Life in Pink

Finally finished my “links page” now to update the blog roll…you can check it out here: Links of Interest…sorted by category.

It’s no wonder I rarely get work done since i’m too busy reading on the internets.

Over a year ago I got a heartbreaking call in the middle of the afternoon. One of my biggest fears, is getting a call that something has happened to a family member. Last year, when I was working for a government relations firm in a room where there were no windows, I saw my dad called me. I didn’t think much of it because he often calls me in the afternoon when he;s driving home from work.

Then he called from his house phone. Hmmm, that can’t be good. I felt a knot form in my stomach. I called and my step mother asked if it was okay to talk. I said sure, i was in the hall way, and she told me the news…

“Papa’s had a stroke.”

I broke down. My grandfather is an icon to me, he inspired my love of history, he is the reason I have family pride - he was a Chief Master Sargeant in the US Airforce and later in the VT Air National Guard. He fought in Korea, he taught me about the Cold War, he taught me about WWII history…so the thought of losing him scared the crap out of me. I ended up going home and spending much of the evening in tears - they were in Washington state camping - they often spend the early spring months out in california since my grandfather grew up in Fresno and has family there.

The worst part of it all, was the day my grandfather got out of the hospital, I was talking to my grandmother - poor woman had no idea how to work his cell phone, was hearing her say “We just celebrated our fiftieth…I’m not ready to be alone yet.” My grandmother? Was stronger than any of us back here on the East Coast.

So this morning, I woke up to the news - I was reading and dozing in and out of a morning nap with the pup at my feet, and I hear “Senator Kennedy has been hospitalized with Stroke Like Symptoms” and I perk up. I interned in Senator Kennedy’s office during my senior year of college, I adored Jackie O. and I find the family history nothing short of fascinating ( you’ll find various books on my shelves about their family and various others on my amazon wishlist).

I’m not going to lie and say I’m a little emotional. I’ve found it hard to attach myself to celebrities and politicians but the ones I’ve worked for? The ones I support no matter what? I didn’t understand people who got so bent out of shape about Kurt Cobain, or about John Lennon or Reagan dying but if anything happened to Kennedy or Leahy or Bernie? Those are my politicians. The ones I’ve supported, the ones I’ve associated with. So this morning? I’m praying for the best, praying that they caught it early because with strokes? The key is catching it early which is why my Papa bounced back and is living just as he did before.

Call me cheesy, or emotional but this is history man…the day Kennedy dies? An era is over.

Today seems to be going by fast for a Friday. I am, in no way shape or form, complaining. Just so you know.

I woke this morning with a crazy hangover - of course I went to bed with the spins and a stomach that threatened to upheave it’s contents if I rolled the wrong way or moved from the fetal position. This combined with a boyfriend who kept elbowing me in his drunken sleep left me feeling rather…restless.

What caused this state of inebriation?

Why, the “Taste of Vermont” reception! Now, I don’t talk much about my homestate because well…for 18 years I wanted nothing more than to leave and start over and leave my dorky, nerdy, outsider reputation behind. I did. I accomplished a few things then I went back and then I abruptly left again.

I realized, upon my first visit back, that I have a lot of home state pride. I never used to because well…people think of Vermont and they think of hippies wearing birkenstock, smoking pot and listening to the grateful dead or singing kum-bay-ah around a campfire.

Me? Well…freshman year of college I may have associated a little too closely to my roots - i was a cords wearing, emo glasses sporting, vegetarian, certified bleeding heart liberal with political stickers sporting my desktop tower, and my nalgene bottle with the oval VT sticker on it along with the stickers from a few mountains i had yet to ski on.

My friends…called me “crunchy.” Freshman year, when I first met the ex? He didn’t even look twice at me in “that way” because of my…crunchy affiliation if you will. However, within the next two years? He appreciated my newfound classiness.

Sometime around sophomore year once I started making a lil bling on coop, I traded my faux-birkenstocks for steve maddens. Next? I traded my corduroy messenger bag for a coach bag. By my 21st birthday? I traded the emo glasses in for contacts, bought myself a hair straighener, bought me some blonde hair dye to get rid of the auburn that I had dyed it in anger after I discovered a short-term boyfriend had been cheating on me, and bought myself a Tiffany’s necklace.

I had become…one of those girls. I wore short skirts instead of khaki cargo pants, I traded up in the shoe world for multiple pairs of Steve Maddens. I probably said “like” far too many times and found myself hitting up the tanning booth once in a while…I did not. Want to become. One of them.

These days? I wear madras and seersucker and Jackie O. sunglasses, my style resembles a little more high class than the crunchy earthiness I once branded myself with. But last night? Despite my wardrobe and branding revamp I’ve taken the past five-six years, I was in heaven. They had Bova’s pasta - an Italian place on Pearl Street downtown that has the best Italian in Burlington, they had Long Trail Ale abd Magic Hat and Otter Creek and while I’m not a fan of dark beers? I love the lighter beers and IPA’s found in my homestate. I found a winery that’s located just off Route 7 in Shelburne that I never knew existed, I found a distillery somewhere in the Central part of the state that had “all natural” vodka. They had Ben & Jerry’s which despite me taking a break from my two favorite boys, brought me home and reminded me of the comfort I sought in B&J freshman year of college whenever I was having a rough time with friends, classes or boys. They had a table for the ECHO Leahy Center downtown and boyfriend asked me if  it would be a place that I’d want to get married at, they had the Sheraton Burlington which was where I had my Junior prom.

It was like a time warp. Reminded by the man representing the Expo Center of all the summers I went to the fair with friends and the smell of the greasy fair food which is the only good part about it since I’ve grown out of the sketchy carnie rides. I was reminded of the time my father took me to the Cabot Factory one summer weekend when we were driving home from my grandparents camp. I ran into old staffers that I interned with, shook the hands of Bernie and Leahy who no matter how old I am? Still make me smile.

