The Night My Boyfriend was "Arrested"

Disclaimer: Not that I ever lie about anything I post, but I just want it to be known that this is all true. This really happened last night, and now we can laugh about it, but last night, we were understandably troubled.

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I don't even know where to start.

Oh ... yes.

So ... around 1:30 a.m., as I'm falling asleep after spending about an hour trying to beat the same level of Plants vs. Zombies 2, I get a phone call from Matt, who I had assumed was either still working or was on the bus home by then.

"You'll never believe what just happened to me," he says, disbelief in his voice.

"Please tell me you didn't get mugged," I reply, panic in mine. I'm already envisioning him stuck on the Lower East Side, without his wallet.

"I was just handcuffed and put in the back of a police car."

I sit straight up in bed, no longer sleepy at all, and exclaim, "What?!"

So he proceeds to tell me the following story:

He'd just gotten out of work and had stopped for two slices of pizza and a bottle of Snapple at a place near the restaurant. Then he went to the bus stop, where he ate one slice of pizza and started on the next. It was chilly, so he had his hood up, and he noticed that cop cars kept passing him, slowing down, and then driving away. He thought it was weird, but that was about it.

Then an unmarked police car comes around the corner and three cops get out and approach him. They tell him to put the pizza and the Snapple down—which he does—and then they ask where he was coming from. He tells them he works up the street and his shift just ended. They ask what he has on him. He tells them he has his phone, his wallet, and maybe a pair of headphones. (Probably mine, for the record.) They pat him down and tell him he matches the description of a guy who just got in a fight with another guy, broke the guy's arm, and then ripped off a cab driver. Matt tells them he didn't do anything wrong, but they cuff him anyway and put him in the back of the cop car.

They drive him to the guy who was attacked, who is seated on a curb (where we guess they left him?) a few blocks away, and the guy tells the cops that Matt's not the guy who broke his arm. So they uncuff him, sort of apologize, and let him walk away. Before he leaves, one cop asks, "Did you get your juice?"

So this is when Matt calls me, confused and in shock and somewhat lost because they drove him away from the only bus stop he knows in the area. He gets a cab and is home around 2:30. He comes into the bedroom, turns the lights on, and shows me his wrists, which still have cuff marks on them.

Apparently, from what we gather, a white male, about six feet tall, wearing a gray hoodie attacked this guy. And poor Matt, being a while male who is 6'1" and was wearing a dark green hoodie, was mistaken for him. Because they didn't tell him he was under arrest, and because they didn't read him his rights, he wasn't technically arrested, but I think this would count as... detained? Not quite sure.

Either way, what the f— would I have done if the victim had either identified Matt as the attacker or if he had gone to the hospital and the cops had taken Matt to the precinct instead? I know I'd be the phone call he got to make, but honestly, what could I have done? I don't know any of his coworkers' numbers, so I couldn't have called them and asked them to alibi him out. I couldn't have called the restaurant because it was closed. I couldn't have bailed him out (if it came to that) because we don't have that kind of money. He would've probably had to spend the night at the precinct.

Luckily, they just let him go (minus a piece of pizza, a Snapple, and a ride home—rude!) so we don't have to worry about that, but it got us talking about all the innocent people who are accused of committing crimes every day and who, for whatever reason, don't have alibis and are held for hours on end for having done nothing wrong. And that's kind of disturbing... To think that you could just be getting off work, enjoying a slice, and suddenly be in the back of a cop car, accused of hurting someone when you were no where near them.

I'd say "Only in NYC," but I doubt this is only a NYC thing. I'm sure it happens elsewhere, but I doubt it would've happened if we were still in W-B.

At the end of it all, I looked at him and I said, "I can't wait to tell people about this tomorrow."

And, of course, I was late for work this morning (because who can just fall asleep after that), and in my inbox was an email from my direct boss: "Why 9:30 this morning?" To this, I replied, "Oh, do I have a story for you." I went into his office, told him what happened, and he listened the whole time with his eyes wide and his jaw slack. "I've heard a lot of late excuses in my years, but this one takes the cake," he told me. I swore I didn't make it up, and he laughed it off and said he believed me. After all, who would make this up?

