AM~Erica Takes a Slice of Ultimate Pi Day

So anyway...

Today is kind of amazing.

Fo realz, yo!

It's pretty ultimate!

Today we begin a whole new round of celebrating! And even though this one involves maths & stuffs...I still found a way to celebrate.

Today is a day that can be celebrated in the States since we have our date format set up weird. Because of our format of [month/day/year] (instead of the rest of the world that has it set up [day/month/year]), we are able to celebrate March 14th. For most of the rest of the world, it is 14/3/15. Here, in the U.S., we have it set up as 3/14/15. People! In all that confusing mess I just went thru...I'm trying to say that we can use 3/14 as Pi Day!

Are you still with me?? OK...well, today is not just Pi Day...but we are in 2015, so today is ULTIMATE Pi Day!! With Pi being 3.141592653, on 3/14/15 at 9:26:53, we have achieved Ultimate Pi! BOOM!!
*CONFETTI CANNON*

Well, since I'm not so big on the mathical smarticle parts of being smart, I would find another way! Like...going to Planet Comicon!! FINALLY!!

The whole family went, and even though Teen Boy threw something together in very short time (like right before we left), only Teen Girl & I dressed full-on for the occasion. The boys donned geeky t-shirts, but the girl & I had costumes!! I'm sure many of you are surprised by this. *cough-cough*
(My other costume stuff I've done HERE)

Remember when I unveiled my STEAMPUNK CHARACTER, Lady T'luluh Poulpe', at our church's trunk-or-treat promo table? Well, that's the direction I went! But this time, I got much more of what I'd hoped for T'luluh to look like!

Long auburn hair with blonde & brown dreadlocks & braids, all in one wig, gave my character the perfect cephalopod-type edge I'd hoped to achieve. Plus, I needed a sidekick with 8 arms. So, I adopted one from Amazon & named him Carlow McKcraic'n!

OK, part of the steampunk world has a draw to octopi. Between that & C'thulhu...it was a perfect match to work with! So, everything from my character's name, to her look, to her sidekick, even her sidekick's name, all has a tie in with c'thulhu/kraken references. Also, a couple of years ago, I discovered the magic of Brian Kensinger's Tea Girls, as well as his best known characters, Victoria & Otto (check his stuff out HERE). That's what sparked the inspiration for an tentacle-involved steampunk character. She is still a work in progress, but I was SO excited with how T'luluh & Carlow worked for Comicon!!

And? Some people GOT it! I was so excited when a guy got really excited about the c'thulhu reference...then later a kid (he was maybe about 8 or 9) yelled from quite a distance away, "C'THULHU! I LOVE C'THULUH!" It was AWESOME!!

And so many other steampunk folks there, too!!

I didn't even get all of them! However, I did find this guy right here:

Yes. This guy was an amazing Captain Jack Sparrow!! And, not only did he love the women, but he really wanted to use Carlow for his pic with Teen Girl (who went as Ariel):

He even asked if she sang & made her sing for him:

He was trying to be Ursula while she sang. He was hilarious, on-point, and awesome!!

We did have a lot of fun today:

There was so much to see!! Our only disappointment was how much it was to get pictures/autographs with the celebrity guests there...and the greatest disappointment of that was that Cary Elwes camped out behind a curtain. Ugh. So we saw the back of his head thru a slit between two curtains. Did see a few other celebrity guests from afar: Michael Rooker, Meng-Na Wen, Karen Gillian...to name a few.

But it was an amazing experience to spend Pi Day with thousands of other weird peeps. The overall respect & appreciativeness of other's effort in costuming & and overall love for the geekiness out there in so many forms. It felt like home amongst those of us weirdos. And it was wonderful!

After all of that excitement, of course we had to focus on eating for the occasion! So...PIE!

That's right. We ordered some Minsky's Pizza pies & enjoyed a small Moon Pie for dessert! PERFECT!!

Does it help that we had pizza & dessert that were round for Pi Day?

I hope you all found a way to celebrate the Ultimate Pi Day, which happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday (fitting).

Now, I'm hoping to clean this up so I can get it posted at 9:26 this evening.

More celebrations coming this week...

Stay tuned...(tomorrow is the Ides of March...beware)

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Ran for Pi

So anyway...

Things have been supercrazybusyhectic lately. In the midst of so much this spring, as well as wrapping things up for the school year AND planning out the summer. I can hardly keep anything straight.

In the midst of all of this, I've picked up this running thing. And I'm actually keeping up with it so far! (read my journey HERE)

As I continue this adventure, I have tried to push myself a bit, keep eating the right way (as best as I can), and witnessing the changing of my body...especially my legs!

*Stupid Side Story*

Several days ago, I was sitting on the couch & had an itch on the back of my leg. I reached under my leg so I could scratch the back of my thigh for relief...then I felt something weird...
I felt a swelling on the back of my leg. It was like a large growth had appeared! I was a bit nervous about it. Before I freaked out, I thought I'd check the back of my other leg to get a good comparison...but I felt the same thing on the back of my OTHER leg!
Uh...I figured out I was getting muscles. My hamstrings were growing in the process!
(giggles & a face palm were in order)

...back to our regularly scheduled programing...

As I am on this journey, I am figuring out a few things.

