My dad left me a message the other night in response to my two most recent posts.  First, he was concerned about my cholesterol levels due to the chocolate covered bacon.  My cholesterol is actually quite good (or so says my doctor).  He also made the suggestion that in order to avoid the escalator frustration, I leave for work an hour earlier and walk to work. Now, this might be a good idea for someone else.  For me, not so much.  I am not good in the morning.  Anyone who has interacted with me before coffee can testify to this fact. 

On Friday, after a decent night's sleep, mind you, I left work about 50 minutes before I normally do, as I had organized a training that started at 9:30 and wanted to make sure it was all set to go.  I walked to the subway,  looked at the front of the subway that was sitting in the station as I got to the platform, and jumped on.  I stuck my nose in my New Yorker, and the next thing I knew, the train I thought was an E was at 72nd Street.  After finally turning around and making to the proper stop, it had taken me 50 minutes to get to work.  I headed to the elevator to go up to the training and wound up in the lobby.  Seriously — not a morning person.

I caught up on some sleep this weekend and even made it out to the Big Apple BBQ Block Party yesterday.  I went for a run this morning before the worst of the heat, but it was still pretty brutal.  In a bit I'll be off to the James Beard Awards, which is a black tie affair — thankfully I found a black cocktail dress in the back of the closet that can pass as black tie to substitute for the floor length gown I had originally planned on wearing — no way in this heat!

I know it's really not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but the escalator construction at the 53rd and Lex subway station is really starting to get to me.  Somehow each morning, I forget about it completely until the subway doors pop open and let me out onto the platform with the scores of other commuters who are all trying to squeeze up the same escalator.  Sometimes I take the stairs (if they let me — some days they get pissy and reserve the stairs just to go down), but more often than not I just shuffle along the platform waiting to get to the escalator so I can walk up.  Also annoying — given the construction, a lot of people are breaking the rules, which makes for a lot more escalator standing.  And this is all pre-coffee, mind you.

To tide you over till I can pull it together to post my (few) pictures from Minneapolis.  First, I’ve coined a new term.  Last year around this time I was on a self-imposed dating hiatus.  I’ve decided to call that a guy-atus.  I’m not on one now, though, for the record.

Next, the Onion.  It’s from a little while back but it made me laugh out loud: New ‘Get The Fuck Outta The Road’ Program Aims To Increase Pedestrian Safety.

It’s been a rough week on several fronts, but there have been some bright moments as well.  I’ve gone running a few times before work (not every day, but a few times), and I always get a cheery "I’m so proud of you, Laren!" from my doorman, Pat, before and after my runs.  I always thank him profusely, and it really does help in making me feel good about what I’ve accomplished.  First, merely hauling my ass out of bed to work out at that hour and second, actually running.  If (and I mean IF) I can handle it, I may start mixing up the runs with spin classes.  We will see.

And some of the most fun parts of the week are yet to come — tonight, a Taste of the Lower East Side, tomorrow dinner with a high school friend I haven’t seen in, oh about twenty years.  It’ll be a blast.  Not to mention all the weekend has in store!

As of now I am going to do my damnedest to run for about 20 minutes before work as often as possible (or even biking) — this is in addition to any other workouts I’m doing.  Reasons for this are threefold: 1) I’m hoping it’ll help me feel more awake by the time I get to work (I’m not much of a morning person); 2) It will help me log more miles as I get ready for my triathlon in July; 3) bathing suit season is closer than I want it to be and I’d really like to show off all the work my trainer and I have done — a little extra cardio will help on that front.  Wish me luck.

I am loving the fact that my Spring Cure progress is being tracked on Apartment Therapy, although I fear that heading out of town this weekend might make me fall behind.  That said, my huge cabinet, and hopefully the TV, will be gone by mid-next week, leaving me free to rearrange my living/dining furniture.  That will help me determine a great deal of what comes next.

I’ve also come to the sad conclusion that most of the furniture I own is absolute crap.  Well, maybe not crap, but some of the 10 year old Ikea stuff is starting to show its age.  As much as I’d like to run off and purchase a new dresser and nightstand, I am thinking that I should probably invest in something a bit more long lasting.  That means shopping more carefully and saving up enough cash to do it.  Both can be done, but it’s certainly more daunting than the "carbohydrate" furniture I usually buy (read the Apartment Therapy book). 

Off to Maine for faux-Passover this weekend.  Have a good one, all!  And a shout-out to the ladies who’ll be at First Saturday brunch — I’ll be with you in spirit.  No news to report.

My friend Sergio once described dating as a single man in his 30’s in New York City like "eating at a buffet."  Via Derek, this singles map of the US in the Boston Globe illustrates that in New York, there are well over 200,000 more single women than single men.  No wonder then, for me, as a single woman dating in her 30’s, it feels less like eating at a buffet and more like being a vegetarian at a pig roast.  Or something.  Mmm . . . pig roast.

Finally — my world is now filled with color.  The painters are gone, the apartment has been cleaned and I am slowly and steadily working on little home improvement projects for this week’s cure.  I’m going out of order, but very happy with my progress so far.  Since the painting has finished, I’ve built myself a landing strip on the inside of the front door, bought some flowers, hung up hooks in the bathroom, changed knobs on the bathroom cabinet to match the hooks, the shelf and the towel bar (not up yet).  I bought a new shower caddy, some mini organizers for the medicine cabinet, a shelf for my pantry, a sliding drawer for under the sink, and I made an attempt to manage the cord monster behind the desk.  Here are some pictures of my progress.  In between it all I managed to go to John’s 9th Annual Dive Bar Crawl and Joe’s Foodie on Saturday night.   Topped it off by cooking myself some dinner and now I’m going to relax on the couch before passing out.

I’ve got some more pictures here, but just wanted to give you a taste of what’s to come!