The Real-versary

This past Monday was our official 8 year anniversary. Yay!!! We hadn't planned on doing anything as we're off to Barbados in a week, and we had celebrated our non-official anniversary 2 weeks prior. But towards the end of my work day on Monday, Blondie texted and suggested doing dinner. We headed to our favorite turkish restaurant, and split some spicy hummus and falafel. I had manti and Blondie had chicken and spinach. And then we stopped on the way home for gummy bears for yours truly. It was a really nice dinner, and glad I got to do a night with the Blonde One.

Work this week has been tiring. More than ever, I'm so exhausted from having to lead daily meetings - I never have a break (boo hoo). I just wake up every morning, and then immediately start thinking of the 5-8 daily mtgs I have to lead and it makes me weary; and then I'm done in before my day even starts. So pretty much every day this week was like that. I'm so much fun to be around, aren't I?

We also got our notice for our new rent - our lease is up in January, and they are jacking our rent $300/month and now we also have to pay to use the gym in our bldg (it was free the first 2 years). We're debating about what do - move to Brooklyn? Stay in the city but look for something cheaper? Renew our lease? Bite the bullet and buy a tiny ass studio just so we can finally have something again that's our own? We have until end of November to decide as that's when we would have to give our notice to move out.

Friday I met Blondie at our bar to relax and forget the week had happened. It was a good time seeing everyone. When they got wind of our plans to potentially leave the hood, it was non-stop "talk-us-out-of-leaving". It was uber cute, but it was also sad, because I would miss these guys like crazy. The bar, as weird as this sounds, has turned into another family for us. The regulars and our bartender are literally some of the nicest people we know, and I don't know how I would get through my weeks without seeing this group at some point.

Yesterday we put phase 1 of our "where do we live" plan in motion. Blondie and I caught the subway over to Prospect Heights, and met up with a coworker of mine. She took us all around her neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods so we could see what it was like, and if we would potentially like living there. We had brunch, and then walked the parks for awhile, before hitting up Target (restroom break. Also, TARGET!) After that, we hit up a beer garden and then a last bar for the night. We got back to the city around 10:30 pm, having been out all day long. It was a great time, and we had a blast, but we're just not sure Brooklyn is where we are supposed to be.

I know I'm harping on this moving / not moving thing, but I'm torn. I hate the thought of paying the kind of money we're about to have to pay for this tiny ass apartment of ours. But I hate the thought of leaving Manhattan. I feel like we've gotten this incredible opportunity to live here in Manhattan, and we've only taken advantage of it for 2 years. We shouldn't have to leave yet. But staying anywhere else in the city is going to cost about the same - so I have to pay the kind of money we're about to pay for rent.

We're finally in a city where it feels like home to both of us, and I don't want to give that up. (TX felt like home to Blondie but not me, and SF felt like home to me but not Blondie). What to do? It's eating at me.

This week I did pretty good about working out. I ran Tues and Thurs, and did an Insanity disc on Wed. I took Friday off, and then we walked all over Brooklyn on Saturday. I'm taking today off too as I have some errands I have to run. I'll work out this week 3-4 days, and then B.A.R.B.A.D.O.S! When we're back from that vacation, it's hard core back into running as I attempt to break a 2:30 half marathon in March 2012.

Plans for this week include meeting our friends from the bar for dinner tonight, and then we're off on Tues night to West Village to see my same friend perform her Cabaret/Burlesque show. A coworker of mine has quit, so her going away party is on Thurs. And then when Friday comes, a happy dance. As work is over for 1.5 weeks. And vacation on the beach is on.

--K

Hodepodge o' stuff

Let me get it out of the way - today was my first day working out since last Sunday. Yes, yes, yes - even though I swore up and down in my last blog post that I was back on track, and I had my shout out to Mr Pooh for motivating me, I took a week off. I have excuses, not good ones. But I have them. So there's that.

This past Monday I slept in b/c I knew I had a travel day ahead of me. This was lame excuse #1, as my flight was only 1.5 hours. I went to work for a half day, and then caught a combo of train and bus out to LaGuardia. Our flight boarded on time, but then we sat for 45 minutes while they injected air into the strut (???) on the right side of the plane. Amazingly enough, we still landed on time in Atlanta - I don't know if we got an excellent tail-wind, or if they had counted taxi time in LGA and circling time in ATL into the original estimate, but we landed exactly right.

I met my coworkers at their gate - they got in about 45 minutes after me - and then we took off for our hotel. On our way through Atlanta, I got to see the giant statue of the Olympic flame, so that was pretty cool. We did dinner and drinks that night, before I crashed out watching TV from my bed. I usually don't mind travelling - the thing I like the most is having a TV in the bedroom and being able to fall asleep with the timer on (Blondie and I ditched the TV in the bedroom about 5 years ago, and even before that, he hated when I would leave the TV on until the sleep timer went off).

