i’ve discovered over the past few years that i must have music to run. if i run along and can hear myself breathing and my feet hitting the pavement, my brain takes over and i end up feeling exhausted. but find a good song, i can zone out and i’m set. found a new one today, luckily just about a quarter mile into the 6.2 mile jaunt. if you run, its a great tempo, and the lyrics were - well, all too appropriate. i actually put this song on repeat and listened to it for the entire hour and seven minutes of the race. try it on your running playlist:

hello stranger - “her in these lights”

Back then when we were young
Who thought this day would ever come?
After all this time

Some dreams are coming true
Some of us just can’t get through
After all this time

And all my friends are trying to reach some end
Trying to pretend that we’re alright now
I see her in these lights as the setting night

There you and I are standing still
The years dissolving into stronger will
After all this time

Everything we’ve torn apart
We’ve built back with stronger hearts
I’m so afraid of how long I’ve made you stay,
The choices we made but In the end, dear
Who cares who did it right if only we had survived

The things I’ve seen so far away
Are getting closer everyday
After all this time

And all I want when this is done
To say I tried, say we had fun
After all this time

Nothing will be the same
We keep playing the game

Here comes a girl her eyes like stars now
She’s given me a fearless heart
After all this time

two miles later, i loop around to the same corner and run up my favorite hill. now i feel something akin to someone hitting my ponytail and it flipping around. i decide this is more than a little odd.

upon arrival at home a mile later, i decided i was attacked by a bird. we have a lot of blue jays in our neighborhood and they are notoriously angry and violent; the vlad the implaers of the bird family, if you will. (been watching too much history channel)

i ran a few different routes in the following week, before returning to this route yesterday. when i approached my favorite hill, i was in a state of heightened awareness, but not actually scared. i mean, i never actually saw the bird. and what are the chances it would be there again, and be agitated again?

as i ran up the hill, i could see my shadow ahead of me. and the outline of a bird near my head. curse words. because the shadow lacks the depth perception i need to determine how long before i’m attacked, i turn around and to my horror see a bluejay about 10 feet behind my head. i’m a slow runner, but have now found that the secret to an easy sub 9:30 minute mile is to be chased by a blue jay.

among others, mr. rogers and fraggle rock were some of my favorites.

*um, mouth trumpet has its own wikipedia entry? and our annual christmas mouth trumpet competition isn’t mentioned? what the heck. i’m flagging that sad excuse for an informative wikipedia entry.

Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide

The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer

still planning to run the chicago marathon this fall, but am also ready and willing to quit at the drop of a hat.

using:

kitchenaid 7 cup food processor - hummus and pesto and chimichurri, oh my.

bath and body works lip gloss?!
middle school may have been the last time i set foot in B&BW - much to my surprise, i may have found my favorite lip gloss ever on my recent rediscovery trip there.

planning:
the move. moving is always such a pain, and to make it more difficult, i’m traveling to seattle (yay!) for work the weekend before the movers are coming. we’ve found a place to live (pics here) and brian got a job yesterday so things are falling into place, but its still a pain. my list of things/people to notify about the move/new address is sitting at about 50 right now. yuck.

eating:
neely’s bbq - how we’ve lived in nashville 10 years and never been there before last night is beyond me. its very tasty.

all things nashville - now that the move is just a month out, we’re making sure to hit all our nashville favorites one last time. included on the list: rotier’s, calypso cafe, caesar’s, bellacino’s, hot kabobs, maniac’s, baja burrito, past perfect, international market, ichiban, family wash, boscos. wow, i didn’t realize how long this list was. shoot. i need to go eat.

it wasn’t in our plan for the year, for sure. we talked about moving next year, maybe. however, you never really know what circumstances you’ll find yourself in, and if there’s one thing i’ve learned over the past few years, its that planning is - for all practical purposes - pretty much a waste of time. if things seem to be going according to plan - uh, get ready, because you’re likely in for it soon enough.

anyway, i got a job. working here. i’ve been working for them from nashville in some capacity since march. its pretty much fantastic, and i’m sure i’ll like it even more in chicago. i can even link there from my asinine blog without fear of being fired. seriously. check flickr, you will see.

