Gecko v.s. Lauren

Okay, has anyone else noticed all the little geckos that are everywhere outside? I know we see them more in the summer but really, on the walls, outside my house, windows, and the occasional one that had to come inside when I was at home by helpless little (bug terrified) self. Now I don’t know what he was thinking, but I’m pretty sure we were both petrified in this situation….

You know, they do this (what I call) wiggly snake run in the door and across the floor, and of course that’s when I screech aaahhhjuuhhhahs. (or something pretty close to that which probably could have made someone roll on the floor laughing) Now let me just say that I know how small these little lizards are, but they are just so creepy like a snake or something. So naturally I’m on a kitchen chair, and the poor thing is trying be invisigecko next to the wall. (this is when I realized I had to grow some courage, and thought I could catch him and save him…..yea it gets better)

Now since I am still on this chair, I spot one of those annoying flyer pieces of mail; you know the ones that are thick like cardboard. So I grabbed it off the kitchen counter while still keeping an eye on the lizard. Now I had to get him on the piece of paper; can’t be that hard right? WRONG. I mean that began me walking around with this piece of paper trying to get it to walk up onto it slowly, but instead every time it would take off running in the opposite direction or towards my feet. Then I would jump and squirm doing this “I am trying not to be terrified of a tiny gecko” dance. I know what your all thinking, just pick it up right? But, what if he looses his tail, I mean that has to hurt so bad!! So I ended up giving up, and he ran into this little storage area we have.

This concludes the score:
Gecko- 1
Lauren- 0

On the Pontoon

These are a few iPhone pictures to describe my weekend with some of my family. An all picture post today instead of writing!:)

Holy beef jerky

Today I woke up, and packed for a weekend at the lake with the family. You know family trips are always interesting, but this morning my family was especially prepared with no one packed to go so it was a little hectic. It’s a short road trip, but I was excited to travel to a new place, and be at the lake. I love road trips. This might sound weird, but after packing a bag to go, it’s actually so relaxing to drive on the open road. This is what I could see driving…

So while we headed out to to the lake we made our first traditional pit stop at the Cooper Farms Peach Stand in Fairfield, Texas (had to get a box of peaches of course). We have always stopped there since I was little, and had peaches before heading out. It was so juicy, and amazing!

After we all had peaches (got cleaned up); back on the road we went. This part of the trip was the cause for a major jam out music session. Thank goodness I do not have pictures of that, because you can only imagine right? However, after a little bit of driving we were tired, and our next traditional pit stop is Woody’s Smokehouse, also known as the Jerky Capital of the World…the world’s best beef jerky! on exit 164 in Centerville, Texas. After stopping and getting back in the car, I soon realized what we had gotten ourselves into..that’s when my mom said “holy beef jerky!!!!!” and I couldn’t stop laughing. That is how I came upon this picture, and what is a blog post without lots of pictures of your experiences. The best part is the day isn’t even over yet….

What do you do when your 30 minutes from your destination going through a beautiful town, not driving, don’t have time to stop the car, but want to take a picture you ask??? Well of course roll the window down to get the shot when the AC is cranked, but I had no idea it would cause such a tropical storm in the front seat with the freezing car AC v.s. the humid hot Texas air…..next stop Lake Livingston! It’s about to get wild! (okay.. Maybe not wild)

Hello lake, football, pontoon boat, fishing poles, and glow in the dark worms? (yea they were only one of the many items of bait that were quickly into the water just waiting to be fish dinner) Chara quickly had the bait fish out pretending it was her temporary pet with scales, then threw him out into the water. I love my funny family. And the day end without a beautiful sunset over the lake right? Nope of course not, I still ran to the grocery store with my aunt to get some much needed things for the next few days, and why wouldn’t we get the campfire marshmallows for s’mores. Because they are HUGE, and make the best experience for smores EVER.

good music and great endings

My brother plays guitar, and I guess I haven’t heard him play a lot since I have been away at school for a little while. Let this be said, he has gotten really good at acoustic. He was just making up some music, jamming out, and I was so impressed by what he could do! So, me being the proud big sister asked him if I could record him playing some music, and of course I got the response, “ummm, no! What are you going to use it for?” I know he got shy, by me asking him to do that on the spot, so I didn’t ask again. Then I was just sitting there listening to him play again. My next question was to get some cool pictures of him playing the guitar. I couldn’t let this moment of his musical talent pass by! He finally agreed, and I took a couple of pictures. (This is now my proud sister moment)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So as I was editing the photos, and writing this blog I thought of an idea. I thought maybe with the help of my readers I could share my little brothers music with all of you. I want to get as many likes on this blog post as I can to show my brother how many people support him, and want to listen to him play! Next time I blog (today or tomorrow), I want to share a video of him playing music.

