San Francisco Birthday Adventures

I told you we went to San Francisco for my birthday last weekend, but I only talked about the Golden Gate Bridge adventures. Sorry for reusing this picture. I wanted something iconic.

Here's a look at the entire weekend, and all its glory.

We arrived pretty late on Friday night. We knew where we were and we knew where the hotel was, but we didn't know where anything else was, so we maaaaay have walked the wrong direction once or twice before we figured it out.

BUT WE GOT THERE!

And because the hotel knew it was my birthday, they had a bottle of bubbly and some fruit and chocolate waiting for us.

The bubbly is Martinelli's, by the way, because I had also told them that I'm pregnant. On the ball, those folks.

And then I turned 30...

Here's where I stand with my 30 goals to accomplish by the time I turned 30. I fell short on a couple, but I think I did really great overall. The thing I didn't get to will just become life goals - who needs a timeline anyway, right?

1.    Clean out and reorganize the garage (5/26-5/27/2013)

2.    Redo the master bedroom & bath (Repainted 11/9-11/10/13), Bathroom scheduled to be done before yoga baby arrives in December. 

3.    Run a 1/2 marathon (registered 3/27/13, run on 9/8/13)

4.    Get paid to teach yoga (completed 2/21/13) 

5.    Meditate (at least once if I can't make it a regular thing) (Began 3/11/13)

6.    Buy a new car (completed 12/29/12)

7.    Try (at least) one new recipe every month (October 2012, November 2012 , December 2012, January 2013, February 2013, March 2013, April 2013, May 2013, June 2013, July 2013, August 2013, September 2013, October 2013, November 2013, December 2013, January 2014, February 2014, March 2014, April 2014, May 2014, June 2014, July 2014) You can probably see I ended up missing a few months, but I like this goal in general. I've loved trying new things in the kitchen at least once a month. Even when I'm busy, I can usually get in at least one new recipe. :)

30x30; See the Golden Gate Bridge in Person

For my big 3-0, I planned a trip to San Francisco for my honey and I. We would do as many ridiculous touristy activities as we possibly could in one long weekend.

Part of the reason for this was because I had two specific to San Francisco items I wanted to check off of my list; see the Giants play the Dodgers and see the Golden Gate Bridge in person.

Though I'd been to San Francisco before - and even walked along areas you can typically see the bridge from - it had always been too cloudy to actually see the Golden Gate Bridge from where I was standing, so I told the hubs I wanted to see it, and he made it happen. He did one better, actually. He wanted us to walk across it.

It was a beautiful day in SF and we walked all the way from the Financial District up to North Beach to get to the bridge. My feet were killing me.

30x30; Make Grape Leaves

I made tabouli a while back. It came out bad, so I shared the fact that I did it and I did not share the recipe... because it tasted like salt. 

I will not be sharing the recipe here either. #sorrynotsorry

These are delicious, but I feel like some things are sacred, and so... I do feel a little bad for not sharing our family's stuffed grape leaf making technique. Not that bad though. 

This was an item on my 30x30 list. I wanted to make grape leaves by myself... but you know what sounded cooler when it got down to it? Making them with the grape leaf making pro, herself, my Grandma Zackie. 

My cousin Paige and I met at our grandparents' house two Fridays ago to learn from the best and help in any way we could. 

30x30; Go to the Oxnard Strawberry Festival

THIS WEEKEND WAS THE STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL!

I've been wanted to go for years and this year we finally made it. It was three exhausting weekends in a row for my hubby, but since I asked him so far in advance to go with me and he knew how much I wanted to go, he agreed!

We were actually a little disappointed. We had a hard time finding strawberries. We were expecting farmers to have booths where you could buy giant baskets of berries and tons of strawberry jams, drinks, snacks...

and there was a lot of dessert - shortcake, funnel cake, strawberry pizza, chocolate covered strawberries.

30x30; Make Popovers - Vanilla Spice Popovers

When I first put this item on my 30x30 list, I thought I would just open up one of my favorite baking books and be immediately inspired and enthralled by their popover recipe.

... but when I looked in all three of my favorite books, I could only find recipes for plain/classic popovers. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I really had a hankering for something more fun.

So, I took to Pinterest, and within seconds had options upon options for my popover adventure.

