Wednesday, February 23, 2011

An Interview and Surprise Dinner!!

If you’re not following Leslie Rubinkowski of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as she trains her way towards her first marathon (the Pittsburgh Marathon on May 15), you really should be. Leslie, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, is a gifted writer and soon-to-be marathoner. She chronicles her training in a blog column of the paper called “The Starting Line.”

A few weeks ago she interviewed me, and the interview was posted today HERE. You can read what I say verbatim. And, all with no f words or poop talk. Weird, I know.

Moving on…

Thank you from the bottom of my un-waxed eyebrows and white underwear for your birthday wishes yesterday. Totally made my day.

Before:

eyebrows

After (still a bit hairy, but cleaned up at least):

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I got my toes painted and went with the sparkly birthday theme. I think it accentuates my long Morton’s toe, which was the look I was going for. That thing is a FINGER!

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At PT, I shared my woes of my glutes screaming at me during runs. We’ve decided to start dry-needling. Basically, a “dry” needle (kind of like an acupuncture needle) is inserted into a trigger point, hoping to make the muscle spasm and release/relax it. Sounds painful. Yeah, it does. I will wear my Depends that day in case something involuntarily slips out. I’ll start this in a couple of weeks and do it about four times.

No one, and I mean no one, guessed correctly on my birthday dinner. Not even close. My mom went Spanish with Paella and Tortilla Espanola. Also home made bread and a vat of butter.Yeah, that’s right. My mama can COOK!

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I did get my lemon cake and it got messy. And I lost an eye:

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Me with my amazing parents.

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Me with Ken and kids. Emma is at that stage where she likes to look as crazy/unusual/demented as possible in pictures.

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By far, the best line of the night was when precocious son Sam said, “Well, we’ve heard a many stories about how mom was born in Chicago during a snow storm, but we’ve never heard the story of the night she was conceived.” To which my dad said, “It was a Friday night…” I started screaming NO NO NO. Never. Don’t want to hear.

Ever tried dry needling? Did you crap yourself?

What’s your favorite birthday dinner?

Do you know the story of how you were conceived?

Glad  I was conceived,

SUAR

45 comments:

  1. You do realize you're going to get a bazillion people asking you what that color is on your toes, right? I've learned: post the mani/pedi, also post the color.

    Glad your birthday was so much fun - just the way it should be!

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  3. Haha. I also don't like to hear mom/dad sex stories. Ever. So of course my friends and mother love to go there. Embarrassing me is one of their favorite pastimes...

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  4. So happy to see that you had a great Birthday dinner, looks yummy!! I bet that dry needling wont hurt as much as ya think, acupuncture isnt painful. Just depends on the "size" of the needle.
    Good luck.

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  5. Happy Birthday Celebration! I sent a fart your way, but prevailing winds may have redirected it.

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  6. I told my parents these words when they try with "those" stories.... "As far as I'm concerned, you had sex three times... my brother, my sister, and me." Then I cover up my ears and say "LALALALALALALALA" really loud until they stop talking. It works. Seriously.

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  7. I agree with Helen. I love the color. Glad you had a great birthday!

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  8. Jewels DC - I saw that! Thanks for pointing out.

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  9. My parents have six kids of which I'm the oldest and I definitely don't care to know how/where we were conceived. Since my youngest brother was born when I was 13 I must have blocked a lot out!

    Glad you had a fantastic dinner. Didn't make it around yesterday, so happy day after your birthday! 44 and a day looks great on you. :)

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  10. Dry-needling sounds interesting. Never tried that or acupuncture. At the very least, we all expect a pincushion/porcupine picture of your cheek(s) in the near future. Glad to see the birthday went well ...... now, shut up and run.

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  11. Looks like a great night. Again, happy birthday!

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  12. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Well, it was a friday night...

    TMI

    Glad you enjoyed the day :) Have a great week!

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  13. PS, wouldn't that story been pertinent for Hump Day?

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  14. My mother has told me no fewer than 30 times how I was conceived, because I was a surprise.

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  15. What a great Birthday! Got to love being spoiled with a nice dinner by Mom! Nice brows & toes too!!

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  16. No wonder you don't wear Vibrams! Those are some long and lean toes. And that dinner looks AMAZING!

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  17. happy belated b-day;-)

    love the toes! and the brows look good too..which reminds me...i need a brow wax myself!

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  18. I totally hope my kids can be as awesomely funny as yours! I am glad you enjoyed your day! and good luck with "dry needling" yikes!

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  19. Happy Belated Birthday! looks like a great day!

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  20. I counted back 40 weeks from my birthday and hit Halloween, which gave me nightmarish thoughts of my Dad in his witch costume. I was relieved to find out I was two weeks late, which shifted the date to the day my sister came home from the hospital after a 10 month stay, so I guess I came from a celebration of that.

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  21. I wish I had toenails left to paint that color. So pretty.

    Sounds like a great celebration...much like the night you were conceived. Ack!

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  22. Sounds like a fabulous birthday! I NEVER want to know of the night I was conceived.... Somethings are better left unsaid.

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  23. Sadly, I do know the story.....a cruise in the Caribbean. They bring it up way too often and it makes me sick. Your mom is a fabulous cook. Girl, you are gorgeous!! My fave bday dinner is lasagna. Your son is awesome!

