I love the Fall!

Not much has been going on lately. October has definitely been one of those really slow months that never seems to pass by. However I think the reason for that is because Justin has been gone for most of October. I've been so bored when he's not there for me to come home to, so I've done nothing but clean and decorate for two weeks straight! I absolutely love the fall, not near as much as I love winter, but decorating for fall is definitely second best to decorating for Christmas. I'm starting to love Michael's. I've gotten so much cute fall stuff from there and all of their stuff is DIRT CHEAP! Plus they already have Christmas stuff out too!

Justin and I ran the Race for the Cure 5K at Linn Park last Saturday. I ran the 3.11 miles in 30 minutes and 1 second (averages out to be 9 minute and 40 second miles). I was pretty proud of that given that I haven't run in at least two weeks. I came in 22nd place out of all women ages 25-29 that were timed and 89th place overall of all women that were timed. Just over 300 women were timed, but I don't know how many of that 300 were of the ages 25-29. The fastest I have ever done that distance was in 29 minutes and 51 seconds, so I didn't do too bad.

I am 24 days away from my "secret trip" that Justin has planned for us. I haven't gotten anymore hints than the ones I posted in my previous blog. I tried to stop talking about it because I know that he really wants it to be a surprise. If you know me, you know that I love surprises, not because of the element of surprise, but because I love to try to figure out what the surprise is!!! Like I've said before, I think that I know what it is, but Justin swears up and down that this is not where we're going. I think we're are going to Acadia National Park in Maine. Acadia is one of the national parks that I have a huge interest in and his parents and grandparents went there last month. Here's some pics of Acadia:

Even though I think this is where we're going, it may not be. Others have had suggestions such as Niagara Falls, New York City (since he knows that is my favorite place on Earth), Shenandoah National Park, Washington D.C. and many others. I guess I'll find out on November 7th after our connecting flight. I don't even get to know where we're going once we get to the Birmingham airport. Justin is checking my bags for me so that I don't find out the airport code and he's holding both of our boarding passes for the second flight. (A little too obsessive don't you think?) I know the connecting flight is through Detroit, so when we land in Detroit we'll head to the gate of the last flight and that's when I will find out where I'm going.

Case of the Mondays...

I don't know about any of you, but I most certainly am having a horrible case of the Mondays. It's probably because I didn't get too much sleep last night! Rob rented 2 movies last night: 88 and We Are Marshall. He rented We Are Marshall because Justin's church officially started the contemporary service on Sunday and there is a 4 week lesson based on the movie. Rob had never seen it so he went and rented it after the 1st service. Justin hadn't seen it either until I made him watch it last week in preparation for the service. Anyway, while he watched We Are Marshall, I watched 88. In case you haven't heard of 88, it's the movie where Al Pacino plays a forensic psychiatrist for the FBI and after putting a rapist and serial killer in jail, he gets threatening phone calls saying he has 88 minutes to live. WATCH THIS MOVIE!!! I love Al Pacino's movies anyway, but I especially loved this one. I'm a big thriller fan and this movie keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time trying to figure out "who did it".

In other exciting news, Justin informed me last week that he had planned a trip for us in November. On November 7th through the 9th, we were suppose to be in DC because Justin was going to have to go to DC for a training class the next week and we were going to fly up early to enjoy the city a little bit. He changed the class and is now taking one in San Jose, CA next week so since we had that weekend open, he planned a trip for us. This is very unfortunate for me.....mainly because he won't tell me where we're going. I thought of a place off the bat that I thought it was, but he swears up and down that we are not going there, so I'm trying to think of where else we would be going, but I'm having a hard time. Here are the clues I was given:

• The destination is in either the Central or Eastern time zone
• We have a connecting flight through Detroit
• I have to be at the house by 4pm on Friday in order to get to the airport in time
• We will arrive at the final destination around 11pm
• We won't get back Sunday night until close to 11pm
• There is a 3 hour layover in Detroit
• We are flying Delta or one of their alliance airlines
• The high at this place in November is in the mid 50's and the low is in the 30's
• He refuses to tell me if there is a National Park involved
• When I ask him if he's been there before his answer is "I have and I haven't" (What the crap does that mean??????)
• I have a window seat for all 4 flights
• There will be some flying on small 50 passenger jet planes

Does anyone have a clue of what it could be??? Because I'm stumped. I've thought of a couple of ideas, but all of those ideas seem to get turned down. Justin is having a GREAT time torturing me about this by the way. We'll be watching TV or something and out of nowhere he'll say "Hey babe....we're going on a trip". His face just lights up when he talks about it. I can tell he's excited about surprising me, so I'm trying not to think about it anymore and let it be a surprise....but man it's hard!!!! Bottom line.....I HAVE THE BEST BOYFRIEND ON THE PLANET :)

It's a boy!!!!

So Susan and Todd found out the sex of their baby last night.....IT'S A BOY!!!! We're so excited about another little addition to the family. Pop and Gigi are going to have to build one giant playground by the new house :) We all really thought it was going to be a girl because Susan was craving sweets, which is what you usually crave when you have a girl. (Yes, I have become an expert on pregnancy and raising children.....thanks to Lindsey). Susan is due sometime in February so please be praying for her and this gift from God between now and then!

Not much else has been going on lately. Justin has been in town this week so I've definitely enjoyed that. This time of year is his "busy season" for work and he usually is constantly traveling. In September he went to New York, Oklahoma, and Mississippi and in October he'll be going to North Dakota, California, and Colorado. He always comes home on the weekends, but I'm still going to miss him :(

We've got a couple of races coming up. Next weekend is the Komen Foundation Race for the Cure. It's in Linn Park and it usually has TONS of participants. Justin and I joined the team led by his church. Most of them will probably do the 1 mile fun run/walk, but Justin and I will be doing the 5K. The big one is on November 1st, the Vulcan Run 10K. Training for these races and the Half-Marathon is pretty much all that occupies my mind and my time now-a-days, but I have really enjoyed pushing myself to get back to being physically fit and flexible again.

Oh yeah, today is Rob's birthday!!!! He is getting so old :) We're going to Buffalo Wild Wings tonight to help him celebrate it! Hope everyone has had a great week!!!