THANKFUL???? Oh people.....it's so much MORE than that!

Overwhelmed. I'm just overwhelmed. By family, by festiveness, by photographs. Overwhelmed. Overfed. Overstimulated. Overcome. Overcome by emotion, by gratitude, by peace. It's been a whirlwind people. At this point, there seems almost no point to trying to document it all, include all the details, the little stories, the funny moments, the nuances of all that happened. It seems only fitting to just include photos. Lots and lots of photos, because really, they tell the best story.







































This family of mine is flawed, imperfect, impatient, different, disagreeable. They are loving, loyal, fun, fabulous, and MINE!!!! I love them. I adore them. They worship me. They frustrate me. It was all just such a lovely time of immersement. Is that a word? Probably not but who cares? Not THIS flower. I had a blast. I wish I could do this every year. I am grateful. Thankful. Blessed. Amazed. Unworthy.

Thank you family. Thank YOU!

10K!

Well I made it to Ohio safe and sound and I jumped immediately into a boatload of family. The moment that UD and I pulled up to his century old restored Victorian home, my sister and brother in law pulled up with 2 of their 4 kids and my Momma!!! Right after which my cousin Sarah and her two kids arrived immediately on the heels of my cousin Amber and her boyfriend Evan. It took me 20 minutes just to get inside the house after all the hugging and kissing and gushing and such. Once inside, we got right to chatting and getting all caught up. There were new family members to meet and old family members to greet and it was so warm and cozy being surrounded by all these wonderful people. We were not ALL there (Oh how we missed you T-bird! And of course, The Captain was sadly absent as well) but it was fabulous seeing all who WERE there. Soon it was time for carbo-loading due to the looming race in the morning.

I loaded up my plate but didn't get uncomfortably full. I drank 5 glasses of water and 1 diet coke. Afterward, we sat and talked and laughed and just swam around in each other. Eventually trickling off to bed one by one. Good night John Boy! Good night Mary Ellen!

The next morning had up early us rising, (if not shining) and we were off for the race.

L to R: Lucas, Patsy, sister Kelly, cousin Amber, Amber's bf Evan, cousin Brandy

Unbeknownst to me, 17 THOUSAND people were slated to run this race! It's the largest Turkey Trot in the nation or so I've been told and this marked it's 100th year.

I felt very bouncy, energized by all the people, the great weather and the challenge in front of me.......oh ok.....AND Britney, who always gets me bouncy and helps me run with joy!

This was mine and Kelly's second race together. She's so inspiring to me! I love her to little tiny bits and pieces!
How gorgeous is this scenery? Downtown Cincy!



The day was brisk but sunny and bright which was GREAT for THIS flower because the forecast had called for a 40% chance of rain. Once we got going, Kelly set off to run her race but my brother-in-law Patsy and I stuck together. This was 1/2 way through and we are STILL smiling! And yes, I ran with my camera AND my phone! What of it????

We ran almost the entire 6.2 miles although I stopped to walk about 4 or 5 times but only for 2 minutes or so. There were a few small hills but all in all, the race seemed to pass by very quickly, the scenery was spectacular and Patsy and I did GREAT! He finished 2 minutes before me (we got separated about the last 1/4 mile or so). I finished in 1 hour 14 minutes which was exactly where I was hoping to finish. My turbo sis Kels finished in 1 hour and 1 minute, what a rock star!

My mom, niece Darby, nephew Lucas and cousin Mathew were there to greet us at the finish line. Matthew had his camera and took some great shots! It was so fun to cross the finish to some cheering and smiling faces. Can't believe we saw each other in ALL those people but we did! It was a great race and I really had a lot of fun.

After all the celebrating, we jumped in the car and headed off for our official Turkey Day celebration but that's a story for a different post. For now, I'm a happy little flower who is going to sleep like the dead tonight.

Hope you all have plenty to be thankful for today. Sending lots of love out into the bloggosphere!

Oh, and btw, though the GADO (Great American Dry Out - there you go Geosomin!) ended today, guess who didn't touch a drop by choice??? Yup. That would be moi!

Well, two more days until the GADO is officially over and frankly, I couldn't care less. I'm more looking forward to TOTALLY IMMERSING MYSELF in my family than I am getting my hands on a drink! I'm totally stoked to get to Ohio and see me some kinfolk. And while UD has mentioned enjoying a nice MATURE and CONTROLLED glass of wine with me on Friday, I might instead opt for just a beer or two, if at all. We'll see. I could just crawl right in all over again, get carried away with the holiday and all that, but I'm hoping not.

