The big 40 - & the party continues!!

My birthday week was FABULOUS!!!  

My actual birthday was on a Wed and I was surprised that morning with a yard sign!  The hubby is really rocking the planning on this birthday!  Later that night we went to dinner with my parents at Razzoos.  It was a gorgeous evening so we sat on the patio while the kids played on the playscape.  Ah bliss!  Thank goodness the rain stayed away, it had been raining here for a month straight and was supposed to rain the entire week/end!  We got lucky during ACL as the rain miraculously pushed out and dissipated...and then the forecast cleared for Wed-Sat, which allowed for the rest of the events (which was kept all hush-hush) to unfold perfectly!

Dinner with the rents

Thursday I enjoyed a wonderful sushi lunch with my bestie, Jenn.

food porn

Now the weekend was upon us.  Friday had arrived and I still had no idea what was going on.  Everything had been a complete surprise and kept uber quiet.  I worked remote that day and was patiently (sarcasm) waiting for something to happen.  Like seriously...what is going on??  What do I need to wear??  I'm a planner and I was starting to get nervous...despite my best efforts, no one would give me any juicy details...in fact they all said they hadn't heard of anything going on...WTF!  Kudos to you strong willed compadres.

Sometime around noon I gave up and told Karen and Katie we could watch Hocus Pocus that evening at my house.  Gosh darn it if I wasn't gonna do something!  They totally went with it too!

Sometime around 2 pm Jenn came over to have some wine with me.  We were both dressed comfy casual...as I waited patiently (yeah not so much) for a hint as to what was going on.  Finally Jenn told me bowling!  Apparently bowling was the plan.  Hmmmm, mkay.  We'll call it 'bowling'.  After about an hour Jenn raided my closest and picked out an outfit for me.  Still no clue what we were doing...oh yeah, bowling...don't forget the socks!  Not too long after that Jenn got me in the car and we started to drive....to B SWEET!  Yup, my fav little Pflugerville boutique.  I was getting a makeover!   While B Sweet was working on my makeup, people started to arrive.  OMG OMG OMG my friend Mary walked in, she flew all the way from Washington to celebrate my birthday!  Followed by Michelle, Katie (you little minx!  Hocus Pocus pfft!), and Monica.  We drank wine and tried on clothes while several of us had our make up done.

After our little boutique experience we were back in the car...heading to bowling (sure sure...).  About a mile or so down the road we pulled into the Red Green barn at Heritage Park, and there was my other bestie Amanda!!!  She also flew all the way in from Washington to celebrate my 40th.  We starting walking towards the barn and more people came out of the wood work.  All my closest friends we there, dressed in cute western wear for A PHOTO SHOOT!  All my friends know I LOVE pictures...and that's what they were giving me!!!  We're still waiting for the pics from the photog, but below are some we captured with our phones.

After the photo shoot the girls asked me if I knew what we were doing next.  I guessed either eating (cause it was around dinner time) or dancing as Mavericks (a country bar) was just around the corner and we were wearing boots.  Dinner it was, and we went to my fav Tex-Mex joint which was also in the area, Rio Grande!!!  This was turning into a night of my favorite things...which apparently WAS the theme that day for my birthday.  Dinner was a blast, the margs were killer, the girls made sure I drank lots of water, I couldn't stop smiling or doing my grrrr face.  While at dinner if I said a 'key word' one of the ladies would stand up and give a little speech about me.  ;)  At one point another table sat down with a baby, and they asked us to be quiet.  That prompted the 'baby in a bar' and various other comments that made for a great laugh the rest of the night.

After dinner we headed back to Jenn's house for more of my favorites things!  We changed into comfy clothes and enjoyed all my favorite desserts and drinks:  bananas fosters, cheesecake, creme brulee, ice-cream, sugar sugar sugar!  We indulged, watched a photo slide show of my life and celebrated the night away.  I'm pretty proud to say we made it until 1am!  What an amazing night with awesome friends!  Thank you!  I know a lot of time, effort and planning went in to making this such a fabulous 40th birthday!

Saturday morning came very quickly as the kids never sleep in...those Malek Made Mexican Martinis and the late night were taking their toll on me.  Thankfully the kids had sports so Malek had them out the door by 9 am.  Amanda and Mary ended up kidnapping me for most of the day.  They picked me up around 10:30 am for brunch at Chez Zee followed by mani-pedi's at this awesome spa in the Domain.  After that we crashed at Amanda's hotel in the Domain for the most glorious nap I've had in a long time.  Seriously, that bed was amazingly comfortable and the nap was much needed after Friday nights shenanigans.

Around 4 pm we finally starting heading back to Pf.  I still was not told if there were any other plans made but my Spidey Senses were tingling...something was afoot!  When we arrived at my house I noticed my parents car, but otherwise everything seemed normal.  They must have stopped by to get something for the kids as they were watching them that evening.  I slowly made my way to the door and stepped inside where I was met with a SURPRISE party!  The kids came running out yelling surprise with megaphones, music playing in the background and friends and family all waiting for me.  There was Rudy's BBQ & ribs for dinner, a keg (yes a keg!) and more cake for celebrating.  It was a perfect way to end the week/end long journey to turning 40.  

