Bandwagon jumper

First off, I would like to report that I not only jumped on the Game of Thrones (show) bandwagon, but I am now caught all the way up! I never thought I'd ever watch it, mainly because I don't have cable, but then my Sister-in-law hooked me up with her HBO password and it was a 2-week-long love affair.

...know what I'm sayin?

Just in case you didn't know what I was sayin.

Normally I'd read the books before watching the movie (or TV show as it were), but I fear that would just confuse me even more and I think I'm finally understanding most of the storylines...but I'm probably wrong about that.

I did learn one very important thing, though. When the time comes, I think I'll just elope.

Of course, now that I'm caught up and will have to wait week-to-week to catch the next episode just like everyone else, I'm looking for another series to get hooked on. Suggestions are welcomed.

In other news, I spent yesterday at my best friend's house, playing with her adorable children.

I'm kid friendly.

I may need to make borrowing her kids my new hobby. I mean...

Waking up to this face every day? Umm..ok!

Back at the ranch (aka-my humble abode), I dog-sat Rocco this weekend.

'Sup?

I've watched him several times before at my house and we're buds, but it always astounds me how such an adorable creature can be so stubborn. I take him on a walk and he's all "look at me. I'm prancing like a princess," and I'm all like, "Dude, I have to walk you two separately. I'm late for work. Just find a place to poop. I'll tell you you're pretty later." To which he responds by staring at the neighbor hoping his mind powers (and good looks, obviously) will entice him to come over and pet him. And when it doesn't, he lifts his leg and pees...for like three minutes straight...in the neighbor's yard right in front of him. I love you, buddy, but when you're gone, I still have to live here!

I make sure the neighbors stay away, Aunt Emily.

My house has been well-guarded this weekend, for sure.


In closing, I just couldn't resist...

Sorry, Theon.

Crate news!

You guys, we have a graduate!

Pippi has been roaming the house free of her crate for a week. She still looks confused when I leave the house without locking her up, and when I come home she waits in my room for me to come say hi and rub her belly. I kind of like this new arrangement. She's always exhausted in the evening. I attribute this to her probably feeling the need to "patrol" while I'm at work during the day. Her life is HARD, you guys.

If only she wore clothes...

I'm troubled

It's been quite a while since I couldn't fall asleep at night because my brain was full of ridiculous thoughts. That is, until last night. It got so ridiculous that I had to write it all down so that I could put it to rest (and get some rest).

Last week I lost one of the rubber ear pieces for my earbuds and replaced it with one that was slightly different and then I had different sound in each ear. That just wouldn't do. I had some other replacement ear pieces and also an extra pair of earbuds somewhere. But where did I put them? Of course, this didn't occur to me until after I'd already gone to bed. I couldn't have thought about it earlier in the evening. That would have been too convenient. After going through the many possible places they could be, I couldn't let it go. I had to get out of bed and check if they were there. They weren't in any of those places. And so, the earbud thoughts went on.

I was thinking of this scene over and over. Thanks to the internet, now you can too!

And, as thoughts tend to do, the earbuds thoughts somehow morphed into the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" saying. What about smell no evil and touch/feel no evil?! THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS THAT KEEP ME AWAKE AT NIGHT!

But can't you SMELL that?!

And then, I started thinking about trash bags. Logical segue, right? This past weekend I was at my brother and SIL's house and my brother had just taken out the trash, so I grabbed another trash bag. To my amazement, they smelled like heaven. They were a special Febreze-scented variety and WHY HAVE I NEVER HEARD OF THESE? I need these in my life. Who doesn't want to pretend their trash don't stink?

Shield that odor.

The last thing I remember thinking about while falling asleep is my freaking car registration/tax bill. I have several neighbors whose car registrations expired years ago and they're driving around with expired tags and I'm losing sleep over the fact that I have a $150 bill for car registration and taxes that I have to budget for in the next month. I got really close to convincing myself that I'm going to turn all my neighbors in to the police before it was clear I needed to find a way to just go to sleep already.

I'd hire someone to read this to me but laughing isn't conducive to sleep.

I actually had to take out my phone and add a "note" with all this in it so that it was documented somewhere other than in my head.

I'm very troubled.

Four things Friday

ONE

Have you ever had one of those runs where you would give anything if only a porta-potty would magically appear at this moment? This was my run yesterday. Too much information? I think I've found a huge flaw to the whole living alone thing. No one to come..."rescue" me in such situations. 

Aptly named, I'd say.

TWO

Last night Pippi needed a bath. I'll spare you the details of why. One thing I don't understand is why dogs hate baths so much (or at least MY dog). I mean, it's like a free full-body massage! I basically have to try to trick her into the bathroom or drag her in there. She looks dejected during the entire bath and then as soon as it's over and I get out the towel, it's butt-tuck-run-crazy time. What IS that?! 

The dog version of "talking back?"

THREE

I moved to North Carolina six years ago today! It doesn't even seem possible. I had no job and moved in with my brother and sister-in-law. Two years ago at this time, I had signed a contract on a house. So many things have changed!

