My Christmas Wishlist: You Wish I Was Kidding

Apparently posting your Christmas wishlist to your blog is the thing to do this time of year and totally not selfish, needy, or materialistic. So I'm gonna hop on the ole bandwagon and talk about shit I want. Most of it is completely useless and a waste of money. That's probably why I haven't bought it myself yet. But hey, isn't that what Christmas is all about? Buying useless shit for other people that they would never spend money on themselves? Oh wait, it's not about that? My bad...

1. A Ravens hoodie. Any Ravens hoodie. Any black Ravens hoodie.
2. Bare Minerals make up, but not the starter kit. I already have all of that stuff. I'm drooling over the glamorous life set from ulta. 
3. Basic yellow gold hoop earrings. 
4. This children's book. Don't hate. I love to read.
5. This cookbook. Joe and I are trying out the paleo lifestyle. I'll let you know how it goes.
6. Skinny pajama jeans. I don't care what anyone has to say about this. I need these and I LOVE PAJAMAS. Plus, the skinny P-Jeans look AMAZING!
7. Bootie slippers to compliment my future pajama jeans. This sweater/pom-pom combo will do, but fake fur is also highly acceptable.

That's my wishlist. RECOGNIZE.

It's Purple Friday!

It is freezing outsude today, so I'm finally putting these boots to good use.

Also, I plan to wear this scarf all day.

This weekend is going to be awesome. It is a best friends forever weekend. The best kind.

I only have 3 work days left til Thanksgiving Vacation!

The only thing that could make this better is snow!!! And all of our patients canceling their appointments at work. Just saying.

I can't wait for turkey. And pumpkin pie. And stuffing. And crab cakes.

I've hardly been indulging in holiday treats at all. I'm hoping that this will make them taste even better on Thursday.

One week from today, I'll be putting up my christmas tree!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait for the weekend!!!

GO RAVENS!!!

Best books I've Read (and Loved) in 2011

When I was a teenager, I had this binder. My special binder. I tore out pages from magazines and put them in there. I also hid all of my love letters from my then boyfriend, now husband, inside of its protective covers. I had lists of things I wanted to do, of books I'd loved, of names I liked for future children.

My how technology has changed everything! Now instead of my special binder, I have google. I have my blog and my google docs, full of lists, spreadsheets, links, and pictures. I never really thought about how similar it is to my special binder until recently.

The best part about keeping these lists is that it helps you make goals, and keep track of the progress you've made. My favorite spreadsheet is my book spreadsheet. I love reading, so in my spreadsheet, I keep track of all of the books I've read. At the end of last year, I'd finished reading 33 books. I thought to myself, "I can totally read 52 next year!" Well, I wasn't right about that. I'm not going to make it to 52 books (Shout out to Star, who actually completed this goal! Wish I knew about her having the same goal when I started. Maybe I would have completed it if I had). I have other hobbies that take up a lot of my time and money (boot camp, for one). Plus, although I love to read, I really need to balance it out with something active, like boot camp, because it involves many strait hours of sitting. When I sit too much my butt hurts and I need to move

So without further ado, here are the best books I've read in 2011, broken down by category. The other books in each category will be listed too, just so you can see who the winner's competition was.

Best Zombie Book:

 Hollowland, by Amanda Hocking

This book beat out:

World War Z by Max Brooks, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith & Jane Austen, The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan.

This is kind of a big category. I love zombies. I love zombie books, zombie movies, zombie TV shows, and even zombie art. I have also read more books this year by Amanda Hocking than by any other author. At first I was a little put off by the bad grammar and typos, but with a little investigating, I discovered that Ms Hocking is self published, and didn't have a good copy editor to pick up on the errors! And even with the errors, Amanda Hocking's books were all so great that I couldn't stop reading them until I'd  read every single book she'd published at the time. The sequel to Hollowland just came out, and I can't wait to finish my current book and get started on it!

