...and tomorrow, Milwaukee

Tomorrow evening we fly out to Milwaukee for marathon number two. I am now packing, and once again, can't seem to make all things fit. But, if I can pack a rollie* bag for 3 weeks to Guatemala, I can pack for a marathon weekend, right?

Apparently now is not the time to worry about being cute in Milwaukee. It is the time to worry about being warm, cool, hydrated, fed, rested and ready to survive 26.2 miles.

Ok...

Shoes? Check!

Shorts? Check!

Shirt? Check!

Uggs for after the race? Check! For warmth, of course!

*I am not certain of the appropriate spelling for rollie? Rolly?

Wendi Love is 30 today!

Wendi Moss Love turns 30 today!

The dirty 30.

After sort of secretly knowing each other through "those boys" that lived in "that house" that I eventually lived in and had fantasies of blowing up the dirty dishes and shag carpet, Wendi and I reconnected in our graduate program for teaching where we learned all about how to teach people who are learning English. Now Wendi and I spend most of our time together running and chatting as only mature, responsible ladies do.

Wendi is an extremely giving person, even if it is at her own expense. So we decided, at the suggestion of step-father Tom, that 30 is going to be the "year of me" and the "year of I don't care". I think I'm definitely qualified to life coach her through this difficult time. I will use my prowess in self satisfaction and apathy to save the day...or year, rather.

So, yay! Happy Birthday Ms. Love!

*Pictured above is our ESL cohort from grad school. Wendi is on the far left. I have short hair.

vacay, baby!

Being on vacation is kind of like being a real housewife- you can start drinking vodka martinis at 10 am, play cards with your lady friends, organize your closet, go shopping, go out to lunch, and then drunkenly pick your kids up from school.

Of course, I have done none of these things, but knowing that I can is pretty great. I think reading and drinking coffee will suffice for now. Plus, I don't even have to get a boob job or wear slutty clothes. I can just be me.

bottomless love

mmmmmmmmmmmm....

A bottomless portafilter spilling golden goodness.

Cornhole!

A fun thing to do outdoors while drinking beer and celebrating:




My lost career as a pitcher:

the good stuff

There is nothing quite like a great TV show. Here is a list of my current favorites...Not in any order:

1. Mad Man

2. Breaking Bad

3. True Blood

4. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

5. Gossip Girl

6. One Tree Hill

7. Weeds

8. Top Chef

9. The Office

10. 30 Rock

11. Park and Recreation

And here are some oldies, but greaties!

1. Sex and the City

2. Six Feet Under

3. The Wire

3. Friends

4. Beverly Hills, 90210

Now, go park it by the TV and get caught up. But only after you have sufficiently accomplished many other wonderful things, or course!

Latte Art

He he he...

I am immature sometimes. Quite often, actually...

...which is why I find things like this extremely funny...

...and then I found 5 dollars...

Today, I forgot my wallet and I really needed to buy myself some coffee after my run. So, Wendi Love loaned me $5.00, as any great friend would. This got me thinking about how good it feels to forget your wallet. Not because you have to borrow $5.00 (that actually feels a little funny), but because there is something so freeing about not having anything. No wallet. No phone. Just me. And now my, or Wendi's rather, $5.00. I miss the days of paying in cash for things, keeping your money in your pocket, and having to go to someone's house to use the phone.

Perhaps, I will become a crazy old bag lady who lives in the woods with no money and no phone..."off the grid". OR--- maybe I'll just make a habit of "forgetting" things every now and then. Sometimes, it feels good to forget.

A words of wisdom question

How much of your daily practice of life is influenced by memory, expectation and immediate gratification?

ennui

A new word!

I love it.

It describes exactly how I feel about my j-o-b.

Ennui is the opposite of Santosha, so really, I should be not feeling it...or at least I should be trying to figure out why I feel it and how to fight it....And, I am. Don't worry, I am.

Sylvia Plath wrote a poem about it:

Ennui

Tea leaves thwart those who court catastrophe,
designing futures where nothing will occur:
cross the gypsy’s palm and yawning she
will still predict no perils left to conquer.
Jeopardy is jejune now: naïve knight
finds ogres out-of-date and dragons unheard
of, while blasé princesses indict
tilts at terror as downright absurd.

