Space-baby

OMG. I am completely crashing right now - and it feels so good. I'm a little space-baby. It makes sense in my head.

So this was yet another week in our "let's not do shit" plan. We did so much stuff the first year we lived here, it's nice to feel like we can enjoy our city without frantically trying to cram stuff in. Having said there, there is still SO MUCH STUFF left that we want to experience - NYC never gets old. Something is *always* going on here.

Literally, we did nothing this week. We didn't hit up our bar, we didn't go out for St Patrick's day, we didn't go out to eat. Home-boundness got into us.

Work was hard this week - about 6 months ago, I got put back onto projects that are specific to my old division, and trying to run these projects from 3000 miles away is turning into a real eye-opener about this role. I had a bad day on Friday, one that caused me to lock the door to my office, and cry for 10 minutes. Then I had to keep the door locked for another 30 minutes until my face cleared.

Um, what else? Thursday we watched UK WIN! And more importantly, Lousiville lose! We had talked about going out, but I've had the stress sleeps again (4:45 am wakeup time? Why not!) and I was crashing hard on Thursday night. Plus, the combination of St Patricks day and the start of March Madness and a gorgeous spring weather day led to the craziest bar scene I've ever witnessed. Every bar I passed on the way home was filled to overflowing.

Friday was another beautiful day - 70's and sunny. It was also a day I got stuck at work until almost 9 pm. It was still nice on my walk home at least, but it did suck.

I felt bad because Mr Pooh texted on Friday night - he was in a really good mood, and just sharing some good vibes, and I texted back "wah wah wah, my life sucks! I want a beer!" He was very cool though, and told me to take it out on my run today.

So today I was back up at 4:45 am, and was messing around on my computer in the living room when I wracked my neck - I twisted it hard. I went back to bed around 6:30 am and could only get to sleep by cramming my arm under my head, which put my arm to sleep. I woke up around 9:30 am, and told Blondie I was worried about the run because I was both stiff and sore as all get out. We headed out anyway, into the wind, for a 7-miler. And we rocked it out. My neck pain was non-existent while running (it's back in full-force right now), and I managed to get the whole 7 miles without stopping, in a 11:39 min pace. This is the *exact same pace* I ran last week, and while I would like to be 9 sec per mile faster, keeping the same pace for a mile longer run is awesome.

Blondie rocked his run out in a 11:21 min pace, and he discovered a new path to keep us from having to play "dodge the crowds" for a section of the course that's close to our house. So I'll be doing that next weekend.

After our run, I got myself a bright red pedicure - my toes were a wreck from all the running, and the athlete's foot (which finally healed). Then Blondie came and met me for ethiopian for lunch, before we hit up the liquor store for some scotch and wine. I plan to lay on the floor until 6 pm ish before packing, and then we are going to split some wine while we watch Wisconsin win. The Wildcats won again today - so it's been a good day all around.

Tomorrow I have a bright and early flight back to good old California. I intend to land, workout and then meet up with my good friend KT to see how her new job is going. The week is going to be packed with running, work, and happy hours. Every night is already booked solid.

This was week 6 of training. Monday was a rest day, Tues and Thurs I did 4 miles on the treadmill (Thurs run was at 10:49 min pace), Wed was a 2 mile hill interval run, Fri I did my 30-day-shred level 3 along with bootcamp level 2 dvd's, and today was 7 miles. Tomorrow I have a 50 min cross-train, so I'll either do a walk with hand weights, or hit the precor up.

Have a great week everyone.

--K

A hot mess

The gross parts first - I have athlete's foot under 3 toes right now, with one toe actually having it so bad it's extended down between the toes. I feel somewhat like a bad ass in that "woot, I sweat so much I have bad athlete's foot under, count 'em, 3 toes!" and somewhat like a disgusting slob in that "wow, I can't keep my feet clean enough that I don't get athlete's foot". On top of that, it's starting to get into the 50's and 60's here (WOOOOOOO HOOOOOO) so it's getting time for cute shoe season as opposed to snow boot season, and I NEED a pedicure. However, I'm not about to subject my pedicure place to the disaster of my athlete's foot at this moment in time.

On top of the athlete's foot, I've been running so much that I have permanent raw marks where my pants rest on my hips, and under my boobs where my jog bras hit. So on top of having to spray my feet down 3-4 times a day, I also have to have Blondie neosporin the crap out of my skin. I feel pretty, oh so pretty.

That's the disgusting parts. The other parts of the week were okay. Monday was a typical Monday, and I'm always so relieved when it's over. Tuesday was 11 years that Blondie had told me he liked me (11 years ago on Fat Tuesday is when he first hit on me - I don't remember the exact date and while I could google it, I'm lazy. So we just go with Fat Tuesday). I texted Blondie to tell him, and he said we should go celebrate. I came home that night and we headed to the bar for a few drinks - we've been through a lot, and neither of us thought we'd make it, but we have. To 11 years - we did it hottie!

At the bar, we met up with our good friend - her fiancee lives overseas, but had flown in that day and so we got to meet him. We've skyped him before from the bar, which makes me laugh, but meeting him in person was so much fun - so it was double good that we went out that night. The bar wasn't serving food that night due to a private party taking place there also which was a catered event, but I happened to notice on their special list that they had meatloaf which is the bomb diggity let me tell you. I pointed it out to Blondie, and then when I came home on Wednesday night, Blondie was all like "I need meatloaf!" so we headed back to our bar again for dinner.

On Thursday I had enough. My coworkers and I had done "lunch" and a couple of frothy beverages later, my defenses were lowered. My feet are a wreck, my skin is a wreck, and then I noticed that I had like an inch of dark brown roots - so I went in and got my hair dyed to a brownish-reddish color (auburn I guess). I love it! It's like dark shiny chocolate - it makes me want to eat it. After my hair appt, I met up with Blondie and one of his friends from college whom he hadn't seen in 15 years. The friend was in town for fun, and the 2 of them met up for a bit, and then we all headed out for pizza. It was a good night and the friend was a lot of fun.

On Friday night, I came home and wanted pizza - we had split pizzas on Thurs night and I had only had 1.5 pieces; so Friday night, I made Blondie order in some more pizza. It was tasty goodness, and the carbo loading helped, because Saturday we got up and headed out for a 6 mile run. I was nervous as we walked out to Riverside Park as I felt my head was not into the run. We started out and my body was also not into the run, but I managed to keep telling myself "just a few more steps" and before I knew it, I had settled into my rhythm. I felt like the time was dragging for the first mile, and then I flew from 1 miles to 3 miles. We turned around at 3 miles, and hit an enormous head wind, but I stuck with it. I made it all the way back without stopping, and did an incredible 11:39 min/pace per mile. It's only 9 secs more than I wanted, and it's only my 2nd outdoor run of this training program!

After our runs, we headed up to the barber shop so Blondie could get a haircut and straight edge shave. His skin feels like butter right now, and his haircut is a really good one - he went in looking like "Wild Blondie" and came out looking like "Sexy Blondie". Although he still is sexy even when he's wild. :) After the haircut, we both had cravings for "bad for you salads" so we hit up the bar - I got mixed greens, grilled chicken, goat cheese, grilled onions and apple; Blondie had the kitchen sink - avo, tomato, grilled chicken, cucumber, mozarella. Both were tasty and the beers were on special due to March Madness.

We got home yesterday afternoon and both just crashed out - no more energy to do anything. We ordered in peruvian food last night (so f'ing tasty), and I was in bed around 9:30 pm. Today I've alreay been down and done cross-training on the precor, and now we are waiting for our groceries to be delivered. No plans yet for the day, and it's a good feeling.

This was week 5 of training (12 week program). I took Monday off, ran 4 miles on Tuesday, 2 miles with hills on Wednesday, 4 miles on Thursday (in 11:03 min/pace!!!!!!), did an hour long stretching DVD on Friday (I was a bit sore), did 6 miles outside yesterday and 45 mins on the Precor today. I'm excited for my run. Blondie is doing really good with his training also, and Mr Pooh is race-day ready already.

I've also started making lists of things we will do when Mr Pooh gets to town - so much stuff to do (and no, it's not all food and beer lists). Blondie and I wanted to take Mr Pooh to a pro sports game, but the only team playing in town is the Yankees, and Blondie is a "no way" to seeing them. But the rest of the list is coming along nicely.

