Lace up your shoes...here's how we do...

* from - "Check Yes Juliet" by We The Kings.
You can jam to it here.


Jack and I have a new love - trail running!  After all the running and hiking we've done together over the years, I'm not sure why we haven't thought of this activity sooner.  We have so much fun during our trail runs that it hardly seems like a workout!  Really.   On Tuesday we went to Dana Peaks Park in Harker Heights. We ran/jogged for about 35/40 minutes, but it really only seemed like we were out there for 15 minutes or so... it was that much fun!


We've been hiking at Dana Peaks many times and I knew before we went for our first trail run there, that it offered some pretty impressive scenery.  So, in true Allison (from the movie 'Yes Man') style, I brought along our little point and shoot camera so that I could take pictures WHILE running.  Obsessed?  Yes, yes I am.  What kind of photographer would I be if I didn't feel the desire to capture slices of life wherever I go?

Usually, I really stress getting THE perfect shot - really focusing on photo composition, but obviously, getting the perfect shot while running is not going to happen.  So, with that in mind, I hit the trails and started snapping pictures of everything that looked interesting to me.  As expected, a lot of the pictures turned out blurry, but to me, that's what gives them a uniquely cool quiality.


So, lace up your shoes and get ready, 'cause here's how we do...

This was taken before we began our run.  It's the road we drove down to get to the trails. 

I took the picture because of the sky which was pretty awesome. 

Our starting point; "where the black top ends"
Going uphill on the Fire Road Trail from the Trailhead.

This sign marks the turnoff for the "Fenceline Trail"

Headed down Fenceline Trail

 

Look at those white legs!

 

Keepin' it stylish with the sunglasses!

The Trails here are at times rocky/gravely but, much that's better than muddy!

Quite a few dips that are probably fun while on a mountain bike

This is why this trail is called "Fenceline"

There was a private property sign on a fenced in lot right here where this brick post is.  On the "private" side of the fence there is also a small stone pillar dedicated in rememberance of "Mother". This pillar has a great view of the lake and the hills around. Because it is blurry, you may not be able to make out the gnome on top.

A view of Stillhouse Hollow Lake from the trail. This is the view from "Mom's" pillar.

Through the tall dead grasses of our Central Texas winter. Soon they'll be filled with grasshoppers and chiggers!

These mountain cedar trees where really cool.  The area would make for a great scary movie scene!

The scenery is really great in its sort of, bleak and dormant way during this time of year. We're fortunate that its also warm enough for short sleeves and shorts!

 

A Trotting Texas Turtles sign.  You can barely see it, but it's a green painted turtle shape on the wood post. 

Seriously, how can I ever go back to running around and around a track again???  I'm so totally hooked!

My navigator, enjoying every minute. 

Fire Road Trail leading back uphill to the Trailhead with Dana Peak (namesake of the park) to the left.

I'll admit that after I took this photo and we got a little further up this hill, (which was pretty steep) I got pretty winded.   But, Jack was pushing the pace and showed no signs of slowing, so I (being the competitive person that I am) just tried to keep up with him and wouldn't allow myself to quit.

Almost back to the car.  

This is the kind of thing that Jack and I live to do!  It's fun and exciting; it's like going on an adventure together everyday. Or at least 4 times a week.   

We're going back to Dana Peak today - I'm counting down the hours (only one left at this point) until it's time for me to get my trail running gear on and get out of the house!  We're taking Bella today - we'll see how she does on the gravel, it can be pretty rough on those ol' doggie paws. I'm going to bring the camera again, but I don't plan on taking pictures like I did above.  I just want to have it in case something, like another beautiful sunset, catches my eye.

Wishing you happy trails, always!

Need you now...

Hey y'all.  I just entered a Valentines Day photo contest on Photobucket.  I entered it to win a $200 prize pack from Photobucket.  The prize pack is a point and shoot camera which I would like to win for Madi.  I've never entered a contest that offers a prize before, so this is a first for me and I'm super excited to see how well the picture does.

Here is the picture I entered. 

I don't have a lot of Valentine's photo's - this one is from Valentines Day last year, taken by Madi.  I just doodled on the picture (last year) to make it more Valentine-y.  So, it's not the best Valentine's picture (it's awesome to me because it's of Jack and I) but it's the only one I have or could think of that I had to enter.  I just found out about the contest this morning and really want to win the prize so I hurried and entered this one. 

So at this time, I am asking YOU to please go to this link:

http://photobucket.com/ibeatyou?entry=1627754 and vote for the picture of Jack and I. 

I figured if I want to win the contest, I would have to bring in the big guns - you guys!  Although realistically I don't think we will win - some of the other pictures entered are a.m.a.z.i.n.g!!  Very heart warming and touching stuff!  But, it's worth a shot anyway.

Currently we are ranked at in 45th place!  Which is pretty amazing seeing that I entered the photo about a half hour ago and was ranked 5,546.  When I started writing this post we were in 91st place.  Wow.

The contest ends at midnight on Feb. 17th and I believe you can vote once per day.  So, there is still plenty of time for our picture to go up or come down in ratings.  I hope it goes up even more!

A big thank you to those of you who have already voted (that I know of) - Hope, Trina, Andrea, Lindsey C., Mom, Dad and Melanie!!!  Thank you guys SO much!!!

