10k Training - Week 1

So, this past week was less than stellar, but that's why I decided I have to start posting about this!  Here's my first weekly update:

Sunday -- nothing
Monday -- nothing, here's where I decide I need some accountability!!
Tuesday -- run 2 miles & strength training
Wednesday -- run 2.5 miles
Thursday -- nothing, ugh!
Friday -- run 3 miles, strength training, and pilates (to make up for one of the missed days)!
Saturday -- hiking in the Poconos...counting this as a cross-training day

So, I missed my stretch day and one of my cross-train days.  I felt awful on my 2 and 2.5 mile runs.  Don't know why, but my legs felt SO heavy and I was running through shin-splint pain.  The 3 mile run was MUCH better!  I felt so good at the end.  I'll do better this week, I feel it already!

$12 Keyboard

I just got my $12 Ebay keyboard for my laptop.  I installed it myself...impressed??  I would have had no clue if I hadn't watched a technician remove my old one and put it back in last week.  Anyway, I'm pumped to say that it works well!  Plus, it's much cleaner than my old one and it even feels different typing...better.  Anyway, Ebay rocks.  I want to become the type of person who finds good deals on things all the time...this is a great start!

10k Accountability

So, I’m calling on all my blog readers for accountability again! I want to run a 10k at the beginning of December (actually wanted to do a 15k, but it’s after I leave for Texas for Christmas, so I’m settling for the 10k). I’ve been working out pretty consistently the last month or more, but this week I’m struggling!! I need your help to keep me going! So, I’m going to do a weekly update like I did a couple of years ago when I ran the 15k. It helped me stay on track. I’m only running 2 or 3 miles right now and have a couple of weeks before I have to start bumping that up. I wanted to make sure I was running a solid 3 before I started the real training schedule.

My training will basically consist of the following:

-- 3 runs each week (increasing mileage each week)
-- 1 day of extended stretching (yoga + some other stretches I like to do/need to do)
-- 2 days of cross training . I don’t belong to a gym and don’t own a bike (yet), so I’m having trouble coming up with cross training ideas. For now, it will probably be long walks and pilates. Pretty sure pilates doesn’t count as cross training, but that’s all I got for now.
-- 2 days of strength training done in conjunction with any of the above (arm weights, lunges, squats, step-ups, etc….)

Watch for an update every week around Sunday/Monday! Thanks friends!

Food & Wine

This weekend was the Food Network Food & Wine Festival. I went with Lucy on Friday night to Meatpacking Uncorked. This was an event in the Meatpacking District where most of the stores and some restaurants were open and had wine tastings or food samples. It was fun, but we were a bit frustrated with the long lines for food. There wasn't much food to begin with, which is probably why those lines were so long. There was tons of wine, though. Compared to the big event I went to last year, where we left stuffed full of great food, this event didn't compare. It was still a fun night. The weather was gorgeous, which made walking from store to store very enjoyable. We also befriended a girl who was there by herself and it turns out she has done a lot in the event planning industry here in NYC, she gave me some website and listservs to get on if I ever want to volunteer for event companies. I'll check those out.

On Saturday night, I met up with Lucy again to see an interview with Mario Battali. It was SO good. Mario was really down to earth and funny and the lady who interviewed him (Food Editor for the NY Times) was great, too.  It was at the New York Times offices...they have a small auditorium there. They did several interviews in conjunction with the Festival, but while I was there, I realized they do interviews open to the public all the time. I am definitely going back to that place. This week alone, they are doing an interview with the cast of "Ugly Betty" and another one with Hilary Swank. Pretty cool.

After the Friday night event, Lucy and I went to see the movie "500 Days of Summer". I loved this movie!! I'm not the type to watch a movie over and over again, but I could watch this one again soon. I just loved it.

For Game Day Saturday, I went to the Baylor watch party with Kim (also BU), Sarah (OU...boo), and Jen (UT/Colorado). Sarah was back in town as her job wanted her to come back and work a few more days, so she just stayed over the weekend. OU beat us, of course, but BU did better than I thought they would consider 1) We're BU, 2) they're OU, 3) they put Bradford back in play, and 4) we had to start our 3rd-string QB. I wish we could've seen that game with Bobby Baylor (my personal nickname for Robert Griffin) in play. After the game, us girls grabbed a bite to eat at Qdoba...one of the few places in NYC that has queso. Do you notice a trend with us? Game Day = Queso. They went to the Colorado watch party that night, but I had my date with Mario to get to :)

Bedroom!

