Busy Saturday!!

Started my day early! Couldn't sleep anymore...I think because it's getting lighter earlier. I would of thought I'd be able to sleep more, since I didn't get in last night until after 10 (scrapbooking with friends), and didn't fall asleep until after 11:30. I was up by 6:15 and taking the sweet boy out for his morning walk! It was a beautiful crisp morning and we met one of Scout's friends on the walk and they played for a little bit.

We had loaded the car up for the Relay for Life Yard Sale last night, so all I had to do is get in the car and drive to the Endeavour School to set up our yard sale spot. We had a great yard sale...making almost $200 for our Relay team (Heart n' Sole).

In the middle of the yard sale I had to head over to REI for an information meeting for Team in Training. It was a great turn out, and of course I teared up on everything. It was nice talking to people who are ready to jump into the Team in Training experience for the first time. I'm a mentor again this year and so I got to speak to some of the people one on one and give them advice on fundraising etc.

I made it back to the yard sale in time to make a few more sales and pack everything up. I took most of the "left overs" to the Goodwill. I did take a set of golf clubs to Play it Again Sports, but they didn't give me any money for them.

Easter Weekend...

It was a beautiful weekend up in Waynesboro, VA. The weather was a little iffy on Friday (in the 50's and rainy).

Saturday was GORGEOUS! We visited family and went to a vineyard. The weather was fantastic. Cousin Wanda's (Judy my Mother in Law's cousin) yard was beautiful and flowers were blooming. I asked what the bowling balls were for...but I didn't get an answer. I'm not sure, but maybe it will come clear soon.

We went out to Barren Ridge Vineyards. It was rocking...as in there were a lot of people out there. That's what happens when it's beautiful weather on a holiday weekend. The tasting was good. We got to taste all the reds (YAY). There was some good choices, even if we didn't buy any yet. It's close enough that we can go back and visit whenever we go back to visit.

On Easter Sunday we went for a nice hike around Sherando Lake. The four of us did a loop (well half a loop) together and then Jason, Scout, and I took some side trails all over the mountain. Ohh yeah, and it was a MOUNTAIN. We had a great time hiking around. Scout was happy to be out and about with us. He was Dead Tired afterwards.

After hiking we went to Wanda's again to catch up with some family. It was nice to just hang out with family. I enjoyed catching up with cousins and all. Then back home for a yummy steak dinner (we had been munching on ham all weekend).

We got up early this morning to drive back home. Well early for Jason. We were on the road by 9 am. We said goodbye to the fam...and the little family starting (the Robin's nest under the deck was good for bird watching).

Good Morning....Happy Easter!

Another beautiful morning in the 'boro. I woke up to the sweet boy nudging me to wake up and take him out. So I did. It's so nice out this morning. Just a little cool with lot's of birds singing. We did our little walk and Scout took care of all his business. He even played on the playground and went down the mini slide. He loves going on the playground equipment here.

The dogwoods are in full bloom and look great in everyones yard.

Happy Easter!

Run off Willy's

Good Run today. I've been lazy this weekend...and it's been nice. However I did bring my stuff to run and swim. So I put on my running stuff and did a run around the 'boro. Just under 4 and half miles. It was windy and cloudy out....and the hills around here are ummm fun. I love my running app that I use on my iphone. Run meter is a great little device that works through your GPS to track your miles (although my GPS is off a bunch of the time and it has me running through the middle of people's houses), and it prompts people on facebook and dailymile to write comments to you and it speaks it to me while I'm running. One friend from our neighborhood likes to try to make me smarter while I run. I hope his experiment is working. Today I got to learn all about asphalt.

I'm hoping this run took care of the Willy's I ate last night...and maybe a little for the Willy's I will probably eat tonight! *winks* Hope everyone is having a great weekend

It was raining last night so we ate in the car, and I didn't take a picture before I started eating...so this is what Willy's is...they yummiest soft serve ice cream on the East Coast. Just sayin'!

Rain makes me sleepy...and lazy....or..

