I'm not a runner...but I like to get dirty

If you are reading this, then you probably know me well. If you know me, then you know I'm not a runner. Although, I would like to be. I would like to be one of those people that gets up early in the morning, eats a banana and heads out for a pre-dawn run. I'm quite the opposite. Last year, I broke my snooze button.

Last week, I was filling Miss Pearl and glanced up at the billboard. Being in the media industry, I try to read everything and that includes billboards. This particular bigger-than-life advertising had information about a 5K mud run. It's exactly what it sounds like. You run for 3.1 miles and then there is a HUGE mud bath at the end. Count me in!

I casually mentioned this to Becca, a girl in my book club. Immediately she said, "Let's do it." Then I mentioned it to my other friend Brooke and she started training for it before I could finish my sentence. So, it looks like I will be competing in my first race in exactly one month. I have 30 days to train. Thankfully, I'm somewhat fit (I think) and I enjoy exercising. Brooke and I are taking a strength and conditioning class at a uni twice a week. We have decided to start training, no time like the present, ya know?!

Tonight is our first trial jog. I will keep this blog updated and let you know how it goes. If you have any 5K pointers, let me know.

September update

Y'all, I haven't been on here for a little while. The Daily Record has been keeping me very busy. I have become the official photographer at the paper. Which is fun. I get to attend a variety of events, from hanging out in the alley to catch the new recycling program downtown to sitting in a plush, leather chair in the Governor's conference room at the Capitol. I'm (hopefully) getting better at taking pictures, it's a learning process for sure.

I also just recently got my own column. It's called Capital City Chatter. The column is fun, because I can write about anything I want. I've wrote about buying new furniture, my book club, moving to Arkansas and being a newlywed. The format is informal and (within reason) I can write about anything my little heart desires.

The more I write, the more I like it. I'm trying to get into the freelancing world as well. It's good to know that no matter how technical savy the world gets, they will always need someone to write about it.

Parish is doing well and the second part of his business is going well. He is such a hard worker. I'm so proud of him. We went to see Les Mis the other night and really enjoyed it. It was Parish's first theatre experience and he is ready for another thesbian experience soon. I'm so glad. I'm no stranger to the stage and the wonderful world of acting, so of course I enjoyed it. I have to admit, I teared up at the end. I know, I know...

We are continuing to learn more about this humid state and the best thing is that we are doing it together. There are highs and lows, but mostly high points. We are taking Parish's parents to Tunica, Mississippi (I had to sing the song to spell it, sad!) I've never been to Mississippi, so that will be a fun, new experience.

I will blog about that when we return.
Thanks for checking with the Brockmans, if you read this, we love you! And probably miss you.

"Lighting the match"

I took a lot of things away with me from college, knowledge, experience, my husband and a lot of mismatched furniture. Freshman year, I lived in the dorms (which will be a whole other column entry one day) and furniture was provided in the 25’ by 25’ foot room. Coming to my senses, I moved out at the end of the second semester and found a four-bedroom apartment on party row Avenue.

Desperate to get out of the dorms, I took any piece of free furniture I get my little, eager hands on. My three roommates had the same attitude and in the end, we had two couches, a 25” TV, a dining room table and a wine opener. We were going to be all right!

Living arrangements became considerably better from there. I moved each year and always picked the apartment on the highest floor. I’m sure my friends and family members appreciated my ‘elevated’ choices and annual move. My smorgasbord of furniture followed me to graduation, where I dropped the couches, desk and anything else that wouldn’t fit in the truck, at Goodwill. I like to think that another little, naïve freshman discovered the couch and took it to a good home.

When the time came to move to Denver, I had to go on the hunt for furniture again. My parents bought me a pink couch for $25, which I promptly covered with a couch slip and a chair. One of my aunts had given me a TV and I had my bed from college. Again, I was so excited about moving out and living in Denver, the array of furniture did not bother me one bit.

When I married Parish, he brought a new couch and a much bigger TV into the marriage, thank goodness! He did bring an awkward coffee table and an ugly, black TV stand. Until about a month ago, we tolerated the arrangement of furniture and have been thankful to have a place to sit, put a drink and relax. It also doesn’t help that HGTV (the Home and Garden channel) is on almost 24/7. Watching people decorate their houses with fun, matching furniture is hard to watch night after night! We reached the breaking point and visited Furniture Row in Conway. The only place to sit in the living room is a couch, so we set out to find an additional sitting piece, whether it be a recliner or overstuffed chair.

Parish did some pre-shopping and found the perfect piece, a chaise lounge (think one-sided fainting couch) that actually matched our couch. The lounger came with a huge pillow. One side of the pillow matched the couch; the other side was covered in a funky, colorful, square design. Furniture Row did sell smaller matching pillows; unfortunately they were $50 a piece. I didn’t even look over at Parish; I knew he was already shaking his head no. The lovely addition was picked up a week later and looks great next to the couch.

