Last night I went to

Last night I went to Walmart to pick up some photos only to find that the photo center had already closed for the night and all the photos were locked up. Boo. I consoled myself by picking up a $12 sewing machine and new socks. This is why Walmart is so successful, people. Where else can you get photos, socks, and a sewing machine?

I used my $12 sewing machine to make a bag for my headset. (Backstory — flight controllers communicate with each other via headsets, little things that sit over your ear. When you get one, it comes with the headset and earpiece in a cheap little nylon bag. When I got mine, the bag was already falling apart, with half of the drawstring “tube” having come unstitched, and I didn’t expect it to last very long.) It is very cool, even if the construction is rather shoddy due to, oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that I used a sewing machine that cost $12. The fabric is blue with shiny silver stars. It’s from a piece of fabric I’ve had hanging around since I don’t know when. I finally found a use for it.

I also went to the grocery store for the first time in a while, so I have food again just in time for Carter’s visit. I’m glad he decided to come if for no other reason than it motivated me to finally clean up my apartment and restock the refrigerator. What are friends for? Heh.

I have a comfortably full weekend planned while he’s in town. Tomorrow we are sleeping in. Well, I am sleeping in, and I don’t really care what Carter thinks because I am a sleepy girl after this crazy week! Tomorrow afternoon we’re going flying with Becca and I’m hoping to get some good aerial photos of Texas countryside. And not die. (Sorry, just had to say that to tease Becca.)

Sunday I’m running the 8.4K (one lap of the bigger event, which is the 25K). I have been horrible about running this week — surprise, surprise — but I am committed to the 8.4K. I also laid out a schedule the other day to get me through the nine weeks between now and the half marathon. It’s go-time. If I want to run the half marathon on January 15, I have to start getting serious about training now. Houston Running Bloggers, I want you to start gently prodding me! I’ve put my proposed schedule online; it’s basically a 9-week training program taken from Runner’s World.

I know for a fact that the program will have to be fluid, with some runs happening on Wednesday instead of Thursday and that type of thing. But hopefully I can stick reasonably close to the schedule and distance and get it done. I don’t have any illusions of finishing the half as well as I did two years ago (2:15) since I haven’t been as committed to it. But I do plan to finish under 2:30.