June Daze

Well, May was partially successful, with a 75% success rate. I failed to read my Group Strength book, and I didn't read Margaret Thatcher's bio (but I am almost done with another book: Radical, by David Platt). Oh well. There's always next month.

Speaking of next month...my June goals:

-Finish through week 44 of my Bible study program (less than 10 weeks to go until I finish completely!)

-Memorize Psalm 116

-Read Harry Potter books 1 and 2

-Run 8-10 miles per week even while traveling 4 of the next 7 weekends! (ok, this counts as a July goal also)

And I think that's it! June is busy, busy, busy, so mostly I'll just be trying to stay sane. Still, that doesn't prevent me from being excited about a new month! So, to inspire all those who also set goals, I leave you with this (gleaned from The Daybook):

a day in annapolis

Last weekend was quite busy! Not only did I dye my hair pink, I also hosted an awesomely fabulous guest, my friend JenniMarie.

(and this is the point at which you all go check out her awesome photography blog and hire her to take your family/wedding/senior/miscellaneous portraits, because she is the ONLY person who takes pictures of me that I like. she's good. really good.)

We lollygagged around on Saturday, as I was semi-co-hosting a goodbye party for my housemates (did I not tell you the weekend was busy?). Then, on Sunday, while leaving the early service at church, we looked at each other and said 'let's go on an adventure.' And Jenni suggested Leesburg and I suggested Annapolis.

I hope you can pretty easily guess which city won.

We spent about an hour and a half there, exploring mostly the statehouse and the shoreline. And a couple back alleys.
I'd definitely recommend Annapolis for anyone interested in watching lots of big boats with rich people driving (boating? rowing? steering? how do you describe navigating a boat??) them. Pretty boats, generally handsome people wearing Sperrys, sunshine, and seagulls make for a pretty entertaining 30 minutes of sitting on the dock.

Just be warned: if the rich people start staring at you and steering their boat toward your dock and keep staring at you and start pushing their little bumper things off the side of the boat closest to you...they're probably going to park that big sucker right where you are sitting.

And you should probably move before that happens. Not as it's happening. Because that can be a little awkward.

Just sayin'...

think pink, a better way of life

Have ya missed me?? I know it's been quite a number of days since my last (rather unsubstantial) post...I've been busy living life, which is where I get ideas for blog posts, which are what you like to read, so really, it's for your own good that I've been gone so long.

Last weekend, we had the awards ceremony for the AWANA program where I volunteer. I was the director of the 10-12 girls club, and like any good director, I gave my girls a challenge: if every girl in the club finished her book, then all the leaders and I would dye our hair crazy colors for the awards ceremony!

May I present...myself with pink hair:
Suffice to say, they all finished their books. It's quite amazing what a simple incentive like seeing an adult with abnormal hair coloring will do for kids. If only that worked on adults also...

I actually kinda liked the pink-punk look. If I ever work at a summer camp, I'd consider getting pink streaks in my hair. Just for the summer, of course. To get it out of my system.
It was a bittersweet night, since I've decided this would be my last year of AWANA for a while. I had the best leaders this past year. They really loved the girls, encouraged them to work hard, PLUS they were super sweet to me and their fellow leaders. It was easy to be their director...the hardest part was keeping one step ahead of everyone because they worked so hard!

"the snack that smiles back"

Really, now, what IS the appeal of Goldfish crackers?

I eat them at work.

My 2/3s class at church eats them (and my adult volunteers!)

And today, at the hog dog joint we visited for lunch, there were goldfish sitting on the toppings counter. I think that's going a bit too far: goldfish on hot dogs?

I love them...but not that much.

South and Pacific, but not South Pacific

Just a few more pictures from my trip to California.

Reunited!

Last year, we were on an Atlantic beach and there were 3.5 of us.

This year, we were in the SoCal desert and there were all four of us!

This kid is too cute!

Me with the Pacific Ocean in the background.

This is after I got my suitcase back. SO NICE to change clothes!

San Diego!

Someday, I'll go back and tour there.

Can't wait to return to California later this summer!

insomnia! or, how to survive a night in the airport (part 2)

Well, as of yesterday, you'd been stranded in the airport, got yourself a confirmed flight for the next day, and found a place to chill for the night (whether a hotel, a cot, or a spot of carpet). So what to do for the next few hours?

