Good gracious, has it been busy!

Has it really been that long since I posted?  I swear I have been writing daily blog posts in my head, though I'm not sure what good that does me.

Last weekend Jeremy & I headed off to NYC.  Many many thanks to my fabulous mother-in-law for watching our kids (who seemed to have just as good of a time as we did).  It was a great weekend, with the exception of a lot of rain on Friday.  We were soaked by the time we got to the hotel on Friday (Jeremy insisted we take the subway, instead of a taxi).

After dumping our luggage, we wander around a bit.  In spite of the rain, it was nice because foot traffic was light.  We took a long walk to check out the Laduree store for some macarons.  We were supposed to do this when we were in Paris a few years ago, but it just didn't happen.  I was in HEAVEN!  It is beautiful with all the rows of brightly colored cookies!  And I must say, my macarons hold up pretty well compared to theirs (and they don't cost $4 a cookie!).

Look at those (slightly melted because they got too warm) beauties!  

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Fortunately, the weather cleared in the afternoon before we took a round trip ride on the Staten Island Ferry.  It was great (both because of the views and the price -- it is free)!  

 We also did the "Top of the Rock" (Rockefeller Center) tour.  The views were great (that is Central Park behind us).  I'm getting better at snapping self portraits!

I hit the Metropolitan Museum of Art by myself on Saturday, which I enjoyed.  I must say, though, after touring the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay and Versailles, it wasn't very exciting.   I also squeezed in a fabulous run in Central Park.  I usually don't run outside, so I was a bit worried, but there was so much to look at (and so much to dodge), that I did really well.  I'm getting better at monitoring my own pace and I'm guessing I averaged a good 8 minute mile.  It felt like running in a Super Mario game -- so many things to dodge and look at.  I'd like to think I got some bonus coins for making the run without hitting anyone, stepping on any feet or getting lost!

Of course, we also had to do some shopping.  Jeremy loved the Macy's at Harold Square (see dorky photo below).  I, honestly, don't like shopping in those kind of crowds.  Thank you, but I'll stick to smaller markets like Charlotte and Columbus.  I did, however, HAVE to make a trip to Tiffany's and just couldn't leave without a little (actually, kind of big) blue box.  I recently broke one of champagne flutes, so I indulged in a very nice replacement set.

The last night we were there we saw "Rock of  Ages" which was FABULOUS!  I had soooo much fun (in spite of the fact that they charged $8 for a can of beer -- really?).  The music was so much fun (all 80's rock hits) and made me want to dig out some Bon Jovi for my next run!

I also did a lot of knitting (Bryant Park was a great place to sit), eating (the cheesecake was good, but I fell in love with black & whites) and people watching!  I was ready to come home to my babies on Monday, but would go again in a heartbeat (or, maybe in two or three years when Jeremy wants to hit the same conference again)!

New York!

Since moving last year, Jeremy & I have had only a few occasions to spend time together without the kids.  I know "they" (whoever the hell "they" is) say "date night" is important, but it just hasn't been feasible.  This has really started to wear on us and Jeremy, being the great guy that he is, decided to intervene.  On October 1st, Jeremy's continuing education requirements re-set (for lack of a better term) and he now has to complete 40 hours over the course of the next 2 years.  It just so happens that there is a conference in New York in a few weeks that will meet a good chunk of those CE requirements.  So, thanks to my in-laws, I'm going along and we are getting a few days away.

I'm really excited, though a bit nervous, too.  I absolutely LOVE Washington, DC and would, honestly, love to live there.  But I really detested Paris (it was a beautiful city, but the people were appalling).  I'm afraid that NYC might be closer to Paris in my eyes than to DC.  We'll see...I figure I'll either love it or hate it, but I doubt I'll be ambivalent towards it.

