Chicago and Benjamin

What a fun weekend! Chris had a NAVL conference in Chicago (National American Van Lines) this weekend (well, Lombard, just outside Chicago), and the owners of his company were nice enough to let him get a rental car instead of just flying him up there, so I got to go! We left on Thursday afternoon, stopped in Indy to see baby Colin Isom and his mama and daddy, and then stayed in Crown Point (north of Lafayette) that night. Friday, we drove the last hour to Lombard where we stayed at a Westin - SO nice! Chris was in meetings and seminars all afternoon Friday and then all day Saturday, but I was able to sleep, swim, hang out in the hot tub, and do some shopping right across the street. The drive back today definitely sucked, but thankfully we got to break it up a little when we stopped in Carmel to see the newest addition to the Weishaar family! Blake & his wife Katie just welcomed little Benjamin David on Thursday, and he is a CUTIE! They had just gotten home when we were coming through town, but they insisted we stop by. A cute new baby to hold? Yes please! Blake & Chris are Sigma Chi brothers (both were in each other's weddings), so it's really neat to become "proxy" aunt and uncles to the little ones that his friends (and mine!) are bringing into the world. Katie's mom commented that I had a real knack for getting Ben to sleep - ha! I attempted to swaddle him in a warm blanket and then held him up close to me, which means he had plenty of "cushioning" to rest up against! Besides that though, I would have to agree :-) New babies always spike my baby fever - I spent the better part of the drive from Indy to Columbus trying to convince Chris we should have a baby. Now. :) (It hasn't worked, in case you're wondering)! Well, I'm worn OUT. This weather is enough to get anyone sick, and I am EXHAUSTED. Come ON Spring - get here and STAY here!

3500 (calories)

Seriously, I envy those that can so eloquently put their thoughts into words. Me, I just ramble and ramble and ramble...........

Stalking a blog (Heir to Blair) that I found via my friend Ashley :) - I saw this quote that SHE had gotten from a blog that SHE liked. Very profound, but so very simple.

"How long does it take you to burn 500 calories? On a good day - 50 minutes. But how long does it take you to inadvertently eat 500 calories? If queso, chocolate, beer or any of our other favorites are involved - about 5 seconds."

Isn't THAT the truth?!?! Fortunately, running burns at a slightly higher rate than that, but not by much, and I don't run enough for the crap I for some reason can't stop putting in my body. Last spring/ summer I was doing so well, tracking every morsel that passed my lips. It WORKED!! I didn't have to deprive myself of ANYthing - literally - moderation, moderation, moderation.

I've got to get back on this wagon. I know that some of the weight I've put back on is to blame for some of my runs being harder on my legs. Plus, I just don't feel good about myself like I started to last year. Plus, I'd like to get (and keep) some off before we start trying for a baby! There are plenty of reasons to jump back on.

I just keep finding the ones to stay off.

I just found a great quote online (gosh, I love a good quote!): "Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."

Back on. Now.

In-Law Weekend

What a fun, FUNNY weekend!

This is the 4th year in a row Chris' family has come over here for his birthday, and like always, it was an on-the-gogogogo weekend, but SO fun! (His birthday isn't until 3/29, but with us being in Chicago next weekend, they came this weekend instead).


They got here late Friday evening and we all went down the street to Las Margaritas, one of our fave Mexican restuarants (that thankfully have the BEST shrimp quesadillas for the Catholic of the group!) We came back to the apt for awhile, and Chris' sister and her fiance', Kevin stayed with us in our guest room, and so did Chris' brother, Shawn, who slept on our couch - so we had a full house!


Saturday we all kind of did our own things for awhile. Chris, Jenn, Kevin & I went to the Ohio Deli (as seen on Man vs. Food, where Adam took on the 2.5 pound Dagwood and fries and finished it!), and we all really liked it! Just a hole in the wall-type building, but great food and CHEAP!! Jenn & I went to Old Navy to check out some spring sales while the boys went golfing, and then after we all came back and got cleaned up (I even got a short run in) and went out for the evening.

