The end...

The end of a long week end, the end of november, the end of my 7.7 miles run...
This was a busy busy week end but yet relaxing.
On friday we went to Road runner sport to get us both a new pair of running shoes and browse at the cold weather gear.
We did buy shoes but could not bring ourselves to spend 100$ on gear we would use once a year in France.
After that we headed to Jasmine for Dim Sum and spent for 4 what I spent for myself on monday. But full and happy we then headed to Guitar Center for Bryan to a) gawk at guitars, b) see what is there for small kids and c) buy some strings, picks and capo.
It was a little crazy but we of course did see some really nice guitars, the kids had fun and we found all what was needed.
Then we headed back home where Solana, Amber and Chris arrived as we walked through the door and we played at the park.
Finally the kids watched a movie, ate went to bed, I made us some tomato soup one of my favorite recipe from Williams sonoma followed by the chocolate cake we didn't have the night before. Bryan made me watched pan's labyrinth which was a good movie but extremely sad and harsh.
Saturday morning Bryan went surfing, I made the kids some french toast, then we went to the park. When Bryan got back I went on my bike ride by myself and went for a long one 21 miles. It was nice except that I fell well tipped over would be more appropriate ;)
After that famished we ran to Roberto's for a quick burrito and drove home where Jessica and Ryan were waiting for us. Ryan set up his drums in the garage and Bryan played on their really nice electric guitar and tried to sing. The poor thing we could barely hear him.
Miles decided to jam with the grown up too so he borrowed some drum sticks and set us various buckets around him and banged on them. It was really cute and I think I will buy him an electronic toy set for christmas.
I took my flute out and played with Jessica and I really hope that we will be able to play but sadly I first have to have my flute fixed one of the pad isn't closing properly.
That evening was relaxing.
This morning I decided that the kitchen had to be cleaned... So I cleaned while the kids were playing and Bryan was sleeping in. Once it was all shiny I made pancakes, talked to my mom. Then we decided that we needed a christmas tree.
We came back I wipped something for lunch put the kids to bed and I was off for my run.
I broke my weekly high at 19 miles and my monthly high at 60.8 miles ! The run was a little tough maybe because I ate only 1 hour before!!!!
Now I need to stretch a little, take a hot shower. The kids are still asleep and Bryan went for his run.

Happy Happy

First of all I'm super psyched because our camera recovered from the rain and is now working and ditto for Bryan's cell phone.
I finally bought new running shoes and we spent less than expected however I could not motivate to buy running gear for cold weather and I really think I'm gonna regret it. I talked to my dad and it is like 30 or less right now in France brrrrr.
Turkey dinner was good but the turkey was a little salty to my taste but I will rinse it better next time.
Today I also decided to give another go to my guitar playing.
Tonight I'm probably going to cook tomato soup or maybe something easier, I need to really really motivate and pick up my roller and finish the first coat of this stupid bathroom.... It doesn't look promising but maybe a couple glasses of white wine will help.

Turkey Dinner

So I could not take any pictures of our dinner since our camera didn't survive the pouring rain. I do hope it will dry up and be fine in a couple of days.
So I got all my recipes off the williams sonoma site and I of course adjusted them to the ingredient I have in my pantry cuz don't think that I made a list and gotten what I needed ;)

This is also my first turkey eventhough it was a baby one only 6.75lbs. I brined it for 24 hours in some brine mixt I bought at Williams sonoma and buttermilk. I did rinse it but I should have done a little more because the meat was still fairly salty.

With that I made what was supposed to be Apple-Shallot stuffing which turned out to be Apple bacon red onion stuffing. It was delicious.
Bryan made his famous mashed potato to which we added some cheddar cheese. I did make some real gravy.

Finally for dessert I made the chocolate fondant from the williams sonoma site. But since we are too stuffed we will be eating those in a little bit.
Of course as usual I started a little late since I was kicking back while the kids were sleeping. I actually watched 2 episodes of Bones... This isn't good I'm starting to watch TV during the day.