So yeah... Matt was "arrested" last night. Got to ride with his hands cuffed behind his back in a cop car. And got ripped off a late-night snack and beverage. I think NYPD should apologize, personally. But I suppose they have bigger things to worry about... like shooting innocent pedestrians in Times Square!

Kristen, Jeff, and Christina: If you guys read this, we've decided not to tell your parents. They worry enough about him walking around that late by himself downtown. This won't help! lol.

My Proudest Moment in Publishing Thus Far (Oh... and It's Football Season)

And here we are again... I should be reviewing a manuscript for a meeting I have with the publisher and a prospective author tomorrow, and instead I'm watching X Factor... but only because I'm too scared to hook up our new cable box. I don't want to screw up the cables, etc., so I'm just going to let it sit here until tomorrow night, when I scramble to put it together in time to watch the game.

The game... the game... the game...

FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE. I won't bore you with the details, but I have two fantasy leagues going and though I don't think either of my teams are as strong as last year's, I'm still pretty pleased despite my last place standings in my non-work league. Best time of the year, hands down. Especially since Matt and I will be at the next Cowboys/Giants match up! Couldn't be happier about that.

I also couldn't be happier with some facets of work right now—one book in particular has me beaming with pride nearly every day. If you're my FB friend, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Ilana Garon's "Why Do Only White People Get Abducted by Aliens?": Teaching Lessons from the Bronx is exceeding all of my expectations. I mean, I knew it was a good book, otherwise I wouldn't have acquired it, but it's getting a lot of attention, and that's great. She's been featured in magazines, in the local paper, on an international website, and on a bunch of blogs and sites. And Kirkus even named the book one of the most anticipated debuts of the fall. And then Huff Post reposted it—which is, again, awesome. Though I managed to get lost in the Bronx last night on the way to her reading, it seemed like, for a second time, she had a great turnout. And there are more events to come!

Though sales of the book is important, I think my proudest moment came last night, when I saw what one of her former students posted after they attended her reading at B&N and purchased a copy of the book:

This is my dream come true—working on a book that's so good, it makes a non-reader not only want to buy it, but read it front to back... and enjoy it and want to talk about it and let people know what they think about it. It's cool that he came to the reading, it's great that he bought the book, and I love that he's reading it, but the fact that he liked it so much and is so proud of his reading that he went out of his way to share it with others online... that's what really struck me. He could've just bought a copy, got it signed, and put it on a shelf. But it sounds like he actually read it—and he wants people to know.

I enthusiastically texted Matt as soon as I saw this last night, and I took a screencap on my phone that I printed out at work today and hung in my cube. I know I'm still new to the industry, and I do hope there are more moments like this to come, but I'll remember this post for a while.

Other than work stuffs (busy, busy, busy), I'm just trying to get back into the running. The 5K is three weeks this Saturday and because I was a lazy ass (and busy bee) in August, I wasn't running as often as I should and now I'm back down to just under 2.5 miles, with a break to catch my breath after the first 1.5. I know I can get to 3.2 again, and more, but it's been rough getting back into it. I actually almost started crying two Sundays ago when I realized I needed to stop after a mile. It's just... disappointing. Because I know what I was able to do a few weeks ago. And I know what I need to be able to do a few weeks from now.

So with that thought in mind, and now that it's only 84° instead of 91° out there, I'm going to take a run down Park Ave and back up in about a half hour. Even if I can't hit the distance, at least I went tonight. Hoping for cooler weather Friday and Sunday! I'm over summer. I'm a spring/fall gal.

I shall leave you with... proof that I've been busy!

And I haven't even added a bunch of stuff coming up in late September. Sigh. At least I can't complain about being bored...

Killing Time

I've noticed this week just how much the rest of my life falls apart when I'm overworked. I picked up a few freelance projects week and, while I do absolutely appreciate the extra money, the workload really kicked my butt. Now, I'm definitely used to be overworked (and underpaid!), but last week was pretty relaxing and I actually enjoyed it... and maybe, unfortunately, I got used to  it. And that was bad.

The past few weeks, my workouts have been regular, I've been running consistently (and getting better each time), and my diet has been spot-on. And I was able to keep up on housework, for the most part. But then... this week...

