Still it's a real good bet, the best is yet to come*

Good luck getting through this whole thing.  I'm apparently really boring. :)


What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
I went to Las Vegas.  Does that count? 

Did you keep your new year’s resolutions and will you make more for next year?
I hate resolutions.  I rarely make them.  I think I said something last year about cooking more, but meh.  Once I moved to DE, that went out the window. 

What countries did you visit?
The US and Costa Rica.  I had a decent amount of trips in the US this year, but only the one out of the country. 

What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
Um, I would like a new Garmin.  I didn't exactly LACK a Garmin this year, but I did for part of the year.  So I'm counting that. 

What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory and why?
November 4 - just because
What was your biggest acheievement of the year?
I don't know that I really had any big acheivements.  I guess finishing the half marathon with almost no training?

What was your biggest failure
Failing to train for the half marathon. 

Did you suffer illness or injury
Nothing major.

What was the best thing you bought
A Garmin.  I really miss it.  I also love my nightstand.

Whose behavior merited celebration
Um, all my friends?

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed
I really don't want to answer this.

Where did most of your money go
Savings, paying off my car, paying off credit cards, buying furniture, food.  You know, typical boring stuff.

What song will always remind you of 2011
Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO

Compared to this time last year are you (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer
Oy, I hate this question.  I don't recall how I felt last year, but I'm guessing I'm happier, same-ish, richer. 

What do you wish you’d done more of
I wish I had worked out more, cooked more once I moved to DE, and talked about things instead of letting them build up.

Did you fall in love in 2011
Oy, this question.  I fell in like a few times.  I'm still figuring it out. 

What was your favorite TV program
Chuck, NCIS, The Walking Dead. 

Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year
It's not worth my time to hate anyone.  I do dislike some people that I didn't last year, but hating is too much effort for them. 

What did you do on your birthday and how old were you
I turned 29, and went to Chicago with the Spazzoid.  Such a great birthday!

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011.
Still all about the comfort.  I wear a lot of jeans and kahkis and argyle.  I'm not exactly trendy.

What kept you sane
Running and drinking beer?

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most
Mila Kunis and Woody Harrelson.  Such a crush on both of them.

What political issue stirred you the most
Women's health and rights

Who did you miss
My friends from VA and my grandpa.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011
Keep smiling, even when you want to cry.  The moment will eventually pass. 

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year
I don't know where I'm going yet, but I sure am getting there

*Sinatra

And I wonder if everything could ever feel this real forever*

I went running for the first time since the half marathon. 

It was a cold, wet, rainy run.  Somehow, the rain worked against me and managed to fall directly in my eyes the entire time, no matter what direction I was facing, and I had way too many hills.

It was great to be back.   

Why yes, I do have a bedazzled skull and crossbones hat.  Thanks Santa!

*Foo Fighters

Told myself that you were right for me, but felt so lonely in your company*

Christmas Recap:

• I got the table!  I have never been so excited to receive a piece of furniture before, but, my sisters rock and got me the table for Christmas. My precious. 

• If I make Christmas gifts, I always have ONE gift that just kills me and refuses to go well.  This year, I only made ONE gift, and of course it was the one I have had nothing but issues with.  I made my mom some fingerless gloves.  Unfortunately, I somehow made them two different sizes.  Noticeably different sizes.  Sigh.  I let my mom pick the size she liked better and am currently making a third glove, that I have already had to restart twice (I'm an idiot that can't count apparently).  And, I get ALMOST done last night, and realized, I forgot to put a thumb hole in and I have to rip most of it back.  Sigh.  Stupid gloves. 
• The kids are SO FREAKING ADORABLE this year.  They were all so excited to open their gifts.  Little H acted like EVERY SINGLE GIFT was the BEST THING EVER.  Little J was so cute, going around saying how lucky he was to get SO MANY GIFTS, and Little T was just a cutie pie (and entirely amusing and full of Christmas cheer...).  Baby V was adorable, even if she didn't QUITE get the whole concept yet. 
• It seemed like a small group at my grandma's house this year, but still tons of fun.  I got some awesome knitting books from my aunts and an awesome Pug canvas from my uncle that I can't wait to hang up in my bedroom.  And, of course, it was so awesome just seeing everyone again.  Even though I live closer, I feel like I don't seem my family as often as I should. 

