Grad School Woes

I should be working on my review of Pride & Prejudice to post for my blogger Jane Austen Book Club. But the words just aren't coming.

I think I need more wine.

The blog post ideas have been coming in fast and then get stopped up like a clogged drain when it comes time for me to actually start writing. I blame grad school. I just can't function as I normally would when I have all these future plans up in the air.

Oh yes, grad school is up in the air. This may, or may not, have been the reason I demolished half a bottle of wine and found myself sobbing over the Keira Knightly Pride & Prejudice last Thursday. Not something I normally find myself doing, but ya know. Stress buster right there. Let's all be grateful I didn't eat my emotions by consuming a Domino's Pizza, then spend the next week complaining about my dairy issues, my face looking like I rubbed it in the pizza and...just ew. (PULL yourself together woman. There is NO need for that kind of behavior.)

This is how I feel right now. I wanna curl up in a blanket and hide. With my wine and my shitty pizza and Jane Austen movies. Oh wait...CHECK. Did it.

Funny thing about going to grad school in the UK. You can't just go on a visitor's visa...even though a visitor can be in the UK for up to six months and technically my first term is only two and a half months. I'll be back in the US in time for Christmas. But you can't go over and study on a visitor's visa (and would people please stop suggesting I "just try it"? How 'bout I try smacking you? That'd be more fun than me breaking the law. So stfu. <----look br="" i="" m="" stress="" swearing=""> Here's the deal. I need a student visa to go over, regardless that the school wants me. In order to apply for said visa I only need TWO things. 1-Proof that I can pay for school. Check. I have a letter from my loan company (bless you Sallie Mae) that they sent over right quick when I asked, that says I have the money. Love that that qualifies instead of having to have the money actually in my bank account. Thank you, UK government. No seriously...that does make things easier.

Number 2-I need a CAS-Confirmation of Acceptance to the school. That's not the email the school sent me saying "OMG we totes love you, come join our hippy ways in drama. Let us show you the way to a life of happiness and thriftiness. You won't even miss food. Too expensive, let's improv our emotions instead." (I wish they said that.) A CAS is not the really nice letter and packet they sent my way a few months ago. Loads of lovely, heart-palpitation inducing, information about my new school. Nope.

The school has it's hands on my super official, special, one-of-a-kind CAS letter. And they won't give it to me until I've given them my first payment. A payment of $5,000.

Okay, no worries. That's what my lovely loan is for and I want to pay with the loan. I don't have the money and while my parents may, I'd rather not ask them as I'll need help with cheaper things...like plane tickets, visa fees and maybe, possibly, some lovely apartment decorations and new school clothes. But really just the plane tickets and visa fees. Cause ya know....savings? What savings? I used to work in theatre, as a dog walker, gym desk attendant and waitress. Also I love wine. So, seriously...what savings?

I checked with my loan company, who's being so unbelievably helpful and understanding that it's a little mind blowing. They explained that my loan disbursement dates (the two dates that were chosen for the loan money to be sent to the school and then to me) were set by the school itself. And oh look...the first disbursement date is for October 15th....so that's only a week and a half AFTER my first day of school.

And you can't enter the country to go to school without a visa damnit. (Stress swearing.... #sorrynotsorry)

I emailed the financial director, who chose those dates. First she asked me to call the loan company because she didn't think that changing the dates (or picking the dates) was something she did (then WHO pray tell?!). So I did and the loan company said that she did and she can and no they won't give me a number/email for financial director lady to contact as she should already have that info....because she accepted the loan and chose the dates.

Emailed financial director again. Response: "Oh okay. I'll change those."

.......

That was over a week ago.

I was going to call her today. And boy will she not like that conversation. I get all "super perky, uber helpful, sunshine-y, customer service-y" when I'm pissed about something. Not many people know how to handle that (think over-caffeinated squirrel) and it's gotten me through a lot of bad customer situations. People will bend to my will because nobody knows what to do with all the freaking sunshine and positivity. However, she's lucky cause today is a bank holiday.

