Welcome to Insanity

growing up?

2010-06-04T12:16:00.002-04:00

One can hope!

My "lil" 21 year old sister goes off to DC next weekend.... well I should say my mom, Aaron and I are going to drop her off in DC next weekend!

She'll be interning in DC for the summer, she's going to be paired up with a Congressional office for an 8 week program. I'm excited for her to take part in the program but even more excited for her to be heading off to a place where she'll have no family member to lean on to and guide her. I don't mean this in a mean haha you are own your own type of way... but more that all through growing up she's had me or my parents to lean on, even when she came to college she came to OSU where I had already been and so it didn't really challenge her from a personal growth perspective.

I think it'll be a great experience for her, really let her figure out if she's a big city person or if Columbus really isn't so bad... she's always knocked the city... but I think alot of it has to do with she hasn't really seen much more of country on a long term basis and any city can seem great when you only go to visit it a few days rather then really immersing yourself in it for a few weeks!

DC is totally one of my favorite cities, in college we went every spring for a national cultural show.. and I really enjoyed exploring different part of it.. it's been a LONG time since I've been there (probably about 5-7 years). Aaron has never been and I've always wanted to take him.. I'm hoping it's not too disgustingly hot and we can fully enjoy checking out some of the monuments and such.

Next weekend also happens to be my mom's 50th birthday weekend! So I'm glad we'll get to spend the weekend together as a family.

SATC ...

2010-06-02T16:22:00.003-04:00

I really enjoyed the second movie! I think it was because oddly Carrie and Big were in a similar place in their relationship as Aaron and I are! Lol.. not in terms of glamour or anything but in terms of life style choices and maturity of our relationship... Just this week after seeing the movie on Friday night I totally gave Aaron a hard time on Monday night for wanting to sit at home and veg on the couch instead of wanting to go out and do dinner and a movie and just NOT sit at home :p

It was actually funny to relate to parts of the movie while it was playing in the theater and then ever funnier to draw the similarities of it and real life ... especially when something happens.. you get bent out of shape about it and then you realize when you've calmed back down that... yeah that was totally not necessary :p

The other part of the movie that really resonated was when Big & Carrie were at a wedding and a fan came up to them saying how similar they were etc etc and then went on to notice their wedding dates were very close together and how the couple was now on their way to having their first baby and weren't Carrie and Big getting started down that path soon as well? They were rather amazed when the answer came back that C&B weren't going to be having kids... they totally got JUDGED for not :p

There are probably 30 days a month when I'm sure I don't want to have kids and 1 day a month (when the month is longer then 30 days ;) ) that I think hmm.. maybe we will.. these days don't have anything to do with hormones but if I've been around a particularly sweet baby or a particularly monstrous child i can be swayed one way or another ... Reading the misery of peoples pregnancy experiences of course helps sway away from such ideas of how cute a lil Simi + Aaron baby would be.

Well... that got random :p

I generally liked the movie a lot.. I think I may have even liked it more then the first one... kind of feel like seeing it again to "remind" myself of it. Sounds like a good thing to do on the next rainy eve we have!

Meh.

2010-05-28T12:10:00.003-04:00

That about sums up how I feel.. this month is been kind of meh.. maybe cuz it was such a long month and after having a vacation anything is kind of meh

i'm kind of sad that my bathing suit tanlines are gone from a month ago :p

This summer seems a lil more blah than last years summer.. I'm not sure why theres enough stuff going on ... we have every weekend between the one that starts tonight and July24thish booked... but still i feel like theres something missing and i'm not really sure what.

Follow up stuff from my last blog post
i did go to the doc and got full blood work done and.. nothing conclusive came of it...which kind of pisses me off because then I don't understand why i feel like shit so much of the time... its not that I'm not thankful to be "healthy" but i don't feel healthy and so somethings not adding up.

I went to the good feet store for my feet
I have been wearing the insoles for about a week now and I am pretty sore my feet are happier then they were before
I don't have intense pain when I wake up in my heels in the am... I haven't fully tried the most aggressive version of the insole for more then 1/2 an hour yet (it has really high arch support which is a bit awkward but on a daily basis I'm wearing the intermediate version and they feel pretty good. I will continue to ease myself into the aggressive ones and hope they keep working!

I also am annoyed that the weather went from the 55-60's straight to the 85-90s.. wheres the 70-75's (my favorite temp)... i feel like we got totally shafted on nice enjoyable outdoor weather.

otherwise.. yeah.. meh sums it up :)

Moving parts

2010-05-06T13:52:00.002-04:00

1. I am so excited to go home today... we had the cleaners come.. so I'll get to go home to a nice clean home and I didn't have to do any of the hard work!
2. Speaking of 1.. i picked up clutter from around the house to get it out of the way of the cleaners.. how does one find the balance of "living in their home" but being "clutterfree" . . . i do not know.
3. TWO friends have recently gotten engaged... it's so exciting! It's maybe a spring thing... love is in the air; I got engaged around this time 3 years ago as well :)
4. We signed up for tennis lessons with the westerville rec center; together! Yay.
5. We will be playing volleyball with a team on mondays.. I'm not a fan of Mondays but I am a fan of vball and I didn't do the signing up this time.. so just going to go with the flow and hope to have fun!
6. There is a SHIT ton to get my head around at work with the new job.. and my brain is still kind of swimming in all the knowledge it needs to absorb.
7. I didn't take my laptop home last night.. for the first time in probably TWO years. It was weird and great and worry some all at the same time.
8. The weather outside is superbly amazing! Love love love the low humidity and warmth.
9. Going to dinner with a group of friends tonight; totally looking forward to it.
10. Enjoyed lunch with a group of friends on a patio today; nothing makes me happier then a yummy meal with great people on a patio!
11. We have cousins and their kids flying into Cbus tomorrow night from Cali; Saturday we will drive to ytown with them, and hang with the family! I can't wait!
12. We haven't raced for about a MONTH, I hope everything I learned at the drivers school I went to at the beginning of April doesn't fall out of my brain and get forgotten forever.
13. I have scheduled a long over due Dr's appointment for the middle of this month. I'm totally dreading it, but it totally need to occur (kind of like going to the dentist)... i'm really bad about going to annual Dr visits (other then the gyno who i need to refill my drugs so I have to go to)... but at the same time I need to stop looking up my symptoms on the Internet and freaking myself the F out.
14. Speaking of 13 I was going to try and go to a new doc closer to the house; and I called one that per their website said they were taking new patients and they said OCTOBER, you kidding me? I could be dead by then (lol did I mention I need to stop reading on the web and freaking myself the F out?).
15. I enjoyed a very fun lunch yesterday with a great group of ladies who make me feel sane when it comes to work stuff and I also get to enjoy lunch on Friday with another group of very fun ladies! Holy social butterflying it up.. i swear I have no balance I'm an all or nothing person... I haven't seen anyone in a few weeks (since before vacation)... and I miss seeing peeps!
16. I didn't get my mom anything for mothers day... but I'm pretty sure she doesn't mind... my mom and I and my sister are all actually really bad at being bought for... so we're just going to head up for about 24 hours over the weekend; spend some time together and ... just enjoy that!
17. This past weekend my sister and I went shopping together (who thought that was a good idea?!?!) lol. Minus the fact that I felt like she took way too long looking at things... we were both patience with each other and actually had fun! It makes me so happy to be able to spend time together without dreading it. Let's hope this weekend goes equally smoothly.

That is enough random clutter for now i believe.

Things that make vacation ending ok...

2010-04-30T16:28:00.002-04:00

Don't get me wrong... I LOVE being on vacation...
but there is certain stuff that makes coming home from vacation fun too...

1. Not living out of a bag
2. A fridge with food and drinks in it
3. A comfy bed w/ Comfy pillows
4. Internet connections that don't cost an arm and a leg
5. Not needing the GPS for getting around everywhere
6. Getting to see your friends
7. Knowing what the tap water tastes like
8. Knowing how much things *should* cost and not getting ripped off because your a tourist
9. Knowing the channels on the tv
10. Driving your own CAR!!!

Vacation Write up...

2010-04-29T12:13:00.006-04:00

As stolen from the hubster... why should I duplicate efforts when he was on the same vacation as I was?

- -

In the fall of ’09 Simi and I attended an autocross event in Cleveland. The overall winner received a Florida vacation package. It was a nice prize. Little did I know at the end of the day, I would be that winner. We filed the paper work of the newly won package, and once we had a date picked, we decided to extend the vacation to make it worthwhile. The vacation was a Sunday through Wednesday hotel stay and free passes to Universal Studios. We decided to make it a Wednesday to Wednesday trip making for an extra long weekend.

Tuesday, before we left, Simi realized that the Orlando Magic had a game the night we arrived. She found great seats, at great prices and decided to go for it. We left Columbus around 3pm on Wednesday the 21st, and were in Orlando with crappy rental car loaded up by 6. We stopped at a Five Guys for burgers and fries and then went to the arena. A very old and very quaint little arena, with the most fan interaction of any sporting event I’ve ever seen. We sat third row, upper deck, half court, and had awesome seats. It was a loud crowd the entire game. It was a lot of fun as Orlando won easily. From the arena we found the highway and headed to Sarasota. We arrived in Sarasota around midnight, and heads hit the pillow instantly.

Thursday we awoke to a view of the Gulf, and pleasant temperatures. We decided to explore, ending up on Siesta Key Beach. White sands and crystal clear waters greeted us. Sun blocked, and towels out, we enjoyed the gentle breeze, and spent some time relaxing. The ocean
waters were a bit cold, but if you stayed in it a while, it got to be comfortable and refreshing.
Afternoon rolled around, and Simi had booked a sail cruise. We boarded a 41’ sail boat with a super nice boat captain and two other couples. The captain was actually from Ohio. He took us out into Sarasota Bay only powered by the wind. The gentle rocking of the boat, with near
silence was enough to make blood pressures, and cares just melt away. We saw a few dolphins and a sting ray. It was nice. Then, dinner and another restful slumber ended that day.

Friday we headed to a shopping plaza called St Armand’s Circle. This is a super nice shopping area on Longboat Key. There are lots of great shops, and restaurants. From there we headed back to the hotel to lounge at the pool. A 10 foot waterfall at one end made it quite a
nice resort. Simi laid out soaking in the sun. I did for a bit but found myself burning, so I returned to the room to enjoy the shaded balcony views. After a round of mini-golf, and Friday night’s dinner we found a spot on Lido Key Beach to watch a glorious sun set over the
Gulf. We returned to Longboat Key to a restaurant that has a “Dessert Room”. A massive array of hand crafted desserts stretch across a chilled countertop. We made our choices and enjoyed the treats under a starry sky.

Saturday we checked out and made our way north to Tampa Bay. Simi’s long time friend lives near there. Cruising up we had to cross The Sunshine Skyway Bridge. At over 5 miles long, and the center section rising over 200 feet above the water. Our rental car struggled to make
the climb up and over the rise. It was hilariously painful. We made it to our friend’s house, located on Treasure Island right in Tampa. A super nice place overlooking water, and a roof top deck for watching another sun set over the Gulf. Dinner with the friends, and returned to
watch a movie.

Sunday we all slept in, and then made our ways to some of the tourist trap shops. There were some nice things hidden in the spring break apparel and trinkets. Sunday we said our goodbyes and cruised back on Interstate 4 through Orlando to check into our free hotel. We weren’t
actually staying there that night, but wanted to check in to ensure we didn’t loose the free bits of the trip. We then headed to Port Orange, a suburb of Daytona Beach. Simi’s aunt has a super nice place, and she happily showed us around the area and had a home cooked meal. Spring
storms provided a great light show and heavy rains, which made for great relaxing on the screen porch, and even better sleeping weather. We enjoyed making breakfast, and hanging out, leaving around noon to head back to Orlando. We returned to the hotel and explored some of
the Orlando area.

Monday we had our free passes to Universal Studios. We chose to first visit the “Islands of Adventure”, going on several of the rides. The lines for the rides were non existent. We spent time walking down the endless turn styles with not a soul in sight, so happy not to have to be punished by the sun. Each ride had a wait time of "how quickly can you get to the ride" and you're on!

Monday night we met up with friends in downtown Orlando. I’ve known them for years but never actually met them. They also autocross, and have a white Subaru, so we share a lot in common. Dinner with food for 10 for us 4 was great, finished by just hanging out in the posh condo overlooking downtown. We left around midnight for some much needed slumber.

Tuesday, we made a return to Universal Studios for their other park. It’s really just one big park, but some marketing guy split them in half causing a larger profit margin. More rides, more non existent lines, and more enjoying the area. A great dinner Tuesday night and packed up and got ready to call it an end of a great trip.

Wednesday morning we strolled some outlet malls picking up some last minute gifts and made our way to the airport. The longest lines were at the airport! Happy to live in Columbus, because Orlando’s airport was a zoo! We boarded the plane at 4:25pm, and were happily back home at
6:30pm. Simi’s sister took us home, and we went from home out to go see some friends for dinner. We slept well last night! Two days to recover and get back to work, and then a weekend to upload pictures and do laundry.

Thanks for reading.

- -

He did a good recap.. as you can see theres little need for me to do one also!

Off to Vacation!

2010-04-21T11:45:00.000-04:00

Don't miss me too much.. I'll think of you from Sunny Florida!!!

Getting ahead of ourselves...

2010-04-18T17:34:00.005-04:00

Sometimes it's so easy to get ahead of ourselves.

With lives as busy as they are... you have to plan pretty far in advance to get in everything you think is important and many times that even means choosing one thing over another based on the "priority" at the moment.

One thing I've ALWAYS been bad about is letting my friendships be the first things that slide; not because they aren't important but for some reason I take my friends for granted and know that they will be there no matter what. It's not really a fair thing to do... It's not like anyone else has anything less on their plate; with side business's, personal life events, etc etc they make time and make it happen... so I can do the same!

Recently I spent a ton of time hanging out with a particular friend and felt honored to get to spend as much time with her as I got to... after seeing each other a bunch in a few days in a row and knowing we'd not see each other as often for a few days at least she said something to me that really surprised me... she said "don't be a stranger"

It really bothered me, I certainly didn't MEAN to be a stranger and I didn't WANT to be a stranger but sometimes I know I AM a stranger.

It's something I need to do better at, but when push comes to shove and I'm over scheduled I don't know how to make sure I'm not a stranger and that I'm giving my friends enough time to keep our relationships strong.

Even just these past two weeks I felt a little disconnected from everyone, first it was work travel then it was the sick hubster, then this upcoming week I'll be gone to vacation in Florida so that puts me almost a month of "away" time. A lot happens in a month. When we're over scheduled from the get go with work, racing, family stuff.. it's hard to make sure the balance is also held from the friends perspective.

Lucky for me I have a really solid group of friends that understand and are willing to take the back burner so a certain extent; but I know going forward I want to move them closer to the primary burner as well... they are a GREAT support system, they always make me laugh and always amaze me with their simple awesomeness.

Now as I start my new job, which will put me put me physically in location away from many of my friends inside and outside of work I worry about how the lack of face to face time will affect my ability to keep in touch.

Just in the past few days I've had so many great reminders from various friends how awesome they are, just a few examples. . . cheering me up when I was at the hospital with Aaron and making me laugh when I really felt like bawling my eyes out, remembering my "engagement anniversary,"getting me out of a bind when I was stuck & even going out of their way to do so... I feel so honored that people care that much for me. I can only hope I make sure they know that they mean just as much to me.

Note to Self: Don't get your husband sick again.

2010-04-17T08:08:00.002-04:00

Poor Aaron has been paying the price for my lil cold that I had about 2 weeks ago that morphed into bronchitis for him; and hasn't allowed him to eat or sleep and has helped him to genrally feel like SHIT for 2 weeks.

