T G I F'ity F F!!!

Thank god today finally got here and is slowly coming to a quiet end. This week has been enjoyable but pretty busy and I'm very glad the weekend is here!

A huge and very sincere thank you for the many emails. I get inspired and find motivation in a lot of ways and I must say that those that have dropped me a note saying I'm inspiring - I am very touched. I don't ever think of myself like that - ever. I'm way more of the person who enjoys settling in for long hauls and the one being the cheerleader, not the "cheer-ee."

To answer one's guestion on my "obsession" on cycling - I watch and follow cycling so closely because for 1) they're the best athletes I know and 2) they rock with countless stories of being knocked down - and yet they get back on that damn bike every time! When I'm going through a rough patch, it's easy to read a blog and understand that my issues are nothing compared to what someone else is going through. Add in the amazing personalities and feeling of family from the moment you meet them, or in my case read and e-chatter with them and I'm sucked in completely. Plus the fact that some of them can make me laugh out loud while at work or sitting at home bummed out, pissed off, or stressed to the max, well that alone, puts them high up on my list of hero's. So to the many I personally cheer for in races and in everyday life - huge thanks!!!

This week was packed with goings on. Everything from month end work to ICC Hearings to working out to cleaning up to reaching a goal to wrapping up projects to running errands. Of course that list just keeps going and going and going. I battle with the sleep gods on a regular basis too so the list tends to just continue being added to versus being checked off.

How does one unwind from all of that? Well of course one actually leaves the office after 9 hours, gets caught up on some emails, and takes some quick trips through blogs. Add in a quick visit with a friend this AM who's being a sweetheart in delivering some goodies to good guys and wives and kiddies over in Girona. A couple extra work outs. Add in a forgotten dinner agreement and best of all... Friday Night Date Night!

Yep. And who's the best part of Friday night date nights? Why little Miss Autumn of course!!! She's my 3 year old neighbor who I adore and love and can never get enough of. I used to visit a lot more than time has allowed the past few months and it was a joke even when I was married that the best night of my entire week was my Friday night date with her. This week joined us back up again. Hell even Mike commented on me being over two nights in a row! Autumn is a pure doll and I swear - one can not beat the stress reducing affects that the mind of a 3 year old has. She doesn't care about the weather, the chores, the work, or idiots I deal with. Nope. She wants to play tag, hide-n-seek, and her new found dizzying love of ring around the rosy. No worries on not getting to the gym this morning, none at all! She's like this free little bottle of prozac and hour at the gym all wrapped up in one!!!

Tonight was so fun and I'm so happy winter is over! Before Autumn and Jake arrived Miss Heather and I would have a couple beers, we'd watch movies, Mike would give us crap, we'd all just chill outside. The kiddies arrived and things changed a bit. Never badly just differently. Instead of stopping for a beer, I'd hop over to play with Autumn and its funny how my love of kids is somehow a relief for the parents! LOL!!! It's never a bother when kids can just make stress melt away! Miss Autumn is my sweetheart and when "Miss 'cole - can you come play with me?" is shouted over the fence, it's almost impossible to resist!!!

So from that Utopia of fun tonight I hope to relax a bit and actually maybe get some sleep. We'll see how that goes. I think this week's average was about 4 hours a night and considering the other night was about an hour and a half, this kids beat. Happy sleeps to all tonight and I hope all have a great weekend!!!