And although I seem to have somehow obtained an annoying shoulder injury, I feel ready for race day on Thursday! I didn't train as hard as I would have liked. Derailed by illness at first and then just life flat out getting in the way, but I know I can hammer out 6 miles no problem, just don't think it will be at any kind of 10 minute mile pace like my last 10K but that's fine and dandy with this flower!

In the meantime, I'll be tending to my weak left wing. The shoulder I fell on when I wiped out on my motorcycle last summer has popped up to say hello it seems. Aggravated by some one armed planks Mark had me hammer out about a week ago, I hadn't even realized that it was in a bad way until a co-worker came up behind me to give me a quick shoulder rub and found a huge knot parked over my left shoulder. I hadn't even realized it was there but thinking back over the past week, I realized that I had actually been in quite a bit of pain and just hadn't slowed down enough to process it. Seeing how I'm traveling tomorrow and racing on Thursday, I got my ass to the chiro pronto! After an adjustment, I had the masseuse work on it for 30 minutes. I have to say, this was my first ever truly PAINFUL massage but that kind of shit just needs to be worked out, you know? So today I am sore but hopefully on the mend.

Tonight will be a scurry of activity as I ready myself for Ohio. I'll be packing and getting things straightened up around the house but I have left myself plenty of time to get it all done. Not sure how much I'll be blogging from the road but I reckon I'll be able to pop in here and there to say hey. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday full of friends, family, laughter, love and most of all......moderation! :)

Stay with me people. It gets better towards the end.

Snooze Alert! Not much going on around the garden presently. This weekend I got the ornaments I make every year for my nieces and nephews done. I never buy them gifts, instead each year I make them a different ornament with their name on it and somewhere I put the year on it. I've done a ton of different things but this year I went with little fabric wreaths with ribbon and beads. Rather than starting with any kind of pattern, I just started with an idea and I just sort of figured it out as I went along. I think the end result is pretty good. Hope the kids like them.

My sisters tell me that come time to decorate the tree, the kids all love getting their own ornaments out and hanging them on the tree. It has made it personal and special for them all these years and that just makes me feel good. I don't get to see them more than once a year typically and I have really missed watching them grow up and being a part of their daily lives, so this is just one small way to let them know that despite the distance, they are loved and in my heart. Someday, I'd like to spend Christmas with one of my sisters and see that tree, all decorated with ornaments I have made. I would like that very much.

On Saturday The Captain and I went to The Barbary Fig on Grand Avenue. In all my years in Saint Paul, I had never been there. I heard recently that it was not only delicious but also reasonably priced so we decided to give it a try.

I ordered the special of the day. Spinach and feta in filo with roasted vegetables topped with a pear/fig chutney. DUDE! It was flavorful and I enjoyed it greatly!

I also really enjoyed my warm, fresh pita.

Yeah. The Captain and I get goofy sometimes. But besides my ridiculous ass, how cute is the decor in this restaurant. Loved the bright orange walls!

Being a "When in Rome" kind of girl I ordered up some dates for dessert. I haven't had a date in a really long time and I found it mighty tasty!

I only ate one there and brought the rest home to eat with my morning oatmeal. Fabulous.


On Sunday I hit a yoga class for the first time in AGES! It was great to get back in a class and I picked up a schedule, bought a package of 10 classes and am going to be addressing my work hours with my boss so I can start attending regularly in the morning before work. I was just reminded of how much yoga bleeds over into the other areas of my life and if I want to start feeling more kindness in my heart, this is THE place to start.....for me anyway.

And now that I've address some of the little things here and there in my life, I want to address a big thing. This morning as I was moving about my kitchen, readying myself for my day, I went to throw something away and caught sight of an empty pack of smokes in the garbage can. I'm guessing that The Captain is still enjoying a cancer stick from time to time after I'm in bed. It got me thinking about all the time I used to spend on the front porch smoking and thinking and wallowing (oh WOE is me!) on my loneliness or whatever I chose to mope about. It occurred to me that it wasn't the smoking that allowed me to engage in some pretty good pity parties but rather all the drinking. I guess throwing an entire bottle of a substance that is a known DEPRESSANT down my neck will do that to a girl! Now that I am not drinking, I'm not smoking alone on my porch and now that I'm not smoking alone on my porch, I'm not having any freakin' pity parties for myself. How is it that I am a smart woman with 40 years under my belt and these things are JUST NOW occurring to me???? Makes me feel like more than a bit of an idiot but you know what else it's doing? It's making me rethink this entire drinking thing. I have enjoyed THIS sobriety more than any other GADO I've ever done. Maybe it's transitioning into my 40's or something but I feel like I want to slow down on the partying. You know, I spent my 20's partying in bars, my 30's partying at my house and in my yard, maybe in my 40's the partying just starts slowing down. Who knows, by my 50's I might just be a NORMAL person! And so there's some more thinkin' to be done here in the garden.

