Year One - Done

We have reached the one year mark (and a month) of being on the road.  We left Raleigh on Feb 24th, 2014 and David started March 1st as his first assignment.  The past year has absolutely flown by.  Here are some of the highlights...

• Traveled about 3000 miles 
• Lived in 4 different apartments 
• Lived in 3 hotels
• David has been the IM at 3 malls and inside a Kroger
• Shortest stay was in McDonough, Ga for one month
• Longest stay has been St. Petersburg, Fl for 8 months

We have had the pleasure of meeting so many awesome people along the way....other interim managers, their wives and families, people from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds, and so so many great team members and leaders.  We have met some amazing raving fans of Chick-fil-A and have made lots of new friends.

Some other fun things on road include:

• Reuniting with an old roommate
• Watching several MLB baseball games
• Watching the 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball game
• Living in a downtown Charlotte apartment
• Living in beautiful Florida during the winter
• Waking up to a view of the ocean
• Riding on the Chick-fil-A float in the Lakeland Christmas Parade
• Serving on the Chick-fil-A Food Vehicle
• Going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios
• Enjoying Disney World

Our most recent little fun activity was seeing the Firestone Grand Prix in downtown St. Petersburg.  We walked down to the festivities Sunday morning and saw cars and trucks racing from 9:30am to 6pm.  It was a full day of fast cars!  Now I don't really care about cars or racing, but it was still fun to do something different.  The weather was fantastic...not a cloud in the sky and 70 degrees.    

This past year has been a crazy adventure for sure! Some really exciting moments and great challenges along the way. Our future is in the hands of a mighty, faithful, and good God! We are excited to follow where He leads next. 

Birthday Weekend Celebration

Half marathon, Disney, warm weather, and best friends... I can't think of a better way to celebrate by 30th birthday.  I ran this half marathon two years ago with my friends Amy, Brittany, and Sarah and finished in about 3 hours.  I had been training for this run since November but did not feel as prepared this years.  Sarah and I decided we would stop and take pictures with the Disney Princes along the way, so we were not concerned about how long it would take. 

Sarah and I had to catch the bus to Epcot where the race started at 3:30AM...so so early! Good thing this was so exciting because not much get me out of bed at 3AM.  The race officially started at 5:30 with the first corral.  We were in corral K so I think we started running somewhere around 6AM.  The race starts at Epcot and you run to Magic Kingdom, through Cinderella's Castle, and back to Epcot around the big ball to the finish line.  Here are some pictures we took along the way.  The starting line...entering Magic Kingdom...the sunrise over tomorrowland...the castle...and back to Epcot.  As you can see, the race draws a big crowd.  I think there were over 25,000 people running!  

When we saw the line for the princes was 50 people deep, we decided just to keep running. Ain't got time for that.  We crossed the finish line in 2 and 1/2 hours.  Sarah is the only reason I could finish that fast! She kept our pace and somehow managed to keep up!  I was stunned when I realized it! A new personal record for me! 

We arrived back at the hotel around 10AM.  By that time I had taken over 30,000 steps for the day! I wanted to drive over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to see the animals on the property, and we decided to eat there.  After lunch we made our way back to our hotel and relaxed by the pool for several hours.  It was so warm and just awesome! For dinner we rode the bus to Downtown Disney to eat at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant.  While there, I met up with a good friend and fellow pharmacist Amanda from Raleigh! 

After an awesome weekend at Disney, we drove back to St. Petersburg Monday for another relaxing day.  Sarah, Brittany, baby Charlie, and I were soaking up some more sunshine on the roof of my apartment building.  

Overall, it was an exciting, relaxing, and amazing weekend.  I love reuniting with these ladies and only wish Amy could have joined us!  I'm already looking forward to next year ladies!!!!