Anniversary Wrap Up

We just had the best anniversary yesterday. The weather was PERFECT!! Casey drove me to work yesterday. We met up with some friends and had a great lunch at Jeff's Restaurant. They have the most AWESOME homecooking there! I had the baked chicken, macoroni and cheese, and lima beans. Casey and I split a piece of one of their four layer cakes! Those things are HUGE!!

After work, Casey picked me up and took me shopping. We are leaving on another cruise in 2 weeks, so we were picking up some last minute things. Casey suprised me by taking me to Fleet Feet to have me custom fitted for some new running shoes!! I got hooked up with some Addidas Supernova Glides! I am SO excited about them! I can't wait to take them out for their maiden run, later this morning.

Since we had eaten such a big lunch, we decided just to grab a quick dinner. So, we ended up at Five Guys Burger and Fries. After dinner, we walked over to Julia's Bakery to pick up some breakfast goodies for the weekend. That's the bakery that made the beautiful Cross Cake for Easter services last week.

We got our goodies and discovered that they also make homemade doggie treats too. Since we had left the puppies at home by themselves all day, we decided to get them some extra treats. We got them a little plate of spring goodies and a pupcake to split.

The puppies were VERY satisfied with their treats!! Imagine that? Anyway, it was a terrific anniversary, which we plan to continue on the ship!! I'm already starting the countdown!! Only 14 days to go!!!

12th Anniversary

Today, Casey and I have been married for 12 years! We've been together 19!! So as of this year, we have been together for half of our lives!! My mind can hardly wrap around that fact. I still feel the same way I did, when we started dating. Casey is still my rock, protector, and best friend! I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm not sure what I did to deserve such a wonderful husband, but I'm sure glad that I have him!!

Happy Anniversary Casey! I love you!

Scrapbooking design personalized with Smilebox

Sunny Day Walks

On Easter afternoon, Indiana and I went for a nice afternoon walk. There were LOTS of things in bloom, and it made for the most beautiful walk. Well, unless you count the next day, when I had revenge of the allergies. In spite of that, we really did enjoy ourselves!

Wordless Wednesday

Easter Wrapup

I'm happy to report that I made it completely through Lent without sipping one cup of coffee! I saved a lot of money, and I found out that I just didn't miss it all that much. We had the MOST wonderful Easter!! I was able to attend the Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil, and Easter Sunday services. I'll have to say this is the first year that I've celebrated Easter this way, and I enjoyed it SO much more this year!! For Good Friday services, I picked up some fresh Hot Cross Buns from Julia's Bakery. They were a HUGE hit, and they were SOOOO yummy too! Casey made a very yummy breakfast for our entire church family to enjoy. I ran back to Julia's Bakery to pick up a beautiful cross cake to go with our breakfast. It was absolutely beautiful and soooo YUMMY too! Mom and I spent Saturday afternoon dyeing Easter eggs to carry for the egghunt on Sunday! It's been years, since I've done that. All in all, it was one of the best Easters I've had in a long, long time. Here are some shots of Easter at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer. Egghunt Services

Happy Easter!

Holy Easter! The Lamb who was slain is the Lamb who is risen! Many Easter blessings to you and your family!

Almost Silent Holy Saturday

Were it not for the eyes of faith, we could never understand seeing glory in the cross.

Good Friday

By his stripes, we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

What A Busy Week!!

Last week was such an incredible blur!! Casey and I did LOTS of spring cleaning, weekend before last. I repainted the bathroom. Casey rearranged the kitchen. I shampooed the carpet, mopped all the floors, washed all the baseboards down, and cleaned windows. Then, we did all the regular stuff!! I was WORN OUT, when it was all said and done!

Last Saturday night, our friends, Larry and Sue, had a WONDERFUL St. Patrick's Day party! It was SOOOO much fun! Sue had an Irish meal buffet. We had Shepherd's Pie, Corned Beef and Cabbage, Green Beans, Mashed potatoes, Carrots, and LOTS of drinks and desserts! They live in an old house, and it was absolutely gorgeous.

On Sunday, we got up and went to sunday school and church. Afterwards, we came back home and continued our deep spring cleaning!!

On Monday, one of my very best friends in the ENTIRE WORLD, Barbara, came to visit. She was in for a week from Maine. We spent nearly all day together. It was so good to see her. We only get to see each other about once a year. She took me to a lovely lunch. We visited all afternoon and then ordered a bunch of pizza for dinner, before she left. I can't wait to see her again.

This week's going to be just as C-R-A-Z-Y!! Since it's Holy Week at church, there's a lot of things going on. Sunday, we had a beautiful Palm Sunday service with real palms and palm crosses!! On Sunday night, we joined with a neighbor church and had a Seder/Passover dinner. It was REALLY interesting. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun too! Here's some pics from the Seder Dinner.

Mom at the dinner.

We have Holy Week services at church on Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil service on Saturday, and Easter Sunday services. In between all that, I've got to go to swim practices to get ready for my swim meet in the next couple of weeks! Maybe I'll get to rest sometime! WHEW!!

Earth Hour 2010

I am really proud that Nashville is again participating in Earth Hour this year. Casey and I have participated in this event, since 2008. This year's date is March 27. The lights are going out at 8:30 C.S.T. They are going to turn green lights on several of the downtown buildings in Nashville, before the lights go out. To participate, you simply turn off your lights for an hour. Why don't you join us.

