Sweety why is the ratatouille spicy....

So when I saw tomatoes, eggplant, and some kind of peppers I was all happy because that was an excuse to make ratatouille. It is easy, it is healthy and brings back memory of home (france).
I'm the kindof a cook who just make do with what I have. I do tend to substitute remove and add with what I have in my pantry. This is probably why I love cooking more than baking. The latter forcing me to read a recipe and follow it....

Anyhow, I didn't have bell peppers so I used the longish looking bell peperish that I got from my CSA loot. I did taste them a bit before throwing them in with the diced tomatoes, the sauteed onion garlic and eggplant. I didn't want the whole dish to go to waste. The raw piece passed the taste test however 3 whole pepper gave a little kick to my ratatouille.
I served it with some couscous and a pork loin cooked very simply in the oven with a splash or two maybe even three of red wine.

The bok choy were prepared asian style with some chicken and homemade asian barbecue sauce and some white rice.
Brocolis were fed to the kiddos
Salad and cilantro made for a refreshing post mountain bike lunch
Pears were added to homemade pancakes and to a pound cake,as in if you eat a piece you will add a 1lb to your overall weight, tasty treats though.
Aples were served cooked with white saussages.

This week's loot is going to be a bit more tricky

• 1 bunch of swiss chard
• 1 bunch of kale
• 2 boxes of small chery tomatoes
• 2 heads of lettuce
• 6 beets
• 1 bunch of carrots (very very tasty)
• 1 head of brocoli
• 3 persimons
• 8 small plumbs
• More red aples
• 2 grapefruits

Lets see what comes out of this.....

CSA Adventures

So a few weeks ago I decided to give CSA a try. I was very anxious at first especially on the size I should chose and all the stories I've heard on the weird veggies overload. Anyhow after going to a friends house who uses Be Wise Ranch I decided to give it a try. I think the 4 weeks trial cinched the deal.

Today was my first delivery was today. I have to say I couldn't be more pleased with the pickup location which happens to be right across for the school and open from 2pm until 6:30pm!
Anyways I picked up my veggies and fruits and here is my loot:

- 2 bok choy head
- 1 brocoli head
- 6 tomatoes
- 1 pack of cherry tomato
- 3 peppers of some sort
- 1 pack of mixed green
- 1 bunch of cilantro
- 1 bunch of kale (only weird thing I've never cooked)
- 1 eggplant
- 7 pears
- 6 aples
- with seeds grapes

Nothing too weird and fitting very nicely with my whole week menus without being overwhelming...

- Pasta with kale
- Asian chicken with bok choy
- Pork loin with Ratatouille

It still leaves a couple weeks of non veggie centered meal.

To start off the week Pasta with Kale courtesy from Epicurious.com next time I'll do this again with a few tweaks, B asked for bacon instead of the prosciutto I added, more sauteed onion another request from B and finally a splash of white wine and maybe a tad more lemon.

Follow the link for the recipe it was yummy http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spaghetti-with-Braised-Kale-355213

Look for more CSA-based recipes...

Did I really need something new...

I don't know if I really needed a new sewing machine my guess is probably not. However after reading the post from See Kate Sew http://seekatesew.blogspot.com/2011/10/oh-brother.html I indulged in that exact same machine! Yeah I tried to justify it by reminding myself that my singer was bought 12 years ago when I didn't know anything about sewing machine and spending about 140$ on it. Moreover that machine has given me a heck of hard time lately.... so well I coughed up the 170$ for this machine and it arrived last friday!

I did break the finish a project before starting a new one rule. I interrupted the curtain making, since fall did actually start in southern California, to make clothes for the kiddos.
So I got home on Friday and unveiled this baby. I was a bit am completely overwhelmed by the number of stitches, I have used about 3 of them.
So once my work was done, the kids were fed I dug out a project I started a while back. I made a tunic for MEC which is too wide of course but she likes it and it looks kindof cute... Darn McCall pattern!

On Sunday morning I dug through some more stash of fabrics to make some simple dark blue pants for MAC. I have him a choice for the color of his pockets. I think he chose the more abnoxious of all the fabric and the results is interesting. Unlike MEC tunic it is a bit too narrow and a bit too short!
Lessons, I need 1 to 2 inch to the pattern I made from his pants and I need to be careful when making clothes from a store bought pattern.
I have ePattern for my next two projects... I hope the sizing is good.

Struggling with the posting

So yeah as you may have noticed I haven't posted in a while... well I'm not sure what posting is all about to be honest. Is it my time to brag about all the things I do or just share some of the stuff I enjoy doing.
I'll assume it's more the latter and go on with my posting.

Sadly not a heck of a lot has happened since my last post.... I did do my part in our Half Ironman Relay. We did arrive 6th out of 7 team which was well a tad humbling but ah well. Trained well I could have pulled a better performance but see after like a 4 month break of training, and 5 weeks of almost training what do you expect! Well I did finish the 56M rather flat bike ride in 3:16. I think it is the first time I cross the finish line knowing that there was nothing but I mean nothing left in me!
It is the first time in my entire life I felt my leg burn that much! I mean at the end of a half marathon I'm hurting but it is usually a mix of pain of nausea. This time it was pure muscle burning!

Since then I've tried to stick with the training plan but I'm not really in a racing mode more in a trying to find the right balance mode. This I have to do alone because well I don't do well with no workouts.
I have decided to try to go for at least 4 workouts a week. A mix of swim, run and mountain bike.
We will see how this goes. So far so good.

On the craft front, not too much has been happening. I did finish my first curtain panel. I'm pretty pleased with myself because I took my time, followed direction and it turned out pretty nice. Now I just have to do it three more times!

The problem is that we are going to Seattle for Thanksgiving in exactly 4 weeks and I had high hopes to make the kiddos jackets for the trip! Not sure if that is going to happen but I'd like to try....

On the cooking front, I've been loving making my bread thanks to Made By Rae for the hint on the book yummy and easy recipe in that post http://www.made-by-rae.com/2011/06/its-miracle-i-tell-you-i-made-bread/
I made some plumb jam with a recipe courtesy of http://notdabblinginnormal.wordpress.com/2010/06/19/no-pectin-nectarine-or-plum-jam/
Finally we tried the sour cream pancake recipe posted by http://www.dreambookdesign.com/ in one of her food post and I used half sour cream half plain full fat yogurt and it was delicious! Probably the easiest and best pancakes we ever cooked on a sunday morning....

Now I need to go cook our dinner, roasted brussel sprouts, potatoes and pork chop if the menu doesn't change between the upstair bedroom and the kitchen....

All you can eat buffet

Today, after spending the day working from home because MEC was complaining of a tummy ache I hoped on my bike a bit earlier than usual and set up outside to get some evening coolness.

35 min into the workout, dripping in sweat I noticed that a couple of mosquitos are feasting on me. I go back in and realize that I was really an all you can eat buffet for mosquitos.

Now I have a sore legs from too much excercize, a bruise the size of a small pancakes and 15 mosquito bite.... yes you read correctly 15!

B has been doing some pest control and has smacked a few mosquito who decided to enter the premises...

Now I'm completely baked, not too sure how I'm going to pull off the 45min run tomorrow followed by the 75min ride on thursday! I have to say though it feels good although I did feel miserable for a little bit!

Boy's room

I would say that it is much much easier to find ideas to decorate a girl's room than it is to decorate a boy's room. MAC had some idea to paint the walls of his room gray and orange or red. However I'm not ready for a total dark cave just yet. He is just starting second grade! He did mention that he would like something new because the helicopter and planes I painted for him when we moved in were a bit "babyish" now.

So I have been really trying to wrap my head around different ideas. First of all he is a very prolific artist but we don't really have a good place to hang easily the art du jour! I was thinking that maybe I could play with some magnetic paint and make some big circles or squares in bright colors for him to display his art and such.