Nobody wants to mess with someone this perky. Because she just might be a murderer. I'll admit to nothing.

Ergo...tomorrow I will be calling and explaining to her why I need that loan money last week, in order to get that CAS emailed to me, in order to apply for my visa which could take as long as eight weeks to get approved for and if I don't get that visa before the start of school, then I can't go to school and then I cancel my loan, and oh no...then the school won't get that money. (Run-on sentence FTW! My undergrad English professors will be so happy that I'm using my degree well...and not continuing on in the field, as I'm quite inadequate to do so.)

I'll say all that way nicer. I think.

Here's hoping I can send in for my visa before the end of the week.

Cheers,
Lindsay xx

P.S. So I have a contingency plan if I end up canceling the grad school plan...I'm going to go on a spa bender. Oh yes. I've gotten a massage three times in my life now, and even on this last trip for just reflexology on my hands and feet, they still want me naked. I feel you. I want to be naked too. Did shit just get weird? Have some wine, you'll get over it.

Obligatory "Oh My God, I'm naked underneath this robe!" shot. You must do it.

Crohn's Girl Running

There has been so much goodness and delight and sunshiny happiness going on in my world of running that I have had no time to update anyone on it. I haven't even filled in my parents on all the gory details of everything I've done and I live with them.

I just wanted to revel in all I've done this summer. It's gone by too, too fast. And isn't that said every summer?

Funny how most adults, majority who aren't even teachers, speak like summer time is break time and it's NOT. I still go to work every day (until grad school in OCTOBER!! *Pending Visa*). Just for some reason, summer is the time of "The Trips to Every Place I Can Think Of". Here, stupid airlines that give me no snack, take my money. Take me places!

For a good part of this year, I had taken on the challenge of participating in Team Challenge. I've never done anything like that before and let me tell you....I am so glad I did. Team Challenge is an organization that runs/walks in races and raises money for CCFA, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. Amazing group raising money for my people. How could I not get involved after training for my first race ever, the Disney Princess Half Marathon, and finding that I so absolutely love training for a half. (Yes, 14 yr-old Lindsay, I did go insane. Who'da thunk?)

Also, joining Team Challenge and being on the National Team (I had no local running team near me, since I live in the middle of nowhere) I got to meet amazingly cool runners who like arts and crafts as much as I do:

From my mentor, Abbe. Totally still have this, as it is AWESOME. She gets additional awesome points for spelling my name correctly. Even relatives, who leave comments on my FACEBOOK wall spell my name incorrectly. 

 The whole National Team met for the first time at the Napa to Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon weekend, though some have been doing Team Challenge for a few years and know each other well. After just a weekend together, I'm certain I'll want to do Napa again...if only to kick the boys butts in time. I can shave an hour off my time in a year right? Totally sane goal...uh-huh yes. Watch me. I do love a challenge that involves more than "let's see how fast I can get my iron levels up, decrease my roughage, and reduce flare-ups so my GI doctor doesn't put me on any scary drugs." Oh the life of a Crohnie, you have no idea how fun. Surprise stool samples required.

Are you eating right now, I really hope you're eating right now. I mean, at my dinner table, we only talk about bowel habits when we're eating. So much sharing right now! How EXCITED are you?

Fun fact: when I first signed on to the National Team, my amazingly awesome and perky team leader, Adina, was excited to hear I had Crohn's as that meant we had the most amount of people with the disease on the National Team then they had had in a long time. Surprise, surprise, (at least to me) most people running for Team Challenge don't have Crohn's or Colitis but are running for others who do. That almost made me cry right there. And trust me, if you do Team Challenge, you cannot make it out of the Pasta Dinner without shedding some tears. Seriously. So many inspirational stories from people and it was truly inspiring to see how many people were running in honor of someone. I was really glad to be a part of it and actually able to run, unlike so many others who have Crohn's and Colitis worse than I do.

Fun fact #2: Until last October when I went to my very first CCFA support group meeting, I had never met anyone with Crohn's or Colitis. In all my 14 years with the disease. I only ever heard that some one's friend of a friend had it. So when I was actually at the half and met tons of people my age with it, it was a little more mind blowing than I expected.

