Number 2: Restart my running habit

I know you guys saw that photo and are wondering why I don't have people knocking down my door with fitness model job offers. I am, too. I mean, who doesn’t see legs that pasty and running form that amazing and feel instantly inspired to jump off the couch and work out? ;) (photo from The Squirrel Run earlier this month, stolen shamelessly from here. If you really want to, you can see photos from the Run to Remember here - including a video of me crossing the finish line while clapping for the first place male half marathon finisher who crossed the finish line at the same time)

Seriously though – the running thing. I’m running two or three days a week again, most often with our running club. I’ve also run two five-mile races in the last month, have another coming up at the end of the month, and am registered for a handful to keep me busy through October. Why yes, I do have an Excel spreadsheet that I use to keep track of races I’m thinking about/registered for! What can I say? I am my father’s daughter.

I'm as slow as always (I'm basically the caboose on our group runs - always bringing up the rear), but I'm out there and I feel good! Hopefully I can keep it up through the brunt of the summer heat!

10 on Tuesday

1. It hit seventy degrees today, for the second day in a row! It's beautiful and lovely and sunny and springy...but I hesitate to believe that spring is HERE. The weather has been so up and down all winter that I'm just waiting for the temperature to drop back down to the thirties or forties for a few days before it bounces up to the sixties again.
2. It's really hard to sit in the office at home, two feet from the open window that is letting a warm breeze in, and focus on work. I end up daydreaming about all of the different ways that I would rather be spending a warm, sunny afternoon. Yesterday I was so anxious to get out and run that before I could finish what I was working on, I ran to the bedroom to change into my running clothes. Today I was a bit more patient and went for a bike ride after work(it helped that the day started off rainy and grey, so the sunshine and really warm didn't set in until after lunch).
3.  I meant to take a leisurely bike ride down to the beach and back, but I ended up taking a nine (point three) mile bike ride to the beach, along the beach, to Marina Bay, back along the beach, and finally home. Around mile six was when I realized I was already saddle sore, at which point I had no choice but to ride the last three miles home. The good news is that now I know it's about 3 miles and fifteen minutes from here to Marina Bay, so I can plan accordingly when the outdoor bar season starts up again. ;)
4. Things I saw while on my bike ride today: two dogs splashing through the water, happy as pigs in mud; one child brave enough to wade in what must still be freezing cold water; one sand castle being built; one gentleman leaning casually against his convertible, top down, wearing all tech gear...just like he was doing yesterday when I ran by (he must really get sweaty standing around to need tech gear); one woman pushing a double stroller who was incapable of leaving room on the path for anyone to pass; one impromptu neighborhood meeting; the fattest English Bulldog I have ever seen; one adorable little boy who insisted that his father keep helping him up onto the sea wall, so that he could jump back down again (down is the best part!).
5. Besides the nice weather, my calendar this week is shaping up to be super fun! I have plans to attend an event at the MFA on Thursday after work with two coworkers, and plans to shovel excessive amounts of fondue into my mouth on Friday after work with some of my favorite ladies. I'm pretty sure that's the best way to start a weekend.
6. Instead of upgrading to a sparkly new phone like a normal person, I spent a few hours this weekend rooting my two+ year old phone (you iPhoners would call it "jail breaking") and then cleaning up all the crap I don't use but couldn't remove without rooting it. It has already made a huge difference in how fast my phone is, but now I need to figure out how to actually upgrade the android OS I'm running. I have a feeling that will be much trickier. It is also much more likely to render my phone completely useless if I screw it up. Can't someone just make a fancy new phone that I actually want?!
7. Champ has been very chatty lately! She has started to report back after dinner each night, meowing loudly from the kitchen to let us know she finished. Yesterday she was in the (open) window in the bedroom when she meowed to let me know she was jumping down, wandered to the hallway and meowed to tell me how much she loved the window being open, and then jumped back up into the window. Tonight Pete is reading in bed and she has been frequently coming to the doorway of the living room and meowing at me to ask why I'm not in bed yet, too. (Obvs I speak cat and know exactly what she's trying to tell me when she's meowing.)
8. I've been reading a lot since I got my Kindle Touch in January, and I'm constantly searching for new books. I've been lucky and finding plenty to keep my busy via the local libraries (Quincy and Boston), but lately I feel like every book that I'm looking forward to isn't available through the library. I think it's time to start with me "well I read five free books, so paying $10 for this one really works out to less then $2 per book!" justifications.
9. I bought this t-shirt a few weeks ago and love it so much that I've been wearing it almost non-stop. I am surprised that not a single person has commented on it when I've worn it in public. Clearly the people I've been passing by don't have very good taste in TV! It's possible that no t-shirt I ever own will earn me as many comments from complete strangers as my Piggly Wiggly one does.
10. I also bought new sheets a few weeks ago, and they make me so happy every time I go to bed! If I had realized how happy pretty new sheets would make me I would have bought them a long time ago but I always see how much sheets cost and feel like it's so expensive, then talk myself out of spending the money. Sometimes money does equal happiness! ;)

Snow!

