Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Are you sure it does not grow on trees?

Money, that is.

Well, so driving to my parent's house on Sunday, towing the new boat, the Jeep started to overheat. And then it did - overheat. We stopped on the side of the road, added some fluid to the radiator, waited for things to cool down a bit, then started up again. 5 miles down the road, in a town, thank goodness, it overheated again.

Yep, it was almost 90 degrees. So I called my parents to come and "rescue" us - they could tow the boat, and we would just drive the Jeep without towing anything. And that worked. But, we had been planning on purchasing a new vehicle sometime this year - this was just kind of the last straw.

We are now the proud owners of a Ford F250, with a diesel engine. This sucker will be able to tow anything, and laugh in the faces of any wimpier vehicles. And it should do us well when we drive to remote parts of Canada on our fishing trip in July. And the AC works.

We just have another car payment now. And it's gonna hurt for a bit.

We don't have it just yet - since we were not intending on doing this over the weekend, we did not bring the title with us, and the Jeep needs to be cleaned out. The guy at the dealership said that we can pick it up whenever, and that they would have it for us with a full tank of gas. I said to him "please dont! Please don't fill it with gas!" And we had a good giggle over that one. Nothing like a tank of gasoline to ruin a diesel engine. We are now a diesel family, with the Jetta TDI, and now the Ford F250. It might be a bit more for the fuel, but we will get better fuel economy than if they were gasoline engines. Yep more than you needed to know. More than I ever thought I would know.

And off to earn something, since really, it does not grow on trees!
~a

Friday, May 26, 2006

Some things I realized on my run this morning

  1. When it's warm I need to remember not to start out too quickly
  2. Get up earlier if I want ot get in more miles
  3. sleeping husbands are distracting... I just wanted to kiss his neck and snuggle rather than running
  4. The running bras work better when they are dried in the drier, rather than hung to dry (I read I should do this in Running magazine)
  5. When I start out too fast, I end up having my left calf cramp.
  6. Stretching the calf repeatedly and running slowly is the only way to get rid of the cramp.
  7. I thought quoting movie lines as blog titles would be fun - but I really know lines from only a few movies, and that gets dull pretty quickly, and ends up being no fun.
  8. I would rather run in the rain than in high humidity. It was quite humid and nasty this morning.
  9. I ran 4 miles this morning - If I add another 9, that would be a half marathon.
  10. I need to stick to spandex running shorts, whenever I wear the floppy nylon shorts they annoy me by riding up
  11. I covered the distance in 42 minutes, even though I stopped, stretched and walked some. I definately started too fast!
  12. I'm going to run my race on the 17th, and not let things beyond my control influence my actions. I'm a big girl, and I can run by myself.
  13. If I don't want to carry my digital music player, I can put it under my ballcap. Why did I not think of that before?
  14. Getting up and running, as hard as it is to get motivated, is totally worth it when you are done!

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Life in general

I am not as motivated to run as I was. My friend who was planning on running with me, is not going to be running the half marathon. Life has just intervened with her, and she does not feel that she will be ready to run. I guess this is what happens when you are a single parent with four children, and two jobs.

Although, one of the jobs was as a WW leader... and she is now "on leave" because she is not at her goal weight. I know it sounds harsh, but one of the stipulations about working for WW is that you need to maintain at goal, or if you don't you need to work at getting back to goal. And I know from experience that it is hard. You need the time to be able to do it. And the drive and motivation. I just hope that she will use this as an opportunity to get some "me" time for herself.

I just know that I have not run a long race without her, and she was always my cheerleader and motivatior at the end, telling me that I could do it. I am actually not sure how well things will go without her. But, you never know until you know, and you will never know if you don't try.

My eating has been all over the place lately. Like last night - I got home and made some squash fries. And drank some of the leftover punch from the party (Rhubarb punch made with Splenda and diet soda though, so very low in calories). Then I decided I wanted a treat. Reached for the frozen yogurt (better choice than the ice cream) and loaded it with toppings... pretty much negated the choice of frozen yogurt. Although, at the study session that evening, I avoided the cookies, chips and seven-layer dip. And when I got home, I did not eat the pizza that Eric had made for himself. I had two glasses of water, then a snack bag of healty pop kettle corn, and when the water was not helping with the hungry feeling, a 100 cal granola bar.

Carbs and sugar anyone?

I am planning on getting to the Y to run on the treadmill this afternoon. It's supposed to be rainy, and I plan on only doing 4 miles, which is doable on the treadmill. I also want to push myself a bit, and up my speed some... plus I probably should use the membership since I am paying for it!

