Races of 2014

Things have been pretty boring in my part of the world nowadays.

In mid-January, I joined a weight loss challenge with my aunt and uncle that was for 12 weeks.During these 12 weeks, I worked my butt off going to the gym almost every day, and did a lot of meal prep. I made myself snacks and lunches, and did a ton of portion control. I kept track of all of this using the My Fitness Pal app. I lost about 10 pound in the 12 weeks, and I am happy to say that I have kept it off. I have definitely fallen off the wagon as far as keeping my meals healthy and exercising regularly, so keeping off the weight has been a miracle.

I have run a little bit, but I haven't done it consistently enough to brag about it. But I have ran in a few races. The first one was in March. It was a 4k trail run, and it KICKED MY BUTT. I knew the trail would be difficult, but I definitely did not prepare myself for just how difficult it would be. We ran in the Turkey Mountain Wilderness area here in Tulsa. The trail was up and down and rocky and muddy and slippery. But I finished it in 40 minutes and 39 seconds. I was super proud of myself. AAAAAND a picture from that day:

Near the finish line

Then in April I ran the Color Run with one of my friends from high school. We didn't keep track of the time that we finished, but I highly suggest you run The Color Run at some point in time with some friends. It's so much fun!

In May, I decided to run the Burgers & Baseball 5k, also put on by Fleet Feet so that I could have a fun 5k to run in downtown Tulsa while also getting discounted tickets for a Drillers game. This allowed me to purchase an extra ticket so that I could treat my mother to a Drillers game. She has not been to the new Driller stadium, so I thought this would be a fun way to get tickets. As I mentioned before, I have not been running consistently, and downtown Tulsa is pretty hilly. So again, this one kicked my butt too. As evidenced by the photo below.  I finished this one in 43 minutes, 16 seconds.

Also at the finish line

Now, I am signed up to walk the Firecracker 5k. I would run it, but I signed up to do it with a friend, and she is having some major back issues and cannot run. So I'm excited to start my holiday weekend off in a slightly healthy manner. It will be followed by an afternoon matinee seeing Wicked with my mom. Unfortunately, after Wicked, I will be working all weekend at the baseball fields. But I guess money is never that bad of a thing to have. It's just unfortunate that I'll be spending my three-day weekend working.

Today is relaxing and doing a whole lot of nothing until I go watch True Blood with my friend Michelle later this evening. Hope you all have a relaxing Sunday as well!!

New Orleans: A Haunted History Tour (repeat photos)

When mom and I decided on a cruise that sailed out of New Orleans versus Miami, I was instantly excited for what awaited me in the city. You see, this wasn't going to be my first time there. I've been before (mom and I are still kind of arguing over how many times before), and have VERY fond memories of the time(s) I've spent there. I've been to the Laura Plantation, a creole plantation that was painted bright red, yellow, and green (Alpha Gam!). I've been to the Oak Alley Plantation, which by itself is completely breathtaking as you head toward the main house (and you see it in Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter). I've been to the Audobon Aquarium of the Americas. I've had a crawfish boil in the park. I went to the Cheesecake Factory for the first time in New Orleans. I shopped in the French Quarter. I ate at the Cafe Du Monde. I had even been on Bourbon Street, but since the last time I was there I was 17, I didn't get to participate fully in the nightlife that New Orleans offered.

But the time I had spent in New Orleans before, I had always wondered about the Haunted History tours. You see, I am a very strange person and I like weird stuff. I don't think I actually believe most of the stories, but they are fun to listen to, nonetheless. Mom, Jacob, and I set out for breakfast around 10 a.m. We mistakenly tried to eat at Cafe Du Monde, but the place had a line halfway down the street. So as we continued on, I saw a New Orleans visitor center advertising for the tours. We went in, put a "don payment/reservation" in, and were told we could go on the tour at either 6 or 8. We opted for the earlier tour.

Our first stop took us to this building that is now a restaurant:

I can't remember the name of the restaurant, or why exactly they say it was haunted, but I do know that one of the "spirits" that haunts it always used to have a guest here. So now there is a table at the back of the restaurant for two-the spirit and his guest. (Man I'm telling a great story)

Roaming even more into the French Quarter brought us to this place:

It is a museum, but they rarely post when they are open. The only thing our tour guide told us about it is that you see this building in the movie "Interview with a Vampire." I've never actually seen the movie so I can't tell you what part of the movie it is in. But they go into more detail about this place in the Vampire History tour, which we did not go on. Oh, and that this is one of the only 3 buildings that did not burn down in the fires in the 1800s. One of the other two was an old Pirate bar!

Our next stop on the tour took us across the street from the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum, which our tour guide pointed out to us because he practices the voodoo religion. Said it is a great place to learn more about and understand the religion if anyone is interested:

Across from the museum, he told us a story about these "Romeo and Juliet" spikes:

Basically, they were created to deter young men from taking the purity away from the young women. They couldn't sneak out of windows. But this place in particular is haunted because of not only did someone's boyfriend die from jumping out of the window, but this is also one of the houses that was affected by the numerous unsolved murders that occurred in the late 1700s.

