Is that your plan for the New Year? Health, Happiness, and Success. Believe it and make it happen.

We brought in the New Year in Myrtle Beach.  We enjoyed the festivities at a few places and finally toasted at midnight in our favorite little place “Pawley’s Island Pub”.

Catching flys with my mouth wide open.  Our second stop of the night, “Creek Ratz”

What a face!  I TOLD Ted we shouldn’t have had that Rum Runner!  Not sure why he’s pinching his nipple?!!! Better his than mine.

Rich maintaining some normality in the evening and keeping both Ted and I in check. 

What a great time we had.  We got home just after 12:30 am, gave hugs to Mum and Dad then fell asleep within 5 minutes of hitting the pillow. 

The results of the festivities didn’t hold us back from getting in a good run Sunday morning.  Shane and I left Ted in bed while we went for our “hangover run” of 6.3 miles.  It was a fast paced run, averaging 8.4 because Shane thought we were behind Ted and we needed to chase him.  It’s fun to let the dog pull like that because my legs fly but the run is effortless. Cheating? You bet! 

Ted went out on his own for 3 miles.  His foot still hurts him but he’s trying since it doesn’t seem to be getting any worse.  Ted’s goal for 2012 is to run the intermediate triathlons so he has to get comfortable with the 10K distance. 

All in all, a good workout to introduce the New Year and especially after such a hard day yesterday: 10 miles plus a 28 mile cycle ride at an easy pace but fighting wind part of the way.

So HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and make it a HEALTHY, JOYOUS, and SUCCESSFUL year. 

The second week of the Bliss Challenge has us reminiscing about our most memorable vacation.

Of course my most memorable vacation was an island far away called Tahiti where Ted and I spent our honeymoon over eleven years ago.

*The photos may look a bit strange since they are photos of photos from our album. 

We stayed on three islands in the French Polynesian:  Bora Bora, Moorea, and Tahiti (Papete), the main island.

It was one week of wonderful discoveries.

We snorkeled. Ted enjoyed snorkeling but I learned about the deadly rock fish and decided I would much rather do other things.

My water exploration of choice was this:

So cool! We fed the fish and a “friendly” sting ray actually swam by wanting food. Freaky but so cool!  Did I mention sharks?!!!

We toured the islands, enjoying all the sites we could take in over the course of 6 days.

From the turquoise water to the Tahitian pearls, we found paradise.

Windy days mixed with a lot of sun made the weather perfect.

We did have a few experiences we could have done without. Like when we came home from dinner one evening to find a long dark line from the floor, climbing up the bed and onto the pillow .  Housekeeping had left a chocolate on each pillow and ants had found it.

Or when geckos were seen scurrying across the walls of our lodgings.  Lizards in the house?! Not for me!

The trip getting to Tahiti was a long one.  From Utica, we travelled to Oakland, CA and had to wait to board a 1 AM flight.  During the flight, we discovered one of the flight attendants did not believe in deodorant.  NASTY!

We discovered a drink that knocked us both over: the B52.  This photo was after we had shared one and a half of the potent elixir.

We just look INTOXICATINGLY happy, don’t we?!

We said we would revisit Tahiti on our 10th anniversary.  That didn’t happen. It’s a long flight and times change. Will we go again? We hope to.

As I said, it’s paradise.

A week of BLISS!

What’s your most memorable vacation?

The annual Halloween party at Chip and Maryanne’s was early this year.  We had a great time last Saturday night.

This is how it goes…

We ring the doorbell at Chip and Maryanne’s , the door opens and the hosts as well as whatever guests have arrived, stand staring at you.  Some attendees may put on a little skit.  Some may just come dressed in traditional “ghostly” attire.  But you are required to enter, stand for the video camera as well as still shots.  Everyone is supposed to guess your costume.

The five of us went as FACEBOOK pages, thanks to the Janice’s idea.

Jackie, Rocco, Janice, ME, and Ted.

None of us was 100% sure what “Poke” means on Facebook but Rocco and Jackie took the chance and wrote

“POKE ME NOW” and “POKE ME BABY” on their pages.  I have a feeling, they totally misunderstood the meaning.

Janice entertained a lot of family pics with a more colorful page than the rest of us.

I added Halloween pics from the past and the usual headings found on a Facebook page.

Ted didn’t follow anyone’s lead and came up with his own original page with family photo’s and cars.

