Strawberry Festival

This weekend I had the pleasure of seeing a long-awaited movie and introducing Heidi to and visiting with several friends!

Friday the book club went to see the new Alice in Wonderland in IMAX 3D. The tale is my favorite childhood story, so there was pretty much no way I was going to leave the theatre satisfied. Plus I'm a Disney and Burton fan. Depp wasn't all he was cracked up to be, but it's certain that the Mad Hatter role was tailor fitted for Depp. I thought Mia played a great adolescent Alice (Mia is Australian, you know). I think my favorite character, however, was the Red Queen, played by one of my favorite actresses, Helena Bohnam Carter. She was great! And I ended up liking the Cheshire Cat a lot more than I thought I would based on his looks alone from the previews; though I do wish they had left him pink and purple. The make-up shifting within a single frame was pretty cool (i.e., on the Mad Hatter when his moods went more than "mad"). I wish they'd renamed the movie to something other than one so similar to the title of the first book on Alice's adventures. The story was more mixed with Through the Looking Glass, but, nevertheless, it was a well-done storyline; something new and creative. I enjoyed mapping the characters in Alice's reality to those in Wonderland.

Directly after the movie I went home, grabbed my overnight bag and Heidi, and headed to Melbourne. I arrived at Aunt Joan's, and, after settling Heidi down, finally got to bed around midnight, which is SUPER late for me these days.

The next morning Heidi got to properly meet Aunt Joan, and then Joan and I went to the Strawberry Festival. Starting things off was the pancake breakfast. For $5 we got two pancakes covered in strawberries, whipped cream and syrup, sausage and OJ (that's better than what one could get at any breakfast diner), and it was perfect! Afterwards Joan and I browsed the markets. I ended up buying a few French hair combs that I've been searching for since my days in Australia.

After the festival I accompanied Aunt Joan to Cocoa for her hair cut appointment, during which I caught up with my mom as we hadn't chatted all week. Then Joan and I stopped by a nursery to pick up some tomato seeds and a special fertilizer she needed. We got back to her house, went on a nice but squirrel-free walk with Heidi, then I headed to visit the guys.

Josh was still golfing when I called, but I was able to reach Dan, so Heidi and I went to his place. He was very hospitable and let me stow Heidi at his place while he and I grabbed some amazing Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. Afterwards we took Heidi on a nice, long walk and enjoyed the day while we waited for Josh to arrive. Josh met Heidi, then the three of us went bowling. I broke 100 the first game and couldn't hit 80 the second game, haha, but both of the guys one a game each. Josh had a few really great streaks!

After bowling Heidi and I headed out and we caught Andy just in time for a quick dinner before I headed back to Orlando. I was so happy to visit with Andy; we had a lot to catch up on together. The only disappointing thing from this weekend was not getting to hang out with Jared and have him meet Heidi.

Today I went to church, and spent lots of time outside with Heidi as it was a lovely day. We played and also grabbed an afternoon nap. Another lovely Sunday.

Cheers,

Amanda

This Week

Well, I don't know about you, but this week has absolutely FLOWN by me! Having a puppy to care for is like hitting a fast-forward button on life, except you can still enjoy the moments.

I wanted to recap the last week. I've had a lot going on and want to share it with my little army of readers.

Sunday I brought Heidi home, introduced her and Ashes, and tried to catch up on sleep wherever I could. (See post on Heidi.)

Monday I kept busy at work, coming back home for the lunch hour to tend to Heidi, and taking advantage of my flex-time so as to not leave Heidi alone for more than a few hours at a time. That evening I met up with Jessica and Lindsey at Lake Eola to serve food to 100 homeless people; we teamed up with Rock for Hunger. It was a lot of fun, and I'll be helping Jessica's volunteer group more in the future.

Tuesday work and lunch were the same as Monday. After work I was able to squeeze a run into the busyness of caring for Heidi. I ran for 30 minutes, and hoped and prayed I could run at least twice more between Wednesday and Friday for my race over the weekend. Later I had Joel, Heather & Matt over for an evening of Euchre! Joel and I were a bit rusty after not having played the beloved Midwestern card game for so long, Matt had played once or twice before, and Heather was new tot he game. We had a great time playing over Chex Mix, pizza and strawberry milk! Heather & I won, so I guess it's true what they say: girls rule and boys drool. = P After a while Heather had to go in for some work (she was on call), so Joel, Matt & I played some three-person Euchre. We also played with Heidi! It was good for her to romp around and socialize with other people. Groundhog Day marks my anniversary with Lockheed Martin as a full-time employee. I received necessary permission to begin part-time telecommuting, and am so happy with my first year with Lockheed! Also, I learned that I may be able to participate in Lockheed Martin's Information Systems Leadership Development Program (ISLDP), pending space available. It's a very challenging and prestigious program, and I'm thrilled to have the potential opportunity to take part!