I mean, not only did I have a bunch of extra work to do, but I also had my very first author event on Thursday (and it was awesome—the last time I felt that proud, I was watching my baby sister graduate college), but I also had plans last night, which meant I couldn't take part in my traditional Bride Day Snoozefest, which I've been enjoying the past few weekends. (I watch TLC and I sleep on and off from about 8 p.m. till 2 a.m. It's wonderful. And necessary, after a really long, exhausting week.) I loved the author event, and I had a really great time with friends last night, but both nights just added to the complete ass kicking my mind and body took this week.

Because of the extra work, I've been moody and not very pleasant to be around and that's probably because I haven't worked out since Tuesday and feel effing gross. And even Tuesday wasn't a great workout because I didn't have a lot of time to spend at the gym. I've been trying to be really good diet-wise, but there have definitely been a few slip-ups. And I also spent more money this week than I did in the past two weeks, because I've been running all over the place and sometimes a girl just needs a coffee... or a smoothie... or a glass of sangria...

After a week that was super freakin' exhausting, I took my time getting up this afternoon  morning and eventually had enough energy to actually be productive. Since the time I've spent at home has been completely work-related this week, our apartment was also a giant mess. I used today to tackle the kitchen, the bathroom, the laundry, the living room, and our bedroom (see also: the entire apartment). I was also able to make a tasty quinoa salad and peanut butter cups. Delicious. On both counts. I even fit in coffee with Andrew at B&N and a trip to Duane Reade. And I also finished what I hope will be the last part of one of my freelance projects (copy editing a website for a NYC private school). I hope.

I think the point of whining for five minutes here about how busy I've been was basically just to organize my thoughts and help me see that I have to find a better way to approach work after work... my second (and sometimes third) shift, if you will. Because when I let it take over my life, I lose focus on the stuff that actually matters—my health, especially. I've been doing really well with my jogging and I want to keep it up. I want to make sure I have time for it every week. I need to find a way to balance everything, and I think it comes down to... I have to stop procrastinating. I need to start my work when it's assigned and then spread it out over a few days instead of slamming it all in the night or two before its due. I need to stop wasting my tiiime.

Case in point: this entire post. I still need to put clothes away, take the Swiffer to the bedroom floor, and start a proofread for next week. But what did I just do? Yeeeahh...

Go, me!

PS: I'm twenty-five-and-a-half today. Hence the peanut butter cups. =P

"And we're running, just as fast as we can..." Or, Another Post Where I Jabber Nonstop about Exercise

Quick updates! (While I watch Tia and Tamara on Bravo... Shhh. Don't judge me. Switching to TLC's Friday Bride Day next.)

And I mean, really quick, because I don't even really know what there is to talk about other than work and my new-found hobby...

Oh, I know! The visit to Michele's was fun! The bus ride... not so much, but the visit itself—though very brief—was definitely worth the nine hours on the bus. It was great to catch up; and I love talking about friends about their career and life goals, so it was lucky that that's a lot of what our conversations were about. I swear, if this writing/editing thing fails me, maybe I'll get into guidance counseling or something. Maybe I can find a school that will at least let me help make student schedules. Because everyone knows how much I like planning!

And we made plans to run in a real 5K! My first (running the entire way, anyway) and her... who knows. At that point, fourth? Fifth? The date's October 5, and we're going to follow it with a cupcake tour through NYC and a night at Matt's restaurant. Not that I want to rush life or anything of the sort, but I can't wait!

So that was... two weekends ago. This past weekend was the Glow in the Dark 5K by Living Social, which I attended with some wonderful girls from work. It wasn't a serious run, though we did try to run as much as we could. But people kept dropping their glow sticks and bending down in the middle of the road to get them and knocking down traffic cones and cutting corners and it just wasn't something you could seriously run start to finish. But it was fun, nonetheless. We wore our glow gear, we bought over-priced drinks and snacks, and we danced with the ten thousand other racers till the event was over. I'm not much of a sober dancer, so I admit to being kind of lame at that point, but it was still fun! And I think we discussed tutus and glow-in-the-dark crowns for next year.