Dinner, I would like to cook the tuna steak I have defrosted in the refrigerator... but I have a Jaycee general membership meeting at 6 tonight - not sure if I can fit cooking into the schedule at this point. I know there will be appetizers at the meeting... but again, carbs and fat anyone?

*sigh* what's a girl to do?

I am also a little worried about trying to get a run in this weekend. Eric and I are heading up to Duluth on Saturday morning to go fishing, and we will be staying Saturday night. I will just need to strap on my shoes and motivate myself to run early, before he gets going/ready to go.

I guess the most impressive thing I have to say is that even with all of the food detours, I am still at a holding pattern of 180 on the scale at home. 20 pounds over my goal. But hell, I can run seven miles...

~a

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Ice Cream

Why do I love you so much? You are cold, and creamy, and sweet, yet you don't last very long, and when you are gone out of my dish, I just want more.

We hosted a wedding shower for a couple of friends of ours last Sunday in our back yard. It was an Ice Cream Social theme. And since we purchased the ice cream, we kept the ice cream. It is now in our downstairs freezer, calling my name. Well, I suppose it does not talk, but I definately know it is there. Monday, I went for the vanilla, and added some rootbeer to make myself a rootbeer float. Yesterday, I went for the chocolate, and had that with marshmello sauce on top of it. I guess my only redemption is that I refrained from going for a second serving - told myself I was limited to water for the rest of the night - which worked.

The issue is, it is still in my house. And I know I won't just dump it, because that is wasteful, and I know at some point my husband will eat it.

Moving on. Went for a run this morning. It was 65 degrees when I left the house at 5:30. Quite a difference from the 40 degrees it was on Sunday morning! It was actually a pretty nice morning for a run, there were quite a numeber of people around Phalen. I walked a couple of times and sipped some water, but I completed 7 miles this morning in 1 hour and 14 minutes. I can live with that. I just need to be able to double it. That's what the next couple of weeks will bring, working on my endurance. I want to be able to run most of the half marathon. Or all of it, with the exception of walking through some of the water stations. My pep talk of late has been "gut it out, you know you can do it... it's just a mind game!"

And I definately wore the wrong outfit today. I thought I would wear something spring-like, since it is going to be another nice day outside. I should know better - my cubicle is always cold. So I am here in my cute outfit of a jean skirt, sandals, and a sleevless shirt, wearing a jacket, and I have my wool blazer over my legs, drinking coffee to stay warm. I really wish they could figure out how to regulate the temperature here.

On that note, I am off to grab another cup of coffee. MMMMM, I love coffee.

~a

Monday, May 22, 2006

A week in review

Well, not quite a week, but close enough!

A funny thing happened to me at Jaycee convention... well, actually several funny things happened that weekend - this one was one that stands out. I was wandering around on Friday night, after getting in rather late, and the theme this year is "Catch the Wave". So of course the socializing that evening was a "beach party" theme. I was wering a silk flower lei that I had gotten somewhere. My friend, Paul, sees me in the hallway, looks at my chest (or in that vicinity) and asks "Where did you get those?" I, being me, replied, while cupping my "girls", "I've had them all of my life." Yep, you would think that he would know better, since we have worked many an hour together at the Renaissance Festival. There were even several witnesses to his embarassment. And, of course, I won't let him forget that one!

So moving on... I am feeling much better, thanks for asking. I ended up going back to my hotel on Wednesday evening last week, and staying in for the entire evening. I like the hotel I was staying at, because they do a "happy hour" with appetizers, so I did not have to go out and find something to eat. I made use of the veggies and dip, and some Gardettos. I know, an extremely healthy dinner, but I was satisfied, and did not stuff myself - and avoided going to a restaurant for a dinner that I was not hungry for.

Thursday, I did get up and run on the treadmill before my meeting. Even though the calibration on the hotel's treadmill is still off, I went for a time rather than a milage. I needed to start somewhere. I could even breathe rather normally. The meeting on Thursday lasted quite a bit longer than I really wanted - I was hoping that I might be able to see my parents on my way through, and get some healtier food at their house, but I decided I would rather get home. So when I started getting a bit hungry, I stopped for some fast food. Yep. But, I thought about it, and got the grilled chicken, and since I wanted something sweet, I got a small strawberry shake. I got the bag of food, pulled back on the freeway, and discovered that they had put fries in my bag, even though I had not ordered them. Thought to myslef "Bastards!" while shoving a fry into my mouth. I then had a talk with myself. I did not order fries, so even if they were in the bag, I did not have to eat them. I unwrapped my chicken sandwich, and ate that. Slowly. Put the chicken wrappings in the bag, and started sipping on the shake. Did that until I felt full. I crunched up the top of the food bag, and set it away from myself, and had one or two more sips of the shake and was done. Eric was quite suprised that I brought him home more than half of a strawberry shake, and a full carton of fries. I think I actually dealt with that situation quite well.

