the week:
I have a very social week: two happy hours to catch up with friends, another friend’s birthday party, a chocolate-theme party and a business-kinda morning coffee break. Monday spin class. Back to my weekly run//yoga club. Open skate on Saturday afternoon. Tailgating with Pittsburgh Browns Backers (and more friends).

I hope I don’t hate people by the end of this seven-day stretch! But I’m honestly feeling some really good energy in making time for everyone and finding a need to connect (and re-connect).

weekend:
As mentioned above, I plan to put my skates on for the first time in ten months. WFTDA Champs got me all fired up inside about playing roller derby again. So, I’m starting with an open skate and a league practice on Monday to see where I am skill-wise (and to be minimum skills-tested again). And… well, we’ll just go from there. But it probably means more crossfit/weight-training in my life, despite my post last week about watching my money. HA, sorry money! I spent $200 already updating some of my derby equipment!

Saturday night is the much-anticipated (and sold out!) Chocolate Bar event by the Cultural Trust. Oh boy, I hope it’s not lame and that I can eat all the chocolate. In any event, there will be booze, so… I’m set. Sunday, I’ll be (hungover, likely) cheering the Browns with my fellow Backers at Heinz Field (and its proximal parking lots)!

Also: THERE’S AN INTERNET CAT VIDEO FESTIVAL HAPPENING IN PITTSBURGH! (WHAT?!)

52 books in 52 weeks:
#40 Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson — I really enjoy Jenny’s writing style, and this book did not disappoint. At one point I was CRY-LAUGHING that I started almost-sobbing. It was hilarious, maniacal laughter. And you’re dead inside if you don’t laugh while reading this book!

#41 The Woman I Wanted To Be by Diane von Furstenberg — I had this book on my nightstand since receiving it in one of my Popsugar Must Have boxes, and I finally read it. Meh. Pretty boring overall, to be honest, but not completely eye-rolling (though I found it wholly impossible to relate to her life experiences and at times thought there was much fabrication). I found her failings (and subsequent successes) as a business person to be the most interesting and I wish those moments were expanded upon in her memoir.

#42 Popularity Explained: The Social Psychology of Grade School — SNORE. I mostly skimmed through. Incredibly boring and he even admits to a lot of the info being more of what we already know.

#43 Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller — Somehow I ended up reading two memoirs about growing up with hoarders for parents. I’m still finishing the other one. I have a lot of respect for the author, especially considering her strength to maintain a relationship with her parents and their mental illnesses (and regularly, literally, cleaning up their messes).

seven things, seven days:
1. I bought these new capri pants from Fabletics in the Northern Lights fabric (which are amazing because the little stars are all reflective at night)!
2. Went to the annual “Cleaning of the Chandeliers” champagne toast at the Omni hotel yesterday. What a fun little celebration!
3. Preparing for skating again, I pulled my gear bag out of the basement and HOLY SHIT. It smells real bad after ten months.
4. NEW MISSY ELLIOTT!
5. YIKES: Alarming new research on perfectionism {via Science of Us}
6. My boyfriend forwarded this one to me (he knows me so well): The Secret History of Mac n’ Cheese {via Huffington Post}
7. What we think about when we run {via The New Yorker}