Birthday Weekend

I had a great birthday! Thanks to Greg for planning a wonderfully fun and relaxing day for me. I was so impressed...he cleaned the house and arranged for Amy to travel to Memphis to surprise me. And thanks to Amy for making the trip! I had a blast kicking your ass in bowling! Seriously though, I had a great time and am so happy that I had my best and favorite friend help me celebrate the beginning of my 29th year. (A side note-someone sent me a sweet birthday message saying that I had only 365 days until I had to commit suicide. HA!)

The spectacular birthday bowling bonanza was Friday night and that was just the beginning of my birthday weekend. On Saturday, I drove to Camp NaCoMe to meet my sister and friends from my hometown church in Centerville, TN. NaCoMe (Nashville/Cookeville/Memphis) is a camp out in the middle of nowhere (Pleasantville, TN actually) that my church has always used for retreats and summer camps. I've been going to NaCoMe as long as I can remember and have so many good memories there...from the infamous cinnamon rolls to the ice cold spring water swimming hole. Well, I didn't do much swimming on this trip, but I was able to get out and do some running. It was beautiful. The day was perfect and sunny and crisp and it was nice to hear absolutely nothing...no cars, no horns, no sirens. Nothing. Well except for birds and wildlife creatures. Here is a picture of my course. This is the actual road...it isn't a trail through the woods.

So I spent one night at NaCoMe and headed back home to Memphis. I wasn't in any particular hurry so I decided to stop at Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch. That's right, I went to the Coal Miner's Daughter's house on Sunday. I've passed the exit a gazillion times before and had always been curious to see it. So I did. I didn't do the tour and the museum was closed for the season, but I did snap a couple of pictures. I was also fortunate to have my actual birthday off (it's a perk of my job) so I had a long weekend, in which you'll be proud to learn that I used for cross training. Well...sorta...I worked in the yard all day, planting bulbs and pansies and winterizing my rose garden, but I seriously consider gardening to be cross-training. Muscles that I didn't even know existed are aching today. I call that a success.

I'm looking forward to a chilly 5 mile evening run tonight. Time to pull out the winter running gear! Stay warm, friends!