The Good News is...

Because West Michigan Multisport Racing is a 501(c)(3), non-profit corporation – with no paid staff – 100% of remaining funds, most of which was generated through donations from our corporate sponsors, are available for our charities. We are pleased to announce that your enthusiastic support of the 2009 Millennium Triathlon generated nearly $30,000 that will bless the following charities:
- Children's Advocacy Center (Ottawa County)
- Children's Assessment Center (Kent County)
- Kent County Parks Foundation
- Kids Food Basket (Grand Rapids)
- YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids

But wow--even 5 days later I am still sad this race did not happen...is that weird? I understand all the reasons it did not happen (hello big bolt of lightening that I saw out the car window at exactly 8:20a.m. when I was to be in the water)...but still the disappointment is there. What is funny about Tri's is that in some ways I tell myself that I am crazy pretty much right up until we jump into the water....the whole car ride over in the dark I am thinking wow--I really don't want to get in the water--hmmm this was a poor choice....but that is where the adrenaline addiction begins. You dread it--your stomach hurts--and then suddenly the horn, the gun or the whistle goes off and you are in it....and then in just a few minutes you are climbing out of the water and on your bike and things start to feel better...then you are off your bike and things start to feel even better (ha...well they don't really feel better...in fact they feel quite awful for about a mile into the run)...but suddenly you start to feel good again and you see the finish line...and just like that you are eating a bagel chatting with other racers, thanking that person that said "go get em" after you passed them and feeling good that your workout was done for the day and that you are part of a community of people that decided to get out and kick some ass that day.

So imagine 700 people with those types of feelings being told the race was cancelled--700 people not really talking that much, walking their bikes back to the muddy field where their car was parked, soaking wet. The person that I felt the worst for was our friend Gregg--who we (I) talked into doing a triathlon...something he chalks up to BAM (bad alcohol management) on his part...I like to think I am highly persuasive! He was ready--he had trained and in an instant it was over with nothing but a shirt, swim cap and water bottle to show for it. We all joke that we do it for the shirt or the finishers medal...but we do it for so many reasons all of which you can't see. Gregg will do one--he has promised. Chris and I are signed up for the Labor Duathlon in Door County in September--our adrenaline will be replenished but wow I didn't know exactly how big my addiction was until last Saturday!

We love us some Disney!

Again I have been delinquent in publishing! We had a great time in Florida--we drove straight through on the way down and surprised the girls with a quick morning at the Magic Kingdom before heading down to see Chris' Aunt at Indian Rocks Beach. Although we were exhausted by the time we reached the beach...it was worth seeing how surprised/confused they were when they saw the Magic Kingdom sign as Chris told them we must have taken a wrong turn on the way to Granny Annie's!

We had a fabulous time visiting at the beach and then drove back to Orlando to meet the Heiler's and Janecek's for a good ol' 3 family vacation--we also managed to sneak in a Princess breakfast at Epcot with the Landon's of Beloit before meeting up with everyone else. We did the parks--some days just our family, some days all 13 of us! It was a great trip and I whole heartily admit that I love Disney World...I know, I know say what you will....but when you walk down main street at the Magic Kingdom and hear the piped in music something in me changes... it lets me be 6 again and get excited about seeing a dressed up Mouse and his friends! So yes...it is a lot of money...yes... it is full of people (quite possibly some of the best people watching)...yes my kids may not remember everything they saw.....yes the Small World song will be stuck in your head until New Year's Eve....but there is still something magical about Disney(or they drug the water....but I am sticking to the magical part!)

The whole group at Animal Kingdom!

Nemo

Getting Ready for the Princess Breakfast in Norway

Meeting Ariel in her "land" outfit!The front of the monorail ride with the driver!

Clare got to dance with the High School Musical Performers!

Swan Boat races anyone??? I know you are jealous...it was 102 that day and we had to wear the life jackets!

Pretend Play...

Addie and Clare were playing last night--the scene...Addie owned a horse farm and Clare was dropping her "child" off for horse camp. There exchange went like this...

Clare: "Hi! This is Lyla...she is my daughter and I am dropping her off early because I want to watch my show and she is being kind of crazy"
Addie: "Hi--Thanks for coming!"
Clare: "I hope she isn't too whiny for you!"
Addie: "Oh...well there is no whining on the horses!" (said in a very matter of fact tone)

I was dying...they have been listening to us about no whining,etc....the next trick....to catch themselves (not just Lyla) whining and remind themselves...oh...well...there is no whining when I (fill in the blank)!

