Lulu Loves: Life

May 17

Things I Don’t Like:

Any parking situation that is not a gigantic suburban parking lot.

Sitting on backless stools.

Things I Love:

Running outside in 70 degrees with a new friend.

Margaritas.

Wedges (not to be confused with wedgies).

May 02

I go through monk-like periods of buying absolutely nothing for myself except food and gas for the car (i.e. necessary to live) and other periods where I’m dropping Benjamins like Jay-Z. This week, I am Jay-Z. I bought a new bag from J. Crew (on sale!), several pairs of heavily discounted and much needed shoes from Lord & Taylor (seriously, my sandal/flat collection is mostly from Target circa 2007), but my best purchase was this. My mom’s dog went to doggie heaven on Monday after twelve long years of happiness in her home. She’s pretty devastated so I thought she would love a custom painting of Buddy. (The Dalmatian above is not Buddy, just a sample of the artist’s work.) I emailed back and forth with the artist this morning and I’m giddy with excitement to see the painting in person and give it to her!

I go through monk-like periods of buying absolutely nothing for myself except food and gas for the car (i.e. necessary to live) and other periods where I’m dropping Benjamins like Jay-Z.

This week, I am Jay-Z.

I bought a new bag from J. Crew (on sale!), several pairs of heavily discounted and much needed shoes from Lord & Taylor (seriously, my sandal/flat collection is mostly from Target circa 2007), but my best purchase was this.

My mom’s dog went to doggie heaven on Monday after twelve long years of happiness in her home. She’s pretty devastated so I thought she would love a custom painting of Buddy. (The Dalmatian above is not Buddy, just a sample of the artist’s work.)

I emailed back and forth with the artist this morning and I’m giddy with excitement to see the painting in person and give it to her!

Apr 30

Three to five days. Happy Tuesday!

Three to five days.

Happy Tuesday!

Apr 28

It has been possibly the most trying week of my life. I decided last night that when life hands you lemons, run a marathon and thus found myself at the starting line of a local half marathon this morning. I haven’t eaten properly all week so my energy stores were nil and my mental game was shot. I beat my worst time but it wasn’t anywhere near my best. There are going to be good days and there are going to be bad days and you won’t always PR but you will always be glad you did it.

It has been possibly the most trying week of my life. I decided last night that when life hands you lemons, run a marathon and thus found myself at the starting line of a local half marathon this morning.

I haven’t eaten properly all week so my energy stores were nil and my mental game was shot. I beat my worst time but it wasn’t anywhere near my best.

There are going to be good days and there are going to be bad days and you won’t always PR but you will always be glad you did it.

Apr 26

My kinda cocktail. Someone please bring me seven of these, ASAP. canttuchthis: north shore distillery // the goliath 2 oz gin 1 oz fresh lime juice 1/2 oz simple syrup 1/4 oz green chartreuse 4-5 slices cucumber combine in shaker, and shake hard, making sure to break up the cucumber thoroughly. strain over one large ice cube in a double-rocks glass. top with soda, and garnish with cucumber slices [via]

My kinda cocktail. Someone please bring me seven of these, ASAP.

canttuchthis:

north shore distillery // the goliath

2 oz gin

1 oz fresh lime juice

1/2 oz simple syrup

1/4 oz green chartreuse

4-5 slices cucumber

combine in shaker, and shake hard, making sure to break up the cucumber thoroughly. strain over one large ice cube in a double-rocks glass. top with soda, and garnish with cucumber slices

[via]

Apr 24

Please

Whatever god is up there, whoever you pray to, whatever you believe in, please send prayers and positive thoughts my way. Please.

Apr 18

I’ve spent the past three days on the verge of tears. The flags at half-mast in my work parking lot had me sobbing in my car at lunch and I’ve had nightmares the past three nights. I can’t stop thinking about the what-ifs. These feelings are almost puzzling to me because yes, I was there, just a couple blocks away but I wasn’t there like some people were. I cannot even fathom what they must be going through and I think about them all day long. I didn’t make my fundraising goal for the Boston Marathon. Before the race, I was still about $800 short and shrugged it off. Whatever, I’m over it. Other people raised more than enough to cover my shortage. But last night as I was reading through emails and blogs and websites about the resilience of runners and the city of Boston, I decided that NO, I’m not going to let this horrific incident take over. I’m going to make something happen. I am going to run a marathon, start line to finish line, on May 5th. I signed up for the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati in seventeen days. And I’m also going to stand by my commitment to raise $5,500. This is not a time to bow out, but a time to lift up your community. By raising this money, I am helping a group of under-served Boston high-schoolers serve their local and global communities and that is exactly what we all need right now. I found strength last night and I intend to finish what I set out to do: run a marathon and raise a crap-ton of money. Go forth and be strong!

I’ve spent the past three days on the verge of tears. The flags at half-mast in my work parking lot had me sobbing in my car at lunch and I’ve had nightmares the past three nights. I can’t stop thinking about the what-ifs. These feelings are almost puzzling to me because yes, I was there, just a couple blocks away but I wasn’t there like some people were. I cannot even fathom what they must be going through and I think about them all day long.

I didn’t make my fundraising goal for the Boston Marathon. Before the race, I was still about $800 short and shrugged it off. Whatever, I’m over it. Other people raised more than enough to cover my shortage.

But last night as I was reading through emails and blogs and websites about the resilience of runners and the city of Boston, I decided that NO, I’m not going to let this horrific incident take over. I’m going to make something happen.

