Some People

Today while walking back to work from lunch this happened:

Random very large man: "Hey sweetheart, we are all having long days, but it would be a much better day if you smiled"

Me: Blank stare, definitely not with a smile

Random very large man: "I bet you have a nice smile"

Oddly enough this is not the first time that some random person has felt the need to tell me to smile.  Maybe I scowl when I am just walking. I am just trying to get from one place to the next, I am not going to go walking around smiling at random strangers.  This invites a whole other list of complications that involve strangers talking to me.  So no random man, I will not smile.  Sorry I can't brighten your day.

Also, why do people insist on calling me sweetheart.  For one I am not a five-year old and two this term of endearment is reserved for very few people who don't make it some condescending (i.e. grandparents and parents), and random people on the street are not them.

Church Bells

One thing I love about living in the city is hearing church bells.  We had a church close to our old apartment that we could hear and we also have a church close to our new apartment that has really lovely church bells. 

Hurricane Irene

Dear Hurricane Irene,

I hate your stinking guts. You make me vomit. You're scum between my toes.

Love, Alfalfa  Megan

Seriously hurricane Irene you managed to ruin my weekend in New York with Tracy one of my favorite people, by getting my bus routes cancelled and shutting down the amtrak and having everyone freak out.  The least you could have done was actually stormed, I mean okay, you did rain, but not very much and not for very long.

Also, because everyone was freaking out I went to Trader Joe's to get some food I could eat in case the power went out, and ended up walking home 10 blocks with this bag that weighed 20 pounds.  Yes, I weighed it when I got home.

Marathon Training - Week 11

Monday - some cross training
Tuesday - 4.8 mile run
Wednesday - 8 mile run
Thursday - 30 minutes elliptical, plus weights
Friday - rest day
Saturday - 16 mile run before hurricane Irene.  Thanks so Irene, it wasn't raining yet but it was cooler than it has been.  This run felt great.

Weekend in Charlotte

This past weekend I flew down to spend a couple of days in Charlotte to see Joseph, Chris, Sarah, and Izzie, and try to get a better feel for Charlotte. It was a fun weekend.

I flew in Thursday night, so Friday while Joseph was at work, Sarah, Izzie, and I went to the fabric store to get some fabric for a new project, then we had a girls lunch, followed up with Pinkberry.

Friday night we got Izzie a babysitter and had an adults-only dinner. We went to a little diner called Mert's and walked around Uptown for some sightseeing.

Saturday, Joseph and I woke up bright and early (6:30) for our 15 mile run. I was a little nervous about this run. It was the furthest I have ever run, but I was also excited. It was pretty overcast and actually rained on us for the first couple of miles, then it cleared up and managed to not get too hot. That was nice.

Then, Joseph and I headed into Uptown Charlotte for some exploring. First, we had lunch at Greens. We were starving after our run and apparently ordered a lot of food, because as we were ordering the lady behind the counter actually said "Ya'll gunna eat all that?" We just smiled. And yes we did eat all of it. After Greens we drove around some of the really nice and quaint neighborhoods of Charlotte.

Saturday night, we went for some BBQ and some of the largest ice cream cones of all time. We went to this old little place in Gastonia that has apparently been making homemade ice cream in that shop for 4 generations. It was tasty.

Overall a good weekend. Although it might not look like it, we did do more than just eat; but we did eat a lot of good food too.

Only a few more days until Joseph is back in Philadelphia and the summer of never-ending internships mercifully ends.

Marathon Training - Week 10

Monday - Organizing the apartment will count as cross-training, it had been raining monsoon rains all day and I just wasn't into it.
Tuesday - 30 minutes on the elliptical plus some weights. My knees has been a little touchy so I wanted to get them some rest.
Wednesday - 7 miles. This morning I was totally pissed to get up and run. I usually like my morning runs but this morning I was just not happy about life, but I did it. I had to convince myself to get up and out of bed. I ran slowly because my left leg has been causing me stress lately and it hurts worse if I run fast, it takes a long time to run 7 miles slow.
Thursday - Rest.
Friday -Rest.
Saturday - 15 miles. This was a distance PR for me. It was really, really far. Luckily I was down in NC so I could run with Joseph, so it was more entertaining, and it managed to stay pretty cool and overcast while we were running so that was nice.

I took some extra rest days this week because I have been feeling some pain lately and I wanted to give myself a little bit of rest and a break so things could get better instead of just getting worse.

Saturday Night

On Saturday evening while walking down Chestnut street after doing a little bit of window shopping I saw a nude homeless man.

I guess I shouldn't really say nude, he was wearing a shirt.  Unfortunately for me he was missing the most important part of a mans wardrobe, his pants.

It was shocking. And weird.

Charlotte

A couple of weeks ago I traveled from Philadelphia (via the megabus) to Manassas, then from Manassas down to Charlotte (or more accurately Gastonia).  We drove down to Charlotte on Wednesday and Joseph started his second internship of the summer at a firm in Charlotte on Thursday.  It was a  busy couple of days.  While in North Carolina we did some touring around to check things out, relaxing, and of course ate some good food.

Fried Fest at The Penguin

Peaches from The Peach Stand

Checked out the U.S. Whitewater Park

Cabo Fish Tacos

Finally saw Harry Potter

Toured around the Fourth Ward neighborhood




Sadly, I had to leave Joseph in Charlotte and come back to Philadelphia all by my lonesome.

I stole most of these pictures from my sister-in-law.