Oh crap. I'm Carrie.

So, who here has ever seen 8 simple rules for dating my teenage daughter?

I came to the disturbing conclusion this weekend that Becky and I may have just walked out of that show. She is so Bridget, and I am so Carrie. I don't know if I like that, because Carrie was usually miserable/moody/grumpy the whole time. Is that really who I want to be? Do I really want to be this miserable cranky person all the time?

Nope. And I know I can change... but I also know it will be a long and difficult road. Siiiigh.

More posts ahead. I'm just too tired to write them tonight. :P

Training

A few years ago, I NEVER, and I mean NEVER, would have thought I ever would have run and finished a race. Any race. And here it is, years later, and I've run and finished TWO 5k races, in pretty decent time, too. Amazing! :)

So my next goal for myself is to run and finish a 5 mile race. And I have already signed up and started training for one! The media 5 miler is a 5 mile race through the lovely town of Media. I'm assuming the proceeds of the race (it's 20 dollars to sign up to run) goes to the town in some way, but I'm not sure. I signed up with a lot of people from my new Church, and apparently, it's a pretty good time. The whole town of Media is out running or supporting the runners, and it's a lot of fun I've heard. It's the third friday of June (I think June 19) at 7 pm.

Today happened to be the first day of training for the 5 miler. Everyone was to gather at Christina and Steph's house (they live in Media, and their house happens to be right on the route, at the 1.5 mile mark) and we'd run the first 1.5 miles of the course today. It turned out that only Phil (a frequent and avid runner) and Steph and I showed up to train. Luckily for me, Steph is also more of a slower, 10-11 mile/hr runner like myself, so that was nice to know I wouldn't be left behind! But it was nice to have Phil there, because he pushed us more than we would have otherwise. I didn't know what the course was like, but apparently, it's a 2.5 mile loop run twice through. It's a nice course, but it does have a couple big hills- the worst one being right before Steph and Christina's house. :P The first 1.5 mile is the hardest, so it was nice to run it today and see what it was like. And I surprised myself but keeping up with Phil and not feeling too winded by the end of the 1.5 mile mark! Yay! Of course, that's only about 1/3 of the way for the whole race, but still, that's a good start. I still have a couple weeks to train yet. I'll definitely try to keep running on my own... I'll have to run outside, though... training on a treadmill just isn't the same. Our next training day (together) is two weeks from today, and we're going to run the entire 2.5 mile loop once through. The next week, we'll do 4 miles, and the week after that, the whole course. Then it will be race day! Hopefully I'll be ready by then! :) Keep reading to see how I do!

the endangered swimsuit species

I hate swimsuit shopping. I absolutely hate it. And it's not even because I feel really fat or ugly (although sometimes I do) it's really because it is SO incredibly hard to find a nice, fashionable swimsuit that actually fits properly and looks nice. Why is it that every designer designs swimsuits that make me look either like a whore (because they're these skimpy tiny string things, or the tops never fit so my cups overfloweth, literally :p) or they make me look like a 75 year old grandmother, because they're hideous patterns with skirts and ruffles and tons of extra material. Where's the happy medium? Where are the fashionable swimsuits that would look nice and FIT nice on a relatively fit, yet curvy 25 year old? If anyone knows where these endangered species of suits might be hiding, please let me know.... I'm getting so tired of hunting for them!

And another piece of bad news (for me anyway).... I really don't think I like my blond-ish hair. Which really really sucks because it really was quite expensive to get done. I think because it was so expensive, I've been really trying hard to like it, but I just can't. With my darker features, and black eyebrows, it's just not cutting it for me. I definitely look better with darker hair.

So, I'm not sure really what I'm going to do about the hair situation yet... I guess I'll think on it a little yet before I do anything. I'll keep you posted, though!

Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child book signing!!!!

So, another aspect of my busy weeks has been voraciously reading Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child novels- This dynamic duo writes FABULOUS stories... one of which (The Relic) happens to be one of my favorite novels of all time. All the books I've read of theirs have been terrific so far, but none can surpass the Relic in my eyes. :) Last week I just breezed through a trilogy of books they wrote featuring Special Agent Pendergast- a repeat character who first showed up in The Relic, and who happens to be one of my favorite characters. That's the neat thing about their books, a lot of them have recurring characters, like Pendergast, D'Agosta, Smithback, Margo Green, and more. I feel like I know the characters because they've been in so many books. Anyway, the trilogy (Brimstone, Dance of Death, and Book of the Dead, to be read in that order) was amazing. And to my amazing luck, their newest book, Cemetary Dance, (featuring Pendergast again, yay!) just hit the bookstores Tuesday! And not only THAT, but I discovered that they were doing book signings, and that they'd be in West Chester for a book signing May 14! So yesterday I headed to the bookstore for the signing and actually managed to not get lost. Douglas and Lincoln were introduced and talked a little about their newest book, Cemetary Dance, and how they met, how they write to together, stuff like that. Then there was a question/answer session, and then they signed books for everyone. I didn't say much when I got up there, I was so nervous! Ha, it's not often that I'm speechless so that is saying something about how much I like these guys and their books. :) But I got my old, tattered copy of The Relic signed by them, so I was happy! Even though I have tons of new books of theirs they could have signed, I really wanted my copy of the Relic signed. It's so beat up- it actually belonged to my 8th grade English teacher, Mrs. Imboden, so tons of people handled it, and she ended up giving it to me because I loved it so much. And of course I've read it tons of times, so it's definitely seen better days. But I think it's tattered pages are a testimony to the work of art that it is, so that's why I wanted it signed. :) I think it was worth the trip out to West Chester.

