Sick of the car

Typed this up earlier... Now this is what I need to do at work! :)

I am sick of riding in the car. In the past three days, I have been from columbus to Akron to Cleveland and then back to Columbus before going from Columbus to Indianapolis and back. That's about 12 hours in the car since noon on Thursday. Yuck. Oh well it's been nice to see family! I'm ready to stay put for a bit though.


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Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a great holiday! I'm sitting in a hotel trying to get up the motivation to get in the shower so we can head back over to Uncle Vince's house for breakfast, and then get on the road and drive back to Columbus. Dinner last night was awesome as always- I ate sooooooo much. And drank more than I should have. I need to be better at remembering I do have an off button. There's no need to be hungover today! David just bought that movie which reminds me how funny it is. :) ok, getting in the shower now. Ho ho ho! Happy holidays!


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About to head to Cleveland for the Boffa Christmas festivities. I hope my stomach is ready! I hit the gym hard this morning in preparation.

Merry Christmas!!!


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I'm on vacation. :) lots of errands, wrapping, and gym time today. And tomorrow I do it all over again! I needed some down time. Now I'm reading Cesar Millan in bed with my beagles. Hmmm, is letting them get under the covers with me one of the reasons I need to read this book? :)


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Off to bed

So it works, now I just have to use it. ;)

I'm heading to bed early so I can get up and hit the gym in the morning for some weights. Normally I rest on Fridays because I run long on saturdays but I slacked off yesterday instead. Oh well. I'm actually tired tonight so I'm ready for bed. Good night!


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Testing

I just downloaded an app so I can post from my iPod touch. Let's see if it works!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday! I started the day off right, with a freezing cold turkey trot, the 4 mile Flying Feather. Best part? A bottle of wine at the end! Yup, everyone over 21 got one. I finished in 32:37, an 8:10 pace. I probably could have pushed a little harder but I didn't to feel like crap all day. I had lots of oomph at the end to surge up the last hill and felt good the whole way.

Then we headed over to Todd's grandparents' house outside of Dayton. His dad, sister, and niece were all there, as well as extended family. I somehow managed not to eat a ton. And there was a LOT of food.

Today I decided to get up early and hit Target. I've never really done it before but I somehow got the urge. Mostly because there's a Target just down the street from me that is less on the radar so it's less crowded. And they were giving away cute reusable totes to the first 500 people. I got there around 6, an hour after they opened and they had run out of the bags. I saw people with them so I must not have missed them by much. But I was walking around after ditching my cart and went back for it, and lo and behold, someone else had ditched their cart and it had one of the bags in it! I looked around and it didn't seem to belong to anyone (there was nothing else int it), so I took it. :)

It was actually kind of nice to be shopping. It started clearing out a lot and I had really missed the initial craziness, so I was able to just kind of browse the toys and pick out gifts. I got tons of gifts. Then I came home and shopped online and got almost all of the children finished. I really don't have a ton more to do, except for my parents. It's kind of nice! Now I can spend time baking, woohoo!

I have to brag a little bit. I've been really trying to focus on losing some weight lately. I've been running less but added in weights, a bit of yoga, and some swimming, and I'm hoping to get some spinning in. I still run 3 days a week (one day speed, one tempo run, and one 12 mile long run), but I was running 4-5. And I do still usually run 1-2 miles when I go to the gym to lift, before/between/after lifting. But I've also been watching what I eat too. I've been trying to eat a lot less processed food, and am also cutting back on diet soda and artificial sweeteners. And well, it's working! The scale hasn't been moving very much or very quickly, but when I weighed myself this afternoon, I saw a number I haven't seen since college. And when I lose even one more ounce, I will no longer be "overweight" by the BMI calculations. Yesterday one of my running friends asked me if I had been losing weight and said she could tell, and I got a comment in a store of "you ordered a large?? you really don't look like you'd wear a large." My clothes are getting looser and I can tell a bit of a difference. So, yay me!!!! :)

Ok, enough babbling on. I'm hungry for some dinner. :)

Monday 11/23

I cannot believe this week is already Thanksgiving! Holy crap. Where did the time go??? Sorry I have been so lazy on posting. I've been pretty boring and I never think of the blog at a good time (e.g. when I'm not at work).

I did make over 13 dozen cookies yesterday. Todd's church is delivering meals to people on Thanksgiving so I volunteered to make cookies and he cooked a turkey. It actually didn't take me that long, as I only made three types. I made chocolate chip (easy and it's a big recipe), coconut, and oatmeal butterscotch chip. They all came ok, but the oatmeal one was kinda dry. Bummer.

Nice weekend

I had a very nice weekend this weekend. The weather was GORGEOUS. Sunny and highs in the low 70s. How could I not have a good weekend? :) After my long run yesterday morning, I just puttered around the house and was productive. I cleaned out my closet and dressers and switched over to cold weather stuff. I have a pile of clothes to donate (although I could probably stand to get rid of more!). Then today I cleaned and organized my office so I can actually find things! I still need to weed through more stuff (I have a major backlog of magazines!), but I now know where everything is, which is so nice. I think I was starting to get stressed out just from the mess!

I also went to the gym today ( which was so hard to do, considering how gorgeous it was outside!) to lift weights. That's two whole weeks of weights. Hopefully this week I will add in either spinning or yoga.

not too much else going on in my neck of the woods. Lots of cooking, so I realllllly need to update that other blog. Maybe the 2 blog idea wasn't the smartest. :) Really, it's just a place for me to file recipes!

I still haven't showered since going to the gym, so I think I'll do that and then cook some dinner.

Oh, and I wanted to give a quick CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Melissa who got married this past week. I saw some pics on Facebook and it looked absolutely beautiful!!!

I'm Alive

I'm alive, just not feeling the posty love lately. I cooked a lot but haven't put any recipes up on the other blog. I need to do that. That took a lot of time. I feel like I'm always busy and doing stuff, but I don't really have anything exciting to report. :) I had a great run this morning, but that's boring. I've finally made it back into the weight room. Again, boring. I'm trying to lose a few pounds, which is actually going pretty well. I have two fabulous iPod Touch apps helping me out - Lose it! and iFitness. I track everything I eat on Lose It, which I think is super helpful.

I did do a super fun race this past weekend - a Dead Celebrity 3 Miler. My time sucked since we all just did it for fun (a few other girls from my running group did it with me) and I'd already run 12 miles that morning. I dressed up as Sahel Kazemi - the girlfriend of Steve McNair who killed him and then herself. (You were supposed to dress up as someone who died in the past 12 months.) It was at night so we wore glow necklaces and it was just pretty silly and fun.

Not much else going on right now. I think I'm going to try to get to bed now. I just thought I'd post a little update since I've been so neglectful lately. Happy November!

Oh, and Happy Birthday to Maria! I don't think she even knows about my blog, but that's ok. And Happy Birthday tomorrow (which it almost is) to Teah! I've known these ladies for years and years, and wish them a fabulously wonderful day. :)

Blah blah blah

Not too much going on in my world. Still recovering from the marathon. Every time I run, I feel great, but then I hurt the next day. Hmmmm... I ran a few miles on Sunday with my friend Connie while she rocked the Columbus Half Marathon, and then I ran 6.2 miles with my friend Joanne while she ran her first ever full marathon. Big CONGRATS to both of them!! (Although I don't think either of them read my blog! LOL.)

I met with a potential bride and groom tonight, to coordinate their wedding in May. They were tons of fun, so I hope they hire me! :)

We've been cooking a lot, so I'll try to post some recipes over on the food blog soon. I bought some cool produce at the farmer's market (dragon carrots and orange beets!) and we got lots in the CSA too. We've used eggplant, leeks, potatoes, celery, broccoli and green peppers, all from the CSA, in the last few days. I also made some hummus from scratch - easy and delish!

Ok, I'm off to iron and watch Biggest Loser.

Race Report!

I just realized if I didn't post this tonight, I wouldn't get to it until tomorrow night again.

So, I survived the Chicago Marathon! I certainly didn't think I'd be saying it like that, but I am. And I'm actually happy with the results, a 13 minute PR! Official time: 4 hours, 5 minutes and 43 seconds. Secretly though, or not so secretly, I really wanted to break 4 hours.

Here is the LONG race report.

The weather was pretty cold. I think it was about 28 when we left the hotel for the short walk to the start area. I was very very glad I had purchased throw away warm up clothes at the thrift store to wear over. I lost one of my 2 baggies of Sharkies and Shot Blox before we even started but luckily Tara gave me some extra Shot Blox to hold on to and I never eat that much while running anyway. I wore the throwaways until just before the official start. We managed to get very close to the start of the open corral, which was great. I was really worried about getting stuck in the throngs of people, but actually we had no problems at all. It only took about 5 minutes to cross the start line, nowhere near the 20 I was expecting. I warmed up in about a mile but my feet were numb for a while. My Garmin was off right away because of some tunnels and just being downtown, but I was expecting that. I think the first mile was about 9:20. I thought we'd be close to a 10 minute pace, so we were already faster than I thought we'd be. I was in a group of 7 and we got split up at the first water stop and I was in the front group of 4. I started to realize we were going a bit fast by mile 3, but I thought we were doing ok. I needed a 9:09 average pace to break 4 hours, so I was hoping to start off slowly and then average about 9:00-9:05 for most of the race. By mile 6, I realized we were over a minute and a half ahead, so I knew we needed to slow down. But I felt good! Annoyingly though, my feet were sliding with every single step I took. Someone later suggested that perhaps my feet shrunk a bit in the cold. I don't know what it was, but my socks and shoes were not working together. I felt every single step for the entire race.

