13.1 Miles...

I've decided to start running again.

In 2003 Shawn and I decided to become "runners". That year we rand a 10K, a half marathon and a full marathon. We enjoyed the challenge of training for the races and we enjoyed that fact that we were in great shape that summer.

Then in 2004 I broke my right leg and I stopped running for several years.

This summer we decided that it was time to start running again. My leg is now fully healed and believe it or not we actually missed running. So in July Shawn and I decided to sign up for two half marathons. The first half marathon is in Virginia Beach over Labor Day weekend and the second half marathon is here in Atlanta on Thanksgiving Day.

Since we were a little late in signing up for the Labor Day half marathon I am currently not in the best shape (a month and a half isn't a lot of time to train when the farthest I have run since completing the marathon in 2003 was 3 miles), but I'm in good enough shape that I know I will be able to complete the race. I'm hopping to finish the Labor Day race in 2 hour and 30 minutes.

Once the Labor Day race is behind me I will need to step up my training into high gear as I've set a goal to finish the Thanksgiving Day race in 1 hour and 55 minutes.

It's good to be a "runner" again!

First Day of Summer

It's official, summer is finally here!

I love summer.

I love the heat and the sunshine, but most of all I love the long days. Since today is the first day of summer, it is also the longest day of the year, which makes today a great day.

The sun will set tonight in Atlanta at 8:52pm.

I loved the long summer days while growing up in Northern Ontario. Tonight's sunset Thunder Bay should take place at 10:02pm. It's hard to believe that they will get an entire extra hour of daylight today. Oh well at least it is 10 degrees hotter here in Atlanta today.

The days are now hot and long here in Atlanta and I'm so happy that summer is here!!

South of LaGrange...

I'm a slacker...

Work has been keeping me so busy that I don't ever feel like Blogging anymore.

Everyday I come home from work and I feel guilty. I know I should spend some time updating my Blog, but I'm too tired and besides I've been in front of a computer all day.

Today I was on a roll at work...I was able to take care of many of the items on my "To Do List". Icrossed items off of my list that I have been putting off for weeks and even months and I am happy to report that the exercise was very liberating!

So in order to carry this GREAT feeling home I decided that I needed to sit down and update my Blog.

Because I didn't get home until 7:30pm and I'm currently starving, I decided that instead of doing a lot of writing I would just post a few pictures from Brendan's visit last weekend.

Shawn and I decided to take a "day trip" with my parents and Brendan to go and see the "Grand Canyon" of Georgia. I'm not sure what the real name of this Canyon is...all I know is that it is located 2 hours from Atlanta, "south of LaGrange".

Enjoy the pictures...

Me and Brendan at the edge of the canyon

Shawn, Wilf, me and Zoe on the hiking trail

Shawn and Zoe in the canyon

Me and Wilf in the canyon

Mom and Dad

I'm Back...

OK it has been a long while since my last post...

I'm not sure why I have been avoiding my Blog, I guess I have been busy. The first couple of months of the year are a busy time at work for me.

At Kimberly-Clark we complete our employee performance process in the first quarter of each year, which include writing performance reviews, calibrating performance across departments and functions and planning employee compensation for the year. Since I am an HR Manager extraordinaire I find myself working long hours ensuring that the Managers have written meaningful reviews and ensuring that our compensation process is fair. Ahhhhh the exciting life of an HR Business Partner!

Since I am dedicated to my job, I find that I become a boring woman for the first two months each year. I guess this is just as well since Shawn also becomes a work-aholic for the first quarter of each year during his audit "busy season".

I promise that I'm coming out of my slump and I will return to this blog more often.

We are going on a vacation to relax and enjoy life for a few days. I'm also hoping that our vacation will help us transition from working 50+ hour weeks back to what most people consider to be a "normal" work life balance.

I'm actually so excited for our vacation that I'm worried that I won't be able to sleep for the next two nights! I feel like a 7 year old on Christmas Eve!

Shawn and I are headed to Jamaica on Wednesday, where we will be meeting our friends Tara and Darryl at the Sandals resort in Ochos Rios for 6 days in the sun!

