last night i ran 5 miles while matt played bball in la jolla with friends
(mare, you may notice i'm off of our schedule--because i stayed up too late sat and skipped sunday--i'm doing everything a day ahead or something).
then i went to henry's to get some groceries
then i came home and made a fantastic cheese fondue, if i do say so myself!
matt also had a steak, since he doesn't think bread, cheese, and vegetables are a full meal :)
then we went in the hot tub and relaxed our tired muscles.
ahhhhh..... what a perfect night!

i can't wait to see bocifus!
have a great day, people!
tracey

yay dreams!
it's been fun to read the dream-themed blogs lately.

"if nothing else, i can dream..."
over the rhine

i was just driving to work the other day and i could see the mountains, the ocean, and the city all in one shot, and it finally hit me that this is real! we really LIVE here! i am a californian! up until now, i have been in almost a state of disbelief, like, is this real? but it is and i finally realized that in fullness. we made it, we're realizing our dream! and justin, like you, i remember the dream stealers and crushers, who said, "yeah right. you always talk about california but you won't really move there." or even just the looks or idiotic questions (why would you want to live out there? you're going to fall into the ocean...) or silent disapproval of folks. all lies! and why? just to squish you and make themselves feel better about their own insecurities and fears?

anyhoo, it's real. and with God in control of your desires and dreams, anything can happen.
ahhhhhh...

i'm excited for christmas, to see family and friends!
we're almost done with our christmas shopping--it's much less this year (whew!) since we drew names with the siblings in BOTH families. thank goodness--it was getting out of control! but it is still fun to buy things and wrap them-heehee!
welp, i'm going to go running now.
dream on!
-tracey

saturday morning and i'm up as if i need to go to work.
sort of sad that i'm not to be able to sleep in anymore!
it has been so long--at least since summer--since i have slept in past 8:00.
ah well, that just means i get more things accomplished in the morning!

last night we went to a friend of a friend's house (who we didn't know:) and hung out.
it actually was pretty fun. these people have such a cool house and backyard (a giant jacuzzi with a cool wooden half shelter, surrounded by plants and white christmas lights). it was so serene and festive! we didn't get in the jacuzzi but some other people did. and then we played ping pong. the guys played each other, then the girls played each other, and winners from guys and girls played each other. so matt and i were both on teams that won and we played each other for the championship. it was 19-19 and we threw away the last two points--so sad! but the guys were pretty impressed that we held our own for that long!

where is bocifus???? :)

a 50-minute bike ride today for me and mary (or cross training of your choice!)

our house is all decorated for christmas---we have our tree up and our banister is decorated with ribbons and lights.
also, mom, the wall hanging you made for us is above the fireplace--it looks so great! grammy, the wall hanging YOU made for us is in our guest room--it also looks great! we have a little baby tree in our guest room and our room, so each room has it's own christmas spirit! i know, i'm a nerd! but i don't care, there are only 19 days left until christmas--i need to totally celebrate! that's why i'm listening to frank sinatra's christmas songs. so there!

tonight our friends marni and eddie are having a dinner party so we're going to that tonight.

i'll probably do some christmas shopping today.
also, there is a christmas marathon of old clay-mation/stop animation shows, like rudolph and all those fun old christmas shows we used to watch when we were little. so i may catch some of those for fun memories later!

welp,
i'm out.
-tracey

welp, i am getting annoyed with seeing my old blog, so i have to write at least SOMETHING before i go to work today!
it's foggy out this morning-just like that past two mornings. when i was driving to school yesterday i was thinking that if i was still working for wauseon, it would have definately been a fog day. and then i laughed at myself when i remembered the first foggy day we had here last year: i turned on the tv, looking for the school listing of 2 hour fog delay. and of course there was nothing. because the fog actually clears here! and there are no cornfields/country roads to retain the fog all day. sort of disappointing then, but funny now.

yesterday i told a little boy that he was going to be graduating from speech soon and he said, "but i'll miss you!" so i explained that i would miss him too, but he was getting all better and didn't need my help anymore. so he started crying and threw his arms around my neck and hugged me so tight. it was hard to keep myself from crying, actually, he was so sweet.

