Wow..I'm actually updating my blog. It's amazing!!!
-We are getting ready for the Holiday's. We are going on a cruise in 5 days...yay!!!
-We had a pretty uneventful Thanksgiving. It was nice just hanging out at home. I cleaned while James played football and then we took naps, put up our Christmas decorations. Inside and out, watched movies and made pizza. We missed our families though. It's not the same not being "home."
-We got up at 5:30 and did some shopping. I had no intention of being productive however I was pleasantly surprised. We finished mostly everything. Thank goodness since I work all this week, we leave Friday for 10 days and we only have 4 days when we get home before we leave to go to WV for Christmas. I work those 4 days so it will be work, unpacking (summer clothes) and re-packing (winter clothes). It is going to feel COLD in WV. It has been rather warm here in Florida so far and over our cruise the countries we are visiting it is supposed to be in the 90's. So winter will come with a shock when we head north that next week BRRRRRR!!!!!!!
-I ran almost 13 miles today in preparation for my 1/2 marathon. I did pretty well. Not the best time but good for my first 1/2. I will try and improve a little before the "big day" but if not I will do better the next time....if there is one :) My goal is under 2:05 which should be easy. I would like to be under 2 hours but I'm not going to put that much pressure on me this time since it's my first one.
- We hope everyone has a great Christmas. I probably won't be updating my blog until who knows when unless I get some time while I'm home for Christmas. We hope you have a great time with your friends and family as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. We love this time of year and can't wait to be home with our family to spend time together...and hopefully see some snow !!

I haven't had time to get on here to write anything but finally I decided I need to take a minute to let everyone know what I've been up to. It's nothing exciting but here it is:
*My parents ended up moving back to WV about a month ago. They just didn't like Florida so they are back "home." I loved having them here and wished it would have worked out but I'm glad they are happy to be home in WV. They have lived there all of their lives so Florida was a big change for them. Ironically they moved to the same neighborhood just a block behind their old house so it is very familiar to them!
*We went on a cruise over the fourth of July to the Bahamas. It was just a short cruise but we just wanted to get away for the weekend. It was fun, we had a good time.
*We both still have jobs. That is a plus especially in Florida and especially since James is an engineer and not too many things are being built right now.
*We are frantically getting ready for the Holiday's. We are actually going on a cruise in 2 weeks, for 10 days which we can't wait for. We both SO need a break and just want to get away. This is going to be a long one so I hope we really love cruising. We went on a 7 day in Feb. and loved it so I hope we really love 10 days. We are going to Haiti (they own a private beach there...if it is still intact..we will see if we really stop there. Neither one of us are hopeful) Columbia (in South America...Cartegena to be exact), Panama..we are going through some of the Panama Canal, Costa Rica..which is my favorite stop. I have always wanted to go there. Last is Grand Cayman. So we are really excited. The ship we are going on looks amazing and we can't wait.
*We leave 5 days after we return from the cruise to go home for Christmas. So we have the next 2 weekends to get our shopping done and that's it...a little stressful. Next year we will not plan a cruise so close to the Holiday's :) I hope to see snow this year when we go home. I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends back home. I was there briefly to help my parents move here in May but just for a couple days. Other than that it has been a year since I have spent time there so I'm excited to just "go home"
*I'm running in my first 1/2 marathon as soon as we get back from Christmas. It is Jan 8th. It's the Walt Disney World 1/2 marathon . It actually goes through Cinderella's castle and Epcot so it should be fun...if I survive :) I did a training run last week of 12 miles and I didn't prepare well (eating, drinking enough water etc) and it didn't go well so hopefully I can get it together. I hope it's not too rough. I didn't plan this race well. The cruise you can easily gain a pound a day, going home for the Holiday's...enough said, then having to not have extra weight for running a 1/2 marathon is going to be my December challenge :)
*Last...I have kept my weight off. I have actually lost a couple more pounds. I'm at 125 which I'm excited about and bought my first size 0 jeans...EVER!!! And then bought 3 more :) I was thrilled. Not that size matters but after being a size 18 it felt really good. So I'm still working out 4-5 days a week, training, doing bootcamp, running, and kickboxing..which I love. It's like therapy. A good workout and you get all your aggression out :)

So that's it. Like I said nothing really exciting. I'll put a couple pictures on here from our July cruise. We try every other year or so to do a Christmas letter to let our family and friends know what we have been up to. Sorry to all of you who will be getting a letter. It will be mostly a repeat :) !!! I guess I blew all the excitement of the much anticipated Christmas letter :)!!!