2014 - A Blog in Review

Happy dwindling days of 2014! It's been...an unbelievable and unexpected surprise...and I've spent so much time planning, and prepping, and looking towards 2015 already, that it feels strange, and yet fittingly, to put on the breaks and acknowledge that, "Oh yeah! A whole year just went by!"

2014 saw the "Heels or Sneakers" become "Going the Distance," as I struck out on a new adventure...a new job...a new home...engaged...and planning a wedding. A million little twists and turns played out along the way, and you were here for all of them, but just in case you too need a recall of the unimaginable adventure of 2014, then it's time for the 4th annual (I can't believe I've been writing this crazy thing for 4 years!) Blog in Review!

January - 2014 kicked off with everyone's new favorite winter buzzword - the polar vortex...and the most read post of the new year ->CLICK HERE<- told of the highs and lows of being confined to one's couch for the day because of the -45 degree temperature. We could have put that post on a "rinse and repeat" cycle, as winter 2014 didn't get much nicer!

February - For the second year in a row, February was the month of the Indoor Ironman, and for the second straight year, the Indoor Ironman recap got the most hits for the month. ->CLICK HERE<-. This year I have a new gym away from La Crosse, with no indoor race on the horizon, so we'll see if I get motivated enough to track it myself!

March - For whatever reason, the blog post that got the most attention in March, was the blog post that admitted I wasn't blogging enough in March. ->CLICK HERE<-. Maybe everyone came back all at once to see what the hold up had been? Truth be told there wasn't a hold up beyond my own busy schedule. Highlights of that include the Galesville piano recital, my sister's birthday, and coming up with vague monikers for "semi-anonymous man friend" who graced the posts of "Heels or Sneakers" as any number of things before taking on his permanent title, "J Word."

April - April brought the A to Z blog challenge, and with it, a host of new traffic to the site! In a landslide, the most read post of the month was on interval training, which I can only imagine happened because I somehow got tagged to a google search, or listed among people's common interest or recommended reads on Facebook, because I just can't imagine everyone is soooo in love with interval training. Still, even with the added blog traffic, it won out by over 100 page views so, if you missed it, now's your chance... ->CLICK HERE<-.

May - Fittingly, May's big announcement of a new job and pending move got a lot of attention, so much so that it earned top honors for the most view post of the spring! ->CLICK HERE<-

June - ...and following May's "I'm leaving" announcement, came June's goodbye, and my tearful speech for the last time from the G-E-T stage, which earns honors for most viewed post of the summer. (Because let's face it...I just didn't blog in July!) ->CLICK HERE<-

July - See above!

August - August saw the turn from "Heels or Sneakers" to "Going the Distance," but it was actually the kick off of the Friday Fives that saw the most attention. To relive the first one... ->CLICK HERE<-.

September - Starting a new job and going back to school in September provided many interesting challenges, many of which made the blog...and some of which you people seemed pleased to read. 2014's back to school post was the outright winner with twice as many page views as any other September post. ->CLICK HERE<-.

October - The return to Chicago wins out as October's event to remember. Round two race recap ->CLICK HERE<-.

November - In November, I actually titled a post "I think I'm losing my mind...", but it did not get the most attention. Instead, it was the pre-Thanksgiving/Black Friday writeup ->CLICK HERE<- that took the top spot.

December - Which brings us back to December, where fittingly, it is the Ten Things I've Learned from My Year ->CLICK HERE<-, that have drawn people back to the blog.

And there you have it...the full year as it's been...and it's been a whirlwind! Next year doesn't look to be slowing down, so stick around for the stories and shenanigans. And as always...

Happy Trails,

The ten things I learned in 2014

Happy Christmas Eve Eve Eve. Here it comes! The last two weeks of 2014, weeks packed with holidays, and celebrations, and family, and friends, and lots of reflecting about the year that has been. Facebook has launched their year in review picture montage; Google has released their year in searches; DJ Earworm has released his year in music; and the list goes on and on.

One of my favorite daily perusals on the internet in Thought Catalog. If you've never looked at it before, no worries...there's a healthy dose of it scattered within my "Friday Fives." I hit the highlights for you, but if you have more time to kill, by all means, check them out and browse away...just make sure you have 30 minutes or so to lose! Anyway, Thought Catalog is great about year in review stuff, but not just at the end of the year. They're posting lists all the time. "The things you learn when you online date"..."The things you learn when you live with 8 cats"..."A reflection of the 10 worst things that happen when you grocery shop at 2AM"...they exist, and they're kind of funny. Buzzfeed follows a similar model; and Buzzfeed is a wildly popular, successful, and well known internet space. 

And so, as my tiny, mini market blog bobs along in the waters of internet media and entertainment, I present you my own 2014 list. The list of things I learned in 2014, and where it's taking me in the new year. 

1. I don't like change (and I don't expect that to change...) However, my "gut feeling" about the "right kind" of change, is very good. - I've never been good about changing and major life transitions. I like the comfort of my routine, and generally reject things that threaten that. I distinctly remember a conversation once where Mr. Dr. asked if I was ready to leave La Crosse to find "the next phase" of my life, and I rejected it out of hand. And yet, that changed very quickly after meeting J Word. It was very difficult to say goodbye to La Crosse, and admittedly, I cried in my apartment the day we packed up the last boxes and dropped off the keys. But as much as I hated leaving what I knew for the thrill of the unknown, deep down, I never really doubted that it was the right choice...and my gut feeling has turned out to be very very right. 

2. Sometimes, big questions have easy answers. - I am an overthinker by nature. It comes with the territory of having an overactive imagination. When faced with life's big questions, I can reason out every possible situation (good and bad) and play out any number of consequences that might come from my potential choice. It's a gift and a curse. This year, however, I've learned that sometimes, the big questions have easy answers. Sometimes, those answers correspond to situations discussed in item #1. I riddled out a lot of potential scenarios when considering taking a new job and leaving La Crosse. At the same time, telling J Word I'd marry him...easiest answer ever.

