Part 3 of My Trip Out West

So to continue my backwards recap of my trip, I'll end where it began with Zion/Springdale, UT. When I arrived in Vegas, Will picked me up at the airport and we drove down the strip to head out of town. We stopped to walk through the Wynn and Encore hotel/casinos as we had heard they are the newest and we wanted to see them. (The Aria opened the last day of our trip.) We stopped and had lunch at a great little restaurant in The Wynn. It had 'terrace' in the name, but I don't remember the whole name. It was warm enough to sit outside so we enjoyed a nice view of the hotel pool and ate salads among the many birds on the terrace.

We left Vegas and headed East to Utah. There really isn't much in the 2.5 hour drive between Vegas and Springdale. We did drive through St. George, but couldn't see much from the road. It was mostly flat. Mostly desert. Mostly deserted.

We arrived at the Desert Pearl Inn, just off the road while it was still daylight. The hotel was nice and the town was very quaint. It was off season so there were very few tourists in town, but the locals were out and about.

After we settled into the hotel, we went for a short run through Zion National Park, which was about 3 miles from our hotel. I wore shorts, two shirts, a hat, gloves and my trail running shoes. We were in the shade most of the time so it was still pretty cold. We got in a decent run and just took in the sights. It was so beautiful! In Zion you start in the canyon and hike or run up.

Will had to work some while we were there so I had some time to myself to run, take pictures, read and relax. The first morning we were in Springdale, I got up and went for a run. I wore some running pants, two shirts, a hat and gloves. It was 27* or less. I had planned to run for an hour, but after 33 minutes, I headed back to the hotel for a warm shower and hot coffee. I relaxed on a sofa in the gift shop with my coffee and read Nelson DeMille's 'The Gatehouse.'

In the afternoon, we hiked Angel's Landing and the West Rim Trail. Angel's Landing is the most popular attraction at Zion. If you make it to the top (pictured left) you can see the entire canyon.

Will had been telling me about his previous hike up Angel's Landing. He told me that there's two spots where it's really, really scary. He also told me about a conversation with his uncle where he learned that a week before we were there, a woman died in a fall off of Angel's Landing. The second such death this year.

Angel's Landing

Walter's Wiggles - along the path to Angel's Landing

We walked the paths up Angel's Landing and then got to the technical section. We started climbing using the chains available. We didn't get far. I started getting a little dizzy and decided it wasn't a good day for me to go all the way to the top of Angel's Landing. I wasn't 100% and was feeling shaky already. We hadn't even gotten to the scariest part. I have to admit that the stories of the women dying this year got to me. It was humiliating seeing people coming down walking upright past us. But I still feel that day wasn't a good day for me to attempt it. I will have to go back and attempt this again!

We went left and hiked the West Rim Trail from the landing. It was still very gorgeous and a great hike.

The second day we hiked the East Rim Trail. Below are images from that hike:

This hike was gorgeous and longer though not as strenuous. We found a few arches along the way.

Now Here's Something I Hope You'll Really Like!

The holidays are hectic! This one is even more so because I've been spending time with Adam's family as well as mine. So it's taken me a couple of weeks to get back and post about my favorite part of my trip out West!

We left Springdale, UT (where we stayed when we hiked in Zion (more on that later)) on Friday evening and headed to Bryce Canyon. I think the drive was about 2 hours and as we went we saw more and more snow. I wish our car had had an outside temperature gauge so I could have taken pictures of the temperature dropping. It was so cold!

The drive went through a lot of very small towns that sprouted up between vast areas of nothing. In the South, where I spend most of my time traveling, you see pine forests along the interstates and even the back roads are lined with houses, pine forests and the occasional corn field. But in Utah, it was bare mountains, bare fields and the occasional cow pasture. A small amount of snow was on the ground, though, and it made everything look so beautiful. We finally arrived at Ruby's Inn near Bryce Canyon where we stayed the night. It was pretty dark when we arrived and a good 20* colder than where we'd left. The area where Ruby's is, is not very populated. There were about 3 hotels, a gas station...and that's about it. It was also not tourist season so most places had closed for the season. It reminded me a little of the movie 'The Shining.'

