Niki Flash

You guys. I ran six miles- WITHOUT STOPPING. I know this is probably not a big deal for a lot of you who are my pro athlete friends (ahem, Morgan), but this was a pretty huge deal for me.

Every year, Austin holds the Capitol 10K, a race with music at every mile stop. I didn't participate last year, but joined my co-workers this year with a goal of running the whole thing. I probably should've prepared with some kind of training program a couple months in advance. You know, start actually running outside or something.

My training involved Robbie making me run 1.5 miles two times the week before the race. I had to stop to walk both times. I'm a wimp.

I think my competitive side got the best of me on race day and I didn't stop running the entire 10K. When you see moms running with their kids in strollers or someone who could be your great grandmother passing you, you can't help but put a little pep in your step.

I'm proud to say I ran an 11 minute mile (speed demon, I know) and finished the race in an hour and ten minutes. Robbie kicked my butt and ran it in under an hour, around 52 minutes.

Somebody sign me up for a marathon.

P.S. Does anyone get the name of my title? Name where that comes from and I will love you forever.

Grumpy turtle

Check out what we found this weekend? A tiny turtle! He was so far away from the lake that we're pretty sure he had a death wish.

I wanted to keep the little guy, but Robbie wasn't into that idea. When I was younger, my sister Page had a turtle and named it Crystal Ball. Looking back now on that name, that's a really strange name. Page, can you explain that for us??

"He's so cute an all alone!" Name that movie.

We took him back to Barton Springs. He was not digging it. Look at that angry turtle face.

We took a ride downtown and may or may not have had to return a Frank Sinatra CD back to the library that I've had since January...

This was the first summery weekend, at least in my opinion, of the year. It was humid and warm and there were lots of people hanging out on the lake. All of that equates to summertime in my mind.

After a little ride downtown, we rewarded ourselves with two delicious burgers from Wholly Cow. This place sure didn't look like much, but the burgers were awesome.

And here are three wonderful turtle references for your viewing pleasure:

Nick Miller's turtle face
I like turtles.
Turtle turtle

Up, up and away

We finally saw the bats! Under the Congress bridge in Austin are a million bats that sleep all day and prey on insects (and who knows what else...) at night.

Watching the bats leave for their evening feast has been on the to-do list for over a year. I've heard that it's pretty underwhelming, which it kind of was. But since we caught the bats unexpectedly, it was pretty exciting and kind of freaky. We kept waiting for a crazy, rogue bat to jet out of the flying line and dart our way. Didn't happen, thank God.

We had a previous experience with the bats while we kayaked last summer. We paddled all the way from Barton Springs to the Congress Bridge and could hear the creepy little bats chirping, but didn't see them.

This time we got to SEE them. Robbie and I were rode our bikes downtown to check out the SXSW madness and on the way home we saw everyone lined up on the Congress bridge watching the bats. They were following this weird flying path, from north to south under the Congress bridge then up and away to who knows where. Both creepy and cool at the same time.

See the bats- check. What's next?

(On a related, but unrelated note: check out this adorable Austin Bucket List.)

Getting our climb on

We spent the majority of our weekend outdoors. Our lobster-red faces are proof. For months, Micah and Brittany have been asking us to go rock climbing and for months we had one reason or another why we couldn't go (I swear we weren't avoiding you guys). We FINALLY went this weekend and had a blast.

It was our first time rock climbing outdoors and it was tough. Since Micah and Brittany are seasoned pros, they helped us figure out how to make it all the way to the top.

This little guy kept us company. He belonged to the group next to us and was running around, visiting all the climbers.

He made a bed right where we were climbing. I guess that meant he liked us. Brittany's climb was super impressive. She was up and down in no time.

And she looked good doing it. Look at that hair blowing in the wind.

Puppy had to move when it was my turn to go because I was scared of falling and squishing him. I'm glad we moved him because I definitely fell and would've crushed the little guy.

I made it to the top with Micah helping me by calling out where to put my hands and feet.

The best part is coming down. It's kind of like a ride.

Robbie and Micah tried a harder, taller wall while Brittany and I went on a photo adventure.

They were in heaven.

I think we need a little more practice before we try any free climbing. Yeah, like that'll ever happen.

Let's go fly a kite

The Zilker Kite Festival was yesterday and I've never seen so many kites flying in one place in my whole life. I've also never been dive bombed by kites so many times in my life either.

We rode our bikes over to Zilker at about 10:30 in the morning and by 1:00 in the afternoon, the park was packed. We ran into some friends, Ryan, Shalyn & Drew, and hung out with them for the afternoon.

Favorite sites of the day:

• Many, many dads chasing after runaway kites. 
• Man, many dads flying butterfly, princess, Barbie, etc. kites. True men.
• A man in tie-dye, yoga pants.
• A dog with sunglasses.
• Robbie's sunglasses tan after baking for hours in the sun.

While the day was mostly joyful, there were a few kites who met their fate yesterday. If there's a lesson to be learned, it's never fly kites by a tree. No matter how tempting that shade is.

Cutting it close on Valentine's Day

We cut it close on Valentine's day.

Robbie and I were sitting in traffic on our way home from work until about 6:25. We had dinner reservations at 6:45, which meant we had 20 minutes to get through the unbelievable traffic to meet at home, grab a Car2Go, get back into the unbelievable traffic to drive downtown, park and get to Flemming's.

Since traffic was so bad, I didn't have a chance to change out of work clothes and into fancy clothes. I didn't wear much makeup to work because I had grand plans on putting makeup on when I got home (that didn't happen). I grabbed my camera, which I later found out had no SD card in it.

Fail.

Except I did manage to brush my hair. Major win.

We defied the traffic gods and made it to Flemming's at 6:47. Dinner was ridiculously good. Then we headed to the Four Seasons for a couple more drinks and cabbed it back home.

A simple, but perfect Valentine's date.

Oh and check out these pretty things that Robbie got for me:

Hunting & crafting

This weekend Robbie went hunting, which meant I had a lot of time to myself. I did a little bit of reading, crafting and sewing.

When Robbie got home on Sunday, he filled our freezer with pig meat. Gross!

I was slightly grossed out when we were bagging up the meat he brought home and I'm not really sure what it'll taste like when we eat it. Let's change that to IF we eat it. Aside from being kind of grossed out, I was also pretty impressed that Robbie shot a pig, cleaned it and brought home meat to eat. In a weirdly unexpected way, I'm really proud of him. And then he showed me the picture of the pig he shot (I'll spare you the pictures) and it was cute and spotted, which made me sad. Hunting is too hard on my emotions. I can't be grossed out, proud and sad all at the same time. I think I'll let Robbie do the hunting and I'll stick to my crafting.

Had to throw in a picture of the meat. Please be impressed that I could (barely) hold this leg up with one hand. This sucker is heavy.