Archives for December 2012

PF Chang’s Marathon Training Week 4

December 11, 2012 · by Ari ·

Okay, so before I talk about last week, I want to talk a little bit about my mental game because, well, it sucks right now. For 6 months, I’ve been training for a marathon. For 8 months before that I was training for half marathons–my first and then training to PR at a couple of others. That is a long time. Surprisingly, my body feels okay. I feel much stronger than I did a few months ago during the first round of this training cycle, and while my body still doesn’t seem to love the idea of running a marathon, I’m not in a constant state of pain the way I was while training for New York. My mind, however, is a little done.

The last 2 weeks have been lower mileage, and let me tell you, I have done the bare minimum. Last week I ran something like 22 miles, when just a couple of weeks ago, I had a couple 7 day periods (not M-F weeks, but still technically weeks) that were double that. Somehow I doubt cutting back means halving my mileage. Unless I have plans to run with a friend, I’m having a tough time forcing myself to do much of anything. I’m sure I could come up with a million excuses–it’s too cold now to ride my bike in the morning, I’ve been so busy that it’s hard to get to the gym for spinning or strength training (to be fair, last week was tech week…), etc.

I actually think the cutback weeks might be partially to blame. I get excited about challenging weeks with high mileage, and I get excited to get them in. The last two weeks, I’ve felt excited for my races, but the rest of the time I can’t get into it. So maybe the world could just plan races on all of my running days, so I could get excited about them too? I would love if everything could just revolve around me. 😉

In all serious, I know it will be fine, and I know that a 7 month marathon training cycle is a little ridiculous, and I would be a freak of nature if I didn’t feel some burnout, but the fact is, I have 3 weeks left of real training before we go into taper, and I need to make the most of it. I want to get to the starting line of PF Chang’s feeling confident and like I’ve done everything I can do to run the best marathon I have in me. I’m not a person who settles or simply does something to “get through it”. After everything that’s happened, I need to do my best, and cross that finish line with no regrets.

Okay enough rambling. Here’s how my kind of lame week went down.

Monday: Strength training. I did the same thing as last week, but did my push ups and reverse push ups in sets of 12. I know I’ll have to change it up eventually, and get to a gym or get some free weights at home, but for now, I’m adopting the “something is better than nothing” approach.

Tuesday: Speed work!! YAY!! First, let me say, it’s a lot harder when I can’t go to track. I love the track. I love it’s perfect 1/4 mile distance that you can see the end of. I love Coach Susan standing there with her little clipboard, and telling her my paces at the end. ~~I love watching everyone whiz by and leave me in the dust.~~ It’s not quite the same along a path of the canal, but I did have Nicole there to kick my butt. We did a little over a mile warm up, then 4x400s at 7:21, 7:29, 6:58, 6:44, then a mile at 8:59, then a cool down. I kind of wanted to die, but it was good. I really miss the track, and I can’t wait until spring when it moves back to mornings and I can go again! We ended up running 3.7 miles in 35 minutes.

Wednesday: Push ups? That’s all I did. My regular push ups and my dip push ups. I did half of that at the theatre when I got there for rehearsal, and the other half while I was getting dressed. I’d made plans to go for a bike ride, but I forgot about a meeting, and just ran out of time to do much, but I guess something is better than nothing.

Thursday: Off. I guess I could call it “rest”, but I’m not sure what I’d be resting from…

Friday: 9 mile run. After a really stressful week, and honestly, a pretty crappy week emotionally, I just didn’t want to run that morning. At 1am when I was still awake, I *almost* texted Nicole to cancel, but plans hold me accountable, and even Steve reminded me that I’d feel worse if I didn’t do it, so I woke up at 6am and ran with Nicole, and you know what? It was AWESOME. After the run, I felt like a new person, and the stress of the week seemed to melt away, at least for a little while. I felt strong almost the entire run, and Nicole was great and let me vent about everything that was bugging me. We did 3 miles easy, 2 at marathon pace, 1 easy, 2 at marathon pace, and 1 cool down ending at an average pace of 10:03, which is pretty darn good considering my goals for this marathon. In fact, it was probably “too fast” and I probably don’t care in the slightest. 😉

Saturday: Rest. But okay, for real this time. I ran 9 miles on Friday and had a 9 mile race on Sunday. This one was actually intentional.

