Monthly Archives: December 2008

Good-bye, 2008.

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Because my schedule is completely booked with fun, VIP parties for New Year’s Eve tomorrow night, I might not get to post. Actually, that’s a lie. I currently have a 100% free New Year’s Eve, with a vague prospect of getting together with people and doing something and maybe eating some food. I like to ring in the new year with style, obviously. 

…In all truth, I’ll probably start 2009 by switching between Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and making snide comments about whoever is performing on the MTV New Year’s special. I might also drink some champagne and say, “Ew. This is yucky!” 
Anyway, I thought I’d share some of my 2009 Resolutions, which are more like guidelines rather than rules. In no particular order:
  1. Run a marathon, all things permitting.
  2. Be a nicer person and say fewer snarky things. (I always say this and usually fail. Crap.)
  3. Continue to work towards overall health in regards to fitness, nutrition, and body image.
  4. Do speed work and get faster. 
Okay, so those were mostly running-related in some way and kind of boring. In short, I want to be a nicer, healthier, and faster person…who is also a marathoner.
Yesterday, Mom and I visited with a family friend and her daughter Paula [who I know reads this blog]. She made this cool stew of leftovers–turkey, stuffing, green beans, gravy–you name it! I think it was a Paula Dean recipe, minus the obligatory 15 sticks of butter. (I like beurre, ya’ll!) This leftovers concoction is apparently called “Stoup” (Stew+soup?), which makes me laugh. Despite its hilariously unappealing name, stoup is delicious.
 
I shared the Christmas running cheer by presenting Paula with her very own pair of “snot gloves” so she, too, can partake in the joy of crusted mucus on terry cloth. Oooh, the joy!
Today,  I ended up running in the late afternoon because I didn’t have my shoes at the boyfriend’s house this morning. My right shin is pretty tight when I run, so I should make sure to stretch it well. My fancy Garmin reports that I covered 4.17 miles with a pace of 9:18 minutes/mile. That seems too fast given my perceived rate of exertion, but maybe I am just terrible at guessing how fast I’m going. The boyfriend says I should stop second-guessing the Garmin’s accuracy, and given how much those things cost, I should have a little faith in modern technology and in my own physical ability. In that case, hooray! I’m faster than I thought!
Tonight, Mom and I saw Slumdog Millionaire which was really enjoyable. (It’s about a kid from the slums of Mumbai whose life experiences lead to his unprecedented success on India’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.) We were going to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but I had been dragging my heels ever since I learned that it is two hours and 48 minutes long. Movies should not be this long; it allows for sloppy editing and self-congratulatory filmmaking. Fortunately, I didn’t have anything negative to say about Slumdog Millionaire. In fact, I highly recommend all two hours of it. 
I hope you all have a fun and safe New Year’s Eve. Don’t forget–there is still plenty of time to throw together a fun shin-dig and then invite me! You can most likely find me in Richmond, VA, wearing dirty sweatpants and watching episodes of LOST. 
What are your resolutions for 2009 and how do you plan to ring in the New Year? 

Where have I been? Getting fat.

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I apologize for my three-day absence from the blog-o-sphere. I have been shuttling back and forth between my mom’s house and the boyfriend’s parents’ house, so it has been a bit difficult to blog. (I left my laptop in Illinois. Bad decision.) I’ve been keeping myself busy, so in the interest of time and concision, here is a bullet-style post:

  • Christmas was awesome. Mom and I made cheese-biscuits and enjoyed the morning together. Then we went to a late lunch at my aunt’s house with the family. Then I spent the evening with the boyfriend and his family. 
  • Christmas continued into the 26th when we celebrated with Mom’s boyfriend Steve and his family. His step-granddaughter Bella, who is 5 (or 6 or 7. I can’t remember.) saw a picture of me in my first 10K. She asked, “Did you win?” I said, “No” and explained that somebody from Africa probably won. 
  • I did not run on Christmas day as I had planned. Whoops. I did walk the dog with Mom.
  • I got a myriad of lovely presents including a yogurt maker from the boyfriend and the Miss Dior Chérie perfume from my mommy. I smell so pretty, and once I start eating homemade yogurt, my insides will look so pretty too. (Actually, they’re still going to look like yucky insides.)
  •  I’ve been running for the past three days, and I’ve also tried out my new Garmin Forerunner 405. It is awesome, if not a little scary, to have such an advanced piece of instrumentation strapped to my wrist as I huff and puff down the streets. I’m pleased to report (with accuracy to 34 feet) that I have run sub-10:00 miles the past two days. Hurrah! 
  • The weather has been in the 60′s the last two days. (Is that you, global warming?) Given these unseasonably high temperatures, I’ve been able to try out my new running skirt, which makes me feel so pretty. Now, I just need to get fast so I can zoom by people in it!
  • We hung out with my high school/college friends Tina and her boyfriend Ben last night. Our friend Steggy (Actually, his name is Andrew.) came along too. We watched The House Bunny, which was stupidly hilarious. “The eyes are the nipples of the face!”
  • Last night, some shithead kid in the boyfriend’s subdivision egged my car while I was driving past. In lieu of getting out and pounding his sorry ass into the pavement, I called the police and then fumed about the evils of entitled children. Kid, in the off chance you read this, if I see you in Salisbury, I will spew out such vile verbal abuse in your direction that your pathetic, pre-teen ears are going to bleed and fall off. Also, the boyfriend is going to sit on your face and hopefully fart on it until the police arrive and serve you a steaming plate of justice.
  • Because I ran moderately fast (for me) yesterday, I only did a six-mile “long” run this morning. Oh well. The training program called for five or six miles this week, so at least I’m not behind schedule, right? 
  • The boyfriend, his mom, my mom, and my step-mom all went to visit a local Havana Silk Dog breeder to see if they’re the breed for us. It was really fun to see eight adorable and hairy little dogs vying for our attention and lap space. That said, I might hold off on a dog until I make good and sure that I can be the most responsible and deserving owner possible. 
  • The boyfriend and I finally got around to registering for the Illinois Half-Marathon. We’re committed now, baby!
  • We also watched the first three episodes of Lost: Season 4. Every year, we buy the past season on DVD and watch from start to finish. I really don’t think the show would hold my attention otherwise, but it’s a great way to spend winter break.
I think that about catches things up in regards to my recent activity. Except for one minor issue: I cannot stop my bad habit of compulsively snacking (and over-eating). I can tell that I putting on weight, which I worked quite hard to take off this past semester. Obviously, this is a diet-related problem since I am maintaining my usual mileage of about 25 miles per week. I need to concentrate on getting my snacking under control and eating smaller portions. Do you have tips for healthy eating and managing portion sizes or for weight loss/management in general? If so, I’d love to hear them. I am in need of help like whoa! 
Alright, that sounded slightly desperate, so I will take that as a sign that it is time for bed. Have a great night, all!

Starting Christmas early

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It’s 12:40am, which is technically Christmas morning. However, I don’t think it’s Christmas until I wake up wide-eyed (READ: bleary-eyed) and race (READ: stumble) down the stairs in search of presents.