So I'll leave you with that on this drizzly, grey Monday morning. My heart feels much lighter than what I see out the window today. I hope yours does too!

Momma on My Mind!

Recently, I bought the Willie Nelson Stardust CD. Now I am NOT a country music fan folks, but I grew up listening to this CD (well, back then it was a cassette tape), dancing with my mom in the kitchen, singing along on road trips and watching her smile as the music radiated through her. These songs hold deep meaning for me and when I hear them, I just smile and am transported back in time.

Listening to this music and thinking about my Momma has me really looking forward to my upcoming trip to Ohio for Thanksgiving. I’m not normally one to really think about a trip until it’s RIGHT ON TOP of me; I’m usually too busy with life hurtling by me at a breakneck speed to look ahead much, but this morning I seem to be doing just that.

I am going to be immersed in family soon. My Momma, my sister and her family, mi tio favorito and his whole family and I can’t wait for THAT feeling that I get when this happens. That moment when I glance around the room, hearing all the chattering voices and laughter, seeing all the faces and just feeling so freaking grateful for all that I have that it almost reduces me to tears. (In fact, give me even just one glass of wine, and those tears come fairly easily). I am so blessed to have this family, this wonderful family, this family flawed in the most beautiful of ways, this family of real people, real lives, real problems, real support, real care, real love. So very blessed indeed.

And so on this Friday morning, that is where my head and my heart are I find my self looking forward, with Momma on My Mind! Can’t wait family……here I come!!! Get your arms reading for all the hugging!

P.S.
Don’t you love it when every ab muscle you have is gently sore from a great workout? Thanks Mark! And while I didn’t work out last night I do have a 4:30 appointment with Mark tonight and I can’t wait! I’ll follow that up with a good stint on the treadmill and it will feel SO GOOD! Happy Friday everyone!

Thinking Ahead.

Wheels have been turning in this little flowers head for days. Is it hazy where you are? Cloudy? Foggy? Yeah. That’s from all the smoke coming out my ears, which is what happens when I gets to thinkin’ all my big thinks. So a plan is formulating, coming into focus for me. I know I referenced in an earlier post where this all is coming from but let me just take a quick sec to elaborate here for a moment if I may (and I may cuz it’s MY blog so tongue out, thumbs in ears, fingers waggling, nanny nanny boo boo…..but don’t go away because I LOVE YOU!!!!)

In trying to figure out WHY I can’t just be comfortable where I am.....I am perhaps thinking it’s simply because I have never, ever gone balls-to-the-wall-all-out-hard-core to lose this last chunk of change. I never EVER had just given it EVERYTHING I had. Not once.

Side note right here: Haven’t been counting shit lately, haven’t been back to Weight Watchers in 3 weeks, haven’t been on the scale in as long. That’s how THIS latest push is going! I’m making healthy choices but still indulging in enough things daily to stop me from losing. YOU try having leftover pumpkin pecan cheesecake in the fridge and see how YOU do!

Anyway, that’s what the HCGADO (Hard Core Great American Dry Out) will be. One final push. One big, serious TRY! Why will this one be different? What will motivate me for 6 weeks in Jan & Feb? One word people………HONDURAS!!!! (Oh well ok, Honduras AND inner peace, a sense of accomplishment, determination, motivation, blah, blah, BLAH!) But mostly…………..HONDURAS!!!! Oh The Captain is cooking up a FINE trip for us this year, JUST FINE, REAL FINE, MIGHTY FINE……would someone please escort Sheriff Taylor out of here please! Thanks!

ANYHOO, we are looking to go to a tiny island off the coast of Honduras for my birthday this year and go scuba diving. Yes I will be on the beach again for my birthday, but this place is NO Cabo, no dancing on tabletops and drinking till dawn for this gal, not THIS year. This place is much more low key, laid back, QUIET (at least until I get there) and looks amazing. So thoughts of being there and rockin’ my bikini will for sure help to keep me on track.

More to come on the HCGADO. A food plan is being composed, a change up in the workout schedule is being considered. Things are happening people. Yes indeedy.

And one more thing before I go today…………….HIP HIP HOORAY for DB and LB who are long-time-lurkers-first-time-commenter’s for taking me up on my CHALLENGE and finding a race to do! AWESOME! The count is now up to 6…..and rising!!!

I’m still waiting on Kim, Keith, Nancy, Carlos, TUWABVB, Anna……………….
Warriors! Warriors! Come out and Play-ay!

