"Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." ~A.A. Milne

This past Sunday, before heading out to a birthday party, Adam and I were about to do our (sometimes) weekly big cleaning, when I looked around our bedroom. We usually ignore our bedroom during our weekly cleanings, because no one sees it but us and we can just shut the door on the mess. There was just stuff everywhere. Piles of clean and dirty clothes, boxes of things that needed to be unpacked or returned, clean gym clothes hanging on the drying rack because our drawers are too full, half-unpacked suitcases and bags, just stuff. And it was bugging the hell out of me. So, we filled up one garbage bag full of clothes to donate, one full of undonateable clothes to trash, and one full of old sheets to donate to a local animal shelter. I eyed the suits I've been meaning to donate for over a year now, decided to see how far the dry cleaners that accepted the suit donations were from the place where the party was going to be held that afternoon, determined that they were only five minutes apart, and plopped the suits on top of our donation pile. It felt good to get rid of that clutter. Our bedroom actually has a floor!

Lately, I've been feeling like life is moving along without me. Days, weeks, months just flying by in the blink of an eye without my even really noticing. My life is starting to feel like the bedroom floor... things, events, obligations, ideas just piled up haphazardly. Instead of taking the time to tackle them, I usually just shut the door and pretend they're not there. I just don't feel, for lack of a better word, present in my life. (That sounds so crunchy, granola-y.) It's March already... March! My birthday, my thirtieth birthday is in just four days! I swear it was just the holidays.

I wonder if it's turning 30 that is causing me to realize that I want change some things about my life. Not big changes, I'm overall quite happy with how things are and where I'm headed... just the little day-to-day things. Or maybe it's because Spring is just around the corner and I've caught the spring-cleaning and organizing bug. I've been thinking a lot lately of how I could fit in all the things I want/need to do. Mundane tasks (cleaning, laundry), necessary tasks (exercise), fun activities. But I also want to be able to do nothing... to lie on the couch, watch television, blog more. And get 8 hours of sleep. I keep contemplating setting up a daily/weekly schedule. Is it crazy to schedule almost every moment of your day? To set a "bedtime" and a "workout time" and a "dinnertime" and a cleaning schedule and a laundry schedule? To write "relaxing" into the 9-10pm timeslot?

How do you find a way to fit it all in?

I am starting to come down with a cold, I can feel it. My throat is drippy and sore. I have a headache. My ears were feeling a little pressurized and funny yesterday. And I'm dreading what's sure to come in the next few days.

Yes, it's only a cold. It's not like when I had the flu last year. But I can get pretty miserable when I have a cold, especially if it becomes a chest cold because it can hang around for weeks and I get super tired and lazy from the lack of oxygen. This comes at a terrible time, when every weekend in March is jam-packed with activities, I've got a birthday coming up that I want to be able to celebrate with full force, and I really, really need to pick up the motivation to work out after a not-so-hot February.

So! This is where you can help me out... do you have any sure fire ways to stop a cold before it really hits? I've got some Halls zinc throat drops and I'm planning on drinking lots of tea to ease my sore throat, but I want to kick this cold before it has a chance to settle in and take over my body. I want to show this cold who's boss.

I have been spending WAY too much time on the internet lately. Obviously, I spend my entire workday on the computer, but there is no reason to be on the computer all damn evening too! I think I might have a slight addiction. My Google Reader has been expanding lately. I read blogs and tweets, click on links, then click on other links, then think of a random question I don't know the answer to and go searching for it, then occasionally think of something to write on here, and update my workouts here and here, and then go update a food diary...

It's insane. Adam and I are on dueling laptops ALL evening long, and I know it's mostly my fault. If I wasn't on my laptop, he probably wouldn't be on his. This is absolutely no way to spend time together. Not at all.

So, I'm changing things. I just dropped about 10 blogs from my Google Reader (and then promptly added three more blogs to try out from Jennie's list... sigh). I hope to cut out a few more as time goes on, and whittle my blog list (other than the many food blogs I read) down to just those that I am really interested in following -- those where I regularly leave comments (or would if there weren't a gazillion hoops to do so, I'm looking at you Blogger!), or with whom I "converse with" on Twitter, or those I've been following for many, many years and can't imagine not reading. I also want to make sure that I continue to check out your blogs, so if you don't know whether I already follow your blog, please leave me a link so I can check it out. I like getting to know my readers.

My plan is to check Google Reader just a few times a day -- in the morning, while I eat lunch, and in the evening. I'm going to try to limit my internet time at home at night to just checking my email, logging my meals and workouts, and a limited period of blog reading/writing. No more "hanging out on the internet" instead of hanging out with the real life human being that is on the couch next to me.

Hopefully, I can start to reclaim my real world life back and stop feeling like time is just easily slipping away from me... when I'm pretty sure it's just slipping into that great black hole of The Internet.

