At least I hope so... We got an inch or two of snow last night, and it's continuing to fall. Our flight isn't scheduled until 3pm, and right now it's hard to tell if that's bad or good. We have a layover in Milwaukee, which seems okay compared to say... St. Louis... but who knows. I've never done the whole flying in snow thing before so it's a little scary. Fortunately we have lots of reading material and trail mix to keep us occupied should we get delayed.
Going to head to the gym this morning for 3x1mi slightly slower than 5k pace. I re-calibrated our treadmill a few evenings ago, so hopefully I can get it to feel more like running outside, but I'm going to wait for an easy run to check and see how it's doing.
My mom called last night and sounded pretty excited about our visit. She planned a get-together for relatives on her side of the family, and it sounds like a lot of them will be able to make it. Even though I felt a little bad taking more vacation right after I got back, I'm really glad I'm able to go. I haven't seen many of those people since my wedding, and who knows when I'll be able to see them again.
Posting will be sporadic if at all because- well- I don't like using the computer on vacation. Stay warm out there, everyone.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Looking forward to the elliptical
Which is a little sad, actually. But I'm tired of the treadmill, and I need to do something different. Only a few more weeks before my beloved spinning class will start again.
Not much to report other than I made the best looking omelet of my 4-week omelet making career yesterday. So good that I was actually motivated to get the camera out, take a picture, load the picture on the computer, and load it onto the blog. (I give you guys who do lots of pictures so much credit).
No tears anywhere- oh yeah.
I'm going to cut it off here before this gets any more inane. Happy Wednesday, all.
Not much to report other than I made the best looking omelet of my 4-week omelet making career yesterday. So good that I was actually motivated to get the camera out, take a picture, load the picture on the computer, and load it onto the blog. (I give you guys who do lots of pictures so much credit).
No tears anywhere- oh yeah.
I'm going to cut it off here before this gets any more inane. Happy Wednesday, all.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Treadmill Fatigue
Another day of - - - - showing as the outside temperature on our digital thermometer; another morning on the treadmill. Probably 5 or 6 miles with some bursts of speed. I'm counting down to Friday when I'll be able to run outside again (in shorts! in FL!), and next week is looking much warmer with highs in the upper 20s. (I can't believe I just wrote that!)
My first day of work after the break went smoothly. I have a lot of stuff to do, but I feel confident that I can finish everything that needs to be done before I leave again.
After work I tried out one of my Christmas gifts for the first time- the Dave Swenson Yoga Short Forms DVD. I did the 30 minute practice, and it was great. You do sun salutations, standing postures, seated forward bends, twists, back bends, shoulder stand, and a couple strength poses. This is a great DVD for people who know how to do yoga but are super inflexible anyway. The only thing that's a little weird about it is that there's no music- just him talking.
Well, I've got to run... I'll be living vicariously through all of you who get to run outside this morning.
My first day of work after the break went smoothly. I have a lot of stuff to do, but I feel confident that I can finish everything that needs to be done before I leave again.
After work I tried out one of my Christmas gifts for the first time- the Dave Swenson Yoga Short Forms DVD. I did the 30 minute practice, and it was great. You do sun salutations, standing postures, seated forward bends, twists, back bends, shoulder stand, and a couple strength poses. This is a great DVD for people who know how to do yoga but are super inflexible anyway. The only thing that's a little weird about it is that there's no music- just him talking.
Well, I've got to run... I'll be living vicariously through all of you who get to run outside this morning.
Monday, January 4, 2010
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Other than the days of our drives to and from TN, this is the first time I've gotten up at 5am in a week and a half. My brain is starting to kick in and remember that- oh yeah, I have this thing called a job that I have to go to, which means I have I get up early to exercise.
After a restful vacation, I feel ready to use my brain again and think that- unlike some vacations where I need a vacation to recover from my vacation- I was able to do a good bit of recharging in the last week and a half. It seems like I've been away forever, and I feel some anxiety that I'm going to be incredibly behind, but I need to keep reminding myself that- between the holiday and furlough days- I actually only missed 3 work days when I was gone.
We worked on some kitchen improvement projects yesterday, including replacing our old food processor that was really hard to use and putting up a magnetic strip to hold our knives rather than having two huge knife blocks taking up precious, precious counter space.
