17 YEARS AGO

Seventeen years ago...

I was 15 years old;
a freshman in high school;
competing in my first high school swimming state championship meet;

and

snowed in at Penn State University.


Seventeen years ago this weekend was the Blizzard of 1993. Commonly referred to as the STORM OF THE CENTURY.

As a teenager, being snowed in at a hotel with a group of your best friends was a dream come true. Things at Penn State were crazy that weekend. On Saturday, the officials at the swim meet completely rearranged the meet schedule. Instead of having preliminary heats in the morning and finals at night, the meet was shortened and swum in a timed finals format. We were finished completing before noon on Saturday.

Our season was over. And it was a good one.

And we were ready to celebrate.

We spent countless hours outside playing in 27 inches of freshly fallen snow. We searched unsuccessfully for the Penn State hot springs. We had snow ball fights. We jumped into snow piles 15 or so feet high. We watched other swimmers sledride down the street on car mats. We watched one too many episodes of Beavis and Butthead (the show premiered the weekend of the Blizzard). We got in a little bit of trouble with the hotel staff (just a little bit!).

It was one of the best weekends of high school.

We went back home with memories for a lifetime.

To think that it all happened 17 years ago makes me feel old.

THURSDAY'S...

Funniest moment so far: watching K dance to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance before 7am. Sweet little girl was dancing in her stars and moons PJs, bangs in her eyes, holding her dada's phone (which was playing the music). Big smile on her face. Sweet heart is loving pop music these days and cannot stop dancing (or asking for "more" music). Favorite artists to date are Lady Gaga and Vampire Weekend.

Big accomplishment: taught a class this morning. It went well. Was asked a lot of questions; thankfully had answers for all of them. The regular professor for the course thought I did a great job. Yeah, me!

To do list: 132 articles to get through for the preliminary literature review for my dissertation.


Motivational treat: afternoon diet coke

Healthy afternoon snackS: (yes, I need two snacks this afternoon) grapes and a chocolate brownie Chif Bar

Big regret: forgetting my gym clothes at home. Looks like I'll be taking Thursday off and biking on Friday this week.

Dinner: Subway veggie patty sandwiches with all the veggies on top, toasted, no cheese. Such a treat; I cannot wait!

Rant: I'm in the middle of grading 30 literature reviews for the class I TA. It's a big undertaking that takes a HUGE amount of time. I just finished reading a poorly written and critiqued paper by a student who should be writing better and critiquing more critically. He has a lot of letters, including MD, after his name. What really gets me is he is such a cocky writer... saying things like, "I am, as an informed reader, highly suspicious..." What is he highly informed about? The topic? methods? analysis plan? the weather? HIS MOTHER? If you need to write you are highly informed and are not demonstrating that you understand the underlying concepts of the course, you probably think too highly of yourself. Get your freaking act together.

HELLO SPRING

Temperatures in the 60s.

Sunshine.

Majority of the snow melted.

Birds chirping before the sun is up.

And the daffodils are coming up.

I think it might be spring.

Thank goodness.

Yesterday, I was home with K and her little buddy A. We walked to the library for story hour; took the long route home afterward. We ate lunch with the windows open. After a long afternoon nap (no, I did not nap; kids did), we packed up a snack and walked to the park. It felt like everyone in the neighborhood was outside. K said hi and bye to just about everyone and everything passing. She also barked at every one of the dogs we passed and made clicking noises when she saw a cat or chipmunk (chipmunks click; cats... we click to get them to come - thus clicking noises when both animals are spotted). We were at the park until 5:30. Sun was shining and it was still warm out.

Love it.

I went out for a run in shorts and a t-shirt at 7pm. Came home sweating. Love that. It's the first time that I didn't need to bundle up for a run in a LONG time.

This morning we woke up to birds chirping.

And, did I mention that the daffodils are up? So looking forward to seeing them bloom.

We planted several bunches of daffodils in our backyard last fall. This year we'll be able to enjoy our very own daffodils. Hopefully by this time next year we'll be seeing some tulips poking through the ground in our yard, too.

Spring, I hope you are here to stay.

SNACK ATTACK

We've always eaten dinner late in our house.

Pre-K: by the time we got home from worked, said hello, goofed off, and exercised, it was 8pm before D started cooking.

Post-K: we enjoy eating dinner after she is asleep so we can relax and have adult conversations.

On a good night, we eat dinner around 9pm.

So the time between lunch and dinner is REALLY long. And I've become a snacking machine. On days when I'm at school I usually work out before heading for home. On these days I am SO stinking hungry when I arrive home. After saying good-byes to the nanny and the family we share the nanny with, I usually start snacking HARD. And then D comes home, starving, and he snacks, too.

It's the perfect storm for weight gain.

I snack big and then have a late dinner.

Bad news for my waist-line.

Noticing that I am not losing the weight I wanted to (in fact, I've gained a little bit back post-nursing and eating vegan), I decided that something needed to change.

My bad snacking habits need to stop.

And today is the day. I'm going to try eating a healthy, high-protein snack in the late afternoon (today it will be on my drive home from Baltimore to DC). I'm experimenting this week with protein bars (D bought me an assortment yesterday at the grocery store). I know I need to eat something post-workout and post-lunch. I'll be hungry and crabby if I don't.

But I need to curb my eating.

Packing a snack and limiting myself to said packed snack is the plan for now.

