Another beautiful week off

Ahhh.... No Sunday dread this week, because I made Monday my Sunday. So now I'll have Monday dread. Or maybe not. Because we crammed so much into this past week that work might be like a vacation for me.

This past Sunday, we met up with our bar friends at our 2nd bar (our 1st bar isn't open on Sunday). I managed to drag Blondie out with me as his neck is starting to feel better. We had a great time catching up with them, and just relaxing and having many beers.

Last Monday, we hit up our bar to hang out for the evening. We had to pick up our Giants v Packers tickets for next week, and we wanted to see our bartender before T-Day holiday. It turned out that he had to work on Friday, so while we were at the bar on Monday, we made plans for Friday to head back to the bar.

Tuesday was our only "off" day - we kept it low key as we knew the rest of the week was going to be a shit show. And it was. Blondie met up with me and my coworkers for lunch and many drinks on Wed afternoon, before we decided to go to Bryant Park to ice skate! We had a blast, and it was fairly cheap to rent skates. We were both really wobbly (Blondie from his neck, me from my whiskey) so we only skated around 45 minutes before calling it quits. Afterwards, we shopped at the Christmas Stores in Bryant Park before hitting the Dylan's Candy Bar pop up shop. On the way home from that, we stopped in to buy some Jets hats for our game before crashing out for the remainder of the day.

Thurs the alarm went off at 5 am, and we were out the door by 5:45 am - we had to head to midtown to pick up our jumpsuits for walking Pikachu in the T-Day parade! We waited in line from around 6 am to 7:20 am, before we got our jumpsuits. We were on the bus (which took us from midtown to UWS) around 7:30, arriving at the Museum of Natural History around 8 am. We enjoyed some donuts, and Blondie got to meet a few of the coworkers of mine who were also on Pikachu.

It was really exciting. The best part was the actual walk as the kids LOVE Pikachu. They were screaming and hollering at us as we went by. The 2nd best part was getting to see Johnny Weir. He was waiting on his float as we walked by and I was like "woot!" Blondie had no idea who he was though. We had a great day - walking the balloon was fun, and then afterwards, we stopped in for some beers and snacks. After our beers, naps were in order, before we made a big dinner (chicken, potatos, gravy) and then passed out again.

Friday we headed out for Mexican for lunch before heading over to our bar to meet up with our bartender. Our bar friends were also there and it was fun hearing about everyone's holiday. Saturday was another low-key day. I took Max into the vet, and felt tremendous relief that I did it - he's sick, but it's fixable. I went in almost crying b/c I didn't want to make a decision on whether he needed to be put down, and thankfully I didn't. After the vet, we went for brunch and found a $20 all-you-can-drink mimosa or bloody mary place, and the day went downhill from there.

Sunday was an awesome day - we were out the door by 9:20 am and caught a train to Meadlowlands Stadium. We met up with a group of ours from the bar, and tailgated the morning away (literally, as soon as we got off the train, we popped open some beers and drank them as we walked to our tailgate). I enjoyed my first Coke in about 2 years - I gave it up in spring 2010 because of stomach problems, and made the deliberate choice to have Long Island Ice Teas at our tailgate (which are made with Coke of course). They were tasty goodness, and I'm glad to say I had no stomach pains. I don't intend to drink more pop, but it was nice having those.

After tailgating, we headed into the stadium and cheered our Jets onto victory. Along with cussing them out everytime they made a bad play (which was often). Our train back went pretty smooth, and we stopped for some Taco Bell at Penn Station before meeting up with our bar friends at our 2nd bar. Blondie lasted for a few drinks before he had to come home for some pain meds, and I stayed out a bit longer.

And today, I had off - we went this morning and saw the Rockettes (they rocked!) before checking out the Rock Center Christmas tree, and then heading to Olive Garden for lunch (we both had a bit of a chain-restaurant thing going on today). Now we're relaxing, and I'm getting ready to enjoy a beer.

Workouts this past week have been really good. I took last Monday off, before doing 30 Day Shred and Bob's Bootcamp on Tuesday. Wed was a 3.1 mile run (about 3 mins faster than last time!), and Thurs was a 4.35 mile walk around the city while hauling a giant balloon around. Friday was an Insanity disc and Wii workout, and Saturday was a 65 minute workout on the treadmill (and .20 miles more than last time!) Sunday was an off day (but where the train drops you at Meadlowlands to where we tailgated is about .75 miles, so we did that walk x 2), and today I did another Insanity disc followed by a short Wii workout.

