Blog name change

I've decided to update the title of my blog, partly on a whim (is that a good idea?!)! One of the new tunes I've added to my iPod is "The Time of Your Life," sung by Randy Newman, from the movie "A Bug's Life." It's a charming song for a cute movie, and the song's chorus is sort of a new mantra for me, a reminder to continue on my path to treat my body and soul better, to remember that anything worth doing is worth doing well, and to continue to connect with friends and family.

It's the time of your life
So live it well
It's the time of your life
So live it well
We may only go 'round one time
As far as I can tell
It's the time of your life
It's the time of your life
It's the time of your life
So live it well

Date Night

George and I had an inpromptu date night last night, went to see the movie "Premonition," with Sandra Bullock. Reviews were mediorce, but it was a decent movie to see on a Thursday night. There were only 6 people (including us) in the movie theater, so it was relaxing and kinda nice, almost felt like a private showing. Mainly, it was nice to have a night out with George. We've just been so busy lately!

Beautiful Weekend!

It's been a beautiful weekend, weather-wise, here in Durham. The temperatures have been mild, the humidity relatively low. Ahhh! I think I'll open up my windows this evening--why has it taken me all weekend to think of that?!

George and I participated in the community walk portion of the Great Human Race 5K in Durham yesterday. It was nice to get out and walk together outside in the great weather yesterday. I was glad I decided not to run the 5K, just wasn't ready after last weekend's breakthrough (for me) run in Raleigh.

This morning at ERUUF, the new class of us Pastoral Listeners was installed. I'm looking forward to being part of that program. I've gotten to know a number of people better already through it.

After my Sunday afternoon nap, I started working on cleaning out my dresser drawers. Feels good to be making progress on clearing out and getting better organized.

Run for the Oaks 5K

The Run for the Oaks 5K road race in Raleigh was a surprising success for me, as I was able to run (ok, jog!) the whole thing--and felt fairly strong at the end, to boot! I was excited to break 50 minutes as well, which has been a goal of mine for several months now. Finally completing a 5K race at a jog has opened my eyes to the possibilities of doing 10Ks and beyond again. It's been a dream of mine to run a marathon, but now it seems to be a little more of a reality. :-)

I'm still waiting for the chip results to be posted at runnc.com, but best I could tell, I finished in about 46 and a half minutes!

ADDENDUM: My chip time was 46 minutes, 30 seconds! Yay!

My Apartment

It dawned on me over the weekend that part of my stress about moving this summer is that I haven't spent the time I need to to get my apartment cleaner and more organized. Part of the stress, too, is that moving will fall at the end of the fiscal year at work! Yikes! But there are many things I can do now to get ready for moving AND the end of the fiscal year, SOOOO time to get going! I made good progress on my apartment yesterday afternoon, which felt good. The I met George at the laundromat to visit for a bit while he did his laundry, and we ended up meeting anc chatting with a nice couple. That was a pleasant surprise. It was a nice way to spend a Sunday!

Getting involved

Last night was my last training class for Pastoral Listening at ERUUF. It was a good session, and I was a little sad to see the training come to an end. On the other hand, I'm excited about this new way to be involved at church.

The Run for the Oaks 5K is coming around on Saturday. I'm excited about that, and hope my finish time is faster than my last 5K in December. Actually, I'm hoping to break 50 minutes.

What's By My Bed

I picked up The Devil in the White City (by Erik Larson) recently at Barnes and Noble as a reward to myself gor hitting a particular weight loss goal, and though I'm not very far into it, it's an intriguing read, one of the best books I've picked up in a while. It's about the creation of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the architects who planned and built it, and a serial killer who's working his destruction in Chicago at the same time. It's all quite interesting, and it makes me want to go back to Chicago for a visit!

Weekend Update

I had a pretty busy Saturday, which included going to the H&R Block in Cary and using the lady George goes to to do my taxes. When I did this year's federal taxes on my own, I came out owing $1200+! Yikes! When she did them, I only owed about $50 federal and about $25 for state taxes. No fancy deductions or anything were added, I just did the math wrong. That's a load off!

After that appointment, we went to visit George's parents, grandparents, and brother and sister-in-law. His mom wasn't home, but we got to see everyone else at their respective homes. It was good to see everyone. George came with me to supper at the Rice House afterward. We were pretty pooped after all that, so we stayed in Saturday night.