Tuesday I woke up feeling like shit - completely drugged and out of it. I've been fighting some kind of allergy / cold for about 3 weeks and it's taking a lot of me. It was all I could do to get showered and down to the lobby to meet the guys for our trip out to work. I slugged down a monster sized coffee to no affect.

Work was okay that day - we were in all-day meetings, but it was good getting to put faces to names. I didn't have much to contribute, so got to keep quiet, and take notes. Also, my laptop refused to connect to the internet even though I plugged directly in, so I pretty much had the day off.

At one point I headed over buildings and met up with 1 of my good friends from the Atlanta office. We had a blast ragging on his cubemates, catching up on each other's lives, etc. He's someone that I trust with my work life - he would never blab anything I told him, so he got an earful about this new role I'm in.

That night, my coworkers that had flown in and I had dinner at our hotel restaurant - afterwards, I headed to our hotel bar with 1 of my coworkers while the other went to bed. We had a good time - we're both at hard places in our lives for different reasons. Mine is work related, his is personal, so it was good to have a sounding board for our issues - my personal life is on track right now, while his work life is on track. We talked and drank for so long that they had to kick us out of the bar. And yes, even that late and with that much drink in me, I still feel asleep to the TV on sleep timer. :)

Wednesday was travel back to NYC day - the exhaustion was beyond believable. When they started boarding my flight, I literally thought "I don't know how I'm going to stand in that line long enough to get to my seat". It took every last ounce of strength to get myself onto the plane (and in the middle seat, woot). I slept literally the entire way back, and caught a cab - and had amazing luck in that getting through NYC wasn't that bad.

Thurs I headed into the office, fought with laptop to get it going (4 hours later), and then left around 1:30 pm to head out with my team to go bowling! I still had the tireds something fierce but managed to chug down a gallon of beer and then drunkingly head out to get a burrito before heading home. Blondie that evening then suggested our bar, so I chugged some water before joining him for more beers.

And then Friday was a full day. It went super fast, mostly because I hadn't really been on email since Monday afternoon so I basically played catch-up most of the day. Friday night, Blondie and I took it easy - we watched the Brewers win their game and had a few beers. But we had to keep it low-key. And that's because...

We are now trained to be balloon handlers!!!! Saturday we were up and on an 8 am bus to Jersey (Meadowlands Stadium) where we got trained on how to haul the T-day balloons around! It was fun and exciting, and they literally brought in 3 of the balloons and inflated them, and we learned all the signals, how to raise and lower the balloons, how to take corners on the balloons, etc. We met a pretty cool chick from Brooklyn also, ragged on the uber-excited people, ate some free breakfast, and enjoyed our free gift of a slinky afterwards.

We were back to NYC around 1 pm, and immediately headed over to Southern Hospitality for brunch and beers. It was a gorgeous day - 80 degrees, no clouds whatsoever, so after lunch, we stopped at a local farmer's market (not our typical one) and then headed on home to nap for several hours. Balloon training took a lot out of me - we were on our feet and moving for over 4 hours.

Today I got up and after I finally stopped sneezing, I did my Cardio Max Insanity DVD. My legs were shaking so bad by the time I was done. I'm now lying in bed, wishing we had a TV in here, b/c the Packers are playing and I feel like lying in bed while watching them.

Tomorrow is our official 8 year anniversary - looking forward to that. And next week, we have a show that our friend from the bar is in. And then 2 weeks from tomorrow, we will be in Barbados! I hope to feel good enough when I wake up tomorrow to attempt a run, maybe some weights. Half of the office is off to the SF offices this week (not me), so it should be a bit more quiet than usual. Here's hoping the week goes fast!

--K

It's wedding season!

First and foremost, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to Yours Truly and The Blonde One! We hit 8 years (unofficially) on 9/27. Our official anniversary is 10/10, but we kind of celebrate both.

So the past 2 weeks have been pretty hectic. We're dialing up my project slowly but surely. And it's starting to take off. Our numbers have just about tracked our legacy site, but in the last 5-6 days, we've started to outperform legacy. We *STILL* have something we have to fix which is frustrating as f*ck b/c the last time we fixed an issue, "they" swore everything would be fine. And it's not. So I'm having to fight my temper, and not do what I want to do which is scream at my program manager and my delivery lead. Not even scream any words, just a loud "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" right in their faces. Can you say mature? Apparently, I can't. ;)

So last Friday night, we took off to SF. It was Blondie's first time back since we moved, and my 5th time back. But it was my first time that didn't involve work. We got in really late Friday night and went straight to bed. Saturday we were up around 7:15 am, and decided to head straight to the bar. SF is awesome due to the fact that football starts at 9 am, and we decided to take full advantage of it.

We headed from our hotel down to the subway, and the entire time I'm ragging on Blondie about why he doesn't miss SF - "how can you not miss it here? how do you hate it here so much?" Non-stop, the entire 10 min walk. We get to the subway, and start down the stairs and this guy about 3/4th the way down the stairs in front of us, turns around and hollers "hey guys, watch it down here!" And that's when the smell hit us. Human sh*t, down the steps. Blondie turned to me and goes "And you wonder why I don't like it here!" It was pretty ironic. SF definitely has a homeless problem, and they don't know how to fix it (I don't either).

