Hixson Reunion, Pt. I

Oh wow. Two straight days of Pennsylvania Dutch-ness. Wow.

Now, please don't think that I don't love my family, because I do. You just have to understand how special it is. We love each other so much that we can completely bust on each other when things get weird and silly. Take, for instance, "the program" at our reunion. I've been at these reunions since I was a baby, and every year, there is "the program," where one or five of the crazy little children get up and do a little talent show. Somebody does somersaults (sp?) from gymnastics, somebody plays suzuki violin, etc., etc. Well, now, there aren't many little kids at all to show off, so "the program" consists entirely of my great aunts sharing items with the family, and my great aunt Jenny*'s daughter and granddaughter doing a little act. Victoria* and little Michelle* do ventriloquism. And I have to admit that, for an 8 year old, Michelle* is pretty fantastic. But I digress. My cousins and I sat through ventriloquism. Another great aunt shared an article called "Remember When," as in "remember when our great aunt shared the same exact article the last year and for ten years before that..." While my grandmother was alive, she would sit on the sides with Rachel, Marc, Laura and me and completely make fun of my grandfather and his sisters. "Wilson, GET OFF THE STAGE!" We miss her. Anyway, Laura and I picked up that mantle yesterday, just hoping to high heaven that it would be over soon. I think "the program" lasted for almost an hour. Far too insane. My great aunts were lucky that there were ample amounts of great food to compensate. :) All kinds of great food--homemade, no fresh-bought from the grocery store, and no chance of being healthy at all. Excellent.

Today was also family oriented, as it was Laura's college graduation party, and that was fun. My cousins and I get along very well, and their spouses/affianced/significant others have survived the family hazing and now fit in quite seamlessly. And, even better, Rachel and Kevin brought Murphy, and Marc and Beth brought George. They had a blast with Toby. And I'm not talking about children. Murphy and George are dogs, a fat beagle and a hyperactive Boston terrier, respectively. Murphy is shorter than Toby but could have bowled him over because he's 50lbs, about 25lbs too heavy for a dog of his type. George is so short that he could walk underneath Toby (which he did) without having to duck his head much at all. There was all kinds of jumping and tackling and yipping and barking and licking going on. I did have to draw the line, however, when George started licking Toby in his boy area. Not pleasant at all. All said though, we had a good time. I think, however, that I'll really enjoy some time out with just my cousins and their S.O.s, without a huge group of aunts, uncles, third cousins twice removed, etc...

*Names have been changed so that my mother doesn't kick my ass... :)

Pennsylvania

i've come up to my parents' place in Lebanon, PA to chill for awhile. there's this part where you're driving up rt.72, and you reach the crest of the hill and see the entire Lebanon Valley. it's a pretty spectacular view. until you get lower on the other side and see the amount of sprawl that's taking over the countryside. but anyway. my parents' place is the perfect place to just escape for awhile--it's pretty quiet, and Mom and Dad have a pool. that's all i care about at this point (outside of spending time with them). as easy as it is to get mind-numbingly bored here, it's also easy to unwind and let life go by a little more slowly.

can't sleep

insomnia sucks. i'm a girl who needs her eight hours of sleep. not because it's "beauty rest." that's a load of crap. i need it because i get very cranky without it, and i'm very sluggish when toby wakes me up at the butt-crack of dawn for his daily walk. when i was in high school, i would just about go crazy at my dad. he was convinced that he had to wake me up in the most heinous ways possible, which usually consisted of yanking my warm and cozy covers off or tossing our 45 lb. dog on my bed. Lady would lick me endlessly and walk all over me until i pushed her off. by that time, i'd be wide awake. and oh, did i mention that this would be on school days AND weekends? now. i love my father to pieces. but come on. that bordered on the ridiculous.

