Blue Willow

I found this set of China in an antique store in Madison, CT for a ridiculous price.  So pretty.  It has 6 complete settings and a serving platter, except there are only 4 berry bowls.  

I love them and use them every day.  Big fan of blue and white porcelain.    

Where the good stuff gets made

  

This week I made my first 4-burners-at-once-meal in a long time.  Delicious.  Recipe soon to follow.

  

Every cooking adventure should include garlic, shallots, and/or onion

The new guys

My new pair of Nike Air Structure Triax (size 8.5 women, my birthday is the end of March).

I've never had a dark pair of shoes like these before... kind of liking them so far.  In the Nike training log I use to keep track of my runs, I name my shoes to track their mileage.  Even though I call them "January 6 Air Structure Triax" they need real names.  Like Franky and Zappy.  The one in the back is Zappy.

 

Kitchen conundrum

I couldn't wash the dishes until the dishwasher was emptied, and darn it anyway, the thing wasn't unloading itself.

Nothing seems to motivate like an "after" photo though

Oh these? All the better to see you with, my dear...

Check out the spuds.  You need sunglasses for these babies!

Like sand through the hour glass...

This June I'll be taking level I of the CFA exam, which stands for Chartered Financial Analyst.  The CFA institute recommends a minimum of 250 study hours, which I meticulously log in hour and 1/2 hour increments on an ever-increasing list of pages taped to the inside of my study folder.  

I thought what could be more fun than logging hours and hours studying for part 1 of a 3-level exam, sacrificing the absolute non-essential remnants of any social life, also when you're a 20-something living in New York City?

The answer, my friends, is your very own hourglass to track all those hours.  Somehow cramming your brain full of portfolio optimization techniques, thoughts of diminishing marginal utility or the causes of a mispricing anomaly all become so much better when you can take a break just as soon as the green sand flows through.  

The small guy, 15 minutes, lives on my piano.  

To all, I highly recommend an hourglass (you can get them at CB2).  They'll make your studying life complete.  And if you're not studying for anything, you can act out scenes from the Wizard of Oz. (Ha ha ha, my pretty!).  

How great is living on the 25th floor?

I read a statistic that more binoculars and periscopes are sold in New York City than any other urban area in the country.  

Figures.

Books are nice to look at... and read too

One of my apartment fantasies is floor-to-ceiling bookshelves with a rolling ladder.  Clearly, I would open my door, piroette-into-an-arabesque and leap onto the ladder and then burst into song as I'd glide across the floor.  

But in the meantime, I got a new bookshelf.  I love it.  And books.  And reading books.

 

Miles and Miles

For the past few years I've used Nike's training log (click to their blog here and follow the link on the left side) to record my training and racing.  It is helpful for keeping track of miles on my shoes, training volume, races etc.  

Here's the breakdown of my 2008 stats:

Total miles run in 2008: 1,118.1

Average miles/ month: 148.2

Average miles/week: 34.2

Average miles/day: 4.9

Total kilometers: 2,862.7

Running shoes: 5 pairs

Best race performance: 1:37:35 (unofficial) half marathon (13.1 miles)

Worst performance: I don't remember, but I think it was slow

Most memorable race: Reach the Beach- a 209 mile 12-person relay in New Hampshire

Injuries: None! Oh wait, one tiny hamstring pull in January 2008

Ratio of miles run in daylight vs before dawn/after dark:.95*

*Estimation.  I suppose I could calculate for sure, but the point is at least as many, if not more,  dark miles as day miles.

That's a pretty good year of running.  Personally, I think what is even cooler than all the miles I ran in 2008 is all the kilometers... 2,862.7 

And here's to you, Mr. Nike Air Structure Triax

This is you yesterday, after our last run together,  perched on your little dirt-catcher-flower-pot with your Stick in the background.

I remember what you looked like when I first pulled you out of the box and removed the little cardboard feet stuffed inside you that helped you keep your shape when you still lived in a shoebox.

Now it's time for you to retire.  On Thursday I'll take you back to Niketown and dump you in a plastic bin up near customer service, where you'll be ground into rubber chunks and recycled into a playground surface and little kids will run all over you.  But you won't mind, because you're a running shoe and you like people to run on you.

We really went places together, 355 miles.  We always had a great time too, you and I.  Both of you.   Our very first run together was the day before the Chicago marathon when we ran an easy 2 miles around Millennium Park.  We hit it off very well- because the next day, we ran a marathon.  And trust me, I don't just run marathons with any old shoe.  Then I put you away for a few weeks, until your predecessors were ready to retire.  Notice that they did not get to run in the marathon- you did.

We ran together through the autumn in Central Park- remember all those gorgeous Saturday afternoons on the bridal path running over a rainbow of fallen leaves?  Remember morning runs around the reservoir?  We went to Philadelphia together too, where you helped me run my fastest half-marathon ever.

You got me out the door even on rainy days.  When I'd get back to my apartment soaking wet, I'd dump the puddles you'd collected down my kitchen drain and lay you on the radiator to dry overnight.  You always liked coming home so clean and un-muddy.  Wet days were the only time the dirt would dissapear from your treads.  Your sidewalls would shine white with the wisdom of an experienced and worn-in shoe, not like the virgin blind-you-white of just-out-of-the-box shoes.  It'd only last a few days though, until we ran on the bridal path together again.

What did you think about running in Colorado together?  Our first run there was about 19 degrees and snowing.  Was that the first time you'd seen snow?  I remember cursing about my frozen little toes as you blazed fresh powder footprints down the Boulder Creek Path.  But I suppose warm feet duty belongs to the socks and not you guys, right?  You held up like troopers though, through that thin air and up all those Boulder hills.

And here we are now... it was great while it lasted, and now it is time to move on.  Thank you for all those miles we ran.  You really went the distance.