Living in Eternal Dorkdom

This past weekend Jason and I took a short trip to New York City. I have always wanted to go and somehow have never had the opportunity. I know it's weird; I have been to Europe twice but not to NYC, which is just 6 hours away! We finally thought that it was time to check it out and ventured out Saturday morning (during a snowstorm, of course!) to the Big Apple. Why do people usually visit New York City? To see a show maybe; to see the Statue of Liberty, maybe visit the Empire State Buidling... Let me tell you honestly why we went. I wanted to go to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to see my most favorite painting of all time, Starry Night by Van Gogh. It was one of my life's goals to see this painting, kind of like a "have to do this before I die" type of thing. (I actually have a list like this! I encourage everyone to make one of these lists. It is a really interesting exercise.) Anyway, a fringe benefit of our trip is the meaning behind the title of this blog. I recently started collecting Squished Pennies (you know, those machines that you put in 51 cents so that you can get a penny that is then worth less than one cent with an imprint on it, yeah, those.) As it turns out, there are A LOT of opportunities to squish pennies in NYC. I came back with over 40 new pennies for my collection! We searched and planned to get the most pennies we could in one weekend, it was great! Jason let me know on the way back that I am going to be living in "Eternal Dorkdom" for the rest of my life because I went to NYC to see a painting and squish pennies! (The museum was amazing by the way!)

You may be asking what this has to do with the Walk, well, indirectly, penny squishing is like training for the Walk! Honestly, we walked almost 40 blocks from Times Square to the Museum of Natural History (which we certainly need to visit again, it was so cool!) on Sunday! That's 40 blocks ONE WAY, and another 40 back. Plus, we stopped for lunch in Times Square then walked another 8 blocks to Grand Central to catch our train. My legs hurt a little the next day and I certainly felt like I got a workout. I'm so glad that even on vacation I can do a little but of training for my nearly 40 mile goal for May! Just think, if those blocks had been miles, I would have been all set for the Walk! (Oh my, that makes it sound like a lot! It's a good thing I have two days to do it!)

For more information about the MoMA - www.moma.org
For more information about penny squishing - www.pennycollector.com


(PS - I know "Dorkdom isn't a word... It just adds to the dorkiness of my life to use it.)