****Guest Blog**** Ciearra Style....

This is long overdue and is filling me up with angst and anger so I need to let it out! Three things I HAVE to talk about and let my opinion be known, The Bachelor, Steve Harvey Morning Show and The Rickey Smiley Morning Show, two of the three I am absolutely disgusted with!

One – The Bachelor. I boycotted The Bachelor this season for many reasons, 1. I think the idea of these stupid shows are BULLSHIT…you are not going to find the person that you are going to marry and spend the rest of your life with through a reality tv show...point proved by the numerous failed relationships that crash and burn after the show and their five minutes of fame has fizzled… except for Trish and that fireman guy…lets see where they are in 20 years, 2. What kind of woman are you if you are going to put yourself with 20-30 other women COMPETING FOR A MAN’S ATTENTION! No one should have to compete for a man’s attention THEY COMPETE FOR OURS…Where are your standards ladies! AND 3. Why the hell would a FATHER, let me repeat the word FATHER bring his three or four year old baby that is at his most impressionable age of his life into a NATIONAL REALITY TV SHOW with 20-30 women who are strangers to this child and this “so-called” FATHER. What is this “Father” teaching his son? I got it, that his son can have 20-30 women at his disposal, that marriage is a joke, you can propose to one and let her go once another one or problems arise!…which BTW is what happened at the end of the show….This brings me to the last rant with The Bachelor. Ladies where have our standards gone, again!…We talk and say chivalry is dead no it is not dead we have just lowered our standards and don’t expect or we make justifications about why people we date, our boyfriends and even some husbands aren’t gentlemen…Do you expect it at all times? If not, why not? Let me get back to The Bachelor, once our lover-boy-shitty father-horrible waste of space dumped the “lucky” girl, whom he picked at the end of the show, Melissa, said he loved, put a ring on her finger, and PROPOSED…he confessed to her that “things”, we never found out what “things” those were, were different and he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the other girl from the finale that he dumped, Molly! The “Dumpee” was pissed like anyone would be and left the show...ok fine…THEN they bring out the, Molly, first “Dumpee” from the shows finale. The Bachelor, once our lover-boy-shitty father-horrible waste of space, confesses to Molly his new love for her and how he just broke it off with Melissa, let us not forget the girl he just proposed to SIX WEEKS EARLIER and he wants another chance with Molly…I’m thinking no girl in her right mind would say yes after he embarrassed her in two ways 1. Broke it off with her on national TV AND 2. Sucked face and probably ophed (Slept with) Melissa the past 6 weeks doing who knows what while they were ENGAGED….THEN TO MY AMAZEMENT …SHE SAID YES! WTF! Ladies can we learn a lesson from this, A GUY has once shot and that’s it....um especially if he dumps you to put a ring on another girls finger or in real world examples, sleeps with another girl, lies to you, doesn’t do things he says he will. Can we please remember what a ring on the finger means also…FOREVER…not like today’s loose terms of an engagement ring. I was livid and thinking last night this is why guys are the way they are bc we, ladies, are allowing it!! We go back to them time and time again! Learn that guys will not change especially if we allow then to continue in the bad behavior they are portraying. STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR THEM…AND GROW UP LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

Two- This morning on my way to work I’m schmoozing through an array of stations and found myself thinking about last night and the very thin backbone this woman had with THE BACHELOR, our lover-boy-shitty father-horrible waste of space, and I hear Steve Harvey of the Steve Harvey Morning Show 105.7 FM speaking on the Rihanna/Chris Brown fiasco. For those that don’t know, here’s the latest, Rihanna has gone back to the man who beat her face into her brains and has disrespected herself to the most extreme way she ever could let a man beat on her and went back to him. Steve Harvey was talking about how upset he was at Rihanna’s father, bc his father is very lackadaisical about this whole situation saying he is with Rihanna no matter what she decides either to be with Chris Brown or not. Steve Harvey was furious with her father and explaining how if it was his daughter he would find Chris Brown and beat his “punk ass”. As Steve Harvey said, “Any man who goes outside his manhood and puts his hands on a woman is a coward”. TRUE TRUE Along with that quote he went off on a tangent about how he heard a WOMAN from a sound byte speaking on the Rihanna/Chris Brown situation he found asking, “Well what did Rihanna do?” Steve Harvey went off for 20 minutes stating it doesn’t matter what a woman does, MEN NEVER HAVE AN EXCUSE TO PUT THEIR HANDS ON WOMEN! Ladies again after hearing that sound byte what are we thinking? I know that most, well hopefully most, women will say it is not ok for a man to put his hands on a woman but for those “NOT MOST” women what are we thinking...Again we are ALLOWING MEN to think it is ok to act in this way! We have to raise our standards!