6. If there's a chapel, you probably can't sleep in there. I ask you: whatever happened to seeking asylum in a church? Church, chapel...they're both houses of God!

My first thought upon seeing this sign: "So much for finding our rest in God" (proving that yes, I can have coherent and even mildly funny thoughts at 3am!).

7. Try to sleep. If you can't sleep, use the internet. You paid for it, after all. And keep envisioning your final destination. Or a happy place. Hopefully, they are one and the same.

(the beach. both a happy place and a destination.)

8. Eat breakfast and freshen. Hopefully the Starbucks will open before your flight departs. Visit the Starbucks, visit the bathroom. Yes, everyone around you looks awful, but that doesn't mean you need to!

9. Once you finally get on a flight and land at (or near) your final destination, find the nearest Wal-Mart and buy a change of clothes. Your suitcase is likely delayed even more than you were, and you've probably been wearing those clothes for 24+ hours. Give in: buy the clothes.

But if you are meeting up with friends, you might want to check what colors they are wearing that day.

10. When your bag finally arrives, be sure to note everywhere it has been and thank the heavens that you did not have to follow a similar path. My bag traveled from IAD-DFW-ONT-LAX-SAN before being driven to me in Escondido.

And that, folks, is how to survive a night in the airport! May you never have to use these tips...

stranded! or, how to survive a night in the airport {part 1}

So, a little over a week ago, I unexpectedly spent the night in DFW airport. It was quite the experience, and I will spare you the more horrific details. I did, however, want to share some tips and advice in you also ever find yourself stranded in an airport for 9+ hours.

1. Eat a large meal before takeoff. (this is more of a general travel tip. Since you never know when/where the next bite of food will come, always take advantage of food when available!). If you're at IAD, I recommend the Chipotle Mexican Grill in the B-terminal. Huge burrito for $7. Can't be beat.

(burrito, 1/3 of the way eaten)

2. When you first discover you are stranded, take a minute to panic. Then envision your final destination (and/or the goal of your trip). Remember, the airport is not your final resting place. You can make it through this.

(friends at your final destination can offer a great deal of emotional, over-the-phone support during an airport ordeal)

3. Get on the standby list for any airport within 2 hours of your destination. While standing in the line for the standby list, call the airline. Once you reach the airline (which will probably be after you reach the standby desk), get a seat on the earliest confirmed flight. You'll still be on the standby list, but at least now you have a confirmed backup option.

(within 2 hours of your destination, you can probably find a shuttle or taxi to get you there...better, if not cheaper, than spending another day in the airport!)

4. If you don't make it on a standby and your flight isn't until the next morning, find a hotel. Now, do NOT leave the security area until you have a confirmed hotel. Pay the $8-$15 for internet, beg a cell phone charger off a stranger (though you should know better than to check any electrical chargers!), and Google-map all the nearby hotels. Call them. Get a room.

5. If there aren't any hotel rooms available, hopefully your airport is nice enough to put out cots. Claim one. Use it. If there are no cots, but you're still behind security because you are smarter than me, there will likely be carpeted floors. At the very least, claim a spot on there!

(my cot, outside security--hence the very hard tile floor)

(to be continued tomorrow)

bananas

Last night, my house was going a little bananas.

Literally.

See, we're having a party this weekend, and we needed some extra freezer space. So we tackled the rather monumental project of cleaning out the freezer, which probably hasn't had a good throw-out session in at least 6-8 months.

While cleaning out said freezer, we found some bananas. Lots of bananas, actually. We all have a habit of throwing our individual bananas in the freezer right before they go bad. And apparently, we've been doing this for a while, because in our freezer there were seventeen frozen bananas.

Seventeen bananas, folks. Sounds like some kind of monkey movie, doesn't it?

So I decided that something had to be done with these bananas. And what better than to make some banana bread? So I thawed and peeled them all (speaking of which, the best way to peel a frozen bananas: stick it in a pan of hot water for a few minutes, cut off the top, and squeeze that sucker right out of its skin).

It looked something like this:

For the next three hours, Molly and I baked. And baked. And baked. We used the Martha Stewart Banana Bread recipe, but substituted plain yogurt for the sour cream (FYI, if you also have 17 bananas, be prepared to triple that recipe...twice). But YUM! That first loaf was delicious.

And I'm sure the rest of them were delicious too. But at some point, there was just a little too much banana bread.

As in, five loaves and a Bundt pan of banana bread.