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 11

This week has been kind of intense, but I am thrilled with my new plan. Since I did some math on Wednesday and realized I was only 137 days away from my 30th birthday. (RIGHT?!) I won't have time to complete P90X and P90X2 in succession before I turn 30 (one of my 30x30 goals), but what I could do? At least start it... and get through phase 1 of X2 by my 30th birthday. Then finish strong with the final 43 days as a 30 year old. So, this week it started. In addition to my regular workouts, I'm tacking P90X on in the mornings - getting my butt up at 6 instead of 715, and letting go of cookies.

Wednesday night I had already planned on going to Power Yoga. We had a sub who I'd never taken class with before. He taught a really great class - basic on its surface, but with room for creativity and adventurousness. I was into it, and I was next to a woman who is a super pro experienced yogi who - without meaning to - inspired and challenged me. A true yogi, I didn't feel the need to try to "compete" with her, but she did make me want to push myself, find my limits, and try some new things. Because I was already in the zone to challenge myself, I managed to get up into pincha mayurasana without the wall. When I got home I did it again - with a camera - just to prove to myself that I still could. (photo above)

As soon as I made my plan to start P90X, I made sure to tell the hubs so he could be my accountability buddy. So, when 6am rolled around on Thursday morning (aka Day 1 of P90X), he was there making sure I gave him a standing hug goodbye instead of a half sleepy kiss. I pushed play on Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X  from 6:15-7:30am and then off to work I went. It left me feeling strong. The first time I did P90X, I couldn't even do ONE diamond pushup without going to my knees. Thursday morning I did 13.
That night I drove out to see my friend for our weekly yoga sesh. It was nice to get a good stretch in after my workout that morning. It was also nice to bum one of their foam rollers while I guided her through a quick warm up. My right IT band had been killing me - which made even driving difficult - so I worked

Friday (P90X Day 2) I got up early whirly and did Plyometrics X in the morning. I learned from previous rounds of P90X that I need to pace myself during that workout - I'll be sore the next day and get a heckuva calorie burn no matter what, but if I push myself too hard, I will end up running to the toilet for dry heaving fun times. Nobody wants that. I had a great workout that morning.
I thought about going to Ashtanga that night, but it seemed too stressful to try and get there by 545 during tax season, so I took it easy when I got home - just cleaned up the patio and ate cadbury eggs.

Saturday (P90X Day 3) was Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X. I didn't feel like I really challenged myself very much in this workout. I wore my heart rate monitor (as with all my P90X workouts so far), so I know I got kind of a low calorie burn for a full hour workout. Some moves were hard - most of the body weight stuff. Then Ab Ripper is always hard, though it was easier on day 3 than on day one.
I taught an amazing power yoga class at the studio at 10. My playlist rocked my world. I was having so much fun and the energy in the room was amazing.

Sunday (P90X Day 4) I subbed a flow class in the morning. Then I went to an inversion and arm balance workshop. I was supposed to do Yoga X that day, but I skipped it because I knew I'd be doing yoga for four hours at the workshop... which was KILLER, by the way. I thought it would be a little more relaxed, a little less like a yoga class. It was a lot like a typical yoga class - just REALLY long. It was an intense workout. I was mopping up sweat 20 minutes in. It made sense - we need to get warm before we tried flipping upside down and balancing, but it was exhausting. My left wrist just plain gave out at one point (around the 3 hr mark). I couldn't take any pictures during the class (mostly because I didn't know anyone and I didn't want to ask, but I'm gonna try and do a little recap post soon. I'll have to give most of these poses another try. I already instagramed some of them. (1, 2)

Monday morning (P90X Day 5) I got up to do Legs & Back before heading off to teach. I got up a little later then I planned - then there was an earthquake. did you hear about that? - so I didn't have time to do Ab Ripper before I had to leave.
That night I had my private with my friend. She said she wanted a little more cardio, more of a workout to work up a sweat, so even though I was crashing hard that afternoon, that's exactly what we did. We did some running warrior and A LOT of core - a lot - and by the end she was happy with her workout and I felt so much more energized and awake. It was kind of awesome.
When I got home, I did Ab Ripper X, which I'd skipped in the morning.