As I type this? I can’t wait to go back home. I can’t wait to go out on the boat on the lake, drink beers with the family up at camp by the fire, walk downtown seeing all the street performers, sing karaoke at one of the best dive bars I’ve ever been to - I mean if you think you have a good dive? JP’s is a million times better - dingy carpeting, wood panel on the walls, with a karaoke DJ that looks like Louie Anderson. And? They serve PBR in a can.

I digress, I don’t think you can really appreciate where you’re from, your roots if you will, till you leave. It’s only been recently that I’ve been able to say I’m a Vermonter, I appreciate 30″ of snow, I know that mud season? Is a real season. I love my Socialist Senator, and I? Am a bleeding hard liberal (to some degree). My roots made me who I am and regardless of the pearls, the make up, the high heels, the seersucker… I’ll always be from Vermont.

What do you appreciate about where you’re from??

Okay me? I predicted Anya. Usually I’m pretty good at predicting though two seasons ago when the Top Model that no one liked (ah-hem Jaslene…) won, I wanted Natasha (i think it was natasha in the top two with her right?). Last season I wanted Saleisha. This season? I couldn’t decide.

Anya, I predicted because she’s more glamorous, she’s better? She may speak a little weird and have some grammar issues, but in general she did better overall throughout the whole competition. Whitney, had the appeal of having a more realistic body that falls in line with the majority of American women, but her attitude? Annoyed the crap out of me. She was constantly reprimanded by the judges for seeming “too fake” or “too pageanty”

OR

So who’s it going to be? I thought that Anya kind of dropped the ball in the walk (Versace!! Ohhhh loooveee) but Whitney rocked it? Not to mention her first dress? Looked amazing because lo and behold…the girl’s got some ta-tas. Personally? I didn’t like any of the cover girl shoot photos…Fatima’s looks always bugged me…i hate super wide set eyes like that and I reiterate the same thing that I said with Jaslene who called herself “Latin America’s Next Top Model”….this is America’s Next Top Model…if you want to be Africa’s Next Top Model? Start a show up over there. But here? We’s some AMERICAN GIRLS! Gah…sorry pet peeve. (spoilers below FYI)

Read the rest of this entry »

So i’m always trying to find new bloggers to read. New websites to add to my google readers and new social networking sites. I scour people’s blog rolls looking for other bloggers who sound interesting…and I come across a lot of good ones (of course my freaders would have awesome taste in bloggers … they read me after all right?)

My Google reader? Has gotten kind of ridic. Unfortunately, I can’t add all these awesome people to my blogroll, which is ALREADY out of control and super long. So I’m going to share new and exciting blogs with you guys each week from here on out.

Also, since I think most of you gals (sorry dudes I’m leaving you all high and dry on this one…) are awesome bloggers, I found this site through Chic and Charming …. Girls Guide to Blogging! (Go join/check it out!)

Other sites I’ve been loving lately?

Broke and Beautiful - within minutes of checking out her site (which i found on GGtoB fyi) I found no fewer than FIVE pairs of shoes that I wanted to go out to buy. She shows awesome deals, has great style and amazing advice. Go check her out!

Chic and Charming - She always posts the awesomest stuff from online blogging tips, to fashion and she loves Gossip Girl as much as I do!!

Keep up with me - not only is this girl based in DC but she’s smart too! She has great thoughts on fitness, life and often shares her thoughts not only on her blog, but also cross posts to BlogHer. Also, i’ve seen her quoted in the Express!

In the coming days, I’m going to revamp the blogroll and try to put a separate page on the blog with all the pages I read perhaps alphabetically, or perhaps by topic….we’ll see Either way, Happy reading!

What are YOUR favorite blogs as of lately???

So I may or may not have diagnosed my knee condition. Now my knee thing isn’t too serious - and it sounds like if this is what I have, it may just take a few weeks in the weight room doing hamstring and quad exercises before my knee is slightly better.

What did I diagnose myself with?? Runner’s Knee of course…

Runners Knee is a condition characterized by pain behind or around the kneecap. Poor kneecap tracking is believed to be the main cause this condition. The kneecap (patella) slides over a groove on the thighbone (femur) as your knee bends and straightens. If, for example, the front thigh muscles (quadriceps) are weak or imbalanced, the resulting muscle imbalance can pull the kneecap to the left or right of the groove, causing pressure, friction, and irritation to the cartilage on the undersurface of the kneecap when the knee is in motion.

Overuse/overload of the quadriceps - especially running, going up and down stairs - can cause this condition to flare up, as can poor exercise techniques, e.g. a poorly fitting bicycle, improper footwear etc.

Makes sense no? Symptoms are all there..

Pain, typically diffuse pain, in front, around or beneath the kneecap. More pain and/or feeling of joint instability after climbing stairs, jumping rope, running, or after a period of sitting.

There is extra pressure between the kneecap and thighbone when the knee is bent at a right angle as when sitting. The kneecap is pressed towards the femur. If there is already irritation of the cartilage on the underside of the kneecap, discomfort or pain results. Even sleeping in a curled up position can cause pain when the condition has flared up. Contracting the quadriceps, as when going up or down stairs, also causes increased compression of the knee joint.

Sometimes after activities that have activated the quadriceps, it feels the knee is being pulled to one side. Sometimes a clicking, cracking or crunching sound is heard when the knee is bent or straightened. This is the kneecap slipping back into the groove.

An X-ray or MRI of the knee can show if there is damage to the cartilage or if the patella is displaced or tilted. A tilted patella may be correctable with exercise if the tilt is caused by a muscle imbalance.

So to the doctors I go on Monday at 10am. Hopefully for a referral to a Physical Therapist. I don’t want to have not run because of this…because I’ve got it in my head and damnit…i want to run and train and race and finish those two bad boys in September and October!!

Ok so last night, we saw the season finale of the Hills and the second to last episode of the season for Gossip Girl. Neither were spectacular but GG did set us up for what is going to be an EXCELLENT season finale on Monday.

Gossip Girl

Ok first of all…I’m kind of starting to like N and V together. She’s gotten less annoying and we see her less as a threat to S as she used to be and more of a good friend to D. It was pretty awesome to finally get the back history - i never suspected the way shit went down but it all makes sense and also brought us back to the night that S slept with N when he was with B. It was really sweet to see S make things right with her mom and the dude’s family - you kind of think DAMN! Lilly is a big fat bitch (cue that song from South Park “Kyle’s Mom is a big fat bitch”) when she threatens to send Serena away to reforming school after watching Georgina’s blackmail.