Very, very tardy post...

Let's see...our last wine club "meeting" was Saturday, May 2nd....ummm over a month ago. While I realize that the balance of the world does not rely on my wine club notes, I do have a duty to uphold with documenting not only just how much we drank at wine night, but was any of it good?!

Our May meeting focused on Zinfandels....red, not the white zinfandels of our early college wine drinking experiences. Zinfandel is a variety of red grape planted in roughly 10 percent of California wine vineyards and it has been said to be genetically equivalent to the Croatian grape Crljenak Kastelanski (you get a prize if you can say that...especially after a few tastes ;-), and the Primitivo variety traditionally found in the Italy.

Of course Appy and Rustin managed to win the top two spots--but we all agreed that all wines tasted were a 3 and above (Good(3), I like this wine(4) and I love this wine!(5)).

1. Martin Weyrich-2003 Paso Robles $22

2. Brutacao Mendocino--2006 $25

3. Layer Cake-Primitivo--Italy--2006 $10.99

4. Murphy Goode--Liar's Dice--2006 $16

5. Cline-Ancient Vine 2007 $20

6. Dutcher Crossing--Dry Creek Valley 2007 $39

Some things to note...the Layer Cake coming in 3rd was definitely the best value at $10.99--was better after it was decanted. Number 1 and 2 were simply....Excellent. Sadly...number 6 was from our wine club...we love Dutcher Crossing Cabernet and Chardonnay....but I think we opened this 2007 just a tad early. Next up for June...Pinot Noir's--any suggestions?

Lunching with the Ladies

I received this video after spending the weekend in Louisville for a "girls weekend". I posted this on Facebook--so perhaps you watched it there or have seen it before...if you haven't give it a looksy ;-) I love what she says about women and the complex yet simple relationships they share and it really resonated after spending time with two fabulous ladies who have known me for 20 years!

Our hotel was housing a Pentecostal Women's Retreat--I know they were secretly praying for us every time we walked through the revolving doors. We had a great time eating and drinking our way through Louisville--and we had a fabulous time at Churchill Downs--and despite the well intentioned suggestions of the seasoned betters who sat around us--we consistently won by picking horses that had names we liked or related to our lives in some way. All except the time I called Sara and let her pick the name of the horse....that horse came in last and was beat by a horse who had lost his jockey somewhere on the track. Pictures from Louisville follow the video ;-) ....a few are different from Facebook--so again....humor me and take a looksy ;-)

The average weight for a jockey is 114....there was a scale there to see how you "compared"...I respectfully declined!


I have no idea who this women is....well I take that back...I know that she is from Indiana....she has 4 kids....one is 2 years old...she is in her 40's....and she couldn't find the bathroom or how to turn the faucet on in the trendy bar called "Proof"....and that is when our friendship began...when I helped her find the bathroom and how to turn on faucet!

A list...

I really need to blog about our wonderful Zinfandel wine club night...but I realized how awful I am about blogging lately-- I only have one blog post separating the last time I blogged about a wine night (which meets every month). So....how bout a list....

• Garage Sales are a total pain--made somewhat easier this year by the pre-printed price tags I (Chris) bought at the Dollar Store.
• Garage Sale Anxiety---I fear (as I also do when we have parties) that no-one will show up? I know, I know...totally irrational....but c'mon a little valid right?
• H1N1--Totally Ridic! Clare's school has been out for 2 days now for a "probable" case and now they are saying that schools don't really need to close even for confirmed cases...uggh....double uggh...or should I say double oink!
• Craigslist Rules--despite some of the bad press it has been receiving lately--for those of us selling car seats and strollers it rules! We have managed to get back 1/2 of what we paid for a Sit and Stand Stroller and a Britax car seat--very nice!
• I can't wait for my girls weekend in Louisville with Kim and Jill next weekend!
• Florida and Disney World--getting excited about our trip with friends coming up in June and excited for our "Florida Planning Night" with our friends sans kids--i.e.--a good excuse to go to dinner and have drinks!
• Random swollen ankle seems to be getting better? Guessing it would have gotten better faster had I actually stopped running and teaching step....oops!
• My feet can't wait for my new New Balance 1063's to arrive and a possible chance to blog about them on the New Balance website--stay tuned!
• Addie and Clare are both playing soccer--so fun to see Addie doing what she has been watching Clare do for the last 2 years!
• Okay--so that seems like enough of a list to warrant a blog post--I promise I will get better!

