Author: cheriarmour

Parking Ticket

| cheriarmour

Once again, I’m writing from somewhere over Texas.  I’ll set the scene for you.  I’m sitting…in a plane….legs are really squished…and I’m kind of hoping that my husband remembers to let my poodle out.

Speaking of poodles, this dog is not a morning dog…I found her like this, head buried, when I got up pretty early a few mornings ago to get some laundry done before work.  I called her to come get her food, and this was her response.  Kind of ignoring me, and kind of trying to preserve heat with what little body fat she has going on.

Coco

Moving right along…

So I’m actually so blind.  Thanks to some excellent eyeball genes from my mother, I’ve been rocking the spectacles since about fourth grade.  It’s a little inconvenient, since I’m so active, to ever really wear glasses, but a lot of times in the spring and in the fall, when my allergies are really acting up, I don’t have a lot of choice.  It’s always really fun, when I wear my glasses to work and stuff, and people are like “You wear glasses?” they think they’re fakes, until they do that annoying thing where they make you take your glasses off and guess how many fingers you’re holding up.  Spoiler alert: I never know, because I can’t see anything more than like, six inches in front of my face.

So, I went for my annual eye appointment, and since the place I go is downtown, I had to pay to park.  I fed the meter, did the whole shebang, and once I was all done with my appointment, I went outside, to find that I’d gotten myself a parking ticket for my meter being 7 minutes expired.

Now, I take full responsibility for this ticket.  I’m not one to sit here and curse out the guy doing his job when I was clearly parked somewhere I shouldn’t have been, but this got me thinking – how could cities make parking tickets more fun?  Like, is there a way to make me less irritated that I have to spend $20 because of my own stupidity?

So here are a few suggestions to make a parking ticket fun:

  • Include some coupons in the envelope with the ticket. Now, this one can be tricky, because not everyone likes everything, but I bet you if you included a coupon for a free coffee at McDonald’s a lot of people would take the ticket thing a little better.  Or a frozen lemonade.  Those are fun!
  • Include a nudie of the guy writing the ticket in the envelope. Nudies always make me laugh. And life’s a party, rock your body.  Amirite, Marcel? (10 points to whoever gets that one.)
  • Maybe the attendant can write his or her name and a little smiley near the bill, like they do at restaurants when they want a big tip. I’m not tipping you, but I may admire your artistry, especially if your smiley face is a particularly good one.
  • Maybe the envelope can shoot confetti at you. On second thought, maybe not though.  Because someone from the city might have to clean it up.
  • And finally, if Lil’ Jon could come over a loud speaker to the tune of “Turn Down for What,” kinda like the horns in the Hunger Games, signifying that another ticket has been written, I think I’d get down with that.

Just a few suggestion to brighten that ticket up!  What’s the last ticket you got? 

Twitterversary

| cheriarmour

Hiiiii I’m back from Vegas!  I have to update you, but seeing as how I’ve been living in a van for the past two days, give me like a minute to get it together.

For now…

So the other day, I got an email from Twitter, stating that the day was my 5-year Twitterversary .  Aside from making me feel fairly old, it got me to thinking to why I’d ever gotten on Twitter in the first place, and why I use it now.

I think when Twitter was first introduced, the concept was a little strange to me.  I was the class of Facebook, where you could, and still can, share every single aspect of your life if you wanted.  Pictures, status updates, as well as the coolest feature, I always thought, being able to keep up with your friends and family.  The concept of a timeline featuring only status updates seemed a little sparse to me, and pointless.

What I didn’t realize, however, was that Twitter was kind of awesome; not only could you keep up with friends, pretty similarly to the way you would do on Facebook, it got you a little closer – not only to your friends’ thoughts, but to the thoughts of celebs and musicians.  And as someone who eats up celebrity news, this was, and continues to be, really appealing to me.  Instead of sort of having this weird view of your favorite folks, you really get a chance to get inside of their heads, and discovery who’s funny, who’s not.  Who’s witty, who’s silly.   Who’s dumb as rocks?  You get it.