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  24. When I was a kid I'd always ask for a whole artichoke as my birthday dinner. They were expensive and we were poor, so normally when my mom would buy artichokes, everyone would get half of one. Clearly, I loved them.

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  25. I do not know the story of how I was conceived, and not sure I want to know. :) I have actually thought about dry-needling too. It was suggested to me by several people but my PT told me that it doesn’t’ “fix” the problem-its just temporary. Does your PT do dry-needling at their office? I would love to know other theories.

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  26. Glad you had a good birthday! I wish I could have made you a home-made cake to go with that fantastic dinner! (I'll owe you one if you're ever in DC!?)

    My birthday dinner when I was a kid was always "St. Patrick's Day"...for some reason I really loved corn beef and cabbage and potatoes!

    Tonight I'm going out for Asian-Latin fusion food and mojitos - oh how I've grown up!

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  27. Lemon cake!! I want some.. that is all

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  28. Bahahahahahah!!! The night you were conceived. You have some funny youngens. I had no idea you were born in Chicago, my home city! :) Now we have a special bond.

    You really have an amazing family.

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  29. i went to a due date calculator and i'm guessing my parents always celebrated christmas the same way.... i was born sept 9th, and my sister sept 18. the due date from dec 25th is sept 16.... pretty darn close!

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  30. Awesome interview. Thanks for sharing.

    Paella rocks. I will have to substitute but that is just flat out awesome. Do you like it more as a soup/stew style (Portugal) or a rice dish (Spain)?

    My favorite b-day dinner is meatloaf but I need to substitute quinoa or something else for the meat now. We shall see how that works out.

    I have been working with my chiropractor on ART which I find to be quite awesome. Dry needling just doesn't sound like much fun.

    Hope all goes well with that and again HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

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  31. Ahahaha, nice line Sam! He sounds like his mother's son :) Happy bday again, friend. Glad to hear it was great.

    I have, in fact, tried the whole 'dry needling' thing and actually, it really did help! I could tell a noticeable difference before/after, it's actually super relaxing. It's weird and feels foreign at the time that they're kinda diggin' the super thin needle around, but at the end, it sorta just felt good! I swear. Fear not my friend! When they hit the right spot, your whole muscle spasms and it's kind of hilarious.

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  32. I love this.

    Love the photos.

    Love what Sam said.

    Am I supposed to remember the night Peanut was conceived?! If you are able to track it back to the actual day that either means[to ME]:

    A. one apparently has too much time on his/her hands
    B. one apparently does not have sex enough.

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  33. I was a turkey baster baby. My parents NEVER had sex!

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  34. Nope-I've never tried needling... I have a hard enough time controllng bowel movements w/ all of the fiber I eat. Honestly...

    Each year continues to get better and better, as do the meals. Last night I prepared risotto for the first time for my Mom and Sister... It was delicioius. Tonight, on my actual birthday, my fiance is preparing a Weight Watcher recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu. This might be even better than last...

    Nope, I haven't head about how I was conceived, only about the day I was born. That's 1 story enough for me!

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  35. I am glad to say I have never tried needling :)
    I also have been lucky enough to escape the story of my conception although I am very glad it did happen!
    Every year for my birthday I want chinese food, I love orange chicken. yummy!
    Happy belated B-Day!!!

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  36. Happy belated birthday!

    Don't know the story. Don't want to know.

    Favorite birthday meal growing up: homemade tomato soup.

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  37. Your son is HILARIOUS!! I think he gets his sense of humor from you:). My birthday is today, I'm 30 and I don't have a favorite birthday dinner but I love it when someone cooks for me, it tastes delicious and its healthy! That way I can induldge in the birthday cake. Hope your day was awesome, that meal looks yummy!

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  38. That toe looks like ET's finger. In the nicest way possible. :)

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  39. I think what your mom made you would be my favorite birthday dinner! Looks yummier than anything I could conjure up in my imagination!

    No dry needling but I've done other weird stuff to try and get my hip healthy. No crapping has happened though.

    I have a vague idea of how I was conceived but no details, thankfully!

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  40. Oh, and neat interview! I hadn't seen the pic of you in the leopard skort...lol. And I LOVE what your sleepy son said to you :)

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  41. WOW You got ugly feet. Me too. http://offthewallandontheroad.blogspot.com/2011/02/six-toes.html

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  42. What an awesome birthday! Love the pics. Enjoy 44 :)

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  43. dry needling sounds so painful. but so totally awesome at the same time. does that make me weird?!

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  44. We have the same freaking toes.
    I had dry needling on my hip after about a month or two of excercises, massage, etc. that just weren't doing the trick. I noticed a difference after the first session, for me it was uncomfortable and sore like a shot, but totally worth it. I had 3 sessions and have not needed to go back.
    Happy belated birthday!

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  45. Hey, my kids are named Emma and Sam too!

    My fave birthday dinner is Coconut cream Pie. The entire pie. My DW made a kick-ass Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving last year so that's what I'm having this year, although this is tempting:

    http://makinglifedelicious.com/2011/01/01/new-year-new-dessert-chocolate-pecan-piecake-goes-to-11/

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