Friday was a nice evening. Eric and I got ready and went out for a "date." We drove to downtown Minneapolis, and had a lovely dinner on the sidewalk of the Local, an Irish pub. It was so great sitting out and people watching, and enjoying the company of my husband. I had been gone travelling for way too long. We then did something that Eric wanted to check out. I'm almost embarassed to say what we did, but we went to the "Sexpo" at the convention center. It was pretty lame, actually. He did not know what to expect, and I was not expecting much... there were a lot of shopping displays that you could have found at one of the local stores, and a floor show that I felt, highlighted how desperate some people were. We stopped at one booth that was doing chair massages for $1 a minute, so I got a 10-minute massage. It was more of a teaser than anything. Quite sad. Ususally when I tell people that they need to really dig in, they believe me, this was more like a little fluff and buff. When I told him to go deeper into the knots, he did not quite beleive me. And then he asked when I was going to make an appointment for a full hour. Can we say "not"? Both Eric and I agreed that it was a waste of money. Oh well, now we know better.

Saturday was spent at the house getting things ready for the shower we were hosting on Sunday, and I also moved the computer into my office upstairs. Now that my stepson is gone, we are working on orgainizing the upstairs rooms into an office and a guest bedroom. I will be excited to get everything more organized.

Sunday, I got myself motivated to go for a run. 5 miles. I only walked for about 3 minutes, and only once. Not bad for the 3 previous weeks of non-exercise. June 17th will be coming upon me very soon, and I need to get some endurance if I am going to do the half marathon in any sort of decent time. I think at this point if I beat last year's time, I will be happy.

This morning, I also got in another 5 miles. It went pretty well, even if it was a bit cold this morning. My goal is to run every day this week. It does not appear that I am traveling, so I should be able to do it. I have even asked Eric to kick me out of bed in the morning - which he did this morning. Good thing too, as I have a tendancy to not get up and exercise on Monday mornings...

And that's about the excitement of my life!

~a

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Death on Toast

Well, that's how I felt yesterday. My mother agreed that I looked like I was not feeling so well. I hate being sick. (cough, hack, sneze)

Evil cold.

I had a bit of a sore throat on Sunday as I was puttering around the house, getting geared up for another week of travel. I was almost in tears thinking about leaving again. It is so tiring and frustrating trying to get my crap together when I am not home to do it. And yes, on Sunday there was stuff in the sink that had been there since the previous Tuesday. And, I could tell that nobody had wiped down the kitchen counters since I had been gone (Tuesday through Sunday). I called Eric out on that - I told him this is why we are having ant problems. I also told him that if he kills/squishes an ant, he needs to remove the carcas, as dead ants are really disgusting to find on the kitchen counter at random intervals.

Monday, the cold attacked with a vengance. I had to go into the office, but tried to stay to myself most of the time, and ended up going home a bit early to veg on the couch, under several blankets. I had not eaten much for most of the day (was not hungry) so when I got home, I was doing the lightheaded low blood sugar walk... so I made a couple of sandwiches, ate some cookies, then made myself a smoothie. Thankfully that took care of the problem. I also decided that I would not leave on Monday eve, rather I would get up and go in the morning to my meeting that was being held about 2 hours away - and started at 7:30 am. Eric actually went to the grocery store with the list I put together, and did a pretty good job. The only issue was that he expected me to put the groceries away. That ended when I fell over trying to put something on the lower shelf in the refrigerator... and was just feeling too weak to get up without help.

Got up Tuesday, finished packing, and got on the road. Later than I expected, but they were fine with when I got there - I had a section to present, and it was to be done later in the meeting. After lunch, I left and drove to my parent's house, where my mom told me I looked terrible. So, I crawled into their guest bed, and slept for 3 hours. I guess I needed it.

And of course, I have not run. Hard to run when you cannot breathe. And when you feel like crap. And when you barely have strength to stand up after sitting in a chair for a bit. Could I whine any more?

Needless to say, I don't feel 100%, but thankfully I am feeling better today than I have been. I am working on materials I need to present for my meeting tomorrow morning. In Valley City, North Dakota. Such a glamorous job with exotic locales...

