House hunting - over?

I've survived. That's all I can say. I've had a few posts ready to go about this , but I haven't said anything because:
a) I don't want to jinx it.
b) Every time I feel one way, another thing changes.
c) I've been worried about who reads this. Yes, I've been a little paranoid that maybe a seller would see me get excited about a house and then try to take me for more money. Whatever, no one reads this thing anymore (I've seen readership, let's say...FALL...since I left Philadelphia, but I don't care), but it still freaked me out.

So. I'll try to post these in the order in which they were written. Forgive me if I leave anything out or if I forget to post anything. Just ask me and I'll fill you if you see a gap in the storyline.

"And now," Max cried, "Let the wild rumpus start"

I'm inherently a bit wary of movie adaptations of books that I've loved since childhood. I think Hollywood ruined James and the Giant Peach and The Witches, two of my favorite Roald Dahl books. Charlotte's Web - sorry Dakota Fanning, but you are NO Fern. I'm going to pass on Tim Burton's take on Alice in Wonderland because I'm convinced that it's one of the few stories in which a darker Burtonesque adaptation is just...well, passe. Burton has done it before and ruined Willy Wonka, I'd love it if he'd just lay off my childhood and find a new story to tell. So help me God, if they ever turn Goodnight Moon into a box-office extravaganza, I might join a protest.

Last Sunday, I fell upon a New York Times article about Spike Jonze's journey in making Where the Wild Things Are. I should say - I loved this book to pieces when I was a kid. Even with the bland color pallette, I loved the illustrations - Maurice Sendak became one of the first illustrators I could name off the top of my head. I understood the significance of Max as a character, as well as his relationship with his monsters - even at a really young age - and I just fell into the camp of people who just got it when it came to WTWTA. It's about imagination, about a child's discovery of the adult emotion of loneliness - and how children deal with it. And along with Christopher Robin, Holden Caulfield, and Scout Finch, Max was a key example I used for a senior Children's Lit paper in illustrating how books have best described the fragility of childhood itself. So when I saw the article, I instinctively built my wall up - I thought "my GOD they have ruined it all. Great, my kids will NEVER get it like I did. Another Shrek knockoff."

But after reading the article, I really was excited to at least give this movie a shot. Then I saw the trailer. And the other trailer. And the featurette about the making of the movie. And now I'm super-pumped to see this - I think Spike Jonze, for lack of a better term, GOT it. This is what film students should study to find out why we bother adapting books into movies in the first place.

So I have now found the perfect formula for convincing Molly to spend an actual $10 to end her 2-year absence from the theaters. Take one quality director who has made a career of using his overactive imagination. Add a classic story and hire a superb writer - say, Dave Eggers - to write the screenplay. Involve the original author and illustrator at every step of the process. Fight the studio to make a film that keeps true to the integrity of the original work. Refuse to dumb down a story for children. Also refuse bright lights, vivid colors, and other children-trapping visual tricks unless germaine to the story. Hold the impact of the original work on its audience dear, and don't release it until you feel it's ready for that audience. Finally, set the trailer to Arcade Fire.

And then you've got Molly in cinematic tears...at the TRAILER.

A Cautionary Tale: Lessons learned the hard way. Or, Adventures in Myers Park.

Two little pieces of advice that I figured out the wrong way today:

1. Check what you're wearing before you go out in public. Beyond just covering the naughty bits, you might want to foresee who might look twice at your clothing. Because if you walk into the Myers Park Target wearing an old painting t-shirt, it looks a little odd to folks. Especially when it's covered in red paint splatters, and it makes you look like you're a serial killer.

2. If your caffeine addiction has grown to the point where the "Red Eye" (coffee plus a shot of Espresso) needs ANOTHER shot of Espresso, and you've learned that the Starbucks lingo for coffee-plus-two-shots is called a "Black Eye" (for it's strong punch), do yourself a favor and exercise restraint on the lingo. Just order like this: "Coffee with 2 shots of Espresso." Especially when in the often-crowded Dilworth Starbucks. Because when you place the order of "Can I get a tall Black Eye?" over the hiss of the machines, the baristas and everyone else in the crowded coffeehouse stop and stare. And you'll suddenly hear crickets. Because it sounds like you just asked loudly for a tall black guy.

Shameless begging for money - for a good cause!

One of the most frequent suggestions I got when I started training for the marathon was to tie it into raising money for a cause. Running has a way of getting that little devil in your head that says "WHY are you doing this? Your feet hurt, you're tired, you don't have the time, and God gave us horses and then cars so we WOULDN'T have to go far on foot. Why run unless being chased?". Raising money for a cause gives you motivation to get off your butt, ties you into a commitment greater than the $88 entry fee, and all that jazz. I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do, but the hands-down winner was the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. They're a great charity that spends over 93% of all their funds on research (some charities spend 93% on fundraising and administrative costs - I wanted something that actually DID things to make a difference!) and they don't have the benefit of a huge public celebrity to help them meet their goals. They're the little guy that's doing things the way that the big guys SHOULD!

Most of all, though, I picked the MMRF because my own Granddad died of the disease. I'm not here to give you a tearjerker campaign, but suffice it to say, I'd really love any support that's out there. Please visit my fundraising site and contribute anything you can - even if it's $10 or whatever - and it would really really mean a lot to me. All you anonymous blog-stalkers out there - you know who you are, I don't even have statcounter hooked up on this thing, so I can't single you out - but I know you're out there. You can make a donation anonymously if you like. The site is secure, it's quick, goes directly to the MMRF, and there's even a link on it to see if your employer matches charitable gifts. I found out that mine does by searching the database myself, and they even give the contact person of who to email for matching funds!

If you can't click on the link, here you go - no excuse! www.active.com/donate/2009MarineCorps/mollypants

If I get good response, I'll even post more often! See, two days in a row!

Big news: recent revelations about the real estate world.

Soooo...What's up with Molly? I finally have a few minutes, so I'll say hello and share some news that I realized I haven't discussed on here!

BIG NEWS...

No, I'm not pregnant, though everyone seems to be. And no, not getting married, though nothing in this world would make me happier than military discharge papers given to a certain Captain right now. Sidenote: since many have asked - the BF is stationed in California right now, and he ships out for deployment late fall. I kind of don't want to speak too much on a public forum on that, just because I get nervous in case the internet is patrolled by the enemy. I know, highly unlikely that they're reading my babble, but honestly, it scares the sh*t out of me every time I think about any of it. So I'll figure out some way to update y'all without such a public audience.

Anyway. The big news?

I'm likely buying a house soon. I know, you all are like "been there, done that." And Meghan has done it enough for all of us. But yes, after 16 moves over the past 12 years, I'm finally ready to move to some place that I will actually STAY. For at least three years, and hopefully past five. I signed with a real estate agent (a locally-owned small company, thanks to Drena's blog and my own preference for patronizing small businesses), and we've been doing the house-hunting. So far...I've read literally every listing in my price range, and have seen over a dozen in person.

And I don't know how so many people survive this experience. I'm already slammed at work, am running a freaking marathon in 8 weeks, and oh yeah, have to pack UP my current place. I know I'm forgetting something on my to-do list just by sitting here and writing this. Anyway, we saw a few (I'm committed on seeing 50 houses before I start freaking out), and I've figured out a few things:

