*Phew* Friends, it has been a busy past few weeks. I feel like I’ve had hardly any time to myself, let alone time to sit down and blog. Between work, dance, babysitting and birthday plans I’ve been swamped. I don’t have time to get fully caught up yet, but in the mean time, here are some pictures from the past few weeks.
Birthday Flowers
Birthday Fruit Snacks
Snuggly Peanut
Snuggly Bits
We have a balcony off the second floor bedrooms in our apartment. We have yet to put patio furniture up there, but we do have our grill there. So, the other night, when Travis was grilling chicken for dinner, the kittehs wanted to be outside too.
Peanut has an appropriate level of fear of the unknown and won’t attempt to jump off the balcony or even really jump onto the edge of the wall. She likes to walk around the edges really, and find a patch of sunlight and hang out there.
Bits, on the other hand, can not be trusted. She will jump and climb on anything. In fact, at one point, she tried to jump from the edge of the balcony onto the window sill of our neighbors apartment. So, in order to keep Bits from falling to her death, we put her on a leash.
It took some getting used to, but, after a while she seemed ok with the leash.
“Hey guys….what’s up here??”
Life is always an adventure when you have hairless cats 
So, I did it again, I disappeared for a while. Sorry, friends. I woke up this morning, and my jaw was super sore and tight, meaning I must have spent last night clenching my teeth. Awesome. The past few weeks have been busy busy busy, and I’ve been completely wiped out. I get home and I could go to sleep right then and there. I’m taking some time this weekend for much needed relaxing and decompressing. This will include some runs with my dad (hopefully 4,) time with friends and catching up with a friend I haven’t seen in two years.
In true cheap person fashion, I am bringing almost exclusively dirty laundry with me so that I can do it at my parents’ house for free. I know, it’s a sickness.
So, what have I been up to since I haven’t been here?
1. Hanging out on Pinterest
2. Attempting to get back into running with the help of a knee strap I bought at Target.
Wheeee Negative Ions!! (What?! I have no idea, it was just the only knee strap Target had…)
The good news is, it seems to help a bit, at least on shorter runs. However, on longer runs, not quite as much as I’d hoped. I don’t know if I need to get a better strap or if my running days are just numbered. =(
3. Dancing
I performed in a show at Barnsdall Park last Saturday. It was a lot of fun.
4. Working.
5. Reading
and
6. Getting Bits’ arm out of vents.
Did I mention Travis is out of town AGAIN? Yup. It sucks. He won’t be back for another two weeks. Ugh. I’ve got big plans for the future that I’ll talk about more soon. I promise. 
Yesterday, Friday the 13th of May, I took Bits to the vet, where we bid adieu to her lady bits forever. Here we are taking off for the vet yesterday morning.
This was the first time I’d been to this particular vet (Travis took Bits back at the end of last year when her stomach was being funky,) and I couldn’t have been happier with the whole experience. The staff was super friendly. Although I have to admit, when they were asking if I wanted Bits to be microchipped while she was already under, I totally didn’t understand what they were talking about (I may have only been half listening,) and agreed. I wasn’t planning on microchipping her yesterday, but you know what, it’s for the best.
Bits had to have a pre-op visit with the vet before she could have the surgery. I was a little worried she might be freaked out, and while she was clearly uncomfortable having her temperature taken, while the vet was checking her out, she put her front paws on his shoulder, and rubbed her face on his face. Clearly, she was fine.
Then, I went to work, where I spent my entire shift organizing my boss’ closet. It was kind of the best Friday ever.
I called the vet’s office around 3 to check in and Bits was not only out of surgery, but was already up and charming the entire staff. I did have to wait a while when I picked her up, but when she came out she was ready to go! The vet tech let me know that she may be sore, but that she’d been really good and hadn’t been licking her spay site so she wouldn’t need a cone of shame, and she probably wouldn’t want to eat anything when we got home. When I let her out of the carrier, she was immediately wolfing down not only her smaller portion of food, but also Peanut’s food.