Saturday morning I got up early as usual and went to the cross country trail through the woods and around the Duke golf course. It felt great to be outside in the fresh air for exercise.

Yesterday was a little strange with Daylight Saving Time going into effect several weeks early. We made it to church at ERUUF okay, but the rest of the day was spent taking it easy. I watched part of the ACC basketball finals between UNC and NC State, but fell asleep for a good nap. I did a little cleaning, but otherwise just puttered around and took it easy. I didn't even make it to the gym. It was very refreshing to have some down time!

Another week down

It's been a busy week on this end, with something going on every night. Three nights this week I got home around 10 PM after leaving home around 8 AM for good. (This after getting up at 5:00 to go work out, then back home to get ready for work and the Rice House!) The pace has been a little troubling to me on a number of levels. I'm tired and feeling a little burned out, and I haven't been able to accomplish verymany things on the homefront lately.

I hope the weekend brings some rest and healing of body and spirits, as well as some time to get things done and feel more accomplished at home.

Bar Mitzvah Trip

George and I had a good trip to Atlanta this weekend for Jake's Bar Mitzvah. It was a jam-packed weekend of time with his family, all a good time. The food was good, but I was careful and actually lost a tenth of a pound. It felt great to get away for a change of scenery and routine, but it wasn't the relaxing weekend that George and I are used to when we get away. The intovert in me missed the time to recharge at some point over the course of the weekend, so I was relieved on some level to get home.

The hotel we stayed in was very nice, and had the best gym set-up I've ever seen. The cardio equipment had screens big enough to show live feeds of various TV channels, and head sets were provided. The equipment was clean, to boot. They provided both regular towels and face towels on ice, which felt heavenly on my face in the steam room. The locker rooms had neat amenities as well, all sorts of lotions, soap gels, shampoo & conditioner, deodorant, Q-tips, mouthwash, hair dryer, both sauna and steam room. It felt like a luxurious treat!

George's mom paid for our rooms so that we could stay in the same (nice!) hotel with most of the festivities, and that helped a lot. It was really nice of her.

I would love to return to Atlanta and see the Georgia Aquarium sometime.

Grad school

It's time to start getting serious about grad school, I think! I'm not getting any younger, and would love to graduate in time for the degree to help my professional future!

I'm thinking about a masters in library science from either North Carolina Central or the University of North Carolina. UNC has the better reputation, but NC Central's program caters more to working folks, offering many classes at night or on the weekend. Both programs are accredited, and that's really important!

I need to get back to studying for the GRE, and quick like! I have a study guide at home, perhaps a project to begin this weekend.

House cleaning

It's amazing what getting ready for a trip reveals to me about my apartment! George and I are heading to Atlanta this weekend for the Bar Mitzvah of one of his cousins. Last night I got my suitcase out and started going through my closets and drawers, planning what to wear and seeing what I need to take to the cleaners or wash myself, that sort of thing. I really need to clean out my closets! And my drawers! Wow! There's so much I can give or throw away now! I hope my place will be transformed in the next couple of weeks.

I'm getting myself psyched up for the trip, food-wise. I'll be taking my Rice Diet food with me. And I need to remember that at all the social functions, food does not equal fun!

Weekend update

Saturday afternoon, George and I went on a walk around the cross country trail, led by a lady at our church. It was part of a fundraising auction at our church, and this was something George bid on for the both of us. It was a beautiful afternoon for the three-mile walk, and it was a treat to get outside and meet some fellow church members.

Saturday night we went to the Starlite Drive-in to see "Ghost Rider." The movie was okay, normally not my kind of movie, but kinda fun to see at the drive-in!

Yesterday I took it easy, and watched a portion of two Duke basketball games on TV, which was relaxing and fun (especially since Duke won both of them!). The women's team is undefeated, which is quite an accomplishment.

Sense of Community

I've been thinking a lot lately about community, and how I fit into different communities. It's more about just fitting in here in Durham, but in different areas of my life as well.

Some things, like my church, Eno River Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, have been pretty easy to become a part of. There are many opportunities to get involved, and the people there are open and friendly. Other things, like my Junior League group, have been a little harder for me to break into. I have some acquaintances, but no one I talk to outside of meetings. Every meeting or event I go to, I try to meet someone new, or talk with someone I've met a little more.