Sunday: Hot Chocolate 15k, Full recap coming soon. I didn’t really race it the way I had planned, but I’m actually pretty proud of my performance and how I did all things considered.

So there you have it. Hopefully this is the last you see of the whining and complaining about training until I get to taper, where I will inevitable complain about how my life sucks because I’m not running enough, I’m getting “fat”, and how after a 7 month training cycle including 2 20 milers, I’m so ridiculously “under prepared”. At that point, feel free to judge me.

What do you do when you’re in a mental and motivational rut? Inspire me please.

Salted Caramel Mocha Cookies

December 6, 2012 · by Ari ·

I’ll never forget the year Starbucks released their Salted Caramel Signature Hot Chocolate. It was simultaneously the best and worst holiday season ever. It didn’t take long for this perfect flavor combination to become a near every day occurrence in my life.

Did I mention I was living in northern Idaho at the time? It was cold, and nothing says comfort from the cold like a warm, rich, delicious drink. Except maybe a warm soft and chewy chocolate cookie filled with gooey caramel and topped with coarse sea salt. I knew as soon as my amazing friend Nicole shared some of her amazing caramels with me, that I ~~wanted~~ needed to make these cookies.

Do you feel comforted yet? Once upon a time I used to be the comforting one. I was the one everyone went to when they had a bad day, and I would listen and give tons of advice that I probably had no business giving because I was kind of a hot mess myself, but I was, like, 20 years old and thought I knew everything. You know how it goes. I had (ummm, wait…I still have…) a special “heart to heart” pillow. That’s a little embarrassing. You hold it while you cry then I feed you words that magically fix everything, and at the same time put an end to world hunger. I know, I am so cool.

These days however, I’m painfully aware that I know basically nothing, and so instead of pretending to be smart, I shove cookies in people’s face and call it “my way of showing I care”. Somehow, I think people prefer this.

I may not be a master with words, but I have to say, I am pretty much a master of soft, gooey cookies. I mess up a lot of things in the kitchen (including ending up with things that are kind-of-not-really-at-all-baked on a regular basis…), but I always have soft cookies, and these cookies are like biting into a dark chocolate mocha brownie, finding surprise caramel on the inside, and then getting the hint of salt that cuts through the sugar to provide perfect balance.

I wish I could solve all your problems by shoveling them into your mouth right at this moment. Keep me in mind for the next time, though… Salted Caramel Mocha Cookies yield 20 cookies

1/2 tbsp espresso powder
1/4 cup Dutch process or Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup + 2 tbs white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup apple butter
2/3 cup turbinado sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg or 1/4 cup egg substitute
10 caramels, halved
2-3 tbs mini dark chocolate chips
coarse sea salt for topping (such as fleur de sel)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together espresso powder, cocoa powder, baking powder and flour. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together apple butter, sugar, vanilla and egg until well combined. Beat in dry ingredients. Cover dough and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350. Form dough into 1″ balls. Press 1/2 caramel into the center of each ball and roll dough around until it is covering it completely, then place on lined baking sheet. Gently press a pinch of mini dark chocolate chips onto the top of each dough ball, then top with a pinch of salt.
Bake for 15 minutes until the edges have set and cookies pull easily off of the baking sheet. Let stand for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Spinach Artichoke Deviled Eggs

December 5, 2012 · by Ari ·

The other day, Steve and I had a little conversation that went something like this…

Me: When are deviled eggs in season?
Steve: Umm, deviled eggs are always in season.

Point taken.

Plus, you can’t just eat peppermint bark and eggnog all day long for the entire month of December, right? Actually that doesn’t sound like a terrible idea…

But with all the holiday parties going on this time of year, it’s always nice to have an easy recipe on hand that isn’t a dessert since, you know, every single person you know will be bringing ginger cookies and truffles. Including me. I will be bringing dessert. Every.Single.Time. But sometimes I also bring non dessert with my desserts to, ya know, “balance” and “make good choices”.

Can we just talk for a moment about the brilliance that is the spinach+artichoke+cheese combination??? So.Freaking.Good. Pretty much every time I go out to eat and they list spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer, I sit there for a good 10 minutes trying to convince myself it’s “healthy” because it has the word spinach in the title.

But I have the BEST news. Yes, the BEST. In all caps because I get really excited about food. These are the best of, like, every world imaginable–deviled eggs, spinach artichoke dip, and still being able to fit into your pre-holiday-jeans all in one perfect little egg!

