What I Did With My August

Things have been mighty quiet around this little blog lately. I have been busy doing things like:

Celebrating my 2nd wedding anniversary (and 13th year of togetherness) with my devastatingly handsome husband.

Taking my dog on romantic six mile walks in the woods with her dog boyfriend, Samson, and Samson's owner, Beth.

House hunting, applying for a mortgage, finding and ultimately PURCHASING A 1940's BUNGALOW WITH A WHITE PICKET FENCE!!

Yes, my dream of owning a house has come to fruition. We bought a lovely place in one of the only two flat neighborhoods in Charleston. It is full of character, needs a little TLC, but it is way nicer than anyplace we've lived before, and it is OURS. We are stoked.

Before and after photos of some of our renos will surely follow.

Culinary Wasteland

I should have known better.

You see, Charleston is what you could call a culinary wasteland. By and large, the restaurants that have good food have terrible service, and the ones that have bad food have even worse service (the exceptions to this being every single Mexican restaurant in town, because the service is always awesome, and Frutcake, which has fine service and the best cucpakes I have ever had. Ever. Better than anyplace in Pittsburgh, better than NYC's famous Magnolia, better than Babycakes, better than my mom's. And I am somthing of an expert. But that is a story for another time).

Today, I was at a jobsite for several hours and I was starving on my drive home. Knowing that we have very little food in the house right now, I decided -- and this was where I went against my better judgement -- to stop at a fast food restaurant. Let's just say it rhymes with Blendy's.

So I went to the Blendy's drive-through and ordered a Caesar salad, small fries, and a Diet Coke. Off I drove, without looking in the bag, because really? How easy was that order.

When I got home and opened the bag, ready to eat my hand at this point, I remembered with sudden clarity why I don't go to fast food restaurants. Inside the large paper bag was a very very tiny side salad. I would say this contained about half a cup of slimy, brown lettuce, some "parmesan cheese," and one moldy grape tomato. Completely inedible side salad and no fries. And once I took a sip of my drink, I realized that this was regular Coke. I had to throw it all away and make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I don't care if you do have high-budget commercials and delicous is-it-ice-cream-or-is-it-a-shake concoctions, Blendy's. I am never coming to your establishment again.

Aaaand end rant.

When in WV . . .

My in-laws came to visit West Virginia for the first time over the 4th of July weekend. They were probably expecting banjo-playing, toothless rednecks like most people do and, yes, we have our fair share of those. But so do Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Luckily they both enjoy the outdoors, so we were able to show them a lot of what WV has to offer.


The first night they came, we stayed at the Dian Lee House in Bluefield:





Brad and I stayed in the Abe Lincoln Room. It was awesome.






Over the course of the 5 days they were here, we did a lot of this:

And Brad and his dad even did some of this:

We spent some time in Fayetteville, ate at one of our favorite restaurants, Diogi's, and I purchased a pair of Merrell Pace Gloves (which I ran in for the first time today and LOVE). We hiked, drank, ate at a fancy restaurant, visited the Capitol Market, and hiked some more.

While we were showing them around our lovely new(ish) home state, I felt proud of WV. There are so many beautiful places to go and gorgeous natural things to see. So Charleston has very few good restaurants and there isn't a Whole Foods or a Lululemon in the whole state. So no good bands ever play here (outside of Mountain Stage, of course) and the theater is limited. So we're not a major city and we don't have a professional sports team. We have met wonderful people, are making great friendships, and we can get anywhere in the city in 10 minutes. There's never any traffic to speak of. You can hike up a mountain 5 minutes from your house. The air is clean (if you're not near a coalmine) and the trees are big. I've become a trail runner, and Brad a better cyclist. Mountains do that to you -- they make you strong.

Charleston Lately

Brad is gone for the weekend at a 9-hour mountain bike race. Not only did he take my car, the peanut butter, and all of the beer we had in the house, but he also took the last of the coffee. That was a pleasant surprise this morning.

*****

KSF is beautiful, the trails have been great, and I went for an 11-mile run with this guy this morning:
He and I were running at about the same pace today. Look at the pity in his eyes. He's all "Dude, lady. You should be faster than that by now."

I know, turtle, I know. It was just a bad day.

I also saw my first ever bear while running today. It was HUGE and lumbering away from the trail I was on. I stopped for a minute to contemplate what I should do. Sneak away? Continue to stand completely still, staring at it? Yell? In the end, I just continued on my run, checking over my shoulder every now and then. It did not give chase.

