Goal for Monday: Be a Nice Person

So far, so good.  Hopefully.

I got up at 5:30am and tried to go for a run.  My iPod was momentarily on the fritz (I have no idea) so I came back in and did a Circuit routine in my house.  20 exercises, 90 seconds each.  Twice.



I headed out to buy gas and baked goods (one step towards my goal) and headed off to pick up my Pooky Bear.  The two of us headed out to Wilmar for a funeral of the dad of our best friend.  I was doing fine the whole funeral until I looked over at said friend and saw her hugging one of her aunties.



Pooky Bear and I headed back into the cities before the rest of the troops so we could enact what I've dubbed "Operation Casserole".  I headed over to the friend's house and did some cleaning and straightening she wasn't able to do before leaving town.  Trying to clean up cat hair is like trying to drain the Mississippi river with a bucket.  I dropped off the keys to another friend and then headed home.

 

Back at my place, I was inspired to continue cleaning.  I took out the trash, straightened, put away my clean clothes, vacuumed, scrubbed the bathroom (bonus if you can figure out when's the last time I did that), and did the kitchen and bathroom floors.  About the time I was too tired to move, I was also done cleaning.  

 

Wordless Weekends - Rainbows and Sunshine

Sun setting over Lake Nokomis

The Park Board took off the "Ice Not Safe" signs at Lake Nokomis

See the rainbow?

My biggest fear in life: being in one of these as it's falling over.

Total mistake.

At Baker's Wife after the run.

Downtown over Lake of the Isles

Clearly the Park Board hasn't made it to Lake of the Isles.

What has been seen - Amazing things for March

First off - it's green.  It's March and stuff is coming out and blooming.  That's just not right.

I woke up this morning and my running partner let me know she couldn't make it but offered a coffee date later.  I hit the gym instead (95% humidity and all) and then stopped at Caribou for the both of us.

Most of the rest of the day was spent on my couch.  I am so lazy.  I did manage to haul myself off my couch at the end of the day for a walk around the lake.  I'm glad I did because it was amazing.

Sun starting to set. 

Everything is green.  This is not normal.

 

Even the Magnolias are blooming.  (The white blossoms.)  Magnolias blooming.  In March.  In Minnesota.

Those two kids did not stay in the water long.  Swimming in March.  In Minnesota.

Towards the end of the walk I saw quite the rainbow.  It was easy to see but challenging to catch on camera.

Seen but not photographed:

• The dude walking his lizard.
• People in a canoe, chilling on the lake and soaking up the sunshine.
• The Eagle's nest.  It's still there but I haven't seen the eagles themselves in a while.
• Fishermen.  In March when there's normally ice on the lakes.

Thursday Night Done Club

I'm joining the Done Club.  Information on the original done club can be found here. 

Things DONE today that make me eligible for the club:

• Work - 9.5 hours of work, starting at 7:15am.  Serious.
• Friendship - Blasting a particular friend with text messages all day.  Hugs.
• More work. Oy - The eight pages of case notes from yesterday.  Included are the hit songs "Pre petition screening" and "This wound on my foot...".  Classic.
• Exercise - one hour of circuit and one hour of The United Nations Zumba.
• Cleaning - everything is "picked up and put away" and the kitchen floor is swept.  Dishwasher is also emptied.
• Laundry - 10 days worth of laundry, including taking the flanel sheets off the bed.  It's amazing how much room there is on my drying rack when I'm not trying to accommodate 50 pairs of wool socks.
• Running date for tomorrow - yeah!
• Find new music - My new favorite song. Probably not running appropriate but great for car rides.
• Blog.  Duh.

On the climate, wardrobe and activities of March 2012 - DON'T GET USED TO IT

March - in weather

Then:

• 2008 - Snowing, so much I apparently couldn't leave my house.
• Last year I'm fairly sure that winter parking rules were in effect.

Now:

• No snow emergencies all freaking winter.  We're calling it 10 days early.  Snow emergencies can't legally happen after April 1st.
• Ice off the lakes, everything is turning green and we set temperature records for like the last 10 days straight.  Win for us.

March - in activities

Then:

• Meeting my new neighbors.  In my pajamas and no bra.  Nice.
• Raising money for a marathon.  Had a blast.
• Passion Fruit are here.   Yum.

Now:

• Trying new exercises and classes something I never thought I'd do.
• Still running but finding new ways to do that as well.

