This front yard Santa pretty much captures the spirit of the past week. I’m in hermit mode. Be back in full force soon.
Sundays…
Bikini
Picture via
When we were in SF, one of the stipulations for moving to Kentucky was that we would get a pig…pretty much because it sounded awesome. We talked about our pig a lot and even gave it a name (Bikini). Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out the way we anticipated and because we are renting and have no plans to move, Bikini is now, for all intents and purposes, out of the picture.
Last spring Paul got really amped about an alternative:
And though it took a while to come to fruition, over the holiday break Paul decided to use his brother’s master architecture skills and build a coop. He’s convinced we can train the dog not to chase or eat the chickens.
So here it is: the Chicken Coop.
We used Spike’s old dog house (which he went inside exactly once) as a separated area inside for them to have their nests for laying. Complete with easy-access hatch to remove the eggs.
To be completely honest, Paul’s outfit aside, I was really impressed. It’s like a chicken mansion. I’m not sure the chickens will understand what they’re supposed to do where, but Paul did the research and is pretty confident. So I guess we’ll find out.
Next up: the chickens. Probably in the spring.
Streak Report–Part II
sausage race finish line…picture via
And now, for the second and final installment of the streak report. Not a lot of running and minimal biking (because I was in California and did not have a bike with me.) At least I got to do a lot of this in the sun.
Continued from Part I…
Day 13: 1hr 15 min of TRX with sprints in between each circuit
Day 14: 5.3 mile run alone with my music, shins and knee reeeeally got to me
Day 15: 26 mile bike ride (1 hr 30 min). Also the day I decided to take the next week+ off until my leg stopped hurting.
Day 16 : First day in CA. 3200 swim OUTSIIIIDE!
Day 17 (Christmas): everything was closed. Did a 5ish mile walk with Paul and Dad in the hot hot sun (I broke a sweat, counting it).
Day 18: 4.something mile hike in the mountains of SB with some old friends (we walked uphill, also counting it)
Day 19: 4000 swim (1hr 15 min, main set: broken mile)
Day 20: 3500 swim (1hr 15 min, long course masters practice in SB)
Day 21: 2500 swim (1 hr, long and easy, hypoxic pull)
Day 22: 3000 swim (1hr 15 min, threw some fast 100s in there)
Day 23: Nothing. Spent the day recovering from a migraine on the flight home. Then baked bread.
Day 24 (but actually day 25 bc I started on day 0): (NEW YEARS DAY!) 1hr 30 min ride on the trainer. Felt like death.
The end. How anticlimactic. It wasn’t a complete fail, I only did nothing on 2 of the 25 days, but also not a complete success. I’m still not running, going to try to start again this weekend. Fingers crossed….
Yeasty Warmth
That post title goes out to Alix.
As much as I enjoyed the trip to California, it is always nice to come home. Unfortunately, that also meant 18 degree weather and short, dark days.
Yup, that’s pretty much all anybody wants to do.
Paul spent the break snowboarding up in the Canadian wilderness with his friend Ollie (like really, in the middle of nowhere) where he and his brother hunt their own meat and build their own shelter and stuff like that. He brought this book back with him:
Big eye roll. We live in a neighborhood, not in the wilderness or on a farm in the country (despite what our Christmas card suggests…that picture was taken in our backyard.) We don’t own a large plot of farming land or cattle. We are not survivalists. This book does not apply to us.
But after a day of being home of doing absolutely nothing productive, I decided to crawl out from under my comforter on the couch and see what was in the book anyway.
Last week I helped (watched) Chrissy make some bomb bread in her apartment in SF. Inspired, I found a bread recipe (there are many) in the book and decided to give it a try.
Boom. Different recipe than Chrissy’s, totally different type of bread, but still good. Plus baking it warms the house up and makes it smell yeastily delicious, which is especially wonderful on dark wintery days.
And that book? I was wrong. It’s awesome. It has everything–cooking, gardening, raising animals, making clothes, making preserves (Paul is stoked about that), how to skin a rabbit, home repairs, herbal remedies, diarrhea relief for your dog (seriously)…watch out.
Unplugged
…is where I was for the past week and a half. I sat down at a computer exactly once and it was for 5 minutes. And it was glorious.
The past week, in a nutshell:
xmas in santa barbara (and an xmas dinner in seal beach)
hiking in the mountains
old friends
at old hangouts
a little swimming in the sun
in totally amazing weather
then i headed thata way
to sf
where i spent a lot of time walking
over hills, through familiar neighborhoods
avoiding death monsters
hanging out with super awesome peeps, making great food
and eating (and drinking) it
enjoyed some local music
and local art
culminating in a bridal shower for alix
where my more artistic counterparts took over the job of making the rehearsal bouquet (because I was ruining it) while i went and drank champagne and ate about 30 shrimp before hopping on a red-eye back to kentucky
so long, california. until next time.
happy 2012
Canning Update
Paul ate some of his salsa on his eggs on Sunday. And he’s still alive.
