tidbits version 2.

i'm listening to The Eels, "Mansions of Los Feliz." i flippin love this song. heard it on 88.9 for the last couple months and finally bought it.  if you've got it; listen carefully to the words.

i need to find out how long olives can keep. like the ones bought from an olive bar marinating in a variety of things - does the process of marinating make them age quicker? i like the word marinate. especially when referring to thoughts.

last week i had to rent a car and drive from San Luis Obispo to Sacramento (6 hours). it was surprisingly therapeutic. i will always have a fondness for Sacramento. and unlike many things, realized this when i was there, and not when looking back.

whether listening to delilah radio on the east coast or west coast, it is still weird, but strangely sufficient company on a dark highway.

i bought the wrong vitamin from whole foods, one of the ones in a fridge. this was $40 and i literally was looking at one and somehow managed to grab something completely wrong and not anything i'd take. the bottle had the words "VAGINAL SUPPORT" written on it on all caps. i laughed outloud when i got it home and went to promptly return it. I'm greeted at the customer service counter with a male, 18-yr-old looking clerk. Freshman in college maybe? He took 5 or so minutes to jot down a manuel receipt (system down - of course, this is my life we're talking about), whilst writing all of the information on a notepad circa 1980 in the absence of a scanner and normal store credit. So there this yellow and pink bottle perched up high on the stand between us - the words VAGINAL SUPPORT screaming off the bottle and now in his penmanship on my old school store credit and i feel compelled to explain into detail how i must've been on the phone and grabbed this, laughing sort of nervously because this is just another example of a situation i find myself in. sidebar: if you happen to take this, probably excellent, nourishing supplement for your peakachoo - that's totally cool. i just happen to not, and found it worth sharing. Forty bucks worth sharing. also - does this tidbit make this post R Rated? i hope not. apologies if so as i truly like to keep it PG.

on my flight back from california a man and i were asked to switch with the couple in front of us (he had a seatbelt extension and this is against emergency isle regulations). my seatmate and i get up to move into the row in front of us, and he actually tries to take the window (my seat prior) - forcing me into the middle (his seat prior). i was shocked. " i said - um you can have the middle". he says condescendingly, "oh you didn't want the middle?" i look straight into his eyes and say, "considering it was your original seat assignment, no. i don't want the middle." people are unbelievable. and he had a wedding ring on. who married this jerk?

i've been having trouble with my left contact lens for 2 days straight. because of this i am still in my glasses. i am lame. its 1 o'clock. i am extra lame because i slept until 10am. but it was 7:53 when i woke up, and then all of a sudden i woke up again and it was 10:02.

i used to say, "all the sudden" until my sister made fun of me and taught me the correct expression. i still am convinced my way sounds so much better.

wavelengths never cease to amaze me. ever.

attention all 28 year olds. when you turn 29, people who don't know you that well will ask you, "oh and how many times have you been 29!!!?" because they think you're lying about turning 30. it is extremely annoying.

this blog is weak. i should just close up shop.

xo with spectacles on,

cw

it doesn't work that way.

i was reminded of this National song that didn't make the High Violet album. i love it.



As a sidebar, i just learned there is a song by The National from their rare B side Alligator album called, "The Thrilling of Claire."

xo,
cw

random footsie.

do you ever go to a meeting at a table and you sit down and then the person across from you sits down and unknowingly puts their foot on top of yours? Maybe only on just part of your foot but the point is its still on your foot? you pretty much have like... a nano-second... to decide whether or not to move your foot, (which is so easy), or you go with it, (for some ungodly yet inherent reason ingrained in many of us) we do. some of us humans don't want said foot placer to feel silly that he/she put their foot on top of your frye boot or your red seychelle instead of the floor?

in that nanosecond, if you can relate, you most usually decide not to move your foot, (WHY ON EARTH DID YOU DECIDE THIS?) you then miss the entire point of the meeting because you are expending all of your focus on not moving your foot when you talk, or breath for that matter, so as not to embarrass the foot you GAVE PERMISSION to sit on top of yours for the last 7 minutes.