I'm off to CA a week from today - and will get to do all my training runs that week out there along the bay - I'm excited about it, assuming the weather cooperates. And Slick and PFunk will be flying in for a visit that Friday that I get back, soooooo happy to see them again!

--K

The Best Laid Plans

Blondie was doing a month without drinking, from VDay to St Patrick's Day - he was doing this because half marathon training has kicked in, and we are both trying to lose the last few pounds that have been hanging around since last August when we plateau'd.

I came into our apartment building on Monday night after work, and was digging in my bag for the keys to the mailbox when I noticed my phone had a message on it. It was Blondie, and it turns out that Blondie's old roomie was in town for a few days! This guy was awesome, he was Blondie's roomie when I first met Blondie, and I have a very embarassing story about it all (embarassing for me). Anyhow, I turned right around and headed to the bar. It was so good seeing him and getting caught up on his life now (husband, dad), and then just being at the bar and seeing all of our friends made Monday feel not so much like Monday.

Tuesday, my BFF from work had a very bad day, so we headed to a bar on the UES for some drinks. Some drinks turned into about 7 beers and a scotch, and then it was back to my hood to meet up with Blondie and his roomie again for another late night at the bar. Our walk home at 1 am led us to CVS where I left with a giant bag of M&Ms and a frozen pizza. Go me!

Wednesday I went to work feeling like ass - I also thought I looked like ass, but ironically, everyone stopped to tell me that they loved my hair that day. I had it in a high ponytail with a small headband wrapped around the front part to keep my bangs off my head - it's my typical workout look, but I hadn't washed my hair on Wednesday so I just threw my hair up instead.

Thursday was a lot better - it wasn't Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday which automatically makes it good, and I had one hell of an awesome run! I did my 3.5 mile run in 10:37 min pace, which for me is like FLYING. I'm typically a 11 min to 12 min pace, so 10:37 min pace was elating to say the least.

And then Friday was pretty good - my girlfriends were going out drinking after work, but I knew I had my first long run outside on Saturday, so I declined. I came home and ate some pasta for dinner with Blondie and was in bed pretty early. OMG. Could we be anymore exciting? All I know that 2 late nights on Monday and Tuesday threw the rest of my week off. But still, I could've done that at 25, and then still partied Wed-Sat. Old. Lame. Old. Tired. Old. Le sigh.

It was worth it though - the begging off of drinks. As Blondie and I headed out for our first outdoor run of the training on Saturday morning. I've been treadmilling it because it's been really cold here, but yesterday it was in the 50's and sunny, so we decided to just go for it. We both did 5 miles, Blondie in an 11:30 min pace and me in an 11:46 min pace. I'm aiming for 11:30 min pace for my half. I know that the first outdoor run always is slower for me, and that within a week, my pace will be back up to what I want, so I was just ecstatic to get the whole run in a reasonable pace from the get-go.

After our run, we both had major runner highs. We headed out for lunch for burgers - some of the best burgers I've ever tasted. 5 Napkin Burger in our hood - I had the original and Blondie had a bacon burger. We split an order of onion rings, and I had a side salad and a beer with mine, while Blondie had fries and a cider with his. It was so relaxing - we had done our 5 miles, we had some good food, and we had each other. Awwww, sappy! After lunch, we did our grocery shopping and bought out the fruit section of our farmer's market, before heading home to collapse. I never have pain after treadmill running, but my legs were SORE yesterday. It was worth it though because I slept the sleep of the dead last night. I'm normallly up 5-6 times a night for various reasons (pee, I thought of something, Blondie rolled over, etc - just a light sleeper), but you could've landed a jet beside me last night and I wouldn't have heard it.

Today it's raining like crazy - I need to go do 40 mins of cross training, either bike or precor. But other than that, nada. Cuddle a cat, maybe a husband, watch some bad TV. It's shaping up to be a good weekend.

I'm back to SF in 2 weeks for some more workadoodle, so I have that on my radar. And just a bunch of training in the meantime.

A couple of notes - the bean craving has not gone away, and I literally had chili 2 nights last week, and a bowl of black beans one night, and a black bean taco another night. It's getting slightly ridiculous.

This was week 4 of training. I took Monday as a rest day, did 3.5 miles in a good time on Tuesday, took Wednesday as a rest day (oops, that wasn't planned - thanks beer!), did 3.5 miles in a SUPER time on Thursday, did 2 workout DVDs on Friday (Bob and Jillian DVDs) and did 5 miles outside on Saturday. I'm getting excited to run the race with Mr Pooh and Blondie, show Mr Pooh my new city, and rock this half!

--K

You DID say it was your birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS POOH AND SLICK! Hope you guys are having great days, and getting tons of great gifts!!!!!!!

Why can't every weekend be a 3 day weekend?

As a matter of fact, I would like some cheese with my whine. Last weekend was so spectacular it makes me want to cry thinking about it. Why you ask? Did you do anything exciting? Not really to be honest. We were mostly lazy, but it was that feeling of going to bed on Sunday night without dread that did it for me.

So last Saturday we really did nothing. We lazed around, watched bad TV, and just took it easy. Sunday I had enough - I declared to Blondie - "We are doing something!" So he said "Well, what do you want to do?" and my answer was my typical answer (eat). We headed up to 8th Ave and hit up Shake Shack! I've heard about Shake Shack for years now, basically that it's the NYC equivalent of In-and-Out. Blondie went last summer with his sis and her family, and he liked it but didn't think it was mind-blowing. But I wanted to try it - so we headed out on Sunday into the freezing cold (65 degrees and sunny on Friday, 25 degrees on Sunday - go NYC), and hit up Shake Shack for lunch.

The burger was *insane*. I don't know what Blondie ate last year, but my burger was so flipping good - hot, greasy, covered in cheese and special sauce ;) Blondie even said that his burger was a lot better than the last time. We split an order of fries, and we each got our own shake (me = chocolate of course; Blondie = caramel). After lunch, we hit up our bakery for a loaf of banana nut bread before heading home to crash for a few hours.

I headed back out about 3 hours later to meet my coworker for "La Cage Aux Folles" starring JEFFREY TAMBOR and HARVERY FIERSTEIN. OMG people - it was like my wet dream. We had "cabaret" seats which were stage-side seats, and the cast LOVED my coworker. They were all over him like white on rice. Jeffrey Tambor acknowledged him at the very start of the play, and then the drag queens were on him, making eyes at him, singling him out - I felt like the fat frumpy friend (well, if the shoe fits ;) I LOVED the play - it was so much fun, and having Harvey Fierstein be in it (the original author) - it's like seeing a piece of history in the making.

After the play, I went skipping back to my hood, and called Blondie for dinner. Justin Timberlake had opened a branch of his restaurant in our hood and I wanted to try it out (Southern Hospitality). It was actually pretty good. I liked the cornbread and the dry rub ribs a lot, the mac-and-cheese was okay, and the fried chicken was really juicy.

Monday was another lazy kind of day. I did yoga, and then went on a salt binge the likes of which I've not had in about 10 years. All day long I was craving salt, I couldn't get it out of my head. We even went bowling to take my mind off of it - the bowling was fun, and the alley is only a block from our house, so that was nice. Finally I gave in to the salt craving and we headed out to buy chips and dip, and then order in massive amounts of sushi for dinner which I doused in soy.

Tuesday, I woke up feeling like I had kept my tongue in a salt lick all night long. I headed down for my run without any high hopes for it, but actually ended up rocking it out (3.5 miles in 38 minutes is super good for me). Wed and Thurs were also runs, with Thurs run being atrocious. I had to walk half of it at least, just could NOT get my breaths and steps aligned. It was torture.

The good news of it all was that my week went super fast - usually after a 3 day weekend, the week d.r.a.g.s but last week was one of the fastest I've had since I've been in NYC.

Friday night, we made some whole wheat pasta and sauce with a ton of veg in it - I had to carb load because my long runs started increasing this week. It was only 5 miles, but it's further than I've run since I did my 13K last October. I was nervous when I went down to the gym about the run, since my Thurs run was the shit (and not in a good way), but I did really well. It took me 57 mins to run it, but I did run it all, and I felt good about it the entire way. And 57 mins is really only 2 mins faster than I would love for my timing to be. So all around a good run.

