Obligatory Year End Survey/Review

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


What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before?
 So I filled an entire U-Haul truck with my belongings.  I've never done that before.  Not sure if that's a good thing or not...but it happened. 

Did you keep your new year’s resolutions and will you make more for next year?
So I specifically remember saying I hate resolutions and I never make them.  So, no, pretty sure I didn't make any last year.  But this year, I think my resolution is to step outside my comfort zone and do things I wouldn't normally do.  We'll see how that goes. 

What countries did you visit?
I went to Austria, Czech Republic, and Hungary.  Such an awesome trip. 

What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
I hate the way this is worded.  I feel like lack has such a negative connotation.  Just because I didn't have something doesn't mean I was lacking...

Having said that, I have no idea.  I've been trying to get rid of stuff in my life.  I don't really know what I want to bring into it. 

What dates from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory and why?
March 8 was kind of shitty. 

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I applied for a job I didn't think I had any chance of getting, and actually got it. 

What was your biggest failure
Failing to run the half marathon in Seattle.  I'm still pretty pissed about that. 

Did you suffer illness or injury
I feel like each month I've had a horrible cold/allergy attack.  It's been pretty obnoxious. 

What was the best thing you bought
My car.  I love love love love it.  The mattress and couch are close seconds. 

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 for a car, buying furniture, food, taking care of my dumb ass dog. You know, typical boring stuff.

What song will always remind you of 2012
Sadly, it will be Call Me Maybe.  But not because I liked it or anything, just because it was ALWAYS on. 

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 sadder, same-ish, richer.

What do you wish you’d done more of
I wish I had worked out more, made smarter choices, and talked about things instead of letting them build up.

Did you fall in love in 2012
Oy, this question.  Yes.  Didn't exactly work out well, thanks for bringing it up again.

What was your favorite TV program
How I Met Your Mother and Game of Thrones.  I don't really watch TV that much anymore. 

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 30 and had a fantastic birthday weekend!  This included a crazy happy hour after work, a visit from RR, a random trip to Atlantic City, some labor day parties and a Bruce Concert.  Fun times. 

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012.
Still all about the comfort. I wear a lot of jeans and khakis and argyle. I'm not exactly trendy.

What kept you sane
Running and drinking beer and knitting at times?

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

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012
You can't force something that isn't meant to be. 

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

Happy Christmas!

This was the closest I could get to fitting everyone into one shot (still a fail).  However, I love Christmas with the family! 

Hope everyone had a fantastic day!

Self portraits by Little V

I am trying to post some of the pictures from my phone because it's acting screwy and these are ones I'd like to still have anything happens (I'm too lazy to actually sit and transfer everything off my phone).

Anyways, when I visit Little V, she likes to sit with me and take pictures together.  She really loves the self portrait mode. 

I thought this one turned out pretty cute.

Christmas cookies!

We made christmas cookies this weekend.

J and her friends have a really nice tradition where they get together around christmas and everyone brings some sort of cookie dough and they spend the day baking and decorating cookies and drinking wine.

I have kind of glommed onto the group and have been lucky enough to join the last two years.

You gotta love all the cookies...

Oh, Oscar

Apparently Oscar and I just can't consider it a new home unless we find the emergency vet for an overnight visit. 

Survival of the fittest just doesn't apply to him. 

Luckily, he's doing much better, and instead, I'll post this funny picture from this past weekend. 

He's kind of ridiculous looking.  :)

It's like crack!

I went on a crafting spree today when I got home from work (yes, I know, I worked on a Sunday).  I finished gifts for Little V and Ferb that I completely forgot I had started.  I finished a hat that I had started before moving and got 3/4 of the way done before realizing it was too small (it is perfect this time...), and I made L her Christmas gift. 

Then, I really wanted to knit something with super chunky yarn that would be finished quickly.  Luckily, JH gave me some awesome yarn last Christmas that was a perfect fit.

Yay pretty hat that I finished in about 3 hours (some of that time was actually spent cooking dinner so only about two hours of actual knitting). 

Unfortunately, I feel like knitting that hat was just like giving crack to an addict.  I don't want to stop with the chunky yarn and the knitting and making things.  Sadly, I have to go to work tomorrow and I really should get some sleep tonight.  (stupid job always interferes with what I want to do).

So I'll just look at the pretty hat and think about all the other hats and gloves and knitted things I could be making.

