I know I said today I’d hit the gym and then head to happy hour with coworkers since we’re getting out early today.  HOWEVER.  I received awesome news the other day, my brother Dave is in town from Cali through the weekend!  My mom doesn’t know it yet, but I packed a wee little travel bag and am driving straight down to the beach as soon as I wrap up here at work!  I’m so excited to get some quality time with him, my mom, and Zoe!  Plus, there’s the added bonus of sticking my little sausage toes in the sand for the first time this season!  It’s not going to be warm enough to don a bikini, but I’ll at least get a sunny walk on the beach in sometime tomorrow.  No better feeling than toes in the sand.

I have to bust back up here early Sunday though, as my women’s league has a game and then later on I’m heading with my soccer bff Manuela to go see The Killers with Tegan & Sara!  I’m beyond excited for this weekend to unfold!

Speaking of football, co-ed soccer last night was a bust.  Our game was on and only seven people (myself included) showed up for our 11 v 11 playoff game.  It.  was.  hot.  By the second half of the game I barely had any juice left in me to run at halfback.  We held the other team off as long as we could, but when they’ve got numbers on you eventually things will fall apart.  I had some good passes but without being able to have a defined offense we just couldn’t get any in net.  It sucked, but those of us that were there played our asses off.  At least I got in a good workout?  With only a few games left of my women’s league, and this co-ed season done, I’m going to have to figure out a summer league so I don’t lose any of the (few) skills I have.  I’m planning to keep weekends open so I can get in max beach time this year.  Last year I only made it to the beach once and that was in San Diego!  NOT happening this year.

In other news, no weight loss yet, but my eating has been shaping up more each day.  I decided to start tracking most of my intake even though prolonged counting makes me stabby and irate (it bring out too much OCD-ness in me).  But, I needed the reality shock of seeing just what I was actually taking in while not really doing much physically.  On the bright side, being a bit of a lanky lass allows me some wiggle room with my weight range.  I know this isn’t something I can rely on forever though.  Things will start slowing down eventually.

What’s everyone up to this weekend?  Any fun plans?

Happy Thursday!  I can’t really tell if this week is flying by or not, at times it seems like it is and then other moments I’m all, “it’s not Friday yet??”  But, tomorrow IS Friday and thanks to a milestone at work, we’re all being let out at 2pm!

Even the coffee is celebrating.  However, going along with the “it’s time” theme, I saw this little graphic and had a o_O moment.

A little under 56 days?!!?  Yikes!  It’s really time to get my ass in gear for this race.  If I am going to even remotely complete this without feeling like death is chasing me, I need to step up my routine and get some strength training in pronto.  I also need to up my running endurance as I’ve heard that the first part of this race can be a lot of running, and it’s not going to be flat and easy peasy.  So yesterday I strapped on my shoeses and went for a quick, sweaty two miles.  The main purpose of the run was to work out what’s sore and I realized from playing on the crappy soccer field Tues night I’ve got shin splints and a bit of a sore right ankle.  My co-ed team has the start of playoffs tonight, but I’m secretly hoping it’s rained out as I’d really prefer to just hit the gym instead and give the pins a rest.  I got 2 miles done in about 19:13.  I’m longing for the days of faster miles again, I know they’ll be here soon!

To help combat the soreness, I broke out the Tiger Tail and rolled out my calves, shins, quads, and hams.  Sheila kept me company while I stretched and massaged out the soreness.

Isn’t she just the muffiniest muffin?  Apologies for the shitty looking sandal there in the background.  Not only does my fitness routine need an overhaul, but so does my entire wardrobe.  But, I’ll leave that for another day.

If all goes well in the lab today and then again tomorrow early, I should be able to enjoy a nice gym sesh and then still have time to meet some coworkers for a bit of happy hour.  Looking forward to that!  I’ve decided by this post-end that this week has, in fact, felt long.  I’m ready for the weekend!  How about you?

It’s not really anything momentous to report, but as of a few weeks ago I was officially single for a year.  Apparently being single, female, and 30 years old means I might be weird or something, but I’ve never implied that I’m not a weird person.  In fact, I find much delight in just how weird I am.  Several years ago I might have worried about coming across as someone who makes other people feel awkward, or is perceived to be terribly awkward, but now I think that it’s funny and have learned to revel in that aspect of who I am and enjoy my inability to always be calm, collected, and physically-balanced when moving about this world.

