I'm Back!

So for any of my followers if I still have any.... lol... all I can say is I'm sorry I haven't posted in FOREVER, but I am back!

I hope to give my blog a fresh new start (there will probably be a lot of changes in design, templates, etc. in the next few days/weeks) and get back to posting regularly!

Be on the lookout for lots of stories on my healthy living activities (of course running!), as well as the adventures of David and I as HOMEOWNERS now (scary!)!!!

For now, I will leave you with a picture of David in front of our new home!

Too long!

It has been too long since I have posted! I promised myself I'd stay with it this time. haha.

Lets see... what has been going on since I last posted.

Job is going great!! I'm loving it.

David and I are really enjoying our passes to SeaWorld! We go pretty frequently, and were so sad to here about the trainer who passed away. We remember seeing her during the shows, and it really felt like we somehow knew her! We went to the Shamu Show yesterday (Believe) which they are doing "Dry" showings of (no trainers in the water with the animals) and it was amazing... the trainers were still so positive and had so much energy, and the animals seemed to be in good spirits. They did a memorial for Dawn which was very nice.

I got to take my little cousin Gabriel to SeaWorld for a belated birthday present the weekend before last, which was really fun.

Other updates... we got a new TV! We had saved gift cards for the past year to get the TV David has been dying for... and we got a 50 inch Samsung plasma TV and a new stand for it to go on as well. We are loving it! I watched Planet Earth last night in HD and it was fabulous!!! I have all of the Planet Earth shows now set to record on my dvr. LOL.

We've also checked out some new places to eat like Pom Pom's (for yummy sandwiches). It was a while ago though. I need to get better about posting regularly so I can remember the details.

Other news... I cooked TWICE this weekend! For anyone who knows me, they know this is a big deal. It was definitely with David's help. haha. I'm normally much more of a go out to eat, or $5 hot n ready little ceasars pizza kinda girl, but I'm trying to get back to eating healthier and trying to save some $... although the cost of ingredients for things always gets me! So I look for recipes that don't have quite as much fancy stuff. haha.

Saturday night I made baked chicken (OK that may not sound like a big deal to most haha) and we made sweet potato "fries" with them. You cut up a sweet potatoe into fry sizes and then toss with olive oil, garlic and rosemary and bake in the oven for a yummier, healthier version of regular sweet potato fries. YUM!

Then yesterday I made taco rice in the crockpot and put it all in early in the morning, so it was nice and ready for us when we got back from SeaWorld! I used ground beef, taco and ranch seasoning packets, kidney beans, corn, diced tomatoes, tomatos and chilis, sliced carrots, and a little bit of 2% cheese on top! It was really good and filling for soup, and there is a lot left for dinner tonight and lunches.

In other health notes... I have been having issues with my knee to keep me from running. This is EXTREMELY frustrating. It's probably been about a month now! I believe it is the IT band syndrome. I will start off running and it'll feel great and I'll think it's finally better (my knee doesn't just hurt generally at all, I wouldn't even know anything is wrong), and then BAM right at about .67 of a mile EVERY time it hurts out of nowhere. I cannot run through it, it hurts too bad. Once I walk it almost instantly goes away, but as soon as a try to run again after that, it hurts. I've been doing some strenghening exercises that are supposed to help, and have been doing the elliptical, power walking, dvd workouts to cross train. Hopefully I can get back out there soon, as it's making me a not so happy camper!

Well, I think that's all for now. Sorry for the lack of pictures! I will try to update soon WITH pictures. :)

Loving Life!

Well I've been at my new job for 1 week and a day, and I love it! I am just so exciting every morning to go to work (which is saying something considering I have to get up around 5am! that's really early for me! lol). The campus is just beautiful and I'm just continuously blown away by the campus. Did you know that University of Central Florida is the third largest college in the NATION? AND it was only founded in I believe 1963, so it's very young for a university! Just a little tid bit for ya. ;)

Friday was my official orientation through HR and so now I'm having the fun decision of choosing health insurance options, retirement package, etc. Soooo much to choose from my mind is just spinning. Pension or investment plan?? HMO or PPO? hmm!

Well last weekend Melissa (sister in law), Cliff (brother in law, david's brother) and Kiley (our niece!) came to visit us, and we had lots of fun hanging out, playing mini golf, and eating! lol. We are looking forward to another visit from them this coming weekend.

