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The Twelve Days of Gazelle-mas: Day 8 (2011 In review)

Dec 30th, 2011
by gazelle.
1 comment

First of all, I need to mention that I fell asleep about 11:30 pm last night and then: I slept until almost 7 AM! I woke once & briefly about 5, but did not need to get up. I’m sure those of you who aren’t/have never been pregnant (or closely associated with a pregnant person) are not sure why that’s news-worthy, so let me enlighten you.  This is probably the 3rd or 4th time since late July that I haven’t had to get up to pee at least once. I don’t know if you remember me bitching about remodeling our bathroom in August – the month of no running water in our upstairs (read: bedroom adjacent) bathroom. I know you didn’t know I was pregnant, but I was, and holy balls, that sucked the big one.

ANYWAYS – looking back! Such an interesting year. A lot of surprises – mostly  good ones.  How did I do with my 2011 goals, you (probably don’t) ask?

Well – let’s just look at that, shall we?

 

  1. Run a half marathon by the end of June. – FAIL! In fact, I didn’t run a half marathon all year. I only had one run over 13 miles, even. Boo!  However, it took a LOT longer to recover from my foot surgery, and just as I was getting into the swing of things, I got myself all knocked up.
  2. Read 52 non-paranormal romance books, including at least 12 from my Nobel Prize list. – FAIL! I only read about 50 books (not counting textbooks) total in 2011, and only 2 were from my Nobel prize list. There’s no way a majority were not brain candy.
  3. SIRASANA! With no wall support. – SUCCESS! Albeit, briefly. I did hit this pose a couple of times, for short periods of time. This is something I will never stop working on.
  4. Take fencing classes. – FAIL!  Due to school/work/pregnancy, this, too, was put off.
  5. Achieve contentment with my body (which may be a combination of weight loss and muscle gain) – EH??? I don’t know. Pregnancy has really thrown this off.
  6. Take a few risks that may lead to happiness. – SUCCESS! Job risks, Toast risks, getting knocked up risks….
  7. Secret Goal that I don’t want to talk about – FAIL! Job changes really got in the way of this (btw, it involved a career switch, and I did interview for a new job in January/February 2011, and was a finalist, but it was not to be….)
  8. Finalize my capstone paper topic and get ready to finish grad school! – SUCCESS! I have only 7 weeks left until I’m done with grad school! YAY!
  9. 5K PR – FAIL!  Again with the recovery from foot surgery + getting knocked up. 2013 is my new year of the runner!
  10. Successful cheddar cheese! – SUCCESS! I love cheese.
  11. Eliminate all non-mortgage & non-student loan debt. – EH….I am in much better shape now than at the beginning of the year. Of course, I’m sure that having a baby will make all my financial dreams come true, right?

 

Overall – even though it looks like I had an approximate 50% fail rate for goals, I am okay with the ones that are fails. I failed for good reasons (i.e. not pushing too hard during surgery recovery, getting pregnant, getting a new job that changed a few of those goals), and I am pretty happy with my 2011 overall.

I have some of the best friends a girl could ask for – both here in PDX, back in South D, and in the internets, as well as the best architect in the land. I’m having a great(ish) pregnancy, I’m almost done with school, I got a promotion at work (and no longer feel one step away from failure at work), and life is pretty damn good.  There are still changes I want to make with my life and my job and all sorts of things, but overall, I’m generally pretty content.

***First the song, and then I will reward (punish?) you with a photo recap of the year!***

On the eighth day of gazellemas, Amy gave to me:

Eight hours a-sleeping

Seven miles a-cycling

Six yogis posing

FIVE PAIRS OF SHOES!

four pancakes,

three lazy cats,

two empty boxes, and

A Pooh Bear outfit, adorable and twee!

 

January 2011:

February 2011:

March 2011:

April 2011:

 

May 2011:

 

June 2011:

 

July 2011:

 

August 2011:

September 2011:

 

October 2011:

 

November 2011:

 

December 2011:

 

 

I am pretty excited to see what 2012 will bring. It certainly won’t be boring!

 

 

Better late than never?

Nov 21st, 2011
by gazelle.
4 comments

My weekend report (I know it’s been killing you all day that I haven’t told you what I did when I wasn’t regaling you with my life stories):

Thursday night: book club! And science lesson! It was pretty awesome. Even though I hadn’t read the book (for shame!), I felt extremely well educated by the end of the evening. Thanks, Mr. Pi for the free, impromptu science lesson!

