New Year, New Look

It's time for a new look at Life with the Rudys. I absolutely loved my blog header and design from Marina at Penny Lane Designs but I decided I wanted to try something new. It was hard for me to remove my cute little header with the polka dots and birds but now that I have done it there is no turning back...

I announced last summer that I had two major goals that I wanted to work on while Ryan was back in school and that's what I am doing. One of my goals was to train and run my first half-marathon and I completed that accomplishment last weekend (YAY!) and now it's time to tackle my next goal. Learn photoshop. Ryan and I purchased photoshop last year and we both were excited about all the super cool things we were going to be able to do with it. Well, fast forward six months and I have barely opened it. Take that back.  I have opened it on numerous accounts, realized I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing and quickly closed the window. 

I know you are probably thinking that, "This is it? This is her new look? Her old one was so much better." Well you are right, but Hey, I'm trying! I first created a new template as I plan on putting links at the top of this page and I think it will be much more functional. Next, I googled "How to make a header in Photoshop" and spent the next couple of hours on my computer. I have barely touched the surface of what I can do in photoshop but I'm looking forward to learning much more.

Anyways, I'm sure I will change headers, colors, fonts, and embellishments many times of the next few weeks but I hope you enjoy the new look for now!

Seriously, if anyone is intimidated on creating their own look like I was please contact Marina at Penny Lane Designs. She has great ideas and will create you an amazing new look for your blog!

***Ryan just looked at my new look and immediately commented on the fact that I had chosen the color orange for my background.  He then suggested that the color maroon would look nice.  Oh the joys of being married to an Aggie :)

Race Recap

What a weekend! These past few days have been so much fun and I have so many great memories that I'll never forget. We kicked off the weekend by celebrating my 26th birthday. My mom joined Ryan and I for lunch that day and later that evening Ryan and I went out to eat to celebrate at one of our favorite local restaurants. It was nice to have an evening just the two of us and I always cherish our date nights. I also want to note how it always amazes by that amount of calls, texts, facebook messages I get on my birthday and it truly made my day. Thanks to everyone!

On Saturday we met up with Aaron, Nicole, Alison and Mark and headed to the expo to pick up our race packets. We picked up our bibs, running chips and t-shirts and mapped out the details for the next day. Alison, Mark, Nicole and I were running our first half marathon and all of our families were cheering us on. We spent that afternoon discussing where we would see them while running, where to meet up afterwards, etc. Later that day we all went home and relaxed to get ready for next morning.

All the runners at the expo

I put out all of my clothes Saturday afternoon to get ready for the race. I knew Sunday morning would come early and I wanted to have everything out and ready. Of course I woke up at the crack of dawn so it wasn't really an issue but at least I was extra prepared.

Hmmm maybe Nike will sponsor me considering the amount of clothes I wear from them...

Sunday morning everyone met over at our house bright and early. Aaron had spent his Saturday night making everyone a sign and we loved them!! Thanks A! Most of them are inside jokes but I loved that he put the time and effort into them. We had to snap a pic with them before we left. Don't we look good considering it's only 5:30 am??

And we're off! Nicole and I are at mile 4.5 and we just saw our fan base. It was such an awesome feeling to see all our families and it really helped keep us going.

Our cute moms with the signs they made us! Loved it :)

We were so lucky to be able to see our friends and families throughout the race. It helps even more when your future sister-in-law is holding up such an awesome sign. Thanks Ryan & Courtney!!

Almost done! Nicole and I are on the home stretch and about to cross the finish line.

And we're done! I'm feeling pretty good and I had to get a pic with the best cheerleader of all :)

I also had to take a pic with the best running partner ever. We trained together and ran the 13.1 miles together. She really kept me going and pushed me through today. Thanks Nicky T - you're the best!!

Group shot of all the runners. We all finished strong and I'm so proud of all four of us for accomplishing this together.

After the race we all headed to Cyclones for brunch. It was definitely nice to sit down and enjoy some time with our families. We also had a few mimosas as well but we deserved it, right?? :)

Thanks Mom, Dad, Ryan, Ryan & Court for coming out to watch!

Alison & Mark with Ali's mom and sisters.

And lastly, Nicole with her fam.

The rest of the afternoon Ryan and I have been relaxing/sleeping on the couch. It's been a great weekend and such a fun way to celebrate and remember my 26th birthday.

Oh, and did I mention that Nicole and I finished the half in 2 hours, 2 min and 40 seconds??? I'm so proud of our time and still can't believe we were able to keep that pace up the whole time. Next year, maybe we can try to break 2 hours. What do you think Nicole??

One week until the big race!

In exactly one week I'll be running my first half marathon! It's hard to believe the time is finally here as I announced last summer that I would be running this. The past six months I've ran approximately 360 miles. I'm still amazed by that number. I would have never imagined that I could actually call myself a runner. But I'm pretty sure if you run that many miles you can give yourself that title. You've deserved it.

Now, it hasn't always been easy and some mornings it's a struggle to get out of bed to tie up my laces but after every run it's worth it. The feeling of accomplishment after running 3 miles, 6 miles or 9 miles is so great I can't imagine what it's going to be like next weekend after crossing the finish line.

