Thanksgiving

As you know, I signed up for the Centreville 5K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning with my co-workers, Sandra & Lisa. Unfortunately, Lisa hurt her back a month or so before race day so she wasn't able to run with us. :o( S & I had a hurt knee & a hurt ankle but we decided to run anyway & just do the best we could; our main goal was to just finish, we weren't really worried about the time. I arrived a few minutes before S & S did so I decided to pick up all of our stuff so they wouldn't have to wait in line, it was totally packed & freezing. It had rained the night before so everything was still wet. After we got our gear on, we walked over to the runners section & waited for the race to start. When we crossed the start line, we were packed in like sardines. From past experience, I figured people would spread out eventually as the race proceeded but we were all pretty close together most of the time; you definitely had to watch out for people cutting in front of you, people stopping to walk that were running in front of you & little kids that were running with their parents; you were basically dodging people the entire time. Thankfully, my ankle did not start to hurt until just before the 3 mile marker; I then started to get that toothache feeling, throbbing, but towards the end of the race, the sharp pains kicked in. It didn't help that I didn't really eat anything before the race so by the 2 mile marker I was hungry. Somewhere in the first mile we lost Santiago so it was just S & I running together. As we approached the finish line, we did pick up our pace a little but with my hunger & ankle pain, it definitely wasn't a sprint. As we crossed, I told S that I felt like I was going to throw up & she said, "I don't know if I'm going to throw up or cry." I started laughing. As we waited for Santiago, we waited by their car & drank some Gatorade & my nausea went away. Once Santiago met up with us, we had tried to go back to the Community Center to get a snack & listen to the awards but it was just a sea of people & we decided to just go home. Here is a photo I took of the two love birds walking back to their car: They were holding hands. :o)

Once the race results were posted online I was able to look up our times. I had worn my watch during the race & tried to keep track of our pace & our time once we crossed the finish line & my watch said: 31:26. I did have some problems starting it once we crossed the start line & I completely forgot to stop it once we crossed the finish line. But here are our times which were tracked by the device that we put on our shoes:

1730 625 Danielle C., F Sterling VA (time) 30:29.72 (pace) 9:49

1724 2099 Sandra L., F Manassas VA (time) 30:28.40 (pace) 9:49

1787 2975 Santiago S., M Manassas VA (time) 30:45.68 (pace) 9:55

After I got home, I packed Lexi & I for our short trip to WV. We left the house at Noon & arrived at my in-laws at 1:45 p.m. Our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of: Dan, Me, Lexi, Tom, Kristen, Jackson, Rylee, Kelly, Aurie, Glenn, Arden, Skylar, Vicki & Don. We usually have more family members with us but since Dan's Mom has been under the weather for several weeks, we tried to keep it small. In order to keep Vicki out of the kitchen & in rest mode, Don made the decision to have our Thanksgiving dinner catered. While we were hanging out & waiting for dinner to be ready, I gave my camera to Arden & Skylar so they could take pictures. Here is what I ended up with: Dan & Don (he looked very spiffy with his leather vest & matching cowboy boots)
Arden
Me (I have no idea)
Dan playing with JT...
Skylar
Lexi watching JT play
Arden, Lexi & I
Tom & Rylee - caught by surprise
Kelly
JT cheesin' Rylee sporting my bracelet - she loved the sparkles & even tried to eat it Skylar & Kelly Lexi - she was such a good girl during our visit Rylee & I Skylar - LOL Skylar & I
We had a great time seeing the family & getting to spend the holiday together. We hope all of you were surrounded by friends & family & had a Happy Thanksgiving. :o)

