Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Still running

Just had to post a pat on my back.

I am still running! I'm on week 9 of Hal's novice half program and have been doing pretty well with all of the run days. Not so much on the cross or strength days lately (they were casualties of the holidays).

This week will be my first week at >20miles in LONG time. So long ago I hardly remember.

I have the week off, as does M! We've been reading and cooking and playing games and eating chocolates and sleeping in. Awesome and much needed. We're throwing a NYE party and have some whispering regrets about spending our week of vacation on house/party prep. Hopefully it'll be a good time anyway.

Tonight was 5miles. I did it on the treadmill and it was awesome. I went a bit slower than I'd like but I felt physically great at the end which is a stark contrast to the debilitating  queasiness I felt at mile 5.5 of my 6 mile run on Sunday when I was trying to be fast.

I have been great about writing down the distances I've run on the treadmill but maybe I should try to chart pace and general wellness after the run to look for correlations.

The problem is that there are SO many factors that contribute to how I feel afterwards. Running controlled experiments is near to impossible!

Wedding post #5: If you plan it, they will have fun?

Now that we’re settling into a venue I can start to address my single biggest fear about this whole thing. What if people don’t have fun? It is seriously the single most stressful thought I have. Marrying M, piece of cake. Coming up with a meaningful and personal ceremony, no prob (ha, we’ll see about this).But what if we put this much time, effort, emotion and money into this event and it is a dud? Honestly this ties into post #4 very closely. I had a TiVo season pass for TLC’s Four Weddings and learned one very valuable lesson. Don’t invite people who don’t love you. But this is easier said than done and, truthfully, some of the people who love me the most will still probably be complainers. How do you tailor a party to meet the needs of guests ranging from <1 up to nearly 80? I want everyone to have a good time. Everyone. Genuinely.

The kiddos I feel will be easy. They are known to be spontaneous dancers (which ROCKS!) plus I think we should have crayons and coloring books and etc. The tweens ought to be alright too. There will be a pool table at our venue and we’re thinking about having games on the tables. Plus I am VERY excited about tasking a handful of 12-13 year old girls that we know to do some of my bidding on the day of.

Adults are a WAY different story! Will people dance? Will people talk to each other? Will everyone enjoy the food/cake/music/drinks/fill-in-the-blank?

This Friday we’re having a New Year’s Eve party to practice our host-ing. M reminds me that people just need to be fed and imbibed and they’re 90% of the way to happy (most of my people don’t drink so that puts more emphasis on food). It is that 10% that tweaks me a bit.

Will report back after NYE on how well our entertaining went.

Christmas was great and surprisingly I only got one wedding related gift.


My mom


made me that bag to carry all of my brideing (TM) necessities. It was sweet and needs to serve as a reminder that she wants to be a part of the process.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Wedding post #4: Awkward turtle guest list

I had my first awkward turtle moment about guest list. My female coworkers have been asking how venue hunting was coming and I shared with one of them our latest search results. She was excited for us to have found something and glad that things were coming together. Then she told me how she and her husband had talked about being sure they could make it. SCREEECHHH.

Now, let it be said, she is a favorite work chat buddy and sometimes venting-vent. I find her perfectly lovely and I had actually worked with her husband before (he accidentally nicknamed M as beefcake, which I still love). They are great! But they hadn’t made the guest list. Actually I only had 3 people from my current work on the list (and I worked with two of them at a previous company). It isn’t that I wouldn’t love partying it down with them but I was trying to stick with people I was just a tad closer to.

Now this feels really hard. If they want to come and are genuinely excited about sharing our day then that basically meets my guest characteristics. But they weren’t in the initial count. I guess this is why people talk about their guest lists being elastic. But I don’t want ours stretch to breaking point.

So I guess I’m left asking myself (and maybe should run it by M), is it OK to adjust the guest list if it is for people who seem to really want to be a part of our day? Should we just stick to the people who we determined to be a part of our inner community and trust that we managed to get everyone?

When we first started this wedding planning business we determined that our main goal (after getting MARRIED!) was to have an event that brought our whole community together to celebrate and to thank them for being a part of our lives. So guest list is about more than budgets and seating charts in that respect.

