11.26.08
Have a face-stuffin’ Thanksgiving!
Here we are the day before Thanksgiving! Heartfelt thanks and love go out to everyone! Okay, not to everyone, just the people whom I know. I didn’t have a lobotomy, after all.
Tomorrow morning I’ll start the day off right by running the Atlanta half marathon! That’s going to be my penance for what I’m predicting will be an all-out food and booze gorge-a-palooza. Ray is also running the half, and Michael is running the full marathon, so we will all be miserable and then triumphant together! I think we will be tailgating with beers afterwards at the finish, so if you’re reading this and live in the ATL, please feel free to stop by and tell us how awesome we are. Some friends of mine from my Monday night running group are also running so we shall have a wee community tailgate going on.
Later tomorrow Maura is preparing the feast, and the rest of the Commune will attend with side dishes, booze, and good attitudes. I’m really looking forward to having a good time! As I’ve mentioned ad nauseum, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! I’m going to eat the crap out of all the food and probably down about a gallon of champagne. Whee!
The rest of the weekend I’m hoping will be mostly watching TV and relaxing. I believe I have a girls dinner planned for the Saturday night, but I’ve purposefully not made other plans so that I can really focus on relaxing. I really need some time away from work, and this is the perfect opportunity. Hope everyone has a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving!
11.25.08
Bidin’ my time.
This morning I received this email from the Brick Store listserv. Oh my cheeseness. Those who doubted the quality and fierceness of the awesomeness that is Brick Store, doubt no more. Dice is positively drooling.
Anyway. I went running with my running group last night, and that alone is a positive statement. It was dark, cold, raw and pouring with rain when I left the house. While the rain eventually did let up about halfway through the run, I was soaked to the bone with squishy sneakers before I even made it to the meeting point. My sneakers are STILL wet. Added to this was the fact that I didn’t eat enough yesterday so I was low on energy and thus frustrated. Not my best run, but there’s nothing I can do about it so I’m going to put it behind me, eat more this week, and be as optimistic as possible for Thursday.
I’m getting very excited about Thanksgiving! As longtime readers will remember, Thanksgiving is my most favoritest holday of the year! There aren’t any presents involved, and it’s all about eating comfort food and hanging out with friends and family! And there are no presents! Nothing to distract me from the gluttonous eating and drinking extravaganza. It simply doesn’t get any better than that.
It’s Tuesday of an incredibly strenuous 3-day work week. How will I ever survive?
11.24.08
I defy you to have a better weekend than I did.
Did everyone have a nice weekend? I did! One of the best weekends I’ve had in a long while. It started out Friday afternoon when I ran 12 miles on the treadmill at the gym. Yeah, it’s not ideal to run it on the treadmill, but I really had to get in another long run before the race. It continued that night with a surprise dinner party to celebrate the birthday of the male half of the Canadians at the Shed. The Shed had a massive influx of people they were unprepared for, which meant that our tables weren’t ready until almost a full hour past our reservation time, but we were all having so much fun drinking and chatting it didn’t even matter. I had a big bowl full of the rigatoni and cauliflower which was delightful although slightly dry. At the end we all shared profiteroles and had champagne. Great night!
Saturday morning Dice and I watched as much TV as we could before I headed off to Macon. The DVR was at 100% capacity and even kicked off the oldest show on there, which just happens to be an episide of the Amazing Race! Damnation. So we spent a few hours watching as much as we could, then I packed a bag and headed down to visit Ray. We had planned to get all gussied up and go out to the fanciest place in Macon, but we ended up having so much fun hanging out with the neighbors (read: got too drunk to function) that we stayed in. Ray and Michael have their own little commune going on in Macon, and it was nice to be an honorary member for a day. In the morning Ray and I ran 8 miles, our last long-ish run before the race on Thursday, and then cleaned ourselves and went out for Indian food at a pretty authentic vegetarian Indian place. I had a big ol’ bowl of palaak paneer and naan. Just enough spice and plenty of flavor. So good! I got home around 4:30 or so, but I was too tired to go grocery shopping, which was good because Dice didn’t want to go anyway. So we ordered Chinese delivery and watched TV until I couldn’t stay awake any longer and went to bed early. Yep, all in all I’d rate this past weekend as almost perfect.