1. There is absolutely no shortage of really ugly houses for sale in Charlotte, regardless of your price range. I bet you a million dollars that there's a house listed for over a million in Charlotte that has fake wood paneling or a dropped ceiling.
2. Location is everything, and resale value is everything. Especially when your realtor won't even let you out of the car to see a house when a location is THAT bad.
3. "Good" locations are incredibly arbitrary in Charlotte. Case in point: Grier Heights. You can buy a house for $40,000 that's liveable. The area is less than 2 square miles, and is completely surrounded on all 4 sides by Elizabeth, Chantilly, Cotswold and Eastover, which are 4 of the best areas in the city, with prices over $400,000 for a modest bungalow, if you can find one. But it's worse than Fallujah from what I've heard. I wouldn't know, I won't even venture in.
4. I'm REALLY trying to expand my thought. BUT. I am just not a fan of the Ranch/Split-Level/post WWII house. The irony is that all of my friends who live in them - love them. But me...I'm just different. I grew up in a house that was built in 1840. My mom bought the mother-of-all-blights when she split from my dad and then slowly turned it into one of the most unique houses I've ever been in, and my Dad bought 2 downtown rowhouses and restored one to the point that everyone who's EVER seen it thinks it's the most awesome house in Lynchburg. And hell, I lived next door to the workshop of one of Philly's most eclectic artists. All of that? I think I learned a bit of vision and a value of character. I'm trying to use that same vision for the ranch homes, but I dare say it's stretching even my wild imagination. I specifically hired the realtor I did, though, because he's the OTHER, more logical voice I need to hear, the one who will reign me in from creative clouds back down to practical earth. The one that tells me about return on investment, the one that points out asbestos ceiling tiles, and the one who indicates that an area is way worse than it appears. I'm guessing he'll be thinking about how I'm passing on gold mines and he'll inevitably have NO clue why I'll buy the house that I'll end up with, but he's good, and certainly earning his worth via time spent on emails and phone calls alone. My dad's fiancee (a realtor in Virginia) has also answered enough questions of mine that she's probably ready to keel over. I genuinely feel like a complete idiot about something else having to do with this process every day.
5. I'm starting to believe that "For Sale By Owner" means "Realtors wouldn't even take the listing because the Owner believes that it's worth twice what the market data says." I'm amazed at what some of them think their houses are worth.
6. Apparently, North Carolina defines a "bedroom" as a room with a closet and a doorway. It does NOT have to have a window.
7. Charlotte listing agents have a habit of classifying any adjacent bad area of town as "Arts District".
8. No Artists actually seem to LIVE in the Arts District. The Arts District's residents seem to be:
a) Yuppies.
b) Crazy old ladies.
c) Pothead renters.
d) People who were idiotic enough to invest in condos that promised to attract artists simply by calling them "factory lofts" when the only thing "factory" about them is that they were made in assembly line fashion to LOOK like converted factory spaces and renaming the streets for non-renaissance artists in a community called "renaissance".
I fall into category A & B to some extent, but my status as an artist means that I won't actually FIT IN with any of the four. D completely baffles me, however.
9. Meghan is my other voice of reason and for some reason ENJOYS house-shopping. Meghan, if you ever wanted to be a realtor for a living, I'd recommend you to anyone I'd ever meet, I think you've bought enough houses to be a fantastic buyer's agent.
10. On that note, I thought I would LOVE the "shopping" part. But sadly, it's not shopping in the sense that I enjoy it. The only way that it's like shopping for me is that it's like when you are raging on PMS and have to buy a bathing suit in March just after binging on Frito Pie and ice cream - nothing seems to fit, you're trying everything on, you've got a headache, and you're just praying for one to fall into your lap. And when you finally see a glimmer of light and hope, you realize you didn't check the price tag. Ironically, I feel way more confident about the once-I've-found-the-house side of things. Contract and project management. I do those for a living and do them WELL. I know how to negotiate, I know what I'm looking at, I know how to bring two sides together, and I know how to close out a checklist and make sure everything's legal, insured, and done right. I even know how to install faucets, tile bathrooms and deal with Home Depot, for crying out loud. It's the navigating through all the frogs to find the prince that has me stressed out.

But enough of my babble. I have to go running. Please, whatever real estate God is out there - send me a beautiful restored bungalow in my price range in Plaza-Midwood. I'll go to church every day, I'll be kinder, and I'll put more money in the Salvation Army kettle this Christmas.

Broadview / Brinks Security FAIL

I saw this while at the gym today. Typical scare tactic to get you to buy a security system, but watch closer:


Is it just me, or did that woman and her daughter break the first rule of surviving a horror movie?

NEVER RUN UPSTAIRS WHEN SOMEONE IS CHASING YOU.

Run out the back door from which you just came in, lady. And don't look behind you as you're running.

Who was the marketing genius who greenlighted this ad?

TRYING to post more

I don't really have that much to talk about - just working, running, sleeping, eating. I'm like a not-so-well-oiled machine. Since the running is the only thing I HAVE the control over, it's the actual least of my worries these days. I'm running the 10-miler in my hometown on September 28, but I have to figure some stuff out - my schedule says I'm supposed to run 14 that day. The last thing I'll do after crossing the finish line is go run 4 more. 'Specially in the area where the finish line is. Who knows. Anyway, since I don't have much to post about, here's something I stole from Lora Lee.
1. What kind of SOAP is in your bathtub right now?
-A soap from a gift basket from a place in Lynchburg called the Farm Basket. I think my mom gave it to me. It's supposedly margarita-flavored.
2. Do you have watermelon in your refrigerator?
-No. Never bought it in my life, now that I think about it.
3. What would you change about your living room?
-I'd definitely like to paint it, and find a way to make it not one big room. If I buy the house, I'd like to block off half and use it as a sunroom, maybe put my studio in there so clients can feel like it's more professional-looking.
4. Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty?
-Clean. Pressed Play this morning on my way out the door.
5. What is in your fridge?
-Milk, ketchup, salad dressing, leftover Buffalo Chicken Lasagna, baloney, cheese, and a couple bagels. Not a whole lot.
6. White or wheat bread?
-Yeah, here's where I'm supposed to say wheat. But I was jealous of white bread kids as a kid. So I buy white. Usually the enriched kind though.
7. What is on top of your refrigerator?
-Nothing. I hate having stuff up there and have gotten in the habit of dusting it religiously.
8. What color or design is on your shower curtain?
-Black and white damask.
9. How many plants are in your home?
-Zero. Never been a houseplant person.
10. Is your bed made right now?
-Yes. Gotten better at that too.
11. Comet or Soft Scrub?
-I use that foaming bathroom cleaner.
12. Is your closet organized?
-Actually yes. Not in color order or anything, but all of the hangers match, like items are together, and shoes are all in boxes. Best investment I ever made for my clothes, and it helps with a small closet.
13. Can you describe your flashlight?
-Blue Maglite that can be used as a weapon. It stays near my bed in case the boogeyman gets me.
14. Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home?
-Glass, I only have a few plastic cups after the great college cup purge.
15. Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now?
-No. I actually didn't even drink it until recently, despite being from the South. I drink the snapple stuff or unsweetened tea. Personally, seems like sweet tea would rot your teeth, so I've never really indulged the development of a taste for it.
16. If you have a garage, is it cluttered?
-I do not have a garage, but I do have a storage shed. Not cluttered anymore. It was a wreck when my roommate moved out and I thought someone had robbed it or something. So I took a Saturday and organized it.
17. Curtains or blinds?
-Blinds. Working on the curtains if I stay here.
18. How many pillows do you sleep with?
-At least 2.
19. Do you sleep with any lights on at night?
-No, I'm a dark sleeper.
20. How often do you vacuum?
-At least once a week. I love my dyson.
21. Standard toothbrush or electric?
-I love my sonicare even more.
22. What color is your toothbrush?
-White.
23. Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch?
-yes, but it's going in the trash if my old roomie doesn't want to reclaim it - it's waterlogged from rain.
24. What is in your oven right now?
-Nothing. Finally in a place where I don't have to use it for storage.
25. Is there anything under your bed?
-Boxes, my belts (in a box), flipflops, hangers and some winter clothes.
26. Chore you hate doing the most?
-Putting away laundry.
27. What retro items are in your home?
-some antique dressers, my grandmother's easel, some old ads from a 1890's fashion magazine.
28. Do you have a separate room that you use as an office?
-Technically, yes. It's my studio.
29. How many mirrors are in your home?
-3 including the one in the bathroom, but one is old and isn't really that great.
30. Do you have any hidden emergency money around your home?
-only the change jar. I don't like keeping money in the house. Leftover from a roommate I had once that stole from me.
31. What color are your walls?
-Renter's white. Trying to cure that.
32. Do you keep any kind of protection weapons in your home?
-The flashlight. The dog has a mean nasty bark as well. Thinking about at least learning how to use a gun because I've never touched one and am really scared of them.
33. What does your home smell like right now?
-Nothing. I don't like potpourri or overly-scented things. I aim for the neutralizers.
34. Favorite candle scent?
-See above. But there was one called Napa Valley Harvest that I dug for a while from illuminations. Which has since closed down.
35. What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator right now?
-None, I HATE pickles.
36. What color is your favorite Bible?
-I don't own one, though I might buy one soon just because I've never read it from a perspective of where it wasn't in connection with a church. I'd actually like to read it as if it's a historical textbook. Yes, nerd doesn't even begin to describe me.
37. Ever been on your roof?
-No, but I need to, the gutters need cleaning.
38. Do you own a stereo?
-one of those ipod docks, which I need to get rid of. The iPhone doesn't work with it, dammit.
39. How many TVs do you have?
-One. Never gets used. I watch stuff on the computer 99% of the time.
40. How many house phones?
-Zero. Haven't had a house phone since I lived in Atlanta.
41. Do you have a housekeeper?
-No, but if I buy this house and keep this job, definitely investing in one once a week.
42. What style do you decorate in?
-Artsy but never whimsical. Can't stand whimsical. I like really funky and unusual things, but in a semi-classic way. Put it this way - it's like asking someone to define porn. I just know it when I see it.
43. Do you like solid colors in furniture or prints?
-My couch's slipcover is printed. I guess I prefer to mix prints. It gets interesting that way. Don't want my house to look like every OTHER house.
44. Is there a smoke detector in your home?
-One in every room, the law in rentals in NC.
45. In case of fire, what are the items in your house which you’d grab if you only could make one quick trip?
-The dog would probably be out the door already or following me, so I wouldn't have to grab him, so....I don't know. If I had to...probably pictures, maybe my computer. If I could get it out the door, my easel. Artwork from OTHER artists. Maybe paintings, but half the time I hate looking at my own art, so I'd probably let them burn. Then...I don't know. It's just stuff. Took me a long time, but that's honestly how I feel about it now. Stuff comes and goes, and I've never lamented the loss of any material possession for long. It would give me a nice chance to regroup and I'd be blessed with a new-found absence of clutter. I know, how zen of me. Go ahead and hit me upside the head.

