happiness

Please forgive my absence…

“breaktwentyfour:
i feel like non-runners don’t fully understand the inconvenience of this cold weather”

From a fellow Tumblr blogger, and it couldn’t be more true.

I have been less than motivated the last few weeks and that has GOT TO STOP. I shouldn’t use the weather as an excuse, but it just sucks the energy right out of me.

But now, I am feeling antsy. Not just with the weather and my lack of consistent running lately, but with life… I feel the need for an adventure, or a major shake-up.

Paul and I went to Dallas for st. Patrick’s day and had an amazing time with our good friends. I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard for 48 hours and ate so well (too well). And they live in such a beautiful area; so different from Michigan. There were hardly any empty store fronts or closed businesses, all of the areas we visited were clean and clearly prosperous. It was a such a change from Michigan where the crash in the economy is apparent almost everywhere. Not to mention the weather was amazing!

The trip only seemed to fuel my need for a change of scenery. I have wanted to move out of Michigan since I was in high school, but I believe that I have remained here for a reason thus far (call it God’s will or what have you), but now, I think it might be time to start planning.

For now, I will get back on track with my training (I think the 40’s are only 3 days away, followed shortly there after by the 50’s and dare I say sunshine?). Michigan summers are the best, but surviving winter to enjoy them is tough, and it is becoming a taller order each passing year.

I hope everyone has been well and that at least some of you are enjoying sunshine somewhere!

Cheers to (an eventual) Spring!

TMI Tuesday at the Dr.

So here I am, at the doctor’s office just taking in the decorative reading material on the wall when I spot a poster that tells me you can send an anonymous e-card to a sexual partner letting them know they may have been exposed to an STD.
My childish self immediately thinks of the inappropriate e-cards that I send, and I laugh at the thought of adding, “and btw, you might have clamydia.”
I know…I’m very immature.
When the technician walks in, she starts by handing me a pamphlet asking if I fell safe in my relationship. and I reply with, “yes, but now I have an 800 number to threaten him with”… What can I say? I find doctor’s offices way too serious.
Left alone once again to my own devices I spot this:

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Wtf is that?!?

Ah, I hope I never grow up.

(I should note that I don’t find abusive relationships funny and the e- card thing is probably very convenient).

“My Best Friend’s Wedding”

While getting some work done this morning, I decided to put on an old favorite flick of mine for some back ground noise, “My Best Friend’s Wedding”.  

I love this movie. It’s charming, set in my favorite city, and hilarious.  

This movie came out when I was in middle school, and I remember thinking about how Julia Roberts and Dermot Mulroney just had it together. They are on the verge of turning 28 and they just seemed to be so adult!

Julia has a great job as a food writer, lives in Manhattan, and alas, is not married 3 weeks before her 28th birthday.  28 seemed so adult to me!  A great point to have your life together, career set (I was never focused on needing to be married yet, that has never phased me), but man, 28!  So far off at the time, and I don’t want to call it “old”, because I never thought of it like that, but again, just so “adult”. 

Yet here I am, 3 months away from my 29th birthday, feeling so not adult.  I realize that adult is completely a frame of mind, but it is just funny to me to think of how the perception of age changes as we get older.  

I don’t think most people ever think of themselves as adults.  We are just a bunch of 14-year-olds with car keys and checking accounts.  

As a kid, a teen, even in my early twenties I kept expecting there to be a birthday when I finally felt like an adult. 18? Legally an adult and can purchase porn, lottery tickets and tobacco. 21? Can legally drink.  23?  Just seemed like a good number to me for adulthood to begin. 25? Can rent a car. 27 for sure would be adulthood.  

But no, here I am, almost 29, and fairly content with the fact that no matter what kind of car I have, where my career is at, or what my level of responsibility is, I will never have the “adult” mind frame.  

In my eyes, the best adults never do. 

The Beautifully-Flawed Project

I just got back from a great training run with my running partner, and it was one of those runs that was more like therapy than cardio.

My running partner is gorgeous, like straight out of Victoria’s Secret, people gawk at her everywhere we go, tall, thin, and beautiful.  And she is SMART! An encyclopedia of knowledge, direct and well-spoken when she wants to be, and just all around a great person.  To me, looking at her, I think, “what could be wrong?”.

In her eyes, or so she tells me, I have it all together, and what could possibly be wrong with me and my life?  

Yet, there we are, striding through the dark, crisp air, admitting our biggest flaws, things we want to fix, physically, but mostly more than that.  Personality traits, genetic coding and chemical compositions that are beyond our control.  As I was talking her through mine, telling her how abnormal it must seem, she said, “not at all!  It is part of what makes you you, and that is beautiful whether it is normal or not.  You admit it, you aren’t a victim to it, and you can take it as a challenge to deal with it.”

It just made sense, and it just clicked. It is a random flaw and something that I have to deal with, but it is a beautiful flaw that I can use to challenge myself. So we have accepted the challenge together to work with our flaws and not let them hold us back.

It is the beautifully-flawed project (not outwardly named, it just came to me upon reflecting on our run). I feel as though this marathon training is going to be very good for us both.  

Accept your flaws, whatever they may be.  And if it something that challenges you, then graciously meet that challenge head on.  I promise, you will win.

Hope this finds you all well. 

Carbo loading across the U.P.

Let’s talk about the challenge of being vegan in northern Michigan…. and by northern, I mean the “Upper Peninsula.”

If you are at all familiar with, or are from Michigan, than you know that the U.P. is a completely different world.  Life slows down up here, the cities are quaint (the largest being Marquette with a population of just over 21,000), and it is the closest you can probably come to finding people who live off of the land.  A.k.a. not very vegan friendly.   If it is a hunt-able animal, you better believe they have made a jerky out of it.  Upon coming into town last night, there were more people out on the lake ice-fishing than there were in the town.

It is hard being vegetarian up here, much less vegan.  So, eating has been a bit of a challenge (nothing but carbs for the most part).  As I type, I am enjoying a lettuce and mustard sandwich.  But hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

The great thing about the U.P., though, is the people.  You will not meet nicer, more accommodating, salt of the earth people.   We pulled into town late last night (skated in basically), and could not find an open place to eat.  We did find a bar (thank God), and after telling us they didn’t serve food, gave us the numbers of places that might be open, and even places that would deliver to us right there!  So we ordered in to the bar.

If you ever get a chance, Michigan’s U.P. is a beautiful place to visit (just pack snacks if you are a vegan).

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!