Oh gotta go major crisis, the kids are screaming, Bryan is playing piano. Sugar is kicking in.... and it is time for bed

Thanksgiving 10K

We started our thanksgiving celebration by getting up at 6 am to go run a 10K. Bryan was wishy washy to go since rain was on the menu. When he looked at the forecast they predicting a 10% chance of rain. We loaded up the car with kids, strollers and en route for our 10K.
After my debacle of the 5K I was a little stressed. We met with Jessica and Ryan and Kevin although we lost them.
Here we are starting this 10K and of course in the midst of the crowd we ran a nice 9min/mile pace... At mile 2 my knee started giving me grief. Grrrr should have bought a new pair. Since I really really wanted to finish this race I decided to manage my knee and slow down a little and I was able to. At about 4 miles it started raining and then 2 minutes later it started pouring!!!! I sent Bryan up ahead so that the kids would not be too wet. At miles 5 Jessica and Ryan caught to me and nicely helped pushing through the last mile. I picked up my pace for the last miles and sprinted nicely in the last downhill before the finish line so when I hit the flat part I was not in a good shape but eventhough I slowed down a bit I finished and according to my Garmin and Jessicas we finished with an overall pace of 9:38!
I am so proud of that accomplishment.
But oh boy we were sooo drenched and as we walked back the car a few blocks away from the race we totally got dumped on and my shoes were so filled with water than they were making sloshing sound... We got the kids in the car, removed their soaking wet pants and put them in their car seat. Blasted hot air in the car and drove to a nice warm shower, followed by the best waffles ever thanks to a french chef yum yum.
Now I want to know the official race results and I will load the Garmin stuff and see a little better how the race was.
But a l'ordre du jour we are going to relax maybe even take a nap!
The turkey is brining in a brine mixt from Williams sonoma I didn't have time to buy all the spices to make my own and buttermilk, I will make some stuffing too and mashed potatoes and some chocolate mousse or cake.
Stay tune for more....

Formal apologies

I have to apologize online to my husband for hinting in a previous post that he was showing off by running 6.4 miles pushing the kids when I was home. He did it just for me since I was sick that day he took the kids away from the house in order for me to rest.
Thank you.

Holiday week

I knew this morning that the day will be very calm at work when I hoped on the 56 and there were no cars in sight! Bryan stayed home with Maia since she was sick yesterday and the school has a 24 hour policy.
I on the other hand went to work. I have a project to finish before I leave for my christmas vacation and unfortunately it is only 2.5 weeks away and with this mangled week time is going to go by fast for a change ahahaha.

What else is new I am back on the running scene I went for intervals today 2 miles warm up 6x0.25 miles at 8:40 min/miles, 2 minutes recovery and then I was supposed to finish by a 2 miles cool down.
Unfortunately during my 5th interval my knee started hurting and I was only able to run 4.92 miles.
Now I of course have the headache, the kneeache but I am pretty content. Also I calculated that since I've started my training 15 weeks ago I have run so far 165 miles! Even with low weeks yuppy!

I found a small turkey so for the first time ever I will cook a real Thanksgiving dinner and not a french version of it. I think I'm going to use one of the recipe from Williams sonoma which I will be looking for right now!

Monday creative day...

I'm in serious need of inspiration when it comes to my blog title ahahaha. So today I had to leave work a little early since Maia had thrown up 4 times in less than 1 hour and I didn't want to leave Bryan alone with the 2 kids one sick. It's just plain no fun. On my way home I went to Von's to pick up all the things that I forgot to put on the list for Bryan's trip to Tradder joes. I stopped by the flower stand since the last items I have to do for the wedding flowers are the corsage and the bouttonieres. I don't know by which end to tackle that problem and since my ADD has a tendency to kick in in such situation I procrastinate.

Except that I don't have much time to procrastinate since the wedding is coming up fast! So here I am picking up white roses, curly willows love those thing and a bunch of greens. I decided to at least try a corsage and make my weekly bouquet.

So here is the result of 30 minutes of wrestling with flowers, green, curly willow, flower tape and wire.

Now I just have to figure out how is it going to pinned and if it is too heavy etc.... I also have to adapt this corsage into a wrist thingy. Also to match the wedding flower more closely I will add some of the hypecurium (I think) or coffee berry, and maybe replace the long leaf eucalyptus by some more round foliage.

Anyways I was pretty happy with my first try.

I also made a neat flower arrangement for my kitchen but didn't take a picture maybe tomorrow.

Sometimes I wonder if I should use this creative inclination of mine and make something more of it. Nah lets keep it as a hobby unfortunately I think I still need to use my brain or the little of it I have on a regular basis. So I will still be a Software Engineer / Geek for a little while longer.

