Thanksgiving Day

I have had a whirlwind of a few weeks. With work travel taking me to Delaware and Atanta twice and cheer taking me to Atlanta once, it has been quite crazy. It is also official that I only have 2 more years before hitting the big 4-0. I celebrated my birthday in Atlanta during the cheer competition.

Morgan scared me to death during her routine, and she had a mid-air collision on the floor while tumbling. It really freaked me out. Thankfully, Morgan finished the routine (even through a tuck after) and was ok (some tears during the second half of the routine but she made it). I was concerned about her wrist, but thankfully, it was ok. We had a great birthday dinner at McCormick and Schmick's, and I even had a chocolate-strawberry mouse thing for dessert. YUM. I got up early and ran 4 miles on my birthday mornig, so I earned that dessert!

I have made such positive changes in my life over the last 6 months, and I feel like I am so much more in control and setting a better example for my kids. I have lost 57 lbs and have gone from not being able to run for 60 seconds to doing 5 miles this morning. I have completed a sprint triathlon, and I am training for a half marathon. Who is this person? I am not sure where she came from, but I certainly am loving it. Today, on Thanksgiving, I am very thankful for all of my family, my friends, my job and co-workers, for the support of Biko and Chris, and for the Wesley Chapel Tri Team. What a great few months! Hopefully, this time next year, I will be blogging on Thanksgiving about even more things that I am thankful for as I hope to keep setting new goals and to keep meeting them. :)

Long two days

I flew from tampa to Philly (via Atlanta) and drove to Delaware for a meeting. I was off the plane and back on the plane 6 hours later. I spent the night in Atlanta, had an all day meeting, and I flew back home. These trips, although short, I think are much harder than a longer trip. You are never stopping and settling in one place. I was EXHAUSTED when I got home.

It was also creepy to be in the Philly Avis. That is the location where I couldn't get a car almost a year ago because I left my purse in Tampa. I did have a debit card in my pocked from checking in, but they wouldn't take it. I felt like a traitor to myself as I swore I would never rent there again. I had completely forgotten about it until i was standing at the counter. What a crazy day that was. I am so glad that I am a year removed from that. It was a rough time in my life, and I am happy to have survived and improved myself over the last year. I feel much stronger now than I did then. I guess it is true, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! :)

On Saturday, Morgan, Katie, and I went to get our nails done. It was some fun girl time. Then, we went shopping. The girls got some clothes, and we had a good time. My poor Vols lost to the EVIL Ole Miss team, but the day was still great anyway. We met the boys for dinner at Yamato's. It was yum yum - just like the yum yum sauce they serve. :)

Texting vs Phone Calls

As I was driving to the airport on Thursday, I was listening to 93.3 in Tampa. Meredith who is 20 something was saying that she dumped a guy because he only texted her. She thought it was important to at least talk by phone SOME of the time. While texting is great, you miss out on hearing the emotions in voices and having some of the connections you make with voice. I thought it was rather interesting. Morgan's friends mainly text and Facebook. They don't talk a lot on the phone. Often, when I travel, we communicate mainly by text. The thing I find interesting is that I can stay much more connected to small things by texting, but I think it is the larger things you miss out on.

I went an saw old friends Josh and Lauren this week. I hadn't seen them in over a year at least - probably longer. It was kind of funny because there wasn't a lot to catch up on. We both have blogs and Facebook, so we really were pretty up to date. It was very interesting. I am always trying to explain to my parents how great Facebook is, and i think it is very funny that people all over the world read my blog but my parents don't. When I ask them about it, they say, oh yeah, what is the address again? I crack up because it is MY NAME. LOL. I think they don't read it because we talk a lot. They have no reason to read it because all of the info is discussed on the phone. On the other hand, when you are just keeping up with people, texting, facebook, blogs are awesome. To truly experience and be part of their regular lives, the phone and in person contact is required. That's my story, and I am sticking to it. :)

Difficult Decisions, Veteran's Day, Couples Retreat

This week, I was very tempted to stay the weekend in Georgia. I had to be in Atlanta for work on Friday and on Monday, so I was thinking that I should just stay over the weekend. My brother Mike was coming from California for the game, so it seemed like fun. It was the Auburn/Georgia game which is always a good rivalry game.

Finally, I decided to stay home. It seemed like a lot of money to spend by the time I got a rental car, tickets, alcohol, etc. That wasn't really the main issue though. The main issue was that I knew I would get out of control. I would eat and drink too much, and I wouldn't run. I wasn't confident in my ability to not do any of that, so I decided to stay home. Of course, once I decided to stay home, I thought that I had saved so much money that I should get some new clothes. ;) So, I went to Chico's. I had an amazing person helping me. She was really patient and helpful. I am very happy with the new outfits. :) They last longer than football. :)

I am sad to not see Mike though. I simply must go out west to visit soon.

I did take today off to spend the day with Morgan. She was out for Veteran's Day. I am so very thankful and appreciative of all of the people who have served time in our military to keep us and our freedom safe.

Her new bed was delivered in the morning, and so she is now the proud owner of a "big girl bed" as I call it. It is a full mattress, so she has a lot more room. The headboard couldn't be delivered until early December. Bummer. After the mattress, we went to see Couples Retreat at the theater. It was hysterical. I loved that movie.

Morgan had cheer practice from 4 - 9, and she did great. I am so proud of her.

Bucs Game With Greg and Mike

Today, we went to the Bucs game with my college friend Greg. I had forgotten that Greg is a little slow to technology, and he is still not on Facebook. So, I knew a lot less about what he had been up to than my other friends. :)

He is a Green Bay fan, and he was in Orlando for a work conference. So, he drove over and we went to the Bucs game. it was a throwback game where they dressed in the old orange jerseys. They even gave out an orange shirt when you got inside the gate. I felt like I was at a Tennessee Vols game. I loved it! Poor Greg, he didn't love it that the Bucs won (nobody wants to lost to an 0-7 team - well, reallly 0-17 team when you go back to last year).

It was really windy at the game, but we had a great time! I still can't believe the Bucs won. Since Leroy Selmon got the ring of honor, we went to his restaurant for dinner. I hadn't been there in a long time. I had pulled pork, and it was really good.

The Sand Hill Cranes Are BACK

Cranes

The cranes are hopping up and down - never seen that before

Sophie is barking her head off at the cranes (she is down in front by the water)

This morning, Sophie was going crazy. Barking, pacing, running around. She has been acting really weird all week actually, but this morning she was REALLY excited.

Then, the sand hill cranes came right up to the back door. Morgan fed them bread. We think they are the same ones that come every year, but we aren't positive. Last year, they had a baby. No baby this year, so we aren't sure if it is grown and gone or if these aren't even the same ones. Regardless, we have our friends to enjoy through the winter.

This is the cell phone tower that they are building ON the campus of Morgan's school. Seriously. See the building in the picture on the left? that is the edge of her school building. I cannot understand WHY they must build it ON the property. There are fields all around. Why can't it go away from the school? There were protests there earlier this week, and all of the news cameras were there. I guess they didn't accomplish their goal though as the tower started this week. Sad.

Busch Gardens

Today, we went to Busch Gardens for Victoria's birthday (Happy Birthday Victoria!). We had a blast!