Our Anniversary

Today is our 23rd wedding anniversary. We actually celebrated last night with dinner & jazz at a nice restaurant downtown Charlotte called "Blue". It was fabulous! Here's what we had & I snapped a few pics also.

Appetizers: "Jumbo Diver Scallops wrapped in Prosciutto & over a fava bean puree & lemon marmalade". Ron picked the best appetizer. I ordered "A pastry Crisp Moroccan Chicken Briouat w/Aprioct & Cashews. It's chicken breast & veggies w/fresh ginger & spicy sweet charmoula dipping sauce."

We both had a "poached pear & baby arugula salad w/candied walnuts & gorgonzola dolce." That was very tasty!

For the main course Ron ordered the best. He ordered beef tenderloin. Pan seared & topped w/gorgonzola dolce & onion marmalade w/pancetta & spring pea risotto. YUMMY.

I got Mediterranean Sea bass w/fresh herbs, artichokes(don't like) & pear tomatoes served w/lemon & spinach orzo.

For dessert, we ordered "Cake di Chocolate w/ a warm molten center & vanilla bean ice cream. It was soooooo good, but by then I was so stuffed I could only eat a few bites~

If you noticed a martini in the picture, it was called the "Mediterranean Blue Martini" It was sooo yummy too!!!

Ron cut some yellow roses from our rose bush also. I have them on my end table...they smell so good!!!

My Community Contribution

I mentioned in an earlier post I was also busy with extra work events along with my REAL job. I was task with coordinating a Community work event for my "skip manager". (my manager's manager)

I found a Habitat for Humanity home that we all participated in working at the site last Friday, Aug. 22. I scheduled the event, ordered t-shirts for everyone, shopped for snacks & drinks, provided lunch. It came off without a hitch. So I said to myself, "whew, that's my turn for a while." Nope, I've been ask to coordinate all of the events going forward since I done such a swell job. Oh well. The good thing is that I don't actually have to do everything, just make sure someone else does.

Here'a a couple of pics. One, I'm kinda making fun of my manager while he's talking with his hands on his hips. I have no idea what he's talking about. The other I'm attempting to lift a 40 pound bag of shingles! Actually, I didn't do much work. I spent all my time with the camera in my hand. Besides, it was the day before my Lake TRI. I already told everyone I was going to be the Supervisor!!! haha

Happy Birthday to Ron

Gosh, it's been so long since I've blogged. It's been crazy busy with training, TRIs, birthdays, anniversary, and extra work events/responsibilities, that I haven't told you that we had another birthday in the family! (Our family celebrates a birthday almost every month except Sept/Oct.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ron!~ Ron's birthday was Aug. 20th.

(Ron and I kept our birthdays pretty low key this year.)

Brittany did make her dad a birthday cake!

Pam's First Lake TRI - I finished!

On 8/22, I finished my first "Lake TRI"! YooHoo
No other goals right now except to work on my swim times.
I finished my first half marathon in preparation of my first marathon at age 39.
I completed by first marathon at 40. Completed another goal to complete a TRI at 45, which was a couple of mini TRIs last year, in the pool. And completed my goal to complete a "Lake TRI" at age 46. Yep, I'm getting old. I guess it's all downhill from here!! lol

The swim was what I expected. Hated it!!! I finished the swim in about 27mins, which is not respectable by no means. I would like to swim it in 20mins or less & that's not really asking for too much.

When I came out of that lake and jumped on my bike I was sooooooo happy!!!! I was finally in my element! Especially since I was one of the last getting out of the lake. I LOVE to cycle. I guess because I'm better at cycling than anything else. My running has taken a back seat. :-(

I didn't practice any "bricks" (coming off the bike & run), so it was a little painful coming off the bike and trying to run~

I get such negative thoughts when I'm in the lake. For example: I think I'll raise my hand and get the boat to come get me. Really, I thought about doing that twice. But after completing 3 practice swims, I know my friends and coworkers would have given me a bunch of grief, so that's the only reason I stuck it out!

I was happy with my results. Even with the horrible swim I came in 4th in my category. I signed up as "Women Master Novice", which basically means 'old new triathlete"! But the other side to that story.....I think there were only 8 of us in the category...hahahahahaha

Anyway, I've got another MINI/SMALL TRI in a couple of weeks at White Lake, so that'll be FUN. Only half the swim/bike/run!! Hawaii Luau that evening! I wonder if I'll feel like I'm really in Hawaii........NOT~ :-)

Anyway, To my friends: THANK YOU for your support during my "swim trainings". I was so nervous getting in that lake and I appreciate all the encouraging words!

Lazy weekend & sleep

Last week seemed to be a stressful week, so the weekend I have spent doing a lot of nothing! Which has been good!!

