Vacation: day #5.

Ahhhhhhhhh.

I wish that I could stop time right now. I am really enjoying my time off so far. I've done a lot, and there's still more coming. Tonight, we're going over to my aunt's house for dinner with the rest of my family, and tomorrow, I get to go to the DMV to renew my license (woo hoo new picture!) and when that's over, it's shopping with my friends in Roseville (WOO HOO!). I'm really excited about it, as you can tell.

I'm sad that Christmas is over, but at least I get a little bit of time to ease back into normal life again before I have to go back to work.

I'm off to go enjoy the rest of my afternoon filled with nothing!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a wonderful and very merry Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas...

And I still feel like a kid.

I'm so happy that I get the same feeling the night before Christmas Eve, even though I have to work half a day tomorrow. Though the holidays have changed for me as I've gotten older, I now appreciate how much goes into preparing for the holidays and don't take it for granted anymore.

I did mention to a co-worker today that it would be nice for everyone if we could all, just for one Christmas, go back to how it was when we were kids. When the anticipation and excitement were all-consuming, and we were all so innocent. I wish now that I'd savored those Christmases just a little bit more.

But I'm lucky in that every Christmas Eve morning, I still wake up with the same butterflies-in-my-stomach feeling that I used to have as a child. And I really hope that never goes away.

So even though I have to head into work for a little while tomorrow, I'll have that wonderful feeling to keep me aglow all morning long. And it will carry me right through until Thursday night.

Happy holidays, everyone! Enjoy this time with your families and cherish every moment. I know I will.

Wow, I'm tired.

Christmas cookie pictures will be posted, I promise...as soon as I'm finished. Which should be Tuesday night.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm beat. This has been a crazy few days. The end result of all of this prep work will be so worth it. Also...my vacation starts Wednesday afternoon!! Yippee! I am going to work on Christmas Eve for half a day to partake in our annual pancake breakfast that our executives graciously put on for all employees. It makes for a really fun morning.

After that, no work until January 5th. I won't know what to do with myself, except...everything. I've got a few things planned while I'm off, most of which revolves around my friends and family. And I could not be more excited about it. I've also made sure to include some me time in there somewhere, seeing as I can't take 11 days off from work without having at least one day of nothing. I'm thrilled at this rare chance of rejuvenation at home and plan to revel in it as much as possible.

Good luck to everyone in these last days of preparation for Christmas. Remember, it's really all about spending it with your family and having that wonderful cozy feeling.

The best Christmas present ever.

Isn't he just the cutest thing?

We got Chandler eight years ago today. He's always loved to sit under the Christmas tree every year. Rob thinks it's because he knows he was a Christmas gift (mine), so that's where he's most comfortable.

Here's an expanded picture of our tree. I really like it - Target was sure a lifesaver this year.




















Only 9 more days until one of my favorite days of the entire year. I'm so excited.

Cookie pictures will be posted tomorrow, so stay tuned!

I declare this weekend "cookie weekend".

The baking will be starting up again this weekend! We're doing a Christmas cookie exchange at work next week, and I've got a couple different recipes in mind. My husband has even offered to help, so of course I'm going to take him up on his offer. I signed up for Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies, so I've been getting a new cookie recipe every day for 9 days. I think one of those recipes might make it into the final cut. I'm also considering baking snickerdoodles, which I've never made before but found a recipe for on a bag of flour I recently bought. There is nothing more delicious to me than warm snickerdoodles. Nothing.

Pictures will surely follow after this weekend's bake-fest. And I will surely post those recipes that turned out the best!

Happy baking!

Lucky number 13.

Today marks the 13th anniversary of when my husband and I officially started dating. I cannot believe that it's been 13 years that we've known each other. We're almost at the "I've-been-with-you-half-of-my-life" milestone. And of course, I'm OK with that. Glad of that. Happy of that.

I can't wait to see what the next 13 years (and many more) hold for us.

I know what I'm doing on April 11th!

Today I had the unfortunate luck of being notified via e-mail that Britney Spears is coming to Arco Arena on April 11th, and guess who's opening for her?

Wait for it...

The Pussycat Dolls.

My first thought was, "Why on earth would I get this?" And my second thought was, "I would sooner stick a needle in my eye than go see either of those acts, ESPECIALLY together." And then I remembered that I signed up to get notifications from Arco Arena ever since I saw Justin Timberlake there almost 2 years ago.

Too bad it wasn't an e-mail notifying me that he was coming back. It would make me jump with glee.

A girl can dream!

Back from a short hiatus.

Sorry for the absence of a post - I was enjoying my vacation too much to get near a computer.

Here's a breakdown of what I did during my fantastic 4 day vacation:

1) On Thanksgiving Day, my mom and I participated in the Run to Feed the Hungry. It was my third time, my mom's first. I couldn't believe the amount of people that were there - it was pretty great seeing 27, 000 people all uniting to do one thing. After that, we headed to my grandparent's house for the usual delicious feast, complete with homemade bratwurst as an appetizer. Not to quote Rachael Ray or anything (I'm not particularly fond of her), but YUM-O. And I brought leftover pumpkin spice cake, which turned out really well. It took me three times to make the caramel for the frosting (I burned it twice), but it was worth it in the end. After that, we went to my mother-in-law's for coffee and really yummy dessert. I have never been more done with food than when we got home. I was content to never see it again, until of course, I woke up hungry the next morning. It was still a pretty great Thanksgiving, overindulgence and all.

2) Friday I went to River City Brewing Company in Downtown Plaza with Kim and Nick and my cousins Kristie and Corey. I had a delicious flank steak salad with red wine vinaigrette and then we walked over to Starbuck's where I topped it off with coffee cake and a decaf soy mocha (because it all went so well together). Thanks to Nick and Corey respectively who paid for each one - you're awesome! We also went and saw Four Christmases which was HILARIOUS. I continue to love Vince Vaughn and my love grows stronger with every movie he's in. I snorted in the theater, it was so funny. After the movie, I jetted off to Elk Grove where I met my BFF Melissa for more coffee (yum!) and much overdue girl talk. Every time I see her in person, I realize how much I miss her (she lives in Southern California). 3 hours has never gone faster.

3) Saturday night, my husband and I went over to my mom and stepdad's house for dinner with my stepbrothers and my stepsister-in-law. My mom made: 1) 2 different kinds of appetizers from Trader Joe's; 2) warm ciabatta bread with garlic butter 3) beef burgundy; and 4) homemade chicken pot pie. It was almost like another Thanksgiving. Oh, and pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving for dessert. Oy. Again, more full than I ever dreamed. I felt like I should be rolling home instead of driving.

4) Sunday afternoon was spent at Country Club lanes with Corey, Kim and Nick for some bowling. Oh, and it was my first time bowling. EVER. I've been to birthday parties at bowling alleys (Kristie had one when she was little) but never actually bowled because I was too chicken. And I was pretty much what you expected: lame. I bowled a 62 the first game (AWESOME!) and an 82 the second game (an improvement, but still not great). I did have fun, though - I got a strike in my first game and did a whole lot better in the second game. I'm hoping to go back again so I can get a little better and at least get a triple digit score.

After all of that, you can imagine how hard it was for me to get up this morning. But I took comfort in the fact that 1) most people were grumbling this morning after having 4 days off; and 2) MY 11 DAY VACATION IS ONLY 23 DAYS AWAY. So that kinda made me feel better almost immediately. Plus, having my alarm set to Christmas music is such a wonderful way to start the day. I actually smiled at 5:15 this morning. On a Monday. After having 4 days off. I am not kidding.

