It was a Cold and Rainy Day...

One of my goals is to run a race every two months. On October 18th I ran my first half marathon. My next one is in January at Disney (a little over 2 months but who's counting.) Here is a brief recap.

It was a cold and rainy sunday morning when my uncle dropped my aunt Janet and I off at the Newport Visitors Center. By rainy, I mean straight out pouring sheets. The weather people were excited to report the first Nor'easter of the season. Janet and I were not as excited.

After getting dropped off we attempted to stay warm and dry by hiding out in the visitors center, but race officials would not let us go inside unless we were registering for the race. Considering we already had our numbers pinned to our rain jackets, we couldn't lie. Luckily the friendly staff at the Marriott were more accommodating and let us hang out in the hotel. Several bathroom trips and some stretching later, we were ready to run!

The race started out slowly, considering there were thousands of us racing. We tried to follow my uncle's advice to run in the middle of the road to avoid puddles, but by the time we got running, the entire road was one big puddle. Wet socks? check. Wet pants? check. Wet gloves? check. We were pretty much soaked by the end of the first mile.

We had some great volunteers cheering everyone on and working at the water tables, but IMO the water and porter potties were few and far between- especially the porter potties. Janet and I were both feeling good until we reached mile 8, where we both started cramping up, and my left knee began to throb. We started walking up every incline, and running the rest of the time. At mile 10 I started openign my stride up, simply to stretch my legs and try to uncramp them, and felt suprisingly better. I kept my stride up, and the last 3 miles went by pretty quickly. It was great to see my parents and Jamie at the finish line. Amy and Jackson had tried to wait for us but it was just too cold and disgusting out. I don't blame them- if I didn't have to be out in the rain, wind, and sleet, I would have been hiding out in a car too!

It felt great to finish, and I'm now really excited for the Disney half marathon- I have a goal to beat now, and the weather HAS to be better than it was for this race!

Progess! Not much, but something

oohkay so I am in the process of checking 1/30th of something off my list. I just started reading Gone with the Wind, which is on the MLA's list of 30 books to read. So far it's very much like the movie, with the exception that in the first paragraph of the book Margaret Mitchell describes Scarlett as "not quite pretty, but charming." The not quite pretty part doesn't really describe Vivian Leigh..

Other items in progress is getting my real estate salesperson's license- just scheduled the test for November 7th. Also will try to send stuff in to get my passport changed. woo hoo!

Zip lining anyone?

So, I decided to look into a few things on my list, and found a zip lining place in Massachusetts.
I have no idea where Charlemont Ma is (it makes me think of that history teacher in HS who used to spit when she said things like human and charlemagne) anyway..check it out:

http://www.deerfieldzipline.com/

obviously something to do in the spring early summer, but I think it looks super cool!! It's only $85, which for a 3 hour tour...a 3 hour tour...the weather started getting rough, the ship was getting tossed...
..okay..anyway, as I was saying, $85 isn't that bad, I don't think.

Also, does anyone want to do the haunted house on livingston this year??

*Melissa's List* So close yet so far, 85 and counting!

1 Renew my passport and use it
2 Go skydiving
3 Go scuba diving
4 Finish school
5 Sell my condo and buy a single family home
6 Buy a new car
7 Knit an entire afghan
8 Go white water rafting
9 Get a job in my field of study
10 Take a yoga class
11 Go on the Boston Duck tours
12 Lose 15 lbs
13 Learn to sew a simple hem
14 Organize all my photos
15 Have a clothing swap party
16 Visit Casey in Florida
17 Have a picnic in a park
18 Donate blood (for the first time)
19 Go to a drive in movie theater
20 Take a golf lesson
21 Apply to upgrade my license to carry
22 Take 5 consecutive days off from work
23 Visit Samantha at college in Maine
24 Take a ballroom dance lesson
25 Make a legal simple will
26 Take a road trip outside of New England
27 Let someone explain football and really try to get into it
28 Visit the arboretum
29 Take a cake decorating class
30 Go with out dairy for one week
31 No alcohol for one month
32 Have someone plan a whole day for me and have no control over it
33 Walk to five places I would normally drive to
34 Finish one of the five books I have started
35 Run one mile with ease
36 Have my family over for dinner
37 Volunteer for something
38 Organize my recipes
39 Visit Washington DC and be a tourist
40 Stop biting my nails
41 Recycle more at home
42 Learn to meditate and actually do it for one month
43 Make a family tree
44 Make homemade ice cream
45 Learn how to play poker well
46 Host a poker game night
47 Grow and herb garden
48 Test drive a car I could never afford
49 Get off the bunny slope snowboarding
50 Register with the church in my town
51 Go to a Red Sox game in Baltimore
52 Expand my board game collection
53 Improve my tennis game
54 Get back into taking ballet lessons
55 Finish cleaning out my Nanas papers and things
56 Cook a whole turkey dinner and fixings
57 Go to Patriot Place to help with my quest of understanding and liking football
58 Donate at least two trash bags of clothing from my house (three bags)
59 Visit my cousin Jennifer in Kentucky
60 Update my resume
61 Make time to blow bubbles on a beautiful day
62 Start a daily journal
63 Attend a free lecture or workshop
64 Go to a town meeting
65 Have a carpet picnic while it's snowing out
66 Color Easter eggs
67 Rollerblade the Charles River walkway
68 Roll my TIAAF IRA into to my City IRA
69 Become a better speller
70 Do the Walk for Hunger
71 Worry less
72 Fall in love
73 Spend more time having fun like a child and only get serious when needed
74 Perform five random acts of kindness
75 Go fishing
76 Research schools to transfer to
77 Cancel all store credit cards that I have never used
78 Go on a walking tour of Boston
79 Paint my downstairs bathroom
80 Take my Dad out for a very nice dinner
81 Knit more baby items for baby showers
82 Lower the credit limit on my credit card
83 Purchase a new (expensive) purse
84 Empty out my kitchen cabinets and reorganize
85 Take a girls trip to Chicago
86 Clean or have my Coach bag collection cleaned so I can use them
87 Take a tour of the Boston Harbor Islands

