Category Archives: all about me

Busy with Family

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Our calendar is packed, but it’s happy stuff!

Saturday - my daughter had her end-of-8th-grade dance. She got a gorgeous haircut, bought herself a dress, I got her some shoes, and she had a great time!

Sunday - we met up with my inlaws in Siesta Key, a beach in Sarasota, Florida, where the sand is like powdered sugar. if you ever want to try a new beach getaway, I can give you all the Siesta Key info!

Monday - I was in a script reading last night. It’s when actors read a play, but don’t perform it. Lots of emotion in the voice and reacting with facial expressions, but you stand in place. We ended up with a much larger audience than anticipated, and we’ve received very positive feedback. The Director hopes to produce it as a full blown production next year – costumes and all! They are seeking investors… see Black and White Productions on Facebook.  You can also see a bunch of photos from last night there (and one below). I’m the one with the curly hair.

(I started the day with 75 mins of core yoga class)

Today is Tuesday - Alice is a Finalist in the Mayor’s Teen Awards and we are headed to that gala tonight. Brian is off to celebrate with Richie. Coach Brian gave Richie a training plan for the Bay to Breakers 12k. Richie really pushed his training to try to break 46 mins, and cleared it with a time of 45:38! 160th of 43,913!

(I skipped the gym because I had a meeting with the Principal this morning.)

Wednesday might be the only normal day this week… I hope to enjoy a morning run.

Thursday my uncle comes to town and we plan to do Yoga in the park. He’s practiced yoga for about 40 years, so I can’t wait to soak up all he has to teach me. He’s also looking for a tennis partner that afternoon… anyone? It’s Wendy’s 13th birthday, which means 2 TEENAGE GIRLS IN THE HOUSE AT THE SAME TIME! So we’ll go out for that. And Alice has to present her final fondant decorated cake at school. Instant birthday dessert!

Friday my mom comes to town and we’ll have lots of family time! First with the 4 of us, and then Saturday at a cousin’s daughter’s bat mitzvah. Let the festivities begin!

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Meal Plan Monday

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Saturday we had friends in from out of town and I spent a little extra on groceries to cook with Cindy, who went to high school with me. We made jambalaya pasta and crustless derby pie. (It was derby day so they cheated on their South Beach diet with our dessert.)

While Wendy and I were visiting with Cindy and Grayson, Brian took Alice to the Middle Division State meet for track and field in Melbourne, FL. 3 kids from her team went – 2 8th graders and a 6th grader. Alice ran a 5:35 in the 1500 (26th place) and 11:58 in the 3000 (16th place). Don’t ask me why they weren’t a 1600 and 3200. ??????

Sunday we did our shopping for the week, partially planned around the fact that Wendy would be at SeaCamp Wed-Fri, and partially based on the seafood in our freezer.

Sunday - Tex/Mex. Crunchy beef tacos with colby-jack for Brian and the kids, leftover enchiladas (homemade on Cinco de Mayo) for me. Black beans for all.

Monday - Kung Pao Chicken made Brian-style with sugar snap peas over rice.

Tues - Shrimp scampi over whole wheat fettucine noodles. Peas or spinach salad.

Wed - Pizza night because we’ll be off in different directions. One meat lovers for Brian and Alice, a flatbread margheritta for me and Alice – I’ll add spinach to it.

Thurs - Tilapia with quinoa. Not sure how Brian will prepare the tilapia. Broccoli.

Fri - salmon and jasmine rice, peas.

Mother’s Day was fun. Wendy was going to sew me a pillow last year, and never did. I guess she remembered at 7am this year and managed to sew it by hand before 9:20am when she brought it to me in bed. Brian made banana-stuffed french toast for breakfast. His trick to awesome french toast is to start with cinnamon-brown sugar bread. No, this is not a healthy meal. Yes, it was delicious with the blend of banana, cream cheese and brown sugar wrapped inside each slice.

Brian and I sent this digital card to our moms.

Wendy and I shopped for a few hours. She wanted a rash guard for snorkeling at Seacamp, her 7th grade class trip. At Forever 21 she found a cute black dress that is the same as the blue one I bought last month, but in black and a size smaller. I told her it would be a perfect basic dress, and its tank style allows you to layer over or under it. She is going to France this summer, and it will pack well, and can be dressed up or down. I promised not to wear my blue one on purpose when she was wearing her black one. It was also $13.80 and she bought it for herself. I had a $10 JCPenney coupon so we found a cute Snoopy tshirt for her that was $12 and got it for $2.

Today I started the work-week with Core Yoga, and my friend Ellen not only came along and loved it, but bought a 20 class pass so she can keep coming with me on Monday mornings. The coolest thing the teacher did – jumping from plank into crow pose.

Wed. night I have rehearsal for the script reading I’m performing in next week. The play is “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress” by Alan Ball. You might not know the name, but you know his work – American Beauty, Six Feet Under, True Blood. When I first was invited to audition by the Director, she suggested I read for Georgeanne. After skimming character sketches on Wikipedia, I read that she was cheating on her husband and drunk. I thought it would be the one character I would NOT want to read for – bad karma and all. But the more I read through the script, the more I grew to like the drama she brought to the play. She has depth and dark humor, and I’ll enjoy being a bad girl for a minute or two. (And I just may have put together that artwork on the left…)

If you are in Tampa Bay, the reading is Mon May 16 at Studio 620 in downtown St Pete.

I am off to finish the laundry I didn’t do on Mother’s Day! Enjoy your evening!

What are you reading this month?

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Go ME Time!

