Joys of Homeownership

Wow. This weekend was filled with home improvement projects. Thankfully, all of them got done and I had some indespensible help. It's such a relief to have all these things crossed off my list!

1. Purchase and install proper bolt-type hook mounting thingy for hanging my towelrack on the bathroom door.
2. Purchase and install new floodlight halogen bulbs in my kitchen track lighting.
3. Re-install screen that came off when I was trying to put birdseed on the sill for the birds. One of the handles came off and we had to get all MacGyver on it's ass.
4. Have painter come and scrape damaged paint, reapply plaster, and touch up walls damaged from the ice dam that formed on the roof above my unit during Snowmageddon.
5. Replace burned out garbage disposal.

Yikes! That was a lot of stuff to do. Thankfully, since I own a condo, we have a management company that holds a master insurance policy on the building. So they arranged for and will pay the painter. While he was here, he offered to replace my disposal for what I considered a fair fee (cost of disposal plus $100 installation fee). He went right over to Home Depot and came back and did it the same day!

The hooks, screen, and lightbulbs were done courtesy of my very own personal general contractor/chef/walker-to-worker/other duties as necessary man. Many thanks :)

Here are some phots of the water damage to my walls:




Here are the walls scraped and re-plastered:





And the finished product, good as new:

Pretty Good Shopping Trip

Harris Teeter March 27, 2010

1 Quaker Oats
6 Uncle Ben's wild rice
1 Raisins
1 Mitchum deodorant
3 pkgs chicken breast (three in each package)
1 Ben & Jerry's Phish Food
12 Yoplait yogurts

Subtotal: $65.01
Coupons: $39.52
TOTAL: $25.49

I am doing pretty well... spending about $25/week at Harris Teeter for groceries, which is down from about $65/week that I was spending last year before paying attention to coupons and sales.

I haven't had, nor will I need to go, to CVS for a very long while. And I've accumulated enough of a stockpile of certain items (bought for free or for pennies) that I am about to take two huge bags of dry goods and personal care items to the Capitol Area Food Bank.

Small goals

In my ever-present quest for self-improvement, I have decided to set two small goals for the rest of the year.

1. To read the entire feature article in National Geographic each month.
2. To read the entire feature article in the Washington Post magazine every month.

Starting tonight with the Nat Geo 'water' issue... a very serious issue. I'm excited :)

Observations

The National Mall is getting crowded! Here are a few observations from my run this afternoon:

1. A lot of people are fat
2. A lot of people smoke
3. I love helping people with directions :)
4. I'm surprised more tourists aren't hit by cars
5. Republicans, especially those under 25, are instantly recognizable
6. I will never understand why people are so fascinated with squirrels

Lately I'm obsessed with this song...

Keeping my mouth shut!

The weather is getting warmer and everyone seems to be thinking about tank tops, swimwear, and getting rid of their winter weight. I'm really happy to hear so many people at work wanting to get healthy and active but it's very frustrating to hear the things they say. There's a lot of mis-information going around and a lot of frustration with lack of results. But when you hear the things they say it's easy to see why the things they're doing aren't working.

Fifteen minutes on the elliptical and fifteen minutes of walking on the treadmill three times a week ain't gonna do it if you eat Popeye's for lunch every day. I'm sorry.

I stay out of conversations unless someone invites me in. It's quite common knowledge that I run and practice yoga, that I cook my own meals and eat well (and cheat occasionally!). I don't want to get preachy or anything... at the same time I can so easily pinpoint where people are sabotaging themselves and it's tempting to want to offer help.

Oh well. This is why I have a iPod I guess.

Staying Consistent

For a moderately athetic person such as myself who runs for enjoyment, weight control, and stress relief, consistency is almost more important than intensity when looking at the long haul.

That's why I forced myself out there today. It was raining and gross. Humid. Wormy. I felt flabby, which for some reason usually means I DON'T want to run (running when I feel thin is great, but I feel thin when I run consistently... so....).

Somewhere deep down I found my mojo and went out for a slow and gentle 30-minute jog in the neighborhood and my goodness do I feel good.

In my many years of experience I've found that it's very, very important to resist skipping runs simply when you 'don't feel like it.' Those are the days when you need to just lace up your shoes and go. Over time, those 'don't feel like it days' really add up, and doing something is always better than doing nothing so that when you look back over the past month or two you find that you've run more days than not.

And that's when you find that running is accomplishing what you want it to accomplish. When you find that you are maintaining your weight, when your clothes fit, when you feel overall pretty darn good.

Otherwise, what's the point? Running should be an activity that works for you, that adds to the quality of your life. When it becomes too off-and-on, well, I find that the effort isn't worth it. There's no payoff!

Reminding myself of all this, and that there's never any pressure to set any records out there, I am, once again, glad I didn't skip it. I'm always glad when I don't skip it.

Adventures in Home Improvement - Part II

My consultation with Dan Benjamin of Sundance Construction went really well. I get the feeling that this guy really understands what I'm going for and he seemed to know his trade. He's done a ton of work in several houses on my block and said he would call one of his former clients for whom he did a similar built-in bookcase and ask if we could come over and look at it together.

He looked over my design drawings, took lots of photos, and will have a quote for me by Tuesday.

On the business side of things he comes with great references, lots of repeat customers, is registered with the DC Better Business Bureau, was about ten minutes late but called me right at our appointment time to let me know that he was on his way. He was not rushed at all and stayed to talk with me for about an hour. He made friends with my cats.

So... now I wait for the quote. If I like the quote and decide to hire him he said he will do a mock-up for me to look at and go from there!

Stay tuned!

Geography of the Genders

Seeing as how this is a milestone year for me, I really appreciated the following descriptions of how a woman changes as she ages.

GEOGRAPHY OF A WOMAN

- Between 18 and 22, a woman is like Africa - half discovered, half wild, fertile and naturally beautiful!

- Between 23 and 30, a woman is like Europe - Well-developed and open to trade, especially for something of real value.

- Between 31 and 35, a woman is like Spain - very hot, relaxed, and convinced of her own beauty.

- Between 36 and 40, a woman is like Greece - gently aging, but still a warm and desirable place to visit.

- Between 41 and 50, a woman is like Great Britain , with a glorious and all-conquering past..

- Between 51 and 60, a woman is like Israel - has been through war, doesn't make the same mistakes twice, and takes care of business.

- Between 61 and 70, a woman is like Canada - Cool, self-preserving, but open to meeting new people.

- After 70, she becomes Tibet - wildly beautiful, with a mysterious past and the wisdom of the ages.... An adventurous spirit and a thirst for spiritual knowledge.



THE GEOGRAPHY OF A MAN

Between 1 and 80, a man is like Iran...

--- ruled by nuts.

THE END

Adventures in Home Improvement - Part I

It's my first true act as a homeowner! I'm changing the inside of my home. I can do it! It's mine!

I am looking to install some custom bookshelves to frame my closet and bathroom doors, which are on the same wall. The shelves would start on the left side of the wall and go up and over the bathroom door, down the middle wall to the floor, and up and over the closet door. There would be one row of shelf above the door so it's as though you are walking through the shelves when you walk through the door.

I have a to-scale design drawing and some magazine photos that show some of the finer details I'd like.

