Red-eye from FLL to BOS and my 4th of July weekend

Did you know there was a red-eye flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Boston?  Me neither, but last Friday night I got to fly on it!  My flight was originally scheduled to leave at 10pm, but then got delayed until 11:30 and then until 12:15am.  We finally took off at about 12:45am. 

A two and a half hour delay isn’t so bad, it just seemed worse because I didn’t get into Boston until 3:30 in the morning.  Once my cousin picked me up at the airport (thanks for waiting for me Mandy!), we still had to drive an hour and 15 minutes up to our parents’ places in Wells, Maine.  By the time I got to sleep that night it was 5:30am.  Definitely felt like a red-eye from the west coast situation.  JetBlue did send me a $50 credit though.  I hadn’t even had the chance to complain before the credit showed up, but I am sure others complained… thanks JetBlue!

The rest of the weekend felt like a whirlwind, it was a lot of fun!

I got to see my neice

Thanks Lil for looking at the camera

The only way to get her to look at the camera,
was to give her an ice cream sandwich...

...and to take a "self-portrait" shot.
Whatever works for the 2 year old

Went to the beach – after playing in the sand, Lily was all about her watermelon and chips & salsa lunch buffet

Saw the musical “Summer of Love” at the Ogunquit Playhouse – great 60s & 70s music!

Took a trolley ride into Ogunquit, walked around Perkins Cove & walked the Marginal Way

Public transportation in Ogunquit is by trolley, love it!

Lily sitting with the big girls, Laura & Amanda

Perkins Cove - cute fishing/tourist village

Nice walk along the ocean

Played Mini Golf – my team won!  No, thanks to me though, I came in last out of me, my sister and my brother-in-law

Who doesn't love mini golf!?

Two of my cousins ran through the human maze and the rest of us watched and yelled out directions

Hannah

Mandy

Enjoyed Happy Hour at the Beachfire Grill – yummy martinis!

Greg is pointing out how my mom is talking and talking

See, still talking

Ate lobster – duh, of course, I was in Maine

Had a campfire in my parent’s backyard and lit sparklers. 

*there was no one under the age of 20 participating in the sparklers.  Are we a little too old now?  I am going with no.

Cousin self portrait

Ran a 5K with the fam on 4^th of July – the little area in Kennebunkport known as Goose Rocks is so nice.  Great race with lots of crowd support!

Didn't get a pic of all the runners, so I had
Lily pose with my race bib in the car

Showed Lily how to flip through a book on my iPad

Kids these days know so much about technology

Got some kitty love from my parents cats, Calvin Klein & Liz Claiborne

Cal is seriously the best smelling cat ever!  So weird, but when he
turned up at the cat shelter, he smelled great.  That is why the
volunteers named him Calvin Klein.  True story.

We named Lizzie, Liz Claiborne, to match Cal.
Now I usually just call her Fattie Bobalatti.
She is totally the sweetest cat, so low maintenance.

Visited my friends Celeste & Derek at their new place in Charlestown (as in “The Town”)

No picture, but I should have taken one of their view of the Boston skyline from their roof deck, so awesome!

Good times with family and friends!  Can’t wait to head back up there in August for a week! 

3 Day Weekend!

Wwwweeeeeeee!!!  I love me a good 3-day weekend!  Makes me feel so free!

I am heading up to Maine tonight to enjoy a weekend of sun, sand, lobstahs and family, can’t wait.

I am slightly annoyed/irritated/pissed off though because the airport's website is saying my flight will be leaving at 11:27 instead of 9:57...I am desperately pressing refresh hoping this will change.  We'll see.
I usually have very good luck when flying so I am just trying to take this in stride and not overreact like a crazy person.  We'll see about this too.
What are you up to this weekend?

****Blogger Love****

If you find yourself relaxing and lounging around this weekend, take a look at some of the other blogs I like to read, they’re great!

Blogs by people I know:

Amanda writes Rise to Run.  She is a runner also and will be moving from Boston to San Francisco in August.  You know she will have a lot of stories to share!

Martha writes Martha's So-Called Life, where she has recipes, reviews books, points out awesome handmade items on Etsy and talks about her life.

Wade writes The Crazy Thing About It All and takes amazing wildlife and landscape photographs.

Trish writes Living La Vida Lum and talks about the adventures of her two-year-old daughter.

Lorraine writes Run Wifey Run and she manages her family and her marriage all while training for a marathon!

Blogs by people I have never met (just in the bloggie world), but think are great!

365 days of awesome

(Just) Trying is for Little Girls

Anywhere There’s An Airport

Blonde Ponytail

Finding Happiness in Health

Little Fruit Fly in Rainbow Colored Socks

Running Peanut

Happy 4^th of July weekend!!!

Wordless Wednesday

My sweet niece is so cute in my tiara & tutu from the Princess half marathon!

What a week!

Wow, this past week has flown by and has been filled with many highs and lows.  Where to begin…

Last weekend I completed my 26.2 miles for the Cupcake Marathon.  Can’t wait to try out the cupcake recipe we received for signing up!

We had to send in a picture with the
race "bib" to be included in the marathon

On Saturday I helped out one of the relay teams in the Palm 100 relay from Ft. Lauderdale to West Palm Beach back to Ft. Lauderdale.  The team was made up of people fellow co-workers and they are really amazing runners!  They were comfortably in second place the entire first half of the race, then there was a snag on the course where one of the runners got lost for about an hour.  Eek!  At the 50 mile check-in point they were in 11^th place.  The second half of the race was all about catching (and passing) as many teams as possible.  They ended up in 5^th place, it was pretty exciting and, like I said, they were all amazing runners.