Unfortunately, the current pillows (on the couch) didn’t match the new, big one on the chaise lounge. Perhaps that is a minor detail to some, but for me, the old pillows jumped out at me every time I walked in the room. The hunt for perfect pillows began last weekend. My momma raised me to be a bargain shopper, so we headed to Big Lots, Hobby Lobby and then Pier One. I need to mention an important part of the story; I was carrying the over-sized pillow from the chaise lounge with me.

Regardless of how silly I looked, we found some affordable, matching pillows at Pier One. Our minor design project was complete and a success. Now onto the TV stand and coffee table, to be continued…

My Hero?

I never played a lot of video games as a kid. I chose to spend my time outside or on a stage. Thank goodness Parish isn't a big-time gamer, although Madden almost ended our relationship in college (but, that's a different blog entry). He does enjoy video games, but not to the point of compromising our marriage.

Perhaps I spoke too soon...about six-months ago, he began talking about this thing called a Wii. The more I learned about it, the more I thought it would be fun to own. Stores couldn't keep this game system in stock and with the three-digit price tag, I thought we could hold off. Parish continued to talk about it and the more I heard about it, the more I wanted to play it too. An interactive game that gets you off your tookus and whips you into shape...um, yeah! All the lights went on around our one-year anniversary and I made it my mission to find a Wii and surprise Parish. My mission was more complicated than I thought and after calling 400 Targets, in Arkansas and Colorado (I was desperate!) I located a GameStop that had it. Only thing was, the store was about an hour away from Little Rock. I sent an email to my (very understanding) boss and headed out to complete my mission. Two-and-half hours later, I had the coveted Wii. I thought to myself, "This thing better be a load of fun...or else!"

Needless to say, we joined the masses and enjoy bowling, tennis, golf and boxing from the comfort of our living room. The only thing I didn't know is that Wii is a drug. Okay, not in the physical sense, but very much in the MENTAL sense. The people at Nintendo know what they're doing. First of all, only one controller comes with the system, if you want to play with another person, (i.e. have fun) you need another controller. One of those puppies cost $60 and, oh yeah, you have to get this other controller in order to play some of the games. Price: $20. Eighty-dollars later and you haven't even turned the thing on! We might be eating rice and beans for the next couple of months, but at least we're having fun!

Turns out, Wii is A LOT of fun. The first day we got it we played it for at least three-hours. GH was the same way. The games require much more movement than I expected. After a couple rounds of boxing, I had to get water and sit down. Seriously! Parish enjoys tennis and we both like bowling. There is a feature on the system called Mii and you can create characters. The created characters show up in the game later on. You can create Mii characters to look like you or create a funky person and give them a name like "Lulu B" or "Lil B." I honestly have just as much fun creating a Mii than I do playing the actual game, true story.

Guitar Hero is another story. It is more frustrating than I imagined, although I'm slowly getting the hang of it. I've only thrown it once. Parish is catching on a lot more faster than I am (of course). GH brings out my competitive side and it is NOT pretty. Perhaps the jump from no video games to the most interactive games on the planet wasn't the best choice. But nonetheless, we have invested too much time and money to turn back now. Wii like to play.

Miss Pearl

After rockin' the '87 Honda Accord and the '95 Ford Taurus, I have joined the millennium. Parish and I purchased "Miss Pearl" yesterday after a very long, hard-fought battle. Let me start at the beginning...

About two-months ago, I started breaking down on the side of the road. We would get it towed (thanks Allstate and Shaun, my personal, tow-truck driver) and checked out. They would do some minor repairs and send me on my way. I would then drive hundreds of miles and then out of the blue, break down again. This must be said: I totally lose it when I break down on the side of the road. Not a little bit, I turn into a crazy lady. First, I call everyone I know and tell them I am broken down at the side-of-the-road. After I have enough sympathy, I call and order a tow. Then I call everyone back and tell them a tow truck is coming. It goes on like this until I get the car back. Well, after breaking down twice in one day, Parish and I decided to start looking for another car. Warning: looking for cars causes heated battles, proceed with caution.

After going through the car salesman/dealer fiasco, we decided to stop looking and ride out the Taurus for another year. At this point in time, the car mechanic couldn't find anything wrong with the car. I was (somewhat) content to wait the year out and ride off into the sunset in my Hummer when the time came to get my new car. Fast forward two-weeks: I needed to go take a photo for a story I was writing. I approach the car, get in, turn the key, it idles...and then DIES. Maybe I'm dreaming, so I try it four more times, same response. I can see myself picking out the interior for my Hummer and then reality sets in, "FIND A RELIABLE CAR!"

