Frannie's eSpace

Peachtree Road Race countdown

5 weeks to the day of the July 4 Peachtree Road Race. Hmm... I hope to break 48 minutes again this year and at this point it's looking pretty positive.

My new favorite city

Chattanooga is my new favorite place to visit. The downtown rocks! We stayed at the Chattanooga Choo Choo on the south side of downtown. We ran every morning over the Walnut Street Bridge and throughout the surrounding neighborhoods. We had breakfast every morning at Panera's. (Coffee isn't as good as DD's, but what is?) During the days, we took it easy. One morning, we stopped at the Hunter Museum to see an exhibit of Grandma Moses. Of all the touristy things that we did, that was my favorite. We also heard a flute concert at Cadek Hall at UTC... yes, a flute concert of about 15 young women all playing flutes in harmony! We felt very cultured. We kept marveling throughout the 5-day visit that we could live in Chattanooga. I was dreaming up ways to make a living there! Hmm... no Dunkin Donuts in Chattanooga; maybe there's a franchise opp!

Going to Chattaboogie!

I'm off work until Tuesday morning and so is Charles! We're going to get organized tomorrow and then head to Chattanooga TN for lots of R&R! We want to stay at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. We'll probably see a Chattanooga Lookouts game and do the River Walk and of course our favorite thing to do on a trip: stay in the hotel room all day one day and rent movies and do room service!

Even more discouraged

Distraught about the fashion industry and their lack of taste, and hoping for a rebound, I headed to Marmi, my favorite place to buy shoes. Alas, even my Sesto Meucci brand has gone ugly on me. The one pair I did try on pinched my toes, and that was the only pair I was even considering. What's a girl to do? I need summer shoes!

Discouraged

Armed with cash in hand and a mission to update my wardrobe, I went shopping this afternoon and came home all but empty handed. Nothing suited me. Fashion these days is plumb ugly: pants with wide bottoms, blouses that make you look pregnant, cotton skirts that don't hang right and make you look like a broom, and the price they expect you to pay is ridiculous. Nothing fits either! As far as pants, in my circumstances, the petite size 4's are too short but the petite size 6's are too loose! This forces me to get cropped pants unless I want to pay $10.50 to get long pants hemmed properly. I refuse to buy any more cropped pants as I have too many already.

Here's all I ask for: pants with pockets and a little spandex and tapered bottoms; and 3/4 length pullover tops in some sort of stretchy material for shape with a slight v-neck or scoop neck. Why are classics so simple yet so hard to find? I seriously thought today about hiring a seamstress. Hmm, I wonder how much that costs?

Fractured

Fabulous movie! Sir Anthony Hopkins does it again, and Ryan Gosling is such a capable lawyer whose confidence does not let him give up. I knew they were bound to tie up the murder by the end of the movie, but I was still guessing even up to the end. By the way, the police officer who had affair with Hopkins' character's wife was the fiance of the bad girl in Season 2 of 24. I knew he looked familiar! First thing I did when I got home was look him up on imdb.com.

Go see this movie!

The infamous flowers

These are the flowers that Charles sent me for our anniversary. After five days, they are still beautiful! I kept them at work all week and brought them home last night. They smell gorgeous!

Add to your faith goodness

"Add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love." 2 Peter 1 5b-6

This verse so reminds me of how Mama has lived her whole life. I was just thinking today how truly "good" Mama is. Her goodness is so pure. We never heard her complain or begrudge or speak badly of anyone. I just wish I were more like her! I remember growing up wondering if Mama ever had any mean thoughts. If she did, she never expressed them. "Add to your faith goodness."

Pretty in Pink!

Charles sent me flowers today at work for our anniversary! The whole bouquet is nothing but big pink flowers including lilies, gerbera daisies and hydrangea. It's breathtaking. Tomorrow, I'm going to take a picture and upload it here so that the whole world can see my flowers!

PlumChoice

If you ever have problems with your pc and you don't want to disassemble it at take it to the repair shop, call Plum Choice! They'll fix your problem right over the phone. I used them last  year because my computer would go crazy every time I ran my anti-virus program. They helped a few days ago with a Windows Service Pack installation that was giving me grief. It's pretty cool to watch them as the remotely take over control of your computer and fix both big and small problems. Plus, along the way, they give you tips on what you can do to better improve the performance. Just click on plumchoice.com to set up an appointment. Or, if your computer is really hosed, you can also call them: 1-888-758-6435