Wednesday was my first laid back evening of the week. I had a lovely chat/Skype session with Miss Kristin. She adored seeing Heidi, even though Heidi wouldn't look at the computer screen/camera head on, haha. By Wednesday I was starting to get a good feel for her tiny body's "schedule" and learning her needs, etc, and was able to sneak in another trip to the gym. For an unknown reason I had a very sharp pain in my right knee a few minutes into my run, so I quit, not wanting to worsen the problem. I switched to the elliptical machine and called it a night.

Thursday was a lot like Wednesday minus the phone date but plus a run. I took it easy and my knee was fine. I did some blogging and hit they hay early. Thursday marks the day when Ashes started to play back - or even initiate the playing - with Heidi! He jumped and hopped and ran all around the living room! They're going to be great friends!

Friday I worked from home; it was nice, but a little chaotic given that I had a lunch outing at noon and a meeting at 1 PM. I had several meetings through the morning and into the afternoon, too. Work has definitely been keeping me on my toes, and on one of the calls I learned about several new efforts I'd be jumping in on for my communications role. It's really exciting, and I love the people with whom I work! For lunch I took Matt to Good Fellas' Pizza; we had pasta, and it was delicious - plus it helped me load up on carbs for my race the next morning. After a long week I was able to find time for a nap. Later Matt picked me up and we went to Oviedo for Joel's bonfire party. We met up with some familiar faces from the book club, and met some new ones. The highlight of the evening was roasting s'mores! Mine were cooked to golden perfection! It was a fun party, but at midnight it was time to head home. Matt helped me walk Heidi when we got back to my place, and then we said goodnight as I had an early morning.

Today I got up dark and early at 6:30 AM and went to Winter Park to run in the Florida Hospital Lady Track Shack 5K. The race is all women; estrogen overload! Last year I ran the same race, which was my first in Florida, so it's become a sentimental, traditional race for me. It's a fast course, and I really enjoy it. With Tuesday's knee pain I figured I'd just be running this 5K for fun, but overall I felt great, no knee pain, so I pushed a little. I ended up only half a minute from my PR time of 25'52"! Here are my race stats:

Division: women ages 19-24
Division Place: 12/144
Name: Amanda Bennett
Bib Number: 1306
Age: 23
Place: 146/2077
Gender Place: 146/2077 (top 7%)
Clock Time: 27'46"
Chip Time: 26'33"
Pace: 8'32.6"/mile
Hometown: Orlando, Florida

I'm quite happy with my running performance. A good race to kick off the year! I also bumped into Marissa post-race. It was nice to chit chat with her on the way to our cars. And we got little plants from a local nursery. When I got home I napped, but Heidi was wide awake so I didn't sleep too well. Grudgingly I got up and lounged around for a bit. In the afternoon I took Heidi to PetSmart to engrave her dog tag. Here are a few photos that mark the occasion:







Which brings me to the present. I'm painting my nails a lovely lavender using my new "Done Out in Deco" OPI polish, then I'm going to see if I can't catch a few Zs. Tonight I'm having company over to watch "I Am Legend!" Tomorrow is church and lunch with Aunt Joan over a Melbourne visit. For the Super Bowl it's looking like I'll join Matt at his friend's party.

Have a great weekend!

Amanda

Mom's Summer Visit

As you can see, I'm very behind in my blogging as of late. I'm catching up, so forgive the lack of stories, detail, etc. Hopefully that's okay because you're getting a straight feed of photos and captions - I think that's what folks like to see most. = )


Mom making us a delicious breakfast



At Cocoa Beach, PRE-thunderstorm, haha; here Mom is just before she transformed into the Sand Monster



Mom helped me give Raven a bath



Mom & I at The Lodge, downtown, for the 80s Bar Crawl; we had a rickshaw ride and met Yum Yum, haha!



Mom enjoying the porch for a little patio picnic we had one afternoon



Lounging around; she helped me furnish my apartment, yet again, with some throw pillows



Mom & I at Paradise Beach; it was a PERFECT beach day; we had so much fun in the waves!



Mom, Aunt Joan and I with a gorgeous, fire-y orange sunset after a lovely home-cooked meal in Melbourne



During Mom's visit Sam was in Fargo, ND for a wrestling tournament. Dad snapped this amazing photo of Sam perfectly executing a suplex!


-Amanda