I was also playing with the idea of a mural. But then again his tastes in subject is changing constantly and I'm not ready to invest in painting something big if it will be old by the time I'm

done. Although I have to say I saw a picture of a Napoleon Dynamite mural that was fantastic looking... if you like Napoleon Dynamite.

So with all those ideas twirling in my head and spending quite some time on choosing fabric for the other girly one I decided to start by looking for some fabric to update the curtain. That would help me decide on a color scheme and then we could go from there.

A little bit ago green was my son's favorite color but not anymore, he wants black and orange. Finding this combination a bit too harsh I settled for a dark gray and orange. Dark gray cotton curtain would be great at blocking the light not blackout lining needed and orange would be a nice burst of colors.

Trying to add a little fun into the whole project I was looking for a print of some kind not to girlish and going with this whole color scheme.

This is what caught my eye. I thought it would be nice as an accent to the dark gray cotton. When I consulted B for his opinion he was not very enthusiastic saying that it was not boy enough. MAC plainly rejected the idea. He wanted a "plain old orange" fabric and nothing with circle or dots nonsense.

So I had to chose something less exciting but more to the taste of my little boy

So here we are dark gray curtain with some plain old orange accents. Again in this room the walls will be light colored probably a light tan or sand or offwhite of some kind.

I may try my hand on some spray paint and upgrade the fan in that room since we are not making any progress in replacing the darn thing. Then I'm not too sure what will be next.

All the fabric as been bought and I will be sewing some curtains very soon....

Girl's room

So the kiddos have been asking for their own room. They have been sharing a room since babies but now they would like their own space. On one hand it is hard because we want them to continue to be close and chat at night before going to bed on the other hand I have been antsy to redecorate their room and the guest bedroom/sewing room which has been empty for a while now.

The first step was to sell the futon. Today I made the next step, chosing fabric for their curtains. By chosing the fabric we also settled on a color scheme....

For MEC's room I did have my heart settled on some Annie Selke fabric found at Joann's.

I was going to use both fabric to make a curtain. I was inspired by several posts seen on makeit and loveit blog http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/07/decorate-my-home-part-20-gathered-top.html and http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/02/decorate-my-home-part-10-gathered.html. After measure the windows I realized that 34$/yard would be a bit costly. The second post reminded me of how much I love Amy Butler's fabric and how daring she is in mixing and matching crazy patterns together.

So after browsing www.fabrics.com site I stumbled upon these fabric from the midwest modern 2 collection.

After consulting Amy Butler's website for ideas of what to use as a second fabric I settled on the following two.

MEC decided on the squiggly... If it is a bit too busy I will order the dots.

With so much colors on the windows we will probably stay pretty simple with the wall color. I'm imagining something off white maybe a tad sandy will be nice.

Once this first part of the project is done, I will probably try to make some comforter cover and some floor pillows.

The other part of this room which is a bit troubling is the big big window onto the first floor of the house. We are currently toying with the idea of a wood shutter that would add privacy to this room without completely removing the appeal of the window. If we were going to go that route we could play with some idea to have a big magnetic board or something.... More to come soon I hope. However in the mean time lots of cleaning up to do and figuring out where to stash the sewing stuff and the remaining books!

To the rescue...

So to help me accomplish my goals of riding 56M at a decent pace in 4 weeks I decided to crawl back to my coach. After a short email exchange I decided that if it was OK with her for me not to race and to keep the training at about 6-8H00 per week I would re-hire her. Frankly 4 months with no Lesley have left me running a 5M at a 12min/miles pace in major pain.

Today from 4:30-6:30pm (not an early riser) was back on the saddle, and 2h00 riding with 4 Torrey Pines hill repeats. I managed 3, didn't do the last one because the back of my knee were painful. Tomorrow morning will be 1:30 mountain biking session and then we are back to a normal training schedule with some running and some biking. I'm giddy with excitement at the challenge. My main goal is to stick to the program as much as possible and do it as long as possible. We will see where it takes me.

I even got new running shoes and then are white and purple!!!! Goody honestly I would have preferred a hot hot pink!

Crazyness

I know I know long time no post... but I have been struggling with the whole posting thing. But here I am again.

Earlier this week I accepted to do something a bit crazy. I signed up for the bike leg of a half ironman. Yup that's right I volunteered to race the 56M of the bike leg of a half ironman in no less than 4 weeks! I'm out of shape because as soon as I stopped training with Lesley well I stopped training and thus I did lose about 99% of the fitness I have been sweating hard to gain over the last year. Today running 1h00 is painful and hard!

So I dusted the cobweb off my trainer, and i put my workout clothe on and well I hoped on the trainer at 8:45pm. I didn't do a hard workout I just did a little spinning at moderate intensity and now I feel GOOD! The joy of working out....

Please if stay tune for more report on that journey. In the meantime I will enjoy my dinner and a glass of wine.

Long week end

Quick recap of our long week end:
Saturday:
- Beach in the morning until I found myself gasping for air when engulfed by the crowds. Beautiful day though and the kids had a great time.
- First movie in the theater with the family: Cars 2 was fun, MEC spent 25% of the movie in her seat, 50% in my lap playing with her air, talking fidgetting and 25% on her dad's lap. MAC loved the movie.
- Dinner was at Brockton Villa since our favorite sushi place was packed (lack of planning on our part :(). Dinner was OK, but service was slow which on a romantic dinner wouldn't matter much but with two kids melting away from hunger not so fun. Menu was ok nothing great. So Blah....
- Ice cream at Hagen Daz

Sunday:
- Finish up project as in shirts for the graduation of MEC from her preschool... I know I'm late.
- Made some bread with unbleached flour yuck!
- Went for 1h00 run at noon wasn't fast it was hot but i went
- Made some mint chocolate chip ice-cream a flavor I really don't like when store bought but of course loved when made with my little hands
- Flaked for our friends kid birthday celebration, but on a lazy sunday socializing with 40 people we didn't know was too much for the introverts we are....
- Impromptu mexican dinner at the neighbors with lots of wine and margaritas staggered home at 11pm

Monday:
- National History museum
- Lazy afternoon doing things around the house
- Grocery shopping
- Baked Banana chocolate chip muffins
- Finished the tee-shirts yay I can go on finishing the rest of the stuff so I can start new stuff.
- Watched Dead-zone I wasn't into it at all but it was quite good.
- Folded laundry yay!

Challenge two weeks later

Well the challenge was up to a rough start and the first week nothing happened. I guess I needed to settle into the new family rhythm. B was sick as well which didn't help.

This week was much much better:

- Sunday was a mountain biking session with B and the neighbor. It was really funny to see the different approach to mountain biking between a woman and a man. Someone told me that woman are wired for self preservation. I was all about trying to keep control of my bike going down hill. Needless to say that I fell because going too slow makes things a bit more unstable.

However I made it to the bottom of the big hill with a huge adreanaline rush.

- Monday was off

- Tuesday was 35min slow run

- Wednesday was 32 min slow run

- Thursday was 1hoo Yoga

- Friday was 45min Master swimming. I never thought I was in any swimming shape. However 4 month without swimming and noodle arm today are telling me that I was indeed in an OK swimming shape.

This week end I'd like to try to go road biking, and running.... We will see where we are!

Next week more running, swimming and yogaing because this puts a smile in my heart!

Challenge

Last week as I was trudging along on my 3M run I decided that I needed to put focus back into my workout life! Yes I am ashamed to admit that as soon as I stopped working with the coach well I stopped working out all together. The only excuse I was able to come up with is that I lost direction, I lost the passion that was driving me. All of sudden I was deflated, racing totally lost its appeal and thus training had no purpose.