Now that I’m older, I’ve discovered that Christmas Eve is less exciting and more of just a normal day. Since it was a normal day, I went for a run around the city. My route took me by my college roommate Tina’s new condo, and I seriously considered stopping and screaming “Tina Chern-face hobag!” until she came out to see me. Fortunately, we were both saved this embarrassment because as I ran by her condo, I happened to see her butt sticking out the passenger side of her car. (Apparently, she was rooting around getting her groceries out of the back seat.) We talked some, and I pretended to stretch by banging my outstretched foot against the pavement a few times. Tina’s such a fancy runner now; I wish I could be as fast as she is!
The rest of my run was okay. It was somehow in the high 50′s when I went out for my run (Sorry, Dan), but stupidly, I wore plenty of technical gear and capri-length tights. I was fairly sweaty by the time I got back to the house, which the boyfriend made of point of telling me. (“Ew! You’re so sweaty. I don’t know how you get so sweaty!”) Whatever. I smell great after runs, fo’ sho’. They should bottle my sweat and make it into a perfume, or rather, an eau de parfum. 
I did some last-minute Christmas shopping for Mom, and then I got my hair cut. I have been talking about this damned haircut for several days now, but I only get it done about twice a year, so it’s a big deal. I usually go and ask for something fairly conservative and easy, and somehow, the stylist screws it up. Then I come home and stomp around, yelling about incompetent hairdressers and swearing that I will never get my “f*cking hair” cut ever again.
…Fortunately, this didn’t happen today. I had a great stylist who did exactly what I wanted–gave me a good haircut. She also didn’t force me into a lot of needlessly chatty conversation, which worked well with my misanthropic demeanor.
Tonight, I had dinner with all my parents: Mom, Dad, stepmom Pat, and Mom’s boyfriend Steve. It was good fun with plenty of tasty food. (Fortunately, no Christmas cookies were present.) After dinner, we drove around the city looking at all the pretty Christmas decorations and enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. I’m so very lucky to have divorced parents who don’t hate each other. It makes holidays much easier and much more enjoyable. 
I’m also very lucky that Dad and Pat read my blog. We exchanged some gifts tonight, and I am the proud new owner of a Garmin and cute running gear. I’m very excited. Thanks, Dad & Pat!
Another really great Christmas gift came via the Interweb tonight: an A- in Old French. Thank goodness. I was seriously thrilled to see that grade considering the quality of my final paper. As they would say in epic poems of the 12th century, cil oisel chantoient lur joie! (“The little birds sang their joy!”) And by little, epic demonstrative birds, I really mean myself.
Okay, I better head to bed so Santa will show up. Hopefully, he’ll bring me a hammer with lots of tacks. 
 My stinky dog Gryphon and I wish you a very merry (blurry?) Christmas!

Christmas Eve Eve!

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Bullet-style post!
  • Mom and I went to two grocery stores in search of holiday necessities. We got stuck behind an old lady considering all the beef tenderloins, and I ate all the samples in sight.
  • I went on a 5+ mile run. It went well, but I got too hot with gloves and a hat on.
  • Cousin Rachel came over to make chocolate chip cookies. They were delicious (as always), and hopefully, our family members will enjoy them as presents. 
  • Cousin Rachel’s boyfriend Daniel and the boyfriend came over to watch Run, Fatboy, Run. (Simon Pegg plays a guy with commitment issues who commits to running a [fictional] marathon as a way to win back his ex-girlfriend.) It was pretty amusing, though it generally made no sense. The boyfriend and I pointed out that the “elites” in the movie marathon were slow and crappy-looking. Oh well, movies can’t do everything accurately. Overall, it’s a decent movie. There’s at least a good fitness montage, which makes everything better. 
  • I say this every day over break apparently, but I need to stop snacking and mindlessly eating all the Christmas cookies. I need to eat better and run more. It’s an early New Year’s resolution!
Speaking of New Year’s, everyone else seems to have already planned out their 2009 race schedule. I haven’t scoped out the races for the central Illinois area, but I am planning to run:
  • the Illinois Half-Marathon on April 11th, 2009! 
  • I kind of want to run the Monument Avenue 10K, which was the first race I ran. It’d be nice to beat my time (just shy of one hour, 2 minutes) Unfortunately, it’s the week before the Half, so I might not want to risk it.
  • I’d like to run a full marathon in fall of 2009. It seems like it’s about time to make the commitment, but we’ll see how the Half goes first. 
  • Maybe a 5K, since I’ve never run one of those. I should probably sign up for one as an incentive to do speed-work and get faster. 
So there are my goals. As for short term goals, it’s time to get some sleep! 
Tomorrow, I will attempt to run and then go to my newly rescheduled hair appointment. Then I can show off my new ‘do at a small parental gathering. You know–Christmas eve, a time for family…and personal vanity!

Simply having a wonderful Christmas time!

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Blogging every few days is difficult because I have so much to catch up on!