A HUGE thank you to Jonathan Malek & Jennifer Batey Cox & Amanda Gray Mills & Michelle Hall Myers for your extraordinary planning skills and flawless execution! I was clueless to the events that were to unfold: from ACL (VIP baby!) to makeovers and a photo shoot, Rio (you have a baby, in a bar?!?!?), all my favorite things (food, friends, fun, fotos), brunch, mani-pedi, naps and a surprise 40th birthday party!!! I am in awe and feel so loved. It means the world to me that I could spend this special occasion with family and friends from near and far!. I will cherish these memories always. And so the party continues!! Cheers to 40, fabulous friends & family and many more!!

ACL & The Big 40!

Started off my birthday week in style with awesome ACL VIP tickets from the hubby!!!  This totally rocked my world.  The tickets were for the 1st weekend on Saturday where Metallica headlined!  VIP tickets included ALL food and drinks (buffets, cocktails, beer, wine, water & more!), A/C'd bathrooms (can you say NO LINES), elevated viewing deck next to the best stages, private bars, a massage booth, hair styling booth, delicious food trucks, ACL apparel/merchandise for purchasing, projection TV to watch football.  You name it they had it, and it was AMAZING!  The best way to experience ACL in my opinion.  I'm not sure we could ever go back to general admission.  We never had to leave the VIP grove (unless we wanted to, which we did once).  A huge shout out to my hubby for an awesome 40th birthday present...and apparently more surprises to come throughout the week!

VIP shady grove

viewing deck

friends!

Glenfiddich tent

Injury Update

Sadly my foot has not improved since my last injury posting back in August.  I had hoped that taking some time off would be enough (beg of July- Aug), but I was wrong.  After 1.5 months off I slowly started trying to run again.  I was able to run 4 or 5 times at 1-2 miles each time, then when I tried for 3 miles the pain returned.  I ended up getting a cortisone shot in mid Aug and had to take another 2 weeks off from running.  During this time I was also going to PT and having very vigorous calf massages and trigger point therapy.  I was feeling great so decided to try running again in Sept, slowly of course.  No bueno, I only made it a couple runs before the pain returned.  I stayed off my foot until the Casa 5K (9/16) and took that race uber slow, with lots of walking.  I've never walked through a water stop before!  1st time for everything I guess.  After that race my foot continued to throb, the pain never dropped below a 3/4 on a 10 point scale of pain.  Even walking would irritate it.  Sadly I went back to my foot Dr today (10/1) and received my 2nd cortisone shot.  Of course my foot feels great right after that...but I'm worried after 2 weeks when I try jogging again that I'll be in the same boat as before.  If this shot doesn't work, my next option is Platelet Rich Plasma injections (PRP).  Essentially for PRP they take your blood and spin out the platelets and then inject them into the problem area, it helps promote soft tissue healing.  Finger's crossed that one of these work...my next race is a 10 miler the beginning of Nov!  Ugh...training on an elliptical isn't going to cut it.

Casa 5K (ADC 1)

Oops!  Forgot to post about the 1st race for the Austin Distance Challenge, the Casa Superhero 5K on 9/16/2018!  This race was a lot of fun!  It was the first time I ever ran it, well I should say slowly jogged/walked it as I have plantar fasciitis in my right foot/heel.  There were tons of booths set up with free food and trinkets, lots of people dressed up as superheros and just some good ol' fun!  The race was at 8 am, so not crazy early.  It was probably around 70 degrees and humid!  I ran the race with Karen and Mai, we tried to keep our HR's under 150 so we'd jog slowly for a while, then walk to recover, repeat.  Thankfully this strategy went over well with my foot...it only slightly ached from the race. 

Afterwards we hit up the ADC tent for our free taco and magnet.  Next up were the giveaway booths.  We scored coffee, Amy's ice-cream, free sunglasses, chips and other food items.  My favorite was taking a picture with the 'official' superheros who were promoting the race. 

My race time is not even worth publishing for this entire ADC series as I'm going to have to slowly jog/walk it due to my injury.  😒  Right now I'm stubborn and determined to finish the ADC...but we shall see what happens once I hit the half marathons...

Black Panther for the win!

Ear-piercings for Carsyn!

Yup, this just happened!  I'm so proud of my little lady.  She finally said she wanted to get her ears pierced for her (early) birthday so I decided to take her the very next day, before she changed her mind.  We went to a little local shop where I know the owner (B Sweet) and picked out a pair of black onyx studs.  She really wanted pink but unfortunately the store didn't have that color in stock.  

