September Can’t Come Soon Enough!!

K and I have a fun filled September planned and let me tell you – it cannot come soon enough.

...see for yourself...

{Erin Condren Life Planner}

We are taking a little weekend trip up to Charleston, SC for a friend’s wedding & since a  weekend trip to that city is on my 30 before 30 list we decided to have Saturday be a sight seeing day to see what all the buzz is about.

Then midmonth we are going to Sanibel Island for a short trip. Sun. Sand {pool for me}. Good Book. And I have a hunch that after all my work travels, this will be a much needed break from reality.

.long.overdue.wordy.i blogged.

i would first like to make it known that i am alive. kyle and i are still living. breathing. and having a good time. we are still enjoying our patio furniture with a bottle or two of pinot grigo on the weekends. we LOVE having a pool in our neighborhood {we actually have two but go to the same one. every time}. i am constantly missing sunscreen in spots and getting sun burnt – kyle makes fun of me and laughs. i am traveling A LOT for work. and i mean A LOT. Spent time in Greensboro & Winston Salem 2 weeks ago – then spent time in Birmingham – now I am off to Sarasota. Then I go to Oklahoma City, followed by Langhorne PA.  I have an awesome new girl on my team and I feel like I am neglecting her training & growth since I am out – and I want to promote another girl on my team amidst all my traveling which is a GREAT idea for her and maybe not a fabulous idea for me and my sanity levels ... I feel like the whole team that i manage needs a little bit of love once all my traveling is done.

...but i digress...

Life update for K and me.  A few weeks back we headed home to Northern VA to celebrate the wedding of Kyle’s good friend JL and his new wife Kelly.  What a fun wedding and it was so pretty and just laid back. Kyle had a VERY good time – not only because I was his designated driver – but because he got to catch up with some of his friends that he has not seen in YEARS! Plus... it was fun to just get dressed up and GO OUT.  ..something that K and I do not do nearly enough.  And look at us ... we clean up well! :) HA!

While we were up there we always make time to see our families. My parents were not in town, but Kyle’s were so we of course hung out with them and saw his little sister.  Sadly, the drive up and back down were 10+ hours a piece and we are just getting tired.  We are talking about cutting out our summer trip to VA. My parents are normally gone and it is just SO much traveling and traveling around northern Virginia for not a lot of down time.  Instead – we will take those 3-4 days and vacation together, somewhere low key but away from Atlanta to just RELAX!!

...in between our trip to VA and then me going to Greensboro and then me heading to Birmingham I spent an afternoon at the spa and it was GLORIOUS and so very very needed! ....thanks for the 15% off birthday deal from the spa I LOVE! #highfive #gooddeals {why am i using hash tags in my blog?!} ... Kyle dragged me to some legit boxing/kickboxing class at TITLE Club Boxing where they had to wrap my hands & I had to put on boxing gloves. I pretty much complained about needing hand sanitizer the whole time and my hands probably still smell like those boxing gloves.  Kyle however, loved it and he will be back and i told him that if he joins and buys gloves he needs to Lysol wipe the insides every time because dark damp spaces = mold and i am pretty confident those gloves were growing mold. yuck

Today Kyle and I headed to Montaluce, a vineyard in the North Georgia mountains for a hike, wine tasting, lunch, and me crossing something off my 30 before 30 list {visiting a vineyard}.  And we legit had PERFECT weather – not too hot for l gate June in the southern summer & pretty much NO humidity. We got lucky. The hike was about 2 miles – 2 fairly easy miles, minus 2 killer hills through the vineyards at the end.  The “tour guide” was super nice and educated about the river, the area, the vineyard, and wine. We really enjoyed it. The North Georgia mountains really are rich with history. I think K was a little nervous that I would talk all about the wedding I had wanted to happen there  {since we looked at Montaluce as our venue & it was my top choice, minus price} and I talked a little bit about it, but not too much. Nothing unbearable. Didn’t beat a dead horse. I think K was  shocked.

At the end of the hike we got to taste 5 of their wines and then have a full glass of our favorite and they had some pretty good wines that I had never heard of.  I tried a Viognier for the 1st time and it was amazing – we tried a Mead and it was just too bubbly for us. And we are non-red wine drinkers and were surprised when we liked the Risata. Granted, it was more of a blush, but it was still good. 

Overall. the Hike & Wine Tasting was fun. We talked to some really interesting people {who were for sure vineyard and wine lovers – but they were not pretentious} who made the day just that much more enjoyable.   ...And we capped our “date day” off by dinner at a cute little town near by. 

....despite being exhausted.... I now get to pack my bags! I am off to Sarasota for work tomorrow! 

working from home.

yesterday i got to work from home. this is a rare occasion for me, but after my 46 minute flight out of Greensboro, NC to Atlanta turned into a 4+ hour flight {with a slight detour to Montgomery, AL since we were RUNNING OUT OF FUEL due to circling the Atlanta airport for a hour or so – thanks weather!} and getting home around 1:15 AM and in bed by 1:45 AM ... i was one exhausted lady.  ...and my boss told me to work from home rather than head to the office... so i worked all days. in bed. it was GLORIOUS!

Well. my two doggies have been glued to my side since getting home and they were my coworkers yesterday.

Mulligan: bad coworker. laid on my laptop and my work and me.
Kennesaw: good coworker. laid at the foot of the bed and was out of my way.

They loved it and were so happy to be FREE all day long with their momma! And after a house burned down in our neighborhood this week and the owner lost their pets it makes me wish i could work from home everyday so i can keep a protective eye on them. losing my dogs in any fashion, but as devastating & destructive as a fire is a huge fear of mine.