Other than partying it up with a whole lot of other people with bathroom issues (guess what? we know ALL the poop jokes. Yes. All of them.), I loved this half marathon because it was in WINE COUNTRY. If you know me, you know I love my wine.

We celebrate long runs with WINE. I'm sure that's a total recovery rule. In my book. "Can't feel my knees! I know, I'll drink wine! BEST IDEA. I win."

 I ran a good race, better than my first half, not in terms of time, but the fact that I ran longer. I ran 12 miles before my digestive system woke up and alerted me to the fact that if I did not start walking soon, there would be some impolite issues to deal with soon. My first half, I made it just 10 miles. (Full race recap of the Napa Half coming soon. With more runner-friendly details other than how much wine I was drinking...although that is a fun detail in my book.)

This is what happens, though, when you don't actually follow any training program at all. As a part of Team Challenge I was given a run plan to follow from our very cool training coach (each team has their own coach), but I still have issues wrapping my head around the fact that I'm a runner. I get intimidated by expectation and often times my "training" is just running a few times a week and seeing how long I feel like going. I think after the joy I got from doing this one, and my steel-hard reserve for doing better than the boys next year, I will actually put a little more thought and effort into working on a run plan. Like, for serious guys. I'm going to start lifting weights and swimming (ohhhh cross training! Look at me go!) and everything (intervals anyone?).

I'm kind of pumped.

A few more pictures from the run:

After a long run, bananas are the only thing my stomach can tolerate for the first 45 minutes after I'm done.

How cool am I with my water belt? Yeah...you wish you were this dorky.

 This was my first time fueling up in a hotel room before a race, so I went all out and bought my favorite Gluten Free Honey'd Corn Flakes and Almond Milk for the job, ate a banana and....some tuna straight from the can. I can't help it, it's delicious and fuel/stomach friendly. I have some weird, but fun! (sarcasm folks...), dietary issues. It's not a necessity for me to be Gluten Free all the time, but before runs I'm sensitive to it if I've been eating it the days leading up to the run. Weird right? It's like a build up or something, that affects me.

Pre-race fueling in a hotel room...when you dietary issues. Always such a good time.

 The day before the race was one of the best I've had all summer (except for my birthday). I got invited to a winery that's not usually open to the public. We got a special lunch, loads of wines to taste and were allowed to wander around the gorgeous old house and property. I hope to write a post just on that winery. It really was an amazing way to get ready for a race.

So. Much. Wine. Clearly, doing it right:

Day before a race, I always seem to wind up with a wine glass in my hand. I think it's just my process now. 

 For some reason, after my half marathon, I went into a runner's coma for three weeks and didn't run at all. Then one day I decided I wanted to just jet off to Chicago to visit my sorority sister, Carrie, and check the city out. She just happened to be running in the Zooma 10K the Saturday I would be there. So, you know, just as the recovery rules go, after a half marathon, not running for a few weeks, I decided to push myself and do the 10k.

AND THEN I PR'D! And stuffed my face, and drank my weight in bourbon and whiskey.

If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now...clearly, I make good choices.

Ooh look, jewelry!!

Zooma 10K is awesome cause you get JEWELRY!!

 I managed to beat my old 10K time of 1 hour and 17 minutes and did it in 1 hour 12 minutes. I blame it all on my friend Carrie. I didn't want to embarrass myself by slowing down and we were both kept fairly distracted by the beautiful scenery of running along the lakefront and gossiping catching up. Also...damn that sun was hot. Felt hotter than running in Florida for the Disney Half.

I was proud enough that I went ahead and ate enough dairy to cover me for the rest of the year. Normally, I keep my distance (only slightly sensitive, don't worry, no serious allergies here), but how could you go to Kuma's Too and not order the mac and cheese? We added the bacon and peas because clearly we are genius'.

I love you.

 After that I made love to a burger. Medium rare with herbed goat's cheese, fried red onions, corn salsa and a lemon vinaigrette. Screw fries. With a burger that good, it needs no accouterments.