I'm still a Mary Kay consultant, though I haven't done much with it lately. I love the makeup and skin care, so I plan to keep up with it so when I'm ready to become more involved with it, it will be there. I do miss going to the weekly meetings, but the adopted director's meeting I attend is a good 20 minute drive each way, in addition to the two-hour meeting on a weeknight, so that's something to consider.

I'm also the moderator for a Yahoo Group called Triangle Friends, which is a "job" I inherited about 4.5 years ago, when the previous moderator bowed out and appointed me. It become a group of one (me!) and is now 600+ members strong. The activity on the group board has dwindled, and it's been close to a year since I've had time to organize any events. Attendance had been a little spotty, but I have met some interesting people along the way through this group. I've been trying to decide how much time and energy I want to spend on it. It would be nice to get it going again, I think.

Of course, there's my work at Duke, which I enjoy, and I'm feeling more and more a part of the community there. Our department will be moving next year, and I was glad to be put on the worklife committee for that move, since I am concerned about things like community.

What's newsworthy?

It dawned on me this morning, as I listened to the morning news on the TV while walking around the apartment getting ready for work, that I'm kinda sucked into the whole Anna Nicole Smith story, sensational as it is. Oddly enough, I didn't follow her in life, and would often roll my eyes when her name came up in conversation around me. Now I find her life and death both sad and intriguing.

I think that part of my fascination with this story as it's played out on the news lately is that it's a change of pace from the war in Iraq.

Not the only news story to pique my interest, though, I've also been following the Presidential race as it's playing out early on. The fact that a woman (Hillary Clinton) and an African-American (Barack Obama) are in the running for the Democratic ticket fascinates me, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out!

Weekend update

George and I had a busy weekend at church, going to the annual fundraiser auction on Saturday night (which was a lot of fun!), then going to the Sunday morning service followed by a congregational meeting. I got my lunch to go from the Rice House, and George and I ate together in between the service and the meeting. I chose puffed wheat instead of my usual rice concoction, and found it to be pretty tasty, especially mixed with the fruit. (I had manadarin orange slices and tropical fruit salad, also from the Rice House.)

Afterward, we went to check out another apartment complex. We were a little worn out from the previous week and weekend activities, so we weren't particularly impressed with this particular apartment. Part of it for me was that it hadn't been cleaned, so there was still mildew in the bathroom, stuff on the carpet, and a general dinginess in the kitchen. Perhaps we'll give it another try later on.

Preparing for another 5K

I signed up for another 5K road race yesterday, the Run for the Oaks, on March 17 in Raleigh. I'm excited about having this (running a 5K) as a goal again. I hope to improve my own time over the last 5K in December. Maybe I'll break 50 minutes this time!

Valentine's Day

George and I had a nice Valentine's Day last night. He took me out to eat at Rockfish Seafood Grill. I had salmon, veggies, and rice, and it was yummy. :-) Although I'm still on the Rice Diet, it was nice to have a change of scenery and pace, to get away from the Rice House for a night. George and I rarely get to eat together these days, with my eating at the Rice House, so it was a treat to get to sit and talk over dinner.

Books Beside My Bed at the Moment

I've recently started reading two new (for me) books, The New Psycho-Cybernetics, by Maxwell Maltz & Dan Kennedy (editor), and Lost in a Good Book, by Jasper Fford.

The first, The New Psycho-Cybernetics, is a self-help book that I first heard about over 20 years ago, before it was newly revised. The tennis coach at my high school had her team read it, and they were quite good. I looked up to her, to boot. Since I'm on this not-so-new-anymore diet and exercise program, I thought this would be a great time to finally read it, so I had it on my Amazon Wishlist and received it for Christmas. I've just read what Wikipedia has to say about Psycho-Cybernetics. Here's the website for Psycho-Cybernetics, too.

The fiction book, Lost in a Good Book, is a mystery/fantasy type book that's the second in the series. I finished the first book of the series, The Eyre Affair, last week, and enjoyed it alot, so I decided I wanted to read more by Jasper Fforde.

Successful diet weekend

George and I had fun at our social engagements over the weekend, and I survived the munchie temptations with a weight loss for the weekend! For a further reward, Dr. Neelon stopped by my breakfast table yesterday and told me to stop taking the metformin and see how my numbers are. They've been really good lately, so the hope is that they'll continue to stay stable. Need to stick with the diet and exercise routine.