back to the nest

After receiving some less-than-great news at work on Friday in regards to cutbacks (just in time for the holidays!), the scales did manage to tip ever so slightly in my favor once I got home that night.

You might remember a few months back, I introduced you to the blog of my friend and former co-worker, graphic designer extraordinaire, Kaleena Porter.

At that time, KP was hosting a sweet shingdig on here superfab blog, EVERYDAY.  Well.  Let me tell you, it was the blog party to end all blog parties.  There was music, mayhem, and general awesomeness to be had.  Relive the fun, or find out what you may have missed here.

In addition to being a blast, this par-tay even had prizes for the party winners…and losers.  You might by now be guessing where I’m going with this.  If you think I was one of the losers, you’re so wrong.  I was a winner, yo!  Eat it!  And the personalized winner swag was patiently waiting to make my day somewhat better on Friday night when I got home.  Here’s what was inside:

Fabulous and special and proof that Kaleena is the best GD GD ever.  Call me Miss Cheese, but this poster is totally being framed and spending the rest of its life on my wall.  The peace sign is also the sign for the letter “K” and when turned upside down, the letter “P”, while the orange pinkie is her signature nail statement in real life.  Bomb.  Check out KP’s blog and design site now if you’ve been silly enough not to already.

Came so very close to not posting anything at all today.  But, since I failed yesterday, I thought I should tear myself away from Fantasy Football (it’s half-time in the Vikings-Cardinals game) and bootleg it tonight by sharing a post from one of my favorite blogs, Not Your Average Ordinary .  Check out this site immediately.  On a daily basis, Brandi somehow manages to find the best of the best in gorgeous, artistic, and inspirational content to share with her readers.

A few days ago, Brandi found a few decor items that look like they’d be more at home in a chem lab, but would be totally cute and creative in your own home.  I loved them all, especially the flower vases and the print, so I thought I’d share the love with my own readers.

From Not Your Average Ordinary – Inspired By Science:

“I love science. I can’t help it. I studied physics in college, and even though I melted a circuit board and blew several LED lights, I still think of myself as a scientist. And I try to find ways to incorporate that part of me in my home, so I’m really digging these science-inspired items.”

{Laboratory Flower Vases from Urban Outfitters}

{Penny Candy Jar from Anthropologie}

{Experimental Flasks from Anthropologie}

{Terrarium Print from Postal Press}

If you’ve been keeping up with my special blog, you may be aware that I completed my first half-marathon back in October of this year, and am planning to complete my second in May of next year.

While I had fun running the half-marathon at the Baltimore Running Festival, the fact that I felt paralyzed from the waist down 2/3 into the race and for a good few hours following leads me to believe that my bootleg “training program” of just running whenever I felt like it for however long I felt like it doesn’t exactly “work.”

Even though the Willow Tree Half in Providence is 5 months away, I’d like to start training for it now, because I feel all kinds of motivated for it these days.  The thing is, most half-mara programs only take an average of 3 months (a full takes about 5).

So!  I’ve been on a mission to find a program for a half that takes 5 months.  Extensive interweb searches have proved to be far from fruitful.  There HAS to be a 5 month program!! Gaaaa!

Has anyone out there ever heard of a 5 month schedule, or am I just totes crazy to be even trying to find one?  I’m sort of banking on those couple of readers who are also race runners making my wish come true here.

In fact, any pre-training advice from anyone would be useful right about now.  Not only would I like to avoid feeling like death warmed over wrapped in helium balloon foil for May’s race, but I’d also like to decrease the time of the first one by at least 20 minutes.  Plus, once the training physically gets underway, I’ll be holding myself accountable by, you guessed it, blogging about it.  And who knows, maybe Brandi will be sooo inspired, she’ll decide to East-Coast-it and run it too.  Just sayin.’

Heavy Rotation is short and sweet tonight.  Listen to what I’m listening to as I catch up on reading my favorite blogs (which has inexcusably fallen by the wayside) via Google Reader.

I love Beck.  I love Dylan.  I love Beck’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat.”  The song is from the stellar compilation album War Child Presents Heroes released at the beginning of this year, which benefits kids who are war victims.  An outrageous twist on an old classic, what’s not to love?  Enjoy!

FYI, back to the nest is not dead, I just managed to become somewhat sickly over the Thanksgiving holiday and haven’t felt like saying much (though I have much to say).

In other news, though I failed at the November National Blog Posting Month challenge because I clearly did not post every day for the month, I still feel it was a success because my posting, and therefore my readership, increased dramatically.  So thanks to everyone who reads what I have to say and enjoys the fun pictures!  Here’s to posting at least once a day in December!