The Strawberry

TMI - I am a true lover of erotic photography.   The above photograph is amazingly sexy.  You don't have to be straight, gay, lesbian - it is sexy and beautiful.   I love the contrast of the red, white, and black & white photography. 

I'm a Cloudy

I love clouds.  I love looking at them, and taking pictures of them.  I got a new camera for my birthday to be able to take better pictures of clouds.  Tonight, I thought that maybe I would like to make a coffee table book with my pictures.  I should really look into it. 

Trees

I love Palm Trees.  I think it is partly because I have never lived in  place where they are prevalent.  Do people in Miami think "I love Aspens!" or "I love Evergreens!"?   Just curious.

Addiction

Hi, my name is Becki, and I am a cloud addict. 

Okay, it's not AA, but I do have an addiction - to clouds. I love clouds.  I am addicted to clouds....

Back story!  I usually don't get a surprise gift for my birthday.  So this year, my hubby said that he was going to get me something very expensive and something that I hadn't asked for.  I had no clue!!!!  Well, I was sitting at home with the kids one afternoon this summer when I saw some amazing clouds out the back door.  I grabbed my camera, ran outside, took a few photos, and then it hit me - HE'S GETTING ME A GOOD CAMERA!   I had been complaining that my little pink camera didn't take as good a pictures as I had wanted, and the thing I love taking picture of most (besides for him and the kids) is CLOUDS!   Well, I mentioned it to him and he confessed that yes, he did want to get me a good camera and some photography lessons.

Right before my birthday, I went to Best Buy and picked myself out a Canon Powershot XS 160.  Great camera, no pesky lenses to be interchanged, 16 megapixels, and incredible zoom!  Now I am obsessed with taking pictures of clouds.  I know that most people could care less about clouds, but they are such an amazing subject to me!  Let me share a few of my most recent and let you decide.

Pop Rocks!!!!

Whoo Hoo!  I know, I know, I just ate a candy that was for one of my sons.  But, Dylan got it 2 months ago, and didn't eat it.  So, finders keepers!  I didn't really go for it, so it's okay - James brought it in and tossed it at me.  My man knows me!  Plus, he hates Pop Rocks....

downward dog

Stretching on the floor with 2 dogs and 2 cats in the house means you are never stretching alone.  Bend over and try to touch your toes without a dog in your face - Just Try It!  It only works when you put the dogs outside before you stretch, or do yoga in a different room than your cats.  Otherwise, Downward Dog brings on a WHOLE DIFFERENT meaning!  :)

1/2 Marathon

My friend Nikki and I ran our first 1/2 marathon yesterday - the Denver Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon.  While we were uncertain as to how it would go, given we hadn't gotten a full training session in for it, we were hopeful that we would have a great race.  Our only real goals for it were 1) to complete it, and 2) to not get so far behind that we would have to be picked up and taken up to the pack.  Well, we accomplished both of those, and then accomplished something we had both secretly wanted but never said - we both really wanted to run the whole thing.  We had talked for weeks about running as far as we could (maybe 7 or 8 miles) and then run/waking the rest of it.  On a training run a couple of weeks ago, we tried using a GU gel to help keep us going.  We discovered that it really does help us a ton!  I have a friend that doesn't eat or drink gatorade (or the like) while she runs a marathon, but her husband does both.  Another friend said that he doesn't see a reason to eat for a half marathon.  Well, like everything, you have to find what works out best for yourself and follow that. 

My husband took us down there and dropped us off around 6:15am - that was really nice of him and the boys to get up that early!  We wandered around to look at everything and actually got our gear bags ready right near the porta-potties.  I have a nervous bladder, so I had to pee twice before the start!  We had some watermelon gummies before the race that were really great.  We met up with a girl she works with a girl named Susan - she runs occasionally with her and her twin Sarah.  We were supposed to start in corral 18, but with so many people there, we just fit ourselves in line in corral 10 and went for it.  Susan and Sarah took off ahead of us, and we just went slow and steady.  I felt really bad because I ended up having to stop twice more to pee during the race - around mile 3 and mile 6.  And of course there were lines at both stops.  It ended up adding 6.5 minutes on to our time.  The official tag time was 2:43.57 and my garmin watch time was 2:37.26 (I stopped it while we were stopped.).   We finished under our predicted time of 3 hrs, and we didn't stop to walk at all!

