I'm about to start training again right after the New Year. Last year was plagued with injuries, lack of training, and more injuries. After hurting myself in June at the Vancouver Marathon, I basically QUIT. I walked a couple short events and then the 3-Day, 60 miles event in September. I also did two half marathons in October ... all without training. I was definitely slow and sluggish but enjoyed them. Although I do remember complaining a bit (okay... quite a bit!!) that I was out of shape!
Without training, a lot of my bad habits returned, I rarely went to the gym and I haven't lost any weight. In fact, I gained. Naturally. Hopefully by refocusing and getting back out there on the pavement, I will start watching my diet (good performance requires good nutrition!) and shed the extra pounds.
I'm not real pleased with myself. I completely lost control. I have to find it... AGAIN - the story of my life.
I don't know what my race schedule will be but I'm not doing any of them without the proper training. I'm tired of being on the injured list.
My first event of 2014 will be the Hazel Dell Half at the end of February, which I'm really looking forward to! Training starts January 5th. Are you ready, Bullseye?!
It's time to put the injuries and lack of control - in so many areas of my life - of 2013 behind me (and I don't mean on my butt!) and get moving!
I'm not finished with my marathon days... not yet. I'm not finished with my weight loss goals... not by a long shot.
Here's to a happy, healthy and productive 2014!
----------------------------------
"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving!" Albert Einstein
Friday, December 20, 2013
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
November Thankfulness
We tend to use the month of November to tell people what we are thankful for. Why we don’t discuss these things year around is beyond me. There is ALWAYS something to be thankful for. Right?! Maybe we should start sharing our thankfulness once a month instead of just the 30 days of November. Obviously we should share our thankfulness EVERY DAY but if we did that, people would stop paying attention to us. Let's pick something to be thankful for each month and let it be known. Blog about it. Share it on Facebook or Twitter. Shout it out to the world! There is always, always, always something to be thankful for! Who’s with me on this?
Besides the obvious - thankful for family, friends, food, a roof over my head, a warm bed to sleep in every night, money for necessities (and then some), etc., etc., etc…. I want to focus on one thing this month – MY JOB.
I am very thankful for my job! I was hired in August and I absolutely love it! I can’t say enough wonderful things about the company, my co-workers, my bosses, and everyone else that works there! I honestly cannot find one single negative thing to say! There are no tempers flaring... no slammed doors... no petty gossip... no backstabbing! There is a ton of appreciation, no limit to teamwork, and plenty of smiles! This isn’t your typical law firm - at least not like the ones I've known in the past. This place is at the top of the list! I’m not sure how one company can hire so many wonderful people and not have a single bad egg but the fact that the Operations Manager (HR) has been there for 32 years probably says is all – she knows how to pick them! Many employees have been there for many years with no plans of leaving. Why would they?! The company treats its employees with respect and appreciation. (After all, the wheels wouldn’t turn without the hard work of the staff, correct?) I’m amazed and I feel truly blessed to have found this opportunity. I never wanted to return to a law firm after being laid off in 2010 (it left a bad taste in my mouth) but after spending a year in the financial business (I was in a very small office but it too was full of wonderful and giving people!), I decided to go back to where I was the most comfortable and knowledgeable about my job - the law firm. And I’m so happy I did!
Being out of the business for three years, I was in the dark about how some of the courts now handle things and of course all firms do things differently, as well as individual attorneys, so I’ve had to learn A LOT - and I’m still learning every day - but I’ve had no end of help from everyone around me from accounting, to paralegals, secretaries, assistants, and the lawyers themselves! They are all happy to help me learn their way of doing things and all of the procedures. What a great place to be employed!
After two years of not working, I walked into the financial business a very beat down individual with absolutely zero self-confidence. I felt “stupid” and “worthless.” Being laid off was so traumatic for me and sent me into a very dark world of depression, one I wasn’t sure I would ever find my way out of. But finally being given the opportunity to work in a part-time job (at least that's how it started) gave me the ability to get my feet wet in the working world again and the opportunity to learn something new – proving to myself that I actually COULD learn. I really appreciated having the job and made some real friends there, who I miss now but know they are happy for me. It was a great job and it was exactly what I needed to get myself working again and to rebuild my confidence. I was sad to leave the people I worked with - I miss them all - but I knew I was making the best decision for me in the long run. They understood that too and I left knowing I could always return. (That's such a wonderful feeling...)
