September?

Really?

I'm going to go with...Sunday Snippets:

1. Emma: is ADORABLE! She might be the cutest baby who ever was. I could be a wee bit biased. Whatever. She's the best. I spent five days in Nebraska hanging with the family and getting in some quality Emma time. She was baptized that weekend - my sister-in-law's brother Jake is her Godfather and I get to be her Godmother (htd has dibs on the next one :). It was pretty great.

2. House: is in the works. Like, for real.

3. Running: is going well. I ran 18 miles on Saturday morning. (I know, right?) I think I'm doing pretty well at pacing myself and not starting off too quickly - I was able to run (with my usual "walk through the water stations" strategy) all the way through. Next weekend we're scheduled for 10 miles out at South Mountain (hills, hills, hills) and the weekend after it's the pinnacle of the training season: 20 miles. From there we taper down the long runs to prepare for the Big Day.

4. Fundraising: is a struggle. I'm currently at about 40%. On October 3rd, I will be charged for whatever I have not raised by that point. Yikes! It's so hard to ask people for money, even for a great cause. But, it's a commitment I made, so (bet you totally didn't see this coming): if you feel you are able to donate (even a little!), now is the perfect time. To do so, go here. Or, if you'd rather send a check, let me know and I'll shoot you my address. Hugs and rainbows and kittens. :)

5. Bill Bryson: is hilarious. If you've never read any of his books, you're missing out. He writes about many different kinds of things, but my favorite by far is his travel writing. He's written books about the Appalachian Trail, Australia, England, Europe, small town USA, returning to the US after 20 years away (I've read them all - just finished the one on Australia today). He's also written a great book called A Short History of Nearly Everything, which I read a couple years ago, and one on the English language and grammar, which I haven't read yet. I very highly recommend that you start with A Walk in the Woods - an account of his journey along the Appalachian Trail. It is one of my favorite books ever.

6. Shudder: on an entirely unrelated note... the other night, while walking barefoot through our pitch dark kitchen, I stepped on a lizard. [insert dry heave here] ...I mentioned I was barefoot, right?