I even got a finisher’s medal for helping with the driving!

Cute finisher's medal... a coconut with sunglasses!

Sunday morning two friends from Alaska, Danielle and Bill, came off a cruise from South America and stayed at my place for a few days.  They are always so pleasant to visit with and it was great catching up with them and hearing about all their winter travels…. Europe, Africa, South America and Antarctica.  Yup, they are hard core travelers.  I especially loved seeing their pictures from the Galapagos cruise.  That trip is on my bucket list and I hope to get down there within the next year.  I collect Starbucks mugs and they brought me one from Peru.  Thanks again Dani & Bill!

My first Starbucks mug from South America

Tuesday I headed over to Ft. Myers to catch the last Red Sox spring training game at City of Palms Park.  I have no idea why I have waited so long to go to my first spring training game, it was so great!  The stadium is so small you are so up close to the action, I absolutely loved it!  Can not wait for next March!

Warming up!

Our latest and greatest left fielder!

Immediately following the game, I headed to the Ft. Myers aiport to catch my flight to Boston.  When I arrived, I was told the Red Sox would be there for an announcement at 5pm.  I couldn’t believe my luck!  I got to the see the whole team as they held a press conference to announce the name of their new spring training park…jetBlue park.  I realize I was just at the spring training game, so I saw them all there, and I have been to Fenway a ton of times, so I see them all there, but nothing beats a chance encounter… it was the entire team!  Woo!  I seriously felt like a giddy schoolgirl and I could not take pictures fast enough.

Beckett, Varitek, Gonzalez

Pedroia, Papelbon & Wakefield

Papi!

Love me some Red Sox!

The reason I was headed to Boston on Tuesday was because my grandmother (dad’s mom) passed away on Sunday and her services were on Wednesday.  It is nice to think that her and my grandfather are together again.

I did get to see my niece for about 5 hours on Wednesday and loved every minute of holding her, getting hugs from her and kissing her cute little cheeks!  I do have to say, that my arms were KILLING me after holiding her for about an hour straight.  I am convinced my sister is the strongest person ever :)

On Thursday I got this most awesome medal rack in the mail from my cousin Amanda!  Thanks Mandy, I love it!!

I love my new medal rack!

Well it is now April, the best month for birthdays!  Yup, mine is the 24^th…the first time my birthday and Easter have been on the same day.  Don’t worry I’ll keep reminding you all my birthday is getting closer and closer.  I love my birthday!

Make it a great week!!

Top 10 Awesome things from this week

10.  Hearing that my friends who live in, or who are vacationing in, Hawaii were safe after the tsunami reached the islands – awesome!

9.  The new iPad.  I went to two Apple stores and one Best Buy on Friday and still came away with nothing, how does Apple do it?  I ordered mine online yesterday and should receive it the second week of April.  I don’t like to wait, but it is still – awesome!

You're welcome Apple.  Can you please ship
my iPad sooner than April 11th?

8.  My sister recommended the documentary “Spirit of the Marathon” and I watched it the other night.  It tells the story of 6 runners as they prepare for the Chicago Marathon, they range from 12-minute milers to the elites.  It is on Netflix Instant and I recommend it to everyone.  Awesome!

7.  My boss took me to lunch this week at a yummy restaurant, The River, in downtown Miami.  I love to try new restaurants and this place did not disappoint.  I had the Mahi Mahi, so good… but I have a feeling it was really good because it was cooked with so much butter, awesome!  Glad I ran 5 miles that morning.

6.  Above mentioned 5 miles were run in my new sneakers.  I love them – awesome!

Saucony, awesome!  Yes, I have a Road ID, do you?

5.  I signed up for the gym at work.  If I want to seriously run a marathon in January the fitness level needs to go up and the lbs need to go down.  Don’t want to drag the junk in my trunk around for 26.2 miles.  Awesome!

4.  Leisurely Sunday mornings!  Enjoyed a cup of coffee and an English muffin with peanut butter this morning in bed while watching the movie “It’s Complicated”.  It is also nice and cool outside, perfect for the 10 mile run I am about to leave for.  Awesome!

3.  Girl’s weekend has been planned for Labor Day weekend at Disneyland! My three best friends & I take a trip every year and this one will be to run the Disneyland Half Marathon.  Well, Annette, Jamie & I are all signed up, but Leah is on the waitlist (who knew the race would fill up so fast!).  Please send good vibes that Leah Z will get called up off the bench and into the game!  Coast to Coast medal here I come - awesome!

The girls & I at dinner during
last year's Girls Weekend in Tucson

2.  Skyping with my niece Lily is definitely one of my favorite times of any week!  She is easily the funniest person I know.  She really gets into Skype and always has lots of toys or dresses to show me.  The funniest thing is when Lily pushes my sister away from the computer so her & I can’t talk, she wants me all to herself!  This week she even started saying my name “Heatha”… my family is from New England where Rs are not always observed… doesn’t matter, that was totally awesome!

Lily was showing me that after you roast the play
marshmallows over the fake fire, you eat them!

1.  It’s my blog’s one-month anniversary!  Who knew this social media situation would be so much fun.  Can I please tell you that two weeks ago I had no idea what the hashtags were used for on Twitter.  Actually I had no idea how to even use, read, understand Twitter. 

Thanks to you all out there for stopping by to read my posts and leaving me comments.  It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  Please keep coming back!

Now that I have gotten a hang of the whole technical side of things, I will definitely be out there more in social media world reading and commenting on all of your blogs, tweets, statuses, etc.  Social media – awesome!