Fall Marathon

I know I said I wasn't going to run another marathon so soon, but after seeing people run Boston and running the Country Music Half, well I got sucked in.

I entered my name in the the NYC lottery for the half and full marathons. The half is in late July and the full is in November. If I get picked for the fall marathon, I will probably defer until next year because I signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon. I would really like my family to be at a race and MCM makes that the easiest with Pittsburgh being four hours away.

I signed up for a training group, so I can train harder and smarter this time around. Team in Training is great and I loved it, but I think it will be easier to train without having the fundraising cloud over my head. Training on my own for the half was easy, but I am looking forward to running with a group again.

Good bye being social on Friday nights - early bedtimes once again. Which, is actually nice on the wallet.

Upcoming race schedule:
Memorial Day Weekend - Run to Remember 5-Miler
June - J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge
July - NYC Half?
Mid-October - Hartford Half Marathon
Oct. 26 - Marine Corps Marathon

Spring Reading Thing

One of my New Year's goals was to read more, but we all know how New Year's resolutions go. When I came across Spring Reading Thing, I knew I had to participate. I checked out a pile of books from the Boston Public Library yesterday, I picked these books because the cover was appealing. Hey, I only had a few minutes and so far book one is pretty interesting. I'll keep adding to this list as I check out what others are reading since this list is pretty short. I'm excited to get back into the reading groove again.

1. The Importance of Being Kennedy by Laurie Graham
2. Turn Up the Heat by Jessica Conant-Park and Susan Conant
3. The Last Summer of You & Me by Ann Brashares
4. Easter Everywhere by Darcey Steinke

Won't you be my neighbor?

I learned that today would have been the 80th birthday of Mr. Rogers. In commemoration of his life, former producers of his show have asked fans worldwide to wear a sweater today in honor of his memory. I remember growing up with him and the impact he had on children from Pittsburgh and around the world. I didn't know this until I got home tonight, but I wore a sweater today and I'm glad I did. Thank you Mr. Rodgers for having such a positive impact and being so genuine that it shone through even on TV.

Do the sprain!

Since I last updated this blog, I had to go and injure myself. I am recovering from an moderate inversion ankle sprain, which is the most common ankle sprain. My coaches say I will be ready to go by the marathon date, which is almost two months away, crazy!

I have physical therapy twice this week and I think the ice/heat/ultrasound/massage will help. I got permission to start using the elliptical again at the gym, so that is nice. I don't really feel like I get a workout on it, so I've been taking a lot of spinning classes. Its a good way to cross train and I can go hard, sweat and not worry about the ankle. My schedule is crazy this week, so I am thinking of taking the 6 a.m. class on Thursday. I will probably crash at 3 p.m. later that day.

The team ran 13 miles this past weekend in the humid weather. I wanted so bad to be out there, but I just have to keep telling myself to rest and let it heal properly or I'm never going to cross the finish line. My coaches think I'm very optimistic but they don't hear me ask my PT if I can run yet every time I see her or complain about my ankle brace. I'll see everyone this weekend since I'll be helping out at a water stop. If you can't run, pour water for your teammates. I'm so used to waking up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday, I might as well do something useful.

Thanks to everyone for your donations and words of encouragement. You guys rock!

Guess What I am doing on October 7?

...Running 26.2 miles to eradicate blood cancers. Yes, you heard right, I am on my way to training for the Portland, Maine Marathon to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I am training with the Team in Training Program.

I have made a commitment to train for five months, to finish the Maine Marathon, and to raise $2,100 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society mission is to end to leukemia, lymphoma and other blood cancers.

I am running for all those who can't run anymore and who would do anything that may help save their loved one's life. When you look at a three year-old with leukemia or a child who has lost their father to the disease, running 26.2 miles and raising $2,100 seems simple compared to what those families have been through.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit: http://www.active.com/donate/tntma/juliannem. All contributions are tax-deductible and no gift is too small!

I plan on reviving this blog and updating it often, for reals! Stay tuned!

J Peezy

J Peezy is leaving the Burgh. Where to? We'll have to see, but thankfully its not the Pats since they just signed Adalius Thomas from Baltimore. So, New England horse owners can breathe a sigh of relief as Joey Porter's pit bulls will not be coming here.

Football season is too far away. I just can't get excited about baseball, especially when the Bucs haven't had a winning season since I was 10. Do I become a Red Sox fan? Am I allowed to do that? Would I be breaking some sort of sports rule there?

Blogging again

I need a creative outlet, so I am going to blog on a regular basis for real. My stumbling block has been what should the focus of the blog be? I have decided to not have a specific focus -- so be warned, you're in for hearing about sports (go steelers), knitting (no, I haven't finished that scarf yet), celebrity gossip (oh, britney) and other general randomness.

