What I feel like & what I look like are two very different things

'Nuff said.

Dog in a backpack

It's time for Steve's silly Christmas pics...

His big gift from me was a new hunting backpack from Mystery Ranch, a company out of Bozeman, MT.  They make several styles of packs, including hunting, and are known for their excellent quality.  One of their hunting backpacks incorporates a standard frame and several styles of pack to fit the frame, which is much more efficient than having several different hunting backpacks for several different types of trips.  The particular pack I bought Steve can hold large amounts, including an entire antelope or deer and an elk quarter.  One silly trend is for Mystery Ranch packers to test their backpack by putting a friend/spouse/child in the pack and post a pic on their Facebook.  In our case, we tested the pack with the pups...

 Loadin' 'er (him) up...

 "Hey guys, just going for a ride.  Don't mind me."
This took A LOT of bribing.  So much so, I had to feed him a treat while he was in the backpack to make sure he knew this was fun.

 "Um, Brewer, can you help me out here man.  I don't know what I think about this backpack crap."

This pic is not great quality, but I had to post it because if you look closely at Brewer, you'll see his crazy eyes.  He gets those crazy eyes on occasion.  And it sums up his personality.  Not to mention Guinness continues to play dead dog while in the backpack...

Let's do this

One of my friends recently commented she liked to read my old blog when I posted my workouts.  She inspired me to get back into that - not only because it's fun, but because I find it a motivator to post my fitness habits for everyone to see (oy vey).  So, to your right, you will see two new tool bars (haha, tool): Workout Stats and Run Stats.  Not only will it update with my stats, but under Workout Stats, you can click on a specific workout & it will take you to my personal training log I keep through Runner's World.  Which is kiiiiiinda tough for me to do because I've always kept my log personal & sometimes I'll write things in the notes like "felt like sh*t" or "totally unmotivated" or "had the runs during run & had to find a bathroom or ruin my pants" or "I fist-pumped when the Rocky theme came on the iPod & a car honked & I loved it."

(Just kidding...although I probably would fist pump while running, it wouldn't be to the Rocky theme.  And I would definitely honk at someone if I saw them fist-pumping while running.  I have been caught singing while running.  But that's about the most embarrassing.  Besides using the woods as my bathroom during a marathon.  And that's in my log.  Ha!)

So check it out.  Be embarrassed for me.  Be inspired.  Be thinking..."has she finally lost it?"  Be hopeful I find it on one of my runs.  But don't get the runs.

And with that, I better get back to work.  :)

Arizona in November

I'm going to backtrack for a bit, seeing as we're past due for posting...

In November, Steve & I joined his parents in Arizona for a cousin's wedding.  Bob & Jean have friends that made the smart move to purchase a home outside Phoenix when the economy turned & housing prices were crazy low (like, $60,000 low).  They use it as a vacation home & someday will either retire to the house or sell it when housing prices turn around.  They were kind enough to allow the four of us to stay there during the wedding weekend.  We had a great time exploring Arizona & the wedding was lots of fun...

A few pics of our day trip to Sedona:

 It wouldn't be a Steve/Christina vacation without a stop at a brewery!

 A visit to Red Rock Crossing, where we were entertained with the numerous cairns.  (This place draws a lot of hippies...many people meditating...due to its nature as supposedly one of the vortexes)

 Christina being one with the cairn...

 Steve being one with a (very tall) cairn...

Rocks on a stick!

 The gorgeous and awe-inspiring red rocks.

 An extremely large locust skin shed.  Or something like that.  All I know is it was big.

 Chapel of the Holy Cross, unique architecture & pretty cool placement in the red rocks.

 Montezuma Castle National Monument.  Fascinating.  Amazing.  I loved this!

 The beautiful sunset driving back from Sedona to Phoenix.  (I even managed to catch this in a moving vehicle!)

Back in Phoenix before the wedding...

 A visit to the Desert Botanical Gardens was in order, especially with the Chilies & Chocolate Festival taking place the same weekend we were in town!  We were able to sample some amazing salsas, chocolates, honeys, and a variety of treats.  We wrapped things up by checking out the butterfly gardens - all Monarch butterflies.

And last, but not least, we prettied ourselves up for the wedding.  It was a great weekend!