I am looking forward to Christmas so much that I feel like a kid again. I positively cannot wait. Compared to how I felt last Christmas, I think I'm making up for lost time.

Happy holidays! And I promise not to take such a long break next time. I know my fans miss it a great deal when I don't post.

(Crickets chirping)

I need a BREAK.

I'm reaching that point where I just feel like a hamster in a wheel - I'm doing the same things over and over and over and over again and I'm burnt out. I get like this every now and again, and it basically means I'm overdue for a me-day of doing nothing at home (and I do mean nothing - no running to the grocery store, no laundry, no NOTHING), and thankfully, I'll get that chance next week. There's nothing bad happening in my life at the moment (thank goodness and knock on wood) - I just need to breathe for a little while, and then everything will be right with the world again.

The 4 day break from work next week will certainly help with all of this. The best part is that it's a precursor to my 11 DAY VACATION in December. I haven't had a vacation that long in...2 years. I'm beside myself with glee at the prospect of setting my own agenda for a week and half. It's going to be fabulous.

I'm already feeling better just thinking about it!

An important, unrecognized milestone.

November 4th marked the two year anniversary of maintaining my 50 pound weight loss, thanks to Weight Watchers. It's hard to believe that it's been two years already, but I'm so proud of the fact that I've been disciplined enough to keep it off and not give in to temptation at every chance. It's been a challenging two years and I'm still learning as I go on how to maintain my success, but I think I've done pretty excellent, if I do say so myself.

I don't toot my own horn very often, but I think it deserves a pretty loud toot for this.

Repeat movie night.

My husband and I watched The Color Purple tonight after not having seen it for quite some time. I positively love that movie. I have yet to read the book, so I think it's going to be next on my list. The primary reason for watching it again was because I went and saw the play last weekend at the Community Center, and it was great. Better than great. And I'd forgotten about what an inspirational story it is, and was interested in comparing the two to see the differences. The play was pretty close to the movie, although there was a lot more (fabulous) singing in the play.

I won't give away all of the details in case not everyone has seen it, in which case I implore you: please rent the movie! You will not be disappointed, I promise you.

Today's funny cat picture:

Happy Caturday!

Is it April?

Seriously. What's the deal with this weather? I like spring-ish weather as much as the next person, but Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away. It's supposed to be COLD. You're supposed to be able to make a fire and cozy up with a cup of hot chocolate and a blanket, not out running around in shorts and a t-shirt with the air conditioning on.

I just checked the weather report and apparently it's supposed to rain next weekend, but it's going to be in the 70's through Wednesday. Sheesh.

Although it will make for a very pleasant weekend, so have yourselves a good one!

Thanksgiving baking adventure.

I've decided to make this cake for Thanksgiving, and I actually get to do a trial run on it before the big day. My co-workers and I are having a potluck the day before Thanksgiving, and we're only bringing in side dishes and desserts. It will be a plethora of mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie and stuffing. Yum.

I'm so excited to make this cake! I'm sure it's going to be amazing. I'll be sure to take pictures of this creation so I can share it with all of you.

Maybe I should start fasting now to make room in my stomach...?

Sigh.

My mom sent me this text message earlier today:
















Isn't it picturesque? Her and my stepdad are in Kauai right now. It almost looks like a postcard.


Though it won't be in Kauai, I'm SO looking forward to the Thanksgiving break. Only 17 more days!

A fantastic weekend.

Last weekend I traveled to Oakland for two reasons: 1) to visit my cousin Kim and her husband Nick; and 2) to see Jason Mraz in concert (again) at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. I traveled by Amtrak again and was so thankful that I did, seeing as it poured on the way there Saturday afternoon. The train ride was pleasant and stress free (as it was last time), and Saturday evening was spent at Zachary's Pizza in Oakland. This was one of the best pizza places I've ever been to, hands down. Delicious deep dish with just enough cheese, pesto, garlic and stewed tomatoes. As Nick put it, "It's what Zelda's in Sacramento WISHES it could be." And he was right.

Sunday we walked around Oakland for a little while, and then went to a place called Barney's for lunch (two doors down from Zachary's, which we were tempted to go back to but did not). Lunch consisted of burgers, spicy curly fries, and a delicious vanilla milkshake. So, so delicious. I wish I had taken pictures to share with all of you.

After that, we headed to the Greek for the concert, which was outdoors. Obviously, there was concern that it would rain, and since umbrellas are not allowed at the Greek, we were told to bring ponchos to keep dry. I prayed and prayed Saturday night that it would not rain, and thankfully, we didn't see a drop all night. The only drops I saw were tears of joy from the (once again) AMAZING performance by Mr. Mraz. It was such a phenomenal, uplifting, joyous night that I hated to see it end. He had two opening acts - one band called Two Spot Gobi (who are from the U.K. and stylistically sounded a lot like Jason), and an Irish singer named Lisa Hannigan, who was so great that I cannot wait to get her album.

When he finally took the stage two hours later, I was thrilled beyond words. He played mostly songs from his current album (We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.), got the crowd involved a lot, and was just a pleasure to listen to. I'm having a hard time conveying just how light and airy I felt once we left. I've never really had that feeling leaving a concert, but he has that effect on people. You can't help but be influenced by his positivity and amazing energy. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay for his encore since I had to head to the train station, but what I saw was enough to keep me uplifted all week. And since I had his CD in my car, I've been able to keep it going even longer. I found out that night that he was playing Freeborn Hall in Davis the next night (which I wasn't aware of when I bought my ticket initially), and considered buying another ticket to go see him again. It was that good. Granted, this concert wasn't as intimate as when I saw him in Santa Cruz back in April, but it was still great. I've decided that I'm going to see him every time he comes to town from now on. If you get the chance, take a listen to his album online or on iTunes - you won't be disappointed.

My thanks to Kim and Nick for their hospitality and for introducing me to Zachary's. And my thanks to Jason Mraz for bringing me endless joy this week.
















The fact that he's heart-breakingly adorable is also in his favor.

Inside the invisible box.

In case you hadn't already guessed by the title, I was a mime for Halloween. Our entire department was a gang of mimes. And we had a blast. Here are some photos to prove it:















This is me at my desk, trying to have a mime-ish expression on my face. I've never worn that heavy white face make-up before, but I have a whole new respect for actors/mimes. That stuff is awful. As soon as I put it on, my face started to itch and I wanted nothing more than to go to town and scratch it all off. I kept feeling little pieces of lint stuck to it all day. At one point, I forgot I was wearing it and rubbed my nose. That required a reapplication. Although for it being my first time applying it and referencing the mighty Internet for a mime picture, I thought I did pretty good. Also, thank goodness for the black and white striped sweater in my closet!

Here's the rest of us hamming it up in the elevator:

















Don't we look great? We went around to different departments sneaking up on them. Some people laughed, some people said it was their worst nightmare come true. But we had a lot of fun nonetheless. And my cheesecake was a smash hit. It came out of the springform pan perfectly, and it tasted like heaven. Although a little goes a long way with that cake - lots of cream cheese and heavy cream make it SUPER rich.

So another Halloween for the books and it was fabulous. With these people as co-workers, I'm already looking forward to next year!

Halloween, Martha style.

Here is the fruits of my labor: a spiderweb cheesecake, straight from the pages of the October issue of Martha Stewart Living:


















Not a bad effort, if I do say so myself. It doesn't look exactly like the picture, but it's close enough.

