Home Sweet Home

I'm home in Cincinnati for my own little spring break! I came back for Easter and decided to take the whole week off work. Yes, a whole week. I haven't had a day off this year. The break was long over due and much needed.

I sang Easter Vigil and both Easter masses with my dad. Jude taught me the "Jesu" chorus for the meditation song. It felt good to learn something new. Overall, the masses were great and Fr. Stan's first-person version of the resurrection homily was quite moving. It was great to finally have an Easter with warm weather. I can't remember the last time the sun was out for Easter.

Monday I tried to get back on track with the marathon training. While doing my 16 mile run a few weeks ago, my knee got tight so I took a break from the training to let it heal. I was supposed to run 18 miles over the weekend, but I skipped that due to the traveling and Easter festivities. My dad and I ran downtown from Friendship park to the Reds' stadium. My dad made it 3 miles. I went on to do 6 and then the 78 degree weather got the best of me and I decided to stop. It's a good thing I did. I came home with crispy red shoulders and a red face from forgetting to wear sunscreen. Another 2 hours out there would have been really bad!

That evening, went to dinner with Aunt Nette, Uncle Frank, Thomas, Frankie and Lauren. I wasn't expecting anyone except Aunt Nette, so it was cool that everyone else came to. That was a nice surprise.

Tuesday, Mom and I spent the day with Aunt Stephanie. She looks amazing from coming out of such a serious surgery. It was sad to see her in a neck brace, but seemed to get around alright. Her dog, Purdy, is so cute! He thinks he's bigger than he is and wants to guard Aunt Stephanie at all times. I think my mom wore him out after taking him down the road for a walk. He took lots of naps the rest of the day. It was very nice to be with Aunt Stephanie and sit out in the nice weather in the peaceful country. Aunt Stephanie also showed us how to make our own vanilla extract. It looked easy, so I'll have to give it a shot when I get back. Then, I'll need to find out what to do with it after it's made. Maybe there is some sort of cookie or cake that would taste great with real vanilla extract.

Yesterday, I met my realtor, Eric, at the condo. I found out the day before that I would have two showings on Thursday, so it worked out great. I wanted to give the place a once over and clean before the showings. Right away when we pulled up to the building my heart sank. My neighbors' laziness and pets have made the outside look shabby. I immediately picked up the cigarette butts from outside (I think they are from Chad... booo!) The dogs peed away patches of grass, so I couldn't do anything about that. Since the next day was garbage day, I took out everyone's trash from the side of the building. Hopefully, the storm we had overnight didn't send all the trash all over the place. Once inside, the kitchen and living room were fine. What a relief. Dad and I were going to run, and if Aunt Nette called back she was going to join us, so I went into Chad's room to get ready. I walked in to his bathroom and realized it would need a scrub before the potential home buyers came through. So, I started scrubbing. Then I realized it was going to be a project. I was so upset. I thought if Chad wasn't going to pay me rent, the least he could do was keep everything clean. Cody was doing a good job, but I was disappointed with Chad. I was grumbling and getting angry as I was cleaning. I told my parents to go home since I didn't want to waste their time. I cleaned Chad's room top to bottom. I even called Steph to come over to get me to drive me to the store for new curtains and to replenish the cleaning supplies. I cleaned Cody's bathroom, the kitchen, dusted, vacuumed the inside and hall, and prayed and prayed I would get an offer out of the showings. I'm still praying. I'm ready to dump the condo. It's totally stressing me out. Luckily, I had a nice dinner with Steph and she helped me calm down. She's a great friend! I wish I could see her more. I miss her!

Tonight, Mom and I are taking the grandma's to see Mary Poppins. I head back to DC tomorrow and then a few hours later, hop in the car to go to Virginia Beach with Joe for the weekend... where I'll be scrubbing some more!

Half way

I did it! I ran 14 miles yesterday! That means I'm ready for a half-marathon. Now, I need to double what I ran to do the full marathon. I must say, running for almost three hours gets kind of boring. I hope the scenery on the course helps keep it interesting. I think it will take me between 4.5 and 5 hours to run the full. So far, my body is keeping up. My breathing has been steady. My knees and the soles of my feet are starting to feel the pounding. I'm going to switch to my new shoes next weekend to see if that helps relieve some of the pressure. Wish me luck!

Snowmageddon

The weather teams were right! Check out the pics of our blizzard.

Thigh high on Joe:

View from the back:

Our deck:

Front porch:

View from the front:

Snow Sucks

Another blizzard is hitting our area. Boooooo! We've had steady snow all morning and it's supposed to last through Saturday.

Tomorrow, I'm running 8 miles for my marathon training. It's a good thing we have a tread mill! Plus, I've been saving the season opening episode of Lost to get me through the estimated 1 and half hour run. Wish me luck!

My Dad on the NBC Nightly News Playing his Martin Guitar

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Has it Been a Year?

Everything changed since October 1, 2008. I interviewed at an agency in Cary, NC and with AOL in DC. I got both jobs. I picked AOL since it was the better offer, bigger company, and located less than 2 miles from Joe's house in VA. A month later, I packed up and moved there.

AOL was much larger than I expected. I knew I would need to work hard to earn respect and get noticed. I was the first person to join the department as a Campaign Manager. My experience at Empower made training a breeze. Over the next five months, I learned everything I could. I felt I had accomplished my goals quickly. Overall, it's much easier and less stressful than the agency side.

Living with Joe is amazing! He is the best roommate ever (sorry Chad!) He takes care of me and everything else. He makes life easy. We are even more compatible than I thought. Now that we live together, I can't imagine not being with him. It makes such a difference living day-to-day. That's the true love part of a relationship :-)

Joe is great road trip buddy! We've spent a lot of time on the road together over the past year. Besides going back home and to Follansbee, I've been to the beach more times in one year than ever before. Each time, it rained, but it was a blast no matter what! We also went to Durham for July 4th to meet baby Regan and again last weekend to see Rob and Megan's new house. I've been to NYC twice for work. The last time, I got to spend the evening with Uncle David.

We've also had fun around the city. Joe and I saw Avenue Q for Valentine's Day. He surprised me with tickets to the Bolshoi Ballet's La Corsaire for my birthday. Adrienne and Frank gave Joe tickets to the Nationals baseball game for his birthday. All of us went together. We sat through 100 degree weather and still had a blast! When my parents were in town at the end of July, we went to Wolf Trap for the first time to see the National Symphony Orchestra's Broadway Rocks. The original Buddy from Side Show was one of the singers.

If we stay home for the weekend, we golf. Joe and I have been going to the new golf course down the street from AOL, called 1757. Yes, a real golf course. It's new, so there's only 10 holes at the moment. We wind up swinging as many times as we would at a Par 3. It's a great way to enjoy the nice weather we've had this summer.

Now it's fall again! More adventures to come!

New Roommate

We have a new roommate. Please welcome "Erin Runtz the Fish" to the Skippers' Aquarium. The Skippers' Aquarium has a mix of tropical, fresh-water fish, and an aquatic frog. Every fish is named after a real person who is friends with my brother, Chad. In order to have a fish named in your honor, you must visit and pay homage to the aquarium's splendor. It is an honor to have a fish named after me. I hope it doesn't die. However, if it does, it will have a proper tribute: a memorial video posted on YouTube and a proper "burial at sea" to the tune of the Edmond Fitzgerald.