Like:

~ I definitely run better in the morning
~ I am pretty happy with my playlist
~ The first mile stinks!
~ So does the second.
~ I keep telling myself that tutus & medals will make this worth it!
~ Fellow runner & fitness folks are an incredibly encouraging bunch!
~ I may, apparently, be considered a runner.

A couple of my encouraging friends made sure to share this with me.
Yep...just imagine this while you're out.

What I have accomplished in the last nearly four weeks has amazed me. And I'm gearing up to do a test run (yes...slight pun intended) in just over a week! Why this one? Why now? Because I can get in the 5k distance & it's free. If I screw this one up, I won't feel as bad.

I have been close to hitting the 3.1 miles while training. There are days when I just don't have it in me. But my recent "bad days" are far greater than a good day 4 weeks ago from right now. It's perspective, I guess...

However, when I finally went the 5k distance, I cried about it. A lot. It was very emotional for me! Even though I walked part of it...I still did it! My next goal was to RUN the whole time. I wanted to know that I could run the whole distance...

Well...that day came. That day was today. I ran the whole 5k distance...and a little extra...

If you want to be all nerd-technical about it, and even though I'm not a math kind of gal...I ran for pi.

I. Ran. For. Pi.

That's right...no 'e'. I went the mathematical number of ∏! A whole 3.14 miles...and I ran it. I RAN IT!

(check out & keep up with progress HERE)

But let me tell you...it sure wasn't easy as piE! Today was a hard run. HARD! I pushed myself...HARD! I was hurting...and I got mad at myself for having a body that hurt...and I began to angry run. And after I shook that off & knew how close I was...I began talking to body...out lout...to keep it moving. And you know what. I did it. I DID IT! Did I mention that I hurt?

Today was definitely a long-hot-shower, gee-I-am-going-to-need-Advil day.

But you know what else? Thru the pushing, the pain, the talking it thru (oh my goodness...it sounds like being in labor), I can say I did it.

I ran a whole 5k.

I ran for pi.

image via Alpha Lambda Delta of University of Minnesota 2nd Annual Pi Run 2012 (link HERE)

Mmmmmm....pie....

And it's not even Pi Day! (read my Pi Day celebrations HERE)

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Still Not Good at Math & Didn't Visit a Government Building

So anyway...

CELEBRATE! CELEBRATE! CELEBRATE!
I'm in the midst of celebrating like CRAZY!

Yesterday, March 14th, was National Pi Day. How did you celebrate?

OK...I'll admit that I'm still working on this one...

I am SO not good at math. It hurts my head. Just when I start filling my head with math...my brain takes a strange detour & it is all like, "Whoa! Check out these other numbers & figures I can come up with!" And then it comes across a land mind of a brain cell...and there is a semi-brain cell explosion...

Not. Pretty.

Anyhoo...when Pi Day rolls around, I just stick with what I know: piE!

So, we have pizza (we enjoyed Minsky's pizza), then finished off with oatmeal cream pies from Little Debbie.
I was trying really hard to find Moon Pies...but we didn't have time to make the stop at Bass Pro (yes, they carry Moon Pies) or to clean out a convenient store stash of them. I was  SO disappointed!! But we still enjoyed what we had.

Next year? I think I want a quiche for breakfast & a pot pie for lunch. I also want some of those Moon Pies!

With National Pi Day being on a Saturday next year...I so want to do a Pi Day Nerd Pizza Party! That would be amazing! Especially since I found this out:

Albert Einstein was born on March 14th! Is that so fitting? Just SO appropriate??
Plus, next year, Pi Day will be on 3/14/15! Oh...SO fitting! I am starting to get my wheels turning...

Oh...and my smarticle Teen Boy did use pi to figure out that our pizzas were 22 square inches, each. Yeah...I had a brain cell explode...

*****

Let's move on to today. Yep...another celebration! Of course...

Today is the Ides of March. Did you beware today? This day is when Julius Caesar met his demise. He was literally stabbed in the back (and several other places) on the steps of the Senate in ancient Roman times...

Well, I dressed as toga-like as possible without having to wear a sheet:

Americana: Roman Goddess of Celebration & Caffeine?
...or not...

And I went out in public several times looking like this...

We didn't do much thru the day, but I was so excited for this evening! Our slightly cheesy, yet semi-authentic food was on the menu!

We enjoyed some chicken Caesar salad (with Romaine lettuce)

with grilled cheese croutons & some lighter Caesar dressings

along with a sesame seed Italian bread loaf

three kinds of cubed cheese along with some mini antipastos

and some fruit

And it was all SO good!! A fest fit for Caesar, for sure!!

About the only thing that was missing was my bacon-wrapped figs. Why? I couldn't find any dried figs to use! So upset...still hope to find some to make soon!

Also ran out of time to make sour grapes & fig newton brownies. Bummer!

Then...what else could we possibly do for the Ides of March?
How about NOT go to a government building with friends! Passing up any government building was high on our list...but there had to be more!

So...here's where we went instead:

That's right! Orange Julius at the mall! YUM!!

So we had Orange Julius & Caesar Salad to celebrate remember the Ides of March! *SNORT*

So...hitting a Roman-goddess-like pose was completely called for!

Yep...I went there... (and it's OK...I realize how big of a goober I am)

OK...good celebrating these last couple of days...and sparking future celebrating, too!

Let's consider this diem totally carped!! Shall we?

Stay tuned...(St. Paddy's is comin')

God Bless, AM~Erica