Happy Memorial Day

We just returned from an amazing weekend trip in Nantucket. This was our first visit and we could not have picked a more beautiful weekend. Although it was foggy and rainy Friday night when we arrived, we woke to bright, sunny skies every other day. The weather was clear, sunny and warm with temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s.


On Saturday, after enjoying a breakfast of fresh fruit and granola (provided by our inn keeper), we walked around the town checking out the shops, museums and art galleries. The island is so quaint! All of the homes are large and have shakes on them. In the afternoon, we returned to our bed-n-breakfast, The Century House  for cookies and rest. That evening we got to see Nantucket in party-mode for the holiday weekend. We decided to eat at The Tavern down at the Marina so that we could see everything. It was a lot of fun and food was great. Garrett loved his lobster rolls and I enjoyed the catch of the day - not sure what it was but it tasted great!!!

Sunday, we decided to rent bikes and explore the island. We wound up biking about 20 miles and saw some amazing beaches. We started by going to Surfside Beach, about a 3 mile ride from town. This beach had a ton of waves (hence the name!) but the water was chilly! We put our feet in but that is about it. Then we biked out to Sconset, where we had a picnic at the beach before biking to the Sankaty Lighthouse. By this point, we were a bit tired so we biked back to town. We had such a great time on the bikes that we decided we will have to purchase some so that we can continue the fun. We got back to our B-n-B around 4 PM, just in time for some cookies, showers, and relaxation before going to the White Elephant for dinner. It was a great place, overlooking the harbor.

Sadly, today we had to return home, but not before we spent another couple of hours enjoying the island. It is a wonderful place and we highly recommend that you visit there at some point. We only wish we hadn't waited so long to do so.

On another note, we want to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day! We hope your weekend was a wonderful as ours!

Back to running!

Well it's official, I am running again!!! I had a followup appointment with my surgeon on Monday and he gave me the go ahead to try running again (with strict instructions to not go overboard). So on Tuesday, my physical therapist had me run on the treadmill and it was AWESOME!!! I'll admit, it felt a little weird at first and I had a slight twinge of pain for the first minute or so, but once I got going it felt great! He only let me run for 9 minutes (3 of which he made me jog slowly while holding on - that takes coordination!) but I loved every minute of it. He is going to let me run a full mile tomorrow - I cannot wait! We have to get me up to 3.5 miles by June 15th when I am taking part in the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge in Boston. It is such a great race, starting at the Boston Common, running down to Fenway Park and back. Last year there were 14,000+ participants! Then Garrett and I have our first 5K of the season two weeks later. I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

Garrett's first blog

Nikki is making some big time progress in therapy and will probably get to run again as early as next week! We are both really excited to get back to running 5Ks and the weather is finally starting to shape up so the timing is perfect.


Salem made a new friend today while we were tackling our post-flooding jungle of a lawn today. Our new neighbors have a baby rotwieler who had escaped from his captivity in their garage somehow and decided to come play at our house. The two of them were exactly the same size and one would think that they would make great friends but ole Salem got a little skittish around the pup and decided that the claws needed to come out. We ended up having to get him safe inside behind the screen door and go find our neighbors to make sure they knew where their pup was. Hopefully they do a better job of keeping him inside because the little guy is way too small to be out on his own roaming the neighborhood.

Nikki got to go to one of her frind and coworker Kate's bridal shower this afternoon in Wellsley. She had a great time and our gift was a huge hit. Can't go wrong with a martini shaker and all the fixins to make some cosmos. Have a good week!

Spring has sprung at the Fisher's

What a great weekend we have had. Yesterday was a little too drizzly to work in the yard so we decided to do a bit of Spring cleaning inside before our dance class. Yes, Garrett and I go to ballroom dancing every Saturday evening, and I must say, we are getting pretty good. So far we have learned the Fox Trot, Waltz, and Hustle. Last night we started learning the Tango. Now we just need a good wedding to go to so we can show off our moves


Today, it has been very sunny and clear so we finally got to work in the yard and start planting the vegetables in our garden. We finished planting the tomatoes, peppers and herbs. Hopefully next weekend we will be able to plant the zucchini and squash.

