A New Year

Happy 2010! I wish I felt how I felt a year ago. 2009 I had dreams and goals and ambition. I don't have a million different goals running thru my head right now. However I do see one word for 2010... Change. Is see change coming in the great new year. Whether its, job, economy, family, there will be change good happy change. I think every year I have tried to change my job. I don't anticipate I will come up with the nerve to change my job this year. I would rather concentrate on doing my job better and making changes by being appreciated. No, it is not my dream job. However, if I can continue to bring home money, pay off debt and enjoy myself after hours I will survive.
2009 was a bad year for watching people... the American people struggle to keep a job or find a job. However it brought happiness is so many other ways... Derek ran 4 marathons (Dearborn, Pittsburgh, Duluth, and Chicago). We were blessed to go to Mexico and see Kristin & Troy exchange vows and Bree and Agustin here in Okemos. Assisting planning Bree's wedding was not only exciting and challenging, I truly saw myself enjoying this as a career. Something I don't do well. We also finished putting a bathroom in our basement. I could not do it with out the help and expertise of my Dad, it was a stressful and busy 2 months for all of us but it was great spending the time with my dad ( I just hope we learned something). We love it and I will post pictures soon. Just as 2009 wrapped up my Brother proposed to Lindsay. Derek did work very hard in 2009 but all the hard work will pay off. Truly a great year for Derek and I and our families! I can't wait to see what 2010 will bring.
Goals: for me to run a half marathon and time will tell if I will run a full marathon this year as well. I also hope to see changes in my job. I also hope to spend more time with friends and family. Cheers!

Give Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving! Thou I don't share it often I am so thankful for the family and friends in my life. I am thankful for a wonderful husband. He makes my life fulfilled. I could not do all of this with out him. We started off with our tradition in Okemos with the Chandlers and ran the Turkey Trot. Kari ran with a broken toe and still had a fantastic time, Adrienne and Derek fought to get the prediction times and made it to the $10 time. I surprised myself and got a PR. My goal was 27:44 (2 minutes faster than last year) I blew it out of the water with a 25:23. First time I got in the 25 range. It has been my goal ever since I started running. That feeling makes me want to not give up on running, keep training and run the half marathon in Florida. The weather today was perfect. Just about 40 degrees and dry. It was a new course this year. Straight and Fast. I liked the old course, but this did not have slippery boardwalks and bridges. We left shortly after to help my mom cook and have dinner over there. Today was a great day.

resolutions

Usually by October it is easy to forget about your new year resolutions and sometimes you are already thinking about next years. One of my resolutions was to walk to my local market at least once with my reusable bag. It is so close to our house it seems crazy to drive there. Typically I stop there on my way home from work, making it more convenient to drive there. Today we finally walked up there to get a few needed items. Go Us! Miles went, and of course was the center of attention. Thanks Joe's Produce for having awesomely fresh produce and the best gummy bears ever!

ten

Another amazing weekend. Derek and Ann ran the Chicago Marathon and both did awesome. This was Derek's 10th marathon and Ann's 2nd. With nerves rolling and adrenaline screaming thru the packed streets. I love this town! Yes, I love the shopping, but I really love the culture. People were everywhere and EVERYONE got into this marathon. I mean everyone. 33,475 finishers and 1.4 million people lined the streets to cheer on loved ones and friends, co-workers and even strangers. The weather was a tad on the cold side. Compared to 2007 when the high for the day was 89 degrees, I think we were lucky if it made it to 45 this year. Not bad for the runner, actually a few degrees warmer would have been perfect. On the other hand for the spectators layers upon layers seemed slim to nothing. The six of us packed into a very small hotel room. We thought we were prepared with an air mattress - after getting up to the room we quickly realized that was far from fitting anyone 2 deep. Sick and tough Adrienne and Bryant slept on the cold hard floor, hardly any padding, hardly any covers. Derek finally broke out of the 3:20 range and got a PR of 3:14:11 and Ann killed her last Marathon with a 4:19:40. So proud of both of them. We also got to see Ann & Mike's new condo, Love it! Cheering Section

Derek just before mile 26@ Mile 8 energy packed

Check it off!

