Happy Girls are the Prettiest Girls

My delicious offering

2012-03-02T17:44:00.000-08:00

Right now, this baby is baking in my oven, creating the most decadent smell imaginable. Need an idea of the sumptuous smell? Just imagine lots of butter and cinnamon and sugar. Heated up. And add some dough for good measure and yummy yeasty smells. Got it? Good. Oh, cream cheese pull apart bread, you little devil!

Thanks to Pinterest, this beauty was pinned in my baking board, and incited a near riot the other night when I stumbled across it. Thanks a lot, Rachel Dillard. I had the ingredients on my grocery list faster than you could say yummy. What's not to love?

The truest form of shown love {from me, obviously it's different for everyone} is making a baked goody, that I don't eat. Oh, I would totally scarf this down in a heartbeat, so it's not like I'm baking something I don't like. It's actually me baking a delicious treat I won't get to indulge in myself.

You see, I am babysitting tonight. However, Billy and I were also invited to a dinner and board games night at a friend's house, and the custom is to bring a treat to share with the group. Billy decided to go on his own, and I knew I had to send this with him. It was predestined from the time I pinned the recipe, I swear it. I have no illusions that there will be a single slice saved for me, and I humbly make this sacrifice to send something "nommy" with Billy in my absence. Maybe we will be invited again, soon, after they enjoy this yummy cream cheese pull apart bread. This is my hope. And I will be making the recipe another time, when I can enjoy it myself. Now go, bake yourself a pull apart bread too! All of the photos are courtesy of Pip & Ebby, and the recipe can be found at that link.

Imperfections are perfect

2012-03-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

"Maybe it is our imperfections which make us so perfect for one another."

--Emma

I've fallen and I can't get up!

2012-03-01T12:19:00.000-08:00

Remember yesterday's post about not having the motivation to get out there and run? Well, maybe that was my body's way of protecting itself from me!

Obviously I am a clumsy girl who gets hurt when I'm being active, as seen by me crashing my bike and breaking my finger back in October, and then slipping on a bridge and scraping my knee before heading to aerial yoga in January.

Today was no exception! I was running with a buddy I hadn't seen in awhile so we were catching up, talking about his vacation and then both nerding out about books, The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones, to be exact. At the first mile we hit a small off road portion of our usual creek trail route, and I wasn't paying attention to the ground, when a rock straight jumped up and grabbed me. No, I kid, I just happened to catch my toe on ~~a giant boulder~~ a big rock that protruded from the ground, which threw me off balance, so I ended up doing a slow motion fall, taking my weight on mostly my left elbow and knee. I even managed a "whoooooaaa ooaah!!" as I fell. Pretty nifty, right?

Chris handed me my headband which had fallen off, and then we dusted me off and went about checking the injuries. My hands were banged up, but no blood thanks to my Under Armour long sleeved shirt that has thumb loops. My knee wasn't so bad, just a little scrape.

My elbow on the other hand, definitely took the brunt of my weight. I couldn't see much, but Chris had to take a second look to determine I was fine. I think that second look he was checking out how deep the gash was that I couldn't see, and I am forever thankful to him for keeping his cool and not freaking out.

We resumed running right away, with Chris telling me of his own falling stories. Imagine trail running and doing what I did, but falling down a hill afterward. He's a super running buddy for making me feel better about my own tumble! I had forgotten to stop my watch when I went down, so my time was great even with my fall and recovery! 6 miles in 54:50. My elbow was pretty stiff while running, and cleaning up was a challenge, but I'm doing fine. I'm glad I can laugh these things off. Or at least blog about them!

In other news, I got my first big girl GPS watch yesterday!! It's the Garmin Forerunner 910X, and I am very excited to learn how to use it soon. I had Billy set up my computer and most of the watch info for me, so now I just have to familiarize myself with it's controls before I attempt to track my workouts. This thing is quite the clunker! I'm used to a tiny Nike watch, so it will be an adjustment for sure. Thanks Billy for the wonderful Christmas present, even if it got here on the last day of February!

Via Gizmodo, click link for review!

Mid week check in

2012-02-29T13:24:00.000-08:00

Well hello again! I think I have developed an aversion to blogging in the last few weeks. I feel like it is because I don't have much going on, so anything I write will be boring. Is it just me, or do you ever feel like that too?

This week is a little different from what has become my usual routine. I took a week long temporary afternoon nanny job, so I've been hanging out with some cute kiddos after school. I feel bad for their family, as their previous nanny up and quit on them, without any notice at all, and they are left scrambling now. I am glad I could help fill in this week and make life a little easier for them. I have a feeling I may be needed again soon if they don't find someone to fill in. Fine by me, as it's money in my pocket doing something fun with my afternoons.

I've been slacking on my workouts this week. Last week was stellar for me, seeing as I ran over 20 miles, got in a 10 mile bike ride, went to the gym for a killer workout, and hiked, all in 5 days time. This week I ran 9 miles on Monday, and couldn't drag myself out of bed Tuesday or today to do anything productive. It may have something to do with the weather changing from wonderful mid 70's to 50's and rain this week. Boo. I did make waffles today though {not helping my lack of workouts for sure!} Tonight I have a date with the gym...I think.

Oh! Something that is exciting in my life right now, is that I have tickets to the midnight showing of the Hunger Games movie on opening night!! I will be seeing it in IMAX with a bunch of other THG fans, and I can't wait. I feel like doing my hair and makeup to look like Effie Trinket, and I've thought about getting a full on costume together as well, but I may just make a t-shirt instead to be a little more discreet.

Are you a fan of the Hunger Games?

Do you go to midnight showings of movies you are excited about?

Do you ever slack off with your workouts after being on fire for awhile?

May the odds be EVER in your favor.

Making my way to you

2012-02-24T08:38:00.000-08:00

"It seems right now that all I’ve ever done in my life is making my way here to you."

--Bridges of Madison County

Odds and ends

2012-02-23T16:49:00.000-08:00

"All runners, while running, are good company. When everybody's wearing silly shorts and sweating and farting and smelling like mobile sachets of locker-room sweat, there's no room for pretense." --Peter Sagal, NPR host and Runner's World columnist

Loved that quote when I read it in the February 2012 RW. It completely resonated with me today, as I slogged through a grueling 4.5 miles on my fourth day in a row of running. My infallible running buddy, Chris, had once again showed up to run with me when everyone else stayed home. He may be over 6 feet, but he matches my much shorter legs' speed like a champ. We always have something to talk about, and he has lots of insights about running, life, and business that I appreciate very much. I am quite thankful to have many wonderful running buddies to wear silly shorts, sweat and fart and stink with. It's one of the nicest things about running, the communal aspect. Wouldn't you agree?

One of the things Chris and I talked about today while I shuffled along was what, if there were no limitations, would we like to accomplish for good in this world? His answer, to somehow inspire others to a healthier lifestyle. My answer, to somehow inspire women to see their true beauty, without the clouded vision of what our culture says is the ideal. He said I win for most difficult dream.

This week I thought I would up my running game a bit, so I did my long run of 8 miles on Monday, my regular 7am 5 miler on Tuesday, hit the hiking trail for a slower hilly 4.75 mile run on Wednesday, and as mentioned, the 4.5 miles today. I was very ambitious this week, and I finally got over 20 miles in, which is very ambitious of me! I think I will take tomorrow off of running, and maybe hit the bike instead.

Now that I no longer have a weekday job, I am finding it hard to know what to do with myself. I've been staying very active in an effort to not become a couch potato. Or spend any of the money I am no longer making. Running and biking get me out of the house, and I've been staying off the computer as much as possible to not tempt me to become glued to the couch cushions. This sadly is keeping from my blog...although I've had little to blog about.

As a true housewife, I should be keeping a tidy house {it sort of is!}, making all sorts of Pinterest recipes for dinner, and getting all crafty with some DIY projects. Maybe I'll get around to that next week, I'll keep you informed of my housewife progress.

Anyone pinning any good recipes that they've actually made?

lemme know

2012-02-20T23:09:00.000-08:00

Hey dolls! Hope you all had a nice relaxing weekend and I'm crossing my fingers you all enjoyed an extra day off for Presidents day. If not, that's a total bummer!

I've been tinkering with the idea of creating a series of how-to videos/photo blogs for hair and makeup. Is this something you guys would like to see? I am completely tech-challenged, so I don't even know where to start for something like this, and I don't know what to focus on initially.

This is where you come in!! I want to hear what you want to see from me! What kinds of posts would be most beneficial to you? Do you want updo tutorials? How about smokey eyes? Do you know how to make soft beachy waves on yourself, or would you like to see it done here? How about a series on 3 day hair, and how to get away with not washing your hair for a couple of days, but still having it look nice?

If I even make vlogs or posts about this sort of thing, I want to make sure it's interesting to you, and not just another video on something you've seen a million times on Pinterest, etc.

Leave me a comment telling me what perks your interest, and if you have any tips on what format to make the post it, I'd love to hear them!

oatmeal giveaway

2012-02-18T18:48:00.000-08:00

My friend Megan from Watch MeGo Run is offering a giveaway on her blog for this fancy pants oatmeal variety pack from Mad Hectic Foods that looks AMAZING! There are 7 gourmet flavors like strawberry pecan and chocolate raspberry, the oats are organic, there are 13-17g of protein per serving, and tons of Omega-3's to keep your body happy. If that doesn't make you want a big bowl of oatmeal, I don't know what will.

I am a huge oatmeal fan, so this is right up my alley, and I want to WIN, but I am nice enough to share the giveaway info with you so you can have a shot too :)

Just click on this link to take you to Megan's blog post about the giveaway, leave her a comment with what flavor you would want to try, and you are entered!

Don't say I never did anything nice for you!

Than eternity without it

2012-02-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

"I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it."

--City of Angels

top bun of the mornin' to ya

2012-02-15T20:58:00.000-08:00

Well hello, bloggy peeps! I've been a little indisposed from blogging lately, but only because I've been keeping busy. I figured if I stayed away for too long, you would send out a search party or something, so I am back!

How have you all been? Did you have a good Valentine's Day? Mr. B and I don't celebrate because we believe love should be shown every day, not just on a special day, but I get why others do. Instead of overpaying for a prix pix meal or roses, we usually split a bag of Hershey's kisses and continue on our way.

Yesterday had an entirely new Vday plan, as I headed up to San Francisco to work some hair magic for the fashion installation at the Trendy Lime Gods and Goddesses event at Harlot, a little lounge in the financial district. The fashion designer, Indu Arora, created a line of red dresses to be displayed in the club during the event. There was also a hat maker who created pieces for the models to wear, and they were really cool! One even had a full owl wing on it, while another had a fox skull. Sounds morbid but was really neat. I created a bunch of top buns for the show, since we needed to display the hats, and they were simple enough to bust out in 10 minutes time. I even got to work on dreads and a weave, pretty exciting stuff!

and here are some photos I quickly snapped before I bounced out of that club like a rabbit after a carrot. Because I don't like clubs. Or staying out past my bedtime on a school night.

Photo on the left you can catch a hat with some "torched 45's" adorning it

Little blonde chic had a super short bob haircut, but I managed to fake a top bun even on her. Skills yo.

There were even some dude models rocking the togas. Tall girl in the front is rocking the wing hat!

Hiking with Marlo...and a vlog!

2012-02-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

This week I rediscovered the wonderful hiking trails in the Almaden Quicksilver park very near my house. I guess they could be running trails also. If you're a masochist that enjoys lots of hills. I don't like running hills, but I do like hiking them!

While researching Mount Umunhum for this post last week, I found out that San Francisco Bay Area, where I live, has over 1.1 million acres of public open space preserves. That means we got a whole lot of hiking and nature-y stuff around all the suburbia and urban space we live in. I sort of feel like I've been cheating myself by sticking to my usual creek trails when I run, as there are so many other options available near me.

I did a quick 2 mile trail with Nicole on Wednesday, and decided to take Marlo on the same trail on Friday. This was Marlo's first ever hike, and though she really isn't built for it, she made it, albeit slowly!

Marlo was panting and tongue lolling the entire time. I mean, in the car on the ride to the trail even! She was just so excited to have her harness on and go for a ride in the car that she worked herself up. She wouldn't listen when I told her to conserve her energy for the actual hike haha

The Quicksilver mines trails are gorgeous. They are through chaparral forests with lots of California Live Oaks, Sage brush, and Bay trees. Oh, and lots of poison oak, which is super prevalent right now.

Our dog ordinances say all dogs must be kept on-leash except in specific areas...Marlo was technically on leash here, just walking herself!

These are some of the views from the top of this particular hike. Top photo shows some of the downtown and east San Jose area. The bottom photo shows my area of south San Jose.

There was a small herd of deer on the trail at one point. Marlo got very interested and wanted to check things out. They got scared and bounded away before we got too close. The plaque tells about some of the Quicksilver mining operations that were prevalent from 1863-1926 in my area. There were tons of Cinnabar/Quicksilver mines in operation during that time, and some of the chimneys, furnaces, mine shafts, barns and even a cemetery are still around today!

This information sign lets visitors know about the remaining furnace towers on the trail we were on.

These are 3 furnace chimney ash collector things from the El Senador mines.

The old barn was not a part of the mining operation, but it's still cool to see as the park entrance. Marlo was too tired to sit on the passenger seat, so she laid down on the floor instead!

And for anyone who stuck around through this post, my first VLOG!!!! Nothing special, just a quick panorama of my home town from the top of our hike, and a little glimpse of my goofiness :)

Your heart is free

2012-02-10T08:33:00.000-08:00

"Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it."

--Braveheart

sausage and potato gratin

2012-02-09T22:44:00.000-08:00

There is something special about comfort food. I know you are all saying "well, obviously Adrian, or it wouldn't be called comfort food!"

Bear with me here.

Food evokes so many emotions from us; from the feeling of home, to memories of celebrations, and of course happiness. I love me some food, and give me some awesome comfort food and I am good to go. Unfortunately, those of us who are watching what we eat to maintain a healthy lifestyle often have a hard time finding a balance of healthy and comfort. Thankfully, there are publications like Cooking Light magazine who hear the plight of the dieter and come to the rescue. CL created a lightened up version of what they call "home fries meets casserole", and I was hooked. What's not to like about that description? Do you all subscribe to the magazine, or use their online recipe database? You should!

Much to Billy's delight, I made this lovely recipe the other night. At first he wasn't sure about this dish, because he had thought the potato chunks were pineapple. Of course pineapple and potato are a crazy taste difference to reconcile, but after that disconcerting start he was all for it! It's such a hearty, tasty meal and would be awesome for the cold weather some of you folks are experiencing in other parts of the country, and Canada {holla!!}.

