Disney Dreams

On 1-11-2026, Chettles ran his "3rd and final" Full Marathon
through the four parks of Disney World!!

This = my fav race day pic of him as they came back into Epcot for the final stretch!

And now, a recap of day one of my trip. =)

Chet called while I was at the airport to let me know that Tate was sick.  (My nonstop Southwest flight was timely and smooth, as was the Uber drive and Pop Century Hotel check-in.)  Chet texted at 9:30pm saying Tate had thrown up again and praying "IN JESUS NAME" that no one else would be getting sick this trip - (spoiler alert - the prayer worked!)  I was in bed by 10PM and back up by 2:45AM to meet Chet and Karli at the bus stop at 3:30AM.  Absurd!! lol

As soon as I got there, though, the race-day energy kicked in.  I just really love the whole vibe of seeing all the runners and their supporters and the fun dancing bus drivers, all ready to make the most of Marathon day!!

Pop Century bus stop selfie with the wonderful Wilsons - this was the first time I'd seen them since I got to Florida!

We rode the bus over to Epcot, where this race started and finished!  They had bleachers and a huge screen set up where Karli and I watched four waves in each of the 7 corrals go through the start line (Chet was somewhere in wave 3 of Corral D).

Mid-race character pic with Louis!

Judy Hopps and Nick Wilder!

We walked to a certain spot to see him again at Mile 3, then Karli and I took the monorail to Magic Kingdom, where we grabbed a table for a bit before they all came through Main Street around Mile 9!
It was cool being there to watch the sunrise over Cinerella's Castle - probably the first and only time I can say that!

❤

The crowd was predictably chaotic and insane, so we got separated trying to push our way to the front of the roped-off section... Chet stopped for a selfie with Karli Marie!

...then one with me!

He took his own castle selfie! =)

Whilst we grabbed some coffee (for Karli) and pastries from Joffrey's - yum!
Side note: Chettles ran the full 26.2+ miles on an empty stomach, which still feels insane to me!

Chet's pace group selfie!  He found a 15/30 group (where you walk 15 seconds, run 30 seconds over and over) going for a 6:30 finish time, and he stayed with them the great majority of the race!  (This race has a strict 7-hour time limit and balloon ladies at the back of it that will escort people off the course if they do not finish in time.  I think I could've made it, though.  The world will never know. lol)

We saw Chet one more time at Mile 12, where Karli passed him his sunglasses and pickle juice and LMNT electrolytes... then we bussed back over to Pop Century, where she went back to Donetta's whilst I hung out at the hotel for a bit... then me and Bill and Melissa met her and the kids by the Rubiks Cube (Bill and Melissa's hotel building), and Karli drove us all to Hollywood Studios!

Waiting with our signs at Mile 24 outside of Hollywood Studios!  ❤
(My sign is a nod to Chet's fireworks commentary during our 2015 trip.)

Another random sign that made me laugh!

Parker was *thrilled* to be there supporting her dad! lol

Sadly, the traffic from HS to Epcot was INSANE, as was the Finish Line crowd!  We called Chet to tell him to slow down a bit, so this = him following that suggestion and trying to wait on us. lol

Between the double stroller and arguing kids and the crowded and narrow Finish Line path, I was the only one who actually got to see him finish... I couldn't get much closer than this, but this pic still makes me happy!

And so does this one!  I paid $200 to get all the official photographer pictures from this trip! =)

Stepping through "The End" of the race... not gonna lie, they kinda missed the "Happily Ever After" opportunity here - with the storybook theme, I was expecting that at the end and "Once Upon a Time" at the beginning!

But they lie - it wasn't the end - the participants had to walk approximately two more miles directly after the Finish Line to get to "the reunion area" to see their friends and family!  Gracious, Disney, do better!!

Yay, Chettles - best person I know - so glad I got to be there to support him!!  I'm mildly annoyed that they gave them their medals in a plastic bag rather than putting them around their necks #anticlimactic... but whatevs, he got some great medal pics the next day!