Also, we watched 10 episodes of 30 Rock season 2 and I made my second to last Christmas ornament. YAY!
Well, it's about time to get ready to head to the gym. After two days of treadmill, I'm going to zone out on the elliptical for awhile. Here's hoping the battery on my MP3 player has enough charge!
After a restful vacation, I feel ready to use my brain again and think that- unlike some vacations where I need a vacation to recover from my vacation- I was able to do a good bit of recharging in the last week and a half. It seems like I've been away forever, and I feel some anxiety that I'm going to be incredibly behind, but I need to keep reminding myself that- between the holiday and furlough days- I actually only missed 3 work days when I was gone.
We worked on some kitchen improvement projects yesterday, including replacing our old food processor that was really hard to use and putting up a magnetic strip to hold our knives rather than having two huge knife blocks taking up precious, precious counter space.
Also, we watched 10 episodes of 30 Rock season 2 and I made my second to last Christmas ornament. YAY!
Well, it's about time to get ready to head to the gym. After two days of treadmill, I'm going to zone out on the elliptical for awhile. Here's hoping the battery on my MP3 player has enough charge!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Treadmill Redux
It's 1 (feels like 1) outside so I'm back on the treadmill again. I think all the people who get out and run when it's close to 0 are totally BAMF, but I appreciate my nose and fingers too much to do that to them.
I got in 8mi on the mill yesterday, which was more of a mental feat than a physical one. Today will be about 5, mostly because I've been procrastinating on it and we need to get out the door for church.
I'm still working on getting everything organized and ready to go back to work tomorrow (and ready to leave again on Thursday). Most of the mail has been dealt with. We have plans to take the car for repairs. Closets and bookshelves have been examined for give-aways, which will be taken to St. Vinny's today. I read a few personal finance blogs, and a lot of people talk about getting a high from buying stuff. I'm actually the opposite and get a high from cleaning out clutter and giving unused things away.
There was also some relaxation done yesterday. We watched season one disc one of 30-Rock and did the Inner Fire Flow community yoga class. Even though I'm pretty terrible at it, I love how relaxed and loose yoga makes me feel when I'm done. I got a great new yoga DVD for Christmas (Dave Swenson's short forms) and I hope between that and catching the occasional Saturday class I'll be able to improve my strength and flexibility a lot this year.
I got in 8mi on the mill yesterday, which was more of a mental feat than a physical one. Today will be about 5, mostly because I've been procrastinating on it and we need to get out the door for church.
I'm still working on getting everything organized and ready to go back to work tomorrow (and ready to leave again on Thursday). Most of the mail has been dealt with. We have plans to take the car for repairs. Closets and bookshelves have been examined for give-aways, which will be taken to St. Vinny's today. I read a few personal finance blogs, and a lot of people talk about getting a high from buying stuff. I'm actually the opposite and get a high from cleaning out clutter and giving unused things away.
There was also some relaxation done yesterday. We watched season one disc one of 30-Rock and did the Inner Fire Flow community yoga class. Even though I'm pretty terrible at it, I love how relaxed and loose yoga makes me feel when I'm done. I got a great new yoga DVD for Christmas (Dave Swenson's short forms) and I hope between that and catching the occasional Saturday class I'll be able to improve my strength and flexibility a lot this year.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
I'm back! It's cold!
After a very early morning and a long drive, we arrived home in Madison a little after 4:30 yesterday. We were blessed by the weather, traffic, and "right way on the interstate" gods, and it took us 1.5 hours less to get home than it did to drive to TN.
We had an early dinner, grabbed some necessities at Target, and headed home to unload the car and check the mail. After everything was looked at and put away I collapsed in a puddle in front of the TV to watch the Sugar Bowl. About 10 minutes later, I decided I could leave it in the Gators' capable hands and went to bed. Plus I'm not sure I could have listened to 3.5 hours of Urban Meyer speculation and Tebow worship (his own camera... seriously???). But I'm glad I woke up to find we'd trounced Cincinnati.
As a side note, I grew up a Florida State fan so it was nice that Bobby Bowden won his last game. It was time for him to step down, but he had a lot of amazing years there.