I guess this year is the year of finding a new balance. Maybe playing the game "who is Sophie?" is the purpose of my life it sure feels like it most of the time.

This year though has been a bit different, I crossed to the dark side of the 30is.. I know I am not old and gosh I hope I look half as good as most 40+ year old I know but working with people who graduated from high school the year I got married doesn't do much for feeling young!

I think the harder part was to have my daughter leave daycare. A school we have been going to every single day for the past 7 years. Leaving people who saw and took care of both of my kids from 3month old until 5!

So back to my challenge and lack of gusto in training. I decided to try something new. I obviously don't feel like racing these days the mental pressure I put on myself is simply too much. But I thought what about challenging my self to do the following for the next 12 months:

- Monday Yoga/Off

- Tuesday 30-45 min run

- Wednesday 30-45 min run

- Thursday Yoga

- Friday 30-45 min run

- Saturday 1:30-2:00 bike (alternating between road bike and mountain bike)

- Sunday 60-90 min run.

3 weeks on 1 week lighter so on and so forth.

I don't worry about mileage or speed I just want to get out there challenge myself with the terrain and the consistency.

I am only allowed to miss a workout for another workout and only 1 run/week unless sick!

This is my challenge lets see if I can do it.

Today: - 41min run

The other challenge that I think every other woman has is to lose those damned 5-10lbs. I won't bore you with the details but I decided to really try this time...

Tonight I cooked:

- Ono steak which is a Hawaiian fish much like sword fish B cooked it on the BBQ (yes we did have fish tonight)

- Green pea sauce

- Orzo pasta

- Cherries

- 1 glass of white wine.

Now it is time to shower and go read.... Good night

BTW I'm still sewing although I have to move my stuff back downstairs and I need to post on those said projects

quick updates

Finally my crunch time at work is over although it will probably pick up again soon. I had a very nice brain dead relaxing week. I did take some time off work, took the kids off school for an afternoon, caught up with some projects.
Last week end we took the kids camping at Cuyamaca and it was awesome. We slept fairly well the kids did too we woke up at a reasonnable hour of 7:30am.
I want to plan another trip soon but in a relatively more remote area, in other word I want to see less people.
I have started and almost finished a few sewing project and will be posting pictures soon.

Blur..

With important deadlines right around the corner, this past week has been a blur in front of my computer. I wasn't able to make time for a run, nor yoga let alone sewing. On the bright side our project is coming together nicely.

This morning I had my mountain bike clinic. I learned about proper body position, how to love my front break, how look ahead and finally how to take corners and tight switch back.

In the parking lot everything looked great. When we went for a ride I did pretty good but at the first tough switchback with some loose gravel I went bham! It hurt and I was dizzy and all. So I sat on the ground and waited for the rest of the group with the older lady who didn't even want to venture! Shame shame.... The irony, she suggested to her husband to buy mountain bike to go on the fire roads when I knew I wanted a mountain bike to avoid the fire roads, yet we were both sitting on the side of the trails. booh....

So as always have scratches and bruises after riding. I do feel more comfortable, yes I do I'm also better at gauging what I should walk down. So maybe in a decade or two I'll be able to not fall too much.

At another point the people in front of me stopped in a hill which forced me to stop abruptly myself and well rammed my butt on my seat and bruised my tailbone.

I don't know why this stupid tailbone is so so painful and now sitting in the couch is not pleasant.

What else has been happening, after snoozing for a while on the said couch I was able to finish a little sewing project and put my first label on. Well yes in case you missed that my labels arrived last week and they are just plain awesome.

So I hope to be posting some pictures over to bopple kids soon.

Wednesday but really it should be Friday

I won't lie I am tired, and I want WANT a vacation but unfortunately I have a deadline looming and we don't have time off.

Deadline looming means working in front of the TV after dinner instead of sewing. Tired should mean go to bed early to recover but no in this household I've noticed the more tired you are the later in bed you go.

I am also pretty sure the exhaustion is also due by a LACK of exercise. I hate myself for having completely failed at keeping a running regimen. I am the only person to blame for my pathetic and slow runs.

To my excuse I am not spending my lunches at the mall but working and I do not lounge on my couch as a potato, besides that I have absolutely no excuses what so ever.

I've decided with the help of a coworker to go run twice in the morning. It is going to take some will power and strength but I will get back on my exercise horse because well I really would like to be able to run on the trails and conquer Torrey Pines!

So now off to bed I go because I shall go to bed before 11pm from now on! There was a time I was getting 12h00 of sleep every day, now I'm lucky if I get 8!

On the positive front, we are mid-way in our third week of family meals. We have all adjusted fairly well to our new regimen. The kids menu has vastly expanded and I really really love the dynamic.

This week's menu thus far:

Monday:

- Pork tenderloin rubbed with fennel, garlic and rosemary for the parents, au natural for the kiddos

- Roasted fingerling potatoes with green beans for the parents, brocoli and cauliflower for the kiddos.

Tuesday:

- Bbqued chicken and corn

- Strawberries and wip cream or wet cream as MEC would say

No Sir...

The getting up early for a run didn't happened last week neither did the run at lunch or run in the evening I might add. Well I will blame work and I'm not even looking too hard for an excuse as work has ramped up. Heck today (sunday afternoon) I worked instead of sew and I have a mile long list of projects!

However the little I was able to do put my stress at ease for the evening so I can sew another day!

What else has happened since last tuesday at work a lot of fighting with XCode 4, subversion and Objective C, oh C# Microsoft Visual Studio how I've missed you.

Eventhough I wasn't able to get my running shoes I did go to yoga and I worked hard on those vinyasas and well my arms were sore.

Saturday morning I went running with a friend of mine who was worried she wouldn't be able to keep up ahahah big joke I was worthless and we had to run/walk a measley 3M! The only excuse I may have had is that I never workout in the morning, I'm PMSing and I've been tired!

But by 10am we were done with our workouts we shared breakfast at the Beach grass with them and their kids. It was fun and oh my wouldn't I die for a 3rd kids if only I could order a 2year old.... Their little boy is just too darn cute!

After that we came home I sewed a little got started on a baby project and a mama project.

Then I had to make a bunch of gougeres and an orange cake to bring to some friends house.

We had a great great dinner, the kids once more played well together. Lots of wine got consumed and well I was asleep at 9:45pm

Mothers day was great. The kids each bought me a bouquet of flower and B bought me an orchid. We went to some other friends house and again I fell in love with their 2yr old boy.

It was great to catch up. The kids played well again! We then went for lunch, followed by grocery shopping and a hike on Torrey Pines. It was awesome.

Got home, cleaned up and worked... now off to bed with a book! Next week I shall improve my running mileage because 3M is just plain pathetic!

Hiatus

Training hiatus that is... Well I thought I would be able to sustain my workout regimen without a coach. Sadly I am failing miserably. Maybe it has nothing to do with the coach but just with my lack of enthusiasm for racing. Maybe work and other interest are using the little free time I have. Well maybe all this is true but I miss it!



So I need to bring back the discipline and since well my lunch are used by work well I shall try to get my butt out of bed a tad bit earlier in the morning. So tomorrow I shall try to get up and go for a 30 min run.
This saturday I was all motivated to go for a 1:30 but heat plus a trip to Joanns drained my wallet and my alloted free time!
However the following day I went back on my mountain bike. B was there and the neighbor joined the party. After huffing and puffing on del mar mesa (can't believe B went running there the day before) I went for a full on adrenaline fest which left me quite emotinal. After a few hard spots where I went off the bike (do not like going downhill on loose round rocks) I managed to almost hang on due to their frequent stops on my behalf. I went over some technical spots on my bike.
I even went through a patch of flowers as tall as me...
So all in all it was fun I worked hard gathered a few bruises!
On the family front we are giving the family dinner another try. After finding ourselves eating every day at 10pm we decided that maybe we could all eat around 7:15pm. It is our second week and I am loving it. First of all we are done with dinner at 8pm. We have had 30min of family time without an electronique device. The kids are enjoying it and we don't snack as much.

