Monthly Archives: December 2008

It stopped raining around noon, so I decided to take Murphy out and explore a local park.

I had never been to this particular park before so I didn’t really know what to expect. It was basically a few trails in a nature preserve behind some houses.

At first, the trail was gravelly. There were little maps that showed routes and it seemed like the whole thing was just a big circle with a few smaller trails that veered off.

Murphy and I were walking along, having a nice time, when I suddenly realized that I was lost. Not only were we lost, but the trail had gotten very muddy. I kept seeing these map posts and I would think that I was going towards the entrance where we came in, but the next time I would see a map, I’d be somewhere completely different. Now, you could see the backs of houses, so it wasn’t like we were lost in the woods. Nevertheless, I was getting frustrated and we were both getting muddier and muddier. What I was really worried about was that Murphy would see a squirrel and try to charge at it and I would fall in the mud. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. After walking in circles, we finally came up to some houses and just exited the woods behind someone’s house into a neighborhood. It took me a moment to figure out where I was. We were nowhere near where we entered the park! I have no idea how we got so lost.

Those are my shoes after we got out of the woods. You can imagine what Murphy looked like! We made it home and toweled off. It was a pretty fun adventure actually. I probably didn’t pick the best day for trail walking, considering the rain this morning, but that sort of made it all the more fun.

After our adventure, which took about an hour and a half, I went to the gym. I did 25 minutes on the elliptical and then took a 60 minute pilates class. Can you say exhausted?

I did absolutely nothing yesterday and I kind of loved it. I’ve been so busy for these past couple weeks that it was just nice to sit home on a Saturday night. Murphy and I went for a 2-mile run yesterday. He’s a pretty good running companion. The only thing is that towards the end, I think he gets tired and he’ll dart from one side of me to the other causing me to have to stop abruptly and almost trip over him. I can tell you one thing though, this dog is good for speedwork! He pulls on his leash a bit. Nothing too, too bad, but when we’re running, I think I’m definitely going at a faster pace than I normally do.

Having a dog is hard. I knew it would be but there are things that I wasn’t prepared for. Feeling like I don’t want to leave the house because I don’t like putting him in “his room” and hearing him cry is a big one. Also, trying to convince him that his toys taste better than the leg of the coffee table is another. I’m sure he’ll get better with time. We’ve only had him for a week and a half. I’m not even sure if he knows that he’s our dog yet.

Speaking of dogs, I really want to see Marley and Me. It’s a raining Sunday, perfect for a movie. Maybe I can find someone to see it with me.

I found this on a blog that I was reading. The things that I have done in my lifetime are bolded. What have you done?

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53.Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

I had to work yesterday. It put me in a bad mod because it seemed that the rest of the world had the day off. Seriously, there were like 10 cars in the parking lot of my building. All day I kept thinking that we might get to leave early since half the office had taken a vacation day but no such luck. Oh well, at least it was Friday.

When I got home from work, I was starving. Jason and I had plans to see Drivin’ and Cryin’ later that night. We decided to go to an early dinner before the show. We went to Marlows. This place has several locations, but I hadn’t been to the one in Midtown before. It was a pretty nice looking place, lots of cherry wood everywhere. We started off with the hummus which was good. For my meal, I ordered the fish tacos sans cream. I also got a side salad. I failed to notice, in the description, that the salad was everything that I hate – gorgonzola cheese, bacon and bitter greens. I called back the server and told him that I didn’t realize that it had bacon on it. He said that he’d make me another without it and I asked for it to also not have the gorgonzola. (I actually said bleu cheese, that’s what I thought it was). He didn’t hear me correctly and brought me a new salad without the bacon, but not only with the gorgonzola, but also with a gorgonzola dressing! Bleh. I didn’t eat it. The fish tacos were meh too.

After dinner, we made our way over to the concert. I was getting a little tired at this point but Drivin’ and Cryin’ is Jason’s favorite band and I knew he was really excited about seeing them. The opening band went on around 9 and DNC went on at 10. In the middle of their set, I did something ridiculous. I fell asleep! At a loud rock concert, I fell asleep! I was just so tired. Even thought I was enjoying the music, the show seemed to go on forever. I thought it might end around 11:30, but they played until nearly 12:30. At about midnight, I bought a bottle of water and that woke me up a little bit. Needless to say, when we got home, I completely passed out.

I still can’t believe I nodded off at a concert!

When I was a kid, I used to get really bummed out on Christmas. It was such a let down to me. I would get into the spirit like everyone else. How could you not? Mall santas, circulars advertising toys, candy canes, cookies, all that stuff is still appealing to a Jewish kid. But then the actual day would arrive and while all of my friends woke up early to open their gifts, I woke up to nothing. My Hanukkah gifts would be a faded memory by now, especially if Hanukkah was toward the beginning on the month. I actually grew up in a pretty heavily populated Jewish area but for whatever reason, none of my friends were Jewish.

There’s just this feeling of not belonging on Christmas Day. Although on a typical day, I might never feel the need to go to to a certain store, on Christmas Day, I do simply because I can’t. It’s like the country is having a party and I’m not invited. Most of my friends are pretty low-key in their religious beliefs and don’t associate Christmas with Christ, but nonetheless were raised in a family that have a celebration.

Still, there are other things to rejoice in celebration about. I mean, I guess I am rejoicing in the fact that I have the day off and I can laze around the house and eat Chinese food and see a movie with one of my few Jewish friends. For me, Christmas is a quiet and still day. It’s taken a long time, but I’ve learned to enjoy the solitude and embrace it instead of resenting it.

