Hello, 2013! (Part I)

[Insert joke about how long it's been since I've posted.]

[Insert sincere apology for my absence and heartfelt promise to write more.]

It's 2013! Time for a fresh start! It's certainly a time for big changes here at the Holtz household! Here's a run down of the last 3 months (over this two part series). Hang on to your hat, it's been a wild ride!

December
I told you I traded in the Runner, but we also traded in Mike's truck for a 2013 Prius 4, straight off the boat from Japan!

The Prius!!

It sort of looks like a spaceship inside and I think it can fly, I just haven't found the button yet....

It's been a really great car and it's already very clear we're saving a lot on gas! It's our only car, but there were only a couple weeks where we had to share it before Mike left for training in New Jersey, but we'll get to that later...

So our first road trip with the Prius was to Louisiana for Christmas! It did really well and we enjoyed having Sirius radio and Pandora on the way! In Louisiana, we got to spend time with Mike's mom and sister as well as our nephew and niece, Landyn and CJ.

Now kids, Uncle Mike is not a jungle gym!

While we were there, a line of storms rolled through Christmas day. To be safe, we brought Mike's mom to our hotel room where we all hung out, took naps and watched TV. When the storms got there, we went outside to watch (of course). Nothing terrible where we were, but I do believe there were some tornadoes further east that day.

Took a picture of this classic SLC (scary-looking cloud) from our hotel parking lot.

After a few days in Louisiana, we drove back home, did some laundry, pet the cat and then boarded a plane to Wichita early the next morning. While in Wichita, we caught up with friends and relatives and in between socializing, we worked on a puzzle that Mike and I got my dad for Christmas.

I think these two were more in to the puzzle than I was, but we all worked on it!

For New Year's Eve, we had some friends over. Sadly, due to widespread illness, our party was a bit smaller than we'd planned for, but it was still and enjoyable evening with Ryan Seacrest, Apples to Apples and some bubbly!

Steve shows off his winnings from Apples to Apples. 

January
On Saturday, January 5th, Mike left for Fort Dix in New Jersey where he would attend a month-long Army training course before his deployment to Afghanistan. I dropped him off at the airport with a tearful goodbye and hopes that it would work out for me to go visit him on the East Coast before he left.

The next day, Sunday, I was the volunteer coordinator for the American Meteorological Society's Weatherfest, associated with their annual meeting in Austin. I was worried that we wouldn't have enough help, but everything went very smoothly and I had a great time. I got to meet several new weather friends as well as meet up with old friends! I also handed off my work computer to a now-former co-worker. My employer had run out of grant money to pay for my position, so they had to let me go. I knew it was time to move on, but I certainly enjoyed my two years working from home. So....

On Monday I started my brand new job with Rackspace, the Open Cloud Company! I've known about Rackspace ever since we found out we were moving to San Antonio. If you Google "Best places to work, San Antonio" Rackspace is one of the first companies you'll see! I was so excited to get hired on as a Content Strategist. Basically, I'm a technical writer as well as an admin for a Knowledge Management System. It seems like a strange jump, but I was doing a lot of technical writing with the National Weather Service, so this is a very natural move for me.

So Rackspace is known for it's company culture, much like Google. There are vendors or food trucks for breakfast, lunch and dinner Mon-Fri. You do have to purchase your own food (we're not that much like Google), but you can choose from things like Freebirds and Rudy's as well as other local restaurants that bring in food! Also, when other Rackers (Rackspace employees) ask where my desk is, I tell them I'm near the slide. Yes, that's right, the slide.

They're also really big on t-shirts. I'm averaging about 1 t-shirt per week!

My first Rackspace t-shirt!

So Rackspace is more than just food trucks, t-shirts and slides. As you can see from their Core Values, they're a great company both for customers and employees. I have a one-on-one meeting with my supervisor every week and I'm on the cycling team and the running team. I'm even looking into joining RaxFit (free CrossFit for Rackers!).

Stay tuned for Part II....

Goodbye, Old Friend

Today I say goodbye to an old friend. A friend who served me well and got me through good times and bad. She saw so many chapters of my life and helped shape who I am today. Since I was 17, she has given me an invaluable gift: Freedom.

Who is this friend, you may ask? A 2000 Toyota 4Runner SR5 in Stellar Blue Pearl with a gold package, which I lovingly refer to as The Runner. 

Here are a few photos of The Runner over the years....

Oklahoma snow during my Freshman year of College

Hanging out with my cousins, Donovan and Drew, Summer 2002

I did it! I graduated! Now to add an OU Alumni tag holder to The Runner!

