I'm going to "Wine a Bit"

I'm going to "wine" because my great weekend is over!  We had a ball and I totally need that garden flag that was at one of the wineries.

I'll get to our weekend in a bit.

We got through week 2 without Ben and we are sure glad to have him back home now!!

I don't recall anything overly exciting happening during the week before I headed out on Friday.  I found Bean an IH (International Harvester) onsie to match the cute skirts Christi had made for her.  Since she will not sit still, I have to catch her in motion, so here's a few of her "modeling":

I also gave her her first wooden spoons so she could practice her percussion skills.....she enjoyed the noise the garbage can made:

Friday morning I dropped on Tucker at the Pet Resort, dropped Bean off at Mrs. Carole's and I headed north 7 hours to Vicksburg, MI, which is just south of Kalamazoo.

Easy drive, no issues, beautiful weather, really didn't seem like it took anytime.

I drove through Constatine, MI, which is touted as the Seed Corn Capital, so of course, I found that interesting.   Two big Seed Corn outfits on the main road, Pioneer and DeKalb/Monsanto:

Ben got to head out pretty early on Friday from Ohio, so he went straight down to Elkton to help Dad.  Mom and Memaw came up Friday afternoon to pick up Mallory from Mrs. Carole's.

I got to Christi's around 5 pm Eastern and was greeted with Wine and Spaghetti!  It's funny that even though this is only the second time I've actually met Christi in person, it's really like I've known her for years.  Our lives, kids and husbands are so similar it's really like stepping into your own home.  You just feel at home with all of them.  We had a relaxing evening but went to bed fairly early so we could get up at 5:30 am eastern to head out to the race site in Holland, MI.

Up early with coffee in hand we were off.  We were super worried it was going to rain on us but the weather was awesome.  About 50 degrees and the clouds parted for beautiful blue skies.

This was supposed to be our second half marathon, but I failed on keeping up with my training and Christi did better than I did but wasn't ready either so we opted for the 5K.  I think I was there for wine as much as the running, lol!

So we both donned our "Will Run for Wine" caps and got ready for the run.  I was a little concerned, I had really slacked over the past month and had probably only run twice during that time.  So, I knew I was probably not going to PR, the goal was to just burn some of the calories I was going to be consuming at the wineries later : )

Here's a few pictures from the race:

 We found it very interesting that after the race, not only did they have the normal breads and banana's, power bars, but they also offered Swedish meatballs!

 Here we are pre-race in all our no makeup glory!  Take note of our "Will Run for Wine" caps, got some good comments on those!

 Just a snap shot of some of the crowd.  

And the finish line!

Holland is a very pretty place.  Christi got a new PR for her 5K time, 29:33, You go girl!!!  I wasn't expecting a new PR, but I finished in 39:04, so not my best but not my worst and since I hadn't run much in the past month, I'll take it : )

Since we didn't run the 1/2 Marathon course, we missed getting to run down by Lake Michigan and seeing the views, so we headed south a bit to go down by the coast. 

We found a neat little pull off spot next to a deck thing that overlooked the lake.  The deck was private property, but they were setting up for a wedding that afternoon and they waved us down to come down and take some pictures from there instead of the side of the road.

Here's some of my shots of Lake Michigan:

Next we were off to the wineries and looking to find some lunch!  Running makes you hungry!  Paw Paw, Michigan was our destination and the two wineries there.  St Julian and Warner.

St Julian was up first:

 Loved this sign!

 Um, yes please!

 Me and the St Julian Monk!

 Cool Wine Barrel Light Fixture.

 Christi enjoying our tasting!

 You had us at Free!

Really liked their wines!  So many good ones to choose from.  I opted for their Blue Heron, Red Heron and Catawba.  

Then we went across the street to an Irish Pub and grabbed some lunch....you know running and then wine tasting on an empty stomach....we needed food!

Then we headed over to Warner Winery which was right next to St Julian.

Their tasting room and facilities were neat but they were busy, didn't take as much time with us and we weren't as impressed with their wines, so we left empty handed there.