I'm planning on having an intense running week to make up for my previous week and beat my 60.5 miles of last month. I would like to run 6 miles tomorrow, 6 miles on thursday and then maybe 8-10 miles on sunday!!!! Of course now that I put that down and published it to the world I'm gonna only be able to run 2 miles ;) Stay tune cuz right now I feel like running into my bed!

Cooking spree...

Towards the end of the week I felt bad for being lazy in the kitchen and went on a cooking spree.
Thursday night I was hungry as usual, desperate at the state of my fridge and craving something homey but healthy.
So I decided to slice some potatoes, toss them in a mixture of pressed garlic and olive oil, and then I decided to add some leeks sliced. I put everything in a pyrex dish and into the oven, where it cook for a good 30 minutes until the potatoes were golden.
This a side dish I will keep in mind when making pork either roast or chops or even steak.

On friday night I went one step further and actually started cooking dinner before the kids went to bed. I decided to try something entirely new and to adapt a Jamie Oliver recipe couscous and lamb recipe. I replaced the lamb by chicken since Bryan doesn't like lamb. The recipe is a little complicated since there are actually 4 steps to it.
1- First rub the meat with a mixture of spices since I'm always missing something I tend to extrapolate. Here I mixt cumin, coriander, rosemary, a little curry powder and a little paprika I think. I rubbed my chicken drumsticks and put them in the oven at 400 to let them cook.
2- Then you need to sautee oignons in olive oil added garlic and chickpea with some water and balsamic vinegar. Didn't put the whole cup of vinegar since I didn't really know how it would taste and I have to admit that I was a little suspicious.
3- Finally I cooked the couscous in chicken bouillon.
4- Then I put a layer of couscous at the bottom of a dish, poured the chickpea in the middle, added the chicken and covered with the rest of the couscous. Then you cover the dish with a piece of foil and you cook for another hour.

This was very tasty. However next time I do it I will add more spices and definitely more juice it was a little dry. I would also put less couscous and more meat/chickpea.

Finally today I made an upside down pear cake. I am the queen of fruit crumbles and Bryan asked me to find another way to bake fruits. I started making upside down cakes. It also reminds me of my paternal grandmother's cake.

Bryan loves them and since I don't bake that often I decided to make the kids happy and save my pears at the same time.
http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/caramelized-pear-upside-down-cake.aspx
Since once again I don't have all the ingredient I replaced the brown sugar by granulated sugar I didn't put the ginger nor the cinnamon. The result is pretty good maybe a little sweet. I will put less sugar next time.
Tonight will be back to lazy night with Tamales from tradder joes.
Or not, Bryan looked in the freezer for tamales and we are out of them ;( So I looked at recipe online and invented a "mexican casserole".... It was a huge success. I will write down the recipe in another post since I'm falling asleep. Stupid cold.

Blah day

We had a wonderful evening at Sushi Ota with Jessica and Ryan last night the food was awsome and we had a lot of fun.
Today after going to bed way to late and being woken up way too early I know only 7:30 but still, we went to swimming lesson. As usual Maia burst into tears as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. She has this miserable little face. She did stop crying and almost laughed. We are making progress. Miles of course had a blast!
After the pool we went back home, and I knew I had to blow off my run tonight arghhhh I feel crapy just enough to not be able to do anything athletic but not enough to just go to bed so instead I sent Bryan to do the grocery shopping, the kids to bed and I watched an episode of Bones while folding laundry.
Then the kids woke up and as Bryan got ready to go for his run they both wanted to go with him. So we bundled them up and they left with their dad. I think he wants to train for the 10K next week or to just show off. Anyways I cleaned up the kitchen watching yet another episode of Bones and baked an upside down pear cake to a) save my pears and b) bake something for the kids and Bryan to reward his effort.
This week has left me very frustrated on the running side. I was only able to log 5.5 miles!!! I know I know its like I totally got lazy I was a little sick I even had a temperature of 99.6 ahahah the good joke maybe I'll convince myself that I am not a lazy butt.
Anyways the cake smells delicious and is going to make the whole family happy.
On another front I started spending a lot of time of facebook where I reconnected with kids I went to school with, well they are not kids anymore we are all approaching 35 at an alarming rate. I wasn't sold on facebook at first but the opportunity I had to exchange news with people I haven't seen in 20 years is awsome! Thanks to all of you who sent me a little hello it means a lot to me.

Sushi here we come...