Hmmm, why do I think this may not be the last of this conundrum?

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Wedding post #3- Summer yearnings

So a search for “Seattle Washington seasonal flowers July” led me to this:


http://diy.weddingbee.com/topic/washington-seasonal-flowers-part-2

I am giddy beyond words! My plan for flowers has always been a big sweep of the farmers market that my sweet and I frequent. All summer they are filled with the most amazing bouquets of colorful stems and creative greens and they are as cheap as the dirt they grow in. My true heart is with dahlias because they are so amazingly intricate. I figured mid-late July would be the shoulder season for dahlias so they may or may not be readily available. But my heart just about burst when I saw all of the deliciously colorful stems that may be available to me that time of year.
http://diy.weddingbee.com/topic/washington-seasonal-flowers-part-2

The one snag will be if we wed on a Friday. Then I guess the plan will be to hit up Seattle’s everyday farmers market, Pike’s Place Market, and try to clean them out.
Touristy-yes. Awesome- also yes.

The bonus too is that a bunch of these are really fragrant. I had been grooving on the idea of maybe doing herbs as centerpieces since they would smell so darn good but fragrant flowers should do the trick too.

Oh flowers…I miss you.



(side note for those who don’t live here: As the days get shorter and colder the farmers markets start filling their bouquets in with cabbage heads and other creative winter alternatives, at first I thought this was adorable but now I just see it as the first sign of winter…sigh)

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Deep thoughts from the bus. Vol 5

Oh how I wish this week was not full of so much everyday stuff so I could appropriately focus my attention on huge and exciting stuff.

In no particular order:
1. It is Christmas in 4 days! I am mostly done with shopping save for a few stocking stuffers and gift cards. Some things are wrapped but still there is much wrapping to be done. I'm trying to decide who I am most excited to give their gift. Probably younger sister. She is 12 which is when there is all sorts of stuff you want SO bad. My family still hasn't decided on food for C day dinner. We gotta get on that.

2. My college Roomie is having a baby any day now! Wow! So adorable.

3. Our wedding. We made excellent progress this weekend (in part thanks to Speedy for opening my mind to a few things). Plus, I made a date to go dress shopping with my mom on the Monday after Christmas.

I am launching full speed into decor-mania which I know is still not appropriate. But I saw a possible centerpiece option on craigslist and am REALLY tempted to buy it. Gotta calm myself.

Starting with relaxing the rest of the way home.

Oh, I ran an awesome 8 miles in (relatively) awesome weather on Sunday


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Monday, December 13, 2010

Deep thoughts from the bus. Vol 4

12 days until Christmas! I am WAY more excited about a week off of work than anyone really should be.

Not sure if theCap is down for it but I am hoping we can get some wedding details worked on while we both have daytime hours to spend together during the week. Thats seriously been a bit of a challenge. Looking at venues and trying to picture a July wedding during some of the most crap-tastic weather I've seen here is tough!

Seriously, walking up to Queen Anne to catch my bus tonight there were full on sheets of water coming at me. I took refuge on this house


Ok, not really but I did pop into See's with two goals: being dry and picking up some goodies to slip into M's family's Christmas package. The fact that I thought they might lavish me with samples never entered my mind.

Again, a decent umbrella or a bit of HTFU* probably would have saved me $7 and ~250 calories. But then the FILs wouldn't have had candy.

This weekend I ran 7 (pretty slow) miles ON THE TREADMILL! (and if you have an iPhone you know what a pain it is to write in all caps). But it was pouring and we were headed to see a play. Honestly, it wasn't so bad. I watched 3 episodes of say yes to the dress (syttd not to be confused with sytycd). I am not in pain today and there was no...abdominal distress yesterday either. Success!

I'm still plugging away with Hal but I'm pretty sure they'll not be any race in the near future.

Ok, now to sit back and enjoy all the shimmery taillights around us.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Christmas is coming!

(Miss Piggy, Muppets Christmas album) That's what I'm listening to on my ride in and it does finally feel like it is!

