for my Whitney

you could have made little beavers out of the instant mashed potatoes. Next year.

always a silver lining

more turkey day

sooo I have not been with my family in Ohio for 16 years for Thanksgiving because we go to Charlotte. I looooove Thanksgiving in either place but I always reminisce about the good ol days. I never once made it to the big table but I apired to. There are bonuses to being at the far end, however. See, we have this silly tradition with the dinner rolls. We don't necessarily pass them, but toss them...well, wing them is a better term. Being at the far end makes catching and winging more entertaining.

*side note--at our wedding my cousin Eddie called out my name during dinner. (He was seated very far away from me) Bam! Dinner roll to the face. Best damn wedding ever!

Where was I? Oh Thanksgiving. I called my dad (tradition again) and he passed the phone around the table so i could talk to everyone. My uncle Ed really wanted to sneak the nasty parts of the turkey to me (another not so fun tradition of find the giblets on my plate). Great part this year was that they included me in the blessing. My dad set the phone down next to my aunt Mary while she gave a moving prayer. Sigh. what a great day.

Turkey Trot

Tradition is HUGE in our little family. Seems if we do something one year we HAVE to do it the next because of my super sweet sentimental Ben. This year we added a new family tradition that I think we should hold on to. We all ran the Charlotte Turkey Trot on thanksgiving morning. It made happy hour Wednesday night a little less exciting...no late night Cranium game but it made for a super thanksgiving day.

The boys wanted to run for Kate---their version of the Disney marathon. And run they did! They ran like the wind with so much passion and strength. When I saw them coming toward the finish line, I was in tears and swelling with pride. Marc, Louie and I had a great time running the 8k. It was a bit warm and muggy for my taste but all in all a good time.

I ran wearing my Team in training shirt and an invisible Kate on my shoulder cheering me on. I can't begin to tell you how motivating that was. But it doesn't stop there. Complete strangers yelled from the sidewalks "GO Team." Runners that either passed me or i passed yelled "Go Team." A man hugged me as I was cooling down afterwards and told me how proud he was of me and what a great thing Team in training is. wow. thankful, thankful truly grateful I am.

Afterwards we were hugged by my aunt and uncle and my mother in law who cheered us on from start to finish. Family arrived, food was made, good times were shared. Thanksgiving.

he gets me

for my birthday, my sweet Marc brought me this. Who read my mind and created this little slice of heaven? As he handed it to me, he said "I know it's not dark chocolate but this looked like you." Let me explain it---first the soft chocolate melts gently on your tongue, then this earthy, crunchy salt taste envelopes your mouth and bam! bacon. Tasty, smoky, goes so well with chocolate bacon. Can I make this? wait, can I make a goat cheese truffle? oooh, earl grey tea truffle with candied violets.....asiago cheese with balsamic vinegar? yum. I am going to make some truffles.

thankful

oh the things I am thankful for.....my sweet boys, my great Marc, my dad, my family, trees, books, love, dark chocolate, music, girlfriends, mashed potatoes, the smell of new grass, the smell of sage in Utah, bacon (yeah, that's right), falling leaves, ohio, humor, cloves, wine, the canyons of utah, photographs, memories....

My boys and I love to talk about Thankfulness during november. It's out big tradition. We try to do nice things for people beginning with halloween (yeah, I know it's in October) when we boo! a few friends. This year we took things to a new level and we created a thankful calendar for our school to do good things all month. I am so excited about it and the boys are all in as well. The first thing we did was collect books for the AFLAC Cancer Center. My friend Kate, who I am running the Disney half marathon for, gets to take them to all the kids. wow. Next is letters to soldiers and veterans, food bags for CHOA families, then canned food, then thank you's to teachers and staff, then video games for the Dialysis center, then clothing and household items for Burmese refugees..... The boys are so into it. They have been making jewelry for teachers and every so often I find something hand made for me.

This weekend when we were hiking they saw lots of yucky trash in the river and proceeded to fish it out. We went straight from there to cleaning up the road their cub scout pack had adopted. THEN at soccer practice, Ben took bags to clean up the park and fields. "Someone's got to take care of this environment!" he said. sweet boy I am thankful for you.

found art

found this on the windowsil of the mill ruins at Lullwater. Somethin's always shining, huh?

it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a goose?

yup, a goose on top o' the president's house at Emory. click on it and the picture will enlarge for you. What's he doing up there?

useless knowledge of me---when I was little I liked to call everyone and every crazy thing "goofy." Only I really said "goosy." Now you know. carry on.

underwear apologies

to all my supportive friends who have listened to my stories about running and underwear and chafing....sorry I really don't think I am alone in this thing. Does everyone but me run without underwear? I am not ready to eshew my undies. What if I get hit by a car? no undies?
I have purchased some special, high-tech (read expensive), breathable, no cotton skimpy things. baby steps. I will try to not talk about it but runners of the world, beware. I am on to you no underwear-wearers. (pic from flash's running site )http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=23563196&blogID=112548660