Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Princess Path

My race path for Sunday :)


Sunday, February 17, 2013

Stacked

Ryan and I went down to Mission Valley with some friends on Friday night. We went down for dinner and a movie. We decided to try out Stacked - a snazzy new (or at least new to us) restaurant. Our friends had been there before, but this was our first time. The big 'thing' is that you do all your ordering on an iPad. There aren't really waitresses and waiters, more just servers. You get to do all your ordering (even for drink refills and discounted movie tickets) right from the iPad on the table. Ryan had a build-your-own burger (veggie patty with a fried egg, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, pickles, and stacked sauce) and I built my own pizza (red onions, grilled mushrooms, roasted garlic and basil). The guys shared some chips and sweet potato fries. It is cool when you build your own things too, because when you add the different toppings you can see how it effects your price. We also had a yummy ice cream sandwich for dessert (you can pick the type of cookies and ice cream - you can even do a different cookie for the top and bottom) - we went traditional with two chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream. The food was scrum-didily-umptious and the atmosphere was cool.

It is a decent drive to get down there (especially on a Friday night), but hey, the food, movie and especially the company made it well worth it. I don't know if we would head down there just for the restaurant, but if we are ever down that way we would definitely hit it up again.

Workout Recap - Week 7


Sunday, February 10th - Easy 3.1 miles with the hubbyFoam Rolled & Stretched

Monday, February 11th - Long intervals on the elliptical for 60 minutes, Foam Rolled & Stretched

Tuesday, February 12th Strength Training (abs, back, arms and legs), Foam Rolled & Stretched

Wednesday, February 13th Elliptical for 60 minutes, Foam Rolled & Stretched

Thursday, February 14th - Rest Day

Friday, February 15th - Sucky 6 miles



Saturday, February 16th - 16 mile bike ride with the hubbyFoam Rolled & Stretched

This upcoming week I have a 5K fun run with my parents and hubby and a half marathon with my sister-in-law. Here's to hoping the weather in Florida isn't crazy hot or humid and we can have a BLAST while getting our run on :). 

Sucky Six

Friday I had a LESS than stellar run. I was starting to taper because my next half marathon is on Sunday. I decided to go out for an 'easy 6' miles. I started off pretty speedy (a little under 8:30 mile pace), but quickly started feeling the heat. It was in the mid 70s and no wind. I went through a few neighborhoods that I normally don't because I wanted to add a little extra distance to my normal route and to change up the scenery a bit (the houses are HUGE and beautiful). Anyway, since they were nice neighborhoods the blacktop was new and BLACK. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but with the sun beating down and no breeze it was making me overheat quickly. I don't know if it was totally the heat or it being a long week or what, but I felt like I was struggling for most of the run. I felt like I was super hot and couldn't catch my breath - which made me feel like I could never really get into a decent groove. Every time I kept getting down about how crappy the run was going I would try and change my attitude by thanking God for the ability to be able to run (which did change my outlook a bit, but not how the run felt). I ended up finishing with an average pace of 8:40 - not too shabby, but I totally felt it the whole time. 




When I got home I had posted a Facebook status update about the crappy run. One of my friends reminded me that the bad run helps the good ones feel that much more glorious. Here's to hoping I got my crappy run out of the way and now can have a super race on Sunday :). 

Saturday, February 16, 2013

5 Years Ago...

Five years ago Ryan asked me to marry him :) Of course I blogged about it back them (I even had a separate 'wedding blog'). Below is the post about the engagement story and some of the pictures from that day:

Before he popped the question

Me and my new ring

He did good! (Even though I sort of designed it :) )



