Getting Lucky in Budapest

As I mentioned in my first Budapest post, we arrived in Hungary in the evening, but our luggage unfortunately did not. By the following afternoon, I had resigned myself to living out of the backpack for the week. Viva la adventure!

Our trip was mostly, self-led sight seeing, but I did book at least one guided tour in each city. In Budapest we took the "Hammer and Sickle Communism Tour." It was great. There was only one other couple with us, so it was basically a private tour.

Our guide showed us all over Castle Hill, on the Buda side of the river. And, as the name implies, the tour focused on the history of Communism in Hungary. Since we had such a small group we were able to ask really detailed questions about anything and everything Hungarian. We even ended up having a surprisingly candid talk about the short-comings of the US education system.

For me, one of the highlights of the tour, was getting an up close look at this Budapest landmark.

Equestrian statues are very popular in Budapest, but this one is particularly popular, especially with the students of the nearby university. Notice a particularly shiny spot on that horse? 

Legend has it, if you rub the horse's balls, you'll have good luck. Our guide offered any of us the chance to try it. I figured we'd all take turns, but it soon became apparent that I was the only taker. 

It was much higher than I initially thought, but I scrambled up there and gave that statue a good grope. Our little group got a nice kick out of it, especially John. But you know what? Our luggage arrived that night.

A Jessica Rabbit Moment

How often do you get to lay on a blue piano and sing Elton John songs in front of people who won't "boo" you? Evidently, at least once. Among a number of super fun things that happened at my sister's wedding was an invitation to do just this.

We had the reception in the piano bar with our very own piano player. I cracked a joke about laying on the piano and he said, "Well, get on up there." You do not have to tell this girl twice. Embarrassing video of me butchering "Tiny Dancer" is forthcoming. 

Then we sang "Summer Loving" together. Not my pick, but Mike, the piano player, said, "Don't worry, I don't know all the words either." Well, you can't argue with that. 

After my turn, I offered some sage, sisterly advice to Em. "We only regret the things we don't do." And when I turned around, she was up on the piano, too. It was that kind of party. 

When Sarah returned from taking photos, we all climbed up there again for a quick sister picture. It was so nice of Carnival to paint the piano to match our dresses, don't you think. 

Brace Yourself

After years of prodding from my dentist, months and financially planning and weeks of waiting for delivery, I finally started Invisalign braces this week. I'm so glad to be official started. The process will take a year (paying it off will take much longer), and the sooner I get started the sooner I'll be done.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, instead of traditional wire braces, you shift your teeth by using a series of clear retainer-like trays. You wear the trays 20-22 hours a day and take them out only to eat and brush. This, it turns out, is an even bigger hassle than I anticipated. I expect it'll get much easier though.

Observations so far:

• Ouch. Today I almost spit out a piece of broccoli because it hurt too much to eat it. If I had been alone I probably would have. It didn't occur to me until the day before that this would probably hurt. It does, but after seeing so many friends have braces, I don't think it hurts as much as that seemed to.
  
• Some people still need anchors, usually just couple. I got 11! I keep seeing them referred to as "buttons." Not exactly, buttons are cute. This is more like my teeth now have teeth. The upside of these is that it makes having the trays out pretty uncomfortable, so I want to put them back in as soon as I'm done eating.
  
  
  
• I'm definitely going to lose a few pounds. See first 2 points.
• I notice them, a lot. I can see them in the mirror, and I feel like I have a horrible lisp. No one else seems to notice much. Maybe they are just being nice.
  
  
• From a few feet away, they really are basically invisible, which is exactly what I was going for.
  
  

You Can't Make This Up: Political Doggie Toys

When you are married to a political scientist certain things come along with the territory, like pop quizzes on Constitutional amendments and pre-election briefings on candidates and questions. Evidently, political themed doggie toys are also included in the package.

You wouldn't think there would be such a variety, but surprisingly there is. Right now, Boogie Woogie has both a stuffed Uncle Sam and squeaky (how appropriate) lobbyist. That's right, a squeaky lobbyist. It's one of her favorites.

We got this one when John was working with the Oklahoma Ethic Commission on gift reform. He couldn't resist it and he still gets a good chuckle every time he goads Boogie to "Get the lobbyist! Get him!"