3. Dating multiple people at once is... - I was once told that it was OK to see someone for lunch, and then go to dinner with someone else. After the last year, I'm not willing to say that approach is flat out wrong, but I will say that approach is flat out complicated. As part of my online dating experiment in 2014, I never went to two dates with two different people on the same day, but I did have dinner with as many as three different people in the same week. It wasn't a disaster, but it was confusing. I found it hard not to compare the guys, sort out how to follow up, and schedule things around each other. I also felt weird about when the right time to tell guys A and B, that I was more interested in guy C. (In all actually, it didn't work out with any of them...)

4. Dating multiple people at once is... - Dating multiple people at once is also a little thrilling. It feels good to be desirable and attractive, and in the online meat market that is internet dating, it's even restores a little faith in humanity that there are still decent people out there when you can score three dates with three different, relatively normal people in the same week. That is, until you realize that the guys you're dating could also be seeing two other people in the same week...in which case it all starts to feel weird. 

5. I wasn't wrong when I said... - On the heels of my online dating adventure (and subsequent failure #1), I told a good friend that I was over the first date thing, and really what I wanted was the 6 months in relationship, when I didn't have to be dressed and pressed in order to be attractive or happy...but rather, I could sit on my couch in jeans and a sweatshirt on a Sunday afternoon grading papers, watching football, and have someone to hang out with who wasn't mortally offended to see me in a ponytail sans makeup. I wasn't wrong; it's pretty great! 

6. Who you are is who you are, regardless of the circumstances - When I lived by myself in La
Crosse, I would have defined myself as a writer, reader, runner, who liked to cook myself good food, hangout with my friends, and get occasionally lazy and binge on Netflix. Now that I live in Rochester I would define myself as a writer, reader, runner, who still likes to cook good food (but now for two!), hangout with friends, and get occasionally lazy and binge on Netflix. As stated in #1, life changes are scary and hard. What makes life changes less scary and easier?? Being true the awesome person you already are!

7. Hold on the awesome people in your life, but also make room for new awesome people! - I have been blessed with amazing people in my life, people who I know will always be there for me. Once upon a time I heard that we only get three people in our lives that we can genuinely rely on no matter what, and by that measure, I'd have already been done...but I like surrounding myself with amazing people, and I know some of the best! Take a risk...meet someone amazing. They don't have to replace your other amazing friends. But who doesn't want to just have a group of amazing friends?!?

8. Be happy...skip the news. - I like being up to date on current events, but honestly, I'd much rather get my updates from my daily CNN app headlines, Facebook news feed suggested reads, Buzzfeed current events spin, and Yahoo! I don't care if that doesn't count as "real news." Have you watched the real news lately? Sooooo depressing.

9. Everything costs money. - Here's another one I've known about for a long time, so perhaps I should rephrase. Everything costs money, and there are times when it's OK to spend it! I'm a habitual saver...and always try to err on the side of caution. Yet, this year I bought and moved a piano...paid off the rest of my car loan...and started planning a wedding. That's a lot of dollar signs, and a lot of potential anxiety for someone who flinches at dollar signs. But you know what, it's all been OK...and I keep going to work every morning!

10. Something will happen in 2015 that's completely awesome and unexpected... - Let it happen! There is no possible way I could have predicted my 2014. If you would have told me last year at this time, that this is what my life would be this year this time, I would have rolled my eyes, laughed, (and then probably had a panic attack because, oh my goodness, what if that was all true!?!). Life is going to blow your mind at some point...and it will likely be better than you ever could have imagined. Go with it! It's so worth it!

Happy Trails, Happy New Year,

  

    

#BookforaBook - Because Kindle share just isn't as old school

Once, before the age of social media, and instant messages, and texting, and all the other conveniences modern technology brought about, I received a chain letter in the mail. It was like pre-email spam, an actual physical letter that told me to pass it on to five other people on the bottom of the list, something that required a little effort, more than just picking the first 8 people that come up on your contacts, firing off the next link of email chain spam, and then hoping for 17 years of good luck and an unexpected phone call from your crush.

Oh come on...we've all gotten at least one of those in our early, hotmail.com email days.

I can't remember how successful my chain letter efforts were...which probably means they weren't very successful at all. I typically scorn such things when they come my way now. I'm not a habitual email forwarder...I've never been good at baking and passing on the friendship bread starters that have come my way...

However, when I happened to stumble upon this the other day:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/carina-sitkus/2014/12/bookforabook-check-it-out-here/

I was suckered back into the realm of internet chaining...mostly because it wasn't an internet chain!

In a world where my library account exists strictly for ebook borrowing on my Kindle (let's be honest though, this is mostly so that I can cross off the 'no library fines' item on my 30 before 30 list), there may have been something "romantic" about receiving an actual, albeit random, book to curl up with this winter. In hindsight, there may be nothing romantic at all about receiving a random book from a stranger. I'm not a full out germ-a-phobe...but what if the book comes from the apartment of an ebola patient? What if there are strange stains on the pages? What if the pages stick together? I'm not saying I'm really worried about these things...or that I even thought of them as I was signing up (they make for great internet paranoia though!). I'm just saying there's a nice element of the unknown here, and something that could make for a weird, yet hilarious, story.

What if the person sends me literary porn? It could happen! My new winter biking TV fad is Manhattan Love Story, a brilliant, witty little comedy that I'm relatively certain will only last a season but is fun while it lasts. In any case, in the latest episode the main female character, who's an assistant editor, just received her first solo book to work on. ...it's literary porn... It's funny... Until it's the random book that shows up at your house I suppose...

