I'm still ticking!

Apparently I've just turned into a bad blogger.  I can't say for sure I will get back to my regular blogging self anytime in the next century, but what I can do is blog when it's feasible and not blog when it isn't.  Sounds fair to me!

Since we last parted ways...

I've suffered the loss of a friend.  My friend was Friday Night Lights.  I watched all 5 seasons on Netflix and then...felt empty.  For 5 seasons I lived in Dillon,TX.  For 5 seasons I "cared" about football and the lives of my many "friends".  For 5 seasons, I got all caught up in the drama and then....nothing.  Empty.  I'm trying to replace my friend, but so far nothing has hooked me yet.  I will let you know if/when that changes.

Since we last parted ways...

I've traveled to Huntington Beach, CA to visit my brother and sister-in-law.  I arrived on Friday, 2/3.  Eddie took me to our Surf City Marathon Expo where I stocked up on all sorts of goodies.  Have you ever tried the Halo brand sweat bands?  OMG!  I have never in my life worn a sweat band that truly did not allow sweat to drip in my eyes.  Best. Sweat Band. Ever.  I also purchased a visor with a built in sweat band, but I've yet to try it out.  I then purchased a pair of Experia Cool Max PINK socks which are awesome!  We all know how much I enjoy NUUN, so I bought a few cylinders of various flavors to tide me over.  Wouldn't you know I would forget my SPIbelt?  No worries...I bought a bigger one at this Expo which totally holds everything I need - including my cell phone!  =)  Yes, I totally dropped a small fortune, but it was well worth it!

After the Expo, we headed to Slater's 50/50 - Burgers by Design.  Eddie had been telling me about this place for quite some time.  He wanted us to be bold and daring and try the Peanut Butter and Jellousy.  We had amazing service and we were even encouraged to each pick out a burger and then they would split both burgers for us so we could each have half of the other's burger.  We decided on the PB&J burger (pb, strawberry jelly, bacon, burger on a honey wheat bun) and the special of the month, the Pizza Burger (1/2 beef 1/2 Italian sausage burger, fried cheese sticks, red pepper pizza sauce, and pepperoni on a Ciabatta roll).  Though we both enjoyed the pizza burger, we agreed the PB&J burger was the MOST AMAZING BURGER EVER!  I might have convinced him we needed to go again to experience it in all of it's glory once more before I left. 

Saturday was more or less a chill day with plenty o' carbo-loading.

Sunday was race day.  Eddie and April had never done a half before.  This was my 8th.  I was, of course, walking the race since I have not been running for almost a  year now.  I have to say that it was probably the most boring course I've ever been on.  You may recall that I did the OC Half back last May and the course, though VERY hilly, was fantastic taking us along the beach, cliffside, and through some beautiful neighborhoods.  The Surf Side City Half was a different ballgame all together.  We started on the Pacific Coast Highway (or the PCH as the cool kids call it) and with the exception of a 2 mile detour off a side road which looped back to the highway, we remained on the PCH through the finish line.  Although I did appreciate the beach scene, it wore out its welcome at the 8 mile turn around.  I will say that the runners and walkers in the race were incredibly friendly and supportive.  The staff members working the race were helpful and sweet dispositioned.

A few cool / mentionable moments.  Around mile 3, I met an older couple.  We were chatting as we walked and they told me the best experience they have ever had was walking the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer two years in a row and that they looked forward to walking it again this year.  What you don't know is that I've been listening to the advertisements for the Houston Walk on 96.5 thinking that this may be something I want to participate in.  More on this subject in another post, but needless to say, I took this as a sign I needed to walk the walk!  Near mile 4, I hit up a hydration station and disappointingly noticed they didn't have any Vitalyte available.  I knew I needed electrolytes to help stave off the calf cramps, so I asked oned of the volunteers and he said he would look for some.  I told him thanks, but not to worry about it and kept marching along.  He apparently found some and ran it over to me.  What a great guy!  Then, around mile 6, I was traipsing along and some really awesome girl who was on the other side of the highway about 4 miles ahead of me came running across the median to give me a bracelet and some words of encouragement.

Overall, I was okay with my performance.  I maintained a decent consistent pace through mile 8 and then it went completely downhill when the calf cramps blasted me around mile 9.  I had a hydration plan of only drinking the Vitalyte at all stations, but the first one didn't have any and then I was only able to find it at the second and third.  By the time I hit the 4th station, they were out.  I hit up a medic tent around mile 10.5 and got a cup of Gatorade that took me to the finish line, cramps and all. I didn't end my race listening to music, so there is no finishing song on this one.

I think it's time I buy some salt pills to take with me on my journies.  =/  Any suggestions of brands?

We pigged out on pizza Sunday evening.  I think I was trying to replenish the 2260 calories I burned during the race. 

April and I got foot massages on  Monday.  Then I headed back to Houston on Tuesday.

Wednesday was a pamper-me day.  I got a MUCH needed haircut in the morning followed by a 70 minute hot stone massage that I purchased via Living Social a long time ago.  Although the massage was relaxing, I have to say that I still prefer my deep tissue torture sessions.  ;)

Thursday, I had eye surgery...AGAIN.  6 years ago, I jumped on the lasik bandwagon.  Right before I was to have standard lasik surgery, the doctor decided he would prefer to do a procedure on me called Epilasik.  This was as a result of my astygmatism and it meant a longer recovery period.  I remember being totally miserable for about 5 days or so.  Well several months ago I noticed that my vision had changed and since I had paid for a "warrantly" of sorts on my surgery, I was entitled to free touch-ups as necessary.  I went through the whole process with Lasik Plus before they determined the procedure would be beneficial to me.  This time they decided to do PRK surgery - slightly different than Epilasik and a longer recovery period.  I wasn't able to return to work until the next Tuesday and even then...my eyes were not as they should be.  My left eye was slightly over-corrected and my right eye was lagging behind.  It made for a very unbalanced vision causing me eyestrain and glaring issues.  It has since improved, but is still not perfect.  My doctor basically told me to have patience.

