I Love Productive Weekends!

Chris paiting our bedroom!

This past weekend was fun and productive! We started off by running in the Charlotte 10 Miler down in Ballantyne. I won a free entry to this race from Theoden’s (running) facebook page. It worked out well for a running workout Chris had planned for me. I am running the Wrightsville Beach half marathon on March 17th, so just a few weeks left to train. I have a goal, just not sure I am going to be ready for this goal in a few weeks time.

For this race, Chris had a plan for me to run a two mile warm up, then run the first two miles of the race at an 8 minute pace and get progressively faster with each mile. Then a mile cool down to finish. I was a little worried about a hill I heard about around mile 8, almost 6 miles of the race was ran on the greenway, so you think it’s going to be a flat, fast race.

That morning we woke up before 6am to heavy rain. We debated even driving down to the race in the cold rain. I decided since I was awake I might as well go, even if I don’t want to run, I could at least cheer others on.

As soon as we got down there and parked, I realized I forgot my race bib at home! Luckily, they were very kind at registration and let me have a new bib, since they were so nice about this, I decided I had to at least run. So, we went back to the car, sat in there to warm up and headed to the start line just in time for the race to start. No warm up for us, and also decided to just use this as a training run, no workout.

Chris ran with me, and we didn’t end up following the workout as planned, but still did get a good workout. Although, that hill before mile 9 was not pretty. I thought the two previous hills into the neighborhood were the hills people were referring to, but when I saw the crazy hill before mile 9, I was not very happy. I started running, but decided I was going to walk. I gave up. Chris tried to encourage me to keep running; saying the last mile is all downhill to the finish, but I did not believe him. I figured he was saying anything to get me not to walk. I did not like this hill, you go up a steep hill, then turn and go up another steep hill. As soon as we made the next turn, it was all downhill to the finish. I do wish I had previewed the course and knew about these last two miles before the race, because then I would have beeen mentally prepared.  My 9th mile was 8:44 pace, yowza! Then my last mile was 7:15, it was such a nice last mile to the finish line.

Overall I finished 14th female and 2nd in my age group, with an average pace of 7:46. Overall it was fun, and I would do this one again.

When we got home, we got to work in the master bedroom. We recently bought furniture for our bedroom, so we had to paint the room in preparation for the delivery on Friday. We chose a light brown color, not exactly what I had in mind, but I think it will look good with the furniture.

painting over the green walls





the finished room, waiting for furniture

won't be empty for long

We are also having my treadmill that is currently at my parent’s house in NY brought down in a few weeks. So, we had to make room in the other rooms for this. We re-arranged our guest bedroom and also our workout/movie room. Soon we will have a treadmill along with our bike trainer in here. Chris hung up a projection screen and mounted a projector on the opposite wall so we can watch movies while working out or relaxing.

workout/movie room

sitting down to watch a movie Saturday night

Sunday, Chris was able to clean out the gutters, finally. It seems like it is always raining down here so we were glad to get this finally taken care of on such a nice day. We also got a bike ride in through Davidson earlier in the day. It felt like a spring day and it was nice to be outside enjoying the weather!

Chris's Dad helped holding and moving the ladder

Just 40 more days until our wedding!!!

Less than 2 Months!!

Our wedding site, how beautiful is this?!!


Chris has been reminding me lately that I have not posted anything on here in a very long time. So, I am going to give a wedding update. We are now just 52 days away from our trip to Jamaica, and 55 days away from our wedding! I am trying to make sure we are getting everything done that needs to be done. We’re almost there, I still need me dress alterations, Chris’s wedding ring and a few minor items finished/bought.