then, you error. you flinch a little, causing foot impostor to look under the table and say, "oh i'm so sorry - was i on top of you?" and you lie with ease, "oh no no, must've been the table leg".

is it just me?
xo,
cw

but i just got used to writing "2010" on my rent checks.

can you believe it? it's almost 2011. we are n e a r i n g the end of two-thousand and ten and are less than 4 weeks away from a new year. justaquickquestion for a second, WHEN THE FRENCH TOAST DID THAT HAPPEN!?!?

so my blog has sucked. in fact the last few entires have been weak and then i totally abandoned ship and was MIA. i have been a busy girl up in the air and stomping my feet over various terrain in the continent of North America. the details aren't important. but i have been busy. and working hard. and having fun. and being thankful for all that is the life of CW, as i have a lot to sit with myself and my thoughts and put in the "i really appreciate this" column. if only life were columns... it'd be so much easier. but, tis life, and that goes against human nature my dear, dear, readers. So, in-my-blog-has-sucked-as-of-late fashion, i'll recap via photos what i've been doing the last 4 weeks with a few lazy explanations. i am thinking ill start off 2011 right with the blogosphere, a recommitment perhaps.

twin b and myself in nyc day 6 of my 7 there. i escaped running industry
duties to share a meal w/ the wombmate and i was in bed by 11. now that is love.

Post New York, where i spent nearly 7 days doing all things a la running shoe related, i arrived back in the bean only to spend 3 nights in my bed prior to jet-setting off to the islands with some girlfriends, (thanks to a total hook-up). Even though i had a 5:30 am flight to St. Thomas i couldn't pass up seeing the magnificence that is Mumford & Sons the night prior. because i started this blog tired and having re-read some of it, will not butcher the justice these men deserved but still steer you to my dear, dear, bestest in boston, miss twelveohsixam to read all about it  here.  she says it perfectly if i may say so myself.

 my heart was so full hearing these men live and i was utterly and completely happy.
i snapped no pics, but here's their album cover. get it. got it? cool.

post concert i would leave the bean to head off to St. Thomas. twas my first time to the caribbean and i went with 3 fine felines and we had a true blast. we shared the sun by the infiniti pool, had the sand in our toes as we entered the clearest water i've ever been in, kayaked, paddle boarded and told many-a-story. we had drinks, i even (sort of) smoked a cigar (sorry dad), and we had unlimited access to the Ritz Carlton clubhouse for snacks, sweets and any beverage of our liking. i can say that a new friend became a closer friend as i got to know her better, and while thankful for newfound friendships with these chicks, i smiled to myself in quiet moments, proud and appreciative of the unmatched bunch i've got as my net as i've navigated the tightrope of life thus far these [almost-gasp] twenty-nine years. 

sunset cruise w/ the ladies.

the executive clubhouse i had access to for this small blip in my life. (likely to never happen again).

Post the islands i'd jet set to Austin, Texas for a biz trip via a stop in Tampa Florida to stay with the one and only magoo, my lifelong and one of my most bestest friends who used to be wee little 3 year old meggie with orange tic tac stains on her lips. i got to see a little bit of her life in Tampa, hang with her man, her dog, go on a walk the next morning and a run in a part of the USofA i have never experienced. i got to see the amazing job she did decorating and bringing life to their pad, and i saw a happy megs relishing in a life that she loves with some very important souls. a slice of coconut creme pie and a good cup of coffee the next morning made this stop-over not only extremely convenient, but just what i needed to head onto the work part of this week in Texas.

view from the stairs in their loft apartment. loved the openness of this place.

