Recap: Went to my mother-in-law’s for lunch on Thanksgiving. There were 11 of us.

I love her kitchen. Her brother did a lot of the work- the painting, trim, flooring, tile, and lighting. They had someone do the cabinets and countertop. It’s gorgeous!

Her neighbors don’t have any family in town and couldn’t go anywhere since the wife is having cancer treatments, so we made them plates and took them over! It felt so nice to help them out.

Notice the lima beans? Yuck!

Here’s Kay and her kitchen:

Here’s our aunt Missy and great-aunt Pudge.

This year, we went to my husband’s mom’s for lunch. I had made cheesecake and cookies the night before. It was the first holiday since our grandma’s death. We talked about her a little bit, but we didn’t dwell on it. We told stories and said lots of things she would have said. I wish we would have written “Memo Sayings” down because I’m afraid we might lose some of them if we don’t continue to say them or write them down.

We also went to my mom’s sister’s house for dinner. It was rainy most of the day.

On Friday, I was off and we went to Target around 10am. It wasn’t too crowded. The mall was packed and we couldn’t even get a parking spot. We went to Walmart and I got an iPhone running armband. I took a nap and dreaded my afternoon event- a 5k!

It turned out to be a great afternoon and I got to meet up with 2 other runner/twitter friends and got to run with Sarah. I hope to have a full post about the race and I also took a picture there.

On Saturday, we helped out my husband’s family go through Memo’s stuff. We were there for 5 hours and only tackled 1 room. We stopped at my husband’s dad’s family afterward and had dinner with them.

On Sunday, we cleaned the house a bit, put up the tree, and put some of the things away that we got from Memo’s house- a plant stand, pictures, decorations, and some dishes.

The picture is of 2 Christmas ornaments that are new for this year. The AIDS ribbon ornament is from the KY derby festival fundraiser and the Presidential one is from the JKF Library when we went to Boston last Spring. I’ll be taking more pictures of the tree soon.

Today is my grandmother’s birthday. My mom and aunt are taking to her dinner. I have class tonight, so I can’t make it. I made her some baked goods and put them in a cute box, I made her a card, and got her a gift card to Panera Bread.

I took them over to her last night and stayed about an hour. I think she enjoyed our visit together much more than of any the actual birthday presents.

I can’t even remember the last time I went over just to say hello. Normally, I just see her at my mom’s house for family get-together. I really need to make it a habit just to stop by. I think it’s strange to just stop by, but I need to get over that.

I got to see her deck expansion with all her plants (although end of the season) and also her new flooring.

I realized that I need to take the time to do little things like that- because they really do matter. I worried and thought for over 3 days, what to get her for a birthday. Does that stuff really matter?

I can’t even remember what my last post was about, so I had to open up the homepage to see what it is- okay, I posted about the KY State Fair and also dinner with my dad’s side of the family- and I learned how to post a picture from Flickr.com

A few weeks ago, we had a “birthday party” for Ben’s grandmother, but it was in the hospital. It was a little sad. They had decided to put her into an assisted living community after a year and a half of family staying the night with her and a nurse aide during the day. She has had Parkinson’s for several years, but has gotten worse and now dementia and the medication for dementiaParkinson’s- she’s just not herself and it’s difficult to witness.

A week after moving there, she had a minor fall. And another fall the next day. They took her to the hospital for some tests, observation, and rehabilitation. She was there for about 2 weeks and then her birthday came. They were able to reserve a “Family room” for us, so they brought her favorite type of cake- an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.I was glad that we all could get together- but seeing her and realizing what shape she was in- was difficult and it had been heart breaking on her children. It’s been about 2 weeks now, and they have moved her into a nursing home now. Well, that’s terrible- I just went to Flickr to grab a picture of her and I couldn’t even find one! Ack!

Now, on to something not so sad. I did the Fiesta Run 3 Mile race with Lynn and her friend Jenn.

It was a night race and was pretty neat. It was still hot and humid- but it was fun- but a challenge!

We had some visitors from Ben’s work from the Ukraine. They arrived on a Wednesday evening and we picked them up from the airport, drove them pass Churchill Downs, the UL football stadium, and took them to dinner at Cracker Barrel. We also took them to Brendan’s for a tech meet-up and then to Graeter’s for ice cream. They enjoyed trying the different flavors and settled with a scoop of chocolate chip in a waffle cone.

We went to the Bats baseball game on Friday night, with the rest of the Louisville team.

We dropped them back at the airport on Saturday morning. I was sad to see them go!

and then Ben and I went to the KY State Fair. He doesn’t go on the first day with the rest of my family, so we normally go first thing on Saturday morning!

Here’s Freddie and me:

We also saw some of the Horse Show:

Okay, what else? Oh yea, school started back. It’s on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8:45, so it’s nothing like my last summer class that when until 10:45 and then I had a 25 minute drive home. I’m taking Marketing, so it’s interested to me, but there’s a lot of reading!

Last weekend we went downtown to see some of the Iron Man competition. It’s just awesome. Can’t really say much else about it. Last year, I knew someone doing it, so that made it more fun to try to track them down. This year, we just went to 4th Street Live, where it finished with them completing the marathon portion. Here’s all our pictures, but here are a few favorites:


I’ll say this- sports photography is hard- so much to capture!

Then, we went to the Louisville Zombie Walk. I just realized that I still haven’t uploaded any pictures from that. I guess I’ll have to make it a separate post! Sorry it’s been so long!

During one of my runs, I started thinking about priorities and realized that things have shifted around lately- or maybe I just have realized it, but anyway- Priorities matter, so make sure what you have made a priority really is a priority. Cheers!