We decorated on Wednesday night and mailed out round one of long distance packages. Still must decide on cards. We were hoping to do a save the date/announcement combo but without an official date that mayn't work.

Here are some decor pics:









The bathroom (in Birchwood Chalet by target) is my personal fave.

Feliz navidad! (that's what is playing now)


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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

$3.47

That is the shelter fee I paid this morning in the form of a latte.



It was POURing and my bus wasn't for 15 more minutes so, despite having had a cup of Joe lovingly brewed by my sweetie, I paid for warmth and dry. Probably should just invest in water tight shoes and an umbrella next time.

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Monday, December 6, 2010

Deep thoughts from the bus. Vol 3

Wow! I am currently listening to a PLAYA in action. A man, not a day younger than 80 I'd say, is in the process of asking an ~50ish woman out. He is a smooth operator for sure. Just asking her for coffee sometime. He lost her a bit when talking about how he feels like he needs to get married again soon and when he told her that her English is pretty good. You think guts like that are born or made?

On the running front, I've been doing ok following the early stages of Hal's half-M program but now the midweek runs are getting longer which makes it trickier.

I will not be running a winter race though because of how awful the cold was before the 5k this weekend. Race report pending.



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Thursday, December 2, 2010

Deep thoughts from the bus. Vol 2

Lesson of the day:
Taking the super early bus will not necessarily get you there sooner. AND Getting a later start will not necessarily get you the later.

Day 2 my morning was a train wreck but my evening has been a breeze so far.

On my mind tonight:
-I'm hoping the beef stroganoff I put in the crockpot this morning is yummy.

- I also hope to make "oh baby" bars that I saw on Eat, live, run tonight for a party on Saturday. I want to make them tonight cause they're gluten free and I want to bring on for a celiac coworker (see, I try).

- I need to unsubscribe to ELR since I think she's gone off the deepend and now only bakes irresistible goods.

- I'm tired. And bummed I'll have get up early everyday this weekend. It'll be fun thoughGOTR 5k on Saturday and then I pick my biggest nephew up to go to a Christmas party.

- I hope my dentist appt goes smoothly tomorrow. It is attempt #3 to place a crown and if it fails I may lose my mind. Plus I have a meeting right after it.

- I don't want to brag but I am a really lucky girl to have such a sweet guy. I feel like I've been a total headcase about work and stuff lately but he is patient and productive and I'm grateful for it.

- it is almost Christmas /new year!! My bus stop is right in the thick of Seattle holiday festivities and it is very exciting! We're thinking about throwing a NYE party to quench my NYE wedding desires so we gotta decide on that and get busy.

Ok, signing off with a (terrible) pic of Seattle Westlake Center all dolled up.



Wow, that is ridiculously bad :)

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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Deep thoughts from the bus. Vol 1

Today I start riding the bus to work. Because I love the earth (well that and I hate my driving commute and there is going to be a toll on the bridge I take to get to work and starting in January my company is charging for parking). We will see how it goes.

Pollyanna of it is that I ought to blog more.

Things on my mind on this ride home:

-I have to get out of my work slump. One way I am thinking would help is to bust tail to get caught up and then see if I feel better when I don't feel overwhelmed. I also need a pal at work. It seems kind of pathetic but I'm not saying I need a BFF but I want a buddy. I spend ~8hr per day there and it'd be nice to have someone to chat with. When my friend Ali worked in my building I was markedly happier. I've always had a pal I could grab if I was having a crappy day/crappy experiment. Ah well.
-I can't believe my old Roomie is having a baby this month(most likely :) )! Seeing the people in your life take these new huge/exciting (hugely exciting ) steps is so incredible. Not so long ago our biggest concerns were 8am physics and whether or not WOW chips could possibly be metabolized as fat and whether Speedy would come visit and eat fruit over our trashcan. But she is about to have a baby boy! I hope that the love and kindness she pours over others will all rush back at her as she takes on motherhood. And I hope she keeps blogging.
- I am so happy that my leg is feeling good. Yesterday was day 30 of my most recent shred attempt. It was not pretty and honestly my heart wasn't in it A LOT of days but I'm glad I did it. The only noticeable difference I see is my arms. I have asked my sister for Jillian's new shred for
Christmas. Looking forward to Jillian torturing me in new ways.
-this weekend i am run buddying for girls on the run 5k. I'm nervous cause I haven't run a race since July!
-I want to pick a wedding venue soon so I can get on with more fun stuff. I have starr
ed so many adorable things in blog posts in my google reader. I wonder if Roomie will be for hire for awesomely executed pretty DIY stuff? Now that I think about it, Speedy looks pretty crafty from pics of her wedding too.

