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?