I'm the winner of cards I can't play*

I had to do the "trash run" at work today.  This involves following a truck of material to the landfill and witnessing it go into the incinerator.  Super boring, but necessary for tax purposes.  

However, when I was whining to J that I had to do the trash run today, she thought I was talking about some modified run that was a good workout, but not so much a good run.  And...my new workout has been created.  I'm not sure if I want to thank J for this, or hate her with the fiery passion of a thousand suns (I suppose I should thank her).  Also, you lose cool points if you know where that quote is from.

But, my trash run has been created and will now be incorporated on my low mileage day (ha, who am I kidding, they're ALL low mileage right now...but hopefully that will be changing), which is usually a Wednesday or Friday.  

My plan so far:

Run .25 miles

Do 20 push-ups or 1 minute plank

Run .25 miles

Do 15 burpees

Repeat until completed the necessary miles.  So, on a 2 mile day, that would be 80 push-ups or 4 minutes of planks (or some sort of combinational type thing), and 60 burpees (plus 2 miles), and a 3 mile day would be 120 push-ups or 6 minutes of planks and 90 burpees (plus 3 miles).  

I think I did that math right.  And I may change it up and add in different exercises depending on the run.  But yeah, that's the basics.    

Talk about a trash run.  I'm sore just thinking about it.  

*Rachael Yamagata

And love, such a silly game we play*

My friend from college, C, is getting married this June.  And obviously, I'm excited for her wedding and I'm looking forward to going and celebrating with her.  However, she just upped my excitement level like ten fold with our conversation tonight.  

It started out as a random discussion, that somehow moved on to what I want to do in life (God who knows), and she started to say I should open a flower store (ugh, a small business owner is so not my calling in life), and then, she moved on from there to asking for my opinions on her flowers for her wedding.

She's not hiring a florist, she's ordering flowers from a wholesaler and is going to make her own stuff.  Here's the where the fun part comes in.  

She's never made bouquets or boutonnieres or centerpieces, so, I'm going to help show her how to do all this.  I'm going down to DC a few weeks before her wedding and we're going to do a few practice pieces and figure out what she likes/doesn't like, etc (and we have completely conflicting tastes in flowers, so I love trying to figure out what someone else will like).  So much fun!  

I love anything to do with picking flowers, arranging flowers, making things out of flowers (um...pretty much anything to do with flowers).  So, this is going to be a blast for me. And it will be fun to see what she comes up with as her final pieces.  

That totally made up for my terrible run today (my planned 5 mile run got truncated to 4.  It was just pathetic).  But now, all I can think about is flowers.  

While searching, I came across this, and I am currently in love:

I do love me some plumeria.

*Matt White

If you can't get behind your own life, get behind the driving wheel*

This weekend was one big snoozefest.  I did absolutely nothing that anyone would care to read about.  

Lets see, I babysat, I read, I slept, I finished a pair of socks, I filed my taxes (OMG what a fiasco that turned into), and I went to the grocery store.  

I live my life a mile a minute...I know you are all so jealous.  

However, after going to the grocery store (I had intended to only buy butter and broth, I walked out $100 later, with no broth.  ARGH), I did cook some food for dinner and lunch tomorrow.  It rocked.  

I present my yummy meal:

Ignore the plastic fork.  I ran out of clean regular ones (they only give me 4!).  Anyways, I had some salmon, green beans, and a squash/zucchini mix.  

Tomorrow, I am having the same thing (probably for lunch AND dinner).  It's annoying cooking for one person.  You always end up with so many leftovers.   

Anyways, yeah, I have done absolutely nothing exciting this weekend.  And, to wrap it up, I need to go get my laundry out of the dryer downstairs.  

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

*Ben Kweller

I want to ... melt ya down into something that I can take around in my pocket*

So, you know what one of my favorite things in the world is?  Flowers!

You know what I love even more?  

When someone else buys the flowers for me!

Look!  I got flowers and I love them!  

*Dan Mangan (such creepy lyrics I know)

For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide. Because you're mine, I walk the line*

I went running yesterday.  It sucked.