So…how I came to launch my own Twitter account.

I am a huge Gavin DeGraw fan.  I’ve been a fan of his ever since my mom let me skip school one day my senior year, and I discovered his CD (yep, his CD), at a record store near school.  That very night after a first listen, I was hooked.  In the years to come, I saw him live once or twice, but the opportunity came up for us (me and Deb, my sister) to see him at a smaller, more intimate show in High Point, North Carolina, and we jumped at the chance, even though it was at the end of November, outside, and I would be freezing.  Deb and I were pretty much front and center, and danced so hard throughout the show, that afterwards, when we met Gavin, after he told me I was pretty (duh fool), he said “I saw you guys dancing out there!” He then signed my Budweiser.

Gavin DeGraw

So anyhoo, not only was I in love with him, I feel in love with one of his bandmates, the adorbs Billy Norris.  So I got the idea to follow them on Twitter in order to tweet and stalk them for all future performances, a move that would prove to be pretty smart, as Billy retweeted me a few times, and Gavin tweeted me as well as DMed me regarding some song lyrics that I’d absolutely fallen in love with.

And that is how I started my love affair with Twitter.  Now I use it for very much the same purposes, as well as to keep up with #blacktwitter when they’re coming for Keri Hilson or Keyshia Cole, livetweeting awards shows, or spoiling episodes of Catfish for me.

How do you use Twitter?

Vegas!

| cheriarmour

I was gone yesterday, so no #weddingwednesday post for you guys, which I’m sorry about.  Well, not that sorry.  Oprah told me I should stop apologize for just doing me so…bye haterz!

At any rate, I’m writing to you from the air, somewhere above Texas.

If you’re new here, you’re prolly all “Whhhhaaa homegirl’s from Texas?!” so let me explain.

I’d briefly mentioned over the past few weeks that I’d be in Las Vegas this weekend for my first ever Ragnar Relay, joining 5 other girls on an ultra team to run from a ski resort alllll the way down down down over the course of about two days.

I think honestly, I haven’t talked about it a ton because of the sheer volume of things I’ve had going on.  With the move, with the new husband, with the foster beagle who sits on the back of the couch and keeps me company while I write – there’s a lot that’s been going on.

That and I’m a little terrified.  Because I’m running 35 miles over the course of two days, and I’m not a million percent sure that I’ve ever done something like that.  But I kind of take it like I take everything else, like a challenge that I will get through and learn from.  I’m taking this as a practice run for when I want to do my first ultra, once I convince my husband that nothing will happen to me if I nutrish up properly for an ultra.

So my fabulous day of travel?

So, Tuesday night, while my husband was out playing with some friends, I straightened up the house and folded the mountain of clothes that had taken up residence in every single corner of the bedroom.  I have this ritual of scrubbing my living space every time I go on a trip because in case I die, I don’t my my husband/my mother/whoever is coming to collect my things to be like “omg, ew what a trash bag she was.” I mainly just want people to come in, should I find myself you know, gone to the Starbucks in the sky, and be like “Oh man, her house smells so good, it smells just like essential oils and Glade plugins, may she rest in peace.”

So once I got that all squared away and hit the sack, Wednesday morning, I woke up with my husband, who generally leaves a bit earlier than I do, started packing, and making myself some breakfast, and went into work for a few hours.  I love my job, am obsessed with my job, and I actually feel guilty when I leave it, so I wanted to go to make sure that everything was set there.

I headed home, hubby picked me up, and off I went to make my way to Vegas!  Now I’m actually on the second leg of my trip, but a few things to share with you.

Once again, my first leg, they had me on some crazy little commuter plane, second time that’s happened in a year, but I survived by doing the only thing I knew how to do in these situations – I literally SLEPT for every second of the like, six-hour flight.   I was seriously passed out so hard that the flight attendant asked me if I was okay with the same concerned look on her face as when I broke a bone one time and was laying on the ground.  I musta been looking really rough.

