Fast week. Really fast week

I came off what felt like one of the fastest weeks of my life. I had to work late every night, but the week literally felt like it was over before it started. It was good in that anything that makes work feel like it goes faster is aok, but it was not good in that I felt like we barely got through 1/100th of what we needed to get through for this project.

In addition to it being super fast, 2 of my friends from work quit. 1 friend gave her notice and was gone 2 days later, and 1 will be done tomorrow. Just a really "not normal" work week last week.

Last Sunday, I took a rest day from working out finally, and just went and got myself a bright red pedicure. I like it, but it's very candy-colored and I don't think I will pick that color again. After the pedicure, I had to work some which wasn't the best way to end a weekend.

And I really honestly did work until about 8 - 8:30 pm every night this past week, except for Friday. And that was because on Friday, a bunch of us went out for a goodbye lunch and drinks for my friend who quit. That was nice, except I had the sleeps and when I put a few beers on top of that, it was literally all I could do to get myself home afterwards. I got home, stumbled into the bedroom and take a very deep 2 hour nap. I woke up feeling groggy and exhausted, but less exhausted than before the nap. Then I made the mistake of checking work emails - we had found a huge issue on Friday morning, but we also thought we found the fix. Unfortunately, the "fix" made it all 100x worse. Friday night was spent on a conf call rounding up people to take a look at the issue.

Saturday I got up and did my final day of Insanity, before heading into the office. I work from about 12 to 2:30, and then called Blondie. We couldn't decide on lunch, so we did a split lunch. He met me up by the subway stop and we headed for a slice of pizza (from a pizza place we had heard about but not tried). It was pretty good - Blondie loved it b/c the crust was cooked all the way, I could've used a little more doughy crust, but all in all, a really good slice.

Then after the pizza, we headed back towards our hood and ended up at a new mexican joint. We had a light snack and margaritas (for me) and bloodies (for Blondie). We sat outside in the shade and just people watched for awhile, before heading back to get our grocery shopping done.

Saturday night was spent calling everyone who needed to work on Sunday and getting them caught up to speed on the issues we were seeing, but then Blondie and I crashed out watching some movies. It was nice b/c I felt like we were on the go all day, so staying in on Saturday felt like a treat.

Yesterday I went for a run on the treadmill and did much better than I did 2 weeks ago - my left leg still feels funny in my new shoes, it just feels really tight and achy when I run. I'm hoping I can get these suckers broken in before too long. After my run, I caught a cab over to my office where 1 of the developers was also in for the day. I worked for about 3 hours before heading out to meet Blondie and the Dragon for drinks and lunch. A couple of hours, a couple of shots, many beers later, I had to go home and just collapse.

Today I'm off to jury duty - it couldn't have come at a worse time. I feel like I need to be at the office to get all these issues dealt with, and instead, I have to now head somewhere I have no desire to be. Yay.

So I just finished off my Insanity program. I think I'm going to go another round, but with 2 days a week running, and 1 day a week just off - so it would be 4 days of Insanity a week instead of 6. I still have to decide how I want to handle. I do really love the program though, and if I could just get my eating under control, I can totally see how my body would change.

Have a great week everyone!

--K

Hot Times in the City

Last Sunday, I ended up going on a 3.1 mile run on the treadmills. It was okay - I was really slow as I'm still trying to break my new running shoes in. I was mostly just so glad to have it over - never felt like I got into a groove.

Afterwards, I did some work for a bit, but then Blondie and I finally got off our asses and head up towards Central Park. We stopped to get sandwiches and snacks, and then headed into the park and crashed out in the shade. After we refueled and rested, we tooled around in the park for awhile - we hit up the boat pond and saw the Alice in Wonderland statue (very cool). Afterwards, we just headed back home and crashed for the rest of the day.

The work week went so fast - we're coming into crunch for my project and I had to work late every night. I literally would feel like I went into work each morning, and then it would be 4:49 pm and I still would have 3 hours of work left (with no idea of how it got to be to 4:49 pm already).

On Tuesday, Blondie and I went out to our bar for dinner and drinks. Our bartender is back from his vacation, so it was really good getting caught up with him. We hung out for a bit, watched the Yankees (lose), and enjoyed our evening.

The heat started rolling in on Wednesday. The thing about living in the city is that when it gets really hot, it feels even hotter because the buildings trap the heat in. And it's been awful humidity with no wind whatsoever. I can't walk 3 feet out the front door of my building without breaking a sweat.

We headed back to the bar on Thurs also, just a for an hour this time. It was so hot we didn't know what to do with ourselves. Being outside was like being in a sauna.

And then Friday, oh Friday - the temps hit 103 degrees before the heat index. I got out of work around 3 pm, and met Blondie for some beers at another bar of ours. We moaned about the heat for awhile, all the time drinking shots with our waiter. We finally worked up the energy to go do some grocery shopping, and then headed home to relax (i.e. plant ourselves directly in front of the a/c).

Yesterday I had to work in the morning, but then Blondie and I headed out to the East Village to meet some friends for brunch and unlimited bloodies. After our brunch, we headed back home so I could work again. Around 6 pm, we went up to the Upper West Side to meet the same group of friends for Harry Potter - we hit up an IMAX 3D theater and Blondie loved it. I'm not into Harry Potter at all, so it was just kind of blah for me.

After our movie, we headed out for Turkish food with everyone before calling it an evening. The food was rock star good, and the beers and company just made it that much better.

Today I don't know what I'm going to do - I've been working out daily for about 5 weeks now, and I need a break. But I hate to give up my running day. So I have to decide on this. I also need a pedicure, and I have to work again today.

This was week 8 of Insanity - 1 more week to go! I really do love this program. I sweat so much I can ring out my t-shirt daily in addition to my jog bra (that's a lot of sweat). I feel so good when I'm done daily with the program - that's what motivates me to get up and do it every morning. I'm definitely going through this program again when I'm done - but maybe with a break a day or so to run. I don't want to lose my running ability, which for me, can happen super fast.

--K

Another boring week

This past week involved a lot of OT for me - but it's been worth it. We finally are able to do full-out testing for my project, and seeing things getting signed off is turning out to be a whole lot of fun.

Outside of work, on Tues, Blondie was on my side of town, so he met me for lunch. We did Outback, which tasted awesome. When we left TX, we swore we wouldn't eat at chain restaurants again. But then, when we were places where there were no chain restaurants, that's all we wanted. So Outback it was. OMG - their bread? Deliciousness.

I also got out of work early (my only day) on Tuesday, so Blondie and I got to enjoy hanging out some - we hit up our bar for some drinks, before heading out to dinner on a date. We went to our Peruvian chicken place - Pio Pio - and I enjoyed a glass of sangria and some fish and rice (yes, I ordered seafood in our chicken place) and Blondie had a tamale and the chicken. Afterwards, I tried my hardest to convince Blondie that Dunkin Donuts was a valid choice for desert, but he wasn't buying it.

Friday was my official early day, but still ended up working up until 3 pm. And Monday, Wed, Thurs were all definitely OT days.

Yesterday I got up way early, work stress again has jacked my sleeping schedule. I had to work on and off throughout the day, so we stayed in all day. We ended up watching movies last night, and I finished off the bottle of scotch. So now we have to go out today to get another one. I also want to head up to Central Park today - there is a statue I've been wanting to see (Alice in Wonderland), so I think we are going to try and go do that. But first, some more work awaits me.

