Since Pete's had no pictures.....

Here's visual progress of our one surviving watermelon --note the claw marks on its rind. How do we know when it's ready to pick? Please advise.

Shoes...OMG....Shoes

I bought a pair of brown oiled leather and a pair of black cabrio leather Dansko Professionals today. I have several pair already (in other colors), but figured since I'm leaving the shoe industry, I should have a couple in backstock.

I also ordered a shirt from Mini-Boden:

I realize this is a child's shirt, but how could I not get it?!?!? I can usually get away with a children's XL.....I'll let you know how it goes once it arrives.

Things to do when it's hot outside...

Pickle the peppers from your garden!!

I think we must officially be Kentuckians --we have purchased canning supplies.

NEWJOBNEWJOBNEWJOBNEWJOBNEWJOBNEWJOB

I know that I start every blog stating that it's been a busy weekend ---but it really has this time!!! Friday started off as a big day at work with me giving my Two Weeks Notice at John's. I had an awesome job interview on Tuesday, was offered the job on Thursday, gave my notice at John's on Friday. Friday was also my birthday, so it seemed like a good day to make a huge change. Twenty-seven seems to be getting a little old to still be working the retail job I worked while I was in college. I love, love, love the folks at John's and I will really miss working there --it's been the only thing I've known for the past 5+ years, but it is definitely time for me to get started on a career path. So.....I'm the newest Office Manager/Personal Assistant for Melanie Mauer Photography! I'll only be working 18 hours a week, so I will have plenty of time to prepare for and take the GRE before heading back to school in the January. I also will be using the first few weeks to narrow down my post-baccalaureate options. The front runners are Speech Pathology and Elementary Education with Reading specialization. I also plan on looking at the programs at both UK and EKU to see which will be the most expedient and affordable.
Please, please, please go to Melanie's website so you can see her AMAZING work! She is as nice and friendly in person as she seems on her page, and I am really excited to be working in such a positive environment.
Friday night after work we went to dinner at Bonefish Grill with Rachael and Sylvain, then had chocolate mousse cake for dessert back at the house. Pete was VERY generous with his gifts getting me a Green iPod Nano and, for both of us --a speaker dock.

Saturday night we had people over to celebrate new job/birthday; we had both cheese and chocolate fondue, with all the dippers. Emily brought this great giant bottle of champagne, and we spent the evening playing Apples to Apples, Catchphrase, and Charades.

Today was the Woodland Arts Fair --we got a nice print, but --and I'm SO ticked about this --MISSED the booth with the Scrabble tile earrings! We came home and cleaned up our party remains, went to the mall so Pete could get measured for his tux for an upcoming wedding, then came home to rest for the remains of our Sunday.

First Real Harvest

Finally! Our tomatoes are ripe and ready to pick --look how many we got tonight alone!
We've had a lot of fun (and success!) growing several varieties of heirloom tomatoes in our backyard. In other news, our new sink/faucet/disposal was installed yesterday!!

Before

and AFTER!!

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!?!?

A Midsummer Weekend

Thursday was Pete's 27th Birthday, and, if I do say so myself, I did a pretty good job at helping him celebrate. I made Eggs Benedict for breakfast --they're his favorite. (I had no idea Hollandaise Sauce involved raw eggs or I might not have been so generous.) I made Pete stay out of the kitchen all morning while I baked his cookie cake and secretly made him Chex Mix and Muddy Buddies. I finished decorating his cake in time for us to have lunch at Chic-fil-a and go to a matinee showing of the Bourne Ultimatum. After the movie we came home and Pete opened presents --nothing too special, the biggest surprise was a dispenser for his snackies PREFILLED with Chex Mix! Then it was off to Rincon for Pete's birthday dinner --we love our locally-owned Mexican restaurant. Rachael and Sylvain came over afterwards to eat cookie with us and enjoy the now-standard birthday fireworks.

That's right, it was a Scrabble cake!

The Birthday Boy

Friday night I came home from work and we ate a quick dinner before going downtown to see Paragon's production of Kiss Me, Kate! It's such a fun show and Pete and I knew most of the cast from Crazy For You, so it was an enjoyable evening.
Saturday I worked until 6, then went home to get ready for THE RACE. I'm not superfast like Pete, but I ran the whole 3.1 miles --no walk breaks! Pete ran it in 18:25 and I ran (jogged) it in 31:06. We cleaned up after the race and headed over to Rachael & Sylvain's house where they were having a little party.
Today was a pretty typical Sunday, lunch at the Co-op, trip to Target, I'm sure you have a similar routine. Rachael and I went to Mad Potter to finish some projects we'd started last week.