Spring has arrived!

It's hard to believe we have only been home from vacation for a couple of weeks. I think we're both ready for another one! Work has been keeping us extremely busy (reason that we didn't add an entry last week). In some ways, it is nice to be busy because the time passes quickly, but when we don't see each other until 10 every night, it gets a little old! Fortunately, we are planning a mini-vacation to Nantucket over Memorial Weekend. Can you tell we are trying to see everything in New England before we move? Once we do that, the only thing left is NY City, hard to believe we haven't done that one yet! We met a great couple in St. Lucia who live in the City so we are hoping to visit them sometime in December.


On another front, we got our car back yesterday and she looks fabulous! She even has the new car smell still. I am so amused that is took nearly four weeks, cost thousands of dollars, and on the receipt, the body shop describes the work as "minor repairs." Go figure!

For those curious about the "knee saga," it looks like I may get to run as early as next Saturday. I am so ready! Now that the weather is getting nice, I want to get out there. Even Garrett has started going for runs outside. I told him he picked a fine time to start doing that. I think it is a bit insensitive, but he claims he is just making sure he will be able to run with me in the races, yeah right :) This week consisted of three brutal physical therapy sessions. I think Dutch takes pleasure in causing me pain. However, I can't be mad when I see how much progress I am making. When I started this whole ordeal six weeks ago, I could barely move my leg, now I can fully straighten it, and I'm bending to about 140 degrees. The bending is the hardest and most brutal part of therapy (I have no shame, I scream out loud for all to hear) but I'm getting so much better and I can attempt running when I can bend 145 degrees. Since I was only at 128 degrees on Tuesday, I think (and Dutch agrees) I am progressing very quickly and should be there by next Saturday. Of course,I think I could jog now but Dutch wants me to wait, and then when I do start, I have to do it on a treadmill in front of him. He is such a slave driver! Oh well, I'm done until Tuesday.

This weekend, assuming the rain stays away, we are planning to work in our garden. The strawberries and raspberries look great already. Now we are planting the veggies. We love having fresh fruit, vegetables, and herbs during the summer. Sometimes I think it would be nice to live in a climate where we could have our garden year round. Then again, I would probably miss the snow. Can't win :)

Hope everyone had a great Cinco de Mayo yesterday!

Our St. Lucia Vacation

What a week we had! As you know, we left for sunny St Lucia last Friday evening. We had a layover in Atlanta before boarding the plane to St Lucia on Saturday morning. Our excitement mounted as we approached the island. Little did we know that despite being such a small island (14 miles by 27 miles) the drive from the airport to the resort took an hour and followed very narrow, windy, mountain roads. This was an adventure in itself! When we finally arrived at the resort, we were in for a bit of a disappointment. Although the resort was beautiful, our suite left much to be desired. The best way I can describe it is to refer to Revenge of the Nerds II. If you have seen this movie, you will understand. After the nerds are forced to leave the beautiful hotel, they wind up staying in that dive where an alligator lives in the pool. I kid you not, this was our impression of our first suite. Perhaps you notice I said "first" suite. This is because we decided on the spot that we would not stay in that room. We immediately contacted the concierge and asked for a new room - we offered to pay whatever they wanted but told them we would not stay in that suite. Originally, they were less than helpful, so we marched back into the concierge office and told them that if there was no other room available, we would be leaving on the first available flight. We explained that the suite we booked was based on their descriptions and pictures from the website. While they would have loved to have disputed this with us, we pulled out the Blackberry, went to the Sandals website and showed them pictures of the suite. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words . . . we were provided another suite that was quite lovely as you can see from the pictures. If only our troubles ended there. Unfortunately, we spent the majority of the vacation having to be the squeeky wheels just to get basic service such as housekeeping. We are not sure what the deal was, but it appeared that we fell through the cracks and were forgotten. We even had to hassle them on our last day to get our checkout documents (which were supposed to be provided the day before departing). To top it off, we called for bellman assistance with our bags (as was required by the resort's policy) and they failed to arrive after an hour so Garrett carried our bags to the Concierge office where he was told by the manager that he did not need to do that. Well Garrett explained that it appeared no one else was going to do it. The manager was speechless. This may have turned out to be a good thing because fifteen minutes later, he informed us that they had hired a private car to take us to the airport so that we would not have to ride the shuttle. This was a nice touch but a case of too little, too late. I think perhaps they were concerned about the evalutation form, and rightfully so. We had much fun filling out that form. This is not to say that our vacation was a bust, it was not. We had a wonderful time together, made some new friends, and have great tans. Our time to just relax by the pool and on the beach was what we were looking forward to most going into the trip and in that regard, the trip was perfect. St Lucia was also a very beautiful island so it made for a wonderful backdrop in all our pictures!