Post Texas, where i'd enjoy guacamole, margaritas, but officially wear myself down, lose my voice, and get pummeled with a massive head cold, i returned back to boston at 2:30am one friday morning. while the St. Thomas trip wasn't ' work ', it did contribute to my exhaustion and smack dab in the middle of two trips. despite feeling grosser than i have in years, myself, my headcold and a boy headed on the nyc train to enjoy our tickets to the west point, notre dame football game being played at the new yankee stadium. with dayquil, a celebrity gossip magazine, and a nice sized shoulder to nap and drip unstoppable snot on, i made it in one piece and we had a great time. i sent my dad pics of yankee stadium and enjoyed the cold air and hot chocolate while everyone else enjoyed beer. we snuggled back into the Ace Hotel before SNL was even halfway through... and while it may have seemed a waste of a new york city weekend.... it was actually exactly what i needed.

as a giant sidebar i am too tired to write about, (and seriously realizing how bad this blog is), the Ace hotel might've been the coolest hotel i've ever stayed in. i have stayed in uber unique hotels all over the globe - be it barcelona, amsterdam, or hong kong. but this hotel had such an endearing romance about itself. it was as if fun + hope + life painted itself on the walls, wrapped into the robes and was built into the tiles. please, please, PUHLEAZZE, read about it here: http://remodelista.com/posts/holiday-lodging-ace-hotel-in-new-york

need i say more? loved.this.place.

I capped off November with a trip home to Virginia where i had my dear, dear fox mill girls + the fam for a solid four days. add to that meeting the newest baby boy (of my dearest running friend dorothy), and i was a happy girl to hold an 8 pound sleepy baby and sit with one of my most favorite friends. on the last of a few runs through my old stomping grounds as i ran on the paths behind the store i used to work at and past the track i used to be fit as a fiddle doing summer college workouts.... i had a relaxed nostalgia about the whole thing. life is good. [ knock on wood of course ] :)

colton river.  love this little guy!

All of my travels and being at home with the majority of my net still had me so happy to be back in boston. i capped off november with a charles river run with the footsteps of twelveohsixam beside me. we shared stories, exchanged hardships, i complained about my pain in the butt (piriformis), and we dropped each other off at our usual spots. 

i was telling my boss one day at work this week about how when i used to go on trips and land back in seattle, where my apartment, my circle, and i my life was.... that i never really felt home. i told him when i land here in boston, i feel just the opposite. it's an incredible feeling to realize there are parts of that security you've known since you were three, parts you know through selling shoes and telling stories for years in a running store, and parts that grow out of where life takes us; be in rainy seattle or its-getting-cold-as-heck boston. i am so thankful to have such a strong net as i travel this tightrope. i am so, so pumped i have that. 

i shall leave this forever-babbling-not-really-a-point blog with one last photo that made me laugh.

monday morning i find my car, miss jasmine jetta, having her space totally invaded. 
i will mention this car had at least 8 feet behind it.

ahh city living. i love this place. i really do.

xo,

cw

Jigsaw Falling Into Place.

hi.
i am exhausted. but i'm still here.
and those are my shoes in soho.
xo,
cw

scooby dooby doo.

"scooby. we're here to solve a mystery!"

i love reusing halloween costumes. i met a random scooby on the street. he may have been my soul mate. but you can never trust a man in a dog costume.

xo,
daphne.

in a new york minute.

i'm in nyc for a PR/media event around a big shoe launch. it was super fun. cool. edgy. i am so tired from talking. i am now laying in my boutique-(y) hotel watching a family guy rerun (oops), and finishing up some work prior to a 4:50am wake-up call. BLAH.

in nyc today i :
noshed on sushi w/ the twin (we ordered very different things and did not share).
went head to head with a real sumo wrestler named americus (picture to follow).
checked my bed for bedbugs 18,000 times upon killing a small gnat in the bathroom. (apparently the little bastards don't fly - i googled it). i did feel like i was itching all over immediately after balling the gnat up in a napkin and throwing him away. this actually reminds me of lice checks in elementary school when my head would instantly feel infested upon learning of a check. i also would see/feel complete crookedness of the spine on "scoliosis exam" days. important note: i do not have scoliosis and i never had lice. the human mind. amazing, even in the 4th grade.

i ate beets tonight, they were in my falafel sliders at the event. (that word is surprisingly hard to spell). i reminded myself twice i had beets so that when i peed a very deep pink i wouldn't get that same feeling i get when i drive by a cop speeding and thinking he got me, or that feeling of adrenaline exerted via pure fear. ugh i hate that feeling.

back to the bean manana.
xo,
c-to-the-beet-w

Cilantro and CW

Cilantro.

