Perception...

(Frost on the roses from a walk the other morning)

Perception is a crazy thing.

It's really hard to know what is going on inside other peoples heads.

People can read all kind of evil into what you are saying, writing, or just what they are thinking.

So just to clear the air...this blog is not a vicious attempt to undermine your thinking. I am not talking in a backhanded way in order to confuse you. I'm speaking from the heart. I'm trying to stay positive and look for the good in my life.

I am happy to be living this life I've been given. I am happy with what I've done with my life. I am (in general) happy.

Pass it on....share a smile...enjoy your life!

The Holidays are coming...

Today has been interesting to me. I had a friend from facebook imply that I was to commercial because I said Happy Cyber Monday to her. Funny because I don't feel commercial, nor did I partake in any of the frenzied buying this weekend, or today. And in fact if you know me you know I'd rather spend time with family and not have gifts at all during the holidays. I worked really hard to try implement that for years, and last year we actually did it. We did a Family Vacation to Disney World instead giving gifts.

Also on facebook a friend put out a statement about how they have made a conscious choice to not give gifts at Christmas for their little family. They have asked their family and friends to abide by their wishes. I think it's GREAT. To try and teach their little ones about the spirit of the holidays and being with family, not about gifts. That friend put it perfectly to his little one "On your birthday you don't give gifts to everyone do you?", so he can understand why he isn't getting gifts. The funny thing is that he is getting gifts...the gift of love, togetherness, and family! How AMAZING!

I love seeing all the Christmas decorations up, although I think a lot of people go overboard. I can walk around my neighborhood and see beautiful displays of the season, and I can also see the crazy over-commercialized displays. They still make me smile though.

Virigina Wines...

(Me at Afton Mountain Vineyards- http://www.aftonmountainvineyards.com )

Cab Franc and Festa de Bacco were our favorites here

Yesterday Jason and I did our own little winery tour. We picked a few of the MANY Virginia Wineries to take a peek into what the area has to offer. Jason's parents (who we are up visiting for the holiday weekend) live in the Shanandoah Valley. It's beautiful here. It's also Wine Country....and Horse Country too.

We went to 5 different places, most of them were vineyards, one was just a tasting room. Of the 5 places 1 had FANTASTIC wines and the atmosphere was okay (probably nicer in the summer) - Barboursville, 1 had Really Good wines and the atmosphere was AMAZING - Veritas, 2 had good wines- Flying Fox and Afton Mountain, and one was Terrible to my palate and the atmosphere was ehh- Burnley.

(Tasting at Flying Fox -http://www.FlyingFoxVineyard.com/)

The Trio and Flying Fox Red were our favorite here (the flying fox red can be made into a beautiful mulled wine)

It was a beautiful day filled with Sunshine and lot's of laughter. Jason and I enjoyed touring around and checking out the Virginia Countryside. SOOO PRETTY!!

(Veritas was so beautiful- http://www.veritaswines.com)

The Claret and the Cab Franc Reserve were our favorites here

(Burnley...ehhh -http://burnleywines.com )

Life is good to be able to enjoy a Saturday afternoon drinking wine with the one you love.

(Barboursville- Great Italian Style wine- http://barboursvillewine.net )

Our favorites here: OCTOGON -Super Yummy, Merlot Reserve, and Cab Franc Reserve

If you can't tell...we like RED's. Yummy full bodied RED's. It's not everyones tastes, but these are our picks!

People make me smile..

Today was a good day.

I ate more turkey, mashed potatoes and dressing....another day of Thanksgiving. I'm think I'm full up for awhile. Scout got some nice walks around Waynesboro, even though the wind started picking up and brought in a cold front. He was sad he wasn't doing another Turkey Trot. *smiles*

My mother in law and I went to my favorite store to go to when I come to visit "The Cheese Shop". I stocked up on some stables and got some goodies too. I love the Cheese Shop because it's just a fun little shop to get bulk style of items. Plus they have the best brown sugar around. Then we went to Millmont to look at the poinsettia's on display and have a hand made donut (that was to die for). I got some bulbs to plant when I get back to Raleigh. I only ate one donut.....even though I wanted 5.

