As I suspected

I woke up at 7:30 and drove into work. I almost hit a jaywalking pedestrian that walked in front of my car. I was going about 5MPH, so he would have be fine. But it also would have been his fault for not looking BOTH ways on the ONE way street. If you are only going to look one way (which is pretty much always not smart) at least look in the direction of traffic. Silly man. Today I justified my driving by these two facts: I can park for free at the U (meters stop at 6!), and my class gets out late and I won't want to have to wait an hour on the bus to get home. I'm always looking for a justification.

Running and Sleeping

On Saturday, I ran my first 10K at Lake Nokomis. I had two "goals," to not be last and to finish in one hour, 10 minutes. I finished in one hour, 11 minutes and was not last. Pretty good in my book for no training whatsoever.

Katie, Randy and I after breakfast at Turtle Bread.

In typical Heather fashion, I also hurt my knee again. It was already acting rather achy over the last couple of weeks, but I just kept running. The 6 miles sort of put it over the edge. I have to take it easy for a couple days but should be fine. Granted it's never really felt 'good' for the last year, so I'm not overly hopeful.

I have also utterly failed at my attempt to cut out the snooze button from my sleeping routine. I was so good the second week of September. I was going to the gym, taking the bus, getting up on time, getting into work early. These last two weeks (since the return of my car, ahem, my dad's car) I have been hitting snooze like I'm getting paid and driving into to work, usually getting up around 7:30. I start work at 8:30! If I am supposed to be somewhere, somewhere that can take as long as 25 minutes to get to, I should not be getting up at 7:30. But alas, I am and I do. My morning thought process usually goes as follows:

5:45am- feel myself start waking up. Close eyes tighter and hope I have more time to sleep.
6am- alarm goes off. I think for a moment about getting up and going to the gym. I hit snooze and reset the alarm for 6:45
6:45- alarm goes off again. I contemplate and rationalize to my half sleeping self that its okay to drive to work and I can get up a 7. This continues until around 7:30 when I reluctantly drag myself out of bed knowing that I have a job and need to get there roughly on time.

My goal for tomorrow is to get up at 6, go to the gym. I really want to swim, so hopefully this works out. And take the freakin' bus. It took me one hour to get home from work today. 7 miles. One hour for 7 miles. Not cool. It didn't help that it took me almost 20 minutes to just get out of the parking ramp. But 35 was no picnic either. I'm happy the bridge is back, but sad that south bound traffic has increased because of it.

Routan Boom

When I was waiting for Adam to purpose, it seemed as if everyone else was getting engaged or married. It felt like I was surrounded by happy marital couples, or at least marital couples. Near the end, it was getting quite frustrating and over whelming. Now, I feel like I am surrounded by babies. Yesterday, my friend Randy at work put a "Parenting" magazine in my mailbox, then sent me a link to routanboom.com. I found out 2 people my age are expecting this week, an old co-worker and a friend from high school. A friend from college is due in December and 3 other friends had babies this spring/summer. I don't want kids right now. I feel like there is still so much that I want to do, grad school alone is enough to put me over the edge. I'm just beginning to think that on some subconscious level that I do want one. I know I'm still too selfish to have a child, I don't think I could even handle a dog. I would just like to stop being surrounded by babies. It's just getting ridiculous.

Off she goes

My sister came into town for the weekend for an art show at the soap factory. She had 8 pieces in the show, one of which was an original slide show. It is always interesting to see what pieces she chooses to put in shows and what she takes pictures of in general. We have such different tastes in general, but I always like seeing things from her perspective. It was nice to get the chance to catch up with her since I didn't get to spend much time with her before she moved. She ended up staying over at our place last night since she had an early morning flight and we only live 15 minutes from the airport. I told her I had a few things that she left in my car (really my dad's) when she moved. I found a towel in the backseat that I knew was hears, but since it was only a towel, I didn't feel the need to let her know I had it. It's a towel. Little did I know, it was her only one. She has been looking for it since she moved. She was getting ready to reach out to a few of us that helped her clean out her apartment to see if any of us had seen said towel. It was just washed and sitting in my linen closet, while she was wondering what happened to her one towel.

