2012 - Year in review

I thought about blogging today after having a good race yesterday. I read through some of my old running posts and realized I missed posting! It's been so long, I don't know where to start. On the running front I did a two triathlons this year. Sprints only but it was really fun learning to swim the "right" way. I actually was getting the hang of it before the season ended. Still TBD if I'm actually going to pick it back up in January for training. I'm finally getting back to running again and realized just yesterday that I still do love it. It took a while getting back from the 2nd pregnancy, 50 lbs. is a lot of extra weight to carry around! But yesterday's run was nice because I actually felt strong and not like I was running on jelly legs. It was a 5 miler in Central Park. My first NYC race too thanks to my friend Missy who had me sign up for her team. It was a race to support reasearch for Brain Cancer and Missy's Aunt GG lost her battle to brain cancer a few years back. I think this is the first "cause" I've run for that was for someone in particular (other than the Lupus walks we did a ways back for my brother-in-law). Everyone kept telling me that Central Park was hilly; and yes, it was. But it still wasn't as bad as my 10k in Sydney in 2009. Now that was hilly! 90 degree inclines (ok I'm exaggerating but there were 13 inclines and one was a staircase up to another street so I'm not totally off the wall!). On the family front, Ella is almost 15 months old, Liv is 5 years old, we had a great year full of exciting activities and trips. We travelled as a family to Washington DC, Baltimore, Paradise Island - Bahamas, Italy and Disney World in Florida. It was an amazingly busy year with J traveling and Ella going through all her baby changes. She's a crazy kid but she's adorable too. One minute she's being all lovey dovey, hugs and kisses and all the nice stuff; the next minute she's biting you, screaming, jumping off the couch, scaling a table... yea, she's a crazy kid but I love her all the same. Ella started walking at 10 months old so her "crazy" has been around for a while. She scares us with all the times she hits her head, I see a helmet in her future... even our "non-restrictive" Montessori day care center recommended one. Oh well, she's perfect in every way. :) Liv is in Kindergarten now and is growing up so quickly. She's beautiful (if I do say so myself). She's going to be a real heartbreaker when she grows up ... and now I sound like an old man. As Liv would say "no really" she is beautiful and she has a good heart which makes me so proud of her. She also has a great sense of humor and is really into drawing, coloring, painting, crafts, etc. She tells me she's an artist and she's going to be either an Art Teacher or a Kindergarten teacher when she grows up. Well, I'm kinda happy that her aspirations moved up from being "a giraffe" when she grows up (circa Halloween 2010). The home front was great all year but unfortunately 27 Green was hit really hard by "superstorm" Sandy at the end of October. More on this in the next blog. The story is quite long but interesting and something I don't think we'll ever forget. On the work front, I'm finally back working with the team I love (well, sometimes love is a strong word when they're not delivering on time but hey "love" it is for now). I traveled only to NYC and Boston for work so it was a slow work travel year. BUT I did win a "Rock Star" award for a project I completed back in April. This year I had around 5 different bosses as well... I wonder how they're going to figure out my review come April... hmmm... Well, TTFN. I'll start on my Superstorm Sandy post soon so you can get a glimpse into the world of the people who are still dealing with the aftermath of this tremendous storm. -S