One of Those "Good for No Particular Reason" Days

I liked today.

I volunteered at the shelter this morning, then went grocery shopping, then enjoyed a tasty salad and lemon water for lunch on the back deck with Gearry before he headed off for work. Napped, ran, showered, walked the dogs, worked on a research assignment. Nothing particularly special, but a good day. Good mood. Lots of things to look forward to.

Tomorrow, Mother's Day. We're brunching at Gearry's resort with my parents, his parents and my brother. I can't think of a prettier or classier or tastier place to celebrate Mother's Day.

Next Wednesday, finally finishing the bathrooms and guest room in our house. I know, I know, we've lived here almost a year. Nevertheless, we're finally doing it... touching up paint, installing all new hardware (towel racks, towel rings, etc. in brushed bronze for the master bath and wrought iron for the guest bath), putting up a few shelves, etc., etc. I feel like such an old married lady for getting excited about decorating/remodeling, but when you own your own place... it just feels good to have it "perfect."

Next weekend, Columbus, Ohio, to spend a couple days with my besties!! AND... Josh is coming with me! My friends all love him, but it was hard for him to hang out with all of us before because he wasn't 21. I'm so glad he's coming (even though I'm still mad at him for ruining the Indy Mini-Marathon), and so are Hill and Stebby. We're heading over Friday evening after Josh and I get off of work. On Saturday morning, Hillary, her husband Chris, Stebby, Josh and I are all running in the Race for the Cure 5K in downtown Columbus. And Saturday night... paaartay! I need a good, fun, go-crazy, bar-hopping weekend. It's been far too long.

I'm Yours!

As you all know, summertime rocks my socks. In honor of this most wonderful season, I decided to share my fave song of the moment and my definite 2008 "summer anthem." It makes me think of laying by the lake, or sitting on the beach in Key West with a drink. Love it. Enjoy!

Happy Voting Day!

If you're reading this and you live in Indiana, I sincerely hope you took the time to go vote today. I was at the polls bright and early, around 6:15 a.m, so that I could make it into work by 7 am. (I work four days a week, 10 hour days, so I like to make it in by 7 am so that I can be off by 5:30ish.) I've always voted absentee, so actually going to vote was a new experience. I'm sure you all know by now where my allegiences stand... Go Clinton!! I'm excited to see the results later today...

I took these pictures yesterday on a long walk with Bailey and Zoey. We've lived at Eagle Pointe for almost a year now, and I keep finding new trails and fun little community features. Last week I discovered this sweet gazebo (accessible by about 150 stairs), perched on the side of a huge hill, that has an amazing panoramic view of the water. My camera most certainly doesn't do it justice, but it's a great place to go for some R&R and stress relief... that is, if you don't have the dogs with you, who spent the entire time I was trying to chill attempting to jump off the side of the gazebo so they could go down to the water.

Hey, look, Bailey's a blur as usual. I'm pretty sure that if he were a kid, he would have ADHD. Asking him to stay still long enough for a picture is usually out of the question. But, othertimes, he'll sit contently in your lap for hours and not move a muscle.

Josh forgot his shoes.

We're not going to the Indy Mini-Marathon tonight and tomorrow because Josh forgot his running shoes at Purdue. You're coming to a RACE and you forget your shoes??!

I'm in a bad mood, needless to say. We canceled our hotel and I'm home wallowing in self-pity. It was silly to go up there and spend all that money on dinner, hotel, parking, etc., just for me to do a 5K, which I can do plenty of around here. Even though I've been registered since December.

Yep, I'm in a bad mood. Lonely weekend ahead. Sweet.

This is why it is so hard to get up in the morning...

Wonderful, Wonderful Weekend

Well, I'm writing from my usual spot this time of the year, where you can find me when I'm not working, sleeping, working out or walking the dogs: the back deck. The trees have really bloomed out in just the last week, so we can barely see the lake now, but it's OK. All the green and bright purple buds on the trees are a beautiful sight as well. From about April through November, the back deck is basically just another room in our house. We have great flow-through air conditioning from the lake, so we usually just leave the doors to the deck open and enjoy the sights and sounds and smells of the outdoors all day. Love it, love it, love it. And since it's screened in, no bugs or adverse weather to worry about.