Last week my dad took his car back. I've been using it since May, so it was fair for him to take it back. When Heidi came into town, she needed to borrow it, so now I've got the car again. I was just gearing up to be totally bus bound, then I have access to a car again. I dropped Heidi off at the airport at 5am this morning and was debating on weather to go for a run and go into work early, or go back to sleep for a couple hours. Yeah, I opted for the sleep and then drove into work after hitting snooze for about an hour. All of my self control of last week was lost in a few moments of huddling under the covers and swatting the snooze button, again and again. I'm hoping this does not repeat again tomorrow morning.

The last couple of days of getting up and exercising in the morning, I've noticed this whole other world that happens in the mornings. Active people outside. This morning I saw a woman running with her dog at 5:30 in the morning. On Saturday when I was biking around lakes there were so many people out and it wasn't even that nice of a day. It was a bit cold and rainy. This "healthy" world is fascinating to me and I'm going to do my best in infiltrate it. We'll see how successful I am, I may just stay in bed and hit snooze until it is so late I have to drive to work.

A Breath of Hope

I seem to always think of things to write about, but when I actually sit down and write, I go blank. I'm feel like I'm always 'connected' to the internet on my phone: facebook, twitter, google, now yammer, but not to my blog. When I think of things throughout the day, usually on my commutes, I don't have the means to post them. I am now going to try to remember a few of my topics from this week.

1. All of my friends with kids blog more than I do. Why am I slacking on this so much?
1a. Most of the personal blogs I have been reading are all written by parents. Are they the only ones with things to say, does anyone really care about the bus drama in my life?
2. Kids are not in my near future, but I still have a few names for these children that do not (and will not for the next 4 years) exist. I've always like the name Jackson, but it NEVER occurred to me until this week that these names also need to sound good with our last name. My last name now ends in 'son', so I wouldn't want to give a child a name that also ends in the same letters. I know its not a huge deal but it threw me off guard that this is yet another this to be aware of in the baby naming process. Just to hit this home: no kids for awhile, but I think all the reading of the mom blogs has me thinking parenthood.
3. I am trying to ween myself off of the snooze button. This whole week I got up when my alarm went off. Yeah, this doesn't sound very good, but Adam and I are snooze-aholics. We both can go hours, yes multiple, just hitting snooze and not getting up-- during workdays. This only leads to both of us feeling sleep deprived and somewhat crappy, not to mention rushing around in the morning. I'm putting this practice to an end.
4. In line with #3, I am also going to become a regular gym goer and get into work a little earlier. I feel so much calmer when I get in early and have a couple minutes to myself. Its probably all in my head, but I like it.


This morning I ran A breath of hope 5 K around Lake Calhoun with my friend Samara and her growing family/friends. It was a great event to raise funds for lung cancer. In my attempt to prove that I do not need a car (which I probably actually do need) I rode my bike over. Its about 4 miles (I think) to get over there and there are paths around the lakes/Minnehaha Parkway almost the whole way. My one gripe is that the bike lanes are only one way around the lakes. Do people not use these paths for actual transportation or only for exercise? I suppose I was using it for transportation to exercise, so I don't know where I fit into my own question.
It has been awhile since I have joined the masses that flock to the lakes on weekend mornings. I forgot how popular they are. I imagine some of the "fittest" people in Minneapolis can be found exercising around one of the lakes on weekends. I enjoyed the bike ride there, but on the way back it started to rain, so the cold, wet ride wasn't the most ideal, but after running in the rain it really wasn't too bad.

Tonight I am meeting some friends for dinner and then heading to the Soap Factory for my sisters gallery opening. Heidi is back in town from her big city life in Brooklyn to display some of her photography in Minneapolis. I'm hankering for a nap but also need to read for class. Pretty sure I need to sleep before I can read.

Bus Detours

I started out the day catching the bus to go to the gym. I made sure I gave myself plenty of cushion so I would make it in time but unbeknownst to me the bus schedule changed today. My express bus is now 7 minutes earlier than I thought it was. It was another day of running to catch the bus. I was being a good student and doing my reading for class, so I didn't even realize that the bus now takes a new street, 3 blocks farther away than it used to be because the street they normally run on is under construction, for the next 9 months. Awesome. The good thing is that the bus actually drops me off closer to work than it used to, and it's faster. The bad news, the buses were running 30 minutes behind schedule at the end of the day and I have to catch it 3 train stops away. I was hoping to catch the 5:48 bus, but inadvertently caught the 5:08 bus because they were so behind schedule. The buses are on detour downtown and right by my house so I didn't even know where it would drop me off once I made it to my neighborhood. I hate when the buses go right by my street, but don't stop because there isn't a scheduled stop. A couple times I've convinced drivers to stop, but then I get a lecture so I try not to do it as often.

