My Week in Bullets

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Dust off that motivation, along with the keyboard, and get to work on those 5K Friday posts! Tomorrow is our first official week to post, link up, and share some encouraging words! Can't wait to see what y'all have been doing! For more information and instructions, click here!
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I've typed, deleted, and retyped the first sentence of this post 6 times now. There's just no easy way to lead in to a post that I know will be disjointed, wandering, and random. If you don't do random, bullet lists, and week-to-date recaps, then you should probably just skip this one and come back tomorrow for 5K Friday. Otherwise, proceed...but you have been warned!


Still with me? Off we go!

This Week
(in bullets)

• Monday/Monday Late-Afternoon: Another glorious day at the office followed by the last round of vaccinations for El Salvador. (I really do need to post again about my trip. For those of you that haven't been around GM long enough to know what I'm talking about, you can do some catching up here, here, and here.) I met Rachel at Target, carpooled downtown, where we met up with another team member going to El Salvador, Allen. We all three had immunizations left on our list, so we decided to make it a group effort. The last shot I had on my list was the Typhoid vaccine. I've been subjected to a myriad of shots in the past two weeks -- Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, MMR, and Tetanus -- and the Typhoid shot was by far the most painful. Once we were finished being pin cushions protected from creepy jungle viruses vaccinated, we decided it was time for dinner. Since Rachel and I were such troopers Allen offered to treat us to dinner at a downtown restaurant he's been wanting to try. Which brings us to....
• Monday Evening: We follow Allen to his mystery restaurant. We're surrounded by unassuming-looking office buildings, until we come to a white, wooden door. Allen, always the gentleman, opens the door for us and we find ourselves surrounded by this...and this...and this...You've got to be kidding me! Bear in mind that Rachel is sporting a dazzling pair of cut-off jean shorts, complete with frayed hems. She's accented the shorts with a delightful white t-shirt from her high school volleyball days. To set off the ensemble she chose to pair it with black flip-flops. I had personally done only slightly better for myself...wearing dark jeans, a cute summery top from Target, while pulling it all together with black, rubber, Old Navy flip-flops. Certainly nothing worthy of what we discovered Cafe Bel Ami to be. We did our very best to be exceedingly classy, polite, and cultured with our waitress (who looked ready to give us the boot, or make us wash dishes to pay for our meals at any moment) to make up for our fashion faux pas. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was beautiful, the company was fantastic, but I have never been so ready to leave a restaurant in my life! Allen was so good-natured about it...he just made us promise to leave the flip-flops at home the next time he offered dinner. Yeah...you think? Anyone else getting a very "Pretty Woman"-ish vibe off of that entire dining experience? Just call me Vivian! After surviving Monday it's on to...
• Tuesday: Tuesday evening was my date with Rachel, Sarah Jane, and Gavin DeGraw! The girls and I had been anxiously awaiting his concert for a week! Rachel is in love with the man, and while he's not my usual cup o' tea (see The Husband on my sidebar) he can sing, and he does have rather delightful biceps shoulder muscles eyes. We ducked out just after Gavin finished crooning and headed home. We're not as young as we used to be...bed was calling! After a not-nearly-long-enough night of sleep I find myself right in the middle of...
• Wednesday: If I live through work we'll be off to a night of fun and frivolity at the bowling alley. Normally Wednesday night is our small group bible study, but tonight we're taking the show on the road and having a Fun Night. I'm not just being humble when I tell you that I am, quite possibly, the world's worst bowler. My all-time-best score is a whopping 78 points. I'm "that girl" that tries to throw/pitch/lob/whatever the ball and ends up releasing it behind her into the other bowlers seated in the chairs. Should be a great time! (Maybe pray for my bowling partners? Their toes are going to need it!)

*phew*

How's that for exhausting? The rest of the week isn't much better! Tomorrow is my only day with nothing planned...other than laundry. Friday will find me boutique-ing with my girls, and then Saturday it's time for some fun...rodeo-style!