I just got back from kayaking with my friend Allison, who is a senior at IU this year. She brought her dog, a lab-chow named Mia, over to play with Bailey and Zoey, so the puppies entertained themselves while we kayaked around Eagle Pointe and over toward the spillway. Allison has a big final exam and project due tomorrow, so she headed home and now it's just me and the puppies chilling and enjoying the rest of the gorgeous day, dreading going back to work tomorrow. I'll probably be sitting right here the rest of the day, minus a break for a nice run. I've been doing a lot of biking lately (biked 20 miles yesterday) and slightly neglecting running, but Josh and I are headed up to Indy for the Indy 500 Mini-Marathon next weekend, so I need to get a couple good runs in this week. Josh is doing the half-marathon and I'm only doing the 5K... which I could probably do in the worst shape imaginable, so I think I'll be OK ;)

This weekend has been great. A little on the chilly side yesterday, but still nice weather. Friday I found out that I got into IU for grad school, so the weekend started out great. Mom came up and we had dinner at Mother Bear's and then spent the rest of the evening taking the dogs for a long walk by the lake and hanging out here on the deck chilling and talking.

On Saturday, I biked to the shelter in the morning to volunteer, volunteered for two hours and then biked back. It was kind of nice to be back to the house by 11 am and know how much I had already accomplished for the day! I spent most of the day out here with my laptop, working on a research project for my professor. (Yes, it's fun to do, because it's a subject I'm interested in: sociology. And the professor is one of the best in the country. But I also get paid to help :)

It stinks that I never get to spend the weekends with Gearry, and probably never will, as is the nature of his job. But it's OK, too. I get a lot of stuff done, have plenty of time to swim/bike/run, and can just enjoy some personal time. But, truthfully, I wouldn't mind having a little less personal time if it meant more Gearry quality time. Honestly though, I can't complain, because we get to spend more time together now than we ever have before in our 7.5 year relationship: Monday nights, Tuesday nights, all day Wednesday and a couple hours on Sunday mornings. Gearry has lots of exciting things (i.e. promotions!) going on at work right now, so his schedule is about to change again in the next couple weeks. Not sure exactly how it will change, but supposedly it's going to be even better. I'm cool with that.

I got in.

I, Stacey Young-Caudell, start grad school at IU this September. Grad school! WHOO HOO! I love knowing. More to come later, but this girl has had a super long week and is ready for some shut eye.

An Upland Addiction

This weekend, Hillary came to visit from OSU. Yay! I think the last time I saw her was in early February, when she and Stebby last visited (yep, it’s my turn next to truck myself over to Ohio). She got in around 8:00 p.m. on Friday night and we spent the rest of the evening sitting on the back deck, talking and drinking wine. On Saturday, I had to get up early and volunteer at the animal shelter, but I was back home, had gone for a run and showered before noon. Gearry had to head off to work, so Hillary and I spent the afternoon doing a whole lot of nothing other than relaxing and playing with the pups.

Later in the afternoon we headed to town and spent a couple hours shopping at the mall. I found a store, believe it or not, that sells jeans up to 37 inch inseam. 37! As in “too tall for Stacey.” I haven’t had a long enough pair of jeans in years, so I was pretty ecstatic. And they were super cute, too, which bumped up the excitement level even more. Two new pairs of jeans, a cute shirt and some earrings later, we headed to Upland Brewery for dinner.

Now, I had eaten dinner at Upland just a week before for Josh’s birthday, but it seemed like the perfect place once again, and I have a permanent craving for their seitan tenderloin, so Upland it was. After a super tasty dinner, we headed to the Student Union on campus to take in a screening of the movie “27 Dresses.” I’d never seen it; Hill had and loved it. It ended up being a great, great movie. It also reminded how much I miss being on campus. Love that atmosphere.

Because we’re so cool and it was 10 pm, we headed home so that we could get to bed at a reasonable hour. Yeah, really cool on a Saturday night, I know, but Hillary had to leave for Ohio by 8:00 am the next day, and we were both pretty pooped. It was such a relaxing weekend… loved it. Love my Hill! Why is it the best ones always have to live so far away?

On Sunday I spent the day at Mom & Dad’s, just hanging out with Mom, watching TV, playing with the dogs and – above all – cleaning my car, which was atrocious after the long and nasty winter. I mean, BAD. I try to keep it nice in the spring-fall months, but it almost seems pointless in the winter. I have such a nice car, it’s a shame I let it get as bad as I did. But now, after two and a half hours of washing, cleaning carpets, de-hairing, vacuuming, etc., it’s pretty much brand new again.

