So. Sometimes when I run I take my iPod. Not always, because I like to keep pace without any help. But music adds another dimension to all the things that I wrote about in the last post.
Today I put it on shuffle (which I hardly ever do). Here's the playlist it built for my 4 mile run today.
Juanes "Un dia normal"
Dolly Parton "Wildflowers" from the Trio album (I listened to it twice)
Brad Paisley "The Cigar Song" (which is hilarious)
Beatles "I'm Lookin Through You"
Nickel Creek "This Side" (I liked their first album the best, but this is my favorite from the second album)
Linda Ronstadt "The Pain of Lovin You" (hugely ironic/fitting for this moment)
Nora Jones "Sunrise" (LOVE her voice...try to play her piano, fail miserably)
Vince Guaraldi "Linus and Lucy" (can't even comment on that one)
Ismael Serrano "Caperucita" (Thanks to AL for that one...still cry EVERY TIME I hear it)
Avril Lavigne "Anything But Ordinary" (odd that I sympathize with a teeny bopper pop star, no? Mostly for nostalgia and Brina's sake, but still something to it. :-) )
Anyway. It was a good list, and a really good run. And I'll save you the trouble of adding up the length of each song to see how long it took me to run the 4 miles (because I know you all have the time and interest to do so :-) and say that I ran it in a little less than 35 minutes. WAHOO!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
6 miles
Well, actually, it was more like 5.8. Not near as impressive as 2374. But the 5.8 I RAN!
I'm training for a half marathon. My mother-in-law (who I think is really cool, by the way, different though we may be) is doing one, and invited me to tag along.
Finishing will be a stretch, and I haven't run like this in years. But it feels great to be running regularly again, and timing and training instead of just sort of ambling along when I get the whim. I love pretty much everything about distance running - being outside, the rhythm, the solitude, the thought processes, the mind games...
Hooray for running!
I'm training for a half marathon. My mother-in-law (who I think is really cool, by the way, different though we may be) is doing one, and invited me to tag along.
Finishing will be a stretch, and I haven't run like this in years. But it feels great to be running regularly again, and timing and training instead of just sort of ambling along when I get the whim. I love pretty much everything about distance running - being outside, the rhythm, the solitude, the thought processes, the mind games...
Hooray for running!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Flowers
I had beautiful, lush, full flower pots. My first attempt at potted plants, and they looked GREAT! I planted them in March, and they were still flowering because I was careful to "dead head" them often. They were snapdragons, oreja de raton, ivy, a cultivar version of forget-me-nots that is hardier, and a tall plant in the middle that I'm forgetting the name of.
Why all the past tense, you may wonder? Well, despite the fact that no matter which way he came into the house he walked by one pot or the other (since I placed one pot on each porch), Ben killed them while I was gone.
Why all the past tense, you may wonder? Well, despite the fact that no matter which way he came into the house he walked by one pot or the other (since I placed one pot on each porch), Ben killed them while I was gone.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
2374 miles
I drove all of them. Alone with my kids. How adventurous, right? So many of the moms I encountered on the trip made comments about the impossibility of the trip, how (fill in adjective, some positive some negative) I was, etc etc. Basically I just feel like if I want my kids (and particularly Bee) to feel like they can be independent, I need to show them that things like this can be done.
The last two weeks were a whirlwind of changing plans. I usually don't operate well on a "let's fly by the seat of our pants" sort of course, but this worked out all right. Ben's extended family has a reunion in Bethany Beach Delaware every year in July. Then his immediate family (or what parts of it can make it) go to a second beach week somewhere else. It amounts to two weeks of Bee saying "I'm just going to the beach WITHOUT sunscream."
It was the best trip I've ever had with Ben's family....the sisters-in-law all (well, missing Alta, which was sad, but all of us who were in the state at least) finally had a good long late-night talk. Ben's older sister was the missing link in the equation, I think. It was finally made okay for all of us to participate in corralling all of the kids, regardless of who they belonged to. The result was more peace than we've ever had (still LOTS of chaos....9 kids on the beach for two weeks, you sort of have to expect it, right?), and just lots of revelatory conversations for all us girls....oh, and Eric and Joel too. :-) So Bee didn't get beat up (which usually has happened) and I kept my sanity because we all started actually communicating with one another! This helped me in a lot of ways, but I think that it mostly changed my understanding of these people who had been so mysterious to me.
I'm really glad that I decided to change my plan and stay for the second week. My kids are now all bronzed (though J is a little sand rashed....he liked to eat it, and so it ended up in his diaper) and quite happy. After that trip, I'm ready (at least I think) to finally go back to real life....writing and working. I've finally recovered (thanks to a wonderful family experience) from the horrific year that I lost to my exams, and feel like I can move forward.
The last two weeks were a whirlwind of changing plans. I usually don't operate well on a "let's fly by the seat of our pants" sort of course, but this worked out all right. Ben's extended family has a reunion in Bethany Beach Delaware every year in July. Then his immediate family (or what parts of it can make it) go to a second beach week somewhere else. It amounts to two weeks of Bee saying "I'm just going to the beach WITHOUT sunscream."
It was the best trip I've ever had with Ben's family....the sisters-in-law all (well, missing Alta, which was sad, but all of us who were in the state at least) finally had a good long late-night talk. Ben's older sister was the missing link in the equation, I think. It was finally made okay for all of us to participate in corralling all of the kids, regardless of who they belonged to. The result was more peace than we've ever had (still LOTS of chaos....9 kids on the beach for two weeks, you sort of have to expect it, right?), and just lots of revelatory conversations for all us girls....oh, and Eric and Joel too. :-) So Bee didn't get beat up (which usually has happened) and I kept my sanity because we all started actually communicating with one another! This helped me in a lot of ways, but I think that it mostly changed my understanding of these people who had been so mysterious to me.
I'm really glad that I decided to change my plan and stay for the second week. My kids are now all bronzed (though J is a little sand rashed....he liked to eat it, and so it ended up in his diaper) and quite happy. After that trip, I'm ready (at least I think) to finally go back to real life....writing and working. I've finally recovered (thanks to a wonderful family experience) from the horrific year that I lost to my exams, and feel like I can move forward.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Interesting
I've said a few things about immigration before, but not much because the issue is so volatile and I feel like I don't have anything other than my mission experience on which to base an opinion.
That said, I think that the majority of immigrants to this country these days are well-intentioned and come here out of a desire for a better life (not to run drugs a la Jan Brewer's ridiculous claims).
Along those lines, I think that this article is really interesting. Especially the fact that rather than take the jobs, people are sending hate mail. Take that, all you people who claim that the "American work ethic" (whatever on Earth THAT is) is just fine.
That said, I think that the majority of immigrants to this country these days are well-intentioned and come here out of a desire for a better life (not to run drugs a la Jan Brewer's ridiculous claims).
Along those lines, I think that this article is really interesting. Especially the fact that rather than take the jobs, people are sending hate mail. Take that, all you people who claim that the "American work ethic" (whatever on Earth THAT is) is just fine.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
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