mom, what a beautiful quilt you made for the church--it does look like stained glass!

random dinner last night: a bowl of soup, a whole bag of microwave popcorn, and half of an orange.

well, i have to get going to work now.
tracey

thursday again!
how did that happen?

congratulations mom! did you change your mind about the presidency, then?

since everyone else is giving their running reports today, i'm going to join in as well: i ran 4 miles yesterday (without walking! yeah!) in 40 minutes. man that feels good! today will be biking, due to some shin splints that i'm trying to recover from. apparently, i'm supposed to cut my mileage 30-50%. by the way, mare-core, i know i should rest next weds, but i think i'll do an easy 2miler on tues--just to remind my legs of what they're supposed to do. :)

i LOVE and am ADDICTED to running. i finally figured out that i run best at a certain pace (breathe in 2 paces, breathe out 2 paces) and it is getting easier to get into that pace and just be machine-like. and best is when the endorphins kick in and i'm running and thinking in my head and i look down and my body and i think, "huh! my body is moving but i don't really feel it." a fake out of body experience.

i'm listening to old juliana theory and matt's going to play basketball.
he applied for 4 more jobs today--it's good that there's something out there at least!

and now for some personal messages:
rydogg, are you ever going to update your blog? come on guy, you've had a month off!:)
michael, are you going to run the thanksgiving day race with us?
emily, read matt's mom's blog.
grammy, your blog made me hungry!

1 week until the best meal of the year!!!
-tracey

yum.
i just had my favorite dinner: salad and bread with cheese and white wine.

yeah, mare, i'm getting there for the race but i'm annoyed by the shin splints--i'm icing them every night, though, so hopefully won't be too bad in a week and a half. i seem to be averaging between 28-29 minutes for the 5ks i run in practice. we'll see how thanksgiving day goes.
i, too, am exhausted on sundays after the long runs--my last 5 miler was rough-mentally and physically.

i just got some fun christmas ornaments in the mail from kevin and emily-yay! thanks guys! they made me so happy!

i had sort of an annoying day of meetings with a counselor who is rude, condescending, and has no social skills. how is she a counselor??? i was glad to get away from work for the first time in a long time. and at 3:20, in the middle of one of my meetings, i just happened to look at my planner and notice that i had a 2:30 meeting at my other school. heart attack time! i called over there and everyone was just finishing talking about their findings so i flew over there, just in time to present my findings. whew! thankfully, both the teacher and parents were so cool about me being late (and i didn't really need to be there for the rest of it anyways). but still, it left me sort of discumbobulated (i love that word but i don't know if i'm spelling it right!) for the evening. surprisingly, i calmed down after some grocery shopping and "friends" watching. now i'm in my jammies and i'm just going to veg out for the night.

we bought our christmas tickets!
can't wait to see everyone!

tracey

hello there.
welp, if you've read matt's blog you know that he has been laid off from his job.
sort of a surprise but sort of not, considering all the people who have been laid off since spring.
we kind of thought he was safe, being the only technical writer, but apparently not.

but just like matt said, God has a plan, he always has a plan.
when we first moved out here and matt got his job, it was such a miracle and such a crazy way that it worked out.
we're expecting something wonderful again. we've seen God do too much NOT to trust him with this.
and sort of sickly, it's almost an answer to prayer because i've been praying that matt would LOVE his job, that he would have
FUN doing his job, (which, in case you didn't know, scantron was pretty boring work). so this just sort of forces him to move on to that job that God already has prepared.
and already people have been so wonderful with offering financial support--we feel so blessed. thank you all so much.

