2010 Gasparilla 5K recap

Saturday morning we had some crummy weather for my warm-up race, the Gasparilla 5K. I was originally signed up to do the stroller roll with Natalie (which I ran with Katie last year), but due to temps around 40 degrees and heavy rain, and Natalie recovering from a respiratory infection, we pulled the plug on that. Here are the girls and I near the starting line, just before the rain started:

Colin and the girls planned to wait for me in that dry spot under an overpass, but when they got restless, he took them back to the van to watch DVDs until I finished.

Because of the rain, the start was much less structured than last year. They were supposed to have the separate start for walkers and strollers, 20 minutes after the open start, but there was no one in the staging area! Just a few stragglers, myself included. I'd hung back, planning to start in that 2nd wave, but when I walked toward the start area, I was told I could just go ahead and run! So I did. I started about 8 minutes after the official gun start, which put me square in the middle of the Too Slow People. But I did OK. My chip time was 30:02, fairly unspectacular, but I'll take it, all things considered. If I would've wormed my way up to the sub-30 corral before the open start, I probably could've done better, but that's all right. It was just hard to get everything coordinated with the rain and the decision not to run with Natalie.

I finished the race, made it through the madness of the finish line, and checked my cell phone to confirm that my family was indeed back at the van. So I ran back there, too, another half mile or so. It rained steadily the entire race, and I was soaked to the bone when I got done. Thankfully we'd packed a spare outfit for me in the van, so I could at least be dry on the way home.

Next up, Disney Princess Half Marathon! I'm ready!!!

Katie's Party

Like last year, we had a gymnastics/bounce house party for Katie at the local YMCA. It was awesome! We had 16 kids total, and a good time was had by all. Here are some of our friends bouncing on the long trampoline.


And then Katie and friends trying to get out of the foam pit at the end of the trampoline.

The bounce house had a large slide to exit, and Jake, Kirby, and Katie had fun on that.

Natalie took a little break. She spent almost the entire time jumping into the foam pit!

Here's our group photo: Kirby, Jake, Brady M, Brady L, Landen, Gavin, Rachel, Katie L, Jackson, Kacey, Deanna, Hayden, Katie, Brandon, Elizabeth, and Natalie. We had so much fun!

After an hour of bouncing around, it was time to move into the youth and teen room for pizza and cake. Yum!!!

Katie blew out her candle. Jackson tried to "help", but we warded him off!

You just can't beat the Y for a birthday party. They have reasonable prices, and you can invite up to 25 kids for the same price. It's fun, a good way to burn off energy, and they now have the cake time in a more spacious room than they have in years past. Katie couldn't wait to have her party here again this year, and it looks like everyone has had a fabulous time 2 years in a row. We'll be back!

Katie is 5!

It doesn't seem like my sweetheart Katie could be 5 already. Wasn't she just born? Didn't she just learn how to sit up? Crawl? Walk? And she's a full-fledged Big Girl now, in preschool, excited to start kindergarten in the fall. Where did time go!?!?

Unfortunately, Colin had a can't-miss meeting in the evening, so we let Katie open her gifts before breakfast. Natalie even got in on the action since my parents were extremely thoughtful to send a little something for her as well.

Daddy had a picture with his pretty girls before we left the house for work and school.

When we got home, we had another Very Large Box waiting for us on the front step. It was from Jennifer's family! And it was filled with fun things, with possibly the most exciting being a Barbie bath set. So cool!

We had one of Katie's favorite meals for supper, followed by big cookies left over from the giant batches I made over the weekend (we took special snack for both girls' classes today in honor of Katie's birthday). Deeeeelicious!

I hope you had a great day, Katie. We love you!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

We started off the morning with our festivities, gifts at the breakfast table...


Daddy made special heart-shaped pancakes for his girls!

We all opened our gifts. Katie was so excited to get a bath poofy!

Natalie was happy to get one, too!

Nice cards, cute gifts, and a few sweets were enjoyed by all. We took our little valentines out for dinner at Moe's. You can't beat a burrito and a cookie on the same plate!

