Hello! Valerie Here!

Hello!

Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this great group of moms! I am so excited to be a part of it and am looking forward to talking with and training with all of you! I started writing this novel length bio about me and then decided to do a "list of 100" instead! Here it is!

One Hundred Things About Me

1 I LOVE Coffee!

2. I also LOVE Chocolate!

3. I was born and raised in Houston

4. I do not love Houston!

5. I went to Texas A&M for my degree

6. I have a BS in Genetics

7. I worked as a research associate in

pharmaceutical research

8. …specifically with endocrine disorders

9. I met my husband at the company I worked for.

10. We only dated for 6 months before getting married

11. …in Vegas

12. We were supposed to get married in Sanibel, FL

13. …but Hurricane Charlie hit Sanibel Island the Friday

before we were supposed to leave

14. I panicked and thought it was a sign from God that

we were not supposed to get married and nearly

called of the wedding!

15. Our wedding was pushed back two weeks

and moved to Vegas.

16. When we walked to our car to drive to the wedding

spot, we realized that ALL of the tires were

flat on the rental car

17. Once again I panicked!

18. We are still married!

19. My oldest child graduated today (May 30^th) from Kindergarten

20. I cried during the slideshow.

21. My son is 3 and quite the handful!

22. So is my 18 month old daughter who tries to keep

up with the other two!

23. I am amazed and inspired by all of you

marathon mommies!

24. I too will turn 30 this year, August 18^th

25. I have no idea what to do to celebrate my

30^th birthday!

26. The goals I had for achieving before my 30^th

b-day included owning my own

business, running a marathon, and doing a triathlon.

27. I own two businesses, Stroller Strides and

Urban Studio Photography

28. I’ve never done a marathon or triathlon, but am in

training for both

29. This is my first year as a stay at home/work

at home mom

30. I thought I’d have more time

31. I was wrong!

32. I used to be very fit in college and regularly ran,

did strength training, and studied Judo

33. I started back at running and strength

training 6 months ago

34. I lost 30lbs of “baby weight” in three months

35. I love running and working out

36. My other hobbies include photography, photo art,

graphic design, web design, reading, cooking,

charity work, and bible studies

37. My favorite author is CS Lewis

38. I also love JR Tolkien and JK Rowling

39. Needless to say, I’m a total geek!

40. I don’t have a favorite movie because there are too

many to choose

41. My favorite comedies include Dodgeball, Zoolander,

The Wedding Singer, The Princess Bride, and Spaceballs

42. My other favorites include The Lord of the

Rings (all of them), 300, Harry Potter (all of them), and

Indiana Jones (all of them)

43. My favorite TV show is Scrubs

44. Followed by Seinfeld, Sex in the City, Family Guy

45. I also really enjoy watching Man vs Wild,

Destination Truth, Ghosthunters, and Dirty Jobs

46. Did I mention I was a geek!

47. I love being outdoors.

48. I love outdoor activities like hiking, camping,

kayaking, and fishing

49. There are no places to hike, kayak, fish,

etc in Houston

50. I travel to Florida most of the time for my outdoor adventures!

51. My whole family is addicted to Disney

52. I’ve tried not to conform, but have failed!

53. We like to go to Disney World at least once a year

54. I really want to go on a Disney cruise

55. I’ve never been on a cruise

56. I’ve never been out of the States

57. We are working on that!

58. I have one dog and one cat.

59. My dog is a female Westie named Domino

60. My cat came with the hubby

61. She is 13 years old and has three legs

62. We had a fish until a few weeks ago

63. Dora the fish died at 2 yrs old

64. I want another dog, but the hubby says no

65. “the hubby’s” name is Jason

66. My kids’ names are Daniella (6), Joshua (3),

and Riley (18 m)