Scheduling the Summer

Life is about to get busy for me again at work. I get to start traveling back to back again the 2nd week of June (Monday night – Wednesday night). Therefore, I am taking the time to try and “schedule” things for Kyle and me to do this summer. We both want to stop spending all of our time in the house doing nothing on the weekends and want to get out and do things. After all – we have decided to make Alpharetta our “home” – we might as well get out and explore, right?

My birthday is Saturday and we are going to go to Flywheel together – you  fly {ride} for free on your birthday.  Then we are going to spend the day at the pool {with sunscreen since I forgot it this past weekend} and then K is taking me to dinner!

We are headed to Virginia in a few weeks for Kyle’s high school friend’s wedding.  That will be the “kick off” of the summer fun.

Then at the end of June we are booked for a 1 hour hike at Montaluce Winery followed by lunch and wine tasting. We fully understand and know that it will be one HOT hike – 1:00 PM at the end of June, hello sweat fest – but I think it will be fun.

In July we are going to go to a climbing wall and give rock climbing a go. We may die or I may psych myself out and never make it half way up.  Or.... we may find a new hobby. Who knows?

Then at the end of July we are going to go to the zip lining obstacle course place.  Which, like the hike will be hot – but will also be so super fun.  Or, like rock climbing i will psych myself out and be a nervous nelly the whole time.

But I am excited that we will be doing things!  We rarely do anything so it will be fun to have things on the books to look forward to. :)

.birthday wish list.

one of my new years resolutions was to be able to answer the question, “what do you want for {insert event here}” ... and since we’re less than one week out from my 29th birthday I have decided to put together my birthday wish list. And in no particular order, here is what I would knock my socks off.

.up bracelet.
ever since seeing this contraption on Good Morning America I have been intrigued. I always am striving to be healthier and l what makes me the most interested in the up bracelet is the sleep monitoring because i can tell you ... i do not get enough sleep. I would like it in mint or white

.new pair of rainbow flip flops.
the current pair i own are ROUGH and basically falling apart. the soles are worn down, the leather is detaching from the sole. they are l-o-v-e-d and lived in and need to be retired.  i live in these things and it is time to get a new pair. i need them like woah.

.republican tervis tumbler.
the big one for my morning protein shakes. i love love love tervis tumblers. and i love the republican elephant.

.the mint cleaner.
this thing caught my eye when Kyle & I registered for wedding gifts and I still do not have this and want this. something about the ease of vacuuming the floor when i am at work and cleaning up after my shedding dogs.

.spa gift card.
I love Natural Body Spa at the Avenues in Forsyth. I also believe that I should get a massage every 3 months, my bank account feels otherwise. So, you can donate to the stress free Barbie habit.

.flywheel gift card.
another addiction of mine. I spin on a weekly basis so I feel like we’re always “reloading” my account. Feel free to help reload my account.

.a new carry on suitcase.
you know you’re old when you ask for a suitcase for your birthday. but the one that i have currently i got as a high school graduation gift in 2002 – yup it is like 11 years old. I want a nice new one – especially since i am traveling a lot for work now.

Weekend Wrap Up Shanahan Style

it was the 1st weekend in awhile that we had things on the calendar and things to do. it was odd to not lounge around and be a lazy bone all weekend, but at the same time it was good to get off the couch.

I ran my 1st 5k since who knows when. And most importantly, I did not die. Not my best time in my running career – but I didn’t expect a PR or anything earth shattering. :)  But it makes me want to do another 5k STAT to make up for my less than stellar performance ... i had forgotten just how hilly that race is/was – and how many kids run it, but it was fun to get back out there running & racing. but, i ran into my friend’s husband before the race and then the whole cute little family after the race was done. anyone needs good running songs holla at me – I can recommend some songs that will make you MOVE ...

Saturday night we had Kyle’s company picnic at the Gwinnett Braves game and we stayed basically only for the cookout and then headed back home.  It looked like it was going to POUR and we didn’t really want to at a rainy baseball game – maybe if it was the real braves and if we knew more people.... but not the fake braves. :)  And I got my fix of hot dogs and that is all that matters. {I meant to get pictures of the game and us, but yeah.... forgot about that}

We then went home and just curled up and watched a movie. I was EXHAUSTED from having to get up at 6:00 AM for the race – then running – and then running errands

it was nice to do things for a change, but i am not going to lie – i like being on the couch watching lifetime right now {or maybe that is because of the nasty weather outside}

Ermagah – worst.blogger.ever.

This right here is a no duh, but I have been the worst of the worst blogger EVER lately. I’d like to say that I have this big life update to make & announce – but life has been as is. Kyle and I have literally NOTHING going on in our world; however, we’re trying to be more active and get out of the house on the weekend. So I have made a “to do” list for the summer of 2013.

On the list:
1. I bought a TravelZoo for a hike in the North GA mountains and then a wine tasting at Monteluce Winery. This will be done & needs to be booked.
2. I want to go to a Rock Climbing indoor gym thing. I do not know why – but I want to.
3. Skyzone. Indoor trampoline. ‘Nuff said.
4. Go to Downwind for lunch and watch planes land & take off.
5. Treetop Quest – Ropes Course, Zip Wire, too fun.

So, hopefully I will have more exciting things to “blog” about over the next few months. We do have Kyle’s company picnic next week so that is exciting, right? :) ...Oh and I have my first 5k in like 560450 years that weekend too. I just may die. But you gotta start back somewhere! {pray for me. and there will be a recap.}

Oh. And Happy {Early} Mother’s Day to my wonderful & fabulous Mom!  I hope all the mommas out there have a great weekend full of laughter and love!