Iowa court rules same-sex couples can marry

In my opinion, ALL couples should be given equal rights, regardless of their sexuality.

Who the hell cares if same-sex couples get married legally? Get over yourself, if you do care. We realized that segregation of whites and blacks was wrong back in the day so why is separation of rights okay in 2007?

Go, Iowa!!!!!

Now let's see who else jumps on board!!

FS what?

FSH is actually the REAL reason I started this blog. I know what you must be thinking. It's not for my quick wit and interesting stories? Nope. Sorry...but they'll keep on coming, so don't fret.

So back to the topic that is probably boring for you but will determine if I will have a future lineage. FSH stands for Follicle Stimulating Hormone.

To spell it out in dummy terms (because that's how it needs to be explained to me): FSH is made in the pituitary gland of the brain, which makes hormones. If the ovaries have many eggs, the FSH in a woman’s blood is low because the body doesn’t need to work hard to get a normal ovulation. If the egg number is low, the body needs to work harder to get ovulation, so it increases the amount of FSH in an effort to push the ovaries.

Back in December of last year, I had a few large cysts removed from each ovary. My doctor, Dr. Confino, is a well-renowned Reproductive Endocrinologist at Northwestern. He decided to check my FSH level during my 6 month pre-op checkup in July.

Turns out, my FSH was at an elevated level of 14. That's not so good...check out this chart.

For a 32 yr old woman, my FSH should be under 7 and no higher than 10. After doing a little research, I found out that some invitrofertilization clinics won't even assist women if their level is over 12 because the chances of pregnancy is so slim.

Back to my point about why I started this blog. Brian and I are getting married in April of next year, when I'll be 33. We were planning on enjoying our first 2 years of marriage childfree, but my doctors (I got a second opinion so it's now plural) are pushing us to try for a child as soon as we get married, if not sooner. I'll tell ya what, I'm glad we've been living a life of sin in unmarital bliss for the past two years because at least we HAVE been able to really enjoy our time together.

So here I am...wanting to document the process of our journey. Hell, as I've said to many people, I am documenting this to simply shove in the faces of our future children when they talk back to me so that I can remind them that their Mommy was NOT ready to bring them into the world but did so ANYWAY. So there. (I doubt that'll shut them up if they have my blood running through them...but hey, I can try.)

So here is the good news!!!

I had my FSH retested on Sunday and it's down from a 14 to a 10. 10 is still pretty high, but it's a lot lower than 14!! Only time will tell about future FSH tests...so I've made a little chart on the side of the blog to document it.

Stay tuned!

If you'd like to read more about FSH, check out this NYU doc's blog. Scroll down a bit to get to the FSH part.

Margarita who?

This is an excerpt from a real conversation I had today with a potential candidate for one of my Berkshire Hathaway jobs:

Deanna: My client is Larson Juhl, a subsidiary of the Berkshire Hathaway company.
Candidate: Berksha who?
Deanna: Berkshire Hathaway is a conglomerate of companies owned by Warren Buffett. Ever heard of him?
Candidate: Oh yeah, sure! The guy who sings "Margaritaville"!! (I think I actually heard the click of a light bulb)
Deanna: No, that would be Jimmy. Warren Buffett is the 3rd richest man in the world.
Candidate: Oh, well are they related?

Ummm, no, they aren't. You lose. Next.

It only takes 48 seconds to show what an idiot you are

She should hang up her beauty pageant aspirations and just go straight into porn.

Seriously.

(This is Miss Teen South Carolina on Friday. Youtube is flaky so it might take a second to load.)

Open Letter to Hair Cuttery

Dear Dennis Ratner,

I hear your commercials each and every time I drive in the car. While I understand that YOU probably feel that your "Don't like your haircut or your next one is free" policy is awesome, I strongly disagree.

Dennis, you know and I know that if you f up my hair then I ain't comin' back. How about this instead? How about if you f up my hair then it's free NOW? Yeah, I think that works better.

Since I hear your commercial about 51 times a week during peak driving time, then I assume you are selling a lot of those $13* haircuts and you can probably afford to change that policy of yours. Hey, maybe you can even air the commercials only 12 times a week between 1 and 3am while I am fast asleep? I don't have to hear your commercials anymore and you get more foot traffic due to your new and improved policy! Hey, it's a win win!

So how about it?

