Weekend - Pre-Easter

Jordan had Thursday and Friday off this weekend, so we have been busy getting our house together, and exploring Evans!

On Friday, I ran five miles easy in the morning around home while he slept in.  I decided to be nice and let him have a rest day.  I felt a little stiff from the speed workout Thursday, and was glad when the run was over.

We worked around the house during that day, and after eating dinner we headed to the Evans theater to see.....

The Hunger Games!

I recently read all three books and was a huge fan of them.  The entire concept of the series gives you so much to think about (I may have had nightmares after staying up late reading), and then there is my girl Katniss.  After being disappointed with the Twilight series, it was awesome to see such a tough, kick butt heroine in the story.  The love triangle was really interesting and both guys were so adorable and in love with her, but she wasn't like wimpy Bella pining away for Edward and just taking up air.  Katniss got it done!  I also related with her strategy in the arena.  I would totally run away and live up in a tree until everyone else killed each other.  

The Hunger Games, in a strange way, kept bringing me back to thinking about the marathon.  We all reach a place in the race where you need to focus on maintaining your pace and just surviving.  I usually get into the 'survival mode' at about mile 18.  Up until then, I have maintained my goal pace and,have felt pretty comfortable.  At this point, I don't want to blow it due to some stupid mistake (compare it to dying of dehydration during the hunger games).  I become very aware of taking care of myself - drinking enough fluid, taking in enough calories, keeping my form, hitting my splits, drafting if it is windy, and playing mental tricks to stay in the game.  Hopefully, I can channel some of Katniss's survival skills on April 16th. :)

Saturday, Jordan and I ran at the Evans Town Center Park during their Easter Egg Hunt.  He ran/walked 4 miles and I did a pretty easy 5.  I felt much less stiff.  We had a post-workout breakfast at Panera after, and shopped at the best grocery store in the world, Publix.  Publix is the bomb.  We literally had THREE very pleasant teenagers waiting on us.  One polite young man actually insisted on unloading our cart for us.  A girl checked us out, and kept asking us how we were doing, did we find everything okay, etc.  Another guy bagged our groceries and offered to walk us out and unload our bags for us.  The Dirty Bird (Giant Eagle, my highschool employer) should take notes.

I spent the afternoon cooking up a storm for our Easter feast today.  Although it is just us, I really wanted to cook a nice dinner - and have lots of leftovers.  I made Banana Cream Pudding, Sesame Asparagus, a Breakfast casserole, and prepped our cheesy crockpot potatoes.  Tomorrow I will make the ham and homemade biscuits.  I will have to post some of these recipes, nothing is too tricky and the pudding is especially delicious!

I love my Easter Apron my mother got me!

After a day of slaving away in the kitchen, Jordan and I went to Salsa's Bar and Grill just down the road .  I was ecstatic to see that they had half pitchers of margaritas for only $8.49.  We split it, and didn't even finish the whole thing, haha.  I have a special place in my heart for margaritas after honeymooning in Mexico.

I wasn't super hungry, so I chose to get a combo for only $7.95.  I picked a Chile Pablano and a chicken burrito.  I loved the pepper because it was spicy and NOT FRIED like most are, so I could actually taste the pepper.  Fried food can be good, but it covers up the pepper taste too much.  The Burrito came with a spicy, red sauce so of course I liked it, and of course I added some Mexican hot sauce to it.  Jordan ordered chicken fajitas and decided they were the best he has ever had, besides the ones in Mexico.

 It was still light out after dinner, so we decided on an after dinner photo shoot at the Woodbridge.

He may or may not have chased down the geese after this photo...

Hope you are thinking of us if you are watching the Master's!  Happy Easter!

Augusta, Georgia

We have been in Georgia since last Thursday and let me tell you I have been going nuts not having access to the interent in our house.  I have been totally fine not having TV for the past couple days but I really missed talking/emailing people/reading blogs/writing blogs for the past week.  We won't have internet until Friday, but we are at Panera so I have a little internet time- yay!!!

We left from Pittsburgh last Thursday at 4:05 am.  Jordan, Penny, Bruno and I were in his car, his dad drove our moving truck, and my parents drove my car down.  We originally decided that both dogs would sit buckled into their harnesses in the back seat for the 10-11 hour car ride.  They had other ideas.
For the first hour, they whined and cried non-stop.  I felt bad because they seemed very nervous - understandable.  So then this happened the rest of the trip:

Jordan has a two-door car AND there was luggage at my feet.  Bruno was buckled into the same seatbelt as me, and Penny was buckled into the seatbelt next to me.  Of course, she wanted to sit on me, too.  I was pretty squished, but obviously not too uncomfortable:

nap time

We got to Georgia at 3pm last Thursday and immediately went into our house.  I. LOVE. OUR. HOUSE.  The neighborhood we are renting our house in is gorgeous.  I feel like I am living on Wisteria Lane, and running around the hood this morning I actually did see a Wisteria Court.  It is the perfect neighborhood to live in, because I absolutely LOVE running down residential streets.  I like to run by houses and see kids playing on the streets, people walking dogs, families grilling, and ladies gardening (every woman I saw out this morning was gardening!).  The developments all connect with each other and I am pretty sure I could run 15 miles through the different plans and not run the same street once.  This morning, I ran the route to one of the pools I might join!  It is such an novel idea to me to be able to walk/run/bike somewhere you want to go.

View from our front door, we are up on the hill a bit which makes for a nice view!

Our parents really helped us move in over the weekend and we are now almost all unpacked.  Jordan started work Monday and I started my job as a full-time dog mom/housewife/decorator until I find a job.  It has kept me very busy, I unpacked every room, dusted, mopped, vacuumed, cooked, shopped, ironed, decorated, and steam cleaned every room on the first floor so far.  Oh yeah, and cleaned up Bruno's pee.  He thinks it is his job to 'mark' every room and even though I let them out every hour, he still finds the need to pee a little squirt in each room.  So that takes up about 2 hours of my day, every day.

I have LOTS more I want to write about, especially all the decorations I have been putting up in our new home, and (oh yeah) Boston.  I keep forgetting about Boston since I just moved across the country, but it is coming up in 12 days.  I also am job searching right now, so hopefully something great will turn up in the next couple of weeks.  At my last job, I made a lot of fun friends and I really miss talking to people during the day (Besides Penny and Bruno).

In addition, we are in THE BUSIEST time of year in Augusta, Georgia..... Master's Week!  Augusta is not a very large city but it is absolutely crazy right now with all the golf pros and fans in town.  Fortunately, we live in EVANS, Georgia which is about 20 minutes from the golf course.  It is not as crowded in the suburbs, but a lot of our  neighbors are renting out their homes for visitors this week.  I feel strangely proud to live here when I see the Master's commercials on TV now because I LIVE HERE!

Augusta  National

I love Pittsburgh, but boy is it nice to live somewhere where it is always sunny (most of the time!) and we can eat outside every day.  It's like I am on a permanent vacation.

Time to head home, but so happy I got to blog and should be fully connected Friday!  Expect lots of pictures!