*****

My friend Misty turned us on to these real femur bones that are filled with food for our dog. She (the dog, not Misty) has been gnawing on a bacon and cheese flavored one for the past week, with her eyes closed in ecstasy. Probably one of the better purchases I have made for her.

If you have a dog, especially one who is lazy yet needs constant attention like our dog, I highly recommend these. It keeps her occupied for hours.

*****

We finally bought that living room furniture! I am the proud owner of two huge comfortable couches and I love them. They're so nice that they make all of our other furniture look extra shitty in comparison.

*****

Week 5 Training

Monday - yoga + 3 mile run
Tuesday - 3 mile run, tempo pace
Wednesday - 2.75 mile run, 5 horrible hellish hill sprints at the end
Thursday - unplanned rest day. My knee was bugging me.
Friday - Blissful Rest!
Saturday - 11 miles that took a lifetime
Sunday - 4 or 5, depending upon my mood tomorrow

Lessons I Learned on My Trail Run This Morning

1. Even if it is only 50 degrees, don't wear a long-sleeved cotton shirt on a run. You may think that you will be fine, but after one uphill mile it will be all sweaty and you'll be hot. Then, later, you'll be freezing in the damp cotton.

2. Drinking water is good. Drinking water the day before a long, difficult run is even better. If you fail to do this you will have a splitting headache and you'll want to die. Also, you should buy a damn hand-held water bottle and use it already.

3. Just when you are about to die of dehydration, a knight in shining armor on a white horse (or, a husband in shiny spandex on a single speed mountain bike) will show up and offer you a drink from his bottle and words of encouragement. Fairy tales do come true!

4. Do not eat chips and hummus and halloween candy for dinner. There is no nutritional value in that and your body needs decent food to work properly. Your body hates you right now.

5. While trail running in late fall, sometimes you have to shuffle sideways down a rocky descent, holding onto a tree for dear life. It's the only way to avoid a rolled ankle. Also, you should buy some damn trail running shoes already.

All excuses aside, today's run was probably my worst ever. But shit happens. Bad runs happen. I'm sure even elite athletes have bad days. What matters is that I did what I could and I'll try again another day.

Scenes From My Thursday Evening Run

I feel so lucky to be able to run on these beautiful roads. Even if they seem to be in an area where drug deals go down. Maybe it's time I start running with this little lady:

OMG a Snake!

Yesterday we went to the house of a partner at Brad's firm for a cocktail party. It was pretty fun; there was good company, good food, a live band, and iced tea flavored vodka. I felt under-educated and underpaid, as I tend to feel at most lawyer gatherings, but I still thoroughly enjoyed myself.

We drove home, making up words to turn an Usher song (the atrocious OMG) into a song about robots and laughing hysterically because, as Brad said this morning, we're like Beavis and Butthead. I don't remember most of our lyrics, but the line "There's so many places to oil you" was definitely in there. Heh heh.

As we were getting out of the car, Brad said, "What is that?" He leans over to investigate and exclaims "It's a snake! Cool." And then my husband, the attorney, crouches down and starts poking the snake with a stick.

This lead to a conversation about the surely thousands of snakes that live in our area, and how surprised we both are that Brad has never seen a rattlesnake (apparently, everyone he knows that lives here and spends any amount of time in the woods has seen one.) I trail run and hike by myself all of the time, and I don't know what I would do if I ran across a rattler. Actually, I do. I'd panic, turn around and run the other way, and maybe cry.

Since the snake sighting, every stick in the grass is suspect. I know they are harmless but I just don't like them. They're fast and slithery! Some of them can kill you!

Dear Charleston,

It has been almost a year that I've lived here, and I know we've had our ups and downs. I have had days that I've really disliked you, your lack of good bars and good bands and Whole Foods. I wanted you to be different, evolve, grow, but I know you're not ready for that. I was hoping that I could change you, but I don't know if that is possible. You are set in your ways and I have to accept you for what you are.

Lately, I'm beginning to feel like you are the one who is changing me. I've had so many days in which I am awestruck by your natural beauty. In those moments, I think, wow, how lucky am I that I get to live here? That I can drive 15 minutes on a Wednesday after work to KSF and be suddenly deep in the woods, in the wildness. That I can hike for an hour up a mountain and be greeted with spectacular views, green hills as far as I can see.

Do you remember when I found that wild orchid growing in the state forest? Thank you. That week in March when our yard exploded with daffodils? Thanks for that, too. Maybe, if we both try a little harder, we can make this work.

Love,
K

A Few of My Favorite Things

Some of my recent obsessions are:

Putty-colored nail polish. It's like a cross between brown, gray, and purple and totally rad.