Kayaking fun . . .

Always fun to dress up for a night out :)

I am not convinced that Sandals is terrible, after all we had the best time at Sandals Negril on our honeymoon, however, I strongly discourage anyone from visiting any Sandals in St Lucia as the customer service was a notch below where it should be.

We arrived home early this morning due to airport closings in the Southeast last night. It was a long day of travel but Salem was thrilled to see us and it felt so good to get even a couple of hours sleep in our own bed. Now we are just getting back to the fun of work and cleaning up the house. Fortunately, we came home to warm, sunny weather.

On a completely different note, we would like to welcome our newest little Johnson (Aubrey Danielle) to the world. Our wonderful friends, Justin and Tiffini Johnson, welcomed their second little girl into this world on April 15th. Big sister Taylor is quite impressed and a perfect little helper. We will be flying to Las Vegas in August to meet our new "niece" and cannot wait!

We hope you all had a Happy Easter and are enjoying your Spring!

The Saga Continues . . .

What a week we have had. . . Anyone who knows me and my driving history, probably figured it was only a matter of time before I got into another accident (especially with the way people drive in MA). Well on Thursday it happened! I should begin by saying that I am completely fine, not so much as a bump or scratch. And, contrary to what you are all likely thinking, this was not even remotely my fault - there is a first for everything :) When I was driving to physical therapy at 5 AM, I noticed a semi wheel-well in the middle of my lane. I had three choices: swerve to the right and go down a minor cliff, swerve to the left and hit the car next to me, or hit the wheel-well. Fortunately, my driving has improved since I was as a teenager, and I opted for the responsible choice - I hit the wheel well. Originally, I thought it just took out my tire. I pulled over to the side of the highway (a very scary experience in itself!) and called Garrett, begging him to come rescue me (he did). I then called for roadside assistance. After what seemed like an eternity, Garrett arrived and assessed the damage. Not only was the tire blown, but the front bumper and front right side were damaged - USAA estimates the damages to be at least $4100 (thank goodness for insurance!!!). The car was towed to the body shop and is currently being repaired. Major bummer to happen to my new car but at least I am okay and didn't hurt anyone else. In a very strange way, I am a little happy to now say that I have been in an accident that I did not cause - trying to look on the bright side of things!


My other big news of the week is much better . . . I am starting to see my quad!!! After the car was towed, Garrett dropped me off at the subway and I went to PT (I refuse to miss a day for anything). On Thursday, my therapist "Dutch" told me he thought he saw the muscle flicker. I didn't see anything but I decided it was a positve thing that he thought the muscle was beginning to return. Well this morning at PT, I saw it! Usually when he tells me to tighten my muscle, I cannot see (or feel) a thing, but this morning I both felt it and saw it. Even better, my left leg bent (with a lot of PAINFUL help from Dutch) 95 degrees. This may not sound like much, but trust me, it is a HUGE improvement. I try very hard at PT to just grin and bear it but during this morning's bending, I was begging him to stop, of course he didn't and I survived. I am definitely making improvement and feel that I am getting stronger every day. I have no doubt that Dutch will have me running in time for my two June races. More importantly, he will have me ready for the half-marathon and full marathons that I am signed up for in October and January (Garrett thinks I am completely nuts!). Everyone needs a stress reliever, and running is mine. It is the one time that I get to be completely selfish and enjoy myself and my thoughts, so I refuse to give it up!