Around mile 9, the 2 girls (Kate and Catherine) I was with just kept speeding up so I decided to "run my run" and slow down. I knew it was too fast. I probably should have done that an hour earlier. I had already lost Keith (another MIT runner) around mile 3 when his calf started to seize up. (poor guy, I feel awful for him!) So I was by myself. But the crowds were great and I felt good. I put the iPod in one ear and just tried to soak it in.

I saw Todd around mile 12 and gave him the thumbs up and flashed 4 fingers, thinking that I had 4 hours in the bag. I was about 2 minutes fast, so I could slow down to a 9:20 average and still break 4. I started telling myself that it was all mental from there on out.

Not too long after the halfway point, the crowds thinned considerably. By mile 15 or 16, I started to realize I might be in trouble. My calves were starting to burn. Then my quads and hamstrings joined in the fun. I felt a blister (turned out to be a blood blister) forming on my right big toe. By mile 18, my lower back was on fire too. I started slowing down. Although I kept telling myself that I could run through the pain, I had acknowledged that 4 hours might actually not be in my reach. I started telling myself just to keep running, one foot in front of the other. By mile 20, I was actually considering dropping out. I started drooling when I saw the volunteers wearing the "runner dropout" shirts. I did the math to figure out how bad my time would be if I walked the whole rest of the way. I knew that walking would be the end of me. From previous experience, I knew that walking leads to a lot more walking - I can't really get going again. So I slowed down to practically a shuffle. By now I also thought I might vomit. I kept making myself take sips of water at the aid stations and eat the occasional Sharkie or Shot Block, but I still felt like crap. Around mile 20, 2 of the original girls from my group (that had started slower) passed me, looking great. (One ended up finishing a full 10 minutes faster than I.) I, on the other hand, felt like dying or quitting. I just kept moving forward. Kate actually passed me somewhere around mile 21. I had no idea she was behind me since the last I knew, she was speeding up ahead of me. She had cramped up and was struggling, walking and running off and on. We stayed together for a bit and I eventually went ahead.

Todd was cheering for me at mile 23. I handed off my gloves and told him I wanted to die. Poor guy didn't even know what to say. But sometime shortly thereafter I actually started to get some energy back. The pain started to go away a bit (see, I knew I could eventually run through it!). I saw another MITer cheering me on and high fived him. The crowds started to pick up. By mile 25, I was officially jogging instead of shuffling. I was afraid to push it too much for fear of crashing. Once I saw the 25.2 (one mile left!) sign, I did start to pick it back up. I actually ran up the last hill (which seemed freaking endless) and crossed the 26 mile mark. I tried to sprint the last .2 miles to the finish, although I'm sure it looked more like a large sloth mushing down the street. I finally crossed the finish line and was filled with emotion. I've never cried at a race before but I nearly did at this one. I was so incredibly proud of myself for pushing through the end. Not only did I not give up and quit, I didn't even give in to the overwhelming desire to stop running and walk. I was also filled with some disappointment that I had not made my 4 hour time goal. But I had realized miles earlier that it was no longer realistic and spent the remaining time formulating new goals for myself and coming to terms with it. Truthfully, I was thrilled just to have crossed the finish line.

I thought I might die there in the finish chute, but I didn't. It was so incredibly painful just to walk. I couldn't sit down because I knew that they would make me see a medic. I tried to stretch a bit and picked up some food and water. I was at this point really sad I'd given Todd my warm clothes instead of bag checking because there was no line whatsoever. I ran into Kate again and realized I'd actually finished before her and we talked a bit about how happy we were. Once I got out, I wanted to lay on the ground and wait for someone I knew to find me, but I was so cold that I managed to keep walking until I found Todd and my friends and got my warm clothes. Annoyingly, we met farther away from our hotel so then we had to walk all the way back. But it was probably for the best to keep moving.

This is definitely the most sore I've ever been after a race. My quads are just beat up. Stairs and moving in or out of a seated position are the worst. Every day is better though.

I am very happy with the race, although I must confess that I am still a bit obsessed about my 4 hour time goal. I know I went out too fast and wonder if I could have broken it if I had started slow like I'd planned. Looking at the splits on my Garmin is ridiculous - we went WAY too fast for miles. My pace at the half (when I'd already started to slow down) was 9:01 and it should have been 9:10 or 9:15. It may not sound like much, but it's a lot for me. So I'm actually considering trying to run another one while I'm still trained up. We'll see if that actually happens or not though. It's just frustrating because I really felt like I had it and then I completely lost it. But all in all, I think I did a great job for me and I'm really happy with my progress.

As for the race, I definitely give it a thumbs up. It's incredibly well-organized. There are tons of huge aid stations and the fans are amazing, especially in the first half. They do thin out considerably in the second half. (Is there a marathon that doesn't do this?? All three I've done have this issue.) It was incredible to see all the people lining the course and running. Every small hill we ran just showed off the wall to wall runners. The course is pretty flat but there are some minor elevation changes. The worst part was the bridges, with their open grates. I always felt like I was going to get my shoe caught in them and they often only had a covering in a small area.

Ok, that's probably enough rambling about the race! :) Thanks for bearing with me while I trained for that.

Marathon Week!

Holy crap, less than a week till the big race. I can't believe it's actually here! Only three more days of work since we're taking off Friday morning. The weather is looking like it's going to be chilly. This is good, since the last two years have been unseasonably hot. However, it looks like it might be pretty chilly and also rainy. We have zilch experience running in the cold since it has just now gotten nippy here. The biggest problem this will cause is what in the world to wear. I can't remember which warm things I like and I don't have much to wear in this weird in-between weather. Hands down though, it is MUCH better to have weather be a little too cold than a little too hot.

I really don't have much else new to report. Maybe I'll be more interesting when I'm not just running. :) I have been trying some new recipes lately, trying to use up some of the produce we're getting from our CSA. So I'll post those over on the food blog (colYUMbus.blogspot.com) tonight.

I'm not sure if I'll post again before the race, actually. Tomorrow night is the MIT (Marathoner-in-Training, my running group) banquet, Wednesday night is my last speed workout, and Thursday night is packing. Busy week! So hopefully my next update will be a great race result. I've had some minor nagging pains so cross your fingers they go away!

Happy week!

Web site

I'm trying to make myself work on my wedding coordinating website. I really just need to work on the overall scheme of it. I'm thinking of doing a color scheme with gray in it, maybe purple and gray. Seems kinda current. If you know of any cute websites, please feel free to point me to them for inspiration. :)

Not much else here. It's getting much cooler here now and definitely feels like fall. I'm going to have to reorganize my closet and dressers soon so that I can actually find my warmer clothes.

I had my first treadmill run of the season this morning. It was super windy, dark, potentially rainy, and kinda chilly, so I headed to the gym. I do hate the treadmill. But it was nice to compare to my runs there months ago and realize I've definitely gotten faster. My calf was bugging me a little bit so I'm debating now whether to run in the morning or take the day off. I'm leaning towards the latter. :)

I got Martha Stewart Weddings today. I subscribed because it was free, don't go getting any ideas. I love that magazine though. It is great inspiration. I flipped through it for over an hour and still have more. Love it.

Happy Monday!

last weekend of September

Well, yesterday was pretty rainy and dreary but today was pretty gorgeous once the morning was over. It's a huge reminder that it's actually fall now!

This weekend was pretty low key. I ran yesterday morning and did pretty much nothing until we went to a party to watch the football game. I'll confess that I barely watched any of it. :) Then we got some Vietnamese food for dinner and watched the latest James Bond movie. It was pretty good.

Today I tried to sleep in a bit and then really didn't do much. Grocery shopped, laundry, walked the dogs for a long walk, went for an easy run. Todd made delicious beer can chicken on the grill - yum! it turned out even better than we imagined. I made some delicious potatoes to go with it- just cut up some potatoes from the CSA and tossed them in olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary, put them in some foil packets and tossed them on the grill. So easy and very tasty.

Now I'm drinking a glass of wine and deciding whether or not to run to Target. :)

Sunday Sunday

Well, the weekend is already over! I've actually been sick all weekend, fun times. I started feeling not great at work on Friday (I tried to pretend it was just psychosomatic because 2 of my co-workers went home sick) and felt fairly crappy all weekend. No fun. I don't feel completely awful but I definitely don't feel great. I may not go to work tomorrow, we'll see.

Despite not feeling great, I did do my 22 miler on Saturday morning. Longest run before the marathon, and we are officially tapering! Holy crap. Three weeks from today is the big race. I can't believe it's already here.

We got the Tuymans show open on Wednesday. It was a really draining install period. I think the show looks fantastic and we're getting tons of big press on the show...New York Times, LA Times, Elle, Elle Decor, The New Yorker. Pretty exciting. It was just a lot of work and very stressful.

Not much else is going on here. Just hoping to feel better soon and run my marathon!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday Liz!! I know Liz is one of the few people who actually read my blog, so I wanted to give her a shout-out. :) It's such a gorgeous day out, what a nice day for a birthday. :) Also happy birthday to Heather, but I don't think she reads my blog (or even knows I have it!).

Have a fabulous day!

finally!

got the toe fixed on Friday and the doc cleared me to run today. Yay! I had a great 13 mile run. I've been worried lately about my ability to consistently run 9 minute miles at the marathon, which is about the pace I'll need to run to hit my 4 hour goal, once you account for the slow start we'll inevitably have. When I try to push the pace, I usually end up running too fast. So I decided to try today. I did the first 6 at my normal 9:30 easy pace, and then pushed it. I went way too fast on the next 2 miles, about 8:30-8:40, but I got all of the next 5 miles pretty much on the money - about 8:55 to 9:00. I ended with a 9:10 average over 13 miles - almost exactly the 9:09 average I need to break 4 hours. I felt great, too! Of course, it will be a lot harder over 26.2 miles, but I feel a lot better about it now. It was probably harder than I should have run today given my 4 days off and my 22 miler on Saturday, but oh well. :)

Not much else here, just gearing up for the opening at work on Wednesday. I am SO ready to get this show open! I can't wait for things to feel a bit more normal.

and one more thing...