I'm fairly certain that burger made me a woman. Thank you Kuma's.

Ohmygod. I will dream of this burger FOREVER. Goatsnake = forever love. And my beer was as dark and thick as espresso. Best stuff I've had in awhile.

So over all, my running choices have been gooooood. Who would have thought that someone with Crohn's could have such adventures? And adventures that don't involve the words "surprise stool sample day"? Definitely not 14 year old me. When I was diagnosed, I was fairly certain, as certain as an all knowing teen can be, that my life was over. No travel, no good food, no exercise (cause back then, exercise was seen as something that would cause a flare-up), no friends that would understand.

Over the last 14 years of having this horrible, no-good, very bad, super lame, disease, my life has been pretty stellar.

And oh look.....I'm going to move to LONDON, ENGLAND for grad school in October for Acting. BOO-YAH. I win.

Cheers,
Lindsay

Little Bit 'O Lovin'

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Trying out this whole Bloglovin' thing! Feel free to follow me on that if you're keeping your blogs there. I'm kinda digging it right now...instead of my usual manner of checking all my bookmarked blogs this seems easier to me.

Cheers,
Lindsay xx

Jane Austen Book Club: Sense and Sensibility

One of the expat bloggers I read suggested a few months via Twitter to doing a blogger book club for Jane Austen. I was immediately invested as I have been meaning to read all of Jane Austen's novels. It's embarrassing to admit as an English Lit degree holder, I have only ever read one Jane Austen, Emma. I knew I'd be a big fan just from that one book, so I signed on to do the book club as well.

I present to you, The Quintessentially English Jane Austen Book Club. The reading schedule is as follows, in order of when published:

• June - Sense and Sensibility (1811)
• July - Pride and Prejudice (1813)
• August - Mansfield Park (1814)
• September - Emma (1815)
• October - Northanger Abbey (1818)
• November - Persuasion (1818)

I finished Sense and Sensibility at the end of June and have already finished Pride and Prejudice as well. I'll try to keep my little reviews of both separate, but know that'll be quite hard for me. I've got too much comparison going on in my head of both. I very much enjoyed Sense and Sensibility but than I read P&P and couldn't put it down. 

Now I'm not one for a recap, so check out SparkNotes or Google it if you haven't read it. Cheaters can just go straight to the phenomenal movie written by Emma Thompson, staring her and Kate Winslet. Going down as one of my favorite movies ever AND has just all the very best British actors in it. Couldn't believe it. It's the most well cast movie based on a book. Read the book first and you'll see. 

Sense and Sensibility definitely had the feel of a chick lit on the first go of it. I love the manners that instruct British society in this time period. There are rules of conduct and how one should behave. So of course I loved all the rule breakers. Marianne was the one I most identified with because of her grand emotion about everything, except I wish I was more like Elinor. This is one of those things that feel quite black and white to me when reading. There's a clear choice of who you should want to be like. That's how I feel when I watch Sex & The City. Everyone wants to be just like Carrie, or find a bit of themselves in her, but most of the time we're like one of the other girls who are put into a very extreme type cast. (I'm definitely Charlotte and a bit of Miranda...also, after watching that show back-to-back...I freaking hated Carrie. They try quite hard to make her like "every woman".)

I think that the book could be a bit over dramatic at times and just seemed...like her first novel, as if she was finding her feet in the genre. A lot of the smaller characters were quite one-dimensional, like the Palmers, Mrs. Dashwood, Fanny and John. I think the movie actually made everyone a lot more nuanced than the book. And I was never aware of Margaret Dashwood at all in the book, but she played a good part in the coming together of Elinor and Edward Ferrars in the movie.

Some of the choices in the movie I was on board with quite a lot. There was no Lady Middleton and I do believe her children in the book were replaced by dogs in the movie. LOVED that choice as I feel she was a nothing kind of character. What really was her purpose other than to show how completely different her husband was in comparison to her? I also enjoyed the fact that there was no forced hinting of emotion between Marianne and Colonel Brandon in the movie. A lot of movies like to create that emotion before it's time and in the book Marianne doesn't feel anything for Colonel Brandon till the end. 

