Back to Reality . . .

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to travel down to beautiful Destin, Florida for some time at the beach.  I've taken this trip each of the past 3 Aprils for the Fudpuckers Volleyball Tournament.  My roommate always plays in the tournament and it's fun to watch her, but for me, this 4-day mini-vacation is all about laying on the beach doing nothing but soaking up the sun and drinking some ice-cold Coors Light.  Honestly, it's a little slice of heaven!

And of course, on the Monday morning we have to leave to head back to real life, it's always slightly depressing.  However, this year, what I was greeted with on Tuesday morning as I returned to the office made my return to reality even more depressing . . . or should I say disgusting.  This is what was at my desk on Tuesday . . .

That's right folks, I was greeted by a mousetrap . . . at my desk.  Who does this little critter think he (or she) is?  I mean how rude to attack my place of work as I'm coming back from vacation and trying to readjust.  Diving back into the real world is hard enough after a few days away, and now I have to watch out for rodents?!?!?!  I might just have to take a "sick" day to deal with this!  :)

Anyway, just wanted to share the "extracurricular" activity that's happening in my office.  Anyone want to head back to Florida with me?

I almost peed my pants . . .

To get to my friends in time. This past Saturday morning, I woke up at the ungodly time of 5:30 AM to make the drive to Lexington for a great day at Keeneland with the best friends a girl could ask for. I opted out of driving the night before because- and this won't surprise any of you who know me decently well- I have a severe case of road rage, and the traffic I would have encountered on Friday night would have definitely put me over the edge. So I figured I would save the other drivers on the road (and myself) from certain disaster by waiting until morning.

My drive went by fairly quickly thanks to the super-sized Vanilla Iced Latte from McDonald's and my new CDs (thanks Drew!). However, also thanks to the Vanilla Iced Latte, I found myself with an extremely full-bladder about 45 minutes from my destination. This did not fit into my plan, and nothing was going to stand in the way of me getting to my friends or Keeneland on time! So . . . I drove on. I drove the full length of the Bluegrass Parkway and managed to keep myself together until I reached my planned orange juice and champagne stop (a girl has got to have Mimosas at Keeneland right?). And, after I had relieved myself and picked up my party supplies, my friends and I were off to the races!

Now, I'm not telling you this story to impress you with the size of my bladder or to highlight my extreme dedication to sticking to a plan at all costs. I'm sharing this with you because as I was driving and wondering if my bladder would in fact hold out until I made it off the highway, I realized how blessed I am to have friends I would honestly consider peeing my pants for. I mean I was so incredibly excited to see these people, I was willing to go against the laws of nature and ignore a basic bodily function! But, that's what these women are worth to me. That's the impact they've had and continue to have on my life. It's been four years (crazy!) since we've graduated and gone our separate ways, but whenever we get together it feels like we are all living at 325 Columbia Terrace again, sharing the community bathrooms and eating Kevin's extremely unhealthy but oh-so-good family dinners. These friendships have been some of the greatest blessings in my life, and I wouldn't be who I am without these women. Their love and support is unconditional, and I can only hope I give those same things back to each of them.

Well, I could go on forever . . . but I won't. I'll just leave you with a picture of these wonderful women from this past weekend. I mean let's be honest, who wouldn't pee their pants for these girls??

Way Back When . . .

This is my dad . . . with hair . . . in a high school cooking class. I know what you are thinking-- he was a knockout and the ladies were undoubtedly crawling all over him.

I randomly found this picture on my dad's newly established Facebook account. One of his friends was kind enough to tag him in it, giving his oh-so-creative daughter easy access! And, as I believe any good daughter would do, I decided to use it to bring a little joy to myself and my blog readers.

But, unexpectedly, finding this picture did more than just give me a good laugh. It made me think about all the memories my dad and I have shared, and it made me grateful that the man in this picture grew up to be the bald-headed, soft-spoken, hard-working, incredibly caring man I am lucky enough to call my father.

So, while I'm most likely going to take extra precaution to make sure none of my middle or high school photos are ever within the reach of my children, I hope that if they do somehow stumble across one, they will be reminded (after a good, long, hard laugh) of all the good times they've had with their mom.

Putting My Best Foot Forward

I'd like you to meet the newest member of my shoe family. These bad boys are going to carry me back into the running world! I've designated tomorrow as Day 1 on my road to running recovery, so I took some time yesterday to get some new running shoes. Now, I'll be honest and say I can always think up a reason to buy new shoes, but this is actually a legitimate and functional purchase. "They" say that you should replace your running shoes every 6 months, and the pair I've been wearing around (notice I didn't say "that I've been running in") are about 3 times that old, so I've been due for some new kicks for quite some time now.

I decided to get serious about my return to the running world so I got refitted and even bought some arch supports since apparently I land on the inside of my foot with every stride. My friend at the running store guaranteed that the arch supports would help me enjoy my running a lot more, while allowing me to run faster and farther. Hopefully these $35 pieces of foam and plastic live up to those promises!

So, all in all, I feel ready to get back out there. I've got new gear and the promise of warm and sunny weather to keep me motivated! So, wish me luck as my new shoes and I set out on our first 3 miles of the season!

Happy Easter!

Lauren