Let's see... Oh, more running news. Because apparently that's all I care about these days. Which might be annoying to some, but I'm really proud of my progress and don't mind letting people know that I'm not sitting on my couch, stuffing my face every night! Anymore.

Last Sunday, I finished the very last workout in my Couch to 5K app. I was really disappointed in my distance for the day (2.17 miles), because it wasn't better than the previous workouts, so Matt decided that the next day, we'd run for distance instead of time. The C25K only tracked me up to 30 minutes. So it absolutely blew my mind when, Monday night, I ran 3.2 miles and 45 minutes. (A 5K is 3.11 miles.) And I didn't die. I didn't struggle too much. There was a definite challenge, and I'm definitely one of the slowest runners on the planet, but... I did it. And that's what matters.

So, since I knew I could do it, I did it again Wednesday night, except I went a little farther at 3.3 miles. If I can somehow fit in three workouts a week, I can split my focus between pace and distance and can hopefully improve my time and follow in Michele's footsteps and train for a 10K after the 5K. But we'll see. I fear the coming winter and colder temperatures and an enclosed gym, but... again. We'll see. I would love to keep this up. Because I have found that I actually like everything about it. There's no downside.

My twelve-year-old self is slack-jawed in disbelief right now. I wish I could've down this years ago. But now is better than never.

What else, what else...

Started typing up the manuscript for our book this week! I have no doubts that we'll hit the word count, and I think it's all coming together nicely. I can't wait to post the link, but I have to wait until we have a cover. And who knows when that will be. But I'll post when I can. And then anyone who's interested can pre-order! (You better all pre-order.)

Say Yes to the Dress is distracting me. Can't think. The one bride looks like Jacob from Twilight. Which reminds me of the movie, which reminds me of the book, which makes me want to read. Think I'm going to go do some dishes, work on typing up more quotes for our book, and then maybe drink some chocolate wine! Sometimes I love these Friday nights to myself. <3

It's effing hot. And other seemingly unimportant updates.

This time last year, Matt and I were blasting two air conditioners in our old apartment (day and night) like silly little children we were who had never lived through a summer in the city. Our apartment was on the first floor, and was decently cool throughout the day, but we still felt the need to be freezing whenever possible. Until we received our first air conditioning–affected electric bill. Then we started reading by candlelight and sleeping without blankets.

This year, we're on the top floor of a five-floor walk-up that traps and holds heat for days after the heat waves are over. If it was 96° on Monday, and 79° on Friday, you better believe it's still about 88° in our apartment, with the windows open at the front and the back and the fan on.

Every night when I come home from work, I'm soaked in sweat from waiting on two different train platforms and squishing in packed train cars full of irritated (and oftentimes unnecessarily rude) New Yorkers. Then after the short walk to the apartment, and five flights of stairs, I do everything I possibly can to resist the urge to turn on the air conditioner we have in one of our bedroom windows. Luckily, our (now) smaller apartment has doors to each room and we can shut the door between our living room and our spare room and cool the living room and the bedroom with this one unit. However, if I don't have to use it, I really try not to. Because I fear the electric bill that's coming our way. That August 2012 Con Ed bill will be in my mind until fall, when we can pack up the AC for yet another long, cold, brutal winter. I have yet to decide if I hate Manhattan summers or winters more. Why can't it be spring or fall all year long?

Now that I've wasted all this space talking about the weather, sweat, and bills... something a little more fun?

Let's see... in the past month I've been absent, I...

