Have Yourself a Mongoose Little Christmas

New Holiday Displays!

HOHOHOpefully everyone is getting into the holiday spirit. I know we have put a big dent in the shopping and a little dent in the decorating. We got our new holiday wreath done last night and put up our black Christmas tree!! Oh and don't forget our Christmas village. I always loved these growing up but they are so expensive. Luckily we were at CVS after Christmas last yeah and they had theirs on a mega clearance. They aren't super fancy but they light up and serve their purpose just fine.

On the left you can see the naked wreath with the inspiration piece on it and on the right you can see the finished product. Feel free to be jealous and maybe next year you can place an order and get your own masterpiece. Yes masterpiece, I rather like that word. MASTERPIECE!!!!!!!

 Click the "Read More" link for the rest of the fun.

Mongoose takes on Ghost Hunters!

Latest Race Update

 
Hey everyone, not much new and exciting happening but I did want to share some info from our most recent race. We ran in the MDHA Help the Homeless 5k. It is part of a help the homeless week in Dallas and was held at Fair Park which is where the State Fair of Texas takes place, and the location of the Cotton Bowl Stadium. We weren't sure how well we would do because for the past several weeks our running schedule has been pretty empty for various reasons, but the race is just about the running and having fun with friends so we plodded along and ran it. We ran with several of Richard's coworkers and made several new friends as well. Running is a great way to meet people in case that becomes your motivation. Here are the wonderful before and after pictures!!

 

Here you can see our overall race finishing places. Richard was #67 and I was #68. I like to think that this is pretty damned impressive for not having run in about a month. My personal favorite part is when we look at the results by age group. In the second picture you can see that Richard finished 9th in his age group which is awesome!! And below that you can see my age group and I placed 4th!!! I missed a medal by about 36 seconds. Had I know while the race was going on that I was that close, I would have pushed thru those rough patches and just paid the price after the race.  Damn you hindsight!! Thanks for taking a minute to read this and for letting me brag just a little. As always I welcome comments and feel free to follow my blog. You never know what craziness you may find here next.

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Here is a fun continuation of all the Halloween displays that I posted previously. I am guessing this will be the only Thanksgiving one that I find since everyone seems to already have the Christmas displays built. You can look forward to a post that includes those coming up soon. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!

Richard's B-Day/Halloween 2011 Pics

Fun stuff coming up and some Halloween treats!!

I want to start off by saying how excited we were about this race that was being held in Austin in December. Seriously, combining running, obstacle courses and ZOMBIES, who could ask for more. We were pumped for the race and for a quick trip to Austin. However when I went to register us for the race, I realized that the Austin race was in December of 2012 not 2011. Which means that its going to be one very long year until we get to live out this little fantasy, but at least we have something to look forward to. Hopefully the Mayan's got it wrong, I will be pissed.

Next up on my plate is something totally exciting and scary all at the same time. I have registered to participate in NaNoWriMo. Which is one of those wonderful acronyms standing for National Novel Writing Month. Basically, it is a writing challenge in which you have the entire month of November to write a 50,000 word novel. I got a wild hair and decided this was a challenge I wanted to accept. It is also a fun tool for writers to use where they can throw all conventional writing out the window. Winning is based on quantity not quality. While I don't expect to have a 100% publishing ready novel at the end, I will have the rewarding feeling that comes with accomplishing something completely unexpected. I will try and blog once a week about my progress. Wish me luck and send me messages of support!!!



Lastly, in my job, I am in big box retailers and grocery stores and I see tons of Halloween displays that are very creative so I figured I would share them with you in honor of the season. Clearly pumpkins are the winning theme.

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

Walking Dead Mongoose

In honor of Halloween and Season 2 of Walking Dead, Mongoose takes on the undead!!

Running, it isn't just for exercise anymore!

Hey everyone, I have been bad about keeping this updated for a while, but here is where we start up again!!! Yes yes, your thundering cheers and applause are inspiring! Well, let's get right to it, here we go. As I have talked about before, we have been running 5 days a week and have recently started doing actual races. We did one in September for Wipe Out Kids' Cancer and then this past weekend we did Race for the Cure.

 
It's great, you donate money to a cause you feel passionate about, you get some good exercise, and who could pass up FREE T-SHIRTS!!!!!

Mongoose brought the rain!!

MONGOOSE PRIDE!!

Hey Everyone, we will be heading to San Fran tomorrow morning at an insane hour for our vacation. We will be gone for a week. I hope to update this blog with all our fun adventures but who knows how much that will really happen. Maybe it will maybe it wont lol just know it will be coming soon. To all our PRIDE attendees in OKC, Houston, San Fran and any other cities doing it this coming weekend, be SAFE and have more fun than you should!! We love you all!!

What does it mean?? Two jokes from mongoose?? After all these years.

Yeah its a Lo Pan joke, google it.

