Glutton For Punishment

Many of you may remember a couple of years back when I decided it would be a good idea to pretend I'm athletic and run a half marathon (Feel free to experience the journey yourself with my first blog attempt). Approximately five minutes after completing said half marathon, I swore off running for life. Well... as it so happened... I am apparently going back on my word and have started training for the Queens Half Marathon, scheduled to take place on July 31st. (No... not like Queen Elizabeth... like Queens, the borough where I live-- a shocking number of people have responded to me saying "We have a queen?" or "Are you going to run in London?" - so I felt the need to give that preface. Slash perhaps I should start making smarter friends. But I digress...) My dear roommate Leticia (who is athletically hard-core) somehow convinced me to enter this world of "fitness" and "exercise" once again. Guess I'll keep pretending there's a "runner's high" actually out there somewhere... I certainly never experienced it last time! Except maybe that moment each week when I rewarded myself with a Blizzard.

Here is a copy of the training schedule we have been following:

Note the two weeks crossed off, as if I'm a five year old counting down to Christmas (...or a 24 year old counting down to Christmas.. whatever).

And HERE are the little bread crumbs along the path that have kept me going...

Homemade scones and cream. Whatever, I worked out. I deserved it!

I found Magnum bars. I was obsessed with these in Turkey. Primarily because they were one of four things I could eat there that didn't involve "yogurt".

Please refrain from commenting on the fact that my picture is sideways-- need I comment yet again about my technological retardation?

So in your spare time, feel free to send me lavish packages of ice packs, heating pads, and those weird foil blankets they wrap you in at the end of the race (what IS that?). And if you find yourself in Queens July 31st, strap on those running shoes and join in! What, like it's hard?

Life Updates

Okay okay- I know it's ridiculous that I haven't blogged in so long. Obviously, a lot has happened in the past two-ish months and I am going to attempt to capture in one posting. Primarily because I'm too lazy to write multiple posts. And since I'm such a fan of lists, we're gonna make this post a Top Ten List. So here we go... The Top Ten Happenings of March and April... (Yes, that is the most clever title I could come up with-- refer back to aforementioned laziness)

1.) NEW ROOMMATE!

No worries- I did not kick Leticia out of our Glendale abode... but we did get an addition! Janell, my roommate from Round Rock, finally made the cross country trek to join in on the fun and it has been SO great to have her here!! Janell came to New York without a job (like all the cool kids do) but had no problem getting one lickity split! So we decided it was necessary to celebrate by spending an exorbitant amount of money of food... per usual. We went to our old favorite, Primehouse Steakhouse. Now, we MIGHT have gone a few days before Janell actually found out she had the job-- but we were like 99% sure she was gonna get it... and the food is SO tasty we couldn't wait!

The bartender made me my own drink-- The Strawberry Sara-- basically as much strawberry syrup and as little alcohol taste as possible since I'm a child-drinker.

Words cannot express the deliciousness...

Welcome Janell-- NYC style :)

2) Shedding the down coat

I made the decision about mid-March that I would no longer be wearing the down coat. I had worn it faithfully, each day, since January and I just couldn't handle the black parachute look anymore. Temperatures have plunged low since then, but the weather has begun to turn around and I am pleased to say I actually wore a skirt with NO tights to work two days ago. Spring has sprung and I have never been more ready!

3) Pretending to be a sports fan

Since college basketball turned out to be such a let-down this year (We'll sic 'em next year, Bears), I had to find another sport to pretend to care about. So the roommates, Andrew and I decided to head up to the Bronx to attend the Yankees vs. Rangers game. Though I spent at least 6 of the 9 innings scouring the food tents, the game was a lot of fun and the Rangers were victorious! I cheered almost as loud as I did when Andrew and I finally located the garlic cheese fries stand. Don't judge. They were delicious.

4) My clients

The past couple of months I've been enjoying my work more than before.. which has been an unexpected blessing! I started teaching a parenting class at work and I feel like I've been able to build some really positive relationships with my co-workers, so I'm really thankful for that. In other news, I watched my client feed her 7-year old son an entire pack of bacon the other day. The conversation went something like this:

Mother: (cooking bacon, says to son) How many pieces you want?

Son: Fi-teen

Me: (chuckling) Fifteen huh? Well you must be hungry! (said in an OBVIOUSLY sarcastic tone-- the 7 year old should have totally understood)

Mother: (To son, completely serious) You just want the whole pack then?

Son: Okay.

Me: (attempting to hide shocked look) The whole PACK?!

Mother: Yeah-- he's a funny eater!

I let it go. You have to pick your battles people. And let's be real, I was a little bit jealous.

5) Tina Fey

I went to the Tina Fey book signing at Union Square with Angie. We arrived an hour and a half and the entire top floor was already completely PACKED. This is how we watched the interview:

THEN we stood in line for another hour or so and got our books signed:

Terrifying cover... hilarious book.

