Category Archives: Life

Gasp! My Third Blogger Award! The Liebster!

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To say I’m honored is an understatement. I’d say completely enamored. Thank you to Lauren of 2014 and Some Change for the nomination for the Liebster – an award for new blogs!

liebsteraward

If you would like to know more about this blogosphere award, here is a link to some of the background on a blog I found by Lorraine Reguly.

Here are the rules:

  • The bloggers that have been nominated must link back to the person that nominated them
  • Nominees must answer the eleven questions given to them by the person who nominated them
  • Those nominated must choose eleven of their fave bloggers that have less than 200 followers to answer their own set of questions (a few of my choices I wasn’t sure about)
  • When you are nominated you cannot nominate the person that nominated you

Here are my nominees, a few are brand new follows but I like them already!

  1. Once Upon a (L)ime
  2. life and loveliness
  3. I Run For Donuts
  4. One day at at time
  5. blogged artistry
  6. Confessions of a Monogrammed Runner
  7. Do Away With SMA
  8. run pretty run fast
  9. 278 to Boston
  10. Running in the Rain
  11. Reading Runner Girl

Questions to answer, and for my nominees to answer:

1. Where is your favorite place to be? Wherever Brett is, preferably somewhere warm

2. Name two songs that describe you. Break Away by Kelly Clarkson, Arms by Christina Perri

3. Who is the most inspirational person in your life, and why? I really don’t know

4. Do you believe in karma? Yes and no

5. If you could have a dream job for a day what would it be? Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream taster

6. Name three annoyances currently in your life. Ignorance, nit-picking, entitlement

7. What “spirit” animal do you best vibe with? Otter

8. How has blogging helped you? It’s helped me realize how much I love writing

9. List two things that you are proud of accomplishing. MAED & a few half marathons

10. Do you have a talent, if so what is it? Easing the tension in a tense situation

11. Where do you envision yourself in five years? Not sure, but it’s not where I am now

So that’s it! Thanks again Lauren and congrats to my nominees!

Throwback Thursday #4 – Chasing Cars

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You know how hearing a song throws you back in time?

Well I’m throwing it back with “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol, one of my songs on repeat.

2006.

American Thanksgiving.

My first in NYC.

Brett on the west coast and me on the east.

Calling him to chat, see what was up for the weekend.

Wondering why he isn’t answering his phone.

Wonder turning to worry.

Hours later….

he walks through my show box apartment door.

🙂

blessthislife.org

blessthislife.org

The perfect Thanksgiving surprise.

Wordless Wednesday #4

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blog.luxcouture.com

blog.luxcouture.com

If You Think It’s Too Good to be True…

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… maybe it’s actually just that good!

When someone approaches you with a “great deal” or something “free”, what do you do? Dive right in? Run away? Well, Brett and I like to dodge the bullet. We are usually skeptics in these situations because usually there is some fine print.

Well today was the day I bought into an attractive idea. Pay without paying?

See, this really happy girl from PayPal at Ground Central Coffee shared the magic with us.

So here’s the deal: you pay with your phone using the PayPal app instead of your with credit or debit card. It’s kind of like the yelp deals, but those deals show up at the end of your dining and are deductions on the bill. Here’s the beauty of the PayPal app purchase: when you go up to pay, your PayPal photo ID comes up and the transaction is done without doing anything! Awesome. This is something I actually found useful! On the app there are coupons, so you locate a place that uses this PayPal feature and use it in an instant. The promotion at the coffee shop was a $20 coupon, so Brett and I enjoyed our cappuccinos and artisan sandwiches in the cozy upright chairs courtesy of PayPal! Sweet!

Sometimes it’s okay to let your guard down and enjoy something a total stranger is trying to share with you.

