Run, Run, Run

I've been needing a new pair of running shoes and I was very interested in trying out Fleet Feet. Well, they had me at hello. This nice lady, Diane, measured my feet, watching me walk, watched me run and then pulled a few pairs of shoes for me to try. She gave me lots of information I never about my own feet. I could really tell the difference in the shoes she put me in. I even got to take them for a test run outside before buying them. So I walked away with a pair of Asics.

So I ran about 20 miles in them and they started to hurt my feet. I wasn't sure if it was something I needed to get used to or if was in fact the shoe. So I called FF and they told me to bring them in. I did, I had a different guy, Justin I think, measure my foot and watch me walk. He brought out 3 different pairs of shoes for me try. I have been running in Nike's so we started there. Man did they feel good. I could really tell a difference already, now this is what I was used to! I tried the others on, just to be sure. And bingo, I feel in love and brought them home. I haven't ran much in them yet but so far, so good. I was so happy that I could just return them and get exactly what I needed.

This is the new pair!

We ran in the Borodash on Thanksgiving and just did the Bridge to Bridge 4 mile run. We are loving it - well I'm loving it a bit more than Mark. :)

California

My friend, Laura, her hubby and new baby were planning to move from NYC to LA sometime this fall. Well when I realized I had a conference in Anaheim I was excited, hoping I'd get to extend my stay and spend some time with them. And I got to do just that.

We had a fun weekend just catching up. We did got to Beverly Hills to see a few friends and we made a trip to Hermosa Beach but other that it was pretty low key.

And this place is NOT it's all cracked up to be but now the Pink Taco - DELISH!

And I probably had the best cupcake EVER which was from the Frosted Cupcakery!

Thanks for a great tip, can't wait to visit again soon.

Oh and I did make Harper belly laugh - she loves me. I apologize for the video being sideways, I don't know how to change it.

Snow Bunny

We're preparing for a trip to Aspen in so when I saw these boots at Target I had to get them.

Love them!

B-I-N-G-O

I've been wanting to go play Bingo at the Kentucky state line for a few months now. Mark was on board, just not as excited as I was. I couldn't find a lot of information about it online but when I called I always got the same recording. They have games Friday and Saturday night as well as Sunday afternoon. We decided to go last Friday night and we invited our neighbors to go with us.  We had the BEST time! It's literally AT the state line! We immediately saw the BINGO sign on the left, pulled in and went for it. We walked inside and were directed upstairs. We first went into the room where people were betting on horse races around the world then we found bingo. It was a huge hall, electronic boards and this guy that was calling letters/numbers VERY fast. We went to the window and paid $12 per person for every game  they were playing that night and our very own dauber.

At first it was VERY overwhelming! You have 9 cards on a sheet and two sheets, so you're playing 18 cards at a time. You're so busy concentrating on the letters/numbers he's calling it's hard to remember to look and see if you even have a bingo. I was so frustrated when someone would call Bingo. I felt with just another round or so I would have it. None of us won but we did have fun. Thank goodness for the cute little young couple sitting next to us. Yes, the majority of people were older but I'm not sure we were the youngest in the hall.

So when we were leaving we saw another bingo hall across the street. We then realized we were at Kentucky Downs (hence the horse race betting) and the one across the street was Kentucky State Line Bingo, where we had originally planned to go. We by far picked the better hall.

So we are now trying to plan our next visit, we're sure one of us will win. Oh and the prizes, each game it was a prize of at least $200 up to $1,000.

Color Run and Auburn vs. Vandy

We have been trying to get those yahoos from AL up to Nashville and well it finally happened. The gang arrived late Friday night. Saturday night we got up and went to cheer on Auburn as they played Vandy. Well our cheering didn't do much good but we played the part anyway. I kind of like this blue and orange get up.

We continued our day with lounging and watching football but not without a stop at Krispy Kreme.