I don’t know for sure, but I think that this is the correct address:

271 Omega Pkwy
Shepherdsville, KY

They had 50% off the lowest tickets price. They had tons of shoes, but a lot of them were NOT my style. I ended up with 4 pairs and Benjamin got 3 pairs- all for $200. He had a pair of black leather loafers, brown leather and canvas casual, and a pair of Simple hemp casual shoes.

I got pairs of Brooks and Nike running, and 2 pairs of naturalizers- brown wedge and black flats for work.

I wore the Nikes this morning on my run and the wedges to Westport Village. My feet were hurting by the time we got done!

The in-laws came to town and we got a good picture of Kay and I.

This post was started earlier today on my WordPress iPhone app, but got lost somehow. I spent a while on it in the car on the way to a funeral. Ben’s great uncle passed away earlier this week. He had been in a nursing home for a year or two. He had gone downhill and we never made it out to see him- I really regret that.

Today was very emotional.

Uncle Louie was amazing- his personality is indescribable. He had been married for 63 years to Aunt Pudge.  I remember celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. They were both so happy.

His smile was contagious. He was the best storyteller- even if I had already heard him tell it before. My mother-in-law wrote him a letter that was read during the service today and I realized how special he was to everyone. The church was packed- so many people there to pay tribute to him.

I really wish that we had spent more time with him.

Benjamin’s grandmother moved into an assisting living center last week and this just reinforces the need to spend more time with her. And for the rest of our family that we take for granted. I’m again reminded to take time for our family, because they are what is most important to us.

It started with yesterday. I don’t normally take a day off work, but we haven’t really had a vacation in a long time and I was getting close to hitting the max of 200 hours accumulated, so I decided to take Friday off.

I finally made an appointment to get my eye brows done. I had been wanting to get them done for years, but was too chicken to do because they were in such bad shape (no pun intended). I went to FaceWorks, who specializes in skin care. I went to a “salon” back in high school, but didn’t feel like they knew what they were doing. I’ll post more on this later, but I am pleased.

Benjamin and I went out to lunch. I did some prep work for sewing.

We went to Fleet Feet to pick up my race packet for today and stopped at Smoothie King. We also went to the Mall and we tried to go to PF Changs, but the wait was over an hour and a half. We went to Pita Pit instead and had a fun time.

Benjamin let me open my birthday present a day early- it’s the laptop I’m typing on. I spent a lot of today getting it set up.

We also watched Kinky Boots on Netflix.

This morning started at 6:00am with my pre-race bagel. It was raining, but it was cool. The race started at 8 and by 9, we were done and back in the car. I was pleased with how we did. Lynn and I hadn’t really been training or running in this weather, so we finished in just over 44 minutes, for 4 miles so at an 11 minute mile. We stopped to walk 2 or 3 times.

Benjamin had not been feeling well, since Tuesday. He went to the Minute Clinic this afternoon and they said Strep!! Yuck! I am so glad that I have tried to stay away from his germs! Antibiotics should clear it up in 2 days.

I did some sewing on the Christmas apron.

We went to my mom’s house for dinner, cake, and ice cream.

I got a cute Fossil purse from her! Thanks Mom!

Mimmy and Papaw- Celebrating 60 years!

7 years. I still can’t believe we’ve been married for SEVEN YEARS. I feel so incredibly lucky to have found someone- and I was so young! I had just turned 15. Some people may think that we were too young, but we just found each other quite early.

He has made me into the person I am. He has had so much influence on me and I don’t even realize it. Family is so important and unless you make the time to think about it, it’s hard to see how special they really are and what impact they have on you.

I’m getting ready to celebrate a birthday and I also think back to when I was 15- I think that I had just met Benjamin. It took me a few months, but after that, I knew he was THE ONE.

Benjamin’s grandparents did say at dinner that both people have to give 100%. It’s not 50/50. I have to keep remembering that. Especially when I’m tired and cranky and probably rude! Oh, and bossy too!

He’s been traveling lately- not gone for long- but when he’s gone, I realize all the little things that I miss about him. It’s been a little stressful the last few months- especially the spring and early summer and when I had my summer law class. He got me through it and for that, I am grateful and truly appreciate our love for each other.

To those you that have found your love, congrats! And for those that haven’t, don’t give up because you will find them when you least suspect it! I can attest to that!

We got up early on Saturday and left the house around 10am and went to the Edinburgh Outlets about 90 miles away. We got some clothes at Banana Republic and the Gap outlet stores. If you have AAA, you can get an additional 10% off! I got 3 shirts from BR for $10 each. I got a skirt and yoga pants from the Gap. I also got this tray to put on the grill to cook vegetables and other things.

We then drove to Nashville, Brown County, IN. Benjamin’s grandparents were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. WOW! We arrived and all of this family was staying at Hotel Nashville and we saw them for a little while and then we walked down to the shopping area.

We then had dinner at the hotel- all 20 of us!

And then went to the Brown County Playhouse to see “The Nerd.”


We drove back to Louisville after the show about got home after midnight.

Today, I took Benjamin to the airport around 9am and he went to Boston. I’ll pick him up Tuesday night.

I started all the prep work for a blanket for a co-worker. I did all the hard work, now I just need to sew it.

It’s been about 4 years going- my aunt will buy silly string for the family get-together. It is normally Easter, 4th of July, or October. We all go out to front yard and for 2 minutes- go crazy. I opted to stay on the front porch this year and take a video.

I took this on my iPhone and pretty easily uploaded to Flickr. I think it was about 100 MBs for 1 minute.