I was hungry when I got home from work (I didn't eat breakfast that day, and my lunch was pretty small).  I wanted to run on the trail, so I couldn't take time to eat and then run or else it would be too late to run there (park closes at sundown).  It was already later than I wanted, so I didn't stretch my knee enough before heading out (I'm slow, I was worried I wouldn't finish before sundown and my car would be locked in the park).  I forgot to bring gum to chew while running, which normally isn't a big deal b/c I keep packs in the car.  Except I'm not driving MY car.  Right.  I need gum.  Keeps me from hacking up phlegm all run (yummy thought I know), and keeps me from burping up food while I run as well (all these terribly yummy images I present here).

So, the actual running.  I got lightheaded about a mile and a half in from not eating enough before going.  Not having the gum caused all the above mentioned things to happen.  My knee bothered me A LOT on this run.  Never full out pain, but definitely twinges and this feeling that the pain was going to happen anysecondnow.  I was running super slow because of my knee and kept worrying I wouldn't make it back to my car in time.

But, you know what?  I ran the 4 miles, and that was 4 miles more than I had run earlier.  So what if it sucked?  Not every run is going to be awesome.  Some runs are just going to kick your ass, and make you feel like crap, but it's still a run and you still did it and that's what's important.  

I just have to remind myself of that sometimes.

*Johnny Cash

We got nothing to do, but when I look at you, I see something that I know and love*

Weekend Recap (because I know you really want to know).

Thursday /Friday

• I had to return my mom's car so I took Friday off.  I picked up a mirror for my older sister L in Delaware on Thursday night and ate dinner with J.  That was lovely.  
• I spent Friday with my mom.  We went to breakfast, and Target and shopping at Wegmans.  Three of my favorite things to do.  

Saturday

• My mom drove me up to L's house so we could drop off her mirror (which by the way, when I first saw it I thought it was the most hideous thing ever...but it's surprisingly growing on me) and so I could pick up D's car (I have the nicest brother in law!)
• We ate some yummy pumpkin pancakes for breakfast (and again for lunch). 
• I got to see my adorable nephews and niece.  Oh they're just so much fun.
• I went to Mike's house later in the day.  I had to give him his birthday gift and I was going to help him pack up his apt since he's moving this upcoming weekend.  
• We also went out to eat.  I had banana pancakes (it was a very pancake-y day).  
• I am the worst packing assistant ever.
• We decided to go get some beer to drink while packing.  Then we came back and Mike wasn't quite ready to start packing so we started watching TV.  Then we drank some Chimay beer (which is amazingly yummy).  Then, we drank some other beers that Mike had (I can't remember what they were, but I know the lager was good and I hated the ale).  
• Then Mike decided we should go to a bar and I agreed this was a great idea. 
• Then we came home and went to sleep.  
• No packing was done.  Best. Packing. Help. EVER.

Sunday

• Nothing much done on that day.  Mostly just driving home and sleeping.  I was tired.  

All in all, it was enjoyable weekend, even if it wasn't exactly what I planned.  :-)

*O.A.R.

A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes*

So, after the accident, what better way to cheer up than spending the afternoon with the family?

The ever adorable Baby V.

And the adorable Baby T, who isn't really a baby anymore but oh I don't want to stop calling her that yet.

So, this is pretty much the ONLY picture of Little J proving he was there that day.  But he was, and he had fun playing Nellie - or as he calls her, Elliot.

Little H, was a little closer.  He kept calling her Kellie.

Here's Little H, playing the drums like his uncle JP, however, Little H is even more talented.  He's playing the drums AND the castanets at the SAME time.  Total one man band.  

So, if you have to have an accident, I hope you at least have such great company (sisters and brothers-in-law are included in this great company, I just didn't really have any pictures of them) to hang out with afterwards to make you feel better.  :-)  

*Florence & The Machine

Cloud of DOOM!

I feel like crap today.  I feel like I have Dilbert's cloud of doom following me around since Saturday.  I'd kind of like to shake it off because it's giving me major nervous tummy.

