More to come

We've had a pretty good week! Believe it or not but I do have some photos from some fun evenings, however it's been so busy that I haven't had time to upload and post to the blog. So sorry for that. I hope to get to it tomorrow.

Unexpected surprises

Last night was way fun. I love our neighbor Adrienne. She is one of the most precious people Iknow. Her love for Christ is infectious and her testimony is amazing. We stayed out past OUR bedtime, so it must have been late for her, but all worth it!!

Today after a 3 1/2 hr. bike ride and cleaning the house we decided it was necessary to just get out of the house. On our way down the road we saw the local garden shop had an orchid show. I love orchids. When walking around the show my jaw was on the floor at how beautiful some of the hybrids can be. As I'm sure many of you may know, triathlons aren't Cary's favorite hobby...it's growing and tending to the sometimes temperamental flower called the orchid. Just kidding! He really humored me this afternoon.

After the orchid show we hit up Barnes & Noble. Walking out with a book on Italy, who knows maybe that will be our next vacation?!

Looking back onto Friday evening at 5:00, I would say this undefined weekend held some unexpected surprises, opportunities to depend relationships and time to check items off the list of "small things which never seem to get done." How great?! Now it's time to watch the Oscars and then prepare for a new week!

weekend update

When I arrived at HD last night I left feeling confident I had purchased the simple object needed to fix our toilet. That should have been the red flag. I was pumped to get the weekend started right, with a working toilet and good dinner. So a butternut squash roasting in the oven later I mosied on up to the toilet. NOOOO! The flapper was all one piece and I only purchased the flapper pull. There was no where on the old flapper for a new pull. I knew it. (sigh) well I wasn't going back to HD that night. I had already committed myself to a good dinner and was going to focus on getting at least 1 thing right last night. It would have to wait until today and thankfully Cary is well prepared. He had already purchased the correct flapper but it was at our flip house. What a good man. :)

Today began with a 4 mile run with Jaclyn. We decided last night that we would meet at the gym so we didn't have to run in the cold with potential rain. Yea, well, when I got to the gym I saw the 10K training team and had the brilliant idea to run with them instead of on the treadmill. The good friend Jaclyn is, she amused me and now I will spend the week praying she doesn't get sick.

So now, I've checked off my run, glass of wine, the toilet is officially fixed (THANK GOODNESS) and I treated myself and had my nails done. Most of my checklist for today is taken care of so I've decided to eat a cookie, blog and then get back to some laundry while watching some TIVO. Good Saturday so far.

Tonight we are taking our neighbor (whom I absolutely adore) Adrienne to church with us and then out to dinner. I'm so excited to hang out with her!!

Seemingly Simple Task

Okay it's a few minutes after 5:00 on a Friday, I'm at work and need to go to HD to pick up a part for our Master toilet. It's not flushing properly and I'm tired of it so I'll have to fix it tonight. That is priority #1. It always seems that when I try to take on a project like this I end up making 15 trips to HD and get really frustrated and want to scream at the difficulty of accomplishing a seemingly simple task.

We really don't have anything planned for this weekend. So I'm wondering what surprises will come along and make this a fun few days off work. I can promise that a glass of wine, working toilet, run and church will be some elements of the weekend. What else? Who knows.....

Precious Hug

Last night I had the pleasure of visiting my friends Brandon & Nan. They have a 14 month old little girl, Cate. I had so much fun hanging out and watching Cate pull all of her books out of the bins, flip through them, make cat sounds and laugh. For the first time, my laughter made a small child laugh! How cool is that? Every single time I laughed, she looked at me and laughed. Even Nan commented on it! At one point I was sitting in the rocking chair and Cate was sitting at my feet, all of her books piled around and next thing I know she was just making all these Babababa, Mamama, noises. Brandon and I were engrossed in conversation but Nan stopped us and said "Look, Cate is reading to herself!" Those are the tiny precious moments that pass by so quickly and can easily be lost in our "adult" life. Finally, and this one just melted my heart, when Brandon went to put Cate to bed we were all standing in the kichen and she looked at me to reach out as if she wanted me to hold her. Well I took her and next thing I know she totally nussled (sp?) up by my neck and curled up into my chest. I believe it was a HUG!! How huge is that?! I got so excited I told Brandon to get my camera but as soon as I said that the moment was gone. Yea, that totally melted my heart. I can't wait to see her again!