This was week 7 of Insanity, and it still hurts so bad sometimes I think I'm going to puke a lung up. I hurt my neck on Wednesday b/c of pushups, but I'm so much stronger now, that it mostly is achey, and not putting me flat on my back for a few days. So that was nice. Not the hurting the neck part, but the recovering super fast part. Today I might go for a run, or I might take another nap before we head out. I'm exhausted all the time right now, and can't figure it out. Maybe it's the heat as we are coming into the "sweltering" part of summer in NYC.

--K

Attack of the mosquitos

The 4th turned out to be pretty awesome. I made the decision to start Insanity month 2, instead of doing month 1 again. So last Monday morning, I did my first day of month 2. And about threw up. I was literally so soaked with sweat, that when I was holding myself in plank, not only was sweat running off my face, it was also dripping off my t-shirt where it had pulled away from my body.

After Insanity, I decided I could drink a beer (at 10:30 am). It was the most relaxing thing I've done. Blondie got his workout in, and then we decided to take off to our bar for lunch and beers. I think our waiter was bored, because between him and the bartender, they decided they didn't want us to leave. We had a lot of rounds bought for us, including shots. And naturally, we had to buy them a shot too.

We finally got out of the bar (4 hours after we showed up) and headed him to pass out for awhile. A 3 hour nap later and I felt pretty good and it was time to watch the show. We headed out onto our patio, split some margaritas, and had the best view of the fireworks. They truly are amazing. I got the chills from watching them, and then told Blondie "New York is the best city in the world!"

The important thing to note is that while we were watching the fireworks on the patio we left our patio door cracked slightly.

So Tuesday morning I woke up and had 2 mosquito bites down the back of my arm. I react very weirdly to mosquito bites and knew I was headed for an arm that looked like I had gotten beaten up (for a radius of 3 times the size of the bite, the skin puffs up bright red, and then it goes to a dark bruise). But the worst was on Tuesday night, I was sleeping and something woke me up. As I was lying there trying to figure it out, I realized that everytime I blinked I could feel my eyes getting puffy. So I ran into the bathroom, and my left eye looked like I'd been punched and my right cheek was swelling up monstrously big. I ran back into the bedroom and shook Blondie awake and just kept saying "something's wrong with my face!!!!" (hahahahah - too true). Blondie went with me back to the mirror and he was finally able to find the bites - all down the side of my face. It was also when I realized my arms had been attacked and my thighs had been attacked too. I have about 20 mosquito bites right now that are slowly going away. We've killed 3 mosquitos in the house since Tuesday and I'm hoping that we finally got them all. And my face has finally started to go back to normal.

The work week itself was some suckage. The A/C went out at work on Tuesday but we all still had to stay in the office. It was back on for Wednesday at least. And my program finally got ourselves a "real" testing environment - we're trying to work out the kinks in it so that we can finally start using it. Yay - only 6 months late (seriously).

Friday I got off earlier and I went and met Blondie for some BBQ at JT's restaurant. Afterwards, we headed up towards Central Park before stopping at a bar and sitting in the front windows and people watching the day away. Yesterday we did NOTHING. I've been exhausted - Insanity month 2 is killing me, and I have a sleep pattern that is easily disturbed for any reason and work stress this week has done it in for me.

So this was week 1 of month 2 of Insanity. And it's fucking ridiculous. Pardon the language, but no other adjective can possibly be put in front of "ridiculous" to describe this program. I can tell you this though - I'm doing guy push-ups for the first time in my life. And they are okay to do. And my batwings (underarm flab) has decreased like crazy.

Today I might go run, or I might give myself a rest day. My body is tired. But I like keeping 1 day a week for running. I'll decide sometime, or I won't, and the day will be over and my decision will be made by default.

Hope everyone is doing well.

--K

Long Weekends

I love a long weekend. I get Sunday dread real bad, and I HATE it. So it's super nice to have a weekend where there is no Sunday dread whatsoever.

This past week will be classified as "ok". It's better than the week before which was classified as "shitty". My project finally went live, and in a completely ironic moment, I realized I didn't care. Not "I don't care" meaning I give up, but "I don't care" meaning I've seen this project every day since February (when we went complete on it) and now finally others can see it but I'm kind of over it. Blah. Who wouldn't love to be working with me??? ;)

On Wednesday Blondie came to my work-side of the island for lunch. We first went and got new running shoes, and then headed out for some food. It was fun having lunch with Blondie and it made my day go really fast too. And I desperately needed new shoes. I've been in the same ones for about 4 years now and they are completely broken down. He got to meet one of my cool coworkers for the first time, and Blondie really liked him so it was an all-around good day.

Thursday was another "ok" day - nothing great, nothing bad. Blondie and I decided to do dinner so we met for Argentinean food, where I chugged a carafe of sangria by myself. So very wrong but so very tasty.

And Friday officially started summer Fridays. I now get to leave at 1 pm every Friday, not making up the 4 hours I miss. YAY YAY YAY. It's a sigh of relief.

Our weekend has been pretty good also. I did a good workout on Saturday before deciding I was craving buffalo chicken dip too much to function properly - a quick trip to the grocery store fixed that. I ended up napping throughout the day on Saturday, and we watched some movies that night.

Yesterday, it was pouring rain, so I took my new shoes down to the treadmill and did a 3.1 mile run in them - I won't lie - it didn't feel good. My left leg, from my lower back down to my ankle, felt really funny, and I rubbed my right pinky toe a little bit. I know I have to break these things in, but OMG, I hate the process of doing that. I went a little slower on the treadmill due to these issues, but still came through in a pretty good time (34:15).

Then yesterday afternoon, Blondie and I walked up and saw "Avenue Q", an off-Broadway play that's actually kind of filthy. I've not laughed so hard in my life at a play as I did yesterday. They had songs ranging from "Internet is for porn" (sample line - "So grab your dick and double click") to "We're all just a little bit racist" (sample line - not about to be posted on this blog). At one point, Blondie was laughing so hard I thought he was going to pee himself. To make it even better, their bar had super cheap ass drinks, and they had bar service that took your order and brought you your drink to your seat. And the space was incredible. It was built underground, and it was very industrial looking.

After our play, we headed out for some cajun food and Abita beers, before trucking back to our apartment. We stopped on the way to buy some beer for tonight, and plan to take it easy today (still crappy outside) before watching the fireworks from our balcony. I'm not sure what they do about fireworks if the weather is very cloudy/overcast, but will find out tonight!

So I just finished week 5 of Insanity (a recovery week, that still left me pouring sweat everyday). I now need to figure out what to do next - do I head into month 2, or do I run month 1 again? I like my schedule so far, which is 6 days of Insanity with 1 day of running, but just need to figure out where I need to land with Insanity.

Happy 4th of July everyone, and enjoy your 3 day weekend!

--K

Random-osity

A few random things first -
1) Insanity is making me hungrier than I've been in my life. I don't know if it's because I'm burning more calories than I realize, or if it's because the hardest I've ever worked out, but I'm ravenous all day, every day. The other day I had a bowl of cereal, a mango, a huge sandwich, a peach, a nectarine, a small bagel with almond butter, and a piece of steak with black bean and corn salad, and I still went to bed ravenous. It's crazy. I'm scared to step on the scale right now, because all I do is eat.

