Disclaimer: You’ll have to forgive the lack of wittiness in this post; Noah is making his debut contribution to the blog.
4:45 am
Al: “Have a good day Sweetie, I love you.”
Noah: “gkejwoifs”
Al leaves for an early morning interview with Fox13 and Noah rolls over.
6:30 am
Noah: “Singing in the shower, doot doot do”
Noah wakes up, gets ready and bums a ride to work with coworker, Jason possibly one of the nicest guys in the world.
Al is facilitating multiple TV and radio interviews.
7:45 am
Noah arrives at insurance and starts doing insurance marketing things.
Al is still shaping the news you watch.
2:00 pm
(I skipped a few calendar items that were either not blog worthy or didn’t have photographic evidence.)
Noah goes on his daily walk with coworkers on the walking trails at Lake Park. Al is meeting with the partners of the Summit Group accepting a big promotion from account coordinator to account Manager after only being with the firm for nine months!!! Everyone at the Summit Group showers Al with awesome compliments and praise.
4:45 pm
Noah leaves work and bums another ride with a coworker to go to his soccer game.
Al is still working after 12 hours on the job.
6:30 pm
Mamba #5, Noah’s soccer team, narrowly pulls off the victory against a team that played the whole game a man down.
Al is getting ready to leave work.
7:00 pm
Noah goes to a meeting at the church.
Al is still getting ready to leave work.
8:20 pm
Noah and Al finally meet up and enjoy a delicious leftover from the day’s events Subway sandwich.
9:30 pm
Al is zonked on the couch.
Noah reads a book and is very proud of his amazing wife.
The end.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Marathon Weeks
I feel like we have had so much going on lately, with not a lot of time to recoup and even less time to tell the blogosphere about it (which actually makes me laugh a little that my Frontrunner experience had such apparent precedence. Truly, it was life-changing). But we have pictures, people... pictures! And that demands a little recap action on the blog.
First out of the gates (and the namesake of this post): The Salt Lake City Marathon. Every once in a while, it hits me that I have a pretty sweet job. That's right. I admit it. My name is Allison Riley and I don't hate my job. For the past few months, I've had the opportunity to do the PR for the Marathon. And though somedays I think I was probably even more worn out than the people training for the thing, race day was totally the gu icing on the carbo-loaded cake.
I'm always impressed by how much you can accomplish with your day when you set your alarm for 3:30 a.m. By 4:30, I was showered, dressed and out the door armed with my big ol' back pack of fun. (Which weighed somewhere in the vicinity of car battery or small child. Hence the dramatic lean in this early a.m. shot...)
On my drive to the starting line I had plenty of time to think about the day ahead as I waited at EACH RED LIGHT along the way. Evidently Mayor Becker is not eradicating the stoplight syncing issue until world peace abounds, though, so I didn't write my city councilman or anything. But seriously, I am the ONLY one out here at 4:30 a.m. on a Saturday. A little help?
There was something really exciting about the starting line. A lot of pacing to keep warm and chatting among strangers - a bunch of people about to embark on something huge together. And even though some would finish in 2 hours and others would be several beyond that, there was a shared sense of camaraderie that was fun to witness. The work side of the morning was fun, too. After getting Channel 4 situated and checking in with Channel 5, I met up with the rest of our starting line team and we literally hugged the barricades on the race side of the divide as thousands of runners came barreling past. "Barreling" is a bit of a stretch. I was actually a little surprised by how slowly the herd seemed to take off. Then again, there were 13,000 of them. And they did have 26.1 left to go.
From there, we hopped in the car, flashed our VIP creds in a very "it's okay, I'm a limo driver" manner, and headed to the finish line. Lauren, our adorable and grammatically fabulous administrative assistant joined our PR team for the madness as our feature writer. She rode in the lead vehicle that stayed just ahead of the lead athletes and was able to catch the action minute by minute. So she called every few miles to let us know which athletes were contending for first. I, in turn, relayed the information the media perched at the finish line. We continued this little dance for a few minutes until Lauren called to let me know bib numbers 2, 5 and 6 were only about 1/2 mile out. And in crazy-fast marathoners time, that's only about 2 minutes. I relayed the info to the media then thought, "well, I'm not going anywhere." So I squatted out of the cameras' way and waited for the finishers. It was pretty amazing to soak everything in at that moment and realize I really was just chilling inches from the finish line of the Salt Lake City Marathon.
As more and more runners passed the finish line, our PR team basically resembled a group of proverbial chickens with our heads cut off. But somehow in the chaos of runners, bikers, aluminum foil blankets and one poor soul who lost her breakfast as she crossed the finish line - we were able to secure interviews, complete and distribute the final press release, facilitate the timing results to the Salt Lake Tribune, avert a crisis and smile for this photo...