So, I'm searching for activities that I will enjoy doing on my own during the 3 days of conference that Jeremy is attending.  So far, this is what is on my (solo) docket:  running in Central Park, picking up macarons at Laduree, and buying something at Tiffany's (I'm not coming home without a blue box, damn it).  I'm not a huge shopper, really -- I can usually handle only 2 or 3 hours before I poop out (unless, of course, I have my good friend Erin along, and then I can go for the day and do major damage to the check book).  So that is one of my tasks for the next week (along with about 3 billion other tasks) -- find some activities that I will be happy to take on solo!

Box tops & labels & scissors, oh my!

I can't remember anymore if I mentioned this or not, but I am the Box Tops coordinator for our school this year.  I really am quite pleased to be doing this.  It lets me channel some of my Type A, compulsive & organizational tendencies into something productive.  It is also, however, proving to be a learning experience...learning how the programs work, learning how to communicate clearly and learning how to have reasonable expectations on what I get back from the parents and students.

We did an incentive at our fall festival, which included the students completing collection sheets (sheets designed to have a specific number of labels glued to them) and returning them to me at the festival.  My first lesson learned (and I'm saying this because maybe some other new coordinator will stumble across this and find it helpful) -- collection sheets aren't worth the trouble.  I'd say less than 10% of the sheets are submittable as they stand.  I got expired box tops, Campbell's labels, box top logos that weren't actual box tops (like the little advertisements on the side/top/front of the package that say "this product earns you box tops") and only a handful actually had the correct number glued to them (which is important because you have to submit the box tops in bundles of 50).  I'm not trying to sound ungrateful (or overly pick, but in all honesty, I am a rather picky person) -- it was just a learning experience.  In our case, it would have saved us a lot of volunteer time to have the box tops loose.

I've been working my way through my pile-o-box tops during Saturday football games.  And tonight I spent a good chunk of time learning about the Campbell's Labels for Education program.  This might sound crazy, but it feels good to have a project to do (that isn't for me).  I miss working at times and, as I told one of the PTO moms this week, I am at the point where I either need to find a part-time job or volunteer.  Volunteering is what I would rather do (and the kids feel the same way -- they freak out anytime the idea of me going back to work comes up).

Speaking of work, today marks the 5 year anniversary of me leaving the work force.  I really can't believe it has been that long.  I miss it (a little) every day, but still feel like I am doing the right thing for me.  I guess I think I'd miss what I'm doing now more, if things were reversed.

The mother of all blisters...

...or so I thought.

Yesterday I hit the gym for my favorite class -- TurboKick.  The instructor was a fill in and (as I was warned) was quite intense.  I mean, this woman had me sweating in a way that I thought only a good hard run could get me sweating.  She did FOUR turbos (short intense tracks designed to get your heart rate up really high really fast).  I'm used to doing two.  By the fourth one, I was pretty much in muscle failure.

Jump?  You joke, right?

Punch?  Do you mean wave my arms around like limp noodles?

Kick?  Hun, these toes just are not leaving the ground anytime soon!

About 45 minutes into the class, my big toes really started bugging me.  By the time we finished, I was sure I had two of the biggest blisters ever on both of them, as well as the ball of my foot.  When I got home and removed my shoes from my oh-so-sore feet, I was surprised to find no signs of blistering.  And then I realized that I had actually bruised the soles of my feet.  After icing them, they felt a little better.

Man, those were my good running shoes.  Now I'm thinking they belong on the curb.

Today, because I am a maniac, I hit the gym twice.  Once this morning for yoga (necessary, because I was so stinking sore from Turbo) and then back again for a "bellies and bottoms" class and then an hour on the treadmill.  I had intended to run, but ended up walking slowly -- slower than I ever usually walk, simply because my feet hurt so bad by the end of the class.  I know I should take a day off and let my feet recover and heal, but I am heading to Ohio this weekend and taking 4 days off anyway (because, lets face it, no matter what I plan on doing, I rarely actually run when I am there).  I really do need to do a nice long run tomorrow, but I am dreading how my feet are going to feel.

