day one...

of marathon training.

6:40am.

sunrise is still about 40 min out i think....

no wind from what i spy out the back window.

but it's -3 out.

MINUS THREE. with a -2 windchill.

it would be worse if it was windy. way worse.

but needless to say i'm a little bit dreading the 8 miler i have in just over an hour.

that said i have a lot of layers to put on in a few minutes, and i'm going to meet ally, coach rudi, and the other marathon virgins, cindy & kristen. so we'll tackle it like we'll tackle this whole marathon thing....together! *big deal here*

i'm still coughing though so this should be an interesting morning.

after the run, it's breakfast time out at a local healthy joint, and then it's haircut day. i'm about 2 weeks overdue in the haircut so i can't wait....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDY! (one of my blog readers and colleague from LibraryLand)

and THANK YOU, DAD for the new iPod on the way!

time to layer up....brrrrrrr! ~runnergirl

rip :(

my ipod died tonight.

this is a sad sad wintery night :(

the infamous 'folder and exclamation point your ipod is dead' graphic and no more music :(

google image 'ipod death' and you'll see just what i mean.

nnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! not right before training!!

rip white brick. you got me through many many miles....

dad, is there another one coming or is the next one on me? since you did ask about color choice...

sniff sniff :(

thing 28...

hmmmm...

well i like my homepage as it is.

i stuck with this blog thing after the last 23 Things, and have altered it as time has gone by.

i did add a few widgets.

my dream of being an iPhone girl is still about a year away.

so a dear friend of mine can shake hers at me with the 8 Ball app all she wants. at least i have my blog ;) (okay SOOOO not the same thing but until i can afford an iPhone and be done with Sprint, i'm stuck...)

and i added the all important first marathon countdown as my training starts in 2 days.

i drove that course over the weekend. i am REALLY going to run 26.2 miles down scenic 61 to canal park?

damn straight. if i have to crawl i'll get there.

whoops. back to the topic at hand. Work.

So those are the 2 widgets i messed around with for Thing 28. mission complete.

play first, then work.

so these will list this second, not first, but such is life...

it's thursday night and i'm still making my way through the DVR of Oscars....

because i was not around last weekend...I was up on the shore with David for our annual 'yes, sometimes boys and girls can actually be friends without weirdness' weekend....this was our 3rd trip, and we're already looking forward to next year with maybe a few more folks ~

here's a few shots...







we adventured into the winter like true minnesotans and had a blast...it was a gorgeous wonderland of white....

next year i want to know how to cross country ski...and snowshoe more...it's good to have goals.

we found an awesome set of trails to try out in a year...

work is still moving full steam ahead on the huge move and relocation for the next year...

mark's hugely busy as of late hanging out with the Brits who are in town for a concert with the Rose Ensemble this weekend. Today we got about 7 inches or so of fresh snow, and they are in Superior, WI tonight singing with Voces 8 in a spectacular church.

Grandma's Marathon training starts in two days. This has lead to a lot of schedule changes for me. A few of my phenomenal colleagues have gone out of their way to help my goal of becoming a marathoner come true by trading nights and weekends with me for the next 4 months...and i will gladly repay their kindness any way i can...

One of my latest changes hurts my heart some, in that I meant only to do good by starting a 3rd job, and had planned to leave the long standing wait job, but it just didn't play out that way. I'm not making as much at the lil cafe in Mpls as I do in White Bear Lake...so today I had to call my friend and boss, Gail and give her my notice. Which truly bummed us both out.

I know in my next life I won't be so damned attached to everything on earth as much as I tend to get. My passion for so much really leads to my downfall sometimes...

Anyway, is this post really still going on?? time to close...

If anyone sees spring, Minnesota is really ready for that season any time. Seriously. ~jd

thing 27 - twittering and tweeting...

i tawt i taw a puddy tat....

at least that's how i feel when the words 'twittering and tweeting' come up in some, *any* kind of conversation...

oh the words in this 2.0 and web crazy world.

i did what i was told and i became a twitterer...(which is something that sounds like it needs a prescription drug for use 2 times a day with food, but whatev.)

oh, and my twitter name is 'cowgirljd'. yet another name. the regular ol' jd was taken. :-{

personally? the status bar on facebook attached to a whole plethora of 'friends at your fingertips with more interesting things to read besides one line' is more my thing.

i hear twitter is addicting like FB, so time will tell.

right now?

it's fun to know one or two folks i know who 'tweet' (sheesh i can't believe that's really a THING!) but for now, i'm going to just see how this goes and say i completed this Thing. which was pretty painless. (the worst part was picking the right profile pic ;) always so hard to choose!)