In a few minutes I'm going to hop on the treadmill for my first run of 2010. I pulled out all my warm weather outdoor running gear, but it's -5 air temperature (feels like -19), and I'm not crazy so treadmill it is. Plus this time next week I'll be in Florida!!! running outside in shorts!!!!
I did a little blog reading while I was away, but I like to make my vacations as much a detox from the computer as I can. I'm looking forward to catching up on all of you and hope you had a great holiday season.
We had an early dinner, grabbed some necessities at Target, and headed home to unload the car and check the mail. After everything was looked at and put away I collapsed in a puddle in front of the TV to watch the Sugar Bowl. About 10 minutes later, I decided I could leave it in the Gators' capable hands and went to bed. Plus I'm not sure I could have listened to 3.5 hours of Urban Meyer speculation and Tebow worship (his own camera... seriously???). But I'm glad I woke up to find we'd trounced Cincinnati.
As a side note, I grew up a Florida State fan so it was nice that Bobby Bowden won his last game. It was time for him to step down, but he had a lot of amazing years there.
In a few minutes I'm going to hop on the treadmill for my first run of 2010. I pulled out all my warm weather outdoor running gear, but it's -5 air temperature (feels like -19), and I'm not crazy so treadmill it is. Plus this time next week I'll be in Florida!!! running outside in shorts!!!!
I did a little blog reading while I was away, but I like to make my vacations as much a detox from the computer as I can. I'm looking forward to catching up on all of you and hope you had a great holiday season.
Friday, January 1, 2010
New Year's Resolutions
I looked back to see if I had written down resolutions for 2009, but I only discovered a few, and those were more than a little too optimistic. I think the only resolution I kept was getting a bike and riding to and from work when the weather was nice.
Now it's time for Resolutions 2010. Although a lot of "experts" caution against making general resolutions, that's my intention this year. The problem with making really specific resolutions is that you don't know how realistic that particular goal is or if it will change somehow over the course of the year. So this year's goals will be less about things I can cross off a list and more like ideals to work toward. Also, a lot of these overlap.
Without further ado and in no particular order, they are:
1. Put away EVERYTHING after I use it. This means folding/hanging up my work clothes rather than setting them on a chair, washing the dishes immediately after I use them rather than allowing them to sit in the sink, and keeping my work files in order and put away when I'm not using them so papers stay where they belong. It takes 30 seconds to do small tasks as needed. It takes hours to clean a messy house/office. 'Nuff said.
2. Focus at work. Do one thing at a time. Work thoroughly through a task. Ask questions. Ask more questions. Be calm when it feels like I don't have enough time to finish everything. NEVER open a Web browser unless it's a designated break time.
3. Consistently push myself beyond my comfort zone in all things fitness and healthy eating. Try new vegetables. Try new workouts. Try to push the speed up just a little higher on that interval and the gear up one more on the spin bike. Do not think that something "wont work for me" until I've really tried it.
4. Have more fun with more people. I enjoy socializing, but it seems like I always have a "good" reason not to plan my own outings/events. I just wait around for others to do the planning for me. No more! If it sounds like fun for D and I, it's better with company. (Okay, this could be taken way the wrong way ;) )
5. Take more pictures. I've never been a big picture person, but I'm always jealous of the huge albums people display on Facebook and the like. Someday we're going to want to look back on this period of our lives, and if I don't start taking more pictures, it's going to be harder to remember.
6. Stay in touch. With frequency. Call my brother, my grandparents, my aunt, old friends, etc. We usually don't talk more than 15 minutes or so, but, in my experience it's frequency of contact that improves relationships more than trying to have a deep conversation once a year. That sort of thing just doesn't happen. You get a surface 15-minute conversation, but only once a year.
7. Music. Most people who know me now don't know that music was a serious part of my life for awhile. I played the oboe from the 6th grade until I graduated from college, and there was a time when I was pretty good at it. I don't have any urges to pick up the oboe again, but I've always wanted to learn to play the piano. We have a nice keyboard, and my Christmas gift this year is a semester of lessons from a UW music student, so I'm really looking forward to making music again.
