Above Average

Normal people sleep in on the weekends. Get up late, go to breakfast or bum around the house in their pajamas drinking coffee. While I'm not sure exactly how it happened, I am no longer one of those people. I am now one of these people. The ones who are up early in sneakers and gym shorts, torturing themselves with an AMRAP on a perfectly good lazy, very hot Saturday morning.




Fifteen minutes of pain in the form of 12 American swings, 6 sprawl/high pulls, 12 lunge passes and a 50 meter run. I almost didn't show up, but I went. Then during the workout I wanted to die, but I finished. Not too bad, all told.

And afterwords when I had gotten some energy back I hopped up to the bar and busted out four kipping pullups, chin over bar, in a row! Just four days after my first pullup ever. I'm terribly proud of this accomplishment. And just think, if I had given into temptation and stayed in bed I wouldn't have passed that milestone.

Mockingbirds

The Mockingbirds went undefeated at Bloodfest, winning our three matches of the day and completely annihilating the opposition in the 3rd v 4th place establishing boat race. Major props to the Baton Rouge ladies who traveled down for the weekend and were a blast to play and party with. What a fantastic weekend of CrossFit (finishing the Spartan before a full day at the tourney), rugby, friends and fun.

Debutante Ball

In recent years the Dallas 7s tournament has hosted one of the most entertaining events of the summer rugby season. The Debutante Ball. A group of us rugby girls come up with the worst dresses we can find, dress up, and play goofy-rules rugby.

Aubri's dress looked like something Mrs. Brady might have worn for date night. Mine was straight out of disco, with gold boobs and everything. There was a mermaid, several dresses that might have been worn by an extra during the prom scene in Pretty in Pink, and Lauren looked like she could have been waiting on Prince Charming to show up at the Ball...

This year's Ball involved skipping. And dress tearing and a fun little cat fight that I think involved some hair pulling (for fun, of course).

And lots and lots of giggling.


(Thanks to Carrey for providing photos and Traci for being a great ref!)

stickers

Today I clicked on the red link at the top of the page of my Gmail account. You know, the one which so often leads to fun and exciting news? Well today's, in addition to the new functions of labels (which is cool enough on it's own) was an announcement about stickers. Free stickers! How cool can Google get? All you have to do is send them a self addressed, stamped envelope via snail mail and you'll get some shiny stickers in the mail. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find a couple of envelopes...

Seven Things

Tim tagged me a few weeks ago on this "Seven Things" meme, but I'm a bad blogger and just now getting around to fulfilling his tagging me. Generally speaking I'm an open book. There is little about me that my friends don't know. For instance I thought about writing that I've paid for a car with a credit card. The offered rate for the life of the balance was better than any car loan anyone could have gotten for such a low amount on a used car. But I'm so damn proud of that that I tell just about anyone who will listen. And you all definitely know about my baking. So, here's my attempt to do this without admitting anything that might doom my social life or embaress someone else.

1. I have a thing for sunglasses. Most of the time I've got about five pairs lying around and they rotate as I lose one pair and buy more. Usually I buy pretty cheap ones because of my ability to lose them, but as I get older my tastes definitely get more expensive.

2. Coffee has become my comfort food, but that probably has more to do with the cream and sugar I put in the coffee than the actual caffeine. I spent grad school actively attempting to avoid a caffeine dependency and still try to not drink coffee on a daily basis, but sometimes I just absolutely need that jolt combined with the creamy goodness of half and half and sugar. Also, I can now taste the difference between cheap gas station coffee and Starbucks and even asked for a french press for Christmas (which I didn't get).

3. I've lost track of all the pets I had as a kid. I know my first pet was a goat named Emily. And of course I remember the dogs and the memorable show steers, but the procession of cats and hamsters and fish and the like all completely blurs together.

4. My current sheets are flannel in a very uncharacteristic floral pattern that completely does not go with my new duvet cover. But they're super warm and comfy.

And because I'm an open book that's all I can think of. Yes, I am so terribly exciting...