Sunday morning was what it was all about.....The Color Run! We got up bright and early and was ready to be plastered with color by the 9am. It truly is the Happiest 5K on the Planet. We had a blast, especially at the party afterwards where EVERYONE has packets of color and they slinging them EVERY-WHERE!

All nice and clean......but not for long.

And this is how we cleaned ourselves off.

Thank you guys for making the trip - we had a great time!

We are planning to participate in 2013 but in the ATL, watch out!!

PCB - Rogers Family Vacay

We rented a condo in Panama City with Mark's family during the kids' fall break. It was such a nice time to be at the beach. It wasn't so crowded, it wasn't hot and it was just the right time.

We did your typical beach activities, slept late, layed on the beach, played in the ocean, napped, walked on the beach, went to dinner, played games, looked for grabs and then did. it. all. over. again. We did get to take in the Priate Festival too. I do love a good festival but this one eh, not so much.

There's nothing like sunsets on the beach.

Rogers Family

Last day at the beach

Indy

I was in Indianapolis for a conference the first week of October. Again, this was a city I'd never been to. The only thing I knew about Indy was the Indy 500 and the Colts. And well.......that's still all I know. We stayed at the JW Marriott and it was great, but you know, I do love a Marriott. It's located right in front of this very nice park where I ran every morning along the river. The scheduling is perfect at this conference, fun nights and not-so-early mornings. We didn't really get out into the city much so I wasn't able to really sight see. Oh well, I'm not just dying to go back but maybe my travels will take me back there again someday.

And really that's all I have to say about that........

After Indy I hopped on a plane to meet Mark and his family in Panama City Beach.

Boys II Men

Mark and I had a date night with Boyz II Men and the Nashville Symphony. We had never been to the new Schermerhorn Symphony Center for an event so we were very excited. And Boyz II Men, come on!

We find our seats, which are on the third balcony, right above the stage. We noticed there weren't any microphones on the stage and the program just mentioned the conducted and Boyz II Men music. The first song the orchestra plays is "Mama." They then started into another song, we began to think that maybe the group wasn't actually there but that they were just playing their music. We were disappointed that we had paid all this money just to see the symphony. Which don't get me wrong, it would have been great, it just wasn't what we had planned on.

So they continue to play for about an hour and we have a 15 minute intermission. At this point we are cracking up because we're with a bunch of blue hairs at the symphony. Well we get back to our seats and now there are 3 microphones. Still there are 4 people in the group so I'm thinking they may have a few instrumental soloists or something. Whatever, we decided to stick around. So again, the orchestra starts playing and still no group. Then finally...............mid-way through the second song here they come! Woohoo!

We grew up with Boyz II Men so we loved them because of that but then we have also grown to be a bigger fan of Shawn Stockman who was a celebrity judge on The Sing Off.

They sang all of their greatest hits well.............except for Motown Philly. It was certainly a more mellow concert without all of the production, etc. We kept waiting for them to rock out Motown Philly. It didn't happy but they still put on a great show.

We also got to meet the group backstage! They were awesome and what a fun date night with my love.

Labor Day on Lake Martin

Labor Day Weekend we headed south to Eclectic, AL to send some time at a friends house and some time on Lake Martin. We work wtih a few people who actually work remote out of their home in AL so they invited us to come spend the weekend. It was a MUCH longer drive than we expected, some of which we attribute to all the stops we made along the way but nonetheless we made it.

We spend some time jetskiing, skiing, tubing, floating, riding and oh man how fun and yet relaxing at the same time. I had never tried to ski but I think I needed just one more day and I would have gotten it. Now knee-boarding I'm a pro at that. Honestly, it was a blast!!!

This was pretty much how skiing went for me.....every time!

Mark on the other hand did a better job.

See how fun much fun I was having on the kneeboard!

We had a great time, hopefully we'll get an invite next summer! :)

 

Arrington Harvest Fest

Arrington Vineyards has become a favorite spot of ours. We have joined their wine club, I've worked with and become friends with one of the owners and we just enjoy the atmosphere and well the wine.  They held a Harvest Festival in August so we grabbed some friends, our picinics and made it a night.

