Christmas In Richmond

"Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for other. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values."-- Thomas S. Monson

Christmas is usually a pretty routine deal, even sharing the holidays between two families. Usually it involves dinner with Will’s side of the family and then opening a few presents and dinner with my side. This year we added a little pizazz to our Christmas festivities.We had already seen Will’s mom the week before and they don’t really celebrate Christmas since they are all in the military and were almost never in one place over the holidays. So it was dinner as usual, just a week early.

We drove up to Richmond to see my parents on Christmas Eve. We did something completely new and decided to cook them dinner since for some reason they love frozen dinners…not going to fly with us. We eat fresh vegetables and meat so we were going to have a non frozen dinner.We broke out all of the pots and pans that I’m sure have barely seen the light of day since the 70s… yes they were almost all over 20 years old… We made fresh and from scratch mashed potatoes with russet and sweet potatoes, vegetable casserole with zucchini, squash, onion, peppers, green beans, etc.

We then grilled some DELICIOUS steaks in the skillet. It was a huge success as were the diabetes friendly carrot cake and not so friendly cookies that we shared with friends we saw later. Stuffed to the brim we bid my parents adieu and left to see some Christmas lights. Before you get all offended that we ditched family on the family holiday, my parents go to bed super early so we stayed a while then went to enjoy the night.

Downtown Richmond always has tons of neat lights, especially at the Jefferson, but we went to something a little less ritzy and saw a local’s favorite Christmas spot. Richmond has a Tacky Lights Tour every year that brings out hundreds of us in droves…if you know where to look. They have paid tours that take you everywhere, but it’s not necessary. Two weeks before Christmas they have a fun run 5k that lets you run past all of the houses with the amazing lights, but we missed that.In order to be qualified to be featured on this Tacky Lights Tour you have to have a minimum of 40,000 lights on your house and in your yard. I’m pretty sure they all have at least double that. We drove and somehow found parking on the first try in the middle of a neighborhood packed with people walking around seeing the lights on two houses on the tour. We even brought Atlas who had several toddlers fall in love with him and follow him around for 15 minutes straight.

We were blown away. The amount of lights on these two houses was insane. It was so bright they lit up the entire street. How they could afford that electric bill was beyond me, but they did have donation stands set up, hot chocolate you could buy and pictures with Santa. I’m sure they made out well, especially since it was their 41st year of doing it. They had your regular string of lights bedazzling the trees, but they also had crazy unique lights set up like melting snowmen, bowling alleys, kissing reindeer, hot air balloons, airplanes, and so so so much more. Pictures are probably the only thing that can do it justice.

After having our minds blown we decided we wanted to walk around more so we hopped over to Short Pump Town Center, which is a giant outdoor mall that allows dogs. We walked around and saw some lights, but nothing on the level of what we had seen, but definitely enjoyable nonetheless.

Another tradition of mine before both of us moved out of state was to go over to my long time friend’s house (Laura) and enjoy being with her family and maybe sing some tunes together on the piano. We walked in and her dog immediately fell in love with Atlas and followed him around all night and kept trying to play with him at all costs. They clearly had an amazing time. I hadn’t seen Laura in over a year and her family in over 2. It was great to catch up with them, play with the pups, and just relax with some piano music and good friends.

Christmas morning was uneventful since my parents decided to sleep in to almost 10. I took the dog for a 1.5 mile walk and enjoyed breakfast with Will. When my parents finally woke up we enjoyed unwrapping super neat presents and just hanging out together. We stayed for a while and enjoyed the day, but headed back to Greenville that afternoon so we could beat traffic. All in all it was a great holiday with lots of the same old tradition and new experiences that made this Christmas unique.





The spirit on Christmas is the spirit of love and of generosity and of goodness. It illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world's busy life and become more interested in people than in things."--Thomas S. Monson

Boo Boo: The Best Little Old Man Cat

"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans." --James Herriot

Alright ladies and gentlemen, get the tissues out now. It’s going to be hard for me to write this so I can imagine it’s going to be an emotional, bitter sweet read. From day 1 Boo Boo was the most annoying cat in the world and by that I mean the sweetest, loudest, most snuggly, bony pawed, skinny, sleepy, happy, and caring cat I’ve ever met. 

