Continual State of Becoming

2009 Year in Review Survey 1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before? Started running! I ran a 5k, a 4mile, and a 10k race. But I also ran 8.5 miles on my own at one point. I wanted to get up to 10, but didn't make it once the weather got cold. I also made my first pie, and it was completely from scratch. Apple Cranberry Crumb Pie, delicious. 2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't usually make any, but this year I think I'm going to cut back on candy. 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes, a couple of my friends from mom's group. 4. Did anyone close to you die? No. 5. What countries did you visit? Again, just the U.S. I haven't been out of the country in a very very long time. 6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? After making pasta for Christmas dinner with a borrowed pasta maker, perhaps a pasta maker. 7. What date from 2009 will r...

Whenever I stumble over these types of things a part of me misses my old job at the NGA. http://www.nypost.com/seven/08242009/news/regionalnews/no__30g_arts_not_in_box___it_is_box_186203.htm

I completed my first 10k race! Matt and I both ran the Leesburg 10k yesterday and I think we did really well. I finished in 1 hr 21 minutes, which sadly put me in last place for my division, but I'm okay with that. Matt finished in 1 hr 8 minutes and did much better in his division. Not bad since I've only been running since May, and matt only started running a few weeks ago (though he did run through college). Despite the really hot weather, it was a nice run. Most of it was in the shade, and we ran right by our house, so the route was really familiar. I feel very proud of myself for having accomplished something that a year ago I never thought would be possible. It's making me strongly consider running an half marathon next spring, I think a marathon is still a little beyond my grasp at this point, I'm not sure I'd be able to dedicate enough time for training to accomplish that. But I think a half marathon is do-able. We'll see though. Upcoming race...

A while ago I wrote about a typical day for me and Dylan. I thought I'd do that again since he's changed so much since then. We usually wake up between 6:00 and 6:30. It takes me a couple minutes to accept that he is in fact awake for good (every morning I pray that he'll go back to sleep for an hour but he never does). After a quick diaper change we go downstairs and I prepare a cup of milk for him. Dylan looooves his milk in the morning, we'll go into the living room and watch some Disney cartoons, Handy Manny is his current favorite, while he drinks his milk in his own personal chair. Sometimes though he'll cuddle up with me on the couch while he drinks his milk. After he finishes his milk he'll play with his toys and crawl around for a little while. Usually around 7:30 his about ready for breakfast which typically consists of yogurt and a banana or banana bread or Kix. From time to time I switch it up by making pancakes, and sometimes Dylan will have...

I recipe I altered from another one... it's REALLY good. I sent this to my sister Sarah yesterday so she could cook it and she liked it too. She made a few changes, which I've noted. For the Chicken: Chicken cutlets (matt and I each ate 3 of the thin slices) flour for dredging the chicken, I added salt and pepper to the flour olive oil to cook the chicken in Sauce: -about 1/2 cup of white wine -juice from 1/2 lemon -chicken stock (as much as it takes to make enough sauce) - 2 or 3 cloves of garlic -2 cans of (drained) artichokes, not marinated (I used 2 of the small jars of artichokes and we had a few leftover) Steps: 1. Dredge chicken in flour 2. Cook chicken in olive oil over high heat, about 2-3 minutes on each side (or until done, I never really time things). They should get nice and golden brown 3. Remove chicken from pan, reduce heat to medium 4. Add garlic 5. Deglaze pan with wine, add chicken stock, lemon juice (Sarah let the sauce reduce a little and added some ...

Last post a I talked a little bit about how I started running. Well, this weekend I completed the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure and I did waaay better than my initial goal! I trained for a little less than a month (after not running since high school), the first 2 1/2 weeks was slow going. But about halfway through my training things started to click and I went from running 15 minutes nonstop one day, to 30 minutes the next, to 54 minutes less than a week later! And I think I could have kept running that day, but I knew that if I didn't hit the hour mark that run, I'd be more motivated it to it again and run for a full hour. In the past week I think I ran about 14 miles total, which is something I NEVER thought I'd do. After all, I'm certainly no runner. The race was good though. Fortunately it wasn't too hot or sunny out (which really helped), and I think running with 10,000 other people helped me push myself a little harder than I would have otherwise. M...

April and May have turned out to be pretty crazy months here. We've had lots going on lately, and things are just starting to quiet down, which means Dylan and I are relaxing more and catching up on some much needed naps. Lately Dylan and I have done a few new things, so I thought I'd talk about some of them. To start with, I FINALLY went to Wegman's. I know, I know, it's about time. But I think anyone who's read this blog for any amount of time is well aware of my disdain for grocery shopping, so I usually stick with what's familiar so it takes as little time as possible to get in and out. But Sarah and I cooked dinner for my mom's birthday a few weeks ago and she wanted seafood... I don't really trust seafood from Giant, but I've heard that Wegman's is pretty decent so I decided to finally go there and check it out. At first I was completely overwhelmed... lots of little sections to the store that I couldn't figure out... a map or some...

Jars of Clay's new album came out today. So of course I rushed right out and bought it. There's usually at least one song on their album that I can really identify with so I listened carefully to the lyrics waiting to see which one it would be this time. I didn't have to listen too hard because it was pretty obvious which song it would be this time. It's called Boys (lesson one). It's about having a son, probably more from a father's perspective, but I can still appreciate the sentiments. Lesson one, do not hide. Lesson two, there are right ways to fight and if you have questions we can talk through the night So you know who you are and you know what you want I've been where you're going, and it's not that far it's too far to walk, but you don't have to run you get there in time Lesson three, you're not alone But since I saw you start breathing on your own You can leave, you can run But this will still be your home So you know who y...

Yesterday Dylan and I went to the mall to meet up with the Mom's group for lunch. After dining on some chick-fil-a I decided to do something I've sworn many, many, many times I would never do. I took Dylan into the children's play area. When I found out I was pregnant the mall became a scary place to me. Suddenly I didn't really notice the cute clothes in the window (not that I could buy them anymore anyway) or the great sales at my favorite stores. All I noticed were the hundreds of overly stressed, overly tired moms pushing multiple whiny children in strollers, trying everything they could to keep them happy as they schlepped them from one store to the next... or even weirder, just power walked around the mall. And then eventually I'd wander past the worst part of it all... the children's play area. It's always swarming with little kids. Climbing, running, crying, screaming, shouting kids. The whole thing just stressed me out. I promised myself I ...

Wow, no posts since New Years... I'm getting really bad at this whole blogging thing. But now I think it's time I get back into it. I've thought about posting from time to time, but I just never sit down and do it. So what do I write about in my semi-new mom life? I guess true to most other aspects of my life I will probably be focusing a lot around Dylan, but I'll try to throw in a few other topics from time to time as well. Alright, enough forward stuff, let's get on to actual post material. So Dylan is now 1. I think that was the fastest year of my life. I feel like ever since his birthday he's been learning and developing by leaps and bounds. He definitely understands more now, so I'm being careful to talk with him instead of just at him. With his new understanding of language and communication comes a whole new level of frustration though. Matt even commented the other day that Dylan seems to cry more now than he did as a newborn. At first I ...