Peanut had fled the kitchen and has been acting weird since Bits got home. Travis is convinced it’s because of the microchip, and Peanut now thinks Bits is part robot. Have your pets ever acted strange when the other comes home from the vet?
Last night, Peanut kept her distance from Bits, and then when I tried to put her under the covers to snuggle, she hissed at me, twice. She slept on the other side of the bed by herself. It was very strange. This morning, Bits was sitting on my lap, and Peanut came over, sniffed at her and then hissed and growled. I’m hoping it’s because Bits smells like the vet, and probably a little different from her spay and it’ll just take a few days for Peanut to get used to.
Lately, my weeks have felt all jumbled, I never really know what day it is, and usually end up thinking Thursday is Friday, and Wednesday is Thursday, and it’s really all quite disappointing. Add to this the fact that I am not running at all for the next two weeks, and that makes my weeks even more confusing. I had a schedule, I knew what day it was when I was running. Now, I’m a mess! This rest/ no running crap is not sitting well with me. Not at all. Why isn’t today Friday?
After making a healthy dinner of salmon last night, when I got home today, I just wanted to sit on the couch and have dinner magically cooked for me. Sadly, even though it is 2011, we do not yet have the technology for food to magically appear cooked in front of you from your kitchen. So, I did the next best thing.
I ordered pizza, and to ensure I made the delivery minimum
Cheesecake. Hey. My Friday is going to be slightly stressful, I earned this pizza and cheesecake. I’m taking Bits to the vet tomorrow to have her spayed, which means I will get to sleep in a bit, but will also be late to work, which means I won’t have a full day at work which is annoying. Not as annoying as Bits in heat though (why is she crying so loudly?!) so it seems like a somewhat fair trade.
Apparently people are upset about this week’s American Idol results, my question is, why do people still watch American Idol?
Every Mother’s Day weekend, for the past 18 years, the Revlon Women’s 5k Run & Walk has taken over downtown LA. Two years ago was my first walk, and even though I missed last year, I was ready for this year. I was ready because I really wanted to actually run the 5k. Yes, my knees have been really painful, and clearly running a 5k doesn’t fall into the “rest” category, but I figured, “What’s 3.1 miles?!”
Here’s part of our team pre-walk/run. Our motto is “Fuck Cancer,” which is appropriate. My shirt is an old team shirt from two years ago that says “Life Every Day” which is also appropriate. This was the first year the three of us (Janna, Dylan and myself) were running this so we weren’t sure where to go, or what to do. We tried to make our way to the start line by 8:45am since that’s when, according to the timeline given to us from the EIF people, the run portion would start.
Clearly this was not well organized as it seemed that anyone and everyone (mostly walkers and people with strollers) were lined up at the starting line. Halle Berry was one of the celebs at the starting line, and so people were stopping, and holding up traffic in order to take pictures of her with their cell phone cameras while she awkwardly danced and waved. We spent almost the entire three miles bobbing and weaving around people who were walking, jogging then stopping in the middle of the road, or walking, and stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures of themselves. This was probably the most disorganized run event I’ve ever seen. It was complete madness, and while I applaud their effort at keeping everyone hydrated, I don’t think a water station at each mile was really necessary. I was a little disappointed with the experience as far as running goes. I know it’s a great cause, and this organization does some great work, but wow. What a mess.
Janna and I finished the run in about 40 minutes, which isn’t too shabby considering all the navigating through hordes of people we had to do, and how painful both our knees were feeling.
When we finished, got our medals and snack bags, we looped around nearly the whole course again to find our team of walkers. We finished the walk with them, and after taking our team picture, our little group got some Chick-fil-a for lunch.
When I got home, I did five minutes on each of my IT Bands with my foam roller and then iced my knees for 20 minutes. They’re still sore, and not at all pleased that I decided to completely ignore my “rest plan, but I think they’ll be ok. I hope?