Thanks bunches,
Deanna

* and No, I've never had one because let's face it: you get what you pay for

Update on Weather

There have been no official reports of a tornado touching down IN the city, however, MORE storms are on the way.

Happy friggin' Friday to ya!

Tornado in the city??

Whoa.....we had some serious crazy weather today in our fine city. Now did you hear about the tornado in Brooklyn recently? Yeah, who would think THAT could happen?

Apparently, that's what happened in Chicago today. One of my coworkers got a call from his wife from their suburban home telling him that their trampoline was picked up and thrown right through their wood fence. Even though that may suck, tornado's are pretty common in the southern burbs where they live. The good news is that she and the kids were safe. Then another coworker gets a frantic call from his wife who works on the 73rd floor of a Michigan Ave building around 3pm because she was being evacuated to the basement of her building. WTF? A tornado? DOWNTOWN?

I log on to my weatherbug and sure enough, there is a Tornado WARNING for my zip code.....in Lincoln Park. Yes, "warning"...as in, "twister spotted". It already looked like death outside and all of a sudden the building shook for 6 straight seconds (okay it doesn't seem long but it sure as hell does when you are IN the building).

I left work and getting home from downtown
seemed pretty uneventful. As I drove north to pick up my dog from daycare, I saw trees down all over the place...but it got worse as I went north. The daycare told me they had a huge branch that snapped in their backyard but all of the dogs were safe.

Brian and I got home around the same time and we couldn't even drive through our gate since our power was out; forcing us to drive around to our back gate. Just in the two block drive to the back gate I saw at least 4 trees down and debris scattered EVERYWHERE. I pull up to the garage door and the first thing I notice is all of the water is completely drained out of our pond. Can someone explain to me how 35 gallons of water gets removed from a pond during a torrential downpour?? Or was it sucked out?

We head up to the rooftop deck to check out the damage. If my camera wasn't broken, I'd take some pics right now. We find our heavy teak furniture was all over and in disarray. The hot tub cover that is too heavy for me to lift was halfway off the hot tub. The flowers...trashed. Cushions from the furniture....missing. The worst part was that one of the posts of our deck was moved in about 6 inches which snapped the deck walls that were attached.

Just as we were about to straighten up the roof, it starts pouring again. Storm #2 is in full effect. Our power is back on though and the weather seems to be calming down, BUT, there are still flash flood warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings.

Great. ANOTHER storm is on the way?

Someone should call my boss and reassure him that he's right. There is no such thing as Global Warming and it sure as heck doesn't wreak havoc on our weather. :\

For more pictures, check out http://www.chicagotribune.com/ or http://www.suntimes.com/.

There is nothing worse

....than a man walking to his office in downtown Chicago wearing a suit with gym shoes.

Noooooooooo! This is not right.

Women, on the other hand, who have to wear stiletto's all day long, well THEY are allowed to wear flip flops or gym shoes before and after they leave the office.

How hard could it be to wear men's shoes all day?

If this is YOU, then STOP.

NOW.

Not to be a Debbie Downer...

Most of you know my brother died when he was just 20 yrs old in a motorcycle accident. That was 14 yrs ago last Friday. He wasn't wearing a helmet and he was reportedly speeding before he hit a car that was pulling out of a driveway.

What we never found out was why he was speeding. Was he just being a 20 yr old man excited to be driving a friend's motorcycle? Or was he being chased?

The first person on the scene was a guy by the name of Matthew Boczek. My brother's friends told us that he and my brother didn't get along and this guy was notorious for driving dangerously. Nothing could ever be proven, but it was highly speculated that Matt was chasing Dennis when the accident occurred.

My grandma found this in the local newspaper this week (and she is NOT happy about it).

This guy seems to really have some major issues behind the wheel. He was just found not guilty for trying to run 2 off-duty police officers off the road, head on. Seems as if the only reason he got off was due to the fact that no one was injured. His reaction to being found "not guilty" says it all. "Not guilty" sure as heck doesn't mean "innocent".

I'm not really sure how I feel about this new event.....all I do know is that we'll never find out the truth until I meet Dennis again. Something tells me that I should be angry that Matt has seen his 32nd birthday and my brother never made it to 21. But I'm not angry. I'm really sad for Matt. Hopefully he isn't acting out like this when he's 40.

Maybe one of these days he'll learn to put a value on human life, including his own.

Billy Blanks, Jr.