Fast/Slow Week

This week seems to teater between going by slow and fast. Last night I realized all the things I need to do and started to stress, not something I would recommend when trying to fall esleep. It will all get done, in time.

Wine Expo

Yesterday we went to the Va. Wine Expo! How fun?! We walked around and tasted wines from all the Virginia wineries and I had a blast. Not to mention the several bottles we purchased. After the expo we hung out with our friends Tim & Cristy & watched the Daytona 500. It was a late night but made for a great weekend!

Closure

the cupcakes are officially gone. thank goodness that temptation is no longer a threat.

The Evening

What a lovely evening. As soon as Cary arrived home we headed out to Barrel Thief and had some wine and cheese. So yummy. That made me really excited about the wine expo this weekend. I told Cary that for my birthday (in 10 months) I would like a wine refrigerator. I blog this only b/c I need to remember that I asked for it. Anyway, we came home and the Coq Au Vin was ready. Here is the table setting with the beautiful flower arrangement Cary gave me. After dinner we had just enough time to clean up and then watched Lost before we passed out. I woke up this morning with a smile and very thankful for my loving husband.

Self Control Required

I bought these cupcakes last night as a Valentine's gift to the folks in my office. When I returned from lunch 3 of the bottom row of cupcakes had been consumed. I tried very hard to hold off as long as possible before delighting myself in one of these treats. They are sort of mini cupcakes and I noticed there was a ton of icing in porportion to the actual cake. Hold your horses these are slap you down to the ground and can barely get up delicious. I actually had to pause for a minute while chewing to take the moment in! Now, it's about 2:00 and I have 3 hours left in this day. The game is to see how long I can last with out having to indulge myself in these fantastic treats again. Mmmm....mmmmm...good!!

Coq Au Vin

I've been thinking about and preparing for tomorrow it seems like all day (well so far the thinking part). I'm not expecting a romantic evening. It's more about enjoying cooking and trying to create a Thursday evening that is out of the ordinary. Tonight I'm going to make Coq Au Vin (chicken with wine). We'll see how it goes! I've heard this dish is better the next day so I'll cook it tonight but we'll eat it tomorrow. While at work I downloaded and have been playing romantic Spanish music. Maybe I'll continue the music while cooking and sipping on some wine later! Cary agreed to go to one of my favorite places for happy hour tomorrow evening and I signed up for the wine expo this weekend. So fun! Today has been good and I'm really happy. Now I can't wait to for the next 10 minutes to pass so I can get to the grocery store and start my evening!!

Not Much

Sorry guys but there really isn't much to report over the last 2 days. I'm getting excited for Valentine's Day, planning and scheming. Last year Cary took me to a restaurant I've been wanting to try. Of course it seemed WAY overpriced and not much bang for the buck. So this year we are staying at home and watching a girlie movie with some chocolate covered strawberry's. Tonight I'm taking a spin class with Jaclyn & Justin then it's a phone date with Shannon. I'm excited to be on a bike that is STATIONARY tonight. That's about it! Hopefully I'll have more fun stuff to post over the next couple of days!!

Home, Safe & Sound

We are done. Today was so much better than last week and quite a bit more difficult than last week as well. Much better because Tim & Cristy were with us and that made the ride fun. Cary did a great job of encouraging me along the ride, which in turn helped me to communicate with him when I was struggling or working extra hard to keep up. I felt like part of the group for a good part of the ride and didn't allow myself to get frustrated. Most of all I know that I pushed myself and concentrated very hard to keep up. Today's crew is very skilled and way more advanced than I am when it comes to biking. Tim & Cristy probably have what seems like 20 bikes in their garage and are phenominal athletes. So what was so difficult? The wind! Oh. My. Gosh. There were several moments when I thought I was going to be picked up and tossed into the field next to me instantly. When Tim & Cary admit that riding in 30+ mile an hour winds is dangerous, that's when I realized it was time to get home and be safe. I felt like I was leaning into the wind while my body & bike were probably at a 35 degree angle from the road. Pretty intense. Unfortunately we weren't able to complete the entire 3 1/2 hr. training ride. We did 2 hours and instead of rushing home to get on the trainer we decided to treat ourselves to some hang out time with friends. Here are some picts from today!

