Halloween 2012 or the Trick or Treat We Almost Missed

Halloween 2012 was rescheduled to Sunday, November 4 due to the horrific winds and rain from Hurricane Sandy. We were blessed to not have near the damage of New York and New Jersey, but we still lost power and had lots of downed lines and trees.

You would think Sunday would be perfect - no work, stay home all day and wait for candy. But we had to dash to Oxford and back to drop Meg back to Miami! Could a group of 3 girls known for piddling make it back in time for 6pm trick or treat?

As we neared Cleveland, Bridget kept worrying she was going to miss it. No matter how many times I assured her that through by skillful speeding and breaking the law, we were going to make it!

As we pulled into the driveway, I sent her upstairs to change and, within minutes, Super Girl appeared and ready to trick or treat with 45 minutes to spare!

Happy Halloween to all and to all a good night!

Happy 19th Birthday, Pumpkin!

Pumpkin treated us to a wonderful weekend trip home to celebrate her birthday. We did all the fun birthday weekend stuff, including our annual Pettiti's Holiday Open House. Megan chose Players on Madison for her birthday dinner because they make her favorite pizza combination of bacon and feta cheese. Afterwards, we all sat at the bar at Malley's and enjoyed yummy ice cream sundaes and sang Happy Birthday!

I love you with all my heart, Pumpkin!

xoxo,
Mom

Bridget's First Race in Seattle

Exhausting getting here, but loving it once we got some sleep. Kimpton hotel did not disappoint! Great location, fantastic modern decor and amenities that always appeal to us.

Thanks to not being able to adjust to the 3-hour time change, we got up early and headed over to Pike Place Market. We enjoyed little pastry puffs and cafe au lait at Le Pannier for breakfast while B enjoyed a coffee macaroon and hot chocolate (although she drank more of Greg's cafe au lait than her hot chocolate-that's my girl!).

Wandered around some shops, darted in Mountain Hardware for a rain jacket since MY rain jacket seems to have taken up temporary (or permanent) residence at Miami University. To escape the drizzle, we lunched at the Taphouse Grille and enjoyed a couple of yummy Pints from good pacific northwest brewers. This place had 160 craft beers on tap. Wow!

After lunch, we headed over to the Space Needle. What an amazing view! The Space Needle was originally designed for the 1962 World's Fair and has such an interesting history with the design starting out on a napkin. And besides, this was one of those must see sights while in Seattle.

After wandering around various neighborhoods and enjoying the cool vibe, we found our way back to the hotel for a short rest period (thank goodness because Seattle is very very hilly!). Dinner was supposed to be Brouwer's, but they have a 21 age limit so off to plan B. We shopped a bit while in the Fremont neighborhood (which actually reminded us of our own Tremont) and found the most amazing cycling lifestyle shop called Hub and Bespoke! There were SO many items I could have bought here! Dinner ended up being at Norm's, which is also known as a Canine Pub. Yes, owners and dogs. We had the best time petting dogs, drinking great pints, and I had the BEST CHILI EVER. They use cocoa powder and peanut butter instead of flour to thicken the chili. It had black beans, corn, tender chunks of chicken, stewed tomatoes. The bowl of chili and a pint of Manny's Pale Ale warmed me up nicely on this cold, rainy day. Bridget even told the waiter it was the BEST grilled cheese and she ate ALL of it. Back to the hotel to rest before Bridget's big race morning.

Although it was windy and chilly race morning, there was no rain-phew! The packet pick-up was easy and, while we waited for the race to begin, Bridget was beyond excited to play on the playground, which had one of the best zip lines. This year, we went as Vampires. Don't we look scary?