2) Insanity is also making me more aware of my posture than I've ever been also. I'm a slump shouldered person, and I know that. I also know that if I stand up straight, I look about 5 lbs thinner. But I don't stand up straight. However, after Insanity, I'm so conscious of constantly squeezing my abs, that it automatically brings my spine upright. It's pretty cool.

3) Insanity is NOT making me give up the booze. If anything, everytime I think about what Insanity disc I have to do the next day, I immediately want a beer to wash out my brain.

So I had a crappy week - shocker, no? It was release week for us, and it was scheduled to be my first huge project go-live all.by.myself. since I started this role - last year I launched a bunch of stuff, but it was also in conjunction with others. My first big project last year got cancelled (nothing we could've done differently) and then I got put onto the program I'm on now - and we were supposed to go out this week for the first piece. We launched all right, and then rolled right back. Luckily, again, not my program that screwed it up. But I still feel beaten down right now. I feel worthless at this role, and it SUCKS.

For more suck-age, I also got assigned to the dual role - so now in addition to feeling like shit about how I do my current role, I have to learn a brand new role that I can suck at also. It was a great week for the 5 million pity parties I threw myself.

Wednesday I was in such a head state, that my friends from work took me out and threw some scotch down my throat - it helped some, but as soon as it wore off, I was right back to where I was.

Thursday I tried to pump myself up some, and I went out with a group of women that I adore but don't hang out with outside of work - they had stopped by last minute to see if I wanted to do margaritas, and I'm glad I went. I had a blast, and we've even set up a double date in the next couple of weeks so the hubsters can meet.

And then on Friday - oh.em.gee. So my projects didn't go live this week (they were specific to my old division) but the division I currently work for had projects go live this week (not my projects - they aren't slated until next launch - see how this works?) So my BFFs from work and I decided to have a minor party after our work let out for the day. Scotch and champagne? Winning combination! Then I headed home to where the Blonde One was waiting with beers on our patio. A few beers in, and we decided hitting up our bar was the best plan ever. There we proceeded to pour 5 million beers down our throat, before heading off with our friend from the bar (at MIDNIGHT) for fajitas and margaritas.

Yesterday was HORRID. I didn't get sick, but I felt nauseous all day long. Finally we ordered food at 3 pm, and then at like 7:30 pm last night, I mustered up the energy to work out. The workout helped in finally getting rid of my headache, and then we crashed out watching Empire Strikes Back. We're in the middle (end) of a Star Wars watching fest - and have now got 5 of the 6 under our belts, so today will be Return of the Jedi at some point.

I've got to get down and go for a run at some point today. I'm debating whether to go outside, but might just stick to the treadmill. And true to form, I'm starving. So maybe after my run, I'll convince Blondie to make me bacon and eggs.

This week was week 4 of Insanity. I'm now supposed to be going into a low-key week before starting up month 2. I'm thinking though about doing month 1 again as I could definitely use some more time before doing even harder program for month 2.

Looking forward to a short week this week and next. YAY for holiday pay!

--K

Starvin' Marvin

Blondie got back from the Land of Cheese this past Tuesday and it was good getting to see him. He had a great time visiting his family, but we're happy to have him back in good old NYC.

On Wednesday, I went with my BFF from work for drinks on the UES. We found a patio, which conveniently had 2-for-1 sangrias, and got pleasantly buzzed. I also got the shit bitten out of my feet - I'm not sure what it was, but I'm guessing ants. My feet are tore up (still).

On Thursday, the delightful S&H came to visit us for the day! They flew in from CA for the weekend - Blondie got to spend most of the day with them, before they headed out for a work happy hour. I got home that night and headed to the bar with Blondie, and about 3 hours later, S&H showed up! We spent a couple of hours just hanging out, chatting and drinking, and it was fabulous.

Friday I did lunch with a couple of my coworkers, which is always nice because it splits up my day and doesn't make it seem nearly as long.

Yesterday we just lazed around - no energy to do anything. I took a long nap mid-afternoon and still felt drugged when I woke up. Today I did my work out, and we're waiting for food to be delivered. We'll be meeting back up with S&H this afternoon for dinner, and I'm looking forward to that.

This was week 3 for Insanity, and it's still the toughest thing I've done. I also went for a 3.1 mile run on the treadmill today, which was good - it felt like the first satisfying run I've had in about 3 weeks.

Not much else has been going on. Happy Father's Day to the Sheriff!

--K

My Ideal Day

Blondie took off on Tuesday, and is now in the Land of Cheese. It sounds like he is having a blast hanging with his family, but I am glad I chose to stay in NYC this week. They did a huge camping trip, and camping is so far from my favorite thing to do. I know Blondie had a much better time than he would've if I had tagged along as he didn't have to worry if I was having a good time.

Basically this week, I worked my ass off. I stayed late every night and got a lot of stuff caught up on. It was boring, but it was needed. I was also offered another role at my company, this doing a joint role - a cross between my current role and PM. I now have to make a decision on this role by beginning of August (preferably sooner so they can get someone else if needed). So I have 3 roles on my plate - do nothing and keep my current role, switch to the role that was offered me about a month ago (I was told they'd save me this job for as long as it took me to make up my mind), and then the dual role. I'll probably end up doing the dual role but just wish I was more excited about it. I also had a long discussion with my boss about how my resume is going to look when I finally leave my company - this switch would be my 4th switch.

Friday I did my grocery shopping - and I tell you what - I missed Blondie. I had to haul all the bags back 2 avenues to my apartment - and I had a sore neck for the rest of the night from the bag that hung off my shoulder.

Then it was Saturday - and I had literally one of the best days I've had in a long time. It was a dreary rainy day, so I slept in more than I normally do. Then I did a workout, before crashing in front of the TV watching old episodes of "My So-Called Life" on Netflix - this was my favorite TV show when it was on the air, and watching it again has been amazing. About 1:15 pm, I left my apartment and headed up to Times Square to see "Priscilla Queen of the Desert"!!!! Blondie would've hated it (musicals and all), but I was in drag-queen heaven. It was like a GIANT party, the whole audience was laughing and cheering. I had also gotten a great seat at a cheap price since I was by myself (they had the 1-seat left in the middle of the row which is hard to get rid of).

After the play, I practically floated home - singing the songs in my head, doing the dance moves in my head, and generally being a non-drag drag-queen. I'm so ridiculous. I just think that if you are in a play on Broadway, even if you have a day where you hate your job (i.e. Saturday afternoon matinees and all you want to do is chill on your couch), standing on stage, hearing the orchestra start playing, hearing the audience settle - it's got to be an AMAZING feeling.

Mr and Mrs Pooh - get TCKITW into singing, dancing, acting now - I need to live my life vicariously through her. :)

I stopped on the way home, got a bag of gummy bears for an "appetizer", and then made a huge pot of chili while eating the gummy bears. It was almost 100 degrees on Thursday, but high 60's and rainy yesterday - total chili day.

Today was not nearly as great as yesterday. I headed down to the gym to run, and had to wait a bit because all treadmills were taken - I did some weights and Precor, and then I finally headed to a treadmill. Just as I got on, my stomach started rolling - and I knew something was wrong. I did 1.5 miles and kept thinking, "I need to get sick". I headed back to my apartment, took a shower, chugged a water, and laid in a miserable ball for a bit. About 3 hours ago, stuff finally started moving - I didn't throw up, but it did come out the other end. I still feel like shit, but I think whatever it was is out of my system.

