Barrel Tasting

Rob and I were lucky enough to visit Andy out in California and celebrate his 25th birthday with some barrel tasting in Sonoma! It was a great time!

While we were visiting, I got a chance to see the Walnut Creek Children's clinic where Andy works--amazing facility and so cute to see Andy in his scrubs. We also got to see Andy and Nicki's apartment and meet our first nephew, Markie dog! He is a little shy but so cute and very well behaved. He definitely loves his parents!!

Rob took some stunning pictures of the landscape, and well, we got a few fun ones as well, which I am sure had nothing to do with a day full of wine. ;)

It was a fun and successful visit and we can't wait to go back soon! Happy Birthday, Andy! I can't believe you are 25!!

Other People's Dogs!

Rob and I set a date! A date to get our very own doggie! March 1st. Well, maybe I should say, our intention was to get a dog on March 1. Now as it approaches at a blinding pace, we are getting cold feet.

We travel -- a ton -- we have weird schedules -- and let's be honest, we love our independence! Won't a dog cramp our style?! It's so hard to decide what to do so for now, I will live vicariously (as I have been for sometime now) through other people's dogs.

The gallery of random dogs I have made a point of snuggling (sometimes with and sometimes without their owner's permission/knowledge) is below. Enjoy! And just wait...if we ever get our own dog, I have a feeling this blog will become overrun with pictures of the furry friend. Some people have kids, we have surrogate pups.

The Things I Run Past: A Brief Recall

I think it was mile 10 of the half marathon--about 3 miles past the point where Debbie and I silently agreed that talking was no longer necessary--when I broke our unspoken pact. I had to though! I spotted a toilet seat! Right there on the side of the road! Yes, that's right, running across a bridge, fatigued and slightly dehydrated, I noticed the abandoned throne and just had to comment on it.

Fast forward about 3.5 months to today. Running along Addison, enjoying my tunes and thanking the weather gods for such an unbelievably beautiful day, when I look down and see a fried egg on the sidewalk. Keep in mind, it is late January. There is snow and ice on the ground. And I live in a major metropolis, not a farm. Why was there a fried egg on the sidewalk?

It was at this point that it dawned on me...I see so many odd things on my runs that I should start to catalog them. I shared this idea with Rob today and he thought it was a good idea and even suggested I take pictures. I don't want to sound like a poor sport, but I'm not really sure I want to lug around a camera on all of my runs, so instead, I will just paint a picture with my words. Poetic, eh? :)

So here it is; my list.

The Things I Run Past
1. Toilet Seat
2. Fried Egg on the sidewalk in January
3. TBD

Training--Part Deux

After a brief hiatus from blogging, we are back!

Rob and I had a wonderful holiday season and are rested and ready to start off 2009. School begins this week and Rob has been back at work for over a week now...so the routine has re-emerged and hopefully we can approach it with energy and positivity.

Thus on the heels of a new year, what better time to introduce another new challenge than the start of a new and tough semester, horrible weather and pants that seemed to get a bit smaller over the past month? There is no better time! And with that, my official marathon training begins.

Mania and I will be running the Rockford, IL marathon May 17th. Sure, I'm racked by anxiety and nausea when I look at my training schedule but, what's new? I had even worse anxiety prior to the half marathon and that went off without a hitch, so what's another 13.1 miles on top of an initial 13.1 miles? Plus, I could use another race t-shirt.

Okay then! Let's do this!