Mothers, turn your children's eyes away. If only because Aunt Molly is extremely vain right now.

No, that's not my butt. And I didn't draw it either, though I wish I did. It's a famous Picasso drawing called "Femme". May not be your taste, and you're probably thinking "um, Oliver/Owen/Charlotte/my newborn could do that" but it's one of my faves purely in it's simplicity. Three lines, yet the subject can instantly be identified even by anyone.

Anyway, I post it not because of anything art-related. I'm avoiding putting my vents on here today to give you some happy news. Today, I came home, and like every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I immediately changed out of my work clothes to get ready for running - if I don't do it right away, I'll talk myself out of it. As I was undressing, I noticed something.

I actually didn't mind my butt.

Seriously, I don't remember once in my LIFE where I thought that. I've looked back at leaner times and thought "I looked way better than I thought I did!", and I know I've never been unfortunate-looking in any department, but my butt and I have had a particularly trying relationship over the years. I don't think I can recall another time when I didn't look in the mirror and think it was either too big or too flat. It was the first of my curves to come in as an awkward teenager, and as any woman knows, it is the body part that's SO hard to get results on, not to mention the fact that jeans shopping alone can put so many people into virtual panic attacks. Even though you won't catch me running around the beach with a thong on any time soon, it was nice to catch a glimpse and go "hey, it's ok-looking!" Maybe it's from age and realizing that I'll NEVER have Elle MacPherson's long legs or Jackie Kennedy's graceful poise, maybe it's from running more, and maybe it's also from the fact that a burned-out lightbulb creates soap-opera-worthy lighting around my mirror.

Butt I'll take it.

Love this idea...

I'm trying to get back into drawing more often for a few reasons:
1. I hate wasting the free time I do have doing stupid stuff like watching entire seasons of horrible TV shows.
2. It's like working out - the longer you're out of it, the harder it is to get back into your form.
3. God, I'm stressed out. I need some sort of reliever. Running only accomplishes so much.
4. I've got all these materials, and they're just cluttering up my space.
5. Drawing is the foundation for painting, and painting is, well, what I'd rather be doing instead of sitting in an office. If I ever expect to start selling again, the only way to accomplish it is to start drawing again.

So I've poked around at how to force myself back into it, and I found this: the 100 drawing challenge. My goal: to post 100 drawings of the following themes. I'll add them as I can and post a link back on here. That is, if I can remember how to edit my website. A friend suggested I sell the drawings for $50 each, but since I have no idea how they'll turn out yet, I'll wait on that.

THE LIST……………………….
1. Introduction
2. Love –
3.Light –
4.Dark
5. Seeking Solace
6. Break Away
7. Heaven
8. Innocence
9. Drive –
10. Breathe Again –
11. Memory –
12. Insanity
13. Misfortune
14. Smile
15. Silence
16. Questioning
17. Blood –
18. Rainbow –
19. Gray –
20. Fortitude
21. Vacation
22. Mother Nature
23. Cat
24. No Time
25. Trouble Lurking
26. Tears
27. Foreign
28. Sorrow
29. Happiness
30. Under the Rain –
31. Flowers
32. Night
33. Expectations
34. Stars –
35. Hold My Hand –
36. Precious Treasure
37. Eyes
38. Abandoned
39. Dreams
40. Rated
41. Teamwork
42. Standing Still
43. Dying
44. Two Roads
45. Illusion
46. Family
47. Creation
48. Childhood
49. Stripes
50. Breaking the Rules
51. Sport
52. Deep in Thought –
53. Keeping a Secret
54. Tower
55. Waiting –
56. Danger Ahead
57. Sacrifice
58. Kick in the Head
59. No Way Out
60. Rejection
61. Fairy Tale
62. Magic
63. Do Not Disturb
64. Multitasking
65. Horror –
66. Traps –
67. Playing the Melody
68. Hero –
69. Annoyance
70. 67%
71. Obsession –
72. Mischief Managed
73. I Can’t
74. Are You Challenging Me?
75. Mirror
76. Broken Pieces –
77. Test
78. Drink
79. Starvation
80. Words –
81. Pen and Paper
82. Can You Hear Me?
83. Heal
84. Out Cold
85. Spiral
86. Seeing Red –
87. Food
88. Pain
89. Through the Fire
90. Triangle –
91. Drowning
92. All That I Have
93. Give Up
94. Last Hope
95. Advertisement –
96. In the Storm
97. Safety First
98. Puzzle
99. Solitude
100. Relaxation

*Note: I copied and pasted this onto a word document a long time ago and since have NO idea where I got it from. If you were the original author of this list, please leave a comment and I'll be happy to credit you. Free drawing to the author.

House woes and Artistic throes...

I feel bad about not posting. Not much going on except work, running and now, the house. What about my house? Well...it's a long story. My cousin had been living with me since late October, and we signed a year-long lease. She had a harder time finding a job than she anticipated, and finally found one with a firm that has her in a territory up to 2 hours away every day. The commute was killing her, so she moved into a house out in one of those random NC counties. Seems good for her, and her company bought out her half of the lease, so her rent is paid here until the lease expires November 1. I thought I had another place lined up, but it fell through and I was having second thoughts anyway - I love having a yard (the new place didn't have one), and I love the old-school charm to this house as well as the awesome location - less than a mile from work. I WANT to stay here, but can't afford it on my own. To top it all off, the landlord REALLY wants to sell the place. I think he anticipated flipping it for a huge profit, then the market just dried up after he had sunk $100k worth of repairs into the place. Beautiful, up-to-date house...but there's a glut of them on the market in Charlotte. I'd buy it myself, but I'm not in a position to do so. So the guy just basically gave the realtor/management company the go-ahead to sell the house at a loss if I don't sign a lease. If I go month-to-month, I risk the rent going up or getting kicked out on my tail at closing if it sells. So I have to look around for another place. It REALLY just stinks. I love this house, and I won't find another fitting my needs so close to work for such a great price. Threw a hail mary pass tonight in desperation, but I don't think I'll be here after November.

Worst part? Well, it's leaving a house that I really like. But the second worst part is that I AM SO SICK OF MOVING. I have moved FIFTEEN TIMES in 13 years. I'm ready to NOT be a nomad for once. Guess it might just take another move.

As Colonel Mustard would say...hauur!

I also started painting again this weekend, which made me realize how much I'll miss having a studio. I've been a bit spoiled with one for the past two years, even if I didn't use it much when I started working corporate again. I'm hoping to use it every day until I move now...just to get my money's worth, I guess. I found this website and it looks interesting. I think I'm going to take the challenge and see what I can get out of it. Won't sell any work, but it'll be interesting to see what comes out. I really like those kinds of assignments, the "variations on a theme" rather than "let's see who can make their painting look exactly like the photograph." Sadly, I'm actually better at making it look like a photograph, so I'm hoping this will expand my repertoire a bit. I've realized that the work I've done where it LEAST looked like a photograph seems to get the most praise...while I don't do it for praise, I think I might heed that kind of direction more in the future.

Sad post, but I'm trying for hope...

I normally never ask for these things, but whatever it is you do for a bit of human compassion - prayers, karma, good thoughts, lighting candles, what have you - please take some time and send an extra one out, if you could. I can't get into specifics of who or what, but I found out this weekend that a very dear friend of over ten years is going through a rough time, a rougher time than 90% of us will ever face. It tears my heart to pieces to see it happening, and I'm still quite in shock.

So yes, I'd love it if any of y'all could help with just some positive vibes or whatever it is that you do, and while you're at it, help someone out today that you know is having a tough go at life lately. You never know how much it will be appreciated.

Warning: venting about work WAY too much.

Bonus points if you can find the movie reference in today's post.

I have had exactly zero time lately. My day is like this:
-Hit Snooze.
-Hit Snooze.
-Hit Snooze.
-Hit Snooze.
-Get dressed for work and make it there by 8:30. My company's hours are 8-5, but since I rarely take a lunch, stay late, and I work my arse off, they don't really mind. I'll miss this if I have to go somewhere else, I admit.
-Answer about 50 emails.
-Work until my eyes are starting to burn into the computer.
-Take a 5 minute lunch: vending machine food, something I threw in my bag, or a sandwich from downstairs. Or nothing. All consumed at my desk.
-Check my personal email on my phone. Forward it to my work email if I need to respond.
-Talk to whatever people are screaming at my team that day. I don't take it personally, but I've noticed that the field only calls me when something's REALLY wrong. And then they all let me know.
-Meetings/conference calls.
-Read and possibly answer 50-100 more emails.
-Work again until I look like a "before" picture in a Visine ad.
-Sometime between 5:30 and 7, leave the building.
-Drive home, let the dog out, and change clothes.
-Go running (on the treadmill, since it's too hot)
-Come home, check my personal email, facebook, shower and eat whatever heats up in 90 seconds or less.
-Get in bed. Watch an episode of "How I Met Your Mother"
-Sleep.

