October Desktop

I hope your month of October is filled with more treats than tricks!

The Case of the Painful Shinkles Solved!

I am super super stoked to report that Marcus and Runtex worked together to solve my shinkle pain.

Marcus noticed that I was lacing up my shoes too tight. Last Sunday I went for a run with my shoes MUCH looser than I normally do. My shinkles did not hurt. To quote the Runtex worker, I was "choking" my feet.

After that run though, my heel was bothering me. I have a mild case of heel spurs so that looseness of my shoe made my foot/heel hit the ground more often. I purchased some heel inserts made to absorb 97% of the shock of running. Combined, it all worked and I ran longer and more than I have in weeks.

Yea!

Fun Filled Day

This morning started bright and early with breakfast at the Pancake House. Marcus and I met up with my Mom, sister Tiffany, Kyleigh and Cohen. We were celebrating Kyleigh's birthday with presents- a singing Hannah Montana doll and some new clothes.

Cohen was having a great time smiling for the camera. He is looking like a real boy now instead of a baby boy. I love his little square chin and his spiked hair.





After breakfast, we drove to the nearby middle school to watch the pop warner Lockhart Lions beat the Pflugerville Panthers. Kyleigh and the girls cheered the boys on to victory!









Finally, I spent the afternoon making Halloween cards at Brandy's house. We made 10 really spooky cards to haunt the mailboxes of our friends and family. Check your box soon for a Halloween treat!

While I was stamping, Marcus saw the new Resident Evil movie. He does not recommend it to a soul. It was bad.

Kyleigh's Birthday Pics

Tiffany sent me over some pictures of Kyeigh (and her loving little brother) that were taken on her actual 6th birthday. Check out the classic missing teeth for this age and the pre-teen fashion with 3 bracelets on one arm. Tiffany is in for some fashion fights!

Happy 6th Birthday Kyleigh!

Happy 6th Birthday Kyleigh!

This picture is from her 4th birthday party at Libby Lu. She loved it so much, she is going back to Libby Lu on Saturday to celebrate with her cousin and best friend. We'll have birthday pics to share over the weekend.

My New Digs...

One of the many benefits of leaving Keller Williams is leaving the land of cubicles behind and going back to a quiet office environment. I had forgotten how much I like the silence (or at least my choice in music) when I work. Here is my sad sad cubicle on my last day.



And, here is my new office on my first day! Believe it or not, I got my old desk back. It is by far the best desk I have ever had- really deep with big drawers and no lap drawer, which us leg crossers can really appreciate.

Notice the pretty yellow flowers on my desk... my good KW friend Andrea sent those to me as a good luck charm!


Finally, this is the other corner of my office with my new artwork hung nicely on the wall. Check out the old school clunky big white monitor. I hear it will be dying next week when the new fiscal year and budgets kick in. I'm looking forward to crisper letters on my screen once again.

They are so in LAUVE!

Marcus and I attended Brandi and Daniel's wedding on Saturday night. Brandi and I worked together at Keller Williams. When I started working there, they were just dating and we often teased Brandi about Daniel's last name- Lauve, pronunced like lava without the last a. We would tell her we LAUVED her outfit or that Daniel was in LAUVE with her. Last night, she become an official LAUVE!
(Check out my cute husband in his new sport coat. By far, the most expensive item of clothing Marcus has ever bought!)




It was a fun night with many of my KW friends. Brandi has great taste and her wedding was beautiful down to the littlest of details. I enjoyed the Pomegranate Martinis the most! Who knew!

Pictured are: Andrea, Mary, Brandi, Daniel, Anna, Laura and Dawn

Congrats to the newlyweds and enjoy your week on the beach!

Big kids night out

Friday night we got to have a couples night out at Main event. 11 of us showed up for the event, and we got to play around like the big kids we are. We had the pizza...and played a round of glow in the dark golf....Grats to Shane for his victory...But Jess had some of the most fun climbing on the stuff...And by the way, blacklight makes people with light eyes and good teeth look really really scary.

The night ended with a split up of half the group going to get gelato, and the other half going to the laser tag arena for a battle royale. Which we won.

As the gamers say...WOOT!

MJ

My Work Family

Tomorrow is my last day at Keller Williams. While I am excited (okay, really really excited) I am also sad to leave behind some really nice co-workers that I was just getting to know.

We went to lunch yesterday to celebrate and reminisce. I'm sorry that not everyone could come, but am grateful to have had a tableful of such great people.

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

Saturday morning we watched Kyleigh cheer on the Lockhart Lions. She is a cheerleader for a Pop Warner football team from her school. Kyleigh and Kendall did a great job cheering on the little boys. They took a couple of little breaks and smiled for the camera.

Here they are watching the game. Note, Kyleigh is almost six in this photo and Kendall standing next to her is eight! I promise you Kyleigh will be taller than me in elementary school! Saturday morning before the game she brushed her teeth in our bathroom and for the first time ever, did not use the stool to reach the sink. I clearly remember brushing her teeth, then holding her up to the sink, buying a stool for her and now, she can reach flat footed. It makes me a little sad!

America Needs Your Vote

I don't normally post about things not directly related to me or my family, but this is neat-

Go to www.vote756.com to place your vote on what rich designer Mark Ecko should do with Barry Bond's record breaking baseball that he bought online from the 21 year old that caught it. In case you were interested and just missed your chance, it sold for more than $750,000.

Option #1- Send it to the Hall of Fame.

Option #2- Brand it with an asterick before sending it to the Hall of Fame. It marks your belief that Barry Bonds broke the record because of performance enhancing drugs.

Option #3- Launch the baseball into space!

