Texas Lou

Well Sunday evening brought me back home and Monday morning brought me back to the real world, but I’m still thinking about how great our girls’ trip to the beach was.

We ate good food, drank some yummy cocktails and some fresh lemonade, we napped on the beach next to the ocean, tanned by the edge of the pool, visited an arts and crafts fair, met new and interesting people, played several rounds of rummy, watched a whole lotta Friends, did some outlet shopping, took lots of pictures, drank some $2 beers, and just had a blast!

It was a great weekend and I’m already wanting to go back again!

Here’s a picture of my two lovely ladies, Cris and Sarah, and myself out on the town in OBX!

Thanks to Sarah for the picture and thanks to Cris and her very generous parents for providing the venue that allowed us to make lots of new and wonderful memories!

I love this sign!

It’s almost as good as “We don’t swim in your toilet, so don’t pee in our pool!”

I’m laying on the beach AND I got to sleep till noon today! I haven’t done that since college!

As you can see from the picture, the weather is perfect and the beach is beautiful!

Well it’s time to forget about technology and enjoy the beach!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing weekend!

There’s no place I love more than the beach.  I want to retire there one day so that I can hear the sound of the ocean when I wake up every morning and when I go to sleep every night.  I love to feel the sand between my toes, the sun on my skin, the wind in my hair, and the salt water all around me.

I truly believe the beach can make anything better.

I’m so excited to be spending a 3 day weekend at the beach with my girls.

Outer Banks, here I come!

P.S.  I still have lots to tell about my Memorial Day trip to Texas and my cousin’s wedding, but it’s been a short and busy week and it will have to wait until next time.

I just want to say congratulations to my cousin and best friend, Megan Mitchusson.  I hope that her and Bryan Barnhill will have a long, happy, healthy, loving life together.

Here’s to Mr. and Mrs. B and the best weekend ever!  Thank you for letting me be a part of your special day!

P.S.  Megan you will always be a Mitchusson!

Last night I went to a classic cocktail night at a local bar.  I also marked another first off of my list.  I tried absinthe for the first time.  I was under the impression that absinthe was illegal in the United States, but according to our instructor and Wikipedia, it was recently made legal again about three years ago.

All of the drinks we learned how to make had their origins in New Orleans, which is a spectacular city and should be visited be everyone at least once in their life.

The first drink we made was a sweet sipping beverage called Sazerac.  It was very strong and sweet and we drank it from a small 4 ounce shot glass.  When making this drink, I learned how to muddle.

The next drink was called a Ramos Gin Fizz which was made using gin, lemon juice, lime juice, orange flower water, heavy cream, sugar, and an egg white.  This drink was quite tasty and had a nice texture, but making it burned about as many calories as were consumed drinking it.  To give this drink it’s frothy texture, between 2 and 12 minutes of shaking was required.

Next, we made a Vieux Carré which means “old house” when translated from French.  It contained rye gin, sweet vermouth, cognac, and several different types of bitters.

Lastly, one of my favorites, was the Old Absinthe House Frappe which consisted mostly of absinthe and fresh muddled mint leaves.  It was reminiscent of a mojito and would make for a very nice cold sipping drink on a hot New Orleans day.

Now I’ve got my menu of drinks to order next time I hit up NOLA!

Occasionally in life (or at least in my life), something comes along that changes me.  It helps shape the person I am becoming and has a profound impact on the way I live my life.

It seems that the older I become, the less often this happens (probably because I am too busy to notice it happening), so I try to hold on to this feeling when it comes because I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait until I have it again.

The most recent catalyst in the molding of who I ultimately will become was the ending of a television show.  I know some people might think that I’m stupid or cliche for letting a television show shape who I am or considering a television show important enough to influence me greatly, but I don’t care.  I can’t control what feelings are evoked in me by different forms of art (and yes I do consider some television a form of art but this would explicitly exclude reality television).

The television show I’m speaking of is LOST.  I feel that there never has been and never will be a piece of fiction so profound and meaningful on television in my lifetime.  When I watched the two and a half hour series finale on Sunday evening, I cried.  And I did not just get teary eyed.  I actually bawled like a baby into Ben’s t-shirt.  It wasn’t because I was so sad that the show was ending, although that did depress me slightly.  It was that the ending and the overall meanings of the show fit so perfectly into my beliefs and values that I couldn’t help but feel what the characters were feeling.  I won’t go into details because I know not everyone is a LOST fan like I am and I know there are some out there who have yet to see the finale.  All I can say is that the ending was perfect for me (keywords:  for me).