I promise to post pictures upon our return next week.

The things we do for the people we love...

It has already been been 18 months since Shawn and I got married and I can finally say that my last name is FINALLY changed to Warren.

I've been using the last name Warren socially since our wedding; however since my name still remained as Gray on my Social Security card I have remained Amy Gray at work.

Shortly after my wedding I went to the Social Security Office in attempt to change my last name to Warren. After waiting for over an hour for my name to be called I was told that I couldn't change my name on my Social Security card until I changed my name on my Green Card.

After returning to work from the Social Security office I promptly called the INS to find out how to change my name on my Green Card. Unfortunately I found out that a name change on a Green Card wasn't an easy process and it would also cost me about $300. It cost almost the same amount of money to change my name on my Green Card as it did to apply for citizenship I decided to submit my application and become a US citizen.

On December 17, 2007 I became an American citizen and at the same time I officially became Amy Warren.

Here I am taking the oath...

Receiving my certificate of Naturalization

After becoming an American I returned to the Social Security office where I was finally able to change my name on my Social Security card.

This past week I received my new Social Security card in the mail and I was finally able to get my name changed at work.

My name change is official - I am now Amy Warren.

Zoe and the "Helmet"

Poor Zoe.

Or should I say poor us?

Zoe has been forced to wear a plastic collar that we lovingly refer to as the "helmet" for the past month.

She first got her helmet after she was spayed at the beginning of December. The purpose of the helmet was to limit the reach of Zoe's tongue. It prevents her from performing her own surgery on herself and allows her to heal properly.

After 10 days with the helmet on we were all happy to hear the Zoe had fully recovered from her surgery and had both her stitches and her helmet removed.

Zoe acted like a maniac with her helmet on. She not only ran into everything in the house she also ran full speed into your legs and used the ramming of her helmet into you as her breaks. With the helmet on she was not able to scratch her own ears so she would ram her head into yours in attempt to get your attention to scratch her ears.

Needless to say that Shawn, Wilf and I were also happy to see the helmet go.

Unfortunately only two short weeks later Zoe was back at the vet getting two staples in her knee and a new helmet.

My legs are bruised and my walls are scuffed.

Only one more week and we say good bye to the helmet forever (I hope).

Life Since My Last Post

It's been a busy fall...

We tried to celebrate Halloween although I got the dogs all dressed up for the the Trick or Treaters but no kids showed up.

Wilf and Zoe in their Halloween costumes.

Shawn's friend Sasha came to visit us during the first week of November and it allowed us to fun touristy things like visit The "new" World of Coke...

Shawn and I outside of The World of Coke

We enjoyed the fall and took several hikes in the woods with the dogs.

Me Wilf and Zoe

We also had a fantastic Thanksgiving at my parents. My Grandma Gray was able to join us again in Georgia for the second Thanksgiving in a row. In addition to Grandma Gray; Brad, Danielle, and their new puppy Leila along with my aunt Ellen, my cousin Jane and her boyfriend Mark were able to make the trip for the big feast.

Thanksgiving Dinner 2007

My dad and my aunt (his sister) Ellen Mark, Ellen and Jane

My Mom, Brad and Leila

We are now in Christmas shopping mode. With only 2 weeks left until Christmas we are busy getting ready for the big day. Our plan is to spend the weekend before Christmas with my family. Then on the 24th we will fly to Toronto to spend Christmas and the New Year with Shawn's family and friends in Canada.

It's Raining, it's Pouring...

It rained today and I couldn't be happier!

I'm the kind of person that loves the sunny blue skies of Atlanta, but today I was happy to wake up to rain. It wasn't even a typical rainy day in Atlanta where it just rains for an hour or two in some parts of the city while other sections of the city never even see any rain and people call it a "rainy day". No it was what we Canadians call a rainy day, where it is grey out all day long and in between the hard rain showers it even drizzled on and off.

Today was a great day!

Atlanta is in a drought and the main water supply for the city is quickly drying up. Our water is being released to Florida to save the endangered Mussels. As for the citizens of Atlanta we have 3 more months of water until the lake that supplies the city it's water dries up.