I am however super pissed off for Dan falling for Georgina’s bullshit lie about why she changed her name. I can not…wait to see shit go down next week - if you saw the previews you know what I’m talking about.

Finally - no lil J (thank god i was getting tired of her bad attitude) and a lil more Lily/Rufus love. Who totally got all reminiscent when Lisa Loeb (as herself!!) sang “stay” one of my FAVORITE songs of all time.

I love you Chuck Bass…I can haz ur babiez??

I digress…was NOT too impressed with the one line that was in Rufus’s hit song. Kind of lame. And his voice? A little too….i dunno. Abrasive. But then I sense he’s an actor not a musician for his day job

So…what do you think is going to happen next week? S and D get back together after he does the dirty with Georgina aka Sarah aka ONE CRAAAYYZAAAYY BIATCH! Rufus and Lily get it on but does she get married (it ended with them kissing..oohhhh la laaaaa) (i think she does…poor poor heart broken Rufus…) and if you go look at the fotos on the cw website….they show pictures of a new girl…Amelia. I wonder who that could be!!!

Trying not to spoil it but hopefully it’s not still on anyone’s tivo. This is the one show that even if i’m not home to watch it at 8pm, I watch it before I go to bed on Mondays…which may be the explanation as to why I didn’t get to bed till 11pm. Whoops??

The Hills

Okay…i’m going to start with Heidi. YOU MOTHER FUCKING IDIOT!!! OMFG!!!! WTF!!!!! YOU IDIOT!!!!! At least we know her and Spency-poo are still together. What a fucking dumb blonde I mean honestly….you left. Your boss. High and Dry and didn’t even fucking call??? Yeah don’t expect to have your cushy job anymore you whore…at least you’ll have more time to work on your “musical” career - HA!

And Lo! When did you become such a manipulative wench!?! I mean honestly…”I want to be her friend too…” NO YOU DON’T!!! Guh! Audrina, I still you look slightly like a zombie with a bad ass tan, and your eyes stiill bug the crap out of me but seriously…you’re better than those broads and LC?! GET A SPINE!!! This episode? Kind of a dud. Definitely not as awesome as the end of last season.

I want to say I won’t watch Season 4 but it’s a train wreck and I just stop watching. It’s so bad. I hate myself every day for it.

What did you all think of the Hills and Gossip Girl????

It’s almost 4:00pm…this means that I have been up for almost 12 hours.

I worked the opening shift at the gym. Thankfully the Manager on Duty let me leave about a half hour early since I had an event to get to at 845 downtown.

Unfortunately, one woman dragged my day down. She rolled in at 6am. Bought some training and asked where [insert trainer here] is. We don’t keep track of them…usually they know where to meet the trainers.

So 6:05 rolls around, her appointment was at 6am. Now there’s probably one of two places the trainers are…the PT room down on the first floor or the weight room up on the third floor. I tell her he should be in one of those two places.

“Well could you page him? I don’t feel like hunting all over the gym for him.”

okay 1. it’s not all over…haul your lazy ass down the hall to see if he’s there. or haul your lazy ass up 3 flights of stairs and I’m sure he’ll be up there. 2. We don’t page trainers. We could call them but given it’s 6:05 and your appointment was at 6am? Maybe he’s finishing up with someone else.

I tell her this in much nicer tones. I tell her I can call a manager up so I do. He tells me to call said trainer on his cell. No answer.

A few minutes later he walks down the hall from the PT ROOM and informs her he was waiting in there.

See? Now would it have killed you to walk your lazy ass down the hall? No wonder you need a trainer!

Later, she comes back with her trainer, and he asked if she pulled a training ticket. I had pulled this. I double checked. “She didn’t give me one. All i got were these two receipts.”

OH. MY. GOD!

If you had looked at them you lazy whorebag, you would have seen that one was indeed your credit card receipt and one was the training ticket or *chit* as it’s called at the gym. Way to make me look back you stupid whorebag.

So that’s how my day started. This was after I rolled out of bed at 4am. And before my coworker charged me $5 for a small travel size thing of cereal. No cereal is not $5. It’s $1.50. Did he give me a refund? No. So i took another one since he couldn’t find cereal in the system and he scanned it again and it still rang up as “mini breakfast burritos” God I hate our cafe company. Douchebags.

Got out of work early to nap, head downtown, fall asleep listening to healthcare advisors of the presidential campaigns, dreamed about a new job with a better title, took a nap on the metro and then came back to work to a train wreck - an event of ours had ~35 rsvp’ed guests…for a room that holds 200. And is next Tuesday. My job? Get the word out. Is PR in my job??

I’m incredibly cranky, but that seems to be the trend out in bloggy world today. Since my cube mate (who now has a refrigerator?!?!) is MIA (i swear if he left for the day I’m going to break something) Ima…go…play some scrabulous. Because I can. And I don’t feel like doing much for the rest of the day. All 90 minutes of it.

Later? I’ll put my reviews of Gossip Girl (!!!!), meeting Jen Lancaster (!!!!!!) and The Hills (which I have not watched yet…) All of which? well…2 of the 3 at least…are quite squeee worthy. Dontcha think?

When I saw Jen posted this beautiful gem I knew I had to enter…so to all my freaders?

GO WIN YOURSELF A $100 Target CARD!!! (and if you win…buy me something with it haha)

Jenn, you seriously may have just made my day

Stayed up till 12:30 finishing this book. Loved every minute of it. But the ending? Shocked the crap out of me.

I mean, you’re going along reading about a mother and her 13 year old daughter,   the book alternates between their voices which allows the reader to understand how the daughter (Joy) and mother work and how their relationship is viewed from both points of view. This is especially important because you see Cannie, the overbearing mother who hides her past from her daughter and Joy, the daughter who finds out about her mother’s past and does everything in her right mind (including running away to California) to find out what’s true and what’s not without asking her mother directly.

