november goals

On the last day of November, I am home sick with a cold. I dragged myself up this morning, all set to rally and go to work, but I failed the 3 step test to see if I am really sick or just tired:

1) Take a shower. I must admit, I could breathe better after the shower, but I still felt like crap.
2) Drink a cup of tea. My throat felt better and my voice was a bit better, but I still felt like crap.
3) Eat something. My headache was slightly better, but I still felt like crap.

And there you have it. If those three things still don't make me feel better, it's time to call in. That, and my forward thinking that tomorrow I absolutely cannot miss work. So given the choice of today or tomorrow I chose today to sleep, drink tea, and putter around working on all my projects and piles.

On the last day of November, its also time to look back at the goals:

November Goals:

1) Lose 5#: 1/2 credit. Lost 3
2) Get 2011 race schedule set: Pretty much done. Assuming I get that coveted Boston number, the biggies in 2011 will be: April = Boston Marathon
May = Run to Remember 1/2 Marathon
June = Patriot 1/2 Ironman
July = Old Colony Olympic Distance Tri
August = Sharon Sprint Distance Tri
September = Plymouth Rock Sprint Tri and Hyannis Sprint Tri
October = Ruckus (and maybe Newport 1/2 Marathon)
We'll see how my body holds out. But with the exception of yesterday and today, I've been turning up the heat in the off season training, so I'm optimistic.
3) Get apartment into winter configuration. Done. And I'm much warmer for it!
4) Finish work presentation: yep.
5) Do certification exam: finishing touches tonite and mailing it off tomorrow! (how's that for down to the wire?)
6) Get Xmas shopping 1/2 done: sure did! And didn't go NEAR a store on Black Friday. I'm not that crazy!
7) Finish 4 books. Done under the wire on that, too. Probably couldn't have done it without the sick day, today. (no...that's not WHY I stayed home. I'm miss mucous!) And I'm pretty proud of myself. One of the books was 1100 pages long. Stupid Stephen King!
8) Post every day this month: almost. 24 posts in 30 days.
9) Get started on photo book from trip: This I haven't started. And its totally not my fault! My two friends and I decided to share all our photos and then I was going to choose from all our 3 sets. I uploaded all my prints to snapfish and sent them to my buddies. I have yet to convince them that opening snapfish will not crash their computers or invite cyber preditors into their lives. (But storing every single photo you have ever taken on your hard drive will dramatically slow down your computer!) I may just have to do this solo!
10) Get rid of 30 things this month: success. This week, I got rid of a pair of slippers and two books. (into the donation bag)

Not bad for November! But before I move on to December, one last

Today I am grateful for:
1) humidifiers
2) ginger ale
3) tea
4) naps
5) crossing everything off the to-do list.

wanderlust

50 Questions to Free Your Mind:

Week 6: If Happiness was the natural currency, what would you do that would make you rich?

I would travel. By foot. With a backpack on my back. There is nothing that makes me happier than being out in nature with nothing but me and a long stretch of road or trail in front of me. I have that kind of personality, too: that I could just drop out of society and wander around as a hippie-chick wanderer for a few years. I probably would have done it, too, if that wouldn't cause my mother to have a heart attack and pace relentlessly night after night, worried I was dead in a ditch somewhere. (She just doesn't get it man! She is just not hip to the bohemian vibe!) My dad would be cool with it, though.

Anyway, if happiness were the national currency, I surely wouldn't have to worry about things like repaying student loans (or people lamenting my wasted college education as I wandered around with my backpack). And what's totally cool is...you can pretty much backpack anywhere! The US, Canada, all through Europe, Costa Rica, Chile, Hawaii (I know that's part of the US, but really, it's its own little entity, isn't it?) Yeah, I know there may be a few planes, boats, and trains involved, but that's ok. The feet are the primary source of locomotion.

As it is, I'm filling my adventurous appetite with races right now. But I rest assured knowing that wanderlust and itchy feet can't be quelled without taking to the open road eventually. Happiness may not be the national currency, it's how we pay ourselves, no?

Thanksgiving purge

In addition to eating lots of turkey, being thankful, and being active I also spent my long weekend doing a little purging. This week, I got rid of:

While switching out the warm weather PJs for the cold weather PJs I filled the donation bag with:
1) flannel pants
2) flannel boxers
3) 2 T shirts
4) a pillowcase
then, I went through the bookcase and pulled 5) a book that I was never going to read and put that in the donation bag, too.
Pulled a couple more 6) magazines from the basket to bring to the gym.
And finally, on the bathroom shelf, I have a nice little 7) basket of lotions and candles. Its really nice, but I have so many lotions and scrubs and candles and such, I can't possibly use them all. Its fairly new and has never been opened. So...I'm re-gifting it as a Secret Santa thing for work. (making totally sure that this did not come from a co-worker!)

Feeling significantly lighter (despite all the food I ate on Thursday!)

Thankful Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving, we are all thankful for the BIG things: family, friends, our health. But I've always thought it was the LITTLE things that make the greatest difference. (Of course, that may be due in part to my own stature. But whatever.)