I adapted this recipe from Cooking Light magazine to work with what I had on hand. My recipe turned out super awesome, and I am sure the original recipe is just as good.

I had mushrooms in my fridge, but couldn't use them as planned. Did you know mushrooms can grow mold? How do fungi grow mold?? I was baffled, but still couldn't use the mushrooms. I will next time! I had also planned on putting in a couple handfuls of spinach, but forgot until after the cheese was on. Again, something I will add in round two.

Cooking Light pic on the left, my version pre-cheese on the right

Chicken Sausage and Potato Gratin

Ingredients:

1 lb pkg sweet Italian chicken sausage, casings removed {I used Trader Joe's}

1 tbsp butter

1/3 cup chopped red onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

1.5 lbs red potatoes, coarsely chopped

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash fiesta lime seasoning

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

3/4 cup shredded Mexican style cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F
Heat large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and saute, stirring to crumble for about 5 minutes. Remove sausage from pan, drain and wipe pan with paper towel.
Melt butter in pan. Add onion, saute for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally until browned. Add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
Add potatoes, salt, pepper, and seasoning. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally or until potatoes are browned.
Stir in sausage and broth. Remove from heat. Pour mixture into a baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray {I used a large oval corning wear dish}. Top with cheese, cover and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until golden.

Almaden Lake and Mount Umunhum

2012-02-06T01:29:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite places to run, and also conveniently located very close to my house, is Almaden Lake park. The trails that run near my place lead right to one end of the lake, and then another set pick up on the other side and go for miles. No matter the weather, time of of year or day, I can always count on a beautiful view, pretty scenery, lots of people and animals, and an open bathroom when needed ;)

Summer 2010 at the lake

December 2010 sunset at the lake

January 2012 midday at the lake. That little patch of beach on the far right is where I entered and exited the water for my triathlon last year.

Can you tell I have a favorite view of the lake? If you notice in the background on the highest rounded peak there is a tiny little box like thing. That is actually Mount Umunhum, {sounds like "um-eh-num"} and the 5-story concrete radar tower at the old and now defunct Almaden Air force station which closed in 1980. I linked the Wiki article, and this page tell you everything you would want to know about this little gem of San Jose history that can be seen all over the Silicon Valley.

{Via}

{Aside} When I was in high school, we used to share rumors that there was an albino colony in the Los Gatos mountains below Mount Umunhum, and all of the creepy stories that came out of that area about witches, skinned cats, and dead bodies being found off of Hicks road that leads to the top. I have no idea if any of these rumors and stories were true or even if they had a base in fact, but they gave me the creeps and there is only a handful of times I went up to the top. Driving Hicks road at night makes my skin crawl, and people SWEAR they see things that probably aren't there. There was even an indie movie made about Hicks road! It's pretty eerie to tell you the truth, and I never made it all the way to the radar tower, just to the fenced off area restricting the base from visitors. The only rumors that are in fact true are the stories of the marijuana farm raids in 2005, 2006, and 2007. The 2006 raid left one grower dead, and during the 2007 raid they burned the crops so the whole valley stank of pot for awhile!!

I digress...back to beautiful little Almaden Lake!

{Via}

Seriously, who takes amazing photos like this?? Obviously not me! Via

{Via}

I am incredibly blessed to live in such a beautiful place that maintains a mostly mild climate year round. Take Sunday's 70F temps! Can't beat the mid 60's we have been having for weeks now.

Eat your heart out, everywhere else!

My last day

2012-02-03T14:03:00.000-08:00

Today is my last day as a nanny for the family I have been with for over 4 years. It has been incredibly bitter-sweet for me the last two weeks, since I put in my notice. It's hard to leave people you consider family, have watched grow up, and have been through so much with. I know I have made the right decision for myself at this particular time, but it doesn't stop me from second guessing my choices and wondering "what if?". Over the last 4 years I have often had to think about the family's needs over my own, as they were my employers, and I sometimes wondered if my small sacrifices made a difference.

I am very much a Type A person, a control freak, and I love knowing what the future holds and make plans far in advance. When you work for a family of two parents with very different lifestyles and work schedules, and two kids with different activities and abilities, you will learn a great deal about flexibility, patience, and how to go with the flow. Schedules are rarely the same from week to week, and there will be many unexpected changes that come out of nowhere. The most important things I will take away from this work experience are learning how to be flexible when needed and to accept changes on the fly, even when that goes against the very grain of who I am.

I hold this family very close to my heart. I've made incredible relationships with each of them, and will miss these kiddos terribly. I've been awfully sentimental this week, lamenting that Bryn has grown so tall and is looking much too old now, and how both kids have matured so much since I met them when they were little 3rd and 4th graders. Looking at the 7th and 8th graders in front of me now is such a trip. I've definitely been sympathetic to the kid to pre-teen to teen changes and challenges, working on my patience when they unintentionally lashed out, because they were dealing with crazy new hormones surging through their bodies. I've listened to as much as they were willing to tell me about what is going on in their lives, hoping to be a willing ear, and offered as much encouragement and advice as they would listen to.

To continue my sentimentality this week, I wanted to post photos and let you know what I will miss most about these two supper awesome young people who have made my life so fun the last 4 years.

My Bryn-ita chicita bonita

The coolest Kobe

Kobe's 5th grade graduation

Our fun trips to amusement parks with friends

The funny things they let me do with their hair

The super coolness of them both

Bryn and Kobe, never change! You are both wonderful people, with amazing hearts and so much potential to do great things in this life. I wish you both the best, from the very core of my being, and I cannot wait to see what you both accomplish! I will never be far, you can always look to me if you need to talk, want to hang out, or need ANYTHING!

The fire in our hearts

2012-02-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

The best love is the kind that awakens the soul; that makes us reach for more, that plants the fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. That’s what I hope to give you forever.

--The Notebook

Picture frame jewelry display

2012-01-31T08:12:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned before that I am NOT a crafty person. I have crafting ADD and often start a craft, get bored or realize it is above my technical abilities, then I abandon the craft. You should see my storage closet, it's a crafting graveyard.

Knowing this about myself, I have made a promise to only undertake projects that I know I will complete. Over Christmas break I bought 3 skeins of yarn and crocheted one scarf. I finished it in a day, after not having crocheted in 15 years. It was a terrible end product, but I finished it. The creative bug bit me again last week, so I decided to approach a project I've seen on Pinterest and around the blogosphere.

I bought an ugly framed print from Goodwill for $13 {what happened to the GW being cheap?}, a can of light turquoise spray paint, some organza ribbon, and set up my supplies on my patio.

I took the the back, print and glass out of the frame, then prepared to spray it down. I didn't sand, prime, or do anything to prepare the frame because I'm lazy like that.

I haphazardly sprayed my frame, giving it a minute to set before attacking with a second coat.

I also spray painted a wooden letter H just for fun.

Finished product

I then used my awesome handy-dandy staple gun to fix my ribbon across the frame.

My previous jewelry display was cork squares and pushpins. Effective, but jumbled and not pretty.

So I re-purposed the squares to create a back for my frame that I can poke pins into.

Ta-da!

Some up close of my fave pieces :)

This 'lovely' necklace is from Forever 21, and I adore it! My favorite color and one of my favorite words!

This flower cocktail necklace is from my grandma, she wore it in the 60's!

I am quite impressed with myself for having gotten through a whole craft project! I'm thankful it was relatively easy project. Definitely something for everyone to try out if they have an old frame and some spray paint to play with.

Dashboard Confessional at Slim's

2012-01-30T08:15:00.000-08:00

Dashboard Confessional, solo acoustic concert!

Ah, Chris Carrabba, what a great show you put on! I let you know of my school girl ~~obsession~~ crush on Dashboard Confessional in this post, and the show was every bit as wonderful as I thought it would be.

Billy and I headed up to Slim's in San Francisco 2 hours before the doors opened, which without traffic would give us an extra hour to kill. Well, the traffic was terrible, so those 2 hours were entirely needed, and then some! After battling the Silicon Valley Commute traffic, we were happy to arrive and take our reserved seats for dinner. Only, dinner wasn't so awesome. It seemed like a pretty cheap prix fix menu of food that came straight from Costco, but whatever, the seats were what us old folks paid for.

Barcelona was the opening band. They are from Seattle, WA, so I was thinking of Tri-girl and Erika, and Skipping in Seattle, wondering if they had heard of the band. They were pretty chill, maybe a little too much, as the crowd was sleepy.

Once Dashboard took the stage, the crowd woke right back up. It was just Chris, two guitars, and a microphone. Oh, and A-MAZING. So much intensity, emotion, and all around he put on such a great show. He joked with the audience, played deeper cuts of awesome songs, adding in snippets of Say Anything lyrics {"she called me on the phone and she touched herself"} to his song "Rooftops and Invitations", and was just an all around great performer.

Simply a very cool, very intimate performance from one of my all time favorite artists.

{one of my favorite's from the night, and yes, our audience was just as willing to sing-a-long with Chris, which is totally standard at ANY Dashboard Confessional show. "Grow up fast!"}

Where we were sitting, in the balcony at the very back of the venue, there were about 10 tables with room for about 30 people. One of those people was a guy, who had brought his pre-teen son, who happened to be very loud and obnoxious. He did everything he could to pick up a girl at the table next to us, even after she told him she was married, and he confessed he had a girl somewhere he writes lyrics in notebooks for. It was pathetic, but super amusing, so I tweeted about his silliness, and generally made fun of him to Billy. Well, karma came back to get me when toward the end of the night, this guy, who by then was quite drunk and not just singing along, but screaming the lyrics, spilled his rum and coke on me. Billy gave him The Rock inhale and stare, {see below for example} to which he profusely apologized and offered to buy me a drink, I refused and asked him to just let me enjoy the rest of the show in peach, which made him leave me alone.

Other than smelling like booze and sitting in lots of traffic, the show was absolutely awesome! If you are a DC fan, and he is making a stop near you, I highly recommend seeing the show!

When I'm with you

2012-01-27T08:28:00.000-08:00

I’m scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I’m with you.

--Dirty Dancing

Running for the sunrise

2012-01-20T16:45:00.000-08:00

Thursday morning, I met up with my running group for our 7am run as per usual. What was unusual was the AMAZING sunrise we got to experience as we started running. I am a sucker for a good sunset, but not being a morning person, I rarely see a sunrise, and when I do I am normally pissed that I was up before the sun. This particular day I was grateful to have caught something so pretty. It might have made the early run worth it, maybe. We happened to have a full group for the planned trail run, and I wasn't the only girl! It was a little over 6 miles, and had several intense climbs, and a very rocky descent through switchbacks on the return, but we trudged through and enjoyed the scenery. One of the group organizers brought his camera, so I stole his photos from facebook to share with all of you :)

Hello gorgeous sky! We talked about the old sailors storm adage "red sky at morning, sailors take warning; red sky at night sailors delight". This sunrise definitely ushered in a storm! By early afternoon the rain was here

Me, Feride {pronounced Fair-a-day}, Eric and Chris G.

I look like a ninja in my all black outfit. Pearl Izumi hat, Under Armour top, running tights and gloves, Asics Landreth shoes!

Me, Feride, Chris V. and Eric.

See what I mean about that gorgeous sky?

For those of you who think San Jose, or even the San Francisco Bay Area in general, is an urban area, you will see that is just not true. We have tons of agriculture all around us, and lots of open spaces that make perfect running, hiking and cycling destinations. I am completely in love with the area I live in because it offers so much. Check out the views from the trail run!

Those dots on the hill are cows! It smelled really bad on this stretch of the trail haha

The southwest corner of Silicon Valley. Only 10 minutes from my house, folks.

We totally made friends with these Border Collies and had their people take our group photo. There was a 3rd dog behind me, he was shy.

Eric, Patrick, Feride, Me, Chris V, and in front is Chris G. Chris V and I had the same pose! He rocked the hands on the hips, knee popped look. He's also from the Netherlands, and is all sorts of Euro-cool.

I usually run with the two Chris' and Eric on my Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I am so grateful to have big guys who keep me safe from mountain lions, creepers, and even myself sometimes, as I seem to like to injure myself when I'm working out alone! We have a running joke{haha, see what I did there??} about mountain lions picking us off, after we heard that one had been found in a backyard about a block from where we meet up, and truth be told I am bit nervous to run alone now! Thankfully they don't leave me in their dust too often.

Do you run outside with a group, or by yourself? I do both, but after hearing how SUAR's cousin went out running and never came home recently, I am happy to stick with my groups.

Hope you all had good weeks and are looking forward to great weekends!

More than a series of moments

2012-01-20T08:23:00.000-08:00

"I always thought that there was this one perfect person for everybody in the world, you know, and when you found that person the rest of the world kind of magically faded away, and, you know, the two of you would just be inside this kind of protective bubble, but there is no bubble, I mean if there is you have to make it, I just think life is more than a series of moments, you know, we can make choices, and we can choose to protect the people we love, and that’s what makes us who we are and those are the real memories."

--Forces of Nature

Dashboard Confessional, TONIGHT!

2012-01-19T16:30:00.000-08:00

What has two thumbs and is doing a little dance in anticipation of a concert? THIS happy girl!

Gah, I am sooo excited friends! In December Chris Carrabba, the beautiful singer-songwriting force behind Dashboard Confessional announced a SOLO ACOUSTIC tour, starting in San Francisco. The 15 year old Adrian screamed like the little emo girl she is and I forwarded the e-mail to Billy, who bought me tickets to the show for my birthday.

Hello 18 year old Adrian, cuddled up to Chris! Sorry for the size and pixel quality, this was pre-digital camera and was probably scanned onto my computer, to rot in photobucket hell, until this very moment!

Hello, handsome, moody, wonderful Chris!

My love affair with DC is long, filled with moony eyes, fully memorized lyrics to every great song, and car ride singalongs. I won tickets to a Dashboard Confessional concert in 2003, and took Billy with me. It was one of our first concerts together. We were able to attend the sound check, then meet Chris and the band. I had a signed poster on my wall for a long time, and to this day I still carry my college ID card, 7 years after leaving the school, because Chris autographed it. True story.

The venue, Slim's is super awesome. It's on the small side, which creates an intimate feeling for a show. I think it's absolutely perfect to see Dashboard Confessional do a solo acoustic show. Random fact, I saw Fall Out Boy here in 2004.

Billy and I will be having dinner at Slim's before the show, and I can't wait. It's been a very long time since I have seen DC live, and I am a giddy mess. I hope you all are looking forward to something this week as much as I am looking forward to this concert! I hope to have a very good recap for you later, I'm crossing my fingers it's a good one!

