Hair Talk

I'm thinking of going back to this haircut:

Any strong opinions one way or the other?

To All Aspiring Gentlemen:

Read this. The whole thing. You'll thank me for it. Chances are, if we're friends, you already do (or have been taught to do) most of these things...though a little brush-up never hurt anyone.

(p.s. Many of these rules apply to women as well, so have a good read, everyone!)

Some of these are positively heartwarming. I love discovering new blog treasures.

Channeling the Spirit of Coach Barnett

I'm not gonna lie, this week has been challenging. I'm tired from my training, I haven't been feeling well (don't worry, it's not swine flu), my room has been a sauna (not the good Jamaican kind), I'm studying for my tests (which includes reading some books that I just don't get/enjoy), and juggling what feels like a thousand other small tasks and emotions. Wednesday night I could feel myself bending under the pressure but tried to keep a good sense of humor about it all. But yesterday, when I found out an attorney who works across the street from us had committed suicide in his office that morning, I lost it. Like started crying at my desk. Wow, Bradshaw. Pull yourself together. Mom said I should just go home and try to regroup, but, refusing to be defeated, I pulled myself together, finished my day, and went home on time like a responsible adult. But then I did what I do best when I need to cope: I went running.

Usually by Thursday, my body feels pretty beat up by the workouts of the week. I usually tell myself I'm going to do a speed workout but usually end up doing something long and slow. Yesterday, however, I decided I would never know how tough I was until I pushed through those feelings of fatigue. I pretended Coach Barnett was running the workout. There's no way he would give me the day off just because I was "tired." He would have laughed at me. He would have expected me to run so hard I thought my lungs would explode and my legs would ignite and crumble beneath me. He would have told me that was the only way I was ever going to have a chance of making it to the finals. So I decided to see how fast I could run a 10k.

When I finished the first 5k in 21:30, I thought, "A 5k time trial is good enough, right?" Then the image of Barnett popped into my head, screaming at me from across the track with arms waving and ponytail flying when he saw my turnover flagging and my arms creeping up towards my chest. I dug a little deeper, shook out my arms, pushed off harder, put my feet down faster, and settled in for another 5k.

In the end, I beat my old 10k PR by almost a full 2 minutes. I've always wondered what it would feel like to run one in 45 minutes. Now I know: it hurts. But it's possible. Suddenly my training didn't feel for naught; all that fatigue suddenly felt right and proper. Suddenly I'm dreading leg 3 of Ragnar just a little bit less. (But only a little bit.)

Jamaica rundown: successes and mistakes

Almost immediately upon our arrival in Jamaica we started making a list of all the trip's successes. While it initially began as a "Successes" list, there were a few mistakes that had to be acknowledged. They all came late in the trip, though, and none of them were too monumental. Mostly they were just funny (except for the two "Epic Fails")

And now, in as best chronological order as I could recreate, I present Girlcation in Jamaica.

Successes:

• Staying at the Ritz on the cheap (thanks, Em!)


• Fletcher the cab driver


• Ralston and his amazing pina coladas











• The electric violin band


• Beachside pilates


• $7 omlette




• Christian Reggae music


• Leanna's discovery of the sauna and cold plunge













The hobie cat adventure







• Soft chairs and towels, beachside and poolside




• Pizza and Ruffles, The River Wild, The Holiday, Two Weeks' Notice, and Step Up 2


• Tennis




• Bocce Ball and Cricket













• Richard the Cabana Boy
• Monday morning: everything about it


• Outrunning the Jamaican storm


• Not being on the hijacked plane
• Leaving the Oreos in the drawer


• Leaving the Australian Gold "sunscreen" behind




• Jamaican pirate store
• Finding a cutout of Usain Bolt in the airport

• Catching our flight in Dallas



Mistakes:

• Hostage situation at the airport (EPIC FAIL)


• Australian Gold "sunscreen" (another EPIC FAIL)




• Fletcher's busted up Toyota Camry


• Jamaican Muesli


• Pool-side pina coladas, the slushy mess that they were





• Missing the Reggae Dance class


• $16 omlette


• letting (some would say I invited...) hobie cat man touch my leg


• the Oreos


• $3.50 water


• the mossy rope [shudder]


• Saph the tennis instructor


• the $1 bellman tip


• forgetting to get the sisters a ride to church, then dreaming all night about asking for their forgiveness


• Dominos pizza


• Sprinting with all our luggage to catch our Dallas flight

All weekend we kept seeing "signs" that we were meant to be in Jamaica, from the LeBron James Sprite bottles to the Sauna and cold plunge to the beachside Pilates, to dancing in a restaurant barefoot to "I Will Survive" ... the only word I could think of all weekend to describe it all was magical. The weather was perfect (we arrived at the airport just as a torrential downpour began...we liked to think Jamaica was crying over us leaving...), the water warm, and the quotable quotes flowing freely.

It was really hard to be back at work yesterday, especially the wearing clothes part, but alas here we are.

Kind of hard to believe this was us 48 hours ago...

I should be working

I should be working, but instead I'm dreaming of the next three days...

I thought this day would go by far too slow, so when one of my bosses came out and said she was going to another office to work because hers was too messy, I decided this would be a perfect project to pass my half day. I don't know about you, but when I would become overwhelmed with the disorganization in my room, my mom would offer to come sit with me while I worked. This way I was kept company and when I wasn't sure how to organize something or where to put it or whether or not I should throw it away, I had the master organizer/thrower-awayer right there to advise me. I have realized over the years that I have picked up this habit, for better or for worse. I enjoy helping others clean and get organized, even if that just means sitting with them quietly and reading a book so they don't feel lonely, so I told her confidently we could have it workable in 15 minutes. She looked skeptical, but I decided to be forceful (which I think surprised her - I'm not often that way) and practically dragged her back into her office to address the...tornado of papers. I'm not kidding.

Undaunted, I launched right in. I began labeling things, taking piles of papers away, slotting boxes for shredding, getting rid of empty boxes, etc. Within 15 minutes, as promised, her office was clean and ready to be worked in. But guess where all the boxes not slotted for shredding are now? You guessed it. In my workspace.

Now, while I love getting myself and other people organized, I absolutely hate Accutracing boxes, which is our firm's program for file storage. I'm not sure why, but there it is. So what have I done instead? Well, I checked the weather in Jamaica, thought about how hungry I was and found my yogurt and granola bar, talked to little brother Tommy on the phone, made a list of things to pick up at CVS on my way out, thought about my book choices for the trip (hoping I've chosen wisely), tried to figure out if I forgot to pack anything (not that I need much more than swimsuits, sunscreen and a PASSPORT, but I had a terrible dream the other night that I showed up in Jamaica and had forgotten to pack my swimsuit! and I wasn't sure last night I actually knew where my passport was since I hadn't looked for it since the move. Thank goodness for everything having a place and everything in its place...), and now I'm blogging about my avoidance.

I know if I don't do something with these boxes now, they will sit here for a week as I employ more avoidance techniques. And honestly, it will take me maybe 30 minutes (the amount of time I've been avoiding them) to actually file them away. I guess I better get to it, because in 2 hours, I'm outta here!

(Oh dear, now the fire alarm is going off. Maybe I'm not going to get to this today...)