I'm very happy in my new environment and I feel very fortunate.
I'm very, very thankful for my job.
Besides the obvious - thankful for family, friends, food, a roof over my head, a warm bed to sleep in every night, money for necessities (and then some), etc., etc., etc…. I want to focus on one thing this month – MY JOB.
I am very thankful for my job! I was hired in August and I absolutely love it! I can’t say enough wonderful things about the company, my co-workers, my bosses, and everyone else that works there! I honestly cannot find one single negative thing to say! There are no tempers flaring... no slammed doors... no petty gossip... no backstabbing! There is a ton of appreciation, no limit to teamwork, and plenty of smiles! This isn’t your typical law firm - at least not like the ones I've known in the past. This place is at the top of the list! I’m not sure how one company can hire so many wonderful people and not have a single bad egg but the fact that the Operations Manager (HR) has been there for 32 years probably says is all – she knows how to pick them! Many employees have been there for many years with no plans of leaving. Why would they?! The company treats its employees with respect and appreciation. (After all, the wheels wouldn’t turn without the hard work of the staff, correct?) I’m amazed and I feel truly blessed to have found this opportunity. I never wanted to return to a law firm after being laid off in 2010 (it left a bad taste in my mouth) but after spending a year in the financial business (I was in a very small office but it too was full of wonderful and giving people!), I decided to go back to where I was the most comfortable and knowledgeable about my job - the law firm. And I’m so happy I did!
Being out of the business for three years, I was in the dark about how some of the courts now handle things and of course all firms do things differently, as well as individual attorneys, so I’ve had to learn A LOT - and I’m still learning every day - but I’ve had no end of help from everyone around me from accounting, to paralegals, secretaries, assistants, and the lawyers themselves! They are all happy to help me learn their way of doing things and all of the procedures. What a great place to be employed!
After two years of not working, I walked into the financial business a very beat down individual with absolutely zero self-confidence. I felt “stupid” and “worthless.” Being laid off was so traumatic for me and sent me into a very dark world of depression, one I wasn’t sure I would ever find my way out of. But finally being given the opportunity to work in a part-time job (at least that's how it started) gave me the ability to get my feet wet in the working world again and the opportunity to learn something new – proving to myself that I actually COULD learn. I really appreciated having the job and made some real friends there, who I miss now but know they are happy for me. It was a great job and it was exactly what I needed to get myself working again and to rebuild my confidence. I was sad to leave the people I worked with - I miss them all - but I knew I was making the best decision for me in the long run. They understood that too and I left knowing I could always return. (That's such a wonderful feeling...)
I'm very happy in my new environment and I feel very fortunate.
I'm very, very thankful for my job.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Veteran's Day
Thank you to all the Veterans out there, especially my Dad and Uncle Jim, for serving – today, yesterday, and tomorrow - to protect our Country. Today is YOUR day and a day we appreciate you immensely!
xoxo
Verse Salute
by Paul Berchtold, September, 2010
O mixed up world, that needs a bunch of wars,
To keep people free, and also our shores,
But without the war there is no peace,
Justice can't flourish, nor wealth increase.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
O brave ones willing, to protect and serve,
Our freedoms defend, our values preserve,
Willing to go, and pay the price,
Willing to make, every sacrifice.
O brave ones leaving, your family and friends,
Ready to travel, to the world's ends,
Base to base, and port to port,
Upholding our country, with your support.
O brave ones learning, how to fight,
Properly use, all your might,
To stop evil marching, all over the place,
Shaking it's fist, right in your face.
O brave ones united, in lawful pride,
Fighting as a team, side by side,
Then the shocking, horrible time,
Your closest friends, cut down in their prime.
O brave ones crying, seeing black and blue,
O brave ones hurting, through and through,
O brave ones crying, many tears shed,
O brave ones shocked, dying, dead.
O brave ones surviving, but barely so,
Cruel the pain, crazy the foe,
Why not me, why my best friend,
Will this dark blackness never end?
O brave one coming back from war,
A different person, shaken to the core,
What a reception, some gave you welcome,
Some met you with hatred, treating you like scum.
