Irony is…
celebrating a change in perspective with your therapist and talking about how to be prepared for the unexpected part of life…
…then finding out your dog has a mass that’s rearranging her internal organs and the vet is really worried.
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Dancing spring chickens, or Harold’s adventure in the oven
This spring is so busy! I mean usually spring is pretty busy anyway but this year, holy crap! We’ve got end of the semester projects and finals, research grant deadlines, moving to a new place, European vacation planning, half marathons, triathlons and several other things I’m sure I’m forgetting. It’s during busy times like this that I’m glad we can take the time to enjoy naming a chicken and making him dance before lathering him up in butter, stuffing some garlic in his butt and tossing him in the oven for his nap on a bed of veggies. He ended up being delicious by the way.
Amanda dancing with the delicious Harold
During our chicken downtime lately I’ve been spending a lot of time coding. I have one last project to finish up for my embedded systems class. We have a full color touchscreen to interface with the microcontroller and we have to make a video game with it. During my late nights coding Amanda has been training for her triathlons and enjoyed a girl’s night in with Lisa one night which consisted of plenty of Budlight lime and I can only assume hair braiding and pillow fights. (That’s what girls do right?)
The aftermath of the girl’s night in
I was working very hard on the microcontroller project last week when we thought the due date was last Friday. Turns out none of my friend group listened when the professor said everyone could have a 1 week extension on the project so once we found that out we took a a couple days off which was nice because Amanda had her Beaver Dam triathlon on the nastiest coldest wettest day. Here she is looking super speedy 🙂
Indy was there with me to cheer Amanda on. Indy’s reaction and thought process every time Amanda passed us went something like this
OMG THERE’S MY OTHER HUMAN I MISSED YOU SOOOO MUCH I THOUGHT YOU WERE NEVER COMING BACK COME HERE AND PET ME AND LOVE ME WAIT WAIT WAAAIIITT WHERE ARE YOU GOING COME BACK PLLAEEASESE! STEVE, WE HAVE TO FOLLOW HER, LETS GO LETS GO LETS GO… Omg she’s never coming back ever ever…
repeat this 6 times with extended periods of sulking and you have Indy’s triathlon experience.
Amanda ran across the finish line with Indy though which both of them really enjoyed. I think Indy about pulled Amanda off her feet when I gave her the leash but I’ll let her tell you more about the race.
Afterward warming up and getting dry but beer was calling our name so we went back out in the cold and rain for Brewgaloo in downtown Raleigh. Local beer brewers had booths lined all up and down Fayetteville Street where you could get pints or small taster pours. I’m pretty sure we really enjoyed ourselves but the details are a little hazy to be honest 😉
That’s about all for now. Hope your week is off to a great start!
Spring Cleaning
Hi everyone!
I would like to announce a huge moment in my life yesterday…
I managed to throw a giant Harry Potter (I think it was the 6th) book in the toilet from a room away!
Now before you get mad at me for purposefully throwing a perfectly good Harry Potter book in the toilet and ruining it, hear me out. It was baggage. Emotional baggage. From a previous relationship. My ex-boyfriend gifted me a paperback Harry Potter set one year and wrote love letters on the inside of each cover.
This was very sweet and touching at the time, but now, 3 years later, it’s just emotional baggage that I can’t sell at a garage sale <—let’s be honest, who would buy the Harry Potter series with sappy love letters on each inside cover.
Steve and I are getting ready to move into a smaller apartment (YAY less cleaning) so I’ve been going through my things and trying to downsize. While I was going through my things the other night and loudly singing along to my Broadway Hits Pandora station, I came across a bunch of cards, pictures, and things from that relationship. If you’re thinking how weird it is that I kept these things for so long well….it’s one of those things where the last time I moved, I was still hung up on everything and not ready to let go. Sooooo all that stuff got put up in a box on a shelf and forgotten about until now.
And I cried. A lot.