Feeling like shit for a day is bad, 2 days is terrible... 2 WEEKS; generally unspeakable.

I'm intrigued by how differently our body's and our minds deal with things.
When I'm sick I have a general I'll kick it soon enough feeling.
When Aaron's sick he has a if I don't kick this NOW I'm going to die feeling.

I'd say it's a guy/ girl thing.. but I know that's not true.
I'd say it's how our parents dealt with illness when we had it as kids and I think there's probably some more truth there but it's still not all of it.. that's the mental side of it

the body side is just how much our body can handle. and again there are different factors there that play into it. Either way. . .

I'm just glad to getting closer to having my husband back!

He ate and held down food! Steps to progress.. .and none too soon since we're supposed to take our trip to FL next week! We plan to NOT anything while we're down there.. we're going to veg on the beach; catch up with some friends and RELAX!!! :)

Quick Hits of Random Brain Activity

2010-04-12T22:44:00.002-04:00

1. I am LOVING my new job!
2. We get to go to vacation soon ( 9 days!!!) I can't wait, we're going to spend a week in Florida; I think we both really need the time away.
3. My husband is super sick... and i'm sad that I can't make him feel better... somehow whatever i had has transformed/mutated into worse for him :(
4. The weather outside was total perfection.
5. The Des Moines trip last week was fun, even though it was DES moines :p
6. I miss my friends, I feel like i've been MIA with the combination of new job and racing starting I haven't had any time to focus on them.
7. My mom came down to Cbus this weekend and I was really glad for that!!! I hadn't seen her in a while and I knew we wouldn't have time to head up anytime soon.
8. My DVR queue is SO FULL, i haven't had ANY time to catch up on TV... same with my pile from the library of books... totally behind on that as well.
9. The to-do list is QUITE long, I shall attack it this week.
10. I have been to the gro store a BUNCH this past week.. and every time i forget something I needed... i HATE it.
11. Re #9 & 10.. my lists get so long it's almost like i need to organize them.
12. I need to get someone in to clean the house; I'm over doing it myself.
13. I can't wait for lunch tomorrow with some friends + a Thursday dinner/chick flick "date" with a buddy + a Saturday outting with some friends!!!
14. on 4/18 it will have been Three years since my hubster proposed to me... I call it "digital caliper day"
15. I want my husband to feel better STAT :( I can't stand the feeling of helplessness of not being able to make him feel better.
16. I haven't been to the gym in like 2 weeks due to the combo of being sick & traveling for work; I need to go tomorrow post work!
17. I totally enjoyed the drivers school I went to in Cinci this past Saturday. It exhausted me but I learned SO much and I can't WAIT to apply some of it!

Being Sick... Sucks.

2010-04-04T13:43:00.002-04:00

Making your husband sicker then you were.. sucks even WORSE!

Hoping he feels better soon but right now he's really super down and out.

I feel so guilt for having made him so sick!

We've been mucinex'ing and nyquil'ing and chloroseptic'ing like no other, really need to nip it in the bud soon since i have to travel next week for work :(

On top of it all, it's way too freaking nice out to be sick, SO NOT FAIR!

Wrapping it Up...

2010-03-27T14:33:00.003-04:00

I am a scarf whore, I've decided it's time to accept it. . . I have like 5 that I super love right now. And I am loving having one wrapped around my neck at all times. I've always liked scarves but never really known how to wear them cutely... but then my sister showed me a method where I loop it and it hangs just right.

I started out last year getting 2 of those "pashmina" winter ones, that I super loved; then I found some lighter weight ones that I really liked including a hot pink one!!! Then as the winter wound down I bought a few others that were on super sale at lands end which I also bought to add to the collection.

It's to the point that my neck feels naked without them, and I'm always keeping an eye out for other cute colors or prints!!!

They are more fun then jewelry to me and for sure easier to keep track of and not loose and of course if I buy at the right time cheaper too!

Now I also have to work on convincing Aaron that the scarves aren't just a winter thing... but he's not so much an opinion I'm going to take to heart when it comes to fashion... the other day I had on a Land's end khaki jacket that I thought was super cute (with a colorful scarf ;) ) and he said I looked like i was wearing Military gear :p lol.

Need to bawl my eyes out...

2010-03-25T23:02:00.001-04:00

seriously.
On March 31st the Last Song comes out... it's based on the Nicholas Sparks book which during the whole time i read i LOVED.

The last NS movie i saw I also bawled my eyes out... it was "Dear John"

in both stories there is a kid/dad dynamic and in both it's somewhat estranged/challenging and I think that is why they both reall hit home to me and that i LOVED both. I can totally relate minus that I didn't get to see my relationship with my dad come full circle because we ran outta time...

anywayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. . . if anyone wants to BAWL their eyes out with me at the movies on 3/31 post work.. lemme know! :)

Work excitement overload?

2010-03-24T01:58:00.002-04:00

This weekend I got my self to a place from the work perspective that I felt was good and productive enough; with clear direction on what else I needed to do to get dug into the new role.

Monday was super busy at work, meeting after meeting, so I didn't actually get anywhere, Tuesday was amazingly productive and offered me even more insight into how I will begin to operate in the new job.

Now it's 1:30 am, and somehow I woke up with all these ideas of things that I need to keep in mind and implement and get done and its a very very very great feeling to have a vision / direction and on top of it to know that I can actually influence and do something about it!

The only other thing I can think is, it would be nice to not be awake right now, since Wednesday is another super busy day... but I guess there are still some things I can't influence!

I'm just going to use the phone's notepad to jot down these awesome ideas while I can remember them... and hope they make sense again tomorrow when I reread them!

Productivity, laziness, friends, shopping, basketball, work and an awesome husband.

2010-03-21T22:58:00.006-04:00

With a title like that I hope I don't set up super high expectations of this post...
it's basically just all the random thoughts in my brain from the weekend.

1. It was a productive but not really weekend...

2. I got some much needed relax time in

3. Race meetings are finally done.. bring on the race SEASON!

4. Race car is 90% ready to go, Aaron spent a bunch of time getting it ready; I'm really spoiled by not having to help out too much from that perspective... i used to love helping.. but it seems like if push comes to shove I spend time doing other things, and I get to just "show up and drive" like a driver for hire... but I'm not the fast one of the two of us; so I really do get the better end of the deal!

5. I did a CRAP TON of shopping online this weekend; new work shoes, new pants, new heart rate monitor (I REALLY need this to help me to track myself), some cute tee shirts, a new work bag . . . i think some other stuff.. but I can't think of it. We'd been on a self imposed spending slump, i think more from my end because I had been waiting on this job and it was a test to myself to see if I could do it, and then this weekend I totally went a blew that WHOLE budget! I also made sure to buy Aaron 2 new pairs of pants, and a new pair of shoes, and some polo shirts!!! It wasn't ALL just about me ;)

6. I had so much fun hanging out with friends this weekend, I got to on Friday AND Saturday night! I really enjoy the time I spend with this particular group of women who are so fun, and so vastly different and so genuinely awesome. I enjoy hanging out with a group who can be mature but still knows how to have fun! I'm totally jealous of how much history they have together, but I'm also super appreciative of the fact that they have welcomed me into their group of friends this past year. They always make my day.

7. The house in kind of in order, and that helps make me less stressed; I'm always amazed at how much day to day up keep a home requires and it really makes me admire my mom in terms of how much she does and has done. I know my dad wasn't one to really help out with chores and us kids gave her a huge hard time when she asked for help so she kind of stopped by the time we were teenagers. I can't imagine doing all the work required without the ability to nag the hubster into helping me and such!

8. I spent a ton of time organizing the work I have to do in the upcoming weeks and feel less stressed about it all compared to how I felt at the beginning of the weekend.

9. YAY BUCKEYES!! I have 10/16 right in the sweet sixteen.. but that is STILL enough for putting me in first place in the bracket group I filled out a bracket with!

10. Today we went to the west side to check out the sears outlet (EEK AT how CHEAP the Land's End stuff is, so bad for me to know). We just window shopped and then because it was nice out Aaron drove us around some of the development his company has done that he has had a strong hand in designing and I was totaly amazed at how cool it is to see his creativity in action via his job. His skills totally amaze me and I sometimes wish my job had something tangible and not just a service that it offered to show how cool I am :p It's really exciting to think that he can take someones idea of what they want in a home and put it into reality on a blue print and then from there it turns into something tangible. That and I find the houses his company does to be amazing in general and I'm sure we will buy another one of their homes if/when we need more room ;)

10. Monday is looming... at least the weather is bearable and edging into warmth!
Hope everyone has a GREAT week... thanks for reading my ramblings!

Dropping off the Internet... and my 1/2 birthday :p

2010-03-17T21:20:00.003-04:00

I feel like I have dropped of the web of late; I really haven't been posting be it on forums or blogs. I barely even update facebook :p and I certainly have no time to actually catch up on blogs or facebook :(

It sucks from the feeling of being disconnected (I recently went to lunch with a few ladies and I felt like I spent half the time catching up on what had been going on instead of what was going to be happening); but I am really enjoying being fully challenged by my work.

Right now is prime in the middle time; I'm trying to wrap up old responsibilities and start picking up new ones with the new job. It's intense; scary; fun and exciting all at the same time. :)

I'm totally dropping the ball on home stuff; but lucky for me Aaron is totally covering for me... and I majorly owe him once I get back on even footing! I'm feeling pretty lucky to have the flexibility to not worry about stuff from the home end.

On a total random note... this is the 317th post.. and today is 3/17 ;)
AND that's my half birthday!!! lol...
I'm a little obessed with the number 17 (I was born on a 17, Septembers to be exact)... so I always enjoy finding coincidences when it comes to 17 and life.

Hospital Visit

2010-03-12T14:47:00.002-05:00

The last two years I have spent more time that I would ever wish for in hospitals and they haven't ended well.

Yesterday I got the opportunity to visit a friend in the hospital for a quick minute and it was really refreshing. She's in the hospital because she's having some complications with her pregnancy and obviously it's very scary but she's hanging in there and being a super trooper and it's more of a precautionary perspective for mom and the baby that they are finishing up the baking process on the baby!

I'm looking forward to meeting the new baby and seeing both mom and baby come home from the hospital.

I was a bit afraid or nervous or apprehensive about going to the hospital; just because of all the memories involved. But after I left the hospital and seeing that mom was hanging in and doing well I really felt like I was so glad I had been to visit, and it was a big thing for me to get over; hospitals don't always end badly.. and they aren't a bad place all the time.

AGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-11T09:17:00.002-05:00

Finally heard back!
And I got the job!!!!

I'm so freaking pumped and excited and overjoyed and all the other happy words one can think of :)

Thanks for everyone who has been crossing fingers and toes for me the past few weeks.

I first started applying for jobs in July of 2009, and FINALLY in MARCH the thirs job I interviewed for has come through!!! I guess the first 2 were for practice because I really rocked this third one.

I don't think I will be very productive today... I am spazzing and this time spazzing in a good way.. not like the past where I would be spazzing in a stressed out negative way.

The next moment after happiness is freaking out.. like OH MY what am I getting myself into :) But I can't wait to learn new stuff and really try to make a difference.

This will be my first formal oppurtunity to lead and manage people and that scares and excites me all at the same time :)

Ok i'm much to hyper to be blogging right now!!!

more later.

An amazing and much needed weekend.

2010-03-07T20:22:00.002-05:00

So I have a really long to do list but I didn't do a single thing on it for the most part :(

Friday night went out to a really nice dinner @ Jason's in Worthington.. super super yum and fun!

Saturday we drove up to my mom's ... Aaron and I went to a food expo with my mom; it was fun, we tried a bunch of different stuff and just enjoyed hanging out together.

After that we headed to a furniture store; my mom's had an empty family room for over two years now.. she donated the furniture to my aunt and uncle who had just gotten a new apartment in May of 2008...

she and my dad just didn't really find anything and weren't in a major rush to buy anything...
then December 2008 came around.. and our life all got up heave'd and furniture was the last thing on any one's mind...
then 2009 was a year of figuring out how to survive in general and monitoring my grandfather's continuing deteriorating condition ...

this was the first time we'd been home since the holidays and i'd kind of put it off just from knowing it would be a little weird without my grandfather being around anymore...

but somehow.. spending that time together and talking about my dad and my grandfather with my mom and .. even the process of showing "progress" by buying furniture for the room was very therapeutic.

I really enjoyed spending the day with my mom and Aaron together also.

The evening we hung out with family and just chilled; today we went to Aaron's parents. .chilled with them, and just relaxed...

now.. finally HOME! and not QUITE ready for Monday.. but we'll figure out a way to be, since we don't really have a choice.

Even though I'm stressed about the job situation and really want it to work out, I'm feeling overall very at peace and feel like there's not a lot of unresolved stress in my life right now; I'm so thankful for that.

Maybe i'll have an update in two weeks.

2010-03-07T20:13:00.002-05:00

Let me begin to say . . .
I am NOT a patient person :(

Secondly I was told Thursday I'd hear back about the results of the interview on Friday .. so Friday I wait and wait and wait... :) did i mention I'm not patient?

:)

I got a call at 238 on Friday afternoon... really? :p

I got advised that she wanted to extend me an offer but currently can't because apparently at some point in the week our organization put a "soft" moratorium on extending offers to anyone because of some org changes they are in the middle of figuring out.. the hiring manager apparently didn't get communicated about this ... and so proceeded until she told her boss that she was about ready to extend the offer to me and he said WAITTTT...

so i'm her pick
but . . . we have to wait out all the mess of these org changes and hope she's still allowed to hire and still wants me.

so... no job offer extended = super sad simi
but i'm hopeful
and ...
thats all i really have right now

slightly bummed.
maintaining hope.

Tires Ordered!

2010-03-05T13:01:00.002-05:00

Racing season is coming upon us!!
We ordered our race tires for the 2010 season a few days ago and they have arrived also!

This means Aaron will need to start working on getting the car prepped and we'll finally get back behind the wheel for some funs! :)

I'm really looking forward to the season; I'm going to be participating in a Drivers School for somewhat expereinced drivers, not just new ones... and I hope it will help me to develop a few more skills to get just a little closer to Aaron in terms of time and being less "afraid" of really pushing the car.

We aren't planning on going to quite as many events as we did in 2009; but we still want to hit as many as possible.

The warmth and sunshine are really helping to make me thing.. spring is coming and that is an exciting prospect!

2 Week Wait...

2010-03-04T13:19:00.001-05:00

Usually I think that refers to conception of a baby (maybe? I'm not 100% sure) ... but for me it had to do with a when I would get an interview for a job I applied for... last Tuesday I heard that I had an interview for Friday...

so I thought that meant I got to deal with the two week wait again about hearing about when the NEXT interview would be....

low and behold . . . i heard YESTERDAY about interview 2! and I had it today!!! And apparently I will hear tomorrow about it's results :) Yay!

I am not a good waiter, and I've been in a major excited / nervous state since I applied for the job (which i heard would be opening before it was open :p ) and so.. soon enough that unknown state will be settled by the end of the day tomorrow!

I am very hopeful that this will turn out well, but I'm NOT trying to ahead of myself!

keep your fingers crossed for me please!!

Hi Papa...

2010-03-01T21:34:00.003-05:00

Last week I had some random thoughts... related to happiness and I had a VERY happy week last week, it was high energy, high productivity and just good... during this time.. i would find my self REALLY REALLY REALLY missing my dad... to the point where I found my self on the verge of tears and actually sometimes bawling my eyes out in just plain missing him or having the desire to talk to him and share my happiness.

