Gusto!

"the verve, the umph, the vibrance, the life, the exuberance, the stuff, the gusto!" This saying is written on the tag placed on the bag of items you have purchased at the new store. Austin and his friend Ashley have opened up a new trendy store with a New Yorkish feel. It's name is Gusto! and it's job is fashion! If you're ever in the downtown Winston-Salem area, check them out! Click on this link for an article published in the local paper just this past Saturday! http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2010/feb/20/true-to-their-fashion-best-friends-open-an-upscale/
Austin and I are practically cousins, just not blood related we say. Our grandparents were best friends, our moms grew up together, and not only did we grow up together but we grew up as back door neighbors. We have spent every Christmas morning eating breakfast together, eaten lunch every Sunday after church together, grew up riding our bikes for hours after school, worked together along with other siblings to make the best ramps for sledding, starred in "movies", ridden in the back of pickup trucks with PaPa driving, snuggled up watching Clue with PaPa holding us during the "scary part", celebrated birthdays, gone to the beach with our familes, and have cried during deaths in our families. He truly is like family and I can't describe the excitement when I first stepped into his store Saturday after Lena's shower. I was overwhelmed and couldn't decide if I wanted to scream with joy or cry with happiness! I am so proud of him!

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Lena's Shower

I went home this past weekend to help celebrate the upcoming birth of Ella Rose Ammons. Lena and Rick will welcome baby girl Ella the end of March. The shower was hosted by Jane and Audrey at Audrey's new house. It was a floating shower, but of course we stayed from 11:40ish until it ended at 1:00. Actually, we stayed until almost 2 visiting with family! We walked over to Lena's house and saw the completed nursery. It's so sweet!
The neat thing about all this is Lena is due on Marty and Jane (her aunt and uncle's) wedding anniversary. Audrey, Jane and Marty's daughter, is due one year exactly from the day that Marty died. So even though Marty is now watching over all of us, he is still here in spirit. Life really is a blessing.

Jacob, the team hero

Almost two years ago when I joined Team In Training many of you might remember me talking about our team hero, Jacob. Back in January, there was an alumni night at a local running store. I asked one of the coaches if they knew anything about Jacob and how he was doing. They had not heard anything at that point. A few days ago, I got an e-mail with this link. You can click on the video on this link to watch his mother talk about Jacob. Thankfully, he is still doing well today!
http://support.missionfoundation.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ffl_patient_stories

Whirlwind Weekend

Since I was unable to go hear Yonder Mountain Thursday night, I made up for my sadness last weekend. Friday night, I went out with some friends for dinner and drinks downtown. As I was sitting around early Saturday morning reading, my friend Anna called and asked if I wanted to grab some lunch and ride with her to the outlets. Since nothing was on my agenda for the day, I took her up on the offer! I did some window shopping and enjoyed a great lunch before heading back into town. That night, I went out for my friend Lauren's birthday. We met at Westville Pub for dinner and drinks to celebrate her special day.Sunday afternoon, my best guy friend from high school Jon, his wife Caitlin, and their brand new puppy Brutus came over to "watch" the Carolina basketball game. Pattie was in love with Brutus and he eventually got over being so scared of her! It was great to catch up with an old friend! About an hour after they left, I headed over to Hollie and Ben's house for a Superbowl party! To top it all off, I found out at the party that school was on a 2 hour delay! That still means I'm supposed to be there, but knowing I could sleep in and not see kids quite as early was fabulous considering we haven't worked much lately! And I was worried I was going to have to work a full week!!!

Vote! Vote!

So, one day last week when I was snowed in I decided to enter my cute niece and nephew in the Cutest Baby contest. (still not sure why I got the e-mail!) When I got to the last page, you had to pay $40. So, I just closed the page and went about my day. Today, I got an e-mail from the website saying that Caroline is in the running for the cutest kid of the week! So, click on the following link and vote for her!!!! Thanks!

http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/id/4/w/06/y/2010?page=68

(she is wearing a pink shirt that says birthday girl, sitting on a rocking horse and waving at the camera. I took this picture last year on her 1st birthday!)

Winter is....

"snow" much fun! Even though I'm over the large amounts of snow that have been falling and sticking around for weeks, I quite enjoyed them last night! Just as I had decided it was time to shower, get in my pjs, have some dinner, and settle in for a long winter's nap my neighbors called and invited me for sledding! They go over to Erin's parents house for sledding. They had left early afternoon and the husband Aaron (yes, they share the same name!) was coming home to pick up a few things. So, I jumped in the truck with him and went back for dinner first. After dinner, it was time for sledding! I can't remember the last time I went sledding! They had been doing this all day, so the path was slick and you could pick up speed quickly! Of course, I had a few tumbles which almost made it better somehow! We came back home after 9 trying to make it before the roads froze back over. I certainly rested well last night! I'm not as young as I used to be!