I think it says "TaraFy"... which would probably be T-Fey's roller derby name if she ever decided to go that route.

We didn't exactly get to chat with ole Tina, but it was a lot of fun to hear the interview and to somewhat meet her... so it for sure makes the top 10 list!

6.) Celebrity Sightings

I am super unobservant and therefore rarely see anyone famous on my own. These first two are just cheating because they are Tina's co-stars on 30 Rock and were hanging out at the book signing. The third was totally because of Janell and Andrew's observance and Leticia's perseverance in seeking a picture. No shame.

The guy in the yellow is Frank from 30 Rock

The excessively tall guy is Grizz from 30 Rock. Apparently the Parkinson's set in as I attempted to take this picture. There were three attempts and this was the least pathetic.

Hey Ryan, what's up? Wanna take a pic? Sure? Great. Let's be friends forever. Where's Allie?

7) TEXAS: The Journey

Andrew and I went home for Easter weekend-- I went home as a SURPRISE to my mom for her birthday!! (Thanks Catholic Charities for giving me two days off for Easter-- you're starting to make up for depriving me of six months of vacation) Our trek started early Thursday morning and we boarded the train eager and excited! We were going to have a brief layover in Dallas and then end up in Killeen where our respective fathers would retrieve us. As we thought we were about to land in Dallas, the captain comes over the loud speaker and says (NO JOKE): "Well ladies and gentlemen, this sucks, but we've run out of fuel... LONG PAUSE... So since we're running a bit low, we're going to have to make a short stop in Oklahoma to fill up on fuel. Thank you for your patience". I don't know if I was more upset about the delay or about the fact that we had to waste time in stupid Oklahoma. And I certainly did not exude any patience the captain should have thanked me for! After a bit of a sprint through the Dallas airport we made our delayed flight and arrived in Killeen safe and sound. I snapped of the seat belt, ready to dash off the plane, as the captain came over the intercom with another doozie "Well ladies and gentlemen, we're going to have to keep you on the plan for a bit, as there is a bee infestation on the tarmac. The firemen are here and are foaming the bees... we should have you out of here in no time." Of course. Of COURSE there was a bee infestation. Here's the best pic I could capture:

Do you see a single bee? Me neither. And that guy's forearm is exposed. Conspiracy.

8) TEXAS: The People!

I had an amazing time in Texas seeing some of my favorite people. Unfortunately I am terrible at remembering to take pictures when it matters (only when bees are involved to I make an effort), so I only have two pics to share of the people who I got to share my long weekend abroad with...

LAURA!! Loved seeing her-- some good old fashioned T-Town fun (which means going to McAlister's, natch)

Happy Birthday Mom!! I hope you're okay with my displaying your age for the Internet to see :)

My mom was super surprised when I showed up in her classroom and it made braving the low fuel tanks and bee hives all worth it. The long weekend in Texas was the perfect vacation and I loved seeing so many people I love who are constant sources of encouragement and laughter to me. Love you!!

9) TEXAS: The Food

I naturally ate at least five meals a day when I was in Texas, as I had a long list of foods I needed to consume while in The Great State. These were some of the highlights:

I literally had not eaten Barbeque since leaving Texas in August because I knew nothing here would taste like Rudy's. Mmmm

My dad thought it would be appropriate to serve Sugar Free ice cream with my mom's birthday pie. I immediately got in the car and bought some Blue Bell pints. Sugar free?? INappropriate.

I was able to make a brief stop at Common Grounds for this delectable treat- The Milky Way. I might consider getting another degree so that this can be a more frequent part of my life.

10) Whitney's Visit

I was sad leaving Texas, but I knew I was coming back to great roommates and friends so that made it a bit easier :) Whitney (one of my very best friends) also came up the weekend after I got back for a quick visit and we had an awesome time!! Some of the highlights included: Participating in Jimmy Fallon's monologue rehearsal (we told him which jokes were funny enough to include, no big deal); The Harry Potter exhibition; and waiting in line THREE times for the Book of Mormon lottery. No luck on the tickets but hopefully it'll happen the next time she comes.

So this is the pic I attempted to take of me and Whitney with the Jimmy Fallon ticket. Whitney suggested I have an old lady take our pic since I'm bad at pictures. The result was an 8 second video of Whitney and I standing in the position above. There was also a 5 second version, as her second try. Good to know my picture skills are still better than those of the old lady.

A trip to Serendipity. Yes, all of those desserts were necessary.

Harry Potter Exhibition. Obviously we had to buy chocolate frogs.

Too bad our collectable cards were Snape and Gilderoy Lockhard-- LAME.

Wow... so that was an extensive posting. Apparently the past couple of months have been pretty eventful. Summer is a-comin' and we have a Google Doc full of plans, so I'm pretty pumped about the months to come! Until then... beware of the bees.