It's like a puppy or a soft little baby, a good card in the mail, or a great belly laugh. everyone loves it, right? Cilantro is reliable, adds character to food, spruces up a recipe and is grown in backyards and on top of city roofdecks all over the world. Well friends, in my 28th year of living I've finally been able to go public with something i came to terms with years ago.

i, c-madeleine-w, hate cilantro. i absolutely loathe it. i taste soap when i eat it. it ruins food for me. I've said to close family and friends for years, "cilantro makes me want to gag."

I've been in a number of dinner situations that become so uncomfortable and thus unenjoyable; i've wasted money on perfectly good burritos or soups that are overloaded with this nasty green leafy beast. i have no problem asking for rice in my chipotle burrito without cilantro, and i've accepted that boston's boloco burrito chain will always need me to repeat my question a second time, "is there a lot of cilantro in that?"

This past summer I officially learned there is a small portion of the human population labeled, modern cilantrophobes. i've found NY Times and NPR articles online, and read with relief that finally, albeit small, a portion of the population is finally being recognized. we aren't bad people, we aren't out of our minds, we have a gene that causes us to taste soap or something buggy when the herb hits our tongue. 

shortly after being exposed to the truth, i met an absolutely lovely couple in which the chick half of the couple possessed cooking skills that could go head to head with Julia Childs, (who, eh hem, also hated cilantro). i watched her slice and dice, mix and combine in the most random-but-totally-made-sense kind of way while having cool conversation and engaging banter. and then it happened. i was actually asked, "Claire, do you like cilantro?"

i froze for three seconds but it felt like 40 to me. i was taken aback. who is this compassionate soul, talented cook and, wait a second, actually aware that not everyone wants to wrap the herb in silk and drape themselves in it? i then found the words flying out of my mouth, "well.... actually.... no. i can't stand it."

i couldn't believe i'd said it. this wasn't my mom or my best friend. this was an i-just-met-her-and-she's-cooking-an-exquisite-meal person.  her reaction, absolutely kind and casual, was a no-big-deal solution to make two different bowls of butter, one with the poison, and one without. 

i had done it. i'd denounced the herb. it felt liberating.

dear cilantro,

i do not like you.

at all.

xo,

cw

p.s. proof:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/dining/14curious.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98695984

oh dear.

multiple vacancies in the blogosphere of cw. i have been a busy bee sans the stinger. ok, maybe a stinger in a few emails here and there - like the one where i was responding to a request to interoffice a box of shoes from my floor (5) to he-who-shall-not-be-named just a few floors up. WHO does that?

just a few things that you should really know RIGHT now:

- i want to run away with Joel McHale. i can be ready in 10 minutes.
- the sister wives television show has me equally disturbed as it does fascinated. i feel like he's a backwood's perv with no game + a lot of awkwardness and found a loophole into bedding multiple ladies who are equally brainwashed.
- i think they should invent a button on TV remotes called "cereal" that automatically takes the volume to the max. i am convinced there is no way to eat cereal and watch tv without blaring the thing. and i really like cereal. who's with me?
- i officially overdosed on blue cheese dressing. total gag reflex. once i've gotten here it's not reversible - same thing happened with granny smith apples summer of '06.  it's done.

xo,
cw

2 minutes unwasted.

watch. please. i found it by accident when i searched, "men and pinky rings" on youtube so i could continue contributing humorously to a facebook thread i'd been tagged in. (see, i even explained).

but our dear barbara here... well, she had about 40 views until i found this thing.
watch for a good belly laugh. if you don't even giggle, we could never be friends.



xo,
cw

today...

