Rants, Raves, Frustrations and Faves

So this post may be all over the place...again because I've lagged forever I'm sure there is stuff to catch up on...but as of right now I kinda want to vent (about absolutely nothing major) and give some shout outs!  I'll try to do this in the 'sorority' fashion of 'pro-con-pro' so I start and end on a positive note!  :-)

Rave-Fave

What is it about Usher's song 'YEAH' that literally makes me blast the radio and sing along.  It immediately makes me want to go 'clubbing'...and I hate clubbing!!  I absolutely love this song!!  When I had my old car, the Miata, I literally refused to take the top off to drive (when I first got it) until I had this song.  It forever became my 'top down' song.  There's nothing like hearing it randomly on the radio too, you know, versus purposely playing it on the iPod.  It always puts such a huge silly grin on my face and I, of course, become the total car dancing fool! 

Rant-Frustration

I am a safe driver.  I've never gotten a ticket (knock on wood everyone now please!).  I've never been in a car accident/at fault (I've been rear ended while I was stopped).  I generally follow the speed limits-or within 10 mph or so.  I wear my seatbelt.  You get the idea.  People that drive ridiculously drive me batty!  Today I drove to downtown SD and back.  This whole drive in on the 5...with a 70mph speed limit.  Multiple times today I was cruising along at about 70-75 and would suddenly be behind someone going 55-60mph!  There wasn't any traffic.  There weren't semi's.  They were just driving super slowly!  Like seriously...it was dangerous!  I enjoy knowing there are safe drivers...but not moving is dangerous!

Rave-Fave

Each year I seem to become more and more into baseball...the SF Giants to be exact.  When I lived in Salinas I would watch here and there, mainly b/c someone I was dating may want to.  I've always understood baseball, where I don't understand other sports at all!  But since moving to SD, and being so close to the Padres stadium, I've become increasingly 'into' it.  It is so easy to go to games here.  I can hop on the coaster (similar to bart) and not worry about traffic or parking etc.  I mainly only go to games when the Giants are here. Occasionally I'll end up at a Padres vs ? game...but normally that's only because someone else wants to go.  This year has been different.  I refuse to root for the Padres at all.  The Giants and the Padres were in a 'head to head' for almost half the season.  Taking turns being in 1st place.  My friend, Brook, and I made signs, we yelled, we hollered, and by golly we helped them win!  :-)  The Giants are now in the playoffs!!!  I've always liked baseball, but have never been one to watch it on tv (unless someone was in which case I would typically be reading a book), and definitely not one to go to a sports bar to watch.  But...lo and behold...guess who's been at home alone watching baseball on tv?  Guess who's been hitting up the sports bars and watching games?  Yup sirree....that's me.  Just call me a regular ole Giants fan!  I even just ordered another sweatshirt, a tee-shirt, and a teeshirt/jersey with a players name on it!  It's official y'all....I'm hooked!  Next step will be for me to actually go to the Giants stadium! 

Rant-Frustration

School shootings suck.  Really really suck.  What kind of sick individual walks onto an elementary school campus, during lunch recess when 6 and 7 year old are playing, and open fires?!?!  I guess, exactly that, a sick sick sick person.  This is what happened at an elementary school in my school district on Friday.  At 12:30, during lunch recess, a man walked onto Kelly Elementary School's campus.  He had a .357-caliber Magnum handgun and a container of gasoline.  His pockets contained additional rounds of ammunition.  He left a propane tank leaning against his parked car.  This man walked onto the playground and open fired until he ran out of his initial bullets.  While attempting to reload, some very brave men intervened.  Luckily the school had some construction workers that took no regard to their own lives and though only about the children.  These men ran after the shooter, tackled him, got the gun away from him, and kept him down until the police arrived.  Neighbors also ran into the scene.  The school was amazing...and was in total lockdown in 3 minutes.  Thankfully nobody was killed in this incident.  But...two young girls, age 6 and 7, were struck with bullets.  According to reports they both suffered in and out bullet wounds in their right arms.  Think about it for a minute...think about how big a 6-7 year old girls arm is.  Then think of a .357 bullet ripping all the way through it.  These young girls may not have been killed, and may not have life threatening wounds, but think of what those bullets did to them.  The students in general are going to me emotionally scarred from this.  What a sick man.  I'm disgusted.  But...I'm so thankful for the brave individuals that stopped this mad man before he did more damage.  He appeared to be there to destroy--gun, ammo, gas...oh...and did I mention he had matches on him too.  Disgusting. 

Rave-Fave

I'm loving knitting again.  To me knitting is a 'seasonal' hobby.  I love knitting in fall and winter when the air is crisp and cool, when the rain clouds looming over head, when it's just all around chilly,  but last fall/winter I just never got into it.  No new hats, gloves, scarves, or blankets.  I'm not even sure I ever pulled out my knitting stuff.  For some reason today, even though it was beautiful out, I got the urge.  I decided that I would knit while watching the baseball game.  I love tv, but have a hard time just watching tv, I'm always doing something else too--like reading...or knitting.  So, I thought that while watching the Giants play I would knit....it not only would keep me doing something else, I could still concentrate on the game, and...would keep me nice and calm during any game upsets.  :-)  I usually like knitting small things, again because I get bored.  i hate making blankets...but...I'm doing a blanket.  :-)  I bought this yarn and started this blanket (which has been torn out multiple times) back when I still lived in Salinas.  So I guess I finally decided to start it over (again) and hopefully finish it!  I'll keep you posted!!

Rave-Fave :-)

I think this is getting too long...so I'm stopping :-)  But thanks for listening to my Rants, Raves, Frustrations and Faves.   I'll be back with more.  This may actually be my new 'blogging' trend :-)  Who really cares what I did recently anyway?!?!  I'm pretty boring.  I am starting a new blog too though...actually probably 2 new ones.  One is my 'bucket list' that I've been challenged to write.  I plan on blogging my list and may change and add to it as I go.  I'll keep it updated as I work on the items.  The other blog has to do with the first....

Sneak Peak...one of my items on my bucket list is to complete a 365 days of photos.  I know I may not update the blog itself 365 days, but I will take a picture each day and update every couple of days at least!  That will be a blog itself.  And I think that task will be quite hard!

Be Free Kenedy, We'll Miss You

Death is a horrible thing. Last Wednesday (I guess a week and a half ago now), I spent the day at Disneyland, you know, the happiest place on earth. Well, all was fine an dandy until I got home around 12:30 in the morning and signed on to the oh so addicting Facebook. I scroll down the status updates and come across an update stating 'RIP Mike Kenedy'. WHAT?!?! HUH?!?! NO?!?! First of all I have to thank Facebook for even giving my the opportunity to receive this information, and I have to criticize our technological world for making that be how I find out that a very good old friend has died. I then spent the next 30 minutes going from FB page to FB page trying to piece together information. I unfortunately ended up with no more information that I stared with; 'RIP Mike Kenedy'. The next day, I spend even more time scouring the internet, Facebook, and trying to get a hold of other friends to find out what happened. Nothing...so in this world of technology I can find out my old friend has passed away, but I can't find an obituary, any news, I can't find a damn thing, except that he has died via facebook.

