Back in the Heartland

“A tree takes a long time to grow, and wounds take a long time to heal. But we must begin. Those who are lost now belong to God. Some day we will be with them. But until that happens, their legacy must be our lives.”

-Bill Cinton in his Oklahoma Bombing Memorial Speech

 

I know the Boston Marathon and West, Texas tragedies are weighing hard on all of our hearts this week. As an Oklahoman, I know many people who can relate with everything that those affected are currently going through. I can’t say that I know firsthand; I was just 4 years old on the morning of the Murrah building bombing. The only thing I remember is my parents watching the news that evening and, even then, I don’t know if that’s a true memory. I had no idea until last year that my dad actually felt the blast while at work just a few blocks away. However, I do know that the tragedy brought us together and helped to shape us into the amazing community we are today.

I received a few texts immediately following the news of the Boston bombing, asking if I was still going to run the upcoming Memorial Marathon. They took me completely by surprise. It is almost a no-brainer that this marathon would go on. After all, that is exactly the spirit behind which it was organized. Last summer, I finally visited the Memorial with family members and I’ve never had a more humbling experience regarding my upbringing. I am so proud to be from a place which rose from a tragedy so gracefully and I am glad to see that Boston is doing the same. In a week’s time, I will be running the marathon. Not just for myself, not just to remember the 168 victims, but also to show my respect for the Boston community.

I personally hate politics because of how much it divides people. I hate election time. I hate to hear people bitching at each other because of differing views. Maybe I have the soul of an old hippie or something but I just wish we could exist as a country that works together and makes compromises in order for the best outcome. After visiting the memorial, the thing that stuck out to me most was how much support the rest of the country gave to Oklahoma in our time of need. 

If we can do anything to show the people of Boston that we are there for them, then, by God, let’s. Put on your red socks next Sunday and run the marathon, the 5k, the relay or just come out and cheer the runners on. <3

if I were moving any slower, I'd be going BACKward. (bam)

Whoops, it's been a while since my last post.

I've been just hanging out and loving life in Austin. There is definitely no other city I would rather be unemployed in BUT I would definitely rather be employed. I'm getting kind of worn down and stressed in the whole job search but I'm just going to keep plugging along and hopefully something will come up. I would really like to just spend the rest of my life doing odd jobs and enjoying Austin but, unfortunately, that's not real life. :/

SXSW is coming up and I am beyond pumped. Apparently going out in downtown Austin is basically free for 10 days straight. Hopefully, I will be volunteering some time and work for a launch party on that Monday - so that's super exciting and I'll have more to report on that later.

Maggie Mae is getting huge and causing all sorts of problems, of course. I'm working on training her to stop digging but it is definitely a challenge. I'll be filling in all of her current holes later today but that's fine because I love doing that stuff. Earlier this month I painted my dresser and I decided I just want to become a professional painter. :) My roommate works at Rework Project (http://www.reworkproject.org/ check them out, it's an awesome organization) and I'm hoping to bring in a couple of crates to put together for more storage. Maybe I'll just move to the streets and have her employ me as a Rework worker!!

Random picture time.

 I have had plenty of time to hit the gym so I am really creepy looking.

Also had some time to try a few new Pinterest recipes. This is the "Chubby Hubby" and though there were no hubbies to enjoy it, plenty of other people did! It's a peanut butter and chopped-up pretzel mixture dipped in chocolate. Delicious!

 My spoiled rotten puppy. This was at about 8 a.m. on a Sunday. I was not excited at the time.

 My half-finished dresser. I decided to make my room primarily teal, yellow, and pink. They don't really go together but they're my three favorite colors so why not!

My running is going really well. This was taken after running 13 miles last Thursday. I'm off to do an easy 6 or 7 today. Unfortunately, it is still really windy here but I'll do my best!


Okay, random/spaz post over. I hope the Oklahoma "blizzard" isn't messing up your day too much! I was planning to visit this weekend but it looks like I'll have to push it back to (hopefully) later this month. Looking forward to seeing you all then!

-B

no looking back

I can't believe it's already week three in Austin! I am freaking loving this place; it's definitely my speed. Caters to both my hobbies: going out and running (which totally do not mix with each other well, but I continue to try).

I have a couple of leads on some jobs but I'm still not employed full-time. I'm making a few decisions and I hope I will soon be getting a paycheck!

I took Maggie on a run this afternoon. It was barely 3/4s of a mile but this was the aftermath:

I cannot stress how ready I am to be able to take her on a run everyday! We're going to start doing a short run around the neighborhood once or twice a week until she's old enough. I want to keep her hips healthy but I would also love a way to instantly tire her out.