Example time: I’m the only person on my soccer team (this year at least) that has successfully been pelted directly in the face by the ball on two different occasions, resulting in bruising and gushing blood from my nose.  I think it’s  hilarious that I’ve accomplished that more than once, and it’s probably going to happen again.  It means I’m really great at being in the wrong place at the right time, and if I empty a little blood out of my head once in a while so be it.  I also will more often than not say something that completely derails the conversation, even if it’s on topic.  I’m okay with this and have found ways to rebound from the crickets-inducing comments I may make.

What does all this have to do with my single life?  It probably explains why when out and about, I’m not really approached by the opposite sex for dating opportunities.  I’m not sure if the awkward-weirdness is detectable from a distance, but if so then I’ve got a wonderful filter already built in.  Some might say this is going to result in me being single longer, and if that’s the case I fully support that.  I’m all for quality, not quantity, and if being my clumsy, inappropriately weird self means I get less dates, well that’s not a bad thing in my book.  If I am going to be with a person in the future, I’d like it to be someone that not only appreciates the moments I violently slam my toes into the bed corners, or fall rapidly up the stairs mid-conversation, but celebrates them.  Running into a closed screen door is cute and funny and should be embraced fully when it happens.

At the moment, I’m not really looking for someone.  I’ve got this reclusive desire to not let anyone into my space (other than friends and family) and I think that’s a sign I’m not totally ready to be out there.  But, the question then arises, what do I do when I am ready?

This is something I’ve kind of pondered about from time to time.  I gave a couple dating websites a whirl back in the fall and winter and didn’t find them overly enjoyable to use.  I can’t really explain why, and maybe I was the problem since I know so many people have had a lot of success.  I just feel like it’s not for me, not yet at least.  I found my aspirations for dating didn’t really sync up with the majority of dudes on there.  Most of the ones (that I interacted with at least) either wanted to get serious fast, or were looking for a one and done thing.  If I wanted the latter I don’t need a dating site to find it, and the former is something I am definitely not interested in.  I am a nerdy, little snail.  I want to take my time moving through the stages of commitment.

This means the traditional route of heading out and about in the area and hoping to bump into someone where the physical attraction leads to the unearthing of all these common interests and fun facts to enjoy.  That’s kind of a shot in the dark approach that has a very high failure rate.  You can’t expect every person you want to have naked time with to also like cats (and pets in general), or 311, or craft beer, or snowboarding, or running, or watching sports, or geeking out on various nerd culture things, or house music, or dancing even if you look stupid, or big families (not to have myself, yikes), etc.  But, maybe someone will and then it will be fun and awesome and lead to whatever the hell the future holds.  Or not?  I’m not overly sure.  I do know I don’t want to completely compromise my own personality, or things I enjoy, just to say I have a boyfriend/fiance/spouse.

I suppose tailoring my outings to things I specifically enjoy is the best bet whenever I feel the need to adventure into the dating world, as opposed to just heading to random bars.  I’ve gotten the impression that no one actually knows how the dating thing really works in a universal sense, and it’s a lot of trial and error.  What works for you may not work for me, and vice versa.  All I know is, I’m going to keep loving what I love and falling up the stairs and not giving a shit about it.  ;)

I lost my way a bit these past few months or so and I finally hit the point where I am tired of it.  It’s not that I haven’t been enjoying myself.  Things socially have been going really well and I am so happy and thankful for the people I have in my life.  But mentally, physically, I just haven’t been taking as good of care of myself as I had in the past and it’s caught up to me.  Aside from the bit of weight I put on from the lack of gym going, my life is in utter disorganization at home, I can’t focus half the time, my sleeping is wonky at best, and well, you get the idea.  So, I’m refocusing on taking care of me, whatever means necessary.  In true blogger fashion, I’m going to post a little list here of things I plan to do over the next three or so months to get back into a good state.

1.  Rejoin the gym crowd.  Yesterday I officially became a member of my work gym again.  I had ended my membership and switched to Planet Fitness a while ago so my ex and I could workout together since it wouldn’t cost extra at the home gym.  That kind of went by the wayside, and I really just don’t like the PF near me.  Plus, it has the added temptation of a DSW right underneath, and it’s inconvenient to use if I want to workout during lunch.  After nearly a year away from any gym, I shot an email to our fitness center dude and told him I wanted to come back.  I’ve already printed the group class schedule for May and will be highlighting classes I want to go to.  The fact I can workout during lunch and it’s actually encouraged by my company is a huge plus.

