I haven't written in such a long time. I haven't felt like I had much to say. I hate writing "filler" just to get something out. But today for the first time in a long while I feel like sharing again. This last month we've been doing a lot. Dave and I went to Aruba - my first Caribbean island together. We don't travel all that often so everytime we go somewhere we're super excited. It's amazing how clean and bright the water is in other parts of the world. At the Jersey shore it always looks a gray-green near the coastline. We spent 5 days lounging in the sun, jeeping around the island, and going in a jeep around the island. Our friends had a destination wedding there and it was spectalur! They had events leading up the wedding: cocktail hour, BBQ, and land or sea excursion - all free for the guests.
About 100 people went to the wedding and we were friends with about 30 of them. It was so great to go on a group vacation with everyone. Aside from Vegas and Miami - which had about 10 people - I've never gone on such a huge scale group-vacation. We are going to do this more often.
After we came home, we went straight away into busy errands. Our nephew had a baptism, Dave got LASIK surgery, so I had to take care of him and my daughter while I worked in between. Then Christmas came and we spent the weekend with the family, which I love doing. Dave has a nice big family, so it's like a big party every time there's a holiday or special event. I saw my older brother, but it's much more quiet at my house. That's why I plan on having 3 kids (I think). Don't mark my words - I say that now, but I may be done after two kids. I have to see how I handle two.
The end of the year brings on the time of reflection like it does for many people I imagine. What's happened this year? Every year I think this year will be so great and so much will happen - and it always does. We moved from a 550 sq ft apartment to an 1100 sq ft one. We're finally on the basement floor where no one gets mad if we're loud. We have a back yard which we hardly ever use when it's warm because of all the mosquitoes the foliage attracts. This spring we definitely have to cut back those plants. Two nephews were born into the family, which is great especially because it's more fun not being the only one with kid. My daughter started school and we are no longer dependent on my parents for babysitting. So now they love getting her on the weekends that we want to go out. We're very lucky. A lot of our friends don't have that option - we realize raising kids could be a whole lot harder. Church has been great - we keep meeting more people and deepening relationships with current friends. All in all - we're happier than we've ever been. Every day is really happy and we have such a wonderful community surrounding us. We love Hoboken so much. We never plan to leave - we walk or bike everywhere. I love being active and moving my body around instead of driving. It feels good to get the blood moving.
I went back to the gym today after 3 weeks and ran for the first time in a year. I thought I'd be horrible and was loathe to see how I'd do on the treadmill. I only got up to running 5 miles last year - maximum! I was doing 5Ks and 4mi races fairly regularly, but I wasn't the fastest by far. My friend Julia and Sofia would always zip off and I wouldn't see them again until the finish line. I stopped running last year because my back would ache badly for days after a long run. I went to physical therapy for months - didn't get much improvement, but then switched to another therapist's office for a few months and haven't had much pain since.
Today, after my zumba class, I went on the treadmill with very low expectations - telling myself I wasn't going to be hard on myself this time. I set the speed low - even for me - and ran. I told myself I was only going to run at least 1 mile since I never ran that far to begin with - and push myself if it was tough. I ended up running 1.5 miles with relative ease! It was such a relief! I guess the body does have muscle memory and the cross training I did with zumba was enough to keep my muscles in some shape! I'll be back up to 3-4 mile races within two months I imagine. Thank goodness. Now that my back is no longer an issue I plan on improving my speed over time. I never really got to work on that last year - I was so busy trying to add mileage. I don't think I'll ever run half marathons like my sister in law. She's in amazing shape and runs 8 minute miles for 13.1miles. She's been an athlete her whole life. But I'd like to be able to run a decent 4mile race with a time at least under 9 minutes per mile. Nothing crazy - but a decent pace. My mommy friend from Mikayla's school said she ran all through her pregnancy until the 9th month. My other Mommy friend did zumba all through her pregnancy until delivery! Dave and I are trying for our second kid - I hope I can be as disciplined as they are!
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