This week includes a really grueling 2.5 day work week. I don’t know how I will ever get through such hardship! Many people at work are on vacation, so not only will the work week be short, but it’ll also be slow and boring. Heh. I’m not sure if my running group will meet tonight, but if they do I’ll run 4 with them, and tomorrow I’ll do weights and elliptical, then take Wednesday off. If they don’t meet, then I’ll do the weights and elliptical tonight and run 3 tomorrow. I’m so flexible!
11.20.08
I’m wicked smart!
I should really be careful what I say, now that I have a Juris Doctorate and am a lawyer. Although, I know exactly what should and shouldn’t be said because I’ve been fully trained in law skool. I’m edumacated!
As you probably surmised (although you are most likely not a lawyer so it’s possible you have no thinking or analytical skillz) that I successfully completed my law course this semester. Parts of it were interesting, parts stupid, and at some points I actually learned things. On the whole, I would rate it a positive experience. And now I’m going off to my boss to ask him for a raise.
After class I went home and had a delightful meal that was thoughtfully prepared for me by Robin. Okay, well, she didn’t actually make dinner for me, what she actually did was make a lot of food for herself the night before and had enough leftovers for Dice and me. Dice played delivery boy, so when I got home it was sitting in the fridge just waiting for me to heat up. Thanks, Robin, it was delish!
Between that meal (turkey and quinoa with cranberries!) and dinner on Monday night, not to mention the whole weekend, I’ve had more meat than I’ve had in, probably, years. It really shows in my running, too, I’ve had spectacular runs all week, albeit not very long. I didn’t have any meat yesterday (although of course I did get the required amount of protein) and my run today, although still great, wasn’t of the spectacular variety I enjoyed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. So it’s possible there’s a correlation. Or it’s also possible that the carbs I ate along with the meat could be the energy source, which is more than likely.
Tonight I’m going to a lecture on Defoe and, in particular, Robinson Crusoe. I’ve never actually read Robinson Crusoe although I know the plot. I have read Moll Flanders, so I’m familiar with his style and narrative. It should be interesting since Crusoe was one of the most entertaining adventure stories of all time. Followed up by a reception with wine and nibbles, naturally.
Has anyone watched the new show, Crusoe, that started this fall? Dice and I watched most of the first episode. We really tried to finish, but it was just too terrible. Too bad!
11.18.08
Please don’t pretend you aren’t impressed.
Brrr! It’s so cold out today! High of 45 F. Yeah, that’s really cold, folks. I’m wearing my winter coat.
Last night our running group was highly successful. And by that I mean that there were multiple people who ran at similar paces, so that no one ran alone, and no one got left behind. Two others and myself ran 6 miles around Grant Park, which worked out perfectly because oftentimes I end up doing an extra couple miles by myself after running group, since I tend to have a lot of energy on Mondays because I take Sundays off.
After we finished running, I headed into Graveyard to have a beer and wait for Dice to show up for dinner. He came with extra clothing for me, which was greatly needed. By the time he showed up I was visibly shivering. We had a terrible, wonderful meal of bad things and then rushed home through the cold. I’m not feeling guilty today. I’m NOT.
This afternoon we went to see the French ambassador to the US give a lecture and then answer questions. In typical European fashion, the French ambassador is very soft-spoken and pragmatic, which is often perceived by Americans as weak but which is, in fact, merely a cultural difference. He was also very long-winded, but it was okay because he definitely thought through first his lecture and then his answers to questions from the audience. He has a fairly rosy view of the future of the European Union, but I prefer that over pessimism, so I enjoyed it. Also, it included lunch. The lunch was only okay: salad (iceberg!), ouzo, asparagus and chicken. And cake. Not spectacular, not really worthy of the French ambassador to the US, but palatable.
Tonight I’m going to my final law class. After tonight, I will have a Juris Doctorate and be fully capable of answering all questions related to the Constitution, tort reform, the securites exchange, and online legal searching. Please don’t pretend you aren’t impressed. It’s beneath you.
11.17.08
Weekend memories.