Tomorrow at 3pm I have a consultation with the owner of a well-recommended carpentry/home renovation company. He knows my building - I told him the location and he wrote back "Is that the old nunnery?" so that's encouraging He comes well-recommended on the community list-serves, has a lot of repeat business, etc.

I would also like him to replace one missing cabinet door in the kitchen. It's the one that goes to the garbage disposal so it's kind of ugly not to have a door on that cabinet. I have the handle but I need a door.

Anyway, the shelves would look like this except I have two doors and those aren't my colors. I wish that were my piano!!



This is what the current wall looks like.



There is another two feet of ceiling above the heat vent.

I will be keeping all my faithful readers updated on this process! It's a learning experience for me... so stay tuned!

Dear Uterus:

We have been through this many times. I do not now, nor will I ever, want to have children. So can you please pack your bags and leave? Or at least shut down operations indefinitely.

Sincerely,
Your disgruntled owner

Notes and Asides

I love this time of year! Perfect running weather.

Confession: I drink Carlo Rossi jugs of wine as my 'everyday' wine during the week! The burgundy is actually pretty good and for $10.99/gallon you really can't beat the price. I have to have someone else carry it home for me, though, it's freaking heavy!

I got my very first property tax bill and assessment and because my taxes are going down a tad this year my monthly mortgage payment will also go down - a whole $12! I'm gonna be rich banking the difference - not.

The venerable captain Niklas Lidstrom's third period powerplay goal edged the Red Wings past the Colorado Avalanche last night in what is becoming our playoff push. The Wings are healthy for the first time all season and hungry to get into the post-season for the 19th straight year!

February Savings Round-up

My budget is:

Pharmacy $50
Grocery $250

Let's see how I did.

Harris Teeter
Subtotal: $283.49
Coupons: $159.93
____________________
Total: $123.56 which represents a savings of 56%

CVS
Subtotal: $136.44
Coupons: $ 68.92
____________________
Total: $ 67.52 which represents a savings of 51%

So I am still over-budget at CVS, however, those categories blend a little. I do get some personal care items at Harris Teeter and some groceries at CVS. Maybe I should just make a general "Grocery/Personal Care" budget since I do so much overlap-shopping and am not OCD enough to split my receipts when I've made purchases in both categories.

Overall I'm excited about my grocery store savings. I'm eating well, I have a decent stock-pile of dry goods and yet am coming in pretty consistently under-budget, at least in the first few months of the year!

At CVS I think I just need to be picker about deals. Now that I know how good a deal I can get on certain items, and I have some of those items in stock at home, I should make sure I'm not paying more than I need to.

For example, I recently got two tubes of toothpaste for $0.17ea. Since two tubes will last me quite a while AND since the final price was so low, I should remind myself to pass on seemingly 'good' deals where the toothpaste is on sale but my out-of-pocket would be $1 or so.

GOAL FOR MARCH: NO personal care/beauty products will be purchased unless they are LESS THAN ONE DOLLAR after coupon!

What A Difference Fifteen Minutes Makes

In an effort to maintain some semblance of health and fitness, I'm trying to retrain my brain when it comes to what I consider "long" runs or hard workouts.

There is absolutely no reason why I can't knock out a 5+ mile run during the week. Typically I run about 3 miles on a weekday and save anything longer for the weekend. In my mind, 3 miles is a basic run and anything more is "long."

Eehhhhh. Wrong. I can run five miles in under an hour and there's no reason why an hours worth of exercise should be considered especially intense.

Consider the following routes. The longer one adds about fifteen minutes onto my time when you consider not only the additional distance but also additional stoplights that require waiting, yet the longer one is longer significantly so when it comes to overall time on my feet.

A 45-minute route (starting and ending at home):


Simply continuing on down to the Lincoln Memorial adds about fifteen minutes and 3/4 mile (remember... stop lights... I am not THAT slow!)



Point is, that's hardly any additional distance but enough additional time to really kick the workout into the next level.

I just need to get over the mental block that says that 5-mile run is 'long' and therefore reserved for the weekend. No. If I can work toward a 5-mile run becoming a more common and regular occurrence I will not only improve my weekday calorie burn but increase my overall long runs to a distance that truly qualifies as long.

No More Excuses

At a little English-style diner pub in Fredericksburg, VA yesterday we came across the gem sitting on our table.

No more excuses for not being able to order the perfect glass of wine!

Grocery Porn

What does $30.84 worth of groceries from Harris Teeter look like?

Voila!



Subtotal: $78.93
Coupons: $48.09
Final: $30.84
Savings: 61%

Five boxes of pasta, two tubs of hummus, one tub of guacomole, two boxes of rice, one gallon of soymilk, a huge thing of Quaker oats, two pouches of tuna, two Simply Asian noodle bowls, two Cracker Barrel cheese, two shampoos, two conditioners, a deodorant, two toothpastes, one Ziploc plastic bags, bananas, and an onion.

Opening Ceremonies!

Two great Red Wings, Nik Lidstrom and Nik Kronwall, will be among others from Detroit and elsewhere joining Team Sweden for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver! Opening ceremonies kick off tonight and the men's hockey matches start early next week.

I can't wait to watch some classic Russian finesse hockey, see the Swedes play their intellectual game, witness the Czechs pound the crap out of their enemies, and take in the Canadians doing what they were born to do.

Snow Day #2

Unbelievable! My agency is closed for the second day in a row! I can't believe it. I was sure we'd be open today and I've have to trudge through wind, snow, and ice to my office in the dark. I am really happy for the additional day off.

Yesterday I napped a little, watched three movies, did a lot of reading and crosswording and playing around on the computer. It was a lovely day spent almost entirely in bed! I might consider getting out and being a little more active today... or not. It remains to be decided and at 7:30am the day is my oyster.

I'll work tomorrow but Monday is a holiday, so this has been and will continue to be a really nice break from the routine.

Now hopefully our roof won't collapse under the weight of all this snow and ice!

Owwwww

You know how when your uterus is spasming for 10 hours and it's coming in waves so after each wave you get a few breaths of peace and you're almost tricked into thinking that that one could be the last one?

But it isn't.

Hormonal

I know when I'm running on a surplus of hormones when the slighest things just make me want to scream.

I have one co-worker who's smacking on a peppermint in her mouth... another with the sniffles and one who has this weird whistling tic... he whistlest these short notes that go up at the end, almost like he's calling a dog, about once every ten minutes.

Ordinarily I wouldn't care about this sort of thing and just take it as regular office background noise but today it is driving.me.nuts.

Thank god I have an ipod... and as soon as the first flakes start falling I am OUTTA HERE.

Rant over.

Snowy Run

Well, I was inspired. Even yesterday with the snow still basically falling I saw people suited up and out running. A half-marathoning girlfriend told me that she had gone out for a run as well, so today after work I did it! And it was great! Warm, sunny, lots of runners out, clear and salted sidewalks, light breeze.

I couldn't go everywhere I wanted to go; I basically followed the plow, but I ended up with a nice 35-minute spin around parts of the Capitol and the Mall and feel a lot better for it!

Unbelievably, we are expecting another FOOT of snow tomorrow night and into Wednesday. Yikes.

A Feast and A Snowstorm

To prepare for the impending SNOWPOCALYPSE/SNOWBLITERATION a feast was prepared that will last days... if not weeks.