I snuck a lick of the cheesecake filling tonight before I stuck it in the freezer, and OH MY GOD. The most delicious cheesecake ever. Here's the recipe if you want to try it.

This was my first cheesecake ever, and I'm pretty happy with it. And because it's no-bake, I'll definitely make it again. I'm excited to see what my co-workers think of it.

And I'll post costume pictures after tomorrow...I'm not telling what we're dressing up as...you'll just have to wait and see. Muuhahahahahahhaha!

Either a good show of restraint, or a display of insanity.

I'm making a no-bake cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crust for our Halloween potluck on Friday, so I bought a package of Oreo cookies and had to scrape out all of the cream filling so I was only left with the chocolate cookies.

And I threw away the entire pile of delicious cream filling without taking a single bite of it.

Am I being too good, or am I just losing it? You decide.

I have to get something off my chest.

I'm not normally a very political person, but there's something about one of the propositions on the ballot this election year that's really got me riled up.

The fact that there is a proposition that will determine whether a same-sex couple can marry or not is appalling. Unnecessary. Ridiculous. Insulting. Horrible. Hurtful. And lots of other adjectives that I won't use here. I was driving home from work today and saw someone with a Yes on 8 bumper sticker on their car. I was driving through a residential neighborhood and saw one too many Yes on 8 signs in people's front yards. I was speechless and angry at the same time. The commercials in favor of this proposition are even more infuriating - that by voting yes, you're protecting the sanctity of marriage.

I'm sorry, but when did it become the state of California's business to decide who people can marry? I'm just flabbergasted that in this day in age, we even have such an initiative on the ballot.

This is the first time in a long time I can remember being this infuriated about something political. And all that infuriation is going to propel me right to the polls on the 4th.

Not that I'm telling you what to do (because I hate to be bossy), but please don't forget to vote on the 4th! We need as many voices as we can this time around.

Funny cat photo of the day.

Tee hee!

Weight ain't nothin' but a number.

Since I hurt my back a couple of weeks ago, I've been watching a LOT of television to keep me busy. More than anyone should really watch in a day, but when you've got nothing else to do (I did read a few magazines), the television becomes your window to the world until you can get back out in it. And last night, that window had some pretty disturbing images.

One of the channels we get with our satellite is BBC America. I rarely watch it (except for when Graham Norton is on - he's hilarious), but the title of the show that was on caught my eye as I was searching for something to watch. The title was "Super Skinny Me", and it was a documentary about two English journalists who try to see if they can get to a size zero in 5 weeks. They were both average sized when they started - one was 129 pounds, one was 144 pounds. The goal of the film was to show how women often get carried away with losing weight and the scary things they resort to just to fit into a smaller numbered size.

During the first week, the one who started out weighing 129 pounds ate nothing but watercress soup for a week for every meal, and apparently, all it was made of was olive oil, onions and watercress. She had a heaping bowl of it 3 times a day. And nothing else. Yuck. The 144 pound one ate nothing but lemonade with maple syrup and cayenne pepper and exercised for an hour every day. Really scary stuff.

The second week, the 129 pounder drank 2 protein shakes a day and ate a high protein meal for dinner. And exercised for 2 hours every day. She consumed about 800 calories total and burned about 1200.

The 144 pounder went to a detox center and got colonics more times than she should have. She also started to become obsessed with food, and started experimenting with laxatives. When she confessed that she had started purging as well, the doctor monitoring her through this whole thing told her that she was on her way to becoming a bulimic if she wasn't careful.

The 129 pounder lost 14 pounds total and could fit into a size 00 jeans, the same size that would fit a 6 year old girl. Her rib cage started to show. Her collar bone was sticking out. It was appalling.

Thankfully, both of these women returned to normal once the experiment was over. The scary part of it for me was realizing that 2 years ago, while I was losing all of my weight, I too became obsessed with the number on the scale and the number on the tag of my jeans. I was smart enough not to let it get out of hand or do anything unhealthy or dangerous, but I knew exactly what kind of mentality these women had. It's a really frightening feeling when you let the clothes or the scale control what you eat or how you feel about yourself. Why is it that so many women tie their self-worth into their clothing size? I'm guilty of that, too. And perplexed at the same time.

I've been feeling really down over these last couple of weeks, what with not being able to exercise and being very restricted in my daily activities. I started feeling like I was gaining weight (which I wasn't), and started to worry. But after I watched that documentary last night, I felt like my eating patterns have really changed for the better over the past couple of years, and even though my scale might fluctuate, I'm pretty happy with where I'm at weight-wise. Of course, I'd like to drop a couple (and I do mean 2) pounds, but that's it. And I'm sure once I start up my regular exercise again (soon!), that it will come off. So I finally felt like it was OK not to worry about the scale anymore.

So watching TV for a week paid off a little bit.

OK, a lot.

I love my co-workers.

And let me tell you why.

Back when we first moved in to our new building in June, the local chamber of commerce sent us a bunch of welcome bags with coupons for local businesses, cookies, soda can holders, etc. They probably sent us upwards of 200 of these plastic bags, all of which we intended to give to our employees. After several e-mails telling employees to please come pick one up, and after having them sit in our department in a gargantuan cardboard box for well over a month, we decided to get rid of them. So a couple of my co-workers went through the bags and took out the stuff worth keeping and threw out the rest.

One of the things in the bags were perfume/cologne samples from the perfume store in the outlet mall not far from our building. Unfortunately, the perfume samples were Paris Hilton's fragrance called "It's Just Me" with the obnoxious slogan of "When someone asks what you're wearing, simply tell them 'It's just me.'" Gag me. There must have been 100 of those cards with perfume samples, with little pictures of Paris Hilton on the front.

I got to work the next morning, and someone had set about 20 of those cards on my desk. I got a nice giggle out of them, and I thought it was a fun little way to start the day.

And then the Paris' started multiplying.

One of my co-workers cut out her head from one of the cards and taped it on the name plate of the person sitting next to her. It took her awhile to notice it, but we all died laughing in the meantime.

Then, our department printer decided to crap out, so one of our IT guys came down to fix it. To test it out, he printed, "I'm a pirate....ARGGGG!" My co-worker (whom I'll call G) took that piece of paper, taped a little cut-out of Paris Hilton to it with a speech bubble saying "That's hot!" and hung it up on the wall behind the printer.

That was over a month ago, and it's still hanging there.

Over the course of the last month, G and another co-worker I'll call M have been passing the little Paris head back and forth between their desks, hiding it in each other's cubicles in different places to see if the other person would find it and how long it would take. Since my cubicle is right next to theirs, I'd get in on the fun if one of them couldn't find it and see if I could help out. It's been a source of endless entertainment and much-needed laugh breaks.

Two weeks ago, I was at lunch reading a magazine and came across the worst perfume ad I've ever seen. Apparently, Paris has a new perfume called Fairy Dust. In this ad, she is dressed like a fairy, wings and all, "flying" in the clouds with a little slogan above her head that says "Do you believe in fairy tales?" Again, GAG.

I couldn't resist ripping it out and taking it back to my department. G was at lunch, so I hung it on her monitor with a post-it attached that said "To my number one fan, XOXO, Paris". Much laughter commenced when she returned from lunch, as you can imagine.

I went to a meeting later that afternoon and came back to my desk to find the hideous Paris fairy taped to my white board, and the slogan taped to my monitor. Again, hysterical laughter and more fun with G.

When I was out last week due to my back, I came back to my desk and found lots of little Paris' hiding all over the place. One was taped to a little stuffed cat I have on my desk. One was taped to my monitor. One was taped inside a little model of a cubicle I have on my desk. It was pretty freakin' hilarious.

