Beach Bound! Port A. Reunion 2008

So last weekend we (Brian, my mom & sister) drove up to Port Aransas for the Reunion. We had not been in at least 5 years! It was soo good to see everyone! I can't wait to go back again next year!

Port Aransas, Texas, one of my favorite places to be
First night of the reunion - going through all the old photo albums from previous reunions

At the weenie roast

Again, at the weenie roast (I know you can't tell this is a weenie roast b/c there are none present, but it really was! And they were delicious)!

Jake and I (Jake & Jerry are the ones that put on the reunion)

Brian and I in the car heading to the beach

We made it! And we don't want to leave!

It's been quite some time since we all got to go together!

This is me attempting to skimboard. In a second you will see why I used the word "attempt"

Still "attempting"

And there you have it. That sucker just slides out from right beneath you!

My injury. LOL.

Brian and I at Jake & Jerry's lunch

My sister and I

We had such a great trip!!

UPDATE ON BOOTCAMP!

Totally didn't realize it had been so long since I last blogged! Ooops! Things must have gotten busy around here! Last week I had jury duty for 3 days, one day of work, and then went to Port Aransas for the annual family reunion, so it's been kind of crazy! (I'll have to post the pics from the reunion soon - they came out super cute!)

Bootcamp is going G.R.E.A.T!! They weigh, measure us and take our BMI's so we can track our progress on a weekly basis. Writing down my food intake has really helped. It makes you think twice about eating something bad that's for sure!!

The instructor really picked on me yesterday - I know it's all in good fun, but sometimes it can be pretty embarrassing.

1. When he had me demonstrate one of the ab exercises, after the demonstration he was like "Brittany, PS - you stink, you need a shower!" LOL. what does he expect? It's hot and we are sweating like crazy out there!!

2. During another ab exercise he was asking the group how we were feeling and what not...cracking jokes as he always does, and he said something like "Doesn't it feel good to come here and get your stress out?" or something like that..and I was like "YES!!" out loud, b/c he always gets mad when people don't count, or respond to his questions. And as soon as I said YES! he was like "Don't answer that question, Brittany, pretend like you aren't in this class."

3. He made a comment about the shirt I was wearing - It said Marketing Assocation and he was like "Marketing Association, HMMMM" and I said "Oh this shirt isn't mine, I don't do marketing and he goes "SHH Brittany do your workout."

I just can't win!!!! LOL.

It reminds me of being in high school athletics and the coaches always picking on you...

So hopefully I will start seeing some good results soon!! A lot of people in the class that have been there almost 8 weeks have seen such great progress already!

drop and give me 20

So I started my first morning of bootcamp today! - 5:30 AM. I got up at 4:45, had a Nutri-grain bar, changed clothes, met up with my neighbor outside our houses and walked down to the park. (She has been trying to get me to do it with her for weeks now). She's on her 5th week and has already had amazing results. I have to say, day one felt really good! It was definitely tough at times, but it was an incredible workout - I definitely need that motivation. It's also nice because I'm so used to just running and doing cardio and not doing a lot of strength and conditioning - well I don't have to worry about that now - we did a ton of abs today and lunges, sprints, you name it. He said tomorrow we're going to do a lot of arm exercises. I'm excited to see how the class progresses. The instructor is super nice and makes it as fun as possible. And the best part is - it's still dark outside so it's not hot at all and you're done with your workout by 6:30 AM!

I'll let you know how sore I am tomorrow. :)

Happy Birthday to Matt

This weekend was Matt's (Brian's friend of about 7-8 years) birthday celebration. His parent's have a really nice house in Round Rock with a pool in the backyard so we all went over there and swam, ate bbq and had some yummy margaritas.

Mandy, Sara and I

Me playing washers - I think I look confused here! LOL.

