Number 32

Earlier this month, my VBFF inspired my inner fashionista in more ways than one. First, she had a weekly WIWW (What I Wore Wednesday) post that documented her weekly outfits. Angie's a mother of four young ones, and the fact that she could be responsible for that much and still look adorable is truly inspiring--but if you knew her, you wouldn't be surprised.

I commented on how her cute outfits had me longing for a new wardrobe, and she shared a great little blog with me, wherein the author frequently takes on a wardrobe challenge where she "shops her own closet." It was just the prompting I needed to get a little more creative about my current wardrobe.

Truthfully, I've always been a little creative with my wardrobe, meaning sometimes I name my outfits. Anyone? Anyone? No? Okay. On a day that's not today, I'll post some pictures of some of my classics, there's "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "Ballerina Girl 1," "Ballerina Girl 2," and one I like to call "Oxford Chic."

I created that last outfit on a day we had a big cross-company HR meeting and I was rocking it. When I got to the meeting, I ran into my General Manager who was talking to her manager our Vice President. Let's just say that the VP is kind of a big deal, however considering she wears khaki shorts, polo shirts (collar popped) and running shoes every day (because we work for a company in a region of the country where anything goes as far as fashion is concerned), something tells me she doesn't really geek out about naming her outfits. When I saw my General Manager, she gushed about how much she loved my outfit (because, it is pretty darn cute) and I got all girlie, squealed, clapped for myself and announced, "Oooooh. Thank you! I know... and I named it." It was at that point I realized my adorable geekiness could potentially be career limiting--our VP just stared at me, blankly.

Note to self: When not amongst friendly fashionistas, keep the excitement about your named outfits under wraps.

I don't really think I put my career in jeopardy, but I do think that my little ensemble wasn't the only thing that made a name for itself that morning.

Wants and needs

In this week's edition of On this Date in 2008, I was thinking about what the future held and making big bold statements.

I do still dream about moving to Ireland from time to time; and who knows? It may happen. But even if I haven't put all my energy toward my dream of being a grown-up exchange student, I have spent the past year getting clear on the things I want in life. More chocolate and drop-top upgrades are definitely on the list. I've also been giving a lot of thought to what the next step looks like at work. Things are really good, but I'm going on my fourth year in the role and I'm ready for some new challenges. Interestingly enough, I have an interview tomorrow morning for a new role at work. It might not necessarily lead me to Ireland, but it will likely lead me to new experiences, challenges, and adventures.

On one of my recent runs, I was doing some thinking, as I'm wont to do, and for some reason I was thinking about how I often get what I want. But then the more I thought about it (because it was a really long run, so I had plenty of time to have more thoughts about it), it's not that I get what I want--because sometimes I don't--but I always always get what I need. Even if I don't ask for it, or even if at the time I don't want it, there's reason for it. I think I both want this new opportunity, and as I head into the interview I'm going to stay curious about finding out if it is what I need. And whether I want or need Ireland still remains to be seen.

One and done

Just like the Boston Marathon being a once in my lifetime experience, I'm pretty sure LMNT's nablopomo challenge is a once in your lifetime experience. The month is almost over and so am I.

While it has helped get me back in the habit of writing, and I do love writing, I don't necessarily love writing when I don't have a note to self to share. I can't say that I'll take on an extreme posting challenge in the future, but I can say that I hope to be better about posting more regularly--and I also hope that those regular posts will be better because they aren't about me posting more regularly.

T-minus two days...

Merry Belated Christmas

You can thank the Commish for this post tonight. Well, really the thanks go to my lil brother and his family. Okay, no really, the thanks go to some magic-working seamstresses in South Korea.

Earlier this evening I found myself trapped doing work. However, it was my own doing. My procrastination skills at their finest, again. Only it's not fine and I don't like it. But that's the content of another post. So, there I was doing work (and also thinking that I need to blog tonight, but what if I didn't, what if I just walked away from the nablopomo challenge? But I didn't. I'm here now with a legitimate post), and the Commish texts me to let me know that a retrospective of the 1997 Denver Broncos is on the NFL Network. Work stops immediately and I run to the TV room and become completely engrossed. GO BRONCOS!

Following the '97 retrospective is the '98 retrospective (which I've seen before and am presently recording it on my DVR so I can continue to see it again and again and again, especially if there is no football next year). Thoughts of me blogging start to creep back into my head and I come back to the computer with a topic in mind. Thanks, Commish.

