Not telling...

First and foremost.... I am not telling which two states I had interviews in. I don't want anyone to influence my decision. There is one that I would rather work for, for 2 reasons: 1) it's a state I have never been to but is full of things that I would enjoy, and 2) the position there is exactly what I would like. The other school is a little bit closer to home and pays a little better. We'll see.

Okay, so I didn't get outside last night for a run, although it was a beautiful night. But, I did go out for what was planned to be a short easy run this morning. Well, I didn't have the desire to go slow and run through the whole duration of 2 miles, so I picked it up a notch, attempted to do a Fartlek-sort-of-run and added an extra loop onto my run. It went pretty well, but the air was heavy and full of cotton. I did a lot of walking between My breathing was off...so to speak.

Time: 9:10am

Temp: 65 degrees & sunny

Humidity: 88% (dead air)

Distance: 3.00 miles Fartlek

Duration: 34:17

Avg HR: 171

Max HR: 188

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Two days until the wedding. Yesterday us girls (mom, my sisters, and I) went to get our nails done. It was their first times and my baby sister offered to pay for us all... she is the only one working right now!

.....Mom

.....Steph... da bride..

....Susan....da baby sis.

....and Me.

Later on, we did some more outdoor work. Dad finished mowing the lawn, again, and then the boys packed up a lot of the stuff in our garage to take elsewhere for the weekend. We need the space.

We also set up the beautiful arbor....

...groom, bride....and father-of-the-bride.

Today, the rental place is currently setting up our huge tent, the one that will serve purpose for the dinner and dance to follow!

We hope to get the pontoon out on the river and the wedding party will relax a bit before the big day.


I will post more pictures later!

Hump Day

After spending most of monday painting, I did no paiting yesterday. I couldn't. But, the arbor is finished... we're waiting out the weather before planting it in its location... we're supposed to get some nasty rainstorms this week!

Last friday night, I began working on the programs for the wedding. I spent the evening printing the outside cover, which included the front of the program, and then the "thank you" on the inside of the back cover. I almost had a nervous breakdown yesterday when the inside sheets weren't fitting quite right. I couldn't figure out what happened as we had done a trial one. With a few adjustments to the pages and a little extra snipping at the ends, they were perfect. I will not post a picture of the programs just yet... I don't want to spoil it before the wedding! But, here I am ... working diligently on cutting the inside pages!

Last night, after we celebrated Steph's 23rd birthday at Johnny Carino's, we spent some more time on the programs while Mom and Dad finished putting together the picnic table, and then doing some yard work....

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On monday, I had an interview... phone interview that lasted only 20 minutes. But it went well. Yesterday morning I got a call back saying that they gave the position to someone with more experience. I can totally understand. To be honest, I was kind of relieved. I wasn't exactly ready to spend my first year teaching middle school students with behavior issues. I was told not to do that right away... as it will totally burn a person out. Now, I just need to keep applying. This is a district I really want to work in, so I am hoping for another interview with another school and a different position.

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Today

I slept in this morning as I was totally exhausted. I then went out for a solo run. I added a an extra length onto the loop that runs around our "neighborhood" and totalled a distance of 3.16 miles. It felt good, but boy was that sun hot. I can't afford to get tan lines a week before the wedding!

For a bit of clarification... I think some may have thought I did an 8 mile run monday because I said I did 4 miles. Out and back. I meant it was four miles total...and the run was an "out and back" run. oops. Just a little clarification.

Happy Hump Day, y'all!! Keep on keeping on!

Monday, Monday...

Yesterday was quite busy...for a Sunday. My sister, Mom and I took a trip out of town to pick up some lattice for the wedding. After that, I was able to sneak a peak of the Twins game...and took a short nap. Once my sister and Mom came home from their trip to the local hardware store, my Dad and I started to put together part of the picnic table they bought.

Then, while Steph and I painted the parts of the picnic table,

Mom and Dad spent a while putting together the arbor...

Then, this morning, I went out for a nice 4 mile run. Out and back. It was great. I followed the path along the golf course just north of our house and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Maybe a little less humidity, but other than that it was a cool 56 degrees.

Once I got back, I went back to the grind with painting. Steph had pretty much put a second coat on the picnic table, and I spent the rest of the afternoon painting the arbor. Not so much fun. That lattice is a bugger... it is now white!

Tomorrow's challenge?? Doing some touch up painting on the wishing well mom cleaned up last night... ....and possibly starting on doing some touch up on some other lattice boards... fun!

Happy running, y'all!

Solo Run

In the midst of wedding preparation all around, I went out for a short solo run. I did the same loop my sister and I did a couple days ago. 2.25 miles. This time the weather was nicer. It was warm, but the clouds were hiding the sun and there was a cool breeze. In addition, the cottonwood trees are in the process of shedding their cotton, and it is blowing every where. Nothing like coughing on cotton while running!

Since I have a little more time to post these days, I will be posting our adventures in this journey to help my sister have the most beautiful wedding. Plus, I plan to use a lot of these in the gift I will be making for her and her future husband! Scrapbook fun!

Mom wanted a pic of Steph and I running. So when I got back from my run, we had to pretend to run. This is us running down our road....

And then when we were done pretending, she wanted us to go to a specific location near our home. To pretend to run. Her thinking is that after the wedding, she won't have the "opportunity" to take pics of us running... okay mom! This location is near our home... a huge 100+ year old tree in the middle of the road. We always thought it was pretty cool that they built a road around a tree!

And then, I caught mom in the action... of pulling weeds. Her and Steph spent most of the afternoon pulling weeds. There were only two pairs of gloves...otherwise I would have helped...no doubt!

I snapped a beautiful photo of the bride-to-be .... happy to be finished with her duty of pulling weeds...

And then there was Dad. Mowing. For...ev....er!!! I think it took 2 plus hours! Atleast he had his handy dandy headphones that block out noise... and he must have been jamming to some good tunes... for sure! (He is my partner in crime when it comes to the Tar Heels...can you tell?)

Stay tuned for more photos.... if you're interested!