SAD week, wonderful boyfriend!

Well last week was pukey! It got really cold and I got really sun deficient. My winter depression is setting in and I have lost all motivation to do anything and am so damn cold and just feeling generally blah plus this week I felt real illness too. I had some kind of stomach virus/issue going on and didn't feel like doing anything. J got home late Wednesday. He had his last floor hockey game and got a ride home from his dad. I had planned on us eating dinner at Hope and going to church but I just didn't feel like it. I didn't want to do anything but lay on the couch so K ran to the store and got fixings for sausage and cheese plates and came home and grilled. Thursday morning, I had an appointment with the podiatrist. I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, a bone spur and inflamed joints. He gave me a cortisone shot in my heel and told me to aggressively stretch and ice my foot and all should be better in a month or so. I went back to work, started feeling sick because of the general anesthetic he gave me and wanted some soup to soothe my belly. Amber, Jennifer and I went to Pho Vietnam and I had a bowl of shrimp and pork pho. It made my stomach feel better but my heel wasn't numb anymore and it hurt like hell. Nancy sent me home to rest. K took care of me again and took care of dinner. We had take out from Huey's, J was happy with that choice! Friday brought total relief to my heel!!!!! J had half a day of school. When I got there to pick him up, his school was on lockdown because our SWAT team had gotten into a car chase with 3 homicide suspects and 1 got away right by J's school. Once I was finally able to get him, K and him hit the road for the youth hunt. I went back to work and then went and hung out with Amber G.and Katie at Amber's. We had a few glasses of wine and then grabbed some dinner at East End Grill. Saturday was a total me day. I was suppose to get up and do 9.5 miles but just wanted to sleep away the winter blahs. I stayed in bed until it was time to go for my massage and facial at Gould's. It was so relaxing and the massage made my entire body feel so loose and so relaxed. I came home, napped some more, went to work to check on the Sex Offenders and make sure they didn't have any trick or treaters or Halloween decorations, went to dinner with Amber R. at Sekisui, worked a little more and came home and went to bed. No pics to post because I couldn't be bothered......geesh I was in a yucky mood :(

Another added to the bowling "league", white chili and bad news

J had his usual Tuesday night bowling with Jackson and Jimmy last night and now Leegan has been added to the mix. Trouble may come out of this very soon.....

K and I hung at the house while J was bowling. I made a big delicious pot of white chicken chili and chilled. I did an ellip/stair stepper session this morning and then met K at the house for lunch. The chili was better today, of course. J's last floor hockey game is today.
I talked to Mom earlier and they had just gotten back from the neurologist about Aunt Opal's memory problems. She has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Horrible news :(

Ribs, Boys, Bad Weather and Walks

K and I really, really love his new grill and I love that he loves it because it's less work for me! Here's a shot of it since I forgot to get  one the 1st time we used it.

Sunday we wanted to smoke some ribs but the weather didn't work with us so we saved it for last night.

The weather was very warm so we were able to sit outside and chill with a drink while the ribs smoked and J and Luke played ball.

The ribs turned out great. They weren't quite as tender as we wanted but still decent and the marinade and smoke flavor was perfect. I mixed up a dry rub and K coated the ribs with mustard and the dry rub and smoked those babies. I whipped up some potato salad, baked beans and garlic cheese biscuits. It was a fantastic dinner! Thankfully, I was able to get a good night's rest even though I stuffed my belly with as much food as I possibly could. I got up this morning and did some strength training and whipped up a smoothie to try and counterbalance all that happened during that dinner. We had some pretty bad storms roll in after I got to work but they cleared up enough after lunch to let me get in a 3 mile walk.



I still had some dinner to work off. The temperature had dropped significantly but the rain was gone so I trekked on down to the riverwalk. The rain clouds were still lingering and it was very pretty.

Looking to the North.

And a shot to the south. I may hate this weather but I can't argue that it isn't beautiful.



Carrie Underwood, date night, 9 miles and Marcy time

After work Friday, I met all the girls at Heather's before the Carrie Underwood concert.