• I had an accident on Saturday morning, which I am entirely at fault for, but it still pisses me off.  I was trying to avoid getting hit by a car, and instead hit a different car.  Sigh.  Should have just let the first guy hit me.  At least then he'd be at fault. 
• Poor Oscar was in the car with me and slammed his face into his crate door.  And initially I only noticed one cut on his nose, but it turns out he has a few more.  Although, to be honest, they appear to bother me more than they bother him.  (Worst Mom Ever). 
• My car was not driveable and had to be towed away to a body shop.  And my insurance doesn't cover car rentals.
• Luckily, my parents are in Italy right now, so I stole my mom's car.  I told her I was stealing her car so she didn't come home and freak out that her car was missing and have me arrested for Grand Theft Auto. 
• Unfortunately she comes back on Thursday, and I'm pretty sure my car will not be fixed by then.  Car rentals look like they will cost me about $200 for the following week.  Blah. 
• I am pretty sure they will not total my car, but until I find out for sure what's going, I'm feeling quite anxious.  Although I've been wanting a new car, this wasn't really how I wanted to go about getting it.  So, I'm going to just hope they decide to fix it (which again, I'm pretty sure they will). 
• I also just found out my brother in law has some sort of flu type thing, so maybe THAT'S the cause of my nervous tummy.  I hope not.  That would be even more cloud of doom!
• I also left my coat in Delaware while visiting my sister.  Sigh.  That's the SECOND coat in less than two weeks I've left somewhere not so easily accessible.  I'm cold. 

I want to be curled up in bed right now until that cloud goes away.  :-)

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends*

My friend JH and I are big dorks.  

We have this thing, where every other week one of us is responsible for sending the other one 4 articles/links for the week.  We have four topics:

• Politics/social issues 
• Math/Physics 
• Life Sciences
• Anything funny

Half the time, our Funny "articles" aren't really articles.  Just things we find online that are amusing (such as weird ads, or random pictures and quotes).  

One of my "funnies" was a picture of Keith Comstock's baseball card from the Las Vegas Stars.  Yeah, awkward.  I wonder who hated him enough to actually USE that picture for his card.

So, anyways, I hung out with JH on Friday night and New Brunswick, and she tells me she has a surprise for me.

That's right.  She FOUND the baseball card and bought it for me.  Gotta love that girl.

*The Beatles

I was thirsty so I drank, and though it was salt water, there was something 'bout the way, it tasted so familiar*

I have been having nervous tummy lately and I'm not such a fan.  It was really bad today.

I went for a run after work and this was the first time I've had to go to the bathroom mid run in a really long time.  I honestly didn't think I was going to make it back to the hotel (and oh my god that last hill almost killed me).  Then, I get back to the hotel...and I don't have to go anymore.  WTF?  

That's ok, the whole run kind of sucked anyways.  I usually really love running in the rain, but it just wasn't working for me today.  I just felt wet and wanted to be back home on my couch.  Lame.

Then, I had to do some laundry because my clothes were soaking wet from the rain and I didn't want that chilling out in my room until the weekend.  So, I shower, put on some sweats and a t-shirt, and head downstairs.  On my way, I run into this hot guy staying at the hotel.  I've seen him a couple times, but have never spoken to him in my life.  

I see him in the hallway and give him that hey, how are you smile, and he tells me my boobs are looking great today.  

Umm....???  Ok.  

First - I'm glad you think they look good, but who are you???

Second - I was wearing a sports bra and had the whole uni-boob thing going on.  Really?  THIS is what you think looks good?  

Third - WHY WOULD YOU SAY THIS TO SOMEONE YOU DON'T KNOW????

And now I shall end this on a cute note.  

I made Baby V a fuzzy vest.  But seriously, she's just so darn cute you barely even notice it in the picture.

*Josh Ritter

It looks as though you're letting go, and if it's real...well I don't wanna know*

I'm feeling kind of random today. 

This weekend I went to a party with a theme.  The theme was "Things you Geek Over".  Now, sadly, I geek over A LOT of stuff, but I figured my two biggest geek out moments occur when I see stuff with skulls and crossbones, or stuff relating to knitting. 