I guess it's because growing up I didn't have a very open relationship with my parents, especially not when it came to bad stuff, but if it was good stuff *that was going well* I would always always always share. Thinking back on it it was probably because I knew my parents life wasn't easy, trying to bring us up, in a different culture, trying to make ends meet and giving us the best they could.. so I didn't ever want to stress them out.... so I'd skip sharing the bad stuff with them.. started out with hiding it from them but eventually getting caught, to as I got older just plain hiding it and finding way around without getting caught.... it got to the point where as a young adult there were probably some sticky / challenging situations I got myself into in my early twenties that they probably should have known about but I didn't really know how to tell them.. so I made my way through... not big huge stuff.. but just challenges.

but when it came to happy stuff, stuff that was going well, or good news that I could share I always always always called my dad to share, in excitement and to be able to give him a reason to smile ...

this past week was somehow really just amazing to me, everything was going my way.. and every day I just wanted to pick up the phone ... and say "hi Papa" and share with him

due to this I missed him so incredibly much.

I know he's in a place where I'm sure he can feel my happiness and can be aware of the things I want to share with him.. but really sometimes the ability to pick up the phone would just make it so much easier. . . but life isn't mean to be easy, right?

Oh Poor Neglected Blog.. I've come back to you

2010-03-01T21:28:00.002-05:00

:)

I have been so all over the place lately that I haven't really had time enough for sitting down and perusing the Internet in depth; hence the blog posting slippage.

I haven't been very active on the message boards I participate on either... I have tried to keep up via facebook.. oh yeah way to be deep ... hehe

Between the gym, volleyball, being on the board for the race club, being the editor for the race club publication, work and being a wife, sister, daughter and friend... i haven't much time for anything else... *oops*

I am not quite sure what happened to February, it was a pretty good month, I got to spend alot of time being busy and challenged.

I went on an interview near the end of the month that I am incredibly hopeful for and very passionate about the job that the interview is for. The interview got scheduled on Tuesday and was held on Friday! I should hear within the next two weeks if I make it to the next round!

In the mean time I plan to write a bunch of blog posts because I am SO BEHIND!!!

Happy March Everyone!

Random Thoughts from 2/24/2010

2010-02-24T15:48:00.001-05:00

I am finding the snow to be beautiful; and I can't find it within myself to complain about it.

I look cute today! Busted out a skirt! Look out.

This week has flown

I have been in a great mood all week

I would love a 500 dollar lands end shop spree

I can't wait for sat night

Saw bunco girls last night; randomly at Winking lizard (Wendy & Kate) . . . bummed I can't go to Bunco...

Volley ball tonight! Hope we can WIN!

Hyper!!!

Gym has been a ton of fun... weird to say that out loud!

Soooo much to do... love it all :)

Miss my dad more when I'm happy then when I am sad.

posting slump...

2010-02-21T13:41:00.003-05:00

I haven't had much to say of late via the blog
It's not because there hasn't been much going on I think it's because there has been too much going on, and I just haven't had enough time to sit and think long enough to get a full thought typed out and posted.

I very often have singular thoughts I'd love to blog about that are themes I could expand upon, but usually when I have the "aha" moment I can't stop whatever I am doing to just start typing while the thought is clear and fresh in my mind.

Snow - ma - gedon

2010-02-07T21:21:00.001-05:00

Well all last week we were hearing how by the end of the week we were going to get SLAMMED with snow! I didn't fully buy it but by Friday at noon the "fun" started and now we have a winter wonderland that has turned icy and crunchy.

I totally could have taken advantage of the weekend since didn't have much planned to get a lot of stuff done but instead I did the complete opposite... oops!

It was kind of nice to be a lazy bum... and I'd suggest it to anyone. :)

Since then we had some more snow hit us on the weekdays and I was honestly surprised that I'd rather have the snow come on the weekend rather then the weekday.. the weekdays make such a mess of the drive to work and such that it's just more stress/annoyance and waste of time then it's worth!

I don't even have an issue with driving in it, we have good tires on the cars, and they do a good job in the snow.. it's the people who DON"T have good tires or the common ability to drive that make a mess of it all.

Just this morning driving to work I was on a major highway that was clean and clear (a little wet at most) and people were in the fast lanes going 40 MPH.. REALLY?!?! that to me is more hazardous then any snow.

Ah well.. i enjoyed the days I got to sit at home and watch the pretty pretty snow fall, and I made it to work the days i wasn't able to do that.. and no matter what even this weather will come to an end soon enough . . . :) In the mean time we'll continue to take full advantage of the nights when everyone else is hunkered down at home afraid to drive and go out for dinner and enjoy some snow driving!

I'm Amazed at the smallness of the world...

2010-02-01T16:01:00.002-05:00

This weekend the hubster and I were enjoying the first road race of the season, the 24 hours of Daytona which is part of a series that we enjoy, it travels all over the country and we always catch them when the come to Mid Ohio...

anyway... we're watching this race and they are doing driver profiles and they say a name that is pretty distinctive... i knew the name from somewhere and couldn't think of where... so I did a search on my gmail to see if the name came up.. lo and behold it did!

The name ended up being a connection of my dad's at Subway .. I had met him right after my dad passed away in 2008. This was at a time we were trying to decide options with the stores and such...

It seems amazing to me that a little over a year later I find out this super random connection.
It kind of made me sad to make the connection between their racing after having lost my dad and not being able to make the connection for my dad.

I never really got my dad to understand our passion for the sport and he always found it to be somewhat of a reckless sport. In August of 2008 he came to one of our events for the first time and watched us compete, at least he understood it, though I'm not sure he fully approved or understood why we were so crazy about it.

Such a small world.. i did shoot the guy a note congratulating him on their race participation this weekend and just sharing enthusiasm in general... wonder if I'll hear back some day :)

one month down... 11 to go!

2010-01-30T17:47:00.002-05:00

I am amazed that we're already (almost) done with the first month of 2010! It flew by, we got a TON done at work and at home (of course that doesn't mean there's any less to do going forward)... and we (if we manage to do the same for the next 24 hours) didn't venture outside of the central Ohio area! Which is a pretty big deal for us since usually along with the craziness of our work and social lives we've always made sure to make a trip up to Canfield also.

I don't mind going to Canfield, but I also don't mind staying at our own house and actually taking time to get the things we need to get done out of the way.

Our taxes are all filed (Federal, state and city)... we owed state, but got money back from the other two!

We're in the middle of a refinance project which hopefully will be completed before the next month ends!

We have spent a number of weekend days at home just veggin and not even having left the house! Liked that for sure considering winter is our time for hibernation!

It's been pretty crazy at work but I've enjoyed that since I like the challenge and being busy makes the days go by much faster then being bored does!

I get the impression that I tend to take on too much, just based on a reaction I got from a post I made on a local message board. This isn't anything different then usual for me.. I really enjoy the things I take on and I don't typically taken on more then I can handle... so though some people felt the "go-go-go vortex of Simi (Aaron's word's)" is a bit much.. I really do believe I know whats best for me :) Now to just find a way to ensure my husband can keep up, usually he catches up when I take some down time! :D

February will certainly fly by as it's a short month! I'll be doing my best to keep up with the morning workouts because they are really working for me, and we start playing indoor volleyball again!! SO EXCITED for that! We're adding a new member to our team, so we'll have to do some meshing again but.. volleyball is just so much FUN!

All you can do is try!

2010-01-24T19:14:00.003-05:00

Today we got up and out of bed and headed to the gym, arrived at 915
the only bad part of the story... the gym didn't open till 10am.
DOH!

So we headed home and played tennis on the wii till 10am hehe.

I'm NOT a video game kind of girl, I've never owned a console before, and I've utilized Aaron's playstation 2 to be a dvd player more then anything else in the past. So the wii is something I've taken some time to warm up to.

My husband on the other hand, is a video gamer, not the shoot-em up kind but the racing kind! So he looks up all the "tricks" and ways to make things happen different to know the built in ways to "cheat" the game. Of course he doesn't think it's cheating, but I feel like if you look it up and then apply it against me it IS cheating! Especially in tennis (for some reason I really take this game seriously). So today when we were playing and he took a break to look up something on the web while I played the computer and then he came back and kicked my ass you had better believe I was annoyed...

well that and I'm really a SORE loser... :)

at least I admit it!

Haiti & Other Nations Disasters...

2010-01-22T23:50:00.003-05:00

is it weird of me to think that .. i think it's our job & our governments job to help those in need period.. b/c something like this could happen to us too and we'd want help ... and i don't care if it's an american citizen or not it comes down to being a human? and basic human kindness?

maybe that just too idealistic of me.

4 day work weeks...

2010-01-21T11:11:00.002-05:00

I don't really think I got any "benefit" out of having a Holiday this week thanks to it being at the beginning of the year when everyone is so focused on delivery! One of my coworkers made the comment, that we'd still get 5 days worth of work done, we'd just do it in 4 days instead of 5 this week. At first I thought "she's so crazy" but then last Friday the upcoming week's immensity piled itself upon me and I realized it was seriously going to end up being that way.

And though I really like my personal time to be just that I also partly don't mind work taking it over a little because it means I have enough to do, and am being challenged and that to me is engaging and motivating (yes I am crazy!).

I haven't had time to hang with the hubster much, which makes me sad but I think if all goes smoothly this week, I shall be able to this weekend, and I haven't done many chores around the house, but those are things that get done when they NEED to anyway.. so again not a big deal... I feel like work and life have a tendency to balance themselves out (it's only when they don't that there is a REAL problem!)... if I didn't know that January was always crazy as all get out I would be a little annoyed that the year was starting out so rough, but I believe it'll all be ok ... and I'll get back to being able to surf the web at intervals and get a blog post in here or there as things start to settle down and we get into a rhythm for the year!

Till then i may be a lil MIA :)

300

2010-01-17T22:51:00.002-05:00

This is the 300th entry in my blog.
I started the blog officially in October of 2007, right after we'd gotten married, and I thought I'd chronicle the first year of our marriage and go from there, good thought though it didn't happen so much in practice.

As did many other things after our marriage, it got shoved aside to be done on a rainy day, and I didn't get back to them, things like selling all the extra decorations we had from the wedding, making a scrapbook from the wedding, making a nice album with engagement pictures and then wedding pictures (this is about 50% done). Life took over and those things got pushed aside.

No complaints since our first year of marriage was an awesome one! I finally got into the "habit" of blogging when a little under 8 months after we got married we left on our 32 day honeymoon trip and we made a blog to be able to capture the story of our trip and be able to remember it for always ( http://aaronandsimis2008trip.blogspot.com/ ) and share it with our friends and family while we were away. That worked out pretty well, and since then I have been pretty regular in my blogging... at least regular enough that now in 2010 I am finally reaching the 300th entry mark!

I have good days and bad days, and I usually end up blogging in bursts where I have a day when several ideas are in my brain and I actually take the time to write them out (like today!).

So thanks for reading thus far.. and hope I can entertain you here and there to make it worth your while to stick around! I'd love to know who is still "out there" reading away! I feel like i read somewhere recently that it was de-lurker week... so leave a comment, especially if you usually don’t.

:)

The Hubster is Pretty Damn Amazing!

2010-01-17T22:21:00.004-05:00

So earlier last week I found out that I had to deliver the auto-x awards for the 2009 season at our banquet because the person who is responsible for the had to be out of town for work.

I had 5 special awards to present (i didn't pick any of them myself; just present them), one of which was Driver of the Year, which ended up going to Aaron! The Solo Driver of the Year is an award that has been around in our region since 1968 and always goes to someone who has done a great job locally in the region and also has gone outside of the region and done well, and is someone who helps out other people and the club.

The hardest part for me was to NOT tell Aaron for the whole week, he was slightly suspicious because he said i was way hyper/excited about giving out the awards, but he didn't think he'd won that big of an award by any means!

This year was a year we coined as "the year of auto-x" we definitely went to a TON of events, we spent 17 different weekends over the course of the summer (some of those were 2 day events) we auto-x'd in (places that I can remember) Peru Indiana, Indianapolis Indiana, Toledo, Cleveland, Cinci, Nebraska, Columbus!

I got to say a lil speech before I intro'd Aaron:

The 2009 OVR driver of the year A co competitor in my class, which was an incredibly close one this year, Participated in a staggering number of events this year, traveled to many neighboring regions to give the local hot shoes a run for their money, had his car breakdown at an event in surrender, participated in a national tour, pro solo, great lakes solo series season champion, won a trip to Florida after having the fastest pax time in the Ohio challenge, as well as making his first trip to nationals and making a very respectable showing in an incredibly competitive class. He also goes out of his way to help where he can, and draw in new members, he’s taught at many drivers schools and had many of his students also succeed, he is always willing to share information and tips on how to become a better driver. I'm honored to give this award to the person who introduced me to this sport, who has coached and mentored me along the way, and who has trusted me to be his co driver, my husband Aaron Ritch.

It was a ton of fun, and I can't think of anyone more deserving!

We haven't figured out what the theme for next summer will be yet.. but.. I'm glad the summer of auto-x ended so fruitfully for him! :)

Morning Workouts

2010-01-17T18:12:00.002-05:00

Last week 3/5 mornings I headed to the gym! It felt great once I got there, and after the workout, I felt like eating a SHIT ton and did a decent job of eating good stuff like almonds, and yogurt and oatmeal and stuff of that nature... but around 2:00ish I would really feel like I was crashing and I NEEDED to sleep. I'm not sure if this is something I will get over as the days go on and I get more into the rhythm of it, I am certainly hoping so!

We also bought veggies which tonight I packed into individual sized baggies so I can just grab and go and munch on them when I do get hungry.

I'm been drinking about a liter and a half of water as well which is much more then normal. I think I drank 2 sodas all week, which is much less then on a normal week which would have been appx 1 a day.

We'll see how it goes as I continue down this path! :)

Tomorrow starts another round of morning workouts!

Wowsa...

2010-01-17T14:56:00.004-05:00

I've been OVERWHELMED this past week, work has been super busy as well as life on the home front.. but in a very fun way. I've been trying to schedule more fun (i know that sounds like an oxy moron) but if I don't schedule it, it just doesn't happen :p I've been able to get together with some friends over lunchs and during other times off, I got to have really fun catch up time with people who I have missed, and I'm continuing to do it more as I move forward, sure it means I get less done during the work day but it totally gives me more to look forward to during the work day!

Work has been super busy which has also been very engaging also, I'm still sure I want a new job, but since I haven't been bored at work I at least feel more useful; I'm supposed to find out if I get a second interview for a job that I applied for before the holidays and had the first interview for on Jan 4th :) Wish me LUCK!

I'm also hoping everything I need have done for the upcoming week goes smoothly, I've tried to put in a new system to be organized for myself; we'll have to see how that goes!

I've been trying (not formally) just in the back of my mind, to try to be good and save money.. or at the very least spend less, it's not so easy when little stuff comes up that is needed / wanted and it's hard to know where to draw the line or "stop" the purchase especially when there are discounts or huge sales that make it worth the purchase, damn retailers!!! I have put stuff in my cart on line at a store, and then just walked away from it because I know it's the right thing to do. But it's totally NOT any fun! Now I'm trying to make a list of something I think we need or want and wait appx a week for it to have been on the list before we actually reconsider buying it or not.

Since we're on the topic of spending and saving :p I have to admit we totally went the opposite way this weekend from that strategy. 2 things came up, one I wanted a new dress to wear to our Racing banquet which was on Saturday; I totally got a cute dress (from lands end) for a decent price that I hope to re wear maybe even to work :) the second was we had 200 dollars worth of sears gift cards and we've been talking about getting a Wii, and basically those gift cards were burning a hole in my pocket; so we but the bullet and bought it; we also bought Wii Play so that we could get the benefit of a second controller; and I can see it spinning out of control in terms of other games or items to add with the unit. The whole idea that the console is 200 bucks is only really the tip of the iceberg in terms of how costly the thing can become. I'm going to try and avoid spending any more money on the unit, unless we use gift cards so that it doesn't spiral out of control! Who knows if it will work :p

Ok this is long enough for now.. :) I'm amazed that my brain focused long enough to type this much!