Say your 30th birthday was coming up in a little less than a month and you were planning a trip to NYC for the weekend. Also say that you don't want to spend a gafrillion dollars, but you still want to stay in a decent hotel, eat some yummy food and have an awesome time. Where would you go and what would you do?

So far, plans include meeting some friends for dinner (location TBD) on Saturday night, then going out to meet up with another friend and his crew, who are also celebrating his birthday that weekend. I think I want to go to Top of the Rock and hopefully to a Broadway show. I'm looking for any recommendations for a cool museum/touristy thing to do, as well as good (and not crazy expensive) places to eat and get drinks -- brunch and dinner options. Anywhere in Manhattan is fine... I doubt we'll be venturing out to the other boroughs that weekend.

(Now that I have more than 30 seconds to dash off a post on my minuscule lunch break, I'm going to expand upon this post.)

(Wow, I totally would have spelled minuscule wrong without spell check there.)

Anyway....

Happy DeLurking Day, folks! (Folks? I never say that.) Anyway, I would love it if any of you readers out there (whether you are a lurker or not) would leave me a comment today. So far I've gotten bunches of comments from spammers, but not from any actual readers. (Not on this post, just in general. Spamming has been out of control lately. Yet another reason I need to update to a newer version of MT.)

So, just say hi and (I'm totally stealing this idea from Jodi) suggest one of your favorite blogs (or food websites, love those!) to read. Or ask me a random question. Or tell me the best book you've read recently... I'm trying to read more this year. Or all three! Or just say hi!

I'll make sure to make the rounds tonight and do my part in delurking. :-)

(My goodness, what is up with this post? It's as if I had way too much caffeine or something, when in fact I've had none. Being holed up in depositions all the live long day can make you a bit punchy, I suppose. Also, what is up with all the parentheses?)

Last Friday, Adam and I decided to host an impromptu game night dinner party. To be more accurate, game night had been in the works since the day before, but on Friday Adam decided he didn't want to order pizza, but instead wanted to cook fish. I said that was fine by me, as long as he didn't stink up our apartment with it. (I do not eat now as a vegetarian, nor have I ever eaten, fish.) He was excited to make a sauce to go with the fish (and my pan-fried tofu) and turned to a new book he got from my parents, by his old stand-by Alton Brown. So, in about two hours, we threw together our menu:

Cod with Raymond Beurre Blanc Sauce (pan-fried tofu with the sauce, for me)
Orzo Salad with Peppers, Onions, Shallots and Parmesan
Salad with Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette (I can never spell Vinaigrette without the help of spell-check)
Steamed Broccoli (which I also covered in the sauce, it was SO GOOD)

Our friends Carolyn, Mike, Megan and Omar came over and we managed to make the perfect amount of food. I love when that happens! We had just enough leftovers for us to have lunch the next day.

Then, we turned to the game portion of game night. For Christmas, we got Guesstimation, which is a trivia game where all of the answers are a number or a date and the closest guess wins. There are some really random questions on there! (For example: How many females in the world read Harlequin romance novels?) I thought it was a lot of fun, but I also really like trivia games.

Our next game was Harry Potter Clue, which I picked up at Marshall's just before Christmas. I used to love playing Clue and this seemed like a fun little twist on the game. The mystery takes place at Hogwarts, and instead of weapons you use spells, and the secret passage ways change. There are a lot more elements to this game than the regular Clue, which may be why it took us TWO HOURS. I enjoyed the game with its new twists, but my advice is to not start it after 10pm!

More and more, I keep hearing from different friends that they are interested in starting regular game nights. At this rate, we may end up with a game night a week! That's fine by me... I have a closet full of games to break out!

I haven't worked out since last Tuesday. And I've probably eaten my weight in sugary and salty goodies since then. Not a good combination.

It started out because on Wednesday, I was hit hard with a cold. It was hard enough to breathe while just sitting around, I didn't think getting a workout in was going to be feasible. I took Nyquil both Wednesday and Thursday night, but that meant I was too groggy the following mornings to work out.

Friday night, we went to Zoo Lights, then dinner. Saturday, I spent the morning cleaning and getting ready for the cookie party, then actually hosting the cookie party... and eating cookies. Then Adam and I went out to dinner at Jaleo and to see Striking Twelve at the Arena Stage.

Sunday, I put in a full work day, but that's no excuse... I'm just lazy. Same with Monday, Tuesday, yesterday, today.

And really, those other days (except perhaps Wednesday and Thursday last week), it was just excuses, too. Pathetic excuses. I could have found a half hour to work out. Heck, I probably could have found an hour to work out. The Shred takes only 25 minutes.

I had goals for this month. Big plans. I was going to do the 30 Day Shred by January 1. I was going to eat healthy, stay on track, not gain the typical holiday pounds, not fall into a sugar coma each night. And so far, I've failed.

