Fall Is All Around

I swear I didn't quit TLJ, I swear! I've just been a really bad blogger. I've been a bad blogger ever since I started school. There's something about knowing that there's always something that I have to get done when I'm a student, and that always gets in the way of blogging. It was never this bad when I was working full-time. I really admire people who go to school full-time and blog every day. Maybe I should just think of TLJ as a class, and I lose a letter grade every week that I don't post anything. Does that sound fair?

Anyway, the blog has missed out on a lot of things. The blog missed out on Rosh Hashanah, for one. Just like last year and every year, we had apples and honey. 

We had gefilte fish with horseradish. We had to fight my mom about the horseradish being served with the fish, because you are technically only supposed to eat sweet things on Rosh Hashanah. We really wanted the horseradish, though. The fish isn't the same without it. 

My dinner plate included the usual goodies such as spinach cheese casserole (also not sweet), sliced fruit, chicken with mushrooms (also not sweet), brown-sugared carrots, kugel, and jello. I guess the horseradish was not the only odd man in the mix. 

By the way, I think you should know that I wrote a paper on kugel for my final assignment for my Foods class that I took over the summer. It was a blast. I now know more about kugel that I ever imagined. You get to do a lot of research on food when you are studying to be a registered dietitian! 

We also had lots of sweet desserts. They were sweet because of the holiday theme that most of the foods met, and they were sweet because most desserts are sweet. 

What else has happened? 

I watch the Grand Final with my friends Courtney and Andi. I was able to recruit one more friend this year. Let's see how many I'll get next year!

I didn't have an overwhelming preference as to which team won, but I decided that I liked the Sydney Swans since they knocked Collingwood out of the final. I'm so mature. They did end up winning, so I was happy about that. 

I also watched my mom run her third Chicago marathon since finishing her cancer treatment. 

I volunteered as a cheer captain for Mile 25 with the American Cancer Society. I loved it especially because it was so close to the end of everybody finishing the 26.2 miles. It was also great to see the elite runners who won the whole thing!

These guys literally looked like graceful gazelles while they ran. It didn't look they were struggling at all, even though they were running obscenely fast. 

I spent a good few hours there. We rang our blue cowbells until our wrists ached and screamed encouraging things to the runners the whole time. It's always fun when runners write their names on their shirts, because you can shout something like "GO SUZY!" while somebody named Suzy is running past you. I know it means a lot to them, and it just encourages them to keep going. I've worried before that name-yelling (or yelling in general) is annoying, but I've heard from many runners that it keeps their adrenalin pumping and overall makes the whole experience better. 

I saw a few of my friends over the couple of hours that I was there. My brother Jon and my dad met me just as my mom was about to run by Mile 25. We were all so happy to see each other!

It's a 4/5 family photo!

My brother and my dad went with her to as close as they could get to the finish line, but I hung back in hopes that I could see my friend Nicole run by me. I ended up walking through crazy masses of people back to Grant Park and met my family there. Then, we walked about 2 miles to the car. I was exhausted just from standing on my feet all that time, so I don't know how my mom walked all of that way! 

She ended up having an amazing run, and she wasn't even sore the next day. She's incredible! 

There are lots of exciting things happening, guys! I promise I will keep you updated. 'Till next time, my friends!