I’ll always cherish this show and I know I will watch it over and over again.  I will encourage my children (once they’ve reached a certain age) to watch it and discuss it.  LOST is definitely a show that will transcend time and has certainly had a very large impact on me.

Always remember, “If we can’t live together, we will die alone.”

A while back, a good friend was poling her friends on facebook about their favorite roller rink songs from back in the day.  She asked me if I was old enough to have experienced the roller rink craze.  My answer:  OF COURSE!!!  And for those wondering, my most memorable roller rink song was Come and Get Your Love by Real McCoy.  I have great memories of skating in circles, trying desperately not to fall, and thinking I was soooo badass to the beat of this song!

The conversation between my friend and I lead me to wonder about those who had not had the opportunity to skate like no one was watching as a kid.  I quickly thought about the city that I currently live in.  Charlottesville doesn’t have a roller rink.  I wondered if they had one in the past.  I quickly dialed Ben’s number to ask him what seemed to me like the most important question (but probably seemed to him like a pointless one).

Ben’s answer was no, Charlottesville had not had a roller rink in his twenty-seven years as a resident.  This saddened me.  All of these Cvillians, and I’m sure countless others hailing from small town, Anywhere, had been deprived of the roller rink experience.  They had no roller rink songs, no memories of skating beneath flashing neon lights to the beat of some one hit wonder while trying to impress their friends.

But then I realized, what they lacked in roller rink experiences, they made up for in other ways.  For example, I never experienced a snow day living in south Texas, but Ben’s childhood was filled with them (especially from the blizzard of ’96 that I hear about so often).

I still hope my kids get to enjoy the roller rink experience someday, or the twenty-first century equivalent.  Hover boarding perhaps?

My sister signed up for the Team in Training Houston chapter and will be running the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in San Francisco with me.  This makes me so very HAPPY!

Running is one of the hobbies that she and I are both interested in and I am so excited that we will get to share this experience.  Plus we will have each other to share fundraising and training tips with.  I also kind of like to think of it as a free sisters’ weekend as well.  Although it’s not really free since she has to raise $3500 and I’ve got to raise $3900.

Thanks to Team In Training, we will finally get to run together!

If you’d like to make a donation to my sister, Carrie Elsaifi, check out her Team In Training website located at http://pages.teamintraining.org/txg/nikesf10/celsaifi.

And don’t forget to donate toward my effort as well (http://pages.teamintraining.org/va/nikesf10/leslieelsaifi).

Last week, I joined an organization called Team In Training.  I have been researching this organization for a while and am really excited to finally become a member!

The way that Team In Training works goes like this:  Team in Training sponsors runners, cyclists, and triathletes by providing them with training, coaching, and inspiration and funding all of their race expenses (race registration, airplane tickets, hotel rooms).  In return, the athletes raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Team in Training is now ” the world’s largest endurance sports training program”!

I wanted to join Team In Training not just because it seems like such a great organization in all aspects, but because I wanted to do something good with my ability to run long distances.  When I ran the Shamrock Half Marathon (my first half marathon) back in March, I did it just to prove to myself that I could finish it and also for the free beer.  Now that I know I can reach the goal, I want to do it for others instead of just for me.

I signed up for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon which will take place on October 17, 2010 in San Francisco, California.  I’m really excited about this race and also extremely glad to be traveling to San Francisco since I haven’t been there since I was five years old and therefore don’t remember much from the trip.  I am also super motivated to reach my goal of raising $4000 by October.

I’m asking every person who reads this to PLEASE donate toward my goal by going to this website.  Even if you can only donate a small amount, please do because every little bit really does count!

The way I see it I’m getting so much out of this experience:

• The opportunity to meet, train with, and become friends with a great group of people
• The opportunity to travel and spend time in a beautiful city
• The opportunity to raise money and awareness for a wonderful cause that can help save so many lives
• The opportunity to prove to myself and others that running the one half marathon wasn’t just a one-time lucky shot

I hope you will check out my page at http://pages.teamintraining.org/va/nikesf10/leslieelsaifi and donate toward my goal.  And please check back often to see my progress.

Thanks for the support!