Billy and I walked into the reception at our wedding to this song <3

Lighter

2012-01-18T23:34:00.000-08:00

The thoughts in my head from Monday are no longer violently swarming, whispering their fears, appealing their lack of control, abusing my grey matter with their insecurities, screaming for *something* to be done. I have made up my mind. I weighed my options in a sticky situation, and I came to a conclusion. After 4 years of being this family's nanny, I have given them my notice. Come February {or earlier if they choose} I will have but one job; that of a hair and makeup artist. For the first time in 4 years I won't have the possibility of working 7 days a week to look forward to. I can work 2 days at the salon, and find something to do with the rest.

I have no idea what I will do to supplement the nanny income. It may not be a fortune, but it helped to pay my bills, and I do not take it for granted. I have lined up an ongoing gig doing hair and makeup for a soon-to-launch vintage website that I am extremely excited about, and of course will fill you in on once I have more details to share. It's not full time, or even on a weekly basis, but a paying gig is a gig. I've reopened the idea of getting my indoor cycling instructor certificate and may look to that as a means to an end. I may take some on-call or temporary nanny jobs through an agency I've worked with in the past. Nothing is determined, which drives my Type A, controlling, must-have-a-schedule-5-months-in-advance self batty.

Strangely enough, just having made a decision to leave this family has lifted an incredible weight off my chest, even without prospects for my future. I love and respect this family dearly, but there comes a time when their lack of decorum and respect, their lack of communication, and inability to value my time is too much. Anyone would have moved on ages ago when they began to see the signs I have so bullishly trudged past, dedicated to providing a service to people who hardly need it anymore.

My mind is eased at least as far as this pressing issue is concerned, and I hope to be blogging on the regular, with happy, bright and shiny posts once again. Enjoy the photos that are so indicative of my new found sense of being {that is, unless SOPA is passed, then this blog would quickly be shut down for posting copy-written images that do not belong to me, but more on that later}

Le sigh

2012-01-16T22:22:00.000-08:00

Hi gals {and any guys who may follow}! Hope you have had a good Monday, and are looking forward to a nice week.

I started a post earlier today, but there is so much crazy going on in my head, that none of it was usable, or even something I'd like online. Right now there is lots for me to consider as I am at the proverbial fork in the road. Neither path is known to me, and nothing is a clear winner, so I am heavy with concern, contemplation, and fear of the unknown. Consider my first attempt at blogging verbal diarrhea of the worst kind. Thus, my second attempt! I'm going for some positive imagery to refresh my mind and refuel my spirit. Please enjoy my magical reboot! I hope to be back soon with recipes, quotes, pictures and silly recaps of my current happenings.

via

Via

via

Via

Now I am going to pin a bunch of stuff on Pinterest, and then go to bed!

the rest of your life to start

2012-01-13T08:26:00.000-08:00

I love a good quote. This one is one of my favorites!

"I love that after I spend day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

--When Harry Met Sally

Aerial Yoga

2012-01-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

...or Cirque Du Soleil sh*t as Billy so daftly put it.

For my birthday, my friend Caroline gifted me a pass to try out a cool aerial yoga class with her at the Yoga Studio in Campbell.

I didn't watch this video before the class, but I should have! Ignore the cheesy music, and realize that a lot of the moves shown were more advanced than the class I went to, but we did a lot of variations of the same things.

Honestly, I had no idea what the class was about, and didn't know what to expect. I figured we would do yoga, then lay in a hammock sort of thing at the end. To prep I went for a 4 mile run in drizzly weather beforehand, and managed to slip on a wet wooden bridge and fall in front of a couple on a tandem bike. No biggie, I laughed, brushed myself off and reassured the worried couple that I was in fact just fine, and limped away. Only a little "bridge burn" was sustained, along with my pride being bruised from having someone witness my fall, but I finished just fine.

I met up with Caroline and signed in, then we snapped this lovely photo, barefaced for all to see, before heading in to investigate the silks hanging from the ceiling. I really should wear makeup all the time, even when I workout. Bare faced is not a good look!

We each chose a silk and laid our yoga mats underneath, then sat and waited for the class to begin. Our instructor had tinsel in her hair, as did several of the middle aged house wives who were in the class with us. I don't like hair tinsel {or feathers, ick!}. Everyone with tinsel in their hair was better than me. I guess tinsel gives you magical aerial yoga powers or something, but I still refuse to offer that as a service to my clients.

Did you know that aerial yoga is hard? Like so hard I was sweating, and had a difficult time performing a lot of the moves. I didn't know it would be that hard, obviously. It also hurt a bunch when you have to put all of your weight on the silk in one spot on your body, like when we did these hip hangs, or basically we folded at the waist over the silk and dangled, feet and hands off the floor. Ouch. We got in to high planks with our feet in the silk, and did agonizingly slow pike inversions. We also did one legged stands with the other foot in the sling, and rotated it out to the side and back while maintaining balance. I don't have a very good grasp on balance in every day life, so complicating it by adding some silk was tough! We did 3-legged down dog poses, and wrapped the silks around our thighs to sit in the air, our body weight 100% supported, and stood in the silk and balanced without hands. It was intense. I definitely felt it the next day. The best part was the very end where we spent a few minutes laying completely enclosed and stretched out in the silk, like a cocoon. It was so relaxing I vowed to get a silk for my own house, just to take naps in.

After class we snapped a few photos of ourselves playing in the silks. Caroline was an instant success after one class, but it could have been because she is a yogi and this was very similar. I had a harder time with it!

I will definitely give aerial yoga another shot because even though it was difficult and hurt, it was also tons of fun! If you have a yoga studio in your area that offers aerial classes, you should definitely check it out!!

One-pot lasagna

2012-01-11T08:30:00.000-08:00

Oh, boy, do I have a delicious treat for all you pasta and casserole lovers! I made this earlier in the week and it was to-die-for delicious! Billy and I both went back for more helpings, and were thrilled with the way it turned out. Billy's request for the next time I make it: more mushrooms and add Italian sausage. I think I can accommodate that!

I kept to the recipe for the most part, but I skinnied it up a bit with some low fat and fat free options. I am sure there is more that can be changed, but I was super happy with the end result this way. I made this recipe easier to follow by prepping all of my ingredients while the water boiled and the noodles cooked. It was quite simple to prepare, and will definitely become a staple at my house, even though it's rich and not super skinny calorie wise.

Easy One-Pot Lasagna

adapted from this recipe

12oz noodles {I used lasagna, but it will work with any long noodle really}

1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/2 tbsp flour

1 cup fat free milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 cup fat free ricotta cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 cup marinara sauce

1 cup spinach

1/2 cup mushrooms, diced

1 cup shredded reduced fat mozzarella

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*. In a large pot, cook noodles according to package directions. Drain into a colander. In the same pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. Stir in the flour to form a paste.

2. Gradually stir in the milk, until mixture thickens. Stir in the salt, pepper, and oregano. Stir in the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, and egg. Stir in the cooked noodles, tossing to coat. Remove from heat.

3. Spray an 8x8 inch dish with cooking spray. Spoon in the noodle mixture. Bake for 10 minutes.

4. Remove from oven. Spread the marinara sauce over noodle layer. Add spinach, then mushrooms, and top with mozzarella cheese. Return to oven and bake an additional 20 minutes or until cheese melts and casserole is set. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition info from the exact ingredients I used can be found on my My Fitness Pal page, here.

A day of indulgence, cutting hours, and a new half

2012-01-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

Hey party people! Hope your weeks are off to a good start. I had a blast with Mr. B yesterday, sleeping in, watching movies, eating horrendous food {leftover pizza for breakfast, ice cream for lunch, and a delicious lasagna recipe for lunch that I am dying to share} and generally enjoying each other's company. Not bad for a Monday! PS- I did get a workout in to help balance the crazy eating by hopping on my new bike trainer and pedaling through two episodes of Happy Endings, a great new show I am loving! I think I am mostly Jane, with a bit of Penny thrown in!

My hours have been cut back dramatically with the family I nanny for starting last week, so I have way more free time than I am used it. I am only a little disheartened by this change, as we have been discussing it since July, but I am most irked that I was not included in any of the recent discussions about when the cuts would begin in earnest, and what I could expect my hours to look like. I find my bank account will be hurting quite a bit more than imagined now that I see what's actually happening. I am a control freak, and it bothers me that I still don't know if these two day a week schedules will be the new normal, or if it's another temporary change. But alas, I will look on the bright side, and count the blessings I do have! Without the cut back, I would not have the opportunity to make a trip up to Napa this week to visit my wonderful friend Michelle who is healing up after a surgery and the complications that came from it.

I was hoping to make a few freezer meals to bring to her, any suggestions for recipes from my awesome bloggy friends? What are good care packages to give friends who have recently had surgery? I would love your input!

in fitness news, I spent Saturday evening in a sleepy, melatonin trance looking up races for the next few months to give me training motivation. I decided that along with the March duathlon I had planned, I will be running a 5k in February, and tackle the Santa Cruz half marathon on April 1! I have the Seattle RnR half already planned for June, but I wanted to try my hand at 13.1 prior to doing that one, and SC is a pretty sweet race. The entrance fee was a scant $55, unheard of for a half, and the course winds through strawberry fields and on trails along the ocean, with a finish on the beach. I am seriously looking forward to the beauty I will take in will doggedly pushing myself to a new mileage. I hope 12 weeks is long enough for training, as my current longest run has been around 5 miles lately, and that just won't do!

Any advice from my marathon running friends? What sort of a running plan should I try to use, that will also incorporate enough bike time for me to train for the the duathlon a month before the half?

I hope you are all enjoying your Tuesdays, and the week is shaping up nicely!

Birthday Recap

2012-01-04T08:20:00.000-08:00

My 27th birthday was a week ago, you can read the sweet post Billy wrote for me here.

I have a weird relationship with my birthday. I typically become very excited by the idea sometime in August, well out from my actual birthday. I start thinking of fun ideas to celebrate, and I talk about it a lot. By the time October comes around, however, I begin to rethink my birthday excitement. I stop talking birthday all together, make evasive comments when people ask what my plans are, and generally get a little crabby about the whole thing.

It's sort of like I am excited by my birthday because that's how I have been programmed to respond from childhood, but I have no idea why I am excited about getting older, and closer to death. No, I am not that morbid, but it certainly explains my hesitance to be excited the closer I get to the actual day.

True story, I cried on my 18th birthday. I didn't want to grow up. The idea of being an official adult scared me and made me sad. I've got a bit of Peter Pan syndrome or something. I had sulked for a week or more leading up to it, and then had an awful day. My younger, then 13 year old sister and I got in to our first- and only- physical altercation. We were arguing about something, and I tried to drag her away from my room, she grabbed my boob, so I slapped her in the face. We both sort of stopped, stunned, and stared at each other, before she burst in to tears, and I fled the scene and did the same. I cried several times that day, not just because I had slapped my sister. It's actually funny to imagine now, and at Christmas this year we told the story again and both laughed, but at the time, it was just another reason to not be happy on my birthday.

Maybe my birthday unhappiness stems from the fact that it's smack in the middle between Christmas and New Years, 3 days after, and 3 days before respectively. It's very hard to celebrate my birthday and not have Christmas or New Year's be anywhere in the picture. Growing up I received lots of Christmas/birthday presents from family, and my friends were always busy or out of town, so I never had a party on my actual day.

Thankfully, I have an amazing husband who wants to make sure my day is special every year. He arranged a surprise party for my 25th birthday, and it was the first year I actually enjoyed my day.

This year, I met up with Nicole for a run at my favorite trail. It starts at this cute little lake, and winds along the creek to an old wooden bridge where we turn around. I have run this trail in all sorts of weather, seasons, times of the day, and in different mileage, and it's always gorgeous and wonderful. We did a little over 3 miles at an easy pace, then headed back to my place to bake my birthday brownies. We were still in our running gear when we made them, so I think some of the calories were cancelled out on principle.

There was once a time in my life that I didn't like cake. Scratch that, I've always liked cake, I just liked other goodies more. So I've gotten into the habit of having a non-tradition birthday cake. My favorite is the giant chocolate chip cookie cake, but this year, I had seen a recipe for peanut butter brownies that looked AH-MAZING and had to make them. The recipe is from Bake or Break and can be found here.

Oh, my good Lord, these are good. Like sinfully good. Like so good you would stab a person to get more. Ridiculous I tell you. I have vowed never to make them again because they are so incredibly good I was liable to do deprived things to eat them. Had I thrown them away, I would have eaten them out of the trash. That didn't actually happen, but it could have. If you like chocolate and peanut butter, this recipe is for you. Just don't say I didn't warn you of how wonderful it is and what it could lead you to do to get more. It's like the baking equivalent of crack. Now do you have Whitney Houston in your head saying "crack is whack!!"? I do ;)

I shouldn't have uploaded these pictures. I am having major sugar cravings right now because of them.

After baking brownies with Nicole, she headed home, and I headed to the mall in hopes of finding something to catch my eye. Nope, didn't happen. I had full permission from Billy to get anything I wanted, and I couldn't find a single thing that was worth buying right then. I came home with low blood sugar, {I'd had a brownie before going and obviously had a sugar crash while out} and a disappointed closet.

That evening Billy and I met up with Matt and Nicole at La Pastaria in Los Gatos for house made pastas and good company. It was such a nice and relaxing dinner, followed by more pb brownies, with fun conversation with some of my favorite people.

I think it was a really good birthday, and I am looking forward to what 27 has to offer!

Resolution Run 2012

2012-01-02T21:32:00.000-08:00

Hello 2012!! I am welcoming you with open arms. I will put forth loads of positivity in hopes that it comes back to me during the year.

I hope that all of you had a wonderful NYE and are enjoying the start of 2012!

I started 2012 off with a bang--from a starting gun! I ran the 5 mile Los Gatos Resolution Run on Sunday at the bright and early crack of 9am. Not so early most of the time, but after a 1am bed time, I was cursing the alarm clock. Thankfully I came around quickly and ended up really enjoying my too-early-for-New-Year's-Day wake up call.

Billy and I met up with Matt and Nicole at Los Gatos high school and hung around eating shot blocks and chatting before heading to the starting line. Nicole and I filled out our resolution run bibs for Amanda at Run to the Finish's virtual run. I think I even eeked out another point from that by encouraging a friend to run too. It wasn't hard to convince Nicole, I posted it to her Facebook profile, she said she was in, and then I registered us both. Kinda hard to say no to a free race with your running buddy was my mentality!

Matt and Nicole are freaking adorable. I love that they are together, and I can't wait to see what 2012 brings them as a new couple! One of Nicole's resolutions was "This Guy!" with an arrow to Matt. So sweet!

