Saturday, November 29, 2008

Drama!

This is the kind of Saturday during a holiday weekend that I both love and fear:

I ran this morning with some of my favorite running buddies. It was a wonderful run of just under 7 miles.

Came home, ate breakfast (Optimal cereal with soymilk, followed by a hunk of leftover birthday cake).

Paid the bills, drank more coffee, ate more cake.

Now, Hubby is running some errands and I'm settled in in my workspace located on the 2nd floor of the house drinking yet more coffee.

I'm wearing the my vision of the Housewife's Horror Outfit: Sweatpants (nice and stretchy to accommodate even MORE cake), sweat shirt, slippers and no makeup.

Blogging, catching up on blogs and, (ready for it????): watching "THE WAY WE WERE"!

Ohhhh, the drama!

Speaking of drama: nothing like family drama over a turkey, I always say...

  • Ran the Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving morning (no drama there, just a nice day to be out with 4,000 others trying to offset a few holiday calories...)
  • hosted breakfast for 11 people (lots of drama)
  • then hosted dinner for another four (even more drama)

All in all, Hubby and I did our best to stay out of the fray (by staying in the kitchen) AND it was a pretty fun day.

We're just glad to have the weekend to recuperate.

Hope you and yours all had a great holiday too.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Cake Rocks

My birthday was a lot of fun.

Hubby and I were both in San Francisco for various meetings last week. He flew out last Sunday and I went out last Tuesday.

My birthday was Wednesday and I had "officially" taken the day off from work. I spent the day in a most perfect way: slept in; had coffee; took a nap; took a walk; had a little lunch; took another nap; took another walk; did some sit ups; went for a run on one of my most favorite traveling running routes and then had a wonderful dinner with Hubby.

We went to dinner at Maykadeh, a Persian restaurant that became a favorite of mine a long time ago. Service was great; food was wonderful and we had just a lovely time.


Hubby bought me a beautiful bracelet -- I was very surprised at his thoughtfulness and generosity
We came home on Friday night and I was surprised again.

Hubby had 50 -- count them, FIFTY -- red roses delivered to the house on Friday night.

I have never, ever, EVER had such a wonderful flower delivery. I felt like one of "those girls" that get the giant heart balloons and huge boxes of candy on Valentine's day.

We had some friends over on Saturday night for a little party. Hubby and I made three different kinds of chili (meat (with ground turkey), veggie and white chicken)and we had lots and lots of CAKE.

It was a really fun party. Being able to celebrate with friends and family was the easiest way to make sure that I survived turning the big 5-oh.










Photos of friends and family above....


"Unfortunately" we are "stuck" with the leftovers. (Lots of chili, cake and other yummy delicious things). And it is Thanksgiving week. AND we are hosting dinner for Hubby's family on Thursday.


Good thing I have a gym membership....

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

50 great things about turning 50!

I'm in San Francisco for a few days.

Technically, it is for business, but my birthday is tomorrow.

One could argue (fairly successfully) that I came out here a day early so I could prolong turning 50 by a couple of hours (Central time versus Pacific Time, doncha know...)

Fifty.

Holy cow!

FIFTY.

In an effort to embrace this new decade/era/age group, I've come up with a list of the top 50 great things about turning 50...

(Note: I really wasn't that clever in coming with a list of 50 things. I tried, but geeze: 50 is a very big number!

I've done my best to try to come up with a list of 5 things -- one thing for each decade. Also much easier to read...)

1) I'm still alive. Really. After wasting much of my youth deep in the depths of drug and alcohol abuse, I'm happy to report that I'm sober (13 years) and free of all the horrible things that go along with that life. I could have very easily been killed at any point during those years, but here I still am. Hurrah.

2) I'm still alive -- part deux. Really. Besides drugs and alcohol abuse, I was bulimic for many, many, many years.

Growing up a chubby chubbette -- no -- actually what I meant to say was -- growing up the fat kid in school -- I fell in to a pattern of eating issues that plagued me from 7th grade until about 1999.