My first drink of the night

Yes, I am still knockin' em over!

Most optimistic fans ever...

The Steelers WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS if: 1) they win out, 2) Cincinnati loses to Oakland & Indianapolis AND beats Denver, 3) Jacksonville loses to Indianapolis, New England, & Kansas City, 4) the Jets lose 3 out of 4 games against Buffalo, Minnesota, Miami, & Oakland, 5) Kansas City loses to Baltimore & San Diego, 6) Denver loses 2 out of 3 games against San Diego, Arizona, & San Francisco, AND 7) Buffalo, Miami, and Tennessee each lose 1 more game.

-Amy's friend's away message

Gotta have faith!

Back to Blogging

I haven't blogged anything significant in a long time. Not that I haven't had much to talk about, its just I haven't had the time to process the stuff to talk about. I don't have a very eloquent "back-to-blogging" post planned, so here's an update on my life and thoughts in the past few months for all my stalkers:

• I've moved from San Francisco to Boston (but you probably already know that). I miss the fantastic weather, beautiful scenery and the general crazy. There's no crazy like SF. But, Boston and the new job is going well and I am having a good time.
• I spent Thanksgiving with Uncle Pet, Lyn and Grandma in Ct. Dean and Michele came up and we all had a good time. Ate lots of turkey and it was fun to see the family again.
• Going back to the Burgh for a week at Christmas (Lebo peeps hit me up). I heart working in pr for the sole reason that I get an extra week of paid vacay with the office shutdown, awesome. Be jealous.
• Playoff outlook going into week 13 (call us the most optimistic fans ever) - We need to win out and we need Baltimore, Seattle and GB to win. Yea, root for Baltimore, the team I hate.
• Speaking of going home and the Steelers, Ames and I are going to the last game vs. Baltimore on Christmas eve. Its gonna be awesome and I'm planning on tailgating with some of the folks from the Steeler bar here. I want to make a sign, any ideas?
• Everyone needs to lay of Britney. Yes, even though she has been showing her taco way more than she should - but the woman did just get rid of K-Fed and have two have his kids, so lets let her have her fun. Yes, I looked at the pics and couldn't figure out a single reason I looked at them, but I was strangely drawn to it. I guess I know how Justin Timberlake felt now. I can add that Britney is a fan of shaving and had a c-section to useless facts I know about celebs.
• VH1 sent me the following rejection letter: "Thank you for your interest in The World Series of Pop Culture! We've received your online submission through VH1.com; however, due to the overwhelming number of submissions for the New York Casting Call, we are now booked to capacity and unable to schedule you for the New York Casting Call." Boo, Erin, Amie and I will not be able to make fools of ourselves on TV.

Now it's off to shower. I'll try to blog semi-regularly again starting...now.

Steeler Nation

Kinda long and makes me homesick, but now I am beyond excited to go watch the game tomorrow.

For better quality, watch it here: http://video.google.com/videopla...2024&pr=goog-sl

Friday quote

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

- Steve Jobs

I swear, I'm going revamp this thing and post more often, big news to come...

Finally, a reality show worth watching...

Project Runway season 3 debuts tonite! There is no other reality show that can compare to Project Runway. One day you're IN, the next day you're OUT. I can't wait to hear Tim Gunn's voice again and hear him say, "MAKE IT WORK." Who will be this season's Santino? I can't wait to find out. Auf Wiedersehen!

For Those of You Not in the Know...

Justin Timberlake: Sexyback

"How to Get the Guy" Drinking Game

There's a show on ABC called "How to Get the Guy." It follows four single women in San Francisco and with the help of two "Dating" coaches follow them on their quest for love. After watching the opening scene and learning that that there are a lot of gay men in San Francisco, and yes, there are a lot of gorgeous available women -- two factors which make dating tough for straight girls (tell me something I don't know), the roomies and I decided that we needed to make a drinking game out of it to get through the rest of the show, especially when they showed the caliber of single men available in the city.

So, it goes like this... if you recognize where they are filming and shout it out first, everyone else drinks. Union Square, Cody's Books, etc.

And then, if you can see said location from our window (view below) everyone drinks. Fun, no?

