Goal Update

1. Do my core stabilization exercises every other day....at least! Fail :( You would think that I would be able to do this, given the fact that I give HEPs (Home Exercise Programs) to patients almost daily! I probably ended up doing them every 3rd day.
2. Get a new basil plant (yes I need a new one.....long story short, Bailey happened to my original basil plant) and possibly a tomato plant. Fail. Haven’t had time to scope out a hanging plant basket.
3. Go to Art on the Rocks Pass! What a lame goal :) But what a fun time!!
4. Run a 5K in under 30 minutes (in rockin' retro gear) Fail. I forgot I put a time constraint on this! And given the fact that I was running in 88 degree weather in this, I don’t think we made it in under 30 minutes.
5. Have the best 29th Birthday Week eva!! :D Pass :) Another easy goal. Thankfully I set a couple easy ones, otherwise I would have failed the entire month!

August Goals
1. Buy a new basil plant
2. Apply for a new position at work (if it becomes available….)
3. Brush Bailey’s hair every (other) day. She has started to shed for some reason.
4. Finish A Thousand Splendid Suns
5. Open a Roth IRA
6. Decide if we’re flying or driving to Pittsburgh in November for Jay’s wedding…..and buy our plane tickets if we decide on flying!

Currently

Excited about Southern Summer Night this Friday, Orange Beach Trip with friends next month
Worried about how much money we've spent this summer! We haven't had to go into debt or anything like that but we haven't been saving as much as I would have liked. Oh well, you only live once and we're living it up since this could be our last summer in Bama (and our last summer living close to some dear friends!) Sad.
Reading A Thousand Splendid Suns
Creating extra room in our budget for all the fun stuff we are doing
Loving all of the fun things we've been able to do this summer
Hating weekends being too short!
Wondering if things will work out the way I would like them to at work
Craving buffalo chicken dip
Listening to Coming Down by The Enemy Lovers
DVR-ing Burn Notice (Ok, I don't have DVR and I haven't had plans on Thursday nights in a while but if both of those things were true than this is what I would be DVR-ing)
Looking forward to seeing Mom and Dad this weekend and our brief overnight trip to Atlanta
Stealing this idea from Crystal

Relaxing weekend......

Finally! It's been a while since we've had a low-key weekend around Birmingham.

Friday night: Updated my youtube playlist. A few faves:

• Damage (Tim Brantley)
• Show me what I'm Lookin' For (Carolina Liar)
• Sometime around Midnight (The Airborne Toxic Event)
• She is Love Acoustic Version (Parachute)
• Sex and Reruns (Matt Duke)
• Come on Get Higher (Matt Nathanson)
• Use Somebody (Kings of Leon)
• Innocence (The Airborne Toxic Event)
• Sweet and Low (Augustana)

Saturday night: Grilled out with the neighbors, then headed to the J. Clyde for a few drinks with some friends.

Sunday: Laundry, cooking, cleaning, walk with Bailey, blogging, paid bills, groceries, relaxing.

5 days and no blogging.......

See, I told you our life was going to be boring after that last post. I don't have anything to post about except for Bailey....surprise surprise! This is a new toy that I got her (for 90% off!) and then a video of how she eats the first 15-20 pieces of her food (yes, she is completely neurotic!)

AOTR & Retro Run

We had an awesome weekend. Friday night we went to Art on the Rocks with some friends. They had a really great setup and a huge turnout. Art on the Rocks takes place in the Birmingham Museum of Art and they have food, drinks, dj's, and a headliner. Tim Brantley happened to be playing Friday night. We already knew a few of his songs because they play him on a local radio station down here. (Also, he used to date my co-worker's cousin, but broke it off so he could "concentrate on his music" to "make it big.") Tom and I got there early and enjoyed some hors' dourves, draft Blue Moon, and some pretty awesome people-watching. Then we met up with Stacy, Kelly, Anne & Brian and enjoyed the gorgeous weather and more people watching. Tim Brantley was great live (except for when he fell off his chair and had to stop twice in the middle of a song....). We had such an awesome night and we didn't think our weekend could get any more awesome...........

