Who wants to do a virtual run with me on Thursday morning? I was planning on doing a long run, but it's supposed to be pouring rain and it would help me get out the door knowing that you are all running too:). I figured I would need a good run to get my head in the holiday mindset of sitting around (which I don't like to do) and eating all day (which I'm pretty good at).
The rules are:
1) Register in my comments section with your name.
2) Do whatever distance and pace you want - this is all for fun!
3) After you run, email me (kellijamison@gmail.com) your distance and address and I'll mail you a prize.
Thanks for participating in the first annual "KJ's Virtual Tofurkey Trot", I can't wait to pretend I'm running with all of you!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Jittery
All my fingernails are gone. I've been hungry for a week straight (like more than my usual hungry state). I feel like I've had 4 cups of coffee and I don't drink it at all. My right foot has been bouncing uncontrollably all day and I can't focus at work (obviously, look at the time stamp of the blog:).
It sounds like I have a good case of the pre-marathon jitters. Maybe it's because I have two (relatively) good legs and think that I can actually make 26.2 miles this year.
I'm going to bottle this energy up and sprinkle it on myself on Sunday morning. I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't get stale!
See you on the other side with hopefully a stellar review.
It sounds like I have a good case of the pre-marathon jitters. Maybe it's because I have two (relatively) good legs and think that I can actually make 26.2 miles this year.
I'm going to bottle this energy up and sprinkle it on myself on Sunday morning. I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't get stale!
See you on the other side with hopefully a stellar review.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Dirty Jerz
That's right...Doug and I succumbed to the ridiculousness of Manhattan apartment prices and just signed a lease in Jersey City! I definitely had my reservations about leaving the city (que Sex and the City when Miranda moves to Brooklyn...gasp!), everywhere and everything else just seems second best, but saving bu-cu bucks is hard to pass up. We ended up finding a sweet place in a condo building right on the river. And since rents are so much cheaper, we could be picky with the place. We got a 2bdrm/2bath with a balcony on the highest floor of an all amenities building...wahoo! Here are some pics, so you all believe me.
The foyer (what? we have a foyer!)
The view into the living room (Doug poached all my pics)
Purdy kitchen!
If you stay with us, this is your view. Nice sunsets!
Our view from the balcony (I see a mini garden and a place to bike on my trainer)
View from our roof deck ("I can see Manhattan from my house!")
Looking South from roof (and there's a hot tub on the roof!)
So, all in all, we're pretty excited about the big change. It will actually be a shorter commute for me to work and only about 1o min. longer for the Slug. It's unfortunate that Jersey gets such a bad rap, but I know I won't stop making fun of it just because I'm living there. I just hope I don't start growing hair on my chest and our eventual children don't end up mutants.
The foyer (what? we have a foyer!)
The view into the living room (Doug poached all my pics)
Purdy kitchen!
If you stay with us, this is your view. Nice sunsets!
Our view from the balcony (I see a mini garden and a place to bike on my trainer)
View from our roof deck ("I can see Manhattan from my house!")
Looking South from roof (and there's a hot tub on the roof!)
So, all in all, we're pretty excited about the big change. It will actually be a shorter commute for me to work and only about 1o min. longer for the Slug. It's unfortunate that Jersey gets such a bad rap, but I know I won't stop making fun of it just because I'm living there. I just hope I don't start growing hair on my chest and our eventual children don't end up mutants.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Triple Dog Dare
My six year old cousin got in trouble in class the other day and had to fill out a "Think Sheet" about what he'd done wrong. Because it's small and impossible to read here, I wrote out his answers:
What happened? What rule(s) did I break?
A: I didn't do my work, instead I puwt a buwger on my frends librarey book.
I chose to break the rule(s) because...
A: I did a triple dog dare and thought I could.
Who did I disturb or bother?
A: Taylen and Jason's librarey book. And Miss Temple
What could I have done instead?
A: Do my work done and ignore any dares.
Apparently Aidan and I got the same gullible gene, because I always fall, er, fell for triple dog dares.