Our next stop took us to the Laurie mansion:

Madame La Laurie owned this place, and would throw fabulous parties. All of her husbands mysteriously died throughout her tenure oat the house. And little did the socialites know, she was FREAKING CRAZY. No for real. She and one of her slaves were running an experiment shop in her slave quarters. She ran real human experiments and all the ones that worked she would sell to the circus. So the "freaks" in the circus weren't necessarily always born that way. It was kind of sickening. She also trapped a lot of her slaves in the basement, and when police went to go try to find survivors, they heard faint screaming and thought the house was haunted. No, it was just people screaming for their lives.

Nicholas Cage used to own this house, but never stayed in it. It "currently sits empty" but there are also rumors that Johnny Depp owns it. Which wouldn't surprise me.

Our next stop in the tour took us across from this place. Now, it isn't haunted, but I thought it was freaking cool. The Vatican Archives are housed in this building. You must have direct orders FROM THE POPE in order to go inside (if you aren't already in there):

The story of the haunted driveway is that there was a great shootout, and the people "on the wrong side of the law" won. The shootout was super smokey and hundreds of shots were fired, but not one person from the wrong side lost their life. Anyways, there was this pretty courtyard that was next to the driveway:

Oh, and the owner of the house from the driveway shootout owned the pasta factory in town. And all French Quarter is in the historic registry, so this building will forever look like it doesn't belong (it used to be the pasta factory):

If you ever find yourself in New Orleans, you should definitely check out the Haunted History Tour! It is featured on the Travel Channel (I believe), so it's not a bunch of people jumping out at you trying to scare you. They just give you a brief history of New Orleans' haunted areas and what made them haunted. It was a cool way to spend a few hours walking around the city!

Vacation 2012: New Orleans (photo dump)

I'm just going to break this all up for you guys, and it's going to be a lot of photo dumping. But I hope you enjoy all the cool sites I got to see while I was on vacation :)

We left Friday the 13th of July. Now I don't normally believe in bad omens or anything like that, but I highly doubt I will ever make travel plans for Friday the 13the EVER again. We left Tulsa area around 5 a.m. Around 7:15, after we had crossed into the Arkansas state line, the car died, and we later found out it was the alternator. SIGH. So after spending six hours, SIX HOURS, at the automotive shop, we finally got back on the road to New Orleans. Unfortunately, we didn't arrive there until well after midnight, so we just ordered some pizza and crashed out at the very cool Queen and Crescent Hotel. So we woke up on Saturday morning and went out to play in New Orleans.

Big Easy Daiquiris at 10 a.m.

The side of the hotel we stayed in

World Famous Pat O'Brien's hurricanes 

home of the original Muffuletta

the original muffuletta. So delicious!

Jacob in front of the cathedral

Lousiana Supreme Court. I just thought the architecture was cool!

some kids playing jazz in the square

A cool way to spend a few hours in New Orleans!

haunted place #1, now a restaurant

haunted place #2. You can see this building in "Interview with a Vampire"

Museum of the Voodoo religion

"Romeo and Juliet spikes" - you crawl up them as a Romeo, you slide down them and become a Juliet. ha ha ha

cool looking voodoo doll in a shop window

a bunch of galleries in a row in the French Quarter

The Laurie mansion, previously owned by Nicholas Cage and now rumored to be owned by Johnny Depp

looking up into the courtyard at the Laurie mansion

The Vatican Archives in the middle of the French Quarter

really pretty courtyard next to a haunted driveway

The building that looks like it doesn't belong used to be a pasta factory. That's right, a pasta factory in the middle of New Orleans.

high five!

if you look closely in the middle, you can see the initials "AP." The woman designed all the buildings in Jackson Square!

Jacob is actualy short to someone :)

REALLY cool artwork in the square. The artist let me take pictures!

he uses battery operated tea lights to add light to his artwork :)

I gambled with $5. I don't like gambling.

local and live bluegrass band at the restaurant we ate dinner for.

The Cats Meow, a karaoke bar. You can watch the people singing online. And no that is not me, I do not karaoke, but it looks like me in this picture.

Tomorrow I'm going to tell you ALL about the haunted history tour! It was really neat!!

2011 in Review

I really think I want to make this an annual tradition. I had so much fun making the photo collages from 2010 in Review last year! I also like looking back on all the memories of the year. I don't do a Christmas letter yet, but if I did, I'm sure it would be along the lines of the commentary here! Here is a review of some of the highlights of 2011.

I rang in the New Year in Phoenix, AZ with my absolute best friend. She and I were completely ridiculous, as expected, and still giggle about it to this day. I then got to watch my Sooners win the Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Day, making it the first BCS bowl victory in a while. I spent a total of about two weeks in Arizona with my best friend, and then made the trek home by myself to prepare for my final semester as an undergrad.

me, Katy, and Sarah on NYE in Scottsdale

Alpha Gams at the Fiesta Bowl

February seems to always be a blur to me. Maybe it's just because school hasn't actually started to get too busy, or maybe because it's the shortest month of the year. Anyways. I can tell you this. I partied. And it snowed a blizzard here in Oklahoma (during which Rags and I went from coworkers to BFF). And I had an emergency appendectomy that caused me to have to come back home for a week while I recovered. That week home made me miss a date party and the Thunder-Clippers game and the basketball game made me sad. But the good part of that is that I did get to see my baby brother play the last three games of his basketball career.