last night was the first of my birth-weekend! matt has a fun weekend planned for us (and thanks to dad, we still get to do it!): last night we went to eat at ortega's for dinner and then to java jungle, to get my milky way mocha (decaf, of course!), and then to starbucks so matt could get his hot chai. then we just hung out in comfy chairs and chatted for a nice long time. apparently a little too long, because then we went to see "hot rod circuit" and "brand new" and we missed half of hot rod circuit's set. WHICH WAS TIGHT, by the way. they were so great live, and nice guys, too--really humble and genuine and always thanking the crowd and looking almost amazed that people knew their lyrics. i can't say as much for the boring brand new stage presence, which they tried to detract from by using obnoxious stage lights, which flashed and shined (shone? a little help, engish majors?) directly into the audience, which began to trigger a migraine. so i had to go sit down in a little alcove for the rest of their droning, victory-established way-too-long-type of songs. disappointing. matt said they weren't as bad as i'm describing, so maybe it was just the nausea overriding all of it. :) justin, in addition to your EMOKID, who permeated the place, of course, since it was all ages, i need to add a new showgoer. the kelly osborne wannabe. chunky girls in lowrider pants and skintight shirts that show their belly, and a huge thick rockstar belt, which draws further attention to the belly overhang. pair this with flinging arms and loud talking.
regardless of all that, i'd pay to see hot rod circuit again any day!
when we came home i started watching "the grinch", but fell asleep about halfway through.
and now i'm up!
somehow matt has a surprise for me today--so i can't wait!

and mare, i know you want me to get into tennis, but have you seen my hand-eye coordination??
why do you think the only sports i like are those that can be performed in a relatively straight line?: running, swimming, biking, hiking-notice a pattern there? i'll try it but you'll be sorry that you asked when you're chasing balls everywhere (or i am, because i can't hit even a normal serve).

i wore my red snowflake shirt yesterday and my snowman socks! and listened to christmas music before i went to work! yay!

have a great day everyone!
-tracey

and now for some words from frank sinatra:
and life gets more exciting
with each passing day
and love is either in your heart
or on it's way

today will be a day of random rambling thoughts, okay?

alright grammy! 2 blogs in one week!
(ryan and michelle--you could learn a lesson or two from her, you blog slackers! we know you have nothing better to do! speaking of which, i had another dream about hannah--she was bigger and looked like a girl! and so sweet!)

i'm home from work early, just because i can flex my time if i want. and i want.

justin, you're in luck--captain crunch is on sale :).

i'm sick of this layered haircut i've had in varying lengths for the past few years.
it's time to move on! any ideas, people?

today i had recess duty, annoyingly, and i was busy doing my usual deal of yelling at a kid who was acting in a dangerous manner, when i stopped, mid-yell, as soon as i walked into the view of the ocean. ahhhhhhh.... forget it kid, slide down the firefighter's pole upside down, i don't have a care in the world! and in my head i said, "what? is this where i WORK??? is this real?".

i'm listening to the new pornographers (by the way, nothing to do with actual pornography--just a stupid band name) and remembering summertime: running along sunset cliffs, early morning walks, milky way coffee from the java hut, climbing down the cliffs, discovering tiny beaches, hanging out on dog beach and checking out the pups, not thinking about anything...

-tracey

all hail what will be revealed today
-the new pornographers

awww yeah!
matt gave me my first birthday present : the new strokes album--QUALITY. i'm listening to it as i rip it to the computer.
got to talk to dad edwards tonight on his way home from lexington (for a few minutes before he cut out, that is!). michelle, a girl named maureen from your prayer group (is that the woman who called you to help with parenting issues?) hosted the cs lewis deal--what a small world, eh? dad, to finish our convo--i assume that we get the shirts after we race, that's how it has been done at the races i've been in, but it's been awhile for me so they may do it differently now. additionally, i'd say bring a couple of layers (tshirt, long sleeved tshirt) and see how it goes temperature wise. i've been wearing a tank top for the past few weeks but who knows, it could be extra cold that morning.
as far as the course goes, i don't know about terrain. i'm assuming fairly flat since it is down by the harbor--but i haven't been able to get a course map anywhere, so who knows? and mare--you will so break 30 minutes--if you ran 2 miles in 17:00, you are so set for under 27:00 (wow!!!). we'll all just go the pace we're comfortable with and have fun!