I was disappointed that in the movie there was no Anne Steele. One of my favorite parts of the book (and the movie) was the relationship between the sisters, Elinor and Marianne. You feel that love and that trust. It reminded me a lot of my relationship with my sister. Though my younger sister is more rational and mature than I, much more the Elinor to my Marianne. I enjoyed, in the book, the great contrast of their relationship against that of Lucy Steele and Anne Steele's relationship. It just showed much more strength in Elinor and Marianne's. 

My last comment of note between the book and the movie is that in the movie I very much appreciated that it showed Elinor suffering in silence over Lucy's engagement to Edward. You feel her pain. In the book, it's still very much a time of politeness and I didn't get such an intense feeling from the book because you just see Elinor playing by society's rules. She is upset, but she reigns in her emotions, she is very controlled...unlike her sister Marianne, who is makes herself sick over lost love.

It was so lovely to read the book and then watch the movie. I think it really helped me to fall in love with Austen's story a bit more than if I had just read the book.

Of course, then I read Pride and Prejudice and how can you not love that story? I'm not sure we can be friends if you didn't like that book. But I want to wait until after I get back from my trip to California this weekend for my Napa half marathon before I write about July's book. 

Can I just say that I tried to go from Jane Austen to Stephen King and have been attempting to read Under the Dome, worst idea ever. Definitely not good for a delicate psyche, let me tell you. He is a really good writer and even the simplest scenes of a bird dying are completely devastating and horrific to me. Give me a world of manners and elegance any day. Can't wait to start on Mansfield Park!

Have you read any Jane Austen? I would love to hear favorites, and opinions on Sense and Sensibility!

Cheers,

Lindsay

Half Marathon Training and Diet Adventures

OH LOOK! A cute dog photo that has absolutely nothing to do with this post. Charlie, hard at work. Clearly, me and my sister were hard at work as well, photographing our dog in our new office space. PURPLE WALL---> My idea. 

Oh such exciting times! I'm on a new diet! I'm training for my second half marathon! I'm quietly ignoring my extreme anxiety over my grad school loan and my visa situation! Also, exploring expression through excessive use of exclamation points!

I supposed despite the fact that I am absolutely starving right now, you could say my new diet is going well. And it's only for two weeks thank God. Though, two weeks is a long time for one to go without crusty, delicious bread, salted caramel gelato, and more than one cup of coffee.

Can I introduce you to the FODMAP elimination diet? You really don't want me to. This is not a fun, new, interesting "lose weight now!" kind of diet. This is the kind of diet you really, really don't want to go on. The kind you have to go on because your GI doctor told you it may help and you're seeing him in a months time and you know he's going to ask about it. And if you are one of those diet-loving kind of folk, you are a sick individual if you just want to mess around with this one.

I mean for Christssake, I can't eat onions or APPLES. Or wheat, lactose products, or more than one cup of coffee....WHYGODWHY? Though I totally cheated today and had one and a half cups of coffee. I'm practicing my rebellious nature. Also cheating.

Additionally I thought it'd be so much fun to try no booze for 21 days before my half marathon in Napa on July 21st. Alcohol can be a common irritant of Crohn's and also makes me nice, fat and round. But happy. A happy round. The kind of gal everyone loves and enjoys. Maybe when I'm done I'll be skinny and bitter! Aren't you EXCITED?!

So yes. That's, like, totally my training right there. Eating low carb, gluten free, dairy free, and cutting out a lot of really yummy veg I actually like and enjoy. (No but seriously...if you are someone going on this diet for fun, we can't be friends. WHY would you voluntarily give up garlic and onions? Do you not like life??)

