Its a Hero

Syracuse

packing up my apartment.

by 14 Comments

Yep, that’s right. The same apartment that I was so excited to move into. I’m packing it up.

And I’m moving into an even better apartment!

For those who follow me on Twitter, thanks for all of the happy thoughts you were sending my way the other day! There were a good handful of people who were interested in the apartment, but the landlord liked little ol’ me the best!

BF & I are hoping that he will be up here soon, and my apartment is way too tiny. I just so happened to stumble upon this gem of a house! Well, technically it’s only the bottom floor of the house.

So mid-March I will be movin my things into a house just a couple of miles away. I’m so excited! The house has a HUGE, gorgeous, kitchen!

But the best part? Isn’t the huge kitchen with amazing tile floors and all of the gorgeous cherry cabinets; it isn’t the extra space in the living room; nor is it the second bedroom with all of the closet space. Nope.

It’s the colored walls.

You heard me. Walls that aren’t white! Too long have I lived with bare, white, plain ol’ walls.
They are burnt reds & oranges & yellows! I love it!

Well hopefully I’ll have some pictures to share with y’all soon, but for now I need to start packing!

{the answers: round 3}

by 18 Comments

Here is the final installment of my questions & answers! Let me just tell you how much I apprecaited all of your questions! I am still amazed that you had so many questions for me. It took a long time for me to reflect on the answers. So thank you so very much. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading the answers as much as I enjoyed writing them!

Molly asked “You workout alot. Do you have/or have you met your goal? Or are you one that works out as a way of life?”

I don’t have a specific goal. I work out as a way of life. I have for years. It makes me feel good. At this point, I wouldn’t mind firming up in a few places, but I haven’t weighed myself in quite a few years, so I don’t have a specific goal to hit. I just want to feel good.

Molly also asked “Do you and BF have marriage plans? If you are to move in together, would it be NY, OH, or somewhere else?”

Well I was living with him in Ohio. So the plan is that he will continue to look for a job in NY to move here. We don’t have marriage plans set in stone (read: no ring) but it is in the plan. We have been talking about it for months now. (yay!)

MonoloChooLou asked “What are your favorite things to do on the weekends when you and your BF are apart?”

My favorite thing to do on those weekends = nothing! I relax and sleep a lot. The other weekends are so busy from travelling back and forth to Ohio, so the weekends where it’s just me, I try to spend as much time at home as possible. Other than that, I just work out. That’s about it.

Gwen asked “If you could buy any handbag (money is no object) what would you buy and why?”

I know this is going to break your heart Gwen, but I’m not sure I would buy one. I just got my first “real” bag (and by ‘real’ I mean my first one that cost over a hundred dollars), and I love it, but it was completely out of character for me. I don’t usually want for much. Maybe a bigger Coach bag. That’s all.

The Analyst asked “Coffee of choice? What kind and from where?”

Well I know this may not be popular with everyone, but I love, love, love, love Starbucks. Love their coffee. For whatever reason it’s really the only coffee I do like. And I can drink an Iced Coffee with skim milk every day. Even through these Syracuse winters!

Cristin asked “What is your favorite book of all time and why?”

A Million Little Pieces, by James Frey. I love the book. and the writer.

Lil Woman asked “what’s your favorite song and why?”

This one is tough! Favorite song of all time would probably be “Walking in Memphis” by marc cohn. But there are many many others that come in as close seconds!

Little Miss Dreamer asked “You a phenomenal motivator for someone trying to keep up with a workout plan. Any advice to us lazy ones who wish they were as dedicated as you? (basically, what keeps you working out, day after day?)”

My motivation comes from knowing that if I drag myself to the gym to work out, I will feel good. If it doesn’t make me feel good, it will definitely make me feel better than I’m already feeling. It seriously makes me feel so so so much better. So to all who need motivated, I highly suggest to get moving in the morning. Makes your day spectacular. True story.

Little Miss Dreamer also asked “You are blog about the fun activities you do: running, Junior League Syracuse, book club, trying new foods. I wonder, what is your absolute favorite thing to do?”

I know I run around a LOT and keep myself pretty busy, but I’m really just a homebody. I would much rather just stay in and watch movies than do anything else. Relaxing and doing yoga are my two favorite activities, by far compared to the others!

Chelle asked “What is the best thing that BF brings out in you and visa-versa?”

Well we definitely bring out the best in each other. He brings out the girly-ness in me. Before dating BF, my girlfriends would say that I was pretty much the anti-girly girl. Now it’s a whole other story! I blame him for my girly moments, even though I secretly love them.

At the same time, I’m pretty sure we both bring out the best of our true selves in each other. And I know he would agree. 🙂

{the answers: round 1}

by 10 Comments

Wow I got so many great questions! It’s going to take two separate posts to answer all of them. Which is good, because tomorrow I will be in Ohio when BF is working, so I’ll be looking for something to do!

Analiese Marie asked “I would love to know more about you! I’m sorry if you’ve posted about this and I missed it, but I’m curious what kind of work you do.”

I work for a large telecommunications company and have since I was in college. I started out in residential sales when I lived in Syracuse back from 2005-2007.

When I moved to Ohio I took a job doing phone provisioning and technical support work. From there, I acquired a lot of knowledge on my own and fell in love with what I was doing. I moved into the Technical Support Subject Matter Expert and Trainer position for the Northeast Ohio division of this same large company.

The opportunity arose to take another sales job in Syracuse. This time it was a Commercial (business to business) sales position with the same company. I loved what I was doing, but the reality of making more money so that I can someday start a family was looming. So I took the position here.