They have just a liiiittttle bit of miracle whip (or mayo if you’re one of those weirdos who hates miracle whip), Greek yogurt and light whipped cream cheese to get the perfect creamy consistency plus the delicious flavors of spinach and artichoke hearts perfectly spiced and topped with a little parmesan cheese to give you the full cheese dip effect, then sprinkled with paprika because, well, that’s what you do to deviled eggs. 😉

Spinach Artichoke Deviled Eggs

yield 2 dozen

12 hard boiled eggs
1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
2 tbs light miracle whip or light mayo
2 tbs light whipped cream cheese
large handful spinach, chopped
3/4 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
1 tsp lemon pepper
1 tsp Spike seasoning
dash salt
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
paprika for dusting

Directions:

Split hard boiled eggs length wise and scoop the yolks out into a medium mixing bowl.
Add Greek yogurt, miracle whip/mayo and cream cheese to egg yolks and beat until well combined. Beat in spinach, artichoke hearts,lemon pepper, Spike and salt.
Use a piping bag, extra small cookie scoop or spoon to transfer egg yolk mixture evenly between the egg whites (you may have some extra left over).
Top each egg with a pinch of grated parmesan then sprinkle lightly with paprika.

Fiesta Bowl 5k Race Recap

December 4, 2012 · by Ari ·

Okay friends, grab a cup of coffe, and settle in because this is a very long recap considering it was such a short race. 😉

Sunday morning I woke up bright and early at 5am, and quickly turned into my chipper race morning self. Every time I’m excited for a race I start dancing around the house singing “Good morning, good morning! It’s time to run ______! Good morning, good morning to you and you and you and you!” This girl has witnessed it first hand. I promise it’s cute, kind of.

By 5:45, Steve and I were out the door to meet everyone at Jason’s house, and by 6:15 we were on our way to the race to get registered. I’m a notoriously late registerer. Wow, I didn’t get the red squiggly line–apparently “registerer” is actually a word, and not just one I made up. Sweet. Okay, before I continue with what was an amazing race for me, here are a few gripes about the race itself

The volunteers seemed like they were given no information. We were told to stand in about 4 different looooong lines to register before finding the right place, and this table had no line. It was kind of annoying.
There was a total lack of information about the 5k. When I looked online, it said the race started at 7:30. Maybe I didn’t look in the right place–totally possible–but I saw nothing saying there were different start times, and all announcements were about the half marathon (which, I get it, is a bigger deal). I had to find out from an other runner what time my race actually started.
There weren’t nearly enough porta potties. I almost missed the start waiting in line on round 2 (yes, I go about every 5 minutes before a race).

Okay, back to the good. Complaining over. We rushed over to the start line and just barely made it in time. I told my friends I was going to try to find a good spot, and weaved in between the crowd to find a place near the front of the middle, if that makes sense. Actually, start lines freak me out when there are no corrals. WHERE DO I STAND???? IN THE BACK??? HOW SLOW AM I???? I have made the mistake of starting too far back before. I remember at the Iron Girl, Nicole looked to the side and saw a woman with white hair and a walker, and she was like “Really? You think we’re going to run her pace?” Suffice it to say, I have no idea where I fit in a starting line. I asked a lady next to me what her pace was, and she said she was aiming for 28-30 minutes, and that sounded like I was at least in the right ball park. I told her my goal was to break 27 minutes, and she said she was going to try to keep me in her sight lines. That made me feel cool! I don’t know how she did, but I hope she had an awesome race!

SIDEBAR: As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been having a lot of stomach issues when it comes to running. I used to only eat before long runs, but since marathon training got more intense, I started waking up really hungry in the morning, and so I’ve started eating a granola bar before I go, and a lot of times before a race, I’ll still have peanut butter toast, even if it’s a short race, since I’m usually up a couple of hours before hand. This time, I went on an empty stomach, and just took a gu 15 minutes before. It was the best my stomach has felt during a race in a long time. More on this in an other post…

Okay, back to the start. It was CROWDED. I’ve been trying to avoid weaving so that I don’t end up running extra miles, but there were some slooooowww people in front of me, and I knew I needed my own space to get in my groove, so I weaved around, and the next thing I knew, we were at a start line. I was so confused. So is THIS the start? Did I just run that last .14 miles fast for nothing??? Don’t judge me. I tried to start my watch over, but was too focused to actually think about how to do that, so I ended up hitting the lap reset. Turns out our original location was the start, and that had been the half marathon start. Very confusing for this little ol’ brain.

