Let Christmas Begin!

This is the End

You’re almost there! Tell us how you feel about endings.

I’m not a patient person.  I look up run times for movies so I know how ling I need to sit still for.  I watch the ticker on the GPS so I know when we’ll be “there.”  I’m always looking ahead.  But I’m also always looking back.  I’m never in the present enough.

Whoa.  Deep.

Anyways, endings are okay with me.  It means I can move on to the next thing, and look back with fondness or sorrow at whatever just ended.  Some endings are harder than others, but, in most cases, I’m ready for whatever is ending to end.

This is a good example.  I’m ready for NaBloPoMo to end.  I think I did pretty well with it (I made it so close, I literally fell asleep typing this post last night), but its been a committment.  Looking forward, I know I can blog more, and it’s not that big of a deal, I just have to do it.  I feel like writing every day just helped prove to me how important blogging is to me, and how much I do enjoy it, so I have the tools to continue and blog more than I have been.  But I’m happy to not “have” to post every day.

I owe you a post for today, since this is yesterdays.  It will probably be a picture since I’m tired, but I really have enjoyed this month, and I hope anyone still reading has too!

 

Thankful

Skipping the prompt today. Wiped. And thankful. Always.

Drinking every night because we drink to my accomplishments

What accomplishment are you most proud of?

Running the Boston Marathon in 2007.

I already wrote about the day here, and I just re-read the post and choked up remembering that day, especially in light of what happened in Boston this year.  I didn’t grow up in MA, I went to my first marathon after college.  I didn’t really get the fuss until then, and once I saw how energetic and awesome the city was, I wanted in on the fun.

Training was so, so hard.  And so, so cold.  It was often lonely too, but I was stubborn and just did it.  All those hours running on snowy, cold streets really did pay off.

I know my time (4:55) wasn’t anything to write home about, and sometimes I’m a little embarrassed by it.  But I know I shouldn’t be.  Not many people can say they ran a marathon, let alone Boston.  I’d love to do another, but I don’t know about a few things.  I don’t know if I have it in me to train, and if I ran another marathon, I’d want to run a faster one.  I’d also want to do Boston again, and I know I got lucky to get in the year I did, I don’t know if it would happen again.  Especially now.

Still, I’m always proud when I tell people I ran Boston.  I think it’s by far my greatest accomplishment.

Dead Freight

Tell us about the last thing you hid.

So, I have this side business, its pretty lucrative, but it can be dangerous at times.  Especially when you have family in law enforcement, and when your partner is kind of a bonehead.  It can be really difficult to get the supplies I need to make my product, so sometimes I have to resort to less than orthodox measures to get what I need and keep the business rolling along.

Well, one day I ran out of the most important ingredient for my product.  Let’s call it Cristal, for the sake of this post.  Well, we found out that  a train full of Cristal would be coming through town, so we decided to rob it.  It’s not that easy to rob a train, but we have connections, and the bonehead partner came up with a pretty good plan.  We got the train to stop and delayed the engineers with a disabled car on the tracks, and while everyone was busy at the front of the train, we went to work on the back.  We used giant hoses to suck out the Cristal, and we hid it in a tank in a big hole we had previously dug out.  And to make sure the missing gallons of Cristal weren’t immediately noticed, we pumped water back in to the train.

Things got a little hairy though.  The delay didn’t last as long as we had hoped, and we almost ran out of time to get all the Cristal out.  We probably should have stopped a few gallons short, but I can be kind of a money hungry asshole sometimes, so the bonehead almost got squished to death by the train, but we got it all!  Good thing he’s skinny!  We celebrated our victory and covered up the hole, then noticed a little kid on a bike checking us out.  The other bonehead I work with, the pretty boy one, shot the kid.  It was pretty messed up.  RIP Drew.

But, the bottom line is, we successfully stole and hid that Cristal until we were able to recover it.  Worked out great!  I even had to rent a bigger storage facility for all my cash.  By the time my baby goes to college, she should be able to buy an entire campus!  I just hope she stops wearing those stupid hats first…

Oh wait, that wasn’t me. That was Walter White.  Sorry.  I don’t hide anything good.

Shake Shake Shake

Tell us about the last thing a person or advertisement convinced you to buy.

I haven’t actually bit the bullet and bought it yet, but I’m thisclose to pulling the trigger on Shakeology.  Every morning, I start up my Focus T25 DVD, and get changed while the warnings about not killing yourself while doing the DVD run.  Then I hit play, and watch as doctors promise me that Shakeology is delicious, nutritious and will help me actually lose weight.