The Runner has done a LOT of traveling. She's seen the Las Vegas Strip, the Colorado Rockies, Bourbon Street in New Orleans and everywhere in between. I sometimes wonder if she couldn't navigate I-35 on her own and I could just take a nap in the backseat....

One of many road trips. This pic was taken in Austin after driving down from Norman.

Winter weather: not The Runner's favorite, but she' performs well in it.

My inability to sit upright in my wedding dress meant I got the backseat to myself!

There's been some impostors over the years...

A purple "Surf" in Japan

Spotted in Baton Rouge before an LSU game. A very appropriate vehicle for an LSU fan.
(You know it's not mine because it doesn't have the silver tire flares!)

It's transported us to countless races. This is Sarah, Ellie and I before the Mission 10K, April 2011.

The Runner was broken into back in May of 2011. They stole my GPS and all my CDs. The joke was on them as half the CDs were one's I'd burned (no value) and the other half were from 2003 or earlier. 

In 2012 she sported an OU Texas plate! Oh, the irony!

So today, after over 12 years and 162,000 miles together, she'll be traded in for a new vehicle (more to come on that!). Who knows what will come of her. I do hope that she winds up with another adventurous girl so that The Runner can give her the same gift she gave me.

Freedom.

Color Me Rad 5K

I'm going to go ahead and say we've established a new tradition. I believe the perfect end to any challenging triathlon and marathon season is some sort of unique 5K. Last year it was the Warrior Dash where we hopped over obstacles like beat up cars and 20-foot walls and crawled through mudpools. It was a blast, but not really for which you train (at least we don't).

This years fun 5K presented itself in the form of the latest 5K fad: a color run. The Color Me Bad 5K was held this past Sunday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. In a color run, participants run a normal 5K, but at different points along the route there are teams of people with colored corn starch or sprayers filled with colored liquid and their sole purpose is to make you as colorful as they can!

We started out so clean and fresh:

The benefitting charity was the Ronald McDonald House, so we took our pic with Ronald!

The sunglasses were part of the swag we got with race registration. Although it wasn't sunny that morning, it would soon become clear why they were necessary...

After the race, we met up with Justin and Clarissa at Taco Garage for a post-race lunch. We made sure there was room on the patio since we didn't clean up first!

Giving Thanks 2012

This Thanksgiving, Mike and I decided that it would be best if we stayed in San Antonio. We let our parents know they were invited to join us for the holiday, but that we were unable to travel this year. Mike's mom and my mom RSVP'd for our celebration and we had a wonderful time!

Light the Way 2012

Man! I can't believe Valentine's Day is just around the corner!!

Wait, what's that?

It's not even Thanksgiving?

But just this past weekend I celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and the 4th of July!

My friend Kristin graciously planned out a wonderful evening for us at the University of Incarnate Word's Light the Way ceremony. Each year around the holidays they decorate their campus with about a billion colored, twinkling holiday lights and it's become customary for us (as I'm sure it is for others) to drive through at least once each holiday season. The Light the Way ceremony includes musical performances from groups around town before they turn on the lights. The ceremony was held this past Saturday and a group of us grabbed some hot chocolate at Starbucks and made our way to UIW. We were relieved that it was actually somewhat "cold" for the festivities. (Walking through Christmas lights in shorts and a t-shirt just isn't the same)

We didn't grab seats on the bleachers, instead we just stood by the fence and socialized while sort of paying attention to the show.

Kristin, Rhonda, Ellie, Veronica and Clarissa (AKA "The Ladies")

Eric, Chris, Mike, Justin and Geoff (AKA "The Dudes")

The ceremony ended with what I thought would be a few fireworks, but really this display rivaled many 4th of July ceremonies (and we were super close to it)!

And of course, since it's San Antonio, a Mariachi Band led the crowd through the lights!

After walking through campus a bit, we headed to a wine bar for more laughs as well as some good wine and good food! What an excellent way to kick off the Holiday Season! :)

Medal Magnets!

After finishing the San Antonio Rock n Roll half marathon and other races, many times I receive a finisher's medal. They're often very attractive and heavy! For a long time, I didn't know what to do with them, so I stuffed them in a drawer with the intent of displaying them eventually. (You know, when we have that 5-bedroom apartment in a high-rise in the city and we dedicate one room to nothing but race numbers and medals?)