Speaking of running, my training is going really well. There are so many great places to run here and the weather is much more cooperative. The only downside is that it isn't as flat as Oklahoma but it's nothing I can't deal with it. The marathon is about 3 months away and I feel like I'm on a good track.

Missing everyone! I've moved up my visit day to March 1st, only a month from now! :)

nothing about my back so I don't have to have a clever title

Here's a quick one before watching my first Thunder game here. (I'm pretty excited about that!)

Today makes day 5 in Austin! In honor, I ran 5 more miles at Lady Bird Lake. I love my trail/lake runs and I can tell you this place doesn't disappoint.

This is Lou Neff Point which I stopped to enjoy on my first run in town. No idea who that guy is but he's got a damn good view.

Not much luck on the job hunt yet but I have found a lot of interesting companies that I would love to work for. I really hope to be able to get the experience and bring some of their innovative approaches back to the 405 one day. Here's hopin' and we'll see what happens there.

Maggie has been to two dog parks so far and loved them both. At the first one, she tried to escape into the freaking weird, jungle, residential wilderness and almost made it. Thanks to a good citizen and dog owner, I got her safely back into my car. I'm pretty positive she was aware how furious I was with her. I almost swore off dog parks altogether. Buuut she suckered me into it with that dang precious puppy face and we went to a new one this afternoon where she proceeded to let a pit bull bite the crap out of her until we had to leave.

And I just walked in on this. As you can see, she has a really rough life.

Oh, and I totally put together this shelf all by myself (minus the instructions and the call to my dad, of course). Obviously I'm becoming self-sufficient. I mean, slowly but surely anyway. :)

Hopefully I'll have some more exciting things to talk about in the upcoming week! Miss you all and can't wait to visit.

-B
(Yeah, I've been watching a lot of Gossip Girl during this job search. I hate myself but I'm totally signing my blogs like this now. Seriously, someone give me a job!)

moving forward

Maggie Mae and I have officially (well, sort of) settled in Austin. I'm all moved in to the new house - just have a few more boxes to unpack. I've spent the last two days unpacking and getting used to the city. Austin is way different than Norman and I'm already missing everyone like crazy but I'm glad to finally start this new chapter in my life.

The weather is going to start warming up for the rest of the week and I think tomorrow is the time to take Maggie to her first Austin dog park. She's going to freak out and love it, for sure. I can barely believe she's 6 months!

In other news, I will definitely be running the OKC Memorial Marathon; the full one this time! I'm a little nervous because I've been slacking so much lately but we'll see how it goes. Unfortunately, it will probably be my only full marathon just because of the stress on my back. I just keep reminding myself that I'll still be able to do shorter runs and that most normal people don't want to run 26.2 miles even once in their lives. :)

Okay, back to the job search! Have a great evening, all.

looking 'back'.

Gotta love the back puns as titles. :)

There are some things in this world that we may want beyond all reason but reality often has a way of popping up and making those things seem impossible. Instead of feeling defeated, we have to learn to adapt. One year ago today, I was involved in a ridiculous accident that left me feeling incredibly scared and defeated. My priorities changed and I learned the importance of the things and the people that I am so lucky to have in my life. I don't like that it took a serious back injury to get me to this point but, hey, at least I'm here.

Even though I don't generally see them as accomplishments, I've taken the time to sit down today and reflect on all the things I have done this year. It's my official day to congratulate myself :).

In April, I finished my second half marathon and even knocked about 10 minutes off my original time. In March, I trained for it and had much better runs than before my accident. There were definitely ups and downs - like the fear of not being able to finish and not even because of my back injury but because of a messed up foot. I'm registered to do the full marathon in 2013. So here we go!
In May, I decided to start seeing a nutritionist. I don't know that it's for me, but I do feel like I have tackled a lot of my issues. It's going to be something I deal with for the rest of my life but I am definitely in a good place with it.

A lot happened in August. I took a trip to Paris and London to visit my sister. By far one of the best experiences of my life and I would do it again any day! Right after that, I started my last semester at OU (crazy!) At the end of the month, I finally made the decision to get my puppy. She's tough sometimes but I couldn't love her more :).
Needless to say, since the puppy not much else has been going on. I'm looking to make a big move out of Oklahoma once I graduate. Nothing is final but I think it's something I need to do right now.

I have a lot to be thankful for and I'm ready to celebrate it all this holiday season!

Puppy love.

Meet my new best friend, Maggie Mae!

She's a.) the love of my life, b.) she's full black lab, and c.) she's already 9 weeks old!

I got her at the beginning of the month as just a baby 5 week old.

Now she's almost 13 pounds, started on her shots, crate-and-leash-training, and learning all sorts of new tricks. She can sit, shake, and lay down though we haven't quite figured out "stay."

So since a pictures worth a thousand words, I'll post a thousand of them :).

First day on the leash. She was not excited.