We came close to missing the deadline for getting our documentation sent in for our marriage license. Since we booked our trip/wedding almost a year ago, I couldn’t remember what we did do and what we didn’t do. Apparently, we did not fill out the application for our marriage license, to make our wedding legal. We found this out on the Friday evening of my college girl’s weekend for my bachelorette/shower/birthday celebration. We needed to have our application sent in, along with a notarized copy of each of our birth certificates. This had to be received in the Sandals/Beaches Miami office at least 60 days before our arrival in Jamaica. We had just 8 days, 5 business days, to get our birth certificates copied/notarized and delivered to the Miami office. This was a little stressful, considering if it was not received in time the resort would not perform our wedding. Also, Chris did not have a copy of his birth certificate so he had to make time to visit the office of vitals downtown to get his birth certificate. He was also, of course, out of town until Monday evening. Thankfully, it all worked out. He got his certificate on Tuesday, I had mine notarized and we overnighted it down to the Miami office. PHEW!!

As I mentioned earlier, my college girl friends organized a shower/bachelorette/birthday weekend for me here in Charlotte. This was the last weekend in January, and we had such a great time! It is so fun to get together with these girls; it is always like no time has passed when we all hang out, just like old times! Catherine, Jaime and Kara planned the fun-filled weekend, it was perfect! Jess flew in on Wednesday from Colorado, Kara flew in Thursday from Ohio, Beth flew in Friday from Long Island, Shannon from Chicago and Faz from NJ (she almost didn’t make it with the blizzard we were getting in Charlotte :))

We started the weekend with a home cooked chicken parmesan dinner at Catherine’s house, hanging out and catching up with some wine, of course. (Thanks to Catherine’s husband, Matt, for sponsoring us with endless wine this weekend!) Saturday morning, a group of us headed out to get a cold run in before the festivities began. They had a shower for me during the day, followed by a little flip cup outside and then a trip to the bowling alley for food and a couple games. After that we came back to Catherine’s house and got ready to go dancing uptown! It was such a great weekend and I’m so thankful for all my friends who planned the weekend, flew down to Charlotte to celebrate with me, and my friends in Charlotte who came over/out to celebrate with us all!

I think everything else is on track, we’re getting very excited! We have 25 guests coming to celebrate our wedding with us in Jamaica! All the minor details are taken care of, and we are getting anxious!!

I have been slowly working on my bouquet for the wedding, it is almost done. I started this project last year, after seeing a picture of a similar bouquet on Pinterest. I just hope it all stays intact on the flight to Jamaica!

Our dining room table has turned into my crafting table!


I saw these shoes as soon as I walked into the store and fell in love with them right away. I love these shoes, and am excited to wear them with my wedding dress!

My wedding band came in as well!

I would post a picture of my dress, but guess I shouldn’t do that before the wedding. I love it! Will post pictures after the wedding!

Other than that, we have been busy doing work in and around our house. Chris and I took a trip to Greenville, SC last weekend to celebrate both of our birthdays together. We took Flat Stanley with us as well (for Alex's classroom.)

We stopped at Crowder's Mountain on the way home to hike!

Life has been treating us well this year, so excited for April 6th!!

Meeting Katie Holmes and Suri...well, not really meeting...

I am first going to highlight my encounter with Katie Holmes and the infamous Suri Cruise.

Here is the first picture! On Saturday, Chris and I met up with my friend John Rogers and his girlfriend, Stephanie at Pershing Square Cafe. They have great brunches right by Grand Central Station!

They decided to walk with us back to our hotel after brunch and enjoy the city. We walked through Bryant Park and saw the skating rink set up. We then stopped in Rockefeller Center and viewed the skating rink there and Democracy Plaza. From there we went to Central Park to walk around and see our THIRD skating rink of the day!

BUT, this post is about Katie and Suri!

So, after we spent time in Central Park I asked John and Stephanie if they wanted to come with us to have a drink at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Our hotel, The Essex House, is overlooking Central Park, but unless you have a Central Park view, which we didn't have, you don't see much. I asked our concierge if there was anywhere to go that had a great view of the park and he recommended the Mandarin Oriental. John and Stephanie were happy to join us.