The Story

THE ENGAGEMENT STORY

So Ryan and I do this activity called Geo Caching. It is like a high-tech version of treasure hunting. On the website you can go on and put in a zip code and it will give you all of the hidden 'caches' around that area. Ryan told me Friday night that he wanted to go to the 'oldest cache in San Diego (and one of the first 1000 in the world)' on Saturday morning. I thought this was a little fishy because normally when we go out geo caching I get all the info, and also he likes to sleep in but he wanted to go out to this one at 7am Saturday morning. He was trying to play it off like we had to meet up with his sister and her husband for breakfast, which is why we needed to go so early. We ended up at this park (Kate Sessions Park in La Jolla) that overlooked downtown San Diego and is just a cool park. We were looking around for the cache and once we found it Ryan called me over (because normally we look in different areas to give us more of a chance to find it) and he was down on both knees (he gives the excuse that it hurts his knee to be on one so he was on 2, hehe) and asked me to marry him. I remember saying 'Shut up' a couple times but then a resounding YES was said! I have uploaded the pictures from this weekend on my google account, so check them out. The first 20 or so our the shots from the engagement and the following 300+ are from the sight seeing we did with his sister and her husband throughout the weekend, since they hadn't been out to San Diego (so we were quite the tour guides on our engagement weekend).

As you can see in the pics, we are both SUPER excited!! :) And hopefully when we start making decisions about when, where, etc. I will be able to post them (so that everyone feels included in the planning process. :)

Thanks in advance for your warm wishes; the support of our friends and families mean the world to us and we are so excited to know that everyone is so happy for us!!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Free Baby Carrier


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Monday, February 11, 2013

Vote Blue!


Former Michigan Quarterback Denard Robinson provides an inside look at what makes the University of Michigan special and asks for your support in the NCAA Football 14 Cover Vote. A vote for @DenardX is a vote for the Wolverines!

Go Vote for Denard on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/YRp5zc

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#WEON

Brandon's Blog: WEON More Than an Acronym

Feb. 11, 2013


What is WEON?

These four letters seem to be a question for many fans who have watched the Michigan men's 
basketball team this season. They see it on our team's warm-up shirts and as a hashtag on
Twitter, but few realize what it really means and how WEON was created.

Last summer, assistant coach LaVall Jordan and director of basketball operations Travis Conlan
guided the student-athletes to develop their own internal theme. Not a marketing theme for the
public, but a theme the team could call their own. A theme that would remind everyone affiliated
with Michigan basketball what they would have to do every day to help this team be successful.

WEON is an acronym for "When Everyone Operates N-Sync." It is an outgrowth of the core values
of the program -- unity, passion, appreciation, integrity and diligence. Those four letters help this
basketball team take ownership of those values.

The idea didn't stop with those four letters. WEON spawned another idea. To stay focused,
to stay "ON" their game, the team designed a special "fuse box" to be created and placed
in the locker room. Each day, each player must flip his switch "ON" when he is engaging
in any basketball activity on site. The switch is located in the locker area, and it turns on a
light that illuminates a personal saying each individual has selected for himself.

For Josh Bartlestein it is "perspective," for Nik Stauskas it is "pride," and for each member
of the team it is one word they have personally selected to link them back to the team's core
principles.

Fuse Box
Fuse Box
This is not just a perfunctory flip of the switch; it is taken seriously. During one practice, it was
noted that a few of the players did not flip their switch "ON." The coaching staff stopped
practice. Everyone returned to the locker room. Then the coaching staff reminded the players
the importance of the "fuse box" and the team values it represents.

The "ON" switch is directly related to the team concept. Every player on the team has to be
held accountable for the one aspect he must bring to the table every day. It is the foundation
for the team's success.

Last year's mantra was "The Team, The Team, The Team." This season, the terminology is
different, but the principle remains the same.

WEON is a motivational tool, not just an acronym.

I have received a few emails and tweets from those who object to what they perceive as a
misuse of the English language. WEON is not meant to be critiqued as a literary piece. It is a
unique symbol created as part of a team-building process, initiated by young men who now
have ownership in a motivational tool and a process to achieve success. (Who, by the way,
occasionally communicate with one another using terms and language not always found in
an English grammar book -- which we believe is very normal and quite acceptable!)

These four letters are helping our student-athletes learn an important life lesson.