I'm now ravenous, but am scared to eat the leftover chili as I wonder if that's what caused all the problems today. I'm going to wait another 1-2 hours, and then figure out what I'm going to eat. Right now though, I'm watching more eps of "My So-Called Life" with a cat trying to ignore my aching stomach.

This was week 2 of Insanity, and it's been off-the-hook crazy. I'm so out of breath and sweaty every single day - it's been worth every cent I spent on the discs. I can't recommend this program enough. Today I lifted weights for the first time in 2 weeks, and I've gained so much strength it's ridiculous - I felt like I was lifting 3 lb weights instead of what I was lifting - it's the Insanity program. I put on my jeans yesterday and they were so loose through the waist - I about died. Insanity - SO WORTH IT.

Have a great weekend everyone!

--K

Insanity

I started Insanity this week, and have sweated harder than I have in years. I consider myself in pretty good shape - I can run 5 miles at a time, I lift weights regularly, I eat healthy about 70% of the time. I didn't think Insanity could be that hard. I was sorely mistaken.

The program is a 9 week program - and I completed week 1 yesterday. It's been insane - maybe that's why they call it Insanity. Even on the "Cardio Recovery" disc day, I sweated so hard it was running down my legs and arms. And that's the RECOVERY disc!!! I'm really pleased we bought the program, and will keep you updated on how I do with it.

So other than Insanity, this past week was nothing special. Nothing much happened at work or outside of work. Blondie and I did hit up our bar one evening for dinner, but kept it low-key and only had 2 drinks each. And we did decide to party again on Friday - I felt fine then yesterday but Blondie was hurting.

I also got myself a pedicure yesterday - this time it's a white-ish color which I like a lot, but I think you really need a tan to carry it off. And I'm Pasty-White McPastyPants in color. Today I'm waiting for groceries to be delivered and then I'm off to go on a run (Insanity is a rest day). I can't decide if I'll do 5 miles or just stick with 3.

I know this is a boring post, but my life was boring this past week. Blondie leaves for the Land of Cheese on Tuesday to hang with his family for a week. I'm gearing up for a week of eating mexican for dinner every night and watching crappy TV shows - it's going to be fabulous!

--K

I'd like to extend an invitation to the pants party

First summer Friday = super party crew in action.
OMG. My bestie from work came with me and Blondie and we hit up the patio at one of our favoriate drinking spots - Mother Burger. This year, they've introduced The Pink Bulldog. Which is a frozen vodka pink lemonade with a baby Coronoa stuck in top. And that's what we decided was a good plan....

9 hours later...

I was in charge of ordering the pizza, and somehow managed to order 3 tons of food. I couldn't tell you how or why I did it, except that I didn't eat any of it because I decided to go to sleep as soon as the food got to the apartment.

I woke up Saturday morning and immediately knew I was going to have some backfiring issues - and I did. It was about 2 pm before we could leave the house - we went and got all of our grocery shopping done before heading back so I could crash out some more.

Sunday was a major day - Blondie and I headed down to the gym and I went on a 5 mile run on the treadmill (55:35 - a little slower than usual but it was my first 5 mile day in about 3 weeks so I wasn't too upset). Without eating, Blondie and I headed out to the Museum of Sex. It was kind of a disappointment. I know - how can anything about sex be boring? But it was. It was definitely more of a media based concept (i.e. comics, books, movies) and less of a object based concept (i.e. dildos throughout the ages, chastity belts, handcuffs).

After our tour, we headed down to the bar in the Museum and had a drink each. Then we headed over to Madison Square Park to see a sculpture I had read about. A famous artist (yes, I don't know his name even though I read all the literature associated with the sculpture) has done a 43 foot tall sculpture of a head, and it's now residing in the middle of Madison Square Park.

We decided to hang out and people watch after, and had a blast making fun of everyone. Then it was more walking, done to Union Square Park. In the park, they had Taiwan Fest, so we hung out there for awhile - we watched some awesome martial arts guys do moves, and then headed further into the park to see it.

From there, it was a hike over to NYU campus (via Washington Square Park - 3 parks in 1 day - wowzer!) and a stop in for a beer, and finally to get me some food. We split a burger and wings, and met an awesome couple on vacation from California! Several hours later we headed out, and by then I was ravenous - the food that we had at the bar just jump started my appetite and it was the only thing I had eaten that day.

So we decided on Colicchio & Sons!!!! We got reservations at the Tap Room part of the restaurant, had some beers, and then split the BEST BURGER ever. Blondie was like "holy shit, this is literally the best burger I've ever eaten in my life". We also split a flatiron steak which was also really good. We had a blast, just giggling away and having some beers.

We headed into Chelsea Market afterwards and got some gelato, and then finally headed home for the day.

Today I started my Insanity program - I did the fit test, which is day 1. And I about puked a lung out. Afterwards, I took a 10 minute break, and then did 30 Day Shred, level 1. I'm now watching Blondie do the fit test for Insanity.

No plans for the day. Just so happy to not be at work on a Monday!

--K

To Kentucky, and beyond

Last week was a typical work week with not much going on. It was a nice break after the Atlantic City trip, some downtime was what we needed. We did make it out to our bar one night, and just got to hang out with everyone and drink some scotch (me) and Guiness (Blondie). I had my performance review also last week, and it went okay - about what I expected. Nothing stellar, nothing too craptacular. It was a new job for me, one that I don't really like, so I got about what I expected.

But then, last Friday night, Blondie and I caught a late flight to Kentucky. Our flight which was already late, was delayed several times over, making it *really late*. Luckily we had a direct flight into my family's town, and the flight seemed like it went really fast once we got on the plane, but it was a weird start to our weekend.

We were supposed to go with Mr and Mrs Pooh on Friday night to watch some live music but that got scrapped b/c of how late we ended up getting in. But we did get in. For which I am glad, b/c first thing Saturday morning, on about 5 hours of sleep, Blondie, me, Mr and Mrs Pooh went out and did a 5K together. I had a blast - from chatting with the Poohs before race-time, to finally having a family member (mom) there to watch, to actually racing with family (Mr and Mrs Pooh), and to having my Blondie's knee healed enough that he could join the race with us. Blondie had blown his knee out in our half marathon, but was able to muscle through and heal enough to go with us on our 5K.

Mr Pooh killed the course in 28 mins, followed by Blondie in 32:30 ish, followed by me in 34:09 (no PR but I'm still happy with it) followed by Mrs Pooh in 35:58 (a PR!!!!) After our 5K, they even had donuts. Which made my morning.

After the race, we headed back to my parent's house and showered, and then took off to do some shopping (Kohl's, Old Navy). I made sis stop and get me a huge coffee, and then we met up with Brother R and the Sheriff for some lunch at sit-down mexican. Brother R, Blondie and I got the drinking train started with many margs, before heading back to Brother R's for cards. When Mr and Mrs Pooh got home from TCKITW's gymnastics class, we headed over to their house to blow the rest of the day away. From Guitar Hero to eating all of Mrs Pooh taco dip in 5 minutes to sitting out back and watching TCKITW and TCKITWv4.0 play on the swing set - it was a blast. Tastiness in the form of fried chicken was our dinner, and many many beers completed our day.

