Typical Tina!

Tiara 5K

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 03:55:00 +0000

This past Saturday Emma and I ran the Tiara 5K (formerly Diva 5K). The night before the race Jenn came over to the house and we made some awesome tutu's (no sewing required, thanks MomSwimBikeRun!). It was perfect weather for the run, 65 degrees with a slight wind, which is not uncommon for Pflugerville. ;) We finished together in 31:29. Emma did a great job and took 2nd place! Amanda finished in 26:04 and Jenn took 3rd place with a time of 25:17. We even ran into our friend/co-worker Kelly at the race. Great job ladies and team 'Running from the Kids'!

Avg pace - 10:04
Mile 1 - 9:24, Mile 2 - 10:10, Mile 3 - 10:48, last 0.13 - 1:07 (8:49)

Divas up! 3/3/2012

Team 'Running From The Kids'

Rock'n the tutu's and shades

Hauling 70+ pounds of kids

Girls just wanna have fun!

Jenn & family crossing the finish

Bringing it home!

Austin Half Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:08:00 +0000

This was my first time running the Austin half, and good grief was it challenging! 48 degrees at the start, 50 degrees when we finished, and lots of 'rolling' hills. The 3M was a breeze compared to the Livestrong course.

I woke up at 4:30am and ate my usual pre-race meal : toast w/ peanut butter and a cup of coffee. I deliberated all night and most of the morning on my race attire, 48 degrees (felt like 44) is in-between weather and makes it difficult to figure out what to wear without overheating. Finally I decided on shorts and long sleeves and finished packing my backpack. Moni & Jenn picked me up around 5am, followed by Mills and then we were on our way downtown.

On a side note, I came down with pink eye the night before the race. Of all the things to happen before a big race, blurred vision and crusty eyes was not expected. Thankfully I managed to get some meds Sat night so that my eye wasn't too bad during the race, just the occasional slight stinging sensation from the wind.

Ready to get our race on!

We found a parking spot and headed straight to the bathrooms, lines were already starting to form! Luckily the lines went quickly, the coffee did its job, and then we went to find our places in the corrals. Moni & I lined up with the 9 min/mile pace team, I ate a Gu, and then it was go time! I didn't even hear the horn go off at 7am, I only knew we started because the lines began to condense.

I was cold at the beg of the race, warm in the middle, and freezing by the end. Go figure. I don't really remember too much about the first half of the race. I recall thinking it seemed to take longer to run these miles than the 3M did (ha!), and there were many many inclines. The pace team caught up with me around mile 5.5, I knew I wouldn't be as fast as I was in the 3M so I was OK with it. Around mile 6 I happened to see Moni out of the corner of my eye, so I tucked in behind her and kept pace with her for a mile and a half, eventually I lost her at a water stop. I hit my 'wall' around mile 8 (a mile earlier than in the 3M), my legs were aching and sore.

Mile 1 - 9:00, Mile 2 - 8:47, Mile 3 - 8:59, Mile 4 - 9:40, Mile 5 - 9:18, Mile 6 - 9:11, Mile 7 - 8:36, Mile 8 - 9:09, Mile 9 - 9:44

Running - not sure what mile

Check out those hills!

The last 4 miles were the toughest part of the race. My pace dropped drastically due to the horrible hills. Mile 11 started with a long gradual climb for about 1/4 of a mile followed by some rolling terrain and then mile 12 had the worst mountain climb ever! I had been dreading that HILL the entire race; it rises 80 feet in less than a quarter mile, that's 8 stories in a short span! I knew that hill was coming and when I saw it I just told myself to keep my head down and focus - no walking! For shits and giggles I looked at my pace while jogging up that hill, 15 min/miles!! That's hilarious!...kinda, but not really. I made it up without walking, felt like puking and continued onto the last stretch. There were a couple more slight hills that last mile before finally crossing the finish line. According to my Garmin I ran 13.2 miles in 2:06:56, 9:36 avg pace. My official chip time for 13.1 was 2:06:54, 9:41 pace. I beat both of my goals; to not walk up that hill and to finish in under 2 hrs and 10 mins.

