Happy New Year

Where does the time go?  2013 was very good to me!  I was excited to start 2013 and I’m even more excited about 2014. 

As 2013 came to an end I thought about all the things that happened and while there are too many to write down I wanted to highlight the ones that mean the most to me:

Best Friend – This year my hubby and I celebrated 17 years of marriage.  He is my best friend, my soul mate and the person that keeps me grounded.  Our life has been through some up’s and downs but he has always been the person I knew I could count on, that would have my back no matter the situation, that would talk me off the roof and would always make life better with a hug and kiss on the forehead.  I could not imagine life without him!  I can’t wait to see what the next 17 years bring us.

New addition to the family – We brought our Great Dane / Lab mix, Lane, into our family on August 5^th and our life has changed in so many ways.  I love that she talks to me when I come home from work and when she is hungry.  I love those brown eyes that I can’t resist and I love that she is stingy with kisses but loves giving hugs. 

Dream home – We moved into our dream home in May.  The process of building our 2^nd house brought many ups and downs but the finished product is wonderful.  We built this house to be where we wanted to live the rest of our lives and while most people think we are crazy that our gym is the biggest room in the house  it is what we wanted.

Olympic distance  Triathlon – I have been doing triathlons for about 8 years and a few years ago set my eyes on doing longer distance  races and for the past few years have wanted to do the Olympic distance however I have been side lined with many injuries but I finally achieved this goal in 2013 and have already committed to a 1/2 Ironman distance in 2014.  Triathlons give me something to focus on, something that I strive to achieve for myself!

Peace & happiness – For me these are two things that are very important that come from within but have been missing from my life for awhile.  I have made many changes over the past 2 years and I can say with a clear mind that I have taken every opportunity to live my life the way I want to live my live and not the way someone else wants or tells me too.  I have stopped doing things to please others and do things that make me happy!

Family & Friends – Moving to Texas meant leaving behind family and friends.  This was a hard decision but I’m so thankful that I have remained in touch with so many people and that for some of them I have developed an even stronger bond!  I had several friends that had a rough year and I did my best to try to help from afar but it was tough knowing that I could not personally be there to give them a hug!

So what does 2014 bring, who knows. I stopped doing resolutions a few years ago but I hope to continue to live a healthy lifestyle and work off those last few pesky pounds.  I hope that we are able to return to Maryland to visit family and friends and I hope that we all can live a much happier, healthy life!

I hope everyone had as great a 2013 as I did and I hope we can spend time together in 2014!

Yes I'm one of those people......a fanatic fan

I was raised on sports.  I learned to love sports from my father.  He showed me what it meant to be dedicated to your team, to follow them through good times and bad and over the years I have learned how you can get high off their success, the passions to dislike the rivalry teams, to feel that you are an extended member and maybe at times think / feel that you can change the outcome of a game.

It can be a very strong driving force, you can get consumed by a game / event and at that moment nothing else matters.  People that don't have this passion often think we are crazy and don't understand what it means.  It is in your heart and is part of your soul but we are just fans, we aren't playing or coaching the game we are only cheering them on and that can't mean much......or does it.

There have been plenty of players that tell you the fans can change the outcome of a game.  Players can feel the energy of the fans and can feed off their desire that can will a team to success.  Don't get me wrong they have the talent and abilities but sometimes you need a bit more, sometimes you need to hear someone chanting your name and believing in you in that moment.

I live my life focused on sports and often use that to fuel me / to motivate me to success. I can talk about specific plays, games, players that have a special place in my heart because of the desire to succeed and the opportunity to watch them can be amazing and motivating.

So don't think I'm crazy, just realize it's part of my driving force.  You might draw your strength from something else, that's cool, we all need something to motivate us to get out of bed every morning and say "I Can!"

Where does the time go?