O brave ones shedding exhausting tears,
Wanting to crawl and hide, for the rest of your years,
Your mind seems scarred, for the rest of your life,
Who'd understand, stories of your strife?
O brave ones feeling, your life's in shatters,
Alive or dead, it hardly any more matters,
You once thought you'd take it, now it's so much more,
You never imagined, this horror of war,
O brave ones thinking, you'd practically died,
Your mind tortured, burned, seared and fried,
Your life feels worthless, over and done.
Your soul seems lost, your spirit gone.
O brave ones whose sacrifice, seems murky, muddy, lost,
Too much pain, too high a cost.
O brave ones mixed up, in the worlds war,
What seems lost to you, I see more.
O brave ones thinking, you aren't so brave,
It's not how you look and feel, it's what you gave,
War isn't pretty, there's no beauty,
But when it counted, you did your duty.
O brave ones hurting, only feeling pain,
Gone your energy, can't get it back again,
Sit with me when you're at your deepest low,
There's a few little things I'd like to show.
O brave ones look, see the children playing?
They're free to walk to school without a slaying,
You helped bring freedom all the way back home,
May I hug you, Soldier? Huge big welcome!
O brave ones look, see, the flowers blowing,
You're the ones that kept our freedom water flowing,
You planted seeds, in the mud and gloom,
You give each of us, a chance to sweetly bloom.
O brave ones breathe, the air so fresh and free,
Your spirit lives on forever, for all eternity,
Receive from me today, a little hopeful ray,
Veteran [Soldier], I deeply wish for you, the best sunshiny day.
O brave ones when, I see your graying hair,
You are the reminder, to go and do and dare,
To walk in your footsteps, with spirit brave and free,
And always leave for others, a better legacy.
O brave ones without you, we just might be,
Wondering if we live in, the land of the free,
Without you there's a chance, we'd each be a slave,
Here with us you make it now, the land of the brave.
God bless America, but God bless you first,
You were His front line, wherever you traversed.
Wars on earth cause, so much tears and grief,
God now shed on you, the deepest sweet relief.
O brave ones showing, how to do my part,
Imitate your courage, your big and generous heart.
When on earth or in Heaven, our first meeting be,
Count me in as one of you, my dearest family.
Amen.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Lady Cave
I've always said that when my kids moved out of the house, Husband would get his own Man Cave - a room of his own where he can watch TV, drink beer, eat pizza and burp until his heart's content. However, I've recently changed my mind.
My daughter moved out and left me with an empty space. After getting past the pain of her not living under the same roof and then past the job of painting, cleaning and rearranging... I've decided Husband can't have the room at all! I have put it to much better use than creating a stinky Man Cave! My darling daughter's room is now MINE! It has become my "LADY CAVE" and NO BOYS ALLOWED! (except for the four-legged ones, of course!)
I love it!
I have my OWN room in the house now - a place to get away from the noise of Husband's movies, music and sunflower seed snappin' and crackin'! I have a place to quietly read my book, lounge around and daydream, play on my iPad, or watch TV. I can watch what I want to watch when I want to watch it! Hurray! No more viewing bloodied faces on MMA! No more seeing nasty crime scenes on CSI! No more soccer games with the annoying announcers! (Sorry to all of you soccer fans out there! I like the game, just not the announcers. In my house they are usually in Spanish and the constant chatter and the loud annoying GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL makes me crazy!! Not to mention all of Husband's hooting and hollering going on at the same time!)
TOTAL BLISS! Who knew all I needed was my own personal cave?!
Ladies... forget the Man Caves! Create your own pretty smelling, CLEAN and beautifully decorated Lady Cave! Oh, and put a lock on the door too! It's YOURS! ;)
Thank you Matthew for using those crappy tools we found the in garage to put together my table - it took a long time and I really appreciate it - even though you STILL aren't allowed in my Cave! heh heh
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Vegas in September!
September 19th was my sister Cynthia's 50th birthday! Cynthia wanted to celebrate her birthday in style and go to Vegas! During the weekend of the 19th, I was walking the 3-Day for breast cancer so Cynthia decided to postpone her Vegas trip for a week so I could attend. After all, it made no real difference to her to put it off a week because September was her "BIRTHDAY MONTH" and she had been and was still celebrating for the entire month! (She has already warned her husband and the rest of us... when she turns 60... it will be her BIRTHDAY YEAR! That husband of hers better start saving his dollars NOW!)