After dinner, we spent some time warming up in the hot tub. The Inn had an indoor pool and hot tub. Unfortunately a loud, rowdy group of boys had taken over this area and made it less than relaxing. So we got out and turned in early. We decided to go to Bryce Canyon very early so we could see the sunrise over the Canyon. I'd seen pictures of the sunrise and I was excited to see it for myself. I had a roommate 11 years ago who had been to Bryce and showed me pictures. I'd wanted to go since then and I was almost too excited to sleep!

The alarm went off around 5am so that we could get ready for a 7:20am sunrise. I got right out of bed without hitting snooze. That has likely never happened before. The night before we heard it would be a very, very cold morning so I'd mentally prepared my outfit for it. I turned on the TV while Will started getting ready. It was 8*. Officially the coldest temperature I've ever experienced! But it's a dry cold, right? I was most shocked to see on the Weather Channel that it was snowing in Houston, TX!

I put on a pair of running pants that I'd brought for lounging around in. Then I put on my hiking pants over it and was excited to see that I could fasten them over the other pants. This was looking good! Then I put on my UnderArmor shirt, then the thin shirt I'd been hiking in, then the shirt I'd brought to run the race in and then the warmest sweater I own which really isn't for hiking. Then my jacket. Luckily it all fit. I put on my hat and gloves and then noticed Will had taken everything out of his suitcase and had flipped the case over and was shaking it.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"My other glove." He replied.

Will had either lost or left his other glove at home. After checking the suitcase and the car, the other glove was not found. We grabbed coffee and hot chocolate from the restaurant downstairs and headed towards the park. It was cold and dark and we were the only people in the park that early. The only fools!

We parked and walked up to 'Sunrise Point.' There was some snow and ice on the paths so you had to be careful where you stepped.

I began passing the time by snapping some pictures of sights I found interesting. It was so incredible even in the low light before dawn. Will spent the time trying to get warm. He ran around and did jumping jacks, keeping one ungloved hand in his pocket the whole time.

Unfortunately, and as is my luck, it was cloudy this morning and a clear view a picture of the sunrise over Bryce Canyon was not to be. It was still gorgeous and still worth seeing. There is nothing else like Bryce Canyon in the world. After we gave up on the sunrise, we did a short hike through the Canyon. It was about 3 miles and it took us through "Wall Street."

The hike was gorgeous and I did end up warming up by the end of it. I'm happy to report that Will didn't lose any digits as a result of his one-gloved hike!

Vegas Baby!

Yeah, I hate my title too.

I had a wonderful time out West! But I'll start with my least favorite part. The half marathon in Vegas.

The race started at 6:15am in front of the Mandalay Bay Hotel. I stayed at the Wynn. When I looked at the map provided by the marathon, my hotel looked like it was roughly 2 - 2.5 miles from the start. "Cool, nice warm up, I thought." I left my hotel at 5:30am to head to the race. I had a little trouble getting out of the hotel and onto the strip. They make it so confusing so you'll just stay and gamble at the casino! Anyway, I ran into a line of people waiting to take a shuttle to the race. I thought about taking the shuttle, but I was too antsy to stand there in the freezing cold (it was 30* at the start) and I thought "It's only two miles." So I started running down the strip towards the Mandalay Bay. The street had been closed to traffic and me and one other person were the only crazy people running in the street to the start. It was actually pretty cool. While I hate getting out of bed early in the morning, there is nothing like being outside when people and places are waking up.

But of course this is Vegas which is open 24 hours a day. I wasn't surprised to see people stumbling out of casinos at 5:45am, I was surprised at HOW MANY people were stumbling out of casinos at 5:45am. I passed one group of five or six drunk people who asked me "Has the marathon started already?" so I replied "Yeah, I'm winning!" They cheered for me. After I'd run about half a mile, I still couldn't see the Mandalay Bay. I asked a cop blocking a side street if the Mandalay Bay was in the direction I was heading and he said "Yeah, a long way that way." I laughed thinking "Not if you run marathons."

Turns out the cop had the last laugh. By the time I got to my corral, I'd run at least 3.5 miles. I had 2 minutes to spare and had to stand in line to get into my corral. I saw a guy climbing over the fence to get in to the same corral. I recognized him as the guy standing in the back of the line to get onto the shuttle at the hotel. I felt that I'd made the right decision to run to the start. I would have gone mad standing in line and cutting it that close. As it was I felt pretty good and really ready to run a good race.

The race started and being in corral 4, I was 3 minutes off the line. I felt really strong and ready to run. I ran the first mile at an 8:42 pace. It was really cold. I wore shorts, an Under Armor shirt with another dry fit shirt over that. A hat and gloves. I should have worn tights.

