It's almost time..

... for bikini shopping!

I've been trying to hard to wait until May 2nd to order one (and by one, I mean many).

This is because I , 1. have a slightly obscene number of bikinis, 2. it's the day after the half-marathon so I'd better be down a few more pounds by then and 3. dear God, the season had better be changed by then.

But, it doesn't hurt to have a list all ready to just enter in the credit card number on May 2. Thus being said, I've started my research.

So far, American Eagle and Anthropologie has the best overall selection this season. But Anthropologie is just a dream. Since I can't afford both a $98 top and $98 bottom, AE is a better option for all (and there aren't any topless beaches around and don't want to end up in jail...). I can't remember the last time I shopped at American Eagle. but they have some adorable things right now.

At the top of my list:
Love.

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California Dreaming

Whenever I hear or see anything that even briefly mentions San Fransisco, I just want to pack up a bag and fly west. Hence, after watching Britney Spears on Good Morning America this morning and seeing a few shots of the City by the Bay, this is all I've been thinking of.

My family lives right below San Fran and I've been lucky enough to go out there twice- but only once that I can remember. I'm looking forward to getting back there again and exploring even more.

Oh the little things..

My weekend can be condensed to two oh-so-exciting events:

1. I finally found my first sand dollar!

2. I completed 13 miles on Sunday morning. Yes, that is not a typo. 13 miles, as in just about a half-marathon, in three hours. Take that, lazy fat-ass days.

I've never ran in the cold before, but ...

Tomorrow is my training day with Stu.

Three hours of "movement."

Not three hours of running, "just" three hours of "movement."

When I signed up for the half-marathon, I signed up with a few co-workers and we got a trainer. I get customized workouts set my heart rate. Yup, I now own a sweet heart rate monitor watch. Sounding serious?

(Then I went out and bough $100 sneakers. Then I decided that I needed to look good while I was running, so I went out and got new running capris, tank tops and zip ups. This part of it was obviously the most fun.)

For the past month, I have spent at least an hour a day "moving" at the gym or outside. And ya know what? It's been quite enjoyable.

I'm not too sure how I feel about tomorrow, though. I'm a little intimidated, but excited to see how my training has paid off.

I think I would be more excited about it if it were going to be warmer. I've made it a rule for myself that I only run outside if it's above 50 degrees.

Tomorrow's high? 38. At 9 a.m., the time we're meeting? 30 degrees.

This is not looking like fun.

Only in New Jersey...

can one enjoy a Friday afternoon tanning but be brushing snow off their car on Tuesday.

Happy First Full Day of Spring

Can't wait for the first sight (and smell) of real flowers!

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It's Friday. High temperatures near 70. Sunny skies.



How can everyone not be happy today?


Hope everyone had a good weekend and gets to enjoy some time outside!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I have been blessed with the, um, "luck" of the "Irish." Red hair, freckles, (naturally) fair-ish skin. Yet I'm not Irish.

Anyways, this means that I have a lot of green in my closet. It's something that just goes well with red hair and it's something that not everyone else can wear, so about half of my closet seems to be green or teal.

Since I don't get to do anything fun for the holiday- and the past three I've been away on Spring Break doing very fun things- here are some green things that I'm loving.

Roxy

Dillards

BGBC

Coach

Priorities

Me: Sitting here reading everyone's Facebook/Twitter updates of warm places has led me to look at cruises/flights/etc. Now I'm even more depressed.

Boyfriend: Yea, well the world is ending right now and the market is crashing so it could be worse. Luckily I sold everything a few weeks ago.

Me: Well if the world is ending, I'd rather have it end as I'm tan and in a bikini with a tropical drink in my hand.

Disasters

Just like it's the little things in life that make me happy, it's also the little things that bring me down. I know that this is something that I have to change because it's just not fair. I shouldn't be upset right now because my car is in the shop again, I'm stuck at home and Boyfriend felt that it would be a good idea to go golfing instead of visit me because I'm mad because I'm stuck at home.

I should feel grateful that these are the biggest problems in my life.

On Friday, I was woken up around 5:15 a.m. with blaring sirens. There was a four-alarm fire a few blocks away from my house. The first report said that it was just in one empty house that was in the middle of being renovated and immediately it was relief- no one was there and no responders were injured.

When I saw this headline, though, I was also informed of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and watched the tragedy with the rest of the world.

(Photo from CNN.com)

I left my apartment to drive home around 7:30 and smelled or saw no smoke in OG. By the time I got home an hour and a half later, the report I read a few hours ago had drastically changed. Most of the houses in OG were built in the late 1800s and are very close together. The fire had spread and destroyed eight other buildings and damaged five more.