It was fun and NO MAKEUP to take off at the end of the night!

The party was filled with all sorts of strange folk:

Maryanne cooks up a storm for this party. Everything you can imagine is offered to eat.

This is the dish that caught my eye.

Is that the BEST idea?!  It’s a chocolate kiss, with sliced almond ears and the back end and tail is a chocolate covered cherry.

A mouse! How adorable.

Maryanne and Chip go all out, offering their house as our party place.  They cover the sofa and chairs with ghostly seat covers and even deck the collection of Schultz and Dooley mugs up in their own costumes.

The couple also shares some interesting photos on their fridge

While studying the panicked squirrel pic, Ted was accosted by SAMBUCA DRACULA

The party was a lot of fun as usual although  we left before the loud music and dancing began. It was 11 pm and we cut out due to heavy eyes.  Wine and Sambuca don’t help you stay awake when you’ve had a long day.

LATEST UPDATE:  WE WON FIRST PRIZE – BEST COSTUME!

What’s your favorite, all time Halloween costume?

The California Raisin Bread Contest. It all starts here and now.  But it was a long time getting to the “here and now” based on our airport experience.  Be prepared.  The initial part of this post is all about the well executed art of WHINING!

Syracuse at 7 am.  Chicago at 8:45 am.  It was Chicago that tested our mature sense of patience.  Given one gate, yet boarding was at another.  We were on the plane, everyone was being seated. The flight was agonizingly full.  Ted was one seat behind me.  Both of us had middle row seats and you KNOW how that is?!  We were scheduled to take off at 11:05 when, 15 minutes prior, the flight attendant announced  “The Captain Broke a Tooth Eating His Breakfast This Morning.  We Are Currently Trying To Find Another Captain.”  

My number one question:  WHY?!…WHY OH WHY OH WHY put us all on the plane when it was painfully OBVIOUS American Airlines knew there would be a delay as they hunted down a replacement pilot?

One hour later, a pilot was found.  After flight plans were completed, we would be on our way.   “Flight attendants, prepare for take off.” 

Nothing happened.

The Captain’s voice is heard over the intercom:   “We have a problem with a light in the control panel. We need to wait for the maintenance crew to fix it and we will be on our way.” 

It was 1:20 before we would be in the air to Dallas/Ft.Worth.  The girl next to me was crying. It was the 2nd time that morning was going to have to change her flight.  The other gal to the right of me was on the phone with the airlines.  She was tough!  After a 10 minute argument and several threats later, she got herself seated on another flight.  Ted and I sat quite calm.  With all my flying experience, I knew the stress of it all just wasn’t worth it.  We would get to Kansas, it was just a matter of when.

The airlines have taken away so much in the past years and now they completely disregard the compassion for passengers in lieu of profit.  They know they will have repeat customers so why treat anyone with a little bit more civility than is necessary?!

Disgusted!

We arrived in Manhattan, Kansas at 10 pm.  We missed the welcoming dinner but the folks from CA Raisin Board picked us up from the airport to drive us to the hotel.  We were tired but not too tired to order PIZZA!

There were a few good things that came out of our extended airport visits.  I was able to get my Starbucks fix.

AND… found the GREATEST app for my phone, The Fun  Run Trainer.

I used it this morning to run 6.12 miles of the Philadelphia marathon at pace on the hotel treadmill.  It even lets you listen to music as it offers updates on your pace, incline, and miles to go.

Stay tuned for the recap of a much BETTER day as it all gets started at the American Culinary Institute in Manhattan, Kansas.

I was there

My Arbonne friend Kathy was there

Running Coach, Mike was there handing out the very, VERY popular shirts (Mike is also the Falling Leaves Event organizer and doing a BANG UP job!).

A lot of folks were enjoying the expo with all it had to offer.

Yes, even the MARATHON MINI LOAVES.  They were pretty darned popular and made me feel even more confident that I was going into the finals of the California Raisin Bread contest with a potential winner. 

The expo was fun, a lot of to offer and very kinetic!  Good times! 

The Brewery made for an interesting venue with tours being conducted throughout the day.  There were endless streaming of folks walking through which energized the mood of everyone present. 

It looks like it’s going to be an award winning day for The Falling Leaves Road Race Sunday, Sept. 25th.    To all runners Apple Crumbles was able to meet on Saturday, GOOD LUCK! GOOD RUNNING!