We've had some cold weather lately in Houston but luckily the forecast is looking up for next Sunday. Partly cloudy with a high of 57 and low of 41. Sounds perfect to me. I ran this past Friday afternoon and the temp was 29 outside and it sure felt a lot colder with the wind.

I've taken some pics throughout my running journey (mostly on my phone so I apologize for the poor quality) but I wanted to post them anyways.

The photo on the left was taken some time back in September. This is what I typically wore for my longer runs on Saturday mornings. It's hard to tell but I'm wearing my OU running shorts. I always wore these on game days for good luck but as you know, our season didn't turn out as well as we would have liked. The picture on the right was taken this past Friday when the temps were in the 20's. I don't typically run in pants and a fleece vest but I've definitely been wearing more layers this past Winter for my runs. I'm hoping I'll be able to wear my cropped pants for the race as long as the temps don't dip too low!

These two pictures were taken a Saturday morning in December for our long run. Nicole came over to my house around 7 am and Ryan snapped this pic of us before we headed out the door. Yes, we totally matched and that wasn't completely planned. The picture on the right is what you look like after you run 13 miles. Hmm, I need to figure out someway to wear makeup without it sweating off while running next time... Anyways, we had a great run that morning and we were pretty pumped about our time and the fact that we actually ran 13 miles.

The picture on the left is the pair of shoes I bought back in July when I signed up. This is what they look like right now. I panicked about two weeks ago and decided I needed a new pair of shoes for the race. My original ones were starting to get holes in the toes and I was afraid the holes would be huge by the time the race rolled around. Ryan told my to put tape over it but I didn't want to have ghetto shoes for my first half marathon! The picture on the right is my new pair of running shoes. I love the fact that they are pink!


And this last picture is of Alison, Nicole and I taken last night. I love these girls and I'm so excited with what we're about to accomplish next weekend. Next Saturday night I'll definitely be sipping a glass of water though instead of a margarita :)

Best of 2009

As we start the new year I wanted to first take a look back at all the memories we made in 2009. At this time last year I did a Best of 2008 post and I wanted to continue on the tradition. I think it's a great way to document all the highlights over the past year and I had a really good time going through all of our pictures. Enjoy!

In January I celebrated my 25th birthday with some of my best friends. We had dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants and then went out after wards.

We had quite a few more events during the month of February. First, Ryan was accepted into the professional MBA program at Rice and he would be going back to school later in the fall.... My brother proposed to his girlfriend on Valentines Day and we were so excited for both of them.... Nicole and I hosted a couples shower for our good friends Alison and Mark. We had the party at Nicole & Aaron's house and everyone had a great time.... And lastly, my mom, grandmother, cousin, my aunt and I took a girls trip to Charleston, SC. Fun times!

In March, my parents hosted an engagement party for my brother and his fiancee at their house. It was a such a fun party and we were excited to celebrate their upcoming marriage. Oh, and my Mom did a fabulous job on all the details... Later in the month all the boys traveled to Vegas for Mark's bachelor party and the girls went to Austin for Alison's bachelorette party. We took a boat out on the lake that Saturday (even though it was freezing!) and had such a great time. Lots of fun memories from that weekend!

In April, Ryan and I spent Easter weekend in Kentucky visiting his sister's family. We visited a bourbon distillery while we were there and also went to the horse races. It was a beautiful day at the races and Ryan and I fell in love with the area and decided that we needed to make this trip at least once a year. This month we also celebrated Mark and Alison's wedding in Dallas. We had an absolute blast the whole weekend and the wedding was beautiful.

At the end of May Ryan and I took a trip to New York City. We went for a long weekend and had a great time walking around and seeing the city.

We celebrated our second wedding anniversary on June 2nd. Even though it wasn't our exact anniversary we celebrated with a wonderful and memorable dinner in NYC while we were there.

In July, we took a mini vacation to the Texas Hill Country with my parents, brother and his fiancee. The boys played golf and we relaxed by the pool on most days. It truly was a great vacation and we loved spending a couple of days with our family... I also announced this month that I was going to run the Houston Half Marathon in January.

I traveled to Tulsa to visit one of my best friends during the month of August. Even though it was a short weekend I loved getting to see her and catch up... Ryan also started back at school this month.

We spent many of our Saturdays in September with our friends watching college football. Even though neither of our teams had a very good season we still loved getting together.

In October we made another trip to Kentucky. We wanted to meet our new nephew and also wanted to go back to the horse races. We weren't very lucky in our winnings but once again we had a good time trying. Oh, and we even have another trip planned next April :)

Ryan was very busy with school in November but we did manage to have people over to watch the OU/A&M game at our house. It wasn't much of a football game but it was a nice break and we had a good time hanging out with friends.

December was a great and very busy month. Nicole and I attended Pioneer Women's book signing and had a fabulous day full of shopping, baking and laughing... We had our first annual Christmas dinner with our friends and Ryan and I hosted this at our house this year... We had many family holiday gatherings and parties to attend and we loved getting to see everyone. We spent a wonderful Christmas Eve at Ryan's parents house and then a quiet Christmas day at my parents. Overall, it was a wonderful Holiday season!

What a year it has been! I'm looking forward to seeing what 2010 has in store for us. Happy New Year!