Why no pictures?

Oh, and by the way, the reason we have no pictures is not because I don't have time or am too lazy (well, maybe a little), it's because if you remember from one of my June posts, my love dropped our second camera in the river which is finding it's way to other one in the other river dropped a few years previous. Soon he will be practiced enough not to tip over the kayak or to leave the camera in the plastic bag or water sealed box I bought him :)

What? Me carry the camera? Um, I am the accident prone one!

I know, I need to buy a new camera before the October 13!

Blah vs. Blog

Ok, ok ... so I was talking with a dear friend this morning and she made the joke that I had a blah not a blog :) Ok, so there is some proof to back that up as I lack on updating my blog on a regular basis. Well, I am quite busy in 'my life of leisure', as my brother calls it.

Since I have been back from vacation, I have been working at the store, cleaning the house and starting new projects. We just upgraded our kitchen with granite. It looks so different. I keep looking and the room and don't recognize it. We went from light Formica to dark granite. But we really like it.

Our only oops is that with our new sink the drains are at the rear of the basin as opposed to middle. We were like, 'hey, we can re-hook all this up, it's so simple', so a week and a half later, our plumber just left and I now have a sink and dishwasher again. Hmm ... lessons learned.

Tomorrow is a visit from Best Buy to attempt to fix our TV which is turning yellow. I was watching this show the other day and thought 'how cute is that green dress'. I then went to the upstairs TV and realized the dress was actually blue ... hmm, not as cute. I am getting a headache from it!!!

I also got the Baltimore Marathon packet this week. There are 5,500 people signed up just for the half-marathon. Oh my!!! That does not include the Marathon, 5K and Relay all happening at the same time. But, set your DVR's as there are suppose to be cut-ins on the Today Show of the run - Saturday, Oct 13 starting at 8:00AM (the half starts at 9:45AM)! For those in MD, set it to channel 11. I'm sure you will be able to pick me out the crowd EASILY!

California Trip

I was waiting until my sister forwarded our pictures from my visit to SanDiego, but I'll just have to post those later. I had a WONDERFUL time visiting with my sister in CA. We re landscaped her front yard, drag the kids all over town, spent the weekend in Hollywood/LA, and I have finally seen Wicked. It is an awesome show.

At the show we were seated next to a young gay guy that was hilarious, and for some reason felt that he was the first and only gay I had ever encountered - hello, I have a hair dresser you know (jk). It was funny. I think he had just come out of the closet recently and was really excited about it.

We were determined to see at least one star. So, we took a walk down Malibu beach and are convinced that we walked past probably one star's home. I also stepped on a bee. Didn't know that bee's hung out on the beach did ya. Deb had never been down Rodeo, so we went through Beverly Hills and drove down Rodeo. We also took a little side trip to Santa Monica and walked the Pramanade and Pier. We had a lot of fun. I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard.

We drove passed Tori (Spelling) and Dean's Bed & Breakfast and snapped a few photos.


Ev did tell me I was the best aunt ever! HA!!! And Kyle said I am his buddy - I miss them all so much. Aaron was so patient with all the time I took of Deb's. I think because he knew that right after I was leaving he was going to whisk her away to Tahiti for a romantic getaway.

Hope you are having a great time Deb!!!

Family

The month of August has been pretty uneventful, which is fine by me, I needed a little break.

I finished up swimming lessons, continued training, and started a new part-time job working at a local running store (If the Shoe Fits). One of the individuals I'm training with owns it. He has run his share of 50 milers and marathons and he is in his early 60's. What an inspiration! He ran his first marathon at 47. One day while we were running, he asked me if I wanted to work there part-time and I said "sure".

September is starting off with a boom. We spent Labor Day weekend camping with my brother and his family in PA. We did a little kayaking, hiking and lots of campfiring. I just really love to get together with them and the kids. I am grateful for the relationship I also have with my sister-in-law, she's pretty awesome!

When we arrived back home, I prepared to leave the next day for San Diego, CA to spend a couple of weeks with my sister, just hanging out. While I have been gone, my in-laws came to visit and when I get home, they will be coming through town again since they missed me the first weekend.

What I really wanted to share though is my gratitude for my family. As many of you can relate, I went through my semi-annual emotional 'nobody loves me' breakdown Monday night before leaving to CA. Ugh, poor Mike. He is so patient and wonderful.

But what always brings comfort when I go through this, is knowing I have my family. No matter what I say or do or don't do, they will love me (they have too:)). Coming here to CA to visit with my sister and having spent a weekend with my brother have been such blessings and re-iterates to me how much I miss being near them. I don't worry about our friendship, our love, my appearance (eek!) and we just laugh and enjoy our time together.

Their children bring such joy to me as well. And I am so grateful to be a part of their little families. I wish so much I could visit with all my family as much.

Thank you Mom and Dad for your examples, thank you Aaron for letting me steal your wife away and thank you Michelle for perfect timing on your email!