Rach and her beautiful vase

So that was our weekend. Tomorrow it's back to work as usual.

What a weekend!

Hot, Hot, Hot. It is SO hot in Kentucky right now, so what have we been doing? Lazing around our house being thankful for air conditioning and eating Dove Bars. Mmmm. Well, I ate a Dove Bar tonight, tomorrow night I'm supposed to run one of my last two runs before A Midsummer Night's Run on Saturday. We'll see how that goes. We had a pretty busy weekend, I worked all day Saturday--as usual --but met a girl from Texas, who currently lives in Chicaco, who shared some old friends of mine, it's crazy. Read all about our chance encounter at her blog. It's pretty amazing what a small world we live in. After work I finally finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I had pretty much abandoned Pete the past few nights, I would come home from work, change clothes, and start reading. Pete --wonderful as always--made dinner Thursday and Saturday night, and didn't mind at all when I scarfed it down to return to my reading chair. It was a good book, I found it to be emotionally exhausting, and now I'm a little sad that the series is over and we won't have any more adventures at Hogwarts.
Sunday morning we woke up early. Why you might ask? Because Sunday is long run day and I had a six mile morning ahead of me. I did it!! I ran six miles --I even got TWO blisters --truly the sign of a real runner, the need for Body Glide. After our run we came home and made a nice breakfast --Pete made himself some apple cinnamon waffles, and I had two Egg Beaters scrambled over an english muffin with strawberries and blackberries on the side. That's right --we have awesome breakfasts at our house --that's why Amy Dickinson calls it Spa Crawford. Well, that and the high thread count on our sheets. The rest of our day was pretty relaxed, lots of cleaning and laundry, a trip to Petsmart, etc. We closed out our evening with a game of Scrabble while watching Brothers and Sisters on TV.

New Record for Me!

I RAN 5 MILES TONIGHT!!! Yay! That's the farthest I've ever run. Pete is the best coach ever, I'm actually thinking I might be able to do the half marathon in January.

In other news, I forgot to talk about one of the best things in Florida. When Pete and I were in Venice, we went to the beach Tuesday morning. Venice beach is known for its shark's teeth, but ever since they started bringing in outside sand to restore the beach they've been harder to find. Pete had never found one before, and it was his one goal while were there. Grandma Prann was worried we wouldn't find any.....but BOY WAS SHE WRONG!!! WE FOUND A TON! After a little while I was thinking we had found some stash that someone had planted...here are pictures of our booty...we didn't just find tiny ones, either, we got some really good sized ones that Grandpa said were from Tiger Sharks.

Home Again

We're back from our nice long vacation in Florida, and I had today off from work to reorganize and collect myself before going back Friday. Today was a pretty hectic day for me, it started off with an MRI at 10am, then a job interview at 1pm, then back to the doctor for MRI results at 2:30. I am 100% healthy, so not to worry. Hopefully I won't have any more of the balance issues that sent me to the doctor in the first place. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Florida, there's a link on Ben's site to the page that has them all if you are REALLY interested. :)

My Umpah, the reason we all went to Florida --to celebrate his 90th Birthday!

I also got to see my nephews, Ben & Jacob

It was fun watching my brothers be Dads

Enjoying the Party

We had lots of fun in the water --both at the pool and beach!

I LOVE my Ivory Soap!Big Ben
Hank, Tammy & Jacob

At night, we relaxed at the 'party' house my brothers rented

Thanks to Jenni for all the great pics!

"Go Green Hornet!" "No, it's Ale 8 Man!" "And his hair is red!"

The Bluegrass 10.000 was this morning, so that meant the premiere of Ale 8 One Man!! Here are some pictures at our house before heading downtown.

Then after the race with Hannah

Aah, a frosty beverage

My Hero!
Stay tuned for video....

He's Finally Finished!!

Here he is at long last, Sheldon the Turtle!

Josie's not so sure if she likes him or not, but she's happy to show him her relaxation moves...

Kitchen Photos

It's not entirely finished yet, but it's done enough that I can post some pictures. These are mostly for you, Jenni. Here are some before and after pictures of our kitchen project. Mom and I did the biggest part with all the new hardware and the sanding and the painting, and then I picked another accent color that I've painted on two of the three walls. The third wall will involve moving the refrigerator, so it's going to wait for a little while. The far wall is still almond and it will get painted white in the next week or so. Also, we'll (someday) replace the appliances with stainless steel ones. And, if I'm a very good girl and Santa is feeling kind, I might even get a new floor!!