GG Makes it All Better

Today was a little hard because I had to do the funeral for the church member who passed away last week. I was feeling lots of different things, which is not unusual. But after a long morning and afternoon of preparing, presiding, and lunching, I needed to do some relaxing. It rained practically all day today, so it was a good day to come home and snuggle up on the couch and watch some Gilmore Girls. It definitely made me feel better, although I didn't get a whole lot done the rest of the day, I felt ok with that since I already had a pretty full day, especially emotionally. This was the second day in a row I didn't feel like running. That happens every now and then. And while I was able to get myself out the door yesterday, it just didn't happen today. It's not something I want to get in the habit of doing, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it because missing one day every now and then isn't really going to impact my training. And now to bed, so I can get my butt moving tomorrow!

And So Begins the Evacuation

About a week and a half ago, with the threat of Hurricane Irene looming, a mandatory evacuation order just about emptied the island (there were a few brave -or crazy - people who stayed). Today was the unofficial end-of-summer evacuation. While there will still be some who come down to their summer homes on the weekends through September and maybe even October, and the snow birds who don't fly south until winter, Labor Day marks the time for many when they close up their island homes and head back to work and school in north Jersey, New York, or Philly. Many businesses will remain open, with more limited hours, through the fall, but some (like the market up the street) are strictly Memorial Day to Labor Day. I'm sure I'll have more to say about this in another post, but for now my bed is calling me, and I wanted to be sure to post something today since I did miss yesterday. (But hey, 4 out of 5 days isn't bad!)

Twenty. Miles.

Today I ran 20 miles. Isn't that enough? Really? Did I have to do anything else today?
Ok, I did a few other things, but nothing really extraordinary besides the running 20 miles. This was my last really long run before my marathon in three weeks. It was encouraging that I felt pretty good for most of it after having a pretty crappy long run last weekend. I'm grateful that I've been able to do several of my long runs with my friend Mindy. It definitely makes the time and miles seem to go faster when you have a friend to talk with. I'm a little concerned that I won't have a friend to run with at the marathon, but I think I'm just going to try staying with a pace group, so that should help. It will also help that I will have some family there cheering me on!

TGIF?

This was one of those Fridays (my regular "day off") that I spent mostly doing pretty boring stuff around the house like cleaning, because it was one of those crazy weeks where I let all of that stuff go until today. I interspersed some fun things into my day to help me get through my to-do list: I watched a few episodes of Gilmore Girls (from seasons 3 and 4), read a little, spent about an hour and a half on the beach, and baked some cranberry-orange bread and (homemade) granola.
I finished my latest book before going to bed last night: "Does the Noise in my Head Bother You?"- Steven Tyler's memoir. It was... interesting. Aerosmith is one of my all-time favorite bands, in the top 3. I learned a lot about the band and it's members, and learned that Steven Tyler is probably a musical genius. I also learned that's he's probably more than a little crazy, and learned way more about the drugs they did than I ever needed to know. If you like biographies and/or rock bands you would probably like this book, but be warned that it would probably have the equivalent of an "R" rating for a movie: there's a lot of harsh language and I found some of his comments offensive.
Now I'm close to finishing another book (fiction) that I had actually started before, but had to put aside when I got Steven Tyler's book from the library. I plan to read a bit more tonight and go to bed early, so I can get up early for a long run in the morning.

30 Days

It's the beginning of a new month, I always have intentions of blogging more often than I do, and I know a fellow LTSP alum who uses her blog to attempt things for 30 days. These are the reasons I have decided to attempt to blog every day for the 30 days of September. I'm honestly not sure how likely I am to accomplish this goal, but it can't hurt to try, right?
Today was a pretty rough day. One of my parishioners passed away today. He was 91 years old and lived a good long life and I have hope in the resurrection and his health was basically failing for the few weeks, so on the one hand, it's probably a blessing. On the other hand, he was a wonderful man who was loved by the community and the congregation and I had formed a good relationship with him over the past year. He will definitely be missed.
I was also looking forward to a visit from my cousin's family this weekend, and she told me today that they're not going to be able to come now, so that bummed me out even more. They're going to try to come another weekend instead, so I hope we can work that out.
On a positive note, I tried a new class at the gym today! One of my friends in Bville talked me into going to her "Body Pump" class at the YMCA the last time I was home, and it kicked my butt, but I appreciated the challenge. I try to weight-lift/strength train twice a week, and sometimes I get bored doing the same routine all the time, so I decided to try the class at my gym. I'm sore, but in a good way, if that makes sense. And I still had enough energy to go for a run afterward. And then I rewarded myself with a milkshake. ;)

How I Spent My August

+ Attended a week of Confirmation Camp (along with one of the youth from my congregation). + Celebrated my 30th birthday with two parties: one in western PA, one in NJ. + Presided over my first wedding. + Attended a Phillies game. + Saw a few sunsets while enjoying free concerts at the park aboard my friends' boat. + Read some books. + Spent some time on the beach. + Ran over 100 miles. + Survived my first earthquake AND hurricane.

Full Swing Summer

The fact that we are about halfway through summer already seems ridiculous to me. Why is it that the summer (my favorite season) seems to fly by while winter (my least favorite season) drags on and on? It's now less than a month until my big birthday. I think I'm starting to dread it less because I'm making lots of fun plans and I've been practicing saying that I'll be 30, to get used to the idea. (I know, it's not old, but it's a big deal for me.)

Some of the things going on at church this summer have been the annual picnic, a trip to Six Flags with the youth group, the start of our summer surf movie series, and (going on this week) Vacation Bible School. This is the first time this congregation has ever held VBS so it's been a learning experience, but it seems to be going pretty well so far. The general atmosphere of the congregation seems to be more positive than it was over the winter, which is good. Realistically, it's probably at least in part due to the season (who doesn't like warm weather when they live at the shore?), and the fact that there are more people around in the congregation, and people are generally more distracted with summer visitors and activities. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts!

My parents came for a visit last week, it was nice to have them here. And my mom helped me paint my bathrooms, so it was pretty exciting to get that accomplished. One more step completed in the transformation of the bathrooms. I got new towel rods that I plan to put up this week. That will be it for the guest bath, but in the master bathroom I still want to paint the vanity and medicine cabinet, and change the decor theme with new curtains and towels, and some new wall hangings. I hope to finish this all by the end of the summer. I also plan to continue doing lots of reading on the beach.