Goals, Gratitudes, & Update

The last few weeks have been all over the place but there is much to be thankful for and much that has been accomplished:

---2 care packages constructed and 2 notes sent off (all of which definitely lifted my mood)

---2 pairs of holey, old running shoes sent to Nike-Reuse-A-Shoe. If they were in better condition I would have sent them to one of the organizations that provides shoes to lower income countries....but they were pretty beat up. So this way their parts can hopefully be reused!

---New furniture is settled: Last weekend we got the king sized bed and yesterday the hub picked up our sectional.  Unfortunately it appears I ordered the wrong lay-out of the sectional, so we'll have to rearrange the furniture yet again to make it all fit correctly, but I suppose flexibility is the key.  And we finally have all the furniture that we need. Might be a couple more shelves/desk but that's it.  It's nice to have those purchases completed!

---Got the discount applied to our car insurance for the state of Louisiana and paid the six month premium in full yesterday. Spent some time yesterday better organizing a calendar of when my paychecks will arrive and which one is designated to my student loan payment.

---This is the first week of my 7-10 mile goal, and I made it!  Even though I didn't necessarily want to run the last two days....the goal got me there. Although I'm pretty sure it wasn't much over 7 miles, but maybe 8. My muscles are tightening in different ways now.

---Am looking forward to visits from friends and family. We purchased tickets for my mom and Granny to come out in August. Granny turns 99 and will finally make it the Big Easy (NOLA: New Orleans). Due to work/conference schedules, I'm going to miss a buddy of mine who is there next week but he's talking about visiting here for a bit in Oct/Nov! Another friend will be presenting at a conference in Austin in Sept, so work schedules presenting we might try to meet up with him again. And lastly one of my MPH gals landed a CDC fellowship in Atlanta (awesome!!) and may be able to stop by on her move in Sept/Oct. Definitely exciting!

--I just discovered Tom's Shoes.....and may be ordering a pair. I'm a lil nervous though as my ankles are really thin and have a tendency to pull out of closed back shoes......I wish there was a pair of mules...

---The dogs continue to keep us occupied with tons of smiles and love! I actually just looked out the back window and saw the two dogs and Major all sitting in a triangle.  I'm also cat-sitting for a coworker who has been on vacation this week.

---The hub has a new road bike and has taken up biking with several of the other guys in his group. This week they covered over 30 some miles in one ride. Its nice to see him working out other than his required physical training, even if this means I'll never get a P90X partner!

---Pulled my first vine-ripened tomato yesterday!!  We have about three more turning. I've picked two jalapenos and there are quite a few just about ready. The bush beans are just about done, but I'm pretty impressed with the handful I was able to get!  And the basil has bolted which I'm not entirely sure why it did that....plan on finally ordering the worms this week. The grass in the backyard continues to spread....and we had glorious rain pours yesterday!!

---I'm also thinking about doing some postings on job searching and resumes.....

---I spent the most amazing solo evening on Thursday: red wine, cheese pizza, dark chocolates, smiling dogs, the second CNN toxin special, and then Its Complicated--a chick flick and very entertaining!  Simple evenings are the ones that replenish my soul and keep me feeling alive.....

Hope everyone has had a great week!  Enjoy your weekend!