Best Paranormal Book:

 Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

(Runner up was  Bloodlines by Richelle Mead)

This book beat out:

Eragon by Christophe Paolini; Switched, Torn, Ascend, My Blood Approves, Fate, Flutter, Wisdom, Hollowland, Virtue, all by Amanda Hocking; Kiss of Midnight by Laura Adrian; World War Z by Max Brooks; Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith & Jane Austen; The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan; Wings by Aprilynne Pike; Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble, Toil and Trouble by H. P. Mallory; The Alchemyst by Michael Scott; Under Her Skin By Various Authors including Jeaniene Frost; Dark Fever, Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever, Shadowfever also by Karen Marie Moning; The Iron King by Julie Kagawa;City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.

This category had the most competition, which means this book was awesome!!! O.M.G. I've never read a faery book that I liked this much. It wins best faery book too. This was just amazing. So action packed. So sexy. So different. I loved it. I cannot stop raving about it. The whole series was phenomenal. Just read it.

Best Fiction Book (Non-Paranormal):

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morten

This book beat out: 

The Help by Kathrynne Stockett, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and Outlander by Dianna Gabaldon

This category is small, but the contenders are big! The Forgotten Garden wins out, however, because it was so beautifully written, creative, and full of suspense and mystery. I could not put it down from page one. I liked The Help a lot too. It gets 2nd place. I did not care for Outlander. 

 

Best Nonfiction Book:

Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

This book beat out:

The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson

I love to read about nutrition and health. It may bore other people, but I find it fascinating. I'm actually still reading The Primal Blueprint so I can't really say that Intuitive Eating wins for sure, but I sure did love Intuitive Eating! It really pushed me walk away from diets for good. The Primal Blueprint is another health book, and it's about eating and living the way we evolved to as a species. These books may be different from one another, but they work together really well.

And as for my favorite book of 2011.... It's a tie! Between The Forgotten Garden and Darkfever!

Here's to 52 books in 2012. Maybe I'll make it this time!

Vomit

Omg. I think I'm going to throw up. WTF was that? I've already had diarrhea. The vomit isn't far behind.

Ravens Fans: The Picture of Dignity and Grace

I just want to say that I handled the Ravens victory over the Steelers with dignity and grace.
 Exhibit A:

That's me right there in the middle. Oh so classy!

Hey, I come by it honest! That is my mother referring to the Steelers' quarterback as "Rapistburger." And here she is demonstrating more of that dignity she taught me:

She is freaking hilarious!!! And she taught me everything I know! I make my mommy proud!

Here's a final testament to the unparalleled class that we Ravens fans exhibited after this glorious season sweep:

There was a lot more, but I didn't save any of it until a week later. My B. These are the posts that stuck out in my mind, and therefore were easily retrievable. I have almost everyone "hidden" on the livre des visages because I'm way too easily annoyed by people. I've deleted so many "friends" over one silly little post, it's actually pretty funny (I even have these rules for FB deletes; maybe I'll blog about them someday).

Anyway, in less than an hour, I'm headed to my mother's house to watch the Ravens v Seahawks game. This game is gonna be a breeze and probably pretty boring. A win is a win, but I'd like some competition. My mom is overcompensating for the boredom factor with this:

OMG. Can we possibly eat any more food during a 3 hour game? No. The answer is no.

I haven't been blogging much at all lately because life has been pretty non-eventful. But, that's all gonna change real fast. The holidays are coming up, and so are a few big surprises that I'll talk about as they happen. I'm not giving anything away. Only me, Joe, and our moms know ;-). Plus all of the people my mom told on facebook because she is incapable of keeping secrets or letting me reveal my own good news (I know you're reading this, mother. hint, hint). I know I'm putting lots of false yet fantastical ideas into your pretty little heads, but I don't care to correct them. Dream big, grasshoppers. Dream big.


P.S. The "Flacco is rocking it!!!!" is from last week's game. Here's to knowing I'll be sending the same message to someone else this week! GO RAVENS!!

Week 8

Wow! That was an emotional game. After last week's devastating loss to the Jaguars, I just could not stand to watch us lose again. I for sure would have turned into this little boy again. In the first half when we were down 3-24, I just couldn't take another moment! I went out for a run to calm down my anger and anxiety. It turns out that was a great decision. I put all of my emotion into my run and had a great overall pace of 8:53.

I really find it difficult to run that fast when I'm running alone because I thrive on competition, and I usually just run to clear my mind and enjoy myself. I usually just enjoy the ride of the run rather than push myself. But Whenever I'm angry, I run so much better. And usually much longer. But with a football game going on, longer wasn't exactly what I was going for. By the time that I finished my run, the Ravens scored 10 more points, taking the score to 24-13. I can handle being 11 points down. Joe told me that we'd been playing great, which made me feel optimistic.

