A Busy Weekend!

What a weekend it's been! I am truly exhausted from partying and running! The latter should be no surprise, though. haha.

This was Binu's birthday weekend! Yay! Happy Birthday, B! Much to his surprise, Renny came into NY to celebrate! She and I teamed up & we celebrated @ Columbus 72 on Friday night. He was suspicious for a while as to whether she was trying to surprise him because he couldn't get through to her phone...he figured she was flying...she told him she was @ happy hour and couldn't get reception! Great job, Ren! I, of course, just told him he was being HOPEFUL, and that that was OKAY. haha. Little did he know that at that same time, I was picking her up @ LGA! We all partied the night away along w/ my friends Cathy, Al, Shannon & Mike! I don't know his friends well enough to have invited anyone, and it was great of my friends to come celebrate! Plus, I think we needed a night out just because we haven't had one in a while...so, Binu's birthday was a great reason to get us together=) We had a BALL! I never realized how stressful trying to surprise someone can be, and I almost slipped a few times, but it ALL worked out! I'm truly glad it all went well!!
Lastly, after not running as regularly as I had been only 3 weeks ago, I ran an 18 mile tune-up today. Needless to say, it took the first 6 miles to warm up, the next 6 I ran HARD following Binu's pace. Well, that made me ILL so I kept the last 6 @ my pace and finished at the time I wanted to. I definitely am EXHAUSTED, but have such a sense of accomplishment! Binu ran a great pace the last two loops! Great job, B!

Jen and Mike's Wedding

Jen and Mike cut their beautiful & wedding cake!









The gals of P.S. 83 past and present.









Again, but this time with the beautiful bride.

Today we celebrated Jen & Mike's wedding. We have watched Jen and Mike grow as a couple, and it was wonderful seeing them come together as husband and wife. They both looked amazing. After so much planning and stressing, it was comforting to watch Jen enjoy every minute of their wedding day! Good Job, Jen!
Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves~everything from the church to the dessert was flawless! Jen truly outdid herself, and while I know there was a lot of stress along the way, the end result was WELL WORTH IT.
Love you Jen & Mike! May you be blessed with a lifetime of happiness, love, laughs, health & all good things.

Pictures Here!

Above is my high school friend, Wanda.









James' bday in Long Island.










The familia! Dinner @ Mamma Francesca.










Friends from 83~Teddy, Cathy, Al, Barbara.









More friends from 83~Lisa and Shannon.

After writing so much about different people in my life, I thought I'd add some new pictures. Each person in my life adds something different, something positive & I believe I'm blessed to know every person I do.

Jessica and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day...

Yes, I am making a 'Text-to-Self' connection! Read on!

As I was making breakfast, I knocked over an opened soda can in the fridge, and you guessed it...it spilled all over the fridge and onto the floor. As I'm trying to clean up the never ending drips, the time is ticking and I DO have to get to work, as well as blow my hair straight, and all I can think is REALLY?? Fine! Floor is CLEAN! It may have been cleaner than it was ; ) Okay, so NOW I can make breakfast, but of course, one of my eggs (the one that DIDN'T want to be cooked) rolled itself (yep!) off the counter and onto the floor! THE FLOOR AGAIN! Well, again, onto my hands and knees for early morning cleaning, spraying the Fantastic, wiping away, still w/ my now half dry hair that is going to FRIZZ if I don't get moving w/ it! Ah!
Finally, I get it together. The floor is clean, hair is dry, and I'm off to work...only to deal with the kids and a cold that came on the night before...head hurt, nose is running, I'm sneezing... just exhausted...
Did I mention I have a stress reaction in my shin from training for the marathon? No running for a month...
It was a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day... Some days are just like that.

Friends Reunited

Yesterday was a long, but wonderful day!
Against the doctor's (unofficial) suggestion, I listened to my body and decided to run in yesterday's Queen's half-marathon. All in all, I felt great. My calf was rather sore by the end of it, and I could tell I hadn't run in a week..my lower back was tight, stretching my hamstrings was a new project, and I knew that taking a week off was both good and bad! I believe that the week off enabled me to run successfully, as well as running w/ Binu, but now we await the results of the MRI...that may be the topic of tomorrow's blog.

