I know, I know! I’ve been MIA. No worries – I’ve been having lots of fun and I’ll get you all caught up.

Since the last time we spoke:

• I’ve been to the Stockyards and saw a cowboy riding a Longhorn (missed the pic)
• I went on a mission to buy a pair of cowboy boots. I needed these like a hole in the head since I have at least 3 pairs in my storage unit, but when in Texas, I guess it’s not cool to dance in comfy shoes.

• It got cold in Texas. You’ve heard of ‘Mall Walkers’? Well we turned into ‘Walmart Walkers’ just so Elaine could get her 10,000 steps.

• There was dancing.

• Then I put Elaine to a huge task. I’ll show you the results later. She did an amazing job!

• Then I went to Ixtapa and disappeared for 10 days. What a fun time!! It all centered around volleyball. I played 8 days straight and did WAY better in the tournament this year! I was so excited! We had a theme night, I flew on a spinnaker, played with pros, ate dinner with Olympians, and had fun times spent with 100+ of my ‘closest’ friends! The rest of this post will probably be a picture dump.

This is most of the group that played in Ixtapa.

View from the hotel. You can’t see it but there were volleyball courts spread way down this beach.

Fun friends (Dustin and Mike) and Fred, Erik, me & Geena Urango (winner of the AVP league).

This is Erik Barenek (Pro and Geena’s boyfriend). I’ve kinda adopted him as my pro volleyball son. We joke around about me being his stepmom someday. lol

Great sunsets!

My pro game with Geena Urango, Rhonda and Saavy Simo (also a pro) was a blast! I learn so much from them.

In case you missed my FB post, I had dinner with Andy Benesh (2024 Paris Olympics) and his fiance Deahna Kraft (also a pro)- and of course Brad, Mike (Zeno) and Tom.

Remember that project Elaine did for me? Here’s the final result. She gets ALL the credit! All I did was model and glue on some flowers. Our theme night was ABC (Anything But Clothes) and my roommate MaryBeth (on the left) decided we needed to wear astroturf! Craziness, but it was extra fun when Canadian Olympian Chaim Schalk joined our party (he’s the super tall guy in the middle).

We left Ixtapa and spent the last couple of days in Zihuatenejo where somehow we managed to hang out at some millionaire’s pad for an evening. Infinity pool with a pretty nice view.

It was a fantastic week! or 10 days. Except for the bare minimum of work, I just couldn’t make myself sit in front of a computer to write all this, so my apologies for disappearing for a while.

There were plenty more fun pictures, crazy outfits, and I hope somebody caught me flying on the spinnaker ….. I rarely had my phone with me so I am hoping our photographer Russ caught some good ones. I’ll throw them on here when I see them in a couple of weeks.

I have now been gone for 4 months. It’s unbelievable. I’ll be heading out again this weekend and I’ll actually be doing some exploring this time, so I am sure you will hear from me sooner rather than later.

Tip of the day: What can I say? Enjoy life, do crazy things, get out of your comfort zone. It all slips by so fast.

PS – My dear friend Mike Leahey, you will be missed. I’m sure you’re up there making God laugh. I Love you!