~jd

maritza's post...

because she wanted to see and she's the furthest away from those i know that read my blog now and again...and she's a fellow runner girl...her bloggage is here...she knows allycat, one of my best friends and totally sporty spice :)

so, here you go miss maritza :) (some day i hope to meet you!)

this is my latest ink.

(yes, dad, i really did that. yes, it's right there for everyone to see. somehow i think the family might think this is a little *too* forward and i await the phone to ring with some kind of commentary...and yes, i am 35 years old, but parents are still parents with opinions they'll share...)

it's to get me through, well, life, but also? my first marathon....

june 20.

i registered this week.

so in all of the miles that i'll start hammering out on the 28th (yes the 16 week training program starts one week and one day from now...) i can look at my teammates, friends, and my own wrist, and do just what it says while trying to not lose my sanity or self worth.

this week, i also got the crud (cough cough cough) and i will blame the constant use of public computers for this. :(

but despite that, here i sit tonight singin' along (loudly and a little raspily) to this:

a country classic girl.. who died too young. but had a great great set of pipes...and good lyrics (with a really young willie helpin her with a few good lyrics...) i sang some patsy at karaoke last week, so i felt like some more tonight while mark is at rehearsal.

i'm tired, sad and wanting to be better...

time for some dinner, chores and a little bit of Things for the workland...

updates on life...

*valentine's day? is over.
record night at the wine bar. 98 folks served. most ever in 9 years of business. let's hope that's a sign for some kind of stimulus kicking in...and mark and i, while not getting an actual night together, exchanged humorous valentine cards. and humor is a huge thing to me. it helps make life, well, duh, better.

*life at the new waitress job is good. still not 100% comfortable, but with 1 shift a week, it's just going to take time....it's this place...

this was their policy on valentine's day,

valentine's day
We're looking forward to serving you and your lovey-dove!

Regular Hours, Regular Menu, Regular Kick Ass Specials, Regular Sweet-n-Surly Service you've come to know and love.

ADDITIONALLY: Super Special Optional Four Course Menu for $30.00 per person. Add on the Optional Wine Pairing for $15.00 additional per person

As always, we level the playing field for you with NO RESERVATIONS. But, as always, if you can't fly without a rezzie, call ahead to take advantage of our Wait List! It's just like waiting in line on the cold sidewalk, 'cept you're snuggling your lovey-dove in some cozy place until your recommended arrival time.

btw. and i love my bosses (the owners, which is how i hooked up into the new gig). it might be obvious to some of you as to why we get along so well....our styles? are very very similar :) (and on a side note, there was a work party a week ago where a karaoke machine was rented. i took 2nd place in the singin' contest. and for the new girl? i'm happy with that! i *do* love to sing..it was actually my first real outing on singin' in public like that...

*marathon training starts in less than 2 weeks. mentally? i'm still now 100% down with that i can or want to run 5 hours. but i'm going to. with the best women on earth...

*a few short jaunts coming up. one very soon with one of my best friends on earth besides my husband...

*there's 2 new marathons coming to the twin cities, both in may. one falls in line with training. this one:


so i'll run the half there as my last big dance before the BIG dance on june 20th.

the other big event is the inaugural minneapolis marathon (which falls during a duluth retreat to 'practice' 22 miles of running)...

*my library is moving in april. my dept (kids) is moving apr 9-10. this? is my main event. and it thankfully lands a week *after* i get back from DC to a) see Gail and b) run a coolass 10 mile race that filled in 3 hours. (12,000 runners...)

*mark just made me home-made chicken & dumplings for dinner. yum. yum. yum. i do love and appreciate my husband has amazing culinary skills...

*i got yet one more tattoo recently....and with that, i'll close out. it's time to watch a few movies...

~Jen

thing 26...Ning...

more work stuff....

(to the family/friends outside of this Things project:
i *will* blog about normal life...but i need to do this work project for the next few months, so please bear with me...)

back to the post...

i did sign up for ning.

i had in the earlier 23 Things, but my membership must have expired as i couldn't find myself...

grudgingly, i re-signed up. in all honesty, with email, blogging, & facebook, i really don't see using ning very much, but maybe that'll change. i think i said that about blogging & facebook at one time ;)

it seems like ning is trying to be Facebook.

or was ning first?

i added a friend.

i uploaded a photo.

i replied to some posts.

and i still like facebook first and foremost.

am i missing the point? am i just in the facebook haze?

maybe...we'll see how this goes over time...