(Photo from the Patch)

But what if that fire was two blocks over? What if that earthquake triggered a tsunami that did affect the Northern California coast where my family lives?

I know that I have no right to be upset now that I'm stuck without a car or grumpy because my friends still in college are on their way to warm places for Spring Break.

It's times like this that I know that I'm truly a lucky person and I do have to be thankful that these are my biggest problems.

Not-So-Spring-Break

So while all my friends still in college are packing up and flying south on their Spring Breaks, I'm suck in Jersey. Working. Running. Getting ready to enjoy a balmy 50 degree weekend.

Insert giant Snooki WAAAAAH here.

If I were going away, one of these would be my airplane/beach/pool bag.

Available here

Available here

Available here

Available here

Dreamin'

I want this.And I want to wear it with a big floppy hat, sandals and a cocktail in my hand.

Now I need a tan, 80 degree weather and a classy place to go.

Dress from here.

The End of an Era

One of my favorite TV shows, Greek, ended last night. I started watching it when it first came on years ago- I had just pledged a sorority and was expecting a TV show that was way off of my Greek life experience. I was pleasantly surprised- not only was it a great show, it was also really relevant.

I aspired to be Casey Cartwright- something no one would have ever expected me to be. Completely confident, the president of a sorority, future law school student. Not to mention a really, really hot boyfriend. (Team Evan forever). I eventually became my own Casey Cartwright. I was president of my sorority. I wanted to go to law school until my senior year of college, and I've never been so thankful that I changed my mind. I have my own Evan.

The end of my era came less than a year ago. Don't get me wrong; I loved college. I always knew that I would be a better grown up than a partying sorority. But with graduation comes moving on. Letting go of what the best four years had been.

A lot in learned in college. On your own, you learn how to do things for yourself. Who to trust. Who will be there at 2 a.m. How long you really need to give yourself to prepare for something. How to take risks.

Then, woops, you're back home again. You all these new skills and independences- but nothing to do with them.

You have sorority banners and pledge paddles. Badges. Silver, gold and blue paraphernalia. Penguin stuffed animals. Sixty sisters you know still at school, sixty alumnae scattered (in my case) across the state.

Greek did, in addition to lots of other things, a great job at showing the transition from undergrad to grad student or real person. That transition is important, but for most, it's hard to do it right away. For some, it took living there to see that it was time to move on. You have to hope that the work that you did while there will leave an impact. After you have that diploma, it's someone else's turn.

Because guess what: yes, college was a blast. But there's bigger and better things out there. There's grad school and careers. Washington DC and taking relationships to the next level. New relationships. (Rusty and Ashleigh? Ew.)

Greek showed a tasteful ending: it ended in its prime. It ended with the same cast, good acting and better writing than when it started.

It knew when to let go.

Baby Proof

I have a confession to make.

I hate children.

To those who know me, they know it's just part of me. I shudder when I hear squealing. I cringe when I'm out at a restaurant and babies and screaming and crying. I hate whining at a store. People who don't know me- mainly adults- keep telling me I'll grow out of this. My mom tells me that's how she was at 23 (she was also a wild hippie, but that's another story). My uncles tell me that I'm just like my dad and I won't want one until it's mine and it's in my arms.

I don't know. I can't see myself, you know, putting someone else's needs in front of my own. Selfish? Completely. But at least I've come to realize that before I pop one out.

Since I've opened up Emily Giffin's book Baby Proof, I've obviously associated myself with the main character.

"I never wanted to be a mother. Even when I was a little girl, playing dolls with my two sisters, I assumed the role of the good Aunt Claudia."

All right, I was the completely bossy older sister, but still- I've never put myself in that role. Even now, my friends are gushing about how much they can't wait to be that mother and housewife. That's my nightmare. I want my career. My writing. My body.

Then there are the friends- and there's an overlap of these later into this group- who want to be a teacher. It's a really, really crappy time to want to be a teacher in NJ, but that's a whole other issue. I just can't imagine wanting to be an elementary school teacher. A high school English teach I totally understand. But who really wants to technically babysit nose-picking, smelly, germy children, or teach them to write their ABC's? No thanks.

Getting back to Baby Proof, it's really everything after the first page that scares me. I won't give anything away because I highly recommend reading the book because she's amazing an amazing writer. But read it and get back to me on this: is it completely out of line that I associated myself with that book, but it made me so mad?

Polar Bear Plunge

Every year, beaches up and down the NJ coast host a Polar Bear Plunge. Basically, people donate $100 to the plunge's charity of choice to get wasted and jump in the 30-something degree ocean.

This was my first year going, and I decided to play it safe and go as a spectator and watch my crazy friends. I preferred to stay warm and dry and just enjoy the, um, scenery.

(luckily not my friends)



(38 degree water? no thanks!)

Santa!