As we lined up at the start, the race organizers treated us to pre-race stretching and exercises set to fun music. And then we were off! The first quarter mile started flat, but that wouldn't last for long. About a third of a mile in, we were greatest by a really steep hill. Ouch! Ok, ok, I survived that one with a nice shuffle. I no sooner caught up with Leonardo, Raphael, Michaelangelo, and Donatello (the best group of running Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles) that I had to tackle nasty hill #2! Ok, this will not result in a PR, but the scenery made it all worthwhile! Mile 2 flattened out as I passed a few super heroes, a family of explorers with their kid as a lion, and Wayne and Garth (who would pass me in the last half mile). The space between mile 2 and 3 was mostly along the water with some wicked wind, but amazing views. And then it was time for the final stretch to be greeted by Bridget and Greg at the finish line.

Next up was Bridget's turn at the Kids 1k Fun Run. Bridget was so excited to start her first race. When they said GO, she took off with lightening fast speed. I couldn't even catch up with her! My guess was she was clocking in somewhere between a 6:30-7:00 minute mile!

She finally stopped at the turnaround and I was able to catch up. She was so excited in the final stretch, but nothing compared to the look of pure joy when she received her finisher's ribbon! When she ran to Greg, she told him that she finished her first race and got her first ribbon! I love this kid to pieces! And that's how Bridget helped to check off our 47th state!

We were also treated to some very clever costumes, including:
Honey Boo Boo
Running of the Bulls (one guy as the bull and 5 others dressed as Pamplonians)
Wayne & Garth
Pac Man
Family with husband as dog on leash and jogging stroller
Popcorn kernel
Gangnam Style
Bane from Batman-scary!
Unicorn

Greg, who is the BEST travel explorer of them all, found us a wonderful Sunday brunch spot at Skillet. Afterwards, Bridget got her "promised" stuffy for being so good on this trip, I got a new Lululemon running top and a warm infinity scarf, and a cool scarf for Meg (who was stuck back in the dorm). Greg indulged us with a trip to another coffee house, then time to relax, have dinner, pack and return back to our day jobs.

Seattle, we will be back. Thank you for your hospitality and coffee!

State 47 Here We Come!

The airfares are always more affordable in October, which is when I usually pile on as many races. Last year, my family and I tackled 5 events during October (2-5ks, 1-10k, half marathon, metric century ride). And this weekend, we will tackle another race - a 5k in Seattle, Washington. This is also a tradition for Bridget and me. For the last 3 years, she and I have been running a Halloween race together with the help of the jogging stroller. But this year, Bridget will be tackling her first Kids Dash and SHE will be the one checking off our 47th state!

Our first costume was Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy. Last year we were both witches. And this year, we are vampires - complete with the teeth!

So I will leave you with a few fun facts about our next state of Washington:

1. Seattle is home to the first revolving restaurant, 1961.

2. Washington state produces more apples than any other state in the union.

3. Washington state has more glaciers than the other 47 contiguous states combined.

4. Everett is the site of the world's largest building, Boeing's final assembly plant

5. The highest point in Washington is Mount Rainier. It was named after Peter Rainier, a British soldier who fought against the Americans in the Revolutionary War.

6. The Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge at Evergreen Point is the longest floating bridge in the world. The bridge connects Seattle and Medina across Lake Washington.

7. Washington is the birthplace of both Jimi Hendrix (Seattle) and Bing Crosby (Tacoma).

8. The oldest operating gas station in the United States is in Zillah.

9. The world's first soft-serve ice cream machine was located in an Olympia Dairy Queen.

10. Spokane was the smallest city in size to host a World's Fair. - 1974

11. By the turn of the 20th century, Aberdeen had the distinction of being "the roughest town west of the Mississippi" because of excessive gambling, violence, extreme drug use and prostitution (the city remained off-limits to military personnel into the early 1980s).

12. The percentage of non-religious people in Washington is the highest of any state, and church membership is among the lowest of all states.

We are so excited about visiting Pike Place Market, the space needle, visiting the waterfront to trick or treat and just enjoying the drizzle of Seattle!

How Easy Is This?

I came across this from Pinterest (I know, who doesn't use Pinterest?!) and love how easy it is to make. Simply take an old sweater, make a cut, sew back the edges, sew in a ribbon. And look what a beautiful holiday sweater you have!