thing 25...aka overstimulating your blog...

so i've tried and added a few test things for this Thing...(and it took a solid amount of time to get through this Thing....woof.)

i believe in some amount of simplicity and i don't want my blog to be an overstimulating mess of icons, links, polls, games, sounds, flashes, etc. so that being said, i added only a couple of extra things that weren't previously there...i'll let others go overboard if that's their thing. it's not mine.

first, i'm not into my blog 'talking' so i perused those options, but chose not to add them...

second, i went with Outbrain as a trial. i like the star rating a little bit better than the ClickComments icons.

personally, my blog to me is meant to be individual. if people like what they read, i'd assume they'd comment. i don't really think i believe in folks 'grading' me on what i say. but i'll leave this up here for a bit and see what happens. i'm not real big on the 'suggested' readings. so far they don't really seem to have much to do with my topics...

for the mapping option, for now i'm testing out both
(where's the E?? sorry, i tend to like things spelled out. i'm not a huge proponent of shorthand) and

gVisit
(all hail google products!!)

i appreciated the links to the free use photos....(do i pull stuff off the web 'unofficially' often? yes. will i not do that as much any more? yes.)
i used to have a Flickr slideshow on my blog....it's out of date now, and i'm maxed out at Flickr's 200 free uploads unless you join for $$. someday in my free time i'll delete the old stuff and upload new. except, quite honestly, posting jpgs either right into here, or onto facebook is way easier...
speaking of the proverbial , i have wasted enough time, on that site for friendliness and social networking, so while i'm sure the recommended 'friend' sites are worthwhile, i didn't spend oodles of time on them.
and with that this post at .

more things on a stick...thing 24

yep, the avatar is back.

we're encouraged to learn more things for workland.

time is tight lately, only to get tighter.

3 jobs.

marathon training.

and moving an entire 20,000 square foot library 2 miles away. (okay not that i'm going to do that all myself of course...but still...it means much time *away* from the computer and much *more* time with a tape gun and boxes in hand!)

so let's learn more stuff!

because being a librarian is all about life long learning...

and apparently messing around online :)

i mean if we hadn't done the first 23 things, i would know nothing about blogging or facebook.

both addictions of mine since the original things started...so in answer to the suggested blog prompt 'have you blogged since the 23 Things finished?'

um. yes. see the plethora of posts in this girls archive.

so like i *need* anything else to do online, i know...but i'm kind of a task driven girl as well...so off we go into the next set of stick things...

happy trails,
~jd

night teachings...

tonight is blog class. hello bloggers!

tomorrow night is facebook 101.

all library classes can be found here.

they're free and they're offered at all branches throughout the year.

any questions? feel free to call 651-628-6803 and we'll be happy to assist :)

fading fast....

a lot of things.

my tan (or a little pinkness is more like it for this girl)...

the warmth i felt in hawaii. vs here in the minnesota cold...

but mostly my awakeness....i'm dropping pretty quick. i landed at 5:15 this morning and have slept about 2 hours total in the past 24 hours. so bed time calls damn soon...

dad is supposed to email me a few more pics from race day on his camera, but dad doesn't read facebook like the rest of the friends, so here's the blog entry about the trip.

Gram was great! She's sharp as a tack for almost 80, and in great health. Very awesome!

the trip was wonderful...warm, sunny (except for 2 days of hearing and smelling rain that was actually quite welcome) and i recharged all of the right auras and batteries i needed to.

so time for some pics. i have no idea if or when i'll be able to go back, so i do count my blessings i was able to experience the past 10 days with both Gram (and dad).

oh, and a few race details for my runnin' folk...

i figured i'd run the half in just about 2.5 hours.

my finish time? 2:28. i know myself pretty dang well...

i also met a fellow twin citian on my flights over and he finished in a great marathon time even garnering an award in his age group! but to have anyone from my hometown practically end up in a race 4000 miles away? kinda cool...it's a small small world...

Gram asked if I'd wear a special chain in my race that Grandpa always wore til the end of his life 4 years ago, and of course i didn't say no.

So Gramps ran a half marathon with me. something i know he never did ;)


after the race on the 25th, we got to see much of the island...
*the road to hana

*paia and makawao (2 very cool towns upcountry)

*big & little beaches near makena
*maui oceanfront aquarium
*lahaina
*ioa valley state park

*waianapanapa state park

*lots of beach time near the condo and humpback whales on a daily basis in the bay viewable from the balcony of condo-sweet-condo


mahalo dad, for coming over for my race, and for taking some pictures too! so now, here's my feets walking into the sunset of this post...