The race started with a lap around the track, then headed out on the creek trail toward St. Joseph's hill and Lexington Reservoir. If any of you are my fb friends or follow me on Run Keeper, you know St. Joe's is a frequent path for my runs, and it kills me every time with the 3 consecutive hill climbs. Thankfully, this race had us climb only 2 hills then turn around before the 3rd, which we call heart attack hill for a reason.

We got hot while running, so we took off our long sleeves, Billy didn't get any finishing photos, except one blurry pic, which I won't post. We got a few pics together, then headed off to a wonderful breakfast at the Los Gatos Cafe. We ended up finishing the 5 miles in 47:49, not bad at all for a casual run keeping an easy pace while chatting the whole time.

I think I have started a new tradition. This New Year's run was great. There was a small turnout, which was perfect for the little trail we ran on, and it was well staffed. We couldn't hear a thing the announcer was saying, but as we ran it completely for fun, it didn't bother us at all. Also, the entrance fee was only $15 {$30 with a shirt} and I am all about cheap races. The course was familiar, beautiful, and challenging, the weather was crisp and beautiful. Everything about this race was awesome and I will definitely do it again next year.

HBBC week 6 update

2012-01-02T15:59:00.000-08:00

Almost there! "I can feel it in my nuggets". {Name that silly kids movie} Speaking of nuggets, they sound pretty awesome right about now, yeah?

HBBC

week 1: 3pts

Week 2: 4pts

Week 3: 27pts

Week 4: 9pts

Week 5: 17pts

Week 6: Dec.24-30

Sun: f&v 1pt

Mon: 5 mile run, 5pts

Tue: f&v 1pt

Wed: 3 mile birthday run, 3pts

Thurs: f&v 1pt

Fri: 4 mile run, 80 mins aerial yoga, 8pts

total: 19pts

Week 7: Dec.31-Jan.6 in progress

Sun: 5 mile resolution run, double points!! 10pts

Mon: f&v 1pt

Current total points: 93

So close to 100!

Christmas Goodies!

2011-12-30T08:54:00.000-08:00

The holidays always bring so many goodies and baked delights! I love holiday baking {and eating!} so of course I have my favorite recipes to make each year. This may be a little late, as I made all the goodies before Christmas, but I wanted to share them anyway.

I always, without fail, make the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe. I just pull a Chelsea and add a package of vanilla instant pudding mix to the sugar and butter {recipe found here!} These cookies aren't reserved for the holidays, I usually make them about 10 times a year, but they are my absolute favorite.

I usually pick another cookie recipe or two to make, but it changes year to year. Sometimes I make snickerdoodles, oatmeal cookies, or other times I make peanut butter gems. I just sort of wing it and make whatever I am feeling.

I also love making candies! I usually make some fudge recipe that changes each year, and every time I curse myself for forgetting how hard it is to get fudge just right and swear I won't repeat the mistake the following year. This year, I am swearing off fudge making, and just enjoying the eating of it instead! Some recipes I have used for fudge can be found here, and here. Just know going in to it that fudge is tricky and doesn't always set right, even when you follow the recipe to a T!

Want to know my favorite holiday candy to make? Rocky road! It's so easy and always turns out great. And boy does it taste wonderful! Last year I made rocky road with almonds, but was annoyed by the almond skins in each bite of rocky road. This year I opted to use peanuts instead. I used this Joy of Baking recipe, but got bored trying to temper the chocolate and mixed in the marshmallows and peanuts early. Didn't mess the recipe up at all, but it probably won't be all shiny and brittle the way the recipe wanted. I'm still a fan, and it was so freaking good.

2011 in review

2011-12-29T16:12:00.000-08:00

Wooo hooo 2011 is coming to an end and a whole new year is before us! This is my obligatory review of the last year in blog land! Pop some corn, grab a cup of something tasty, and sit back for a trip down memory lane :) All links refer to the blog post I'm talking about, click on them if you want a refresher.

Last year, I decided to separate my work blog from all the life stuff I wanted to post, and voila, Happy Girl was born! The Happy Girl title came from an Audrey Hepburn quote. I love it so much, I just had to use it.

Then I started blogging about how there is a first for everything, including a Bob Harper workout DVD and first time running the death hill that is St. Joseph's open space reserve. I've run it many, many times since, but that first time I was seriously unprepared!

I figured I needed to write a little about me post to introduce myself to the new readers who weren't familiar with my Hair by Adrian blog.

I finally figured I y first recipe post, the almost-parmigiana!

I planned my wedding for the second time, with a limitless budget. I loved my wedding, but when you're young and broke, there are a lot of things that have to be sacrificed. This was my way to vicariously living through pretty photos and my imagination. Still one of my favorite posts to date.

My first spin set list. I was way in to spin classes at the time, and every upbeat song I heard was destined for a spin list. It could also be used as a workout set list, but spinning was on my brain.

My 101 in 1001 list. Boy that was a shocker to go back and see what I still haven't completed!

First time trespassing and having to ride through the mud on a mountain bike ride with Nicole

I finally got my first big girl road bike! The triathlon training got so much better when I shed some major bike pounds and picked up speed.

That time I made Nicole model for me so I could style her hair, do her makeup, and make her pose for a photo shoot.

Or how about the shameless ways I have pimped out my guy friends, Bike Matt and Fireman Matt? Nothing came of those posts, but I did recently set up Fireman Matt with Nicole of the previous modeling link ;) I'm still working on Bike Matt.

There was that time that I had my first blogger meet up with Megan of Watch MeGo Run. It was amazing being able to connect in person with one of my favorite blog friends. The blogging community is seriously awesome. I'm looking forward to meeting more of you in 2012.

I was actually able to accomplish my 2011 New Year's resolution to complete a triathlon, which was awesome!

There was that one awesome day I spent on set doing hair, makeup, and styling for AB & The Sea's In the Sunshine music video. Later in the year, I worked on another music video doing hair and makeup for youtube sensation Kina Grannis.

I even got to visit my favorite place ever, Las Vegas! We went for Tiffany's national fitness competition, and stayed for fun. I also had my second blogger meet up, with Jen of Jagged Little Life.

I celebrated my 4th wedding anniversary with my love!

I stepped in front of the camera for once, instead of being behind it. My first attempt at modeling was a surprise success and I was very happy about it, the second, meh, not so much.

I had my second and third egg donation cycles.

I posted the best chocolate cake recipe ever, and dubbed it "Time of the Month Cake"

I crashed my road bike and broke my finger, also got a ton of ouchie road rash.

I told of my love of Halloween and playing dress up in this post with pictures from Halloween's past.

I won "The Knot Best of Weddings 2012" for wedding hair and makeup in the San Francisco Bay Area, a huge honor and I can't wait to see what it brings for next year.

I hosted a friend for a week and took him all around the Bay Area.

I had fun at a few holiday parties, and hooked up Matt and Nicole on a blind date, which turned out fabulously! They are an official couple now :)
For my birthday, Billy wrote a surprise birthday haxx post. I did ask him to, just wasn't sure what he was going to write. I liked it!

And there you have it, a very Happy Girl 2011 review :)

Birthday Haxx!

2011-12-28T07:03:00.000-08:00

Hello Wifeys "lovelies!"

Today is my wonderful wife's birthday, and thanks to one of your lovely hubbies, she thought it would be fun if I did guest blog on her birthday. That sounds bitter, but its not, really...So here I go! I don't even know where or how to start this, I mean...I read tons of blogs...have tons to say, but nowhere to go. It doesn't help I'm a little bitter at myself because when she originally brought up the idea of "guest blogging" for her I started making up little topics and posts in my head, and told myself I should write them down so I can knock something clever right out but naaaaah. Now I'm sitting here rambling in Adrian's "office" while she sleeps. Its amazing that the cat walked in, looked at me funny, then posted up just as he normally does when she is here...quite warm actually, I could get used to this.

Honestly I would just like to thank you all. I'd of never thought being part of a blogging community could have such a positive impact on somebody, but you all have truly made her a happier person, which is quite a feat for a generally positive and upbeat person. PLUS...now she will literally wave me away while she peruses her blogs to go play video games! And that is AWESOOOME! There have also been quite a few tasty treats baked up in our kitchen thanks to some amazing recipes from you guys (OMG...boyfriend cookies). Most importantly though, you guys have helped to encourage a more active lifestyle for her. Running has made her a much happier person, and I think with her knowing she can run a whatever k, she can handle just about any curve ball life throws at her. She really does inspire me. In fact, I'm hoping to actually run a 5k with her this year. I used to be athletic...I was a black belt once that could run a 7ish minute mile while chatting it up with friends until I destroyed my knee, got...old...insert excuse here. Time to sack up and get my sexy on!

And with that, I must bid you farewell, for now, mainly because this sleepy cocktail of Adrian-knows-what is really kicking my butt, and I made the mistake of rubbing my eyes and my contacts are all blurry now...wah.

Seriously though...thanks guys.

HBBC week 5 update

2011-12-26T19:19:00.000-08:00

I'm very much looking forward to the end of the Holiday Booty Buster Challenge. Sorry, I'm just kind of over feeling like I need to rack up points on a daily basis or face the humiliation of writing a big fat goose egg on the spreadsheet. I guess I like to motivate myself, and hate failing in any way, even if it's only not living up to the expectations I set for myself. Blame the type A personality I've got going for me. I even demoted my status from doer to builder a few weeks back. Not making me feel any better about the low numbers I continue to bring in.

And enough of my pity party.

HBBC week 5 update

Week 1: 3pts

Week 2: 4pts

Week 3: 27pts

Week 4: 9pts

Week 5: Dec. 17-23

Sat & Sun: 0

Mon: 40 mins yoga, f&v, 3pts

Tue: 3 mile run, 3pts

Wed: 80 mins yoga, f&v, 5pt

Thur: 5 mile run, 5pts

Fri: f&v 1pt

total: 17pts

Week 6: in progress

Sun: f&v 1pt

Mon: 5 mile run, 5pts

Post-Christmas blues

2011-12-26T10:57:00.000-08:00

Well hello, lovelies!

Happy post-Christmas to you all! Now, I don't how you feel the day after Christmas, but I usually get a little...blue. It's like all of the hoopla leading up to Christmas day, all of the shopping, the lines, the mall traffic, the folks who take the Christmas spirit and shove it up everyone else's you-know-whats with their bad attitudes, all of that ends as soon as you go to sleep on Christmas night. It's sort of like wedding planning in that way. Your 6 months, a year, or longer of planning and anticipating all winds up on your big day, and then...nothing.

I am not going to dwell on the feelings that come the day after Christmas though, we are going to celebrate the start of a new week, almost a new year, and enjoy it!

First of all, head on over to Life of Meg's and see if she is hosting her awesome blog hop, Mingle Monday. I have the lovely Meg to thank for many of the awesome friendships I have made through blogging, so make sure you get on over there and mingle with other amazing bloggers!

I've gotten off to a good start so far with a 5 mile run, now I just need to do the mountain of laundry that has piled up, clean up the house that looks like it was bombed by wrapping paper and presents, and then I will think of venturing out to return a few things.

Hope you are making the most of your Monday, and aren't letting the post-Christmas blues get you down!

Holiday parties

2011-12-23T16:51:00.000-08:00

{allow me to get my inner "woo girl" going}

Wooooooooooooooo!!!

It's almost Christmas, it's Friday, and I have another week of vacation ahead of me {minus a short day at the salon on Saturday}.

I certainly hope you have been enjoying your week before Christmas. I very much enjoyed a few days off, working out in the mornings, running errands and relaxing during the day, and even having a few days of Harry Potter movie marathons to keep me going while gift wrapping.

Since it's the season for holiday parties, I thought I would share a couple photos from the two I have been to lately! The first is a photobooth picture from Billy's company holiday party. I had so much fun with my pal Nicole, whom we set up on a blind date with Billy's co-worker fireman Matt {remember him?}.

The next photos are from Billy and Matt's department dinner. Nicole was once again in tow as Matt's date. It's safe to say they hit it off and are practically inseparable now! I'm a happy little match maker, when my pairings go off without a hitch.

I love this man!

One drink. One very strong drink, and I can't even hold my own head up, so Nicole had to help. Matt photo bombed us.

That's my drinking face. Nicole is giving off gangsta vibes and Matt's laughing at us both.

I must think I am quite the artist once I have a drink in me. We were given crayons to draw on the paper table cloths, and this is the caricature of Matt and Nicole I came up with! And then I drew myself in stick form!

That's one incredibly strong drink, let me tell you. It was a blood orange martini, but there was nothing orange about it. All liquor! I was dying, and that is all I had to drink. Yes, I am a lightweight, cheap date, etc.

Hope all of your holiday parties have been merry and bright!

Merry Christmas!!

HBBC week 4 update

2011-12-20T15:47:00.000-08:00

Oh, HBBC, why do you have to fall during the BUSIEST time of the year for me?

Maybe it just wasn't meant for me to win, or even increase my exercise and better my eating. I feel like a failure, and when I get to that point, I usually just say "screw it" and just give in to the bad eating and couch sitting. Last week I could hardly break away from my guest to go for a run, so I gave in to yummy food instead. I'm surprised I got even 9 points out of it! Here's hoping this week and next are better.

Week 1: 3pts

Week 2: 4pts

Week 3: 27pts

Week 4 Dec. 10-16

Sat and Sunday, nada

Mon: f&v 1pt

Tues: 5 mile run 5pts

Wed: f&v 1pt

Thur: f&v 1pt

Fri: 1 mile walk in SF 1pt

total 9pts

Week 5: Dec. 17-23

Sat and Sun, hah! 0

Mon: 40 mins yoga, f&v 3pts

Tues: 5k run 3pts

Really long explanation of my absence

2011-12-20T07:49:00.000-08:00

It's Tuesday? Already? I'm not quite ready to be back in full blogging mode, but I did want to give you an extensive update as to why I have been away for the last week! I had a friend come to town on Monday evening, and stay through to Saturday. All of that tourist-ing {totes just made that up}, entertaining, and socializing has taken it's toll on me. I was still working while he was here, and I took on an extra babysitting gig that, get this, happened to start at 5am. So for 3 days in a row I was up at 4am, and home by 8:30am, then went about my day, worked the afternoons, entertained at night, and fell exhausted into my bed, only to rinse and repeat the following day. Thus the complete lack of blogging on my part.

Can we hug and make up, and not have you clicking the unsubscribe button please? Thanks!

Josh is a Portland, OR native who is currently living in Spokane, WA. He had some time on his hands and was bored, so I suggested he take a road trip down to California and visit me. Um, turns out he is open to suggestion, because wouldn't you know it, he did it. Drove 15 hours just to visit the sprawling suburbia of San Jose and the Bay Area. I had to keep him occupied and make him think that my city and the surrounding area is the BEST place ever!