Yeah we are going to sushi tonight!!!! wait why am I so exited we only go to sushi like almost once week and never less than once month ahahah but I am sooo addicted and I am looking forward to tonight.
In the mean time I am glad to report that this really irritating week has ended. Nothing major happened but just a series of little nagging events happened all week long.

The tempermental treadmill which turned a 5 miles run into a 2.5, a presentation which took a lot of my week, a wallet who played hide and seek and won, a DVD who decided to stutter just at the end of a Bones episode leaving us frustrated after trying to play it in 3 different computer, a cold which decided to show up a week before my 10K.

On the other hand this week wasn't all bad, I did run a "real" tempo run with Jessica at 9:35 min/miles pace even with a little walking break, my presentation did go well, I did manage to cook something for Miles classroom potluck if only a salad. Sorry Maia I ran out of salad and energy for yours on friday .

lotz...

A few nights ago I did write this long post since it had been a very frustrating day but of course the laptop I was on lost the connection and my post got lost in lalala land bewteen my computer and the server which totally summarize my day.
Anyways it was tuesday interval day and after fighting trying to figure out this health insurance coverage thing I went to gym with Jessica. We went early so all the treadmills were free... The weather of course super dry and hot. Anyways feeling like walking rather than sprinting I started my warm up after 5 minutes I zap myself on the treadmill which in returns just dies. Start again 5 minutes later same thing..... Grrrrrr... Switch treadmills, warm up 5 more minutes and do my first intervals, cool down and as I start my second half mile interval at 9:15 min/mile pace the treadmill dies once more. This totally disrupted my rythm I decided to stop after a 2.5 miles the lowest mileage in like 14 weeks! I decided to go back to the gym in the evening.
Disgusted I get back to my desk only to find an email from my boss volonteering me to do a presentation on thursday morning at 8:30am.
Of course frantically I try to gather some thoughts about the backbone of my presentation and now I have to get the kids from school and of course here goes my second half of my run.
Anyways wednesday was spent working to put together this presentation no break for lunch, so no swim, worked until 7:30pm. Thank go for my husband!
Thai for dinner, call from the boss discussion about the presentation at 10pm, scratchy throat and running around frantically to clean up a little before the house keeper.
The presentation wen well although I feel like it lasted 2 minutes and today was recovering from the preparation of that talk. Jessica took me for a 3 mile tempo run and i did succeed to drag her outside and we started soooo fast and we kind of got tired midway through, had to stop a little bit because of side stich and then sprinted down hill and ended up at 9:35 even with the walking.
We were both panting for a while. It was fun though. I like running with someone who is as fast as you and as "competitive". We have a great dynamic and push each other without competing in a bad way. Really fun
Then I left work a little early and spend 30 minutes at Anthropologie to scout for christmas gift for my sister. This store is evil, I found so much... But settled for a really cute hat and a cute blouse which I would have gladly kept for mysefl. I did buy myself a white shirt on super sale for 20$ did try the cutest dress but 99$ was out of my budget!
Anyhow I need to go cook since my lunch was very miscellaneous : small bag of cheetos, a banana, the second half of my chocolate croissant with a hot tea, half a rice cake before realizing that I was craving salty rather than sweet, and popcorn. Needless to say I am famished!
Yes I forgot to mention that I am getting sick!!! a week before my 10K Grrrr.... I have to at least run 8 miles this saturday but may just go for 5

Sooo late

Short post since I should probably be sleeping by now but I still have some laundry to do! Can't we invent this great little robot do unload, fold and put away laundry!
Anyways sunday morning swimming lesson was less traumatic for the whole family. Maia almost smiled but kind of frowned the whole time which is a huge step up from the screams of despair we had last sunday. Miles of course loved it.
After that we spent the afternoon at home, enjoying the 90 degree weather (30-35) trying to motivate to go for our long run. Since I weasled my way out of my bike ride it was tough to weazle my way out of my run too. Especially with all the moaning and whining I do about my weight appearance etc... So thank god the temperature went down enough for us to run a pleasant 5.2 miles.
Today I did some yoga with Jessica since I don't think I really stretched for the past 2 weeks and like 30 miles! I can tell you that my legs were tight but then again I am not known for my flexibility. She did made me do the bridge with my head on the floor that was painful for me but to look at too I'm sure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy17YZ8lJOw&feature=related
I only put my head on the ground. I tried again later tonight to show my husband but he just laughed at my effort...
Anyways I am sore and I really hope that the temperature is going to be better tomorrow.