And this one made me laugh the most:
















Yes, that is a picture of my husband at our wedding. With a little Paris in the corner.

G was out on Friday, so I went to town on her desk and hid all of the Paris' that were on my desk around her cubicle. And I'm going to the store tomorrow to see if I can't find a huge poster of Paris Hilton to hang behind her cubicle.

I'm so glad I work with people who are so much fun - it makes coming to work a joy.

I'm just wondering what repercussions I'll face after the poster on Monday. Whatever they are, it will be SO worth it!

I jinxed myself.

My pain free existence was short-lived.

I woke up this morning feeling a whole lot better than yesterday and was so excited that I was back to being me again. I was looking forward to an entire day of being without pain, until I leaned over just a little bit to the right while I was getting ready this morning. And it happened again.

The pain came back and lasted all day, through 2 Aleve and the heating pad. It was a very, very miserable day at work. Thanks to a wonderful co-worker who went and found me a back support pad for my chair, I made it through the day and was feeling better mentally by the time I came home. As soon as I got home, I laid down and iced my back. And right now, I'm feeling OK again. But I'll be taking another muscle relaxer before I go to bed tonight. Bummer.

I'm really hoping I'm feeling better by Thursday. I'm supposed to go to Merced for work and my mother-in-law's retirement party is that night, and I don't want to disappoint her.

What I wouldn't give to feel normal again. The good thing about all this is that when I'm all healed, I am DEFINITELY making it a priority to work my abs and back muscles to get them strong and healthy so that this does not happen again. I believe everything happens for a reason, and I'm thinking that's the reason behind all of this.

At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Back to normal (for the most part).

I am so glad last week is over.

After posting on Monday about my back issues, I struggled all day at work on Tuesday (walking really slow, not able to get out of my chair without using my arm rests, etc.), came home and took it easy in the hopes that it would resolve itself. Unfortunately, I couldn't relax because I couldn't get comfortable. Sitting was painful, laying down was painful, and walking was almost impossible. It was pretty miserable. But I took some Advil, laid down with the heating pad and went to bed thinking I would wake up the next morning and it would have improved slightly.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. I woke up the next morning and could barely get out of bed. I wasn't strong enough to lift myself up from laying down, and when I tried to use the bathroom, the pain of trying to sit down was excruciating. So of course, I stayed home seeing as I could barely sit.

I figured one day would be plenty of rest for my back to get a little better, so I resolved to go back to work the next day.

Wrong again.

I woke up Thursday morning and it was the same if not worse. I was almost completely incapacitated and could hardly move. It was quite possibly the worst back pain I've ever had. I didn't know if I'd pinched a nerve, pulled a muscle or slipped a disc. All I knew was that every time I moved, my back hurt so bad it was unbearable. And nothing was working to help ease the pain. I couldn't even turn over in bed at night because my back muscles weren't strong enough for me to flip over. I had to put my hands underneath my hips and push myself over to one side. I started to panic at that point.

So I called the advice nurse on Thursday night, explained what was happening and she advised me to go to the doctor the next day. In the meantime, she told me to keep doing what I was doing with the heat and cold compresses and taking Advil every 4 hours. So I'd be missing another day of work on Friday. Super.

I called my doctor first thing on Friday morning and made an appointment for the afternoon. Because I couldn't drive and my husband was working, my mom was gracious enough to come pick me up and take me to my appointment. The most humbling part of the day? When my husband had to help me get dressed because I was too weak to put on my pants. I've never been more vulnerable in my whole life.

I hobbled in to the office that afternoon, where I was examined by the physician assistant on duty and was diagnosed with severe muscle strain in my back. The good news was that it wasn't a slipped disc or a pinched nerve, which made me VERY happy as you can imagine. She prescribed Vicodin (woooo!) and a muscle relaxer (wooooooooo!), told me to continue with the heat and ice packs, and to take 2 Aleve every 12 hours for the pain/inflammation.

My mom and I drove to the pharmacy afterwards (they send your prescriptions electronically directly to the pharmacy - how cool is that?) and I picked up my pain pills. I'm not normally a person who takes a lot of pills, so I was wary about what I was given. But I was in so much pain and so uncomfortable that I was willing to try anything.

Later that night, my mom picked me up and took me back to their house so I wouldn't have to spend the evening alone, since my husband was still at work and I was in no shape to be home alone all night. She fixed a delicious dinner and I laid on the couch all night being uncomfortable - the Aleve wasn't working as well as I'd hoped, so I planned on taking one of my muscle relaxers that night before I went to sleep.

I got home, took half of one of the pills (5 milligrams) and got into bed, looking forward to a (hopefully) restful nights' sleep. And as soon as the pill kicked in, I was OUT. Dead to the world. I could feel a little of the effects of it before I fell asleep, and I've never felt so weird before. The TV started to sound strange, I felt like I couldn't speak - very odd stuff. Thankfully, once I nodded off, I had no weird dreams and slept OK (not great).

Saturday was about the same, although I took more Aleve and tried to walk around a little, since sitting made my back stiff and feel worse. I spent the day at my grandparent's house while my mom and grandmother took care of me, my grandfather and my great-grandmother. It was a regular hospital, minus the doctors and bad smells. My grandmother fed me with homemade pizza, homemade lentil soup, homemade goulash and dumplings and homemade apple pastry. DELISH. My back may not have felt good, but my soul was sure soothed. It was a perfectly comforting day spent with my family, and it was wonderful (even though I was in pain). I haven't spent a day like that with my grandparents in a long time - it took me back to when I was little and would spend every day there during the summer. Except the fall weather made it so cozy and I couldn't help but be happy.

Thankfully, I woke up yesterday morning in significantly less pain and was able to get myself out of bed and dressed on my own. Yippee! I did laundry, dishes and a little grocery shopping. I even met my husband on his lunch break and enjoyed his company as we ate outside (and yesterday was the perfect day for it).

Today was a little better than yesterday pain wise, so I think I'm out of the woods. I went back to work and I'm feeling more like me today, but still get twinges in my back if I move the wrong way. Exercise is out of the question until I'm completely pain-free, which I'm hoping will be the end of the week. If not, I'll wait a few more days. As long as it takes me to heal is as long as I'll be waiting.

The moral of this story is two things:

1) I have a lot more compassion for people who need the assistance of others. I was completely at the mercy of everyone around me, and thankfully I have the best family a person could ever ask for. Even though I was only down for a few days, I was totally helpless and dependent on everyone else to help me, which is a terrible feeling to have. I never realized how much I love my independence until last week. And I will not take it (or my good health) for granted again.

2) Running in place with the Wii is BAD. VERY BAD. At least for me. I doubt I'll be doing it again.

I'm just so glad to be feeling better and more mobile. And so thankful that I have such a wonderful support system in my family.

Now, where's that heating pad...?

The pinched nerve is back.

For the past few years, I've had an angry nerve in my back that flares up now and again. If I bend over just right or move just the right way, it hurts for a couple of days and life is not pleasant. I did a free run on the Wii yesterday (running in place), and I noticed my back bothering me not long after I finished, so I don't think I'll be doing that again for awhile. Sitting doesn't seem to bother me so much, but walking around is uncomfortable, and laying down is OK if I'm in the right position. Unfortunately, nothing really helps except time and laying off of it, so that means no running tonight. I'm going to try and do some yoga later on in hopes that it will stretch things out a little.