i stood up to a rude parent today and it felt so good. he was being a complete jerk and nitpicking about the stupidest things. it wasn't enough that he told me i was only qualifying his son so i would have a job. no, then he had to complain about a tiny detail with the computer system that we have that formats our IEPs. i finally had enough so i said firmly, "you know what? maybe YOU could call the tech department and have them fix it. (slight uncomfortable pause) it sure would make my job easier." and i smiled. and he looked up, with a sort of shocked look on his face, and gave a weak smile. no more mr. nice guy from me!
but tomorrow will be great because i love thursdays--such a blob day. tomorrow i need to do report cards, though. but i think i'll take off early to get those running shoes :). i still haven't purchased those guys yet. but i've been biking instead to give my knees and feet a break, so it hasn't been essential for the new shoes immediately.

i'm going to buy a turkey tomorrow-- i think a 20-pound one, so i can make tortilla soup later on and we can enjoy leftovers as well.
is this what my life has been reduced to? being excited about buying a turkey? heehee!

i'm pumped for this weekend! we're going to see hot rod circuit and brand new on friday night, matt has a surprise for me on saturday, and then on sunday we're going out to dinner with our friends. yay!

welp, i must be going now.
i leave you with some words of wisdom from the strokes:

the end has no end the end has no end

-tracey

tuesday morning and no work today, thanks to our country's veterans!
mike-sweet song! i'm really into it!

today we're getting me some new running shoes.
mine are totally worn out and i'm having some foot and knee pain.
therefore, this will hopefully solve the problem.

matt's taking the day off with me! he has allergies/infection from them and stayed home yesterday so he's taking an extra day off to really recover :) yay! i think i want to rent "the grinch" and maybe some old claymation christmas movies (oh, also funny part of elf was a few clips of random claymation characters from old christmas movies--very amusing).

welcome back from your honeymoon, kevin and emily GOOD!
and where are more pictures of my hannah girl? michelle, sorry to hear about your dillema with the blog losing. i, for one, have no idea where that deal could have gone--maybe on a word document somewhere in your computer?

can not wait to get the new strokes album--apparently we're waiting for someone to burn it for us, but i'm starting to lose it. it's so catchy and fun--matt and i were listening yesterday and just talking about how their music always has the vibe of going out at night (like in the summer when nights seem so long and responsibilities seem far away) in the city.
this summer = oregon coast/olympic national park/seattle with mary and casey
next summer = NYC

by the way, mare, i don't know if you guys made reservations yet or not, but our friends used to live there and said that june is the grossest month there (in the way of grayness, coldness, and rain, rain, rain). they suggested pushing back to late july or august, which is apparently the best month. (sounds like here, almost). would that be a possibility for you guys?

2 weeks until the edwards family descends upon san diego!
-tracey

we had such a great night last night with our friends.
and even better than normal because we had the sweet presence of the Lord and good conversation.

mare, about the food preparation at Thanskgiving: i'm thinking (and i hope this is okay with everyone else) that i'll probably get a few things prepared in advance--nothing major, though, and on thursday after our race (it starts at 8, we'll probably run for a half hour, we'll most likely be home at 9 or 9:30 at the latest) we start doing the real cooking and we eat when we're done cooking the turkey. no time pressure or set schedule, but just munch on stuff and have the big meal when we have it. so don't freak about the wednesday night food preparation--let's just have fun on thursday and chat and make the majority of the food then. and THANK YOU on the excessive and awesome amount of pies!!! can i also request cherry if it's an option? heehee!

i got a suitcase stand for our guest room yesterday. actually, it is just a little stool thing from ikea that i got mom a couple of years ago that is on the porch. a cute and inexpensive alternative to a "real" suitcase holder.

poor matt is having some allergy issues this weekend so neither of us have been sleeping well with all the tossing and turning and throat itching happening in this house! fall seems to be his worst season for allergies, with all the mold kicked up in the air. on my way to ikea yesterday i saw some actual proof of fall: red and gold trees on the side of the road--so pretty.