The Outdoors Fixes Everything..........

........always has.........always will. I am crabby folks. Out of sorts. Crunchy, prickly, mopey, quiet, inward. Just in a bit of a funk. Today after work I was supposed to meet up with a few co-workers at a bar for a little chat and catch up. Only one gal responded to my morning email asking who was still in. About 3 o'clock, noticing the sun still out and beaming and realizing there are precious few of these days left, I asked my girl Brooke if she would maybe want to go for a walk instead. Turned out, she was going to ask me the SAME thing. So, we skipped the bar and the appetizers and such and instead did about 3.5 miles at a nice clip in the evening air. I even wore my safety vest so we wouldn't get hit by a bus after it got dark. We chattered the entire way about this and that and it was just delightful. When I got home, I chased it all with tilapia and green beans for dinner...with cheesecake for dessert.......what? I'm not a robot! Anyway, while I'm still a little blah, the fresh air felt great and I was happy to get out and work my body for just a bit.

You should get out and get some air too. In fact, why not get some air while RUNNING A RACE??? I've had 4 takers to my challenge so far and I'm so excited I could just shit! Let's have a big hearty WOOT - WOOT for:
1. Scrumpy's - doing a freaking marathon on Jan. 10th! This kid is no stranger to running around with Mickey Mouse (in the most INNOCENT way!) I know she's gonna kill it!
2. Fat Daddy - on Turkey Day, his first race in nearly 20 years! Way to go FD!
3. Geosomin - A little late in Feb. but still gonna git er done.....and now that I wrote it out for all the world to see....you HAVE to follow through!
4. Debby! Debby, Debby, Debby, can I tell you how excited I am for YOU??? A new reader here in the garden doing her first event ever!!! I LOVE spreading some motivation around.

So, who else will rise to the CHALLENGE??? C'mon! All the cool kids are doin' it!

Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving!

Before I jump into my Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving, I just wanted to give a little link to an artist my next door neighbor affectionately refers to as Robot Girl. Since 3 out of 5 of my comments mentioned how much they loved the robot paintings, I figured I'd pass along her website so you can crawl through all her robot paintings as well as her other series. Enjoy!

Now on to my Turkey Day. Being married to a pilot sometimes means you need to be flexible. The Captain works a lot of holidays so some years we have to get creative. So yesterday, we had our Thanksgiving. We had The Pirate, AC and h around our table and it actually seemed like the real deal! The entire day actually felt like a holiday.

I got up early and went for a 5 mile walk/run to the river and back. The sun was out, the air was crisp and due to work schedules and just life in general getting in the way, it was only my second workout of the week so it felt GREAT to get out!!!

When I got back, I grabbed a quick shower and cleaned up the house a bit while The Captain's busywork filled the house with the delightful scent of cooking turkey.

I whipped up some AWESOME pear/beet/cranberry chutney to go with my turkey. YUM!
As usual, there was much goofing off, laughter and merriment.
And soon it was time to eat.
We all went around the table and said what we were thankful for and raised our glasses again and again.
And then we dug in. How delicious does THAT look?

Everyone enthusiastically enjoyed dinner.............well.............some more than others!
After dinner, we went for our traditional post holiday meal walk around the block in some lame attempt to make us all feel a little less like gluttonous pigs.
On the way back into the house, I admired the planter that I recently arranged with evergreen tree tops and dogwood branches. It looks festive, don't you think? I'm quite certain it's only a matter of time until I kill it all.
Then, it was time for my world famous, too good to be true, pumpkin pecan cheesecake which I make every year. It is disgustingly delicious.

We watched football (the Lions AND Dallas both had games so it REALLY seemed like actual Thanksgiving) and we talked and laughed and ate and joked and mocked and played dominos. It was a great holiday spent with great friends.

Now for the sucky part. I drank. Yep. I broke my GADO all in the name of living my life and enjoying the day and I totally regret it!! I drank quite a lot actually but I realized something today. It occurred to me that at no point during the evening, did I think to myself, "Hey, maybe I've had enough. Maybe I should switch to water. Perhaps I DON'T need to keep refilling my glass over and over and over." And that is not ok with me. The fact that the thought of dialing it back didn't even pop into my brain is very concerning to me and I believe this little flower has some serious thinking to do. On the plus side, it's good to realize these things and learn from my choices. Life is a journey and I'm forever making progress. This is no different. And though I drank too much, I'm forgiving myself and just moving forward. I will not punish myself and that in and of itself is some pretty good progress.

