Tracy's Running Program Questions??

This post tonight is just from Tracy. Blake is involved in a serious game on xBox...so he says hi, but that's all he has time for. He's a busy guy, what can I say!

So I've been doing really well running between 4-5 miles a day since early February, but it's starting to get a little boring and I want to try to incorporate intervals into my runs. I printed out a few sample programs that I'm going to try.... but where I get confused is, how many days a week should I run? (I'm currently running 6 days a week) And also, how many of those days should be long runs and how many of the days should be interval runs? Also, is it better to run really fast for shorts periods of time or run at a more steady, comfortable pace for longer periods?

ELICIA GRAVES you are expected to comment on here and give me your advice since you are one of the main marathon running gurus I know. Or I guess I could just ask you when I see you on Saturday.... I also wanted to ask Nikki, another running guru, but I don't have her e-mail address and am not sure if she knows about or reads our blog!

Any answers will be much appreciated, as well as any other fun running and exercising tips!

P.S. I know there are a lot of people out there reading our blog because we get asked about our posts all the time by many different people.... but yet hardly anyone chooses to comment which makes Blake and I look like real losers! So be sure to comment if you see something that intrigues, perplexes, astonishes, flabbergasts, infuriates, or flat-out bores you. We won't take it personally!!

American Idol Finale Review

So this is like 2 weeks late, but we have been pretty busy lately and haven't been able to give our thoughts on the finale. But now we have a moment, so here we go...

We really liked the finale and thought it had an awards show type feel. We liked all the performances and duets.

Our highlights of the show were Norman Gentle being his usual self, Kara showing up bikini girl, and Tracy's was Adam Lambert singing with Kiss and Queen.

But when it came time to announce the winner, talk about melodramatic. When they announced that Kris had won, it's like everyone gave a yawn followed by a golf clap. We weren't that excited either. He definitely wasn't the most exciting contestant, but we figured he might win by getting all of Danny's votes. Him winning just felt so wrong.

It will be fun to see what the contestants come out with in the future. We predict big things from: Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, and Kris Allen. There has been a lot of talk of Adam Lambert being the lead singer of Queen, which would also be interesting to see. Only time will tell!

American Idol Review 5/20/2009

There will not be an American Idol Review over the Finale tonight as Tracy is on suicide watch until further notice.

American Idol Review 5/19/2009

Tonight's finale was great. Both contestants did a really good job, save for the song that Kara wrote, which we thought wasn't very well suited for either contestant. Paula's fake tan and hair were also a little confusing and weird tonight. As for our official predictions:

Blake: Adam for the win.

Tracy: I hope Adam will win, but the only thing that COULD let Kris win is the fact that Danny's voters will most likely vote for Kris, since Kris is more similar to Danny than Adam is. I really think it's too close to call at this point, but I'm hoping for Adam. But no matter who wins, Adam will be the most famous, be on the radio the most, and sell the most records by far.

One point of annoyance, Blake decided to emotionally abuse me tonight by voting for Kris every time I voted for Adam. It makes me furious. Every time I would pick up the phone and say something like "time to vote for Adam", he would mimic me by saying "Time to vote for Kris" and then he would vote for Kris, even though he doesn't care that much. It just makes me so mad because he knows how much I hate it and it's totally cancelling out my vote, making me madder. Why must my husband torture me this way???

On another note, we watched the Glee premiere , and I thought it was so/so. Some of it was kind of corny, but I do love the main singer Rachel, and anytime they do group singing stuff. I'm just really into musicals and stuff like that. We'll see how the show is in September.

Expect a post tomorrow about the results show!!

American Idol Review 5/13/2009

Wow. What a shocker tonight! We definitely thought Kris was going to be going home, even though we didn't want him to. We couldn't believe that Danny got kicked off, considering that he hadn't been in the bottom 3 all season and seemed to have a lot of fans. We are definitely excited about the finale, but a little scared. We think that Kris may be getting more of Danny's votes than Adam since they are more similar. This will definitely be a really EXCITING finale next week.