To learn more visit:

www.earthhour.org

Let's Go Swimming!

It seems like I'm going to be team swimming regularly for the next couple of months. Today, probably due to temporary insanity, I signed up for a swim meet that is two weeks from this coming Saturday!

YIKES!! I get to learn backstroke starts this afternoon!!! I figured that I could use the competition and the experience for the upcoming US Master's Short Course Nationals.

I'm hoping that the April swim meet will relieve some of my nerves over Nationals. Fingers crossed!

On June 25th, I'm participating in the World Swim Against Malaria. I've done this event before, and I really enjoyed it. It's open to anyone, you can swim anytime and especially on June 25th. The entry is a mere $5.00. It's also for a great cause.

Looks like I'm going to be waterlogged by the end of the year!

Wordless Wednesday: Paws for the Cause Edition

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I hope that everyone has a happy and safe St. Patrick's day!!! Watch out for all the blarney!!

What An Honor!!

I was so excited yesterday to receive an e-mail from Dogster.com The e-mail was to inform me that my dog blog, The Fiesty Three, had been picked as one of Dogster's recommended sites!! Dogster is HUGE, and I'm very honored to have been chosen as one of their top sites!! WOOT!!! 4 Paws up to Indiana, Shingo, and Molly!! Here's part of our congratulatory e-mail:

Dear Indiana Bones, Shingo, and Molly! (assuming you guys answer your own pee-mails!)

I was just stopping by your blog to say.......

CONGRATULATIONS!

On behalf of Dogster.com I have selected your site to be one of our top favorite sites! We love how informative and cute your site is : )

Here are the badges that are proudly displayed at The Fiesty Three.

Find more dog info here!

Find more dog training info here!

Team Practice

For the past two weeks, I've been going to the full Master's Swim Team practice. It feels so different to be doing the same workout as a lot of other folks. We have a GREAT coach, who manages to individualize our workouts, even though we are there as a group! I was really nervous the first week. Coach Chris was very nice and patient. There was still a lot of swim workout lingo that I didn't know. I REALLY enjoyed the practice and felt great afterwards. So last week, I went back. He'd decided that I need to build my endurance quickly, so he gave me pyramid workouts! I'm wise to his plan now. He's nice the first week, torture the rest, but that's o.k. Even though I'm hurting, I know that it will make me a MUCH better swimmer and competitor. I feel like I'm going to be so much more prepared for Nationals this way too! We'll see what this week holds.

Wordless Wednesday

Spring Training

I've got a lot on my plate (athletically) this spring. I'm back in training for two new 5ks. One is in late March and the other is in mid April. Both of them are pet friendly 5ks, so it looks like Indiana will be training with me. That, alone, will probably trash my time, but that's o.k. I'll enjoy having him with me on the runs. I hope that he will eventually be my regular running buddy for 5ks and afternoon runs. He's got LOTS of energy, so I'm not sure what distance that he'll top out at.

I'm also training for my first "real" swim meet at the end of May. It's the U.S. Master's Swimming Short Course Nationals Championships. I'm only going to swim about 3 events, since I won't be going to lots of other meets to qualify. I'm nervous as a cat about it, though. I have SO MUCH that I need to improve on. I'm hitting the team practice for the first time this semester this coming Thursday. Hopefully, I won't embarrass myself. I've lost a lot of conditioning, since I was sick over Christmas and New Year's. It's taking a frustratingly long time to get my endurance back. I'm sure that running will help with that. I should also be meeting with my coach, one on one, on Tuesday. I've got a lot of diving block work to do. I just hope to stay healthy for the rest of the year now. Unfortunately, after swimming laps midday today, I have water in my left ear. I guess that I need to break out the vinegar, when I get home. Here's a few videos of me swimming. Casey did the taping with my new camcorder that he got me for my birthday. Like I said, I have LOTS of work to do.

1. Strengthen my flutter kick.

2. Work on my freestyle pull and catch.

3. Build my endurance doing flipturns.

4. Stop over rotating on my breaths. Remember to rotate my body more.

Practicing my backstroke flipturns.

First time doing freestyle flipturns with fins.

Breaststroke. I haven't learned breaststroke turns yet. I need to keep my arms closer and work on my starts with this one.

Freestyle, no fins.

More freestyle with fins.

Happy Valentine's Day, Ya'll!!

Celebrating

I know that a lot of folks don't really care for Valentine's Day. I'll admit, since Casey and I have been together for 19 years, it has lost just a bit of it's luster. This year, for the first time in quite a few, we have Valentine's dinner reservations. We are going to one of my very favorite restaurants, The Omni Hut. It's a little, home owned Polynesian restaurant. We haven't been there in several years, and I'm really excited!! I also got my presents from Casey a few days early. He got me a new Speedo swim bag, and some of my very own training fins. He supports me in my goal to go to the U.S. Master's Swimming Short Course Nationals this coming May. I have LOTS of work to do to get ready.

Another treat that I'm getting tonight, is he's agreed to watch Romeo and Juliet (The 1968 version, my fav) with me again tonight. I just can't seem to celebrate Valentine's Day without it!!

The balcony scene is just so beautiful:

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to this weekend. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Indy's 2nd Birthday

On Sunday, I had a little birthday party for Indiana. It was his 2nd birthday. I made the bone birthday cake myself!!

Shelbyville Snow '10

A few scenes around town from last weekend's snow! Everyone have a great weekend!