First 5k stats

Lehigh Valley half marathon and 5K in Allentown, PA
5-3-09
33:27 (10:46 minute mile)

I totally went into this one unprepared. I hadn't run in a week and the best I had done was 2.5 miles on a flat surface. My friend and I decided at the starting line that we would 1. Finish in less than 40 minutes and 2. Not finish last. So, mission accomplished.

Despite only finishing in the top 77% it was great fun! I've already signed up for another one in September, this time closer to home. My biggest mistake with this one was not knowing where the heck the end was - so it was hard to motivate myself. Next time - a carefully timed iPOD playlist so I have a better sense of how to pace myself. Because the next one is in Philly I'll be able to actually run the course beforehand.

around the house

Well. It has been a while, hasn't it? I think unfortunately lately Facebook has been a quicker way to post photos and share what we've been up to. Here's a quick update:

West Elm must have heard my fervent requests: the pin-tuck duvet cover is now available in white!

This is just what I've been looking for. We also got a couple of etchings up on the wall, thanks to these.

A few weeks ago we started a little garden behind the house, just outside of the kitchen window:

If all goes well, we will have romaine lettuce, swiss chard, peppers, onions and cherry tomatoes. We also have plans to dig out an ugly rock garden nearby and start an herb garden, but that hasn't happened yet. For now I have basil, mint and cilantro in pots on our patio, with plans to start some lemongrass soon.

Another recent activity of ours is searching for morels growing near the base of our enormous ash tree. We haven't been brave enough to eat any yet but I put a few in the freezer.

Tonight we're picking up some carpet samples for the currently linoleum-covered bedroom. We couldn't bring ourselves to buy anything acrylic, so we're going with wool despite the extra $$$. I

Ongoing project

We recently painted our bedroom a marigold yellow and finally had the floors sanded and refinished. This room sits in the center of our second floor and doesn't get a lot of light; I like the color - it's warm but still brightens up the space.

I'm going to go with a bright white duvet cover but haven't been able to figure out where to go with the rest of the room. I decided I needed some sort of colorful throw or quilt over the bottom of our bed to pull things together and get me started. I've been on the lookout for the last few weeks but haven't found anything I like, so yesterday I started to make a smallish quilt. First I set a few rules for myself:

1. Simple design, otherwise I know I won't finish it.

2. It has to use up fabric I already have

3. I want something that doesn't look too country

Here's what I have so far, I started by making a ~5 inch high stripe that would lay across the bottom of our bed. I laid everything out on top of a (wrinkly) white sheet so I could get some idea of how it would look once I buy the duvet cover:

Here is the view coming into our bedroom:

Here is my progress so far: a charcoal and white panel for the bottom part:

I think I would like to just make a solid charcoal panel for the top, but I don't have enough fabric. Not sure how it will end up but I'll probably cut up a white sheet for the back and binding, that seems like the simplest way to go.

Tampa 2009

We just got back from a relaxing long weekend in Tampa. A few highlights:

Dinner at Columbia Restaurant in historic Ybor City. Completely campy (Flamenco dancers) but fun!

Fort DeSoto and Fort De Soto Park

Albrecht Durer exhibit at The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg

And of course we ate well:

Golden Orchid Thai

L'Olivier in St. Petersburg for wine and crepes

Catch twenty-three

Brunch at Pinky's Diner

The Junction Ice Creamery & Coffee House (We ended up here because they sell Mike's brand key lime pie, which is supposedly the best in Florida. Ryan disagreed; the quest continues).

A few things

Things I've been enjoying lately, in no particular order:

Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal

I make up a big batch of this on Sunday and take it to school for breakfast all week. I crave hot cereal when the weather is frigid - nice with blueberries, a little agave nectar and some milk. Also good with PB & J stirred in.

Make Your Own Jeans

I'm short (5'0") and I loathe buying jeans. They are invariably too long with gap-waist and thigh suction. So... I was really curious to try this out. The website was a little difficult to follow; you first choose a type of denim, then supply your measurements (including front/back rise, around the knee etc.). Once that's finished you can choose different pocket styles and type of thread. For the first time I went with a pretty basic style:

Deadly dark blue denim

Boot cut

Archers Pocket Style

Total cost: $66.