Back when it was almost mine.

FOUR

This. Because...Friday!

Have you ever had to be rescued on a run?

Does your dog enjoy baths? I've heard of this phenomenon, but never met a bath-loving dog.

At least she's cute

Pippi knows many words: Outside, hungry, dinner, shake, cat...to name a few.

And she now knows the word squirrel.

Ever since I got the bird (slash squirrel) feeder, she now spends only half her time being connected to me with super glue. The other night while I was lazing on the couch she wasn't in the same room so I went looking for her, afraid the silence meant something less-than-awesome was going down. Nope, she was just creepily spying on a squirrel, her nosed pressed up against the glass.

I've concluded the only time her attention span is longer than about 30 seconds is when there's a cat or a squirrel in the vicinity. She'll stand there just staring as long as one is around. As soon as that squirrel is done eating and hops away, she jumps at the glass and barks. Because that's how you get the object of your affection to stay a while. Didn't you know?

Because who wants to watch birds eat when you can STARE AT A SQUIRREL OH MY GOD!

WebEmilyD

If you're like me, whenever something is happening with your body that isn't normal, you retreat into self-diagnosis mode. You also know that one of the best and worst websites of all time is webMD.

Going back a couple of weeks to that recurring foot issue I have during long-distance runs, as a cheapskate self-diagnoser, I did my due diligence. After much research and discussion with my PT Technician friend, I've decided I may have sesamoiditis. 

I don't know that it's all related, but the pain from the bulging disc in my back always occurs on the right side of my body and I've always had foot issues with my left foot. I know. I'm a freaking genius. 

To get relief from this strange...condition, in lieu of just not running (been there, done that), I've purchased a couple of these bad boys:

The idea is to take pressure off the sesamoid bones while running. I'll be testing them out today....along with not wearing heels for a while. If this all helps, I may need to get rid of the heels forever (DARN!)

Now that the foot mystery is diagnosed, a new issue has emerged. Two weeks ago I had two chipped teeth/fillings repaired. It was the normal process of numbing, drilling, etc. Blah blah. But ever since, I've had a consistent dull ache in my jaw and a never....ending.....headaaaaache. 

One thing that happened during the "procedure" that I didn't recognize as strange until later on is that, when the dentist did the numbing, immediately I noticed my heart started racing and I was shaking. I chalked it up to being nervous and not having enough to eat for breakfast. A couple hours later at work, I CRASHED big time. My mom told me later that sometimes when the dentist is injecting the numbing...stuff, they hit a blood vessel. And that's bad. It makes your heart race and then you crash. Well then, mystery #2 solved.

I understand now what Jason Statham went through. Except, you know, I'm not armed with weapons and handsome good looks. Oh, and his face wasn't numb.

Have you ever had a strange ailment you successfully diagnosed using the internetz? 

Neighbor Shaming

AMIRIGHT?!

So, remember when this happened?

So I got that fixed. And then this happened?

Well, I haven't been able to replace that yet and this goes and happens:

As luck would have it, you can't buy only the rear window. You can either buy all three soft windows as a set or you have to invest in an entirely new top + windows...for $500. 

If things really do happen in threes, I should be good for a while...at least in the broken car parts department. Unless, of course, I just jinxed myself by saying that. It would be so nice if my guardian angel would come back and do her job.

Having all these things in disarray is hurting my nerves. Driving around with a duct-taped back window makes me feel like I should be living in a different neighborhood...where my neighbors have couches on their front lawns and walk around in their underwear. Last week my American flag in front of my house ripped and I couldn't get it down so it stayed like that for about four days. I was that neighbor. Thankfully, I've since replaced the flag AND installed a bird feeder in the backyard. Getting on karma's good side and what-not.

Maybe this will keep Pippi entertained during the day.

Really, Mom? Most boring show ever.

Have you ever done something that made you feel like an unfit neighbor?

Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Half marathon

The more races I run, the less opposed to ice baths I become.

This looks so dreamy right now. 

Yesterday I ran my fifth half marathon: the Wrightsville Beach marathon in Wilmington, NC.

Not the most creative race bling ever, but it'll do.

I think I've finally come to the realization that I'll never be a fast racer. It's annoying, but, uhh...aim low and you'll never be disappointed? Something like that. No, not really. Kinda.

I've also decided that I should only run beach races because, well...beach! And also, the flatness. Flat races are the cat's meow.

I started out the race feeling annoyed. For some reason I had no confidence I'd finish and I had a deep hatred for the people cheering and ringing cowbells at mile 2. It was still dark out, (the race started at 6:45am), and I don't do well with people in the mornings, especially obnoxiously loud ones. I was running with my friend, Lindsey, and I could feel I was holding back her pace, so around mile 3 I told her to please forge ahead with her bad self, and so she did. I stretched quickly and kept on going.

The only way a cowbell would have been acceptable.

I was actually feeling quite good after that, for most of the race, and felt I could have done so much better had my feet not been causing me so much pain. It doesn't make sense to me why I don't have issues with them on long runs, but on race day my feet are always the issue! (If you want to see a picture of the awesomely disgusting blister that took over one of my toes, let me know. I can arrange a viewing).