The initiative to keep the eating and drinking down over the weekend did not work out. Friday night we were too tired for beer club and we both had to get up early, so we just went to cheese dip and then went home again. In the morning I got up and ran 11 miles, which felt really good and I’m ready for next week’s half marathon. I had just enough time after I got back to quickly shower and hop in the car to get to Apres Diem 10 minutes late for brunch with the Canadians and T&R. I had the waffles special, which is basically waffles with strawberries and a side of eggs and bacon. Since I don’t like eggs I asked for a biscuit or an english muffin or something, but instead they just gave me an assload of bacon. I love bacon more than most other things on the planet, so this was fine with me. Afterwards we all went over to Atlantic Station to do some shopping. Dice had to work that day, so we waited for him to come home and then met up with The Commune for sushi at Zuma in Inman Park.
Sunday we diligently watched TV all day until evening, when we went grocery shopping at the good Publix in Decatur and afterwards (of course) went to the Brick Store for drinks and dinner. I had the most delicious corned beef sandwich I’ve ever had. I usually don’t order corned beef because it’s so difficult to eat, but this corned beef wasn’t at all tough, nor did the sandwich fall apart; it was just perfect. After that we went home and watched more TV until bedtime. Now, instead of being three weeks behind we are merely two and a half weeks behind. Heh.
In other news I successfully purchased a reflective vest over the weekend, so I’ll no longer be taking my life (as much) in my hands when I run outside in the evening. Just in time for tonight’s running group, which I’m looking forward to because we will run 6 miles around Grant Park, which means that I won’t have to do an extra couple miles by myself after. Yay!
11.14.08
There’s a fog outside but it’s sunny in my head.
Welcome to happy day! Yes folks, it’s Friday and my project is done. Today has been a glorious day of mundane tasks and everyday occurrences. I’m actually enjoying getting all the daily tasks done that I had to postpone this week. I’m in a good mood!
It’s true that my fitness level has suffered this week. Even though I haven’t taken a rest day in two weeks, that’s not to say that I’ve been overtraining by any stretch of the imagination. The longest I’ve run this week was just under 5 miles, which is a pittance compared to where I should be right now. It’s pathetic. Hopefully I’ll be able to focus more on keeping my fitness level up, at least until Thanksgiving, at which point my race will be over and I’ll be 800 pounds from all the food.
Otherwise, I’ve been a good girl this week. Even though time was tight, I always squeezed in SOME fitness, even if it was just 2.5 miles. And I haven’t had a drop of alcohol since Sunday. And I haven’t gone out to eat since Sunday. I’m even so proud of myself: last night Dice wanted to go to cheese dip and not only did I say no, but I actually stuck to it! Little did he know that if he had even gently pressed the subject I would have given in, but since he didn’t, I get credit for strength and discipline! Heh.
So you know what that means! Yep, tonight I plan to go out to eat and pretty much leave no food in the kitchen. However, I AM trying to not be quite so debaucherous over the weekends, so I will try, try, to keep the eating and drinking to a dull roar this weekend. Dice has to work tomorrow and I’ve got my long run, after which I may or may not go to the movies. Sunday we need to do some serious TV watching since the DVR is totally maxed out. At some point over the weekend I need to find a reflective vest so that I can run outside at night. Most of my running clothes are dark, which makes for easily getting run over by cars/mistaken for a mugger or burgler. Especially in my neighborhood!
11.13.08
I’m too busy for you.
Ooof! What a week I’m having! Tuesday morning a project got dropped in my lap that had to be finished by today, and by some crazy finagling and extra hours, I’m managing to complete it. I don’t mind, but it does wreak havoc on my personal life/fitness. Since I didn’t manage to do my long run over the weekend I was going to do it last night, but instead I only had time for three miles! Not good, especially since I had a ton of pent-up frustration to work out. Perhaps, if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to rectify that today.
Anyway, it’s day 3 of craziness. Perhaps tomorrow things’ll clear up. Stay cool!
11.10.08
Busy weekend.
I wonder when Mondays will stop sucking? ‘Cause here I am, a dozen years into my professional life, and Mondays are still just as painful as they always were. And I don’t party anymore so I can’t even do office hours like I used to. Hmph.
I had a pretty good weekend, busy and mostly productive. Friday evening Dice had to work late and go to the gym, so instead of hanging around my office I walked over to the Grange, which is about 3 miles away. It’s a good walk, except it started raining when I was about a half mile away from the restaurant. Although the word “raining” doesn’t really do justice to the flood which came down. I had my small umbrella that I carry around all the time and which was mostly useless. I sat at the bar and had a glass of wine for an hour until Dice showed up, and since we were already there we decided to eat there. The bartender served me glasses that were enormous, so I had three glasses and then I had to pass out. Literally, we went home and I had to go to bed because I was wasted. I mean, I like a liberal pour and all, but that was ridiculous.