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Wow, I can’t believe it’s Thurs already. And what’s more, I can’t believe it’s MAY already!

Monday started off great with a Core Yoga workout at Yogablu. I like their new morning classes with Destry teaching much more than then ones I was doing with Kate teaching. The timing is the same, and really about 1/2 hour later than I would like, but I can skip washing my hair now and then for an awesome yoga class! She took a few minutes to share with us “how to float”. You know, when you’re going from downward dog to chaturanga and just float instead of a true jump. To see her greatness in action, check out this video. (You have to log in to Facebook to view it. Her cool stuff starts at 1:20.)

Tues I did a workout at the gym. I’m going to be performing in a script reading in a couple weeks, and I thought spacing out on the elliptical while reviewing the script sounded just right! I did 30 mins there, then some core work on the mat with a medicine ball.

That night I had a meeting at school about the upcoming 7th grade snorkel trip. I’m so jealous! My daughter is going snorkeling with her buddies, then hiking a few weeks later in Utah in Lake Powell, then to PARIS a couple weeks later, than to St. Louis to see Grandma. I need to climb into her purse or something. But in the meantime, Brian and I are planning a little getaway for the 2 of us to Chicago and I’d rather save up money, calories, a new swimsuit and anything else for that trip.

Wed. I went to the park for some Fitnessista Boot Camp stuff. Sprints, walking lunges, push ups, tricep dips, butt kicks, etc. I wanted to stop a lot of the women I saw at the park walking. They were all strolling along slowly with their arms loose at their sides. And many of these women were easily obese. I wish I could tell them that simply bending their arms and adding more effort could yield greater results. I wish I could tell them that picking up a tiny bit of speed can make a huge difference. But that makes me the weirdo talking to strangers – and for all I know 3 of these 7 women are right out of knee surgery or something… so I kept my mouth shut.

Speaking of surgery — my mom had surgery. She had a breast reduction! I can’t comment much on this, because I won’t see her till May 20… but I’ll let you know what I think then.

Today (Thurs) I worked out at home. I did a Denise Austin workout from Fitness Magazine (I don’t have a subscription to it, but my dog does, and so far his name has not been sold out by them to anyone.) It’s considered a no-treadmill cardio workout, but I would call it a free weight full body workout. Lots of squats, light hand weights – see the whole thing for yourself here. I had to do round three without my 5 lb hand weight, my shoulders were exhausted.

I’ve been collecting a lot of running demographics lately for Digital Running. Running as a sport is exploding, and especially among women. The # of people running half marathons is up in strides – and a majority of these half marathon racers are women. Check the results of your favorite HM on Active.com and they usually have the # of men vs. women at the top of the results page. I’m so thrilled, and I think a lot of this has to do with women finding healthy, inexpensive ME time.

Go ME Time!

Tomorrow I’m back to core Yoga. There’s also a Fri eve class I like, but I don’t make it there often. Saturday a high school friend is coming to visit while Brian takes Alice to the Middle Division State Meet. She’ll be running what WOULD be the 1 mile and 2 mile at a varsity meet, but for MD it’s the 1500 and 3000.

Did you see Glee this week? Good one!

Do you have a favorite place to go / eat in Chicago? If so, please share! Thanks.

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Currently, May 2011

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Current Book – Twenties Girl

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure – cake

Current Drink – water

Current Favorite Blog – Fitnessista

Current Song
Dog Days Are Over, Glee version

Current Wish-List
Members on our Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon running team

Current Needs
some kickass

Current Triumph
Well received poster design for an upcoming play

Current Indulgence
back to the CAKE again, I must sadly admit. It all ends here and now.

Current Outfit
nightgown. Haven’t changed into workout clothes yet.

Current Banes of My Existence
Those mother-daughter moments that make you want to redo the day

Current Excitement
Launching the Digital Running online forum

Current Mood
Resolute

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Ups and Downs

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Last weekend I attended my cousin’s wedding in Chicago. I hadn’t been to Chi-town since a 9th grade class trip (which wasn’t very adventurous) and I was looking forward to seeing my family. The groom is my first cousin, and we lived about a mile apart growing up. I helped him learn to read and babysat for him countless Saturday nights. We spent almost every other weekend together for years.

His younger brother gets married in July. So I was able to meet both fiancees and their families. We danced a lot! And walked down memory lane. And caught up on our adult lives.

I was also able to catch an old high school friend in the airport for a few minutes! That was a fun little fluke. Too bad her flight wasn’t 30 mins later…

I arrived back in town on Monday night, and SADLY, on Tues morning a good friend of mine passed away. Her daughter is in my daughter’s 7th grade, and it’s been a rough week. I feel a bit broken. We’ve been at their house for hours the past few days, and my daughter has slept with their daughter each night. The harder part is yet to come next week, with the Service, Funeral, Wake, etc… too much to think about.

My silver lining for today is that I am going with a friend to a Gala under the stars at a park downtown featuring an outdoor full musical performance of RENT! I have only seen the movie, but I adore the music from this show.

Alice’s current track times – she’s off to Regionals next week!

1600M – 5:52.76

3200M – 12:43

She is also qualified for Middle Division state for the 1600, and we’ll find out next week if she qualifies for the 3200. (Yes, she competes for both JV and Varsity because her school includes a middle school and a high school.) People make fun of her cramped up hand when she runs (see photo), but Brian does the SAME thing! She won’t let me trim that ponytail until the season is over, which won’t be at least until May 7.

I leave you with this mother-daughter snapshot from the wedding. From left:

Me with my mom, cousin Stacy with her mom, cousin Rebecca with her mom.

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