I'm starting to get nervous about taking too much time off from running. The race is only 52 days from today, so every chance I get to run and improve my time is helpful. But resting my body is more important right now, so I'll be taking care of myself tonight.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

Eight years already?

Eight years ago yesterday, Rob and I officially became Mr. and Mrs. The weather was very similar to today's: it was chilly in the morning, really warm in the afternoon and then chilly again that night. I remember most every detail about that day and the night before as if it happened yesterday. I remember sleeping in my bed at home for the last time with my cat Smokey sleeping next to me, knowing that this would be the last time she would curl up with me at night. I remember groggily waking up at 6:30 the next morning, forcing myself to eat something (I can't eat when I'm nervous). My mom gave me a card before I left the house to get my hair done, and that's when the first round of tears started. I managed to compose myself long enough to go get my hair done in Folsom, drive back to Elk Grove to get my make up done (where I had my eyebrows plucked for the first time), and drive back to my mom's house. 3 hours after all of that, I walked down the aisle with my dad. And when I saw Rob standing at the end of it with tears pouring down his face, I lost all composure and turned into a blubbering mess. The pictures are actually kind of funny - it really looks like I'm extremely sad and not happy AT ALL.

I remember my nose running uncontrollably at the altar (thank goodness for the one tissue I had crumpled in my hand). I remember barely speaking my vows to Rob because I was so nervous in front of 210 people. And I remember the moment when it became official: how excited we both were that our life together was just beginning.

It was a pretty fantastic day, one that we'll never forget. I'm so grateful for these last eight years, for the good times and the bad and everything in between.

Let's hope we've got 100 more left!

High fructose corn syrup is apparently good for you now.

Have any of you seen the ad campaign that the Corn Refiners Association has been running recently? There have been a couple of commercials, one in which a guy and a girl are sitting on a blanket in a park and the girl is trying to give her boyfriend a popsicle, but he won't eat it because he says it has HFCS in it, and then she says it's fine in moderation and nutritionally is the same as sugar and honey.

There is also this ad in magazines:















Why is it that WOMEN are the ones convincing everyone that this nasty processed stuff is OK to eat? Don't men talk to each other about these things? Why aren't THEY telling people to eat more of this stuff?

The other thing that bugs me about this is the fact that there is corn in almost ALL processed foods. So if you're eating that kind of food on a daily basis, you're eating it every day. So why are they trying to convince people that it's OK in moderation when most people are eating it more than they should, and not even on purpose? I'm pretty sure the man in the commercial I mentioned earlier already had a bowl of corn flakes for breakfast, and probably a soda at some point, so unbeknownst to him, he's already had more than his fair share of corn products for the day. And yet, he refuses to eat the measly little popsicle because it has HFCS and that's bad for you. And the rest of the stuff you ate earlier in the day DOESN'T have that stuff in it? Hmmm....OK.

I just wish that a) women weren't always the evil and misinformed people, and b) that the CRA would just admit that the stuff is bad for you when you eat more than you should, which MOST people do. Sugar makes you want more sugar, so there's no such thing as eating it in moderation for anyone in this country, because the majority of the population doesn't do that.

There. I'm done ranting now. And I'm going to go check my cupboards for stuff that has HFCS in it. And I promise if I find any, I won't try to stuff it down your throat and tell you it's good for you.

Another news flash: the sky is blue!

Did anyone REALLY not see this one coming?













I think it's admirable that he's coming out of the closet because he doesn't want his infant son to be raised on a lie. But honestly, Clay, we figured this one out a loooooong time ago.

Happy Fall Equinox!

Fall officially began today at 8:44:18 a.m. our time. And yet, our air conditioning is still on.

I know I've done a previous posting on fall, but now that it's actually here, I'm so excited! I can't wait to see the leaves (and the weather) start to change.

I suddenly have a craving for caramel apples, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, candy corn, beef stew, apple cider and chicken soup. Yum.

Relating to fall food items: Thanksgiving is 66 days from today! Woo hoo!

Thought of the day.

I found this in an old copy of body and soul (a really good magazine, even if it is Martha Stewart):

"A mentor once inspired me to remember that each person I pass is just like me: we all want to be happy, and we all have pain. Whenever I find myself envying another woman's slimmer waistline or someone else's shiny sports car, I pause to consciously remind myself that they are both like me. By not comparing, our basic human compassion replaces envy with peace."

Isn't that great? I felt so much relief in reading that statement. I'm guilty of wanting what someone else has more than once before, thinking their life is better than mine, but we all have issues and private matters we don't share. Everyone struggles, no matter who they are or what they do. And that makes me so much more compassionate than I ever thought possible.

What a nice way to end a Sunday.

A worthy cause and a celebration of life.

My mom and I are walking in this charity walk tomorrow night to raise money and awareness for ovarian cancer, and to celebrate my grandmother's survival of the disease. Two years ago, my grandmother was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer. She went through 5 months of grueling chemotherapy and was the sickest I've ever seen her. But my grandmother is a very strong woman, and she pulled through perfectly. Her most recent doctors' visit showed no more signs of cancer and she is healthier than ever.

And to all my female readers: please be aware of this disease and its symptoms. They don't call it a silent killer for nothing. If you have unexplained weight gain or persistent bloating, a change in bathroom habits, fatigue, and in my grandmother's case, a persistent bladder infection, please don't ignore it. Unfortunately, because of the vague symptoms, it often gets misdiagnosed and is found too late. When it is found early, there's a 90% survival rate.

So we'll be joining countless others tomorrow night to celebrate those who have survived and to raise money for more research. And I'm so grateful to say that my grandmother has survived this disease and that we are walking in her honor, not in her memory.

A serious case of the mehs.

Do you ever have one of those days where you just feel...blah? You don't feel bad, you don't feel good, you just...are. I had one of those days today. There's nothing in particular that brought it on, I just felt like I was going through the motions and not really present (not that I wasn't paying attention to my job duties). It may have been the overcast skies that brought on this mood, but I'm not certain.

Also, as I type this, I keep feeling a phantom Wii remote attached to my right hand. And so the addiction begins.

Wheeeee!!! Wiiiii!!!!

We finally got our Wii tonight! We bowled a little bit (Rob won by a stinkin' point), played a little bit of baseball (Rob is AWESOME at it, I can't hit anything to save my life), and some tennis (we're both mediocre at it). Soooo much fun! I can't wait until we get our Wii Fit so I can do some skiing and some hula hooping! Oh, and some running and some yoga, too.

Wii Sports has a feature where you can take a fitness test to see what your Wii Fitness Age is. Rob went first, and came out to be 41. Not too far off from his real age. So I thought, "I've been exercising for awhile - I bet I can get an age a lot younger than my actual age."

Ha. Ha. HA. HA!

When I finished my turn, the Wii told me I was 57.

FIFTY. SEVEN.

(No offense to anyone who might be reading this and is in their 50's . There's nothing wrong with your fifties, and it's not old by any means. I just assumed I'd get a number much closer to my actual age, not twenty some odd years older than I am now.)

Apparently, not being able to hit a homerun means you are completely out of shape. I guess I'll be taking up baseball soon!

The weather is changing!

Have you noticed lately that the mornings and evenings are getting significantly cooler? The weather forecast for this week is supposed to be warm during the day and down to the lower 50's/upper 40's at night. Our SMUD bill will certainly be going down very soon, and thank goodness for that.

Although I do love summer, I can't WAIT for fall. I love this time of year. Soon it will be time again for stews, fires and sweaters. Hooray!

I'm thinking of taking a trip up to Apple Hill once the weather really starts to change. I haven't been up there for all of the festivities in at least 10 years.