I have a freaking infection on my big toe. I'm not sure if it's actually an ingrown toenail or not, but it HURTS. Totally my fault. I had a little rip on the nail so I picked at it and yanked off the corner of the nail. And then I picked at the skin too. I woke up last night and couldn't fall back to sleep because it hurt so much. Work today was painful - every single step hurts. So, needless to say, I did not go to my speed workout tonight. I couldn't get an appt at the dr until Friday morning, so I decided to go to the Minute Clinic tonight and got some antibiotic ointment to put on it. Cross your fingers that it goes to work quickly! :) It seems like every time my running is going well, I get some little problem. So I'm not going to say anything good any more. :)

The installation at work is going well but wow are we staying busy.

WTF?

So, Jelly bit me tonight. Hard. Drew blood. The UPS man came to the door to deliver a package and she went crazy. She always goes crazy when she sees anything related to UPS. I don't know what it is, maybe she hates that shade of brown? :P Anyway, she was going crazy barking and jumping at the door and I tried to tell her no and get her out of the way and she bit my finger. She tried to do it again when I tried to move her. I was PISSED. I don't know what to do to show that dog that I'm in charge. She's never done anything quite like this before. Arggghhh.

On a better note, work is going ok and it is super fun to have my old boss back. She is so much fun and I love working with her. I have a very strong feeling we're going to end up working this weekend though, which kinda sucks. Oh well.

I had dinner with my sister tonight at northstar. Laura, sorry I was so crabby at the beginning! bad day. I didn't ask enough Korea questions either. I still need to hear more. :) Thanks for meeting me though!

Happy Labor Day weekend!

Wow, I can't believe it's Labor Day weekend. (I feel like I start every post with a similar statement...) The weather is GORGEOUS here. Not too hot, sunny, light breeze. Really beautiful weather.

Partly because of that, I had a really great 20-mile run yesterday. I started early (6 am) with a small group and then joined the main group after 6 miles, so we were done by about 9:30 instead of the 10:30 ish time they would all finish at. I felt really good yesterday, despite some lingering pain I've been having on my foot/ankle area (which flared up horribly on Thursday). I even finished really strong, with a 9 minute mile up the hill to finish! Hopefully this bodes well for the marathon... I also had a great speed workout on Wednesday, feeling strong and good. We shall see...

I think Todd and I are going to bbq today. I love barbecuing and eating outside and I haven't done nearly enough of it this year. not sure exactly what we'll have yet...

Work is very busy right now. I'm super excited though that last week went so well that I don't have to work today. and tomorrow should be a light day, going in at 10 and hopefully only staying a few hours. We're less than 2 weeks from the big opening and this coming week is going to be a busy, stressful, productive one.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

September?

I cannot believe it's already September. But you know what? It actually feels like it! It's very cool in the mornings this week. Like sweatshirt and pants to walk the dogs cool.

We went to a Clippers game last night - so fun! The new park is pretty nice and even though we got standing room only "seats," it was easy to see the action and it felt like we were very close. The food and drink is crazy overpriced, but everything else was great.

I'm about to head into crazy busy at work. We're going to start opening up crates of art work today. Hopefully everything will go smoothly!

Monday

Well, my 18 mile run went really well! I was darn tired by the end of it, but I felt pretty good through most of it. That said, I'm not sure I can push the pace enough to finish in under 4 hours. That's my "stretch" goal for this race - finish is under 4 hours. I think it's *possible* but not likely. Really, I'll be happy with a PR, but I'd love to have a great race and break the 4 hour mark. I'm not going to hold my breath though. I've been training really hard but there are so many factors I can't control, including the 44,999 other people running the race with me and fighting for space. :)

I'm sorry I talk about running so much right now, but it's a big focus for me until the race. This is probably the most dedicated I've been to training in a long time, maybe even ever. Hopefully it will pay off!

Work has been pretty crazy too. We have a big Luc Tuymans exhibition opening in a few weeks and things keep cropping up with that. I can't wait until it is open and done!!!

I think it's about time to get to bed. I'm debating whether to run in the morning or not. I keep getting this pain above my ankle and I don't want to push it too hard because I'd rather get my speed workout in on Wednesday than a slow easy run tomorrow. Maybe I'll get up and play it by ear.

TGIF

You know, despite the name of my blog, I think I AM boring. :) I feel so boring lately - nothing to talk about really. I just work, run, eat, sleep, and walk my dogs.

Tomorrow morning is an 18 mile run and then Todd and I are heading to my cousin Michael's for a family reunion. Both of my brothers and their wives and sons are making the trip. And even more exciting, my sister will be there! Woohoo!! I'm sure she has exciting things to tell me. :)

Because I'm so boring (actually, because I have to get up before 5 am), I'm going to go to bed pretty soon. Well, not to sleep, but at least lie down and try to start to think about sleep. Boring though it may be, if I can manage to fall asleep by 10 (unlikely), I'd get almost 7 hours of sleep. Not bad!

Mid-August??

I can't believe it's already August 17! How does that happen?? Not much has been going on. Lots of running, lots of working, some cooking, some dog walking.

My sister gets home from Korea this week! That's exciting. :)

And several exciting late announcements. First, my friend Christine had her baby last week!!! Congrats Christine and RJ on the arrival of Prix! And then Saturday was my dear friend Sarah's birthday. Happy Birthday Sarah!!! Gosh, 10 years ago was the fateful 21st birthday party! :) Crazy fun. How times have changed.

I feel like the summer is almost over...

My lone reader complained about my lack of updates. :) Sorry! I have been super busy at work and just in general. I don't know what I'm doing with myself, but it's definitely not updating the blog. :)

But seriously, tomorrow is August 15, which means it's September in a few weeks. How is that even possible??? Time is flying seriously fast. I'm starting to get nervous about the marathon, which is now less than 2 months away. We're starting to get into the serious mileage - tomorrow is 17 miles and next weekend is 18. I'll hit almost 40 miles this week in total. (And I still can't lose weight!! How is that fair?)

One exciting thing is that my sweet little sis is coming back to the states next week! She's been in Korea for a whole year. It will be great to see her and have her not only in the same country, but the same state!

I'm getting hungry so I guess I'll start thinking about what to make for dinner. Something with veggies for sure, since they're piling up on me. :)

August already?

Sorry I've been such a slacker. Things have been crazy all over. This past week was crazy work week. We de-installed our shows and spent the whole week packing up everything. It's always really rough but I had the extra fun of having a ton of stuff to do on the upcoming show since I'm pinch hitting as both the registrar and curatorial assistant on the show. And then I got the extra bonus of getting sick on day 2. Fun fun. I feel much better now.

I've also been running a lot more. I really want to do well in the Chicago Marathon this fall, since I think it will likely be my last full for a while. So I've been trying to get my weekday runs in and going to speed workouts on Wednesdays, and this week I'm going to get back into the gym to lift weights again. Yesterday's run was 15 miles, shew! I actually don't think I've run that far in over a year. Considering I was still kinda sick and slacked off running this week, it went pretty well.

I also have been car shopping since I have to give Laura her car back soon. I ended up getting a black Honda CR-V EX. I really wanted a Toyota Highlander but decided to spend less money. I'm a little proud of myself for being somewhat frugal. :) Todd got a new car too, an Audi A4. It is so freaking nice.

Tomorrow we head out to Granville after work to see my aunt, uncle and cousin! They're stopping at my mom's house en route from Texas to see my grandparents in Michigan. I haven't seen them in several years, so it should be fun. Apparently my cousin is old enough to drive now, which is shocking.

Ok, enough babbling for now. I've got some errands to run!

Random

Sorry I haven't been posting as much. I seem to always think of it when I'm at work, and I really don't think it's a good idea to be posting at work. :)

The weather has been weirdly cool here. It's kind of nice but sometimes it's actually too cool. It's been fabulous running weather though. And since I am getting full-swing into marathon training, that's a good thing.

The CSA has been giving us prolific vegetables (see my other blog) and we've been trying lots of new fun recipes.

Todd and I went up to Lake Erie for a brief visit last weekend. It was very short but fun to get away. My favorite part is always stopping at the winery on the way up. :) (surprise, surprise)

The dogs have actually been showing some improvement lately. We had a really great walk the other day and they've been pretty good. Now if we just get Abbey to stop barking at the cats when she even hears a peep out of them through the basement door...

TGIT

so glad it's Thursday, almost Friday! i love weekends. :)

I just finished getting my closet (somewhat) in order. Finally, my laundry basket and all of my shoes are inside of it! There's always more to do but the house feels much more organized and I feel more settled in now. The biggest relief will be on Monday when the Salvation Army comes to pick up our garage-load of stuff! yay.

Have a great weekend!

The Long Weekend is Over

The three-day weekend was so nice. We got a ton of stuff done around the house, and the bulk of the mess is now put away! Organization is back in my life. :)

I ran in the Firecracker 5 mile race in Granville on Saturday morning and got a new PR - 41:14. (It wasn't chipped, so it was actually a little faster than that.) Then we went to Mary's for a lovely little breakfast and then hit the parade. I got to catch up with all kinds of old friends - Mary and Anselmo, Kim and Cory, Maria and Chuck, Heather and Adam. Fun times! And then after the parade, we went to my mom and Frank's and celebrated my mom's birthday. (I won't say which one!) Both of my brothers, their wives and their sons were there. it was so great to see everyone!