We went up to the lounge area and we could see the breathtaking views! We waited for a table for about ten minutes. The drinks were pricey, but worth it for the view. The staff were all so nice and accommadating.

Okay, now onto to the real story...the point of this post...Katie and Suri!

Chris decided he had to get a run in, so was planning to meet up with our friend Bjorn, who travelled from Sweden for the marathon. Chris left after one drink to meet up with Bjorn for a run through Central Park. John, Stephanie and I stayed for one more drink. Afterall, the views were amazing :)

As we were ordering our second drinks, a woman walked by. All I noticed was a woman carrying, what looked like a stuffed animal, kids stuff, all dis-oriented by a child. I saw Stephanie nudge John and say, "don't we know her?"

I thought, why would they know a woman with a child?

I then looked up, because they were walking in my view and were seated directly in front of me. I said, she looks so much like Katie Holmes. Stephanie said, YES, that's who I thought it was, but I didn't want to say that as she walked by.

I couldn't help staring, I mean, she was directly in front of me, in my view of the skyline of NYC.

You know when you go to a restaurant and there is a child that does not stop whining/crying. This was Suri. She was LOUD. I thought, well, I don't mind b/c, well, it's Suri, but at the same time. She was loud! Shut that girl up! I could tell Katie was trying her best to get her to settle down. Later I learned, through Perez Hilton, that they had just come from Katie's Broadway play practice and Suri was bored and tired from sitting through it.

I was beside myself at this point. I was star struck. I held everything back from taking a picture with our Canon Rebel. Instead I just pretended I was taking pictures of the skyline and John and Stephanie, in front of me, on my iphone. Katie surely caught me, as I will document in a picture below. Here is all that I took. Pardon the blur.

While we were there, we noticed that they roped off our small section. As tables left, they weren't letting anyone else sit in our section. Also, when Stephanie, John and I went to take pic's by the window of the skyline there was a waitress in place by Katie's table, which we were sure was there to make sure we did not take pic's of them.

Finally, we got up to leave. At the same time, Katie must of been ready to go as well. Beacuse as we walked to the elevator, Katie and Suri were right behind us. We waited by the elevator with them!

It was a bit awkard, mainly becuase I felt she knew I was taking pictures of her. Also, because even if she didn't know, she knew, we knew who she was. Suri was on the phone saying, very loudly..."I love you Daddy" at least three times. Then Katie took the phone and told, we presume, Tom Cruise, where they were going next.

As we waited, and they were off the phone, Katie also said loudly..."Suri, Suri, Suri" So, she was, in no way, trying to hide their identity. She was explaining to Suri that they would be seeing (someone?) tomorrow.

The elevator came up and we all got on. It was a small elevator and I was shoulder to shoulder with Katie. She is very tall. It was awkward. The silence got the best of me, so I had to talk. I just said dumb stuff to John and Stephanie, while everyone else was silent, even little Suri.

We got off the elevator, they followed us out the doors into Columbus Circle and we did not see them again.

Pretty surreal experience nonetheless. Got us all pretty starstruck!

As for what they ate/drank. I saw they had sliders, I think this was Suri's meal, with french fries. Suri also had some sort of red drink that she was sucking down. Katie, it looked like, had a Diet Coke and her food was hidden to the window, but she was chowing down. Their table was full with food.

Most people say that when they see celebrities, they are always so much thinner than what they seem on screen. I will say that Katie did not look 'skinny' to me. She looked normal, healthy, good. She was much taller than what I thought of her, but I am short.

Katie, appeared to me to be a great mom, she had no nanny with her, she was very stearn with her when she acted up and she seemed very loving. I give Katie an A+. (You know, becuase I judge celebrities often!)

My Thoughts and Experience with the NYC Marathon 2013

I am going to put my thoughts out there on the NYC Marathon this year. Some people may have their own opinions and not agree with how I feel about it, which is alright.