We still haven't figured out how to go to bed early and I have a bad feeling about being able to get up 30min earlier than usual tomorrow....





The only thing is that I have to prepare dinner as soon as I get home and I need to find simpler meal for the whole family to enjoy! So far so good!

Bopple kids

If you want to follow my baby steps on my journey of designing kids clothes come on by my other blog "Bopple Kids". This journey may be a stroll or an trek I can't say but I decided to just try and go for it...

Pictures are worth a 1000 words

they are ready now...

Floor pillow I made with some fabric I fell in love with a while back. I used fiberfill for this... it is very fluffy but if you weigh more than 50lb you feel like you are sitting on the floor. I will have to redo it using foam or some other filler. The kids love it though.

This is my new love or should I said renewed love since I bought this with money I got for our wedding. I made a slip cover because I couldn't stand the pattern on our hand me down couch.

This is a skirt I am making for the daughter of a friend of mine. Her favorite color is purple and she loves dragon. I'm going to finish off the skirt with some pockets and embroid a dragon for her.

This is the stack of fabric waiting for me... and I have a few more things stashed away or old clothe waiting to be cut and reused. But I have to say lots of fabric but little $$. Joann's had some fat quarter for 99 cents each and well I use two for a skirt! I found tons and tons of linen I bought 10 years ago... Along with some so so fabric I bought for making a quilt seriously what was I thinking maybe I can use that to make baby boy pants.... We shall see

This is the second skirt I made for MEC. The fabric was very flashy at the store but one the skirt made it turned out super cute. I need a bit of practice with the pockets. I also seriously need to improve my picture taking cuz well you don't really see anything here!

And voila ...

I think next I will finish the dress I started for MEC, then will decorate a white tee shirt for MAC, I want then to prepare a few gifts for baby showers and maybe make a top for myself pfff Wait I need to take a deep breath every 3 sentences or so.... I guess I should apply that on my blog as well.... So much to do ideas are popping in my head like fireworks. I have a few interesting reads that fuel my creativity and help me improve my sewing "made by Rae" and "Made" and all the other blogs I discover through them. Maybe one day I will give back, but for right now I will soak up all the tips and tricks that I can.

Quick recap

What has been happening in my life lately.... Lots of work, family time while my parents were visiting. Lots of sewing, dunno why all of a sudden I fell in love with my sewing machine! I mean it has been sitting there for the past 10 years! But I'm loving the feeling of creating of figuring things out! It is just so fun, I'm like a kid at Christmas time!

While I tackled the chair slip cover also known as the "vagina chair" for its color, I also decided to wrap up a few projects. So here is what I've made in the last few weeks...

- Slip cover for my super duper comfy wing-back chair first craigslist purchase thanks CG!

- Floor pillow for some of the lighter weight people in our household (need to rethink the filling)

- A dress for MEC from one side of the top part of an existing dress...

- two skirts

- One top

Pfff... Lots of projects done lots more to go and maybe some news to come if I bite the bullet!

Well you might think what happened to the training well you see creativity and training are quite mutually exclusive in my current life! So training was pretty much non-existent for the past 3 weeks. It puts me to shame when the pregnant stud ladies mind you are working out twice to three times more than me!

We are working on changing that and finding a good balance between training and creating.

Sunday I went for a ride with a friend nothing duper exciting just a little 18-20M bike ride around Rancho Santa Fe, today I went for a measly 3M confidence booster run. I will work my way back to a 5-7 day workout per week!

Finally the vegetable patch is growing, we have a few potatoes showing their foliage, about 10 yellow squash seeds have taken a lot more tomatoes and some peas too.... I will have to work on the yard as my approach was put as many seeds as possible and see what grows!

My parents have left and so the excuse of missed workouts and the laundry and cleaning up fairy!

From the garden to your plate

From the garden to your plate is something I like to do or at least try. Last year I grew peas in our pocket side garden (this is the space allocated for veggies). I had enough peas for two risottos made with fresh peas and saussage yum yum. MEC even started liking pea after helping me harvest them. Even the gopher enjoyed some too! This year I chose the "blast" or "sink or swim"approach or sink or swim. I also decided to increase the diversity of veggies.... After throwing a germed finger potatoes into the ground and getting these! Aren't they cute, eventhough my mom promised me 1lb of potato for every potota planted I'm not great at estimating weight but I'm pretty sure these don't weigh 1lb. I decided to plant 4 ot 5 bigger germed potatoes, then I threw some yellow squash seeds next to the fence, in hope that they will climb it and decorate it and feed us all in one swoop. Next I threw three different kind of tomato seeds and finally two rows of peas. Behind my herbs (oregano, thyme and sage) will go some swiss chard and probably something else... I will throw some arugula as well as butternut squash... In the meantime, using the herbs in my garden I prepared this pork loin

Here is the recipe:

• 1 pork tenderloin open in the middle (not cut through but more like butterflied)


• mushroom (white, or portobello or crimini)


• blue cheese


• bunch of oregano


• bunch of sage


• bunch of thyme


• bunch of rosemary


• 1 glass of white wine


• garlic choped.

Cut the tenderloin in the middle to open it NOT to cut it in half. Dice the mushrooms, then mix them with some blue cheese (you don't need much), the herb all chopped and the garlic. Put the herb mixture on top of he pork, add a bit of olive oil and a glass of wine and cook it in the oven until done (about 45min at 390)...

Serve with some roasted potatoes like the little one above cooked as such

Quarter the fingerling potatoes skin on, put in an ovenproof dish, sprinkle with coarse salt or normal salt and some olive oil and cook in the oven until crispy.

Enjoy with a glass of white wine or red.

sewing mania

This is really a quick update more explanations to come soon but this is some of the things I made over the week end for MEC.

I don't remember how much I paid for the fabric but I would say roughly 15$ at the most. It took me 3H00 to make and for pattern I use a old navy knit dress that MEC loves. The result is a bit more fancy than I wanted but ah well...

I went to UTC with my mom to buy some stuff for the kiddos and my nephews. I totally fell in love with this skirt but for 15$ and my new found love for sewing made me not buy it!

When I had to go to Joann's the next day to buy appropriate sewing needles, I stumbled upon fat quarters at 99cents each... Hmmm my little girl is so bitty that two and half fat quarters are enough to make a top or a skirt, add two cute button and an elastic waist and voila.... for 4$ and 1hours work!

Around the house ...

So for the few followers out there, you may have noticed that my training post have been far and few in between. While the triathlete blogs I'm following are posting huge training and wins I'm logging 9M of running/week boooh. First of all I had to put my budding mountain biking career on hold for two reasons, a) the san diego weather has really not been cooperating and b) strategic reasons that I won't bore you with. Lets just say that I decided to pick my battles and so I will roam the trails in a few weeks! Then well I will shamelessly use my parents are in town card and I have lots of work. Both are pretty lame excuse but since I get to see my parents once a year I think it is still OK. I have been able to manage a 6-7M run on the trails on the week ends, one or two runs in the week and a session of yoga! Enough about what I didn't get to do but lets focus on what I have been spending my time doing because it wasn't watching TV. One of the main reasons I stopped working with Lesley which I miss dearly is to get to do more of the other things I enjoy: Namely making things. I hope one day I will be able to train hard and make things and work and .... I am almost done with my chair slip cover and I'm thrilled how it looks. I am quite surprised I didn't screw up at all and while every seam are not perfect and not quite symetrical. The result is rather pretty if I may say so myself or as B would put it "It is better than before". But see for yourself. Some details, the corners of the pillow with the piping were one of the trickiest part but it came out rather nicely. Then to add a bit more style I sew on the outside along the arm and I like the way it came out.... Now my armchair and sofa downstair look quite grimy in comparison. Maybe I'll have to tackle that one next and the big 3 seater couch as well... we shall see.

stay tune for the other things that have kept me busy besides family, work and house stuff....