Yeah, so that's why 20 minutes to write a blog entry is tough to come by. I can't even go grocery shopping unless its a "rest" day on my running plan. All I can hope for is that SOMEthing gives soon. I had a meeting with my boss on Monday because NO ONE could handle the workload we have right now, and I needed her to just cut me a little slack on some things that she was going to be expecting of me in the future. She agreed, and she asked me about the status of the biggest project I'm on. This is one where I've had to be the bad guy to property managers in 6 states, and I'm getting literally 250 emails a day with URGENT problems that I need to solve NOW. I told my boss the status, and she said she sensed I was stressed and wanted me to be very frank with her, and not to hide how I'm feeling.

CUE MOLLY CRYING. I rarely cry at work. This was an all out UGLY cry. I said I was physically exhausted, I've had one day off in 9 months where I'm not either deathly ill or working from home, and that the expectations are too high - me and one other person are doing what used to be the work of five people, and we have almost double the volume that those five people had. My boss was supportive and said that I was doing a great job and better than any other person they had brought in for my work, and that I needed to go home and get some rest. I did, four hours later after my meeting, and I did feel a bit better just having gotten it out. But I HATE crying at work. I don't, as a rule, do it. It's not professional. But I'm just glad it happened in a conference room, not in front of people. To top it all off, though, I had an outright panic attack on Wednesday because I realized that I couldn't find an email. Yep, it's the little things that push you over the edge! Some days, I'm about thisclose to taking Erin and/or Carrie up on the idea of being a nanny for their kids. While I realize that caring for kids has its own set of stresses and lack of time issues, hey, at least at the end of the day, even if they were sick and crying all day, they go back to their parents. And I think it'd be highly unlikely in that sort of job for Charlotte, Ella or Emma to call me and scream that they have an "EMERGENCY" because, horror of all horrors, the lawn didn't get cut today at a bank branch. I swear, I am convinced that spreadsheets and data analysis workflows were solely created by drug companies trying to push the high-blood pressure and anti-anxiety meds that are necessitated by working with Excel. Anyway, yeah, it's been a rough couple of weeks at work. I'm going to a DG sister's bridal shower tomorrow in Athens, and I'm very excited to see people where I can talk about something OTHER than facilities management.

I promise, more happy posts next time, just had to vent a bit. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lunch meeting in 20 minutes with Cliff Huxtable at the Four Seasons.

My week in tweets...

I'm awful. I know. I admit it. I also haven't called my mother nearly as often as I should, I've fallen asleep while on the phone with my boyfriend, I missed my brother's graduation, and my dog pretty much thinks I'm dead. I have no time because I'm working to keep a job I don't even have. I'm sorry. I don't deserve you as friends.

If you want to hear more of me, you can follow me on twitter, I'm @itsmolly. I'm also on facebook with the new vanity name www.facebook.com/mollypants.

Speaking of, a few things I've tweeted lately...my thoughts at the moment, in 140 characters or less:

1. Sold a painting for the first time since September. Is this a sign that the economy is on the rebound? Lord I hope so.
-Yes. Just to a coworker, but it counts, right? She said she wants one in particular, but since I'm not destitute for once, I might just trade her for a piece of her artwork (she's also an artist, probably why we get along so well), because I'm committed to never buying a mass-produced item to grace my walls. It's either my art or original art, no posters, no prints unless direct from a photographer. Good policy, in my opinion.

2. Any natural towheads have advice on mascara? Most only sell it in black or dark brown and it makes me look like a total hooker.
-For real. I have - yes, I swear - naturally blonde eyelashes. I hate the way mascara looks on me because they don't make it for my skin/eyelash tone. Still lost on this one.

3. "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -Gandhi. Wear green tomorrow. #iranelection
I'm amazed at the effect that twitter has had on the Iran election situation. It makes me happy to see people fighting for their freedom within the system set up for them. I feel horrible for the protestors - Iran is a very educated, prosperous and successful country, so these people really do have a lot to lose by protesting - but they are ruled by tyrants in a backward political system that restricts free speech. I can't tell you how fascinated I've been with how Iranian students and citizens have fought internet shutdowns, banding together to pass eyewitness observations, accounts, photographs and videos of what's happening. All through a simple networking device of 140 characters or less. I feel a little happy that people like myself across the world who retweeted news through these one-liners played an important part in it. It's no longer the newspapers of Hearst's era dominating the field, but the Grady school grad in me was rather proud of the changing world of journalism. And yes, I wore green that next day.

4. The Georgia Theater has gone up in flames. Where have you gone, Athens, GA, dawgnation turns its lonely eyes to you...
I can't even talk about how sad the Georgia Theater fire makes me. I can't even watch the news report on it. I absolutely refuse. It's the one train wreck I can't even bring myself to watch. Let's not talk about it, ok?

That's all. It's midnight, I'm sober, and it's Friday night. My eyelids are about as heavy as bowling balls after this work week.

Drena, I've found your next great real estate investment opportunity...

I love this movie so much, I'd probably sell my ovaries to own this house.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The Galloway Method...

I found this article today on the New York Times. I was pretty interested in it, given the training I'm in right now, so I decided to give it a try. For those of you who don't know, there's basically two main dudes who are older than dirt that write books on how to run a marathon - Hal Higdon and Jeff Galloway. I already have Hal Higdon's book, and I've gotten some good information from it - schedules, advice on shoes, how to correct your form, and a couple of other things. I hadn't really picked up Galloway's book, but I've always heard people saying things like "are you doing Galloway?" in line at the starts of races I've done. I thought the programs were basically the same, so I stuck with Higdon because, quite frankly, his is easier - run until you feel like you can't, and then walk, and then run when you catch your breath. Galloway's seemed a little more restrictive, but the article today made me wonder.

Here's the premise: you pre-determine intervals when you will walk instead of run, and you walk for a minute WAY before you're actually tired - in fact, EXPERIENCED runners will run a mile, then walk a minute. For EVERY mile.

Sounds like you'd end up with a 7 hour marathon time, but since I've been having some tendonitis, I decided to try it today on the treadmill. Today's run was 3 and a half miles, a good mid-week smaller distance. I normally HATE these runs. I hate them because I basically get bored and then I get winded. I push through the winded-ness, get a final burst of energy, and then almost collapse at the end and don't even want to make it through my cool-down walk.

So I tried it today, and after a 5 minute warm-up walk, I ran my first mile. At the end, I was NOT tired at all, and I almost pushed it to 2 miles before I did my 1 minute walk. I walked, though, and I have to say - I did feel better. I upped the speed on the treadmill and ran the second mile, and then walked the second break. Same thing - I felt a LOT better. I upped the speed a little more for the last full mile and then kept it steady for the last half-mile.

Verdict? I actually ran faster than if I had ran the whole thing. The entire 3.5 mile distance was done in 32 minutes, which is actually a little above a 9:30 pace. I DON'T run at a 9:30 pace. EVER. I was actually pretty shocked. Don't get me wrong - I can NOT keep a 9:30 pace for 26.2 miles, but I think I could do 10 minute miles if I have a one-minute walking break. Even the walking minutes add up, and that shaves a mile off the distance you'll have to run. I like the idea of looking forward to those little walk breaks, and I like that if I HATE running for that particular mile, I only have until the end of the mile til I get to walk again.

I think I'm going to buy the book tomorrow, I was at least glad that I had ONE day where I didn't completely dread my run. I'm still taking it one day at a time, and I like that this breaks it down even further - just finish the next mile.

And now I hate that I spent a ridiculous amount of time talking about running. I am NOT that kind of runner. I hate those people that only talk about running. I must remind you: I am a lazy person. I watch reality TV when I have cable, and I worked out approximately 2 times in 2008. Do not be fooled by the "I'm going to run an ungodly distance in four months" facade. I am still the same lazy, junk-food eating, carb-loving, vegetable-hating, sucking-wind-for-dear-life-when-she-runs-to-get-the-train girl you have always known and loved. Please bear with me until October 26, this will all be over soon enough.

Fleas.

I haven't posted about this because I've been secretly hoping that EVERY trick we try will just work so I can tell the whole story from beginning to end. But unfortunately, I can't.

BECAUSE IT WON'T END.

About 3 weeks ago, while at work, I got a rather frantic call from my cousin. She found fleas on her dog. The Colonel gets Frontline religiously, as my hometown is famous for ticks, and by my calculations, he wasn't even due for another week, so obviously I was a little surprised. Colonel Mustard seemed to be okay, but she was going to give both of them a flea bath to keep on the safe side. She went to Target, got drops for her dog as well as the Colonel, some flea shampoo, some home spray and some carpet flea-killer powder. Two hours later, she told me that while she was bathing him, fleas were just pouring off of him. We spent two solid days disinfecting the house, and we thought we'd be okay after that.