Now it's back to real life. :)

Gorgeous Day!

Today was so beautiful in Columbus. Sunny all afternoon after a cloudy morning, with a nice breeze and low humidity. Yay! I went for a long run this morning and, while warm, it wasn't too bad. It was much better than last weekend.

Shannon and Matt's wedding was super fun on Friday. The weather was so cooperative and I think everything turned out great. Everyone seemed to be having a great time.

The garage sale kind of tanked. We didn't sell as much as we'd hoped and only made a bit over $200. Oh well. We've got everything else boxed up and ready to get donated somewhere. We just want to get it out of the house now.

The Bar Mitzvah last night went very well too. I was SO tired by the end though. I could barely wait to get home and go to bed. I got to just run and relax and get stuff done around the house today though, so it was lovely.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Busy weekend

Busy weekend ahead! First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to Shannon and Matt! They got married just a few hours ago in front of their families, and tonight is their big party to celebrate! Woohoo! I'm doing a few things to help, but since it is adamantly a party and not a wedding, there's really not much for me to do.

Then tomorrow morning, it's up very early to have a yard sale. Our neighborhood is having a giant sale (60 houses) so we're joining in and hoping to get rid of some stuff.

Then at 1:00, I have to hightail it downtown and help my dad with a Bar Mitzvah he planned. That will be 10+ hours of teenage-filled fun.

I've stocked up on energy drinks and hoping they will get me through tomorrow. I'm already tired just thinking about it. But then I have absolutely nothing planned on Sunday, so that is wonderful. Well, except that I need to get my long run done. But then next week is a 4 day week! yay!

Happy weekend everyone!

i didn't know humid

omg, the run this morning SUCKED. Remember that humidity from yesterday? It sure as heck didn't go away overnight. That was 11 miles of sheer torture. Thank goodness for Susan, otherwise my a$$ would have been taking an awful lot of walk breaks. It was hot, humid, and gross. It was our first really gross run of the season, plus some of us have been spending more time unpacking that pounding the pavement. I should get back to the basement....

humidity and marathon time!

i just walked the dogs for about 20 minutes and wanted to die because it was so humid out. it's 10:00 at night!! what the heck?!

I must apologize to my three devoted readers for slacking on the blogging. I always think about posting when I'm at work, and I feel like it's probably not good form to post at work. I'll try to get a bit better.

Ironically, I've actually started a second blog. I decided to start one solely about the food and drink, called ColYUMbus. :) It will have all of my CSA reports, restaurant reviews, recipes, etc. We'll see, I may get bored of both. :) ha!

One fun thing I did today was write down all of my training runs on a calendar. I'm officially into training for the Chicago Marathon! I've not been doing a good job of tracking my runs, which I need to do in order to stay on top of the training. It's starting to feel real now! On that note, I should probably think about getting to bed pretty soon since I have a long run in the morning. Have a great weekend!

still unpacking.

not much to post because I'm still unpacking. I'm planning to take a half day today to go clean out the old apartment and unpack some more. and then Todd and I are planning on hitting a bar for some special drinkies tonight. Things are going great except we can't get the dogs to calm down enough to let the cats even get to meet them. We're starting to get a little frustrated even though it really hasn't been very long. Anyone have any ins with Cesar Millan? I think we could really use him. :)

I'm moved in!

I'm officially moved in! Almost all of my stuff is here now, and most importantly, so are the dogs! So far, there has been no dog/cat interaction, but one of the cats did venture out from the basement while the dogs were sleeping on the couch. Nothing happened. :) There is SO much unpacking and organizing to do!!!! I could be at this for a week straight. Yikes.

I guess I should get back to it. Have a great weekend!

Packing, ugh!

I hate moving. But I'm really looking forward to moving in with Todd this weekend, so it should all be worth it. :)

My birthday was nice yesterday. Todd took me out to a very nice dinner and that took up most of the night. Despite it being a Monday and being at work, it was a good day. Plus, it's a four day week this week since I'm taking Friday off to move!

Um, YAY me!!!

I have to take a moment to pat myself on the back. I ran a 5k yesterday morning (Kayla 5k) and placed 3rd in my age group!!! I've never gotten any sort of athletic award. My mom reminded me that I have a volleyball trophy but then I reminded her that it was for participation and everyone on the team got one. I don't know what my official time was but my Garmin said 25:18. They haven't posted results online yet, so I'll update when they do. I was really hoping to break 25 minutes but given that I went out with my running girlfriends on Friday night and drank too much, I'm very happy with how I did. I haven't done a 5K in several years and this is definitely a new PR, by several minutes. Here's my new hardware:



Thanks for letting me brag for a minute. Now, back to your regularly scheduled Sunday morning. Which for me today means heading out for a long run since I bailed on mine yesterday.

Sippel CSA report 5/30/09

Todd and I decided to do a CSA this year and actually got signed up for one. We talked about it last year but just never got around to it. For anyone who might not know, a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is where you basically buy a small share of a farm. You pay up front and then get veggies every week during the growing season. You theoretically are also assuming some of the risk that the farmers bear but can also reap the rewards. www.localharvest.org is a great web site to read more about them and find one near you.

I decided to start showing off our weekly haul on here. I know when we were trying to decide whether or not to do one, we really wanted to know more about what we'd actually get.

We decided to go with the Sippel Family Farm for our CSA. So far, I love it!

Week one was 5/23/09, and I didn't take a picture. They said it was a light week since it was the very beginning of the season. We got:
1 giant head of lettuce (I mean GIANT)
1 bag of spinach leaves
1 bag of mixed salad greens
1 large bunch of mint

This fit fully into a grocery sack. I used some of the lettuce to make a giant Greek salad for a BBQ on Monday and then the rest for another Greek salad for Todd and I later that week (plus some for lunch for me). We got 2 dinner salads out of the mixed greens and 3 big spinach salads out of the spinach. I haven't done anything with the mint yet but I plan to try to freeze it so we can have mojitos sometime. :)

One thing I noticed that was great was how long everything stayed fresh. We didn't have the spinach until Thursday night, and I know that the spinach I normally buy goes bad in that amount of time. I imagine this must have something to do with how ridiculously fresh the food was and also how much time "normal" produce must waste in the processing and trucking to get it to us.

So, week 2, 5/30/09. We got:
1 head of bibb lettuce (not quite as big as last week's lettuce but still big)
1 bag of mixed salad greens (even bigger)
1 bunch of kale
1 bunch of radishes
1 bunch of green onions

I love that this week is pretty different from last week! I've never cooked kale or really done anything with radishes, so this week should be fun. Here's a picture of our haul:



While I was at the Clintonville Farmers Market, I also picked up some ridiculously fresh strawberries. You have to go really early to get the berries, as they sell out quickly. I was so excited to be there on time (thanks to getting up early to start my run early) that I bought 3 things of berries from 2 different farms. They're so good it's amazing. They're so ripe that there is no white part near the stem. Just stem and then juicy redness. I dropped one onto the counter from about 4 inches up and it splattered a bit. That's how juicy they are. Needless to say, they're already almost gone. PS, if you've never had homegrown fresh berries, you should really try them. They're so different from the kind you buy in the stores. In some ways, they're less sweet than the best grocery store ones, but they have so much flavor.



Ok, that seems like enough rambling about food! I coordinated a wedding yesterday so I need to get caught up on normal household things today. It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day in Columbus today!

phew

I feel so busy right now!!! Wow. Work is really busy right now. Life is busy. I did take some time out today to go on a behind-the-scenes tour of the OSU football stadium (work-organized, but also part of the reason I feel so crazy - it ended up taking 2 hours!). It was so cool. I'll steal some pics form my friend/coworker Dave and post them. We got to do all kinds of things - go in the locker room, walk on the field (barefoot for me!), go in the press box, a suite, etc.

I'm in the midst of making biscotti for one of my favorite security guards at work. He's retiring tomorrow and he loves my biscotti, so I'm making some for him. I also wanted to get my herbs potted tonight, but since it's almost 9 and I still have work work to do, I think it will have to wait until tomorrow night. Plus I have a walkthrough with a bride and her mom tomorrow (wedding is Saturday) so I need to make sure I'm prepared for that.

Hope everyone is having a nice week and had a great Memorial Day weekend!

diagnosis

So I finally went to the doctor and she confirmed I have a sinus infection. She gave me a prescription for antibiotics, so hopefully I am on the road to wellness. I can't deal much longer. :)

I'm so busy at work right now that I actually have to do some work at home right now. what the heck? :)

Still sick

I'm not sure if it was allergies but I am STILL sick. I'm going nuts. I've been trying to drag myself out to go running but it is torture, as I can barely even breathe. Yuck.

Sorry I've been so lax on posting lately. I've been super busy in pretty much every aspect of life. :) I am SO ready for the three day weekend!!

Congratulations!!!

I wanted to send a giant congratulations to Adriane and Andy, who got married yesterday!!! It was such a great wedding. I was very busy this past week getting ready for it but now I can relax a bit. And maybe if I recover from this ferocious hangover, I'll even update my blog today. :)

Adriane and Andy, the wedding was so much fun!!! You are SUCH an adorable couple. :)

Welcome Scarlett!

In other exciting news this week, Todd's sister had her first baby on Monday! Scarlett Magdalene was born on May 4 and everyone is doing fine. Provided I'm not feeling like crap and/or contagious, we'll be heading out to visit on Sunday. She looks adorable in the pictures, so I can't wait to see her!

allergies

I have felt like crap all week. I even went to the doctor and they said it was just allergies. YUCK! This is much different that normal. My throat hurts in the morning, my head pounds all day long and the medicine I'm taking makes me feel loopy. Icky.

