Leaving downtown

It happened. We sold our condo. We weren't trying to sell our condo. It's a long story. But as my mom would say, it's a God thing. As of next week we will be members of the North Shore. I'm excited of our next move as a family. But at the same time I will miss downtown Milwaukee. I have been down here for 6 years and I really have enjoyed my stay. I decided to make a list of what I will miss the most:

• Walking to Jazz in the Park
  
• Metro Market
  
• Walking to work
  
• The Farmers Market
  
• Izumis
  
• Flannerys
  
• Real Chili
  
• Walking to Riversplash
  
• Hearing/seeing the fireworks every weekend during the summer
  
• Walking and camping in Veterans Park for the 3rd of July fireworks
  
• Running along the lake
  
• Being a block away from the Post Office
  
• Walking to the Symphony
• Alterra on the lake
• Ice skating in Red Arrow Park
• Walking to the Marina and admiring the boats
• Walking to the Art Museum
• Never having to worry about drinking and driving
• People watching
• Going to Bradford Beach every weekend for Volleyball

What I won't miss:

• Drunk people walking by the condo at 2 am
  
• Immature people destroying property at our condo complex
• Paying for the failed MPS
  
• Taxes
  
• Watching the crime sneak closer to our location
  
• People coming downtown and driving like they have never come downtown before
• Watching people drive the wrong way on one way streets. OK, well sometimes that is funny especially when they have no clue they are going the wrong way.

Anyway, next week we become people from the burbs. 

::sigh::

I really am excited for our next move but at the same time I will miss being a city girl. I assure you though, we will not be strangers of downtown. I plan to expose our kids to the city life like my parents did the same with me.

Look what the twins got yesterday......

Jaime's company gave us some gift certificates for "Ribbon - the gift of choice" and this is one of the items we picked out. It came in the mail yesterday, they love it!

Mom and I went shopping yesterday too. We went to "New to you kids too" and got some cute jeans and jackets for Anna and Luke. The jacket I got for Luke was a Ralph Lauren jacket with the tags still on it and I got it for $4.75. I also got a "Snugli" soft pack carrier for half the price! Gotta love that store. We also went to Babies R Us and got some more bottles and a monitor. That store is dangerous. Such cute clothes. 

The twins are 11 weeks and are becoming so much more alert. They are smiling and "gooing" all the time. They are also sleeping more through the night and I actually slept in my bed last night, the entire night with only a 4 am feeding. 

I went for a run

I have gone running a couple times since the twins have been born. But yesterday's run made me realize how much I love running and I don't think I'll ever be able to give it up. I stopped running last year just before we started IVF. That was almost a year ago. It's hard to get motivated after not running for that long. But my sweet husband got me a new Nike running watch, a pair of Nike sunglasses and I bought a new pair of Nike running shoes (no, Nike isn't endorsing me, I wish!). 

I didn't want to go running yesterday. I only got 4 hours of sleep the night before but I knew that I needed some exercise. 

I loaded up my ipod and and headed out the door. 

"Don't wanna wait 'til tomorrow
Why put it off another day?
One by one, little problems
Build up, and stand in our way. .....

(Right now) Hey! It's your tomorrow
(Right now) Come on, it's everything
(Right now) Catch your magic moment
Do it right here and now
It means everything"

They played that song at the beginning of the 2002 Chicago Marathon. I remember having chills up and down my body. What a great feeling.

I was a little tight at the beginning. I decided to start slow and concentrate on my form. Usually when I take a lot of time off from running and start again I have to push it hard because I have a race I'm getting ready for. Well, no race in the future so I figure it would be a good time to start slow and really think of my form and start some strength training. 

I get to Prospect Ave and I have beautiful view of the lake. Lots of other runners around giving the typical nod or wave to each other

"Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity To seize everything you ever wanted, one moment  

Would you capture it, or just let it slip? "

Eminem may be weird but that song really pumps me up. I started to pick it up and it felt really good. But I made myself slow down again. 

I started thinking to myself ......what race did I want to conquer first? Just a 5k? A half marathon? I wonder if I could be ready for the Badgerland Striders Southshore Half Marathon in April. I really want to do another marathon. Is Chicago 2009 a crazy goal? 

"You have to learn to pace yourself 
Pressure 
You're just like everybody else 
Pressure 
You've only had to run so far 
So good 
But you will come to a place 
Where the only thing you feel 
Are loaded guns in your face 
And you'll have to deal with 
Pressure ....."

What a beautiful day for a run. I can't believe summer is over and I missed a great season of running. Ugh, the hill going up to Brady Street is hard. Well, usually it's not that hard but it is when you lost all your leg muscles. 

I finished the run hard. I wasn't too tired. I don't think I lost my endurance. I probably could have run for a lot longer. But I need to work on strength training. I need my muscles back so I don't get injured. 

My goal is to run 3-4 days a week right now. I would love to run more but I have to remember that I have two little ones to take care of. So that marathon may not be next year but soon. We'll see.