Six Saturdays

Yesterday I told Z that I was so excited to run the next morning I couldn't take it.  I told him I wanted to run real hard and be begging to stop by the end of our run.  He just laughed and said "cool baby".  In his mind I bet he was thinking about how we would be running together and how he wasn't sure if he was as ready to push himself as hard as I was.  You see, since our road races in Texas (it's been four weeks), this run will be his fourth time running.  Which, shouldn't really matter for him since he didn't have any intentions of running another race for a while...  Funny how things change.

Two nights ago, we registered for our next race.  We had both already been planning on running this race, but Z had been thinking he'd stick with the 5K while I ran the half-marathon.  But when we registered two nights ago, we both registered for the half-marathon.  This is a dream come true to run a road race with my man, especially this distance.  I will keep my dreams of an even further distance for us to race together to myself, otherwise it'll be 'too much too fast' for Z and he'll become uninterested.

So this brings me to the title of the post.  Our race is Saturday, May 5th -- the Provo City Half-Marathon.  Including tomorrow, race day is in six Saturdays.  This is really exciting for me and a tad intimidating and tiring for Zuriel.  We had an easy 5-mile run this morning instead of a begging-to-stop-by-the-end-of-our-run kind of run.  Unfortunately.  Z was pushing himself pretty hard, but I've been running much more frequently since our last race so it was a relaxed pace for me {but I still enjoyed every minute}.  Tomorrow will be a 7-mile at the same pace.  

After drinking my routine post-run shake, stretching, showering, and cleaning, I'm hungry again.  Naturally.  I always am.  I'm a good eater, don't you worry about that.  I couldn't decide what to eat, so I've resorted to left over salad, original sun chips, and an apple.  Almonds are sounding good about now too.  We'll see.  Now off to have our fabulous day of errands and chillin.  Like villans.

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-Have you ever run a race {or participated in some important event/accomplishment} with your significant other?  Was it everything you hoped for and more?

-Do you like almonds?  And if you do, how do you take your almonds?

This is going to make me sound boring, but, I just like plain raw almonds.  I know, this girl needs to add some spice to her life.

Something old, something new

Old news in this house is:  I'm graduated.  BUT, I didn't get to walk.  This is me walking into 'grad fest' this past December.  If you can't tell, I'm super excited about it.  I'd only been waiting for this moment for what, five years?  Here you pick up your cap and gown, they give out some free stuff, and that's about it.

 I wasn't thinking I'd get pictures taken, but the lady said she'd take them for free, then I could go online and see if I wanted to buy any.  I never did..

Unfortunately, I didn't get to pick up my cap and gown.  It was only allowed to those who are walking that semester.  Which brings me to today.  Today I got to pick up my cap and gown because graduation is next Friday evening!  So I decided to use photo booth (I've had this mac for almost 3 years and I don't think I've ever used photo booth) and take of picture of me, happy to finally have my cap and gown for next friday.

And as my 'something new' as mentioned in the post's title...may I introduce you to my cottage cheese forced-friendship.  I have never liked it.  There's something funky and not natural about the texture with the milkiness and the little chunks of mystery chewy stuff.  I'm dramatic, I know.  But it's just weird!  However, I have decided to be mature, and force myself to eat it on occasion.  Starting with today.  This picture is from ten minutes ago before my first attempt to eat it.  I'm forcing myself to like it because a) it's good for you and b) it will hopefully expand my array of snacks I can choose from in a given day.  Also, the only dairy products I actually like are plain (or honey) greek yogurt and any ice cream.  Notice milk and cheese are not on the list.  Notice only one of the two are even good for you.  Yeah, you agree, I need to expand my dairy options.

Ok, after putting some on the delicious triscuits...it's not that bad.  But, so far, if it's not touching a Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil Triscuit, I'm not touching it.  Have I mentioned I'm a bit stubborn?  Now you know.

Also, feel free to make fun of my self-portrait computer pictures.  I can take the belittlement.  But don't be surprised if photo booth's convenience factor results in more of these lovely self-portraits.  

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-Do you like cottage cheese?  What's your favorite snack?

Sunshine, puppies, and a movie

The week's weather changed for the better, making each day fabulous.  Because sunshine does that to everything it touches, duh.  In addition to the normal routine of occasional errands, occasional ambulance shifts, and rejuvenating runs, we spent a lot of time getting into spring mode.

Wednesday:  took Tina for an hour walk.  Yeah let's just say her paws were a little raw afterwards since it was her first good walk in...a while.

Thursday: hung out at the "dog park" (fenced off grass/gravel area in the center of our apt complex) with a couple friends and their dogs.  

This is Tina and Hazel peering over Morgan's shoulder at the big dog...not sure how they feel about her.

 I fell in love with this dog--she's so beautiful.  I am now considering a Weimaraner for our second dog.

If one was on her lap, the other had to be on her lap.

Apparently I only caught pictures of them sniffing, even though they played pretty much the whole time.

We finished off the day with turkey burgers, our favorite summer ships, salad, and fresh fruit.

Friday:  On shift with the ambulance.  BUT, after work, guess what we got to do.  Go ahead, guess.  We saw Hunger Games.  I read the books out loud to Z {kinda silly maybe, I know} while we lived in Atlanta over a year ago, and I was ecstatic when the movie was announced.  My friend bought us tickets to see it with them as a belated birthday/christmas gift to me--really, it wasn't necessary...but, it was extremely appreciated.  I loved the movie.  I plan to see it again when it comes to the 'cheap theater' in town.

Saturday:  My friend and I took our dogs on a nice walk to the park, walked ourselves to lunch nearby, then walked ourselves home. The minute we walked in the door, Tina laid on the couch and didn't move for hours...clearly exhausted from all that walking.

Sunday:  Church, lounging, food, more lounging.

