Well

The guests of honor, my uncle and aunt, give a speech at cake time. The cousins pulled off a complete surprise with over 100 people there!

The weekend was awesome, but tiring. I decided to take today off with flex time and am tempted to take the rest of the week, too, but I can't really. A 3-day week is good enough. It's addictive, being away from the office!


Lois is taking it easy, too, as you can see... I finally have her leaving her paw alone most of the time and that's good - I hope it heals quickly.


Now I'm cleaning my apartment. It's gotten so bad that I probably won't make a dent, but I am really glad to be starting the process, finally. It really helps that it's a beautiful day out, which sorta makes no sense.


I also planted some basil and mint (I couldn't stand not having herbs) and cleaned up the porch today, too.

Oh and the habits: pushups - great, flossing - so-so, and situps - terrible, so I am going to start taking a Tuesday morning pilates class, tomorrow at 8:30. I need strength in my gut to do all this other stuff. I trained 40 minutes yesterday in the boonies of Wisconsin (stayed in a hotel and there were no sidewalks anywhere, just running alongside the state highways) doing this crazy heart zone run where I'd get my heart rate to a certain number and hold it there for 5 minutes, then drop it to another level and hold it, then back up again - 3 times. It sure makes the time go by when you're busy reading your heart rate monitor all the time.



But at one point when I crossed this highway onto a deserted country road, these two possessed redwinged blackbirds started making a racket of noise and kept swooping down, practically divebombing my head as I ran along. I was actually scared! I kept swatting my hands above my head at them and yelled, "Get away!" but the only thing that made them stop was me turning around and running in the other direction. Creepy! Luckily no one was up at 7am on a Sunday to see this whole thing. It must have looked hilarious!

Juni

A 7-year-old student's clay painting, from my "Painter's Studio" class on Mondays.

Happy June! It's very exciting and a little bittersweet that the outdoor, good-weather season is finally, actually here. I've been waiting desperately for it, but I know it'll go so quickly.

Here is a bird-in-the-bush update picture. (Morbid, I know. Sorry!)

This was my last weekend of real freedom before tri training takes over my life. I've agreed to sub for a bunch of other art teachers in the next couple of weeks, as well, so my schedule is totally packed - but it's all in the name of cold, hard cash... and fitness. I figure the extra 11 classes that will ravage my life for the next 14 days will contribute a nice chunk, after taxes, toward paying back my triathlon-inflated credit card debt.

I laid low this weekend, spending 24 hours with my mom and stepfather starting Friday - we went shopping for food and brought dinner over to my brother and sister-in-law's place for a late mother's day/very late birthday for my brother (see above, with strawberry shortcake).

Then I slept over at my parents' condo with Lois (and missed the last 8am Saturday run I'll be able to do til after 8/24), but it was nice to spend the time with them, and we had a great Saturday of browsing the farmer's market, walking around downtown, and a lovely lunch at an outdoor place.

Saturday I emceed a FANTASTIC tap show at work - I introduced each of the 25 or so acts, some of whom were mindblowing tappers. It was joyous! Rarely do I feel that about my job, but this past week, I really felt lucky to be around and be a part of such great arts endeavors.

Here are hula dancers on the same stage from last week's "Voyage the Pacific" show. Excellent!

Sunday I taught my art classes, took a little nap, and then walked over to May Fest, the drinking event in my neighborhood that kicks the summer season off with great German food, bad German leiderhosen-wearing bands, and lots and lots of German beer in large plastic steins. Of course, it was totally packed. (With cute drunk guys, actually.) I just got a bratwurst dinner to go, and once again Lois astounded me with her love for sauerkraut. I swear she likes it more than she likes meat. It's insane.

Habitwatch:
#1 - 1 at tap fest, that's it. Getting bad at this.
#2,3, and 4 - missed 2 days! Crap!

Dark

I was in a great mood yesterday - which can be newsworthy for all of the obvious reasons - I've got pretty major money issues, organizational issues, I haven't been on a date in ages, I haven't had - um, romantic contact - in even longer, I don't have a lot of friends, I'm tired from a very busy season at work, and all the other stuff. But: I'd just started my triathlon group on Tuesday night, which began with just a meeting (all the people are really nice!) and a 45-minute yoga class at this sports clothing store for rich people downtown, then I rode my bike home, and had the next morning all to myself and Lois - we went running, etc. All was well.

I worked late, got home and took Lois out for a walk - it was after midnight, so my neighborhood was silent. We walked along and for some reason I turned back after passing a shoulder-height bush at the edge of the sidewalk, and noticed this tiny bird sitting there, totally silent, still (and, I finally realized, dead). But it was sitting up as if it was daytime, just hanging in the bush - letting me walk right by. It was eerie. I took a pic (above) with my camera phone.

