I'm a huge slacker in posting - but was busy getting married!

I know it feels like ages since I posted on my blog, but I have read my sibling's blogs so much that I finally decided to make a little effort. I blame this mostly to Facebook which takes up most of my non-existent spare time. Anyway, here's an update! Perhaps the biggest is that I got married to the most wonderful man (Evan Staples) in the world on May 11, 2010. The wedding, two receptions and everything went really well, the best day of my life! I was a princess! Anyway, he's so awesome, and we now live in Norman, Oklahoma, where he's finishing his master's in Geophysics! (Yes, he's super smart!) I took a job up here in Oklahoma City, OK, where I write proposals for a company called LCI, which mostly focuses on government contract jobs around Tinker AFB. The company and people are great. I'm learning tons and the commute isn't too bad, 30 minutes at most. After we got married, Evan and I spent the summer in Houston for his internship with an oil company, and I looked for a job in OK like it was my full-time job.

We like it here and are getting ready for the holidays! We celebrated our 6-month anniversary last month, and we both can't believe it's flown by so quickly!

My first triathlon!

Wow! What a weekend! Not only did I spend Memorial Day weekend in San Antonio, I also competed in my first triathlon in downtown Austin. Needless to say, the tri was hard core, especially since I was training for a shorter race (the first tri). But since there were only slots open for the sprint, I decided to go for it the week before the race!

I feel like I did decent for my first one (1:44.54). I finished somewhere in the middle of my division (25-34 women). The swimming was the hardest, since I was training for the shorter race (400m swim) and had to do the longer race (750m swim). But I beat a girl, who I met in the transition area, out of the water, and it was her second tri. The biking was fun going around downtown Austin at a pretty fast speed. Again, I never biked 13 miles before the race. I

think maybe I biked eight miles once.

The running wasn't too bad, except when my back was hurting for a minute after the first mile. I felt like the running was the best event for me, since I've done so many 5ks and track races. It was an awesome experience though I did feel out of my element with hundreds of seasoned people competing around me. It was a big race to start off with, and they had the largest amount of participants they have ever had this year at the Capital of Texas Triathlon. Everyone was in these nice wet suits, aerodynamic cycling gear and very expensive bikes. I was like "Hey guys, don't mind me...I'm just chilling in my bathing suit and volleyball spandex and riding my mom's road/mountain hybrid bike." You bet I raised my hands over my head and acted crazy when I finished. I was just a little bit excited!

In San Antonio, my friends and I stayed with my old branch president and checked out his new YSA branch down there. In fact, he asked Kristi and I to do a musical number for church. I took Kristi to Rudy's for her time of the best BBQ in Texas, and we went to New Braunfels for her first time at Schlitterbahn. We got there right after a little rain storm, and the lines were super short! We had a blast! On my way back home after my tri, I stopped at my parents' house for some steak and almost fell asleep. I was exhausted but mainly from a very fun weekend!

Close Encounters with Gavin DeGraw

Last Thursday night was such a blast! I went to see Gavin DeGraw in concert with two of my closest friends. It was at the Palladium Ballroom in Dallas, and we loved it! The opening act was a girl who sounded a lot like Colbie Caillat (yet again another fun concert with these girls). During the first act, we check out the merchandise for sale, mostly t-shirts, and Kristi asked why she got a blue wristband after she bought a shirt. She was told it was because she could meet Gavin personally right after the show. Katie and I march over to the ATM machine and pay a high price for a concert T-shirt just for the chance to meet this guy.

We had a blast seeing him after an awesome show, where he played the piano, played the guitar and just sang (triple threat if you ask me) soulfully to the small crowd. It was a blast and snuggling up for a photo with Gavin was probably the best part. And yes, I got nervous before it was our turn to meet him because I have never met a musician after a show. I can ask serious questions to sweaty professional basketball players after a game, but a soulful, talented musician...forget about it! And yes, Gavin DeGraw thinks my name is Andi, not Angie.

Racquetball, smack-it-ball!

So my friend Kristi decided to introduce me to racquetball the other day, so we went to play at our gym. Always up for a challenge, I decided it wouldn't be so bad. But I felt like a fish out of water with a different kind of racquet and ball and new rules to remember. It was weird, but I was up for it. "One bounce or two bounces in front of the line? Or behind the line?" I would ask. Half the time I was confused and half the time I was a chicken with my head cut off.

I must have looked crazy since I was running around this box like a crazy person, screaming at the top of my lungs and throwing myself into every single wall (not on purpose of course, just sheer lack of skill). I think I have some bruises to prove it. I think they should put padding on the walls. In bowling, you can get the bunkers. Well, I want padded racquetball walls. Whoever said racquetball isn't a contact sport is mistaken. I'm going to try it again today, so we'll see how many more bruises I can get. Update coming soon....

Celebrate Good Times!

So I've been so busy celebrating holidays and birthdays (being a Hurricane as usual), so here are some photo albums from the last few months. Enjoy!

This album contains my friend Kristi's birthday and also Thanksgiving & Christmas with family & friends! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2233010&l=6e5cf&id=17808456

This album includes my glorius birthday celebration that lasted a few days! A big group of us went out to eat and then karaoke! There's also one of celebrating with the fam!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2236886&l=00d48&id=17808456

New love = Hazelhut haircolor!

The other day I decided I was going to change my hair color no matter what. After work I raced to get a few boxes of hair color, and I was excited because I'd never colored my hair from a box before. My friends helped me with my new adventure, and I've never loved the color hazelnut until 11:01 p.m. when we were done. Walllaaahhhhh!
(P.S. It's not the lighting of the room either, it's that dark. It's a few shades darker than my natural hair color, and yes, I still know what color that is)

Party Central

Here's a little collage of random birthday parties at my apartment. I think Amber and I's place is finally legendary, since people actually ask us to throw parties here. It's true. I don't want to brag, but we're kind of a big deal. JK!

RRRRR!!! Halloween!

So Halloween came this year, and I was determined to dress up and have some fun this year. After all, it's not just for little kids to enjoy. I was a pirate, not like a Keira Knightly-tough kind, but a cute, Minnie Mouse-type pirate. Amber was Medusa after she got the inspiration long before October rolled around. Lauren was a cave woman and helped me with my costume. Kristi was a pep rally girl. Jennifer was Where's Waldo - great idea! It was a fun weekend!

My first GALA!

It's official - My first Gala is over, and I survived my biggest week-long conference for work. I survived and called a few people every few days to report that I was still alive during my 80+ hour work week. I was so tired for days afterward, especially my feet. Here are some pictures from it. Ok, so I guess it was kind of fun too! But please note these are just the happy pictures of me. I don't have pictures of the set ups until midnight or last-minute changes to months of planning or fast dashes back and forth from the office to the hotel. Plus, I wouldn't post a picture of stressed, crabby Angie because let's face it, no one deserves to see her!

5K for Charity

Every year my company does a 5K together for charity. We recently ran in the Oktoberfest 5K in Addison which benefitted Wipe Out Kids' Cancer. I trained pretty hard the last two weeks for this event, and I was pretty happy with my results.

I was the second from my office to finish. Shawn, an IT guy, was about 100 meters in front of me, and I couldn't catch him at the end. I did get fifth in my age group with a time of 24:55. Here are some photos.