This really horrid girl put her BARE FRIGGIN FEET up on the arm rest and I almost fainted.

Feet

And that’s pretty much been it!

I’m nervous for my first time in Vegas, but excited to meet some new friends, and definitely really excited to take pictures so you guys will be really jealous of me.  Kidding!  Kinda…

So no question today, but leave me a random comment so I have something to answer when I’m in the van/in the hotel tomorrow!  Seriously, leave me anything, ask me any question!

What I think about when I’m running.

| cheriarmour

Long, long ago, long before I even thought about my first marathon, a coworker causally mentioned that she was running a 17-mile training run.  Prior to me running marathons, and contemplating an Ultra (eep!), 17 miles sounded like an absolutely ridiculous amount of mileage.  So I asked her,

“What are you going to think about for 17 miles?”

I don’t remember her answer, but once I started running those distances, it became apparent that I had to start finding some things to think about while I was running.  So here it is, what I think about when I think about running. 

Austin captured this one close to the finish line.
Austin captured this one close to the finish line of City Of Oaks!
  • Prior to us getting married, I often thought about who would marry us. Neither of us was big in the church, and I worried that we wouldn’t be able to find anyone to do it. That fear was unfounded, because I found an amazing female officiant who was just what we needed, and provided us with a little bit of counseling before we got started.
  • “I wonder if I will be able to wear this bra again without washing it.”
  • I listen to a Podcast called “The Read“.  Do not, I repeat, do NOT listen to this podcast if profanity offends you, but I listen to it a lot on runs, and sometimes it makes me laugh out loud.  Then I think that anyone driving by in their cars might think I look like a lunatic because I’m laughing so hard that I’m falling off the sidewalk.
  • I think about my husband a lot.  Like what he’s doing, or if he might think that I look pretty while I’m running.
  • I think about why my thighs are chafing, especially in the summer when I forget my Aquaphor.
  • “I wonder why my stomach is hurting so badly. I hope I don’t have to stop at the Whole Foods (again) to….well…”
  • “Why are they so mean to the women in Mad Men? It’s kind of gross. And by kind of, I mean, really gross.”
  • “When will Justin Bieber/Rihanna/Ke$ha release more music.  I really like them!”
  • I imagine what it was like if I started touring with Little Mix.  I would be the lead singer (obviously).
  • I also imagine what it might be like if I opened my own coffee shop, called The Skinny Café.  I would obviously be part of the logo.  Winking and smiling.
  • I also imagine what it would be like if I narrated my own episode of This American life.
  • Pasta.
  • Nachos.

What do you think about when you’re running?

Kardashian Anniversary + Weekend Updates

| cheriarmour

So, once again, this weekend was bananas.  Is that what adult life is?  You work during the week, and then you go into your weekends which are packed to the gills with things to do?  I’m starting to feel like it is.

Okay, so first things first, as you read this, Austin and I are celebrating our Kardashian anniversary.  You see, Kimmy K and Kris Humphries were married for grand total of 72 days before they decided to end things, so since we’ve been married, Austin and I have been really excited about celebrating that special day.

Hashtag never forget.

Moving right along…so me and Austin are huge Halloween people, but this year, between the wedding and the purchase of the Merrie home, the holiday snuck up on us this year, and a few days before Friday, I found myself without a costume or without a plan for the day.  After huddling with some friends, and the donation of a costume from a sweet member, I made some plans and ended up as Zoe Saldana’s character from Star Trek.

Star TrekThe costume ended up being a total hit – who knew so many people were secret Trekkies?!  I stayed out way, wayyyy too late, and suffered through Saturday morning’s class and ended the day at a baby shower for my step-sister-in-law.