I don’t want to give too much away but the ending? Let me make you aware that you WILL need the tissues. I mean, I love Jennifer Weiner’s writing, and “Good in Bed” was the first book of hers I’ve read and this is the sequel to that book. Through the book, you wonder what’s going to happen next and the beginning of the ending…let’s just leave it at “that came out of nowhere” and for about the last 50 pages or so? I was wiping my nose on my pillow case and the duvet cover trying not to wake boyfriend.

I give this book a 5 out 5. I thought it was going to take me forever but I finished it in about a week, her writing style is fun, and leaves you wanting more. Her descriptiveness is detailed but not the point that you’re like “get on with it…” but mostly? Her story is telling of the sensitive mother daughter relationship between a 13 year old who just wants to grow up and a mother who is afraid to let her daughter do just that because she wants to protect her. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who loved any of Jennifer Weiner’s other books (In Her Shoes, Good in Bed, Little Earthquakes, The Guy Not Taken) or anyone who loves chick lit that’s a little deeper than your run of the mill chick lit.

Enjoy!!

I wanted to write a Mother’s Day post…but I just don’t have it in me. Not because I hate my mom, I don’t. I miss her. I talk to her almost every day if only to call and say hi. But really? My mom and I’s relationship history? Is kind of tumultuous. I picked up a lot of bad habits from her when I was growing up…like her belief that we need a man in our life to be happy. Like my former co-dependent tendencies that I discovered only after my ex boyfriend suggested I seek counseling to find out why I had commitment issues. Sucked for him but everything I talked about and learned about this? Made sense to me. I actively resolved to cure myself and be more attentive about my relationship habits.

But despite my appreciation for my mom these days? I almost moved out and transferred schools senior year of high school because I couldn’t take her being overbearing and protective. It was probably better I didn’t because hindsight tells me living with my step mother probably would have been worse. Then senior year? Junior year? I don’t remember, but it was in high school, I took a public speaking class and we had to write a “tribute speech” at the end of the semester and I? Wrote mine to my mom. I cried. She cried. It was pretty special. And not in the Ralph Wiggum sort of way.

These days though? I consider myself to have…2 and a half moms. My own birth mother whom I adore and wish I were closer to, my step mother who counts as half a mother…if that. (I’m not a fan if you couldn’t tell…) and in the past year and a half, boyfriend’s mother has taken a larger role in my life. Almost like a second mother if you will. This of course is a good sign for the future and me? I’m just lucky that way.

I could tell a million stories about times when my mother was there for me - all the track meets she’d stand in the rain, the home ski meet when she stood out in the cold for a couple hours while i raced, the endless band concerts, and of course, when she drove me to my dad’s so he could bring me to the airport the next morning to fly out of Albany into BWI to start my life in DC. She called me when she got home - about two and a half hours later - to find her boyfriend MIA (he was out drinking as always) and cried to me on the phone about how really? She just didn’t want to be alone because she was sad…she didn’t know when she’d see me again.

I could also tell you about screaming matches, tears, how she yelled at me when I got super duper screaming excited when I got accepted into NU because she had a headache. But those? Not important. She’s been there for me more than anyone. She was always the first person I called when something good…or bad happens. I’ve promised that when boyfriend gets ready to propose? Not only will he have to get my father’s approval, but he’ll have to get my mom’s first. All the times I was neglected or blown off by dad, boyfriends, friends? Mom’s always the one I cry to because mom gets it. Mom’s been there and done all that. There’s something awesome about your mom automatically sympathizing with you no matter what.

I’ve surprised her a couple times since I moved down here, I’ve acted like the baby whenever i go home - taking charge of the car, sleeping in and making my mum take me shopping. I was going to surprise her next weekend, unfortunately…airtran doesn’t yet fly to Burlington and the trips otherwise were too expensive Alas, I conspired with my sister, ordered her tulips and had sister pick them up. It was a nice surprise and…the least I could do.

I can’t wait until boyfriend and I move closer north and can see BOTH of our mothers regularly. I can’t wait till I can just pop up to Burlington for a weekend with the Crazy Puppeh (what she will be referred to from here on out as she has begun destroying couch numero TRES) and see her and my sister. Because my favorite relationship of them all? Is the one i have with my mom…and my sister. My sister will call me and we’ll tell one another something, say she tells me about a new boyfriend. Me? I call my mom and say “Sister has a new boyfriend…did you know that?” Or…i call mom and tell her about something…and she’ll call my sis, and sister will call me. It’s kind of a triangle. It only took 25 years to get here cause we? Weren’t always this close. But since i’m older and not living so close to home? I appreciate it that much more. How can you not?

Anyhow, it’s late and I have a sick boyfriend to tend to and a book to read. The book I’m supposed to read for Tuesday’s book club (not the one I started a different one…) I haven’t yet gotten around to starting because i’ve been too busy reading “Certain Girls” by Jennifer Weiner which is…fabulous. Whoops.

+ hung out on my own last night watched Enchanted and Juno

+ Had a bottle of sparkling red….

- drinking a bottle of wine on your own when you have to be at the gym at 630a for work? Not a good idea

+ started marathon training….

- but my knees? not feelin’ so hott. Need to get into a Physical Therapist and get these babies looked at.

+ Ran again after work…2 miles in about 22 minutes on the ‘mill.

- I need to start running outside. The treadmill? Just isn’t going to cut it. I hate the effing treadmill.

- the girls all canceled on me…lame

+ getting drinks with K later though!

+ Had sushi and dumplings for dindin…

- they gave me a california roll instead of a salmon roll

+ America’s Next Top Model…and Hills Behind the Scenes (which was super interesting btw!!!) and am now caught up with Real World (aka the worst guilty pleasure ever. seriously…i hate this show)

+ got my toes painted cutely and my eyebrows waxed….always makes for a good day!

Seaons ending but don’t worry fans, there’s still two more weeks and i bet…based on the last few episodes that the season finale? is going to be a good one. Why you ask??? Look here….

Who’s excited?? THIS GIRL!!!!!