This was a very difficult decision, deciding if we should go to NYC in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. I did believe it should have been canceled, and I would have supported this decision 100%. From watching the news, we got an idea of what was going on up there. My biggest concern was starting the race in Staten Island, which was hit by this storm in a terrible way. Hearing the story of the two and four year olds who lost their lives in this storm was devastating. Starting a marathon on this island seemed wrong.

As days went on, NYRR and Mayor Bloomberg announced that the marathon was to go on, and that this was the best thing for the city. The city needed the runners to still come to the city and even more so now, to help the economy. I do not live in NYC, so if the mayor of the city believes the marathon should go on; I decided to support his decision. I remember after 9-11, so much of the local economy was hurting because so many people canceled their trips. I spoke with friends who live in the city and they also thought it was best to come to town.

Other factors that were weighing on my mind were my health. I had been sick for a week and a half leading up to our trip. I was still not fully over my illness. I had picked up an antibiotic two days before our departure, and felt a world different, but I was still fighting a cough. I also had not run for a week and a half leading up to our trip because of my illness. I decided I was still going to go, if I ran or not. I was feeling better each day, and maybe by Sunday I would feel well enough to get through the marathon. I already knew my time was not going to be great for the race since my training for the marathon had been less than par, so I was okay with if this had to turn into a walk/run by the end of it.

The NYC Marathon has always been my dream. NYC is my favorite city in the world. I have never cared about running the Boston Marathon, which is many runners dream. For me, it has always been NYC. I got into the race by the lottery, missing out 3 years in a row; I was automatically in this year. I saved up hotel reward points for a year, booked my flight in January, my parents planned to come to the city with us, and Chris and I decided to run for something more this year, and so we chose to raise money for The Isabella Santos Foundation and their fight to end childhood cancer. We raised over $1300, all of which went straight to the foundation.

Since this marathon was still on schedule, we were going. Our flights were never canceled leading up to the race, so we didn’t have to mess with any rescheduling.

I did feel some negativity from online social media sites about still going to NYC. I read news publications and on facebook about people who were canceling their trips for the marathon because they did not feel it was right for them to go. I understood this and supported them in their decision. Although, I did feel that people who chose not to go, and people who just did not feel anyone should go, (even if they had nothing to do with the marathon,) were trying to guilt us and others into not going. Some people were acting like martyrs in their decision not to go. This I really did not understand. I understand if you feel bad about going to run the marathon so you choose not to, but keep your opinions on others to yourself.

I can tell you that we did not take anyone’s seat on a flight to NYC, as our flight to LaGuardia on Friday morning was less than half full. When we got to the airport, we had no problems getting right to Manhattan on a shuttle. The tunnels were still closed, so the trip into the city took a few minutes longer than usual, but still, not long. Once we got into Manhattan, it looked like business as usual. We chose to walk from Port Authority to our hotel on Central Park South. When I am in NYC I like to walk everywhere, if we wanted to take a cab or the subway to our hotel, it would have been no problem. I never noticed cabs in short supply on our trip. I have been to NYC many, many times, and the city was just as crowded as it ever has been. I also believe that us keeping our hotel reservations, in no way took away from anyone who was hit by the storm to have a hotel room. Our hotel was by Central Park, the majority of people hit by the storm would have a hard time getting to this hotel and I also don’t think they would be spending $600/night on a hotel room(again, we used hotel points). So, if we were to cancel our trip, and give up our room for someone who needed it more, it probably would have just gone to waste.

On the other hand, if someone was to give up their room, but actually still pay for their stay and donate it to someone in need, well then yes, that would be a mighty good deed!

Chris and I went to the expo on Friday afternoon at lunch time. We took the subway from our hotel to get there faster so we could get lunch after. This was the only time we took the subway our whole trip, and it was free on Friday, which was great! The expo had a line wrapped around the building to just get in to the expo. We did not expect this at noon on Friday, especially hearing that so many people were not coming to the marathon anymore. We waited 20 minutes before we got into the expo and then were quickly able to get our bibs and shirts. The expo was slammed so we got out of there as quick as possible. This also made us feel good about the marathon again, seeing everyone there so excited for the event and all the volunteers in full support.

