My boyfriend is in the process of flying back home now after spending a weekend in Madison. He, my roomie, and I ran an 8k together on Saturday morning! Don't worry, it was chilly and raining, in true Wisconsin-style! But we had fun and we all finished in under 45 minutes - yay!

And now I'm blissfully living in that 48-hour grace period after a long race where I can eat whatever I want and not exercise because, I just ran 5 miles. (Well, technically 4.97).

My youngest sister is an awesome track star (will be beginning her collegiate cross country/track career in the fall) and when I told her I ran 4.97 miles her response was:

"4.97? That's the most ridiculous length ever. Why didn't you just keep running after the finish line and make it to 5?"

To which I answered, "Because when I crossed the finish line the absolute last thing I wanted to do was run one step further." 

Regardless, when had a fun weekend - and it made me think of the last time he was here and we went skiing for my first time ever! But I never blogged about it - though I had meant to. It was my first time skiing in my entire life, so I'll let you imagine how well that went, considering I'm 23, 6 foot 2, and not the most coordinated of humans. Let's just say I'm lucky I did my first time in Wisconsin and not Colorado. And I'm lucky I had a boyfriend who patiently helped me down bunny hills a ridiculous amount of times. 

Conversation when going up a lift for a slightly-bigger hill:

Me: I don't think I can do this one. It's much steeper. This lift is terrifying.

Him: Joyce, just look at the four year old in the pink coat down there who seems to be doing perfectly fine.

:)

I hope you all had fun weekends, and that the last week of April warms up for you - wherever you are :)

Walking the Line

I feel as if things are starting to stabilize, but I think I'm just getting comfortable with consistently having a long list of to-do's that I add items to at twice the rate I check them off.

Last week was particularly stressful, though. On Thursday evening, I was getting back to my apartment after an unplanned business trip. After taking the elevator up to my third floor apartment (elevators = totally acceptable if you have a rolly bag), I approached my door. Once almost there, I pulled out my car keys, pointed them at my apartment door and pressed the "Unlock" button. 

I should have taken the ol' I-just-tried-unlocking-my-apartment-door-using-a-honda-civic-power-lock-keychain mistake as a sign from the cosmic forces to cease all activity and dive into bed immediately. Do not pass go. Do not stop in your bathroom and try to take off your eye make up with acetone.

Because, really? There's honest mistakes and then there's losing your mind, and I was walking that line a little too closely.

Instead, I walked in my apartment and looked at my marker board in my kitchen. It's really cute, actually. My roomie is crafty and made a decorative markerboard by putting fancy paper into a large frame. I contributed by snagging dry erase markers from the office. 

The marker board held writing on it that contained an idea I had Monday prior to the surprise trip Tuesday. It read, "Tuesday night activity: fry zucchini" So, I decided to fry zucchini. Had the markerboard commanded me to "Go skinny dipping in the lake" I probably would have been better off. 

The only reason I even wanted to fry zucchini originally is this one high school summer I went to the beach and my high school boyfriend's mom fried zucchini. So, naturally, I assumed I knew how. In reality, I don't even know how to slice zucchini. Or any vegetable.

I googled how to fry zucchini and before I knew it I was mixing eggs, flour, milk, realizing I didn't have a deep fryer and dumping it all down the sink. At this point, the kitchen was such a mess that I had to produce something edible - so I fried it the way I make chicken parm - dip in egg, dip in bread crumbs, put in oil. They turned out ok:

Of course, by the time I was done I wasn't the slightest bit hungry. So I turned off the burner and walked straight to the wine store. 

Marching Around

Long time no post. Life has been moving quickly and hectically lately. In March, I had 3 business trips and one fun trip. (Peoria, IL, Tulsa, OK, Portland, Maine, and Little Rock, Arkansas) Most people in my role travel constantly, but I hardly traveled at all in the first 6 months, so it's taking me a bit to adjust to the life of a nomad. For those of you who follow my blog so religiously you remember my post here where I talked about my 50 State Goal(and getting stranded in Detroit)...so, that's right, Oklahoma and Maine add 2 more! I'm at 35 - when I originally posted the goal - on 3/16/11, I had 28. So 7 more in a little over a year. Maybe this time next year I'll be at 42. :)

Since I actually failed to post the entire month of March, I wanted to post some pictures to prove that I did have a life outside of business trips in the third month of the 2012.

My twin sister came to visit the first weekend of March, and we had a great time! It was snowy that weekend, in true Madison style. I showed her Epic, Madison, and we even got all domestic and made a meal (one of our favorite recipes, my mom's home made pizza):

The next weekend, my roomie's sisters were in town (2 of them - we have 3 sisters each!). We celebrated one of their birthdays and even checked Henry Villas Zoo, which is a free zoo in Madison, only about 2 miles from my apartment. It was really impressive for a free zoo! Also, I realized I don't think I've ever seen a camel in real life before - I guess Aladdin doesn't count :)

The next week I went to both Peoria and Tulsa for work. So I officially can check Oklahoma off of my state list! And, yep, the hotel attendants wore cowboy hats.

The weather on St. Patrick's Day was absolutely gorgeous..I had fun with my Madtown friends. :)

The next weekend I got to fly down to Arkansas to see my boyfriend - finally! And we made a day trip to the Hot Springs ... aka "America's Spa" - it was definitely interesting touring the old school bath houses on bath house row and the weather was GORGEOUS. I got my first tan lines of the season, holla.

Fordyce Bathhouse in Hot Springs, AR



notably, the men's side for baths was nicer than the women's side




the old school gym was sweet - i liked the wooden dumbbells



It's crazy to think that last year - almost exactly the same weekend (one weekend off) I travelled to Little Rock for some March Madness. We really enjoy watching our perfect brackets come true together each year.

From there, I flew to Maine for work - so, yep, from tanning to snowing in less than 48 hours. And, no, I didn't remember a coat. And, no, I didn't have lobster. I had lobsters.

whatttttttup, MAINE.

Well - sorry that was a bit of a long post, but I've been M.I.A. for a while. It's my first time since starting this blog that I haven't posted in a whole month, but I guess a catch-up post on April Fools Day isn't too bad. Happy Spring, everyone :)