Slowly more information passed through the grapevine, but I'm still unsure of what happened and am left to assume the worst. These scenarios make me incredible sad. I may not have spoken to Mike in 10 years, but I hate to think that he could have needed a friend. I hate to think that he may have felt alone...and ultimately died alone.

I hope any and all of my friends know that I don't care if it's been 10 minutes or 10 years, if you need a friend...I am here. I am here and I'm willing to bet that most people you know would be there for you.

In the past week I feel like I've been on an emotional roller coaster. Again, I hadn't talked to Mike in 10 years, and even the last couple of those we had grown apart. When I first saw the news I was shocked, hoped it meant a different Mike Kenedy, and overall felt sad but not overly so. The next day I again dealt well, until I got a message from another mutual friend stating that she meant to call me because she remembered how good of friend Mike and I were. For some reason the confirmation from an someone else, that never even hung out with Mike and me together, is what opened the floodgates. It was like I could convince myself that we weren't really that close, even though we hung out all the time, but as soon as someone else acknowledged our closeness I knew I was kidding myself.

Since then I end up in tears periodically. I went through all my pictures that day, every single picture, sure that I would have tons of pictures of Mike and all of our friends together. I became even more sad realizing that I have one stinking picture of him. ONE! I've spoken to a few others who seem to recall that Kenedy did his best to stay out of pictures, how do I not remember this?!?! I guess I'm grateful that I have the one at least. One final memory from our Chico days.

I'm not sure what it is with me and Disneyland...but I went again the Saturday after I found out, and on the way home Pink Floyd came on the radio. Now...I used to hear PF all the time...but I literally haven't heard them in about 10 years...I totally associate Pink Floyd with Kenedy. So there I was driving home from the happiest place on earth....crying.

So, Kenedy, we may have grown apart, but I'll miss you. I wish you would have known how many people have been affected by your death. I'm left with memories of fun times in Chico, memories of your huge smile that was always on your face, and memories of your giggly laugh. Be free and happy my friend. XOXO

http://obit.struveandlaporte.com/clients/struveandlaporte/video/816254/12651.asx

Chico

So...after our night in Paradise, Kendall and I stayed the night at the wonderful Hotel Diamond in downtown Chico. Sara, Kendall and I wandered around downtown and had lunch at Upper Crust...so good! Sara had to head back to Paradise and Kendall and I then went to get a little Fro-Yo, we considered doing the classic Jon N Bons, but decided to venture out to a new place a little further away. It was great...one of those places that you 'do it yourself', which Kendall thought was just fabulous, because in her words, 'you get all that stuff for free', meaning the toppings. haha! (This became a common quote over the next day or so!) We then stopped by our hotel for few minutes while Kendall made our itinerary for the night!


(Okay so I know that's hard to see, but it says, "see whats on tv, robes and slippers' and the other says 'hulas for dinner'. Our hotel had a robe for each of us as well as slippers, which Kendall thought was awesome...I mean...it was free!!! Once we had our night all planned out we met up with my friend Becky for a few hours which was great. I hadn't see her forever either!

Dinner was at Hulas...I had to do Chico right for Kendall and introduce her to all the yummy-ness that is there!





She liked it...and she loved that so much came 'free' with it! LOL! Hula's is a Chinese BBQ place and with your dinner you get soup, won ton chips, your regular food, and a drink...to Kendall this was a GREAT deal!

After filling up on our wonderful dinner we went back to lounge at our hotel! Hotel Diamond is new since I left Chico and it's known as being the 'posh' place. It's a really old building that has been renovated and is very cool now! We put on our robes and slippers, crawled into bed, ate candy and watched Monsters vs Aliens. The best part of the night was that throughout the movie Kendall would turn and look at me and say, "This is the BEST girls night EVER!" and "How many girls to you think are jealous of us?" We decided that we should make our girls weekends happen once a year...we discussed where our next should be. Kendall thought Montana would be a good place. Montana?!?!!? Uhm...Kendall...no. I explained to her that our weekends would be near her house, my house, or grammies house...NOT Montana! Good grief!


The next morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel (which according to Kendall was great because it was FREE!--notice the trend of free!!!). We walked over to the CSU Chico campus and I showed Kendall around. It was great to be back on that campus! I really do love Chico State! I, of course, had to go to the bookstore and stock up on Chico State goodies! I ended up with capri sweats (love them!!), a hoodie (love it!), a canvas bag (great for the pool/beach/work!) and a Klean Kanteen (it's okay...it squeaks when you drink!) and blanket for Kendall. She almost chose a stuffed animal, but then she saw the blanket and decided that a stuffed animal she would be tired of in a few years, and a blanked she could keep until she is a gramma! Wow...way to think long term little one! She became obsessed with that blanket. Mind you it was like 90 degrees, and Kendall is used to HMB which never is over 65 so she doesn't handle the heat very well, but girlfriend wrapped herself up in the blanket for the entire drive home to the bay!

Kendall with the Chico sign




Kendall giving a 'High 5' to the 'hands'


Kendall with her new blanket




Sharing her blanket



Overall we had a great time. I loved being back in Chico and seeing the changes and the familiarity. I really do love that town.

Paradise

As our time came to an end at Lake Almanor my sister, bro-in-law and Jared went back to the bay and Kendall stayed with me for one last day and night at the Lake. I then got to keep her and take her with me to Chico for, our 'Girls Weekend', nevermind that fact that it was during the week.

Our last night in Almanor was Lisa's (Brandon's mom) birthday, so we boated across the lake for dinner. Now, my family does not consist of huge meat eaters, so I could only laugh at Kendall as she looked at the menu and exclaimed, "Ribs, I want ribs for dinner!!" Uhm...okay...(gross!!)

Hungry, messy girl


All finished



Kendall and I drove from the Lake to Chico just in time to meet my friend Cory (who I hadn't seen in a LONG time!!!) for lunch at Burger Hut. Here's a picture of Kendall devouring her burger. Brandon, loves Burger Hut so kept teasing Kendall that she couldn't go there. She, of course, loved it!



The next part of our trip consisted of visiting my friend Sara and her brand new baby (he was 6 weeks at our visit)! We got to relax and just hang out, catch up, and of course love on Baby Ben! Sara's parents have horses, so we also took Kendall over to see the horses (Kareem and Lulu).
Baby Ben


Kendall brushing Kareem

More Pics from the Lake

Me, Michelle and Kim on the 4th of July out on the boat



The best picture of the week, this is a total candid, not posed shot, of Michelle and Brandon. They aren't in love at all...haha



All the girls on the boat




The Granberg Girls


The dogs: Milo-black lab/Michelle and Brandon's dog; Maggie-chocolate lab/Mansukhani's dog; Tucker-yellow lab/Cline's dog


Me wake-boarding



Enjoying a nice cold drink on the boat, heading out to watch fireworks on the lake

Lake Almanor

Next update! Be prepared for a lot of pictures for this one

For my vacation this summer I spent some time in Salinas, Lake Almanor, Chico, Half Moon Bay, and back to Salinas. I ended up heading to Salinas about 4 days early because my nephew made the Half Moon Bay (HMB) All-Stars baseball team. I'm so far away that I've never even seen him play. I decided that I could drive up early and make the first two All-Star games. It was great to see him play, even though they lost both games of the double elimination. Those first few days in Salinas were pretty mellow, I spent a few days at the pool and basically just seeing family. Our whole family went to Lake Almanor, a day early again due to an All-Stars game. (Just didn't seem to make sense to drive from Belmont back to Salinas just to drive north again the next day). We had quite the caravan of 4 cars from Belmont to the Lake.

