Too soon...or never soon enough?

I firmly believe in the law...it's a federal law, not just a state thing...that you must not listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. Celebrating the greatest holiday in the history of holidays from October onwards is a both a sham and a shame.

Preparing oneself for said holiday, however, is not a crime in any size of community. This day of glory brings with it parties, gift giving occasions, decorating opportunities and fashion opportunities galore. And I am not going to allow them to catch me by surprise this year...as I have every single other year since birth.

Here is a break down of my aggressive takedown of Christmas {that sounds terrible}

1. I am baking a batch of cookies each weekend leading up to Christmas and freezing them so that they can be brought out at a moment's notice. Cookie swap? Nailed. Party I feel obligated to bring something to? Got it. Spontaneous gift? Done, and hand made. Made with my very hands!

week one's batch! partying in my freezer right now. recipe here

2. Create outline for Christmas gifts, listing who I need to purchase a gift for, what my gift-giving budget is, and a few ideas that fit within that budget. Hopefully some forethought will prevent me from panicking and spending too much money on a mediocre gift on December 24th. Not that that has ever happened before!

a couple of benjamins for a model ship? weider gifts have happened.

3. Put into writing a few healthy holiday rules. Although I know that a little holiday indulging isn't going to kill me, preventing myself from having a total free-fall into pie-land prepares me to greet food-oriented get togethers and seasonal desserts happily because I know which treats are worth splurging on and which are not. In my opinion, pumpkin pie is practically mandatory whereas pre-dinner cheese and cracker hour is not, I will stuff stuffing in my face but mashed potatoes can be left out of the party, and anything that is either prepackaged or that I have easy access to year-round can be skipped.

let's just say I wouldn't throw this away

4. Reviewing my closet and mentally prepping a few holiday event outfits, again so I'm not left in a panic purchasing something expensive, mediocre, and entirely unnecessary.

I mean with an outfit like this...who needs shopping?

5. On that note, and tying #4 into #2, budgeting how much expendable income I can use on myself during this season. The conclusion....not any a lot. So larger purchases - a new down coat, shopping carts full of new home decor, planning another out-of-town trip, all those new jeans I so desperately need...those will have to wait.

Hope these little ideas inspire you to greet the holidays - whichever you celebrate - prepared rather than scrambling!

How do you get ready for this bonanza season?

Leaving New York with a bang...and a hurricane

So I went from slightly irritated by the upcoming storm to full-on panicked. I actually went out and bought bottled water and some non-perishable snacks {wheat thins, peanut butter, chocolate - all the essential food groups}. I have filled up our bathtub with water. Mayor Bloomberg suggested doing so, and at first I laughed at the suggestion. First of all, how absurd that the hurricane is being projected as so aggressive that the mayor is giving out such detailed instructions? Second of all, what am I supposed to do with that water...drink it? Ish don’t think so.

absolutely not, Mayor.

My close friend (the one who took me here!) enlightened me to the horrifying truth of what a bathtub full of water means. It means having to boil the water for drinking, cooking, or teeth-brushing. It means having to manually make your toilet flush. Ew. Ew Ew Ew Ew Ew.

Can I go back to the Midwest now?

I’ve also become concerned that the inevitable flight cancellations this weekend will lead to mayhem at the airport throughout the week next week, delaying my flight home on Tuesday. Making matters worse, I have a layover in Detroit, so if my first leg is altered that affects my entire trip. Making matters even worse than that is that I am already an obnoxiously anxious flyer/mover/person and this wrinkle is about to give me high blood pressure.

What if my movers aren’t able to move me out at 9 am on Monday?

What if I can’t get all of my things out of my apartment before my flight out?

What if my flight is delayed beyond when I have my lease?

What if my building won’t give me my security deposit back because I didn’t move out when I said I would?

What if I am stuck here forever?

My boss tried to talk me out of a tree and give me pointers on meditating and finding my zen. Thank you, but I think I’m going to go ahead and continue freaking out.

And this is me without coffee. Imagine me with it - no, actually, don’t. That is the stuff horror films are made of. 

Any tips for survival?

Are you in the path of Hurricane Irene?

Have you ever had to fill your bathtub with water for emergency purposes??

I'm baaaack!