Go Blue!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Workout Recap - Week 6


It has been a crazy couple of weeks at work, so my workouts have been fairly high intensity to get out the frustrations from the day. This week was my last 'full' week before I start my taper for my Princess Half Marathon in TWO WEEKS! (Excited and slightly nervous to see if I can go a little faster than 7 seconds under 2 hours :) )



Sunday, February 3rd - Easy 2.5 miles with the hubby (really LOVING that we are making these Sunday runs a routine)

Monday, February 4th - Short intervals on the elliptical for 60 minutes, Foam Rolled & Stretched

Tuesday, February 5th Strength Training (abs, back, arms and legs), Foam Rolled & Stretched

Wednesday, February 6th Long intervals on the elliptical for 60 minutes, Foam Rolled & Stretched

Thursday, February 7th - Rest Day

Friday, February 8th - Fast 8 milesFoam Rolled & Stretched



Saturday, February 9th - 16 mile bike ride with the hubbyFoam Rolled & Stretched

Thankful that the crazy weather stayed away during my outdoor workouts this past week. Looks like the weather is going to be nice this week - in the 60s and 70s!!


Cleaning The Garage

Yesterday Ryan and I decided to tackle the garage. We spent a good 4 hours or so cleaning, organizing, down-sizing, etc. Not that we have a lot of stuff in the garage, but it often gets neglected and stuff just gets jammed in wherever there is empty space (not to mention Ryan has a billion surfboards, skateboards, art projects, motorcycle [with spare parts], golf clubs, etc). We are in the process of looking for an Adventure Mobile, so we thought we would really try to go through everything we had.

We were actually able to donate about a half a truck bed full of stuff that we no longer needed. We also went over to Lowes to pick up some new storage tubs to get everything organized (one tub for paint, one tub for tools, one tub for snowboarding gear, one tub for Christmas decor, one tub for water sports, etc).







I think we did a pretty great job! And hopefully soon we will have sold the motorcycle and have even more real estate to work with in there.

A Chilly Three

Last night Ryan was texting a friend about grabbing breakfast this morning. We decided that 10am would probably work best for all of us. I then thought - "Crap, we are supposed to run 3 miles tomorrow, I bet Ry isn't going to want to go." Little to my surprise he was ready and raring to go. He said that we were going to get up at 7:30am and run our 3 miles before heading for food.

It was a little chilly (for us thin-blooded Californians anything under 50* is freezing), but by the end we were both feeling good.



I was able to trick Ry into running a little further than 3 miles (actually turned out to be 5K distance). He felt good and I enjoy running with him - so all-in-all it was a very successful yog (how Ryan pronounces 'jog')!



Then it was off to eat a YUMMY acai bowl with friends :).


Saturday, February 9, 2013

Another Game

Ryan and I decided we wanted to hit up another San Diego Gulls game last night. We mentioned it to some friends and were actually able to talk some of them into coming along with us.



None of us won chuck-a-puck, there weren't any legit fights, but at least the Gulls won the game 5-1 and we all had a great time (or at least that's what everyone said... Hope no one was telling 'half-truths' ;) ).



Ryan is now trying to talk me into letting him play in an adult hockey league in September. I think talking me into buying season tickets for the Gulls games might be easier (FYI - those packages are only $110 :) ).

Friday, February 8, 2013

2013 Tinker Bell Half Marathon Recap Video

Excellent Eight

This afternoon I had an eight miler on the calendar. On the way to work I heard that it is supposed to rain, but NOT ONLY RAIN, it was supposed to HAIL! I was crossing my fingers all day that there would be a break in the weather so I could get my run in outdoor (and not on the dreadmill).

Thankfully there WAS a break in the weather right around the time I was getting off work. I changed into my running gear and headed out. I quickly realized that although there was a break in the precipitation, there was NOT a break in the wind. There was a 25mph crosswind the WHOLE run. It made me run a lot 'heavier' while I was hugging the guard rail because I was slightly worried I was going to blow into the road. But hey, at least it wasn't blowing directly info my face in either of the directions :).

I forgot to look at the weather when I finished my run, so this is about an hour after back at home - wind still strong but not as bad as it was on the coast about an hour before.