After that, things went all dark in my head, and I found myself crying, and walking, mostly wishing someone was walking with me, or wishing there was someone I could call about the bird, or that someone would be home for me to come tell about it. I was completely overtaken by this sadness - a loss of something I've never had - sad for the bird, for myself, for all the people who are alone everywhere, who wonder, like I do, what did I do so wrong?

It was an unbelievably painful few blocks.

I got home, brushed, flossed, did 20 pushups and gave Lois a biscuit for hangin' in there with me, and played with her and a toy for a while and went to sleep pretty soon after.

And you know what? I woke up just fine today. Crying your heart out at 1am for a tiny bird inexplicably perched, lifeless, in a bush might be OK once in a while.

Nothing to it but to do it

This is what I wake up to lately; Lois starts the night like a dog, curled under the covers at the foot of the bed, and by morning is sleeping - and snoring - like a human, sometimes with her head on a pillow! Plus, she takes a good half-hour to get out of bed in the morning.

I just paid the $240 fee for the women-only triathlon training program I've been wavering about for over a month while checking out all the other options. It starts on Tuesday. Now I have to fix up the hybrid bike and get crackin, I guess. I hope it's filled with nice people. I hope it's not a pain in the ass to get to their training things.

I hope it's worth $20 a week.

I went to a demo of the Chicago Triathlon Club's online training program last night, and realized that although I would really like to be a part of their club (maybe for the next triathlon I do? Unfortunately, their more informal training days conflict with my program) and the people seem wonderful, I need more than a computer list of what to do each day - I need the motivation of being in a live group of people actually doing that stuff a few times a week. So I spent the extra $90, and now I'll have to make the most of the program I joined!

I ran a mile with Lois yesterday but have yet to swim at the new pool. Pushups are fine (20-30 a day!) but I need ab motivation. And I posted an ad on Craigslist so I am emailing with a couple of guys right now. My expectations are not high, but it's interesting.

Cold Comfort

You know, I am usually the one who says "I like the rain," or "Winter is fun!" BUT: It's fucking cold here. It's May 12. This is ridiculous.

I mean, my nose is cold and I've been inside for over an hour. It's so cold out that I bought those shitty grocery store cookies pictured above (because I wanted one, to eat with my tea, and I've had 2 already.) and a frozen spinach thin-crust pizza. And I ate the hell outta that thing - all but a couple pieces.

Now, I'm getting ready to settle in with No Country for Old Men, which I never saw in the theatres, which the video guy (who is my stand-in for habit #1 today because I flirted with him halfheartedly) sorta convinced me to get.

I have been doing great on habits 2 & 3. The pushups are going really well - a set of 10 2x a day now. I haven't settled into any exact flossing time or place (shower, lying in bed, bathroom, sitting on couch), but it's usually before bed, so my gums have that interesting, just-exercised (?) feeling as I fall asleep. You know what I'm talking about.

My original idea for that habit, to remind me to do floss, was to get a tattoo of a tooth, like this image, (but without the brush,) on some very visible spot on my hand or wrist, so I'd always see it, and remember to floss. Plus I think a tooth tattoo would just be cool. I still do. I'd get the outline and then fill the tooth part in with white ink - white ink looks very nice. Recently, though, I've thought about just getting a very, very thin-line tattoo of white floss, just wrapping around one hand, wrist, or thumb area. It would be barely visible to others but I would know what it was. That might be even better than the molar. But I have no immediate plans for it - I have no tattoos yet at 38 and probably will never get any, but I do want to reserve those two ideas for when I go crazy and decide to do it. Let this be my copyright protection.

Aiiight, I'm off to lazy-ass-couch-potato land to watch the movie and pet Lois. Luckily I swam a lot, and fast, today, or I'd be a total loser.

(Phew, right?)

Core

Ugh. I have very little abdomen strength. I realized last night, as I struggled with even 5 situps, that it's been wayyyyyyyy too long since I worked on my abs and it's high time I did. Whenever I've been doing pilates in the past 8 years or so, even just once a week, it helped everything. I need to get back to that. Until I do, I'm gonna do a crunch or three and some situp-ish things every night before I go to bed.
I talked to one new male at the run this morning, but since M met him first and introduced us, he says it only counts as half. Whatever. I ran 40 minutes and swam 40 minutes today. Flossed, did my pushups.

Oh, and I got into another car accident - I was moving my car (like, a few spaces, just so no one could claim it's abandoned) and this woman came barrelling down my street and right into the side of my car, the front and rear passenger-side doors. I might as well set the damn thing on fire, it's so ugly, beaten up, and such a pain in my ass. I swear, the car has a curse on it.

(Hey, did anyone else notice that both bad guys in Ironman were bald? What's up with that??)

In other news, M being single at the same time as me is fun. We went to Ironman tonight, and it was pretty good! Stay til the very very end, esp. if you are a comics fan type.

Lois - 3 years!