Sunday?  I raced!  Because of the relay I have coming up, I had to hold back a little and stuck with the 10k.  The start was extremely chilly, and because the marathon started about 20 minutes before our race did, I was able to steal a cheap Hanes sweatshirt from the marathon toss that had occurred, and toss it later.  And luckily, because it was cotton, it was a literal sauna in there.  Cotton is rotten, except, when you’re freezing and you want to create a sauna inside your shirt.  Mile 4, I ditched the sweat, and finished the 10k strong in under an hour.

Here are a few snaps from the morning!

Legs felt strong, and they felt like they could do a lot more, leading me to believe that I am ready-eddy-eddy for this ultra relay end of this week.

My weekend was absolutely nuts.  What were you up to this weekend?

Nike Women’s Half Marathon won’t return to D.C.

| cheriarmour

Between the wedding and the purchase of our house, I somehow missed this. Super disappointed, but feeling so very fortunate to have run the race twice – hoping to make it again for wherever they host in 2015!

nataliediblasio's avatarRunner's Breakfast

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The highly popular Run Nike Women Series will not be “running the streets of DC” again in 2015.

“The nation’s capital was a great place to host the Nike Women’s Half Marathon but as we look to continue to provide a premium race experience and serve all runners, we will extend to a new city in 2015. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for future updates,” organizers wrote on the Run Nike Women Series Facebook page.

Disappointed runners are flooding the page with questions and comments. Nike seems to be responding to the majority of them with similar comments: No D.C. – stay tuned.

“The Nike Women’s Half Marathon will not take place in Washington, DC in April 2015,” organizers wrote to one participant. “We will be moving to a new destination in order to bring the race experience to even more runners. Details to come, so stay tuned right…

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I can fall asleep anywhere.

| cheriarmour

First and foremost, can we all thank my amazing husband (who’s gotten a lot of love on the blog this week), for doing something to my poor laptop to make it run faster?  I have this adorable pink Dell that my dad got me for my Elon graduation in 2009 – I’m trying to squeeze a few more months out of it while I save up for a Mac, and you guys better watch out for the Mac attack because I will be on that thing, editing photos and writing like a crazy person.

Moving right along.

So, yesterday, I participated in Peachy Keen’s fall fashion show.  Remember,  I did their show last spring?

Because of the fashion show (which was a blast) here’s what my day looked like.

The night before, I stupidly drank two extremely large glasses of wine, knowing full well I wanted to be up and ready to go to work by 6am (ish) so I could work for the day and then head to makeup for the show.  So I woke up, feeling awesome (absolutely not) and sobbed through a shower.  Or at least I felt like sobbing.

I worked for the day, got a 5ish or 6ish miler in, and headed to makeup for the show.

The show was Frozen-themed, so makeup was pretty, blue, and ethereal-looking.  And the second I got done with makeup, I laid down on a bench in the dressing room with a tiny pillow, and fell asleep.  I felt nothing, heard nothing, and have no idea how long I was out for, bout it was just long enough to feel refreshed and walk the show no problem.

I don’t want to spoil anything for when the real shots are done being edited and all that fun stuff, so take a little gander at this backstage…

Peachy Fall Show

Makeup was awesome, hair looks good, and the show went off without a hitch.  I even felt myself moved by the spirit, and danced a little on the runway.

IMMEDIATELY following the show, I kid you not, I asked Austin to unzip the back of my dress, and I faceplanted on the bed at about 8:45pm.  The only other time in my adult life I ever remember going to bed that early was once when I had a Zumba training that I went to after a wedding.  I promptly found myself wide awake at 4am, in a mod dress from Loft, wondering where I went so wrong in my life.

But I digress.

What are your guys’ weekend plans, especially given that this weekend is Halloween?  

Me?  Come hell or high water, I will play with this…

LetterpressThis is my new baby that I have yet to get a chance to play with!  I finally got my L-Press from Charlotte, so I would love to break it out and play with it, and in my WILDEST fantasies, get it up and running in time to shoot off some holiday cards.  I can dream big, can’t I?