Should you so choose, you now have the link and can join me in this endeavor! If you're below me on the mailing list, I promise not to send you literary porn! I might even pass along something really worth reading. I have a great one going right now! Stay tuned for my thoughts on that, and on whatever it is that shows up in my mailbox weeks from now when I embark on this new literature adventure.

Happy Trails,

 

Friday Five

For the first time in a while I actually sat down for two blog posts this week! Did you miss the first one? No worries! It was short, to the point, and I'm not above shameless self-promotion, so seeing as you've made it to this post, let me start by redirecting you back to the last one!

Of course, if you just tune in to Going the Distance of Fridays for the 'five,' well...we're getting there!

Here you go...

1. Last week I talked about the Grammys, and this week I'll talk about the Golden Globes. In all honesty, I don't watch a lot of regular network TV, so that side of the Golden Globes means very very little to me. (OK...I admit to watching one episode of "Jane the Virgin" after a particularly bad day. I'm not proud of it...) I also haven't see many of the movies on the list, which makes me wonder why I wasted for these nominees at all. Well anyway...

2. I'm working on whittling away my Christmas shopping list, but I'm always on the lookout for a great idea for the harder to shop for people in my life. The greatest gadgets of 2014 are all fascinating...and I hadn't heard of most of them. But, if you're expecting a box from me this year, you just may find yourself with a new toy!

3. I'm not a big cook by the cookbook kind of chef, but I appreciate good food, and this cookbook is apparently the hot foodie read of the New Year. Though I'm not sure it will grace the countertops of my kitchen, I can at least drool over the pictures and thoughts of decadent French food. 

4. Yes...Yes I can... Can you honestly say you've loved someone genuinely?

5. And last but not least, if you haven't already seen this adorable video of a toddler having a temper tantrum over a missed putt, well then, you're welcome for this little laugh for your Friday! 

Happy Trails, 

A Blog Post in One Act

Believe it or not, it's time for another round of theatre posts to start taking over the blogs spaces of Going the Distance. It's barely been a month, I know (TRUST ME...I KNOW!). In fact, we close Honk! exactly a month ago today. However, the second round of theatre-dom here in my new Minnesota adventure is the one act play competition, and that's rapidly approaching in January. So, ready or not, here we go again!

For what it's worth, though I'm still a bit burned out from musical land, I'm pretty excited about my script choice for one act. It's called "I Remember," and it's by the same playwright who wrote "Outside In," my first adventure in theatrical direction. "Outside In" was a great show...in fact, it's even one that I would do again, and they have a one act version that was VERY tempting when I was reading perusal scripts. However, so as not to ruin any further plans I may or may not have with "Outside In," I went a different route, and if all goes well, maybe it will be the dry run of doing a full length, Dennis Bush production in the future. ...anything is possible.

Happy Trails,

Something about December...

Well Happy December, and welcome back to the Friday Five.

Last Friday, as people clamored through stores trying to buy $99 TVs, and $2 PJ pants (some of you are now wondering where you missed $2 PJ pants...I don't think that good of a deal actually existed...but you get my point), I enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner with Josh's Tennessee family, then got in the car, drove across the state to spend the weekend with our Tennessee friends, then drove all the way back to Minnesota on Sunday, for a whirlwind holiday weekend road trip adventure. Thus, you'll hopefully excuse the brief blogging absence.

But now I'm back, and December is here, and the countdown to Christmas is on. There's something about December that is wonderful and magical...and I've always loved Christmas...so bring on the good times. I'm ready! Three weeks and counting!

And speaking of counting...let's count to five. Your first December Friday Five...ready?...go!

1. I like this list of the things that happy couples are able to talk about, mostly because I'm part of a happy coupleship that has talked about all these things! I'm not sure that it's the litmus test for healthy relationships, but I do feel good knowing that J Word and I are pretty much open books when it comes to sitting down for a chat.

2. 

Ok...this one is kind of fun and funny. J Word and I have been talking a lot recently about setting up our own Christmas traditions and what we want our newly co-mingled holidays to look like. We have a Christmas tree, and he laughed himself silly when I hid the baby Jesus (because he can't go in our manger scene until Christmas!),  and we've discussed any number of other holiday-esque things. St. Nick is one of those funny traditions that I've always known I would likely have to explain to a future spouse (as I've had to explain it to just about everyone who didn't grow up in a small sliver of south-eastern Wisconsin). So, when I recently mentioned to J Word that St. Nick fills stockings on Friday night, he gave me that small, sly smile I've come to know as the "I'm going to humor you because you're being a little ridiculous, but you're also adorable at the same time" look. Then he asked if he should expect candy in his stocking. I mention this because I've had to concede that, now living in Minnesota, any future children I may have will have little cultural context for St. Nick because none of their classmates and friends will have St. Nick. Thus, I might at a St. Nickless (that's a GREAT pun!) family. But I think J Word should probably leave his stocking out this week because everyone deserves St. Nick Day at least once!

3. Every year these come out as a end of the year review...and every year I kind of like them!

4. Oh yes!!! This pre-black Friday Target pep talk is one "This is Sparta" short of a empirical war. BUT, bonus points if you can also name the Shakespeare play alluded to in the speech!

5. And last but not least...Grammy nominations are out today, and though this is not something I'm normally excited about, I happened across them and consequently found myself elated that Taylor Swift does not rule every...single...category! 

Happy Trails, 

TGI...Pre-Black Friday Five

It's the Friday before Black Friday making it...??? "Save your money and get ready to binge on turkey" Friday? Everytime I open my email or sort through the mail it seems like another notice for the next great deal is waiting for me. As J Word and I start to figure out what our first set of holidays together will look like, we've discussed all kinds of options and traditions. I can pretty confidently say, Black Friday shopping will probably not be one of them!

But it used to be. Mookie will remember well the years that we ventured out at midnight (when stores actually kept their doors closed until midnight!) and saw all kinds of shenanigans. There was the year we went to Target only to find the line out the doors and wrapped around the parking lot. There was the year we went to Walmart and realized they were about to cut open their "midnight special" boxes, and that we were probably going to get trampled. (This story ends with us hopping a store barricade and getting yelled at by the security guy.) There was the year we were waiting in line at Kohl's at about 2:00AM, falling asleep on our feet, only to realize we were buying something that wasn't that great of a deal anyway! These are fond memories in that they were goofy times spent with my sister. These were not fond memories in the sense that I got the greatest deal imaginable, and therefore NEED to Black Friday shop. It was just a weird part of quality, holiday family time. Last year...in her Thanksgiving night absence...I shopped on Amazon...

But that's next weekend, this weekend is all about not shopping, getting ready for our Thanksgiving road trip to Tennessee, and football (as J Word and I prepare for Round 2 of "A House Divided" Packer/Vikings showdown). To help launch you into your own weekend festivities, here's a Friday Five!

1. This week I dyed my hair. It's very brown, and very different then it was; but I think I'm over the initial shock of it, and will probably even come to love it (though my stylist assures me that, it I don't, she can have it back to blonde by the wedding!) I did this on a little bit of a whim, but in the full assurance and confidence that I was paying a professional a decent sum of money not to ruin my too horribly. Had I done this by myself, with a box in the bathroom, I guarantee this would have been my inner monologue...which is why I'll never do it at home by myself!

2. Last weekend J Word and I took our engagement pictures in the snow, which sounds cute until the photographer confesses that the camera lens can't focus through the flakes anymore, and you end up in the skyways downtown taking creatively shot indoor pictures, while still slightly soggy from the winter mess outside. (It's all totally fine though. It was a ton of fun, and our photographer was grand!) Nevertheless, winter seems to be sticking around for good, and this depressing little story seems to prove it.

3. ...But I'm not really complaining about the winter weather, because at least I don't like in Buffalo!

4. In the event that you do plan to go Black Friday shopping...good for you! Might I suggest picking up Lammily, the realistically proportioned Barbie that comes with acne stickers and stretch marks. Yes...this is a real thing!

5. And last but not least, J Word has recently gone gluten free, and as a result, I'm in the process of learning how to cook and bake all over again. Ok...that's not totally true, but I read A LOT more ingredients labels than I used to, and I used to read A LOT of ingredients labels anyway. So tips like these common baking mistakes are very helpful, and I offer them to you in the event you should ever need to go GF yourself!

Happy Trails, 

Friday Five

Oh sweet week of being home before 8:00, getting a decent amount of sleep, having dinner with J Word...at home...which wasn't prepared by Chipotle or the staff lounge microwave. These are all good thing, and they have me in a much better space heading into this weekend, which will hopefully continue to feature sleeping soundly, quality fiance time, and relaxation!

I knew that it wouldn't be an automatic shift to "normality" as I caught up on those things that I let slide a bit as I went into musical crisis mode (I'm looking at you three loads of laundry!), but it has been nice to reacclimate to a schedule that is a little less crazy and much less stressful. I even got back to a workout this week, finding two chances to fit in an hour of spinning while watching movies that have sat long neglected.

So things are headed back in the right direction, and with the promise of a new auditorium in the future, and 101 things I will do differently next time, I'm not TOTALLY dreading doing another show. (I'm also not all that torn up over the fact that the musical only comes around every other year, either!) In the meantime, I'll just keep catching up on two months worth of lost sleep, enjoying home cooked meals, and getting back to all the other important things that took a backseat to musical mayhem. Here's to a great weekend! Let's kick it off with a Friday Five.

1. J Word and I are having our engagement pictures taken this weekend, and while I did not expect there to be snow on the ground for the occasion, it looks like our November photo shoot may be in a bit of a winter wonderland. I'm going to embrace this idea seeing as our first date was in the middle of a snowstorm and the beginning of our relationship was mostly spent leapfrogging from snow day, to cold day, to "how bad do the roads really have to be before I wouldn't try to get to Rochester/La Crosse" moments. I rarely think about the fact that J Word and I are an "online couple" anymore, mostly because it doesn't really matter once the real relationship is in place. However, I came across this assessment of the stages of online dating while browsing Thought Catalog and thought, "You know what...this is REALLY true!"

2. I have barely run a step since Chicago, mostly because the musical ended up taking my free time, daylight's savings time stole all my daylight hours in the afternoon, and Mother Nature dropped a premature polar vortex onto Minnesota that brought snow, and uncomfortably cold running temperatures. But I have been cycling again, and when I came across this list of the world's best marathons, I did think that I should either tough it out in running tights, or suck it up and get on the treadmill. Ugh.....oh well.....spoiler alert, Chicago is #2. Now you can just skip the list altogether!

3. Cards Against Humanity...that is all! Buy it, play it, dig through the cards making your own crazy, inappropriate hilarious combinations. I guarantee you won't be disappointed!






4. This week Kim Kardashian's butt "broke the internet," but really it just broke out everyone's chance to be ridiculously sarcastic. If you haven't see any of the numerous responses to said images, you can Google search on your own time and at your own risk, though I highly recommend the MET's response! It's classic. (Art that is...)

5. OMG! This woman apparently died from eating raw cookie dough! It's not an urban legend after all!? Be warned before you start your weekend baking!

Happy Trails

This one time, I started losing my mind...

It had been over a week since I had slept soundly through the night when I woke up one morning and couldn't remember how or when I'd fallen asleep at all. In fact, I was fairly certain I must have fallen asleep mid-conversation as I remembered being awake, lights-on, talking to J Word, and the next thing I knew, my alarm was going off, and I was groggily fumbling in the dark for the snooze button.

This was both disorienting and a bit of relief. I have not slept well in the run-up to the musical because the musical has left me with far more on my mind than I am able to shutdown at night, and so my thoughts race through those things that I haven't been able to deal with during the day. The power going out (and thus eliminating the possibility of our much need tech rehearsal) on Saturday, did little to help me unwind over the weekend, and our 7 hour replacement rehearsal on Monday during the school day, was not exactly the nerve soother I would have hoped for. I have been woken repeatedly by nightmares ranging from bad things happening on stage, to bad things happening in life in general. I've been exhausted for days.

So the fact that I had fallen asleep without even recognizing it, and stayed asleep long enough that I was confused in the morning as to how it had all happened, meant one of two things. Either 1. Things had started to go well enough that my body finally let itself relax, or 2. I had finally lost my mind, reached the point of physical exhaustion, and had gone into self preservation mode. Actually, both options probably hold an element of truth! The show is better...not great...but better; but regardless of how things go, I'm also not sure I could have made it on many more nights of limited sleep.

Time gives perspective to all things, and there will come a time in the future that I will look back on Honk! as the little show that could...almost didn't...but then could again. There will come a time when I'm home before 9pm, in bed and sleeping soundly without nightmares of scene changes and show disasters. Moving forward, I know what I'd change, what I'll do differently next time, and what things are going to always be variables when directing high school theatre. I also know who stands in my corner, who's willing to step up to the plate, who's always going to have my back. These are important lessons, lessons I know linger amid the chaos of everything that the last two weeks have been, and, in time, will come to mean much more than mere "silver lining" afterthoughts of an otherwise challenging stretch.

Honk! If you love theatre. Honk! If you're ready to watch someone else perform it for a while, from a seat other than the director's!

Happy Trails,

Sleepless Nights!

TGI, Halloween, F

Among the many strange dreams I've had this week as I've tossed, turned, and fretted over the coming musical, last night I dreamed I was on stage with the cast, when I suddenly realized that the diamond in my engagement ring had cracked in half to reveal the stone was hollow. J Word asked if this was a subconscious manifestation that I thought the musical would ruin our relationship. I very much doubt it, though for certain, the musical has ruined my sleep schedule.

There are 101 things left to do before the performance, and the idea that we open a week from tonight is terrifying...but then, it's also Halloween, so everything's a little scarier than it should be! A full day rehearsal tomorrow should hopefully assuage everyone's stress and nerves. In the meantime, I'm thinking an extra hour of sleep this weekend, or at least another hour to toss and turn, might do me good.    

What I could really use is to run a few miles...though my rehearsal schedule hasn't really allowed that to happen. Monday's dress rehearsal is during the day meaning I'll have a chance to get home before dark, and hopefully that gives me a chance to get out of my head for an hour or so. In the meantime, I'll turn to internet frivolity to find a brief moment of escape!

1. I'm not going to claim to have had all these relationships, but as I've reached the end of my dating game, I think I will at least admit to #'s 1, 3, 5, and 9.

2. This is a crack-up, mostly because the descriptions are funny, but also because it's probably surprisingly accurate!

3. Theatre headlines always catch my attention, and any list of theatre suggestions immediately gets my mind going about what I want to see or direct next. I've seen 4 of these titles, and I'm most excited for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime to start making the US theatre rounds!

4. Finally, a sensical account of how I feel about Taylor Swift, and a semi-justifiable reason for my emotions. I used to think I hated her music, until I caught myself you tubing "Shake it Off." I used to think I disliked her as a person, but she makes it hard to actually dislike her as she's not as brazen as many of the other mainstream celebrity disasters. She's just...eh...

5. And last but not least there was this picture this week...

...which could have crashed the internet on cuteness factor and number of collective "likes," "retweets," and instagrams!

Happy Halloween! Happy Trails! 

Friday Five...or Saturday Six...

I admit it. I intentionally neglected the Friday Five yesterday after thinking about doing it about five times. But really, you're welcome...because I blogged Thursday, and was considerate enough not to blast you with another round of internet musings that, no doubt, would have disrupted and distracted your other Friday evening activities.

...that may have been unnecessarily self-important! ;) But here's hoping you really did have something better to do last night than browse the internet. As for my plans, J Word and I have recently taken to playing very competitive games of Chinese Checkers...a trend that continued after we both put in a good amount of time to getting some work done as well. Quarter 1 grades are coming due soon, and he's got building permit drawings to prepare for his most recent property acquisition, so it was a paperwork kind of night.

Not super exciting, and this morning has been much of the same. So let's jump into a little internet folly to help you relax and procrastinate as the weekend rolls on!

1. This article is well written, true, and (happily) something J Word and I actually did after we got engaged. General premise: the very first thing you need to do after you get engaged is take a moment to enjoy the moment by yourselves...without rushing to tell anyone. J Word proposed on the top of a fire tower in a state park with, conveniently, no cell service; therefore, by default we had as much time as we wanted to spend the moment alone, hike back out of the woods, and keep the 'secret' between ourselves for a small stretch of time before sharing with our friends. After reading and discussing the article, we both agreed that we were glad we did!

2. On a far less sentimental note, this list of indicators that your life is about guacamole...true on so many levels!

3. The question of "Best Day of Your Life" is subjective, and the answers (and yes that was answers plural) vary by context. This article about what your best day(s) of your life says about you is a little bit interesting, a little bit silly sarcastic, and a little bit thought provoking, in that it made me want to keep my own list of best days.

4. and 5. The last two things go together in the category of "Other Things that You Could Be Doing on the Internet that Might be a Better Use of your Time!"Read 'em and...be prepared to lose track of the next few hours of your life!


http://thoughtcatalog.com/balaji-viswanathan/2014/10/9-incredibly-productive-ways-you-can-spend-time-online/

http://oneminutelist.com/22-impressive-talents-you-can-learn-online/

And a bonus...because I'm a day late listing!

6.

You're welcome for that last one!!

Happy Trails,

Good things come to those who wait...but at some point, action is required!

This week, as I kick musical rehearsal up a notch into "we really have less than three weeks to pull this off now so MEMORIZE YOUR LINES...please!" mode, I found myself reflecting on the phrase, 'Good things come to those who wait.' I know the fortune cookie that originally spit that out probably had the best of intentions. (I also know that it did not, in fact, originally come from a fortune cookie!)

That said, I have patiently gone about the musical rehearsal process as sports, clubs, work, life, etc. etc. etc. take precedence over practices because, well, this always seems to happen with the theater productions. However, the other thing that always needs to happen with theater productions is that, at some point, the production must become the priority. I reached that moment on Tuesday, and my cast heard about it...in an unusually firm and vocal way. Good things do come to those who wait, but I've waited long enough, and I don't merely want 'good things.' I want a GREAT show. Great shows require practice and action, and I have no more patience for things that don't move us closer to that goal! 

...wow! I wish I would have been that articulate during my actual "motivational" pep talk on Tuesday. That was pretty deep! 

Patience, of course, is a virtue, and I'm not suggesting immediate action is the best choice in every situation. Take another example from this week of something I've intentionally been patient to return to. Yesterday was my first run post Chicago Marathon, and though it felt great to run in the unseasonally fantastic fall weather, and the fact that I've been itching to run for about 4 days now, I'm glad I waited at least the full week after to fully recoup and recover. Even now, I'm decreasing my mileage significantly to prevent burnout and injury. I'm still excited that I finished the race. I'm still excited about running, and having a little patience in returning to the training and race seen will hopefully continue to keep me excited about both.

So where is the line between patiently waiting and taking necessary action? This is a big question and one I'm probably not fully qualified to answer. However, I think with the important things, the things that will actually require a decision or action at some point, it comes down to a matter of common sense and the consequences that will result from said action or choice. And because lots of people lack common sense, and even more people don't consider consequences until it's too late, this probably explains the root of A LOT of the world's problems!

Happy Trails,

Fall Break - The Friday Five

You know what the perfect remedy to running a marathon is? A short week of work, a long fall break weekend hanging out with J Word, a night out on the town with theatre tickets, and no running. Sounds perfect...and impossible...but it happened...so it's not impossible, and it is perfect!

As such, I have no witty words, nor academic anecdotes on which to reflect at the end of the week. Instead I offer you these five things for a little fall break fun of your own.

1. I hated being tall when I was younger, though at some point (probably about the time I stopped wearing XL tshirts and bought my first pair of heels) I grew into my height and got over it. (So many tall puns!! Sorry I'm not sorry!!) Still, this list of struggles all tall people face, is not incorrect.

2. OK...this one is actually kind of school related. There's been a big hoopla about the school lunches recently, and out of the fray...delicious looking beefy tacos emerged on Tuesday. But how does that compare to the world's lunch trays? Now you know...

3. This cracked me up! J Word...this is your odd compliment of the day! 

4. This is a semi-humorous, semi-cringe worthy illustrated account of tiny bees fighting giant hornets. I hate all bees regardless of size. Please acknowledge how difficult it was for me to post this. It's not a rational fear...but I'm working on it! 

5. And because it's now fall, and Halloween is almost upon us, this gem is worth sharing again...because it's HILARIOUS! My apologies for the language. There is no edited version. Just read it with "beeeeps" in your head and it'll be fine!

Happy Trails, 

Crossing the finish line...again!

Somewhere along the 26.2 miles of the Chicago Marathon route, I threw up my hands in the shape of a heart...because I love distance running so much that I was willing to waste a few precious iotas of energy to make a sign of affection.

Somewhere along the 26.2 miles of the Chicago Marathon route I also just plain threw up...because I love distance running so much that I was willing to toss my cookies and still slog through the remaining 10 miles of the race to get to the finish line.

Thus is the adventure of running a marathon. Between the awe inspiring sunrise over Chicago at the starting line and the spirit shattering stretch between miles 22-23, just about every human emotion has its moment in the spotlight. I feel like a million bucks! I feel like I'm going to die! This is the most amazing thing I've ever done! This is the dumbest idea I've ever had! ...each takes its turn in prominence. That's why a marathon is such a human drama. You just never know what you're going to get, and at any given moment, what you get could look dramatically different.

There are a few shared experiences in the process of the race, however. Like, let's talk about the wall. I'm going to assume that the people who win marathons, or dedicate an absurd amount of hours/years to their training don't hit a wall, but for the rest of us out there just trying to survive, the wall is a common experience, recognizable at that point in the race where more people seems to be walking than running...or at least when the un-official pace group you were with seems to have all slowed down together by an average 20-30 seconds. Such is the wall.

At Mile 22, I hit the wall...but the wall was different this year. Here's what makes the wall hard. (And here J Word thinks, "Sheet rock!")  In my first marathon effort when I reached the wall, I had never before been beyond it. My body screamed at me to stop, and I almost did because I wasn't certain that I could endure. This year at mile 22 my body screamed for me to stop again, and I would have, but I also knew that I didn't have to. I knew that if I could get to mile 23, with just over a 5k left, my mind would win, and I could talk myself through the last stretch of mileage.  

And that's what happened. Mile 23 looked better than 22, and 24 looked even better, so that by the time I reached 25 it was in the giddy mindset of, "ONLY ONE MORE MILE!!!" It's also important to note that my "fail safe" motivator at this point was this little musical number that makes your run feel like the most epic thing to happen in the history of the world.