After my run, and Blondie's workout, we debated about food. We finally decided to hit up this Argentinian restaurant in our hood - it was so good. I had a glass of sangria, and tuna tartar with a side of red beans, and Blondie had their signature chicken and some fried plantains. I ate bites of his chicken and it was the bomb, but I was also ecstatic with my food. Blondie was really sore afterwards (he climbed all 45 flights of steps in our building on Friday before going to the gym for a 1.5 hour long workout), so we headed home afterwards to just relax.

Today I headed down to the gym again, this time for cross training on the Precor (I hate Precor and haven't done a Precor in about 2 years). It was okay, but only because Sex and the City was on, so I set the individual TV to that and plugged my headphones in to listen. I'm now worked out, showered, and waiting for our grocery delivery to get here. We had talked about going out today but Blondie is in major pain, so I'm not sure that's going to happen.

A couple of notes. This was week 3 for my half training, and my runs were 3.5 miles on Tues and Thurs, 2 miles on Wed, and 5 miles on Saturday - training is going well, and I'm very excited to see Mr Pooh in April and run the half with him!

My second note is that I've somehow got a fixation on beans right now - black and red. They are all I want to eat. Everywhere we go, I'm scouring menus to see if they've got beans somewhere. And it was so bad on Tuesday night, that I decided to make us dinner by heating up some black beans and dumping in a ton of peppers and onions. Any ideas why I'm craving them so much? I eat meat, so it's not like I need the protein. At least I'm not craving ice cream or something very unhealthy.

Hope everyone is well.

--K

A case of VD

So last week ended up being kind of dud in terms of doing things. For some reason, this cold weather has zapped any thoughts we've had about getting out of the apartment. I still have to go to work (woot), but the idea of doing anything beyond that about knocks me on my ass.

Having said that, I went with my core group at work last week for drinks one night. My BFF from work had stopped by and mentioned that she'd had a crappy day, so we decided drinks were in order. We hit up a Belgium bar close to our work, where I had meatballs and salad (separately) and a couple of beers, and she had a plate of fries and some wine.

Last weekend, Blondie and I were pretty boring. As a matter of fact, we were just sitting here now trying to remember what we did last weekend, and we couldn't. So Blondie said "It must've been pretty exciting!" which made me laugh. Finally we figured it out - I had my first "long" run of training on Saturday (it's just 4 miles right now), and then we did grocery shopping. The weather was not cooperating, so it was back to our apartment afterwards to watch crappy movies all day.

This week, a coworker of mine from SF came to NY. Last time I was in SF, I decided I didn't want to fly out every month (for various reasons), so I managed to convince my coworker that he wanted to swap months with me. Anyway, he was out here for the week. He shared my office with me and I had a blast actually. The week went by SUPER FAST which was nice. I had a ton of meetings this week, and Tues and Wed were literally back from 11 am to 5 pm and 9:30 am to 3 pm with meetings respectively (no breaks).

Monday was VD! I came home Monday night as we had decided to just order sushi in. I walked into our apartment and Blondie had decided to surprise me with 2 dozen roses (love, love, love roses!) and a bag of gummy bears, a chocolate heart-shaped donut from Dunkin Donuts, a slice of banana-nut bread from my favorite bakery, and 2 bottles of this cheap white wine that I want to marry. It was a fabulous night. We watched "Under the Tuscan Sun", and I about cried as always at the line at the end of the movie when the real-estate agent tells Frances "You got what you wanted. You have a family here. You have a wedding here".

Wednesday, outside of my coworker from SF, another group of people I worked with in SF were also in town for work, but not at my building. I met them for dinner and drinks at a little Ethiopian place in my hood. It was soooo good seeing them, and getting to catch up - one of the women who was part of the group, she was such a good buddy of mine at SF, that I used to hang out in her office, bitching about my boss at the time, and eating her candy every single day.

Thursday, my BFF from work organized a big HH for our entire team. She set them up monthly, so that we can all get to know each other outside of the office. It was so much fun. Everyone was in a good mood, and chatty, and when the night ended it was a bit sad. We did get into a big discussion about office spouses, and then it was a bigger discussion about which of my friends is my office spouse. The answer was never decided. I took a cab home that night, which is a luxury I don't indugle in often. It was so nice.

So yesterday was a half-day because we get Monday off (all days before holidays are half-days for us). AND THE WEATHER WAS GORGEOUS! It was low 60's, and sunny. I met Blondie at 1:30 pm for drinks and lunch on a patio at a bar close to our house. Afterwards, we did our grocery shopping before heading over to our regular bar for a few drinks. We came home early last night as I had some stomach issues, and ended up hitting the sack around 9:30 pm.

It was worth it though - I slept through until 8:15 am today, and then headed down for my 2nd "long" run of training (another 4 miles today). I'm now showered, worked out, eaten breakfast, and it's only 11 am. Now it's time to decide what to do to today! Do we stay in? Do we hit up a museum? Do we go for lunch? Do we....

Tomorrow I'm meeting my coworker from SF to see La Cage Aux Folles on Broadway, and Monday I want to get a pedicure. But other than that, the weekend is free. Alas though, the weather was only nice for yesterday - it's in the low 40's, temps dropping and windy like crazy right now.

One last thing - this was my 2nd week of training for my half. I did 3 miles on Tues and Thurs, 2 miles hill work on Wed, 4 miles today, my 30-day-shred level 3 program on Fri, and yoga last Sunday. Monday was my off day. I'm super excited about the half coming up, and want to really be able to run it all - I'm back in my head about running though (where I'm aware of every step I take - which SUCKS), and it always takes a few weeks before I can distance myself from that, so until that happens, it's been torture.

Hope everyone is well, and enjoy the weekend!

--K

Lunar New Year, a fabulous Super Bowl, and a 2 day hangover

Last week was pretty low key. I found myself battling the sleeps a lot, so we kept things pretty much on the DL. It was kind of nice - the weather is so cold here, and being able to just come home at night and crash has been f'ing f.a.b.u.l.o.u.s.

The only thing I had on my radar last week was Lunar New Year - my core group at work and I headed out on Wednesday night to the Koreatown area of Manhattan to celebrate. We hit up a restaurant that was literally called "Kum Gang Sak" - which of course, led us to call ourselves the Kum Gang. And led to many dirty Kum Gang jokes. We split a ton of soju, had a lot of beers, and in general stuffed ourselves silly. I came home in such a good mood, that I tried to wake Blondie up so I could, um, have some fun with him. He was not going for it though - smart move on his part! ;)

Friday I called Blondie and he came and met me for a drink after work. We were debating on what to eat for dinner, when he suggested doing an old thing of ours that we haven't done since we started on our healthiness program last March - that was hit the grocery store for a shitty food night! It was awesome - we had rice-a-roni, buffalo strips, chips and dip, and licorice for dessert. I was so tired that night that I konked out early - with a belly full of bad food.

Saturday I was up at 5:23 am for the day - work has gotten crazy/bad right now, and when I woke up to pee, my mind immediately went to work and that was it for the morning. I watched a movie, and messed around on my computer - and when Blondie got up, we headed to the gym for long workouts. We were supposed to grocery shop afterwards, but it was pouring rain, so we ordered our groceries online, and then stayed in to watch movies all day while staring out the window.

Sunday was an awesome day - I drug Blondie for another run, and then we got ready to head to our bar at 3:30 pm. It was time to cheer on the Packers! Blondie's been a die-hard Packer fan his entire life (growing up an hour south of Green Bay was a big catalyst for this), and it was with much enthusiasm that we cheered them onto a victory. We were joined by a ton of our friends - both coworkers and bar friends - and generally made giant jackasses of ourselves as soon as we realized they were going to win.

Instead of just heading home after the Superbowl, we headed on out to celebrate with 2 of our bar friends. I ended up getting home around 2:30 am, while Blondie strolled on in around 4 am. Um, Monday - was the SUCK. I went to work still drunk I believe, and it was the longest day in the history of the world. I got home Monday night and Blondie still hadn't showered. What a hangover.