welp, i'm going to get ready for my 5 mile run.
have a great day!
tracey

i decided that november is my favorite month here.
the weather is perfect--warm during the day (tank top weather) and cool and crisp at night (sweater time!) so i get the best of both worlds.
additionally, the sun is always out every morning at 7 or so and stays out all day--none of this waiting-around-for-the-summer-marine-layer-to-burn-off business.

last night matt and i went to the field, our favorite irish restaurant--so good! then we went to see "elf", which was sweet and innocent and very funny. it, of course, got me even more in the mood for christmas! alright mare, for putting up those christmas lights!! this morning i went shopping and got a few more christmas decorations, myself. i may decorate a little bit but i'll save most of it for when you all come out here for thanksgiving. and yes on all the food!!! mom, what are you talking about with not eating as much??? it's the best day of the year to be a pig! :) i like mare's scenario in front of the fireplace, too--but you forgot to include the grasshoppers and mudslides!

justin, nice post on the emokid--yeah, they make me feel so OLD because i get so grumpy with them. glad to see it's not just me! and when i was that age (with a similar attitude and behavior, i might add) i remember looking at late twenty-something people and being like, "huh. how strange that they would like this kind of music. this is not their scene." and now i'm the old twenty-something person that doesn't fit but just wants to hear great live music in a smoke-free environment. and they have to scream and randomly dance (i was laughing at that because at the rooney show there was this weird emokid dancing randomly like a freak and running into his group of friends and us) and annoy me. so i feel your pain. and also appreciate their need for attention as a natural part of growing up. :)

matt and i are going to our friends house (marni and ed) for dinner. he has just informed me that we need to leave soon so i'm going to get ready. have a great night all of you!
tracey

my principal sent me home (with pay, and without having to take sick time!) because he saw that i looked horrible! ha! i love my job!
so i'm home early and i'm going to take a nap now.
goodnight!

friday morning before school.
i ran my 3.5 miles yesterday. with about a mile left to go i was doing my usual eye contact with the other runners i passed--some sort of bonding thing where you're friends with every runner you pass--because they've felt what you've felt at one point or another: the extreme exhaustion and runner's highs--mare and dad, can you relate? well anyways, i remember thinking, "hmm. why can i only see half of her face?" then i realized i was having an aura before a migraine. i made it home finally and was tricked because the aura disappeared for about 5 minutes before the pain kicked in. it was the worst one i've had in a long time. i ended up throwing up at one point. but thankfully, i have the best husband in the world who brought me ice, rubbed my head, scratched my back, and let me fall asleep in his arms! now i'm feeling better with just a regular headache and that fuzzy brain trauma feeling. i could go into work right now, but i'm going to take it easy for the next half hour and go in at my regularly scheduled time at 8:15.

we're going to see "elf" tonight and i'm pumped. mom and dad gave a good report and the previews have been hilarious! then on saturday we might go to our friends marni and eddie's for dinner. and i do my 5 mile run on sunday. mare, i might do this week over again, training-wise, just because last week i couldn't get out with the fires and all. i don't want to increase mileage too fast and risk injury. by the way, i hope that girl at your school is okay---what a strange day.

on monday we have a staff development day and tuesday is veteran's day so no school at all. yay! maybe matt can work from home:). it's november 7th already! yikes! how did that happen? we'll be seeing the edwards family soon. hey, do you guys want to help us decorate for christmas after thanksgiving? well, i guess mary and mom, do YOU want to help--i know the guys all just do it to humor us.

welp, i'm going to head off to work now.
have a great day everyone!
p.s. ryan and michelle--let's get some more pictures of hannah banana up online!!! :)

welp, we're back from a very fun weekend in ohio.
we arrived just in time for the rehearsal on thursday night and then went to the spaghetti warehouse for dinner-yum!
lots of fun chatting with my family--and i finally got to hold my niece, hannah!
SO CUTE!!! i can not even put into words how wonderful she is--matt and i are definately proud to be "aunt tracey and uncle matt". how is it that i could just stare at her and be totally facinated at an arm moving, a lip pursing, or even cute breathing???? plus the softest, smoothest little round head that i kissed a million times! we both miss her now that we're home! (oh yeah, and the rest of you people, too ;)

