Another beautiful week off

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Holidays everyone!

--K

What I'm Thankful For

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Snot Nose Kerri

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now just to survive 2.5 business days...

--K

Visitors, Birthdays, and Working Out (yet again)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--K

Barbados

The alarm went off last Monday at 5 am - I hopped out of bed, into the shower, and was just giddy. I woke Blondie up around 5:30 am, and we headed out at 6 am to catch our cab to JFK. To go to Barbados (in case I haven't said it enough). I had upgraded our tickets to premium seating because it had more room and Blondie was (is) still feeling like complete shit due to his pinched nerve. When we got to JFK, it turned out the upgrade also included "Fast Pass" which basically expressed us in front of everyone waiting in line to go through security.

Our flight took off right on time, and I slept most of the way - waking up to the most beautiful words in the world: "If you look out the windows to the left, you'll see Barbados".

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. Barbados is gorgeous. The water is incredible - crystal clear, bright blue - I've never seen anything like it. It looked like a painting. Our hotel was pretty nice - as soon as we walked in, rum punches were in our hands, and we sat overlooking the carribean while they got us checked in.

The hotel had 2 buildings - one was the spa building and one was the ocean building. The spa building was across the road from the ocean building, and it's where we ended up being. The spa building had the spa (duh), and the pool, and a bar. It was also only like 20 seconds from the ocean building, but it was weird having to cross a road everytime we wanted to go to the beach.

Our first day we just hung out at the pool - we literally changed immediately and booked it on down and into the pool. Tues and Thurs, we started the day off at the ocean in the morning, and then the pool in the afternoon. And on Wed, we took advantage of our complimentary spa passes and got a massage (Blondie) and facial (me) in the morning, before hanging out at the pool in the afternoon. We didn't do anything else - no touring, no snorkeling, no nothing. We ate almost exclusively seafood, drank a ton of booze, lazed on the beach/pool area, slept. That was it.

What I liked about our hotel: the complimentary booze in your room (you didn't even have to go to a bar to get a drink), the pool area was beautiful, the patio in the ocean building was incredible, they had drink service on the beach.
What I didn't like about our hotel: the 2 building setup, it was all-inclusive but with weird hours for dining, the bars weren't 24 hours, the beach vendors were invasive.

The water: I can't stress this enough - the water at Barbados is unlike any I've seen. You could see everything - it was like looking through glass. I would be in water to my neck and look down and still be able to see my toes. It was honestly my favorite part.

We headed back to NYC on Friday (after hitting up duty free for Barbados rum), left the 85 degree tropical weather and hit down at JFK to mid 40's. And woke up Saturday morning to a snowstorm. Yep, a raging snowstorm. In October. Less than 24 hours after we left Barbados. I drug Blondie to the grocery store where the checker asked me if I had fallen and hurt my face (because of how bad I'm burned). We spent Saturday just recuperating, watching a ton of TV, drinking some beer and rum, and taking it easy.

Today the sun is back, but it's still chilly. We did leave around noon to go buy some more beer, and then started to watch the Godfather trilogy. Around 4 pm, we decided we had to have pasta for dinner, which meant we had to have red wine for dinner. So I took advantage of our neighborhood and had our local wine store deliver 9 bottles of wine. We're stocked for awhile.

Plans for the week: work (BOO), Halloween, a friend from Texas lands on Thurs for the weekend.

Workout plans for the week: tomorrow starts my training for the half next March. I'm thinking also about buying some goggles and starting to use our pool 1-2 days a week for laps. I think that cardio would totally help my running, and would give my knees/legs a break.

Mostly right now, I want to get back into my eating right, working out plan so bad I can't stand it - I feel miserable, bloated and full all the time. I want to feel some hunger pains again. I want to feel my heart beating fast from a good run. It's time folks.

--K

Barbados biznitches!

So f'ing excited! This literally was the longest week ever (literally, seriously, literally). It felt like it took 3000000 years to complete. But complete it did. And tomorrow, finally, we are off for our first vacation in ages.

The week outside of work was good. Last Sunday, Blondie and I headed up to a local bar and met our friends for some drinks. The bar is under new management, and the new owner came through the bar with a free drink for everyone in there - it was called "hot apple pie", which made us laugh like crazy. It was complete liquor, no mixers. And it tasted like hot apple pie. And it fucked you right on up. We had several beers there along with the "hot apple pie", and then headed down to West Village area to eat some burgers.

The burger place was pretty nice. I think whoever first came up with the idea of putting a fried egg on your burger should be considered a genius. Also, this burger place had alcoholic milkshakes. OMG people - so good! I had a Jack Daniel / pumpkin, and it was soooo good.

On Tuesday, I woke up to Blondie - he has been having on and off arm pain for about 2 months, and had not gotten it checked out. It was feeling a little worse on Monday so he decided to lift weights because sometimes that's just enough to stretch the muscle a little and provide some relief. But whatever he did on Monday made everything 3 billion times worse. He woke me on Tuesday in considerable pain, and we debated going to the ER. We got ahold of his doctor who fit him into the schedule, and it turns out Blondie has pinched a nerve in his neck. No cure, just rest. He's been miserable all week.

On Tuesday night, I headed out without Blondie to see my friend from the bar in her cabaret / burlesque show. I tagged along with her husband, and we stopped at our normal bar first for drinks before heading down to Chelsea. The show was incredible! My friend is such a good singer, it blew me away. They did a Halloween themed cabaret, and had music from Rocky Horror and Sweeney Todd. The hubby and I stayed for their after party, and a drunk me rolled on home around 1 am.

Wednesday was disgusting. I went into the office still feeling miiiiiiiiiighty fine, and when I started down, the headache kicked in. Awful.

Thurs night, I was feeling beat - just tired, and worn out from the week. And I had a shitty day at work. So I skipped the going away party, and went home and had a good cry in front of Blondie. I was slugging down a scotch, and just feeling drained from the after effects of crying, when my friends from the bar texted again. They were headed out for trivia, and I went and joined them. We placed 5th out of 10, and just had a great night.

Friday I got stuck on a 5 hour emergency call for work - from 11 am to 4 pm, I was tied to my desk trying to get an issue on the site resolved. It sucked. But when that call ended, it was a happy happy dance as I realized, I don't have to be anywhere near that place for another 1.5 weeks! WOOT!

Yesterday and today were spent doing prep work for Barbados - pedicure and waxing were completed, so I can go and not feel awful while I'm there. Blondie has spent his days this past week flat on his back on the floor - if he's moving around he's fine, if he's lying flat he's fine. If he's sitting up, he's not fine - how in the world are we going to fly? We're not sure but he refuses to talk about cancelling the trip.

Plans for Barbados are as follows: drink, beach, sleep, repeat. Oh, and tour a rum distillery.

--K

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