Monday:  The weather decided to be its crazy self and it rained and hailed most the afternoon.  Oh and there was wind.  Lots of wind.  Luck for me, I started running before the weather acted up.  Not so lucky for me, it started raining with intensified winds a couple miles in.  At least I finished my run.

Tuesday (today): On shift with the ambulance.


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-What kind of dog would YOU get?  Do you even like them?  You can say no.
every kind.  seriously.  Z teases me that he has a fear of me becoming "the crazy dog lady"...

-What do you do when the sunshine comes out after a gloomy winter?
barbecues, barbecue chips, and walking the dog.  coming this summer: going to the lake/pool/beach/basically anything with water to splash in and something comfy to layout on.

What actually happened was

My anticipated, non-eventful, and homebody-type Monday evolved into almost the opposite. 

 Turned out there were errands to do, things to clean, and food to cook and bake.  It was enjoyable and the day was even better when my sister and brother&wife came over for dinner and cake to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday.  Happy Birthday to a sweet sister, who is a soon-to-be sweet mama.

just ignore the awkward candles  :)

Monday

Last week the temperatures were in the 40s and even got to the 50s {aka, t-shirt weather}.  This is mostly foreign for eastern Idaho at this time of year.

Today I woke up to the Idaho I know {and love?} and saw a blanket of snow covering my "backyard" with chunky snowflakes blowing around.  

So after letting the dog out, I took a hot shower, ate some breakfast, and braced myself for the long and potentially frustrating customer service calls I had to make this fine morning.

After getting off the phone, Tina and I will most likely be drinking pero while lounging in sweats and watching a movie, patiently waiting for the Mister to get home from work.  Love my furry companion.  

Happy Monday to you.  And here's to taking advantage of this snowy day indoors before it's back to work tomorrow.

  

Bad habit

I have this bad habit of buying "fancier" food items while Z is out of town.  Once he's gone, I'm left to decide what to feed me, myself, and I--can you blame an innocent wife, no.  So I choose food a step above what I'd normally buy for the both of us. Although I admit it is a bad and somewhat expensive habit, I thoroughly enjoy it.  

Unfortunately, Z caught on.  It's hard to conceal the fancier food items when I can't even finish them before he gets back into town and sees the evidence for himself.  Good thing I wasn't trying to be sneaky in the first place.  I do manage to finish the fancy, single portion-sized ice creams though {not the pint-sized, the size smaller than that}. Other foods I indulge in: anything from the fancier{iest} brand of greek yogurt, to a favorite brand of mixed nuts {no peanuts, reduced sodium, lots of almonds}, to a yummy piece of salmon with some shrimp, and everything in between.  You're all on my side, right?  It's sympathy food for me while the Mister is out and it is totally justified.

When I stayed in Texas for a few extra days and then stayed in Utah a couple days before coming home, I left Zuriel home alone for 6 days and 5 nights.  Sad day, I know.  And to my surprise, I came home to find all sorts of random fancier "man foods" if you will, in my fridge and pantry.

One of these fancier food items was a small, expensive bottle of what I considered to be, some manly looking barbecue sauce.  I held it up and looked at him and he laughed and said {and I quote}, "Baby, you were gone for so long!!  Feel bad for me!"  Even typing it makes me laugh all over again.  He's funny, that husband of mine.

And ya know what I decided after eating our chicken BBQ pizza with red onion and peppers and pineapple?  This house will be making homemade pizza much more often.  

Baby shower

My sister-in-law had a baby shower in Salt Lake on Saturday...I still can't believe my younger brother is going to be a dad!  Congrats to you both!

Baby toms...how cute are those, seriously.

And of course, the food was fabulous, just like all baby shower food should be.

Me and the mama-to-be

My newlywed cousin--it was so good to catch up with her.

They're going to be parents...ah!

From the baby shower, I headed home to the state of Idaho to see my much-missed hubby and our little grundge puppy (just one of our terms of endearment for her)..

 I seriously can't help but take a picture every time I make this drive.  I think it's a combination of my love for the rural and mountainous look as well as my excitement to be home in just a few hours...

Why hello little Tina, it's nice to see you too.  I missed you. 

Glad to be home again and back to our little life, with our silly routines, and our crazy pup.

Time in Texas

When people asked Z why he was flying to Texas for a weekend, he would tell them it was "to see the Houston Rodeo of course".  Then as a side note he would mention that he and I were running road races with my parents.

He's a city boy.  But to say he embraces the country boy life and culture is an understatement.  So as you might have guessed, he was ecstatic to see the Houston Rodeo.  

The arena -- in the Reliant stadium {I think they said it seats 80,000 people}.

Sure we didn't have the closest seats, but we loved it.

If you look closely in the next three photos, you can see the cowboy riding the bucking horse and eventually being bucked off...

Then they setup for the concert that followed, which was Luke Bryan.  We didn't think we knew who he was, but turns out we knew almost every song!  

 Spending some time outside Sunday afternoon

Once Zuriel flew home on Monday, I got to go on a couple lunch dates with mi madre since I stuck around Houston for a few extra days.  The first day was to the delicious Cheesecake Factory, it's one of my favorite restaurants.  The salad may not look as appetizing in the picture, but goodness it is delicious.  I also can never get enough of that bread...yum.

The second day we went to Pei Wei for lunch.  If you like PF Changs, you like Pei Wei.  It's practically the same thing, but a fraction of the price and in a more casual atmosphere, which is perfect for lunch dates.  Love me some curry...

My loving younger brother also took me to lunch one day to Le Madeline.  It is a cute, little french bakery place that has yummy comfort food type items...it was delicious.

Can you tell I got pampered by my family?  Well I did.  They made it a tiny bit less miserable for me to be away from Z by feeding me yummy food and spending other quality time with me.  Gracias!