Chris and I then stopped to have lunch at an Irish bar/restaurant before making our way to Times Square to wait in the TKTS line for a Broadway show that night. Time Square was just as packed as any other trip I have been on to NYC. We got our tickets and walked back to our hotel. We needed a nap after getting up at 3am for our flight. When I woke up I checked facebook on my phone and saw a post by Théoden Janes about the marathon, and saying that is still may be canceled. As I scrolled down to comments, I saw that people were confirming that it was, in fact, canceled. I shared the news with Chris. It was pretty hard to believe after just being at the expo and watching the news and Bloomberg that day saying it was still going to happen without a doubt. We texted people who were working the expo and they confirmed the news.

My thoughts on the decision at this point were that it was just wrong. I was still in full support of the marathon being canceled due to the circumstances, but this late in the game was not right. There were so many of us here in the city, some from so much further than us. They never should have announced with full certainty that the marathon was on days ago.

For many of us, a trip to NYC is not an easy thing to afford. Not to mention the $250 fee to run the marathon. One reason I decided to make the trip was because I did not know if I would ever be able to have the opportunity to run in the NYC marathon again. If I deferred to 2013, I would still have to pay the $250 to run, plus buy another flight to the city, and pay for hotels, because not sure I would be able to have enough hotel points again. Chris and I are also getting married in 2013, so we may not have the vacation days to use for the trip, or the money, after all the finances for the wedding. If I could not make it back in 2013, I don’t know that I would ever get in again. The qualifying time has been changed to a much faster time that I don’t see myself ever attaining.

I still have not heard anything as to what the NYRR plans to do for those of us who made it to the city for the marathon and did not choose to defer. I am not even sure if we get automatic entry into the marathon next year (automatic entry just means a spot, we would still have to pay the $250 fee to register.) In my opinion, I think we should get automatic entry into a future NYC marathon, but it should not have to be 2013. Maybe a choice of one in the next 5 years? I know this will not happen, just wishful thinking. It is hard to get there two years in a row. Thing is, NYC marathon will go on, and they will still sell out, so they really don’t have to do anything.

When we found out there was no marathon, we were disappointed, but in support and chose to make the best of our trip. We were, of course, in NYC! It would now just be a vacation. I will write another post on how much fun we had on our trip and everything we saw and did!

One thing I really wanted to do, since we were there, was to volunteer to help relief efforts. I posted on facebook, asking for people to let me know where we could go to do this. I figured it would be easy to find an organization to volunteer with. I looked into the links I received and it left me confused on how to still actually help. Upper Manhattan was business as usual, but lower Manhattan was not, and not easy to get to, especially with not being a New Yorker.

I talked with a couple friends who live in NYC and they said they have been having a hard time with volunteering themselves. They said it has not been easy trying to help. One of my friends is on a volunteer committee for the city and she said that any time slots open up to register to help, they fill up so quickly that she still has not been able to find a volunteer slot. My other friend said the volunteer postings are just so vague it is hard to tell exactly where to go to help and how to get there.

I later saw postings on facebook of groups of runners who went to Staten Island to volunteer, but these opportunities were not communicated to everyone. It seemed like if you came here with a group or charity group, these were the ones who were organizing, with their groups, to help and organize ways to get there. There really was no communication that we saw on how to help. Even my friends who were not running and lived in NYC were hoping the Road Runners would communicate ways to help for everyone.

It seems that the perception given on TV to the rest of the world is not as accurate as if you are there. Upper Manhattan seemed to us to be just as crowded as ever, business as usual. It was not hard at all to get around, if you wanted a taxi, there were plenty. If you wanted to take the subway from 34th Street up, you could. Tour busses were running as normal, the city was bustling as ever before.