Let's hope Adam wins because he's the most talented Idol contestant ever, an amazing performer, and has an incredible voice.

Can't wait for next Tuesday/Wednesday!

Blake is making me say that he is pulling for Kris. But he's only rooting for Kris just to annoy the crap out of me.

GO ADAM!!!!

Tracy's Summer Job

I am happy to say that I got the summer job the I really wanted!!!!

It's basically my ideal summer job, and one that I will probably do every summer when I'm not teaching. I interviewed for it last week and was called back about an hour ago with an offer. It's a summer camp called The Children's Ark and is part of a ministry of a church located only 5 minutes from our house.

One of the best things about the job is the field trips. We will get to take the kids on field trips 3 days a week to places such as: Swimming, the movies, Hawaiian Falls, The Dallas Zoo, American Airlines, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, Sandy Lake Amusement Park, and Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey's Circus, to name a few. It's great because I like going to those places on my own time, so it will be great to get to take the kids there and get paid for it! The pay is very respectable, and I will actually be getting paid the exact same amount that I get paid for subbing because she said I have a lot of experience. Pretty sweet deal!

The actual facility where I will be working is REALLY nice. It's in a really nice area of Plano. They have flat screen T.V.'s everywhere, Wiis, indoor basketball courts, rock climbing walls, and all these really cool murals and decorations everywhere. I don't know much about the church it's connected to, but obviously the parioshners there are pretty generous when it comes to donations! I'll just have to take pictures of everything when I start there, because it's hard to describle.

I'm going to go in sometime this week to fill out all the paperwork, and I'll get to find out which age group I'll be in charge of. It's split up between K-2 and 3-5. I really would like either age group, I'll have fun with either group!

Also, I have another full time teaching interview tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed about that! Again, it's for Frisco ISD. This one is for a second grade teaching position. I definitely get the most calls from Frisco, but that's okay because they are a great school district!

I'm sure there will be more updates to come as I start the summer job, but until then, I'm super happy and excited that I got it!

Our trip to Beaumont

We just got back tonight from our trip to Vidor, Texas to attend Blake's grandma Van's funeral. It was a lovely ceremony, and, although I've only met Van once at our wedding, I can tell that she was a great lady who touched a lot of people's lives, and is survived by many people that really love her.

On our way home we visited a place called Alligator Country in Beaumont. It really was a lot of fun. Blake and I got to hold a 9 foot long python, a baby alligator, and see Big Al, the largest and longest Alligator in America. For the sake of not having to post pictures twice, I've emedded the facebook link below so you can see all the pictures of us visiting the alligator farm!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2733754&id=8304015&l=56e9a0890b

Comments Section Fixed

We finally figured out why people were not able to leave comments on here, and we fixed the problem.

Post away!!

Tamara's Birthday Celebration

Last night we went to Mansfield to celebrate Tamara's birthday. We had a really good time and enjoyed seeing everyone and eating all the yummy food. Here are some of the pictures from last night!

Home Improvements

Here are some of the home improvements that we've been working on lately...

We removed a fenced-in garden from our backyard. All Blake has left to do is dig up the 3 remaining posts, which is predicted to take forever.

Before:












After:













We also wanted to get rid of a large plastic covering that was attached to the top of the patio. There were a lot of large pieces missing which let rain in, and it was just kind of an eyesore.

Before:













After:













Here we are hard at work:
























Some of the disaster area. It literally took us all afternoon to pick up all the sharp pieces of plastic around the yard to make sure the dogs wouldn't swallow any of it.














Now for pictures of our backyard renovation inspiration. Blake and I agree that my parents have one of the nicest backyard we've ever seen. One of their most recent additions was a really cool pond/fountain, equipped with coy fish and a running waterfall.I really don't know how they can build this stuff themselves!

























Our next project is going to be planting grass in the backyard. Look here for updates!!