Friday: I worked in the morning, started my lefse, and watched eleventy hundred episodes of Torchwood. I feel like I must have done something else productive that day, but I couldn’t tell you what. I know that I certainly didn’t leave the house.

Saturday: I went for a run/walk, discovered that all the park bathrooms are padlocked for the season, and then spent the afternoon making lefse! YUM! I also did some cleaning & cleaned out my entire dresser! YAY!

Saturday night, even though I was exhausted, apparently I wan’t exhausted enough. I woke up about 1:30 am and was awake until about 5. Needless to say, I was a cheery, cheery beacon of fun Sunday morning.

Sunday morning was spent cleaning out the fridge (I am slowly but surely making my house clean….of course, by the time I get to the last room, I’m pretty sure that the first room will be completely filthy again; of course also by then, I can make dusting a mandatory chore for my pre-teen). Sunday afternoon, I went swimming with the Ambitious One, and then headed to my favorite theater to see Breaking Dawn.

It was just as insane as I expected. No – it was more insane than I expected. I especially enjoyed the wedding night sex bits. Valuable lessons:  sex is truly terrifying, it might kill you, and when you wake up covered in bruises the shape of your husband’s hands, you should definitely reassure him that a) it’s okay; b) he didn’t mean to; and c) you liked it, really. Great message for our teen girls! Although since pregnancy and childbirth involve a lot of broken bones, blood (both for drinking and for making messes of) and emaciation, perhaps it’s a really great way to keep the kids from getting it on. (A well-placed message about birth control wouldn’t have gone amiss, either.)

ANYWAYS – I thoroughly enjoyed the shitstorm, giggled through most of it, and had a great time with some super fun girls women.  My only real complaint (because my issues with how sex & violence were handled are not real) is that Jacob only takes his shirt off once, and that was in the opening scene. What good are sexy teen wolves if they’re always clothed? I’ve read the books, and I believe there was supposed to be lot more nudity. WHERE IS YOUR ARTISTIC INTEGRITY?

This is why I enjoyed the previous movies:

 

Gratitude Journal

November 21, 2011: I am grateful for my excellent co-workers that make my days much less crappy (and more productive).

November 20, 2011: I am grateful for my beer theater. It is close to my house, has $4 first-run movies before 6 pm, serves decent pizza, and has beer and wine. Also, it has bottle water, which is what I had today.

November 19, 2011: I am grateful for random port-o-potties on my running route.

November 18, 2011: I am grateful that I have a connection to bits of my cultural heritage; I can’t imagine a world without lefse, and am so pleased that I have learned how to do it and have a skill I can pass on to Alvie Bean.

November 17, 2011: I am grateful for coffee. I know it seems like I mentioned it yesterday, but yesterday I only said I was grateful for the coffee maker (in a list of other things). But I really wanted to draw attention to coffee as deserving of its own special day. Coffee is the best beverage ever invented. I don’t understand how I got through so many years never drinking it and thinking it really wasn’t that great. Mmmmmm……coffee.

November 16, 2011: I am grateful for all the little luxuries I have that I often take for granted…my car, my phone, the coffee maker (so very grateful for my coffee maker). It’s so easy to caught up in the things I don’t have that I occasionally forget how very lucky I am. My life is so freaking awesome.

November 15, 2011: I am grateful that I have the kind of job/life/etc. that allows me to afford pretty shoes, and the level-headedness that keeps me from buying (very many) shoes that wouldn’t be practical.

November 14, 2011: I am grateful that I work in a place with lots of little food nooks. It’s always an easy walk to grab more food. Which I do more often than ever, lately.

November 13, 2011: I am grateful for streaming Netflix (and Hulu Plus!). Also, I am grateful for John Barrowman. And my new found love of Torchwood.

November 12, 2011: I am grateful for my awesome friends! I got so much good quality friend-time this weekend! Walks & cocoa & thrifting with her! Ornament painting and dinner and movies with Alisa, Jen, Lisa & Sarah! Cocoa and a chat with her! (I should maybe also mention that I’m grateful for hot cocoa.)

November 11, 2011: I am grateful for laid back evenings at home with the architect.

November 10, 2011: I am grateful to live in Portland, Oregon. It is so beautiful here. I love that we have four seasons, and I especially love autumn.

November 9, 2011: I am grateful for modern medical conveniences that help eliminate unnecessary surprises from my life. Yay for ultrasounds!

November 8, 2011: I am grateful for my brand-new employee who started today, who I am hoping will help take some of the financial reporting burden off my plate & allow me to do a better job on the more big-picture things.

November 7, 2011: I am grateful for weekends and the opportunity to relax and recharge.