Never thought it could happen, I have managed to check items off the list and today is only

9-24-09!

Finally after 2 years I updated the house numbers... such a minor detail that is really important to me.
Thanks to Derek and Jim, the porch is fronting a new porch step. That sucker was 200lbs.

Okay and the story behind the back fence... short story. I have strange neighbors behind us. Lets just say the guy called Derek "Miles". He thought his name was Miles, are you kidding me. So when I am in the back saying stuff like... "Miles get over here", "Miles, what are you eating" "Miles get the ball" does he think that is how I talk to my husband. Anyway, he is just kinda strange. So he put up a new privacy fence (half ass job) and then came and told be that the city was going to make him take it down cause you are not allowed to have space where weeds can grow between 2 fences. So I told him he can take down the metal chain fence. Well, the JA left up the metal posts and basically the whole thing is ugly. A new fence is not in our budget right now... so I came up with this idea to cover the ugly metal posts with these wood covers. When I find the right solar light I will put those up on top to give it a nice touch. It did not magically make the ugly fence go away but it does look better. Hope you think so too. Thanks to my dad I got them done by my goal date. Someday he will let me use his power tools. Someday I will be able to say " I made that".

Maybe I will post better pictures than this, hopefully you can see the changes.

I will post the updated one soon. It was dark by the time we (they) were done.

To-Do List

Goals:

By October 3rd:

• Replace front porch step that is deteriorating. (not too expensive just will take some muscle and figuring out what do to with the old one)
• put up new house numbers (sounds easy enough - just need to go to Home Depot - get a piece of wood, sand, router, paint glossy black and figure out how to hang it on the brick of the front of the house)
• organize/ rearrange craft room (amazing this room is pretty clean at the moment, just really want to start using my high industrial looking chair I stole from work... I need to creatively and tastefully raise my work table so I can utilize my desire for a high work area)
• Finish the wood posts to cover up the ugly metal post my brilliant neighbor left behind. I hope to put them together on Sunday, then I just need to stain and coat them. I like the look but they don't seem to make the neighbors ugly fence go away. ( I wanted to say that I actually built something - but no one seems to trust me using powerful tools, I would actually be very good since I am "sooooooo careful" I just like to take my time. Which means SLOW to other people.
• finally put art up on my ugly blank wall in the living room. The biggest wall had nothing on it for the longest time until I tried putting up some cheap art. It did nothing for me or the wall. So new ideas however... I have to photoshop, go to Ritz print a ginormous print and go to IKEA and try and find a frame that will work for the space... again trying to stay relatively cheap.
• Buy and hang new blinds for our bedroom. This is hard because blinds are so expensive and we are not doing custom so They will not fit exactly how I want them too. This is something that has to be done, I am sick looking like we live in a beat up trailer (a strong wind blew one of them down and now one of the blinds are cracked and it looks like trailer trash)
• Then its time to think about me - I need to start running by this date so I can run the Turkey Trot. Oy! I wish I was more excited about this.
• Order an Amish Fireplace for our breeze way... this is actually my winter project but I want to order the fireplace before it gets cold. A.K.A fancy space heater.

So these are the goals to get done before October 3rd. I wont even start with the things that need to get done before the Christmas party I am supposed to have. As much as I need the money I really wish I could work a 4 day week.

The "29" List

Well, I turned 29. Ouch! This is the last year I will be able to say that I am in my twenties. Though I feel much younger, just saying 29 is hard to spit out. I decided I need to make some changes. One was leaving my part time job at The Scrapbook Zone. I may find another one at some point this year, but for now I am loving the free time. I also finally took out my naval ring. The thrill of having a body piercing ended long ago, that was not the problem. Thinking about taking it out anytime other than when I was in the shower was the hard part. I have a long list of things to do at 29 but in my first 10 days I have started with removing my body piercing. Now I think it is time for a new tattoo!