Friday after work I flew out of Portland down to Vegas. It is just under a two hour flight and arriving at 9:00 p.m. into a city that never sleeps was no big deal at all. I drank a latte on the plane so I would be wide awake when I arrived. (I never drink caffeine after 2:00 p.m., EVER! I'm definitely a morning person more than a night owl so the caffeine was badly needed.)
After taking a shuttle from the Vegas airport to our hotel, my brother, Russ, met me in the lobby with beer in hand! (Did I mention how much I LOVE VEGAS?!)
We put my belongings in our room at the Luxor (we stayed in the pyramid)...
and then met up with Cynthia and her husband, Craig, next door at the Mandalay Bay. (The Mandalay Bay was sold out so we stayed as close as we could to them. In fact, we didn't even have to venture outside to get to their hotel, the two were connected by a mall.)
At that moment, my Vegas party started!
Of course I was way behind the rest of them - those party hounds - so Russ thought a fancy shot of Patron ... and then another... was the way to help me catch up!
Cynthia had to have one of her own too! After all... she was the BIRTHDAY GIRL!
That's really all it took and oh my... the PARTY started! Heather was in town! (Those who know me personally know who HEATHER is! heh heh) We had a couple more drinks (oh dear!) and then I joined Russ in having a Genesis beer (it's very dark and syrupy and in no way a good chaser for shots of patron! blah!).
At that point I could drink no more! While Craig was playing the slots, Cynthia, Russ and I were drinking, talking, laughing and having a great visit! It isn't often the three of us are together and very rarely is it JUST the three of us. We were having a "sibling party" and it was quite nice and very special. We made the most of it. In fact, we ALMOST got Cynthia to get her first tattoo! She wants one so badly but just hasn't taken that final step to get it done. She wants a tiny little frog on her arm and asked if I would get a matching one? I said, "Of course I will get a matching mole with you!" (Ok, she didn't really want it quite as small as a freckle but compared to mine that I already have, her frog was going to be T.I.N.Y.) In the end, she didn't get it... she was not quite ready.
Next time my dear Sister... next time!
I don't know what time we decided to stumble off to our rooms but I was snockered and had to eat! (I missed dinner because of the timing of my flight.) Russ and I had the most awesome fish and chips at an Irish pub and to this moment my mouth is still watering every time I think of how good that fish was. Awesome.
The next morning Russ and I both woke up with headaches and went straight for the Advil! We met Cynthia for coffee and then ... had another drink! Or in Russ' case... had a beer WITH his coffee (among other essentials)!
It's true... having another drink while nursing a hangover makes you feel better and you forget you woke up feeling like crap!!
We then spent time outside at the pool. While Criag and a couple of his friends, Tim and Cheryl, were in the HOT SUN sweating like crazy, Cynthia, Russ and I were sitting in a shaded area drinking (of course!) and enjoying more visiting time.
We had a light lunch in a bar, shopped a little, had more drinks (OF COURSE!!), and then went to ANOTHER bar and had MORE drinks!! haha We were in Vegas, people!!
Before dinner, we all six met for drinks at miX Lounge, the restaurant/bar at the top of THEhotel at the Mandalay Bay. There was an outside area with a gorgeous view!
We had Cynthia's birthday dinner at 9:00 p.m. at Michael Mina's Stripsteak restaurant. WOW... but wow... WONDERFUL! It was a fun dinner with great food, awesome company, and great drinks! (You get the message here, right? We DRANK our way through Cynthia's birthday weekend!)
We stumbled out of dinner, played a couple slots (I put $20 in, took it up to $40, cashed it out at $34! High roller, I am!), and headed off to bed.
Thank you Russ for getting me back to the room safely while I stumbled and whined - seriously whined - oh, and seriously stumbled - about how tired and thirsty I was!
Sunday was another morning wake-up with another morning headache! Time for breakfast and a spicy Bloody Mary! heh heh
Russ was leaving that afternoon so we moved me into Cynthia and Craig's room for the remainder of my trip. (They had a suite so there was plenty of room to take me in!) Thank you Cynthia and Craig!
