That weather sounds amazing -- that's basically perfect to me. I ran this morning and it was in the 60s for the first time since ... well, last winter, and man, did that make a difference. I'm glad you feel proud, and I'm super happy for you! That's a hell of a race.

Okay, this is one of several travel tales I could tell:

I was supposed to fly from Gainesville, FL to San Franscisco for a two-day work conference in Napa. I took the first flight out, but when I got to the airport, there was no agent at the desk, and I waited b/c I was checking a bag for some reason. I was only about 30 min before my flight but the airport was TINY and I'd done that a million times before. Long story short, gate agent never came out and I missed the flight (which was the first of three). The only way to get me there that night was to get to Jacksonville (90 min away) and do a totally different set of flights to San Fran, which I did. They were delayed but whatever, I got there.

So, rented a car, head out using the GPS, and ... it doesn't work. And have you ever driven around San Francisco? I had not, and doing so at night after 20+ hours of really stressful travel would've been rough enough, but the GPS (this is back in the day) wasn't working properly within the city, so I literally drove around in circles for about an hour before I finally just ignored the GPS and drove in a straight line until there were fewer buildings and the GPS could pick up.

I got to my hotel room super late and my roommate had thoughtfully saved me pizza ... which was covered in meat because she didn't know I was a vegetarian. Womp womp.

I had such a blast running (and hanging, and hiking, and eating Red Vines) with you! We're so going to make this happen again in a year or so.

This is beautiful. As a blogger who doesn't have children, I generally tune these discussions out, but this? This I can get behind. In fact, a voice came into my head at the end of this saying, "Maybe I want to adopt." I still don't know if my husband and I want kids, but you just stirred one of the stronger maternal instincts I've ever had in my life. If you can do that to ME, I can only imagine how many people you've inspired to make a difference.

Oooh, loving it! What a smart idea.

Love it! Now I just need that new address so I can send you a Happy New Mailbox! card ...

Wow, I love it. I would never think to put the wood with the modern white the way you did and it's just LOVELY.

Love this idea -- brilliant! Cannot wait to see it once it's done and you're madly in love with it.

Oh my gosh, I am just so jealous. It looks beautiful!

Yeah, I think I'd DEFINITELY skip right to the cocoa part. But that has more to do with me being lazy than being smart or anything :)

Love that you're sharing the bad along with the good!