So, my outfit.  I ordered this shirt from cafepress.com (except mine is a v-neck):

Yes those are knitting needles for cross-bones.  I am as in love with this shirt as one can be with an inanimate object. 

I also bought myself a new running toy.

It's exciting.  I used it on my run yesterday, and while running I was impressed with it's ease of use and clear display.  But then, I got home and plugged it into my computer and uploaded the run info and TOTALLY GEEKED OUT at the awesome graphs, and elevation charts, and maps that I have of this run.  Seriously.  It's freaking awesome! 

If only I was good at running and had GOOD data to geek out over. 

Sadly, I am not, and therefore I do not.  But even bad data is fun to get excited about.  :-)

Um, I don't really have any other random stuff that I can actually share.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

*No Doubt

Nothing in between me and the rain*

I know I've been slacking on the whole posting thing, but don't worry, I've been pretty much slacking in ALL aspects of life.  Woohoo! 

I have been so tired lately, that all I want to do is sleep.  I haven't really been running, knitting, or really, anything else other than sitting on my couch or sleeping.  Hmm...with my exhaustion and weird new eating habits, I suppose I can understand why someone would think I was knocked up and I suppose I should forgive the annoying questions (They're still REALLY annoying...so STOP ASKING!).

However, today, I decided, I was sick of the whole being tired attitude.  Because seriously, I know if I just go out there and run, I tend to have A LOT more energy.  It's just this vicious cycle of not having the energy to run, and not having the energy to run because I'm not out there running.  Makes sense no?  (Shut it...it does).

Last week, when I was in Richmond I went back to my old park (the only thing that's not people related that I actually miss from there), and ran the trails.  Oh, how I miss trail running.  I miss the narrow paths with the obstacles, and the being careful not to fall in the lake, and the hills, and crazy terrain changes.  Running on the sidewalk is just so tame in comparison.  

Unfortunately, there aren't really any true trails around here, but there is the Perkiomen Trail which is basically a 40ish mile path (actually...longer because it connects to other paths) that runs near me (but I can only access it during daylight...so not an option during the week until it stays lighter a little longer).  While it's not a true trail, it's at least NOT a sidewalk and allows me to run under trees and away from cars.  So...the "trail" it is.

I am actually in training right now for a race, and the past two weeks of not running?  Yeah, that was supposed to be me building my base mileage.  Ha...Fail!  

So, this weekend was my first 4 mile run I had scheduled.  If I expect to be able to run this stupid race I'm training for, I had better actually, you know, TRAIN.  Yeah, I totally couldn't wait to get out there and attempt to run 4 miles after having run about 4 miles total in the past two weeks, but it's my fault for being a slacker. 

Lucky for me, it was raining.  I run SO MUCH BETTER in the rain than in any other weather.  So, I put together a new running playlist and layered up in my water weather clothing and headed out on the trail.  I get about a 1/4 mile down the trail, and see signs that the trail is closed in this direction until April 1.  Fantastic.   

So I turn back and run the other direction on the trail, which was actually really cool because it was gravel the entire time in that direction unlike the way I had intended to run which is paved for a while.  Gravel is always more fun than paved, and I'm so excited to realize that this is the way I should normally run.    

Thanks to the rain making me feel awesome, I did my 4 miles with basically no problems.  Um...being slow isn't a problem is it?  I was MUCH slower than I wanted to be, but I also ran VERY conservatively the first half b/c I was more concerned with getting the miles in, rather than worrying about how fast I got them done.  

I was SOAKED by the time I got back to my car (my clothes just couldn't repel anymore water after about 2 miles into the run), but I feel so much better and I'm so glad I went for the run.  I really needed it.  

I'm ALMOST ready for the week to start tomorrow :-)  

*Florence & the Machine

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer...

My dad scanned some pictures of my grandma the other day and emailed them to me. 

Everytime I see this picture I laugh. 

I love how she is wearing this...thing...on her head like it's nothing.  (Also, I was quite adorable as a kid). 

This picture just reminds me how awesome she was, and  how I always looked forward to her visits at Christmas more than I looked forward to actual Christmas Day.  She was special, and I still miss her.