Thursday, May 31, 2012

What Can't He Do?!


What can't he do? Verlander crushes homer in BP




Usually, "no hits" is a phrase Justin Verlander enjoys seeing tied to his name.
But there is one exception: The Tigers ace has zero base knocks of his own in 25 career plate appearances.
That could change soon, however, as Verlander showed off his newfound plate prowess with a towering drive over the Green Monster during BP at Fenway Park on Wednesday. He'll have his next in-game opportunity when the Tigers travel to Cincnnati next weekend.

Farewell Nick!



Lidstrom: A Message To The Fans

Nick Lidstrom has a message for all Detroit Red Wings Fans on the day of his retirement announcement.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Races

In the past week I have run two 5Ks, which isn't too shabby since I think the last one I ran was 3 or 4 Thanksgivings ago :)

Last Saturday (yes, the morning before we left for our week long vacation for Hawaii) I ran the City of Encinitas 5K. It was well organized and I beat my 'out-loud' goal of 30 minutes (I had a goal in my mind, that I didn't want to say out-loud, since I thought it was definitely a long shot - which was 27 minutes). My official time for the race was 28:22. My Garmin did have the course slightly short (3.05 miles), but who knows. I ended up coming in 19th in my division, which wasn't bad for my first race in a LONG time.

I made Ryan be my photographer for this race 

Official times (ending at me of course, not including the hundreds other in my division :) )

This past Sunday (yes, the morning after we got home from our week long vacation for Hawaii - about 4.5 hours after we got back to be exact) we ran the Vista Strawberry Festival 5000 Run. Yep, you read it right - WE - as in I talked Ryan into running it with me :). Okay, it wasn't the best planning on my part (seeing as we got like no sleep and were slightly jet lagged), but we still rocked the race. I beat my previous week's race time. My official time for the race was 28:16. My Garmin did have the course slightly long (3.15 miles), but who knows. I ended up coming in 15th in my division, which wasn't too bad. In my head I was planning on crossing the finish line holding my hubby's hand, but around mile 1.5 or so, when he told me I didn't have to run with him, I left him in my dust :). He still did great (and we even got medals to prove it).

Since Ry ran the race, we only took pictures at the beginning and end of the race. But look at how proud we are of our strawberry bling :)

Official times (ending at me of course, not including the hundreds other in my division :) )
If you'd like to check out more of the running photos, check out the album here. Also, be on the look out for more races! I am thinking about trying to talk Ryan into running a 10K with me on the 4th of July :) - wish me luck!

Roaming Through Michigan

They didn't do a feature on Cheboygan, but hey, the Mackinaw Island portion was pretty cool :)



A short tourism documentary on Northern Michigan c. 1949 as part of James A. Fitzpatrick's "TravelTalks" series. Includes footage of Spikehorn Meyer, Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, Mackinac Island, Traverse City, and other places.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Save The Sing-Off

BUMMER! The Sing-Off was NOT brought back for another season. Good news - we can try to save it! "Sign" the petition below by clicking on the link and entering your name and email address.


Save The Sing-Off!



The Sing-Off, outside of being the one of the networks 3rd highest rated shows commanding upwards of at least 4 to 6 MILLION viewers, is one of the most positive shows on television. 

It is an instrumental part of developing a stronger appreciation for the arts at a time when the teaching of art and music is under attack at almost every level. 

While other entertainment venues of its kind rely on either negativity, or dumbing down of the skill involved in the art-form, The Sing-Off fosters a real standard of quality in those that tread across its stage. The past contestants of The Sing-Off have shown themselves to be resilient practitioners of A Cappella music and stalwart champions of music in education. They have shown depth of character in helping their fellow competitors, long after the end of their respective seasons. They have gone around the world to help show that music can truly be the universal language. Help this continue! Sign this petition, and help convince the NBC network that The Sing-Off deserves another season. 