Anyway, while we were on our train, we texed Bbbb and Shelbs to come meet us at the bar. They had originally said that Bbbb would try to meet up with us around noon-ish, but Shelbs was headed to the airport. About 45 mins after we got to the bar, they showed up and surprised us! I almost spit beer everywhere I was so shocked. It was SO GREAT seeing them. We got caught up, were generally loud, and just had a blast.

Around 1 pm when we were leaving the bar, the waitress asked us what our plans were for the rest of the day, so we told her about the K's wedding that night. And it turned out that the couple at the very next table (who had already left) were going to the same wedding.

Blondie and I left the bar, laughing about the day - 3 pitchers of beer, tons of food, awesome company, back in SF. We headed to Say Cheese to get more tasty sandwiches, and crashed in our old dog park, chowing down like we used to.

The K's wedding was that night - they had a bus that took us from our hotel to the wedding/reception. We got to see Mr K on the bus, and as soon as we got to where the wedding was, we ran into like 50 of our other friends - the sisters C, Dirty Sanchez, Bring Your Own Cary, F&J, Double D - everyone who we knew and loved (minus Sweetie J) from SF was in 1 place at 1 time. It was a fabulous night. We saw the K's get married - she looked so beautiful, and he was so happy. We ate a ton more awesome food. We drank from the open bar. We danced our asses off. We enjoyed the company like you wouldn't believe. And we ran into the couple from the bar that morning who immediately recognized us, and we hit it off with and would've been friends with if we had still lived in SF.

The wedding was a crazy party - Blondie and I kept it under control, but someone puked in a urinal in the men's room, one of my friend's yakked at the reception, and one of the bridesmaid lost it on the bus back to the hotel - it was all kinds of awesome!

On Sunday, Bbbb picked us up from our hotel and we went to Sports Basement b/c Blondie and I needed new shoes. After that, we headed back to Bbbb's and crashed out for awhile before heading out for pizza, and to watch the Packers game. My good friend KT (who I used to work with in SF) came out and met up with us, and we had a blast that afternoon. Shelbs got home from her trip on Sunday night, and we rounded out the evening just chilling.

It was hard leaving on Monday - normally when it's time to head back to NYC, I'm fine with it. This time I wasn't - I think it was because I got to see everyone I love (and I didn't have to go to work), and it made it a billion times harder than when I've been at work all week. In the airport on Monday, I ran into an old friend from work who was headed to NYC for the week. He looked so good - he's lost a ton of weight, and when I asked him what he was doing, he mentioned he had just done a Tough Mudder in Northern CA a week ago!

Mr Pooh is signed up for Tough Mudder in Nov, so I took the opportunity to grill him all about TM. He said it was the hardest thing he's ever done, and he's never been so happy to finish something in his life.

This week was pretty long, which was weird b/c I only worked 3.5 days. It was trying to figure out when we are going to fix this last issue (which "they" promise will truly truly be the fix) and dealing with coming into lock for our next release. It was a very long, yet short, week.

And on Friday I left work early to head to our friends from the bar wedding - they got hitched in City Hall on Friday afternoon. He's here on a "fiancee visa" and they had to tie the knot fast, and will have a big blowout wedding next year. After the City Hall wedding, we headed back home and crashed for a bit before meeting up with the group at the bar for the reception. It was great seeing everyone, and celebrating our 2nd wedding in less than a week!

Some other stuff has gone on also in the last few weeks.
1) I need to call out how grateful I am to Mr Pooh - my body has just shut down over the past few weeks, and working out hasn't been happening. However, Mr Pooh has agreed to come back to NYC next spring and run the NYC half marathon. And he's been great about texting me 3-4 times a week to tell me about his workouts (which is motivating). Because of him, I've been full force this week at the gym - Wed-today I've been down to the gym for at least a 3.1 mile run, weights, situps, etc. I've also started watching what I eat again. I can already tell I'm down about 7-8 lbs since Monday, and I'm starting to feel "normal" again.
*** I'm not someone who gains a pound and freaks out. I'm typically a yo-yo'er. But in the past 1.5 years, I've had to admit to myself that I do NOT feel good when I'm not watching what I'm doing. Even knowing this, it's still like pulling teeth to watch it sometimes.

2) Blondie and I are officially in to walk balloons in the T-Day parade this year! We put our apps in, and go to "Balloon Training" next Saturday. They'll teach us how to deal with wind gusts, etc. We'll apparently be on the smaller balloons (think pumpkins, not Spiderman) but I'm very excited to be in the last parade going through Times Square! Set your DVR for T-Day morning everyone!

3) I also got stuck on a last minute trip to Atlanta, leaving tomorrow. I leave tomorrow afternoon, have all day meetings in Atlanta on Tues, and fly back on Wed. I'm pretty beat from the last 2 weeks, so I'm trying to pump myself up for this, but the excitement is not there.