The GADO, of course, is back in full swing until Thanksgiving and we may just be giving it a nice long extension until I've had a chance to really sort through some of this stuff. Yes indeedy.

And so there you have it! I have roughly just under two weeks until race day and it's time to focus kids. And onward we go.................

Pimp My Blog: The Artsy Version

Friday night I headed over to Minneapolis to the Casket Arts building for my next door neighbor Marisa's art show. Before I get to the show, I have to tell you that the Casket Arts building is AMAZING!!! It is one of those fabulous old buildings with vaulted ceilings and creaky wood floors and exposed brick walls and yep....you guessed it....they used to make caskets there. It was gorgous! Now it is studio space for artists and every once in a while, they throw open the whole building so the artists can show off their work and hopefully, sell some of it.


Marisa makes jewelry and I've already purchased a pair of her earrings which I love so I went to go check out her stuff.
meztiza designs by marisa martinez

I loved her studio and I especially loved seeing all the materials and equipment she uses to work. She promised that sometime I could come by while she was working to see her in action. That will be SO COOL! And most likely, I'll offer to photograph her as she works. I'm guessing she may not have many pics of her in action.




Below is the necklace I chose to buy from Marisa. It is from her Milagro series and I loved the skull. It goes well with my ass kicking attitude!


Next, I headed off to see some of the other artists. BIG mistake! I found so many cool things that just reached out and grabbed me and I spent more money than I was planning on. But rather than thinking of it as being reckless with my money, I have chosen to look it as stimulating the economy and supporting local artists. That's a good way to think about it, don't you????

I purchased these really cool belt buckles made of glass that came with a really nice leather belt that just happens to go with boots I bought last week. (You see how I was powerless to resist?!)

Then I bought this necklace after an entire group of women told me how fabulous it looked on me and how it just totally MADE my outfit and that I just HAD to have it. And they weren't working there or trying to sell me anything either. I was a little floored by it all and before I knew what happened, out came my debit card. Whoops.

It makes a fun jingly sound when the medalions clink together. I think I seriously love it.

There were things there I DIDN'T buy. I particularly loved these robot paintings, I found them whimical and adorable and I loved the colors she used.

And for some reason I fell in love with the stairways in this building. It's shit like this that really revs me up and makes me wish I had my big gear so I could shoot it right. But this is what I got with my point and shoot.







Well, that's it for now folks.

CHALLENGE!!!

Ok all you readers out there. I, the Petitest of ALL the Flowers am throwing out a CHALLENGE! I am taking my long, black, leather gloves and slapping you (WHAP!) across first one side of your face and then (WHAP!) the other.

Whachagonnadoaboutitpunk?

I hereby challenge you to complete a race, one official race of any distance, before January 3rd, 2010. I don’t care if you can’t run, (most races have a walking option anyway) I don’t care if you run like the wind! I don’t care if you race a 5K, a 10K, a half marathon or a full blown 26 miles and I sure as hell don’t care how fast a time you bank. All I care is that you DO it!

Get up off your ass, get up out of your comfort zone and get your race on!

Two years ago, I made it a goal to race one 5K a month for all 12 months in 2008. I completed 9 races. Not quite the 12 I hoped for but not too shabby for my first official year running. Of course I blogged about them all, being the ginormous loud mouth that I am!

Jan: http://petiteflower.blogspot.com/2008/01/frigid-5.html
Jan: http://petiteflower.blogspot.com/2008/01/happy-new-year.html
March: http://petiteflower.blogspot.com/2008/03/race-day.html
April: http://petiteflower.blogspot.com/2008/04/running-of-pigs.html
May: http://petiteflower.blogspot.com/2008/05/pink-and-purple-kick-some-ass.html
June: http://petiteflower.blogspot.com/2008/06/5k-race-results.html
Sept: http://petiteflower.blogspot.com/2008/09/race-day.html
Nov: http://petiteflower.blogspot.com/2008/11/5k-on-turkey-day.html

Seriously peeps, when I started running I was going at it one block at a time. Run a block, walk a block, run a block, walk a block. Then it was run two blocks, walk one block. Then three, then four, then I was running one mile, two miles, three miles. It was an amazing adventure! To take up running at the tender age of 38 was just fantastic and it was a while before I felt comfortable calling myself a runner, but I AM a runner now! I'm still slow. I still get tired and stop and walk. It doesn't matter. I am a runner because I run.

I will be completing a 10K on Turkey Day this year in Cincinnati with loads of my family at my side. What a great way to work off those holiday treats. And Thanksgiving is a GREAT time to find a race, they are everywhere! So everyone.............OFF YER DUFFS! Let's get racing.

Now who's with me????????????