The Floors Are Coming!

Well, I am finally getting my floors tomorrow morning. The "incident" occurred on 6 November, so it has been close to a month that I have been living on concrete slabs. Insurance is a bear to deal with, so it has taken time to get that squared away and to pick out something not to mention the Thanksgiving holiday. After much tile previewing, I have finally settled on the kitchen floor. I'm pretty sure on the bathroom floor, but I haven't gotten the vanity cabinet yet. I'm asking to do that whole job on a later date. The carpet will be laid on Tuesday morning.

As long as I can get my kitchen and laundry room taken care of, then the carpet folks can fix the dining area and hallway. So, all of my home that is visible to guests will be put back together in the next few days. You have no idea how excited I am to get this settled. As soon as home life resumes normalcy, I get to decorate for Christmas!!!!!

Color Scheme Quest

Since the Flood of twenty-ten, I have the opportunity to do a little upgrading and redecorating. As exciting as it is, it is also a big headache. I feel like I can't do anything until 1) I get the moolah squared away with insurance and 2) I figure out what the crap I am going to do.

In the meantime, my home is an absolute wreck and I'm walking on concrete slab in half of my house. I have discovered I own more things than any single woman should own. And my Christmas projects are behind schedule since my home is in disarray. I hope this chaos is over very soon.

Here is one of my main dilemmas: Master Bath colors. I get to repace the vanity cabinet because it was damaged and the floor. I figured this was a great opportunity to fix it up since I have hated it for sometime now. I really want a black cabinet. I can't find any COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) cabinets I can afford and would want. I've almost decided to go custom. But I could save a lot of money if I just bought a standard white cabinet at Home Depot. I think I want to paint the walls a shade of gray but I'm struggling with the accent color. I have thoughts of Red (because I hate red) or yellow. I cannot decide on anything! Anyone have suggestions? HELP!

My First Travel Race

When I moved to Virginia Beach, I started running races because there were more than enough to fill a runner's calendar in the immediate area. All of my big races have been right here. Traveling to run never really crossed my mind. I had heard lots of good things about Richmond's race, mostly the presence of a junk food table on course. When my running partner's husband registered, we decided we would try it also. That's when we began speed training with a goal of breaking 2 hours.

My best half time was 2:15. To cut 15 minutes off would be quite a feat. As the race approached, I decided it best to be more realistic. I decided that I would try to hit 2:05. Still a lofty goal, but something to shoot for.

This race was very different for two reasons. First, our hotel was about 2 blocks from the start. That means no stress in finding a parking spot and more sleep time. Second, it was a new place to run. I'm not at all familiar with Richmond, so I was excited to "see the sights" as we ran.

For the first 8 miles I felt great and kept my pace just where I wanted. However, at mile 8 I hit an unusual wall. Perhaps it was the unexpected number of hills the first half of the race presented or just a mental block but I have no idea what happened. I began to slow down for the next 2-3 miles. I had to completely get in my head and talk myself out of going slow. Around mile 11 I started to get a little faster and finally came back to my target pace for the 13th mile. I finished at 2:11:19. To cut off 4 minutes is pretty substantial and has only fueled me to find another one and try again. Thanks to Coach Tim, I'm getting faster and I know if I can get myself together mile 8-11, I can reach my goal.

Karen and I after the race. Shortly after this picture, we saw the Marathon winner cross the finish. His time was 2:18. He took 7 more minutes than I to run twice the distance. It just makes me sick. Kenyans....

This is my friend from work, Christa. I have this habit of convincing people that they can run long distances and twisting their arms to register for a race. This was my most recent victim. Not only had she never run a Half Marathon before, she had never run A RACE EVER. She was on a definite runner's high when I saw her. So proud of you, Christa!!

Believe it or not, I ran into a college friend at the finish line! It truly is a small world.

I'm taking a bit of a break this week on running but I'm aggressively searching the internet for a new half. Send me your suggestions. I'm willing to travel. :o)

Flood of 2010

If you knew me in 2003, you may recall the Flood of 2003. It went something like this: Woke up on a December morning with my entire home flooded by a burst pipe. Fast forward to Saturday night when I arrived home from my Mecca trip. This time it goes like this: Neighbor's hot water heater overflowed and flooded half of my home. Ugh!