All in all, Christmas was awesome this year.  I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

*Gotye

Blah

I have been looking forward to today ALL week.  I was so excited for a day off, so excited to get stuff done around the house. 

Then, I woke up this morning with a horrible hacking cough and I feel like crap.  Sigh.  It's totally my luck. 

So, I am currently sitting on my couch, curled up in a ball, watching cheesy movies and cuddling with Oscar. 

Happy Holidays to everyone. 

All I want for Christmas is you*

A random Christmas meme, because, why not?

The Christmas song I can listen to even in June is...
Ugh, there is NO Christmas song I can listen to in June.  However, if it came down to picking my favorite Christmas song, it's a mix between the Carol of the Bells (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) or Baby It's Cold Outside (even with all the date rape creepiness associated with it).  She and Him actually have a great version of this song, where She sings all the traditional guy verses and He sings all the girl's parts.  I can't decide if that makes it more or less creepy...

Hot Chocolate, Egg Nog, or Mulled Wine?
So, I have no idea what mulled wine.  It is quite possibly my most favorite drink ever...but, in this question, I'm going with Hot Chocolate (although I do like Egg Nog, I just like Hot Chocolate much better). 

When do you put your decorations up?
It depends.  This year, I didn't put any decorations up (I am so bah humbug this year apparently).  However, I usually decorate the first or second week of December.

What are you having for Christmas dinner?
Not a clue.  Whatever my family makes.  My uncle usually makes the main dish (I forget if it's ham or turkey...) and we all bring pot luck side dishes.  Speaking of, I must figure out what I am bringing...

What is your favorite Christmas tradition?
My favorite tradition isn't really a tradition anymore (sad face). When my sisters and I were younger, we would always go to my grandparent's house with my dad on Christmas Eve (my mom and her mom would stay home and wrap gifts and be Santa).  While at my grandparent's house, Santa would make his first visit to our house and drop off our stocking gifts (we were totally the only kids good enough to have Santa visit us TWICE in one night....).  When we got home, we would go put on pajamas and unwrap the stocking gifts, and then usually it was bed time.  We continued this up until high school (although I stayed up much later as I got older....).  Now that my sisters are married, they spend Christmas Eve with their family, so we no longer have that tradition.  But I still miss it. 

Have you ever gone carol singing?
Is carol singing redundant?  It seems like it should be.  But anyway, no, I have never been caroling.  At least not that I recall. 

When did you learn the truth about Santa?
I'm not entirely sure.  I know I was pretty young.  I know my sister told me the truth (and got chewed out by mom for that one).  I think I was 3 or 4?

How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
I haven't had a big tree to decorate in a while because Oscar likes to drink the tree water (ugh, dumb dog), and actually gave himself pancreatitis one year.  And I despise fake trees (I have nothing against OTHER people having fake trees, I just personally don't like having them).  I used to buy table top size trees and decorate that (but I didn't even do that this year).  This answer is getting ridiculously long.  If I had a tree, and planned to decorate it, I would use colored lights, a star on top, and ornaments that I have been receiving from my family every year of my life (at least that I can remember).  I don't own any ornaments that were not given to me by family (I refuse to go buy any). 

What's the best thing about Christmas?
I really like my family.  They're some of my favorite people in the world.  They're why I'm as awesome as I am.  So, my favorite thing about Christmas is getting to spend a day with them (yes, I know, cheesy.  But true). 

All I want for Christmas is...
I don't think there is any ONE thing I MUST HAVE.  Just a bunch of stuff that would be nice to receive, but not a big deal if I don't. 