Trying something new...

2010-01-11T14:55:00.002-05:00

Aaron had a genius idea on Friday, we were talking about working out and how I'd been a little slacker at the end of last week due to the normal work day usually leaving me mentally exhausted and thus by default mentally exhausted too, I just HATE the idea of working out after work, I also hate the idea of showering in gym showers.. so really I'm stacking the odds against me huh?

Well the plan we came up with was to get up in the morning and head to the gym first thing in the morning rather then after work, and since we're literally a mile from the gym just head home and get ready after the work out.

Obviously this is going to be challenging but we're going to do it together to see how it goes... or so I thought :p lol.

We got up and went on Saturday morning, and Aaron was pretty miserable afterwards, to the point where he said he's fine with going after work :p So now I'm on my own! I went in this morning before work, and it really wasn't so bad.. the only bad thing is I spent most of the day hungry even though i snacked on many many (mostly healthy) things :p

It worked out ok today since I worked from home, but if I was at work I don't know what I would have munched on, I'm sure something BAD. I'll need to work further on coming up with somethings I can carry around with me, especially since I go from one spot to another during the course of the work week!

We'll see how it goes :) I do feel like I like it so far, you guys will have to help keep me honest.

LockDown!

2010-01-05T12:03:00.004-05:00

So not sure if many noticed (but I did get a comment or two about it :p
I had to lockdown the blog due to a security breach ;) nothing serious.

I think I'm ready to open it back up and unlock it, sorry for those that missed the blog.. hope your able to get your fill again :)

Bring on 2010.

2010-01-01T19:39:00.003-05:00

I have no hesitation saying I'm quite glad 2009 is done, it wasn't a year I'll look back on with too much goodness, sure there were happy moments and good times shared with friends and family but it was also the year I had to learn how to live without my dad, and also the year I lost my grandfather who I guess didn't learn how to live without my dad and ended up giving up.

The year didn't really end up the way I would have wanted to, I ended up leaving Canfield not on good terms with my sister and so it's been looming over my head (in my mind) since then, I know (from the point of view I saw) that she wasn't right in the things that she did, but I don't know how to show her that or change her view of the way she acts to show her how others see it.

I don't know where that will lead, otherwise I want this year to be about being tolerant and understanding, I'm not really either so I plan to work on those two traits.

I also feel like I need to let my family function on it's own a little, when I say my family of the immediate family it's just my mom and my sister, but some of it extends to my mom's brother and mom's sister and their family. Though it's nice to be able to be the one everyone counts on to get things done, or to get advice from, or to organize events etc etc etc... it gets tiring and is a fairly thankless job, though it's nothing difficult it's still something I feel like I can loosen the strings on some, and let them figure things out for themselves.

I need to focus on myself, I was doing really well the first half of last year, but then the race season started, volleyball started, "party season" started, our vacation happened and then December was a wash in general... and so I have tons of excuses and only bad results to show for them. I am desperately in need of developing some discipline for my self to make myself better for me!

I also hope this year will bring a new job, and new challenges from a work perspective so that I'll be a little bit more excited about it and not dread it all the time.

We'll still focus on racing, but we won't travel quite as much as we did last year to race. For this year I have a few trips in mind, we have our free trip to Florida in March or April, I would like to take Aaron to DC during Cherry Blossom time, he's never been to DC and I think it's an awesome place, I haven't been in about 6-7 years either, in June we are probably going to go to Montreal, and then around September I would like to go to Cali to visit some family! Otherwise we may squeeze in a trip to NYC and Houston/Arkansas, no major trips on the radar but I don't mind frequent shorter ones!

Hmm.. enough rambling for now... let's see how much of these things actually come to fruition :)

Giddy!

2009-12-24T14:14:00.001-05:00

Not sure what the deal is with me today but I'm feeling giddy, and really am in high spirits. We're currently headed to the in laws for the official start of the Holidays! Maybe I'm just in the Christmas spirit :)

Tonight my mom and sis, and my mom's brother and his family and my mom's sis and her family (10 people total) will be heading over to Aaron's parents house, we will eat lots of yummy food, play some games, and enjoy each others company to celebrate the holiday. It's become a tradition of sorts as this is the 3rd year for my fam to join his around the Christmas holiday to celebrate together. I'm really looking forward to it as most times it is Aaron doing things 'our' way at my mom's house, this time at least we get to share in his tradition.

Tomorrow we will head to Aaron's grandma's where she has a holiday spectacular in terms of food and decorations, she really goes all out.

Saturday we will hang with Aaron's family and then head back to my mom's house for the evening. Sunday we are going to Pittsburg for a memorial service for my grandfather at the 'church' after that we will spend two days at my mom's with cousins and family who are in town for the holidays.

The time will go by quickly, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Trying times. . .

2009-12-24T13:43:00.001-05:00

Really make you thankful for the things you have, and remind you to count your blessings.

We've had a very busy last week, we had Aaron's fam come into town from Arkansas and the Canton area to spend time together before the holidays, we've had my grandfathers funeral home service. . . I feel like we have barely had any time for each other to just quietly and relax and enjoy each other.

Regardless of all that Aaron's been such a massive support for me, always reassuring and taking care of me and anything that needs done in general, I know I've been in a funk for much of December, first recalling the events of the previous year, and then dealing with this year's added pain, but never once did I feel alone and that really amazes me about him.

I'm really lucky to have him, through the good and especially the bad times.

Peace

2009-12-16T23:01:00.002-05:00

Even though it's painful for those of us left behind, today my grandfather found peace.
It's comforting to know he's no longer in misery or pain and agony.

He will surely be missed, and was loved by many, of those who have come together over the course of the past 2 weeks since he's been in the hospital and such.

Dealing with the death of a family member so soon after my dad's dying is a bit of a challenge, especially as he was so close to us, he's lived with our family for the past 25 years, thanks to him we learned alot about our culture, we know our language very well, we never had to know what a nanny or a baby sitter was, we got so much from him, things that he may have missed the opportunity of sharing with his children because of the struggles of providing for a family but that he was able to share with his grandchildren.

Including my dad there are 8 children my grandfather had, of them all seven that are still here were with us today. Many of our cousins and close members of the family have also been here.

I know this loss is really hard for my mom, but since my dad passed away my grandfather has just not been the same so now finally he's found peace, and isn't that all we can really ask for?

Side bar from the usual posts of late... wrapping up shopping

2009-12-12T19:02:00.003-05:00

In the midst of all that has been going on, we've been trying to wrap up our Christmas shopping... it always gets stuck at the same spot, my mom, she's similar to me in the fact that she's impossible to buy for and rarely ever likes anything... or if she likes it she just gets it right then and there and then.. you can't buy it for her :)

Anyway.. she is a plant a holic.. she's got tons of them, and she mentioned to my husband in passing that she would like a shelf that will support them, and that can go against a wall with windows (of course those plants need LIGHT!)

some items we've found are
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=14824871

or

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Breeze-Shelving-Unit-with-Wood-Legs/3512043/product.html

we went to about 5-6 different furniture stores today and none carried anything of this nature...
a lot mentioned we'd have to look online

why is furniture shopping so hard?

it really makes me thankful that last year when we were decorating our home we were so quickly able to find not only what we were looking for, but it was affordable and good quality... of course a home is never done and over time we've found small things that fit needs we find we have, or things that need replaced..

any ideas or suggestions of where we might find something similar to the shelves above that will just make us say.. oh yeah!

it's got to have wide shelf's that are sturdy for plants, and it's got to not look weird against a wall that has windows!

Back at the hospital tonight.

2009-12-11T23:39:00.001-05:00

We drove back to the hospital after the week at home where we made it through work and all.

My grandfather isn't doing much better, but also hasn't gotten any worse. When I got here he was sleeping, and about an hour into it the nurses needed to wake him up and such to check his stats and administer some medicine.

He was agitated after and his respitory stats dropped, so they did a oxygyn treatment to get his stats back up, during this time my sister, Aaron and two other cousins were also around. We decided to send some peeps home to rest up and come back tomorrow.

After everyone left, and I got slighhtly reprimanded by the nurse for his stats having fallen due to too much activity in his room, I was just sitting with him in the room and he shifted around in bed some, in what I thought were efforts to get more comfy, I looked up and saw he was taking his oxygyn mask off and laying the strap on his forehead, so gently. Rather sneaky if you ask me, I had the nurse come back in and before she left he tried to do it again. . .

In a way its sad that he's that miserable. . .
But in a way it's funny to see him still trying to get his way and continue to be so stubborn as that is the man I know.

Just having some quiet time with him, and thinking back to funny stories from growing up with him.

Today's my parents wedding anniversary

2009-12-09T10:11:00.002-05:00

it would have been their 29th anniversary...

i remember around the time of their 25th anniversary I had just finished school and started to "turn a profit" on working so I couldn't really do anything I wanted to do for them (ideally it would have been to send them on an Alaskan Cruise) so I figured I'd wait till 30 maybe... little did I know 30 wasn't going to happen.

really makes you think that you gotta do what you can while you can since you never really know when it'll be too late.

sorry it's been a bit gloomy around here of late.

i'm so tired

2009-12-08T15:00:00.002-05:00

the last two nights I slept, both nights I fell asleep and woke up the next morning to the alarm not really knowing where i was, or why the alarm was sounding what felt like 2 minutes after I fell asleep

my cousin's from NYC & Houston have headed home in the past day or two, I kind of what to be with them, just from the I love being with them perspective... but it's not the right time to want to be with them, at least not from the having fun and enjoying each other side of things

i've been getting updates on my grandfather from them, he's not getting any worse, but he also doesn't seem to be getting alot better

I would like for sleep to be restful again, and I would like to not be in fear of every time the phone ringing it being bad news. . . these are selfish wants... but it's really making me tired.

I'm still trying to go through the motions at work, and get stuff that I know needs to get done at home ... even that feels weird somehow though.

then i think about things I am going to have to skip out on to be there for my family however i can.. and then I feel SUPER selfish.. because in the grand scheme of things those things don't matter, but obviously I'm not looking at the grand scheme of things, cuz i'm thinking of how I'm bummed that I do have to miss them...

this got rather convoluted so i'm going to stop :

back home...

2009-12-06T21:11:00.002-05:00

no real improvement on my grandfather, but not a lot we could do either, so we came back home tonight to try and stay as normal to our routine as possible...

not a whole lot to say either way about it

it was for sure a mentally and physically exhausting weekend

it was really weird to be at the hospital again at the first weekend of December; this not something I want to become regular

I hope during the next week my grandfather gets discharged; we will likely head back up to Canfield this weekend just to be there for my mom and grandfather as best we can, I'm really glad my sister (who much to my dismay DID NOT behave this weekend.. and was still a royal pain in the ass even with all this going on) will be home as finals are done this week. . .

it's hard to know what's right to do as you can't put life on hold to take care of someone, work and other commitments still continue; but mentally part of you is still focused there and so really who knows what we should have done but I'm going to hope for a night of rest tonight as I got none last night at the hospital and also going to hope for the best for my grandfather as time goes on.

Probably not the best time to be blogging...

2009-12-06T01:19:00.001-05:00

But as I sit in a hospital room, with my grandfather laying in the hospital bed, I can't really think to do much else.

It's been a crazy weekend, we are home at my mom's, it's the anniversary of my dad's passing, and that itself has been hard enough, based on remembering everything as it happened last year this same weekend.

The big difference between my dad and his dad is the brains health vs the bodys health, we lost my dad because he became brain dead, physicially he was so healthy, in this instance of loosing my grandfather his brain is so sharp, it's his body that is not keeping up, it's very saddening and heartbreaking as there is nothing that one can do about it, or to make it better. As last year was my first direct dealing with death, this is my first dealing with death from an old age prespective.

I can only hope my grand father is not miserable, but it's evident that he's not comfortable as he has trouble breathing (main cause of being in hosp), he's been in and out of the hosp the last few month, and it's just not getting any better.

My brain is going a bajillion miles an hour... but I still feel like I'm not where my body is, I think it's my why of dealing, to somewhat detach myself from the situation. After we found out he was admitted, I just wasn't really 'there' anymore, I can't stand the feeling of this being a problem I can't fix.

I guess I'll stop rambling for now. . .

Happy Birthday to Aaron (1 day late).

2009-12-01T15:35:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was the hubster's bday! :)
I had a few really good ideas of plans I had thought to execute but with the whole planned NYC trip I cancelled all the plans I was thinking of making so my husband could have a day to recover from a long weekend...

since all that fell through and he didn't really need a day off I was kind of left in the lurch of not having planned anything! And since I was basically sick as a dog yesterday ... i was really left scrambling!

Aaron had already picked and bought a birthday present for himself :) a set of wheels for his car that he had been wanting forever. So at least that problem was solved :p Not exactly a creative or fun way of gift giving/getting but for sure effective in the fact that it was something he really wanted.

I decided since I wasn't going to be able to take him out to dinner the particular night of his bday to make him a coupon for a night out to his favorite restaurant (Ruth's Chris Steakhouse) with any person he wanted, and a different coupon for a night out to any central Ohio activity with any person he wanted!

Lucky for me, he picked ME as the person to share his meal with and he picked ME to go on his activity of choice with... the activity he chose was the OSU/Purdue game in February! Which is also something I will fully enjoy! Now I just have to make sure we get really good tickets to that game :)

Over all, seems like turning 31 wasn't too bad for Aaron, even despite my best efforts to sabotage by being sick :p

My Husband is Awesome!

2009-12-01T15:22:00.002-05:00

I was sick on Saturday and Sunday.. and still kind of recovering currently, but the worst of it was probably Sat/Sun ... my husband did a great job of taking care of me, making sure I got enough rest, keeping me medicated, and fed.

I must admit that I run out of patience when taking care of a sick "patient" hehe thankfully Aaron doesn't get sick too often, but I will have to keep in mind for the next time he IS sick how well he did at taking care of me so at some point I can repay the favor!

Xmas Shopping and Wrapping!

2009-12-01T15:00:00.002-05:00

Since we had an unexpected free weekend we thankfully got almost 90% of our holiday shopping DONE and wrapped! Such a good feeling! I think we've been very lucky this year and are hoping to share some of our good fortune with our family, who are always generous in so many ways, and have proven to be the same this past year also... with everything that we've been through.

We got some fun gag type gifts, for cousins' with good senses of humor and went the sentimental cute route for others, and then for those who I consider impossible to buy for... we went the gift card route! At least they will be able to get themselves something they like, I figure it's the safe route, but also the most enjoyable for them route as well.

Aaron and I are being Scrooge's this year by not really getting any MAJOR gifts for ourselves from each other because we talked about it, and we basically end up getting what we want when we want it anyway... we'll get each other something small just so we have presents to open up together, but I think in the long run it'll be better to go the simple route :)

I'm looking forward to having Aaron's Brother, our Sis-In-Law & our nephew over for a few days near the holiday, it for sure made the whole idea of decorating fun, since we'll get to share the holiday spirit with them!

I'm looking forward to the rest of this month as holiday parties begin!!!

Survived another holiday...

2009-12-01T14:43:00.003-05:00

At the last minute last week our whole planned for the Thanksgiving holiday changed, we were supposed to go to NYC, hang with a cousin and his family and then head to Long Island to go to a friend of the family's wedding... due to some health issues of a grandparent our cousin's fam was not going to be in NYC as planned and so the weekend turned into a trip to Canfield, and then my husband deciding for us that we weren't going to the wedding as originally planned because we didn't really have much interest in that part of the trip anyway...

The plans flipped and flopped around a little, and basically the hubster said we're sticking to our guns and we're not going.. i was kind of indifferent, the idea of sticking with the hubster was appealing but I didn't want to disappoint my mom either... ahh the joys of family.