Brian floating by

Me and Mandy

Me and Mandy take two - I was laughing, of course

no didn't cut my hair..it's just to the side! haha

Sex and the City

So Friday night I went to see the Sex and the City movie. LOVED it!
If you haven't seen it yet, I won't spoil it, but it really had some funny one-liners and was overall very fun to watch! :) Being a big fan of the show I was really, really happy with the movie! :)

A few of my favorite quotes from the movie:

" I won't tell you how often, but when Big colors he rarely stays in the lines." (Carrie to the girls)

"Color? Well I can't color enough. I would color all day...everyday if I had my way I'd use every crayon in the box."(Samantha to the girls)

"I feel the same way as you feel about Botox. Painful and unnecessary." (Samantha on being Carrie's question to be her Maid of Honor)

BBQ for the Bobcat Grad

This weekend we went to Krista's graduation BBQ at her parent's new house in Round Rock. We had a lot of fun! There was great food, drinks and tons of games to play.

The cake Krista's mom got - isn't it so cute! I told Krista she needs to jump in the air like the girl on there.


Krista and I in her HUGE backyard. Isn't their fence pretty? I loved the rock.

The boys

By this point, they were getting annoyed with my picture taking.

Krista playing washers - and of course Dakota came along!

Brian playing washers

FYI - FREE Skin Cancer Screening in Austin

I have always been a big proponent of getting your skin checked every year. Luckily, Austin has a hospital that does a completely FREE screening once a year. I think it's so great that they do it because it is so important. They always say, early detection is key! It takes less than 5 minutes and could safe your life!! :)

21st Annual Free Skin Cancer Screening
Saturday, May 38 a.m. to 2 p.m.
University Medical Center at Brackenridge,601 East 15th StreetDay Surgery, First Floor(Complimentary garage parking)

Screening exams will be conducted by local dermatologists who are volunteering their time.
Screening Sponsors are the Austin Dermatological Society, Seton Family of Hospitals, American Cancer Society, American Academy of Dermatology and Schering and Dermik.
Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers. When detected early and treated properly, even melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer is curable. More than one million cases of highly curable basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year according to the American Cancer Society. Melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, will strike approximately 62,480 persons in 2008, 3,940 of those in Texas alone. Melanoma is expected to be the sixth most common cancer in men and seventh most common malignancy in women nationally in 2008. An estimated 8,420 people will die from melanoma in the U.S. in 2008. Men have a 1 in 41 chance of developing invasive melanoma during their lifetime, with women a 1 in 61 chance.
(American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts and Figures 2008) Data on expected cancer incidence exclude squamous and basal cell cancer and most carcinomas in situ)
Of the 535 persons examined during the 2007 Screening, 206 had an abnormal finding. This included 52 presumptive skin cancers, nine of which were likely melanomas.

"And I never wanted nothin' more"...

So Wednesday night when Brian and I got home, I had two missed calls from his mom and so did he. I was very curious why she had called my phone too..Well, she said that a guy from her work had two Kenny Chesney tickets for Thursday's show in Austin and Brian's dad did not want to see him (it's a girl thing I think!) So anyway, she was like I have these two tickets, do you think you would want to go with me?? UM YES, YES and YES!! I love Kenny Chesney and have always wanted to go to one of his shows. He's been Entertainer of the Year and now I can see why! We had the BEST time! I don't think one person was sitting down the entire performance - everyone was dancing and singing along..So fun!! THANKS, THANKS, THANKS JAN for letting me tag along with you!!

Leanne Rimes opened the show and did a really good job! She was really full of energy!

It wouldn't be Kenny Chesney without his cut off t-shirt!! Haha

And They're Off!!

Brian and I went to our first-ever weenie dog race in the big city of Buda, (most of you probably know, we moved into a house there last August). So... for those friends that say there is nothing to do in Buda, well, not this weekend! Haha

Notice this one has a hot dog leash?????


It was probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen. People get SO into it - most of them were dressed in costume and had been training for months in advance. Training?? For a weenie dog race?? I said the same thing, but when we watched them on Saturday they were running all over the place, confused, didn't know what to do..And the ones that made it into the finals (the really good ones) knew immediately what to do once the gates when up. They were there to win. Haha.

They even stayed in their own lanes

Appropriate! I wanted to get inside and sit in the

driver's seat, but it was filled with little kids!

Who doesn't love Starbucks

So...Dakota loves Starbucks just as much as I do!

I took this picture when my sister was in town visiting, we were all eating breakfast that Brian had brought from Starbucks and I had just put my yogurt with granola down on the table. Well Dakota stuck her nose inside of it and started licking it out and got the cup stuck on her nose. We were all cracking up!

That little character!!

This week on The Bachelor...