Wrong. Within three days, they were back. With a vengeance. We started getting bit, and the dogs weren't even phased by the treatments. Dan was here by then, so he and I took the Colonel to PetSmart and asked some advice of the staff. They recommended Frontline, and told me that the drops that my cousin had bought are basically useless. They didn't sell Frontline at PetSmart, so we bought the stuff that the girl recommended to at least help him out a little. Didn't even touch the buggers. I used the doggie spray, only to discover that Colonel Mustard does NOT like it. The next day, Dan bought the Colonel some Frontline (it's now available without a vet visit in North Carolina, thank GOD), and we tried another round of treatment.

SERIOUSLY, SHOULDN'T THIS BE OVER BY NOW?

Nope. Two weeks after the Frontline dose, I had to give him another. Tonight, I completely COVERED my bedding, my carpets, and everything else that fleabag may have touched with the home spray again, as well as washed everything I could find in scalding hot water and bleach. This weekend, we're going to bug-bomb the house (I don't know WHAT we're going to do for six hours with two dogs to stay out of the house), as well as treat the lawn. I've heard from many sources that the yard is pretty much where they pick them up, and they can latch onto the dog to come inside, then jump off once inside and then jump on whatever untreated host - including humans - they can find. Which is probably why Colonel Mustard isn't scratching, but I've got six or seven bites and a huge case of creepy-crawlies.

So yes, it's still ongoing. Let's hope for a final end to the situation so that I don't die of toxic exposure from all the pesticides I've ingested in the past few weeks. I never knew it til now, but North Carolina is one of the worst states for fleas, and Charlotte's many shade trees make it even worse. Ugh, I just got a chill writing that.

Biting off more than I could chew?

Possibly what I did this weekend. I bit off way more than I could chew.

I have talked about how I've been trying to run and train for the marathon, and I've been doing it over time so that I can get used to it. Since Dan has been here, I haven't been as good as maybe I should have been when it comes to running. I have slacked off a few days, but I haven't let myself get down about it. Every day I've skipped, we've been doing an intensely physical activity outside. We went rock-climbing twice, we took VERY long walks, we canoed huge portions of a river. So I haven't gotten too much running in. However, when we were planning our weekend, I mentioned that I really wanted to go back to Asheville. We loved it in the winter, had so much fun, and both of us talked about going back in the spring. Dan found out that there was a race in Asheville on Saturday, and we decided to get a hotel room on the Friday night before the race.

When we went to dinner on Friday night, Dan and I had agreed that he was going to do the ten-miler, and I was going to do the 5k. I've never done ten miles before, and this race was supposedly really hilly. After a glass of wine, though, I decided that I would be mad if I did a measly 5K and he did ten miles. So I said I would do the ten miler, and we both agreed that we didn't care about our times.

Saturday morning proved to be a difficult morning. I woke up not feeling well, and I will spare the details. Put it this way: the person who emailed me (and will remain nameless) to suggest Immodium before a race? Yes, they are correct. I took one, and during the race I was fine, but I was NOT fine until about a half hour before. My running partner did not feel well either. We got bagels and coffee, though, and we got on the road. We registered for the race all of ten minutes before the start time, and we finally started running at 9 am.

Let me tell you: when I heard of the course as "hilly", they WERE NOT KIDDING. The first FIVE MILES was a SOLID CLIMB. The second was a steady descent. This sounds great, but don't tell that to my joints. It HURTS to run downhill for a long time. I really did HORRIBLY in the race. I didn't finish last and it was a really small field to begin with, but I was CLOSE to last. I mean REALLY close. But I finished. All ten miles. Roughly a 3500 foot climb, up and then down. I noticed that the race was sponsored by the local hospital and wanted to voluntarily check in and have my feet amputated.

All in all, however, we had a great time once the race was done. We went to the outdoor sports festival and quickly left once we realized that we could not find any non-vegetarian food. Hey, it is Asheville, hippies are everywhere. We had a rather large post-race meal downtown, and then felt no guilt when we drank lots of beer at a couples baby shower we were invited to in Charlotte last night.

So yes, I bit off more than I could chew at the race. Still made it through (with a few walking periods) but I'm hurting a lot today. Taking today and monday off, then it's back to my 2 mile run on Tuesday. Ugh, I am not looking forward to that at ALL.

I'M NOT DEAD, I SWEAR

Melissa emailed me today asking me why I've been so quiet on the blog...eh, I don't know. Don't really have any big news, but then again, I didn't before, right? Don't have much time, but then again, I don't have kids and I didn't have time before. So the real answer is just...I suck. Sorry.

Memorial Day was lots of fun. Dan and I went back to my hometown for a camping trip with a good friend of mine from high school. We all got a slow start on Saturday and about 12 people total took a nice slow canoe trip down the James River. We took Colonel Mustard, who, for the record, is NOT a good swimmer. If you throw him in the water, he sounds a bit like a bowling ball being thrown in a lake. He swam, but only to keep himself from drowning. He did NOT like that. Guess I'll have to introduce him to the water again soon so he's not so scared of it, or at least buy him a life jacket. We camped out at an island in Appomattox County (where, you might have heard, is "where our nation became whole again" - the surrender of the Civil War...and yes, it really hasn't changed much since then) and then got another WAY slow start and canoed another 10 miles or so to the edge of the James River State Park. I'm glad we didn't go any further down the river - Dan got a sunburn, we were out of non-alcoholic drinks, and east of Appomattox county, the trash starts to pile up in the river. I had a lot of fun, but I was struck by the fact that I never really did things like that too much when I lived in Lynchburg. I went camping once or twice, went rock-climbing a few times, went to camps in the boondocks, and played at Panther Falls once or twice in high school, but I don't really think I appreciated it as much as I should have. I definitely think that moving to bigger cities on rivers (Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia) have made me SO aware of how disgusting they can get when people don't treat them properly. Everyone on the trip was saying how beautiful the James was, but that when you get even a little bit further downriver, it's just gross. Anyway, we had a lot of fun, and hopefully I'll get some pictures sent to me to post. I took my camera, but chickened out from bringing it on board the canoe - now I want one of those water-proof point-and-shoots.

In other news, I've been reading a really interesting book. If you'd like to know about the place I grew up, pick it up. I heard about this a little while back and thought (like a lot of native Lynchburgers) "why didn't I think of THAT?!?" - an average guy decided to transfer to Liberty University for a semester and write about the experience in one of the world's - admittedly - most DIFFERENT universities. I often tell people about Liberty and my hometown and people are almost disbelieving at how crazy that place is - a 45 page code of moral conduct, reprimands for not making your bed in your dorm, being able to be kicked out of school for drinking LEGALLY - this backs it up. It really has made me think about growing up there and how happy I am that I never bought into it in lockstep the way a lot of people have. Don't get me wrong - I don't think for one second that people who go to Liberty don't know what they're getting into, but it scares me to read some of the stuff in the book. Things like the fact that Liberty steadfastly demands teaching a Young-Earth model of Creation, which is adament in the assumption of the world being less than ten thousand years old. I don't mean to stir up evolution vs creation here - I believe both of the theories have room for each other. But to say that dinosaurs roamed the Earth with man, that carbon-dating was made up by atheist scientists? Yeah. It also bothered me to see women still regarded as all-but second-class citizens, who are taught to recoil at the sight of the word 'feminist' and to consider their first job in this world as submission to their husband. If you want to use that model for your marriage, by all means, do so. But I consider it a completely different matter when it is taught as the only correct school of thought in a University (sic) that receives federal funds. At any rate, I happened to pick the book up in Lynchburg across the street from LU, and even though it wasn't on Liberty property, the fact that I could only buy it by requesting it from behind the counter was not lost on me - especially on the weekend LU announced that their chapter of the Young Democrats was thrown off campus because they lent support to pro-choice candidates. It made me think a lot about what they've done to my hometown, and quite frankly, I'm running out of good things to say about them. You know when you've gotten to the end of your rope with an old friend? The one who has never made you feel like you've known them all that well, the one who continually hurts you when you stick up for them? Yeah, that's about how I feel. I'm continually saddened to see that the Liberty / Thomas Road Baptist Church / Old Time Gospel Hour / whatever sideshow has hijacked the meaning and name of institutions and ideas that I used to actually enjoy - namely, the Republican Party, Lynchburg, and for that matter, Christianity in general. I hate that they've invoked the name of God to parade their moral high horse and have imposed the idea that if someone doesn't agree with them, they're against God. I've got news for you, Jerry Falwell Jr: Martin Luther's 95 theses still stand. It's not between a person and a Church, a person and a Megachurch, a person and a University, or even a person and a Moral (sic) Majority (sic). It's between a person and God. And by the way: Church. State. Separate. Get it?

OK. Off my soapbox now. This is the book - The Unlikely Disciple, by Kevin Roose. For a guy of all of maybe 22, he's a great writer and seems to have accomplished a task that not many native Lyncburgers ever could - writing a fair and balanced (um, not in the FoxNews way, though) account of the nation's Holiest-than-Thouest school.

Hope you all had a great weekend, and nope, sorry...no word on the job yet.

Happy Mother's Day!

Have a happy one, you Mommies I hold Dearest...

Nice Rack...

I have to go running now, but I thought I would show you how amazingly AWESOME my new shelves are. I can see all of my paints on the wall and it looks like the freaking store or something. I love it. My boyfriend is the best shelf-builder ever in the whole wide world.