*Mariah Carey

Daytime friends and nighttime lovers, hoping no one else discovers*

Yesterday was my daddy's birthday, and like ALL good daughters, I left his gift and card at home when I went to see him, and I put him to work on my car (in the cold no less).  I pretty much made his day awesome.  :-)  (I seriously have the best dad.  He didn't even complain about any of this).  So happy birthday dad!  I love you!

**********

I went to two shows this weekend.  Friday, my sister J and I took my mom to see Kenny Rogers.  We won't discuss the drive there (ugh, Friday rush hour in PA SUCKS), but once we got there, I was SUPER STOKED to see Kenny.  Embarassingly stoked.  :-)

The concert was a lot of fun, but Kenny is definitely getting old.  (His fans are as well.  Man, those 70 year old ladies get super rowdy with the catcalling for him). I still can't decide if he was purposely shortening songs or if he just forgot the verses.  But he seriously changed the entire meaning of his Coward of the County song by leaving out two verses.  Instead of the guy defending his girlfriend/wife/whatever she is from the bad guys, he is the asshole that just randomly picks fights in a bar.  I was upset. 

I ALSO realized that as a kid, the meanings of his songs went right over my head.  I was listening to the lyrics, and he sings about some dysfunctional ladies!  The one lady is having an affair with her husband's best friend, Ruby is cheating on her paralyzed husband, Lucille is leaving the guy with 4 hundred children and crops in the field (apparently this was a misheard lyric that my sisters and I all thought he was saying).  I definitely was not aware of this as a kid. 

Then, Saturday evening, I went and saw JP's band at some dive bar in Delaware.  That was also quite enjoyable, in an entirely different way. :)

**********

So, all in all, I had a great weekend.  :)  Hope everyone else did too!

*Kenny Rogers (seriously, how did I not realize they were having an affair?  I just kind of thought they were daytime friends and nighttime lovers without the whole cheating part).

I promise I'm worth it*

Happy Things:

• We baked a million cookies last Saturday.  They are so yummy.  I brough them to work today.  Everyone loved them. :-)

• The same day as the run in with my stalker, I went to WAWA and some random guy paid for all my stuff and walked away.  So nice of him.  So, I paid for some random persons drinks at Starbucks. 
• I cleaned my house today.  I dont know when it happened, but I randomly became a semi-neat person.  (Still never spotless in my house, but I get upset when things aren't where they should be).  Anyone that knows me should also know that this is a complete 180 from where I was about a year and a half ago.  Craziness. 
• J and I are taking my mom to see Kenny Rogers tomorrow night for her Christmas gift.  I'm secretly actually really excited about this and he had BEST play The Gambler (haha, I can't believe I like Kenny Rogers). 
• I have the greatest friends.  I came home from work today, and SH had sent me a She and Him Christmas CD for a Christmas gift.  So awesome (seriously, I am SOOOO excited for this).   

So, anyways, November brought the suck, but December has been turning it around. 

*Adele

But I've got no secrets that I babble in my sleep*

So, my crazy, stalker neighbor is back. 

I woke up this morning looking a bit like a crack whore.  Apparently, I fell asleep last night before washing my makeup off (I had more makeup than normal on because I had to go to a work party), and my eye liner and mascara had smudged just a bit.  (And by just a bit, I'm not exaggerating when I say I looked entirely cracked out). 

I didn't have time to wash my face when I woke up, Oscar was begging to go out.  So, I figured, meh, whatever.  I dont care. 

I take him outside, and realize, crap, I REALLY need to rake the lawn, and this was basically the only weekend I had available until next year.  So, I brought Oscar inside and started raking (still in my pajamas and entirely unwashed). 

It was early enough, I figured nobody would see me, and seriously, who do I have around here that I care about impressing? 

Not even ten minutes later, the neighbor's door opens and he comes bounding out on to the front porch to "smoke" a cigarette (seriously, he practically jumped out the door and then lit the cigarette but never actually brought it too his mouth).  I do my best to not look in his general direction and ignore him (kind of hard when your yard is the size of a postage stamp). 