All right everyone, that's my catch up. I'm relaxing after a 5 mile run today, waiting on Blondie to get back from the gym. We're going to order some food and watch the Packers play this afternoon.

--K

Fall is on it's way

So the launch went "eh". We're out there, we're live - to about 10% of the people coming to the site. We have 1 thing we need to fix before we roll any further - and luckily it's not something that's our fault, but it's still something that's impeding us. It's been a stressful week, waiting each day to see what our numbers are, seeing how people are responding to this. To end my week an up note, the president of the company sent each of us that worked on the project an individual hand-written letter thanking us for all we did for the project (yes, it's really that big of a deal).

My friend from SF was also in town this week - making it go by really fast. We shared my office together, and as much as I love having my own space, and a door that shuts, and a window with a view of NYC (that okay yes, sometimes I stare out of when I need a brain break), I love having him around when he does come to town.

On Monday, Blondie and I headed out to our bar to celebrate the start of the turn on of the project. We watched the MNF game, ate some apps, and had celebratory shots with my friends. Then on Tuesday, Blondie started texting me early asking when I was going to be home. I found it weird because he never checks in on me - I could come home at 9 pm and I wouldn't have a text asking where I was. So the fact that he started checking around 4:30 pm on Tuesday made me suspicious.

Anyway, I got home on Tuesday night and Blondie came strolling in with a huge bunch of red roses and TACO BELL! I've been craving the TB for like 3 months (and talking about it for 3 months too - omg, how annoying to live with me!), but the closest one to us in Penn Station. Blondie caught the train there, bought me the Taco Bell, and brought it home to surprise me. I had a great evening with Blondie, it was such a nice surprise!

Wednesday, another former coworker of mine was in town so a group of us headed out for lunch. I love taking a lunch because it feels like the day goes so much faster that way. There were 5 of us, just chatting and relaxing, and doing the office gossip thing.

Thursday was the heartbreaking day because that's when we got the news that before we could dial up anymore, we needed to fix the problem. It felt like a punch in the gut - I want this thing out to everyone so bad I can taste it, and it feels like just road-block after road-block are tossed at us. I was in a real bad head space that day, so when some friends come by to ask about going for drinks, I was in.

We headed out of the office, right on time, and were hit by a gust of COLD wind. Here comes fall. The temps had dropped about 20 degrees from 1 pm to 6 pm. I don't like fall because I know what comes next - which is winter. And I LOATHE winter. Good on me for moving us to NYC. Anyway, we were out really late on Thurs, again doing the office gossip thing and just catching up (they work in a different bldg than me). I had a blast and my head cleared on up.

And Friday was just Friday - I just wanted it over. I got stuck on an emergency call for most of the day, and when it ended, I just counted minutes until 6 pm. I did work some yesterday, but it was covering for someone who has been helping me out on my new project. I owed her and her team the covering for them on Saturday so I wasn't upset about it.

So I worked out on Monday and did an Insanity disc. Then my body just shut down. Trying to get motivated is just NOT happening. I was so worried but then on Wed Mr Pooh texted about his Tough Mudder he is running in a couple of months. I'm so proud of him for doing this - that course looks cuh-razy! So I pulled my head out of my ass yesterday and went on my first 5 mile run since May. It hurt, but I only had to walk for 4 minutes total (2 x 2 min). So I was pretty proud of myself. Then today I went down and did speed work - 2 minutes walking at 4.1 mph then 2 minutes of running at 6.5-7.0 mph - all the way to 3.1 miles. And sadly, it was faster than if I just had run a full 3.1 miles at my current pace.

I'm going to register for another half - I'm eyeballing the NYC half marathon (Mar 2012) - which starts in Central Park and winds you through the city (and straight through Times Square). But I'm also thinking about trying to find one in November. I just need something to keep me going through this "I don't want to workout" time right now.

Packers won today which makes me happy, it's cool weather - but we have a pot of chili cooking up on the stove right now (I managed to light a hot pad on fire while starting the chili). But this week is going to blow - I have a shit ton of work that I'm dreading. Happily once this week is over, we catch our flight to SF to see our friends get married. So just got to get through this week.

--K

Proud to be a NY-er

10 years ago today, I sat in a cafeteria at work in TX watching as 9/11 unfolded. I remember thinking vividly that day about the one time I had visited NYC - I had visited a friend who lived in NJ, and we had taken a ferry over to NYC, toured the Statue of Liberty, and then due to the short amount of time we were there, just decided to go to the top of one of the WTC buildings. And that building, the building that gave a view of NYC and NJ and Queens and Brooklyn and what honestly felt like the world, was gone in an instant.

A lot of stuff has happened to me in the past 10 years - a marriage, moving cross country to the west and then cross country to the east, job changes, becoming an aunt. I'm lucky because my life has gone on, for better and for worst, and today of all days, I'm beyond grateful for that.