We had reservations at The Pub, a British-themed restaurant which Chris and I have had several times before and love (their fish & chips are TO DIE FOR). We got to sit at this ridiculous table.....some Scottish brewing company paid $14,000 for this table that had a tap IN the table, and then we were able to pour and drink as much as we wanted (and by we I mean all the boys, us girls didn't like it!), which was pretty neat. We stopped by the Buckeye Room so that Chris & I could pick up some baby Bucks stuff for Blake's baby boy, about to arrive anyday! I also got a tshirt that says "The Nut House" - it's what the students in the student section wear during bball games - I think it's funny!

We then ventured over to Easton to the Funny Bone where we had tickets to see John Morgan - FUNNIEST. SHOW. EVER. Kevin actually took a drink of beer and spit it out at one point he was laughing so hard. Fortunately, the guy he spit all over was a good 5' ahead of us and was very understanding. John Morgan was crude, rude, vulgar, and spoke his mind about everything under the sun - from kids, the education system, the new rules at airports, parents of 1 to parents of 3, sex, driving - SO FUNNY. For $17/ each, we all got a really good show and our sides and cheeks all hurt from laughing so hard.

We all came back to the apartment again where the boys continued their party while Jenn & I talked and bemoaned our fates as the significant others of the yahoos. :)

All in all, a very fun and funny weekend. Ready to get the next 4 days over with and get to Chicago!

Some Numbers

68: the glorious temperature outside. LOVE. IT.

3: actual days until the 1st day of Spring - WAHOO!!!!! I think we're finally done with winter and SNOW....speaking of snow.....

860,000/ 1,100,000/ 1,001,000/ - snow dollars billed in December, January & February by me. DONE. WITH. WINTER.

4.5 - miles - done with on my first running group outing, yesterday. It was fun! My iPod showed we went just under 4.3, so the 6.2 miles I ran Saturday - the longest distance I've run to date - was actually probably closer to 7 miles! I was scheduled to run a 10K last Saturday 3/5, but since I was in TH, I modified my schedule some. I didn't actually run a race - I went to a rec center north of Columbus thinking a softer indoor track would be easier on me. Wrong. It kicked my butt!

7: days until a "mini-vacation" - for me, anyway! Chris has a work conference in Chicago next Friday and Saturday, so I'm going with him. He'll only be busy until 5 or so each day, so we'll have the nights to hang out and enjoy that fun city. I'm planning on getting some rest at the hotel each day, and doing some running along the lake, and just taking it easy until Chris is done with his work duties. It'll be fun to get away for a couple days!

51: days until the mini. EEK! Training is ramping up quickly, but I'm excited. Running with the group last night got me really pumped for the race, and also inspired to run some smaller races here before the big day (May 7!)

1: day until Chris' family is in town for his bday. I better get to cleaning :)

Unhappy Anniversary

As we've already established, I'm stupidly weird about numbers and dates. I remember all of them. The good, the bad.........the ugly.

Last March 13 was an AWFUL day. A terrible, no-good, really really bad and sad day.

That day, the truth of what happened between Dusty and me came out. Not in anyway I intended, but out nonetheless. I had never come as close to losing Chris as I did that day. Every minute of that day is still ingrained in my mind.......the yelling, the tears, the threats, the fear, the absolute rock-bottom feeling of knowing I had really jacked up my life.

The next day, Sunday 3/14, Chris told me he was leaving. Obviously, he didn't, but it has been a long and hard year of talks, and tears, and more talks, and questions, more tears.

It has always been a year that I now look back on as kind of a big mountain we crossed over. We're now on the other side. It's a HUGE mountain.........so it'll always be there when we look behind us. But a year apart from that horrible day and time in our lives, it has started getting smaller. We're moving on. Talking about babies, and houses, and oddly enough, who would take care of our kids if something happened to us (check out the movie "Life as we Know It" with Katherine Heigl, it's cute).