(althought not excited that I’ll have to wait like 3 months for the next season…)

My prediction? Well not so much prediction as hope…I hope hope hope that Blair and Chuck finally get together because really? I like those two together….I have since they first hooked up because she’s beautiful and lets face it….he’s a hottie. A BRITISH hottie IRL…which makes him…my God. *i worship you Chuck Bass…I worship you Chuck Bass…* okay that’s creepy but it reminded me of hockey games from college when we’d bow to worship the goalie when he was playing well…unfortunately we didn’t do that much my senior year. I digress….love the Gossip Girl. Love love love. But the real question…what happens with the  Serena/Dan/Georgina (Sarah?) love triangle???

Source [CWTV.com] [Pink Is the New Blog]

Also while we’re on the subject of television…who’s excited that Domdom finally went home?? Who thinks Fatima should be the next to go home? I mean for as much as Whitney annoys me…it would be nice to have a model with a more realistic body type win ANTM. Though me? I like Anya. So long as she just…doesn’t talk. Because she’s fun, seems genuine (from what I’ve read on interviews from people who have gone home they’ve all had nothing but good things to say about Anya) and is a good model. ANTM doesn’t produce GREAT models so good is good enough

Who do you think is going to win it next week????

So I’m officially starting my training this weekend or well….monday morning.

I need to get in the habit of mostly being a morning runner because of the fact that i often work late and this time around? No hiatus’s.

But I’m a bit worried about my knee(s). I plan on taking more preventative care this time around…icing, taking more potassium pills to keep my muscles strong, buying better sneakers, and the like…but I want to finish in 5:30:00. thats my goal.

The race I’ve decided on? The Hartford Marathon in Hartford, CT. We’ll be able to crash with boyfriend’s family since they’re from the CT and hopefully?? I can get my family to come down to cheer me on also! It should be…awesome. This marathon - unlike MCM you have to finish in under 6 hours…so keeping a 13:00 minute pace. I figure…if i train properly? It shouldn’t be a problem/

Also? I’m running the North Face Endurance Half Marathon at the end of August. It’s in Great Falls, VA, all trail running (less wretched on my poor knees!) and well…I’m pretty stoked that I’ll be doing not one…but TWO races. And i might also run the Capitol Hill 10k and the Komen 5k….if i feel up to it.

I’m excited to get back into this. I tried to convince myself that running wasn’t my thing. But in all reality? It is. I just…hate the effort but I want to embrace it. I want to be a true runner. I want to get up at 6am for my runs. I want to not miss a training run unless ABSOLUTELY Necessary (i.e. my friends wedding that I’m going to in Boston at the end of June…)  this time around? I’m doin’ right since i know…I KNOW that I can.

So i need to find a training plan…I need to find new sneakers. I want a new long sleeve shirt to run in, I’m going to start eating better, and stop drinking…sunkist soda which i thought was caffeine free but was told today that i was wrong…so very very wrong. Damnit. Also? I need to register for said races. $60 for the half, and $80 for the full. I’m excited though

Anyhow, it’s Friday (yay!) and i’m crossing my fingers to get out of work early so that i can get to the gym and get this ball rollin’!

Much love freaders, and happy friday!!

After a chat last night, I decided I want to run a marathon again.

Today? I checked up on the Marine Corps website. It’s closed.

Hmmm…

I think? I’m going to train for and run the Rock and Roll half (maybe full?) in Virginia Beach.

But before my 26th? I want to run a full marathon. Anyone got any suggestions for marathons in late 2008 (Sept-November)?

Again, me deciding to run a marathon is a random, spontaneous decision. Should probably get new sneakers and a knee brace so I don’t hurt it again…I mean…it was strained ligaments so I might get them checked out again but me?

I’m totally doing Marathon number 2 within the year! *

And this year? I’m beating my time of 7:00:00…goal time? 5:30:00.

*this may or may not mean that I won’t do the triathlon.

So this weekend…I had a pay it forward contest. And I ended it this evening and so now, as I watch America’s Next Top Model

And the winner(s)? well…this is how i figured it out….

first i wrote the names down…

then i put them in a yankees hat…

boyfriend picked the names…i was going to have puppy do it but she’s asleep…

the winners?

Megan @ Tea and Cake Time and

Dolce @ La Dolce Vita

So send me your addresses gals and I’ll get your packages out…soon.

I met my first real life published author last night. This author happens to be one of my favorite bloggers so you can imagine my nerves.

I’ve never done well on first dates. I get nervous, I get antsy, I worry that I’m being too annoying, too talkative, too antsy, too shy…you name it.

So at 5:30, I briefly contemplated just going home because really? The metro to a bus to god only knows where only to have boyfriend pick me up at a Borders that neither of us really knew how to get to? This was a recipe for disaster.

But, I made it there with about thirty minutes to spare, got a little lost walking through Big Box mania - gotta love suburban Northern Virginia, and found my way to the book store where i called boyfriend to calm my nerves.

I find that meeting new people in your mid-twenties (yes i’m in my mid twenties now ha!…this is me embracing my quarter life and not letting it defeat me.) is a bit…tougher. I’ve always been a bit shy when meeting new people for the reasons noted above but now? It’s like you have to find common interests instead of them just being…there. On that point? It’s even WORSE when you meet a bloggy pal…you hope that you’re everything that they think you are, and you hope they’re not some shady poser. It’s kind of one foot in, one foot half ready to sprint away as fast as you can ASAP kind of thing. Granted, all of my experiences meeting bloggy pals (not bloggy boys…because ohhh the stories I could tell you from college about the couple of boys I met off Livejournal…) have been nothing short of fabulous.

Needless to say though, I was a little nervous last night meeting the fabulous Trish, but alas, all went swimmingly and though I was one of…two (five if you count her pals and husband)…which was sad…but she took it in stride and she did fabulously and I? Adore her and can not wait for book numero DOS!