After saying our sad goodbyes to Russ (sniff, sniff), Cynthia and I went out to the pool to take in a little sun. It took all of about 10 minutes before I was dying of the heat and Cynthia suggested we get in the water. The Mandalay Bay pool is a wave pool so every 90 seconds a huge wave comes by. They have their chairs in the sand. It's designed to make you feel like you're at the ocean beach - in the middle of the desert in Nevada!
I'm not much on getting in ANY water, not even a pool, but it was too darn hot to pass on her suggestion. I don't like taking my hearing aids off and they definitely can't get wet. I was worried the wavies would cause me to go under (we were in up to our chest) so I clung to Cynthia and/or Craig every time one came by. Our feet left the bottom but we floated up with the wave and were back on solid footing after it passed. No problem at all! It was very refreshing and actually kind of nice. (Go me... I enjoyed a pool! Whoa!)
We had dinner at Il Fornaio in the New York-New York (our one and only time to really venture out of our hotel area) and enjoyed a wonderful visit with Tim and Cheryl.
Later that night, Craig, Cynthia and I went to see Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson "ONE".
It was a very well done show with emotions all over the place. Any Cirque du Soleil show is AMAZING and this one was no different. The dancers are unbelievably talented and obviously, this show had great music! (You can read the description of the show here under the Description tab.) I would definitely see it again if given the opportunity.
Cynthia and I were in bed before midnight, SOBER (seriously!), and passed out quickly. Craig came in not too long after. We were ALL tired. (Partying like a rock star all weekend certainly takes it out of you!)
We were out at the pool when it opened at 9:00 a.m. Monday morning (not to waste a minute of our last day!) and had our morning drinks - Bloody Mary for me and a Screwdriver for Cynthia! Unbelievably it was already HOT out and there was a quick need for more in-the-pool time! This time I left my hearing aids behind at my chair and thrououghly enjoyed SWIMMING. It felt fantastic to be "free" in that water without worrying about hearing aids OR the need to hear! Cynthia was close by and we enjoyed bobbing up and down with the waves. It really was the most fun I've had in a pool since I was a young child. And it felt SO GOOD!
After a couple of hours in the heat, we'd had our fill. We packed our belongings and then went shopping for awhile (always a fun mission!) while Craig was outside soaking up every last bit of sunshine he could until the very last minute. (It was all that much more important because we were coming home to the RAIN and the start of the rainy season!)
By 1:00 we had to leave for the airport. It was definitely hard to say goodbye to the fun, free flowing life of Vegas and the beautiful, warm (HOT!) sunshine! We ate lunch at the airport and enjoyed the last of our Vegas drinking spree. We bought lattes to take on the plane and said our goodbyes. (Sniff, sniff.) Our gates were next to each other and our flights were five minutes apart - a perfect way to end the Vegas weekend!
Thank you Craig (and Maxine - Russ' wife - and Ray - my husband) for letting Cynthia, Russ and I have such a special sibling weekend!
Thank you Russ and Cynthia for the awesome, lifetime memories! It was such a great trip! I love you both dearly! Jac / Sis and lets not forget... Heather! ;)
And Russ... thank you for taking so many wonderful pictures!
Friday after work I flew out of Portland down to Vegas. It is just under a two hour flight and arriving at 9:00 p.m. into a city that never sleeps was no big deal at all. I drank a latte on the plane so I would be wide awake when I arrived. (I never drink caffeine after 2:00 p.m., EVER! I'm definitely a morning person more than a night owl so the caffeine was badly needed.)
After taking a shuttle from the Vegas airport to our hotel, my brother, Russ, met me in the lobby with beer in hand! (Did I mention how much I LOVE VEGAS?!)
We put my belongings in our room at the Luxor (we stayed in the pyramid)...
At that moment, my Vegas party started!
Thanks Russ!
Cynthia had to have one of her own too! After all... she was the BIRTHDAY GIRL!
That's really all it took and oh my... the PARTY started! Heather was in town! (Those who know me personally know who HEATHER is! heh heh) We had a couple more drinks (oh dear!) and then I joined Russ in having a Genesis beer (it's very dark and syrupy and in no way a good chaser for shots of patron! blah!).