Lexi's Birthday Post

Our pretty girl turned 4 years old on November 17th. Yes, in my last Updates post I said her birthday was on the 8th & I was wrong. I don't know where I got the 8th from but I'm glad I was wrong because I was feeling terrible the last several days for not celebrating by baking her birthday cake. We were able to celebrate today though! On Saturday afternoon Dan & I went to Wegman's & picked up the ingredients for her cake. This morning we took her to Petco so we could get her a toy & they ended up having a deal, 2 for $5, so we got her a red crab (Dan picked that one out) & a monkey that is wearing pj's (my pick). We also looked at some of their coats because she is in need of one this year; I found a cute pink one that has ruffles & zips up the back, no velcro - thank the Lord, but we decided to wait until the weather gets a little colder before we buy one. Here is a photo I took after we cut all the tags off of her toys: She was very excited & even started shaking the crap out of the crab after I took this picture. To our sweet Lexi (aka, Winker, Stink, Frenchie, Lexers): You have the cutest personality & we love you very much. You make us laugh constantly & even though your barking is like a piercing scream, we wouldn't trade you for anything. Your begging, at times, can be very frustrating but the way you pull the tablecloth with your teeth to get our attention is hysterical. You mostly like to beg from Grammie because she loves giving you treats: You usually don't like to get your picture taken but you humor me when I'm in one of my camera happy moods: You love to run around in the snow - but after several minutes your little paws get cold & I have to stuff you in my jacket to keep you warm. One of your favorite things to do is snuggle, you are the epitome of a lap dog & we love that about you. You bring so much joy into our lives that we just wouldn't be the same without you.
Love, Mommy & Daddy

Now that it is dark by the time I get home, Lexi & I have been going down in the basement to have play time. Here is a video I took of us having fun:


Happy Birthday to our Lexipoo!

Staff Appreciation Week

Yes, I said Staff Appreciation WEEK. I found out about a month after I started working at DLF that they do this every year & it was last week. So here's what we got...

During our Monday morning meeting Nancy passed out flyers that showed the schedule:

Monday was our staff luncheon which was at Ozzie's in Fairfax Corner. We closed the office from Noon to 2:00 p.m. & carpooled over. Since they didn't have enough space to accommodate us all at one table, the assistants/secretaries sat together - Leesie, Cami, Sandra Lue, Katie & myself. At a large booth across from us sat the attorneys & office administrators - David, Adam, Peter, Alanna, Nancy & Anne. We all ordered salads to start off, I opted for the caeser salad & got their cheese burger for my entree (yes, I ordered a cheese burger at an Italian restaurant; believe me I got crap for it, but nothing else sounded good at the time). We, of course, ordered dessert. We got 2 & shared: the pecan cheesecake & chocolate waffle. They were both so yummy. I had promised myself before leaving for the luncheon that I was not going to stuff my face until I was so full that I couldn't move, unfortunately, that did not happen & I felt sick the rest of the afternoon. :o(

Tuesday we received a gift card to Wegman's for $25.00. For those of you that do not live in the Northern Virginia area, it is the best grocery store I have ever been to.

Wednesday we received another gift card but this one was to the Fair Oaks Mall for $30.00. The mall is just down the street from our office building. The chance to shop is always a great gift. :o)

Thursday was chair massages from Melissa Brooks of SpartaWorks in Gainesville, MD. She came to our office & set up in one of our conference rooms & we each got a 15 minute chair massage. She does more of the Thai style which incorporates a lot of stretching. I have never had a chair massage but I really liked it & I was so sore from taking a BodyCombat class that Monday so she really worked out a lot of my soreness. She gave me her business card afterwards & I found out that she was booked 2 months out so she is extremely busy. The Thai massage is something I know Dan would love because he would never go to get an aromatherapy or hot stone massage - this is more for athletes.

Friday we were given gifts from David & Nancy who got back from Italy a few weeks before our Staff Appreciation Week. They brought all the girls back leather purses & here is a photo of the one that I got: That was so sweet of them & the smell of the leather is wonderful. :o)
After work last Friday, Sandra Lue & I decided to spend our Fair Oaks Mall gift card & meet the guys (Santiago & Dan) for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory which was inside the mall. I got some cute lip glosses & eye shadow at Victoria's Secret & also bought a set of makeup brushes at Sephora. Dinner was great & here's a photo that I asked our server to take: I love them.

So last week was great & we felt very appreciated. I even told Nancy that I was feeling very spoiled & she replied with, "well good, that's the whole point." During our week of pampering, I also had my 6 month review on the 10th. First I would like to say that it is so nice to have a review that is automatically scheduled. At my last office I would have to schedule it myself & then it would be pushed back because my old boss would tell me that something came up & I would need to reschedule; he would schedule a meeting during that time & it would be pushed back again; he was too busy to have my review that day & it would be rescheduled again. Needless to say, I wouldn't get my review until several months after the actual due date. So my review went very well & I got some great feedback from the group that I met with. I even got a little extra something a year if you know what I mean. :o) Have I mentioned recently that I love my job?