web-goddess

Author: Kris

  • Trail Note

    Not to make this all “RunningBlog” or anything, but you will not believe what I did today. I ran two laps around Centennial Park – that’s 7.6km – WITH MY HUSBAND. Yes, the Snook actually ran. Those of you who don’t know him do not understand the magnitude of my surprise. I have known him for six years now, and I have never seen him run farther than half a block without complaining of heart palpitations. Turns out he’s been holding out on me this whole time! It all started a few weeks ago when I suggested he come to the park with me and walk a lap or two, and he said he thought he should get some actual running shoes. Being a tight-arse, though, he wanted to go to Kmart and get $20 trainers. Since I really didn’t see where this was going, I agreed. (He nearly chickened out at the last minute. “I’ll have three pairs of shoes! I’m becoming a metrosexual!”) That day at the park, I ran my lap while he walked behind me. Afterwards he confessed that he’d jogged about a fifth of a lap when no one was looking. So today he came along with me to ostensibly do some more walking. “Let’s have a bit of a jog,” I said, “and you tell me if you need to stop.” And we did two laps! We stopped probably about every kilometer or so to take a quick walk break, but our total time for the two laps was a decent 53 minutes. He even pushed me a bit since his natural pace is a little bit faster than mine. I just still can’t quite believe it. “You’re caught out now,” I said. “You’re going to have to do this all the time!” “I suppose,” he said. “We’re going to become those people.” I guess we are. I finally have a running buddy. SQUEEEEEE!

    And yes, the first thing on the To Do list is to get him some better shoes.

  • Trail Note

    As I ran up Wilson Street to Newtown early this morning, watching the sun rise and chase away the storm clouds, I decided to declare last week’s diet funk officially BUSTED. I feel really great. I ran two laps around Centennial Park Wednesday night and cut a minute or so off my time. (Albert pushed me to a faster pace than normal on the first lap, which made up for my very slow jog on the second.) Last night I went to boxing class and worked up such a sweat that I actually made the mat slippery. (Note to self: Find terrycloth sweatband.) Then this morning I had a great little forty minute jog up to Newtown and back. I’m eating well and tracking my Points again. I guess the lesson to be learned is that occasional lapses are totally okay, but that my body can’t handle prolonged periods of rich food and drink like it used to. I was seriously out of it for four days.

  • Sioux Tribe

    Hey Aunt Deb, aren’t we supposed to be 1/32 Native American or something? Which tribe are we? I hope it’s the Sioux. They rock. (*wondering how one donates money to a tribe*)

  • SvenCam

    CouchCam is currently SvenCam, thanks to a mischievous Snook who didn’t want people watching him while he was home sick. So now you get to watch me make frightful faces as Sven’s revolving shiatsu hands make it all better…

  • Sunrise

    Watch me on Sunrise!At long last, I have the footage you’ve all been waiting to see: me and the ladies from the Knitter’s Guild rockin’ it on Sunrise.  Yeah, we’re like postage-stamp-size and the sound isn’t perfectly synced, but you get the idea. You can see all four clips from when they cut to us, including the final one where I get to sit next to Kochie. A massive thank you to Snookums for the editing and encoding!

  • Vermicelli – unpaid endorsement

    I have a new lunchtime addiction: Vermicelli‘s rice paper rolls. They just opened around the corner this week and they’re great! I’ve had the lunch special twice now, and my favorites would have to be the Sesame Beef rolls (they taste like bulgogi!) and the Portuguese Chicken salad. My only regret is they don’t have any nutrition information so I can accurately add up my Points. (I’m going to count them as slightly higher than the Sumo rolls, since they seem to have more meat.)

  • Learning How to Run

    Learning How to Run. Yeah, I need to go for a run tonight. Unfortunately my birthday dinner triggered a weeklong food depression in which I’m still mired. I’ve been really tired for days – like, sleepy tired – and I’m stuffing my face with carbs. I haven’t even bothered tracking my Points. This is BAD, y’all. I know in my brain that all the rich food I had last week was the culprit, yet I’m still having trouble snapping out of this. (Needless to say, I didn’t weigh in last night.) Anybody have any words of wisdom for nipping a shame spiral in the bud? (Running link courtesy of Brigita.)

  • Punny Jokes

    Need a laugh? Someone asks MetaFilter for the funniest jokes that don’t involve making fun of anyone. They tend towards puns and wordplay, but there are some real gems in there. I like the one with the big horse and the little horse. Oh, and the Snoop Dogg jokes. I am a sucker for Snoop Dogg jokes.

  • Kiwiberries

    On a whim, I bought some KiwiBerries at the grocery store this morning and they’re currently ripening on my desk. Does anybody know how to eat these? Do I just chew them up, skin and all?

  • Non-Busy Business

    I have had a really busy non-busy weekend. (Busy in the sense that I felt like I was on the go constantly; non-busy in the sense that I feel like I got absolutely nothing accomplished.) Friday was St. Paddy’s Day so we headed over to the Papists’ for some beer and truly excellent Irish stew. (Seriously, Major, I want the recipe.) Saturday morning I was off to Newtown for my quarterly Depo injection, at which time I realized that my new Pommy doctor is actually Sir Bob Geldof. Sir Bob wants me to have a bone density scan to make sure I’m not losing calcium from the hormones. Whatever, Bob. I also met up with Miss Jane, who lent me Miss Fee’s knitting swift and ball winder. The Snook and I then had a lot of fun figuring it out so I could turn my five skeins of Harmony (color 801 Natural) into five beautiful center-pull balls. In the afternoon I was back to Newtown for SSK where I completed my gauge swatch for Rogue. Later that night I also experimented with different knitted hems. I like the twisted stitch hem the pattern recommends, but I quickly realized it wasn’t going to work with cardiganizing the pattern (since the hem lies on the bias rather than flat). So I tried a few widths of stocking stitch and then knitting my cast-on edge up into a tube, which seems to work well. I went with eight rows and I think it’s going to look nice. I also tried out one of the side cable panels just to make sure I was understanding the symbols right. Then I actually washed my swatches and laid them out to dry. (I know! Who does that?) Checking in the morning, I’m still a tiny bit tighter than the pattern suggests – I get more like 4.75 than 4.5 stitches per inch – but I’m not knitting it any looser. It’ll block to the right size. I did manage to go on a run Sunday, thank God, because Sunday night ended up being an orgy of consumption. One of Rodd’s cousins (well, kinda) got married and we attended the reception in Pyrmont. It was the biggest, funnest, most ostentatiously Italian gathering I’ve ever been to. We drank ridiculous amounts of wine and danced to “That’s Amore!” I ate everything – in a good way. I mean that I tried absolutely everything they put in front of me. Anchovies, olives, mussels, oysters (natural and kilpatrick), nonnata (which, since I now know what it is: *shudder*!), prawns, ocean trout, EVERYTHING. As I said to Ma Snook at one point, “Did you ever think that the girl who cried because you tricked her into eating yabbie paté would be eating this stuff?” (She maintains that there was no deception involved.)

    So diet-wise, yeah… It’s not going to be a good week. But I just need to write it off and get back to work, right?