Try some mongoose....it's tasty!!!

OKC Crew Weekend

Starting today off with some heavy duty rehydration and relaxation after a crazy weekend with two of our OKC friends Jimmy and Carlye. What follows is what I can only assume is a pretty accurate portrayal of the weekends events, which are brought to you by our sponsors, Vodka and Natty Light!! Let's begin.

FRIDAY NIGHT:We all had to work Friday, so our night didn't start until maybe 10pm once the OKC crew made it to Dallas. We stayed at the Embassy Suites Market Center. It is a very nice hotel with a big open middle that makes the top floor where we stayed a  little dizzying. Our suite was nice and the Do Not Disturb sign was one of the most creative I have seen to date. Once we got settled in the room, it was time to break out the beer and catch up on what we have missed out since we last saw each other. Fast forward thru the gabbing and a few drinking games and we hit the bottom of the beer. How many beers is too many for 4 people? We brought a 30 pack and it didn't survive the first night. Luckily, we had planned on staying in the room and not going anywhere that first night. We played games and chatted and listened to loud music, luckily we either didn't have neighbors or the walls were really thick. I think it was about 3am when we finally made it to bed.



SATURDAY:  Woke up about 9:30 in the morning so that we could make it downstairs to the free breakfast. Free food, especially for the morning after, is a blessing and I am pretty sure it saved my life. After letting breakfast settle a bit, we began our day of fun by hitting Target. This isn't really a vacation staple, but forgetting to pack a swimsuit can create a problem and Target can solve it. Found a suit and some fake mustaches for a dollar. (More on this later.) We then headed to Oaklawn to do some walking around and window shopping. Also to have a refreshing beer after walking around in this marvelous heat we are having. And since it was a mini vacation, you can have a beer in the afternoon right??

Ice Ice Miggity!!

We returned to the hotel to get some swimming and sunning done. The hotel had a nice pool and hot tub, sadly it was indoors. They did have a patio attached to the pool area that had some great sun and we took full advantage of all the offerings in the pool area. Nothing beats sweating out all the previous nights toxins while soaking up all that vitamin D. After our pool fun, it was time to take the Okies to In-N-Out Burger. Its a hell of a drive, but well worth it once you get that double double animal style in your hot little hands. They are constructing a new building along the way that has this weird diagonal structure attached to the facade which makes for a weird looking building. I'm guessing it's some sort of architectural feature that will make more sense upon completion. It gave us all something to discuss on the car trip. Once we arrived at In-N-Out, which has been open a couple of months now, both the drive thru and dine in lines were still a bit of ridiculous. However the dine in line moved quickly enough and soon we all had our burger feast. Shockingly, we were able to find 4 bar stool seats after Richard did a little tactical positioning. Anyone who has eaten at any In-N-Out can tell you that seating is always an issue even in the locations that have been open forever.

After ingesting that huge meal we needed to walk it off a little so we went to a Ross that was right down the street for a little discounted fun. I found a clearance shirt which I really liked and planned on wearing out that night. Sadly upon putting it on later that night,I noticed that there was a small problem. It looked plenty big but you can see appearances were deceiving. I certainly don't have a 6pak, but dammit a large is supposed to be plenty big for me. Luckily, I had stuff packed for going out already so this minor setback was just that, minor. But I'm getting ahead of myself here, let me backtrack.

 We made the long drive back to the hotel to prepare for that night's festivities. To start it all off, we attended the "Manager's Reception" in the lobby. This was their code for free drinks. Yes, you heard me correctly, the hotel had a bartender who would make you whatever drink you wanted, two at a time. When you finished, you just got back in line over and over and over. What an amazing concept in customer service. This will be a new requirement I look for in future travel planning. I can think of no better way to decrease the nights bar tab. Thanks Embassy Suites *HIC* Once the "reception" was over we all made it back up to the room feeling fine and decided it was time to make use of the props we had collected on our journeys. And yes alcohol does tend to make things funnier in your head than others may think, so just know this was funny as hell to us.
 

Getting ready to go out came next and of course that means it's time for some shots. **IMPORTANT NOTE FOR READERS** When we were ready to go out, we called a CAB. This is always a better plan when you have been drinking. Don't want to rely on anyone who has been drinking like we have to drive anywhere. LOL Not to say that we were stupid drunk, just that we all knew we had had enough to not be driving. Back to Oaklawn for the night's partying and dancing. Had lots of fun making the rounds at all the bars. S4, TMC, Roundup, Woody's and then back to S4 to dance the night away. I had 2 left feet that night but who cares, I danced like nobody was watching. It is always more fun to just cut loose and this group sure knows how to do it. A little after midnight, we had all had enough and hailed a cab to take us back to the hotel. We got home and decided to order pizza. Pizza, salad, bread sticks and the most amazing brownies the world has ever known. Quickly devoured and then off to sleep for all of us.