Fresh pineapple. I've been buying at least one a week, cutting it up and eating it within about two days. I can't stop.


Iced tea. This brand, to be exact, because it was on sale at K-Roger for 59 cents a bottle! Score.

The Discovery Channel's miniseries Life. In HD.
This weekend is plants and primates, the last episodes! Brad and I look forward to this every week, and we're both going to be bummed when it's over.

Coonskin Park. I've been going to the park at least 6 times a week -- walking the dog after work Monday - Friday and trail running on the weekends. It's very close to where I live, and surprisingly under-utilized. It makes living on the side of a mountain in a neighborhood with no sidewalks much more bearable.

*****

We're off to Virginia this weekend, where I will be playing pit crew for Brad at a 13-hour mountain bike race. Then I'm traveling to Indiana for work on Monday and Tuesday and getting my summer haircut on Wednesday! I'm fighting the urge to chop it all off.

It Felt Like Springtime on That February Morning

What a beautiful weekend to live in West Virginia! Saturday was warm and gorgeous. Sunday was warmer and . . . gorgeous-er. Today is rainy and crappy but, you know, it's Monday so no one really cares. I hear that it's supposed to snow again later in the week but for now, it feels like spring and that is enough to pull all of us out of our winter-induced funk.

Yesterday afternoon, Brad and I walked around downtown holding hands in the sunshine. We debated hitting up Ellen's for ice cream, but since they don't accept debit cards and neither of us had cash, we drove instead to our favorite Mexican restaurant for margaritas and nachos. I love days like that. Years ago, when we lived in Milwaukee, we would occasionally take an afternoon and walk around the city, going from bar to bar to restaurant, just the two of us, and it was always so much fun.

Five of Brad's friends are coming down from Pittsburgh this weekend for an epic, 2-day Kanawha State Forest ride. This means that we'll have a house full of bikes and skinny dudes in spandex. I'm planning to bake a few kinds of cookies and stuff for them this week. I love to bake but I refuse to have a surplus of cookies in the house; I would end up eating them for breakfast (or lunch, or dinner).

*****

Oh, and I ran two miles yesterday, without stopping to walk. To most people this is not that big of an accomplishment, but for me it is! I'm 2/3 of the way to a 5K, which was my goal for the year, and it's only February! If I can run 2 miles, why not 3? And if I can run 3, soon it will be 5. And if I can run 5, I can certainly run 6! I might end up running a 10K this year in addition to the 5K.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I ran the 2 miles on the treadmill at the gym. I know, I know, it's harder outside. But I played around with the treadmill's incline and speed to make it more closely resemble outdoor running. Right now, I'm still working on building up my lungs. I'll worry about my legs later.

Oh, Charleston: An Actual Conversation

I stopped by my local supermarket today after work to pick up a couple of things, and brought one of my 10,000 cloth grocery bags along. I purchased the following: apples, oranges, cereal, lettuce, cottage cheese, pistachios and a bottle of wine.

After standing on line for at least 10 minutes, I unload my purchases on the conveyor belt thing and place the cloth bag on top. This is the universal sign for "put my stuff in this bag, please."

K: Hello!
Cantankerous Cashier: Hi.
K: How are you?
CC: I've been a lot better.
K: *awkward silence*
CC: Is this your bag?
K: Yes, it is.
CC: Are you planning on putting your stuff in it?
K: Uh -- yeah, I can put everything in there when you're finished.

So I run my debit card through and walk to the end of the still-running belt thingy, where she had tossed my bag along with my groceries. She stands there and watches me bag my purchases before she starts checking anyone else out, and then she hands my receipt to the next woman in line.

Thanksgiving

My parents were in town for Thanksgiving, giving me the opportunity to go all Martha Stewart on the dining room:
Brad and I made a traditional Thanksgiving meal, including stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, apple pie and, of course, a big roasted turkey.

My parents had never been to West Virginia before, so we showed them some of the sights. We went shopping at Tamarack,
visited the New River Gorge,
and saw the Capitol dome all dressed up for the holidays.


We also did some Christmas shopping, hit up the Capitol Market and the Cultural Museum, played Wii golf and bowling, and had a wonderful dinner at Bluegrass Kitchen. All in all, it was a good Thanksgiving weekend. Now my parents are on their way back to Wisconsin, Brad is riding his bike, and I'm getting ready to spend this rare 65 degree November day hiking at the KSF. Happy holidays y'all!

