Just a few quick life updates today!

1. I started working out with a personal trainer to help get some of my strength and endurance back after my injury. The cool thing is she's virtual. I'm in week two of the program and I'm loving it so far. I'll have a more detailed post later talking about how the whole virtual training thing works and what exactly my program entails. But so far it's been successful getting my butt into the gym and picking up heavy things again.



2. Motivation to run this winter is not high. It's been so cold already this year that I haven't wanted to be outside. I can barely stand my two-minute walk outside to get from my apartment to the fitness center. That's really unfortunate seeing as how I'm registered to run a half marathon in March and I'm going to have to train through the winter. Guess I'll need to harden up a little bit between now and the New Year when training will start.

3. I read Dave Eggers The Circle for book club last month, and I have so many feelings about social media and the Internet after finishing the book. As someone who works in social media, runs a blog and puts a lot of her life out there for people, I was more than a little freaked out about the world Eggers wrote about in his book where everyone is always connected all the time and nothing is considered sacred or private. I'm a blogger, and I know that I definitely put myself out there more than the average person, but this blog certainly doesn't share every single aspect of my life, and I can't imagine living in a world where anyone can access any tidbit of information about you, from something as minor as your grade school report cards to something as major as all your health records.

While I think the book had a lot of weaknesses, like a female lead character that I constantly wanted to punch in the face for having no spine, or the way Eggers tries to beat you over the head with some symbolism, I still think it's worth reading because the world he paints in the book isn't that far off from where we are today, and it's really creepy to think where technology could take us in the future.

That's all I've got for today. Has anyone else read the Circle? I'd love to hear what you thought about it!

We've been getting our share of wintery weather in the DC area over the last few days, and yesterday I was thinking it might be fun to do my first snow run of the season.

But by the time I finished watching the Eagles game, the snow had turned to ice and the sidewalks were a slick nightmare.

P.S. Did anyone else see that game, so crazy! My brother was there and this was his view from his seats. There was like 6-8 inches of snow by the time the game was over!


View from my brother's seat.

Anyway, I decided I liked having two non-broken feet and didn't want to risk eating it on the sidewalk, so I took my run indoors to the treadmills.

The gym at my new apartment building has some of the fanciest treadmills I've ever run on in my life.



They each have their own personal TV, so my plan was to run while watching the 49ers game, but the storm knocked out cable in the gym. So instead, I ran while watching myself run around a virtual track.



It was pretty cool.

And when you finish the treadmill gives you a nice summary of your workout. As you can see, mine is rather depressing. Speed where have you gone?!



Based on today's weather, it looks like I'll be running inside yet again. I need this wintery mix crap to go away, so that I can get back to running outside. But oh well, at least I have a super cool treadmill to run on in the meantime.

Well now that I've officially lived in my apartment for a few months, I think it's safe to say I'm fairly settled in and ready to give you all the grand tour.

So let's get started.

This is the floor plan, which I think will help put some of the rooms and things into perspective:



We'll start the tour right when you walk in. This is from standing right in the doorway. You see right into the living room with the kitchen off to the left and the dining nook off to the right.



The kitchen is actually pretty decent. There's not a ton of counter space, but I've made the best of it and haven't had too much of a problem when I'm cooking. Then again, I'm not a huge cook, so I've got that working in my favor.





I have my dining room table in the little nook right across from the kitchen.



I hated how empty the walls were so I hung some pictures I took that represent important places in my life. One of them is of Philly, one is of UMD and one is of DC.

Moving in to the living room I have my entertainment center on the left wall and my giant and super comfy sofa on the right.



One thing I was absolutely insistent on when I moved was that my sofa be big enough to seat a few people and comfortable enough that if people were spending the night, they would have somewhere comfortable to sleep. I have to say this sofa fit the bill perfectly. It was worth every penny.



One thing that's great about this apartment is that the landlord lets you paint an accent wall any color you want. In fact, all you have to do is buy the paint and drop it off, and they have someone paint it professionally for you. I love having this splash of color on the wall. It makes it feel more homey, and I don't have to worry about painting it back when I eventually move out.

For perspective, here's a shot looking back toward the front door from the other end of the apartment.



So there's only two rooms left to see, my bedroom and the bathroom and they are both down a small hall between the kitchen and the living room.



The first room is my bedroom, which is still in a bit of a need of decorating. I mean I have the basic furniture, but there's nothing hanging on the walls here yet. I have my giant bulletin board with all of my race bibs that still needs to be hung and in general the walls are just a bit blah in here.

This is the view from the doorway



And the view from opposite corner.



My favorite part is the walk-in closet...



with plenty of room for my five million pairs of running shoes.



And lastly the bathroom...which probably looks familiar since I take about all of my selfies here.





So that's it. I also have a nice balcony off the living room that's great for sitting and reading when the weather is nice.

I'm a big fan of my new apartment. I love having all this space to myself to decorate and furnish how I want. It's such a big change from living with roommates, but I completely love it.