Sunday was about the same - we all met up for lunch at a local restaurant before heading over to Brother R's house to play cards all afternoon (typical day with the fam). We had a massive cookout at Brother R's that night, drank a ton of scotch, and I got to enjoy hanging with the family for the first time in almost a year. Shugs got home from her family late that night, and I got to say hi to her for a second before we had to take off.

It was soooo good seeing everyone - I can't believe how big TCKITW and TCKITWv4.0 are! TCKITW is so beautiful - big blue eyes, bright blonde hair, a cute little grin, skinny little legs - she has my heart. And TCKITWv4.0 - the personality on that chick man - I can't even tell you - she also has my heart. When they get older, I have a feeling that TCKITW is the one you would turn to when you need a shoulder to cry on, and TCKITWv4.0 is the one you would turn to when you need someone to join you at the bar because you are tired of crying on someone's shoulder.

Monday we caught an early flight back to NYC and it was straight to work for me - no shower, no nothing. It was awful (and stinky). Tuesday it was beautiful out, so Blondie met me for some beers and dinner at one of our bars on the patio, and then we ran all of our crappy errands for the day. Wednesday I went out to lunch with my fav coworkers, spent some time just laughing and enjoying not being at work.

And then Thursday - Blondie and I decided to check in on the scale, and lo and behold, I've gained 2 lbs from my plateau. Now, 2 lbs for me is not that big of a deal. BUT, I do want to nip this in the bud before it gets any worse. Even though I work out daily, I definitely have gotten out of the habit of eating right. So back on the train. I also ordered the Insanity Beachbody workout - I did really well with my half-marathon training and I think it's because I had a calendar up with all my workouts on it for the training and I could mark it off daily. So I'm going to do that with Insanity - it's a 2 month program and I'm probably going to throw up daily for 2 months because of how intense it looks.

Today starts summer Fridays for me and I'm UBER excited. I'm meeting Blondie in 2 hours for drinks on a patio. I had a really really good run this morning - 3.1 miles in 31:25 which is 10:08 min mile pace, so now am ready to have a beer.

Last week, I did 5 miles on Tuesday followed by Kenpo on Wednesday, and 3.1 miles on Thurs on the treadmill. I took Friday as a rest day and then had my 5K race that Saturday. Sunday and Monday were rest days, with Tuesday being P90X Plyometrics DVD. I did a 5K on Wednesday on the treadmill (in a dismal 34:48), with P90X Shoulders&Arms & Ab Ripper X on Thursday, and 3.1 miles again today (IN A FABULOUS TIME!!!). I hope to get a longer run in this weekend, and a bunch of weight work also.

We have no plans this weekend - it's fleet week here so maybe we'll try to do some of those activities. We also have tickets to a museum that we need to use before they expire, and I want to eat at Colicchio&Sons at some point - so I'll try to talk Blondie into that.

Have a great 3 day weekend everyone!

--K

Hanging on the Jersey Shore

Last weekend, I went out for a 7 mile run along the Hudson. It sucked hairy balls. I had one of the worst runs of my life. The ONLY thing that made it better was that I stuck through it. I could not get steps and breaths aligned to save my life.

After my run, I decided I had to have my pedicure - so I went out and got myself some brand new feet. My feet were *tore up* from all the running I've been doing, and it was so awesome to get my toes done. Blondie called as I was finishing up, and I went and met him for some grocery shopping. We stopped on the way home for lunch, and then crashed out the rest of the day.

On Sunday, I headed down to the gym for a long workout - I was down there so long I actually guilt-tripped Blondie into coming down. He told me, and I quote, "I was sitting there, kept thinking you'd be back up soon, and you didn't. So then I felt guilty. And then I had to come down. Thanks a lot".

Last week was a typical week, with the exception of an offsite awards banquet we had to go to for work (the awards banquet was not for me). It took all morning long, and it threw the rest of my week off. On Thursday, I went with some coworkers for lunch, and then left early to meet my Blondie to celebrate his Blondie-day!

For his birthday, I bought Blondie a bunch of fancy pants cupcakes, and then met him at a bar by our house to sit on the patio and enjoy the sun. After the sun started down, we headed to our bar where we met up with friends and downed many many shots. After we were done at the bar, we headed to an "adult establishment" where we know the doorman - we had some tickets left over from Super Bowl Sunday that we needed to use before they expired. Drunk us took our asses home around 1 am, and I was a wreck on Friday.

But I sucked it up, ate a giant ass burrito for lunch on Friday, and then met Blondie at Port Authority to take a bus to Atlantic City! We got down there Friday night, and played craps and Pai Gow at several different casinos. We headed to bed pretty early, but got up early the next day and went out and explored the boardwalk. We probably walked a couple of miles that day before we started gambling again. We had a great day, and though we are both down for the trip, it was good getting away with Blondie.

We caught a bus back on Saturday evening, and we were glad we did because we woke up today and it was pouring rain - perfect for sleeping in, and perfect for NOT being on a bus back to the city. We headed down to the gym today and I did a 5K as fast as I could, which ended up being 32:01 (10 sec faster than my PR outside). I wanted to beat my PR (which was achieved about 20 lbs lighter and 6 years ago) this coming weekend in KY, but I don't think it can happen - however, I'm going to do my damndest to beat it.

When we were done running, I noticed the rain had stopped so we headed up to the International Food Fest - 20 blocks of tasty goodness, only 2 blocks from our house. We split some empanadas, BBQ pork sandwiches, grilled octopus, a funnel cake, and some baklava. We also grabbed some great seats at one of the bars, and people watched for awhile drinking beer.

On the way back to our house, we passed our first celebrity! It was Bobby Moynihan from SNL! I was like "whoa! Blondie! Yes!" We've been wanting to see a celebrity since we moved here, and it was like Xmas for us.

So this past week, I did 7 miles outside last Saturday (in a shitty shitty time - 12:26 min miles), 60 minutes on the Precor on Sunday with a ton of weights and abs, Kenpo P90X DVD on Monday, 5 miles on Tuesday, rest day on Wednesday, 3 mile hill intervals and weights on Thurs, and rest days on Friday and Saturday. Today I did my 5K speed work. I'll be getting some running in this week, along with some weight work. Our flight to KY is on Friday, and I'm excited to see my family again, and run the race with the Pooh family.

Hope everyone is doing well, and see some of you all very soon!

--K

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLONDIE!!!

Today is my hottie's birthday - 38 years ago, his mom gave me the best present she possibly could and birthed this guy.

We've been together (fighting, loving, having fun, going through bad times and good) for 11 years now, and I look forward to growing old with the One Who Is Blonde.

Have a great day babe! Chomp!

--K

Turd Ferguson

So 2 Sundays ago, after our last long run, Blondie and I ended up at the bar for a beer to celebrate end of training. A beer turned into like 5 beers, but we had a blast. It felt so good actually sticking to a goal - one that we've tried to do 2 other times, and had failed at. We people watched our day away, and just enjoyed the ride.

So Mr Pooh arrived last Wed, and him and Blondie hit up the bar early. I started getting texts from them around 11:30 am, and by the time I joined them (5 hours later) they were still at the same spot. We had some beers together before heading over for pizza for dinner, and then to our local bar afterwards. Mr Pooh and Blondie were hurting bad the next day, but I felt good and even went for my final taper run.