November 6, 2011: I am grateful for running – and grateful that I am still able to run. I am also grateful for my proximity to the most awesome running park in the history of the world: Forest Park.

November 5, 2011:I am grateful that I was able to discover enough courage to join Toastmasters. I know this sounds super cheesy, but it’s really made a HUGE difference in my life.

November 4, 2011: I am grateful for the internet, which gives me the ability to work from home, in my pajamas, this morning.

November 3, 2011: I am grateful that I have a good job that is challenging & interesting, if not necessarily catering to my life interests.

November 2, 2011: I am grateful for the architect, who is simply wonderful. He picks up the household slack when I’m busy with schoolwork, brings me chicken fingers on his way home from work, and is simply the most wonderful husband I could ask for…

November 1, 2011:  I am grateful for my (so far, knock on wood) easy and wonderful pregnancy.

Recovering from the weekend

Nov 7th, 2011
by gazelle.
6 comments

I had a pretty fantastic weekend. Friday morning I worked, worked worked, but then got to have a more relaxing afternoon – complete with yoga and dinner with the architect.

Saturday I spent all day at a Toast conference, and feel pretty good about that. I learned lots, and although I left before it ended (TIRED!), it was a good day.

Yesterday, you already know I went for a run. And that it was pretty awesome. BUT – what you don’t know is what happened after I ran. I took a shower, and then decided to just lay down for a couple of minutes. And then I didn’t get out of bed again until after 7, when I was up for approximately 90 minutes (for dinner).

You guys – that hour-long trail run? Wiped me out.

I was so exhausted and tired and sore that I could barely motivate myself to move.

Maybe, after not running more than 30 minutes in the last 8 weeks, jumping up to a 60 minute hilly run was not the way to go. Maybe.

Today, I am not sore at all, but still exhausted.

People who weren’t exhausted this weekend were the architect. He finished tiling the bathroom! It looks awesome. Now, all that’s left is cleaning & caulking the tub, sealing the tile, and then painting & putting in the shelves. We are so close to victory! And also close to things I can help with again! YAY!

IMAG0650

IMAG0651

 

 

Lola helped me relax for a bit this weekend:

Lola loves the xbox!

 

Gratitude Journal

November 7, 2011: I am grateful for weekends and the opportunity to relax and recharge.

November 6, 2011: I am grateful for running – and grateful that I am still able to run. I am also grateful for my proximity to the most awesome running park in the history of the world: Forest Park.

November 5, 2011: I am grateful that I was able to discover enough courage to join Toastmasters. I know this sounds super cheesy, but it’s really made a HUGE difference in my life.

November 4, 2011: I am grateful for the internet, which gives me the ability to work from home, in my pajamas, this morning.

November 3, 2011: I am grateful that I have a good job that is challenging & interesting, if not necessarily catering to my life interests.

November 2, 2011: I am grateful for the architect, who is simply wonderful. He picks up the household slack when I’m busy with schoolwork, brings me chicken fingers on his way home from work, and is simply the most wonderful husband I could ask for…

November 1, 2011:  I am grateful for my (so far, knock on wood) easy and wonderful pregnancy

 

 

Running = Happy

Nov 6th, 2011
by gazelle.
3 comments

I have a (not at all) shocking confession to make. I love trail running. LOVE it. I have not run on trails since September 11. I fell on the trails that day, for the 2nd time EVER (and the second time in a month). I was pretty sure that the falling down bits were bad. After all, I was (am) pregnant, and I think that you’re not supposed to fall. On my first fall, which came about 3/4 of the way through a nearly 16 mile run, I felt flat on my face. I was so very newly pregnant, that I knew Alvie was protected by my pelvic bones and was not likely to come to harm. The second fall, I was nearly 10 weeks along, and managed to twist to one side to avoid the faceplant and possible damage to Alvie.

Now that I’m 19 weeks (tomorrow!) along, Alvie is definitely starting to poke out more and it’s not a good idea to faceplant (so I understand). So, it was with a heavy heart after my second fall that I declared no more trail running until I’m no longer with child.

And I’ve barely run since. Three runs between 9/11 & today, in fact.

This morning I decided that not only was I going to run today, I was going to Forest Park. However, I was going to play it safe and run on (the relatively flat and not really technical) Leif Erickson. I drove up Germantown Road to the Leif trail head. The parking lot was packed! So, I just kept driving, and some how ended up at the Wildwood trailhead.

I promised myself that I would take it easy, pay very close attention to the trail, and walk as much as necessary.

