Cleaning, Baking, & Packing

My evening has consisted of those three activities. I could have taken another beautiful photo of my three-part dinner creation...but I want to refrain from turning this into a diary about my eating adventures (and I forgot to get my camera out until I was already sitting down eating). Suffice it to say that I was happy with how everything turned out: Baked Sweet Potato, Pecan and Raisin Salad; Spicy Roasted Potato Wedges with Parmesan Cheese; and Steamed Brussels Sprouts and Cauliflower with Walnuts. My Mom even ventured in and ate some of the potato wedges, 1/2 a Brussels sprout, and one cube of sweet potato. (She really hasn't eaten a single thing that I've created in the past 5 months...my Dad on the other hand, has dug into everything with almost as much gusto as I have shown:)
***Side note...did you know that the word "Brussels" in 'Brussels sprouts' is always capitalized and has an 's' on the end? Apparently that is the truth because that's the only choice that my spell-checker is giving me. I thought there was just a typo on the recipe that I was reading!***
The cleaning activity that I am referring to are the three loads of laundry that I ran through the washer today. I must have let the hamper get a bit full during the past few days because I was anticipating doing fresh laundry to pack for Tucson. At least I realized it with plenty of time to prepare before tomorrow's departure. I have yet to place a single item into a bag of luggage...that will all take place in a mad rush tomorrow morning. My flight departs O-town at 1:53pm (bound for Tucson, AZ via Washington, DC) so I don't have to get out of the house until a little before noon. That leaves plenty of time for a small sleep-in, a casual breakfast, a hard bike workout followed by the complete packing of my bike box, a shower (only for the benefit of my seatmates on the plane:), and maybe some lunch. (Is anyone else laughing at my use of the word 'maybe' in the previous sentence?)
I should write an early "Thanks" to my Dad for giving me a lift to the airport tomorrow. Hopefully he will still be in good spirits to drive to Orlando after spending the morning at the Dentist's offices! Speaking of appointments, my Mom has her two-week check up with her knee surgeon tomorrow morning. That's a large percentage of McLarty's that are going to be seeing Doctors tomorrow, I've got my fingers crossed that I don't find myself joining them!
Back to discussing 'work' related activities...my seven days in Tucson, participating in the second USA Triathlon Elite camp of the year, will start tomorrow afternoon. I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone, listening and sharing gossip stories, showing off my Florida tan, working my butt off at all the training sessions, cooking and eating with friends, etc. I have no idea what the exact training schedule is...but I know that the riding is great, swim practice is at the Univ. of Arizona pool (the women just won NCAA's last week!) and we are taking advantage of the local trails for running.
I hope to compose a 'Elite Athlete Update' about the Tucson camp after my first few days.If Jason likes it, maybe he will put it up on the USAT.org website. I will make sure to include a link on here if that is the case. This will also be the first trip for my new computer...and my new computer sleeve/bag. Can you tell that I'm happy to have this new machine? I can't stop mentioning it...okay, that will be the last time, I'm putting a stop to my obsession:)
Next stop (and probably next blog) from the Residence Inn by Marriott in Tucson, Arizona!