It wasn't until I started training for my very first 10k that I took a long, hard look at my destructive eating patterns and quite abusing my body (aka "eating my feelings") for the very last time.

Here I am, oh so many years later, a strong, fit marathoner/triathlete with few whacko food issues.

3) I have a great network of family and friends: Hubby, my sisters and my brother, my family of running /triathlon friends, my fantastic non-running friends (who listen endlessly about my running and triathlon adventures), my virtual friends, my cats and, yes, even the squirrels in our yard, all provide me with lots of love, support and hours of non-stop entertainment. I love you all. (Hey Squirrels: you'll have more pumpkin when I get back home on Friday...)

4) I'm employed. This is a crazy time -- absolutely. I'm very, very grateful to be working for a company that -- so far -- has avoided much of the downturns and downsizing plaguing our industry today. Although my job can drive me crazy sometimes, I'm very grateful to be employed, have health benefits and some where to go on a daily basis.

5) I've got another 1/2 century to look forward to. Despite the inevitable sagging, wrinkles and other totally unappealing loss of elasticity and "looks", my plan is to be here for the long haul. I'm excited about the next 50 years and all the adventures and experiences coming my way.

Oh yeah: and there will be lots of CAKE for me this weekend back in Minneapolis.

Yippee!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Cold, Dark and Lazy

Those three words pretty much sum it all up for me these days.

It is really cold here -- much colder than normal. I'm really not enjoying it -- but I have to admit that, because the cold has hit sooner than expected, I'm not as "prepared" as I should be.

Sure, I packed away my tee shirts and my cotton, comfortable summer outfits and am wearing my turtlenecks and layers. But I haven't yet switched from panty hose or knee highs to tights and long underwear. (Who ever invented CuddleDuds is a genius!). So, I'm pretty much freezing all the time.

I finally got out my Uggs and my mittens, but some how in the depths of my delusional thinking, I haven't quite come to terms that will not be 70-degrees again before the holidays.

Sigh...

It gets dark at about 5:00 pm. Just in time for me watch about 45 minutes of the news before I want to fall into a deeeeeeep sleeeeeep.

This drive to hibernate makes working out a little tough.... Sort of hard to do any pace work or hill work from a prone position under the covers...

What can I say...

--

I can happily report that Hubby and I spent some quality time last weekend at IKEA. We finally bought a number of bookshelves and storage cubicles to help get our house in order.

We have been trying to declutter the house and our lives. It feels pretty good to let go of some of the stuff we've been holding on to -- donating some stuff; recycling a lot of stuff; just letting go.

I've also registered for a couple other events: The Thanksgiving Day 5K -- a HUGE event held in downtown Minneapolis and the Lake Minnetonka Triathlon,scheduled for June 20th. The tri is close to home -- looks like a fun course -- and will be another race to help prepare for Chisago 1/2 Iron.

Yes, Nat and I will be doing another 1/2 Iron next summer. Our friend Gary will be joining us in the fun...

Lots to look forward to --

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Wow

Watched the election returns until the wee hours last night.

Very happy that Obama was elected; curious about other Minnesota outcomes (e.g. Michelle Bachman still in the House? What's up with that?!?).

Happy that our clean water/outdoors/arts referrendum passed.

Baby Ruths almost gone (finally).

All in all, a good day.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Today is the day:

V O T E

My neighbor Beth and I met at 6:00 am to go to our polling place. We were first in line.

By 6:30 am, the line was out the school's door, down the block and around the corner. Hurrah!

Take the time to vote today. It matters.


My American Prayer

Monday, November 3, 2008

November 3rd + 70 degrees + Mpls = HUH?

The weather forcast for today includes sunshine and temperatures reaching the low 70's.

It is November 3rd.

It is MINNESOTA.

I am taking the day off.

Blogging now, will get outside in a little bit.

Friday's forcast? 39 degrees and snow.

Gotta love it!


P.S. I did face my fears and got on the scale this morning. Not as bad as I suspected, which was also a surprise.

Nice to get two of them on a Monday morning.

ENJOY!