Sensational Saturday

I had a wild week. I don’t really know an easy way to say it. So, I’ll just say it, one of my tenants was killed, yes killed. Remember the guy that said someone was stealing his loose change while he was a work? It was him!  He was shot while leaving a night club, and his family fought over his belongings in the apartment. Somehow, I got caught in the middle, the police were called and it was just DRAMA! Things have settled down for the most part. But, when I woke up Saturday, I was determined to have a sensational Saturday. My favorite blogger Roni always has sensational Sundays, where she does all the laundry and eats healthy, and gets a lot accomplished. I don’t have a husband or kids to feed, so I figure the least I could do was have a productive day. When the internal clock in my mind woke me up at 8 in the morning on Saturday, I actually got up out of bed instead of just rolling over. I made a to-do list, and got to work. I ate a healthy breakfast. I had an omelet with one egg, egg whites, turkey sausage and spinach.

I did 4 loads of laundry (don’t judge me for having that much dirty laundry!) Friday, I bought fresh cabbage at the farmers market, because they were 2 for 95 cents. I was so excited about the great deal. But, once I got home, I thought, what in the heck am I going to do with 2 cabbages? Saturday afternoon, I steamed one cabbage and baby spinach with sliced turkey polish sausage for lunch.

Then, me and Nyah went to Forest park to get in some activity. It was such a nice day, everyone was out with their pets.  Nyah loves people, but not dogs. I knew not too many dogs would be on the stairs at the pavilion. So, we walked up the stairs and jogged down. We went up and down and around the fountain for about 40 minutes or so. There were families on picnics and couples doing yoga in the grass. It was so cute, a picture perfect day!

After coming home and getting showered I went to see Eddie Murphy’s new movie, A Thousand Words with my Big Little Sister. It was fun, just what it was supposed to be, simple and entertaining. I learned that when you get up at 8 in the morning, there’s a lot of time to get stuff done.

Dedicated

Friday night, my best friend had a sleep over to celebrate her 31^st birthday.  We’re a little old for slumber parties aren’t we?…  Well, I guess not, because we had a ton of fun!  We played silly games, like each person picked a personal theme song that was sung by everyone each time she entered the room.  My friend is a professional party planner and decorator deep on the inside.  I’ll be glad when she lets it out.  Everything was purple and black, down to the candles floating in the purple water and the purple M&M’s in the champagne glasses that she gave as parting gifts.  I took my X Box Kinect , and we played, the Michael Jackson Experience, The Black Eye Pea Experience and my favorite Dance Central 2.  Both of my sisters were there and my little sister was showing off, getting flawless high scores with her dance moves.  I said she was cheating because she’s on the dance team at her high school and the praise dance team at church.  She showed us all that big girls can move! …  Anyway, we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning watching TV and having girl talk about relationships and overcoming the challenge being single and wanting a husband and kids, all while the biological clock is ticking.  Some ladies were ready for children now and others (like me) will take it when it comes.

In the morning I took my Little Sister to her school dance competition (they won 1^st place in the Beyoncé competition) and then I came back to my BFF’s house for brunch.  That afternoon, I got my hair done and ran errands setting up new tenants.  Everyone is happy for me, but me.  I want that crappy building to disappear, but apparently there’s a greater plan that I’m unaware of.  Anyway, enough whining about my real estate “investment.”

So, you know I have a “Special Friend” that I dated for a while, but then we became “just friends” (his choice not mine).  And, ironically, it worked.  We still talk on the phone every day, but the conversation changed a little.  Like some of my commenters said, the things I liked about him as a potential boyfriend, are the same things I like about him as a friend.  I inspired him to train for the half marathon with me, and we keep each other updated with progress reports on mileage.  Even though we talk nearly every day, I hadn’t seen him since October.  However, Saturday, he wanted to train together.  I told him I was still healing from my “rafting injury” but that I could manage a slow walk. I was super tired, from no sleep at the slumber party, and running errands all day, but I didn’t cancel our training session.  It was already dark outside by the time he met at my house to head to the park.  He’s a big tall guy, and as a former military man, he tucked a pocket knife in his camouflage vest, and we took Nyah, so I wasn’t really worried about safety.  We had great conversation as usual, and things were really “friendly” until my back started hurting.  My ginormous boobs really take a toll on my lower back.  He saw I was struggling and stepped in close, holding me, helping me turn and stretch my back.  He did stretch my back, but I can tell you, with this handsome strong man cracking my back, I wasn’t thinking “friendly thoughts.”  I told him I was still transitioning from “dating” to “friend”, but rather unsuccessfully, at that particular time.  He laughed thinking I was just joking.  Luckily the stretching session only lasted a few minutes and I was able to get my focus back. LOL.  Tired, limping, and hormonally flustered, I managed to finish up 2 full miles, and we ended the night with a friendly hug.

