3: stay [LISTEN]

The WEverb12 prompt for today is:

How did you stay in the moment this year?

Honestly, I REALLY struggled with this in 2012. I would find myself so focused on the really big changes we are trying to make in our life that I’d lose sight of how incredibly lucky I am and how great my current life is. 

This is the first full year we have spent trying to grow our little family and kept coming up against obstacles and bad news everywhere we turned. I was very easily frustrated by all of this and got more anxious to just push to the end result and put all the BS behind us. Hell, I started researching daycare options. That is how far from being “in the moment” I was at times.  

Luckily for me, I have a really great husband who is able to gently nudge me back to the realization that, if I don’t live in the moment, I’ll miss some truly wonderful things. We have a good life. We were able to go to Hawaii this year, I got to go to the east coast for a couple of days to visit a dear friend, we visited family in OK, we made it to CA for a wedding. We got a few weekends away, just us and with friends. We painted the kitchen and our home is feeling homier and homier. We refinanced said house, my first foray into home buying.We both had jobs that brought us stress and had someone at home to buffer that. We cooked and baked together. We have been Weight watchers members together the entire year and have each lost more than 10% of  our own body weight.

So, I have to confess that I didn’t live in the moment all the time but, thanks im large part to M, I did spend most of my time there.

With no apologies, 2: watch [LIVE]

 

I saw this set of prompts on a blog I read (which too had gone silent for months). So I’m gonna try to participate in WEverb12 myself.  Weverb12 is “a series of questions/prompts that ask you to reflect on 2012 and look forward to 2013.” I will be answering a question/prompt every day as the mood strikes me this month and publishing it here.

Day 2: What movie did you see this year that you would recommend to a friend?

It probably helps that it was very recent but Argo was an awesome flick. M and I saw Argo as one of our lazy CA trip movies. We saw three in total in those few days and this one stood out head and shoulders.I went into it wanting to know more about the history but truly not thinking it’d be as entertaining as it was. It completely revived my love of historical dramas. Now I need to get my butt in to see Lincoln. 

Time for a new header?

Because I’ve been married for a YEAR already!

It was such a great day and the year has been pretty darn good too.Maybe I’ll wax poetic about what I learned about weddings and my family later today but, for now, I just wanted to share one special wedding dance. Not our first one (cause honestly, that was slightly painful) but the last song of the night.

This is the song I dedicated to Michael because it says so many things about the way he makes me feel. I said during our ceremony that, being a bit of a loner, I love that being with him is equally as comfortable if not better.

M, This past year has been great and I am excited for more to come. Thanks for making me free in you.

Free In You
Indigo Girls

A hard knock
A cold clock
Ticking off my time
A long look
But no luck
Couldn't seem to find
Or unwind
Into peace of mind
While I was trying

A quick glance
A big chance
My heart beat like a drum
I saw you
And I knew
Chances just don't come
Round again
Not like this
First a laugh
Then a kiss

And I'm free in you
I've got no worries on my mind
I know what to do
That's to treat you right
And love you kind
Thank you ever on my mind
Love is just like breathing
When it's true
And I'm free in you

The lost time
And self pride
Are my big mistakes
A clear voice
A bad choice
Sounding like an ache
In my day
Not too bad
But too real
To go away
But now I'm free in you

I've got no worries on my mind
I know what to do
That's to treat you right
And love you kind
Thank you ever on my mind
Love is just like breathing
When it's true
And I'm free in you

And I don't know
How you show
Such gentle disregard
For the ugly in me
That I see
That for so long
I took so hard
And I truly believe
That you see the best in me
I'm enough
for your  love
And that thought
Sets me free

Free in you
Got no worries on my mind
I know what to do
That's to treat you right
And love you kind
Thank you ever on my mind
Love is just like breathing
When it's true
And I'm free in you
Yes I'm free in you

Crafty Aunty Win

My birthday present for my baby niece’s first birthday turned out so cute I had to share.

I was looking at knob puzzles as a potential birthday present when I came across this one:

And I had an idea! A personalized puzzle. So I bought this puzzle and a shape puzzle, with the idea that I’d make an immediate family puzzle and an extended family one.

My sister’s family is four kids plus a mom and dad. For the immediate family one I chose pictures of each of them (being a little silly) and set to work.