All in a day's work.
First out of the gates (and the namesake of this post): The Salt Lake City Marathon. Every once in a while, it hits me that I have a pretty sweet job. That's right. I admit it. My name is Allison Riley and I don't hate my job. For the past few months, I've had the opportunity to do the PR for the Marathon. And though somedays I think I was probably even more worn out than the people training for the thing, race day was totally the gu icing on the carbo-loaded cake.
I'm always impressed by how much you can accomplish with your day when you set your alarm for 3:30 a.m. By 4:30, I was showered, dressed and out the door armed with my big ol' back pack of fun. (Which weighed somewhere in the vicinity of car battery or small child. Hence the dramatic lean in this early a.m. shot...)
On my drive to the starting line I had plenty of time to think about the day ahead as I waited at EACH RED LIGHT along the way. Evidently Mayor Becker is not eradicating the stoplight syncing issue until world peace abounds, though, so I didn't write my city councilman or anything. But seriously, I am the ONLY one out here at 4:30 a.m. on a Saturday. A little help?
There was something really exciting about the starting line. A lot of pacing to keep warm and chatting among strangers - a bunch of people about to embark on something huge together. And even though some would finish in 2 hours and others would be several beyond that, there was a shared sense of camaraderie that was fun to witness. The work side of the morning was fun, too. After getting Channel 4 situated and checking in with Channel 5, I met up with the rest of our starting line team and we literally hugged the barricades on the race side of the divide as thousands of runners came barreling past. "Barreling" is a bit of a stretch. I was actually a little surprised by how slowly the herd seemed to take off. Then again, there were 13,000 of them. And they did have 26.1 left to go.
From there, we hopped in the car, flashed our VIP creds in a very "it's okay, I'm a limo driver" manner, and headed to the finish line. Lauren, our adorable and grammatically fabulous administrative assistant joined our PR team for the madness as our feature writer. She rode in the lead vehicle that stayed just ahead of the lead athletes and was able to catch the action minute by minute. So she called every few miles to let us know which athletes were contending for first. I, in turn, relayed the information the media perched at the finish line. We continued this little dance for a few minutes until Lauren called to let me know bib numbers 2, 5 and 6 were only about 1/2 mile out. And in crazy-fast marathoners time, that's only about 2 minutes. I relayed the info to the media then thought, "well, I'm not going anywhere." So I squatted out of the cameras' way and waited for the finishers. It was pretty amazing to soak everything in at that moment and realize I really was just chilling inches from the finish line of the Salt Lake City Marathon.
As more and more runners passed the finish line, our PR team basically resembled a group of proverbial chickens with our heads cut off. But somehow in the chaos of runners, bikers, aluminum foil blankets and one poor soul who lost her breakfast as she crossed the finish line - we were able to secure interviews, complete and distribute the final press release, facilitate the timing results to the Salt Lake Tribune, avert a crisis and smile for this photo...
All in a day's work.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
I'd Probably Go To Ogden Today If I Was Homeless
When I lived in DC, most of my travel time occurred underground (ah, except for the lovely three minutes above ground at the Arlington Cemetery stop). And in a city where the pin-striped commuters hit the metro en masse, it's a rarity to see the same people more than once or twice. There was, however, this one couple who occasionally ended up on the same train as me in the mornings and the evenings. I always thought it was so sweet that they shared that commute time together and a little part of me hoped I'd have a similar commute with my sweetheart someday. I wondered what we'd talk about, what we'd do with two hours worth of uninterrupted commute - sans any driving distractions or me falling asleep in the car (very typical of any 10+ min drive we make) or the patchy half sentences that result from trying to apply mascara mid-conversation.
Well, thanks to our trip to Ogden yesterday compliments of Frontrunner, the Rileys now know what we'd do with that time: share the earbuds, listen to Mason Jennings and play "brick" on the iPod. We're a barrel of fun.
Call it fate. My little brother, Collin, had a concert at the Union Station in Ogden last night and it was the perfect excuse to join the hoardes of free Frontrunners for the trip north. So we hopped on in SLC and rode the entire route to Ogden's Union Station. It was a pretty decent ride, but it seems like there are a few wrinkles to be ironed out... like, where are you supposed to park for the Salt Lake station?! We parked down a slightly sketchy stretch of street, but we returned five hours later to find the car intact, so that's a bonus.
As we drove home along the back side of the Gateway, I commented on how convenient Frontrunner must be for The Parc at Gateway and Northgate residents...