Meant for someone else--I hope?!?...part two

Remember a few months back when I received this e-mail clearly meant for someone else? Well--this one is even better! Yesterday morning around 6:30a.m. I heard a text message come in on my cell phone--I glanced at the number and thought it belonged to someone who worked at the YMCA (it didn't)--but imagine my confusion when I pulled up this picture message:
This picture was simply titled: Talon

Okay--bizarre....but I went on with my day. Then a few hours later I received another picture message...

This one simply titled...Owl

So--I have a few questions of course?!?

• Did the Talon kill the Owl--in a Wild Kingdom type of fight?
• Did the caller go on a purposeful Owl and Talon hunt on a dreary Monday morning?
• Do people really hunt Talon and Owl?
• Is there someone out there all jacked because they soon will have a Talon scarf or Owl ear-muffs?
• Is this someone I know--and they clicked on my name instead of their Talon and Owl loving friend? Or did someone simply mis-dial 2x!
• Let me know if you were involved in a little post Easter hunting on Monday, April 13th!

California you didn't let us down this weekend!

Remember how the French let us down a few weeks ago....well I am happy to report that California Syrah Wine Club night was a success!!! While there always has to be a #1 wine and a number #6 wine--the group decided that all wines we tried were worth purchasing and none were over $22. Take a look at what happened with #4 and #5....we knew it was going to happen at some point--there are only so many places to buy wine in the Stateline area--we were proud that we thought it tasted relatively the same and ranked right next to each other! So not only were the wines good--they were also good for the pocketbook! On to the results from #1 to #6--which is still worth drinking and only $11.99!

#1--Sixth Sense 2003--$17.99
#2-Rosenblum Lodi Syrah--2003--$18.99
#3--Pico--2005--$9.99
#4--Burgess 2005--$21.99--purchased at Everett's
#5--Burgess 2005--$19.99--purchased at Five Fork's Market
#6--Valley of the Moon 2005--$11.99

One other recommendation from the evening...after tasting we always play some sort of game...On Syrah night we tried Imaginiff---I give it two thumbs up (or if you are in the Facebook world "Ann Likes This") if you are looking for an easy and fun game!

Holy Hills Batman!

Okay...so I get it...Atlanta is hilly!!!! Who knew? I have never spent anytime in Atlanta....just driven by on the way to Florida and didn't really give the city much thought as to ups and downs,etc.,etc. When I had read some of the reviews of the Marathon course....they all mentioned hills...lots of them--so I started to do some hill treadmill workouts,etc. But I was still thinking that perhaps just a stretch would be hilly....well...not so much....the whole thing had hills---which of course means down hills which are great....but wow lots of hills!

For those of you not on Facebook (which might not be any of you now....as my mom is now on FB!!) I finished in a time of 4:22:28....a little longer than my inaugural Chicago marathon....but I am soooo using the hills as my excuse! I was 1094 out of 2076 people that completed the marathon and finished 248 out of the 713 females that ran the marathon.

It was so great reconnecting with Kerry--she and I ran our first marathon together 13 years ago...she is a good friend and although time and distance have made the times we have seen each other few and far between we fell right back into our friendship the minute we saw each other! It was so fun watching her cross the finish line knowing that 9 months ago she wasn't sure she would run again due to severe foot problems.

A recap of what entertained me, annoyed me and kept me focused for 26.2 miles!

• Beginning the run at the Centennial Olympic Park!



• At mile 3--looking back at the skyline of Atlanta with the sun hitting the buildings--absolutely stunning.



• Remembering a t-shirt I saw at the Expo...."Run like a Mother!"



• The Decatur United Methodist Church praise team singing outside their church.



• The guy who was singing to his i-pod loudly--with a lot of oohs and ahhs...I think I ran faster just to get away from him.



• The girl next to me that said--oh I need to get another song for this hill and then thanking Coldplay for helping her at another point.



• Annoyed that I was too much of a "rule follower" not to have my ipod--although in the end I feel like I took in a lot more of my surroundings and people by not being plugged in.



• The guy with no shirt in front of me with a chubby bear tattoo on his right shoulder who held up his arms Rocky Style anytime he went past a crowd of people.



• The girls at Agnes Scott College and their signs "Smart Women Sweat!"