Random junk from your elusive friend Molly...

Oh I know...I'm a horrible, spotty poster.
Random updates...
1. Still no update on whether or not I have a job. Supposedly going to find out on the results of my company's rebidding of the project next week, and by the looks of things, my company should be in a pretty good position. After that they've got to negotiate the details of their contract, which should help them figure out if they can afford me. At this point, I just want a decision.
2. I got an iPhone! I love it. I had to get a new phone (the blackberry really bit the dust - I couldn't type the A, S, W or space bar keys for some time) and I finally qualified for reduced pricing - actually lower than a new blackberry. First time EVER an Apple product has been cheaper than a non-Apple product!
3. Dan was in town this week. I had so much fun with him, we didn't do a whole lot, but he did build me some AWESOME shelves for my paints. I already knew Dan was good at this sort of thing, because on our first real "date", he outpacked my Dad (not easy) in loading up my U-haul to move here. I had more stuff than when I moved from Boston, and Dan packed way more stuff than my dad did in the same size U-haul. He really blew this one out of the water with the shelves though - I told him what I needed and he proceeded to build me some shelves that rival the work of any Engineer I'll ever know. All for less than $30 in materials at Lowe's, plus the purchase of a jigsaw that will come in handy when I start making my own frames again.
4. Still running, but I'm having some knee pain. I've had surgery on the same knee before, and I know that it's not an ACL or MCL (that would be HORRIBLE), and I think it's just tendonitis. But MAN, it HURTS. I had to slow down on an easy 3 mile run the other morning (yes, I had to run in the morning - it's already too damn hot to run in the evening here) because it hurt so bad, so I took two days off to rest it and I'm going to buy a specialized ice pack to ease the inflammation. I refuse to use those knee straps - my stepdad is in Sports Medicine and has always said that if you start running with one, you'll be dependent on it forever. Thankfully, the rest helped, I ran 3 miles today and I didn't have any pain. I'm going to run again in the morning, so we'll see how it goes on day 2 after the break. I am still up to date on my mileage, 2 months in, but I told Dan the other day that part of my slump with the knee pain is that frankly, I'm BORED of running. He recommended to not make myself make up runs if I skip one run or so a week, as long as I keep my long runs engraved in stone. I don't know - I'm afraid that if I break a schedule without making it up, I'll never start back. We'll see.
5. I'm babysitting 2 of my favorite towheads for like 36 whole hours this weekend - Owen and Caroline! I know Meghan's probably freaking out right about now, but it'll just be a quiet day and a half with the littlest Holbrooks. Meghan said we could go somewhere if we wanted, but given that there's a massive outbreak of Pinkeye, not to mention the Swine Flu, I think we're just going to keep it low-key and stay home. No, I don't think that they'd be Swine Flu Patient X and Y, but I pride myself on giving my baby-sitting charges back to their mothers without highly contagious diseases. We're going to have loads of fun, though, and I'm sure Matt and Meghan will do the same at the wedding in the dirty Jerz.
6. No real change in deployment status, but Dan might get a different unit, which will mean that he will go to the OTHER war-torn region. It means he gets to be with one of his best friends while he's on deployment, though, which is really good news for him and for me. I'd much rather him feel like he's being backed up by people that he really trusts instead of people he only recently met. It could be weeks before he even finds out, though, so I'm not thinking about it until I have to.
7. How ABOUT that professor that killed all those people in Athens? I was floored when I saw that. I had him for a class, but I ended up dropping it. I just remember him being smart, but I got an odd feeling from him. I thought maybe he was one of those teachers that would end up being fired for inappropriate relations with a student - turns out he was a brewing mass murderer instead. Who'd have thunk it?

Pretty much the saddest thing I've ever heard...

I was driving home for lunch today and heard a news report on NPR about the funeral mass held for the Italian earthquake victims today. I didn't realize that it's incredibly unusual for the Pope to allow a mass to be held on Good Friday, but Italy has declared a national day of mourning and they held the mass outside because the churches had been so badly damaged in the earthquake. I started thinking about some of the small towns I had visited in Italy and realized that 200+ deaths in most towns is a significant loss, to where everyone knew a great many of the victims. I hadn't thought much about the earthquake until today (I don't have cable and I've been working non-stop since before it happened) but I heard this on the radio and I wanted to about bawl my eyes out:

The coffins of four young sisters from the Germinelli family lay side by side, bearing their names and dates of birth: Rosa 1992, Michaela 1995, Chiara 1998, Giuseppina 2002. Each had a large bunch of white lilies wrapped in cellophane with a ribbon reading “From Papa.”

Hug the kiddos today, y'all.

A new section of the interweb, just for Molly.

I've started a blog for my training for the marathon...it's called...
The Mollython. Well, actually, 26.2 Miles of Molly, but you can find it at www.mollython.blogspot.com.

Come watch me complain about the fact that I actually paid money to put myself through this torture. I will post on here too, but I figured I'd take Carrie's lead and separate some things.

I already mentioned it on the other blog, but I missed my first day of training this past Sunday. For the record, there was no way I could have run 3 miles - I wanted to go to the Art Museum with Dan, and I had to leave to fly back to Charlotte at 5, getting home around midnight after a layover in Atlanta. I had no access to a shower after noon, so I skipped it. Lesson learned? It's MUCH easier to just plan ahead and do it rather than fight all week to make it up. I have a rest day tomorrow, which I'm using to make up that three miles. Sucks, but I'm glad the weather will be nice for once!

Picture is from my camera, but Dan took it at the race. It's of a Marine who's about 100 years old who carries the flag through the 10k. At the end, when there were stragglers struggling in, he would run up to the top, meet them, give them the flag and have them finish the race carrying the flag. I thought it was cute, and every single person that he gave the flag to ended up running at a full sprint to the finish line. No, I didn't get the flag, but I wasn't that far down from the stragglers myself!

6.2

I finished the 10k on Saturday. Finished, but I'm not going to even tell you what my time is, it was so bad. I finished about 2/3 of the way down the list of finishers, which I'm okay with.
Lessons learned:

1. Go to the bathroom before you run a race. I thought I could hold it. But no. I had to stop about halfway through and hit the porta-potties.

2. No one can run through mud when it gets to a certain level. I'm not kidding, there was about 6 inches of slippery, wet mud that was simply unavoidable for about 2 miles of the race. I literally did not see one person who was able to run through it. When I finished, Dan told me that the first and second-place finishers had mud up to their thighs, just covered. Everyone else was just filthy, like me. I would bet that fewer than 1% of the finishers ran the whole course. I finished, though, and I got my registration. $88 later, I'm now officially signed up to run the Marine Corps Marathon on October 25.

Otherwise, we had a great time in DC. After the race, we took a long NAP, then got some brunch and went to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. I really liked it, and I'm surprised that I've never been before. We saw the official portraits from the U.S. Presidents, which I really enjoyed. I learned some interesting things, like that Eisenhower became a painter himself when he sat for his portrait, and that Lyndon Johnson was kind of even bigger of a jackass than I thought. When Peter Hurd presented the portrait to him, he said "that's the ugliest thing I ever saw, get it out of here" and Johnson was slightly famous for using his size to intimidate people and stand over them. Kind of funny.

We later went bowling with Dan's running friends, and I proved my ability...I bowled three games, and my combined score was about 140. Seriously, I'm a HORRIBLE bowler. Dan and I then went to visit a friend of his at the bar where he works, and I...well, lets just say I was hating life on Sunday. I broke every rule of drinking - I drank cheap tap beer at the bowling alley, then drank the fullest-body red wine I've ever had...all on an empty stomach. I nearly lost it at brunch on Sunday.

Obviously, I was exhausted, and despite a two-hour nap after lunch, I was super-tired driving home. I had to stop halfway and pick up Colonel Mustard at my mom's house, but I HAD to be at work on time today, so my stay in Lynchburg was only about half an hour. I finally got on the road to Charlotte at 9 pm and was so sleepy, I had to stop somewhere about 80 miles away from Charlotte and take a power nap. I've NEVER had to do that, but I would have wrecked the car had I kept going. Luckily, though, Dan talked to me the rest of the way home so I wouldn't fall asleep. Needless to say, my workday today was TOUGH.

And it's now 6:36 and I'm wondering when I can go to bed.

Bank of America, eff you.

This is why I hate banks right now. They're being bailed out and now they're all saying "we can help the little guy overcome this economy"...yeah, thanks to the hundreds of billions of dollars they were given to bail them out of the fact that they lent money to deadbeats. Case in point? Today's Gchat conversation between me and my boyfriend. Backstory: when I got my raise, my file was shifted from one temp agency to a sister temp-to-hire agency because the account had outgrown a temp status. Because the new one didn't recognize me, they kicked back my time sheet and sat on it for two days. As a result, I got paid today instead of Tuesday for my last paycheck. As a result of the fact that I had to pay bills the same week, I overdrafted my account EVER so slightly for less than 12 hours. Yes, I should have had the money, but seriously - money's tight. Especially when AirTran charges me more to fly my suitcase to Texas than they charged to fly ME to Texas. More on that one later, but here it is: what's wrong with consumer lending and banking, in a 2-page summary.

