I'm in!

I'm still in shock and awe but... I'm in! I'm extremely excited and slightly scared but so thankful that my husband knows me so well.

I'm a big "list maker" - Type A, yellow-sticky-notes-everywhere, repetitive list maker. I have lists for work, for parenting, for shopping, for hobbies. I believe they may slightly amuse - and possibly from time to time annoy - Rich. But there's one list he's obviously paid attention to, and that is my "To Do in This Lifetime" list. In one shot, Rich has knocked two of those "To Dos" right off - and infused our already crazy busy lives with a 10 month adventure!

Rich speaks the truth when he says we have a habit of giving big and grand to each other (we believe life is short so live it well)... but this certainly tops anything we've done in the past. For our 30th birthdays, I received an all expense-paid shopping trip on Newbury Street in Boston and a romantic evening at the Ritz. For his 30th, I took him to Atlanta where I had arranged for a bunch of friends to meet us and we held a surprise birthday party for him at Turner Field and watched the Sox play the Braves. He has a glorious habit of buying me a "vacation present" every time we travel and for his 36th birthday I surprised him with a trip to San Francisco for the MLB All Star Game. You can see a pattern here...

But this Christmas morning when I opened the three boxes that he had creatively packaged (anagrams, books and an iPod were involved) to announce my gift, he surpassed all expectations. I am so grateful, so in shock and so ready to spend the year training! We've already received such nice comments on the blog that I am excited not only for the adventure but for the wonderful people I am sure we will meet along the way.

To kick it off I jumped on the treadmill today and ran five miles... stay tuned.