I’m in Las Vegas right now with my brother, sis-in-law, and their two darling children who adore their daddy. (They love their mommy, too…but the way that my little niece waits by the door when she hears the garage open repeating “Daddy” over and over again is just precious.)
In this picture they both turned to look at me, but what I was trying to capture was the mauling that was happening in Panera as soon as my brother got there. Seriously. It was hilarious.
So, today at school we, the women of my MBA class, decided to race slinkies! It was brilliant! Seriously.
Unfortunately the picture with everyone (this one was before the races…with a few people not pictured) is pretty blurry. I think someone else got one, and I’ll be sure to post it if that turns out to be true.
If you want to see some video of the event, you can click here.
my mom died (wasn’t she so a babe?). I realize that’s kind of a depressing way to start a blog post, and truthfully, it is depressing, but this post is not.
Today was different than the last twelve 25ths of January have been because I did something fantastic. I threw a huge dinner party (with the help of two lovely friends). I had dinner for a little over 25 people. It was probably the biggest dinner party I’ve thrown that wasn’t a potluck. Julie and I made four big pasta dishes, Rebecca helped with appetizers (yes…appetizers), and a few others brought salads, bread, drinks, and desserts. I joined my two worlds (school and church) and was able to introduce the masses. It was a smashing success! Absolutely brilliant!
And do you know what? My mom would have loved to have been there. I was raised by a mother who was raised to entertain…and she taught us how to do it. In fact, I called my grandma yesterday for a recipe and I could hear the pride in her voice. I still took a moment to be a little depressed about not having a mom (at least that’s here with me physically…I know I still have a mom and I’m positive that sometimes she’s hanging out with me)…but then it was time to be the hostess…so the depression wasn’t allowed to stick around for very long. It was a fabulous way to spend the anniversary of my mom’s death.
And in case you want the recipe to the delicious lasagna I made (sure to please almost anyone), you can find it here. Yes, I should have taken a picture, but it completely slipped my mind.
I’ll post the appetizer recipes, too…but now I have to finish writing a paper. All play and no work makes Chloe the girl who her team hates and who gets bad grades.
This is a photo journal of Berlin. Again…there are a few stories, but mainly it’s a lot of pictures, that may bore you. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.
This was the view from the plane (obviously) flying to Berlin. It was absolutely amazing. Having spent a little over a year in Switzerland, flying over the Alps was such a happy thing.
As we are about to land in Berlin…absolutely beautiful.
I had to throw this in…this was the fabulous (free) laundry room in our hotel. If you ever go to Berlin and want a nice, yet affordable, place to stay, the Suitehotel Berlin is where it’s at. Yes…free laundry. Unfortunately I forgot how driers work in Europe (no exhaust, so there’s a collection bottle that has to be emptied) so it took five years to get things dry…until I remembered that part.
Checkpoint Charlie. I basically knew nothing about the history of Berlin or what happened there, so this was an amazing experience for me.
The wall…or where it once was. It really was incredible.
Brandenburg Gate. For years this stood on its own, blocked from east and west.
Tanya was loving her apple strudel.
We took a walking tour of Berlin (most of the pictures above are from the tour and eventually, I may actually put captions on all of them, just not today). It was friggin’ freezing…but totally worth it. You can see our tour guide, Nigel, in the picture below. He used to be a spy for Britain. It was incredible. If ever in Berlin, you should totally do this walking tour.
This is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews. It’s kind of amazing. You can read about it here. Interesting little tidbit: the chemical that was used to coat the cement was made by the same company that made that gas that killed so many during the Holocaust. Kind of sick.
The Hotel Adalon. Three windows up, four to the left from the corner. This is where MJ hung his baby out the window.
This was the traditional German restaurant we finally found (Berliners really like Italian food…who knew?). It was recommended to us by this nice store clerk where I had been looking at (and eventually purchased) the most beautiful purse I have ever owned. Anyway, I really wanted to have traditional German food and this was it. I actually really liked it. But I pretty much like any food…I’m not gonna lie. I wish I knew the name of it, but it’s just off of Freidrichstrasse, to the west, and south of the big mall there…in case you ever go. It’s on a random side street, but you can see the big German dude out in front. Awesome.
The following are amazing pictures from this amazing chocolatier in Berlin, Fassbender & Rausch.
Somehow, I had never realized that pretzels were German. I don’t know why, but it’s true.
All was well in Germany until I left my passport in the taxi and was worried I was not going to be getting on the plane to Paris with Erika and Tanya, but they let me through with just a photocopy! Hallelujah!