11:34 AM
me: I overdrafted by TEN DOLLARS TOTAL and BofA wants to charge me 3 fees of $35 each for it
Daniel: damn
me: for less than 24 hours

12:29 PM
me: ahhhh...I went to BofA in the rain and waited to talk to a "personal banker", whatever that means...they refunded part of it but I still have to pay $48 for overdrafting by $11 for less than 24 hours. I wanted to yell and grab all the lollipops on my way out.
me: if I borrowed $11 from you today, and when I took it back to you the next day I was told to pay $48 in interest charges, you'd be arrested for loan sharking. I fail to see how this is any different.
Sent at 12:49 PM on Friday
Daniel: hahhaha
i'm sorry pants
Sent at 12:51 PM on Friday
me: grrr
me: it's okay I'm just sick of chasing my tail if you know what I mean
me: the guy was like "well we can help you set up some savings so you don't get into this in the future" and I was like "well, since I don't have a JOB thanks to your lovely firm, after June, I will HAVE NO SAVINGS."
me: I love how when you go in with a very human and real concern, they a) say "I can only do what the computer lets me" and b) belittle you like you have no financial responsibility and then suggest a line of CREDIT.
Daniel: hahaha
Daniel: I called (edited: his credit union) when my car broke down yesterday to double check that I don't have towing coverage (I don't), and then she said, "would you like to add it in case of breakdowns in the future?" I said no, that I might just get rid of the car. Then she said I was preapproved for a car loan and would i like to..." and I basically said, "Hey lady, I'm on the side of f**king 95, why don't we discuss a whole range of products now. Can I refinance my f**king boat and get an adjustable rate jumbo loan right now as well?"
Sent at 12:59 PM on Friday

An old cowboy, ready to run a race, and a bit of a pickle.

The picture is from our trip to Texas, I had zero time to adjust the settings on my camera, but I liked the way it turned out anyway. Some old cowboy at the gas station in the middle of nowhere.

I'm running the 10k on Saturday in Quantico, and I'm driving up to Washington DC tomorrow. I ran my last 2 miles to train for it today, and if all goes according to my calculations, I'm going to run it in about 65 minutes. I ran 5.5 in Texas in scorching heat on Sunday, and I only slowed to a walk three times, twice to get water along the trail, once because I felt myself overheating.

Other than that, I've been getting back to work in the office. I worked about 30 hours the week I was gone, but the work still came piling in as it seemed to sense my absence. I am meeting with my boss to discuss this tomorrow, but I'm curious to hear what others outside my company would say. I'm basically one person that picks up projects ranging from filing and data entry all the way to writing legal contract language, albeit without a law degree. It's nice to have a variety of work, but I typically get projects from people when they realize that they can't get it done in time themselves. As a result, almost everything comes to me as near-urgent. I learned well in previous positions to ask people for timelines when I get assignments, so I ask 90% of the time, with the remaining 10% of the work being things that have a built-in understanding of a timeline. The problem is that I can't do everything all at once to get everything to everyone right away. In my previous experience, I was lucky enough to have secretaries or interns, but my company is structured so that each unit is small and I AM the bottom rung.

So, when push comes to shove, how do any of you react in this situation? When everything is urgent, nothing becomes urgent, correct?

Elvis Perkins in Dearland

More pictures later, but this is from one of the shows we went to on Thursday - Elvis Perkins in Dearland. I discovered him when I heard a song of his on NPR and almost wrecked my car trying to get the name of the artist. I haven't heard a bad song of his ever since, and was really excited to see him in the lineup. They played a free show at the North Shore Auditorium yesterday and we decided to catch it right before we went running in the same park. I'm sure we looked pretty silly in workout clothes at a rock concert, but I loved it nonetheless. We were able to get extremely close (a welcome change from the likes of the Music Midtown experiences I remember) and while most of the crowd was there for a band called Cold War Kids that was immediately following EPID, I really liked the show. They closed with this song, and I'm hoping to buy their new CD pretty soon.

South by Mollypants: Night one.

We went to the first night of the SXSW music festival last night. This really is an awesome place to go see a band live - we were in a bar smaller than the average Athens bar, but it was such an awesome place to watch music. Last night we saw the Lubbock, Texas showcase - four different bands, most with some sort of twang in their music. They must have a hard time classifying a lot of this music - I think this show was listed as a mix of "alt country", "americana" and just plain old "rock".

We saw the Thriftstore Cowboys first, which was one of my favorites.


Then the Texas Belairs, who kind of had more cajun in them...Dan liked them best:


We finished up the night seeing Colin Gilmore. He was kind of old-fashioned, for lack of a better word. Covered Buddy Holly better than I've ever seen before.



Highlights of the night:
1. Great Venue. Seriously, you could sit on the steps of the deck and watch the band from there under the stars. They allow DOGS in there, for crying out loud. I made good friends with the dog that belongs to the lead singer of the Texas Belairs.
2. Amanda Shires of the Thrift Store Cowboys complimented me on my dress in the bathroom.
3. $10 cover plus 3 beers apiece: $50 for the entire night. Couldn't beat that price in Lynchburg.
4. I wore boots and a dress - awful nice to have your feet not throb the next morning from high heels.
5. Late-night breakfast at Kerbey Lane...biscuits and gravy. YUM.
6. I threw my name on an email list for the last act (I was actually trying to buy a CD from the first, but they had packed up - I didn't want to look like a jerk, so I put my name/email on the list)...I told him I live in Charlotte and sure enough, I got an email from him within 24 hours thanking me for attending and noting that he'd let me know when they come to NC. In a business so full of people who are so high on themselves, it's really nice to see bands actually appreciate people coming to see them.

626.55 miles of sucking wind.

Six hundred twenty six miles, nine hundred sixty eight yards.

Between February 23, 2009 and October 25, 2009, I will run exactly that distance.

Holy Crap.

I bought Hal Higdon's book Marathon this past week and was laughing at the chapters on why people decide to take the challenge on. People ask questions like "so how long is the marathon you're running?" (answer: 26.2 miles, same as every other marathon in modern times) and "you think you might win?" (answer: no, I will consider it "won" when I cross a bridge at mile 19, which means that they won't be able to tell me I'm not allowed to finish, and I don't care if I finish right after some 90-year-old snail, as long as I finish and get the damn t-shirt) and "is it hard?" (answer: go run right now and tell me it was easy after 26.2 miles) and Mr. Higdon, quite possibly one of the most insane members of our society ever to strap on a pair of sneakers, always has a funny response and way to motivate the other people who train with him. I'm not drinking the proverbial kool-aid, but I have gotten a few odd responses. Most have said it's a cool thing to shoot for, and most are sort of supposing that I'm doing it for Dan, seeing as it's the Marine Corps Marathon and all. Truthfully, while I'm extremely proud of him and would love to say that's what it's for, I don't think anyone runs 620-some-odd miles for anyone other than themselves. I wanted to do it because I enjoy a challenge - even though I enjoy bitching along the way - and because I'm sick of sitting around being the skinny-fat kid who weighs 100 lbs but hasn't ever been able to do a chin-up in her life. I don't think it's impossible - my mom ran marathons, triathlons, and ultramarathons when I was little, and I thought everyone's mom was a runner back then and that's what I would do when I grew up. Seriously, the woman ran a 50-mile race in the MOTHER-EFFING MOUNTAINS. AFTER THREE KIDS. I'm not getting to that level - EVER - but I do think she got a lot out of it when she did it. She seemed to really enjoy doing it, and she really seemed to like herself a lot because of it, even if she did pull in last - but finish - on that 50-mile race. So I grew up knowing that I COULD do it, and when I got older I figured out that it's just HARD. Now that I'm pushing the big three-oh, I figure I'd rather usher out my 20's in a much healthier fashion than the manner in which I entered. I don't remember the specifics, but I'm sure that my 20's were entered in via Sky's Place or a keg party at some fraternity house.

So anyway, that's why I'm doing it. You can follow my other blog with training info and watch my progress. If you'd like, feel free to come watch me and cheer me on in Washington DC on October 25, I will be the blonde with a 26.2-mile long cranky look on her face who needs a beer at the finish line. I don't think anyone I really know will be able to make it, but I don't really care, to be honest.

Mr Higdon, I have a new comment for your list of comments you get when you say you're going to do a marathon for the next edition of your book, courtesy of my friend Cara...
Cara: "So, running the marathon? Hmm. What made you decide to do it?"
Molly: "Just seemed like it was a good idea this year."
Cara: "When I hear things like 'I think I'll go run 26.2 miles', I am reminded of when JFK said 'looks like a pretty day for a drive' or when General Custer said 'there can't be that many Indians, right?' "

She was just kidding, but yeah, sometimes it feels like it.

Some days, you're the statue.