How about y'all? What's been going on this week? Anything fun? Fill me in on what's new!

With love, from the girl that wears flip-flops for an evening of fine dining,

Retreat Feet, Sunburns, & Inner Tubes

The pictures of last weekend's Retreat have started rolling in, and I couldn't wait to share some of my favorites with you all!

Here's a little glimpse into how we spent our Memorial Day weekend!

There was some posing...

Hugging it out

"Moose" showing me some snorgle time.

Rachel and I are no match for Jimmy's charm!

There were some jam sessions...

Pickin' on the porch!

All together now!

Pickin' on the couch!

Rachel and I helped the boys harmonize

There was a lot of floating...

Which lead to a lot of eating...


...and napping!

Shhh! Snoozing Moodles

Poor Rachel!

Then, once we were rested, it was time for some fun!

Round Robin Ping Pong

Dutch Blitz!

Sadly, Retreat, like all good things, had to come to an end eventually...but not before one last all-the-girls-of-Cabin-3 photo session (raging sunburns, bug bites, frizzy hair, and all!)

An awfully foxy bunch!

The Right Side of Cabin 3.
Rachel, Jenn, Ginger, Me, Emilie, and Gayle

Ah, Retreat '09, how I loved thee! There's not a thing I would've done different! Except maybe the whole no-sunscreen-while-floating-on-inner-tubes-for-3-hours thing. That, I'd change. Ow.

xoxo,

Swivel Hips

This evening I will be venturing into uncharted territory! Tonight, I am going....

SALSA DANCING!

Three fourths of the Foxy Foursome is meeting for dinner at Johnny Carino's (mmmm!) and then it's off to The Harry Reese Dance Studio for lessons and mucho dancing to a live salsa band. ¡Bueno!

We'll be sure to take lots of pictures, and do our very best to resist making a run for the border with 3 dark-haired triplets names Juan, Paco, and Eduardo. ¡Ay Carumba!

With that, I'm off to continue my chair dancing warm-up to my newest Pandora addiction: Spicy!

¡Adios, mis Poodles!





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Listening to: Oscar D'Leon - Ven Morena

This Just In...

Dear readers (all 6 of you) of Goodbye, Martha:

It is with a heavy heart I write to inform you that the second installment of "Telling Martha Goodbye" will not be written until Monday.

Today, the unthinkable has happened. I have actually been working while at work. Oh, the horror! I have 54 minutes left until I blow this taco stand for some two-steppingly good weekend plans with The Herd. Because of this, I'll be postponing the conclusion of my GM history lesson.

Please do stick around. Please catch up on all those riveting posts you might've missed. Please don't cry all weekend long...it'll make your eyes puffy. Never good.

Hugs and snorgles all around,
L-Dubb

Just-a Swingin'

I have found the most enjoyable method of burning off the 1,487 calories consumed by having a Chipotle burrito for dinner.

Swing dancing!

After Pathways the herd headed over to Chipotle for some burritos al fresco. A few folks ducked out early to head to Harry Reese to squeeze in some Sunday night fun and frivolity. We hadn't planned to go dancing, but it's free after 9:00pm, it's spring break for teachers (and they're looking to get crazy,) and we're just that unpredictable....so off we went.

Inside Harry Reese Dance Studio...where the magic happens.

I'm here to tell you, we've got some fine dancers in our little group! The MoPWs (Men of Pathways) didn't get to sit down once, as the WoPWs (Women of Pathways) outnumbered them 3:1!

We had a great time doing our rock steps, "snuggling" (don't get any ideas...it's a dance move!), and generally trying to look like we knew what we were doing.

At the risk of upping the mush-factor on GM...nights like last night remind me of how blessed I am to be a part of this life I lead! I have amazing friends. I have all sorts of opportunities for fun that doesn't get you arrested. I've just got a lot to be thankful for! I think swing dancing at Harry Reese counts twice on that list!

Enough mush...for now!