We had a great time at the lake! It was beautiful weather, and while the water could have been a little warmer it was perfectly fine to jump into without freezing. We all spent a lot of time on the boat and Jared even got up and stayed up wake-boarding (on an adult board!!!). Way to go little man!

I accomplished actually getting over the wake this time around, which for me was a major thing. I've been able to get up no problem for the most part, but I just stay right in the middle...and couldn't move the board where I wanted. I finally decided to give it a try and managed to get out of the wake, and even back inside...kinda!

Michelle and me on the boat trying to get a little sun


Me hanging out on the boat



Jared getting ready to wake-board for the first time


Look at him go!



What girls do on a boat


I think I'm running out of room...more to come

I'm not even going to bother saying, "I lag"

Okay...there is so much to say since my last post. I'll do separate posts though so you don't have to read a novel! Read at your own pace...please.

RACES

I last left you with the 'cliffhanger' of what my SD Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon time would be...I know I know, you've all been anxiously awaiting this information. My goal was 3 hours exactly...and I disappointed myself and finished in 3:03! F-ing 3 minutes!! The one nice this is that I did manage to shave 3 minutes off my OC 1/2 Marathon time. So...good and bad on that front.


Here's me with my finishers medal after lagging by 3 minutes!


The next race I did was called San Diego City Chase (CC). I got to do this with multiple friends and loved it! My friend John talked on his blog about doing this type of race as part of his bucket list. I always thought this type of race looked fun as well and when I heard he was doing this race, I started recruiting for my own partner. So...City Chase is a scavenger hunt sort of race. I teamed up with my friend Brook and then had a co-team of my friends Amy and Crystal. We also managed to meet up with John and his friend Cartman for parts of the race. This race was hilarious, fun, and while some people take it seriously we did not.

How CC works is that you are first given a list of tasks to do before you are even given your list of clues. The tasks included silly things like: turn your clothes backwards, sing the chorus of Bad Romance, find a live animal-not a human, have a 2" stain on your clothes, etc. As you can tell these were fairly easy...okay okay...singing Bad Romance was tough...I can sing GREAT along with the radio (not in tune, but know all the words), but make me do it solo and I'm a freaking disaster!

Next...we were given a page of clue locations...each location (chase point) has a task for us to complete. Some of the locations/chase points we found were lame-ish...but silly still...and some were awesome!

Example of an awesome Chase Point-learning to Pole Dance in a gay bar! Classic!


Toward the end of the day we were quickly running out of time, and all felt it was important for John to finish the race...we knew we wouldn't complete the required 10 points so we all just tried to help John and Cartman. Their last point was disgusting. When I say disgusting...I don't mean a girly 'eewww...gross'...but a true absolutely disgusting task. They had to transfer dead fish, with their mouths, from one bucket to another about 20 feet away. Mind you...these are the SAME dead fish that have been out there in the hot sun all day...and have been transferred by an unknown number of people. By the time they go there the guts were hanging out and the fish were literally rotting. But...they prevailed...or John prevailed...Cartman dry heaved the whole time. I wish I could post a pic but all mine are videos and they just take too long...go check out my youtube and you'll find them!!

As for completed races, that's it for now. I'm signed up for 3 more....

The Long Beach International 1/2...I'm signed up as a walker, but am seriously considering switching to the biking event and doing the 26.2...on my bike.

The Silver Strand 1/2...this one is going to be awesome! We are doing the 'skate' event! Yup...13.1 miles on roller blades/skates...and...just to make it even more awesome...we are dressing 80's! As of now I think we have about 15 people...if YOU are interested let me know and we'll get you signed up!!

The Carlsbad 1/2...this is a walker. It is also #1 of the Triple Crown...which I hope to do. I need to get under 3 hours for it to count...well...I need to complete in the alloted time for all 3 races of Triple Crown (Carlsbad, La Jolla, America's Finest)...Carlsbad actually gives like 4.5 hours (no problem!), but the other 2 are 3:00 time limits...and La Jolla is BRUTAL! So...we'll see! My goal is Triple Crown...and if I don't make it this year...then maybe next.

Race day again...

So once again I've totally lagged!

I've been pretty busy with end of the school year stuff and training...for real training for the San Diego Rock N Roll Half Marathon. Seeing as I only 'trained' for a week for the OC 1/2 I figured it would be in my best interest to actually be ready for this one. I've managed to walk a lot of short distances (1-4 miles) during the week and have gradually increased my weekend walks by 2 miles every weekend. Last weekend was 10 miles and it felt GREAT. My foot didn't hurt, so whatever plagued me after the last race should be fine this time around. My IT band has been fine, although I haven't really tried running much, and my knee is actually feeling pretty good.

Today was the Expo for the race and I have to say it was the best one I've been too...not only did they have a lot of SDRR gear they had a good showing of other vendors and lots of freebies! I love tasting the goodies and buying the sodium gels at cheaper prices at the expos!

As for other things going on with me...thankfully I only have 9 days left of work...and I'm taking one of those off (Tuesday!!) to go to La Costa and get a massage and just veg by the pool. I deserve it damnit! :-)

I also joined Weight Watchers a couple of weeks ago and am LOVING it! I thought I was eating pretty healthy and am fairly active but I just wasn't losing the lbs that I wanted. I was constantly disappointed when I'd get on the scale...it just wouldn't budge! So...I got sick of it and was tired of being such a fatty...so I looked into the different options (Jenny Craig, Nutri Systems, WW, etc) and chose WW. I like that I get to eat normal food and felt that it would teach me more while the others 'coddle' you but then as soon as you lose the weight you are back on real food...and guess what? The weight comes back. So...I opted with WW and luckily have a friend/co-worker that joined with me. It's made it SO much easier. I also do my training walks with her so it's been great. As of my last 'meeting' I was down 5.6 lbs, and since then my scale shows a little more. I'm really paying attention to my scale seeing as it is the one that I always use...but of course the WW scale is the one they count. My goal is to get to 125...then I'll decide from there if I need/want to lose more. WW won't let me go below 113...but I don't see that as being a problem! I'll keep ya'll posted on my progress!! And if anyone is hesitating about joining WW...I'm telling you it works! And it's EASY! Let's put it this way...I get 20 points a day, 35 extra per week, and any extra points I earn from exercise ...I rarely eat my 20 per day...have never used any exercise points, and the couple of times I've gone into my extra points it's only been by 1/2-1 point. And...I'm eating! I did learn that if I don't eat at least 18 points I don't lose the weight...so I typically end up making myself eat more (hello dessert!!) at night to use them! When I started I was FREAKING out over only having 20 points...but it's really fine! If you are interested in it I can chat with you more.