All the things I love to do...

My parents arrived from France last monday night! It has been nice to have them and the kids are spending some time with their grandparents. For us it means a bit more time together to run, to mountain bike or even go out to the movies and dinner. Since I stopped working with my coach I didn't train every day this week tuesday and friday and sunday were off oops. However I need to figure out my schedule and my workouts. Yesterday B took me trail running. I was a bit anxious because last time we went together I found it very hard. All the hard work I put in last year in terms of training has paid off and I had a blast. I totally fell in love with everything. We ran 7M total and 2.5 were on the trails but those 25 min went by sooo fast. I was so focused on where to put my feet and taking in the scenery that I wasn't worried for once about my speed, that B had to wait for me etc... I was just in the moment! As soon as we hit the pavement all those worries came back. I'm hoping that I'll do a lot more trail running in the future! First I need to find a few girls who don't mind to get scratch up and dirty! One reason I stopped working with my coach is to have a bit more time for my home projects! I do tend to have a long list of them. B has no problem with me being so creative but he has one rule! You gotta finish a project before starting a new one. Since my free time is quite limited I have had a few projects waiting their turn patiently. The one that irritates B the most is the so called "vagina" chair named for its lovely shade of pink. He utterly despises the color and thus couldn't wait for me to get started on the slip cover. Since my parents are in town I hired my mom as a helping hand. I always do that to her! So we washed the fabric last night I know incredible I followed directions! It was dried and ready to go in the morning. I did read a few blog posts describing vaguely the steps to follow along with a few pictures. I decided that was enough to dive in myself. Some areas were a bit more dicey than others. The results is less than perfect but for my second slip cover ever it isn't too shabby. This is where it is at after working from 10:30-6:45pm with a 2H00 break at lunch. You can apreciate the difference between the pink color of the sitting pillow and the rest of the chair! We still have to trim the fabric at the seam, iron it and remove the basting thread. I hope to post pictures of it next week finished and back to its spot! I'm pretty pleased I have enough fabric to recover the IKEA chair as well. I am also a bit bummed because the white duck fabric is more see through than I expected! Especially since I bought the heavier weight! I'm hoping that a bright colored pillow will distract the eye! Then I will be allowed to purchase a bit of fabric to make two accent pillow and a bed throw. For a complete post let me put down the recipe of what I threw together for lunch! It is a morrocan/tunisian spin of the shepherd pie... - Ground beef - 1 egg - 1 cup Couscous - 5 yellow squash sliced - Cumin - Tumeric - Paprika - Balsamic vinegar - Olive oil - Cilantro In a bowl, mix the ground beef with the egg, the spices (cumin, paprica, tumeric) salt and pepper. For the spice mixture adjust for the flavor you like. I tend to use about 1tbsp of cumin, 1 tsp of paprica and 1tsp of tumeric. You can probably also add coriander etc... Cook in a pan and break it as you cook it. Slice the yellow squash marinade in olive oil 2tbsp and 2tbsp of balsamic vinegar, add some cumin to this as well. Sautee in a pan at high heat so the squash carmelize a bit. Cook the couscous, add bit of olive oil at the end. Once everything is cooked, in a low rim serving bowl put the meat at the bottom, then the squash and finish with the couscous. Decorate with some spices sprinkled over the couscous and some chopped cilantro.

Projects...

I don't know if the gray sky are my inspirations or just the sheer volume of projects awaiting my attention are forcing me to finish the ones in progress. This week end was quite productive in that area. First of all 2 months after starting my bookshelf project, both are up and filled up! I'm very happy with how they turned out and it is perfect!

I then started on a corner shelf to host the router in the guest bedroom. I went with a rounded design which for my first time isn't bad at all. The shelf is stained and finished. The brackets have been spray painted a mat black and will be mounted as soon as they are dry!

I still have to be more carfeful to erase any pencil mark before starting to finish a piece!

I put the construction of the nightstand on hold until I print and follow Ana White's direction.

Then another project sounded very very appealing for a rainy sunday afternoon. Touch up, print and frame a bunch of family pictures and hang them in the stair case and downstairs bathroom

I am not a big fan of that minty green. I was shooting for a more "brocolinish" green so I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the downstairs bathroom.

For the picture in the staircase I decided to have them all black and white, It is a start and needs much more but I like the way it is looking. My favorite picture the vertical big frame on the right of the wall :)

On top of all this projects bonanza, I managed to:

• clean up the kitchen
• Fold & put away a load of laundry and start a new wash
• Clean up
• Cook saussage risotto, salad and aple/caramel crumble

I didn't workout but I did pull a muscle in my thigh this will be my excuse of the week end!

I'm really really loving where my house is heading!

Big News

So I decided to stop working with my coach! It was a very hard decision and since telling her I've felt empty. The reason being well I don't feel I can really apply myself not because I don't want to but just because sometimes my life is just too much. I hate feeling guilty for a missed workout when my kids are sick or I am sick or because I'm just dragging.
Honestly I don't feel racing either I just feel like running long and strong, biking strong and getting better on the mountain bike! I will workout still a lot just not for the same reasons.
So I'm starting to go to yoga once a week, I'll go back to the pool once a week and the rest of my time will be divided between running and biking!
Of course today we didn't go running :( but we did take the kids on a 3M walk in Elfin forest. Also I pulled something in my left quad last week and well it isn't healed yet!
Tomorrow I was hoping to be able to road bike with a friend but her schedule got crazy so maybe I'll try to go mountain biking with the hubster instead or maybe trail running if the weather doesn't cooperate.
My goal being able to run 1:30 on the trails, mountain bike for 1:30 - 2:00 with minimal getting off the bike on hills!

On the house front, my parents are getting in town on monday night so I've beens scrambling to finish some project and well to start some new ones! Friday afternoon I was just so tired that I couldn't focus at work. Instead of starting dumbly at my screen all afternoon I decided to take the afternoon off and just putter around the house. I started a night stand for my parents and read. It was heavenly!
This morning, after baking some berry muffins, I made progress on the little nightstand, made a rounded corner shelf to host the router.
B anchored the shelf to the wall and I was able to fill her up with books. I also decided to remove all the crap in the downstairs bookshelf and put books instead!

Little by little the projects are being done and the house is getting more organized!
I have discovered wood work and I love it!
Now time for some laundry folding and some home cooking.

Too much stuff

I have just too much stuff to keep track of. I need to come up with a better way to do so cuz my head can't keep all that information in. This is the list I have come up with so far

• School stuff (when to bring what, library day, school admin stuff, parent teacher conference etc...)
  
• Home stuff (laundry, cleaning, home projects etc...)
• Money stuff (Bills thank goodness for online billpay, tax, retirement, money management...)
• Admin stuff (citizenship, etc....)
• Training stuff (that's why I have a coach but I still have to manage my time...)
• Work stuff (well I do have a full time job and it fills my head quite nicely )

I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of stuff that is cluttering that tiny head of mine! Now back to work.

