it's the little things...

When I was a senior in high school I had a memory book. It contained all sorts of information I added about that year, and it had the obligatory “where do you see yourself in the future?” page. I was SUPER optimistic apparently. By 35 I was going to be married with not one, not two but FOUR kids. And I was going to run a marathon. Ah, youth. So, yeah, about that marathon… As I rolled along through my twenties I realized that that was never going to happen. I have bad knees. In fact, I stopped running altogether for about 10 years. First, out of instructions from a physical therapist, then out of fear, then laziness/busyness, then some more fear… Earlier this year I realized that the Seabrook Lucky Trails Marathon had a relay portion. What!? There was a 2-person half-marathon and a 4-person full. Either way each person would do ¼ of a marathon or 6.55 miles. I knew I wouldn’t suddenly be able to go from my running a 5k to running basically twice that but I did think I could drag mys...

Every other week since August, Hubby has been in New York for work. He's left around lunchtime on Sundays and returned around midnight (or later) on Fridays. Huge, huge props to you single moms because it is HARD. The first week was the worst but we kind of fell into a rhythm after that. And, in a way, I think it was good for our marriage since we got to miss each other again and got to appreciate all the other does (since I often had to travel on the weeks Hubby was home). On Thursday, I left the baby with the grandparents and met him in NY. Yeehaw! My plane ended up having a mechanical issue that caused the flight to be delayed by 4 hours. Good thing I jumped ship and got the next-to-last seat on another flight. Unfortunately, it was to a different airport and during rush hour so I was still fairly late in my arrival. But I made it! Hubby met me in the hotel lobby and I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I changed clothes, admired the view from our room, and we grabbed some...

So Hubby wanted to take some pics a few weeks back so that he could put one on a personal business card. I got to play photographer. This is his running-for-political-office shot. And this is generally what things look like around here. That dog lurves her daddy. See? She even smiles for the camera. If only we could have found a baby or an old person for Hubby to pose with... Maggie poses ok with me, too. And then tries to give kisses. She's a good dog. I think we'll keep her.

So, yeah, we did some volunteering yesterday... When I went back to work after New Years I found out that Extreme Makeover was coming to our area. Rumor had it that the family lived in the adjacent town. Last Thursday the family and exact location was revealed. Yep, they live nearby. Crazy. They seem like great, deserving people. You'll have to tune in sometime in March for the details. Rewind, oh, 7 seasons ago. The show was new. The host was from one of The Brother's and my favorite shows. Seemed like an interesting idea. Find some deserving folks with a virtually (or actually) unlivable home, tear it down, rebuild better, change a family. All in a week. A week. We loved the show. The Brother and I would watch in our separate homes, in our separate towns and call each other. We'd cry. Every week. The crying fathers on the show get to me every time. Sigh... These families help you feel so grateful. The community pulling together makes you feel proud (even when you're n...

So my favorite place is home. Is that lame? And my favorite place at home is wherever my husband is. Is that cheesy? And my favorite place where my husband is is that spot. You know, the one right where his arm meets his chest, just below the top of his shoulder. That spot where my head fits perfectly and I'm terribly comfortable. Yeah, there. +++++ In unrelated news, there's a deer head in my freezer, outdoor Christmas decorations and lights are up, and I'm trying out a new mac and cheese recipe. Perhaps this one will be good enough to cross it off the Life List. Thanks, peeps, for letting me know you're still here. Maybe I'll try to make these posts a little more interesting then. And how 'bout you? What place would you vote the best of the year?

Maybe about 4 years ago I made it to Nashville for the first time. I loved it even though, as a Texas Country music fan, you're probably not supposed to. On a subsequent trip, I forced one of my friends/co-workers to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Ryman. If you make it to Nashville, I'd recommend both. I guess I realized that you don't have to be a fan of some of the cheesy current Nashville "artists" (you know, the ones who just sing songs other people wrote and stand there--without an instrument in their hands--looking pretty) to appreciate the history of the place. I love the Hall of Fame. I love buildings that have meaning. My favorite part is that on the outside of the rotunda, there's a slightly stylized rendition of the musical notes of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken". But there's more. From wikipedia : The new building's exterior is laced with symbolic images of music. The most obvious of these are the windows that mirror ...

So the weather has been pretty perfect around here. And I was doing some reading and it seems like now is prime time to add new plantings to the yard. Since our winters are generally pretty mild, this gives the plants a long time to establish before the crazy summers. We've put this little lime tree in the ground. Yea for citrus! And this tiny green plant on the left, an ixora, has been added. I was looking for an appropriately-sized little guy who could fill in this area in front of the house but also not die back in the fall. There are two other guys in this picture that do just that. By this time next year, it should look fabulous. By the spring, we may have some orange ranunculus...you know, if the 30 bulbs I planted agree. The Hubby has been hard at work digging up the poorly installed (by previous owners) flagstone. We're going to expand the veggie garden a bit and re-install a smaller path (or some path, with some materials). We've already changed our minds several t...

Braindumping... Remember when I said there was a potential new job? Got the second interview but didn't get the job. Was it the perfect job for me? Probably not. I guess the current overwhelm with work led me to try to find a way out that was different from actually just tackling all the work that had been piling up. So this last week I finally got to the point where I could suck it up and just DO THINGS to help me feel better. Mark some things off lists. Get organized. File a few piles that were on the desk. I got over some pretty big hurdles but have at least one big item to finish. Overall? Feeling a bit better in this area. I heard somewhere that only boring people talk about the weather. I disagree. Perhaps you're boring if that's ALL you talk about. I must say the change of seasons is my favorite time. Fall has been interesting so far. Some torrential rains, several days where you need to run the heat and air conditioning in the same day (we're sticki...

We've been married a little over a week. Many folks have asked me how married life is... Well, it's pretty similar to engaged life so far. The Hubby and I didn't live together before marriage. He was a stickler. He did spend weekends here and I'd spend a night or two at his place during the week if my travel schedule permitted. And he's slowly been moving things in for weeks now. We're not leaving for the honeymoon until next Wednesday, and I'm not changing my name until we get back. So I guess that makes for last week looking pretty similar to the ones before. In addition to me going back to work last week, we had a little leisure time, packed and moved most of his belongings, went through some of my stuff to make trash and garage sale piles, assimilated his stuff, and started planning a baby shower. I also finally got on the Facebook bandwagon. And we caught one of the raccoons that's been ravaging our garden. A little late, I might add. Bu...