Thank you for joining the effort!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

How Cute



How cute is this picture of my mom and grandmas at the Detroit Tigers game from yesterday?! I have the coolest family, don't I?! My parents got some great tickets for yesterdays game, and since it came with a close parking pass they thought the grandmas would be perfect for the extra 2 seats (they offered them to Ryan and I first, but I had a race and I made Ryan be my photographer :)... oh yeah, and the game was in Detroit). The Tigers ended up losing, but everyone said they had a BLAST! [Grandma P couldn't handle the heat for the full game, so went in to the Tigers Den and watched the end of it from a nice, comfy, leather chair on the big screen. Grandma V stuck it out the whole game, but said she got awfully crispy :)]

Friday, May 18, 2012

Disneyland Monorails


Three New Faces Come to the Disneyland Resort: Manny, Mandy and Mona Monorails


Mandy the Disneyland Monorail
If you’ve been to the Disneyland Resort in the past couple of days, you may have noticed a few new faces along the Disneyland Monorail line. Here to welcome their “Cars” friends to Cars Land at Disney California Adventurepark, Mandy and Mona Monorails began making trips around the resort yesterday – and they will soon be joined by a third friend, Manny Monorail. You can tell each by their colors: Mandy Monorail is blue, Mona Monorail is orange and Manny Monorail will be red.
Mona the Disneyland Monorail
Each Monorail has its own personality, which Disneyland Resort guests will certainly hear when riding. Manny, Mandy and Mona Monorails are taking charge of the overhead announcements themselves – providing a new experience along the “Highway in the Sky.”
Come take a ride on the Disneyland Monorail and visit our three newest Disneyland Resort friends – Manny, Mandy and Mona Monorails!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Thankful Thursday

I know that I missed posting my Thankful Thursday list last week. It was NOT because I wasn't thankful, it was just I was so insanely busy that I didn't really have a moment to sit down and write something out. So I figured instead of a list of 3, I would double up and do 6 today :)

Bikes [Ryan got a new bike a couple weeks ago - a old school-type 3-speed Schwinn. Before he had a fixed gear bike and the seat wasn't very comfortable, so when we would go on bike rides it would be about 4 or 5 miles in and he would be 'complaining' about his booty hurting. This new bike is super fun (not to mention we sold his other one at a profit), so we have been able to go on a few bike rides since then and haven't had any hurt body parts yet :) ]



Sunshine [We are currently in the 'May Gray' and 'June Gloom' months out here. I know, I know, we have 2 or so months of not perfect weather and we complain about it :). But since it has been gray and overcast for a while, it makes me appreciate the sunshine so much more. It just brightens up my day (both figuratively and literally). I love Mr. (or Ms.) Sunshine!]



Good Customer Service [It has been about a year since we bought our Ford Focus. They are giving me a free detail, as an 'anniversary' gift. I have been calling to set up the appointment for the last couple days, but the gentleman I was supposed to work with wasn't in. Last night I spoke with the manager, who said he would take care of EVERYTHING. Told me that we could drop it off whenever it was convenient for us and then they would even drive it over to me at my office around lunch time that day when it was done. Not only did he want to make it right (since I have had a slightly difficult time getting it set up), he wanted to keep me as a customer for like - which I think he did :)]



Skype [Living thousands of miles away from our families is sometimes hard, so it is nice to have the technologies to actually 'see' them when you are taking to them sometimes (rather than just hearing them on the phone). This past Christmas we even used Skype with my family to open our Christmas gifts together :).]



Fairies [That is the name we give to the hummingbirds. I feel like I could sit and watch them for hours. They are so fast and crazy sometimes. I love that we have a feeder right outside our living room window. Even though I scold 'Chubs' for being a bully, I still would be sad if they didn't come to our feeder.]



Ice [I have been icing my knee lately, yes, I think I really screwed it up. I DEFINITELY wish I wouldn't have done that, but now that I have, it is nice to have ice at my disposal to try and get my knee back to 100%. Prayers, along with the ice, would be greatly appreciated! :) ]


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Only In Cheboygan

Only in Cheboygen does stuff like this ACTUALLY happen :)

I got home from work yesterday and I was checking out my Facebook News Feed. A friend had posted on her Facebook status the comment below (I have blocked out photos and names just to protect the innocent :) ):



As you can see, I was slightly flabbergasted!