Tuesday I was the best hostess {that's sarcasm} ever and drug him off his aerobed at 6:30am to go for a run with my meet up group at 7am. It was chilly, but apparently Josh thinks our California weather is toasty warm, compared to the 4 degrees F he was experiencing in Spokane prior to his visit. He wore shorts and a long sleeved shirt. I threw him side eyes in my capris, and 2 layers of shirts.

After a stop and go 5 mile run, we cleaned up and headed to Santa Cruz to check out the Mystery Spot. It's this cool local "gravitational anomaly" that has all sorts of weird characteristics, like water and balls rolling uphill, or dramatic height changes just by changing places with a similarly tall counterpart. Need picture proof?

We walked up the walls inside a cabin at the center of the Mystery Spot's 300 foot diameter.

That plank we're standing on? Completely level. Doesn't look it though, right?

Picture 1, they are in height order, left to right short to tall. Picture 2, they swapped so it's tall to short, left to right, but hey! they look to be the same height in picture 2!

We worked up an appetite at the Mystery Spot, so we went to my favorite Santa Cruz Restaurant, Burger. Seriously, I adore this little place for the awesome atmosphere and the amazing and extensive menu! I have gotten a different burger each time I've been, and never been disappointed. This time around I had The Bubba, a turkey burger with house made teriyake sauce, grilled pineapple, and healthy fixings. Josh got a burger with Bluto Brutus, that had 3 patties and a fried egg. He was completely and thoroughly stuffed. We also got fries and the best milkshakes made from Marianne's Ice Cream, a local creamery in SC. I had mint chip and he had peanut butter.

Wednesday I had to work at 5am, so I came home and took a nap before heading to downtown Los Gatos, a cute town bordering San Jose that I visit frequently. We had Pizza My Heart for lunch, walked around the strip, had coffee and tea at the Great Bear cafe, and got cupcakes at Icing on the Cake. De-licious!

Thursday I worked at 5am again, so I took a nap, then dragged Josh to DSW for some try on window shopping. I tried to get him to buy a pair of Cole Haan with Nike Air soles, but no dice. We then went to Santana Row, this swanky open air mall with really high end stores and awesome restaurants. We walked the row, checking out the fancy digs, and I even picked up a Christmas gift for my boss at Anthropologie. We then had lunch at Yard House, and were way stuffed when we left. When I got home from work, I picked up the boys and we went downtown for a San Jose Sharks vs. Colorado Avalanche hockey game. I couldn't believe our luck, the game was AWESOME, and they even won with a very tight 3rd period!

Friday I worked my final 5am shift, and then was excited for a day off nannying! After a nap, Josh and I visited my friend Melissa who works at Google. She treated us to lunch {it's free for employees and guests, and is quite the extensive spread!} and then took us to the Google store where I did a little shopping. We then toured the campuses, since there are many, and took pictures with the Android statues! They had brought in a snow maker to create a winter wonderland for the statues, but it was slushy and mostly melted in our 60 degree temps.

After having too much fun at Google headquarters, we continued up to San Francisco. We started at the Metreon, which is undergoing a lot of construction and didn't have all the fun stuff I was hoping to see available. Since we were close, we walked to Union Square and checked out the ice rink, the giant Christmas tree, and best of all, the kitties and puppies for adoption in the Macy's window displays courtesy of the SPCA.

From Union Square I drove us to Chrissy Field to try to catch the Golden Gate Bridge in sunset glory, and I was lucky! Thankfully, SF was absolutely gorgeous when we visited, all blue skies, and about 60 degrees. Usual for the fall but unheard of for December. I'm a sucker for a good sunset, and seeing the bridge back lit against a sherbet colored sky was breathtaking.

A little blurry, but what can you expect from a moving car?

Presidio buildings along Chrissy Field with the SF skyline in the background. That streak is on my windshield!

A better shot of the skyline

A great clear shot of Alcatraz island just beyond the Presidio buildings.

Hello, gorgeous sky!

Friday evening I made my yummy chicken Parmesan for dinner with peanut butter M&Ms cookies for dessert, then we went to Los Gatos to meet up with some friends. We didn't stay long, but Josh did get an idea of the bar scene in the area. Totally not my scene by the way. I thought we were crazy for leaving the house at 10pm on a Friday night. I was ready to call it a night and go to bed! Josh ended up leaving a little after midnight, because driving through California in the dark isn't very dangerous, but Oregon and Washington can be, so it's better to do those states while it's light out.

It was a great week of exploring my city and the surrounding areas, and seeing it all through the eyes of a newbie. I am proud to say he left with a list of 30 places he wants to apply in order to move to the area to experience this life for himself! He loved it!

Road ID coupon

2011-12-12T13:52:00.000-08:00

Hey friends! Just have a quick post with a cool coupon code for you!

For Christmas I asked for a Road ID bracelet to wear when I am running, biking, or swimming outside. I typically train by myself, and even when I am with other people they don't have all my contact info or medical history off the top of their heads. I needed something easy for emergency personnel or good Samaritans to use to notify my loved ones of any accident I could find myself in. Having recently crashed my bike while out on a ride by myself, I realized just how necessary this info is to have on me at all times.

I placed an order last week, and Road ID gave me a cool coupon code to be used up to 20 times in the next month by all of you! When you place your own order for your Road ID, use coupon code ThanksGuillermo9722373 at checkout for $1 off your order! I got the Road ID slim in black with 3 phone numbers and info that I have no known allergies on it.

You can get a thicker band, a shoe ID, or a necklace instead of the wrist or ankle band, so there are options for everyone! Even your pet can have a Road ID! There's even an option to pay a little extra for a year subscription to the Road ID interactive band that allows you to store more emergency info online that can be accessed by EMS or hospital staff with the unique serial number on your Road ID bracelet. Pretty nifty.

Psst: This makes a GREAT Christmas gift for an active loved one, and it's not super expensive! Get on it!

HBBC week 3 update

2011-12-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have been slacking on the blog posting this week. It's been a little chaotic, which is weird since I had two days off...Never sure why exactly my days off seem to be my most full and least time devoted to blogging, but that's the way it is, I guess.

Finally, I am able to work out the way I am used to!! HBBC was a tragedy for the first two weeks that I was ~~forced to do nothing~~ recovering from surgery, so I am happy to be back in the game and racking up points.

HBBC update

Week 1: 3 pts

week 2: 4 pts

Week 3: Dec.3-Dec.9

Mon 3 mile run 3 pts, fruits/veg 1 pt= 4 pts

Tues 5 mile run 5 pts, fruits/veg 1 pt= 6 pts

Wed 90 mins yoga 4.5 pts, fruits/veg 1 pt= 5.5 pts

Thurs 5 mile run 5 pts, fruits/veg 1 pt= 6 pts

Fri 90 mins yoga 4.5pts, fruits/veg 1 pt= 5.5 pts {all planned, of course!}

week 3 total: 27 pts

Total pts 34

I recently joined meetup.com, an online community that connects people with like minded interests in your area. First I joined a Girlfriends Club that a friend co-organized, and then I found the Bay Area Runners group and joined that too. Since then, I have been receiving e-mails and notifications about all of the cool running meet ups in my area, but I was so sad I couldn't run. That all changed this week, when I joined a meet up on Tuesday and Thursday for a God awfully early 7am run. I met some awesome people who I plan on running with frequently, even though it is super early, cold, and my warm bed seriously tries to eat me when my alarm goes off. Running with my new friends really helped push me to get some miles in and keep a solid pace. I felt great on all 3 of my runs this week, which is saying something after a few weeks off.

Whirlwind weekend adventures

2011-12-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

Whew, what a weekend! Hundreds of miles were driven, lots of bodybuilders were seen, and my girl brought home a trophy for her 5th place win!

I am thrilled to be home, posted up on the couch with my sick Billy, my wonderful laptop back in it's rightful place on my lap. Tonight we're watching movies and cuddling up for lost time apart this weekend, my favorite!

What I learned this weekend

~I still miss my Mr. B whenever I am away from him, even for a short time.

~While sitting on the couch eating pizza, after just having watched me dance and sing {badly} to DJ Kahlid "All I do is Win", Billy says to me: "Eff, I'm glad you're home. I missed you!"

~I need to get back to the gym for some serious strength training.

~I miss running so badly, I am so glad I start again this week!

~I could never be a fitness competitor. They work so stinking hard for those bodies, and have to KEEP working that hard to maintain, no me gusta. I like easy, and that certainly isn't!

~I am now an official Bombshell stylist, or so says the two Team Bombshell girls I worked with this weekend. Both of which placed top 5 in both their classes!

~I love Muscle Egg chocolate egg whites! It's liquid egg whites you can drink, and doesn't taste like eggs, which is good for me, since I HATE eggs but know their value to my diet. I'm ordering a gallon this week.

~Friends with Benefits is a super awesome movie, a new favorite. Limitless was better than expected, but the cinematography made me dizzy.

HBBC update

Week 1: 3 pts

week 2: Nov.26-Dec.2

Sat. 11/26 7 servings fruits and veggies 1 pt

Mon. 11/28 7 servings fruits and veggies 1 pt

Tue. 11/29 7 servings fruits and veggies 1 pt

Thur. 12/1 20 min Jillian Michaels Ripped workout 1 pt

week 2 total 4 pts

Total pts 7

On the road to winning

2011-12-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

By the time this post hits your feed, I will be well on my way to southern California in a car packed with lots of food {only the healthy variety for this road trip}, and one of my favorite people along with her sweet hubby. We will be gone all weekend, as Tiffany is competing in her fourth fitness competition in the last 13 months. I have been by her side for each one, providing stage worthy makeup and sassy hair, a calming and reassuring presence, and of course, one of the most bad ass cheering sections in the whole auditorium as she walks across the stage.

Tiffany works hard to look like this. It's not some "Oh I workout 3 times a week and eat whatever I want most of the time" kind of deals {that's MY fitness outlook hah!}. No, she is up every morning and on her treadmill before she can even think about breakfast, sprinting, lunging, squatting and sprinting some more for a good 45 minutes. Later in the day she has a strength training session, and then another treadmill workout. Every. Day. Her diet is always on point, filled with nutritious veggies, complex carbs and muscle building protein. She got a cheat meal once a week up until this last week, but she always stuck to the diet the rest of the time. I admire her so much!

Yup, I am wearing a "Team Tiffany" shirt that I made in the above pic. That's her cute face too ;)

I envy her resolve, her will power, her drive, and most of all, her strength. She has taught me so much about nutrition, how the different foods you put in your body affect you more than just on the scale, and how effective exercise is so different from just "working out".

Tiffany has been working with new trainers in preparation for this show, and I can't believe the changes I have seen in her. Her diet changed, her exercise routine changed, and she of course changed with it. This chick is always in awesome shape, but seeing the definition many weeks out that I normally only see on her when she's on stage was astounding. I know she will do well, and I have my fingers crossed that she will place high.

Good luck Tiffany! I will be screaming for you until I am hoarse!

HBBC week 1 update

2011-11-30T00:35:00.000-08:00

Dear #HBBC,

Why did you have to start the weekend before I was due in for surgery, and a midst the 3 week no activity restriction period I must endure? It is KILLING me that I can't rack up any exercise points. And I am terrible about getting in my 7 servings of fruits and veggies daily, usually hitting maybe the 5 serving mark or less before resorting to "easier" foods, read: prepackaged, bad for me, or carb and sugar laden.

Not familiar with the Holiday Booty Buster Challenge that Amanda at Run to the Finish hosts? Click the HBBC link above or in my sidebar to the right for more info. The way you gain points is simple:

1 Point per mile (run/walk)
1 Point per 3 miles biked
1 Point per 20 minutes of weight lifting, Pilates, yoga, stretching or abs
1 Point per 15 minutes of low impact cardio (i.e. low impact aerobics, easy biking, skiing, skating, water aerobics, snow shoeing)
1 Point per 10 minutes of high impact cardio (i.e.spinning, kickboxing, lap swimming)
1 Per day where you reach a minimum of 7 servings of fruits and veggies (serving size decoded)

Sorry this update is a little late, I'll try to stay up to date as the weeks finish. I was just bummed by my lack of anything to report!

Week 1: Nov.19-25

Thurs: 3 mile slow walk with Billy on Thanksgiving. 3 points

I wish I had tracked all the walking I did during Black Friday shopping...I might have racked up more points without even knowing it! Without a way to track, I can't claim it though, boo!

weekly total: a very sad 3 points.

Week 2: Nov.26-Dec.2 in progress

It's not looking so hot just yet with only 2 points gained from getting in my 7 servings of fruits and veggies on two separate days. Thank you Togo's salad for Monday night dinner and persistence to eat them all on Saturday. Maybe I'll attempt a low intensity weight workout today and see how the belly feels? No promises.

This Friday I leave for southern California with my bestie Tiffany for a very exciting fitness competition she will be competing in. Does watching extremely fit people on stage in tiny bathing suits count? Can I absorb some of her workouts through osmosis if I stand really close to her? She's been killing it for months to get into the best shape of her life {which is saying something, since she is always fit!} and the 3-a-day workouts should count for me too, yeah?

I'm hoping to get into the game in week 4, Dec.10-16, when I will be free to do activities as I please without fear of my ovaries bursting or my bloated belly giving me a problem.

Phone Leak #1

2011-11-29T09:06:00.000-08:00

Thought I would jump on the phone pictures leak bandwagon and share some of the photos I have snapped recently. If you make it through to the end, there's a belly pic for anyone interested in how bloated I am right now :)

Dressing room photo of the dress I picked to wear to Danielle's wedding. Loved it!

Car self portrait. I had actually styled my hair during the week, so it was worth a photo!

Hello Miss Chelsea inspired yet another yummy snack attack

Fancy food at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay. Foie gras creme brulee

More Ritz Carlton food, this time fried mac and cheese balls

Danielle and Eric's first dance :)

My beautiful necklace from my egg donor recipient

The photo evidence that I can take down nearly a whole pizza on my own when faced with not being able to eat for the next 12 hours the night before my egg retrieval.

The kiddos putting their faces into Obi Wan Kinobe at the movie theater

The heart I French braided unto Bryn's hair one day

My kitty Hemi cuddling with my foot

Marlo's adorable and tired face on our Thanksgiving walk

My epic bloated fake baby belly, before breakfast. It gets bigger as the day goes on :) And yes, I was pushing it out to the max capacity for the photo's sake. It cracks me up!

Holy long weekend!