Wanted to also share a friends blog with you guys called Gloriously Ruined. She is currently on her way to Ethiopia with her husband; I am praying for her, and her sweet family. She is so great, and you should read her blog too.:)

And one more time.

You can do it with determination (oh and 5k runner)

This post begins with me looking for a new app on my phone to keep track of my work outs better. I have to use myfitnesspal for my class I am currently taking, but I wanted another to track other cardio workouts better while I am working out. Particularly, my length of workouts (walking, running, and what not so I could work on my fitness and things with the app). So, I went to the app store on my phone and looked up running and found a whole list of free and paid apps. First ones to catch my eye after pulling a couple up were 5k runner, and 10k runner. Some others I found were Nike+ Runner, RunKeeper (iPhone and Android), and MapMyRun GPS.

So I just bought a new app for my iPhone, and I don’t purchase too many apps, just because a lot are free. However, I have heard about this app for the iPhone called 5k runner that trains you for a 5k in 8 weeks. Since I like to find new things to do that are overly ambitious to keep myself busy; I thought I could run a 5k or at least run the distance of a 5k leisurly pretty soon with my new app. So I purchased this app to try it out, and to run with it when I work out so I am getting a better workout and what not. Anyways, I got all excited about my newest app addition, and went to try it out tonight after it had cooled off to only 100 degrees (no big deal…um yea it was still really hot). Turns out this app is pretty awesome. I had music set up and playing, opened the app, and it turned down my music to tell me when to begin the warmup, running intervals, walking intervals, and cool down. I even took screen shots while I was working out to blog about it. My question is does anyone know any other good apps for the iPhone that you use often that are free or you have to pay for?

I was pretty impressed with it, and then at the end I could complete the work out number 1 of week 1. Here are some more screen shots of my first time using the app during my work out.

Sometimes I can be random

Sometimes I have this blank on what to write, but I don’t want to just leave this empty gap in my blog space. I had to write something today, because I felt like writing, was stuck with what to write, but then got an idea! This blog is kind of random, but I wanted to share some things I found.

I have been on this running kick more, since am taking a summer P.E. class for school, and to be real here, it is making my body feel good. This class requires me to find new exercises, work out, and write down my diet so I am reading about workouts more than normal. Anyways, I came across this blog called pumps & iron by a girl who talks about fashion (sort of), working out, and living it up still every day without too much worry on food and working out.

I also recently read this book called Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie who is the Founder of TOMS. It was a good book, short read, and I enjoyed it. It included his story, and how he made it to where he is today; it was interesting to read the small life stories. Today I was online, and saw a quote that was posted in a restaurant by Mycoskie, and it made me think of when I read his book. Kind of random I know, but here is a picture of the quote of what he said.

Here are my TOMS that have traveled with me, and went with me to Kenya. Kenyan dark red dirt was everywhere, and it does not come out, but it was okay because being there meant so much to me.

I probably could keep writing, but I think I will save you some random topics for next time.

I can pretend right

So I have been running more, and yes I know that I am not the most graceful or best runner. I am working on running because the yoga, zumba, cardio stuff gets boring sometimes, and running is good for relieving stress. I just have to imagine how I look when I run though. I mean I hear people talk about how people look when they run, and see people running, and can only imagine I look like some hilarious person about to fall over from trying to run to far.

BUT I am so determined when I run that I feel like I have some serious power like a track runner or a race horse. (yea right…) I usually have to think of something pretty amazing to keep me going. Or have some good music while I run just to give me something to listen to.

I done know where this post is coming from, but I had a great run last night, and it made my day so much better. This is not mentioning the fact that:
1. I had my huge dog with me, which made the whole experience a lot less graceful.
2. The beginning pep talk of “your going to have an awesome run, your not even tired, don’t stop now you made it all the way to the running trail so keep going!!”
3. Then middle pep talk of “look you are not thirsty and your side cannot already be hurting on the second mile” then I realized my dog was not even tired yet… Great… Have to keep going, my dog cannot outrun me…
4. The most embarrassing thing about running sometimes is when I accidentally talk or grunt out loud and say something like “keeeeep goiiinnnggg” or something close to that.

That was pretty much how I knew I was getting tired, and Duke kept walking through puddles of water. We were such a great tired running team at the end of the day. You could only picture a small horse of a dog almost the same size as the girl he is running with. So here I am just working on being a better runner.