.... i showered and blow dried my hair, did a little french braid to the side + a low side ponytail and put in some anthropologie earrings, all for a Massachusetts driver's license picture.  my previous 2 license photos are so terrible i have been questioned on numerous occasions if it is indeed me. (this always makes me feel better). i have lived here 19 months without a MA license, managed to register my car in MA, but seriously need to get one. after getting extremely lost driving to a DMV out in a [ what ended up ghetto ] suburb to avoid city traffic... i found out they were closed. in fact, all branches are closed on saturdays. cool.

.... i teared up at a Keeping Up With the Kardashains episode. embarrassment i thought i'd share.

.... i bought a vacuum for the first time in my life. i found myself considering a dyson for 1.2 seconds and then came to, realizing i do NOT need something so pricy. i was thinking how the commercials, all inclusive of that fancy accent + the way "suction" rolls off that man's tongue... probably work on a lot of suckers. (no offense if you have a dyson. if i wasn't stealing 10ish packets of sugar in the raw each time i leave a coffee shop to save some change, i'd probably have a dyson too).

.... i love fall but want to hang onto summer a little while longer. i'm currently doing that via tangerine toe nail polish and pretty much nothing else. hmmm.

just thought i'd say hi :)
xo,
cw

p.s. remembering how blessed we are to live in this country, especially today. reminded to hold our loved one's close, to see the bigger picture, and to treat other's with respect - regardless of how different we see the world. i remember writing my blog around this time last year.... it's crazy how fast time flies.

The 33 Wait.

" The world has always been ready to care about someone locked inside the earth. The empathetic fear is primal and timeless. The technology of telling us about the anguish has changed, but the essence of why we can't turn away has not. "


This is one of the most moving articles i've read regarding the 33 miners trapped in the San Jose Mine in Chile. While it's nearly impossible to read without tearing up, the voice it's written in sheds light on the connective threads that link the world in a beautiful way. Despite the daunting circumstances surrounding these 33 men right now, the writer sheds light on the silent stillness as the entire world channels massive amounts of innate hope and belief that all 33 will come out alive.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/05/greene.chile.miners/index.html?hpt=C2#fbid=baB6vWOG_4m&wom=false


xo,
cw

the wilderness downtown --- flippin genius.

ummm, hold the phone everybody, and listen carefully. Arcade Fire's amazingness is married to the chill-inducing brilliance of this customizable experience, allowing us to plug in our address and run through our old wilderness....



in this case the wilderness being your old neighborhood thanks to google street view.

so i seriously had flash backs of that thin, slippery coat of algae on the tunnel  sewer floors we weren't supposed to be in, the jelly shoes that covered our little feet as we waded through murky creek water, and the garage sale purchased schwinn bikes we'd ride up to fox mill giant.  megan usually had orange tictac stains around her mouth, maybe combined with "chap's lip", as she'd refer to it to my mom and beth would be in her adidas navy blue gazelle sneaks and lanzera shorts.  little whitney, 100% muscle, smelled of "no more tangles" b/c she was usually just freshly showered after an intense session at her gym-for-crazy-good-gymnasts and em and i would roll down our driveway in yearly chosen glasses - mine peach framed and, if her's weren't in her pocket,  a nice magenta tint... but both of us with chlorine stained hair.


i love childhood. and neighborhoods. and best friends from these two things who are still your best friends. and i love this amazingness from Arcade Fire and modern day technology that took me right back.

i am not a techie. not at all. i know nothing about "plug-ins" and "compatibility" or even "save as" vs. "run" when installing a program. but this worked on my macbook. so please try to get this to work on whatever you're watching. [ i believe it involves installing google chrome. but come on - google = trust and chrome = a cool word ] .

i hyperlinked it twice, and it's at the bottom. please click. puh-leeeze.

xo,

cw


http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

facebook is bananas.

don't get me wrong - i love it, despite the headed debate 5 years ago with my younger cousins over Easter that i'd never go on facebook and it will fade away. i admit it, i heart the book - for mindless distraction but especially for album viewing and seeing the tiny offspring of my best friend's grow and turn into little people. i also might be known to have lisbeth salander like detective skills on the ole book when it comes to the opposite sex and/or any relevant information myself or my friends need to find out. [but that is neither here nor there].