Wilson/Weatherford crew... Chet with the gold Mickey ears and race medal!

And one with meeee! lol

He changed into this fun t-shirt post-race.  Cricut for the win! lol

(And he really was done - at least according to him on that day, he will never do another Disney Marathon.)

Yay Marathon Athletes, and yay State Farm sponsorship! lol

Close-up of the medal!! ❤
26.2 in 2026

We took a mid-day break to rest and recharge, then did dinner at Town Tavern in Celebration with Teresa and Donetta!

Cute pics of Parker and Donetta that night. =)

(There was a brief discussion about visiting the Boardwalk for the Cake Bake Shop, but the kids vetoed that so we all went to bed early instead, which made sense after a 2:45 wakeup call.)

So that concludes day one. =)

❤ ❤ ❤

Year of Dating!?

26 Dates in 2026... that's the goal! 
(1 down, 25 to go...)
*Insert:  As of my b-day, this goal has been revised to 12 in 2026, and I'm very much counting on at least one relationship where there are multiple dates with the same man.  The endless messaging with men I feel lukewarm at best about has become tiring, and the lack of ask-outs always hits old rejection wounds, so I am praying to hold onto the personal confidence and faith-fueled hope I felt here early in the year!!  Okay, back to the original post.

It's off to a good start, or that's how I am choosing to frame it.  When the goal is high numbers, failure or bad matches get reframed as success and narrowing the field. lol

After four days of app-messaging and texting (throughout the Disney trip) plus five hours of fairly-intense phone conversations, I made the drive to Fort Worth, Texas on Saturday for a five-hour date (coffee followed by dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House) with a third-year law student!   To be clear, he drove from San Antonio to meet me in Ft. Worth, so we were both putting in effort.  I was very hopeful in the beginning, but due mostly to religious incompatibility about the exact path to salvation + some oversharing and dismissive tendencies on his end, it quickly became clear that K.P. was not the guy for me.  Still, I am genuinely glad that I went and happy to be learning as I go here!  (I have officially postponed my PhD program for one year, so in 2026, I will be putting more energy and time into the online dating apps and real world dating experience - and probably growing and learning just as much as I ever would have in school.)  Here's my bathroom selfie at Avoca Coffee + a pic explaining that that hotel was where JFK spent his final night before his assassination (to be *very clear,* our restaurant was in a hotel, then I promptly drove back home.) lol  

I am also very seriously leaning into the redemptive story arcs that God is so good at writing, paying more attention to the places where He has already brought redemption after loss or hard rejections (CCU after SNU being high on that list), and having more faith and hope that He is writing a good story for me, and that I can play an active part by seeking what I want and believing that I am worthy of it, (that I bring a lot to the table and it's okay to act like it)!

My confidence is up, my weight is down, my friendships are strong, my core values are solid, and I know I want more relational depth, intimacy, and fulfillment with a good, outgoing, assertive Christian man!  We will see what God has in store.  Megan's engagement story also helped to renew my hope, and my own focus on renewal is helping, too.  God is good, and He is about redemption, healing, restoration, and giving us abundantly more than we ask Him for, so I am choosing faith and hope and confident expectation!

"As for me, I will look to the Lord, and confident in Him, I keep watch!"

❤ ❤ ❤

Rise Up

Mmmmini-Miss K!  Sassy, brave, and cute.  I adore her. lol

Love that she chose to switch to the Rise league this year, love that she chooses pants instead of the shorty short shorts, love that their jerseys are more fun than the Charge uniform, love that she decided to be #7, love that she's wearing arm bands with Scripture on them, love her hair bow and cute braid by Rach, love her being the awesome setter for this new team, and love that they held their own and beat her former team in game 2 of this very first scrimmage of the 2026 club volleyball season! ❤

Fierce!!  She's got a great jump serve, and I love how this pic turned out!

She's rocking it as the setter... that's my fav position in volleyball, so I'm happy to see her step into it!

