Just another random Tuesday

I have lots of random thoughts. What's new, right? Well, the thoughts are new.

• For the first time ever, I ran 400-meter repeats (nine of them)! I didn’t even know what they were before tonight. I heard people mention them, but it was a foreign concept to me. But, I love them. Love them. This was my best running performance in a long time. Yay! 
• When I was in Kansas, a group of us (me, boyfriend, brother, sister-in-law, sister-in-law’s sister and sister-in-law’s sister’s friend) went to see “Lawless.” Lately, I’m completely clueless when it comes to new movies so I’d never even heard of it. But, I’m so glad my brother and sister-in-law had and took us to go see it. I loved this movie. And, I’ve determined that I really like Shia LaBeouf (who my brother calls “The Beef,” and now I do too). I was kind of embarrassed about it at first, but I figured this should not be embarrassing to a girl who loves Justin Bieber, boy bands and Jessica Simpson. So, I love The Beef. 

Source

• Funny thing: the movie is about bootlegging brothers in Prohibition-era Virginia. When I went to my brother and sister-in-law’s house for dinner (a few days before the movie), my brother asked me if I wanted to try some apple pie moonshine. I was worried he put in a still in the backyard or I could go blind from drinking it, but thankfully, that was not the case. He just cooked apple cider, apple juice and brown sugar, and then added vanilla vodka and Everclear (yes, really). It was awesome … and it was in a mason jar. My brother also made some pickle vodka and bacon vodka … both in mason jars (and both delicious – especially the pickle vodka). My boyfriend mentioned the movie was just like going to their house for dinner. 
• Last week I was pumped to watch the MTV Video Music Awards. After the fact, I’m not sure why. Maybe I’m getting old, but I just didn’t really like any of the performances. My favorite was probably One Direction (hello, boy band). I used to be a big rap and hip-hop fan, and I’m just not impressed anymore. I only get excited about one rap song coming on the radio these days (and it has more to do with it being Desmond Jennings’ (my favorite Rays player) walk-up music. I found it extremely irritating before. 

It's your fault that I like this.

 

• But, rap I do like: Snoop Dogg (or Snoop Lion now?). He’s coming to Tampa in October. I want to go. Problem 1: he’s coming to a music festival-type thing with many artists; I only want to see him. Problem 2: I’m not sure if I know anyone that will go with me. Problem 3: concerts are expensive. But, if I resolved the first two problems, I’d probably pay the high ticket price. I mean, I’ve liked this guy since high school (a long time), and “Doggystyle” was the first rap CD I owned (Shh! My parents didn’t know).

Baseball and running: two of my favorites

Being the terrible blogger that I am, a lot has happened, and I haven’t posted. But, never fear (or do fear), I’ll update you now.

My dad came to visit, and we went to six Major League Baseball games in six days. It rocked. It especially rocked when I caught a home run ball. OK, I didn’t technically catch it. It landed in our row, and I bent down and picked it up. Still awesome nonetheless.

It made it rock even more that my favorite Rays’ player, Desmond Jennings, hit it.

It got even more rockin’ when the usher for our section brought over a card, said to fill it out and to take it to Gate 4 at the end of the game. Why? Desmond Jennings would sign his home run ball! Rock on.

The other games rocked as well, but this one in particular rocked the most.

During this baseball streak, I managed to get a gigantic blister on my heel from shoes that I’ve had for years. That was really unexpected and random and annoying and painful. It also prevented me from running for a week.

After the baseball streak, I flew back to Kansas with my dad so that I could attend more baseball-related events. The All-Star Game is in Kansas City, and they had a 5K and Fan Fest that were necessities (in my opinion, at least).

I need things like this, obviously.

Thankfully, my blister healed enough that I was able to run once before the 5K. My dad took me to his gym, and I ran on a treadmill in comfort (adequate air conditioning and fans). See craptastic gym, this is a possibility.

The All-Star 5K was awesome and horrible at the same time. I’ll post a full recap when I get the photos from my official race photographer, Dad.

Unfortunately, all of the baseball awesomeness is over and I’m back to the regular routine of working. But, routines can be good: like the routine of going to a baseball game every day. Sigh ...