Official time

1:56:03! That's an 8:52 minute mile average. :)

New half marathon PR!!

well, despite looking like it would be cold and rainy, the weather this morning was perfect for a long run, and I got a PR in my half! I had 1:56 on my watch but they still don't have the freaking official results up yet. So we'll see what I actually got. I went out a little fast in the beginning so the end was kind of hard, but I was thrilled with how it went. I only had one mile (other than the first, when you're just trying to get through the big crowd of people) that was slower than 9 minutes. I was shocked at how fast I was running and how great I felt (at least until the last few miles, ha!). I think my Garmin said my average speed was 8:47 per mile or so. (But it also said I ran 13.25 miles instead of the 13.1 I did run.) Stay tuned for an official time and pace.

A bunch of my friends running the race also got PRs, so congrats to all of them too!!!!! You guys all ROCK! And some are still running in Pittsburgh tomorrow, so GOOD LUCK!!

Bay Area California Trip Re-Cap

Warning, this is a long one!

We left around 5:00 on Thursday and arrived in Oakland around 10 something. Todd’s friend Lou picked us up and we went back to his very cute house near Berkeley. We met his wife Sue there.

Friday, I woke up at the crack of dawn (time change!) and headed out for a nice run on the very close bike path. Lou and the kids (who are both freaking adorable) were up when I got back. That day, after an awesome authentic Mexican breakfast, Lou, "baby girl," Todd and I headed into San Francisco. Todd and I walked around the De Young and then the botanical gardens while Lou and "baby girl" played on the playground. We met up with them and Sue and headed to a beer store called City Beer where we tried some awesome beer. Then we drove to Berkeley and bought lots of incredible cheese at the Cheese Board (you get to sample everything first!!) and some pizza at their pizza place next door. They only do one flavor a day but it was delicious. After picking up "the boy" and hanging out, the four of us went to a fabulous dinner at Chez Panisse. (We did the café, not the fixed-price restaurant). I had a salad with green goddess dressing and some kind of fish. It was really wonderful.

Saturday I ran again and then we hung out all day and prepared for Lou’s big 40th birthday party that night. A bunch of his friends came over and he opened tons of bottle of mayjah beer. Unfortunately I’m not a huge fan of big stouts but I could at least appreciate that they were amazing for people who are.

I was prepared for a major hangover on Sunday but was pleasantly surprised. Todd and I went over to the 4th Street shops in Berkeley and walked around there. It’s a cute area with some good shopping. Also a cute little ice cream store called Sketch. Todd got vanilla bean with olive oil and sea salt which is shockingly good and not as weird as it sounds. I got less crazy but equally delicious vanilla bean with caramel sauce. 4th Street is kind of like a more real-life Easton, for those of you in Columbus. That night we went and saw “I Love You Man” at their local theater, which awesomely has couches, pizza, and alcohol. It’s like a slightly more cleaned up version of Studio 35 near me. The movie was hysterical although I didn’t think my secret boyfriend Paul Rudd looked as cute as he normally does in it.

Monday, we ventured out on our own. After renting a car, Todd and I headed up to Napa. We visited a ton of wineries, which I’ll try to remember as best as I can. I think I’ll actually do a separate post on just the Napa and Sonoma part of the trip, so I can post about each winery and what wine we bought (or as much as I can remember anyway). We stopped for lunch at the ever-fabulous Oakville Grocery. We stayed in Sonoma that night at the El Dorado Hotel, and had a great meal at their restaurant, the El Dorado Kitchen. I had the most amazing cocktail there. I forget what they called it, but it had lemon-verbena vodka, cucumbers, asian pears, sour mix, and I think maybe a splash of prosecco. It was so good that I had another the following night. My entree (some kind of fish, I can't remember) was really delicious. Todd didn't love the flavor of his but thought the meat was cooked really nicely. The hotel was very hip and cute. Our room was small but completely fine and we really loved the location, right on the square.

Tuesday morning, I got up and went for a run around Sonoma. It’s a very cute town. Our hotel room had a big balcony looking over the Sonoma square, so I insisted that we get breakfast form the little kitchenette downstairs in the hotel and eat out there. Only problem was the record-breaking 95 degree heat that made it boiling in the sun even at 9 am. We quickly went inside. ☺ This day we spent hitting wineries in Sonoma. We grabbed lunch at the boulangerie on the square and picnicked at Gundlach Bundschu, a nearby winery. For dinner, we had another great meal, this time at the girl and the fig. Todd had a really great scallop dish. My fish was not as fabulous but everything else I ordered was quite tasty. We finished it off with a cheese plate for dessert.

Wednesday, after I took another run (I finally found the bike path which was only about a block from the hotel, duh!) we hit some more wineries on our way out of town. Then we headed up to Santa Rosa to go to Russian River Brewing. Both the beer and the pizza were great. Then we drove back down and went into San Francisco. We checked into our hotel (we got amazing deal at the Mark Hopkins, home of the Top of the Mark) and managed to get the car returned by 5. BTW, Budget let us pick up near Lou’s and drop off in downtown SF for no extra charge! We walked around some shops on Union Street in the marina area (I need to go back there!!) and then had a great dinner at Nettie’s Crab Shack. I really enjoyed my crab Louis salad and the few bites of Todd’s crab roll (like a New England lobster roll, but with crab) that I could wheedle from him. Then we were able to meet up for a minute with my old friend Mike Rovins, who lives in SF now. It was really nice seeing him and catching up. Then we headed back to our hotel and had one last drink at the Top of the Mark, overlooking the city.

Thursday we had a quick breakfast (I was dying for lox on a bagel) and then I had a meeting for work at SFMoMA. It went fine and then they were nice enough to show me their new roof garden space, which is going to be a fantastic space. Todd and I walked through some of the shops near Union Square. I didn’t buy anything because I realized I’d already way overspent my budget. I had my eyes on a Kate Spade purse I definitely couldn’t afford. Then we headed to the Ferry Building and walked around all of the great shops there before having lunch at Taylor’s Automatic Refresher. My veggie burger was awesome and I was so glad Todd ordered a vanilla shake so I could drink way more than my share. After that, we took a cable car back to our hotel, picked up our bags and took the Bart back to Lou’s house. That night, we headed over to a tiki bar in Alameda called Forbidden Island. Todd loves tiki bars, and this one did not disappoint!

Friday morning I ran again but I wasn’t feeling well so we kind of bummed around that day. We went back to the 4th Street shops in Berkeley and had lunch at Tacubaya. Very yummy Mexican. We walked through a few more shops and then drove up to Shattuck Avenue and hit the Cheese Board again. We also walked up the street to my great-aunt’s house to look at it. She’s 101 and not in great health so I didn’t stop to see her but it was cool to see the house again. We also went into an adorable paper store called Twig and Fig where they let me look at their letterpress! I love letterpress paper. We also went to a cool chocolate shop where we bought some amazing chocolate. Friday night we took Lou and Sue out to a great seafood restaurant Sue had chosen called Sea Salt. I know the guys loved their oyster shooters. My fish was delicious although not quite as good as what I had at Chez Panisse. The crab cakes and my salad were wonderful. Lou is a huge fan of the BLT trout sandwich, and I must admit that the bite he gave me was great. We had a few fancy beers back home and then went to bed. Saturday morning we left for the airport and got home Saturday night!

So, more to come, including winery reviews. ☺ This is obviously way too long already! It was a really nice trip. I returned home feeling refreshed and happy. :)

Happy Birthday!

Today is my dear friend Adriane's birthday! Happy Birthday Adriane!!!

Tuesday was also my good friend Tammy's UN-birthday. :) She doesn't want to celebrate it but I'm wishing her a happy one anyway. :) (What was the UN-birthday from? Alice in Wonderland?)

And in other birthday news, my nephew Luke turned one on Monday! Happy Birthday Lukey! Look for your present in the mail soon. :)

We're back!

Todd and I got back from California this evening. It was a wonderful trip!! I'll post all about it when I get a chance. We didn't take tons of pictures but I do have a few to post. In the meantime, I need to try to get to sleep at a semi-normal time as I need to do a long run tomorrow morning. It's my last before the half marathon next weekend! And it's crazy hot here somehow, so I need to hit the trail as early as I can stand it. Anyway, the bay area was awesome and I'll be doing a nice thorough recap soon. :)

Happy/Crappy

Happy- So excited to go on vacation tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And also I had a great little run this morning.

Crappy - I accidentally washed my iPod Shuffle!! It was a matter of time because I always leave it in my pockets after running, but still. I'm usually good about checking the pockets. I already tried putting it in a bag of rice and waited a day before I tried to turn it on. It still wouldn't turn on. :( I have a long run tomorrow morning (trying to get it in before I leave) so I'm going to have to buy a new one tonight unless it miraculously recovers. Oh well... Hopefully I can still find the older, cheaper ones!!

Rain rain go away

I'm happy it's spring and it's finally warming up but this rain is gross. My dogs hate going out in the rain which means I have to drag them out there in order to do their business and I'm lucky if I can keep them out there long enough to do it.

But, on a happy note, Todd and I leave for vacation on Thursday!!! Woohooo! So excited. And the weather is supposed to be gorgeous out in the bay area. Yay! Now I have to figure out what to pack. :)

Sorry!!

I'm sorry I have been so bad about updating the blog! I have been really busy lately and have been incredibly tired, so I just haven't felt like it.

Last Wednesday was our opening at work. We opened three new shows:
Catch Air: Robin Rhode
Coop Himmelb(l)au: Beyond the Blue
William Forsythe: Transfigurations
You can read all about them at www.wexarts.org because I'm too lazy to write more about them right now. :) I worked mostly on the Coop show, which is about an architecture firm.