Then, back in May of this year, Ellie and I were sitting on the lawn of the JW Marriott after a triathlon and admiring our cute hibiscus-shaped medals when Ellie mentioned she'd like to put a magnet on the back of her medal so she could display it on the refrigerator. I looked at her with wide eyes and exclaimed, "THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!! CAN I DO IT, TOO!?" Now, Ellie is not one to withhold the rights to particular craft ideas, so she laughed and said "of course!" For the next few weeks that's all I could think about. I already had the supplies since at one point I had wanted to make these marble magnets for my bridesmaids. (Sorry that didn't work out, ladies.)

One day, I found some time and laid out some newspaper and heated up the ol' hot glue gun. I carefully removed each of the ribbons from the medals and laid out each medal face-down. I then applied a dot of hot glue to a small magnet and placed it on the back of the medal. Like I said, these things are HEAVY, so on many I put two or three magnets. Well, I soon found out hot glue does not work. Luckily I had some super glue and that worked really well.


If you'd like to display your medals as magnets, you'll need:
1) Super Glue
2) Small Magnets
3) Medals with ribbons detached (or leave them on if you want!)

These items can be found at any craft or office supply store

To assemble:

1. Place medals face down on newspaper or scratch paper to prevent mess.
2. Dab a small amount of super glue on magnet
3. Place magnet glue-side-down on the back of the medal
4. Add two or three magnets depending on weight of medal

   

   Larger races tend to have larger medals! This one is from the Cowtown half marathon in Ft. Worth, TX

5. Let set for several hours or overnight (check glue package)
6. Once glue is dry, try sticking your new medal magnet on the fridge or other metal surface. If it won't stick or slides down, try adding another magnet or two.
7. Admire your accomplishments! (Crafty and athletic alike!)

I just so happen to have a big medal board from IKEA on the wall in my office so my medals can watch me work!

San Antonio Rock n Roll Half Marathon

We did it!! You've all heard about me raising money for Spina Bifida while training for the San Antonio Rock n Roll half marathon. Well, this past Sunday we finished the race! I personally raised $650 dollars and the team as a whole raised 

$3,000!!!

Mike and I rode our bikes to the convention center downtown to pick up our packets. There's a bike ride associated with the race, so a local bike store had a "bike valet" when we got there! So cool to just hand over your bike and get a ticket! Packet pickup went smoothly and we filled up on free samples at the expo.

It was warm that morning, which led to a warm day for a half marathon, but that didn't dampen our spirits. Mike's co-worker, Will, Mike, Ellie and I rode the shuttle from the AT&T center to the starting line. It was Will's 2nd half marathon and Ellie's first! (I believe this was my 4th.) 

Will, Mike, me and Ellie. We're ready to Rock n Roll!!

 The race went well and it was extra motivating to hear cool bands as we were running. It was a very crowded race - I heard there were 25,000 runners!! For me, the crowd never really thinned out. I finished in a respectable 2 hours and 16 minutes. That's actually my slowest half marathon, but I think given the heat and all the travel I had leading up to the race, that's not half bad!

Lookin' good for completing a half marathon that morning!

We were very grateful to have our own tent with chairs and cold water. It was great to socialize with the team and a few supporters who came out to cheer us on. 

The Spina Bifida Texas team!

Professional photos can be viewed here. (In case anyone wants an 8x10 glossy of me checking my watch...)

Thank you to everyone who contributed to my fundraiser! I'm extremely grateful and I'm excited to see what Spina Bifida Texas can do with these funds!

I think I'll go to Boston...

So life changing things have happened over the past few months. I haven't written about it for several reasons, none of which include "I was busy" because I just wasn't.

Over the summer, Mike found out he will be deployed for six months starting in early 2013. We've done this once before, five years ago when we were living in Oklahoma and had been dating less than a year. It was hard, but ultimately showed each of us that we were ready to commit to one another. We know the routine: I can get a pass to see him off at the gate at the airport (as well as greet him at the gate when he returns), large flat rate boxes from the post office are $2 less for APO/FPO addresses, and he's got a code for free 15 min phone calls.

Another interesting bit of information we got over the summer was that the pool of funds to pay for my employment have dried up and, to make a long, complicated story short, my contract will be ending shortly after Mike deploys.


Many of you know that we'll be moving to Boston next year. Mike was offered a job at Hascom AFB. This is a really great opportunity for him so he accepted and his "Report No Later Than" date is next October. So obviously that is very far away, but Mike and I are planners who thrive on change so we immediately started researching neighborhoods, walk scores, grocery stores, public transportation, etc.