The first part of the race heads from the Mandalay Bay towards the airport then you turn 360* and head back up the strip. When I made that turn, I was running directly into the wind and the sun was barely up. Brr! The course, however, was completely flat and for that I was grateful. At mile 2 I was still running sub-9 miles. At this point we were running past where we'd started and I could see a significant number of runners still waiting to start. There were 27,000 total runners in 30 corrals starting both races. I wondered why they'd hurried to get into their corrals.

I ran sub-9 miles until roughly mile 5 or 6. Into mile 7, which was really mile 10.5 for me, my foot started to hurt and I was tired. I began slowing down at that point. Luckily, there was no surprise hill at the end, like Chicago! I managed to finish at 2:09. I was happy with that, all things considered. It was really the 3.5 mile walk back that killed me!

There were a few things I liked about this course in addition to the flat course. The hotels broadcasted race coverage on the screens on their signs along the strip. It was pretty neat to see where the leaders were on the course. There were plenty of water stops along the course. The crowd support was adequate given the time the race started and the temperature. The start and the finish line seemed to be well organized. There were lots of great goodies in the race packet and at the finish line.

Things I didn't like include the lack of bands. It was a Rock 'n' Roll series race and I remember 3 bands on the course for the half. The organizers claim there were 35, but I don't think they know what they're talking about. The packet pickup parking was disorganized and we spent 15 minutes looking for a spot in the parking deck. We finally gave up and parked across the street. Some direction would have been nice. Additionally, finding the packet pickup area was difficult. We had to walk probably a mile through the Mandalay Bay to find the small room we needed. The place was packed with people and there were no signs directing you. The expo was small and pretty crappy.

There were a number of interesting sights on the course, as you can imagine. There was a small temporary wedding chapel set up at mile 3 or 4 and 50 couples were married during the race in a 3 minute wedding ceremony. I counted 7 Elvi (the plural form of 'Elvis'), 3 Amigos running together, 3 Santa Clauses, 1 Superman (there's always a superman!), one cheesehead, and one Captain America. The Captain America was a first!

Overall it wasn't bad, but I don't plan to do this race again. I'm glad I did it, but Vegas just isn't me. Too cheesy, too sad, really.

Las Vegas here I come!

I leave very, very early tomorrow for Vegas. 6am flights should be outlawed. I'm looking forward to being out West, but not getting there. I have a layover in Cincinnati. I met Adam in the airport in Cincinnati8) Still a layover by yourself is no fun. I'm bringing Nelson DeMille's latest book 'The Gatehouse.' Heard it isn't one of his bests, but I still love the way he tells a story.

I'm looking forward to hiking in Utah's Zion National Park. I've never been to Utah, but I've heard it's "by far the most beautiful state." I'm bringing my camera and hope to get some good shots.

As for the race, I really don't know how it's going to go. I'm on my second round of antibiotics for a sinus infection and it doesn't seem to be going away. I'm hoping between now and Sunday I make a remarkable recovery!

Pics and more to come!

Second Half of TR Preview '09

This year I was able to run both Thunder Road Preview runs. In previous years I only made it to one. The second half started at 7am on Saturday and is a lot less hilly than the first half.

The night before the run, I attended a party for the Charlotte Running Club with Adam, Jody and Molly. Adam and Jody are members of this running club. It was a nice, small affair at Dilworth Neighborhood Bar & Grill. They had appetizers that included salad, meatballs, chips & spinach dip and little spiral ham sandwiches. Being a vegetarian, I could eat only the salad and spinach dip. It was tasty but hardly enough to eat before a long run. Jody, Molly and I only stayed for about an hour and a half and then headed to the Evening Muse for a concert.

We weren't out terribly late, but I somehow managed to sleep through my alarm. Molly's early text woke me up at about 10 minutes after my alarm went off and I pulled myself out of bed. Luckily I still had plenty of time to get ready, do my foot exercises and get out the door to the Dowd Y. I found Molly and our friend Christi and spent a few minutes talking with them before we took off at about 7am. Unfortunately, I didn't know anyone there who ran my pace.