one of my favorite "things" in life is guys. i'm not guy-crazy, but i love how they work. they kind of get annoyed when i try to analyze them (which i do all the time), but they're fascinating. i think it's hilarious when you ask, "what are you thinking?" and the answer is "nothing." and 99% of the time, they're completely sincere. i can't imagine what it's like to just be blank or bored. i'm not devaluing men or anything, and i totally believe that they're necessary. okay, that came out wrong, but you know what i mean. i also love how they're usually no nonsense. if guys are pissed off, they'll tell you. or, if you're another guy, they'll punch you, and that's that, and it's all over. women, however, can be incredibly vindictive, hold a grudge, and manipulate a poor chump until she's satisfied. and even then, forgiveness can be hard to come by. i should know. i am one. i don't really betray my own group though, partly because we can team up and pool our magical powers. a troupe of women in a mall can be a deadly thing. once, angela, laura and i spent six horus shopping on Arundel Mills' opening day. what power. what endurance. i think what i appreciate about most men, however, is the sense of safety that they bring. that sounds serious and mushy and commitment-ish, but i really mean it. guys don't have to be supermen and solve all of a girl's problems or take away her daily stresses, but when they just hug her and hold her for a little bit, things seem to just melt away. it doesn't have to be a relationship-y thing either. when i didn't get the job i hoped for, jody gave me a hug right there, and it was the best thing he could have done. so guys, on the whole, are pretty great. i do believe that there are nice guys out there, and maybe the right one will come along for me eventually. maybe i already know him but have no clue that he's him. or maybe he just doesn't know it yet. ?

i have to say--i have a moral objection to angelina jolie. isn't there anyone who can look beyond her body? she comes across to me as such a sleaze. of course, my male friends don't give a crap about my opinion about her, and the amount of drool at the sight of her is ridiculous. but come on. she practically made out with her brother on the red carpet a few years ago. ick. and poor jennifer aniston. who knows if there was any infidelity, but she and brad pitt would have had the most beautiful babies. i like her a lot. now, she's classy. and actually talented. and pretty. without being skanky.

okay, that's it for tonight. i'm still wide awake, but oh well. it's 4AM, and i'm going to be extremely grouchy in the morning. i'm having serious doubts about me doing my run in the morning, even though it's supposed to be short and slow.

forget it.

north charles smells good

did ~4.5 miles this evening, normal loop (roland-cold spring-charles-back). went relatively slow (42-ish minutes?). felt very good with only a little stiffness in my R calf. run was really uneventful except for the amiable young lady driver who misconstrued the pedestrian right of way sign and became rather vocal at having to wait for me to cross. again, felt good.

i'm having mad cravings for peanut-butter oreos...

ok, so hershey's chocolate will have to do. yum.

My dog

that's toby at the annual Terp Runner road mile. he was the first canine finisher. woo!

everybody i know brags about their kids. so smart this, so cute that, etc., etc. not that there's anything wrong with that. but at this point, i get to brag about toby. he's a pointer/husky/lab mutt who runs with me every now and again. right now, he's taking it easy on the living room floor--it's far too hot and humid to run him today. aside from the fact that he's given me two concussions and caused a tiny hairline fracture in my thumb, *all* by accident of course, he's been great. he has his toybox. every night, i pick up his stuffed animals, ropes and rubber balls and put them away. and then every morning, he gets up, gets ALL the toys out and plays with them. and then sometimes (like this PM), he carefully puts his toys near him and then sleeps. that's my boy.

the best--when my younger nephew was around 1, he couldn't really figure out my dog's name. so benici called him "tuba." now that his vocabulary has progressed, he now calls the dog "tuby." :)

toby

Mixed Drinks

i suppose i should welcome myself to my new blog. woo. i have a feeling that this is going to be a good place for everyone, meaning myself, to reevaluate stuff and generally post meaningless shit and brag about my dog. i'll probably also use this as an informal training log. yeah, i'm a runner, trying to get ready for the baltimore marathon. woo! i am excited about that. for me, that's more of a job (a fun one, though) than my real job. i can't get over how awesome it is. i guess to understand how that is, you have to know that i ran seriously starting at age 12 through 18, and then i left it cold for about seven years. i was getting pretty fast too. well, relatively. but anyway, now i'm back, and i'm feeling the underlying talent and passion for racing come back, and i'm more excited than ever. i own my running and racing now, and i get to direct my running life. wow. that's completely awesome.

besides running, i have toby. toby is the dog. toby wears his UMD bandana when he does those mile fun runs with me. so far, he is the only canine finisher of the VA Memorial 5K mile fun run. two years, in fact! he's fantastic. and he eats celery.

funny thing--i have a lot of things on my mind, but it's now hard to get out. maybe it's because it's the stuff that means the most is the hardest to reveal. i might get to it eventually.

wait-- country music on a pop station? not that there's anything wrong with that...

me :)

one of the best weekends of my life

from my trip to Vegas with the most delicious man ever...