I stood through the rest of the game. Not even kidding. I was so nervous about this game. Even when they set up that last field goal with 3 seconds left, I was clenching my fists, unable to relax. But, as soon as that ball went through the goal post, I was finally able to relax and celebrate the sweet, sweet victory. I can't believe that we were down by 21 points at one point, and came back.WOW.

Next week is the 2nd Ravens v Steelers game of the season, which I'm really excited about. I share my office with a Steelers fan, so we're planning on having a fun week egging each other on. I plan to wear purple every single day, which is quite the feat. I don't even know if I have enough purple to make it through the week, but we'll see. I might also make some Ravens cookies. And I totally plan to cover her desk in black and purple. I can't wait!

Don't talk to me, I'm mourning

This is exactly how I feel right now. I seriously had the same reaction to last night's loss, tears and all. This little boy is my kindred spirit. How can I continue to love something that makes me hurt so badly?



I hate the Jaguars. And the refs.

I guess all is fair in love and football.

House Fantasy

I am obsessed with buying a house. There, I said it. Obsessed. I find myself fantasizing about my future house on a semi-regular basis. Like, at least 264 times per day. I daydream about layout, furniture, artwork, paint colors, gardens, parties, holidays, how many Christmas trees we'll have, where we'll put said Christmas trees, and many other psychotically obsessive things completely irrelevant to my apartment-dwelling everyday life. I try to stay away, but about once per week I binge on zillow.com, and spend several hours salivating like a puppy on BLT night. This obsession is both fueled and complimented by my Young House Love obsession. Fun fact: I am strongly opposed to painted brick, much unlike YHL, and I strongly desire an exposed brick wall in Fantasy House.

Joe is positively bored and exhausted with all of this house talk. I can't blame him. It's not like I'm soft spoken about this obsession. And we never go anywhere because we're trying to turn our savings account into Haloti Ngata in order to buy this aforementioned future house. So, many hours of boredom due to staying in inevitably lead to many hours of me babbling like an idiot about Mr. Future K. Housington.

Despite the fact that I know that this obsession is unhealthy, and that I know we aren't buying a house until Spring 2012 at the earliest, I spent the last 1/2 hour on polyvore.com visualizing my future basement. Looky:

























future basement by ccandfbbaby on polyvore.com


Ahhhhh. It's so beautiful and perfect.

I'd have to say that the basement is the room I dream about the most, probably because it's the place in which we'll spend the most time (Because of this, I fantasize mostly of split levels due to their abundance in finished basements). Obviously, we'll watch football in the basement. It'll be a football cave, if you will.

I also find it very important that our basement be semi-scary. Basements are supposed to be scary. That's just how it is. A universal rule. To help with the scary factor, I want an ornately-framed picture of Edgar Allan Poe and an ornately-framed picture of Zombie Lincoln. You might be thinking "Oh SJ, It must be hard to find a picture of Zombie Lincoln. That's oddly specific." Actually, it's not hard to find AT ALL. I've located several on the interwebs.

Oh. That's not what you were thinking? You're siding with Joe on this one? You think it's weird to want a Zombie Lincoln as the focal point in the imaginary room in your imaginary home where you will spend most of your (imaginary) time?

That is BULL.

ZOMBIE LINCOLN IS A BEAUTIFUL WORK OF ART THAT SHOULD ONLY BE GAZED UPON WITH WONDER AND ADORATION.

Excuse me, please. This is very important to me.

Moving on, I also want a huge black leather sectional in the basement. You know what? I want the basement to look exactly like that polyvore board. I don't think any further explanation is necessary.

Back to Zombie Lincoln.

So tell me, are you on Team Zombie Lincoln or on smelly Team Joe?

Is a Zombie Lincoln picture a totally awesome and beautiful work of art suitable for a family football cave?
ABSOLUTELY. I'm awesome. No. It's weird. Also, I smell terrible.
	Results

I'll eat your brains. Recognize.

PJS 4EVA

It is a well established fact that I adore PJs and believe strongly that they are the only acceptable attire within the home.

