Uhm, I binge watched Extraordinary Attorney Woo and loved every minute of it. Jeff prefers to watch shows dubbed in English. I detest dubbing, so I watch in original language (in this case Korean) with subtitles. I’m currently binge watching Outlander. I had watched the first two seasons a few years ago. I rewatched the first two seasons and am halfway through season 3. Jamie, Jamie, Jamie. And the subtitles are on point. I left my kilt in Asheville. Dammit.

As I mentioned ever so briefly in previous post, I’ve rediscovered my love for running, although my approach differs vastly. I’m not the least bit concerned with putting in miles, running fast, and/or racing. Yesterday’s run consisted of 1 mile forward run with a ladder. Run 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 foot strikes/foot + 5 pushups consisting of regular, wide-armed, tricep, left arm extended, and right arm extended (alternating starting arm each round). With no rest, run 1 mile backwards with same ladder (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 foot strikes) only this time with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 jumping air squats. It was much more difficult than it sounds, and my heart rate was in zone 3 most of the workout.That 5th jumping air squat was always a doozy. I often get strange looks from passersby, and I think I know the reason why.

I am enjoying my reprieve from working. You might be asking yourself how I occupy my time, and the answer is by doing things that I truly enjoy, including baking, cooking, laundry (I love folding and putting away clothes), housecleaning, and “honey do” projects from Jeff. I like a clean house, so cleaning the house brings me joy. I love baking and also like a clean work space, so cleaning as I go also brings me joy. Tonight I made homemade extra cheesy lasagna. Yes, making homemade pasta brings me great joy, and the process of using the pasta roller (not electric at the beach) is quite therapeutic.

And of course walking Luke and playing with the kitties also brings me great joy!

It’s been a hot minute, so a three fun facts about yours truly.

The first thing I notice about someone is their right- or left-handedness. I also notice what arm a person’s wears their watch on, particularly if, like me, they wear watch on right arm. See how easy it is to use their and they?

I abhor vocal disfluencies, especially “like.” I was like, she had like better not like do that and she was like I’m gonna like do that. I don’t care how smart you are, if your speech is filled with disfluencies you don’t sound at all smart. There, I said it. I also abhor “you know,” “and uhm” (often used between sentences), “you know what I’m saying” and many more.

Back to the “and uhm” between sentences. Drives me bonkers. All that I hear is one looooooooong sentence. We went to the store to get groceries and uhm I saw a pumpkin and that reminded me how much I hate pumpkin spice and uhm the first thing I saw was indeed pumpkin spice wafers and uhm I wanted to punch someone in the throat.

I am a recovering Catholic. I haven’t practiced Catholicism in years but still feel tremendous guilt about a variety or things and issues.

Well, it’s been almost two years since I last posted, and much has transpired. In no particular order…

Jeff and I sold our 3-story and upgraded to a much nicer 2-story townhome in Carolina Beach. Our home is .10 mile from a greenway and just 7 block from the beach. I absolutely love the kitchen. We purchased the home in May, and I have yet to return to our mountain home (although Jeff has been back numerous times).

Jeff and I adopted Sumu (short for Samuel and pronounced Sam You). He is a delightful kitty, and we’ve quickly bonded. Luke and Samu have become fast friends. It took a while for Meg to adjust, and she still doesn’t much care for Samu. Not to worry about Meg; she still gets lots of 1:1 love from me.

I’ve rekindled my love of running. I am not at all focused on speed and/or racing, but instead making most every run a workout with a purpose. For example, yesterday I ran 1.5 miles, sprinting (faaaaast) for 10 foot strikes per leg and then doing 10-count burpee. In upcoming posts I’ll provide more details.

I started and then (for the first time in my professional life) quit a job. Again, I’ll likely write about lessons learned in an upcoming post. Suffice it to say that Jeff encouraged me to quit, as my unhappiness was negatively impacting our marriage. Friday evening I was already dreading returning to work Monday morning. I have the world’s second best husband. Jeff obviously has the world’s best husband. I have the tee shirt to prove it.

I’ve been learning Spanish using the Duolingo app, and I’m on a 237-day streak and just began Unit 4. My stats also include learning 1.8K vocabulary words. I do wish I had someone to speak Spanish with to ensure my grammar is correct. Notice I didn’t say pronunciation, as that comes much more easily to me.

I’ve been binge watching many shows, with my favorites including Better Call Saul and Elite. Ive also been watching many shows where the cast speaks Spanish, e.g., shows from Mexico and Spain. I always watch with subtitles, both English and Spanish. I pride myself when I notice an error in translation, e.g., “WhatsApp” referred to as “text.” I watch all shows with subtitles, and am amazed at the egregious errors. For examples, “You reap what you sew.” Uhm, unless this is Project Runway, the correct term is “sow,” as in plant.

I remain COVID-free. Get your boosters, folks.

I continue to bake, and my latest obsession is experimenting with pizza doughs and crusts. I still have no desire to enter any contests, particularly those that have a time limit. I like to take my time when I bake and savor every moment. I also will never say “Go big or go home.” I do continue to share baked goods with neighbors, and our CB neighbors have become fast friends.

I also continue to play the piano. Whilst I do have a keyboard at the beach, it pales in comparison to my Yamaha digital at the mountain home. I’m looking forward to playing holiday tunes.

The one thing that I truly enjoy doing that I haven’t done in, well, almost two years is writing. This should satisfy that need.