Only 8 more days until fall begins!

Delicious Friday.

I got to work this morning thinking this would be a pretty typical day for me, but I was wrong. And I was happy to be wrong.

Around 9:00, one of the executive administrative assistants that I've been working on a project with called and asked me what I was doing for lunch today. I told her I had no plans, and she said she wanted to take me to lunch to thank me for all of the help I've given her over the last few months. I, of course, said yes, and asked her where we were going. She said she had heard of a restaurant downtown called Ella that was supposed to be really good, so she thought we'd try there.

Am I glad she made that recommendation. This place was just fabulous. It was very sophisticated and classy: white linens, very sharp dressed waiters, very quick and friendly service. We shared everything we ordered (at the recommendation of our waiter), so to start, we had grilled prawns with fresh cranberry bean salad and romesco. Amazingly good, and I'm not a big seafood person. The prawns were cooked perfectly and so delicious, and the bean salad was light and the perfect companion to the prawns. Delish.

We also ordered sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic, chili flake and parmesan. Also delicious, but I wasn't aware of how bitter broccoli rabe is. I'm not sure if I'll ever eat it again, but the way they had prepared it was excellent.

For our main dish, we ordered pan roasted halibut with lemon-caper brown butter and arugula. It also came with little potatoes that were so delicious I was beside myself.

And for our finale, we had the chocolate brownie with toasted almonds, fudge sauce and chocolate chip cocoa nib ice cream. OH. MY. STARS. It was so unbelievably good. And the best part was, it was just a little bit, so I wasn't stuffed after eating all of this.

The other nice thing? I didn't have to watch the clock while we were at lunch and was out a little longer than normal (about an hour more than usual). Nice, huh?

It was one of the most pleasant Friday afternoons I've had in a long time. The weather was perfect, the food was excellent and I enjoyed getting to know a co-worker a little more.

If you're interested, the link to the restaurant's website is here. If you go, you will not regret it. Just be prepared to spend a little more than you normally would.

7 years.

7 years ago was one of the worst days of my life. It was one of the worst days of everyone's lives. I remember waking up feeling pretty terrible: I was on a course of really strong antibiotics for a spider bite and decided to stay home. I called Rob at work to tell him so, and when I asked his supervisor if I could speak with him, he responded, "He already knows."

Huh? Knows about what? Knows that I'm calling to tell him I'm staying home? I didn't get it.

Until Rob got on the phone and told me to turn on the TV. Right now. An airplane had hit one of the buildings of the World Trade Center and it was getting ready to collapse. And the plane was a commercial airliner.

I quickly turned on the TV and was positively horrified. I said a quick prayer for all of the people in the building and those on the plane.

Until I saw the second plane hit the other building. And I felt like I was going to be sick.

I have never been more scared in my entire life. I felt so totally helpless in that moment, and there was nothing I could do but watch the whole thing unfold in front of me on television. It was gut-wrenching, disgusting, shocking and surreal.

For the entire day, I sat there in front of the television, my stomach twisting inside of me from the antibiotics and from what was happening. I just wanted to throw the blankets over my head and pretend it was all a very, very bad dream that would go away. But it didn't. And as the news kept coming, it just kept getting worse.

I remember my mom came over after she got off work to make sure I was OK, and was just as shaken up as I was. I remember being very grateful for her in that moment, because a lot of people lost their mothers that day. Mine was sitting on the couch, safe and sound.

Today is a very somber day for all of us. I'm sure no one will ever forget what they were doing that day, and more importantly, those that we lost. The mother. The boyfriend. The best friend. The co-worker.

My heart goes out to all of the families who lost someone that day. My memories of the pain of that day are nothing compared to theirs.

Gratuitous cat photo of the day.

No, it's not of one of my own. But it's still funny.



One of my new favorite websites: www.icanhascheezburger.com. If you're a cat lover, you'll agree with me.

Oh JT, how I love you so.

My favorite man (besides Rob, seen here) was at Fashion Week (yes, he's a designer, too) and apparently really impressed the crowd with his Spring 2009 collection.

I just wish I could get a hold of a pair of his jeans.

(I meant a women's pair from his clothing line, of course!)

A new incentive to be good.

I went to my Weight Watchers meeting on Saturday as I always do, and our leader announced that WW is running a special campaign from September 7th through October 18th called Lose For Good. For every pound lost, WW will donate a pound of food up to $1 million dollars to Share our Strength (an organization that makes sure no child grows up hungry here in the U.S.) and Action Against Hunger (helping hungry people globally). Isn't that fantastic? So it's a total win-win situation - you lose weight, get healthier and help those in need become healthier, too.

So if I'm down just one pound at my next weigh-in, I can contribute to this cause. If I didn't have a reason to ramp up the exercise, I certainly do now.

A perfect evening.

I met up with a former co-worker tonight whom I haven't seen since January, and I was amazed at what I saw. He'd lost a significant amount of weight when I saw him last time, but he's lost more since then and he looks fantastic. He looks younger, healthier and is so incredibly confident. It's wonderful. I was so happy to see how well he's doing. After dinner at the Buckhorn Grill downtown, we went to Yogurtagogo. It's a lot like Big Spoon, except not quite so many toppings. Still really delicious, though. We spent most of the evening outside talking, and the weather was just perfect for it. The only thing that gave away the fact that summer is starting to slip away was when it got dark at 8:00.

I love it when the weekend starts off in such a great way!

The many sides of Amber.

Here, in pictures, are a few of Amber's many sides:















Have you ever wondered what it looks like when you're being ignored by a cat? See above. See how her ears are pointed toward me? She can hear me calling her, but she is choosing to ignore it and stare at the wall. Hmph.


Here she is digging around in her catnip bag trying to get her mouse:















And here is a picture of her cute little paw:


















I couldn't resist. She has the shortest little legs I've ever seen on a cat. For Halloween this year, I want to get a tiny little wristwatch and put it around her paw so she can be Daniel Tiger from Mr. Rogers. Wouldn't that be so cute??

God help us all.

Read this article and then tell me the world isn't going to end tomorrow.

I know she's kidding (right?), but still. It's enough to make anyone hurl.

Labor Day pains.

Last night, after spending the entire weekend eating until my pants no longer fit (worth it, by the way!), I felt as you'd expect: like crap. I was jittery from too much sugar and bloated from eating too much. I also felt out of sorts, not just because I had eaten too much, but because it was Labor Day: the infamous day-before-the-first-day-of-school.

As a child, I never liked the first day of school. It caused me an immense amount of anxiety and uneasiness. New people, new routine, new teacher, new homework, new everything. I would spend most of the day before worrying about what was going to happen the next day. Of course, it was incredibly counterproductive and I essentially wasted my last day of vacation agonizing about what was ahead. And usually, it was nothing that I couldn't handle and I'd get home from school after that first day feeling pretty foolish about what I'd done the day before.

But the following year, it would always happen again. The worst was always nighttime. I could distract myself during the day with other things, but as soon as it was bedtime, I was left to my own thoughts and drove myself insane with worry. I had stomachaches and headaches galore, and usually would only get about 4 or 5 hours of sleep that night. Which did not make for a very pleasant morning, as you can imagine. You'd think the thought of seeing all my friends again would put me at ease. But no.

So last night, as I tossed and turned from a weekend of overindulgence, it dawned on me that here it was, Labor Day, and I was cursed with insomnia again, just as in years past. It's funny how certain things awaken the same feelings you had years and years ago.