You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel

Moving right after Thanksgiving kind of took the Christmas spirit out of me.  I didn't want to do any Black Friday shopping because I didn't want to have to move anything I bought.  I didn't really do any holiday knitting last month, because it was all packed.  And then, once I got in my new place and unpacked, the last thing I wanted to do was unpack my Christmas stuff and decorate.

Bah Humbug to you too.

So, I decided to stop being Scrooge McScrooge (extra emphasis on my Scrooge levels there) and I bought a tree on my way home today.  I still can't buy a big tree because I have a moronic dog that tries to kill himself with it (survival of the fittest theory doesn't explain how my dog is still alive). 

ANYWAYS,

TA-DA!

My Charlie Brown Table top Christmas Tree decorated with the finest ornaments my nieces and nephews could make me (with a few Pirate themed ornaments and other random ones thrown in there). 

I just like that it looks kind of festive in that corner of the room, and my grinch heart grew at least 1 size this day.  :) 

*How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Football

I still love my Eagles, even when they suck.  I just wish they were a little better...

But, I took my parents to the MNF game against the panthers for their christmas gifts.  I actually had a really good time even though we lost (ugh, seriously, we lost to the freaking panthers...)

It was my mom's first professional game so I just wish we could have won to make it even better.

Isn't she super cute?

Grrr!

I am feeling all full of impotent rage at Comcast.  So angry!  Grrr!  (I'm shaking my fists in rage right now as I am saying Grrr).

So, instead of dealing with Mr. Jerkyface on the phone that I just hung up on (literally the first time in my life I have ever hung up on someone for real), I will show pictures of my kitchen and dining room (the other rooms are still a work in progress with decorating so you have to wait for those).

The darker picture is the dining room.  The other two are the kitchen.And the one is a picture of my new clock in the kitchen that I pretty much love.  I attempted to put them in order and blogger said no.  Sorry.

Fun times.

Super tired...

So I moved Saturday with some help from my amazing family and friends.

Unpacked Sunday. 

I am going to IKEA Monday for a few items (no dad, I apparently didn't have enough furniture).  And building the furniture then relaxing on Tuesday.

Just in time to go back to work on Wednesday.

Sigh. 

Hopefully I can post some pictures before then.  I'm happy with it so far.  Just need to figure out what kind of pictures to hang up!

(And make my dad come visit again to help hang up some of the bigger items)

Genius!

So I kind of fell off the face of the earth there. 

I just have to say, whoever thought moving and starting a new job at work at the same time was a genius.  Genius. 

I'm slightly overwhelmed at the moment.  I'm working my new job and still covering my old job, which means I'm working an average of 12-14 hour days.  And while I don't really LIKE doing that, it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't live over an hour away from work and needed to also pack up my entire house to move this Saturday. 

Like I said.  Genius!

But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  I move Saturday and then I will only be about ten minutes from my job.  I was contacted to be on the interview panel for my old job, which means they posted the job and eventually plan to hire someone to take my place, so these 14 hour days will eventually stop.  And, all this packing and cleaning and heavy lifting has been a great work out (which is awesome since I've sucked at the whole going to the gym thing lately).  Also, I threw out a crap ton of stuff (I'm not really sure how I have anything left to pack) so yay fighting my hoarder tendencies!

Anyways, hope everyone is still doing well!  I probably won't remember to post again until after the move, so happy thanksgiving ¡

Don't pay no mind to the demons, they fill you with fear.*

My arms are covered in bruises.  I apparently am an idiot that doesn't know how to walk through a doorway at work with out walking into a door knob.  But seriously, they hurt.

I am in charge of putting together our monthly recognition meeting at work.I actually got a recognition this month.  Which I discovered when I had to include my write up in the presentation.  Just a little awkward/weird.

I move in about three weeks.  It's kind of freaking me out how quickly thats coming and how ready I am not.  Ugh, packing this weekend.

Yay elections are done!  Seriously, I don't think I could have handled one more political ad or post on facebook.  I find it makes me judge my friends very negatively when we have differing political views (or at least the ones that posted statements saying "only stupid people support so and so").  But, yay! They're done!

I have a super cute new second (first? Not really sure?) cousin.  I haven't met him yet, but from the pictures alone I just want to pinch his cheeks and squee at how cute he is.

Not too much else going on.  I'm spending a lot of time working lately (I'm currently doing my old job and new job and it takes a lot of time to do two full time jobs).  I miss sleeping.

Hope everyone else is having a fantastic week!

*Philip Philips (or something like that)

Longwood Gardens

J and I took Little V and Ferb to the botanical gardens today. 

