May | 2011 | twodolla

May
31

running is 54185% mental

Pretty sure that’s what running is all about. I suppose you need legs, but I’m pretty sure that’s the only damn thing that’s physical about running. Tonight marks the second time in this whole C25K process that I’m absolutely certain I’ve psyched myself out of running.

Last week, for example, I ran the 2nd day of C25K’s 5th week. That’s a brisk five minute warm up, eight minutes of running, walking for five minutes, eight minutes of running, and then a five minute cool down. I blew through that thing like nobody’s business. At one point in the final 8 minutes, I had the speed on the treadmill 0.5 miles faster than I had when I started. I was done and almost wanted to run out to the car. Almost.

Tonight, I was supposed to run 20 miles and did not do that. Hardly one bit. And it frustrated the holy hell out of me. There are a ton of variables that probably effected it. I’m so not rehydrated from the weekend. I slept on the ground for two nights, which would explain the lower back pain I felt when running tonight. The last jogging-type activity I did was almost a week ago.

I’m pretty sure I had talked myself out of running about three days ago. I know it’s all mental, because I don’t feel any pain or awkwardness or anything like that in my body; I could physically keep going. If I could just turn my brain off for 20 minutes, I could probably do this 5K thing without a second thought. But until that happens, I’ve gotta figure out how to get over this stupid mental roadblock before I drive myself insane.

May
26

By Wendy

well, i’m so, SO ready.

Category: Friends Leave a Comment

I’m totally piggybacking off of Jenni’s most recent post, but I can’t help it. I FEEL THE SAME WAY.

Camping is this weekend. I am thrilled. Beyond thrilled.

I don’t know if it’s the settin’ by the fire or the lookin’, or maybe it’s the five billion different kinds of cards we’ll play, or the 982 bad decisions that will be made, but I’m so glad the 2011 Camping Season Opener is this weekend. At some point over the weekend, we’ll be joined by many of our most awesome friends in one of my top three favorite places in Wisconsin. Much meat will be consumed.

It will be a good weekend. And it couldn’t have come at a better time for me or for The General.

a typical camping morning

May
23

By Wendy

steve nash: my favorite canadian basketball player

Category: Sports, Videos Leave a Comment

For three reasons, really.

1) Look at how this dude can park an RV:

2) He’s a fan of the gays:

3) DUDE CAN PLAY SOME MEAN BASKETBALL.

May
23

By Wendy

post-tornado north minneapolis needs our help

Category: Local 1 Comment

Tornado in our neck of the woods yesterday and by our neck of the woods, I mean some of the paths that we walk or bike were blocked by trees that had trunks as wide as my leg is long. I didn’t make it must past the park, because a huge part of North Minneapolis was on curfew after 9pm and I didn’t want to get too involved in being in a neighborhood where I didn’t live after curfew.

This morning, as I was getting ready for work, I was annoyed that the organic face stuff that my face was washed with yesterday ended up causing an 8th grade acne breakout along my hairline and also annoyed that anytime I try to get my haircut, I end up looking like I should be getting ready to film GI Jane 2: Electric Boogaloo. Hello, first world problems.

Then I drove to work. I got detoured a couple of times and wound up driving down a street that made my heart drop into my chest. An entire block was full of houses that had been severely damaged by yesterday’s storms. Trees had fallen through roofs, windows were shattered, garages and sheds flattened. One house had what looked like their entire wardrobes dumped into the middle of the backyard. There were people trying to sort through things and figure out what could even be salvaged. And I here I am, 15 minutes earlier, irritated about the amount of hair product I had to use.

If you want to help, please check out urbanhomeworks.com. They’re organizing clean up efforts today and the second I get off work, I’m finding out how I can help. North Minneapolis is not a community full of affluent folks that can just replace a car or move into a new home. There were 200 people that were in shelters last night, which as a friend of mine said on Twitter, that’s 200 people that don’t have anywhere else to go or anyone else to help them.

May
20

By Wendy

anyone missing their pants? (140/365)

Category: Misc. Leave a Comment

anyone missing their pants? (140/365), originally uploaded by the queen of subtle.

Sometimes, I wish there would have been a time in my life where I would have not known where my pants were the next morning and later found them on Flickr in this manner.

I also love that Jenni finds this just as entertaining as I do.

Via Flickr:
seen along minnehaha parkway this morning.

May
19

By Wendy

it’s finally that time of the year

Category: Friends 3 Comments

It’s the time where we can leave the house windows open all night long, where I have to remind The General that we wait at least until after Memorial Day before even considering turning on the air, and the time where I try to figure out a way to turn cargo shorts into a business professional outfit.

It’s also the time where the 10-day forecast is very, very important. You see, one week from now? I’ll be throwing the aforementioned cargo shorts into a bag, along with flip flops, bug spray, and my whittling knife, in preparation for our annual Camping Season Opener. It’s possibly turning into one of my most favorite holidays of all time.

We have a spreadsheet; this year, it’s called “Memorial Day 2011 – Socialist Camping Cooperative” and has proven to be very helpful in the past when arranging necessities (like food, beer, bocce, radio with mp3 capabilities…) for the ~15 campers we have joining in every year.