Yesterday, I ran eight miles with a couple stops to stretch and, uh, breathe. It was disappointing to stop, but I am trying not to let it bother me. It was good to run around the neighborhood. I discovered they’re opening a take-out Indian restaurant near my house. I love Indian food, though not right before a run, because it’s so spicy! When I worked at an Indian restaurant, the chef once told me that a good vindaloo burns on the way in and on the way out. Isn’t that lovely? 
I had been debating doing a shorter Sunday run, but I decided to commit to all eight miles because Sunday night was Hanukkah dinner at my aunt and uncle’s house! Cousin Rachel, her boyfriend Daniel, my cousin Josh, his girlfriend Michelle, the boyfriend, and I all went over for delicious Hanukkah food. It was a lot of fun, like a pre-cursor to Christmas gatherings with a neat Jewish twist. (Potato latkes? Yes, please!) It was really great to have a small-ish family gathering and get to talk to the cousins and my aunt and uncle, who are very nice and very funny. Sadly, I left my camera in Illinois, so I don’t have any pictures. You’re just going to have to take my word that this event actually happened.
Between stuffing my face with delicious holiday food and then committing to doing better, I’ve been doing Christmas shopping. In years past, I’ve really enjoyed shopping for Christmas, but grad school apparently has made me into a misanthrope. I hate crowded stores and dealing with people. Actually, I think I’m just stressed about having to do the majority of my shopping in the last few days before Christmas. Mom, who feels more or less the same way about shopping, managed to get a big chunk of it done with me this afternoon, but I had to go back out later and finish up some things. When I finally got home, I was half-frozen and 75% dead. At least we’re not in Champaign, where yesterday’s high was a whopping 3 degrees. 
Fortunately, I think I’m done with the shopping; tomorrow is cooking! (Cousin Rachel is coming over to bake cookies with me!)
[To answer your question, Dan, I most definitely make cookie monster noises when I eat cookies. In fact, the boyfriend calls me a cookie monster.]
On a random note, my on-sale running skirt came today. Good thing it’s going to be several months until I can show off my pasty legs in it! Maybe I’ll wear it for the half-marathon, and everyone will say, “Did you just see Tyra Banks run by? She looks hot in that running skirt…and also…weirdly short…and Asian. Hm.”
Tonight, I watched “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” with Mom and her boyfriend Steve, who hadn’t seen it. I really prefer this version (the Johnny Depp one) to the old one because Willy Wonka doesn’t get angry in the new version. Also the lines are funnier, and the Oompa Loompas are ethnic! And most importantly, I am allergic to old movies, so I almost always prefer the new versions of anything. 
While we were watching the movie, my dog Gryphon kept letting off the stinkiest farts imaginable. Apparently, only I am sensitive to the horrible stench that was silently erupting from my dog’s derrière, but it was really bad, especially while I was watching a movie about chocolate delectables. I finally told him to go sit in the hallway and complained to Mom that he was gassing us out. She sheepishly admitted that she had fed him all the raw broccoli stalks when she made stir-fry for dinner. Gross.  
Tomorrow’s plan is to wrap presents like a mad woman, go for a run, make cookies with Cousin Rachel, and get my hair cut. I’m going to go get started on wrapping now. Wish me luck!

If you give a Mica a cookie…

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…she will, without a doubt, DEVOUR IT!

Seriously, I love cookies, and December 21st seems like a perfectly good time to consume them all. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to work well with my plan to start 2009 without looking like a giant butterball. Therefore, starting right now, I have to stop eating every Christmas cookie that crosses my path. 
(I’d like to mention that I’m watching Love Actually on Mom’s new obscenely large HD TV, and the boyfriend is laughing his ass off at it, particularly the octopus costume.)
In good news, we were really lucky to get out of Illinois yesterday. A lot of the flights were canceled in O’Hare, but ours was only delayed by 25 minutes (which gave me enough time to eat McDonald’s vanilla ice cream cone). Thank you, flight gods. The boyfriend’s parents were nice enough to drive two+ hours to come get us and his hairy brother (whom they were predicting would look like “hippie Jesus”) from the airport and then drive us home in the fog.
To stretch my tight legs this morning, I went on a 4.5 mile run around the boyfriend’s neighborhood. It was in the 40′s, but I was somehow still chilly all day. (It was apparently in the 20′s in Illinois.) I think I’ll have to go for a night time run at some point to see all the pretty Christmas lights. Anyway, my run was surprisingly good given that I sat for 90% of yesterday. Hopefully, my winter break will be filled with plenty of good runs as well as holiday cheer!
Then Dad took us to lunch and told us a story about trying to find a Bible…to scare away proselytizers. Yup, Dad, you’re the only person I know who’d look for a Bible to spite people. :) Aha!
(“That kid’s awesome,” said the boyfriend about the drumming 10-year-old in the finale of Love Actually.)
 