reason #239084 facebook is bananas:  i have just been friend requested by a spanish teacher from oakton high school who i never had. i am certain. i had senorita losata every single year she even cried once when our quizzes were terrible, told us we made her "physically ill" (i remember being weirded out by that even at 15).  i never had this Senora Walsh aka Bruja, but either way... spanish teacher + facebook + friend request = seriously?

i believe i am being mixed up with one of my sisters.... and along with the friend request i have this sweet little greeting "De Bruja....¿Qué pasa, chica? " 

after viewing her page i see she indicates she is widowed and has some pictures of adorable pups.... and her info is written in spanish. after viewing this, there's no way i can deny Senora Bruja ( former teacher of AW or EW). Though i do recall she did go by "the witch" for her tough teaching.... maybe there's a lot to her.  so, plus 1 for me in the friend count..... bananas i know.

xo,

cw

a morsel. or thirty.

i am leaving the house in about 30 minutes to meet a friend for a nice evening run along the river.
and i am eating chocolate chips.
and listening to The National over and over. [and over. and over. again].
because these are things that i do.

i couldn't help it though.
i put the chocolate chips in the fridge....
and i am weak to cold chocolate.
and by weak i mean that i am proud to love it.

i'll just be here.
in a sports bra and running shorts.
eating chocolate chips and blog stalking.
if my stalking is ever found out, please take it as a compliment.
i would.

xo,
cw

thunder.

my boss tells me (and the rest of the footwear team), that i walk as loud as thunder from those budweiser horse commercials. while this is totally untrue, the volume at which sometimes my cadence comes through is due to other circumstances. [ wood floors in the R&D space + less than a handful of females on the footwear team + my choice to wear anthropology heels or Frye boots,YES, does make my walk seem a little loud]. i digress.

the loudest walker i have E V E R encountered...
is living right above me.
Loudest Walker Ever.

a friend was over even as she was walking around and he was like, "seriously? what is going on here? she loves wearing shoes".

if i was working for CSI shoetown, weighing all evidence including the clobbering and rhythm of each step; i have decided she is wearing dansko nurse shoes on top of kevlar stilts which are inside of carbon fiber track spikes..... all of this on wood floors. impressive.

the end.
cw

i was careful. but nothing was harmless.

unreleased track from The National.
umm. wow.
perfect.
love them. truly do.
xo,
cw

beautiful.

i saw Arcade Fire last night.

and it would be impossible to do justice to how unreal this experience was.

the music. the coolness. the energy. geez even the outfits.

the set was a little short, but kudos to them for leaving the crowd craving more.

after the last song, we all knew the encore was really the encore. we knew there'd be no second encore. and then... then they waved goodbye. genuinely so. with the same wild arms they flailed around moments earlier with tambourines; with the glittered and gloved up hands raised up in the air as their random dancing made no sense, yet actually perfectly did, bopping around up there for us to smile at. 

so we waved back. the crowd, that is, and it was awesome. 

it was like every single one of us were completely fulfilled at the exact same moment in time.

played 3rd or 4th in the set was Haiti. an older song from their album, Funeral. The song and video were written and produced years before the earthquake. Partners in Health, a boston based organization who has been in Haiti for decades, was also set up outside the concert. My parents encouraged me to donate to this organization, and i am so glad i do, as they've been working to bring healthcare, economic strength and development to the country for so long. Click on the link to learn more.