And now on to thanking lil brother. Really, when I tell you what I'm about to tell you , you are likely to exclaim, HOW COULD YOU WAIT OVER THREE MONTHS TO TELL US THIS?! Well, I don't know, but I did (although, I think every one of my half-dozen readers already knows about this so it's not really news, but I'm putting it down here for posterity's sake--my imaginary kids need to know about this! And also, I think it important that anybody scanning the Internets looking for information on "biting your taste buds off" should know of this amazing wonder).

Internets, guess what exists? Wait, no. Guess what exists and I possess? Wait, no. Guess what exists and I possess because my lil brother and his wifey and P Denny harnessed the magic of Korea's knock-off textile manufacturing industry? Yes. Yes! YES! A vintage Karl Mecklenburg jersey (which I also talk about here, here, and here--and in all honesty, I can't believe I didn't talk about it here). Holy mother of all Christmas gifts. When I opened the present--completely not expecting the jersey that up until that instant only existed in my head--I half-screamed half-squealed, ran around my parents' basement, ran upstairs, breathlessly told my mom what I had just opened, headed for the computer to write a blog post about it (seriously, I did. It's in my drafts folder with the title "Yes, Virginia, it really DOES exist," and nothing else), lost my steam, and then went back downstairs and had a Bloody Mary.

But the key to the story is, lil brother got me the BEST. PRESENT. EVER. And remember how I'm competitive and I like to think that my ability to outdo your gift list is way better than your ability to outdo my list? And I thought that giving him an Xbox Kinect was totally the cat's pyjamas? Yeah. He wins.

Oh, and this. Note to self: Mecklenberg is spelled Mecklenburg.

Six-word Sunday: March 27, 2011

Inspired and impacted lives (mine included).

I know I've referenced a couple of times how mad this month is and how tired I've been this week, but the madness and the exhaustion (mental and physical) has been worth it. It was also exactly what I needed this week. I needed to be reminded that the work I do for a living is valuable and that it matters, and it was a good challenge for me to tackle--and next time I tackle it, I'd do it mostly the same, except next time with more sleep.

L'eggo my ego

Internets, I'm exhausted. I know that was my excuse last night, but it's the same tonight. I tried to post earlier but was just as tired then as I am now. Well, actually I'm more tired now. You know how I know? Because I'm at the stage where little kids who are too tired (oh, and who are also two years old), get, where they whine and throw temper tantrums over what appears to be no good reason, except we all know the reason is because they are too tired. Fortunately there haven't been too many casualties or witnesses to my tantrum, but suffice it to say (in a whiny little voice), I'm REALLY tired. It's the week that's still catching up with me, and the fact that I ran 20 miles this morning. It was my longest training run until Boston, and of course me being me, I made it a challenging one. It's great to start out with roughly half a mile of steep down hill, until you realize that it means that miles 19.5-20 is practically straight up. It wasn't really that bad; it may have been hilly but I did lay out a gorgeous route for myself. I had views of the mountains, water, and mossy forest. I will say that every week I get closer to Boston, I'm more and more humbled. I have not been training enough. I'm getting my long runs in each weekend, but to maintain or increase speed, mid-week workouts are needed and I just haven't been able to put the time in lately. And it's starting to show. For the past two weeks, both of my long runs have started out extremely sluggish--it's been taking me five or six miles at least to get warmed up and to start running at my desired pace (and even then, my desired pace is actually about 30 seconds slower than my real desired pace). My ego is trying to come to terms with the fact that I ran my fastest race to get into Boston, and it is very likely that I'll run my slowest race at Boston. And I'm also trying to remind the ego my only goal was to run Boston and regardless if I ran my fastest or my slowest, I'll still get the same medal--and that's all that matters. I'm really hoping my ego will start believing me.

This'll have to do

When I decided to post every day for a month, I maybe should have taken a few things into consideration. For instance, maybe I could have picked a month that didn't have 31 days? It just so happened that the month before this one has only 28. Or maybe I could have warmed up a little bit before diving in head first? Essentially I feel like I'm the Porsche of blogging: zero to 60 in an instant. Or maybe I could have picked a time that doesn't coincide with my busiest four weeks at work.

Ugh.

I'm exhausted this week. I've been running off of pure adrenaline for 72 hours and while the past two days have been inspiring and amazing--can I just brag that I did great work--it's time for me to sleep. Good night, Internets. I promise you a good story tomorrow.