The Gym is a Bit Nasty

Last night, rather than putting up with the 24º weather, I decided to put up with the smelly, over-crowded gym to do my short 25 minute run. The gym is a bit on the nasty side these days, since the recent passing of an old year into a new one filled with the fresh "making of a new me" opportunity a gym membership promises. I give it until mid-February. It's not that I don't want to see people succeed, it's just that historically, that's about as long as it takes to lose interest. However, I don't know that I can be so sure at predicting this outcome for Lifetime Fitness members. The place is just awesome. It takes a little less motivation to "get to the gym" when it is as Grande (with an capital G and an "e" on the end!) and sparkling with diamonds as Lifetime is. (You actually begin to sweat diamonds starting on your 6 month anniversary- can't wait!)

While I was running on the treadmill, (one of just a few that weren't taken) I noticed I couldn't hear the piped-over-the-speakers music that coincides with the video channel on the TVs. All I heard was a stampede- a stampede of elephants running to nowhere, stinking, and sweating enough to form puddles if they stood still long enough. As I left the cardio floor, I glanced in one of the fish-bowl studios used for various aerobic classes. There wasn't room for one more arm-flailing soul.

So, the moral to the story is, there are 48 days, 10 hours and 7 minutes until spring.

Indoor biking and satellite = good times

Since we have rearranged all our rooms in our house, our former bedroom has become the "rec" room of sorts- bookcases, piano, guitars, movies... and bikes. We have the wind trainer set up and a TV in the corner. Greg spliced our satellite cable so that we could hook the TV up in a newer location from where it was when it was our bedroom. So last night I got to try it out- watched a DVR recording of Mythbusters and rode away. It was awesome! I'll have to be on the lookout for good things to record now.
For the sake of having a picture, here's a CycleOps wind trainer. And by the way, wind trainer = noisy.

Winter- Still Old. But Saw Sunshine.

This weekend has been a decent winter weekend. Saturday I ran with Erin on the bike trail. It was chilly, but since there wasn't much wind, not so bad. Today Greg and I went for a walk around Symmes Township park. They've put in some more trails since I had last been there, and I decided the park will be a great hill training place. (They also put in a dog park! Who knew!) Greg has mentioned that he'd like to do the Tri For Joe this year too, and we were talking about how much more he likes trail running than road running. So we may find ourselves there some evenings or weekends. Talking about the duathlon has made me more excited for those this year! I'm so glad I'm training again and can't wait for the fun.

Winter is getting old.

So far the 1/2 marathon training is going well... but it is still in its infancy stage! I've only done a handful of runs and nothing over 40 minutes. But it is getting fun the more I run. And each day of training brings us closer to spring!!! Hopefully it is a pretty day for the Pig- always more enjoyable for the runners and especially the spectators!

I am so tired of winter already- have the winter blues. Though when I think of how Jamie said its rained nearly every day since we left England, maybe I shouldn't mind that it is 11º outside right now because it's sunny. I'm sick of getting shocked every time I get up off the couch or the dogs get near me. I'm tired of my super dry nose and eyes. My run from the studio last night certainly helped my cabin-fever, even though it was so cold. I think I'm just a person who must get outside. I'm like a plant. I need sunshine, be it strong or filtered through clouds!

Foreclosure Cat Art Show report

I think the show went really well. It's hard to tell what happened behind the scenes, but I did overhear that people were filling out applications to take home some of the remaining, not-yet-adopted cats. There were about 4 cats at the show in cages. There were tons of people milling about, definitely the most I've ever seen at the Studio.

All of the cat artwork is up on eBay now for auction: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZforeclosurecatsQQfrppZ50QQfsopZ2QQfsooZ1QQrdZ0
And George, specifically is at this link: http://cgi.ebay.com/Foreclosure-Cat-Original-Art-Painting-Stephanie-Smith_W0QQitemZ250206263475QQihZ015QQcategoryZ20135QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
If you scroll down you can see him matted in his frame.

Overall it was a fun show and I think it bode well for the cats. Robin Moro did an absolutely wonderful job putting it all together. Here are some pictures Paul (Pixel Paul) took of the event, including a candid one where he tried to capture the elusive and famous artist Stephanie Smith in her element (friends Erin and blurry-Roman also pictured).

Foreclosure Cat Art Show

I finally got my Foreclosure Cat completed. Here's George!


















The Foreclosure Cat Art Show Opening Reception is this Saturday, January 12 from 6pm - 10pm at the Loveland Artist Studios on Main (where my studio is). I would love it if people could come! They are going to have the cats that haven't been adopted yet at the show. The art is auctioned on eBay, starting on the 12th, with minimum bids starting at $100. For more information and to see all the art and artists: www.foreclosurecats.org

The art is up already and is really nice. I'm looking forward to my "first" art show!

Happy New Year

It's been awhile and I'm overdue with events and pictures to post, but it will all be coming soon. Right now, I'm a bit overwhelmed with catching up my work, so I will have to post a more exciting post with pictures (in color!) later. But here's a summary of what's been going on...

- Greg and I went to England over Christmas to visit our friends Pat and Jamie (their blog at right). Had a blast. Pictures soon. Sheep really do say Baa. Just like that. Baa.

- Greg bought a new old car...just like his other old car, only older by few years...but nicer. Make sense? And he has traded his first old car with the neighbor after he bought the new old car, so now we currently have 5 cars. Planning to sell it though- just an overlap.

- We've been sick. A lot. Trading off times of being sick, but not like sicknesses. At any rate, Greg gets sick days and I don't. So the deal is if he gets me sick, he has to do the work at Stephanie Smith Creative while I lay in bed. haha.

- Flying Pig Half Marathon training is UNDER WAY! (link at right - Erin and Steph train for half a piggy) Wish us luck and motivation! This year I want to do it an enjoy it!

- My only new year resolution (though I should probably have about 50) is to train Dexter. Professionally. We're going to enroll in some classes together and I'm going to make him a good boogle.

So, that's it in a nutshell. Here's to a happy healthy fun new year!