Apparently, Oxygen (the channel that is showing Love Actually) only got perfume ads to run during the movie. Have you seen the Dior Chérie ad? Sofia Coppola directed it, and she makes Paris look so romantic, airy, and light. (Mwahaha, I know better. I ran all sweaty through these same places!)
…I feel like a fool. I’ve been duped by the Man into wanting something I haven’t even smelled! Maybe I’ll go smell it tomorrow…

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Ding, dong! The witch is dead! And by “witch”, I mean “semester”. I finished with everything yesterday morning, which is awesome. It feels unreal to be on winter break finally, with no classes to punch in the face. (Okay, I might have to punch grades in the face once they show up.) I didn’t post last night because I was running around packing for my long trip home today. Here’s another “bullet style” post:

  • There was/is an ice storm in central Illinois, so I’m a bit worried about travel. First, we take a bus to Chicago and then fly out of O’Hare, which will probably be backed up until next Christmas. I’m not concerned about delays because I no classes to worry about, but unfortunately, we’re flying into Baltimore where the boyfriend’s parents are picking us and his brother up. Hopefully, a delay doesn’t screw things up.
  • THANK YOU so much for your words of encouragement yesterday. The Arabic exam went pretty well, I think. (?) I don’t know what it is about Arabic, but they always make us learn the most useless vocabulary. Here are things I can say in Arabic:
  1. The economy will improve (God Willing!) under our new president Obama.
  2. The Arab world has many problems in regards to its wars, cultural conflicts, and women’s rights.
  3. I liked roasted chicken.
  4. Charles Darwin wrote a theory about evolution. (When we learned this one, our professor went off on a rant about how we are NOT descended from monkeys and that Darwin had made up his theory. Um…)
  • My exam was at 8am, so I had to run in the afternoon. I was really considering skipping the run, but then I remembered that I’d left a bag of apples in my office fridge. I didn’t want them to rot, so I ran to campus (2 miles from my apartment), threw the apples away, and ran home. It was icy and sandy and snowy on the roads. Ick.
  • I hosted a French department get-together last night at the apartment with the boyfriend and Dan. We made “puppy chow” (Chex mix with chocolate, butter, peanut butter, and powdered sugar) that I ate entirely too much of. It was the perfect start to winter break, even if we all were complaining about the impending ice storm of doom.

Okay, I have to go get ready for my day of travel. Crap. The boyfriend just got into the bathroom first. That’s what I get for blogging in the morning.

Thank you all again for reading my blog/writing your own blog/leaving comments. It has helped/distracted me enormously during the end of the semester.

Punch Linguistics in the face!

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It’s 2:30am, and I have been working for a long time on a final. My furious scribbling looks like this:


On to happier topics, like the weather! It was quite chilly when I woke up this morning:


Fortunately, I didn’t run today because Mondays are off-days. I tried to go to the Monday step aerobics class, but apparently, I’m terrible at catching the bus. I stood at what I thought was the right stop, only to have the bus switch lanes and drive right past me on the other side of the street. Dumb bus. Then I slipped on some ice and fell. (I caught myself, no worries.)

The good news about this cold weather is that I got to pull out my cool unicorn hat that my friend Catherine gave me:

I put on sunglasses…for no reason at all.

I tried two new recipes today: cranberry sauce and black bean soup. Instead of boring you with details, here are pictures and relevant haikus:

I made black bean soup.
It was hot in my tummy.
Much chili powder!

Twelve ounces berries
Ginger, three-fourths cup sugar
Juice of one-half lime.