Moose burgers
Moose meatballs
Sausage and peppers
Barbecue pork

My kitchen and fridge are overflowing with meat, the dishwasher has been run 3 times in 24 hours and the trash has gone out twice. I have more food than I know what to do with! Not a bad problem to have.

Finally summoned the energy to go for a walk in the gorgeous snow. It's going to take us a long time to dig out of this one. The roads, under the snow, are coated with ice 2 inches thick. But the snow made for a gorgeous backdrop.

Finger Condoms

Between the Super Bowl and the impending snow storm the grocery store was packed today.

I did get a great deal on coffee. Eight o'Clock coffee was on sale and also buy-one-get-one. So I got two bags for $5.89 minus a coupon for $2 off 2 bags. Total $3.89 for two bags of coffee!

Also Dannon yogurts were on sale 10 for $4... I had a coupon for $1 off ten so that was ten yogurts for $3 or $0.30 each.

Anyway, the line for check-out was so long that I ended up waiting halfway down the first aid aisle.... and I snapped this funny photo! I didn't know such things existed!

Dinner

I just put together what may very well be the most random and disorganized meal, ever.

I was going to bake a chicken breast and steam some peas. Okay, good plan. But while the chicken was baking I got really hungry so I made the peas and added some chopped sundried tomaties and shredded parmesan cheese. I ate that while the chicken finished up.

But then just chicken on my plate looked pretty pathetic, so I rustled up half a green bell pepper and sliced it, raw. Didn't really feel like roasting or sauteeing it. I could have put it in with the chicken but I wasn't thinking I'd eat it.

So yeah. Peas for an appetizer, now a chicken breast with half a raw green pepper.

The only redeeming factor? A really good bottle of Belgian beer.

January Savings Round-up

My faithful readers know that I have been trying to trim my pharmacy and grocery budgets by shopping sales and using coupons. Well, I will be going out of town this weekend so today's trip to Harris Teeter marked my very last shopping trip of the month! I know you're dying to find out how I did... so here are the numbers:

CVS
Total trips: 4
Subtotal: $164.52
Total out-of-pocket: $61.25
Total saved: $103.27
Percentage saved: 63%

This is about $11 over my $50 monthly budget for personal care and pharmacy items, however, I have a great stockpile going and now I can be more selective on sales. My total out-of-pocket next month should be well below $50.

Harris Teeter
Total trips: 4
Subtotal: $199.25
Total out-of-pocket: $99.10
Total saved: $100.15
Percentage saved: 50%

My total monthly grocery budget is $250, so I'd say I kicked that one out of the park! Of course it helps that I get a lot of overflow food from someone who lives down the street and can only cook in "firehouse" portions ;) And I don't do as much stockpiling of groceries just because I don't have the space for it, but I'm hoping to keep my grocery totals well below my allotment and continue to knock down those student loans with the surplus!

Jealousy!

I have a good friend who is moving to China for two years with her husband. He works in international marketing and his company is trying to break into the Chinese market (good idea!).

Man oh man am I jealous. Though I know that living in a place like China could be very lonely and frustrating it's also sure to be an incredible adventure. And think of all the traveling they'll get to do while over there! Getting to Asia is half the battle of traveling there and it's really not a trip you can do very often and still keep your sanity. So the fact that they'll have a home there (in the south, near Hong Kong) means that Cambodia, Thailand, Tibet, the Philippines, Japan, and Korea are suddenly as close as western Europe is for me! Easy peasy!

In another lifetime for me, maybe. In the mean time I'll try to remember that I do live in an international city and do my best to make the most of it.

But jeez... China for two years... lucky them!!

ASL Test

I went in for my American Sign Language Proficiency test this morning at Gallaudet University. Nerve-wracking!!

The testing room was on the second floor of the library. Thankfully I semi-know my way around campus so getting there wasn't a problem. I checked in and told the person behind the desk that I was nervous and wondering what she could tell me about the format.

She said that the format would be conversational and is designed to test your existing knowledge of the language. She said that it tests the whole language capabilities of the signer and is naturally geared toward whichever level the signer is at.

My tester came out to get me early (I guess there was no one before me) and we went into the testing room which was set up with two chairs and a camcorder pointing at me. My test was recorded for evaluation purposes.

Things started out simple. He introduced himself and we fingerspelled our names. We told each other our deaf names and he asked me how I was doing. He asked me a little about my signing history and my work. All in sign language. No words spoken between us during the entire test.

After explaining my current work and how I came to be interested in American Sign Language, he asked me about where I live and what I do for fun. He asked me if I liked sports, and then blew me out of the water with a question about what I think should be done about the prevalence of drugs, violence, and greed among professional athletes! Eek!

I managed to steer the conversation toward hockey (what I told him I consider a 'pure' sport, mostly devoid of steroids and greed) and told him all about my beloved Niklas Lidstrom. I told him about the difference between Russian and Canadian hockey.

He then changed the subject and asked me how crime analysis and intelligence software has changed in the past five years. Another eek! I didn't manage that one very well but was somehow able to explain that, since crimes are committed by humans and humans naturally adapt to crime abatement techniquest, crime prevention software also has to change continually and that it takes a lot of training to keep up with it all.

By now I was extremely tired! There were a few more questions about travel and I mentioned that I loved to travel but have to scale it down now that I bought a condo (he gave me a 'congratulations' for that!).

A few more comments traded back and forth abot travel, and we were done! Twenty minutes or so and it went by fast. Test results (in writing) should be here mid-next week.

Whew!

Wanting More

Why is it that we (I) are never satisfied with what we have?

When I first moved to Washington, DC I had an apartment about eight blocks from the metro. It was a fifteen minute walk; not bad. The first time I moved, I cut the distance in half. Four blocks felt like nothing! I was at the metro in less than ten minutes!

My condo is a tiny bit over one block to the metro. Technically it's one block but then you have to cross the street and walk up the driveway to get to my front door - maybe an extra 30 seconds (if that). Not bad! It's about five minutes, super easy, and probably a closer distance than any parking space I could get if I had a car.

But now, when I get off the metro elevator I find myself looking longingly at the rowhouses right across the street. How night it would be to live right across the street from the metro!

What is wrong with me? I practically AM right across the street. I'm far closer to the metro than probably 90% of city residents. I'm closer than I've ever been. It's NOTHING. So why do I still find myself wanting to be closer still?

Never satisfied.

Great Game

The Wings outplayed but could not outscore the Capitals last night. We played a tight game offensively and defensively, but are just having one of those seasons where nothing is going our way. Even the Capitals players said after the game that their win was pure luck!

I wish the Wings came to town more than once per year. But I will take what I can get!

My ASL test is this Saturday. I thought it was next Saturday, so I haven't practiced.

Other than that I am trying to get back on the wagon after a weekend of emotional eating. It doesn't help that my apartment looks like I robbed a liquor store (thanks to the case of assorted alcohol I took home from my grandparents' house!) The sign test has been weighing on my mind - I am not ready - so I'll be glad to have it over. I don't expect to be scored as proficient but I hope that my agency chooses to develop my skills.

I will keep everyone posted on the results.

Out of Town

Heading out of town this weekend. Will post an update if I can find a wifi spot... otherwise... catch up with me Monday evening!

Decision

Well this decision was bound to come sooner or later. It was not easy to make but I feel a bit of relief having made it.

