Christmas 2006

Another Christmas has come and gone. Nick and I were happy to be with our families even though we were both a little worn out from working in retail during the holidays. It was hard to get into the holiday spirit when we're both working more than we're used to and on holidays. We still had a wonderful time on Christmas day with family, good food and lots of presents.

Baby got a head start on gifts since we weren't going to be home on Christmas' Eve nor Christmas day. We allowed him to open his present on Christmas' Eve Eve. He knew exactly which gift was his (we had just put it under the tree since we were afraid he would chew through the plastic).

As for us, we continued our tradition of opening gifts at midnight on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. I was very curious as to what I was going to get from Nick for two reasons: 1) He had asked if he could spend a ridiculous amount of money on my gifts and 2) the boxes were a lot bigger than I expected...nothing I wanted was that big. I'm always afraid that my gifts for Nick won't be as good as what he gets me since he's a lot more thoughtful than I am. This year, he definitely outdid me! I had been toying with the idea of training for a triathlon or a Century bike ride so Nick did the research for me and got me a race bike! I hadn't really done much research on bikes but apparently this is a really good bike, it's a Giant OC3 women's race bike. I guess now I have no excuse...I will become a cyclist in 2007!

On Christmas Day, we headed to Titusville to visit Nick's family. We all tried to stick to stocking stuffers only this year.

This is an all day event at the Guittar household. Trinnia (sister in law) and I reminisced at how strange it was our first Christmas with the Guittar family because it took so long. Back then, only one person would open a gift at once and before opening it they would try to guess what it was. Now, we modified it so that everyone is opening gifts at the same time and we still have to break for food! It's still a wonderful family tradition that I'm glad to be a part of. This year, Nick's mom, Mary, had a project for us to complete...we each had to paint our own tile (for a complete story and pictures of the tiles visit Mary's blog www.frymanguittarnews.blogspot.com ).

I love having Christmas at the Guittar household. They have a lot more traditions than my family and I hope to continue them with our family.

Baby's Christmas Spirit!

For Nick and I, the Christmas spirit has not kicked in just yet. I walked into a store today and saw a sign saying "Just 9 shopping days left before Christmas"...unbelievable since I just started shopping TODAY!

However, our dog Baby just loves this time of year. He doesn't know that presents are coming or anything that us people get excited over. He just loves having a new place to relax. Today, I looked for him all over the house and I just could not figure out where he was. Our dining room chairs are covered and usually he lays under the chair and we can't see him (it's his version of hide and seek...seen below).

But today, I looked under the chairs and he wasn't there. After running frantically all over the house, I'm headed to the front door because I was convinced he must have sneaked out somehow...when I see him all cuddled up under the Christmas tree. I forgot that he loves laying under the tree!

I took a picture of him but after he had repositioned himself to the front side of the tree where he's clearly visible. Here he is:

Discovery Night Launch

Discovery Shuttle on launch pad

Tonight we got to experience something that only Central Floridians get to see, a space shuttle launch. I used to take this for granted until I realized that it is something unique to Florida and only a few people get to see in person.

Not only was it a launch but it was the first night launch in 4 years. NASA had not done a night launch since the tragic Columbia shuttle accident.

I tried to take pictures but keep in mind that we do live about 50 miles west of Cape Canaveral so by the time we see it it's a spec in the sky. Although it is amazing how the sky lights up at the horizon as it is lifting off.

The Force Is With Us...

As you may remember today was the OUC Half Marathon. The race that I've been training for the last 3 months.

I woke up early enough to do all my morning preparations. I had planned to be Downtown Orlando by 6:30am in time to pick up my race packet before the race. Nick was to accompany me so he could take pictures and hold my stuff.

Before walking out the door, I went through my mental checklist of race must-haves: ipod, Ensures, towel, flip flops and camera. I looked at my purse and I said..."I won't need it". As we walked out, I looked at Nick and said "You're driving right, because I didn't bring my keys" as he replies "yeah" and closes the door. Standing in front of the car he checks his pockets and realizes...he doesn't have the keys AND had locked the front door (from the inside).

The impenetrable door
So now it's 6:10am, it's still dark outside and we're locked out of our house with no car keys. As I realize what just happened and try to take it in, my initial reaction is anger and frustration.