• finished the developmental edit of Sara's young adult book and resubmitted it on her behalf for consideration! I'm very proud of Sara and her revised novel and I do hope that if my company can't take it, it'll find a much-deserved home elsewhere. Beta readers have confessed to falling in love with the main male character, and I think that's a really great sign for a YA book. Some of my favorite YA books of the past have been the ones in which the main characters have made me swoon.
• [sticking with the YA theme] got my very first YA assignment at work! I'll be conducting the content edit of a Spring 2014 YA book and then another, more senior editor will be doing the line editing and what not.  I'm excited about this one, because my main interest (in reading and, I think, writing) is young adult, so the more titles I can get my hands on, the better. If I do well, perhaps I'll pick up my own assignments and acquire a few of my own titles.
• had an "unofficial" one-year review. My one-year full-time anniversary with the company was July 2, so I bugged my director for a review of some sort. Even though "official" reviews are to be conducted for everyone in December, we sat down for a little while and talked. Everything went really well, and I'm more than satisfied with the outcome. I'm now in a better place than I was at my last job, even though I'm working roughly 60 hours a week and doing four times the work. But... whatever.
• received a surprise, handwritten letter from my grandfather, thanking me for his Father's Day card and other sweet sentiments. It ended mid sentence and wasn't signed, but it was cute nonetheless. I wrote back. But have yet to receive a reply. The Pony Express must be slow...
• was able to spend a very long weekend with Matt and my family!
• Matt miraculously has July 4 off, so we were able to spend an entire weekday together. It feels like it was such a long time ago (I honestly can't even really remember what we did), but I know it was much-needed and I think sandwiches and BLTs were involved. Actually... BLTs were definitely involved because we ate them late and left the racks/pans in the sink to soak... for five days. It was not fun scraping the grease off those by myself when I got back from PA. Oh, and we saw a children's movie. Because we're still children.
• On July 5, I went home for four whole days. I haven't been in W-B for that long since before I moved to New York. I was able to finally see Steff and Fred's house (so cute!) and spent quite a bit of time with the family. It was really great to see my grandparents, though circumstances could've been a bit better... On Sunday, Matt joined us and we both burned our pale selves at the pool. We caught up with some friends and made a new one, I came face-to-face with the biggest dog I've ever seen, and we had a lot of fun. It's difficult to come back here after a weekend like that. Not because we question if we did the right thing in moving away (we did), but because we're reminded that those closest to us aren't a simple drive away. It costs lots of money and a fair amount of time to go home, and not being able to just hop in my car and drive three blocks is sometimes difficult for me. And I know it is for him, too, especially since he lived in the house he grew up in right up until he moved out here for/with me.
• started editing a whole foods/real foods/Kosher nutrition book that is totally starting to get to me. Not that I'll ever eat Kosher, but I can see the benefits of it and the whole "eat natural" thing is really appealing. I can never be one of those people who examines every single label for multiple things (looking up calories is hard enough!), but the idea of eating more fruits and veggies is definitely worth looking into. And is probably something I should've been doing for years now. I also started making smoothies! And if you've spoken to me in the last week, you know all about this. Because I feel healthy and proud, even though they're the simplest things in the world to make. Right now, I'm just on a fruit/yogurt/ice kick, but maybe someday I'll experiment with the greens...
• went to my first Comic Con! It was a little one, and it was the last day, but it was still... I'll use the word interesting. We'll definitely go to more, as this is still a shared interest, but I definitely didn't feel like I... fit in. There's a whole spectrum of people who attend these events, and we're definitely at the end that involves not dressing in costume, not waiting in line for two hours to spend five seconds with the cast of The Walking Dead or the Fonz, and not recognizing the names of comic book illustrators. But it was still fun to pass by booths and be like "Oh, look, it's Carl!"
• have run two miles without stopping multiple times! I'm currently entering the last week (Week 9) of the Couch to 5k app. I technically started the last week of April, so it's been longer than nine weeks (repeat work outs, days off, laziness, etc.), but the important thing is that I'm about to finish this program. When I first started it, I really wanted to finish, but I wasn't entirely sure I would. I start a lot of exercise programs, diets, etc. and end up getting too lazy, distracted, or busy to follow through. But I think the fact that I could just stick ear buds in and go and have someone else tell me what to do and when to do it really helped. And also, if you haven't noticed by now (GoodReads, this blog, daily planners, MyFitnessPal, my special dates on Facebook...), I like to record/log things. And the fact that this keeps a record of every single workout really helps me. Since I started, I've walked/jogged (jogs only the past three weeks) 52.3 miles in 12 hours and 54 minutes.
• I am no where near actually being able to run a 5k, which is the disappointing part. My pace is still super slow, and the app only tracks you for a half hour, so at my pace, I can't reach the 3.1-mile target, but as soon as I finish this, I'm going to switch to Nike+ and see if I can eventually work my way up to it. The farthest distance I've run so far is 2.06 miles and that was in 28 minutes. So I have to add another mile or so, so maybe after a few weeks, I can do a 5k in 45 minutes or fewer? We'll see.
• The fact that I'm even disappointed that I am able to jog only two miles without stopping is another point worth discussing. Like... what?! Two miles without stopping? Are you kidding me?! For a kid who hated running two single laps around the soccer field at the beginning of every high school soccer practice, this is incredible. I used to want to fall over and die after those two laps, and now I can probably do forty of them without any issues. A few weeks ago, I was in W-B and I went jogging with my mom. And I think I was on something like, Week 4 of the program, and it had an eight-minute stretch in it. And I kept telling her, "I've never run that long before; I don't know if I can do it." And now... I march home all pissy when I can't beat 2.06 in a half hour. I can laugh at this, so I still have a healthy perspective, but I can guarantee that if I can't get my distance up soon, I will become obsessed. And we will have issues.
• scored a $1 bus ticket to go see Michele in Maryland this weekend! I had been planning to go Friday night into Sunday morning, but when I saw the $1 ticket available for Saturday morning, we adjusted our plans accordingly. I don't think we've seen each other in... definitely more than a year. There was a Dunkin visit when I still lived in W-B and she was in State College and visiting her family, but before that, we haven't spent any significant time together since I went to see her in State College the summer of 2011. I told her the other night that a lot has changed since then, for the both of us. I spent the entire drive to her place that summer blasting Bayside's Killing Time and Something Corporate's Leaving Through the Window and just bawling my eyes out because Matt was in Vegas with his friends and we were pretty much broken up. I was miserable, I was socially awkward (we went to a BBQ; if I remember correctly, I didn't speak much), and I don't know how she and Joe put up with me. I don't even know how I put up with me that summer. Ugh, gross. But I digress... she took me to a discount bookstore and the rest of the trip went really well. I probably haven't read a single book I bought that day, but it's the memory that counts! Back then, she was managing a store in the SC mall and contemplating going back to school. Since then, we've both moved to totally different states, we've both made major career decisions (me to intern, which led to full-time work, her to start working again), and we've both adopted a more active lifestyle, though she's ahead of the game on this one. It'll be great to spend some time together (a whole 18 hours together? if my bus is on time? minus sleep...) and just catch up.

