Catching Up

These last few weeks were a little surreal. I was in full on NYC Marathon prep mode, then came a storm, the marathon cancellation, and disappointment turned to a day of volunteering. I have to admit, when I was in Staten Island, it didn't really hit me. But then I went back to work on Monday and it felt weird to be going about my day like normal, when others were standing out in the cold, without power or their homes. I think my head was in a weird place last week. The experience seemed to stick with the rest of the group too because they organized another trip to help clean up, this time in Union Beach, NJ. I have to say this trip was pretty rewarding. We were divided into groups and sent to different areas to help clean up. When we got there, the whole street looked like a construction zone. Piles of furniture, trash bags, dry wall, sea grass, etc in front of every home on the street. Two hours later we turned around and the street was COMPLETELY cleared. We had a small bite of lunch, and headed off to find someone else who needed our help. This guy was literally the most Jersey guy I've ever met. His house was pretty much the last house that had stuff to remove. When we showed up, he yelled, "I love yous guys. I don't know who yous guys are, but I love yous guys." I love you too, random New Jersey resident. He also told us to stop looking at him like he was a beefcake. His wife might see.

We got everything from his lawn into a dumpster and cleared out the reeds from most of his yard. It's amazing how much can be done in such a short amount of time when everyone is really working together. I should also add that I think I'll be adding manual labor to my cross training routine. As a city dweller, I never get to use my raking-the-leaves or throwing-stuff-over-your-head-into-a-dumpster muscles. They sure got used yesterday and they're screaming at me today.

Here's a brief rundown of everything else that has happened in the past few weeks.

I got my marathon pictures. Here I am making a face.



And here I am crossing the finish line.



I painted my toenails purple before I ran the marathon. Once my nail polish wore off, I realized one of my nails was still purple. Oops!

Josh made a house for Oliver, and we decorated it for Halloween.



I've been doing lots of yoga. Lots and lots of yoga.

Oliver continues to be really, really, really cute.



I'm hoping to get back to updating this more regularly. We'll see if that actually happens. I tend to get a little lazy once the holidays start to roll around.