Tuesday, October 24, 2006

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNE!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNE-CHOVIE!!!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Annnnnnnnnnneeeeee....
Happy birthday to you! And many mooooorrrrrrrreeeeee!!!!

Obviously, it's Anne's Birthday. And in honor of her 21st year (ahem), here's a list of 21 things I love about the Petite Poission, a la anchovie:

1. Kind
2. Compassionate
3. Funny
4. Trustworthy
5. Honest
6. Giving
7. Loyal
8. Christ-like
9. Great driver
10. Graceful
11. Encouraging
12. Talented
13. Gifted triathlete
14. Silly
15. Courageous
16. Great parallel parker (kind of)
17. Fabulous NYC tourguide
18. Fair
19. Refuses to gossip
20. Lover, not a fighter
21. Rearely stinks after working out

And from my "Thought for the Day" calender on her birthdate:
"I have learned that to have a good friend is the purest of all God's gifts, for it is a love that has no exchange of payment." Farmer
Perfect sentiment for the big day!


May you have a million blessings on your head, my friend! Much love to you today, and always!


Thursday, October 19, 2006

It's been too long...and I'm still grateful.

It's been awhile, and after a long, hard, crazy week, it's good to be reminded of good things:

1. Communication: I am so grateful for the phone and email--I miss my girl, Shauna, and I've relied heavily on these this week! Can't wait for her to get here next weekend!!!

2. Family: I've been working on Lori's (my sis-in-law) baby shower in November, and even tho it's alot of work, it's so exciting to prepare for a new baby--Landon! I'm so grateful for my family--and blessed to have Lori in it, too.

3. Music: I've missed Fellowship North and the praise team probably most out of everything at "home." Well...."home" is here now....and I'm going to start singing with a team at 4th on Sunday nites! It's not exactly the same...but I'm so excited!!! AND, my awesome friend, Susan, is on the team, too!

4. Forgiveness: I need so much of it. And thankfully, many of the people whom I care about most, are quick to extend it to me. Sometimes my own depravity just hits me smack in the face...and when it does, all I want is to be forgiven. What a gift to understand that I have it FOR REAL. I am in awe of God's goodness to me.

5. Work: I still love my job. It kind of scares me. Like, I think, something's got to go wrong, right??? Can you really love your job this much?? I totally do. What a blessing.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

The Osprey

We did it!!! We finished the 7th Annual Osprey Sprint Triathlon in Public Landing, MD on Sunday. The race was postponed from Sat. until Sunday b/c of coastal flooding and 50mph winds. It was FREEZING on Sunday for the swim, and there was a SERIOUS headwind on the entire 15.2 mile bike and run...but overall, it turned into a beautiful day! Congrats to Alezandra for finishing her very first triathlon!!! And to Susan for her 3rd!!! Yeah!!!
In between the bike and the run.
Right before dinner. JUST KIDDING!!!

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHELLE!!!!

Michelle turns 40 today!!! Congrats and may God bless and keep you well for 40 more!!!

Triathlon news

I'm finishing off the 2006 racing season this weekend in Ocean City, MD, at the Osprey Sprint triathlon--my 2nd annual! It will be me, Susan T., and Alezandra (from work). Anne is not going to make it this year due to a conflict with her college girlfriends weekend--but perhaps missed most of all will be Nita McMurry! She made last year's race the most memorable of all!!! ;) I'm a tad bit anxious about the race--mainly because I'm in terrible shape and completely unprepared. But also excited to have this year done with. I haven't reached my potential at all this year due to injury and general distraction, so I'm hoping to start the "off season" off well--and hop into next spring in good shape. Wish me luck!