Well here are some more pictures of me expressing my passion and adoration of the sacred PJ:

2007, during college, at a friends house, playing charades.

Macaroni was the answer. You're welcome. That is joyous laughter on my face. Not because I'm funny, but because of the joy that only wearing pajamas brings me.

These are my "fancy party PJs," worn to a New Years 2011 party.

While others might wear a fancy dress to a New Years party, this is my "cleaning up nicely." Classy, I know.

It was a pajama party after all!

Party like a rock star. Word.

I'm only 3 months old here, but my love of pajamas is already apparent and deep.

Here I am playing hungry hungry hippos in my Sponge-B PJ pants. Also in college, 2005. The game isn't that great. The pants are more fun and entertaining. You cannot see my face, but I assure you that it is plastered with an expression of deep contentment due to my wearing apparel.

Only while wearing PJs is it appropriate to sip adult beverages while looking through a children's doll catalog. Here my face isn't exactly plastered with contentment, just plastered.

PJs 4 eva. Word.

PF7

I really don't know what to say, except it's the 7th Purple Friday of the season. I'm off today, and it's way too early for a blog post on my day off. Don't go congratulating me on my day off just yet. I have to work tomorrow, so it doesn't count. Yes, tomorrow as in SATURDAY. OH THE HORROR! I didn't get my Master's degree to work Saturdays!

I know I'm being a little dramatic, but I seriously don't care. Working Saturdays sucks.

Anyway, I'm going for a run, then going to the Amish market for donuts and chicken salad (don't hate), picking up my mom, eating chicken salad with her, and then visiting my grandma and grandpa while bearing donuts. Much better than rush hour and traffic.

Now excuse me while I eat a home cooked breakfast and get my Purple Friday on.

No pic for you.

SUCK IT.


PF1, PF2, PF3, PF4, BYE, PF6

PJ4L!!

Sometimes I wonder why there is always so much laundry to do. We can never, ever, EVER, EVER get caught up.

Then I thought about how many clothes I wore yesterday alone. Dress pants, knee highs, bra, underwear, blouse, cardigan, t-shirt, sweat pants, sports bra, socks, another pair of underwear, pj pants, another pair of underwear, and another t-shirt. That's a lot of freaking laundry!

However it may seem, laundry woes are not the point in this post. The point in this post is sweatpants. And pajamas. Sometimes they are interchangeable. Who hasn't worn sweatpants to bed? Or pajamas to the gym? (Just me?). Well, in this case they are interchangeable.

I still haven't gotten to the point in this post yet, have I?

SORRY

Approximately 12 seconds after walking into the front door each and every night, I frantically tear off my dress clothes and replace them with PJs. Most days, it's completely unconscious, and I don't even realize I'm doing it until I'm tottering on one foot, while trying to yank my dress pants off over my high heels, that I somehow always forget to take off first. Today, mid-change-session, I wondered if Joe minded that I always transform myself from polished professional to slobby hobo as soon as I get home. I then looked over at him to ask whether or not this bothered him, only to realize that he was cooking dinner in a t-shirt and underwear. He does it too! WE ARE A PAJAMA HOME!

My name is SJ and I have a confession to make. I ONLY WEAR PAJAMAS AT HOME. No, not I refuse to wear them while venturing out of my home; that's not me at all. Rather I refuse to wear anything else except pajamas while home. I can get dressed, go out grocery shopping, be home by 11:00am, and as soon as I walk in the door, the jeans come OFF! Same goes for dress pants at the end of the day. I just cannot bear to wear them within the borders of my home. I do not water my balcony plants often enough solely because that would require pants. Sometimes PJs are pants-less, OK? Joe agrees. Haters gonna hate.

Is this normal? Joe says that everyone who wears dress clothes all day does this, but this is the kind of thing that people don't talk about. I don't care if people are all hush hush about this. I need to know. At what point in the day do you change into PJs?

Whatever your answer, mine will always be:

A.S.A.P.