It was a comforting thing for me knowing that I would never have to have that kind of anxiety ever again. And as soon as I realized that, I was out like a light and slept for a good 7 1/2 hours.

My old school-age self would have loved to get that much sleep on Labor Day.

The taming of the shoe.

I bought a new pair of running shoes today after pretty much exhausting my regular pair after 2 years of use. It's bittersweet for me to have to stop using them - they helped get me into the best shape of my life. They saw me through the barely walking on the treadmill a couple of days a week to running 3 miles three times a week. They helped me run my first competitive 5k 2 years ago (and get my best time yet). They helped turn me into the fitness-loving person that I am today.
















Now it's time for me to break in the new shoes and get them ready for November. I only hope that this pair takes me further and faster than I've ever been before.

Bushwalla's awesome.

Who's that (or what's that) you say? He's a musician and a great one at that. This guy opened for Jason Mraz when I saw him in concert in April in Santa Cruz. He was amazing. He's not the most attractive guy, but he's so wonderfully charming and really funny. His music is definitely a little on the eccentric side, but you can't help but like it. He did a cover of the Talking Heads song Psycho Killer, and it was AWESOME. I've had a hankering for listening to it again, and unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it on an album anywhere, so I turned to the one place where you can find anything: YouTube. And here it is!



He has an album out called Autodidactical, Freestyle and Radical which you can find on iTunes (and which yours truly was lucky enough to purchase from the artist himself at the concert!). The best song on it? A song called Gangsta in which the chorus is "It's hard to be a gangsta with a basket on your bike." How funny is that?

Check it out if you get a chance!

Workin' for the weekend.

I am so excited about this weekend! Here's what's lined up:

1. Friday night after work I'm headed to the fair with Ari, Jenni (see her blog here) and Patricia. There are plans for eating lots of deliciously disgusting fried food and just hanging out together. I cannot wait!

2. Saturday afternoon I'm having lunch with a friend/former co-worker whom I haven't seen in a couple of months. I can't believe it's been that long since I saw her last (see Monday's post about someone's finger being on the fast forward button). I'm really looking forward to seeing her again and catching up.

3. On Sunday, I'm getting together with my family to celebrate my grandparent's 54th wedding anniversary. We're going to Mass on Sunday morning and then it's back to my grandparent's house for dinner. That should also be a good time - I always enjoy seeing my family (as you well know by now).

4. On Monday afternoon, my mom and stepdad have invited Rob and I to a Rivercats game in a box suite. That should also be a good time - I'm more looking forward to the company and the food than the game. Did you know Big Spoon yogurt has a concession stand at Raley Field?? Yummmmm.

All in all, it should be a great albeit busy weekend. I'm REALLY looking forward to the extra day off and am going to enjoy it as much as possible, since it will be my last extended weekend until Thanksgiving. Oy.

But with as fast as this year is going, I'm sure it will be here in no time flat. Which is both comforting and downright scary at the same time.

Whatever your plans are this holiday weekend, stay safe and enjoy the last weekend of summer! (Boo hoo!)

Woo hoo!

I went to the dentist today for a 6 month cleaning. I always dread going because I'm afraid of what they're going to find, even though 9 times out of 10 everything's fine. I do, however, usually get a lecture from my hygienist about the fact that my flossing is...well...less than stellar. I have a tendency to not try and do it until right before bed, and by that point I'm too tired to do anything but go to sleep, so it goes by the wayside. (I do brush, though - just wanted to get that out there.) However, over the last couple of weeks, I've found a way to floss that's actually working - I do it way before bedtime as I sit in front of the TV, and so far, I've been doing it every night for a week and a half.

And it paid off.

When I went to my appointment today, there was much less scraping and it was a much faster appointment than normal, even with x-rays! My hygienist was happy, I was happy, and thank goodness, I had no cavities.

Now I just need to keep this up for...forever!

Well, off to go floss...until next time.

Uh-oh.

I think I may be addicted to exercise.

As I mentioned previously, I've been working out 6 days a week in preparation for the Run to Feed the Hungry on Thanksgiving morning. I've been biking and doing the Couch to 5k program (found here: thanks for the inspiration, Jenni!) and Sundays are my day of rest to let my body recuperate. Which I do enjoy, by the way.

But the joy is short lived, because when I wake up on Monday morning, I am a GROUCH. The world sucks and my job sucks and I look terrible and I feel terrible and everything's just...YUCK. Now granted, I'm usually not the happiest of people on Monday mornings (show me one person who isn't!), but I'm usually not that gloom and doom. Once I get to work and get started with my day, I'm fine. But not since I've started exercising this much. By Monday morning, the high I had on Saturday afternoon is long gone and the yucks have set in. And they last pretty much all day until I get back on that treadmill again, and then everything is right with the world and I feel so much better.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad that exercising makes me feel as good as I do. And now I've definitely found a reason to keep going. But I think I'm going to have to do something low impact on Sundays just to keep me in the routine and keep those endorphins going, otherwise I'm doomed to never have a happy Monday ever again.

If such a thing even exists.

Zai Jian, Olympics.

(According to eHow, that's how you say goodbye in Chinese.)

The only good thing about the Olympics coming to an end? People will be less tired at work from staying up too late the night before to watch them.

I'm still going to go through withdrawals for a couple of days. What on earth am I going to watch now?? I guess we'll have to watch the Netflix movies we've had for over a month.

Oh, the horror!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

4 months from today is Christmas Eve!

What I want to know is who has their finger on the fast forward button this year, because it really seems like we just finished with the holidays.

Better start your shopping now!

Musical motivation.

If you exercise, what are some songs that get and keep you motivated during your workouts? Here are a few of my favorites (and let me preface this by saying that I am not ashamed of some of them because they get my nonexistent behind in gear):

1. Maniac (yes, from Flashdance - don't knock it till you've tried it!)
2. Wind it Up, Gwen Stefani
3. The Way I Are, Timbaland
4. Blue Orchid, White Stripes
5. Somebody Told Me, The Killers
6. Galvanize, The Chemical Brothers
7. Gotta Get Through This, Daniel Bedingfield
8. Hung Up, Madonna
9. The New Workout Plan, Kanye West
10. Release, Timbaland ft. Justin Timberlake (you know a JT song had to be on the list somewhere)
11. Most of the songs from Nelly Furtado's album Loose

Motivation comes in many forms, but Justin Timberlake is usually the best form of it. Hands down.

Funniest. Thing. Ever.

Happy almost Friday!

Olympic overload? Not yet.

I cannot seem to get enough of the Olympics this time around. I've turned into a huge Michael Phelps phan (tee hee), and really, who isn't? I've been watching pretty much anything Olympic-related since last Friday, starting with the amazing opening ceremonies to an equestrian event today. I even watched a little fencing. I think of all the Olympic years in my lifetime, this is the year I've watched most. I don't know if it's because of Michael Phelps or because I've just never really devoted enough time to sit down and watch these world champion athletes compete, but I'm so glad I'm doing it now.

Last night I watched the women's marathon, and boy, was that inspiring. I've never wanted to go for a run more than while I was watching those phenomenal women. Even though the American woman (who was the hopeful to win the gold) had to drop out early in the race because of a foot injury (which was heartbreaking to watch, by the way), it was amazing to watch the Romanian woman who won the gold break away from the rest of the pack and be so far ahead of everyone that you couldn't see her competitors behind her. Incredible.

These people also inspire me to keep going with my own training. By no means am I trying to be an Olympian, but I am trying to improve and become a better runner.

And, there's still 7 more days of inspiration left to watch. Woo hoo!