A: "I bet this is really convenient for the people who live here."
N: "So they can go to Ogden whenever they want?" (Laced with skepticism.)
A: "Yeah, okay. I bet it's really convenient for the people who live here but work in Ogden."
N: "All right. OR if you were homeless."
A: "Yeah, if I was homeless I TOTALLY would have gone to Ogden today."
Well, thanks to our trip to Ogden yesterday compliments of Frontrunner, the Rileys now know what we'd do with that time: share the earbuds, listen to Mason Jennings and play "brick" on the iPod. We're a barrel of fun.
Call it fate. My little brother, Collin, had a concert at the Union Station in Ogden last night and it was the perfect excuse to join the hoardes of free Frontrunners for the trip north. So we hopped on in SLC and rode the entire route to Ogden's Union Station. It was a pretty decent ride, but it seems like there are a few wrinkles to be ironed out... like, where are you supposed to park for the Salt Lake station?! We parked down a slightly sketchy stretch of street, but we returned five hours later to find the car intact, so that's a bonus.
As we drove home along the back side of the Gateway, I commented on how convenient Frontrunner must be for The Parc at Gateway and Northgate residents...
A: "I bet this is really convenient for the people who live here."
N: "So they can go to Ogden whenever they want?" (Laced with skepticism.)
A: "Yeah, okay. I bet it's really convenient for the people who live here but work in Ogden."
N: "All right. OR if you were homeless."
A: "Yeah, if I was homeless I TOTALLY would have gone to Ogden today."
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Another Suite Night
Noah must be batting his eyes or flashing those dimples for someone because we scored yet another set of suite tickets a few weekends ago for the Bees' home opener.
The suite didn't have catering, but they did give us food vouchers which allowed us to stroll the concourse in search of grub and awkward situations. We found both.
While waiting in line, we ran into a guy I recognized from Utah State. He apparently also recognized me and struck up conversation. He kept trying to peg from where we knew each other, and my "um... Utah State?" answer would not suffice. He continued digging, but I couldn't bring myself to tell him it was because he used to hit on me when I worked as a parking booth attendant. I just can't condone the behavior by having the offender believe it was memorable.
After the 7th inning stretch, we decided to indulge our sweet tooths (?) and ran down for some ice cream. We placed our order - Bumblebee Ripple - and turned to watch the game while they scooped. A good five minutes later, I finally leaned over to Noah and asked, "Do you think anyone is getting our ice cream?" We turned back toward the counter and a staredown between the two of us and no fewer than five adolescent ice cream connoisseurs ensued. They looked confused. We were certainly confused. Noah finally broke the silence and asked about our order, at which point they hit the "ah-ha!" threshold and started scooping. How do you forget to fulfill an order when you only have one customer? Mystery.
The suite didn't have catering, but they did give us food vouchers which allowed us to stroll the concourse in search of grub and awkward situations. We found both.
While waiting in line, we ran into a guy I recognized from Utah State. He apparently also recognized me and struck up conversation. He kept trying to peg from where we knew each other, and my "um... Utah State?" answer would not suffice. He continued digging, but I couldn't bring myself to tell him it was because he used to hit on me when I worked as a parking booth attendant. I just can't condone the behavior by having the offender believe it was memorable.
After the 7th inning stretch, we decided to indulge our sweet tooths (?) and ran down for some ice cream. We placed our order - Bumblebee Ripple - and turned to watch the game while they scooped. A good five minutes later, I finally leaned over to Noah and asked, "Do you think anyone is getting our ice cream?" We turned back toward the counter and a staredown between the two of us and no fewer than five adolescent ice cream connoisseurs ensued. They looked confused. We were certainly confused. Noah finally broke the silence and asked about our order, at which point they hit the "ah-ha!" threshold and started scooping. How do you forget to fulfill an order when you only have one customer? Mystery.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Mr. Noah
Noah's company is involved in Junior Achievement, a program where business folk visit local schools once a week for a month or so and indoctrinate the little kiddos with "business = good" philosophies. Also, so that when they take macroeconomics their freshman year of college, they look at supply and demand and think, "this is vaguely familiar..."
As you can well imagine, Mr. Noah has quickly become a favorite among the first graders. His first week, little Natalie insisted he stay. When Noah explained he had to leave but would be back the next Tuesday, another little boy piped in and said, "I can't WAIT until Tuesday." I wish I had such a captive audience at work :).
Today, Noah had another jam session with the tots, and this was the exchange he sent me by email:
Natalie: "Can you just stay with us?"