Mile 10 - 10:32, Mile 11 - 10:47, Mile 12 - 10:53, Mile 13 - 10:34, last 0.2 - 1:47 (8:43 pace)

my Livestrong Austin Marathon & Half - Half Marathon Open results

bib number:	18110
age:	33
gender:	F
location:	Pflugerville, TX
overall place:	4173 out of 10359
division place:	361 out of 1135
gender place:	1675 out of 5867
time:	2:06:54
pace:	9:41
gun:	2:13:37
5k:	28:10
5m:	46:15
10m:	1:33:40
12m:	1:55:28

Crossing the finish line

My right IT band was shooting pain up and down my leg when I finished, I could tell at mile 8 it was going to be a problem, and once I stopped running it locked up on me. Funny enough my hip felt just fine. I hobbled through the finishers area to meet up with the rest of my girls and head home. Overall I am satisfied with my time, and next time I'll have a new goal to beat!

Austin Half Finisher! 2/19/2012

2 half marathons within 3 weeks of each other, not bad! The Austin half is extremely challenging both mentally and physically. And to think I ran this race for fun, just so I could run with my friends...this is NOT a fun race! I definitely prefer the 3M course.

Surprisingly I'm not nearly as sore after this half marathon as I was after the 3M. I guess downhill really is harder on the body. Oh! And no blister this time, the new socks really helped. :) My IT band/knee was fine by the next day.

Livestrong Austin Half Marathon 2/19/2012

Race prep:

What I ate: Spaghetti w/ meat sauce the night before, lots and lots of water! Breakfast consisted of a piece of toast with peanut butter, 1 cup of coffee, water. During the race I ate a gu (cliff shot) at the starting line, mile 5 & 10. I also hit as many water stops as possible even though I carried a water bottle on my belt.

What I wore: Shorts, long sleeved shirt, Garmin watch, hat, ear warmer band, Brooks Gylcerine shoes (new - broke them in 2 weeks before the race), my new running socks, and running belt.

Other items I carried: 3 cliff shots, water bottle, ipod, kleenex

3M Half Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:44:00 +0000

The night before my race I drank plenty of water and went to bed early (9pm) as I had to wake up at 4:30am. Surprisingly my body was alert and ready to go when my alarm went off! The hubby however was not. He had planned on coming out to support me but woke up sick instead, so I was on my own. I drank a cup of coffee, ate some toast with peanut butter and was out the door by 5:10am. The starting line was at Stonelake Blvd and York, by Baby A's off Mopac. There was a parking garage for the event just off York and I had my choice of parking spots since I arrived early and beat traffic. I relaxed in my car for the next 30 mins, checked FB on my phone, and took deep breaths as I was extremely nervous. Around 6am I noticed 3M had updated their FB status saying "you better use the restrooms now", so I emerged from my nice warm car and made my way to the staging area located directly behind the parking garage.

Staging area - Freakn early in the morning! 1/29/2012

I hung around the staging area for about 15 mins, keeping an eye out for people I might know and having my picture taken. Finally I started towards the corrals and jogged back and forth between the 2:00 pace spot and the start line to warmup. Now I had to decide which corral to line up in. My first goal was to finish in under 2hrs and 10 mins (my last 1/2 marathon time from 2005). I calculated my projected race time from one of those fancy websites, which said I'd finish in 2:03:17. Based off that, my stretch goal was to finish in 2 hours. So I placed myself right in front of the 2:00 pace team and figured if I could stay ahead of them I'd be golden. Everyone started inching up towards the start line and then the horn signaled the beginning of the race. It was go time!

Somewhere around mile 6 - yeah yeah I know I look funny

Most of the race is a blur, although I'm able to recall one thing about each mile (except mile 1) :P. I remember around mile 2 noticing that the sky was starting to lighten up, come on sunrise! Around mile 3 people were beginning to walk. Mile 4 was the first bathroom stop and lines were already forming. Thank god I used the restrooms before the race so that I didn't have to break up my run. I finally started warming up around mile 5, off came the gloves and I ate my first Gu. I began looking for my husband around mile 6, just in case he felt better and made it out. Alas I didn't see him, I did however see one of the brightroom photogs. I waved and smiled at them for my big moment, but obviously that's not the picture they captured above...sigh...I look dorky.