If this doesn't work, I'll be looking for a Plan B. Suggestions/recommendations are encouraged. Please let me know how you avoid snack attacks? And please share any healthy snacks you eat to curb your appetite between meals.

VIRTUAL IRONMAN

In early February my friend, Becky, became a triathlete. She completed her first sprint triathlon in Florida (and braved some crazy cold swimming conditions - 60 degree water and 39 degree air temps).

She did not deviate from her training program once - seriously, she was freaking hard core and disciplined. The result: she finished her triathlon at her goal time and is in the best shape of her life. When I proposed that we train for a race together next spring, she was excited; even suggested a race that might be a lot of fun.

All this coming from a girl who prior to the triathlon had only competed in a single 5K.

She's freaking awesome.

In mid-February, Becky and I had an honest conversation about needing some exercise motivation and accountability. That is when SHE suggested doing a virtual Ironman during the month of March.

Here's how it works... we're tracking each of our workouts and aiming to complete 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles on the bike, and 26.2 miles of running before the end of the month. We're tracking our progress using a Google spreadsheet.

To date, I've swum 0 miles, biked 14.36, and run 11.1.

For me, the swimming can be finished in two workouts (I just need to get to the pool). I will be finished with the running after next weekend's 10 miler. I'm hoping to run at least 50 miles this month. The biking, however, is going to be my Achilles' Heal. Squeezing in enough bike workouts to total 112 miles is going to push me. It's also going to strengthen my leg muscles. And provide me with some much needed cross-training.

Assuming we both complete our Ironman in March, we will celebrate in May when K and I go to Florida to visit Becky!

DENIED

I entered the lottery to win tickets to this year's Easter Egg Roll at the White House.

We didn't get in. Bummer. And it doesn't look like the White House abides by the same rules as the NYC Marathon. The marathon makes good on their guarantee that if you are denied entry into the marathon three years in a role you receive an automatic entry on the fourth year. If only the White House would do the same...

Here's hoping we get tickets before President Obama leaves office. I'd love to get a picture of K with the man who was elected President a month after she was born.

POETIC

(for those of you in church on Sunday, this is a more detailed version, complete with pictures, of what I shared during CC&C. For those of you not in church, you aren't missing much...)

The month of February brought 55+ inches of snow to the DC area. It was crazy. We went to bed one night with barely an inch on the ground and woke up to more than 18 inches outside. Total snow accumulation during the first storm was somewhere in the ballpark of 25 inches. And then it happened again... 20+ inches of snow fell on the 20+ inches that fell the week before. There were hurricane-strength winds and whiteouts. CRAZY.

Our little house is nearly 100 years old, and although it has been updated and renovated 50+ inches of snow was more than she could take. One morning we woke up to a wet floor in our sunroom. And soon afterward the drip, drip, drip, drip started. Here are a few shots of our "little water problem":

We tried everything we could think of to limit the amount of damage to our home. As you can see, we got creative - using tape, putty, funnels, tubing - to direct the water into buckets and other containers.

The dripping didn't stop until D went up on the roof and shoveled all of the snow and ice off of it. And not long after that we started to smell it.

It being mildew.

We called our insurance company. We had contractors and roofers in to look at the damage and give us estimates. And then the mitigation team showed up. As they were introducing themselves to us they said they would probably have to remove the baseboards and maybe cut a few holes in the ceiling to allow the wood to dry. Worst case scenario we'd have to cut the drywall up to the windows.

Or worst-worst case scenario

they take out the walls in both our office and sunroom, cut holes in the ceiling and rip up the carpet, and remove the carpet pad. Needless to say when we started dealing with the leaks we realized that the damage was far greater than expected.

The walls needed to come down and the carpet torn up and the ceiling diced. Sometimes you need to tear it all down, see just how ugly and messy it is, and then start to rebuild. We have a plan in place, good people lined up to fix the place up, and we're choosing new paint colors.

What has happened in our home has also been happening in my life.

It is all quite poetic.

Before Christmas I started to sense that things we not going well for me with my adviser and dissertation topic. I was seeing drips - unclear and changing expectations, promises that were not kept, and things not moving along as planned. I had the sinking feeling that the drips were signs of a bigger problem. I tried my best to convince myself it was no big deal. I tried to convince myself that the problem could be diverted or mitigated if I navigated it just right and was creative (just like we were in capturing our drips and thinking we were limiting the damage).

And then I started to smell it.

Only this time the it was the need to stop everything and reassess before moving forward.

After the Christmas break, the walls came crashing down around me.

I realized how extensive the damage was. I was damaged. Demoralized. Unsure if I'd ever finish my degree. I was lost. But I found guidance from the head of my department, just like we found guidance and reassurance from our insurance company. The head of my department set me on the right path.

And now I'm rebuilding. I'm on the right course (see a couple of posts ago).

Just as our home is being torn apart and rebuilt, so is my professional/educational life.

The similarities between the two situations are too many to name.

Thankfully, I see that rebuilding in both instances is possible and a REALLY good thing.

And there is hope that both will be better once the rebuilding is complete.

Our home is going to be stronger, dryer, and painted in a way that makes us happy.

And at school, I'm in a better place. And I know that finishing my dissertation is going to happen. I even have a timeline in place.

Sometimes the walls do need to come down. And walls coming down is messy and ugly and cold and hard to watch. But after the walls are down you are able to see what is wrong, what needs to be fixed and how to fix the problem. From there rebuilding can happen.

I'm glad to be rebuilding both at home and at school.