We finished!

All six of us finished 13.1 miles this past Sunday in the Houston Half Marathon.  It wasn't easy and it definitely rained on us but we finished.  And that's the important part.  We toasted to completing the half-marathon afterwards at Cyclones with our families and it was a great moment.  It was especially great to be dry.  And done.

I also accomplished my goal and finished right under two hours at 1.57.57.  And Ryan had a great run and finished at 1.36.30.  Cheers to another great race for the books!

The fab runners - Alison, Nicky T, Chelsea, Me, Ryan & Mark

Ready to Race

Ryan and I picked up our race packets today and we're ready to race tomorrow morning!  I'm not sure the weather is going to cooperate but we're planning on running rain or shine.  We both have a goal in mind of when we want to finish but that could go all out the window if it's pouring rain.  Either way, we're looking forward to a safe, fun run and then brunch afterwards with all our friends and family!

Birthday Weekend

I've had a great weekend celebrating my 27th birthday and I owe it all to my husband, friends and family!  Ryan and I went out to eat Friday night and then last night we went out to one of my favorite restaurants, El Tiempo, with all of our friends.  We had a great time at dinner and then came back to our house for a little more fun.  We had a fire going outside, played a couple rounds of cornhole and just chatted :)

Now we're spending today being lazy since it's cold and rainy outside which is perfect.  I'm also blogging right now from my new laptop thanks to Ryan!

Thanks for all the calls, texts, facebook posts, emails and gifts!  It makes entering my late 20's not so bad :)

Back to School, Part III

Ryan started back to school this week for his last semester of his MBA.  That's right, his LAST semester.  Woohoo!  So, in honor of him having only a few months left, I poured myself a glass of wine, heated up some leftovers and plan on catching up on my DVR of all the shows Ryan can't stand watching.

I've posted here and here on Ryan going back to school and both times I had set big goals for myself to accomplish during those months.   This time around I haven't exactly set any goals as I plan to spend my free time hanging out with girlfriends, learning how to cook from my mom, taking Bennett on runs and simply enjoying being alone every now and then.  Cheers!

Fun with Friends

This past weekend our good friends, Anna and Reid, came to visit us for a few days.  They flew in Thursday night from Tulsa and we picked them up at the airport around 11:30.  Their flight had been delayed and they hadn't had much to eat at that point.  We decided to hit up a local Mexican restaurant that was open 24 hours for a little late night grub.  Surprisingly, the food was actually pretty good!  We stayed up pretty late that night chatting and catching up so we didn't quite get an early start the next day. 

We lounged around Friday morning and then went to the park for a walk.  Afterward, we cleaned up and went to lunch at a yummy Italian restaurant in Rice Village. 

  

The rest of the afternoon we did a little shopping, drove around the area and then hit up Specs for some bubbly and snacks for later.   We had reservations later that night at Backstreet Cafe so we relaxed at home awhile before getting ready.  I think we may have relaxed a little too long as we rushed around to get ready since our cab showed up before we thought.  We did manage to get in a glass or two of champagne though and snap a few pics :)

 Before sitting down at the restaurant...

 

 Anna & Reid...

We had a blast that night at dinner and our waiter treated us like celebrities.  Seriously.  So many fun laughs were had and memories made!

They passed out all kinds of goodies to ring in the new year.  Oh, and way too much complimentary champagne.... Good thing our cab driver Lucky was there to pick us up!
 The next morning we went to brunch at one of our favorite spots.  We ate a big meal, came back and relaxed and then took a long walk in our neighborhood.  At that point we got dressed and then drove out to my parents house to spend the night.  OU was playing in the Fiesta Bowl and since five out of the six of us (including my parents) went to OU we wanted to watch it all together.  We had a fun evening filled with dinner in the wine room, watching the game outside by the fireplace and even some time in the hot tub. 

The next morning my mom made a delicious breakfast and then we headed out for a really long walk in their neighborhood.  It was a beautiful day and felt great to be outside.  Afterward, we cleaned up and went walking around Market Street in The Woodlands and had a late lunch/early dinner at a new favorite of ours, Hubbell and Hudson. 

We came back to my parents, took one last pic of all four of us, picked up Benny and headed back to our house. 

It was Sunday evening at that point and we were all tired from our fun filled weekend.  We watched a movie and just lounged around.  Unfortunately, Anna and Reid had to leave early Monday morning and I was sad to see them leave.  I hate that we live so far apart and barely get to see each other.  However, I'm thankful for the time we spent with them last weekend and look forward to our next get together.  I'm pretty sure it's our turn to go to Tulsa!

