so things got busy, again, story of my life right?  I completed my second half marathon with a time of 3:06, not great, but not bad considering I stopped running for ages and had an ankle injury.  Anyway, will be competing in the LA half marathon in January and hope to do much better then.  Time to start training again, I have worked out at least 5-6 times a week lately but haven't focused on running long runs or getting faster.  focus missy! 

Work is going well, have my flight for thanksgiving and all is well with the family.  Some things have happened lately that give me so much to be thankful for.  Blessings and blessings and blessings come to all my loved ones, and despite what some people might consider tragedy, in the middle of all of the things going on, I find myself giving thanks to have such amazing family members.  I cannot wait to see everyone, and its only a month away!

Its a nice cool night and I'm watching the Dodgers play the Cards after a walk around the Rose bowl--today's 3 miles makes it a total of 19 miles for the week (yes, and its only wednesday) but I'm done until Sunday--its time to rest and stretch so my body will be nice and refreshed for the race

So I've been thinking a lot about the blog and what's been going on with me these days.  Reading past entries and poems and book reviews I've written, it just makes me a bit sad that lately I haven't taken the time to focus on the present.  Leticia blames it on the "crackberry" but I think it goes deeper than that.  At one point, I stopped focusing on NOW and only worried about the future, or the past, and that makes me sad...it quite possibly might be a root cause for some of the issues I face, not being fully present sort of robs you of an important experience.  I wonder if it was an escape tactic that I started using last summer, when things went so horribly wrong I certainly didn't want to focus on what was going on just then and filled my days with so much that I didn't have time to feel or think, and then all of a sudden it became the norm for me.  Time to get back, and slowly but surely I will do it...as the guys used to say--tttrruuusstttttt. 

So today I spent all morning and part of the afternoon in the office, finished all my projects and left an hour early to meet with a client.  All of a sudden I saw a sign that said "Beaches" and since I had an hour to spare I took the turn.  Ended up in a canyon full of endless curves--just like in manzanillo, only less fun because it was me driving not dad.  I wanted to drive and drive...take off like when I used to take off on I-10 heading west ... through the hill country and before I knew it I'd be halfway to San Antonio without fully realizing how much I'd driven, I wanted a convertible like the one Mary and I rented to drive up to San Diego to see Edwin for all of 20 minutes before he decided to come back to LA for the rest of the weekend and join us at the Queen Mary (sometimes I wonder--what would life be like if he hadn't come up, if that one night that changed the course of our lives forever hadn't happened..again, thinking in the past, not going to help is it?)

See?  I can't get organized, I can't fully concentrate yet.  Oh but I will....

god its been a while since I've been on here....reading through the entries tonight has made me cry and cry...and suddently remember why I used to love writing here....I never forgot, I just got too busy to really think about the blog, and I guess after a while it wasn't something I ever thought about.  I just read through about five or six pages and seriously...who is this person?  I mean, I know its me, but looking back and re reading what I wrote makes me a little nostalgic.  There was an entry from a trip where I came here and the guys and I went to Vegas at the last minute for someone's cousin's birthday and I specifically say "someone remind me to have that much fun on my 29th birthday..." and then I wonder, did I?  I think I did, but when I wrote that entry I had no clue that my 29th birthday would be here in LA, just like my 28th birthday, which was AMAZING (but looking back at all the surprises I got that weekend and knowing how the rest of the fairy tale played out...well...lets just say I kinda sometimes wish 'I didn't know now what I didn't know then')

Life changed.  So much has happened I really don't have the energy to go back and re cap, but I think I'll try sometime, just not tonight....lets just say terrible things have happened, and wonderful things have happened. 

I'm currently training for the long beach marathon--in one week--eeeeek!  Expecting a niece/nephew in march, mending a broken heart, and getting to know and love the person I've become, dents, breaks and all....

Read this today "there is no such thing as a broken heart, only one that's getting bigger"  I hope so...

its definitely the holidays!  I LOOOOVE this time of year!  Spending most of the holiday season in LA is a very different experience than being in Texas, but I say different, not better or worse.  I drive a lot for work and seeing the amazing views constantly remind me to give thanks for all the beauty in this world, no matter how small and insignificant any of it might be. 

I got my tickets to go home and am staying in TX for ten days....wooohoooohoooohooo I cannot wait!!  The first weekend we're going to watch the Texans play the Bears and then to the outback pub for big a$$ steak night....steak and football, doesn't get more Texas than that right?

I can't wait!!

PS its been raining all day here, and its such a different rain than Houston rain.  This is freezing cold water, and lots of wind, and its a steady, non stop, as opposed to big ole droplets of mostly warm, intermittent water....craziness..but super cozy if you've got a warm room and down pillows/blankets!