Marathon?

Last year some friends of mine participated in the Nike Women's {half} Marathon.  They asked me to join them, but I politely declined {it went something like "Are you effin' craZy?}.  Then I learned that you receive a silver Tiffany Necklace upon completion of the event ~ and my friends necklace was so cute {they can't be bought...must be earned.  Yada Yada} that I thought I would try and run the race this year.

Here's the deal ~ the Nike Women's {half} Marathon is super duper popular thus, 

difficult to enter.  So there's a random drawing in April and my name wasn't drawn. :-(

Whaaaaaahhhh 

{said like Snooki from Jersey Shore.  Not that I watch that trash}  

Two dear friends did get in and have been forcing encouraging me 

to continue to try and somehow get into the race. 

Which leads me to today....

Our local running store has been given a few bibs by Nike 

and they're raffling them off.  

In order to "win" a spot, you have to enter the raffle daily for a week 

and at the end of the week, they'll draw names for each bib they have available to the.  Another drawing!  

The last one wasn't really in my favor and I'm not confident this one will be either.  

So, I went into the store today and completed my raffle form.  

I haven't totally decided if I'm hoping to get in or not.  

October 16th is right around the corner and let's face it, 

I haven't started training which means I have a LOT of work to do.  

Oh, and by the way ~ I'm not a runner.  

The farthest I've run is a 10k and I wanted strangle my "friends" at the end.  

Everything was going fine until I saw mile marker 2 which was especially disappointing because I thought I was nearly finished with the race.  

It wasn't pretty.

I'll keep you posted on my entry status...

Hugs!

Carrie

Weekend WhirlWind

We had a jam packed weekend full of friends, laughs and a lotta wine!

Great friends, who live in Southern California, planned a weekend trip to 

San Francisco to celebrate her birthday.  

Because we don't get to see them very often {and we were invited :-)} we decided to join them for dinner on Friday night.  And rather than driving home from the City late, 

the hubs and I took the opportunity to book a room and spend the night!  

{read: Yippee! A night away!!!}

Brief back story -- in middle school I was part of a big clique.  

I know, cliques are B.A.D, but this one wasn't horrible.  

Oddly, the clique has stayed somewhat connected over the years.  

We all sort of knew what was going on in each other's lives because one person would talk to another and share information that would be passed on to yet another member 

of the former group.  Anyway ~ a principle member was married in Mexico last year which brought all of us back together again.  

So, the hubs and I shared a house in Mexico with 2 other former members 

of the clique and their spouses.  Which is when I met Shelly, who married Reed 

{former middle school clique mate}.  

We hit it off!  I absolutely LOVE her.  She is funny and funky, has great style and we share similar interests.  

The weekend trip to San Francisco was for Shelly's birthday.

We went to dinner at Asia SF, which is a restaurant staffed by transgendered servers who perform dance numbers throughout the meal.  

Food is so-so, but the staff is great!  

Very friendly {not like that} and so impressive.  It's really amazing how 

beautiful these ladies are.  

Shelly and I were feeling a bit insecure by the end of the night!!

{Me, Shelly and the hubs.   Not sure why I'm so shiny in this picture, 

hoping it was the flash}

After dinner we went to a few bars where a dance off may have been initiated, 

there might have been some karaoke singing and it's possible we saw a pirate.  

Because there is no photographic evidence it's hard to prove any of it.

The next day we said goodbye to Shelly and Reed, then popped into a dear friends Bridal Salon to say a quick congratulations on her 6th anniversary and race home 

just in time to change and get ready for an engagement party ~ 

which turned into a surprise wedding!

We danced the night away in celebration of this great couple and the commitment they made to each other in our presence.  As we get older, we are invited to fewer weddings....mostly because all our friends are married!  

{I imagine that will change once our kids begin getting married}

It's so nice to attend a wedding, it always reminds me of the vows I made to my hubs, 

and the importance they hold in our life.

Sunday we had a lazy morning and then started working ~ I was busy with office tasks and Jon was running around from house to house readying things for the upcoming week.

It was a Wonderful WhirlWind Weekend!  But it Wore me out!

Hugs,

Carrie

Ten {10} Followers! (And a life lesson)

Oh my goodness!  

I was so shocked and thrilled when I logged into blogger today ~ my follower count had GROWN!  I know, I know....a successful blog has hundreds or thousands 

of followers {not 10} but for me it's an exponential increase and I'm excited!!  

You've made my day.

Thank You!

Onto the Life Lesson portion of this post....

We had a very FULL weekend, which I promise to detail soon.  But, because our weekend was so busy and the hubs and I were in a mad rush to leave the house on Friday, we tasked our oldest son with ordering pizza for dinner that night.  The hubs gave our #1 the phone, the phone number and his credit card and explained that after ordering the pizza, #1 would need to give the pizza guy our credit card number to pay for the pizza.  