8. Waste less time. I have a project list a mile long, but there are too many evenings when I come home from work and collapse in a blob of trashy-novel-reading worthlessness. I know how much better I feel when I spend my evenings and weekends being productive, but too often I don't. I don't work an 80 hour week, and I don't run 80 miles a week, so I have no excuse not to get more done with my extra time.
9. Read real books. Not Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the like. I also want to post synopses on Goodreads so I actually think about and remember what I read.
10. Do a better job on the blog. I need to spend some serious time working on the header and side bars and posting everyday. A long time ago I tried to join BlogHer and they rejected me (I guess- I never heard anything from them) because my blog is so sorry. I like the blog community, and I think it could be neat to look back at this blog as a record of my life in my mid 20's, but I'd like it better if it looked nice.
So there you have it. I'm marking out four month intervals on Google Calendar so I can reflect on how I've done with these goals periodically throughout the year.
Wishing you all a blessed 2010!!!
Now it's time for Resolutions 2010. Although a lot of "experts" caution against making general resolutions, that's my intention this year. The problem with making really specific resolutions is that you don't know how realistic that particular goal is or if it will change somehow over the course of the year. So this year's goals will be less about things I can cross off a list and more like ideals to work toward. Also, a lot of these overlap.
Without further ado and in no particular order, they are:
1. Put away EVERYTHING after I use it. This means folding/hanging up my work clothes rather than setting them on a chair, washing the dishes immediately after I use them rather than allowing them to sit in the sink, and keeping my work files in order and put away when I'm not using them so papers stay where they belong. It takes 30 seconds to do small tasks as needed. It takes hours to clean a messy house/office. 'Nuff said.
2. Focus at work. Do one thing at a time. Work thoroughly through a task. Ask questions. Ask more questions. Be calm when it feels like I don't have enough time to finish everything. NEVER open a Web browser unless it's a designated break time.
3. Consistently push myself beyond my comfort zone in all things fitness and healthy eating. Try new vegetables. Try new workouts. Try to push the speed up just a little higher on that interval and the gear up one more on the spin bike. Do not think that something "wont work for me" until I've really tried it.
4. Have more fun with more people. I enjoy socializing, but it seems like I always have a "good" reason not to plan my own outings/events. I just wait around for others to do the planning for me. No more! If it sounds like fun for D and I, it's better with company. (Okay, this could be taken way the wrong way ;) )
5. Take more pictures. I've never been a big picture person, but I'm always jealous of the huge albums people display on Facebook and the like. Someday we're going to want to look back on this period of our lives, and if I don't start taking more pictures, it's going to be harder to remember.
6. Stay in touch. With frequency. Call my brother, my grandparents, my aunt, old friends, etc. We usually don't talk more than 15 minutes or so, but, in my experience it's frequency of contact that improves relationships more than trying to have a deep conversation once a year. That sort of thing just doesn't happen. You get a surface 15-minute conversation, but only once a year.
7. Music. Most people who know me now don't know that music was a serious part of my life for awhile. I played the oboe from the 6th grade until I graduated from college, and there was a time when I was pretty good at it. I don't have any urges to pick up the oboe again, but I've always wanted to learn to play the piano. We have a nice keyboard, and my Christmas gift this year is a semester of lessons from a UW music student, so I'm really looking forward to making music again.
8. Waste less time. I have a project list a mile long, but there are too many evenings when I come home from work and collapse in a blob of trashy-novel-reading worthlessness. I know how much better I feel when I spend my evenings and weekends being productive, but too often I don't. I don't work an 80 hour week, and I don't run 80 miles a week, so I have no excuse not to get more done with my extra time.
9. Read real books. Not Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the like. I also want to post synopses on Goodreads so I actually think about and remember what I read.
10. Do a better job on the blog. I need to spend some serious time working on the header and side bars and posting everyday. A long time ago I tried to join BlogHer and they rejected me (I guess- I never heard anything from them) because my blog is so sorry. I like the blog community, and I think it could be neat to look back at this blog as a record of my life in my mid 20's, but I'd like it better if it looked nice.
So there you have it. I'm marking out four month intervals on Google Calendar so I can reflect on how I've done with these goals periodically throughout the year.
Wishing you all a blessed 2010!!!
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