Also, thank YOU in advance for your vote.  :)

She's not a girly girl...

so she doesn't really like too wear dresses.  She prefers jeans and t-shirts, which I get, because I was the same way at her age.  To me, Madi is beautiful in no matter what she wears, but I really enjoy those rare occasions when she dresses up a bit.  Last night was one of those occasions.  One of her friends had her 13th Birthday party at a local community center here in Belton.  The Birthday girl requested that all of her guest dress up for dinner and dancing.  So, Madi was kind of forced to dress up and even though she wasn't over the moon about it, I was.

She looked so beautiful!  I, of course, took advantage of this rare moment by taking a few pictures of her before she left for the party.

~ She was ready early; just sitting around waiting to go and was not happy when I brought out the camera.  I didn't ask her to pose in this one, I just told her to stay like she was.

She was really not happy when I asked her to pose for the next two pictures...

But, she looked so beautiful, I couldn't resist having her pose for a few.  :)  She may not have enjoyed posing, but she loves the end product - the pictures!  Now, maybe I can get her to be my "model" more often. 

We are so lucky to have this child; a beauty both inside and out!  She's truly amazing - even when she's a drama queen about getting her picture taken!

A daughter is a miracle that never ceases to be miraculous...full of beauty and forever beautiful...loving and caring and truly amazing.

~Deanna Beisser

Today, the sun is shining...

Well, it snowed Thursday night and into Friday morning here in Central Texas.  I got up early Friday morning to see how much snow we had actually gotten.  It wasn't much (about an inch to an inch and a half), but it was enough to close the area schools.  For Madi, the cancellation of school Friday also meant the cancellation of her choir's Valentine's dance later that evening.  She was a little bummed about the dance being cancelled but, since she has two other dances scheduled over the next week, she was okay with the cancellation.  She's attending a friends Birthday party/dinner/dance later tonight and next Friday is the Middle School Valentine's dance.  So, she's gonna have plenty of time to get her groove on! :)

The day before it snowed, I was talking to my best friend, Eric, on the phone.  We were talking about the weather and the birds I've been photographing in our front yard recently.  Eric was commenting on how beautiful it would be to see the Cardinal in the snow and I agreed.  So, when I got up on Friday morning, the first thing I did was look out the window to see if the Cardinal was there, in the snow.  He was! As soon as I opened the blinds, I saw him on the bird feeder...

 ~ Eric was right.  Beautiful!

Madi and I were lazy, we didn't really care (not at first anyway) to go outside and check out the snow.  We kind of admired it from inside the house; which is what I prefer - I live in Texas for a reason you know.

Madi took advantage of her free morning. 

~She didn't even bother with brushing her hair.

~She's trying to hide her face

~This is suppose to be her giving me a mean look.  HA!

Bella dislikes snow and cold weather ~ sort of like her Momma. 


She was biting on her "dolly" just before I took this picture.  I told her to "be nice to dolly" and so she started licking it instead.

Momma Cass ~ on the prowl.

. 

Tex ~ super annoyed that I'm taking another picture of him.Just before noon I decided to go outside and get a few quick pictures of the snow before it started to melt.  

~Just outside our front door.  See, not a lot of snow.

One of the bird feeders



~Snow covering a flower bed and our little squirrel rain gauge.

~Our Oregano.  Not sure if it's going to make it.

My nephew, Jason and Madi's friend, Erin came by later in the morning to play in the snow with Madi; so that got her out of the house for a little while. 

While Madi, the pets and I enjoyed our snow day, poor Jack was having to drive home from Dallas after a very stressful attempt at flying home the day before. He had gone on travel to Arkansas on Wednesday morning and was suppose to be home Thursday night. However, due to ice and snowy conditions on Thursday, he couldn't get out of Dallas (which is a long story, but he didn't find out that he wasn't getting out until after 1am Friday morning) so he had to spent the night.  The next morning (Friday) after learning that his 10:40 am flight was canceled (along with all the other flights that morning), he and his co-worker/friend rented a car and pushed their luck on the roads.   His Mom and I were worried to death, but thankfully, he made it home safely yesterday afternoon. 

Today, the sun is shining, temperatures are in the 50's and the snow has just about completely melted away. We're thankful for all these things but especially thankful to be back together, safe and enjoying this beautiful Saturday!  

A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word

As promised in my last post, here are a few pictures of the House Finch (we think it's a House Finch anyway) that has been hanging out in our front yard enjoying the bird feeders.

Remember, all of these pictures have been taken through our window, so they are a little "filmy" looking.

The Cardinal's (male and female) are still hanging out, but a Mockingbird is constantly chasing them, as well as any other bird who dares to come around, off so that he/she can have sole possession of the Crape Myrtle tree. Darn Mockingbird, they are so mean!  I still haven't gotten over seeing that Mockingbird eat our new born butterfly back in May.

 I took this picture to show a little bit of the view (focusing on the bird feeder hangin' from our tree while also showing the inside [blinds]of the window) I have as I sit at our desk and look out of the window.

All my bird watching/bird picture taking has got me signing an old 60's song (I do love 60's music - so this happens a lot!)  by The Trashmen called "Surfin' Bird".  The title of this post is a lyric from said song.  For a laugh, I've attached a video clip of Peter from the TV show Family Guy singing "Surfin' Bird".  I thought it was pretty funny, even though I don't watch the show.  Enjoy, but I'll warn you, you'll have "Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow" stuck in your head all day. 

Well, I just noticed (a day after posting this) that the video did not attach or somehow disappeared from.  Anyway, I can't get the video to show up here (I'm sure there's a way ~ I just can't figure it out!) for some reason, but if you would like to see the video clip, click on the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WNrx2jq184&feature=player_embedded#t=0s