Bone tired aka I hate daylight savings

I don't know what it is but since Sunday I have been bone tired. I skipped my run on sunday and not by sheer lazyness just because I was tired. Granted that MEC complained of an ear ache at midnight and that for some cosmic reason it was hurting in her bed but not in ours. Then her idea of sleeping in our bed meant lets hug mama while slowly shoving her out of the bed because of course her spot is the most comfortable in the whole bed.
I woke up cranky with a headache and that feeling lingered all day. Well along with the fear of an ear infection! I think she sensed that her parents wouldn't be able to cope with one more sickness! Luckily my parents are getting her in a few days so I'm sure we won't have a fever in the next month, but probably promply following their departure! Murphy's law
Monday I could simply not wake up. I managed to motivate to do a bike workout but my legs were so tired that it resulted in one of the most pathetic session in my training history!
The highlight of that evening was watching Serenity once more which was awesome if only the movie could have been shorter! We were in bed at 11:3opm and well 6:30 came only too fast.
Today wasn't as bad as yesterday but the energy level didn't quite reach the required quota to tackle a 6x0.5M interval on the treadmill. Instead I did a strength workout which left me unsatisfied will need to rework that routine.

I'm falling asleep as I'm writing this post so let me wrap it up with a recipe...
To get back on our healthier habit I decided that tonight would be soup night. Today's flavor Potato Leek soup and since I've been craving biscuit I decided to try to make cheesy biscuits. Tada I even have a picture today ;)

• 4 potatoes
• 3 leeks (if you like it more potatoy than leeky replace a leek by a potato)
• bacon (totally optional, it is how I get my husband to tolerate my vegetable soups). I get the thicker kind with the least amount of fat. I was very pleased with today's choice.
• 1 cube or packet of chicken bouillon
• 1 tbsp of butter.

• In a pot, saute de bacon until crispy
• Remove the liquid fat but leave the bits of crispy thingy
• Add the butter and Saute the sliced leek until tender (you can use olive oil instead of butter)
• Add the quatered/peeled potato
• Add the chicken bouillon
• Cover with water
• Let simmer until potatoes are tender
• Puree in a blender

For the biscuits since I haven't found Urban Solace Cheesy biscuit recipe I settled for Red Lobster one courtesy of the "Cooking Photographer".

I was a bit taken aback when I saw that instead of butter the recipe called for vegetable oil.

The result was pretty good not quite as decadent at the one served at either restaurant but quite delicious still.

On this note I will jump into bed fall into a blissful sleep and hope that tomorrow morning will find me more rested! one can hope.

It has been a while

Man, time flies by... Well after being miserable for a whole week! I am back to my normal routine. I find it ironic that not exercizing is more painful than doing my normal 5 days/week workout!
After me being sick well it was time for MEC to have a bout of fever and thus I worked from home for the 4th Monday in two month!

This past tuesday I had a session with the coach and as usual she killed me. 15 min warmup, followed by 4x100 yards sprints, 6x0.4M sustained work. I didn't realize how tired my legs were until I went for my run the next day!

Today was back to normal in the Coon household, we started the day with a coffee and swimming lessons for the kids. We then came back home and I got ready for my mountain bike ride with someone new I met a while back. I was a bit anxious as it was my first time back on black beauty since my last big big fall!
It was a great ride, I am finally starting to feel a bit more confortable on the bike. I managed not to fall but yet go down some technical slopes and walk some others.
My quads were pretty wasted so well I did walk some hills as well! I did feel a bit like "all the gear and no idea" on my nice full suspension bike while my new riding partner was flying up and down the trails on a donated single speed bike!

Back at home it was B's turn to go out, so after cooking some muffins for the kiddos under MEC's supervision. I managed to sand the bookshelf and apply the last coat of varnish.

We then took the kiddos out to dinner at Harney's sushi in Oceanside. It was delicious....
To finish this beautiful day we are watching the whole nine yard such a good movie.
Tomorrow will be more around the house and a little 90min run....

hack hack sniffle sniffle

I so hate being sick. I just hate everything about it. Moreover I hate the fact that I can't get rid of all that bad energy by going for a run!


On the bright side I have read and read and read Style your life blogs and was really inspired.


I also bought myself a beautiful pair of 31/2 inch platform from talbot. I did order the size 6 in white and they are so pretty. However they are about a size too big. I was able to find a size 5 in the color I originally wanted yay! Today was crisis at the mall. I don't know what came over me but I decided to wip out the 4" platform, yes I wanna play grown up lately, the pencil skirt and as I've been cold lately a sweater.

Unfortunately it warmed up and so I was left sweating bullets in my sweater. Charming isn't it! So I went shopping in 4" heel! Well I went 20 feet before "running" back to the car and putting on a pair of pants and flats. Yes I can go down a steep steep hill on a mountain bike, run a half marathon but give up after 20 feet in high heels!

Anyways I felt gross, frumpy lumpy and I ended up running into Talbots, Gap, and the Limited without finding anything that I wanted to buy. Finally I decided that Banana Republic will be the place for my makeover! It worked and I even put the skirt and heels back. I laughed when the 31/2 inch shoes felt like slippers. If you missed it the sight you will have to wait another 5 years!

Tomorrow I'm back to my uniform, pants, flats and something cute on top!
OK my book awaits me and so is my pillow

Mayhem

I just came to realize that our family walks a fine line between some sort of organization allowing us to do what we want to do most of the time and utter mayhem.
These past two weeks mayhem has been upon us.
So what tipped the balance!

1. Accident on way home a couple weeks ago, and having to deal with having to repair my car. It will be ready end of March. More over the price of the repairs although not enough to total the car is enough for most of us to buy a new car :(
2. Dealing with rental car and incompetency. Thankfully they came through for me and I got a nice upgrade which is quite nice as my car won't be repaired until March 31st!
3. Had to be more involved with school stuff help the kids prepare candies for Valentines day celebration, bake cookies and make some cute little origamy pockets for a bake sale, go to a play in honor of presidents day.
4. Figure out baby sitting arrangement for my son's week off school at a time when no other school are off and thus no camp available.
5. Clean up the house for guests
6. Finally deal with a sick little guy I know twice in 3 weeks awesome which then shared his sickness with me because heck sharing is caring right. He had his fare share though since he battled two viruses back to back!

Because of all of this well I was a better mother, and our house is a bit more organized but well my training has taken a second seat! Ah well that's how life is... but I'm ready to go back at it but I'm sniffling and coughing and aching so I guess I will have to wait another couple of days!

Now I'm going to continue to relax in front of Despicable me while nursing a glass of wine!

Good night!

I thought last week end was busy

Well since we can't do anything like everyone this is what my Saturday looked like and what our Sunday will look like...

Saturday:

• Up at 5:40am to get ready for a half-marathon
• 6:15am friend to pick me to go to the half (to be taxied around is awesome)
• 7:30am start a half marathon with some 128 women (yes you are reading properly this is less than my wave at the US Women triathlon) It was awesome to be at a small race.

My goals for this race were in this order: 1) Have FUN 2) Have a sustained race but don't feel sick (notice the no time/pace goal)

• 2:08:44 cross the finish line STOKED because not only did I have a lot of FUN, I felt great the first 9M then well I felt tired and so slowed down to a more manageable pace to keep the race fun but challenging, I gave it all I had and I PRed by 3min! It was a 9:50 min/mile overall. Mind you the course was flat I mean flat not like Carlsbad flat.
• 11:30am brunch at the beach grass
• 12:30am not feeling good at all (stomach yelling at me for attention)
• 1:30 relaxed and showered
• 2 pm UTC to get MAC some stuff for his costume, he has a play for president's day celebration and needed some stuff.
• Picked up my mountain bike
• Grocery shopping
• 4:45pm writing my blog waiting for the kids to come home from the air show they went to in Coronado!
• Play with the kids
• Clean up the kitchen
• Prepare pre-race dinner for B
• Go to bed and read!