Let’s back it up a minute. Boo Boo has a sob story beginning, which leads up to his adoption into the house of happy fluffs (our house/family) by us. Boo Boo obtained his unfortunate and extreme non-manly name from his previous owners, you guessed it,  an elderly couple. He was apparently the husband’s cat and up until his passing he was taken care of extremely well. His death lead to his wife’s slow decline and dementia. After a week of forgetting about the pets she owned her daughter came to visit, realized the situation and went to work. She contacted Will’s Mom to see if we could foster the cat, which of course we did. Sadly, he came to us with a whole list of problems:

1. SERIOUS gum disease and rotten teeth
2. Malnutrition
3. Nails growing into his paw pads
4. Neglect  
5. Aloof and doesn’t like people….supposedly

He immediately went to the vet before we even got him and went on meds and got his nails trimmed and paw pads cauterized. After pain meds and a tooth surgery he was deemed super fit or as fit as a 14 year old cat could be after all that. Now this cat was skinny… and I mean skinny. His favorite thing to do was walk on our faces in the middle of the night and scream with his extremely stinky breath in our faces. Needless to say I was not a fan and didn’t see us adopting him. Meanwhile, Will had fallen in love with him. The surgery also helped clear up that gross breath so it was slightly better. He had blood work done as well and the vet told us he had the blood work of a cat half his age. Good for that old man :). Such a trooper.

The second this cat walked in to our house we knew whoever said he was aloof must have be delusional. He ran up to everyone, yelled until he was pet and snuggled for hours on end. He was hands down the sweetest thing in the world and he won both of our hearts. It didn’t even take 2 days and he was officially adopted into our family. There he received an insane amount of love and food and finally became a healthy weight and pretty dang handsome. 

His favorite thing to do? Sleep. He could sleep anywhere…especially on hard surfaces in awkward positions. For example: upside down with one leg on the table bar and his face rammed in between the floor and the bar, halfway on the cat scratcher and halfway upside down, fully upside down, etc.  He also liked jumping on the bedside table, skidding across it and shoving everything on top on the floor in the process. He was a mess, but he was our mess. It just made him more endearing. Other than sleeping his favorite thing to do was purr. If you looked at this car he would start to purr. I don’t mean normal cat purrs. I mean purring so loudly you could hear him across the room. He was permanently happy the second we brought him home and demanded pets so he could start purring even harder. If purring were an olympic sport Boo Boo would hold the world record for the most gold medals won. He’s pretty incredible. 

Boo Boo always loved men more and Will became his favorite person on Earth. You could also find him curled up next to him on the couch, sitting on his chest while Will tried to play video games or smacking and yelling Will demanding attention. I eventually became his second favorite and he always visited me while I was sitting on the floor after dinner working on something or reading. 

Around Thanksgiving things started to go downhill. He had 3 seizures in 2 days and after 5 hours at the emergency vet, tears, and extreme anxiety we got to take him home with some medication that would hopefully help. The seizures are super rare in cats, especially so many and we ruled out everything but brain issues as the cause. During his seizures Atlas, our dog, brought Boo Boo every toy he could find and was deeply concerned the whole time. Boo Boo even won over all the pets in the house. He was the coolest little guy ever. 

His meds helped, but he started to lose weight. By the week before Christmas he had lost 2 pounds, and his muscles started to deteriorate in his hind legs, plus he slept more and just wasn’t quite the same. What made us call it was when he started not using the litter box. We would put him in and he would jump right out and pee or poop on the floor. He just wasn’t living the quality of life he deserved and we knew it was time. We had one last day with him and cried pretty much the entire time while non-stop loving on Boo Boo. 

The day of we took Boo Boo to Petsmart and brought Atlas along for support. We were wrecks. The Petsmart crew was super sweet and understanding. We spent a few more minutes with him and they gave him an injection and made sure he didn’t feel any pain. We were there until the end and a little after. I’ve never had to put a pet down before and it pretty much ripped my heart out. I can only imagine what it would be like for a pet that I’ve had longer than 1.5 years. 

After 1.5 years this cat left a huge imprint on both of our lives. Everyone who came over always told us how cool of a cat he was. We tried to give him the best life possible and loved every second we had with him. We just wish we could’ve had more. Boo Boo was really something special and a cat who I will never forget. Rest In Peace buddy. I hope you are up there drinking from all the water bowls and toilets you can find and are sleeping on all the weird, hard surfaces. Make sure you yell at everyone to pet you. You deserve it. 