I am going to see if I can get motivated to walk or run on the treadmill at the hotel this evening. Should be a pretty low-key night. I might even get to watch Alias - even though I am also recording it at home. I finally figured out how to record stuff with the timer (we've had the DVD recorder since January).

And I'm off to read about critical task analysis.

~a

Monday, May 15, 2006

Slacker

Yep. That's my new name.

I am a slug. It has been determined.

Okay, best of intentions. Got to Calgary, figured I would go for a run on Tuesday afternoon. Yah, not so much. Turns out, the dinner that we were previously not invited to, they decided to add another table to include us (us being all of us lowly safety advisors). So I went out to dinner, with the open bar. WAY too much good food. (Why did they put us next to all of the deserts, so I could SEE how yummy they looked?) My only redemption was that I went straight back to the hotel to bed, and got up on Wednesday morning to run on the hotel treadmill. It was great that the exercise room was open 24 hours a day. Bad news was that I only manged 3 miles.

So, that day. All sorts of meetings. Meetings from 8 to 5:00, with a working lunch. Since I managed to eat both a muffin and a cinnamon roll, I avoided the deserts and cookies. With the time change and weird eating times, I started getting hungry at about 4:30, so I ate a granola bar in the back of the room. Then my vendor took me out to dinner that evening. That blueberry cosmo was divine!

Thought I would get up and exercise on Thursday. Didn't happen. Went in for breakfast and ate eggs, and potatos, and fruit. More meetings. Someone brought in donuts/muffins. Around 10am I succumbed to a jelly-filled muffin/fruit tart. (Where do they come up with these evils?) And the evil (translated: incredibly yummy) bars from the previous day were brought in to compliment my lunch (veggie wrap and greek salad).

Another trip to the bar on Thursday for "team building" before our "team dinner". I had a beer and at least 500 ml of wine. (we got two splits, but my co-worker did not drink as much as I did...) and back to the hotel after 9pm for the third evening in a row.

Friday, well, I woke up at 1:30 in the morning, and was up for about 45 minutes, feeling a bit heartburny (and with good reason... with all of the CRAP I had been eating), and had to be packed and out of the hotel catching a cab a little after 6am. Therefore, no run on Friday, either! And I was not able to catch any breakfast or coffee, before I needed to get on a conference call at 7am. It was supposed to be short. It finally wrapped up at 8:40, and I really felt since I was over an hour late for our day of meetings, I could not take the time to get something. When they finally gave us a break, I was nearly ready to eat my arm. And I really hate it when that happens. So guess what I purchased to tide me over? Cheetos. Are they not the breakfast of Champions?

Yep. This is what happens when I travel to Calgary.

More about the weekend later.

~a

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

It's about time to clear out of my office, and head for the airport.

I have a lunch packed: Some guacamole I made last night with very ripe avacado, ff sour cream, lemon juice, garlic, and some salsa salsa (a tastefully simple product), some baked whole wheat tortillas chips (baked them last night), apple, orange, ww yogurt, and some water. I also packed some granola bars, but those are to stash in my bag this week so I won't end up wanting to eat my arm in my meetings when they don't give us healthy snacks at breaks.

I put it in my lunch tote. As I was getting ready to leave, I realized I had a small paring knife in the front of the bag. Thank goodness, scene at airport security avoided! (Thanks Snackie for your story... it made me think a bit more!)

I did not write about what happened to me on Friday night... I think it's kind of funny. I came home after my Jaycee function to find the side door open with Eric's keys in the door. I wasn't sure what was going on, so I wandered around my house with the phone in my hand, to make sure there was not anyone there. I got into the bedroom, and I noticed that the suitcase that Eric had packed was still sitting there. Yes, my darling husband forgot to bring his suitcase on his weekend fishing trip. It's not like when you forget to pack underwear, but to forget your whole suitcase? I called him on Saturday morning, and asked "Did you leave in a hurry or something?" and I also asked how long I got to make fun of him for this stunt. He said "well, probably forever!"

Silly absentminded man!

With that, I am off to the Park and Jet.
~a

Monday, May 08, 2006

Another weekend of good intentions

And that's just what it turned in to. Intentions. No good follow-through.

I made an appointment for my friend to come over at 10am on Saturday morning, she wanted some Mary Kay, and I am going to alter a couple of pieces of clothing for her. I figured that would give me plenty of time to get up and run then get ready. Not so much. I woke up, then snoozed in bed for a bit, and next thing I knew it was 9:15.