Another saturday in paradise...

I know I complain a lot about the weather and the fact that it is like 85 degrees fahrenheit (28 celsius) in mid november. This totally sucks for my running cuz I hate running in the heat and now it is dark super early. However today I sure enjoyed the weather.
We spend some time at the beach. The kids played in the sand and the water crazy!, Bryan surfed of course and I read a little bit.
Today I was way too lazy to go for a bike ride which was partly due to this new chick lit that I started yesterday and I can't put down so I read until like 12:30 and the kids woke up nicely at 7 am this morning :(
Anyways nothing that a nice cup of coffee can't cure, after cleaning the kitchen mess from last night making some banana pancakes from my fav recipe site williams sonoma and ok a 10K project on our backyard auouch we went to the beach.

I started knitting again, I just finished a sweater for Miles and I am hoping to finish one for Maia soon. Sophie in a yarn store is like a kid in a toy store. I think I get more excited than when I go into a clothe store or even shoe store.
I just love the colors, the textures and the creativity.
So anyways I willed myself into buying only what I needed and one pattern book. Miles already ordered his next sweater too cute.

Besides that not too much, I am cooking bolognese sauce since our neighbors are coming for dinner.
Last night I settled for chicken with paprika, wild mushroom and creamy sauce over rice. Yummy but not healthy at all. At lunch I had a lamb burger again yummy but not healty and I am still full.
I feel such like a blob right now but ah well I'll run my 7-8 miles tomorrow and all will be better.
Anyways better help the hubbie who had to deal with the little one falling into the toilet and then peeing on the floor ahahahah. Parenthood is always an adventure ;)

What's for dinner...

Oh boy when every night of the week I struggle to find something to cook we are in trouble. It is time to open up the cookbooks and look for new ideas. Thanks to Jamie Oliver I can find multitudes of ideas now the difficult part is to figure out what the dinner menu will consist of. I have pork chop in the fridge, chicken and ground beef in the freezer. It is already 7:40 and all I know I want something good which isn't "my idea" of fast food.
I think we have a particular definition for fast food which is easy to prepare food also food that can be prepared by my husband. The favorite of the moment are ravioli with brocolinis a little cream and some olive oil. The other one is Potato Cheddar pirogis, first sauteed in a little bit of olive oil, I then add a little cream, chopped cilantro. Bryan on the other hand developed a very interesting sauce. Once the pirogis are crispy he sautee them in General Tsao sauce. Then he adds soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. Sometimes we also have tamales from Tradder Joes.
So now I am starving and hungry something but I don't quite know what!

Today didn't escape the series of blah Friday, I went to the bookstore looking for garden magazine in order to present the landscape artist what I have in mind for our backyard project and came out with runner magazine and two books. Then I went for lunch at the little sushi place and ate sushi at the bar while reading a book.
Finally I wanted to buy some mums to test the pomander making but nothing in the store inspired me! Sorry Jessica. In other word I should have gone swimming although now I have something to read!
On a bright note I completed the project I have been struggling with all week Yuppi onto another challenge/puzzle. Also I finally put together the family pictures requested by the kids teacher just about 6 month ago! I feel such like a bad mother.
So onto the beginning of my post what the heck are we going to have for dinner tonight:
- potato leek soup
- pork chop with something
- gnocchi with some kind of sauce
- I have no F... clue
- Just wine...

I almost forgot but yesterday I flew my husband's newest toy which is an indoor little plane. It was actually really fun but really looks and sounds like a dragonfly.

Hmmm

Earlier tonight I had a great subject for my post. Something different from running, complaining about my weight! But of course since then we had dinner, a little wine, watched TV fell asleep in front of the TV and now all I can think of for my post is how hard my run was at lunch.
Today was 5 miles tempo run, of course today it was warm even a little hot around 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit and no cool breeze. I started great, felt good. I was following a guy who seemed upset that I was so close behind him but unfortunately it made me go at a fairly fast pace of 8:30-9:30 min/miles. Of course at miles 3 I died, well my legs died. The last 2 miles were run 1.5-1.75 and walk 0.25 miles. Ah well can't be good every time ;) I will download the data from my Garmin GPS tracking device.
Other than that my pants got here and I fit in them. A few pounds less will be better but at least I don't look like a saussage and that was 80$ well spent. I of course have to hem them.
Tonight I was lazy again and instead of cooking lasagnas like I planned to we made an easy meal of raviolis and brocolini.
I finished the back of Maia's sweater I think she will be able to wear it for a couple years!
This is the end of a very dry and boring post!

