Shhhh…

I arrived back in Chicago late last night without (too much) incident.  (my flight was delayed and stuck in a circling pattern to avoid a t-storm, but I made it here fine and I’ve certainly been delayed far worse in the past and/or cancelled entirely!) 
I’m quietly sneaking back into the interwebs.  Four days without it was really nice, but admittedly I had some fun early this morning getting caught up on my reading and back into my routines. 
Catching up on work, getting back to the swing of things here.  More later…

Bye!

Pop quiz:
When you are doing a very early morning 3 mile run, on a particularly humid day, with 2 rather large hills on the path, you should be sure to drink what beforehand?
a) Coffee
b) Water
c) Lots of water

The correct answer of course is c.  However, I did not do that, and had a stinky run.  Still, 3 miles in 33 minutes is nothing to sneeze at.
I’m having my high protein pancakes for brekkie, and my aunt and uncle will be here in about 50 minutes!  I’m behind already on e-mails, and may or may not blog.  So if you don’t hear from me until Tuesday, do not be surprised!
Bye bye!

Self-Absorbed Much?

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been in my head a bit much lately.  Far too much, really.  So it is good timing that I am leaving town on Friday to drive back to Ohio with my aunt and uncle (who live near Minneapolis). 
I am looking forward to it.  I don’t get to see my aunt and uncle much, and they are a lot of fun.  Of course I haven’t seen the rest of my family since Christmas.  Normally I complain about rampant boredom when I am there, but frankly a few days of zoning out with the fam sounds really awesome right now.  Plus, we may be going to the zoo with my cousin’s kids on Saturday. That should be a lot of fun.
And speaking of things that get me out of my head, last night I ran for 30 minutes straight for the first time.  I cannot believe it.  I really never thought it would be possible, but it went so well.  It was hard at the end, but I still felt like I could have run even longer.  I felt so good afterwards and I’m just…well, really darn proud and excited.  That 5K is going to be aces! The question is…once I’ve trained for that and completed it…well, then what?

Ack

E. just pointed out to me that I now have committments for 7 out of the 9 upcoming Saturdays.  Like, all the way into mid June.
I know you are all tired of hearing me whine about it but seriously, I have got to come up with a solution.
Or I suppose grow content with having my weekends booked months in advance. :/

Fluffy Five

Thanks again for all your responses yesterday.  Yes, I am well aware I was worrying excessively.  And to Paul’s point, everyone DID get along.  Both of our friends can be civil to one another.  In my happy fantasy land, everyone is bestest friends and I am well aware that’s not reality.  I’m lucky that I get along with E.’s family and that E. gets along with some of my exes (who are now friends) so I’m not going to get greedy, I suppose.
To cleanse the palate from all the heavy (though judging from the comments, you guys like heavy!) here’s a meme I stole from Kim:

5 Things You Found In Your Bag

1. A combination lock
2. Medicine for IBS 
3. Motion sickness pills
4. Vanilla sparkly Bonnie Bell lipgloss
5. Loose change 

5 Favorite Things In Your Room

1. Kitties (when they are sleeping there)
2. Blue flannel comforter
3. Stacks upon stacks of books 
4. Juice Beauty antioxidant serum
5. Homedics massaging shiatsu pillow (I did not pay $50 for mine)

5 Things You Are Currently Into

1. Sigg water bottles
2. Running 
3. Animal welfare
4. SUNSHINE 
5. Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt (bordering on addiction, actually)

5 Things You Have Always Wanted To Do

1. Attend cosmetology school
2. Visit Hawaii 
3. Ride in a convertible
4. Learn how to surf 
5. Go spelunking

5 People You Want To Tag
No tagging, but if 5 of you want to steal this, that’s cool.

Things That Keep Me Awake At Night

I have had something on my mind the past couple nights, and last night especially it kept me up (I think I was too exhausted Sunday for anything to keep me up, including earthquakes and competitive kitty vaulting).  It’s one of those tricky “I don’t know if I should blog about this” issues, but I thought it over and it’s not like it’s a big secret to those involved.  So, pardon me while I do a little therapy here.
I thought I was over a pretty big hurdle when I found myself enamoured with E.’s family.  They seem to like me too, and that’s a good thing right?  I like his friends just fine and he likes mine just fine so really there shouldn’t be any problems.
Except…
Our friends do not mesh.  AT ALL.  It’s like the Breakfast Club all over again except without the silent agreement at the end that there is now an unspoken friendship.  It was glaringly obvious at my b-day party Friday night when my friends sat at one end of the table at the bar, and his sat at the other.  We landed (not surprisingly) somewhere in the middle.
I could get into all the reasons for and examples of the differences, but I don’t want to do that.  I don’t believe it’s a suburb vs. city thing, or an age thing either.  Because I know people who are both younger and live in the suburbs that mesh just fine with my friends. 
The point is not what the differences are.  The point is that we’ve been together for almost a year and a half now and we’ve come to the conclusion that it simply not a good idea to have our friends together in the same room.  The eternal mediator that I am, of course I want everyone to get along and have a good time.  That this is beyond my control is frustrating and painful.  It also means that spending more time with our friends is going to inevitably mean more time apart, because we can’t see them all on the same turf.  Or we can, but the people pleaser in both of us will constantly worry that someone isn’t enjoying him/herself.
I just don’t understand how two people who have worked a relationship out this long and are happily in love with one another can have friends that are so different that we actually think they should be kept apart.  The solution I keep coming back to is that we just run away from Chicago and start over.  I’m not serious about that of course, and I certainly don’t want to ditch my friends.  But part of me wants us to just make all new friends that somehow stradle the divide so that at least it’s not so painful.

