ATT Byron Nelson Golf Tournament

I got the chance to attend the ATT Byron Nelson Golf Tournament last week with my best gal pal, Laura. She got day passes and we decided to head out there on Friday so that it might not be too crowded and we could take a day off. Gotta love a random Friday off, it makes me feel so luxurious. Anyway, back to the story. It had been raining in Dallas for weeks, so honestly I wasn't sure we were going to make it out there. But the golfing started three hours late (which was nice for us to sleep in). We headed out there around noon and after finally figuring out where to park (lesson: look it up before you get there), we got to see the golfers. With the crazy amount of rain I opted to wear shorts and rain boots, which was both an awesome idea and a horrible idea.

We look so preppy!

We sat here in the shade at the 2nd green for the whole adventure

Watching Dufner putt

My dad said our options for the day were to wander with some golfers or to find a place to park it. We decided that parking it was probably better for us. The ground was super wet, so we spread out my raincoat to sit on. I am so glad I thought of this, when other people got up there pants were really wet. It was also crazy humid so it was nice to have a place under a tree. The rain boots were pretty awesome when we were walking around, the ground was super muddy and I don't like to get dirty, however after a while it got super hot in them. The lady behind me asked if my feet were hot and I told her they were so hot but I was afraid that they would stink so bad I wouldn't take them off. So I probably won't do that again but it was nice to not ruin my shoes.

We saw lots of golfers, it was so fun. We didn't get a chance to see Jordan Speith (the Dallasite), he was pretty close to finished when we arrived and it seemed like a silly idea to hustle over there to see him. I may regret that some day but it was still fun to see so many golfers. I loved getting to check this off my life bucket list with a friend. I am sure that my dad and I will hit up another golf tournament at some point, I would love to take him to the Masters at some point. All in all this was a great adventure.

8 Years together: Adventures of Han and Lily

As of today Lily and I have been together for 8 years! I cannot believe that it has been that long, although I cannot really think of a time that she wasn't my girl. I remember the day that I got her, it was raining and the jerk-face that I was dating and I headed out to a pet fair to look at dogs. When we pulled up there was a small yellow/white dog not under the awning just being pitiful and getting wet. I wandered around looking at all of the other dogs, I didn't want to buy the first dog I saw (even though I was pretty sure that I wanted her). Eventually, we made it back to where she was and I asked about her and she was still available...

I reached in and pulled her out to see if we got along... and she peed on me. It was obviously love at first sight or first bowel movement. I remember leaning down to snuggle her and asking if her name was Lily and she nuzzled me after that. So I scooped her up and we departed into our lives together.

We both look so young

So tiny and at this point I already knew I was in love

I cannot believe that we have been together for 8 years! We are about to depart for our third state to live in, hello Florida. I am so excited about our next adventure. I am so blessed to have found this lost puppy years ago, I cannot believe that I got so lucky to be her puppy-mom. She is incredible.

Here are some more recent shots

Remember when I said no dogs on the bed... yeah I think that is silly now too.

Being a dog-mom is best there is, I love that she is happy when I get home and is soooo excited. I love being her mom! I can't wait to see what the next years will bring and if she hates the ocean as much as I expect her to.

May Recap and June Goals

I feel like the month of May lasted forever and somehow I didn't get anything accomplished, it was the month with no end. Although as I sit here typing this up on the last day of May it suddenly seems like a really short month. Oh well, it is life. Feel free to read all about my May Goals here. Here is how May went (some good some not so good) and here are the big tasks that I would like to get accomplished this month.

May Recap
1- Manuscripts: Eh, not awesome. Our paper got rejected so I will be sending it back out tomorrow and I still haven't finished the second one (I can't find time to open the document).

2- Fitness: Neither of these really happened. It was a long month, maybe in June. Also the massive amount of rain really put a damper on my running.

3- Find an apartment: Success!! I put down a deposit and have an address!

4- Hire Movers and moving truck: yeah not so much

5- Quality time with Lily: It was better, although with the traveling and the rain I don't think we hit up Mutt's at all.

6- Read more: Success, I read a ton this month. Lots of that was done on an airplane but that is OK.

7- Schedule: Went to JAX and St. Louis, so that is good. My weekends are filling up and I still need to schedule a few more visits!

8- Read Textbook: Just carried it around.