We finally made it to the concert around 7:30 after waiting forever for everyone to get there. Heather managed to get us awesome seats by joining the Carrie Underwood fan club. (That cracks me up just typing it!)

I sat with April, Heather and Vicky up close.

Candace and April H. and their girls weren't far behind us.

This is Carrie on the jumbotron when she first came out. She put on a really great show. The special effects were perfect but nothing topped her voice. She is such a cute and humble and gracious girl. It's nice to see a star that isn't completely full of themselves.

Later in the show she came out on this truck that circled over the crowd. It was great! After the concert, April, Heather, Vicky and I went to Brendalay's in Arlington and met up with Jason and Greg Word for a couple of drinks. I made it home around 1:45 and slept til 10:00 the next morning. It was so nice to sleep in. K came home from hunting at lunch and we lounged around the house all day long watching college football. Longhorns and LSU lost so it wasn't a great day for us. K took a long nap too and had trouble getting to his feet when he woke up!

I thawed us out some jambalaya for lunch but didn't like the way it tasted so I had smores for lunch.

After the LSU game, we went to Fleming's to have a few drinks and some dinner. I had the wedge salad and the lobster tempura, he had the peppercorn strip and we split some Fleming's potatoes. It was perfecto! And we were home and in bed by 10:00. We are getting so weak! Sunday morning, I got up early and knocked out my 9 miles.



There was more of the greenline opened which was perfect since I didn't have to double back to make all of my mileage. The trail now ties into the Cherokee trail at Shelby Farms. I am so glad to have it available. I went early to get my 9 miles since it was suppose to rain and I almost made it home without getting wet. It started raining at mile 8 so I had to pick up the pace a little bit. I went to Whole Foods to get us some lunch and then came back home and watched some football in between napping. K and I went up to Swanky's for dinner and Marcy and JJ met us there. We stayed up there a little later than we planned and got home in time to go to bed. I overslept this morning and didn't have time for a workout or breakfast. I feel mucho fato!

Sushi, Wicked, Boxing New Puppy and a New Grill

Tuesday was back to regular work. I picked J up from his dad's after work. He went to his Tuesday night bowling with Jimmy and K and I had a little date night at Sakura. We tried to go there for our 1st date but it was closed and this is the first time we have gone back. We haven't been missing anything either. It wasn't near as good as it use to be. On Wednesday, I met K at the house for lunch, he picked up sammys from Holiday Ham for us. J had floor hockey and I picked him up after work. We chowed down on some pizzas I got from Lucchesi's and then hit the road.

We went to the Orpheum to see Wicked. It was really, really good. The actresses had awesome voices and it was comical too. J, K and I all loved it but J and I agree that we still haven't seen anything that is better than The Lion King. I hope it comes back soon so K can see it. Yesterday, Amber and I got out at lunch. I had to run to the uniform shop and after leaving there, this is what I spied:

Boxing

This guy couldn't even wait til he got to the gym! I swear I see the funniest things. After doing a few U turns and getting into the best position on the Mapco lot to tape him, we went to lunch. I was craving a huge bowl of soup and decided to try something new.

So glad I finally tried Pho Vietnam. It was superb! I can't wait to go back. I had the spring rolls (which are fresher tasting and yummier than Pho Saigon) and the shrimp and crab pho. It rocked and there was a ton of it. When I picked J up, he didn't feel like going to karate, which was fine with me because I didn't either. We hung out with Sis for a little bit and played with Miss Lily Wiggles.

We left Sis's and ran by Fresh Market to pick up some stuffed potatoes to have with the venison back strap K was smoking with his new grill. He bought it yesterday and ruined the Christmas gift I was going to give him but dinner was great! Today, I enjoyed the rest of my Pho and got out to enjoy the weather and burned a few calories while I was at it.

K left this morning to go hunting and J is with his dad this weekend.

Haunted Cornmaze, 5K, Cooking for the Fam, Donuts and Guns

J and I had a great weekend. K left Friday and went hunting. After work Friday, I picked J and Jackson S. up and we met Melanie, Drew and Jackson M. for dinner at My Favorite Place. Mel suggested it, I had never eaten there before but wasn't about to turn down Mexican since I hardly ever get it when K is in town.