Saturday I got up early to go running before we went to Dice’s library so he could give friends of ours a show and tell. Tash, Tim, Robin and the male half of the Canadians came along. Dice gives good show and tell, so it was fine. Afterwards we went to the Chomp and Stomp in Cabbagetown, which is mostly a chili cook-off. There were SO MANY people there, we were literally shoved in like sardines. We tasted a lot of chili, too. The weather was fantastic, about 68 or 70 degrees and sunny and breezy. After eating all sorts of chili we all went to our respective homes and layed on the couch. Well, actually, I can’t say what anyone else did upon reaching their respective houses, but Dice and I layed on the couch until about 8:30 at which point we rallied and we to The Depot for dinner. I had the turkey burger and it wasn’t very good, I’m afraid. They put some sort of herb and/or spice in it that completely ruined it for me. Also, the fries weren’t very hot. This is the first time my food at the Depot has been less than stellar, so they won’t lose me, but I definitely won’t order the turkey burger again.
Sunday I was completely unmotivated. Totally and completely unenergized. I couldn’t get up the will to go running. Finally I put on my running shoes and went out, but it was immediately obvious that I was miserable, so I only did two miles and then went home again. I don’t feel very good about myself, and wish I had just pushed myself to do the 10 frickin’ miles. Now I’ll have to do the long run on Wednesday, which is the only day this week when I’ll have that amount of time free.
In the afternoon I went to meet Ray at the outlets south of ATL. Conveniently, the outlets are exactly halfway between my house and Macon! So it makes for a good meeting spot. The stores were having incredible sales, but unfortunely most of the clothes were crap. I did pick up some super cheap items at Ann Taylor. After I got home Dice and I went grocery shopping at the good Publix in Decatur, for which we rewarded ourselves with dinner at Brick Store. I think the Brick Store should really be the final thing you do on the weekend, it really ended the weekend off right. And you actually look forward to Sunday night!
11.07.08
Do-Gooder.
Hmmm. What started out to be a beautiful, breezy, sunny 75 degree day is now a grey, breezy 75 degree day. I prefer the former. Aaaaand, now it’s raining.
Last night I rushed home in order to make it to the SAND meeting at 7:30. SAND is my local neighborhood association, and it’s about a 10-15 minute walk to get there, so I had to rush in order to get showered and respectable in time to walk over (yeah, I know, getting respectable would take me a long time, if ever). The male half of the Canadians came with, which is good considering it’s pitch black out by then. It was a good meeting, just as pokey at times as it usually is. The best part about it was that the members of the graffiti removal team (if you remember, we picked a Saturday in October and spent it removing graffiti all over the neighborhood) who were present got a standing ovation! That felt really great. Didn’t get home from that meeting until 9:30, and I hadn’t eaten dinner so I was starving. Ate dinner, watched Jeopardy! and The Office (from last week) and went to bed. Considering I have to fight with myself to not go out to eat every single night, I feel pretty proud of myself for not only not going out to eat, but participating in my neighborhood community as well. I’m a DO-GOODER.
This weekend should provide some nourishment, both for the mind and the body. Tomorrow Dice is taking some of our friends on a tour and a show-and-tell of his library, something Tash has been nagging him to do pretty much since we met her about three years ago. I’ve seen it many times, so I’m not sure how much intellectual nourishment I will receive (the other half of the Handitards got it a couple of years ago, for instance). After that’s over we’re all heading over to the Chomp and Stomp in Cabbagetown, which is a chili cook-off! Hot damn, I loves me some chili! The chili cook-off on the Commons in Ithaca was far and away my favorite festival of the year there. Of course, in the i-Thac it’s free, but you also don’t get as much and have to wait in ridonkulously long lines. I always went to Korova for a beer in between tastings, natch.
Sunday I’m going to get up and do my long run, which I can’t slack off on anymore considering the half marathon is only a couple weeks away. Last week I did 10, but they sucked, so this weekend, frankly, I’d be happy to get 10 in again, although 11 would be better. Then I’m going to the southern outlets with Ray, which conveniently happen to be halfway between ATL and Macon. We’re going to shop and have lunch, like rich housewives with tiny doggies. And it shall be the fun.