At Last, I Take a Breath

This weekend was a lot of fun, but I cannot remember the last time I actually had to drink caffeine to be able to function AT ALL.  Today I was so exhausted and yet so busy.   I spent a lot of the weekend dehydrated, which made me even more tired.
H. surprised me with my favorite cake at the bar (marble with bakery frosting!!) and a tiara plus various assorted matching princess jewelry designed for a 3 year old that I of course put on immediately.  Hee hee.  And Hello Kitty paper plates and napkins! The restaurant we went to, Cy’s Steak & Chophouse, was a big hit for having good food at value prices, despite the fact our waitress vanished into thin air about the time we were ready to order our food. (note to self–write Yelp review) Only three people didn’t show up, and it was easily the largest birthday party I’ve ever had in my adult life.  I think I had a bigger party when I was 6 or 7.  Maybe.
The wedding Saturday night was beautiful.  I teared up a little, and as much of a sentimental sap as I can be, that was actually the first time I have ever cried at a wedding (this is the pair I fixed up, btw).  I decided the mark of a good wedding is when you can visibly see just how happy and in love the couple really is.  E. and I had lots of fun eating and drinking and dancing, and the venue (as well as the ceremony) was very contemporary and non-traditional (in a cool way).  Also? Flower girls are inevitably hilarious & cute. 
Yesterday I finally got my cocktail dress for the wedding in May (E.’s friend, in San Diego).  It is a very pretty periwinkle color.  Dress shopping can be a lot more unbearable than I expected.  I was reading about apple shapes online today, and it is pretty darn common for us to have wider backs.  Which I do.  Which does not accomodate most fancy dresses well, apparently.  And the ones that fit in the back would gape in the front, which is of course a problem.  If I’m going to spend that much on a dress, I’d rather not also have to add the fuss and stress and cost of getting it altered.  So, I am happy with my purchase, even if I am aggravated that dresses are apparently still made for Victorian corsetted ladies.  It’s also frustrating to know you’ve lost 15 lbs and suddenly are trying on your old size again, albeit because designers are cruel.  I know it’s not supposed to matter but I’m not going to lie and pretend it doesn’t.
I also got a bathing suit.  That was actually far LESS painful than shopping for a dress, believe it or not.  I ended up with a cute two piece with a halter top and high waisted bottom in a flashy yellow, turquoise and green mod-ish floral print.  I tried to find both the dress and swimsuit online so I could post pictures with no success.   Which means I am either way ahead of the times, or horribly behind them.

Pssst…

Go over and wish the lovely Miss Sizzle a very happy birthday!

Incidentally?  Earthquake in Illinois last night!  I woke up because the cat was racing all over the house and it sounded like someone was breaking into my apartment.  I figured kitty was just knocking stuff over.  Glad all is well, but really mad that I didn’t get a good night of sleep the night before 1) a long run 2) a lot of laundry 3) a lot of work and 4) a lot of celebrating.  Stupid nature.  Hmph.

The Celebration Continues!

Yesterday was a lot of fun.  I got a ton of sweet e-mails, cards, flowers from my friend S.G. back in Ohio, and a delicious home-cooked dinner.  (okay, I cooked it, but whatever–I love to cook)  E. and I split a Starbucks brownie b/c the bakeries were all closed.  Half of a caramel brownie at Starbucks still clocks in at an absurd 290 calories. Starbucks–it’s pure evil if you’re watching your diet.
On Tuesday H. brought me my gift, which was a very cool Sigg water bottle.  I’ve been wanting one of these, and she got me exactly the color I wanted which was awesome, along with the keychain cap and the sports cap.
E. gave me a very pretty pair of Swarovski crystal earrings, a wonderful sushi/fish knife, and…
Kapgar, are you paying attention?
Guitar Hero Encore:  Rocks the 80’s
*insert rock horns here*
Guess what we did last night post brownie bomb?

Tomorrow my friends are meeting up for dinner and drinks for the big birthday blowout.  Please don’t be offended if you weren’t invited, I already had 18 people to juggle creatively.
Yeah, it’s hard being me. 
Back to work–yesterday my boss asked me if I could take on more assignments.  That’s always a rhetorical question, isn’t it?

Just for Kim

Told ya I was born with a lot of hair!

 

Big blue eyes, and a big blue bath towel.

 

Age 2, sporting a FABULOUS 1970’s jumper.