Coupon post!

It's been a while since I wrote a good coupon post! But I picked up a few things today and needed some blog material, so here goes.

It was Super Doubles week at Harris Teeter - all coupons double in value up to $2. So a $1 coupon takes $2  off the price, a $2 coupon takes $4 off the price. There are some great deals to be found during Super Double week!

This type of trip really only works under a few conditions:

1. If the deals are amazing
2. If it's economically feasible to make a whole trip for five items
3. If you're sure you can get in and out of the store with no impulse buys

For me, having the store only about a mile away and spending hardly anything in gas (love my scooter!) makes these trips worthwhile. Accumulating three or four things on the VERY cheap for my stockpile works better for me than making massive trips where I'm purchasing bags and bags of items.

But yeah, you have to be willing to make a trip to the store to get those couple things on rock-bottom prices. For me, today, two things made this trip worthwhile: the low price on the multi-vitamin (they work best when you take them continually so I snap them up on sale whenever I can) and the low price on the Wisk (I'm low on laundry detergent and refuse to pay $11.99 and up for full price!)

Here's the breakdown (all coupons double):

Wisk: $6.99 reg/$3.99 sale - $1 coupon = $1.99
Satin Care shave gel: $3.29 reg/$2.79 sale - $1 coupon = $0.79
Natural Instinct hair color: $8.49 reg/$6.99 sale - $2 coupon = $2.99
Advil LiquiGels: $5.19 reg/$2.99 sale - $1 coupon = $0.99
One-A-Day Women's: $7.29 reg - $2 coupon - $3.29
TOTAL (full price) = $31.25
TOTAL (sale prices) = $24.05
TOTAL (after coupons) = $10.05

That's a great savings and all things that I really needed (but will NEVER pay full - or even sale - price for!)

Acclimatizing

Having grown up in the frozen north I have had a difficult time adjusting to the hot, humid summers here in the (technical) south. Every year I vow to do a better job - not to wimp out running, to get over my insecurity and wear sleveless singlets, to embrace tank tops. Last year I had no choice but to run through the worst of the 100+ degree days because I was training for the 200-mile Ragnar Relay.

This year I'm not training for an event but I do intent to keep up my mileage. I'm taking a new approach to acclimatization - less air conditioning! I think sometimes I have a hard time adjusting to the heat because I'm constantly going from a freezer to an oven. So far, I've only used my air conditioning at night. During the day it's open windows and a fan, and it's been nice. Sure, it's warm, but it's summer! It's supposed to be warm! (This is my attempt at having a good attitude about sweating where I sit).

I'm hoping that the lack of contrast will help my body adjust and thus I'll perform better and feel better. I will keep you posted on the success (or not) of m strategy.

Pushover

Ever since the perfect storm of blisters, over-training, and a massive loss of confidence several years ago that culminated on the eve of the Cherry Blossom 10-miler and caused me to drop down to the 5k (and eventually skip the race altogether) my mantra has been "I don't do events."

I love running, yoga, and lifting weights. I feel like a rockstar when I can just lace up my shoes and go. "Training", however, puts me into a bad space. I get obsessive. I track weather, miles, meals, morsels, feelings, failures. Instead of releasing anxiety, training adds to it. So, I forewent formal events several years ago and just run for the fun of it.

Lately I've been dipping my toe back in. I started with the 200-mile, 12-person Ragnar Relay last September (which was more fun than I'll admit!). And now I have two consecutive weekends of races coming up in May.

So far I've been able to train without obsessing but I might have to cut my losses and go back on an event-diet once these two are past!

Tourist Season Starting!

The cherry blossoms are trying to bloom and the first rushes of tourism have begun. The National Mall is much more crowded during my afternoon runs and traffic is getting a bit worse. Soon I'll have to avoid one of my main running routes - around the Tidal Basin - due to the crowds.

But for now, I'm still tolerating the influx rather well. I'm still in the phase of the tourist season where I can appreciate living in a city where so many people from all over the world want to come and visit. I see people taking in the sites and sounds of the monuments and remind myself to slow down and enjoy life. I vow to help people with directions and commit other helpful acts.

I think it helps that I don't take metro too much anymore. Being on my scooter, while hot and somewhat dusty at times, offers a pleasant veil to the hectic crowds and slow-moving paper farecard users of the train system that is, by far, the most annoying aspect of summer.

We'll see how long my patience lasts, though. I'm sure you'll all be hearing about this again.

Museum Day!

Every year I make a resolution to spend more time seeing the sites that are so close to home. There were two exhibits at the National Gallery of Art that I've had on my list and a sunny Sunday seemed like the perfect time.

I got a little behind schedule after wandering around the wrong building by accident, but finally made it through the glittering tunnel connecting the East and West building and found the photographic manipulation (before photoshop!) exhibit that I wanted to see. It was crowded - a harbinger of springtime tourism! - so I only saw about half the exhibit just for the sake of avoiding the throngs.