Truthfully, I desperately miss training the techy geeks. I’m really passionate about it still.

Valerie asked “How did you and bf meet?“

BF and I met a long while back. Actually, I went to high school with one of his younger sisters. So we knew of each other then. After high school he dated a friend of mine that I had also graduated with.

We officially met when we were both at a party together (he was attending with his then girlfriend/girl I was friends with and I was attending with a bunch of friends). He says he remembers the night VERY well. Apparently his then girlfriend got aggravated that he and I were talking so much and getting along so well. (Mind you, this was about 7 years ago). I went off to school. BF and the other girl went their separate ways.

Years and years later after many other relationships and my moving back to Ohio, we reconnected (via Facebook, weird I know). And we have pretty much been inseparable ever since.

Shell2Bell2 asked “What has been the most defining moment of your move back to NY?“

This is by far the hardest question to answer. I’d have to say that it was realizing that I could make it on my own, without anyones help. However, at the same time I realized that I did not want to be alone for very long, nor would I have to, luckily.

Marissa asked “You tweet a lot about going to the gym. Have you ever been injured?“

I have had an injury. In high school I found out that I have full break stress fractures in both of my legs. I have apparently had them since I was 5 years old, but I had been misdiagnosed with bad growing pains (which is interesting considering I was never really growing). They are still broken. They won’t ever heal, so I’m in pain often.

Jen asked “If you could live anywhere in the world right now (with your BF), where would you chose? You are in one of the coldest places right now. Do you like cold or would you opt for the South? Just curious 🙂“

Well if I didn’t have to worry about a job or money… if that issue was just “taken care of,” I think I would live in Portland, Oregon or Seattle, Washington. I know, I know, it’s not tropical or warm, but I think I would LOVE it there. And I hate the snow, but I hate super hot weather as well. I like it to be sweatshirt weather all the time. So Syracuse is definitely not my ideal climate. But oh well!

Simply Valorie asked “How is training for your half marathon going? 🙂“

Well… it’s not at this point. I know it’s on my 101 in 1001 list, but I haven’t had the time or energy (or a steady schedule) to actually continue the training. I am still working out a lot and part of my workouts include running, but my inconsistent schedule (with traveling and adjusting) is not allowing for that right now.

Hailey asked “what was the 1st thing that attracted you to your now wonderful, fabulous BF??“

The first thing besides his gorgeous smile and eyes {as proof seen in our first picture together last year}?

Umm, his personality. I know, I know. How cheesy and typical. But seriously, before our first official date and before we started talking on the phone, we kept emailing back and forth. I was at work, reading an email he had sent me, and he we were talking about Scrabble (don’t judge, we’re kinda nerdy!). He said something so funny and I literally laughed out loud. I told one of my co-workers that I was in love with BF. I know we hadn’t had our first date yet, but I knew I was in love with him.

Ok, I’m done with the sappy, but true, story!

missing: my practice

by 11 Comments

Something is missing. (& no, I’m not referring to BF, although he is missing from my life right now).

My yoga practice.

I am mourning the loss of my yoga practice.

I’ve been doing some group workouts at the gym and still doing my solo cardio workouts, but nothing has successfully replaced how yoga makes me feel.

I miss how good I felt with an after yoga ‘high’.

I miss how much more toned my body was.

I miss how it made my mind feel at ease.

That being said, I’m setting aside some money to start my yoga practice back up, right here in Syracuse.

I’m excited. But nervous. It’s a different type of yoga than I’m used to practicing, so I’m afraid that I might not like it as much.

True story.

totally down.

by 22 Comments

I’m bummed. I’m super super bummed.

I was going to leave for Ohio last night. But there was a storm last night in Buffalo (the city I have to drive through to get there). Blizzard like conditions. White-outs. Zero visibility in places.

My idea? Leave in the early morning. So I woke up at 4am, packed up my car, and headed west. The weather in Syracuse is fine. Very little snow & clear roads… well, when I got to Rochester, I decided to tune my iPhone to a Buffalo radio station.

Well it’s a good thing I did, cause they had just announced that the interstate 90 (the interstate that goes from Syracuse to Cleveland) was closed west of Buffalo. CLOSED!

So I made an executive decision decided to turn back around and head back to Syracuse.

So no BF this weekend. No family Christmas party. Nothing. I’m so blah and bummed right now…

and it will be another two weeks before I attempt to make another trip back to Ohio for Christmas. Yes, I used the word… attempt. Nothing is guaranteed in this weather. And now I have to go another TWO weeks before getting to see BF.

Brace yourselves… it’s gonna be a rough one.

true story tuesday

by 13 Comments

This week I have skipped the gym two days. My body is just exhausted, but I still feel guilty and I’m pretty sure those 7 fun size Twix bars didn’t help.

True story.

I got my lovely apron in the mail on Saturday and proceeded to make two dozen cupcakes for work. If you haven’t, you should really check out this incredible Etsy shop.

True story.

Last night I went to the Blue Tusk with Tracy & Josh, whom I had never met before, and I had such a great time! And the food was delicious! A lobster BLT (minus the T, of course)! I will definitely eat there again.

True story.

I have the Junior League of Syracuse holiday party tonight! And I will be inducted as a new member tonight.

True story.

The party is being held at Pascale’s Wine Bar, so needless to say my dry spell at the gym will probably continue tomorrow morning.

True story.

I get to drive back to Ohio Thursday night to spend the weekend with BF! I’m really excited! It’s been 10 days too long!

True story.