Halloween

Weekly Therapy: Wherever you are, be all there.

- Mel

the week:
Finally got my butt back to spinning (and working out in general)! I’m trying to figure out what my workout schedule should be through December — when I then start training for the Gasparilla race(s) challenge in February 2016. I’m super excited about this destination running event, by the way. I need to sit down and figure out my race and training schedule for 2016 overall too.

I woke up on Tuesday morning at, like, 3:30 a.m. and considered staying up and going to a 5:15 a.m. CrossFit session but I found my way back to slumber (and dreaming again that all my hair was falling out, which is a little too close to reality right now). Daylights Savings Time, amiright? To be honest, I don’t know if my training will ever revert back to regular CF. I have a TRX system now at home (that I still need to set up) and maybe I’ll ask for a barbell for Christmas… but I just can’t stomach the $135/month membership fee anymore when I have a YMCA membership and a yoga pass and own enough equipment to get in decent at-home workouts.

weekend:
It only seems life-appropriate to have some dental work done the week after Halloween, right? I’ll also be watching a bit of the WFTDA Championships. I plan to get my first post-marathon run in on Sunday morning too, before my inlaws come out and spend the afternoon with us.

52 books in 52 weeks:
I finished FOUR books this week — I am determined to catch up! And it’s amazing how much time I have to read when the boyfriend is traveling for a week. HA!

#36: Lion of Hollywood: The Life & Legend of Louis B. Mayer — So happy that I kept with this book (it took me a LONG time to finish but it was worth it. Read my Goodreads review.

#37: Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness by Scott Jurek — great read for anyone who is a runner or likes big, limit-stretching goals. It wasn’t my favorite book about ultramarathons, but I liked it better than Rich Roll’s (and it had much less sponsor endorsements).

#38: Five Weeks in the Amazon by Sean Michael Hayes — well, I just hated this book. But after seeing how quickly I could finish it, I kept with it (hoping that Hayes would become more likable or authentic… and that just didn’t happen). Final thoughts: immature writing and attitude, and what a hypocrite!

#39: Living With a SEAL by Jesse Itzler — I received a Release Day copy of this book from the publisher, and I really enjoy Jesse’s casual writing style. I mean, I read it in two days! His storytelling of training with a Navy SEAL for 31 days was fun and you feel as though he’s one of your closest friends telling you his latest crazy story (and it’s nuts!). He cracked me up more than once! There’s even a tear-out workout page included in the book if you’re so inclined to repeat his insane month-long training schedule.

seven things, seven days:
1. When looking for socks for a Halloween costume, I realized that my ENTIRE collection of derby shorts, tights and socks are GONE (save for one pair of socks and one pair of cat shorts) — likely stored in a bag in the basement and tossed during our sewer backup over the summer. And, well, I’m pretty devastated about it.
2. All things considered, my Halloween costume turned out awesome for thinking of the idea on the day before.
3. My stylist seemingly mitigated my hair breakage problems with a keratin treatment (even if it has the faintest hint of a rose gold color… which is, surprisingly, kind of awesome). But it seriously looks and feels SO much better, and I got a few other products to use as daily/weekly treatments to help protect it.
4. When it’s 70 degrees on a November evening in Pittsburgh, you go have Thai food on Nicky’s patio.
5. “At distances over 2,000 miles, you are negating the benefit that males have due to increased muscle mass and aerobic capacity.” On Longest Hiking Trails: A Woman Finds Equal Footing {via NYTimes}
6. My definition of work-life balance is, simply, that I’m not living to work. But beyond that… it gets a little complicated. More about the assumptions of work-life balance {via APA Center for Organizational Excellence}
7. The things I learned from being an Ironman. SO GOOD. {via The Things I Learned From…}

Weekly Therapy: Devil’s Night

- Mel

the week:
I started off the week by running a marathon… and, well, I’m just riding that high. Read my race recap for the Niagara Falls International Marathon.

weekend:
Trick-or-treat in my neighborhood is always the best. And Halloween marks our four-year anniversary of moving into our house. I like to dub this weekend as “one of two yearly hangovers that I look forward to.” I only just thought of a fun idea TODAY for a costume. So, I’ll be running around tomorrow trying to find a beard. HA!

And I have my post-marathon massage. NINETY MINUTES, BABY.

seven things, seven days:
1. Season 2 of Nicole Antoinette’s Real Talk Radio Podcast is live!
2. I’m really bummed about my hair right now. Last week, it got totally fried, and I’m losing so much hair every day — it’s breaking off completely at my hairline — and it didn’t even lighten properly. Not to mention, for the first time the processing KILLED my scalp while it was on. I guess I’m more pissed than bummed.
3. Moved to my new office at work this week, and was greeted with door decorations, a “welcome to the 3rd floor!” gift bag, and a lunch party (and a giant Snickers bar).
4. It’s tights season! And I’m finding getting dressed to work overly complicated again. Also, who puts tags in tights seams — THE WORST!
5. I participated in an EEG research study at The Scarehouse last year, and I got my brain activity info this week. SO NEAT.
6. On our road trip from Canada, I found “Kool Ranch” Kale Chips at the rest stop. Oh man, they were so good! Definitely not better than Canada’s Intense Pickle Doritos though.
7. This last one is for my Pittsburgh runners. Here, since I forgot to include this picture in my marathon recap:

Pittsburgh runners say LOL.
Pittsburgh runners say LOL.

