Week In Review

This past week has been one of the busiest weeks the Caraways have had in a very long time. However, it was one of the most fun weeks we've had in a really long time as well. As many of you know, my birthday was last Wed., June 30th. And whether you want to or not, if you are a friend or even just an acquaintance of mine, you are expected to celebrate all week long. Especially if my birthday falls in the middle of the week, like it did this year.

My bff, Allison, from MS came in to celebrate with me the weekend prior to my b'day. We had a really good time. I consumed more carbs that weekend than I have all of 2010 combined. Allison made me the cutest birthday present. It's a wooden flower bouquet, and on the back of every flower was gift card. I had gift cards to Bath & Body Works, Subway, and Amazon. I love when someone gives me a gift, and they actually think about me and what I may like. It just makes me feel so special. It's never about the amount of what the gift costs. It's about knowing that you were really thinking of me when you got me something. Allison and my sister, Hayley, are the best present givers ever.

Friday, Allison, Kirsten and I had a girls' day at the mall. We goofed around like we were tweenagers. We shopped every store, ate in the food court, had mall yogurt, made build-a-bears...the whole tween experience.

Sat. night Allison and I went out while Greg babysat. Since I love and miss McAlister's so much, we drove 45 min. to the closest one. We spent the night singing hits from the early 90's. I can't remember what I did yesterday, but I can remember every word to every song Debbie Gibson ever recorded. Allison tried to culture me with some annoying, whiny, off pitch country songs. I hate how people are given recording contracts because they can put a booty call to music. I mean, really...but that's another blog.

Wednesday was my hollyday, so obviously Greg took off of work. Or he planned on it, anyway. He ended up going in about 3:00 that afternoon, then had to work till about 7:00. He felt bad about it so he made it up to me by going 45 min. out of the way to let me eat at McAlister's. Nothing cures the blues like some McAlister's tea.

Friday we finally got our date night. We've had many attempts at a date night since last Nov., but we've been unsuccessful. It was so pleasant to be able to just hang with my man and eat at the same time and have real conversation. We went to dinner at Ted's, then searched what seemed like most of GA for frozen custard. There's no Bop's here and I'm not happy about that. I would have driven to Flowood for Bop's but I didn't think the babysitter would go for that.

Saturday, my family came in and we all went to the Peachtree Road Race fitness expo to pick up our race numbers. The expo was so awesome. They were selling all kinds of running gear for really cheap.

Sunday was the big day. I was so nervous I had to go to the bathroom 4 times before the race started and I thought I was going to miss my heat. Fortunately, I caught up with them just in time to start the race. It was so fun. There were 55,000 runners and tons of spectators all over Peachtree and Piedmont Park. Moe's was shooting t'shirts into the crowd of runners. McDonald's had Smoothie stops. People were passing out coupons for free food. The weather could not have been any nicer. I started at 8:30 and Greg started at 9:00 and the hottest it got was 73 degrees.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first Peachtree Road Race experience. I hope we can start doing this every year. I read the mile markers wrong thinking they were telling me when the mile started instead of when they ended. Since I thought I was a mile behind in my time I slowed down. I got confused when some spectator screamed we were half way done at mile 4 and I got discouraged. Then about 2 min. later an experienced Peachtree participant straightened things out for me, so I started back up again. I probably wasted 2.5 - 3 minutes of my time. Moral to the story...some spectators are idiots so don't listen to them. My finish time was 1:25:09. Greg's was 1:10 even. We were satisfied and excited.

We were home by noon and spent the rest of the afternoon with my parents, Hayley and our GA bff's, Jason and Jennifer. Kirsten and Jacob played on the slip and slide and they had such a blast. This is what holidays are all about. Just quality time with family and friends.

As I mentioned earlier, Hayley is one of the best gift givers. She can spend $5 or $500 and buy the best gifts. She's gifted in that way, and I am blessed to have her in my life. I guess that's our love languages. The big reveal of what she gave me.....a Nook.