If we can afford to go to NYC for the marathon next year, and the timing is right, we will be there. If not, maybe one day, in years to come, I will get into the marathon through the lottery and will get to finally run in the NYC marathon. Either way, I will definitely be back to this wonderful city!

1 week before NYC Marathon, Sick :(

It is ONE week before the NYC Marathon, and I feel like this:

I started to feel a little sick on Tuesday and it got worse on Wednesday and Thursday, my whole body ached, everything hurt. I thought, from previous experience, that I had the flu. So, I made an appt. with my doctor so that I could get some meds to get this out of my system ASAP, with the marathon being so close. Normally, I wouldn't bother and would just let it pass in time. I was running a fever and just feeling like I got ran over by a car. My doctor said they have not seen any cases of the flu this year so she would be surprised if that is what I had, but she decided to test me for the flu as well as get a CBC and a blood test to test my electrolytes. This was Friday, the flu test came back negative and my CBC came back normal. She said it is a virus and just to take things conservatively and it will pass in time. My electrolyte test will come back on Monday.

Saturday I went out for a run with Chris and made it about 1.5 miles before I had to walk back home. My body just felt so weak to run. I decided I would leave my 8-10 miler for Sunday, and hopefully feel better. This morning, Sunday, Chris and I ran at Latta Plantation and I just felt terrible, still. My body felt so weak, it was just so hard to run. When we stopped at about 3.5 miles, I had a really hard time breathing, I felt like my chest was closing in on me. I then just kept coughing about the whole walk back to the car. Realizing that my body is just not ready to run still. Maybe tomorrow? Maybe just take it easy and get this out of my system and hopefully feel 100% on Sunday for the marathon? I guess the advice would be to cross train this week. Ride my bike, spin, swim. Ughhh. Oh, well. It is what it is. This girl just ain't cut out to run marathons. If it's not one thing, it's another. It is what it is.

I am THANKFUL that I can run, I get to go to NYC and RUN in the marathon...the ONLY marathon, I've ever really wanted to do, I'm healthy (minus this minor setback,) and I was able to get my 20 mile long run in a couple weeks ago. So, it's not so bad! :)

In other news, Chris and I did not make plans for the weekend, since I wasn't sure how I would be feeling, so Saturday we ventured out for a car ride in the mountains. We pulled off a couple places to walk around, the leaves are just beautiful right now! We saw a sign for the 'Bunker Hill Covered Bridge' off of I-40 West. I thought this sounded fun, so we followed the signs. They took us to the entrance to the trail for the bridge. It was not a very long trail, but it was pretty, so many trees with pretty leaves. We learned that the Bunker Hill Bridge was built in 1895 and is one of the two covered bridges left in NC. Pretty exciting stuff, huh? Ha. Yeah, there wasn't much to it. Here's a couple pictures.

We had to get back to go to the Latta Plantation Ghost Walk. I had never been to Latta Plantation before this, and have always wanted to go to one of their Civil War reenactments. It's a pretty cool place. Their ghost walk was very well organized and staged. Nothing real scary, many characters that jump out at you in the woods, but mostly it's funny. They got me a couple times!

This morning, I went to watch Chris run in the Monster Dash 5k (before heading to Latta to run,) put on by RunningWorks. Taken from their website: 'RunningWorks is a non-profit running program founded to encourage the homeless community to rediscover the power of teamwork, discipline, confidence and respect for each other one stride at a time.'

Good Event, great foundation!

I am going to sign off now since I took some NyQuil about half an hour ago. Trying to get some rest today while Chris is at his friend's house watching football. I've been taking Epsom salt baths everday, doubling up on my Greens and drinking green tea. Hoping to knock this sickness out of my system ASAP!

Disney World, new Garmin and Halloween Party!