Okay...it's almost 8 pm and I need to get to bed soon! haha...yeah...we'll see how that goes! I have to say...I am very lucky to have good friends! I was going to have to get up at like 3:30 to drive to Qualcom Stadium, to take the shuttle that runs from 3:30-5:00 to the start line, to then wait until forever to actually start the race, and then have to shuttle and trolley back to Qualcom after the race to my car....but...Nancy (the friend/coworker I'm doing WW with) offered to pick me up at 5am and drive and drop me off at the start line...she's then going to go hang out somewhere and go on her own walk, and then pick me up at the finish after the race. And yeah...she's not even participating in the race...she just didn't want me to get up at 3:30!! Awesome! I owe her BIG time!!!

Wish me luck tomorrow...my goal is 3 hours...which is cutting 6 minutes off my time from 4-5 weeks ago. I'll let you know how that goes!

Races and Triskele's

I'll update more later, but...I did finish my OC 1/2 marathon. My goal, remember as a walker, was 3:15 (my worst time ever was 3:22 and my best was 2:56, with one in between)and I actually finished in 3:06. So not only did I beat my time, but I also got my 2nd best. I have another in 3 weeks and I'm just hoping right now to finish (ideally in less than 3:06) but I hurt my foot at the OC and have struggled with it since then. My sister and I think it may be Plantar Fasciitis but I'm not really sure. I'm just kind of slowly trying to walk again and am paying close attention to my pain or hopefully lack of! I went out last Thursday with no pain, but Friday was bad...so I took the weekend off and tried again today..so far so good!

And...I did get the tattoo. I'll post pictures as soon as it's done healing. It's still a little peely/crusty and gross! I have some from right when I did it but of course they are all red and Vaselined...so I'll spare you and just post when it looks nice and pretty again! :-)

Race Weekend is here!

My 1st 1/2 marathon in 3 years if finally here. If you remember, I agreed to this about 6 glasses of red wine in on Christmas. I'm glad I did though!



I was actually doing well with training for this a few months ago, and then life got in the way and I simply didn't make it a priority. All of a sudden I was 8 days out and hadn't even put my shoes on in weeks! YIKES!!!



Luckily I have friend from work that heard that I was planning on walking over last weekend and she decided to walk with me. That fact alone has helped immensely! Now, in the last 7 days I've walked 27 miles. Part of what keeps me motivated is mapping my progress on gmap pedometer. I like to see how far north from the border of Mexico I've gone...total. My goal is to walk the length of California, following I-5. I've currently walked from the border to La Jolla! By the end of this weekend I'll have made it all the way to Encinitas. I'm totally in the groove now and hopefully I don't get 'over it' on race day. I have another race in 4 weeks!

Another goal I'm trying for, but not 100% in yet, is to try for the Triple Crown next year! The Triple Crown is completing 3 half marathons within the year...but...they are the Carlsbad Half (in January with a 4.5 hour time limit-NO problem!!!), the La Jolla Half (in April with a 3 hour time limit...starting to be a problem), and the America's Finest Half (in August, also with a 3 hour time limit). Now...you runners may be scoffing at the 3 hour hesitation...but...I'm a walker! I've had a few surgeries on my knee (lateral release and tibial tubercle osteotomy...I think those are the things I've had done?!?!) and running distance is simply out of the question...but I do try to run small portions here and there. My best time on a 1/2 is 2:56...that only gives me 4 minutes! My other times from my last 2 half marathons were over 3 hours...but again I didn't train for those. I'm hoping with constant training I can do it.

Well...off to bed. I'm heading to Newport tomorrow to meet my sis so we can go to the Expo, relax...and check out tattoo places! Oh...did I forget to mention that part?!?! We are rewarding ourselves with tattoos after the race on Sunday! Totally makes it worth it! It will be Kim's 1st and my 3rd. I'll be getting a small celtic triskele on my inner wrist.

Oops...it's been a while!

So...so much for posting weekly! I've had a lot going on lately and just haven't gotten around to posting. Let's see if I can briefly summarize.

Since my last post I went up to Newport for an Alpha Phi girls day. Unfortunately it was a small group of us this time because everyone is pregnant or has new babies. I loved getting to catch up with Katie and Shawna over chips and salsa. After lunch we saw the movie, The Bounty Hunter. Pretty mellow but oh so nice and needed.

The weekend after that was kicking off my spring break. My good friend, Theresa, was getting married, in Vegas!! So...off I went, with Trevor, to celebrate. I'm not really a fan of Vegas, but the wedding was a blast! It was great to see everyone and we all had a great time getting our groove on! Trevor and I decided to drive up to Vegas Saturday morning, the wedding was at 6:30, so we had plenty of time. We got into Vegas around 1 and then ran all over town trying to find the Madrid and Barcelona soccer game. We finally found it at the LaGosse Stadium, at the Venetian I think?!?! Turned out that the Masters were also on so we go to catch both at the same time. Somehow we managed to sit in the nice area, without paying for it...the power of talking to people! While I wasn't too into watching the games I did enjoy the beer and did not enjoy the shots that some random dude decided to buy us! YUCK!! We made it back to the hotel in time to get ready for the wedding and off we went. On Sunday we were pretty mellow and just went to the Luxor to see The Bodies exhibit. I had seen it already but so worth seeing again! Sunday night we were total nerds, but way better than doing other Vegas stuff...we stayed in our room and watched the Discovery channel...LIFE was on! So cool!

We drove home from Vegas on Monday and my spring break officially started. Oh...if only I felt like I had a break! After the 4-5 hour drive home I actually started repainting the red wall in my spare room. It had horrible roller marks all over it...so I decided to start from scratch and primer it again. Tuesday I had a friend arrive into town...he wasn't supposed to get here until early afternoon but ended up here around 11. So I didn't get as much done that day...but it was great to hang out with him...and we drank a LOT of wine! Yikes!

After he left on Wednesday morning...I was in a mad rush to finish painting the wall, and clean from top to bottom my whole place. Michelle and Brandon were coming into town on Saturday and Michelle hadn't seen ANY of my remodeling! I couldn't let the first time she saw things be dirty, or messy! M & B were also bringing my bed for the spare room down so I wanted to have that room perfect as well...which meant shopping! I needed a new light and something for the wall! I had some bedding from my previous spare room back in Salinas...but of course I got some new sheets etc.

My new spare room...I know, the bed needs to be moved over just a smidge!

Thankfully I got everything perfect just in time for M & B to arrive! (And I've been able to keep things perfect!!)

I had so much fun having Michelle and Brandon here! It's so far to visit so typically I'm the one going up there. I was super excited to take them to some of my favorite places!! I, of course, had some Karl Strauss Amber Lager ready for them! We hit my favorite happy hour spot, Norte's, for some margaritas and chips and salsa! Yum! And then...I got to introduce them to Harney's! OMG! Harney's (Miso Harney) is an amazing sushi restaurant! There is one in Old Town San Diego and about 2 years ago one opened in Oceanside. I usually don't go Oceanside for anything, and 'boycotted' the new restaurant for a while...but I finally gave in b/c it's just so good...and O-side is way closer than Old Town! Luckily they loved it! Brandon even 'stepped out of his comfort zone' and ordered something unique and loved it! If any of you ever visit we'll go there! After dinner we weren't quite ready to go home so we hit O'Sullivan's in downtown Carlsbad. The Clay Colton band was playing and they are quite good. We had some good people watching and even danced one song. After that our feet hurt so we called it a night!