This weekend I've enjoyed being totally lazy and just hanging around, doing laundry, watching, tv, etc. Last night David and I went to eat at Tony Romas (we had a buy one get one free coupon, yay!) and then rented the new Night at the Museaum from Redbox... we really liked it! I loved seeing DC in the movie and am now already trying to plan my next trip back!

I did manage to do a longer run this morning, 6.5 miles or so... longest one I've done since the half and it was harder than it should be lol. My knees and hips are hurting, makes me feel like an old lady.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I've been staying pretty busy! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. :)

Food and Running- my 2 fav things!

haha well running is a love/hate relationship... but for the most part the title is true. :)

I have gotten David to start back up with running and I really hope it sticks! It's so nice to have a running buddy and do something that doesn't cost us anything, and is so good for us! We went out for a run yesterday (I did 5 miles, David did about 2.5) and the weather was so nice and beautiful, david did great! He's having problems with his foot going numb so we need to figure out what's going on with that.

More importantly on the topic of FOOD... lol... we've realized there are a LOT of great places to eat here!!! Not just chain restaurants (although there are plenty of those too) but lots of really neat places that you can't find many other places than Orlando. We decided that we want to try and take pictures and do little reviews of places we eat at in Orlando for this blog, just for fun! :)

Sunday we went and explored Downtown Orlando. We went first to Lake Eola park to check out this farmers market we had heard about... it wasn't that amazing but still fun to walk around.

Afer that we just walked around for like an hour and worked up an appetite! We had no plans on where to eat for lunch but knew we wanted to eat someplace new to us downtown. We walked to the theater which is a cool new theater, the ones where you can order food and they bring it to you while you're watching. Well there are a couple places to eat right next to the theater in the Plaza and we settled on Urban Flats (http://www.urbanflats.net/). It's not a huge fancy place, but a nice little sit down casual but modern feel to it.

They obviously had lots of flat breads on the menu, and sandwiches and salads. I decided to go with the housemade meatball flatwich made with their homemade meatballs in a sandwich of garlic toast and "urban sauce." It came with a side salad called their "urban salad" which had greens, golden raisins, sunflower seeds, goat cheese (I LOVE goat cheese!), and honey white balsamic vinegrette (I'm looking at the website now, NO I didn't memorize that! lol). Let me just say it was AMAZING!!! The best meatball sub I have ever had... the ingredients tasted very fresh and it was cheesy but not overly greasy.

David had the urban 'butter' burger made with angus beef and mushroom rub, with house made blue cheese butter and pancetta, with a side of twice baked red bliss potatoes. I had a bite of David's burger and I thought it was great, and he really enjoyed it as well! I think he liked my dish better though.

Afterwards we got to talking with our server, and he explained to us that they started in Orlando and only have a few branches. They buy their produce from local farmers and bake everything in a stone hearth oven. Everything is fresh in their restaurants, they use 100% whole wheat in their flatbreads, and they are always changing the menu based on the produce and items that are most in season and fresh at that time.

Needless to say, we were very impressed and definitely plan to eat there again!! A+ Urban Flats!

Also, unrelated to the food, but as we were talking with our server we were mentioning how we had just recently moved there and talked about where from.. well it turns out he used to live in Ft.Walton Beach, FL, and his mom helped open up Navarre High School (where David and I graduated!). Talk about a small world!

We're also excited because Cliff and Melissa are coming to visit this weekend, I'm sure we'll have to check out another yummy place to eat. :)

Lastly... I start work on Friday! Yay! I'm so excited to get to know everyone and get settled into my new job.

Disney Half-Marathon!

So this past weekend was the long anticipated Disney Half-Marathon! I was pretty nervous, but it ended up being pretty fun even despite the FREEZING RAIN AND SNOW!!!!!!!! It was soooooo cold, I never thought I'd be warm again!

We decided to splurge and stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for the weekend (me, my parents, and brother). My Dad and brother did the half as well (and were much faster than me! lol)! We got so lucky and were upgraded to a savannah view at the lodge, meaning we could see the animals from our room!! That was SO neat!

Grandma and Joe also came up for the weekend to hang out and support us, so that was nice as well! :) We even got to have a nice lunch after the run and Christine met us at Bahama Breeze!

Another reason I went this past weekend was because it was an annual meet up for all the girls I have met on the DisneyBrides forum I've talked about before. We had a big meet up at the Grand Floridian to chat and take pictures, and a couple meals a bunch of us went to, which was really fun. One of the girls actually ran with me because we were at about the same pace and I am SO thankful for that!!! I don't know what I would have done during those 13.1 miles without her!!

