Rainy days

Lately we've had some great storms. It doesn't happen often here, so I'm enjoying it while it lasts. Listening to the rain, waking up to thunder, getting soggy at work while handing out drinks to cars who insist on pulling up as far away from our drive thru window as possible ... it's all lovely. And the clouds have been extra awesome lately. Plus it has cooled down a little, it was in the 90's last week. NOT ready for that nonsense.

As I took that picture above on our patio there was a huge crack of lightning (hence the lit up sky) that I swear hit somewhere a couple buildings down. It was so loud. I screamed a little and ran inside. What a wuss.

And this is the bad side of rain. The lake that forms in front of our door every time it rains. There is a good 4 inches of standing water at our doorstep. I don't know how it hasn't flooded our apartment yet.

In non rain news, I ran on a treadmill today! In a GYM! The gym is pretty much the last place I normally would ever want to be. Ever. But today I put my big girl shorts on and finally went with Brendon to the gym (his favorite place to be). Mostly I hated everything about it. It's overwhelming and there were way too many people there to laugh at me while I failed at doing whatever you do at a gym. And the machines seriously scare me. I don't know if you know this about me (and if you're around me enough you've experienced this first hand), but I am clumsy. And highly accident prone. And a huge mess of uncoordinatedness. So workout machines are a little frightening for me. But it's been so hot lately (ughhhh spring where did you go?) and raining when it's not hot, and I want to keep up running, so I thought I'd try out this thing they call "the treadmill". And I have to say it wasn't bad at all, once I got over the fear of making an ass of myself in a painful way. There were definitely moments when I was like "omg I am going to face plant it so bad", but I survived without injury. And it is waaaaaay easier than running in real life, outside. It's flat, you're in ac, and the "road" is moving for you. I ran almost 3 miles, no biggie. Next time I go, I'm going to try an incline. Maybe. That might be asking a little too much for my coordination, but we'll see. Baby steps. 

AND it's been a month since I've been working out y'all! Hurray! I'm proud of myself. I've never stuck with anything like this this long, and my body is happy with me. And I reeeeeally enjoy running, which is weird as hell. I look forward to it. I, MARIE BROOKS HOGAN, ENJOY RUNNING. Such weirdness. So to reward myself for a month of activity, as I promised, I get to get new workout threads! Yay for cuter stuff to sweat in! One more month and I get new kicks!

Back to the weather, I will leave you with this ridiculous golden nugget of Brendonism: He asked me if I thought Sophie was scared of the storm and I laughed and said no (she's not scared of anything, except maybe the vacuum and a shortage of food). And he said, "yeah, she eats lightning and shits out thunder." I concur husband, I concur.

Scottish dress #1

Here is my little Scottish number... even though I finished this up almost a week ago... bad blogger!

(nerd alert!)

Ta-da! Do I look ready to play some bag pipes or throw a tree trunk? 

This dress was pretty easy to make. I spread it out over three days (tryin' to make these projects last), the blouse one day, the skirt the next, and then the vest. The vest was the most fun. I learned how to put on grommets! You get to use a hammer! So fun. Unfortunately, I set myself up for a couple challenges because apparently I cannot read. I bought too little of the white and plaid fabric. I had to go get more of the white (and I have officially banned myself from Joann's for a while, that place is my kryptonite these days), but I ended up just shortening the skirt to make the plaid I had work. Finding out that I hadn't gotten enough fabric was extremely frustrating and I felt like a fool. But in all fairness, have you ever tried to read the material lists on the back of patterns? Whoever designed those is obviously a fan of chaos and confusion.

 A blurry shot of Greg interrupting our photo shoot. He's always trying to steal the limelight.

I changed the skirt up a bit. Originally it was just hanging straight down, normal skirt style, but it was an awkward length because I had to shorten it, so I decided to add some pick ups in the front to add a little spiciness (yes, spiciness. Scottish spiciness.). I'm also thinking of taking the lace off of the neckline. It's really cute and all, but itchy as all get out.

I'm ready to hit up the highland games y'all! Any ideas on shoes? I know the barefoot look is just SO working for me, but I figure shoes are appropriate to wear outdoors. No one wants parasites, right Brendon?

Name that intersection!

Also, it rained! For a couple days! And not fake misty rain, but real rain. I spent this weekend with my momma down in NB and on Sunday we drove to Houston to see my g-pa, aunt, and cousins for some birthday festivities. It rained the ENTIRE way there! I'm not sure if Austin got as much while I was gone, Brendon said it rained quite a bit, but it sure was nice to see some dark clouds instead of the never ending burning sun of death. We even got some thunder and lightening! I love a good storm!

It was awesome to get out of Austin, if only for a couple days. I had a great time with my mom, as always! Saturday we got her fabric for her dress and ran around in the rain all day. Then we had some yummy hot dogs and watched a movie, Red Riding Hood. The movie was okay, a little silly but entertaining. I was scared that it might be spooky! But it wasn't thank goodness, I don't do scary movies. This weekend was just what I needed. As much as I dislike being away from Brendon, it was refreshing to get some girl time with mi madre. A tiny little escape from reality. And I'm sure he enjoyed the quality study time without interruptions from me asking him to take pictures of my latest endeavor.