Easy peasy, right?

Fun in Fargo

Well, that was short (that's what she said!).

My flight schedule from Cleveland to Denver to Fargo was unbelievably lucky. Normally, I find United frustrating, but everything worked out perfectly THIS TIME. I was originally supposed to have a 2.5 hour layover in Denver, which would be ok since they have a New Belgium Brewery bar/restaurant near my gate. I could kick back, have a Shift beer, relax....on second thought, probably not the best thing to do the night before a race. My plane from Cleveland arrived a little early and the earlier flight from Denver to Fargo (which my sister-in-law was on) was delayed. With Kim's help delaying the gate attendant and my clumsy run from B33 to B89, I was able to make the earlier connection and be the last person boarding the plane!

Let me tell you, Fargo is a sleepy little town. It's experiencing massive growth due to the natural gas and oil industries, but at 8:00 p.m. no one was to be found. Fortunately, we found an Old Chicago Pizza place near our hotel, had a pretty darn good pizza, a really good pint and relaxed before checking in.

Race Morning. Kim is the perfect race partner. Totally relaxed, loves a good breakfast, and doesn't get stressed out about races. Heck, she hadn't made up her mind whether she was running the half marathon or the 10k until the start line! She went with the 10k, as did I, and with her help I was able to shave almost 30 seconds off my previous 10k and earn a PR at 1:02:38 according to the official results! Woohoo! I have to admit that I wished I was better shape because I really believe I could have hit the one hour mark if I had more than one training run each week. But I'm happy with the effort I had.

The race itself was terribly boring and uneventful. It was advertised as going through some of Fargo's newer neighborhoods and I was a bit excited about seeing more of Fargo. I was thinking like Tremont, Ohio City, Gordon Arts like we have here. Nope, NEWER neighborhoods meant NEW HOMES not yet finished. We literally snaked in and out of new developments on a concrete trail.

The finish line was funny because they passed out bottled water and beef sticks. Beef sticks! You can imagine the smell at the finish line! I love a good beef jerky so I held on to mine and shared it with Jameson (my black lab) when I got home. We finished inside the Scheels Hockey Arena, which was cool. In the vendor area, they served peanuts with candy corn in cups, hot chicken noodle soup, oatmeal cookies, apples and bananas. Pretty nice finish treats.

We stopped at the Smiling Moose for a great little brunch, dashed back to the hotel to quickly pack and clean up, then off to the airport to head home.

Thanks, Kim, for your motivating during the race and for helping me check off our 46th state!

Fargo, Here I Come!

Last week, Fargo was hit by an early snow storm bringing 4 inches of snow! I'm scheduled to run a 10k race in Fargo with my sister-in-law, Kim, and I'm hoping it doesn't look like the picture above!

So, in the meantime, I'll leave you with some fun facts about my 46th state!

1. The town of Rugby is the geographical center of North America. A rock obelisk about 15 feet tall, flanked by poles flying the United States and Canadian flags marks the location.

2. Milk is the official state beverage. I think I might have to have a glass before I leave!

3. This name Roughrider State originated in a state-supported tourism promotion of the 1960s and 70s. It refers to the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry that Theodore Roosevelt organized to fight in the Spanish-American War.

4. North Dakota grows more sunflowers than any other state.

5. Lawrence Welk left his home in Strasburg on his birthday in 1924 to pursue his musical career. On July 2, 1955, he made his debut on national television. The Lawrence Welk Show was produced for 26 years and today reruns of the popular program air weekly throughout the United States and foreign countries.

6. Kenmare is the Goose Capital of North Dakota. Kenmare is the hunting haven of the north with an annual snow goose count being over 400,000 birds.

7. Flickertail refers to the Richardson ground squirrels which are abundant in North Dakota. The animal flicks or jerks its tail in a characteristic manner while running or just before entering its burrow.

I'll only be in Fargo for 24 hours and tackling a 10k. A short trip for a short race!