Mile 1 - 8:51, Mile 2 - 8:47, Mile 3 - 9:06, Mile 4 - 9:12, Mile 5 - 9:14, Mile 6 - 8:55

9:00 avg pace for miles 1-6

Official 10K time - 56:20, 9:05 pace (my Garmin showed the mile markers to be a bit off)

All of a sudden I was startled by the 2 hr pace team yelling behind me, they were literally right on my tail! Oh no! I thought I had been making excellent time, but they had caught up to me. Grrrrrrr! Miles 6-9 was a constant battle between us. They'd take me over for a few mins, then I would speed up and pass them. Mile 6.8 was the relay exchange so I was fighting fresh new runners as well.

It was here that I saw my favorite supporter sign: Love your stamina...call me!

2nd best sign I saw: Way to go you random person!

By mile 9 the pace team over took me, I felt like I had suddenly hit a wall and was slowing down. :( I was feeling down and beating myself up that I let them get away when I realized I was doing just fine and I was still on goal. Heck yeah, take that pace team!

Mile 7 - 9:00, Mile 8 - 8:57, Mile 9 - 8:59
8:58 avg pace for miles 7-9

Then came the big 1-0, I was finally in double digits!! The end was near. I ate my second Gu and tried to pay attention to my surroundings as I was finally downtown, 45th and Lamar. At Mile 11 there was a supporter yelling words of encouragement, "You're sub 2 miles from the finish, push it!". Oh yeah baby, only 2 miles away! I can totally do 2 miles. There was a banana boy waving and jumping around at mile 12. However it was also at mile 12 that I began impatiently looking at my watch every 15 seconds. I should have NEVER done that... Why wouldn't this last mile end!? This is taking forever! Where the heck is the finish line?

Coming in hot

Finally I heard the cheers from the crowd at the finish line. I turned the last corner and to my amazement there were my parents! They were looking around and seemed a bit lost so I yelled to get their attention. They did a double take, smiled and waved and frantically held up the signs they made for me. My mother was so excited that she held my sign upside down. ;) At this point the finish line was in my sights, no way was I stopping for hugs or high 5's, so I waved and sped on by them.

I was on the last stretch. It was now or never, every little bit counted. I sped up and crossed the finish line at 1:59:02 according to my Garmin. My official chip time was 1:58:58!!! Totally rocked it! I was ecstatic - holy crap I beat 2 hours and felt great! I managed to take 11 mins off my last 1/2 marathon time (2:10).

Mile 10 - 9:19, Mile 11 - 9:14, Mile 12 - 9:00, Mile 13 - 9:05, last 0.16 1:21 (8:37 pace)
9:03 avg pace

Almost there!

Tiptoeing across the finish line!

Conquered 13.1! 1/29/2012

I must say the 3M course was awesome and made for PRs as it's mostly downhill and/or flat. Race conditions were great! I was worried about it being too cold at the start, 39 degrees, but thankfully there was no wind and it ended up being perfect weather for this distance, 49 degrees at the finish. It was great having my parents there to support me at the finish line. I told them all about my experience while they drove me back to my car, thankful that I didn't have to ride the bus. :)

My hip, which was my biggest concern, didn't bother me at all during or after the race. I did end up with a massive blister on my right foot, probably due to all the downhill running. My calves were super sore as well for about 4 days. All totally worth it. :D

On the mend 1/30/2012 - nice calluses

Blister after the race 1/29

Race prep:

What I ate: Spaghetti w/ meat sauce the night before, lots and lots of water! Breakfast consisted of a piece of toast with peanut butter, 1 cup of coffee, water. During the race I ate a gu (cliff shot) every 5 miles (mile 5 & 10), I also hit as many water stops as possible even though I carried a water bottle on my belt. If I'd had one more gu I would have taken that right before the race started.

What I wore: Long pants, long sleeved shirt, short sleeved undershirt, gloves, garmin watch, hat, ear warmer band, Brooks Gylcerine shoes (that need replacing), and old running socks (that desperately need to be replaced), running belt (will rethink this next time as it bounced around all over the place and tore up my shirt).