Three- Sadly, right after I was so happy to hear the angelic words coming from Steve Harvey, I turned the station to The Rickey Smiley Morning show 97.9 FM who was just doing the entertainment news. They were talking about the Rihanna/Chris Brown reconciliation. The people on that show said, “I bet they are having a hard time reconciliating with the media all over them” and “They both (Rihanna and Chris Brown) need to go to a private place with a psychologist to get over this.” My mouth almost fell off my face when I heard that! TO GET OVER THIS? NO Christ Brown’s punk ass, as Steve Harvey put it; needs to get his punk ass thrown into jail where he will really feel like a punk ass when he is getting it up the ass and then he can feel what it is like to be Rihanna that night. Has this abuse just become so normal that people are not forced to deal with consequences of their actions? Not once did I hear that Rihanna should not be with Chris Brown…Not once did I hear what is she doing? Is this really ok? No it is not ok with me!Ladies, we HAVE GOT TO STEP UP! What type of mankind are we turning into? What happened to what The Bible says, the golden rule, and parents teaching their children to be mature, respectable adults! And ladies if we want a gentleman and chivalry back we have to expect it. We are allowing men to act the way that they do …

PS – If you are thinking why is she not getting on the men…bc if I expect a man to treat me one way and he doesn’t, he’s gone…I don’t deal with PUNK ASS BOYS...It starts with us ladies

I get hurt so you don't have to...part 1

I wasn't going to blog about this... BUT... since the two friends I told this story to initially have blabbed their big mouths because they think it's funny (not naming any names... KAREN AND CIEARRA) I will go ahead and tell you what happened...

*****FLASHBACK ABOUT A MONTH AND HALF AGO....(insert wayne's world finger movement and sound here)******

I was super stoked to get my bike. Tommy had found it on Craigslist for me and I was so excited to have a real road bike. If you remember correctly, the only other bike I've ever had was like a pink, basket and all, 10 speed that I barely rode because I lived on gravel and that makes it rather difficult as an uncoordinated little girl. (not much has changed... I'm still rather uncoordinated)

Anyway...

I got my bike and Tommy came over to fix it up... check the gears, brakes, adjust the handle bars, seat, etc...

After all was complete I took it out for a spin... The loop around my neighborhood is about a mile give or take... so I figured that would be a nice little "get acquainted" at 10pm ride...

I was going pretty good... quick little jaunt through the neighborhood... when all of a sudden four houses down from my finish line (my house)... I got going WAY to fast....

I panicked... forgot where the brakes were and laid me and my bike over in the street. It was either that OR hit the mailbox... and I opted for a few scrapes rather than a broken neck, hip, leg, arm, etc...

I totally freaked out... I didn't know what do... now you may have a TINY bit of understanding as to why I have a few apprehensions regarding the bike portion of my triathlon.

I have gotten on my bike sense and I'm doing just fine... but I don't ride in streets and I tend to enjoy riding where there is no one around that I can plow into and subsequently discombobulate.

I have a feeling I will soon be comfortable on the bike ... just as I am now comfortable swimming.. however I may prefer drowning over a bought of road rash...

When Good/Great Things Turn Bad...

Ok so yesterday I noticed a phenomenon...

I was at the gym... enjoying a nice workout, running, some weights, some abs... you know the usual quick workout. When I was done working out I needed gas BAD... like so bad my car almost didn't start... so I went across the street to fill up so I could make it to meet my sister. Anyways...

I thought to myself... WHY ON EARTH DO THEY PUT A CHICK-FIL-A NEXT TO THE GYM AND THEN ADVERTISE THEIR SUPER YUMMY MILKSHAKES!!! This started a series of events that transpired over the course of the evening... I kept noticing good things that inevitably turned bad...

Example 1.