I'm not going to lie, I had really hoped that I had done better in May. Sometimes it just feels like you are running in sand and nothing really gets accomplished. I am going to try and roll with this failure to complete tasks and not let it totally derail me... Not sure that is how things are going to work out but oh well.

June Goals

1- Manuscripts: Resubmit the first one and get a final draft of the other one together. I need to start adding this into my schedule (I always find something more fun to do).

2- Hire movers and truck: I am getting closer to making this happen, I am working out the final details.

3-Fitness: I would like to run 25 miles, at least 10-12 runs and I would like to get back into the swing of my strength training in the mornings.

4- Schedule: Visit San Antonio, spend time with friends. Enjoy the moment, my time is coming in Dallas is coming to an end and I am feeling panicked about it and I am afraid that I won't be able to enjoy it.

5-Lily: She needs more time together where I can focus on her. If it doesn't rain I would like to hit up the dog park once a week. I would also like to walk her in the morning for a mile, several days a week.

6- Packing: I would like to gather more boxes and pack 20-30 boxes. I need a specific number so that I will know that I have at least started on this task. In my mind it will only take a few hours to pack the whole apartment and that is probably a lie.

7- Say no to things that I don't want to attend. As my time in Dallas comes to a close I am done saying yes to events that I don't want to go to and I am committing to spending time with my friends when it works.

8- Read the textbook: at least the first five chapters and write down the top 5 topics for each chapter. I think this will help me plan out my schedule for the fall.

9- Look into finding a new planner for the school year.

Not going to lie the next 6-7 weeks are going to be super busy but I am going to try and enjoy every moment and find time to not panic. I cannot believe i will be a professor soon!!! Ahhh, so exciting.

Jacksonville Beach

Last week my mom and I headed down to Jacksonville (I think I am going to call it JAX from here on out for fun) to find a new place to live, which I will write about at some point. We made a point to head out to the beach twice. I am so excited to live near the ocean and when we were looking at places close to the beach we had to pop out there are see it.

We walked out this long pier to see the guys fishing and just to see something. I was too lazy to take my sneakers off and I didn't want to get sandy before I looked at more apartments. When we got out to the end a guy caught a shark... it may have only been 3 feet but it was still a shark. After they brought it in, at this point my mom and I cannot look away, the guy that caught the fish took it by the tail and essentially shot putted the shark back into the ocean. I wish I had taken some pictures of that but I was too fascinated by the shark to get out my phone. It was so pleasant to stand on the pier and hear the waves and feel the breeze. I am so looking forward to sitting out there and catching the sun soon.

The next day after dinner we headed back out there to walk on the sand. It was super hard to find parking down there, people live right on the beach and the majority of the water front appears to be private. Anyway we took a few minutes to walk on the sand. It is so different from the Gulf of Mexico, where I have vacationed for years. The sand was harder and not really fluffy, also the tides are crazy different from one another. But it was refreshing to walk along the beach and relax.

I am so excited to hit the beach, although I will have to figure out the best times to go since they are pet friendly before 9 and after 5. I cannot wait to take Lily to the beach!!

 I would almost put money on the fact that Lily will hate the beach but it will be fun to take her out there a few times. Who knows, she could become a beach babe!

Apartment Hunting: Before I left town

Before I headed down to JAX (Jacksonville) I put together a list of requirements for my new apartment as well as a list of apartments. I did finally hire an apartment locator who was clutch in this process. In many cities you have to pay for this service but here it is a free service and it is worth it. I loved that I could tell her what I wanted and she would send me a list of places and would be willing to call them and figure out information that I needed. She was also able to tell me about the locale amenities and the differences between the two markets (for instance no where in Jax have W/D hook-ups).

Anyway back to the list of requirements:
-2 bed, 2 bath
-Pet friendly, with a walking path for Lily
-Good kitchen: lots of cabinets, sprayer for cleaning out large pots
-a place to hang my pot rack
-able to open the dishwasher while washing dishes
-walk in closets
-no sliding glass doors (this is for real)
-washer and dryer (apparently in jax there are no complexes with hookups)
-patio
-linen closet
-carpet
-prefer first floor apartment
-fans in all rooms
-close to work
-a place to run nearby
-Gated community
-storage


Here is the list from the last time I apartment hunted (dream apartment), looking back those lists are very similar. It was hard to figure out what was important and it was nice to be able to tell someone all of these things and have them give me a list. I will admit that I still had to sort through the list and decide if I liked those properties. Looking at apartment complexes takes time even if it is just online, so annoying.

