HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM & MIKEY!!!

Today is my mom and my brothers birthdays!!!!!!!!!   

Happy Birthday Mommy and Mikey- 

I hope you both have fabulous days!

In celebration, I thought it would be fun to put together a collage of what a WACK job my brother is.

My brother LOVES the camera and takes every opportunity to make totally NORMAL (or not) faces into the lens.  These pictures pretty much define big brother Mike.

Seriously though, I am beyond grateful to have Mike as my older brother because he is so much more than a brother, he is my Best Friend!  Mike and I talk everyday, probably about 4-5 times a day.  Our conversations range from 2 seconds to 10 minutes.  That's about the extent of either of our attention spans.  Mike is amanzingly smart, ridiculously wacky, hilariously funny and an all around a great person to be around.  I am so fortunate that I have a sibling that I get along with so well.  So well in fact that he would agree to run with me every weekend for 3 months at a pace 2-4 minutes slower than his and help me finish my first half marathon in '08 and my first marathon a few weeks ago. 

In all honesty, I probably would have never started running without Mike.  So thanks Mike for sharing that passion with me!  Thanks also for being the best big brother I could ever want and for supporting me in everything I do.  Thanks also for keeping me humble by making fun of me for pretty much everything as well!

Mom, however, is not as happy in front of the camera.  It is a huge accomplishment when her eyes are open in a photo but I found a couple winners for the collage below. Mom, thanks for being a great supporter, neighbor, sou chef, comforter, advice giver, listener, nurturer and friend.  I love you!  Happy 50th Birthday (again)!

I hope you both have the best birthdays EVER!!! I love you both very much!!!!!
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Okay sidenote- I had to be at work today at 8:30 and I didn't get to the gym until 7:50am, lots of traffic driving in.... so how do you do a quick workout in under 20 minutes?  Run on the treadmill as fast as you can!  I planned to do 3 miles this AM (first real run since the marathon) but I got in 2 in 15:30.  My toes actually felt good (yes that is the only pain I've had since the marathon- I would take a picture and show you these pretty guys, but I'm sure you don't want to see them.)  Basically, a bunch are black and I'm pretty sure some nails are going to fall off- glamorous I know! I am running the NY Marathon on November 7th so my first week of OFFICIAL training isn't until July 4th. So my goals in the next month and a half are to maintain one medium long run a week (5-8 miles), add in LOTS of speed (lets get these legs running 7:30s easily) and do more classes (spinning, muscle conditioning etc.) 

Anyway......Anyone else stay up late watching all my favorite trashy TV Shows?  Real Housewives NJ? Fresh Meat Challenge? The Hills?  Happy Thursday everyone!


PS- I have been cooking lots during the week last week and this week, but haven't posted any of those recipes!  Maybe tonight I will be motivated!