We are well on our way to restoration. Carpet is probably salvageable although the padding has been removed. Linoleum was removed this morning, so that's a loss. I have obnoxiously loud industrial fans blowing hopefully for the last night to dry the concrete slab. Just waiting on the insurance adjuster so we can get this renovation started!

I'm handling this flood much better. After sulking over the inconvenience and frustration that goes with ALL of my belongings residing in the dry areas of my bedrooms and living room, I have changed my attitude. For the last year, I've been rather anxious to purchase a new home. I resolved a few months ago that I cannot afford what I want right now so I should make the most of what I do own. This morning, the Lord reminding me that although this situation is a bit of a nuisance, it is His way of helping make this dwelling place even better. So, three cheers for new floors! Hip! Hip! Hip!

Homecoming 2010

I made a last minute decision to make the trek home for Lee University's Homecoming weekend. It seemed that most of my girlfriends were making the trip and once all of my transportation woes were solved, I bought a plane ticket to the ATL. The surprising part: Chip decided he wanted to see what the kids were talking and check out TN. So, he joined me and learned first hand the awesomeness of all things Cleveland.

We boarded the big white bird on Thursday night and headed for ATL. Whatup and her new beau, Kit (who is awesome, by the way), scooped us up from the airport to transport us to Joanna. We met up with her at a very "classy" Waffle House and decided to just go in and make a memory of it. We were the only patrons at 10:00pm, so we convinced Joanna we had reserved the place for us. Once we finished stuffing our faces with smothered and covered hashbrowns, we headed to Jo's place. Let the fun begin!

We woke up Friday morning and headed straight over to my college roommate's house, Amberly. Berly just gave birth to her 3rd daughter, so she is a for real FULL TIME mommy. We went over for breakfast and to spend some time with her kiddos. Her oldest is quite a character. She speaks in full monologues at the age of 3 and a half. Her middle girl is adorable with her scratchy voice. We had a blast eating waffles and fruit with her fam and then began to make our way North to TN.

After running a few errands, we made it to TN at lunchtime. If anyone has ever spent time in Cleveland, TN you know exactly where to go for lunch: JENKINS! We met Sarah Bragg and her 2 girls and Kelly Denbow's family. It was so nice to see everyone and their little ladies. We finally finished our chicken salad sammies and wound down before the Class of 2000 evening event. We joked at lunch, "What if we are the only people that show to the reunion?" Of course that wouldn't happen, right?




We arrived fashionably late to a very empty gathering place. Other than a handful of folks that we didn't know, our crew was the only group there! Can you believe it? We didn't care though. We intended to spend time together and we did. So, Brittany, Willis, Mac, and baby-to-be joined the lunch crew plus Sarah's husband. We hung out until the babies had to go home and sleep. Then Jo, the Jepson's minus Mac, and Chip and I met up with Whatup and Kit at Jenkins for an evening of chocolate cake and offensive conversation. I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time. I think we have decided to get a group together to head to the Kentucky Derby next year. You in?

Saturday morning, Joanna and I ran the Homecoming 5k and then did an additional 5 miles. Once that was said and done, we went to our respective lodging facilities and cleaned up for the day. Chip and I took Keri to the Rebel for brunch, my first place of employment. Man, those biscuits and gravy are still awesome! Then we met up with the previous night's crowd with the addition of Joel and hung out for a bit at Gardner's Market. After getting a full commentary tour of the Bragg's historic home renovation, we headed to ATL to fly home.


If you are worn out by reading all of that, imagine how spent we were when we got home. I needed that trip so badly and loved seeing everyone. It's funny because many of those ladies I only see once a year and conversations are spread out in between mostly through email and Facebook with a handful of phone calls. But the friendships we developed at Lee were relationships of substance. They are still near and dear to me even if it is just once a year visiting.

I think Chip enjoyed himself in the land of Mayfield's and Jenkins. I know he was a hit with the age 3 and under crew. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he goes back to just visit Sinclair. He assured me he would send me a postcard if he did.


Ladies, glad I saw each of you and looking forward to Berly's Girls Weekend. Hopefully we can add Cybil and Mur to that one!

(Me, Britt, Kelly, and Sarah. We couldn't resist getting a picture here. Photographed by Jo.)