The Gym (good thing) -

The gym next to chick fil a with life size posters of milkshakes (bad thing)

Example 2.
A brand new paper plates and all Cadillac SLR (good thing) -

A GUY driving the PEARL PINK brand new paper plates and all Cadillac SLR with a Mary Kay decal (bad/totally weird thing)

Example 3.
Toll Tags - only the best invention ever if you lived confined by three tollways (Dallas North Tollway, PGBT, and 121)

People who pull up to the tollbooth wait for someone to come to the window (which no one was there) realize then that no one is there and proceed to dig for change for 10 min. By which at this point me reversing is not a viable option because of the line of cars that have piled up behind me. (bad and frustrating thing)

Example 4.
Cosmetic Surgery - whether corrective or enhancement admit it it's a good thing

People who have so much cosmetic surgery they can barely open their eyes, shut their lips, or blow their nose... (bad AND disgusting)

Example 5
Making out - a favorite past time of most people

Making out in a restaurant parking lot ... but not just making out... more like mugging down... ok seriously almost having sex outside of the car on the parking lot.. GROSS GROSS GROSS


Anyway... I just thought I'd share :)

Happy Hump Day!

two weeks...

I haven't blogged in two weeks almost... I'm slacking!!

Tri training is going great! Cayla and I are training together now for two hours on Saturdays. It is so nice to train with someone ... I wish we lived closer so we could work out together everyday!! We are just under two months until race day and I'm getting more and more excited each week... but that also comes with more and more nerves.

I'm super nervous about the bike portion of the race. I was initially most nervous about the swim but now this bike part has really got me freaked... I think I need to spend some time "getting comfortable" on the bike. I'm afraid if I don't feel comfortable I'm going to seriously injure myself or someone else...that would make for a nice post though...

I am also three weeks out before our annual girls trip. This year we are headed back to Fredericksburg the first weekend in March. This will also conclude our "Operation Get Fit" Challenge that we started in November. I'm not sure if I initially blogged about this or not but back in November, all the girls, took part in a fitness challenge to get ourselves back in shape. This was about the same time I decided I wanted to do this triathlon so it worked out perfect. We put $50 in a pot... $25 will go to the biggest percentage of weight dropped and $25 will go to biggest drop in BMI. This has been the best thing ever.... I have completely embraced this challenge and feel better about myself now than I have in along time.

In the meantime...

I saw "He's Just Not That Into You".... such a cute movie! I highly recommend reading the book first though. I read this book when it was first published in 2004 and fell in love with it so naturally I was stoked when I saw the previews for the movie.

It is so cute. And although I don't agree 100% with every part of the book/movie it is a fun, mindless, romantic comedy that even the guys would enjoy. So buckle down, pay the $100 it costs to go to the movies now-a-days and see it!

Continuing on to my TV addiction...

American Idol is in full swing! WHAT WHAT!! I love A.I. ... I love the tryouts, Hollywood week, everything! I get sucked in EVERY YEAR!

We are into our top 36 now and the first group sings Tuesday... I will throw it out there... I love Kai Kalama. He made me cry during his audition in San Francisco and I was soooo happy when he made it through. Even if he doesn't win.. he's a winner to me :)

Family Stuff:

Coop turned 3 on Friday! I can't believe he is 3!!! It seemed like just yesterday he was this tiny thing! It is also hard for me to grasp that Shelby is going to be 1 in two months. I was able to see all three of my precious nieces/nephews on Saturday for Valentine's Day. I played Cupid and delivered them all their Valentine Goody Bags... as far as I'm concerned they are my perfect Valentines!

I did have a slight emotional moment when I left Paige and Nick's... Shelby started to cry when I was leaving and it made me cry. I love that little girl so much she is sooooo cute and soooo sweet. She would just cuddle with me and love on me; she is really starting to take on a personality.

I was equally excited to see Kaylee and Cooper on Saturday. I just knew that they would love their goody bags. AND I only gave them one thing of candy each so Anna wouldn't yell at me. They each got a heart shaped Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.... it's my favorite and I knew they would share.... I totally had ulterior motives. Kaylee and Coop always make me smile and after a long day at the gym their hugs and kisses were just what I needed.

I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful family!!!!

On a serious note:

Please continue to pray for Jessica. Her chemo regimen now is pretty hard on her and I ask you to lift her and her family up in your prayers for continued strength, healing and peace. If you get a second visit her website and leave her a note of encouragement at www.jessicagage.com

Have a great Monday!

College Station

This weekend was SOOO much fun! As I mentioned last week, I headed to College Station for the weekend to see Della and Dave. They have lived there almost a year and I have yet to make it down to visit (WORST FRIEND EVER)... It ended up a bunch of our old college friends were down there as well and we had such a great time!

Friday we went and saw Reckless Kelly... a great show.. but not the same w/o our favorite band member Jimmy who has moved on from the band and now they have a new bassist. That's ok... we'll still love them!