My bedroom is just a tiny part of the "Great Room". It's strange that my "Great Room" is probably the size my bedroom was in Dallas when I moved away, but now it's my bedroom AND living room. I like to pretend that I actually do have both a bedroom AND a living room, so I set it up that way. My bedroom is the smaller of the two "rooms"...or it just has bigger furniture, so it feels smaller. I love my bedroom furniture. I can't remember if I was in junior high or high school when I acquired it from family in Texas. My sister acquired a bedroom set as well. I don't know who decided who got which, but I love mine. She tried to get me to switch a few years back, but I would never give mine up! I believe it was originally my great-grandma's...my father's father's mother. I know it was in my grandparent's home for many years before it became mine. It includes my bed, dresser & mirror, which I moved up to NYC and a secretary desk, which I had to leave in my parent's garage due to lack of space in NYC.

I got my bedding several years ago now off Ebay. It was brand new from Pottery Barn and I got it pretty cheap. I think this is the longest I've ever stuck with the same bedding!! I actually still like it! The little cream pillow w/ ruffle around it is the one I bought recently in Seattle. I love it with my mix of pillows I already had. The maroon pillow is one my aunt made from chair cushions from my grandma's dining room chairs. We all remember those chairs, so it was so creative of her to make pillows from them. She made one for all the ladies in our family.

The shelves by my bed fit perfectly there and were left behind by the girl who used to live here. I bought the baskets at BB&B as a place to store some all my lotions and nail stuff.  I think I had that lamp when I was a small child – it was pink & white. At some point, I took it from my mom, painted it black, and bought a new shade at Target.

The doors in the pic above, alongside my bed are my closet. I suppose it could have been half that size, but thank goodness it is not! This is the ONLY closet space in the entire apartment....this is very typical in New York. There is no linen closet or pantry or coat closet. Just one for all those things! My next big project to tackle is organizing it....it's a mess right now and it actually has a tall ceiling, so I'd like to add some more shelves up high. I'll try to take some before and after pics of the inside once I get around to that project.

I need to replace some of the pics on my dresser soon. And there is one empty frame that I just got from a co-worker for my birthday. I need to go through some of my summer pics and pick some out to print.

I’ll consider this next little area a “hallway”. It’s not at all a hallway. It’s really in my bedroom section of the room, but it goes more with my living room décor. So, we’ll just say it’s the hallway between the two! I got the little shelf thing at an antique store in Amarillo. The plant is new! Sarah gave it to me when she moved a couple of weeks ago. She told me that his name is Ike – I will try to take good care of him!

I consider this piece of furniture the eyesore of my bedroom. It really should be considered part of my kitchen as it holds primarily kitchen stuff, but it won’t fit there. It is a pretty big piece of furniture I got for a very cheap price at Ikea when I moved here. Due to the lack of kitchen cabinets and no pantry at this apartment and my last one, I needed something for all my kitchen stuff (which I’ll admit I have to much of for a single girl). It also holds towels and linens. I think it’s pretty ugly, but it sure is functional. I‘ll replace it someday if I ever find the right thing at the right price.

I'm thinking I'll tackle the bathroom next!!

Livin' it Up at the Mets Game

My computer has been a bit on the fritz again. I took it in to a tech store and am hoping it's just a keyboard issue...I was told a new one would cost around $130, but I found a new one on ebay for $12. I'm still waiting for it to arrive and am hoping it solves the problem!! If not, it may be time for a new computer and I'm not sure I can do that right now. So, while I had planned to blog more this week and include another Tour of my House blog, I'm going to have to do one big catch-up blog and the Bedroom blog will have to wait.

I went to the Season Ender of the Mets. They were playing the Astros and Kim really wanted to go (she's from Houston). She actually went to 2 of the 3 games last weekend! We headed out there Sunday after church. When we got out to CitiField, we were starving for lunch. We planned to hit up Shake Shack (so awesome they have it out at the ballpark since I didn't go in the City all summer). However, on our way over, we noticed an area where there was a huge buffet set-up. We couldn't figure out who it was for (surely not us), but we decided to partake anyway. We had free hot dogs, pasta salad, cupcakes, and rice krispy treats. It was hilarious. We saw two other people who looked a little too giddy to be there and it turns out they had just happened upon it as well. They asked around and found out it was supposed to be for season ticket holders. Oh, well, no one told us otherwise or tried to keep us out!