Last stop was a local brew pub in Lawton, MI, Old Hat Brewery.  Tasty options, I got Ben a growler of their Stout:

We had found out after the race that one of the newer preemie moms on our Preemie Board has lost her son to SIDS that morning, just really knocks you down when you hear something like that.  I didn't know her well yet, but still, it doesn't matter, it just makes you want to squeeze your own munchkins that much tighter.  Since I was 7 hours away from Bean, I had to call and check in on her and then try to steal snuggles from Christi's two, Gunner and Greyson!

Gunner you will recall is her son who is 10 months older than Mallory who was also born at 33 Weeks because of Pprom and her 6 weeks on hospital bed rest.  They are both such cuties!

We were pretty wiped after the day of running and tasting, so Christi and Brian whipped up a tasty steak dinner and we just crashed at the house.  Of course, we finally did tap into two of the bottles of wine we bought earlier in the day!

Sunday morning we had breakfast and I was off.  It did rain on me the majority of the way home, but it was a very light rain, so it really didn't bug me much or make driving difficult or anything.

I picked up Tucker and Papa John's pizza for dinner and got back to the house at about 5:10 pm and Ben and Mallory rolled in about 5 minutes later.  I was so happy to see both of them.  Then on to a relaxing evening and today I've taken off so I can catch up on laundry and several other things around the house and just to spend some time with Bean today.

A big thanks to Christi and Brian for letting me crash with them over the weekend, I very much enjoyed it and can't wait until we can all get together again with the kiddos!

Here's a few other pictures of Mallory:

A Weekend at Home!

A Weekend at Home!

Can’t say as though I’ve had one of those lately and I needed it!

Of course, Ben is gone to OH, so it wasn’t a perfect weekend, but I was quite happy to not be packing bags for the weekend!

One of the first things on the agenda was to FINALLY upload the pictures of Mallory to Shutterfly for all of 2011.  I've been slacking : )  The main push to do this was an emailed received from shutter fly for a FREE 8X8 photo book!  Yipee!  So I put together one HERE that you can see and purchase for the grammy's who want one and her pictures from all of 2011.  I did a book of Jan - June 2011.

Friday night I cooked Stir Fry. Chicken, squash, zucchini, mushrooms, onion and chicken. Not one of Mallory’s favorite meals. Not sure why, she’d put it all in her mouth, chew some and then spit it out. Oh well, try again later. And I have to admit, it wasn’t one of my best tasting stir fries either.

Saturday I was at least able to keep munchkin in bed until around 7:30 am. We got up and had a leisurely morning, spilled some water off the night stand, speed dialed a few folks (the phone and remote to the ceiling fan are her two fav new toys) and finally put some clothes on and headed out to town.

Grocery shopping was on the agenda but the plan was to first stop at Chick-Fil-A for lunch to go and then head to the park for lunch and some swinging and sliding. We parked Bob near the playground equipment, spread out our travel blanket and had our lunch and then got on the swings and tried the slide. She preferred climbing up the slide as opposed to going down.

From there we headed to Kroger to do our grocery shopping. I had planned out our menu for the week and list was in hand. Must have worn her out, she was asleep about 2 minutes into leaving Kroger.

Back home for her continued nap, house straightening and to put away the groceries. I had a new recipe I was going to make hoping she liked it better than the stir fry.

We made this chicken, tomato, spinach and cheese pasta bake and it was quite yummy and Mallory very much enjoyed it as well.
Sunday was another leisurely morning. I could get used to this, lol! Today we made Cousin Amy’s yummy Chicken Enchilada soup that I love and Ben doesn’t for whatever weird reason. I had soup and salad for lunch and Mallory had leftover pasta bake.

The plan for the afternoon was for her to nap after lunch and then go into town, run a few errands and run on the greenbelt. Didn’t go quite as planned. She napped but man, she was crabbier after her nap than before. She finally calmed down some and we went into town and got ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. Then ran into TJ Maxx so I could see if they had any of those musical books for her. We found some but after we left there she wouldn’t hardly even sit in her car seat, full out crabbiness ensued, so we just went back home.

We played the rest of the afternoon. Had an early dinner and grew ever more frustrated of her sticking her hand in the air and saying “dat” as in she wants that. Well, I’m apparently not very good at figuring out what “dat” is. Normally it’s the phone but that wasn’t it this evening. I never figured it out but every time I failed to pick up the correct “dat” meltdown started. Needless to say I was very happy when 8 pm rolled around so she would go to bed. I’ll also be very glad when her vocab expands to more than “dat”, “dada”, “uh oh” “hi” and “dentist.” Yes, she will still say dentist on command. Odd.