Recapturing the magic.

I weighed in this morning and I am 2 pounds lighter than I was last month. All the exercise is paying off big time. I can feel my body starting to change again - my legs feel incredibly muscular, my running time is starting to improve and I'm feeling like I did 2 years ago when I was training for my first run. I am so excited about what I'm going to look like when race day finally arrives on Thanksgiving morning. It's going to be awesome. I feel totally unstoppable at this moment.

It feels so good to have the old new me back again (does that make sense?).

Me vs. me.

I've started biking this week to help condition my legs for my run in November in addition to doing the Couch-to-5k program to get me back to a decent running time. I've set a pretty rigorous training schedule for myself - I run every other day, and bike on the days I'm not running. I do give myself one day off a week (Sunday) to recuperate and relax a little, but I'm finding now that it's hard to stay away from the exercise now that I'm getting really into it. It's true what they say about it being addicting - once you get that exercise high, it's hard to stop.

I'm not only doing this to get in shape for the run (which is my number one reason): I'm still trying to burn off the weight I gained while on vacation. I'm still not sure exactly how much it is (one or two pounds, maybe), but it's proving very difficult to get rid of. I'm eating exactly as I should be every day (lots of fruits and veggies, lots and LOTS of water, proteins, fiber, carbs, etc.) and still, my scale has not budged. Every morning I hope for a lower number, and every morning it's been exactly the same or a little bit more. It's extremely frustrating since I've never experienced anything like this before; when I was losing weight a couple of years ago and got down to my last few pounds, it didn't take this long (those last few are the hardest to lose), so I'm wondering what's going on. With my Saturday weigh-in looming over my head, I'm getting more and more panicked.

Maybe that's the problem: I'm panicking too much. I've just got to relax and remind myself that I'm doing everything right and the scale is bound to catch up at some point. It's just going to take some time (more than I'd like it to).

It's too bad there's not an Olympic event in worrying/panicking, because I would be the Michael Phelps of that sport.

Russian River revisited.

Although it's been 2 weeks since we got home from our family vacation, I'm still thinking about it. It was a blissful week of relaxing, swimming, spending time with each other and eating until my pants no longer fit. We had pretty awesome weather for most of the week - the first couple of days we had typical coastal weather (foggy until about noon and then mild temperatures) and then the rest of the week was fog-free and warm. Perfect. I took a nap every day. I read every day. I took a walk every morning with my aunts in the perfect scenery. I caught up with all of my relatives. It was pretty darn great.

And here, a few pictures to show you:

Kristie and I mugging for the camera (and Corey trying to ruin it behind us):

Rob and I:











My grandmother (Oma) after going blackberry picking:











My grandmother is almost 76 years old and still cooks for 15 people the entire week. Amazing, isn't she?

My aunt's awesome (fake) tattoo:











The pizza place where we go and have lunch one day during the week. These people make really, really, really good pizza.











All in all it was an awesome week. And I could not imagine it without all of these people:











Back row, l to r: Philip (my sister Alisha's boyfriend), my uncle Harold, my cousin Kim's husband Nick, my husband Rob, my aunt Kathy and my uncle Norman.
Middle row, l to r: my grandmother (Oma), my aunt Irene, my cousin Kim, my cousin Kristie, me, my mom and my grandfather (Baba).
Front row, l to r: my cousin Corey and my sister Alisha.

I really am an incredibly lucky person. Wouldn't you agree?

Stacy and Clinton have done it again.

Lately, I've been feeling like I'm in a little bit of a fashion rut. I can't quite put together exciting and fun looks on a regular basis and I'm just grabbing for what I know is safe. There's nothing wrong with my outfits - they just need a little oomph.

Enter Stacy and Clinton. Last night, I watched an episode of What Not to Wear and cringed in horror at the 28-year-old woman who wore fairy wings (huge, Tinkerbell wings that she wore on her back in public, no less) and glitter eyeshadow because it was fun and cute. Aauugh. When they showed her some ideas of outfits to buy, the wheels started turning in my head. I had a couple of different ideas of what I wanted to wear today and decided to go for it.

So I wore a burgundy trapeze shirt with a brown belt around my middle, dark denim trouser jeans and a pair of muted silver and gold kitten heels. I felt great that I'd tried something new (for me) and that it looked so cute. And I didn't have to buy a thing!

Once again, Stacy and Clinton have helped me with fashion inspiration. So I'm off to go run and watch another episode. Who knows what will inspire me tonight?

A few things that I am not ashamed to admit.

• I got drunk for the first time 2 weeks ago and I am 31 years old.
  
• I eat my dinner between 4:30 and 5:00.
• I go to bed between 8:45 and 9:15 (keep in mind that I'm up by 5:30).
• Sometimes foul language embarrasses me.
  
• I positively adore Justin Timberlake (see previous post).
  
• Whenever I eat at Fresh Choice, I get a big pile of whipped topping with sprinkles for dessert. It's deeelicious.
• I loooooove Saturday afternoon naps.
• I check People magazine's website every day for the latest scoop on celebrities.
• I sometimes sleep until almost 10 on Sundays.
• I have chocolate in one form or another every single day.

I'm finally at a point in my life where I can admit these things because this is me and I love every one of these things about me.

Pure bliss from the mailbox.

Wouldn't it be awesome to get mail like this every day?











You know it would be.

Interesting and kind of sad.

I found this article tonight and it struck a chord. It's so true! I really wish I didn't hate the camera so much, but I just can't stand to see all my imperfections. I always scrutinize my image way too much.

You never see men looking at themselves in a photo the way women do after it's taken. I noticed when we went on vacation that after a picture was taken, most of us girls wanted to see it right away and make sure it was up to our standards.

It's really too bad that most women think they take terrible pictures, when in fact, most of us take pretty good pictures. As far as I'm concerned, I do have several really bad pictures of me that I wish I could burn, but my mom won't let me. Any of the ones that were taken around the time I was 12 or 13 can easily be erased and I would be fine with it. In fact, I would delight in it. No one needs to see what puberty did to my hair or skin. It does not need to be a permanent record.

Thankfully, I don't hide from the camera as much as I used to. I still do when I don't feel quite like me or pretty enough to be captured on film. But just like most women, I need to stop worrying so much about my picture. It's really not a big deal.

But I'm sure the next time a camera comes out, I'll feel the urge to run again.

Hooray!

My car problem turned out to be a coolant leak, which was easily fixed and only cost me $175.

This is why I love Frank's Automotive!

My car is bleeding!

Or, it's leaking transmission fluid. One of the two.

I took my car in to Frank's Automotive on Folsom Boulevard tonight (awesome place, by the way - they never overcharge people and are completely honest) and left it there to be worked on tomorrow. Even though I knew it was in good hands, I still felt weird walking away and leaving my car behind. It always feels like I'm leaving a piece of myself.

So I'll be driving my husband's car to work tomorrow and crossing my fingers all day that I don't need a new transmission.

Please send some good car-ma my way!

Shark Week is back!

I am terrified of sharks. They are the number one reason why I will never set foot in the ocean. I occasionally have nightmares about being attacked, and I can safely say that running into one is my greatest fear. Hands down.

However, I am also fascinated by them (I think because I'm afraid of them). One of my favorite movies is Jaws (got it on DVD), and I also own Open Water on DVD. So you can imagine how excited I get during the last week of July when Shark Week returns to the Discovery Channel.
Seven days of shark shows and so awesome.

This is one of the things that makes me happy about coming home from vacation.

I really need help.