Here is a weird laptop pic of my special pooch, with whom I am celebrating our 3-year anniversary today! Yea! You can also see her fancy new $30 bra (that's a "harness" to most people) and please note how wide it is - I had to special order a size L because she gained 8 pounds in the past year, tipping the scales at 50 pounds! That's comparable to me gaining 40 pounds in a year - yikes! So, now we both need to lose a few.

I got up the guts to talk a bit more to the cute new guy at work, and also to a couple of other ones there - we had a special workshop/meeting today. That was good. I like to, um, rediscover every once in a while that there are actually guys all around, it's just that I don't have crushes on them very easily or often. Maybe if I get more desperate, horny, or bored as the spring progresses, I will become less resigned to singledom, and actually do something about it.

So: yep - I'm home blogging on a Friday night. The plan for dinner with the family was cancelled due to a crazy bike accident in which my stepfather broke his collarbone, so here I am with a free night. Instead of taking the opportunity to go to a really good show at my place of work, for free, I came home, walked Lois, talked on the phone with my mom, ate a weird cheap dinner, then texted back and forth with my friend M, who just broke up with his gf/fb over the phone after like 7 months of dating. Ugh. Such a guy. (At least he feels kinda bad about it.) I'd go drink with him, but I am just so comfortable here at home...plus, he's playing a show at a bar I don't wanna go to, and it's far away for biking, and it's cold out.

I watched a so-so German film about these rich kids in the 1920s who shoot each other because one (played by an actor I like) is secretly gay and depressed. Hm.

So that's my exciting Friday night. I'm gettin' up early tomorrow to go running, even though I'm totally bad at it.

And, even though I am not perfect about pushups, flossing, or talking to new guys either, I think it's time for me to add habit #4: SITUPS! I will start tonight with however many I can do, and report back to you tomorrow.

xo

Habitwatch

Here's an unrelated photo of N at Next, part of Chicago's ginormous Artropolis art fair a couple of weekends ago in the Merchandise Mart, in front of his Sonnenzimmer booth (well, that's the Thrill Jockey booth behind him, actually), eating a fat hot dog with cheese on it. I went on Thursday's opening with S and then again Saturday with my father. Lots, lots walking, lots of art and really good peoplewatching!

OK: I really have no excuse, but I have been terrible at much of this new habit stuff in the last week or so. I'm back on the plan now. Here's today's update:

#1 (men) - two yesterday! (one at Trader Joe's, the other walking home. Dog owners are easy targets)
#2 (pushups) - 8
#3 (floss) - yes

TRI Training:
I attended a nutrition/hydration seminar Sunday, ran Monday, nothing Tuesday, swam today. I'm still a bit sore from the weekend, either the heavy lifting or the camp bed. I've started adding 10 minutes of treading to the end of my lap time to practice for the event — apparently you have to tread water in the cold lake, waiting for your group start to be called on race morning. Nice.

Reality

This is from someone's blog, I stole it (it's the Chicago triathlon, yr looking at the people waiting for the chilly swim in Lake Michigan). Looks fun, huh?

Tonight I went to another triathlon seminar at the the running store - the focus was all the equipment you'll need/want for the event, like what to wear and what to have on you, and what to train in and what will make things easier. I could dismiss a lot of the stuff (special triathlon running shoes? Come on), but other stuff, like the $120 triathlon suit you wear under the wetsuit so you don't have to bike and run in your bathing suit with a running bra and thick biking shorts over it or something, seems ingenius.

And the deadline is approaching for registering for the triathlon training groups, which are either $240 for the women-only one that's closer to my house or $280 for the 14-week co-ed one that seems better but is farther away. I know I should do one of these groups because I have little discipline or knowledge about the event on my own, but it's so much money. Money that I owe to the IRS, the City of Chicago, the gas company, and credit cards...Ugh. SO hard to decide what to do.

SO: this sport is expensive. Hmm.

Anyway, I went to a housewarming party at M's house last night and then a show at the Hideout so I did actually talk to a few of new people that were guys, which is habit #1. And I did my pushups (still at 7) - habit #2, and flossing - #3. Good for me.

Ran 3 miles yesterday (Sat.) with Lois and M and biked about 9 miles, but did nothing today besides teach and fix art projects ... and worry about triathlon money.

Baby!

In the things I love category, here's my new niece. Alexandra was just born at 4:15am on April 16 in Thailand to my stepbrother and sister-in-law. She's their 2nd baby, sister to William, who's been on these pages before. I love William. Hope he's doing OK with the trauma of losing his only child status.

Two other things: We had an earthquake last night and Lois and I totally woke up (but I didn't know why) and don't go see Smart People. It's the dumbest, most implausible movie ever. And the music sux.

HabitWatch:
#1 - Nothing. Gotta get back on the wagon.
#2 - 7, 0 yesterday! Whoops!
#3 - check

TRI Training Watch:
Swim - Yes.
Bike - To work and last night to M's.
Run - Nope.