Lissa's List.... Work in Progress

I completely forgot to work on my list last night. I blame it on So You Think You Can Dance. But hey, better late then never, right?

I also originally titled this post "Melissa's List" but realized that would be confusing cuz we have two Melissas, so I changed it to "Lissa's List."

here are the first 60 or so, in no particular order. if i wanted to take the easy way out i could have listed the 30 books i want to read separately. :)

Travel to:
1. Spain, France, Italy, Prague, Scotland, Ireland
2. Australia/New Zealand
3. Seattle
4. San Fran/Sonoma
5. 2 states I've never been to( 1/2 - Wisconsin)
6. Actually get to the natural pools in Aruba. Maybe the 3rd time will be a charm.
7. Take a sister trip with just me and Amy.
8. Go on a picnic.
9. Sell my condo and buy a house.
10. Get a dog (or two).
11. Learn how to do agility training with said dog(s).
12. Make something substantial for the house with my sewing machine- Curtains, etc.
13. Make all the recipes in a recipe book.
14. Make homemade maki rolls.
15. Grow my own veggies.
16. Adopt a horse/pony.
17. Get portfolio together for a&m paperworks. Needs to be done asap!
18. Get the website for LowenMarkh Dressage cleaned up.
19. Compete and win at a rated dressage show.
20. Get back into playing the guitar.
21. Learn how to golf, for real.
22. Join the millions of delusional people on youtube who post video of them singing. :)
23. Go to a concert at least every 2 months (18 concerts). 4/18
10/09/09: Paramore
12/01/09: Lady Gaga
09/07/10: Mumford and Sons
11/11/10: Mumford and Sons
24. Attend a film festival.
25. Learn to make saddle pads.
26. Get resume and cover sheet put together for the time when I finally decide to find a new job.
27. Make my first real estate sale.
28. Get a job where i can actually put my MBA to good use.
29. Pay off my CC (to be done by end of 2009.)
30. After that, put an extra $50 per week into savings.
31. Renovate the upstairs bathroom
32. Renovate the downstairs bathroom
33. Renovate the kitchen
34.Go through my wardrobe and throw out anything that I haven't worn in over a year.
35. Re-organize my closet so Jamie can put his clothes in there.
36. Clean out the upstairs "nook" where all my textbooks are currently hanging.
37. Donate/sell 72 books. -at 51 now
38. Learn how to speak 2 languages fluently (other than English ha ha).
. Read/re-read all of the books on the MLA's Top 30 Book list. I'll blog after I finish each one :)
1. Gone with the Wind
2a. Golden Compass (His Dark Materials Book 1)
2b. The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials Book 2)
2c. The Amber Spyglass (His Dark materials Book 3)
3. The Lovely Bones
4. Jane Eyre
5. Time Traveler's Wife

40. Take a contuining education class at BCAE or someplace like that.
41. Start and complete the children's book that is floating in my head.
42. Write a screenplay for a movie, based on a book I love.
43. Hike Mt. Washington

44. Run 3 half marathons (starting... now!)(3/3)
45. Run a race approx every other month (18 races) 4/18
46. Complete the 100 Pushup Challenge. (starting today!)
47. Get a six pack, or at least a 4 pack.
48. Get my deviated septum fixed (NOT a nosejob!)
49. Go ziplining
50. Get off the bunny slope and board down an actual trail.
51. Go snowshoeing
52. Go biking at least 4 times a year.
53. Bonfire on the National Seashore.
54. Start a new family tradition, like summer vacation at a particular seaside spot.
55. THINK about maybe having a baby. (Amy stop jumping up and down.)
56. Dress up for work at least 1 x a week (no jeans!)
57. Get a new pair of glasses.
58. Take a day off from work and have a day of movie watching in the theater.
59. Take a bubble bath.
60. Donate 1-2 Christmas gifts.
61. Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity
62. Host a board game night.
63. Watch 26 movies I've never seen that begins with each letter of the alphabet.
A: Angels and Demons
F: Four Christmases
H. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I.
P: Prince of Persia
S: Sherlock Holmes
T: Toy Story 3
U: Up
Y: Year One
64. Donate $5 for everything not completed on the list.
65. Save $10 everytime I complete something on the list.
66. Learn how to hem jeans.
67. Go white water rafting.
68. Go to a live taping of the Ellen show.
69. Get my passport renewed/change the name on it.
70. Write a song.
71. Get down a green and a blue slope on my snowboard :)
72. Compete in and win a 2nd level test.
72. Compete in and win a 1st level test.
73. Get my real estate salesperson's license.
74. Watch a movie outside during the summer movie series at the hatch shell.