It’s easy to remember why you break up with someone. You can blame them and make them the “bad guy” for whatever reason. It’s a lot harder to find memories of the happy times. Especially when they catch you by surprise. You’re flooded with all the happy memories and start to wonder what happened to ruin the life you set yourself up for years ago.
Luckily, I’m dating this pretty rad guy –>Steve<– who sat down with me and talked it out. We talked about getting rid of that baggage that you don’t realize is still there (aka Harry Potter books). I was originally going to burn the books as a way of therapeutic release, but I’m also extremely impatient and didn’t want to try to build a fire.
So, Steve and I sat on our bed across from the bathroom and read each letter one last time. At the end of each letter, I tried to throw the book in the toilet. 5/6 books missed. But one made it and it was so satisfying that I cried again (from release this time).
On a separate note, I also signed the application for my first utility patent yesterday! Now I can put that annoying “Patent-pending” thing on everything I do (evil laugh)
Also Indy has been having a rough few days 😦
She ran into a tree and hurt her shoulder
Most pathetic look ever! It was hilarious how sassy she got when we tried to ice her shoulder.
She’s also been having some stomach issues and has let us know by lying dramatically on the bed….
We have plans to traumatize her with some time at the lake and a beer festival this weekend so I hope she feels better soon!
Race day approacheth
So the Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon is on Sunday. This will once again be the longest I’ve ever run which is exciting and terrifying. At least during this run if I collapse then someone will be there to save me.
I’m actually feeling decent about the run except that my ankle has been hurting for a week or so after playing some basketball. I don’t even like basketball, there’s a reason I haven’t played in two decades. My first shot said a lot about how great I am at basketball and it turns out may have been foreshadowing how I’m going to get stuck a couple miles into the race.
Let’s hope I can keep moving and don’t need someone to come knock me loose with a water bottle like the poor basketball ended up needing.
I’m planning my fueling out a little better to avoid the delirious state I found myself in at the end of my ten mile run so hopefully I’ll be aware of where I am and what I’m doing toward the end of the race.
Truth be told I’m a little anxious, a little nervous, a little worried, a little yes I realize those are all just synonyms, and I’m a lot excited! I’ve been training for this for… I guess about 10 weeks. I’ve stuck to my training plan pretty well except for the swine flu week *shudders* and I didn’t do much of my taper because of my ankle hurting.
I just hope our neighborhood dentist mascot makes it out to cheer the racers on. He really brightened my day earlier this week and if I can be half as happy as him at the end of the race then I’ll be doing well 🙂
Actually I’m pretty sure he’s miserable inside there but putting on a smile for the rest of the world…. which come to think of it might be the case for me after 13.1 miles too. On a more positive note, if I pass out, fall and break my teeth out then he can fix me up 😀
Anyone else racing this weekend?
Hoppy Easter
Happy Easter everyone!
Just checking in quickly today. Amanda and I are up in Virginia today to see my 3 month old nephew Blake. He’s a very cute baby which is good because some babies look like lizards. We’re not sure why he’s so cute and if you had seen my older brother you would wonder too. Pretty sure he got all his looks from his mom although balancing coffee cups on his head is likely from his dad.
Before we went up, it was nice enough outside to get some ice cream so we took Indy along. She LOVES ice cream and hasn’t had any since last summer. She knew too, as soon as we came out with the ice cream she got very excited and reached up to sniff the bowl. We got her a peanut butter and vanilla bean combination, two of her favorites.
Indy’s reaction to the new nephew is pretty entertaining. She is a little scared of the tiny person but also seems very concerned when he cries and is constantly checking on him to see what’s wrong. Then when someone takes the baby elsewhere she sniffs the spot where he was to investigate. The jury’s still out but I think she’s ok with him.
That’s about all for now. Amanda is on a jelly bean craze. She ate all of them out of the Easter basket and has requested we stop for more on the way home so I guess I know what we’ll be snacking on 🙂
PhDeviants 