Oh and running. I do get up a few mornings a week and see how far I want to go that day. My main goal for my second half marathon (whaaaaaa? Who am I? So unlike the lovely, squishy, wino sloth you've grown to love and depend on) is to be able to run the whole thing. The last one, that you can read about here, I was able to make it running ten miles then had to resort to the painful walk-run method. When you're pretty new to the running game, and you're in the midst of your very first half marathon and have never tried the walk-run method during training...I really don't recommend busting it out then. Everything just seizes right up and you feel and look like an 80 year trying to walk after years of debilitating arthritis issues.

Course...then again, I am someone with Crohn's...so naturally I am an 80 year old who acts like I'm trying to walk after years of debilitating arthritis issues. Life, eh? SOMUCHFUN. Can I have wine now?

NO. Staying strong.

OH LOOK! That was my mid morning snack yesterday. Perfectly good for my diet. 1 oz of cheddar cheese (no lactose in aged cheddar--THANKGOD), and 1 oz of Nut thin crackers that are dairy and gluten free.

Funnily enough, this snack was totally enough for me yesterday, mid-morning. I think it's because my stomach definitely requires smaller amounts and is generally just a bit of a grouch when it comes to food on one of my running days.

It's still overcoming the shock that I'm actually participating in physical exercise. I've shocked my stomach into stupidity and grumbles of protest.

Today was not a running day for me. So of course, with the lack of calorie burning activities, I am STARVING. Totally makes sense right? I ate a very paleo-happy breakfast...which goes well for the most part with a low FODMAP diet, and should technically keep me satisfied for longer than an hour with all the delicious fatty goodness in it. But it didn't. LIES.

OH LOOK! My Instagrammed photo. Follow my food adventures and obsessive pictures of my dog here:   http://instagram.com/lindsaydinsyday

I just made this recipe up. And it turned out BALLER. I am a cooking genius. Bow before me. Though my photography skills suck.

Recipe:

Pan on stove, melt 1 teaspoon of bacon grease, keep pan on medium heat. Beat two eggs in a bowl, add splash of unsweetened almond milk. Pour eggs into pan, use scissors to cut small bits of chives into pan on the egg mixture.  Add small, washed, torn up pieces of spinach, roughly a handful, to the mixture in pan. Use thin spatula to break up pancake-like consistency and move eggs around a bit in pan. Add a few pinches of Himalayan salt, not cause you need to but cause it's f*ing delicious. Add about 1 oz of smoked salmon torn up a bit with your hands. Lick fingers. No one is watching, it's fine. Toss eggs a few times. Turn off heat and remove pan from burner. Set aside. Toast one piece of Udi's Gluten Free White Bread, butter up with some delicious local butter, and then add egg mixture on top of buttered bread. Sprinkle a bit of lemon juice from an actual lemon on mixture. Real stuff, people, you should try it sometime. Way better than the lemon juice crap kept in a plastic container in the fridge.  Enjoy your meal with that extra cup of coffee you shouldn't be having!

Totally FODMAP free, gluten free, dairy free and super yummy.

Last night I had steak and a sweet potato with melted coconut oil on top. So this diet isn't totally horrible. I just miss my crap food.

It's okay...before I left DC this weekend, I made sure to head over to Pi Pizzeria and got their appetizer of crusty bread, roasted garlic head and butter. SO AMAZING. Ate the whole thing. By myself. Then attempted to plow through a deep dish pepperoni pizza. Only got two slices in before I needed to be rolled out.

Have I ever mentioned that I love food? Could you tell?

Anyways....training. Yes. Love it. Things have been going pretty good. I hit certain miles on certain days where everything just clicks and I am LOVING it. Then other days where I feel positive and good and want to hit a certain mark and it just can't be done. The mind is a funny thing. It really can throw you for a loop sometimes.

With my run tomorrow I'm going to bust out a new runner's toy, a belt that has four water bottles attached for even distribution. I only used one water bottle for my first half and finished it within the first 6 miles and then had to rely on the water stations. Personally, I like to have my water and my fuel strapped to my body in case of emergency.