Ferb and I bonded a bit more.  And by that, I mean he pretty much fell asleep on me all day.  What a cutie pie. 

It was a great day with my sister and both her kids.  They're all so much fun to hang out with. :)

Sandy Aftermath

The worst part of the storm for me was trying to convince Little O he wanted to go to the bathroom outside, and not on my kitchen floor.  (I don't completely blame him, his legs are only 3" long, and at some points the water was at least 2" deep outside). 

The wind and the water didn't do too much damage to my place.  The basement flooded and I had some boxes that got soaked.  But, on a positive note, I was needing to go through them and throw most of them out anyway before moving, so this is kind of the impetus I need to actually dispose of them. 

My family is ok.  My friends are ok.  Nothing was lost that can't be replaced.

But the devastation of the storm elsewhere is heartbreaking.  It saddens me to see the Jersey Shore so decimated.  I grew up going on vacations there in the summer.  I have so many memories of being down there, and seeing pictures of how it looks now makes me want to cry. 

Same for New York.  New York is my home.  I know I didn't live up near there for very long, but everytime I go visit, I get this sense of being home.  It's where I belong.  And even though I'm not there now, I constantly am looking to move back. 

I'm glad all my friends up there made it through the storm and nobody lost anything that can't be replaced, but it breaks my heart to see so many things destroyed like that. 

J and I took the kids to the park a few weeks ago.  They're so adorable.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...

The past few months I've been in kind of a rut, and it's been wearing on me.  I'm not unhappy or anything, but I'm not as happy and optimistic as I usually am.  I feel tired all the time (ok, that's more to do with how low my iron count has been lately, but still, I include it in there).  I can't seem to get motivated to go running or go to the gym (oh, hey, I finally joined one), and I just feel pretty blah. 

Cue the changes coming.

Change 1:

I love the house I live in.  The only three things I don't love about it are the neighbors (ugh, that's a whole post on its own), having to do lawn work (seriously, DESPISE mowing the lawn even if it is the size of a postage stamp), and the commute.  I live 35 miles from work.  It takes anywhere from 50-90 minutes to get to work in the morning, and 70-120 minutes to get home in the evening.  That's a minimum of  2 hours in my car every day.  (Could possibly explain why I'm so tired all the time?).  Like I said, I love living here, I love living near my sister and her family, but, I can't do this commute for another year. 

So, I found an apartment in West Norriton (basically Norristown), 7 miles from work.  I don't move till November 26, but I'm looking forward to the shorter commute.  I still plan to come to DE as often as I can, but at least I won't be making this drive every day. 

Change 2:

I applied for a new position in my company that would be a promotion.  I honestly had no expectations of actually getting the position, and figured it was a waste of my time, but I needed to do something new, so why not. 

I got a call on Friday afternoon, and they made me the offer.  I was flabbergasted (although eventually recovered enough to accept).  So, starting Monday, I get a pay raise and a new title.  Yay me?

This leads to Change 3:

I am signing up to take the GMATs in January and going back to school next fall for my mba.  I'm still researching doing a local school, or just taking an online program.  I haven't made up my mind  yet, but I still have time to decide.  Either way, it will be applicable for our company's education reimbursement, and I really need to take advantage of it. 

So I'm starting here, and we'll see where it goes. 

Random wedding cake

This will be a super random post. 

I read www.cakewrecks.com all the time.  I love that site.  It's amazing how badly a cake can be messed up.

However, every Sunday, they do all their "pretty cake" posts.  This past Sunday was rainbow cakes. 

I in no way am planning to get married, or ever really need this cake.  But just in case I completely lose my mind and decide to get married, I want THIS cake.

I love everything about it.

The rest of the cakes are also amazing, you should check them out here. 

Smiling's my favorite

I'm super tired today, and acting a bit grumpy, so a list of random things making me smile today:

I stopped by J's house on the way home to pick up some knitting I left there, and she totally fed me some super yummy dinner that was much better than anything I was planning to make.

I got to hold Ferb tonight (and all afternoon yesterday as well).  God, I adore that little baby.  He's so cute, even when he's fussy.  And I like to pretend that I'm giving his mommy a break from him, so it's like a win/win. 
Little V is also freaking adorable.  She is definitely in her toddler stage and is very opinionated about pretty much everything, but, I feel like everyday I see her, she gets more and more fun to be around.

I made a hat for Little H when he was born, but he absolutely hated the hat bc it wasn't cotton (it was baby alpaca), so it never got worn.   Ferb appears to be content wearing it (he even wore it for his birth announcement picture).  Always fun to see stuff you made get worn.