This part of the race starts on the flatter section of Morehead and heads west towards a not so great section of Charlotte. We took a left onto South Tryon and headed towards Southend. This area is growing and becoming more residential as the Linx's light rail drives right through it. Though there are a lot of new apartment and condo buildings, the area still remains pretty industrial looking. While it's not pretty, it is flat and that is a nice thing to be at miles 13-18 in a marathon. We wound around Southend on Tremont, Camden, West Blvd and into downtown via Mint St., 4th St., Cedar St. and Trade St. I was trying to keep Christi, Molly and the ladies they were running with in my sight. At about mile 5, along Caldwell, they had stopped at a port-a-potty and Christi told me I was probably keeping a 9 minute pace. My body felt like I was pushing it.

When we started out again, I continued trying to keep up the pace. However about 2 miles later, I knew I needed to slow it down. This section of the course heads towards the North Davidson area, or NoDa. It's the original artsy neighborhood in Charlotte. While it's the most interesting area in Charlotte, it's not pretty getting there. From Caldwell we took a left onto Parkwood, which is a wide four laned street that isn't heavily populated. We passed some new condos that looked a lot like the condos downtown. Charlotte really should branch out architecturally speaking. At N. Davidson, we hung a right and headed towards the art galleries, bars and music venues that define NoDa. The course begins reintroducing hills at this point. There's a large, long hill just past Madison Ave. on N. Davidson that had everyone groaning. This hill would be a nightmare during a marathon coming at mile 19, but at mile 6 or 7 of the preview, it really wasn't bad.

Unfortunately the course turns of N. Davidson at 35th St., just before you get to the heart of NoDa. However, 35th St. has some of the cutest houses in the NoDa area. They aren't new, large houses, they're older with a lot of character. Most have porches. All have very cute front yards with great flowers and shrubs. Some of the houses are hidden by the flowers and greenery in the front yard, but it adds to the character of the place. It's obvious there is no home owner's association sucking the creativity from the street and squashing a sense of community. Also this road is flat, so I really loved it. I caught up to a fellow CRMG club member who was walking due to a calf injury. I walked and talked with him as I was not in a hurry to turn onto The Plaza. He assured me he could make it to the end and I started running again.

We turn right on The Plaza and start heading towards the Plaza-Midwood area. The Plaza is a long street that changes socio-economic conditions twice. The part we start on, reminds me of Pensacola. I didn't live in Pensacola long enough to remember living there, but we traveled back to visit family 3-4 times a year. This section of The Plaza contains a lot of concrete, some run-down stores, some discount stores and a discount grocery store. There are a lot of people walking or waiting at the bus stops and old cars parked in the parking lots. It's not scary during the daytime.

We turn left at a funky intersection that takes us onto the nicer part of The Plaza. This stretch is residential and contains old Victorian houses mixed with small homes that were probably built in the 60s. They're very cute with well landscaped yards and nice sidewalks. It's an extreme contrast from where we had just run. This section is flat and Kristie and Jaclyn from CRMG have caught up to me. I speak with them a little and they stay close enough behind me that I can hear their conversation without trying. From here we loop around a part of Plaza-Midwood I don't usually run through. It's a really cute area with great little houses that are well kept. I stopped and check an information sheet for one that was for sale. There wasn't a price listed, but I'm sure it's out of my range. This section has some small hills, but for the most part is pretty flat. From this section we continue down Central Ave. and back into downtown, hitting one major hill on the way. I'm surprised that I have enough energy to get up it. I took one GU with me and I'm starting to fade as the 'dinner' the night before was not enough to sustain a long run. By the time we get to Morehead, about a mile from the finish at the Dowd Y, I had to walk about a block.

At the finish I'd run about 14 miles. Time to party! We had a larger than normal group at Bruegger's for celebratory bagels and coffee. It was Christi's birthday and she brought a few friends with her. Some other CRMG members joined us and people filtered in and out. It was such a fun way to start the weekend!

TR '09 Preview

Last weekend I ran the first half of the Thunder Road Marathon Preview run with Cantey. My longest run since the Salem Lake 30K had been eight miles so I really didn't know how this run was going to go. The run started at 7am and the temperature was in the 50s. It was actually a tad warm for a long run.

I got to the parking lot at the Y early, signed in and got my shirt. RFYL, who organizes the TR Marathon and it's preview runs, supplied water and Powerade along the route and you got a very nice technical shirt for signing up. I found Cantey in line after I signed in and waited with her. There must have been close to 300 people waiting to run the course.