Check out my buddy, Paul, in this video. Paul was my kickboxing instructor in Cleveland and he moved to LA 4 years ago to become the next Billy Blanks.

He's directly center of the stage a few rows back wearing a white/grayish long-sleeved shirt. Basically, he's the only African-American I saw in the whole video. You get a great look at him at 1:58 and again at 2:31.

If you've ever taken one of Paul's grueling classes, then you'd agree that Bleed it Out is such a fitting title for a video with him in it!

Video is Linkin Park's "Bleed it Out"

Awwwwww Yeah!

Looks like we might be getting a Pinkberry or Red Mango in Chi-town! For those of you who don't keep up on the Tinseltown news (of course you don't, but I'm lame and I do), Pinkberry (aka Crackberry) is all the rage in LA right now. Celebs are photographed with their little pink frozen yogurt containers everywhere and Pinkberry has refused to give up their recipes. I do believe they were forced to remove "Frozen Yogurt" from their signs. Whatever is in that concoction appears to be yummy and I can't wait to have a taste!

Hellz ya!

Let the Fro-Yo Battle begin!

Ill-mannered Manor & Free of Frugal Femmes

We had a bachelorette party for one of my best friends last night. We started out at a friend's house for gifts and drinks after the rain kept us from having the party on a friends boat downtown.

Earlier in the week, one of the girls had us put on the list for bottle service at Manor, one of the hottest new clubs. Upon our arrival, they could not find our name on said list and they were really not very polite in trying to accommodate us. After a few phone calls, they found our name and then proceeded to tell us that we could be seated at our table, but the VIP service was now a 3-bottle minimum. Yes, a.three.bottle.minimum. Even though there were 9 of us , we had already started drinking 3 hours earlier, and there was no possibility of us finishing 3 bottles of Greygoose.....especially at $300 a pop. So with gratuity, we are talking about a $1035 bar bill which is just insanity. We said "Well, we'll definitely buy 2, but we aren't going to get 3". The douche bag GM basically said, "Yeah, sorry, but that's not happening".

Now it's common knowledge in the bar business that having women in your bar brings the men and the men bring the money. In our case, you have 9 sexy ass women AND we are buying our own alcohol.....slam dunk, right? Well apparently not. One would THINK that a new club would want to make a good impression on their new patrons but that's strike two. WTF? Then he has the audacity to look at us and say, "Well if you don't want bottle service feel free to enjoy some cocktails at the bar". Since we were looking eye to eye (and I'm only 5'4"), I bit my tongue and didn't say, "Why gee whiz there, Napoleon, you are too kind! You mean you'll actually let me stand here at your bar, buy drinks and even CONSUME them in your fine establishment?" Strike three, you're out.

So we jumped in a few cabs and told them to pound sand.

We moved the party to Level where they gladly offered us a VIP table for 2 bottles of Greygoose. The GM constantly checked back with us to make sure we were happy and even when I told our server that our floor smelled like dirty feet (seriously), some young lad promptly showed up with a bottle of Febreze and handled the problem.

That brings me to my 2nd part of this blog.... I think it's pretty sad when a group of 9 women, all in their early 30's, are giving each other high 5's because not one person batted an eye and gladly forked over cash when we told them our bar bill was $700.

Without sugar coating this {because why would I do that?}, WHY ARE SOME WOMEN SO FUCKING CHEAP? It's just sooo exhausting to go to dinner, have drinks, do ANYTHING with a group of women. It's almost guaranteed that at LEAST one girl will say, "Well I only had a salad" or "I didn't have any drinks" or "I am not drinking tonight so why should I pay?". WHY, people, WHY?? What is so freaking hard about just adding the tip and splitting the bill equally? That's what you do when you go out with a big group.

We are grown adults. We are not in college anymore. If saving 5 bucks or even 20 bucks is that important to you, then here's a thought: stay home and save your money! Don't make it weird for the rest of us. Seriously.

So here's my plea to all women readers: don't be a cheap ass. Don't be that girl. Just grow up and split the bill equally whether or not you had an appetizer, okay??? I mean when is the last time you were at dinner with your elders and your grandma said "Honey, you had 2 more glasses of Chardonnay than I did so please don't add that to my portion". Yeah, didn't think so.

And now for a few pictures from last night:

Here's a picture of CT and I when we aren't all sweaty after a half marathon and that's the bride on the left with 2 of her bridesmaids.