As for the Mt. Airy Tri....here's the story. So I used Nancy's registration--when I tried to register myself, it was full. Nancy bailed, I got a free entry! Minus the technical tee (great schwag at this race!) which was in Nancy's size, thus, won't fit my left arm, much less my whole chest. Ahem. Anyway, pre-race, I spend the nite at Anne's and we actually go to bed at 8:30 pm! I honestly thought we'd be lucky to make it by 10! But we got to bed early in order to get up at 4 am. I loaded the bikes on the car in pitch darkness-but apparently did a great job because they stayed on! We did the drive (about an hour)--got to the general area of the race (the town of Mt. Airy)--and passed the race site (unbeknownst to us) and headed straight into the woods. While trying to figure out if we were lost, we run across 2 cows on the road, out of their pens. I tell Anne that we can't leave until we either alert the owners or chase the cows back in. The cows (baby bulls, actually) were skittish, of course, so I go to knock on the scary house where the cows live. The dude FINALLY comes to the door buttoning his pants and with no shirt on. I'm still not sure he knew what we were saying....but he didn't even thank us, that's for sure! Where I come from, you tell people when their cows are loose! Anne neglected to ask him for directions while we had his attention....but we eventually arrived at the race.

So we got to the race, got registered, etc... The swim start was weird...and it was going to make for a very long race because the way the waves were set up. I was in the very first wave of swimmers. Got out of the pool-got to the transition area-got on my bike and took off. It started raining immediately. Scary to ride my bike in the rain. It's just asking for big trouble, really. But I hung in there. Kindof. As it turns out, Mt. Airy is more hilly than Bath County!!! But I kept my attitude in check and decided it was going to be okay! And it was, for about 6 or 7 miles into it. Then I couldn't stop noticing a grating metallic sound, and the fact that my chain was coming off my bike everytime I got into the granny gears (the ones that let you pedal easily up steep hills). So I pulled off to the side finally when this lady rode by saying "honey, that doesn't look good!" and lo and behold, I had 2 broken spokes on my back wheel--which were hitting the chainring and throwing the chain off when it was in high gears. What that meant was that I had to pedal up hills in a low, hard gear. Well, more truthfully, what it meant was that I had to get as much speed going downhill as possible, so as to try to get enough momentum to get up the hills. There were a few big ones that I had to walk. They even sent the support truck for me! But I refused it and decided I wanted to finish. So I made it thru the bike!! Even with the rain! It's amazing how much attitude can affect things. When I got back to the transition area, there was Anne! Taking pics of me and not having even swam yet! So I hung out with her for about 30 min....watched her swim, took some pics, went to the bathroom--and just generally took about a 30 min break before starting my run and finishing the race! In case you've never been to a triathlon--the goal transition from bike to run is about 30 SECONDS--NOT 30 minutes...ha. Although it meant my coming in DEAD LAST in the race, it was actually quite refreshing! My ankle was killing me--and after I started the run (it was soooo freaking hilly!) I know that I would have really sufferred had I not taken a break. So it worked out great!

After the race, we stuck around for the awards ( I did not get one--shocker!!--although I was kind of shocked that my girl Anne didn't)--we took an illegal dip in the hottub before rushing back to civilization for Jeannie's tea at the Willard Hotel (very posh and elegant--I had to change before I met approval to go!) All in all, it was a great race. I'm only sad I have no t-shirt to prove I did it!

Monday, October 02, 2006

Flashback...

I just found my camera after a long hiatius due to misplacement...so here are some pics from this summer's trip to Rehoboeth.

Pre bumper cars: Anne, Susan, Abby, me, Rachel
fun, fun!

Lite the Nite

So...I have yet to update the latest tri story...but I will, cause it's a good one...so be patient! In the meantime, on Saturday nite, I volunteered for the Leukemia/lymphoma society's Lite the Nite event in Manassas, VA. My friend, Michelle, is the director for the fall walks in the metro DC area, so I often attend and volunteer at multiple walks in the fall. This year we kicked off in Manassas. And the irony of it...Anne and I were the "t-shirt leads." Yes...I have arrived and gotten my dream job!
Anne, Michelle and me
The t-shirt police in action.