Ground Central Coffee coziness

Ground Central Coffee coziness

Friday, I Love You

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Dark warmish morning

Iced coffee

Productivity

Cadbury in a jar

Yoga

Wine & popcorn

Jason Bateman

Sleep

Long weekend

Throwback Thursday #3 – Au Coton

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Please tell me you remember the Au Coton clothing fad of the ’80’s – the decade with the best music and cult-classic movies yet the WORST hair and clothing styles. Seriously, look at these girls…. And I looked just like them from about 1986-1989.

ici.radio-canada.ca

ici.radio-canada.ca

To call this brand of slouchy, layering clothing style an obsession would be an understatement. My poor parents. On weekend shopping trips to West Edmonton Mall, I would drag them into this store so I could basically buy the same set of clothes I already had, just in every color. (Okay, okay – I still do this. If I love something I buy it in multiple colors, what’s wrong with that?) But look at this! Woowwwwww. So sorry I don’t have any pics of me these awesome frocks. Next time I’m at my mom’s I’ll try to find some. You will be flabbergasted.

Wordless Wednesday #3

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en.wikipedia.org

en.wikipedia.org

A Dream I Had – Part 1

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Nope, this is not my version of Martin Luther King Jr’s dream speech. I’m literally going  to tell you about a dream I had on Saturday night. I gotta keep my stats up, and they’re only up if I post. So I’ll share this dream with you because I figure you may get a giggle out it, or it may spark a memory for you about one of your own crazy dreams.

*Adapted from a message I sent to my co-worker Bill, since his kids were in my dream… Not sure why because I’ve never met them, only have seen them in FB pics.

I was taking a road trip with my mom and step-daughter to New Orleans. Bill’s kids (a boy around 5 years old and a girl around 3 years old) were with us in the back seat of the car. I think my mom was driving but it was unclear because the car was really quite large for a vehicle, I don’t remember a steering wheel or anything, and we kept moving around. Bill’s son was not wanting to wear his seat belt and also thought he might throw up. His daughter was there but I don’t remember her saying anything.

Once we got to New Orleans, the hotel was this weird hostel with all these beds in the center of the lobby, and if you wanted rooms you had to figure out which section to go to… So I left my mom and Brooke in this bed section with Bill’s kids and wandered around to find which place we were staying in. In my quest to find the right hotel, Simon Cowell latched onto me and seemed to think I was really amazing. He was walking around with me, kept hugging me, and telling me how awesome I was. He was in NOLA for American Idol auditions. THE END.

So… analysis anyone? Feel free to share one of your silly dreams.

blog.sleepingsimple.com

blog.sleepingsimple.com

Running in Fog…

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… is like running in a dream. You have this feeling of running in slow motion with no idea where you are headed or where the end is. Reality checks were necessary while I was running this morning. Today was the first official race of 2014 for both the NYRR and me. After a month of NYRR race hiatus, 6,000 runners gathered in Central Park for the Joe Kleinerman 10k.

I was alert the first couple of miles and managed the Harlem Hills quite nicely, but as I ran along the west side and around along Central Park South, I was in this sleepy daze due to misty and foggy conditions.

The Pond on the west side

The Pond on the west side

On the flip side, running in 93% humidity was great for my skin, nasal passages and lungs. It was like I was at the spa, in a perfectly-temperatured steam room, my skin absorbing as much moisture as it could take. After a week of lost moisture due to absurdly hot classroom conditions, I needed that humidity. I probably should have fueled up with Vitamin Water during the week to account for the excessive loss of fluids, no joke. Complete sauna in my classroom. So today I was pretty thirsty while running because of last week’s “drought”.

In any case, I may have felt more mentally in tune with this event had it not been misty or foggy, or me running in an under-hydrated state. Not making excuses – I finished in around my usual time, but man was I “foggy” morning.

10 for 10

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I can imagine numerous ideas come to mind when you hear 10 for 10. Not 10 for $10, that’s different.

I’m referring to 10 posts in 10 days! So that means I’ve posted every day this year so far (and 102 posts overall). Now I feel the pressure to continue daily posts and will probably feel a sense of guilt or unproductiveness if I do not post every day!… Great… Why do you think I’m writing now??? Well actually it’s not because I’m enamored with myself for posting 10 posts in 10 days, it’s because I just wanted to see if I could do it – especially while being back at work all day, taking care of a sick husband and keeping up with the miscellaneous tasks of life. This has been a little self-contest – not a resolution – just a contest. I like self-contests! They test my perseverance and will power. And the best part is… I always win.

What kind of contests do you have with yourself? And if you don’t do self-contests, you should try one. The internal conversation can be very interesting 😉