So Chicago has come and gone, and so will the race/training stories for now. The musical is in ramp up mode, quarter 1 is drawing to a fast close, and I'm off on fall break for the next few days, so I'll have a full chance to physically and mentally recoup before I have to hit the ground running (even just metaphorically) in the coming weeks.

Of course, I can't imagine there won't be any literal running thrown in for good measure (and sanity!) as well. So, as always, stay tuned.

Happy Trails,

Heading to Chicago

Well friends, this is it. Countdown to the marathon has reached its final days, and tomorrow morning J Word and I will head down to Madison to pick up The Platypus before making our way to Chicago. First on the agenda, the expo, which if I remember correctly was both very cool, and very intimidating. Then it will be off to check into our hotel, meet up with Mom and Dad, and a pre-race dinner at the same place we ate pre-race last year because, hey, why mess with what worked the first time!

I'm not sure what my primary emotion is at this point. The taper week nerves caught up on Wednesday, and have stuck around with a nausea inducing vengeance. The sore throat that popped up this week doesn't do much to soothe those anxieties. At the same time, I am excited, if not for the suffering and struggle, then at least for another chance to be out on the course with the other runners and race atmosphere.

I think I've said it before, but this race feels different than last year, and taking a taper week walk yesterday, I think I really pinpointed the reason as to why. Last year when I ran the marathon, it was kind of the culmination of 3 years of work I had put in. When I started training for my first half marathon in 2011, I'm not sure a marathon was even on my radar screen. However, having finished that race, and then ventured into the world of triathlon, the goals kept growing until, eventually, I reached a point where a marathon not only seemed possible, but I wanted to do it. Last year's race was a kind of crowning personal accomplishment.

Since Chicago last year, I haven't had a big desire to set a new, loftier goal. I've continued to love the run and love the race, but I've been content with where I've landed. I've found my adventures other places, with J Word, with my new teaching position, racing around the courses I know well and love, and equally enjoying the quiet couple of miles I can take around Silver Lake. I don't feel like I have anything to prove this year. Last year there was a little flicker of fear that, in running the race, I was trying to be something I wasn't. This year, regardless of how the race goes, I go with the confident assurance that this is already the person I am. I'm already a marathon finisher...now I just get to try and do it again.

Heady, overly reflective stuff for a Friday. Let's list instead!

1. I love my home state of Wisconsin! (Go Packers!) So when I saw this list of happiest states I thought, "Hey congrats Wisco, you're #10!" Then I kept reading and found Minnesota at #2 and thought, "Hey, I live in Minnesota...happily!"

2. This interactive map showing the average time every county goes to bed is pretty cool. Also, I wonder why anyone ever thought to create said map. That said, I admit I putzed on it for quite awhile, so well played internet! Well played!

3. This one is a shout out to my nutritionist and foodie best friend Oz! :) The 25 things that happen when you start eating right. Number #1...apparently you start dancing like Beyonce!



4. All right, real life confession...watching "Titantic" on cable television at odd hours of the day when I wasn't in class and supposed to be doing homework was a college guilty pleasure. So imagine my shock when I found out there was an alternate ending. And though it was shocking to find...it's not really all that shocking that it's AWFUL! But thank you for explicitly stating the theme for us in the (eventually cut) dialogue!

5. J Word and I are an internet dating success story (next Match.con commercial!) so I'm not really going to bash online dating here, but this assortment of commonly used pick up lines, is 100% accurate...just so you know! If you're going to take the internet relationship plunge, I'd say go for it...but you've been warned! 

And a bonus motivator!

Happy Trails, 

Taper Time - Countdown to Chicago!

Once upon a time, I signed up for Chicago 2014. That was in...February...March...maybe April?? I don't actually remember because after I did that, life pretty much happened, and had I known then what I know now, I may or may not have made the same choice to register.

However, going with the information that I had at the time, which is to say that I hadn't yet resigned from GET, planned to move, gotten engaged, and started a new job that included fall musical responsibilities, I made the best choice I could. I was...still am...super pumped to run Chicago again.

In the wake of life happening, this year's trip to Chicago feels very different than last year's trip to Chicago. Last year, marathon training became this kind of barely sustainable personal journey during which I ran five days a week, harder than I ever had, because I needed to satisfy this desire to challenge myself beyond reason, just to prove that I could do it. It was totally an "all about me" moment, both in the time it required, and in the fact that you learn things about yourself that you really can only learn by reaching mile 24 of a marathon. My training simply could not be that way this year because I'm sharing my time with someone else. Though at this time last year, I had completely made my daily training my #1 priority, that changed this year somewhere between signing up for the race, deciding to move to Rochester and winding up with a ring on my finger. I'm not complaining that this is the way things worked out...just observing that it feels very different to spend half the day running when you're leaving someone at home then it does to lock up an empty apartment.

To be completely fair to J-Word, he has been the ultimate in supportive, and I'm definitely going to continue running as it's become paramount to the way I operate. However, as I head into taper week, I'm also glad that life will slide back into balance. In all honesty, I have not trained as hard as I did last year because I've been trying to maintain some of that balance already. I imagine this could make this year's race more difficult than last year's. Maybe not though...I think I've trained smarter...I'm not as burnt out. Only race day will tell, but as taper week is a time to be reflective of the process as much as anything else, I can say with absolute certainty, the last 4.5 months have been one heck of a journey!  

Let's list...

1. This week J-Word and I are facing off in two fantasy football leagues. Bragging rights and a friendly wager over Halloween costumes are on the line...and I lost to him last time we played, so I might be in trouble! Thus, I've been checking my line-ups and the waiver wire trying to put together my best roster. This is tricky business, but when I see stories like this, where an NFL player actually benches himself in his fantasy league, only to have a career game and put up 33 points, I realize that the "tricky part" of it all...is really just a matter of getting lucky!