The beast in Jamesian grove will never jump,
compelling hero’s dull career to crisis;
and when insouciant angels play God’s trump,
while bored arena crowds for once look eager,
hoping toward havoc, neither pleas nor prizes
shall coax from doom’s blank door lady or tiger

And, much more bluntly, Langston Hughs wrote:

Ennui

It's such a
Bore
Being always
Poor

Guys, I feel you!

puppy love

In the spirit of remembering sweet animals in their infant hood, it wouldn't be fair to not honor the original, the best, the puppy of all puppies, the girl who stole my heart...EDITH!!!

An old familiar place

Yesterday, Jason and I had a few minutes to spare in Durham. Why not go for a little walk in the Gardens? I used to go here as a child, and I'll say, it's crazy how much larger it all seemed back then. I remember feeling as though it took hours to walk from one side of the Gardens to another, when in actuality we did it in about 30 minutes. I also remember feeling as though certain parts were my little secret places, and really, these places were not secret at all. They are very prominent, and even have signs. As a teenager, we used to sneak in the back at night and do the things that teenagers do. And now, as a 28er, I think some picnics might be in order.


Contemplative me.


My friends, sunning.


Not little anymore...

My Secret Baby Barometer

Once you get to be "my age" people start to do things. Things like...buy curtains, get new roofs, and worst of all...have babies. To insure that I am not merely feeling the pressure of others my age and their choices, sometimes I like to check in with myself by asking things like:

- Beer or baby? Beer...no question.

- The house is burning down. Do you grab your jeans or your baby? Jeans...again, no question.

- A baby is crying, do you feel sad or annoyed? Annoyed, every time.

- At baby showers, how do you really feel? Happy for person or pitying the person? Sorry, but I think I'm pitying you.

-Someone asks you to hold their baby. How do you feel? Ewe.

- You're out to dinner with your husband, and a couple with a baby walks by. You look at each other and think what? Thank god that is not us!

-How do you feel when you see tiny little shoes and tiny little clothes at the store? I'm usually wondering why they don't make those in my size.

-And finally, at the thought of holding your own child, what are you thinking? I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

- Please note: this is not to say that I have even pondered the thought of baby for me...only wondering if I "should" be thinking that. And I have deduced, that indeed I should not.

Cold? Maybe. Heartless. Don't think so. Immune to cuteness? No way...I have Edith and Viktor for that!

Intercession!

It starts today folks! The great thing about year round schools is the vacation. So why do they call it intercession?

Miriam Webster says- intercession: the act of interceding

OK...

interceding- to intervene between parties with a view to reconciling differences

Ah..I see. Interceding and reconciling differences between crazy Blaine and normal Blaine. Yep. With an intercession, I might not lose my mind?

I believe it.

power food

To make:

bread
peanut butter
banana
honey

cut it up, put it on and eat it

I haven't actually made it yet, friends, just dreaming...

Wow!

Check it out! Facebook is not completely useless after all.

Sometimes, you might find an old childhood friend. And, this childhood friend might just post a picture of you from your finer days... as a witch.

My Son!!!

He was so small.

I found my son, Viktor, on the internet. He is, apparently, a sucess story!

Here's what they said about him, and every word is true:

Jack is the decided leader of the J box. He is a boxer/shepard mix. Jack loves the life of adventure and tumble. Nothing scares. He is bigger and stronger than his siblings. But, that makes him better to sleep on for his siblings. Something that he happily provides. Jack was left in a box like trash. Can you open your heart to him.

And open our hearts to him we did.

one eye red eye

This morning, I was especially tired. Like, this tired. Today I ordered a red eye. Why, you ask? I don't know, but I surprised myself by it. Red eye people are crazy! I suppose, now, I am one of them. Hopefully, I will be able to pry my other eye open before the students arrive.

Fall is coming!!!

Yay!

A Chill in the air. It's just around the corner.

Jeans.

Hoodies.

Fire.

Beer outside. Now please?

Salt lick peak week

This week was peak week for marathon training which means 3 things:

1. The taper...oh so sweet...is coming
2. Marathon in 3 weeks
3. I ran a total number of 38 miles this week, 20 of which were yesterday and took 4 hours.

My legs are tired.

And, I am a salt lick:

Can we always have 3 day weekends?

It is my belief that all weekends should be 3 day, and all work weeks should be 4 days. As a society, in general we work too much and relax too little. An extra day of relaxation is most definitely needed to assuage the misery of the common work day. We would truly be happier and far more productive in our work and in our private lives. To whom can I pitch this idea?