While I was walking the extra block home I started thinking about when I was in college and left work everyday promptly at 5pm and was home at the same time everyday. I always beat Adam home, so I would start dinner and usually was just finishing by the time he got home. Oh the days of having a job that I just showed up to and didn't really care about. I can't help but wonder how happy/unhappy I would be if I still worked there. Now I get the work guilt if I leave on time. I feel like I should be working all the time. I physically can't, but feel like I need to be.

I was catching up on some friends blogs, it wasn't until after my third "mom blog" when I was reading a facebook baby announcement that it hit me, my friends are having babies. I somehow missed (or maybe its yet to come) the surge of weddings I hear everyone else dealing with. It seems that my few married friends are already at the baby stage. Of course right after I realized this I was talking to my mom who asked if I was checking someone else's baby blog. Doh.

Okay time for homework. Tear.

It feels like Fall

I love Fall. I don't know what is with me, but I absolutely love Fall. The crisp air, the crunch of leaves, the colors. Apples, pumpkins, cider. Scarves and light jackets. I love scarves and jackets in general, so that's almost a whole other post topic...

Back to Fall. I love that the weather has cooled down a bit and its comfortable again to be outside without melting into a sweat puddle. And nothing is more Fall-esque than school. Yes, school has started up again. I have 2 semesters to go before and then it's thesis writing time. The semi-end is near, and I have to admit, it's a good feeling. I'm looking forward to both of my classes, but also know they are going to be a lot of work. It's all going to be about time management. I say it every semester, and I'm going to say it again. I want to do my homework on the weekends. I really have yet to actually do it, but I need to. At least this year my weekends are not taken away with wedding planning, so that's quite the relief. We'll see what happens and how much I attempt to avoid homework. The upside is that means more blogging. Blogging is the best procrastination tool I have.

Whenever I start up classes, I also try to get "organized" and find a "schedule". I always think that will help me relax and remain calm, but I think it just stresses me out more. I try to pack too much stuff into my schedule and then I say screw it all and just do what I feel like and scramble last minute to do my homework. Good times. As I mentioned before, I'm going to be organized, but also realize that there is no way I'm training for a 1/2 marathon, or even a 10k (silly things that make me stressed and go crazy). Maybe that will be a goal for next summer when I am able to run more than 3 miles per week. Yes, week. 

Goodnight and Goodluck.

German day for the Irish

The funeral for Aunt Helen was in New Ulm, so my parents, brother and I had a mini adventure day in southern Minnesota last Friday. We started off the day hitting up Emma Krumbees off 169 in Belle Plaine. Along the way my mom had several conversations with her siblings as we all struggled to located the church on a map. I had a GPS, but that only works when the end location can be found. We ultimately found the church because my aunt and uncle were standing next to the road waving their arms as if they were waiting for a plane to rescue them from a deserted island.

This was the church surrounded by trees set just off the road. Easy to keep on driving.

There was something about the quaintness of the church and the town that I had to take photos. It sort of made me want to explore small towns and photograph them. Maybe someday when I have some time... (laughing on the inside at the notion of having time to spare).

We headed to "downtown" New Ulm after the service to find some food that didn't smell like church basement. The church didn't have a basement, but it had the smell of one. Some women were walking around with pitchers of refreshments. As they came near, I though, ohh lemonade, yum. She came up to me and asked "would you like some water?". Oh. It's yellow water, hmm, no thanks. My mom's younger brother Tim told us about the glockenspiel (which I am shocked that I just spelled it correctly).

We found it, but when we got there we were told it would play in another hour if we wanted to come back. We were on route to the Schell's Brewery for a tour, so we didn't' think we would be able to see it. The tour was sold out, so we were able to make it back for the bell ringing.
I thought my parents were cute sitting on the bench watching the figurines move around, so I snapped this photo.

We weren't able to tour the German brewery, but we did get to see Hermann the German statue. 
There is a spiral staircase to the top and for the small fee of only $1.50 you can enter. 

Semi-family photo, missing my sister.

Me, brother: Shawn, Dad, Mom (in the shadow)

I am predominately French (dad's side) and Irish (mom's side), but let's face it, at this point I'm mostly a slathering of Western European origin, but the one thing I am not is German. It was a rather random day for us to spend wandering around this little German town because our Swedish aunt lived there and we wanted to pay our respects.