So Thursday I had off from work - after the guys felt a little better, we headed up to Times Square and poked around for a bit, before catching the train to the bottom of the island. We took the ferry over to Staten Island so Mr Pooh could see the Statue of Liberty, and the views from the boat. We caught the next immediate boat back, and walked up to Wall Street to tour around. We saw the bull and Trinity Church, before heading down to the stock exchange. We were standing in the middle of the street (it's pedestrian only), when the clouds finally let loose and we got nailed. It started POURING rain. We ran to the train and took it back to West Village for pizza for lunch. Afterwards, a cab back to our hood to chill for a bit until the rain stopped.

That evening, we caught the train to the Bronx to watch the Yankees win a game! They played the White Sox, and due to the rain that had happened all day, the stadium was basically dead. We had the entire row to ourselves, and we were only about 4 rows off the third base line. The tickets were very cheap also (due to the rain) and we had a blast that night. We each ate 3 tons of food, and I had a few beers while the guys abstained due to their party all day on Wednesday.

Friday everyone felt better - I drug Mr Pooh out for breakfast, and then we went and got Blondie to head out for the day. We took the train to Brooklyn (making it all 5 boroughs for Mr Pooh) and then walked the Brooklyn Bridge back over. From there we walked down to Southside Seaport (never ever again) and had lunch and a drink. Afterwards, we caught the train to UES and walked through Central Park to the UWS. We headed back to our hood, stopping for many beers and to pee, before hitting up Southern Hospitality (JT's restaurant) for dinner.

Saturday it was up and at 'em early, as we caught a bus to Allentown for our race. My friend picked us up, and we got our race packets, before heading out to watch her kids play some baseball (coaches pitch baseball? OMG. F.U.N.N.Y.) We took it easy the rest of the day, relaxing at her house and eating a ton of food.

Sunday was D-Day. Time to race. I was nervous, I wanted so bad to have a good run and slaughter my last previous PR for a half. The gun fired, and off we went. We hit mile marker 1, and it hit me that it felt like I had casually strolled a mile instead of run a mile. The first 8.5 miles went very well, but by then, we were in 1 of the parks in Allentown and it had several big hills. I ended up walking up the hills, but pretty much running the rest. I got in at 2:35:57, breaking my old PR by about 19:50 - which is awesome.

On top of that, Mr Pooh also beat his old PR by about 20 mins, coming in at 2:18:xx which is incredible. On top of THAT, Blondie, who blew his knee out around mile 6, still finished the half - he had every excuse in the world to quit, but pushed through and finished in around 2:45. I'm so PROUD of all of us. And I'm SO GLAD it's over! :)

Afterwards, it was back to my friend's house, where we proceeded to drink many beers, and eat a ton of food. Everyone was pretty sore but me - I felt great, no blisters, no pain, no nothing, and I made the mistake of telling everyone about it. Of course, about 4 hours later, I fell down my friends very long, very wooden staircase. My butt is a solid bruise - it looks horrible, and I've been in pain from that all week. Can you say Karma?

We ended up staying in PA until Monday, and caught the early train back then. We took it easy until lunch-time and then headed out for 5 Napkin Burger - which Mr Pooh proclaimed the best burger. Afterwards we headed down to Chelsea Piers to shoot some golf balls before heading back to our bar for one last beer together. We put Mr Pooh in a cab that evening and said goodbye to him, which was sad. We had a great time with him, and even my friend from PA called that night and said that the only way she would run that half again is if Mr Pooh comes back for it.

The rest of the week was typical - it was back to work (BOO!) and getting caught up. I came into work on Tuesday and on my desk my BFF had left a giant bag of gummy bears - it was my congratulations gift, and I ate the entire bag in about 30 mins. Then, the weather was cold and rainy on Wednesday so Blondie met me at the grocery and we got stuff to make up a huge pot of chili. It was so gooooood. I needed some home-cooked food and that totally hit the spot. Last night, Blondie met me for cajun food, and then I insisted on donuts (of course, go me). I need to get back into the eating right mode, so I'll see if I can get that going this week.

Finally, we are off to KY in 2 weeks, where we will be running a 5K with Mr and Mrs Pooh! I'm trying to get Brother R to sign up also, so we can run as a giant crazy family. We'll be the nut jobs scaring all the kids away.

So last week was taper week - I did 4 miles on Tuesday, 2 miles on Thurs, and then the half marathon on Sunday. I took Monday and Tuesday off, did 5 miles on Wed (which hurt b/c of my ass bruise from the stair fall) and 3 miles on hills on Thurs (which still hurt b/c of my ass bruise). Yesterday I decided to do some workout DVDs - so I did 30 Day Shred level 1, and Bob's bootcamp level 1 - about 50 mins total - my whole body is sore today from these. I plan on heading out in about 30-45 mins to do an outdoor run today - I haven't decided how many miles I'll go, but probably around 7.

I'm looking for a new training schedule - I need something to keep me motivated, so stay tuned for that. And it's gearing up to be a gorgeous day here today - I'm excited for the good weather!

--K

It's Taper Time Bitches!

And just like that, 11 weeks of hardcore training has finished, and I've rolled into taper week (as of 45 mins ago). I feel AWESOME, and I know Blondie does too. We've registered and run (walk/run) several half marathons, and normally we stop training about 4 weeks into our training. But thanks to Mr Pooh coming in for this, everytime we've started to talk ourselves out of it, we've talked ourselves right back into it. I just can't imagine Mr Pooh getting here, and then us being like "Oh well, we got bored training".

So this week was again, low key. Someone from my old team was in town for a few days, so it was good getting to see that person. I had an early meeting with them on Monday, and it kind of evolved into where my career is going (my boss was involved also). My role has changed dramatically since I started in it - and I'm not sure I like where it's at now (being responsible for projects where everyone is located 3000 miles away but me).

On Tuesday, my core group from work, me and Blondie hit up Koreatown for dinner. We were celebrating - someone from my core group got a HUGE promotion and we wanted to do it up in style. We ate SO MUCH FOOD, and then this restaurant also had sparkling sake. Oh. Em. Gee. People. I heart sake with a passion, but then to make it sparkling! We had a great time that night, hanging out outside of the office and just generally being rowdy and noisy.

On Wednesday I was offered a new role at my company - within the same division, same office, etc. I would have a new boss and would be offically within the business side of things as opposed to technical side of things. I have a lot to think about - I don't want to jump in because it's an out from my current job, but at the same time, I don't want to stick in my current job permanently either. Luckily I have time - it's not a decision I have to make v soon.

Friday morning Blondie texted me early at the office. It was supposed to pour rain on Saturday all day so he suggested a bar night on Friday with a long run on Sunday instead (no rain forecasted). I agreed, and I needed it. I bolted about 45 mins early, and we hit up our local bar for several drinks. Afterwards, we agreed some brownies were in order so we headed up to the grocery to get necessary ingredients. While the brownies were baking, we got into a bottle of wine, and that's all I remember for the night.

Yesterday afternoon I finally had a brownie, and then spent the next 8 hours alternately passed out, or eating. Literally it was all I did. But I guess it was a good thing as we headed out today for our final long run (10 miles) and we both rocked it out. Blondie is in major pain right now, I feel fine/good. I've managed to convince him that a beer for lunch to celebrate the end of training is in order - so we are about 3 secs from either hitting up the bar or hitting up our taco bodega.