Michelle and Brandon at Harney's

Saturday morning I got to take them to Swami's Cafe for breakfast...again a MUST if in San Diego North County! I love Swami's! They have a very unique menu with lots of choices for vegetarians...like 'mock bacon' etc! All seating is outside so as long as it's a nice day you're set! They again loved it! M & B had a wedding in Coronado later that day so we hit the outlets and Costco (they needed some Amber Lager to go home with them!!) before the took off. I have to say...we had a great time but as soon as they left for the wedding...I ended up taking a 2.5 hour nap! I just hadn't really stopped go-go-going for a LONG time! (I've had stuff going on for the last 8 weekends!!)...not only did I nap for that long...I had NO problem going to sleep that night?!?! Yeah...I was tired!

Unfortunately they took off super early (5:45) Monday morning and my spring break was over!

The first week back has been good...we are in our 'crunch' time for state testing, lots of special ed testing, and transition IEP's. Super busy time of the school year...and I just realized my caseload is up to like 25...which for special ed is a LOT!!

I was supposed to have a pub crawl this weekend and thankfully it got canceled!! Next weekend is the OC 1/2 Marathon and I have barely trained at all! I got in about 5 miles today and am doing it again tomorrow. Luckily I have a friend that lives down the street that wants to walk too..so we are encouraging eachother. I plan on getting miles in daily until the 1/2...not quite the way to train my I need my muscles and feet to know what the hell is going on come Sunday! Yikes! (I have another one 4 weeks after that too!!)

Today I also hit the Carlsbad Farmers Market (which is ridiculously small...it shouldn't even count as a Farmers Market). I bought some super cute fresh flowers and super yummy strawberries! Love it!

My pretty new flowers!

"What's your name again?"

It's good to be loved, even if the cutie pa-tootie can't remember my name!

Short but adorable!

Friday night my friend Amy, and her husband Jeff, had Trevor and I over for dinner. It was their very unnecessary but super nice way to thank Trevor for his help with pictures from Caleb's Crew. I was not only pumped about a night of yummy dinner, wine and Wii with the Gold's, but I knew I would also get to hang out with my favorite 4.5 year old, Caleb!

Caleb did not disappoint! Here are a few 'Caleb-isms' from the night that made it that much more enjoyable!

**Upon entering the Gold house Trevor and I said hi to Amy and Caleb yells from the other room, "Hey guys, I'm in here!"

**While Jeff and Trevor discussed spiral dynamics (whatever that may be?!?!) and Amy cut strawberries, I sat down to hang with Caleb. Caleb is a very 'touchy' little guy and typically goes right for my hair...not this time. His hand went straight to my cleavage, which I nonchalantly moved away. His response was, "you have boobs"...what could I say besides, "yes I do". Here is how the conversation went:
C: "you have boobs?"
A: "yes I do."
C: "You have boobs. You're a girl?"
A: "yes, I'm a girl"
C: "you're a girl and you have boobs. Boys don't have boobs. What do boys have?"
A: "Uhm"
C: "I don't have boobs. What do I have?" (mind you this is all said by him with a mischievous grin!)
A: "Hey, look...there's the Cat in the Hat book, let's read that!"
oh my...

**During the story Caleb managed to find the tag inside my dress, and get is feet and legs all tangled up in my dress...man...girls are going to have watch out when he gets older!! :-)

**After a bit of reading and some Mario playing Caleb dives into my lap and says, "I love you." I respond with an "Aaawww, Thank you", and his response was..."What's your name again?" I couldn't help cracking up...but I guess it's better to be loved and unknown than never loved at all right??

**After dinner we all sat down to play some Wii together. Caleb and Trevor faced off in a match of sword fighting. (Caleb is actually pretty darn good at this game...and Trevor had never played before!) I think it was during round 3, Caleb says, "You're...........(good 3 second pause).....good??" It started off as a statement and then turned to a total surprised question at the end...we were all cracking up...Caleb did end up winning that round!

Overall it was a very enjoyable evening! After Caleb went to bed Amy, Jeff and Trevor all whooped my butt in Wii Mario Kart...man I suck at Mario Kart!!! Then we had to head out b/c I had the Race for Autism the next morning and had to meet the group at Starbucks at 6:45 am...WHAT?!?! On a Saturday?!!?! UGH!!!

Owls, Mud and Sneezes....

This is going to be a bit random...but here's what I've been up to lately!

Have you seen Molly the Barn Owl?? If not...I highly recommend checking her out here. She is a wild barn own that has taken residence in an owl box in San Marcos, Ca (right here in North County San Diego). She laid a clutch of 6 eggs in the box, so far 5 seem viable. As of today 1 egg has hatched and we now have baby owlet Max! It looks like another egg is starting and had a 'pipping hole', which surely means another owlet soon! If you have kids this is great to watch! I'm totally obsessed. The most amazing part is that these are wild owls...not in captivity! When watching you get to see McGee (the daddy) 'bond' and bring Molly food.

I did the San Diego Mud Run in La Mesa yesterday! So fun! It was hard...and I have a few scrapes from it but I highly recommend doing one! I'm not fast...lovely knee...but it was really really fun to get muddy. I recommend doing it for fun and not for 'the win'. During the run we had to run through big mud pits, go up and down muddy hills, crawl through pipe tunnels that are in mud, do hurdles about 3-4 feet tall, and climb a wall...all while sporadically being sprayed by a fire hose! We lucked out and it was pretty warm...kind of humid actually, but way better than if it had been cold. We had 2 teams of 4, although 2 members of our 2nd team got injured and had to forfeit the race. Bummer. I think overall though we all had a great time! I may be getting mud out of my nails and ears for a few more weeks...but well worth it!


Coming out of a mud pit...trying not to fall!!



Our team at the finish line...we all had to finish together.



Team "Doin it Dirty"...pretty darn dirty!


My shoes after we were done...note the 'tumbleweed' hanging off! The cool thing was that rather than throw the shoes away we donated them to be cleaned and then sent to Haiti.

The only unfortunate part of the entire weekend was that last week I felt like I might be coming down with a little cold...more of just a sniffle though! I really wanted to the the Chelsea King run on Saturday but opted to stay in bed and just get sleep instead. I was really starting to feel run down and wanted to be my best on Sunday (the day of the Mud Run). I literally slept almost all day Saturday and was really starting to worry about how I would feel Sunday. I got up Sunday morning and popped some DayQuil. I took extra with me b/c lame DayQuil only lasts 4 hours...what?!?! So even though I took it when I woke up I would need another dose before the race...jeesh! Unfortunately I left the extra DayQuil in my bag that I checked at the race...oops! I lucked out and even though I felt the meds wearing off I was fine during the race. I was fine after the race while we ate at an Irish Pub...until then end. Then...I totally started coughing...and it wasn't a throat-ey cough...but a deep chest cough. Great! I continued to feel progressively worse, even though by then I had taken my extra DQ. I barely got sleep last night with how many times I needed to blow my nose...seriously! I ended up staying home from work today and oh my goodness...I didn't know it was possible to sneeze this many times! My back is totally sore already just from sneezing. Ugh. Oh well...I have to go to work tomorrow at least for an IEP I have...and then I'll take it from there. All I can say is this is a doozy of a cold!

