Picture Time

I was rummaging around some different websites and found some of my favorite pictures of me from recent years:

This is me!

This was taken in the fall of 2005 I believe, in New York City outside of my favorite restaurant - Cafe Lalo - as seen in You've Got Mail (it's the restaurant where Meg Ryan is supposed to meet Tom Hanks, but doesn't know it's Tom Hanks she's supposed to meet and they end up fighting and she gets upset...)

This is the original photo, with Ruth who interned at Texas Star Theatre (where I worked) and who later also worked for Sesame Street Live (we never did a tour together though)

Speaking of Sesame Street Live, this is one if my Christmas photos taken my second year on tour with them - Telly is upset because I chose Rosita to hug over him (my Christmas photo the previous year was with him)

Thanksgiving 2000

Now that my big race is over (don't worry... I'm still running and training for other races), I figured now would be a good time to write down various stories about things that happened in my past.  This is the first of such posts:

Thanksgiving 2000 (before I was thoroughly jaded by the idea of Thanksgiving)

I was living in the apartment on 1st Avenue, it was a tiny two bedroom pre-war fifth floor walk-up, where I lived with four other girls paying enormous amounts of rent, but overall living the whole "New York experience."  Kate and I were the only two staying in the city for the holiday, as such we were going to make a celebration of it.  Kate's friend Evie flew in from Seattle and my friend Danielle stayed over. 

I remember that kitchen so well.  Almost immediately inside the front door, it was long and narrow spanning the width of the apartment.  One one wall was the stove, a small counter and the sink; on the other was the fridge, microwave (on a small set of shelves) and the table.  A small window at the end of the room looked out over the alley and onto a brick wall, which you could practically touch.  Occasionally pigeons would brave the metal prickers on the sill and try to come visit - they never stayed long (see aforementioned prickers).  I was working at Laura Ashley that year and made the curtains for the window from a light blue fabric printed with cherries that I had purchased there - the seats of the kitchen chairs were also covered in Laura Ashley fabric (my first foray into upholstery).

We had planned to wake up early to go see the parade, I had seen them inflating the balloons the night before on my way home from work (the store was behind the natural history museum when the parade traditionally starts).  But after some early celebrating the night before, we crashed and only woke up in time to watch it on television.  It was my first (and last) time making a turkey and I may or may not have forgotten to remove the baggie of giblets and goodies, but it was so much fun.  We all crammed into that tiny kitchen making our family specialties, the Carlos Rossi sangria was flowing, and John Denver and the Muppets Christmas music was playing.  It was a wonderful magical holiday spent with friends.

Ouch. Part 2

A Half Marathon Play by Play:

Friday Afternoon:

• Alyssa is sent home early from work due to excessive vomiting - gross.
• Alyssa goes to Med Express and is diagnosed with the stomach flu and prescribed anti-nausea medicine
• Alyssa informs me she will let me know by 6 if she's going to the race

Friday Early Evening:

• Texts fly back and forth between myself, Bob, and Alyssa - the consensus is I need to go to their hose to help force her into the car

Friday Night:

• Finally on our way, Bob drives through a mixture of rain and snow in the dark to get us to Canton
• We check into the Days Inn
• We crash for the night

Saturday Morning:

• Snow is on the ground
• Complimentary breakfast at the hotel - bagels and waffles
• Check in at the winery
• Sit in the car trying to stay warm for about an hour (we later learn the temp never rose about 35 degrees)
• I venture out of the car's warmth to use the facilities and check out the winery store - it's super cute!
• After reporting back to Alyssa and Bob the cuteness of the store, we three spend the rest of the morning inside
• Bob and I eat fresh pumpkin donuts while Alyssa shoots us dirty looks (her instructions from the doctor say she can only eat bland food)

The Race:

• Lining up we are behind another guy from Pittsburgh (he commented on Alyssa's Steelers hat)
• In later conversation, I dub him "Pittsburgh" (i.e. Pittsburgh just passed us.)
• The first half wasn't too horrible except for the congestion in the park where the relay exchanges were taking place.  Having to fight our way through runners, spectators, and vehicle traffic was not pleasant.  After crossing over the half-way split, we were subjected to the torture of running past the finish line, and being as slow as we were the leaders were crossing as we were only halfway!  Boo to the course layout.

Most of the other highlights I detailed in Part 1, but here's a couple other random things:

• Animals passed
• Living - Cows, horses, dogs, and 2 adorable kittens keeping one of the cops company
• Roadkill - Raccoon, groundhog, and a snake (I don't think Alyssa saw this though, and that is a good thing ;o) she is Mary Warmbein's daughter after all)
• Name that the group who came in last dubbed themselves
• the Waddlers
• Our official finish times
• Alyssa - 3:01:19 - 656th place
• Me - 3:20:00 - 680th place
• Number of official pictures we appear in
• Alyssa - 2
• Me - 0 (boo...)
• What I bought myself to commemorate the fact that I completed a 13.1 mile race

 

(it's a car magnet)

Ouch. Part 1

Oh my goodness, that was possibly one of the most painful 3+ hours of my life. Even with the stomach flu Alyssa kicked my butt finishing about 20 minutes before me. I came in 680th place out of 687 finishers (Alyssa came in 656th). The first half was about what I expected but mile 8 on was torture. That was where I lost Alyssa. My legs and my feet pretty much seized up on me and I could barely walk, let alone run. I caught up with one woman, asked if I could walk with her, was told not to expect a conversation, and so we plodded on in silence for almost 2 miles. We parted ways at the mile 10 water stop and I felt doomed to failure, but somewhere within that mile I caught up with another girl, Nikki, and we stuck together until the end. She, like me, had hit her wall around mile 8. We walked and talked, keeping each other going and when it was time for that final .1 mile we both ran it in like champs!