They arrived 12 days after I placed the order

The verdict - These fit me better than any other pair I've ever owned. The denim appears to be good quality and they have held up in the wash. The cost is reasonable as well. The downside is that they're shipped from Mumbai, it would be nice to have a similar operation here in the US.

Also intriguing: the Clone a jeans option.

Customized stationary from DailySip Studios

I am old fashioned and still send thank-you notes. Love these.

Foodzie - like etsy but for food. I haven't ordered anything but it looks promising

This (free!) printable calendar

Talks on TED (Technology, Entertainment Design) - Pretty much all I did last night.

Joe DeRisi
Jared Diamond

Mark Bittman

Craig Venter

Michael Pollan
Matthieu Ricard

Richard Dawkins

Ze Frank

In progress

Here are some photos of our recent upstairs renovations. We went with a golden yellow for the bedroom and light grey for both the sitting room and office. The bedroom sits in the middle of the house and doesn't get much light, so we thought something light and bright would work well. The yellow is growing on me - it was a little startling at first. I'm thinking crisp white bedding with a little texture, something like this in pure white. I really like the grey color in the other rooms; it has more of a blue undertone than we planned but I think it still works.

The floors were stripped and stained this past Saturday and I'm really happy with the results - I wasn't sure they could be salvaged. The second coat of stain/polyurethane goes on tomorrow. In the meantime we are camped out in the library, sleeping on the couch.

One other thing we need to do is buy carpet for the office - at some point a previous ownder made the decision to put plywood and linoleum over the original wood floors. The linoleum is glued to the plywood, the plywood is attached to the original floors. Such a shame. Anyway, we're not sure what color to go with, it needs to be something that hides stains and wears well but also goes with the grey and white walls. Maybe a sage green?

Other than all that, we finally bought a carpet for in front of the fireplace (this one in ivory). We have inherited a settee and a set of chairs from my MIL which, if reupholstered, would be perfect here. I have to get quotes though, not sure if it's worth it.

HNY

Happy New Year! Despite missing our traditional New Year's Eve companions terribly, we had a relaxed, quiet night in Philly complete with filet, braised kale (From the most recent Cook's Illustrated) and this gingerbread (which was sooo good and pretty easy to make).

Time to revisit last year's resolution list:

2008 to do list

School:

Set up my committee and arrange my first meeting (completed 9/08)

Complete my qualifier (Finished! 12/17/08 - such a relief)

Health/beauty:

Continue running (Dropped the ball in Nov and Dec but have started up again with my friend from school. Signed up for a 5K in May 2009)

Try the cardio kickboxing class offered at the gym (check)

Re-evaluate my skin care regimen - current one is not working! (Things are pretty much ok in this department)

Try to be more healthy about guilt and stress - either do something about it or let.it.go (Well, this is an ongoing goal)

Have a better attitude and expectations about my body and how it will age and change as time passes me by (see above)

Apartment

Frame prints/photos and hang above couch (check)

Find and purchase piece of furniture for horrible blank wall in living room (never happened)

Make pillows for the couch (Managed to make 1 pillow)

New curtains for living room (didn't happen)

New bookcase(s)? (still have the p.o.s. IKEA bookcases)

Misc.

Make all gifts (if possible) rather than purchasing them (did pretty well with this... Also I really cut back on the Xmas gifts this year which was rather liberating)

Decrease my computer time at home (still a bit of a problem)

Recycle (check)

Replace our tupperware with glass containers (check)

Strengths in 2007:

shopping locally

eating healthy

cooking a lot and trying new recipes

plenty of craft/creative time (MUCH less of this in 2008)

research was fairly productive

Room for improvement!

Spent too much time on the internet

Worried a lot about fitting things (ie school kids travel where to live etc etc) comfortably into my life (Moved to a house in 6/08 - thus solving the "where to live" question)

I'm sure there's more but why dwell on it, right? right.

...............................................................................

Unfortunately R's grandma passed away early this morning, so we are Cleveland-bound once again. She was 104, so it wasn't totally unexpected, but it's sad nonetheless.