Now on the West Coast

We arrived in Southern California a week ago yesterday. We drove my little Honda Civic, packed to the gills with boxes of mementos and clothes that we didn't want our moving company to move.

Here are a few photos from our trip. The first is of me, in a store parking lot, repacking my car so we could recline the seats. The second is of me at a rest stop west of Nashville. And the third is of us driving into the sunset, just off Route 66 in Arizona.

The moving company's tractor-trailer, loaded with our furniture and boxes came several days after that. We're still unpacking.

When we got to our new place, the power, gas and other utilities were still turned off, even though we had already established accounts with the utility companies here. Other moving-related glitches occurred. So the past week, like the past month, has been very busy.

Running: Oh yeah, running. My marathon training has gone to the dogs because of packing, moving, driving cross-country, unpacking, etc. But at least I've done some maintenance runs, even during our road trip.

There was the 3.5 mile run in Nashville, through hotel parking lots and around office buildings while overweight women smoked and watched us through flinty eyes. And the 6-mile run in Albuquerque, through quiet suburban streets at 7:30 AM, dodging garbage cans, the occasional dog, and sweating in the 85 degree heat.

And here in Pasadena, where we now live, I've run several times. Around the Rose Bowl, whose biking lanes were clogged with walkers, some runners, and dozens of bicyclists, going hell-bent for leather. And most recently, a 7.5 mile along the Arroyo Seco.

I'm going to try out a few local running clubs. Tomorrow, I'll do a long run with the Pasadena Pacers. I'll let you know how it goes ....

I lost 600 pounds and lived to tell the tale!

We're in the midst of packing and moving hell. The movers come Thursday morning, and our exhaustion is now tinged with desperation, as we still have so much to do.

This is a photo of our third-floor loft space at the moment, which doubles as my home office and our den. Lovely, right?!

Losing poundage: We have donated, given away, and recycled lots of stuff. LOTS. At least 600 pounds worth.

A very short list, in no particular order: loveseat. sofa chair/ottoman. bookcase. small entertainment unit. table lamp. about 350 books. about 250 magazines. two film cameras and two tape recorders. electric blanket. shoes. clothes, including a tuxedo. flatware. baskets. brand-new picture frames. vases. two boomboxes. a decorative mirror. more clothes. kitchen stuff. office supplies and stationery.

Running: Running? What running? Well, I did manage to do 36 miles last week. I missed my long run yesterday with my group, and it looks like I won't be able to do it this week. But I did run a pretty hard interval workout last Friday night: 7 X 800's at 7:18/mile pace, with only a 2-minute recovery in-between. Felt tired but elated afterwards.

Onward!

Moving ... and Meme!

We move nine days from now. Nine. We still have so much to do. Like pack.

Kidding - kind of. I've started packing and donating stuff, but E. hasn't yet. Unfortunately, he's a pack rat. Almost all of the stuff in our capacious closets and storage space is his.

In fact, E. has so much stuff that he also rents a 5' X 7' storage unit at our local Self Storage Plus.

We're also still going over applications of possible rent tenants for our house here in Washington. And we're closing on the house we're buying in Lake Tahoe. So I'm pretty anxious right now.

One good thing is that we found a nice place in L.A. to rent that takes dogs (hard to find), and is in a great area -- Old Town Pasadena - within walking distance of shops, restaurants, parks, Cal Tech, and the Gold Line of L.A.'s fairly new subway system. However, it's smaller than our house, so besides driving a 26' truck across the country, we have to stop at E.'s mom's house in northern California so she can store some furniture for us.

Yes, we're juggling three places, and four if you count the condo we own in Washington, D.C., as well. Talk about a real estate adventure.

Running: I woke up too late to join my long-run group last Sunday, so I ran 15 miles alone yesterday. It wasn't too bad. I knocked them out in 2:19 and change. Average pace was 9:16/mile.

I did have to make an unplanned pitstop at Mile 11, though. Thank goodness for National Airport. The trail I ran on goes right by there. I walked in sweaty, wild-eyed, and smelly, amongst dark-suited men and women with their impeccable wheeled luggage, to use the facilities. I'm not surprised they gave me a wide berth.

Question Bex: I read a meme here that I thought would be fun to do.

Jobs I've Held
Hostess at Skinny Haven, a restaurant that served only low-fat and low-cal food. Next to a Jack Lalanne's fitness center, natch.
Cashier for a hypnotist who "helped" people quit smoking.
Waittress while in grad school at an underground bistro popular with professors and college students.
Journalist (my main gig for past 9 years)
Communications consultant/writer (my new gig)

Movies I can watch over and over
Blade Runner
Thelma & Louise
A Room With a View
Night on Earth
Breaking Away

My guilty pleasures
Coconut sorbet with coffee liquer and candied almond slivers
Buying magazines full-price instead of subscribing to them
Going to Hawaii twice in one year (my 2nd trip is in December, for the Honolulu Marathon)
Hiring a housecleaner 2X/month
Starbucks Doubleshots. Every day.

Places I have lived
San Fernando, Philippines
Sierra Madre, CA
Claremont, CA
Fayetteville, AR
Washington, DC
St. Petersburg, FL
Richmond, VA
Bethesda, MD
Alexandria, VA

Shows I enjoy (three of them alas, not on right now)
Dexter
Six Feet Under
The Riches
Entourage

Places I've been on vacation
Paris
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam
Hong Kong
Beijing
London and Oxford, England
Brussels, Belgium
Edinburgh, Scotland
North Carolina's Outerbanks
Langkawi, Malaysia
Boracay, Philippines
Lake Tahoe
Miami
Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island of Hawaii
New York City

Favorite Foods (a lot, here's a short list)
Sushi
North Carolina BBQ
Chinese cuisine (the real stuff, not the gloppy goo you get at most Chinese restaurants catering to Westerners)
Homemade green tea ice cream
In-N-Out burgers & fries

Websites I visit daily
The Washington Post
Google
Yahoo

Body parts I've injured
Sprained right arm in 2nd grade
Blackened many toenails from running
Sprained right foot while running
Tendinitis in forearms from practicing piano too much

Awards I've won
A couple of newswriting awards
A couple of piano performance awards
A few running awards (e.g. first female overall in a 5K; winner, co-ed division of marathon relay)

Nicknames I've been called
Garvey (after 70's Dodgers player Steve Garvey - I have a good arm)
Speedy Gonzales
Sugarplum
Rio

Okay: Enough diversion. Gotta keep packing ...