What happened? What rule(s) did I break?
A: I didn't do my work, instead I puwt a buwger on my frends librarey book.
I chose to break the rule(s) because...
A: I did a triple dog dare and thought I could.
Who did I disturb or bother?
A: Taylen and Jason's librarey book. And Miss Temple
What could I have done instead?
A: Do my work done and ignore any dares.
Apparently Aidan and I got the same gullible gene, because I always fall, er, fell for triple dog dares.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Miss Izzy
When I was growing up, we always had dogs. Usually when my dad would go out of town, my mom would get us a dog and then when my dad got back from his trip, he would find a good home for the dog. Not that my dad didn't like dogs, but he ended up being the disciplinarian and we notoriously had bad dogs. We did have a dog, Howie, that was with us for a long time, but he ended up going fairly crazy and chewing walls, so we had to get rid of him. We all loved Howie, but he didn't listen to anybody but my dad, so none of us felt a really close bond to him.
My love and appreciation for dogs all changed when we decided as a family to get a puppy (up until now, all of our dogs were older and from the pound). We decided that we wanted a yellow lab, found an ad in the paper for lab puppies and went and looked at them. We fell in love with one in particular and put our money down and were told to come back in 8 weeks to pick her up. So for 8 long weeks we threw out names, puppy proofed the house and counted down the days. We finally settled on a name - Isabella Marguerite was her formal name, but she went by Izzy (unless she was in trouble:).
Izzy turned out to be such a winner of a dog. She was so sweet and loving and could always tell when you needed some love. She was also the protector of the house (although she wouldn't have hurt a fly, but her bark could scare peeps away). When you walked in a room, you could hear her huge tail thumping against the ground because she was so excited to see you. And up until the last year, she's kept most of her youthful energy...at 15 years of age, who can blame her for not chasing the geese off the lawn anymore.
My mom has been good about keeping me in the loop about Izzy's condition and we all knew that she wouldn't be around forever, especially after a cancer diagnosis. But nothing prepared me for going home to Utah this weekend and having my mom tell me that the vet was scheduled to come to the house on Wednesday to put Izzy to sleep because she wasn't doing well and she didn't want her to suffer at all. When I saw Izzy on Saturday night, she still wagged her tail as hard as ever when I came in, and she tried to get up, but the cancer was in her leg and made it tough to stand. I could see it in her eyes that she was tired and in a lot of pain. That night was pretty rough, my mom, sister and I cried a lot and just sat with Izzy all night. We all knew that she couldn't make it until Wednesday when the vet was scheduled to come because we didn't want her in pain for 4 more days. So first thing Sunday morning, we called my brother and told him he should come out and say goodbye and then we called the vet to come out that day. The vet called back right away and said she'd be there in an hour. It seemed that Izzy knew what was going on because she was so peaceful for that hour before the vet came.
Just about an hour later, Kyle and the vet showed up at the same time, so the vet waited outside while we said our final goodbyes and then she administered the shot. It took less than one minute and the process was so easy. (I really wish that in our final days as humans, it was this easy and painless.) We all cried really hard together for a while and then took Izzy out to the vet's truck and said goodbye. My mom requested to have Izzy cremated so that she can spread her ashes in the mountains near our cabin in Torrey, UT...one of Izzy's favorite places. The peace we all felt after she was gone was amazing, we were still really sad, but so relieved to not see her suffer anymore.
It's tough to explain to someone who isn't a dog lover, or to someone who's never owned a dog, but if you are, you know the bond you have with your pet and the self-less love they provide everyday. Miss Izzy, we miss you already and will miss your thumping tail and slobbery licks forever.
My love and appreciation for dogs all changed when we decided as a family to get a puppy (up until now, all of our dogs were older and from the pound). We decided that we wanted a yellow lab, found an ad in the paper for lab puppies and went and looked at them. We fell in love with one in particular and put our money down and were told to come back in 8 weeks to pick her up. So for 8 long weeks we threw out names, puppy proofed the house and counted down the days. We finally settled on a name - Isabella Marguerite was her formal name, but she went by Izzy (unless she was in trouble:).