Then I thought I would meet my friends for a quick drink at noon, then go home and get stuff done. I had such a good time sitting on the patio, and catching up with my friends, I did not make it home in the afternoon. By the time we had dinner, I figured I would just go and meet some other folks at another bar to watch them sing karoke. I got home at 1:15.

So Sunday was a day to sleep in, and to nap. I got myself motivated to do stuff around the house somewhere around 2:30 in the afternoon. Once I got going, I was fine, but I still did not go out and run. I need to do that. Two weeks of slacking is not good. I was doing so well, and now look at me. And with all of the mindless eating and adult beverages, the scale is back up again.

I leave for Calgary tomorrow morning, and will be there until Friday. I am hoping that there are some good places to go running from the hotel, or that they actually have a decent exercise room. It's a hotel that I have not stayed at before, but from what I hear, there is a path that goes by there that I can hop on to run.

Why is it that I do well, then I sabotage myself?

Wish me luck for the week!
~a

Friday, May 05, 2006

Fantastic Friday

Much as I did not want to get out of bed this morning... I was feeling a bit sluggish, because I got to sleep later than I like... but I did it anyway, and put on my running gear. Procrastinated a bit more by kissing my husband who was waking up, then got myself motivated to get outside.

It was a lovely crisp morning, and I had dressed perfectly for the temperature. I got my music going, and started out at a slow jog. I was thinking about running my 3-mile route. But, it was such a great morning, I ended up doing the 5-mile route. Not what I had planned last night, which was 7, but not bad. It was such an invigorating run. Everything felt right, and the time passed by pretty quickly. When I got back to the house, and clicked off my stopwatch, it told me I had done it in 50:53. And it put me in such a good mood this morning. It might be overcast outside, but I feel alive and happy here!

I finished an interesting book last night. I picked it up on my last visit to the library. The title was "SAHM I Am". It was kind of a different style of writing, as it was all e-mail messages to and from a group of women on an e-mail loop. It was entertaining, and engaging. When I first started reading it, I was not sure that I was going to like it, or to be able to keep the characters straight, but I ended up really enjoying it. One of the characters went through an upheaveal in her life, and needed to find a place to stay, and four of her close friends that she only knew through e-mail, each offered her a place to stay at their homes. It makes me think about some of the friendships I have made through blogging, and reading people's blogs.

Eric is gone all weekend, so I am planning on getting some stuff done around the house - laundry, cleaning, perhaps some yardwork. I am in Calgary most of next week, so it all needs to get done before I leave. And the backyard needs to get shaped up someting fierce - we are having a couple's shower on May 21st. We went to Menard's last night, and purchased some resin chairs to replace the ones that Eric destroyed by dropping a tree branch on them. Sheared the arms of the entire stack. We also got a rectangular resin table. That way we can set out more stuff, and be able to sit at the patio table.

We also had a discussion about money last night, which I think went over okay. I made my point quite clearly, and Eric seemed to be pretty receptive. We are both on "allowances" which means that we have a set amount of money that we get each week. I have been saving, Eric has been spending... which is fine, until he wants to do somethig that reqires more money than what he gets each week. I told him that where we want to be is to save up some money for those larger events, rather than always playing catch-up. Makes sense to me. And now, I think he sees my point. Let's hope he remembers it!

Anyway, my coffee cup is empty. Must. Go. Refill.

~a

Thursday, May 04, 2006

A conglomeration of randomness

Finally got myself out for a run yesterday morning. It felt good starting out, but I ended up going 4 miles instead of the 5 that I had planned when I headed out. All I can say is that it's a good thing they have the porta-pottie set up in the park I was running through... and yes, sorry if this is TMI - but I need to remember that I need to let my body wake up a little bit more in the am before I go running, 'cause things sure get moving, and it ain't my feet if you know what I mean!

I do love the running though, it lets me get a lot of my thoughts in order. Not that I remember every thing that I think about...

So the next random thought:
Are we turning into a society that does not want to talk to each other? I can't tell you all of the places that I have seen people wearing I-pods. The last one that just made me sit back and think was at the grocery store on Monday evening. I see them on people everywhere. I realize I wear headphones when running, but I do actually make eye contact and nod at people as they go past me in the other direction. I was thinking about it more today when I was debating on weather to call some people, or to send e-mail. I told myself to get over it and pick up the phone. For gosh sakes, I used to do telemarketing, you would think I would not have anxiety about talking to people I don't know over the telephone! Do you think people are using technology to their detriment? I wonder if people are using cell phones and Ipods to avoid meeting new people, but is that not the point of life, to meet new people?