I love the fact that the sun always seems to be shining here in Atlanta; however I actually love taking showers and indoor plumbing even more then I love blue skies and sunny days. Over the next 3 months I will be doing a rain dance in hopes that it will help to bring on more days like today.

Welcome Into the World Lucas!

Mary Coene, one of my closest friends from WLU and her husband Goeff Coene had their first baby on Thursday September 20th.

Mary and Geoff have been dreaming of the day that they would welcome their first child into the world since their wedding day 3 years ago. Mary and Geoff are the kind of couple that are made to be parents so I couldn't be happier for them as they become parents!

Welcome into the world Lucas Andrew Coene!

Zoe

Shawn and I have been feeling sorry for the fact that Wilf has to stay home alone all day while we are at work. Poor Wilf needed a friend to keep him company!! About 3 weeks ago we decided to go ahead and get a second dog.

Meet Zoe:

Zoe is a 3 month old female Boarder Collie - the same breed as Wilf.

So far Zoe has been a sweet puppy, she has slept through the entire night since the day we brought her home (yeah!!) however she's a chewer (we can't wait for her adult teeth to come in!!).

Although we got Zoe to keep Wilf company Wilf is still adjusting to having another dog in the house. Wilf doesn't seem to like to share his bones with his little sister - he has taken all of his old bones out of their hiding places from around the house and is now keeping a bone inventory in his dog bed. Other then the bone situation they seem to be enjoying each others company, Wilf has been teaching her to play with tennis balls and how to catch a Frisbee.

I imagine that they will soon be the best of friends!

If Money Didn't Matter...

I had lunch this week with my HR work friends Andy and Markeda. Over our sandwiches and pasta we swapped out our latest HR war stories. As we joked about which one of us has had the craziest week of employee issues the three of us realized that working in HR takes a lot of perseverance. Employees and managers are constantly getting themselves into trouble and then look to us to help bail them out of their predicaments.

So as we laughed off our current adventures in HR I asked my friends what they would do if they could do anything if their personal financial situation was not dependant on their current salary and education didn't matter.

Andy said that he would work in Africa to help orphaned children. Andy's wife, Collen is a Doctor who is interested in AIDS research so his answer seems fitting. Besides Andy is a good man and believes in making the world a better place, I've always admired this about him.

Markeda went next and said she would like to be a motivational speaker. This response fits well with Markeda's background in training and it matches her outgoing a vibrant personality.

My response was the least ambitious of the group, I said that I would love to rate beaches for a living. I couldn't imagine a better job then traveling the world working for the Travel Channel or a Travel Magazine. To me rating beaches would get me out of the rat race and it would let me spend my days where I am the most happy - on a beach!

I wasn't surprised that non of us said that we would continue to work in HR.

What would you do if money and education didn't matter?

Hot-Lanta

After this past week it is clear to me why Atalanta is referred to as Hot-Lanta!!

For over the past week it has been 100+ outside. When I leave for work in the mornings it has been in the mid 80's by 7:30am and by 5pm it has been somewhere around 105.

Now you may be thinking - "it's summer time and you live in the south so why wouldn't you expect it to be hot?" To that I say - "it's not the 100 degree heat that is so bad it is the fact that the humidity is so high here that it feels like you are in a Sauna after someone has dumped a gallon of water on the rocks." It is steamy to say the least...

To make the heat even worse is the fact that Atlanta is a land locked. This means that there isn't a big body of water close by to produce a nice breeze. In fact there is rarely even the slightest breeze in this city!

High heat, extreme humidity and no cool breezes is why so many people use the term Hot-Lanta when referring to this great city.

On a side note...even though it is hot hot hot here I still love it! I would rather this then the 40 below winters that I had to endure while growing up!

So to that I say steam on Atlanta steam on!

Goodbye Z

Shawn traded in his car this week.

We will both miss having a fancy sports car!!

Summer Vacation Part 2

As the second part of our summer vacation this year Shawn and I visited Nova Scotia. I have never been to the east coast of Canada so it was a really exciting vacation for me! In a weeks time we saw just about the entire province from Halifax to the Cabot Trail. Our our journey we listened to some great Celtic music, drank tons of Keith's (beer), we ate fresh lobster, crab and mussels and saw some beautiful sights!