THEN, he walks over to me and starts helping me put my leaves in a bag.  So, I honestly would LOVE the help, but seems like a bit of a jerk move to let him help as I continue ignoring him.  I tell him I really didn't need the help, but I appreciated it anyway, and he won't stop!  Ugh.

Then, he tells me that I'm looking not so pretty this morning, but that's ok, he'll get over it because he likes me anyway (um...thanks?).  He keeps trying to ask me out and where I had been for the last week or so.  I finally said that I had been on vacation with a guy I was dating (yes, I lied, and I have no shame...) and he gets quiet for a second and then says.  Oh, well I bet it's not serious, and even if it is, you can still go out and date me. 

WTF??? 

So, the lie gets deeper...and I say, no, we agreed to not see anyone else.  He, stops and thinks a bit, and says, well you didn't sign any paperwork right?  You can still go on a date with me and he'll never know.  (A- what paperwork??? B- ARE YOU KIDDING ME???)

Ok, ass.  I already disliked you, now I hate you even more because you are actively encouraging me to cheat (Ok, granted, I had nobody to actually cheat on...but you still shouldn't be encouraging it!!!!).  Ugh.  So, he spends the next twenty minutes trying to get me to go on a date with him. 

I FINALLY finished the lawn and tried to head inside and he kept insisting I stay out and hang out with him.  I managed to get away, but seriously.  He sucks.  I'm so ready for him to move out (crossing fingers he really leaves at the end of December). 

Luckily, the rest of my day rocked and hung out with Bug.  Definitely an improvement :-)

*Missy Higgins

Now I know that I’m not, all that you've got. I guess that I, I just thought maybe we could find new ways to fall apart*

Oscar = Biggest pain in the ass. 

I picked him up at my mom and dad's the night I returned from Las Vegas.  He was fine.  Very excited to see me, very active and just happy.  We go home, go to bed, and wake up the next morning to him not wanting to eat and kind of just groaning when I picked him up. 

I put him in his crate for the day and decided to just keep an eye on him for the next day or two and figure out if he was really hurt/sick or just being a drama queen (he has his moments).  I got home that night and he ate and while not completely back to normal, seemed somewhat better. 

Yesterday, I wake up, and again, he's refusing to walk down stairs and eats insanely slow and doesn't seem too interested in going for his morning walk.  Again, I put him in his crate, figuring he wasn't sick, just hurting a bit, and this would keep him from moving around too much and hurting himself even more.

I get home from work, he seems ok.  Not normal, but better.  So, I head over to my sister's for dinner and babysitting.  I get home a few hours later and let him out of his crate, and he falls over then can barely stand and is whimpering.  Ok then.  To the emergency vet we go. 

Of course, we get there, and the dumb dog decides he's fine.  He actually manages to RUN away from the nurse when she is trying to see him stand, and is acting like there is nothing wrong.  She walks out of the room, and he goes back to quivering in pain and whimpering.  Seriously dog?  Are you trying to make me look like an overreacting idiot?

The doctor comes in, and he goes back to acting like nothing is wrong.  Until of course, the doctor starts examining his back, and Oscar freaks out and yelps (sounded like a stuck pig, I felt awful) and is writhing in pain (ugh, I felt so awful). 

So, apparently, he has a similar issue from a few years ago.  He has a protruding disc in his spine (luckily, it didn't rupture this time, like it partially did last time, so no paralysis of the hind legs to worry about) and is just in pain.  He's on pain meds and cage rest for the week (which he is obviously already hating), but should hopefully be ok. 

But seriously, can he go for a whole year without having any major issues?  That would be fantastic. 

*FUN. - LOVE this song.  Such a fun song. 

If I could blink if I could breathe If I could get my legs to move*

I have some pictures this time!  (Not many, Blogger is being a pain in the butt, and I don't feel like fighting it anymore).  But, you can have some!