Seems simple enough...

Well, I was racing around my room trying to finish getting ready when #1 strolled in holding the phone in one hand a credit card in the other.  

Here's how the convo went:

#1 - "Mom, I need to give them the credit card number."

Me - "Ok, go ahead."

#1 - "I need the number."

Me - "You have the number, it's on the card."

#1 - "I know, but which number do I give them?"

Me - "The whole string of digits on the front of the card IS the number!"

#1 - Leaned toward me trying to pass off the phone and credit card.

Me - "Uh-Uh!  Go ahead, you can do it.  Start at the beginning and move through to the end."

He managed to accurately give the number because the pizza was delivered 

and my kids ate dinner that night.

Oy!  At least it's now official....our oldest son {who will be 15 soon} can order a pizza for delivery and pay with a credit card over the phone.  

A life skill I'm certain will come in handy while he's in college.

Hugs!

Carrie

Summer Snaps 4 {3 for me}

I believe I missed last week, which means this is week 3 for me 

whereas it's 4 for everyone else.

It was a great week....It seems like it flew by so quickly.  

I'm sure that's because we filled with lot's of FUN! 

{Or maybe it's because all the weeks blend together in the summer time}

1. I went shopping with a dear friend and we started the day with a Bloody Mary. 

{Clothes look better after a bloody mary}

2. My oldest son is a sandwich arteest.  He made this yummy dagwood.

3. This is how your wine looks right now...

4. A house near ours has about 10 goats and they're too cute for words.

5. I found a new dress to wear to a party this Saturday night.

6. A gorgeous rose I stopped to smell while on a walk with my littlest.  

Believe it or not, it's bright red in real life.

7. We decided to go to the Giants game at 3p on Sunday.  

First pitch was at 5:05.  We're spontaneous!

8. The hubs and a Panda fan-da.

9. Radishes we bought at the farmer's market.  Pretty sure I ate them all...

so yummy with a little lime.

10. Lou Seal stopped by our seats during the game.  He freaked out our little guy.

We've got a few fun things planned for this weekend 

and hopefully I'll remember to take pictures.

Hugs!

Carrie

Fourth of July

I know. I know.  The fourth passed a LOOONNNGGG time ago, 

but I haven't posted since before that and so you're stuck with my 

red white and blue that's long overdue.  

For the previous two years we've been gone on the Fourth of July.  

It seems our  family vacation was scheduled to begin in early July which meant 

that we have been out of town.  This year we had planned to be away, but our older son decided not to do his best in math class thus requiring him to remediate during the summer....early July.  

All wouldn't be lost though, as we decided to shorten our trip from 1 week to 4 days and he would just have to miss one day of summer school.  

Well....then we were fortunate enough to begin a relationship with a new client who was planning her first arrival with us for July 1.  

That was that.  

Our vacay was officially postponed until August.

We found ourselves home for the holiday without any plans.  

While explaining this to my dear friend who lives on the Central Coast 

she suggested she and her family come to visit for the weekend.  

Great Idea!  

While they were here we got up early and headed to the flea market.  

Our friends had never been {we planned to take them there during their last visit in early June, but the stinkin' flea was closed due to rain when we arrived at the gate}.  

It was a beautiful day in Alameda with the City as the backdrop.  

Lots of fun stuff to scope out and we all came home with something special and a great price :-)

{here are some red, white and blues that caught my eye}

That night we headed to the local country club after dinner.  

Every year the club sets off fireworks on July 3rd.  I think the event is supposed to be for members only, but they open up the fairway and essentially the whole town shows up.  

People carry in dessert and wine, blankets and low chairs to sit on.

{They even sell glow necklaces!}

Groups of people play frisbee and toss footballs while waiting for the sun to set 

low enough for the show to begin.  We always run into friends and spend time chatting 

while the kids wonder around looking for buddies they haven't seen since school ended.  

It really feels as if you've been transported to another time....

like you've become part of a Norman Rockwell painting.  

To top it all off the fireworks are always great and seem to last forever! 

It's Americana at it's best and one of my favorite ways to celebrate. 

{When we're in town that is!}

{The long walk back to the car after the fireworks}

{Cool old car decorated for the day}

We spent the rest of the weekend eating yummy food, watching baseball, 

going to the movies and playing games in the pool.  

I'm still hearing "Marco?"... "Polo!"

Even though our plans changed {twice} and we weren't on vacation for the holiday, 

we had a fabulous time with good friends.  

Isn't it great when things work out that way?

Hugs,

Carrie