We ended up enjoying Thursday with the family, though enjoy may have been a bit of a stretch... the day kind of felt forced to me.. like we were being together for the sake of being together, and for the first time I really felt a little empty being there without my dad, I'm not sure if it was because it was one of the first times EVERYONE was home, and the stores were closed so there was no distraction from the lack of his presence. But that's all I can think to attribute it to.

My sister was also being superbly annoying for which she later apologized but that really ruined some of the day for me, it made me really glad that we were heading home for last few days of the holiday weekend as opposed to continuing on to Long Island with my sister, mom, aunt, uncle and cousin. Sad that one person can make me feel that strongly against something. And even sadder that that one person is my very own only sister.

So that about sums up Thanksgiving for this year, I'm thankful we survived it, and even more thankful it's over... kind of sad to think of it that way.. but sometimes the truth hurts.

Nice Quiet Week!

2009-11-23T09:47:00.002-05:00

It's a short week at work and EVERYONE (so it seems) has taken some part of it or another off! This means I may actually get some of the deliverables I need to get done done because I won't be getting 45 new ones to pile on top of the existing ones!

The only really bad part about this holiday weeks is progress your making on things with other people totally gets put on hold as some people are in and some people are out and everyone has a say in the matter!

There's a couple of things I'm super anxiously awaiting some replies on with work stuff, and I just have to keep being patient since the people I am waiting to hear from are out this week! Yuck. Hope it goes quick so some it can be sorted out before the December holiday lull, as I am NOT a patient person!! :)

11/17/2004

2009-11-17T10:42:00.003-05:00

No, I didn't typo that!

Actually I'm reminiscing back to 5 years ago... :)
On this day 5 years ago was when Aaron and I told each other we first liked each other.

We officially had a conversation which made us go from being just friends to meaning more to each other... the transition from friends to dating was a little rough because you worry about loosing a friend in the process if things don't to work out with the dating.

I know when we made it official, we said we'd "go with the flow" and see how things went, and not rush into anything that made us feel like it wasn't right...

I honestly don't know what the location of our first date was, or when it was, I know the first place we went out to eat together (which I do believe was before we were officially an "item") at Great Wall Chinese Restaurant in New Albany (super yummy place that was about 1/2 way between me and him where we lived at the time... and I know the first movie we went and saw together ( again I do believe it was before we were officially an "item") which was the Incredibles at Marcus Crosswoods ... so I remember the small stuff.. but don't have big official milestones for our dating lives ...

I just know.. "we've gone with the flow" for the past five years, and it's worked for us when times have been rough, or when things didn't go as planned, I gotta say it's a pretty good motto! I'm really lucky to have found someone so awesome to go the course with me!

The beginning of Holiday Madness

2009-11-16T10:25:00.002-05:00

Next week is thanksgiving already! We're going to have a crazy round of Holidays this year, and I hope I mean that in a GOOD way!

Next week we're going to drive up to Canfield (mom's house) on Wednesday night... Thursday morning we're going to get up SUPER early and drive to NYC, to our cousins' place!!! We'll have Thanksgiving dinner together there and just enjoy hanging out! Friday we may check out some of the city and MAYBE do a little shopping (depending on the weather and the craziness of Black Friday!) and then head to Long Island... Saturday there is a friend's wedding and Saturday night will be the reception. Sunday we're going to wake up super early and head back to Canfield, drop off my mom and then drive ourselves back to Columbus... and MONDAY is Aaron's BIRTHDAY!!! After that it'll be DECEMBER.

I'm approaching December with mixed feelings, it's hard not to be excited for the Holidays and for Aaron's Bro & Sis In Law and nephew to be coming up to Ohio.. but it's also the marking of having been without my dad for a year, and remembering the life changing phone call I got from my mom on 12/6 last year a call whose implications I still have a hard time understanding and comprehending. We've done a good job so far this year of remembering my dad in fun ways and keeping each others spirits high... but it's still something that sits in the back of my mind always.

We've got some fun holiday parties, and then our visitors from Arkansas, so I'm excited but apprehensive all the same.. it's a little bit of a feeling of guilt to enjoy something without my dad or knowing how hard it is every day still for my mom, there's so many times when we call each other with the most innocent intentions, just to see how the other is and the phone call ends in tears where we tell each other we'll call each other later because we just aren't able to talk through all the emotions... so far this year it seems like those are the hardest times, the ones where we just think of him out of the blue. The holidays and the birthdays and such somehow we manage through because we are able to brace ourselves in advance and it's the times we aren't braced that we tend to fall apart.

Damn I did it again, went from a happy excited post to a back to reality one.
I guess at some point I'll be able to stop doing that, but there's a certain part of me that is ok with knowing that I'm not forgetting my dad either, even though he's not a part of my daily life in real life...

Do you ever start

2009-11-16T10:15:00.002-05:00

writing a blog entry.. then get distracted or sidetracked, then go back to it and wonder to your self WTH you were thinking?

I seem to do it all the time, it gets left in draft, I go back to say.. hmm I should finish these thoughts and then i can't think what the heck i was trying to say :p

We had a pretty enjoyable weekend this time around, Friday night I abandoned my husband to win money off some friends :p Saturday i went to a craft show... www.tinycanary.com with a friend... side note here... does anyone else feel like these types of shows should be called something OTHER then a craft show? When i think of craft shows I think of ones grandma's host with all xmas stuff and bakes goods and such, where as this show actually had a lot of cool more normal day use able stuff... :o) I feel like calling it a craft show isn't giving it enough credit? Anyway back to the story... we were in line by 945 (doors opened at 10) and we wanted to be the first hundred in line to get a free goodie grab bag! I knew when we got there it was going to be CLOSE... we were like 7 away :( Sadness. But it was a fun show.. albeit PACKED and elbow to elbow... I really do wonder why people bring kids in strollers to events like these as it's MISERABLE for the kids ... poor kiddies!

After the craft show I came home and the husbter and I cleaned the house and ran some errands, then we watched the OSU/IOWA game.. thankfully we won by the skin of our teeth! It was a really awesome day outside too, more like the beginning of football season then the end of it. . .

Sunday we headed up with a party in a bag to Aaron's Grandma's house where we met up with his parents also to celebrate his Grandma Dot's 80'th birthday!!! It was a good time, we caught up, ate yummy food, played Apples to Apples, helped her start the process of unloading Xmas decorations from her attic (she has appx 10 trees!!!). So she'll start decorating now, and by the time we are there for Xmas her house will basically be a Xmas spectacular!!! Very cool.

After we got home, and vegged we called in a night after enjoying our Fox animation Sunday night shows :p Family Guy and American Dad!

Pretty jam packed, but fun and relaxing weekend, I will call it a success :)

Scheduled Fun

2009-11-12T10:05:00.002-05:00

Sounds superbly dorky but I always seems to forget to schedule time for FUN, so much of our lives are already scheduled that I feel like sometimes we don't get enough just fun time. Between work, racing group commitments, family commitments our friends suffer from us not having enough time left to do the fun stuff!

Recently since racing has been done we've had time again for "scheduled fun" and I'm loving it!!! Note to self: I have to remember next summer to find a better balance between everything!!!

Movies

2009-11-11T13:59:00.002-05:00

The level of films coming out of late has been superbly poor in my opinion, I am the kind of person that would go to the movies once a week, and I actually thing I did very close to that in high school and college, if not once a week AT least once every two weeks! Lately though there as been so little that has made me want to go to the movies... it makes me really sad as it's one of my pass times of choice to be able to watch and enjoy movies!

The books I've been reading lately are also not turning out to be page turners and I end up finding my self hitting refresh on the same 5-6 websites as opposed to actually doing anything productive with my time... even the BLOG has been suffering (sorry blog)!

I'm just not feeling super motivated, or excited by anything at the moment.

I am looking forward to the holidays and then also the holidays being over lol, double edged sword I guess, I like things is small doses and only have so much tolerance for spending time with the fams cuz either family it still ends up a little drama filled and then a little tense, isn't that terrible to admit?

We've already had some mini fam drama this past week or two.. something about the different sides of the family and just the misunderstandings in communication and intentions gets really old quick, but there is not a whole lot that can be done about it as people don't just change when asked and are usually pretty set in their ways :p

Wow.. not sure HOW i went from simply talking about movies.. on to familial disharmony :p Oops!

Voting!

2009-11-03T18:09:00.002-05:00

Is it really that hard to vote?
I'm amazed at the amount of people who don't give a rats a** enough to do it.
It's sad and a little maddening

People are so quick to voice opinions and bitch about things
but don't actually want to take any time to do anything about it...

Of course I would be the one who gives my opinion even when not asked let alone when asked :p

I do the surveys for restaurants (not just to save money the next time around...) and take all kinds of online surveys... so maybe I'm too opinionated.. but I really do feel like people should embrace voting more then they do

I spoke to a few people at work and some didn't even realize today was the day, others were like nope too busy, and others were like.. as if my opinion matters... all really defeatist attitudes, if I hear any of these folks whining about things I will be the first to remind them their opinion DOESN'T matter!

I love when it's pitch black at 5:45PM!

2009-11-02T07:48:00.003-05:00

NOT!!!

We had a GREAT day on Sunday where we didn't even leave the house all day! Joy! :)
I guess hibernation must start soon since it IS November already and we didn't mind one bit. It was nice to NOT have to go anywhere or do anything! We basically ate, slept, hung out, watched tv and repeated :) I'm SURE we could have more effectively used our time, but it was nice to not have to for once.

By the end of last week I had started keeping an eye out for ANY and EVERY job opening in the IT area that I may even slightly be qualified for and started applying, I'm ready for a new job, and I am going to just start applying for them willy nilly and Something will have to come through... right? Lol.. guess it's a better to know I tried and nothing happened then just sit back and wait for something perfect to fall at my feet.

In a similar way... the group we race with has had some turmoil within the ranks, people not feeling like the leadership is acting in every ones best interest etc etc... so... I have decided to run for the board, thankfully Aaron is behind me 100% and elections will take place in the month of November... even if I don't get voted in, at least I will be able to say i TRIED to help facilitate change rather then just sitting back and watching things happen or not...

So.. thats what going on on my end this lovely November. :)

I am totally enjoying seeing peoples kids and their Halloween costumes and such... can't believe I need to get my act in gear ASAP with Thanksgiving, Aaron's bday, and Xmas all coming up around the corner.

I also can't believe it's almost been one whole year without my dad. It's been a rough one in that regard but... at the same time I really got to see who was there for me and who wasn't.. even though I suck sometimes, I'm so thankful for everyone that was there through the thick and thin of it. I feel so loved.

ok... back to look for jobs for now :

Happy Halloween from our race car to yours!!! :)

2009-10-31T08:21:00.001-04:00

The last week of the month!

2009-10-26T13:22:00.002-04:00

Holy crap it's almost November...
:)

I have been a bad blogger, not much "exciting" stuff to share
we've been kind of taking it easy the last few weeks, and that is exciting! But nothing to write home (or to your blog followers) about.

I've actually been a bad blog reader as well, I just have been pulled in a ton of different directions mentally and that means I forget to check in with everyone on their blogs! Shame i know..

We will not particularly be participating in any Halloween Festivities .. we got invited to two parties but the whole dressing up thing is not the hubster's cup of tea, and if he's not in.. I'll pass too :p

We have ONE race left, which is on Halloween! And then we'll officially retire the race gear till April of 2010, I'm fairly excited about the prospect of TWO day weekends, which are meant for slumming around the house and watching Basketball!!! We got to see the Cavs in action last week against the Celtics in Columbus, that was fun! We also got to enjoy the leaves falling in Sharon Woods metro park when we went on a fun walk around it's 3.8 mile loop!

This week we'll do some more relaxing and enjoying nature and the last little remnants of warmth before the cold comes in!

Mainly.. just wanted to drop a line... I AM ALIVE! :)

Happy Anniversary Number 2!

2009-10-13T16:23:00.003-04:00

Since we have a similar picture from our first anni I had to share the one from this year :)
http://playingdagamewell.blogspot.com/2008/10/very-happy-anniversary.html

There was a minor oops at the bakery as you can see, we found it to be pretty funny! Techinically our anni is between our birthdays anyway so no major loss :)

Shall share more about the anni later.

Remembering Papa's Birthday

2009-10-13T16:21:00.001-04:00

To commemorate by dad's birthday we had a small religious service Saturday morning, all of my dad’s siblings that live around us came, and we had a HUGE surprise, our cousin from NYC and his wife and son also drove through the night (left NYC about 9PM and got to Canfield around 3AM) so that they too could be with us for the day. It meant so much that they cared enough to come, it was honestly overwhelming. When they are in town they change the dynamic of the weekend cause I just love hanging out with them and they are so much FUN!

We ended up heading to the a fruit farm after lunch, and we took a hay ride through the apple orchard, walked through a pumpkin patch, and then bought a BUNCH of sweet stuff, fudge, apple pie, apple cider, doughnuts, (yes sugar OD) and just enjoyed the awesome fall day!

After we finished up there headed home, and vegg’d for a bit, after a dinner of long john silvers (you’d think I’m kidding but I’m serious), because it was one of my dad’s favorite indulgent meals! After dinner we all got together and went bowling, another one of those things we did because it was one of his favorite activities. It was a good time, a little sad just because it wasn’t the same without him, but still nice to see everyone get together, and enjoy spending time together. After we got home Aaron and I were surprised by Anniversary Cake!!! It was really heartwarming that our family took time to remember our special day too! And another TOTAL surprise!

Sunday morning my mom and I did a 2 mile walk in the morning, during the last leg of it I found TWENTY DOLLARS!!! Talk about incentive to walk! Hehehe.

Otherwise… we had a great weekend, we totally missed my dad but tried to acknowledge him in happy ways rather than sad ones.

Rain Rain Go Away till I have a vacation Day!

2009-10-09T09:32:00.002-04:00

The past 18 hours or so it's been raining out, not cold freezing rain but annoying wet drizzly rain that makes for a perfect day to relax at home and veg out on the couch with a good book or watching a good movie!

Speaking of vacation days.. even with all the crazy time i feel like i've taken off this year i still have FOURTEEN days of the year left I could take off!

I'm not going to take all fourteen as I want to carry some over into 2010 in case we go on any trips and such.. but that leaves me with four days with which I could do something (as the company allows us to carry over 10)... I will save some of those days for around the holidays when we're going to have family around and such.. and maybe one or two days will turn into stay-cation relax at home days!

Speaking of family... we got some bad news yesterday.. Aaron's dad's company is going to close it's doors officially on 12/31/09... they have been hurt by the economy and they tried to stay open as long as they could.. but now it just seems like the time is over. It really sucks as he was just a few years away from retirement and now he's going to have to figure out a new plan. :(

I keep thinking this economy HAS to bounce back at some point, but really it's taking it's sweet old time, it's been at least a year of living in "fear" of what will happen next.. I think stuff really started tanking around March/April of 2008... so far we've been really lucky.. but one still has that sense of dread when it comes to the matter.

Man... the rain really does make from glumness.

Moving on with the glumness, my dad's 58th birthday would have been tomorrow.
We're headed home to commemorate it... with the family. We'll have a prayer service in the morning and then my mom wants to go bowling in the evening as it's really something my dad enjoyed doing. I still remember last year we had a birthday party in Oct for one of my cousins bdays and my dad got there late, and was being stubborn about changing his shoes... he was like i'm just going to bowl one or two.. and like 15 minutes later.. he was STILL bowling. I was kind of annoyed with him for not changing his shoes... but I guess he took it one too far and almost slipped and fell on the slippery part and then we couldn't stop laughing...

I guess we'll have to think about remembering the good times like those, rather than they he won't be able to share more with us.