2.  Sort and toss unneeded crap.  I wouldn’t consider myself an all-out hoarder, but I do have some bins of just absolute crap I do not need anymore.  I guess I hung on to them because I thought they had sentimental value, or would be needed in the future, but clearly if I haven’t opened the thing in over a year and have no idea what is in it, nothing it contains is really important to me in the end.  I always say I am going to do this when I move, but now I really am going to get this over with.

3.  Kick more ass at work.  Ah work.  I do enjoy my job, the challenges that come with method development and tricky assays, learning new instrumentation, the reward when you see all your prep came out perfectly.  The thing is, I’ve only been doing what I should do and not really much more than that lately.  I guess part of it was the major mental burnout I suffered from spring of last year through winter this year.  And, it’s over.  I’m going to come up with a five year plan over the next four weeks (as tasked by a respected person in my office) and go over it with said person to see what I can do to make it happen.  I really want to get a poster or something together so I can start going to more conferences as well.  I’m particularly excited that I’ll be getting special training in a couple weeks to become more of an expert with the Waters Xevo TQ-S system.  I love that mass spec (its software… meh).

4.  PR my next half marathon and 10K.  A running goal!  My running mojo spurted out sometime last October and other than soccer my legs really didn’t get much of a workout.  After completing Broad Street, I now remember why I loved road races so much.  I’ve updated my race results page with things ahead and plan to run a sub 2:00-hour half marathon at the Rock’n'Roll in Philly and then two weeks later hope to smash under 50:00-min for my Dogfish Dash 10K race.  I know both of these are possible with training for me, and I cannot wait to get into a good plan.  This training will also benefit my soccer performance on the field as it seems halfback is going to be where I’m to play for most of the time.

5.  Hack off spending/debt.  I’m not a horrible spender, I’ve actually managed to start building some kind of savings in my little account.  But, it could be better.  I also need to really tackle the credit debt I packed on when I was really a mess in my 20s (I can say that now!) and the student loan payments had me pretty upside down for a while.  I don’t need to eat out as much as I have been, and will be limiting myself to one Wawa trip (sad face) a week, and one lunch out a week.  I think this will not only improve my budget, but also get me back into bringing healthy lunches and getting up earlier to make breakfast.  Plus, I really don’t need as many clothes as I have.  Seriously.

So, I’ll cut it off there.  I think five is a nice solid number to start.  I’ll check back into these in two weeks to talk about how they’ve been going and readjust anything if needed.  It feels good to be back to basics and back to getting myself sorted!  Any goals you all (all one of you??) are working on?

I have four full working days and a weekend in between until I am off on my flight to Scotland!  I desperately need this time away.  Things have been crazy all over the place and I could use a little respite from all of it.  I’m super excited to see what unfolds on my fourth visit to the UK.  Plus, all of the delicious BrewDog beer I plan to drink!

Aside from the Scotland trip, after I get back I plan to work out my schedule and book my second trip to San Diego.  I didn’t get nearly enough time with my brothers and friends out there last time, and I plan to head for an entire week this time around.  And, of course, there will be beachin’ and beerin’ there.

Coming up this weekend I plan to finally bottle the beer from my first homebrew attempt.  I was a good little brewer and left my carboy untouched for a bit over the estimated time for fermenting (I want to be sure the bubbles are totally gone).  I’ve already got a mix of IPA to brew for my next batch, but I think I will wait to take care of that after I get back from the UK.  My bottled beer should actually be ready in time for a house party I have to attend in mid-May, I think it will be perfect for it!

In other news, the Broad Street training is chugging along.  The warm weather has been really helping my runs, and I’ve found play midfield in soccer has really kept my speed intact even though I put on a little winter weight (booo).  I’m a bit geeked out to do a couple training runs while in Scotland next week.  It won’t be as warm as here, but if the forecast holds out it will at least be mostly sunny the entire time I am there.  I can’t believe the race is only a few weeks away!  I plan to stop by Dick’s Sporting Goods to pick up some red socks to wear as a tribute to Boston, and I also donated to The One Fund as part of my support.  Whatever we can do to help, right?

And finally, I’m still single.  I just don’t have time right now to do the dating thing and I don’t feel the pressure to rush into it.  Kinda weird that it’s been a full year of unattachment and I dig it!  Happy times ahead, that’s for sure!