Oh Yeah, the Leak (thanks for the reminder, Becky!)

In case you wondering about our leak on Friday, the plumber came out and it was a broken t-joint in the crawl space under our house. So luckily, no damage or anything and an easy fix ($100+ later...). All was good.

Until Sunday afternoon, when I got a call from Marty while I was at the mall with my mom, sister and Scott. He went to turn on the sink and the water pressure was way low. When he went to look at our meter it was spinning at a very high rate and he quickly found one of the connections to our hot water heater had broken and water was gushing out everywhere. The hot water heater closet doubles as our bike closet, so luckily we have fairly inexpensive bikes! They just got a bit wet really. But Marty couldn't find our water shut-off so he ended up calling our town's emergency hot line to get them to shut it off. In the meantime, he maneuvered the hose so it was at least spraying into our yard. Anyways, this was completely unrelated to the other incident; we just had some bad luck with our water this weekend! The plumber came out this morning (because it was a lot cheaper than him coming out on Sunday evening, still another $100+ later!) so we were without water, but had some bottles to at least allow us to brush our teeth. No chance of me skipping out on swimming this morning since I needed to use all of their facilities :)

Just so you don't think Marty is a complete do-do, the plumber also couldn't find our water shut-off! Later on, Marty finally found it in our front coat closet. Exactly where it should be??

I'm not so sure I want to see our water bill for this month...

UNC v ND

The day started early with an easy run before heading to my sister's so we could all carpool to the tailgate. We were under strict instructions to be at her house at 10am. The game was at 3:30pm. These were some hardcore tailgaters. We did your typical tailgate activities: cornhole, beers before noon, chips, cupcakes, tailgate golf, etc. My mom, Marty and I all sat in the Notre Dame section and had a lot of fun rooting on the Irish before being bested by the Tarheels. Ah well.

And please beware, if you ever find yourself at a televised football game, there is a chance you might be caught live making a very stupid face...

Conserving Water

Last summer we had a very bad drought here in North Carolina (and in much of the south). I tried to do my part by changing little habits: not leaving the water running while I soap my hands up after a bathroom break, quick showers, use Tassie’s old/dirty water to water the plants, stuff like that. Nothing huge or anything, but they all formed new habits that I still do to this day. At work they changed the flushing mechanisms so if you pull up it flushes liquid and if you push down it flushes solids (poop, hee hee. I know, I’m so mature). So you can imagine my dismay when I got this email from Marty a little bit ago:

"The town of Cary came out to let us know we have some sort of water leak going on, without anything running we're going through about 10 gallons an hour. I called a plumber and they're coming out today."

GEEZ! 10 gallons an hour?! So much for my weak conservation attempts! I sure hope they find that leak quick and it’s not too expensive to fix.

NC Drought 1 Year Ago

NC Drought Today with our House Leak

Fall is here

A lot of blogs are filled with Ironman updates and pictures from Kona. It’s hard to believe it’s been 3 years since we were there! I see the pictures and totally remember all the scenes and feelings…and I wasn’t even racing! It was so much fun to be out there and cheering for everyone (and of course, my Marty) – definitely an event that is worth going to even if you never race it (if you have unlimited funds, that is).

I had a nice run at Umstead yesterday after work. I had originally planned on running Turkey Creek but realized as I set out on Loblolly that I had been in quite a rut of always doing bridle trails, so I turned around and did Company Mill instead. Company Mill is much shorter than Turkey Creek, but it’s a different type of workout since you are constantly avoiding rocks, roots and going up or down. It works all sorts of different muscles and I felt that was a good decision and something I needed to get back to. Anyways, I felt good out there flying through the trail on my own and turned in a time that is usually reserved for when I am in good shape. Hmmmmm.

This weekend we’re going to the Notre Dame v UNC game here in Chapel Hill with my mom, sister and sister’s boyfriend. For those of you who know my family from LONG ago, you of course know that we’re huge Notre Dame fans (my dad went there). We grew up singing the fight song, having Irish named dogs, and watching many, many games (live and on tv). I was even in the stadium when they filmed the final scene of Rudy! I did apply and get accepted to Notre Dame, but this Florida girl probably would’ve made it about a month in that lake effect South Bend winter. Shana, my sister, went to undergrad and is getting her PhD at UNC, but I’m sure she will still be secretly happy if Notre Dame comes out on top. Cheer cheer.

One last thing, I didn't watch the Presidential debate last night. I figured I would just watch the recap on SNL this weekend.

Some Pics from the Weekend

We had a nice time with my dad this past weekend. After my little fainting episode, I felt a little off for a bit - my run the next morning was not too swift and at the end I had to walk because I was starting to get dizzy again. And then after kayaking I again felt a bit like I had just gotten off of a roller coaster. It was a bit worrisome, but after that I seemed to turn a corner and have felt much better. We had a super yummy dinner at some restaurant in Long Boat Key on Saturday night (it even had it's own dessert room!). Then on Sunday Marty and I ran to the Pier (no dizziness and we even saw some dolphins playing in the water right next to the seawall). That afternoon we had a nice cookout with friends and played some croquet. Here are some pictures from the weekend. I'm off to coach Master's!





Marty tried to wear socks with my dad's Keens. Don't worry, we didn't let him out of the house.



Marty did most of the paddling. I lounged :)



There's my dad up ahead of us



See, here I am lounging while Marty paddled away




Dad again



I'm almost paddling in this picture




Bird watching, they let us get really close



Marty and his new friend Parker. Tassie was so jealous when she saw this picture. Notice how Parker has his arm around Marty!

In St. Petes'

We made it down to St. Pete for a fun weekend with my dad. After giving Marty and and my dad quite a scare by fainting in the airport, all is well now :) We got some lunch and Marty wouldn't let me out of his sight, but we relaxed all afternoon and I was feeling a whole lot better by the evening. We went to First Friday in downtown St. Pete, and then met up with our friends Quint and Christina Noordstar at the Northeast Tavern.

This morning we did a nice little run along the St. Anthony's course and now we're going to get some breaky and then go kayaking at Fort DeSoto. Fun stuff! Oh yeah, it's hot down here!

Stupid Bug!

I seem to have come down with some sort of cold or bug. It's been going around and Marty wasn't feeling so hot last weekend. I guess it's my turn. It stinks because tomorrow we're heading to St. Pete to hang out with my dad all weekend - and I don't want to be sick on vacation!

I'm trying to hurry this little thing out of my system by resting lots, eating more fruit than I normally do, and loading up on Green Goodness. I figure it can't hurt. Let's hope it's mostly gone by the time we board our plane tomorrow!