I Am A Mess Today

What a glorious Wednesday... for a duck. I'm usually pretty excited for rainy days, but today I am just not feeling it. I need a little sunshine to wake up my brain, which I'm pretty sure I left in bed this morning. Needless to say, this morning has been rough:

 -- I slept straight through my alarm this morning and was just lucky to wake up 15 minutes before I needed to leave. (For the record, I did make it to work on time. And I did shower. Small victories, people.) This is worrisome for two reasons: I went to bed early last night and got plenty of sleep, and this is the second time this has happened in as many weeks. If only I could program the cat to wake me up....

 -- Speaking of furball, he has apparently decided that the prime sleeping spot in our rather empty bed is exactly where I am. For the past few nights, moments after I have turned off the lights and snuggled up, I've felt the little pitter-patter of razor sharp claws climbing my back. After several minutes of back-and-forth in an effort to find just the right spot, he curls up right on top of me, just south of my chin, to stare creepily into my eyes until we both fall asleep. He's lucky that he's the only thing I have to cuddle with right now, otherwise his clammy little nose would find itself on the couch.

 -- I have not gone for a run in 42 hours and counting. To put this another way: I am dying. I started feeling some rather severe pain in my shins over the weekend, and by Monday I knew that I could no longer pretend that it wasn't happening. Whatever the cause, I am hoping that a few rest days will knock it out. Translation: I'm giving it until Friday and if it's not gone, I run through it. This all makes me a little nervous because I have a race in a week and a half that I'd really like to enjoy. Translation: I want an awesome PR. 

Dear legs, Get it in gear. Love, the rest of me.

 -- This morning I ate salad for breakfast. Groceries have become a bit of a precious commodity around these parts, and all I was able to salvage from the ruins of my refrigerator this morning was last night's leftover salad. So when I got hungry at 10:00 this morning, my options were a little limited. Now it's lunchtime, and all I want is a cup of coffee big enough to swim in. My brain hurts.

 -- When I got to work this morning, I found that Pandora had been playing on my computer (through headphones, thank goodness) all night. I am still in mourning over all the great songs I've missed.

 -- Have I mentioned lately that I haven't seen my husband in 80 days? Enough said.

So yes, I am a certifiable mess this morning. Luckily, things are looking up...

 -- My mom and I have a hot yoga date this evening (hot date, not hot yoga.) I haven't taken a class since college and I am super excited to try out a new studio and get back into it. Fingers crossed that I'll be able to silence my thought for long enough to really enjoy it.

 -- My sweet hubby always seems to know when I desperately need a smile: he sent not one, but two gorgeous flower arrangements to me today. I have no clue why he decided that one was not enough, but I am not exactly complaining.

(or something equally cheesy)

Here's to making it through today!

  Love,

    Meg

I Confess...

It's Friday again (can someone explain to me how that happened, please?) and despite an abundance of favorite things that I could tell you about (the-most-amazing-pumpkin-bread-in-the-world and this video being the leading contenders this week), my sleepy brain is feeling a little over-honest. It would be a shame to waste all of this candid truth, so I figured it might be time for a few confessions from a rather... trying week. Try your hardest not to Oh, just go ahead and judge. I probably would too.

 -- In the past week, I have eaten an entire box of wheat thins in 24 hours and a whole loaf of the afore-mentioned pumpkin bread in two days. I've been a little hungry. My mid-section is less than pleased with me (and I with it). Someone please hide the baked goods.

 -- Twice this week I have fallen asleep before 9 pm. Sad but oh-so necessary. I blame the cat -- one look at him all curled up and snoozing (his preferred pastime approximately 23.5 hours out of the day) makes me start to nod off myself.

 -- Wednesday I went for a run around my local college campus. I knew it was going to storm, but I was determined to sweat out a few quick miles outside (and head back to finish the rest on a treadmill, if I had to). When it did start to drip, I headed back for my car, and about half a mile out disaster struck. My left foot landed wrong, my ankle rolled, and before you can say "graceful" I was skidding across the pavement on my hands and knees. Ouch doesn't really describe it. Even though there was no one around, I was incredibly embarrassed and my first response was to spring back up and announce (to no one in particular) "Oh, shit. I'm okay, I'm okay.... yep I'm fine." Except I wasn't. I had blood streaming from both knees (not an exaggeration, sadly), my palms were stinging like crazy, my cell phone was several feet away, having bounced down the road (thankfully it survived), and my ankle was in definite pain. With great effort I collected myself, hobbled a few feet, tried in vain to wipe the blood off my legs, got my hands all bloody instead, waited at a stoplight forever while the rain picked up and drivers shot me pitying looks, and tried to jog but quickly returned to walking when my ankle made it clear that running would not be a choice. By the time I got back to my car, I was a soggy, limping, bleeding mess. I called my dear husband expecting to leave him a voicemail, and burst into tears when he actually answered. It was definitely not a good afternoon for my pride.