In order to meet some of my financial resolutions (namely take out a big chunk of my student loan debt and save more towards retirement) I have determined that it's necessary to move to an every-other-year travel schedule.

For approximately the past seven years I have been fortunate to take a significant and complex overseas trip every year. In fact I took two of these trips in 2009 if you count that I was in Iceland for half the day on January 1, 2009 and then in the UK in September of that same year.

I've been to Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean, the Arctic. And I have no intention of stopping traveling. I just need to increase the length of time between trips.

It makes me sad to say this as I had planned to visit Sweden and Russia this October, but alas, the mature decision has prevailed.

Slow and steady wins the race builds the travel portfolio. Other things are important now, too, such as building wealth in my home and making responsible decisions.

Ahh...

I'm back online, at least temporarily. It's been frustrating to have my laptop in the shop, but hey. The laptop is free and the service is free. So I can't complain - and I get what I pay for ;-)

It's cold and blustery outside and I'm claiming tonight as my own. I'm knee-deep into the 1970's era I Claudius TV series. I love the novels (Robert Graves) and the series, while a little Shakesperean in production, is engaging and suspenseful. I also have a stack (and I mean STACK) of novels that are just waiting to be cracked open. I just can't read fast enough these days.

As part of a health kick-start I've cut out sweets and, during the week, alcohol, for two weeks. This is the end of week one and things are going swimmingly. My workouts have been varied and rock-solid in terms of consistency. I'm eating clean. I feel good. I broke my rule last night and had one beer (but only one!) out with my cousins. I made sure to eat a healthy dinner at home first and avoided the greasy bar food. Clothes are fitting the way they should and some of my upper body muscles are starting to pop.

And now, of course, the update you've all been waiting for - couponing! Heh. I had a pretty good week this week, starting with a trip to CVS. I saved $40 off a $75 tab (final total - $34.18, total saved, $40.38) plus I earned $15 in "Extra Care Bucks" (used as cash off a future total) along with a coupon for $5 off my purchase of $25 or more. The next CVS trip, if planned well, should be close to free.

Harris Teeter was doubling coupons up to $1.98 this week and I scored some good deals there. Notably, Dannon yogurts were on sale as 10 for $4. I had a $1 coupon (that doubled to $2 at checkout), which means I got ten yogurts for $2, or $0.20 each.

After coupons I also got two boxes of 20 Hefty tall kitchen bags for $1 ($0.50 each). So that was a pretty good deal.

I messed up on the Lysol, though. Lysol wipes were on sale 2 for $4 and I had two $1 coupons which double, making the items free. But I got the wrong kind of Lysol wipes and ended up paying about $8 at checkout- the coupons worked but wipes weren't the ones on store sale. Oh well.

So let's see, at Harris Teeter this week my subtotal was $116.85. After coupons and store sales I spent $53.23 which is well under my weekly grocery budget! And I have food, home care, and cleaning supplies that will last a very long time.

I guess you could say that I'm on a financial health quick-start to go along with my physical health quick-start. It feels good.

Resolutions

1. Grow hair
2. Be more encouraging to my friends; less lecturing
3. Spend less time on the internet in the evenings
4. Make a huge dent in my student loans

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

I hate technology... and it's mutual

Between my computer catching a virus and me not being able to figure out how to make my iPod work... let's just say I feel really old and inept right now.

A girlfriend, much more experienced in these things, has assured me that the iPod issue is not mine, and so I have an appointment at the Apple store today after work. I had fully intended to bring my laptop so the tech could see the iTunes setup, but now, of course, my laptop is the property of my company's IT department - who can't tell me how long it'll take for them to re-image the machine.

Being offline all weekend actually wasn't too bad - and a great way to start the New Year. So I'm looking on the bright side and making lemonade, all that jazz. In the scheme of things I really have nothing to complain about!

New Year Catch-Up

I'm way behind on posts at this point; I was hoping to have a resolution post, a fitness post, and some photos up by now but my computer caught a virus and I've been offline since Thursday afternoon!

Hopefully the IT gurus will be able to fix it or at least give me a temporary replacement... so stay tuned!

Team Sweden!

The winter Olympic games start in February and Sweden just released their hockey team roster. Four Red Wings, including the beloved captain and my future husband Niklas Lidstrom, have made the cut.

I can't wait to watch! Yes I will be rooting for Sweden followed by Russia and, if those two don't make it, Team Canada.

Official Team Roster:

• G
  Henrik Lundqvist
  (NHL)
• G
  Jonas Gustavsson
  (NHL)
• G
  Stefan Liv
  Jonkoping (SEL)
• D
  Tobias Enstrom
  (NHL)
• D
  Magnus Johansson
  Linkopings (SEL)
• D
  Niklas Kronwall
  (NHL)
• D
  Nicklas Lidstrom
  (NHL)
• D
  Douglas Murray
  (NHL)
• D
  Johnny Oduya
  (NHL)
• D
  Mattias Ohlund
  (NHL)
• D
  Henrik Tallinder
  (NHL)
• F
  Daniel Alfredsson
  (NHL)
• F
  Nicklas Backstrom
  (NHL)
• F
  Loui Eriksson
  (NHL)
• F
  Peter Forsberg
  MODO (SEL)
• F
  Tomas Holmstrom
  (NHL)
• F
  Patric Hornqvist
  (NHL)
• F
  Fredrik Modin
  (NHL)
• F
  Samuel Pahlsson
  (NHL)
• F
  Daniel Sedin
  (NHL)
• F
  Henrik Sedin
  (NHL)
• F
  Mattias Weinhandl
  Dynamo (RUS)
• F
  Henrik Zetterberg
  (NHL)

??

I think one of my cats is rolling me over in the middle of the night.

Every night this week I have woken up on my stomach to find a cat sleeping on my back.

I don't really sleep on my stomach, at least I don't fall asleep that way... I suspect that my cat knows where she wants to be and nuzzles/pushes me while I'm sleeping so that I wake up a little and roll onto my stomach to she can have her spot.

Sheesh!

It's really nice to have this warm weight on me during the cold, cold mornings, though.

Ownership

Isn't the human sense of ownership a funny thing? The way we attach part of ourselves to our possessions even if the possession in question isn't valuable. It's still ours. If we lend a pen to someone we want it back. If someone steals something from us, even something trivial or inexpensive (or even if we obtained it free of charge) we don't think that's right.

The other day I bought a box of cereal and was taking it home on the metro. It wasn't important and didn't cost much money, and for a moment I thought about just leaving it on the bench there by the train platform, walking onto the train empty-handed, and I couldn't. The cereal was mine, I paid for it, I wanted it, and even though it means next to nothing in my life, leaving it behind was impossible.

It's just cereal.

Weird things I'm musing about on this cold, clear, wintry night.

Ready for Life to Settle Down

I'm ready for the holidays to be over:

I'm ready to stop spending money. I'm ready to stop over-eating. I'm ready to get back to a consistent workout routine. I'm ready for a more predictable schedule in general! What can I say, I'm a creature of habit...

The snow storm was really fun though! We stayed in and I made spaghetti and meatballs, a good cold-weather comfort meal. The snow really did come down, even by my grew-up-in-Michigan standards. It was nice to have 48 hours of forced relaxation and, especially, not have to worry about digging out a car and driving to work Monday morning! By the time I needed to catch my bus everything was up and running again.