I'm the Weiner!

This is me and Sheila, who has been my boss for the last 10 years. Because Sheila also happens to be the the Dean of Libraries, she was the one who presented me with the Outstanding Library Staff of the Year Award. Go me!

Really, go Jackie, for being so awesome and supportive and actually nominating me. (as Dean, Sheila isn't allowed to nominate). Jackie is a great friend and mentor, so it means a lot that the nomination came from her.

It was a super awards day for the Bonnie-pire too! Marissa was one of our Wise Outstanding Students Assistants, the highest honor given to a Library student employee.

And Darron received the first Wise Graduate Fellowship. For now, this is the only graduate fellowship at the Library. I may not be Darron's direct supervisor, but I want to count him as part of the Bonnie-pire just the same. He has worked in my department for 4 years and has come to me for help on school, work and extra-curricular projects. He's a super amazing talent who is totally going to change the world changing the world.

Blast from the Past: Years 12-15

Where did ages 10-11 go? I don't know; they didn't end up on my phone. That was around the time Sarah was born. Maybe no one took a picture of me then. I was terribly neglected when Sarah was born, you know.


Age 12: My first year of Junior High. Can't tell you much about it, I've blocked it out.


Age 13: Laser background, really? What were they thinking? I guess they were thinking it's 1990.

Age 14: At the school dance with my first boyfriend, Richie. Wow, we look really really happy to be there.

Age 15: Note the Barney plate. This must be Sarah's birthday. That kid was obsessed with Barney. Look how happy I am! Of course, I am, my fat kid days are over!

Blast from the Past: Years 6-9

Blast from the past continues!

Age 6: Is it just me, or do I look super ornery here?

Age 7: Convinced I was going to be a professional ballerina, I stuck with it for a decade. Until my toenails started falling off. Then it didn't seem so glamorous any more.

Age 8: Enter the Little Orphan Annie perm. Sad thing is, I loved that I loved like little orphan Annie.

Age 9: Holy Fat Kid, Batman. Here we go.

Blast from the Past: Years 1-5

Who does love a few cute baby pictures? Here's some of ME.
Age 1: This is one of my favorite pictures of me and my dad. I definitely don't remember this interaction, but I love this photo.

Age2: While this does seem to be a purposeful picture of me, this the point when my parents have told me I developed a knack for always ending up in pictures, even when I was supposed to be. Still love to get my picture taken!

Age 3: Baby fat? Maybe, or just a sneak preview of impeding fat kid fate.

Age 4: Ah, look. I'm a little farmer.

Age 5: At 5, I went to a private kindergarten. I got dropped off and picked up on mom's full-time work schedule. Once, an adult asked me "Aren't you excited about 1st grade? You'll get to go to school all day." I burst into tears and asked, "Does that mean I'll have to eat dinner there too?" I already spent 8+hour and 2 meals at kindergarten!

Laser Cats From Outer Spaaaaaace!

This entry is falling under a new category I am calling "You Can't Make this Stuff Up." One of my friends suggested I start a file. I decide to go one better and blog them. Some will come from my personal life, but I think there will be quite a few blog-appropriate items from work as well.

About a year back, we got a request to design a retirement party invitation. Valerie took the request and passed it on to me. After I stopped laughing, I told her to stop pulling my leg. She insisted she was not. Then I had to laugh all over again. Laughter in the work place is good, right?

The instructions: an e-invite (sure ok), using green if possible (no problem), with cats (hum, ok it's for a librarian), cats with green eyes (do, what?), incorporating these 3 phrases (oh. come. on) and can it look kind of like the cats are saying the phrases (sorry, I don't even know what to do with that).


After a long search for creative commons images of cats with green eyes, I put together what I thought was a nice tasteful invite that met the specs. But, I always like to give more than one option, and I have to admit this request brought out the stinker in me. So I decided to give them just what they asked for: a tacky cat card.

They freaking LOVED it. It was a unanimous vote to use Space Cats as the invite. And then we laughed some more. Space Cats, you will always be a fond memory. You can't make this stuff up.

COOP Ale Works: Beer Made in Oklahoma, by Oklahomans for OKC and Beyond

Back on the topic of public outreach activities that work. I'm a total COOP Ale Works lover now, and the transformation happened over the course of 2 hours.