Tuesday (P90X Day 6) started with Kenpo X in the AM. Maybe I was slacking a little bit, but the calorie burn was kind of a let down. I barely made it to 300 in an hour. At the end of the workout, right as it goes into stretching, Tony advises that we check our heart rates and make sure we're out of "the zone" before going into stretching, but I was well below the zone by the time we got there. I think my heart rate was at like 95. My resting HR is little on the high side, between 85 and 90, and my goal HR for working out is around 155/160, and I never got above 145 the whole workout.
Sorry to talk so much about heart rates. I left work and went straight to Power Yoga that night. My sore muscles needed a little love from the previous few days workouts. That's not to say that power yoga was exactly restful. It was hard, and my body kept reminding me in little ways to take it easy... so I did. I only took the harder variations when I knew my body could handle it, and when I was tired, I eased off.

These workouts posts are about to get pretty intense with the new addition of P90X workouts. I'm pretty pumped about it so far though.

How was your week?

January Cure; Week 3

Another week of glorious home organizing and repair projects for you to read about! I'm really having so much fun with this. While I'm working I blast my favorite songs, have the robots clean the floors, and dance around the house.
Then that feeling of satisfaction when I cross an item off my list is so much more fulfilling.

I did some list tweaking, actually added a few things that should have been on it from the beginning, but didn't write down.

Living Room
Replace the front door knob/handle (in progress, the wood is filled, but now we need to sand and paint)
Replace the garage door knob (relies on the completion of the front door since we're just moving the knob)
Fix wobbly coffee table legs
Tile around the fireplace

30 x 30; Tackle the "Pants to be Fixed" Pile

It's a little ridiculous that I had to put this on my 30 x 30 list in order to get it done. All these pants needed new buttons or repaired seems or something.

The pile just kept getting taller and taller.

These jeans need a new button. This waistband got torn up by an old washing machine. These shorts have a split seam...

Kitchen Adventures; Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

I almost called this post "Shut Up and Eat Your Cookies"... no lie.

And now to how these cookies came about...

30 x 30; Reupholster the Kitchen Chairs

Did you see my post on instagram over the weekend? If you did then you know that updating the fabric on these chairs has been on my to-do list for over 3 years. *cough cough* closer to 4...

...when my parents nabbed this table and chairs at Salvation Army and gave them to me as a Christmas gift in 2009. (TWO THOUSAND NINE!!!)

When they gave them to me, my mom said something about how they thought I could reupholster the seat cushions. I hadn't done anything like that since I was 14 or 15, but I thought it was a great idea - a way to make this used dining set a little more my own.

Fitness Things; I Ran a (third) 10K

Saturday, December 7, 2013, my good friend Katye and I got up long before the crack of dawn and drove our little selves down to Santa Monica to run 6.2 miles in the Santa Monica to Venice Christmas 10K.

First, let's all just take a minute to appreciate my awesome race day outfit - the hat I got at Target the night before, 49ers jersey from my loving husband, and amazing red tights I borrowed from my big sis. I felt a little like the ghost of Christmas football. If that's a thing. ALSO, it's been COLD, so I'm totally wearing my favorite Zella live-in compression leggings underneath the red ones.

Mile 1
I felt like I was moving at a good clip, but everyone was passing me. I also felt like I had a lot of rust to shake off, so that first mile was actually kind of hard. I committed to myself that I would keep my pace as long as I could and before I knew it, the mile marker showed up and I started mile 2...

Recap Summer 2013

I don't know if you caught it, but I totally didn't do a Spring recap. Spring kind of melted into winter and summer and wasn't really it's own thing. I've decided to include some March and April in here for that reason. Just a little bit.

Above: I ran my second 10K. It was harder than the first.

I also did some fun arm balance stuff while I was at work.

A friend and I took the dogs out to Malibu and hike/walked. Then we went to the Country Mart and got them whipped cream.

I Ran a Half Marathon!

On Sunday, the morning of my half marathon, I got up at 4am, brushed my teeth and ate breakfast in my pajamas. I was advised by my girlfriend's marathon-running-personal trainer husband to eat the same things I would usually eat for breakfast, but add about 200 calories and maybe eat earlier in the morning. I opted to increase the amount of oatmeal I'd been having from 1/3rd cup to a half, add a banana, and cut the milk from my latte - making it straight espresso. Ultimately this only increased my breakfast by about 40 calories, but by the time I finished I was too full to eat any more. I made up for it later anyway. ;)

I drove up to Ventura by myself while it was still dark out. Hubs and my momma were going to meet me at the finish line. I got myself together in my car and then walked over to where the people were. I did some light stretching and tried to keep my legs moving.