This is much longer than I thought it'd be, but that's what happens when I don't update for more than a month. My bad... I can't think of anything else that's really going on. Matt's still off Sundays and Mondays and we're spending every Sunday we can at the park, browsing through his endless supply of cookbooks and food writing for quotes for our book (pub date is April 2014! Right on time for our ninth anniversary!) and we're both looking forward to football season. Because he'll actually be able to watch the games with me!! Just the thought of this makes me so happy. :)

One Year in NYC

On May 28, 2012, my mom and my aunt drove me and a few of my boxes from Wilkes-Barre to NYC. We said goodbye, they got back in the car, and I stayed behind. Andrew took me to dinner, I set up my stuff temporarily in a stranger's spare bedroom on the Upper West Side, and I wondered if I could really get a full-time job out of the minimum wage internship I'd signed on for.

Exactly one year later, here I sit in the apartment Matt and I share on the Upper East Side, in an area we never dreamed we could afford. Sticking out of my computer is a flash drive full of work that I have to get to—manuscripts to copyedit, PDFs to proofread, proposals to review—and on my to-do list, conveniently placed beside the mouse on my right-hand side, is at least one chapter of a young adult book I'm helping a friend develop. None of these words (copyediting, proofreading, proposals, reviews, developing, manuscripts) were part of my vocabulary this time last year.

I have a full-time job; I have a pretty great apartment in an amazing city; I have the most supportive, understanding, and loving family anyone could ever ask for; and I'm in a healthy, long-term relationship with a guy who's really shown his true colors this past year. Respectable, dedicated, loyal, hardworking, sweet, creative, intelligent, and just the right amount of funny—Matt has it all, and I would follow him to the ends of the earth and support him in any decision he made. And, in the past year, I've felt as though he's proven that he would surely do the same for me.