This was week 11 of training, leaving only taper week left! Last Sunday I did 60 minutes on the precor, followed by my P90x stretching DVD on Monday (needed), with a 5 mile run on Tues, 3 mile hill work on Wed, 5 mile run on Thurs (10:45 min miles!), rest day on Friday, 60 minutes on the precor yesterday, and 10 miles today (11:33 min miles!) This week I could feel everything clink together - my runs have been as fast as they've ever been, and I even set the resistance on the precor to above what I normally do (level 5 and 9 - went to level 6 and 10 - alternate every 2 mintes) - I managed to push the pedals at those levels for an hour, but also way faster than I normally go.

I have taper week this week - so some stretching tomorrow, followed by 4 miles on Tues, 3 miles on Wed, 2 miles on Thurs and that's it! Mr Pooh arrives on Wed, and I have Thurs and Fri off of work to poke around the city with him and Blondie. I'm so excited!

Okay, off for food (and a beer). Happy Easter! Eat a Cadbury Creme Egg for me!
--K

The Worst Week

Last week turned into one of the worst weeks ever in terms of work. Everyday that I was at the office (all 5 of them), I got news about my program that was worse than the day before. None of this is my fault or anyone on my team's fault, but still, to have something go wrong (catastrophically wrong) every single day of the week was awful.

Blondie made fun of me and quoted some Office Space: "So if every single day is worse than the day before, then we're seeing you on your worst day? That's messed up". I won't give details, but let me say that our launch date will have to be moved by several months.

In other work news, my coworker from the west coast was in town for the week. It's always good seeing him. We shared my office, and having someone on the ground from the west coast is always extremely helpful.

On Tuesday night, Blondie and I headed to our bar for our usual Tues Night Out event. I got into the scotch which was bad news, and we made our bartender play Tosh.0 reruns all evening. I took my frustrations from work out by drinking heavily, and so was loud-laughing my way through Tosh.0 which I'm sure was so thrilling for the other patrons of the bar.

On Thursday night, my coworker and I and one of his friends went to see a new Broadway play - this one was Sister Act and it's still in previews. It was a musical, and it was *hysterical*. This play wasn't on my list, and when he mentioned it, I was hesitant because it didn't sound so great to me (I didn't really like the movie either). But I did agree to go b/c I needed to get out of my head about work. It was a beautiful evening, so I walked over to Broadway from my office - it was really nice getting out and enjoying the weather. Again, the play was hysterical - it was so funny, and the music was something I could bounce along to.

The highlight of the play though had to be the GIANT statue of the virgin Mary, done over like a disco ball - it even twirled like a disco ball. I was like "oh holy shit" which made my coworker laugh his ass off. After the play, my coworker and friend walked me back through Times Square and we split off there so they could go home and I could go home.

Friday I went out for lunch, and when I got back to work, I thought "f this. This has been the worst week for work, I'm leaving early". I bolted about an hour early, bought a bunch of lottery tickets (I figured my luck had been so good this week - cue sarcasm - might as well see what would happen) and met Blondie at our bar again. We don't normally do the Friday night scene, but I'm glad we did this time - I sucked down way too many beers, but it finally got me to stop thinking about what had happened this week.

Yesterday we got up, and it was cold, cloudy and windy outside - and the rain was supposed to start around 2 pm ish. Blondie was hungover so he was going to wait until Sunday or Monday to do his long run, so I decided to wait too. But then at 10 am, my friends texted and invited us over to watch the Sabres v Flyers game last night, and I knew that had the potential to be a shit-show evening, so I decided to go out yesterday and do my 10 miles anyway.

I started out without any expectations, due to my shitty 8 and 9 mile runs the previous 2 weeks - and I rocked it out. I stopped at mile 5 for 20-30 secs - it was more of a mental thing that I needed as I felt pretty good. Then I stopped at mile 6.8 as that's where the only working water fountain on the course is. I ate an energy goo and refilled my water bottle - so probably stopped for 1 minute. I ran the rest of the time - I got in at 1 hour, 59 mins, with an average pace of 11:59 min miles.

Afterwards, I came back and crashed on the floor for the afternoon - the rain started in earnest, and we watched it out our windows for awhile. We started over to our friends' house around 4 pm, and had a blast. We kept it low-key - after our binge on Friday night, it was a needed non-rager. We got home around 9:15 pm. The storm had turned into a thunder storm by this point, and it was nice to hear it.

Today I have 60 mins of cross-training I have to do, but am going to wait a bit before I head down to the gym. Blondie might do his 10 miles today, or he might wait until Monday - he's trying to decide. It's gorgeous outside right now - the rain blew through overnight and the sun is out - it's supposed to be in the 60's today also. We've talked about going over to Brooklyn for brunch, and we both need to do so light clothes shopping (underwear, rain boots).

This was week 10 of training (2 more weeks to go!) - last Sunday I did 50 mins on the Precor, followed by level 2 30 day shred on Monday, 5 miles on the treadmill on Tues and Thurs (my Thurs runs were at 10:59 min mile - which is super speedy for me), 10 miles outside on Saturday, and rest days on Wed (not planned) and Friday (planned).

I've also sent my list of shit to do to Mr Pooh, who will be arriving in 1.5 weeks to run the half with us and more importantly, hang out with us.

And finally, a shout out to Mrs Pooh who has started a plan of running many 5Ks - she finished her first of the season yesterday in a really good time! Congratulations Mrs Pooh!

--K

April Showers

Last Saturday we went out and did our 8 mile run. I had a hard time with it - ran the 1st 4 miles, and ran/walk the 2nd 4 miles, and had an overall avg pace of 12:26 min/miles. I chalked it up to being uber sick, and having almost no fuel in my system. After our run, we putzed around for a bit, before deciding to head out to buy our groceries instead of ordering in - omg, like for the first time in 2 months.

It was so nice being back at the farmer's market - I love being able to pick out my own produce, and then they had OKRA. I bought a ginormous bag of it, big enough that even Blondie said - "Do you realize how much okra you have here?" The whole point is we had such good food that week - we get tired of eating out all the time, and it was so nice to be able to cook our own food for the most part.

Sunday we hit up the gym early and then didn't do crap the rest of the day. The weather here has been awful - it's been warmer, but I swear, every other minute it's about to rain. Last Sunday was like that.

The work week itself went fairly fast - it was nice. Tuesday night, we were lying in bed around 9:30 pm ish (yes, we are old), and Blondie said "you know our bar serves chicken wings right?" and with that, I was out of bed getting dressed. We hit up our bar and had 2 drinks and split an order of wings - it was nice getting to see everyone and visit, and the drinks gave me a really good sleep that night. They were also my first drinks since getting sick - they didn't sit too well on my stomach, but I managed to muscle through ;)

Friday I received not-good news about my program - it was unexpected, and it pissed me off. But it did derail me also - took the wind out of my sails. I came home and vented forever to Blondie - my rant went from my program at work to my working out to eating to .... on and on and on. Poor Blondie!

Yesterday we went out for 9 miles. I had a hard time again, which is scaring the hell out of me. I stopped my watch everytime I stopped - so I didn't walk any of this run, but I also didn't run it without stopping. With stopping my watch (I think I stopped about 8 times for 10-20 secs at a time), I got 11:48 min/pace for the 9 miles. Our course is out and back along the Hudson, and we ended up in Harlem because of how far we ran. It's kind of neat to think your legs can take you from Hells Kitchen to Harlem and back.

