Category Archive

Ten years ago I…

1. Was 23
2. Was living in Berkeley, Michigan (Detroit suburb) and dating casually
3. Was working for General Motors
4. Was attending grad school at Wayne State University
5. Had a cat named Gato

5 things on today’s to-do list . . .

1. Strength training workout
2. Get Little Miss’s “Well Child” form signed by her doctor
3. Harrass my IT Help Desk about fixing my computer (the dinosaur is killing me)
4. Determine if I’m doing a date night babysitting swap with my sister in law
5. Make dinner (chicken breast wrapped around asparagus and cheese

5 snacks I enjoy . . .

1. Almonds
2. Apples
3. Protein bar/protein shake
4. Yogurt
5. String cheese
6. CHOCOLATE

5 things I would do if I were a millionnaire . . .

1. Quit my job so that I could spend more time with Little Miss
2. Start my own business of a pool in South Reno
3. Volunteer
4. Buy my parents and in-laws houses nearby
5. Buy a sports car (still miss my Trans Am)
6. Travel the world with my family

5 places I have lived . . .

1. Albuquerque, NM
2. Las Cruces, NM
3. Fremont, CA
4. Southeast MI (Southgate and Berkeley)
5. Reno, NV

5 jobs I have had . . .

1. Swim instructor/Swim Coach
2. Lifeguard/Lifeguard supervisor
3. District Sales Manager
4. Internet Marketing Manager/Director
5. Program Manager

Inspired by Krisalis.

OK, I finally have time to write about my first 10K.  I know for many people, a 10K is child’s play (like my brother, sister in law and hubby).  For me, though, it was a big accomplishment.  I started running for fitness at about 19, where I would repeatedly run 2 miles at a time (not including my record setting 2 week track career in high school, ended early by shin splints). 

I have done many 5K runs, which always seemed like a REALLY long run for me, and I remember going out before the race to run 3 miles, to make sure I could actually complete the race.  Last Fall, I began trail running, which reinvigorated my running, and I found I was able to start increasing my mileage, gradually.  I set my New Year’s Resolution this year (yes, I had just ONE) to run a 10K by the end of the year.  In the winter, I was plagued by colds or aching joints, etc., but this Fall, I’ve been able to break through those issues to do my first 10K.  It was a big mental barrier for me, as I never believed I was built for running, or that I could run much farther than 3 miles, much less double that.

The race was early Sunday morning.  I had been having asthma issues when I ran the prior week, so I doped myself up with Singulair and multiple hits to my inhaler.  JB went with me, and we met up with a friend of mine who was visiting from Colorado.  I kept telling my friend that I run slow, and to not feel like she needed to stay with me, but we both got into chatting, and she stayed with me for 3 miles.  During those 3 miles, I was definitely pushing at a faster pace than I would have without her, and she was running much slower than her normal pace.  Anyway, at 3 miles, she decided to break away, and I turned up the iPod and got into my normal running pace.

The race was sponsored by my company, with 50 of my co-workers volunteering, so every mile or so, there would be a rest station with a bunch of my co-workers cheering, which I think made me push harder, as you don’t want to look like you’re hurting in front of your co-workers! 

The race was at Damonte High School, which backs up to the Virginia Mountains, where wild horses frequently graze.  They made an announcement prior to the start that there could be wild horses on the course, and to watch out for horse dung.  And what do you know — I saw many piles of horse poop, but the majority were on the sidewalk…  I thought it funny that the horses have been using the sidewalks.

The race was rather uneventful.  I ran with inhaler in hand, but luckily didn’t have to hit on it.  As I came to the finish, I saw a 10 year old boy running beside me for the last 50 yards.  I looked over and said, “race ya”, and we sprinted into the finish.  Now I’m not much of a sprinter, so he was pulling ahead, but slowed down right before the finish line, where I then sprinted past and said, “shouldn’t have stopped”!  I’m sure he told his parents about the old lady that beat him.  I’m hoping the race photographer caught that, as I think it’d be a really funny picture.