Thankfully, my coworkers are as ravenous as my cooking designs are ambitious, so we gave away half of the bread. My coworkers also are full of compliments and suggestions for next time I find myself with an overload of frozen bananas.

Suggestions such as Banana Smoothies or Banana Ice Cream (with just bananas!). Or my personal favorite, banana cookies, as IM'd to me by a friend:
squish 2 bananas until they look like a 2 year old got a hold of them.

That's your cookie base, just as if you've mixed up the sugar and butter and eggs.

Then I add oatmeal for texture.

I usually add a dash of salt and baking powder to make them puff.

Then I put in chocolate chips or nuts.

Then I put them on a cookie sheet, and I bake those puppies!

Then I eat them.

I eat them while they're still warm. I don't really like them cold. When they get cool, I heat them in the microwave.
No sugar, just chocolate chips.
So, folks, if ever you are in a banana bind much like I was, now you have a few more choices than just plain ole' banana bread.

Seals on a Beach

No cryptic title here...just a picture of seals on a California beach from my trip this past weekend!

Funny story about these seals: I was walking along the sidewalk, which is about 20 feet above the sea, since the California coast is a little 'cliff-y' in La Jolla. I admired the Pacific ocean, the hotels, the cloudy sky, when I noticed all these people staring into the ocean at one particular point along the sidewalk/wall. So naturally, I went over there and stared too. There was a little cove with a beach, and stairs going down to the beach. A sign proclaimed that the beach was open for swimming, "please watch for wildlife." But no one was swimming! Instead, everyone was staring at the beach, which at first glance seemed to have the largest number of strangely shaped rocks. Why, I wondered, is everyone staring at these rocks?

And then one of the rocks moved.

About 30 minutes later, I left the beach, sprinted through a brief section of La Jolla and back to my car for the final drive to the airport. Seals are distracting.

I'll even give you a video of the seals. This'll make you laugh, trust me.

And if that didn't make you laugh, this link to the best Twitter feed ever will.

Some Life Lemons

The past three weeks of my life have included some really strange events, such as my phone escaping to Oklahoma for 4 days, getting stuck in Boston traffic because my navigational senses failed, flattening a tire, sinkholes on interstates, and of course, the typical 'conference season mini-catastrophes' at work.

Sometimes, I feel like Ramona. Or Amelia Bedelia.

At least my life is interesting and gives me lots of stories! Recently, after a friend was regaled with my latest mis-adventure-at-that-point, she suggested that I write a book. And she even gave me a title!

Lemonade for Life:

Lessons from my (mis) Adventures

I laughed it off, but after the past four days, I think she might actually have a point.

A brief synopsis: I got stuck in DFW on the way to California. Overnight. Without a hotel (see picture).

At least they provided cots!!

But the ordeal was worth it: I got to see Meg and Ryan and Elisabeth!

A Sunrise, A Race, and Chuck Norris

The morning of my half-marathon started well. On the drive to Frederick, MD, there was an absolutely beautiful sunrise that I would never have seen if I hadn't been awake at 5am!

I got to the race and pinned on my bib (notice the awesome tie-dye running shirt, compliments of B and N). Pinning on the bib is an important part of racing. Without the bib, you can't compete. Needless to say, I was a little paranoid about my bib.

I then wrote my race plan on my arm with a Sharpie.

Mostly because I couldn't think of any other way to remember it without carrying a piece of paper with me.

I hoped it would wash off later.

Meanwhile, my family began their preparations, which mostly consisted of finding the best spots to look goofy and shout.

Being race fans is a tough job. Good thing they were up for it.

Speaking of goofy, the BEST sign on raceday was about mile 9. It read:

"Chuck Norris NEVER ran a half-marathon!"

To which my dad later replied: "Yeah, Chuck Norris never does things halfway."

Oh snap.

Of course, meeting up with the fans at the end is always a challenge. Mark and I pondered the race map while waiting for the more hard-core, mile 11 fans to wind their way back to mile 13.1.

This picture cracks me up:

Dad: "Picture! Smile!"

Mom: "Let me fix my hair!"

Me: "Mmm. Banana."

And apparently everyone in the metro-DC area was as excited as me about my first half-marathon. This car that I tailgated on the way home pretty much sums up the entire experience:

Breath In, Breath Out, Eat Lunch.

There is a long half-marathon post with pictures coming soon, I promise!