Part 2 will be up tomorrow covering: weather (nasty), course (horrible), winery (cute) among other things. :o)

Not Good

So this is completely not what I wanted my actual 100th post to be.  Alyssa, my running buddy, has viral gastroenteritis (commonly known as the stomach flu) and is looking like she will not run tomorrow in what was to be our first half marathon.  I will still run if she doesn't, but it won't be the same.  I get bored after 2 miles running alone, imagine how I'll be after 13!  Oh goodness....

Diverse Picture Time

This is Ellie... we had to buy her a sweater since it's been so cold - I think she looks rather collegiate in it, don't you?

These are the place setting from last Thursday when my tour friends came to dinner. The leaves and place mats are from the dollar store, glasses are from Ikea, plates I bought at an antique store, and the little treat boxes I made at one of Alyssa's Card Clubs.

Boo as Rick James

Justin as a Sesame Street Martian

It's the holiday season!!! Macy's already has their Christmas displays up!

An adorable owl ornament from Macy's which I figured I could probably make better myself!

Oops! False Alarm

Hello All!!!  Today is very exciting - it is my 100th post!  No, no it's not, sadly I cannot count... it's only my 98th.  And as such I have so much to cover - Alyssa's birthday, Bob's birthday, Curious George Live, Halloween, and Costumes for a Cause.  Oh yeah, and there's a slightly big event coming up this weekend...

I had previously mentioned Alyssa's birthday in passing, but I forgot to mention what I got her!  I made a gift basket fit for a Running Buddy - Power Bars, Honey Stingers, Cliff Bloks, Gatorades, a running magazine, a Camelbak water bottle (like the one I have with the bite valve), Body Glide, Tiger Balm, and a mini almond torte from Prantl's.  I do believe she enjoyed it!  Her birthday was celebrated with friends at the Saloon in Mt. Lebanon, deep fried pretzels, and Hello Kitty cupcakes from Sam's Club (surprisingly delicious!).

Curious George Live was in town which meant Boo and Seth were here!!!  Thursday night I cooked dinner for them plus Angelina and Dan; we had - cider glazed pork chops and shallots, mashed sweet potatoes, roasted asparagus with brown butter hazelnut sauce, Mancini's rolls, and really yummy caramelized pecan brownies (from a box).  It was so much fun and they didn't leave until around midnight because we all lost track of time telling tour stories.  Seth showed me around backstage on Friday and Boo got me tickets for Saturday's show - I took MJ (from work), her son, and her granddaughter.  The show was fun, but sadly it is closing in just a couple weeks.

Saturday night we celebrated Bob's birthday by everyone getting dressed up for Halloween and going to the Hofbrau Haus and Claddaugh's Pub on the South Side. 

Everyone's costumes were:
Alyssa - Katy Perry (from the SNL sketch)
Bob - Conan O'Brien
Boo - Rick James
Justin - Sesame Street martian (also known as a Yip-Yip)
Andrea - Slutty Hogwarts student
Kristi - angel
Tom - death (black robe with a skeleton mask & hands)
Me - sassy Elmo (google it)

Also there were 2 of Andrea's friends, Angelina, Dan, and Angelina's twin sister Christina.

At Hofbrau Alyssa, Bob, Boo and I did a "shotski" (a ski with shots lined up on it that everyone does together) of Swedish fish shots.  I've never had a Swedish fish shot, but they were quite yummy, and I've never done a shotski, but it was quite fun.  We did discover though that all persons doing said shotski should be the same height - by the time the ski was fully tipped Alyssa and I were on our tiptoes trying not to have liquor dumped on us! 

Sunday was Costumes for a Cause, which was possibly the best race all around ever!  After a slightly late start and an unexpected detour we checked in just in time to warm-up before the race.  There were over 300 participants split into 3 categories - a kid's fun run (which took place an hour before the 5K), and then 5K walkers and 5K runners.  At least a third of the people were in costume and there were even 3 pierogies!  If you have ever been to a Pittsburgh Pirate game you probably know all about the pierogies - every game there is a pierogie race between two of the innings, and they all have fun names like: Sauerkraut Saul and Cheddar Chester.

Here are all the runners getting briefed on the course...

 Almost time to start running...

Alyssa crossing the finish line...

(the course went around the lake you can see in the background)

And me 8 seconds later...

(not quite sure what's up with my pants though, I must have had them hiked up to my rib cage!)

What's a race without Smiley cookies?

Here come the Pierogies!!!

I was impressed by the pierogies, even in those exceptionally restricting costumes they came in at about an hour.

The swag bags were awesome as well - a long sleeve t-shirt, small LED flashlight, pen, notepad, cookie, toothbrush, travel sized toothpaste, sample of BioFreeze, sample of Biore makeup wipes, and a 50% off coupon for an hour long massage!

It was the best post-race party too - the kids painted pumpkins and were playing catch with a football, there was a costume contest, spiced apple cider, hot dogs, popcorn, Smiley cookies, Frownie brownies, and door prizes!  Alyssa won a free ice cream sundae, and I won a camo print backpack from the National Guard. 

Alyssa had only one complaint about the whole event - they got her name wrong and she was listed as Amy.

Only 4 days left until the half marathon, our 5 mile run on Saturday went great, Sunday's race we were content with and now just a couple short runs left!

Check back in the next couple days for more photos from last weekend and more info on preparations for this weekend!