List: My Favorite Words

I haven't done a list in awhile!  And I do love lists!!  So how about a list of my favorite words?  Either to say or write.

1. Funicular
2. Defenestrate
3. Genau (German word basically meaning exactly.  When I was in Bonn for work I would count the number of genaus used in a meeting.  I think one time it was close to 100.  The Germans do love genau!)
4. Exactly
5. Plethora
6. Ruckus
7. Aplomb
8. Ciao
9. Quandary
10. Scrumptious
11. Antidisestablishmentarianism (supposedly the longest word in the English language)

I could probably list a few more, but these were the ones I could come up with off the top of my head!

List #14 My Favorite Christmas Songs

I haven't done a list in awhile.  Couple that with the fact it is my favorite time of year and you get a list of my favorite Christmas songs!!

1. Winter Wonderland
2. I'll Be Home for Christmas
3. O Come All Ye Faithful
4. All I Want For Christmas Is You
5. White Christmas
6. Jingle Bell Rock
7. O Holy Night
8. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
9. We Three Kings
10. Happy Holidays
11. Santa Baby
12. Christmas Wrapping
13. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
14. Carol of the Bells
15. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

And an honorable mention: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

List #13 Random Things about Me

The cleanse is over!!  Hooray!  Now comes the hard part of incorporating all that clean living into my daily life and enjoying treats in moderation.  It's all about balance and not being too hard of myself when I slip up because it'll happen.

I don't really have much else to say at the moment so we'll fall back to a list of random tidbits about yours truly. 

1. One of my dreams as a kid was to find a historical artifact.
2. I love listening to old time radio shows. Richard Diamond, The Shadow, Boston Blackie, Our Miss Brooks – I could go on.
3. I read romance novels. And I love romantic comedies.  I'm sure no one is shocked by this.  Sometimes you just need a fluffy boy meets girl story.
4. I failed my Driver’s Test, twice.
5. I got my first C ever my first quarter of college. And I got 2. I’m pretty sure those were the only ones I ever got though.
6. I watch too much TV. But it is so darn hard to turn off sometimes!
7. When I talk to myself, I sometimes will use hand gestures to get a point across – to myself.
8. I am not a night person. I don’t know that I would necessarily call myself a morning person anymore (I used to be more of a morning person), but I am definitely not a night person. I turn into a pumpkin if I am out too late.
9. I am the person who is jamming out in her car at a red light.
10. I want to get married in a castle.
11. I used to hate (with a passion) the color pink when I was younger, but now I have embraced the color (it isn't my favorite, but it's in the top 5).
12. I don't like to cook.  At all.
13. I probably drink on average 3 to 4 liters of water a day.

List #12 My 5K Playlist

Okay, so no Five Senses Friday today because really it would be all food, or the lack thereof. Feeling – hungry, tasting – lemon juice/maple syrup and cinnamon gum, hearing – the crunch of potato chips that I can’t eat, smelling – oh so many wonderful food smells, seeing – candy bars everywhere I look! Okay, never mind. A short & sweet Five Senses! :) I’m not normally a salty person but I have been craving a lot more salt lately. Probably to offset the maple syrup sweet. If you were to place a bowl of chips next to a bowl of M&Ms, 9 times out of 10 I go for the M&Ms. Unless of course I was at Azul and the chips were accompanied by some roasted corn avocado dip. Yum!! Or Chuy’s with some creamy jalapeno sauce. Oh, Chuy’s, I miss you! Where was I? Oh, yes so if the rest of the cleanse goes as the last one did, while I’m still craving not as healthy things on the cleanse, once I’m off, I usually do much better! For awhile anyway....

Am I the only one super excited for Kona on Saturday?! I am in awe of the Ironman athletes. While I would one day love to do a half Ironman, I am pretty realistic about the fact I will never, ever, ever in a million years do a full. (Exaggerate much? Yes, yes I do.) A full would require a marathon and I have also sworn to never do a marathon (the guy died when he reached Marathon after all!). I will be checking in on the progress of the race throughout the day.

I'm still aiming to make my goal of running 12 5K's, or one 5K a month.  I was really hoping to do the Dawg Dash in October but I'll be out of town. Darn. But I think I now have a few viable 5K options for October. November has been harder because I'll be out of town for most of the Turkey Trots. I'm still looking though.

All these 5Ks have me thinking - one of these days I am going to run a 5K sans iPod.  You know what? I think I'm going to have to put that on my 34 Things list!  But until then, when my feet hit the pavement (or treadmill as the case may be) I will be accompanied by my iPod.  But what tunes have been motivating me through these 5Ks?  I think it’s time for a list!