Sunday:

• Play cook pancakes probably with the kids while B is huffing and puffing during the San Dieguito Half marathon.
• Sand the bookshelf and put the stain.
• Feed the beast upon return
• Take the kiddos to a birthday party
• Relax for a bit put the second coat of stain
• Go to dinner at some friends house
• Go to bed

Pfff what a week end... Next week end will be more relaxing I promise you we have family over that should slow us down a bit! But wait do you remember Black Beauty is home and ready to go, stay tune for some scratches and bruises report next week.

Have a great evening everyone!

What a week...

I left you last at I have to go care of a sick little boy... Well sick little boy became sick mama, then sick mama and daddy! Yay stomach bug. Thankfully the little girl in the house escaped that one.

Monday I stayed home with MAC not feeling too hot I actually took the day off. MAC was back at school on Tuesday and me at work but not feeling 100%, on Wednesday I was back at home with B but this time feeling worse than Monday but working from home.

Finally Thursday came around and I felt human again, had lunch with a coworker which was super nice. I felt old yet again because well she graduated from highschool the year I got married. Mind you I got married at 24 but still that was like 12years ago. Boy I'm having a hard time with the 36! Friday being pre-menstrual resulted on having my dark glasses on and so it was doom and gloom or giant pit of despair day.

I got to Torrey Pines and was stuck in traffic. Finally at the bottom of the hill when well things started looking better, and I was closer to sharing a wine of glass with my neighbor BAM a car rear-ended me! Yay, luckily no one got hurt Maia who was in the car didn't scream so everything good. The poor kid who hit me felt terrible, the back left side of my car is all scrunched. Not surprising since he was driving a Suburban and I'm driving BMW station wagon :) Anyways after waiting in the cold for about 30min I finally got home to the neighbor for my glass of wine. B dealt with the insurance. We finally put the kids to bed, I finally prepared dinner, my brown rice balls which I thought would be good pre-race meal cuz well I have a half-marathon to run the next day.

I finally went to bed at 10:45pm all set up for the run the next day!

Weeks in numbers

So I've decided to report my weekly training on this blog
This week I worked out 6/7 days and did 2:30min biking, 4:00 running for a total of 6:30min.

Now I have to go to bed to attend to a little guy with a stomach bug. Good night

Sunday todo list review

Today we didn't do as much as I wanted but we had good family time:

• Slept in until 9am which was good since we didn't get to bed before 12:30 last night.
• Cleaned up the kitchen
• We had waffles for breakfast I am ashamed to report that it took me 3 tries to get he recipe right and I learned today that boiling the milk is not an option :)
• Got the kids haircut while B went mountain biking
• Hung out with the neighbor loved it
• Got ready for my ride
• Went riding with J. Dunkle fun fun getting stronger and faster I think ;) Loved riding my road bike and only have to worry about getting up a hill!
• Went to the park with the kiddos
• Went out to dinner
• Waste some time on facebook
• Going to bed!

Things I didn't do today

• Groceries (booh will have to do a quick trip to Vons tomorrow night)
• Finished the bookshelf....

-

What is on my playlist

So I promised chacha that I would share my playlist... I don't remember it completely but lets give it a go:

• Weezer - King
• Weezer - Troublemaker
• Weezer - Pork and Beans
• Adele - Rolling in the deep
• Adele - Tired
• Adele - My Same
• Adele - Cold shoulder
• Mumford & Sons - The cave
• Mumford & Sons - Sigh no more
• Mumford & Sons - Little lion man
• David Gray - Be Mine
• Travis - Side
• Lady Gaga - Paparazzi
• Lady Gaga - Just dance
• Lady Gaga - Poker Face
• Ke$ha - Tik Tok
• Ke$ha - Kiss N Tell
• Ke$ha - Boots and Boys
• Linkin Park - Waiting for the end
• Linkin Park - Breaking the habit
• Linkin Park - Shaddow of the day
• Blue October - Hate Me
• Blue October - In the ocean
• Good Charlotte - Dance floor Anthem
• Rihanna - Disturbia
• Rihanna - Russian Roulette
• Kings of Leon - Sex on fire.

Not in that order and I'm sure I forgot a lot...

Favorite songs of the moment: King B sings it beautifully, Mumford & Sons these guys are amazing, Adele again love her and finally Waiting for the end Linkin park I don't know why but I love this song.

Week end todo list review

So, I'm pretty pleased as we have done a lot of the stuff we had to do today. My car has 4 brand new tires and it cost me 400$ less than expected and they will last (I hope) 3 times longer yay! B's car got some TLC as well. The kiddos went to swimming lesson and had a play date they are now watching "Despicable Me" and they thought the lounge of Jiffy Lube was a "cool place" ;)
I went for a 8.5M run not quite as long as I wanted but 3min Hard hill repeat simply kicked my butt. B is now going running. We dropped off "Black Beauty" to be repaired from our crash last week end and she'll be ready to go for next week end.
Now I just have to figure out what to do for dinner and enjoy the evening!

On the exercise front, I have decided that first and foremost I want to have fun! I don't want to dread my workouts I want to feel like going for that run and pushing myself. Hello I'm not a professional here while being serious about it it is still for fun!
That being said I'm a bit worried for next week's half because well I signed up like that not planning on it. This is great because I didn't train for it at all I just trained like I always do. It is a bit scary because well I don't know what to expect, but it is also quite liberating.
I want to go out there and give it my best but beyond that well it is just a race.
On the mountain biking front, I am very very happy to report that my leg is very colorful. MEC actually asked me what I had on my hip and why it was colorful. When I explained that it was just a big bruise she said "cool" ;) My arm is all scabbed now.
And well I can't wait to get back on my bike! I can't wait to learn how to handle that beast better and just go out there and have fun! I will walk that hill next time, I know I will be scared again and I will fall again and hurt my self and scream and wail like a baby.
After talking to some more expert bikers I found a couple half day clinics one in Penasquitos but I have to wait until April 2nd and one a bit further away. We will see where I end up but I am like a kid waiting for christmas to happen.
I think after this half I'm gonna limit my long run the 1:30-1:45 and play more on the bike.
I did sign up for SDIT so I will have to go back in the pool... Oh swimming I haven't missed you at all.
So now post run hunger is striking so I better get downstairs and eat my post run snack!

Week end plans so far

Saturday

• 9am swimming lesson kids
• Surf B if ocean cooperates
• 9:45am grab some breakfast
• 10:30am playdate MAC at home
• 2H00 run Busy Mamma
• 2h00 run B
• Sand & Stain bookshelf
• Drop off moutain bike to get fixed (or tomorrow)
• Get the tires on my car fixed
• Watch despicable me with kiddos

Sunday

• Sleep in
• Family breakfast
• 1H30- 2H00 ride Busy mamma
• 2H00 ride B
• Put first coat of varnish
• Unpack books
• Grocery shopping
• Laundry

It would be nice to also make strawberry jam as we ran out, bake some muffins, maybe socialize a bit and who knows what else.... Maybe even relax! I promise it looks worse than it is well maybe not so much

Spiderman or Tinkerbell ...

Bandaid that is because today I was neither one of these cartoon characters on the trails.
Well if you remember a few posts ago I posted a video where you kind of see me flip over my bike. Well I wish today's fall was as painless. Same stupid hill kicked my butt big time today. To make matter worse this hill is at the beginning of the ride.
I wailed so loud that I was expecting someone to come running out of the neighborhing house. I am not proud of myself but I wailed, cryed, wimpered blobblered for a while. But I climbed back on the bike and continued to ride!
The fall I think shook me more mentally than it hurt physically although I'll be sporting some nice bruises for a while and have a nice trail rash on my forearm.

Anyways I will get back on this demon once the rear derailleur is fixed and well I think I'll be walking that steep little portion until I can ride it safely down.
Tomorrow's run will be interesting but if I can run after that I can run a half marathon!

Toughen up!