Sake talk

Since the results of the body fat calculator of the magazine didn't make me happy and I can't really lose 3% body fat overnight I decided to recalibrate my body fat scale. Yeah my 2 year old is able to recalibrate the age, and height but it took me 10th trys and some serious motivation me on the acceptance range to do it.
So this morning just before my shower like every morning I know I'm insane here I am on the scale. This is a much nicer body fat measurement which puts me in between the in shape and acceptance zone, it is the gray zone the no man's land. This is made me much happier.
Especially because I knew today I wouldn't be able to make it to my swimming session. Lots stacked up at work and those longer runs take too much time at lunch for me. I either have to run faster thus more mileage in less time, get out of bed at 6 and run before the kids get up or run less! Thankfully the bulk of my training is going to be during my vacation in France.
Today I went to lunch really quick lunch with Jessica. It is actually nice to sit down and have a meal together and talk instead of either running alongside at the gym with our headphones jammed in our ears or via a keyboard. we can actually talk to each other and not t
When I complained to her that I was tired and not really in the mood for cooking she convinced me, I am weak, to go out to sushi my favorite. However when I invited them to join us she came up with a lame excuse... Hmmmm I wonder why a dinner with 2 young kids at a restaurant wasn't too apealing ;), maybe because she did it before and competing for attention with a 4 year old may be out of her league... Sorry I'm getting carried out and very facetious ;)
Then I folded 3 loads of laundry in front of 3 episodes of Bones one episode for a load ;) Gosh I love that show.... Then off to bed cuz tomorrow I have 5 miles tempo run scheduled and I'd like to make it in tempo time if weather permits meaning in San Diego terms if the temperature is below 80!

Running running but after what....

Today was interval training, the dreaded 3x1miles at 9:15 min/mile pace. Including warm up and the 2 min recovery I managed to run 5.2 miles. I wanted to go longer but I can't take 2 hours lunch break, 1:30 is already a stretch.
I forced myself to drink G2 before and after the run. I hate it it is siropy and salty at the same time. I also had a pack of GU before running. All this actually kept headache and nausea at bay!
The run was actually much easier than I expected and I was totally drenched in sweat. Each time I exercize I wonder how those beautiful woman manage to look so sexy and refreshed when I am sweaty and red. Do they actually have AC installed?
When we came into the gym, 2 guys were walking on the treadmill. One of them was slow walking up hill in a meditative state.... In which part of the world is this considered working out.... Leave the runners on the treadmill and go enjoy the fresh air outside.
Oops sorry that was really mean and uncalled for but maybe true! I am incorrectible.
I took several break during the afternoon to try to figure out my ideal weight!. According to my BMI I am in the healthy range why don't they have a hot and sexy range. Since I think the BMI stuff is a little crap I decided to use the body fat calculator Of course as expected the result was a little less positive. According to this rough calculation I am 25.6% which is in the acceptance range! Unfortunately I can't lie to myself it is exactly where I am I can hide it under my clothe but not to the naked eye :(
The problem is that at the rate this is going I will be in the in shape range (21-24) in another 10 years or so...
Yeah sadly I have been working on consistently and pretty hard for 13 weeks now. Without being on a hard core diet but yet being careful about what I eat and how much I only lost 1.5lbs!
It is hard to be a woman and it is even harder to grow older! Well maybe it is just the woman part since my husband's body fat puts him in the great shape borderline athlete zone! Not fair furthermore I am not even allowed to complain about not losing weight until an entire year of this workout regimen. Well in those all grim news I can hope to be hot for my 10th year anniversary and 35th birthday!
Now my homemade pizza menu doesn't sound as good as it used to an hour ago...

I just had 2 slices of homemade pizza and lots of salad.

Running aftermath (continued...)

After my post-running traumatizing experience I decided to do a little research on the internet and it appears that my post running nausea is due to either dehydration or "water intoxication". Both issues have the similar symptoms and both have similar remedy drink 16oz sports drink 1 hour before running and again drink plenty of sports drink after a run especially if the run is more than 1 hour long!.

This makes total sense since besides coffee and wine my only other beverage is water! Sports drink here I come....

