Happy Birthday to ME~

Mom made me a Low fat Raspberry sorbet cake...soo wonderful

Lamb Chops not shown here...Because I ate them!!! lol

38 is the magic number. 
It really wasn't so bad this year getting older. A few more charlie horses, a little more tired, twice as much gray hair and yeah noticing wrinkles in new places. All in all I am more secure, confident, and acceptable of me and my new changes. I am Thankful for a husband that still looks twice at me, calls me beautiful and loves me for my good bad and ugly. He makes getting older easy. Thankful for my Husband the best Gift I have.

How I celebrated my Birthday in 10 sentences:

1. Saturday Andys mom made me dinner!
2. Andy bought me a Mizuno Running shirt...Soo awesome.
3. Mom made me Mexican for dinner and a Ice cream cake with Raspberry Sorbet. YUM.
4. Sunday Mom and Dad took the boys and I spent the day with Andy.
5. Andy and I went on a birthday run, shopping and out to eat at my favorite restaurant.
6. I had to work today on my actual Birthday but it was a great day.
7. The girls at work bought me cookies and got me a Starbucks gift card, so sweet.
8. Went out to eat with my girlfriends and had a great dinner.
9. Stuffed myself on "Village Bakeshop cookies" and Peanut brittle my clients makes from scratch.
10. Thinking as I sit in bed how thankful I am!!

New Mizuno shirt Andy bought me

 What I learned at 37.....
1. "No matter how hard you work for something it does not Guarantee you are going to get it!
2. "A good attitude is the best bandage for goals not achieved."
3. "If you choose to visit your past, and you choose to dance with your demons, remember others did not choose to go with you - so don't drag them into your journey."
4. "Stay calm..Breath...this too shall pass..."(When dealing with pubescent teens)!!

Holly, Sheila and I, Friends for over 20 years celebrated with Dinner

 My tip for GETTING OLDER..."The best way to disguise your birthday is to Act way younger than your Age!"  Never grow up. Take living life serious, but don.t take yourself so serious!
 Anita

Buckle up, Its going to be a bumpy ride!!!

\

I thought I would get a pen out and write down my thoughts as I am flying at 30,000 ft! My wonderful husband is kind enough to transcribe my chicken scratch and type this out for me! You see, I am not fond of flying.  Here are some of my thoughts as we ascend to "cruising altitude".....

As I am heading up, I unconsciously stop breathing.

My heart pounds a million beats a second.

I pray.

I think, "Would it hurt?"

I know I cannot control anything, so I try to think, "Just enjoy it."

Be calm.

Hold the hand of those I love.

Remember flying is safer than driving.

UGH! I am looking at the wing.

Breath Anita, 2.5 hrs, that's it!

My hands are so sweaty.

Look at everyone else, if they look calm, that's a good sign! Right?

I look back at recent airplane crashes and try to think statistically where our flight would be?

I wonder if God is not done with me yet?

Now I hear the overhead PA "ladies and gentleman, we ask that you stay seated and the flight attendants stay seated just for a few more minutes"....REALLY?!!

I look out the window and I see.....ALL CLOUDS! UGH!!! You just said we could all get up??!!!

I am sitting next to Austin, but I really want Andy...WAIT...WHAT WAS THAT WEIRD NOISE? Even Austin looks nervous now....

I want to be that little girl up there just looking around, or the guy looking outside like "lalala..." Or even the lady sitting next to me (she's fast asleep).

After 30 minutes, the captain comes on again to say "we ask that you continue to keep your safety belts on we are having some bad weather from Florida to....somewhere and it's going to be a bumpy ride".....

50 minutes into the ride she comes on again... "It's just not safe for us to come around for our service at this time..."

I didn't know if my hand shaking was from the bumpy ride or my nerves going bizerk! I quickly huddle back over my new running magazine and tried to refocus my attention....

I look at Austin and he is a painted picture of calmness...Painted..

Eventually things calm down and the snack cart makes its way down.

The Snack cart..a cart that contained more than snacks. It contained movement, people were walking around.. and it contained food..a great way to combat nerves is with calories!