This year, at least according to weather.com, seems to be shaping up juuust fine.

May
18

By Wendy

after three years

Category: Misc. 1 Comment

This post brought to you by TwoOfUs. All opinions are 100% mine.

The General and I just celebrated three years of domestic bliss this past weekend. We celebrated by having burgers and going to see a play in downtown Minneapolis, followed by a trip the casino, and we sealed the deal with some garden supply shopping on Sunday. It was a super fun weekend and we planned it all on our own.

However, if there are some of you that need some tips on keeping your relationship fresh, I've got the place for you. TwoOfUs.org has all the advice you could think of and more. Lots, lots more. Even better? There's videos from Dr. Sheldon Hawkes, of CSI: NY, talking about his ideas of how to have "conversation parties". While something like that wouldn't go over so well with any parties I might be throwing, I can see how it might be beneficial to those folks who just like to sit around and look at each other.

We don't really tend to have a lot of relationship questions that we can't figure out on our own. Our biggest battle is she's severely allergic to onions to the point of her throat closing up if she eats one and I really love Mexican food and drink salsa out of a jar. We're not quite to the point of needing external advice, but by all means, I'm more than happy to give anyone else advice. (Feeling troubled? Post about it in the comments, anonymously of course, and I'll be sure to give you a whole new perspective!)

You can always like these guys on Facebook, too!

May
18

By Wendy

our american burger bar anniversary dinner

Category: Local, Reviews Leave a Comment

The fine dining of hamburgers and beer wasn’t exactly our first choice for dinner to celebrate our 3rd anniversary.* We’d originally planned on hitting up Blackbird in south Minneapolis for dinner and then heading to a show in downtown Minneapolis, which started at 8pm. A haircut for The Kid, a trip to Old Navy, and a trip to Target filled our afternoon a bit too much and it was 6:15 before we were ready to leave the house. We decided to head downtown and, if nothing else, just grab a drink and an appetizer and worry about dinner later.

We weighed our downtown options and because Rock Bottom Brewery is always busy and/or always too slow to serve anything in an hour and a half, we opted to check out The American Burger Bar. The downtown location is relatively new and it also happened to be right across the street from the theater we’d be heading to later.

The hostess offered up some window seating, which is always prime on Hennepin Avenue, so we grabbed a couple stools against the bar and a server was over to us shortly. She guaranteed we’d have time to eat and still make it to our 8pm show, so we ordered… what else? Burgers. I went the American Classic road and, like she does anywhere there’s a burger involved, The General opted for a burger involving bacon and bleu cheese.

The food took a while, giving us plenty of time to mock the guy that sat next to The General and ordered nothing but a milkshake and the other guy who was taking up the entire bar telling all the single (and not so single) ladies to call him Sam. If I heard “Call me Sam!” one more time, I was close to dry humping him. To the bar’s defense, the Twins game had just finished after 11 innings and Prairie Home Companion had just ended next door, so there were crowds of all varieties filing in and out. I ran into a former co-worker of mine who was taking his kids and parents to the same restaurant after the game, so clearly it was something he deemed somewhat kid-appropriate.

Our burgers came with skinny fries and we love skinny fries. They were delicious. The burgers were perfectly cooked, but they probably should be since the word burger is in the name of the restaurant.

For a Saturday night, we didn’t have to wait long at all for a restaurant downtown. The service was fast and friendly, without chatting my ear off about shit I don’t care about, and that’s my favorite kind of service. For under $30, we both had burgers, fries and a drink apiece. So, essentially, we’re sold and have already made plans to visit again.

*This is a lesbian anniversary we’re talking about here, so that’s clearly about 24 regular years.

May
17

By Wendy

’bout to kick c25k’s week 4 in the ass

Category: C25K, Get Healthy 1 Comment

I quit C25K for a while, mainly because it was kicking my ass and I couldn’t get past Week 4. Those of you not familiar with the program, Week 4 goes like this:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:

Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

For me, I’m definitely focused on following the amount of time as opposed to the distance, because who has two thumbs and has never ever been a fast runner? THIS GIRL.

In any case, thanks to some advice from my cousin-in-law, I’ve slowed my roll(s) on the pace and taken it down half a mile an hour. That seems extreme, but that’s always something I can increase down the road. Besides, for me, completing my first 5K (on June 26th, in case you were curious) isn’t about time or speed; it’s about finishing it and doing it. So that’s my focus.

I knew I was feeling pretty good tonight when in the midst of my last 90 second walk, I had to stop myself from doing a little pop and lock action to Mystikal’s Shake Ya Ass. Wobble, wobble, I’m infatuated. If I’m not careful, I’m going to wind up like that little kid on About a Boy.

May
16

By Wendy

first Friday night meats of 2011

Category: Friends Leave a Comment

Somehow, for the past several years, I’ve missed out on the phenomenon that is Friday Night Meats. No more. We may have needed blankets and coats once the sun went down, but I will gladly celebrate the end of my work week with grillin’ dinner, having a couple drinks, and hanging out every week.