real

I booked a one-way flight for myself and KaliLou last night. Thursday, February 9th is the official date of the big ol' move. Eeeeek.

My to-do list between now and then is a mile long. I may post it somewhere eventually to look back upon one day, but just know that it's boring and tedious stuff. It's mostly stuff that I hadn't actually even considered: buying a cover for my car? closing out my local safe deposit box? Blech. These things're actually no big deal in the grand scheme of things, really. The list just seems to get irritatingly longer every day.

In other news: Chicago got its first big snowstorm this week! Rob missed it while he's in Omaha for training, but it sure looks pretty in pics on other blogs from the comfort of my warm and cozy office:

not my pic, but I can't remember where I borrowed it from...sowwy.

I ordered some kick-the-shit-outta-the-snow boots last night too...legit gear is SO much of the battle. Function over fashion is quickly becoming my new mantra.

(PS: where the HELL is my funny, lately?! boring posts, be gone!)

kick-ass weekend recap

Friday

• found our couch on the world wide web and tried it out in person (SUCCESS!)
• got crafty: turned a regular ol' scarf into an infinity scarf/snood with a pair of scissors, the ability to tie a knot, and a little patience
  

Saturday

• my first good run in a while, even if it was <2.5 miles
• made our place sparkle
• ate Kel's delicious crock-pot jambalaya
• pre-game beer and football at a bar
• Sharks vs Capitals: row five. you hear that?! ROW. FIVE. it was so much fun...the game is so much faster and the guys are so much bigger when you're up that close. every time the Caps were on penalty, our section was in a heckling uproar. and they WON.

Sunday

• hit up the shooting range for my stepbro's birthday: it was my first time ever shooting a gun. it was so loud, it made me giggly at first. then I felt like a bad ass. fired a .22 pistol, 9mil, 40, 45, and a .22 rifle. I counted it as my workout to withstand any and all recoil.
• lounged around (hey look, I even blogged!)
• early to bed for some solid sleep

cool story, Hansel.

so this is really happening, huh...?

We have a place to live in Chicago!!! Its super cute, insanely central, and has all of the hundreds of things we wanted in one form or another. I've been dreaming of the shiny new stuff that we'll need to fill it up (we'll have not one, but TWO bedrooms. we're so fancy).

we'll be on the top floor...love the windows

Crazy, right?! Then, today, we bought a couch. For the first time ever, since all of our other couches were parentally-owned hand-me-downs/’rounds. We’ve never lived somewhere long enough or took my/our place seriously enough to plunk down serious cash before, so this feels like kind of a big deal. And while I’m at it…a small self-pat-on-the-back for us: since we’re living in different cities until I move out there, we each went to different stores in the same chain and tested couches separately with obvious success. But when it came to picking a color? We both get all nervous committing to any ‘forever’ detail, so I expected the worst. Believe how pleasantly surprised I was when the conversation went: me: so um hey, I like XYZ color. which one do you like? him: the same one, actually. BOOM. DONE. As a little icing on the cake I took advantage of a humungo sale and capped it with an extra discount from taking some three-minute survey and got the thing for like 56% off, delivered. It was a total fluke that I even looked at this store's site when I did, so I'm pretty damn happy with the result.

the worlds teeeeeniest pic...ours will be a greyish brown "cocoa" color

The years of limbo are (strangely) coming to an end, and while I'm nervous and sad to leave California for a little while, I'm really really really stoked about a year or two of big city livin' in one of the funnest and tastiest cities in the country. Flights can be cheap enough, and we have an extra room just waiting for our first visitor...

adios, belongings!

Yesterday, we finished up our humungo purge-all-the-things project at Casa Saratoga. When we went abroad in 2009, Rob's Mom was kind enough to let us basically box up our lives and stash 'em downstairs at her house on the hill. We had a TON of crap, and at the time, I was much more concerned with simply getting stuff out of her way (and getting out of the country!) than with parting with anything, so we amassed something like 50 boxes/bags. When we got back an moved into our little studio apartment, we left like 96% of the stuff there and just kinda started over with the handful of things we wanted or needed.

That crap on the mountain has been an ever-present dull ache of weight on my shoulders. I've been meaning to get up there and purge and better organize it for almost two full years, which is embarrassing at best. With the upcoming move and the hired movers being willing to make stops at two places to pick up our stuff (!), we had no choice but to get crackin'. Since Rob is home for the week, we set aside an entire day to sort out what should be tossed, donated, stored, or shipped... and an entire day it took.