I sat down in my office's courtyard yesterday and looked around at the people who were also eating lunch outside. Hoping for a familiar face, I quickly realized that I was out of luck and only saw some random people I see in the elevator or similar situations. I looked down to my purse to grab my book to read instead, and then I heard it...

Woman: "you always look so pretty." I turn around and the woman is looking directly in my direction. I don't recognize her, but I quickly assume that I've met her on my first day when I met 10,000 other people.

Me: "oh, thank you!" Vain Molly has just turned this into a red-letter day.

Woman: "oh no, not you."

Woman points to her bluetooth underneath her massive football helmet hair.

Sometimes you're the bird, sometimes you're the statue.

My kids will hate me because I've now decided to never give them video games.

Pro-Active Packing and Airline Roulette

Maybe it's the fact that I can't stand to leave the office without my to-do list made out for the next day. Maybe it's the fact that every time I go to visit my boyfriend for a weekend, I bring tons of clothes and still forget something really important, like a coat in December. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm very excited for my first week-long vacation since 2005.

But regardless, I've started packing FIVE FULL DAYS ahead of time for my trip to Texas. What? You pack two weeks ahead of time and every top goes with every bottom and you fit 70 gabillion outfits in one carry-on bag? Shut up, I don't care. This is a big step for me. I did laundry yesterday, I got my luggage together today ($50 for a huge spinner suitcase - thank you, Marshall's!) and I just started packing about an hour ago.

Have no fear, however. The same Molly you know, love and/or would love not to know is still here. I have already overpacked. At last count, I am bringing 12 dresses, 10 tops, 3 pairs of jeans, 2 skirts, and 3 bathing suits. Haven't even begun to think about shoes, basic t-shirts & tank tops, underwear, workout clothes (that darn marathon doesn't give me a vacation) or pj's/sweats. I'm already going to be bringing more than I would on a normal vacation - I am bringing 3 lenses for my new camera (my mom gave me her old ones), my computer, work stuff (I'm still going to be working from home for most of the trip - as much as I'd like to walk away and leave the blackberry off, I can't afford to take the whole 8 days off), running clothes and random art stuff. So the packing is probably going to start worrying me around, oh, Thursday.

But for now, I've got a more pressing issue. Actually GETTING to Texas. The short of it: When my boyfriend booked his ticket, he booked with a free voucher he had. He was routed through Atlanta, and since I wanted to be on his flights, we booked me on the same Atlanta-Houston and Houston-Atlanta flights. I was stupid and thought "hey, maybe I should just drive down to Atlanta and back from Charlotte. Might be cool to see the old town." Mmm-hmm. I failed to consider a) how much I hate driving, b) how many times I've driven that same rotten stretch of I-85, and c) how EARLY my flight was - it's at 8-something a.m. I looked into flights from Charlotte last week to Atlanta, and the sale was awesome - $49 each way. Unfortunately, the rent check would have bounced, so I waited. Idiot. I checked today when I got paid, and the sale was gone for the Charlotte to Atlanta flight. The ATL-CLT is still $39, but the CLT-ATL is now like $250. I gambled with the airlines, and I lost. Now I'm basically stuck with driving to Atlanta. Not horrible, but none of my options are at ALL ideal:
Option 1: Leave Charlotte at 2 am Sunday morning to get to the Atlanta airport by 6. Park the car in long-term/cheap-as-hell parking and get my flight at 8. Be cranky when I see my boyfriend because I haven't slept in 24 hours or so.
Option 2: Leave Charlotte earlier, drive to Atlanta and stay with friends. Make them get up hella early to get me to the airport by 6:30 or so on Sunday. Really, I can't do that. It's the weekend, I'm pretty sure that getting friends up that early on a Sunday is outlawed in the Geneva Convention somewhere.
Option 3: Take option 2 and pay for a hotel room at the Atlanta airport. I'd probably get paranoid that I would oversleep and miss my flight. Pay around $150 for a hotel room, which basically negates the purpose of driving to save the money on the plane fare, even if it does include a few days of free parking.

Ugh. I'm pretty much going to have to take option 1, which means that I'm going to be getting up at 2 IN THE FREAKING MORNING. On a day where I HAVE TO RUN 5 MILES IN THE AFTERNOON. Before you say it - no, I can't sleep on the plane. I haven't been able to sleep in the upright position since somewhere around the mid-80's.

Moral of the story? Don't gamble on the airlines. It NEVER works.

Gosh it's been a while...

Since I posted. Sorry. Here's a few random goings-on...

1. I'm still keeping up with working out. I can't believe I've gone at least 6 days a week for a month now. I think this is the closest to a "routine" I've ever gotten in with working out. I think the trick was to keep my expectations low. I'm not demanding instant results, and I'm not pissed off at myself if I can't finish a certain amount of time on a machine or whatever. I also bypass the trip home after work and go STRAIGHT to the gym, which seems to help on time. I can blow off work steam doing whatever class I want, or I can do any one of the workouts I've collected from a few sources. It's going to get harder, though, because...

2. I'm going to run the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC in late October. I've always wanted to do it, it's a fast, fairly flat course, and the weather's usually nice. I have to run a 10K on the 28th of March to get early registration (the MCM fills up FAST), but I think I can at least tolerate that. I found a few programs online to help you get in shape, and I have to kick it up until the 10k, then I have about 30 weeks to train for the marathon, adding no more than 10% a week. It's not impossible, it's just work. I'm just trying to keep an 11 minute pace in training with the hopes that I'll be able to stick somewhere around it during the actual marathon. While there's no time limit, you have to maintain a 14 minute pace in order to get to a certain point before they make you hop a shuttle bus at mile 19. I will DIE if I have to do that. I'm not aiming for a time, though - I ONLY want to FINISH.

3. I got a RAISE at work! I waited until I SAW last week's paycheck, but it's awesome. My boss was really good about it and fought a lot for it with many different people, and actually got me MORE than I even asked for. I was really surprised, and it's nice to feel like you're actually rewarded for working your butt off.

4. Dan comes to Charlotte tomorrow! I'm excited. We've got a nice weekend planned - cleaning out my storage unit (yuck, but it has to be done. Luckily it's only a few things, 2 trips, tops.), going out to dinner with Meghan and Matt (yay!), taking a day trip to Lynchburg on Sunday to drop off the Colonel at my mom's, who will be watching him while we're in Texas, and trying to keep up with him when we have to go running. He's running the 10k with me (he IS a Marine, after all...it's held at the Marine headquarters in Quantico and he ran the Marine Corps Marathon last year), but he's faster than me by FAR and has legs literally like twice the length of mine. I'll probably put him in serious pain simply because he can't possibly run that slow. If you're wondering, no, he will not be running the marathon with me, and I'm 99% sure he won't even be able to come watch me...it's right when he'll be getting deployed, dammit. It's part of the reason I decided to do it - I needed something to look FORWARD to around that time instead of dreading his departure.

5. I'm VERY excited about going to TEXAS in two weeks. I need a vacation, and I've been stockpiling work that can be done from home while I'm there. I've been checking out the SXSW website and am completely lost as to which shows to go see. Check out the website and let me know if you have any recommendations. I like all kinds of music but am probably not going to a ton of mosh-pit style shows. Not that I don't enjoy some good old Dropkick Murphys every now and then (I did live in Boston, after all), but a 100-lb girl does not do well at those sorts of things...and I don't want my boyfriend to have to play bodyguard the whole time. Also getting to see a friend of mine who I haven't seen since MIDDLE SCHOOL. She moved to Texas right at the end of 8th grade and we found each other last year on myspace, of all places. We were good friends back then, and she seems to be happy as a clam down there, she's a makeup artist and seems to have all these cool eclectic experiences.

6. I feel like I need a #6. Hmm, let's see. I went to Target tonight. I bought an alarm clock, a magazine, running socks, two folders (they were 30 cents a piece, and they had beagle puppies on them, I had to) and random odds and ends at the dollar spot section. Man, how I love the dollar spot. A few years ago when they started it, they sold all this St Paddy's Day stuff, and since my sister's birthday is that day, I bought like everything in it and sent it to her where she was teaching English to children on a French Caribbean island. She brought it all in to show her kids what holiday is on her birthday (despite a heavy Catholic majority, most Europeans and European colonies don't really celebrate it, except the Irish) and I think they thought she made it up or something.

That's about it, but the picture is one taken of me and Dan at the wedding he was in back in December. I may have posted it before, but I was reminded of it because his mom printed some pictures for me and mailed them to me this week and this was one of them. The story behind this? Well, a few years ago, I developed this alter ego...Tawny Kitaen. Yes, from the Whitesnake video. I was at a Delaware bar, and we were watching a band play...in the rain. They played the Whitesnake song, and of course, if you tell me after a few beers to give my best Tawny Kitaen impression, well, I ain't getting in some crazy unladylike pose, but I've got some long thick hair to toss around. Dan heard about Tawny and loves to try to get Tawny to come out on the dance floor from time to time. I was well-behaved (I was, after all, at the freaking National Shriner's ballroom), but I did throw a little bit of hair around later in the evening. Nothing out of control, but hey, when a 6'5" man wearing all them medals tells you to do something, you listen.