After the reading and the Q&A…we chatted for a few, she signed my book, we chatted some more then I meandered downstairs to find out where boyfriend was since it lasted much shorter than I was expecting (honestly? I had no idea WHAT to expect). After all, I don’t go to these things on a regular basis, this is actually probably the first that I’ve ever been to (Jenn Lancaster will be the second on Monday! Anyone want to come to the fabulous land of big box stores and confusing roads with me??) and let me tell you? They are as fun as they sound.

I mean, I loved Trish’s book anyhow, but hearing the author read in their own voice? Is pretty flippin’ awesome. And also? I’m pretty sure I was like some tweeny girl who gets to meet Hannah Montana for the first time…it’s like meeting someone who you look up to. Because really? I’ve aspired to be a writer for a long time so authors like Trish who actually make themselves available to fans? Is so awesome to me.

During Q&A the other woman there asked about blogging, and Trish had me explain it…I have been “blogging” by some virtue or other since February 2001 when I first started my livejournal. I went through three livejournals in college - all of which are deleted, one remains but the entries have all been archived and deleted - but I remembered as I explained that it’s really just a public forum to share thoughts. I then realized after I explained the quasi-demise of my livejournal Is essentially written for me. I have 238 pages of old LJ entries that archive my college career, heart breaks, failed tests, first internships…I really need to get it all printed so I can read it, edit it and perhaps just maybe…I can use that as a manuscript, turn it into a story…turn it into fiction…and really be published.

I digress though, this isn’t about me or my dreams right now. This is about me being a little star struck over an amazing author who wrote an amazing book. Who I just happened to get the opportunity to meet…which is just…awesome. Yes I realize this post makes me a certified NERD but you know what? Twenty-five years later and I am finally ok with that fact

Yay!

Finally, because i’m having such a reading lovefest over here, Megan Crane (if you haven’t read her books check out English as a Second Language and Everyone Else’s Girl. I still haven’t checked out her other two books “Frenemies” and “Names My Sisters Call Me” but I’m dying too…as if I don’t have enough books I want to read sometime in my lifetime But anyhow, Megan shared a lil book give away contest love - if you go over to Blonde Reviews, there’s a give away if you share your favorite book of all time. I had a hard time sharing mine because I’ve read sooo many but one that I loved the most? I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe. I bought this when I was an intern in DC…when i had a horrible 45 minute commute on the orange line to Capitol Hill from East Falls Church. I bought it for the sole intention of reading it on the 17 hour flight to Singapore that I had with my Ex for spring break. Unfortunately, I finished the book about two weeks before we LEFT for Singapore because it was just that good.

What is YOUR Favorite book of all time??

UPDATE: There is approximately…a few hours (i said five…but we’ll see…it’ll be sometime tonight…) left to enter my Pay-It-Forward contest!

Despite working till 11:15 last night, you can bet that I stayed up till almost 1am getting caught up on two of my favorite shows.

The Hills

Okay…when did Lo become sucha  whorebag?? I really want to know because I liked her. I thought her snark was fabulous - especially because most of the time it was in relation to Heidi. But really? The bitchy looks? The “iiiii’mmm huunnngrrry” 30 seconds after you get to the studio because you don’t really want to hang out with Audrina?

Miss…atttituuuuude.

Not necessary.

The HIlls? Is really starting to piss me off. And next week? Is ALREADY THE FINALE!!! *gasp* granted I’m going to be glad to see Spencer not sitting around (really…what does he DO?!)

Hi I’m a lazy fuck head with no job, no life yet think I’m the coolest thing since sliced bread since I’m dating a dumb broad who can’t sing and can’t dress and happened to score a spot on a reality television show…

However, Buzz Sugar told us today that they have signed on for a FOURTH season!!! As if we haven’t had enough already. What do ya’ll think is going to happen in the finale? I mean clearly Heidi takes Spencer back since we still see them ALL THE GOD DAMNED TIME

Gossip Girl

Ok, there are so many things I want to say about this show but really it culminates in overarching fact….this show. is fucking. awesome.

Spoilers below in case you haven’t seen yet…

Read the rest of this entry »

So I figured, even though i finished this book a few days ago, that since tonight I’m going to meet Trish, I’d review her book today. Wahoo!!

Firstly, I loved the book. I’m not too big on my faith - which is a little weird for me given that I was recently confirmed in the Catholic Church and went through the RCIA program, so I guess really, you could just say I’m still growing into it. I was a little skeptical that it was going to be strictly a preachy book about God but, I was very very wrong.

Trish’s writing is enjoyable, relatable, it’s emotional, rivetting and will make you laugh and cry and any book that can do both? Is amazing in my eyes.

In the book, she recounts failed relationships including an abusive marriage, finding herself and finding her relationship with God as a Christian. Through her involvement in the church she stops running away from her problems and learns to deal with them head on and just when you think she’s going to end up on her own with her relationship with god…turns out God had a happy ending waiting for her up His sleeve.

It’s hard not to feel a bit of compassion for Trish because in truth? We’ve all been there. We’ve all dated guys that don’t want to grow up, guys who break us down into bits of smithereens, and guys who just aren’t right for us. But, in all of our searches for mr. right, I bet few of us would ever consider asking God for the right man, and that is where her story is unique and brilliant in how she manages to share not just her story of finding mr. right? But also her story of finding her faith.

I give this book a 5 out of 5 because her story was told in such a lovable voice, it’s hard not to relate to her narrative and feel like you’re hanging out with a best friend talking about all the horrific tales of boyfriends past.

Go pick it up at your local bookstore or buy it on amazon. And if you’re in the DC area? She’ll be at Borders in Bailey’s Crossroad tonight. I’m taking multiple forms of transportation to get there and am TRES excited about meeting her and getting a signed copy myself!

I’m incredibly cranky.

I got spoken to at work…like I was an intern.

“Do you want me to go to the hearing?”

“Yeah, we’re getting new guy, j and i in on the list…so you can go and wait in line just in case we don’t get on the list.”

Are you fucking kidding me?!

I had a vision of just being the admin bitch for the next year and a half. I sat at my desk for the rest of the afternoon contemplating a jump…how do i do it though with a boss that’s super connected. But after the talk I had with my sort of kind of former boss at happy hour (she had a title change which took the personnel aspect out of her job) she gave me a few suggestions and offered to be my reference. She was after all…the one who hired me.

