Happy Easter everyone! I hope you’ve all been stuffed silly with delicious food and exhausted from family functions. I am for sure – now I get four hours to try and stay awake at the gym while 3 people workout. Yep. Three people currently in the gym right now. I wonder if I lay down in the break room for a while that anyone would notice… I’ll think about it. Oh just kidding – now there are four people here. This could be a rough day. I already finished my book – number 11 on the year – and haven’t fully committed to a new book yet. I’m thinking I need to read a classic… switch it up a bit before my next book club book gets here.
Let’s see – where to begin… ah yes. Week one of D2D4 training. Pretty easy week – three miles on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and then four miles on Saturday. Well Monday I failed to get up early to get it done – so I was planning on doing it in between work and work. That run was the worst run ever. Seriously – ever. It started out with me getting on the ONE treadmill (I HATE RUNNING ON TREADMILLS) with no hook up for my headphones, as well as my ipod being dead. So I ran in complete silence – other than the hum of the other cardio equipment, rave music barely audible through the speakers, and my own labored breathing. It wasn’t pretty. I did one mile on the treadmill – embarrassing – and then my last two on the elliptical. Not quite the same – I know it, you know it – but I got it done. So yay for me – three miles down for the week! Then I did something stupid – I counted up the total mileage I’d be running for the next 10 weeks, assuming I ran each time I was supposed to. After 10 weeks – including the actual race – total mileage would be 194.4 miles. Kill me now. I ran outside on Thursday and it felt AWESOME. The music helped – fully charged ipods are very helpful – and I felt really good after that three miler. Saturdays are for LSD – long slow days, if you will – so being scheduled for 2 of 3 jobs on Saturday, it was either going to be done bright and early, or later that night. We opted for a 5:30 am 4-mile run around West Des Moines. A quick loop – with good weather and good conversation. Oh and I had a dead ipod. So that’s fun. And it started sprinkling about halfway through, but didn’t feel too bad. Once we were done, I felt good. I didn’t want to die and I wasn’t too sore. So hooray! After runs like that, I don’t hate the fact that I run. On days where I have to run like 26 miles in a week and I have just run 11 – those are the days I’m dreading. But I’ve got few easy weeks ahead so that’s helpful.
Lots of working this week – double shifts on Monday and Friday (woo hoo 13 hour days) and then another 8 hours on Saturday. Boring boring – blah blah I know. But I have to take a little rest to get into the exciting and fun things!
Book club was Wednesday! I hosted – and it was so fun, as usual. Tuesday night I prepped for it – lots of prep to do. I made Blood Red Sangria – fitting for all the crazy that went along with our book. Pretty easy recipe, I think I still have a glass or so left in the fridge… may need to drink that some night this week. I made some Frosted Animal Cracker Truffles… so delicious. Definitely not the prettiest things ever… but they sure tasted good. Frosted animal crackers, cream cheese frosting, and vanilla almond bark on top. SO GOOD. I’d never made truffles before but I think I’ll make them again. I’ve eaten them when people have used Oreos and loved those – pretty sure you could use about any cookie and make it delish. We had some BBQ Chicken Tortilla Pinwheels too – had those for some leftovers for lunch on Friday – chicken, BBQ sauce, cream cheese and shredded cheese. Easy as pie. Speaking of pie – I should bake one of those… eek. Maybe next weekend… that could be my project. New recipes for lunch and dinner on Saturday, a pie for dessert, and a breakfast meal on Sunday. Now that I said it – I have to do it. It’s out there and people can read it. Now I’m sunk. Looks like I’ll be spending some time on Pinterest later today to find some recipes… woops – just realized I’m totally off topic. Book club. Gone Girl. Friendly chats! Our next book is a mental palate cleanse – Girls in White Dresses. It seems pretty fitting for our lives as of late – friends getting married, having showers, getting engaged, etc. And then the back story of what’s going on with those who are NOT in those positions. I’m pretty excited to start it.
What else this week… ah yes – ran into a couple new/old friends while out on Saturday night. One of those “we used to be friends, then grew up and grew apart, then it’s a small world and now we’re friends again” things. That’s one thing I am really enjoying with my life right now. While still deepening the relationships I have already, I’m also renewing friendships with people whom I haven’t really been friends with for years. It’s great to get out of your comfort zone of your usual group of friends, and make new ones. Plus then you can mix in old friends with new friends, and then everyone has new friends. I know I’ve said this before – but I LOVE my friends. Always there for me – no matter what. No matter which dumb ass thing I’ve decided to do, or which steps I’m taking – they’re behind me one hundred percent. Love you all. Speaking of friends… two of my friends have gotten engaged this week (yes this week – roughly within 48 hours of each other) and I’m very happy for them. With that being said, if my friends call me out of the blue, I’m going to know you’re engaged. It’s so rare to have my phone ring – unless it’s my parents – so I get excited when my phone rings. And then you tell me you’re engaged. Yaaaaaaaaaaay. (I’m holding up my sarcasm sign here.) Not really – I really am super happy for everyone getting engaged and things – but then I also feel like “I like my cat and drink wine. Do I still win at life?” I’m going with yes on that one.
So I hope you’ve all guessed by reading some of these posts, I love books. I love all things books and reading. The quotes that come from them, the feeling of cracking open the binding of a brand new hardcover, the smell (yes, the smell – go to a library, open it up and take a big whiff. That right there is sheer happiness. If you could bottle that into a WallFlower scent I would be in HEAVEN), and the emotion. I love it all. I love decorating with books, I love an organized book shelf, I love libraries. It completely boggles my mind when people say they don’t like to read or they just don’t read. I honestly could not imagine my life without books. If that makes me a geek – so be it. Reading is an escape for me. Some people run, some people shop – I read to escape. If I have a bad day – you can bet your ass my nose is in a book. If I have a great day – I’ll go back to said book to heighten my mood even more. I love thinking like the characters and analyzing the authors. I love TALKING about books. I’m so glad my book club has gotten off the ground – it’s always something I’d wanted to do, and I’m glad it’s finally working out for me. I found a quote on Pinterest (duh) from Simon Pegg that summed up the geek idea pretty well: “Being a geek means never having to play it cool about how much you like something.” Being a geek is so great. I love it.
I forgot one thing I did this week – I watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This was our first book club book, and I LOVED the book. So I knew I wanted to see the movie – to see how it held up against the book. I have a rule where I never see the movie before the book, because the book is always better. Except for Nicholas Sparks’ The Lucky One – I watched the movie first so when I read the book I could picture Zac Effron as the lead character :) Back to the movie though – I haven’t really LOVED a movie in a long time. I watch movies for enjoyment, but don’t really feel a strong pull. Sure, I love me a good rom com that brings a tear to my eye – but it’s not one that I will remember forever or will really register with me. This was a different story. I was so caught up in it I couldn’t do anything else. I couldn’t hold a conversation, send a text – nothing. I was so immersed in the story that I was completely numb to the world around me. I was nearly in tears by the end because of how amazing it was. So my quote for the week comes from this book/movie combination. Also – both come HIGHLY recommended from me. Read the book, then watch the movie. And let me know if it registered as strongly with you as it did with me. That’s your assignment, readers. I don’t expect a paper – but your thoughts would be nice :)
“I can see it. This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive, and you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song and that drive with the people you love most in this world. And in this moment I swear, we are infinite.”
I’m nearly in tears rereading this quote – I love it so much. This really is happiness. Everything that matters is where you are and with you – and nothing else matters. We are infinite.
To infinity and beyond,
S
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