I'm headed to Florida tomorrow. The time has FINALLY come to watch my sister and brother-in-law compete in the Ford Ironman Florida Triathlon.

I had the pleasure of going down to Panama City Beach, FL one year ago to watch Tom complete his very first Ironman. I surprised him the morning of the race with my presence, and it is something I will never forget. All throughout that day I remember my sister watching her husband complete each stage of the Ironman with complete success. She could not have been any more proud or excited for him. It was also during that time that I realized that my baby sister would be doing the Ironman someday, and she signed up the very next day.

Since Colleen and Tom signed up, both of them have given up weekends, nights, family events, and basically their lives to train for this event. And while Colleen has endured the roller coaster of emotions about the race, I KNOW that she is ready for it. And I cannot wait for her to hit all of her transitions, where I will be there screaming her name and wishing her luck. And I especially cannot wait for her to enter the "chute", and run into the home stretch, to hear Mike Riley tell her..."Colleen K, You ARE an Ironman."

Colleen....No matter how things turn out on Saturday, You ARE MY Irondiva, and I couldn't be more proud of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xoxo,
Kristen

I am so incredibly proud of my parents. At the young age of 5* (don't worry, I won't tell anyone how old, I mean, young you both are), both of my parents completed something I have not done and am pretty sure I will never do...they completed a 1/2 marathon yesterday. It was my mom's 7th 1/2 Marathon and my dad's 1st (and according to him...his last). They did INCREDIBLE. John and I got down to mile 8 at around 9:15. My mom figured they would be there between 9:30 and 9:45. Wouldn't you know, right at 9:30 this is what we saw...
John and I then hopped into our car, drove to get some hot chocolate (it was COLD out), then we made our way to the finish line. Holy Moly there were a lot of people. We wanted to see mom and dad cross the finish line, however a large chain-link fence was in front of us. Luckily we wormed our way up front and got some decent pictures of them crossing. They were so proud of themselves...as well they should be! Dad told me at the end that he had always wanted to wear one of the tin foil wraps, and he finally got to!

WAY TO GO MOM AND DAD!

Well, tonight I headed out to see the house with my posse...John, my mom, and my dad.

I love the house.

Absolutely love it.

I love how quiet it is. I love all the rooms. I love all the closets. I love all the windows. I love the carpet color. I love the front porch. I love the large 1st floor laundry room. I love the dining room. I love the two sinks in the master bathroom. I love it.

I do NOT love the backyard. But we are working on that and hope to have an answer about it (whether it is fixable or not) by the end of the weekend. I'll keep you posted. Until then...some pictures!!!!

Obviously, the front of the house. It is set back about 45 to 50 feet from the road. The space to the right is just 1/2 of the side yard. As the house is set so far back, there really is no back yard, so the side yard would have to be "it" for us.








This is standing at the front door, looking into the entry way. There is hardwood in this entry way...actually, it is the only hardwood in the entire house. The entry way also has a wonderful 2nd story window with the same exact chandelier that my parents have in their house. Looking up the stairs you can see the left room which is a bedroom and the right room is the full guest (children?) bathroom. To the left of the pictured bedroom is the master bedroom. To the right of the bathroom are two more bedrooms which are across the hall from each other.





Standing in the family room, looking into the dinette area and the kitchen. The first door on the lower right side is the door to the basement, then the hallway to the front door, then the double door is the kitchen pantry (a nice size) and finally, barely visible, is the entry into the dining room.





This is the picture of the family room, taken while standing in the dinette. I love the three large windows. The entrance to the left is the little hallway to a 1/2 bath, the large 1st floor laundry, and the two car garage.

How long have we been trying to sell our condo? The answer...TOO DAMN LONG!!!!!

My new cell phone.

At all.

I'm so overwhelmed!!!!!!!!!