Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to everyone! Hope everyone enjoyed time with special people, and at least enjoyed the calories that none of us really should have consumed! My crazy food included a Paula Deen butter and cream cheese cake. I could feel my arteries hardening.

But my first Christmas without my dad turned out okay. My mom, brother + fam, sister + fam enjoyed our time together, and no one caused any big uproar -- always a good thing.

Spending time in NC with my mom has made me realize I really need to find a way to get back down here quicker. Since my Michigan job has now turned into part-time, I'll definitely include NC in my job search. It sure would be nice if I could spend a significant part of the year with her. We'll see.

My running has been lame. But I'll keep at it.

Amanda had a great idea -- if I'm not running the Disney Half in the future, I could volunteer! I think it would be super fun! I will run local 10Ks, by the way. I won't give up running, just will run shorter distances.

See some of you soon!

What a year. And I don't really mean that in a good way!

It has been interesting. Lots of ups and downs, for all of our gang.

For those of us who didn't have a great year of training and eating right, and know that we left opportunity on the table -- it is what it is. But every morning, every minute, we can start fresh. So let's keep trying to move forward.

I am pretty sure I am done with half marathons, but I hate that this year hasn't been an improvement over last year. I really was looking forward to building on what I accomplished last year. But I didn't know I would lose my dad this year, and I didn't know that training without that "fear of being swept" would be harder. I also didn't know our Team Voice would be more distracted and busy and less connected this year (I'm a prime example) -- but it's totally understandable. And it certainly makes me understand how TRULY MAGICAL our experience was last year.

But it seems like we do have some Team Voicers who have had a great year, and are destined to have fabulous runs -- and I am SOOOO happy for them! You know, all year I've watched Rae's training and races, and am still amazed and flabbergasted by her drive! Could we please bottle some of this up, Rae?!!

Hopefully I'm not speaking out of turn about everyone's experiences this year. Please forgive me if I didn't say something quite the right way.

Now despite my bummer of a year, I am still VERY excited about seeing some of Team Voice in a few weeks at WDW! I'm NOT excited about the race, but I'll just gut it out and try to enjoy the experience as best I can.

And after MILE 13, I'll start looking forward to enjoying some 10Ks!

Back, And Gone Again

I'm back from WDW. It was a great trip! More on that later.

Tomorrow I'm driving to NC to spend Thanksgiving with my family, the first without my father. I think we'll be fine, and will enjoy our time together.

It's also the weekend of my mom's class reunion, and mine too! It's going to be interesting. Since I've been gone from town for so long, and have a terrible memory, I am going to be clueless about who the heck everyone is!

More next week!

Enjoy your turkey and your families!

Hey, I'm Going to Disney World!

I've been so lame about blogging, that I just realized today that it might be a good idea to mention that I'm going to WDW on Sunday!

Me and my sister will be there for a week to celebrate my birthday on Tuesday. This is the first time the two of us have gone alone, and I think it will be a cool, bonding experience. Either that, or we'll be sick of each other by the end of the week!

She was not able to come in January 2009 for marathon weekend -- my parents and brother did. So I told her we would do this trip as her replacement, and finally I would get to have a birthday at WDW.

I'm going to try the dining plan for the first time this trip. I've always liked to have one table-service meal each day, usually lunch, just to have a break and some quiet time before heading out again. So the plan should mesh with my normal routine -- except for dessert. Usually I'm full enough that I'm okay skipping dessert to save calories and money, but now I will feel obligated to get a dessert! Could be trouble!

We're staying at the Boardwalk (DVC). MK will be open til 11 one night and EC will be open until midnight, so that will be cool. I love the parks at night.

And speaking of night, AK will be open until 8 one night, and I will finally get to see AK after dark! Usually we go in the morning, have lunch at Rainforest (can almost always eat at the bar without waiting), and then head back to BW because we can't take any more of the heat and humidity of the AK jungle!

This time, we'll probably head over to AK around 3, eat an early dinner at Y&Y, and then walk around and see how the park looks under lights! I'm really looking forward to it.

