I'm still alive!

I have been so crazy busy lately! I've been getting home from work just in time to eat dinner, get some things done around my apartment and then rush off to tan (yes, I know, but at least this way I won't burn in Hawaii) and go to the gym, only to come home, shower and get to bed. Last week I managed to get to bed at 10:30 -- two nights in a row! Crazy!

I went to Louisiana last weekend. K and I went to the gym to work out with our normal workout buddies there. I ran 2.4 miles around the golf course on post. It's pretty hilly, and I've only run outside once in the past year. It went well, though. I did stop a couple times, which was disappointing, but I only stopped for a few seconds before picking back up.

Excuses: Things that make the fact I stopped okay: It was about 80 degrees, and it hadn't been that hot yet this year. The last time I ran outside was in Pennsylvania in May, and I'm not sure I'd ever really gone for a run in my life before that. Running on a treadmill in an air-conditioned gym -- level 1 vertical incline or not -- is not the same as running up and down hills on a sidewalk around the golf course. And given the girls' take on my running abilities, I wasn't demanding as much of myself because I'm tired of them thinking I just get out of bed and think, "I'll go run today" and it works out fine because I'm thinner than they are.

A group of us went to the movies Saturday night. All the guys wanted to see The 300, but I had no interest. Instead, I went with a couple of the girls to see Music & Lyrics. It's a cute movie. It's no Pretty Woman or Love Actually or anything, but it's good. I'm pretty sure I enjoyed it more than I would have The 300.

Last night after work I made a to-do list of all the things I need to do before Wednesday night, since we leave for Hawaii THURSDAY MORNING!!!

• Pack
• Go to the gym and tan every night
• Buy running shoes (Sunday morning when I woke up with a sore left ankle, I realized my tennis shoes I wear to the gym aren't running shoes. That's bad. Evidently -- according to Swift -- so is running on concrete [read: sidewalks]. So much to learn!)
• Paint toenails a springy color (fun!)
• Wash new swimsuit
• Wash new beach towels
• Get magazines from Wal-Mart
• Buy underwater camera for snorkeling/surfing adventures
• Make skydiving reservations

With all these things to do, Hawaii is feeling more and more real, and I'm getting more and more excited. I can't wait!