Next:
Watched the movie "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" the other night. I admit it, I cried. It also got me to thinking about how well-fitting clothes give you such a boost in your outlook in life. When you feel like you look good on the outside, you present yourself in such a different manner than when you feel like a schlump. Like today. I am wearing a pair of pants that I absolutely adore, I think they make me look great, and I feel cute, and professional today. I am also getting more done in the office than yesterday, when I was wearing jeans and a polo shirt. Not to say that I looked bad yesterday, but I definately feel better today! I am woman, hear me roar.

Another topic:
I went and got myself squished yesterday. In more accurate termonology, I got my first mammogram. It was not as bad as I expected. Sure, uncomfortable at some points, but really, not painful. They gave me a smock to wear - open in the front, and about halfway through the procedure I just took the darn thing off, it was easier than moving it around, slipping it off of one shoulder to the next. I figured they had seen everything up top already, and it was just a pain in the ass. Not that I am nervous or anything, but I would still like to find out the results.

Next:
For two whole days in a row, the scale in the morning has shown me to be under 180. Here's to 3 days in a row... hopefully I will be able to fit in a run this evening, and to not eat too much in the house... I did really well with food yesterday, I was hungry yesterday evening, and instead of opening another box of EVIL cookies, I just had a glass of soy milk. It did the trick. Tuesday was not a good evening of fooding though - Eric was out of the house, and I actually thought to myself: Good, I can eat treats tonight while sitting my ass in front ot the TV. Of course I did fill myself up with brown rice and black beans before I started on too much sugary goodness.

Next topic:
I finished the "shrug" I was knitting. Found the pattern on the Lion Brand Yarns website. I don't like it. It fits funny. Why do these things not turn out like the patterns show? Could it be that I am larger than the model they show wearing the item? The good news it that is really just a big scarf with the ends sewed into tubes that you put your arms into, so I can just unstitch the arms, and it will be a lovely scarf. I might even put a fun fringe on it. So what if it's May and I will need to wait until fall to wear it! Next, I need to think aobut if I am going to make something for my friends' wedding, and if so, what it will be. And after that, I need to get started on a baby afgahn for another friend. I love being crafty.

Anyway, this "professional-looking" woman needs to get prepared for a conference call.

Ta!
~a

Monday, May 01, 2006

Weekend update.

Friday, I had been reading a blog that posed the question "does TV make you fat"? So I was inspired, went home, dusted off the NordicTrack (quite literally - used a swiffer pad...) and watched last Sunday's episode of "Big Love." I was on the machine for the entire episode - 55 minutes, and 6.1 miles. That was the deal that I made with myself.

After showering, and getting ready, Eric and I went to an alumni reception for the school where I got my master's degree. It was actually kind of neat, host bar (two smaller glasses of wine for me) and yummy, healthy appetizers (grilled veggies, cheese and fruit). And I looked GOOD! I had a couple different people come up to me and start chatting... I must have looked approachable, and friendly, and honest-to-gosh, attractive (you know how people come up to you more so if you look good?) We were there for about an hour, then proceeded on to a birthday party/dinner for Eric's friend. They served dinner at their house to about 30 people. It was quite a lot of fun - although I did not eat the main course, salmon. Yuk. But there was plenty of other food, so I did not go hungry, but at the same time, did not overstuff myself. I ate salad with lettuce apples and walnuts, Wild rice salad with dried cranberries and walnuts, and a couple of slices of yummy 7-grain bread.

I slept in on Saturday, decided I wanted that more than anything. Skipped going to WW, as really, I don't think it is worth paying the $ right now, since my goal at this point is not to lose weight. I can go back later if that is what I decide to do. Around noon, Eric and I went to a fishing seminar (where I read a book) then to the MOA to wander a bit, then we got a late lunch/early dinner. Saturday evening, we hung out together on the couch, after I did some organizing and moving bookshelves into the room that is going to be my office.

Sunday, I was thinking about going running, or getting out my NordicTrack… but that never happened. I never got out of my PJ's all day. Did some more organizing, visited with my parents when they came over for a couple of hours, put together a "real" dinner, and did some knitting.
So not a lot accomplished, but I am sure relaxed and refreshed!

I guess I have just been spoiled by the nice weather of late. I know the running folks say you should go outside in all kinds of weather, but I just don't see the point of being miserable when you are running!

And there you have it.
~a