Izzy turned out to be such a winner of a dog. She was so sweet and loving and could always tell when you needed some love. She was also the protector of the house (although she wouldn't have hurt a fly, but her bark could scare peeps away). When you walked in a room, you could hear her huge tail thumping against the ground because she was so excited to see you. And up until the last year, she's kept most of her youthful energy...at 15 years of age, who can blame her for not chasing the geese off the lawn anymore.
My mom has been good about keeping me in the loop about Izzy's condition and we all knew that she wouldn't be around forever, especially after a cancer diagnosis. But nothing prepared me for going home to Utah this weekend and having my mom tell me that the vet was scheduled to come to the house on Wednesday to put Izzy to sleep because she wasn't doing well and she didn't want her to suffer at all. When I saw Izzy on Saturday night, she still wagged her tail as hard as ever when I came in, and she tried to get up, but the cancer was in her leg and made it tough to stand. I could see it in her eyes that she was tired and in a lot of pain. That night was pretty rough, my mom, sister and I cried a lot and just sat with Izzy all night. We all knew that she couldn't make it until Wednesday when the vet was scheduled to come because we didn't want her in pain for 4 more days. So first thing Sunday morning, we called my brother and told him he should come out and say goodbye and then we called the vet to come out that day. The vet called back right away and said she'd be there in an hour. It seemed that Izzy knew what was going on because she was so peaceful for that hour before the vet came.
Just about an hour later, Kyle and the vet showed up at the same time, so the vet waited outside while we said our final goodbyes and then she administered the shot. It took less than one minute and the process was so easy. (I really wish that in our final days as humans, it was this easy and painless.) We all cried really hard together for a while and then took Izzy out to the vet's truck and said goodbye. My mom requested to have Izzy cremated so that she can spread her ashes in the mountains near our cabin in Torrey, UT...one of Izzy's favorite places. The peace we all felt after she was gone was amazing, we were still really sad, but so relieved to not see her suffer anymore.
It's tough to explain to someone who isn't a dog lover, or to someone who's never owned a dog, but if you are, you know the bond you have with your pet and the self-less love they provide everyday. Miss Izzy, we miss you already and will miss your thumping tail and slobbery licks forever.
Izzy
4/15/95 - 10/10/10
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Road Trip
I want to buy this happy little van and travel across the country.
Anyone want to come? We can listen to Rusted Root, eat granola and see the sights.
Anyone want to come? We can listen to Rusted Root, eat granola and see the sights.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
I heart NYC week
I often say that I have a love/hate relationship with NYC...this has definitely been a "love" week. Maybe it was the events, probably it was the friends, but the city gave it extra energy.
Monday night - One of my best guy friend's Jeff's 40th bday was Sunday, so his lovely fiance Steph invited us all over to their apt. for a quaint little party. It was a rainy, yucky night, but so cozy and perfect in their apt. We were surrounded by great friends, great food and great wine. Even though a Monday night is a tough night to go out, I didn't mind because we had so much fun.
Tuesday night - Every Tuesday night we have a running club through work. We leave at 6:30, usually head over to the running path along the Hudson River and do a variety of different workouts. We have an awesome coach who led us through a make shift track workout on the pier (every loop is 1/4 mile...just like a track). I felt the same ran-so-hard-I-almost-puked feeling that I do at a normal track workout, but there was such an awesome feeling of working with what you have and still having a great workout. It helped that we have an awesome group of runners that push each other and cheer each other on.
After the run, I met up with Doug, his cousin and some of her friends in the Meatpacking District for apps and drinks...it felt so NY showing up for a 9pm dinner! (minus the still sweating through my clothes factor).