The entire event benefitted Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. Kix Brooks performed, they launched several hot air balloons, had special wine tastings and event tshirts. The weather was awesome and we couldn't have gotten a better seat!  The night was so much fun!

Doesn't get much better than this!

Our camp

Look at ALL the friggin' people. You can see there was still a bit of grass in the

"our camp" photo but that filled up fast.

St. Louis

Back in July I attended an educational conference, MPI's World Education Congress, in St. Louis. I had never been to STL so I was looking forward to seeing the arch. That was the only thing I even knew about STL, besides the Cardinals.

I participated in a 5K which was ran in the park around the arch. What a beautiful setting to to start the day.

There were several great sessions but I won't bore you with those details. One fun thing they incorporated into the meeting was a scavenger hunt type game, Goosechase.  It's an app you download onto your phone and the creators are setting up and adding missions of something you must take a picture of. Some things were relevant to the education, events, meals, etc. It was so much fun and being the competitive person I am I had to participate. Only two of us out of group did but we had a great time. We didn't win but it gave me a good sense of how I could use this for/during some of my meetings/events. I can't wait to try this out with our Marketing team during the holidays.

Being a conference of meeting planners they had to blow it out with some of the evening events too. The first night's welcome reception was at the Cardinal's stadium, and we were on the field! They had food truck catering, different entertainers, live music, games, tours of the locker room, photo opps, you could throw pitches in the bull pin and you could even get your picture made with the World Series trophy.

They also treated us to a great time at the City Museum which was a really cool place. I'd like to go back here one day. And I am NOT a museum person but this just let's your imagination run wild.

Can't wait for next year in Las Vegas!

Our First Experience at Aldi

I've seen and heard several people talking about Aldi lately and what a great deal they get on groceries.  One Sunday afternoon Mark and I decided to see what it was all about.  It goes a little something like this:

When we pulled up, I remembered that we were supposed to bring our own bags. but noticed I had forgotten them. Ok, no big deal, we'll still go in and see what this is about.

Mark walks up to get our buggy and realizes they are chained together.
Some lady saw Mark and told him you have to pay a quarter to get a cart. WTH?
Mark turned around and was ready to leave. Laughing, I encouraged to stay.

As we are cracking up because of the buggy incident, we clearly were Aldi virgins, we enter the store.

Immediately we realize everything is in warehouse pallets,again  no big deal. We also don't recognize any of the brands.

So we continued on just to see if there was something that we needed. We made it to the cereal and breakfast items. The breaking point was when we saw off-brand poptarts and Mark looked at me and said "honey, there are just some things you can't substitute." He is used to Kellogg's and was really ready to bail now.

Again, we continued on and actually did find some nacho chips, canned goods for soups, taco shells and a frozen pizza that Mark is still scared to eat.

We made it to the checkout and had a moment of panic when they didn't take plastic. We NEVER have cash but luckily this day, for some reason, we did. So we had just enough to pay for our groceries.

Remember we had no bags, so all this piddly stuff was just in our cart. We take our groceries out and load them into our truck where they were slung around the whole way home. We returned our cart AND got our quarter back.

The experience was nothing like we had imagined and I'm not sure I really saved anything on my grocery bill but it was worth the laughs and funny experience I shared with my husband.

And no wonder they can sell things for cheap, they have no expense of bags, they charge you to use the cart, no real stocking labor and no credit card fees.

Maybe one day we'll return and when we do we'll look like old pros.

We Go Together Like Crate & Barrel

While watching the Emmy's I took a phone call and Mark told me about a Crate & Barrel commercial that had our names in it. I didn't believe him and didn't really understand what he meant. I immediately checked youtube.com and sure enough we were on there! :)

This is the commercial that mentions us. I think we should get paid something for allowing them to use our names and well really our love for each other and how we go together like Crate &  Barrel. Ok, that may have been too deep.

