What a Weekend

I had such a good time in Fort Lauderdale. It was so good to see my friends there and just cut loose and have fun without having to worry about getting up to go to work. I made really good time driving down there, I think because I was so excited to go. I left home at 7:45am and got the my exit in Fort Lauderdale at 2:45pm.

I got to see some of my old staff and co-workers. They were all absolutely amazed at how much weight I have lost, which kinda makes me wonder how fat I really was back then. Its been less than a year and I had started to lose weight before I left there (the first 25 lbs). But some of these folks made me feel like I had lost a 100 lbs when in reality I have only lost an additional 20, maybe, since I had left. So I am not sure how I feel about that, I've never been one to be gracious at recieving compliments anyway, I always find some way to feel put off by it. You know, someone says "Wow, you look great!" And I think, "What did I look like ass before?" Or, "What, your surprised I look great?" Anyway...

I stayed with my good friend Rafael and his boyfriend. They have a cute house that they had just purchased before I left and they have done some great things with it. They were so sweet, I got turn down service at night with a chocolate on my pillow, bottle of water at my bedside and they stocked the fridge with my favorites, Bud Light and Perrier. God Bless them. Rafael had to work late Friday night, so I met up with a friend for drinks at a martini bar before heading back to Rafael's around 10pm. Then we stayed up drinking wine and bellini's until 2am. Saturday was a busy day. I was a good girl and went to the gym in the morning and then went and met one of my best friends, Cybele for lunch. We ate at J. Alexander's. Its a chain. Has anyone ever eaten there? It is so good! We hung out for 4 hours, I was hung over, so I just sipped on my Diet Coke.



Then I drove up to West Palm to see Heather (one of my best friends from college). We both joked about how, when we lived about 45 minutes from each other, we would only see each other maybe twice a year. Now that we live so far away, its like, "Why did we not get together more often?" She was attending a Golf Pros and Tennis Hos Party later that night and was getting ready for it. She made a lovely Tennis Ho.


Sunday was the wedding and we had a blast. I met up with some more friends, who were actually reading at the wedding, so we had to be at the church 2 hours early. I hung out with the groomsmen because the bride and all the bridesmaids we busy getting their pictures done. I worked with both the bride and the groom and thats how I know them, but I was closer to the bride. Because we had to be there so early and me and a boys were bored, we went to the bar around the corner for some cocktails. I had only had a couple of beers in addition to the glass of wine I had at their house before we got to the church, but I was feeling a little loopy. Which made the 1 hour + ceremony, seem like FOREVER. We could not wait to get to the reception and the open bar. I must have had at least 2 bottles of wine by the end of the night. There was a cocktail hour followed by a sit down dinner with assigned seating, but none of us were happy with our seating. I was at some random table by myself, the grooms best friend's girlfriend whom we had become friendly with, was at another table, 2 other guys we were hanging out with were at yet another table. So we decided to "create" our own table, moving our place settings to one central table. This caused the Banquet Manager to get in a tizzy, but we told him to chill out and that we were "professionals". This table we created became one of "those" tables. You know, the one with all the obnoxious people at it. The one that harrasses the wait staff for extra plates of food and cake. The rowdy and loud table. Yup, that was us. I had also become friendly with the grooms dad who did not speak English very well, but that doesn't matter after 2 bottles of wine. All I know, is that if I am ever in Holland, I am to look him up.





Monday morning was rough. I was really hung over so we went to breakfast and then I headed north. I didn't drive all the way home, I stayed with my brother in Orlando. It was nice to see him and all the work he has done on HIS house. I finally got home Tuesday afternoon. I wish I could have stayed in Florida for a couple more days, but I was happy to see hubby. I missed him.

Just a Few More Hours

Until I am off for an entire week!!! Tomorrow I leave for Fort Lauderdale. I am driving down for a wedding on Sunday. I am forced to go stag because hubby claims he has to work. Now who's going tdrive me home from the bars?!?! Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing my friends there and have every intention of having the best time possible. I plan on returning either Monday night or Tuesday - I'm debating whether to stay at my brothers house in Orlando on the way home. The drive down there and back is long and will suck, but its worth it. I will have a few days off when I come back to just hang out with hubby, recover from the partying, and start my holiday decorating. I have a $150 gift card to Lowes and I may use some of it for Christmas decorations and then the rest for paint. I want to paint our master bathroom and bedroom...
I will think of you all as I am sipping on martinis on Los Olas ( or at least until I have a few too many and stop thinking completely!).

The Letter R....

I volunteered over in Autumn's blog to do this. I am supposed to list ten words that begin with the letter R and what they mean to me. So here I go...

Right - As in I usually am and I write with the opposit hand.
Run - My new found passion. It really makes me feel good.
Resort - I work at one and because I do, I doubt I will ever find one "relaxing".
Relax - I don't do that often enough, I wish I did.
Reality - Is all relative. Mine is probably completely different from yours.
Race - I actually like to do (see running above) and hope to continue doing.
Rap - One of my most favorite genre of music, as odd as it may seem.
Rare - People overuse this word, things aren't as rare as you think...
Rock - Some people do, some people don't. Some people have one for a brain.
Revenge - Is not as sweet as people imagine it to be...