SUNDAY: We slowly started getting around on the last day of our adventure and decided that brunch was in order. We packed up and headed out to the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff. There are enough cafes, restaurants, and shops here to fill up a morning and afternoon. We went to Tillman's Roadhouse for an amazing brunch. I had an amazing egg sandwich with bacon and avocado. It came with a salad dressed with a spicy dressing and what turned out to be fried avocado pieces on top. We all ate and felt much better about life. Then came walking around and hitting all the shops, clothing, vintage, housewares, florist and the most amazing chocolate shop, Dude, Sweet Chocolate. They used dark chocolate and have combinations and creations you would never think of. They had a blue cheese and sea salt fudge that would blow your mind. Another combo that was incredible was orange pop rock chocolate bar. They gave us all sorts of free samples and it took all my willpower to just buy one chocolate bar with cardamom and soy nuts. I will definitely be returning here to get more goodies. Dark chocolate is one of my BIG weaknesses. So they have me hooked!! After our chocolate-gasm, it was time to say goodbye and so hugs all around and the OKC crew headed back home. I added links to both places in case you are planning a trip to Dallas. Be sure and check them out.

 

What a great weekend!! Thanks Jimmy and Carlye for making it a blast. Can't wait until next time.

Mongoose gets crafty..

Mongoose vs Gaga, round 2!!

Jan Crouch cameo in Mongoose??

Just for clarification, if the text is too fuzzy or small just click the image and it will enlarge.

What does gender mean??

OK folks, time for a serious posting today. I read this story online http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110524/ts_yblog_thelookout/parents-keep-childs-gender-under-wraps and it really made me stop and think. So I want you to do the same. Stop, read the link, think about it and then switch back here to see my thoughts. Also answer my poll question on the upper left side of this post and then leave your comments at the bottom. My views can be read by clicking the "Read More" link. I didn't want my opinion to alter yours. Enjoy and don't forget to comment.

Gagging on GaGa!!

What a whirlwind...

So let me start this entry off by saying we get to see her again. Yes it's time for our annual weekend with Chelsea Handler!! Ok, settle down, we won't actually be spending the weekend with her, although I'm still hoping I can convince her. She will be back in town for her new comedy tour and will be doing a book signing at A Real Bookstore in Fairview, TX. Quite a strange name for the store but if it is anything like the last time we met her, it will be amazing. I really enjoy the full service bar they have available, *HIC*. Come on though, it's Chelsea Handler, it would be a slap in her face if we didn't have a little Belvedere while we waited. This all takes place on June 18th but since I got my ticket early, I figured I would mention it now, don't worry there will be plenty of follow up posting on this one.

This weekend was full of adventures as well, we met our friend Sarah out on Saturday night for drinks and dinner. Gotta love drinks on the patio at The Grapevine when it is a gorgeous day out. Headed to Oaklawn for a bit after that and finished it up with dinner at Panda's on the strip. This is a great little sit down Chinese restaurant that capitalizes on people having been drinking all night and since you don't have many food choices, they charge a little more than they probably should. This being said, the food really is amazing. It could however just mimic the 2am Taco Bell runs after a night out, because that food is always amazing too, but I am giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Great advice for the new trail

Sunday morning we got up early and drove to the Chisholm Trail up in Allen, TX and did our 3.5 mile run. It was a great little trail with lots of friendly people, a river, wildlife, wildflowers and great people watching. It was a little windy and a little cool for most of the run so that made it even better. Always nice to have new scenery to run through. It sure beats the neighborhood houses we run around during the week.

After that wonderful workout we totally erased all its benefits by driving a little further north to the new In-N-Out Burger that opened earlier in the week. I'm sure by now, some of you have seen news clips of crazy Texans either crying or thanking Jesus for the opening of this establishment. While I know Jesus listens and answers prayers, I am gonna have to guess that getting a burger joint built is nowhere on his to-do list. And I'm going to assume that the crying lady probably has a few too many cats and too much free time. I lived in California for a while and got to regularly experience the In-N-Out goodness, but never felt it was worth crying or praying for. However, now that it is here HOLY SHIT it's amazing!!! Thankfully this location is way too far for any sort or quick stopover so until they open the Arlington location I should be in good shape.

Having gorged ourselves on burgers and fries, we arrived home and got started on the yard work. We did the usual mowing and edging but then did a bunch of sod removal and planting of pampas grass in our newly created planting bed in the backyard. It is about 25ft long and about 3 ft deep and is wonderfully mulched with my favorite red mulch. This is just stage one of the total backyard renovation and we still need to place the actual permanent edging on the bed, the old hose won't hold up forever. We still have quite a bit of work to do back there but once it's done, it will be the envy of the neighborhood! At least in my mind anyway, and really that's all that matters. Enjoy all the pics!! Talk with you all soon.