After the cheapest meal I've ever had at a ballpark, we went to find seats...not necessarily our nosebleed seats, just some good seats. We were standing on the lower level, scoping things out. A couple of security guards came by and asked how many of us there were...we said just 2 and they escorted us to a little fenced off area that had a table and 2 chairs in it. They let us in, then closed the fence off. It was the strangest little area and we're not sure who it is really meant for. But, they were great seats and we felt like we had our own private viewing area. It was hot and sunny that day....I got a bit of a tan, which was nice as we head into this winter, which I'm expecting to be bad.

Besides the Mets game, the past week was all together busy. Last Wednesday night, I went to see "September Issue" with Mindy. It's a documentary about Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue. I liked it and found it very interesting. She's a funny person to watch - so serious and cold.

Last weekend kind of started on Thursday night when I met my CG girls out for happy hour. I met Kim and Robyn there at 6:45 and the 2 Erin's and Jen trickled in later after work. We were there until midnight, but it went by SO fast. We had a lot of fun. Needless to say, Friday came too quickly and I was exhausted. We had talked about doing something that night, but I think we all ended up staying home and crashing early!

I taught Kids Club on Saturday. The kids were crazy...I swear the whether dictates their behavior! It was a little rainy and we had to go inside. There was one brother/sister duo that really broke my heart, Aja and JJ. JJ came and stood by me at one point with his arm on my shoulder. He smelled sooooo bad. It was really sad. Aja is only 5 and really sweet, but she is not at a 5-year-old level at all. She's a little hard to control. I later found out that their mom is a crack dealer and sometimes will come to pick them up and have blood all around her nose. It is really sad. So, pray for Aja and JJ and a way we can minister to this family better. I'd love an opportunity to take JJ some new clothes and a bar of soap!
Saturday night, I went over to Robyn & Erin's apartment to watch the OU game. We had a Tex-Mex fiesta...Robyn made queso and I made a corn/black bean dip. Both recipes call for Rotel...us Texas girls love us some Rotel!!!

I taught the kids on Sunday morning again. They were better this week, but still a challenge! I only had the 2 boys. One of the boys is super smart. He just turned five last Saturday and he knows SO much about dinosaurs it is unbelievable, and he's been that way since he was about 3. He also impressed me with his Bible story knowledge. I was telling them about when Moses went up Mt. Sinai to meet with God and receive the 10 Commandments. We talked about the people Moses left at the bottom of the mountain. Jackson was like, "Those are the Israelites, right"? I told him, yes that was right and he responded, "They're the ones who made the Golden Calf"! I was floored. We haven't talked about that since he's been in my class. He's been paying attention somewhere and his parent's are obviously teaching him at home, too.

I also fit in some shopping last weekend - DSW and Bloomingdale's. I didn't buy much, but hope to fit in some more shopping this week!
Sunday night, my pastor spoke on singleness. It was a GREAT sermon. Very encouraging.

Joy came over to my apartment on Monday for dinner. I had some ingredients leftover from brunch the week before, so I decided to make another quiche. I served the quiche with a Spinach/Strawberry salad that has a really great dressing. It was a really pretty and yummy dinner! We watched "Three Rivers" afterwards. A guy I knew of at Baylor is in it and I wanted to watch. He was here on Broadway for a while in "Rent" then "Cry Baby", but I never saw either of those. I wasn't very impressed with "Three Rivers". I thought it lacked character development and some of the acting was not so great. Hopefully, it will get better and Christopher will have continued success!!

Our church is starting a new initiative where one week each month we skip Community Group and meet with other groups at a bar. This past week was my group's first time to participate in one of the CG Gatherings. We met at a bar on the Upper East side with all the other UES groups and Queens groups. The bar has a room downstairs and they are letting us use it for FREE with the expectation that we'll stay around for drinks and/or dinner. It was interesting and I think it will take some time for us to get used to it. I hope it takes off and becomes a place for my group to get closer to other people in the church and where some of the stronger groups can have an impact on some of the struggling groups.

SHEP

Shepard Brian

"Shep"

is here!

I have tickets to Dallas purchased for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  So, I'm going to try to wait until then to meet my new nephew.  However, today that seems way too far away!