Ok, we've crossed the bridge and I'm almost home.

Signing off with a pic from my failed snowy bus ride.




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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Wedding post #2: Dress and other internet obsessions

I have this deep urge to just order a bunch of dresses online. One I have actually tried on in real life but now want to see it again. The others just because they are cheap on Nordstrom's website. It is funny because I am fairly certain they won't be figure flattering for me. But I'm tempted because I figure I can always send them back. But what a waste of fossil fuel to have dresses flown around to me rather than, say, going shopping at a store.




This seems like a potentially bad idea.

What are the odds of actually liking myself in one enough to make it my dress?
How the heck do I explain that to my mom?
How will I evaluate myself in it without proper lighting and bridal consultants trying to stick a veil on my head?

Plus, I will have (as the count is tonight) 3 dresses on the way.

I'll resist the urge but it is most certainly there.


In other internet news. I am a total lurker on a few bridal forums that some terrible (amazing) friends suggested. They are so interesting! I like hearing what women are doing and it is cool to see how different things matter to different people. I want SO BAD to be crafty but I am worried that I'm not.

I think I have decided on a first project (when the time arrives) to test my Martha on.
I have a vision of a cake table with pictures cascading down and around.
Maybe I should just haunt Etsy for it at work home tomorrow :)

60 day treadmill review

I love my treadmill! It has been so awesome having it in the house. Here are my thoughts after 60 days:

Pros:
  • I am never far from a workout.
  • I don't have to battle inclement weather
  • I can run at night
  • I have a SWEET setup with a TV!
  • I am meeting more commitments to myself
  • I love the control panel and the built in speaker with iPod jack
  • I get to spend more time at home with my sweetie (even if it is closed away in the other room)






    Cons:
    • It is a tad loud, I feel embarrassed/bad that poor M has to listen to a herd of elephants trampling in the other room .
    • Doing more than 5miles on this guy is tough
    • The calorie counter is ridiculously off. Basically it is laughably high
    • I make more excuses about workout times and put it off until later in the evening than outdoor runs
    • I have started excluding other forms of exercise because I don't feel the need to go to the gym


    Overall, I adore my little setup and am kicking myself for not getting one and cramming it in my apartment. I feel good about going with the more basic model. It does what I need it to do and most importantly, it feels sturdy and hasn't had any issues with skipping which was my biggest concern. It is definitely basic but it has all the functionality I need.
    The cons are mostly my actions (well, except for the volume, that I'm not sure I can do anything about) and I will work on fixing those in time. Today for example, I told myself I'd go for a run outside and then fiddle-farted around until it got dark. So I hit the treads. Next weekend I'll do better.

    One upcoming concern is that I am going to start taking the bus into work which I think will make after work gym time feel even worse. Not sure what my game plan will be for that one.

    But it is awesome going for a jog in the comfort of home. It is our 1.83 anniversary (go ahead and mock there Starchy) so we used that as an opportunity to cook the turkey breast that had been in the freezer. So while I ran tonight I could smell the turkey cooking. It was awesome!






    I am extremely glad we have a long weekend coming up. Just have to make it through this full week. I am thankful for a few days off but that is the least of all I have to be thankful for this year.








Sunday, November 7, 2010

Time to make the donuts!

So, just before shredding today M and I made DONUTS!

I saw this blog post and HAD to make these donuts. It took some time to get the infratructure setup but after ordering a donut pan via Amazon Tote and waiting like a big goofball all day for them to drop it at our door. We made them!