Well, that was a fabulous staycation! I enjoyed a four-day weekend with my cousin prowling around NYC, giggling at her awe of all of the things I now completely take for granted. It's such a joy to see a city I've been living in through new eyes and was an aptly timed trip as I had the opportunity to do some final touristing and appreciating of the city before I depart for good in...less than two weeks, today!

Brace yourself, because there are about to be more photos in this one post than in the entirety of my blog....

at The Plaza! 

Yes, I made her pose for this. She'll appreciate me later.

in Central Park!

crossing the Brooklyn Bridge!

free doggy bags in Brooklyn!

 I felt compelled to take this iconic photograph as a mental note that they do not have such things in Manhattan...welcome to DUMBO! (By the way, if you are not a New Yorker and come into town, Dumbo is a must visit! you heard it here, folks.)

Anne and the Empire State Building!

slightly sweaty after a long day....

It's very apt that we're posing beneath the "Vegetarian Burger" posting as that is what we all got. I actually despise ordering the same thing as other people so I was none too pleased. We also ordered the same thing at lunch the next day...seriously peeved.

girls at Lucky Strike!

No, I didn't wear the same outfit four days running - these are all taken on the same day. And yes, we did go to The Plaza, Central Park, Brooklyn, Ground Zero, City Hall, West Village and SoHo...all on day one. I told you I get aggressive.

Luckily for Anne, day two consisted of a whole lot of this out at Long Beach:

a lil greasy post-beach time

And the rest of the weekend was filled with rain, providing ample time for much-needed napping and a viewing of "Crazy, Stupid Love" (so cute!)

Now it's Wednesday already and I need to get a' packin' for the big move!!!

Little girls in the Big City!

Apparently I love comparing random days to Christmas and today is no exception. Today feels like Christmas. Why, you ask?

Because I am getting a visit from my sweet cousin Anne for five whole days starting this evening!

Anne is a rising senior in college in Chicago and has never been to the Big Apple so I am looking forward to taking her all over this city to some of my favorite places: Babycakes vegan bakery, Cafe Blossom vegan restaurant, a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, Summer Streets, Pure Food & Wine for dessert (also vegan, noticing a trend here? I hope she hates eggs), the Highline (a must for visitors, in my book!), my friends' summer share in Long Beach for a day of sun & fun...I wonder if she knows this vacation will be about as relaxing as running a marathon?

I have a tendency to really keep my guests busy during visits. The thought that they might be bored for five seconds terrifies me and I want them to love wherever we are just as much as I do! Anyone who visited me in Saint Louis during college breaks or Colby while I was a student there (okay, that was one person...thanks Nicole) or now New York can tell you...I am an aggressive tour guide. A few years ago a former flame of mine was visiting me in St. Louis and I remember him saying, as I was hustling him out the door to our 345th activity of the day that he was there to see me, not the city. Well, sorry. You are going to see everything, do everything, eat everything, and you will like it.

I am going to actually try to remember to bring my camera with me this weekend to provide photographic evidence of our assault on NYC.

Do you love hosting as much as I do?
Are you an aggressive planner or more laissez-faire?
Can you help me relax?

Princess of Queens

Tomorrow I will be rising with before the sun to take two subway trains to...Queens! There I will be running the Queens Half-Marathon, a part of the New York Road Runners' Half Marathon Series. Fortunately {knock on wood} the heat wave seems to have more or less broken and we are back to normal summery temperatures. I am really banking on not passing out from heat stroke tomorrow! That is my goal.

In all seriousness, as I have mentioned, I do have a goal for tomorrow's race which is, as ever, to do better in this race than I did in the last. That may or may not happen, but I'm going to give it all I've got. Announcing this on the world wide web will hopefully motivate me during boring or tiring stretches of the race to dig it out and keep on truckin'.

I always run with music. Those of you who don't, I admire you, and also think you're slightly odd. I have had my iPod die on a run only to promptly turn around and go home. Running without music = eating a meal without peanut butter. Just does not happen in my life.

During a race, motivating jams are particularly crucial. During the Brooklyn Half Marathon, I found that my excellent playlist really pushed me through the last few miles and helped me maintain my pace. With that in mind, assembling a set of tunes sure to please was #1 on my to-do list this morning. Another requirement of my playlists is that they have a sufficiently descriptive name. Behold, "The Princess of Queens":



like country, much?