Just worth mentioning, my favorite fuel for long runs is GU Energy Gel in Vanilla, and it is not okay for my currently FODMAP free diet. So trying to figure out what I want to do in this situation...press on and use it anyways in hopes that it won't matter much on my elimination diet or find something else. I will be done with the elimination phase about a week before my half mary and should be able to use it then, but not sure I want to try something new now at this point in training. Damn. ALSO...why did I never know they do a SALTED CARAMEL gel?!? Mind blown.

So I get to practice that belt out on a few runs before my actual race. Hopefully it's better than actually holding the water bottle in my hand (it has a hand strap with it). But I have come quite accustomed to having that bottle strapped to my hand, so we'll see.

If you didn't already know before, I'm doing this run to raise money for Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. I pledged to raise $4,700 and I'm only about halfway to my goal. I still need to raise about $2,220 before July 10th. I can still raise money after that, but I've committed and signed papers and they will have to take the remainder out of my bank account on the 10th to make sure they have what I've said I would raise. I want it all raised by the 10th, personally. Then I can go into my run with the knowledge of having raised that money...so DONATE today! It's for a fabulous cause that's helped millions of us Crohnnies out there. I really appreciate them for the research they're doing and because, though you may not know it, millions of children and young people are struggling with Crohn's and Colitis right now and the CCFA is THE organization that has loads of resources and support to help those kids out. I was diagnosed when I was 14 (maybe I'll do a post on that topic sometime soon...) and was never aware of the kind of support I could have gotten from CCFA. Wished I could have. They are a major help to me now with support groups and doctor resources online. So ummm, yeah...donate here:

http://www.active.com/donate/napaNATIONAL13/VTLWeldon

My donation page is pretty awesome. Took me ages to figure out how to set it up, even with explicit instructions on how to do so. I kind of suck with computer stuff. If anything, you should donate in amazement that I managed to set up the page at all. And that I'm on my SECOND freaking half marathon.

Shock and awe.

Cheers,
Lindsay

P.S. I'm also doing a 50/50 raffle to raise money, but the drawing for that is on the 4th of July. So not much time left, but check out the event page for fun photos that are sure to make you feel better about your life. You're welcome. https://www.facebook.com/events/292843077528107/

Let the Grad School Mayhem Begin

It's official. I'm going to drama school this fall. (Funding pending, of course.)

Commence the freak out.

Not at all stressing of course. Just...you know....EXTREME hyper excitement, bordering on insanity. Mainly because I should secure my funding and get my first check into the school in about...oh....two weeks. Not at all insane. I'm just going to be drinking excessive amounts of wine tonight. I got this. Not like I'm trying to raise $2,500 more dollars for my half marathon charity run this summer either.

DONATE HERE: Lindsay's Awesome Run Full of Delight and High Expectations

I really should have tried harder to win the lotto. Because everyone knows that is a solid financial decision.

As is wine investment. I may need to take out stock in my favorite wineries. Are they even publicly traded? Do I even have a clue what I just said? No. Pulling stuff out my ass at this point. Just making really good decisions about healthful living and solid financial investments, is the name of my game. Clearly.

More on grad school abroad later...when my brain is working properly.

Cheers,
Lindsay

Sunday Confessional (That's Never Posted on Sunday, Apparently)

This post was originally crafted on Father's Day, such a good time to do a 'Sunday Confessional'. Confession: I got my taste for excellent scotch from my Dad. He knows the good stuff. Though Johnnie Walker Blue is not quite my first choice all the time...I'm more of a Woodford Reserve kinda girl. Bourbon over scotch...sometimes. And Jameson whiskey is always a standby for any night, any occasion.

You'd think I'm 50 instead of 28.

Now to my Sunday Confessions (which are more like Tuesday Confessions, but that just sounds silly. And I'll post these things whenever I damn well get around to it. Sunday I was busy watching Man of Steel and helping my Dad eat lots of delicious food. Good times):

1. I have already had a few conversations with my sister last week about "do I have this book in real format? should I buy it on kindle or buy the book itself? I'm not sure if I actually own it already." The problem with be an obsessive book buying addict. I really don't know all the books I have. Someday, I'll compile a list. Maybe someday soon.

