The anniversary of my 29th birthday...

I have a way of spoiling gifts from my husband.  When I know he's bought me something (for my b-day, anniversary, holiday, just the heck of it) and he's making me wait to get it, I'm horrible.  I will whine, beg, plead and annoy him until he can't take it anymore and gives me the gift early. Case in point...

Don't mind my cold chicken looking fingers...

That's my birthday present.  My birthday is tomorrow.  I got the ring last night! :)  My husband is the best.  I mean, I thought my new bike, our casino trip, and anything that I'll buy this weekend when I use the excuse "but it's my birthday" to go shopping was my gift (that's totally a valid excuse, right?).  Never did I think he'd get me an amethyst ring that I've been drooling over!  It's perfect... what girl can't use some bling?

And it totally makes me feel better about turning 31.  Yeah, I'm young, I know, but for some reason, this year feel like the first birthday where I sound old.  I got the best b-day card from a family friend that had a teacher on the front doing math at a chalk board.  It said "29 + some more years = 29" and then the inside said "Happy Birthday to an expert in girl math".  So here's to the second anniversary of my 29th birthday! (Thanks Barb and Chuck for the card... totally made me laugh!)

A few other randoms:
* I'm way behind in blog reading.  I think my google reader was at 108 this morning.  I'm scared to look where it's at now.  I'm hoping to have some couch/laptop time this weekend and will get caught up, I promise.  I miss you guys...
* We got hit with the craptastic ice storm on Tuesday night.  Our power went out around 4am on Wednesday and didn't come back on until 7pm that night.  We saw 47 degrees on our inside thermometer. Fun times in Ohio!
* I'm still loving the people watching at the gym.  I think I'm going to start a blog installment about what I see each week.  I even have guest people watchers who are keeping me updated on what they see.  If you see anything crazy, funny or just not right, let me know and I'll include it.  This week, my friend Lori texted me the following "Today's people watching highlight... the teenage girl who felt the need to obviously roll her mesh shorts up to juuust below her butt cheeks, but didn't feel the need to get her super long super sweaty hair off her neck and pull it up.  Because she MUST have been warm... I mean, why else would she make her shorts that short? ;p"  Classic high school gym goer! Thanks Lori for the laugh!
* Trakkers news - I've updated my side panel with more sponsors (they keep rolling in... pinch me anytime to wake me up people!).  I've included two discounts that YOU can take advantage of.  The first is for $10 off any REV3 race and the second is for 15% off at All3Sports.  Great deals and you benefit from me being loved! :)  It's a win-win for everyone!  Take advantage people... these are awesome deals!

Alright, I'm off to stare at my finger with my ring on it.  Honesty is the best policy!

You are great

I just have to say, you are all great. I loved the comments about my need for a vacation, as well as the good thoughts during our ski/casino trip. Here's an update for you - the vacation idea kind of came and went. We booked a cruise and then proceeded to cancel it less than 24 hours later when my voice of reason kicked in. Damn it sucks being responsible! Honestly, it would have been heaven to sit in the sun with an umbrella drink and read trashy educational magazines, but the cruise lines get ya, hook line and sinker. I booked this great 3 day cruise for an unbelievably low price (like too good to be true low price). Then it happens - you find out that it's going to cost $170 to get from the airport to the boat, $200 to get my passport renewed and to me in less than 4 weeks, $60+ dollars in tips, who knows how much $ for beer and soda, $ for a dog sitter, $ to park out car at the airport while we are gone, etc. I guess I was having an airhead moment when I booked and thought that I was actually getting off that easy. So being a grown up, I realized that wasn't a smart choice and canceled. We're traveling to some great locations for races this year - Knoxville, Portland, Chicago and Sandusky (what, you mean the beach and water at Lake Erie aren't like that of the Bahamas?) so I need to just suck it up buttercup and realize that if I want to spoil myself in the sun, I can move out of Ohio. :)

As for the casino and ski trip - great time! BUT... we didn't ski (which was good because that means I didn't have a chance to break my face, and yes, you can totally break your face). My poor momma has been in PT for some hamstring problems for quite a while now and she was really scared to risk hurting herself some more (not to mention she has a bum back). It would have been hard for all of us to enjoy the day, knowing that she was trying to be a tough girl for us, or worse, sitting in the "lodge" while we were having fun. We opted to stay in the casino and blow through some more money. Honestly, I didn't lose much (although I didn't win much either... penny slots are not big payers). There was a lady at a machine down from us that was all nonchalant when the bells started ringing above her machine. She won $82000 on a quarter machine. $82000! She just sat there and smiled. Hello - Tom and I said that we would have been doing carpet angels and running around like we just struck gold. Hell, I almost did that when I won $50 on the Zeus penny slot game. I was big time people...

Okay, so that's that. I have other exciting news and needed to wait to tell you because I needed to break it to my mom first (no, I'm not pregnant).

I've decided to do another 140.6. I know. I know. What happened to the "I'll never do that again" statement? If you know me, you know that it's total BS and to never listen to me. I said that after my first marathon (and I've since done another 6) and my first three Ironman races. I'm super excited though. I've decided to race the full at Cedar Point for a couple of reasons:

• It's a REV3 race and we know that it'll be top notch (and they won't run out of water on a 96 degree day)
• My teammates will be there and many of them will be racing - and I'm sure the smart others who raced the half will make it a party, cheering all of the long distance course people.
• Three words - BLOGGER MEET UP (I mean, hello so many of us will be there - Sunday night could get crazy!)
• It's in Ohio. A 140.6 in Ohio!
• I totally feel like I got robbed at IMLOU. That's all I need to say about it.
• I honestly enjoy training for an Ironman in the summer. Yes, I bitch about it. I'm not going to lie because there are days when it sucks. But in general, I love knowing that my body can do what it does and training for an Ironman distance race tests your body to the fullest.
• I have some goals. Some time goals. I want to see some results of my hard work!

And speaking of Team Trakkers, they introduced the pro team the other day.

Team Trakkers/REV3 2011 from REVOLUTION3 Triathlon on Vimeo.

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! The full professional team includes:
Hillary Biscay: 2008 Ironman Wisconsin Champion; 15-time top-three Ironman finisher
Courtenay Brown: Danskin Tri & Silverman Half winner; Inside Tri columnist
Kathleen Calkins: 2010 REV3 Cedar Point 3rd place; Top Amateur Kona 2009
Richie Cunningham: 2x 70.3 Champion; 4x Top-Five 70.3 World Championships
Brian Fleischmann: 1st World Team Champs; 2x 2nd place USAT National Champs
Jacqui Gordon: Multiple Ironman and 70.3 Top-Ten finisher
Amanda Lovato: 2010 Pucón 70.3 Champion; Multiple Half Ironman Champion; Multiple Top-Five Ironman finisher
Michael Lovato: 2x Ironman Champion; 3x Top-Ten Kona; 3x National Champion
Chris McDonald: 3x Ironman Champion
Jessica Meyers: 2010 Augusta 70.3 Champ; US National Team; Armed Services Champion
Matt Sheeks: 2010 Duathlon Pro National Champion; 2009 Duathlon AG World Champion

I know that I've said it already and I'll say it again and again - it's still kind of unreal that I'm racing for a team like Trakkers. Our sponsors are amazing (REV3, Kestrel Bikes, Avia, Canari, TYR, All3Sports, First Endurance, SBRSports).

It's going to be a good year... a very good year!