Honestly, I had no idea what I was actually capable of in this race. I just knew my PR was 27:16, and I wanted to break 27 minutes. I had pacing ideas that ended up getting thrown out almost immediately, while I tried to run what felt “fast” and “sustainable”. I feel like for me a 5k is kind of determined by how I feel at mile 1. Usually after the first mile, I’ve run a pace that I can only keep up for the one mile, I feel exhausted, and running 2 more sounds more impossible than running 10. This time, my watch beeped at mile 1, and I felt good. It wasn’t easy, but I felt good enough to make it my goal to negative split the next two.

0-.14 (cause my laps are wonky): 8:20

.14-1.14: 8:25

In mile 2 there were some small rolling hills. And by “hills” I mean what you would probably consider more like a speed bump, but it felt like a hill to me! I continued to feel strong even on the “uphills”–but okay I SWEAR it really did have some rollers!–and tried to let myself relax into the downhills. When my watch beeped off for mile 2, I was starting to feel pretty tired, but only a mile left! 1 mile always seems attainable!

Mile 2.14: 8:25–Not a negative split, but I always seem to positive split the crap out of 5ks and I was THRILLED to have 2 identically paced miles, especially since 8:25 was faster than I thought I’d be able to run this thing in.

The last mile was hard, as it always is in any race. I wanted to walk on the uphills. I wanted to slow down. I argued a lot in my brain about how I couldn’t keep it up, and my brain’s favorite argument “If you don’t take a walking break now, you’ll have nothing left for the finish.” This is a big fat dirty lie, and it gets me *almost* every time, but today I was like “Ummm F you, you dirty liar. I can, it’s just gonna hurt, and that’s okay.” I also think my lap reset mishap helped me here. Something about knowing that when I got to the end of mile 3, it would actually be the end of the race instead of the usual having .1-.2 left to go (which feels like an eternity at that point) helped me stay positive. I don’t know. My head responds well to mind games.

At the end of mile 3, I saw Steve waiting for me and I had a huge dopey grin on my face.I waved ridiculously, and pointed to my garmin to tell him “I’M GONNA MEET MY GOAL!!!!!”

Garmin stalking. Shocker. But at least both legs are off the ground! Note: The clock started when the half marathoners started 5 minutes before us.

“I’VE GOT THIS!!!!!”

Steve yelled at me to quit talking about how I was about to PR, and go freaking sprint to the end. I was reallllly tired at this point, and my “sprint” was pretty pathetic, but I did my best to finish strong.

Mile 3.14: 8:22 <–NEGATIVE SPLIT!!!!

The rest: 7:30

I couldn’t believe it. I’ve PRed a few times recently, but this was the first time in a looooong time that I had a goal and I really felt like I crushed it. 30 seconds may not seem like a big difference, but in a 5k, at least for me, it really is. My garmin had me at an average pace of 8:23 which is so far beyond what I thought I was capable of! As soon as I crossed the finish line, I wanted to puke (totally normal), but I grabbed some water, and quickly felt better, and I rushed back over to Steve to tell him my finish time!

Before I knew it, we saw Jason and Matt coming up pretty quickly.

I jumped in with them, and tried to say all the perfect motivational things Coach Susan says at the end of a race. Then I told them to sprint to the end, and they took me pretty seriously because before I knew it, I couldn’t keep up with those long legs, and I ducked off to the side. They ended up finishing in about 29 minutes which is a PR for Jason, and it was Matt’s very first race!! They did awesome!!

As soon as I ducked off, I went back to find Bethany. I jogged a little bit down the way and waited for her on the corner before where Steve and the boys were waiting. I jumped back in with her, and tried to be all motivational again, then we turned the last corner, and I told her to sprint to the finish. As soon as got got to the gates on the sidelines, I ducked out, and went back to see the guys.

GET IT GIRL!!

Umm, can we just talk about how GREAT you look????

Bethany finished in 37 minutes for a 2 minute 5k PR!! Rock star!

PRs for everyone!!!