 Lucky you, you also get to catch a glimpse of some of my other stellar playlist titles: "Treadmills are Boring" (um, they are), "Hang Out With Your Twang Out" (again...do I or do I not like country??), and the list from the Brooklyn Half, aptly named...."Manhattan Takes Brooklyn."

Along with some wonderfully new country songs, if you'll look closely you'll see my favorite Hall & Oates guilty pleasure gem - hasn't gotten old yet.

Now, do yourselves a favor and add some of these masterpieces to your summer running playlists:

Brad Paisley (featuring Alabama!!!), Old Alabama
Jake Owen, Barefoot Blue Jean Night
Brad Paisley, This is Country Music
Zac Brown Band (featuring Jimmy Buffet!!!), Knee Deep
Brad Paisley, Be the Lake

And no your eyes do not deceive you...every other one of those songs is off of Brad Paisley's latest album, This Is Country Music. Huge fan.

Enjoy the jams and enjoy your weekend!!!

What are your favorite workout songs these days??

Giving myself a pat on the back

Last week, I mentioned that I often set out with an ambitious running schedule that I blatantly make no real attempt to follow through on.

Since declaring, however, that I was not going to make excuses for myself, I have actually completed all of the runs that I set out to do - Go team productive D!

Now that I have completed these runs, allow me to show you what a typical week of running looks like for me:

One speed workout, such as the one below, completed on the treadmill so that I can indulge my OCD side and precisely monitor my speed and distance.

Yes, this makes me sweat a lot, and yes, it also likely prevents me from being asked out at the gym.

One short, fast run, usually between 4 - 6 miles at a pace of around 7:00 - 7:30 minutes/mile (I occasionally do this on the treadmill, also, just to be sure I'm hitting my desired speed, although I despise doing steady-pace runs on treadmills. Stab me in the eyeball.)

One medium length run, untimed, usually between 6 - 8 miles. I would estimate that my pace here is around 8:00 - 8:30 minutes/mile and I always strive to throw in some hill sprints, although that's difficult to do in the rather flat NYC. One of my girlfriends from the city clued me into a short, steep hill on 91st Street between 2nd and 3rd so I usually try to hit that up.

One long, double digit mile run. I would estimate my pace on that to be about 8:30, but I don't allow myself to be concerned with time and just aim for getting in the distance and enjoying myself.

I adapted this training plan around what I have the time and resources to do. As I mentioned....I hadn't been very diligent about following it. However, I'm getting better all the time!

So, now you know! I used the beginner version of this plan when I was training for my very first long race, the 2010 Brooklyn Half Marathon and found it to be effective both in preparing me physically and putting me at ease mentally. Since then, I haven't trained for a single one of the Half mar's I've run, so I'm hoping that in actually training for Queens, I will see a difference in my finishing time - wish me luck!

peace out, I'm going to go run.

Coffee: some is good, more is better.

Despite all of the rumors you've heard, New York City is actually not a relaxing place to live. Work atmospheres tend to be competitive and stressful, social schedules tend to be packed to the brim, and if you don't have 14 side hobbies, what are you even doing here?

It is both a blessing and a curse to be constantly busy. I am sort of a contradiction of a person in that while I am very outgoing, social and *ahem* bubbly...I am actually secretly a homebody. Nothing I love more than curling up with tea and a good book, having a friend over for a homemade dinner and conversation, taking a long walk, or watching an old re-run of Murder, She Wrote...I mean, what?!? Who said that!?

Welp, this weekend will not be one of those relaxing weekends.

Literally, every second is accounted for with parties (one of which is upstate!), a dinner, a trip to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden (my inaugural visit! so excited - and, for all you New Yorkers, admission to the garden is free before noon on Saturdays!), studying, running...whew!

I'm very excited, particularly as I will be seeing a few friends I don't get to see often, but also looking forward to a time in my life in which I can take a breather, take a walk, take the time to have a good phone date, do my laundry......

And on that note, it's time to visit my favorite baristas and get my 54 cent Starbucks refill. Yes, I know the exact cost, with tax.

couldn't do it without you.