2011-11-28T09:50:00.000-08:00

Whoa! Thanksgiving has passed us by, leaving our waistbands tighter, and our resolve to not binge through the holidays weaker.

Black Friday has also passed, and some, like myself, indulged in some midnight madness shopping.

Hopefully, you were able to recover from those crazy two days with a weekend of lounging, decorating, and eating leftovers. Not the case for this happy girl. I worked my tush off as usual both days, but that's alright, I do have more presents to buy and working supports that need.

What I learned this {LONG} weekend

~Not turkey trotting on Thanksgiving was sad, but I did drag Billy and Marlo on a very slow 5k+ walk.

~Two Thanksgiving dinners in a row is still too much food in too short a time span.

~Black Friday outlet shopping is CA-RAZY.

~There are some good deals to be found, but you won't catch me making the midnight shopping an annual thing.

~My own Christmas gifts are bought, and I will wrap them as soon as I get a tree. Billy is so stinking lucky.

~Staying up until 6am is for high schoolers. I slept until 2pm that day, and STILL haven't recovered from the shock to my sleep rhythm.

~My post-egg retrieval belly bloat and discomfort took a few days to show up, but is here now, unfortunately.

~My pretend baby belly from the bloat is EPIC, I should post pics, you would be convinced I was 6 months pregnant. It scares Billy.

Oh, and make sure you stop by Meg's for Mingle Monday! She promised a recipe for skinny turkey pot pie on twitter yesterday, so look for that too!

Oh, and I am a true fan girl. Sunday I spotted a link on twitter from the Hunger Games movie, and ended up registering for citizenship to Panem, where I was placed in District 7 to be a lumberjack. True story, check out my identification pass! I am just thankful I am too old to be chosen as a tribute for the Hunger Games! Anyone else obsessed with the books and ~~patiently~~ barely waiting for the movie? Only 115 days to go!

Have a great week!!

Happy Turkey Day!

2011-11-24T09:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all take the day to be thankful for what you have, and celebrate with loved ones. Eat more than is usually acceptable, talk for hours, and enjoy your day.

There will be a lot of eating for Billy and I, as there are 3 dinners to attend! We eat a little at each one, and enjoy catching up. Though I do have dessert every time, but what's new?

Best of The Knot

2011-11-23T08:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, after leaving the surgery center post-oocyte retrieval {that's the fancy wording for it}, I started reading my built up text and e-mail messages on my phone. I opened an e-mail from my contact at The Knot wedding planning site where I advertise both online and in the regional magazine. Imagine my surprise when the e-mail tells me my wedding business has won The Knot Best of Weddings 2012 for my area! I was voted #1 in my market, so a giant thank you goes out to all of my brides and whomever voted me to this spot! The Knot will officially announce their Best Of picks for 2012 on January 23, 2012, so if you are planning a wedding, check it out! Oh, and I get a plaque! How awesome is that?!

You all probably know I do hair and makeup for a living, but maybe you didn't know I specialize in weddings. I have worked very hard over the last two years to build my wedding business, and it has totally paid off. 2011 has been my busiest wedding season to date, with 28 weddings booked between April and December. Each wedding required a huge amount of e-mails back and forth with the bride, and a trial, so know that another 28 appointments have been on my books to accommodate my brides before they even get married. Each wedding averages about 3 people needing hair and makeup {or one of the services}, and after most weddings I had salon clients to take care of too. It's been a busy 7 months.

Here's to another amazing year of weddings in 2012! If you are getting married and are looking for a hair and makeup artist, let me know! I travel ;)

Any Questions?

2011-11-22T08:18:00.000-08:00

Hi gals! This morning I go in for my egg retrieval, the procedure is set for 10:50am, send your positive energy this way if you think of it ;)

My post yesterday generated a few questions about an egg donation cycle, and I decided to open up this post as a forum for any questions you may have. Just comment away and I'll create another post this week with the answers.

The main question I had about yesterday's post was if a recipient is able to request me for a second cycle if they would like to have more children with the same DNA. This is how I answered it, hope it helps!

When I go through an egg donation cycle, they are able to fertilize many eggs. The 2nd cycle I did resulted in 19 fertilized embryos {seriously, I make LITTERS of eggs, dozens}. All of the embryos then belong to the recipient.

Some embryos are implanted right away into the recipient, and the rest are frozen. If the first try doesn't work, she has other eggs to use for subsequent implants, until she exhausts the supply I was able to give her.

If it works the first time, she has all of the eggs to do with as she pleases. In that case she's able to use the other eggs for future children, or donate them to science etc.

If she uses up all the fertilized eggs in her attempt to get pregnant with her first child, she can definitely request me for a second donation so she has children with the same DNA.

Some info about donating:

~I can donate eggs up to 6 times in my lifetime. This is my 3rd cycle, so I have 3 more available.

~I have to wait at least two menstrual cycles between each egg donation cycle.

~The fertility medicines I inject into my belly nightly for 2+ weeks are naturally occurring hormones the body makes, but we are manipulating them to get my ovaries to produce more follicles that will turn into multiple eggs for retrieval.

~The hormone injections don't really hurt much. I use tiny insulin needles.

~I go in for ultrasounds and blood tests every few days when I am on an active cycle, as well as at the beginning of each cycle with my routine physical.

~I am monitored quite closely by Doctors, nurse practitioners and coordinators.

~I love doing this.

Now, please feel free to ask any questions you would like, I will be happy to answer anything!

Reaffirming beliefs

2011-11-21T13:08:00.000-08:00

I received the most beautiful note, and a lovely silver necklace, from my egg donor recipient this weekend. Even if I wasn't full of hormones, I still would have bawled my eyes out. This note reaffirmed my belief that I am doing something wonderful for people who wholly deserve and appreciate it. This is the first time a recipient has had any sort of contact with me. I am used to doing this just knowing I am helping someone out. I don't need them to tell me they appreciate it, but wow, it made such an impression!

To our wonderful donor,

We think of you every day. Your words spoke to us in a way none of the others could. Your presence as a donor revived us with new hope and because of you this has become a positive experience.

We have the deepest appreciation for all you have done to help us become parents to a wonderful baby that will always be loved and adored. We are so thankful for you and your kindness.

We picked this necklace for you because of the circle. Think of the circle as our arms hugging you for all you have done for us. You are a beautiful person, inside and out, who will forever hold a place in our hearts. Thank you.

PS- If you are ever feeling blue, just think of the beautiful person your gift allowed to be; whether at the time they are a happy baby, a giggling child with a Kool-Aid smile, a growing teen exploring themselves and their world, or an adult who has become proud, honest, and loving. During all of those times we will ensure they have the support to be fully alive to the excitement, the fascination and the warmth this world can bring.

Still tearing up.

My egg retrieval is tomorrow morning. I know it will go well, and I'll be sleepy all day afterward. This time though, I have even more optimism for my recipient, and more hope that this will help her start the family she so deserves.

Follow Friday, #5 Life & Times of Alison

2011-11-18T07:30:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to the Happy Girl Follow Friday series!

Today we are heading up north to Canada to visit Alison of Life and Times of Alison and Justin!

Alison mans this blog, even if Justin, her hubby, set it up for her, so that's why his name was left off the blog title. Maybe if he posted more.... ;)

Alison is a super sweetheart. She never fails to leave me the nicest comments on my blog posts, and we always have long running e-mail chats stemming from those. This girl seriously makes me wish I could forsake my beautiful California for the great white north just so I could be closer to her. That's the kind of person Alison is! She is also super fit, posting her latest workouts, and her goals. I love girls who do that!

Alison has the cutest little family ever. It's her and Justin of course, but also their little lab lady Cruz! Gorgeous, right?! All of the adorable pictures of Cruz make me want my own lab so bad!

Alison is super crafty! {I see a theme with my FF girls, they all happen to be crafty!} She has a craft store with her buddy Whitney and they make all sorts of sweet baby onesies, headbands, and more. Recently she made these awesome T-shirt scarves that I would totally try to recreate if I had the least bit of creative inclination.

Alison and Justin just bought a new home, and will be moving in very shortly. Of course Alison is stockpiling amazing home decor ideas, and shares them with us in posts like this that I loved! I need a few walls off photos in my life, pronto.

Like me, Alison loves to post motivating and inspiring photos and sayings! I adore her for that, because I'm always like "whoa, that's PERFECT for today!"

Alison also posts awesome recipes! {Another theme in my FF series, perhaps?} One of her tasty recent recipes was for chocolate banana ice cream. Let's just say I've been surreptitiously stashing bananas in my freezer for the last few weeks in order to make a whole mess of this for later.

Alison loves her family something fierce! Her parents play a huge role in the blog, and I wish I had parents as fit and active as hers! Oh, her brother plays hockey. Currently he's in Germany, but we get lots of family updates from Alison to keep us all abreast of the current situations going on. That bottom pic is her folks kayaking together at the lake, I'm totally jealous.

Okay, what are you waiting for? Go visit Alison's blog and leave her a nice comment too!

Motivation for your Thursday

2011-11-17T07:57:00.000-08:00

"To Give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."

-- Steve Prefontaine

wetsuit sale

2011-11-16T23:51:00.000-08:00

Word to the wise: Xterra Wetsuits is having a sale right now until November 21.

Their sleeveless Volt suit is just $99 {regularly $200}. Yes, a freaking awesome wetsuit for under $100.

Want a full sleeve suit? The Vortex fullsuit is regularly $400, but with promo code FALL11, it is just $159! Ridiculous, I tell you. You can't find wetsuits of this quality for this cheap.

For all of you considering triathlons for 2012, or for those who are active swimmers and would like a suit to swim outside, this sale can't be missed.

I completed my first triathlon this year. I borrowed a friend's sleeveless wetsuit, and did 3 practice open water swims before the actual race, so 4 times using the suit. To rent a wetsuit, it costs $49. If you plan on doing more than one triathlon, and would like to do open water swims before your race {I most highly recommend you do!} buying a suit at this price is definitely the way to go.

I just purchased my very own Volt sleeveless suit, and I can't wait to try it out in 2012! Billy has it easy for my Christmas shopping this year. First I bought myself an awesome new hooded pea coat, and now I have a wetsuit on the way! I'm getting spoiled this year :)

Oh yeah, is it Friday yet?

Second foray in front of the camera

2011-11-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

I mentioned recently that I had tried my hand at modeling, again, and it was hard work. Don't let those pretty, skinny, photogenic models fool you! Though they look relaxed and like it's no big deal, they are actually putting a lot of effort into looking that cool, trust me.

Now, I am not disappointed with this second crop of photos, they are just...different from my first. I was the subject for a photographer meet up, which is to say 4 photographers had 5-10 minutes to shoot me, on three different sets. Some were better, or more experienced, photographers than the others, and some just thought they were. I must say, Reija, the photog I worked with on my boudoir shoot and who hosted this meet up, does a wonderful job of editing her photos to make them more appealing. The two photogs who have sent me photos either did very little editing or just aren't very good at it. Come on, help a sister out when she's looking tired!

Now, I am posting a whole mess of these photos because 1} I am wearing clothes in them, so they are family friendly, and 2} I am not your typical model anything at 5'3 and an athletic 130lbs. This just goes to show what proper hair, makeup, lighting and editing can get ya!

Here are some of the {better looking} results from the shoot!

First set are from Hank

This second set is from TraMi Photo

The photographer edited my arms and waist in this one above, I am not that skinny! There were some photos where she cut off chunks of me and it did not look good! Photoshop chop jobs can happen to the best of us!

Now these are just the photos that made the cut. There are tons more that were not to my liking, which is typical of photoshoots. You can take hundreds of photos looking for that one good shot. Even some of these shots had bad hair in them, which frustrated me, especially that funky bang action haha

You Spin me right round

2011-11-15T07:29:00.000-08:00

I really liked creating a spin set list awhile ago, so I made another one :) I went for a more rocking set list this time, no dance mix here!

Let it Happen--Jimmy Eat World {3:26}

Sing--My Chemical Romance {4:56}

Internet Killed the Video Star--The Limousines {5:42}
ps- this is one of my favorite bands, and they are from my town! I also work with the lead singer's wife, pretty nifty, eh?

Zero--Yeah Yeah Yeahs {4:48}

Dominos--The Big Pink {3:20}

My Body--Young the Giant {4:11}

Stay Too Long--Plan B {4:02}

Young Blood--The Naked and Famous {3:58}

Like it's her Birthday--Good Charlotte {3:39}

Young--Hollywood Undead {3:35}

Savior--Rise Against {4:04}

Hands Down--Dashboard Confessional {3:10}

Rolling in the Deep--Adele {3:54}

Do you spin? What do you think of this set list?

UGH, Monday!

2011-11-14T07:03:00.000-08:00

Yikes! How did the end of last week and the whole weekend fly by so quickly? One minute it was Wednesday, now it's a whole new week?!

Well, let's embrace what is here and now.

As usual, please stop by Meg's for Mingle Monday! Also while you're there, check out the Chicago train trip recap Meg just posted, it looked like she had fun!

Since Friday was 11/11/11, I of course had a wedding to work. It seems special number days are all the rage. See 7/7/07, 8/8/08, 9/9/09, 10/10/10, 9/10/11 and now 11/11/11. BIG days for weddings. I felt so bad for the lovely bride as it rained all day. After working the wedding, I headed off to my nanny job, an hour away. After work #2, I commuted 45 minutes home, picked up Billy, and drove an hour to San Francisco for a friend's birthday dinner at Palomino. It was a lovely restaurant with delicious food, and we even made new friends! Unfortunately, it was a rainy mess that evening, and driving sucked on the way home after midnight. All in all, it was a looong day, with lots and lots of driving for me. Seeing this, I hope you can forgive my absent Follow Friday post!

The weekend was full also! Another wedding and salon clients kept me busy on Saturday, and a whole day's worth of clients keep me on my toes on Sunday. Both evenings I ended up on the couch, eating paninis and watching movies or catching up on TV.

I happened to watch Soul Surfer on Saturday.

Have you seen it? I was particularly emotional, from all the hormones I'm injecting into my belly for this egg donation cycle, so I bawled my eyes out through the whole movie. It was very good though! Also caught up on Sons of Anarchy, {whoa boy is that show crazy}, and started watching Grimm, which is so fun with the paranormal aspects mixed with fairy tales!

What did your weekend look like?

Food for thought #1

2011-11-09T06:58:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, I had the glorious fortune to have the day off of work. I seems like every other week or so I have it off, since that works best my the family I nanny for. That particular Friday off I put to good use. I was super productive, and I happened to make two really great recipes.

The first was my novice attempt at a tortellini minestrone soup, and it came out so yummy! I underestimated the amount of tortellini I used, and ended up having to add more liquid after cooking to keep it soupy, but I am giving you a recipe that accounts for my mistakes.

