Leap Day Math.

February 29th. Every four years, except for years that end in zero, unless they are divisible by four.

On the minus:
1) It is an extra day of work for which salaried people are not paid.
2) The longer you look at the word leap, the less like an actual word it looks.

On the plus:
1) Mother Nature has decided to gift us a day with a temperatures near 60, taking away many people in this hemisphere's objection to adding an extra day to February rather than a warm-weather month.
2) Lots of fun discounts out there as a single day sales giving 29% off or free meals for the 29th patron, etc.
3) According to 30 Rock, anything that happens today, didn't.
4) Pictures of leaps or things that leap tend to be either amazing or cute.





By my math, that means the day is an overall win.*

*Setting aside the birthday issue because I do not feel equipped to place having a birthday every four years firmly in either the plus or minus column.

Pick 'Em.

I was in Colorado over the weekend, visiting my family. For the most part, it was All Quiet on the Western Front.

But, Sunday was family dinner day. My parents host a family dinner every two weeks. Usually, it is my parents, brother and his partner, and cousin. Sometimes her boyfriend attends. But this Sunday, it was nine people: four couples (parents, brother and his partner, cousin and her boyfriend, and my faux brother -- my brother's best friend from high school who lived with us for a year or so -- and his wife) and me. Gotta love that. Nine people and four dogs (could have been six) and two cats. Delicious spaghetti and amazing cheesy bread, salad, wine, and cheesecake. Yum.

Coincidentally, Sunday was also the day that the Daytona 500 was supposed to run (delayed due to rain) and the Oscars aired. While none of us are NASCAR fans, some of us like the Oscars, or at least the red carpet. Because I like to add an element of fun to family events, e.g., holiday poppers at Christmas and making people wear the paper crown, I decided to print the Oscar ballot and come up with a fabulous prize for the person who guessed the most winners. I thought that it would make it more fun for everyone. It is kind of like bowl games or March Madness -- always more fun when you have a horse in the race, even if you care for totally artificial reasons. My friend, KWW, has taken the bowl game fun to a whole new level with his family: for the past ten years, he has run a bowl game picks contest with his family, with three different, engraved trophies in place: best year, best overall record, and, introduced this year, best of the decade. Compared to that, my fabulous prize is less impressive but who doesn't like candy and free movies?

Fabulous-ish?

I was pretty happy about the idea but by the time people arrived and the red carpet was on, it was clear that most people didn't care. My mom took over and forced people to play and wouldn't you know, people suddenly started to care when the awards began being announced. As it turned out, I easily won with 13 winners picked correctly but I decided to disqualify myself. After that, it was a three-way tie between my brother, my faux-brother's wife and my cousin's boyfriend. It had to go to a tie-break (who guessed the most of the big three awards) which ultimately meant that my brother won. I was happy about that since he was the person who was most excited about the contest, if only because he wanted the candy.

Mile-stones.

This morning I met two milestones in my just f-ing do it plan of running:

1) I ran three miles. That's a lifetime personal best. Yes, that's kind of sad but what can I say? I'm not a runner.

2) I ran for more than 30 minutes straight. As if there was ever any doubt, I'm slow. I'm more of a slow-and-steady finishes the race kind of girl than wins the race.

Just yesterday, one of my favorite trainers at my gym sent me this:

That's David Goggins. He is ridiculous. Absolutely an incredible athlete. He is a SEAL who has completed Ranger school (maybe just for fun, I'm not entirely clear). He does ultramarathons (and ultra races generally) to raise money for families of fallen soldiers. He claims that he hates to run (bike and swim, too). He says he does it because of that. He went from being a 290 pound power lifter to a 190 pound runner in less than three months. He ran his first ultramarathon without ever running a marathon, breaking bones in his feet and suffering kidney damage in the process. He sleeps less than fours per night.

Anyway, I sent a story about him to M yesterday in case she ever needed inspiration to finish a workout. It ended up guilting her into doing a swim workout she didn't want to do. This morning, even though it was a mere three miles, I invoked Goggins to keep on keepin'-on. It is definitely mind over matter. I hate running. It is awful. But I can do it.

Hurrumph Day.

As I was getting ready at the gym this morning, this older Pakistani woman who I see often, said to me, "Good morning, big butt." True as that is, it is not my favorite way to say hi. I told her that wasn't very nice and she tried to explain how she meant it as a compliment. But(t), as I told her, I'm white. I will never ever consider that a compliment.

When I told this story to KWW, his response was a simple "nice hump day greeting." More like rump day, if you ask me.

It's a (Birthday) Wrap.

Best flower card ever.


Flowers with which the card came.


I LOVE getting flowers. Thank you, KWW, M, Broseph & J.


The rare time a religious card was totally made appropriate -- Jesus year and all.


B-day card from Sunda, site of my actual B-day dinner with M. Super tasty.


Parents mailed a card a week in advance. They were so excited for me to get it. When it arrived, five days late, this is why. Totally inexplicable since it was a normal-size card.


Some people juice. Some people drink vodka. I almost never drink liquor anymore but when I did, vodka was my drink of choice. Still funny. Thanks, Mom and Dad!


Birthday dinner at Prosecco. Some people called it Valentine's day weekend, including the restaurant but whatever. Note the birthday cheesecake -- obviously, they were confused.

Jesus Year.

Today I start my Jesus Year. Before you ask, it is a totally made-up thing. My friend K deemed her 33rd year, the Jesus Year. A way to put a positive spin on what is an otherwise kind of blah birthday. So long as you avoid crucifixion, it is a year to reinvent yourself, start a new chapter, mutatis mutandis.

My birthday fell on a Wednesday this year. My Wednesday mornings always start with a swim and today was no different. Appropriately enough for my Jesus year, I turned water into wine today -- because I went to swim, I was able to receive a gift from a friend at the gym of a bottle of Veuve.