PJs 4 LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baltimore Running Fest 2011

So, I did it! I ran in the Baltimore Marathon Relay yesterday! It was such a beautiful day to run; the weather was perfect! I spent the night before dutifully eating my carbs (CRAB FRIED RICE! SERIOUSLY!) and going to bed semi-early, and it really paid off. I had great run. My husband Joe and my best friend Kelsey came to watch and cheer me on! Kelsey is awesome. She made shirts and everything. They had bacon cheeseburgers on them and said, "SARAH!" So fitting. I had been saying for weeks that as soon as I finished running, I was going to eat a bacon cheeseburger for lunch. And oh did I!

As for the race itself, I did really great. As you can see in this post and this post, I've been running at a 9:30+ pace all while training. But in the race, I pulled off a 9:03 pace, and finished my 7 miles in 1:04:04.

I ran one of the two longer legs of the race, and had the best pace of my entire team. I feel like that's something to be proud of! My pace looks slightly slower when you look at the team score compared to my tracker, but that's due to the fact that I had to stop and take off the time chip, which was secured around my ankle, and pass it off to my teammate. My time didn't technically end until she left the exchange zone with the chip attached to her person. Overall, we had a pretty good time for the entire marathon with 4:29:43.

Individual leg lengths:

Our Team's time:

Speaking of tracking my pace, I've never been happier to have my iPhone. I really had a hard time deciding to get one, and everyday I feel more and more like it was the right decision. Not only did I love using my iPhone to track my run and listen to music (today and throughout training), but I was able to snap pics throughout my run so easily. I sent picture texts to Joe and Kelsey to let them know how far along I was. I mainly sent pictures of the mile markers:

Doing this while running was so much easier and understandable than sending a text message saying "I'm at mile 8" would have been. Plus, this way there was no confusing between mile 8 of the entire marathon and how far I'd run personally. By doing this, they knew when I was getting close to them so that they could easily snap a photo. Here I am:

 Overall, it was a really great race, and a good experience. But I think next year I'll do the half-marathon. I've done the relay twice, and I think I've gotten all of the satisfaction I can out of it. Especially when I work really hard to have a great pace, and my teammates really don't measure up. Not trying to have my nose in the air, but when one of your teammate's pace is a full 3 minutes per mile slower than yours, that overall time is kind of a let down. Plus, I barely trained for this, and with a little more effort toward training, I think I could pull off the half. Not to mention, I really want one of those nifty "13.1" stickers for my car! Vain? Probably. I don't care though.

Speaking of vain, here are a few more pics of the day. Eat your heart out, bitches:

 Word to your mother.

Purple Friday Week Six

It's Purple Friday Mehhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

That face is for you. And for the future. Treasure it.

Go Ravens!

Three Ways to Eat Honey Daily That Are Actually Doable

I mentioned in this post that I am trying to eat raw local honey daily to help combat seasonal allergies. I can't say whether it's working or not yet, because I oh so wisely decided to start this regimen in the beginning of Fall. Genius, I know. Anyway the point in this whole thing is to expose myself to allergens over time via ingestion so that perhaps they will not cause my eyes to bleed and my nose to fall off come the Spring.

And Summer.

I know that there are endless fancy-schmancy ways to eat honey, but to be honest, I probably would neither stomach nor bother with them on a daily basis. Take Greek yogurt with honey, for example. Have you ever tried it? Perhaps with nuts for protein? Did you, by chance, desire a barf-fest approximately 1.14 bites in? I know I did. Who thought of that anyway? That shix is a super disgusto combo.

Then there's baclava. Delicious, I know. But who the fux takes the time to make baclava? Am I right? And wouldn't I have to cook the honey anyway, thus defeating the purpose in buying raw?

Here are some real ways to eat honey every single day, that I've been able to do today, yesterday, and for the past few weeks, and that I'll surely be able to keep doing hopefully indefinitely:

1. Eat it plain, right off of the spoon. No shit, right? Honey is good enough to just eat, so why not just go ahead and eat it! It feels like a sinfully indulgent thing to do, but really it's not. You have to eat it anyway, so just do it!

2. Put some in your tea. Whether hot or iced, honey sure does taste great in tea. If your not a tea drinker, I get it. This is probably as disgusting to you as the yogurt thing was to me. But if you were raised in a house of tea, like moi, it's a delicious suggestion! I've been drinking hot Earl grey tea with honey and a lemon wedge. A lot.