The only thing I'm bummed about is that in this newest book, they kill off one of the main characters, Bill Smithback, which seriously upset me. I love his character and he didn't even have a respectable death. (By the way I'm not really ruining this for anyone who may read the book because if you open the front cover of the book, you immediately see that Bill dies. That's how I found out.) If I hadn't been so nervous yesterday, I would have yelled at them for that. :P I'll still read the book, but I have to say, I'm not as excited to read it now that I know that Bill dies. I can't believe I'm so upset over a make believe person... but I am. Hmm. That can't be good. This is probably a good place to end this blog, I think, before I make myself sound like even more of a loser than I already am. :)

P.S. The signing was taped and will be on youtube, so you could possibly see me very briefly on youtube. Interesting.

Some highlights from the last couple weeks :)

So since it's been quite a while since I've really posted, I'm trying to recall all the cool stuff I've done in that time! Here are some recaps that I remember:

1) Bellydance class with Jehan- FABULOUS. That woman is phenomenal! I had such a great time, the 2 hour class flew by. I picked up some great music from the class, Jehan also does her own CD's (I thought the voice sounded familiar! :) so I picked up a CD of hers to start practicing to. Also from the class I discovered Tarkan- a Turkish singer who besides for being super gorgeous is actually a great singer with terrific songs. I have half a dozen Youtube videos of his songs bookmarked on my computer. My favorite song (and one that Jehan taught us a dance to) is called Shikidim- translated to english it means shake. :) I absolutely love it! I want to get up and dance every time I hear it!

2) Sword and floorwork bellydance class and potluck- last Friday and the Friday before that, I trekked over to Najia's house (my bellydance teacher) for a potluck one night, and the sword and floorwork class the next week. As always, I had a fabulous time, enjoying tons of delicious vegan dishes (I'm getting recipes sent to me soon, yay!) and just enjoying spending time with some of my classmates. I also finally bought a bellydance costume! It was on sale for a phenomenal price, so I gave in. It's gorgeous, covered in sequins and beadwork like you wouldn't believe. All hand-sewn, too. Amazing. The next week, for the sword and floorwork class, I made a vegan chocolate cake for the potluck, and it turned out fantastic! I had rave reviews. Really, you'd never know it was vegan if I didn't tell you it was. And it was so easy to make. The class was really fun, I don't have a sword yet, but Najia had one for me to borrow. It's actually easier to balance on your head than you may think... but it does get heavy after a while. I had a little dent in my head from where I had the sword positioned! It went away after a while, though. :) The floorwork part was fun too, and a GREAT workout. I definitely felt it in my legs the next day!

3) Covenant Fellowship Church- last Sunday, I finally attended Covenant Fellowship Church for Sunday morning worship. I've been regularly attending the Monday night community group since March, and I really liked the people and loved the feeling of connection I had. I really enjoyed the Sunday worship, so I made the decision to continue attending there. It was hard only in that I do love Lansdale Presbyterian Church and all the people there... but I've just felt very disconnected lately because I'm so far away, I can't really be a part of the Church like I want to. Though Covenant Fellowship isn't super close to me either, it's a much bigger Church, so there are many more satellite opportunities to be involved. Lots of people to attend CFC live near me, in Newtown Square, Roxborough, Drexel Hill, Media... I can be connected much easier.

And connected I am! Phil, our "secretary of socialism" according to Brian ;) has quite a list of activities planned throughout the summer! I'm really looking forward to them. Some of the activities planned that I can attend are the Media 5 mile run, a weekend trip to Niagra Falls, a weekend camping trip to some state park (forget where), One S1ngle Day (a single fellowship meeting out in Lancaster), a July 4th bbque... and the list goes on. I'm very exited and will hopefully post things as they come!

4) Becoming Blonde, Mother's Day- So, I'm not actually blonde, but my hair is the lightest it's ever been, that's for sure! Some parts are quite blonde, but I still have brown in it too. Patrick, my mom's stylist, did a very good job blending colors to make it look really pretty, but more natural. It's as light as I can get without looking really stupid, considering I have darker features. The only downside is that it was more expensive than I would have liked, but, since I really like it, I'll let that go. :) The next day was Mother's Day, and I had a great time with my mom. Actually we celebrated early, after my hair appointment on Saturday, we went into Reading and I treated her to dinner at this delicious mexican restaurant, On the Border. Later we met up with Britt at Coldstone Creamery for some delicious ice cream for dessert. Yummy! Late in the evening, when my parents were asleep, I cleaned the house to surprise my mom for Mother's Day. She's quite disorganized and while our house is never really dirty, it always seems to be cluttered. She really enjoyed the surprise when she woke up! Not to mention the expensive perfume she wanted from Victoria's Secret that Britt and I bought her. But we love our mom, so it's all good. :)

Ok, I think that about covers the main highlights of the last couple weeks... and now that summer is almost here, I'll be even busier for a while! I cannot believe it's almost Memorial Day Weekend! I can't wait for it.... not only will I have a four day weekend of fun (YES!) but Becky is coming home!!!! And she'll be home for at least 4-5 weeks, she's on home leave for a bit. Yay! I can't wait to see her! Keep checking in for more updates! :)

It's been a while

Hmm, I realized I've neglected the blog for almost 3 weeks... I'll rectify that shortly. I don't have too much time tonight, I'm going to bed early cause I've felt so tired lately.... but I promise I'll do some catching up tomorrow! A quick teaser.... I've gone blonde! Well, as blonde as a brunette like me is going to get. It's definitely the lightest I've ever been. Stay tuned.....