I don’t like to talk about work but I’m cranky and I just see this? This new guy…as a downward spiral and not getting the policy experience that keeps being promised to me. I just see myself as being the one who gets called to my boss’s office to change the font type on her email…to be the one to enter every single god damned person she meets into her contacts…to be the jerk off who waits on the line because yeah sure you can go to the hearing but you’re on your own to get in.

Eff. That.

I mean…I should really have applied to that job on the hill in my Senator’s office. I should really not write off hill jobs but god damn. I have GOT to get out of this job.

Grad school? Anyone?

AND THEN!! TO top that crap off?

Some girl who’s been working at the gym for like… A WEEK acted like she was SUPERIOR to me! Back of bia…i been here a helluva lot longer than you. Then she was like “oh it;s been such a long day…i got up at 5:30 to get my kids ready for school…and then i ran some errands before coming here…and then I went home…and then i came here…” and worked from 3 till 9 or some shit like that.

No offense to all my mommy blogger pals. I’m sure getting the kids off to school is a struggle. But I work 9-6. I’m out the door by 8:25 to get the metro…so i can be in the door at 9am. Then? I work till 6. Not 5. Not 5:30. 6pm. Even though the new guy left at 5:30 (jerk off). and get home by 6:40 to leave the house by 6:53 to be at the gym by 7pm. Then? I get to be there till 11:15-11:20.

Eff you bia. I don’t want to hear about your woes.

Now…I’m going to watch Gossip Girl and feel better about my life. Or something like that. Don’t forget to enter my pay-it-forward contest!

So last week, I had a name my mac contest. At the end of that contest? I won my first pay it forward thanks to Ben @ No Ordinary Rollercoaster

Granted, I had been entering like every pay-it-forward in hopes of winning sooner or later. I wanted to do something clever and witty and have you all tell me how awesome I am and pick the one who says it loud and proud but I figured that was too…presumptuous and totally not my style. I’m more modest than that.

So, instead? Just leave a comment. I’ll pick someone two people, i’m feeling generous, randomly Wednesday at 5pm and announce sometime Thursday morning.

Wahoo! Pay it forward!!!

There is something to be said of shopping under the influence.

Julie posted an article the other day about BUI - specifically targeted at internet shopping. Well I’ve got a tale to tell you about shopping under the influence and then riding the damn metro.

It started when my coworker/boss and i decided walking into pentagon city - she was planning on going to DSW and I was planning on going to buy a new dress for gold cup, that “hey lets get a drink first and then go our separate ways.”

A drink? Turned into two bottles of wine.

Shit.

So I didn’t find a dress but I did find a pair of yellow pants at the gap that I had been swooning over since before my birthday that were on sale. And a cute white top at abercrombie and fitch for next weekend. Anyone who knows me knows my obsession of white tops.

So then, I needed to get a couple of things at target. I could have gone to CVS. Boyfriend TRIED To get me to just go to CVS .. “I really think it’s going to be closed lovey, why don’t you just come home?”

But I can catch the yellow line. and it goes right up there!

Indeed it does. And target? Totally just closed.

Eff me man. Eff me.

So i grabbed a slice of pizza at the new pizza place right next to Target. And I ate and I read and I tracked the time of the next train that I needed to get. It was a yellow train…i think. Maybe it was green. I don’t really remember. After sharing two bottles of wine with a coworker because they were half price? You kind of forget the details. Anyhow!

I get off to switch because if it was green which it may actually have been…i decided I didn’t want to walk through shady SE from M street to our street which isn’t HORRIBLE but…it isn’t that great and it’s horribly lit.

SO i get onto a blue (maybe orange?) after like an eight minute wait. I get onto the train only to realize FUCK. I don;t have my bag!!! FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!

who does that??

Me. Drunk. That’s fucking who.

So i get off at Federal Center SW only to jump back onto a train because Maybe i left it on the platform? There was 3 minutes till the next train going in the opposite direction, so i could go back to check. But what if i left it on a green line train? Crap. I’m never going to get them back. It’s amazing how LITTLE metro workers care when you approach them probably reeking of wine sobbing over a pair of yellow pants and a top from abercrombie - i had at least 8 minutes till the next train going back to eastern market. so after realizing that metro workers didn’t give a crap and after realizing that i probably wasn’t going to get my pants and top back…I hopped on a green line train because well…it was there and i didn’t want to wait.

CVS was closed. I had pissed away $60 because i couldn’t keep track of my crap. But at the very least? The one thing that can make me feel better was it was the governments bling thrown at me to stimulate the economy. And stimulate the economy i did except it was kind of like….hooking up with a guy and having him just up and leave after you go down on him leaving you hanging and longing for more.

I just got hosed man. I just got hosed by myself. *sigh*

For now? It’s off to the races. Tally-ho bias! I’m off to pretend I have even the slightest bit of southern charm…now what the hell did i do with my pearls…

The results are in and the new mac that we met yesterday? Ladies and gentlemen….drumroll please…

Meet…STELLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Submitted by the lovely Katelin @ Pretty Sandy Feet - send me your address and I’ll send you your prize!!!

Stella I believe, is a perfect name. They were all perfect names what am I talking about! But you guys chose, and the mac beauty is named Stella, which as I told boyfriend last night is a pretty awesome name because while it can be a classy name that makes you think of some roaring 20’s flapper, it can also give you the image of some waitress at some dingy truck stop diner on I-66 in the middle of bumblefuck nowhere with a mullet and a cigarette hanging from her mouth asking in a scratchy voice “how can I help ya big boy?” with a slight southern drawl. Which, not gonna lie is kind of what I was going for. Maybe not truck stop waitress exactly but come on…my ipod is named Bertha. I don’t exactly pick pretty, classy, make you think of Audrey Hepburn kind of names.

So Stella she is. I was tempted to bring her into work today but for my own productivity level…and since I’m going shopping for Gold Cup dress tonight after work since I was economically stimulated and have some bling bling to play with (after I pay some bills…damn) I didn’t want to lug her around because while she’s lighter than my HP? Let’s face it miss Stella is no macbook air.