The only fruit that I assigned specifically was the banana. Other than that I just tried to match the shape with the frame of the snapshot I’d chosen.

I used the puzzle piece as a stencil and cut out the image into the appropriate shape.

Then it was time to secure the pictures. I was using spray glue but found it was really messy and unwieldy. After messing up a couple of pics, I figured out that if I put a small tape loop on the front of the image and secured it to a piece of scrap cardboard, less glue got on the front of the image AND I could hold the tape, rather than the picture itself, when placing it into the puzzle frame.  

I think it turned out so cute and I will be doing this again for other babies in my life. I think it is a great gift for a one year old (since they don’t really have their hearts set on anything specific and generally don’t care).
Finally, I wrote on the front (in my chicken scratch )
Odessa’s Family Is Bananas on the banana which was the family picture.

Some of the images are from the construction of the extended family puzzle but the final product is the fruit basket immediate family.

Wow, I dropped the ball on this one

Opened up live writer today and saw this post. So here it is…only about a month overdue. I’m not even going to improve upon it. Just make up a story from all of the pictures (one hint: It is pronounced KWEE-Chee)
 
This past weekend I made a quick trip to visit my friend Ali in New Hampshire. It was awesome

Ironheart 8-miler

This was an even tinier race than GoodKarma. It was also SUPER well organized, the parking was easy, there were clean bathrooms with flushing toilets and the shirt was incredibly cute.

I am keeping my eye open for this race next year (I am a little concerned that they won’t be able to stage it because it was really low turnout).

As for my run, it was good. I was a bit fast for the first four miles and then was sort of feeling it after that (9’ miles for the first 4, then 10’ miles for the rest, overall 9:30 pace).

The shirt was crazy cute!

(whoops, I thought this had published a week ago )

Defying Gravity, that cruel mistress

Tonight I met up with a friend and FINALLY checked out AIRobics at Sky High Sports.

This trampoline place is one of my favorite places in the area. We went for my sister’s birthday party last year and have been back a couple times since. I love tramp-ing so, so, so much. I feel very free and weightless. I am a flipper on a tramp and love that these ones are so spacious. Since I love the place, I was intrigued by the offering of a workout class. Normal tramp time is freaking exhausting so I was sure that the class would be brutal but fun.

 

I was right! It was super hard. The class started with warm ups, then squats and lunges on the trampoline. This added a degree of difficulty in that you’re much less stable on the wobbly surface. Then we started cardio intervals. This was a lot of jumping and a few group activities like ball passing and catching and relay races across the trampolines. Finally we did some core work on the trampoline. Again, because of the instability (and the fact that I have no core strength to speak of) this was tough.

It was a lot of fun. Even though it thoroughly sucked I could not stop smiling. I think you can’t help but smile whilst tramp-ing.

as a side note: While the class was going on there was open jumping on the front half of the gym. The population of that was ~90% teenage boys with killer moves. They were flipping and bouncing off the walls like pros. So, if you’re a teenage girl I highly recommend an evening at Sky High, for the jumping of course.

another side note: that much jumping is a tad hard on the bladder. I need to be sure to void beforehand and not drink too much and maybe get better about using this app.

You say calzone, I say Stromboli

I got overwhelming feedback (Hi DSF) about the picture of the stromboli creation M and I have been making for the past few months, so I thought I’d address it in detail.

I will go back and gush some more about the wonder of the method taught by Artisan Bread in 5-Minutes a Day. It is freaking fantastic and makes me wish even more fervently that bread was a vegetable. The loaves we turn out form the basic recipe are so good; I honestly can’t justify buying a loaf from a store for both price and taste considerations. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.

One time we had a little dough leftover and some ricotta cheese in the fridge and decided to try the dough for Stromboli. And hence, deliciousness was born!

Here is our basic method:

1. Weigh out 6oz of dough for each person. This gives a decent dinner size portion.
2. Roll out to a thin oval. It should be pretty thin to get a good size final product but not so thin that the dough will falter under topping pressure
   .
3. TRICKY part, transfer to parchment on a pizza peel or sheet.
   