Here are a few memories from our trip:

The Highland Games were in Halifax the same weekend we were visiting which meant that thousands of bagpipers were also in town. You could hear the bag pipes everywhere you went that weekend - very cool!!

The Alexander Keith's brewery brewery tour.

Fresh lobster lunch at Peggy's Cove.

The lighthouse that put Peggy's Cove on the map!

Shawn was brave enough to walk out into the cold Atlantic!

This picture was taken on a whale watching trip.

We stumbled across this mama moose while we were on a hike! I have never been so close to a moose before - it was so exciting!!!

Here are a few pictures of the Cabot Trail scenery....

Summer Vacation Part 1

Shawn and I spent our first anniversary enjoying the historical city of Savannah Georgia. Ever since the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" was released I have been dying to visit this city!


The city did not disappoint - it was full of beautiful old homes, ghosts and ghost stories as well as the delicious low country cuisine that was made famous by Paula Dean.


Pictures from our trip:

Nothing says that you are in the deep south like Spanish Moss (it's the stuff hanging off of the trees) I just love it!!

The "Pirates House" was a saloon and boarding house where Pirates hung out while they were in Savannah. Today it is a bar and restaurant.

Florence and I are waving at the passing ships. Florence Martus known as the "Waving Girl" greeted the ships each day as they entered the Savannah port during the early 1900's. She was determined to be the first to welcome her husband home from his long journey at sea.

Shawn and I felt pretty special when we found out there was a square in Savannah just for us!

This is the Mercer House where James Williams lived in the 1980's prior to the murder of his lover Danny Hansford as depicted in the novel "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil".

Shawn and I after lunch at Paula Dean's restaurant. We managed to luck out and get into the restaurant without a wait!! Most people wait up to 4 hours just to make a reservation!! Our Tip go for a late lunch and be willing to sit at the bar!

Excitment on Cobb Parkway

I don't typically get out much on week nights.

By the time I fight my through the traffic after work to get home I'm tired. All I want to do is relax. Some nights I'll take the dog for a walk in our neighbourhood but I generally I don't venture too far.

Last night Shawn made me go to the gym and I ventured out from our neighbourhood on a week night for the first time in months and too my delight there was a demonstration going on just a few blocks away from our house!

I have never seen a real demonstration before - so to me this was an exciting event!

The demonstration was in protest against President Bush's proposed amnesty for illegal immigrants in the US. On one side of the intersection there was a large group of Americans holding up signs that read: "Put up the Wall" and "Amnesty is BUll SHit". On the other side of the intersection there was a smaller group of people holding signs that read "God Created Everyone Equal - No one is Illegal" and "We Support George Bush". There were police everywhere keeping the peace. Apart from the fact that the cars driving through the intersection either honked their horns or yelled out a few comments in support of one side or the other the demonstration itself seemed relatively peaceful considering it was centered around such a controversial topic.

The strange thing about the entire event was that both groups of protesters were waving American Flags and chanting USA! USA! USA! From the outside looking in it was funny to see two groups of people on opposite sides of a political agenda with so much in common.

What can I say the demonstration probably was not the most exciting thing going on in Atlanta last night, but it sure made my night! I guess I need to get out more!!

Lost in Translation

I was reading my cousin Sarah's Blog the other day and was surprisingly touched by a blog that she wrote about Culture Shock. Sarah is currently living in Japan and has been there since last summer. In the blog Sarah writes about her experience with culture shock while living in Japan, I found this particular blog hit close to home for me.

Sarah begins her blog by stating that Canada and Japan are very similar. I found this statement to be strange. Canada and Japan are both progressive and developed countries, however I can only imagine (since I have never been to Japan myself) that the two countries wouldn't much else in common. The cultural backgrounds between Canada and Japan are so vastly different not to mention the language barrier that I would only expect to experience culture shock if I should ever be lucky enough to visit.