Poor little girl had no idea what was about to happen.  We couldn't do both ears at once as there was only 1 person in the store to do it.  So I sat on the chair with my little girl while she watched you-tube on my phone.  The 1st earring went in effortlessly.  At first Carsyn had no idea what happened, she went from shocked to crying in a matter of seconds.  She did rebound quickly but now she KNEW what was going to happen with the other ear and wouldn't let us near it.  Thankfully my friend Katie had come with us, we had to hold her down on the table so that the owner could pierce the other ear.  OMG you would have thought we were committing murder in that boutique.  This time it took several minutes for Carsyn to calm down.  B Sweet made it all better by giving Carsyn and her friend Evelyn a mini make over, complete with sparkle eye-shadow!  5 mins later she was a happy camper.

I'm just glad it's done.  Now we just have to try and keep the earrings in for 6 weeks.  Cause if they fall out, not sure I can go through that experience again!  She should be able to start changing them out by her birthday in Oct, hopefully she lets me do that...

prepping the ears

Ready for the 1st piercing!  Oblivious...

Hurry and get the 2nd one in now!  Can you see the tears??

All done!  Mini makeover complete.  Now we are happy.

Oh!  I also decided to get my ears pieced with Carsyn.  Now I have them double pierced.  My husband has only been asking me to do this for a good 2-3 years now...

our pierced ears

Wrecked

It wouldn't be like me if I didn't post an injury update here and there. Something Carsyn and I have in common.

I went to my sports Dr today for my foot (and knees) and had xrays taken. Verdict is I can run (YAY) and the culprit is plantar fascia of the medial cord insert (BOO!). Not much I can do but stretch it, wear heel cups, no barefoot walking, etc. I can run but I need to come back in slowly and take it easy. Guess I caught it early enough to recover more quickly this time (hopefully). Check out my xrays, I have a wicked bone spur on my heel, you would have thought that was the culprit, but no. Oh! The straight on shot of my foot is showing an navicular OS (extra bone) on the inside of my arch, I had it removed when I was young and it grew back! UGH!

On another (kinda sad) note, I had my knees examined. They have bothered me for years. Turns out I have osteoarthritis (OA - wear and tear of the joints) and Patellofemoral Syndrome (overuse from vigorous athletics = pain). Yup, I was afraid it was that. The Dr actually said I was pretty young to have this much arthritis already...This means I need to do more cross-training, less high impact, take up biking/elliptical/rowing (WTF! I'm so not any of these) AND reduce running. My Dr cringed when I told him I had 4-5 halves in the next 6 months. Long story short - I can run, but the longer and harder distances will result in payment later (think knee scopes/replacement). So my full marathon days are officially over (never say never?), and I'll need to run less half marathons a year.

When I wreck myself, I go ALL THE WAY. Also attached are my xrays from 2005 when I broke my hip from my very 1st half marathon. Pretty nifty eh? Just call me bionic...cause soon my knees will be there...I think my body has been trying to tell me for years to stop running...but I don't listen.

link to pictures

In the past 2 days I decided to make a list of all my injuries/surgeries/etc.  I find it impressive.

• Extra bone removed right foot – elementary school
• Right hand pinky finger fractured playing VB (splint) – HS (95/96?)
• Several sprained ankles w soccer/VB - HS
• Wisdom teeth removal - sometime in HS
• Lasik (eyes) – March 18, 2005
• Left hip femoral neck break (surgery, screws in hip) – May 2005
• Softball to the chin, line drive, 9 stitches - June 2010
• C-section – April 2011
• Plantar fasciitis in both feet – May 2012
• Stress fracture left foot – Sept 2012
• C-section – Oct 2013
• TFL (Tensor fasciae latae) left hip strain – Aug 2016 – Dec 2016
• Broke right pinky toe – Sept 2017
• Plantar fascia right heel (medial cord insert) – Jun-Aug 2018 (and still going...)

  

cracked femoral neck 2005

screws to fix my hip

amazing heel spur - July 2018

extra bone grew back - Jul 2018

softball to face = stitches, June 2010

broken pinky toe Sept 2017

broken pinky toe

Ry turns 7!

My little boy is growing up so fast!  I can't believe he's now 7 years young; reading, protecting his little sister and mastering his humor/teasing.  He's such an amazing, loving, handsome, sweet, caring, kind, funny, intelligent, energetic little guy full of life and smiles! You love your family, friends and football and put all your heart and energy into everything you do. You make us very proud and we love you very much!  💝🎂🎉🎁

batkids

This year we celebrated his birthday with a batman theme 🦇 at DARTemUP.  We dressed up in bat apparel, engaged in nerf battles, played arcade games and ate pizza and batcake.  All in all an excellent time was had.  Ry was super excited to share his birthday with friends and family, and we couldn't have asked for better weather too! 

batman cake and cupcakes

A big thank you to everyone who came out and celebrated Ryland's 7th birthday with us❣ 💗

For a full recap go to MyMomsMemmos

All pictures located here

bat family