I just haven't had time to write it. In fact, I've barely had time to sit down and breathe, or sleep, or do laundry, or eat lunch. "Breath In, Breath Out, Eat Lunch," has been my mantra this week. And yes, I know it's only Tuesday. See below comic, sent by my Dad:

But it will all be worth it when I go to California tomorrow to visit my very dear friend [and to work a conference...but that's a means, not the end ;)]!

And the benefit to you is that flying to California means at least 8 hours of sitting in airports, on airplanes, no internet, no friends, just me and my handy little netbook. And pictures of my half-marathon.

It's coming.

I pinky-promise.

Phones in the Hands of a Clumsy Girl

When I dropped my cell phone on the floor for the fifth time in 3 weeks the other day, I had three thoughts, in this order:

"Drat! Drat! Drat!"

"Thank you Lord for protecting my phone! It survived!"

"Survive, Survived, Survivor. Hey! My phone could win a reality TV show! Survivor: Cell Phone Edition. Survived: Cell Phone Horror Stories. Survival: In Chrissy's Hands."

And then I had a fourth thought. But it's not really related.

"Gee, if I had an iPhone, I could get that nifty case that you can drop on the floor anytime without worries."

ANYWAY, back to the TV show! Great idea, right?? A reality TV show about cell phones that can survive anything??

Ok, maybe it'd fare better as a documentary, if it had really gripping music.

Or maybe my phone is connected to my brain...and I've dropped it one too many times in the past three weeks...

And here's a preview from the past weekend! Full half-marathon post coming soon... :D

"Finisher."

Tomorrow, I am running my first half-marathon.

Just a few weeks ago, while pounding the W&OD trail from Leesburg to Purcellville, I was ready to quit at the 11 mile mark. My brain could grasp only one word, repeated with every step:

Finisher.

A few months back, Runner's World had an article on creating mantras to help oneself through the toughest part of a workout or race. It was great, if mildly bemusing. And as you can tell, it's helped.

I'm excited about tomorrow's race. It will NOT begin with snow (as did my last long race).

Tomorrow WILL start early (as in, 5am early--blargh!).

And I have a feeling it will end with me looking even happier than my last big race:

Because at the end of tomorrow's half-marathon, this crazy guy will be waiting for me.

Yup, my brother is flying in at the last possible minute to see me race!! And I didn't know anything about this until about 24 hours ago!

So not only do I have a mantra, I now have a whole three-to-five person cheering squad. All the more reason to be a

Finisher.

To be last stay late.

It's official: I was the last person to leave work tonight! Just look at that lovely empty parking lot! Too bad I didn't have any roller skates with me.

Days of May

Inspired by my friend Cossette, I set 11 goals for April. I accomplished 6 of them and postponed 1, so that gives me a 64% success rate. Maybe I should work on my goal-setting skills, to remove that 'oldest child habit' of setting too-many, too-hard, or too-many-too-hard goals.

Eh, I'll postpone that to June. May is a fine spring month to accomplish things! Nevermind that I'll be gone for 5 days and my family will be here for 4 days...that still leaves 22 days to reach my 8 goals!

Hence, without further ado or wavering or self-judgement, I present to you the goal list for May 2011. Let the aspiring commence!

-Memorize Psalm 112

-Finish through week 41 of my 'read thru the Bible in a year' program (of which I am currently entering my 15th month...)

-Get halfway through my Group Strength Continuing Education Credit book (so I can stay certified as a fitness instructor!)

-Finish my photobook from Uganda!

-Get a new camera (pending budgetary approval)

-Update my resume

-Read Margaret Thatcher's biography

And my personal favorite and the goal I am MOST excited about:

Run a half-marathon!

Hoping for Mass

I went to New England this weekend.

Specifically, to Worcester (which, for all you southerners, is pronounced "Wuss-ter") for the MASSHOPE homeschool conference, where my co-workers and I proceeded to tear down, blast apart, and smash previous sales records. Ooh yeah!

But while Worcester was fun (had my first taste of Uno's!), the real highlight was probably the little side trips we took to Boston, since we flew in and out of there. There really is nothing like eating Italian food in the North End, listening to Italian TV during lunch on Hanover Street, Italian waitresses saying "Whaat, do these people think we are a public restaroom!", cannoli from Mike's Pastry with only a 15 minute wait, and our version of 'clubbing.'

Oh, and the view from our hotel at sunset over Boston (thanks to friend who took this on his iphone):