In addition to the run, I met up w/ my Best Friend from high school, Wanda. We have not hung out in 14 years! She happened to spot me at the premiere of Sex & the City. Imagine spotting one person out of so many! Well, I was thrilled that she DID see me & came to make sure that it was, in fact, me! That was in May...

We've done a much better job of keeping in touch over the last 4 months than we have over the past 14 years, haha, although we did speak for a bit after graduation. I guess life just took us in different directions for a while. It's okay, though, because clearly we were destined to be friends! : )
We hung out at the Met, which was perfect for the awfully HOT & HUMID day it was! Honestly, we spent so much time chatting away that I don't remember WHAT we saw...well, a few things. I know we spent a long time in the shop!! haha. Afterwards, we went to a little French spot, where I had my very first Chocolate Croissant! It was yummy, but I'll take a regular one w/ coffee after a run any day.

It definitely was wonderful meeting up w/ Wanda after so many years. I hope we'll get to grow as friends through this new stage of our lives... Yes, Wanda...we are all grown up now. =)

Happy 13th Birthday, Nat!

Ms. Natalie is 13, not 30! haha

This is our famous 'sister pose'...









Glad Ally joined in the celebration!









Tonight we celebrated Natalie's 13the birthday. I remember the day she was born. I was in college and couldn't wait to hear if Mom had had a girl or a boy...and it was Natalie. Before Nat was born, we gave her MANY names...I believe PRESCOTT was a popular one among our family, for no particular reason. haha.
As Natalie has grown up, she has developed quite a personality all her own...there are days when she's so animated or in some kind of mood (good or grumpy) and I think to myself, "Wow.. she's a GREAT mix of my mother, my sister and me!"... In reality, she is quite an individual. She's VERY funny, intelligent, has been involved in many extra-curricular activities, and has a caring heart. Natalie and Justyn have grown up together for nearly their whole lives, and you can tell they truly love each other as if they were siblings, instead of the aunt & nephew that they actually are! ha! They are lucky to have each other.
Tonight we celebrated Nat's birthday @ Bertucci's in Norwalk. Goodness, we laughed so hard at the silliest things. That's not abnormal for us...who doesn't love to laugh? : ) Unfortunately, Nat didn't love the cake they brought her at the restaurant, and I don't blame her. I did ask for chocolate, yet that's not what was brought out...so Marisel and I inhaled her cake. ; )
All in all, it was a wonderful night! I pray that Nat is blessed w/ a lifetime of happiness, safety, love and all the good things that life has to offer! xoxoxo

Trying to Rest...Wanting to Run

If and when Natalie reads this, she'll comment with, "5:45 a.m. Jessica???" Kinda funny. This morning I am up much earlier than I should be. I went to bed much too late to be up so early. It'll hit me later in the day. I had the alarm set for 6 a.m. SPIN class, but after last night's attempt, I'm just sitting here with a throbbing shin & trying not to cry. I probably should've avoided the weight class before spin, but too late now. So, I'm going to see an orthopedist after work. Thankfully, Lisa's old roommate works with one and I'm going to get this ankle/shin thing looked at. I've been praying for healing, but God is probably saying, "Jessica, REST IT." I certainly can't heal if I don't stay off it. However, given my job, it's not as easy as it sounds. Maybe today I will stay off it as much as possible. We all know it's not my JOB that's keeping me up & all over...it's my inability to stay out of the gym and active. So, here's my thought process~If I want to run the marathon I've trained so hard for, I should truly give everything a rest. Maybe I can swim in the meantime? I hear that's good when you're injured. Positive thoughts and prayers are what I'll need to get me through this. Running is such a release for me...I'm definitely missing it~and it's only been 2 days since my last run.

Run Hard! or Hard Run!