 -- I spent the rest of Wednesday evening and most of Thursday in misery, sure that my ankle was going to take forever to heal and ruin the rest of my half-marathon training and generally end my life. I felt like such a cliche: I had never loved running so much until I lost it. I was actually shocked at how depressed I was not to be able to run Thursday morning, even though my brain had been begging for a rest day anyway. So yesterday afternoon, I did something that I knew I shouldn't. Despite the a lingering twinge in my ankle, despite the fact that my shoes were still soaking wet from the rain on Wednesday, despite the mega-sized band-aids flapping from my oozing knees like a 7 year old, I went to the gym. I told myself I'd start slowly and see how it went, but before I knew it I'd jumped from the bike to the elliptical and right back onto the treadmill. Luckily, I made it through two miles with no pain (and another four this morning), so I think my fears were (for once) unfounded. And that new-found love for running? Sure, I'm happy to get back out on the road again, but I'm already dreading having to drag myself out of bed early tomorrow for a run. Cured!

 -- I am making no effort to hide that I am super-excited to see a movie that is coming out this weekend..... and no, it's not the one that you're thinking. I'm just dying with anticipation to see these guys:

I am a huge and unapologetic 23 year old Winnie the Pooh fan. I fell in love at the ripe age of one month, when I received my first stuffed animal of the "silly old bear." Since then, I've amassed countless stuffed Poohs (including one in a baseball uniform), donkeys, piglets, and unnaturally-upright tigers, and as a toddler child young adult until I got married, I always fell asleep with a yellow bear tucked in my arms. I watched the tv show (the original show, with the real voices and animation and none of this awful D*sney Channel stuff) every weekend with my dad and read all the books several times. My love for the bear and his friends has grown with me: in the past two years each of my parents gave me wooden signs with quotations from the book, one of which makes me cry every time I read it. Just a few months ago, I purchased four handmade greeting cards with similarly heartwarming Pooh quotes, and because I can't bear to send them off, I'm going to frame them. It's been a long love affair, and I am so thrilled that this movie will return the characters to their original drawings and (with a few exceptions) voices. No offense, Mr. Potter, but this weekend, I'll be spending a few hours with my very favorite bear. (Also, I'm pretty sure that going to see the new HP movie without Dan would be grounds for divorce.)

I think that may be enough honesty for one week. Have a lovely weekend, dear readers!

   Love,

    Meg

Things I Learned Today*

*Actually, yesterday. Thanks for the maintenance, Blogger. Hope you got a lot done in that 20.5 hours. [Ok, it was annoying, but it's hard to be mad after this.]

Today was a learning experience... all 17.5 (waking) hours of it. Lest you all think I'm selfish, I decided to share some of these lessons with you. Don't repeat my mistakes, people.

 -- When a business meeting starts at 12:30 and the ending time is quoted as simply "long," eat lunch before it begins. Otherwise you will likely find yourself still sitting there at 5:10, fielding judgmental glances every time your stomach makes a sound like it might be considering eating itself. And really, the guy sitting just outside the board room window snacking on pretzels doesn't deserve your dirty looks.

 -- Always ask that question -- the one you're worried might be stupid but could be of consequential importance. Chances are, everyone around you is concerned too, but they're also too terrified of looking dumb in front of their colleagues. Either that, or no one else has thought of it, and speaking up could mean the difference between success and imminent disaster.

 -- No little wild bunny will let you sneak up on them with the intention to kidnap and force them to be best friends with your cat. They will tease you, letting you get just close enough to actually reach down, and then they will hop like lightning. Not fair. But true.

Toby, as you can see, is devastated.

 -- Just because one grocery store in town does not have canned pumpkin and "has been trying to get some in," but "cannot find it anywhere," and "will probably not be able to restock for a long, long time," does NOT mean that the other grocery store in town doesn't have two shelves filled with it. Thank goodness. My mental well-being is directly correlated to the number of cans of pumpkin in my pantry at any given moment.

 -- There is a (relatively bumpy) learning curve to quinoa. I attempted this popular new grain (it is a grain, right?) last night for the first time, and it's not for the easily frustrated. I followed the instructions carefully and ended up with a whole cup of uncooked, bone dry, stuck-to-the-pan mess. I immediately added lots more water and put it on the heat again, and this time it cooked but the finished product resembled soup. Do you know how difficult it is to drain something that is only slightly larger than a grain of sand?

 -- Garlic sprouts quickly. Almost -- almost -- as quickly as it burns. Keep an eye on it at all times... it's 7:00, do you know what your garlic is doing?

 -- Mushrooms saute much faster than onions. Add them to the pan only when the onion is almost done, unless mushy is your style.

 -- Creativity in the kitchen only gets you so far. Sometimes, even the most logical flavor combinations don't actually taste like you think they should.

