Sweet Home Alabama

Rather than try to follow-up on what has been an insane last 6-weeks, let's just call this a "fresh new start" to TRI and Be Happy...So what has cause me to completely lose sight of blogging, even on a irregular basis?

We've MOVED from Northern VA to Montgomery, Alabama (AL)



While I have not gotten much done, in terms of triathlon - you can't say that I have not been busy and working hard. In the last three weeks I have:

• taken a leave of absence from my job

• packed up our entire household
(with help from Jim and a Moving Company of course...)

• managed to get in 3 great workouts with Team Z's Belle Haven Babes and CANCER to 5K friends while prepping the move (Week One)

• went to 3 different and wonderful dinner parties given by local friends and teammates - One a COMPLETE surprise! (Thank you again CANCER to 5K NOVA Teammates!)

• sacrificed 1 pair of running shoes, 1 pair of leather gloves & 1 baseball cap
(to an angry confused female bengal cat who decided to pee on said items to convey her displeasure at the strangers who kept coming into our house and touching stuff aka packing)

• taken a two-day road trip with 2 cars, 1 motorcycle, 2 bengal cats and my husband

• been amazed at how well the 2 bengal cats behaved on a 2-day road trip
(relaxed into a travel routine, used the litter at rest stops, used the litter in the hotel room and thankfully never pee'd anyplace else!)

• arrived safely to our new home just outside Montgomery, AL

• applied for a new job at Maxwell AFB that just happens to be in my career field AND already made the list for said job (hoping on a phone interview! - Fingers Crossed)

• heard my first TORNADO Sirens and a survived a devastating storm that has been declared a "Category 1 Natural Disaster" for the entire state of Alabama - on my first night in my new home.

• accepted delivery of our house hold goods - all 300+ boxes and furniture accounted for...

• unpacked about 100 boxes (so far...)

• found a great deal on a Washer/Dryer set on Craigslist and installed them both!
(only 9 months old and two for the price we would have spent on just a new washer alone!)

• eaten out for 3 weeks straight
(Refrigerator being delivered today, thanks goodness!)

• managed to get in 2 workouts so far this week (Week Three)

The list above is just general highlights but it seems like the bulk of my days are spent emptying boxes. I have not even had the chance to get on my bike, even though Jim put both our bikes together the day after they were delivered last Thursday.

Tomorrow morning, very early, I am leaving Jim and the bengal cats to make a 9-hour road trip to Myrtle Beach, SC to meet up with my family and celebrate my sister Heather's Graduation from Coastal Carolina University! I'm packing my sunscreen, my bathingsuit, my bike and my camera and looking forward to my mini-vacation from all the boxes! Jim has to work (first full week at the new job) so I am going to have to give my nephews twice as many hugs and kisses.  My life is so hard! NOT!

Not lost on me, is the fact that I will drive 500 miles away from my new home to get a bike ride on my bike.  But Sunshine and Ferdinand need to get to know one another and I know that my sister Heather could use a low-key bike ride to get her "tri-confidence" soaring again and I am just the girl who can provide that. Again, my life is so hard! NOT!

So, to wrap up - we moved 900 miles to the deep South - I'm up to my eyeballs in boxes of stuff (that we still can believe is really all ours...) - my sister is Graduating from College this Weekend (GO HEATHER!) - Vineman Half Ironman (70.3) is just 10 weeks away! (GULP!!)

Life is GOOD!
LiveSTRONG!