I’m very ready for Ben to be home but I’m also very ready to have some “me” time next weekend. I’m heading up to Holland MI and Vicksburg MI to see Christi. Our goal was to run the half marathon up there this coming weekend but life happened and neither of us trained properly so we gave up on that, we are going to run the 5K they have at the same race and then hit up all the local wineries and brew pubs. Sounds like heaven and I can’t wait! I will be stocking up to help aid in getting through all the meltdowns : )

Nothing else much on the Mallory front. She’s still walking across the room on occasion but still prefers crawling. One day.

Here’s a few more pictures I took over the past week.

This last one requires a little explanation.  Mallory loves to go into her nursery and pull out the "rags" out of her cute yellow rag rug.  It's like strips of yellow tee shirt material.  She then finds it humorous to stick in in her mouth.  She looks like a walrus, lol!

Scarf's and Playdough Weekend

Our Weekend was pretty uneventful, so not much to say this blog post.

Ben helped Dad with corn harvest. Mallory and I bummed around at mom and dads, went over and visited with Aunt Sharon and Mike’s family Saturday afternoon late.

Sunday I made playdough filled balloon’s that I had seen on Pinterest. It’s not really easy to get playdough into balloons, but I really enjoyed them once they were done. Mallory’s not so sure yet. Here’s the finished project:



Mrs. Carole had PJ day on Friday and Mallory loved it. Here’s a couple pictures of her and the boys.






She also now has a thing for my scarfs. She pulled down my green one earlier this week and has been putting it around her neck and crawling around with it on ever since.









She is still not walking yet. She’s close. She will stand and balance herself pretty well and I’ve even seen her go from sitting to standing on the floor without holding onto anything but little bugger will not walk yet. We all agree that she can walk but she refuses to do so since she crawls so fast. We figure that it will be all out running instead of walking or toddling when she does start.

Here’s a few more pictures:

Remembering Sept 11, 10 years ago

September 11, 10 years later

I don’t know that I’ve ever written down my thoughts on 9-11 but as we look back to that day 10 years ago, I figured it was a good time to go back and remember that day.

I always remember Mom and Dad talking about they remember where they were when President Kennedy was shot, or when Elvis died, but luckily enough for us, other than the Challenger explosion, there hadn’t been to many of those moments in my life.

That obviously all changed on September 11, 2001.

I had moved back to the Raleigh, NC area in February of 2001 working for Bayer CropScience in Research Triangle Park.

I remember it being a beautiful day. Maybe in the upper 70’s and clear as a bell.

I remember wearing a new outfit that day. A red pencil skirt and striped button up matching blouse from the Limited and my Nine West wedge sandals.

I was on Eastern Time zone in North Carolina and was at my desk which was in a big open cubicle area with about 6 others. I had my clock radio on my favorite rock station and I heard them say something about a plane hitting the World Trade Center in New York.

Seriously, I don’t know that I even knew what the World Trade Center was until that day, but obviously it was an awful accident.

And an accident is what I thought it was and went on about my business at work. Then a few minutes later they mention that another plane had hit the other Tower. Now something very wrong was happening.

I remember trying to log onto cnn.com to figure out what was happening but it was so bogged down that I really couldn’t get but snippets of info.

I think they finally wheeled a television into our area and when the plane hit the Pentagon coming down the East Coast, they sent us home.

Since no one knew what was going on, and we at RTP were considered the World Trade Center of the South, they figured we would be safer at home.

I was literally shaking, it got to me that much and normally I go into crazy leadership mode in situations but there was nothing I could do and so just felt totally helpless and alone…..all the way in NC…..miles and miles away from family.

But instinct kicked in and I did what I thought was best, get prepared. I went to Harris Teeters and got groceries and filled up with gas because something told me this would probably affect gas prices.

Through this I had been on the phone with Mom and Ben and I don’t really remember who else.

I got to my apartment; I lived alone, and was totally glued to the television for the entire day and night.

I couldn’t even eat.

I remember having a fruit cobbler I must have made a day or two before and that was the only thing I could stomach to even eat.

I don’t actually remember if we went to work the next day. I’m assuming we did, I don’t recall being off anytime other than the day of.