• Another sign that said "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me--Philippians 4:13



• Gu at mile 13, 19 and 24...all with caffeine...mile 24 had double caffeine...hey as long as caffeine is not a banned substance I am going to use freely...it makes a huge difference!!! For those of you that care I used Vanilla Bean and Expresso Love!



• The group of neighbors gathered for a Marathon Brunch who had their beautiful lawn decked out with a full on brunch (I am talking chaffing dishing and all) and then had their kids giving out gummie bears, oranges, cookies and kleenex!



• Running through Georgia State, Agnes Scott College, Emory and Georgia Tech.



• Thinking Chris would be at mile 22 and being shocked and so happy to see him run up next to me at mile 21....and then proceed to run the next 3 miles with me...perfect time to help me through those last few miles.



• The random boom boxes playing Rocky, Eye of the Tiger, Vanilla Ice and Jump Around!



• Every person that told me I looked good and strong...it is amazing how inspiring that is!



• The Atlanta Public School kids running the last mile of the marathon....normally I would put this on my inspiring list--I am all about getting kids active....HOWEVER--after you run 25 miles and the end is in sight....trying to dodge 500 Tweens dressed in bright orange t-shirts who are not really running unfortunately ranked on my annoying list!



• Crossing the finish line and feeling good..tight quads and ankles...but good overall!

Thanks goes out to all the people on my "support" team--my parents for watching the kids so we could escape for the weekend, Kerry for asking me to do this with her, Jennifer for logging some serious miles with me, my husband for being a huge cheerleader and for letting me get away all those Saturdays for long training runs and to all of you who sent encouraging words or said a little pray...you all made a difference in how I ran those 26.2 miles!

Hopefully it won't be this bad...

but I have been known to hobble a bit after a long run :-)

Really? Another good reason to purchase a Snuggie?

The Snuggie Pub Crawl in Chicago....need I say more?

I'm just saying....

The marathon is 25 days, 20 hours, 48 minutes--oh make that 47 minutes away---and my brain has begun with the excuses. When I decided to do the marathon at the first of the year--my brain was all...." I can totally do a marathon....I will do better than my first marathon....I am in better shape, I train smarter,etc.,etc.". Well...now that the race is 25 days, 20 hours and 46 minutes away those running demons are sitting on my shoulder and gaining ground. While I still firmly believe I will finish and feel decent after finishing....my goal of beating my 1996 marathon time is what I am now questioning.

I googled my marathon results from 1996:

• 1134.Ann Wilcox 24 F Freeport,IL 4:15:03.00 = 9:43.6

Let me go over some noticeable changes....my name, my age, and where I live! I finished a relatively flat course in 4:15--an average of a 9:43 pace per mile.

Let me also note how they are describing the ING Georgia Marathon--"While very scenic, this course is a hilly course and may not be your best choice for a PR." Gulp...really?

Running is so very mental for me...keeping the running demons at bay is dare I say harder than physically running the marathon. So here's to keeping a good attitude throughout the marathon and no matter how I finish....slower....faster just be happy with the journey, be happy to be reconnecting with an old friend, be happy that I have two legs that will allow me to run around a city, be happy that while my name, age, address--pretty much my whole life has changed since Oct. '96, I am still able to train for and run a marathon, be happy because two little girls are watching and learning from their mom how to be strong both physically and mentally. Be Happy that race day is now 25 days, 20 hours and 30 minutes away!!!!

Thoughts during an 18 mile training run...

Yesterday I had to do an 18 mile training run...originally the weather was supposed to be decent...high 30's, no snow,etc. Well...the winds changed and the night before I was supposed to run , Door County received 6 inches of snow and temps were in the teens with high winds. So...b/c I am a running in cold/snowy weather wimp off to the Sturgeon Bay YMCA I went. I spent 11 miles on the treadmill and then moved to the track to finish the last 7 miles. Thought I would document not only for blog readers entertainment...but also perhaps my own, as running long distances is for me a lot like having a baby....time dims the memory of the pain you went through and just a day (minutes) later you find yourself saying things like...really it wasn't that hard...

