Ice Cream

Your love is better than ice cream

Better then anything else that I've tried

And your love is better than ice cream

Everyone here knows how to fight

-Sarah McLachlan Ice Cream

The above lyrics are from one of my favorite Sarah McLachlan songs. I use to love this song...it was on all my favorite cassettes and later on all my burned cds. I loved it, my friends loved it, my sister and I loved it until a guy I dated in college heard it. He turned to me and asked me if I loved him more than I loved ice cream. And I didn't. And I told him that. And then I quit listening to that song...especially around guys I was dating.

In all fairness to this guy I LOVE ice cream. My love for ice cream started when I was younger and my mom would make homemade ice cream that would cause me extreme brain freeze because I would eat it too fast. My love for ice cream grew even more when I became a runner and realized I could eat anything I wanted without gaining weight (yes you can hate me now if you want).

But what really solidified my love for ice cream was when a Brusters appeared a mile from my parent's house the summer after my sophomore year in college. It was love at first sight for me. That was the summer my sister taught me how to enjoy long runs so we would accomplish a 6-8 mile run and reward ourselves with ice cream. Around this time we discovered Brusters rain policy which is if it is raining you get a second scoop free. From that point forward that summer if we saw even a storm cloud we were headed to Brusters. Life was good that summer...

I am also reminded when I think about ice cream of all the dinosaur kids sundaes at Brusters I took the boys I babysat for to get. Because no one really appreciates a meal centered around ice cream more then kids. Except for my kid...who hates ice cream. It makes no sense, but I still order Cooper ice cream everywhere we go so he can at least try it again. On a positive note it means double ice cream for me:-).

So I didn't love that boy in college more than ice cream...I never loved any guy I dated more than ice cream. Except John. The one guy I will actually share my ice cream with. I'm pretty sure I never shared my ice cream with even my dad...but in all fairness I don't remember my dad ever sharing his ice cream with me either. Now that I think about it I think my whole family is made of ice cream-aholics!

New Orleans Inspiration

Last weekend John and I went to New Orleans for a conference John had to attend. The first day we were there I ran on a treadmill assuming that Bourbon Street and New Orleans wasn't a safe place for me to run. That treadmill run was the longest of my life...a crappy treadmill set to make you view yourself in a mirror the whole run. The next morning as John and I set off for Cafe Du Monde (beignets...yum!) I saw a lady from our hotel leave to go running outside through New Orleans. I happened to run into her at the pool later and she convinced me that running through New Orleans in the morning was fine.

So I did it and it was awesome. I started my run by going down Bourbon Street where, although it was 7am, some guys were coming out of the bar and they sang me the Rocky theme song. I then somehow found Canal Street and ran down there and planned all the shopping I was going to do later (poor John). I ended up back on Bourbon and went towards the River Walk and that is when my run received the title of "coolest run ever". Running by the river was spectacular, but what was really cool was on the way back looking at all the street performers before the tourists arrived. The guy who was spray painted head to toe in gold was making plans to go to the bar later with the local artist. The two guys dressed as transformers were buying coffee. All these people in crazy costumes were acting so normal...like planning to act as a statue all day was as normal as me going to work to teach.

As I arrived back to my hotel I realized that the run I just went on was "Bucket List" material. How many people can say they ran Bourbon Street? I quickly came up with some more items I want to accomplish. I think my life is going to need 2 Bucket Lists. One for me to accomplish before I hit 50, and another one to accomplish between 50 and death. So here goes Bucket List One:

1. Run Bourbon Street (accomplished!)
2. Sky dive (I know this would terrify me...)
3. See a Hawaiian sunset with my husband (hint hint John)
4. Surf (I'm positive with how uncoordinated I am I would injure myself but still I want to try!)
5. Run a half marathon
6. Go to Disneyland...the right way. Where you go for a whole week and do it ALL.
7. Get my masters in Elementary Education.
8. Be on a reality television show (because nothing says classy like reality television)
9. Go on a spa weekend.
10. Start a charity...I have a great plan for one that gives money to kids whose parents die without having a life insurance plan.
11. Successfully grow a garden.

Have you made your Bucket List yet?