Dogs do the Darndest Things

Aren't dogs funny? We thought it was pretty comical that our dog sleeps under a blanket, also known as his woobie. I used to think that he feels safe under the blanket, but finally admitted that it's our ceiling fan on full blast that keeps him covered.

I'd like to share with you Cooper's stages of weirdness in his bed. This is what he used to look like when he would sleep:

Normal, right?

Then he started sleeping with his blankie/woobie. Normally, you can't even see his head as he covers himself completely, but I pulled the covers off his head to take these pictures.

Recently, he started destroying his bed by digging in it as if he were trying to get to China. He ended up ripping open the entire side.....and then crawled inside. He even took his woobie into his new nest.

When I woke up yesterday morning this is what I found:

So my question is this: how in the world does an animal, void of thumbs, manage to crawl into a little space, bring his blankie with him and then cover himself up completely??

Yeah, I don't know either.......but he seems to have the answer.

"Male Dominated Shit Show"

Tis true.....the spunky little blonde that coined that phrase above to describe the office in which we work has resigned. :(

Good bye, my sweet Liz.

I won't hold it against you for leaving me as the last female to work in this office that is filled with testosterone-driven sports chatter 8 hours daily. I won't hold it against you because I envy you. You get to work from home with the luxury that goes along with that which is freedom. Ahhh, freedom. One day I, too, will join those ranks.

For now, let's quickly reminisce about the girls that have gone before Liz.

Bethany - Boy, I miss the wacky things that came out of her mouth...she was always good for a great chuckle.
Aileen - My Rock. I thought I would lose it when she left, but I've survived...only because she's on IM and I pretend she's still in the cube next to me. Hi, Aileen! :)
Tatjana - I didn't really bond with Tatjana, the high-strung cokehead (What? it's true!) who wore knee high boots with shorts and ended up in rehab. But G*D DAMN she was interesting! I eagerly anticipated her every next word because it would be more off the wall than her last.
Wendy - I'll not soon forget her method of waking me up at the hotel during the Regional Sales Meeting. She gently rubbed my shoulders and whispered, "it's time to get up, it's time to get up". I thought an angel had replaced my alarm. She only lasted about 4 months.
Nancy - she worked from Florida, but the times she DID come to Chicago I still treasure. She continues to teach me invaluable lessons about how precious life is.
Laura - even though her nickname was the "Ice Princess", she had a great selection of shoes. That's all I have to say about that.

I've seen a lot of girls come and go since I started here. It's not that I don't enjoy working with men. If I didn't, I wouldn't have joined the Marine Corps. But there is something to be said about having that female bond in the office.

And then there was One.........

The JC Nazi

No, JC is not referring to Jesus Christ. JC, in my current world, is Jenny Craig. Yes, I'm still on JC and have been since March. What can I say? I'm lazy. JC makes my life easier.....I go, I pick up my food, I eat it. Do you think I have time to make pancakes and sausage each morning? French toast with fresh berries? Cheesy Enchiladas that are less than 300 calories for lunch? Not "NO", but "HELL NO".

I lost about 14 lbs since I started JC and I've kept it off. I didn't really need to lose a lot of weight, but it's always easier to go into a race season lighter. Running long distances puts muscle on your legs and triathlon training always builds more muscle; it's just inevitable you gain weight during training season. So why start at a higher weight?

So that brings me to the ONLY downside of this program and that is Belinda the JC Nazi. Or should I say, "Baaaahh-lynnnnnn-duh" in my "Hello, Neuman" voice? Yes, that's better.

Belinda is the Program Director at JC and she's pissed me off so much that I've almost walked out three times (the only reason I stayed was the thought of me standing over a stove). After my initial 6 weeks and 14 lbs of weight loss, I had to meet with her to decide my next step in the program. The convo went like this...
Belinda: So I see that you haven't quite reached your goal yet, Deanna.
Deanna: Well, I made my goal 125 and I'm 129 and down to a size 2. I don't think I want to get much smaller so maybe I need to change that goal.
Belinda: I see. So let's discuss why you haven't reached that goal yet.
Deanna: Ummm, I'm pretty happy at the size I am now. I have a lot of muscle tone that accounts for my weight...ya know, muscle weighs more than fat. I was actually thinking of increasing my calories as my training season is starting and I will be burning more calories.
Belinda: Ri-iiight. Well do you think you'll hit your goal of 125 by increasing your calories?
Deanna: Ummm, AGAIN, I'm pretty HAPPY with my size and I think that GOAL should be CHANGED. {but what I was thinking was "WTF? Am I speaking too fast or should I slooooow it doowwwn forrr youuuu Belin-DUH?"}

