Sunday, November 28, 2010

Dating

15.  Date my husband.

Okay, it has taken awhile to get to this one.  That makes me feel sort of ashamed!  I realize how much more often we need to go out together on dates.  ALONE.  We are fortunate to have friends and activities, but when we go out with others we tend to split up.  Dating is about time together alone, but when you have kids and busy lives it is just really easy to throw this kind of time out of the door. 

Also - I'm not sure if this counts as a good thing or a bad one, but the reason we made time to go out on a random Tuesday last week is that it wasn't random - it was our 14th wedding anniversary!  So, we didn't just date, we went out to celebrate a special occassion.  We need to get time out more regularly, so we'll keep working on it.  But - we had a GREAT time!  We went out to eat at Houstons, one of our favorite restaurants - http://www.hillstone.com/#/restaurants/houstons/ - despite all the great places to eat in Atlanta, we love going here!  It is right around the corner from us and we have some favorite menu options, so we often find ourselves there on dates.  After dinner, we went to Cirque de Soleil's performance of Ovo at Atlantic Station - http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/ovo/default.aspx .  Cirque never fails to leave me speechless.  We loved it so much we are going again!  We are surprising our kids just before Christmas and taking them.  They've never seen a Cirque show (mostly due to the skyhigh ticket prices!) but we found what we considered to be a good option and we are super excited about taking them.

Coming up soon my mom is going to take the kids for the weekend - she was kind enough to have them for our anniversary too, how lucky are we!! - and I've already started lining up some date plans for us.  I'll also be working on another item on my list, but not saying what it is yet.  I'll get back to you!

If you have any wonderfully fun date ideas, let me know!  I'd love to get back in the routine of dating my husband.

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!  Now into Advent and beyond!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Appointments - check!

29.  Have a physical.

Okay - my appointment finally came.  I had my physical yesterday and my doctor seemed almost bored.  What a gift!!!  I am waiting for blood test results, but so far it seems I am boringly normal, which is my very favorite way to be at the doctor's office.  The only scary part as it turns out was having blood drawn, but the nurse was excellent and did a nice job.  I can't tell you how grateful I feel that I appear to be healthy.  I know what a blessing that is.  I also marked last week the one year mark after major surgery - so I especially am thankful to *not* feel like I did this time last year.

After Appt. #1 for the physical, I drove over to my dentist and my friend Kathy - who is also a skilled and kind dental hygienist - cleaned my teeth.  Hooray!  My dentist also thought I was boringly normal.

After Appt. #2, I headed to my dermatologist for a prescribed facial, which is not nearly as much fun as it might sound. 

And after three appointments of my own in less than 5 hours, I also took my daughter for an orthodontic check up.  Then today, 24 hours later, I headed to my acupuncturist, who is helping me deal with some post-surgery no fun stuff.

So, check, check, check, kid check, and check.  For all the anxiety and heart racing, I am glad I took care of these important things.  I am celebrating my Boring Normality today with enthusiasm - and celebrating that yesterday is OVER!

6.                  Participate in a 5K/10K… and a 1/2 marathon.

I also walked the Girls on the Run 5K (+ 2 miles or so back and forth to our car) on Sunday with my daughter.  http://girlsontherunatlanta.org/  I didn't love the location of the run, but I do think this is a great organization.  Bailey and I had fun and I think it inspired her to see her Morris Brandon school friends who were on the GOTR team with their very creative Bee Bows, all ready to run!  We were also excited to see our friends from West Stride http://www.weststride.com/ there - I do believe they will be hosting the spring GOTR Run if you want to join in for the next one.  Thanks Genie for taking our photo at the booth!


Monday, November 8, 2010

The Rest of the List

In looking back over my posts, it seems I have focused on some items on the list, but perhaps avoiding others.  Maybe "avoid" isn't the right word, but more "putting off."  Or, maybe the right idea is, "haven't taken time for that."  That is probably the most accurate of all - things have been so nutty as I said in October, that I have not taken the time for some of the List items that really matter most.

Last week on Nov. 1, I called a do-over.  I declared the day "Start Over Day."  But come Nov. 3 I had already had to call "Start Over Start Over Day."  And this morning I felt ready to do the same thing, but three start overs seemed sort of pointless.  Then again, I am so grateful for each new day, and for each chance to start over.  We don't get a lot of clean slates in life, but we can create them sometimes if we just are thoughtful about it.  So, I looked back over my list and see the things that are being ignored a bit are the ones I need the most.  So, in the Start Over month of November, I'll hope for posts of a different nature and some items to come back into my life that I really want to experience these days.

I have also added two items to the list.  #35 is to stop interrupting, which so far I am a complete loser on accomplishing -  more on that later (see, I'm even interrupting myself!).  And then there is:

36.  Be grateful every day.

If I would just focus on being grateful every day, I think it would change my life.  Like I said, for every new day (new hour!  new minute!) we have the chance to change and make new decisions.

Last week was a weird week.  I heard lots of bad news from friends.  I know several people in particular that are very sick or suffering this week.  It is a perspective call - one in which I am reminded to be grateful, and in which I am reminded of how much hurt there is in the world, and how much friends are needed.

So, #36 goes hand in hand with:
2.  Help people who really need it.

I hope I can find ways to help my friends right now.  I hope I can change my lousy attitude (that stinkin' thinkin' we all get some times) and be grateful every day - every moment - for the gifts of life and family and friendship that is what gets us through those hard times.

So, I'm thinking on these things today and hoping to bridge that gap in my life during this time.  Let me know if you have ideas.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Miles

16.  Exercise for a total of 500 miles. 

Okay, so I promised a miles update for October.  I got really off my schedule from lots of traveling, a computer crash, and life in general.  But somehow I managed to still pull off 56.4 miles in October.  This was largely in fact due to three days at Epcot, Disney, and Universal, where - to the best I can tell - the kids and I averaged about 10 miles a day.  We were exhausted.  I had a huge fun-over after that.  And considering I did about 30 miles in 3 days, that tells you something about the rest of the month!
So, where did I get on my way to meet Anneliese?  Last month I was sitting pretty in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Well, it appears that I have crossed over Monteagle (beware, Monteagle!) and am seemingly in the middle of nowhere in particular.  I'm nearing Manchester, TN.  So, my vision right now seems to be landing really close to Arnold Air Force Base.  I don't know anyone there, but I'm waving anyway.

Okay, Nashville and my friend Cheri - here I come!  I might see you in December on my metaphorical trip!  Better put some miles in!

6.  Participate in a 5k, 10k... and a Half Marathon.

I just snuck in a 5k on October 30, my only one last month.  I ran pretty slow, but I'll attribute that to being off my training schedule, and that the back half of this particular race is a "killer!"  Pun intended.  This was Run Like Hell through Oakland Cemetery here in Atlanta.  http://www.oaklandcemetery.com/run.html  It is a really fun run, though, and I enjoyed catching up with my high school friend Amy and her daughter.  Also, my kids ran the kids race, Run Like Heck, so that was fun too!  Lots of people in costume, but I thought I was scary enough just getting up and getting to the race.  I have two races scheduled in November, both 5ks, so I'll keep you posted on those too.