THE STARS AT NIGHT! ARE BIG AND BRIGHT!...

guess who loves Texas? (the state, not the school.) that would be MEEEEE. because it's like 70 DEGREES HERE. i'm hanging out in the hotel in San Antonio and the Alamo is like, pretty much a stone's throw away. I told my boss that I would give her a dollar (yeah, i'm a high roller) to ask the information desk lady how you get to the basement, but she said that's the most asked question at the Alamo, so it wasn't happening. We had two fabulous meals on the Riverwalk, with lots of walking around a touristy stuff thrown in there. and I even dragged my ass up to the fitness center at 10:30 this evening to get a workout in. woooo cross training. but seriously. is being on an elliptical a chore when there's a little tv built into the display and his royal dreaminess (Tom Brady) is on sportscenter for the better part of an hour? I think not.

Yesterday dice and I met up for a ridiculously difficult 6 miles. the weather was absolutely perfect. any day when I can get by wearing just two layers on top and on bottom is a great day if you ask me. It wasn't even that bad going into the wind. except for, you know, the snow covering the path. but even that wasn't bad until the mile 3 and 4. We did an out and back on the lakefront path. the first two miles seemed a little bit cleared, but still really slushy and in need of careful footing. miles 3 and 4 we were trouncing through multiple inches of snow because there was no clearing whatsoever on the path, so I was really, really challenging. especially with a bum ankle. But that made miles 5 and 6 SEEM really that much easier and the last two miles flew by. It was pretty much an awesome run.

then we walked to the gym and lifted legs and let's just say that a) I haven't done walking lunges in forever, b) nor have I done squats on a smith machine in forever, and c) holy shit, I cannot even WALK today. it's unreal. Which is pretty much why I insisted on getting my legs moving this evening. I would have loved to have taken the evening off as the day has been exhausing and who really works out when they travel anyway? but I knew getting them moving would help them recover a bit quicker.

Tomorrow morning i've got a run scheduled and lifting chest and shoulders. It should be interesting because they have exactly 6 weight machines, three of which are leg-related so I am staying far away from them. BUT! they have an adjustable cable machine and you can pretty much figure out a way to lift ANYTHING really well with cables. YAY CABLES! so wooo to that.

additionally, after asking my dad for the past 2 months to find her number for me, i've finally gotten in contact with my mom's best friend from childhood who lives in San Antonio. I am super excited to be getting together with her, but I am also kind of nervous because a) while she's always been super nice to me via phone, I don't know her all that well. I've met her like 3 times in my life, but she was one of my mom's closest friends, and b) this time of year is hard already; hearing stories about her will be simultaneously wonderful and awful, you know?

not to mention that I was the one who had to break the news to her a few years ago that my mom had passed away, so I'm not exactly sure that she associates me with positive things. oh yeah, and she didn't know that my mom was even SICK for 3 years. My mom carefully avoided telling her because a friend of theirs had passed a few years earlier and my mom had seen how it had hurt her friend and wanted to shield her from that. needless to say, that was probably the most difficult phone call i've EVER had to make in my entire life.

but i'm excited to get to know her better and to have her tell me more about my mother's family, since they have all passed, so I'm looking forward to it, too.

oh, and yeah, there's a conference too. :) I guess I'll go to that as well. But the awesome news is that I have no preconference things in the morning so I get to sleep in. NOTHING TO DO UNTIL LIKE 2. except shop for cowboy boots and a hat, I guess. I called my favorite southerners to tell them how weird it is to see all the hats and boots (they thought that was funny because it's pretty normal for them) and had a hilarious convo with Rae.

so overall, it's been a pretty awesome, yet exhausting, weekend. so now, i'm off to bed.