Last weekend I ran (12 VERY hilly miles) on Saturday and Todd and I tried out a new restaurant in Columbus called Barrio. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. I had pretty high hopes for it but it kind of failed to deliver. It's a tapas place and it opened in an old Wendy's in downtown. I also got to spend some excellent qualiy time hanging out with Tammy and Trevor and Shannon. T and T don't get out nearly often enough so it was great to see them. And Shan is always fun of course. :)

Sunday I had back-to-back showers. After finishing making and then dropping off some desserts for the 2nd shower, I went to a really nice wedding shower for my friend Adriane. Then I hightailed it up to the second shower, which I co-hosted with 4 other friends. This was a baby shower for my friend Abby, with whom I run. (or used to!) Both showers were lots of fun but I was completely exhausted!

And this week at work has been much busier than I thought. We always think of installations as really hard work for a short period of time and then a break. But there never really is a break. :) Oh well.

This weekend is more running tomorrow, maybe some shopping with Adriane, and Easter on Sunday. Todd and I are heading out to my mom's house where we'll get to see my mom and stepdad and also my brother, his wife, and my nephew! Hopeefully I will also have lots of time to clean and organize my apartment! It is looking VERY rough around the edges.

I'll try to keep up with the blog more now. :)

Happy Birthday Brooke!

I just wanted to send a quick birthday shout out to Brooke, the daughter of my longtime friend (and dedicated blog reader! thanks Liz!) Liz. Little Brooke turns one today!!! Holy cow, it seems like just yesterday Liz was pregnant and about to pop at Lyndsay's baby shower. How time flies. Liz, I hope you and your family are having a great day today!

c is for cookie

I've been drinking wine and am going to make whole wheat snickerdoodles tonight! I've never made them before, so hopefully they turn out ok. I decided to skip the gym tonight (since I had a wonderful run last night!) and am instead being productive at home. I already cleaned some stuff and ate a somewhat healthy dinner. With of course a glass of wine. :)

Liz, to answer your question, we have three shows opening next week! I will post more about them soon, but in the meantime, here is the link to the Wexner Center website for more info: www.wexarts.org. I'm working mostly on the Coop Himmelb(l)au show (architecture). Although of course I have to get at least a little involved in all of them. :)

Zzzzzz

I am so exhausted. Work has been so tiring, and even when it's not physically exhausting, it's mentally draining. UGH. I need to run more but I've been working so much that I'm too tired to get up early and my feet are killing me by the time I get home at night. Tomorrow I will run. I will.

Yesterday Todd and I drove to Indy for his sister's baby shower. It was a really nice day. The only downside was that it took up most of the day and I had to work on Saturday, so my apartment is a wreck. It was a nice day though.

I have to be at work early tomorrow, so I should really get to bed. Or at least pretend to. :)

Only a bit more than a week till the opening...

Completely Stuffed

This has been a big week of eating! I feel like a glutton now. :) It was Restaurant Week in Columbus this week and I definitely took advantage of it. I really need to eat light this coming week to make up for it though. I don't feel like running through all of the delicious food we ate this week, but I will give you a quick rundown of the restaurants:

Tuesday - Barcelona (wine tasting and tapas tasting menu)
Wednesday - The Refectory (3 course prix fixe with wine pairings)
Thursday - Lavash (not part of the Week)
Friday - G Michaels (3 course prix fixe)
Saturday - pizza from Hounddog's

No wonder I feel like I gained 5 pounds!!! I am officially on eating out lockdown for the rest of the month. :) I ran 12 miles yesterday but I don't feel like it even put a dent in my massive food intake. I'd run again today (especially since it's gorgeous!!) but my legs are pretty sore. Maybe this afternoon.

My awesome mom and stepdad are bringing me a car today. My awesome Pilot has been leased, and the lease is up this week. In an attempt to be incredibly fiscally responsible, I asked my family if I could drive my sister's car (my mom's old car) until Laura gets back from Korea. This will mean no car payment for a few months, so I can just save, save, save. I'm a girl who loves a cute new shiny car, so I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking to it. But it will pay off when I get a new car later this summer and have more money to put down on it. And my credit card will be completely paid off too. :)

Enough rambling! I had to work yesterday morning so I didn't get my normal routine of running and cleaning on Saturday morning, so I need to get this joint cleaned today. The one benefit to eating out and not being home all week is that it's pretty clean. :)

Happy weekend!

Weekend

I feel like I've been slacking on my blogging. I guess I really am boring. :)

Yesterday I had a great run, despite getting what seemed like a cold (but maybe was just allergies?) on Friday. I did 13.1 miles, including our hill loop. Not too bad! Especially considering I only ran ONE day last week. My quad was bugging me so I took it easy. I think that helped with yesterday.

Last night Todd and I went out to dinner at Rosendale's for our anniversary. It was delicious. I got beets and goat cheese for an appetizer, a delicious salad and then salmon for the entree. The salmon had a tomato glaze and came on top of white asparagus and cauliflower puree and also had some little croutons of polenta. It was very good. Todd got a seared duck breast appetizer, a different salad, and scallops in cioppino sauce for the entree. His salad was really delicious. It had a bacon truffle vinaigrette that really made the frisee interesting. It was such a different taste. We had a great alvarinho to go with it, recommended by Rosendales' great sommelier Chris Dillman. His wonderful wife Lisa (with whom I used to work at Willies) waited on us. It was a great dinner! Oh, and we finished it off with a cheese plate instead of a sweet dessert.

At home, I made a little nightcap drink of Godiva liqueur with some raspberry liqueur from Clear Creek Distillery in Portland, which Todd and I picked up last summer. I'm not sure if that is already a drink, but if not, it should be! It was sooooo good. The Clear Creek liqueur is so good. It just takes like raspberries, not like sickly sweet fake raspberry alcohol.

And then this morning, Todd and I went out to brunch. So decadent! We went to Sage American Bistro, which we've heard has a good brunch. It was great and actually shockingly inexpensive. We both got the smoked salmon BLT which came with a delicious spinach salad. It had a great sweet peppery vinaigrette and had some green beans, red onion slices, grape tomatoes and croutons on it. Only $10 each! My only complaint was the home fries/hash browns/whatever they called them. They were deep fried and didn't have a lot of flavor. Not worth the $3 or the calories. We didn't order it, but you can also get a full carafe of mimosas (or bellinis or whatever) for only $15!! That's a whole bottle of champagne! What a steal.

Hmm, I think that about does it. The weather has been fabulously warm (quite a change from last year - this weekend in 2008 was the blizzard!!) so I think I'll take out my dogs for the thousandth time. :)

Happy Birthday Samuel!

My dear friend Sarah's little boy Samuel turns one today! I can't believe he's that old already!!! Happy birthday!!!

And also, it's been exactly one year since Todd and I's first date. :) It was pretty exciting to have a great first date and then get a message from Sarah's mom about the new arrival. And a good omen. :)

TGIF

I haven't really had anything interesting to blog about this week. :) Work was super crazy last week and was slightly less crazy this week, but still pretty busy. We had a warm spell again, so that was nice! Now that March starts this weekend, it definitely feels like we're starting to turn the corner towards spring. Yay! I dressed for spring today though, and the temperature has dropped about 15 degrees since I got to work, so I am dreading walking out to my car. Hopefully the weather will stay dry for tomorrow morning's run!

Which reminds me, I don't think I ever posted on here that I officially signed up for the Chicago Marathon this fall! Or maybe I did. Sorry if that's a repeat. Anyway, I'm kind of excited. I think it will probably be my last full marathon for a while. Having to get up early every single Saturday and watch yourself on every Friday can really get to be a drag. So I'm hoping to have a really good run and kind of go out on a good note. Hopefully the third time will be a charm!

For anyone who wants to head to Chicago to cheer me on (hint hint!), here is the link to the race info: http://www.chicagomarathon.com

The race is Sunday, October 11. Only 225 more days! (According to the countdown clock on the website, I did NOT just know that.) Typing that actually gave me a flutter of nervousness in my belly. :)

I guess that's enough rambling. It's probably late enough that I can head on out of work for the day. Have a fabulous weekend!!

Ouch!

I'm not sure what I did but my left quad is freaking killing me. I did weights today at the gym and yeeowza, it's hurting. Please heal by tomorrow, as I want to enjoy the nice weather with a run outdoors!

I made a delicious (and healthy!) dinner tonight. Broiled salmon (with a slightly sweet mustard glaze), whole wheat couscous, and steamed broccoli with a little bit of goat cheese. Soooo good. And then I had some berries for dessert. Yum, yum, yum. So simple but so good! Of course, having two glasses of wine is probably not what you're supposed to do after dinner, but it's baby steps. :)

Congrats!

I know she doesn't read my blog (I don't even think she knows about it!), but I wanted to congratulate my old friend Maria. She just welcomed her second little girl into the world! Congrats, Maria, Chuck, Claire and now Eleanor! And Dillon too, of course. :)

It's Saturday!!

Thank goodness it's the weekend!!! Yay! I finally got to get a nice long run with my group in today. I only did 9.6 miles, but that was great considering 1a) my legs were killing me from the squats the other night, 2b) my long runs lately have only been 8 miles, 3c) we did the giant hill and 4d) I only ran one other day this week! eeks.

Now I'm trying to motivate myself to finish the cleaning I started earlier. Will someone please invent a self-cleaning home? That would be lovely, thanks.

I was starving after my post run nap, so I hit Weilands, the slightly fancy grocery near me. I picked up a container of berries and decided to splurge on it. OMG they were so freaking good. I love, love, love berries and these were delicious. I could have eaten the whole pound in one sitting but I was able to restrain myself and only eat half. :)

Ok, I think I'm going to go clean now. The thought of having clean sheets on the bed when I get in it tonight is rather appealing, and I know those sheets won't change themselves...