Check back later this week for a New Year's resolution post... my favorite thing :)

Ready for the Snow!

I have tea, coffee, wine, whiskey, books, crosswords, kitties, ice cream, and - most importantly - nowhere to be for the next 56 hours. I am ready for the snow storm!

I definitely appreciate not having the burden of car-ownership most in times like this.

Bring it on!

Pretty Good Harris Teeter Trip

Subtotal before discounts and coupons: $66.45
Total after discounts and coupons: $38.40
Total Savings: $28.05

Not bad at all!

Some things to note about shopping at Harris Teeter: the store will double all manufacturer coupons up to $0.99. This is GREAT, especially when stacking those on top of store sales.

So today, I needed alunimum foil. I use foil a lot because I roast a lot of vegetables and bake a lot of chicken and fish. Reynold's foil wrap at Harris Teeter costs $4.29 but was on sale for $0.50 off. Since, I bought two, that would have made my total $8.58 - $1 = $7.58.

However, I had two coupons (one for each box of foil) for $0.75 off. Since Harris Teeter doubles coupons up to $0.99, this means that I really got $1.50 off each box.

So, $7.58-$1.50-$1.50 = $4.58 = $2.29 each. So I basically got two eighty-foot rolls of aluminum foil for half the price of one!

Another thing to note about Harris Teeter is that they will accept competitor's coupons for $x off the total amount. This is A VERY IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW. Over the weekend I got a circular in the mail from World Market. The circular included a coupon for $10 off a purchase of $30 or more.

Since there is no World Market close enough to make the travel time worth the purchases, I took the coupon to Harris Teeter today and they took $10 off my total purchase price. Big savings there.

Yes I am a nerd but this is becoming addicting! So far this month at Harris Teeter my spending and savings look like this:

Amount before discounts and coupons: $132.31
Amount after discounts and coupons: $82.42
Total Savings: $49.89

This is a 38% savings on groceries so far this month! And I'm still getting everything I need - produce, meat, lunch supplies, ice cream, coffee, etc. Who doesn't like that??

How do you know when you're PMSing?

When you come home from work too tired to stand up, eat two bowls of cereal, and definitely don't feel like working out.

Ugh.

Pretty Good Trip to CVS!

Three (3) boxes General Mills cereal
One (1) All Small & Mighty laundry detergent
One (1) bottle Aussie hair conditioner
Two (2) tubes Revlon lip gloss
One (1) pair black socks
Total before coupons and discounts: $51.62
Total after coupons and discounts: $19.25
TOTAL SAVINGS: $32.37

PLUS I got back a $5 off purchse of $25 or more coupon... which is ALSO redeemable at Harris Teeter, where I get my groceries. Harris Teeter will accept "x amount off total purchase" competitor coupons.

Wheee!

Long Weekend

I took a train to Norfolk and had a great Christmas with my mom, her husband, my brother, and his wife. We ate a lot of amazing home-made food and drank a lot of wine, beer, and whiskey. We took the new puppy for a long run on the beach and collected shells. We watched football, read books, sat by the fire. I ran in the cold and in the warm.

We went to an omelet shop and an art museum. We went consignment shopping and jewelry shopping.

I got charged by a dog on my run and got a new command structure at work.

Right now I am waiting for my mom to come see my condo for the very first time and give her a tour of my new neighborhood. It's half-price burger night at Mr. Henry's and they have the best chicken wings on Capitol Hill.

Tomorrow we have tickets to see the terracotta warriors at the National Geographic museum, which I've never been to.

My belly is getting soft but my resolve is rock-solid. I can't wait to try out all my new Christmas gifted Northface running clothes!

Heading out of town!

Be good while I'm gone... don't do anything I wouldn't do.

Catch y'all on Monday.

Get Me Out Of Here!

This day is annoying me, so I have a nice afternoon planned:

Stop in Eastern Market for a Christmas gift I need to give this weekend;
Medium-long run (about 50 minutes hopefully);
Make hot cider with honey;
Start on Season Three of Weeds that just came in Netflix yesterday!;
Spend a few minutes studying French on Rosetta Stone;
Start to get excited for my nice long train ride down to Norfolk this weekend.

I have the Post Magazine crossword saved just for this purpose! I can't wait to look out the train window, work on the crossword, and see my family for a few days.

No wonder I have no patience for work right now. Too much to look forward to!

20:00

Went for my first post-flu run today. Wanted to keep it light and simple since I am still prone to the occasional coughing fit.

I was slightly overdressed for the weather (mid-30's) but overall the run felt good. Legs, lungs, everything felt strong. It was short but that's fine... I just wanted to get my legs back under me.

Friday Night Booze Tales

I really wanted to make tea - all mugs in dishwasher (which is running).

So, I thought, whiskey would do the trick - all glasses (drams and otherwise) in the dishwasher.

I settled on a beer, in the bottle. It works :)

Frustrated with the flu

I am going on day seven of this stupid virus, and let me tell you, it's NO FUN.

The ONLY positive is that my weight is down, but that's because I've barely eaten since last Thursday.

Last Thursday was also, incidentally, the last time I ran. It was a good one - an hour - but I've missed some prime running weather. I have reconnected with light yoga routines but I'm itching to go outside and move my legs. Maybe that's a good sign.

I've been at work since Tuesday but today the nausea was back. I have been sleeping deeply when I can fall asleep, but I have this dry cough which wakes me up several times during the night. Dry coughs are terrible; once you get going it's really hard to stop an attack.

Oh well. It's GOT to be about done. Every day is one step closer to health, right?

I just want to run. And eat a cheeseburger.

Quiet Night

I feel like I'm on the last leg of this flu or whatever the hell I had. All I know is that it knocked me flat for three days. And even though I'm still coughing, nursing a sore throat, and trying to get my appetite back, I still feel a pang of guilt for bowing out of a social engagement tonight.

Why is it so hard to just stay in?

Partly it's because I don't want my lift or my time in this city to pass me by while I remain a homebody. Also, I don't want to be forgotten by my friends. But really, I think I'm just so accustomed to going at full speed that slowing down feels unnatural.

I will say that I'm making progress on some of my winter goals. At least before this flu thing hit, I was rock solid with running and weight workouts. I've also been reading a lot, plowing through Patricia Highsmith's Uncollected Stories and looking forward to hitting up the library this weekend for another couple of novels.

I think I'm just annoying at being sick. I missed a perfect running day, I'm missing a friend being in town, and I just plain want my energy back.

BLAH!

Diagnose Me

Symptoms:

Sore throat
Dry cough
Body ache
Headache
Lethargy/weakness
No appetite
Nausea

No fever
No vomiting
No stuffy nose/head congestion

I feel like death. Haven't eaten since Thursday night.

Sonnet XLIII

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

--Edna St. Vincent Millay

Annual Thanksgiving Rant

I hate Thanksgiving food! There, I said it.

One of my health and fitness rules is to not eat anything I don't like. How many times have you chowed down a piece of junk food that doesn't taste good, doesn't make you feel good after, but is sweet or savory or fatty or whatever it is you're craving? Personally, more times than I can count. And for what!

So now I eat chocolate, but it's good stuff. Not a random Snicker's bar. I drink beer, but good beer. And not too much of it.