Our friend Rachel won a tour for 10 of the OKC-based COOP Ale Works Brewery at a United Way fundraiser. Lucky for us, she invited me and John to come along. It was such a blast. Our guide, Blake the brewmaster, walked us through the brewing process, showed us all the ingredients and equipment and answered dozens of questions about recipes, history of beer and of COOP, industry, yeast, regulations, graphic identity and more.

Along the way, we got to sample each of the beers from COOP Ale Works including a very limited one-batch special edition. The brewery doesn't officially have a tasting room. In fact, there is warehouse space directly behind me as I took this picture. We were part of a quality control tasting. Two enthusiastic thumbs up on your quality, COOP Ale Works!

Blake taught us so much about beer and brewing and COOP, it was enough to make your head spin. I was particularly impressed with the company's sense of community and social conscience. That in and of itself was enough to make you want to buy their beers. (Speaking of the beers, I'll tell you more about those tomorrow.)

We got a pretty in-depth tour because it was part of their donation to the United Way, but you can tour the place too. They give drop in tours on select weekends, and for about $100 you can reserve the place for a private event, bring in your own catering and have guests take tours.

If you want to learn more about the company and how you can go on a tour like mine follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr or online.

Team Player

Why am I, a self-proclaimed early to bed-er, dragging in the door at 11:30 pm? Because I was a super duper team player today!

The Edmon Low Downs had a placement game tonight. On a work night. At 9:30 pm. Insane, but I was there. Playing a 9:30 game means I stay in Stillwater, typically in the office, until 8:45 then head to the field, then play for an hour, then drag my half-conscience self home.

Tonight wasn't as bad because my wonderful husband drove the 40 minutes from home to come have dinner with me and watch the game. And, of course, take photos.

I'd completely forgotten we put nicknames on our shirts. This made me smile when I pulled it out of the drawer this morning.

My First Marathon, Ok Half Marathon, Ok So I Just Watched...

...But, I was part of a runner support team, so I was still kind of sort of a participant.

If you read this blog regularly, or if you know me for-reals-like, then you know that I got a wild hair about 7 months ago and started running. My husband, John, is an amazing athlete and has been coaching and encouraging me as I take on running.

I was trying to come up with a special treat to thank John for basically being the best husband in the world. I saw one of his friends was entering the Austin Marathon. John is currently training for a marathon, so I offered up a quick trip to Austin, so he could enter the Half and test his progress. John was totally on board.

If you look closely, you'll see the entire Congress St. Bridge filled with runners. The "pack" was never-ending and, well, packed.

The race was huge, more than 20,000 runners! There was 5K piggy-backing on the event, but I decided to skip it. This weekend was all about John and with a physical challenge like this, you really do need a support team. So, I planned, mapped, drove, carried, photographed, cheered, fed, hydrated and filled tubs with ice.

These are the leaders passing 2 miles. You can tell the 2 in the front are Half-Marathoners because their bib numbers are white. Marathoners were black.

Then the pack came by, and came by, and came by. High fives all around! It really was fun to watch. I was using the Austin Marathon ap to track John's progress, but there were so many runners, I never saw him at the 2 mile mark.

You could tell a lot of runners didn't take themselves too seriously and were there to have fun. Here are the duck hat ladies.

And, this guy who was making a video of the crowd as he ran, and encourage us to cheer and ham up for him.

And, the guys with no pants.

And, OMG, is that Santa! Looks like running has been good to him!

I used the pace runners (this group is running fast enough to finish the full marathon 3:20, the half in 1:40) and the ap, but I missed John again at the 8.5 mile mark. Sigh, so I booked it to the finish line via a short cut and crossed my fingers that I'd see him at least once.

And I did! The ap said I was 15 minutes early, but as soon as I edged up to the finish line shute, I saw John come around the corner! There he is, in the blue, making a strong finish.

I've never seen John so wiped out after a run. He really pushed himself. He will disagree, but he did GREAT. His goal was to finish somewhere between 1:50 (the best he was hoping for) and 2 hours (the slowest he'd be happy with). He finished in 1:55:47.

What he didn't realize when he set these goals is that Austin is a really, really tough marathon and half. It's super hilly. So hilly, in fact, that when we drove it the day before, I nearly stalled out the car a couple times.