Tomorrow it's back to work, but this coming weekend, we are back to the Meadowlands for the Giants v Packers game, followed by my bar friend in her cabaret / burlesque Christmas show on Monday! Blondie missed her Halloween show b/c of his neck, so we're both really excited for this one.

Happy Holidays everyone!

--K

What I'm Thankful For

This post is like 4 days late, but whatevs. A list of what I'm happy for this holiday season (in no particular order whatsoever, except #1 is my most grateful):

1) My Immediate Family - Blondie, Tigger and Max. I'm grateful that Blondie is feeling better and that surgery probably won't have to happen. I'm grateful that I took Max into the vet on Saturday and while some of my fears were realized (he's going blind), they weren't fully realized (he's not fully blind). Max has a bad ear infection and something else going on - they are running blood work right now, but the options all sound very treatable. And just with the drops for his ears, he's acting much closer to normal than before. I'm grateful that Tigger is his normal self and tries to beat the shit out of Max because he smells like vet (he tries to beat the shit out of me also because of the same situation). But at least there is nothing wrong with him.

2) We Live In NYC - OMG. A thousand times grateful for this. The city is alive, and it brings us such joy to live here. I can NOT believe we got this opportunity, and we intend to enjoy it to it's fullest for as long as we can can. From ice skating in Bryant Park, to football games, to golfing over the Hudson at Chelsea Piers, to touring Brooklyn, to eating tons of pizza, to BROADWAY... why live anywhere else?

3) Food - Okay, this might be silly. But I'm grateful we live very near the bestest of the best farmer's market, seafood market, and grocery - our tiny little hole-in-the-wall shops have given us consistently the cheapest and tasiest food. I don't know what we'd do without our stores. We went on a seafood binge last week, and for around $50 had scallops and pepper, portabello and onion stirfry; sauteed spinach and salmon; corn and black bean salad and baked tilapia; and spicy tomaty seafood soup. It's about 7 minute walk from us, and it's da bomb.

4) Our Bar - this includes primarly our bartender and our bar friends. But seriously. A home away from home. The city (see #2) feels so much more personal to us because of our friends at the bar.

5) Extended Family - To the crazies living in KY and Washington, to the in-laws in the Land of Cheese (and AK and IL), we love you all. A special call out to TCKITWv.1-.8 (and soon to be .9). Our nieces, nephew, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles - we love you all. Thanks for supporting us, and our dream to move around the country at will. Although, NYC is most likely it for us (again, see point #2).

6) Turd Ferguson, "Would you?", shirtless wrestling, the international buffet, "get into the kitchen and order me some breakfast". Enough said. A million times thanks for all the support this year.

7) A Job - Ugh. I hate my job. But I am grateful I have one. I'm grateful my job allows me to support us while Blondie chases his dream. I'm grateful my job moved us to NYC (see point #2, yet again).

8) The Ability To Work Out - this is another Ugh. But (knock on wood), I have no physical impairmment that stops me from working out. I have laziness. But nothing physical. I'm grateful that I can run, that I can yell at Shaun T while busting out a crazy sweat with Insanity, that I can lift weights, that I can tell my Wii trainer to f off at will. I'm grateful that I've managed to overcome the laziness before it got bad again.

9) Booze - I'm sorry, but it needed to be said. There's nothing like ending a bad day with a scotch, or a really bad day with a double scotch. There's nothing like drinking a beer while cheering on your Jets to victory. There's nothing like taking margaritas onto your patio while watching NYC shut down for a hurricane.

10) I've Realized My Calling - yes, it's only 35 years too late, but Broadway is my dream. I won't live my life never knowing what I want to do with it. It's a good feeling.

Snot Nose Kerri

First off, a HUGE HUGE HUGE congratulations to Mr Pooh for completing his first Tough Mudder yesterday! From what he texted me, it was a real bitch, and the ice bath is the worst thing. Ever. I'm excited to try one next year (and nervous). WOO HOO! Go Mr Pooh!

Last Sunday night, my bar friends called and they were headed out for the evening. I ended up going out and joining them sans Blondie as he's still not fully healed. I met them at our "hot apple pie" bar, and had many drinks (including the "hot apple pie") as we caught up with each other on our weeks. When I got home, Blondie grilled up some sausages and we finished up our night watching football.

