Crazy Busy Fun Holiday Season!

This is harder than I thought to keep up with!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving here at home with Andrew's Mom. Quiet, aside from Andrew and I coughing (darn sickness won't go away!) and very enjoyable. A delicious turkey from Black Mountain Farmer's Market! I went with an all natural one and had a delicious container of brine that I had been wanting to try and it was awesome! Go me!



This weekend coming up is going to be crazy! Tonight Andrew is working the Warren Haynes Pre-Jam at the Orange Peel, tomorrow is the Girls on the Run 5K, and Sunday I am running a half marathon benefiting the Victory Junction Camp. Check out my fundraising page!
Will let everyone know how it all went come Monday!

Add On - Hatteras Island

Couldn't smush everything into one. Still trying to figure out html, etc.
So last weekend, we took a trip to Hatteras for a potential work item. Such a gorgeous place and a great time of year. And Abbey LOVES the beach! We came home with a HUGE box of sweet potatos, and some fresh shrimp, and without Andrew's Keen's. Don't leave them on top of the car and then drive for an hour!

Time to catch up!

So it has been a while since I updated this and I really weant to keep track of all these things, but it is hard at times with so much going on! We have been all around the place and have had a great time doing it.
At the end of October we went to Mau for the XTERRA World Championships. I know, it must have been hard for us to have to go to Maui to work! We took an extra day and a half at the end to do some fun time as well. We spent a day lounging at the beach, Andrew went snorkeling, and then we got up VERY early on our last day to hike up and see the sun rise at Haleakala. Simply Gorgeous! We also went and toured the Ali'i Kula Lavender Farms. Smelled great!
Afterwards we stopped in Seattle and spent a couple nights with Andrew's friend William. On that trip we actually visited all three restaurants Adam from Man Vs. Food went to! It was great! Seafood, burgers, and breakfast - oh, and bacon salt!

Full Weekend and Now Off to Utah!

This was a great weekend! Very full!
Andrew worked on a Habitat for Humanity house, I got a haircut, we left Abbey alone for the first, and second, time out of the kennel, I competed in the 29th Annual World Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle Competition (and got second!), the Brewgrass festival, a 100+ mile bike race (helped at, not raced) up to Grandfather Mountain in the cold rain, and now we are in the final stages of packing for a trip to Ogden, Utah for the XTERRA National Championships!

I will put up some pics from the weekend and Utah soon!

Abbey

So on May 19th this year Andrew got a call from Jeremy saying - Aren't you two looking for a puppy? To which Andrew said, um, no. But Jeremy brought this sweet little puppy over that had been found over at Camp Rockmont/LEAF and he started rethinking it. I came home from the gym that night and saw him with a puppy on a rope. And I tell you, my heart melted - she was too cute. So, after putting up posters, reporting her to the Humane Society, taking down posters a week later cause we loved her so much - we had ourselves a puppy.

We immediately took her to Pisgah that night and decided to name her after a beer. Porter and Stout are not girl names, so we went with Abbey. And for total disclosure, her middle name is Wingnut. Andrew had told his friend Russ back in college that if he ever had a dog, he would name it Wingnut - so she is Abbey Wingnut. And she is suchh a great addition to our lives! Dogs are so amazing, and she is such a chill and sweet pup. She goes with the flow - runs wild with other dogs playing and having a great time, and naps with us while we watch NASCAR! And she is growing! She loved the beach - we were along the Eastern Shore two weeks ago - and she loved chasing seagulls and running in the sand.

Full Weekend

So, Andrew and I had chatted awhile back about doing a blog to keep track of all the great places we have traveled to and all the cool things we get to do. So here it is!

This past weekend was full - half marathon, BBQ's, church, playing with the puppy, and deck work!

I ran the Asheville Citizen Times Half Marathon Saturday morning with some great girlfriends. Andrew drove Natalie, Kriste, Virginie, and I and Abbey (puppy dog!) downtown bright and early. Perfect weather for the run, nice and cool and overcast.

My knee and hip have been hurting, so I am very pleased to have gotten a new PR - 1:58:33! Now we are all thinking about the Bethel Half Marathon and the Rock the Quarry 4 miler. Of course Nat and Kriste are signed up for the Black Mountain Marathon - that will be my next decision...

Saturday night we went to our friend Bill's for an awesome BBQ complete with Pisgah Beer! We skipped out pretty early though cause I was exhausted!

Sunday morning was church at St James where we got married last year.

In the afternoon we went to Camp Rockmont for the 1st Annual Swim With Your Dog Day! I hope to find a picture or two from other folks - but it was a blast. Abbey had SO much fun. There were a good 20-30 dogs there just tearing around and swimming, and running across the field, and jumping off the dock, and having a blast! It was very cute and a lot of fun. And last night Abbey slept HARD.
Interspersed in all of that Andrew spent time working on the deck - which we hope to have done by Thanksgiving;) It is going to look great - he is just cleaning up what was already there, but sanding it, staining it, replacing nasty boards, etc. Then we will have a celebration BBQ!