Other items I carried: Cell phone, 2 cliff shots, water bottle, ipod, kleenex, car key

NYE Gala with LC Rocks!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:48:00 +0000

This year we attended Austin Social Scene's Annual New Years Eve Gala with LC Rocks, and IT.WAS.AWESOME! We checked in early and walked over to Pappadeaux's for an early dinner, then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the nights festivities. Not only did we receive free drinks and snacks before the event, we also met several friends of the band and were invited to party with them and LC Rocks! Oh.Emm.Gee!!! After the ball dropped (hugs and kisses!) we hung out with the band members in their hotel room while drinking purple margaritas until 3am. I haven't been up that late in ages! :)

View from our hotel room to atrium - DoubleTree Hotel

View from our hotel room to atrium

Isn't he cute?

In the ballroom waiting for LC Rocks to begin

LC Rocks on one side, Suede band on the other

Getting their 80's groove on - I even got the hubby out on the dance floor!

Happy New Year!

On Stage with LC Rocks and friends of the band!

Hanging out with LC Rocks in their room - I took the NYE hat and Malek caught me :Þ

Happy Birthday Hubby!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:23:00 +0000

This year we celebrated Malek's birthday with Jeff Dunham tickets (the shows not until Feb) and dinner at Hudson's on the Bend. The food was AMAZING! Malek ordered the elk, I had duck with scallops, and the lobster bisque was to die for!!! Happy Birthday hubby! I love you!

Perfect card

Jefuh-fuh DunHAM...dot com tickets!

Hudson's on the Bend - and lots of hanging apples...

Elk!

duck and scallops

lobster bisque - oh my mouth is watering!

chocolate torte dessert

Happy Birthday! 12/29/2011

Christmas Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:10:00 +0000

I'm finally getting around to posting about the holidays. This was our first time in probably 4-5 years that we didn't have family staying at our house. Normally my parents would come stay with us, but since they moved here over the summer we were visitor free! Not to mention my hubby's entire family lives here as well. This makes it really easy to get everyone together for the holidays. The holidays were extra special this year because it was Ry's very first Christmas!

My mom and I spent an entire day in the kitchen making 5 different kinds of holiday cookies. Seriously, I'm talking at least 7 hours of baking! Now that's what I call dedication!

candy cane cookies, murpchen, snickerdoodles, Mexican wedding cakes, outrageous chocolate cookies

Christmas eve we went to the Children's church service where Malek and Emma passed out communion. Then we came home and enjoyed jambalaya and watched movies. Christmas morning arrived bright and early. Not only did the kids wake up super early, but poor Ry was beginning to come down with a cold. The little squirt didn't let his runny nose get him down though, he thoroughly enjoyed playing with the tissue paper from his presents. :P The kids loved their gifts.

I <3 tissue paper!

After we ravaged the gifts under our tree we headed over to Opa and Juju's for our traditional eggs Benedict breakfast and more gift giving.

I ate 3.5 of these bad boys - yum!

glitter TOMS

my first real nutcracker

showing off their new shoes

We had a couple hours to relax after brunch before heading over to Sara & Dana's for Christmas dinner with the Maleks. Merry Christmas everyone! Ho Ho Ho!

Sara, Dana and Blake 12/25/2011

Glitter on Emma!

I love Emma's sparkly hat

Elephant in the room?

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:33:00 +0000

That's right! I'm talking about the Cox's annual White Elephant Party. ;) Please bare with me as I'm quite a few posts behind schedule....

Jenn's WE party was a blast. There was my favorite cheese torte appetizer, lots of wine and drinks to go around, some truly funny and horrendous gifts and of course great company. We partied the night away as if we didn't have kids to get home to. :) Great way to begin the holidays.

The girls 12/10/2011

Bringing sexy back

Just try and steal my gift!

Rocking the vest

Cheers! 12/10/2011

Happy Holidays!!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:34:00 +0000

Our clubhouse hosted a holiday party a week ago which included free pictures with Santa Clause! They turned out great. I especially love the picture of Juju sitting on Santa's lap. ;)

Merry Christmas!!

Happy Holidays! 12/10/2011

Ryland and Santa 12/10/2011

Ry Baptized

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:30:00 +0000

The Sunday following Thanksgiving we had Ryland baptized at our church. We named my brother Steve and his wife Christina as godparents. Ry did great during the baptism and we celebrated afterwards at our home with family, friends, Rudy's BBQ and cake. :)

Head over to My Mom's Memos for the full recap and pictures.

