Back to Reality

After a fabulous week of sun, sand, ocean, ice cream, movies, and books, all mixed in with tons of relaxing, I'm now back to reality. Frank and I left Nags Heads yesterday morning after breakfast with Dad, Angela, Joey, and Michelle (who had come down for a long weekend). Our Nags Head vacations get better each year – I can’t tell you how much I look forward to spending a week at the beach doing nothing but enjoying every minute outside. I’m so glad that Dad keeps this tradition going…Despite talk of downsizing to a condo (gasp!), Frank and I quickly listed all of the cons relative to the house we’ve stayed in for the past ten, or so, years. Thankfully, I’m fairly certain we can already start looking forward to staying in the Green Wave another year in 2009. Thanks for another great vacation, Dad!

Unfortunately my clash with reality has been coupled with excruciating back pain – It all happened so quickly as I was simply bending down to put something in the trash can…Something happened to my back and I could hardly stand up straight. I’ve been living on Advil for the past few days and finally decided to make an appointment with the chiropractor tomorrow morning. He better perform a miracle for me because I need to start running again – This race is only about a month away!

On another note – You can start calling me Word Challenge Supa-Star! (I beat Frank’s score Friday night by about 1,000 points!)

One Addition to my Vacay To-Do List...

Frank has got me hooked on Word Challenge, a game on Facebook...I'm currently only about 40 points behind him and I've made it my vacation goal to surpass his score!! Back to the grind-stone...

I love the feeling of being so relaxed, so oblivious to the outside world, that you're not even 100% certain what day it is. Today is (I think) Thursday, day #4 of vacation, which I’ve so far successfully stuck to my strict schedule of DOING NOTHING. I spent all of Monday and Tuesday reading on the beach – Yesterday and today were iffy with off-and-on rain showers, which in years past would have disappointed me, but honestly, I am so relaxed, I just don’t care. Despite the clouds I’ve been out on the sand, engrossed in my books, occasionally napping with the sound of the crashing waves in the background. The showers have finally passed, the sun is out for the rest of the week as I sit on our deck overlooking the beach, writing this, with my Corona by my side. Does it get any better? Work, real life, stress, to-do lists…they all seem so far away…

Never Ending!

This past week seemed like it was never going to end. I think the fact that we’ve been on the go constantly for about the past month caught up to me – By the time Friday (finally!) came around, I was exhausted! Last weekend we headed out of town again, this time to Delaware to help one of my cousins and her family move from Staten Island. I’m super excited because now they’re only two hours away from us – which hopefully means we’ll be spending more time with them. We did get back pretty early on Sunday, around 2:30, just in time to do some weekend chores (does a mani/pedi count as a chore? ;) ) and relax a little bit before the start of another work week, which couldn’t end soon enough. My goal was to sneak out of work on Friday by 3pm to get an early start on my vacation. I finally escaped the office around 4:30 and headed home to run some errands and start packing for our Nags Head vacation. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to a week of doing…NOTHING! My plans consist of a few early morning runs, sitting my butt on the beach, reading, napping, catching some rays, and RELAXING! I got a little head start on my rays yesterday before we left…Frank spent the day golfing with Mike & Chuck while I lounged by the pool with MK and Kristen. After a BBQ and some Wii Fit with the gang, Frank and I finished up our packing, caught a movie, then hit the sack, ready for our 10am departure to relaxation – Nags Head, here we come!!!

Six for the Price of...NONE!?!

Recently I've come to the conclusion that it's ridiculous to spend $20 on a book that I read once and then give away or set it on our bookshelf to collect dust. Since not reading wasn't an option, last week I decided to sign up for a library card! I haven't had a library card since I was in middle or high school - Heck, I'm pretty certain I haven't even stepped foot into a library since my senior year of college. My card came in the mail today and I couldn't get to the library fast enough! I have already put numerous books on hold and today I came home with 6 books! (I felt the need to stock up for the beach in two weeks.) Even more exciting...as I was checking out, I looked over and saw one of James Patterson's newest books on the shelf. "Are those on hold?", I asked. "Nope, just getting ready to go back on the shelf." Yay! So, I even scored that one! Now I guess I should sign off here and start reading!

Welcome Brennan!