So you get the picture. The girl actually looks down her nose at any client in the center as if they are a cow with a feeding trough around their necks. It literally takes every ounce of control to not shake her by the shoulders and say "Look bitch, I'm smaller than you are! Why the hell are you talking to me like this? YOU should be on this program, not me! I just come for the food, dammit!!! I'M NOT A FAILURE BECAUSE I DIDN'T HIT 125!!!!!"

{taking deep breaths}

Complaint #2: My wonderful JC consultant is this Aussie girl named Karin. I love Karin. She's down to earth, funny and she doesn't take herself too seriously like the JC Nazi. Plus she reminds me of Olivia Newton John as a brunette. We have the same feeling of extreme repugnance towards Belinda and dish about her all the time behind her back (I know, I'm going to hell but I'll see Belinda down there!!).

Karin gives me the little ordering sheet and I mark down all of the food that I need for the next 7 days. 2 of this, 1 of this, 3 of that... Well one day, Karin was sick.....and the only consultant that could accommodate me was the bitch that is Belinda. She's behind the counter and the convo went like this:
Deanna: Since Karin isn't here, I'd just like to order my food.
Belinda: Okay, would you like to weigh in?
Deanna: No, it's fine. My weight hasn't changed in 10 weeks so we can skip it.
Belinda: Well, that's why we are here. To help you stay accountable for yourself.
Deanna: If you think I need to, I can just jump on the scale while I'm waiting for my food and you can jot it down in my chart.
Belinda: Oh, well, a consultant would have to go with you to ensure it's accurate.
Deanna: So are you saying that I'd lie?
Belinda: No it's just company policy.
Deanna: Great, than I'll just order food, thanks.
Belinda: {With pen in hand and the sheet in front of her} Okay, Deanna, just go ahead and tell me what you want.
Deanna: Well it would much easier if I could just mark it off myself.
Belinda: Ohhhhh I'm afraid we can't do that. It's against company policy that clients write on the ordering forms.
Deanna: Why's that?
Belinda: Because you might order something that is out of stock.
Deanna: Oh, well why don't you just tell me what is out of stock and I won't order it?
Belinda: Because it's company policy and we can't do that.
Deanna: Grrrrrrrrr

So I grab the food menu and I pretty much made the next 10 minutes of her life the most annoying 10 minutes of her day simply because she basically asked for it. Hey, if she's gonna sleep better knowing she wrote down my order, then FINE. But I'm not gonna let her enjoy it. This is how the rest of the convo went:

Deanna: 1 french toast
Deanna: 1 turkey burger
Deanna: {long pause} 1 rotini w/meatballs
Deanna: How many lunches is that?
Belinda: 2
Deanna: How many french toasts did I order?
Belinda: 1
Deanna: Okay, make that 2. {long pause} 1 turkey with gravy. Hmmm, do I feel like potstickers? Sure. 1 potsticker {she marks the sheet}. Noooo, I just had that. Take it off. {she marks the sheet again}. Ah, what the hell, I can have it at the end of the week. Put 1 on there {she marks the sheet}. Make that 2 {she marks the sheet and a little steam leaked from her left ear}.
Deanna: How many lunches is that?
Belinda: FOUR.
Deanna: Oh, I thought it was five? Can you read them off to me?
Belinda: 1 rotini, 1 turkey burger, 2 potstickers.
Deanna: Didn't I order a turkey?
Belinda: That's a dinner item.
Deanna: Oh, but I eat them for lunch so I consider it to be a lunch item. How many french toasts did I order {heehee}?? Did you add the syrup?
Belinda: Yes, I did.
Deanna: Okay, well add pancakes w/sausage {she marks the sheet}. Did you add the syrup?
{more steam, but this time out of both ears}

You get the picture; this went on for a good 10 minutes and that ordering sheet was a hot mess by the time she had to key it into the computer. So the moral of the story: if you are going to try to control a control freak, you are going to get controlled, biatch.