My plan was to go for 30  minutes, then turn around. And I followed my plan. (I actually made it back to the parking lot in 59:19, which means I had a 41 second negative split! Woo!)

The good: I feel amazing. Better than I’ve felt in ages. Plus – this 60 minute run (with approximately 7.5 minutes of walking interspersed) was waaay easier than my last 27 minute run.

The bad: Last time I ran this exact same route with the exact same plan, I ran exactly 1 mile further in the exact same time. (Today = 15 minute miles – that is barely even running!)

The ugly: I did fall down again. HOWEVER – it wasn’t while running, so I’m pretty sure that’s okay and doesn’t count. On my last walk break, I was no longer watching the trail and my feet carefully – after all, I was just walking now – and slipped in a mud puddle. It was the slowest and most controlled fall ever – I just slipped in slow motion. The entire left side of my body was coated in mud, but I think it just made me look hard core. I don’t feel that the fall was a result of bad judgment or anything – although I probably should be more careful on the walking parts as well as the running parts.

ANYWAYS – I feel great, even when I consider the slip & slide. This is honestly the most awesome I’ve felt in ages, and pretty much just proves that I need to run NOT on hard surfaces (sidewalk runs KILL me) and preferably in pretty locations at least once a week. I probably will try to stick to Leif and other similar trails and avoid the more technical trails, but I have no regrets.

Gratitude Journal

November 6, 2011: I am grateful for running – and grateful that I am still able to run. I am also grateful for my proximity to the most awesome running park in the history of the world: Forest Park.

November 5, 2011: I am grateful that I was able to discover enough courage to join Toastmasters. I know this sounds super cheesy, but it’s really made a HUGE difference in my life. I am a MUCH better person for the last couple of years as a Brave Little Toaster. AND I will achieve Competent Leader status by the end of November, and Competent Communicator status by the end of 2011! Also, there are days when I think I might need to find a job that involves more public speaking. Who am I?

November 4, 2011: I am grateful for the internet, which gives me the ability to work from home, in my pajamas, this morning.

November 3, 2011: I am grateful that I have a good job that is challenging & interesting, if not necessarily catering to my life interests. I have the opportunity for professional development (weekly leadership seminar today!), have a decent salary, good health insurance, and a bunch of people who are excited for my pregnancy and not at all worried about my maternity leave (in fact, they’ve told me to not even THINK about being available in May – i.e. budget season – and that they’d get through it without me, as long as I do all the prep work before I leave…)

November 2, 2011: I am grateful for the architect, who is simply wonderful. He picks up the household slack when I’m busy with schoolwork, brings me chicken fingers on his way home from work, and is simply the most wonderful husband I could ask for…

November 1, 2011:  I am grateful for my (so far, knock on wood) easy and wonderful pregnancy

Three (3!) Things Thursday

Aug 25th, 2011
by gazelle.
5 comments

1. As a person who has been rather generously endowed and who is also a runner, sports bras interest me. I often see people running and think, “oh honey, no! They make sports bras for a reason! Let me take you shopping!” Today, I was driving to work, and from a distance saw a person who had a little more bounce than would be comfortable. I felt so bad for them; that is such an uncomfortable feeling! As I got closer, I realized that said person was a man, and probably wouldn’t feel comfortable buying or wearing the support he so obviously needed.  BUT, good for him for getting out there, right?

2. I had a routine doctor’s appointment yesterday & logged into my computer medical chart this morning to see if my test results were in yet (still watching those protein levels!), and in the chart, I noticed that I was now 67 inches tall!  You guys! I have grown 5 inches since my last doctor’s visit in January!  Can you believe it? I am a GIANT! It’s odd I notice my sudden growth spurt, but I have been pretty busy lately.

The person on the left is a dramatic representation of how tall I am now.

3. PLANS! I am such a planner! The architect & I had talked about going somewhere warm & beachy for Christmas…we’ve never really done a vacation-vacation that didn’t involve visiting other people (which we like to do! We love our friends & family), and thought it might be nice to just have a trip for the two of us. I’d originally said I wanted to go somewhere warm & beachy and we’d talked about Mexico or Hawaii, but it turns out that I am cheap. CHEAP!  (Also, my student loans don’t cover the last portion of my capstone, so I have to pay for that out of pocket, which helps with the cheap feelings.) Now I am thinking maybe just beachy, but not warm. Maybe a B&B on the Oregon Coast; a room with a view [of the ocean] and fingers crossed for a winter storm.

* All photos were found by searching my 3 things key words for Creative Commons licensed photos at Flickr

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