Also yesterday after recovering from my sickness I IMed Jessica who told me eat a lot. I confessed that I felt like going to bed without ingesting any food but promise to eat. But I have to admit that I don't think 8 potstickers and some yogurt was what she had in mind in the lots of food department!
Tonight's menu which I have yet to prepare is ahi tuna, stir fry veggies and somen noodles. Since I am hungry and things don't seem to get done by themselves I will have to end this passionating post and get busy!

Lost and found...

OMG I felt like such a moron this morning.
After going back and forth about 10 times between the car and the house to gather all of the few items I need for the day, my brain or what is left of it and if you so much think of helping me I will scream and throw a fit" phase we are on our way to the daycare.
As we drive up North Torrey Pines about 4 miles from the house I hear a clonk clonk noise. Hmmm I asked the kids if the dump any of their book which follows by a battle of "Miles do it" "No I didn;t do anything" etc... As I step out of the daycare some 15 minutes later wanting to inform my dear husband of the whereabout of the stuffed animals Baby and Bear, the center console is staring up at me empty. Where the eck is my cell phone I swear I can visualize it sitting neatly in the center console. But then my 2 brain cells rub together (hey give me a break I haven't had coffee nor breakfast yet!) and that was the noise, my cell phone taking a dive from the top of my car and exploding miserably on the side of the road!
I already lost this month, brand new headphones and my Montblanc pencil that I got for my 18th birthday :( Arghhh I feel like when I was pregnant without the excuse (the baby)
Age!!!!

Run aftermath...

So I had great run but then an hour after the run I started feeling nauseous and I just threw up it was very unpleasant! WTF. I don't know if it is the run, if it is because I don't feel good.
I often have a post run headache, and nausea but I can always manage it eating fritos helps a lot. I think because those chips are really salty but today I feel like crap and I don't know what to do.
Well hopefully the tea I'm drink and some bland food will help!
I HATE throwing up I want my mommy ;(

Week end

As usual we had a frantic week end...
Friday evening cheese fondue was on the menue so lots of white wine and late night. The kids for some reason woke up earlier than usual so the crazy idea of running by myself pushing the stroller turned it a nice cup of coffee and a trip to the zoo followed by brunch at our favorite place BeachGrass cafe in Solana beach.
Later I actually motivated myself to go for a bike ride with my neighbor which was nice a relaxing then park and movie galore with the kids. James and the Giant peach and Meet the Robinsons a good distraction from little Einsteins.
Sunday morning was a traumatizing experience both for Maia and us, she had a first swimming lesson and although she loves the water wasn't too happy with being left alone with the teacher. She screamed the first 15 minutes until a very nice second teacher soothed her the next 15 minutes. Miles on the other hand had a blast.
After brunch, grocerie shopping tiddying up the house we went on our run. I had 7 miles planned and felt like going to bed. But huffed and puffed Bryan pushing the stroller and me pushing my butt and we had a really nice 7.9 miles which would have been 8 if Maia didn't lose her flip flop. But hey this seals my weekly record at 18.1 miles!!!!
Now I have to tackle my laundry pile :( but I think I am going to plop my butt on the couch for a little bit. The first time of the day!

Damm

So today I had a brow wax appointment just next to the Limited. I popped in just after to check out their dress since I am still kindof shopping for Jessica's wedding and the company party.
I found a strapless pink dress that was perfect for the burgundy sandals I had but I knew Bryan would not love the shape.
I did try it on and it looked really nice but I still asked the lady if they had it in black and she brought me this one.

This is exactly what I was looking for. I knew Bryan would love it. It fit perfectly and for once I feel good and beautiful! To top it all it was reasonnably priced. I felt a little guilty since I bought a pair of pants at lunch on "gilt". This site should be renamed the Guilt!!!!


We will see if I can fit in the size 2 and I won't probably look like the model one can still dream but I am sure Bryan will appreciate the closer fit of those pants.
Anyways I do feel guilty for all the spending but I do feel pretty in the dress soooo I guess it is money well spent.
I guess all that running is paying off... I did another 5 miles outdoors today, it was hot but not too bad. I was sick to my stomach all afternoon lack of electrolytes.

Wednesday night already....

I know I sound like a broken record but oh boy where does time fly? I mean I looked at bunny's site and realize that my last post was 3 days ago but wait I feel like I posted yesterday.
So what is going on in my wonderful life for me to not see time go by... Well not that much but we are still really busy and it always feel good when I can finally sit down for 10 minutes and write something.