Hearty Tortellini Minestrone Soup

Ingredients

1 lb chicken sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 pkg Trader Joe's mirepoix mix {about 2 cups of chopped celery, onions and carrots}
2 quarts reduced sodium chicken stock {2- 24oz containers}
6 cups Trader Joe's Garden Patch vegetable juice {like V8 juice}
1 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes
2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 medium zucchini, halved and sliced into half moons
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 10oz bag of baby spinach
1 pkg of frozen cheese tortellini, frozen {I used Olivieri brand from Costco}
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
Parmesan cheese and/or cheese croutons to garnish

Directions:

1} In a large stock pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat, cook sausage and mirepoix mix until sausage is no longer pink.
2} Add chicken stock, vegetable juice, tomatoes, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.
3} Add zucchini, peppers and spinach. cook 5-7 minutes or until pepper is tender.
4} Stir in tortellini and parsley, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.
5} Top with parmesan or croutons {or both!} just before serving.

Makes about 9-10 servings, and is so, so good on a chilly fall day! About 365 calories for 1.5 cups worth.

As Billy and I were heading to a friend's house that evening for a game night, I also made Grandma Ople's Apple Pie to bring along. If you haven't checked out the link I posted last week about it, you really should. It's incredibly delicious, and pretty easy. This go-round I chopped the apples, instead of just slicing them, and it gave me a great mound of apples to fill the pie with. I used the lattice crust as usual, but made some extra butter and sugar mix to paint the top with. Pure and simple autumn heaven.

Spectating a triathlon

2011-11-08T08:03:00.000-08:00

I was up early Sunday so I could drive to Marin County, which is across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco for all of you non-Californians, to spectate my first triathlon! My good friend Sharon, who got me into triathlon last year, was competing in the Marin County Olympic distance triathlon. This consisted of a 1.5k {about 1 mile} swim in the bay, a 22 mile bike ride on a very technical and hilly course, and a 10k {6.2 mile run}.

Driving on 19th ave in San Francisco toward the Golden Gate Bridge {see the towers in the background?} then on the bridge. It was a GORGEOUS day!

Sharon is amazing, really. She has been a part of the Team In Training triathlon team for a few years now, and has completed many tris. She did the Santa Cruz Big Kahuna half Iron Man tri in September, and will be traveling to Miami for the half iron man distance next week. Her goals for 2012? A half marathon in March for fun, 2 Olympic distance tris in the spring, and Iron Man Canada in August. I know. Crazy, incredible, inspiring lady.

First wave swim start. It was about 50 degrees, and colder than that in the water. I didn't envy the swimmers!

Go Sharon! Swim. Bike. Run.

She rocked the race, being the 2nd woman out of the water, and was in the top 5 women finishers I believe. I think she finished in about 3 hours, which is great. I want to be her, truly. Although I did find a new hero while watching the biking portion. As we cheered for Team members who rode by on the 3 loop course, a really tall dude walked over, and asked if we would cheer for his son Hayden the next time he rode by. His ELEVEN year old son. Competing in an Olympic distance tri. Of course we screamed our hearts out for this kid as he biked by with the biggest grin on his face each time we saw him. I was so impressed. I asked the dad how his young son had gotten into triathlon, and would want to start so early. He told me that he and his wife compete in half Iron Man distance events all the time, so of course the kid would be interested and want to do what his folks do. But seriously, my new hero.

I am really glad I went out to watch the tri, even though I had to leave the house at 6am and drive 90 minutes to get there. I have never gone to watch a race, so it was great to put myself in my family and friends' shoes who come out to my races to support me. I was also filled with the desire to do another triathlon next year, and it made me excited for my January training to start.

I have a half marathon, duathlon and two triathlons on my tentative race schedule for 2012, and I hope to be able to do some 5 and 10k races also. I had high hopes that I would run more than 2 races in 2011, but due to an incredibly busy wedding season, I have had maybe 4 weekends that didn't have a wedding scheduled from May-October. Not very conducive for taking a Saturday or Sunday morning off to go run :)

It was a beautiful day in the Bay for a tri. Autumn is definitely the time to visit if you want the best weather in Northern California coastal areas, no gloomy overcast days, blue skies, crisp cool temps. Come visit me!

View of San Francisco from the Golden Gate bridge coming home from Marin.

weekend recap

2011-11-07T07:43:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to the work week, folks! Hope the weekend was good to you. I personally had a blast!

Friday, after my glorious day off being super productive and making yummy food, Billy and I headed over to new friends' house for a game night. I am very unfamiliar with anything in the gaming world, be it computer and video games, or card and board games. Danielle, one of my 2011 brides who I insisted be my friend, invited us over to the game hosts to try our hand at some card based table games.

We first were served a wonderful dinner of ground turkey stuffed sandwiches by our hosts, which were so awesome! Once I find the recipe I will post it, since it was tasty and seemed relatively simple to prepare. Since there were 8 of us total, we split in to two groups to try out two different games. Billy and I went for the simpler deck building game of Dominion, click the link for a detailed explanation. As it was my first time playing, we started on easy mode, and I even ended up winning! I think based on my winning and the fun I had doing it, I really liked the game and would totally recommend it.

We all gathered back together after our games were done for a larger group game called Bang. It's another card game, but this time you draw character cards to decide if you are the sheriff, who everyone knows about, or one of the outlaws, deputies or the lone renegade, who all remain hidden until they are killed off. Again, click the link for an explanation. I can tell you this though, this game had me laughing until my cheeks hurt. I have already added it to my Christmas list in the event I can convince my non-gaming friends to play with me in the future.

Billy and I both had the best time meeting new friends, trying new games, and doing something different on a Friday night. We hope to be invited back for future game nights!

Saturday was a usual work day at the salon for me. That evening, Billy and I cuddled up on the couch to watch V for Vendetta, in honor of Guy Fawkes day, and it was lovely! Sunday I will tell you about tomorrow, since it was pretty epic and worthy of it's own post. Sunday evening Billy had a friend over to play video games. They went through a whole slew of them, and I felt like a total mom, cooking them dinner, baking brownies for dessert, and observing their silliness as they raced, fought, and killed each other for hours. Real exciting ;)

Want some mingling action to spice up your Monday? Head over to Life of Meg for Mingle Monday!

Fantastic Friday

2011-11-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

Oh dolls, am I having a lovely fall Friday!

Not only did I get to write up a Follow Friday post about one of my favorite blogs, but I have the day off too!

I started the day with a trip to the hand specialist for my two-week check up. Turns out my chip fracture is healing nicely and I have regained almost all of my range of motion, and only have a tiny bit of residual swelling. Doctor gave me tips on how to reduce the rest of the swelling and sent me on my way.

Now I have the rest of the day to myself!

Would you like to know how I am spending it?

Good thing I don't know how to shut up, so here you go!

~Watch Funny Face, a great Audrey Hepburn musical that is silly and fun, such a great way to spend the afternoon! I have my favorite pumpkin candle burning too, so the house is smelling lovely. I find that scents really help set the mood.

~ Make a hearty tortellini minestrone soup. I am basing it off of this recipe I found, but excluding ketchup {eww, who does that?!} and following my friend Sarah's lead and using V8 juice for a spicy kick instead. I have been craving the soup that Sarah makes since she had me over for lunch a week ago. It's the perfect soup for fall! If my version is yummy, you better believe I will post the recipe!

~ Make Grandma Ople's apple pie for a game night I am going to this evening {and because Billy requested it for his birthday}. You can check out my old wordpress blog post about the pie from last year! It is truly the best apple pie recipe I have ever tried, I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a new recipe to try.

~ Take Miss Marlo out for a nice long walk through crunchy leaves and cool air. It's finally starting to feel like fall, and the trees are just now beginning to burn scarlet and gold. Autumn is my favorite season, I can't help but love everything about it!

~ Create a fun Autumn inspired Pandora station. Maybe a little Michael Buble, and whatever comes up after that ;)

Follow Friday, #4 Life of Meg

2011-11-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the Happy Girl Follow Friday series! Today I would like to share with you all Meg, of Life of Meg!

Most of you probably know this lovely lady because she hosts an amazing blog hop most Mondays. I have actually found most of the blogs I follow {and most of you probably found me!} through the Mingle Monday blog Hop, so for that, I am grateful to Meg!

Meg is charismatic, sweet, funny, and incredibly giving. She writes posts that make you feel like you really know her, and that she would be a great girlfriend IRL as well!

Meg is an incredibly inspiring person. She works for the American Cancer Society, to promote cancer awareness and raise funds to find cures. She doesn't talk too much about her work life, but I can just tell she loves what she is doing, and knows it's making a difference.

Meg is also an inspiring baker! She posts some delicious recipes that I have ventured to try, and they always come out so tasty! I mean, hello dreamy peanut butter sandwich cookies? Yes, please! Or toasted coconut chocolate chip cookies? Sure thing!

She can cook, too! This cheese and spinach stuffed shells recipe looks to die for! It would be perfect on one of these cold fall evenings we are finally getting here in Northern California!

She also comes up with THE BEST road trips and vacation ideas! I mean, road tripping to Colorado for the Great American Beer Fest, while wearing tie dye? Winning!

Or how about her extra special train trip to Chicago with the bf? I could so use a nice vacation right about now, and taking a train seems so glamorous!

Speaking of the bf, Meg is so totally in love with him she practically gushes sometimes, and I think it's the absolute cutest thing ever! You can read their love story for yourself!

Oh, and did I mention she's a total TV-aholic like me? Yup, we watch a lot of the same shows, as evidenced here in this post! How can you dislike a girl who watched How I Met Your Mother and New Girl??

Another thing I love about Meg? She's a total family girl! She often writes about how excited she is to see her sister or brother, or how nice it is to see her sweet parents. Girl has her priorities in order if you ask me!

So run and visit Meg and see just how great she is for yourself!

Winning, personal bests, and hurting

2011-11-03T13:31:00.000-07:00

Remember my post from Tuesday about running my first ever virtual 5k race? Well, I won! I know, cool, right?! Kiley, from Daily Vitamin F, is going to send me all sorts of fun goodies for winning! The two I'm most excited about are the Camelback handheld running water bottle and the Running Sucks shirt from Kiley's Etsy store!

I've never won a race, let along placed in the top 10. I had never even attempted a virtual race before this one. I think I am more excited about this than any normal person would be, but to me, this is a big deal!

Another super nerdy thing I am really excited about? New changes to my favorite workout app, RunKeeper for Android. I use it on all of my outdoor workouts to track my time, distance, pace, elevation, and expended calories. One of the newest changes I am most excited about is the auto pause feature!! On any given run or bike ride I make several stops to catch my breath, wait at a light, tie my shoes, or stretch. Each time I have to pull out my phone, unlock it, pause the app, lock the phone while I do whatever it is, then repeat the process to restart the app. Now, all I have to do is stop moving to pause my app, then start moving again to restart the app. I am thrilled! I was so happy when I got the email telling me about the changes, I posted it to Facebook! Looks like others are excited also!

Now on to the hurting part of this post.

I recently picked up a new Jillian Michaels workout DVD, the Ripped in 30workout. After work while I had chicken cooking in the kitchen, I popped in the DVD and pulled Billy along for the fun. Jillian never disappoints with her workouts, and the R30 workout is no joke. We started on week 1, and I was hopeful that I would be able to do this workout several days in a row. Midway through the 24 minute workout, we were both panting, dripping sweat, and shaking. When we finished, and long after, our thighs were still shaking. Post workout looked like this. That smile didn't last long. I also need to clean my bathroom mirror.

Waking up Wednesday morning, I knew I was in for trouble. My whole body ached! Funny enough, I was scheduled for a long run. Oh boy. I set out and knew it was going to be difficult, so I allowed myself small walk breaks, and many stretch breaks to alleviate the soreness I had in my calves and thighs. Through this, I managed to run over 9 miles!This is a new personal best for me, as I just keep increasing my distance before my next egg donation cycle sidelines me for another 3 weeks. Yay 9+ miles!

But life decided to laugh at me, as for the rest of the day, I was in so. much. pain! Sitting down, or getting up hurt. Moving my legs to walk hurt. Given the long run and the previous night's workout aches, I did not get a second day of Ripped in 30 in. Waking up today? Yeah, took some ibuprofen and went back to bed for another hour to let it take some of the edge off. I have plans to foam roll and stretch some more today before work, and hope for the best!

What do you do for sore muscles? Any nifty tricks to help?

Have you run a virtual race, or even a real race and won?

Halloween Virtual 5k

2011-11-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I ran the Daily Vitamin F Halloween Virtual 5k. It was my first time running a virtual race, but I have wanted to do them for awhile, just never found one before it was already over. Thanks to Megan, over at Fit*Crafty*English*Teacher for letting me know about this race!

I dragged Billy along on his bike while I ran. I finished the 5k in 26:25, and then finished off the rest of the 4 mile run. I'm pretty happy with my 8:30/mile average pace. I just checked out my RunKeeper stats, and at one point I got down to a 6:08/mile pace as I "finished strong" at the end of the 5k portion.

I let Marlo get in on my post-race picture, even though she doesn't really run much. Like my festive pumpkin?

I'm really excited about participating in other holiday virtual 5k events!

Have you ever participated in a virtual 5k?

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T07:30:00.000-07:00

First off, I must give a Sunday shout out, as it was my wonderful hubby's birthday! Happy birthday to you, Billy!

May 29 bring you even more fun, excitement and love! I can't wait to share another year together. I look forward to all of the adventures, laughs, and cuddles that are in store for us!

That handsome devil with his tongue out would be my Billy, and the smiley one behind him is Kenny, our brother in law. Isn't the Frankenstein birthday cake awesome? Billy's mama made it, and our nephew Tyler helped frost it too.

Now, on to today! Hello, Halloween!! Wheeee, it's one of my favorite days of the year! I will have many more exclamation marks in this post, so get into the groove with me here.

I was really bummed on Saturday night, as I sat on the couch scrolling through the abundant Twitter and Facebook pictures from Halloween parties. I was babysitting, so at least I got paid, but I was sad nonetheless to not be out and dressed up. I absolutely LOVE dressing up. Give me any reason to, and I will have a costume on in no time. I even have a giant plastic tote filled with costume pieces from over the years that I can dip into for inspiration if I don't feel like finding something new. Today, since it's a Monday, there won't be any place to wear my costume to, but I decided to create a quick and easy something to wear to work with the kiddos this afternoon. It's totally G rated, not one of those typical slutty girl costumes, though I am not above them in the least. I like to skank it up with the best of them. When appropriate, of course. This is evidenced by some of my previous costumes.