During the run there were some spurts of sideways rain, not to mention I was getting pelted by sand, sticks, and other particles the whole run. By the end of my run it looked like the rain was going to start again so I hurried home.



But enough about the weather. Let's chat about the run. I went out shooting for a 8 mile run between 72 and 80 minutes (9 to 10 minute mile pace). The first two miles I noticed I was running sub 9 minute miles so I thought I would shoot for closer to the 72 minute mark. Because it was in the 50*s I was wearing a running jacket, so wasn't watching my time throughout the run since my sleeves were covering my Garmin, but felt like I would be able to finish around 72 minutes.



I DID it by 37 seconds! Not too shabby, especially because I felt like I was really having to work extra hard to run in a straight line and not get blown over. This was a pretty excellent 8 miles. It definitely gave me the confidence that I could do another half marathon under 2 hours!



My shoes weren't as soggy as I thought they might be when I heard the forecast, but they were a little tired from kicking so much butt!




DAAS - "Detroit State of Mind"

Tinker Bell Certificates

I just remembered to download my Tinker Bell Finisher Certificate. I like the one with Tinker Bell on it, but my name is too long (and SOMEONE didn't want to combine our last names to McDot [cough cough])... so I guess the plain pink one will have to do :)



Snow Day



Michigan Alumni: There's something magical about a fresh blanket of snow on campus. It's our pleasure to share that magic with you in this short video. No matter where you are, we make sure the University of Michigan is never far away. Go Blue!

Free Nursing Pillow


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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Free Hooter Hider :)


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Passholder Perks

Additional Hours in Disney California Adventure Park on Thursday 

Nights

There are so many benefits to being an Annual Passholder right now — and here's one more.
Get the chance to jump-start your weekend! On Thursday nights throughout February 2013, Annual
Passholders have the opportunity to stay late in Disney California Adventure Park.
The park will stay open for an additional 2 hours after regular closing for Passholders to explore most
attractions, stores and dining locations in Disney California Adventure Park.
Officially start the weekend with a stay at a Disneyland Resort hotel. Check out Hotel Rates for Annual 
Passholders.
Dates for Annual Passholder Extended Hours
  • Thursday, February 7, 2013
  • Thursday, February 14, 2013
  • Thursday, February 21, 2013
  • Thursday, February 28, 2013
Time
Admission
  • All participating Annual Passholders and their Guests (ages 3 and older) must be valid Annual Passholders on the day of entry for admission to the Park, for check-in and admission to the Annual Passholder Extended Hours event. Photo ID may be required.
Check-In and Wristbands
  • Check-in begins at 12:00 noon on the day of the event only, and must be completed in person.
  • Wristbands are required for access to attractions during Annual Passholder Extended Hours.
  • Wristbands are valid only for that day's event and are subject to availability.
  • Passholders with wristbands may enter the event until thirty (30) minutes prior to the end of the event.
Wristband Distribution
  • From 12:00 noon to the start of the event:
    Wristbands will be distributed inside the Main Entrance of Disney California Adventure Park to the right of the turnstiles.
  • Once the event has begun:
    Wristbands will be distributed at the Main Entrance turnstiles to Disney California Adventure Park.
Parking
  • Parking will be available at both the Mickey & Friends parking structure and the Toy Story parking area.
  • Appropriate parking fees will apply.
  • Mickey & Friends parking trams and Toy Story shuttles will continue to run for one hour after the end of an Annual Passholder Extended Hours event.
  • Shuttle service to all other Disneyland Resort parking lots will end at their normally scheduled times following Disneyland Park closing.
Additional Information
  • This event and all event elements including, without limitation, applicable event days and times and operation of attractions, entertainment and services may vary and are subject to change or cancellation without notice.
  • Annual Passholder Extended Hours admission does not guarantee access to any attraction or location, and may involve long wait periods.
  • Wristbands may not be sold or transferred for commercial purposes and have no cash value.
  • Subject to capacity, scheduled park events and other restrictions.