Today was note-worthy because of 2 things - it was my 1 year anniversary with my company, leaving 1 year left on my contact before I can leave without having to pay back my relo. And 2, today officially started my half-marathon training. My times for running have been decreasing pretty dramatically thanks to getting hill work in, but today, they were crapalicious - it always happens when I go on a bender, and I know the times will be fine with my run tomorrow, but it still was disheartening to see a 4 min, 58 sec increase for my run from Saturday. Le sigh.

Well, it's off to pet a cat - he's pawing at my legs and wants some attention. Keep warm everyone.

--K

From SF back to NYC

OMG - I've been awful about updating the blog lately, and I have no excuses. Now that I'm back though for a few weeks, I will be keeping this thing up to date on a regular basis.

To catch up from last time I posted, I'll start with Sweetie J's birthday bash. I met up with her and some of her friends in Tribeca for a late dinner, and then afterwards, they convinced me to go to a dance club with them. The dance club was about 4 blocks from our apartment, so I really had no excuse. Let me say this though, I'm a shitty dancer.

So we got to the club, and a friend of Sweetie J's knew the owner, so we had VIP entrance and table/bottle service. I did last until about 3 am, and I did tried to shake my bootie somewhat - but it's as bad as it sounds. Ugh.

Okay then - off to San Francisco, and again, some of the most beautiful weather I've seen. It's my good luck I guess - 3 times back to SF, and 3 times I've had AMAZING weather. I landed on Monday morning, headed to the gym, and proceeded to run a bunch of hill work on the treadmill. After a shower, I headed over to work, but immediately took off with my friend KT for a long walk down Market St. On our way back to the office, my other friend who had also turned in her notice, texted that she was at the bar. So KT and I stopped in and hung out with a group of friends for a bit. A few beers later (and no food whatsoever that entire day except for a bag of gummy bears on the plane), I was a little tipsy.

I made it back to work, proceeded to try and boot up my laptop, and that was it. KT called and she was done, so it was back to another bar to say goodbye to an awesome coworker and friend. After our drinks, KT and I headed for dinner to hang out just us two. I'm going to miss the fuck out of her, and wish her the best of luck at her new job.

So, Tuesday, the stomach/sleep thing started - this happens everytime I go back to SF - I don't sleep (I'm up by 4:30-5 am everyday) and my stomach revolts. So the entire week, I'm up around 4:30, stomach finally settles around 6:15 ish, and I'm off to the gym for an hour.

Then it was to work, and back to back meetings, before I headed out with my team for drinks on the company. After drinks, I met up with a coworker from NYC and her friend for dinner and drinks in the Mission district. It had been awhile since I'd been over that way, and I was able to take them to my favorite bar in the Mission, after some tasty Mexican food.

Wednesday was more low-key - work, work, work (woot), but then I got to go with 2 coworkers that I like but don't hang out with very often - we headed for a quick drink, before off to meet up with Shelbs and Bbbb for dinner at a rotisserie. It was tasty yummy goodness, and soooo good catching up with the Thunderwoods. After dinner, I finagled an invitation back to their apartment to watch TV on their couch. Snarky commentary ensued, and it made me really miss living in SF, and the good friends I have there.

Thursday was a "nutso" day - it was our architect and OP's last day (both of them quit at the same time), so I headed to lunch with the architect - 3 hours later, I was back at work to finish up some crappy tasks, before heading off to the going away party for the both of them. My flight had gotten cancelled due to snow in NYC, so I had a Friday morning flight instead. It turned out to be a good thing as I got to stay out late, not worry about flying drunk, and got to crash with OP for a night.

Friday, was my flight back - I dozed most of the flight, and due to time change, didn't get home until almost 9 pm. Blondie had ordered food and saved me some beans and rice (I have a slight obsession with the beans from this argentinean restaurant - it's like crack for me).

Saturday, we did a hardcore workout before Blondie took off to play some poker with some friends. I watched crappy TV all night, and hit the sack early.

Last week was a typical work week - trying to get my head back into work for really the first time since before the holidays SUCKED BALLS. I met Blondie on Monday for dinner at our bar, and then Tuesday we had all-you-can-eat ribs and beer at a restaurant we had gone in on a groupon for - we went with about 8 of us, and while I'm not big into BBQ, I ate my weight in cornbread - so that was good. Friday was a good friend's bday so we met up with him and his friends to celebrate - we met in West Village for dinner before heading over to Greenwich Village for many beers after.

Yesterday was a sleep in late day, with another long nap in the afternoon. It pretty much ruled. We did our grocery shopping yday morning, and stopped to buy a wheelie cart that I can pull home - it's much easier putting milk and cans into that then trying to walk 2 avenues carrying a ton of bags.

Today I'm not doing anything - this week coming up is going to be crazy, so I'm going to just lay here and watch TV all day. I'm so looking forward to it!

In other news, my half-marathon training starts a week from today (on SuperBowl Sunday - that sucks). I've been really busting ass with my runs lately (even though I'm not officially training) and have started incorporating hill work on the treadmill into my routines - it's amazing really. Mr Pooh had told me about some steep hills he has been running outside, so just by pulling in hills 2 days a week, my normal runs are off the hook good right now. And the calories I'm burning doing hills is way more than a flat out normal run. It's exciting to watch. I've maintained my same weight since about August, but it's starting to decrease again now, and I'm happy to watch it go.

--K

Vegas Pics

The lions at MGM

The fountains at Bellagio - my all time favorite Vegas thing

Paris Casino

Freemont St in all it's glory

Golden Gate Casino, neatly tying together Vegas and San Francisco

It kind of ruins it if Kiss needs a cane

I was drunk, is it any shock?

2 blondies live in our house

Random Pictures

In Wisconsin, who doesn't love farm toys for Xmas?

Deer carcasses not welcome!

Stranded in Chicago, but at least it was beautiful

Sears Tower - 103 stories up, a glass balcony, and I almost peed myself

In the Sears Tower, looking at the Hancock Tower

Vegas! California!

Vegas was awesome! Blondie and I flew out on a Tuesday night, and actually had an okay flight (OMG!) We got in and dropped our stuff at our casino, and then we debated. Typically, the first night we are in Vegas we are up all night. But Blondie's bro MG was flying in the next day early and we didn't want to waste his first day there. So we curled up in bed instead with some room service as we were both starving.

The next day we hit the casino early while waiting for MG to get in. We started with Pai Gow and moved onto craps when MG arrived. We decided to eat at PF Changs for lunch (okay, okay, I decided - TX has left a love of chain food in me), and then we explored up and down the strip. We checked out the lions at MGM Grand, we got a 100 oz frozen drink to split between the 3 of us, we saw all the new casinos that have gone up on the strip in the last few years (Aria, Oriental Mandarin), and then headed back to the Venetian to check it out also.

We decided to go to Freemont St on Wed night, and um, well, a very blotto Yours Truly convinced the brothers that riding the zip line down the canopy was a brilliant idea. We toured around Freemont St for a bit before heading back to our hotel and crashing.

The next day I sent the brothers on their way early and slept in to get rid of my hangover. When we did meet back up, we did a bit more exploring before heading for a big greasy mexican lunch. Then I went back and crashed some more while they explored more, and finally we all met up at our casino for a few more table games.

We then caught an evening show of a Cirque Du Soleil - Ka - at MGM. It was incredible - I developed an inappropriate crush on one of the actors in it, and their sheer athleticism just blew all 3 of us out of the water. The set was this giant rotating enormous thing, and they had built these maze like canopy things out into the audience (think Avatar - the trees they lived in - they had a set built like that through the seating area).

That night for dinner, we went and bought a buffett pass - $40 all you can eat for 24 hours. Ugh - never again. But we did it - ate buffett for 3 meals in a row.

Friday we kept it more low key - we did head down and check out NY NY, Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay, but for the most part, we were less energetic. Saturday we said goodbye to MG and caught our flight back.

Sunday I started working out again - and it sucked. I went for a run, and that was okay, but just trying to get my head into it again, hurt. Monday I did my 30 day shred DVD, and then it was off for my first full week of work in about 5 weeks.

On Monday evening, I decided to chop off my hair and dye it blonde (a total change) - I needed something new and it seemed an appropriate time to do this. I like it okay now, but it was really hard to get used to - and it still throws me off sometimes. Afterwards, I met Blondie on at our bar, to say hi to our group since it had been awhile. Then on Tuesday, friends of ours from SF were in town for a few days - they had a flight to Paris and London, but took a couple of days in NY first. We met them for dinner and drinks, and then Blondie headed on home because he's been sick. I stayed out with them for pretty late - and it was so awesome when I started home, because it had started to snow in earnest - loved walking home in it!