The campaign is pretty cute, you should watch the others too.

It's just another reason we're meant to be! Love you honey!

Quick Update

Goodness, I'm not sure how I manage to get so behind in this blog world.....buuuuut, I do.

Here's a little quick update about what's been going on.

• A few months ago I heard this song, Lovin' You Is Fun on the radio and I just love it! It reminds me so much of the relationship Mark and I have. It IS fun loving him and we have soooo much fun together. He makes me laugh, he also makes me mad, he helps me, he supports me and every bit of it is fun. I'm so blessed to have such a great hubby!
• Mark got a dirt bike - against my will but by-golly he's like a giddy 16 year old getting a new car. He's ridden maybe 4 times and has already managed to fly over the handle bars and get a flat tire.

• Mom and Dad brought the boys up and we took them to Cheekwood to see the Treehouse exhibition. There were some neat things but I was a little disappointed by the so called treehouses. The boys did have a great time....and that's all that matters.

• Mark and I ran in the Tomato5K in East Nashville. You know I've been in this running mode so every fun run I can find I have to talk Mark into doing it with me. :)  We signed up for the Warrior Dash but they changed locations so we cancelled but whew, that would have been more of a challenge than a fun run. :)

• Since we bailed on the Warrior Dash we volunteered with Hands on Nashville and completed outdoor projects at McGavock Elementary School. We also played tourists and had dinner at Margaritaville with great friends we don't see often enough! 

                                     

• It is finally looking and feeling like fall around here! I'm loving it! I had a nice day at home with the windows open, putting my fall decorations out, reading and cooking. Why are weekends SOO short!?!?

• I bought these a few weeks ago and was excited that they were candy corn M&Ms. After tasting them I couldn't taste the candy corn - I later read the package again and they are White Chocolate but colored like candy corn. That was so misleading.

• I love hearing about all the new fall TV shows coming out. I've been watching Katie, Katie Couric's new daytime talk show. I love, love, love her which makes me like the show but she could use some better guests. I know it's only her second week but she better step it up if she wants to last.  We also love The Voice. It seems this year they've pre-screened the auditions more which was a great move - makes the show much better!

St. Thomas - Day 7

This was a day we had been waiting for, not because it was our last day, that made us way sad. We were excited because we were going on an excursion to the Virgin Islands. All week we went back and forth on how we wanted to see some other islands - do we take a ferry, do we rent a boat or do we do an excursion??  I'm so glad we did this! It was our BEST DAY!

We hopped aboard Bad Kitty and set out for the British Virgin Islands. Our first stop was The Baths. Here we had to anchor out in the ocean and swim to shore to take advantage of this beautiful place. We purchased a waterproof bag (about the size of a body bag) so we could take my camera. I would have been PeeO'd if I didn't have it.

The Baths is an area of Virgin Gorda, BVI with pools surrounded by boulders pushed up from the earth by the earth's shift. It was absolutely and my pictures do not do it justice. They do several photo shoots in these caves for Victoria Secret and other magazines. It was absolutely beautiful. I've always had a thing for rocks in the ocean. It's so pretty and I love the sound of the waves crashing against them.

Next stop was Cooper Island for lunch.

Then we stopped to snorkel in the caves. I'm not a huge snorkeler so I did for a bit and hopped back on the boat where several people were jumping off the top deck into the ocean. For the first time in my life I acted like a wuss and didn't jump. It really ate at me but it was probably for the best given my track record.

Our last stop was Jost Van Dyke and the Soggy Dollar Bar. This is voted one of the best beaches in the world. I would have to agree. Here we anchored in the ocean again and swam to shore. The Soggy Dollar Bar is home of the original Painkiller. It was such a beautiful place!

Now this photo below is one I am most proud of. I didn't realize how good this was until we got home and I was going through all of pictures. This one took my breath away. I couldn't believe the perfection of the colors of the water and sky. Ohh, I just love it!