On Sunday during our drive back from LI, I texted my friend, Megan, who was, as of Sunday, one week past her due date. I wanted to check in to see how things were going - Well, I never received a response, so after anxiously awaiting her reply, I decided to give her a ring. Nothing. Ok, that could only mean one thing - Sunday was THE day...On Sunday evening a little before 6pm, Baby Pecorino came into the world - Brennan Kyle. I left work a little early on Monday so I could head to the hospital to visit the happy family. He is ADORABLE! You all know that I'm not one of those people that thinks every baby is cute - Let's face it, some are just plain scary...especially right after they're born! Well, I can honestly say that Brennan is truly a beautiful baby - Full head of hair, perfect complexion...And (best of all for the parents) he was quiet as a mouse while I was there! Only a few little cries and noises. (Let's ignore the fact that one of the biggest cries was when I held him.) I tell ya, with all these cute babies, it almost gets me thinking... ;) Congrats Megan & Brian!!!!

Happy 4th!

Wanting to steer clear of traffic, Frank & I left Arlington super-duper early on the 4th in route to Long Island. We were up at 4am and out the door a little before 4:30 – Our ridiculously early departure time paid off – We made it to Frank’s sister’s house in 4 hours (a record for us)! We fit in lots of visiting family and friends over the weekend – On Friday, we spent the day with Frank’s sister and our niece, Kate…Then scooted out east to visit Keith and Deaneen (more friends who are expecting! Baby Thomas is due 7/19…) We spent Friday evening in Commack at Uncle Mike’s, drinking wine and watching the fireworks from his back yard. His neighbor put on an incredible show that actually wasn’t too far off a professional display – I was quite impressed! On Saturday all of the visitors came to us – Danielle had a BBQ and lots of Frank’s family came over – even my Dad stopped by for some pasta with crab sauce and burgers (good ol’ Italian BBQ). Today, we swung by Huntington on the way home to meet my grandparents for breakfast and then were off by 10am. We got lucky with the traffic and were home right before 3pm – Just enough time to unpack, enjoy some left over crab sauce, then head to Frank’s soccer game, one that he actually played in instead of coached. I went to cheer him on from the sidelines, which seemed to work out well since they won – just in time, too…right as the game wrapped up, the skies opened up with an evening summer t-storm. Packing so much into one weekend makes it feel so much longer, which I love. Unfortunately now I have a five day work week looming ahead...

Shout Out!

Ok, I am extremely excited...Frank had received a gift certificate to Liberty Tavern from one of his soccer teams and last night we realized that we had 'misplaced' it. We scoured the office and living room last night to no avail. Thinking it was gone forever, I figured I would try calling the restaurant to see if they have any way of tracking them. (It was only a paper gift certificate but I figured it was worth a shot.) After talking with Stephen, the owner, he said he would reissue us a gift certificate in good faith!!!! I didn’t even have to do any sweet talking (or evil talking)! So, tonight on our way home from work, we’ll stop by and pick up our second $100 GC and will definitely put this one in a safe spot! :) Thanks, Liberty Tavern!

The Early Bird...Sticks to Its Workout Schedule

On Saturday I decided to sleep in! No alarm setting, just waking up with the birds when my body decided to on its own. It felt great! I slept until almost 9am! Knowing that I still needed to get a good run in, I didn't waste any time getting ready and was on the road at 9:16am. A short 5 minutes into my run I knew sleeping in was a mistake - It was already extremely hot and I had decided to run west on the trail which means less shade...and a few more hills. After 30 minutes and one hill too many, I decided to call it a day and turn around then, only getting in 6 miles. (Needless to say, my "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" mantra didn't push me far enough that day!) Oh well - that's still 1 mile ahead of my original planned training schedule, so I guess I can't complain!

I spent the rest of Saturday doing a little yard work and then headed out to mom's in Winchester for a low key BBQ. Rachel & her BF decided to join us too, so I was psyched to get to spend some time with her (and get to know her lova). I went to bed stuffed and left early the next morning to prepare for my husband coming home!!! After over a week, Frank finally returned from the far corners of MA around 6pm Sunday evening. It's so great to have him home - I'm honestly a little surprised how much I missed him! (Just re-reading that, I realize that might sound a bit cold-hearted, but being a pretty independent person, it did surprise me that I found myself extremely lonely without my other half...)