Romance

I’ve actually been back to working part time all week (getting off at 2:30) and ahhh it’s so nice! Wednesday I got home and then went out for my run, which turned out to be more of a run, walk, run, walk repeat 50 times to get 3 miles done. They can’t all be good runs I guess!

Anyhow, I had put a roast in the crock pot so dinner was done and my run was done. A few times I’ve toyed with the idea of riding my bike down to meet Scott at the club entrance. He’s been riding his bike to work more often than not lately. So today I actually had time and did it.

While I was sitting down there waiting for him I watched the sun set.

And then I noticed that the office was open and remembered that he had a package in there that I needed to pick up. The box was a bit too big to fit in the basket in the cruiser bike I rode down there so I just kind of balanced it on top while I sat there.

Eventually I saw him riding in. He’s got his bike lit up like a Christmas tree so I saw him right away. He rides in and stops and is like “hey I know you”.

I was like “oh, just thought I’d ride down here to meet you”.

Then he sees the box and gets excited that his new bike shoes are here. He’s like “oh I’ll carry that”. So he takes the box and we start off towards home. Well kind of.

He takes off riding and I’m trailing behind him.  He finally slows down when we’re almost home and talks to me a little bit, but by this time I’m like WTF did I waste my time riding down her to meet him for if he was just going to ride off in front of me.

Yeah, that’s how romance works at our house.

Black Diamond Mines

Awhile back I had "liked" the page for the East Bay Regional Parks District. I'm not in the East Bay but I've started going over there every so often to meet up with people to run or hike or whatever. Anyhow, a post came up about an Early Spring Wildflowers Hike. I shared it and said I'd like to do it and would anyone like to go with me? To my surprise my Melissa said she'd like to go "just as long as there is no running" lol.

So Sunday morning we headed over to Antioch and out to Black Diamond Mines. I've never been there before but I've seen pictures of trails people have posted from there. I'm glad I noticed on the website that it was $5 to park and actually had $5 on me because they were most definitely making you pay to get in.

Everyone met at 10 and we all said our names and where we were from. There was a guy with a big fancy camera taking pictures for a newspaper and he went on the hike with us too.

Before we started we stopped to look at the Rose Hill Cemetery up on the hill. The ranger told us that there used to be a whole town in this area and then when they closed the mine they picked up the houses and took them to new locations.

and then he took us over to the poison oak bush to show us what it looked like so we wouldn't go play in it.

Then we were off! We just walked on the trails and then he'd stop and tell us what things were. If I wanted to remember I should have brought a note book but uh yeah, they were pretty ;)

We went up to the cemetery to check it out when we were done with the tour. It's sad walking around seeing all the young children that died. I think they must have had some kind of virus that went through and killed a bunch of kids or something since a lot of them had dates within a month of each other and multiple children in one family. Sad.

After we were done we had hiked over 2 1/2 miles. It was really pretty. Just a bit cold when we started out and windy but when we were up into the trails it wasn't too bad.  

I'll definitely be making plans to go back and do more trails soon!

Almond Blossom Run

Last weekend I did the Almond Blossom Run. Ripon is a little town not too far from us and they have this whole big festival every year. Usually it's pouring rain so I've never been. Last year Scott and I both signed up for the 8k run. I was bad ass last year and ran the whole thing without walking and had a fantastic time.

This year I knew that that was pretty much not going to happen because I can't seem to run that far without walking and I'm definitely not as fast now.

Scott didn't sign up this year so I went by myself. Their race is a little different since it's an 8k and then they also have a 1 mile race that goes before the 8k. Since I've been running at least a mile every day for 180 days (that day) I was pretty excited to run the 1 mile race too. Although I thought for sure I wasn't going to be anywhere towards the top for my time since I know there are women that can run a pretty fast 1 mile!

I started off the race kind of towards the front but not right on the line. There were a lot of kids there and I knew that there was going to be some dodging around them. People took off like a shot when the race started but I tried to pace myself since I know 1 mile can seem REALLY long sometimes lol.

There was this guy that was running close to the same pace as me and at one point he turned to me and told me that I was "doing really well". I said thanks but I was thinking to myself, WTF I must look like a rookie ;)

The race is a small loop so you run the last part going out and going in and when I got kind of close I turned on the heat and just raced it in. I thought for sure that guy would speed up too but he didn't so I actually came in ahead of him.

I was pretty stoked to see I had come in under 9 minutes. I have only done that a few times, mostly last year when I was a lot faster and doing the run streak trying to beat my time all a lot.

I walked back to my car to change out my bib (they had separate ones for each race) and as I was walking back to line up that guy gave me a head nod like "eh, you aren't a rookie" haha. I should have told him thank you for making me faster!

We got lined up and I just made a plan to take it easy and to not walk until I got to the water stop. I remembered from the year before that it was about half way through the course. As I started running I noticed a guy in cut off jeans running and made another goal to not come in behind the cut off jeans guy.