"sprinkling"

Holding his very own bible, wearing his bracelet engraved with his name

Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:25:00 +0000

It was a very busy Thanksgiving this year. Great Great Aunt Deanie flew in from Amarillo for the holidays and to meet Ry. My brother Steve was able to come down early for a work thing and then lil C joined us just in time for Turkey day. Lil C and I even ran the Turkey Trot together! We ended up having two different days of Thanksgiving feasts with both sides of the family. Talk about food coma! Oh yeah, and we managed to fit in dinner at a German restaurant. ;)

Frying the Turkey 11/24/2011

At the Barneys house 11/24/2011

the adult adults talking

Nana & Lil C with the little ones

Isabel and Al w/ the grand kids 11/24/2011

Readying the morning paper with Uncle Steve 11/25/2011

European Bistro dinner 11/25/2011

Shhhhh daddy!

Tired little turkey 11/26/2011

Crown Roast Pork! And Opa ;) 11/26/2011

GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE!

Turkey Trot

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:02:00 +0000

I've never run the turkey trot before - this is my first official 5 mile race! Lil C emailed me wanting to run this race and I figured why not. Both Amanda and Jenn were running it as well, so we all signed up.

It was a great day for a race! 52 degrees and sunny as Jenn, Amanda, lil C and I headed downtown for the turkey trot. We were walking up to the start line when they released the timed runners, so we had to jump in with the untimed runners. I couldn't believe how many people were there - 21,000! The first 2 miles were rough trying to maneuver around people and finding a break away. Overall the course was very much the like the Cap 10K, so I was prepared for it. Perfect way to start Turkey Day. Gobble Gobble!

Based on my watch:
Avg pace- 8:50
Mile 1 - 9:06, Mile 2 - 9:06, Mile 3 - 8:40, Mile 4 - 8:39, Mile 5 - 8:39, last 71 ft - 0:05:45 (6:43 pace)

I am so thankful for my health, family and friends!

Click image for larger size

Thank you for visiting KreutzPhotography.com.

21st ThunderCloud Subs Turkey Trot Austin, Texas 11/24/2011
Name:	Christina Malek
Event:	5 Mile - Age Group
Division:	F 30-34
City, State:	Pflugerville, TX
Bib:	3832	Overall Place:	1507	Division Place:	86
Age:	33	Time Back:	15:46	Total Division:	280
Gender:	F	Gun Time:	49:50	Gender Place:	429
Pace:	8:50/M	Chip Time:	44:12	Total Gender:	1555

Race for the Cure 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:16:00 +0000

Awesome day for a race! 67 degrees, slight breeze and clear skies. The race was back downtown this year and the timed runners started at 7:30am. The course was super hilly, a little long at 3.19 miles and had about 25 turns! I thought I might die the first mile with all the hills, but I pushed through it. Overall an excellent race, I surprised myself and ran sub 9 min miles. :) This was almost a new PR for me, my fastest race time for a 5K is 25:30 (8:18 pace). It was great to see Team Rack Pack out there supporting the girls and all the timed runners came in under 9 min miles!!

Avg pace: 8:28
3.19 miles in 27 mins

Mile 1 - 8:12, Mile 2 - 8:40, Mile 3 - 8:50, last 0.19 - 1:18 (6:52 pace)

Renee's Rack Pack 11/13/2011

The girls 11/13/2011

The Wurst Time

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 03:24:00 +0000

Everyone had the wurst time at Wurstfest. Can you tell? :) Ry was just too cool for school and stole the show wherever we went. My parents said it was much different now than the last time they were there - 25 years ago!

Salute to Sausage! 11/5/2011

Yum - potato pancakes!

Watching the dancers in the wursthalla

Daddy please!

I can drink this year!

Such a ham!

Fall Family Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:25:00 +0000

My co-worker sent me an email back in July with a summer special for Kaoni Norris Photography. I had just returned from maternity leave and figured this would be perfect for a family photo session! We set a date for the beginning of October at Mayfield Park and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. At first I was a little worried as we couldn't seem to get Ryland to smile, however Kaoni worked her magic and was able to capture some great shots! Gorgeous! Click on the link to view all the photos.