My poor diet and lack of exercise have been taking a toll on me, physically and mentally. I can't fall asleep at night, I wake up four, five times a night. I can't focus at work. I'm overly anxious. And then I lost the motivation to work out. It's a vicious cycle. A snowball effect.

Forget waiting until January 1; forget waiting until after Christmas; forget even waiting until Monday. (We always say, "I'll start on Monday," don't we?) I'm starting over tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, no matter how tired I am, I'm getting up and going to the gym. No matter how long it takes me to fall asleep, no matter how many times I wake up in the night, I'm getting back on track.

My sanity depends on it.

Aside from a gift for the grandparents and the homemade goodies I plan on giving away, I am completely done with my Christmas shopping. Actually, I've been done since Saturday... and it is fantastic. I feel like I am so much more able to enjoy all the activities of the holiday season now that I have that out of the way.

Friday night, Adam and I are going with out friends to ZooLights. (Thanks to Jodifur for the tip!) I'm going to skip out of work a little early to meet them and then we're going out to dinner in the neighborhood afterward.

Saturday, I will be hosting a cookie exchange. There are going to be about twice as many people as came to the one I had last year, so hopefully it will be pretty fun. Most of the girls who are coming are in my book club, so they've already met each other at least. I can't wait to try all the different kinds of cookies they bring! I've been planning the menu for the past week. It's hard to balance having enough variety of foods without ending up with way too much food. I've decided on a cheese plate, a couple of dips (spinach and hummus) and mini versions of my favorite chickpea patties. I wanted food that will balance out all the sweets... even though the party isn't about eating cookies, of course there will be sampling.

Sunday, if I'm not stuck at work, I'll be going to a friend's house for a brunch/lunch and Christmas movie marathon. Then another night next week, I will probably be going to a dinner party at a friend's place. Next Friday is my work party, and next Saturday is another friend's Christmas party. And I'd love to find a night to go out and walk around the neighborhood with some hot chocolate and look at all the lights.

And once I'm back in town after spending Christmas weekend up in New York, I will have TWO New Year's Eve parties to attend!

** Don't forget to enter the Gift Card Giveaway from Snapgifts.com!!! Only two more days to enter! **

As I mentioned yesterday, I just started a workout blog. I've been thinking about creating a place to log my workouts for a while, especially considering I hope to train for a half marathon next year. I've obviously been writing about a lot of my races and training on this website for a while now, but I liked the idea of having a separate place to record each of my workouts... especially because I figured my documenting my training runs and workouts daily on here was probably going to be pretty boring for most of you.

As I started thinking about setting up the workout blog, I realized that I didn't just want to keep a list of the workouts I completed, but that I wanted a place to document the process of improving as a runner and generally trying to stay fit and healthy as I approach and take on my 30s (Less than 3.5 months left of my 20s! Mark your calendars!). I mean, let's face it, my metabolism already isn't what it used to be and is only going to go downhill from here. (But other than that, totally looking forward to turning 30! I appear to be the only one.) I need to tackle it head on! That old, "if not now, when?" philosophy.

Anyway, so the workout blog is not going to just be a boring list of workouts. Instead, it'll be a (possibly boring) collection of posts about all kinds of workout-related things... basically, the sort of posts that are currently under my "Pretending to be a Runner" category will now be over there. (As will a lot of those posts, once I actually export them to the new site.)

I'm hoping that any of you who like to workout (or don't like it, but do it anyway) and/or are interested in getting/staying healthy and fit will follow me on over to the workout blog. It's not going to be all about running (although, I'm admittedly addicted to running road races). For instance, this month I'm doing the 30 Day Shred to try to counteract all of the delicious goodies around this time of year. I've found that there is a sort of feeling of community especially among runners, but also among people interested in health and fitness in general. I'd love to hear what you're up to in the gym, how awesome (or awful) your last race was, what you're struggling with (don't we all get stuck in ruts?), and what your next goal is. I also take recommendations, tips, and general encouragement. :-)

There are still quite a few things I want to add to the website -- a log of the races I've completed, current workout schedules, the training schedules I plan to use for various races, various goals, and my "athletic" background, to name a few. I also have to jazz up the comments and archives pages. But the basic bones of the website are there, so that's why I went live with it yesterday instead of waiting around until I got everything else situated.

So, click on over and check out my new space, even if you have no interest in ever reading about all this workout stuff ever again and are so happy I moved it all to a different location, if only just to see the awesome banner that Adam designed for me. (With my direction, of course.)

I was up late again, because I was busy working on this. I'll write more about it tomorrow, but now it's sleepy time.

