Who Takes A Vacation?

I do! And that's where I've been for the past couple weeks. Well, actually, we got back from vacation last Sunday at about this time. After vacations you're supposed to feel rested, right? Not the case for me. After driving in the car for about 17 hours back from Florida and then driving to Philadelphia and back just the other day, I've been a little tuckered out. But, I'm back now and ready to rock and roll.

Who's always ready to rock and roll? Rollins is! We got him groomed right before we left for vacation so he would be clean and handsome when he visited his grandparents. He got a bandana from the groomers as well. He looked so cute I couldn't help myself.

Our first stop on this vacation was Philadelphia. As part of my shedding for the wedding plan I've also been training for the Broad Street Run which is a 10-mile run in Philadelphia the first weekend in May. Bobby has done the run for the past few years, but this was the first year that I signed up to do it. I'm not a big runner. I don't particularly enjoy it (until very recently I lived by the rule to only run when being chased and I'm not often chased) and the most I'd run before starting my training was 4 miles, not even half of what I would have to run in the race.

I managed to get injured about 2 weeks before the run. Yes, my timing is impeccable. But, I got treatment and some pain meds (doctor prescribed of course) and made it through the 10 miles in 1:37:53! I don't get excited about much when it comes to running, but I was very excited about this. My goal was a 10-minute mile (1:40 total running time) since that had been about the pace I trained at. Since I didn't run for a week and a half before the race due to my injury (knee if you're wondering) I was thrilled with my time. Not only had I finished, but I had beaten my goal. Best of all I beat Bobby by 1 second (he'll say he let me win, and he did) and I got a shiny medal for my accomplishment. I also finished better than more than half of the women who ran the race. I was really proud. I was also really sore the next day.

After my big 10-mile extravaganza I ate whatever I wanted that day and Bobby and I treated ourselves to spending the rest of the week in Florida with my parents. We drove down (so we could bring Rollins with us, he loves to swin in my parent's pool) in our pretty new Jeep...

Bobby's dream car. Isn't she pretty? The fun part, other than riding in a Jeep of course, was that we didn't tell my parents we had gotten a new car so when we pulled up in the driveway they had no idea. It also resulted in my dad deciding that perhaps it was time for he and my mom to become owners of a new Jeep. They haven't purchased one yet, but it may not be too far off... sorry mom.

Once we were safely in St. Augustine a week of relaxation and fun in the sun ensued! Rather than recap all the details for you, because that's boring, here are some pictures (mostly of Rollins) that chronicle our trip. First up... the pool!

If you can't tell from the video, Rollins loves the pool. He swam just about nonstop the entire time we were there. My parents pool now has less water and a lot more dog hair than it did before we got there.

Rollins didn't just enjoy the pool, he enjoyed the beach as well. He frolicked in the waves and ran around with some puppy friends he made on our daily walks. This dog lives the life. He even managed to squeeze in a couple afternoon naps with his daddy.

Laying around by the pool, walking the beach and taking naps weren't the only things we did. We also frolicked around on the golf course during a practice round at TPC Sawgrass for The PLAYERS Championship.

For those that know anything about TPC Sawgrass this is the famous 17th hole. A lot of the golf balls hit don't make it to the green on the first shot.

As part of my Christmas gift from Bobby this year he bought me tickets to see Lady Antebellum in Jacksonville. They're my favorite country band and to top it off Darius Rucker was going to open for them. For those who don't know, that's Hootie... as in Hootie and the Blowfish. Needless to say I was very excited for the show.

Mr. Rucker was great, sang some Hootie classics which I appreciated.

Lady A didn't disappoint either.

On our last night, we dressed ourselves up in more than the bathing suits we had been wearing most of the week and had a nice dinner out with my parents before we embarked on our monster drive back to Connecticut.

We clean up pretty well.

If You Can't Stand the Heat... Stay Out of the Kitchen

As I'm sure everyone is aware, most of the U, S of A is melting and we're all experiencing one heck of a heat wave. I live in Connecticut. You know, New England, the northeast, where this winter we got the most snow in a calendar month since some date I can't remember. But, it was a long time ago, definitely before I lived in Connecticut, probably before I was born. Here's some evidence to prove it.

That's Rollins, our dog, and you can see that the snow is almost as high as the chain-link fence.

This is our "weather station" (a gift to Bobby from his brother) that we keep in the kitchen because we like to know what the temperature is outside. Although today I'd rather now know because it's so disgusting. That' right, it says 108.1 degrees outside. I didn't realize I had moved to Phoenix overnight. You'll also notice that it's a much cooler 93.5 degrees in the kitchen. The worst part is, it's actually refreshing to come in the house from outside.

We don't have air conditioning in the house because we have radiators for heat so there's no ventilation system in which to pump cool air through the house to keep it under a balmy 93 degrees during these beloved heat waves. However, last year through a stroke of brilliance and getting tired of sweating while sleeping with the fan on full blast and no sheets, purchased ourselves a window air conditioner for our bedroom. That air conditioner is my new best friend. Normally we only use it at night for sleeping and sometimes during the day when it's really hot for Rollins. Yes, he's very spoiled. As of late however, we've been leaving the AC on all day, (on economy to save some energy) and holing up in the bedroom because it's just too uncomfortable to be anywhere else in the house... including the kitchen.

I really wanted to keep up the stamina of a cupcake a week, and have been debating about when to bake this week's cupcake because of the temperature. I almost did it today thinking, how much hotter can the oven really make the house at this point? So what if the can of solid fat that was sitting on the counter from taco night returned to its previously occupied liquid state during the course of the day. Maybe it'll do me some good and I'll sweat off a few pounds. My beach vacation is right around the corner! Plus, I can always retreat to the bedroom and the AC when I can't stand it anymore.

But, the more I thought about it I decided today wasn't the day for baking. I'm already working up a sweat just sitting still, mixing and stirring might equate to a full-fledged workout, and that runs the risk of me sweating into the cupcake batter. Gross. I would never think of ruining a cupcake that way. So, instead of baking and working up more of a sweat, I did my best to stay cool... and so did Rollins.