He did say that it didn’t taste right, he thinks he used the wrong kind of vinegar. Rice vinegar next time.
Streak Report–Part I
So, I could lie and pretend like I’ve run every day of the streak. But I won’t.
Started out on the right foot (ha), but the shins and back pain kicked in after a run I (apparently) pushed a little bit too hard followed by a weekend of increased cycling hours, and I didn’t want to aggravate it all too much. So I haven’t been running every day. Fail. But I have committed myself to exercising every day! (I missed one day out of the last 12). And I plan to do so through the first of the year.
Report thus far:
Day 0: 5.4 miles with the morning group (this was the day before I heard about the streak, but thought it should count since I ran)
Day 1: 1 mile (ouch…had a work event, it was dark)
Day 2: 5.4 mucusy miles with the morning group (it was 26 degrees outside)
Day 3: 2 miles with Spike, the squirrels were out in force, I wanted to kill him (+90 minute ride on the bike)
Day 4: 1 mile on my own (+ 5000 yard swim + 1 hour on bike)
Day 5: 3 miles easy running with Paul and Spike (this weekend was where the back and shins started getting bad)
Day 6: ~.5 miles (1-minute sprints with Allison in between our TRX circuits)
Day 7: 5.4 miles with morning group, avg 7:40/mile (+ 1hr yoga…my back was KILLING me, wanted to stretch it out)
Day 8: 0 miles run, but 1.5 mile walk with Spike (and we put our new couch together…I wasn’t feeling super great)
Day 9: 4 miles (25 min run + 6 x 30 sec strides)
Day 10: 0 miles, shins hurt and had long run planned for next day (+ 1hr 30 min on bike + 1500 yard swim)
Day 11: 8.4 miles by my lonesome, had to throw my emergency mix on my ipod to get me out of the house (1hr 10min)
Day 12: 3.4 miles nice and slow (+TRX with a few sprints)
Total miles: 40.1. Weak sauce.
There you have it. The (first) 12 Days of Streaking.
…and while we’re riding the Confession Train, I might as well go ahead and announce that at some point last week I actively dove headfirst off the wagon and started eating chocolate in my office again LIKE IT IS MY JOB.
I’m ready for break.
P.S. Someone put a ceramic duck wearing a Christmas sweater right outside my cube. Totally necessary.
Kentucky Goes Global
An email from Margaret, who is currently working over in London for a few months (lucky):
So my friend Susie is doing what I”m doing work-wise, but in Osaka, and for a year. She goes to visit a friend in the burbs outside Osaka and writes me this – (and see attached pic)
“then today we went to this hilarious (but good) place called U.K. diner. i figured it was british food but instead it was a university of kentucky themed restaurant! UK gear all over the place and a motorcycle inside and american food!”
i mean that’s amazing. i have no idea what the link between japan and U Kentucky is, but it’s strong. Meg – I wonder if they televised the NCAA game there and all wore jorts???!!!
Attached picture below:
Yes, those are NASCAR cars, trucks (I just learned there is a NASCAR truck series), and big rigs lining the walls and a Camaro chair in the forefront. The allure of Kentucky culture knows no bounds.
Deck the Halls
Christmas has exploded in our office (I am going to apologize in advance for the quality of these pictures, they were taken quickly and with my phone.)
A 360 view of what I see as I walk out of my cubicle:
To the left (of course, I’ve mentioned this before):
To the right:
To the front:
To the side (outside my neighbor’s cube):
To the other side (my neighbor’s file cabinet):
And to the back (inside my own cube, thanks to a coworker who hung it there):
A departure from my previous place of employment, where we weren’t allowed to have flowers on the counters because one of the managing partners thought it made the office look like a bank.
I should note, all of these are provided by a single employee who is letting the office “borrow” them for the season. She also has three inflatable Christmas-themed decorations in the front yard of her home (a manger, noah’s ark…with flamingos…, and barn with all 9 of Santa’s reindeer sitting in their respective stalls. She showed me pictures on her phone.) Can’t help but admire people who embrace anything with this amount of passion and just run with it.
P.S. And what else to do when you’re sitting in a glittercloud of holiday than listen to some seasonal music. Favorite this week: the She & Him Christmas Album.
Rambulatory Ambulatory 