We hope you had a great day, too!

Harry Connick Jr v4.0

Friday night, Colin and I went to see Harry Connick Jr! It was my fourth time seeing him, Colin's second (see our previous experience here). In a word,

FABULOUS!!!

I get so giddy that I can barely eat dinner beforehand, and when Harry first comes on stage, my heart skips a beat and I gasp like a goofy teenager. It's really him! I'm really seeing him live!

The big band started first, with Harry joining them on stage at the piano to play "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?" from the Oh, My Nola CD. Harry went Johnny Cash for the night, dressed all in black, so handsome as always. He then played several tunes from his newest CD, Your Songs. Always chatty, Harry spent a lot of time between songs talking about the recent Saints Super Bowl victory, as well as the fact that he'd been under the weather the past couple of days. You could barely tell, though. Even while not at 100%, he still put on a heck of a show!

Partway through, his friend Lucien Barbarin joined the group on stage. I've never been much of a fan of the trombone, but something about the way Lucien plays it just makes it sing! I was completely enthralled. Also while Lucien was with them, they played a big Dixieland jam that included solos by several instruments, including Harry taking turns on both trumpet and bass. It was fun to watch, but let's just say that he's better at piano than he is either of those instruments. However, it did motivate him to challenge his bass player to a play-off, where Harry was beaten handily. Ouch. It sure was fun to watch, though!

Harry played for about 2 hours with no intermission, and did come back for an encore. He sort of jumped all over during the show, from Come By Me (recorded in 1998) up to the more recent songs, but that was OK with me. He sounded wonderful, the musicians were all fantastic, and overall, it was just a really great evening. I want to go see Harry every time he comes to town if at all possible!

Woohoo!

An Early Valentine Surprise

Look what was delivered to me at work today!!!



That stinker Colin, trying to act like he wants to get out of doing something for Valentine's Day since we are going to the Harry Connick Jr concert tonight... I was very surprised when I found out I had a delivery at the front desk! The roses and lilies are beautiful, and they smell so nice sitting on my desk today. My friend Crystal said to tell Colin that he needs to stop making everyone else look bad. When I called to thank him, he said he wasn't sure what day to schedule this delivery, with Valentine's Day being over the weekend. I assured him that earlier is always better.

Now, to figure out how to get them home so we can all enjoy them...

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend!!!

Closet 2010: The Re-Re-Organizing

I don't remember if I posted about it at the time (suppose I could check the archives but I'm too lazy...), but for our anniversary in 2008, Colin offered to redo the shelving in my closet. It was very exciting, because I hadn't always liked the layout, but had been sort of living with it since moving in to the house. Colin re-used many of the existing wire rack components, and here are pictures of what it looked like when he finished.

Looking straight in toward dresses, etc. I loved the fabric storage cubes that I found that I used on the top shelf!



Looking toward the corner. Again, more storage overhead.

Looking at the shelving closest to the door, where I kept extra bedsheets, plus all our placemats and cloth napkins since I couldn't find room for them in the kitchen.

More storage above the clothes...

My hidden corner shelf for shorts, etc. Colin didn't like this idea, but it served its purpose well.

And then...

One Sunday not so long ago, I rounded the corner to pull out some clothes for church and found that one whole wall's worth of shelving had toppled onto the floor. I was near tears. All that hard work Colin had put in, and I had a HUGE mess on my hands! After cleaning it up, we tried to get to the root of the problem. I blamed myself for overloading things. Colin blamed himself for not anchoring things properly. I don't suppose we'll ever know, but we decided to act quickly and install all new shelving. This shelving is sturdier and actually stands alone, but we've strapped it to the wall just to avoid a topple again. It also has a much larger corner piece, so we had to do 2 rows of hanging clothes on one side to be able to fit all my clothes in there. Here is the finished product:

I also have shelves on either end, which I didn't have before. Here we are, looking straight into the closet.

The gigantic corner piece, while large, is good for storage, especially for things you may not be pulling out on a regular basis (Easter baskets, Halloween candy buckets, etc). You can also see the double clothes bar for more hanging space.