Rocktoberfest

For whatever reason I keep thinking I'm going to leave work (13 minutes and 20 seconds) and walk out into a chilly, dim late fall evening. Despite the fact that it is most definitely still summer here in Austin. I think my body has decided enough with this weather, if we can't have it for real, we'll fool ourselves. Even Denver wasn't as deliciously cool as expected. Not incredibly hot, and the changing Aspen's on the drive to Boulder for Sunday's match were lovely, but it was nothing like I had hoped. Then again, pretty much nothing about the month of September, much less that trip, was. On the bright side, the beds in the hotel were fantastic and the pitch in Boulder was downright lush. An "oh, please tackle me" kind of lush.

October isn't starting out so great either, for a variety of reasons. I am, however, going to attempt to celebrate Rocktoberfest along with The Modern Gal. I pledge that I am going to do my best to make that 16 kg kettlebell my primary weight. I may not be able to press 16 kilos by the end of the month, but I will at least be able to snatch it. That will make me feel like I rock.

Also, I pledge to come up with another pledge for Rocktoberfest...

Plus, DQ has Pumpkin Pie Blizzards for the month of October. I'm going to see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist tonight with friends. Iron Man is out on DVD. Sunday I get my birthday cake during Pattie and Carrey's house warming. Not to mention that I get to play lots of rugby during the month of October. Fun, low-stress rugby with our B-side, starting as eight man.

*I know I'm not blogging much. Keep up with me on Twitter instead.*

Steampunk 8

Steampunk 8
Originally uploaded by katbret_photography.

Me + internet connection = dangerous. Looking for welding goggles ala Dr. Horrible sent me down a Steampunk bunny trail. I'm fascinated. And seriously wondering if I could pull this off. Surely it's not too soon to be thinking about Halloween?

awesomeness

edit: It's free on Hulu! Go Watch It NOW!

..stand back everyone, Nothing here to see,
Just imminent danger, In the middle of it me,

right now

I love the internet. (Thank you new neighbors for having unsecured wireless. You are welcome to my parking space until I find car. Maybe even after.) Right now I am watching Kina Grannis and David Choi play on webcam from Kina's apartment. Watching them musically bounce off of each other as well as the people watching/chat rooming from home so much better than television. My God I'm a nerd.

A nerd who WILL be buying Dr. Horrible, thankyouverymuch Mrs. J.

Labyrinth in the Park

Much like last summer, aside from having considerably better employment, I have been much too busy actually living my summer adventures to write about them. Or anything else, really.

Last night, though, was a new thing for me. As our Wednesday night Merge event the group went to see Labyrinth, hosted by a local radio station and Central Market. Outdoor movies are one of the greatest summer activities yet invented. The night was perfect for it - warm and humid with a slight breeze, a nearly full moon hanging in the sky just over the enormous blow up screen. The crowd was HUGE. Apparently most people my age grew up with this movie and have remember it with exceptional fondness. I'd never seen it, not suprising given my media-sheltered upbringing. At the age of 25, Labyrinth is kinda twisted and just bad, in a fabulous sort of way. Mrs. Juicebox, who loved it as a child looked at me and whispered, "I don't remember it being this bad! I haven't seen it since I was little, but we loved it then!" about the time the pink-orange limb-shedding creatures started dancing and singing. Like I said: twisted, but kind of fabulous. And totally entertaining for a warm July night.

Tagged by Finding Normal

A - Attached or single: Very single.
B - Best Friend: Erica
C - Cake or Pie: Do I get graham cracker crust?
D - Day of the Week: Friday at 4:30
E - Essential Item: Bicycle
F - Favorite Color: Purple
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: I like to bite the heads off the bears
H - Home town: Frederick, MD
I - Indulgences: Grocery shopping at Central Market. Being on foot is really just an excuse.
J - January or July?: I like the beginnings of seasons better than the middle, so May AND November.
K - Kids: Please Jesus, not for a long time.
L - Life is incomplete without: Books, friends, rugby
M - Marriage Date: Much later
N - Number of Siblings: 2
O - Oranges or Apples: Apples
P - Phobias or Fears: Failure
T - Tag Three: BMW Mechanic, Brooke in Sacramento, Scrumhalf Connection
U - Unknown fact about me: The scabs on my palms itch right now
V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: *Rolls eyes*
W - Worst Habit: Being judgy-judgy
X - Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds therapy is great!
Y - Your favorite food: Shrimp, avacado, feta, steak
Z - Zodiac Sign: Libra