Speaking of, JP STILL wears the hat I made for him years ago (not sure how long ago, I know I was still living in Virginia at the time).

We spoke to L on the phone tonight.  I hadn't heard her voice in a few weeks, so that was nice. (waah, I still miss you L!).

Oscar had been super cuddly with me today.  I missed him this weekend.  Glad he missed me too.

So...I have plenty to smile about today.   What's making you smile today?

That's how you do food at a wedding

My phone broke again last week.  I went almost an entire week without a phone.  It was awful.  How did I ever survive without a cell phone?  I mean, there was a good 18 years of my life where I didn't have one.  What did I do without instant knowledge at my fingertips???

On a completely seperate note.  A friend of mine got married this week and I went to her wedding in Queens.  The food there was INSANE. 

It started out with a dead pig on our table.  Just look at it's little face (ok, not gonna lie, the sliced up dead pig kind of disconcerted me at first, but it was yummy nonetheless).

  





 Then, there were all sorts of other courses.  Like abelone:

 

And dried scallops in sea weed

 

And, some other fish we never identified





 

Some lobster in butter

Some octopus and squid in veggies and some weird fried crab claw thing

Sashimi!

 

And, what I THINK was shark fin soup, which I didn't eat.

Then, there was the pasta with crab meat

 



 

 

And the sticky rice under the whole crabs (oh  my god the sticky rice was amazing)

 

 

And some beef. 

 

Then, there was the cake, but I didn't manage to get an actual picture.  But it was green tea and chocolate ganache.  Amazing.

 

I wish I could have managed to eat more of everything, but seriously, I only managed about a bite or two of each because the food just kept coming.  So insane. 

 

Arrrr!

Ahoy mateys! 

It's talk like a pirate day, and I've pretty much exhausted my pirate vernacular with my post title and opening statement. 

I hope everyone else is doing a better job than I am! 

There's always room for JELLO

I really wanted pudding.  Apparently so did everyone else in Delaware.

Elephants and Shot Glasses

The elephant in my dining room.

I love this thing.  It's so fun.  

And, the shot glass case.

I need a second one.  I have too many shot glasses.  Luckily, my mom is getting another one made for me for Christmas. :)

Super bored

I'm sitting in the parking lot of my doctor's office because google maps said it should take about an hour and a half to get here, and it definitely was not that long (I go to a dr that was closer to the hotel I was living in, than my house.  Since I only come here once a year, wasn't worth changing). 

Anyways, I have about half an hour to sit here before heading in.  sigh. 

I don't really have a cohesive post, just some random thoughts.

_________________________________________

I heard the best/worst pick up line my birthday weekend, and I totally fell for it.  I was walking down the street back to my car with RR, and I was carrying my purse and keys not paying attention.  Some guy ahead was like, oh wait!  You dropped something.  I stopped and looked down and he finished with, you dropped my heart. 

It totally got me.  I love cheesy pickup lines, and that was just gold. 

_________________________________________

I invited my parents over for dinner on Saturday.  I made jambalaya (one of the few dishes I think I do really well).  I went to Home Goods with my mom (my dad stayed home with Oscar).  I bought a green elephant for my dining room.  I really like it.  It's silly looking.  I sadly don't have any pictures, but next post I'll include some. 

I also put my dad to work (don't I always?).  I have a shot glass case that I have been wanting to hang up since I moved in, but didn't have the tools I needed.  So daddy hung that in my dining room (it looks awesome) and a starburst mirror in my living room.  Again, pictures later. 
_________________________________________

FOOTBALL!  I feel like that should be all I need to say there. 

But of course it isn't. 

I'm so excited fantasy football has started again, but I'm a little concerned my one team may have peaked in the first week, and the other team is pretty bad. 

Seriously, I love football season. 

And some more randomness

I have the freaking cutest friends ever.  SL went on vacation and gave me a heads up to check my mail.  

She freaking bought me yarn in Iceland.  How awesome is she????  It's so pretty!!!  

________________________________________________

I managed to break every single pair of casual sunglasses I owned last week.  I have 4 pairs.  I broke EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.  I had to wear my ugly running ones (the ones that make me look RIDICULOUS).  It was a sad week for me.  

I did find a new pair that are somewhat decent, and bought those.  But I really need some new glasses.  