At that point I could drink no more! While Craig was playing the slots, Cynthia, Russ and I were drinking, talking, laughing and having a great visit! It isn't often the three of us are together and very rarely is it JUST the three of us. We were having a "sibling party" and it was quite nice and very special. We made the most of it. In fact, we ALMOST got Cynthia to get her first tattoo! She wants one so badly but just hasn't taken that final step to get it done. She wants a tiny little frog on her arm and asked if I would get a matching one? I said, "Of course I will get a matching mole with you!" (Ok, she didn't really want it quite as small as a freckle but compared to mine that I already have, her frog was going to be T.I.N.Y.) In the end, she didn't get it... she was not quite ready.
Next time my dear Sister... next time!
I don't know what time we decided to stumble off to our rooms but I was snockered and had to eat! (I missed dinner because of the timing of my flight.) Russ and I had the most awesome fish and chips at an Irish pub and to this moment my mouth is still watering every time I think of how good that fish was. Awesome.
The next morning Russ and I both woke up with headaches and went straight for the Advil! We met Cynthia for coffee and then ... had another drink! Or in Russ' case... had a beer WITH his coffee (among other essentials)!
It's true... having another drink while nursing a hangover makes you feel better and you forget you woke up feeling like crap!!
We then spent time outside at the pool. While Criag and a couple of his friends, Tim and Cheryl, were in the HOT SUN sweating like crazy, Cynthia, Russ and I were sitting in a shaded area drinking (of course!) and enjoying more visiting time.
We had a light lunch in a bar, shopped a little, had more drinks (OF COURSE!!), and then went to ANOTHER bar and had MORE drinks!! haha We were in Vegas, people!!
Before dinner, we all six met for drinks at miX Lounge, the restaurant/bar at the top of THEhotel at the Mandalay Bay. There was an outside area with a gorgeous view!
While sitting outside gazing at the City, one can't help but notice the BEAM of LIGHT coming out of the Luxor Pyramid! In that light there were THINGS flying and I just knew they had to be bats but wow, so many and so big?! Could it be? Full of questions, I did what everyone else does in this modern day of technology, I Googled it! The light beam attracts bugs, birds, and BATS.
We had Cynthia's birthday dinner at 9:00 p.m. at Michael Mina's Stripsteak restaurant. WOW... but wow... WONDERFUL! It was a fun dinner with great food, awesome company, and great drinks! (You get the message here, right? We DRANK our way through Cynthia's birthday weekend!)
We stumbled out of dinner, played a couple slots (I put $20 in, took it up to $40, cashed it out at $34! High roller, I am!), and headed off to bed.
Thank you Russ for getting me back to the room safely while I stumbled and whined - seriously whined - oh, and seriously stumbled - about how tired and thirsty I was!
"Cute at 50!"
Sunday was another morning wake-up with another morning headache! Time for breakfast and a spicy Bloody Mary! heh heh
Russ was leaving that afternoon so we moved me into Cynthia and Craig's room for the remainder of my trip. (They had a suite so there was plenty of room to take me in!) Thank you Cynthia and Craig!
After saying our sad goodbyes to Russ (sniff, sniff), Cynthia and I went out to the pool to take in a little sun. It took all of about 10 minutes before I was dying of the heat and Cynthia suggested we get in the water. The Mandalay Bay pool is a wave pool so every 90 seconds a huge wave comes by. They have their chairs in the sand. It's designed to make you feel like you're at the ocean beach - in the middle of the desert in Nevada!
I'm not much on getting in ANY water, not even a pool, but it was too darn hot to pass on her suggestion. I don't like taking my hearing aids off and they definitely can't get wet. I was worried the wavies would cause me to go under (we were in up to our chest) so I clung to Cynthia and/or Craig every time one came by. Our feet left the bottom but we floated up with the wave and were back on solid footing after it passed. No problem at all! It was very refreshing and actually kind of nice. (Go me... I enjoyed a pool! Whoa!)
We had dinner at Il Fornaio in the New York-New York (our one and only time to really venture out of our hotel area) and enjoyed a wonderful visit with Tim and Cheryl.
Later that night, Craig, Cynthia and I went to see Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson "ONE".
It was a very well done show with emotions all over the place. Any Cirque du Soleil show is AMAZING and this one was no different. The dancers are unbelievably talented and obviously, this show had great music! (You can read the description of the show here under the Description tab.) I would definitely see it again if given the opportunity.