For those who lives were taken 10 years ago today, those in NYC, those in D.C., those in a field in Pennsylvania; for those from NYPD and FDNY who responded; for those who lost family, friends, and loved ones - we will always remember. RIP to those who are gone, and nothing but comfort and love to all who's lives were altered dramatically by the events of that day.

--K

And here we go....

T-minus 11 hours, 12 minutes and counting... And my project starts taking traffic. I'm excited and nervous at once. I'm eager to get to work tomorrow to celebrate when it goes okay, and I'm also wanting to call in sick b/c I don't want to know if something goes wrong.

Last week was a bit of a shit show. I have a love/hate relationship with short weeks. I love them of course, but then they always feel like they go so slow when you do get back to the office. Most of the week was spent dealing with one last critical issue for my project that was found last minute. Getting approved to get it fixed as soon as possible, getting the developers to get it fixed, getting it tested and signed off... But it all happened. And because of that last final push, we get to see what happens tomorrow.

This past Thurs, I met Blondie and our friends at the bar to the watch the Packers whoop it up on the Saints. I was late due to the above mess with the project, and was in an awful mood by the time I made it to the bar from work (9:15 pm ish). However, I came walking in, and Blondie had me a double scotch waiting, and my friends were there and they had set their wedding date so were in excellent moods, and it was all I needed to get my head out of my ass. I got caught up with my friends, and we cheered the Packers onto victory!

I was a wreck on Friday. I'm pretty sure I woke up still drunk. I staggered around the apartment for a bit, had a long chat with the cat (and I'm pretty sure he talked back), before dragging my ass into work. Because for as bad as Thurs night was, we didn't get the problem resolved then. Friday was a LONG day trying to get everything cemented in place. But finally, at 7:45 pm on Friday night, we signed off.

Saturday, I had to work a little in the morning to check on the fix we had done - make sure everything had gone ok. But then it was a free day! The delightful Ms HK had flown in from SF for her bachelorette party, so me and Blondie went and met her and a ton of friends for lunch at Ippudo (there was another guy there besides Blondie). We ate a ton of food, before heading home because I had to work again - but lo and behold, the work I was supposed to do was not needed for Saturday so I got to crash and take a nap.

After my nap, Blondie and I got into the 4 Loko - we had found the new version of it and since we had never tried it before it got banned, decided to give it a whirl. That shit totally screwed me up. I had about 3 sips, and was like "Oh holy hell, I'm drunk". We had ourselves a little party in the afternoon - just hanging out and chatting and watching TV with the Blonde One.

Saturday night, I headed back out to meet up with the b-ette party for dinner and drinks. We tried out Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill - and it was SOOOOO good. A couple of us split a corn and shrimp tamale, rabbit, and a rib eye. We also had a ton of sides that we shared with the whole table. And of course, margaritas. I couldn't find a cab after, so I just took the subway home. It was after midnight, but I got to appreciate living a city with a good public transportation system.

*** I loved SF like crazy, but the public transportation system there sucked balls. There was no overnight service on anything, so if you were out late and wanted to get home, you had to call a cab. In NYC, the trains run overnight (albeit on a limited schedule).

Today was time for football! Blondie and I headed out for little tacos and slices of pizza, before heading back home to watch the teams play. I took a nap on the floor for an hour or so, and then Blondie took a nap on the floor. It's a overcast, cool day in the city - fall is definitely on it's way.

This week, I got back into a good workout schedule. I ran last Saturday and Sunday, did Precor on Monday, took Tues off, and ran Wed and Thurs. I also lifted weights everyday. I'll go running again tomorrow, and am looking forward to it.

We've got some exciting things coming up. The launch of my project tomorrow, SF for the wedding of the K's, our anniversary, the civil ceremony of our friends from the bar, a cabaret show that my friend from the bar is starring in, and Barbados. On top of that, my friend and coworker from SF is in town tomorrow for the week because of our launch - so the week will hopefully go super fast because of that.

--K

No hurricanes, a launched project (squee!), and a celebrity sighting

The Friday before Irene hit the city was literally the calm before the storm. Blondie and I did all of our shopping (along with 200000 other people stocking up) before heading home to have some drinks on our patio. We decided dinner would be at our bar, so after drinks on our patio, we hit up the Winchester. It seems everyone but me know that Irene would be really nothing, so the night was spent making fun of me and my worries about Irene.

Saturday the clouds started rolling in. It was eerie. NYC shut down all public transportation at noon on Saturday, and as the day went on, the traffic got less and less. Saturday night around 6 pm we took some beers to the patio and watched *absolutely nothing*. A few people were out walking, but there were no cars, no traffic, no honking, no nothing.

And by the time we woke up on Sunday it was all over - it had definitely rained, but whatever had happened overnight wasn't even enough to wake us up. Around noon, Blondie and I headed out to check out the city - headed up into Times Square and were shocked by how many people were out. We decided lunch had to be KFC, and it was open! We got a huge bucket of chicken and sides and took it back to our place to eat on our floor.

