Who needs therapy? I run.

First things first, I'm an advocate for everyone's mental well being...including, and sometimes especially, my own.  However you go about it is your business, but it's why I do certain things - spend time with friends, play the guitar, listen to music, drink, read, write, garden, cook, and run.  The list could go on and on, I guess I try to surround myself and keep myself busy with people and things that keep me calm and even-keeled, and make me feel better when I'm down and out, can make me laugh until I forgot what was bothering me in the first place.  I guess no one purposely does things that they know will stress them out, but sometimes it just happens - like work.  I love my job, I really do.  Some days are good, some are bad, and some days I think I'd be happier working at Dairy Queen.  Being in public service, though - people either love you or hate you, there doesn't seem to be any in-between.  Working with crime victims can be very rewarding, even when they curse at you because of something completely out of your control, like sentencing.  The best response I can give them?  'Write to the legislature'.  (insert sarcasm here) That's what victims really wanna hear... 

This week has been 'one of those weeks'.  We are in the middle of a capital murder trial that really should be pretty straightforward, but instead, every wrench that could be thrown in has been.  Because it's still going on, I probably shouldn't go into any detail on a public forum.  But throw in personal stuff, which is what happened this week, and you have my week in a nutshell.

My grandmother is in the hospital, has been for 2 weeks, and they still don't know exactly what's wrong with her, except for the possibility of attributing it to congestive heart failure.  God willing, she'll be back home soon, but her birthday is October 2nd, which leads to my next personal heartache...one of my best friends from college is getting married on October 2nd, and she asked me a while back to sing in her wedding.  Of course I said yes, it's a beautiful song (Catch The Wind) and I was honored that she asked.  That was before they'd set a date...and even after they'd set the 2nd as the date, nothing in my head clicked - until a few days ago when I was putting things on my calendar.  I was sitting in court listening to testimony, and sometimes it gets a bit boring since I've pored through the file so many times I could play the part of every witness myself it seems.  So I usually take something to do in court - paperwork, if I can do it without my computer, my organizer, that kind of thing...So I'm sitting there, and I realize what's going on.  And I almost busted out into tears.  One way, I get to sing in my friend's wedding and party with our friends all weekend.  The other way I get to help my grandma celebrate her birthday.  You can see what the downsides are...

And so, I run.  I ran a half marathon this morning, and it was incredibly therapeutic.  There is something inherently peaceful about running.  I love to run by myself, on the roads near my house, on the treadmill at the gym, in a road race with hundreds of other people.  I can think, I can be mad, I can cry, I can do whatever in my head I want to - the only thing you really have to do is put one foot in front of the other.  Sure, good form helps, but it's not absolutely necessary to get from one place to the other. 

This morning was great.  I got to run with a friend, another friend came out to cheer us on (and went to 3 different stops!), and I got to eat a plain white bagel without guilt.  This whole bagel thing seems to be affecting me more than I was even aware at the time...I wrote about it on daily mile and facebook, too.  Also, I PR'd!  2:00:30 - I'm dangerously close to beating another runner friend of mine's half marathon PR (1:57) so that's my new goal is to beat him!  A little friendly competition never hurt anyone, right?  But no matter what, even if I never beat him, I know my day will be that much better - because as much work as I put into running - the training, the long runs, the weight lifting, the sleep and food schedules, the 4 AM work outs - I get so much more out of it.  I guess my parents were right - that you get out of life what you put into it.

And so, I run.    

Rants and Raves

Wow, twice in one day!  I might make this a regular feature...my rants and raves.  Various things I think are ridiculous, that sort of thing.

I think it should be against the law for any song to be played more frequently on the same radio station more than once every 2 hours.  No matter what your format is, there's plenty of music out there for you to choose from.  Why do you have to play only recent stuff?  I like it old school every once in a while.

There, I feel better.

It's About Damn Time

I know, I know...it's been almost 3 months since I've posted anything!  I didn't want to let March completely come and go without putting up something in 2010, so away we go...

2010 rolled in with a bang, and I intend to keep up the momentum.  With the exception of slacking on this blog, I feel like I've really been doing well this year keeping my goals in a reality check and trying to accomplish what I want to without biting off more than I can chew.

I still don't have my etsy page up and running yet, but I've been working on inventory and should have some items up by the end of the month (!) and hopefully will have some photos up as well.  As much as I love my day job, I long for the day when I can make Idle Hands my only full-time assignment and take pictures of the sunrise instead of having to get in the car for the 30-mile commute every morning.  I have worked 2 full-time jobs simultaneously before, but when one of them involves an hour and a half round-trip commute each day and the other one involves weekly hours of beadweaving, traveling hither and thither to find the perfect shot, and making sure I'm not knitting when I'm supposed to be purling, I am left with little time to appreciate the other wonderful things that make up my life. 

Of course, that takes me back to my goals - to improve my skills at managing and juggling everything - and I mean all of it.  Marriage (hopefully a family soon), my family and friendships (which I would be miserable without), maintaining a house, garden and flower beds (us Southern girls can't go without hydrangeas and a vegetable garden, you know), going to the gym, the guitar and writing music, and then finding time to just relax and veg out on the couch every once in a while is nice, too.  Throw in a piano, trying to teach myself Spanish and getting back to violin lessons, and I need a few more hours in the day.  But I think about my mother and what all she did when I was growing up, and I look at my sister and what she is able to get done and the things she does with her daughters and I know it's possible.  I hope that I can inspire my nieces like the women in my life have inspired me.

Now, onto the day job...on November 21, 2007, Samuel James Cooper, Jr. was arrested for robbing a bank in Garner, NC.  He later confessed to 5 murders that he committed between May 2006 and October 2007.  It is now 2010 and we have finally started his trial.  Jury selection took a month and evidence started this past Monday, 3/15/10.  Monday went really well, and Tuesday the jury got to listen to his confessions.  We went into court yesterday and found out that one of his attorneys had gone to the ER early that morning and was diagnosed with pneumonia.  So just as we got started picking up speed, we have come to a screeching halt.  We start back Monday, which I'm looking forward to, I just feel bad for all my witnesses!  Occupational hazard, I guess - but as many trials as I have coordinated for Jeff, I'm used to people being upset with me.  Oh, well, we all have a job to do, don't we?

Speaking of jobs, I better get back to mine...I promise to get better at this blogging thing...have I promised that before?  Well, this time I mean it.