Cynthia and I were in bed before midnight, SOBER (seriously!), and passed out quickly. Craig came in not too long after. We were ALL tired. (Partying like a rock star all weekend certainly takes it out of you!)
We were out at the pool when it opened at 9:00 a.m. Monday morning (not to waste a minute of our last day!) and had our morning drinks - Bloody Mary for me and a Screwdriver for Cynthia! Unbelievably it was already HOT out and there was a quick need for more in-the-pool time! This time I left my hearing aids behind at my chair and thrououghly enjoyed SWIMMING. It felt fantastic to be "free" in that water without worrying about hearing aids OR the need to hear! Cynthia was close by and we enjoyed bobbing up and down with the waves. It really was the most fun I've had in a pool since I was a young child. And it felt SO GOOD!
After a couple of hours in the heat, we'd had our fill. We packed our belongings and then went shopping for awhile (always a fun mission!) while Craig was outside soaking up every last bit of sunshine he could until the very last minute. (It was all that much more important because we were coming home to the RAIN and the start of the rainy season!)
I couldn't leave Vegas without some Vegas Bling! ;)
I love these crazy things!
By 1:00 we had to leave for the airport. It was definitely hard to say goodbye to the fun, free flowing life of Vegas and the beautiful, warm (HOT!) sunshine! We ate lunch at the airport and enjoyed the last of our Vegas drinking spree. We bought lattes to take on the plane and said our goodbyes. (Sniff, sniff.) Our gates were next to each other and our flights were five minutes apart - a perfect way to end the Vegas weekend!
Thank you Craig (and Maxine - Russ' wife - and Ray - my husband) for letting Cynthia, Russ and I have such a special sibling weekend!
Thank you Russ and Cynthia for the awesome, lifetime memories! It was such a great trip! I love you both dearly! Jac / Sis and lets not forget... Heather! ;)
And Russ... thank you for taking so many wonderful pictures!
Monday, October 14, 2013
2013 Girlfriends Half Marathon
Yesterday, October 13th, was the seventh annual Girlfriends Half Marathon. There were nearly 2000 participates who raised $20,000 for Susan G. Komen for the Cure and $5,000 for the Children’s Center here in Vancouver. The “Pink Brigade” (six men decked out in PINK) raised $11,000 for the Kearney Breast Center at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, also here in Vancouver. This is a very fun, local event and a follow-up to my 3-Day for the Cure (60 miles) every year. The events are only three weeks apart so my pink belongings and pink mindset are still in full swing (as are my battered, tired feet!)! Like at the 3-Day, the fedora hats and boas get a lot of attention. This year Nanette and I tied pink bath scrubbies to our shoes as “pom-poms” which were also a big hit. It is a lot of fun to get in the spirit and dress up for the cause!
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| Nanette, Cindy, Me and Sue |
I whined the entire way about my aches and pains, about the distance (only two miles down?!) and about my weight gain and being so out of shape again. It was terrible. Of course my little buddy Bullseye (aka Nanette) also had a whining party of her own going on so we really fed off of each other. SOMEBODY forgot to bring the cheese to go along with this “whine” fest!
Through all of the aches, pains, complaints, thirst (we were carrying water but wanted margaritas!!) and yes - hunger! (Who mentioned chips and salsa first?!) - we managed to laugh, make fun of ourselves, and keep walking.
I honestly felt WORSE during and after this half than I did during and after 60 miles in three days last month. I was in pretty bad shape yesterday. I went limping home and later went to bed with “magic shit” (a muscle rub from Mexico that works amazingly well) on the back of my knees, a prescription Motrin, and two blister Band-Aids on my right foot. Unbelievably, I woke up this morning feeling pretty good and without pain. Whew!
We truly had a lot of fun and look forward to doing it again next year - with some new ideas for our “costumes”!
But first… we MUST get back into shape and start training again on a regular basis. That starts TODAY.
Nanette found this picture of us in the local paper today ("We're famous!")… too bad I look like a stuffed sausage (I don't even eat meat!)! It didn't help that I was wearing layers (no matter how thin they might be). How dare that camera man be taking pictures from that angle! Get up on a latter, dude! ;)
Seriously... OUCH. Pictures don't lie.
The renewed commitment and diet started TODAY.
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