3. This is the last real suggestion. Anything I could suggest after this I haven't personally done, so it'd probably be complete bull. But this one is my favorite if the three, thus saved for last. Honey on a buttered toasted bread item. I prefer a honey wheat English muffin as my "bread item." I shouldn't really have to elaborate this because everyone (worth knowing) has gone gaga over honey butter at some point in life. Like in college when they accidentally ordered it for the dining hall and word spread like wildfire. More than one person jumped to their feet exclaiming, "honey butter!" before making a mad dash to the butter and jelly section. Soon they were out of bread, bagels, and everything else h-butter could be spread onto. After that, we checked the butter every morning at breakfast until graduation, hoping for another delicious ordering mistake.

Yeah, it's that good. So why can't one just add honey and butter to their daily English muffin, and call it the same thing? ONE CAN, OF COURSE!


So, eat honey, get money.
Word.

Un-Purple Friday

It's Friday, but not Purple Friday. There is not a Ravens game this weekend. I am wearing stupid blue and gray. When I walked down the streets this morning, I was not drowned in a sea of people wearing their Friday best. No purple blouses, polos, dress shirts, sweaters, tees, jerseys; nothing. Just regular people on a regular day.

I'm so sad that I want to put on my jersey, get back in bed, eat McDonald's and cry while watching game clips on YouTube. And drink Malibu.

Just kidding. Except about the Malibu. And the McDonald's. And the YouTube. OK, I wasn't kidding.

In all seriousness, this bye week is actually gonna be pretty nice. What will I do instead of watching football this Sunday? I'm gonna go hiking and enjoy this beautiful fall weather.

And maybe get caught up on laundry.

Just kidding.

Early Onset Holiday Fever?

I think I have a problem. I am a little bit too ready for the Holidays. It is October 2nd. Do I really need to be this excited, so soon? Could it be my mental health day making me ready for another day week off? Could it be the sudden onset chilly weather and the leaves turning overnight? Could it be the Apple Festival we went to yesterday filled with ciders, pies, and fall and wintry treats? Did I really just buy a Santa Claus statue yesterday?

A Ravens Santa? OH YEAH!
Did I really start making my Christmas shopping list already? Did I really just make a turkey and stuffing bake for dinner that tastes just like Thanksgiving (thank you Everyday Food!)?

Did I really just eat pumpkin whoopie pies for desert? Seriously? Did I really eat it so fast once I unwrapped it that I couldn't take a picture of it in its unwrapped glory before it was demolished by my pumpkin-crazed alter-ego (45 secs, yo!)?

Is this a common phenomenon, this Early Onset Holiday Fever? Am I alone in this obsessive all-consuming sickness? Are any treatments available? IS THAT HAM? WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO?!?!? HELP! MEEEE! PLEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




p.s. GO RAVENS!

What I Did On My Day Off

As I mentioned this morning in my Purple Friday Post, I took today off as a mental health day. What does one do on such a day? I imagine that most people stay in their PJs and watch movies. But that's not what I did. After a one-day weekend last weekend, I needed to get shiz done! Having the load off of my shoulders made me feel so much better than lazing around the house would have made me feel. So here's what I did on my day off:

• Woke up at 8am! Score! This is the perfect time to wake up because it's still sleeping in, but you don't waste half your day doing so.
• Took a shower, found my camera charger (it's been missing since my vacation in August!), got dressed, ate breakfast, wrote a blog post.
• Got my oil changed. FINALLY! It had been 8000 miles. OH THE SHAME! I'M SO SORRY LOUIS BLUE (that's my car, homies)!
• Went to a local dairy farm and bought local ice cream and raw local honey. I actually went there because they're the closest local honey vendor I could find, but I couldn't walk away without buying a quart of ice cream too. Joe and I want to try a daily dose of local honey to help combat allergies. Joe's doc says its whack, but I'm gonna give it a try.

Yes, this picture was really necessary. You're welcome.

• Came home, ate a carb-a-licious lunch, waited a 1/2 hour, went on a 7 MILE RUN!!! Booyaa, running! IN YOUR FACE, RUNNING! I am SO ready for the Baltimore Team Relay in two weeks!