This was John's first Half Marathon, so (for now, at least) this time is his lifetime personal record. It's one, I think he should be proud of.

See more Austin Marathon pics on my Flickr photostream.

Austin: I Can't Quit You

I've blogged about our visits to Austin before. While, I always seem to tell people how unimpressed I am with Austin, somehow we keep coming back for more.

Our first trip to Austin was a rare anniversary in the states. We decided to experience train travel (it'll be just like the Hogwarts Express!) and Austin was a convenient end of the line. Our second trip was a conference John attended on my birthday. He made it up to me by bringing me along and letting me have a spa day at the Four Seasons.

On these trips we stayed downtown (the Driskill and then the Four Seasons) walked most of the time, and enjoyed the Congress Bridge bats and the various restaurants, bars and museums nearby.

At the Lady Bird Wild Flower Center.

Here's the thing with Austin. It has a reputation for being cool, and everyone (meaning everyone from Austin) knows it. The place so freaking pretentious, you just want to punch them in the face. Don't get me wrong we had a good time. Bats, awesome. Food, awesome. Museums, awesome. People, get over yourself, you are ruining this for me.

So when I decided to give John a special treat with a last minute trip to the Austin Marathon, I wasn't expecting a great time. But thanks to some great tips from friends, we saw a new side to Austin.

This was a last minute, on the cheap, trip to Austin during a jam-packed weekend. We couldn't get a hotel downtown if we had wanted. We drove more than ever. Traffic was a nightmare, but it freed us up to see some things we wouldn't have bothered with otherwise.

We took a shopping excursion and purchased a "bed picnic" at the Whole Foods (thanks, Dustin and Karee). The next day we "hiked" to the top of Mount Bonnell. It was definitely a highlight of Austin (thanks, Caitlin!).

On top of Mount Bonnell, the Austin skyline at our backs.

The Austin Marathon, well, that was great, too. It deserves it own post. I'll get back to you on that.

I Knew What I was Getting Into

This is me and John in 2004 when we were dating.

As you are getting to know a new person, you discover a lot about them. Over the years, I've learned a lot about my husband, and I like to think that now I know him better than anyone else. I will always remember the first time I felt like I had a real "this is who he is" moment.

We'd been dating for about 5 weeks at the time. We were having an at-home date, homemade dinner and a rental movie. It was actually the most romantic thing we had done. John came up with the idea; he asked me to "teach him how to cook something."

I picked a recipe, we shopped together then swung by Hastings and picked out a movie. We chopped and sauted and laughed. We sat on the couch and ate while we watched I-don't-remember-what. John was taking our plates to kitchen when it happened.

I was watching as he walked directly and deliberately into the trash can. And, I saw it coming. As he was going, I thought, "He going to walk into the trash can, he is going to walk right into it." And then he did.

As he picked up the spilled trash and put everything right again, I realized this was not the first time I'd seen something like this in our short time together. It dawned on me that it would always be like this, and I needed to decide right then if this was annoying or if this was endearing.

As I watched him clean up my kitchen, I couldn't help thinking, "Well, he is awfully cute."

Seven years, I still come home to things like this:

Yes, that is a large hole in the toilet tank. He doesn't know how it happened. It just did. And he's still pretty cute.

Make that 5 Weeks!

The 20 minute jog went awesome. Around minute 14, John and I started joking that every step was new personal record. Personal record for distance run, personal record for time run.

You had me at "jog skirt." This is what I look like after running 20 minutes. (I'm probably a bit cuter at the starting line.) How could I not love a sport I can do in a mini-skirt. This skirt is big, BIG part of my motivation.

Special thanks goes to my EVO for the combo of the C25K app and the distracting tunes that helped keep me going (thanks for the tip, Rachel!)

Victory time! I get a high-five from Boogie on my A for effort, then I dash to the L-store in full workout gear.

Including my Buff (a new piece of runner-ly gear, that keeps hair out of my face and breeze out of my dainty ears all while not making me more sweaty). I'm sure the owners thought I was a bit weird, but they are teetotalers who own a liquor store. Who's the weirdo now?

I just couldn't let this momentous victory pass without a champagne toast. To Personal Records!