I go through my routine of calling everyone I know and then I call Parish and after a few choice words, he decides to head out that moment and start looking for a replacement car. During the first go-round I test drove a Jeep Commander and Jeep Compass. Second go-round was a Ford Five Hundred and a second Jeep Commander. Then I test drove a Huyndai Sonata and then finally a Nissan Altima. Finally, the Altima was chosen as the winner. After countless hours of research, Parish marched into the dealer with numbers in hand and fought a good fight. We walked away with a great deal and a 2005 Nissan Altima.

This was a very good, learning experience. Parish is such an amazing, strong person. I'm so proud of him. Hopefully we will not have to wage war against the dealership for a long time. I'm in love with my new car. She's crazy fast, good on gas and a joy to drive. I guess I will just have to call everyone and tell them my car is working great!

504,000 Minutes

When I was seven-years old, I thought my sixteenth year was going to be the best year of my life. Twenty was ancient and I would be married and done having children at the age of 23. I'm turning 26 in two-weeks. I have changed my mind about the best year of my life and the whole kid idea by 23. I accomplished the marriage part. Parish and I will be celebrating our one-year on June 15. As of now, we have been man and wife (or husband and woman) for 350 days. That is a lot of days.

Of those 350 days, we have only spent one night apart (sniff, sniff). Well, there are the nights P comes to bed at 2 or 3 a.m. after falling asleep on the couch watching basketball.
During the past 8,400 hours of our marriage we have: traveled 1,200 miles to Arkansas (with a cat), unpacked our lives and decorated a new one, started a successful business, ate 100 pounds of catfish, drove to Memphis during Elvis's anniversary, hosted my mom and dad (we had a really fun time), traveled back to Colorado (a mere 16 hour trip), bought and assembled a desk (7 hours later, I was a mean mess), took up daily walks (almost), learned about sharing and tri-folding towels and fell more in love. It has been an amazing year.

Moving to Arkansas a week after getting married didn't seem like a good idea at the time, but I clearly see how healthy it was for us.

Being far away from family and friends has been very difficult, especially for me, but it has allowed Parish and me to find our legs and really learn about this whole marriage thing. As an only child, I depended on my wonderful parents (a lot!) and it has been hard shifting my reliance to another person. Every day is filled with (marital) lessons. Like the time I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought myself a new pillow. I proudly showed Parish my new buy and he asked why I didn't get him a new pillow. I was speechless. He said that now that we are married, when you go buy something like a pillow or a toothbrush, you automatically get another one for your lover. Hmmm...not a bad set-up. I promptly went the next to BB and B the next day and bought him a new pillow and later swung by Target for a new toothbrush.
I guess I have a lot left to learn about this sharing thing. So, here is to the next 504,000 minutes.

Unofficial honeymoon

Driving a Budget truck with a '95 Ford Taurus in tow is not my idea of a honeymoon. It's not Parish's idea either. But, at the time, the wedding and the move had to happen close together. And looking back at it, it made sense not to go on a honeymoon right after the wedding. We were exhausted. We would have slept on the beach the whole time if we would have jetted out on June 16. But, as our one-year (June 15) is approaching, I think it's time for a honeymoon.

I've talked to some couples and they tell me they didn't take a honeymoon either, but there planning on it. She was telling me this as her little boy was smashing a cupcake in his face. Okay, so I made up the kid part of the story, but really, I want to take a honeymoon BEFORE kids. That's the whole idea. And although we aren't planning on having kids for at least 15 more years, I want to enjoy the beach and nightlife while I'm still young and silly. I know a part of me will always be young and silly, but there will be parts of me that won't look good in a swim suit!

Parish and I have not been on a "real" trip together since we've been married. He has also never been out of the country. I have been blessed with many miles of oversea travels. It's time for P to cross a sea, or at least get a passport and for us to enjoy a trip as a married couple! Is that too much to ask? I don't think so. But now the planning part is getting tricky. Finding a reasonable, nice place is a daunting task. I've read numerous reviews and visited countless Web sites. I have found a travel agent in Conway, because I would like to talk to a real person and make sure the hotel we book is actually ON the beach. When I went to Cozumel with my best friend Lacey in college, the travel agent forgot to tell us that our hotel wasn't on an actual sandy beach. Instead, there was a man-made beach and you had to climb down a sketchy ladder to get to the ocean water. Totally bootleg.

We are hoping to go before the end of the year. We are in the process of getting our passports and bodies in beach-shape. I will keep y'all posted. You will definitely know when a honeymoon vacation is booked. You will hear a "Whoo-hoo!" from the southwestern part of the country.