I eat what I like and not too much of it.

But my rule is difficult to follow during the holidays when we have work potlucks, family get togethers, and other occasions where there's pressure to eat food that I don't really like.

Turkey, stuffing, cornbread, casseroles, pies - not my thing. I don't enjoy the look, the smell, or the taste of any variation of the above. But it's hard to avoid this type of food during the Thanksgiving season without hurting feelings.

So, I've learned to take a few polite bites and leave it at that, but I certainly don't pretend to love the food and I'm absolutely not one to gorge myself silly on Thanksgiving Day.

This is one of the perks of being an adult, I guess. No one forces me to just "take three bites" - nothing goes down my gullet unless I want it to!

Staying In

It's been a hard week for me. Work has been hard on multiple levels and there are some things going on in my personal life that are probably taking more of a toll than I realize. For the past four or five days I've been fighting a run-down sort of feeling. You know the feeling you get when you're in the middle of an all-nighter... your eyes are dry and fuzzy, you have a low-level and chronic headache, you can't really focus even though there's a lot to do...

That's how I feel. So even though I have a really hard time taking it easy I'm going to skip church tonight and try to chill out. Make tea, read work on the crossword, watch a little TV... good old fashioned night in.

I dreamt about tapeworms last night

I dreamt that a girlfriend of mine had a tapeworm. She showed it to me. It was long and translucent and had a huge head. It crawled in through her belly button when she was sleeping and she said that if she is sitting or laying in one position for a long time she can actually see the outline of it against her skin.

Vomit!

Now, I take Freud's theory that dreams are wish-fulfilling. So what the heck.

Yes, I am a dork

My new couponing hobby has taken on a life of it's own! Now that I sort of have the hang of this I am determined not to pay full price for anything I buy.

Well... this is not entirely true. I buy a lot of things that never go on sale and for which coupons don't exist, such as the olive bar, fresh produce, spring greens, etc.

But everything else is fair game. With a little planning and organization so far I am doing well! The key to really saving money is to stack manufacturer's coupons on top of in-store sales.

For example, this was my recent trip to CVS:

1 box Kleenex
1 bottle L'oreal Vive Pro conditioner
2 tubes Colgate Total toothpaste
-------------
$3.37

Not bad! How did I do this? Well, the Kleenex was on in-store sale, one box for $0.99. The conditioner was on in-store sale for $2.99 (down from $3.99) and I had a $1 off coupon so I paid $1.99

The toothpaste was on sale for $2.89/tube - down from the regular price of $5.79 AND the in-store sale was buy one get one free. On top of that, I had a coupon for $1 off. So I got two tubes of toothpaste for $2.89 - $1 = $1.89 = $0.95 per tube.

I also had $1.50 CVS Extra Care Bucks. Total saved: $9.89

Voila!

I did NOT get the thing I needed most because I couldn't find it, but oh well. I made out pretty well regardless!

Saturday Morning Routine

Up early, I love feeling the day stretch ahead of me and not starting things in a rush.

Washington Post magazine, read slowly over tea and/or coffee.

Light chores and cleaning before heading out for a run.

When I come home my apartment is tidy and I can shower and make more tea to sip on while I start the Post Mag crossword.

Around noon if I feel like getting out and doing something, I do.

New (geeky) hobby

Okay. This is a majorly geeky confession, but I'm brave. My new hobby is using coupons! You guys would not believe what sort of subculture there is out there of coupon-users. They have tons of websites, forums, blogs. It's nuts. People spend hours and hours every day chasing down deals, driving to different stores, stockpiling 50 tubes of toothpaste that they managed to get for $0.12 each, etc.

I am not that into it. BUT I do feel that I could be doing a better job saving money on groceries. So I've been reading the forums and clipping coupons. I even have them all entered into an excel spreadsheet so I can make sure that I don't miss the chance to use them before they expire!

Now the key, for me, to saving money instead of wasting it is to only take advantage of deals on things I will actually use. If you browse the forums you will see that people get amazing deals on things like Glade candles, hamburger helper, Kraft macaroni and cheese, etc.

I do not use these things, so buying them, even at super cheap or FREE is not actually doing me any good.

Today, as it happens, I brought three coupons to the store but didn't use them because even WITH the coupons I would not save enough money to justify buying the item. If, however, the items had been on store sale (via the club card) I would have used my coupons to get an additional discount off the club card price - THEN it would have been worth it because I would have been spending about$2.50 for an item that is ordinarily $7.49.

I did, however, only pay full price on five of the items in my cart, so that is pretty good. Yes, this is another outlet for my obsessive organization and tracking... and I'm sure my faithful readers will be hearing much more about it in the future.

Pressure!

Why do I put so much pressure on myself? To do things that should be fun?

Case in point - I have a glorious night to myself tonight, one of the few I'll have in the foreseeable future. It's only 3:30pm so the afternoon is young. I don't really feel like doing much besides vegging in front of the television, working on a crossword, reading, maybe going for a walk later if the weather clears up.

But I have three films from Netflix. And while I don't really feel like watching a movie, I keep thinking that I SHOULD because they're HERE and I can't WASTE them! Why? What is the point?

I'm just so accustomed to making everything in my life high-test and high-pressure. Everything has to be on a schedule, nothing wasted, no idle moment, everything organized and efficient. It's a pointless waste of energy. I'm naturally organized and efficient and effortlessly un-lazy, so why do I still push myself in these silly ways?

Sigh... okay... off I go to do a little bit of nothing and revisit the movie-watching option after dinner.

Elena Sleeping Hard

Time to get bendy again!

I have had a hell of a time restarting my yoga practice since moving to Capitol Hill. My old studio, Ashtanga Yoga Center, is simply too inconvenient. I know that I would be able to maintain a faithful studio practice with AYC - traveling one hour each way for a 90 minute class just won't happen.

The one yoga studio in my neighborhood gives me a weird vibe. They advertise their abs class as "celebrating the belly" - yuck! Touchy feely yogi I am not - nevermind that I don't even really believe in such a thing as an abs class. So... I've been stuck without yoga for several months now, unable to get a good home practice going and becoming stiffer and stiffer every day.

Enough is enough! I decided to go back to basics - the yoga DVDs I used before I started a studio practice. I favor Yoga Zone and loved the six-CD set I had, but after beginning a studio practice I slowly gave the DVDs away to my yoga-curious friends. I've re-ordered it through Amazon and can't wait to slowly start opening my body again.

People Suck

This morning on my way to work: I had just gotten on the train. I have about five stops to go from my transfer point to the stop I use to get to the office. I sit down and start paging through the Express paper.

Suddenly I hear a woman say "Stop!" and smack skin of some kind. Then I hear a baby crying. It sounded like a pretty young child, the cry was still tinny if that makes sense? I try not to turn around but the child cries for two stops so finally I turn and see a woman/girl sitting a few rows behind me and facing the other direction. She's wearing a backpack and I can't see the kid but I can still hear him/her crying. The woman/girl looks like she's struggling with the kid to take something away and she keeps saying, "Stop! I'm not doing that. I ain't playing. Stop! Stop!" and her voice is getting more and more high pitched. She smacks the kid again and he/she starts crying again.

I'm feeling sick by this point and my stop is coming up so I stand and move over toward the doors. I look back and see the child peering over the seat at me, so I smiled but then I started to cry.