Family Pro Pics

10/1/2011

Happy Halloween from my lil pumpkin!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:54:00 +0000

10/31/2011

9th Annual Halloween Spooktacular

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:01:00 +0000

Saturday Oct 22nd was our 9th Annual Halloween Spook-tacular! The house looked even better this year than last, we had a couple new creepy layouts. ;) Malek was especially proud of his skeleton poker game setup. This year Ryland joined the fun as a flying monkey, Malek was the Scarecrow and I was the Wicked Witch. The woods(wo)man from Red Riding Hood came outta the woods to partake in the festivities and rocked her worker boots, the french maid put away her feather duster and put on her cute party shoes and Princess Jasmine brought her entourage! I think my favorite was Gary in his lederhosen. ;)

Click the link for more spooktacular pictures from the party.

Pictures on FB

Tailgating - It's a family affair!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:15:00 +0000

The tailgate

This past Saturday marked my parents and Ryland's first ever UT tailgate. For an extra special touch our tailgate joined forces with Major Applewhite's family tailgate! We arrived around 10am and began showing JuJu and Opa the ropes - you know, scouting out the location of the kegs, food and TVs. :) The food selection for this tailgate was slow cooked chopped beef brisket sandwiches and fried boudin balls. YUM! The MSU vs UofM game came on at 11am and thank goodness there were 2 TVs as the A&M vs. Baylor game was on at the same time. MSU played an awesome game and spanked UofM, 28-14. :D Go Green! Ryland had a blast and was a social butterfly. He didn't want to miss anything and pushed out his nap time by almost 2 hours. Can you tell everyone had a good time? :)

Wearing an MSU green and white hat - had to represent!

Happy baby!

Happy grandparents

Sissy and Ry

Like father like son

Someone's tired

22nd Annual La Dolce Vita!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:19:00 +0000

We didn't attend last years wine and food festival as we missed the early bird special and I was preggers, so this year I made sure to buy tickets early (in June). It was my parents first time attending the event, and they loved it! The wine was flowing, the food was aplenty and we left feeling like little piggies. :D

10/13/2011

Ready and waiting for the gates to open

Bring on the grub!

How's that wine tasting?

Weekend Getaway

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:32:00 +0000

Back in May my husband found a weekend escape on LivingSocial for a bed and breakfast in Wimberley. We decided this would be prefect for a little mini trip and to celebrate my birthday! Our weekend stay included a Bottle of Wine and Chocolates; Complimentary Hors D'œuvres at Kate's Place; Saturday-Morning Breakfast Delivery; and a Four-Course Champagne Breakfast on Sunday!!

We dropped Ryland off at my parents house Friday after work and then we were on our way. Serenity Farmhouse Inn is a charming B&B - they had several other cottages (ours was called the Poet's cottage), gazebos, and other little oddities to explore. Once we checked in our next mission was to find food, or maybe that was just MY mission :Þ, so we headed into town to find Ino'z Brew & Chew. We loved this place! They had outside seating (which we love), a live band, and the food was pretty darn good as well. Maleks sandwich takes the cake at this place, that buttered sourdough bread was delicious. After dinner we came back to our cottage and headed out to the pool to relax and drink our complimentary bottle of wine.

Poet's cottage with heart shaped tub

Sun and wine

Ino'z brew and chew!

Saturday we enjoyed breakfast on our patio and then headed back into town for some window shopping. Before heading to Bella Vista Ranch for an olive tour and wine tasting we ate a small lunch at the Wimberley cafe. Later that night we went to the Cypress Creek Cafe for dinner. They had a covered patio out back and TV's so we could watch some football and stay dry. Yup, you read that right, stay dry. Texas finally got some much needed rain the same weekend as our getaway. The rain was quite nice and didn't bother us at all, it actually stopped raining for us during our wine tour and we saw a lovely rainbow. I really enjoyed sitting outside under the covered patio watching the rain fall as we devoured our AMAZING dinner from CCC. Seriously that food was AWESOME! That night a HUGE thunderstorm rolled in, waking me up around 3am. There's nothing like an insane thunderstorm out in the middle of now where to make you feel safe!

Texas first olive oil co

Relaxing by the pool before it started sprinkling on us

Yes please!

Inside out nachos for the win!

OMG sooooo good!