How involved should you be in your engagement ring process?

| cheriarmour

Were you like me growing up?

After seeing proposals as a kid on telly and stuff, I always assumed that the entire process of getting engaged was a giant surprise.

Whenever I would see those jumbotron proposals, I would always think to myself, “What if she says no,” not realizing until a teacher told me later, that a proposal, and an engagement, generally, were discussed at length prior to it happening.

So all that said, when I got into a relationship, the sort where I felt like I could share my life with this person, I had no idea how we were supposed to go about choosing a ring.

Wasn’t I supposed to be surprised?

DID I want to be surprised?

And then I thought about it.

I love Austin so deeply.  However, throughout the course of our nearly four-year courtship, it became apparent that he might need some help picking out the jewelry that would symbolize the start of our relationship together.

For one, he was colorblind.  When colors, especially those on the same note, were mashed together, he couldn’t tell the difference, which I learned after we spent a weekend painting together.

For two, he was a straight male engineer.  Engineers are notoriously no-frills.  He likes his hair buzzed.  He doesn’t like fancy clothes.  And fashion isn’t one of his main concerns.  And knowing that, I still decided to try the whole “going to pick out a genre of ring, and letting my man decide” thing.

Nope.

Nope.

Nope.

Nope.

My husband didn’t know what to do.  He didn’t know what was a pretty metal.  He didn’t understand why I liked the stone in a certain shape.

So off to the jeweler we went.

We went to a custom jeweler in 5-Points who sat down with both of us.  Austin gave him his budget on the DL, and I gave him what I wanted, after I figured out what I wanted.  The day Austin got down on his knee, I was surprised, happy, and I think Austin was happy with my answer 🙂

So to answer the original question?

It’s really a matter of individual preference.  But for me?  I liked having my hand in the design process.

What do you think?  How involved will you (were you) in the engagement ring process?

 

Does your significant other support your running?

| cheriarmour

I try to keep my husband at a minimum on the blog.  Not because I’m not crazy about him, because I absolutely am.  But more because he didn’t ask for his life to be splashed across the interwebs.  But occasionally, I just can’t help it!

I’m running Ragnar in Las Vegas in less than two weeks, and unlike the typical Ragnar relay, we are considered an ultra team, meaning that instead of 12 runners over 36 legs, we are 6 runners over the 36 legs.  I’m so looking forward to it, and yet, a little apprehensive about running over 34 miles over a few days.

But, despite my apprehension, my body, my mind, and my legs feel strong.

In prep for the race, I’ve run at a few odd times – and last night, it was around 9:30pm.  Luckily, I live close to the state university, and can stay pretty safe running on campus during these odd times, or can call my brother to run with me.  And every time I push off at these strange times, Austin offers me a butterfly knife, and asks if it’s completely necessary for me to run at those times, in the most worried and caring of ways.

And this time, the poor thing was in no position to come with me, because he sprained his ankle terribly playing volleyball at the Y.

Exhibit A
Exhibit A

But I’m taken with how supportive Austin has been of my running. When we met, I was just doing some running for maintenance.  Despite being an avid weightlifter (which doesn’t  classically mix), he ran my first 5k with me.  Then my second.  He cheered me through my first half.  And then stood out in the cold during my first two fulls.  And now, even though he can’t come to Vegas with me, he’s been so supportive, and making sure that in the midst of all my training, that I’m staying safe and happy.

 So how does running fit into a relationship?  How should running fit into a relationship?  For you runners, weightlifters, triathletes, golfers, how does your sport fit into your relationship?  And is your significant other supportive of how you stay fit?  

For us, even though Austin has never expressed any interest in taking on the challenge of a full or an ultra, running has always been something that we could enjoy and do together.  And it makes me feel supported by him, that we aren’t in competition, but that it’s something we can do side-by-side.  Running can be so solitary, and yet, it makes me feel so close to so much and so many people.

You?