321...

something you might not have know about melbourne. the area code here is 321. well, i found out that is because we are on the space coast and they changed the area code to mimic the launch countdown.

speaking of countdowns, matt and i watched the first night launch in 4 years saturday night. he had never seen a launch, and i had only seen them from ocala - just a bright spot in the sky. seeing it up close was incredible.

in melbourne, we're just 20 miles away. on saturday night, we went to downtown melbourne to walk around the little shops. they were all lighted up and the parade was going on at the same time. at 8.30 we ran down to the causeway bridge and sat at the edge of the water and waited with our feet dangling over the bridge. it was a beautiful clear night, really dark. then suddenly, it looked like the sun was rising. the whole sky lit up with the shuttle Discovery. did you know the shuttle accelerates to over 17,000 miles per hour before it starts to orbit? i was so impressed. and i've never seen anything like that launch - it gave me chills.

this morning we took our car in for some maintenance and walked home. i wondered how funny we looked just walking out the parking lot and down the street! hopefully it gave the mechanics incentive to finish our car quickly knowing they were sending us out with only the shoes on our feet to get us around. ha! now i'm just dreading the call that the car is done, because it means another hike!

baaa

well i feel a little sheepish posting after a very long dry spell. especially because a few posts ago i vowed to post more. mmm...

i can't really claim busyness as an excuse, because our regent semester ended right before thanksgiving. i can, however, fill in the past few weeks in case anyone is keeping a jodi timeline and is fretting about a break from november to december 2006. haha

first, the wedding. scott and holly were married in omaha on november 18th. she was beautiful. he was dashing. they had a military wedding complete with a tunnel of swords for the new couple to walk through. (i tried to convince them to re-create the tunnel for me to walk thru, but it never happened) the whole family was there and in the wedding party, which was so much fun. i'll post some pictures before too long.

thanksgiving. we were in ocala, with todd for most of the week. scott and holly came for a few days after their honeymoon. of course, we ran the ymca turkey trot at 8 am on thanksgiving morning. they say it's good to have a starting point to look back on. let's just say that i hope one day i can look back on that running time and see that i've come a very long way! the low point was on a hill, i heard a whooshing behind me. this mom pushing a 60 pound stroller was running through the grass beside me. it took all of 3 seconds for her to power past me and fly up the hill.

regent break. these last few weeks, we've been scoping the melbourne area for places to live. the house-hunting process is very time consuming, but it's been fun to think that we might really find a place to land soon. i'll post any updates. it's a beautiful time of year here. we put up our mini-tree in the living room and some white lights around the apartment. i'm sure matt gets sick of the dim lighting, but i just love it!

until next time...