success!

Brent had his exam today, and he passed!! He is now officially an Oracle Certified Professional, which means that his work will possibly consider him to be even more awesome than they previously realized. It's the second out of three oracle certification levels, so this proves that he knows his oracle database stuff to his current and future employers. Go Brent!

** Brent would like me to make the following change to this post: He says, "But I do have to mention that the third level requires that I shell out a ton of money if my company wouldn't cover it, and a 2 day (full day) test." So this second level is plenty awesome for him, and the third isn't going to happen any time soon because it's a pretty ridiculous certification process. Okay, that is all. **

To celebrate, we went out to dinner and a movie (Ratatouille, totally cute). It's probably our last fun night until we're done with our move, but it was really nice to get out and have a great time. Here's a picture of the happy oracle certified professional:

lately

Things are starting to get a little busier around here. Here's some of what's been going on lately:
1. I ran 30 minutes without stopping last Thursday! Seriously. It was so cool, and something I've never done before -ever- in my life, so that was awesome. Hopefully I can pull a repeat performance some time soon. Today I only made it 15 mins running without stopping, but then we lifted weights and did ab work and lunges. I can officially not do a bench press even with just the bar. It was funny, sad, and embarrassing at the same time. I was trying to push the 45 lb bar up (with Brent spotting), and it ended up being each arm alternating pushing one side up. Something to work on. For now I'm doing some kind of dumbell press with 10lb weights and it's pretty tough, but it'll help me be strong enough to do a real bench press someday.

2. Brent is studying for his oracle certified professional exam. Very exciting, and a good challenge, though he's so smart I'm sure he will be fine. He's been studying all the time for the past week or two, after more casual studying for the past few months. The exam is Tuesday, so wish him luck! Here's a picture of the stud while taking a practice exam tonight:

3. My bell pepper plant is doing SO well! Also, my mint seems to have made a truly amazing comeback from near-death. Compared to earlier pictures I've posted here, it's out of control!

The poor mint seems to have gotten a little sunburned with all of the heat lately (see #5), so it's now safely in the shade.



4. We're moving in a week. Well, really in 9 days, but we have to completely empty our current place next weekend, in time for cleaners (yep, we're going to pay people to deal with the shower grout, baseboards, etc, a result of one of Brent's best ideas yet) to come next monday, and carpet cleaners next tuesday before we turn the place over. I started packing this weekend, and so far I've done some kitchen stuff and part of a bookcase, plus some other stuff to top off boxes of books once they'd reached their maximum weight for me to carry. This week we'll have to really get serious about packing in the evenings so that we don't have too much to do next Fri night and Sat. I am kind of conflicted about moving, because we're having to leave our first place together, and we love our neighborhood and condo. However, we're moving to another really nice place (albeit with a parking lot view) and it'll be really close to where we live now, so hopefully it will be an easy and good move. I will definitely miss the trees outside of our windows, and the grassy fields nearby, and our adorable neighborhood.

Sad, empty bookcase.


The first few of what will soon be many boxes.

5. It has been hot hot hot. Today almost made it to 100 degrees (see weather chart below), but thankfully it's a dry heat, so it doesn't feel as terrible as it does in Texas when it's 100 degrees! Boulder often ends up with afternoon thunderstorms when it gets this hot outside, but we haven't gotten much rain at all in a long time. Hopefully we'll get some soon, but the forecast isn't encouraging. It definitely reminds me to appreciate the fabulous, newer, low-cost air conditioning that our landlord installed!

Yes, it's weather data from a wx station on campus... would you expect anything else from me?!

last weekend...

Brent's Mom came to visit last Saturday, before heading off into the woods for her annual 1 week trip with her friend. It was so fun to see her and hang out! We grabbed lunch at our local favorite bagel shop, sat around inside (it was SO hot), walked along pearl street where we got caught in an afternoon rainstorm, and had a wonderful dinner at the Chautauqua dining hall. Dinner was seriously so, so good. The Chautauqua dining hall is this big old building (from 1898) that's on a large field and surrounded on three sides by open space and hiking trails. It's right up against the foothills, so it's really gorgeous. It turns out that there's also an auditorium building kitty-corner to the dining hall, and there was a concert that night, so things were pretty crowded. Regardless, we got to eat dinner on the huge wrap-around porch on a warm summer night and watch families play and people head up to the concert. The food was also fantastic, so we'll definitely be back. Oh, and they served my most favorite beer of all time on tap: twisted pine raspberry wheat ale... so good!