My plans for the rest of the day include, bathing the kittehs, mopping the half bath where Peanut decided to pee on the floor in front of the litter box, napping, reading, and tackling TCRG studying:
I wrote a while ago that I’d been having knee pain, and that I was pretty certain said knee pain was Runner’s Knee. I emailed my doctor and she advised me to “rest,” ice, stretch and do strength training. I was pretty good about the ice, and a little better about the stretch, and I’ve been doing more strength training, but the one thing I didn’t really follow, and seemingly have never really followed properly, was “REST.” Here’s the thing, I’m not really all that great at doing what I’m told. Especially when I’m told something I don’t like. I am highly stubborn, but I try to be friendly about it. So, I will smile, and nod and tell the doctor, “Yes, I understand, ok, rest….yes, yes, rest.” But, in my head I will think “So….rest? Yeah, that doesn’t actually mean NO running….it just means less running!”
See, in my mind, “rest” could mean simply “cutting back!” So, I wouldn’t run during the week, but I’d still attempt my long run on the weekends (I know, clearly I’m an idiot.) But, the knee pain wasn’t going away, and with last week’s acceptance into the Nike Women’s Marathon (yes, Marathon as in 26.2 miles,) in San Francisco this October, I realized I needed, to but it bluntly, not fuck around. I’m just bein real real folks. I want to be fully healthy and ready to make those 26.2 miles my bitch.
So, as of right now, I am working on the rest part. For example, today, I did some strength training and elliptical because it doesn’t bother my knee. Then, I came home, did some push ups and ate ice cream. I don’t know what’s going on, but I have been a sweet tooth monster lately, and I’m hoping it’s just hormonal, because I also ate cheesy bread for dinner and was so incredibly happy about it.
I’m going to be real, real with you right now too, last week, at work, was hellacious. It was probably one of the worst weeks I’ve had at work in a while, and spending my evenings and this weekend tearing through The Mortal Instruments series (Don’t hate! I have been reading YA lit like no one’s business,) was super therapeutic, and exactly what I needed.
More real real, I just got my T.C.R.G. exam pack in the mail today, and I am freeeeeaked out. The jig part of my Jig and Jog is like an Irish jig, and studying for the T.C.R.G. exam is almost as scary to me as preparing to run 26.2 miles. I plan on getting more into the process and you know, explaining what the hell all this means in the near future, but it’s a pretty big deal for me, and it’s going to be a lot of work. Also, yes, that is a scratch on my neck (Bits is in heat AGAIN,) and I really do look that tired and crazy today. Yay Monday! But, in fairness, I am making a really weird face. I don’t always look like this….only you know….most of the time. I promise I clean up well.
See! Don’t mind the margarita….
Well, until next time folks, which I promise won’t be nearly as long as last time
Image via Wikipedia
I’ve already talked about how I don’t sleep well with Travis gone. Well, the past two mornings, Bits has woken me up at 4am. Normally, it’s Peanut who wakes up earlier than my alarm and starts harassing me to feed her, but Thursday and this morning, it’s been Bits. Typically when the girls get up early, the earliest has been 5:30, but for whatever reason, Bits decided 4am was wake up time. She gets up, she starts talking, and won’t shut up until I feed her. I have still waited until their normal 6:30am feeding time because there is no way I’m getting up at 4am every day to feed these kittehs. Needless to say, I haven’t gotten a lot of quality sleep the past few days. Add to the 4am wake up call, the fact that one of my neighbors, who apparently wasn’ t home last night, had left a window open and when the winds picked up, the window was slammed closed repeatedly about every 20 minutes last night, which woke me, nearly every time with a start.