Cantey and I started out a little after 7am and the rest of the runners caught up to us about a quarter of a mile into the run. By the time we reached the first mile, all the fast runners had passed us and we were at a somewhat comfortable pace somewhere in the middle of the pack.

The preview course is a little different from the real course as we start at the Dowd Y on Morehead and not the start line on College. So the start was a nice downhill to flat. After the first mile we started climbing out of downtown and up 4th St./Randolph Rd. Then we turned onto Colville, which I've run many times. It's about 3/4 of a mile of large rolling hills, but it's very beautiful. It's in one of the older Charlotte neighborhoods with huge, beautiful houses priced $1.5M and up. I love this neighborhood. It has character and most importantly it has three drinking fountains and nice wide streets. At the end of Colville is a short, but steep hill that I often avoid on my runs. For whatever reason, probably all the company and the fact that I wasn't exhausted yet, the hill wasn't that bad and I scooted right up it.

After Colville we turned left onto Providence Rd. Every long race in this town goes up Providence Rd. The only explanation for this fact that I have is that it is one of the few long roads in Charlotte and race directors like to avoid turns as much as possible on a race route. Providence Rd is all uphill. Both ways. OK, not both ways, but it's uphill the only way we ever race it. Slow inclines, short inclines and some nice rolling hills make up Providence Rd. When I drive Providence Rd., I notice the quaint homes that line it with their long, well landscaped, front lawns. When I run it, I don't see any of that crap, just the asphalt. When we turned onto Sharon Rd. from Providence, I think we were at about four miles. I felt pretty good at this point. My body didn't hurt and I didn't feel tired. Cantey and I were catching up and the miles were flying by.

From Sharon we turned into the Arborway neighborhood. This is another nice neighborhood in Charlotte, though the houses aren't nearly as large. It's full of rolling hills, but on this course there are no big hills in this neighborhood. When we exited the neighborhood back onto Sharon Rd. we were right around seven miles. I decided to eat my Pure Bar for energy. I discovered I was out of GU at 8pm the night before and there are no running stores open after 7pm. So I brought a Pure Bar instead because I can't make it through a long run without some energy boost. We walked while I ate and that brought us really close to the turn onto Sharon Ln. where we started running again.

On Sharon Ln. we ran passed what are probably the most expensive houses in Charlotte. This is in the Southpark area and there are some very large houses on this street. About a handful of them actually have a lot of acreage around them. While there's nothing spectacular about these houses, I would say they're a "must see" for visitors to this area because they are a tribute to what Charlotte looked like before the Banks moved here.

Another great thing about Sharon Ln. is that it is a downward slope to a much appreciated downhill before turning onto Chilton Pl. Chilton Pl. has some nice rolling hills leading you to Queens Rd. West which takes you along the backside of the Booty Loop and into the heart of Myers Park. It was along the Booty Loop that I started feeling the long run. My calves and hamstrings started getting sore and tight and I started thinking about walking some of the hills. Luckily Cantey, who had run the Dowd Y Half Marathon the weekend before, remembered this street from that race and told me that these hills weren't as bad as they looked. She was right, but my legs were still unhappy with me.

We stopped at the water/Powerade station just before the turn from Kings onto Morehead. I ran into a guy from high school named Tim at this stop. I hadn't seen him in quite a few years and was surprised to hear that he is planning to run the full Thunder Road Marathon in December. After chatting briefly we wished him luck and started running up Morehead. Luckily the race course ducks into the Dilworth neighborhood and doesn't go all the way up Morehead. I was doing pretty good on the somewhat flat Berkeley Pl. but when we turned to run up Romany I gave up and walked. Cantey ran ahead and waited for me at the top. It's not a big hill. Romany is actually a very small hill. Tiny really. I've run Romany many times and so I now have a mental block about it. It was the last time that I walked, though. We ran the rest of the route that included taking Euclid (nice rolling hills) back to the Dowd Y.

Towards the end of the run I did feel some pain in my left arch, which tells me that I'm not fully healed yet. Which is really too bad because I am itching to get back into marathon training. I'm actually dreaming about doing speed work and running up hills and long runs. I don't want to chance a relapse, so I'll stick with half marathons for now.

This Saturday is the second half of the Thunder Road Marathon Preview run. It's not nearly as pretty or interesting as the first half. It is a tad flatter. I'll be out there. I may time this half.