then friday we took our time getting ready for the 7:00 wedding. i went running on a perfect fall day--it was rather warm actually, about 75 degrees. the leaves were falling like rain and it was so fun to run through them. michelle and i drove up to dayton and checked in the hotel, where we met up with the burns family and grammy and granddad. we headed over to the church and got ready for the big event! the wedding was beautiful--the pastor had so many wonderful things to say about kevin and emily. emily looked like a beautiful princess walking down the aisle (absolutely breathtaking) and kevin looked like such a man (he touched me with his tears and deep love for emily). they made their grand exit under a pathway of giant sparklers, which the bridal party held up on either side of the church steps--it was like a fairy tale!
the reception was fun-- i didn't get to chat with nearly as many people as i would have liked to, and i wasn't even the bride or groom!!! we did get to see mom and dad edwards for a little while (oh yeah, dad, vic kapoor, who was president of UT, is the father of mark, the guy who gave the toast speech). after the reception, we had family and friends over to our hotel room for a fun party. we finally went to bed around 3:15 am and awoke the next morning to spend more time with family and friends at 8:30am.

ryan and matt decided to go to the BG/miami hockey game, where my cousin brian was playing that night--in BG (crazy guys! i think the main motivator was pollyeye's breadsticks and dairy queen blizzards). michelle, hannah, me, mom, and dad went home for long naps and a relaxing night of chatting. we ordered chinese in and just spent time talking and watching a video of hannah while i fed that peanut a bottle (can you tell we just can't get enough?). the guys finally arrived home around 1:15 am and i was still up, due to the nap i had taken. the next morning we spent some time with the burns family and headed up to columbus around noon. pretty uneventful flight, except our connection in chicago was delayed about an hour. so we got home at 8:15pm instead of 7:35pm--we survived!

going back to work today was sort of a rude awakening. it's hard to be off for more than a weekend! well, it's not hard to be OFF; it's hard to GO BACK and get into the swing of things again.

one last thought:
now that november is here
it's beginning to look a lot like christmas....
and i'm going to be out of control!!!!

-tracey

welp, the third day off school this week so i'm home watching tv, painting my toenails, packing for the trip back to ohio tomorrow.
yesterday i went to one of the red cross evacuation centers to drop off some pillows and blankets and stuff and i tried to volunteer but they actually turned me away! apparently, they've had tons of volunteers--so that's neat to see.
the sun is out because we're on the coast and we just got a wind from the west, so it makes it feel more normal (it's not orange out here anymore) but it's such a sick trick, because the fire is blazing east of us (now over 300,000 acres have been burned through). i don't know if they'll call off school tomorrow or not, but i won't be there either way!

mare (and anyone else), you wanted some christmas ideas:
-dension witmer cd "philedelphia"
--christopher guest dvd collection (about $46-48 online)
-2 wearever beach chairs ($18.44 each at walmart.com on my registry:)
-photo printer
-gift certificates to home depot for plants for our backyard
-gift certificate to express for new clothes
-silver necklaces or earrings

1 day until i see my hannah banana niece!!!
-tracey

hello everyone.
thanks for all the calls from our family and friends--we feel loved!
thankfully, the fires haven't moved closer to us (the closest one is still about 20 miles away) and the winds have died down, so it will be easier to actually fight the fires. some idiots here are complaining that action wasn't taken soon enough to get more reinforcements and are of course blaming the current governor (gray davis). the fire chief finally came on the news and said that even if we had a ton of back up, it still wouldn't have mattered--the conditions were such that the fires were totally unpredictable and quick spreading.

nothing is contained yet, over 150,000 acres have burned.
they're predicting another 5 days at least.
communities are still being evacuated.
and still no school, due mostly to poor air quality.
therefore, matt and i are still trapped at home in our smoke-scented house, bored out of our minds.
definately not as devastating as 9-11, but feeling some similar helplessness and weirdness.
check out the pictures matt posted of the strange scene at our house (go to his blog)--freakish orange sky and snowing ash is so disturbing.

