New Apartment?

So I think we've got ourselves a new apartment finally. After looking for over a month and seeing at least 20 places, I think we've got it. There's good and not so good parts about it, but I'm trying to stay positive and that means decorating : ) I'm pretty sure I've fallen in love with this temporary wall paper. I want to put it in the kitchen and do more of a red and light blue theme. What do you think cute or a little too much? Remember NYC kitchens are not so much big as they are ummm... smallish. The new one isn't too small, but it's no Utah or California kitch that's for sure!

Birthday Summary

Yesterday was Dan's Birthday. It went a little something like this. Dan got up early and went to work, I slept in and worked from home. Dan had to deal with teenagers and school stress all day. I did paperwork while baking and getting things ready for his birthday dinner. Dan got home exhausted, I got home ready to party. I think he was supposed to have my day...
Dinner was General Tso's Chicken requested by Mr. Dan. I surprised him with bottle of "nectar of the gods"
We had angel food cake with strawberries and home made whipped cream a la Thomson family
The aftermath.

It was pretty fun. No other pressies for Dan as he (and I ) got a plenty big present with the iphone! It was a nice relaxing night and I hope it made up for his stressful day!

Oh Danny Boy

Dapper Dan man turns 27 today. Guess what we got for his Birthday this weekend? Yeah that would be an iphone. Guess what we did for about 4 hours straight after we got home Saturday night? Yeah played on our phones. It's been less than a week and we're already addicted.

I like it when someone else's Birthday results in a present for me too!

Happy Birthday Dapper Dan Man. You're the tops!

Running Update

image from here

I have now been running 3-4 times a week for the past 13 weeks. I have never run or worked out this consistently in my life. I have of course lost no weight because I enjoy eating bad foods way too much, but I've also never felt healthier and more in control of my body. Currently each Saturday I have a "long" run and I add a mile each weekend. Before two weeks ago, I'd never run longer than 3 miles ever and those were only for 5k's that well intentioned friends and family forced me to sign up for. This last weekend, I ran 6 miles. SIX! I know other people run that regularly and it's not that big a deal, but that is HUGE for me! If anyone knows me well, you'll know that I'm not athletic and I don't like sweating. Trying to run four times a week and for long distances is not something I naturally enjoy.

But training has given me such a sense of accomplishment especially now that I keep up-ing my weekend run. Every single weekend I run further than I've ever run in my life. It doesn't matter if it's not a good run or if I get a terrible time because I have never before intentionally moved my body in a forward motion without the aid of a vehicle or something for that distance. I get such a high after knowing that even if I had to walk and I wanted to catch a cab to finish the mileage, I actually did it on my own. I took control of my body and it did what I wanted it to do.

I've learned that running is at least 50% mental (I think it's more but we'll just say 50% cause that's a nice number : ) I have to remember that I can physically do this. I may feel like my legs have turned into wooden stumps and my ankle wants to snap off and my knee cap is going to throb right out of my skin, but I can do this, I have done this. All the way up to the new extra mile, I've done it all before and I'll survive. At the beginning I was talking to my mom about the trainng (she's going to run with me too!) and she said "I just have to remember that the second I stop running, the pain goes away, so why not run just a little bit further and deal with the pain and reach your goal a little bit faster." I try to remember that a lot when I want to quit. It's about making little goals for yourself and then trying to go just 5 more blocks. Because if you push it and go those extra 5 blocks you'll get that high sense of accomplishment again that will help carry you through the next 20 blocks.

I think I've really started to like running. And it scares me just a little.

Lust

Currently lusting after these and dreaming of spring time wearing cute shoes and a vintage dress with red lipstick while walking through Central Park with my boo. Sigh, I wish I could have seen NYC back in the day.

Happy Friday!

Wifey

This week I was chatting with the girls at work and one of them said "Maddie, you're such a Betty, you were born in the wrong era!"

And it's true.

I would absolutely love it if I could stay home and clean/decorate the apartment, cook, plan meals, go to the gym, read, do little projects etc. I definitely hope to be able to stay home once we have kids (at least while they're little) but even without kids, I would love to be a little housewifey!

I do think I would get bored fairly frequently... I would probably spend waaaaay too much money because I'd always be making excuses to get out of the apartment and go shop... and I probably wouldn't be as productive because I'd have too much time on my hands...

So it's probably better that I'm not just sitting around the apartment. But a girl can dream right? : )

Anyone else dream of being a housewifey or am I an ridiculous anti-feminist?

Central Park in Springtime

My absolute favorite time of year in NYC is spring. Not even Christmas or gorgeous fall colors can beat it. I absolutely adore CP in spring. Like I said yesterday Dan, Julie and I went and walked around CP after church on Sunday. It was divine!

They'd finally opened the lawns for people to lay out on
There was a choir singing in the tunnel
Blooms every where!
We got to see the sailboats
Fountains were still shut down, but people could rent boats from the boathouse
Flowers every where!
More tender times!

And here's a video of a sax and bass duo that were playing along a random walkway. Is there anything better than New York jazz in the park?

It was a perfect day : )