67. All three kids like to pretend to teach

Stroller Strides classes

68. All three of my kids love to sing and dance

69. I love to sing and dance with them!

70. My favorite band is Foo Fighters

71. I also like Barlow Girl, Jeremy Camp, and Kutless

72. My iTunes has over 1800 songs in it

73. My library is nowhere complete!

74. My iPod is outdated!

75. I want a new one!

76. Maybe that’s what I’ll ask for my 30^th!

77. In my younger crazier days I used to go skydiving

78. I chose skydiving, because I thought it was less scary

than bungee jumping

79. I still have no desire to bungee jump!

80. I love to eat!

81. I don’t really have a favorite food

82. I’ll eat pretty much anything!

83. I love to drink ice tea

84. I drink way more ice tea than I should!

85. I also like to drink red wine

86. My favorite red wine is Estancia

87. One of my best friends is a wine rep

88. I am never out of Estancia!

89. I don’t like getting out of bed in the mornings

90. …but once I’m up, the morning is my favorite

part of the day

91. My favorite color is blue

92. I also like green, brown, and pink

93. I have been studying ways to live “greener”

94. Two books I just read are Raising the Bar and

Healthy Child Healthy World

95. I thought both were very inspiring and educational

96. The next book I plan to read is The Red Sea Rules

97. Tonight before I go to bed I aim to update my

blogs and write a seminar on pre and post natal fitness

98. My family blog page is http://jasonvalerieand3crazykids.blogspot.com/

99. I also have a Stroller Strides blog that I have

been slacking on this week!

http://strollerstrides.wordpress.com/

100. I am really excited about being a part of this team and looking

forward to meeting all of you!

And then there was two...

Ok we are down to two spots left! (Lindsay will you make sure Susie is really in?) So I will kick off the introductions since no one else is jumping in...

Here is what I know about our great team so far.... {you had your chances to speak up :)}

1... Jessica.... She is the mom of three great girls. She is wonderfully tall and runs like a "gazelle" as the rest of our Saturday morning ladies say. She apparently loves to run hills so I think all of us are on board with letting her

2... Valerie... She is joining us from Houston. She founds us through Marathon Mommies. She is the owner of a Stroller Strides business in her area and is the mom of three. That is about all I know so feel free to add more details :)

3... Susie .... She is a middle school teacher with Lindsay. She is also at the gym with me early in the am and is always smiling and happy.....

4... Lindsay... is the mom to 2 little ones and a middle school teacher. A party always follows her wherever she goes.... and in true fashion our little run is being viewed as one big birthday party to bring in the 30's :)

5... Michele... is the mom to 5 kids including a very active set of twins at the end! She is our dependable Saturday morning cheerleader :) She is a real estate agent and is one of the most dependable people I know

6... Yvonne... She is our party girl.... bringing fun and way too much laughter everywhere she is! She is also amazing/crazy when it comes to running... like ruining the Austin half with no training... but boy we had fun :) She is the mom of three boys

7... Ellen... Ellen is the mom of two boys and my steady reminder to not over-do it so I can keep running with her forever! She is wonderfully fun, an artist and is the manager of a great UPS store :)

8... Jaime... She is the mom of 3 adorable kids. Used to teach a great song and dance troop. Jaime is always on top of things, or at least has me fooled into thinking she is :) and is soo much fun to be around.... even if it isn't very often!

9... Katie... The amazingly calm mom of 6! Just came back to Texas after a few stops around the world- literally! I don't think I have seen her not smiling since she moved in :)

10... Me (Erin)... I am the mom of 2 (Hunter 8 & Jorden 6) owner of The Ribbon Spot, Lone Star Ribbon and manager of The Marble Spot (it really belongs to Hunter) I am anxiously hesitant about turning 30 on the first of January. It is kind of fun having my birthday on resolution day... so for this year it was to run a race (5k, 10k or a half) every month for the last year I was in my 20's. Well as with everything in life it has gotten modified as time went on because it was never my intention to run 2 FULL marathons, a triathlon and prepare to run the Goofy challenge 10 days into my 30's or to run a 196 mile relay. I truly have discovered that I love to run... I love how it makes me feel, how it clears my mind and how it has been the gateway to some of my best and most important friendships. My favorite color is Pink, Red, Green and Orange :) My favorite dessert in chocolate mousse cheesecake for The Cheesecake Factory. I am a music junkie and love just about every type of music (there are 2200+ songs in my iTunes library right now) But currently a favorite to run to is a group called Black Violin (classical violin music mixed with a perfect running beat)

Hahaha.... I just discovered that between all of us there are at least 29 kids....

Now it is all of your turns.... let all of the rest of us know a little bit about you... i.e. birthdays, favorite colors foods or music.... something.... anything :)

Here we go!

Ok Ladies....

I thought it would be fun to get this going to keep up with each other and stay excited! I would love for everyone to post a little get to know you bit when you get a chance. Everyone is welcome to post and comment but please remember to keep it clean... sometimes there are little eyes reading here too! :)