Wednesday we took it easy, but then Thursday we met Sweetie J at our bar! She's in town with Dirty Sanchez to celebrate her birthday week. Yesterday was another low key day, but then today it was a long workout at the gym, followed by *finally* getting a pedicure - my toes look so much better now. Blondie was feeling slightly better so he met me for a late lunch after, and now I'm killing time until I head out to meet Sweetie J and Dirty Sanchez for dinner. How old am I if a 9:30 pm dinnertime is blowing my mind?

Tomorrow I have to pack, because yes that's right, it's time for my 2nd cross country trip this year (and it's only mid January). I'm off to San Francisco for a week of work again on Monday morning bright and early. I will also say goodbye to 2 of my best friends from work, both of whom turned in their notices in the last 2 weeks. So it will be good to see them, but sad to see them go.

Hope everyone is doing well!

--K

A bit of a disaster

Travelling at Christmas SUCKS. I'm not a Xmas fan anyway, I'd much rather stay around my home and celebrate solo with the one who is Blonde. Mash not liking Xmas with everybody and their brother travelling, and it makes me sick to my stomach.

This year was even worse - we started off by heading to Chicago, and had a disastrous flight there. They loaded us on our plane, and then made us sit for an hour at the gate before they backed us away and parked us on the tarmac for 2 hours, before we got in line for takeoff. Couple that with a mom travelling by herself with 2 kids under the age of 5 sitting directly in front of us, and it was a nightmare. The only saving grace was our flight attendant who didn't charge us for our vodka due to the family from hell.

We hung out with Slick and Pfunk for a day in Chicago and that was fun, and then rode to the Land of Cheese with Blondie's brother. We spent 5 days with his family, and had a good time - we got to meet the nephew (6 nieces, 1 nephew) and see all of Blondie's extended family. We went all over Blondie's hometown, ate some really good home-cooking, and drank a shit ton of food.

Okay, so time to come home - and everyone knows that the blizzard blew through NYC the day after Xmas. We were flying back the day after the blizzard in the evening, and while a lot of flights were cancelled, ours wasn't the morning we were scheduled to fly. So we caught a ride to Milwauke and took the Amtrak to Chicago to catch our flight back. We were just pulling into Union Station in Chicago when our flight cancelled. No worries we thought - let's see what the airlines can do. Blondie called up, and lo and behold, even though it was Monday we were supposed to be home, they couldn't get us back until Saturday.

We didn't agree to that so finally they booked us on a flight to Philly on Thursday, which left us 3 days of hanging out in Chicago. We got a hotel room the first night and relaxed, before heading over to Slick and Pfunk's for the rest of our trip. We got in some trivia and food and booze, and even got up the Sears Tower to see the glass walkways 103 stories in the air.

Finally it's time to go home - we got to OHare where we waited in the longest security line ever before finding out our flight was delayed 2 hours. I almost cried when we landed in Philly b/c that meant at least we were getting home that night - a 1.5 hour Amtrak ride later, we were back in good old New York City, and I've officially declared Xmas "Shittiest Holiday Ever".

We headed over to Jersey on Friday to hang out with our bartender and his family and friends for New Year's. We had a blast at that - we got over mid afternoon and started drinking, and it was just all about good friends and good times. We spent the night before catching a ride back into the city on Saturday. Since then, we've done nothing. I managed to get in a workout today, but have gained at least 10 lbs over the holidays. I'm about to start on my half-marathon training so I'm not worried about the gain, it's just frustrating that I had no control over it while I was gone.

Our week is another hectic week. I'm back for 2 days at work before we take off for Vegas. It will be a fun 4 days hanging out with Blondie's brother. When we are back from that, I don't have vacation again for a long time.

Hope everyone had a better Xmas than us - and stay tuned for pictures from our trip!

--K

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

From a very cold and snowy land of cheese, wishing you all a very merry christmas. And an invitation to join us in Jamaica next year instead.

Sending TCKITW and TCKITWv4.0 mucho hugs and kisses, and sending the rest of my family just hugs. Miss you guys!

--K

LOUIS!

This deserved it's own post. On Friday night, after our dinner and drinks out with my coworkers, I wanted to head out even more. Blondie talked me out of it, said he wanted to head home. I was a bit bitchy, b/c I really wanted to go out.

We walk into our apartment, and I realize that Blondie has dug out all of our stockings (one for me, him, and one each for our cats). And he had stopped to buy a little Xmas tree - and had put a few decorations on it. It was so beautiful.

On top of that, I had been eyeballing these Xmas Oreo cookies (Oreos with candy cane bits in the creme), and he had picked up a pack of those. So I'm standing there about half crying, really touched that he had done this, when he said "You haven't gotten all your presents", and pointed towards the little tree again.

I realized there is a bag hidden behind the little tree so I head over to it, and HOLY SHIT. Blondie bought me my LOUIS VUITTON bag!

I had been talking and talking and talking about getting myself a LV bag - it's been over a year now, but keep talking myself out of it - we are on a budget, and it's not cheap to live here. And I could not justify pulling the trigger and purchasing my bag.

He called my friend from work, and she tricked me into telling her the bags I was looking at (she said she was buying her mom one for Xmas, and couldn't figure out which one she liked most - and asked which ones I had liked b/c she knew I had done a lot of research). Then she went and met Blondie and the rest is history.

I've spent the weekend petting my purse, being paranoid about someone stealing my purse, and generally wanting to cuddle it. It gets tucked in a dustcover every night so that the cats don't get to it.

Um, I REALLY started bawling after I saw my bag. I LOVE MY HUSBAND.

--K

Jon Stewart, Paul Rudd and me

So on Wednesday this past week, me, Blondie and a couple of our friends had VIP tickets to a taping of The Daily Show. It felt like Monday and Tuesday took forever to get through, but FINALLY it was Wednesday. My friend and I were off early to head over - we met Blondie and her man at the show. We were early, and it was freezing cold, so we stopped in at a local bar for a drink before the start. We were all very giddy, and cracking jokes, and it was eagerly that we headed in for our show.

It was insane actually being in the studio where they film it. If you are anything like me, then everything thrills you. I was just grinning my head off, looking around the room, thinking "But I've seen this on the TV!" We were only seated for about 30 minutes before the warm-up comedian came out. He was actually really funny and got the audience riled up. And then he introduced...

JON STEWART!!!! We erupted when he first came out. Everyone was cheering and whooping it out. And he was RIGHT THERE. The studio is not that big, and we had awesome seats (go VIP tickets!). He did some Q&A with the audience, and then we launched into the show. They pretty much tape the show in real-time. They really only have a 3 hour turn around time from taping to airing, so it was really impressive to watch him nail everything. No retakes, no stuttering, no getting tripped up on his words...

Paul Rudd was also really awesome - he did this great riff on his kids, how he keeps his scotch and wine on the bottom shelfs of his kitchen, the cutlery in the middle, and the cereal on top so his kids can't get to that. After Paul Rudd, Jon did his hand off to Stephen Colbert, but before they did the taped version, they did some chatting between them - and it was the funniest thing ever.

We left floating on air and headed down to our bar to hang out for the evening. Our bartender bought us all a round of shots, and we spent the rest of the evening just reliving everything.

Friday I got news that I will be needing to go to SF every 4-6 weeks for the next 6 mos at least. I am excited about it, I miss California so this is nice for me. And it gives Blondie a few days at a time without someone being like "want to go get beers tonight?"

After my news, I headed with some of my coworkers out for the evening. We went shopping for a bit before calling our significant others to meet us for drinks and dinner. We had a great time just laughing and catching up with everyone. It was my core group at work, and it was like our unplanned Xmas celebration.

Yesterday I drug Blondie down to the gym - I went for a run, and Blondie did some elliptical. After our workout, we headed out for lunch. We went to a different bar this time - split some chicken bites, and I had some fish tacos while Blondie had a burger. A few beers, and the tiredness kicked in. We stopped at our drugstore before heading home and crashing out for the day.

