Crush List

A few of my girlfriends and I keep a running Top Five Celebrity Crush list. We share our lists, then discuss the finer points of those on the list, why those who aren't on the list any longer dropped off and so on and so on. We hadn't done our list updates in a while, and somehow this Friday afternoon was the perfect time to share our lists. Here's mine for today:

1. Jason Statham

2. Leonardo DiCaprio

3. Denis Leary

4. Eric Bana

5. Brad Pitt

It's totally 7th grade, but who's on your Celeb Crush List?

night rider

There's nothing like riding bikes with a big group of people, unless it's riding with a big group of people at night! Tonight I met up with the kids on the Wednesday Evening Ride. I'm not sure when they started riding, but I first heard of it last summer. I totally wanted to go last summer, but wasn't sure about just showing up. Ended up meeting up with a friend who's done the ride before and had a blast. Just another cool, kind of underground thing going on in our city!

I think we did about 18 miles total tonight. I'm so going to make it my regular Wednesday night gig. So much fun!!

weekend in review

I aspire to be as gracious a host as my aunt and uncle in Marquette. Enjoyed a great (although short) visit with them this weekend. Need to start having people over more often so I can practice.

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Dreams were very vivid. Interesting when people you know talk to you in your dreams. Sigh.

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Road trips have a way of making me come up with grand plans. On the way home today, I was planning how I'd re-do my bathroom. Need to get an estimate for that so I can see how to make it a reality. Want new tile on the floor and tub/shower. New sink/counter top. Glass block window to replace the regular window in the shower. I was even thinking how it would be cool to completely remove the existing window and put in a window that's up higher and stretches the width of the tub. 

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I tried the McDonald's McCafe Iced Coffee on the road trip. Hello, I've just found my summer drink of choice. It's cheap, delicious and readily available. I was highly tempted to go back to my other drink of choice, diet coke,  just for this road trip, but I chose the iced coffee instead. I'd be curious for a side-by-side comparison about which drink would actually be less bad for me. Would it be the iced coffee with its sugar, caffeine and whole milk or the diet coke with its zero calories and its chemical caffeine goodness? 

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Totally digging "Twilight". Can't wait to talk about it with my BC Girls! I'm devouring the pages, and at the same time don't want it to end!

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Wondering about fate.

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I don't want the long weekend to be over! This is the exact thing I knew would happen in taking the road trip to Marquette. I'd get home and want to stay home for a couple more days just so I could feel like I had a long weekend at home too! Can't have it both ways though. Darn.

Soft and Smooth

You ever lust after a beauty product, but don't purchase it because you think it's out of your price range and you can find something similar at a better price? About a year ago I tried Korres Body Milk in some random beauty store and loved it, but had too many other lotions to justify the $15 price tag. 

I found a whole stash of Korres products marked down at TJ Maxx recently and scooped up the Body Milk and the Shower Gel in Vanilla Cinnamon and another Shower Gel in Bitter Almond. I really like that the Body Milk not only smells amazing, but also actually moisturizes! There are a bunch of scents available across their line - probably something for everyone!

Now that I've tried them, I'm probably going to make Korres a regular part of my moisturizing/cleansing routine. The company doesn't use any synthetic ingredients, which is cool, and seems to have a penchant for making products that are chock full of yummy-smelling natural ingredients. How can you go wrong? 

What's your favorite yummy lotion or shower gel at the moment?

Hey Universe...

I can feel it in the air.
Something is about to happen.
Will it be sooner or later?
Lost my go-to watch,
there's no time like the present.

Looking for it now.
Every smile, joke and communique
piques my curiousity.
Is this it?
The smile and
boyish teasing say yes.
The ring says no.

What's next?
I'm ready to go.
Lessons learned.
Head clear.
Heart open.

This has to be the year.

Dig It! Want It! Shelve It!

Dig It!

• Looking forward to getting things in the mail. Yay for postal treats!
• Starbucks Carmel Macchiato ice cream. Conveniently found in your grocer's freezer.
• Laughing. Being with friends who bring out the funny in everyone.
• Running into people you actually want to see in random spots at random times.
• One Hundered Pushups.

Want It!

• Relaxing pedicure. Need to cover my bruised-from-running toes with a fresh coat of polish.
• Vacation.
• New summer scent. Might pick up something by Philosophy or Dolce & Gabana's Light Blue.
• An assistant.
• New digital SLR camera.

Shelve It!

• Not getting enough sleep.
• Yard work.

bless them change me

There are a handful of people that bring out an instant bad taste in my mouth upon sight. It takes a LOT to reach this level of distaste with me. In every day life, I'm not walking around thinking bad thoughts about these people, but for some reason if my path crosses theirs, it dredges up the lingering residue of hurt that's still within me. 

I saw two of these people - TOGETHER - on my drive home tonight. I mentioned it to my friend I happened to be on the phone with and started talking trash. I managed to stop myself before going all out with the trash talk. I don't want to be that person. I don't want to let anyone hold that kind of space within me, even if it's just a small space at this point. I'm a better person than to cut someone else down just because I was wounded once (mmm, okay, maybe it was more than once...) by someone. 

My best defense is to thank God that I have the awareness that this is not a manner I wish to conduct myself and to say a quick prayer that I know has the power to one day completely relieve me of the hurt that still lingers and sprouts now and then..."Bless them, Change me."

Post Race Ramblings

Happy to report that my knee cooperated and helped me finish my first 25k. It did feel a little suspect around mile 7, but when I slowed down a bit it felt better and I was able to forge ahead 9 more miles to finish the race!

