Not too painful

I seem to be settling in here. Almost all of the blog moving boxes are unpacked. I still have to get some photos arranged, but other than that, I'm ready to go.

There are some in-post photos I probably won't re-add, and a pile of comments that aren't coming here. I was tempted to change some posts, but I refrained. It felt like cheating.

Big thanks to Brian for figuring out why my archives weren't working.

I hope to have the rest of computer chores finished up this week since 4th of July weekend is no time to be inside. I am going to Pace Bend to go camping and float on funoodles on Sunday.

I hope to have another fabulous Saturday. Last week I woke up pretty early and did fun errands, like go to Big Red Sun to buy Melissa and Jason's beautiful new son Aspen a gift. I also hit the Farmer's Market, where I got tomatoes so fresh and delicious they were like candy, and Book People where Debbie Stoller, the editor of one of my favorite magazines happened to be speaking about her new book.

That was all before lunch. Afterward, I lounged in the sun at Barton Springs for hours, enjoying the cool water and collecting a sun burn.

I can't wait for my 3-day weekend. After one month off to travel around Europe, June has been a LONG month. Enjoyable, but long.

Running Still

I've hated running most of my life. I did it in soccer in high school because I was competitive enough  that I didn't want the girl in the other uniform to get my ball or to get away from me with it. Plus there was enough elbowing and tripping to make it fun.

But running in soccer practice induced asthma attacks, conveniently timed to get me out of running when it was getting rough. At various times with various people I've tried running - slowly, quickly, on the beach, on the sidewalk, in the sun, in the shade, and on the treadmill. And I've hated it. I made it about a half mile before I gave up. I've dramatically emphasized how much I hated running to everyone I know, their friends, and the random people standing near them at a bar.

Apparently, some part of me has forgotten all this. Since three mornings a week, I wake up early to go run in place on the treadmill!

I joined a gym a few weeks ago after much encouragement from my friend Kent and much procrastination on my part. And I've been at the gym at 8:30 three mornings a week since. I started on the nice, safe, happy elliptical machine, an old favorite from my former gym attending days. But I got bored and one day got on the treadmill and ran a mile! Without even trying that hard!

Then it was 1.5 miles, then 2 miles. Then 1.5 miles faster, and then 2 miles faster than that. And this is all after my 10 minute, 1-mile warm up in the elliptical machine. And I was waking up before my alarm went off at 8 am!

I get on the treadmill, loud angsty music pumping from my iPod, and stare at the awesome view of downtown, and just zone out for 20-30 minutes. It's similar to Yoga in that I spend the time being in the moment, except with exertion that is bad for my hamstrings instead of good. 

But I love the running. I'm not sure what has changed or how long it will last. I may suddenly wake up one day hating running again and dreading the gym in the morning. But I hope not. I dig my new morning schedule and the happy feeling I get from running in place. 

While 3 weeks of gym attendance hardly merits an all-time athlete award, it deserves my personal achievement pat on the back since it involves 2 things I've emphatically hated: waking up early and running.

So... go me!

Now let's see if I manage to remember to run next month when I am at the beach, a place that inspires epic laziness. I'll consider running my new habit if so.

perfect nine

If I could wrap up tonight's cooking night in some foil to pull out and peek out every time I am in a bad mood, I'd be, well, not in bad moods. In many ways, it was the perfect night.

There was a big group seated around Sean's table piled with dishes of delicious food and several bottles of wine. We laughed a lot. Everyone chatted with each other. I was surrounded by old and new friends. It felt like family away from home.