Girls pic - love it!!  (I came for this scrimmage practice because I will miss her first tournament this coming weekend.  They'll be at the Titan gym in Tulsa whilst I am at Disney World with the wonderful Wilsons and Weatherfords!)

Tipping the ball over and scoring a quick point against her former teammates (Taylor dove but didn't get there in time). ❤

Taylor, Rylan, K-Faith, Mila, and Olivia... I know she'd been a bit nervous about seeing her former teammates, so I'm happy this happened early and everyone was kind!

That's all I've got for the blog today.  And now it's lunch time and I may go for a lovely walk outside!  Or I may settle in for a movie since I'm still embracing peak dormancy. lol  I'm grateful for the amount of freedom I have right now, and seriously pondering whether to take a full year off from the PhD program while I settle into this routine and reassess my future goals!

❤ ❤ ❤

Brunch Break

I joined my fab friends at the Tulsa Red Rock for Sunday brunch last weekend!

(The Fultons missed the New Year's day event because Steve was sick, then Sarah asked about getting together before her semester starts back up, and we all love a good brunch, or at least we all love Red Rock! lol)

Kate turning Parker into a chicken - and Parker immediately committing to the bit! lol

Tablet time was a success! lol

The cutest little besties in their pink and ruffles. ❤

We had a good talk recapping the holidays, diving into family dynamics and future vacations, and 2026 resolutions (including my goal/plan to write a memoir book)!

❤ ❤ ❤

Polar Bear Plunge

I am taking this afternoon to map out a game plan for my book - brainstorming and using post-it notes and laying out the sections, chapter titles, and table of contents as clearly as I can at this early stage.  What I know for sure is that I want the overarching theme to be STRONG OVER SMALL and to divide the stories into four sections: Mind (mental health, personality), Body (physical health, surgery, dieting, strength training), Soul (relational and emotional health, learning to allow/embrace strong emotions like grief and anger, rejection stories + growing in relational security), and Spirit (spiritual health, church stories, and ongoing walk with God).  Talking about places where I used to shrink myself, think small, hide, minimize my needs, and make myself smaller... versus how I am learning to embrace a growth mindset and press into my strengths, take up space, speak up for myself, shine, be strong, and live a more meaningful life (for myself and God and others).  Exciting to think about the big picture; it will be challenging for me to write the details, but a good and welcome kind of challenge.

Having said that, I plan to really jump into the regular writing routine (along with the healthier eating and official workout routines) when I get back from Disney World next week!  ...We finished in court by 8:40 this morning, then I went out to grab breakfast since it was well ahead of the 10:30 mark - fun, and now I am home in my cozy PJs listening to the new full-cast Harry Potter audiobook #1, and I decided to catch up on blogging because I always feel better when life is appropriately documented.  What a fantastic start to the day!! =)

* * * * * * *

So rewinding the clock a week to last Thursday, it was New Year's Day, and Chettles decided to host the first annual Polar Bear Plunge event!!  This = a post-jumping photo:  Kyle, Katherine (kudos to her for being the only woman brave enough to try this!), Evan, Chettles, Tate, Foster, Uriah, and David!

Karli Marie made tortilla soup, chili, mac n' cheese, and Olive Garden's zuppa toscana soup, along with pigs-in-a-blanket, cornbread, focaccia bread, and various soup toppings!  So good!!  I grabbed cupcakes and brownies from Reasor's, and Katherine and Melissa brought homemade cookies.  Needless to say, everyone found something they enjoyed and we ate well!

Parker Elizabeth and I opted for a hard pass on the cold pool invitation. =)

It was fun to watch, though!!

The moment of truth! lol  (Uriah jumped in when his dad had turned around to catch him. ❤)

Girls table - I had a good talk with Laura Allison, Teresa, Jessica, Sarah, and Katherine (who's not in this particular pic).

Fortunately, the general outdoor weather wasn't as bitterly cold as the pool, so it was a nice day for bouncy house fun for the kids!