Shakeology is  the Beach Body brand of protein shakes, and it is not cheap.  I think its $140 for a one month supply.  I don’t even like protein shakes.  I need to chew m meals to feel full.  And really, I could probably make my own shakes with some fruits, vegetables, and protein powder for far less money.  But I won’t.  I don’t even have a blender, I burned it out trying to grind oatmeal into baby safe consistence when Emilia first started eating real food.

I’m beginning to feel brainwashed by Beach Body, I think the fact I watch the same exact commercial at 5:15am 6 days a week is just seeping into my subconscious and almost forcing me into buying it.  The fact I haven’t lost any weight after 6 weeks of exercising 5-6 days a week is surely playing into the decision.  I’m convinced that if I buy (and drink) Shakeology, I will automatically drop the weight I expected to, immediately.  It doesn’t help that I see real people I know having success with it, so now I can’t just pretend it’s a scam and won’t work.  Damn you, Shaun T!!!!

 

Race Report: Mews Gear and Beer 5K

Cold.  So very, very cold.

As you know, I love this race.  I think the Mews is a great place, good beer, good food.  The race is fun – tough course, but a great, downhill finish.  Free beer, good shirts, and great food when you finish.  We used to have a great tradition of doing the race as a big group, hanging out after until they kicked us out, and then moving the party elsewhere.  That tradition ended after only a couple of years for various reasons, but like many other traditions in my life I’m unwilling to give it up.  So I insist on running each year and drag whoever I can get along with me.

This year, we didn’t get to go and pick up the numbers early and get our free beer, because J had to work, and we had a lot to do around the house to get ready for Thanksgiving.  My brother graciously went and drank our free beers for us.  What a giver.  My parents watched Emilia, and kept her last night as well.  Bonus!

I did not want to run this race.  If you looked at the thermometer, you’d understand why.  26 degrees and windy.  It was cold, maybe the coldest race I’ve ever run.  I had many layers on (including one made of too small spandex.  Sexy), and I was still frozen.  Due to my awful sense of direction, we only arrived about 30 minutes before the start, which was a blessing.  Just enough time to get our beer wristbands and hit the port a potty before we started.

Even though the race field looked smaller, apparently everyone was just huddled in the tent for warmth, and the start was pretty crowded.  J and I stuck together for about 2 miles, and didn’t walk at all.  Then he pulled ahead of me, and I walked a bit up the giant hill at the end.  I probably could have run up the whole thing, but I had it in my mind that I was going to walk, so I did.  Kind of stupid, but I was pretty happy that those were the only few minutes I walked the whole race.

After the race, we had some beers and, when the line died down, got some food, which promptly turned to ice.  It was really that cold.  We were outside for about 2-1/2 hours total, and I may never warm up completely.  Still, it was a fun day – I’m just glad I don’t have to do it again for another year!

Happy Saturday!

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

How important are book covers in getting you to read a book?

Not at all. Especially now that most of my reading is done on my Nook or Kindle. Even back in the day (ha!) when I bought more books or went to the library, covers never really swayed me. I do most of my easing based on recommendations from others, or I stick with an author I like.

I do kind of miss browsing the library shelves for something that just looks good, and reading for hours on the train. Since I started driving to work, my reading time has drastically decreased, and that’s something I need to work on.

Fashion! Turn to the Left.

Describe an outfit that makes you feel good. (It can be from any period of your life.) Double points if you post a picture of yourself in the outfit.

Take yourself back to 1991.  Put yourself in my shoes: I was a dork, there’s no other way to describe me.  I was in Honors classes, awful at gym, sang in the choir, never kissed a boy.  I wanted to be cool, I even hung out with cool kids (well, they were at least cool to me).  I tried to dress fashionably, to downplay my giant glasses and even giant-er buck teeth (braces would come shortly after).  I begged my thrifty mom to buy me name brand clothes, even though they weren’t cheap.

When I was in 7th grade, I had to interview someone for a project in the gifted and talented program, and I picked Patrick Kennedy, son of Ted Kennedy (further dork evidence).  My preparation for the interview including picking out what I considered to be the perfect outfit.  I put all of my “cool” clothes together.  I thought I looked awesome:

– blue Skidz short overalls (one strap down)

– black BUM Equipment tee-shirt

– brown boat shoes with the laces unties but ties into that curlicue thing

– black Chicago Bulls hat

Wa-La