March 13 was a bad day. A sad day. But March, one year later.........we're okay.

Thank God.

Defeated

I feel like I've lived a pretty solid 27 years and almost 4 months. Yes, I'm bossy. Yes, I need control of situations. Yes, I can be overbearing. I know when to back off, but I know when I need to pull out my bossy boots when the situation calls for it.

So, why now am I being asked to change? To "approach" people differently? To "manage" people differently?

NO!

I refuse. I'm tired of dealing with the same crap, all the time. I'm tired of being the polite and meek one, because guess what? That's not working either.

Over it.

Whoa, Nelly

I'm frustrated.

I'm frustrated that I may very well be married to the most financially-responsible man on the planet. I'm frustrated that he makes a lot of sense. I'm frustrated that he is probably right in saying we should maybe put off this house and get some of our ducks in a row first.

If you look up the phrase "opposites attract" in the dictionary, you'd find a picture of us. Me: fly by the seat of my pants, emotionally involved quickly, I see something I want, I must. have it. now. Chris: responsible. thinker. planner. looker-into-the-future to check out all the "what if's."

I'm frustrated that in the last couple of months, we added up what we spent in eating out (just on weekends, we cook during the week!!) and that amount about knocked us off our chairs. Our bills get paid and we have money in savings, so we thought we were doing alright. Little did we know. I take a lot of the blame, b/c Chris would usually be okay with eating in 7 nights a week - it's me that is pretty much done with cooking come Friday.

I'm frustrated that I just keep watching people I know - family, acquaintances, friends from high school and what have you - just pop out kids. And still live with their parents. Or grandparents. Oh, can't afford the ones you have? Why not have a couple more, after all, it's not like you're actually paying to live anywhere and it's not as if you're actually paying for insurance.

I'm frustrated that it really does seem that some people can lack complete responsibility and it doesn't seem to bother or affect them. I may not be the most financially responsible person on the face of the earth, but my bills get paid and by God they are with our own money.

I know it's not a bad thing to want all our ducks (or a good part of our ducks :)) in a row before moving onto big things like buying a house and having a baby. I also know that if we wait for ALL our ducks to get lined up, we'll be 95 years old and I'm pretty sure by that time I'll be sterile.

I am trying to do a better job of not living for tomorrow, the weekend, next month, what have you. Today is truly a blessing, and I need to learn to cherish it b/c I know all too well how fast time travels. Before I know it, it'll be late fall, and God providing, we'll have paid off some things and will be ready to say "let's do this!" to our Dominion lady. Before I know it, we'll have had 1 baby or 2 and they'll be growing faster than I can blink.

But right now - I'm frustrated.

Oh. Lent starts tomorrow. No fast food for me until April 24! :)

New Winner!

Leave it to us. We're THAT couple. Can't make up our minds.

But like my Mom said, this is a huge decision. We have to live with it for a long time to come so we have a right to be picky!

So, anyway, we were talking about the 2 options last night, and got online to get some more info. And then we came across another floorplan that we hadn't noticed before. And really liked it. So, today, we went and saw the model (in Hilliard, where we can't afford to live).

L-O-V-E-D it. No basement in this one, but a bonus room is already IN the price, as WELL AS a home office downstairs, as WELL AS a dining area right off the kitchen. The half bath wasn't off the kitchen, it had a nice little foyer, and it had an actual laundry room instead of being a closet off the garage. 2nd and 3rd bedrooms are bigger, the master is huge (with 2 sinks in the bathroom - yeah!) - and there is a huge storage area underneath the stairs - whoo! Garage is in the back on this one, BUT - this community has a pool, playground and running/ bike path.

So. We are crunching numbers on Thursday to see what options we want and which ones we don't. I think we're really doing this!