It's November?!

Wow. It's November. Where does time go? It seems to go quicker the older I get... I've never really understood that. At any rate, many things have happened over the past few months so some catching up is in order.
First off, Happy (belated) Halloween! Halloween is also my sisters birthday, so growing up, Halloween always carried extra special meaning and cause for extra celebration. There's always going to be a part of me that wants to go all out. Surprisingly, work became incredibly demanding for both Scott and myself and I didn't get around to decorating, carving pumpkins and doing all the things I normally do for Halloween. Luckily, Scott and I were able to attend a party or two and dress up - so it's nice that, if not anything else, that was able to happen. Now, allow me to break away for a bit and speak my mind about costumes for Halloween. In fact, I live by a set of rules for Halloween costumes:

1. Stick to your race. I will never dress up as any character that is not Caucasian.There's no better way to create an awkward moment than running into a person who is actually the race you are half-assingly trying to portray.
   
2. Stick to your gender. I am pretty sure that I will not make an attractive woman and, honestly, I am not willing to find out for sure. (Plus, Scott has told me on more than one occasion that he'd break up with me if I did drag.)
3. Be unique - I will never dress up as a generic cowboy or cop. It will be incredibly specific to ensure there is no one else dressed up in a similar costume. If it's a cop, it's going to be the evil cop from Terminator 2 or one of the cops from Reno 911. If I'm going to be a cowboy, it's going to be one from actual history or Marty from Back to the Future 3... (apparently I have a thing for 90's movies - but you catch my drift.)
4. Commit to the costume. If you are dressed up as a cat, don't just buy cat ears, wear black and paint on some whiskers. There better be fur, a tail, collar and you should be holding a ball of yarn and meowing on occasion throughout the night.

The gay community and their costumes are similar to womens costumes - you can be anything you want, it just needs to be a slutty version of it. I didn't want to play into that and I didn't want to 'celebrate' the gory side of Halloween either (I don't get peoples fascination with horror - I don't enjoy it at all)
Anyway, with that in mind, I decided to be the opposite of horror and sleaze and ended up choosing Jesus. For a few reasons actually - One, I like Jesus. Two, I feel that people get so uptight about religion and spirituality and I was curious to see if people would respond positively or negatively to it. Three, with all the news recently of young gay people committing suicide, I wanted to dress as a gay-friendly version of Jesus. Beside the fact that I feel Jesus is, in fact, gay friendly, I feel like people act out their hate and intolerance in the name of religion - deciding what is right and what it wrong for people who don't share those same beliefs. I'm sick of it. So the idea of a gay man dressing up as Jesus seemed incredibly appealing. And it actually ended up being a fun costume and interesting for me because it made me think of what Jesus actually looked like. Granted, I may have gone against my first rule in costumes - I'm pretty sure Jesus was not Caucasian, I figured I was safe. Especially since every culture seems to claim Jesus in their own race.
Scott dressed up as a scientist and oddly enough, people thought we were a joint costume, being "Science and Religion". We didn't plan that, but we rolled with it once people started relating our costumes to each other. All in all, it was a fun Halloween and I am officially partied out for a good month or so.

(Picture with our friend Jacque who was Poison Ivy (of the Batman Villian variety)