Anyone else feel like they're always crazy busy...in their "free" time?

Making excuses

So I have a somewhat legitimate topic to discuss, but in order to discuss said topic, I have an embarrassing confession to make. I love magazine quizzes. And I'm not even 13! I love them. I love buying trashy mags when I'm travelling and I read every. single. page. although I am well aware of the fact that my brain cells are likely declaring a mutiny and I am well aware of the fact that the June 2011 issue is exactly the same as the October 2007 issue is exactly the same as the March 2002 issue...whatever. At least I'm reading, right?

So last time I was flying, I took a very scientific quiz to on why I procrastinate. My results determined that I procrastinate because I strive for perfection, and I fear that if something is not perfect, than it is not even worth doing at all.

So the truly embarrassing part of this whole situation: Glamour/Elle/whichever magazine was absolutely correct. Really. Saw right through me like a pane o' glass.

I cannot even tell you how many cover letters I've drafted and never sent in because I felt that they weren't "just right," how many projects I've started and abandoned because I didn't think I could execute them in the absolute best manner possible, how many important conversations I've neglected to have because I couldn't find the most succinct, articulate, and sensitive words to convey my feelings.

I've also found this same procrastination tactic emerge in my running habits.

As I reviewed the training runs I wanted to complete this week and tried to plan out when exactly I could complete them, a little voice in my head kept repeating, "yea, but you're probably not going to do them all anyway." I'm so used to hearing this voice in my head that I normally let it float on by, but this time, I stopped myself and said [this is all in my head, I wasn't actually having a conversation with myself...] "well, why not?"

Why not, indeed???

I love running, so why is it so difficult for me to complete a training plan? Why do I consistently plan to go on targeted runs, hillwork, or speedwork and then convince myself I can just go run five or six miles at a steady pace, or, lately, black out and somehow find myself on the elliptical, more or less phoning my cardio in?

My attitude is that if I don't feel as though I'm going to do a training run perfectly, or if I don't feel I am going to hit my race out of the park, to mix my sports metaphors, than it is not worthwhile to even try.

If I admit that I truly care about something and am really striving to succeed in a particular arena, and I do not do so perfectly, then in my mind, I am a failure. Worse than that, actually - a failure before my friends, family and peers.

Well that is ludacris.

In all honesty, I would like to be faster. I do care about my times. I would like to put in hard work and see concrete results. Although I would be reticent to admit it if you asked me to my face, I do have a particular time in mind that I would like to finish the Queens half marathon in, and it's not going to be easy. It's entirely possible that I will fail. And I'm certainly not doing myself any favors by not taking training seriously.

Yes, I will finish the race if I don't train. Yes, I will probably finish within a decent time frame.

But I know that I can do better, and knowing that, I should do better.

So my goal for this month is to stop making excuses for myself, once and for all. If I want something, and I know what to do to attain it, the only thing standing in my way like a pack of tourists in Central Park, is me! In order to get out of my own way, I need to get over my fears of trying, of caring, and falling short of perfection and openly admitting defeat.

I'm not exactly sure who I'm trying to convince that I'm "Rico Suave," and since it's clearly not working anyway, I think it is time to give it up.

December 26th

The first day back to work after an exciting weekend always feels like December 26th to me. This feeling is even more significant today, because as we all know, I think of the 4th of July like my own special, warm-weather Christmas.

So maybe I should start referring to that feeling as a "July 5th" feeling instead...

Anyway, back to the daily grind it is, whether I like it or not.

My mission this week is to successfully see a project I've been overseeing through (we've hit some hiccups, which is extremely frustrating for me, particularly as, no matter what I tell myself, I tend to take work-related issues personally), actually complete a variety of training runs this week: speed work, medium runs and a long run this weekend, keep up with my #fitabs commitment, and get ready for yet another exciting weekend - I have a few prezzies to pick up so I'm looking forward to a couple of fun after-work errands this week. Productivity is the name of the game for this girl, and I have several to-do lists in place: in my Outlook calendar, my Google calendar, and hand-written (so I can color code/decorate it, obviously) to keep me mindful of my goals and plans.

I have some other exciting plans this week, including a few special lady-dates, which I am greatly looking forward to.

And just like that...my December 26th  July 5th feeling has melted away!