 -- Dessert is always the best part of any meal. No exceptions.

Clearly I've had my fill of life lessons for a while. Has anyone else learned anything important this week?

   Love,

    Meg

A Hoppin' Easter Weekend

[please excuse the terrible pun... it's that kind of Monday]

I am simply astounded at the speed with which our weekends fly by these days. I feel like I barely sat down, barely slept, barely took a breath at all this weekend, which was wonderful and exhausting all in the same sentence. Monday really did come a little too quickly for my taste. 
Dan and I often take Friday evenings off to relax and be boring, but not this week: as soon as I left work we headed straight for the grocery store and then home to make dinner. Dan's youngest brother Z and his adorable girlfriend came over and we had pierogies (best. appetizer. ever.), grilled chicken sandwiches, mashed potatoes, stuffed mushrooms, and this amazing pie for dessert. [Please, if you do nothing else this week, make that pie. It is surprisingly easy, sticky, and heavenly. Really, so so good. Go on, you know you want to.]

(before it went back in the oven to melt the marshmallows... all over my oven... which was absolutely worth it)

 Saturday I got up early for a long run while my awesome hubby went back to the grocery store to get ingredients for last minute sugar-less and egg-less cupcakes (my family has a thing for allergies). I made this recipe (not terrible but I'm not sure I'd make it again) and used a Splenda version of my favorite icing (definitely better with real sugar), finishing off some with sliced strawberries and the rest with sprinkles. While baking, I learned an important lesson which I feel compelled to share with any of you who are, like me, slightly clumsy and blessed with blonde hair: after turning the oven on to preheat, even for only 10 seconds until you remember that there are melted marshmallows lining the bottom, do not simply turn the oven off and dive in to start cleaning. The oven will be hot. You will burn your thumb to pieces and then jump up and down squealing, which will cause your husband to alternate concern and barely suppressed giggles. Two days later, your thumb will have a nasty blister that still hurts. You're welcome.
So Dan and I first headed out to my aunt's and uncle's to help celebrate my cousin's 8th birthday (we never turn down a party). We had a great time catching up with the adults, chuckling at the fearless 5-year-old-on-a-bicycle, and enjoying some fantastic hamburgers. Then we headed to Dan's parent's house for more grilling, easter egg dye-ing (for the girls), and a scary movie.
Sunday brought another morning run and super-fast baking session (this time cake-mix cookies and no burnt thumb... much better on both accounts) before we headed off to my mom's and then Dan's great aunt's to visit with lots of family and eat more excellent food. Last night, at the request of the four-year-old who I am convinced is stuck inside Dan, we went to see 'Hop.' It was a cute movie (although not nearly as good as Despicable Me or Alvin and the Chipmunks), and if you ask me there are definitely worse ways to end your weekend than a cherry coke, buttery popcorn, and holding hands with your hubby. 
Speaking of Dan, I was so thrilled to discover the most wonderful easter basket "hidden" in the pantry yesterday morning! Unfortunately, I was so excited that I didn't even think to take a picture, but it was filled with cute little tea towels, an adorable bunny dish, a piggy bank (because I am forever being made fun of for my overflowing "change cup"), and all the best kinds of easter candy. What a great husband, right?
As exhausting as this weekend was, I am so glad that we have been taking advantage of every last minute that Dan is here. I know that once he leaves, weekends are going to go from crazy busy to lonely and sad, so for now I'm loving all the time with family, friends, and my sweet hubby. I only wish time would slow down a little bit!
Hope that you all had a fantastic Easter with your own loved ones!

   Love,

    Meg

In Which a $16 Car Inspection Costs Me $511

Yep, the title says it all. I got up at the crack of dawn this morning to take my car in for an inspection. I happened to look down at the sticker on my windshield yesterday on the way to work and realized that I had been supposed to get one in December and completely forgotten. Each year, this little act of good citizenry seems to escape me -- I was late last year too and feel so guilty about it! This would be the point where Dan informs you that I am, in fact, blonde in real life, and I hide my head, ashamed that I look like such a delinquent. I was truly worried about whether the guys at the repair shop were going to yell at me for being so late (luckily they didn't).
I wanted to get it in right when they opened at 7 so that I could hopefully finish in time to grab coffee (my car place is on the same side of town as Dunkin' Donuts, which is a slight obsession of mine) and get to work by 8:30. My airbag light had other ideas. I should have realized that would have been too good to be true. Don't get me wrong, I'm really thankful that they found the problem and were able to fix it (in one day, no less), but I'm less than thrilled about the huge invoice that came with it. This is the third time since I graduated that my car has required some rather expensive tlc, and as much as I love my little jeep, this cycle is getting a little old. Plus, I'm still a little bitter that I didn't get my coffee this morning.... 

   Love,

    Meg