MARCH WAS AMAZING!!! The only thing I can REALLY tell you about is my spring break trip. Way back in my third semester of college, I decided that I wanted to save up money to take myself on a spring break trip my last semester. I asked my good friends to tag along, and we rented a beach house on Treasure Island in Florida. For the most part, we swam at the beach all day and then cooked and played drinking games all night. But St. Patrick's Day was the best ridiculousness ever. So many memories were made on that trip. Like cartwheels for everyone but me because my incision site still had a scab on it.

me and Katy on St. Patrick's Day

Most of the group-me, Colleen, Caroline, Max. Missing Katy and Cole

Katy and I on the beach at sunset

April was a typical busy month for me, filled with lots of tests, projects, our annual philanthropy, Relay for Life, and my last date party ever. With the last party also comes senior week, and as always it was sad and hilarious at the same time. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to my pledge class or my sorority, so you can bet your booty I cried A LOT that week. I also won my first ever intramural tournament for co-ed slowpitch softball with a great group of random guys and gals and had a lot of fun while doing it. TEAM USA!

All the people who played me

One of my littles. I'm dressed as Ally Sheedy from The Breakfast Club, she as "Baby" from Dirty Dancing

me and my date to the date party-Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy from The Breakfast Club

me and another little. She's from Tron

my amazing driver for the night :)

In May, I took my final finals of undergrad, celebrated probably wayyy too much, and then I said goodbye to the town I called my home for 5 years. Graduation was bittersweet. My baby brother and I graduated about 30 minutes apart, so the family was split on who came to my graduation. Instead of it being the full family picture outside Lloyd Noble I wanted, it was just me, Jared, and Mimi. BUT Erika DID surprise me, making me cry.

Mimi, me, and Jared on my graduation

I then returned home to Sperry, only to move in with my BFF Sean and his parents for the summer.


Not having a job got on my nerves quick, and I began to apply for bank positions at various banks here in Tulsa. I went through two rounds of interviews for one bank, and began my job on June 8. Unfortunately, I also said goodbye on June 7 to my oldest brother, as he left Tulsa for boot camp and would return the first week of November.

saying goodbye to my brother

July seems to be a blur with 4th of July, hanging out with my coworker Shawna all the time, and ending the the month with going to and meeting Ke$ha in concert. Concert of epic proportions. :)

In August, I said goodbye to the boy I had been dating all summer, and spent a lot of time hanging out with Shawna and some of our new friends. I got to spend time with Katy just before she left to go back to school for her final year, and then my youngest brother started college. I took an evening to go to Stillwater to take him and his friend to dinner. I also moved back in with my mom while I was waiting to move into my apartment complex.

In the first week of September, I said goodbye to the man who has been like a grandfather to me since a spring day when I was in second grade and went to his house to ask for a softball. If you asked him how many grandkids he had, he wouldn't say 5. He'd tell you about 20. That's just the man he was.

September wasn't all bad. I also got to meet new people, spend a lot of time with friends throughout the month (including a surprise visit from my friend Eli), and prepare for my move into my very first place.

The beginning of October was the best ever. I moved into my first ever apartment, I got a brand new phone, and then I got to Dallas for OU/TX weekend. And. It. Was. Fantastic. I also got to take my then-16-year-old cousins to their first ever concert at the Tulsa State Fair to see one of our favorite bands, Eli Young Band.

my first ever Oktoberfest with a coworker!

Eli Young Band concert

final score of the OU/TX game!

November was a busy month. I hosted a Scentsy party, welcomed my oldest brother home from basic and AIT training, celebrated the best holiday ever (Thanksgiving), and then I also celebrated my 24th birthday. I'M TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OLD. It's weird.

me and the twins at The Christmas Train

In December, I started working out with one of my coworkers (KK) to help us get a little more healthy. When we went this past week, she said she can already tell that she can run and do more than she ever has before. I don't feel like I'm getting much better, but it's nice to know that I am helping someone else accomplish so much!

I also got to attend The Nutcracker with two of my best friends and then we had an epic birthday bash at our local pub downtown. I also went to lots of Christmas parties and had a dang good month of December. I closed off this past weekend with spending time with Shawna for her birthday, and then ringing in the new year with my BFF Katy. It was a great evening.

Adam, me, and John at the epic birthday bash at The Max

me, Shawna, Morgan, and Emily at The Max

me and Katy at The Max

These are just highlights of what happened in 2011. Going through the pictures, I realized just how much I had forgotten to mention, like going to the World Cup of Softball in July with my cousin Emma, and coming home in February for MacKenzie's homecoming. 2011 was great. Had some ups and downs like any other year, but I'm excited to see what 2012 has in store for me!