So with all this new information, we've been strategizing the best way to move to Boston. I've been looking at jobs, but it's just too early to start applying. The Air Force won't move us to Boston without orders which will come in June of 2013 at the earliest. We'd like to get the house on the market soon while Mike's here to fix odds and ends and just in case it sits unsold for months. However, we put in an offer for this house before a sign went up in the yard, so I'm thinking it'll go pretty quickly!

Last week we took a quick trip to Boston to visit friends and check out the city as neither of us had been there.

Mike's friend Jen and her hubby, Mike, were our hosts for the weekend. We attended their wedding in Albuquerque last April. They live in a cute little apartment in the Fenway area and yes, it's right next to Fenway where the Red Sox play!

On Saturday, Jen drove us around a few different neighborhoods to get a feel for each one. I knew there were a lot of universities in Boston, but the sheer number of students is mind boggling. It's like living in one huge, urban college town!

On Sunday, we took a Duck Tour around the city. We had a funny driver named "Airtime" (he was a motorcycle stuntman, too, I guess). It was a great way to see the city and learn a bit of history.

Jen, Mike and Mike waiting to board the Duck!

These folks were dressed up as Revolutionary War soldiers and
I believe they would tell people about Boston history

I got to drive the Duck on the water!

On Monday, Mike and I had planned to go on a long run, but we opted to walk around some of the neighborhoods near Jen and Mike's place. We learned an awful lot about the area just be wandering around for three hours!

It was a quick trip, but now we can at least say we've been there and explored the city a bit! I do feel more confident when looking for a place to live, now!

New Mexico Continued: Do you know the way to Santa Fe?

Ok, so that's really the only Santa Fe related quote I know...

Mike has another LSU friend, Jack, who currently lives in Santa Fe with his wife, Amy. We went to their wedding in New Orleans in 2010. Absolutely beautiful! They let us know that we were always welcome to visit them in Santa Fe, which sounded amazing! So, the day after Jen and Mike's wedding in Albuquerque, Mike and I headed north to Santa Fe. The terrain in that part of the country is so different from what I'm used to.

Since Jack was at work (he's an ER doc!), Amy met us at a local "greasy spoon" type restaurant and I got to enjoy Green Chile Enchiladas! (About 90% of my meals included green chiles on this trip...as they should.) After that, Amy led us back to their lovely home in the mountains. Almost every room had skylights so there was a lot of beautiful natural light in their house. It had several levels since it was built on the side of a mountain. My favorite part was the unique guest bathroom.

The mountain is IN the shower!! How cool is that?

Then we drove back to town to check out the art scene along Canyon Road.

Mike and I relaxing on some surprisingly comfortable "rock chairs."

Amy and I with the dancing sheep!

When we got back home, we convinced Amy to break out her violin and play us a couple songs. Mike was extremely interested and Amy generously showed him how to play it. Because Mike is naturally musically talented, he started playing recognizable tunes right away!

When Jack got home form work, we drove up the mountain to see the sunset. There was snow along the side of the road and it was very chilly when we got out of the car!

We had sushi for dinner (including a roll with green chiles, of course!) and then came back to play a round of Scrabble. Amy is very good at Scrabble and neither Mike nor I are wordsmiths, to say the least, but we held our own! I was sure Jack was going to come up with some crazy medical words for lots of points, but he didn't!

Amy won!

The next morning, Jack, Mike and I went for a hike along the trail across the street from Jack and Amy's home (Yeah, they have a hiking trail across the street from their house! How awesome is that?!)

Gorgeous day for a hike!

Mike and I shared Jack's hiking poles

When we returned, it was almost time for us to head back to Albuquerque to catch our flight. We cleaned up and the four of us went to have lunch at Le Pod, a food truck which serves French street food like crepes and frog dogs (hot dogs in a baguette). 

It got a lot colder by lunchtime so we had our frog dogs in the car!

After lunch we loaded up the rental car and drove back to Albuquerque to catch our flight home. We had a really great trip and big thanks to Jack and Amy for hosting us! We're glad we got to visit you guys in Santa Fe before you move to Louisiana!

Albuquerque Wedding!

A few months ago, Mike and I received a wedding invitation for a friend of his, Jen. Jen and Mike were in ROTC together at LSU. I've met Jen several times, she even stayed with me for a night in Norman as she was passing through, so I definitely consider her a friend of mine as well.

I was so excited to see where the wedding would take place. I knew she lived in Boston and her fiance, Mike, lived in Albuquerque, where they met while she was stationed there. I also knew she was from Louisiana. I was so excited at the prospect of any of these locations that I tore the invite open as soon as I recognized it in the mail.

