Little Updates

Just a few notes on the latest…tonight I am really for real going to install the software for my digital camera so I can share photos I took over the weekend…really!

• E. and I declared the weekend one “just for us.”  I suppose to outsiders it seems like we spend a lot of time together, but this summer our time together has often been broken up by illness, unexpected and expected trips, parties, and social as well as other obligations such that we rarely got to just do whatever we wanted on no schedule whatsoever.  And, ya know, we’re going on to year number 2 here.  It was really, really nice and I think it had a wonderful impact on our relationship.
• This time included a trip to the Chicago Botanic Gardens, where I took some pretty pictures.
• I’ve had some problems with my hamstrings and calves the last couple weeks, and I think I finally gathered enough evidence this weekend to blame it on the fact my favorite summer slides have holes in the bottom.  Eep.  Buying sandals this late in the season is an exercise in frustration, especially when you wear the most common women’s shoe size.  Finally I just bought these Merrell’s online today (which I tried on in a too-small 7 over the weekend at a shoe store).  I figure I’ve still got about a month of summer 2008 and all of next summer to wear them.
• Despite these problems, my running is picking up.  I’m chugging along now at a pretty good clip, and I’m confident I’ll be up for the Komen 5K September 27th.  This week I’m repeating last week’s training, but I feel lazy for doing so.  That may also be because I was so relaxed/mellow/groggy yesterday that my weight training, while on schedule, was (as Cartman would say) weeeeeak.
• Things are slowing down in general at work but somehow my workload is staying about the same it’s been all year.  Yes, this is good, but between you and me I was looking forward to things getting a little quieter.  However, between the urgent shoe purchase and serious spending on birthday gifts for both E. and my Mom, my checking account is grateful for the hours.
• Tomorrow E. and I are going to our 2nd (and final) ballgame of the season with H. and S.  Now I feel like I haven’t spent much time with mah girls lately.  Things are just never fully in balance around here.

Flintstones, Thank the Flintstones…

When I was sick earlier in the summer, I started taking Flintstone Gummies with Immunity Support.  There were a couple reasons for this.  I normally took One a Day vitamins, but I wanted to see if the immunity support would actually DO something (adults can take 2 so as to get a fuller dosage).  Also, I was taking about 4 different kinds of pills in addition to the ones I already take daily and I could not STAND the thought of having to take another damn pill.  Since these were gummies, I could just chew them after a meal and it didn’t feel like I was taking more freakin’ medicine.
Recently I started taking the Flintstone Gummies again because I felt like I was fighting off a summer cold that some of E.’s friends had.  My diet has adjusted back to what it was like before I got sick, and I feel like that alone is keeping my daily nutrition up (plus I eat a lot of sweet potatoes, which are vitamin powerhouses) so I wasn’t so worried about the One a Day’s.  I’ve just kept on taking the Flintstone Gummies.
Well, I’ve noticed a few things lately.  My hair is REALLY soft.  My skin is…well, I don’t wash my face every night so never mind that.  But my nails…notorious for peeling, cracking and breaking before they ever get to a respectable length…are long and STRONG.  I’ve had polish on and off of them for over two weeks now, which I think is some kind of record for me.
So, the moral of the story?  Flintstone Gummies for healthy hair and nails.  My new #1 beauty secret!*

*The vitamins are actually high in vitamins A and E, both recommended for healthy hair and skin and nails.  I suppose you could just take A and E supplements but they are not GUMMY and don’t come in CUTE SHAPES!

Ah, City Life (and general humanity)

Three things I saw this evening while walking to and from the grocery store:

• A man riding a bicycle with a backpack strapped to his chest like a Baby Bjorn with a kitty cat peeking out the top. 
• A man in line behind me with 3 bags of frozen mini corn dogs, and 3 boxes of frozen mini Morningstar veggie corn dogs.  Somebody REALLY likes mini corn dogs.  Or is hosting a theme party.  In which the theme is…mini corn dogs.
• A deaf couple having an argument in sign language. 

There was also a women standing in front of the Giordano’s near me dressed in a beige suit, with matching beige shoes, staring at the moon.  I walked by and she said, “Isn’t the moon beautiful tonight?”  Well, yes, it was, so I sort of uneasily said, “Uh huh…”  And she said, “God is truly great” and started walking toward me and I picked up pace and hurried away.  My guess is she was either a Mormon or a cult recruiter. 
I drank three Diet Cokes to try to stay up late enough to do housework and watch gymnastics and I’m still tired.  Blargh.  (however, this is NOT sickie tired, just …dang, it’s Thursday night, I’m tired)

ETA:  Best wisecrack I’ve heard yet about the Chinese gymnasts–they need to be carbon dated and disqualified.  Hee.