If you don't watch the Bachelor, then this will probably not interest you at all. :)

But seriously....Why did he let go of Noelle? She was the classiest, most sincere - not to mention very pretty, girl that I have seen on there. She was so composed when she left and always held her head high.

Shayne - I'm liking her more than I did in the beginning...She can be pretty funny and she isn't extremely catty like a lot of the other girls have been. She's completely honest with who she is and I appreciate that. She is definitely high-maintenance, but she's always pretty fair about all of the girls getting their own time with Matt. I just don't know if there is anything long-term there.... and I don't know if her acting career is the reason she is on the show in the first place...

Amanda - I liked Amanda more after last night and the practical joke she played on Matt. For some reason she just doesn't "wow" me, but she does seem very sweet. I feel like she can be kind of boring at times...but I think she is there with good intentions. I guess if I had to choose out of the final 3 it would be Amanda.

Chelsea - Not really feeling her. She has kind of annoyed me from the beginning. And the whole "I can't hold your hand" thing just seems juvenile. I feel like she tries to be too mysterious and hard-to-get. Hoping she goes home next week....

Five-Mile Dam

Such a hidden treasure...We had never heard of the Five-Mile Dam in San Marcos until our neighbors told us about it and how much fun it is to take your dog and just go and relax for the day. We had a great time..The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we let Dakota swim her little heart out.

Texas Bluebonnets - My favorite part of Spring

Ahh..Texas Bluebonnets. By far my favorite part of Spring. We took these photos right down the street from our house. It took a few takes...but Dakota finally sat still and took some great photos. I only wish we could have taken one with the three of us.

Forever Missed..

I called Lauren's mom yesterday and told her that I had created a new myspace page for Lauren - called Friends of Lauren - because her page had become filled with spam after she passed. It made me really sad to not be able to go onto her page and look at her pictures and leave her a comment when I'm thinking about her. She was so grateful - this is where Lauren got so many of her qualities - from her mom. Her mom is possibly the nicest woman you would ever meet - and so genuine - which is hard to find these days. She wrote me the sweet e-mail below and it really got to me. It's still really hard to believe she is gone. I will forever miss her.

Dearest Brittany,
There are not words enough to thank you for this gift. I am crying, of course, as I write this, but this means the world to Jim and I. If you could go online and thank everyone who responded, on our behalf, that would be great.
Lauren was so lovable and so selfless. I know how much she loved you, and I can still picture in my mind her voice telling me stories about the two of you, and sometimes just stories about you. She would laugh and laugh. I find it so hard to accept her loss, I so profoundly miss her. She was in some ways the best part of Jim and I, certainly our strength and compassion.
The site you created is really beautiful, we love the pictures and poems and music.
I will check it to see how it changes, but thank you so much.

NEVER buy SentryPro XFC flea medication for your pet!!!!

Do not EVER EVER EVER buy SentryPro XFC for your pet. (The vet told us this applies to ANY generic flea meds including Hartz and Bio Spot).

I had always given my 3 year old dog Dakota Frontline and never had any issues…
Well, I ran out and was not able to make it to the vet during the week, so I went to Pets Mart and noticed SentryPro XFC on the shelf and thought I would give it a try because it was much cheaper and I figured it would have the same ingredients as Frontline.

I put it on Dakota at 5 am before I left to go out of town for business..Came home that night at around 7 pm..My poor dog was having MAJOR muscle spasms, drooling uncontrollably, could barely walk, totally disoriented, could not sit still.

I called the emergency vet and they said to wash it all off immediately with Dawn dish soap and bring her in. The vet said to NEVER buy the generic flea and tick meds because they are highly toxic and can have serious side effects for your animal (They said if given to a cat it would die). The vet said it’s so horrible and they don’t understand why these pet stores keep it on the shelves. Luckily they gave her some muscle relaxers and gave us some to take home so we could give them to her every 8 hours until the muscle spams went away. Thankfully, she is back to normal and feeling much better!

I hope this serves as a warning for anyone who would think of purchasing this product. I researched online and found over 100 people on one message board whose pets had the exact same symptoms as Dakota so I really don't understand how this product is still on the shelf. Anyway, I wanted to get this out there because I would hate for anyone to have to go through the same thing she did.