What else is new this trip? My birthday breakfast will be at Norway with the princesses. I happen to love buffet breakfasts -- love the fruit, pastries, and breakfast items -- and then I have the rest of the day to work off the calories! Much better than an evening buffet (except for not maximizing DDP dollars).

As I was making ADRs for the trip, I walked that fine line of choosing expensive spots (to maximize the DDP dollars) versus choosing spots that I like, had a menu me and my sis could enjoy, and had ADRs available. I suspect I'll end up about breaking even when all is said and done.

I'm also really looking forward to new Space Mtn and Kim Possible. I'm going to try and do all the countries, since I have five days. I also need to check out Vinylmation, and hope I don't get hooked!

I'm also going to use Photo Pass for the first time this trip. I've gotten pretty jaded about taking pics lately -- I took hundreds the first few times I went to WDW. But since it's me and my sis, I want to have lots of pics to commemorate the trip, and why not let the Disney photographers do the work for me?!

I also plan to Tweet, blog and record some audio. Now whether my iPhone battery will cooperate is another story! We'll see what happens, and how many outlets I find to use. Wonder if anyone ever asks for a table near a plug, instead of near a window?!!!

Nice Time At The DMV?

Since I'm heading to WDW for my birthday week, and my driver's license expires this year, I headed to the DMV this morning for a renewal.

Last time I was there, I got fussed at a little for not knowing I was supposed to stand on a certain carpet square for a certain line. So I wasn't quite sure what fun things would happen on this trip.

I did get to sleep late, which my cat loved, since the office didn't open until 9. And I stopped by my favorite bagel place on the way. Two fun things so far!

I headed in, and found only two people there in line. Cool. Pulled a number, just to obey the rules! Didn't want to get fussed out for not having a number!

My turn came and the lady was SOOOOOOO NICE!! She was happy, friendly, sweet -- I'm surprised she didn't give me a cookie or offer to help me to my car! COOOL!!

Eye test, photo snap, temporary piece of paper to extend my license, and I was all set!

Of course, now that I'm recalling the experience, I remembered that I meant to get an enhanced license (sort of a quasi passport-ish tyle license). But I was so flabbergasted by the nice lady that I forgot to tell her I wanted one!

Ummm, does that mean a trip back to the DMV? Will the nice lady still be there? What are the odds of that?

Maybe I better stick with the standard license and hope for the best in another eight years!

Good Week, Finally

Hi everyone!

Like some of you, I've really been on Space Mountain with eating and exercising. How crazy was I to think that after last year's dedicated training, that this year would be easier?! Hah!

But during my recent doldrums, I didn't give up. I just tried to minimize the damage somewhat, and kept looking at each day as a fresh opportunity.

And finally, low and behold, I'm back on track, moving forward like the TTA. Eating is good, exercising is good. I did a fun little 5K run this past Sunday at a friend of a friend's college business school -- even though it was October in Michigan! Luckily, it was in the 50s, not windy, and a little bit sunny. And it was just a 5K.

I wore my tech shirt from the Disney Half Marathon. It always brings back such good memories when I put that shirt on!

If you're on the low end of Thunder Mountain, just hang on and look at each day as a new start. And one morning it really will be!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! Hope we all have great weekends! Can I just tell you how much I would love to work a 4-day work week?! 10 hour days, but a 3-day weekend every week? I think I'd love that.

No snow yet in Michigan, but it's definitely time to fill up the storage shed and clear out the garage, to get ready for winter. Fun times as I point out to Dwain how we can stack, tuck, and pile up items in the shed, to fit everything in.

Poor guy just got back from a short Disney trip, and is experiencing that post-WDW depression. Spending time in the chilly garage may not help much.

I'm heading to WDW the week of November 15 with my sister, for my birthday. I'm looking forward to it, but am definitely bummed that I probably won't be able to squeeze in a December not-M-Fest trip. Sounds like a lot of my Disney buddies will be there enjoying each other's company.

But I guess we'll have a version of that in January, on race weekend -- so what the heck am I complaining about?!!

Clearly it's early and I'm rambling. The responsible thing to do would be to delete this post and start over. But then I'd have to try another post.

So you're stuck with this one!