The lack of snow this winter has been making me really sad. This is a photo from the ONE DAY after we got snow when it was actually still around for a few more hours. It made me deliriously happy, and then deliriously sad (can you be deliriously sad?) when it was all gone after just one day.

Number 4: (day two) My View

I was working from home today, and this is the view from my desk chair when I look out the window that's to my left. It used to be straight in front of me when I was sitting at the desk, but I may have rearranged the furniture in the office/guest room twice this week, so now it's to my left. It's not the prettiest of views (especially when it's an overcast, grey, winter day), but I love having it.

Random tidbits about this view (and our neighborhood):
- I'm pretty sure that we are the only people in our neighborhood that walk on the sidewalk. Everyone else walks down the middle of the street. Quincy's sidewalks are in horrible shape, but they are certainly not so bad that I would choose to walk in the street instead of using them. I'm talking everyone - families with babies in strollers, women with infants in carriers, the can and bottle collectors with their stolen shopping carts. It's one of the first things I noticed about the neighborhood when we first moved here, and it has driven me bonkers ever since.
- We belong to a local running club (I may or may not have over-thrown the guy who started it and taken charge myself), and recently met one of our neighbors through it! You would think that living on an all residential block we would have met our neighbors being out in the neighborhood, but it's urban enough that people just don't work like that. We are friendly with our downstairs neighbor Dave who moved in a few months ago, and we have both met our immediate next door neighbor Mr. Matchlight (whose stairs you can see in the photo - not his real name), but otherwise we have never spoken with any neighbors. Until one of them showed up at a running club event, and it was discovered that she lives in the building on the left in the photo above. In fact, if I had taken the photo at a different angle, you would be able to see her windows.
- Our neighborhood is primarily Asian. At one end of the block is the Greater Boston Chinese Community Center and at the other end is the Chinese Baptist Church of Greater Boston. When we first moved here, it felt very, very different than our previous neighborhoods (most recently a predominantly black neighborhood with a smattering of Vietnamese and prior to that a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood) but we have come to love having an abundance of amazing Asian restaurants near us...even if I do miss being able to get a great burger within walking distance.
- At least once a day when I'm working from home, I overhear someone having a screaming argument. Sometimes it is two people walking down the (middle of the) street, and sometimes it is one person on the phone, but it always happens.
- My favorite sight to see out the window is the children from the daycare around the corner out for a walk, all holding onto the loops on their rope...do you know what I'm talking about? It's like a little parade of adorableness, just for me to enjoy from my window! It's hilarious to watch all the toddlers looking and pointing and pulling in a different direction while their teachers walk along at what must be a painfully slow pace and try to keep them in line. I should add here that these are the only other people who walk on the sidewalk, so don't call DSS on them.

59th Annual

I went down to watch about an hour of the Quincy Christmas Parade this afternoon. It was fun! Next year I need to get my friends with kids to bring them over for it. There are a handful more pictures here on Flickr.

(Summer) Number 1: Buy a bike and ride it

I'm finally checking this one off my Summer To Do List! You already knew I bought a bike, but I ran into some trouble putting it together. I eventually gave up and brought it to an awesome local bike shop (seriously, I can't recomend those guys enough) to finish up the job. They called while I was out running errands yesterday to let me know it was ready and I picked it up and bought a helmet from them on my way home. This morning I rode down to Quincy center to pick up a few things I had on hold at the library, and then rode down to the beach and then home. I am TERRIFIED of making left-hand turns across traffic and being doored - especially in Quincy where there aren't a lot of bikers so drivers aren't used to sharing the road. Despite that, I actually made three easy and safe left turns using a left turn lane (and once just hopped off my bike and used the crosswalk to get through the intersection).

It was beautiful out, pretty perfect biking weather - cool enough to keep you from getting sweaty but not so cold that you can't keep warm. I mapped out my trip and it turns out it was 6.3 miles...no wonder my butt was so sore!! Guess I need to ease into riding while my butt gets used to a bike seat. :)

Thomas Crane

I really am trying to finish up the Best Minxes list, but the library isn't helping me very much - no dice on finding Baby Doll at the Quincy Library, but it looks like I can get it at the Boston Public Library, so I need to get myself to Copley soon.

Number 9: Workin' On The List

I'm still chipping away at number nine on the list - reading the Best Minxes Ever Written on Penguin's list of Best Books Ever Written. I read Lolita for my Kubrick class back in college and am counting it as read. A while back, I hit up Borders for a few books (you saw Emma here, Vanity Fair is currently getting beat up being carried in my purse daily).