Saturday morning I got up about 5am and met a friend and we headed to the lake again to do one last open water swim before my TRI next weekend. I managed to get through it again. I wasn't as comfortable as the last time, but it wasn't as bad as the first time. I'm a horrible swimmer! I seem to stroke and stroke and barely move! I have taken some swimming lessons but I need more!

After the swim my friend needed to get home, so I didn't do anything else. No cycling, no running. Just the 30min swim. I came home and bonded with the good ole' couch the rest of the afternoon/night. Napping and watching the Olympics.
It was a great Olympics night!! The marathon race was awesome! Catherine got the Silver, but I was pulling for Deena Kastor. :-( My second choice was Paula Radcliffe. And lets not forget the swimming events! Michael won his 8th gold medal, and Torres(41 year old woman) barely missed the gold!! :-(

Sunday, Ron and I slept to almost 8am!! What's up with that? Napped off and on yesterday afternoon and during the Olympics, then slept in this morning. It really must have been a rough week!! The more I lay around the more I want to lay around...So I'm out of the house this afternoon to cycle!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I'm glad Friday is only a day away!

It's been a stressful week with work. I had to give a presentation this week. I hated it! But at least that's over!

A couple of my Wachovia friends have been holding their breath this week, in hopes they don't get layed off. Friends at Wachovia called Wednesday, "Black Wednesday", because lots of associates got laid off that day, with more coming. And of course, Ron is on the hunt for another job. He has a few leads, but things like that seem to go so slowwwww. Anyway,,,,,HAPPY FRIDAY!

Since this week hasn't been fun. I have found myself thinking about one of my favorite vacations....What a blast we had.

Family weekend

Friday night Ron and I had dinner with a couple(Mitch & Leslie) from the "BEE team"(cycling group). Leslie has a big heart. She is a mentor for TRITFORLIFE, which is a training group for the Ramblin' Rose. Ramblin Rose is a TRI event for women beginners. She also leads the beginner cyclist for the Bee Team. She's always willing to help in anyway she can. Mitch and I cycle in the same pace group on Sunday afternoons. After cycling we sometimes enjoy cold watermelon after the ride, or if folks are hungry for a bite to eat. And sometimes we all choose to head home.
Not sure what's on the agenda for today's ride.

Saturday we celebrated my mom's birthday at her house. Mike(my brother) & my sister-in-law, Teresa came. All the grandkids were busy, with the exception of Brittany and her boyfriend Drew came. It was a nice night with the family.

Sunday lunch was spent with Ron's parents. Ug,,,I had to much for lunch! The typical southern meal: chicken & dumplins, fried okra(my favorite), green beans, corn, slaw, 2 pies to choose from(apple & choc.) --- YUMMY. I really do need to cycle this afternoon!!! The tough part is pulling Ron away from a golf match on TV, so he'll go with me!

I'm also itching for another trip somewhere. I'm ready for some vacation time. I haven't been off since the Italy trip, so it's time to do something about that!
WHEW~ Airfare is so expensive, especially with one income right now. It's a shame to take vacation and stay at home, but that's an option. I sure have plenty I can do around here!

Invisaligns & another Birthday

A couple of months ago I finally decided to bite the bullet and get invisaligns.
They finally arrived this week. It's day two and they are driving me a bit crazy.
I better get use to them or it's going to be a long 6-7months.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. Ron and I took her and Jack out to dinner.
Even though my mom only lives 7mins from my home, I don't see her as much as I want. We do chat via email throughout the week to keep in touch, which is good. She's the best!

You may be thinking--how did that Sat. swim go?

Let's start by saying my Birthday dinner was fun! My birthday was toward the end of June, but my girlfriends were on vacation during the last of June into July. We wanted everyone to be able to come, so we found a date that worked for everyone. That was last Thursday night. My friend Katherine has a huge, beautiful, new home and we all wanted to see it, so she cooked my birthday dinner & Stanage brought some yummy wine. The home is exactly what I expected. It's fabulous! And the outdoor living space is awesome!! She promised, with a little push from other friends to invite us over for a Panther's football game this fall!
We had a great evening. Thank you Katherine for sharing your home and cooking dinner. And thank you girlfriends for a fun evening!!

Saturday was the dreaded swim. I saw my IronWOman friend Ashley. She gave some words of encourgement and was happy I showed up again. I did finish the 750m swim. And no, it wasn't as bad as the first time. It was scary doing it by myself. I had a lifeguard put me back on course once. (I was swimming toward the trees--lol). But I got through it. I didn't like it, but I finished it. Afterwards, I cycled & walked the TRI course with some friends. I'm going back on the 16th for one more open water swim practice before the event on the 23rd.

Saturday afternoon Ron and I went to the movies to see Batman. We both liked it, but both thought it was a bit too long!

Sunday afternoon was spent cycling with my BEE Team buddies.

All in all, a pretty good weekend!