Murphy and I went on a long walk this morning. We went about 4.5 miles into the Highlands. It’s one of my favorite areas; there are tons of shops and bars and restaurants and just good people watching. However, I’m not sure that my rather excitable dog would be able to do it on a regular day. Too much stimulation. Having a dog is proving to be pretty good exercise. And I can use the excuse that nothing is open to have that walk be my only exercise of the day.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and to all that don’t, I hope you are having a wonderfully peaceful day as well.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBtjwn2akHo]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4qwVLqt9Q]
I heard this on the radio this morning and started bawling. Seriously, I had to stop listening because I was afraid that I’d ruin my makeup on my way to work. I got home and watched the youtube video and started crying again.

I have this group of girlfriends. I knew some of them as early as elementary school, the rest I met in middle and high school. We live in different places. Some of us are still in Maryland and by some fluke, some of us are in Atlanta. Even though we’re still pretty young, in our late twenties or early thirties, we’ve still gone through a lot. Good stuff, careers, promotions, houses, marriage, dogs, babies. And some bad, deployments, miscarriages, deaths of dogs, grandparents and parents.

I don’t talk to these girls that often, especially the ones that don’t live in Atlanta but I feel like as different as we may have become as women, we are still able to count on one another and like she said, be there for the first laugh after the bad parts.

Oh God, I’m crying again!

Jason, Murphy and I went drove up to Jason’s parents for an early Christmas on Friday. They live in Seneca, SC which is about 2 hours from Atlanta.

Since we don’t know Murphy all too well, we were a little worried about how he’d react. Jason’s parents have two small dogs and Jason’s brother and sister-in-law, who drove down from Charleston, have a huge Rottweiler. There was no need to worry; Murphy had the time of his life.


He got that blue thing for a present and LOVES it.

I had a fun weekend but ate like shit. There just aren’t a lot of healthy options in a small town. It’s hard enough to find a restaurant that has a veggie option much less a healthy one. Sometimes I do feel like a burden because I’m picky about my food and I just didn’t want to add to the burden, so I ate what was offered. For lunch, we went to an American restaurant. I got a tuna steak sandwich with veggies instead of fries. There was still a lot of butter involved, but I figured it was a better choice than many others. For dinner, they ordered pizza. I had a veggie one, but there was a lot of cheese on it. I also consumed some wine and various chocolates.

I got a little bit of exercise. We took Murphy for some walks. I didn’t go for a run. I haven’t run with Murphy and I don’t know how he’ll be on the leash. I also only brought Uggs. We did have one little debacle with the dog. People were coming in and out of the house and he got out (so did the other dogs, but they’re trained to come when called). He saw a squirrel and some birds and booked it down the street. We got him back, but it scared me. If he had done that in Atlanta, he would have quite possibly been hit by a car. Fortunately, there weren’t any cars on the road when it happened so it was okay. We’re working on training, but starting with “sit” so he hasn’t learned “come” yet.

I’m trying to get back into the swing of exercise again. I mean, I only took one day off, I’m not sure why I feel like it’s been a long time. I went to Pilates class today which was nice. Tomorrow I’ll either run or spin. I didn’t count my Weight Watchers points yesterday; it was probably a lot but I’ll just try to stick with the actual number of points (21) for the rest of the week and not use my flex or activity points to make up for it.

I took the picture of the jeans down from my monitor. I think it was doing me more harm than good. The original idea was to have the picture be a motivational tool. I would look at the picture of my goal and think about what I should or shouldn’t do to achieve it. But the problem was it was just making me feel bad about myself. Looking at my “skinny” jeans didn’t stop me from eating the junk food in the breakroom. When I did eat it, I didn’t even enjoy myself. Instead of feeling like I should be able to enjoy a holiday treat sometimes and that some were definitely worth it, I’d look at the jeans and think that I’d failed and I would never reach my goal. My mother always tells me that when I’m upset about something and talking/thinking about it, instead of getting it off my shoulders and feeling better, I always get even more worked up. It’s kind of the same thing when I get down on myself, my negativity just breeds even more negativity. So for right now, I choose to remove the source of the immediate problem. It’s not the source of everything, but if I’m trying just as hard in my weight loss efforts, removing a picture that turned out to be almost a trigger for low self esteem can’t hurt anything.

Onwards and upwards.

I’m actually quite proud of myself for my attention to portion control yesterday. We had a holiday luncheon at Muss & Turners. I ordered The Hummer (giggle, giggle) and when it came it was pretty big. I ate half and the put the rest in a box to eat for lunch today. Half was plenty. I also went out to dinner at Mali for my friend Joan’s birthday. I had two pieces of sushi as an appetizer and then ate about half of my entree. I had some sort of shrimp and scallop stir-fry.

I signed up for the ING Georgia Half Marathon in the end of March. I’ve done this race twice – last year I did the half and the year before I did the full. I have basically 16 weeks to train. Unfortunately, I’m out of running shape at the moment. Sometimes I trick myself into thinking that because I still do “cardio” at the gym, I can still run. Yeah, not so much. I am trying to start again and to ignore the voice in my head that makes me get down on myself because what used to be easy to me isn’t anymore. If I keep at it, It’ll get easier. I know this and it happens every time that I take a break from running. But it still sucks to start again. I did 2.75 miles on the treadmill during lunch and it was hard! I did the first mile at 6.3, the second one and a half at 6.0 and the last .25 at 5.8. So, what’s the best way to go about this? Do I start trying for distance first at a slower pace or do I try to increase both my distance and my speed at the same time? I’m planning on using Hal Higdon’s novice plan even though I’m not technically a novice. My friend Joan is also doing the race with me and she’s never run a half before. She’s about to move within walking distance to my house, so I’ll have someone to do my long runs with.

I’m also going to get Murphy into training shape. Eventually. We’ll have to work on “sit” and “stop jumping” first.

HBBc – 2.75