Miss twelveohsixam sent me the link to this breathtaking video. it's really beautiful, please check it.

xo,

cw

they said the past won't rest until we leave it behind.

many of my friends tell me i have the memory of an elephant, and my response is usually that my twin sister does too. our friends or colleagues astoundingly ask how on earth we remember everything. our answer is that we don't know. we just do. we remember details of stories - whether it be an outfit someone was wearing or who was there, a movie line or even a short monologue, and we can reenact a story with the exact details as it unfolded.  now, my dear readers, please note this means sometimes [eh hem, often], i don't remember important things, i.e. the global volume of a key footwear style i am working on, or how to calculate a margin without my fancy little spreadsheet someone else created for me. instead that brain space is occupied with memories of who else got the presidential physical fitness award every year with me in elementary school... (my bff whitney gooley, and kristen bourum btw - great little gymnasts), or what song was stuck in my head as our high school field hockey team heartbreakingly lost in the regional finals to Centreville my senior year, (Eagle Eye Cherry's, Save Tonight.... and for the record, an opponents shot went off my copa mundial left shoe into the goal. ugh, i still can't even talk about it).


i digress.


so last night i stayed in on a friday night. yes, because that is perfectly fine and yes, because i am 28 and sometimes like to just vedge, even on a friday.  i had a crazy busy week of work and evening plans, all worth it of course, tuesday through thursday.  After working too hard on a friday in the summer, (yes i am getting soft), sitting in traffic for 90 minutes en route home due to a lovely Red Sox game, plan making was not going to happen. absolutely not going to happen.


i dragged my butt out for a slow run, showered and ate, and while my hair air dried all wavy and weird (which everyone seems to love but me), i listened to the new arcade fire album.  As Suburban War was playing on repeat per my doing....... i got up and slammed my pinky toe so hard and ferociously on the edge of the kitchen counter.


we've all done this.
the pinky toe.
one of the tiniest and most painful parts of the human body to slam.
and i believe...
the slamming usually occurs when we are by ourselves.


i sat on the floor, rocking back and forth on my rear end, making that scrunched face with the eyes closed so tightly, cradling the most wee member of my size 7.5 foot and i just winced. even as my phone rang only a few feet away and i wondered who it was, my mind was brought to the movie Lost in Translation, and the scene when Scarlett Johansen's character, lost and alone in Japan, winced and held her pinky toe in her hotel room in the middle of Tokyo. i remember thinking that it was such a real, human, moment.


remembering the first time i saw Lost in Translation, one of my favorite films that many people dismiss as boring and they "didn't get," made me think about the context in which i saw it. i came home one weekend from college in the fall, in a walking boot, with a terrible achilles injury. it was my senior year, and week by week, i was losing my chance to prove myself and continue to run fast after a huge breakthrough my junior year and solid summer of training.  i was really sad. i wasn't able to sleep at night. all of my eggs were in that basket, and the basket was broken. i remember seeing the movie with my wise older sister, and afterward going to the Amphora cafe where we had blueberry pie and a cup of coffee after midnight and we laughed. i remember i was in such a down spot, and when you're 21 and you just want to run, well you think the world is over. and oh how wrong we are, but in that moment we're not.


so here i was, home on a friday night, overworked and exhausted, (which if you know me always puts me on the brink of tears); i then proceeded to watch and cry over two episodes of BostonMed. i went to bed thinking how life happens so insanely fast and incredible. we could unknowingly be in a significant space in time, one where we'll look back as our older self and know we learned so much from, and still have compassion for where we were at that moment. we can look back with an endearing understanding how things end up smaller than we thought, but nonetheless meld into memories we call on at the oddest times sitting on our kitchen floor in a tank top and boy shorts as a 28 year old with a toe that feels like it's the size of the Empire State building.


i think no matter how hard we slam that pinky toe and how alone we are at that moment wincing in pain.... we always get up don't we? the throbbing always fades, and we find ourselves perfectly able to go onto the next thing.


xo....
cw

letting go.

so i am moving. [just around the corner].

but that still means packing up. and packing up means finding things.

and these things are many a thing with many a memory.

be it a shoe from my old job i got to be a part of.

a license plate of jasmine jetta seattle style.

a note scribbled on a post-it that made me laugh.

and it means letting go of some of these things.

maybe not the post-it. the license plate. or that first round of Ravenna's before they were "frozen".

maybe just the pink leotard from 4 halloweens ago.