Eight hours of solid work at the house cut our pile o' crap by at least half. We filled the bed of Rob's Mom's pickup truck with a load of donations, and piled up an additional seven boxes + two bags for later drop off. Three huge bags of trash and two boxes of recycling makes me itchy wondering why the hell I even boxed up that stuff in the first place. SO. MANY. THINGS. Things that have no use or personal attachment. Things I swear I didn't actually have. Things I thought were lost for good and that I actually squealed over upon unearthing. But mostly things that we do not need, so off they go to someone who can actually use them.

If I had to guess, I'd say that we've whittled the grand total of our crap (spread between alllll the houses/apartment) to less than 2/3 of what we once had. And I'll probably ditch even more stuff when I'm actually boxing things up, simply because I'm over it. I took a couple pics o' the piles, but no one really cares to see those because they're boring and ugly. So here's a pic of some jumping cats instead:

yay!

Chicago maiden voyage wrap-up in bullets

• landed in Chicago around 8pm on Thursday
• surprised by cold but not unbearable temps – I’d guess in the low thirties
• ordered beers + apps for dinner at Pints on North Ave
• bought my very first fancy growed-up cold-weather coat, thanks to JCrew’s 30% off online sale (I got an insane deal)
• took a short ride on the L up to Lincoln Park for some wandering in our future stomping ground/neighborhood
• checked out Weiner Circle for my first-ever Chicago dog
  

• met all of Rob’s new coworkers at their holiday dinner in the Willis Tower/Metropolitan Club (murder mystery + decent food + honkin’ glasses of wine + really friendly coworkers + great views + accidental seats at the head table…eeek)

• inhaled my first Dunkin Donut at 1am
• woke up to SNOW
  

chowed on a massive breakfast of huevos rancheros + melt-your-teeth-strong coffee at Milk & Honey

headed downtown on Saturday afternoon for some touristy time

visited The Bean in Millenium Park + watched the ice skaters

ate some more, this time: Potbelly for lunch (their pizza samwich > hangover)

snagged the last two pairs of Loft skinnies in my size in the whole wide world, which is really convenient because they’re the best ever and the only ones that fit

met up with my Mid-West native friend Amy to check out the Zoo Lights at the Lincoln Park Zoo (she mocked me for wearing my hat + a hood and for the tights I wore under my jeans. I've obviously got some 'cold calluses' to develop...)

split (and finished!) a large sausage-tomato-basil Pequods Chicago-style pizza + local Half Acre beers

enjoyed an egg nog & brandy nightcap + the best episode of Saturday Night Live I’ve seen in a long time

slept in + lazily watched football + slowly packed for home

endured an uneventful flight (the best kind!)

exited the terminal back home to find a huge hoard of people with giant American flags, posters, balloons, the works. apparently the last soldiers left Iraq yesterday (!) and a whole flight of them was due to arrive shortly after my flight…SO COOL

arrived home to not one, but THREE, packages of awesomeness I ordered as Christmas gifts

changes

I just dropped Rob off for his Chicago-bound flight, and things are starting to set in. I'm so excited for the upcoming changes, though it all comes with a side of nervous energy. It's one of those things that you know will have an enormous impact on a lot of things, but just seems so distant and theoretical until things really start happening. I'm trying to wear my big-girl britches and head off any upcoming freak outs at the pass, but I have no idea what to expect in the next few weeks.

My first ever trip to the city that'll be our home base will be in two weeks, so it's nice to have something in the short-term to focus on.

thirteen point one

Last Sunday we ran the San Jose Rock & Roll half marathon and I didn't die!

I want you to really think about what we've just done. For any couch pototoes in the crowd, imagine settling into your ideal spot and turning on your favorite DVD. Imagine watching the previews, which you've seen approximately 84 times. Imagine watching the whole movie, which you probably know line-by-line. Imagine sitting idle while the credits roll, alllllll the way until the lion roars at the very, very end. Now, imagine that instead of watching the movie with your popcorn and Junior Mints, you were RUNNING FOR THAT ENTIRE TWO-AND-A-HALF HOURS. That's what we've just done. Three months ago, I probably didn't have the endurance to sit for that long, much less run!

