ESPN: Call me, maybe?

I got home from work Friday night to these roses. Jackson wanted to thank me for sticking with him through the last couple of tough months.




I joked that they were "I now remember that working full time sucks" flowers, but appreciated the gesture nonetheless. ;):) Friday night was a lazy one around the house which was fine by me after a busy week. I slept in on Saturday until nearly 10:30 a.m. (with a quick potty break for MacKenzie worked in there around 7!). Yep, I'm still young. That proves it to me. Jackson cannot sleep in for the life of him (but I think he enjoyed watching that stupid Gold Rush show without my sarcastic commentary). See? He is not young anymore. ;)
We spent the afternoon running errands, buying million dollar shoes (see previous post) and watching football games. I love the PLAYOFFS! We finished watching the Denver/Baltimore game at our favorite Mexican restaurant and were delighted to be seated by other Raven fans. They also disliked Peyton Manning. Score!
I am now dying to go to the Baltimore vs. New England game next weekend. I feel like ESPN should contact me anytime to go and offer witty commentary with my friend Kortnee. She thinks we only entertain ourselves. I beg to differ.




Here we are discussing a potential date for Kortnee. (I'm the writing in blue.) I've recently taken to Twitter (about 3 years after the rest of the world) and did tweet that photo of our conversation to Coach Crean. He was too busy watching games to respond and I'm ok with that. I still think he probably chuckled at our banter, ESPN. I think Ray Lewis would love us. Ok, I'll stop pretending that ESPN is going to discover me via Twitter. Sigh.




Sunday was a busy day. We met my friend Megan at our church for a really interesting sermon (I intend to blog about it in a few days) and then went to Bub's Cafe in Carmel for a late breakfast. Jackson's breakfast in a bread bowl did not disappoint. Yum! The restaurant got a good Trip Advisor score from us so if you're local make a point to go try it out. We also made the mistake of needing to go to Target around 12:30 on a Sunday afternoon in Fishers, Indiana. Ugh. Awful. Sunday afternoons are the worst part of living in suburbia: people are everywhere during this time. Everywhere! We did fit in a great trip to the gym before we went to the Bates' house to have dinner with them and another couple.
You know what I found? The so-called "runner's zone" that I've heard for over 28 years and never believed existed. I actually ran for so long (6.5 minutes. Shut up. That's a long time in my world.) that I got into a zone and only stopped because I was so outraged by Seattle losing to Atlanta that I needed to text Kortnee. (I still love you, Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson, no worries!) I view my willingness to leave the elusive runner's zone as further proof that ESPN owes me. What if I never find my way back to this zone?! I plan to go looking for it again tonight. Positive thoughts welcomed, friends.
Anyway, we had a great dinner with Shaya, Matt, Liz and Lyle. The humorous part was when Jackson sat with Liz and Shaya house shopping for them and I watched football with the guys. What is wrong with that picture? ;)
Monday morning arrived too early as it always does and we're back to the grind today. As an update, Jackson started his new job last week and really enjoyed it. We're so thankful for that and everyone's support through some very trying months. We have been quite blessed.
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Newtons

Listen, I'm trying to become a real runner so I've got to have the proper gear. I heard that the shoe company Newton was the best for beginners so I researched where to buy them around here. There is a running store on 37 that was locally owned and had these in stock so we headed over. The manager of Runner's Forum was really helpful and nice. I ended up with this colorful pair because they were lightweight and fun. Their price? A cool $175. Yes, you read that correctly. We almost passed out. I kept saying that I better be able to run like Forrest Gump in them. I can't. Yet. They are nice shoes, though. I tried them out at the gym tonight and did quite well considering that my head was pounding from a nasty caffeine withdrawal side effect. I think they'll be a good piece of equipment to have around when I start really putting in the miles to train for the Mini.


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MacK pho

MacKenzie is so lazy. She loves when we are doing laundry so she can "nest" in the blankets.




She can sit for a treat like nobody's business, though.




I've just not met a cuter dog and I'm fairly certain that I am not biased. ;)




Slow news week, eh?
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Dinner at Madison's

I stopped by Upland before going to the viewing I previously posted about and got to see some of my favorite pups.


Miss Madison has taken to laying by the fire. What a smart girl!


Macy is so funny. She screams when I arrive. I love it.


I had a good laugh when Mom and I returned from the viewing to that note. I made sure that Madison got a ball game, a greenie treat and lots of pets. She drives a hard bargain, but her food is delicious so it is all ok! Thanks for dinner, Madison. ;)

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New Year's Day

I forgot to post this so here's a little flashback.

Happy 2013! We are back in the country and already off and running. Groupon had a great deal for 4 tickets to the Indianapolis Autoshow for $12 so I got them and we headed down with my parents.


This year they had a whole Jeep driving demo that Jackson just HAD to go through.


He was disappointed that they didn't let him drive. Ha!


"How far can we tilt this thing before it flips?" Jackson asked. "31 degrees," the guy answered. "Oh, how titled are we know?" Jackson asked. "30 degrees!!!" Hahahaahaha


It was a pretty cool course.


Jackson kept insisting that his Jeep couldn't do these things.



I really wanted a four door Wrangler when he finished.


Then we headed to Bub's Burgers in Carmel. The restaurant was featured on "Man vs. Food" and did not disappoint.


Jackson was pretty excited for his burger.


The "hangover" burger had a cheeseburger, slice of ham, bacon, a fried egg and then all the typical toppings. It looked disgusting, but he loved it. The food was actually just delicious and we really enjoyed it.


That evening we went to watch the Florida State vs. Northern Illinois game at the Fox and Hound with our friend Kortnee. She's a Florida State (online) alum and wanted to watch the game with the Indianapolis chapter of the alumni club. Yeah, it was a bit disappointed. We could have wandered into a more exciting funeral. The alumni were all about 900 years old and not rowdy at all. Tear. We had a great time giving Kortnee a hard time for dragging us there, though.

We had a really good day and were happy to be home again.

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Grandmas are special

My dear, dear friend Shannon's grandma passed away last week. I saw someone post to her Facebook wall a note expressing their sympathies and noting that, "Grandmas are special people." Isn't that the truth? My own Grams passed last January 22nd so the pain of my own loss was fresh in my mind as I entered the funeral home. It was a wonderful scene, really. Shannon's grandma, Bonita, hadn't wanted the Christmas tree to come down last year in her room so the family kept it up and redecorated it for the different holidays throughout the year. At the funeral home there were six Christmas trees all decorated for different holidays (think Easter and July 4th). I LOVED it. Isn't that a way to be remembered? As someone who didn't want to stop celebrating? What a lovely legacy. I was already just torn up for Shannon and her family when I spotted her granda. My heart absolutely fell to pieces to see him sitting by his wife's casket with tears welling in his eyes. According to obituary they had been married for over 64 years. 64 years! That's beautiful. I was just so sad that he was going to be without his beloved. Isn't that what love does to you? 64 years isn't enough!

I wish there were words to comfort people in such times, but they do not exist. Your memories bring you comfort, I've found. I love nothing more than to laugh at times I had with my own Grams. I like to listen to Susie talk about memories she shared with Jackson's dad like they were events that happened only yesterday. Here's hoping that Shannon and her family can find comfort in the happy memories that I'm certain are great in number. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers during this tough time.

Also, here's to remembering to hold our loved ones a little closer, a little more often so that they know just how special they really are to us.

Home!

There's no place like home! :)


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