You can bet though, that this shopping trip will be SPEED SHOP galore so that I can get home and play with my new toy. Last night boyfriend and I trekked over to NE to go to a Pre-engagement seminar put on by the archdiocese of Washington which was a great talk by a brilliant guy. We talked about it after getting dinner at some tiny italian place on C street which was delish, and more and more, I am constantly reminded that this dude? Is perfect for me.

We got home a little later than I had hoped (you don’t go to those tiny italian places for the service…lets just leave it at that) and within about 20 minutes? I was asleep on the couch. So much for playing with my mac Tonight, I need to transfer files (which might take forever given the insane slowness of our internet connection because well…verizon sucks a lot.) and finish downloading that damn MS Office update that keeps STOPPING because did you know? When a mac goes into sleep mode? It practically shuts down?! Gah!

This is going to be an adjustment.

But totally worth it!!!

Later today…get ready for my review of Trish’s fabulous book “He loves me, He loves me Not” and my first Pay-It-Forward contest!!!

And today? I like exclamation points!!!!!!

!!!!!!! see? !!!!!!!!!!!!

/end tangent
Anyhow, I have a lil bit o’ work to get done, so until we meet again dear freaders

9am Conference call…check.

10am Conference call…check.

10am Hearing - webcast…check.

Do you realize…how hard it is to focus on CLINICAL COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS and…FDA Bills…and Town Hall events…and who is going to try to get CSPAN there?! And who is going to do this? And omg my boss’s voice at 9am is so abrasive….do you realize…how hard it is to focus on this stuff when you’re like WOW…Mac…is on it’s on its way!!!

Why in GOD’S name did I EVER give up caffeine?? Someone…please remind me?

Anyhow…no cares about my work life. Especially not me.

This morning, while boyfriend nursed a hangover in bed, I got up, checked my bank account (no I am not economically stimulated yet! DAMN YOU GOVERNMENT!! SHOW ME THE MONEYYYY!!!) and then…I checked fedex. ZOMG! THE MAC IS IN ALEXANDRIA!!! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG I’M GOING TO GET IT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!! it was like…Christmas. I jumped on the bed. He grunted. Puppy looked at me like I had ten heads. I skipped around getting ready for work.

My 9am call lasted all of 15 minutes. 9:45, I go get milk for my breakfast. 9:50 boss asks me to sit on the 10am call…

10:56 we’re done and…there’s a big old box on my chair when I get back. I skip to my coworkers. IT’S HERE!!!!!!!!!! I exclaim excitedly.

I wasn’t supposed to play with it. I was only supposed to charge it…but…really?? I couldn’t help myself. Could you??? I mean…come on here people…

Anyhow, I haven’t…done much with it. It’s just kind of there. Tonight however? Well 7:30 boyfriend and i are going to some Pre-Engagement Seminars that the Archdiocese of Washington is putting on which should be fun…but damnit…I WANT TO PLAY WITH MY MAC!!

Don’t Forget…Mac needs a name. Mac just doesn’t work. So go vote here! I’m shutting the poll down early so tonight at COB (6pm EDT) the poll will be closed and winner will be announced tonight when i get home! *gasp* Are you excited?? I am. Seriously…I want to go home. Watch trashy television and play on my mac.

Other notables…

1. I won my first Pay It Forward Contest thanks to Ben over at !!! So you know what that means??? YOU guys get to enter in MY FIRST Pay-It-Forward contest. I want to think of something clever so don’t go thinking that responding to this post is going to get you entered. Don’t worry…when I say go…I’m sure you guys will go

2. Also! I need to send out my freakin’ Bloggy Friend Swap package. I need to go buy stuff for it first. Which unfortunately, I haven’t had time to do yet. Dah. I’ll try to send it out Monday or Tuesday. Along with some Bookmooch books. And now…this pay it forward thing. I’m going to be friends with the LONG ASS LINES that are always during lunch time at the crystal city post office.

3. The blog roll…for the most part is almost back to being functional. I decided yesterday around ohhhhh 5pm that I wanted to reorganize it so it’s been a little…odd for the past day. I’m working on it.

4. How is it my flowers from Administrative Professionals Day are dead yet the pollen? Is still giving me a massive sinus headache. Stupid allergies. Stupid dead flowers.

5. Finally, last night at work, my pal M was working with me (she was my partner in crime a couple Sundays ago during some unfortunate rounds of Mario Kart at our local bar…) and some dude came up and said “You! You made my abs hurt for 3 days! Watch out for her” He said. I beamed. Woo!!! Still need to make that abs mix for work but since I don’t know when i’m working yet…since i don’t have my may schedule yet…I’ll get around to it when I get around to it. Or when I get all my music on my mac. Aka 240 GB of Hard Drive space. Mmmm big hard drive.

Speaking of M…she invited me out with her and a couple of her housemates who also work with us. I’m looking forward to her being my partner in crime…again since i had so much fun the first time. Though i dread the hang over I may or may not have on Sunday morning since Saturday is…as I mentioned…Gold Cup. Yikes. Her and I are also celebrating my 25th and One Month next weekend while boyfriend is away…since I didn’t properly celebrate my 25th…i figure what better way to celebrate than to celebrate one month out! Woo!!! (Hint: any DC Blogger pals…that Saturday - a week from this saturday-if anyone’s around and won’t feel bad visiting mom with  a hangover…let me know I sense…debauchery.)

FINALLY!!!

Because i keep forgetting crap…actually..no. I’m too pissed at ANTM to write about it. I’ll write about it later. After I watch the trash that we call Real World: Hollywood. I’m so ashamed of my tastes in television.

Now, only a few people know how I met boyfriend. We keep the story short because well…it’s kind of shady. Not shady in a bad way but shady in the way that you’d think that we were both bad people shady. But this morning I read Jackie’s story over at Always a Northerner (great blog title btw!) and though I’m a day late…I am most certainly not a dollar short.

Anyhow, it’s kind of a long story so kick back and relax and read away!

Read the rest of this entry »