It seemed like forever but I did run until I got to the water stop and then I did a lot of run/walk for the rest of the race. Towards the end I didn't feel like walking as much, probably because I knew I was almost done. I still got a pretty good time for the 8k with an under 11 minute average. Not bad for doing some walking. Usually when I run at home I tend to be around a 10:30 average so I wasn't too far off from that.

I got myself a little snack and then walked over to check the times. Imagine my surprise to see that I placed SECOND in my age group for the 1 mile run!  Talk about exciting!  I went and got my medal (they had someone at a table with them for that first race in case people didn't want to stick around for the 2nd race) and then sat away from everyone and did a little cry. Yes, I'm a dork. But it's pretty exciting to be able to place!

I thought my time was 8:37 but after I got the official results online it's actually 8:54. The way they have the results is confusing. No matter, I still got 2nd and got in under 9 minutes :)

For the 8k my time was 53:49

Now to find something to sign up for in March :)

I'm tired

I've been pretty tired lately. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with all the exercise that we've been doing.

Along with running a mile every day I've started running a few more miles 3 days a week to prepare for the half marathon I'll be doing in May with my friend Sarah. We are going to be running the Tinkerbell Half in Disneyland. I was so never going to do one of these races but SOMEONE bullied me into it and so now I'm going. It's just going to be a girls weekend with limited "Disney Park" trips since that shit is expensive. I think we are only going in the park one day, maybe 2 at the most. Originally it was just going to be me and Sarah but now her friend Juli is going too and Juli has a friend that is also running the race. So I think they are coming up with some fancy outfits or something and I'm over here like yeahhh haven't watched a Disney movie in years. I'm sure it will be fun though.

But FIRST is the work. You can really mess yourself up by just going out and trying to run 13 miles. Although you can really mess yourself up if you over train while preparing to run 13 miles too. I'm just in the first couple weeks of training so it's not too many miles at this point. I'm still definitely working on my stamina and have been dong a bit of walking with all my longer runs (like 3 miles being long).

So running.

And we've been going to the gym two days a week most weeks, which isn't much but it makes me sore. We did leg day last Tuesday and I was still sore on Sunday. That's a long time to be sore. We've been doing the Jamie Eason Live Fit program again. This is Scott's first time doing it so sometimes we look like dorks watching a little video to make sure we are doing things right. But hey, who cares right? At least we are doing it.

So weight lifting.

Scott has been riding his bike to work quite a bit lately. Usually he lies and says it wasn't foggy when it was because he knows I don't like him riding in the fog. He has himself lit up like a Christmas tree though so at least that's good. It's 10 miles to his work from our house but he takes a round about way to get there because our main road to town has scary fast traffic and no shoulder to ride on. So short story made longer he's riding 20 plus miles on the days he rides his bike.

I on the other hand have not rode my road bike since September. But last weekend we took our bikes out and rode to Manteca, which is about 10 miles away. We rode to Starbucks and got a (light) frapp, sat there for a break and then rode back. I was pretty much exhausted and he was like "that was a good warm up!"

So all that on top of a lot of work has led to me wanting to nap a lot. I'm pretty sure that that's normal right?

A Little Bit of Random

Doing some catch up posting again! Some day maybe I'll get back on a regular schedule.

Things that are going on?

FOG. Almost every day. I hate fog. Fog sucks. I hate people that can't drive in the fog. I hate that people are stupid and don't turn on their headlights in the fog.

Along with the weather is ALMOND BLOSSOMS!! When it's not really freaking foggy you can actually enjoy the beautiful almond blossoms. I love when they all start falling and the trees are full but they are on the ground too. It's like it's snowing petals.

Work, work, work. We had a meeting and this was one of the hand outs for our "flow chart" of sorts. Don't mind my doodling.

Yeah, that kind of explains why I'm not on here much lately too. By the time I get home I'm like eh, don't really want to go sit on the computer lol.

On the work thing, I put in an application to work for the other department at work. One finally came up that I qualify for. I'm pretty sure they are going to hire one of the interns they have working in that department already instead of me but at least I gave it a shot. We'll see if I even get an interview. I love what I do now but I'm a "temporary" employee (for 8 1/2 years now) and I don't get all the great stuff that those federal employees get. Like TONS of vacation and retirement. Oh and nice BONUSES too.  It kind of sucks when you are sitting next to people that you are working with and you are all working hard but some people get much more in the bennies department.

My friend Kristin had her BABY! I haven't seen her yet because she's paranoid about the measles (I got my shots, but my kids who also got their shots go to school, so you know, they might bring it home somehow). I'm pretty sure I'll meet her when she's 20. BUT she's pretty adorable.

