Monday, August 31, 2009

The BIG 5!

So it's true folks, as of last Friday (8/28) Clay and I have been married for 5 years. And believe it or not we love each other more now than we did 5 years ago. For our anniversary Clay and I went to Tulsa to our favorite bed and breakfast.



Friday night we had dinner at this awesome little restaurant in Tulsa called The Palace Cafe. I had a yummy dinner and the presentation was to die for.

(Yeah I wore my graduation outfit again!)

Saturday morning Clay surprised me and had my masseuse, Julie, drive from OKC to Tulsa for a nice relaxation massage. (He got serious husband points for that surprise!) Then we went for a hot air balloon ride. The story of the balloon ride is long and crazy, but the bottom line it was an incredible experience and I would highly recommend everyone go on a ride if you get the chance. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the ride.

Our reflection as we passed over a little pond.

There was a hobby group of balloonist there and we launched with about 8 or so other balloons. Here they are getting ready to take off.



And here we are back safe & sound on the ground!

I love you Clay! I can't wait to spend many more years and have many more adventures with you!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Guest Blogger

Hello It's Clay,
Shyla helped me post about my fishin trip to Canada. For the most part we practiced the art of catch-and-release whereby you:
  1. Torture the fish with a hook
  2. Haul it out of its natural environment
  3. Measure and document the experience
  4. Set it free to start the process all over again
Bruce assured me this was ok since God instructed us to "subdue his creatures". It rained for 6 of the 7 days oddly enough we didn't notice until the fishing wasn't so good in the sun so we wished it were raining again. We each grew some sad looking beards but were happy to look scruffy just the same.
One of Bruce's subdued Creatures

If you know Bruce he is a hobby magician, he amazed our guide with a coin trick then pulled out perhaps his most impressive feat yet, check out this picture as he went for a stroll.
Bruce walks on water

One of many bald eagles

The trip was very successful we each caught fish larger than 30 inches long the largest of which was a 35 inches in length, for perspective the fish Bruce is holding above is about 21 inches. I did manage to get a few fingers cut up from a fish bite, apparently he wasn't following the subdued fish guideline. One finger was a nice black color afterward but it has since healed. I can't wait to do it all again.

Guest Blogger,
Clay

Thursday, August 20, 2009

GNP

Well I am officially supporting the GNP again as I am back to working full time. I'm really glad to get back into a routine after the bar. I am also glad to be working where I do. They really provide some amazing benefits. One of those benefits is a fitness center where I have committed to working out at least 4 times a week over my lunch. I've decided I need to shed the law school/bar weight and get back in shape. I also have a girl I work with who has committed to being my workout buddy so that has been very motivation.

Anyhow, last week was my first full week back and Amber and I were going full speed ahead. On Wednesday she decided it would be a lot of fun to do a spin class. I had never done spin and I had heard it was good exercise so I thought "what the heck" and off we went. There was a substitute teacher and it was HARD! We climbed "hills", we raced down "mountains", we did squats while riding the bike. However, I was able to do the whole workout so I thought I was pretty tough.

So Friday Amber had a family emergency and I decided to conquer spin again all on my own. This time the normal teacher was there and besides me there was only one other student. The other student was a man who, from what I gathered, spins all the time and actually rides real bikes that go places. So the teacher and the other student were talking about what kind of workout he needed and he said he really needed to work hard and he wished the class was an hour because he needed a hard workout. Meanwhile I'm struggling to properly adjust my seat and handlebars. So we get going and we're going all out. We're madly climbing "hills" and racing back down. Then about 2/3 of the way through my legs are BURNING! I want to stop but since there is only me and super biker man in the class I can't stop. I have to show I'm tough enough. At the end of class I could hardly get my feet out of the pedal cups and stand up. Again the guy was talking to the teacher saying he could have gone another hour. The teacher asked how I was doing and for a split second I thought about lying. I didn't want to lose face. But then I had to confess that the workout kicked by butt. I seriously could barely stand.

Anyhow, welcome back to work!

P.S. My friend Becky posted a very thoughtful blog today with an article that you should read. Enjoy!

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Bar Gifts

Did you know that you get gifts just for taking the bar? To get these wonderful gifts all you have to do is go to law school for 3 years and then spend the most miserable summer of your life cramming ridiculous amounts of information into your head and then sit through a 2 day exam. Sounds worth it doesn't it?!?!?

First of all my mommy and daddy sent some wonderful congratulations flowers for surviving the experience.

Ain't they purty!

Second my wonderful husband bought me the most addictive device on the planet.

Yeah for my new iPhone!!

Anyhow, I've spent a restful week recovering from the bar. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and phone calls. Man I've missed people. But I'll be back to work on Monday. I guess someone has to support the gross domestic product!