Travels and Friends

Over the last few weeks, I've had opportunities to see more and more of Appalachia. A weekend in Kingsport, TN, which I learned is a nice, bike-friendly little town; a work trip to Morgantown, WV, where I saw the new WVU stadium and discovered Original Pizza; the annual Bridge Day celebration in Fayetteville, and last week, a day in Lexington, KY (also for work), which may or may not technically be in the Appalachians. We've been here for five months now and, more and more, I appreciate the beauty of this area.

However, now that our wedding is over, I'm working and back to normal life, it's time for me to find some friends. I've never been good at meeting people; it just doesn't come naturally to me. I have no problem spending time alone, and I'm self-conscious about approaching strangers. I'm working on a few possible volunteer opportunities that may introduce me to cool people, and I'm thinking about checking out my LYS to see if there is a knitting group, or even taking a class there to improve my techniques. I'm also tossing around the idea of buying a package of yoga classes, although I don't want to commit to a studio until I try it out. Excuses, excuses.

It's easy for me to find reasons not to do things, but I have to force myself to do them. I heard a quote somewhere, I don't remember where anymore, that said something to the effect of "you have to be uncomfortable in order to change." I guess, in order to meet friends, I need to cultivate a little bit of discomfort in my life. I'm open to suggestions.

Life is Good

Flew into the Central Wisconsin Airport last night on the smallest plane I have ever seen. It seemed that all of the large, heavy people were sitting on one side, and I felt like, as we flew, there was a slight tilt in that direction. Maybe not. My parents picked me up and we went to Applebee's for dinner, which is one of those places that I would never go to unless it was with my parents.

This morning, my cell phone rang and it was a job offer. During my job search, I applied, interviewed, and was rejected for a lot of jobs that I am very overqualified for. Every time the rejection came, I felt so bad about myself. The job that I accepted today is in the same industry that I worked in while we lived in Pittsburgh, and I loved my job there. For the first time in my life, I will be starting a new position with directly-applicable experience. The best part about it is this: they were not hiring. When I arrived in Charleston, I sent my resume, thinking that nothing would come of it, really. But they are creating a position for me. That's never happened for me before.

Up next, a WI fish fry, Labor Day, and a week of pre-wedding madness leading up to wedded bliss. Stay tuned.

Little Updates

Our wedding is in 15 days! Next Thursday, I'll be traveling to Wisconsin to do last-minute wedding things and staying there until mid-week after the wedding. I will be there for about two weeks; it will be the longest I have spent in my hometown since I first left, when I was 20 years old.

*****

I've been sick for the last four days with a horrific sore throat and an overall feeling like I was recently hit by a truck. Bad timing. We are due to have a house full of cyclists this weekend, as the infamous WVMBA Black Bear Race in Kanawha State Forest is on Sunday. Brad and several of his Pittsburgh friends are racing, so our house will be full of skinny guys with shaved legs, bike parts, lycra clothing, and chamois cream. I was planning on hiking to the top of the trail to watch people crash on the moss-covered cliffs, but if I don't start to feel better, I might have to sit this one out.

*****

Finally, I leave you with a photo of my dog on a mossy log.

A Random Act of Kindness

Today I drove downtown for a job interview. I pulled into a municipal lot with metered parking and, since I was really early, was digging around in my bag, looking for something to occupy my time for a few minutes.

All of a sudden, there was a knock on the driver's side window. There stood a teenage girl, maybe 16 or 17, wearing a little Hello Kitty T-shirt and holding a bag from Delia's. I rolled down the window and she said, "Do you want to take my parking spot? I have over an hour left on the meter, and I don't have anything else to do. That way you can keep your change."

"Sure, that would be great! Thank you so much!" I replied.

I watched as she backed her car out and I moved my car to her spot, all the while marveling at what a kind gesture it was. The people here are genuinely nice. Charleston is like Pleasantville!

Little Updates, Lawyer Edition

Brad finished the bar exam yesterday at 4.00 pm. His results won't come back until sometime in October, so I won't have to start referring to him as "Counselor" for a couple of months. He and I are both relieved that it's over. We celebrated with a bottle of cheap champagne at home, a drink with his future colleagues at a Charleston-swanky bar, and Mexican food at Los Agaves. All in all, it was a good night.

*****

Tomorrow we are heading up to PA where Brad will be racing in the Wilderness 101. It should be a good time -- a lot of Brad's friends are doing this race as well and I think I am going to volunteer at one of the aid stations. Nothing beats watching people stumble around incoherently after they've been riding for 8 hours!

I am a bit concerned, as I tend to be, about our dog. She doesn't always get along with other dogs, and sometimes people let their dogs run around, unleashed, at these events. Hopefully it won't be a problem this weekend! I have a 15' leash with which I will tether her to a tree and hope for the best. I'm sure she'll just lie there, peering at me, like she does at home. She's becoming incredibly lazy now that she's almost 4 years old.

