I am still here!

(Or else you’d be getting a call for bail money)

I have been on a bit of a hiatus from blogging. I absolutely LOVE blogging, and I want to continue to blog until I run out of things to blog about. (Yeah, right people! That’s never going to happen!) There are several reasons as to why the blog has taken a back seat, and I’d say that mostly all of those reasons are relevant. So, I’ll start with the top three:

THE HOLIDAYS—For the most part, I love the Holidays. Thanksgiving has to be one of my favorite (It’s a close second to April 14th…most of you reading should know what that day signifies and it’s NOT “the day before tax day.” Well, it is. It’s just something else of importance.) Turkey Day is up there on the list of favorites because of the three F’s: Food, Football, and Family (aww warm fuzzies). This year I spent 4 ½ days in lovely Des Moines, Iowa giving thanks with my entire immediate family (Yes, all 8 of us. 10 if you count the dogs.) Along with the three F’s, we managed to get to a few (try 10) stores in time to get the Black Friday Door-busters. (Props to my big sis for orchestrating the entire trip…I think our timing was impeccable and we owe it all to you! I am proud that the Pope family did our part to revive the economy in a matter of 7 hours...)
Besides Turkey Day, I’ve been busy trying to find budget-friendly, perfect gifts for my loved ones. That takes some serious time and effort! I’m a big fan of making lists (I know, shocker) and getting lists from my family so I know what they want. There might be a few surprises in there, but I usually try to stick to the list. I think it makes Christmas shopping so much easier! The only one I’m struggling with is my boss, but I have a few ideas, and it may or may not include straws from Bucky’s. We’ll see if she continues to be nice to me over the next few weeks:)

MARATHON TRAINING- Yes, I’m finally making it known to “everyone.” A few months ago I decided to start training for the Lincoln HALF Marathon. (Emphasis on HALF, just because I’m still under the impression that people who run in marathons, especially the full ones, are a little “off”—LOL) Yep, I decided that I needed a new challenge in my life, and this one presented itself. Long story short, my boss runs full marathons….I started asking her about it and what the training entails, etc. She thought of the idea and said she’d come up with a training schedule for me. And so my journey began. I’m only two and ½ months into training, but it’s taking a lot more time than I thought it would. However, it has its rewards. I can eat *almost* whatever I want (cha-ching!!) and the lbs. I gained from “Weekends at the Lake” this summer are gone. And last Friday, a new thing happened to me: I actually looked forward to running after work. Of course, after 30 minutes, I was sucking wind, cursing with whatever breath I had left, and counting down the seconds until I could drink my first alcoholic beverage of the evening. Baby steps, right?! So, now that I made it public, I pretty much HAVE to do it, so if any of you are thinking you want to run with me or watch me run on May 4th, 2009, I’ll be in Lincoln. Homemade signs with catchy phrases are welcome:)


SLINGIN’ THE BLING-BLING – the third thing that has been occupying my non-blogging time is a new part-time job. I started working for Greenberg’s Jewelry. My Bunco friend Julie has worked there on and off for 14 years, and I asked if they needed any Seasonal help. Turns out, they did! It’s my first time in Sales and I’ve only worked a few times, but so far so good! It never hurts to have a little bit of “extra” money coming in, especially around the Holidays. I’m going to see how the next few weeks go and decide after that if I want to continue on into 2009!

I feel like those things, along with trying to keep up with the house and see family and friends, have been keeping me EXTRA busy! Oh yeah, and trying to watch the few shows I like….and bathing...you know, the necessary things.

2008 is coming to an end….look for “The Year in Review” post sometime…uh….soon. It was a great year, but I’m looking forward to an even better one in 2009! (And we all know what a new year means, right? AWARD SHOW SEASON!!! I am PUMPED!)

Until Next Time…