Miles traveled in the air 1219

Estimated arrival 6:11pm

******************

Today was my son Alecs birthday. He wanted to eat at Mcdonalds!
This is a special treat because he doesn't usually get this Favorite 5 Star Kid rated franchise for lunch OR dinner!
I really am a good mom..
Before I ordered I asked for a nutritional guide.
I went with:
Premium Grilled Chicken Classic-420 Calories/10 grams of fat
Small12 oz Wild Berry Smoothie with Yogurt-210 Calories/1 gram of fat
And I scavenged a few fries..the salty greasy flimsy fries were too much to pass up..Calories.??
SURPRISINGLY.. A Small Fry is only 23o calories & 11 grams of fat!

Anita

 "Today, give a stranger one of your smiles.  It might be the only sunshine he sees all day."

Notice my arms not touching my sides...My own sweat grosses me out!

The calm before the storm..Florida was lighting up today.  Even though we arrived in Florida in their rainy season they are actually in a drought. Not having any rain on vacation is always nice but they really needed it.

We had a birthday party at the Condo for Alec, He turns 9. My sister decided to spend the night rather than taking the hour drive back home. This was good for me because I got to spend a little more time with her.

This morning I was up at 6am. My stomach was hurting and woke me up. I think when I fell asleep last night I never moved and my belly cramped up on me. I tried to go back to sleep but it just wasn't working out for me.
I quietly got up and made a pot of coffee.
Coffee makes everything better. I brought it back to bed with me and started reading. This was my morning
..Peaceful..Quiet.

Everyone started coming out of their caves not long after. My wheels began turning...RUN RUN RUN...
HMM..My sister is here...Andy will want to run.... Sister+Kids= RUN WITH HUBBY!?!

I shared my brilliant idea with my sister, Gina..And she said " Sure, yeah.". I added " You could take the kids to the pool and we will meet you there." And again she said, "Ok, Sure."

This run was important because the day had rain written all over it! And having my sister there meant Andy and I did not have to take turns. We could both knock out our run right out of the gate.

There was just one other person that I had to share my idea with..And that was Andy.
Even though I run quite a bit slower with Andy I really like to have him to run with. I enjoy encouraging him, coaching him and having his companionship.

He likes running with me and I think this is the biggest factor of why I like to be with him.

He was still smiling here!

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.  ~Leo Buscaglia

Life is more fulfilling when you make someone elses day. When you can be the missing piece in someones puzzle. Or you can be the sunshine in their day. It often doesn't reap any other benefits other than just a  whisper in your ear. Quite often it is more work and sacrifice for you. Sometimes it is even more costly. 
But there is nothing better than seeing SOMEONE ELSES smile,  picking them up when they fall, having what they need, a word, a touch, a smile..

Our little bit of something can be somebodies little bit of everything!

The run was hot, humid and cloudy. I thought we were going to get soaked. We got soaked all right but not by rain. By mile 3 we were dripping in sweat. Soo nasty. It is not the stinky sweat you get from playing football or basketball. It is not the sweat that we connect with body odor. Not that I don't think it has potential to turn into that smelly stuff. But just  running 4 or 5 miles doesn't give it enough times to ripen!

I dropped Andy off at the pool with the rest of the family and continued on for another mile. When I finished I joined them at the pool.
Andy was in the pool running shorts and all. "Nita, jump in, it is so refreshing." He yelled.
I looked at the pool and knew there was nothing keeping from jumping in..well except for one thing...Bathroom break.!!
The bad thing about running in the heat is you get dehydrated easy. Normally you don't have to use bathroom. but for me I had to. After a couple kids and running I knew I had better go quick. One touch of the water and well..I wont say anymore.

There was no tip toeing in the water, It was ALL in. And ohh how it was soo good!!!

YEE HAWWW!!

THE RUNDOWN

Time: 49:54
Distance: 5:23
Pace: 9.32
Fastest mile: 8:29
The payoff: Birthday Dessert at the Melting Pot with my son, Alec

Anita