Catch the Pineapple Express!

Last night I went to see above mentioned movie with mah girls. Oh my goodness, it was sooooooo much more than I was expecting! Yes, the stoner-buddy-flick was exactly as I expected, but I wasn’t fully prepared for the action, car chases, heavy shooting and pseudo-ninjas that arrived about mid-way through. The humor was still there though–I seriously laughed from beginning to end and my stomach hurt by the time we left!
Be forewarned that this is a VERY violent movie. I read that in a review and thought, nah, must be an oversensitive reviewer. It can’t be THAT bad. Um, yeah. I don’t want to give anything away, but Hot Fuzz meets Kill Bill seems a pretty apt description.
By the way, can anyone explain to me why James Franco STILL looks sexy while filthy, presumably quite smelly, and wearing horrible pants and birkenstocks?? (hi E.! You are sexier and generally quite clean and nice-smelling!)

TUA: Julia Child was a spy!! I love it! Makes me wish the golden days of SNL were still around, I would love to see Dan Akroyd’s Julia Child run with this one.

Inspired

I think it’s been a surprise to a lot of people who know me that I’ve been making a point to watch the summer olympics (and that I get so wound up and yell and ooh and ahhh at the screen). First of all, the only tv I actually bend my schedule around to accomodate is LOST. Second, I’m not a big sports fan. So to combine the two and find myself bending my schedule around so that I see the events I want to see is kind of weird and funny.
I don’t get into the winter olympics like I do the summer ones. Really, there are only so many different types of devices you can watch someone go down a snowy hill on before it becomes horribly repetitive. Not so much with the summer games. I’m particularly a fan of the diving*, swimming, and gymnastics.
When I was little, I did gymnastics up until the age of 10. I want to say I had a 5 year run but I’m not sure exactly when I started. And I am also not sure that doing little somersaults across the gym floor in the early years counts for much–though, if I lived in China that would be around the time I’d be noticed and sent off to gymnastics (internment) camp. Before anyone asks, I was not particularly good. I never made team and the most advanced move I could do was a side aerial. I hit puberty early, which knocked me out of gymnastics for good…actually, I opted to quit but I’m sure it had to do with the fact I was noticing more and more I was not really built for gymnastics.
But I still love to watch gymnastics, and I remember so vividly how much fun it was to be performing on the balance beam in “gym shows”. (something like recitals for gymanasts)
While I don’t have personal links to diving or swimming, I still love to watch those too. Okay, I did swim a LOT as a kid, but certainly never in a competitive sense. I don’t remember the fanciest thing I’ve ever done off the diving board, but I’m sure it was only a few steps above a cannonball.
Overall, the olympics seem to have a special impact on me this year because I’ve spent something like 9 months working on getting my body in shape. And while Michael Phelps certainly doesn’t have to worry about me coming after his record, it makes me think about all the amazing things you can do with a strong body. Sure, I’m focusing on running right now, but maybe before long swimming will be my exercise of choice. Maybe I’ll just keep working on having a really muscular back and shoulders. Maybe I’ll try my hand(s) (and feet) at Judo some day.
Yes, most olympic athletes devote themselves to little more than training, and quite a few are blessed with wonderful genetics (my dad ran track and remains a pretty active lifestyle, but that’s about the extent of the athletic genes for me), but I love how the olympics showcase what you can really do with a lean, strong body. It’s a good reminder when it’s late, I’m tired, and I want to stick a cookie in my face.

*New to me this year is this “sychronized diving“, which is truly a bizarre yet mesmerizing sport.