White vs Tan

Okay...so I know in this age of the big 'C' everyone is anti sun...but really...I can't stand being white! I don't know what it is...but I love being tan! Maybe it's because I have such extremes of white and tan. I'm a mix of Italian, English, mutt, and Cherokee Indian...I'm primarily Italian but still only 25%. When I'm white...I'm English white! Seriously...the palest whitey white ever! But...when I'm in the sun, during summer, I get dark! And not like a little dark...but I can get really dark! I love it and the fact that I have summers off to really just hang in the sun. During summer I tan to a color which is much more like an Italian and or even the Cherokee. My last boyfriend, that I started dating around April after my sisters wedding-so had been tanning some, actually questioned me as fall approached, "What color are you in winter?", he was shocked to see just how white I got! So, maybe it's the dramatic change of colors I have that makes me dream of the color I am during summer...and draws me to tanning as spring approaches. Either way...I love tanning. Just had to say it! (I do, with my ripe old age, now wear daily sunscreen on my face--gotta do whatever I can to keep the wrinkles away) I'm currently hitting the tanning booth in preparation of going to Vegas to sit at the pool in a few weeks. I will continue with working on my base until my 'buy 2 months get 1 free' package ends...in June! Perfect timing for summer! So...I may smell like a tanning booth, but damn, I really like having at least some color!!!

Zoom-Zoom

Big news this week is simply that I bought a new car. Not used...but NEW! I've never had a new car before and it's such a fun thing to do! But...before I digress I should explain why I suddenly did this!

So, if you know me you know I'm not much of a 'car' person, or at least I didn't use to be. Growing up in Salinas I think it is bred into you to like 'big trucks' and SUV's. My first vehicle was a car, but seriously...first cars don't count! Next I had a GMC Jimmy. A nice small SUV. I loved that thing! When that starting having more issues than I wanted to deal with I started looking at cars. I knew I couldn't afford to get another SUV, because the ones I liked were big!

So...I started paying attention to cars...ugh...a car?!?! I realized I really liked the Mazda RX-8. I didn't know what it was for the longest time and would simply tell my boyfriend at the time, "I like that car, what is it?" After the 4th or 5th time of him telling me, "the RX-8", I figured...okay, that's a car I would drive! I studied up on the car and one time when I went to look at it, I ended up knowing more about the dang car than the dealer. I finally went with my mom one day to actually test drive it and never did. We ended up at the Seaside Auto-Mall and talked to the used BMW dealer and he told us about this great car that had just come in. Lo and behold the Miata. Mind you I had NEVER really liked the Miata. But I did love the car. It was so shiny...and cute! It had super low miles, all sorts of upgrades, and a hard top. So...I ended up with a Miata. I've loved having a spiffy little convertable, but as I've 'grown' up, I think I value my life a little more than having a cute death trap car!



While having the Miata I learned these important things:
**A Miata windshield is at the exact same level as where the mud flap from semi's spray--so when you are driving in storm and go past a semi, be prepared for a total blackout on the windshield!
**Random screws may fly out of the car, typically just from the visor, but occasionally from the 'top of the car' attachment...totally safe I'm sure!?!? Nevermind the fact that it hurts when you are driving a screw hits you!
**If is it raining or you drive a Miata through a car wash, you will get rained on or 'washed' while sitting inside of the car. Always a pleasant experience...pouring rain outside...raining inside...nice!
**If you drive a Miata (or at least my former Miata) through a car wash, or it rains, water gets in the passenger side door, which would be fine except that the speaker gets wet! So...until it drys out listening to music sucks! And yes, I had a stereo speaker guy take the whole door apart and replaced the window seal...no one could figure it out
**When the weather gets colder (and yes, I mean San Diego cold...so, not really THAT cold), the Miata had a sticky door locks...meaning that if I was in the car and wanted out the door would stick halfway between locked and unlocked (safe!) and I'd have to relock and unlock the door to get out. If I was outside of the car and wanted to get in again the door would stick halfway and it needed a butt bump and a 'redo'.
**After going through a car wash or when raining, the brakes seem to get wet in a Miata and basically don't work for a few minutes! so safe!
**And can't forget that when it is raining and wet out, the Miata is a very light car that is very 'front' heavy, so basically hydroplanes a lot, fishtails even more, and at times will even spin out. Yes, I have done a total 360 degree spin, I didn't do anything wrong and had even been at a stop light so it wasn't like I was taking the corner too fast. The car simply just does that. Safe!
**Last but not least would simply be the fact that a Miata is small, and people tend to not see it therefor will change lanes right into you. So fun!

**Oh...and one more thing, with a Miata, you really have to carefully plan for any shopping trip...clothes or grocery. And Costco is pretty much out of the question.

Now, I know after all that it may sound like I didn't like my Miata, but seriously I did. It was a great car for me. I loved being able to throw the top down and be near the ocean. I didn't need a 'lot' of car and I loved it. The problem is that living in So.Cal I end up being terrified when I drive, especially in the rain. I think I've had a lot of 'close calls' while driving and last Saturday was the last time I really wanted to take that chance.

So, Saturday I was on my way to the Gold house for the Caleb's Crew kickoff, and yes it was raining. Earlier in the day (or maybe it was the night before) I fish tailed a few times driving home from the grocery store...yes a few times on the 1.5 mile drive. My wheels would just spin when I would have to start moving from a stop light or sign. I wasn't trying to go fast either, attempting a nice slow start in an attempt to no spin out. Okay...so back to Saturday. I absolutely hate Hwy 78 that heads out to Vista and have said before that if I'm going to die in a car accident it will be on the 78. So, of course I have to take the lovely 78, in the rain, to get to the Gold household. I'm cruising along, at a very safe speed to prevent any slipping and sliding, when all of a sudden a car decided to come directly across 2 lanes of traffic directly to the spot that my car was occupying! Luckily I saw it coming, and am still unsure if he had lost control or if he just never saw me, but I had to then quickly get out of his way, but swerving into another lane. I seriously think I had pure luck on my side. There weren't any cars in my way as I swerved to avoid being hit on the full driver side of my car at at least 65 mph. There also happened to an exit at that point, which is where the lane for me to swerve into even came from and I was able to take the exit. If the exit hadn't been there I would have been run off the hwy into whatever else may have been on the side of the road! I was also lucky that my car chose to not lose control as I did all of this...but...it was kind of the last straw! I felt that I'd had too many close calls and that if I continued to take the chances I was going to run out of luck very soon!