My right foot I think will always be a problem.  I put a second skin patch over the spot where I normally get a blister on my arch, but it rubbed off and I ended up with two pretty bad blisters there.  My left foot is great - never a problem with shoes or running.  But my right shoes never fits well, and I have gotten blisters on every run over 4 miles.  I am not sure what I need to do about that, but I have a little bit of time to figure it out. 

We still don't have the drive to run a full marathon, but we would really like to work this next year on improving our times for the 5k, 10k, and 1/2 marathon.  This past year has really shown me that I can do so much more than I thought I could.  A year and a half ago when I started running, my goal was just to be able to run the Race for the Cure 5k.  Who would have guessed that less than a year later, I would have run a full half marathon!?!?!?!  Not very often am I this proud of myself.  And I don't think I could have done it without Nikki.  She has been my rock through this and she keeps me going every step of the way.   I can't wait to see what else we can do in the future.  :)

That's us, at 6:30 am yesterday.   What a proud day for us!!!

For My Fibronaut Friend Susie

In April, I started this summer running journey in honor of my friend Susie, who has been fighting Fibromyalgia.  See the post below.....

My Randomness: personal randomness 

She has been doing better lately, as she is trying to find more things to help with her pain and fatigue.  While I swapped out the Tough Mudder for the Warrior Dash, I still did 3 races in her honor.  Today was my final race - the half marathon.  When I was struggling to continue running, I thought of her and some of the hilarious things she has posted to her blog lately.  She is such an inspiration to me!  I couldn't help but smile thinking of her and her family.  They are all so strong, and while I don't know all of their inner family struggles, I love that she still has her wonderful quirky sense of humor - and I can see it in her kids too.  I am so lucky to have her in my life.  Love her!

I've had work done

I was talking about getting green contacts tonight.  And I have recently purchased a brighter red dye kit for my hair for the winter.   So, my husband said that if I was going to get any work done, it should be my boobs - because that would last! 

walk to the mailbox

Sometimes, it's fun to be bad.  At 9:45 at night, it is super exciting to walk the block down to the mail boxes in your underwear!!!!   No cars passed us.  But we did walk by a friends house where they had all of their downstairs lights on.  It was just a weird exciting thing to do!  I highly recommend it.

I miss painting

I went to a bachelorette party at Canvas and Cocktails over the weekend.  It was so super fun and I highly recommend it to everyone.  You get to paint while you have a few glasses of wine or bottles of beer.  Or more if it so happens!  That's my final painting above.  I don't think it looks anything like what it should - it is supposed to be Larimer Street.  One of the girls at the party said that it looks more like a canal in Venice, Italy.

While I was painting, I was taken back to when I used to do it when I was a teenager.  It's not quite the same as I used to do, but it was still so fun.  I miss painting.   I only have one painting (until now) of mine in our house, and I keep thinking that maybe I would love to do it more.  The only problem is that I don't have time or the space for painting now.

Oh well.  I am glad that I have another of my paintings to put in the house.  And I really look forward to going back to C&C to do another one.   :)

(one of my previous paintings)

Sexy outfit

Have you ever had that one outfit that makes you feel like a supermodel?  Even if you're not feeling sexy otherwise?  

I have these jeans and t-shirt that just make me feel like I should be modelling in a catalog.  LOL - jeans and a t-shirt in a catalog????.  I can't help it.  I feel HOT!  Just saying that makes me feel absolutely ridiculous, but.....  The jeans are these great ones for curvy girls from The Gap, and the t-shirt is a cute grey CU almost-baby T.   Why it makes me feel sexy I don't know, but it works.