I am going to run a marathon, start line to finish line, on May 5th. I signed up for the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati in seventeen days.

And I’m also going to stand by my commitment to raise $5,500. This is not a time to bow out, but a time to lift up your community. By raising this money, I am helping a group of under-served Boston high-schoolers serve their local and global communities and that is exactly what we all need right now.

I found strength last night and I intend to finish what I set out to do: run a marathon and raise a crap-ton of money.

Go forth and be strong!

Apr 17

nomadsoul: to Boston from Kabul with love (a special shout out to the brave Stephanie, who loves Afghanistan)

nomadsoul:

to Boston from Kabul with love

(a special shout out to the brave Stephanie, who loves Afghanistan)

I don’t know how to talk about the Boston Marathon. I am so deeply hurt by what happened. I can’t stop thinking about what could have happened to my family and me (and almost did) and what did actually happen to many other innocent spectators of the most iconic road race in the world. It’s not fair. It’s evil. It’s scary. Tears have formed in my eyes a dozen times in the two hours I’ve been awake. I don’t know how to talk about the events leading up to the race either. I had a really happy weekend in Boston. The energy and the buzz were palpable as usual, but I can’t feel it anymore. I want to remember it though; I want to remember the happiness of Boston before. I didn’t get to finish the race which I am now obviously grateful for. I thank God I wasn’t faster because my (stretch) goal time had me hitting the finish line in time with the bomb. I thank God that my throbbing quads convinced me to walk through a couple water stations on the Newton hills. The 25.7 miles that I ran were really great though. I was about to beat last year’s time by over twenty minutes and I felt good (for just having run 26 miles, of course). I was mentally strong and ready to turn it up for the last few blocks to the finish before we got stopped. I want to remember the feeling of a marathon flying by, the feeling of conquering Heartbreak Hill and talking myself through the pain. I want to remember the cheers and the smiles and the chills I got every time someone screamed my name. I desperately want to remember my experience, but I don’t know how I can talk about the happiness and joy and accomplishment before, without being haunted by the catastrophe after.

I don’t know how to talk about the Boston Marathon. I am so deeply hurt by what happened. I can’t stop thinking about what could have happened to my family and me (and almost did) and what did actually happen to many other innocent spectators of the most iconic road race in the world. It’s not fair. It’s evil. It’s scary. Tears have formed in my eyes a dozen times in the two hours I’ve been awake.

I don’t know how to talk about the events leading up to the race either. I had a really happy weekend in Boston. The energy and the buzz were palpable as usual, but I can’t feel it anymore. I want to remember it though; I want to remember the happiness of Boston before.

I didn’t get to finish the race which I am now obviously grateful for. I thank God I wasn’t faster because my (stretch) goal time had me hitting the finish line in time with the bomb. I thank God that my throbbing quads convinced me to walk through a couple water stations on the Newton hills.

The 25.7 miles that I ran were really great though. I was about to beat last year’s time by over twenty minutes and I felt good (for just having run 26 miles, of course). I was mentally strong and ready to turn it up for the last few blocks to the finish before we got stopped. I want to remember the feeling of a marathon flying by, the feeling of conquering Heartbreak Hill and talking myself through the pain. I want to remember the cheers and the smiles and the chills I got every time someone screamed my name.

I desperately want to remember my experience, but I don’t know how I can talk about the happiness and joy and accomplishment before, without being haunted by the catastrophe after.

Apr 16

Thank you so much to everyone who reached out yesterday about Mark’s and my safety. I was a few blocks from the finish line when all the runners were stopped due to the bombings. Runners were passing out from lack of water, food and blankets, but spectators stepped in to lend jackets, cell phones, anything they had. I had no phone but texted Mark from a borrowed one with my location which he received much later and eventually found me - seeing him was the happiest moment of my life. If I had just run a couple minutes faster, I would have been at the finish line, and Mark and his parents would have been right near the blast. We can’t think about it without tearing up. It was a horrific tragedy that will change Boston and the legendary Boston Marathon forever. I am so deeply hurt by this and will proudly wear my Boston Marathon jacket today to show solidarity and respect for those killed or injured yesterday. [This was the only photo taken of me after Mark and I found each other. It was the biggest smile I could muster for completing my second Boston Marathon. Thank god Mark had a towel in his bag because I was freezing.] [I’ll be back later with more on my Boston Marathon. Just wanted to let you all know I’m okay. Thank you so much for your concern and emails, texts, tweets, etc. Incredibly touching.]

Thank you so much to everyone who reached out yesterday about Mark’s and my safety. I was a few blocks from the finish line when all the runners were stopped due to the bombings. Runners were passing out from lack of water, food and blankets, but spectators stepped in to lend jackets, cell phones, anything they had. I had no phone but texted Mark from a borrowed one with my location which he received much later and eventually found me - seeing him was the happiest moment of my life. If I had just run a couple minutes faster, I would have been at the finish line, and Mark and his parents would have been right near the blast. We can’t think about it without tearing up.

It was a horrific tragedy that will change Boston and the legendary Boston Marathon forever. I am so deeply hurt by this and will proudly wear my Boston Marathon jacket today to show solidarity and respect for those killed or injured yesterday.

[This was the only photo taken of me after Mark and I found each other. It was the biggest smile I could muster for completing my second Boston Marathon. Thank god Mark had a towel in his bag because I was freezing.]

[I’ll be back later with more on my Boston Marathon. Just wanted to let you all know I’m okay. Thank you so much for your concern and emails, texts, tweets, etc. Incredibly touching.]