Timidly Writing the Weekend Recap

I’m still feeling gun-shy about this whole blog thing. I’ve long given up the hope of ever becoming a big-name blogger. I don’t have the time to write really witty entries, and when I decided to more or less supress my blog I took myself out of the running almost entirely. But, I still like to read the adventures of the many cool people out there…like having multiple Penpals in the digital age…and I’ll never forget that the blogosphere has brought me many a cool friend. My intention was more or less to take a week off, and yet each time I started typing today, what I had to say felt whiny, or boring, or not fit for the public eye, or work-related and thus really not fit for the public eye. I carefully constructed some things to discuss in my mind, and here I am.
This is a perfect lead-in to the fact that, unfortunately, I missed Davecago this year. But whatevah suckers, I went to see Erasure with Dave!! Instead, E. and I spent most of the weekend out in the country at his parents’ new house. And I mean out in the country. There are cows living next door. Their new home is in the lovely village of Union, Illinois. The village has grown since the 2000 census to a booming 650 people!
There was a time in my life where spending that much time in a town so tiny would have felt like extreme torture. But, in this weekend’s perfect weather, it was quite lovely. (plus the 3 bathroom setup was AWESOME) E. hears me carry on constantly about how lucky I am to get along so well with his folks, but it’s completely true and I can’t state enough how lucky that makes me. Come to think of it, I’ve never not gotten along with an s.o.’s parents…but…it is always a concern (and there were some I definitely liked less than others). At one point E. and his dad went off to explore the uncharted territory in the back of their plot of land, including a section of river, and E.’s mom and I were content to stay inside and watch Project Runway and giggle together. It was nice.
I’m completely back on track with my fitness goals, but overall I seem to be struggling with my runs. Today I knew was going to be tough–I was dehydrated and had been up part of the night with stomach troubles. I just felt slightly ick all day. But I decided ultimately that a half-assed run was better than no run at all. While I am doing the original 5K training I did for May’s race, I figured out that I’ve given myself a bit more lead time for the Komen race, which is September 27th. That’s reassuring–I feel like I can repeat this weeks’ training with (hopefully) some visible improvement and remain on track.
Finally, while I have no desire to attend to the many responsible things I need to do tonight, I did at least whip up some healthy banana muffins. Cooking/baking is rarely a chore for me anyhow. Here’s the recipe, which I originally scored from Kyra and tweaked for sweetness:
Preheat oven to 350
In medium bowl, combine:
3 tbsp plain protein powder
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup Splenda
In small bowl, combine:
1 banana
1 egg white
1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce

Mix, drop into muffin pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until slightly browned. Makes 4 muffins. Easy to double, easy to freeze!

Peeking My Head Up to Say…

I couldn’t NOT share this good news! My supervisor just got engaged to the man she’s been seeing for 4 years!! Yay! I’m happy because I like her as a person, he seems pretty cool, they seem happy, and frankly she’ll be floating on this cloud for a little while which makes my job easier. Heh.
The other good news is that a sweet woman I used to volunteer with at the animal shelter recently got to bring home the precious little girl she and her husband adopted from Korea. Wish Adam and Elizabeth and Olive the best!
It’s nice to read happy news on the interwebs for a change. The kind of news I’m trying to focus on these days.

ETA: And now this–Matt and Constance are finally celebrating the positive pregnancy test they’ve waited for so long. CONGRATULATIONS are in order!! What a happy day!

Break

I know, it’s like blogger faux pas #22 to blog about not blogging…but really, I think it’s only fair, especially after an entry like Saturday’s.
I feel like all I’ve done the past few months is whine. Also, the past week has left me emotionally drained, not to mention behind on work, e-mails, and other sundry tasks.
So, I need to take my focus off of this blog for a little bit. I’ll still be reading and commenting here and there. Rest assured that if you sent me an e-mail in the past…oh, 5 days or so…I WILL respond. It just may take me another 5 days to do so. :p

The Universe Was Not Done With Me

It’s 10:00. I am not at a party drinking.
I have to write one of those annoyingly vague posts.
I have not lost my job, no one died, and E. and I are still together. Some very emotional things happened this evening and I’m drained. I have things left to think about that I don’t want to think about.
It’s 10:00, I’m eating some bread and cheese and going to bed. The queen of bouncing back doesn’t have a lot of bounce in her right now, but hopes she will in the morning.

My (Not at All) Triumphant Return to Fitness

To say my workout plans have flown out the window the past couple months is a supreme understatement. Some of you saw a particularly pathetic post I wrote & then deleted yesterday about burying my crying face in chocolate on Wednesday night. This week I went for a run…Tuesday I believe it was…did weight training last night…attempted to run today….and hope to weight train again tomorrow.
This is the closest I’ve been to my old workout schedule since…oh, early May.
The run did not go well today. Know why? It’s 88 degrees outside, and the only time I really had to run was at 3:00 this afternoon. I started getting the “I’m hot, not cold, what the heck?” goosebumps which are BAD and slowed down. In total, I ran for about 15 minutes and walked 15. Not terrible, but nothing like where I was.
It’s August 1st and I want to be back to my old routine this month. I want to run the Komen 5K in September. Hear me universe?? No more obstacles, please!
I am eating better. Really, a lot better than earlier this week which wasn’t that awful to begin with. I’ve only put on 2-3 lbs depending on the day but I don’t want it to become a trend.
E. and I are going to a party tonight so I may have a wee bit to drink. I mean WEE. But it’s been since May since I drank, and frankly, I feel like kicking back a bit tonight.
Otherwise, bear with me, I am still a: uu
(a little behind. Ha ha! It works better when you can draw it…)