Ahh, summer!

I love, love, love summer! Here are some recent pictures:

Khairie swimming in Lake Mendota at the union terrace. She was actually chasing those ducks, but clearly, ducks are faster than K, so she gave up.

my parents are so cute!

Hangin' out with our wet dog. The party ended when she shook wet fur into my beer.

The next few pictures are at the Navy pier in Chicago. Look at how beautiful that water is!

I want to be on one of those boats out there. Preferably that fancy looking one back there!

Me and my sis

A Public Declaration

This post is less for your benefit than it is for my own. I am declaring to the world that I am training for a marathon. It's now official. The greater the number of people who know about my plans, the more my pride will keep me from giving up (at least theoretically). I'm training for the Des Moines Marathon which is Oct. 19. Not fancy, not glamorous, but it'll do. Actually what happened was...by the time I finally made the decision, all the other (better) races were already booked up for fall. Also, it's summer and I have the time to train, which I'm finding very important. So, here are some realizations I've made since making this decision:

1. Saturday mornings will have a whole new meaning for the next few months. Instead of sleeping in or hopping out of bed and going to the farmers market, I'll be lacing up for long runs.
2. Iowa is humid. Like psychotically humid. If I don't get out there by 8am, I'm in trouble.
3. Iowa City is very, very small. Yesterday I spend the afternoon on Google pedometer planning new running routes. I've come to the (sad) conclusion that for my longer runs I'll be running laps around the city. I'm unfortunately not kidding.
4. Listening to Matt's sermons while running is great. A solid 45 min. Edifying and calorie burning.

More of these little gems to come, I'm sure. So, I'm putting out a request (for all the hundreds of you who are reading this). I am in some serious need of good running music. I really don't have much on my ipod that qualifies. Most of the music I enjoy listening to is better paired with a glass of wine than miles of pavement. I've got to start downloading some more appropriate songs, so any and all suggestions would be great.

Thanks for letting me make you accountable for keeping me on track with this.

Impromptu Vacation

Since the flood shut down the university for a week, we had a nice little impromptu vacation. It was so great! And so needed! We had no schedule to keep and no obligations. It was such relaxing, fun week. So, here's a brief rundown of how we kept ourselves busy:

photo op with Dad on Father's Day

I convinced Sara to play hooky from work and spend the day with me! We went to lunch, went wedding dress shopping (Sara's getting married in May), and went to the salon and got our hair did :) It's going to be really hard for her to pick out a dress because absolutely everything looked fabulous on her!

For our 7th anniversary (yes, I know) Arie and I treated ourselves by spending a night with Jack. We had amazing seats. The concert was awesome. Definitely the best way to celebrate 7 blissful years of marriage. hehe

Last, but not least, Deja competed in a pagent. She was so beautiful. She did a great job carrying herself with confidence and grace. Here she is after the formalwear competition with our uncle Deepak. She didn't trip or fall-better than I would have done!

Unfortunately, we had to return to reality-back to our lives in Iowa City. Things are getting back to normal, at least for those of us unaffected by the flood.

On a side note, Coldplay just released their fourth album Viva la Vida. It is amazing! I highly recommend it. It's probably my favorite album of theirs-which is saying a lot. Check out the single "Lost" which has quickly become a fave. Who can get enough of Chris Martin's fantastic falsetto? Not me!