We have been freed from the Donut Industrial Complex (DIC) and it feels good! I am excited to make some spice donuts to take to the neighbors on Thanksgiving. We'll see if that happens but the image is cute and neighborly in my head :) And we've talked about having advent at our place one Sunday this December (probably my most cherished childhood memories) and I think having some donuts would be cute and wholesome. May need the mini-pan though.


Here are some pics, if you're in the neighborhood drop in for some donuts and cider.
















Happy November!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Direction




I am a shredding fool again. I’m on day 5 and, let me just say, Jillian still sucks! She totally kicks my butt! I really want to get through another 30 days of shredding. The one time I did it successfully I really liked the toning I saw. The downside is that I feel like the region below my knees (calves, shins, ankles, feet) are so finicky lately. I guess I never realized how lucky I have been in the injury department (I figured my GI issues were my curse). I trained for the whole marathon without hurting myself but now I feel like I am always tweaked. It is very annoying. I like to pride myself in resting minor tweaks before they become anything. I rest with the best! But I may have gotten slightly impatient. I am also thinking inconsistency was what got me. I would be a slug for a week then decide to go for a 7mile run. So I’m hoping The Shred will help me get routine and build some core all in one hellish 20min DVD.
But I’m not sure what else I should get going on. I would love to sign up for a big race to get myself motivated (ex. Latch on to DSF for a marathon) but (at the risk of concerning DSF) the marathon may have killed my spirit. Speedy sent me an email about this so I know I’m not alone. That was just so darn painful and long and now I am in worse shape than I was then. How would I manage it? WHY would I?*
My next running endeavor is as a running buddy with Girls on the Run. DSF told me about them but so far I have only volunteered doing admin stuff (stuffing envelopes and the like). That oughtta be fun. Maybe the girls will remind me of the joy in the whole running game.
I may make the 12K’s of Christmas my next stretch goal. It is a new distance, 7 miles doesn’t sounds that awful and I haven’t really run a Christmas race before…if there aren’t 6 feet of snow it sounds cute (cue foreshadowing music?).
I am trying to get back to other types of training too. I swam for the first time since forever ago and…I have seen people on bikes recently. Guess I should keep working there.

*I would do it to show myself that I could beat it, be stronger, be proud of myself…blah blah blah




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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Wedding post #1

So we've been engaged 1.3 weeks and I am trying to fight off feelings of being behind. I know it is silly. Especially since Speedy gave me 3 things to do and I have gotten 1.5 of them accomplished.
I bought a notebook



and we've come up with a straw budget.

I just really want our day to be fun and to be surrounded by all of the people we love and to be personal and authentic to us.

What the heck does that look like?

We will figure it out I'm sure

We already had one wedding chore (looked at a venue). It was fun! TheCap was awesome and asked a bunch of great logistical questions that hadn't occurred to me.

So we are making progress for sure.

On the fitness side of things I think I'm getting back into the swing. Have had a few great 5mi treadmill runs and have started copying my old roomie's plan of weights while walking an incline.
Is it sad that I am following the workout plan of someone 32 weeks preggo. (it isn't. She is just WAY hardcore and awesome)



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Monday, October 25, 2010

Engagement: Point/Counterpoint

My sweetie and I had a great weekend celebrating my birthday (and more…).  We both had so much to share about it that we decided to wait to write it all down until we could both do a blog post together.  So he and I are sitting next to each other right now writing about the weekend from our individual perspectives.

Michael’s story:

I wanted to surprise Amber for her birthday.  We’d both been lamenting how quickly the summer had passed us by so I wanted to surprise her with a weekend getaway to somewhere warm.  After much deliberation, I finally settled on California, specifically Coronado Island.  We’d planned to go to California earlier this summer but had to postpone and we had a lot of fun on our last California adventure for her high school reunion last summer, so I thought we would really enjoy it.  So I asked Amber if she could do a three-day weekend over her birthday (10/16) and went ahead and booked it.  All I told her was that she should pack for someplace warm.

It wasn’t until we were parking at the airport Friday evening that I revealed our destination.  I actually managed to surprise Amber, and we were both excited for the weekend.  Of course, I had another surprise for her, but she didn’t know that quite yet.