A friend of mine from my missionary days recently found my blog from Facebook and posted the following to my wall:
“OK Chloe, I just found your blog(s) and I love them! (I had to stop myself from commenting. I’m a nerd…) I am so jealous you were in Europe! You’ll have to tell me your tricks for starting to run after being on a break for so long. Good luck with this semester and training!!”
First of all, Sandra, you can comment on my blog(s) anytime. I love comments. And now, for my “tricks for starting to run after being on a break for so long”. I might add, “and putting on 35 lbs”. (Yes, I am being literal…and in case you were wondering, it took about 18 months to do it).
So, let’s begin…only I’m going to call these “tips” rather than “tricks”. There is nothing remotely magical about them…unfortunately.
Tip #1 – Manage your expectations. This is something we talk about daily in b-school in terms of our shareholders/stakeholders, but really, I think this advice could not be any more applicable than when setting expectations for yourself. You haven’t been running (other than the once-a-month “I feel so guilty that I never run” run) in over six months. You are not going to go out and be able to run as far as you used to with the same ease. Get over it. It’s okay.
Tip #2 – Start with cross training. Since this week was the beginning of my commitment to exercise (I had a terrible cold last week), I started slowly, on the StairMaster. Thankfully, I love the StairMaster and can easily read while on it making it much more difficult to use my homework load as an excuse, so that is my current “drug of choice”. I did two days of easy cardio.
Tip #3 – Start with a distance you know you can manage. The worst thing you can do (at least in my opinion) is to become discouraged. Know your limitations and sit with them. Whatever you can do is what you want to go for. On day three, I ran two miles. For some people, this wouldn’t be enough, for others too much. Having been through this yo-yo cycle before, I knew I could do two miles. If you have never run before, or have never been “off” of running, I suggest you start with 1/2 a mile. Not that you can’t keep going if you feel good, but you don’t want to feel like a failure. (Or is that just me).
Tip #4 – Continue to cross train and add mileage SLOWLY. Get to a point where the first distance feels comfortable, then add another mile (or fraction thereof).
Tip #5 – Think about what you are eating and what you are drinking. I think my current lack of Diet Coke consumption is helping tremendously. I drink a ton of water every day and I am being more “running” conscious in my eating. I know I need good carbs to fuel my run and protein for my muscles to recover, and I eat accordingly. And when I say “I need good carbs”, I am in no way referring to any kind of carboloading. No one needs to carboload to run two miles. No one. I’m talking about making good carb choices…like whole grain breads and pastas, etc.
Tip #6 – MUSIC!!! This should probably have been Tip #1, but whatever. For me, a good running playlist makes all the difference. And I have found that it needs to be a NEW playlist if it’s a new season of running. Let me explain. When I listen to my old running playlists, I start to remember how I used to be able to run 5 or 9 or 13 or 18 or 22 or 26.2 miles and it kills me mentally. New plan = new playlist. This tip may sound ridiculous to a number of you, but it works for me.
Tip #7 – Sign up for a race…with a friend. I need accountability in my life, so I create it. Canyonlands, here I come! For you, it may not be a half marathon. It may be a 5K…it doesn’t really matter. What matters is some kind of goal to work toward. That first night when I started running again, I was pretty much dying in the beginning. My legs hurt, my body was itching (am I the only one who experiences this weird phenomenon?), I could feel every muscle screaming its protest to this new routine…and I just kept thinking, “If I stop, there’s no way I’ll be able to run 13.2 miles by March 21st.” Over and over and over and over again, until finally my body realized it wasn’t going to win and shut the hell up.
Tip #8 – Know when you go to bed each night when you will be running/working out the next day. I have found this invaluable. When the plan is in place, it’s much easier to stick with it. With my crazy schedule, it varies every day, but every night I know when it is going to happen the next day and that’s all I need.
Tip #9 – Running has to be a priority. You have to want it…but you don’t have to love it. For me running is not something I do because I love running (I do have those runs when I absolutely do love it, but those are few and far between). For me running is something I do because when I’m done with a run, I feel so good about myself and my body and in the world of women (especially those of us that struggle with weight and/or self-esteem issues), that is motivation enough for me to keep at it. Figure out why it’s important to you and why you do it and make it a priority.
Tip #10 – If you hate it, don’t do it. There are plenty of other great physical activities that will give you the same results as running. The emotional benefits of exercise are a huge part of why I do it and if I was hating every moment of it, well, that wouldn’t be very beneficial now, would it?
existential dilemmas 