I'm not dead!

Oh, hi. Remember me? Probably not. I just logged into Blogger and my blog is pretending not to know me. A little cold shoulder, but that's OK -- nobody likes to be abandoned.

Well, hopefully this marks my return to regular blogging. I'm going to start slowly so I don't hurt myself, so this will be a quick post...but LOTS more to come!

So I've been busy with lots of great changes. My to-do list has been MASSIVE, but I am thrilled to say that I've been able to keep up with some good workouts. In the past three days, I've logged 10 miles! They haven't been fast and they haven't always been pretty, but I've gotten them done. And this morning's workout was a 6am special -- definitely not my best hour. Which is probably why I managed to drop my keys along the way without realizing -- not awake! Luckily I retraced my steps and found them :) At various times my mother has threatened to pierce something on me and attach my wallet/keys/phone or other frequently lost item to a chain. She's probably on to something.

The weather in NYC has been pretty miserable lately -- muggy, sticky, humid, and any other word for "makes me feel disgusting". I've been trying to keep my workouts to the earlier or later parts of the day...I figure even if it isn't that much cooler, it will be harder for people to see how gross I look in the dark. Last night I took a nice long stroll right at dusk, which is perfect for one of my favorite activities -- looking in people's windows and seeing what they're watching on TV. Listen, I'm curious! If you don't want me to look, close your blinds. I have to say, some of you have some very questionable taste in TV shows. VH1, really?

This time of day is also perfect for admiring my neighbors' decorating styles. I passed one home that had a real, honest-to-goodness library -- walls and walls of floor to ceiling books and one of those ladders that slides around the room. Note to self: I need that.

But it's not all fancy libraries in my 'hood. As the old saying goes, money can't buy class. To this point, I introduce Exhibit A:

Yes, this is the kind of crap that one of my neighbors decided to adorn their million dollar brownstone with. It is hard to read the sign, but it says something about happy birthday to Leos.

Then there's Exhibit B:

I think they specialize in post-mortem spray tan applications and rigor mortis fist pumping. Listen, maybe your name is Guido -- but that doesn't make it a good name for your business!

OK, off to give Audrey the Dog her last walk (she's doing much better, thanks to those who asked!) and get ready for bed. I'm ready for some QT with my TV hubby (Jon Stewart) and some good sleep!

Confession

Forgive me readers, I have sinned. It has been 12 days since my last blog. I have had some blog-related thoughts, but I have not acted on them. Sigh.

In my previous life as a blog reader, I would definitely get annoyed when bloggers would disappear without warning for days or weeks on end. What happened to them? Where did they go? How could they forget about the blog? How hard is it to just check in?

Well, harder than it looks. I'll be honest, the past few weeks have been such a blur that I really didn't think much about blogging. The to-do list was so long, posting just never got very close to the top. Sucky, I know. I know I don't have thousands of readers hanging on my every word, but I do love the fact that people take time to visit -- whether you just stop by or you're a regular commenter, your visits mean so much! Plus, I really enjoy the whole process of blogging. Really helps sort through my thoughts, and I like having my little electronic diary to look back on.

So the good news is that I've been busy with super great things. Workouts have been happening pretty regularly -- in the morning, even! This is blowing my mind because I am so not the morning exerciser. I've also been driving. Today was fun with parking: parallel parking (boo!), navigating parking lots, etc. Not the most fun, but better than the BQE. And I've been working on a bit of a top secret surprise. I hate to be a blog tease, but more to come soon.

The bad news is that my busy schedule is likely to keep up over the next few weeks, so my free time is not going to open up any time soon. But I've been adjusting and trying to make myself as efficient as possible, and I'll just have to find ways to squeeze in some blog posts. If only the rest of the world would adopt that 36-hour day that I've been pushing then I could get it all done!

And with that, I am off to sleep. I'm going to be dreaming of this little fuzzball:

Audrey in her sick bed -- I tried to take good care of her all weekend!

Audrey the Dog was not feeling well this weekend, and last night we didn't get much sleep (no one wants to be alone when they're sick). This morning things actually got worse, so I took her to the emergency vet and they wanted to keep her overnight! I was shocked, I thought we'd just get some medicine and get back to our Sunday. I felt awful leaving her. Woofy hospitals are just as depressing as human ones, and I hate that I couldn't make her understand that I wasn't abandoning her and I would be back. I'm sure she's totally fine (probably snoozing in her little doggy hospital bed), but just in case I'm going to the window to sing a quick rendition of "Somewhere Out There". The pet hospital is just a few blocks away, so we are definitely are sleeping underneath the same bright star...