Cara

training

2009-11-18T19:26:45Z

Yesterday: ran 3 miles

I forgot my watch so I didn't time it, but I felt pretty good.

Left to do this week:
- 3 mile run
- 4 mile run

ah, running!

2009-11-14T22:30:38Z

I did my first 2 training runs for a half-marathon I'm running in February to support a local center that helps Sudanese refugees in Phoenix. (More on that in an upcoming post.) I might start posting about my training runs as a motivational tool for myself.

This week I did:
Fri - 3 miles, not timed
Sat - 4 miles, 37:42

The goal is 10 minute miles or faster for the race. So far so good. I should have done another 3-mile, run but something came up the day I planned to run and it was too close to the end of the week to make it up. So I already skipped my first run. Oops. This is why I need to try to get them done earlier in the week.

Next week is 3 miles, 3 miles, 4 miles again. I'm thinking Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

I'm using this training schedule but doing the runs on whatever days they're convenient.

I feel so good when I'm running.

Tonight we're hosting a screening of "At the End of Slavery," a documentary by the International Justice Mission. They're an awesome organization that works with local law enforcement to rescue young girls from brothels and to rescue men, women and children from forced labor. They do a lot of work in south Asia. The screening is to help raise awareness about the problem and about IJM's work. You can see the trailer here.

You'll also notice I've changed my LiveJournal user name. Time to finally drop the horrid old moniker from high school. Thanks to LiveJournal for allowing user name changes. Last FM needs to get with the game on that one.

listening to "Single Ladies - Beyonce" on Blip

2009-11-13T21:14:36Z

How did I miss this amazing Beyonce cover? And could I get away with that haircut?

how one blogger raised $30,000 in 18 hours

2009-11-12T16:18:12Z

New post on my Wordpress blog:

how one blogger raised $30,000. yesterday

(At the time I wrote it, he had just raised $30,000 in 18 hours to build a school in Vietnam. Now he's decided to build two and the funds are almost up to $40,000. Very cool.)

listening to "Fanfarlo cover Neutral Milk Hotel 'In The Aeroplane Over The Sea'" on Blip

2009-11-09T20:19:46Z

Fanfarlo covers Neutral Milk Hotel

listening to "Josh Ritter - To The Dogs Or Whoever" on Blip

2009-11-06T21:05:57Z

Feisty friday fun, part 2 (another of my favorite songs ever)

listening to "Jeremy Fisher - "Scar That Never Heals"" on Blip

2009-11-06T19:32:54Z

Feisty friday fun, part 1 (one of my favorite songs ever)

listening to "Langhorne Slim - Back To The Wild" on Blip

2009-10-26T18:36:57Z

A nice folksy tune to start your week.

listening to "The Raveonettes - The Christmas Song" on Blip

2009-10-23T22:38:58Z

This is the first Raveonettes song I ever heard. It got me hooked.

listening to "Bright Eyes - Papa Was a Rodeo" on Blip

2009-10-09T16:29:41Z

Bright Eyes covering the Magnetic Fields

cooking...hey, i'm learning!

2009-10-05T02:21:24Z

I just made myself the most amazing meal. I'm proud of this because I'm *not* good at improvising meals. I usually have to follow recipes. Stuff I improvise just turns out weird. Like the soup I made yesterday. Added too much spinach; it tastes okay but is kind of a green sludge in texture. I'll just have it for lunch at work all week, since I doubt the hubby will touch it. ;)

So here was my meal tonight. We had some leftover pasta with pesto in the fridge. So I sauteed some broccoli, kale, onion, and snap peas in olive oil and ate it over the pasta with tomato slices and black olives. There was about an equal amount of veggies and pasta, and the veggies were crunchy. Man, that was good. I also ate 2 raw carrots. In the car earlier today, I listened to a podcast about the importance of eating 5 servings of veggies every day (plus 3 or 4 servings of fruit, but that's the easy part). So I was thinking of how I could get as many different veggies into a meal as possible. So there you go. By the way, a serving of veggies is just half a cup! I probably had 4 servings of veggies just in that meal.