• Mile 1: Wow--I can't believe I am going to be here for three hours!
• Mile 4: Those guys lifting weights really think they are working hard but they seem to be talking tons instead of lifting tons.
• Mile 7: Wow--this run feels great...maybe I will go for 20 today!
• Mile 8-9: Memory is starting to blur in terms of how many miles I need to run before switching to track.
• Mile 10: OMG...my stomach is growling....awesome!
• Mile 11: Thank God I can get off the mill and head for the track--that will be better for sure!
• Mile 12: Oh no....seriously another hour on this track (11 times around to a mile...ughh!)
• Mile 13: I wonder if the guy who is speeding past me at light speed knows I have already run 12 miles...Mister 3 mile guy!
• Mile 14: Make deal with myself to stop and get water after each mile and stretch a little.
• Mile 15: See banner with "Celebrate we will...cuz life is short but sweet for certain"--great DMB reference and gets me through another mile.
• Mile 16: Oh look the flag for Gabon looks like Mardi Gras colors (the track has flags from different countries around it)....So that is what the flag for Iran looks like...
• Mile 17: Hi Dad--I know I said I would be done by now...but guess what b/c of my "stretching deal" I am a bit behind....
• Mile 18: I am almost done...pick up pace and end well...and guess what....really that wasn't so bad...lol!

French Wine and a Snugie Update....

Now if that isn't a great title--full of intrigue....right? I have had a number (okay 2-3) of you express concern over the status of our purchase (or lack of purchase) of a Snugie. Just to keep you all updated...we have not purchased the family pack of Snugie's--many of you have expressed your love for the Snugie and last night at Wine Club, Appy modeled the Snugie and showed us with what ease you can answer the phone, read a book and drink a glass of wine with your Snugie....so I get it...it would be a good purchase and perhaps one day we will be lucky enough to own Snugies...again stay tuned!

On to wine club night--the theme for this month's meeting was broad...the wines of France. I have always said that I was not a big fan of French wines--but I really didn't have a lot of experience in drinking French wines....so with that off we went to wine club. Click here for a little background on the Bordeaux Districts. We tasted 6 bottles of wine in a blind tasting--most of them we thought were simply "okay".....not great...not awful...just "okay". The results were extremely interesting....Most of us preferred the one bottle of wine that was from the Cotes du Rhone region as opposed to the Bordeaux and the vintages that were 2004 and above needed to be cellared much longer as the 2000 and the 2003 bottles we tried were better. The two most expensive bottles ($50/each) were ranked 5th and 6th out of 6 wines....hmmm not so hot and a pure disappointment for the couple that brought those two bottles. For those curious about what we drank, any rating they might have had and the cost see below....our next "meeting" will occur in April...the wines of Italy ( Chianti has been outlawed)--this is another area I am not very familiar.....sampling wine for the purpose of education is a tough job but somebody has to do it!

#1--Domaine Zede-Margaux--$42

#2--2000 Domaine du Haut Calvaire--Marianne and Etienne Chambon (purchased while we were in France for the Tour de France in 2004-can't remember how much we spent...less then $20)

#3--Chateau Vieux Prezat--Medoc--$15 (after it was decanted--it was decent)

#4--2003 Font Villac--St. Emilion--$32

#5--Chateau Monbousquet--St. Emilion--90 points Robert Parker--$50

#6-- Chateau Rauzan Segla--Margaux-90points Wine Spectator--$50

Get Snuggie?

Okay...so I'm guessing that most of you have seen the commercial for the Snuggie...you know the blanket with sleeves!  I am not here to debate whether or not the Snuggie is a good buy or not (even though they do kind of make you feel bad about "normal" blankets, "Blankets are OK but they can slip and slide, plus your hands are trapped inside"...trapped?  sounds very dangerous...I know some of you who have your own personal Snuggie and my children beg me for one every time the commercial comes on the T.V.  What I am here to talk about is the commercial....If you haven't seen it...check out the link above to the finely crafted ad before you read on....If you have seen it.....I wonder if you agree with me in the high "cheese" content of this ad? Also I wonder if anyone who "starred" in the ad is thinking hmmmm I wonder if posing in a Snuggie by a bonfire, wearing a Snuggie at a football game or simply relaxing as a family, watching t.v. with all of us in Snuggie's will boost my T.V. career.  Every time this ad comes on I am oddly attracted to how over the top cheesy it is--but they must know what they are doing because like I said my kids are begging to get one....a blanket....really.....you want a blanket?  I will keep you posted if we buy Snuggie's or maybe you will see us at the next sporting outing clad in our Snuggie's--stay tuned :-)

Wine anyone?