"We're going to Albuequerque! We're going to Albuquerque" I sang as I danced around the living room! Mike laughed. Really, though, when else would we have an excuse to visit New Mexico? (Despite the fact that I keep begging Mike to go skiing with me and I had a great time in Taos when I went, like, 10 years ago.)

So a couple weeks ago we packed our bags in preparation to catch our free Southwest flights to Albuquerque via El Paso! As we were packing, I had a realization: "THERE'S AN IL VICINO IN ALBUQUERQUE!!!!" I screamed as I ran down the hall. Again, Mike laughed. (For those of you who don't know what an Il Vicino is, it's my ALL TIME favorite restaurant. There are two in Wichita, and they also have locations in understatedly cool towns like Albuquerque and Colorado Springs). So, with that being said, we didn't have to wonder where to go for dinner!

We arrived and picked up our rental car. It sure is deserty out there! We stayed in a boutique hotel on the "main drag" (Central). It was VERY nice! :) We located the Il Vicino (just down the street!) and headed that way. I've been to 3 Il Vicinos in my time and they're sort of notorious for being small and crowded on Friday and Saturday nights. This one was no exception. A woman was there to take our drink order as we stood in line, so that made it easier to wait! I asked her where the original Il Vicino was and she said that we were standing in it! I was at the Motherland!! I had my favorite: pizza and salad! After dinner, Mike and I went to the rooftop bar at our hotel to enjoy some drinks before bed.

On Saturday morning, after an amazing free breakfast at the hotel, Mike and I went to the ABQ Biopark which features a zoo, an aquarium, botanical gardens and a "beach." We started at the Zoo.

Here's a quick rundown of the highlights:

Jelly fish

Train ride between the aquarium and zoo 

Mamma and Baby giraffe

We used Yelp to locate a lunch place. We decided on Marble Brewery. Mike got to taste some of the local brews and we both enjoyed meals featuring the local flavor: GREEN CHILE!

My green chile grilled cheese sandwich!

We took it easy before the wedding that night. Mike took a nap and I laid in bed watching The Weather Channel with the Wichita radar displayed on my iPad. I knew the storms would be bad that day, but it was taking them a long time to get to Wichita.

The wedding was beautiful. It was a very rustic space (the woodworking workshop of a friend of the couple) and there were many personal touches.

Flowers in mason jars sprinkled with pictures of the couple.

Before hand, select friends and family were asked to make silhouette designs in celebration of the couple.

Benches were formed from cinder blocks and 2x6's. An alter was constructed out of wooden stakes.

Jen and Mike filled a wine box with momentos (and wine) to be opened on a distant anniversary so they can reflect on these happy times.

The wedding cake was his and hers "Chucks"

During the reception, I kept a close eye on my phone as I knew the storms would be drawing nearer to Wichita. I contacted my Dad to make sure all of my family up there was watching. From what he told me, they were all more than prepared. As the reception was winding down, this is what I saw on my phone's radar app:

For those of you who don't have radar interpretation training and/or don't know where my dad's house is on the map, this image (and the associated warning issued by the National Weather Service) basically said to me that there was nothing left of Dad's neighborhood and he had better have been in the basement or else he probably isn't alive.

I called my dad after the storm passed (I didn't dare call anyone during the storm and distract them!) and he said he was fine, but didn't have electricity. My mom was keeping me posted as she was watching The Weather Channel as the reports came flooding in. In the end, no one died (miraculous), but there was damage to Spirit and Boeing plants as well as many homes and a trailer park was destroyed. My aunt, uncle, 101-year-old grandmother, dad, best friend, and her dad were all sprinkled on either side of the path of the tornado. It did strike within a mile of my dad's house and a half mile from my school. Amazing.

Once I had confirmed that everyone was ok, I could continue with the fun of the wedding reception! After some drinks, dancing and cake, we all got on our bikes (out-of-towners had rented them ahead of time) and went on a bike parade from the wedding venue to downtown Albuquerque! Mike was more than ready to get the bike parade started!

The bride and groom took a pedi-cab. Jen wore a nice coat during the ride as it was quite chilly!

We finished the evening at a billiard hall. We got to talk to Jen a lot about their upcoming honeymoon (to the Dominican Republic) and their big drive across the country as they move Mike to Boston from Albuquerque. It was a great wedding for a great couple! :)

Coming up next.... the rest of our New Mexico trip!