miscellany

Here we go again.

1. Did I mention that I cannot wait until Summer? Besides the obvious increase in temps and decrease in Seasonal Affective Disorder, we have two biggies coming our way:


In reality, I'd settle for a true Spring day instead of this winter crap.
It's been snowing on and off all weekend and even my northern husband is ready to check real estate in Florida. The final straw? Our run down by the lakefront today.

You see, we knew it would be cold [high in the low 30s] and windy [we could see the stoplights swaying in the wind on the way down]. But we had no idea how bad Lake Michigan had it out for us. Our training program called for 11 miles and we were all about it, but honestly Mother Nature and her evil friend The Lake laughed at those plans. When we stepped out of our car and promptly saw a woman's hat fly off her head we knew we were in trouble. When some crunchy dead leaves slammed into our legs at approximately 2556 miles per hour we questioned our sanity. As we took off down the path the wind was blowing so hard against us that we were practically running in place. I have never experienced such strong gusts of bitter cold wind nor do I ever plan to expose myself to elements like these again.

The best part was when Nate abruptly turned around mid-stride and said, "Welp, eff this, " and started trotting back to the car. I was so confused and yet incredibly relieved at his decision to abort mission. Our skin was bright red, our noses were snotty, and we were mumbling obscenities by the end of our 11-turned-4.5 mile run. We decided to reward ourselves with Alterra coffee anyway because we deserved it.

Note to self: it's a bad sign when you only see one other poor soul running at the lakefront. Sometimes you just have to listen to your gut and call it quits, lesson learned.

2. We have a lot of red wine right now, for no reason in particular except that it rules. So I took a bunch of pictures on a day that actually came with sunshine:









3. Henry and Nate are at their wits end with me and my camera. They are taking some much needed time off from their lives in the spotlight and so I am forced to turn to another subject: myself, without makeup, pre-run. I know, what was I thinking? But I see so many cool self portraits on Flickr and never tire of using my new lens, so I figured what the heck. I could always use another profile pic at some point.







And those awesome frames? I found them at MCP actions for free. I love actions, especially free ones, and I think I might ask the birthday fairy for a set of 'real' ones. I just can't decide which ones to get. Any suggestions?

4. Project 'Album of 2009' is coming along nicely and I feel less overwhelmed by the ridiculous number of pictures I've taken this year now that I'm almost caught up. I really think that making my 2009 pages for our yearly album as the year passes is one of my best ideas yet. And I love using blog posts for text. Here are a few of my recent faves:








If you cannot read the quote on the Henry page, get ready to tear up. It says, "He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."

This was a quote I found by an anonymous author on some random website as I searched for cute doggy sayings to add in our album. I have no idea why this quote makes my throat tighten up but it does. It also makes me want to rub Henry's little belly until he passes out from happiness because sometimes I love that little butt head so much it hurts. :::sob:::

5. Laura posted about the movie Spirit of the Marathon. I immediately wanted to watch it and I must say that it almost made me tear up a few times, too. Why am I such a sap these days? Watch this trailer and tell me you aren't inspired:



It follows 5 runners as they train for the Chicago 2005 marathon. Some are elite runners who blow my freaking mind [running 145 miles in a week? Seriously?], some are first-timers who make me reminiscent of last October 5, and some are trying to qualify for Boston [crazies!]. If you watch this movie I think you will understand why people run marathons. In fact, it tipped the scales a little bit further towards me running another full marathon. Both Nate and I are seriously considering Chicago 2009. Seriously. But the whole part about 40,000 other runners potentially trampling me to death kind of freaks me out. And excites me. The $125 entry fee worries me and the time commitment bothers me.....and I think we're gonna do it. But we'll see.

Nothing like being wishy-washy, huh?

6. We have a very busy but fun month ahead of us:

Next weekend: Tailgating in a party tent for a Brewers vs. Cubs game. Squeezing in a 12 miler {weather-permitting}, and Easter brunch. Yum! Fun!

The next weekend: world's quickest trip to STL for a little thing we like to call a 'half marathon' with friends.

The next weekend: celebrate my birth:)

The next weekend: a slightly longer trip to STL for Kristen's wedding.

Holla! I love fun-filled months and I'm sure it will fly by at record speed.

7. Henry reverted back to being a puppy yesterday as he bit a hole through one of our blankets. Excuse me? Since when to dogs who are nearly four years old do such things? I think it's his way of protesting the weather, too.

And that's all I got for now. I must attend to the 15 loads of laundry that await me in a damp, stinky pile full of nastiness. How is it that two people can produce such an obscene amount of dirty clothes in a mere week? It never ends. Laundry and grocery shopping---my eternal nemeses. Does anyone actually like these chores? Can I pay you to do ours?