Nick tries to take it all in and goes into problem solving mode. So, what's the plan: we try windows, garage door and sliding doors...all locked as they should be.

No key to drive
Fortunately, Nick did have his cell phone on him. I start calling my nearest living relative, my aunt, at home. I think she has a key but I'm not sure. I get No answer, no machine! The call is not going through at all. I keep trying for the next 10 minutes with no luck. I can't call her cell phone since I don't know it by heart because I have it saved on MY cell phone.

I try my mom, dad and sister's cell phone with no answer either.
Then Nick comes up with the plan to call a taxi...Great idea! So, we'll take a taxi downtown and I'll make the race. But what about after the race??? We still can't get into our house. Therefore, I wanted to get a hold of my aunt before she left the house.

OH, did I mention that as I'm pacing on the driveway making frantic phone calls fire ants had covered my left foot?!?!? Yeah! By the time I realized it, it was too late. They were inside my shoe and all the way by my toes...unbelievable! At this point, I'm ready to cry...actually more like scream but I don't.

I take off my shoe and slap it around a couple of times to get rid of the ants. I could not figure out where the ants had come from since I didn't step on the grass at all and it was still too dark to see them. We later saw that they have formed a path down the middle of our driveway to the garage...apparently Thanksgiving trash left a trail. The only way to avoid them was to get on top of the car, which I did.

So, it's 6:45am now...nobody has answered and the taxi hasn't come. I finally get a hold of my sister who grogily answers the phone. I say, "Stacy, get mom!" to which she replies "Why?". I think..."I'm calling you "in the middle of the night" you should never ask 'why' ...just do it!" but I briefly explain my urgency and she wakes mom up. I explain to my mom what just happened quickly and I ask for my aunt's phone number. Before I hang up my mom says "Stephanie, these things happen for a reason, you're not meant to be there, something was going to happen to you guys". I say "ok" and move on. My aunt still doesn't answer her cell phone so Nick says "we should have the taxi take us to her house rather than downtown". I say "yes that's better".

So, right about then the taxi shows up and we get to my aunt's house. Fortunately, my aunt's husband is awake already and answers the door. I explain myself again and he says "I think she has a key"...great. So we get into his car and drive back to the house. In the car ride, I asked "Did you bring the house key?" and he replies "yeah, I brought her key ring". I'm thinking I hope she keeps the house key in the same key ring as her housekeys. When we get back home, we can't get in through the gate since we don't have our scanners and nobody's home so we have to park outside the gate and run home. We tried all the house keys in the key ring and none of them work. OK, so back to square one...go back to the house and wake my aunt up so she can tell us where our house key is.

As we're driving back to her house I feel my toes! Normally, you don't feel your toes. I feel them touching each other and they feel like they're huge. When we get to her house, she's already awake and gives us the key. I then look at the clock. The race starts at 7:30am. It's 7:20am and we're not even at our house or in the car so I tell myself 'it's OK I'm just not gonna make it". I take my shoe left shoe off and my toes are swollen to twice their size and my whole foot is bright red. My aunt looks at my foot and she says "oh, you can't run like that". I think I could've but unpleasantly.

Finally, we drive back to our house with the key and get in. By this time, I'm already starting to laugh about the whole ordeal. The whole week I kept thinking I wasn't ready for this race. I had slacked on training for the last month. The longest run I'd had in November was 6 miles which is not good. I knew chances were high that I would injure myself at this race but I didn't care since I had already told myself that I was going to take a break from running for a while. Hence, I'd like to think that something kept me from that race for my benefit. A Higher Force was definitely with us today.

P.S. Nick took all the cheesy pictures so that we could have a blog entry

U.T.I.O.G.

On Monday night, Nick and I went to a "Under the Influence of Giants" concert. This was a small concert at a local club. The band is just starting out, they have one CD but have not been played on the radio yet. However, it's an excellent CD and I've been raving about it for weeks. It was a really good show, they sounded great even at the small venue. The best part was that we got to meet them after the show and get autographs...since they're going to be HUGE! Here are the pictures:From top: Bass Player: Dave, Guitarist: Drew, Drummer: Jamin, Lead Singer: Aaron.