I moved to the US from Canada 6 years ago today. My family decided to make the move to the US almost 10 years ago, but I decided to remain in Canada to attend University since I was accepted into my school of choice. Four years later I decided to follow my family south of the border after obtaining my degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and landing a job in Human Resources with Kimberly-Clark in Marinette Wisconsin.

As I look back on my 6 years in the US I can honestly say that I have experienced culture shock on many occasions. Prior to leaving Canada I really did not believe that there would be too many differences between Canada and the US, we spoke the same language, watched the same TV shows and movies and listened to the same music. In general we have the same culture. What I found out after moving to the US is that my assumptions were only partially true.

Canadians for the most part listen to the same music as Americans do when it came to American musicians, however I immediately noticed that the bands that I was really into in 2001 (The Tragically Hip, The Mathew Good Band, and Our Lady Peace to name a few) all pretty much disappeared from the radio once I crossed the boarder.

As for movies I would say that for the most part Canadians and Americans watch the same movies, after all most of the movies that are realised in North American are shot in Canada but produced out of Hollywood, so I guess we are on equal footing when it comes to the film industry.

After living here for 6 years I can say that I am fairly adapted to the American way of life, at first the small things bothered me like the fact that you can't buy Wine Gums in the US and the fact that the Baked Beans in a can taste different and so does Corn Pops (cereal), but I have gotten over those differences. Now it is the language that gets me.

Canadians and Americans both speak English, yet there are still times when I realize that Canadian English is not the same as American English. I learned some lessons relatively quickly: the word "cheque" is spelled "check" and the letter z is pronounced "zzzzz" not "zed" and of course when in doubt drop the "u" out of most words if it follows an "o". I have pretty much abolished "ah?" from my vocabulary and Shawn tells me that I have replaced it with the more annoying American version "hun?". There were things that I knew before I moved like the fact that University's in the US are called Colleges and although it was difficult for me at first to refer to my esteemed University as a College I somehow managed to make the switch.

When I first moved here there were several words that I used in my vocabulary that are not common here in the US and every time that I used these "Canadian" words I received puzzled looks or giggles from the person that I was talking to. Over the past 6 years I have pretty much screened out most of the "Canadian" words from my vocabulary. It's not that I am ashamed of my "Canadian" words but sometimes people cause such a fuss when I use words such as "I beg your pardon" vs. saying "hun?" that I rarely use my "Canadian" words anymore.

Every now and then I discover that I still have a few of these "Canadian" words left in me. The other day I was telling my friend Lori a story about Shawn making "Kraft Dinner" and Lori stopped me mid story and asked "Kraft Dinner? What are you talking about?" I replied "You know Kraft Macaroni and Cheese" and she said "isn't it just called Macaroni and Cheese?" Even though I was talking to Lori on the phone I felt my face get hot, as I was thinking to myself that maybe only my family referred to Macaroni and Cheese as Kraft Dinner and I began to second guess that anyone ever called Macaroni and Cheese "Kraft Dinner".

When I got home that day I looked "Kraft Dinner" up on Wikipedia and sure enough it said that Americans refer to it as "Kraft Macaroni and Cheese" however Canadians retained it's original name "Kraft Dinner".

The point of my story is that even after living in a country that is very similar to my home country I still find that I get home sick even after 6 years. No wonder Sarah is a little homesick, she has only been in Japan for 10 months!

Sweet Virginia!

Brad has been bugging Shawn and I for the past year to come and visit him in Virginia Beach so

Shawn and I finally decided to make the 9 hour road trip north for our Memorial Day weekend.

We had a great time relaxing on the beach and hanging in all of Brad's favorite places such as Dairy Queen, Chicks and Harpoon Larry's.

We saw Dolphin's playing in the surf, and although we tried to swim with them, they didn't seem to want to swim with us.

Wilf even had great time on our little vacation, he played Frisbee on the beach and learned to body surf.

All in all it was a great relaxing weekend at the beach!

Here are a few pictures from our vacation:

Shawn and I outside of Chick's Restaurant before a huge seafood dinner.

Brad and Wilf after a long day at the beach and a few too many beers!

Wilf body surfing!

