Shoes (Alternative title: I heart Zappos)

Dear new shoes,

I had been waiting for you to go on sale at Zappos for what felt like a million zillion years. I was intrigued by your "negative heel technology" and by the fact that you were "vegan" shoes. (I'm not vegan; however, it's not entirely out of the question that I might one day become one: I drove by a truck full of cows yesterday that had the same mannerisms and color pattern as my dog. That really freaked me out.)

You finally went on sale last week, happily (for me) right as I became momentarily obsessed with the health of my feet. I chose "free shipping," expecting to get you sometime this week, but Zappos, being awesome, upgraded me to overnight shipping for free. Hooray Zappos!

So far, I really like you. You're cuter in person than you are on the internet, and the vegan materials "breathe" better than I expected. The top straps are a little snug on me, but I have weirdly high insteps, and I expect that I'll eventually stretch the straps out. I think I like the "negative heels"; it sort of feels like I'm walking up a slight hill all the time - I'm hoping that will benefit not only my posture, but my "posterior" as well.

The only problem I've had so far is related to my clumsiness. I wore you to walk my dog yesterday. I guess I'm used to planting my heels to stabilize myself, because when Bailey tried to take off suddenly, I almost fell backwards - my heels were not where I expected them to be. I bet I'll get used to the lower heel eventually, though.

In summary: I heart you, I heart Zappos, yay new shoes!

Love,
Jane

Running down a dream

Dear Internets,

I have a confession to make: I dropped out of my half marathon training.

In fact, I dropped out shortly after I was supposed to run seven miles (and didn't). My knees were aching, I had a stress fracture in my foot, and my nerves were continually frayed. Running was more of a chore than a source of stress relief.

And you know what? I'm pretty happy about quitting. Since my foot has started to feel better, I've been running about a mile a day during my lunch break. It feels like the perfect amount. I am being pulled in fewer directions, and I don't constantly feel guilty about what I "should" be doing at any given moment.

Sometimes quitting isn't a bad thing. Who knew?

Love always,
Jane

Tagged and released

Dear Internets,

I got tagged again! My fellow Texan (and fellow supporter-of-tomatoes) Teej tagged me in a super fun A to Z post. I feel so flattered I'm about to start channeling Sally Fields circa 1985. To spare you all, I'll go ahead and get to it.

A. Attached or single ? Attached (to an A, even; how convenient! And he's (apparently) an Aries! Alliteration is our ally!)

B. Best friend ? Many - I love them all.

C. Cake or pie ? Like Teej, I LOOOOOOVE Pushing Daisies and want my own pie shop. And tomato pie is pretty much the most delicious thing on the planet. However, I also love cake, particularly cupcakes, so I'm going to have to say this one is a tie.

D. Day of choice ? Sunday has always been my fun day, but lately, I usually work on Sundays. So Saturday has been growing on me.

E. Essential item ? I'm kind of addicted to diet soda, but am trying to quit.

F. Favourite colour ? I flip-flop between pink and green. I also really love chocolate brown.

G. Gummy bears or worms ? I like the little bears. The worms are fun because you can stretch them out, but the bears have more personality

H. Hometown ? Austin

I. ( favourite ) Indulgence ? I like getting chemical peels (and feel guilty even admitting that, so I suppose that means it's really an indulgence, right?)

J. January or July ? January, if I'm in Texas. July is toooo hot.

K. Kids ? hopefully someday, preferably after letter M.

L.Life isn't complete without ? family, friends, wiggling puppies, good music, sunshine, laughter, (and sadly, diet soda)

M. Marriage date ? Someday

N. Number of brothers and sisters ? 1 sister. While these days we're so close we're practically psychically connected, we hated each other growing up.

O. Oranges or apples ? Hmmm... I'm gonna go with oranges. I like apples, but have to slice them because I have a weird fear of biting into a worm.

P. Phobias ? I am terrified of cockroaches. ~shudder~

Q. Quotes? "Farewell sadness good day sadness you are inscribed in the lines of the ceiling." -Paul Eluard

R. Reasons to smile? Having more reasons to smile than reasons to frown

S. Season of choice ? Fall

T. Tag five people ? I think about 5 people read this, so... if you are reading this, I tag you. Ha HA!

U. Unknown fact about me? My mom once promised me that she'd buy me a horse if I got a National Merit Scholarship. I'm still waiting on the horse.

V. Vegetable ? I love broccoli, with a passion that is almost creepy to those who know me.

W. Worst habit ? Biting my nails... I've pretty much stopped doing it because it's so horribly gross, but I did it for so long that I tend to fall off the wagon when I get stressed.

X. X-ray or ultrasound ? I'll take whatever is less serious, please.

Y. Your favourite food ? I love tomato pie, pizza, grilled vegetables, cheese... Mmmm... food. The only things I have a hard time eating are organ meats and shrimp (because someone once told me they're the cockroaches of the sea. ~shudder~)

Z. Zodiac sign ? Sagittarius, which I have an embarrassingly hard time spelling correctly. I've never paid much attention to the Zodiac, so I checked it out on Wikipedia. Apparently, I'm mutable. I didn't think the description sounded like me too much... until I read the "dislikes": routine and chores (yes), being constrained (yes), being tied down (yes), being forced to do things (I thought "stubborn" was a compliment), being bothered by little details (oh yes, yes, yes). Also, apparently the Sagittarius "body parts" are hips and thighs, which I'm going to assume means that the Zodiac thinks I have some nice birthin' hips.

This was super fun. I hope some of you will do this too.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love always,
Jane

Holy Spam, Batman

Dear Internets,

If you have a Wordpress blog, would you mind checking to see if there are comments from me in your spam folder?

For some reason, Wordpress thinks I'm a spammer. When my comments go marked as spam for a long time, Wordpress's spam filter becomes more and more smugly convinced that I really am trying to direct traffic to "my very happy blog in Russia, please to comeent we can share links and identities, yes?" I'm hoping to re-train it to believe that I'm not trying to sell pr0nz or c-i-al-i-$ so that I can comment on some of the (very lovely) blogs out there that are hosted by Wordpress.

Also, if you have marked me as spam because you'd rather I not comment on your blog, please send me an email at distractible jane at gmail dot com (no spaces). I won't get insulted, I promise; I just don't want to be blacklisted anymore.

Love always,
Jane