By Monday morning, the sun was back and transportation was back on, which meant back to the grind for me. So worth it though - because Wednesday morning, my alarm went off at 4:45 am and it was with eager feet that I leapt out of bed, showered, and basically ran to the subway. At my desk by 6 am, along with about 5 other people in the office, and I got to watch my projects go out. It was a beautiful day - I almost cried at my desk. 1 project went live, and the other went in dark and we start dialing up traffic a week from today to it - it's been a solid YEAR at this point of working on it, and the relief was intense on Wednesday.

Blondie took me to dinner on Wednesday to celebrate - we went for mexican and beers, but it was an early night as the early start had done me in. But then on Thursday, my boss took us all out to celebrate - I had eaten a salad for lunch, and then skipped dinner - by the time I rolled into the apartment on Thurs night, I was a wreck. I somehow had managed to stop for a subway which I ate in like 3 secs flat, but it didn't help. Friday I had to call in sick. Go me - and for the last summer Friday too.

On Friday, after I felt better, Blondie and I headed out for lunch and then we went down to Hudson River Park to laze about in the afternoon. Saturday we decided to bar hop around NYU area as the kids (yes, kids, omg - I'm so old) are back for the fall - we hit up our favorite bar down there, and then we went on a mission to find a bar that Blondie had discovered in 2009 when we were here for interviews. Unbelievably, we found it. And it was awesome. After many drinks throughout the afternoon, we ran into a street festival to end our day.

Yesterday I hit up my pedi place to get my toes done - I had literally the worst looking feet you've ever seen - my big toenail had split halfway down my toe, and the rest of the toes had paint 1/2-3/4 way chipped off. Blondie came out to meet me for lunch after, and he picked one of the bars around us for food.

Now, we've known about this bar from the day we moved into the hood, but for the most part, it's always jammed. It's also the last bar / restaurant we have within a 2 block radius that we haven't tried, so we decided to go for it yday. We walked in about 15 mins after they opened, and took a seat at the bar. There was a really nice couple sitting beside us, and we chatted beers for a bit, before Blondie's eyes got big and said "I know this woman from somewhere!" It was back and forth between us, but then he realized - she had a part in both Louie CK and You've Got Mail! (Veanne Cox) We debated saying something to her, but then decided to keep quiet.

While we were all chatting (and we swapped beers and tried tastes too) her friend happened to mention he had taken a look at her official website, and mentioned that she's a well-known enough actress to make sure to take care of her website. And then big-mouth me blurted out, "we know who you are! You've Got Mail!" which seemed to shock her. She said that she usually does not get that, but she gets recognized from other parts instead.

Anyway, she was awesome and we made plans to meet her and her friend again next Sunday (we'll see if we all show up). Her friend and Blondie exchanged contact info and he seemed really eager about Blondie's website skills. We got a picture of us together before she left. Just a really great day all around!

Today is lazy day. Blondie is poking around, taking his time getting going. I'm debating what I want for lunch.

I started working out again on Saturday - it had been about 2 weeks, between the cold that took me down for 5 days, and then the hurricane (they shut down the gym for 3 days), and then getting my launch ready and then celebrating my launch - it's been non-stop excuses. However, on Saturday I got down to the gym and did 3.1 miles, lifted some weights, and then did a disc of Insanity. On Sunday, I did 3.1 miles on the treadmill again before lifting a LOT of weights. And today I did 45 minutes on the precor (and no weights were done). I feel so much better just getting back into the groove.

--K

HAPPY AUGUST BIRTHDAYS!!!!

A big fat shout out to Brother R (Aug 10), sis (Aug 11), and Mr Pooh (Aug 20) - HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you all! Hope you've had a fantastic month, and had great birthdays!

First, an earthquake. Next up, a hurricane

It's been a big fat bunch o' work that's been going on lately. The good news is we are signed off to go live!!!! It's paying off - and I'm BEYOND EXCITED to see this project I've spent a year working on go into production. The best part of the last 2 weeks was the day I got to hear the entire QA team go around the room and say they had signed off their pieces of the release, and then when I got to say "We're a go from business" - that feeling, it was good.

Last week was a pretty good week - I could tell we were coming into completion, and the pressure had released somewhat from having to be so anal about every little thing that was going on. On top of that, we had a group in from the SF office - we're already kicking off my new project, and they had come in so that they could meet everyone and so that we could do our actual kickoff. The week went super fast because of that.

Last Wednesday, I met the Blonde One at our local bar - we're headed to see the Jets/Bills game Thanksgiving weekend with our bartender, and he had our tickets we needed to pick up. We stopped in for a few drinks, which easily turned into Shit Show, volume Wednesday, edition #24023032.

Last Thursday, the offices were moved. We stayed in the same bldg, same floor, but everyone (except for me and 2 others) had their offices rotated around. Due to this, we were kicked out of the bldg at 4 pm. Me and 5 others decided to make the most of it and hit up a bar by work - we had a blast, and conversation ranged all over the place.