Now...I've liked the Mazda 3 for about 1-2 years. I've taken up renting cars when I drive up to Salinas, and have rented the Mazda 3 and Mazda 6 multiple times. I purposely tried to always get the 3 so it could be like an extended test drive. I've been watching the Mazda USA site for about a year and it just never seemed to be 'the right time' to buy a new car. I've looked for 'pre-owned' but at this point in my life if I knew that if I was getting a new car I needed certain extras: GPS and blue-tooth!! The pre-owned cars just didn't have those in them. I think it's mainly because Mazda only has those with particular packages that you have to pay extra for, so the cars with them just weren't out there.





I'm now officially the owner of a 2010 Mazda 3! It has a back seat! It has a usable trunk! Heated seats! GPS! Blue-tooth! And...so many other fun buttons and gadgets! I already feel safer!! (As I should seeing I think I have airbags surrounding me!)


So...Zoom-Zoom

Caleb's Crew!!

This weekend is the 14th Annual Stride and Ride in Mission Bay/Crown Point. I'm typically not a fundraising type of person. I've wanted to do the 3-Day Breast Cancer walk, but don't do it because of the fundraising. I hate asking people for money. I feel rude. But...when a cause is this close to me I simply can't NOT fundraise. If you were to meet Caleb you'd feel the same too. Caleb is such a sweet little guy and so so smart. He's 4 years old and already able to sound out most words and read them. He's not only reading books, but he reads street signs and other things he see too. I'm lucky enough to know him, and I know many of the people that I ask to help me with my fundraising efforts haven't and may not (due to distance) get to meet him. This makes it even harder to convince people that he IS worth it. He is worth whatever little bit they may be able to afford to donate.

Caleb loves to give hugs so he can run his hands through your hair.
Caleb loves his Wii and iTouch
Caleb loves ice cream

Caleb would love to walk all on his own.

I've copied a piece of Amy's blog (Caleb's mom) so anyone that is here can immediately read why I'm fundraising for Caleb's Crew, and why YOU should donate if you haven't already.

***A couple of days ago Caleb was sitting on the couch when he asked, seemingly out of the blue, "Mommy, when I get older and bigger I won't have Muscular Dystrophy any more?"

My heart was immediately in my throat, along with a flood of possible answers, and questions of my own. How do I possibly convey to a 4-year old that this is not something he will outgrow, that he will have likely MD for the rest of his life unless by some miracle there is a cure... How do I possibly express this while still giving him hope that anything is possible and that life is still worth cherishing, despite the challenges he will face... How do I look into his bright eyes and tell him that because his body doesn't produce ONE STINKING PROTEIN, his muscles will never work the same as other people's and he very likely won't live to be an old man?!

The flood of questions, answers and emotions coursed through me in mere seconds. Before I knew it, Caleb was talking about Lego Star Wars, without me being able to say a single thing. I knew this was a vital conversation that we needed to have, so I brought him back to it.

"Caleb, you asked a very important question about Muscular Dystrophy, and it's time to talk about it."

"What, mom?"

"Well you asked if you wouldn't have Muscular Dystrophy when you get older and bigger. But Muscular Dystrophy is part of your body, and it's something that you'll always have, even when you're bigger. So you'll always need some help with things like walking, and will need to use things like walkers or wheelchairs to get around."

"Mom, I think when I get bigger I won't even use a walker."

"Oh really. What will you use, then?"

"I think I'll just use my legs and feet and walk all by myself."

As the tears welled up, the only response that seemed remotely close to being correct was, "I sure hope you're right, Caleb."

I know this is just the beginning of questions we will have to answer for our amazing and insightful little boy. God willing, some day he won't be so little any more when we have to give him more answers. We may not always have the right answers, but all we can prepare ourselves for is to try our best to find the delicate balance of helping our son face his reality while maintaing hope and joy for his future.***

Now...don't YOU want to donate and help Caleb achieve his goal of walking with just his legs and feet all by himself???


(ps...Amy, I hope you don't mind that I stole from you!!!)


Click here to donate!!!

Showers, showers, more showers, and a walk

So begins my crazy weekends!

Last weekend I went to Theresa's bridal shower! It was so good to see her! Theresa was one of my very best friends while in Chico and she now lives in Alabama! What?!?!? Bama?!? But, at least her family is still here so she makes an appearance here and there. I hadn't realized it but it had been about year and a half since I saw her last...way too long! I loved being able to celebrate with her for her upcoming wedding! Now, I just need to decide...date or dateless to her wedding in Vegas? I don't want to be the lone single person...but hey, they say one of the top places to meet people is at weddings. But...are they gonna live in Bama? That just won't work! Hmmmm...decisions?!?! I'm pretty sure I'll be solo-ing it! But...who knows?!!?!

This coming up weekend is the MDA Stride and Ride! I'm super excited about it and yeah, if you haven't donated and would like to just click here! And, if you would like to read more about my favorite Caleb ever please just click here Hopefully I made those links work right?!?!

The weekend after next, I'll be going to a baby shower for a sorority sister in Orange County. I can't wait to see all the girls. I think I'll also be going to an event the night before with another sorority sister...that is actually being hosted by a Delta Chi alum that we went to school with in Chico.

I think I have a weekend off after that...and then...San Diego Mud Run!! I just decided to sign up for this, and luckily was able to talk Brook into it! We currently have a team of 3, but we need one more! Brook would like another guy, as we now have 1 guy and 2 girls. I can't wait to get all muddy! Mud is fun! I tried to recruit Trevor, but he'll be in NYC that weekend...although is more than willing to play in the mud for practice! It seems that a lot of people I know 'want' to do it but have other plans that weekend...bummer! I've wanted to do a Mud Run for a long time, and am totally excited about doing it! I just hope the rest of my team realizes that I'm in it for fun...not to win!

AND...somewhere in the mix...Baby Eli Barrett is going to make his appearance! I hope he decides to come on a weekday :-)

Copying Kaysie-Weekend Wrap up

I thought I'd copy Kaysie today and do a weekend wrap up...seeing as I had a 4 day weekend I figured that it would be a good time to do it.

I loved having Friday off, I'm so used to having a Monday off for a holiday but it's just totally different when it's a Friday. Judi is officially on maternity leave so she came up for some hang out time before the baby comes. We had a yummy French Toast breakfast down at Tip Top...but had to hurry back to meet the AT&T guy so I could switch to U-verse (which ps...my phone is still all static!!) The poor AT&T guy probably thought we were wacko...but Judi needed belly pics so I did the best I could to be creative and get some good shots. Thankfully Trevor agreed to get some later this week as well, his will be amazing!! After the AT&T guy finally left (it took him about 2-3 hours!) Judi and I went on a mission to find me a new bedding set. If you know me you know that when I decide I want something...I don't have much patience to wait for it...so I decided I wanted a new comforter/duvet and needed to have one right then! Of course I couldn't find what I wanted (I already had the exact thing in mind) and we ended up calling it a day without anything new bought! Oh well. Thankfully I was able to buy the one wanted on Overstock and am now just waiting for delivery...I'll post a pic when I get it! By the end of the shopping scavenger hunt it was just about time for my hair appointment...have I mentioned that LOVE getting my hair done?!?! Julia (my hairdresser) is amazing, the salon has a great punk feel to it, and she serves me wine while I'm there! I really like how it turned out...an am loving that my hair is finally getting longer! Julia did an amazing color job and I'm loving my bangs too. A little later Friday night a friend got into town to visit and we hit up Norte's...my favorite! After a few margi's, and a shot of patron we went down by the beach for a little bit and then followed it all up with a nice glass of wine back at my place. For not working I felt like I had a pretty busy day! :-)

Saturday~Not too much went on Saturday. My friend and I went to Swami's for breakfast/lunch and it was finally nice enough to put the top down. Love it! My friend had a few errands to run (which he did while I stayed home)and needed to catch up on sleep (napped until almost 6pm) so really didn't do anything else until dinner. Kinda a bummer seeing as it was an amazing day and it would have been great to be outside. Ended the night with pizza and watching a movie at home. Overall kind of a boring day...I did do some weeding and officially filed my taxes. So entertaining I know! Although during the 'nap' time I was able to make plans for the next day with some other friends. Which I had somewhat forgotten was Valentines Day (not a huge fan of V-day).

