Picture This

When I decided to start a blog, I figured I would have enough to write about all the time.  After all, I am constantly thinking things ("things" having a broad definition of both realistic and nonsensical things, and some things actually being various melodic lines).   My husband and I usually play the "What are you thinking about game?" and I always win, in that I usually have three to five answers to the question.  Please note that I have never considered this question a competition until this very instant, which is unfortunate, because Ryan's response 93% of the time is "nothing" which means I would practically be an undefeated champion and feel great about myself. 

This is all to say that I am finding it harder than expected to determine what to share and how to share it.  I would love to share some great stories from nannying but I want to be very respectful of the family I am nannying for and am still trying to discern how much would be appropriate to post online.  I am really hoping I can post pictures of the kiddos at some point because they are beautiful!

Here's the main point of this entry: Telling you about my weekend.  It was fairly eventful. 

1. Happy Birthday, dear Ryan!

My husband finally turned the age I was when we got married.  We celebrated with his parents in a most excellent low-key evening filled with a walk through the Botanical gardens in Chicago-area, a trip to an ethnic grocery store, presents, homemade soup and bread, and this black bottom raspberry pie.  It was a new recipe and tasted as good as it looks.  Here was the inside:

2. I ran the Chicago half marathon.  It went really well!  My time was a little slower (2:08 vs. 2:00) than when I ran it in Fargo in 2008, but unlike Fargo, I didn't feel like vomitting and was able to walk after I crossed the finish line.  There are pros and cons to both situations.   

Ryan's brother also ran the race.  We ran together until mile 4, when he gave me to "go ahead" to keep a faster pace than him.  That meant I was on the look out for a new running buddy and, after striking up one-sentence conversations with several people and striking out, I eventually found a nice lady named Jennifer who was 37 years old and also ditched her running buddy and was looking for a new friend.  We ran from mile 7 or so til the end and encouraged each other greatly.

Here are the proud finishers, in a picture with a proud and somewhat sneaky husband, taken by a most helpful girlfriend of David:

3.

I rested on Monday (I was a little sore still) and was back to work today and will continue to work part-time this week.  So far, so good! 

Thanks for reading and I hope to post more connection-related materials soon :)