The excursion was a perfect end to a wonderful vacation. We're already planning a trip back - it was certainly one of the best vacations yet! It was nice to  take a break, be so removed from everyday life (but still keep up with my bestie having a baby in the states while I was away) and spend some good QT with my man!

St. Thomas - Day 6

And repeat.....same as Day 5!

Tonight we went to dinner at Coco Blue. I was VERY disappointed here. I had been craving sushi. We made a reservation but when we walk in we stand there for about 7 minutes waiting on someone to acknowledge us. We finally had a seat at the bar and waited about 40 minutes until our table was finally ready. The sushi was crazy things I had never heard of so I went with our North Carolina waitress recommendations - NOT GOOD. You know my meat and potatoes man was planning on having a steak, well they were OUT so he had to settle for something else. Service was only ok and the food was yuck. We will not visit again. I like my Tennessee sushi just fine, thank you.

St. Thomas - Day 5

Hmmm, another day by the pool................sun, fruity drinks, music, nap...........that about sums it up! Today we did take a double kayak out into the bay, that was fun but didn't last long. We were very lazy.

We were craving some great pizza so our pool server recommended the Island Time Pub and boy was he right!! It was absolutely delicious and the view was nice looking over the American Yacht Harbor. Runs a close race with the best pizza I've ever had.

St. Thomas - Day 4

Today we planned to hit Magan's Bay on St. Thomas. We'd heard several great things about this bay and it was definitely on our to-do list while here. We were NOT disappointed! It's was certainly one of our favorite days. The bay was beautiful and so quiet. Fortunately, we visited on a day when there were no cruise ships coming in. The beach was probably 30 feet deep and a mile long with still crystal clear blue water.  We took our blankets, radio, floats, cooler and lunch and spent the day there. Oh it was so nice!! That's one thing we have loved about this vacation is being able to venture off the island and see more than the resort pool (which don't get me wrong is very nice).

On the way back we stopped by a dairy, which we had passed on our way, Udder Delight (funny name, right? I love it!), to get a milkshake. Very tasty!

We did nap by the pool upon return to the hotel. Then it was dinner time again...

Tonight we had dinner at Pesce. Mark had the best fettuccini alfredo EVER. You know that's a pretty big deal as he holds Olive Garden to a very high standard. My pasta was ok but the bread was well worth the trip.

St. Thomas - Day 3

Today was a bit overcast so we decided to go into town and check that off our list. We started our day off with a great breakfast at Molly Molone's. Breakfast is Mark's favorite meal of the day and boy was he happy to get an omelet and bacon! We brought poptarts and breakfast bars for the other days so this was a real treat. :)  This place had iguanas just roaming through the restaurant, it was cool and creepy at the same time.

We had an interesting cab ride into town that probably took an hour because of so many pickups and drop offs BUT it did only cost $8. Score! We went into several shops, near where all the cruise ships port. We could not get over all the jewelry stores. But here they don't have a sales tax so I'm sure many people take advantage of that.

I had read about the Step Streets and wanted to see those for sure. So we made our way up the 99 steps and had a photo shoot along the way.

I had also read about Zora's. She makes custom sandals, which are super cute but the pair I wanted cost $250. Really!?!?!  For a pair of sandals?!?!  Mark said I better wear them everyday and run in them for that. Ha - I opted NOT to get a pair. I do already dread it because they were SO comfortable. I'll start saving my allowance to get a pair when we come back. Funny we ran into a couple from Nolensville and Franklin while in the store, too.

Before heading to the hotel we stopped at the grocery store and purchased sandwich meat, bread, snacks and drinks. This was a VERY good decision on our part.

We came back to the hotel and spent some time at the pool before dinner. Dinner - man, what an experience! I had also read about the Old Stone Farmhouse. I was looking forward to this dinner as the trip advisor reviews were great and the menu looked fan-tastic. We got a tour of the kitchen, had kangaroo, a delicious fillet and shrimp pad Thai. Oh it was so delicious! I would highly recommend this if you visit St. Thomas.