Imploding Lenders

Most of you know that Brian recently changed companies after 10 years with National City Mortgage. It was a very tough decision for him which he didn't take lightly. Of course now the mortgage industry is in turmoil and it's becoming increasingly difficult for people to get financing. You basically need a high credit score with a solid and steady income and all of the documentation to prove it.......the days of "no doc" loans have gone away, for the time being anyway.

So this list is pretty interesting. It shows all of the lenders that have closed their doors since late 2006. Currently it's at 116. Oh wait, make that 117.

What's interesting is that his old company is on the "Ailing/Watch List" as #14 and his new company is still the #1 lender in the US. It's nice to know he made the right move (as I wipe my forehead).

Oh, another one of Trump's companies closed doors (#114)....ha!

Is your lender on that list??

Curb this

I emailed the Chicago Distance Classic and shared with them that the course appeared to be off......by almost a mile. Here is the response I received today:

Hi Deanna –

The course was certified by USATF as 13.1 miles. When a course is certified they measure it at the shortest distance possible, hugging the curbs, etc. When you run with 11,000 people you often have to go around people or take a curve wider than the person who measured the course, causing you to add additional mileage.
For your next race I would try to run as close to the curb as possible so you can get as close to the exact distance as possible.

Beth

In an effort to try to be a better person, I will not respond to Beth. However, I CAN tell YOU what I would say to her, therefore, making myself feel better about the situation.

Hi Beth!
Thanks for your timely response to my email. Your explanation definitely sheds some light on the situation and it all makes sense to me now. You see, in an effort to achieve a new PR while running a half marathon in high heat and even higher humidity, I inadvertently took each and every curb at the widest possible angle. Silly me, Beth! I really was thoroughly enjoying being out there with those 11,000 people, basking in the sun, drenched in sweat from the humidity, while my heart rate exceeded 182 bpm for 2 straight hours. I guess it never occurred to me once that if I stayed close to each curb when the course turned that I might finish the race faster, and ultimately SOONER. Who knew that you can add almost a complete mile onto a race course by just taking the curbs wide?

Silly me, Beth!

Please disregard my email and please, please don't feel the need to doublecheck this distance for the 11,000 runners that sign up next year. You just have yourself a fantastic day!

Warm regards,
Deanna

Das ist sehr gut

Gam's Unlimited

How does THIS happen?

Why the controversy?

Have you heard about the new tattoo ink that can be removed with just 1 laser treatment, should you decide you are over it? If not, then click here and check it out.

Well I guess "purists" are up in arms as they feel it takes away the value of getting a tattoo. They say if it's just going to be erased than it's just fashion or a fad. So my question for the Internets is, "Where is the freakin' harm in THAT?"

I got 2 tattoo's when I was 18 years young during my first year in the Marine Corps. These tat's were only a few of the myriad of mistakes I made before I was 21 years old, but that's a whole different story. At the time, they seemed like a good idea. But 14 years later, I am a different person with different values (and thank God for that) and I've changed....a lot. I've decided the bulldog that was on my shoulder blade & drawn to appear as it was ripping out of my flesh was not so flattering any more (ya think?). The tat's were great for a few years but I soon found myself covering them up whenever I had to go to a formal event or don a dress. The tattoo on my shoulder dictated what kind of clothing I could wear and the selection was limited to whatever covered up that big bulldog my shoulder blade. That removed anything strapless or strappy (large or small) from any potential outfits. It would be an understatement to say that going clothes shopping was frustrating.

Last year I began laser treatments to have the shoulder tat removed. At $300 bucks a pop, it was a ripoff and not to mention SO painful. Having to spread out the treatments every 6 weeks to allow time for the ink to break up added to the PITA* factor. Then the price went up to $400 a pop after my 3rd treatment. Double ouch. LUCKILY, there is a really cool gal behind the desk who I've befriended and she hooks me up with the $300 price still. I've had 5 treatments and my tattoo is very faded, but still visible, and my doc tells me that I'll need 2-3 more minimum. Yep, my $100 tattoo has now cost me $1200 and counting. This does not include parking at Northwestern (and we all know that parking in Chicago is cheap) and the countless hours away from work, too.

But hey! I'll get to walk down the aisle in April with a lovely wedding gown and not fret about everyone staring at the bulldog and not the bride. So for me, the $$ is well spent.