1. All that Matters (Addison Road)
2. What About Us? (Brandy)
3. Sexy! No No No... (Girls Aloud)
4. Let it Rock (Kevin Rudolph)
5. Speed of Light (Corbin Bleu)
6. Burnin’ Up (Jonas Brothers)
7. Naturally (Selena Gomez & the Scene)
8. Evacuate the Dancefloor (Cascada)
9. Scream (Zac Efron / “Troy”)
10. I am Free (Newsboys)
11. Just Dance (Lady Gaga)
12. Something Kinda Ooooh (Girls Aloud)
13. Devastated (Ballas Hough Band)
14. Party in the USA (Miley Cyrus)
15. A Little Less Conversation (Elvis Presley)

List #11 What I Love About Fall

Since it is looking and feeling more and more like fall, I'm going to celebrate with another list!  I really do love fall.  The colorful leaves, the crispness of the air.  I could go on but then I wouldn't need a list! :)

1. Husky Football!!
2. Pumpkin Spice Lattes
3. Pumpkin Pie
4. Oh, heck!  Anything pumpkin really...
5. Leaves changing colors
6. Crisp fall days
7. Buying school supplies (yes I am a nerd, but there is something about buying a new notebook & pens during the back to school sales)
8. Snuggling under the blankets (especially when it is raining outside)
9. The new fall TV season

List #10 What I Love About Summer

As I was on my bike racing against the setting sun (and the dark rain cloud) I came to the realization that summer is coming to an end (and quickly at that!).  While I love fall, there is something to be said for summer and all of its wonderfulness.  And here are a few of the reasons why I love summer!

1. It stays light until almost 10 pm!
2. Drinking iced coffee
3. Drinking iced coffee that I bought with a treat receipt
4. Outdoor seating at restaurants
5. Running outside after work
6. Swim & biking outside for that matter
7. Outdoor movies
8. Beautiful blue skies
9. Picnics
10. Triathlons
11. T-shirt weather

List #9 My Favorite Ponts (aka Bridges)

I'm taking a break for moment and thought it might be time for another list.  And since my travel plans for this year are shaping up to be Italy, which is the home of my absolute favorite pont and also my seventh favorite pont (or bridge, most or ponte - I just really like saying my favorite pont) I thought it would be fun to list my favorite bridges.  I have walked (or biked) across every single one of these bridges, except for the 25th of April Bridge.

1.  Ponte Vecchio (Florence, Italy)

2.  Pont Neuf (Paris, France)

3.  Charles Bridge / Karlov Most (Prague, Czech Republic)

4.  Tower Bridge (London, England)

5.  Brooklyn Bridge (New York , NY)

6.  Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, CA)

7.  Rialto Bridge (Venice, Italy)

8.  Chain Bridge (Budapest, Hungary)

9.  25th of April Bridge (Lisbon, Portugal)

List #8 Questions I Still Have About Lost

I just watched the finale of Lost, or I should say cried my way through the finale.  I'm still processing, but here are a few thoughts.  Sayid & Shannon's reunion even brought a tear, but I bawled with Sun & Jin, Kate, Claire & Charlie, and especially Sawyer & Juliet.  And Jack, what can I say about Jack?  I had actually soured a little bit on Jack the last few seasons, but that all changed this season.  I re-connected with my love for Jack.  And while the finale didn't answer a lot of my questions (hence the list), it was a really well done episode.  I thought it was very compelling, and at least it answered this season's question!  But here we go with some of my questions:  

1. What was the deal with the numbers?  I mean, I realize they are candidate numbers, but why were they on the hatch?
2. What made Desmond special?
3. Who built the statue?
4. Why wasn't Michael, Walt, Miles, Frank or (especially) Richard at the church?
5. Why did women have problems with getting pregnant and/or giving birth on the island?
6. How did Dharma find out about the island?  And why were they there?
7. Why was Ben able to kill Widmore (when he couldn't a few seasons ago)?
8. What's up with the wheel?
9. What happened with Claire in the three years she was lost in the jungle?
10. What was the point of the bomb?  Did it go off?
11. I could go on, but those are my major questions.

Couldn't the producers come out with an addendum?  Or a Q&A session?  I'm okay with the answer being, it was a red herring or it was a story line we decided not to develop.  I just want to know.  And can I say I would happily watch a Sawyer/Ben show?  Or a Sawyer show?  Or a Ben show?  Sawyer can bring the funny sarcasm like no one else (not to mention how yummy he is without his shirt), and Ben, well you can never know what Ben is thinking.  Or a Ben/Hurley/Sawyer show.  Or a Sawyer/Miles show.  Or, or, or...I guess what I'm trying to say is I would love to see Josh Holloway or Michael Emerson on my TV again.

List #7 Things to do in NYC

I haven't done a list in awhile and I thought this would be a fun topic!  And feel free to chime in with any suggestions!  I am off to NYC for work, and since the meeting is right before Memorial Day and for the first time in awhile I don't have any Memorial Day plans, I decided to go a few days early and explore since the last (and only) time I went to NYC was for less than a 24 hour period in an attempt to get enough miles to be elite.  So here is my wish list of things to do in NYC, in no particular order:

1. Empire State Building
2. Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island
3. Central Park
4. American Museum of Natural History
5. Ground Zero
6. Times Square (and can I just say how disappointed I was to find out it wasn't an actual square?)
7. MoMA
8. Rockefeller Center
9. Serendipity

Happy Birthday to Me! (aka List #6 Birthday Wish List)

What better post on my birthday than my current big ticket item wish list! In no particular order...