White Water Rafting

Last night I was gliding down the river in a float boat and attempted to jump over a boulder but came crashing down hard on my knee.  Of course all of this happened right in my living room while playing the X-Box sensor motion detector game called Kinect.  I’ve played it nearly every night, in addition to my half-marathon training.  I was pouring sweat while tackling my newest unlocked Adventure and trying to beat the clock.  I figured since I jumped high enough to grab the tokens in the clouds, certainly I could stop running into the blocks, and just jump over them.  Well, I was wrong.  After a fun-filled hour of plugging imaginary leaks and serving make-believe dodge balls, my body was tired and my bum knee gave out on me.  On my fall down to the floor, my flailing arms managed to score more tokens and win me a silver medal to progress to the next round.  I hobbled into bed, in pain, but ironically excited that I beat the time clock.  I slept in a knee brace, but this morning it still hurt pretty bad.   Nyah couldn’t figure out why I was moving so slowly when it was obvious that she had to potty.  I considered calling off work, but I knew with all the trial preparation, that was not an option.  Most of my co-workers got a little laugh when I explained my river rafting injury.  I had to laugh at myself.  Then, when I told my Lawyer Lady that I took an 800 mg Ibuprofen to help numb the pain, she said, “oh good, I hope you brought more, I’ll check and make sure you’re not asleep at your desk.”  I’ve worked at law firms long enough to know that my little limp would not stop the trial process.   Hopefully, I’ll heal up in a couple days, and get back to training, and of course my next Kinect Adventures!
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Butts N Guts

I am proud to say that since my half marathon training started on Friday, I have not missed a single day of training.  On Friday, I went to the gym and did a quick, but hilly mile on the treadmill and showered before heading to church to see my little sister praise dance in honor of the church’s 53rd anniversary.  Saturday morning I went to my first group training session in Forest Park.  Because the group is much smaller than last year, there was only one other walker.  Last year there were at least 15 of us walkers.  Even though my ultimate goal is to do a light jog during the race, I’m not quite ready to run with the “real” runners.

The new training schedule distances vary according to your current level of ability.  I’m between a level I and the level II.  Level I required one mile and level II required two miles.  Me and the other walker completed a brisk 1.87 miles together.  It was fun to train with the team again and have the support of the staff and the coaches.  My Big little sister invited me to attend a boot camp-like class called Butts n Guts also on Saturday morning.  After group training, I cleaned out my car to keep myself busy before class, because I knew if I went home I would get back in bed.  I met my sister at the community center and we had our first Butts N Guts class with the ex-military man named Omega.  He worked us out!  I was especially tired since I had already walked nearly 2 miles before 8AM.  The class was an interesting interval mixed workout.  We did the stair step, jumping jacks, leg lifts, bicycles, and even ran a couple laps around the gym.  My sister and my niece and I went to Soulard Market after class to get some fresh veggies and new spices.  I was exhausted and slept well when I got home.

Monday was a beautiful day, 70 degrees in November.  Unfortunately though, we had 25 pleadings to be filed in court that day, so there was hardly time to breathe.  I wanted to walk outside so badly, that I walked a couple quick loops (about one mile) around Kiener Plaza downtown.   Only a few of the occupy protestors were still there since the police put them out. By the time I got back to my desk my attorneys were hunting me down.  It was risky for me to leave, but in hindsight I’m glad that I did since I stayed at work until 9:30 PM and would not have had time to go to the gym.

Today however, felt more like November typically feels, a cool 50 degrees.  It was dark and cold by the time I got off work, and I just wanted to go home.  I couldn’t find my Walk at Home DVD, so I turned on my new show “Ringer” with Sarah Michelle Gellar, and walked circles around the living room.  I fast forwarded through the commercials, but walked the entire time.  I guess I walked about 45 minutes.  I certainly wasn’t sweating, because you can only build up so much momentum and speed while avoiding the glass coffee table and fighting the dog that thinks it’s all a game.  But, I still felt good about being active.  I felt dizzy, but good.  Maybe I should invest in a treadmill? Duh! …Anyway, I’m so happy to have fitness as a priority again.

Operating Out of Fear

“Operating out of fear means that you will always be scared and running for your life, instead of being in alignment with your life.” ~Oprah~

I mentioned in my last post that I have a new “special friend” a great guy that I’ve been dating for a couple weeks.  So, today, he sent me a text saying “You mentioned several times that investing in something that you don’t know where it’s headed isn’t something that you want to do…so do you think we should pump the brakes and talk less?” I really had to think about it.  This guy has taken me out a couple times, paid for everything, treated me with respect, catered to doing things I enjoy, invested a lot of time getting to know me, and has been incredibly honest.   What the heck is wrong with me?! What more could I possibly want after 2 weeks? Why was I constantly telling him that I intentionally wasn’t willing to put my best foot forward, even though I knew that he was? And then I realized that I was operating solely out of fear, and comparing him to horrid experiences from the past. You never know where relationships or friendships will end up, but is that a reason to never get new friends or never allow yourself to genuinely care for someone? Of course not….I went to weigh in on my lunch break, I’ve lost 9 pounds total. YAY!…

On my drive back to work, I called and I explained to him that in my last really serious relationship, the guy was a liar, a thief and an alcoholic amongst other things. But, my sprecial friend had not given me any reason to believe that he was any of those things.  He understood where a lot of my emotional brick walls came from, and I told him that I would allow myself to invest just as much as he had. So are we getting married and live happily ever after? Who knows? But, what I do know is that when I look back on it. I can say that I didn’t let fear run my life.
When I left work today, Cardinal Fever and an excited energy was in the air since we are in the playoffs. There were people everywhere dressed in red and the sun was shining on a freakishly warm October evening. I felt good that I had stopped allowing fear to drive my decisions and decided to enjoy the weather by walking in the park. It was beautiful outside, low 70’s. I climbed the giant hill for a boost to my walk circling the big water basin fountain. The sun was starting to set, but Nyah and I were able to walk about a mile and half before it got too dark. I must say, I had a great day.