Today I got up and did one of my P90X DVD's (I do them in whatever order I feel whenever I feel like) before we headed up to catch a morning show of the new Harry Potter. After our movie, we went out for a late lunch, before stopping at our bakery to buy a loaf of bread. We both came home and dozed for a bit before watching the Jets FINALLY win a game. Now it's time for the Packers - but without Aaron Rodgers. We are holding our breath, hoping for a miracle. BEAT THE PATRIOTS!

Tuesday starts my vacation - we are off to Chicago for a few days before hitting The Land of Cheese to hang with Blondie's family. I'm ready for vacation!

--K

A Good Week. No Snow.

The temperature is dropping here in NYC, which means that winter has officially hit. We've had 1 day of snow flurries, but for the most part, it's in the 20's in the morning (with windchill in the teens) and 30's in the evenings. The good thing about it being uber cold in the mornings is that about 4 minutes into my walk to the subway, I'm completely numb. And nothing hurts anymore. A little warmer, and I wouldn't be numb for any of my walk - and it would just be completely miserable.

So our week started out well - we hit up our bar to watch the Jets/Patriots game on Monday. And while the Jets basically rolled over and died, it was still fun getting to hang out with everyone. Our local crew was there, and our bartender was just so funny (die hard Jets fan, Irish, and a cusser - it's an awesome combination). We were up until about 1:30 am Tues morning, just laughing and having a good time.

Tuesday night, I went with some of my coworkers to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A coworker's mother is on the board, so we got into an exhibit pre-opening. It was open bar and appetizers, and we got to see the exhibit in private without a ton of other people there. It was amazing. The Met is a fantastic space - it's so beautiful and breathtaking. The room that our cocktail reception was in was filled with old greek statues, and the ceiling was entirely windows. Everyone was dressed very nicely, and again, I just got so tickled, that all I could think was "HOLY SHIT! I'm in the Met! In NYC! On a private exhibition showing! OMG. In case I forgot, I LIVE IN NYC!"

Wednesday and Thursday we took it easy. I've been working out hard-core again, but my eating-right mode at night isn't so good - I'm fine during the day, I get in an awesome workout each morning and eat healthy and properly during the day, but as soon as I get home at night (or on the walk home), I start getting out of my mind nuts about food. It's the season I know, and I've said to myself that as long as I keep working out and eating right during the day, I can go crazy at night.

The reason I said all that was that on Wed and Thurs, we ordered in some greasy yummy food each night. And just stayed in and watched TV. It was nice because it's been sooooo cold out!

Friday was my office holiday party - we had a potluck early afternoon, and then headed to the bar for an open bar and white elephant gift swap. I got a good gift - a box of Ghiradelli's and a giftcard to Starbucks. I'm quite happy. After the party ended, I felt like just hanging with Blondie, so I bowed out of the next bar, and stopped on the way home to buy garlic bread and meatballs. I got home that night and we split a bottle of wine and made a huge pot of spaghetti.

Yesterday I went down and ran, and was proud of myself because my speed is back to my old running speed. I was sick for about 9 days over Thanksgiving, and still am not quite over whatever it is, and my running speed had dropped about .2 - I'm normally a 5.5 mph, but it had gone down to 5.3 mph since I started running after the sick. Yesterday, I booked through at 5.7 and 5.5 mph, didn't drop any lower - and felt really really good with myself. It was hard, but I garnered up the willpower and stuck with it. It's the first step in feeling really healthy again.

After the run, I baked a cinnamon cake and we ate on that all day yesterday afternoon - it was a healthier cake in that only egg beaters were reqd to make it (and the cake mix). No extra oil or butter was called for.

Today I did yoga and got all stretchy again. We had our groceries delivered since it's a flood outside right now - the storm front that's dropping all the snow on the midwest is dropping all the rain on us (it's warmer today so it can't snow yet).

This week will be an awesome week - first on deck, VIP tickets to a taping of the Daily Show!!!! That's on Wednesday and I CAN'T WAIT! We also plan to visit our bar, and I have to do a night stint for work this week on Friday. Next week we are off to the midwest (and all that f'ing snow) for the holidays. We are going to stop in Chi-town and visit Slick, before heading up to the Land of Cheese to see Blondie's family.

--K

NYC in the winter

Our Thanksgiving weekend ended as follows: Friday = do absolutely nothing; Saturday = do absolutely nothing; Sunday = do absolutely nothing. It was *lovely*.

I did make it back to the gym - I forced myself down on Friday after Thanksgiving and felt great from the moment I set foot on the treadmill. I just did a walk on Friday, while carrying handweights, and then Saturday I started running again. It went really well - I was suprised simply because to this day, I'm still hacking stuff out of my lungs. But running doesn't seem to make things worse. Which is good because I'm about to start training for my half.

Okay, so last week was pretty low key. We didn't have much going on. I had a late Thursday night for work, but it was fine, because I took Friday off.

We woke up Friday and headed out around 10 am. We went to Rockefeller Center first to scope out the Xmas tree, and all the decorations they have out. It was beautiful. I don't like a real Xmas tree for the most part, I'm pretty much an artificial tree girl, but the Rock Center tree is just something you have to see. After checking out the tree, we braved the Best Buy madness to get Blondie a new router. And then it was back to Times Square for lunch - we had been craving Red Lobster, so we stopped in for some seafood (and biscuits) and beer (and biscuits).

After lunch we headed just a few blocks down to see the King Tut exhibit at the Discovery Exhibition Center. This was amazing. They had set up a museum in the space that discussed King Tut's lineage and life, and then they had a bunch of artifacts from King Tut's tomb. It was pretty crazy to see it all. The exhibit goes out at the end of January, but then at the beginning of March, they are bringing in a Pompeii exhibit - which I'm also uber excited about.

On Saturday we met up with Little Dragon and her hubby to see Billy Elliot on Broadway - a show that blew me out of the water. This wasn't one that was on my list, but I'm so glad we went anyway. The kid that played Billy Elliot was an amazing dancer, which again, leads me into "OH MY GOD, I wish I could dance!" It's pretty pathetic. After our show, we headed for several beers before Blondie and I caught the train to Brooklyn.

Sweetie J is in town for the week, and we went to meet up with her and some of her friends for dinner. It was a great night - full of good company and most excellent food.

Today we've stayed in. I've been working out hardcore again, and today I felt like I needed to stretch so I did my yoga DVD instead of a cardio based exercise. I feel great now - all loosey goosey and relaxed. The only problem is that I think I broke my nose somehow - I have no idea what I did, but my nose is KILLING me. It hurts to breathe, it hurts to have glasses on, everything that involves my nose is bad. It's not black and blue, and it's not swollen, but the bone itself has something seriously wrong with it.

Yay. Oh Yay. :) Okay, I'm off to finish off our Harry Potter marathon. This week is another monster work week, but at least on Friday we have our work Xmas party. I have a private museum exhibition I'm going to on Tuesday, and tomorrow we are off to our bar to watch the Jets/Patriots game.

--K

To the T-day Parade, and beyond!

San Francisco was a blast the second time around. And also, apparently whenever I decide to visit the city, the city decides to have the most beautiful weather ever in return. I told my friends that I have to be careful, because when people start talking to me about SF, they'll be like "oh, and the weather? Cold and foggy right?" And what I'll remember is sunny and high 70's with no clouds, and be like "COMPLETELY wrong".

So I landed on Sunday and headed to my hotel. My room wasn't ready so I did a quick wash-up in the lobby bathroom before heading out to enjoy the day. I took the train to my old hood, and got myself a sandwich from Say Cheese - the best sandwich shop around, and home to the best sandwich I've ever eaten in my life - the mozzarella, basil, tomato, prosciutto on ciabatta. OMG. Heaven on bread. I took the sandwich to the dog park and people/dog watched while chatting with my mom. After my sandwich, I headed into my old bar for a few while watching football. All too soon it was off to Pac Heights to meet up with Ma Peng for brunch (haha - 2 meals!) I got to meet her bambino and it was soooo good seeing her.

After our brunch, I headed over to North Beach to catch up with Sweetie J - we headed off to a bar with a patio and had several frosties before doing some shopping in Union Square. Then the 2 of us met up with KT for some vietnamese food before KT and I headed to a bar to spend the evening. I was back to my hotel around 11 pm (2 am ET) completely exhausted, but completely happy.

