A Lot of Renos

This is the whole Reno clan. In fairness to Charlie (who appears to be the only one not looking at the camera), Abby was also looking away, but Barbara used Adobe Photoshop to insert her head from another picture. Josh was in charge of organizing this picture and I think he did a nice job arranging us. The rest of the trip was great. We even came back feeling rested. When we got back our visas were in the mail. I hope everyone is doing well.

Pre-New Years Resolutions

1. Stay within weight watchers points on most days.

2. Run at least three days a week.

3. Make a dinner/grocery list ahead of time so we don't eat out too much/spend too much money.

4. Don't freak out about moving to London.

5. Try to keep up our "routine" as much as possible in this time of transition.

We will be home tomorrow night. This trip went pretty well. There were some ups and downs, but I think Josh and I have worked out a good system of coping with traveling and Charlie is getting better at going with the flow. I feel more confident about dealing with stressful situations with Charlie (although there is still a plane trip ahead of us so maybe I am speaking too soon).

Galaxy Quest...

I took a half-day of vacation today to go to our biometric data (fingerprinting and photographing) appointment in support of our visa applications. The appointment was at the US Immigration Support Center in downtown Detroit. We arrived, got numbers, sat down and waited to be called. The waiting room was crowded with people from several different nationalities. There was a small tv at the front of the waiting room playing "Galaxy Quest" with a sign on the bottom of the tv saying not to touch it. Josh and I wondered if the choice of movie was intentional or random. I am leaning toward random because when we came out after our appointment was over, it was playing Baby's Day Out. The employees were a little unsure of how to handle our applications and forms because the UK just started requiring biometric data from all people (used to be just certain countries). They are more accustomed to people trying to enter or stay in the US, not leave it.

So we got fingerprinted and photographed and ran to the post office to mail our stuff to Chicago. Don't go to the post office this close to Christmas unless you really have to do it. The line is long and the people are grumpy. Now, the ball is out of our court. Hopefully our applications will go through quickly.

I am really looking foward to our trip to New York. One of our last coming from Michigan!

Randon Thoughts and Updates

So today at the gym, I had to do the unthinkable....run without my ipod. It stopped working after the first half-mile and I couldn't get it to work again I didn't know if I could run 6 miles without peppy music, but I guess I can. I still did ok (55:51).

We are pretty much finished with our visa applications. We have to take our application materials to the visa application center in Detroit and get fingerprinted on Tuesday and then send it to Chicago. It cost me $435 per application ($1305 total)! I don't think we should have to pay for Charlie because he is so little, but I guess it doesn't work that way. At least he doesn't have to be fingerprinted. I am assuming that it would go about as smoothly as his passport picture.

Josh and I are going out on a date tomorrow evening - most likely to a nice dinner and maybe a movie if we have time. We have been really stressed out lately and need to decompress a bit together. Josh got $100 as part of his Innovative Teaching Award for his summer class so we thought we could treat ourselves a little.

I really miss the summer and fall weather. I loved being able to take Charlie to the park and for walks as much as we used to. We all feel a little stir crazy.

Josh is almost halfway done with grading papers for Anthro 101. It will be really nice when he is finished because he can be totally focused on his dissertation. It is starting to seem real that we are leaving. I still can't really grasp it, but I guess I will have to soon.

Charlie is in his crib now, singing to himself, resisting sleep.

Visa Fun

My favorite question on the UK Visa application:

"Have you engaged in any other activity that might indicate that you may not be considered a person of good character"

Do you think I should mention on Charlie's visa application about how he peed on the bathroom rug yesterday the second I took his diaper off before his bath?

Weekend Post

First, running from Saturday:

Distance: 6 Miles
Time: 55:25

It took me a while to get in a rhythm with this run. I don't usually run in the day either so I think that was part of it. I was going to my company Christmas party a few hours after it so I didn't want to push it too much and feel crappy afterwards.

We put up the Christmas tree today and Charlie seems vaguely interested in it. I am really looking forward to going to New York. The final exam for Josh's Anthro101 class is tomorrow and then he just has to finish grading papers. I am hoping that with that over with things will seem a little more relaxed around here. He will be scrambling to finish his draft, but at least he will be able to exclusively focus on it.

I am really excited for the work permit to arrive so we can apply for our visas. I think once we have the visas and the plane tickets, I will have to start thinking that we are really going to London.

Have a great week.