• Ate a snack and showered, but didn't wash my hair or face. They still looked good! I wasn't wasting that make up!
• Went to the pharmacy and picked up my prescription, dry shampoo for my stinky hair, and sour cream for dinner. OK it wasn't the pharmacy. It was Target. I didn't allow myself to shop, so it doesn't count as going there. 
• Came home, took a nap. A NAP! For real! A real nap! I forgot those existed for a minute!
• Woke up, Joe came home, we made dinner. And now the night begins!

That's my day off. Word.

Purple Friday: Week 4

Happy Purple Friday!

I saw this shirt in a store that only sells Ravens gear. Yes, people really do wear those purple camo pants. No, I absolutely refuse to tell them how ridiculous they look. THIS IS FREE ENTERTAINMENT, PEOPLE!

Here's another shirt from the same store. It represents this blog so perfectly. I didn't get it. Bad decision. I may have had a couple of glasses of sangria before hand. I blame the sangria for that one.

Anyway, is it really Purple Friday again so soon? I've been so busy that last Friday seems like yesterday and a month ago at the same time. Because I worked last Saturday, I felt completely drained by Tuesday. Like a Thursday kind of drained with no weekend in sight. So I decided at the last minute to take today off. It's a mental health day, if you will. It may only be 9:15 in the morning, but I already know that it was a great decision!

Because I'm off today, It's a casual kind of Purple Friday.

I'm wearing jeans and a Ravens tee that I got at Old Navy. I had no idea that Old Navy carried NFL stuff! I walked into the store on my birthday to kill some time before we met some friends for dinner, and there was this entire NFL display. It was destiny. I bought this shirt like a boss.

Now, I'm off to spend my day off however I please. Buying honey and shiz like that. DON'T HATE, JOSEPH!

St. Louis Lambs

I've been to St Louis on two occasions, and here's what I have to say about the city:

The first time we went, we did the tourism thing. We had a great time. The Arch was awesome.

The pizza is terrible there. Velveeta? On pizza? Really?

The weather is practically the same as in Maryland, only a little bit hotter. I was really surprised the first time I went. I honestly expected a break from Maryland's oppressive humidity, and was pretty disappointed when I did not get it.

I wish I got the chance to eat a steak there. Someday.

I need to mention again how awful their pizza is. It was hands down the worst pizza I've had in my entire life. And I've had shitty off-brand $1.99 frozen pizza. Believe me, this stuff was worse.

They sell beer in the grocery store! Score!

Also, the Budweiser tastes better there. Just saying.

Both Joe's and my dads live out there. That's a plus.

But... Bmore dominated the St Louis Lambs today. Just dominated.

Look at that score! Hot DAMN!

And even though I haven't had a St Louis steak yet, Joe made me the best steak I've ever had tonight. Holy Wegman's!

Sweet steak. Sweet Baltimore Ravens victory. Sweet night.

Countdown to the Baltimore Running Festival

The 2011 Baltimore Running Festival is October 15, which is less than 3 weeks away. I'm running in the team relay, which splits the marathon between 4 people. I've done this race once before in 2007.

Sexxxy... I just ran 7 miles. Give my FACE a break. And my bandanna. It needs a break too. Indefinitely.

This race pretty much has the best medals ever. Here's my medal from oh sev'.

And here is the marathon medal for this year. I'm not running the marathon, so I know mine will be slightly different, but still AWESOME.

Once again, my portion is 7 miles, which is really no biggie, but kind of a biggie if you haven't been training... Which I really haven't been. I mean, I've been running 3 miles here and there. And going to bootcamp class twice a week. I'm naturally a pretty good runner, so I know I can go out and do the thing without training. But I also know training and being ready for it will make it so much more enjoyable.

Lately I've been trying to get a little more serious about training. Yesterday I ran 7 miles on the elliptical, with moderate resistance to make it more like real running. It only took me 40 minutes, so I know this was more like running 4-4.5 miles.

Today I went out for a real run, with the idea that I would run the full 7 miles, but I only did five.

Not a bad pace, especially because i took 2 walking breaks! My feet started falling asleep, so by the end I figured it was better to stop than to hurt myself. I can always try again in a couple days.

Anyway, I'll probably insert a few updates into the ole blog between now and race day. I know this shiz is sooooo interesting, and you cannot possibly wait to read more about it. Chill you guys.

Kick off is 8 minutes away, and I have other things on my mind at the moment.

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