Halloween's past:

2006 Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Photo from photobucket, as I lost all of my photos in the horrible Windows 7 OS upgrade.

2007 Sexy cop. Billy was Mario of Super Mario Bros with Kenny as Luigi. No pics, see above explanation of all photos prior to 2009. I dressed as a bumble bee for work though and have a photo!

2008 Skanky little Red Riding Hood. Billy was a "hot chick".

2009 Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood and the Charlain Harris series. I made my Merlotte's shirt, and ordered the apron online for like $4, it was a cheap costume! Billy was a warelion for good measure.

2010 Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter from the Laurell K. Hamilton series, Billy was a zombie, which is appropriate because Anita is a necromancer and raises the dead. I loved my black wig!

This year, I am dressing up as an old timey robber of sorts :) Black and white striped shirt, and black mask are all the kids are getting from me. I loved this inspiration photo! I'll post photos later to share, of course!

Other notable costumes that weren't for Halloween:

Lion and Lion Tamer for a costume party in 2009.

Pimps and Hos party from 2007ish?

Wouldn't these be fun too?!

What are you dressing up as for Halloween?

What's your favorite costume ever?

If you don't dress up, what do you like to do instead?

Happy Halloween!

Eating as art

2011-10-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Today, I was too lazy to write up my follow Friday post. When I wasn't being lazy, I was cooking a meal for my sweet cousin and her new baby, using my best ever mac and cheese recipe, visiting the cousin, running errands, running a really tough 5k, coloring my roots {they were out. of. control. but my broken finger makes self hair care a little difficult, so I waited an extra week}, and most importantly, reading Mockingjay, the 3rd book of the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

Thank you to everyone who has suggested I read this series, you were all absolutely right, I LOVE it! Like, I've devoured the entire trilogy in less than a week. And I want more.

I digress...

because I was "lazy" today and didn't complete my FF post, you get a quote instead! Enjoy this food for thought {har har}

‎"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art."

- La Rochefoucauld

Grody

2011-10-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

So, it's time to talk about more of the yucky stuff that comes with running. Because let's face it, while running can be awesome and beautiful, it is also totally icky.

{via}

You know what I'm talking about. Stuff that happens on a semi-regular basis during short and long runs that is irritating, embarrassing, and just plain gross.

Take for example, my run today. I was plagued by one of these gross running things: phlegm. Maybe it's my allergies, maybe it's how I breathe, but I get all...phlegmy...on runs. I get that thick throat and nose feeling that requires much spitting, throat clearing, and nose clearing to alleviate. Today, I wore a long sleeved shirt over my tank, which was quickly shed as I warmed up. My sleeves came in handy when my nose started to run and it was difficult to swallow. So I used my sleeves to cleanly clear my nose, you know, with a little swiping action, that clearly didn't count because I used sleeves, not fingers. If the nose is especially runny, a snot rocket can also be initiated with care, as it often can backfire and create more of a mess, trust me on this.

Don't even know what to say about this photo. I Googled "runner nose" and got this of a runner blowing her nose on the run, ie: a snot rocket.

{via}

Other issues I regularly face? Tummy troubles. I have never shat myself, or had to "pop a squat" on the side of a trail, but I've come close. The roiling tummy, the twisting intestines, the intense urge...us runners are totally familiar with this. SUAR is quite open about her need to clear her bowels often, in port-a-potties, as well as on the trail. I feel so comforted by the tales of other runners who face these issues. I consider it a great run if I am able to go potty before I leave, or at least not have any discomfort on my run.

Now if only these were spaced every few miles apart on a trail.

{via}

Bugs. Yes, bugs. I run on creek trails that are beautiful, but are also always teeming with swarms of gnats and other flying insects that enjoy being near water. These swarms are awful to run through, as they usually stick to my sweaty face, and fly right into my eyes or mouth, true story on that. I've even had a ladybug fly into the slats on my helmet, and stick in my hair. That time, I came to a screeching halt on my bike, whipped off my helmet and screamed as I shook my head trying to dislodge what I thought was a bee that was going to sting me. Haha Miss Ladybug, you fooled me that time. However, I often have bees and flies smack me in the face, bouncing off and going about their merry way. That always freaks me out because I remember the pain of bee stings from my childhood.

Don't let the serene nature of this photo fool you, it attracts all sorts of flying bugs that want to attack you. But it certainly makes my runs pretty :)

Weird toe issues. Toenails that turn black, fall off, crack, or toes that are the home of blisters. I've had all of the aforementioned toe ailments, and it ain't pretty. One of my toenails doesn't grow back properly, I think due to nail bed trauma, and falls off about once a year or more if I do more trail runs that have my toes slamming into the ends of my shoes.

{via}

I refuse to find you a photo of nasty toes, because feet are disgusting and I hate them. Add that to your list of Adrian facts. Don't look at my feet, and don't touch me with yours.

What are your gross running things? Share in the comments, I love hearing about grody things, it's totally in my nature.

Other weird Adrian facts: I enjoy popping pimples, peeling sunburned skin, and scratching scabs off. Basically, I can't stand when skin has texture, and I feel the need to smooth it out, on myself, or others.

Bruise la la

2011-10-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

Hey dolls! Welcome back the work week :)

Let's do a quick recap, shall we? Last Thursday, I crashed my bike and banged myself up. Friday, I visited a hand specialist and surgeon, because hands are my money makers in my profession, so they need to be OK. He checked out my swollen finger, sent me off for x-rays, and then confirmed that it was indeed broken. Thankfully, it's just a small chip fracture, which doesn't require surgery. He said to tape it to my middle finger if I want more stability, and to take lots of ibuprofen. Best news of the appointment, no activity restrictions!! I just have to back off and ice it if it starts swelling. I've been surprised by how little my finger hurts. As someone who has broken both arms, a finger and a toe, I remember it hurting more. Have I mentioned I'm a klutz?

Oh, and my hip road rash? It looks so. much. WORSE. now! The bruising set in on Saturday, two days after the crash. Want proof? Ouch, right? Thank goodness it doesn't actually hurt!

Thursday is on the left, Monday on the right.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a lovely Monday!

Follow Friday, #3 Watch Mego Run

2011-10-21T07:40:00.000-07:00

Welcome back for the Happy Girl Follow Friday series! I've decided that I want to continue with my series, and highlight other happy girls you should get to know.

For this edition, I would like to introduce you to one of my bloggy besties, Megan from Watch Mego Run.

Megan is such an amazing, fun, and authentic person. I feel extremely lucky to have started following her amusing and motivating running blog, and even more so to have developed a genuine friendship with her. I even got to meet Megan when she ran the San Francisco Bay to Breakers race last spring. I find that the blogging community is such a great place to make friends, and it's even better when you become IRL {in real life} friends.

Megan and I at Pier 39 in San Francisco

Megan is a self-proclaimed goofball, a lover of Greek yogurt, peanut butter, froyo, and slurpees-- all GREAT things in my book! She posts the best running pictures that always make me laugh and show off what a good time she's having, and her unrestrained zest for life.

Megan has recently started running half marathons, completing her first two only two weeks apart! This girl is seriously my hero. Next June we will be running the Rock 'n' Roll Seattle half marathon together {along with a few other bloggy friends} so I can't wait for another chance to spend time with her! Not only does she run half marathons, she'll run any race she can manage, as she is a racing fiend. I personally think she does it for the racing "bling" haha

Megan totally gets how I feel about blogging. She feels the same connections to her readers that I do, she nurtures friendships built through blogging, and she is humbled by the support and love that comes pouring out of the community anytime you need it. She wrote this post recently that had me nodding and saying "yes, totally!" I'm tell you gals, she's totally a girl you NEED to know!

Megan ALWAYS has the best running clothes. I am completely jealous of all her neat running outfits and accessories. She was the one who clued me in on Spi belts, and this awesome brand called Oiselle, who make a great tee that says "Born + Raced in..." and your state. I had to find my very own born + raced in CA shirt after seeing Megan's born + raced in Michigan version. I like being twinsies with her.

So what are you waiting for? Head over to Watch Mego Run now and follow this lovely girl! She will even give you the thumbs up, I'm sure !

Hot Mess

2011-10-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

Oh loves, my title says it all. I truly am a hot mess today.

Remember my bike woes from Tuesday? I should have taken that as a sign that this week was not mine for riding. I've always known I would fall off or crash my bike at some point. Knowing doesn't make it hurt any less.

I took Billy and his sister to the airport this morning to head down to southern California to attend BlizzCon, or as I put it, nerdfest, a video game convention. I then picked up my bike from the shop. So happy to have it back, I decided to take it out on my triathlon route, a 14 mile loop with an incredibly challenging hill climb smack in the middle. I was making great time, had powered up the hill, and was feeling the burn. At mile 12, my ear bud cable attached to my phone had come out of my bento box, a small catch all bag that's attached to the top frame of my bike. I took my right hand off the handle bars to push it back in so it wouldn't irritate my leg. While I was one-handed, I turned a corner, which happened to have a soft, sandy shoulder, which I rode directly in to. If you have ever rode on sand, you know it's incredibly difficult to steer or balance, so I of course skidded out and crashed. I would have just put a foot down to try to stop, but I have those nifty pedals that clip to your shoes, and that didn't help at all.

Shaking, I extricated myself from the bike, and began to assess the damage. Bike seemed to be in fine condition, just a bit scraped up. My left shoe cleat was loose from having torn my foot from the pedal, and I was hurting in all sorts of places, particularly my hip and my right index finger. I sat down on a nearby bench, and tried to see if all my parts were in working order. My left hip was on fire from deep road rash scrapes, and my left upper arm and elbow were scraped up but not bad. The worst part? The immediate swelling in my right index finger, which had gotten caught in the bento box, then ripped out, was bleeding and not feeling so good. I palpated and bent it, moving it around.

Riding the remaining two miles home was a slow going and painful process, but I made it. Want photo proof of my hot mess-ness? Oh well, that's the first thing I thought to do when I got home, even before I gingerly showered, screamed like a little girl when I poured peroxide over my open wounds, and band aided what I could.

On the trail while recovering from the crash. Taking off my riding gloves later was a challenge!

showing off my upper arm and elbow road rash, sorry blurry pics from my phone, I'm bad left handed.

My cut up thumb and swollen index finger. Check out that middle digit.

Bloody index finger. Those gashes are crazy, not sure what exactly caused them.

My gnarly thigh road rash

Rocking the Hot Wheels band aids I got for Billy. He says they make me more epic.

You know what's really depressing? All I wanted was to be taken care of and nursed back to health. Unfortunately, Billy won't be back until Sunday night.

So I did the next best thing, I called my mommy.

Yes, even at ~~almost 27~~ 26, I still need my mommy when things go bad. I had been so strong and hadn't cried, but asking my mom what doctor or hospital to go to, I nearly lost it. You are never too old to for a momma nurse, let me tell you. Thankfully, the oldest son of her boyfriend has broken lots and lots of bones while biking, and had a hand specialist that she said I should call. I made an appointment for tomorrow morning. Hopefully the hand specialist says I didn't do much damage, as I really need all of my fingers to do hair and makeup properly. Here's hoping! If you could, send a little prayer up for me tomorrow at 11:15am Pacific standard time ;)

Holiday bootie buster challenge

2011-10-19T07:18:00.000-07:00

Holla! Finally, away to keep the holiday weight from sticking around! If you are anything like me, you tend to go a little overboard at all of the holiday functions from November through January, excusing those dozen extra cookies, that extra plate of food, or those celebratory empty calorie cocktails. Thank goodness for Amanda over at Run to the Finish for hosting her Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge! I just found out about the HBBC from Nicole of Haute Runner who will also be participating, thanks for the heads up girl!

I love a good challenge, something that's going to get my competitive juices flowing and keep me on task. I think this HBBC is going to be JUST what I need this holiday season, so I hope you will join me! As Amanda says "I love this challenge because it provides added incentive to find time for workouts, find room for veggies and feel good through the holiday season. We've all seen the reports that the average American gains and maintains 5lbs every holiday season…that is not the gift that I want to receive or give! Amazingly a lot of people find that with this challenge they end up being MORE active than before because what you measure you change…and suddenly measuring your activity really gets you going!"

And there are prizes to be won!!! OK, twist my arm why don't ya.

So, you're totally down to do this too, right? Let's keep each other accountable and either maintaining or LOSING weight this holiday season!

Terrible Tuesdays always get better

2011-10-18T23:15:00.000-07:00

Oh gals, I had a terrible start to my Tuesday.

I woke up really wanting to go for a bike ride, but realized I had a thorn in my back tire. I tried to fix the flat tire on my Cupcake, or for those unaware that I name everything, my fancy road bike. I "fixed" the flat in my living room, only to have my chain go all janky on me, then the new tube blew up in my face. Literally. blew. up. in. my. face. After some choice obscenities, I cleaned myself up and took the bike to my shop to be fixed.

After giving up on fixing my bike issues.

Then, I made three separate trips to two different grocery stores because I forgot an ingredient, then forgot my wallet. Things just didn't go as planned. So I started looking for the silver lining, the bright side, so to speak, and I found it.

~I discovered the bike flat at home, rather than on a ride which would have left me walking home carrying a broken bike.
~I have a bike maintenance plan that covers any issues I may have, so they take care of me.
~I still managed to make the Simone Family Lasagna recipe as planned, even with the extra grocery runs.
~On my 3rd grocery run, I got a HUGE bag of fun sized M&Ms in plain, peanut, and peanut butter, and as Megan says, there is NOTHING that can't be fixed with peanut butter M&Ms. She is wise, that one.
~I regaled Billy with the tale of my day as we were on the way to dinner with new friends, and we both laughed so hard we nearly cried. It was wonderful to share what had been awful at the time, and be able to see the humor in all of it.

Sorry I missed out on my Monday post, here's what matters most!
What I learned this weekend:

~ Even though it's convenient and sounds like a great idea, Chinese food delivery still isn't an amazing dinner option. However, after my 12 hour work day, it was sufficient.

~ Fast Five is a fun action movie. My hubby is crazy about cars, and this series really makes him happy so I sat through the whole movie, and probably watched about 75%. I liked what I saw. {Hello, Paul Walker!}

~ I was in SF during the Nike Women's Marathon on Sunday, but I was working a wedding, and saw not a single gal decked out running the race. I was bummed.

~ Which Wich? is a fantastic build your own sandwich shop that we will be frequenting often. Mmm turkey, cranberry and stuffing on wheat! Do you have one near you?

~ I have lovely male friends who are willing to let me experiment on their hair, making one ash grey {his preference, I swear!} and the other a refined mowhawk.

How was your weekend, Monday and Tuesday?