One Step Closer

Josh got an email yesterday from Goldsmiths (University of London) that his work permit has arrived. They are going to mail it to him so we can apply for entry clearance and get our plane tickets. We are really going to do this! It took so long for the permit to go through that I had all of these thoughts of it being denied and us having to stay in Michigan. It feels good, but it is so close it is kind of scary.

"Daddy Go"

So we are on day 4 of mommy and Charlie solo time. So far it hasn't been too bad. His behavior has been good, his sleep could be worse I guess to think of it in a positive light.

Night One: Asleep at 8:30, up at 1:30 asleep at 3:30. We both went back to bed. I had to wake him up to take him to daycare (seems ridiculous to be trying to wake him up after all the effort I put into getting him back to sleep)

Night Two: Asleep at 8:15, up at 3:30 asleep at 5:30. He went back to bed, but at that point I thought I would probably feel worse if I slept for an hour so I just stayed up.

Night Three: Asleep at 7:50, up at 6am!! I was so proud of him.

I have been scrambling to get some things done and other things will have to wait for Josh to get back. I have so much respect for single parents. It is really tough not to have a second person. Matt from my office and his wife invited Charlie and I over for dinner so that will be nice. It gets a little lonely for us.

Josh will probably be equal parts flattered, proud and sad to learn that Charlie's second "phrase" since the momentous "All-Done" was this morning and it was "Daddy Go" while he climbed on our bed. He said it over and over again and then walked all over the apartment I suspect looking for the elusive Daddy. I expect the reunion at the airport tomorrow will be very nice for all three of us.

Monday Update

Running Update:
Distance: 6 Miles
Time: 55:50

I am really enjoying running for a few reasons. It relaxes me, it is fun for me to push myself like that, and I love how many activity points I get :).

Josh is going to Washington for the American Anthropological Association conference from Wednesday to Sunday. I wish Charlie and I were going with him, but it makes a lot more sense like this (also, I don't have enough vacation time accrued). It will be good for him to network without feeling like he has to entertain us and Charlie is a little young to appreciate Washington so I think there would be a lot of me chasing Charlie around the hotel. Gotta go to bed now...

Restarting WW Again...

Well, holiday is over. I am going to attempt to be good about weight watchers again (I have been pretty lazy about counting points and staying in points targets when I do count points). It has been rough the last three months, I know what I have to do to stay on track, but I just haven't been doing it. So, today I am going to give it a shot again.

Charlie Then and Now...

Charlie - November 2006

Charlie - November 2007

10K Here I Come

Distance: 6 Miles
Time: 58:39

Wow, I found this really comfortable physically, but really challenging mentally. Once I hit 4 miles, it was easier to imagine that I would finish and I sped up a bit. There seems to be something with having two miles left that I can wrap my brain around. I always feel better when I only have two miles left even when I am running 3 miles. Time to chase Charlie now. Oh, we are getting a babysitter for tomorrow night and going out with some friends. It has been over 5 months since we have gone out without Charlie. Hopefully we will be able to relax and have fun.

Charlie's Backup Parents

We went to a bridal shower on Sunday with Charlie. He explored the apartment a little and hung out with his mommy, but then he kept going over to hang out with the above people that I have met a few times, but don't really know. He has been going through separation anxiety with me so it was weird to see him go hang out with strangers so easily. I thought they resembled us in certain ways, so maybe that helped. Hmm. It was kind of nice to be able to sit down and visit for a few minutes.

Running Log

Distance: 3 Miles
Time: 25:16
Notes: ran 3 miles because the gym was going to close before I could run any further.

I think I am going to post my runs on this as a way to track my progress and get advice from my running expert friend who reads this:). Now we are off to the store to buy Charlie a white t-shirt that he will use in daycare to make a leaf print shirt (so festive). I hope you are having a good weekend.

Quick Running Post Again

Distance: 4 Miles
Time: 35:49
Note to Self: Clip Toenails Before Running (ouch)

I was looking online and I found that there is a 10K race in London on July 6th, 2008. It says sometimes it gets sold out before the race day, so I might have to look into registering soon if I would want to do that. It sounds cool though because it would be all through the city. It might be a nice goal to work towards.

Extreme Napping

Charlie's Motto: Play Hard, Sleep Hard

This picture was taken by Charlie's daycare teacher. She said that he was running around with his blanket and then ran to the table, hopped on and settled in for a nap immediately. She waited a minute to pick him up and put him on a cot.

Holy Crap, I Ran 4 Miles!!

Ahh! I went to the gym tonight and ran 4 miles in 38:15!! If it wasn't 10:00pm on a week night, I was going to try for 5 miles. It felt really good. I feel like I can do a lot more than I think I can and I have to get over some mental hurdles with running. Maybe I could run a 10K? Wow, I am sleepy/happy. We are going to watch the beginning of Spiderman III and go to bed.