TGI almost Friday!

This has been a very long week, so I am SO glad it's almost over. I got up at 3:45 this morning to get to work for a 5:00 shipment of art. Brutal. And then I worked 10 hours and didn't leave until 3. Needless to say, I took a nap when I got home. I tried to just take a short nap but I could not wake back up. Now it's biting me in the a$$ because I need to go to bed and I'm not tired. Oh well.

I finally hit the gym tonight though. I need to get back into weight lifting. I checked a book out from the library called The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I heard good things about it about a year ago and finally got around to getting it. So far, I really like a lot of what they have to say. I'll post a more thorough review soon. Anyway, I did day one of the lifting routine. On paper, it sounded pretty easy, but I'm already sore! That is not a good sign. Oh well. I hope it goes away before my long run on Saturday! I haven't had a good long run with my group in a while so I'm really hoping to have a nice one.

Todd and I are going to plan our vacation this weekend. We're planning to go to California in April. We'll visit his best friend from college, who lives near Oakland, and his family (his son is Todd's godson) and also go off on our own to Napa/Sonoma and maybe also a day or two in San Fran itself. If anyone has any must-visits, let me know! I've been before so both of us have seen all of the standard tourist attractions, but there's always tons to do. I am definitely looking forward to some winery action. Shocker, huh? :)

so busy!

Sorry I haven't been updating, but I have been a busy girl. I'm taking it easy and trying to get caught up on things tonight.

I coordinated a wedding on Saturday, so last week was very busy with last-minute things for that. In addition to the standard coordinating stuff, I also designed and made their menus, programs, favors and seating chart. Here's a pic of the menu and favor mockups:


The wedding was on Valentine's Day, so they went with a Valentine's theme. (They went with the two hearts on top of the menu. They're conversation hearts, in case you can't tell.) Her dress had red in it and the bridesmaids wore black. They were so sweet and wonderful to work with. I coordinated a wedding for the bride's cousin in 2007, and the bride and groom met at that wedding!! How cool is that? Anyway, the bride looked absolutely beautiful and I really enjoyed myself even though I was working. :)

After my whole day at the wedding on Saturday, I had to get my long run in on Sunday morning. The weather was cool but not bad and the trail was (finally!) clear, so it was actually a really nice run. It started off slow because I was so tired, but no biggie. And then I had to head in to work in the late afternoon. Our huge Andy Warhol show closed on Sunday night, so I had to go in for the final preparations and that sort of thing. My coworker and I always go in after the shows close and get ready. Since it was Warhol, they kept the show open later than normal, so I was there until almost 11 last night. And then today was the first day of de-installation, so that was hectic. It was an exhausting day today, but we actually got a ton done. We're moving really quickly.

And to start my weekend off, after the wedding rehearsal, Todd made a fabulous dinner for Valentine's Day, since I was busy on Saturday. He did an amazing job, and it was really delicious. Here's what he made:
Some brie and sausage to munch on
Soup: cream of cauliflower with a drizzle of olive oil
Salad: Mixed greens with roasted beets, candied nuts, hearts of palm, sprouts and homemade blue cheese dressing
Main course: Seared scallops, herbed polenta and mint-lime snap peas
Dessert (made by me): Creme Brulee with triple chocolate brownie

yum yum yum! :) Plus wine and champagne. :)

Ok, that's probably enough yammering! I'll try to post more regularly now that the worst of the craziness is over. :)

sorry!

I've been slacking on my posting. Sorry! I'm busy at work right now, since we're about to close our Andy Warhol exhibition. And I'm busy with my side job, since I am coordinating a wedding on Saturday. And I'm still trying to run and lose weight and all that jazz.

I went to my last hip hop dance class last Saturday because I have to miss this weekend's because of the wedding. In addition to learning some hip hop moves, I learned that I suck at dancing. :) My friend who took it with me and I both agreed that while we got more confident in class, our confidence for the dance floor out of the classroom has plummeted.

I'm heading off to bed early. I was up until after 1 am last night working on the menus and favors for this wedding. I love doing stuff like that but I always, always, always underestimate the amount of time it takes me! Someday I'll learn. :)

Accountability

I just wanted to say that when I got home last night, I really, REALLY didn't want to go to the gym. I was figuring all sorts of ways to talk myself out of going. And part of the reason I was able to convince myself to go was because I had mentioned it on here. So I went, and did a pretty hard interval workout. Sadly for you all, it means you'll probably be hearing more about my exercise and diet plans because it makes me feel more accountable. :)

Unrelated, I picked my dad up from the airport last night. He had been out in California. He saw my great aunt out there, who is 101. 101!!!! Holy cow. My grandmother is turning 91 next week and my grandfather will be 90 in August (all on my dad's side). Nice to know I might have 60+ years to go....

nothing new

Nothing exciting going on here. I need to go to the gym tonight since I couldn't haul myself out of bed this morning. I'm going to try to do some hard-core intervals on the treadmill. I've been reading a lot about how much more efficient intervals are supposed to be for fat burning, so I'm going to try to incorporate them into my runs more often. I've been doing some intervals, but I don't think I've been doing them hard enough. I think I need to do shorter but faster.

I'll try to do something interesting so I can post about it. :)

False eyelashes, anyone?

I feel like all I've been blogging about lately is the weather. :) It has been crazy, but still. Enough is enough. I'm still going to post this though.

I went running yesterday morning before my hip hop dance class, mostly because I wanted to get it out of the way. It warmed up quite a bit later, but if I waited, I would have still been running at 1:00. So, even though it was about 0 degrees when I left the house (and by weather.com's account, -11 windchill), I toughed it out. I only made it a little over 8 miles instead of my planned 10, because it was soooo cold, and really tough going through the snow and ice still on the trail. It was a lot like running in sand, that was how much snow there still was. Every footstep kind of slid a little bit. I am very sore today, as I'm sure I was using all sorts of different muscles.

But my main reason for posting about this is to post this picture. It really cracks me up. I had to stop running for a minute about 35 minutes in because my water had frozen, so I had to unscrew the cap to get any liquid. I knew my breath was freezing somewhere on my face, because I could see it out of the corners of my eyes. I just couldn't tell where. I had my cell phone with me for emergency purposes, so I snapped a pic. I look like a freaking lunatic!


It looks like I have little feathers on my lashes. :) I'm sure the few other crazies I saw out there got a good laugh on my behalf.

Snow Angel

Kid at heart that I am, after I finished shoveling my walk, I made a snow angel. :) I tried to take a photo of it, but it didn't turn out through the screened window. I felt endless satisfaction in doing it though. Especially after my shoveling job. It's a straight sidewalk but my path looks more like the board of chutes and ladders.

It Worked!

OSU closed today! I still kind of can't believe it. I kept having dreams in the middle of the night that the roads were horrific and they still wouldn't close. So I was extra shocked when I checked at 6 am and they had closed. We ended up getting tons of freezing rain and ice so it was really slick. By the time I got back up at 8, it was snowing again, those giant, heavy flakes that look so beautiful. I had a blast taking the girls out because they were so funny. It was icy with a layer of snow over the ice, so they were walking with their paws all spread out, punching through the ice with every step. And Abbey loves to lick the snow while she walks, when it's fresh like that, so she kept her face to the ground. I'm just thankful that the ice wasn't so much as to cause a lot of power outages with falling trees.

I'm not sure exactly what I'll do with my bonus day! Definitely some cleaning and organizing in my office. I've been putting that off forever, and I finally started last night. I'll probably tackle that and also do some cooking. I made a big vat of turkey chili over the weekend and I might make a big pot of chicken tortilla soup now. I have also been meaning to make truffles for a long time, as I have some chocolate I need to use, so I might mess around with those. We shall see.

Happy Wednesday!

Cross Your Fingers...

Since I technically work for a university, I always dare to dream that I could some day get a snow day. Well, if my dream is ever going to come true, it's tonight. We're supposed to get up to 6 inches of snow and ice. Of course we all know the forecasts are frequently wrong, but it has been snowing for a few hours already. And the school actually sent out a notice about where to find closure information, which they almost never do. Granted, they were quick to say that nothing was cancelled yet, but still. :) Plus our HR person sent out something with information about if we close as well. I feel like a dorky little kid, but I am SO hoping for a snow day!!!! So, cross your fingers for me! :)

No More Books. Baking Instead!

I finished reading "Something Blue" this morning. No more reading for a while. I've got other things to do. :) It surprisingly snowed quite a bit today so I just wanted to hunker down. So I read and then made several batches of biscotti. One of the guards at work had asked me to make him some (and paid me, even though I tried to refuse), and I finally got around to it. I also thought I'd make some for my mom, who is pretty much homebound after having her hip replaced last Monday. I was planning to head out to visit her today but the roads seem crappy enough that it's not a good idea. So I'll go out tomorrow after work instead.

Several people have asked me for my biscotti recipe, so I'm going to post it on here. I'm not a huge fan of ginger, but these are pretty tasty. I get quite a few compliments on them, so I have to recommend them. The recipe is from Cooking Light.

Gingered White-Chocolate Biscotti

Yield: 2 dozen (serving size: 1 cookie)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (4-ounce) bar premium white chocolate, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg white
• Vegetable cooking spray

Preparation

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Combine the vanilla and next 2 ingredients, and add to the flour mixture, stirring until well-blended (dough will be dry).

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead lightly 7 or 8 times. Shape dough into a 16-inch-long roll. Place roll on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray, and flatten roll to 1-inch thickness.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Remove roll from baking sheet to a wire rack, and let cool 10 minutes.

Cut roll diagonally into 24 (1/2-inch) slices, and place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 325°, and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the cookies over, and bake for an additional 10 minutes (the cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet, and let cool completely on wire rack.