leaving nashville is likely going to be tough, as we’ve both been here for about 10 years - essentially our entire adult lives. sometimes i see someone in the store that i think i recognize, and i briefly think i went to high school with them before i remember that i’m not actually from here. (i know, with my southern accent and all…) i’ve gotten the point where i seriously could not get lost in nashville if i tried; i know this city inside and out. and i finally reached the point where i get offended when people talk trash about the city. what can i say? it grew on me.

so all that to say, been slow on the blog lately because we’ve kind of been consumed with moving stuff, but i couldn’t really say much about it until now. hopefully more frequent updates to follow.

we really do love it here - leaving doesn’t make much sense, but its just one of those things that you know you’re supposed to do, even though it might not be the easiest thing, or seem logical…jerry says it best:

George: I had ‘em, Jerry. They loved me.
Jerry: And then?
George: I lost them. I can usually come up with one good comment during a meeting but by the end it’s buried under a pile of gaffs and bad puns.
Jerry: Showmanship, George. When you hit that high note, you say goodnight and walk off.
George: I can’t just leave.
Jerry: That’s the way they do it in Vegas.
George: You never played Vegas.
Jerry: I hear things.

once in wichita, we had quite the relaxing weekend of sitting around, eating a lot, catching up (since it had been over 2 years!) and watching a gigantic tv, which was pretty fantastic. we discovered our common love for mike rowe, bear grylls, clinton kelly and bret and jemaine. we watched so much flight of the conchords that i feel like i left wichita with a little bit of a new zealand accent. on the to-do list - see FOTC live. if you’re not familiar, watch this -

(0:48-0:52 - that’s just for you, kbs. enjoy.)

we also took quite a few stupid photos, some of which can be viewed here and some of which have been destroyed.

all in all, the past week or so has been the most fun i’ve had in a really long time.

-luling city market provided me with my first taste of brisket. YUM.

-as if we didn’t have enough meat already, we went to fogo de chao which is basically just a buffet of meat that they bring to you at the table. its pricey, but worth it for those who love to eat meat.

-we hit freebirds for burritos. nicely wrapped and assembled, i must admit. i wore a white shirt and ended up wearing none of my burrito.

-mai’s restaurant got us our fix of vietnamese food

-finally, for dinner on cinco de mayo, we visited guadalajara’s for fajitas.

most surprising thing about texas: i began counting the number of things in the shape of texas that were not maps as soon as we landed at the airport. i only got to 27, i expected to get much higher. who knew that the number of servings of meat that i consumed over the weekend would surpass the number of things shaped like texas that weren’t maps? i was surprised, to say the least.

best thing to say to texans you’ve just met: “i’ve been to texas once before, but i went to {insert name of rival texas city} before, so that doesn’t count, right?” you’ll be instantly popular.

good to know about texas: you can actually get sunburned while sitting in the shade. not like “oh i’m a little pinkish” sunburn. more like the painful kind of sunburn that you know just took a few years off your life. yikes.

idea i had in texas: pictures are so boring when everyone is happy. thus the birth of the we hate cinco de mayo photo series, in which we appeared to be angry in a majority of the pictures for dramatic effect. i think i see the making of christmas card 2008 for the forths here…

learning about friends in texas: just in general, its a good to get to know your friends’ families so they can share helpful information with you that your friend might be too embarrassed to share with you themselves. like, maybe if a person was prone to or had a history of freaking out or panicking and as a result passing out, i mean, that would be good info for friends to have. but an individual might be too ashamed to share that info with you. so, yeah, meeting your friends’ families is always good and insightful, as a general rule.

in case you were wondering…

reading:
stuff white people like

running:
about 3 miles a week. me and running broke up. however, in what can only be considered a severe lack of judgment, i registered for the chicago marathon last night, so i guess we’re back together again. now that the portions of my toes that i lost in the half marathon are back…

cooking:
hot dogs, frozen pizza, burgers, and home made pasta. not too many folks with that mix.

its been a busy month, but fun days ahead. will post pictures. send money.

and happy birthday to bobs.