Based on the fact that I hadn't really intended on running a half marathon or even considered it until approximately 26 days before the event, I'd been feeling super-anxious about the whole thing. Trying to calm myself down was difficult. I still have no idea what I was getting worked up about. I know I wanted to do well and wanted to make the whole experience a positive one, but felt really nervous that it wouldn't go well. Maybe it was the crap runs I'd barely made it through in the week before the race. Maybe it was that I'd only semi-secretly never run more than 6 miles, and that 13.1 is a helluva lot further. It probably has something to do with my perfectionism. I dunno. Logically I knew that I could literally walk the entire course and still make it to the finish line before they came out and carted my ass off the course for exceeding the time limit, but still...

We'd visited the pre-race expo on Friday to pick up our bibs and some swag, and Rob signed up to run it! He's got wonky knees and was playing the whole thing by ear...we got turned onto the glories of RockTape and it gave him the boost he needed to commit to the big event!

After a bit of early-evening bowling on Saturday, we all went home and attempted to crash. Summer and Chambers fell victim to our asshole loud neighbors and I tossed and turned a lot with my earplugs in. Bleary-eyed and just a teeny bit edgy, we all hit the road bright and early to get our asses downtown. The train was packed with other half marathon-ers, which pumped me up and freaked me out. That lady will not - nay, can not - beat me. Because perceived competition helps in solo sports, right?! My shoelaces are waaaaay more flourescent than that guy's shirt...it'll totally help me run fast and strong. They are rad, by the way...the most eye-accosting green I could find. What if I fall down, like that girl did on a training run?! Pshhah - what're the odds of that?!

After port-o-pottying, bib-pinning, gear-checking, and starting-line-scoping, Sum, Rob and I made our way to the corrals and met up with our favorite mama, Rebecca. Holy cattle call, Batman. So. Many. People. So much spandex.

I'm not nervous...you're nervous.

The energy in the corral was intense, and the event's MCs (?) were definitely caffeinated. Other runners were sporting tutus and goofy socks and homemade t-shirts and support ribbons. Rob spotted and loved one shirt's quote in particular, which I think we both used as extra fuel:

someday, I won't be able to do this.

today is not that day.

Although I didn't get my promised flyby - bang, we were off! The beginning of my run felt good, like any other warm up. It usually takes me 2 solid miles to get the knots loosened up and really hit my stride, and I was hyper-focused on not overdoing it and running too hard, too soon. My goal was to finish the race, period. I planned to listen to my body, stay hydrated and to power-walk as I moved through each water station. If that got to be too tough, I would run 10-12 minutes, then walk for one and repeat. The four of us had planned start the race together and then find our own paces, which worked out really well.

I've got to admit, the whole thing went waaaaaaaaay faster than I'd ever expected. By my watch, my split times were right on par with the 10k race, and I felt steady and controlled. In hindsight, I don't think I ever found my strongest stride. My Achilles were killing me by mile seven, and I think I'd been trying to keep my run too slow. I started to pick it up a bit and flick my ankles more to use more muscles, but even then I still kinda held myself back a smidgen too much. Meh...that just gives me something to work on for the next one.

Some random guy had mentioned that mile eight was his hardest point, and to nevereverever stop at mile eight because you'd never get started again. Eff THAT. Mile eight was cake. It was also the furthest I'd ever consecutively run at that point (eek!). Just five more miles. Mile ten to eleven was a lifetime, and I asked myself "am I even actually moving?!" about a hundred times between mile eleven and twelve.

The bands and cheerleaders and random onlookers were really fun, and provided a fabulous distraction from running for two-and-a-half straight hours. As I neared what I figured was the last half-mile, I remember hearing from a supporter that there were just four blocks left. Then, and only then, did I finally find my stride. I cranked up my music and my ipod skipped right to one of my top running jams...boom, kismet. I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel awesome. My absolute favorite solo moment of the day was turning that last corner and seeing the finish line looming about a hundred yards away. It sounds silly, but that's when I was most proud of myself for taking on the challenge and kicking. its. ass. hard.

LETS GET TO THE RESULTS, SHALL WE?!

Nicole

Finished In: 02:26:11

Overall: 5950 of 9831 · Division: 493 of 913 · Gender: 2560 of 5416

Pace: 11:09

5 Km: 35:01

10 Km: 1:09:35

10 Mi: 1:52:44

Rob

Finished In: 02:24:07

Overall: 5755 of 9831 · Division: 570 of 777 · Gender: 3314 of 4415

Pace: 11:00

5 Km: 36:42

10 Km: 1:09:37

Next up?! Warrior Dash, bitches!