Nick: So, last night I was at a bar having a beer
As one does in those places
And this cute young black couple comes up next to me to return the shuffleboard stuff
And this old drunk white guy yells to the bartender, "Hey, I wanna buy Will Smith there and his girl a drink!"
me: oh my god! you were next to will smith and jada pinkett? :P
Nick: I know!
So, we spent five minutes figuring out if he had ANY attributes similar to Will Smith
His girlfriend pointed out his big stick-out ears
me: was he from west philadelphia?
born and raised?
did he like to play basketball?
or getting up to no good?
does he enjoy the summertime?
and robots?
and the wild wild west?
and geoffrey?
Nick: I'm trying very hard to glare at you without laughing
me: was he getting jiggy wit it?
Nick: Dammit
There goes the glare
me: i think i'm done
Nick: Oh, come on!
"Did his parents understand him, or not?"
Did he wear black suits?
:)
me: was he the only man left in the world?
Nick: WATCHOUTVAMPIRE!

For the past week or so, I've been working on getting an important case and motion filed. It's for one of our biggest clients and is a huge deal for them, so the stress level has been a little high. We got it filed today and after a conference with the judge this afternoon, there are some developments and serious issues (though not necessarily bad for us) that we need to deal with.

(Okay, after being in crazy legal writing mode for the past week, I want to change that to "with which we need to deal," because I hate seeing "with" just dangling there, but I am willing myself to do that. I mean, who talks like that, really?)

Anyway, so I was sitting in an office with three partners, having a heated, animated discussion of these serious issues and what our approach is going to be over the next few days and weeks, when I cross my legs and...

...my shoe flies of my foot and lands smack on the partner's desk.

Everyone looked a little stunned, started laughing, and I picked up my shoe, put it back on and said, "Whoops, sorry," and we just went right back to our conversation.

I definitely wore inappropriate clothes to work today. Not work inappropriate, but weather inappropriate. I'm so eager for it to be fall, that when the weather guy on the radio says it's only going to be in the low 70s and that it's currently in the high 60s, I think, "Perfect weather for walking in my new 3/4 sleeve sweater and pants!"

Um, no.

My sweater is heavier than I thought, I wore sneakers instead of flip flops, I had my hair down. It was a recipe for disaster. I ended up a hot, sweaty mess when I arrived at work and had to spend 5 minutes in the bathroom making myself presentable... and that term is even a stretch for how I walked into the office. Now, during the summer, when I'm walking 15 minutes uphill in 90 degree weather, being a sweaty mess is somewhat more acceptable, given that it's unavoidable. But on a beautiful, crisp 68 degree morning? Not so much. I should have taken advantage of the weather as one of my final days to wear a skirt or dress to work, instead of hurrying into fall. Now, my makeup is gone, my hair is flat, and I'm just generally disheveled. *sigh*

Dinner tonight was grilled tofu, grilled asparagus, grilled peaches (OH MY YUM!), and leftover green onion slaw. It was colorful, summery, and super delicious. The grilled peaches were like juicy pieces of heaven they were so good.

Work has been really stressful lately. I've had a lot of deadlines over the past couple of weeks in this one REALLY BIG case, plus a few other smaller fires to put out here and there. I realize it still doesn't compare to the hours lawyers who work for Big Firms have to put in, but it has been a lot of intense hours, meetings, and work for me. My stress level has been really high and I've cracked and lost it a few times over the past few weeks (not at work, thankfully, just the confines of my own home). It definitely goes to show that I am not someone who could be happy in Big Firm life. Hopefully things are dying down a little bit and I won't have to work this weekend. I could really use a three-day weekend to recharge.

We're currently 4.5 weeks away from the Army Ten-Miler. We've been following a slightly modified version of Hal Higdon's novice half marathon training, because the 10M/15K training only had us do 8 miles before going into the race. There was no way I would be able to make the jump from 8 to 10 miles on race day, so I'm doing the half marathon training up through week 10 (a 9 mile long run), then doing week 12 on race week (so skipping week 11). This Sunday I will be running SEVEN MILES, which will be the furthest I've ever run. Since I'm breaking into new territory here, I figured I'd try to document my workouts for the next four weeks so that I have this to look back on.

Today's workout was a 4.5 mile run. I ran on the treadmill today and finished in 53:00, which if I did my math right is approximately 11:47 mile pace. I walked the first 5 minutes and then took two other walking breaks during the run. My calves have been getting super tight lately and take forever to loosen up while running. I stopped after 2.5 miles to stretch them out a bit and then was able to pick up the pace a bit for the last 2 miles. I wish I could figure out exactly what was going on with my calves... I stretch them well after I run, but it still doesn't seem to help much. I'll have to look into some additional stretches.

Well, TS and I have started a new daily cleaning schedule so hopefully we can break it up during the week and not spend 2 hours of our weekends cleaning. Time for me to go clean up the kitchen from making lunch and do the remaining dishes!