Wednesday night - First soccer game of the season! I've been playing soccer since I first moved to NYC 7 years ago. I originally signed up as a way to meet friends and have kept playing, with a lot of the same people since then. Some of my teammates are also some of my best friends, so soccer has become a social outlet as well as the typical competitive one that I crave. Despite getting mauled by some dudes' cleat and being a little rusty, it was so great to be out there, under the lights, with all of my buddies! And what soccer game wouldn't be complete without the post-game hangout! Another late night, but sooo worth it!
Thursday night- Dinner with my lovely friend Flora (one of my said original soccer friends) at a new restaurant we've been meaning to try.
Friday night - A second party for Jeff's 40th (hey-you only turn 40 once!) at a beer garden in Astoria with all of our friends. It will be a perfect chance to wind down from the week and catch up with everyone again.
Saturday- is usually reserved for long marathon training runs these days, but I'm running a 10K on Sunday morning, so I'm going to eeeek out the long run on Friday morning before work. Saturday is wide open, so Doug and I will have a chance to hang out before he has to go to Hong Kong for the week.
Sunday- 10K race on Governor's Island...the first race to be held on this little island just south of Manhattan. We are sponsoring the race through work with The North Face, so I'm particularly excited to see this event go off and be a big success! Post-race is hopefully a brunch with some friends also running!
No doubt it's been a very busy week, and I just told you about my after work fun, but a very good week at that. I feel more energized than I have in a long time! (notice I haven't done my long run or 10K yet...maybe I will have to update this in a couple of days:) Just when I think I've had enough of this place, everything lines up and shows me that there really is no place like it.
Monday night - One of my best guy friend's Jeff's 40th bday was Sunday, so his lovely fiance Steph invited us all over to their apt. for a quaint little party. It was a rainy, yucky night, but so cozy and perfect in their apt. We were surrounded by great friends, great food and great wine. Even though a Monday night is a tough night to go out, I didn't mind because we had so much fun.
Tuesday night - Every Tuesday night we have a running club through work. We leave at 6:30, usually head over to the running path along the Hudson River and do a variety of different workouts. We have an awesome coach who led us through a make shift track workout on the pier (every loop is 1/4 mile...just like a track). I felt the same ran-so-hard-I-almost-puked feeling that I do at a normal track workout, but there was such an awesome feeling of working with what you have and still having a great workout. It helped that we have an awesome group of runners that push each other and cheer each other on.
After the run, I met up with Doug, his cousin and some of her friends in the Meatpacking District for apps and drinks...it felt so NY showing up for a 9pm dinner! (minus the still sweating through my clothes factor).
Wednesday night - First soccer game of the season! I've been playing soccer since I first moved to NYC 7 years ago. I originally signed up as a way to meet friends and have kept playing, with a lot of the same people since then. Some of my teammates are also some of my best friends, so soccer has become a social outlet as well as the typical competitive one that I crave. Despite getting mauled by some dudes' cleat and being a little rusty, it was so great to be out there, under the lights, with all of my buddies! And what soccer game wouldn't be complete without the post-game hangout! Another late night, but sooo worth it!
Thursday night- Dinner with my lovely friend Flora (one of my said original soccer friends) at a new restaurant we've been meaning to try.
Friday night - A second party for Jeff's 40th (hey-you only turn 40 once!) at a beer garden in Astoria with all of our friends. It will be a perfect chance to wind down from the week and catch up with everyone again.
Saturday- is usually reserved for long marathon training runs these days, but I'm running a 10K on Sunday morning, so I'm going to eeeek out the long run on Friday morning before work. Saturday is wide open, so Doug and I will have a chance to hang out before he has to go to Hong Kong for the week.
Sunday- 10K race on Governor's Island...the first race to be held on this little island just south of Manhattan. We are sponsoring the race through work with The North Face, so I'm particularly excited to see this event go off and be a big success! Post-race is hopefully a brunch with some friends also running!
No doubt it's been a very busy week, and I just told you about my after work fun, but a very good week at that. I feel more energized than I have in a long time! (notice I haven't done my long run or 10K yet...maybe I will have to update this in a couple of days:) Just when I think I've had enough of this place, everything lines up and shows me that there really is no place like it.
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