Hi Gym, my name is Simi...

2009-09-30T14:36:00.003-04:00

We used to be friends
then summer happened
and we forgot how to reach out to each other

the story of me and gym :(

We're in for a little reunion again, started out a little easy yesterday.. will be trying it out again tonight, hopefully we'll fall back into our routine quick and a lil easy!

It felt nice to be back at the gym, I hope i can make the niceness continue.
I do like just going in doing a work out and getting out of there.. i tried taking some classes but for some reason the routine of HAVING to be there at a certain time, till a certain time didn't do it for and then work getting busy and the racing season kind of took over my gym going.

Shame on me yes, but I have already been thorough this adjustment this year, I can continue back on the wagon!

Our Summer Is Officially over; we're back and here to "stay"

2009-09-30T09:12:00.002-04:00

:) At least for weekdays!

Last weekend we were in ATL, the weekend before we were in Cbus, but we had family in town... moved two buckeyes into their new homes... my sister and my cousin, it was slightly stressful because my sister was in a mood (like it's all about me and I wanna only do things my way)... always a joy!

My mom was also a little out of it; she's been stressing over my grandfather (my dad's dad); who has been getting weaker in health since my dad passed away. My grandfather took a big hit when it happened; and hasn't fully returned to "normal" whatever that is. My dad's siblings (many of whom live fairly close) aren't always helpful either, and since my dad was the oldest son, as is Indian custom he has lived with us for quite some time. I don't know how my mom will handle loosing someone else, I don't like thinking it but I do wonder what the quality of my grandfathers life currently is since he's starting to become more and more dependant on people to be with him and such; all i know is I don't look forward to the day that I need to be taken care and much rather hope for it to be a quick and easy end for myself when the time comes. I'm sure that's totally morbid to think of, and when it comes to death we don't get to pick how we go.. but one can have a preference right?

Anyway... so I also found out yesterday my grandfather's in the hospital; he's getting some testing and stuff done. My mom called and said "it was nothing to be worried about" Not sure if I can agree with her, because whenever anyone is in the hospital I'm worried.

We're going to head home this weekend and see my grandfather; it's been a while and he's kind of used to seeing us about once a month and it worries him a little if he doesn't.

The weekend after is my dad's birthday, he would have been 57 this year. I'm not sure how we'll commemorate it, but I know we'll all be together, and he'll have liked that.

Man... this update really took a turn for the worst.
I think i'll leave it at this for now... maybe I'll have something a little more upbeat to talk about later.

Home Sweet Home!

2009-09-13T15:20:00.002-04:00

Sleeping in your own bed isn't over rated!
That is probably the MAIN thing I miss when we're away is home :)

We made it back on Saturday night at the end of the 1st quarter of the buckeye football game (we listened to the first q on the radio on the way home...)

We split the 9 hour drive up into 3 hours each, with me starting and ending the trip.. and Aaron doing the middle stint (since he did more of the driving on the way out I thought I should step up and do my share)!

We drove through Nebraska, Iowa (stopped at outlet malls for a short break), Illinois, Indiana and finally Ohio! All I can say is for most of that drive there is a whole lot of NOTHING going on but rolling hills and farmland! BORING!!!

There was a bunch of stuff I thought i'd post about, but now that the time has come I'm drawing a blank, it feels like it was all so long ago and now that I'm back at work it really feels foreign.

Yesterday was an awesomely relaxing day, we didn't really sleep in because our bodies were used to being up early, so we got breakfast (Aaron bought me Starbizzle!!!!) and chilled, and I ended up taking an afternoon nap, after that Aaron washed all the bug juices of his car, we got lunch, I did laundry and watched tv . . . and then Aaron washed MY car for me! I wrapped up laundry we made some frozen pizza for dinner and called it a night, nothing exciting, but that was just what we needed!

It was nice to be home :)

Goodbye Kansas!

2009-09-09T09:02:00.002-04:00

So it's about 735am and we've gotten up from our hotel in Salina Kansas. It's been a few days without an update so here's to checking in!

We spent some of Sunday and Monday in Fort Smith Arkansas, we had a great time relaxing and hanging out with my BIL, SIL and nephew. We played Wii (my first time) had yummy meals, and got time to just catch up, it was really nice, even though it was a short trip it was totally worth it. We'll get to see them again in Ohio around Xmas!

After Arkansas we drove 3 hours West to Norman Oklahoma, where one of my cousins is a freshman at University of Oklahoma. We had dinner with him, got the honor of being his first visitors, and got led on a campus tour in the evening! It is such a nice campus, clean, fresh, well maintained, the staff and students obviously take pride in it. If Ohio State had nice stuff, someone would find a way to destroy or ruin it, it's sad but true from my years at OSU. The architecture and buildings on campus don't make you think Oklahoma at all!

I did make sure to take my cousin some Cheryl's Cookies in an Ohio State bag!!!

Tuesday morning Aaron finally found a bike shop and got his bike all fixed back up, and took care of stuff while my cousin was in class. After class all three of us drove to Oklahoma City, checked out an area called Brick Towne for lunch (really similar to cbus's Arena District), we ate at a place called Zio's, Danielle (sil) had suggested it and it was super yummy Italian.

After lunch we kind of explored the area, in 98 degree heat, but came to the conclusion that without a ball game going on and a more evening or weekend setting, this place would not entertain us much longer.

Next we drove over to the site of the Oklahoma City Bombing, they now have a memorial there, still sad and scary to think about, I still recall watching it on the news,

After that exploration, we headed to Sooner Mall (yes I felt dirty!!!), my cousin needed a few things so we got them and then headed to Walmart for a few other supplies he needed but wouldn't have been able to get as easily without a car.

We dropped him and his stuff off in his super tiny dorm room that he shares with one other person, and were on our way to Kansas. The family and visiting part of the trip was over.

In Kansas we basically were just doing a drive through, a state in between where we were and where we needed to be,

We stopped for dinner in Witchita, in Old Town (another Arena District type warehouse area), we had dinner at the Pumphouse, which was an old garage or mechanics shop converted into a sports bar, we got lucky and it was burger night, buy 1 get 1 free!

We walked around the area for a little bit, explored, it is like a combination of the Short North and the Arena District, after that we got back in the car for an hour to drive to Salina to sleep, as the city is near the Kansas/Nebraska border, and we didn't want a long drive this morning.

We are going straight to the race site this morning, getting registered and getting the car tech'd, we are going to try and test and tune as well, and get a few practice runs in!

3 Day's down... 7 more to go!

2009-09-07T11:55:00.006-04:00

So.. we're done with the first 3 days of our trip! We've driven appx 950 miles.So far we've been through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, stopped for 2 nights there and saw the Gateway Arch, and held a baby shower!

Both events were fun, we had a small bike mishap which can be read about here (http://cone-ychallenge.blogspot.com/) but all in all, things have been smooth sailing!

The baby shower Mommy was OFFICIALLY surprised, so that was fun! I had to be the game facilitator for the shower, and I was little worried about that but everything went smoothly!

Saturday during the day we went and saw the gateway arch, which was pretty cool, I didn't realize it's immensity. We took the ride in the Tram Capsule to the top as well, and those things were TINY! I think people used to be smaller "back in the day"

Some pictures to share with everyone...

More pix to come from our trip in Arkansas! We've been hanging out with Aaron's brother (Jason, his wife Danielle, and their 4.5 year old son Korbyn)! We've had a blast and it's going to suck leaving this afternoon, but we're headed to Norman, Oklahoma to see my cousin who is a freshman OU (Oklahoma university.. and the sooners lost their first football game of the season, so we're going to have to RIB him)!!!

BIRTHDAY MONTH!!!

2009-09-02T13:28:00.002-04:00

2 days in.. and i'm still in denial about the fact that somehow it's SEPTEMBER, i mean I know I say that every month... but for real.. i don't get it.. time is going so freaking fast and I honestly can't keep up with it all . . .

I really like not working full weeks, another friend just went to part time work hours and I am superbly jealous.. i don't know what I would do to fill my time... and if I could "afford" myself on part time pay I would so do it.. but I think we would have to give up a lot of expenses we mindlessly are able to have if I wanted to something like that.. plus said other friend actually does a LOT of work on the side.. so I'm thinking she may even bring in more money this way rather then being a "slave" to a corporate company! Damn people with talent!!!

Anyway this week we're working Tue/Wed/Thur/ & 1/2 Friday and then we're off again!

This time to go to Nationals!!! We're also seeing family along the way! It should be a great trip and we're both totally excited for it! This week is the mad rush of prep for it all! Doing laundry and packing up the car and the suitcases for a week away, I LOVE having the car to go in though, no worrying about extra luggage and weight requirements, if it fits in the car it's GOING!!! :)

After our road trip it's birthday week! and then we're thinking of doing a mini trip to the Atlanta area for a 10 hour race the weekend after.. and there we have the month of September fully laid out... (yes the one that started 2 days ago, I can already see the end of... no wonder this shit goes fast)! After that though, life REALLY FOR SERIOUS IS slowing down. We have very few race events left, and no trips already planned (until Tgiving) so... no major travel except to head home and spend the weekend of my dad's birthday with my mom and family... that will promise to be a rough weekend.

I am totally enjoying the fall weather, am excited for OSU Football and sweaters and sweat shirts!!! I love the cool mornings and the warm afternoons! Excited for the start of fall! :)

Toronto Weekend Recap!

2009-09-02T12:17:00.010-04:00

This past weekend we had an AWESOME weekend, we went to Toronto for a friends wedding, with my mom and sister and Aaron.

After the wedding we enjoyed watching a race in Toronto which was a great time! And we also headed back and stayed in the Niagara Falls area, and checked the falls out at day and at night! We FINALLY got to see some fireworks this year (we got rained out on the 4th of July in Indiana)! I liked seeing fireworks FINALLY :)

Niagara At Day: you can see a boat in the below pic, we were on it!!! :)

GONNA GET WET!!!

The man that goes along for all the crazy rides I ask him to :)

So... to recap (I think Danica was interested in maybe heading up to the Toronto area)

There is a ton of shopping type stuff to do in Toronto, some sight-see'ing ish stuff (like CN Tower, etc), we went to an area called Eaton http://www.torontoeatoncentre.com/EN/centreinfo/ where they had cool restaurants and lots and lots of shopping!!

in Niagara it's a total tourist trap, with a couple main roads that have casinos, and restaurants and small stores and all kinds of carnival type attractions, and night clubs and such. Fun for a short while, but we didn't feel like we needed to spend TOO much time there!

I would for sure recommend a ride on the Maid of the Mist which takes you on a boat pretty far into the falls :)

Feeling Better... sigh of relief, kind of!

2009-08-25T10:25:00.002-04:00

Well I am feeling much better then I was last week, for some reason I was feeling like a wind up toy that hadn't been released last week. We had a couple of calm relaxing evenings with friends and they proved to be VERY beneficial. I have a much more "Simi" style outlook again.. optimistic and all that jazz.

Also we had DOWN time, and we enjoyed it so that was awesome.

I still haven't heard about the job I applied for (the guy has been out of the office for quite some time now) he ended up extending his vacation by adding some days to the end of it and the beginning of it... so.. just going with the flow on that one.

I've been pretty unproductive at work lately so I'm going to make up for it this week by getting all the work I should have been working on for the past 2 weeks in this week :p and to ice the cake (figuratively of course) I have a 4 day week this week! We're headed to Canada this weekend!!! Right after work on Thursday we're outta here, and we likely won't be back till Monday evening!

In a Funk

2009-08-20T11:03:00.003-04:00

Over the past week (since the day after my interview) I have been in a bit of a funk, I think it was a combination of being over committed, and not having any relax and fun chill time, we're been racing for quite a few weekends in a row, and even though it's a lot of fun, anything becomes tiresome after a while.

This week we had a fairly light week and after being in a somewhat sour mood for a few days in a row I decided to see the light at the end of the tunnel! This weekend we are ONLY racing one day! It's a fun event, not a hard core competitive one, it'll still be challenging but in a calmer way, and I'm looking forward to that. The even is an all Subaru only event in Indiana, where my Subaru was born (there is a big Subbie plant about an hour north of Indianapolis).

We're going to head out tomorrow after work, relax, have a nice dinner, then Saturday after the event head home and just CHILL!!! It's SUCH an exciting prospect, we toyed with a few different ideas of what we might do on Sunday... invite people over, attend another even that was being held in Indiana... and we decided we'd rather do NOTHING! I am very much looking forward to it!

The week after will be a 4 day work week because we're going to Toronto Canada for the weekend (which we're making a four day weekend!!!) and so we'll get to just relax and not worry about prepping the car and making sure air pressure's are good and shock settings are right etc etc, we're planning on hitting up Niagara Falls on our way back as well! It'll be like a lil mini vacation and I am so in need of it!

Even though this summer has had very few five days weeks at work for me, the routine of race/work/race/work has me a little worn down.

When you know you are asking too much of your Honda Civic

2009-08-15T19:28:00.001-04:00

Playing the waiting game :)

2009-08-11T12:55:00.002-04:00

So I am interviewed :)

there are a few more interviews lined up, and i should expect to hear within appx a week.
That's going to be a long week, hopefully though, now that the part that was within my control is over I'll be able to be a little less of a pessimist for the next week or so (YEAH RIGHT!).

My husband is usually the pessimistic one in the house, and this week it's been me, he's not liking it too much with the tables turned, dose of his own medicine isn't working out too well.
I shall try to return to my normal fun loving, happy go lucky self, but I really need something to go my way here soon, to act as light at the end of the tunnel for me, I can certainly hope that something is this job! Talking to the hiring manager (an AVP) about it it for sure sounds like an interesting opportunity, I would be managing 9 people, and own 2 applications, it would give me a whole new challenge with tons to learn. The idea of the new challenge and learning new things, and developing new relationships really really excites me. Not to say that life is bad now (i feel somewhat ungrateful for complaining about everything i do have), but i'm ready for a change!

Last night we went to the grocery store, and bought probably a months supply of beverages, all non alcoholic of course, and seriously I was annoyed (maybe that is a little harsh of a description) with ourselves for not being able to pick more actual FOOD, but we're so comfortable with just running out and grabbing something, and we tend to find it easier, faster and sometimes even cheaper to just do that then actually cook something.... I know this a common problem for us, and we ends up in peaks of not eating at home at all... to trying really hard to cook. It doesn't help that we've both been logging a bunch of work hours, me from home, him from the office in long days to make up for our race schedule, so we really have zero down time! And then there's the idea of buying what we need to prepare a meal in advance.. it's quite a foreign concept, and if we're going to to buy groceries to prepare a meal, why not just buy the meal :p

Well... i'm going wrap up this lunch hour.. .and... get back to work :)

Thanks for all the well wishes for the interview, keep me in your thoughts for the next week or so if you don't mind. I'm sure many of you are also getting sick of reading about my woes with my job and would like some new material to read about!!!

Not getting ahead of one's self...

2009-08-10T11:33:00.003-04:00

How do you do it? When your anticipating something that you KNOW you want, but you don't want to get over excited or put all your eggs in one basket and jinx the whole thing?

My current examples of struggling with it are this weekend when I struggled with it at the start line before we raced, and i'm struggling with it today (day before an interview for a different position) . . .

Obviously no one wants to do something "just for the sake of doing it" and everyone who does stuff does it to win (is that right?) but in the end there is always just one winner, or one person who is going to get that job, so how do you deal with not being the winner, or not being the person who gets the job?

it's hard to NOT be a sore looser, even when your genuinely happy for the person who did win, or who did get the job...

I obviously conceded a victory this weekend (I'm running against my husband, until I get to the point where I can beat him (long long long ways off) I'm always going into the weekend as a loser (damn sucks to say it that way) lol. But I can hope to improve, and at the very least at least not be the WORST, which i was this weekend.