I mean how do feral pigs get loose? And how are 3 of them shot downtown? (PS The 'Char' we are referring to in the post above in my mother-in-law.)

So Ryan gets home from work and I tell him that he is NOT going to believe what I just read. I pull up the status and read it out loud to him. The first thing he says is that he knows exactly where that ranch is and that he thought they were having issues there for a while. Of course we have to call Ryan's parents to get the skinny in the situation.

When Charlene first heard about it, they were at a friend's house. Someone called and told her that there was a shooting downtown and that three were killed. Now at this point she is thinking that it is people (and she didn't know how 3 people would have been shot and killed, since that was like half of the population up there, JUST KIDDING), but thankfully they found out that it was 'just' pigs.

I guess the ranch had been getting into trouble lately and that the DNR was actually on their case about the feral pigs. And then 8 of them ESCAPED! So now, well, the last we heard of it was yesterday, there are still 5 feral pigs on the loose.... So of course my father-in-law says he is going to have to carry his Glock every where so that he would be ready if one tried to attack :)

Oh the joys of small-town, northern Michigan living :)

Strawberry Runners

I received this email yesterday. If anyone is interested in running the Strawberry 5000 in a few weeks, please check out the link below!!




Dear Strawberry 5,000 Participant,

We have had a difficult situation arise this year with our run promotion due to a change in race coordinators.  We have heard over and over again that people had heard through Kinane Events that our event was "cancelled".  So first of all, I want to say "thank you" to all of you who have registered.  Secondly, could you help spread the word that the Strawberry 5,000 is still taking place. We are far behind our number of runners from previous years and we are hoping you might be able to help us.  As you know, they can register at Active.com - keyword "Vista Strawberry".  The direct link is:

http://www.active.com/running/vista-ca/vista-strawberry-festival-5000-run-2012?int=29-6

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Bret Schanzenbach
CEO
Vista Chamber of Commerce

Monday, May 14, 2012

Be a Color Runner



Be Healthy, Be Happy, Be You. Be a Color Runner! We have kicked off our 2012 tour and now it's time to celebrate! For those of you looking to take part in the Happiest 5K on the Planet please visit us at http://TheColorRun.com.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Museums a PLENTY

Somehow the husbands talked us into going to Balboa Park yesterday and hitting up the museums. I guess the wives went along with is because misery loves company :).

We started out at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.

Don't I look thrilled? And this was only about 5 minutes into the whole day...
We drove hopter-copters

Ry was quite pumped
We were on the moon

And on a runway

Then made our way to the San Diego Automotive Museum. Ryan loved the motorcycles and Woodies. And I thought Louis Mattar's Fabulous Car was really something.

Woodies

The Whizzer
Then we walked through the Japanese Friendship Garden. Such a pretty place.

Bonsai

Koi pond
Oh yeah, then it was off to the San Diego Museum of Man. Um.... interesting...

There was a section on evolution of animals...

And a section on cyborgs...

And then we finished the day off at the San Diego Natural History Museum. We even got to watch a 3D movie on sharks... but didn't live up to what we were expecting :)

MONDO-Shark

Butterflies

Waiting for the movie

And since the wives went along with the whole day, we were rewarded with dinner at Ponce's in Kensington.

Friends :)

Friday Fun Night

Friday night we had a fun night out. We met up with friends for dinner and drinks at Breakwater Brewery. Then we went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream. On the way to get the ice cream, we saw there was a PIRATE DANCE at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio - so of course we took our ice cream to go and stalked the pirates from afar :) Then we went to see The Five Year Engagement. It was a cute movie AND part were filmed in Ann Arbor (so we got to see The Big Houe, the UGLi, the Diag, etc).

Ryan's beer at Breakwater

Ryan's pop-rock ice cream

Our view from the car, while we were eating our ice cream and watching the pirates dance

First 5k

This upcoming Saturday is my first 5k. I ran a couple in the past (a Turkey Trot one Thanksgiving and a Breast Cancer one in High School), but this is my first one recently. It will be down in Encinitas with a little health expo downtown to follow. I got the reminder email yesterday (with check-in times and locations) and I am getting pretty pumped for it.