Although the days aren't long enough and the work is beyond stressful, I wouldn't change a single thing about this past year—mostly because I'm doing so many things I always wanted to do, but never had the chance to do in W-B. Aside from all the previously mentioned job-related things, I'm meeting new people and have a handful of new friends with similar interests (interests rarely found in those at home...); I'm expanding my palate and have come to love particular cuisines (although pizza still reigns supreme); I'm more independent than I ever was in the past, and I'm enjoying taking care of myself... and Matt; and I'm finally feeling... settled. And content. (When I'm not stressed out of my mind from work.)

Other big accomplishments this year, in various categories:

• I've acquired almost twenty books. I'm at seventeen or eighteen now.
• I've almost beaten my fear of stepping on and off escalators, though the old rickety ones in Macy's still make my legs shake.
• I'm more comfortable making phone calls and am now about 80 percent certain that people don't laugh at my cluelessness or stumbling words when I hang up.
• I can read a map! And am not as directionly challenged as I was this time last year. Give me a second to figure out where we are, and most of the time I can get us pointed in the right direction.
• I can walk in heels! Little, itty bitty heels. But heels nonetheless. And only in short spurts.
• I've put my candle, lotion, and body spray obsession to bed. I honestly don't think I've bought a single scented item (minus air fresheners and cleaning supplies) since I moved. Though I do graciously accept gifts and donations.
• I'm no longer planning every, single, second of my days. Sure, I use a planner, but I used to be... so bad. So. Bad. And I think I've finally relaxed a bit. I'm not spontaneous, but I've definitely learned how to become available and move things around.
• I can jog 8 minutes without dying! I jogged my first half-mile (and then did another!) on Sunday with my mom and sister and didn't have to stop once. It's a good feeling, considering even five weeks ago, I could barely make it through 1 minute.

May 30 is my one-year anniversary at work; I started as an intern that day. And July 2 is my one-year anniversary as a full-time employee. It's crazy how quickly this year has passed. If you had asked me even two years ago if I thought I (or, we... when Matt is factored in) would ever be living and working in NYC, I would've said "I hope so," but it wouldn't have held much confidence. It was always something I wanted, but never anything I was absolutely certain I would attain. It's also something I never really knew how much I wanted until it actually happened. And now that it has... I couldn't imagine my life without it.

I think it's only (or oddly?) appropriate that on my one-year anniversary of moving to the city that I announce that I signed my first contract today. Matt and I will be compiling a quote book for publication in Spring 2014, in April or May. The book will contain quotes about food, restaurants, cooking, kitchens, and eating and is, in our opinion, our relationship to a T. It'll be a lot of research, but it'll also be a lot of fun, and we're looking forward to putting it together... and then pushing everyone to buy it. ;)

Happy anniversary to me! And hopefully the night ends with either a glass of wine or some ice cream.

And water, of course.

Safari Exteriors, Salivary Stones, and Other Stressors

Finally figured out why my blog is getting about twenty hits a day: SPAM.

And how did I figure it out? Because these comments keep appearing on my entry about apartment hunting:

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So at first I thought I had a bunch of Nosy Nancys on my FB friend list, but then I realized that somehow this particular blog entry got linked to somewhere weird. They can keep leaving these comments and I can keep marking them as spam; I care not. A hit's a hit. So keep 'em coming, spambots!

IN OTHER NEWS . . .

Our anniversary, Justin's visit, my trip home to W-B, and Stan's visits were all successful. They kind of went like this:

Wednesday, April 17: Twenty or so courses of wine, beer, and sake followed by a coffee.
Thursday, April 18: A glass of wine, a cocktail, and a coffee.
Wedneday, April 24: Red bull after lunch, giant bowl of Ramen soup for dinner.
Thursday, April 25: Two cocktails, and a coffee.
Friday, April 26: A can or two of soda and a glass or two of wine.
Saturday, April 27: An after-dinner coffee and a glass or two of wine.
Wednesday, May 1: A cocktail and an after-dinner coffee.
Thursday, May 2: Two cocktails and an after-dinner coffee.

