nothing to see here…
Monica ran in the Shamrock Half Marathon yesterday and boy, is she sore today. I can’t imagine running 13.1 miles, but her friend Krystyn and her managed to do it in slightly less than two and a half hours.
It was a bright and early start as we had to be there at 6 am, but over 6,000 other people showed up as well. You can check out a few photos (and a video) here.
47 days. That’s all I have left to go in nursing school and I can’t wait to be done. I have been going to school full-time for 3 years now and I can almost see the end. This last semester is harder than I expected and time management has been an issue but hopefully I can get it together at some point. I have long lectures, lots of clinical hours working at the hospital, volunteer work, papers and exams but with God’s grace I know I’ll handle it somehow. I love what I’m learning and I can’t wait to actually work in my field.
I have to apologize in advance for not responding to e-mails, returning phone calls and for forgetting everything you tell me until I’m done. Thank you in advance for your patience and support. If you need to tell me something important please tell my secretary/assistant/calendar keeper/support person/prayer partner/cheerleader and husband Brian. He will make sure to tell me at the most appropriate time when I’m not freaking out about some deadline (2 minute window per day). The man deserves some kind of prize for being so supportive for these past 3 years. When I tell him that he says “the best prize ever would be a JOB”. He’s funny like that.
To relieve stress, my friend Krystyn and I have decided to run the half-marathon (13.1 miles) at the Shamrock Sportsfest down at the beach. We are up to running 8 miles right now trying to make it to 9 this coming week. We started running together last summer and have had a lot of fun training. We’re trying to gather as many people as we can to come cheer us in at the finish line so join us if you can. I’m going to need all the help I can get! When we started training, it was hard to run one mile without feeling like we were going to die but now we’re doing okay. It still feels like torture around mile 7 but a good kind of torture. We talk, laugh and pray while we run and it has been one of the best things I’ve ever done. Thanks Krystyn!
I also want to welcome our friends Tom, Deb and Josh to the beach and congratulate them on their new home!
Things have been moving pretty quickly since the beginning of the year. It was really difficult getting back into the swing of things at work – very tough when you’ve been off a week and a half. I really enjoyed our time off, so it made it that much worse to have to go back to earning a paycheck.
Monica has started classes again (her last semester!) and is already hip deep in work. She’s already had her first test and has her hands full trying to balance her school work while volunteering at a local nursing home. I don’t know how she keeps things straight.
I’ve been fighting off some sort of cold or something the past couple of weeks. It kind of comes and goes – some days are better than others, but I think I’m finally starting to kick it.
We finally started to get some cold weather. I mean, what’s winter without temperatures below 50 degrees? It was starting to feel like Florida around here, but thank goodness it’s actually been cold enough for me to burn some fire wood lately.
We had to say goodbye to some good friends earlier this month. They took off for Texas for bigger and better things. We’ll really miss them, but we know they are following God’s plan, and we’ll keep them in our prayers.
In writing about the wedding last weekend, I forgot to mention that we saw Sissy Spacek in the hotel right after the rehearsal. We were walking through the lobby when we saw a woman holding alot of bags waiting for an elevator.
Monica: “Isn’t that…”
Me: “Sissy Spacek?”
It totally was. I haven’t seen too many movies with her in them, but I guess once you see someone on TV a few times, you recognize them pretty easily. Apparently she lives in Virginia somewhere, as does Robert Duvall (but we didn’t see him).
The elevator doors opened, and she walked in. Steve and Tanya were on their way upstairs to change clothes, and they got on the same elevator. We walked over to get a better look, all the while pretending that we were saying bye to Steve and Tanya. I think Ms Spacek figured out our ploy as she smiled at us.
Steve later told me that Sissy Spacek had a conversation with them about the wedding. Apparently he did not recognize her, but Tanya did, and now they have a great wedding story. Would have been an even better story had they invited her to the wedding.
Spent the weekend in Richmond attending the wedding of two of our friends, Steve and Tanya. I was honored to serve as one of Steve’s groomsmen, and I think my ushering skills were top notch. Sharing their special day as well as spending the weekend with old friends was a true pleasure.
The weather was perfect, and we got to stay at a pretty nice hotel called the Linden Row Inn. The wedding itself was held at The Jefferson so we experienced some very old yet historic parts of Richmond. All in all, a very classy event, and a good time was had by all.
Congratulations, Steve and Tanya!
So, yes, it’s been awhile since I posted on here. Not sure why, but I just haven’t felt like writing anything. Sometimes I used to feel like I had to write these mini-essays about whatever was on my mind, and at times I wrote some really stupid stuff just because I thought I had to. I’ll probably still do that, but I’ll do my best to make it somewhat entertaining. 
What have I missed since January?
I’m sure there’s other stuff that I’ve forgotten that I failed to mention. Anyway, I’m back. I didn’t really go anywhere, but you know what I mean. Okay, back to watching basketball.
It’s Independence Day, and like a lot of other families around the country, we’re getting ready to cook out.
We spent yesterday with friends in Charlottesville (Hi, Samples!), and ended up staying the night with some friends in Richmond (Hi, Steve and Tanya!). Congrats to Jeff and Jen on their new baby boy, Jeffery Connor. It was great catching up with everyone, but I have to say the most fun was playing a game called Catch Phrase.
And now we’re back at home, ready to grill out. I thank God everyday that we live in this great land of ours. We have a government that currently respects the God-given rights to worship, bear arms, and speak along with all of our other rights, and I thank God especially for our troops who protect these rights. Happy 229th birthday to the greatest nation that ever existed!
We went to the Virginia Marine Science Museum today with our friend Laura who is visiting us for the weekend. We saw lots of turtles, sharks, various fish, and other sea life. We even got to touch some sting rays and a horseshoe crab. Nothing like some good ol’ fashioned museum fun, with some learnin’ thrown in for good measure.
I’ll post some pictures from our visit in a day or so.
This past weekend was Fall Alumni Weekend for the fraternity, and we had a blast.
Went down early on Thursday night, then got up Friday morning to check out the downtown area and eat some lunch at one of the old hangouts. It’s really changed since I graduated. The highlight of the afternoon was seeing the Hokiebird with a pair of thong panties on his head. Quite the picture.
By the time Friday evening rolled around, the place where we were staying (the Thieses’ house) was starting to resemble a bad reality show – like Big Brother on crack. A total of eighteen people, two infants, and one dog crammed into a townhouse that normally fits five. The problem was we couldn’t kick anybody out.
Woke up early on Saturday morning to start tailgating for the VT-Syracuse game around 10 AM. Lots of hotdogs and bratwurst were cooked on the grill before we headed over to the stadium to watch Tech open a can of you know what on Cuse. The Hokies were really firing on all cylinders. What a great game!
We enjoyed the party at the fraternity house for awhile on Saturday night, but what really made it all worthwhile was enjoying the brand new hot tub back at the Thieses’ place. Man, I got to get me one of those.
Thanks for the putting up with us, Kim and Jason!
Happy 1st birthday to the cutest girl in the world, Miss Katie Thies!!
It seems as if you just got here and we can’t believe you’re already driving….mommy crazy! We love you and see you soon.
:biggrin:
