it's a long term thing, as it turns out

One of my gifts for the holidays was a generous gift certificate from Mr B to Barnes and Noble (because he's noticed I've been re reading everything on my bookshelves and thinks I'm weird). I took part of yesterday to head down to Kingston to exchange a few other gifts and to find something to read. Now, purchasing books is a daunting task. They are the one item that I like to own and have warned Mr B that when we build a house it needs a room with floor to ceiling bookshelves, but this does not mean that I will buy anything. Books need to fit the following criteria: I would want to read it again, I will learn something from it, and I can't finish it in one sitting. So, as I said, daunting. (Not fitting these doesn't mean I won't read it, just that I'll borrow it rather than buy it.) So as you can see, daunting.

When I walked through the doors into book heaven, the first thing that smacked me in the face was a huge display full of books on dieting. These books varied in shapes and sizes but all were bright and eye catching. Many featured their in shape authors on the front, and all promised that by purchasing their book you would get in the best shape of your life. This display reminded me of all the TV commercials (we only have one channel so I see many of the same commercials over and over again) I constantly see. Be it for Alli or Weight Watchers, or any of these brightly colored books filled with promises, they're all getting at the same thing: we need to change how we live our lives.

I am fortunate that my mom went on a health kick when I was a kid and always had healthy meals, otherwise I would probably resemble a Beluga whale. While I never had a sweet tooth I did have a love for McD's & Burger King, and in college that turned to pizza and beer. Exercise was limited to walking to and from the metro, and I am very grateful that I didn't weigh myself during those years (the pictures tell me enough). Around the beginning of my junior year I started going to the gym and eating less - not better. I lost a bunch of weight and that was the thinnest I have been in recent memory. When I moved in with Mr B I stopped watching what I ate and worse, starting eating like HIM. My trips to the gym stopped and it wasn't until we moved to NY I joined a gym again. Two years and change from when we moved up here I am in better shape, but not best shape. But I am on the way.

One of my favorite things about running outside is that I have fewer excuses not to go. A gym required packing a bag, driving and finding a parking spot - then there was the amount of time that it takes to get home afterwards. Running outside requires getting dressed and, well, going. There is also a greater degree of freedom in this. I can run anywhere, anytime, anyplace. It's liberating and weirdly, empowering. It simply requires throwing some gear on, and I'm out the door. I am learning to take this same sense of empowerment and translate it to other areas of my life. Nutrition is my current top priority, because if this is going to be a lifestyle change then this is another huge piece of the puzzle. It's hard right now with the abundance of cookies and candy following the holiday, but on the other hand it's a fantastic test of will power!

I just finished the second day of week 7 in the Couch to 5K, which was my third 25 minute run. The first two I did with someone else (my sister, and then Mr B) but this was my first solo endeavor. And I did it! I am, however, getting a bit bored with my route but until I feel brave enough to conquer the hills that surround the apartment, I will stick to the Rip Van Winkle Bridge (and hey, the view is GREAT!). Also, I am hoping my running buddy will feel better and go running with me again!

We're headed to Syracuse through Saturday to ring in 2010 (and yes! I am bringing my running shoes!). Hope everyone has a healthy, happy New Years!

peace&love,
Ren

running towards change

This holiday season was our fourth together, and by far the best yet. You'd think by this point we'd have a routine but what fun would that be? Instead, we've played every year by ear and this year finally stumbled on a formula that worked. There was still the requisite running around (as our families are two hours apart) but we got to our final destination on Christmas Eve and remained there through the 25th. This, combined with Mr B's excitement that rivaled any small child's, made for the best holiday in a long, long time.

I began doing the Couch to 5K program back in the beginning of November. I have followed the program faithfully but have harbored my doubts - me, the girl who got winded running the bases in high school run 3 miles? Psssh. Yet, I keep surprising myself. At the end of week 5 when I ran 20 minutes I think I spent the entire time in awe. On Christmas day my sister Bug (personal trainer, rugby player, has run a half marathon) went for a run with me, the first 25 minute run. The run was a success (albeit it a hard won success) in both duration and distance - at least 2.5 miles! As we walked back to my parents and my sister regaled me with tales of her half marathon (wow!), I could not actually believe that I had just done that. I mean, don't get me wrong - we're not done yet. But now, I finally believe I can do it.

Unsurprisingly, Mr B and my family had faith in me from the start. Despite that it is has been only about 8 weeks, I received some really nice running gear for the holiday/my birthday. Dad gave me some nice Under Armour Cold Gear pants and a turtleneck and a DVD by Al Lyman, and from Mom I got a Road ID bracelet. Sharon got me Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, an awesome hat, and a gift certificate to Dicks, and my mom's cousin got me an exercise ball and resistance band. And Mr B, perhaps my biggest support system, got me a running pouch and new earphones. I am the queen of starting things and not finishing them (case in point: how long since I updated this thing?!), but these gifts have just hardened my resolve.

I have always loved the feeling of working out, but have not ever stuck with anything long enough to consider it a lifestyle change. Already, this feels different. Maybe it's because I don't have to have anything fancy, and don't have to drive anywhere, or maybe it's because I'm just a few days shy of 25 and realize that it's TIME. Where ever my inner motivation is coming from, it's spilling into other areas of my life quite nicely. I come home from a run and want to nourish my body properly. I haven't had a french fry in weeks, and I am actively trying to make this a lifestyle change. The book from Bug is a fantastic start, and I've already read about half of it. My dad got me a Kelty bag for my birthday and I am confident in a way I would not have been last year that it will get plenty of use. I can't wait to explore all the local hiking trails and really embrace this inner camper.

In conclusion, and in an effort to really motivate myself through the last three weeks of this program, I'm setting a personal goal to do the Freezer 5K in February. Sure, it will be cold, but that's why I have my Cold Gear!

peace&love,
Ren

of Michelle, Jackie, Beyonce & Eleanor

My sister lives in Ireland, and so we communicate mostly through the wonderful invention that is gchat. The biggest benefit? All the conversations are recorded. [We'll call her Bug, as that's the shortened version of the nickname, Bugaboo, I gave her when we were kids. PRE Destiny's Child making a hit out of it, for the record.]

Bug: i was reading that article on their marraige
i wanna be michelle
Me: the one from the NYT mag?
that was a great atricle
Bug: yeah
i will never not love her.
she is my new but slightly less iconic Jackie O
and i dont care how cliche that is
shes even better cause her husband isnt sleeping with Beyonce
(modern equiv of marliyn?)
Me: hahahhahahaha.
Bug: of course if he was, Jay z would probably shoot him.
anyway, i want to be her.
Me: I agree with everything
Bug: good.
and she too wears the style of dress that Jackie & I love.
Me: yeah I know
shes gorgeous
Bug: speaking of I need something to wear for the holidays!
shes formidable.
shes like a mutant combination of Eleanor and Jackie.
THERES NO STOPPING HER
Me: I want a snazzy new outfit to wear for the holidays too!
wow, thats a great description
Bug: its true though.
lets online shop together
"Windows Shopping" if you will

and in local news...

There is something about having Christmas decorations up that really just brighten my life. The dreary grey days of December don't bother me when the apartment is lit up with the cheery white lights of the tree, and the multicolor strands lining the ceiling. One of our cats, Dolittle, has made her annual home on the tree skirt, and despite the fact one of the ornaments was broken this morning, I can't seem to bring myself to eject her from her happy home. And along that same vein, as much as Mr B tries to get me to shut off the lights, I won't. See? We're all winners.

I had to run to the bank & Walgreens, and while up there noticed that they finally opened an Urgent Care Center in town! Considering Mr B is a contractor without (prohibitively expensive) health insurance, we have had numerous instances where we have been in need of an urgent care center. It's nice to know that the next time he needs a tetanus shot because he hit himself in the arm with a whackertacker we dont have to either pay the expenses of the local ER or drive an hour to urgent care! This is all with the ultimate goal of getting health insurance, of course. But in the meantime, it's nice to know that this new Urgent Care center is only minutes from our home.

And in other local news, because I am finally scouring the local paper after an absence of about a week, the town next to us is converting their old opera house into a microbrewery & musical venue! In addition to the fact we'll have a microbrewery down the road (!!), it's also great to see older buildings being turned into something nifty, instead of torn down and replaced with new construction.

Finally, I've moved from Wordpress to Blogger, so if some of the past entries look a little off format, or comments are missing, that's why. I'm sure things will continue to change around here as things get settled in, but overall it should be good!

Oh, and finally finally (for real this time) - THANK YOU Generally Fabulous for the spankin' new banner which is well - generally fabulous!

peace&love,

renski

that time of year, again

Holiday weekends do not typically bring with them productivity. Case in point: I had the week off of school, which would have been a great time to get ahead of the game. Instead I read books not about the American Revolution, and watched a lot of movies.

us all weekend

We did not plan Netflix correctly and found ourselves at the local Red Box, where we rented 3 movies on Saturday evening – Up, The Ugly Truth and G.I. Joe. When he returned them Sunday afternoon, three more came home in their place – Funny People, Angels & Demonsand Four Christmases. As we had just finished decorating our shoebox apartment (lights strung on the high ceilings! Tchatcky everywhere! Fake prelit $20 6′ tree!) , we opted for Four Christmases to keep with the holiday spirit!

It is of no relevance that I happen to love Reese Witherspoon, and forgive her for taking Jakey G away from me (rumors of their split almost broke my heart!). Her kids seem well adjusted, as in not dressing like sluts, and if I had to rank Hollywood parenting skills I would put her right up there with Jennifer Garner. This has absolutely no bearing on this movie at all, because my love for Reese was leveled out by my ambivalence for Vince Vaughn, but it was a pretty decent movie. This paragraph is not even close to my point, by the way.

In one scene in the movie the main characters were trying to go to Tahiti for the Christmas Holiday to avoid their families. Mr B made an offhand comment that we could never do that with my family, because we actually love them and like spending time together.

many pumpkin martinis were consumed

And, he’s right. This year we spent three days at their house eating, drinking and laughing. We saw the high school football half time show, played hearts with my folks, and had ten people for dinner, plus an additional six for drinks and foyer-turned-dance-hall party afterwards. There were two twenty pound turkeys, each brined to perfection, stuffed cabbage, veggies, salad and more dessert than you could shake a fist at. While we missed my sister (who is still living in Ireland), it was nice to have so much of the family together.

Of course, Thanksgiving marks the kickoff of the holiday season. Mr B and I pack the Trans Siberian Orchestra CD’s and listen to them on the 2 hour car ride home. While we planned to bag serious decorating this year because a. we have no room and b. we won’t actually be here for Christmas Day, that fell through once we wrapped the first gift. We needed lights! And that required a trip to Lowes to get sticky hooks to hold them up…and we emerged with a fake, pre lit tree. We barely have enough room for it, but it’s so well worth it.

It seems that for a lot of people the holidays are one stress after another. I am thankful that thus far we’ve been able to keep our eye on the positive side of it all…now to see if that continues in the next few weeks!

peace&love

Ren

that small time charm

Until August of 2007, I have never lived in a small town. I grew up in a city of about 85,000 people in Central Connecticut, which had a great sense of community but was not small. I lived in DC for four-ish years while I did my undergrad. It goes without saying that in no way, shape or form is DC a small town. And then, because Mr B is from upstate NY I agreed to move here once I was done with school.

For a year we lived in a tiny village (village as in it is a smaller part of an already small town) in Columbia County. We were right on Main St in a quaint 1770 apartment, complete with wavy glass windows and slanted molding. This town had two gas stations, a Family Dollar, two small restaurants (one catering to the locals, and one to the ‘city-idots who came up on weekends, pricing wise) and a volunteer fire alarm that was right across the street from us. (Side note: if you have never heard one of these alarms, imagine the loudest and most prolonged wailing you can. And then repeat it three times. At 2am.) This small town did not have a grocery store and thus, many day to day essentials were purchased at the Stewarts Shop, which was diagonally across the street from us.