I wasn't really sure which wave to start with. So, I just started with the second one. A lot of folks were passing me, so I figure that means I should have started with a later wave, but I don't really care. They weren't running that much faster than I was and I didn't get trampled. After about 2 miles, we'd all pretty much found our pace and were running near the people we'd stay near the rest of the time. 

Eating on the Run... Literally.

Folks, I need your help/advice. (especially runners) So, please stick around and read. It's time for some real talk. 

My half marathon is on Sunday. I'm mostly excited for it at this point because even though I know it's further than I've ever run, I've run some long distances and been fine (crazy crazy tired and numb-legged, but fine).

I know - for a fact - that I will need to be good an awake and warm by the time the race starts at 7am. I've also been told that I should eat something so I have energy. This is where I'm not sure what to do.  Usually, my stomach and I get along fine, but sometimes, especially on longer runs, it gets upset.

Does anyone have any tips/tricks so that I can eat in the morning and not having to worry about getting an upset stomach? I've read a few places about having a shot of espresso, my concern is that coffee is a diuretic, so how long before the run would I have to take it?

Also, any snacks/gels/chews/energy anythings you recommend for the run itself? I'm planning on having some recovery formula after I cross the finish line, but I am stumped as to what to do before/during.

So... thanks in advance (I hope)!

30 x 30; Run 100 Miles

With my half marathon looming a mere 12 days away, I set to off toward the coast on Monday night for a run. Minimum 4 miles, I told myself. I'd just done 4 miles a few days earlier, so it would be no big deal. I just had to get those last 4 to reach my goal of running 100 cumulative miles before I turn 30.

Can I just start off by telling you how much I love running at the beach? Holy smokes.

First, the smell of the ocean is 90 percent amazing - occasionally, you'll catch the smell of sewer or rotting fish, but in general, sand and ocean smell = amazing.

The sea breeze is so perfectly subtle, it keeps you dry and cool.

The air is peaceful and people are out with their dogs and there are no cars to make sure you don't get hit by. I LOVE RUNNING AT THE BEACH! Somehow it creates this wonderful illusion that I can run forever. I only wish I'd committed to getting over there sooner. As it stands, only two of the last 4 runs I went on were at the beach. Only two of the last 40 or 50 runs I've been on ever have been at the beach. This is changing going forwards.

But that's it though. I've run 100 miles. Actually, since I ran 6 miles last night, I've run 102 miles since last October. Since I didn't start out as much of a runner, this is pretty impressive for me. You may remember, I ran my first 10K last year, and then - without much training in between - I ran another 10K in March.

But I didn't get the bulk of my miles in until I started training for my half marathon. I ran 27 miles in one week, and then I kind of stopped worrying about it. In the beginning, I did think the 13.1 miles I'd be running in the half marathon would end up counting towards my 100, but it didn't work out that way. I finished my 100 with just over a week and a half to go.

I'm also feeling much much better about the upcoming "race" (which I put in quotes because I'm not trying to beat anyone except the urge to walk). My half marathon will be at the beach, so my recent switch to running in the right environment has been so uplifting for me - that feeling that I could run forever.

I'm going to continue to *hopefully* go on at least one run per week after I finish my half marathon, and I've decided to keep track on my blog. Follow along to see how far I get before my 30th birthday!

Las Vegas; Summer 2013

So, that's it. I got in my two romantic weekends away, but you're kidding yourself if you think I've had enough. I don't turn 30 for another year. I'm gonna get in as many weekends away as I can! :)

We had a great time in Vegas this weekend. Here's a little run down for ya... with pictures, duh.

30 x 30; Get CPR Certified

I put getting CPR certified on my 30 x 30 list before I learned that most gyms require you to have it before they'll let you teach fitness classes.

