WKU Meet Wrap Up and Birthday Weekend!

Saturday's meet was an absolute BLAST!! I still had a small case of the nerves, beforehand, but I managed quite well (thanks to Katie's good humor)! I am disappointed that the video camera had a SNAFU, so we didn't get any footage. I think I may have figured out the problem, and hopefully it's not broken. I'm proud to say that I swam faster than I ever have at this meet! I ended up taking 2 first place events (200 medley relay, I was backstroke leg, and 50 Breaststroke) and 2 second place events (50 Freestyle and 50 Backstroke). I am the most proud of my 50 Backstroke! I'm still dropping time! The entire team did REALLY well too! We all had a great time!

Another boost on Saturday was the local paper had an article on the team. They decided to take the pictures last week, and everyone is still on winter break. So, I was the lucky photo subject. The article and the pictures both turned out really nice, and I'm really proud of them. Here's the shot that was included in the article.

Here's the link to the article, written by my really good friend, Nancy DeJennaro.

Swim into shape | The Daily News Journal | dnj.com:

'via Blog this'

After the meet on the way home, Casey took me to Texas Roadhouse for a birthday dinner. Katie and her boyfriend Matt came with us. We had a REALLY good meal and a REALLY good time! I was so tired that after dinner we headed straight home, so I could promptly fall out!

Yesterday was AWESOME too! After a great church service and many well wishes, Mom took me out birthday shopping. That's the first time I've been birthday shopping in years!! She bought me a new sweater, top, and pair of GREAT birthday boots! Yes, I'm wearing them today, even though it's in the 50's here! Some things just don't change with age! HEHEHE!! In a few minutes, my new coworkers are taking me out for a birthday lunch! This birthday is just getting better and better! I can't wait to see what the next few minutes bring!

Birthday and Swim Meet Weekend!

Well, this past weekend was my 40th birthday. I'll be the first to tell you that if the whole year is as good as my weekend was, I'm ready to go!! Mom took me out to Ruby Tuesday's on Friday night for a really nice pre-birthday dinner. It was so good!

On Saturday morning, Casey and I were up early to head to Bowling Green, Kentucky for the Western Kentucky Green Gators swim meet. I entered 2 events, the 50 Backstroke and the 50 Freestyle. The team deck entered to do the 200 medley relay. So, I swam the backstroke leg for that relay. I was really happy with the whole meet. I improved my times in every event. I came home with a 1st place ribbon for the 50 Backstroke and a 2nd place ribbon for the 50 Freestyle.

On Sunday, I had a great time at church with all the birthday wishes. The whole congreation sang "Happy Birthday" to me! Mom and I stayed for our Daughters of the King meeting and then headed back home to a great birthday lunch that Casey had cooked. Mom suprised me with a very nice birthday cake! I spent the rest of the afternoon just lounging around, since I was really tired from the day before. Casey and I watched movies and waited for the snow to come in.

We woke up Monday morning with nearly 8 inches of snow on the ground here. Almost unheard of!!! I had already scheduled to be off on Monday, and Casey couldn't get to work, so we had a nice snow day together. The dogs were just too funny in all that snow! We nearly couldn't find Jack out there, the snow was so deep. After they all got used to the depth, the just loved romping around and playing in it.

Indy and Me

Moon, Jack, and Trixie

Indy and Trixie

Molly

Shingo

Shingo and Jack

Mom's Dog Moon

Me and Casey

I couldn't have asked for a better birthday weekend!!

Happy Birthday Justin Hayward!!!

This is a repost from 2004, but still appropriate: Today is somewhat of a special, private holiday for me and many other Moody Blues fans. Today is lead vocalist and guitarist Justin Hayward's birthday. He's my VERY favorite celebrity. Such a talented songwriter and performer. My personal hero. Anyway, I'd just like to wish him a very happy day with hopefully many many more to come!

Acutally getting to meet my hero.

Birthday Wrapup

I had a really fantastic birthday on Saturday! By the time I got up on Saturday morning, it had snowed about an inch more. The roads were all covered. It was SO cold and icy, that Casey and I decided to stay in for the day. Now I know that doesn't sound all birthday exciting, but I REALLY enjoyed my day. First, we went over to my Mom's house next door to have breakfast and coffee. I got some money and a cute outfit from Mom. Casey made me both a birthday lunch and dinner. For lunch, by request, he made his famous Casey burgers for me with french fries. For dinner he made the jambalaya that I requested. He suprised me with birthday desert, which was chocolate chip mint brownies and my very favorite, peppermint icecream. He gifted me with a Panasonic Camcorder with a 70x optical zoom! It will be great to make really good videos of the puppies and also on the cruise this year. I'm SOOOO excited. Now, I've just got to get one of those 32 gig SD cards!! All of my friends on my Lovearat.us board and on Facebook sent me birthday wishes. All afternoon, I stayed piled up on the sofa under my polar fleece blankets with the puppies in my lap watching Hallmark movies. I REALLY liked The Wishing Well!! It was a FANTASTIC birthday, and I didn't even leave the place!

I Wanted to Just Die...

during my circuit training class tonight. But now that I've cooled off, I feel pretty great! I always dread it beforehand, but it always makes me feel better. I had a pretty good day at work today. I spent a lot of time catching up with my students and also showing the gang Indiana's 1st birthday pictures. I think this one

just might be my very favorite. I'm about to feed the puppies the very last of the cake. They've been enjoying it, since Sunday. The cake was homemade, so it has no preservatives. The shelf life is very short. Then again, no dog treats ever sit around here long enough to spoil...homemade or not.

Indiana's First Birthday

Today was Indiana's first birthday. We celebrated in style with a party and doggie cake. All of the dogs had a GREAT time, and we did too. Even Grandma came over for the festivities. Here's the shots from the party.

Weekend Wrap Up

First, I want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes. I had a terrific birthday. Casey took me to Red Robin for a great burger. Dinner was fantastic. I especially liked the strawberry lemonade. Yummy! Afterwards, we walked over to the mall and shopped a little bit. I saw a lot of ok stuff, but nothing that I really liked. When we got home, we stopped by Mom's. She gave me birthday money. WOOT! I still haven't decided what to get with it yet.

Yesterday, Casey and I worked in the house all day. We are doing some rearranging in order to move our stuff into the bigger bedroom. We are taking everything out, in order to repaint and then move in. We made a lot of progress, but we still have a long way to go.

I guess that I'd better head to bed. Work tomorrow. I'm going to go curl up in bed with a good book and the puppies. Night all!

Good Days

Today was one of those really "Good Days". A day where everything just falls together. Everyone was in a great mood, the sun was shining, and my day started out with a brand new book that was brought to me. It was good, despite the fact that nothing really extrodinary happened. I hope that my birthday tomorrow will be just as good.

I spent most of the evening talking with my very best friend, Barbara. Today is her birthday. It's a funny story. She and I met, when we were twelve years old. But, I think we had been destined to become best friends from the start. See our mothers shared the same hospital room, when we were born. She beat me by a few hours though. The same year that we met and became close, her family moved. It didn't matter. Distance did nothing to our friendship. Now, she lives in Lewiston, Maine, and we are as close as ever. That call really made my day! We've had a long standing tradition, to always talk on our birthdays. Since flying from Maine can be a bit tricky in the winter, we've decided to get together on our half birthdays and celebrate together in June. I sure hope we keep that plan!