If you've been here long enough you probably remember me bitching at some point or another about having to do most of the yard work. The first mow of the season Scott wore his heart rate monitor and realized that just by mowing the little lot next to our house (on the other side of the house from this picture) it was like walking 2 miles. I think that lit a fire under his ass because he's been out mowing every weekend. Either that or he's just not totally exhausted now that he isn't commuting 4 plus hours a day. Maybe it's a combo.

Years ago my friend Lupe got engaged and asked me if I'd be in her wedding. Like 5 years later she's finally decided to marry the guy and guess who had to go fork out some money for another bridesmaid's dress?

She's getting the dresses in black and dying the super high heels emerald green. I wish the shoes were going to be black because they are really cute, just kind of dangerous. I am also STILL going to be the tallest woman in the wedding party. I'm NOT TALL. 5'5" is considered average and yet I tower over most of the girls that are going to be in the wedding. So weird. 

Well that's probably enough random for one day :)

And one more Birthday Celebration

With my girlfriends, which you know, is usually the best birthday of all, right?

My friends Dee and Carolyn met up with me at a new little restaurant that's close by. It's called Pete's Restaurant & Brew House. Our plan was to meet there and have a drink and then go across and have sushi at our little sushi place.

So we met up and had a few drinks and a great time hanging out. I also ordered us a little appetizer, which was kind of like mini calzones.

While we were sitting at the bar my friend noticed a guy that is an art teacher at all the local schools. My kids have all had him for art but I've never met him before. He was there with his wife and they were a lot of fun to talk to. We had him take a picture of us.

Which turned into 22 pictures of us haha. He had held down the button. 

Then we got one of him and his cute wife. They met in college and he pulled out a picture of him with long hair and her with spiky 80's hair. It was great!

After we were not thristy anymore haha we walked across the little parking lot area to our favorite sushi place (Matsu Sushi). This is where we came for sushi our very first time and we still go back there a lot.

I can't remember what rolls we got but they were great.  That's my friend Dee posing with one ;)

 After dinner we went back to my friend Dee's house. She had taken guardianship of three little boys. One is 6 and the other 2 are 3 year old twins. I'm pretty sure there is a special place in heaven for her. They are VERY busy haha. When we left they were going to bed and 2 out of three of them were crying the big cry. All I could think of is that she deserves a medal!

Birthday Dinner

Does anyone else thinks it's just a tad creepy that Google wishes you Happy Birthday?

We always go out to dinner (well almost always) on our actual birthdays. This year I decided to go to Famous Dave's and we could get the big family meal again. That was a good plan because it was delicious!

 This is her "my brother is pissing me off face"

This is his "I will not cooperate and take a non dorky picture" face

This is my 5 pounds I'm still working off ;)

After dinner we went to the store to get a few things and a birthday cake for me. This is the first year in maybe my whole life that my mother didn't get me a cake. So I picked one out at the store.

Sadly I only got one piece because some boy decided to eat all the left overs before I got home from work the next day. I need to get a 2nd fridge to hide stuff I swear!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today is my birthday! It's raining of course, thanks to my birthday and parties I throw I'm helping out the drought lol. The wind is really whipping out there too!

I don't have any plans for today other than to go out for a run at some point (between rain drops or maybe at the gym!) and then we are going out to dinner. I picked Famous Dave's to go to dinner since that was fun last time we went.

Scott is currently making us his "big breakfast" including biscuits from scratch :)

Yesterday my Mom, Melissa and my friend Traci went to lunch at Mimi's in Modesto. It was a lot of fun and pretty yummy!

Chicken Salad sandwich, corn chowder soup and I had a house salad too. The calories were actually not as bad as I thought they would be so I didn't do too bad!

After lunch we went back to my mom's little cabin and I opened the presents they brought me.

Traci made me a really cute apron and my mom got me some stacking mugs and bowls (or big mugs depending on how you look at them). I'll have to take a picture of them later since I never brought them in out of the car lol.

After that I had to take Melissa to a party in town. My mom needed to go to Target so I said lets go together. Did a bit of shopping and then came back to the house and worked on a little scanning project she had asked me to help her with. After she left I got out the pictures that we had brought home from my Uncle Don's house and started messing around with them. 

Then I got the idea that maybe I'd just put them all on their own little blog page, so if you want to see them go over to Shoe Box of Sailors. I'll be adding more as I work on them. I'm amazed at how well some of them come out after playing around with them. From super light pictures to actually being able to see what they are and the detail. 

I had to go pick up Melissa at 9:30 and when I got back we were going to go down to the bar for a birthday drink. Scott was OUT in the recliner when I got back and I went back and forth on waking him up but decided I'd just let him sleep and went back to playing with the pictures. We can always go out some other night!

Not too long before I went to bed I caught the cat playing with something out of the corner of my eye. I went in to investigate and he had a headless mouse! Ewwww but at least they are finally catching a dang mouse in the house! I had thought we had got rid of them but apparently not lol.