Cary preparing to leave on our ride.

Cristy is waiting for us all to get the stuff together!

I'm really nervous so I figured I would take a picture!

Thank God that's over!

Mexican food is the BEST celebration food EVER!!

Here We Go Again

Another Sunday, another road ride. As much as I had every intention of getting back on the bike this week and practicing the technical skills which keep me from having "good rides," I got sick and was laid up for 2 days. Yesterday I was able to accomplish my 1:30 run with Jaclyn and then helped Cary with a project for the remainder of the day. So now it's almost 50 degrees, extremely windy and the time is ticking by to find out how today will turn out.

We are riding with a different group of folks this afternoon. Every time I hear the wind howling outside of my house my heart rate goes up and I want to cry! ;) I ask all my friends who pray, please do so if you read this blog sometime between the hours of 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM. As a matter of fact, even if it's after 4:00, keep praying because Lord only knows how this ride will impact our evening. Yes, I'm obviously really nervous. But because I can't do anything with "nerves" I will clean my house until it's time to get ready to leave. The schedule calls for 3 1/2 hrs and I'm really hoping that if I go into this ride with a smile and excitment then the chances of getting frustrated with myself will decrease at least a little, I hope.

The Flu

Leah has the flu and is sick as a dog. Just so you know why there are no new posts!
-Cary

New Toy

My dad bought a new camera yesterday for work. Today he came into the office with a bunch of jobsite photos, none of which were very exciting. Once I was done downloading all the photos I walked around the office and took random snap shots of everyone in the office. Here is a fun pic. of Michelle & myself just goofing off on a Tuesday afternoon!

This Weekend

Ignoring yesterday, this weekend was totally fun! I left on Friday evening to visit with the Cassada family and attend Peyton's baby shower. Cary was supposed to travel with me, however he came down with a cold bug or something and felt it was best to not infect anyone else. It's been a long time since I've driven up to NOVA by myself, but thankfully the traffic was good both ways.

Saturday morning I went running with Courtney's "crew." I totally loved that! I love, love, love her neighborhood and all the paths and LOVE the fact she has a fantastic group of women to run with every single day. Yes, I'm jealous. I'm the queen of this philosophy "we ran, so we can eat anything!" So we ate everything! :)

Words can not express how in love I am with the Cassada kids. I want kids of my own so much when I visit this family. Bailey (the 2 year old) and I investigated the "baby button" a.k.a. our belly buttons. Rebekah lost another tooth on Saturday afternoon. Josh showed me how good he is at the Memory Game. I remember being a kid and that was my favorite game too! Rebekah and Joshua helped me cut up the fruit for Peyton's shower (only after I sent Joshua back to wash his hands again and this time he was to use soap...what a boy thing to do). Rebekah read to us her thought's on God (so precious). Seriously, I could go on and on. When I arrived home, Cary quized me on the children and if he missed any fun things. Courtney, if you ever wanted to have a 5th just for the sake of having another child, Cary and I would totally adopt it! ;)

Here is Peyton holding a Diet Coke, this was a "post delivery gift" and something that might need to go into her IV once the baby is born.

Peyton's shower was amazing! She is so stinkin' cute with her basketball belly. I think there were 7 other pregnant women at the shower. Peyton is one of the most amazing people I know. She is so real. She truly loves God and her enthusiasm for life is infectious. I can't get enough of her. Cary, I think we should move to NOVA....

The Ride

We had a rough day yesterday. I'm still processing through the ride. But to not go into too much detail, I really struggled. It's probably best to leave it at this for now.

3 Hours To Go

Okay, today is a 3 hour bike ride. Cary told me a friend has put together a group ride for this afternoon. Only after checking the weather and finding out it's going to be in the 60's did I allow myself to accept the offer to ride. Now, we have about 30 minutes before we leave. I just finished preparing my water bottles and gathering GU. Cary is pulling our bikes out and lubing them up. I'm starting to get really nervous. This is my first road ride since last summer when I was constantly dropped from the group. I have set the same expectations for today and requested that Cary stay with me. I'm not sure if "My trainer", Rene, will be a part of this adventure (I would feel much better if he will be there). 46 miles to go in T-30 minutes. Lord help me.

PS. Other than this ride I had a great weekend and will post pictures when I get back!