Nice to Meet You, I'm Clark Griswald

As a kid, I always used to beg my parents to put an addition on the house so we could have a tall tree at Christmas like that from the Nutcracker.

For obvious reasons they declined to turn my request into a reality.

But imagine my delight when the house we purchased late this summer had cathedral ceilings in it!  I could have the tall Christmas tree of my fantasies at last!

Except the tree farm we generally go to specializes in FAT trees, not TALL trees.  And since the Goodwin's are low on time and resources, we purchased our tree from this farm, rather than drive to another farm to find a taller one.  So instead we picked out the biggest, fattest, tallest tree on the 3 acre farm.

We should have known we were in trouble when it took 3 grown men to get it into the back of the truck.

Last night we MacGyvered Griswalded the tree into the house.

No joke, we took the front door off it's hinges, used rope and tie straps to tie the tree down so we could fit it through the door, we pushed, we pulled, and an hour and a half later we finally got the tree into the house.

The tree was SO big that even all tied up it was STILL bigger than any tree I have ever had.

We slowly released the ropes and POOF, we had an 11 foot tall tree that was matched in height only by it's 8 foot girth.  

Let's just say our living room no longer echoes from being too empty!

Now let's all pray for snow, because it is a bit depressing to feel all Christmas-y without the white stuff.

New Additions

We are proud to announce the newest member of the Goodwin Family:

Little brother to Big Leather Couch, the other addition that came to us two glorious weeks ago.

In the coming weeks I look forward to introducing you to the rest of our living room set; area rug, end table, better lighting, and shelving.  (and some wall decor, amiright?!)

I know it may not be as exciting as the "new additions" that other couples our age are introducing you to, such as puppies or kitties or even, gasp, children, but we could not be more thrilled to have the slightest semblance of a furnished home (and a place to start running now that the cold is hitting!).

Stay well,

Granny

Too Cold

Go home, winter; you're drunk.

Running and Poultry

As a runner (ha, 10 miles a week for the last few months, can I still call myself a runner??) in rural New England, I expect to see some wildlife and animals while out on my run.

Countless squirrels and birds, hundreds of dogs and kitties, equal amounts of horses and cows, as well as the occasional deer or so.

I run in general on back roads with minimal traffic, but enough that rarely am I scared of seeing some sort of animal that will cause me harm--though when dogs start barking and lunging at me, I always tense up.  But in general, I feel pretty safe.

Until yesterday's run in my parent's neighborhood.

I was just getting to this huge hill, and I knew I would need a lot of focus and attention to make it even 3/4 to the top without having to stop for a little walk break.  At the bottom of the hill is an old farm.  Just as I pass the farm, I hear this rustling in the leaves and I casually look over to see a rooster the worlds LARGEST rooster coming after me.

Yup, this looks like an accurate description of the cock.

He puffed himself up, CAME OUT OF HIS YARD, and started chasing my ass up the hill.  I shit you not.

There would be no "slow and steady, take it easy" up that hill, no sir.  That fucking rooster, hand to god, was on my heals chasing after me, sprinting as fast as I could, up the hill.  

And I never gained on him!  He was always right there.  

(Fact: roosters scare me a bit, because they have claws and beaks, and this one was the size of a small dog.)

I finally had to reach down and grab a rock and throw it at him, at which point he got the point.

I continued to sprint up the hill of death for a few more feet until I felt I was at safe distance to stop and keel over in agony. 

And that my friends, is how you do hill sprints.

Memphis by the Numbers

6 number of ribs consumed (this is an extremely pathetic attempt on my part;  I have been known to easily put back 20 ribs in a sitting.)

2 number of runs along the beautiful (and flat!) Mississippi Delta

1 number of times my travel wife and I sang "Walking in Memphis" while in fact walking in Memphis.

3 happy hour cocktails for less than $3

.25 Fishbowl cocktails consumed

1 number of homeless men who stole our fishbowl cocktail

3  number of cocktails purchased for me (I've still got it!)

4 number of ducks seen walking on a red carpet

1 late night trip to Denny's

1 cheeseburger flatbread purchased

3 minutes it took for 1 person to consume cheeseburger flatbread (I am hanging my head in shame)

2 number of aliases I had while out and about in in the city

12 hours of sleep needed to recover

(oh, and 1 conference actually attended)

Why I Normally Do Not Wake up at 5 am...

You know how I can tell I am not a morning person?

This morning in my 5 am haze to get ready for my early morning flight, I grabbed my under eye gel in the dark and started to apply it.

Which is fine and dandy.

Until I realized it was peppermint lipgloss and not eye de-puffer gel.

It's Been Awhile

The last time I blogged, the first sentence of the post contained the phrase "this summer."  And was in August.  

It is now autumn and nearly October.  

I have been a bit preoccupied!

Mountain man and I bid adieu to the beautiful country home we had been living in and bought our own house earlier this month.  It has been exciting and fun, but also stressful and overwhelming.  Lots of sweat, work, and tears have been put into this effort.

The new Goodwin Ranch is a cute new little ranch on her own private 3 acres.  There was not much to do (other than unpack and make her our own) but we did have some painting to be done and some trees to remove.  Which is what we have been steadily working on the last 4 weeks.

Other than that big excitement, we have been trying to fit in some fun at seasonal fairs, apple picking, running, and playing with my puppy nephew, Willy Nelson, as often as possible.  And adjusting to the wacky new iOS7 (anyone else think it is slow as sin?).

In between the move (and some fall fun), I have been busy at work with lots of meetings and galas and travel prep.  Rest was taken where I could get it.

Now I am gearing up for a month on the road, lots of traveling across the country.  First up in New Orleans next week.  I will report back after I have gained 12 lbs and lost all self respect.

Sorry for the lack of fun and exciting blog posts, I hope to be back at it again shortly!

Happy fall, y'all!