Easter Weekend Highlights

I spent this past weekend celebrating Easter with my family at home...here are a few highlights:

Friday:
* My tunes blaring, a phone call, and rainy conditions on and off to keep me from getting too bored on the drive home.
*Cheese pizza and a nice cold Bud Light for supper
*Testing my piano-playing skills. It all was coming back to me - just like riding a bicycle. I played a little Lion King, 90's hits including Four Non Blondes', "What's Up", and my favorite beginner songs, "Swans on the Lake", "Moon Man", and "The Party".

Saturday:
*Running 8 miles with Katie and Erin along the riverfront.
*Lunch at Yen Cheng with my mom, best friend Sarah, her fiancee, and her mom
*Visiting my Grandma
*Grilling Steak and vegetables for supper
*Playing Ring Around the Rosey and No More Monkeys Jumping On the Bed with Regan

Sunday:
*Easter Sunday Mass
*A delicious brunch at home
*Pizza and movie night hosted by LW and JW

All in all, a great weekend!

March Goes Out Like a Bad Ass Lamb

March 31st and it's currently 76 degrees! You can't help but smile on a day like today, even if you are stuck inside for most of it.

I did take advantage of the gorgeous weather by walking over my lunch hour (...and a half) with Sarah and Derrick. The warm sunshine blanketing us as we walked plus the good company of friends was a great improvement from cafeteria land. The only thing that would make it better would be having my denim mini and Uggs to prance around in.

Here's to plenty more BEA-utiful days such as today!

Run This Town

I'm well on my way to completing my goal of 10 races in 2010. This weekend I got two more under my belt, the Rebuild Haiti 5K on Saturday and the Friendly Sons of St Patrick 10K yesterday. 4 down, 6 more to go!

Saturday's run was tougher than I expected. The cold, cloudy, and windy morning made it a bit difficult. Add in the fact that I felt like I had a 50 LB weight attached to my right leg, and it made for a challenging 3.1 miles.

Yesterday's 10K went much better. The better weather and good company I had (I made JW stick by me since I gave my Ipod to Les after she gave hers a bath in the washing machine) made for a much easier race, even though it was twice as long. I will say, after running the Shamrock Shuffle, it's going to take a pretty spectacular race to top that, but it was still fun. Kyle, Sarah, Rod, and Naomi also participated - Naomi's first big run since 7th grade! Way to go Naomi!

Here's a post-race pic - Team Hot Sundae at it again.

What Gets You Through the Day

An email chain from this morning: (probably only funny to those well-versed in my little insurance world)

Field UW:
"Dear Tech's, (Known as raters to the elderly)
If you need my assistance in any of the below, just call me and yell at me. I respond better to that. Thanks!"

UW Mgr (formerly field uw):
"Raters! HAHA Gets me every time!"

My response:
"Dear Highlighter,
In the few years I've worked with you, I have found that calling and yelling expletives and all around demoralizing you works best when needing your "assistance" (and by assistance I mean when you once again mess something up that I have to fix) Per your instructions below, I will continue to do this future forward. If there is any feedback you can offer the tech team, please let us know. To have an opportunity to continue to grow and develop in our roles helps us to stay engaged and focused. After all, it's all about the Wow Factor for us...we are on your side! Thank you. "

Sarah's response: (an excerpt - keeping the anonymity)
"Glad you can laugh at our expense! 'Corporate Royalty' aka Mr _______....."

My underwriter's response to my email via phone conversation: "I just threw up a little after reading all that corporate jargon."

My response: "Your welcome"

Underwriter: "Let me know if you need anything else."

Me: "Okay. Let me know if you need any help highlighting."

I'm not sure what I would do without this particular underwriter. He's so laid back and easy to get along with, and most importantly, he gets my sarcasm and can keep up with my snarky attitude. There's a lot to be said for good working relationships with your co-workers.

Shamrock Shuffle Complete

JW and I ran the Shamrock Shuffle yesterday in Chicago. It was such a fun race - definitely in my top 3 favorite races. Although it wasn't a sunny morning, the weather turned out quite well, considering the day before was miserable, with rain/sleet/snow mixtures falling the entire day. There was a huge turnout - around 36,000 participants were registered! It was fun to see all the different costumes and Irish gear the runners had.

The 4.97 miles went by so quickly and I was feeling great the entire way. I think it's hard not to when you are surrounded by such positive energy. Whenever we'd go under a bridge and into a tunnel, everyone was hooping and hollering and at every mile they had different music playing. That, combined with all the by-standers cheering us on the entire way, made for a fantastic race. We finished with a time of 49:00, which isn't bad, considering we had to weave in and out of thousands of people. I finished 12,542 out of 25,561 finishers.

Here is a pic of the start line. More pictures available here.

The Smell of Spring

What a thoughtful gift...Tiff surprised us girls with a little bouquet of daffodils at work the other day. The bright yellow flowers have brightened the little hole I sit in for 10 hours and the floral aroma has been so refreshing as I continue to look forward to Spring. Thanks again Tiff!

Once You Pop, You Can't Stop

My Lenten sacrifice this year is sweets - candy, cookies, cake, etc. This has proven to be quite a challenge. These 'demons' look me in the eye everyday and taunt me with their sweet deliciousness.

Example #1: My co-workers do an excellent job of reminding me that I can't have candy. They've built a "candy wall" on one side of my cubicle, fish around Steve's candy bowl in front of me, and make sure I am aware of when they are eating it. It's all in good fun but the temptation is definitely present!

Example #2: I promised B-Bob a bag 'o candy, in honor of his birthday. Friday I slowly walked into the candy store at the mall and began to shovel in pounds of gummies - lobsters, techno bears, cherries - the works. It was torture.

Example #3: I received my order of Girl Scout cookies last week, but won't be able to indulge in a few (and by few I mean box) of Shortbreads until Easter. Ugh!

Example #4: Last year, L, D, and I discovered the gloriousness that is Nerds bumpy jelly beans. They are pretty much amazing and D surprised L and I last night with a bag of them for each of us. They keep staring me in the face.

So how I am overcoming such temptations? With these guys:



These might just be the death of me. They are so addicting. I've been known to get through a whole can in one day. I hardly can get through a trip to the grocery store without meandering over to the chip aisle and picking up a can...or two. Pringles had it right - once you pop, you can't stop.