Best of 2010

As we near the end of the year I want to take a look back at all the great moments from 2010.  I did a similar post in 2009 and 2008 and want to continue on the tradition. I love looking back through the posts and pictures and I'm reminded why I keep this online journal. Enjoy!

In January I ran my first half marathon with Alison, Mark and Nicole.  This was such a big accomplishment for me as I never would have dreamed I would run 13.1 miles, especially in the time that we finished!

We traveled to Beaver Creek in February with some of our best friends.  We hadn't skied since college and it was a little rough at the beginning but we picked up our groove and had a good time on the slopes.

My good friend Anna came to visit me in March.  Ryan had class all weekend and we were able to have the best girls weekend.  We spent a lot of time shopping, chatting, walking, laughing and of course drinking wine.  I think my favorite memory is our venture to CostCo.... :)

We also spent a weekend out in the country with our friends.  Ryan's parents hosted all of us and our dogs and we had a great time.  We had our fist adventure antiquing and it was a day I won't ever forget!

April was the month of travel.  I was fortunate to spend several days in the wine country with all the girls on my mom's side of the family.  Tons of laughs were had and several glasses of wine were drank... :)

Ryan also traveled to the Masters in Augusta with his brother in laws.  They had a great time watching golf and then playing a few rounds.  All the guys then drove to Kentucky where they met up with the girls.  We spent a weekend at Ryan's sisters house in Lexington and seriously had a great time.  The weather was amazing and we had another fabulous day out at Keeneland.  Unfortunately, our pocketbooks took a beating that day but we had fun trying :)

May was a fairly relaxing month as Ryan wrapped up his first year at Rice.  That month we had a fun spontaneous date night where we ended up a Phoenix concert.  We also celebrated our good friends accomplishments as Leslie graduated from Dental School and Sara from Law School.

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary in June.  I was actually in Orlando that day for a work conference but we had a great dinner out when I came home.  We also took a weekend trip to Austin that month.  One of our favorite bands, Passion Pit, was playing and we decided to make a weekend out of it.  We visited a local winery, ate yummy food and jammed out with all the high school rockers.... :)

That month we also celebrated my parents moving into their beautiful new house.  We popped a yummy bottle of Dom for the occasion :)

 

In July celebrated the 4th with our good friends.  We spent the day by Kim & Sara's pool and then watched the fireworks from their apartment rooftop.  We had an awesome view of Downtown Houston!  We also spent several weekends that month hanging out at my parents new house and laying by their new pool. I also signed up to run my second half-marathon in January 2011 and this time Ryan will be joining me!

My cousins all came down in August to spend a week at my grandmothers house.  We were able to celebrate a recent engagement of my cousin David and we are so excited about their upcoming wedding.  We also celebrated Benny's third birthday that month. 

In September we spent another long weekend at my parents house.  You see a theme here??  We spent Labor Day weekend out there with my brother, his fiance and some of their friends.  Lots of golf was played by the guys and lots of pool time was had by the girls.  

I also traveled to Norman, OK that month for work.  I was able to spend a night with one of my best friends, Kari, and we hit up all our favorite Norman spots.  I loved just being able to catch up and chat with her and of course I loved spending time with her baby, Bernie :)

In October Ryan and I took a fabulous trip to New England.  It has been on our list for sometime to see this area of the country in the Fall and we were able to do it this year.  We spent one night in Boston, traveled to New Hampshire next and then spent our last day in Portland, Maine.  It was one of my favorite trips by far!

In November we had our annual Rudy Rivalry as the Aggies took on the Sooners in College Station this year.  The Ags ended up on top this time but we had a blast tailgating and enjoying the game.  We also took our new neighbors with us and I think they had a good time as well :)

We spent Thanksgiving that year at one of Ryan's sisters house and I managed to bring a yummy dessert despite my baking failure.  We also spent time at my parents house and snapped a few family pics...

We traveled to New York City in December as this has always been on our list of things to do as well.  We had a great long weekend in the city enjoying the lights, the food and the general Holiday spirit. 

Lastly, I'll leave a pic of Ryan and I on Christmas Eve...

We've had a great year and I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for us.  I already know we have several graduations in the family, a few weddings and a few trip ideas.  We'll see what else life throws at us!

Happy New Year from the Rudys!