Then last Friday, it was off to the Bierhaus! A group of us from work had bought a Groupon - and it was $29 all you could eat brats and pretzels, with a liter of beer. The Bierhaus is by my work, and it's a new beergarden (obviously). OMG - they had sausages with cheddar stuffed inside. The sun started shining when I bit into that. And the beer.... oh so good. We had only meant to stay for 2 hours, but uh, it was longer than that. When we left, Blondie and I decided to walk across the island (2miles ish). As we were slowly making our way home through everyone that had just gotten off work for the day (hahahhahah! I was done 5 hours earlier!), we spotted a bar called "Point Break". We HAD to stop in - not only did it have awesome HH specials, "Point Break" brings back the best memories of Shelbs and Bbbb. After "Point Break", it was off to our local bar to round out the evening.

Saturday I laid in a ball on the floor all day, comforting my liver after 3 days of abusing it. And Sunday I drug myself down to the gym and had a pretty good run - my leg finally feels like it's loosening up in these new shoes. Which is relief.

After the run, Blondie and I caught a train over to Queens to watch a Mets/Brewers game! We had tickets to this game last year and it got rained out, so we turned our tickets in for this game instead. It was so much fun, and Blondie was rooting for his hometeam (Brewers) who actually won! It's not surprising that they won as they are really good this year, but it is surprising that a team we root for actually won. The game was fun, the weather was beautiful, and the Brewers won. Who can beat that?

On Sunday night, after we got home, I was talking to Blondie and within the space of like 5 seconds, I realized I was sick. I literally went from feeling 100% good to sick over the course of 5 minutes. I went to bed super early hoping to nip it in the bud, but that didn't happen. I've spent the last 4 days hacking my lungs out, wheezy breathing, snotty nose - it's been awful. And because of where we are at for launching my project next week, I've had to go into the office each day.

On Tuesday, we had a big earthquake hit - and par for the course, I didn't feel anything. Blondie felt it at the apartment, and even where I was at work, everyone else felt it - but not me. I sat at my desk through it and didn't realize anything was going on. A friend of mine was like "WHAT??!?!? How did you miss that!??!?! My chair was rocking, my desk was shaking!" and I was like "huh, not sure how I did miss that". Another friend of mine from SF had also pinged me - "did you feel the earthquake???" and this was before I knew we had an earthquake - I thought he was being fun that we had gotten approved for launching my project - like "omg! you're launching! the world is coming to an end!"

On Wednesday, our bartender called and it turns out he thinks he can get us all tickets to the Packers/Giants game in December! We got super excited about that - and we're keeping our fingers crossed that this comes through.

Today I have to go to work for a few hours, and then it's prep-time for Hurricane Irene. We're in a flood zone - but luckily, we're in a high rise. My zone is not mandatory evacuation zone, but we're 1 level away from it. I have to get a lighter today for candles in case we lose power, and we're going to do some light grocery shopping. Blondie is in charge of clearing off our patio, getting all the candles in 1 place, and filling up a bunch of water bottles. It's weird to be doing this prep work as it's a GORGEOUS day out today - sunny and beautiful, no clouds, and to think that tomorrow this time, the rain starts to hit, and by Sunday this time, the eye of the hurricane could be somewhere near us. It's a little unnerving.

Funny thing - I've always thought I would like to live in Miami, and Blondie has always nixed that plan - he doesn't like hurricanes, and refused to even talk about moving there. Hmmmm.....

Hope everyone is well, and that you are earthquake/hurricane free!

--K

Easy Like Sunday Morning

So jury duty ended - we came to our verdict on Wednesday, and we were out of the courts by around noon. It was a very interesting process - I learned a lot, and would sit through jury duty again if called (in 6 years). However, it ended on a very bad note - and I've never been so happy to get through the last 2 hours of jury duty in my life.

What I learned from jury duty:
1) All about semi-automatic weapons- how they work, how they fire, how the bullets are "designed", etc.
2) I need to carry mace at all times in NYC
3) I've been super lucky - I've lived in some very big cities (Dallas, San Francisco, NYC) and not been mugged/hurt/assaulted (knock on wood).
4) Everything I've seen on CSI is a lie (you can't separate fingerprints, unless the DNA from multiple sources is the exact same amount - you can't separate it, you definitely can't sharpen up video images/still photographs like they do on CSI).

The week went super fast also - the combination of jury duty and work made it feel like Friday before Monday ended. I had to work late both Monday and Tuesday, but then on Wednesday, I was a shaky wreck when jury duty ended. I called Blondie and he convinced me to take the rest of the day off. It was awesome, and exactly what I needed.