World On Fire

Watch the video

World On Fire by Sarah McLachlan

The worlds on fire its more then I can handle
Ill tap into the water try and bring my share
Try to bring more, more then I can handle
Bring it to the table
Bring what I am able

Hearts are worn in these dark ages
You're not alone in these stories pages
The light has fallen amongst the living and the dying
And Ill try to hold it in
Yeah Ill try to hold it in

Chorus

I watch the heavens but I find no calling
Something I can do to change whats coming
Stay close to me while the skys falling
I don't wanna be left alone don't wanna be alone

Chorus

Hearts break hearts mend love still hurts
Visions clash planes crash still theres talk of
saving souls still colds closing in on us

We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line on this short run
The more we take the less we become
The fortune of one man means less for some

Chorus

Desperate Hotness

Shawn Pyfrom, who plays Andrew Van De Camp in "Desperate Housewives" and moi. He's super nice and not evil in real life. My smile is so big cuz he is actually touching me, see his arm on my shoulder?!?! I may never wash that shirt, haha. I look like crap (like, what is up with my hair?) because I was running around like crazy escorting media down the red carpet and inside. And instead of Nick Lachey, I saw J.C Chasez from NSync, Benji and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, Jeremy Jackson (The little kid that was on Baywatch...not really sure if it was him) and a bunch of other c-list celebs I don't know the names of.

Tidbits on life

While bitching about life with Loo tonite:
* A lot of RIt'ers are going through a post-college crisis and then there are people we know that are completely happy with their jobs. Loo thinks the difference is there are some people that are content to work in a job and those that want the career - they want their job to be the best way towards the career. This is very true.
* She reminded me that I proved to myself I could survive on my own in the past year and then deal with everything along the way.
* I was in way too much of a hurry to grow up. If I had to do it over again, I'd go to Europe and stay there for a few months. Maybe I will.

Time to get ready to head out. I'll post my red carpet highlight from LA tomorrow.

You never write...

I just havent had that much to write about lately. Trust me, its better reading nothing than what I considered writing about,
Some topics I considered:

*Being sick and getting strep throat
*Lack of adventure in my life
*How I can't find jeans that fit my dupah right...which is probably a good thing otherwise you'd be reading about how I spent more on jeans than food for a month.
*How I keep adding books to my GMAT book collection, but don't actually study for the GMAT
*Work and all the crazy hours
*Spring cleaning fun
*My new favorite reality TV shows (which will remain nameless)
*Not getting my lazt butt to the gym, but I'm running (more like walking with a beer in my hand) a 10k in oh, 3 weeks?

See what I saved you from? Even the highlights are boring.

MBA Headache

So, I’ve been thinking lately about my career goals and what I want to be when I grow up. I know I want to stay in the field I’m in, but not in the agency life forever. I know I want to go in-house eventually, but most in-house positions require 5 years of experience. However, I know working in an agency that I’m learning a lot more about the business than I would in-house. I want be in charge of the ‘big picture’ someday.

Marketing has a wide variety of subsets- you’ve got brand marketing, affiliate marketing, direct marketing, high-tech marketing, marketing research, just to name a few. PR and advertising fall under this umbrella too. Strong brands and solid marketing programs drive shareholder value. I feel like there’s a huge gap in my knowledge. I want to strengthen my understanding of essential business functions and better understand the decision making process. So, I’ve decided to get my MBA.

Last week, I was determined to do it all over the next month so I can start in the fall. Then I decided this probably would not be good to attempt the gmat, applications, essays, recommendations in short amount of time. So, I’ll aim for a fall 2007 start. If I decide to go part-time, I can aim for a January 2007 start.

I’m really torn between the whole part-time versus full-time option. Do I really want to give up the comfort of a steady job and reduce my standard of living? This would be an investment of at least $50,000 if I go full-time. At the same time, I need to remember that going part-time isn't cost-free either. On average, a part-time program is about 3 years long (or more?). 2 courses a semester and 1 over the summer. Even if its a 20 course program, you’re looking at a 4 year commitment, assuming that one stays on schedule.

Four years of constant pressure to balance the demands of a professional career, personal and academic life. I’m sure halfway though the excitement will want and I’ll proceed on sheer determination and commitment. I’ll be going home tired and still have an obligation to meet, whether its something for my job, classes or family. Saturday and Sundays will involve errands, social commitments, academic demands and any work brought home from the office. Do I really want to deal with all that?

Plus, I have to consider the perceptions of the part-time MBA versus the full-time MBA. Part-timers are considered MBA-lite. They have a dissipated experience and spread their energies over a wide range of activities. When you go full-time, you can focus on the experience and gain the maximum benefit.

All these thoughts have been giving me a huge headache over the past week. I also have to take into consideration that the average MBA applicant has 3-6 years of work experience. If I decide to go in fall of 2007, I’ll have 2 years...factor in co-ops and I guess its about 3. So, I’ll be on the low-end. Needless to say, I’ll be studying for the gmat for the next few months.