Saturday we got up and went to the basketball game (after my favorite lunch in College Station... Laynes). We watched the Aggies BTHO OSU (haha Sarah) and headed to northgate after that! Now mind you, I am getting old, and I can't "party" like I used to. We were at the bar from 4pm until 2am... Allison was (and stilll is) TIRED!!!!

It was all and all a great weekend... good friends, good food and a lot of good fun!

Needless to say - my training was obsolete this weekend... that's ok though I'll start again today... I got my bike this weekend so if you see me crashed on the side of the road... keep driving I don't want to be embarrassed... I'll be ok... but if you drive back by and I'm still not up... call 911 please!

Me and Ciearra at the game

Old Friends and New Friends...

Ciearra, Della and Me at the Game

Me and Del

I think I've gone crazy...

I spent two (2) hours at the gym yesterday... and burned 1300 calories AND didn't want to leave! What's wrong with me.... it's become an obsession...an addiction...but I guess a healthy addiction at that..

Today I went and swam 400 meters and had to force myself to rinse off, change and go home to have a nice meal and watch some tv... deep inside I wanted to stay longer..

I guess it all comes in waves... some days I can barely pull myself out the door to go the gym, other weeks I want to sleep there... ah well... I guess it will work out (no pun intended).

My training is going good... yesterday was the first time back in the gym in a week. I did a little weight training, a nice run and some cycling... I left feeling amazing!... I woke up feeling like I was going to fall over from pain. I hadn't worked out in so long I got sore! I haven't been sore since I started this process; so I hadn't felt that in awhile...by the way... IT HURTS!

If you are a member of 24 hour fitness I highly recommend the 24 LIFT class... EXCELLENT but you will be hurting the next day.

On another note: (maybe a little personal)

Do you ever wonder why life doesn't work out like the movies (or tv, or books for that matter). You think you do everything right, live a good life, make good, responsible, mature decisions and it doesn't turn out quite like it did on Grey's Anatomy or You've Got Mail or a Nicholas Sparks Novel.

I guess you have to make your own movie (boy readers I don't mean that kind of movie).. write your own story, paint your own picture... you get my drift. It's a beautiful thing... life... you can have a different story, book, painting every 24 hours...

Allison's piece of advice for the day: HAVE NO REGRETS....

I'm headed back to good 'ole college station this weekend to see Della and her fiance Dave so I won't be on the blogging front but when I get back I'll post pictures and tell you how FABULOUS my trip was!

Have a great weekend!

Busy Busy...

Hi ya! Well it's been crazy around here the last week or so... I was traveling for work last week and then went out of town on the weekend... I was literally home for one day last week until Monday! It was fun and the weekend went by WAY to fast!

Last week I got a new fence! YEA!! If you have been to my house you know the awful shape my fence was in.. falling over on all three sides, two inaccessible gates and slats down throughout... well I buckled down and gave in and got a new one and I love it! I can't wait for spring to be here so I can start making over my back yard! Sod, new flower beds, flagstone... I can see it now!

It is FREEZING here tonight! It's dropped into the low 20's and sleeting like crazy... the rooftops in my neighborhood are already all white and my front and back yard are blanketed in ice and sleet as well. At about 2pm this afternoon I received an email that work was delaying opening until 10 if that gives you a clue to the madness of this winter weather Texas is experiencing. You know us Texas, it gets below 70 and we freak out and break out with parkas, not to mention we don't drive anywhere either!

Deuce (my dog) HATES any kind of precipitation... he literally will hold going to the bathroom for days if it is raining... he also hates the cold so this is a lose/lose situation for him. He hasn't stepped outside since this afternoon before the sleet hit...hopefully I can get him outside for like 5 seconds to pee before we hit the sack! I hate to tell him that Thursday is bath day ... he hates that too. He probably will hate me now... it's cold raining/sleeting and he has to have a bath... and get his teeth brushed..poor Deucey!

Well we are going to hit the hay... I hope you all have a great week!

Ciao!

stupid html

Hello my lovely blog readers... I was keeping track of how many hits my little blog was getting but something happened with that html code and now I refuse to start over again at 0!

Training for the tri has been lax this week... I've been traveling for work so it's been hard but I'll get back in the swing of it next week.

Today I want to dedicate my post to one of my sisters, Anna... For Christmas I gave her cake decorating classes. She had taken an interest in cake decorating awhile ago and is really good at it. So I figured I've give her some professional lessons to enhance her already natural ability. She just finished her third week in class.