*****

Brad and I are suit shopping this afternoon. I have high hopes for the Jos A Bank clearance sale!

Biiiig Kaaaaaay

Brad and I eat pretty healthy food. Our cupboards are full of things like black beans, quinoa, brown rice. Our refrigerator is stocked with produce, natural nut butters, Ezekiel bread. We drink our water and get our 5-9 servings of fruit and vegetables every day.

But I harbor a deep, dark secret. I gave up smoking years ago, I don't do drugs and I don't drink in excess. Yet I still have a vice; one habit that I can't kick despite multiple attempts.

Diet soda.

Every week, our recyclables (which are finally being picked up!) are probably 70% Diet Coke cans. It's like Where's Waldo, except you're looking for the cottage cheese container among the red and white cans.

Diet Coke generally costs between three and four dollars for a 12-pack. Considering I still have not found a job, I was looking for a way to cut back on my DC consumption to save money. I was trying to drink only one can per day, harassing Brad when he dared to drink from my stash, making mediocre iced tea to no avail.

Then, while grocery shopping one day, the heavens opened and a beam of angelic light shone upon my savior -- K-Roger brand diet cola, aptly named Big K. I was already drinking the Big K seltzer water. I decided to give it a try. I've been buying it ever since. It's not exactly DC, but it is caffeinated, sweet and fizzy and it costs $1.77 for a 12-pack.

Score.

Operation Beautiful

Operation Beautiful has hit Charleston. On Monday and Tuesday this week, the ladies' locker room at my gym was decorated with colorful post-it notes with messages such as "You are beautiful just as you are!" There was one on the scale that said something to the effect of, "You are good enough, no matter what I say." It was nice to see this, in a gym especially.

Too often women, myself included, become obsessed with their weight and overlook the good, beautiful things about themselves. I've been trying to lose some weight before our wedding, and the scale isn't moving as quickly as I would like. I've been really, really upset about this. Upset to the point that yesterday, as Brad and I were on a 2+ hour hike at the Kanawha State Forest, my weight was all I could think about. Rather than enjoying the hike, I was telling Brad, I don't know what I'm doing wrong! I'm working out every day! I've cut my calories back to 1200-1400 a day! I ruined a wonderful afternoon, complete with amazing views, 75 degree temperatures, my cute husband-to-be, and a happy, happy dog companion because I couldn't stop thinking about the number on my scale.

That is some bullshit.

I used to be very heavy. But I'm not anymore. And I'm not saying I won't continue to have issues with my body, continue to try to lose weight, continue to track what I eat and what I weigh. But I'm going to try to stop the negative self-talk and appreciate my body for what it is. I'm in the best physical shape of my life right now. I can run, ride a bike, do a full pigeon pose, hike up mountains. I have functioning legs, arms, lungs, a brain and a heart. My body was built to birth a child, for christ's sake. That's pretty damn amazing.

The post-its in the locker room were not there today. I was sad to see them go.

Blow to the Ego # 542

I'm not a competitive person, really. I never have been. I'm pretty content to not be the best at anything. I like to be as good as I can be, without going through too much trouble to get there.

Anyway, I went to the gym yesterday, as I have every day since I joined, in my quest to become Linda-Hamilton-in-Terminator-2 in time for my wedding. I was on the hamster wheel -- I mean the elliptical, Wu Tang in the headphones, zoning out. About 10 minutes into my workout, a 50-something man gets on the machine next to me. He starts moving and I SWEAR TO GOD we were synchronized. Then he started stealing glances at the display of my elliptical so that he could go faster than me. Whatever, I thought, maybe I'm being paranoid. I'm self-conscious almost to a fault, and I always think people are looking at me when they are not. Why would this old man need to one-up me on the elliptical? There were plenty of fitter people there if he was looking for motivation.

After my 30 minutes were up, I moved on to a treadmill. I picked the last one on the end, closest to the fans. I got myself situated and started to do some walking uphill / jogging intervals. Guess who ended up on the treadmill next to me, despite the line of empty treadmills? Guess who started running backwards on the treadmill next to me?

Suddenly, I felt like a flabby, out-of-shape loser. This middle-aged man was running backwards at the same speed which I was running forward. He wasn't one of those super tanned and muscular middle-agers, like you see in Just For Men haircolor ads, either. He looked like my dad, for god's sake. He was wearing tube socks.

Just when I'm feeling pretty good about myself, having gone to the gym four days in a row, someone comes along to remind me that I have a long, long way to go.