Aside from the blister on my right foot, my left foot is the real douchebag.

Pain. SO MUCH PAIN.

It hurt so bad on the ball of my foot right behind my big toe that I started over-exaggerating my heel-strike, which was making my calf tight. It was a series of unfortunate events, really.

The truly mind-boggling thing about this is that I have NO BLISTERS in this area! It just hurts like a bitch when I get about eight miles into a race and then even the slightest bump on the road or uneven pavement sends shooting pain through the area. Any thoughts on this? Has anyone else experienced such a thing??

For the last three miles I did way more "fast walking" than I want to even admit to myself since running made my left foot feel like it was going to explode. I may or may not have exclaimed "motherfucker!" to myself, and possibly out loud, sporadically throughout that experience. It wasn't my proudest moment, but whatever. (Finishing time: 2:35:08)

"I hate everything, but look, I finished!" 

We raced through some super rich neighborhoods. I mean, I've never before been met in a race by people on their plush, green lawns drinking bloody marys (at 8am) and kids on bikes wearing boat shoes and blazers. And no, I'm not exaggerating.

There were at least 2 of these. You know, starter vehicles for the kids.

I did, however, appreciate the crazy awesome crowd support (after about mile 6, of course, once the sun was up) and all the spectators with their dogs. I high-fived kids, someone complimented my shoes (ironically for me), and the rain held off until my last mile! I would definitely do this race again.

Also, I have already registered for my next race!

It's possible I was mainly enticed by the food.

I'm hoping to find something to relieve my foot woes before then. Any advice?

Warmth: A mythical phenomenon

I forget what it's like to be warm.

I began my morning by being awakened by the electricity kicking the bucket...seven minutes before my alarm went off. Looking outside, it was eerily dark. I decided to not wait until the house started getting cold and quickly grabbed a flashlight, a candle, and took a shower by candlelight.

So romantic.

When I took Pippi for a walk, i was amazed by the thick layer of ice on the trees and the limbs and trees that had been taken down by it.

This is what the trees look like in hell.

When I was on a walk with Pippi, a tree fell in the woods and scared the crap out of me. And, of course, she took forever to find a spot to poop. My little, furry smartass.

When I go to work, I was able to assess my ability to apply makeup in the dark. Not too awful; just some uneven eye liner, and I'm sure my coworkers are used to that from me by now.

Today would be a great day to be able to text with the dog. Checking the power company's website, it appears the power is still out at the house. At least I had the foresight to provide her with an extra blanket in her crate this morning. I also just got an e-mail notice that another tree has fallen in the neighborhood and now our fire alarm system is down too. At least it's raining...?

I live in the overlapping outages area. Crap.

It's barely above freezing right now and the high for tomorrow is supposed to be in the low 60s. Here's hoping!


On a totally unrelated note: Today my mom and stepdad closed on the house I grew up in! They moved to southern Virginia in January and have had the house on the market since. And now someone else owns it! It's weird, but cool. It's a great house, but the location was getting too crowded for their liking. I hope the new owners enjoy it as much as we did.

Hasta la vista, baby!

"Brand new!"

I will get better at blogging. I WILL get better at blogging...

Yeah, we'll see.

This past weekend I went on a trip. On my way there, I connected at LaGuardia airport, and was able to take some sweet airplane window photos of New York City. I was able to get one with Freedom Tower in it, too. Kind of surreal.

Right before the turbulence of death began.

It's almost the same.

One thing you may not know about me: I get motion sick easily. It always annoys me when people on the bus to work or in moving cars get to read without needing to barf. You know what they say about misery. The first few times I flew places, it seemed that my body did ok with flying. No barf! Wee! And then just as I let my defenses down, I've had to use the airplane barf bag twice in the past year.

I now take two Dramamine pills before each flight. Overkill? Probably.

It's safe to say my ideal vacation will never be a cruise. Or, you know, a flight around the world.

Airplane sickness and cancelled flights aside, on my way home...from my connection...in Chicago...seven hours later than originally planned, I got to fly in a "brand new!" plane. The fact that they made such a big deal about the newness of this plane actually frightened me more than excited me. I've been watching way too many documentaries about airplane crashes for that to put me at ease. (Thanks for nothing, Netflix!) But then I took my Dramamine. By the way, they make "less drowsy" Dramamine now. What's the point?

So, anyway, about this "brand new!" plane.

The back of every seat had a screen where you could buy movies (unless you're in first class. Rich people get to watch movies for free). Also, the "safety instructions" were shown on the screen instead of the flight attendants going over them, and throughout the flight you could watch your altitude.

Kind of cool, I guess.

Other than that it was an airplane, and I got off it wanting to kiss the ground, as usual.

I couldn't wait to get home and see this one.

My super amazing brother and SIL picked her up from the "doggy daycare" and brought her home for me so that I didn't have to pay for another night and also so she'd be home when I got there...around midnight. Not having to spend a night alone: Priceless.