My pretty sister and me. I appreciate this photo most of all because  for once, my head is not looking 3x the size of hers...which is actually is. I wear men's x-large caps, FYI.

2. Got a cavity filled on Thursday morning, the day after I had returned from five days in London. They had found the cavity, just a small surface one, the day before I went to London. By the time I got it filled, despite always brushing, flossing and using mouthwash daily, because of my trip to London and my insatiable sweet tooth when there, it had increased considerably. I've also gained five pounds. I can only tell that because....

3. within five days of being in London, I've gone up in cup size. No lie. Me + visiting London = weight gain every time. I think I'll be better when I live there....swear.

4. While going through customs in Toronto airport on Wednesday, looking all greasy, grumpy, frumpy, agitated by Canada's completely ridiculous customs format (3 step process: step 1-scan your ticket, do you have a bag? yes, go to step 2. Step 2-sit down and wait an exorbitant amount of time waiting for your name to appear on a screen, name on screen? yes? go to step 3. Step 3-Wait in line at the usual customs check point...totally lame), I managed to get hit on by the customs officer. He barely asked me the necessary things needed to be asked when going through customs. When we hit on the topic of my being involved in theatre he kept insisting that I should take him to a show in Toronto since Rochester, where I live, is not far. He even wrote down his number for me...which I promptly lost when going through security scan. Ummm, fairly certain that him and my Dad could have bonded over college memories together cause he was definitely his age.

5. Friday. My sister and I got some ice cream after lunch before heading back to work. I always ask for a "kiddie" or "baby" size because I want SMALL. Instead they look at me, take my adult size into consideration, and hand me an ice cream usually the size of my head. But seriously, ice cream makers, I want a cone the size of what is appropriate for a 3 year old. WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME? And by that I mean, I did indeed eat most of my extra large ice cream and the proceeded to act high the rest of the afternoon. Me and Lauren had a serious case of the giggles and barely got our work done. At one point we were dancing through the warehouse (my Dad owns the company where we work) and my sister sang out "I want to do an interpretive dance of all the things in the warehouse!" Now I suppose that's a confession for my sister, but I was really egging her on the whole time. We spend a lot of time together, considering we both live at home and work in a very tiny office together. Often my "date nights" are out with my sister to get sushi or see a movie. And she even has a boyfriend. IT'S BECAUSE I'M AWESOME. Cute, single, Henry Cavill-lookalikes take note.

CLEARLY sugar addicts. Consuming the goods from Alice's Tea Cup in Central Park, NYC.

6. My sister insisted I add my triumphant success with Champagne bottles this weekend. BTW, as part of my job at Folger theatre, I had to open Champagne bottles frequently. I was a PRO. Seriously. I could uncork around 30 bottles in under 5 minutes. When it's free champagne night at Consort, you better well have those bottles ready! Well I brought Champagne to my brothers house for Father's Day brunch on Sunday and while I was preparing our mimosas, I took the cage part off of the bottle and then went to prepare the orange juice. Not sure why I didn't just fully open the bottle, but did you know? When you take the cage off the top of a Champagne bottle, the pressure on the cork is left to build under the cork and within 30 seconds...POP...off it went. For half a second I seriously considered doing my "DC tuck and fall to the the ground because some body's got a gun" move. After getting lectures from every...single....member...of my family I won't be making that mistake again.

Had to include a truly respectable fam photo. My brothers know how to rock it. Obviously, I am the one with the impressive strength in the family.

7. Another one for Friday. The ice cream high day. Lauren was complaining about invoices getting moved around her desk and I was commiserating as well due to my pens and post-its being stolen from my desk. We decided the best way to deal with this situation, working for a company that is made of mostly men besides us two, that the only way for the men to keep their hands off our stuff is to cover everything in tampons. We'll use them as paper weights and mix them in with our pens in the cup holder. GENIUS. And obviously, after that gem of an idea introduced, we are no longer allowed to consumer sugar.

I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't take us seriously. For realz yo.

That's it for this week's Sunday Confessional...maybe next week I'll post it on Sunday. GENIUS.

Cheers,
Lindsay