my summer bucket list.

Happy Independence Day, folks!

Nothing feels more summer-y than the 4th of July.  So, to ring in the summer, I'm making my Summer Bucket List. 
Everyone's doing it.  Why not me? 
I already have my 35 before 35 that I'm currently working on, but I need a "to-do" list this summer. I've actually already started it. 
And here we go...

1. Have a water fight.  (Because it's ok to act like you're still a kid...)
2. Get a tan.  Well...at least some color.  My white self tends to deflect sunshine.
3. Go to a baseball game.  It's been too long.
4. Make a new friend.  I can never have enough.
5. Go to the lake.
6. Hit the gym & get fit!
7. Watch fireworks.
8. Catch fireflies.
9. Go to a carnival.
10. Take a road trip.
11. Host a bonfire.
12. Go fishing.  I miss it too much.
13. Go to a concert.

What's on YOUR summer "to-do" list?  I might need more ideas if I get busy on this and run out of things. :)

merry friendsmas.

This week, I celebrated my First Annual Friendsmas with my new crew here in my new town.  (#34 on my 35 Before 35 - done!)  To those of you that are new here, I recently discussed the difficulty of making new friends for the thirty-somethings.  Thankfully, I have been able to make some friends through work.  They are affectionately deemed K-Hop, MoJack & J-Wil.  
Friendsmas became a thing for me years and years ago.  Now that I'm in a new place, (and I've actually managed to make some friends) I felt it was time to implement the First Annual Friendsmas here.
J-Wil wasn't able to come since she's off in Cancun or someplace with her hubby.  Whatev.
But, K-Hop and MoJack were in!  We met up at Bayou Jack's and exchanged gifts. 

K-Hop, me & MoJack.

You have to appreciate friends who understand your geekish ways.  K-Hop surprised me with a new addition to my tree.  I was just talking about my Christmas tree and how much I needed more geeky ornaments and she has blessed my tree with this awesomeness...

 

Perfect timing!  And you know that when he's not gracing the Christmas tree, that he'll be on desk at work.  I love him!

The thing that did go on my desk immediately, is MoJack's sweet gift -- a Funko POP Darth Vader Vinyl.  

Now, we all know that I have an unhealthy obsession with Funko POP Vinyls.  This has spurred an even greater want. Ugh.  All the Funkos are belong to me!

 MoJack is a HUGE Potterhead, so one of her gifts included a wand.  I have seriously never seen anyone so excited about such a small gift.  I'm 100% certain that she brought it to work.  No lie. Of course, I've never read or seen any of the Harry Potter business.  I know how excited I got when I saw Funko POP Darth.  There was literally a squee heard throughout Bayou Jack's.

 We ended the night by going to see Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas.  Too much fun.  I'm thinking that we'll need to start planning a GNO once a month now. 

I'm pretty excited about my new friends.

Do you do anything special for the holidays with your group of friends?  What kinds of things do you do?  I might need some ideas!

 

ho ho ho.

On Saturday, I participated in my third 5K - The First Annual Ho Ho Ho Run in Tyler.  My good friend, K, tagged along with me.  Well...she drove.  Either way, downtown Tyler was filled with more Santas than I had ever seen! 

We picked up our suits at 7:30am and went to McDonald's to change.  First realization?  The suits were super cheap.  My hand went through the crotch before I even got it on my body.  Luckily, I was prepared with other articles of clothing...or it could have gotten pretty interesting (and even colder).  K experienced the same problem and even gained another hole from the seat belt on the ride downtown.  Once more Santas arrived, you could see that we weren't the only lucky ones to experience wardrobe malfunctions.  Nice...
You also gotta love the whole adult one-size-fits all plan.  Yeah, that always work out well.  I'm on my journey to being that "one-size"...that's why I'm at this 5K!  Sheesh!  Thankfully, it fit.  Of course, I was a rebel and chose to be Batman Santa.  It was necessary.  The people needed a hero!

After plenty of photo opportunities, we were lining up.  K was bright enough to bring gloves.  I, however, did not.  I'm not really sure that I actually even own gloves.  I'm a Texan for goodness sake!  One man made it a point to share force his hand warmers into my frozen paws.  He was very adamant about this...to the point that K and I took a nice, little stroll to put some distance in between us.  Ok, sir!  I'll take them!   
Aside from our poorly constructed Santa suits, we had a blast.  5K number 3 is in the books.  My 35 Before 35 goal (#12) is coming along nicely! The wind and rain could not stop Batman Santa!  Or maybe it was "Batmanta"....

color runnin'.

I don't call myself a runner.  I am not a runner.  Does that mean I don't enjoy a good 5K!?  No, it does not!  
I AM an aspiring runner.  One day I will run and not want to die.  See #27 on my 35 Before 35.

This weekend, I took off to Dallas with my mom and two of my friends for some 5K fun!
Of course, who has the energy to run the next day if they don't partake in some amazing Mongolian food the night before? hehe.

I was the Mongolian food veteran.  YUM!

 We got back to the hotel early since we were planning on taking the DART rail to Fair Park...and that meant getting up at 5am!  That's OK though, we were geeked!

Game faces....activated!

Starbucks is always a good way to live.

The DART ride was successful and gave us time to enjoy our coffee from Starbucks.  Oh, how I love Starbucks.
We arrived at the starting line early and had time to roam around and take some pics.  Aaaaaand...I got to meet the Runicorn!!  The Color Run's unicorn mascot.  Life. Made.

White girls CAN jump.  #proof

Life. Made.  I want a unicorn.

Let's do this!

Nothing says super rad like sporting my "Happy" neck tattoo.

This was my second Color Run and it was just as much fun as the first!  We didn't let the whole "5K" aspect stop us from mid-run photo ops...

Me & the mom.  She's awesome.

It seemed like we sailed through this run faster than last time.  Before we knew it, we were at the finish line enjoying the amazing Color Run after party. 

Notice that I was the only one to MAKE her own shirt?  Oh yeah.  I'm SUPER RAD!

My before & after shot.

The posse...before & after.

Of course...

After the after party fun, this was the result.

Post after party photo op. Headed to the DART station to call it a day.

 The next Color Run in Dallas will be April 12th.  Who's gonna join me?