I loved it and not because the food was so amazing, it was good but not really any better than any other Mexican place BUT they had an old man that played the keyboard that sounds like the whole band and he sang Copacabana and Jailhouse Rock in Spanish. It was awesome! After dinner, we went to the Haunted Corn Maze.

I'm glad I knew some of the people working and didn't have to wait in line or pay because when we got there, J, Jackson S. and Drew all chickened out. Omar, a Fayette County Deputy babysat while me, Mel and the other Jackson went through the maze.

Saturday morning, J, Jackson and I ran the Fast and Furriest 5K for the humane society.

It was held at Shelby Farms and started at the humane society. A lot of people brought their dogs and the weather was perfect.

J had his own running partner so I was able to run my own pace and I surprised myself. I did almost as good as the old days!

We took Jackson home later Saturday and went over to Mom and Roy's for dinner. K and I restocked on the Cajun sausage last weekend so I decided to cook for them and Sis and John. I made some pasta with a Cajun sausage, tomato cream sauce and they loved it. We hung out with them the rest of the night.

Sunday morning I got up and knocked out my 8 1/2 miles since I wasn't able to do it on Saturday.

It was rough too! A 5K followed by 8 1/2 the next day made for a very unhappy heel and knee. After lunch, J and I bought pumpkins and spent the afternoon making Jack-O-Lanterns. We met Heather, Shane, Colin, Amber and Destiny at church Sunday night and then came home, cooked dinner and watched the Cowboys lose AGAIN. It's so tough being a Cowboys fan right now :(

J was still on Fall Break. I took him to Gibson's Donuts for breakfast Monday morning.

He had the manly pink donuts while I kept from being a hog.

I managed to make it out with only eating half of this glazed and one bite of J's pink donuts. After lunch, I took J to his dad's because I had to go to the pistol range for fall qualifications. I passed with flying colors and we got to do some cool training exercises.

We got to shoot up some cars from the outside to see how they hold up to gunfire and where the best cover is provided and we also got to shoot from the inside of the car out the windshield. K came home while I was at work and smoked some deer back strap. I pigged out when I got home. It was so good!!! I was back at work in the office today. I tried the buffet at Pho Hao Binh for lunch and was extremely disappointed. Will. Never. Go. Back. They were out of everything, every time I went up to the bar except for tofu. Sca-rew that! I also took the opportunity to do 2.82 miles on the mall since I didn't work out this morning and won't get a chance tonight.

Church, Sushi, Hair appointment & 2 dogs

Wednesday night, J, K and I went to dinner at church and then to church. We had baked chicken, dressing, green beans, butter beans, salad and chocolate cake. Eli taught our Real Discipleship class and we went over the books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. I was so tired that I was barely able to keep my eyes open and went to bed as soon as we got home. Yesterday I got up and did an ellip session while I watched Criminal Minds. Marcy and I made plans for lunch but she had to cancel and I was craving sushi so I ran to Sekisui in Midtown.

I had the house cucumber and a PR Roll. Sekisui has a new menu that is all rolls that their costumers made up and the PR Roll is on there. It was so good and SPICY! Inside is spicy crawfish and cilantro and the outside is peppered and seared tuna with some kind of hot sauce. It may be my new fave roll.

After work, I had a hair appointment so K picked J up from floor hockey and took him to karate while I got new color and layers.

It's a total mess in this pic, had been outside with lots of wind but I am totally diggin the body the layers have given me. We hung at the house last night catching up on TV (Survivor, The Office, Modern Family) and clearing some leftovers out of the fridge. Today was the 1st day of J's fall break so I took him to his dad's before work. K and I had lunch at the house (clearing some more leftovers out of the fridge) and then he hit the road for the hunting camp. Before I left home, I spied 2 pups running amuck in the hood and decided to try and save them before they ran into the busy street. They were sweethearts and came right to me. I put them in the back yard to play with my babies and called their owner.

They were happy to have new meat!

Their owner didn't answer so it looks like they will be playing for a while. I'm back at work now wondering when 4:30 is going to get here!