What a way to start the morning. Now I am crying at work. Sigh...

Light and Dark

Now that we are back in Eastern Standard Time the sun is up by the time I get off the metro to go to work! I love it. Yes, it's still dark when I leave the house, but having daylight upon resurfacing is priceless for my morning mood.

It is, however, getting dark much earlier in the evenings. This has the curious (or maybe not so curious!) effect of making me feel like I want to go to bed at 7:30pm. Now, to be fair, by 7:30pm I have been home from work for five and a half hours and it's been dark for two hours. I think most people are winding down after five and a half hours, it's just that for normal people that means 11pm!

In fact, I've gone to bed before Congress several times in the past couple weeks!

The upside of the evening darkness is that the atmosphere lends itself to study and contemplation. I have a long reading list that I'll be working through over the cold months, I'm learning French via Rosetta Stone and want to spend at least 30 minutes every day studying my lessons, and I have a brand-new book of crosswords to work on as well. My rule for crosswords is to work on one puzzle for at least three days before moving on to the next.

Between those things, my winter workout schedule (adding length to my runs and continuing alternate-day strength workouts), long walks in my awesome new neighborhood, and continuing to see a certain someone when I can, I feel good about the upcoming season.

Winter is a time of settling in. I'm ready.

Ma Francais

As much as there is to complain about my workplace, I have to admit they've been doing some cool things for employees lately. Recently they have arranged for employees to have free and unlimited access to Rosetta Stone language software! How cool is that? The software is pretty expensive and not a cost I could justify, but since it's free I will gladly partake!

I'm all signed up and about to start brushing up on and improving my French. I took French all through high school and college and am planning a trip to Montreal in the spring... so... better get crackin'!

Morning Walk

This is what I saw on my walk to work this morning, cutting directly in front of the Capitol under a full moon. That's the Washington Monument in the background.

Corn Maze

Went to a corn maze in upper Maryland today. It was hard! We lost our way pretty much immediately and managed (miraculously!) to figure out where we were a few minutes later. We found two of the checkpoints but eventually gave up. When we finally exited, we came out of a different maze than we went in... heh...

My lovely corn maze partner... who was absolutely no help... but we still had fun getting muddy!

New Routine

I'm trying to get back into shape. Much of that means adding length to my runs. Yesterday I had an epiphany - why not get organized the night before, bring running clothes to work, and run home a couple times per week? This would accomplish the following:

*Save time! The most direct route from my office home is 3.6 miles or about 30-35 minutes running. My commute on the metro is about 30 minutes. So if I run home I essentially save my commute time and add 30 minutes to my afternoon! And there are plenty of ways to add length to the route if I want to.

*Save weight! If I know I'm going to be running home in the afternoons I will be more likely to eat lightly at lunch.

*Save money! Okay, this isn't really part of the reason why I want to run home from work. I'd save about $1.35 a couple times a week. If I do this twice per week I save about $11/month. I mean, I'll take it, but it's certainly not going to make or break my bank account.

*Stay accountable! I can't tell you how often I look forward to my afternoon run only to get home and eat, fall asleep, or otherwise get distracted. This way, I don't have time to let anything else get in the way of my run.

I started today. Brought running clothes and shoes to work this morning, changed clothes at the office and ran home a long-ish way (route below). It took about 45 minutes and I felt great. Tomorrow I'll bring home the clothes I left at work.

I Love Where I Live

This is what I see when I walk home in the evenings.

It's Officially Autumn

On my run this afternoon a leaf went down my cleavage.

Jihad for Love

I just watched this documentary on Netflix. It chronicles the difficulties of gay men and women living in Middle Eastern countries. Many of these countries follow Shari'a law which criminalizes homosexuality. Most of the men featured in this film have been forced to flee to other countries after trials, imprisonments, and one case a sentence of 100 lashes for living homosexual lives.

What strikes me the most about what I saw is the completely unwavering faith that these people maintain even in the face of their persecution. They all firmly believe that Islam must have a place for them, despite their sexual orientation. They believe that they were born in the image of God and don't understand why being gay and having faith must be mutually exclusive. Instead of abandoning their faith, they endure great trials to live freely with the ones they love.

Only in secular Turkey do we find a couple, female, who are able to live together and go about their lives openly in their relationship. The rest have fled to other countries and filed for political asylum. They live in fear that their families will be tortured by authorities wanting to learn their whereabouts.

This film really made me think about the freedoms we as Americans take for granted every day. We can love who we want. Openly and in public. We don't fear political or legal recourse for our choice in relationship. Most of us never give this fact a second thought. Especially the heterosexual among us don't really think it's a big deal.

But just as a thought experiment, wonder for a second what it would be like if the roles were reversed. If homosexuality was the norm and heterosexuality was judged, if straight people were targeted for hate crimes, if straight people weren't allowed to get married. What would that feel like? Would you be able to "turn off" your straightness and "be gay"? What if you had to get married to someone of the same sex and live your life that way, completely unnaturally to you, never finding a true romantic connection with someone, never sexually fulfilled? People thinking you're deviant and disgusting for your attraction to the opposite sex?

Doesn't quite make sense when you think of it that way, but millions worldwide feel the same bewilderment and frustration at the obstacles facing them as homosexuals.

It just breaks my heart that gay people would think that their faith has no place for them, that for something as intrinsic as the color of their eyes they would be targeted as criminals.

Jihad for Love, a film by Parvez Sharma. Available on Netflix "Watch Instantly." Watch it.

A good life

Sometimes I look around and can't believe my luck. I'm sitting here in my gloriously quiet condo with two snoozing cats on the couch drinking a glass of wine, alternately reading and working on a crossword, employed, healthy, with plans for the future and things to look forward to.

Sorry about the magnificat! I was just overwhelmed there for a minute.

My table is only two days old and it's amazing how it's been encouraging me to read! I have a hard time reading in bed - I fall asleep no matter the time. And reading on the couch for some reason doesn't feel right, I don't know. But reading at a table feels good, it feels studious. I feel more focused. My wine is convenient (but so is my laptop, grr).

It's amazing how long the evenings feel when I'm not parked in front of the TV.

Which reminds me - as winter approaches I need to put together my reading list. I always read a lot more in the winter than I do in the summer. For some reason I read better when it's dark outside, and in the summer by the time it gets dark, I need to be asleep to catch my insanely early alarm.

So, hmm. Reading list will be forthcoming. A mix of classics and new novels with some contemplative works sprinkled throughout, I'm sure.

I feel so civilized!

For the first time in my life I have a little breakfast table! I'm sitting at it right now, blogging, drinking tea, looking out the window at the lovely construction zone and Capitol dome beyond. I feel like a real person! I had lunch here a while ago - for the first time in my adult life I ate a meal in my own home NOT at the coffee table!

I've arrived at adulthood.

Running in the Rain

Well after feeling like absolute crap all day yesterday on account of the energy-sucking weather, I managed to, after four cups of tea in bed with 30 Rock and kittens on my feet, find my inspiration and go for a run.

My tummy didn't feel too good (too much tea!) but my lungs felt great and I was fast, in the tradition of winter running.

Isn't it funny how sometimes when you feel terrible you can get out there and run great - and when it's sunny and you have all day and have been looking forward to a run you can feel like crap? There doesn't seem to be any way to predict how well a run will go.