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here we "snow" again

Fridays' forecast consisted of a heavy snowstorm that was heading our way. We began our school day knowing that this storm wasn't supposed to hit until 3:00 at the earliest. This meant a whole day with super excited kids...yeah! I prepared myself for the "best" and headed to work. As we were coming back from lunch, we found out that there would be a 1:00 dismissal...thank goodness! We sent our kids on their way and waited until the all clear from the county. We looked out our windows around 2:30 and flakes were just starting. At 2:45, we were finally dismissed and the storm was in full force! The grass was quickly being covered. I parked my car in the driveway at 3:30 and by 3:45, it was covered along with the street. It snowed 2 inches per hour for the 1st 2 hours of the storm. It slacked off a bit, but was still steadily coming down! The most I could find in my yard was 10 inches even though the news reported that the most around the area could be found where I lived...13 inches!!! We woke up Saturday morning to sleet packing the snow down. So, today has been spent lounging. Pattie and I have gone outside every hour or so to "play" and check things out. The last time we went, I was beginning to get a little stir crazy. So, we took out the chuckit and frisbee to play. A few times Pattie was able to dig out the ball from the snow, but the last time it was lost in the heap of snow. No sweat, I know the general area and we'll find it when it thaws. So, we just switched to the frisbee which worked much better! Who says you can't throw the frisbee in the snow? My next trick is to teach her to throw it back to me!

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I tried to build a snowman, but it's not good packing snow. Maybe next time...I mean next year!

The Running Bug...

has bitten! After running the race this past weekend, I began thinking about upcoming races. Last night, I went to alumni night for Team in Training. Over a beer, appetizers, and good conversation I was convinced that I really should be thinking about some more races! After the alumni night, I met up with some friends at a local pizza place for a little pregame basketball dinner...Go Heels! It was during this time that I decided that I would shoot for another half marathon this coming Fall. I now want to beat my time; which I hope is possible. The first race came at a difficult time in my life; and I think that with more confidence, training, and determination I can at least beat my time by one second if nothing else! I don't think that it will be through TNT again, but instead just running with my group of friends. You can breathe a sigh of relief that I won't be attacking your wallets...just not yet at least!

Hot Chocolate 10K

Saturday, I participated in the Issac Dickson Hot Chocolate 10K. Waking up Saturday morning as if it was a regular work day was not my favorite. However, I had to get awake and ready to meet the girls (Maggie and Ann) at 7:00. We headed to the race site thinking the parking would be crazy only to find out we pulled right into a spot at 7:30. Since the race didn't start until 9:00, what were we to do now?! We walked down to the school and picked up our packets before walking back to the car to get warm again. It was hovering around 31 and cloudy which made for some cold bones! We hung out in the car checking out our "prizes" ( a t-shirt and a pair of socks), putting on our numbers, eating some energy chews, and chatting before deciding it was time to head down to the start line. We met up with some other friends and stood close to each other to stay warm! Finally, it was time to head to the start line and let this running begin! Maggie and I ran together while Ann, Lauren, and Amanda took off and kicked some running butt! Maggie and I only let ourselves walk through some of the water stations and were able to finish the race; including the final hill with a pretty decent time! You start the race downhill, run about 5 miles on flat ground, and finish up the last 1/3 mile on a slow incline hill. It certainly makes you dig deep! When I turned the corner, I looked first for the finish line, then second towards the ground not wanting to see how hard I felt I was pushing but how slow I was getting there. When I finally started reaching people is when I allowed myself to look up and face that finish line head on! I was able to cut 3 minutes and 16 seconds off my time from this same race last year! Now, my goal is working towards the Cooper River Bridge Run at the end of March. I'd like to keep cutting off time and run that race in an hour! We'll see what happens!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my sweet mother's birthday! We won't tell her age except that she's 30 years older than me! This past Saturday, mom and dad offered to drive up here to help me "winterize" my house. I declared operation winterize Friday afternoon and was determined to take back my house! We hung film on most of the windows stuffing paper in most of the cracks first. Luckily, I no longer feel cold wind blowing at me when I stand in front of the windows. I certainly appreciate their help! After we were finished working, dad and I took mom out for her birthday "lupper"...a late lunch/early dinner before they headed back home. We thought about going over to "stone cold slab" (it's a new combo ice cream place mom created!) for some ice cream, but passed when we walked outside and it was blowing snow again! We were a bit shocked at the size of the petite filets that mom and I both ordered...good thing we didn't decide to split them! Nevertheless, we had a good chuckle over them, enjoyed a good day together, and were reminded how lucky we are to be family. Happy Birthday Mom!