Right now I am saying that I want to be under 30 minutes for my 5k (but in my head I am actually saying a lower time, but just don't want to be disappointed if I don't hit it). The BIG bummer this is that I really have no idea if I will be able to train this week, due to my knee, so my next run may just been the race next week.

Last Wednesday I had tweaked my knee. I still ran on it on Saturday, but after that decided I needed to take a break. I actually took the week off running and didn't start up again until yesterday morning. The knee seemed fine during the week, just doing normal things like waking and taking the stairs, but yesterday morning I could tell it was not back to 100%.

I am slightly nervous (and actually really frustrated) that if I can't figure out what is going on that I might not be able to keep up with my training for my half marathon. I had a slight breakdown last night about it, but hopefully we will be able to figure some options out (like a brace, compression socks, etc) to get me back on track.

Mother Moon

Senior Commander Captured


Uganda captures LRA senior commander



A senior commander in the rebel Lord's Resistance Army has been captured by the Ugandan army, a spokesman has said.
Caesar Achellam was seized on Saturday following a struggle between Ugandan soldiers and a group of 30 rebels.
The commander, whom Ugandan officials say is a top rebel military strategist, was captured in the Central African Republic, one of several nations where the Ugandan-led LRA operates.
The most notorious wanted LRA leader is war crimes suspect Joseph Kony.


Following his arrest, Achellam told reporters: "The general of the division, Caesar Achellam, who has fought in the jungle since 1984, is from now on in the hands of the Ugandan Army."
Ugandan army spokesman Felix Kulaigye, meanwhile, said: "The arrest of Major General Caesar Achellam is big progress because he is a big fish.
"His capture is definitely going to cause an opinion shift within LRA."
The commander's wife, his young daughter and a helper were also held.
Kony's global notoriety has increased in recent months because of the internet video Kony 2012, which has been watched tens of millions of times since it was posted online by the US advocacy group Invisible Children.
He is wanted by the International Criminal Court for rape, mutilation and murder of civilians, as well as forcibly recruiting children to serve as soldiers and sex slaves.
The UN's special representative for Central Africa said on Saturday that Kony was having to move constantly in order to evade capture.
Abou Moussa said: "Contrary to what Kony used to do - that he would stay one month, two months on the ground - he is now moving almost every other day which means the pressure is mounting on him."
The Ugandan army is being assisted in its hunt for Kony by soldiers from other African nations, as well as US special forces.
The strength of his LRA is estimated at between 200 and 500 fighters.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to 'mi madre', 'soomoe', 'hey you', 'Suzy Q', 'moe', and all the other names you have acquired over the last 27ish years :) You are the bestest madre! Love you!

Thug Life, Padot Style :)

I think this was at a Wiener Dog Race

Party Animals!

Mother's Day 2011 in Oceanside, CA

Queen Mary (where my padres had their honeymoon EONS ago)

The ladies

Riding The Matterhorn @ Disneyland
Our BFF

Grand Canyon

Photo Shoot for a Mother's Day Gift

Photo Shoot for a Mother's Day Gift

Tiger's Game

On the BlueStreak @ Cedar Point

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Free Udder Cover


Udder Covers, Chic Nursing Covers. *All styles available while supplies last! Click Here. It's as easy as 1-2-3:



It's as easy as 1-2-3!

1.  Go to uddercovers.com.
2.  Click on "Shop Now" and select any nursing cover you like.
3.  Once you have made your selection, you'll automatically be directed to the shopping bag.
     Enter the promo code " 
CCMOTHER " and we will deduct 100% off the cost of the cover
     - all you pay is the shipping fees!

Remember: the promo code is " 
CCMOTHER " and you can use it more than once - just open a new browser window each time you do.

These Products make great gifts.
Selections dwindle quickly, so get yours today!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Kevin's Full-Length Album

Our friend, Kevin Tudball, is trying to produce his first full-length album. He is using KickStart to try and rally the troops to get enough money to master and package it. Please check out the project here and consider backing him!! Every penny helps...

  

Happy Birthday Padre!!


Happy Birthday to my Daddy-O!