Well. I was unemployed for the first month we lived there. This meant I ran to Stewarts quite a bit. One day while I was getting the paper the cashier asked me how the job search was going. Say what?! Turns out she had noticed that I would go to the job section first and deduced it from there. Then other things – my hair cut, my clothes, and on. At first it was a little bit weird (I had not lived in places where people were nice to you!) but I grew somewhat accustomed to it. I noticed her haircut and knew she was a single mom. It was a decent relationship, even if it did mean I didn’t run out of the house without brushing my hair anymore.

Now we live in Greene County, and have been here a few months past a year. Because it is larger than our last stomping ground I was convinced for a while that it would not be quite the same. Thankfully I had already had small town experience, because I was quickly proven wrong. We frequent one Italian restaurant (always sit at the bar) and they know us by name. The one time I abstained from a beer with dinner, the rumor mill got started that I was pregnant – now, I make sure to always drink (!) or explain why I am not. The laundromat owner knows what day I come in and will ask if I was ill if I am late. The cashiers at Price Chopper know we always have a 3 pack of water under the cart, and the pizza joint on Main St knows us by face.

I began writing this intent on pointing out the times when this is a negative thing – when you see someone you don’t want to chat with but are obligated to by social standards, or when you want to pick up a prescription in private. But as the words unfolded, I realized that this is not indicative of how I feel most of the time. The truth is, after living in large, impersonal cities for so long, it’s nice to be part of a small community. Cheers was on to something – having somewhere people know your name is underrated, especially in todays world.

peace&love,

Ren

goooooo yankees!

So. Maine fails to allow gay marriage. The Yankees win the World Series for the 27th time. And Matsui proves why he has always been my favorite Yank. What a whirlwind.

Incredibly disappointed in Maine, but I almost think that goes without saying. I won’t stand on my soapbox much longer than to say…shame on you, Maine. And shame on all the other states without laws legalizing gay marriage.

Very excited the Yankees won! I had my doubts after they lost game 1 but they held strong and showed everyone what they were made of.

from the NYT, I wasn't there

I do wish that some Yankees fans could be more gracious *ahem facebook mud slinging ahem* but to be fair, over the course of the series I’ve seen a lot of people actively rooting against the Yankees in some not so nice ways. It’s the nature of the game, I suppose. And speaking of the nature of the game, I am so excited that Matsui was named MVP. He was one of the main reasons I began to love the Yankees as opposed to just going along with it because I was a New Yorker. At any rate, it was a well deserved win in their new home.

Today will be day one of Couch to 5k . SA already did her portion, so that means I have to motivate through it! I am really excited. My former college roommate, Roomie, put it perfectly: “I want to be able to do a 5k whenever.” That’s only 3 miles and to be honest, seems like it should be an entirely reasonable goal. This is one of the main reasons I am excited about the Couch to 5k Program that we are going to be using – it’s structured, and if we can push through it, I know that we can get to where we want to be.

peace&love,

Ren

of morality & legality (or something like that)

“Drive Safely” has become the new parting phrase at school. Where we used to say “catch ya later” or “hang in there”, we now remind one another that it takes but a swerve to end it all. I am not a religious person, but I find myself saying a prayer when I pass the spot where HSR passed.

We attended a wedding in CT this past weekend for a family member of mine and his partner of 21 years. It was a beautiful wedding for so many reasons, not least of all that their relationship has already lasted more than most marriages do*. This is why I don’t understand why people have an issue with gay marriage. How is this joining of two people who love each other dearly, and will continue to love each other dearly, damaging to the sanctity of marriage? Our good friends, two women, are about to embark on the process of adopting a child. Domestically they can adopt as a couple but they are looking at nearly 4 years of red tape. Internationally, they have to pretend to be single, because the rest of the world doesn’t think a child should have two mothers.