___________________________________________________

I spent MORE money this past weekend and bought a new mattress and boxspring.  So, in the past three months I have purchased a car, a sofa, a computer, and now a mattress.  I'm pretty sure I have run out of big expensive things to buy (I'm not buying a house anytime soon, so don't worry about that).  

I really didn't want to buy the mattress yet, but I've been waking up super sore every day for the past month now, and I finally caved.  I really needed a new one.  

On a fun note, I was totally Goldilocks while buying the mattress.  I went to the store and requested a firm mattress.  I lay down on the first one and it was way too firm.  Like sleeping on wooden slats.  Then, he had me lay on the second one.  My butt sunk in like 8 inches.  Way too soft.  

Then, the third one was JUST right.  So I bought it.  Go me. 

Happy Birthday to me!

I turned 30 on Labor Day.  Since I was turning old, I decided to embrace the birthday and just have fun.  

I started with happy hour on Thursday with a bunch of work friends.  People at work like me!  They showed up! (Or they just like alcohol...either way).  

Then, RR came to visit me for the weekend, and we took a random trip to Atlantic City at 1 in the morning.  Always fun.

I picked L up the next night from the airport, and then, on my actual birthday, we had a family dinner and BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN!!!!    

Such an amazing birthday weekend.  

Keeping Ferb warm

I FINALLY finished Ferb's baby blanket.  This thing was a beast to make.

I had up to 17 balls of yarn attached to this blanket at one time (16 of them were continuously on there).  It was ridiculous.  

You can kind of see all the strands of yarn heading towards the middle of the couch cushion (I kept all the balls of yarn stuck between my sofa cushions to try and keep them from tangling as much).

So, here it is all finished.

And, just some gratuitous cuteness.

I LOVED this blanket and really wanted one for myself.  But seriously.  I will never make this thing again.  It was a beast and I don't really like myself enough to spend the time making it.

Boring randomness

• I  went for a run today.  It was not the best.  I had a fight with myself taking both sides for the last mile.  My legs were tired, my calf and hamstrings never loosened up, and I just wanted to stop.  So, I spent the last mile telling myself, just make it to that next tree, then you can stop.  And immediately after that, saying god dammit, stop whining and keep running (I was probably a little meaner and used some nastier language than that).  It was an interesting ten minutes.  But, at least I didn't stop.  And now I'm sore.  Annoying.

• I was cleaning over the weekend and came across all my old CDs and I decided I may as well get rid of them since I never listen to CDs anymore.  I was looking through them and found some old mix CDs from college and I decided to combine them all into one playlist on Rhapsody.  I apparently had a weird appreciation for Ja Rule, Phish, and Catch 22 back in the day (most random mix ever).

• I saw Batman over the weekend.  It was really long and drawn out and I had such issues with the whole point.  I kind of felt like the explanation for why this was all going on was so lame.  It was like the bad guy woke up one day and decided to be a dick.  However, other than that, it was good.  Just a little too long.  

Time for a change

So I caught a whim that I needed to cut my hair.  And it needed to happen RIGHT NOW! 

Amazingly, it did not go as badly as I feared.

Little V and Ferb

Ok last picture of the baby for a while (but seriously, these two are just so cute)

Can you handle the cuteness?

Because it is absolutely killing me. :)

Squeeee!

SQUEEEE!!!!

I have a new nephew!!!   He's perfect!

L is planning to call him Ferb on her blog.  I contemplated calling him Phineas on mine, but figured most people wouldn't get it.  So, Ferb it is. 

I can't wait to meet him!

Go USA

Um, so, yeah.  The Olympics. 

I'm a bit distracted.

That is all...

Random ramblings I doubt anyone will really care about

Work has been super frustrating lately for many reasons and I find that the last thing I want to do when I get home is post anything.  Because that requires thinking, and writing, and not feeling so stressed or stabby or just all around not so bitchy.  I'm finding this difficult.

However, I will share one of the things making me happy lately (did anyone guess it was food related?  Because it's food related).

I am slightly obsessed with coconut and almond milk.  I used to like the vanilla flavored almond milk, but now I can't stop drinking the coconut one. 

Anyway, pretty much since the first time I have had my blood tested (at age 17), I have been pretty badly anemic.  I was super close to requiring a transfusion about a year ago because my iron was so low.  Iron supplements don't really work for me (all they really do is make me sick) and I have tried like a million different types.  So, I have to load my diet with as much iron as I can (yum...beef...)

Unfortunately, I can only eat so much beef in a week, so...enter spinach and beans and other not as good sources of iron.  I go through a crap ton of spinach every week.  And seriously, there is only so much of that you can eat every week.