This is what I have discovered:

1. She makes a better butter cream icing than any professional cake I've ever eaten... and I've had a lot... I do pride myself as a cake connoisseur..

2. She faced her fear of clowns... this week in class she had to make a clown cake... sorry sister I wasn't aware of that when I signed you up

3. You should totally hire her out to make your kids birthday cakes...

So that's it... she's really good and it tastes REALLY GOOD!

Keep checking back for further updates :)

860 Calories Down.... 101 Days to go!!!

This week marked the re-start of my tri-training. I was L-A-Z-Y during the two week holidays between Christmas and NYE... but I made myself get back into the swing of things this week.

I was not starting off the week very good on Monday because the weather was bad and I didn't want to get out in it and my friend Tommy came over because his power was out at his house (ice from tree branches fell on to the power lines and completely knocked out his power). So there was no gym time for me on Monday...

Tuesday I decided I MUST go - so I took Deuce out for a run... it was hard getting back into the "groove"... but Deuce always makes it a much more enjoyable trip. He was really scared though because this crazy woman walking down Kelly kept hissing at him and putting up cat claws. I seriously thought Deuce was going to jump up into my arms and I was going to have to carry him home...but instead we turned it up a notch and sprinted.... good for Deuce to not see the crazy lady... good for my heart rate and endurance!

Today (Wednesday) I went to the gym to cycle and run ... I still haven't gotten my road bike but hope to have it soon. Ciearra went with me and we had an AMAZING work out! We cycled on the spin bikes for 25 minutes ( I made C go an extra 5 minutes with me... I thought she was going to kick me in the face)... then ran for 20 and did an abs class for 15... so after an hour of working out I burned nearly 900 calories!!! It feels so good.... my "operation get fit" girls are going to be jealous!

I can really feel myself changing... my endurance has certainly picked up... I feel stronger and clothes are starting to fit better. My weight has stayed steady over the last month.. no gain but no loss either... I hope since I'm turning up my workouts now I will start to see results on the scale.

I heard at the gym today abs are 80% diet and 20% exercise... something to think about ....

OH MY GOODNESS!!

I have so much to blog about... I haven't had a computer (or the time since the holidays) to sit down and blog so I'll try to do a December 2008 recap...


1. I got a job! AWESOME! I'm so excited I start on Monday, January 5... at Cambridge Integrated Services Group. I am going to be an Account Manager in the Client Services division. My new office will be about 10 minutes from house and I hopefully will have the opportunity to travel. I will have a book of business that I am responsible for once the initial sale has been made by the sales force... this will include implementation, problem soliving, benchmarking and other stewardship reports and meetings, continued education, etc. I am so very excited about this awesome opportunity! I truly know this position was worth the wait! The job and the people completely fit my personality and my goals and I'm so fortunate to have found a job with such an amazing company!

2. FAMILY PICTURES - It was so nice to get the WHOLE family together to take pictures for the first time. Our pictures included - my mom, me, My sister Paige and her family (nick and shelby), and my other sister Anna and her family (Randy, Kaylee and Cooper)... NINE of us... six girls... you can imagine the chaos that ensued...

It was wonderful and we were able to get a ton of awesome pictures from our AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHER STEFANIE!!

3. I was able to be a part of an AWESOME friends wedding right before Christmas. Laura was my roommate in college and she married her handsome little husband on December 21 in Georgetown, SC. It was an amazing weekend filled with wedding festivities and reconnections. I was able to see a few friends that I hadn't seen in a long time and catch up. I also was able to meet all of Laura and Jaime's wonderful friends and family. Their wedding was beautiful and I so enjoyed being a part of it.

4. CHRISTMAS! Christmas was so fun this year. It was my niece - Shelby's - first Christmas and so much fun! She loved tearing up all the tissue paper while opening her presents and playing with all of her fun toys. She has started crawling and is now officially on the move! Kaylee and Cooper also had an amazing Christmas... they are so fun as well and Cooper really "got" Christmas this year. Kaylee is the best big sister ever and helped him with opening his toys and playing on the wii with all of their fun new stuff!

5. New Years - WELCOME 2009!! I welcomed in 2009 in Houston with my friends Kristin and Nick. They hosted a party at their house fully equipped with lots of food, drinks and rockband! I'm just about the most amazing rockband singer ever...

This holiday season was filled with family and friends. This was definitely the best way to end a great year and an even better way to begin a better 2009! I hope each of you had an amazing and BLESSED holiday season as I did.