This past week flew by! I was in Orlando from Tuesday through Thursday night for work meetings. I didn't know what was on the schedule while we were down there, but it was my second time ever in Orlando, and I still had never been to Disney World. I was very excited to learn that on Wednesday they arranged for us to be picked up from our hotel and taken to Epcot for the Wine and Dine Festival! We were there from 4-9:30pm, so we got to stay for the firework show, it was great! We only went on one ride, since the lines were so long, but the ride was awesome, it was 'Soarin' which is a ride that simulates hang-gliding over California. It is so cool, you even smell different trees as you fly above. Here's a link to check it out here. It was worth the hour wait for sure! We then walked around the Wine and Dine Festival. We ate at the pizzeria in Italy. There were six of us, so we ordered two of the large pizzas, assuming they were the big round pizzas we saw that everyone had. When they were delivered to our table we were very surprised to see how big they were. Between the six of us, we almost ate both of them! They were so good.

Saturday morning Chris and I headed to Mallard Creek Greenway for a 12 mile run. I was not at all in the mood to run. For some reason, I have not been into running this past week. I'm not burnt out, since I haven't been following any training plan in preparation for the NYC Marathon, and I have not been running high mileage weeks at all. I have gone over 30 miles maybe two or three times. So, I don't feel very prepared for this marathon, but feel comfortable that I will at least get through it and hopefully feel good at an easy pace. It ended up being a really nice day for a run and with all the leaves changing it was pretty, and enjoyable for the most part. I was able to use my new Garmin 405 watch. I ordered a refurbished one online for just $125.

When we came home we started preparing for our Halloween/housewarming party. We decided to have this party in part for a fundraiser for the Isabella Santos Foundation. We asked our guests that instead of bringing anything over for the party that they make a donation to our fundraising page: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/karinandchris/isabella-santos-foundation-5k-for-kids-cancer. We are so excited to say that we have raised $1,040!! I am so grateful to everyone who made a donation!!

The party was so much fun, so glad so many people made the ride up to the burbs to hang out with us! Here are some pictures below...

Okay, this little guy was not at our party, but him in his little pumpkin costume is too cute not to post. This is my nephew, Andy.

Chris originally dressed up as a mummy, but the costume did not stay on very well, so he changed into a Kill Bill costume that I had in my Halloween costume box.

This morning we were able to sleep in, and I enjoyed laying around for a while on the couch and catching up on some Modern Family episodes on Hulu Plus. Finally, I got up and Chris and I took a walk over to Birkdale Village and around our neighborhood. We even stopped by the playground on the way home!

The weekends are wearing me out...

Our house is finally starting to really feel like home. Boxes are almost all unpacked, pictures are going up on the walls, we're filling in empty spaces.

This weekend we had a busy day on Saturday, with our 5am wake up call to run and then LungStrong 15k. We were able to come back home and get in a little nap. We then went to a little arts and crafts festival by our house and then to pick out pumpkins. Chris's sister, Sarah, also stopped by for a quick visit!

On Sunday we got straight to work. Chris fixed the downstairs bathroom, when we had the new floors put in, they took out the toilet and pedastal on sink to lay the floor, but they did not put them back. Apparently they do not do this, but they never told us this to begin with. So, Chris got to put everything back together.

I got to work in the office, filing all our new home paperwork and going through a few boxes of 'office' stuff. This was a bigger project than it sounds! The office is now complete.

Chris's grandmother came by in the afternoon to help us with yardwork. She brought many, many plants and flowers to plant.

She was a great help, gardening is her hobby, she knows everything about every flower/plant out there. This probably wouldn't have happened for a long time if it wasn't for her help!

More pretty flowers and plants. We don't have a chance remembering what all is back there now! I know she brought us some roses, gerber daisies (my favorite,) azaleas, camellias, elephant ears, pansies, dragon snappers (I think that's what they're called,) and so many more!

After all the yard work, she taught us how to re-screen our window screens. Most all of our screens have holes in them or are just worn out. Three screens are all done, many more to finish.

It is all coming together though, slowly but surely!

OHHH, also a very big shoutout to my parents who are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary today in Chicago!!!