Eye of the Tiger

Josh was listening to his Ipod when he walked in to teach his Anthro 101 Section on Monday. His students were really curious about what he had on his Ipod so as a a fun extra credit question on their quiz, he said they could get an extra point if they could guess a song that is on his most recently played list on the ipod. As a clue, he told them that I made myself a playlist for running on the treadmill. I was surprised by what the students guessed - quite a few thought that I run on the treadmill listening to "Eye of the Tiger" (also "YMCA" and "Let's Get Physical" by Olivia Newton John), I wonder if they work out listening to stuff like that or they think I am really old. Some of them think I am cooler/hipper than I really am and listed Kanye West, Fergie, Akon, etc. songs that I have never heard of. I have never heard of Akon at all, I will have to google that.

I really wanted Indian food tonight so Charlie and I picked some up on our way home. He loves naan. Other than that, we are just struggling to stay awake and ride out this teething induced sleep-through-the-night strike.

Weekend Update

We had a really good weekend despite Charlie's sleep schedule which has been dictated lately by his teething. I ran both days, but will probably not run tomorrow because of field work. Saturday, I ran the 3 miles in 28:18 going at a fairly steady speed. I secretly wanted to run faster than I did the other day, but I just wasn't as into it, so I just tried to enjoy it. Today, I tried something different so I wouldn't be bored. I did half-mile intervals going around a 9:40 or 10 minute mile pace and 8:30 to 9 minute mile pace for three miles, I finished in 27:40. It was fun to change it up a little. I get pretty bored on the treadmill sometimes.

I found out about a really cool website for plane tickets called kayak.com. It is really neat. It searches all the flight search engines like travelocity, expedia, etc. and all of the airlines. We are still working out the flight details for our move. It seems like the prices just went up quite a bit from what they were a few weeks ago when I first started looking.

Off to get ready for tomorrow. I have to leave for work around 5:15am...grr..

Running Post

I guess when I don't have much to say, I will use this an an unofficial running blog since I have restarted that hobby. I just got back from the gym. I ran 3 miles in 27:20. I am sure that is the fastest I have run since I was in high school so I am really happy with that. I think my outlook on it helped. I decided beforehand that I was going to run 3 miles and the speed wasn't important so I just wanted to do what was comfortable, but a good challenge.

I assumed Charlie would be asleep when I got home, but he has been really off with teething lately so hopefully we will go to bed soon.

Day Off (Working Off Our Sleep Debt)

Charlie had a good night of sleep and woke up at 8am. We got ready for "school" and took him to Kindercare. Josh and I went to IHOP for breakfast and discussed our plans for our big day off. We finished breakfast and went home. We ended up laying in bed and falling asleep and didn't get back up until 1:30pm! I watched tv, Josh worked on his dissertation and then I ran some errands. Wow, we feel so rested. I think we really needed that. It has been a rough couple of months.

Trying to Run Again

I am planning to go to the gym tonight to run again. I haven't gone since Tuesday I think so hopefully I didn't lose much ground. I feel like I am in pretty good shape and that at least 75% of it is mental for me. I can usually tell in the first few minutes if I am going to be fighting myself to keep going. I think my brain tries to convince my legs that they are made of lead. I don't go very far or fast, but it is still a pretty big challenge to me sometimes(seems like such a tiny distance compared to how far Carrie and John go!!).

Charlie slept really crappy last night, so I have been up since 3:30am. I am hoping I will get a second wind though because I feel at my best when I am exercising regularly.

Daylight Savings...

It used to be nice when the clocks would fall back and give us all an extra hour of sleep. Now, it was just depressing when Charlie got up at 4am to know that it was actually 3am...Grr.

First Post: Lines In the Road...

I remember being a kid growing up in Barton wishing that I could go somewhere else - somewhere big and exciting. I used to tell my dad that I wanted to live somewhere with lines in the road. He offered to paint lines on our road to appease me, but I declined and kept daydreaming about the future. To make a long story short (since I don't know who will actually read this except people who already know almost everything about me), I moved from Barton to Ithaca to Ann Arbor to Livonia(a suburb of Detroit) and in four months, I will be moving to London, England. I guess you should be careful what you wish for.

I have enjoyed keeping up with the little details of my friends' lives by looking at their blogs, but have been nervous to start my own. Since we will be moving to London, I think it will only be harder to keep in touch, so I am just going to do it and see how it goes.