4.NinerK and Other Lifebits

So forgot to recap the 4.NinerK I did at the end of October. It was the inaugural event and the race was really great. The weather was crappy. It started off overcast, but then poured a minute before the race started. There was intermittent rain during the race and another downpour after I finished. But it really didn't ruin the event.

I got to UNCC early and was able to find the free parking deck next to the Student Union building, both of which were not there when I attended UNCC. The whole start area was completely new to me. It was very nice and the outside fit with the style of the older buildings. I got my packet which contained M&Ms (nice!), a UNCC koozie (awesome!) and a great race t-shirt (awesomer!). It was a pale yellow and had the green Charlotte 49ers symbol on it. The usual glut of sponsor logos on the back, but it was still a nice shirt. The race packet was given to us in paper Trader Joe's bags. It was great because I love TJ's and it's recyclable. It was not great that it was raining and that tends to disintegrate paper.

I decided to run most of the course as a warm up. UNCC is a hilly, hilly campus. I wasn't a runner when I attended college and that's probably a good thing! My feet hurt during the warm up. I had had my first Graston appointment two days before and they were still pretty tender. The loop I ran was probably 2 1/2 miles and it went by some of the older buildings that I remembered. It was good to see they haven't updated Smurf Village. I can't remember the real name of these on-campus apartments, but since they were painted blue we called them Smurf Village. They were really crappy, too, and they still are. It was interesting to see that they added a Greek Village for Sororities and Fraternities. Something I was opposed to as it tends to segregate the students. It was good to see that even though there has been a lot of construction on campus, there is still a lot of green space left.

I ended up with a lot of time between my warm up and the race so I was able to walk around the Student Union center some. When I was there, they had just gotten some fast food restaurants on campus; Chick-Fil-A and Taco Bell. That was it. In the new Student Center there was a Wendy's, a convenience store, a Mrs. Fields, and of course a Starbucks. I started thinking that maybe going back to school wasn't such a bad idea. But then I saw some students walk by on their way to class, on a Saturday, and got that familiar pit in my stomach thinking about studying and deadlines, exams, presentations and I thought better of it.

They lined the roughly 300 of us runners up for an 8:49 start (we're the 49ers, get it?). Bobby Lutz, the men's basketball coach gave a short thank you/inspirational speech. I don't remember it, I never listen to these things. It's usually at this point when I wonder why I pay money to come run when I could run on my own and start whenever I get there. But, as I said before, a minute after a downpour started we were released on the course. The race started with a somewhat steep downhill with a turn to the right. Then a long uphill and a turnaround about 1/4 of a mile up. The next 1/4 of a mile was downhill, then a long ascent towards the front of the campus. The next mile and a half was gentle rolling hills and then a short steep downhill then a tad longer steep uphill, but then there was about 3/4 of a mile of gradual downhill. Very nice! However, then we had to go back up the hill where we started! The ending was brutal. I managed a 29:10 which isn't great, but considering my feet hurt the whole time, I'll take it.

I did see a few interesting things along the course. The first was a lady who carried her packet with her on her hip during the race. She would transfer it from hip to hip as her arm got tired. Sadly I couldn't pass this woman! As I mentioned, the race packets were in a paper bag, so the rain caused a hole in the bottom and at one point she lost a package of M&Ms, which she didn't stop to pick up. I'm assuming she didn't have a car to leave her packet. I would have just taken the shirt and left the rest, but I guess she really needed a koozie.

There were several young (late teens/early20s maybe) guys running the race who would stop and walk and then start running again. I couldn't believe they couldn't run 3 miles, but had signed up for a race. Then it occurred to me that they were probably out partying the night before and hadn't slept all night.

Since this was a college campus event, there were a lot of students or younger runners. There were only 12 women in my age group running the race. Lucky for me, this helped me come in second in my age group and I got a lovely medal. It was an unexpected surprise as I really didn't feel like I'd done my best. It does make me want to run this again next year and try to take first.

So I've been really busy these days. All that time when I wanted a boyfriend, I'd forgotten how much time they take! But it's really nice to have someone to share time with. I've done a few more projects on the condo. I painted the fireplace and replaced the over-the-range microwave. Next up is to paint the bathroom cabinets, hire a landscaper and a real estate agent. I bought some new bedroom furniture from a store that is going out of business. I've been wanting a sleigh bed and bedside tables and I found some I really, really like. It's going to be a few weeks before they get here and I have to get the old stuff out. Just in time for the holidays!