I hung back for a bit to chat with the Wilsons about our upcoming Disney trip... then I grabbed Laurannae cupcakes for myself and the fam (then drove to Mom and Dad's to share them).

After a mildly sad NYE, it was a lovely first day of 2026!

❤ ❤ ❤

Peak Dormancy

Love the idea of "peak dormancy." lol
I'm leaning into that more than usual this year - allowing myself a real season of rest and healing honestly goes well with my renewal theme.

On a related note, this post was freeing and encouraging.

How kind of FB to celebrate our friendship with zero photos that include me. lolol

Thanks to Mom doing some major house cleaning, I added this gem over my bedroom doorway!  We had these Lindsey Lane and Rachael Road street signs over our 9121 bedrooms for several years, and it makes me happy to see it again!

Mom gave me a box with lots of frames from my old bedroom and pics from my bulletin board - seeing  the Maggiano's pic with JMM in the heart frame made me laugh - I really was the queen of subtlety. lol  Gracious.  The other pic was in our old computer room (9121) before we went to an OSU game together - I remember him driving us in my red convertible with the top down and it being a glittery, super-fun day!

Back to the present... seven workdays in, I can attest that I made a fantastic decision accepting the OCC job.  The training with Andrea was well done, very supportive, and fairly simple to learn... everyone has been really kind... we have never gone past 10:30AM in court thus far... I've been able to work on my book or go outside for long walks or shopping or long lunches or whatever and no one cares... and I've made over $450 for 35 pages of relatively-light transcript work.  Mildly absurd, but I'm sure not complaining!!

Me at The Station around 11AM a couple days ago! =)

"Oh sisters, this is indeed glorious news!!" ~The Reverend Mother, Sister Act

ME! lol  I need it - so tired of the 5:45 darkness.

I need to raise it up a bit, but yay for this painting-style pic of Mom and Dad's Christmas house in my hallway - seeing their decorated tree, their backyard pool view, and our family dinner table brings me lots of joy!! ❤

*Original pic by me on 12-3-25 before Mom's party with the court reporters, then ChatGPT made it a Thomas Kinkade style painting!

Speaking of things that bring me joy, here are the awesome Disney shirts Karli made for her fam this year... couldn't love them more!!

And speaking of Cricut + heat press t-shirts, Rachael LaJo is learning that process and making these teal glitter shirts for Kyndal Faith and her new volleyball team!  More on that ahead.

I'll end this post with a lovely New Year's Day prayer from Judith (my former Compassion child and current FB friend). ❤

If you've come back to read this when I make the blog public again, I applaud you!!  But even if no one does, it comforts me somehow to know these things are documented.

❤ ❤ ❤

New Year, New Outlet

Happy New Year!! ❤

It's been a light and fun day connecting with God + friends + family + audiobooks and eating some great food!

Friends, this will be my first and last blog post for 2026.

Famous last words, I know, but I'm going to try to stick to that.

For lots of reasons, I believe this is the right season for me to let this go (taking it down on 1-7-25).

To put my considerable writing energy into a memoir book.

To take a deep breath and trust that the world will go right on spinning and my single life will still have value even if every moment and decision ahead is not witnessed or publicly documented.

To recognize that this has typically been a one-sided conversation that built a false sense of intimacy for me - the strong relationships and Kingdom purpose I desire will not be achieved here.

To stop performing or feeling pressure to live up to a certain image based on the expectations of others or of past versions of myself.  To release people from any pressure to prove they care for me by reading this content; to free myself from unfair judgement and unnecessary pain or insecurity.

To keep growing and healing and to live with more freedom based on my values, beliefs, and desires today at age 41... not feeling boxed in by the viewpoints and hopes I sincerely expressed here at age 24 or 33 or 38.

We can do hard things.

THANK YOU for being here with and for me through the past 15+ years.
It mattered to me very deeply.

For one last time here, I love you and believe in you, and I’m confident God has wonderful things ahead for each of us, and the best is yet to come!!

❤ ❤ ❤