rugby in prom dresses

Yes. Rugby in prom dresses (photos here and here). Most fabulous thing yet this summer. Saturday during the Dallas 7s tournament was the Debutante Ball - a chance for us girls to glam it up and get scrappy all at the same time. Very much fun, though I'm carrying more injuries from the short amount of rugby I played on Saturday (one 7s match and the Deb Ball) than from any of the matches I played this past spring. My favorite are the scratches from the beads on one of the other player's dress. Small price to pay for a pretty good tackle.

That's me showing off the scratches on my arm (and poking fun of my favorite BMW Mechanic). Here's a better photo of the arm injuries. They're healing nicely, but I've gotten some funny reactions to them over the past few days.

reasons to play

There are a myriad of reasons I play rugby. But I swear, this is definitely one of them.

Atlanta was fantastic. We lost our first game 32-24. Two tries in the last five minutes - if we'd been playing full 40 minute halves the Valks just might have won. The score in the second match was 24-0, a win for the Valks. Playing was a heck of a lot of fun and Atlanta put on a great social for us as well. Kangaroo court was excellent, per always, with some truly imaginative punishments. I truly adore travelling with my teammates. It was such a great weekend that I fell asleep nearly as soon as I sat down in my seat on the airplane and Atlanta and didn't wake up until we landed in Houston. Didn't even manage to turn off my cell phone in flight. Oops...

Spring 2008 has been a really great season for me and I'm very much looking forward to the fall. If I work hard enough this summer I may even earn my starting position back. Now that we have some down time though, I'm even more looking forward to the prospect of getting a free weekend, though between all the weddings and 7s tournaments and the men's semifinals being here in Austin I don't know when.

Sing Sing Sing

There are many, many things to love about Austin. One my personal favorites, though, is the Alamo Drafthouse. First run movies along with a ton of super cool special events, a full menu of food and beer to be had by the pint or even the bucket. This is where I saw Snakes on a Plane. The only way to see that cheerfully, fantastically cheesy-horrible movie was at the Drafthouse, on opening weekend, in a theatre packed with enthusiastic watchers ready to yell along with Samuel L. Jackson about the "motherf*ing snakes on this motherf*ing plane!" For the Simpsons movie they sold a home brew named Duff Beer and plates on pink frosted donuts. When I saw The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe there we got to leave the theatre through a wardrobe by way of an enchanted forest with a light post and all. For a special showing of Some Like It Hot the male servers dressed in drag. A myriad of creative ideas that make it so much more than the mega-theatres.


However, the absolute best idea ever had by the folks the Alamo is most certainly The Sing-Along. From the website: "From musical movies to cinematic music videos, the Alamo's series of Sing-Along Extravaganzas takes the best parts of going to a concert and the best of going to a movie theater, mixes it all together, and leaves you with something completely new." I can't claim to know the history of The Sing-Along, but I do know that they have been held with a very wide range of musical preferences. Moulin Rouge, The Little Mermaid, 80s Rock, I think this summer is the third Michael Jackson extravaganza. The "Love Bites" Sing-Along has become an annual Singles Awareness Day event.


I love them. Mona convinced me to go my first one a month ago (Justin Timberlake Sing-Along) and after the second (Just Can't Get Enough - The New Wave Sing-Along) I now am officially hooked. Both times I sang myself hoarse and danced my butt off in my enthusiasm, along with a theatre full of other enthusiasts. I just can't sit still when I hear Spin Me Round, even if I'm just at work, much less in such an exuberant atmosphere. No room for being self conscious here, which may just be the best thing about the entire experience.