Today, I would say both titles apply.
I'm sure that reading about my training can be uninteresting, but for me, it's reflective.

I don't recall ever having struggled as much as I did today. Not sure what the cause was, but it could've been one of four things: 1. Being exhausted from my first week back @ work & starting our run @ 7 a.m. 2. My fall @ work on the first day of school. 3. The AWFUL humidity that made breathing & moving extra difficult. 4. The 3 glasses of wine I drank last night. I'm going to assume it was the wine, but am sure all four contributed to the difficulty factor.

We had a 4 mile race today~the Fitness Mind Body Spirit race. It was sponsored by Fitness Magazine, which I subscribe to and love! The men's race began @ 8:30, the women's @ 9:30. Our training run began @ 7 a.m. 6 miles to start, then we ran the men's race, and I finished up with my 4 mile race. All in all, I covered 16 miles today.

The first 6, which are now my warm-up for the long runs, were incredibly difficult. I felt as though Binu was running faster than usual, and in the back of my mind I was saying that I wanted to kill him for it. In reality, it was the pain & exhaustion that I was trying to run through. The hills, that I've worked hard @ conquering and usually come easily to me, were more challenging than they've been in very long time. By the time we finished that part, I wanted to vomit! I partially wished that I had in hopes that I'd feel better. No such luck.

For the men's race, I couldn't keep up w/ Binu, so I let him go & ran @ my own pace...I just couldn't do it today. During the women's race, I ran much slower than usual...and while it mentally beat me up, the pain in my shin kept me from doing any more than I was. I'm guessing that Tuesday's fall @ work left me more injured than I'm willing to admit. After writing this, I'm going to do some research & hope that a few days off will help. With a marathon in a month, I really can't afford to be hurt for too long. I'm bummed right now. It'll be okay, though...one day @ a time.

First Day of School

Today marks the start of my 10th year of teaching. Why does every year feel like my first? Last week we had time before the first day of meetings to set up our rooms. I must've walked into everyone else's room to see what they were doing and how they were setting their rooms up. I told them that the beginning of the year always feels like it's my first! By the end of the week, I felt good about how I'd arranged everything and brought home lessons and odds & ends to prepare.
I'm big on baking for my students! For the first day of school, birthdays, holidays, etc, I usually bring in cupcakes, cookies, whatever I'm into that week. Well, last night was no different. I baked vanilla cupcakes w/ red sprinkles for today. They were cute & looked yummy! I spent the evening preparing as much as I could for today~lunch, parent letters, my own plans~I felt okay! By 10:30 p.m. I HAD to go to bed. Exhaustion had really hit me hard, and that was fine. It would've been better, though, had I slept through the night...1:30, 4:30, 5:00...up, up, up...by 5:50 I gave in & got out of bed. I finished whatever was left to do & walked out of the door @ 7:00! A RECORD for me! haha! Apparently anxiety had gotten the best of me...along w/ my clumsiness... As I walked down the hallway w/ my bags & cupcakes, I slipped on our extra polished floor and fell right on my bottom! UGH! Cupcakes flew in the air & then onto my dress, on my hands, in my hair & all I could think of was my upcoming marathon... I just hoped that I hadn't hurt myself. Well, needless to say, I just sat there...kinda shocked, kinda embarrassed, kinda knowing that this was SO ME. Oh well. Thank God, I am okay (I think). My shin hurts a bit, but that may be from being up on my feet all day...The cupcakes DID NOT make it, unfortunately. Not only did I have to throw them all out, but I had to clean the floor & my dress all before even getting to my room.
Onto the kids...they are adorable. I truly enjoyed meeting and working w/ them today. Two boys tested me ALL DAY. I thought I had one under control, but clearly, controlling him means he can't sit at a table with other students...so, we'll work on that.
I think I am ready to be back in this routine. Camp was camp....the usual summer action & stress. Mexico relaxed me after that. Time for me after all that was great & very necessary...but now I'm focused, once again, on what is my life...for right now.