So...I'm finally getting to my point here...green smoothies!

I have become obsessed with putting spinach in a liquid form and getting anywhere from 1-2 cups of spinach a day without actually tasting it.  And having a super tasty breakfast while I'm at it.

My favorite recipe is super easy:

a little more than a cup of coconut almond milk

A cup and a half of frozen strawberries and bananas (if not frozen, you have to add ice)

And 1-2 cups of baby spinach

Blend all together in the blender until you get a nasty green/brown looking mixture (it looks disgusting, not gonna lie). 

But man, it is my favorite breakfast lately, and I am seriously obsessed.

So pretty

So...

I went a little insane this weekend and bought a new car. 

It's awesome...

But even the sun sets in paradise*

It's been brought to my attention that I am terrible at blogging.  What with the whole, never posting thing.  Meh.  You'll survive I'm sure.  :)

I have so many things I could talk about that I can't seem to talk about any of them.

Let's see, Seattle was great.  Such a lovely city.  It has been added to my list of cities I would like to live in for a few years.  California was also lovely.  The weather was amazing, as was the company (I miss my sister and her family!). 

We went bowling.

We went to the aquarium.  There were sharks. 

We went to LA.  There were fake famous people.  Unfortunately Blogger hates me and won't upload those pictures.  But I'm standing next to Marilyn Monroe and Snoop Dogg.  They're great. 

All in all, it was a great trip.  Now where should I go next?

*Maroon 5

“So many things are possible just as long as you don't know they're impossible.”*

So, I'm off on my next adventure (man, after this trip, I'm definitely going to go through travel withdrawal...).

My trip did not start off that great.  My terminal in the Philly airport had no air conditioning (hi, it's over 100 degrees outside, how do you not have air conditioning?) so it was ridiculously hot.  Then, we get on the plane, and their auxiliary power wasn't working, which meant we had no air conditioning while sitting on the tarmac, and we sat there for about half an hour.  I dont like being hot.  Even after we took off, the plane was so hot, it never managed to completely cool down even when the A/C finally kicked in. 

I was kind of grumpy by the time we landed.

The second flight was a lot better.  Nice and air conditioned.  The people in my row were nice.  Only issue I had was when we landed and I went to stand up and my leg was numb again (stayed numb till the next morning).  Stupid sciatic nerve. 

So, that kind of cemented me not running the half marathon here.  Which made me sad.  I had gone to the Doctor and she strongly suggested I shouldn't run it.  I was still contemplating doing it anyway, and just kind of walking/running it slowly and not even care about the time.  But, I decided that was a bad idea with a numb leg and the fact I haven't been running for about a month now.  Sigh. 

So, I am just trying to be content with walking around the city. 

Yesterday we went to the race packet pick up (K is still walking in the race, and I figured I may as well pick up my packet just in case I changed my mind at the last second).  The expo was in the center next to their stadium.  I LOVE their stadium..

I couldn't get the whole thing in the picture.  It's huge.  (ahh, there is a joke just waiting to be made there...).

Then, we walked around in the rain and went to the Pike Place Market (if I lived here I'd be there EVERY FREAKING DAY, the fresh food is awesome).  I tried to take a picture of me overlooking the water.  Instead, I got a picture of me and the road below us right NEXT to the water.  

You can KIND of see the water in the upper left corner there.  It was rainy and wet out.  (Welcome to Seattle I guess?).  It was hard to smile for real when I was so wet. 

After walking in the rain for a few hours, we went to the Taphouse Grill which had 160 beers on tap. 

This terrible picture is only about half of the bar, maybe a third?  There was a lot of beer.  It was hard to choose just one.  So K and I both did a sampler and got to pick 4.  I tried a Scotch ale, a hefeweizen, a lager, and a pilsner.  They were all pretty fantastic. 

Then, we came back to the room and my friend, Seattle's Best, came by the room to say hey.  We hung out for a while before grabbing some dinner and going to bed early.  I was tired (only slept for about 4 hours the night before), and K needed to be up by 5 this morning for the race. 

All in all, it was a fun first day.

Today has consisted of me watching the race from outside the hotel, walking around downtown by the hotel, finding champagne and beer (harder than you'd think) for after the race, and being lazy in the hotel room.  Not quite the same as running the race, but not a bad morning either. 

Ready to head back to the Pike Place Market for lunch and explore the city some more later this afternoon :)

Hope everyone is having a fun weekend!

*The Phantom Tollbooth