(Scout on the morning walk...stopping to smell the flowers.)

We got up to the in-laws last night. It was a pretty uneventful ride up. We did see 11 active police officers on the way up. Kept me in check a little (as I tend to have a lead foot on the interstates). According to Jason I drive like a grandma on regular streets and not like a grandma on the interstate/freeway. It was beautiful out when we got here around 8pm. 70 degrees out and a slight wind coming in.

Woke up this morning to temp's in the 30's and rain. Brrrrrr and *YAWN*! I got woken up by the sweet four legged child (the only child I have) with a request for a walk. I asked him politely to wait a bit and slept a little more. I got woken up again by the same "child" with a more urgent request. So off for a morning walk (@6:30 am) we went in the rain and the brrrrr freezy temperatures. Then back to the house for some grub for the little man, and back to bed for me. I woke up at 10 am. Well my eyes flutter at 10 and I decided I should probably get up.

Rest of the day has been pretty lazy. I went to the Art Center here in Waynesboro, where my Mother-in-law was training someone on how to do the volunteer job there. They had a cool exhibit of Fly Fishing stuff. Pictures and flies, some displays....all neat. It made me think of my Dad. My dad likes to fly fish, it's something he got into after I flew the nest. This year for his birthday he requested and we got him a fly tying kit....I hope he's getting to make some cool flies with it.

After the Art Center we made a trip to Kroger- because no day is complete without a trip to Kroger here in Waynesboro. Just sayin'.

We came home to check on the boys and put away groceries. The boys had taken off though and were headed down the mountain to shop or something. So Judy and I headed the opposite direction to find ourselves in Pandora heaven. Yes I am addicted to Pandora Jewelery. Well mostly just the charm bracelets. I have 2 of them, one is full and one I'm creating just as a race bracelet. It's hard sometimes because finding things to represent the races that I've done isn't always easy, or they just don't make the charms. In all the frenzy of looking at all the NEW Pandora out we got hooked. Well Judy got hooked, and she is now a proud owner of a new Pandora bracelet, with one bead that is retiring (a J for Judy), and one bead that is a football. She really loved the football helmet, but it's a wee bit on the pricey side because it has gold on it. Maybe for the next special occasion?? Judy was sweet and got me a beautiful (and NEW) shamrock clover for my race bracelet in honor of doing the shamrock 1/2 marathon last month. It's beautiful, but I'm keeping it in the box until I get home and can put it on my bracelet.

Now I'm just ready for bed (it's only 6:30 pm) but I think we are going to head out to get some Willy's....ummm I do love me some Willy's!!

(Scout checking out the scenery on the deck)

Job News...

So I've kept you all in suspense for long enough! Well...if you really know me, than you know already I guess.

The office I interviewed at liked me, and I liked them. We just couldn't resolve the days. They needed someone for Tuesdays and Wednesday, and I already work at my other office on Tuesday and Thursdays. They tried seeing if any of the other hygienists could switch around, but no one was able to do it. So they said they weren't going to be able to hire me. I was a little disappointed, but I understood. I really liked all the girls there and felt pretty comfortable in the office. I told them to keep me in mind of something else came up, and if they needed me for vacations etc I would be available.

Well as it turns out the girl they were planning on hiring wouldn't be able to start right away and they wanted to know if I could work the next Wednesday (this past Wednesday). Sure, I said ...I'd love to. It was another good day there working with people I like. Always a good thing. Half way through my working day the officer manager asks me if I'd be willing to work Wednesdays indifferently. They'd put me on the payroll (because it's nice to have taxes taken out for you) and see how it goes. I haven't gotten my official offer yet, but it seems like a good thing to me. I'm hoping that maybe in the future I can pick up Fridays at that office too. Yeah...it's been awhile since I've worked "full time".

I got a taste of that this week. I worked at one of my go to offices on Monday (they usually request me when they need a temp), Tuesday was at my normal office, Wednesday was at the new office, and today (Thursday) was at my normal office (but it ended up only being half a day....which worked out so I could get my massage that I had to reschedule because of working on Wednesday).