My time wasn't that great (nearly 3 hrs) but I was determined to just have fun and enjoy the run- all $130 worth!!! :P So we stopped for a couple pictures with the characters they have along the sides, etc. We really didn't walk or stop that much, but we were stuck in the last corral so a lot of time was spent weaving and trying to pass people and there were SO many people there, it never really opened up enough to get past everyone slower than you...

My wonderful hubby came to some of the viewpoints along the way and cheered us on! Then he grabbed my mom and they met us at the end (with coffee, more gloves and hats! lol) I was SO excited when I saw the finish line!!!!!!! Then to get the covetted Donald medal was awesome!!!

My dad and brother did awesome! I can't remember exactly what their times were but it wasn't much longer than 2 hrs if I remember correctly.

I'm already planning the next half-marathon where hopefully the weather wont be so crazy!!! My running buddy and I are thinking about doing another Disney half-marathon in October! It's the Wine and Dine Half-Marathon during the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. You run and then get food and wine samples- totally up my ally!!! This one you get to run through 3 parks (Animal Kingdom, Disney Hollywood Studios, and Epcot) so it seems like it might be less long roads like this one seemed to have. We will definitely make sure to get in a different corral this time. :)

Oh and when do I start work? lol. Don't know yet! It is taking a while to get everything processed through HR but hopefully by Monday! I'll definitely post about that when there are any updates. :)

I hope everyone's doing well and enjoys the update from MickeyTown! :D

Orlando Residents Now!!!

Well, we are officially moved to Orlando now!

I will try to do a longer update soon with pictures, but just wanted to post that. E-mail me/facebook me if you would like our new address! :)

The Half-Marathon is this Saturday and I am no where near ready! I'm so nervous! As long as I finish it and don't get picked up, I'll be happy lol. I'm just excited to be in Disney!

I hope everyone is doing well and had a wonderful holiday season!!! I can't wait for lots of new beginnings and adventures in 2010! Stay tuned! :)

Lots of NEW Updates!

So for those of you who haven't heard- I GOT THE JOB at UCF (University of Central Florida)!! I will be the Coordinator for Career Development there, mainly doing career counseling with students, doing presentations and workshops, etc. I'm so excited!

It's been a whirlwind lately. I graduated two saturday's ago, left on the following Sunday for SoACE (southern association for colleges and employers- my old boss and I co-presented there!) which was through Wednesday. We got to stay at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville! Got back Wednesday night, left Thursday night to stay at my parents for the night so my Dad and I could get up early to head out to Orlando to look at places for David and I! David can't take any time off right now... the holiday's are so busy and he's getting ready to be tranferred to a store in orlando.

After 3 full day of seeing apartment after apartment (and after 1 small mental breakdown on my part), we decided on a place! I uploaded pictures every night to share with David! LOL. In the midst of all that, we took an hour or so to go see the campus so I could show my Dad around a little bit. He even got to see where I'd be working!

Ultimately we decided on a townhome that is in an apartment community near the international airport. It's a pretty good midway point, as David and I are both on the opposite ends of orlando basically with our jobs. We're so exited to have more of a "house" feel and a GARAGE!! yay! lol

The official move-in date is the 31st of this month, so I have a LOT to do! Unfortunately David wont be able to come down until probably a week later, so it's going to be interesting to say the least trying to get everything down there and unpacked.

Oh and the half-marathon is in like 2 weeks?? UM CRAP! haha. The past couple weeks I have had NO time to run or do anything, which sucks considering I'd been training for months... I finally managed to run this morning for a pretty good 5 miler. I'm hoping to do 10 miles this weekend, 11 the next, and then hopefully be ready for the half the following weekend (13.1 miles). Wish me luck! Should be interesting.

So, LOTS of changes, that are exciting but scary and overwhelming all at the same time!

Oh, and yesterday was my birthday! Dad and I decided last minute to go to Disney for my bday while we were down there anyways, because this year on your birthday you can get into Disney for free, AND military and retired military get free tickets as well... so we had a wonderful day at the Magic Kingdom and soaked in the magic and Christmas spirit! It was much needed after a very stressful past couple of days.

I hope to post regularly on here about things going on with us while we start a new adventure! I'm excited to share with everyone. Please leave us comments! :)

Love,

Laura and David