Tonight we headed over to Jason's Great Aunt Jean's house to hang out with family. The extended family is wonderful happy people who laugh and have a wonderful time together. I have never felt uncomfortable in their presence and I love being around them. I even got to help update a cousin's iPhone so she can get to her facebook easily. Aunt Jean heard we were planning on going to some wineries tomorrow and broke out a bottle of white wine from 1984. Not sure it was in the best condition to drink, but we had a toast to family non the less. Being around this family just makes me smile. Feeling happy and loved!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

(Scout is ready for Thanksgiving)

I had a FABULOUS Thanksgiving with my in-laws. Our dinner was delicious and the company has been great. I hadn't seen my brother in law or sister in law in almost a year (CRAZY), so it was really nice to see them. We also celebrated my Mother in Law's birthday and my birthday by having Wine Cake! YUM!!

(Mashed potato's that I made, my Dad's recipe)

(Kim making the stuffing...not the best pic...but ohh soo yummy food, and great SIL)

(My mother in law getting ready to take the trash out!)

(My father in law and part of my brother in law Chad, hanging out downstairs)

Jason, Scout, and I did the Turkey Trot (5K) this morning and had a great time doing it. It was COLD and HILLY, but I think Scout is a great little racer. He was working hard at being the front of the pack.....which was tough on me! *winks* Our family came out to cheer us on! Which was AWESOME!!

(Scout laid out after the Turkey Trot)

I did call my parents today as well. I'm sad about my relationship with my parents. I'm not sure what happened or why it happened but we don't really have a relationship anymore. Like I said I'm sad about it, but after trying to find ways to reconcile with them and finding them not receptive, I think I might be ready to give up. You never want to give up on your family, but what do you do when they don't want to be a part of your life?

I'm thankful though that I have supportive, amazing people in my life. That I have a great circle of friends that act like a family to me. I have many brother's, sister's, Mom's and Dad's! I'm so lucky!

CRAZY DAY!!

Well....I am Thankful that no one is hurt and that I get to start my Thanksgiving Holiday not in the hospital.

With that being said....here's what happened.

I worked this morning at the other dental office for half a day....which turned into less than half a day because their schedule fell apart. I left the office at 11:30, and talked to Jason on the phone figuring out the plan for going to the bank and packing all the stuff up and getting the highlander ready for the trip up to Virginia for Thanksgiving.

On my short trip down I-540, I was following a car in the middle lane, when all of sudden that car swerved around something in the middle of the lane. Well I didn't have the option to swerve around it as I had vehicles on either side of me. I saw that it was a wheel with a tire on it, and decided I would see if my SUV could maybe clear it. Well long story short- it didn't clear. The tire got stuck under the car and deployed the airbags in my highlander. Arrrggghhh. I got the car over to the shoulder and got out of the car. Lucky the airbags didn't really hit me in the face or anything, but they sure were stinky. I called Jason because I don't think well when crazy things happen to me. After a little discussion I called 911 to try and ask for motorist assistance with the promise of a highway patrol person to come by.

I waited for a long time, and Jason called me back and he ended up calling the Toyota dealership and said if my car was drivable (which it ended up being) to take it there after I got the tire out. I'm so lucky to have an AWESOME neighbor who saw me on the side of the road and came back to help me. He had a jack in his car and lifted my car up so I could pull the wheel out. That's about the time the Highway Patrol showed up. I ended up tucking in the airbags in the pockets and driving to the dealership. Jason met me there and we ended up leaving to go to Virginia in the Civic.

So Thankful that there was no injuries. So happy I didn't flip the car or anything like that. Sucks that the car is damaged (hopefully insurance will take care of it), but it's just stuff. All the people are okay. *smiles*

Happily spending time with Family in Virginia now. Whew!

Working at lot's of offices...

I've been working at my normal dental office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I've also been temping a little more recently. I've needed to add some hours so I could make up for the holidays and vacations that I've been taking. I've been working at another office (4 times so far), and have really enjoyed it. My office is a slower paced office, where I am grateful that I have lot's of time to talk to patients and am able to talk to them about all their dental needs, and to just chat. The other office is faster paced, and even though it's shorter I do tend to get all my info in. I like a the mix of both offices, and I love switching back and forth. I know it won't last as I'm just temping for the other office but it's been fun!