Another shot of my double clothes bar, as well as the shelf that's closest to the closet door.

And again, my fabric cubes for overhead storage.

I was really thankful that Colin acted so quickly to fix my problem. I was only without a closet for about 2 days as we cleared it out, took down the old shelves, assembled and installed the new ones, and then I put things away how I wanted them. It is a LOT sturdier, and I don't think it'll be going anywhere anytime soon.

Katie and Natalie Cuteness

I looked back and realized I hadn't posted any pictures of the girls for a while! Here are some of them over the past couple of weeks, and some of the things we do around the house:

This is last Sunday before church. Yes, we often need a pillow barricade between the two of them, or Natalie will start causing trouble with her older sister!


Same day, later in the afternoon. We finally tackled the Fox in Socks puzzle we received for Christmas. It even came with some super-warm, super-stripey socks, good for your toes, or for wearing as a mitten!

From earlier this week... This is what it's like to wake the girls up every day. I drag them out of bed and throw them on the couch until their breakfast is ready. Katie is usually a little quicker to wake up than her sister is. :)

And from yesterday... A laundry basket always makes for a good boat! Here are the girls, cruising around the kitchen, eating ice cream, and talking on the phone. What fun you can have on a cruise!

Enjoy!!!

Think Pink, Part 2

I am sad to say that breast cancer has claimed another member of our work family. My co-worker David's wife, Monica, lost her battle this morning at age 45. True, she did not work with us, but with Dave's stories about happenings at home, and Monica's frequent visits to the office or to bring their kids by, she felt like a fixture.

Monica had successfully beaten this once and was just amazing, so vibrant, so beautiful. You were in awe of how well she'd managed breast cancer. I think anyone who knew her would agree. But it came back again this past fall, and by the time they got a handle on the situation, it was almost too late. Monica fought til the bitter end.

Say a prayer for Dave, their two sons, and Monica's parents, who had moved in with them to help care for her and run the household during this battle. And, as I mentioned in my previous post about breast cancer when we lost Alexis, DO YOUR MONTHLY SELF EXAMS! GET YOUR MAMMOGRAM IF IT'S TIME! AND LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!!! You know when something's not right.

13.1 - Over Halfway There

Today starts week 8 of my 12-week half marathon training program, and so far, so good! I will admit that Thursday is my hardest day, having to run and then lift weights afterward, and all after a full day of work, but I am managing. It really makes me look forward to Friday, my rest day!

Building up the distance for my Sunday long runs has not been too bad, either. Yesterday I tackled 7 miles and was amazed to check my watch afterward and find that my 7th mile was nearly as fast as my 1st. (We won't dwell on the relative slowness of miles 3 and 4...) I think it was due to my new weapon, Gatorade. Ah, trusty old Gatorade. I had been fine running with just water up through 6 miles, but have heard from a few sources that the halfway point is when they need some kind of sports drink and/or food to help them get through. I structured my run so that I'd do 4 miles, come back by the house to refill my bottles, and go back for the last 3. I started my afternoon with just water, and on the pit stop, filled one with water and the other Gatorade. Starting just after mile 5, I alternated drinks of water with drinks of Gatorade, and it gave me a much-needed boost. I literally felt like a cartoon character with my eyes popping wide open as soon as that sugar hit my system.

Next up: GU. I bought some GU and some CLIF SHOT BLOKS over the weekend, but wanted to take things one step at a time, so I didn't bring them along on the run. I had a GU when I got back home, just to try it, and it was quite tasty. I did well with Gatorade, didn't have any cramping or anything, so I think I'll try one of my foods when I move up to 8 miles. I am a little worried about the coordination required and may take a brief walking break while eating, but I'm not terribly worried about cramping since Gatorade went fine.

Overall, it hasn't been so bad. During week 2 I felt like my legs were going to fall off, but I hung in there! Colin has been wonderful about taking care of the girls so I can have this training time, and I am also very grateful to my manager for letting me leave a little early on Thursdays for the tough workout. The big race will be here before we know it!