......And then it did! Saturday night we ran the Retro Run 5K. Everyone dressed up retro style from the 70's and 80's. It was HOT running in our costumes but they were too awesome not to wear. I managed to talk a couple of my friends from work into running too! After the run we all enjoyed some beer (from the beer truck!!), Jim 'n Nick's, and good company. There was a $100 cash prize for the best "costume" and sadly, neither of us were nominated. We ended up hanging out in Homewood (where the race was) for several hours post-race. Then we went to Dave's (a nearby pizza joint) and our second post-race meal of the night.

Tonight we ended the weekend by going to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate our friend Anne's birthday. I'm not sure when the next time is we'll have another weekend this exciting so savor the post and pictures! :)

Happenings

We've had a pretty happening summer so far...and it's only about to get more happening this weekend! We're going to Art on the Rocks tomorrow night and we're running in the Retro Run Saturday night.


Last Friday night I went with my friend Paige to the Barking Kudu because they were giving away a free mountain bike and she really wanted to win it. Long story short - She Won!! Later in the evening we went for sushi (I've really been craving sushi lately) and then we ended up at this random karaoke bar with a very...um......eclectic mix of people. It was pretty awesome and I'm pretty mad that I didn't think to take any video while I was there!
Last night we went to the Wine Loft for a little bit to hang out with some friends. We had some good wine, good company, and an all around good time!

Secret Weekend Getaway

We're back! And we had a very relaxing getaway. Tom did a great job planning and I really had no idea where we were going (even when I tried to investigate the directions....fortunately he had thought to change the names of the towns/destinations to "A, B, C, & D"......although it wouldn't have mattered because I still wouldn't have been able to figure it out). OK! On to the good stuff!

After dropping Bailey off at her favorite place ever, we hit the road Saturday morning and headed toward our first destination, the Log Cabin Restaurant in Mentone for lunch. It was really cute and the weather was perfect because we were up in the mountains. We ate outside and enjoyed their famous chocolate fudge cake with ice cream. Yum.

Then we headed to destination "B" the Secret Bed & Breakfast in Leesburg, AL. I've never been to a B&B before, so I was excited. And it was at the top of a mountain so the view was breathtaking. They had 4 or 6 rooms inside and then they had about 4-5 "cottages" on the property, each with a different theme. We stayed in the main building and had a gorgeous view and easy access to the rooftop pool.

After checking in and taking our picture with the GIANT chair, we headed to Destination "C" Wills Creek Winery. Tom specifically chose this weekend for our trip because the winery was having an "Event" and there was food, wine, and a live band. The Lefty Collins band entertained us all night and they were really good. They had a bunch of tables set up outside and you could buy some bottles of wine, a plate of food, and just sit back and enjoy the music. We were lucky to see them, because they are usually playing at the House of Blues in Chicago.

Sunday we enjoyed breakfast at the round table with the owners of the B&B and a few other couples. For lunch we checked out a local, cafeteria style place called "Smokin' Joe's."

The afternoon was spent relaxing on my pool float. We had the whole place to ourselves on Sunday. It's a good thing we were able to enjoy the pool all afternoon, because around 5 it started torrential downpouring.

For dinner we went to the Dockside Grill which happens to be owned by a guy named "Bubba." Awesome. We ordered some Bubba Tater's as an appetizer. Awesomely good but horrifyingly fattening! We couldn't eat them all so we got a to-go box, which later came in handy. The sun decided to come back out just with enough time to give us a nice view of the sunset on the drive home.

Monday morning after breakfast we met "Bud." That's not really his name but unfortunately he doesn't have one! The owner said he thinks someone dropped him off a couple weeks ago and he's just been hanging out around the B&B. He was sooooo sweet. And definitely still a puppy because his paws were huge. We gave him all of our leftovers from dinner the night before when the owner wasn't looking (hey - in our defense he said he's been feeding him the leftover breakfast every morning). Bud ate everything except for the lettuce! He was really cute and sweet - he followed us around the property all morning while we walked around and took pictures. I really hope the owner has a change of heart and decides to officially "adopt" him. He seemed like such a good dog. He was so skinny it was sad :(

After we said our goodbyes to Bud, we took a little detour to see Little River Canyon and Desoto Falls. We somehow missed the canyon, but made our way successfully to Desoto Falls. It was really pretty, but not much of a waterfall. The bottom part was the prettiest I thought.