I'm amazed that last time I blogged was a month ago and it's now November, a mere 8 weeks left in 2013.  Of course it's that time of year when Rob makes one of his trips back to Maryland for work and I'm left alone here in Texas, although this go around I'm not alone....I have Lane to keep me company!  Thanks to the government shutdown his trip this year was reduced to 3 weeks compared to last years 5 weeks.  It's still tough but I'm not complaining and I can't imagine how our military families deal with sons / daughters / brothers / sisters / moms and dads being deployed for months at a time and in harms way every day.  God bless them.

The past couple weeks have been busy as Lane's daily routine was turned upside down because she wasn't hanging at home with Rob all day.  She now goes to doggie day care 5 days a week. Our day starts early and ends late.  She has been a trooper, some days rougher than others but I think overall she has done great.

The house continues to be a work in progress, that just takes time.  A few weeks ago we had some massive rain storms and it destroyed our front rock landscaping which has resulted in a violation from the county for the rocks in the drainage tubes.  I thought this would be a somewhat easy task just moving rock around......think again, I was in for a rude awakening and will have to wait for Rob to get home for us to make any progress.  I like to think that I can do just about anything but damn that rock is hard to move.

We are looking forward to the holidays, our first in the house and with Lane.  We will be staying local for both Thanksgiving and Christmas as we both have to work.  I need to start my mission to find a new Christmas tree (yes we are fake Christmas tree people, but how long do you expect a tree to live down here in Texas??).

I have been contemplating whether I will keep this blog or if I will just consolidate to http://pitatriing.blogspot.com/.  Although I haven't been posting much on that site either but I have been thinking a lot about what goals I'll be setting for 2014!!

Life sure does change when you become parents.....even of dogs

OK so some would say we aren't really parents because it's not a human child that I'm talking about but if you are true pet lover then you know that pets are your children too.  It's hard to believe that 9 weeks ago we brought this pretty girl home with us.  Even harder is to realize how much our lives have changed since she came into our lives and even more so how your life changes when you have an addition that relies on someone to take care of them.  Lane is doing wonderful!  She is now the top girl in our house and is the apple of Rob's eye.  He loves having her here while he is working because it gives him an opportunity to take her for walks and spend extra daddy / daughter time with her.  Sadly last week when we took her in for her dental she was diagnosed with a mild case of heart worm (even though she tested negative in July) but she is on a "low kill" medication for 1 month and we will take it from there.  Adding Lane to the family made us realize keeping our normal routines isn't as easy as it use to be.  We both have gotten a bit off track with our exercise routine but we will get there.

The house looks great - the landscaping is now completed and we finally have grass!  We still have plenty of trees to cut and need to figure out what to do with some of the areas that we didn't have landscaped.  We have slowly started decorating but that will take time since we are both very picky.  The neighborhood is fast growing and we have more and more neighbors by the day.  But it makes for some fun walks to check out some of the other houses that are being built.

We continue to be amazed at how much or lives have changed in just a little over a year.  We have gone from living a crazy stressful life to a more relaxing and enjoyable life.  We have always been a happy couple but we let our work life, mainly my work, rule our lives for many years.  We made a big decision that many people said we were crazy for doing but now at 43 I feel more alive than I have in 15+ years.  I have more energy than I did in my 30's and I am definitely a healthier person that I have been for almost 20 years.

I finally learned to live life for myself and not for others or the way others tell me to live my life!

Welcome to the Bell Family.....

On August 4, 2013, we welcomed Lane into our family.  She is a rescue great dane / lab mix from San Antonio Great Dane Rescue.  She is approximately 3 years old.  She is such a sweet girl and quickly stole our hearts.  She has only been with us for 1 week, but she is definitely family.

She had her first trip to the vet this afternoon and got a few shots but overall did very well.  We were told several times how pretty a girl she was.  

She is a pretty gentle girl has a bit of anxiety separation but loves lounging around the house and her daily walks.  We have lots of training to work on - I almost got my arm ripped off the other night when a rabbit ran right in front of her.  We dread the day she sees all the deer in the yard!

Happy 1 Week Anniversary Lane.