On monday I had my second life coaching session which was part of a gift certificate. For those who know me I am very skeptical of those things and also very proud. I don't need help I can do it all and if I get help then it removes a little from the pleasure of succeeding like I cheated. I know twisted but anyhow.
I have to say that I am very glad that I had those 2 hours. Although it is not something I will pursue at this time it is something that I may consider later when I have a little more time and cash.
The thing that makes me happy is that eventhough I always doubt myself, can't find myself and feel lost and confused I do deep down know who I am and live by the core qualities that make me. But I can tell you that the layer around the core is a real turmoil of questions, self doubts etc...

Besides that I went for my interval session on tuesday and was proud of a 5 miles run until I my other half told me he just ran 6.4 miles which included climbing up Torrey Pines hill the tough way (inside hill).
I hate him well not really I am just really JEALOUS because I can't do that. Well maybe I can one can wish upon a star no...
We were wondering with Bunny who the heck just goes for a run at lunch and goes down Torrey Pines than up just like that.
Today I went for my swim and managed my kilometer and swallowed half the pool in the process. Well maybe not quite but it is how I feel after a swim.

Although I don't like talking about politics I have to say that I was really happy for Obama to have such a clear victory I am hoping for a brighter future. On a sadder note I can't believe prop 8 passed. I mean don't we have more important problems/issues in California than worrying about gay marriage. Let them be and lets worry about why art programs are cut out of our schools, why working people don't have medical insurance etc... Grrr... should have taken care of my citizenship and voted1
Back to life and cooking a new chicken noodle recipe with oyster flavor sauce, hoisin sauce and brocolini.

Kid's gem

The kids are taking their bath and a moth falls in the water. Bryan tells Miles to hurry up and scoop him off the water. Of course he takes too long and the moth dies.
Miles finally gets him out of the water and says he is dead can you take him off my finger please. And adds very seriously he had a bad day!

Where did that come from. I don't know but it is funny as hell and I love it!

Hmm I've been looking for 10K runs between now and January and I may do the run for the hungry on thanksgiving morning... Still have to check out the map before registering ahahaha big hills at the end of race aren't welcome!

Race day

Today we went to the Susan Komen race for finding a cure agains breast cancer. When talking to Jessica a few weeks ago I was so high on running on the treadmill at a 9 min/mile pace and started thinking that I could run 3 miles at 9/9:30 min/miles. Then we learned that the race ends with a pretty big hill and Bryan signed up too so since he is pushing the stroller with 2 kids we decided to just run it.

First of all it was really cool to run that race and I am very proud to finally have taken a morning of my year to join a cause. Also I forget that this is also for my mom who is breast cancer survivor and my brother in law who is surviving a non Hodgkins Lymphoma. To be honest with you I never think of my mom as a breast cancer survivor since I forget about this unpleasant event and being with her you would too. She is so full of energy that I don't want to dwell on an unpleasant time of our life.

But since I am very competitive and very harsh on myself I have to admit that my race was very disapointing to me. Not all of the race but I did end the race at 10 min/mile pace (that hill just killed me) when I did probably 2/3 of the race at 9-9:30 and both Bryan and Jessica the first one pushing a stroller with 2 kids and the second on running on a sprained toe finished at 9:35-9:40 min/miles.
I felt like a big slug and not too sure that I can pull off that half marathon in like what 3 months!
Eventhough I felt deflated it was a nice race and I will try again. This was my first race ever and I didn't quite know what to expect, I didn't have my music which was a big mistake and I didn't realize that the finishing line was at the end of the hill. I think I would have pushed a little harder on that hill.
Ah well enough Me me me... we had a great time. It was great to see Miles super excited to go to a race, I want to find him a kid race.
After that event we went for breakfast at the coffee cup and we waited for an hour but omg the breakfast there is so good the potatoes especially. Then we went to the children's museum downtown. It was awsome.
Now time to chill out with a nice glass of wine and be proud of who we are...
I'm sure if I say that enough time I'll end up believing it ahahah.

Hurra

Just came back from my first ride with my new bike! Since I could not find my sunglasses I decided to ride to work see if I left them there and come back. It's about 20 miles there and back with Torrey Pines hill and a bunch a smaller hills. I am pooped but very pleased.

I am even more pleased because I lost about 1lb since this morning which never happens.

OK gotta go since are getting crazy here and we are both famished it's like 4:40 and all I had to eat today was a bowl of cereal and half a bagel with a little tomato. Time for real food...