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We arrived in San Diego late Friday evening, picked up a rental car, headed to Lowe’s Coronado Bay Resort, and finally settled in for the evening.  The next morning, we got up and after breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to do some exploring, starting with the beach.

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The only downside in my clever plan to whisk us away to somewhere warm and sunny was that it turned out that San Diego wasn’t warm and sunny.  It wasn’t too cold, so it wasn’t too bad, but it was still overcast.  Unfortunately, I was hoping for a nice sunny beach for Amber’s next surprise.  So I decided I would wait and hope for things to clear up.

We wandered around Coronado for a while, getting sand in our shoes and checking out the houses near the beach, then decided to head to Old Town and maybe do a trolley tour.

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It turned out that our visit coincided with an art fair there, so we wandered around the shops and the historic structures and checked out the art for some time.  Long enough to get pretty hungry.  But still no sun…

After looking around for a snack and not finding anything to our liking, we finally gave in and headed to El Cajon for the legendary carne asada burritos and fish rolled tacos.  We arrived at Guadalahara, but to our surprise, it was renamed and no longer served the fish rolled tacos.  At least they still had carne asada burritos.  And the person working there was a sister of a classmate of Amber’s that we had seen there last year.  As she did last summer, she asked if we were married yet.  Of course, the answer was no, but I got the feeling that the universe was trying to interject a little foreshadowing into our dining experience.

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We checked out what was playing at a nearby drive in theater for possible entertainment options later, then headed back to the hotel to chill out in the pool.  Still no sun though…

When we got back to the hotel, Amber started getting ready to head to the pool, but I couldn’t wait for my other surprise any longer, so I told her that I had a surprise for her, but I wanted to give it to her by the water.  So we walked out around the backside of the complex to a view of the Coronado Bay and Bridge.  That’s where I took Amber in my arms and time kind of stood still.  I told her how much I loved her and how I wanted to share my love and our commitment with our family and friends.  I pulled out the box that had the wedding ring I’d been carrying with me all day and asked Amber if she would marry me. 

Amber has been telling everyone how cool I was all day long and how I didn’t let on like anything was up right up until I told her about the surprise and took her to the view of the bay.  My only explanation is that I didn’t have any reservations at all, that I know without a doubt that I love her and that she feels the same.  It was an easy question to ask.

Amber’s answer was yes. 

The rest of the weekend was great.  We hung around the pool (not for long because the sun never really came out).  We went to Mission Beach and rode the rollercoaster.  We went to Sea World and out for a great dinner at Prado at Balboa Park.  We went to the beach again.  But for me, the rest of the weekend was us basking in happiness.  And looking at the ring on Amber’s finger and being happy and in love.

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Amber’s story:

A few weeks before my birthday, my sweetie told me we were going somewhere for my birthday! I was stoked, I figured Leavenworth or Victoria or somewhere nearby.

Then he asked which day I could take off, Friday or Monday. I said Monday and was even more excited.

About a week before he said we were flying and to pack for warm weather. I was totally blown away and curious where we were headed. I couldn’t wait to soak up some sun after the dreary summer we’d had. But where were we going?

We headed for the airport and pulled into the parking garage. Before letting a parking attendant steal his surprise he told me where we were going. Coronado Island!

I was really blown away. It was just too sweet. We’d been to San Diego together on what was one of my favorite trips to CA ever (thanks to having him as company). On that trip we’d driven over to Coronado because I had told him that as a kid it was one of the late night adventures my mom and aunts would take the kids on. We’d all pile in the car at midnight on a Saturday and drive over the bridge until the turn around point (so as not to pay the toll). When he and I were in SD in 2009 we’d driven over and gone to dinner and late night beach strolling down there. So it held a special place for me and for us together. In hindsight, maybe that should have been a clue J

Friday evening went so ridiculously smoothly. Made our flight- no prob, got our car- no prob and got into our hotel (one that I have LOVED since HS)- no prob. It was looking to be a seriously great weekend.