Last night we got together with 2 other couples for what we are going to call "wine club", we decided that this was a much more civilized name then "let's get drunk club". This was our first "meeting" and we had decided that the focus of the meeting would be Cabernet Sauvignon. Each person had to bring a Cabernet...we didn't specify year, region, etc....just Cabernet. We held a blind tasting---where the wines were covered and we had to rate them--always interesting when you put wines side by side--interesting to note that the most expensive and the highest rated wine did not come in first but was a close second and that the #3 and #4 choices were definitely best value for the money--because they were just slightly behind the top finishers....and much less money! (I know that was a huge run-on sentence...sorry lots of wine last night!) The most disappointing was the Merryvale--not just because it was one I picked out--but because it had gotten some decent reviews--just goes to prove that cost doesn't always mean it is the best. Here are our very non-scientific results:

#1-Clos Pegase-Napa Valley--2005---retails for $38

#2--Don Melchor--Chile--2005--retails for $69--Wine Spectator rated 96 points!

#3--Peter Lehman--Barossa Valley--Australia--2005--retails for $16

#4--Valdivieso--Chile--2005--retails for $9.99

#5--Merryvale--Starmont--Napa Valley--2004--retails for $28.99

#6--Smoking Loon--2007--retails for $8.99--Wine Spectator rated 85 points!

26.2 or bust!

I know my posts have been few and far between lately....I feel Facebook sucking my blog post ability right out of me! Some of you know already....but I am officially signed up for the Ing Georgia Marathon in Atlanta. As if running a marathon isn't a big enough task....I have agreed to do a marathon that is only 12 weeks away... on March 29th...which in my book is really not that far away! Why a marathon? Why Atlanta?

The woman I ran my first (and only) marathon with waaaay back in '96 e-mailed and asked if I (and her other running friends) would join her in doing this marathon. She was looking to get back into running after a hiatus due to foot surgery and was looking for a way to get motivated and get back on track. So I said "yes"...what is funny is I didn't think long and hard...I just said "yes"....It just felt right saying "yes". She lives in North Carolina--which means...no long training runs together--which is something I will miss...it is amazing how much can be worked through during a long run! We are tracking our progress through e-mails, which I will say has been amazingly motivating. So here I go...long runs...more long runs....and even more long runs....I'll keep you posted--If you will keep me in your prayers....26.2 is a long way to go!

Do you remember...

ever wanting to win one of those over sized, stuffed with toys stockings that stores and organizations would give away....I do! Well--Clare put her name in to win such a stocking and went as far as telling us that we had to go back to Pizza Ranch (where said stocking giveaway was being held) the day before Christmas Eve...because "mom that is when they draw the name for the stocking". I tried to explain to Clare that--number one--even IF you do win they will call you and number two--that stocking will probably go to some girl or boy that really needs some toys at Christmas. Well so much for my speech about not getting everything you want,etc....because on Christmas Eve....she got the call--Clare you have WON the Pizza Ranch Stocking! I was at work when Clare called with the news....she was so excited--I dare say even more excited about this stocking than Santa? She did decide that she would gift some of the toys to her cousins (I know Meg is thanking me for the Shrek punching gloves :-) and then give some of the toys to kids that might not be having as great of a Christmas as she had. What can I say...the kid is lucky...next time any of you go to Vegas....you might want to take her with :-)

Clare and her new Pizza Ranch friend and a gigantic stocking!

Loading up the stocking--totally ridiculous I know!

Friends and Family

 While reading The Shack I came across this quote from Frederick Buechner from Telling the Truth:  The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale--

You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.

As I continue to reconnect with so many people from the past on Facebook (don't get me started on this occupier of my time),Christmas cards continue to fill the mailbox, family get togethers and holiday parties are attended, I am reminded of how many people have come in to my life at one point or another--all playing different roles--some short stays some long--different personalities-- all important in one way or another-- shaping who I am and how I relate to things in this crazy world.  

Best Snow Day Movie...ever

The movie Beautiful Girls ranks right up there with the best movie to watch on a snow day or a snowy night (not for the kiddos of course!) I don't know why exactly I like it so much--it got average reviews back in 1996!!... Maybe it is because I am from a small town and can totally remember folks pulling into the Whiffle Tree with their snowmobiles and trucks with the snow plows attached...Maybe it is because there is a Neil Diamond Songfest at one point.... Maybe it is because I am reminded every time I see someone plow a driveway or lot how crazy with power they think they are..."watch out snow...I've got a plow and money to be made!)--whatever the case I rank this movie number one to watch on a snow filled day. What movies are your snow day/night movies?????