Check ME Out!!!!

Yup, thats right. Not only did I finish the race, I actually PLACED 2nd for my age group (Women 20 - 29). Me. The girl who loathed running for field hockey and lacrosse. The girl who would come up with any excuse NOT to run. Now I run on my own, without coaches yelling at me to move my ass. Don't mind me while I bask in the glory of my accomplishment. I felt so good that today I went out and ran over 6 miles, to start working on my time for the 10K I hope to run in February.

I have to say though, this race was more painful than the last. I think I paced too fast in the beginning so my breathing was horrible. Between that and the fact that I had to pee SO BAD, I thought I was going to die trying to run up the bridge towards the end of the race. After I went through the finish line, I ran straight to the bathroom. A few of our friends from work came out to support us and we had breakfast and mimosas at someone's house afterwards. The bottom picture is us after a couple of pretty strong mimosas.

Everyone else did really well too. We were all just looking to beat our time from the last race. I beat mine by close to 3 minutes. I never really heard what my exact time was because I go so excited when I heard my name being called out at the awards. It was 24 minutes and something.

Saturday was an awesome (yes, I used the word awesome) day overall. We had our block party and most everyone came to it. I think we had close to 30 people or so. I really like our neighbors. Everyone has dogs except us. One of our neighbors has this massive Great Dane, who is such a good dog, just absolutely the biggest dog I have ever seen! The other people had chihuahuas and it was funny to see the little dogs try to be all mean to the big dog. Talk about a Napolean complex. We grilled out, drank tons of beer and hubby and I called it a night around 9:30pm but there were still guys hanging out in the street when we went home. It was so good to meet everyone. Everyone is pretty young (a bunch of 30 somethings) and very friendly. We were all talking about doing this more often.

A Change in Plans...

After talking with my brother, I have decided to come home for Christmas rather than go to the Patriots game and then on to Orlando. I really think my brother wants to go home too. So I discussed it with hubby, and although we won't be able to be there long and it will be a LONG ASS DRIVE, we will be home for Christmas. We would leave the Friday before and drive back the day after. Its about a 16 hour drive (and thats in good weather). Everyone hubby has mentioned the trip too think we are crazy for attempting I95 during the holiday weekend, but I don't think it will be so bad. It will be the first time I've been home for Christmas in about 4 or 5 years. I think my folks are excited, I know I am.

Its Been a Long Ass Week

Between work, family and just random stuff, I am wore out. I had quite a few long days last week and had to work on Saturday too. I made the stupid mistake of going out on Thursday night. It was supposed to be for a couple of innocent cocktails and apps for happy hour, but I didn't get home until after 3am. I guess that is what I get for trying to hang out with the young interns. I had a blast, but I was already tired BEFORE I went out (I almost cancelled) and I had to work Friday and Saturday. When I got home that night, hubby was up waiting on me. He wasn't upset that I had gotten in so late though (I don't do that very often), he wanted to tell me that he had been on the phone with my family because my grandfather had a heart attack. So, it goes without saying, that I got very little sleep Thursday night. I got up at 6am and started to try to call my family and get the scoop. Apparently, my grandfather had a stroke and that caused a heart attack, but luckily, because he is in such good shape, he was fairing pretty well. I actually got a chance to talk to him Friday night and he sounded really good, just annoyed that he had to be in the hospital.
Saturday I had to work a wedding, and those are always stressful for me. The pressure to make sure everything goes perfectly is so high. It was a beach ceremony and a brunch reception at our beach house. The weather was really bad Friday night, but it cleared up in time for the ceremony - thank you gods of weather! Everything went extremely well and I got out of work about 4pm. Ran home, and threw together a costume for the Halloween party at my friends house. Jon wasn't feeling that great, but he went anyway and we had a good time with the exception of me falling down half a flight of stairs with 2 toddlers in my arms after slipping on a batman car. OMG, the kids were fine, but I have been sore ever since. My legs are all jacked up with bruises. We left kind of early, about 11:30 and went home. Jon had only had a couple of beers because he was not feeling well.
Then I got woken up by a loud crash at about 3:30am. When I ran to see what happened, I found hubby on the floor in our half bathroom in about an inch of water. He had gotten up to go to the bathroom and apparently passed out. He fell forward and hit his head so hard on the back of the toilet, the bottom of the tank busted out. He didn't want to go to the hospital so I cleaned up the mess and got him back to bed.
Sunday, I ran some errands and hubby just rested. I knew he had something, plus his face hurt (he suffered a cut and a black eye) and his body ached from the fall. He went to work Monday and came home regular time but was in the bathroom most of the rest of the night with the worst flu I had seen in a long time. Which put him out of commision until today and is what caused him to pass out on Saturday night.
I was looking forward to having a couple of days off at the beginning of next week, but I just found out, because a member of our team is being sent to San Franscisco on task force, we have to split up his workload and groups that are coming in. I have two of his in the next couple weeks, so I will not have a day off until Nov. 10. I wouldn't mind it, its just that I am already tired and dragging, I have only had one day off a week for the past 2 weeks and have had long days the other 6. So that sucks for me.
Anyway, sorry for the ramble and the pity party. Pray I don't get the flu (which inevitably happens when hubby gets sick, I become sick).