So anyway back to the point (if there is one) is that I have a job interview tomorrow, and I don't want to think... about it that hey I've got this, and look forward to getting a new job, but then finding out oh hey i didn't get it, and being super sad :p

Eeek... stream of consciousness typing sometimes ends up making sense in my head and then not when all typed out.

I am becoming super dependent on my cell phone.

2009-08-07T18:35:00.001-04:00

As I figure out more and more features of it, I am getting more and more addictied to it and find my self a little lost when I don't have service, or it around me.

At the same time I find it a little liberating not having it with me all the time, or having some time away from it!

Lol such a paradox.

We started a new blog!

2009-08-03T16:33:00.002-04:00

This one will be a little more race focused, so I doubt I'll loose any readership.. but I figure you guys might actually welcome it as it'll give me (and Aaron) a place to get our race convo out of our systems, without me mucking it up in this blog :)

Feel free to take a look
http://cone-ychallenge.blogspot.com/

I'll work on jazzing it up a little as I get more time!

Travels of the Race team!

2009-08-03T16:21:00.003-04:00

So as I mentioned, we're going to go to the SCCA Nationals this year, they are going to be held in Lincoln Nebraska, a place I've never been!

We pretty much knew Aaron wanted to go (hehe, I sure as heck am NOT competitive nationally, but I can go and get my butt kicked!). Though I tried to talk him out of it a couple of time by asking if this was really what he wanted to do, I conceded in the end, as I knew it was really what he wanted! And being that he always tries to do what I really want, the least I can do is go along for the ride!

Since we're going to be traveling appx half way across the country I figured why not make a trip of it.

We're going to go to St Louis Missouri, visit some cousin's, then head to Fort Smith, Arkansas, hang out with Aaron's Bro and his family, then go to Norman, Oklahoma and visit my cousin who is going to be a freshman at the University of Oklahoma, then drive up to Wichita Kansas, and then end up in Linclon. After Lincoln we're going to drive through Des Moines, Iowa, and then through Illinois (place TBD) and then back to Ohio.

It breaks up our trip nicely and makes the whole trip to nationals more then just a miserable drive out to Nebraska and back. It's going to be a total of 9 states!!! 6 of which I have NEVER been to, so I can cross some more of my list to visit!

It'll end up being appx 2500 miles round trip, with the two of us, in the race car... for 10 days....
I can only imagine how sick of each other we'll be by the end of it :) hehe.

Sunday = Race day!

2009-08-03T15:58:00.002-04:00

So as I mentioned in my previous post we participated in a race event on Sunday in Cleveland.
The event was called the Ohio Challenge, and it consisted of a few different clubs putting their hot shoes against each other.

The winning prize for the "fastest club" (they had some complicated system to figure out who it was that was ). The prize was $500 cold hard cash! Pretty cool if you ask me.

Sadly for us our local region didn't have enough people who were willing to travel ALL THE WAY to Cleveland to participate :( We had four, and we needed 15. So really it just ended up being a good event for practice for us. Never a bad thing!

We ended up having some friends join us from Cleveland to come watch and hang out.

The car was a little sloppy the first few times I took it out but I managed to wrangle it in and get it to behave as I would want it to for the most part, but I never really got the feel of the course the way I was hoping I would. I definitely wasn't happy with my time, but I wasn't ashamed of it either :p I did have an AWESOME spin in the car on my first run! Style points, HIGH, go fast points, not so HIGH!

Anyway after I finished my runs and the pressure was off, Aaron did his runs, he for sure had some battles with the car where it wasn't doing just what he wanted it to, so he tweaked and would try again! He ended up having some pretty competitive runs, and he beat his competition, it was a car that is trailered, instead of daily driven, so more modifications and more money poured into it :)!!!

After we finished racing, changed the tires back to the street tires, and packed up the car we stuck around for the trophy presentation and to see which club won, even though we knew ours wouldn't!

After they announced all the class winners, applause, applause! They announced the top 25 fastest drivers, at the beginning of the day they had said whoever the fastest driver was would win a trip to Florida! We had laughed about it in the morning thinking, cool! But not really giving it a second thought.... when they got to the top five and Aaron's name still hadn't been mentioned I got a little nervous! When they got to the top 3 all i could think was PLEASE LET HIM NOT E SECOND!!! When they said who WAS second, I was TOTALLY in amazement that Aaron was FIRST PLACE!!! Freaking awesome! All the time and effort he puts in and now this! Pretty damn cool.

It's been a crazy summer of racing, I've not minded it per say, but I would like some "normal" vacation time... and it's funny because I have been calling this the summer of auto-x where we've devoted every free minute to finding a place to race, and it's really paid off.. literally! :)

So we figure we'll take our lil vacation in Jan or Feb when it's too cold to be here and we need some warmth!

:)

In the mean time, going to keep hitting up the races.

Next 3 weekends will be back to back.

Month End!

2009-07-31T11:48:00.003-04:00

I have been a lazy blogger this month, it's been a pretty crazy month so I'll blame it on that and not my own laziness ;)

Only 11 posts in 31 days! Somehow I haven't had a lot of computer time that hasn't been distracted by other things like work and looking up racing venues or planning weekends away for racing, I've even not been very active on most of the forums I post alot at... some thing like, maybe I'm bored with the interweb a little? Or just the usual summer craziness where there is so much other stuff going on that I just don't get around to the web.

I have also been reading a lot this past month, it's a good way to pass long car rides (other then sleeping) when Aaron is driving us to and from a race!

We have another very raceful month coming up, and we've decided to try our hand at nationals in early September as well, after that our racing schedule will ease up a bit, and we'll be able to get back to "normal" life, I don't think it will be any slower though!

This weekend we have a Sunday only event in Cleveland
next weekend we're going to be in Peru Indiana again for 3 days
the weekend after that we have a 2 day event in Cbus
then we have a one day event in Lafayette Indiana
and then we have a weekend off which we're going to Toronto for a wedding and to WATCH a race!

Listing it out in that manner makes me totally question our sanity! :)

Ok off to get some stuff done.. just wanted to a quick update! Next time i'll tell you all about our upcoming 10 day trip through the Mid West planned for September!!! And you guys can share info you know about any of the locations we are going to!

Sleep!

2009-07-27T13:14:00.002-04:00

Of all the things I felt like I was missing out on the past 2 weeks or so, the biggest was SLEEP.

We spent last week with the "kids" and what a HUGE relief when they rolled out to head home with my sister on Friday afternoon. Really is tough having someone elses kids around to "take care of" when their upbringing is so different then your own.

The only casualty's the house had to withstand was a locked bathroom door (with know one in it) thankfully Aaron was able to get the door unlocked with a special screwdriver, more annoying then anything else as we found a paper clip on the floor by the lock, so obviously one of the two of them did it, and realized they did it but didn't own up to it. Secondly, we have a sofa/lounge chair thing that folds into a sofa, and out into a lounger. I found nail polish on it, and I know my cousin had used my OPI nail polish on her hands and toes, I confronted her about this, and she was like no wasn't me.. bull shit. I really can't stand the lying or just not stating of the truth. If you mess up, it's ok, own up to it, say your sorry and we'll get over it. But lying about it... really not cool. Too bad I am heading to Canfield this weekend again and I'll be seeing the kids there, I almost feel like i need a longer break from them after last week.

Friday was a clusterfuck of a day.
We were going to Toledo for a weekend of racing and wanted to be on the road by 1.

Before we could do that I needed to get my sisters car (which was parked at our house) and my cousin to my sister so they could head to Canfield... by 12:30 I still hadn't heard from my sister, I was kind of annoyed by that point. I called her a few times and nothing.

Turns out she ended up taking a final she should have taken on Thursday on Friday and so she calls me at 1:00 on the dot. I take my cousin and the car to campus, and figure we'll get my sister and her stuff, have her drop me off and be on the road by 2!

FALSE.

I get to her apt complex, and we get out of the car to go grab her stuff, I knew she was ready so I left the car running with the AC on, so it would be comfy... we grab her stuff, head back to the car only to find it locked it self :( and the keys were in the car... FUDGE!

we go inside, call AAA, they send someone out, In the meantime we get a snack, and wait for AAA to call us when someone is there.

So we go back out after 5 minutes just to make sure all is well, i get out there and a Tow truck is out there getting the car on a truck to tow it away. FREAKING CAMPUS apt Lots! Of course we didn't have a tag on the car, which was the whole reason I had parked the car at my house to begin with.

I explained to the guy what had happened and basically he didn't care. He wouldn't drop the car, I asked him what he needed to drop it, so that Aaron wouldn't have to come and get us from the freaking impound lot. He said $50. I paid him, and during all this the AAA guy came, opened the car and left... GRRR.

After feeling super shitty about 1, being late, 2, locking keys in car, 3 almost getting towed and dropping 50 bucks for it. . . i finally got back home, in the car with Aaron and on the way to Toledo. I slept for about 30 minutes just from mental exhaustion and then felt like.. ok I can do this.

I knew it was going to be rough having the kids at home for the week, and then have a double race day but I didn't realize how exhausted I would be.

Finally last night when we got home we crawled into bed about 845... it was still LIGHT out, but we didn't care! We happily passed out till about 6:30 this morning.... and let me tell you. . . i feel SO MUCH BETTER.

Yup, Rain sucks!

2009-07-23T10:26:00.003-04:00

We had our get together at the Clippers yesterday and the dinner and such part was fun/good... but the game did end up getting called due to rain, kind of sucky but oh well!

Now we'll have to find some other time to go catch a game which shouldn't be an issue, I hope we'll have some time and some nice nights to catch some games I really do like going to the new Stadium!

We had tried to plan out our "trip" to be as smooth and easy as possible, Aaron was going to pick me up from home, and then we were going to swing by campus to pick up my cousin from orientation and then head to the stadium together, park for free in my work garage and head to the game! Of course that plan was too good to be true!

My cousin ended up getting done early
Aaron got stuck at work and so.. we improvised.

I went to meet my cousin on campus, he told me he was by Neil Ave, so I told him to head to the CVS on Neil and wait for me there (cuz it was the only thing on Neil I could recall :p)

So I call him when close to campus and he's like.. i'm at the CVS, on Lane, by the Shell... wrong CVS, but thankfully I know my way around campus, not an issue... had it been Aaron picking him up it would have been bad as Aaron and campus, and Aaron and downtown don't = friends! hehe.

So then while I pick them up Aaron also leaves work and arrives in the general downtown vicinity as we parked in my garage. Usually the garage has attendants that you just show them your garage entry device and they wave you in, so after we parked I went out and handed Aaron the garage thing...

Because Aaron has a HUGE aversion to downtown and all things to do with it of course it didn't go smooth, he couldn't get into the garage and then due to traffic and construction and one way streets he ended up driving around the whole of downtown :p

Luckily he made it back to the stadium, only a little drenched.

So the game ended up being a rain out, but they didn't call it until an hour after it was to have started. We were lucky to get a covered area for dinner with the group, and enjoyed just hanging out and such.

Rain Really Messes Things Up!

2009-07-22T11:11:00.002-04:00

Tonight we have a socializer for the group we race with that I helped organize and it's at the Clipper's new stadium! I'm super excited for it, about 90 people, but it's GOING TO RAIN! After all the really nice days we've had the past two weeks this one of all nights is SUPER crap!

Of course it's a rain or shine event but I've been fielding a ton of emails and phone calls from people, and I'm amazed at how a little water affects everything! This is the second racing event that's been affected by the water! Kind of sucks, but I hope it'll all work out tonight and that we get a good event out!

Otherwise.. last night we had our second volleyball game, when we left the house with my cousins and my sister and we felt like we were free for a little while (With a Baby Sitter)! Ha ha! I seriously CAN NOT imagine the feeling of having kids, and feeling "stuck with them" 24/7 and having to entertain them all the time, and keeping track of them.. it's superbly scary to me. Really makes me feel selfish. But also makes me wonder how much of a difference it is when it's your own kid and not merely kids you "borrow." Even looking back at when my sister would come down when she was in middle school or high school we used to have less clashes of opinions and such, and I think it goes back to parenting styles and what kids are taught is ok and isn't and how they learn to push limits and such.

Don't get me wrong it's been fun to have the kids, we put up uppercase living stuff in the guest bedroom together, cooked dinner (on the grill), and had some more ping pong matches! But the serious side of having them around, the non fun stuff, like chores, and having limits, and getting tested on how far they can push on certain things gets old... lol. I guess you just never know how it'll happen till your really in that situation, no matter how many trial runs you think you have.

In the mean time i can just hope it doesn't rain too much tonight!

We have "Kids" for the week!

2009-07-20T11:26:00.003-04:00

This past weekend we went home to visit my mom and came back with KIDS! 2 of them, full grown almost, an 18 year old and a 13 year old for the week!

My 18 year old cousin is going to OSU in the fall, and is here this week for orientation, and is sister decided to come with, and hang out with us!

We have some fun times planned for them between my sis and I/Aaron, but it's also a busy week for us in terms of other commitments so we'll see how they do!

It's kind of fun to have them around because it means we're cooking and such for a "real amount" rather then just the two of us, and having like a "ready to go" group for funness at all times!

Lol.. too bad kids of our own can't be got full grown and ready to go! :p

It's for sure nice to have enough room for all four of us in the house, without being on top of each other like I feel we would have been in the last house, not that our current house is that much bigger then the old place, theres just more living room room!

We made cup cakes last night, went to Mellow Mushroom for dinner (to try things that aren't available everywhere, even though, yes, it's pizza, it's really GOOD pizza!), and then came home and had a ping pong tournament! Quite fun :)

It was funny because my 13 year old cousin wanted to know what we did on a "normal" night and she asked at about 10:35PM, and i said by this time we'd have been asleep after having been tired from the long weekend! She seemed to be happy that in this case we made an exception to have some funs!

I do believe I will be quite tired by the end of this week :)

Doom and gloom!

2009-07-13T08:33:00.002-04:00

Ha.. i was tyring to figure out how to state that the doom that WAS impending HIT over the weekend, thankfully it actually ended up being a very minor issue in the grand scheme of things.

Friday night we headed to the location of our weekends race, hung out, helped set up and such and just tried to cross t's and dot i's.

Saturday morning woke up and were out of the house by 6:38, headed to the event.
Decent morning, really humid, we knew rain was coming was just a matter of when, not really a big deal since we do race in the rain.

The first of four groups of cars was out running, and about half was through we hear THUNDER! EEEK! Thunder means event stops for safety and we wait it out, we can race if it's raining but we don't when there is lightning involved.

Fast forward an hour... we still are having thunder and lightning, so the event gets cancelled.
I was kind of ok with that, theres a certain amount of soggy grossness that even I like to avoid.
We headed home, ended up relaxing, doing some clean up and enjoying are totally RANDOM free day! I took a nap and then we headed back down to the event, as they had said they would try to wait out the rain and storms and see if we could get some fun runs in in the evening (which means you get to "practice the course" just don't get any points or time indication of how you did.

We hung out, had some burgers and such (there was supposed to be a big shin dig after the event but thanks to rain it was a smaller version). Watched some people take fun runs and decided we would avoid it because it would just end up dirtying up the car, and without a time to know how you did, not very useful. . . .

After it started raining again we gave up and headed to see Ice Age 3! Very cute, and totally funny movie! I gave it 4 stars!

Sunday morning we were up and out of the house at 6:35! 3 minutes earlier then the previous morning!!! Lol. I don't even get out of bed that early for WORK let alone be rolling out of the HOUSE by then! CRAZINESS.