So again, I have to ask, why the controversy? We change. We want different things as we evolve as humans and our taste changes, too. Shit.....in my opinion, anyone under the age of 21 should not be allowed to get permanent ink in the first place (there is a reason the drinking age is 21). So my point is simple: should you be contemplating some new ink.....let me just remind you that tattoo's are a permanent gesture of a temporary feeling. Think hard about it before taking the plunge. And if you do take the plunge, contact Freedom 2 to find their erasable ink in a parlor near you!

If you are thinking of having a tat removed, contact Dr. Yoo! He's the best.

* pain in the ass

"This is How" you make Cooper crazy

We've discovered a funny thing at home. Every single time the new iPhone commercial comes on, Cooper goes crazy and starts howling at the same time during the commerical (around second 20). We rewind it and sure enough, at the same moment every time, he starts howling again. What is it with this commercial? Maybe he just really wants an iPhone.

Does your dog do this?

I love the heat. Just not while I'm running

So yesterday I ran the Chicago Distance Classic for the 2nd time. This is a great 1/2 marathon for those of you who haven't run it before. I've been training for this race for the past 10 weeks and I've felt really good throughout most of my training. I even got my pace down from 9 min per mile (for marathon training) to about 8:15, seeing as it's half the distance. Going into the race I felt good. I had rested all day Saturday and stayed off my feet, for the most part. I made sure I was well-hydrated and I had a nice whole wheat pasta dinner the night before.

I was sick earlier this week and even stayed home from work for a day and a half on Tue/Wed. I had a sore throat, the sniffles and just felt crappy overall. I wasn't able to run much at all, but since I was supposed to be tapering this week anyway, I wasn't overly concerned. To make up for it, I went out on Thursday night and ran a quick 4 miles (under an 8 min pace) and then on Friday I did a 2.5 mile sprint on the treadmill.

I was faced with high temperatures and even higher humidity on race morning, but I've been no stranger to the heat lately during my training runs, so I wasn't too worried. I could tell from the moment we crossed the Start Line that I wasn't going to have a good race. You either have a good race or you don't.

I ran with my friend, CT, who had told me earlier that she wasn't going to run at my pace (she trains at 9:30) but luckily for me, she was having an amazing race and running much faster than her training pace. We ran together the whole time at a pace about 8:30-8:45 the whole race. Around mile 6 I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. My heart rate was an elevated 182, when it's normally 160-166 during long runs. We walked for a minute after we got some water and I tried to take a few deep breaths in hopes of lowering my heart rate. We continued on. Around Mile 10, I had some serious stomach issues and CT and I walked for a few minutes. There weren't many port-a-potties in sight and by the time I found one, my stomach had calmed down a bit so we started running again. Soon into the race, I noticed that my GPS and the mileage markers were not in sync. At mile marker 1, my GPS said 1.1 miles. At mile marker 6, my GPS was at 6.3. At mile 10, my watch read 10.6. This was a bit disheartening and I kept thinking that the mile markers were probably off, not the course. Well, we finished at 2:07, which is officially my slowest half marathon, to date. When we crossed the finish line, I stopped my watch and the total distance we ran was 13.95. That's right. A full .85 miles LONGER than the official 13.1 miles that is the half marathon distance.

The PR (Personal Record) I was shooting for was 1:50.....so coming in at 2:07 was disappointing, to say the least. It's hard to go for a PR in that heat, coupled with the fact that I was under the weather all week AND had stomach issues, to boot.

Well, I'll chalk this up to a Loss for me but a huge WIN for CT who kicked serious ass and kept me motivated during the whole race. This was her longest race yet. We even ran over the finish line together.....I'm so proud of her!

Here is a picture of us after the race.
I love my distended belly as I still hadn't found a port-a-potty yet!

The time has come

I think I read about 5-10 regular blogs a day*. Some of those include friends & family and others are just random bloggers whom I've never met but they've struck a cord with me due to their interesting, entertaining or just plain odd content.

So I've decided it was time to join the ranks. Yes, I know. I'm late to the tea party (thanks for the open arms, btw). "Why now", you ask? It's simple.....my profession forces me to talk on the phone all day long and when I leave the office, the last thing I really want is to continue the chitter chatter in the evening. So much so that I rarely pick up the phone to reach out to those whom I care about. This medium will hopefully keep ME close to YOU.

So here I am.

* this does not include Perez Hilton, which I refresh about 10x a day.