Pattie Celebrates!

A year ago today January 11th), this little ball of energy was born and I am lucky to call her my own. Saturday night, she went over to play with Chloe for a girls night. Sunday, we got together with one of her sisters and brothers to play for the "birthday party". It consisted of watching them play nonstop for about 3 hours! She didn't even eat dinner she was so worn out! She got a doggie version (instead of the cha-cha-cha, it was ruff, ruff, ruff) of Happy Birthday from the Ohio Gribbles and a card with a dog magnet frame from "grandma and grandpa". Of course I spoiled her today with extra treats and love. How lucky is she to have such a wonderful family?!

Lilly Kate Cochran

Amanda and I were friends growing up. We went to the same church and have remained friends every since; hanging out on weekends, playing Barbies, having sleepovers, and being introduced to sneaking food into the movies! Unfortunately, we don't get to see each other very often, but thanks to quick reunions at church and now the ever important world of facebook we are able to "see" each other more often. We were both home the Sunday after Christmas and I was able to meet her sweet baby girl. Lilly Kate was born in October and made her first debut to our church back home on her first Christmas.

To New Beginnings

2010 has started out on the right track despite a minor happening. After looking at my pictures again, I somehow managed to delete all the remaining pictures on my camera! I'm thinking about creating an "undo" button for digital cameras and making lots of money! Or if that has already been created, someone please tell me how to use it!
So, you'll sadly miss out on pictures but I can quickly recap the last days of my vacation. On NYE, we went to see Grandma Gribble. She and Sawyer had a good time playing "war" even though I'm not sure she quite knew what she was getting herself in to! Imagine Grandma Gribble sitting in a blue chair with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren standing behind her. That would have been inserted here. After our visit, I continued on south with Phillip and Jammie to hang out in Charlotte for the evening with an old friend. Gray and his wife Heather invited us for an evening of wonderful food fixed on the green egg, good drinks, and good conversations. Imagine Phillip and I being silly with our enormously large wine glasses and "hiding" our double-chins. Those would have been inserted here. We came back home Friday and enjoyed an afternoon of napping and playing the Wii at Kathryn's house before packing up our cars and heading home on Saturday.
Here would have been inserted some video of Caroline "throwing" Pattie's toys for her, Sawyer playing cards, G.G. reading the kids a book, and some random last minute pictures from the trip. It was sad to leave "home", but nice to be back in the mountains. Although it was freezing cold. Seriously, can you really warm up when the temperature is 12 degrees without the windchill figured in?! Wishing you all a happy 2010!

Grayson Hyatt

My good friends Dana and Trent, that now live in CO, came home to NC for the holidays. I was able to spend a few hours with them and meet their son. Grayson was born on October 22nd and he was just dying to meet his aunt Bethany! I drove up to Hickory for the day and spent the afternoon loving on him. I could just eat him with a spoon! They will be flying back to CO this week so I'll have to wait until next summer to see them again. However, there's always Skype to get me through the months!

On the go

After Christmas was over there was still fun to be had! Phillip, Jammie, and I went out one night to watch the Carolina basketball game. Back home, Caroline was busy going through my Christmas dress-up bag. Watch out Hollywood!!! Mom and I took Sawyer to the Children's Museum and out to lunch. Everyone else in W-S had the same idea that day! There was also the dinner I had with Kyle and Marie and the visit from Kathryn that we all enjoyed.

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Christmas Morning...again

Since the Ohio Gribbles came Sunday afternoon and we were over at Kathryn's late for the family celebration; we decided to exchange our presents Monday morning. So, it was like waking up Christmas morning minus that fact that Santa didn't come visit again. Caroline and Sawyer had a good time handing out the gifts and then the opening began! Since I gave Caroline a cheerleading outfit last year, I knew that payback was coming. Sure enough, I opened up a lovely teacher sweater this year! After it was all said and done; it looked like a tornado had come through! After checking out all the gifts again, we headed over to grandmother Gen's to get out some energy. Since it's been so snowy and rainy; Pattie was loving being able to run and play too!
(If the slideshow starts on the video, press play a few times until pictures pop up after the video finishes. There are a few pictures but for some reason they aren't showing up first?!)