Monday I was off to the gym for a workout - the gym in my hotel was pretty nice, but very hot - it was like working out in a sauna. I headed off to work to enjoy my day (no meetings), and got to get coffee with several people along with lunch with a coworker. The night was going to be my off night but the delightful S&HK called and I got to meet up with them instead. It was a really good night - I hadn't got to see them last time I was in town, and in the meantime, they've gotten engaged, so it was good hearing wedding plans, and seeing them in general.

Tuesday it was back to the gym and then back to work. I did have meetings on Tuesday so it was a little more hectic than Monday but it was also over before it started. I had drinks with my tech lead on Tuesday before heading back to North Beach for tacos and Glee at Sweetie J's house.

Side note: Is Glee not the best show on TV? If not the best show ever? I love how they are handling the bullying situation, and Kurt's character in general. Everytime I see this show (along with anything on Broadway), my heart hurts that I can't sing or dance. Or act.

Okay, so many beers at Sweetie J's leads to waking up Wednesday with a sore throat and stuffy nose. I decided that sweating it out would be appropriate so headed to the gym. It was not a good decision. I sweated nothing out, but sent my heart rate soaring, and felt like ass afterwards. Work was about the same as Tuesday in terms of meetings.

On Wednesday night, I was supposed to go for dinner with my project team. I went for drinks with one of my BFF's from work first, and then when it was time to leave, couldn't find a cab anywhere (typical of downtown SF). I ended up meeting with another tech lead and contractor instead for many drinks late into the evening. I skipped dinner b/c I was full from lunch *and* still feeling like ass.

Thurs morning, I woke up in misery. This cold/sinus/flu/whatever had settled in deeply and I was hacking my lungs out and sneezing. My nose was raw, and my throat was on fire. I felt better after I had a shower, but knew the day was going to be a bad one. I got through work without infecting anyone, and then I tried to go to a coworkers going-away party. I lasted one drink before calling it a night and heading over to meet Shelbs and Bbbb for some sushi. I had a few beers with them before they took me to the airport.

The overnight flight is generally my favorite one to take back to the east coast - but it turned out awful this time. Everything went on time, and the people around me where quiet, but I felt so bad/sick that it turned out feeling like a 40 hour flight. I got back to the apartment on Friday, said hello to Blondie, took both cats into the bedroom and konked out hard.

And good for me, got Blondie sick in the meantime. Saturday and Sunday were spent miserable - both of us have this crud and just wasn't good. Monday I still felt like shit but had so much stuff to catch up on with my projects and being in SF that I headed into work anyway. Tuesday I did feel a little better so that was okay.

And Wednesday was a half-day. We are both sort of on the mend, so on Wednesday, we decided to catch the matinee showing of "Lombardi" on Broadway. This stars the dad from Wonder Years as Vince, and Angela from Who's the Boss as Marie (Vince's wife). It was a theater in the round, and we were right at the stage - the play was funny and moving, and all about football. The employees at the theater rocked (when I was getting a beer at the concession stand, and mentioned someting about having to have a beer while watching football, I got whole-heartedly agreed with by the person selling me my beer).

After the play, we headed up to the UWS. We stopped in at a wood-fired pizza place and split a bottle of wine and a pizza and salad, before heading over to join the ginormous line of people watching the balloons get inflated for the Macys T-Day parade. That was an incredible experience. I know the balloons are big, totally know that, but to actually see it in person - it really put it in context just quite how big they are. Some of the balloons were easy to tell what they were (Shrek), some I had no idea (Diary of a Wimpy Kid). After the balloon inflating, we headed back to our bar and caught up with everyone for the evening.

Thursday was spent with our bartender and his family - we headed up to the parade, and used our bartender's connections to get awesome spots along the route. It was so amazing, I watched in awe while thinking "OMG, we *live* here". We saw Kanye West, and someone in our section started chanting "Taylor Swift" which the whole section picked up on. And made me laugh my ass off. We saw Jessica Simpson, Mrs Pooh's favorite person in the world. We saw Jimmy Fallon, who even on his float was laughing hysterically (which makes me wonder that maybe he wasn't goofing around on SNL on purpose, maybe he just is in a perpetually good mood). We saw all the balloons we had watched getting inflated. And we saw Santa.

After the parade, we left our friends and headed to the bar, where we had a few drinks before heading home and crashing out. I ate all day long and now feel like a giant blimp - especially because I haven't been well enough to work out for the past week. I seriously feel like I've gained 10 lbs in the past week. I'm trying to talk myself into a workout today, but woke up again hacking and sneezing.

Our plans for the weekend include nothing today - maybe heading to our bar but that's it - it's cold and raining outside. We do want to see the new Harry Potter this weekend (well, Blondie wants to see it anyway), and maybe Elf (the musical on Broadway). No shopping for either of us, b/c that's insane this weekend.

Hope everyone had a great turkey day. And a happy birthday to the Sheriff, my mom, and BFF in the world TT.

--K

I've been busy....

No excuses for lack of posting, just been busy. And when I get home at night, the last thing I want to think about is updating the blog. BUT, I'm here now (yay for you! :) and I'm ready to fill everyone in on the last 2 weeks.

First on deck, the Jets game! WE HAD A BLAST! We took the trains out to the new stadium, and had pretty easy time getting over to Jersey beforehand. The new stadium is butt-ass ugly on the outside. Our train was pulling up and Blondie was like "um, that's awful". I'll be posting pics on the NY blog later on today so be on the lookout for a prime example of "WTF architecture".

We got to the stadium about 3 hours before game time and met up with our bartender and group of friends from the bar for some tailgating fun. It was one of the best times we've had since moving to the city. There was so much food and booze, it was mind boggling. And everyone was so friendly - I knew about 80% of the people from the bar, but the other 20% made me feel like I had known them for years as opposed to hours.

The game itself was kind of a blow - our tickets rocked, we were 10 rows off the end zone and felt like we were in the game itself b/c of how close we were. The game sucked though - there wasn't a single touchdown scored, and it ended with Packers 9, Jets 0. Just boring. And then the train ride back was horrid. Blondie cut us in line for the train which was a good thing, because even cutting in line it took us 2 hours to get home (the stadium is literally right across the Hudson from NYC). If we hadn't cut, we would've been there another hour at least.

Okay, so that was Halloween. My birthday was 2 days later - and true to form, we got trashy trashed. My friends from work took me out for Indian for lunch (soooo good), and then Blondie met me early for margaritas and chorizo, before we hit up our bar for plenty of beers and shots. The day after that, my friend Little Dragon met me and Blondie for some more mexican food (WOOT) and margaritas to complete the celebration.

Then on Thursday of that week, I got a chance to reconnect with an old boss of mine in the city. She had been my VP at my SF job for almost the entire time I was there - she had taken a years LOA to travel the world with her boyfriend (OMG - how fabulous?), but is now back. She has taken a lesser position which made it a lot more comfortable to get drinks with her. I didn't have to worry about what I was saying, or temper my conversation in anyway. Which can be really hard for me to do - especially if I get some drinks in me.

Last weekend was spent recuperating. My body is tired. We ended up spending most of the weekend at home, watching the NYC marathon on TV. It inspired us to go for long runs as we tried to feel better that 45000 people were running 26.2 miles while we watched them from the comfort of our home.

The weekend was needed last weekend, because this week my project kicked in. A group from the SF office arrived in the NYC offices to officially kick everything off. A work week has never gone so fast for me as it did this past week. From meetings all day every day, to getting everything planned and coordinated... It was a whirlwind week that felt like it was Friday before I even got through Monday.

On top of the actual work, I had a busy week too - my good friend from the SF office was part of the group out, so we took Tuesday evening and went to see "The Addams Family" on Broadway - it starred Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth and we were dead center of the venue, 4 rows back from stage. It. Was. Amazing. It was a comedy and a musical, and I've never laughed so hard at a play in my life. At one point, Grandma said to Pugsley "What's up stud?" and I about gave myself an asthma attack from laughing. You had to be there - the wigs and clothes that they put on the Pugsley character made him look like a weasel, not a stud. So when Grandma said that... OMG. And the set was killer also - the money they must put into these sets, I can't even fathom. If you are in the area, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this play. Also, holy shit, Bebe Neuwirth? Looked fantastic. She was gorgeous and sexy and flawless. She's in her 50's, but looked like her 30's (I looked her age up afterwards because I couldn't even guess).