So once again, I give to you, HEATHER'S LIST OF STRANGE THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR THIS THANKSGIVING:

1) I'm thankful for the state of California. No offense to the other 49 states. I just had a good time there this year.
2) I'm thankful for the Olympics. I just think there is no better sporting event to watch
3) I'm thankful for the Paralympics (and for the fact that they'll actually be televised in the US next time!)
4) I'm thankful for the excellent display of athleticism, sportsmanship, and all-around grooviness by my celebrity boyfriend, Apolo Ohno at the Olympics.
5) I'm thankful for the concept of celebrity boyfriends!
6) I'm thankful for pillows.
7) And pilates circles.
8) And yoga blocks.
9) And SI support belts.
10) I'm thankful for physical therapy. Not only because that's how I make my living, but because that shit works!
11) I'm thankful I can again run and bike without excruciating pain.
12) I'm thankful for the excellent display of slowness, humility, and all-around goofiness by ME during this year's tri-season.
13) I'm thankful I don't make my living by my athletic prowess. ('Cause I'd be broke and homeless!)
14) I'm thankful for the wonderful weather we had this summer.
15) And the beach. I love you, beach!
16) I'm thankful to the concept of the tankini
17) I'm thankful I don't make my living based on how flat my abs are. ('Cause I'm be broke, homeless, and possibly a heroin addict)
18) I'm thankful for ibuprofen (I may be a recovering ibuprofen addict)
20) I'm thankful for the continent of Europe. It sits there across the ocean and beacons me
21) I'm thankful for the opportunity to travel there this year
22) I'm thankful for indian summer
23) And the colorful leaves in the fall
24) And how warm fleece is.
25) I'm thankful I don't make my living based on how well I adapt to cold temperatures ('Cause I'd be broke, homeless, and frozen to death)
26) I'm thankful I'm not frozen to death
27) I'm thankful for the farmer's market
28) I'm thankful for live music. Anywhere and anytime. Of any kind.
29) I'm thankful for online shopping. It makes my life so much easier.
30) I"m thankful that I did not watch "Food Inc" before Thanksgiving dinner.

sexiest man alive

At work today, somebody brought in the People "Sexiest Man Alive" magazine. So, of course, lunchtime in the staff room sounded something like this:

Oh, yeah, he's hot.
Who?
Ryan Reynolds.
Who is he?
This guy.
Who else is in there?
He's cute. He's cute. He's hot. Michael Bolton? Are they on crack?
Leonardo Di Caprio never did it for me.
He's a good actor though. He was good in Gilbert Grape.
Yeah, he was. And Johnny Depp was in that.
Is he in the magazine?
Of course! I think EVERYONE can agree that he's hot, hottie, hot.
OH YEAH!
I'm on the fence about Jake Gyllenhaal.
Oh, really? I think he's pretty cute.
He's in a new movie. With Anne Hathaway.
Yeah, I heard they are half naked throughout the whole movie.

at this point, the ONE male in the staff room perks up:
Ann Hathaway is naked in the movie?

Half naked. I said half naked. I don't think Anne Hathaway does completely nude scenes.
She did in Brokeback Mountain.....WITH Jake Gyllenhaal, actually!
Maybe she has it in her contract: will only do nude scenes with Jake Gyllenhaal!
Man. I really went into the wrong profession!

Today I am grateful for:
1) the gym
2) having the grocery store and liquor store across the street from the gym
3) the promise of a long weekend
4) my co-workers
5) getting to see my nieces tomorrow

Thank goodness Thursday is a holiday. I'm beat!

TOday I'm grateful for:

1) ball point pens
2) chocolate
3) short work weeks
4) caffeine
5) mindless magazines

50 questions to free your mind

It's Monday again. And a hard Monday to get out of bed, I must say. I would have liked nothing better than to roll over, snuggle back down in the blanket, and sleep the day away. Alas, life calls.

One good thing about Mondays -- it's time again for 50 Questions to Free Your Mind, courtesy of City Girl.

Week 5: What is the one thing you would like to change most about this world?

I'd like to have a job where I can get paid to roll over and sleep in every day!

No, not really.

I'd love to have less intolerance in the world. It seems that so many of our other problems stem from the very problem of intolerance. Wars are fought over it. Lives are lost over it. And really? What's the point?

One of the great things about the world is all the diversity. I think its fantastic that there can be as many ways of looking at a situation as there are eyes doing the looking. We can learn alot from one another if we listened to other opinions. We may end up learning things we would never have thought of on our own.

Instead, it seems that we are so quick to condemn other opinions that are not the same as ours. We are so quick to point fingers at those behind the opinions. And we are so quick to demand retaliation on those behind the opinions for... what? Not being us?

It saddens me that the media just eats this behavior up, sensationalizes it, and encourages more of the same behavior in the future.

I once read a funny little book by Fannie Flagg. I don't remember the name of it. But in the book, a woman who made her living doing interviews died and got to go up to heaven and interview God (this may have actually been a dream. I don't remember) What I do remember is her final question to God "If you could go back and do anything differently, what would it be?" And God said She (God was a she) would make everyone's skin the same color. She said that when She made people, She loved how many different shades of skin there were, like flowers in the field or leaves changing color in the fall. She thought that people would see the beauty in all the different colors of skin and appreciate one another for how unique each person was. Instead, people used the color of their skin to enslave one another and discriminate against one another and start wars with one another. God said that it made Her so sad that all Her beautiful colors caused so much distress. If She had to do it over, She just would have made one color.

Yeah, it's kind of a silly little scene in a silly little book, but one that really makes you thing, huh?

If I could change that one thing about the world, I'd make us all appreciate those colors.

And I'd make everyone refer to God as "She" :)