My Wagon's on the Oregon Trail

Date: October 1, 2008
Weather: Cool
Health: Excellent
Next landmark: approx. 3000 miles


I've got 74 bullets, 2 wagon wheels, four oxen and three good friends in tow. I think we'll succeed as long as we don't die of dysentery or lose our provisions and drown trying to ford the river.

Be back next week with tales of the pioneer life!

Who You Calling Healthy?

My friend Carolyn accused me of being healthy today and to prove to her that she was wrong, I listed the items that I have eaten over the past two days (as of 4:45 pm Monday).

Yesterday, I ingested the following:
-one entrée of sweet and sour chicken from Pei Wei
-one handful of BBQ potato chips
-one regular Italian Ice (mango)
-one Smithfield’s BBQ sandwich
-one 20 oz sweet tea
-one bowl of Fruit-O’s (bobo Fruit Loops)

Today, I have ingested the following:
-one sausage, egg and cheese croissant from Burger King
-one 12 oz Pepsi Cola
-three oatmeal butterscotch cookies
-one piece of a Hershey’s chocolate nugget
-two cupcakes
-half a bruegger’s sesame chicken salad

I am super ashamed of myself.

On second thought...

...Maybe I'll get some Wellie's instead.

{doesn't this picture make you want it to rain?}

Go Shorty. It's Your Birthday. We're Gonna Party...

She's just a regular kid! A regular kid who turned 28 yesterday!

Birthday shout out to Ashley! Happy Birthday!

When you're friends with Ashley you get free entertainment in the form of "Ashley Stories." In honor of her birthday, I'm going to share with you one of my all time favorite Ashley stories that was told again last night as we celebrated her birthday with dinner at Solas.

One day, Ashley went shopping with her mother who we affectionately refer to as Pen Reyn. Most people are not aware of this, but Ashley has the nickname of Sheena. We won't go into the background on all of that as we only have a certain amount of space per blog. So, as they were shopping, Ashley went into at full dressing room to try on some jeans and she hears her mother come into the dressing room saying "Sheena? Sheena?" Mortified, Ashley refused to answer and waited for Pen Reyn to retreat. To no avail, Pen Reyn did not leave but did manage to solicit the unwanted help of the attendant who also chimed in with "Sheena? Sheena?" Once the ladies had given up on finding Sheena in the dressing room, Ashley emerged to find her mother and the attendant waiting outside. The attendant said "you weren't answering your mother on purpose, now, weren't you?" Breaking into hysterics and knowing that she was going to get it, Pen Reyn hightailed it outta there leaving nothing but the sight of her bopping head among the clothes racks in her wake.

So, that's one of the many reasons why I love Ashley and I hope she had an awesome birthday!

Just For Kicks

My birthday is in less than two weeks and as a Happy Birthday To Me! gift, I was thinking about buying some new kicks. I think my old gray New Balance from college have seen better days and am thinking about switching it up with some Onitsuka Tiger’s.

So, whadda ya think?

Should I go with shoe #1?

Or, shoe #2?

I really like shoe #3 the best, but of course, I saw it in a magazine and can’t find this color anywhere. Woe is me.

{Oh, and the shoes are not $175.}

Check This Kid Out

One of my coworker's attended Boys Ranch and shared this with me today.

{I didn't have the option to embed, so you'll have to click the link.}

http://myhighplains.com/media_player.php?media_id=30251

I'm a Little Disappointed Right Now

It's official. I have sold my bib for the Portland Marathon. Just to back fill in case you've forgotten, I was planning on running the Portland Marathon on October 5 with my friends Sonya and Thayer. Sonya is injured and has been advised not to run the race. I have been plum lazy and haven't trained and have decided to back out. I feel like a quitter.

I didn't realize how hard it would be to train during the summer. And, I am a little burned out on running right now. I realized that I've been training for something pretty much non-stop since last August and I need a break. But, I'm not going to let all of my training waste away and am going to run the Outerbanks Half Marathon in November. Then, I'm taking a break and picking up something new.

I'll let you know how it goes.

But, on a happy note, I'm still going to Portland in one week!

The Cheez-it Challenge

What do young professionals do after bible study? We have Cheez-it challenges.

Challenge: Stuff as many Cheez-its as you can into your mouth.

Sam was the victor crunching 20 Cheez-its at once. In the midst of the challenge, I changed my game up and went with the “dip” method which was quite efficient really. Basically, I was stuffing the crackers in my jaws and under my lips as one might do with a pinch of snuff. Maybe if I practice that, I can dethrone Sam. We'll see.

Fall is Here!

My favorite things about fall:

-watching football and eating chili with fritos
-the cool crisp, clean air and really blue skies make running a lot more fun
-my birthday!
-going for walks and wearing my fleece with the leaves on the ground and rustling under my feet
- seeing the vibrant colors – red, orange, yellow, brown
-purple and yellow mums on the front steps
-the coziness of fall especially when you light candles in the house
-putting cinnamon in my coffee and taking a hiatus from the iced mochas
-new TV season
-pumpkin cookies and apple pie
-hay rides
-Halloween and candy corn
-wearing my boots

{Image from flickr}

I Paid Money To Read This: Bizarre Workouts

Last month, I did a post criticzing an article in Shape magazine. I pondered cancelling my subscription, but the wise MeMaw Martin suggested that I turn it into a blog series. So, without further ado, here is this month's I Paid Money To Read This.