Mrs. Pugh: "Mr. Riley has a job he has to get back to." (Today we talked about jobs).
Malachi: "Where do you work?"
Noah: "I work at SelectHealth, we do health insurance."
Class: Confused looks
Noah: "We help people go see the doctor." ("And we charge an arm and a leg.")
Angie: "You should work with Mrs. Pugh."
Noah: "That would be a lot more fun."
As you can well imagine, Mr. Noah has quickly become a favorite among the first graders. His first week, little Natalie insisted he stay. When Noah explained he had to leave but would be back the next Tuesday, another little boy piped in and said, "I can't WAIT until Tuesday." I wish I had such a captive audience at work :).
Today, Noah had another jam session with the tots, and this was the exchange he sent me by email:
Natalie: "Can you just stay with us?"
Mrs. Pugh: "Mr. Riley has a job he has to get back to." (Today we talked about jobs).
Malachi: "Where do you work?"
Noah: "I work at SelectHealth, we do health insurance."
Class: Confused looks
Noah: "We help people go see the doctor." ("And we charge an arm and a leg.")
Angie: "You should work with Mrs. Pugh."
Noah: "That would be a lot more fun."
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Fort Night
My apologies if this is one of those posts that you read and suddenly you feel like you know too much about a couple. But this was one of those memories that reminded me of what a sweet husband I have.
When Noah and I were dating - after the spring thaw warmed my shoulder a little :) - he asked me out on a Saturday night. April 8th. This is important. There will be a quiz later. I had a feeling that night would be a little different, and I was lookin' pretty fine (thank you, wisdom teeth diet). We had some dinner, played a little bocce at the park and ended up at Noah's place where we built a fort and watched A Series of Unfortunate Events. Enter: our first kiss. In a fort. Sweet.
We don't have any photographic evidence of that first fort. But a few months later, Noah came out to DC where he popped the big question. The next evening, we planned a romantic dinner and stroll around Old Town Alexandria, but a summer storm literally rained out our plans - walking in the rain becomes unromantic when the subjects look like drown rats. So what were we to do with our rained-in evening? Indeedy. Build a fort.
(Our July 2006 fort in DC. These mattresses were ALL extras in my closet. Why did we need all these mattresses?)
We decided that evening to commemorate "Fort Night" each April 8th by building a fort. You would think I had NOTHING to do with that plan, because every (well, both) April, Noah's stellar memory delightfully catches me off guard. I came home the other night to one sweet fort...
(Our April 2008 fort in our SLC place.)
(Our April 2007 fort in our first apartment in Logan.)
I think these pictures will be fun to document over the years. It'll be fun to see where we are, where life takes us, how our hair and fashion sense morphs, how we rope our kiddos into the mix,how creative we get with fort buildin' and if we're still going strong on the fort plan.
Until next year.
When Noah and I were dating - after the spring thaw warmed my shoulder a little :) - he asked me out on a Saturday night. April 8th. This is important. There will be a quiz later. I had a feeling that night would be a little different, and I was lookin' pretty fine (thank you, wisdom teeth diet). We had some dinner, played a little bocce at the park and ended up at Noah's place where we built a fort and watched A Series of Unfortunate Events. Enter: our first kiss. In a fort. Sweet.
We don't have any photographic evidence of that first fort. But a few months later, Noah came out to DC where he popped the big question. The next evening, we planned a romantic dinner and stroll around Old Town Alexandria, but a summer storm literally rained out our plans - walking in the rain becomes unromantic when the subjects look like drown rats. So what were we to do with our rained-in evening? Indeedy. Build a fort.
(Our July 2006 fort in DC. These mattresses were ALL extras in my closet. Why did we need all these mattresses?)
We decided that evening to commemorate "Fort Night" each April 8th by building a fort. You would think I had NOTHING to do with that plan, because every (well, both) April, Noah's stellar memory delightfully catches me off guard. I came home the other night to one sweet fort...
(Our April 2008 fort in our SLC place.)
(Our April 2007 fort in our first apartment in Logan.)
I think these pictures will be fun to document over the years. It'll be fun to see where we are, where life takes us, how our hair and fashion sense morphs, how we rope our kiddos into the mix,how creative we get with fort buildin' and if we're still going strong on the fort plan.
Until next year.
Runnin' Runnin'
My toesies and I just had the most delightful run at Murray Park. Thank YOU for the shoes, adorable Linds.
Note to self: The ducks at Murray Park are a little protective of something. And if you run past them they will hiss and chase.
Note to self: The ducks at Murray Park are a little protective of something. And if you run past them they will hiss and chase.
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