuticles as I am unfortunate because they grow really quickly, anyhow after his hard work they look suitably better.

Laura then introduced me to my first skinny vanilla latte (I am not a big coffee drinker therefore visit Starbucks only very occasionally!). It was good and kept me going as I had to get home to pick up Stuart for us to go off to the shops to buy food for a BBQ we were hosting in the evening. And I suppose that is where the day took a weird turn. We were in the big HEB on Bunker Hill shopping away happily - for quite sometime as always in that place - when we were just about to head to the checkout and an employee of HEB came up to me and said 'excuse me Mame, there has been an incident in the shop and we would like you to come and speak to a policeman'. Well what runs through your mind, firstly I looked at my handbag to see if my wallet was still there - yes, then I thought what have we done - had we mown down an old person with our trolley - not knowingly, then just anger why did they want to escort from the shop? Stuart was also looking a little agitated but they said it didn't involve him, but just me, however he could come with me - too right! We got taken into a room at the back of the store (ahhhhh was going through my head), and we were put into an office and told to sit down. The store manager and a policeman entered ...... The policeman then proceeded to tell me that a man had been seen in the store taking indecent photos up my skirt! He had a basket and bent down and with a camera phone and either videoed or took photos up my skirt! They were now holding him inanother room in the back of the store. Well obviously both of us were shocked - not what I expected. The policeman said he had not checked the man's phone yet to see what photos he had but would I like to press charges and take him to court? The store manager said 'he is not your typical heathen, he had wine and croissants in his shopping basket!' Since I didn't realise any of this had happened it seemed like a bit April fools, but obviously it wasn't. I said I didn't want to press charges but I did want the policeman to delete all those photos. The manager of the store was very apologetic and we went on our way. I was then hold the back of my skirt down until we got out of the shop! On the way home, after wStu and I had discussed it some more, the policeman phoned again to ask if I wanted to press charges. I still said no, and whether that is the right thing to do or not, we reckoned if he was reasonably well off he would get a good lawyer and be let off with maybe a warning and that is if they can actually managed to prove anything. So in all - warning to ladies everywhere - don't wear a skirt to shop in. Or at least be conscious if someone is close by.

When we got home I asked Stuart to take a picture up my skirt to see how much was revealed - let me just tell you I wouldn't pay to see that on the Internet or even to see it for free! I then obviously made Stuart delete it from his camera :)

Anyway we then got back to party organisation and I went out to clean the pool when the next thing happened. As Mum and Dad know we have a covered area with a metal post at the pool edge. Essentially, I got the end of the net pole caught in the metal post and before I knew it, I was catapulted into the pool I caught one foot on the steps but couldn't hold it - I got a full dunking in my clothes and shoes! I screamed and Stuart came out to see a drowned rat - he was like what are you doing? So after taking a photo, he got me a towel! Well I had to go and changed and start the pool cleaning again - this time away from the metal post!

It was just six of us for BBQ and Laura brought along a Brazilian colleague who has just come over to the states for a months training, and aswell as Karen and Dave. It was such a nice temperature that we sat out until two in the morning, well five of us did, Laura found her bed upstairs at about 10pm :) We ate a lot of food and it was great including shrimp, margarita chicken, flank steak (this time it was much better) and jalapeno beef sausages. Well poor Cleyton, the Brazilian, found the sausages were a little too much heat for him and he ended up drinking three glasses of milk to cool his mouth down! However we have discovered he loves Guinness and marmite!! Dave on the other hand took about a teaspoons amount of 'Dave's Insanity sauce' - Stuart's extremely hot sauce that has a warning on it to only take one micro-dot. It nearly blew his head off, let's just say the nose was running and he was sweating lots! The evening concluded with a boys game of darts and it took ages - there had been too much beer drunk!

I was meant to be getting up to meet Amy for a run at 5:40 am this morning, but funnily enough when the alarm went off (after about three hours of sleep) and I was not keen to go! So I stayed in bed. Since Laura and Cleyton both stayed in the end, we had fresh bread for breakfast - yummy.

Van Gogh in the making

Last night I was being a mini Van Gogh in the making. I went to something called 'Painting with a Twist' to go and try and paint Starry Starry Night by Van Gogh. The place was down in Sugarland and it took a little longer to get there than we had planned. I managed to convince Stuart to drive three of us so we could enjoy our wine while painting :)

We had four artists, and there must have been another 15 people there. We took wine and food to enjoy while doing our masterpieces. Because we were so late we had to get organised very quickly but we opened the first of five bottles of red! and all the cheese, crudites and meatballs mmmm.

Each of us had our own easel and we were basically taken through the painting by a lady at the front who told us what colours to use and what to paint to make it look something similar to Van Gogh's original painting, but actually what I have discovered they made it was easier for us - we didn't have to paint a whole town on the hills, the one church was hard enough!

It was only meant to take us two hours, however we didn't finish until after three hours! Poor Stuart was waiting around for us so I think next time I better drive! But we all managed a very good first attempt and they all look pretty similar - so we all did as we were told! I should maybe reassure you we only drank two of the five bottles of wine.

PS the last photo is the real thing - I know you couldn't tell because my painting is just so good. Actually, it so good am going to hang it up at work! (not just because Stu doesnt want it at home)

Today at work we got taken out for a celebratory lunch to a very nice restaurant called Fogo de Chao. It is the top Brazilian Churrascaria in Houston and it was very good. They bring you the skewers of meat and slice of pieces of beef, chicken, pork and lamb, until you turn over you coaster to the red side (ie stop feeding me!). The best piece for me was a lamb chop that just melted in my mouth. The trick with these places is not to eat too much of the salad (amazing salad bars) and cheesy rolls before the meat comes! However, even though I tried to not eat too much I have not felt like dinner this evening and I am pretty sure I don't want any red meat for a week.

Tomorrow is a day off as it is Good Friday - yippee. We are off cycling in the morning and then I might go to get my nails done with Laura.

Happy Easter.