obviously there is nothing else going on here.
matt's calling me to play nurtz, so i must go beat him for the 4th time!
-tracey

we had a fun time with mary and casey this weekend.
at our bar-lympics, mary and i were a team, "the pirates"--we had eye patches and pirate hats and kept yelling "aargh!". so much fun! we ended up going to 4 different bars and playing darts, foosball, pool, and shuffleboard. mary and i won darts, but it was downhill after that. either way, it was such a fun time.

however, we had a strange day today.
it began with me waking mary up to go for a run.
then i went out on our deck to see how cold/warm it was, and what i needed to wear.
there were ashes covering our deck and falling from the sky (which was yellow looking). it smelled like a campfire, too.
all the tv stations were covering the fires that were in our county and they were talking about closing interstate 15, so mary and casey hit the road. it has been such a surreal day, just seeing the fires consuming the land and vegetation and homes.

then my principal called (had to evacuate his home, along with several other teacher friends--everyone is okay) and said that san diego school district is closed tomorrow. it's not a satisfying day off, like a snow day is, because people are still in danger and without homes. the airport is on temporary shut down and was messed up already because of the fires in LA, so hopefully everything will be okay by thursday at 6:20 am so we can go home and be part of kevin and emily's wedding. but it is hard to say at this point. the closest fire is only 20 miles away and it is unpredictable, so who is to say what will happen...

we can just pray for everyone's safety and that the firefighters are able to contain the fires as quickly as possible.

welp, matt and i are going to try to distract ourselves with a movie or something.
-tracey

hello people.
i just finished hanging the curtains in our living room.
matt was drilling holes in the wall and i touched the drill bit,
which burned me.
apparently, that thing gets hot.
my finger still hurts.

anyhoo...
i went running with another teacher friend today.
it was 81 degrees today and so beautiful!
the water looked so blue and the breeze was so fresh
am i dreaming?
is this really my life?
nothing is better than knowing i haven't worn actual shoes since last winter/spring.
it's been flip flops and sandals this whole time--WOOOHOOOOO!!!! ahh, the little things in life...
why does this make me happy? i'm simple, apparently.

looking forward to mary and casey's visit this weekend.
our friend sue organizes this game day called "bar-lympics",
where teams play games that are typically located in bars.
this year's agenda includes: foosball, darts, shuffleboard, pool, and something else i can't remember--maybe air hockey?
this girl goes all out and has her little clipboard and keeps close score and the winners get a $50 gift certificate for somewhere.
anyways, mare and i are on a team and we're going to kick everyone's patooties!!!! anyone have a creative name for our team?
we're going to make team tshirts and be festive--but we can't think of anything good...

rydogg, such great news that hannah is gaining weight--that just means chubbier cheeks for me to kiss!
mom edwards-it sounds like you had a wonderful weekend--you should feel honored-you deserve the praise and you are an inspiration!
time for dad and matt to update, otherwise you're going to get harrassed for having the annoying opening lines:)
well, i'm going to straighten up the house.
have a great wednesday everyone!

-tracey

time to end the day with a fitting song lyric from ash...

yeah we've been walking barefoot all summer
why can't we just decide
to live like this all the time?
-ash

alright dad edwards!
running the 5k with me and mare on thanksgiving!
any other takers--boys, mom?
you get a long sleeved tshirt, which, by itself is motivation, i think.

matt and i have a homeowner's association meeting tonight, which i hope is not boring.
but i think it will be.
oh well, at least we'll be able to meet some of our neighbors.

i'm typing and matt is going through a box of miscellaneous items that we packed up when we moved but haven't gone through yet.
all sorts of fun things being found--it's like a toy box of fun!
razors, matt's usher pin from cornerstone, our old cell phone, which is huge and heavy, tiny little paints in plastic bottles, nurtz card game, and other random weird things--
currently matt is freaking me out by swinging a butterfly knife around.
i'm nervous but he assures me that he has control.


welp, we're supposed to be at our meeting right now so i'm cutting this deal short!
thank god monday is over. even though i love my job, mondays are still hard to get through sometimes, especially after a lazy weekend!
tracey