So all the good wishes, and good thoughts were felt for this. I think having a good attitude and making your life as positive as possible makes all kinds of doors open! Yay!!

Great Grapes

So Saturday....before the tornado hit...Jason and I met some friends at Great Grapes a wine festival in Cary. We had fallen into some free tickets (thanks Sara for thinking of us for wine fun), and thought it would be a good time. I hadn't researched well what the festival was....except wine.

Well it turns out it was North Carolina Wines. Now I've had some pretty decent North Carolina Wines....but most of those wineries were not at this event. Most of the wine was sweet, there was even a sweet Cab. Really?? We did have a good time checking out and tasting (thankfully they were just tastes) all the different wines.....but for these big bold red drinkers this was not the wine festival for us.

Yeah....notice the rain gear in the picture above. It was drizzling...and the tornado's really did come a little later in the day. I'm pretty sure that's why some of the wineries that were supposed to be there didn't show. Bad weather makes for low attendance and some possible dangerous situations.

(thanks to Dathan for sending the pic)

Mountain Bike Ride...

So I've had my mountain bike for well over a year. I got it so I could ride outside in the cold weather and still feel happy. Riding on trails is warmer than riding on the road. My mountain bike is nice, but it's not anything fancy....it's a beginner's bike. I'm happy with that. I have probably ridden it in total 4 times, all of which were on the bridal trails at Umstead. If you don't know what those are like...they are like really wide fairly smooth trail (super great for running).

So I finally did a "Real" mountain bike ride. It included a tiny little bit of single track (which I white knuckled and whined like a little girl), and then we headed over to the Durant Nature Park and road on wider trails, that I'm sure are not very hard to the experience biker. I however was terrified for a good portion of the ride. I did well though, I didn't fall at all. I did get off my bike to get it over a few obstacles and to go up a hill. I was having a couple of problems clipping into my pedals so yeah...it's not a real enough excuse....but there you go. So the ride started from the Trek store (off Durrant Rd), and they are going to keep doing this beginners mountain bike ride on Mondays at 6pm, so if your in the area come out and join me. (try not to laugh to hard at how much of a Spaz I am on my mountain bike). Pryde lead the ride last week, and he was really patient with me. I was the only one (which I secretly liked because I didn't really want to look that bad in front of lot's of other people). I think it's going to be Pryde or Ryan leading the group. I've heard Ryan is pretty nice to the newbies too.

This is what my shoes look like after the ride!

Now my dilemma will be do I do the mountain bike ride or the Nog Run on Monday nights? I think I'm going to have to switch back and forth on them.

Busy Week, Busy Weekend...

Going through this week...in review.

Monday - housekeeping from coming back Charleston. Recover from the weekend

Tuesday- Work, Swim, Special Olympics

Wednesday- Working interview (went well...we are still working on the details)

Thursday - Work, Swim, Special Olympics

Friday - Volunteer for Team in Training at the Southern Women's Show, Visit a Friend who had had surgery

Saturday - Board of Trustee's Meeting for NCDHA, Visit with friends for the evening

Sunday- Bike, Run, Veg, nap, housework

Wish me LUCK!!

Today I am doing a working interview....and I need some good thoughts coming my way!

What's a working interview....for those of you who think this is a strange thing?

When you do what I do...which I'm a dental hygienist, you have to try out office's and they have to try you out before you get hired. This is way to see if everyone works well together and if everyone likes the level of work happening. It really goes both ways. I'm seeing if I like the fit of this office, if I like the work that the dentists do there, if I like the other staff, how busy the schedule is, if I feel like I have time to get everything done that I need to get done etc etc etc. They are looking for a lot of the same things in me.

I did have a face to face "interview" last week, so this is the next step. I'm a little nervous (just like I am going into a new office to fill in nervous), because every office is different and it takes a little bit to get used to how everything works. Hopefully it'll be a smooth day.

Hello April!!

It's no April's Fools....It's really April!