After this we needed some light food and a glass of wine was in order. We were going to Epazotte in Del Mar. When we got there we realized that it had been replaced by a new place called Flavor. It looked nice and happy hour was just starting so we sat down. Great great place not cheap but really nice. We both loved the decoration.
I'm thinking of recovering the vagina chair instead of making a slip cover. An olive green microsuede or mediterrean blue would be quite nice I believe..... My oh My another crazy project! Why on earth can't I just sit still.....

quick one well maybe not so

I know I'm overdue for a blog post and a race report. Well lets summarize quickly and then will do the real one. Last sunday was our yearly half marathon... didn't specifically train for this since I just train no matter what and Les well just kicks my butt.
We were quite tired the week leading to that race, we even went to bed at 8:30pm the night before, unusual for us.
Anyways it as hotter than last year but I PRed by 1 min over last year slowly inching my way towards 2H00... Hey at that rate in 10 years I'll be there ;) 2:11:36 was my time. Since the garmin recorded 13.17M my pace was 9:59,61 and NO IT IS NOT OK to round up to 10min/mile. First 6M of that race I was feeling awesome then I started feeling nauseous and couldn't think of drinking any more water nor eating any more blocks. So I trudged along. At mile 9 my IT Band started to remind me that stretching is just not an option. Oops I guess I can't forgo stretching for 3 months while training! So all in all it was a decent race, I had to walk a little but still finished 1min faster than last year.

B had the exact same race than last year and finished in 1:44... speedy.
The race kicked our butt and we were in bed at 8:15pm that night!
Well to get to the 2:00 a bit faster I decided to race a bit more often and so I am signed up for my next half on 2/12/2011 a saturday heaven. B wanted to join me but it is a women only race so I signed him for San Dieguito Half the next day!
I don't know what to expect from that race. I have always had plenty of time to recover and train in between races so I'll just do it. At least it is flat.

So well this was a longer race report than I expected. Since then, well training has started again wait it never really stopped. Doodled on the bike on tuesday, yesterday didn't make my workout because I was taught what I need to eat, when and how much. Today I went for an easy run at lunch decided to come back through the canyon hot hot hot!

On the nutrition side, I now know all the things I'm doing wrong. I will adopt certain changes such as more colorful veggies and fruits and more grains and dietary fibers. However I will not give up my wine. I also now know that I'm 20.1% which puts my at the botton of the athlete categorie woot woot!
So on this I'm going to go to bed.

What do I eat

When I'm alone!
Some people go for easy when they are alone well I'm the complete opposite. I like inventing new dishes when I'm alone. On Friday night I had a bike workout, so I decided to start cooking while the kids were watching a show. That way when I was done I could just cook the pasta add the sauce and eat at a decent hour. Well that was before I knew my bike workout would start at 9:10pm! Nonetheless it was perfect for the mood I was in when done.
Saussage Mushroom pasta with blue cheese.
(Excuse the lack of exact measurements)
Handful or more of white Mushrooms choped in small pieces
1-2 cloves of garlic chopped
1tbsp fennel seeds crushed
1 cup of white wine
chicken broth
1 italian saussage
1tbsp of heavy wipping cream
2tbsp blue cheese
pasta

Put some olive oil in a hot pan
Sautee your garlic
Add the fennel seeds and let it cook for bit
Add the crumbled saussage and cook for 5min
Add the mushroom cook for 5 min
Add the wine cook for a bit
Then add the chicken broth (not too much so that it isn't too soupy but enough so the sauce isn't too dry)
Let it cook so the flavor develop.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
You want a sauce not too dry not too watery.
Just before serving add the cream and the blue cheese. Serve with pasta.

Shrimp with Avocado

Shrimp deveined and peeled
Garlic chopped
Olive oil
Lemon
Cilantro
Avocado


Mix shrimp with some lemon juice, salt and pepper
Sautee the garlic in some olive oil, add the shrimps sautee until cook if it gets too dry add some lemon juice.
On a plate cut the avocado, drizzle lemon juice and add chopped cilantro.
Add the shrimp when cooked.

Bon appetit!

What does ...

A week end alone with the kids

+
a bare wall in a hallway

+

Too many books in an unsable bathroom which needs to be usable

+

A stack of wood

+

A bunch of power tools

+

Someone who never used above tools but has a nice friend to help her out

What does part 2

So this week end B had a snowboard trip to Mammoth with his work! So jealous! So here I am with a week end with the kids, training and the other billion things to do around the house.

That bare wall in the hallway has always been in my opinion the perfect candidate for a 6" wide bookshelf. The perfect size to store all our paperbacks while using empty space! B didn't really agree with me but as you can see in the past 7 months we haven't really made progress in the organization of our books front and the liberation of the kids bathroom!

So I decided that this week end alone with the kids would be perfect time for me to build a new bookshelf! Brilliant idea since I have nothing scheduled this week end... 2H00 run on saturday and 2h00 bike ride on sunday, as I said my week end was free!

Anyways I have to admit that while discussing with ChaCha at work the logistics of building a bookshelf such as going to store and buy the wood etc.. I almost backpedalled cuz lets face it a BWM station wagon with two kids in it isn't really the appropriate vehicle to transport the wood needed for a bookshelf. Well not unless you drop the backing right...

So after swimming lesson on saturday I am heading to Dixieline with my two monsters in tow and ChaCha who is much more used to this whole thing. I did spend some time the night before measuring everything and calculating everything.

I show up at the front desk to order my wood and I ask what I need right! Wrong you first need to figure out how many planks of which length you need then you tell them how you want them cut. Doh... took me like 10min to figure it all out.
From noon until 3pm, we managed to build the frame of the two bookshelves. I was left to put the remaining shelves, round the edges, stain and finish....

The baby sitter got there and I went for my run... Yeah I still had to run 2H00 and ride 2H00 during that week end. Since I only had a baby sitter for one of the days I decided to go run. I only did 1:15 and 6.6M but it was nice and I wanted to get back to the kids.
That evening we went to dinner to a new friend who is a runner/triathlete, has a full time job and two adorable kids. Moreover the boys are getting along great eventhough MAC is 2 years younger than HV! We had thai food and chatted until 10:45pm. The kids were exhausted and still woke up at 8am this morning.
Since saturday was spent in the garage I decided to be a nice mom and take the kiddos to Legoland... that plan went south when I realized that MEC had a light fever and was really grumpy. Instead we went to the toy store and I got them a little gift. MAC spent most of the afternoon building a new Hero factory and MEC played with polly pocket helped me sweep the floor in the garage and painted.
Everyone crashed at 7:30pm.
I spent time in the garage again and I almost finished the first bookshelf. It is stained and I just have to coat the "vernish" stuff sand and have B mount in on the wall.... can't wait!
Well the 2H00 ride didn't happen today and I'm not sure it will... because I'm baked. My legs are toast and I am tired.... So I think I'm gonna rest today and will do something tomorrow since chances are I will have to take some time off to watch over MEC.

This where we left off saturday afternoon



This is what I have tonight!

It isn't perfect but I'm still super proud. Now I know how to use a power drill (will get my own soon) and a sander (will get my own soon too)... It has nothing to do with wanting my own tool but you see I have micro hands seriously I have very short stubby fingers... and well my husband tools fit his hands. Maybe I'll get lucky and they make kids size tools ;)

So while my week end was really busy in a very productive way I can't help thinking as I am heading to bed that well I didn't really do what I was suppose to do workout wise but ah well there is always next week.... Speaking of which next week is Carlsbad and well in one hand I think I'm prepared and on the other I don't think I'm prepared. My goal this year is to run it 9:45min/mile pace or somewhere around there. Nothing spectacular but I think it is somewhat realistic. Most of all I want to cross that finish line and be proud of what I've accomplished.