In other news, my girlfriend in NYC and I are going to long distance train to run a half marathon together. We’re going to start with a 5k and work our way up, but this is very exciting. It will be nice to have someone to be held accountable to, but still have the independence of doing it alone. I’ll update as we go along. As of now, starting Thursday.

Annnnd I’m off to do schoolwork. Or something.

peace&love,

Ren

*(I am making this statistic up)

motivation station, please

Isn’t it sort of crazy how your best intentions go astray? I’ve determined that my issue is not lack of time; rather, it is lack of structured time. One downside to only doing school is that I have so much time not spent committed to one thing – such as a job – that I tend to waste it. So last night I decided to structure my time – getting up, working out, eating, showering, etc. I was doing great this morning until…well, until I fell behind and have yet to make a real start on school work. *fails*

The thing that I did accomplish though was realizing that I want to get to the point where I can consider myself a ‘runner’. My sister runs a lot, and I have in the past, but it’s not anything that I have done recently. Time and energy all stood soundly in my way, but it’s time to get past that. I know it’s getting colder but I plan to try outside for a while until the snow hits. Then I’ll go back to the workout videos inside.

Now, what was I saying about that heap of schoolwork?

peace&love,

renski

life is too short

Tuesday morning, at 8:41am to be exact, a classmate of mine died in a tragic and horrific car accident. She was returning from visiting her parents in Mass and was maybe 15 minutes from school when she allegedly swerved into the other lane and collided head on with an 18 wheeler.

This accident detoured myself and others throughout the day; not once did we know it was her. We knew by the time our evening class convened. It became more of a group grief session than an actual academic forum; although, this was for the best. The services are still being worked out.

I was not as close to her as others were, but I did know her. Just last week I had offered her my couch if she needed it (she commuted from the city to upstate once a week). I was, am, and will continue to be shaken up by her death. Someone my own age, on the route I take to class every day, taken from this world. She was a wonderful friend to many, warm hearted, funny and our public schools have forever lost a great educator.

Life is too short. Tell the ones important to you that you love them, and give you parents (or children, or both) a hug.

RIP, HSR. <3

peace&love

renski

it really isn't the destination that matters

We made it to Americade this year and as promised it was filled with insanity. I got to test ride a 2009 Harley Sportster 883, a Yamaha R6, and a Yamaha FZR6. I learned that at this point in my life I am not a sportbike girl although with a few more years under my belt I can see how that would change. The FZR6 was fun, but if I’m going for a crotch rocket I may as well go all out. I did love the Sportster 883, as much as I tried not to. It’s actually a bike that when I will seriously consider when the time comes to upgrade. It was so comfortable, and I love how skinny the tank is.

Until I can upgrade, I’m loving the bike I have now. I’ve only been able to ride it since the middle of June, and since that point I’ve put 500 miles on her. She’s sexy and she handles insanely well. I wish the pipes on my car were not louder than the pipes on my bike (I’m considering taking the baffles out/getting new mufflers), but all things considered I have no complaints. Mr B and I have been riding them everywhere, especially when we have no destination. This weekend the local bike shop is sponsoring a poker run and I think we might do that, even if I am terrified about riding in groups. But like most things, I’ll be nervous until we do it, and then I’ll get over it. Plus, $20 gets you entered, all the food you can eat, and awesome raffle prizes.

I had ordered a new netbook, one of those “adowable” (in the words of my dad) tiny things that can word process and browse the internet, Monday and it arrived yesterday! It’s so ridiculously small and yes, cute, that I keep calling it my new toy It’s destiny is to replace all the word processing and such I do on this computer (my 4+ year old iBook that randomly likes to crap the bed) and ensure that midway through this year I don’t up and lose my ability to do schoolwork. The only thing that sucks is that I don’t get wireless in our apartment, and it doesn’t have a jack for the phone cord – because yes, we have dial up. However I can get wireless all over town and on campus, can access the internet on this computer and really? Is it such a bad thing to be blocked from any form of procrastination when working on a paper? No, I did not think so.

I am hoping the rain doesn’t hit today so I can go for a ride, but then, wishing for no rain these days is a waste of wishes. Le sigh.

peace&love,

Renski