Plus a cup of coffee each morning, sometimes one in the afternoon, a few more Red Bulls, a handful of diet sodas, and very, very, very little water following all that wine before bed. (There's a point to this tally, I promise.)

The morning of May 2, I thought the area around my left ear/jaw kind of hurt a bit. It felt a little swollen by the end of the day, and I feared that I was getting one of my beyond stellar ear infections. So I figured I'd give it the weekend and then call my doctor on Monday if it was still bugging me.

But then Friday, May 3, I woke up and my cheek felt like it was the size of a golf ball. Of course, it wasn't that bad. But it squared off my jawline Channing Tatum–style. And it hurt like HELL. I freaked out, naturally. (It was my FACE.) And called my doctor as soon as I got to the office.

Phone call?

(Give my name, my doctor's name, the receptionist asks what's wrong.)
Me: I woke up this morning and my face near my jaw and ear is really swollen and very tender.
Receptionist: Is there any swelling of your sinuses? Runny nose or sore throat? Congestion?
Me: No. No congestion at all. Just this swollen part of my cheek, kind of.
Receptionist: Hold on a second. (She puts the phone down.) She has congestion and swelling in her sinuses. (Picks the phone back up.) The doctor can see you at 1.
Me: Okay, but there's no congestion. My face is just swollen.
Receptionist: Okay, see you at 1.

Uh huh...

So at this point, my face hurts so bad that I can't even open it wide enough to put the spoon from my yogurt in. I try to eat one of those soft Nature Valley granola bars and can't even chew it. So, what do I fill up with? More coffee!

At 1, my doctor scares the shit out of me and says my ears are fine, my teeth look fine (wisdom teeth, a-okay), and my sinuses aren't clogged. She's absolutely stumped and runs out to call an ear, nose, and throat doctor to see if one can squeeze me in. Before I head to a specialist a few blocks away, she says it's nothing in my lymph nodes and assures me that it'll be fine.

But the entire time, I'm thinking... This is my FACE.

So after more paperwork and about a half hour of waiting in the ENT's office, he spends two minutes with me and tells me I have a salivary stone and the fluid leads him to believe that there's a back up of infected saliva in my face. (If you want to see gross, Google "salivary stone" and go to Images.) It's like a kidney stone, all calcified and shit, IN. MY. FACE.

He gives me an antibiotic (three pills, three times a day—no joke) and tells me to also take two Motrin when I take the antibiotics. So... That's fifteen pills a day.

He also tells me this happened because I was severely dehydrated. Gee, I wonder why... (See list above.) The stone could pass on its own, he says, but I need to stay as hydrated as possible.

I have never drank so much water, Gatorade, and Vitamin water in my life. But again. FACE. Not taking any chances.

So I went back for my follow-up today and even though there's a bit of pain, he thinks it passed on its own. Which is lucky. Because he said that to actually pull a stone out, he'd have to enlarge the salivary duct in my mouth and go in and yank it out. Like a loose tooth. Wonderful mental image, no? Don't quite believe me? Google.

I celebrated my recovery with a tall skinny vanilla latte. And immediately followed it with not one, but two, cups of water. I'd like to say I learned my lesson, and I hope that I'll remember to suck down some water after my bedtime glass of wine on the weekends. We'll see, though.

DESPITE ALL THIS DRAMA . . .

5K training continues! I made it through Week 3 with little difficulty (minus the one day the treadmill shut off on me mid-stride and I had to try to figure out how to finish the program) and even spent two nights in the park with Matt, walking/jogging around the reservoir, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

But Week 4 started out as impressive and became disappointing all within twenty minutes. I've never before in my entire life jogged five full minutes without stopping, but I did it on Sunday! But then, when it came time to run the second leg of the program, I just couldn't do it. Maybe it was my sweaty bangs in my eyes, or maybe it was the jelly beans bouncing around in my stomach that I ate as I ran out the door to head to the gym, but I just couldn't do it. And I was so pissed.

But after a little chat with Michele and others, I'm ready to give it another shot tomorrow. And Wednesday and Thursday with Matt, too. I'll get through Week 4 eventually, even if it takes me a week or two to do it.

And I'll drink lots of water before and after my workouts, too. Can't risk any more swollen salivary glands. That shit hurts.