Now I'm going to be like my Grammy Lucy and go into all of the things that I've learned from making this a gazillion times.

-This is better if you use bar white chocolate (I use Lindt which is sometimes on sale at World Market. I've got to find a cheaper source online). If you must use white chocolate chips (which I did today), chop them up a bit first. The chips are too big and will make big holes or burn after you slice the biscotti.

-I always add more white chocolate and ginger than what they say. I add "very heaping" in front of those two measurements. :) I heap the vanilla a bit too.

-I mix everything in my Kitchenaid. You don't have to do much kneading if you do that, which I like. It can be a pretty sticky dough so it gets stuck to your counter or Roll-pat. Don't be afraid to use flour though - it doesn't hurt the consistency.

-I actually never do the diagonal cutting because I want to get as many same-sized biscotti out of the recipe. I'm sure this looks less authentic. :)

-If you're like me and don't have a fancy stove, use an over thermometer. I burned the first several batches I made in this apartment because I later realized my oven is almost 50 degrees too hot. Gross.

-I get my ginger at Williams-Sonoma. I've used both the Ginger People ginger chips and the WS brand slices. Both are less than $10 and have tons, if you're making more than a batch. I once bought a little bottle in the spice section at the grocery store and it was so much more expensive than buying these. I mince both of them, even though the ginger chips might be small enough to use as is.

-I read somewhere that you can stand the biscotti on their flat bottoms and cook them that way so you don't have to flip them midway through, but I've never tried it. I'm too afraid the bottoms would burn too much.

Happy baking!

It's Sunny!!

What a beautiful day! It's brisk out but the sun is shining. I had a great run this morning, just shy of 9 miles. I could have done more but I had to run to get to my Hip Hop Dance class! This was week 2. Week 1 was pretty hard. I didn't feel like it was much of a workout, the class was too big, I had no idea what I was doing, and well, I'm white with no rhythm. This week was much better. I still have no rhythm but I managed to stay with the teacher much better. We know have about 24 whole beats of a song. :) I'm still working on my "attitude" as our adorable instructor keeps calling it. It's tons of fun.

I've been lying in bed reading (AGAIN! Now I'm re-reading Something Blue for the umpteenth time.) and am trying to make myself do some housework. Ick. But I really need to put some laundry away, vacuum, and clean up the kitchen. The dogs thought it would be super fun (AGAIN, second time in a week!) to pull out all of my spatulas and spoons and chew up a few of them. Luckily, after losing seven last time, I think I only lost two this time. But now there are shards of wooden spoon all over the living room. Good thing my days at Williams-Sonoma left me stocked with a plethora of cooking utensils. However someone (Abbey!) also laid into one of my Silpats (grrr....) so I'm probably going to have to replace it. I trimmed the ripped parts off, but now it's smaller and the edges are exposed. For those who don't know what a Silpat is, they are amazing. They're made of silicone and are basically reusable parchment paper sized to fit your cookie sheets (or half sheet pans, as mine are technically called). No need to grease or spray, just throw one of these bad boys on there and wipe it off when you're done. Love them. Apparently Martha does too. :)

Ok, that's probably enough procastinating for now. Off to domesticate myself!

I've been slacking

Even though we had Monday off of work this week, this week has been kind of long and dragging. I have had zero motivation to do anything. Including blog, obviously. :) I did read a few good books though. First off, I read Emily Giffin's latest book, "Love the One You're With." Not as good as her first two, which Sarah got me hooked on, but still worth reading. Then I read "Chasing Harry Winston," by the same woman who wrote "The Devil Wears Prada." Also entertaining. It was funny because one of the characters in "Chasing" is actually reading a book by Emily Giffin at one point and mentions how much she likes it. And now, because I forgot how much I like to read, I'm re-reading Emily Giffin's first book, "Something Borrowed." Only a few pages left. I swear I've read it 5 times, but it's so good. I think I have to stop reading so much though - I keep getting completely sucked in and keep reading, to the detriment of other things going on in my life. I mean, I've read 3 books in less than a week. And not vacuumed or done the dishes. :)

Happy Birthday Mary!

Today is Mary's birthday, so Happy Birthday Mar-Bear! Mary is my longest-running friend ever. (I was going to say oldest friend, but that might imply that she is oldest by age, which she is not.) We went to pre-school together. I still keep in touch with other people we've known since then, but Mary is my closest friend from that era.

And while typing this, I wanted to give a quick belated birthday to Kim! I didn't end up posting on her birthday (December 24) and I felt bad because I posted a birthday shoutout to AJ, whose birthday was the day before. Kim, you know I didn't forget about ya. :) (I doubt you're even reading this anyway, LOL!)

Anyway, happy day!

Why Yes, it can get colder

When I took the ladies out this morning, it was -12, wind chill of -28. YOWZA! Those poor dogs did NOT want to go out. Last night Abbey even cried for a second when we were out. They both tried to do the paw-in-the-air hopping thing. Sad but cute.

F-ing Cold

When I took the ladies out this morning before heading to the gym (that's 3 days in a row running before work, thankyouverymuch!), it was -1. Without a wind chill. That is what I call "f-ing cold." Seriously, could it get any colder? Oh wait, yes, apparently it can, because it's supposed to be even colder tonight. BRRRRRRRRRR. I dressed up like the michelin man to come into work today - ski gloves and the whole 9 yards. :) Oh, and I even had to scrape the INSIDE of my windshield after being at the gym. But the snow is gorgeous. :)

Stay warm out there!!

Wedding Coordinating and Biggest Loser

Well, I went! :) I did about 40 minutes of weight lifting. I was going to walk on the treadmill and watch Biggest Loser, but none of the tv's had it on. Oh well, I ran this morning, so no biggie. So now I'm half watching it at home. I wish the show were only an hour though. I don't like to watch a ton of tv, or rather, I never seem to have the time, so 2 hours is too much commitment. So I watch it here and there. It's good motivation.

Now I'm off to brainstorm. Some of you probably know I coordinate weddings on the side. I never really came up with a good name for my "business" because I didn't want to make it seem purely wedding-y, and all of the good websites were taken. I have two weddings coming up and I need to make some business cards, so I need to pick a name, get a site and make some cards. I let my old website lapse (it was m-details.com) so I have a clean slate. I need something easier to remember, and I'm ok now with making it more wedding-centric. I'm thinking maybe something with the word "celebrations" in it. "Cavanaugh Celebrations" seems too cheesy and also too long. We'll see... Feel free to give me suggestions!!!

Motivation is waning

I am trying so hard to get motivated to go to the gym and lift weights. My apartment is warm and snuggly. Why would I want to go out in the bitter cold and to the gym? Hmmm, probably because I want to lose 15 pounds, that's why! Yep, I thought posting on here would drag my a$$ off of this chair. Off to the gym I go!

Snowfall

I wanted to post this last night, but I was tired and went straight to bed. It snowed while I was out last night, maybe an inch or so. But because it was a Sunday evening, there wasn't a lot of traffic, and the snow was just beautiful. It sparkled like glitter as I drove along, and if I hadn't felt it myself, I might have thought it was fake department store prop snow. It was that kind of pretty snow. And the lack of cars meant that even the streets were still white. I just love the purity of fresh, untouched, glittering snow. It always makes me feel like a kid again, and happy. And no one else was outside, so it was like my own private world. Even the sounds were muted because of the thin layer covering everything. I hate the cold because I'm always freezing but snow like that puts a smile on my face. We're due to get more of it over the next few days, so I hope it's as pretty as this was!

You're it!

Tammy tagged me...
here is how it goes: go to your 4th folder (where your pictures are stored) and find the 4th picture….and post it. then explain it.




This was actually a picture I took for you, my dear blog readers. All 3 of you. :) These are the Christmas cookies I made and decorated, and I had planned to post the results. As per the usual, I got bored of doing it several cookies in, so the later cookies aren't very exciting. I sent a handful to my sister Laura in Korea, and then ended up sending some more to one of Todd's friends at this request, and he and I probably ate the rest. :) I love me a frosted sugar cookie!!

I'm not sure I have 4 people reading this who will see it, but just in case, I tag Sarah, Liz, Melissa and Suzanne. I picked all of you because I know you've read my blog at least once. :)

Winter Storm 2009?

I love how the forecasters always make a much bigger deal out of everything than it really is. And I fall for it EVERY time!!! They were forecasting this winter storm today - rain, snow, freezing rain, the works. I was so worried about it - I thought running on the trail in ice would be awful, and what if the gym even closed? So I actually went to the gym last night and ran on the dreadmill, even though running at the end of the day makes my stomach upset. I could only make it 6 miles, I felt so nauseous. So it really wasn't that bad this morning. I ended up driving to the gym and running another 6, to try to make up for the crappy run last night. It was freezing raining right when I would have been running outside, but I think it would have been preferable running in that with my friends than slogging away on the tready. Oh well, it's done, and I got 12 miles in.

On that note, our coaches tell us that if you run a distance over 24 hours, it's pretty much the same as running it at once. I don't believe it. While the end of my 6 today did feel a bit more like being at the end of 12 than at the end of 6, it was not nearly the same as running 12 nonstop. I'm no expert, but I'm unconvinced. That said, I think sometimes it's ok to do and it's definitely better than not running.

I need to try to be productive today. I kind of just want to laze around, so it's going to be rough. I think I'll start by washing some dishes and putting away some laundry, and go from there. And shower at some point. I still have 6 miles of gym sweat on me. :) I need to make a few lists and phone calls for the wedding I'm coordinating next month, and maybe cook a little or something. If the crap ever stops falling outside, I'll take the ladies out too. They hate the rain though.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!