And the lesson here is: get out there! Even if you're SURE the run will go badly, you lose nothing by lacing up those shoes and giving it a shot. You might surprise yourself, and you'll always feel better having given it a shot than having stayed in.

Yuck Yuck

This has been the worst week, weather-wise. Cold rain, alternating between driving and misting. Cold, damp mornings, wet pavement. No sun. Energy sapping.

I am due for a run but I just don't think I can muster it today. It sounds much nicer to get in bed with my cats, a pot of tea on the nightstand, and 30-Rock (Season Three!) on the laptop.

I'll run tomorrow. Promise.

Heh Heh

So I just noticed the following arrangement of books on my shelf:

Tight

I'm tight. I have slowly, over the course of the summer, lost all of my hard, yoga-earned flexibility. I have been rocking my strength workouts and running well but I don't feel long and loose.

Unfortunately there is not currently a viable yoga option for me on Capitol Hill so I'll need to start a home practice which has it's... complications... considering I can barely sit through a 3o-minute sit-com without checking my freaking email.

Something, however, has to change. I miss the gazelle-like feeling of completing a long, sweaty week of yoga practices. I need to work something out, and soon.

Cold Fall Morning

... and the perfect way to spend it... with two cats curled up at my feet.

My baby!

This is what mine and Nik Lidstrom's baby would look like, via morphthing.com

I'm thinking of naming him Thor.

(Creepy, I know.)

Starting to Feel Like Home

I finally got my artwork hung on the walls!! My black and white photographs above the couch, five shots from my travels around the world in the entryway, the Greek icon of Diana the Huntress in the entrance to the kitchen, and my nude in the bathroom. It's amazing what that's done to really make the place feel like home.

Don't get me wrong, I still have TONS of wall space, and over the years hope to accumulate more artwork. I have 15-foot ceilings and would love to hang art high up! But all with time.

It seems like all I've wanted to eat in the week and a half since being in the UK is eat vegetables! Roasted vegetables with greens or pasta, raw vegetables with hummus. My body has been CRAVING vegetables and I'm giving in for all it's worth! I feel good though - lean and strong, and the weather has been perfect for running.

I think I've hung up my racing shoes, though. People have been encouraging me to register for a couple of upcoming races and I just can't get excited. I don't NEED the race to improve - I like running for the heck of it, so the motivation excuse doesn't apply to me. I don't feel competitive. I don't even crave the race atmosphere which is actually a really exciting and fun one. I just don't have the racing jones anymore.

Overall, I'm looking forward to a nice autumn in the city. I'm not traveling for the holidays and am trying to keep a (relatively) clear social schedule. I do have a girlfriend coming down to visit from Baltimore this weekend which should be very fun - my first houseguest! But aside from that and a couple of day trips, I just want to get lots of exercise, read lots of books, explore my new neighborhood, and continue doing well at work.

Sick to Death

The hockey season doesn't even start for 20 more minutes and I am already sick to death of hearing about "Ovie." God damn it shut UP about him! Just because he's the best player YOU have doesn't mean he's the goddamn savior of the world!

Go send him to Russia for a few years and he'll figure out that a) he's not the second coming of Christ and b) he isn't half as good as he could be with a little mentoring.

Anyway, I signed up for NHL Game Center on nhl.com which lets me watch every single game online via streaming video. I can watch up to four games at once by simply dragging and dropping from the score counter banner down to the video area! Awesome! Each game has full DVR properies so I can pause, rewind, etc.

This is great because even if I did have cable I wouldn't be able to see any Wings games unless I got some extra fancy cable package for $150/month. This is $150 for the whole season, forty games per week including playoffs.

Let the season begin...

Oh!

In Edinburgh we saw the most pierced woman alive! She is relatively well-known (if you know about such things). I have seen her in certain TV specials (Taboo and whatnot...)

Anyway... she's pretty hot. She was set up letting people take photos with her, but I opted not to. I don't like to treat people as spectacles, even if it's their livelihood.

Anyway:

Photo Problems

Sorry about the photos guys... not sure why they aren't showing up, but if you right click on the red x and go to properties, just copy the URL and paste it into a different web window and the picture should show up!

Oh, and the route!

Over 900 miles... 917 to be exact, I think!

Some Photos!

We took over 200 photos... but here are a few nice ones:


Edinburgh Castle:

St. Andrew's Chapel, Holyrood Park, Edinburgh:

Whiskey tasting in Edinburgh:

Having a tune in Stirling:

Stonehenge:

Me in front of Buckingham Palace:

Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben from the Londond Eye:

Ahh...

.... it was SO NICE to shower in my own bathroom, sleep in my own bed (it was crowded! I had two furry creatures with me all night), wake up in my own home and make breakfast in my own kitchen. I am so happy to be home!

The laundry is done and I'm going to head over to Eastern Market later this morning for some fresh produce in a bit.

Now it's time to get to work on my home. First order of business - hanging artwork! I plan to print and frame some of the better photos I've taken from my travels for the entryway, I think that will be nice. So I need to get thinking about which photos would be best, as well as hang some existing artwork that I didn't get around to placing before I left.

I need to take some stuff to Goodwill and start thinking about buying a little breakfast table. Those things will happen over the next few weeks. A home is a work in progress, right?

Home

We ended the trip with a bang of sorts.. decided to go for a hike in Holyrood Park, which is more of a set of mountains than a park. And I mean serious mountains - rocky crags and grassy valleys. The hike was extremely strenuous but rewarding - we stumbled upon beautiful views of Edinburgh and St. Andrew's Chapel in ruin.

Afterwards, we walked down to Grassmarket for our final meal. Ironically, we ended up eating at a pub called The Last Drop - a play on the Scots' two favorite passtimes: drinking whiskey and hanging people. The Drop is directly across from the site of the old gallows. Lovely.

After a walk down the hill for a fried Mars bar we decided to call it a night. A long but uneventful trip home today, and I have two happy and healthy kitties climbing all over me.

Photos to come...

Scottish Music in Edinburgh

Not so good.

We had another Beheading Stone moment trying to find the Antiquary pub where I heard from my new friends in Stirling a session was on Thursday night. Trying to follow a map of roads that originated as cow paths in the dark and with inconsistent sinage was something else! We had a blast traipsing to the other side of town but had a hell of a time trying to find the pub.

An attempt at going around the block (like I said, cow paths) put us about a half-mile out of our way, which we realized a little later when we came again into the shadow of a huge clock-tower that had been marking our way thus far.

We finally found the pub and realized to our chagrin that we had walked down that exact street about 20 minutes ago and just didn't see it.

The Antiquary is a real gem of a pub, dark and warm and cozy, but the music was terrible. More of a "jam session" and heavily song-focused (though they started with I'll Fly Away, randomly) there was absolutely no energy or vibe.

So after two beers and a wee dram we had the munchies and headed back to our hotel with the intent of finding a curry house along the way. And, though we had passed several on our trek to the pub, we couldn't find any on the way back. Desperate, the Golden Arches summoned. Against our will we surrendered to the pull until Saigon Saigon came into view and we ducked in for pork curry, sweet and sour chicken, and a spring roll.

A late start to our final day. I slept in for the first time in two weeks and we're just catching up on the news before checking in for our flight and embarking on our last day in the United Kingdom.