A week after we put Boo Boo to sleep we baked cookies and brought it to the staff for being so sweet. They looked at us like we had grown 2 heads, but were super happy about it. I doubt anyone else baked them cookies for something like that. A few days later I got a letter in the mail from them. I opened it assuming that it was a thank you note. I was not prepared at all for what it really was. It was a “sorry for your loss note” and everyone in the clinic had signed it. I immediately burst into tears on my front porch, walked inside, showed Will and we ended up hugging it out and crying together. 

Pets made the world a better place. Boo Boo absolutely changed my life for the better and I hope he felt the same about us. We love you Boo Boo. 

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."--Anatole France

Turkey Trot 10k Thanksgiving Tradition

"Some memories are unforgettable, remaining ever vivid and heartwarming."--Joseph B. Wirthlin 

It’s that time of year where everyone gobbles until they wobble and tramples each other over sales.. I mean spends time with family and watches football. Thanksgiving is an odd time of year not to mention the historic issues associated with it that no one ever thinks about anymore. Being a group fitness instructor and a relatively healthy person I tend to dislike Thanksgiving only because of the fact that I have no self control with portions and desserts when presented to me in a buffet style. It’s pretty much a free for all going on in my brain and stomach that propels me forward and tells me “ you know you want ALL of this. Get 5 plates and then we’ll see if you’re full. Tomorrow I’m going to guilt trip you and make you spend all day at the gym. Enjoy!”

This year wasn’t like that at all…thank goodness. Yes I ate more than I usually do. Yes I had deliciously scrumptious food that I have zero regrets over. Yes I spent the next day working out slightly more than usual. However, Will and I started a tradition 3 years ago that I’ve really come to love. We run a Turkey Trot 10k in Virginia Beach around Mount Trashmore and the surrounding area in the morning then go to the Thanksgiving festivities later in the day with our families. 

This year we left Greenville, NC (our current home) Wednesday night and drove the 2.5 hours to Knott’s Island to have dinner with his Dad, brother and random friends his brother, Nick, had brought. We ate lots of homemade skillet pizza, which is his Dad’s specialty everyone always requests. It’s never bad. Never. We started our vacation off there so we could leave Atlas with his best furry friends and we would know he was getting worn out and also be extremely happy. It’s the same people from previous blogs who are professional dog sitters and the house is doggy heaven. Obviously he was happy for the few hours we left him gallivanting around the backyard chasing balls and wearing all of the other dogs out. 

We woke up bright and early, had a quick breakfast and drove the 45 minutes up to Mount Trashmore. This location is already a favorite for runners since it makes a loop around a large lake and even has gym equipment along the way,  a skate park, and a children’s play park. It’s a neat place. Race day it boasted inflatable start and finish markers, thousands of runners (some in costumes and lots in turkey hats), bagels, bananas and donuts from Krispy Kreme, not to mention free coffee. They know how to start and finish a race off well. 

We both wanted to improve our PRs and trained much more than usual. The race started off with both of us running together, but I made sure Will ran off and actually ran at his pace since I’m slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter. I’m slow, but I’m in it for the long haul. I never stop and I always pace myself. We both finished and realized we CRUSHED out personal records. Will blasted his by 10 minutes and I knocked off 5 minutes from mine. Killed it!

The rest of the day consisted of lots of driving… not as much eating. We drove back down to Moyock to shower at Will’s Mom’s house. I then drove off to Williamsburg to see my family and had a blast catching up with my family. I only get to see them a few times a year so it’s always nice catching up. After that I drove the 2 hours to Knott’s Island, picked up my pup and drove to Virginia Beach. At this point I had spent more time in the car than I had with family and friends on the holiday that celebrates just that… Plus no one saved me ANY turkey as promised. Slightly upset, BUT we did roast our own 2 days afterward to make up for it and holy crap was it delicious.   Anyway… 

I’m not one for Black Friday. I hate that people are so caught up in buying that one gift everyone else is getting and doing anything possible, even trampling someone, in order to get that specific item. I only go out on Black Friday to browse calmly once my parents head to bed and only if someone is going out and needs to get something. Thanksgiving to me is about being thankful for what really matter and what you already have. That being said I found myself in Target browsing for video games with Will and his brother. It was surprisingly not insane and we had a good time walking off all of the food we ate. 

After the not so much madness we rounded up all of our stuff and made the drive back to Greenville. There’s something to be said about being away from home…even though I hate Greenville… and falling in to bed after a really good time away. 

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings."--Williams Arthur Ward