So... wanting to teach yoga at a gym kind of gave me the kick in the butt that I needed to sign up. The way it worked out, I found a class on my birthday. It didn't really bother me that I'd spend my birthday morning watching CPR videos and practicing on a dummy, and anyway, I can save lives now - and I feel like my future children are safer.

The coolest part for me personally, is that I can make the mommies in my mommy & baby yoga classes feel safer. Since I'm also certified in infant CPR, God forbid something happens, I can be there to help effectively.

I feel like more of a contributing member of society now - less a helpless bystander.

30 x 30; Run 100 Miles (2nd Progress Report)

Last Friday, I met up with a friend for drinks after work, and we got to talking about all our workouts and what we're working on and it came up that she is running the Giant Race Half Marathon the first weekend in August - and how that is just two weeks away.
Then it dawned on me, that my half marathon is only one month after hers... and I had not started training.

Oops.

I hadn't even been pushing myself much towards completing my 100 miles for my 30 x 30.

Oops again.

So, Monday evening, after sitting in the car for an hour and 45 minutes in the worst traffic ever - ALL FOUR lanes were closed on the 101 at Lost Hills - I changed into my workout clothes, put on my running shoes, set up my heart rate monitor, my running playlist and my Nike Run app, complete with totally awesome armband to carry my phone, and I got going.

I just ran until I couldn't anymore. I ran until my side cramped and my knee was screaming at me, and then I ran home, and by "ran home", I mean, hobbled awkwardly at a pace slightly more run-like and faster than walking.

It was definitely a wake-up call. I can't screw around with this running business.

So, here's where I am with this right now. I have a half marathon to train for and I'm less worried about completing my 100 by 30 since I've completed 42.5 miles thus far, and I'm pretty confident most - if not all - of the remaining 57.5 miles will get eaten up by my training. The half marathon alone is 13.1.

I'm committing myself to my training as of now.

Those three steps I talked about in my last running update back in February?
1. Take the jog outdoors - No problemo, yo. It's beautiful out these summer evenings and the sun it setting so late, I have plenty of time after work.
2. Playlists, not Pandora - YES! This is helping so much! I need some more help with music suggestions though. Do you have any great motivational running music you love? My problem is that I find songs/albums I love for running and then I play them until they bore me... and then they totally lose their Oomph.
3. Run in the morning - This is still a no. I'm trying, but I've been beat lately and the mornings are the worst, so I'll give this another go and keep you posted.

Something else I've done? Last night after my run, I recommitted to the RunKeeper App on my phone. It tells me when, how far to run, and how much to push myself. Tonight I'm supposed to run a "4 mile easy". Even though I'm way behind on my training, it's too late to start at the beginning, so I'm just going to do the very best I can and keep doing my very best all the way through. :) Because in just a few days I'm supposed to run 10 miles at "race pace" - which currently is the same as my easy pace - and I'm really not sure I'm going to be able to do it.  That will be the furthest I've ever run, so I'm just going to do my best and see what happens. :)

Do you run? Do you have any tips, motivation, music, you'd like to share?

30 x 30; Clean Out & Reorganize the Garage

Y'AAAAAALL! This weekend we cleaned out, repainted, and reorganized the garage. This is what I looked like on Sunday - midday. We weren't even close to done. 

But before I talk to much about the middle, let's go back to the beginning, shall we?

We bought our condo in 2010. The garage was already half full of junk - old paint, extra drywall, you name it. Then T's parents moved from the Bay to SD, so all the stuff he'd left at their old house, was moved into our garage - along with a pretty huge collection of random tools and supplies we "might need someday". Then I finally got most of my stuff out of my parents' house (there's still a little over there, I think) and that went into the garage. Then over this past Christmas, T's parents made a final trip up North to clean out their storage units, and on the way down left boxes upon boxes and even some furniture for us - which we sorted through and then ultimately stored in THE GARAGE.

The garage... which was already painted dank dark grey and had built in shelving units that were falling apart, including one that jutted out into the garage so we each hit our heads on it more than once - many a gash and bruise were had. 

OH! AND! For a long time we were keeping rolls of carpet because one of the couples' my aunt sold a house to ripped out the brand new carpet and gave it to us. The trouble was that it had been rolled up for so long, it was in terrible condition, so we couldn't use it. So, in the weeks leading up to this little renovation, we'd been slowly throwing away rolls of carpet.