Running (slowly)

Lately I haven't been running as much as normal. It seems so different from last spring when most of my spare time was spent training for the two half marathons I ran in. The summer has been different. Work has taken up a lot of my time and long days translate into short evenings. So, my runs have been non-existent or very short in duration. It also seems like when I do run, I am running in slow motion. Many days I feel as though I have weights strapped to my legs. I am not sure why, but it has taken longer to run the same distances I used to run. Maybe this means I need to take a break or I need to train more. Either way, I have definitely cut out some of my distance and I am looking forward to the shorter 5k and 10k runs I typically do in the fall.

It's that time again...

...time for my favorite candy on earth!! My beloved candy corn has arrived in stores!! I saw it out of the corner of my eye while at the grocery store today. In fact, I was so surprised to see it, I thought my eyes might be deceiving me. So, I sprinted from the meat counter over to the seasonal aisle and left Todd to pick out our Sunday dinner. Although it seems a little early (after all Halloween is still 82 days away), it's all here - candy corn, mellowcreme pumpkins, indian corn, and autumn mix. I am so in heaven!

Review: Spaah

I have lots of posts to catch up on! The past few weeks have been busy - mostly work, but we also fit in a little fun. Or, at least we tried to.

On Sunday July 20th, we decided to get a couples massage. Todd had gotten a gift certificate for me to one of the local spas back in February. He didn't get me anything for my birthday (not even a card), so he decided to try to find something cool for Valentine's Day. I had been wanting to try Spaah and he decided he wanted to try it, too. Anyway, we called and made an appointment for the afternoon. After my experience at the French Lick Spa with Lana, I had high expectations. Apparently too high, because I give Spaah two thumbs down!!

At French Lick, we were given fluffy robes and relaxed in chaise lounges with water and fruit before getting a massage. The person who gave me my massage was awesome and brought me water when the time was over. After that, we sat in the sauna before taking showers back in the women's locker room area. Everything was provided - shampoo, soap, deodorant, hairdryers, etc. It was very relaxing and serene. Spaah, however, was a bad experience for me. There were no locker rooms, at least any we were allowed to use. So, we had to hang all of our clothes on two small hooks in the massage room. Todd had no where to put his glasses, so we stuck them in my purse hoping they wouldn't get scratched. I requested they do my shoulders and neck, but she spent 3/4 of the time on my lower back!?! She did not really even do a hard massage, so nothing felt "worked-out" when she was done. There were lots of things that made this a less than memorable experience, but the two most annoying things were that we did not have a way to shower off after they were done. We were covered in massage oil and had to put our clothes on to leave. The final straw for me is that the building sits on a busy corner, so we listened to cars speed by and motorcycles rev up at the stoplight. Not relaxing at all.

So, to my Bloomington friends: I recommend trying to find another spa in town. Or better yet, make the drive to French Lick. It costs a little more, but it is totally worth it for a true spa experience.

Vacation Pictures

I finally got our vacation pictures uploaded, among the other things I accomplished today. Hmmm...really I think I am finding other things to do besides grade final exams. They are due by midnight tonight, but four have already been turned in. I should be working on these, but instead, you can find our vacation pictures here! :)

(Note: Our parasailing pictures did not turn out at all. We should have asked someone to take pictures of us on our camera, but we bought them from the boat instead. Big mistake - they were all half black. I don't think they loaded the film right and the lens they sold us on less than stellar since all the far away pics are really blurry. Lesson learned. I croped a few of the better ones.)

Heat, Humidity, and Work

While I have much to catch up on, things have been busy. Eventually I blog about out last few weeks (although most of it has been spent working). But, I needed to get in a quick rant. I think I am good for at least one per month. :)

The A/C is not functioning in our building at work. I walked in this morning and was hit by a wave of hot air. As I sat in my windowless office, the air got hotter and hotter throughout the day. I literally had to peel my clothes off when I got home. The really bad news is that the A/C won't be fixed until Monday because it needs a new motor. I have many questions surrounding this, like can the part be shipped overnight and installed sooner than over the weekend or why did they not replace the motor a long time ago as we seem to have A/C problems every summer? The list goes on, but my biggest issue is that working and actually concentrating on work is near unbearable with the heat. I am literally sitting in my own pool of sweat while trying to type and have conference calls. I had to apologize up and down to some people that came to my office to talk to me today. It is just so hot in there! IU does have an Adverse Working Conditions policy. I'm not sure how it works, how often it is used, or if it can be used in this case. I was really hoping that would kick into effect because I cannot function well in this kind of heat! However, no such luck. I can already tell tomorrow is going to be a long day...

You are what you eat...

I wish I had my camera at work. I would definitely have to snap a picture of the garbage can under my desk. Our garbage is emptied on Tuesday and Friday nights. This week, you can tell the kind of week it's been by looking at what is in my garbage! Lots of candy wrappers - mini candy bars, tootsie rolls, caramels, banana laffy taffy, etc. Yikes. I do spot one apple core down at the very bottom...

Home

Well, we made it home safely. We left the Outer Banks around 11am on Friday and drove for about 11 hours before stopping to get a hotel room. We drove the rest of the way this morning and picked the dog up from the kennel on the way home. Todd gets extra points for driving the whole time.

I think Lucy had a good time. She is sleeping as a thunderstorm is raging outside. Usually she is pacing back and forth and jumping at the sound of thunder. But, she is laid out on the floor sound asleep tonight!

We forgot to mention one of the cool things about the trip. On Monday we saw a ton of dolphins! We were out on the beach and they were swimming very close to the shore! Todd was out swimming close to them and they didn't seem to mind at all. We watched them for a good half hour come as close as 30-yards to the shore. We saw more on Tuesday, but they were out much further. Unfortunately, we didn't see any others the rest of the week.

One of the bad things about the trips were the mosquitoes. Not only do I have mosquito bites on my legs, but they have swollen up to huge welts! They also itch and burn like crazy. If we go back next year, we'll take some stronger bug spray.

Reality sets back in on Monday. Unfortunately, I have not been able to taken as much time off this summer as I had originally planned for several different reasons. I am hoping to steal a few more days here and there before the semester starts again on Sept. 3rd.