Beer bread with wheat bran
And some Coors Light from the fridge
Where did that come from?

Seriously, beer bread is stupid-easy to make, so I will share the recipe with you:
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1 Tbsp. baking powder
  • 1.5 tsp. salt
  • 12 oz. beer (Flavor of your choosing)
  • A couple tablespoons of wheat bran (optional, but it makes you poop more!)

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix briefly. The dough will be lumpy and moist and yeasty-smelling. Grease a 9×13 baking pan and pour the lumpy dough into it. Place this in a cold oven and then turn the heat to 375F. Bake for one hour. (If you want, you can brush butter on the top of the loaf around the 30-minute mark, but I don’t do this.)

Okay, time for bed. I hope I dream up the answer to this stupid last question.

POOP on my leeks!

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This morning, I had all intentions of going on a relaxing Sunday long run, but I didn’t quite make it. In short, I had a pretty bad run. I haven’t had a really bad run in a long time, so I got very disheartened and almost broke down and cried in the middle of the sidewalk. (It didn’t help that the sky was cloudy and gray and that I was running in the ugliest part of town.) I even had to stop a few times! Here are things that I blame on my sub-par run:

  • Running slightly faster than normal yesterday with the training group
  • Lots of wind, like gusts around 35mph
  • Tired legs from kickboxing yesterday
  • Bad attitude
  • Ugly scenery

Fortunately, I didn’t cry, and I also didn’t break down mid-run and buy myself a holiday pie from Perkins restaurant. Wouldn’t that have been a sight to behold? A snotty-faced runner crouched on the sidewalk, eating pie and being blown around by the gale-force winds.

I was pretty grouchy about my pathetic five-miler when I got back, but then I watched Food Network and felt better. I also made some really tasty oatmeal with crunchy peanut butter, honey, chopped Craisins, and milk. Sadly, the picture doesn’t do it justice:


I spent most of the day putting off my Linguistics take-home by watching television, doing some light apartment cleaning, and picking cheese out of my teeth. (Ew, gross. I know.) Cheese is icky. (But don’t worry Dan, I would totally love to host a wine and cheese party with you!)

Eventually, I got off my bum and went with the boyfriend and Dan to Meijer for weekly grocery shopping. We’re all leaving on Friday for our respective homes, so the grocery bill was light this week ($35)! After some old lady cut us off in the check-out line, we went to the Scan-Yourself option. I am terrible at scanning my own groceries, usually because I have a ton of produce. This week was no exception, and the prison guard (I mean, check-out supervisor lady) had to come help me twice.

Having finally scanned all of my groceries and sent them unceremoniously down the conveyor belt, I was slightly distressed to hear that ther organic leeks had poop on them! Dan and the boyfriend were standing at the end of the line, huddled over my sad bag of leeks, pointing at what looked like a clump of poop.


We spent a good deal of the car ride home talking about poop on leeks as well as the non-merits of organic groceries. The boyfriend is particularly angry about the pitiful shelf-life of organic bananas. He was also pretty disgusted by the possibility of fecal matter on our produce. Then we giggled for a long time about:

  • “leek poops”
  • “poop leeks”
  • “poopy leeks”
  • “leeky poops”

…because we are five-years-old. Good news, though! The “poop” was actually clumps of dirt! I even put some on my finger and smelled it.

For dinner, we went to a local Japanese restaurant called Kamakura. It was our first time trying it out, and it seemed to do a good job with its sushi. The idea of sushi in the mid-West cracks me up because we ain’t near no oceans! Nevertheless, the boyfriend vouched for the quality of the sushi, and I was pleased to find that they had mochi ice cream. I love mochi ice cream. It is so delicious. (Jordan, shut up about me being such a Korean!)

What’s your favorite dessert? I really like ice cream and cake, but I hate cheesecake. The boyfriend likes brownies and cinnamon rolls.

Okay, I think I’m going to give up on looking over my linguistics exam tonight and join the boyfriend on the couch for some Food Network viewing. Seasons eatings, all!

[In other news, my HBBC total is now 22 points. Ugh, I am lagging behind!]