Moving back, let me fill you in on the Chicago Marathon. Training for the marathon was something I stuck pretty regularly to throughout the past 9 months - especially while Scott was gone in New Jersey. I think there is something in me that is incredibly self-motivated when I am alone for an extended period of time - and maybe it's partly due to the fact that I have more time to myself to do those things. At any rate, I felt confident in my training and honestly felt that I would not only meet my time goal of 4:20:00, but would actually would surpass that time and do better than I initally expected. On one of my long runs (24 miles), however, I tweaked my knee - it was about 6 or 7 weeks before the race, so I took it easy with my following runs, took pain pills/applied mass amounts of Icy/Hot, iced my knee after runs and workouts, bought a brace and tried to do my best to take it easy. On race day, I brought my brace just in case, popped some pills and did my best.
It was a pleasant run for the first 8 miles or so before I started feeling pain in my knee - so I strapped the brace tighter and kept on. Around the mile 14, I started cramping up, so I ended up falling behind and around mile 17-18, I was cramping up so bad that I ran until I cramped up and walked until I could run again... and continued that until the end. Add to the fact that I was fighting a cold and the temperature was in the low 80's, it ended up being a rough couple of hours. 05:05:41 to be exact. I wasn't the most impressed with myself, despite my circumstances, but one I was able to sit back and realize - Yes, in fact, I did do my best. That's when I felt proud of my finish time.
Scott was adorable. When I got home, Scott had prepared a wonderful dinner of smoked barbeque chicken, pumpkin biscuits, and fried sweet potatoes - which I was only able to eat a fraction of because my body was so rocked from the race. It was all incredibly delicious and I ate mass amounts later that night. He also got me some Lush products - a bath bomb, a massage bar and some foot lotion so that I could pamper myself after the race. In addition to that, he threw a small get together with some of our close friends as a congratulatory time party for me - he made tea, coffee and, best of all, the most delicious carrot bundt cake I've ever eaten. I don't know how I got so lucky to have him as my partner, but the man sure knows how to make me feel loved.
As congratulations to myself, I signed up for my next marathon in Cincinnati in May. It is the 13th annual Flying Pig Marathon - I don't know what I was attracted to more, the fact that it was the number 13 or that it was a marathon named after flying pigs, but regardless it was a natural choice to be my next marathon. Tomorrow, I have an appointment with an orthopedic doctor (the same doctor for the Chicago Bears, apparently) who, I hope, will tell me that my knee will be strong for years to come and wish me well on my future training. I didn't want to start training for the next marathon until I got the official OK from a doctor.
All in all, things are going well. Work has been going well - the new dessert menu has been up for a few weeks now and is going pretty well. Desserts tend to sell really well initially because all of the servers are excited about the new items and then it tapers off and we sell an average amount. I feel more confident in my menu writing skills, although it is still a process that I need to get used to. Especially since the menu is not mine - it is my bosses - so my style is always trumped by her. Which is fine (for now) - she has the experience and knowledge obviously or else she would be in the position she is. But I'm looking forward to creating my own items and not worrying about it being picked apart, changed and rearranged into something that is no longer my idea. With that in mind, I am beginning to be more proactive about creating a serious plan for my own business. I want to be my own boss and am beginning to take those first steps toward making that dream a reality. More on that to follow - perhaps here, perhaps on the culinary blog...
Another thing that has been on my mind heavily lately is religion - but what's new, right? I've been reading a book called A History of God by Karen Armstrong.

It is completely fascinating. It takes the reader on a historic journey through the belief of Gods in different cultures and religions - primarily Christianity, Judaism and Islam. (Though she has also touched on historic philosophers concepts of God/a Higher Power.) I think the most fascinating thing for me was discovering more about Islam and the prophet Muhammed. I had no idea that in Islam, Allah is considered the same God shared by Christians and Jews. Similarly, I had no idea that Muslims recognize prophets of the Old Testament and Jesus as spiritual leaders and prophets of God. Also, something I love about the Islam religion is that they don't just read the words of the Koran. It is chanted in Arabic in a almost a poetic tone - to the point that it transcends someone just reciting a verse - its an experience and feeling unique to someone like me who has only read scripture like a book.
Karen Armstrong writes: "It is not a book to be read simply to acquire information. It is meant to yield a sense of the diving, and must not be read in haste... By approaching the Koran in the right way, Muslims claim that they do experience a sense of transcendence, of an ultimate reality and power that lie behind the transient and fleeting phenomena of the mundane world. Reading the Koran is therefore a spiritual discipline, which Christians may find difficult to understand because they do not have a sacred language, in the way that Hebrew, Sanskrit and Arabic are sacred to Jews, Hindus and Muslims."
It is so fascinating to me. I actually looked up people reciting the Koran - it is an experience. Check this out.

This is performed by Mr.Amin Pouya from Iran at the International Quran Competitions held at Calicut, India in August 2006. (The reviews of this say that 4:30 - 5:00 in the video is the most emotional/wonderful - so check that out especially.)
It has been so wonderful to learn more about Islam and the beliefs of Muslims - the only information I've really acquired up to this point is the negative press in the media. Which, let's be honest, I never believed. I hardly believe anything the media says, especially if it is casting a negative light on an entire culture.
Another thing that I've been really into lately is a weekly program on NPR entitled On Being, hosted by Krista Tippett. It is a fascinating program that focuses on faith, humanity, beliefs, culture, spirituality and ethics... each week features something new and enlightening. I can't get enough of it. You are able to listen to/download any of their programs for free on their website - which I strongly encourage anyone to do. If you are interested in this sort of thing - I simply love it.
At any rate, it is time to throw in the towel for the night. I am going in early to work tomorrow so I can make it to my appointment with the orthopedic doctor, followed by getting my vote on. Oh, Illinois politicians... who is the least corrupt that I should vote for? That is the question...

Until next time!