I love looking back as those lists and realizing what was important and what is just a bonus. I am so excited to move to a new place and start a whole new adventure.

Friday's Fun Foto's

I have been pretty busy with work and getting things together for my move to Jacksonville, that I thought that I would just share a few of my favorite recent pictures.

I got a chance to hang with my nephew, obvi we make funny faces.

I got a chance to check out an event for DFN (*media)

 I love this pic because I look really thin... I mean amazing. Ignore the hair it was windy.

I've been getting lots of snuggles from this girl

This is Lily's spot every morning she lays in the sun and watches people walk by

No idea if this type of post will become a regular thing but I thought the name was catchy and it is a post that doesn't require something exciting. Also, I love some of these pics and thought I would share them with you.

April Recap and May Goals

I cannot believe that the month of April is already over, where did the time go? I set out 7 goals for the month of April (April Goals), I think I did really well this month. 

1- Run the capital 10K, make an awesome run mix: 

          I ran the race, and it was great. My run mix somehow didn't make it on my phone, not sure how that happened but I still had some music so that was good. 

2- Take all of the donate stuff to goodwill.
          I did this, I have another small pile started but it was nice to get so much of it out of the house.

3- Spend more quality time with Lily:
         I didn't do so well on this one, we didn't make it to the dog park as often as I wanted but I did make a point of finding time to be with her. 

4- Fitness: 

        I got the miles in and was really close to the number of strength training days that I wanted. 

5- Read 5 fiction books and 1 non-fiction: 
      Definitely hit the number of fiction books and I am close to finishing the non-fiction books

6- Submit 1 manuscript and be close to finishing the second: 
      Sent the first out and haven't heard anything back yet (which is good). I haven't looked at the other one recently.

7- Apartment things:
      I hired a locator and I am working on my Excel sheet for the Jacksonville visit. 

May Goals
This month is going to be pretty busy but I found that laying out clear manageable goals allowed me to know when I had finished the tasks.

1-Manuscripts: Finish the paper that I am currently writing, the review, and hopefully submit it. Hopefully we will get reviews back from the one submitted and be able to resubmit or get it out for publication. It is a long process but I want to stay on top of it.

2- Fitness: I want to try and run the 30 miles again this month, without a 10K that might be difficult. I also want to keep up with my strength training, I am shooting for 20 days this month.

3- Find an apartment: My mom and I are going to Jacksonville in about 2 weeks and the goal is to find an apartment and put down the deposit.

4- Hire movers and a moving truck: once most of the place details are locked down I want to start working on the remaining details. I am pretty sure that I have finalized the use of a moving truck as opposed to movers or PODS (this could change).

5- Quality time with Lily: Sometimes I feel like I get so busy I just assume that she will be around when I finally get home. I want to make a point of choosing her first, I decided that I wanted to have a dog when I got her and I need to make sure that I am being accountable to that. I am also going to try and work on not getting frustrated when she just wants to smell all of the things when I want to be done with the walk. I am shooting for 4 visits to Mutt's this month. 

6- Read more: I loved making a point to spend time on my reading, whether it was before bed or early on a Saturday morning. I was reminded that I very much enjoy that. The goal is 5 fiction and 1 non-fiction. This seems like a good balance of fiction and truth. 

7- The schedule: I would like to figure out the dates that I am traveling in the next two months before the move. I am planning trips to St. Louis, San Antonio, Jacksonville, maybe a girls weekend, packing, a possible trip down to see my folks again (not sure on that one yet), going away parties here, and who knows what else. I just realized that I have so many things that I am trying to do that I have got to get a plan. 

8- Start reading my new textbook: I also would like to start spending some time on planning out my whole new classes thing. 


I am going to stop here on this list, it is starting to make me just a bit on the crazy side. If I actually think about all of the things that need to get done I am going to panic and not actually do anything for the rest of the day. I cannot do that. I am rocking the to-do lists these days, if they are detailed enough they can keep me on track otherwise I get a little lost in the day. What are your goals for the month?