March - in dress

Then:

• Still in a hat which I don't wear if it's above freezing  Just saying.

Now:

• I refer you to the title of this post.  That day was so hot.
•   See the footwear here for additional information.

March - in Muic

Then:

• I finally found Pandora.  I have a hot and cold relationship with Pandora.
• These were some of my new favorite songs.

Now:

• Some of my current favorite songs can be seen here, here, and here.  Yeah for Pitbull.

A note on the future - the average temperatures in April are in the 40's.  Oy.

Wordless Weekends - Record breaking warmth

Setting the stage: Record warmth

Been in these all week long!

Cleaning the stove top

March Madness.  So long Puke *Duke*

Source.  The story does provide some context.

Yes; today really was that pretty.

The "Skinny dipping beach" at Nokomis

 

Titles - not all they're cracked up to be

None of my workouts recently have been in places that lent themselves to pictures.  (Maybe I'll take a picture of the giant hill tomorrow.)  My workouts have been fun though.

Wednesday
Workout: High intensity water running. 
Time: 45-50 minutes.  (Class is 45 minutes but I started warming up early.  The pool was freezing.)
Least fun part: Getting in the pool.   See above.
Most fun part: Even though it's high intensity, Wednesday is my recovery day. 

Thursday
Workout 1: Circuit class.
Time: 55 minutes
Least fun part:  Tie between Single arm medicine ball push ups my hamstrings kept cramping and BOSU mountain climbers those are just hard.
Most fun part: The Pilates Full Roll Up station

Workout 2: Zumba
Time: 60ish minutes
Least fun part: All the dance steps I don't know
Most fun part: Really fun music.  Seriously, if you're bored for a moment just google "zumba music" and see what you get.

As always, since I'm not entertaining you with pictures, I'll share some music that's been blasting through the iPod lately.

• Mr Big - Next To Be With You.  One of the most fun songs to sing in the car ever.  Let it rock.
• Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water because the choir sang this on Sunday and rocked it.
• Joni Mitchell - River because Joni Mitchell rocks everything.
• Foster the People - Helena Beat because the image of tying myself to a chair to prevent falling is hilarious for some reason.

Suddenly losing an hour of sleep is not so bad

Monday morning was rough and I ultimately got to work about three minutes before my 10am meeting with my boss.  That meeting started with my business which was fairly straight forward.  Ask me about Passover and coverage.  Boss' part started with "I only have one thing but it's big.  Let me draw you a picture..."  The picture was of good things.  Surprise. 

Monday night is Circuit and Pilates night.  I warmed up with a fast runner, so the beginning of circuit was challenging.  Happily, none of the stations were awful.  (No burpees.  No pushups.)  Pilates was fun.  We worked on the J-Curve, which is similar to the C-Curve but more painful.

Tuesday morning it was dark when I woke up.  I was in the mood to move so I had a really fun run. I did the 4-mile Eagle viewing route.  (It used to have a different name.)  It was still so dark all I could see was the outline of the nest.  It was a little chilly and totally humid. 

You'd think the condensation that was forming ice on the ground would've been the most exciting part of that run.  Scariest point turned out to be when I got to the top of the last big hill and heard loud footsteps running towards me.  And not in a good way.  It was two little kids sprinting up the hill from my right.  I think they were late for the bus?

Since I don't have any pictures to share today (it was really dark out), I'll tell you about some of the music that's currently blasting through my iPod.

• Put Me In My Place - Joe Purdy.  Not a running song but I love to sing with it when I drive.
• Heaven - OAR.  Appropriate for all occasions.
• Ray of Light - Madonna.  A better running song that you'd think at first.

Worldess Weekends - I'm running in my shorts!

To my future self - when you're digging for wool socks in June, remember the awesomeness of this weekend please.

This is how old my car is.  I missed it when it turned 175.000 so this was the best I could do for an even number.

Full moon Thursday - Freak snow storm

Full moon Thursday - waiting for the train

Mississippi River - seen from the Friday Fun Run

Saturday Long Run - under the Ford Parkway bridge

Saturday Long Run - over the Lake Street Bridge

Saturday Long Run - over the creek; last bridge of the day!

Ask me about sunshine!

Sunset over the Lake Street Marshall Ave bridge

Sunday - Sunrise

Sunday - Running around the lake.

Sunday running - Bald Eagle and her nest