After our run, we were supposed to meet friends at Brooklyn Flea, but we begged off - there was no way my legs were going to take me through a flea market at that point. We ordered our groceries in this week (yes, even though last week was awesome at the farmer's market, we ordered in again due to exhaustion), and then Blondie mentioned street tacos for lunch. We went for a very very slow walk up to the bodega, and we each got a beer and 3 tacos. Afterwards, we went to Pinkberry for some yogurt (YUM), before we then caught the train down to FiDi to meet up with the Brooklyn Flea friends for drinks. The FiDi has this whole section of cobblestone streets that are pedestrian/restaurant only, and it was beautiful. We are going to take Mr Pooh there when he comes to town.

After drinks in FiDi, we headed over to Greenwich Village for pizza for dinner. Blondie *loved* the pizza, whereas I just thought it was okay (I thought it was burnt, which automatically means Blondie will love it). We got home around 9 pm, and I was in bed by 9:45 pm.

Today I have to get down to the gym to do something (it's supposed to be a rest day for me, but after the crappy 9 miles yday, I'm headed down anyway) and then our groceries are here. True to form, it looks like it's about to pour outside right now (oh yay), so I don't think we'll do anything else today.

This was week 9 of training - I did 50 mins of Precor last Sunday, followed by level 1 of 30 day shred on Monday, 5 miles (in 57 mins without stopping on treadmill) on both Tues and Thurs, 3 miles hill run on Wed, rest day on Friday, and 9 miles yesterday. I'm excited, but I'm also nervous b/c I've had 2 bad long runs in a row. I tried eating cereal and milk before the 9 miles yesterday and I don't think the milk set right in my stomach, so I won't be doing that again.

Only 3 more weeks of training (and the 3rd week is actually a taper week) so really only 2 more weeks of hard training to go!

--K

The Shit Show, from west to east

So 2 weeks ago, I took off bright and early to go back to SF for work for the week. I decided I would try forgoing my typical bag of gummy bears at the airport, and instead, bought a piece of fruit for the flight. The flight took off on time, but due to craptacular weather throughout the US, we landed 45 minutes late. I started watching the moving map over Colorado, and if you want to know how to make a 7.5 hour flight seem longer, the answer is keep your eyes on the map. I thought we'd never get there. On top of the that, the fruit did nothing to alleviate my hunger, and I was pissed off I didn't get my gummies.

Okay, so wah wah wah, we land and I go to my hotel and decide to get in my cross training for the week - so headed down to the gym and did a 50 minute fast walk on the treadmill holding weights for part of the time. Afterwards, I was ravenously hungry - enough so I thought I was going to pass out - so I headed out and grabbed a bagel loaded with veggies and some lox.

KT picked me up after that, it was SO GOOD to see her. We headed out to Daly City and went Target/mall shopping. We just enjoyed getting to hang out and get caught up on what was going on in each other's lives. After shopping, we stopped for dinner and drinks, before heading back to the city for margaritas. She dropped an exhausted me off that night, and I hit the sack.

It was a typical week in terms of not sleeping well, serious stomach problems, and non-stop drinking. I went out with CChu and TDawg on Monday for drinks and dinner, followed by drinks on Tuesday with a ton of people before going to dinner with some coworkers, followed by 2 going away parties on Wednesday (one for my BFF from work - sad face), followed by a sloppy NCAA game night watching with Ms HK. I hadn't see Ms HK in forever, and had a total blast that night. Work was work that week - nothing much special going on, which was good because I was feeling awful. Everytime I go back to SF, I have so much fun seeing everyone but my body revolts.

On Friday, I caught a flight back to NY - and the flight went really fast - yay for tailwinds! ;) I got to the apartment late night on Friday, ate some beans and rice, and then downed 2 scotches to pump my energy up. Slick and Funk-ster arrived an hour after I got home! We all immediately slammed a beer before heading to our local pub to watch the b-ball games and drink some more.

Saturday, I headed out for a 4-mile taper run, before we all went for lunch - we hit the bar and I had a salad and cup of chili (and beers), and it was tasty goodness. After the bar, we hit up the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's a HUGE spage, I can't even describe how big this place is. We saw 4 exhibits, a fraction of what they have, and were there almost 3 hours. You could literally spend a week in this place, all-day, and not have seem everything. The exhibits we picked to see were: "Ancient Egypt", "Arms and Armour", "1920's Photography", and "Musical Instruments".

After the Met, we hit up a surf bar in our hood, before going home to get ready to go for Egyptian food in the Meatpacking District! We had a late reservation - and by then, we were starving. We had some awesome food and got to watch a great belly dancer (no match for Funk-ster though). Afterwards, we hit up another bar for some beers before Funk-ster's urge to dance overtook us all. We hit up the closest dance club, and had a blast, before heading home around 3 am for the night.

Sunday, we took it easy. Hahahhahaha. Slick's cousin and his woman came over from Brooklyn for brunch, and then a "quick beer" afterwards turned into 6 hours of solid drinking, and cheering on UK to victory. We went for Peruvian for dinner, and then it was home for bed.

Monday, I had the day off - Funk-ster and I went to the gym and I did my 50 mins of cross training on the Precor and lifted weights. Afterwards, we went for a slice of pizza before taking the Staten Island Ferry to Staten Island (which made it for me all boroughs that I've been in now). We had a quick beer in a pub over there, before heading back to the UWS. We dropped Funk-ster at Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library for a couple of hours, while the rest of us stopped in for oysters and beer at a local pub. She joined us later for a beverage before we walked back to our hood and had Indian food for dinner. Afterwards, we stopped for crepes and soft serve before hitting up our local bar again.

Tuesday, I wasn't feeling so hot, so I called in sick. The 4 of us went for breakfast before we said goodbye to them for their trip back home. I literally slept most of the day after that, and still felt weird when I went to bed on Tuesday night. I woke up Wednesday and knew what the problem was - stomach flu. I spent the next 7 hours expelling from both ends, most of the times simultaneously. It was awful. The only upside is I gained no weight from the 4 days of debauchery due to this.

Thursday I woke up and still felt not good, but dumb ass me decided to try to run - I had no fuel in my body whatsoever, managed to get 1.92 miles, and then declared it over. I made it into work, but kept the door to my office shut/locked most of the day. Yesterday I finally felt better, and finally felt hungry, so I had a salad and soup for lunch, and spaghetti for dinner. Today we're about to go on an 8-mile run. I'm a little nervous b/c my training was completely screwed up this week due to the visit from friends and the sickness. I'm hoping to rock it out, and actually am looking forward to this run (unlike most that I dread).

So, the week in SF was week 7 of training - that week I did 50 minutes cross training (hill program walking on treadmill) on Sunday, 25 mins of Precor and weights on Monday, 4.5 miles running on Tuesday, 3 miles hill work on Wednesday, 4.5 miles on Thursday, took Friday as a rest day to fly back, and then 4 mile taper run on Saturday.

Week 8 of training had me taking Sunday as a rest day (not planned), 50 minutes cross training on the precor on Monday, Tues and Wed as rest days (sick), 1.92 miles on Thurs (supposed to be 4.5), and rest day on Friday (still trying to recover). This was a shit week. However, it's my only shit week, and as long as I can finish my workout today, I'll feel okay about it. I'm still feeling confident about the half, and now that I feel completely recovered, I'll be back working out full-force starting today.

Hope everyone is doing well, and GO CATS GO!

--K

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