While we waited for dinner, we drove up into the mountains and pulled off at 'panoramic point' for a great view of Boulder. Here are some cute pictures of my man and his mom, and of campus from up high (where all of the red tiled roofs are).

new pictures

My Dad sent me a CD with more pictures from he and my stepmom's trip out here about a month ago. Wow, I can't believe it's already been a month! Anyways, here are some of my favorites.

Taherah, Brent, and me at the alpine tundra.


The marmot!! He looks like a wise old creature to me, but I always think things like that about animals!


Dad and me by some little waterfalls made by melting snow.


Dad, Brent, and me at the alpine tundra.

25 minutes!!

Never ever ever was I able to run for even 20 minutes without stopping, not even when I was in high school. However, in the past week, I have run 25 minutes solid 4 times!! My first attempt was last tuesday, and since then, I have even worked up my speed to a 10 minute mile average. I know that's not super fast, and in high school I could run a mile much faster, but this is 2.5 miles people! I am seriously so proud of my body and what it has accomplished.

Lately, though, I've been getting super super bored running on the treadmill at the gym. I have an awesome playlist on my ipod to help keep me moving, but I think that running outside could be a lot more interesting. Though sometimes there's good people watching at the gym. Anyways, maybe eventually I'll be able to run outside, once the pollen situation has calmed down out there.

If you're interested, the program I found online to train me to go from a couch potato to a super runner (but not really) is at: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml This site has forums for people to talk, and it seems like there is always a group for any particular week of the 9-week plan, which is pretty nifty. All kinds of people try it, from those in their 20's to those in their 50's and up, and it seems like a lot of people are overweight or super weak (that's me!) and manage to get pretty healthy with it. Only 2 more weeks left, with this week going up to 28 minutes nonstop, and then next week up to 30 minutes. Wish me luck!!

Oh and my plants are growing a lot, so for reals I am going to start to post regular pictures because I'm so proud of them. Go plants!

bad blogger

So how bad of a blogger have I been lately? I'm sorry for my very poor updating skills, but I will try to be better, I promise! You'd think that I'd be posting more frequently lately, especially since it's summertime, but I guess not. I haven't even been all that busy lately.

We've fallen into a nice summer routine with Brent and I spending our days at work/school, and then either going to the gym or just sort of hanging out. It's been pretty warm lately, so we haven't gotten out much in the evenings on weekdays. Since Dad and Taherah were here, we haven't done all that much fun stuff on the weekends. Oh but we did see Army of Darkness at the Boulder Outdoor Cinema, which was super fun. They set up a movie screen along the back of a building near Pearl Street, next to the creek and the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. It was only $5, and we also got some very snazzy plastic rings!

My plants are doing well, except for my lettuce, but I'll be posting pictures and a story tomorrow about that, I hope. We also have some grad student friends coming over to grill for the 4th of July, so as long as I have time, I will also update about the great lettuce massacre that occurred this morning. But my bell pepper plant has flowers (!), 2 of them, and one of them has now fallen off, leaving a teeny tiny baby bell pepper behind. I am SO EXCITED. And our tomatillo plant is out of control! It has a bajillion tiny baby tomatillos on it, which will be very exciting for Brent and his salsa making later this summer. My cilantro and chives are also great, and the cilantro is so pungent. I have to pluck the flowers off of it pretty regularly, and the scent stays on my hands for a while afterwards. We even got to use some of it for cilantro-lime rice the other day and it was so strong!

Here are some week-old plant pictures. See, I was thinking about updating a week ago, but it just never happened somehow. Oh and I didn't resize these pictures, so if you click on them they will be huge.


So proud of my bell pepper!


See the flower?!


My mint that came back from the dead. Compared to earlier pictures, it's a giant. Grow mint, grow!


Tomatillo madness!