Saturday was my birthday. Sadly, it was kind of cold and dreary out. But no matter! We wandered around the beach for a bit, actually walking quite a while down the coast (potential clue #2?). Then, since the weather wasn’t clearing, we headed over to Old Town San Diego for touristy stuff. By this time we were just too close to my hometown to not stop by and have some carne asada burrito.

The woman at the taco shop had helped us when we were there last year and asked if we were married yet. We chuckled and said no. The Cap looked calm and cool.

We headed back to our hotel and had planned to go to the pool (it was 65 and cloudy but damn it, we were on vacation!). This is when his cool exterior cracked a bit. He said we should go for a walk out to the beach because he had a “surprise” for me. I did not see a software sized package in his hands.

My heart started to speed up.

We walked out to the terrace of the hotel which overlooks the bridge and the bay. Some of the most wonderful and loving words I’ve ever heard were spoken to me. Then he asked me to marry him and without a pause I said “yes!” I was totally stunned though. I didn’t expect it at all…until the walk for the surprise. I wanted to hear how he’d planned all this and how he had gotten a ring and HOW HE HAD ACTED SO COOL all day! I was in a bit of a daze over the fact that we’d just officially decided to join our lives. I was overjoyed by the fact that we’d just officially decided to join our lives.

I did manage to pull myself together a few minutes later and had a stranger take our pic.

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We then went back to the room and held each other. And goofily stared at each other. Every once in awhile saying “forever!” or “we’re going to be married!” He was less goofy than me but he did have the advantage of having known it was coming!

Then we went and rode a rollercoaster by the beach. I called my Mom.

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Seeing as it was still my birthday and there had yet to be cake, we went to Claim Jumper and got our favorite tiny toffee cake. And acted goofy there…taking pictures of us holding hands and such.

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The rest of the weekend was spent being San Diego tourists and hanging out with my sweetie and happily wrapping our heads around the idea that we’d just made a sizable commitment to each other. There were a few mentions of what kind of wedding we’d have and more than a few mentions of what kind of marriage and life we wanted to have.

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It was seriously one of the best weekends ever for me and I feel so loved and special. I am going to hold on to that feeling and work hard to make him feel loved and special every day.


**Note to my blog readers: Without shame I am going to talk about wedding planning. Running and biking and swimming too (well, hopefully …not that pre-wedding planning I have been the best at that) but also wedding stuff. And marriage stuff. Maybe work stuff too in the abstract. But the blog title “tri-ing to figure it out” will be renewed as figuring out how to get my booty in gear and maybe meet some new challenges (or revisit old ones), plan a wedding, prepare for a marriage and not get fired J I hope my 4 readers will understand.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

1.33 J*RPM

After the fun and excitement of yesterday I couldn't sleep this morning. So I went surfing for a bit. (the internet of course) then decided a run was what my happily scattered mind needed.

It was a beautiful path. Not such a beautiful day.



I set out for an easy 3ish miles (garmin died ~.25mi in).

Got to run a bit of the coronado strand.







Then I saw what looked like goat or maybe deer ears. But lo and behold there were a bunch of Jack rabbits. They were too speedy for me to get a pic. So I spent a few minutes walking slowly through the trail trying to get one. No dice but I've conveniently included a google-d image.



What to do with our day in SD?

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PS. This is the page of images that came up :)




Saturday, October 16, 2010

28...

Well, it is my 29th birthday (really). I think the reason people feel so much attachment to their 20s is because SO MUCH big life stuff tends to happen.

I guess I'll save waxing poetic about all of my life choices and their results until next year when my 20s are officially over.

Right now I am just so grateful for all the people I have in my life this year. I won't lie, it has been a doozy.

As I type, I'm on a plane with my sweetie heading for America's Finest City (and my childhood stomping grounds) on a SURPRISE weekend trip (he seriously didn't tell me until we were at airport parking!).






And I have never been more excited/touched. I can't wait to have a great SD weekend with my love (who also happens to be my fave travel buddy!). But I also can't wait to come home. While I could forgoe the work aspect of it all (they're majorly bugging me) I love my life and feel like there are so many good things to look forward to. People I love getting married (dsf!) and having babies(E!), my nutty nephews getting bigger and cooler, my sweetie and I figuring out the life we want together. I should probably expect some really crappy stuff too but I'll take a bit of that if the reward is even a fraction of as good as I've had before.