Yesterday I worked (of course… and it was a long one, man) and then Gearry and I attended a focus group at IU Auditorium, to help them make improvements/changes to their wedding rental program. We rode the motorcycle for the first time this season, which was fantastic. Zooming around campus in the 75 degree sunshine is alright with me. After the focus group, we went to… yep… you guessed it… Upland. Gearry’s choice, not mine! As usual, though, it was super tasty and we had a great time dining on their outdoor patio.

Tonight Gearry actually has to work, unfortunately, because there’s some special event going on, but I have my second softball game to keep me preoccupied. The weather is gorgeous, so it should be a good time. If I don’t get hit in the throat again. Or the shin. Or any of the other places where I still have bruises from last week. Yeah, this former all-star is rusty. Tomorrow is supposed to be even more gorgeous: sunny and near 80. That means a long bike ride in the morning and kayaking with Gearry in the afternoon! I LOVE SPRING!

Picnics and Puppies

The glorious weather makes it impossible to stay inside for even the shortest amount of time, so yesterday -- after an awesome breakfast on the back deck -- Gearry and I packed up the puppies and a picnic and headed to Brown County State Park for some hiking, feasting and playing.

I was super, super sore from my softball game on Tuesday night (we lost... but I didn't suck as bad as I thought I was going to after not playing for four years... although I did get hit in the throat with the ball... that kind of hurt) so the "hiking" part of our excursion ended up only being a little two-mile trail around Ogle Lake. It's amazing how even though I've been triathlon training, I haven't done any sprints, and just the few little sprints I had to do during the softball game have every muscle in my body aching!

After our short (but nice) hike, we spread our picnic out on a table by the water and let the dogs play. Zoey does great off the leash, so she had a blast swimming and splashing in the water. Bailey, however, must stay on the leash, but he still did a bit of wading.

Perfect way to start the day. Pancakes, blueberry syrup, soy sausage, milk and juice on our back deck, overlooking the lake.

Yay for warm weather and sunshine! Let's hike!

Puppies take a swim.

The dogs play in the water while our picnic lunch awaits. "Chicken" (fake) salad, multi-grain crackers, fresh strawberries and cheese. And, of course, in honor of the warm weather, a six-pack of Leignenkugel's Summer Shandy. We even brought out the real, traditional, woven picnic basket for the occasion.

I had to take a picture of our muddy little girl, after she decided it was boring on the leash while we ate lunch and that it would be fun to dig a hole to China. Bailey looks on innocently in the background.

In other random news, I got an e-mail yesterday from IU that let me know my Praxis test scores had been received and -- since this was the last piece of my application puzzle -- my application had been forwarded on to the selection committee. Sooo... I should know relatively soon whether I got into grad school or not! Excited, nervous, excited, nervous. Either way, things will be OK, but I hope it happens.

Happy B-Day, Little Brother!

Can you believe my little brother is 21?? I can't. But, alas, I can assure you that he now officially is and I can assure you that we celebrated the occasion in style.

Josh and his friend from Purdue, Chad, came down to B-Town on Saturday afternoon to celebrate. I had originally planned on going up to West Lafayette for the event, but since this was Little 5 week at IU, Josh decided he'd like to come down and be a part of the madness. After stops at Oliver Winery for wine-tasting and the Crazy Horse (Josh's "first bar") for a beer, they made it out here to the lake. We were generally lazy for a couple hours, enjoying some munchies and relaxing. Around 8:00 we headed to town for some dinner and fun. We had some awesome food at Upland Brewery and then met up with some of my friends at Nick's English Hut. The night ended up ending a little early because we decided to head to another bar, only to discover that 1:00 a.m. was apparently the magic hour that EVERYONE in Bloomington was trying to get into EVERY BAR in Bloomington. We gave up on the idea of waiting in the drizzling rain and cold for a minimum of 30 minutes and paying a huge cover charge, and Josh had already enjoyed plenty of "wetting his whistle," so we ordered pizza, picked it up on the way home and headed back to the lake. Gearry had just gotten home from work, so it was perfect. We all hung out, grubbed a bit and finally hit the sack.

This morning, Gearry treated the guys to a tasty breakfast of filet mignon, eggs, biscuits and mimosas. I joined in, of course, except for the steak. So good! Josh and Chad headed back to Pur-don't around noon, hopefully happy and definitely full.