Weekly Therapy: this is Halloween

- Mel

the week:
Halloween always used to be one of my favorite holidays, but not so much in the last few years. I did throw a DIY costume (old school diner waitress) together for work since we were given approval to dress up — and I’ll do anything to get out of my uniform for a day! But I mostly just love to pass out candy, since I live in a neighborhood with actual trick or treaters (and the adults who check to make sure your glass is always full).

halloween_football

Oh, and the roof is leaking somewhere new. Happy two year-anniversary, house!

weekend:
Road trip to Columbus, to celebrate with our friends getting married! I hear that an Insanity workout is part of the festivities. And a lot of drinking. Will report back. I’m really looking forward to this one though.

seven things, seven days:
1. Mesmerized by (and drooling over) all the Jonathan Alder home collections that I cannot afford. *sigh*
2. Free Halloween lunch at work!
3. ALL OF THE KIT-KATS.
4. Signed up for the Pittsburgh Marathon Relay with my fellow CrossFitters! Got Weights?
5. Purchased all the items in my Stitch Fix box again (even though I didn’t like an included scarf — it was lousy and WAY overpriced — the box was cheaper to keep everything). I am feeling overwhelmed now with my new wardrobe, so I’m taking a month off.
6. Lessons learned: Why You Shouldn’t Text Your Arguments {via PsychCentral}
7. The past is past. I love this post from Gabrielle Bogan. Speaks to my heart right now.

Weekly Therapy: sweater weather (!!!)

- Mel

the week:
The boyfriend’s birthday was yesterday. He was excited about buying a second house for his big day — the vacant property behind us that is currently listed in the treasurer’s sale, to eventually use as a guest suite-slash-investment. I’m still warming up to the idea of taking care of two houses, what with the difficulty we already have with one. But soon enough, I’ll be back in school, making my own financial mistakes. LOLZ.

Anyway, the treasurer sale was this morning, and I received a text message around 11am that read: We only own 1 home.

I can’t wait to hear this story! You too?

weekend:
I have to work all weekend, so… hashtag, annoyed.

We have a Halloween party scheduled for Saturday night, but I honestly don’t think we’re going to go. How lame is that? I’ve been alternating days on feeling well, then being sick again, and repeat. We’ll just use our costumes for trick or treat next week… WHICH IS ALSO OUR TWO YEAR HOUSE ANNIVERSARY.

seven things, seven days:
1. Brownberry sandwich thins are my new favorite thing. NO CRUST is where it’s at.
2. I surprised the boyfriend with tickets for a lecture series featuring Steve Wozniak. He was pretty psyched. AND the tickets were free. WIN.
3. Birthdays mean SUSHI! My favorite sushi is still House of Hunan in Akron, Ohio (thanks to the boyfriend for that one). So glad that I made that part of the boyfriend’s birthday plans this week.
4. I found a sweater organizer (finally) for my closet. It’s coming together, even if it’s still over-packed. I don’t want to talk about when I was putting it INTO the closet that the other hanging organizer in there collapsed and ALL OF THE THINGS went tumbling to the floor. Sigh.
5. I have to return 2 out of 3 items from my recent World Market order because of wrong and/or broken items. Ugh. #dumb
6. We’re not allowed to dress up for our Halloween event at my part-time job. Whomp whomp. LIES! Now we are allowed!
7. Remember the #barenaked campaign from Stylish White Female? A reporter from Point Park News Service wrote about it. And published my no-makeup selfie.

Every 30-something Needs: a Halloween costume!

- Mel

Because of the storms (but in hindsight, a ill-conceived premonition), Trick-or-treating was postponed to Saturday.

I haven’t dressed up in costume for a couple years, but since organizing our basement, I know exactly where ALL OF THE HALLOWEEN things are. I used to be REALLY into Halloween costumes and parties; hence, the box dedicated to its holiday. So, I pulled together this character that was also easy to layer, given that the temperatures hovered around 40 degrees.

I even still had my old football cleats from when I used to play flag football in Ohio (and there was still some caked-in mud on the soles). You know, for authenticity.

Trick-or-treating in our neighborhood is INSANE — we get HUNDREDS of kids. We bought six bags of candy last year… and ran out in less than an hour-and-a-half. This year, we purchased more (and made an effort to buy the variety bags with small, kid-friendly sized candies) — and STILL RAN OUT. Our neighbors had plans, so they gave us an extra bag for us to make it through the last half hour. Cutest costume: the toddler in the train costume.

And then our other neighbor (who’s been on our street since 2000) brought over a bottle of champagne to celebrate our one-year-anniversary. That’s my kind of treat!

Post #4 Completed!

Happy Anniversary to our Home!

- Mel

Yep, we moved into our new house one year ago today… on Halloween. Barely getting the movers out before the trick-or-treaters started to show.

Sold!

Of COURSE, we had candy ready and pillows on the couch the first night. The real treat for us was grilling out, considering the years we lived downtown and couldn’t have a gas grill.

The place looks a little different and certainly feels lived in and cozy. The cats seemingly love the three stories and all of the stairs. True story: I had sore calf muscles for the first three months getting adjusted to all of the steps. I’m STILL getting used to those damn etched glass doors. It’s been quite the year. I mean, the kitchen took nearly 4 months to finish. [ed note: still not finished]

Even with the small renovations that we were able to accomplish this year, the list of things we still need/want to do seems overwhelming. That bathroom will get a facelift this year if I have to get a third job to do it!

I’ll certainly share more pictures soon.

It’s good to be home.