Sunday~My friend took off in the morning and I relaxed and did some clean up until dog school. Surprisingly Katy and Hurley are doing a good job at school and I think Hurley in general will be pretty easy to train. He really seems to want to be good...he just forgets sometimes. After dog school I went and hung out with Katie, a sorority sister that was in town, for a couple of hours. It'd been a few weeks since we'd hung out so it was a good catch up session. I then had to get home for my evening plans with my friend Tom. Okay...so I'm really not a Valentines Day fan...single or not. But, when you aren't expecting anything the little things really mean a lot. Tom showed up with not only flowers for me, but with homemade candies too! I was totally surprised and very appreciative! I was expecting us to have an anti-valentine night. It ended up being really nice...we made and ate dinner...super yummy! Watched The Proposal (one of my favorites) and had plenty of wine! It ended up being a really nice Valentines night. I really appreciated the thought and consideration that Tom put into the evening. Consideration is key!

Monday~Started of the day with a 4 mile training with Brook. It was so hot out! I know it's going to just get warmer but I really wasn't expecting it today! I actually ended up with a little sunburn! Time to bring on the color!!! Trevor and I ended the evening with going down to Ponto Beach. He went for a run while I read on the beach...and got to see a whale go by while I sat there! Amazing! We stayed right to the end of the sunset, which was also amazing! Such a pretty night!

U-verse

So I just switched my cable, internet and phone over to U-verse. Has anyone out there tried this? So far...the Internet part is great...I mean...it works so not much else there. The cable...is taking some getting used to but I'm pretty sure I'll learn to love it! It's very Tivo-esque and I can program to record shows from my phone or computers...awesome! I can now record up to 4 shows at one time and can watch from any TV in my house...again awesome. But the whole system is taking some time. Now...phone. So far...lame! They just set it all up yesterday...for like 3 hours! The installation guy (very nice guy) had me check the phone...and it worked fine. But of course...that evening when I attempted to talk on it it was just tons of static...like lots and lots! I could hear but was seriously awful! I tried again today and still static. After spending 2 hours on 'online chat help' and moving my phone all over the place to see if we could fix it (which it seems to work fine if I plug in directly into their box...but not the wall)I now have to hang out here on Monday from 12-4 for them to come try to fix it again...'please note that the technician can arrive anytime within those 4 hours and the repair can take up to 2 hours'...great! As if I haven't spent enough time on it already. Oh well...hopefully I've enticed Trevor to come hang with me during my 'jail' time.

I'm boring...

So It's official...I'm boring! I know I can update this with day to day happenings, but really...who cares to read that?!?! I'll try to make this interesting...but no promises!

I guess my last update was officially a while ago now, I'm really not good at these New Years resolutions. But...in all fairness I've had a really busy couple of weeks. I've sat down a few times to update, but literally end up deleting because I'm so tired that I'm not making sense.

Since my last update I hosted a baby shower for my friend Judi (well...technically co-hosted...Lina and I make a great pair!!). The shower was super fun but made for an exhausting weekend. I didn't realize when I started the planning that the date that Judi picked was the same date as the Carlsbad Marathon, which runs on my cross street, so I was little concerned about roads being opened for the big day. I also ended up having a few friends running in the marathon and really wanted to go out and support them...but also had to plan, decorate, and be totally ready for the shower that same day! In the middle of all the shower planning I made a super cool (I think) sign for my friends running. (I know when I've done the 1/2's it really is motivating to see people you know out there-even for us walkers!)





So yeah, party decorating, game preparing, and sign making...makes for a very long night! No matter though...I was up at 6:15, bundled up in my beanie, scarf, hoodie, etc...ready to cheer and clap for Beth and Matt...and to have a Red Bull ready for Matt to drink. (uhm...Gross!) I was able to stick around to see Beth and Matt run past mile 6 and 12 and then I hightailed it home to start more party planning and decorating.





The shower was fabulous. We had a great group of girl and Lina and I finished decorating and setting up literally as the first people walked in the door. While everyone has the 'typical' shower game I do think that we had a fun and unique game of memory. The game is of course what you would expect but with 'labor and delivery' pictures to match...which a specific candy bar for the matches. See the picture! I think that the shower was a hit and can't wait for Baby Barrett to arrive! (Which is a month away!!)



I'm not sure why this picture insists on uploading sideways, it's not sideways anywhere else?!!? And it blogger wont' let me rotate it...suggestions??




After the shower I got to hang out with Trevor, who just moved back to the states. I hadn't seen him in about a year and a half and even then it was only for a week while I was in Spain visiting. It was so good to see him and catch up. I know before I said I was excited and terrified, but the terrified part is gone! We talked a lot that night...about when he left and how I was a disaster. There were lots of tears (partially wine induced!!)but it was great to get it all out and have that conversation. We've continued the conversation a few times now and I have to say I feel really good about our current relationship...friends! I've realized what he probably knew all along...we aren't meant to be together...we are too different in so many ways. I consider him one of my best friends and hope that I always will...but really and truly I know that's all it can be. Our life goals and expectations are just so different. I'm super glad he's back and that I get to spend some more time with him before he moves on to other places...which I know he will...as will I. But...we'll always have our fun times and a great bond. I love him with my whole heart...but I now know that I'm not in love with him. Whew...it was good to realize that!

Besides all of that I've just been really busy at work and trying to make the most out of the time that I'm not working. I was able to go to Tuesday Night Trivia this week (it had been a long time) which was fun (a bit of auditory overload due to where we were sitting...but oh well) although I probably should have stayed home to do more work so I wasn't so freaked out on Wednesday trying to get things done! (I'm a procrastinator...but not as much as I have been this week!!) Finally yesterday things slowed down a little and I was able to recruit my friend Tom to go to Happy Hour with me...after getting my nails done of course! I was able to sit over chips, salsa, margaritas, and even a shot of patron while catching up on life. We even managed a walk on the beach after. Man I love being down by the water!

Here's to a good weekend...hanging with Trevor tonight hopefully and brunch or lunch with Allison tomorrow...followed by a training session for my upcoming 1/2 on Sunday with Brook...and maybe a Home Depot trip during Superbowl...the absolute best time to hit that store!