The middle of March, we lost our staff parking lot at work. We only have 57 parking spaces in our lot at the branch so staff isn’t supposed to park there, but we’d had a deal with a local church a few doors down and were able to park in their lot during the week. However, they will be tearing down the building and as of the middle of March we haven’t been able to park there. This is the main reason I changed my hours to start at 8am, because our YMCA is in a residential area, which means the streets that aren’t 2-hour only, are permit, and the spaces available that are neither 2 hour,nor permit are at a premium. Thursdays and Fridays are worse because of street cleaning. Normally, I’ve been pretty lucky, the most I’d had to walk was about four blocks. Today, I walked almost half a mile. 0.4 miles to be exact. My beef is this: If I knew, I could be guaranteed a spot, even if it was half a mile or a little further away, I wouldn’t mind the walk. However, because we do not have any guaranteed parking, it’s a crap shoot every day as to where I will find a spot, if I find one at all. This morning, I drove around for nearly 20 minutes before finding the spot I found, which made me technically late for work. Even though I was here on time, I just spent most of that time driving around, and then the rest of the time walking from my spot to work.
If I wasn’t worried that I would be run over, I would consider biking to work. I don’t actually own a bike, so, there’s that, but my apartment is only about 7.5 miles from work. I don’t think that would be too terrible of a bike ride, although my problem, aside from not owning a bike is two fold. Riding on the streets is scary to me. LA drivers are terrible, and for the most part do not seem to care about bikers. Also, riding a bike home from work is a little daunting. First, because I don’t know that I’d want to be riding in the dark, but also, I try to work out after work, and who knows how long it’ll take me to get home on a bike after a tough spin class, or a long run? There’s also the getting to work all sweaty factor. Obviously I could shower here at work, but I guess I’d have to figure out when I’d need to leave the apartment in order to get to work with enough time to shower.
Do you bike to work? How do you deal with the sweat /work clothes/ bringing a lunch issue?
With Travis gone, the kittehs seem to be even more hyper at night than usual. Last night, for example, I headed off to bed close to 10pm because I was planning on doing a 5 mile run in the morning. The girls, however, had other plans. They ran around downstairs, tearing around corners, skidding into things, knocking things off of tables for hours. I kept trying to bring them both into the bedroom but Bits can open the door (it doesn’t always close all the way,) and Peanut scratches at the mirror on the wall next to the door which is just as annoying as listening to them play very loudly.
The girls played and generally kept me awake until well after 1am so when my alarm went off at 6am, I had a raging headache and my warm bed was just too comfy not to leave. So, I went back to sleep and snuggled with the annoying, but adorable kittehs. However, I have made a decision. This is officially the last weekend I blow off running. I’ve been too lax, not running often enough, and it needs to stop. I have to get back into my groove. Part of my reasoning this morning was also that having been sick all week, I didn’t want to push too hard, but honestly, I could have made it if I’d gotten any real sleep.
Sure, they look all sweet and innocent when they’re sleeping, but man, are they loud! If you have pets, do they play loudly, at night?
Well, I’m off to get ready for the rest of the day. Lunch, then dinner at the Magic Castle. Should be interesting.
I woke up at 7am this morning, and because I didn’t snooze until 7:30, I had enough time to shower, eat some cereal, put my lunch together and surf the web a bit before I have to leave for work. In fact, right now I’m enjoying the last few minutes before I need to be out the door by writing here while Bits sits on my lap.
I’m also a lot less sleepy than I am when I push myself to sleep until 7:30am. I’m more relaxed, and ready to face the day. So, I think, maybe for Lent, what I’ll take on instead of give up, is getting up when I naturally wake up. 40 days of waking up before my alarm.
On another note, my friend, Renee, writes a blog called Thursday Yoga, and as someone who doesn’t study yoga, I find it fascinating. It’s incredibly well written, and right now she is chronicling her journey of a 40 day ustrasana practice. If you’re interested at all in yoga, I urge you to check it out. Renee and I went to elementary school together, it’s so cool to see how we’ve grown over the years.
Happy Thursday!