As soon as we were done, we scooted out pretty quickly. We wanted to be able to grab breakfast, and it was my first day of tech rehearsal, so even though I wanted to see my teammates and friends that did the half marathon (and one in particular that crushed it with some ridiculous kind of 20 minute PR--WHAT??), we didn’t hang around.

In the car, I started trying to look up our chip times. When I found mine, I only really looked at the finish time, and jokingly complained about how it said 26:31, and I had been all excited about not just coming in under 27 minutes, but under 26:30. I’m silly like that. I looked up everyone else’s chip times, and went on with my morning. A couple hours later I was like “Hmmm, I wonder what my finish place is.” I always have kind of an unwritten goal to be in the top half. I know I’m not speedy, but I do want to be better than average. So I went back to look, and I was shocked and confused.

Okay, so either that’s a typo, or there were only, like, 2 people in my division, right?

Then I started crying. I asked Steve no less then 20 times “HOW DID THIS HAPPEN????” You see, I never expected to place in anything. I did one 5k where I came in 4th out of 12, and I remember feeling over the moon. It just didn’t seem possible to me. Then I went back and read about the awards–turns out I get one? My friend Michele placed 2nd in her age group, and GOT A MEDAL!!!! I mean, I have lots of race medals, but I never dreamed I would get one for coming in 2nd. I know 61 isn’t a HUGE division, but I never dreamed my times would be the slightest bit competitive. I think I’m still in shock.

I honestly can’t believe the way my life and my running has changed since Coach Susan came into my life. I know none of my recent PRs would have been possible without her wisdom, support, and guidance, and I just feel so unbelievably grateful.

In college, I did lots of vocal competitions, and never placed above honorable mention. It always seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I always fell short as a performer, and that sense of constant discouragement is what led me to change my focus to directing and choreography which I LOVE, and in a lot of ways love more than performing. I just can’t believe that I would ever place in anything. I remember telling my friend Diane when we worked together in Idaho that I had never won an award. Seriously. Never. At the end of the summer, she made me an IRT award, and it was so sweet. I still have it. I am not the person who wins or places in things. I am the person with that works really hard, and is noted for my work ethic, but always a step behind. Always seeming to just fall short.

I know for some people getting 2nd place in their division of a small, local race wouldn’t be totally life changing, but for me, it kinda is. It’s a day I will never forget, and something I will feel proud of for the rest of my life. It also taught me something else–I’ve been running for just over a year, and look how far I’ve come. There is nothing that is unattainable. With hard work, I can be a better, stronger runner than I ever dreamed of. I can also be a better stronger person. We are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for, so do me and yourself a favor:

Dream big.

PF Chang’s Marathon Training Week 3

December 3, 2012 · by Ari ·

I didn’t run a ton this week, but it was a great week, and it ended on a a REALLY great note. I don’t have a ton to say other than that, so let’s get to it.

Look! A leaf! Maybe Arizona has fall after all? Anyway, Steve took this picture at the race on Sunday, and this post needed a photo…

Monday: 8 mile run. The schedule called for 4 miles easy, 1 mile at MGP, 1 mile at HMP, 1 mile at 10k pace and 1 mile cool down. Somehow I counted wrong and started the marathon pace mile after 3 miles. Whoops. So after 3 miles Nicole and I did a mile at goal pace, then 9:03, 8:12 (what????), then we added an other mile at goal pace, and a mile cool down. We ended the day with an average pace of 9:54, and I felt surprisingly strong.

Tuesday: Upper body strength training? Okay, so I’m determined to get back into strength training. I’ve been ignoring it, and let’s just say I’m not too happy with the Atlantic ocean that has become my upper arms, so I’m starting slow with things I can do at home until I at least get my motivation back up enough to get in the weight room, and do some legit strength training. It’s weird, before I started running, strength training was my favorite, and now I dread it. Anyway, I did 3 sets of 10 regular and dip push ups, 2x1min planks, and my dance ab warm up that I used this summer. I was SORE the next day, so even though the whole thing only took me about 15 minutes, I feel like it did something?

Wednesday: 2 mile run. No, seriously. I waited around too long, ran out of time, and that’s just all that was in the cards that morning. It was probably for the best. After my Monday run my foot started really bugging me, and I wanted just a short easy run to see how it was feeling after hours of icing. The good news is, I felt AWESOME! The whole run felt so easy, and I really wanted to keep going, but I had a time deadline, so 2 miles ended up being it. I went out with the intentions of taking it super slow, but without garmin stalking, I settled into a 9:30 pace that felt like a breeze. That never happens for me. It was great!

