We Are the Champions!

First off, apparently the brain power it took to write daily for NaBloPoMo required me to take a week off posting once it ended.

Completely unintentional, but I guess I really enjoyed not having the daily pressure and just forgot about this space for a bit. But now I'm back, with big news...

My team won the walking challenge at work!

Thank goodness.

It ended last Monday, and I've still been keeping up with the walking, and will, but at a more reasonable target of 70,000 steps a week, not the obsessive pace of 90,000 - 100,000+ steps I was maintaining during the challenge.

In the 8 week challenge I walked 802,631 steps, roughly 286 miles.

That's a lot of steps. The most of anyone in the competition actually.

One of my teammates is already talking about the next challenge, in the Spring. I likened that discussion to when, on day four of a five day cross country drive, while in the middle of the desert of New Mexico I was on the phone with my dad and he asked if I would ever drive cross country again.

If you want a positive answer to that question (either) timing matters and that moment is not the time to ask.

For now I'm just going to bask in the glory, and $75 prize... while letting my clothes dry out from this morning's 10,000 step walk through the snow.

Christmukkah 2013

Even though Hanukkah and Christmas fall as far a part as they ever have I still ended up celebrating the blended holiday we can forever thank Seth Cohen for naming. 

This afternoon I arrived at Bug and Little Man's house just in time for the Christmas tree trimming to begin. We followed that up with lighting Hanukkah candles, exchanging presents then dining on brisket and latkes and ended the evening by reading The Grinch. 

Such a fun night! 

Making the Most of It

These are the final days of the walking challenge.

My team is in first place, with a fairly significant lead, but one of my teammates is worried we'll lose and really encouraged us all to get as many steps in as we could this week.

UGH.

Between the cold weather, my cold, being out of town for the holiday, lots of driving and visiting people, it's not that easy to do.

But I'm doing it.

Today, I walked the Ocean City Boardwalk from end to end. As a kid we always vacationed right near the end of the boardwalk, and we'd usually walk down to the inlet for games and rides, but then we'd take the tram back. So I think this may have been the first time I've walked the whole thing.

It was a bit further than I planned to go (4 1/2 miles total), but it wasn't too cold. And, it helped me get 18k steps in, so that's a plus as well.

And I got to pic stich a nice photo for 30 of my Facebook friends to like, which is always a plus. (I'll take silver linings where ever I can get them).

I'm not ready to stop walking, but I am so very ready for this challenge to be over!

Thanksgiving Memories

When I was a kid we always hosted my mom's side of the family for Thanksgiving at our house.

My memories of those Thanksgivings are spotty - I remember sitting in the living room while my mom prepared food, watching the parade and always eating an orange.(The high school band boosters sold citrus each fall as a fundraiser and oranges and grapefruit were abundant in my house in November.)

I remember one of my older cousins always being in charge of the mashed potatoes. As soon as her family walked in the door she'd immediately head into the kitchen and get to work.

I remember picking up my dad's beer thinking it was apple juice and spitting it out, attracting laughs from many.

I remember football on tv in the basement, as and the day went on the tv would switch to a movie rental. The year they were watching Pretty Woman I remember being banished upstairs as I wasn't old enough to watch it, but really annoyed that my much younger cousins could be downstairs - because they were too little to get the storyline.

I remember having a lot of people packed into our not so spacious house. Lots of talking, and laughing and food.

I don't remember when we stopped hosting exactly, but by the time I was in college and my first few years after, Thanksgiving was spent with my dad's side of the family, at my grandmother's house. My contribution was always the ever popular pumpkin roll.

And then, once my parents' bought a house down near the beach, Thanksgiving has been here, on our own, without any extended family.

This morning I went for a long walk down at the beach, and then spent the rest of the day reading, watching the dog show then football, helping with the cooking and hanging out with my mom. It was nice, relaxed, quiet.