I'm not sad to see 28 go; too much stress, fear and too much sadness. But (as Captain Practical reminds me) there have been wonderful things too. We shacked up, my mom is getting better, Speedy got married. Good stuff.

So bring it 29.
I'm ready

Well, give me this one weekend please.




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Location:Up in the air!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Live blogging: 29miles on a stationary bike...hmm

Ok, I'm about 1 mile in and watching When In Rome.

Which will be worse? The movie or the ride?

7.2mi down. This is so much less fun than riding outside.

But I saw my bike pump yesterday and just couldn't stand the thought of more bike troubles on this ride. 7.7

More than halfway!
Took a stretch, my booty is feeling this already.

Done and done. Next year, outside!




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Sunday, October 10, 2010

Swim, check

My mom counted laps for me again this year (yay)




Then she requested Red Lobster's endless shrimp for dinner after (boo, well, yummy but the whole "endless" thing sounds like a dare to me so it wound up being a tad ridiculous.) But swim is officially done!

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Saturday, October 9, 2010

Run down, two to go

My sweetie said I should do my birthday challenge early so it is my goal to get it in this weekend.

As a reminder, this will be my 3rd year doing the b-fit b-day challenge. I've not been a stellar triathlete lately (like...2 years) but I still am doing the challenge.

I'll be 29 so
2000yd swim
29mi bike ride
9mi run

today I did the run.



It was pretty good. Started out rough but by mile 3 I was back in the groove.

Now I'm feeling lazy. I need to figure out the other two. My mom will count laps for me tomorrow but I am waffling on the bike.

Forcast for this weekend:



So I am thinking about using TheCap's stationary bike. Probably not tonight though.
Will report back after completion.


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Thursday, September 30, 2010

92.2%

That is my final score.

This is my result for the 30 days of home eats.

Assuming 30 days x 3 meals = 90 meals

I ate out as follows:

1. My sister hosted a dinner with a dear family friend at a restaurant

2. My cousin moved to town and we were all out and about and STARVING so I hosted a lunch with them

3. I had to work on the weekend and the Cap and I were starving for lunch

4. A bunch of former colleagues got together (at the yummiest Thai place…they give you summer rolls to start!) for lunch

5. Dentist tried to kill me so I had a shake and string cheese for lunch to ease my suffering (Hi Speedy  )

6. Break between nephews’ soccer games and a run to Taco Time with my mom

7. Began a quest to find the best Fish and Chips in Seattle when TheCap’s family came to town



So, here are the common denominators: Work, family and tooth decay.

Solution: Quit (if only), disown family (nah, they’re nutty but I love em), let the rest of the teeth in my mouth rot out (possibly happening anyway)

Ok seriously, the common factors are time and planning. In almost every instance we wound up eating out because an activity overlapped a meal (typically, a weekend lunch) and we’d planned poorly around it. The other factor is the social aspect. A few times we were asked to go out with friends but instead countered with an invite for a home cooked meal (well, pizza both times). Heck, we even wound up eating in on the Cap’s birthday (which I hope didn’t deprive him).

I do realize what a privilege it is to be able to decide to just grab a bite on the go if it is easier or will enhance your experience. It is nice to have that luxury and I will be careful not to abuse it.

I was telling TheCap that I my best take away from this was that it really made me think about what I was going to eat. It is SO easy to be tired and hungry and lose all sanity and hit the Black Angus. There is a sense of calm and satisfaction when you put on your big girl pants and figure it out and feed yourself.

I kind of like keeping an informal score of how it is going overall.

The one interesting thing TheCap brought up was that these 30 days didn’t inspire a lot of new and creative recipes. Maybe before our next report card!

Terrible picture, yummy weekend b-fast

Homemade Pizza


Birthday Fiesta!
Birthday Cake


Potential fire hazard

Gratuitus shot of my cute Cuckoo-head nephew