I woke up Monday morning and knew I was in a for an awful week. My head was throbbing, my nose was raw and running (a great combination) and my energy level was non-existent. I called in sick, and slept most of the morning away. Then I headed down for a 65 minute workout on the treadmill to see if that helped my snot factor any (it didn't). It did help my headache, but as soon as I stopped sweating, the headache came roaring back. Blondie also went in that Monday to his doctor to get his 2nd round of steroid shots (keep your fingers crossed as it's seems this round is helping his neck, and we might only need PT to get him back to normal!).

I woke up Tuesday and felt better (no headache), so I drug myself to work. Work has felt like everyday has taken 50 years to complete, and it's because I've been doing the "T-day countdown" for the past 3 weeks. Only 11 business days to go! Only 10 business days to go! Only 2.5 business days to go! Also on Tuesday, the SF office started arriving - my coworker came into town that day and I got to go to lunch with him and a bunch of my friends.

Wednesday, the rest of the SF office arrived, and we all left early to go have our party. The president of the company threw us a party for the project we launched in August - and our sister company flew in some of the people who assisted on the project from SF. The party was kind of lame unfortunately. It was just hanging out in a bar (which I love, but which I also do all the time anyway). No speeches, no "thank you", no nothing. Just "here you go, open bar". I'm definitely not trying to complain about the party - I'm grateful they threw one for us - it just seemed a waste to fly in the SF office for it.

Friday night, Blondie and I made some dinner and then we split a couple of bottles of wine. Then we were both still hungry so at 10:30 pm, we headed over to the bar to eat a ton of bar food. It was all kinds of awesome. We got to catch up with our bartender though - so that was good. And yesterday, we took it easy - we did our grocery shopping and then crashed out for the afternoon. Last night, I got sucked into a "Hoarders" marathon which made me realize I've got to do a closet purge. Because of this, while Hoarders was on commercial breaks, I cleaned up our bedroom and threw out like 9 pairs of shoes that I never wear. It brought up a lot of dust though, and my nose is in full-fledge agony again.

This week my workouts were again on track and good - Monday was a 65 minute workout on the treadmill, Tuesday and Wednesday were Insanity discs, Thursday was an off day, Friday was P90X arms and shoulders, and Saturday was another Insanity disc. Today, even though I feel like asshole, I went down and did another 65 minutes on the treadmill. I'm now relaxing, doing NOTHING.

Plans for the week include: 1) half day on Wed and potential Broadway play (if Spiderman or Book of Mormon have good deals); 2) walking Pikachu in the parade on Thursday followed by snacks at the bar and then cooking a good meal for ourselves; 3) meeting up with our bartender on Friday as he's stuck working; 4) Jets vs Bills on Sunday night - I was excited about this until last weekend's craptacular loss to the Broncos; 5) next Monday off and we have tickets to see the matinee of the Rockettes on Monday at Radio City Music Hall! Before the Rockettes, we're going to see the Rock Center Xmas tree, and after the Rockettes, we're hitting up the Red Lobster in Times Square. Much excitement on deck!

Now just to survive 2.5 business days...

--K

Visitors, Birthdays, and Working Out (yet again)

Halloween week was ok (good, not good, which averages out to ok). Being back at work really kind of sucked. And since the first day I was back was Halloween, there was candy *everywhere*. I didn't even eat real food that day, just the candy that was lying around. It was disgusting. NYC at Halloween is kind of cool though - everywhere I went that day (subway stations, different parts of town, etc) there were a ton of people dressed up in costume. Blondie and I didn't go out that night b/c Blondie had a doctor's appt the next day.

The doctor's appt was an MRI - his primary doctor sent him on b/c they can't get a grip on what's causing the pain in his neck and arm.

Wednesday was my birthday and as soon as I woke up, I knew I wasn't going to be in the right mood for the day. From looking in the mirror and seeing a blob staring back, to the grey hairs that have invaded my head, to the fact that I loathe the job (at least I know now what I want to do - Broadway - but I still have no clue how to break into anything like that), I was a wreck. I did my best to be quiet and not wake Blondie so I could get out of the house without crying, but he caught me on my way out.

I kept my mood at work upbeat that day but felt like I was dying on the inside. It wasn't until I got home that night, and Blondie took me out for mexican, and then we went for several drinks and I talked to my BFF in the world TT, that I started to feel normal again.

And then on Thursday, Dirty Sanchez (he of crazy Vegas luck experience - see Feb 2007 blog posts) showed up!!! He's into a metal group who had a concert in NYC that Saturday so he decided to come up for the weekend. He came in early that day and him and Blondie toured around the city, and I met them along with my bar friends for trivia and dinner that night. I'm proud to report that team "Occupy Your Mom" came in 1st place, winning a $50 gift certificate to the bar.