Everyone is Everyone

If you believe, as I do, that "God" (whatever that may be) is a little piece of everyone, one single tiny particle in every person's soul that is a part of something larger, the Self, then in some way we are all connected through that piece. That one single tiny part of our self that is a part of the Self is the same. In my mind, it is a tiny blue light in the heart that is invisibly connected like a laser to all beings...kind of like in the Care Bear Movie, when they would all band together and say "Care Bear Stair!!!!", and they would shine their lights of hearts, stars, clovers, and clouds from their bellies and blight their enemies with goodness.
When I think about things this way, it makes it much easier to have compassion for others and an understanding of why people do the things that they do. I can just imagine that my tiny part is his or her tiny part and in a small way we are same and we share something.

Friend or Foe?

This guy has been camped out at our back door for a few weeks now. At first he left his web up during the day and would go and hide somewhere. Then, I started to use beer bottles to take down his web because I didn't like this big scary guy at my back door (He is super scary, the picture does not do him justice).

So, I took down the web. "Ha..that is that...no more spider", I thought. But instead of it being over, he came back...and now, he just takes down his own web every morning, and rebuilds it every night. Smart spider, no?

Jason likes this spider because he is cool looking and eats the moths that congregate by our back door light. But, I have never liked spiders and definitely do not like this guy. However, I think I do respect him for his resilience and steadfastness. Maybe a lesson to be learned here?

totally worth it!

Every month, after we pay our mortgage and all the other bills, we buy dog food and groceries, I pay my car payment, student loans and credit cards, I have about 20$ left to my name. And, this month I spent it on my favorite of all favorites...The Giant Whole Foods Salad! Yes, I know I could probably make it at home for 1/4 of the cost, but I don't care. There's something magical about the Whole Foods salad bar...all the possibilities laid out in front of you. The future of your salad is in your own hands, you can make whatever you want it to be...even if it's 20$.

A fun thing!!!

Last night we went to see the Paperhand Puppet Intervention's puppet show. Every year they put on a seemingly innocent puppet and hippie song laden production at the Forest Theatre in Chapel Hill (go tar heels and go UNC DDA). But in actuality, these puppets are gigantic and have a message. They always have a message. Always. And its not a very subtle one. But that is what I love about these people- they don't have to pretend to be anything other than hippies with giant puppets made of paper mâché and trash. And people love them and give them money...and you can drink beer at the Forest Theatre while you watch! I mean, YES!
Maybe it was the Hoptober fest that i drank or maybe it was the 18 miles that I ran earlier that day, but this year was definitely the best of these puppet shows that I have ever seen. It was beautiful and poignant and I wish I could go back every day. Far better than watching Gossip Girl or Top Chef for sure!
Here are a few highlights from the show (also note that you are allowed to take flash photos and no one is all up in your face about it). on a side note but also funny and indicative of how cool these people are- mid show, tow trucks start pulling up to tow people who are illegally parked on UNC's stupid parking Nazi campus, and the puppet people stop the show to warn us... Yay! Down with the man!!!

Giant puppet people on stilts dancing in a circle:


Little girl and goat man on the sea of lost knowledge:


Giant animal puppets dancing in harmony (before the human arrives, of course):


Matthew and I contemplative and mesmerized:


Giant Poseidon trash puppet made from all of our leftover crap (I know!!!!!):


And finally, I got my cupcake...or 4 rather and a mini peanut butter pie:

Cupcake!

I have a need. This need can only be mollified by a cupcake.
It's strange really. I've never been a sweets person and definitely never a "cupcake girl." My few visits to the famed Magnolia Bakery were pretty anti-climactic, just because I usually find cupcakes to be mundane and way too nasty sweet. I'd be all "Yeah...maybe if you guys made a hummus and pretzel cupcake". My usual cravings just have a propensity towards the realm of the savory.

But now, ever since watching Cupcake Wars a few nights ago*, I have been wanting a cupcake. Not a crappy grocery store cupcake. But, a truly awesome perfect cupcake. The paragon of all cupcakes. I may never want another cupcake after this cupcake...if I ever get "this" cupcake. Until then, ravenous craving onward!


*Watching Cupcake Wars will also make you want to quit your job and open up a cupcake shop.

Bam! Crash! Famous!

Jason makes the crust and I distribute toppings!

And together we make pizza!!!
Famous pizza of course.






Before oven




After oven


"Now eat me" said famous pizza

Location:Famous people pizza