This month's issue of Shape really didn't have an pearls of journalism wisdom in it like the gas article from last month. However, it did feature the most bizarre workout I have ever seen.

Exhibit A:

Crunch is now offering an anti-gravity yoga "wings" class where participants use a hammock to "stretch further and hold challenging postures longer." I've done regular old yoga once and pretty much did not enjoy it. Needless to say, the teacher did not enjoy me nor my friends nor our giggling. How was I to know she was saying "namaste" and not "Amadeus?" So, as for wings yoga, I think I'll pass. I can only imagine how much that teacher would hate me and my giggles if I had to try to hang upside down in that hammock thing. Oh, man!

Go Shorty. It's Your Birthday. We're Gonna Party...

My sister Lauren’s 25th birthday was September 5.

In the middle of tropical storms, a nasty virus and just a bunch of stuff going on, I have neglected to give her a birthday shout out.

So, to celebrate her turning a quarter of a century, I asked a special guest to make a cameo appearance.

{she does one mean Horatio impression}

HAPPY BIRTHDAY {a little late} LAUREN!

Weekend in Pictures: Smith Mountain Lake

This weekend was bee-u-ti-ful! We went to John's parents' house at Smith Mountain Lake in Virgina and did absolutely nothing. It was great! So, in the true fashion of laziness, I have two pictures.

We did this.



And, this.

Where Do You Go, My Lovely

Yup, you’re probably all singing that song to me right now. I know. I know. I disappointed you greatly last week. My wit was not bestowed upon you and you are sad. Alas, I am back and I am ready to provide my excuses for what was up.

I’m not going to get to much into it, but I had some distractions last week, things were a little crazy and It’s More Than A Drawl, Ya’ll suffered as a result. I apologize.

Also, last week was back to bible study time for Ashely. Kids go back to school. Ashely goes back to church. Well, I never left, really, but all of the fall activities kicked in this week and I was busy, busy, busy.

Bible Study Fellowship started on Monday. We’re studying the life of Moses this year and I’m super excited about it. I think Moses and I would be pals. I just envision him to be this Jerry Garcia-ish hippie roaming about the desert with some long gray rockin’ dreads. D.L. Moody said that Moses spent 40 years learning something, 40 years learning to be nothing and a final 40 years proving God to be everything. I love that. Hopefully, God’s going to teach me a lot over the next year and I hope to share that with you here on The Drawl.

The CYC girl’s bible study is still in full swing. We’re currently in chapter four of James. If you haven’t really taken the time to study James, I highly recommend that you do it. Small book. Lots of application.

And, finally, Greenhouse is rounding out my fall schedule. Greenhouse is a required class that you have to take in order to become a member of Colonial Baptist Church.

Oh, and I have a marathon on October 5 and a half marathon on November 9.

So, those are my excuses for being MIA. It’s my goal to not let it happen again. I expect you to hold me accountable.

Oh BHS!

I haven't had time to post today as I've been helping out with some Class of 98 reunion stuff!

Catch ya'll next week!

I Need Some Inspiration

This picture makes me drool. I love the staircase and the photographs! Maybe it'll spark something inside me. I've been in a rut lately and don't have much to say. Sorry for the lack of blogging.

Do you have anything inspiring to share?

Weekend in Pictures: Everybody Wants To Be A Tar Heel!

This week's edition of Weekend in Pictures is limited to one photograph.

Not sure of who that is? Maybe this will jog your memory.

Now, before you go to making comments on my post trying to justify his light blue braclet, his appearance behind the Tar Heel bench and his clapping along with the Carolina fight song with the excuse that his brother is our quarterback, I have something to say.

# 1. His brother is our backup quarterback.

# 2. I DON'T CARE!

Let's say one of my siblings was to loose their mind and decide to participate in some sort of athletics at Dook. Sure, I would be supportive of my loved one, but under NO circumstances would I ever sport anything resembling the filth of a Blue Devil or would I ever clap along to the fight song. You best believe that I would roll up to Durham head to toe in light blue chanting U-N-C Go Heels Go! the whole way. And, before you say, well, they weren't playing Dook. So? Who cares?

And, Paula rolling up in the middle of enemy territory wasn't the only kooky thing to go down that night.

The skydivers delivered the ball to the wrong stadium. How one confuses Kenan Stadium with Wallace Wade is beyond me. Did the pilot not notice the lack of spectators or the fact that Wallace Wade looks like a track and field stadium? Hmm. He was probably a State grad.

And, to wrap it all up, there was a hour and a half lightening delay that resulted in the scoreboard going out and I heard rumors about concrete rocks falling in the stands. I hope this isn't a sign of the times to come for the 2008 Carolina football season.