Friday, Blondie and Dirty Sanchez went touring again, and I met them that night for drinks and dinner (at the bar, yes again). Many drinks later, we came home and crashed out to movies. Saturday it was lunch at "5 Napkin Burger" before drinks in our hood. We came home and lazed about the afternoon, before the guys took off for "MetalSuck Fest"! I had my own evening, and met my bar friends for some drinks before enjoying the rest of the night watching crappy TV and eating buffalo chicken dip.

And on Sunday, it was off for brunch before mixing many mimosas and then sending Dirty Sanchez on a train to Newark Airport. We took the opportunity to eat a shit-ton of Taco Bell since we were in Penn Station.

Monday I woke up, and as I poked my belly, I realized that all my talk about working out again was leading nowhere, and I just needed to pull my head out of my ass and DO THIS. So I did. It's not been easy, but I've forced my way through workouts this week - it usually takes about 2-3 weeks for me, so I have a couple more "ugh" weeks facing me but then should be back in the groove.

On Monday, I started out the week by doing one of my Insanity discs. The day ended up being a really long one (as in addition to working out, I also was trying to cut out the gummy bear fix I have - there is a free gummy bear machine at work, and I eat out of it 10 times a day 5-10 bears at a time). Also, I had a late meeting which was a disaster, and ran way over - and I got back to my desk to Blondie calling.

His uncle had lost his battle with cancer that day - I loved his uncle Steve. This guy was crazy, so much fun and always joking around. We didn't see him much, but when we did, it was always nothing but laughter. My deepest condolences go out to the G-Clan at this time.

Tuesday I did another Insanity disc (and thoroughly whipped my legs and butt into a frenzy).

And on Tuesday, Blondie also got the results of his MRI - which is a herniated disc in his neck along with the pinched nerve - fabulous combination. He's on rounds of steroid shots right now, as they try to figure out what the pain will respond to. Last resort is surgery, and we are hope hope hoping like crazy it doesn't boil down to that.

Wednesday I did a 3.1 mile run/walk (2 min run, 2 min walk) as I tried to ease my body back into running for the first time in 4 weeks or so. It went pretty well, and my legs, although uber sore, responded quite nicely to the movement. Wednesday I did lunch with a friend which made the day feel super fast too - always a good combo.

Thursday was a 30 Day Shred disc and then some Tabata interval training (where I completely kicked my shoulders, chest and abs into failure). And then Thursday night, a former coworker was back in town so we met her at Koreatown for soju, beer, and korean food into the night - a drunk me rolled home around 1 am, having only nibbled at the food while constantly pouring alcohol down my throat.

Which gave me Friday as a rest day ;) Work felt like it together forever to get through - I just felt drained all day long. I got home that night and Blondie cooked up some raviolis for me and we just crashed in front of the TV. And then he told me that he had talked to his brother, and his brother's family is expecting their 3rd baby in June. Congrats to D&MG! That will make us 9 for nieces and nephews across both families - looking forward to meeting TCKITWv9.0!

Yesterday I convinced Blondie to try a light workout, so he did Precor for 20 mins or so before hanging out in the sauna for awhile to try and ease his arm pain. I did a 65 minute workout on the treadmill - running and walking. It's going to take 2-3 weeks to get back to fully running, and I'm sad that I took all that workout time off. However, looking at the bright side of things, I'm glad I nipped this in the bud before it got any worse. I've only gained 10 lbs, so it's not bad at all - and already just watching my food intake and working out this week, my pants are comfortable again.

Today I have nothing - I did a P90X Precor DVD and some tabata, we had our food delivered for the week. I have to run to the drugstore, but that's it. It's overcast outside, so another low-key day for me.

Some things coming up for me: 1) TDay parade in NYC - Blondie and I are walking the Pikachu balloon, so watch out for us! 2) NYC Half Marathon in March 2012 (yes, this is a ways off) - Mr Pooh and I are still planning on running this, and I want to go below 2:30:00 this time (my PR was in May at 2:35:57). 3) Potential Tough Mudder in KY in October 2012. Mr Pooh is running his Tough Mudder next weekend (GOOOOO POOOOOOOOOH!) and if he likes it, we're going to look at doing the TM next year as a team. We need others to join (cough, Brother R, Blondie, Mrs Pooh, Shugs) to finish our team, so holler if you are interested!

--K