4. Top it in the center. A layer of drier toppings should go on the dough first.*
   
5. Where this recipe wins me over is in flair! For the braided effect cut slits on either side of the toppings.
   
6. Pull the top and bottom flap toward each other.
   
7. Alternating sides pull each strip to the opposing sides.
   
8. On the final flap, tuck any loose ends.
   
9. Bake at 425 for about 30min.

Enjoy!

 

We’ve probably done this four or five times now and have been happy each time. I want to make ham and cheese sometime…I think that’d be delicious.

* Caution not to use too juicy of ingredients or too much sauce. I lew too close to the sun tonight and made  bit of a mess on the pizza stone.

Gotta Love Small Races

Haha! I placed 8th in my age group, 40th amongst women and 107th overall at the GoodKarma5k.
On a related note, how do people run 5:35 miles? 3.1 of them!?! With hills?



It is beyond nuts.

Necesito practicar MUCHO

One way in which I’ve decided I am going to proactively fight the feeling that I am a lazy, slack ass and have lost the ability to learn things, is I am taking online Spanish lessons.

I looked into a community college class but felt like I was a bit between classes. I have taken three years of Spanish (eons ago) so starting in the first semester class seemed like I might get frustrated but starting in the second semester class might have been a (major?) reach.

So I put an item on my calendar to study my Español at home. I signed for a Gold Key at Live Mocha which is turning out to be a pretty cool language learning toolbox. With my key I have access to any of the languages but I think focusing on this one is in my best interest.

The program, as I’ve figured it out so far, has a few interesting components. Each lesson starts with vocab/phrase learning and associates the words with pictures (like Rosetta Stone). Then there is a mixture of exercises where you identify or put together phrases. Then there is a written component and an audio component. Here is where it gets interesting. Your written/vocal submissions go to other users who are fluent in the language you’re studying. They submit feedback and you’re given English learners to review.

I was telling M that they’re a tad harsher than my fellow 10th graders were. I am still feeling a bit shy about it all and haven’t engaged anyone as a language partner.

The truth? I don’t take naturally to languages. I always got pretty good grades in language class because I was a good test taker. I learned the conjugations and was great at inferring. This method of learning is a bit more open (and more like how children learn their native language I suppose) and feels harder for me.

I have a gold key for one year…let’s see how much progress I make.  

Good Karma 5k

I hadn’t heard of this run but DSF told me about it when she graciously shared a silent auction win of race entry with me. It is a cool idea for a race; from a list you pick the charity of your choice to run for.

Sadly, DSF got sick and had to bow out for today. I attempted to take pics during the run to give her a thorough description of the race. It started at 9am at Seward Park which is a bit off the beaten path to get to but I finally figured out a quicker route which overjoys me.

The pre-race festivities included booths for the various charities. Runners were encouraged to bring non-perishable food donations, drop off old running shoes and there was even an animal adoption wagon.

We lined up at the start and the race kicked off right on time. It was a bit of a crush through the sidewalk width start line. It was pretty tight for the first quarter mile or so before we dispersed a bit. We were getting in our grooves until 0.5miles in when the route went up into the hills of Seward Park. It was a bit of a climb until mile 1. After a bit of up and down we were mercifully headed downhill and the rest of the run would be flat and smooth sailing.

I am semi-familiar with the route around the park and felt like we were getting close to the finish. As I was running and admiring the cute puppies racing too I came up behind a dog that looked like our friends’ rat terrier…it was him! And his owners were walking with him and their beagle. I said a quick hello and told them Id see them at the finish line. The last mile was good, my average pace was going steadily down. I actually pushed hard to the finish and was really pleased with my 9:17/mi pace.

But I sort of felt like crap. I really HATE how I feel when I run hard. I tried to regain control of my tummy while I waited to catch a pic of our friends crossing the finish line.

Afterwards we hung out for a few minutes. The post race was pretty slim but fun enough. The food was Dave’s Killer Bread. They had samples of the sin-dawg…OH MY GOSH, so good!

I said goodbye and then headed out to get a few more miles in so I could make this my long run.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Sporks! It was fun but I missed ya.

Now, we may all notice that I said I brought my camera, yet didn’t share any pictures. Yeah, running with a camera is HARD. Here are the gems I managed to get.

(There were at least 15 signs warning of poison oak!)


( I attempted to get a pic of Phil and Suzanne over my shoulder)

Yeah, photography FAIL.