Also, I learned recently that olive oil and canola oil are good for you. In fact, you should get most of the fat you eat each day from these oils. That's very good to know. I'll stop feeling bad for cooking stuff with oil. And I refuse to feel guilty about pasta and rice. Who let the Atkins people brainwash us?

listening to "Dawes.. "Peace In The Valley"" on Blip

2009-09-23T17:35:40Z

Dawes performing a song live. I was completely mesmerized when I saw them...and still am watching this video.

listening to "Lightning Dust - Antonia Jane" on Blip

2009-09-21T16:26:13Z

Enjoying the Lightning Dust album. I like songs that start out nice and strong, like this one:

listening to "The Low Anthem - To Ohio [HQ]" on Blip

2009-09-16T16:43:38Z

This song is beautiful in its simplicity.

listening to "The Apples In Stereo - King Of Carrot Flowers Pt. 3" on Blip

2009-09-14T15:51:49Z

Can I just hear the Apples cover the whole Neutral Milk Hotel album please?

listening to "Noah And The Whale - Rocks And Daggers" on Blip

2009-08-28T21:25:00Z

Thanks to @robin314159 for turning me on to this fun & whimsical band. I like this song especially.

yawn

2009-08-21T10:40:48Z

I can't sleep. It's 3:20. My alarm is set for 6:30. I could set it later; my work hours are a bit flexible. But what's the point? It's just more time to lay awake. Might as well get on with my day.

I can deal with the occasional 0 sleep night, but I've already got a splitting headache. That's the part I really don't want to deal with.

So why no sleep? Well, I did have a soccer game that ended around 10:30. My legs tend to ache for a while after exercise. It's a mild thing and probably normal and I normally don't even notice except when I'm in bed trying to sleep. But does a normal person stay up all night because of late exercise? Probably not. Plus, I have soccer every Thursday, and this doesn't happen every Thursday. Who knows why my silly body decides not to sleep?

I actually have a lot of work to do. I really wish I could just start my work day now, at 3:30 a.m. I'd be done by 9:30 and have the rest of the day free. I could work now, but I'd still have to be in the office for 6 hours later today.

What sucks about the day following a 0 sleep night is that whatever I was planning to do is shot. Now it's just a recovery day. It's a day for coming home from work and watching TV. It's just a day to get through until I can catch up on sleep. I get emotional when I haven't slept, but I'm getting good at reminding myself that it's just the lack of sleep.

I've been experimenting with drinking coffee every day to see how that actually affects my sleep. In the recent past, I was only drinking coffee once or twice a week. Everyone seemed surprised at how strongly the caffeine affected me. So now I'm trying to build up a bit of a tolerance to it. And I am sleeping worse. But I don't know if it's the caffeine or just my general lack of discipline lately. Hard to tell. Sometimes I think I should keep a sleep journal, but I'm afraid that dwelling on sleep will give me more anxiety about sleep and therefore more trouble falling asleep.

listening to "Chad VanGaalen - City of Electric Light" on Blip

2009-08-17T21:37:15Z

A brooding and catchy little tune I can't seem to stop playing today

listening to "Matthew Sweet And Susanna Hoffs - Sunday Morning" on Blip

2009-08-12T14:49:20Z

Great cover of one of my favorite songs ever

to Live Journal or not to Live Journal?

2009-08-10T17:07:32Z

I recently started a new blog HERE. But I kind of miss the off-the-cuff writing about my day and chatting with other Live Journal folks. I think I'll just keep both blogs. This one will be more diary-like, and the other will be more about practicing my writing skills.

So...some whining about my day is in order, right? I couldn't sleep last night. Coffee to the rescue!

listening to "Horse Feathers - Working Poor - Live The Guest Apartment" on Blip

2009-08-03T16:04:39Z

I love the folksy sounds of Horse Feathers, and this song is my favorite

listening to "When My Time Comes - Dawes" on Blip

2009-07-13T18:15:10Z

These guys were awesome opening for Deer Tick. This song is nice but I highly recommend the live show.

carasue @ 2009-07-11T12:33:00

2009-07-11T19:36:54Z

Finally updated my Live Journal profile. It said I was still 25. If only!

carasue @ 2009-07-07T04:13:00

2009-07-07T11:14:34Z

the gentle hum of my computer is calming
no sleep tonight

listening to "Deer Tick - Easy" on Blip

2009-07-06T19:37:26Z

Seeing Deer Tick tonight! This is the first track from their new album.