I just remember being a upset that I was so far away from everyone. It’s like not knowing what in the world was going to happen next and you were living in an apartment complex with a bunch of people you didn’t know. I did have a pistol, but that was about it. I couldn’t even get all the way home on one tank of gas. I’d be stranded somewhere in Eastern Tennessee.

I talked to Mom and Ben a lot. Ben and I had really just started talking again after our 2 ½ year hiatus as I call it and I had just come back from seeing him in Wisconsin the weekend before.

I think all of this made me realize that there was more in life that was important to me than my career and being so far away from family.

It was just so quiet. I remember running and thinking it’s so odd to hear no planes in the sky. And then a couple weeks later when I heard the first plane in the sky again. Weird.

I was also not too far from a Nuclear Plant. Not close enough to be given those thyroid pills but close enough that I figured if something happened, it wouldn’t be good.

I remember being so nervous every time there was a “breaking news” report. Oh God, what now. I really don’t think I ever got over that until a couple years later.

I was just really glad when I got to see my family and Ben again, in person.

I also remember one really weird tidbit of information from when I was in Chicago the weekend before. As we were getting off the train from the airport I remember this woman, who appeared to be a little nutty, shouting something about these couple of middle eastern guys getting off the train too being terrorists. Of course, pre Sept 11 we just thought she was some crazy chick and perhaps that was the case, but after the fact and thinking back you are just like wow, was that them, could I have been that close. I doubt it, but it was still a very bizarre coincidence. At least for someone not from Chicago and not used to crazy people shouting about terrorists on a train, it seemed very odd, and memorable.

It was also odd that I believe one of the airports in Titusville, FL is one of the places the terrorits had trained and that is where we sent Skydiving back on Dec 30, 1999. They were probalby there then. Again, weird.

And I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone either of those bits of info.

So just make sure to take a few minutes to hug the ones you love and remember those who died that day, the first responders, and the military who have been in harm’s way ever since fighting and dying for our continued safety.

And how I wish September 11 was nothing but another day. And I think it was a long time before I would wear that same outfit together that day. It just weirded me out.

'Tis Harvest Time, no Labor Day here!

‘Tis Harvest Time, no Labor Day here!

Which means we are in Elkton A LOT!

Ben likes to farm, it’s his hobby too, so Labor Day be banished, we had corn to harvest!

Mother Nature had other ideas though, so repairs happened on Labor Day instead of harvest.

We headed to Elkton Friday afternoon. It was slow at work for me, no one was answering their phones, so I headed out around 2pm to get packed up and then went to get Mallory and head South. Ben and Tucker left before we did.
They did get to harvest Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday. I had to cut Ben’s harvest time short on Saturday because we were heading to Nashville to celebrate the wedding of friends John McCuiston and Paula Clark. They just had a small family only ceremony Saturday afternoon and then the friends all met in Nashville for an evening of celebrating.
If you knew John, you would know why this required such celebration. At 35 I wasn’t sure he was ever going to get married! We love Paula though, they are a good pair.

There were about 8 couples and we headed out to eat at Margaritaville and then hit a few bars, The Stage, The Second Fiddle and finally Cadillac Ranch. We all had fun, but it was evident we were no longer 22 and we all headed back to the hotel around midnight! Good times had by all.
Here’s a few pictures of the evening, the happy couple and the crazy lady that entertained us at Cadillac Ranch!

The rest of the weekend was pretty calm. Temps dropped form 102 on Saturday to a chilly high of about 65 on Monday, but I loved it! We broke out the fleece!

Bean is oh so close to walking. She is standing better and will try to take more steps. Maybe by the end of September she will be walking.

We went to visit Sue on Monday and Bean got to play with Bella. They are essentially the same age. Susan was hesitant to let crazy Bella out, worried what she might do since she’s a little crazy when company visits, but they were really cute together. Mallory loved her and just giggles as Bella licked her. Here’s some video Susan took of the two of them.

Here’s a few more pictures of Bean. Hope you had a good Labor Day weekend!

Uh Oh, it's a Cat! (Videos)

Got 2 video's for you of our little ham today.

In this first one she is showing us the proper way to annunciate Uh Oh.  Notice her lips!



And now, announcing our daughter the cat : ) Thank you grandpa C for teaching munchkin to meow!