for now at least.

xo,

cw

nothing much to report except...

i got called tootsie at work.

i bought a couch from west elm for my new pad. i am pretty sure the sales person was high.

a little 16 yr old with braces returning from piano camp helped me check my attitude at the door when she approached me at my gate, nervous and worried to be traveling alone for the first time. i navigated her from iowa and through milwaukee and onto her denver plane. she pretty much has her life figured out (wake forest, music major), whereas i knew i wanted to get a smoothie before leg 2 of my trip.

for the fourth time, in a completely different location in boston, i have run into Matt from Children's International who is trying to convince me to sponsor a child in a 3rd world country. he gets bug eyed every time he sees me, and each time thinks my name is "Katie." it's now gotten nasty, and despite the fact that i politely declined the first time b/c i donate to operation smile and partners in health, he is now accusing me of wasting my money on starbucks because i won't sign up on the spot for his cause. way to make me turned off from your organization kid, and no, i do not want to see your June letter from Gabriella.

my shoulder sucks.  so does my twin sisters.

i learned i am one of three colleagues who eat our chobani yogurt with a fork, because spoons are not found on the 5th floor. 

a girl next to me in bikram stayed in camel pose an extra minute. it was extremely annoying and i am glad the instructor caught her and called her out on it.

i agreed to a "phone interview" today at noon regarding a new shoe and learned the second i answered i was live on the air in some AM station in michigan. that was a little funny [slash] weird.

i stood under a street lamp tonight on the shady street i parked on to write back to an email with fury to someone who was completely wrong about something. and for the record, if you copy your boss... i'm gonna copy mine too. nice try though.

i love pomegranate anything.

that's all.

this blog sucks i know.

work + life has me very very busy.

xo,

cw

ohmygosh

ok so i am not exaggerating. i never do. i just happen to have a lot of stories, and the past few days i have been a total freak magnet, as my friend bk likes to say.

i have one story from this past saturday that is SO unbelievable to share, (something i witnessed while on a run that you cannot even guess... and seriously... you really cannot even guess). my other story is happening right before my eyes....

i am at logan airport (free wifi - hollaaa), and i am certain i am witnessing a real life oedipus complex. i had only learned about this in sociology, and i apologize if anyone is offended that i am writing about this, (as it's happening in front of my face), but there is a serious Oedipus Complex, or perhaps something worse, going down across from where i am sitting at this gate.

this son has to be about 15ish. glasses, braces, pretty nerdy. he and his mom are all over each other, and yes, i have heard him call her "mom". they are playing eye-spy. (of note: i believe one of the objects was the pink ponytail holder around my wrist... yes, that's how close i am sitting near them). they are cooing, ooohing and cuddling. he is petting her head, his face was in her lap at one point. this is so inappropriate.

i gotta go now. we're boarding.
totally grossed out,
cw

there was no stopping it.

today i was in a meeting. i was asked to be in this formal gathering of selected employees at my company to talk openly and freely about running. what it means to us, our relationship with it, what we measure ourselves by. the discussion was good, insightful for those asking the questions, and just cool to hear some of my colleagues thoughts and experiences with the whole thing. i like knowing people better.

around 11:47(ish)... i totally lost it.

in the hilarious sort of way.

as in, could NOT keep it together.

you see we were asked to share in a few sentences,  "what makes a good run", and among the answers.... 

someone very seriously mentioned "to get digestive issues going if you're backed up."

i proceeded to lose it. i was trying to think of really sad things to get a hold of myself. the worst part was it was silent; so i was looking down, trying to hide it but probably not. i would think i recovered and then, then like a wave that catches you off guard it would come over me, and there i went again, fighting to keep it in my throat, squeezing my hands into my thighs, (because yeah that helps?), and looking down at my red seychelles shoes.

so this silent, uncontrollable laughter  equated to about a 15 minute ab workout.

the good news is, the discussion was video taped.

so the one chick in the group with the ponytail and the tears rolling down her face.

yepp, that's all recorded.

xo,

cw