The most interesting (manipulated) photos were the vintage political propaganda: images of Stalin with smoothed wrinkles to make him look more commanding and less frail, a group shot of Hitler, Leni Riefenstahl, and several others with one person cropped out - the person suspected of sleeping with the married film-makers, etc.

I stopped by the David-Apollo for a few minutes (not as grand as the Florentine David!) and stumbled across one of many of the statues of Diana house in the Gallery.

Last on my list was to browse the pre-Raphaelist paintings but the clock was ticking toward a meeting with a girlfriend at Teaism. And good timing; I was a little museum'd out by that point!

Ambar

I love where I live not only for the gorgeous rowhomes and rose gardens and proximity to all the best sites in the city but also for the ever-growing supply of restaurants, bars, coffee-shops, and specialty bakeries and gelaterias. New restaurants open faster than I can try them!

So tonight, to celebrate the occasion of having a lovely friend in town, I made reservations at one on my list: a Balkan restaurant down the street.

From the webite I gathered the dishes would resemble Mediterranean tapas and I supposed if one had to make a comparison that would be fair.

We started with the bread basket - fried sourdough and cornbread with three different spreads. The best one appeared to be a roasted red pepper/goat cheese chunky dip with a bit of heat to it.

From there we ordered a set of three mushroom crepes with a bechamel and gouda sauce, followed by a deliciously moist chicken thigh with mashed purple potatoes and roasted red peppers. The skin was crunch and the meat falling apart.

For the finale we went with the spinach risotto topped with baked shrimp. This was the highlight - the risotto was so cheesy and the shrimp perfectly cooked.

A pair of martinis (voda for me, gin for her, both dirty) complemented the fantastic meal.

Running (or not) in the rain

I'm generally an advocate of exercising outdoors no matter the conditions. This is more challenging for me in the summer when I feel oppressed and heavy from the heat than in the invigorating cold of the winter. But rain, sun, cold, ice, snow, or wind... I think it's important for those committed to fitness to stay on schedule.

1. Exercising outdoors in adverse weather helps you grow as an athlete. Every time you push yourself, be it through adding distance or intensity, your mental ability to overcome challenges imrpoves. A windy run one day makes the next one a little easier. Confidence grows and you find yourself say "If I could run those miles on THAT day in THOSE conditions then I can definitely do THIS today!"

2. Every day - and every workout - counts. Skip a day here, cheat on a meal there, and suddenly skipping and cheating become the norm rather than the exception. Routine is key and scheduled days off are sufficient. Try not to play the shuffle game with your days off. Look to the future in order to look to a past filled with consistency in training days.

3. Braving the elements sets apart those with a deeper drive and provides deeper rewards. When you make a commitment to fitness that's based in a desire to improve yourself holistically rather than from a place of vanity moments of physical discomfort become opportunities for both inward and outward growth.

A girlfriend and I recently made plans to hike some of the Great Falls trails this past weekend. We woke up to rainy, misty, dreary weather but decided to go ahead with our activity anyway and I'm so glad we did. Not only did we have a refreshing, healthy day we had the park all to ourselves and a great conversation as well. I wouldn't have traded any of that for a morning cooped up inside.

Amazon Prime

Quite possibly one of the most exciting things I've done recently is join Amazon Prime. I may never have to go to the spawling suburban Target ever again! No more treks to Annapolis just to buy Barry's Irish Tea! Forty (plus!) pounds of cat litter delivered to my door!

The two-day free shipping really can't be beat, nor can the monthly free Kindle book downloads (it's technically a 'borrow' but you never have to return it).

I haven't had much luck with the free Prime videos but that's more to do with Netflix's outstanding selection (I've yet to find anything on Prime that I can't find on Netflix already).

My order history is so random: a tea kettle, cat litter, two classic rock CDs (for the road trip), some tea, three books. But all things that I would either have to make a single-purpose trip to the grocery store for or trek  out to Northern Virginia.

The price ($80/year) works out to be advantageous if you would have otherwise spent about $6/months on shipping. I beat that for six months just on the cat litter.

Hi Matt

According to my stats, my long-stagnant blog has three main feeder sites (that is, sites from which my readers come): two porn sites (??) and stillwaitingfortherunnershigh.

To all my readers who come from Matt's blog - hello there! Matt and I go way back and he's the main person who still checks in and pokes me for more posts.

The problem is, I'm boring.

I go to work. And then two things happen: I come home and go for a run, or I work out at the office gym after work and come home.

I might check out a happy hour special with a friend or go to a museum. But mostly I just hang out with myself and my significant other, enjoying the neighborhood, trying to get healthy, and planning my next trip.

I have nothing to say (and mostly pornographers arriving to read my words, apparently!)

But you know, there's something nice about blogging. Maybe I'll try to find my mojo again, especially given that I have a two-week roadtrip coming up. I'll be bound to have some blog-worthy experiences to share, right? Right??