2. As long as we're talking about running, there are these all important questions that every runner has asked. Are we there yet? definitely applies!!

3. This infograph was SUPER interesting. It compares the average finishing time of participants from one state against the averages of the other 49 states. Conclusions to be drawn...Minnesota is faster than WI. Also...my finishing time last year was faster than the WI women's average by 11 minutes.

4. From the same report, this graph shows people's total marathon time in proportion to runner's half marathon split times. Also SUPER interesting.

5. 

Happy Trails,

Let It Go! - A totally "seriously!?" moment

Well, we've made it back to Monday, which means, if you're anything like me, the alarm clock went off way too early, the coffee wasn't strong enough, and you're relieved to be heading on towards Tuesday. 

Actually, if you're really like me, you hit snooze three times this morning, the coffee can't be stronger because you have sensitivity to caffeine, and you know that it's been scientifically proven that Tuesday is the most depressing day of the week, not Monday. Reality is what it is! 

Regardless of how your Monday unfolded, perhaps this little gem will add a little something extra to your evening. As an English and Media/Journalism teacher, I cover both the realms of plagiarism and current events, so when this recent headline popped up, it caught my eye. 

A Woman Is Suing Disney Claiming “Frozen” Is Stolen From Her Life Story

The story is made all the more hilarious by the subtitle: 

A queen with magical powers who’s friends with a snowman – we’ve all been there.

 

...which naturally makes it primo material for class because I can now cover two birds with one stone. A. Reporting the news. B. Don't plagiarize. Excellent! 

For those of you who haven't read the story, I'll do the responsible thing first and link you to this relatively unbiased story regarding the details of the woman's claim. I, however, prefer this overly sarcastic recap of the lawsuit. Among the details claimed to be plagiarized: the setting is a snow covered village in the mountains, the younger sister falls in love, and it features the story of two sisters who care about each other. To be fair to the plaintiff, I should mention that she DOES NOT claim to have magical powers or to hang out with a talking snowman. 

I teach literature for a living, so I feel relatively confident in my assessment that many stories share very similar elements and repeating, universal themes are the threads that tie generations of authors and great works together. My students are writing compare/contrast essays right now. Guess what? The stories they are comparing are very similar, and written in completely different time periods. Does this mean they were plagiarized? Of course not! Hence the compare AND contrast. In the case of this particular complaint, I'm going to say that the fact the main character has magical powers and a talking snowman are pretty big plot elements that can't be ignored. Also, there's the whole issue of the Hans Christian Andersen story, "The Snow Queen," which Frozen is admittedly similar to (likely on purpose). Perhaps the autobiography in question plagiarized Andersen first. 

If I sound like I'm up on a soapbox about this, I'm certainly not. I'm more recapping the conversation that was had in class today. I'm not really going to defend Frozen as I've punned and parodied the movie to many times to count. However, as a creative writing exercise, I did begin to wonder what Disney movie is plagiarized from my life story. I've decided it's probably the entire Toy Story series for the following reasons: 

• I had toys growing up
• I used to pretend that those toys had personalities and could talk to each other
• We had a sandbox
• There were army men in the sandbox
• I had plastic dinosaurs
• I had a Barbie and Ken 
• My toys might have come to life and talked to each other when I left the room (I can or cannot verify this) 
• I moved as a child
• I used to buckle my toys into the car with the seatbelt
• Pizza Planet looks a lot like Chuckie Cheese
• I went to college and packed my toys into boxes in the attic
• I once sold toys at a garage sale

Key differences: 

• I'm not a boy named Andy

Obviously I have a case, right!?! :) 

Happy Trails, 

   

Getting pumped for a 5k

Training for a marathon is long, and exhausting, and time consuming, and though finishing the race is a huge pay-off and the ultimate accomplishment of a runner...I'm really ready to be done running and done training by the time I get to that finish line.

But racing in and of itself is fun and exciting and part of the huge draw of running 26.2 miles in the first place. It's not a super fun thing to do by yourself on a Saturday afternoon...but add in 44,999 other runners and one million spectators, and suddenly you have an event! Of course, not everyone is going to run a marathon, but everyone should have a moment or an experience like a marathon...that is, an event to share and celebrate a common experience, in a unique environment, with a sea of humanity. It doesn't have to be running...running just happens to be common suffering, therefore it lends itself well to such an event. 

But it certainly doesn't have to be a marathon! Enter last weekend's race event, the Milwaukee Electric Run, a funny little 5k that was more of an experience than an actual race. 

I don't run a lot of 5k's because normally my training is so much more than 3 miles that such a race would be a warm up to something much bigger. But Mom motivated this one, and J Word, Mookie, Mustang, and the Platypus all agreed to go along, so Team Diana is took to the streets together to race (or at least sightsee) our way to the finish line.

As to other important bits of mindless info, facts and trivia. Here a few worthy delving into if you have five minutes for the Friday 5!

1. While teaching high school literature, I've had a number of occasions in which I've had to handle sensitive subject matter, language issues, and intense themes. It's sometimes tricky ground to navigate...but then again, it's never been quite as giggle inducing as these unintentionally horrible children's book gaffes!

2. Having just finished musical auditions, I can't tell you how relieved I am that this didn't happen! Also...none of my auditions were that bad either!

3. Yes, yes, yes, and yes. 

< ----------4. OMG! We had this game growing up...one of the first computer games we installed onto the "kid's computer" in our back office and were allowed to play! I had COMPLETELY forgotten about it, but thanks to thought catalog...memory recovered! 

5. And as long as we're talking about childhood, there's all of this!


 

Happy Trails,