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Petty Family Christmas

Sunday evening, the Petty side of the family got together for the annual dirty santa/white elephant gift exchange. We were missing our northern (NY, MD/D.C area) relatives, but we gained our west coast relatives for this celebration. The Ohio Gribbles got into town around 2:30 Sunday afternoon, unpacked, played a bit, then got back in the car to head over to Kathryn's for the festivities. After a delicious spread of dips, flank steak, and divine desserts; the games began! Of course, this year proved just as entertaining as past years with the award for best gift going to John. The lucky recipient of his gift was Uncle Kyle who gained a snuggie and light set complete with a chia Obama!

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Merry Christmas!

I was awoken Christmas morning by a video text message from the Ohio Gribbles. Jammie, Caroline, and Sawyer said "Merry Christmas! Call us!" That of course had me jumping out of bed and ready to start the day. I woke up mom and dad by playing the message for them. Once we got ourselves up and awake, we jumped on Skype to watch the Ohio Gribbles. Sawyer was so excited because he spent his first Christmas morning waking up in his own house! He showed us everything Santa had left while Caroline proceeded to eat donuts and chocolate! A girl after my own heart!

After saying our goodbyes, mom, dad, and I opened up our presents. Mom ended up wrapping Caroline's pretend vacumn cleaner as a clue for me to use the money to buy a new one for the floors. I am tired of using the broom and quite frankly it just doesn't work all that well as I watch Pattie hair and dust float away. So, I returned the pretend one back to it's spot in the toy cabinet and will venture out soon to get my own real one! Mom had also taken the time to paint a Pattie ornament for me. She found an ornament, but it was brown. So, she had to doctor it up a bit. It looks just like Pattie if you ask me! I can't wait to hang it on my tree next year! Don't worry, Pattie was not left out from her first Christmas. She got some bones and a few new toys; one of which was destroyed within the hour!

After presents, we headed over to Gen's for breakfast. There were about 25 of us that gathered as we always do for breakfast. This tradition began at my grandparents house many years ago and was passed along to Gen and Ken's house. Now the tradition has continued and will hopefully never be broken. I always hear it's good to start new traditions, but this is one I'm not willing to let go of just yet. We met at 10 to chit chat and enjoy a plate full of goodness! The afternoon was spent napping, Christmas movie watching, and eating a late lunch/dinner before calling it a night. I was to meet at Kathryn's house for a 5:30 a.m. departure time to go sale shopping!

The Gribbles Gather

Christmas Eve we traveled over to Grandma Gribble's house for the Gribble Family Christmas. Unfortunately, we don't get to see this side of the family very often so it's always nice to sit around and catch up with each other. Uncle Steve, Aunt Martha, and my cousins Margaret, Russ and his wife Jessica joined in the festivities. We were missing the Ohio Gribble's from our gathering, so we will go see Grandma Gribble next week after they have arrived.

We enjoyed an afternoon of talking, eating, a few cocktails, and presents before we had to head back for the lovefeast. The service started at 10:30 and we were back home after midnight. I had coffee at the service, so I wasn't able to go to sleep until 2:00! I knew that there would be a nap taken Christmas day!

Holiday Cheer

Monday morning I awoke with a huge list of things to do before my evening party. My friends had requested another girls night out (for them) at my house and it was decided that the Monday before Christmas would work out best. So, I started my morning by finishing up the cleaning of the house before tackling the "decorations" of the coozies and cups that we would be using that night. I found these for a dollar back in November and decided I would dress them up a bit and give them out as presents. Then I remembered that some people might only want to drink wine, so I found a way to "dress up" the wine glasses I found for a buck also. So, the finished product was ready and I was off to my rescheduled hair appt. since I couldn't get out of my driveway or road on Saturday. It was after that appt. that things changed.
Mother nature had another idea for many of us. Slick driveways, snowed in cars in garages, black ice, and powerless homes had now postponed the outing until January. However, a few of us were determined that we could get out and that we would still get together for the holidays. So, we met at Brixx pizza for our outing. I was a little bummed at not having the girls over, but saw the bright side to all of this: we can get together twice and maybe next time more people can come over that were originally out of town for this planned event! There's always a silver lining to everything; sometimes it just takes a little time to figure it out or accept it.
All in all, it was a lovely evening spent with friends (new and old) before we all begin our holiday travels. Merry Christmas to everyone and just know, "we can do it again in 2010"!!!