Facebook Addiction

I was a resister to join Facebook for a long time for a couple of good reasons.
Reason #1 - I thought I was too old to join Facebook. I assumed it was people in high school or college or at least for single people.
Reason #2 - I thought I didn't have time for it.
Now that I have been on Facebook for about 2 months I am total addicted. I'm pathetic, the first thing that I do when I walk into my house after work is log on to see if anyone has written me a note or if I made a new friend today. I get really excited when I log on and there is a new friend waiting for me - I become nostalgic as I click on the link to see who my new friend could be...is it someone from elementary school, high school or college that I have lost touch with over the years? I especially love finding friends that I have not seen or spoken to in the last 10+ years.
Facebook is a good thing, it has helped me find so many people who I spent years growing up with and think of often, however I lost touch with them over the years and have had no way to track them down.
Even though I was a resister I am happy I caved in and joined!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

Last Friday night I attended my second Braves game of the season.

I don't particularly like baseball. But since I have already been to two games this year and the season has just begun I am worried that I may be turning into a fan of the game!

The first game that I went to this season was a team building event with work. Then last Friday night Shawn and I decided to join some friends for the Dodgers vs. the Braves.

After a few beers and a giant hot dog I decided that you can't go wrong with baseball after all it is America's pass time.

What impressed me most about Friday's game wasn't actually the game itself, it was the firework show at the end of the game. I found out that on Friday nights during the summer there is a huge fireworks display after the game is over. The fireworks shot out of Turner Field and lit up the parking lot at the end of the game for 15 minutes. As a person who loves fireworks I must say that overall it was quite a good display! All I could think of while watching the fireworks was that the fireworks show that Terrace Bay put on every July 1st wasn't as good as the Friday night baseball fireworks show in Atlanta. It was a sad thought...the little town that I grew up in spent a lot of money each year putting on the Canada Day fireworks show and here in downtown Atlanta there was a better fireworks show that takes place every Friday night that the Braves are in town.

In a way the Friday night Braves Firework display pretty much sums up life in the US - go big or go home!

Weekend Getaway

Two weeks ago Shawn's mom, Ruby came for a visit. We had a nice visit here in ATL. Ruby managed to do some shopping, we did some sight seeing and Ruby and I got our nails done at a fine Atlanta establishment.

While Ruby was in the south she decided to spend a few days visiting some family friends that have a house "just out side of Tampa Bay". Shawn and I agreed that we would drive her down to Florida and spend the weekend. This served both Ruby's need for transportation to visit her friends and our need for a weekend getaway.

Shortly after Ruby arrived in Atlanta we discovered that the beach house that we would be visiting was not actually on a beach nor was it in Tampa Bay. The house was actually in a town called Lakeland, which despite it's name does not have a lake anywhere close to the town.

As we pulled into the friends neighbourhood we realized that we were in for a treat - this wasn't just any neighbourhood in Florida, it was a retirement community! Not only would we have a relaxing weekend getaway we had the opportunity to spend the weekend as retirees. We spent several hours watching the local weather on the news and contemplated the pros and cons of having a second pool added to the retirement community. We learned valuable lessons such as; no one drives their car to the pool in a retirement community - you take the golf cart if you want to fit in, and if you spend longer then 15 mins in the hot tub you may run an increased risk of heart issues. I learned helpful tips such as putting vinegar or olive oil on my sun burn would keep my burn from hurting (I'm not sure what is wrong with the Aloe that is sold in stores specifically for sunburns) and that if the headlights on your car fog up you should rub toothpaste on them.

All in all the weekend at the retirement community turned out to be fairly entertaining. Shawn and I managed to sneak off to the beach in Tampa Bay on Saturday and enjoy some sun. We also got the opportunity to experience the luxury of a drive through liquor store (a first for both of us), we saw a few alligators and we consumed a lot of wine. Not bad for a weekend getaway!

Life in a Construction Zone

We moved into a townhouse community that was still under construction. We decided that purchasing new construction was worth the extra cost as we wouldn't have any house issues that we would have to fix in the time that we live here. After moving out of our 70+ year old home in Wisconsin that seemed to have a never ending list of things that need to be fixed or improved upon we were really excited to be the first people to live in our shiny new home.