I'm sorry for the lack of pictures in this post.  Not only am I bad blogger, but I'm a terrible picture taker, as well.  =/

I have so much more to catch you up on, so hopefully I will get to writing another post ASAP so you can share in my family's excitement!

Whirlwind Recap

What would Christmas be without a decorated goose?

I know I keep disappearing.  Don't take it too personally.  It seems when I first started blogging I looked at any and all opportunities to find some great "story" to share and now it's about finding the time/energy to share whatever few great "stories" happen my way.  The longer I go without blogging, the more annoyed I get with the prospect of trying to catch up on my blog.  Does that make sense?

So, with that I do a quick recap of events.

Christmas
As some of you know, for 33 years, I have spent Christmas in Chicago.  With the upcoming arrival of the first grandchild to my parents, our family opted out this year because we couldn't stomach the idea of younger sister Linda having the baby without us being around and we also couldn't stomach the idea of spending Christmas sans Linda and Craig.

We all gathered to my parent's house on Christmas Eve and ate too much food and watched Christmas movies.  Older sister Cathy, brother-in-law Jay, and I all decided to stay at my parent's house for the long weekend.

We all gathered again at my parent's house on Christmas Day and ate too much food, watched Christmas movies, and opened up presents from my parents.  Normally we would have exchanged our sibling "Secret Santa" presents, but we decided to wait until New Year's Eve so that brother Eddie and sister-in-law April would be able to join us.



I lost our competition because my door knob was disproportionate to the door and house. But I'm not bitter...oh no. 



The whole line-up - Jay's, mine, my mom's, and Cathy's.  Cathy won.  Whatever.

Linda, Craig, and Coco just a few days before Ethan's arrival.

My cute mom and dad.

Nephew time
My nephew, Ethan Edward, was born on December 28th.  He was a whopping 10 lbs, 4 oz and measured 21" in length.  Linda and Ethan remained in the hospital until New Year's Eve day.  Linda started her own blog, so for more info go here.

Sweet Ethan on his birth day.

too cute for words

It's hard work being this adorable.

New Year's
What a great way to bring in the New Year!  We got to enjoy our little Ethan and we had Eddie, April, my aunt, my uncle, and my two double cousins - Nicole and Danielle all in from out of town to share in the excitement and anticipation of a brand new year filled with wonderful opportunities!  We also had our sibling "Secret Santa" gift exchange, ate too much, watched my dad play Bejeweled, and brought in the New Year in the Spa sipping on champagne.

Freebirding
While my two double cousins, Nicole and Danielle, were in town, I made sure they experienced a burrito the right way - a la Freebirds (vs. the wrong way - a la Chipotle's which they do have at home back in Chicago).  Danielle opted for the daintier "Hybird" while Nicole and I want all hungry-hungry hippos and ordered "Monsters".  The verdict:  those cRaZy girls prefer Chipotle.  Whatever.

Nicole with her spinach Monster

Danielle with her wheat Hybird

A toast to the New Year - Freebirds style!

Wedding
What does a year look like without a family wedding?  I don't remember.  We have had one every 1 to 1.5 years in our family for the past 5 years.  This year, we all gathered in Springfield, IL for my cousin Anna's wedding to her new bride, Nicol, on Jan. 14th.  I have two words for you:  Photo Booth!  Have you ever been to an event with one of these things?  OMG - soooo fun!  My cousin Rachel and I kept going in there - sometimes by ourselves and sometimes with a group and laughed the night away. 

Chicago
I was supposed to drive back with my family to St. Louis to grab our flight back to Houston, but work duties called me to Chicago instead, so I caught a ride with double cousin Nicole and her boyfriend Justin back to Chicago.  I spent the next 3 days in meetings designed to improve the operations of our company.  Have you ever spent 3 full days in meetings?  Wow - it was really hard for this girl with A.D.D. who is used to multi-tasking the days away.

Now what?
Those of you who "listen" to me FB or Twitter, know that I like My Fit Foods.  I'm just sooo not in a cooking mode right now.  I haven't been for quite a while, actually.  My Fit Foods has fresh prepared meals you can just pick-up, warm-up, and eat.  I've gained back a lot of the weight I had lost.  I'm not happy about this, but not being happy about it doesn't change the situation.  I've tried to restart South Beach time and time again and I keep failing.  My mom thinks this is because I enjoy life's challenges and I already conquered South Beach (um...before the weight gain) so now I need a new challenge.  Younger sister Linda and her hubby, Craig, have started Weight Watchers Online.  I've decided to follow in their footsteps - so basically I'm food tracking and I'm eating most of my meals via My Fit Foods.  I'm kinda squashing most of my racing for now because I've not been training and it's becoming a bit of a joke (that isn't funny).  I have plans to get back into the groove, one mile at a time.

So...please forgive me for getting behind in my blogging and blog reading.  I will make a concerted effort to stay on top of such things moving forward!

Cheers to a Happy and Healthy New Year!