Mark Ecko has promised to do what America decides. Voting ends on September 25th.

book notes

So I decided to hikack the blog here for a post....and use it as my personal soap box for a second here...

You know, there have been three books (well, two books, and a short story) that I read during my high school days, that just didn't hit me how important they are, until just recently. These are the books that I think that just about everybody should pick up, if for nothing else, to see where we can't let our society go to.

Bradbury published this originally in 1953, right around when the cold war started getting going. The point of the book is to follow Guy Montag around...a fireman whose job is to burn books.

While a lot of the book seems scifi ish...its the purpose behind the story that packs a meaning...why burn books? Because if you can't publish offensive material, no one can be offended. So to be safe, just don't write anything compelling, contradictory, or agains the flow. free speech is sacrificed for stability in society.

In 1946, right after Hitler, and during Stalin, Orwell outlines the day in the life of Winston Smith...living under the harsh rule of a dictatorship of 'Big Brother'. Its a harsh life, where everyone must watch what they say, and what they do, because Big Brother is watching you.

Again, as you read the book, you see that the outlandish state of affairs that Winston lives in has some very real grounding. Rights and privledges are taken away at the preservation of the greater good of the state to fight a greater evil....other nations. It becomes evident that winning the war at any cost is just not worth it sometimes....

Finally, 1961, Kurt Vonnegut wrote the short story Harrison Bergeron. Where Orwell and Bradbury's fictional time has come and gone (1984 has passed us..) This is set in 2081..where everyone is now equal. The only thing is....what do you do with those that are better than average? You make them average. The other thing...where do you draw the subjective line for 'average'?

Here's where HB is...http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html

That's my rant. I like my books. Of course, you can also bring up Lord of the Flies, Catcher in the Rye, etc etc..but if you only had a weekend to catch up, you could knock these three out in no time.

How Did We Do It?

I grew up with a swimming pool in my backyard and I could spend hours in that pool everyday. Last night, I decided to take it easy on my "shinkles" (the shin and ankle area that bothers me after a run/walk) and swim for 30 minutes.

Dear God! I did 5 laps with long breaks in between and thought I was going to die. Note to self, get in shape while younger. Swimming laps at 31 is work!

CASA 5K Completed

This morning Marcus and I ran/walked the CASA 5K. It was a tough morning- very early, hot, and incredibly humid! We were sweating just stretching and walking from the car!

My goal was under 50 minutes. Last month on the treadmill I completed the 5K in 52. I ended up completing the race at about 49 minutes. Although encouraged, I recognize the Marathon Relay is just 3 months away and I have to improve to have a respectable 5.5 mile time! I also need to get better equipment- dry fit shirt, taller socks (blisters!) and something to assist my aching shins!

Marcus wanted to complete the race in 25 minutes. He came really close! The humidity also killed him. He definetely enjoyed the water balloons from the kids post-race.

Our next 5K is next month! Here's hoping we can improve our times!

My Second Favorite Day of the Year

Today is my second favoriate day of the year. What day is it? It is opening day of the professional football season! I love watching football on the couchwith Marcus. The new TV is nice for watching the boys play.

This year I have two fantasy football teams, a pro pick'em account and am playing survival football. And you ask if I am competitive?

Here's to a great season for my Broncos and Bears!

Anna

PS- Of course my favorite day of the year is Christmas. Presents and football trump just football!

New Job!

I am super stoked to report that I will have a new job at the end of this month! The blog should fill up with lots of fun Marcus and Anna adventures now that I will have more time to spend with friends and family! Hip Hip Hooray!

I worked at the Texas Academy of Family Physicians for 4 1/2 years when Marcus and I first moved to Austin. I am going back there as the Director of Education where I will be a meeting planner and a leader for their educational department and staff. I am really looking forward to rejoining the association world and seeing old co-workers again.

With a Big Smile on My Face-
Anna

Welcome to HD.... sort of!

On Friday, our new entertainment center was delivered and the new 40" Samsung LCD HDTV was purchased, just in time for football season.

Why the sort of? We don't currently have an HD capable satelite dish, so now we have to schedule DirectTV to come out and install one! Ugh! I was really looking forward to crystal clear games.

Notice the large copper pot on the left of the center, I have been drooling over this pot since I saw it in Salado months ago. We drove through Salado to go to Dallas and stopped at the store to purchase it. Although they were not open, we saw someone inside, knocked loudly and begged. She allowed us to make an early morning purchase. I am so very grateful!

Weekend in Dallas

Marcus and I enjoyed a Labor Day weekend trip to Dallas to visit Courtney and Jason, Marcus' cousin.

Courtney and I shopped and saw Becoming Jane, the story of Jane Austen. Marcus and Jason played video games and spent a lot of time swimming in the Murphy's pool.

Thanks for having us!

FYI- The Red Raiders also enjoyed a nice weekend in Dallas, beating SMU 49-9!

Keller Williams Mega Camp

Like most people, I recognize that when I talk about my job and what I do, most people do not understand.

A few weeks ago I worked a Keller Williams event called Mega Camp and snuck a couple of pics with my camera phone.

This picture is of the general session- there are 6 total screens, 42 sections of staging, hundreds of feet of drape, hundreds of lights and more than 3000 chairs in this room. Total cost to design, build and equip this room = $325,000.

While at Mega Camp, we also planned a VIP concert with Kenny Loggins at One World Theatre, a cool private event venue in Westlake.

There were 300 people in attendance for the show. They paid $10,000 to $20,000 per table of 10. That included dinner, the concert, a shuttle or limo ride to the venue and Kenny Loggins goodies.