Okay so on April 1st we drove down to Charleston....one of my favorite cities EVER!! Jason and I, and our friend Chris were going down to run the Cooper River Bridge Run. This is our 2nd year doing it, and it's such FUN!! Last year we had Kim and Missy with us as well...plus the pups (Scout and Ebony-Kim's sweet boy).

The drive down was pretty uneventful. We stayed in N. Charleston this year (last year we were at Folly Beach) at the aloft hotel (a W hotel). Wish I had known I could of brought Scout with us, but I didn't and he stayed with Kim at our house. After we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and got checked in we headed downtown to packet pick up and the expo. It was a MAD HOUSE! 40,000+ runners coming into the city will do that. I don't remember it being so busy last year, but I think we got to the expo earlier. Jason and I went through the line and got our stuff and got out. We couldn't handle to crowds at the expo...it was cramped. We walked around Charleston and hung out for awhile. We met up with Chris and Laura (who drove down separately) for dinner at Barbara Jeans (which was pretty good, easy food) right on Market St. Then some wine (for the boys) and shopping (for the Girls) on Meeting St. We headed back to the hotel in one car (left our car in the parking deck....overnight parking was only $5). Took a shower, set our alarms, and went to sleep!

Race day morning! Slept until 5:45 am. WHAT?? Got ready, and met Chris and Laura in the lobby. Laura drove us to Mt. Pleasant (the start line), rather than us having to take the busses across the bridge from Charleston. THANK YOU LAURA for driving us there in the morning and letting us sleep a little longer!! We stopped at Starbucks so Chris could get his coffee and and bagel (which he really didn't enjoy). We took a few group shots before we separated. Chris was in corral B, and Jason and I were in corral E. Not sure how Chris got put in B, but there you go. We (Jason and I) got into our corral and waited out our time (staggered start this year!!) to get to the start line.

The run was AWESOME! I stayed with Jason the whole time, and he ran it this year over 15 minutes faster than last year! That's AMAZING!! We saw some great costumes along the run. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the whole crew of Sesame Street, I think 5 where's Waldo, and many others! We did our 4 minute run, 1:20 walk through the whole run and only once (going up the bridge) did we stop and walk a little more. Like I said Jason did AWESOME!! Chris had a pretty amazing run, he PR'd his 10K time (pretty amazing since there were 40,889 people out there) with under 1 hour time! WOO HOO!

After the run we met up with everyone (Chris and Laura) and found the car, then went to eat lunch at Jestines. Ummm yeah, excellent Southern Comfort Food! Then back to the hotel for some rest and relaxation....oh yeah and a SHOWER, before going back downtown.

We had dinner at Tristan! Amazing dining experience with some fantastic service and incredible FOOD!! I should of taken more pics, but we just enjoyed the food and the whole experience. Our dinner took about 2 1/2 hours and it was FANTASTIC!! Then some more time downtown looking at shops, one mis-step to the "Rooftop Bar" (GROSS), and then back to the wine bar for some pinot and apparently a fundraiser for Japan.

Sunday morning was enjoyable to sleep in some. Then I met up with Chris in the lobby and we did an easy 2 mile run to check out the new shoes he bought at expo. He loved them, and it felt good to get the blood flowing in my legs again. Then showers and pack up the cars. Then downtown again for brunch at 82 Queen (one of my favorites). Outlet shopping happened for a little bit before the drive home.

Driving home, was tough. Big accident (glad it wasn't us) happened and we were stuck in stop and go traffic for about 10 miles. Ohh and I was driving the "new" TSX (which just happens to be a stick shift). My left quads were burning from the clutch release.

Home at last to find my sweet puppy boy (who is actually 8 years old) who seemed happy to see us, or really needed to pee! I'm so lucky to have great friends who loves my dog too. Kim was awesome and stayed at my house and took care of my sweet boy all weekend. Scout was lucky because one of his best friends was here all weekend (Ebony) and they got to play as much as they wanted....plus I mean there is always TREATS!!