Thursday: 8.7 mile bike, upper body. Rode to Dutch Bros, then repeated Tuesdays strength training. Twice in one week–WHAT??

Friday: 11.32 mile run. 3 miles easy, 2 at goal pace, 1 easy, 2 at goal pace, 1 easy. I felt super sluggish during this run. The marathon pace miles felt harder than usual, and I was just having a hard time getting my head in the game. Luckily, I had Nicole there to yell at me when I slowed down which was about every 5 seconds. Just kidding, she didn’t yell, she just ran in front of me and told me to hurry up in the way that the best running friends nicely do when you’re kinda sucking 😉 . Anyway, I still finished with an average pace of 10:07 and hit all my paces, so even though I wasn’t super into it mentally, I’m glad I got it done.

Saturday: Rest.

Sunday: Fiesta Bowl 5k. Recap coming soon. Spoiler alert: it was one of the coolest days of my life, and included some happy tears 🙂

Weekend Ramblings

December 1, 2012 · by Ari ·

1. About a month ago, I ran out of conditioner, so I went to Target to buy more. Well, about a week later, I realized that my hair felt kinda funky. I checked out my “conditioner” that actually turned out to be shampoo in a different bottle color. I then continued to have no conditioner for an other 2-3 which is how long it took me to remember to go to Target and buy some. I never seem to have a problem remembering to buy chocolate…

2. This morning I went to the grocery store at 10am and left with candy canes, fat free half and half, chocolate syrup, and a big bottle of Whiskey. It was a successful trip.

3. I just discovered podcasts. I don’t know how that’s possible, but in 24 hours I’ve downloaded approximately 15 Jillian Michaels podcasts, and I made Steve listen to them in the car with me. He was not impressed.

4. My friend Nicole introduced me to gizoogle. It’s pretty much the most amazing website that has ever existed. Here are a few of the best exerpts from my bog:

I gotz a fundraisin goal of $5,000 ta support Chizzlez fo’ Lil Pimps AZ. Chizzlez fo’ Lil Pimps provides game n’ fitnizz opportunitizzles fo’ underprivileged youth. If yo ass wanna ta donate, please git on over

My fuckin name is Ari. I be just a other ho whoz ass pimped a bona fo’ hustlin ta balizzle up mah bona fo’ baked phats. Right back up in yo muthafuckin ass. Somewhere along tha way I lost 75 lbs n’ discovered tha thug I wanna be.

Yo Ass don’t have ta run ta be fit. Yo Ass just have ta find dat muthafuckin thang dat yo ass ludd, tha muthafuckin thang dat fills yo ass wit accomplishment, n’ motivates you, n’ do dat shit. I found hustlin. Da muthafuckin thang I thought I hated da most thugged-out fo’ realz. And it turns out, I kind of ludd dat shit.
I had always heard bout gangstas whoz ass ran marathons. It seemed so impossible ta mah crazy ass yo, but ever since I done cooked up tha decision ta git gamey, it had been dis trip up in tha back of mah mind. I decided dat I needed ta do some shiznit fo’ me.

Last night we put in Bank of America which was referred to as Bank of Tha Ghetto. It’s now provided me hours of entertainment. To participate in the awesomeness, you just put any website into the search bar and click “gizoogle this shiznit”.

5. On a slightly related note, if you’ve never seen this video, it is a must.

Also this video has nothing to do with gizoogle or inappropriate stereotypes, but it just makes me sosoSO happy.

Watch it. It will bring you a happiness.

6. My student secret santa made me a quote book of ridiculous things I’ve said during rehearsal, and funny things other people have said. I say the weirdest crap. Favorite quotes include “It’s okay to touch each other.” and “Touch my feet!” I don’t know why I ever tried to get someone to touch my feet, other than I’m gross and have no social skills. The book also included pictures that she drew (ummm I love this girl) and one of them was me leaning on the piano with the quote “Girl, you trippin'”. I honestly don’t know why anyone hires me to work with children. They are more mature than I am…

7. I LOST MY FIRST TOENAIL!!! Everyone thinks I’m gross, but I feel excited only. I took pictures, but decided not to post them on the blog. Sorry to disappoint…

8. MY CHRISTMAS TREE IS UP!!! And also Winston is cute.