Blondie met me for lunch (White Castle) before we walked over to his bank. From there, it was a walk back up to Times Square where we tried to get tickets for The Lion King on Broadway but they were sold out. So we went to the movies instead and saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It was rocking good, but it did take awhile to get going. Once it did though, seriously fun movie. Also it was set in SF, and in 1 scene, you could actually see our old apartment building! After the movie, we hit up Dave & Busters for half-price game day (Wed). We played for about 3 hours for less than $28. We also sat at their bar for awhile and enjoyed a drink which was actually really cheap considering it was D&B in Times Square (tourist central). After D&B, we went for sit down mexican - I had carnitas in red sauce and Blondie had chorizo and potatos, and then we headed to our bodega for a 6-er before heading home to crash. All in all, a day that started shitty but ended awesome.

Friday I got out of work right on time and met Blondie for burgers and a beer. Our restaurant has a monster patio, and we enjoyed the beautiful weather for a bit. Afterwards, we started in the direction of our grocery stores, but stopped off before to split a bottle of wine and relax. Grocery shopping was then done, before we came home and collapsed.

Yesterday was low-key, very overcast and yucky, so we stayed in all day. I had to work for a couple of hours, and then I napped all afternoon. Last night, we caught up on our DVRs. Today I went and did a 3.1 mile run, and then finally put up all my clean clothes (go me! Only took me 3 weeks!) It's pouring rain outside today so I'm not moving from my spot.

I ended up starting Insanity again this week, and I'm going to stick with it for another round. However, I do need to run 2 times a week, so I think I'm going to take my Insanity recovery day and make it a running day.

--K

A 9 Times Production

What a week. I'm going to start with that. As fast as 2 weeks ago went, last week was 20x faster. To begin with, my worst fears came true as I was picked to be on a jury. Not only was I picked, I was picked *immediately*. The very first time they sat for a jury, I was picked #1. I can't say anymore, but when the trial is over, I will give generic details out.

Jury duty is hard right now because I'm very concerned about my project. Every hour I'm away from work makes me panic a bit more. But, having said that, I'm actually kind of entralled by the process I'm going through and how much I'm learning (stuff I'll never need to know again, but still) everyday I'm at jury duty.

So jury duty runs everyday but Thursday, and that's because the courts shut down. So everyday last week, except Thursday, I started my day off by a trip down to City Hall. The trip is ok as I can catch an express train in Times Square, so I'm usually to the courts about 30 mins after I leave our apartment. I also get to stop in at Starbucks for my daily coffee as opposed to the office Flavia machine.

Everyday last week also, except for Friday, I had to go back to the office after jury duty was done. So I would get out between 2:30 and 4:15, and right back to work. The nice thing though about City Hall is that it seems all trains converge there, so my train back to work is a 2 minute walk from City Hall. And everyday last week except for Friday, I was again at work until 8:30 - 9 pm at night.

Last Tuesday, we went out for my friend's last day at work. Way too much bourbon and wine ensued, but the food and the company were both excellent. It's sad to say goodbye to my 2 friends that have quit, but it's also a kick in the butt for me - the time on my contract is coming to an end, so it's very soon going to be up to me if I want to stick around or look for something else.

After my friend's party last Tuesday, I headed on home - got back to the apartment around 11 pm and there was no Blondie. I knew immediately where he was so I headed over to our bar and had a few drinks with him, and just relaxed.

On Friday, one of the jurors had invited everyone to his apartment for lunch. He lives very close to City Hall, so we went and enjoyed his rooftop patio - the views were f'ing amazing! Empire State Bldg, Chrysler Bldg, Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn - it was a never ending party for the eyes. And after jury duty was done, I headed back to Times Square and met Blondie for an early movie.

We saw "Cowboys and Aliens", and it was really really good! I love Daniel Craig and to see him do a cowboy role (after James Bond) with an american accent was da bomb diggity. We had some snacks and enjoyed finally getting to see Blondie before 9:15 pm. After our movie, we headed over for Ethiopian food and split a bottle of wine before heading home to crash out.

Yesterday I had to work for a couple of hours, before Blondie and I decided to do movie day. It was rainy and overcast all day, so we opted to pick a movie-theme and hang out. I picked "Stars before they went off the hook" as our theme and we watched "Signs" (Mel Gibson), "Cocktail" (Tom Cruise), and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (Charlie Sheen - TIGER BLOOD!).

Today was some more work (about an hour) and now I'm watching reruns of my favorite Ginger Junk Conan O'Brien. No plans for the rest of the day - it's not raining today but it's definitely overcast. I have a glass of scotch, work is done for the day, I have courts tomorrow, and I have a cat curled up beside me. Could be worse people, could be worse.

This week was a recovery week from Insanity. I took Monday off from working out, did an Insanity month 1 program on Tuesday (and realized I needed a bigger recovery), took Wed off, did Yoga on Thurs, Core Cardio Insanity on Friday, took Saturday off, and did a 3.1 mile run/walk today. Tomorrow I hope to run again, before starting back up (including eating right) with Insanity on Tuesday.

In exciting news, Blondie and I finally booked our first vacation (just him and me, that doesn't involve visiting family ) for the first time since 2006. We're off to Barbados as a combination anniversary / my birthday gift at the end of October. 5 days in an all-inclusive resort - I absolutely 100% cannot wait.

--K

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