I don't miss the big family meals really, today was much more my speed, than those celebrations in years past. But I am glad I had those traditions and those memories, as spotty as they may be, from many Thanksgivings ago.

Commitment

I drove down to the beach this afternoon, with grand plans of getting my shopping done at the outlets and a few local stores and then going for a long walk on the boardwalk.

Unfortunately I ended up getting a later start than expected, the shopping took longer than I thought and worst of all - the weather was ICK!

When I checked the forecast for the beach yesterday it said it was going to be 61 degrees down here and had maybe a 30% chance of rain, MUCH different that the weather I was leaving behind inside the Beltway. But when I arrived, I realized the weather was actually pretty much exactly what I had left behind. Temps in the upper 30s, rain on and off and major wind gusts. Not exactly ideal conditions for strolling the boardwalk.

I really needed to get a walk in and since outdoors wasn't an option I decided to see if there was a gym I could use. I called the YMCA and found out they were open late and that offered one day guest passes. Yay!

So I wrapped up my shopping at 6, when the outlets and local stores were all closing for the night and headed over, pulling into the parking lot and then digging through my suitcase to find my workout clothes.

Sneakers - check!
Socks - check!
Shirt - check!
Pants.... um, pants... where. were. the. pants?!?!

All I had in my suitcase were jeans and a pair of blue snowflake flannel pj pants, neither of which were really appropriate attire for going to a fitness center. Great. I couldn't go back to the outlets for exercise pants so my options were A) skip the work out or B) go buy pants at Kmart.

I went to Kmart.

Where I actually had to do quite a bit of searching to locate a pair of sweatpants, but I left with a $8 pair of pants in hand and returned to Y, paid my $12 and spent 60 minutes on the treadmill.

Old me is completely and totally blown away by new (and improved) me!

I hate colds... and other random updates

I've been feeling a bit under the weather since Thursday afternoon.

It started as a throat tickle, moved into a cough & stuffy nose and has settled in with me being completely and totally exhausted to the point I can't keep my eyes open, yet unable to actually sleep. Oh, and I randomly have coughing fits that go on for about 10 minutes at a time.

A most unpleasant combo of symptoms in my opinion.

Yesterday I made it until 11:30 am before I felt like I was going to fall asleep at my desk and realized just how unproductive I was being and that I needed to head home. I told my boss I was going to go sleep for a few hours and then come back. Instead I went to sleep and woke up at 4 pm. It's a good thing she didn't think I was actually coming back.

I'm blaming the exhaustion and cough drop fumes on the fact that I finally caved to the seemingly never ending Facebook requests to play Candy Crush and I downloaded it.

Cause I needed more time sucks in my life.

Fairly quickly I could see how people get soooo hooked, because I'm sooooo hooked.

Tomorrow I am hitting the road like about a million other people in the DC metro area for Thanksgiving. I'm about 90% packed for the trip and it's fairly ridiculous how much stuff is piled on my sofa to go with me for the 3 day trip.

And now, I'm going to wrap this scintillating post up because I just realized I didn't pack the menorah and hanukkah candles and I want to get in a few more rounds of Candy Crush before going to sleep.

ps. Only four more days til I don't have to come up with daily rambles. I know you're looking forward to that just as much as I am.

Music Monday: Recovery

A few years back, right around when I discovered (read: became obsessed with) Ron Pope, a friend of mine discovered Frank Turner.

I remember listening to a few of his songs, but I wasn't drawn in. Probably because said obsession with Mr. Pope left little room for other music in my life.

Fast forward to about six months ago and I heard a Frank Turner song on DC101. I don't remember what it was, I just remember that I didn't think my friend would be a fan that her little known fave had reached major radio rotation. (I was right, she wasn't.)

I didn't give him much thought, and since I don't recall the song I guess it didn't hook me. But now, I keep hearing Recovery on the radio and I like it. A lot.

So without further adieu, I give you Frank Turner & Recovery...