Okay, Wednesday this past week, I had set up a huge drinks event at one of the local bars. Everyone from the SF office came out that was in town, and the NYC office joined up too to celebrate the start of the project. My second goal for the night was to get everyone comfortable with each other as we are going to be relying on each other *heavily* to get this project done. And I think it worked. People got to chat and find out about each other from a personal perspective, which will help when it comes time to figure out how to work with teams in India, SF, and NYC. That was a late night that ended with 2 of my girlfriends from work and me as the last ones there, drinking and laughing the night away.

Then came Thursday - when we went with my friend Little Dragon and her husband and friends to MSG to see the Rangers vs the Sabres. Little Dragon's social circle is so much fun, and I hope we get added to it permanently. It was a good night, and the Rangers WON! Making it our first time watching a NYC team play where they actually won!!!! (We've seen 2 Rangers game, 1 Knicks game, 1 Jets game, 2 Yankees games, and 1 Mets game - all except for the 1 Rangers game have lost).

Last night was a trip back to our bar for dinner and drinks, before coming home and crashing out in front of the TV. I had stopped on the way home from work and bought a loaf of pumpkin bread from our local pie shop, and we ended up eating the entire thing last night. I'm supposed to go for a long run today but might give my body a break. I have a long ass flight tomorrow to head back to SF for work for my project. I'm pretty sure this is going to be standard for me now - 3-4 weeks in NYC office, a week in SF office going forward. Which actually for me is the best of both worlds.

Today will be spent packing up, getting everything ready before my alarm goes off at 4 am tomorrow. I have plans for all day Sunday, Tues night, Wed night, and Thurs night before I have to catch a red-eye back on Thurs next week. I'm hoping Monday night stays free so that I can order some room service, and watch TV to my hearts content.

--K

Excited for a Sunday??? How is this possible?

So, my week was quite low-key. After our trip to Pennsylvania last weekend, my body was screaming for a break. I managed to get in a workout each day which is good - I wanted so bad to take a day off after my 13K but there was no need really - I wasn't sore by any means, so it would've just been because I was lazy.

I've convinced Mr and Mrs Pooh to come up to NYC next year and visit for a few days before taking off with me and Blondie to PA to run a half-marathon. So I now have that for my goal - a half marathon next May. I'm excited to see the Poohs, and really excited to train for this properly. My 13K felt really good and it was because I kept my training/working out on a proper course. If I can get the half marathon down, I will attempt to do a full marathon next year just so I can finally stop talking about doing one.

In non-running news, on Wednesday, we hit up our bar to watch the first game of the World Series. Since the last 2 cities we lived in prior to NYC are in the World Series, it makes it interesting to watch. I'm totally rooting for SF, whereas Blondie is rooting for SF but only because of the way the games are played - he's rooting home team each time.

What's interesting about NYC, is that even though the World Series was on, nobody in the bar but me and Blondie were paying attention to it. Since there are no NY teams in it, nobody here gives a shit about it. I wonder if it would be the same way with the Superbowl (but since it's going to be a Jets/Giants Superbowl this year, we won't find out).

On Thursday I found out I have to go back to San Francisco again - in 2 weeks, I'll be flying back out for work. I love San Francisco, and have missed San Francisco - so this is good for me. I'm excited for it. After the San Francisco trip, my project will be fully kicked off which also brings a bit of goosebumps to my arms. I'm nervous and excited all at once.

Last night we hit up our bar again and just drank and chatted the night away. Blondie and I, are going to meet our bartender and his friends tomorrow to tailgate before we go watch PACKERS AND JETS in the new Jets stadium!!!! We have tickets 10 rows off the endzone, so please watch for us if you get the game in your area. It turns out that our bartender is a huge Jets fan, and he also loves us, so we're in like Flynn with his crew for tailgating. They've got us so excited for everything - I.Can't.Wait!

--K

From San Francisco, CA, to Northern, PA

Let's play some catch...up...

San Francisco was a blast - I had such a good time it seriously made me wonder why we had left in the first place. I flew in on Sunday morning, and left the airport to the most beautiful weather I'd ever seen in SF. It was a gorgeous day - breathtaking blue skies, no clouds or fogs, and temps in the low 80's. I went to my hotel, checked in, and then proceeded straight to a lunch of tacos and margaritas. I was joined by my friend Sweetie J, and then we headed over to one of her friend's house. This friend was having a huge house party (their house had a monster rooftop deck with views of the GG Bridge, Alcatraz, and the bay) that we joined in on - it was one of the 5 best parties I've been to in my life. We got some killer views of the BLUE ANGELS as they did their air show and I met a ton of new interesting people.

After my party with Sweetie J, a trip out to my old hood to visit my friend KT - we went for vietnamese food and then several drinks at a bar. We got to catch up on a lot and just enjoyed hanging out again for the first time in 10 months.

Monday, I got up and went to the gym in my hotel before heading back to my old stomping grounds for work. I won't lie, I was uber nervous on the walk over - I hadn't seen everyone in so long and while I was very excited for the social aspects of the trip, the work phase was throwing me for a loop. My fears were quickly overcome as Monday turned into a completely social day - I got to see so many people, it was non-stop someone coming up to me to say Hi and hear about what had been going on over the last few months. Monday evening, I met up with KT, Sweetie J and Dirty Sanchez for dinner and drinks - again a beautiful day, and ending it with food and beverage with some of my favorite people - it can't be beat!

Tuesday, I went for a run along the Embarcadero to enjoy the SF weather. Then it was off to work as we started meetings for my project. The morning meeting went horribly, and it kind of tainted the rest of the day. I made some hard decisions that afternoon about how I wanted things to go the rest of the week, and that helped some. Then margaritas and tacos with Miss Fenny and one of the sisters C helped the rest of the way.

Wednesday, I went for a LONG run along the Embarcadero - I needed to clear my head before our second round of meetings and the new process I wanted to follow. This totally helped, and it was with a lucid mind that I tackled Wednesday. Everything went much better and before I knew it, it was time for the party we had planned with everyone from the SF office. Such a good time! So many people came out, way more than we had expected. I think the bar was overwhelmed with how many people we had, but eh, you're a bar - deal with it!

Thursday, it was back to the gym before starting our last day of meetings. I was pretty tired at this point (I was up most days at 5 am due to the time change), and missing Blondie and the cats, so the day felt more rough than any other day. I got out early though and went with CChu for a drink before meeting back up with some work folks for drinks also. After my drinks, it was time to see Shelbs and Bbbb on the west coast! We hit up a mexican restaurant, and had a blast, before they drove me to the airport to catch my flight back.

Friday, was a good day also - I had the red-eye and when I got to the house Friday morning, Blondie and I decided to just keep going. We went for breakfast before heading up to see "The Social Network" (50000 thumbs up - go see it!). Afterwards, we did our grocery shop before heading to our bar for early dinner and drinks.

Then on Sunday we did a nice long run along Riverside Park - it was the first time we've really gone far on the park, and it was so nice - I'm glad we live close to it.

Last week was another party week - my friend from work had a birthday so Monday and Wednesday were spent celebrating with her. We did girls' nights both nights and had a blast! On Friday, I met Blondie at our bar where we watched the Yankees lose (tee hee!). We also made plans to meet up with our bartender this weekend for the Jets/Packers game we both have tickets too! We will be tailgating with him and his crew for the game.

On Saturday we got up uber early to catch a train to nothern PA - we hung out with our friends and their kids all day Saturday (um, BTW, flag football for 5 year olds? Funniest thing I've seen in a long time), and then on Sunday it was TIME TO RACE! My friend and I did our 13K (8.06 mile race) that we have been training for - I did around 1 hour, 33 mins, which for me is awesome good - 11.33 min miles. I'm not a fast runner, but I'm a determined runner, so that makes up for it. I felt so good afterwards (no leg pain, no achy knees, no blisters) that we talked Mr and Mrs Pooh into running a half with us next year.

Today it was back to work, woot. Plans this week include nothing. Nothing at all. And I'm very excited about it!

--K