Thirteen years ago I spent two weeks in the Caribbean sailing and scuba diving while living aboard a Beneteau sailboat with six other teens, none of whom I knew on the first day. By the end of those two weeks I’d formed a friendship with a group of some of the most amazing people I’d ever met.
The group I met and who took me in during that summer were all from New York City. They were smart, dynamic, outgoing, had traveled the world, grown up together, and were instantly inspiring to me. We shared similar passions for reading, traveling, skiing, sailing, trying new things, and meeting new people. They were the kinds of friends that motivate you, that make everything an adventure, that you want to have in your life forever. Read More »
When my husband and I got married, we sent a thank you note and a golf gift card to the pastor who married us. We met with him several times leading up to the wedding and felt as though we’d gotten to know each other pretty well during that time. I remember feeling somewhat dismissed when we did not get any response to our thank you gift we had sent. My mother made the comment at the time that you aren’t required to send a thank you for a thank you. That comment has stuck with me and I find myself paying attention to it more and more.
At my previous job we often joked when someone would say thank you and respond with “No, thank you” because in reality we were thanking each other for doing our job so it was somewhat comical to thank the thanker with a little bit of humor. Read More »
I was walking through the mall with a girlfriend a while back during a shopping mission; I believe I was on the hunt for a pair of pants. Unfortunately, it was a Saturday afternoon and the mall was packed with teenagers, mothers with children and strollers, fellow focused shoppers, lollygaggers, and the usual suspects who frequent the mall. I am not a mall person for a lot of reasons and having to dodge other shoppers is pretty high on that list. To make getting through the mall a more efficient and productive experience, I tend to walk wherever there is room. My friend followed me for a bit as we swerved around the center kiosks, split hand-holding couples down the middle, and crossed left and right to the cleanest walking path available. Finally, she looked at me half-laughing and half-crazed with my crowd weaving antics and said that walking should be just like driving. Keep to the right.
I don’t necessarily disagree. We went to the right and stayed on the right but would try to get into the “people passing lane” to get around the slow pokes as often as possible. I get that this is a more civilized way to walk so that you are not hitting foot traffic head on. If everyone recognized the structure that keeping to the right provides in public places, crowd weaving might not be so essential for getting through busy places. Walking on the right, with the flow of traffic, also helps reduce the chance of running smack into a display or tripping over a trash can when trying to dodge walkers on the wrong side of the aisle. For the rest of the mall trip, I stayed on the right and on subsequent mall trips by myself, I try to follow that rule but I still err on the side of taking the quickest path through traffic. Read More »
This blog started only about a month ago because I suddenly found myself with all sorts of things I wanted to write about and I’ll admit many of them have been focused on running because I’ve been doing a lot of that lately. What has happened though is that blogging has turned into a much bigger passion itself in addition to part of my business and the line between work and play is somewhat blurry, but that’s ok.
I think of writing as fun, cathartic, educational, informative, an opportunity to research and share what I find, and a way to let different thoughts and personalities out of my head. In blog format writing is also interactive because you can post your own comments, arguments, and ideas in response to what I have to say. This blog has certainly been a random assortment of thoughts with some great feedback as well and I look forward to continuing the dialogue on whatever comes our way. Read More »
I continue to be amazed with my husband’s ability to build and fix nearly anything and I am grateful to be spending the rest of my life with a truly handy man. I’ve always liked drills and other power tools and have always wanted to be able to tackle projects on my own. But I have to admit, it’s much easier when you have someone who really knows what they’re doing to manage the long list of home projects.
When we first bought our home, the first thing we did was install a garbage disposal and moved on from there to hooking up the ice maker. Why the previous owners never connected it is a real stumper. We installed a storm door with the optional screen door for warmer weather days, possibly one of my favorite projects. Due to a variety of unplanned circumstances, we have a new window in the kitchen which lead to new counter tops and new backsplash, all of which we put in ourselves. Those kitchen projects gave me a whole new level of respect for builders; getting tiles to sit correctly on a vertical surface is just plain tricky. One of the more challenging installations was that of the 30-minute ceiling fan, but it hasn’t stopped circulating air yet! Like all homeowners, we’ve done a significant amount of painting and yard work to boost the house’s appearance. Read More »
Every year, on the day that offers the first semblance of spring in Annapolis, people come out of the woodwork flooding the streets and sidewalks of downtown, and I am no exception to the crowd. When spring fever hits the town, it usually hits hard. There is not a parking place to be found, coffee shops and ice cream parlors are overflowing with locals and tourists alike getting something they can sip on while browsing the stores, and being the dog town that Annapolis is, four-legged friends are around every corner.
Dog walking in Annapolis is somewhat like show-and-tell and also a true test of which owners are pack leaders. I use a leash with what I consider to be a very leash innovative design because it has three different settings for its length based on where the lead is clipped back to itself. When walking Murphy around town, I always keep it on the shortest lead setting so as to have the best control over her.
My friend and I stopped in a new tea store downtown and clipped Murphy’s leash around the street sign in front of the store so we could shop. I looked up from inside the store and saw a man with an adorable puppy standing just far enough away from Murphy that she couldn’t greet them. I walked outside to say hello. For a good, and relatively awkward, five minutes the man and his 1-year-old puppy just sort of hung out. He watched as his dog sniffed, pawed, and nudged Murphy and then did nothing when his pup continued to jump and paw at me and my friend. He simply seemed confused at what to do when meeting other dog owners and introducing his puppy to new dogs. What is a good way to introduce yourself and your dog to others on the street? Read More »
Posted in Dogs | Tagged Dogs, Friends, Seasons |
Really this post should be called sweet teeth because there is no way that one little tooth in my mouth could make me love or crave sweets the way that I do. I simply love them, most kinds, and chocolate in particular. I can think of very few sweets that I don’t like and the things I used to not like (coconut, for example) I now love, so it’s only a matter of time before I will be totally satisfied with any type of sugary goodness.
The best part about training for this marathon is that it gives me a little more liberty to eat just a tad more than I should normally. It also allows me to reward myself with tasty treats and not feel guilty about it. I think I have managed to have dessert every day this week after dinner. Growing up, my sister and I would have to be members of the “clean plate club” in order to have dessert and while I still strive to be a member of that club I’m likely to have dessert even if I didn’t finish my dinner. Ah, the joys of adulthood!
I hope you’re not reading this post while you’re hungry because I am about to rattle off all the things I love, mostly because I want to. Read More »
Running in the dark is an experience that is exhilarating while at the same time being a little stressful, confusing, potentially dangerous, but also liberating. When doing anything in the dark, your actions are somewhat disguised by all the blackness around you and it offers you a little bit of freedom because no one can see you. You can be confident in the darkness, take on a new personality, make funny faces, pretend you are a Navy Seal on an important mission. Of course, you can also run into things, fall down the stairs, and grope around in front of you for things you know should be there, but those are the less glamorous details of darkness.
The first time I ran in the dark I was amazed by how clear and quiet it was. I had all the stars over me and a full moon; it wasn’t until non-full moon runs that I realized this because it is obviously much darker when you have just a crescent moon to light the way. It didn’t occur to me that I might not be able to see as well on a dark run as I might in the middle of the day. It’s not that I thought I would be able to see, I just wasn’t worried about it. I do think that not being able to see and therefore not knowing exactly where I am at all times makes running in the dark seem to take longer, hence the title of this post. The road truly does seem longer in the dark. However, not having daylight vision also makes things more interesting. Read More »
This post now lives on a new website dedicated to running and healthy living. Please see this post and all follow-up posts on the subject at www.healthandrunning.com. Please bookmark the new site to follow all my running and fitness updates.
