20 miles!

Here is what I did on Saturday:


Truly hard to believe. Went from Chastain to Vinings and back again. Yoipes!

Not sure how I'll do another six miles on top of that, but I guess I'll find out on March 21!

Looking forward to pouring 20 pounds of ice on myself tomorrow.

Running my first 20-miler tomorrow. Woohoo!

Would like to share some of the things I have going for me that make me feel confident:

• Ate a hammock of pasta tonight.


• Will be running with a great training buddy.


• Last weekend's 18 was good. Great, in fact. Ran each 6-mile portion faster than my Peachtree Road Race time. What what?!


• Heard a familiar voice of encouragement on the phone, earlier today. Sometimes hearing his voice saying, "Proud of you, sweetie!" is all that keeps me going.


• The promise of 20 pounds of ice on me after I get home. It works, I swear! (But I may have a glass of wine instead of a cuppa tea. Just putting that out there.)

Update tomorrow!

Career definintion.

My job description, duties, hell, even my company, have changed radically over the last year.

How do you strive to keep yourself and your goals in your work, when your job path might be changing before your very eyes?

I think you have to do just that: keep yourself in it. Know what you're ultimately going after, weigh your current options, and make the best decisions you can using the information you have.

Why architects blow my mind.

I have probably given you my speech about how architects are truly the smartest people out there, because they are math geeks and artists, at the same time, for a living. This blows my mind. How can you be a mathlete one minute and a painter the next? I don't know. There are two architects in my extended family and I think they are both brilliant. Both are math nerds and incredible artists. I love that.

So I am not sure how I came across this tonight, and because I'm not an architect and/or don't live in New York, this post was written two years ago and hasn't hit my radar yet, but look at this "black and bendy" building planned (as of April 2008) to go in Tribeca.

Designed by Dutch architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio, who also did the Möbius House in Amsterdam (as in The Möbius loop, which also blows the mind), the black bands twist and turn to become balconies for this high-rise of condos and apartments. Form + function.

I just think this building is incredible. How can you do something this radical? Even for NYC it's pretty out there. Squished between your average blocky buildings it will look even more unreal. Urban architecture especially is fascinating to me. It's one thing to build something funky out in the middle of nowhere, but let's see what you can do in a city block, constrained by the buildings right beside you, oh, and that pesky street. It's all about doing what you can in the space, and for architects like this, "doing what you can" becomes pretty much anything.

Oh, in case you're wondering, the cheapest available home is listed for just under $1 mil. Goes up to $16 mil.

Sprezzatura

I know, I know, I quote Seth Godin too much. But he's so smart! I can't help it!

Today he wrote about sprezzatura, the Italian word for effortless work, which is kind of an oxymoron.

I'm interested in getting to the point of sprezzatura in my work. And actually, now that I think about it, the most influential and successful people I've known in my career have exhibited sprezzatura. It makes me want to have their job (ah, look how easy she makes it look) but it's the making it look easy part that I don't get yet. Some kind of emotional maturity I don't have yet. Every thought I have gets telegraphed across my face. I'm like the Jim Carrey of project management.

The other day in another post, Godin said, "Do the work. Ignore the feelings part and the work will follow." Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something here.

Fog Lamp. (Different than Fog Hat.)

I have about 15 minutes until a meeting (yes, at 5 PM--my secretary has fallen down on the job!) but I wanted to record something that happened...

Something shook loose for me this weekend and today I am out of the fog I've been in for the past couple of months. I was able to concentrate during a work meeting this morning and actually focus on something further out than five minutes. It really felt like a fog lamp illuminating my path. Woohoo! Maybe it was the 18-miler on Saturday, or the nice catch-up webcam chat with My Favorite on Saturday night, or who knows what. But I'm glad.

Got some plans to watch The Bachelor finale tonight at Running Buddy's house. I'm responsible for dessert. I'm thinking big, giant, cookies.

"The Dickens out of people? Nobody gets me."

I just spent a quiet, sobering afternoon, alone with my budget.

In a spreadsheet, I projected out all income and bills for 12 months. Two goals are at work here: I will pay off all credit card debt by December 31 and save enough money for a down payment on a new (to me) car around that same time (which uncovered another necessary expenditure for which I'll be stashing cash: engine repairs for my baby, the Silver Sofa On Wheels, to keep it running and emissions-compliant until the end of the year when I can pass it down to my brother). Whew.

Results? Gotta save more. I called the cable company to get rid of my expensive cable. I am now investing less for retirement, just for the short-term to get this done, as much as that hurts. I will be taking out a certain amount of cash from the ATM each paycheck, and that's it for groceries, going out, and miscellaneous items, no exceptions. After all bills are paid, the amount in my checking account will be pushed to my savings account, which is connected to my checking account so no excuses (I even added a line item on the spreadsheet for each monthly budget that reads: "$XXX: due to savings account on 3/31/10.") Holding myself accountable. (Accountable. Accountable?! NObody gets me!)

I may be good with organization but up til now, I have not been great with my personal finances.

Replacing my old mantra: I have no money!! What am I going to do?!

My new mantra is: I have a lot of money. I need to protect it.