Friends

Finding time to enjoy friendships is always a good thing. I was lucky I got to spend some time with my friend Wendy today. I haven't seen her in forever (or at least it feels like FOREVER). She has been dealing with some crazy health issues. One of her biggest issues is Meinears Disease which is a condition of the inner ear which in a nutshell gives you balance issues (vertigo) and hearing issues (tinuitis, and hearing loss). She's felt trapped by her body and unable to go far from her own house. I brought her some wine bottles (for an art project she is going to be working on) and a crock pot for her "Crock Pot Thanksgiving". She is having a procedure done on Wednesday (and blood patch on her spinal column) in the hopes of some relief from her disease. It was a nice visit. We just sat and talked. Her husband ran out and got dinner for all of us and it was just sweet. YAY for finding time to spend with friends.

Good Luck WENDY on your procedure on Wednesday!

UPDATE:

So far it seems the procedure for Wendy has been sucessful! You can read about it here: http://365daystoahealthierme.wordpress.com/

(Here is a picture I stole from her blog)

Wine Club at our House....

Last night was AWESOME.

Jason and I are part of our neighborhood wine club. When we first moved into the neighborhood we decided to try out some of the clubs that were offered. One of the first clubs we went to was wine club. We were a little nervous about it as we weren't really big wine drinkers at the time. Well times sure have changed, because I'd say we are avid wine drinkers now. It was definitely a turning point for us. We've made a lot of friends from wine club and have had a lot of fun drinking wine and enjoy expos and wine tours.

Our wine club usually meets the 4th Thursday of every month, so if anyone is local reading this you are welcome to come by the clubhouse at around 7:30 pm on the 4th Thursday of every month (except November or December). The tasting fee is always $10, and there is usually between 6-8 wines to taste. November we don't meet on the 4th Thursday because it is Thanksgiving. This year we decided to host it at our house on the 3rd week of November. Which was yesterday!

Since it was at our house I talked to the wine chairs to see if I could make it into a charitable giving night and have a wine raffle for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Turn out was good. We had 21 people tasting wine, and many of those people donated a bottle of wine for the raffle and bought raffle tickets in hopes of winning all the wine donated. We raised $275.00 for LLS and everyone seemed to have a good time. We had good food and got to hang out with good people. Even Scout was good around all the people and I think everyone enjoyed the Rioja's that were tasted. Ohh and the raffle winner was my friend Chris Underwood. YAY!!

Clean up wasn't to bad either. Of course I have food left over...but that will be coming up to Virginia with us for Thanksgiving!

A Smile...

Today I was at Costco picking up some stuff. I was having a great morning. The day was beautiful and my morning although not perfect was going pretty well. Costco is dangerous around the holidays, but it really puts me in a good mood to see all the fun holiday stuff around. I helped a lady find her size in the coats (of which I did not buy any....cause I don't need one, but man they were cute). I'm pretty sure I had a smile on for the whole time I was in Costco, it was really just a nice morning to run around the big warehouse. When I was waiting to get out, you know you have to have your receipt looked over, the guy checking the receipt commented that I had a beautiful smile. That he didn't see people smile as much anymore. It was nice to hear, and I was really glad that I had a good smile on!

Starting a New Blog...

Today I decided I wanted to start a new Blog. I wanted to write about more than just training. Although training for endurance sports is a big part of my life and what makes me happy, it's not the only thing in my life. So my other Blog "A Wanna Be Endurance Athlete" wasn't hitting all my interests.

So I'll be talking about my endurance sports as well as my love of paper crafting, my career as a dental hygienist, my love of my dog, all the charities that I love to help out with, my friends, my family and all about living this life I've been given. I'm mostly happy with my life and glad to have all the experiences I've been given. So this is a blog about me and my life. I hope I can make it fun and interesting and happy.



It's a beautiful Fall around here. After the long hot summer we finally get a beautiful reward! The fall colors this year are AMAZING! I can't remember a prettier Fall. It's a season of change.