You know the crazy thing, though?  I actually really enjoyed having that woman beat the heck out of me in gym!

Pure craziness!

Last week was a doozy of a week.  I am continually amazed at the inertia our life has taken on since moving here.  We are just plain busy anymore.

With Lucy in school every morning now, I have started spending more time in Jeremy's office learning about insurance.  I'm dedicating one of my mornings (at least) to office stuff.  Last week I spent two mornings at the school working on the Box Tops for Education program, as I am the school coordinator this year.  I am really enjoying being involved, and I am really loving getting know the other parents, teachers and school staff better.  However, between the office and school, I used up 3 of my 5 mornings.  And then I also took on the project of painting the bathroom at Jeremy's office, so I lost another morning to that (plus Thursday night and a lot of the weekend).  (Note:  Michelle does not like painting public bathrooms.  Jeremy will be hiring that out next time.)  That left me with one morning to clean, do household bills and run errands.  And Jeremy worked 13 days straight up to yesterday.  We are all just tired.

The highlight of the week, however, was parent's night out at our gym. We got together with several other really great couples and had an absolute blast.  Plus, I found a new favorite beer on our outing-- a locally brewed concoction called "Son of a Peach".  I am impatiently counting down the weeks until the next PNO!

And I don't think I've mentioned it, but I've been wanting to run a 1/2 marathon this fall.  I got back into running this summer and was doing really well, until about 6 weeks ago.  I somehow got off my routine, boogered my knee up and essentially had to start back over on my pace and mileage.  I think I'm back on track now.  I haven't actually signed up for a race yet.  I should, as it would give me a definite goal and would force me to take the training up a notch.  I've been trying to balance my workouts very carefully to keep from injuring myself again -- only running every other day, mixing up my runs with long paced runs, interval runs and shorter intense runs.  I've also been trying to get to yoga at least two days a week, as it helps keep me out of the physical therapist's office for my mucked up shoulder.  My 1 mile pace today was 8:56!

So, anyway, that is why I didn't post last week...or take any pictures...or sit down.

The Rest of the Birthday Celebration

So, we spent yesterday and a bit of today celebrating Lucy's birthday.  To make up for the fact that we were having her big dinner and cake today, I took her Krispy Kreme for a treat after school yesterday.

She chose a cotton candy donut.  You can't tell in the picture, but the blue sugar was sparkly, which is why it was chosen.  There were no pink donuts, else I am pretty sure she would have picked one of those.

Lucy did get to help with a little of the cake baking.  She even was kind enough to flip a large portion of the dry ingredients out onto the counter and all over the cookbook.  I may be shaking cocoa powder out of the book for months.

And lookie what Daddy brought for Lucy!

Can you believe that, until yesterday, Lucy had NO dress up clothes?  How can such a girly-girl live without at least one princessy skirt?  And look at those poor little dress up shoes -- Lucy's extra wide feet don't really fit in them.

And finally, what I was looking forward to all day -- CAKE!  I did a yummy chocolate cake with raspberry chambord frosting.  The cake was good, but the frosting was DIVINE!  The swirls are supposed to look like roses.  They mostly look like swirls.  At least icing the cake like this gives you enough frosting per slice to make your pants tight.  After all, frosting is what a cake is all about.  (And bonus trivia -- how many sticks of butter do you think it took to frost that cake?  The answer would be 6 -- a pound and a half of butter!  Just call me Paula.)

And that is the end of the birthday celebrating around here for a while.

Four!

Today is The Girl's (her nickname around here -- Jeremy has always called her "the girl") fourth birthday!  I snapped a few photos before she left for school this morning and she was an accommodating subject.  The Girl loves having her picture taken!

We'll be doing the celebrating tomorrow evening, as Jeremy has to work late tonight.  Lucy & I are going to spend the afternoon baking the cake (though I will decorate it tomorrow morning without her help). 

(This one is my favorite.)