Aside from all of that excitement, we are really looking forward to leaving for vacation on Friday. We cannot wait to spend a week relaxing on the hot, sandy beach! We promise to post pictures of our "fun in the sun" when we return.

Spring Forward

Well here I go again . . . It is finally starting to feel like Spring here in Massachusetts. Last week we even had temperatures in the low 70's and it was AWESOME. Today it is sunny and clear, a little cooler than I would like but I refuse to complain. At least it isn't snowing anymore. Garrett is outside working on our yard right now. We are hoping to get a jump start on the lawn this year.


Well despite my best intentions, it looks as though I will not be running for some time. I had some minor complications with the knee surgery that caused most of the major muscles in my leg to shut down. It is frustrating because I spend so much time building up my muscles and they disappear practically overnight. At this point, I do not have enough muscle strength to even straighten my leg completely. Fortunately, I am now going to physical therapy a couple hours a day, three times a week. I have gone for three sessions and already I feel that there is improvement. I found a great place right near my work so it is very convenient. I also feel that I am in excellent hands with Kennedy Brothers. Not only does half of my law firm go there, but they also train athletes for the Boston Marathon and are the official therapists for the UAE soccer team. My therapist "Dutch" assures me that as long as I follow all of his instructions, I will be running again in 6 weeks and will be ready for another half marathon by the Fall. The therapy is brutal but I love it because I feel that I am recovering (albeit slowly . . .). I am signed up for two races in June so I am hoping to have no problems by then. Until then, I will work hard in therapy and try to walk without a limp - I think I look pretty silly right now, but I'm getting better :) I'll continue to keep you posted.

Not much other new stuff to report right now. We are just counting down the days until our vacation . . .

Hopefully, you too are enjoying Spring weather!

Happy Spring

Well here I go . . . this is my first posting on a blog. We decided it was time to create a new website where we could share our latest news and photos with friends and family.

Life has been very good to us lately. Since returning from Iraq in January, Garrett has been readjusting to life in Massachusetts. It is wonderful having him home and we truly appreciate everyone's support during the time he was deployed. We hope that you will continue to keep all of our military personnel in your thoughts and prayers.

Shortly after Garrett's return, his parents and brother came out to visit and celebrate Christmas with us. It was a great time and there is certainly something to be said for spreading Christmas celebrations over a three-month period - opening presents never seems to get old!

Over President's Weekend, we took a much needed romantic weekend getaway to Vermont. We stayed at the Thatcher Brook Inn, a very cozy and romantic bed and breakfast located between Stowe and Waterbury. It was so relaxing to sit by the fire and just enjoy being together.

Check out our one-horse open sleigh ride.

Our horse Jumpkin was very playful! We had a fabulous time and have decided we will definitely to go back before we leave the East Coast. From snow to sun . . . we leave for our sunny vacation to St. Lucia on April 14th and can hardly wait. Admittedly, we have had a relatively mild winter but we are still looking forward to escaping the cold and relaxing on a hot, sandy beach.

Other than spending time together, we are spending a lot of time working. Garrett is still working as the military liaison to Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford, CT. It keeps him busy but he finds the work to be challenging and fulfilling. I am now an associate at Bingham McCutchen in Boston, MA. So far, my practice focuses mostly on securities defense. Although I never dreamed I would enjoy this, I didn't even know what securities were a couple of months ago, I find that I really like this type of law - who knew! I'm still not sure if this is something I want to do long term but for now, I am having fun and learning so much.

We are also gearing back up for racing season. I use the term "racing" very loosely since we do not run very fast but we always have a good time. We ran our first race of the season on March 12th, a five mile race through Boston. It was a very scenic route that took us through all of the major parts of the city. We had a lot of fun. Two days later, I had knee surgery to clean up some scar tissue from my last surgery in 1999. The recovery is slower than I would like but I am getting better each day and have every intention of being back on the racing scene by the end of April - I'll let you know how that goes . . .

Well this is all for now. Until next time . . .