Thanks Tom for a great weekend vacation!!

Fab Friday

It's Fab Friday!!!!! Do you want to know why? I'll tell you.

1) Tom has been gone ALL WEEK and he gets home tonight

and

2) Tomorrow Tom is taking me on a SURPRISE weekend getaway!

Now allow me to go into more detail.

1) Tom has been in Snowmass Village, CO all week at the Pathobiology of Cancer Workshop. He had to apply to go and he got accepted so he has been there since Sunday learning about, well, the pathobiology of cancer.

2) Whenever we go on trips I am the planner. I plan everything, I organize everything, I book flights, hotel rooms, rental cars, etc., I even have itineraries (I'm a little neurotic). I was completely surprised (and ecstatic) when Tom told me HE wanted to take ME on a trip and he was going to plan everything AND it was going to be a surprise! I love surprises! So I have no idea where we're going (okay, I have a little idea, but really it's just a guess). All I know is that we're not staying in a hotel and we're not camping (thankfully).

Hope everyone has a good weekend! Tune in next week to find out where we went!

Bailey meets ice cubes.....

Bailey loves ice cubes. She thinks they're treats. We try to pretend like they are (because they're FREE!). We make her "sit" and "shake" or "Lay down" for them. And she loves them. But she wasn't always so sure about them. Here is a video from her first encounter......I love how she stretches in the middle as if to plan her course of attack......

Ahhhhh the end of Birthday Week

Birthday week has come and gone (boooo) but it was definitely very fun. Habanero's was a good time Thursday night. It was fun to hang out with coworkers outside of work. Friday I spent relaxing and getting stuff ready for my party. Friday night we hosted a birthday pool/grilling party at the apartment complex. Everything was perfect except for the frat party that happened to be going on simultaneously on the other side of the pool. Oh, and then the cops came. Yeah. It was really ironic though, because they didn't even pay any attention to our group what-so-ever. They just went over to the annoying group of people and told them to shut up or they would kick them out. We think it was the combination of Anne's big hat and long dress, Tara's monokini, and the plethora of side-dishes that made them realize we were mature and having a mature 29th birthday party :)

My awesome birthday cake that Stacy made

Saturday, for the 4th we went over to our friend Paige's house since our friend Ashley was having a party for her husband/our friend Tony's whose birthday was on the 3rd. We had a good time hanging out with our friend Doug who left today for his new job in Baltimore. We played some wiffle ball, ate some good food, and watched Bailey and Jack have the time of their lives! I'm sad that birthday week has come and gone. Luckily I'll get to have another 29th Birthday Week again next year! And the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that..................

Birthday Week Update!

Happy Birthday to Meeeeeeeeeeeee! Birthday week has been pretty great so far. The only way it could be better would be if I was lying on a beach with turquoise water less than 20 yards away and a drink with a little umbrella or a lime in my hand
The wine loft was pretty fun Sunday night. We enjoyed some sparkling wine tasting (Ok, I enjoyed some sparkling wine tasting, Tom is too much of a man to participate in a “sparkling” wine tasting ;) My favorite was Umberto Fiore Moscato D’Asti. Yum. It’s sweet and tasted a lot like Verdi Spumante (same champagne we had at our wedding reception). Carolina Liar was really good – it was just the 2 guys playing acoustic guitars…..but they only played 4 or 5 songs. The whole experience was short and sweet. I didn’t get any good pictures because they were finished playing before I thought to take any, and after the show you couldn’t really see them because there were crowds of girls surrounding them.

Tuesday night we went to the Birmingham Barons game with Tom’s lab. It’s Birmingham’s minor league baseball team. We had this whole little picnic section all to ourselves. We had catered food in our section but it also happened to be $0.25 hot dog night. We were exhausted and the game was dragging on FOREVER so we left at the top of the 11th inning. Turns out it went into SIXTEEN innings but the Barons pulled it off with a win over the Mobile Bay Bears.
I have to work today (boooooooo) but we're going to Habanero's after work with a bunch of my co-workers to celebrate. Today also happens to be two of my co-workers birthday as well! Hopefully today will be great :) At least I have off tomorrow :D