1. MacBook
2. Garmin 310XT
3. Nikon (D40 or similar) or Canon (EOS Rebel or similar)
4. 2 months off work to travel
5. Kindle
6. iTouch
7. Net book

List #5 Random Thoughts of the Week

I liked Mandi's list of news for the week and I’m going to copy the idea slightly... List #5 Random Thoughts of the week

1. I have no motivation lately. Or I’m suffering from the blah’s... I don’t know if it is post race blues, or this cold (which ended up being bronchitis) which has got me down. Dear Motivation, Where are you? Why did you leave me alone? Please come and find me. Love, Emily
2. There has been several times when I’ve been to the same place they’ve gone to on the Amazing Race. But this last episode in Reims blew it all away. I’ve been there not once, but
   twice!
3. Seriously, what is going on with Lost? They need to start tying up some loose ends.
4. As of now, the Huskies are out of the tournament. Oh well, it was a fun run while it lasted. I heart my Huskies!
5. Duke is still in the tournament (as of right now - they play tonight). And if they win tonight I will be bringing cupcakes in on Monday out of sheer happiness! Plus, who can pass up a cupcake?
6. So, with me not being motivated and mainly staying on my couch I have caught up on a lot of TV.
7. Maybe there is something to this Daylight Savings – it was light yesterday until 7 p.m.
8. It is probably not a good idea to wear white shorts and no underwear to hot yoga. Just saying...
9. Even with the lack of motivation, I am excited to start swim bike run instead of just run. Hopefully training will start sooner rather than later...

List #4 Why I Will (most likely) Run the Princess Half Marathon Again

So I'm still working on the actual race report, but in the meantime - a list! Leading up to this race I was so sure that this was going to be my last half for long time, if ever. I should know by now that generally when I say never, it pretty much guarantees that I will do it with very few exceptions. One exception would be a full marathon - I feel very confident saying no way will I ever do a full marathon. It is just way too long!! It was somewhere around mile 10 where I thought to myself, I could do this again!! Not necessarily any old half marathon - but specifically the Princess Half. And here are a few reasons why.

1. It takes place at Disney World!
2. I get to run through the castle!
3. Taking pictures with the characters (and I'm so stopping for Cinderella next time)
4. Wearing a tiara
5. Embracing my inner princess!
6. The bling!! (I HEART the medal!!)
7. Running with 13,000+ other Princesses (and a few Princes too)
8. So I can take pictures without my hat on (you'll see what I'm talking about once I get around to uploading my pictures)

Seriously - if you could sign up tomorrow for next year's race, I'd be all over it since I'm still on my post half high!

List #3 Things in my carry-on bag

Thanks to Mandi for the great idea of a list of things to pack! So here is a list of common things you can find in my carry-on bag:

1. One set of clothing, including pajamas and shoes. This stems back from when my suitcase was lost and I had to go buy underwear and pajamas. Never again!
2. Plastic bag of my liquids/gels. This includes travel sized toothpaste, shampoo, etc. Really, losing the suitcase has left me with a permanent scar, or made me a better packer!
3. Hairbrush
4. Toothbrush
5. Books
6. Notepad & pen
7. Deck of cards. You never know when you will need to pass the time with a deck of cards.
8. Travel documents. How to get to the hotel, my itinerary, etc.
9. Travel pillow. I forget what flight it was where I finally broke down and got a neck pillow. And let me just say, even if I look silly, it does help!

List #2 Places I Can Visit Over and Over Again

Now don't get me wrong, I love visiting new places. But there are some places I love to go back to again and again. And thanks to Michelle for pointing out the error with my list - where is Disney World, because we know I that I can (and have) visited there over and over!

1. London
2. Disney World
3. Rome (plus it is only a short distance from Florence which almost made the list)
4. Paris
5. Lisbon
6. Prague
7. Maui
8. Krakow
9. Cannon Beach

List #1 Gold Stars I Deserve or things that I'm good at

Mandi has taken up a great project of making lists (via Hula Seventy who is doing a weekly list). I love lists, I really do. While I don't know how ambitious my list-making will end up being, I am going to give it a try. Right now I have several lists started, but none of them are feeling complete to me but Mandi's list of gold stars gave me a great place to start! Plus I liked that we had a few in common!

1. Laughing. I can laugh at a lot of things (including myself). And I’ve been told I have a nice laugh. In fact I also have a laugh that carries across the office.


2. Observation / Details. I usually pick up on the little things. I am great at sitting back and observing a situation.


3. Packing. It probably comes from packing my suitcase so often! :) I can usually look at a space and look at what need to go in the space and figure out the best way to cram it all in, utilizing all of the space.


4. Traveling. Maybe this is why I do it so often – because I’m good at it! :) And I’m becoming more proficient at map reading as well.


5. Remembering. Maybe this plays into the details one above. It isn't only elephants who can remember! Although lately, my remembering skills have fallen a bit off, perhaps because there is too much clutter in my brain. But I'm usually the person who can remember meeting someone after one time. And when people say, oh you may not remember me, inside I'm thinking actually yes I do remember you.

And there you have my first list! What are some other ideas of lists for me to make?