From October until January life was peaceful. Then the dreaded day came when our developer decided that it was time to build the remaining town homes in our community. Everyday since mid January at 7:30am several vans full of construction workers pull into our community and they begin to hammer and saw the day away.

My community looks like a war zone - here is a look at what is going on outside of my window...

As I'm getting ready to leave for work I typically have to tell a driver of a van that they can't park in front of our driveway because I can't get out. The driver typically can't speak English so the conversation typically ends with me frustrated and in a bad mood first thing in the morning - I just can't understand why they can't park their vans in the visitor parking lot down the street.

Then there are the days when lumber is being delivered or they are pouring cement or delivering bricks. Forget about getting out out of my driveway at a decent time - on these days if I haven't left the house by 7am there isn't much hope of getting out of here before 8am until the trucks have been unloaded. The construction workers just don't seem to care that they are blocking the entire road with their big trucks and that no one can get out of their driveway and get to work.

Even though I am frustrated by the difficulty in leaving my house each morning for work I decided that the worst part of all the construction is the fact that by 8am on a Saturday morning construction is underway and that there is no hope of sleeping in.

I'm Getting Old!

The NCAA finals wrapped up yesterday and although there were several events that took place in downtown Atlanta to celebrate the final four teams I did not partake in any of the fun. Maybe I'm just bitter because UNC didn't make it to the finals or maybe it was the rainy weekend or maybe I'm just getting old.

On Sunday in Olympic park there were several free concerts and I couldn't manage to leave my house. My excuse for staying home was that it was raining out...however there was a time in my life were a I wouldn't have let a little rain stop me from anything.

When I was in College Shawn and I drove to Waterloo to meet up with my friend Tara to see REM play outside of the Eaton's center. We drove an hour and stood in the pouring rain because seeing REM for free was too good of a deal to pass up! Never mind that I had paid to see REM only a month prior to the free concert - a free concert was a free concert and it was well worth the trip, the speeding ticket that Shawn received on the way to Toronto and the standing in the rain.

I guess I'm just getting old because the though of standing in the rain and watching L.L. Cool J and Maroon 5 with thousands of other people was not appealing to me.

March Madness is now over, I didn't win my office pool, I didn't go to a game and I certainly didn't partake in any fun - I suck!

March Madness is Here

This morning my favorite morning show, The Bert Show, was talking about the fact that it is expected that approximately 4 Billion (yes that billion with a capitol B) dollars will be placed in bets on the NCAA playoffs over the month of March.

I did my part to contribute to the 4 Billion dollars by entering into my office pool for the first time EVER. Believe it or not I was a front runner for the pool and had high hopes of taking home the 1st place prize of $200 up until last Sunday when UNC (the team I picked to win the tournament) lost in overtime to Georgetown.

ATL should be a happening place this weekend. Now that my team is out of the competition all I have to look forward to is the free concerts on Sunday!

Spring in ATL

I've decided that my favorite thing about living in the south is the spring.

Spring in the north could last as long as a few months but the "enjoyable" spring days always seemed to pass by in a few short days. In the north spring is marked by the melting of the snow, the days becoming longer and the option to no longer needing gloves. Spring in the north can be unpredictable there is a lot of rain and you never quite know if it is finished snowing for the year until the beginning of May. I hated spring in the north! It is wet most of the time and if there was a lot of snow over the winter, spring meant a lot of slush. I never looked forward to the rain and the slush I just wanted the season to hurry up and pass so that it would be summer.

Spring in the south is such a happy time, the days start warming up in mid February and as the days become longer a jacket is rarely needed after the middle of March, even at night and there isn't any slush to ruin your shoes. My favorite thing about spring in the south is that there are flowering trees here! Growing up in Terrace Bay has deprived me of enjoying the wonderful beauty of flowering trees. The city has different types of flowering trees planted all over the city and for a few weeks each spring I smile each time I pass a tree full of flowers.

The best thing about this spring is that it was unseasonably warm this weekend. It was in the mid 80's which means Shawn and I got to enjoy what I love most about summer...eating dinner outside!