Today, I hit up the Thomas Crane Library for Breakfast at Tiffanys. It's almost embarrassing to admit this, but I haven't been an active library user in so long that I had a bit of trouble getting the book. It took me longer than it should have to figure out how to put the book on hold online, in part because I had to call them (for the second time) to reset the PIN attached to my library card so I could log in. Once it was on hold, I knew where to go look for it and just had to wait for the email to tell me it was ready. The email came, time went by, and I didn't get myself to the library until my hold had almost expired. The first time I tried to pick it up, the library was closed because I had forgotten to check their hours and just assumed they would be open. The second time I was all excited, but then couldn't find my book. It turns out that when your hold has almost expired, they hold the book behind the counter for you. At least now I know how to use the library (kind of).

After I got home and had lunch, I proceeded to go to one of the eleven nail salons within half a mile of our house to have my toes made pretty while I started reading. Of course I chose orange for my toes - how could I not?! And I also found out that the highest rated nail salon on Yelp is definitely not the best of the eleven nail salons within half a mile of our house. Lesson learned: try a different nail salon next time I want some reading/pedicure time.

Snow Day

We got a whole lot of snow today! I don't know how much, I haven't really paid close attention to the reports and it didn't really stop snowing until well into the evening. I was stir crazy, though, and so around nine o'clock I rugged up and went outside. I shoveled our stairs and sidewalk (our landlord has someone that comes and does this, but who knows when they were coming and I had energy to burn anyway), which worked up quite a sweat. And then I rewarded myself with a stroll to Coffee Break Cafe for a tasty hot chocolate!

If ever you want the scoop on what's going on in the midst of a snow storm, head to the local coffee shop. I got the update (second hand) from the firemen that had been in earlier, and the policeman that came in while I was there. Luckily, he had just walked out the door when the power lines that cross the street fell, so he pulled out of the parking lot and blocked the road until someone could come clear those away. Also luckily, the guy whose car the power lines landed on had just five minutes before finished digging out his car - good thing he wasn't still standing there!

Props to the MBTA, who was out in force keeping the T stop and the parking lot in great shape! I didn't ride the T at all during the storm, but the reports I heard were that the service was running great and with few delays due to the weather. Pete said a zillion times in the morning that he was going to head into the office to get some work done because there was a lot to do, but he wimped out after walking only half way to the T stop (which equals a short block, for those of you not familiar with our neighborhood). Lazy bum! He sat inside and played video games all day. Meanwhile, I hopped in the Zipcar I had booked and headed to see a friend. I know. Crazy to be driving in a blizzard. On that note, was it officially a blizzard, or is everyone just calling it that? I don't even know, but it honestly wasn't horrible when I was out, which was the tail end of what was meant to be the worst of it. Anyway, I headed to see a friend and help out with shoveling, because sometimes people need a friend around, and I wasn't going to let a snow storm stop me from being that friend. Plus, shoveling = alternative workout, and I missed the gym Tuesday (because of plans after work) and Wednesday (because I didn't go to work)!

Props also to the plow crews that were out - the roads were in pretty great shape considering the amount of snow we got and how quickly it was coming down in the morning! I guess that's what happens when you have thousands of plows on standby, waiting for the first flake to fall. 95 was in pretty good shape when I first headed out around noon, and it was in fantastic shape when I was heading home just after eight o'clock! I was pleasantly surprised, because I had geared myself up for a very slow, very stressful ride and while it was slower than usual, it was not nearly as stressful as I had anticipated. So thank you to all the plow drivers that were out in force for what I'm sure was a veeeeeery long day.

Oh...and here's a glimpse of how Champ spent her snow day.

OH WAIT! That's exactly how she spends every day. Lucky not-so-little thing. I'm sure that when I took this, Barley was in Pete's lap doing his best to be as annoyingly in the way of the XBox controller as possible. :)

A Quincy Christmas

I took a walk around Quincy Center and got my fill of Christmas spirit!

53 Chester

I walk by this house every time I go to and from the T, and until a few weeks ago the yard was completely overgrown and a bit creepy. One day I was walking home from work and the yard was completely cleared, and you could see the awesome potential of this house. Since then, there have been two dumpsters full of junk cleared out of the house (and it looks like more to go!), and I've been loving the evening light showing off how great the house looks with this gorgeous tree next to it.

Great necessities call out great virtues

Pete's parents are visiting for the weekend, and we spent this afternoon checking out Adams National Historical Park. This statue of Abigail and John Quincy Adams is in Quincy Center, and you can read more about Abigail Adams and the statue here.

Yeah they were all yellow

This is the AH-mazingly beautiful tree that's right outside the Wollaston T Station. It makes me happy to see it every day when I'm on my way home from work.

Yup. More laundry

I find the laundry mat really peaceful and enjoyable. If it weren't for having to get the laundry to and from the laundry mat, I wouldn't mind not having laundry in our house at all.

Carting

A quiet Saturday afternoon at the laundry mat!

Squantum Sunset

Because the camera phone photo I uploaded to Facebook doesn't come close to doing it justice. And do yourself a favor - click right here and see it big.

We spent the afternoon hanging out with friends, enjoying the awesome weather and eating lots of tasty, grilled, goodness. On the way home, we explored a bit more of Quincy, and stopped at Squantum Point Park just in time to catch the amazing sunset - and a rainbow!