This trip has been so nice not being at work for a whole week.  Sadly, I did NOT win big at Vegas, but I had fun nonetheless.  :-)  I never really managed to get on Vegas time the whole week I was here, so I was passing out by 1 or 2 every night, and waking up around 7 every morning.  I was definitely living the wild life here.  :-) 

But, I did manage to get a picture or two of the Strip at night.  (Also, I STILL giggle like a 12 year old boy everytime anyone says "The Strip".  I apparently will never grow up.  :-) 

I love the New York New York Casino.  Especially at night.  So pretty and reminded me of home. 

The Venetian is also really pretty, but just made me feel and like I was going to break something just looking at it.  Way too luxurious for me, but still very pretty to look at.  (I can't get the inside pictures to load, sorry, they're much prettier). 

Then, the real reason we were here.  The dreaded half marathon.

I have done a few of the Rock and Roll Half Marathons and I feel like this one was the most disorganized run I have ever been in.  They had WAY too many people and not enough volunteers or space to run.  They freaking ran out of water at some of the water stops (luckily, it wasn't hot, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been), and even worse, they ran out of finisher medals.  They gave me a full marathon medal instead and I was kind of pissed.  I didn't run the full marathon, I ran the half marathon.  What am I going to do with a full marathon medal that I didn't really run??

And, this was in no way under their control, but the weather kind of sucked.

However, here I am at the starting line, headlamp and everything.  Also, majorly nervous for this race.  (Yeah, the picture sucks, it was dark out, and the flash on my phone doesn't work in self-portrait mode). 

The first nine miles of the race were actually kind of nice.  As I said before, there were WAY too many people, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it kept me at a slow pace, as opposed to my normal sprint starts and subsequent dying a few miles later.   And, surprisingly, I was able to run the first 9 miles relatively easily (HUGE shock, since my longest training run was only about 8 miles and it was the worst feeling ever). 

HOWEVER, mile nine began to bring the suck. 

There was a water stop at mile 9, and I stopped to walk through it (I walked through all the water stops, it's too hard to run and drink for us clumsy people).  It also got about 10 degrees colder in the span of a minute, and began a light, icy rain.  And my legs held a mutiny.  My legs were so cold, and my muscles were tightening up by the second.  Then, my hamstrings cramped up and REFUSED to run.  I couldn't even get them to shuffle slowly. 

I promised myself I would walk a mile and then run again.  Yeah, that did not happen. 

So, I was kind of disappointed.  My first ten miles, I was on track for about a 2:55-3:00 finish time (which while not fantastic, is still pretty freaking good for me).  Then, after mile ten, it took me AN HOUR to go the last 3.1 miles.  (Considering I was walking and "hobbling" the last three miles, I guess an hour isn't terrible, but still such a disappointment to have such an epic meltdown). 

I did manage to shuffle/jog my way the last mile and actually picked up my feet the last tenth of a mile to cross the finish line.  (Only to find out they didn't have any medals).  They are supposedly mailing me a half marathon medal, but still.  Kind of sucky. 

I then got a mylar blanket (thank goodness...at that point I was wet and freezing) and my picture taken (I'm ready to laugh at how awful I must look in that picture, I felt so dead at that point).  I then had to walk about half a mile to the gear check area to get my dry clothes and meet up with K and Figgs (which while awful at the time, was actually nice, because it kept me from sitting down right away and cramping up even more). 

I get to the gear check and seriously, Figgs is the best person to go to a race with.  He finished almost an hour earlier than me, and had gone and bought us a bottle of champagne to celebrate with.  Fantastic.  :-) 

Then, it took us almost 2 hours to get back to the room due to the huge number of people and lack of shuttles as promised (stupid race organizers). 

But, even with my terrible last three miles, I managed to eek out a PR at 3:27.  Not exactly happy with my time, but seriously, for the lack of training I had, I shouldn't complain.  :-) 

Sadly, I go back home tomorrow, and back to work on Wednesday.  Sad face. 

*Phantom Planet - This song came on around Mile 11 and was the only thing that kept me walking at that point.