I'm not 100% sure what it was that did the trick with my knee. Probably a combination of all the things I did in order to take care of it - more rest days, cut back on my miles, Tiger Balm, Acupuncture. I know for sure getting that MRI wouldn't have factored into helping in any way!

Coolest moments from the race: 

• Lined up with the mass of humanity (5,529 ran the 25k) in front of DeVos Place before the race started, the clouds unleashed their rain and everyone let out a big cheer. In my mind we were saying "Bring it on! You don't know how hard we've been training or how badly we want to run today, rain's not going to stop us!" 

• Running with my friend AW who has been so great to train with. We pushed each other and kept each other accountable for the last 4 months. So much better than training for and running a big race alone. Grateful that she decided to give distance running a try and enjoys it as much as I do!

• Seeing the leader pack run by us heading back into town with the media truck full of photographers and videographers. Everyone cheered as they went by. 

• Realizing out on O'Brien or Maynard that I wasn't even conscious of the rain anymore. I was just running.

• Turning the corner off Fulton onto Ottawa with the finish line about a 1/4 mile away and seeing my friend CH from work. She'd been having hip trouble about the same time my knee was acting up. Knowing that she had already finished made me run that much harder to my own finish.

• Being able to kick in the reserves and run my hardest and hearing my mom cheer for me just as I was about to cross the finish line.

• Being a part of something so big and that by being a runner, having done this race and having the drive and ambition to continue running I share something that's deep within every other runner.
  

Looking forward to relaxing and giving my sore muscles a break for the next few days, but am also already looking forward to my next race. There's a 1/2 marathon in Chicago in June that AW and I are looking at. For sure I'll run the Grand Rapids 1/2 marathon in October. 

Counting Down

It's come down to about 17 hours until race time! Wow! Want to make four months fly by? Train for a 25 race! I took a half day at work so I could prepare for tomorrow without feeling rushed for time. Here's how I'll spend the next 17 hours:

• Importing new CDs into iTunes so I can make a new play list for tomorrow.
  
• Pick up salad makings. Having a pasta dinner tonight at AW's, so we're carbed up properly!
  
• Watch weather report like a hawk. They're currently saying chance of rain and gusty wind. I'm in denial.
  
• Arrange a few outfits for different weather scenarios.
  
• Attach time tracker to my shoe.
  
• Talk to BLU. Talk to AW at least once or twice after I leave there for dinner to cement our morning plan.
  
• Relax.
  
• Get to sleep early and hope that I can get a good night's sleep. Sleeping the night before a big race is a bit like trying to sleep on Christmas Eve. Excitement!
  
• Get up. Get dressed. Get to race. Pray for a good race. Run. Enjoy the results of my training. 

Lost & (hopefully) Found

There are currently several items that I cannot locate within my house (life!). I'm wondering where these things go and why I haven't found them yet. St. Anthony, this one's for you!

Item #1: Pedometer.
Last memory: standing at my kitchen counter wondering how I'd attach it to myself for the day on Friday - I was wearing a dress with no waistband to attach it to. Have no memory of it beyond that moment.

Prognosis for finding: It's the size of a dental floss container, so size is not working in my favor. We've started a "stepping out" program at work and everyone got pedometers so we can keep track of our steps on a daily basis. There's money involved in a completed step log, so the frustration at not being able to find this little gadget is a bit amplified!

Item #2: Running shorts
Last memory: no distinct memory other than noticing their absence.I couldn't find them for my run on Saturday. I've since done all the laundry in my house and they're still missing.

Prognosis for finding: Good. Seriously, I don't have a habit of leaving clothes in radom places, these have to be somewhere in the house. Somewhere! They have pockets, my only running shorts with pockets. As the weather warms up, that becomes very important!

Item #3: Leggings
Last memory: I wore these on Monday under a dress. Did not see them turn up in the laundry, so I'm considering them MIA.

Prognosis for finding: Good. Again, where could they go? I know I didn't remove them randomly somewhere outside my house, so they have to turn up somewhere!

Have you lost or found anything recently?

*****UPDATE*****

All three items have been found! The pedometer was in the center console of my car. The shorts were in my gym bag. The leggings were folded up in with some shirts in my closet.

Friday afternoon thoughts

The Big Wig entourage from the parent company is in the building today. How will they reward us for not wearing jeans and behaving like grown ups today? Will there be cake? That is my hope. That is the hope of this perpetually sugar-craving non-jean wearing "grown up". There haven't been any cake rumblings yet, so I'm guessing the party in my head is much more fabulous than the real deal.

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"Tight spot!" N announced loudly as we pulled into our parking place at lunch. We laughed all the way from the tight spot into the restaurant, where an Eric Nies look alike turned and acknowledge our laughter and the fact that N had moved on to a story about the last time she was hungover and playing golf. I realize this may not be funny to ANY one who reads this, but we continued to laugh throughout lunch and I'm sure it will come up again and we'll laugh like it's the first time we all heard it.

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I'm going to attempt to run 8 miles tomorrow. I've been okay this week with two short 4 mile runs so far, I'm a little worried though that 4 is all I'm able to do pain-free. Looking forward to giving 8 a try! Only seven days until race day!

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Want to sleep in tomorrow and Sunday. Haven't been sleeping enough. J'ai fatigue!

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Another friend is moving out of state for work. Going to miss you A, but hope your move is exactly what you're needing! We must get the girls together before you go!

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I got the BEST parking place this morning. My company literallly has acres of parking and depending on when you get in, it can be quite a trek into the building. I lucked out today and got a prime spot. Totally made my morning!

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What will make my afternoon? What will make your afternoon?