We get to the event, get ourselves all set up, enjoy the awesomeness of the day.
Our turn was during the second group of cars, so we waited patiently. Finally it was OUR turn!
My first turn out, I TOTALLY messed up, I got over excited :p and ended up missing a turn point on the course, not a HUGE deal I knew I had 3 more runs to clean it up and make it fast!
I pulled the car back around, got it all ready for Aaron, and he went out and took his first run. . . except about 3/4 of the way through he just rolls off the course to the side... i didn't hear the car running and just kind of see it rolling to a stop :(

Ran over, and by the time I got there other people were helping to push the car of course. It wasn't going of it's own power :(

Aaron as you can imagine was a little perturbed.
He jacked up the car, checked it out and realized he had broken a rear axle.

Relatively an easy fix, and not a HUGE problem, just meant towing the car home, ordering the part and replacing it.

In the mean time one of our competitors offered Aaron his car to drive and so Aaron got to make some runs in it, the car he drove was a little under prepared compared to ours, but it still let him get some times in, so that he could get points for the event which would add into the season.

I was SUPERBLY bummed, i felt like I wasted basically 3 days for NOTHING.
It wasn't even that it was any ones fault, you can't control weather and you can't control normal wear and tear on the car, I was glad the issues were minor, but in the grand scheme of trying to race for 2 days in a row and having such huge fails I was bummed.

At this point Aaron got me a co drive in a friends car, same car as ours, except blue, and a little different in preparation. It was enjoyable but my heart and mind at that point were no longer into it so I didn't do very well.

The car got towed home, Aaron crawled under pulled the broken part, and now this week we'll order the replacement, and he'll get it on there.

Simple enough.

Yay for AAA free tow
Yay for it happening in Columbus and not in Toledo or Indiana where we had been in the previous weeks
Yay for it not causing anything worse
Yay that Aaron knew to pull of course and such.

All in all a good learning experience.

And I think this may have been the impending doom I alluded to last week.
Oops.

:)

Impending Doom?

2009-07-10T10:16:00.002-04:00

Do you ever get that feeling, when everything seems to be going a-ok, or even better then a-ok and you just know yourself, and your luck well enough to know there is a certain "too good to be true" or at least "too good to last" element to it?

It's like an excited nervousness, you go through your brain, listing all the elements in your life
work
husband
family
friends
any other misc obligations

*yup all seem to be in order*

so then you go through you brain thinking which one of those things is closest to hanging on the edge of the cliff, and is going to fall... you pretty much rationalize.. none that you KNOW of, and then the control freak in you who likes to plan and account for things is really frazzled and you've worked this huge knot in the pit of your stomach....

and all you can do is remind your self.. that whatever life brings your way...
you just have to go with the flow and deal
as it happens
and even the planner in you can't plan for EVERYTHING.

damn it.
:)

Underwhelmed

2009-07-09T14:38:00.002-04:00

I've been underwhelmed by bloggin lately, maybe cuz even in it's busyness life has gotten into a routine, and that routine doesn't allow much time for sitting around thinking of share worthy things :p

I kind of like the go go go ness of it, but I miss the sit back relax and just chill times too, and then there is the issue of the house, with us never being there I am so not sure how it still manages to get dirty! Damn it. Sometimes I feel like I spend all the nights of the week that I don't have plans just reorganizing the house just to be gone again for the weekend! Silly? Yes.

Just thought i'd at least check in, say hello, reaffirm my presence, and apologize for my lack of blogging! I'm just busy raceing and cleaning house :) and working of course! and going on Dates with the hubster!!! Which is what we like to do when we spend all our time otherwise busy!

competition is funny

2009-07-06T14:32:00.002-04:00

Competition is funny, in the past I have been about 3 seconds off aaron, and just conceded that I am his tire warmer, along for the ride having fun and being ok with not winning wife.

Yesterday we had rain while we were racing making me end up in 3rd spot; right behind aaron.

Certainly not unusual to be behind him, but unusual to be right behind him, with no other person between us. It made me have a lil hope that I totally could not end up loosing, but had a chance to beat some people. In our event today it was sunny warm and ideal racing conditions. . . I ended up last but not by a lot. Lucky for me our times from the two days were combined for the total score so I ended up 5th out of 6 people. My goal going into the weekend had been to not be last in my class since the people in this event are a higher caliber of driver then you get at local events.

Looking back at times tho I was within 2.1 seconds of Aaron's times, used to be I was happy to be within 3 seoncds of him so slowly I AM improving, but I kind of wonder if that doesn't set me up to fall harder cuz I get a little bit of hope that says heyyy I can do it, then I do do it, just not enough, not quickly improving as fast as I wish I could!

Today I went from 3rd to 5th spot, I knew I had a target on my back, and I let them aim and shoot right at it, but I also felt like I did pretty good my self, I was closer to aaron then I usually am, I improved each of my 3 runs, and I was within the same second as the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place cars!!! Easy to be disheartened, but shouldn't,t be with facts like that to back up the fact that I am improving!!!

Things that make me happy!

2009-07-02T22:38:00.002-04:00

1) A good chick flick (I give the proposal an A), yup Imma sucker for them!
2) enjoyable convo with a friend who I don't get to talk to enough
3) seeing the cop in grandview and being "safe" because I was going under the speed limit PHEW
4) My current hair cut; I have found someone who i trust! to not cut off too much!!!
5) The subs in my car and listening to music with good bass in my car
6) The perfect temperatures we got today, between 65-75! LOVE it!
7) Thursday nights that are technically Friday nights, but that still mean 3 days of NO WORK ahead!
8) My new sun glasses, completely not my style.. but I like them anyway!
9) Getting home and in the house and NOT waking Aaron up!
10) Adriatico's Pizza!

I think that about covers my sentiments for this evening, even the lady that was going 62 in the fast lane on 71, then when I tried to go around here she sped up didn't bother me! :p

Early tomorrow morning we are off to Peru... (Indiana :p ) for the weekend!!!

Crazy Week; Or should probably just say Month.

2009-07-02T08:28:00.002-04:00

June is OVER. 2 days ago actually. I only spent one weekend in town and even that was somewhat of a fluke since it was to take care of a sickly hubster! July looks like it will be in a similar state.

One thing I don't think about spending weekends out of town is the house really suffers, during the week I don't usually do any of the random errands and such that I should, and they pile up for the weekend, but low and behold we're not here for the weekend! Hmm.. flawed theory!

This week has been a good one from the work perspective because tons and tons of people have been out of the office so I've been a bit of a slacker, I'm sure I will pay for this failure next week :p when all the shit is going to hit the fan and I'll be crazy busy!

We're headed to Peru Indiana tomorrow morning-ish, we'll be racing there Saturday and Sunday and then headed back for another week of just barely getting through the week and feeling way over tired! :) Sounds so joyful! Hopefully it will be a little less rough then the previous three day weekend since I wont have spent two days in Canfield, and then the third day racing!

Hope everyone has a very happy fourth! I can't wait for the fireworks! We're planning on going to a little town fair on Saturday night to catch them :)

AC Less Ness

2009-06-26T11:21:00.003-04:00

So my parents have barely EVER turned the air on in the house, my mom hates it, she finds it somewhat suffocating to have the air on all the time so it's always been a sweat it out effect in the summer, now that we have our own house, and happily utilize the air I forget how FUN it is to be AC less!

Thankfully today is only 75 and there is a cool breeze flowing through the house, but if it was like what it had been in cbus this past week I think I would just sit in one place and NOT move for the whole duration of my trip here!

I'm always amazed at the difference in temps just 3 hours can make, and when it's stifling in the summer in Cbus it's calmer and cooler up north, but then the same goes for the winter, and I'd really rather deal with a CBUS winter then a NEOhio winter!

What a difference a day makes . . .

2009-06-26T11:14:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was a rather annoying day!

I've learned I have to spell out everything sometimes at work and that can be really annoying, we're also in a huge stage of transition, so instead of everyone working together we get a lot of oh I thought XYZ was going to do it.. and so it doesn't get done at all.

I'm hoping some of this will be alleviated after our transition occurs, but I fear some it is it just the way the world is anymore and people just don't care and are instead just going through the motions... makes me sad.

Otherwise.. I'm off from work today!!! Yippee! I'm in Canfield, hanging out, I still logged into work :p but just kind of veggin for now, drove through a HUGE rainstorm yesterday getting here, was kind of cool, got to see some wicked lightning, and then at the end of it all a HUGE rainbow!

I guess that's kind of the approach I have to take with work right now, we're in the storming, lightning phase, and hopefully eventually we'll see the rainbow! :)

(man I didn't even mean for those two things to tie together and I somehow got them to!)

Noon On Wednesday

2009-06-24T11:57:00.004-04:00

Which means technically I'm more then half way done with the work week, since I'm off on Friday! I am so wiped this week, but in a really energized way (does that make ANY sense?) :)

I have two pretty big meetings I'm helping to coordinate for two of the VP's I support, both will be tomorrow, so I'll have to bring my a-game tomorrow and hope the meetings go well! :)

Other than that I'm ready for the weekend, heading home to hang with my mom, and just help her out on Thursday night till Saturday, Saturday I'm driving to Toledo, and we're racing there on Sunday!!! It's a larger scale event where all the "hot shoes" get together, of course we're going to go to see how Aaron measure up, and I'll just be along for the ride :p

My brain is currently in a bunch of random places so I might just wrap this up for now and come back to the blog later!

Crazy *8's

2009-06-22T21:34:00.002-04:00

The rules:

1. Mention the person who tagged me (Amanda at Life without Dragons (http://lifewithoutdragons.blogspot.com/)
2. Complete the lists of 8.
3. Tag 8 more people and tell them they've been tagged.

The lists:

Eight things I am looking forward to.
1. Fourth of July fireworks
2. Our trip to Toronto in August
3. My Birthday in September
4. Days off for racing this summer
5. Work stuff to settle down
6. Our Anniversary in October
7. Getting better at Tennis
8. Doing some modifications to my car!

Eight things I did yesterday.
1. Went to Mid Ohio!
2. Watched the Subaru Race car get 3rd place
3. Fell asleep while it was still light out
4. Cooked my husband breakfast :)
5. uploaded pictures from our trip to Mid Ohio
6. Finished a book I was reading
7. Laundry
8. Talked to race car drivers!!!

Eight things I wish I could do.
1.Ride a bike for 20 miles
2. Have a killer tennis serve
3. Dive without being afraid
4. have will power
5. save more money
6. have patience
7. drive without having to adhere to a speed limit
8. Focus on things till they were done rather then be jumping around doing 10 things all at once.

Eight shows I have enjoyed watching.
1. Greys
2. Ugly Betty
3. 90210
4. Gossip Girl
5. Private Practice
6. Brothers and Sisters
7. Desperate House Wives
8. American Dad

Eight favorite fruits.
1. Mango
2. Watermelon
3. Strawberries
4. Pineapple
5. Blueberries
6. Apples
7. Clementines
8. Bananas

Eight places I'd like to travel.
1. Western Canada (Vancouver etc)
2. Turkey
3. Singapore
4. Egypt
5. Japan
6. Spain
7. Monaco
8. Dubai

Eight places I've lived.
1. Punjab India
2. Canfield Ohio
3. Austintown Ohio
4. Columbus, OH
5. Gahanna, Ohio
6. Westerville Ohio
7. TBD
8. TBD

Tagging:
1. Renschke
2. Tiffany
3. Andrea
4. Emily
5. Danica
6. Chad
7. Jan
8. Danelle

Amazing Weekend!

2009-06-22T09:49:00.008-04:00

What a wonderful weekend, and rather unexpectedly!

As previously mentioned we had a totally different weekend planned out for ourselves earlier in the week then we ended up actually executing on, and honestly I am not going to complain for a minute!

We ended up racing ourselves on Saturday morning, then getting some lunch and heading out to my favorite place within an hour radius of our home, MID OHIO Race Course!!! It's a place that every summer when we drive up to it for the first time that year I get super excited, hyper and tense with anticipation for the wonderful ness of it all! I honestly was bouncing up in down in my seat like a little kid driving there, not even going to kid, Aaron can attest because he was just like WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!

I can't explain why I get so excited, I guess because it's like the ultimate play ground, having walked around most of the pits, the paddock, the grandstands, the various vantage points to watch from I feel so lucky that the track is so close to home, and that we know it so well to be able to catch amazing moments of excitement!

Every year when we drive way from the last event of the season I always feel a little sad.

This year, we went and helped work the information desk , and then were free to watch the races we wanted to!

There was also a Subaru Spec B (my car) racing, which was SO AWESOME! It ended up finishing 3rd place which was GREAT! We bought Subaru Racing shirts too!! YAY!

Totally Cheesy Shot of me and the Subaru Race Car Drivers

Aaron and the Racers!

The RACE CAR!

My Car with the Race Tower in the far background!

So I got to spend the weekend at my favorite track with my favorite person!
:) :) :)

Oh IL's :)

2009-06-22T09:45:00.003-04:00

So as I previously mentioned, I was not really looking forward to this weekend and was a bit salty with the IL's for bailling on the plan of coming down and hanging out. . .

Well we made the best of the situation and made alternative plans, which involved our second favorite obligation (after our families) RACING!!!!

Come to find out the IL's called Aaron on friday and said hey we still on for the weekend?!?!?

Aaron ended up putting his foot down and saying, hey you guys cancelled so we made other plans, Sorry.

I WAS PISSED, just that there was so much flip flopping going on, not sure why either.

Blogger Mile Stone!

2009-06-18T14:35:00.002-04:00

ha :)

I'm not sure i have made this very obvious but my lucky number is 17, and as of yesterday I have 17 formal blog followers!!! How exciting, my google analytics haven't actually been working for some time so I don't know how many readers I really get; but even the fact that I haven't really shared my blog with too many people and still have managed 17 is pretty exciting to me.

My 17th formal follower is my friend Tiffany who I met in a summer program for gifted writers we did at Bowling Green after my sophomore year of high school; she was my roommate! She and I have maintained contact one way or another since then, alot of credit is owed to her!

When I moved to Columbus for school it was a lot easier for us to keep up as she lived here then and it was awesome! She's one of the few people who is always ready to go see a movie with me, always shares books me and is just in general appreciative of my inanities! When she moved to Florida to be closer to her family she took away a huge part of me with her, but lucky for me she comes back frequently and hopefully she'll even end up back her permanently sooner rather than later :)

Anyway! Just wanted to thank the readership, I really do appreciate every comment you leave me, whether it is to make me laugh, or to let me know you can relate to a situation I'm dealing with at a certain time.

It really does make me smile, and make me feel just a little less insane!!!

You guys are awesome!

I never realize how annoying irrelevant advertising can be...

2009-06-18T10:16:00.002-04:00

until about a month ago when I started getting the "Father's Day is coming" type of ad emails from all the places whose email I subscribe to!

I almost wish you could opt out from certain holidays, lol before I got married and christmas wasn't anything I really worried about but I did enjoy the sales, so I was ok with it, now is the first I feel like i'm being slapped in the face with totally and completely irrelevant advertising and I seriously want to slap IT in the face!

It's not so much that it makes me mad as it does sad.

I hope everyone gets to enjoy the day with their dad, or make it special for him in some other way, even if it means not being able to be with him in person.

I'm also rather annoyed with Aaron's mom, in efforts to make the best of Fathers Day with the father we do have (Aaron's Dad) we had invited them down for the weekend, Saturday we're racing and we figured we'd just hang out on Sunday... but she's got ulterior motives planned for herself, and so is totally overlooking what Aaron's dad may want (which is to hang out with his son and watch him race) and she veto'd the idea of coming to Columbus and didn't even call herself and tell US, she made Aaron's dad do it! LAMENESS!! It's funny how she forgets that we went all out for Mothers Day this year and gallivanted around Amish Country with her because she wanted to do it. :(

So now Aaron and I will just spend Father's day without either of our dads.. kind of lame, but guess you just have to go with the flow.