Sunday morning came all too soon. We ate breakfast, checked out and headed back into town to buy some gifts. Our last meal was at Kate's place and then it was time to head back home. Ryland was a perfect little angel for Juju and Opa. It was a wonderfully relaxing birthday weekend! And yes, I did miss my little guy the entire time!

Goodbye Serenity!

CASA Superhero 5K

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:37:00 +0000

Sept 25th was the CASA Superhero 5K, which marked my first official race back since becoming pregnant last year and having Ry. It was a good race for me to get back into the swing of things. The course was relatively flat, the weather was perfect, and they had free tacos and smoothies at the end! :) I especially LOVED all the costumes. I think I was more excited than the kids as I'm a Halloween superfan! I enjoyed the run except for the last 1/4 mile where we had to run PAST the finish line for a final loop. That was a bit of a let down, my body felt as if the race should have been over yet we had to keep going. Overall I'm please with my time, my goal was 30 mins or less, and the course was actually 3.2 miles instead of 3.1. :D Now I need to work on running more than 2x's a week and increasing my speed and distance. I have the Race for the Cure in Nov (5K) and then the Capitol 10K in March!

PL	No	Name	Age	Pace	Chip Time	Gun Time	Time Back
193	483	Christina Malek	32	9:36/M	29:58	30:08	10:14

Giving blood, Saving lives

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:01:00 +0000

It's been over a year since I last donated blood. The hubby and I were deferred back in June 2010 because we traveled to Mazatlan (malaria zone) and then of course I was pregnant, those vampire Dr's took enough blood to satisfy several blood drives! Today was the first blood drive that we were eligible to particpate in at work. I love donating and have been doing it since HS. I feel like a better person when I give blood, knowing that I can help save the lives of 3 people every time I donate.

Football and Tailgating!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:04:00 +0000

Football is back, bring on the tailgating!!

Ryland will make an appearance at the next home game in Oct, when it's hopefully much cooler outside.

Let's get this party started! 9/10/11

The awesome smoker

The setup - Ready to watch MSU and various other games before UT plays (they have satelite).

Mutant Virus

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:39:00 +0000

I'm not sure what I caught, some crazy mutant virus, but it took me out for 2 weeks! It all began 2 Monday's ago (15th) with a sore throat and cough. I went to the Dr that following Wed and they actually said I was fine, that there was nothing wrong with me. Seriously? I was coughing like crazy and my throat was red and it hurt to swallow. They gave me a nose spray but would not write me a prescription for antibiotics. PFFT. The next day I practically lost my voice from all the coughing, my throat was worse and my nose started to run. I was a mess. All I could take was Robitussin, Tylenol and Sudafed. By Sunday I was running a 101 fever and my throat was coated in white stuff. :( I even started having night sweats and chills, I just wanted to curl up in the fetal position and cry I felt so awful. Come Monday morning I was back at the Dr's. They took a 2nd strep culture (even tho first time it was negative) and they took some blood to test me for mono!!! Holy moly, mono!? This time they actually prescribed me a z-pack, thank god! Unfortunately the z-pack didn't seem to help. By Wed I was back at the Dr's office for a 3rd time. It wasn't strep, it wasn't mono, they had no clue what I caught, so they took a gazillion more cultures and prescribed a different antibiotic. Finally by Thursday I started feeling a bit better and by Saturday my throat we clear. Hallelujah! I received a call from the Dr on Monday (29th) and all my tests/cultures came back negative. They still couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, I guess I just had one heck of a virus. Besides a slight fever today, I seem to be on the mend.

BLC Conclusion

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 02:25:00 +0000

According to the scale at work I didn't make my goal of 5%. That scale HAD to be off! I easily hit 5% according to my scale at home. I was able to add on another 1% for doing 15 push ups in a row (thanks to The Shred!) at work. My total came to 4% and my team took 4th place overall with an average of 2.5% weight loss. Too bad the hubby wasn't in on the challenge. Since signing up on myfitnesspal he has lost 10 lbs!

*** Update as of this morning 8/19, I hit my 2nd goal of 7%!!! Woohoo! Work scale be d@mned! ***

Schlitterbahn!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 01:38:00 +0000

This past Wednesday we took a family trip, sans baby, to the waterpark.

16 week old Ryland was a bit young for the rides so he spent the day at daycare. :)

It was a great day with perfect weather. 4 days later we are still recovering! :Þ