Pat's Promotion

I can't believe I've failed to mention Pat's recent promotion. He's been dealing Black Jack, Craps and Roulette for almost 3 years at Greektown Casino, after a year of dealing at Casino Rouge in Baton Rouge. About 4 weeks ago, he received a promotion to a dual-rate. This position means he's half-time a dealer and half-time a floor manager, responsible for 4-6 table games at a time. He had to wait for what seemed like forever from the time he interviewed until receiving the job offer.

After a week of training, he's been on the job for three weeks now. The main difference is that he has to wear a suit to work every day. Pat only owns 2 suits - the one he's had forever and a nice black one we bought for the wedding (the boys all bought good black suits instead of renting tuxes). Since this position was full-time 5 days a week, he certainly needed more clothes. This is the one time Pat actually looked forward to shopping for clothes - this man still owns clothes from high school that he loves and refuses to get rid of. So, for him to clean out his entire closet and donate a bunch of clothes is huge for him. We then went out to buy 4 new suits and a good sport coat. And after a shipment of awesome ties from his brother, Pat now has an awesome new wardrobe. It's still weird getting used to seeing him in a suit each day, but he loves his job.

Check out the huge donation pile.


The good news is that he's now full time and get benefits! Pat's new schedule is Wednesday through Sunday from 7pm to 3am. In fact, he has to leave home at 5:30pm to get to work on time and I don't get out of work until after 6pm. So, we only see each other for a few hours on Sat and Sun after he gets up around 1ish before he goes to work and then on Mon and Tues, his off days after I get home just before 7pm. It took a little while getting used to, but so far, it works. I'm just so proud of him for taking the step to apply for this position and so happy it worked out for him. So far, so good!

8 Miles!

8 miles is so far my longest run and I've done it twice! The first time it felt absolutely great and I didn't really believe I had accomplished that all by myself. It took until the second time of doing it to make it real for me. It's been pretty exciting going through this training plan entirely on my own and has definitely been very rewarding. After my second 8 miler, I now think I actually feel like a runner! It's been a long time in coming, but it feels great. I'm still too nervous to join any sort of running group or club, but maybe after I finish the half-marathon I'll feel 'elite' enough to do so.

I'm already thinking of running a marathon next year :) It's crazy, especially since I'm only up to 8 miles and have to get through the 13.1 of the half marathon first, but I think that's the next logical step. Pat actually got me interested in triathalons, but that might be for the year after the marathon, considering I don't swim or currently own a bike :)

Either way, I'm excited to get to mile 8 for my long run and see where we go from here! Now I'm just bummed that it's so hot out and I have to wait until almost 8pm to go out and run. I'm looking forward to cool fall nights in Michigan (before it gets too dark).

I'm registered for a 10 miler in Flint on August 28th and I'm looking forward to that. I figure if I can get through 10 miles, it's just a simple 5K after that!

Congratulations Alan & Nicole!

Two of my high school friends got married on Friday, July 16th and I was honored to stand up in their wedding. I can honestly say that this wedding was one of the most fun days of my life! Nicole is the best and most laid-back bride I know and she let us pick any black dress we want for the wedding party.


Here's three of the four bridesmaids, Heidi, me and Emily. Tina was missing for this one :(


This is a fun one of me, Nicole, my new friend Troy and his wife.


Most fun wedding part EVER!

Congratulations Alan & Nicole! Can't wait to relive the fiesta at the house warming Jungle Juice party at your new house!

Gopher the Gold 10K

I ran a 10K on Saturday, July 24th in Shelby Township (about an hour from our house, but near my parents' house). My niece had stayed with us for the week and came to summer camp. We had a blast! From putt-putt to the Ann Arbor Art Fair, there wasn't a night we didn't do something fun. And, I got her talked into coming on my evening runs with me. With her on her scooter, she certainly kept me motivated to finish the 4 mile routes. I brought her home Friday night and stayed at my parents' house for the 8am 10K in the morning.

It had been raining all week and Saturday started off sprinkling. While we finished registration, it was barely sprinkling. I even went back to my car to put on sunscreen, being optomistic about the day. Another runner laughed at me and asked if I had bug spray. The race finally began and it was nice and cool, which was welcoming since it had been so humid all week. Miles 1 and 2 were just fine with little sprinkling. Then the skies opened up for mile 3, which felt pretty good at the time as the course just finished a large hill.

Mile 4 brought us into the trail part of the run, which was definitely different. I've never ran on a trail before; only flat paved roads. With all the rain and the many people that ran in front of me, the trail was a muddy mess. It was fun but I was getting tired. I kept waiting for the Mile 5 marker to show up, but it never came. As soon as I finally got out of the woods (which seemed like forever), I was mentally exhausted knowing I have another mile plus ahead of me.

However, as I turned the corner out of the woods, there was the finish line. I had ran 2 miles in the woods, not just the one I thought I had. All of a sudden, I felt a surge of energy and finished the race in 1:12:24. Yes, it was 5 minutes slower than my first 10K, but I still loved it! I took the scenic route home to my parents' and hung out with them all afternoon.

It was a great race and I'm looking forward to Running the Crim 10miler on Saturday, August 28th.

Wedding Pics

Now that's it been almost three months since we got married, I finally have some great pics from the photographer to show everyone. Enjoy!


Getting ready at my parents' house


Pat and his brothers before the ceremony


One of my favorites!


With my parents


With Pat's mom



I have about 2100 more, but these ones took long enough to upload!