So, I’m proud of breaking down my mental and physical barriers, but know that I’m still on the beginner end of the spectrum of running.  My average pace was 10:45 per mile, and the woman that won my age group, well she was doing 5:45 per mile.  But hey, it felt good, and I have two more 10Ks planned before the end of the year, with the goal to break an hour, shaving at least 6 minutes off my time.

I’ve been toying with the idea of a half marathon in my future.  I’ll keep you posted with that!

My shiny new computer that I got last month died.  Now I’m back on the machine I call “The Beast”, and I’ve been watching it clock all day long.

But the good news is that I finished the 10K!  More on that later…  Must try to get work done on this dinosaur of a computer…

My, how the time flies.  We spent Friday through Sunday in Palo Alto, CA visiting JB’s parents.  It was a nice, relaxing weekend with perfect weather and fun outings.  I have pictures to post later from our visit to the Palo Alto Zoo and a local pumpkin patch. 

I’m ramping up for my first 10K run on Sunday.  Unfortunately, the combination of allergies and running has been triggering my asthma lately, so I may have to run with my inhaler in hand!  It’s frustrating to have my heart rate pretty low, but not to be able to catch my breath!

This afternoon, I’m headed to Squaw Valley to do the ropes course with co-workers.  Should be a blast!

More later!

Happy Anniversary, JB.  We were married four years ago today, and it is amazing how much we have accomplished in that time.  I look forward to celebrating many more years with you!

*smooch*

(I wanted to post a wedding pic, but those are on my other computer…)

Sorry I’ve been mum this week.  I’ve started 3 posts and then aborted when I got pulled in another direction…  Here are my random thoughts today:

1.  Got my hair cut yesterday…  As typical, I raced across town after getting off work at 5 for a 5:15 appointment, and then had my hair dresser do a rush 20 minute cut so that I could get back across town by 6 to pick up Little Miss.  In the rush of things, she asked if I wanted the same cut as last time (3 months ago), and I said yes.  Evidently, she remembered cutting my hair WAY shorter than reality.  Totally unintentially, I now have officially short hair.  It’s like an inch long in the back, which is freaking me out a bit.  This morning, Little Miss was playing with my hair, and said, “Mommy got a hair cut.  You look like a Mom.”  And I had to cringe.  Is my 2 year old telling me I now have the stereotypical “Mom Cut”?!  The growing out starts today…

2. I received a new CD in the mail yesterday that I am totally digging.  It is Bossa And Roses, and they do remakes of popular 80s songs into a really chill, groovy sound.  I discovered them in an airport gift shop in Seattle, where I had to just stand in the store to hear more of the CD.  The store wanted $24 for the CD.  Got it off Amazon for $8.  I heart Amazon.

3.  I did my 8K last weekend, and was proud to have met my two goals of running the entire race (no stopping or walking) and a time under 1 hour.  I was walking on air afterwards, starting to contemplate a half marathon…  That is until I got the race results, and I placed 998th.  *cringe* 

4.  We went to Tahoe last weekend to get one last swim in there, as the water temp is dropping fast.  We showed up Sunday afternoon, and the water was the roughest I had ever seen it, complete with white caps and what seemed like 10 foot waves.  We donned wet suits (alternating to stay with Little Miss), and I fought those waves for a mere 20 minutes before giving up.  The water would pull back, exposing huge rocks below, and then the waves would crash down and send you sailing…  As I was swimming, a thought crossed my mind that these are the types of situations where people DIE, and I made the smart choice to head back to shore and my sweet little family.  Farewell, dear Tahoe.  I’ll swim in you again next year.

4.  For my birthday, JB gave me a book about an open water swimmer, Swimming To Antartica by Lynn Cox.  After watching the open water swimming event in the Olympics, I had doubts that the book would be interesting, but I’ve found it fascinating.  The author would look for swims that hadn’t been done, and would swim with no wet suit for long distances (over 20 miles), and sometimes shorter distances in 34 degree water past iceburgs and breaking ice with her strokes.  Makes my open water swimming jaunts seem like child’s play.  (But did inspire me to hop right into Tahoe and brave those waves last weekend).

5.  I’m lizard sitting this weekend for a 2 month old bearded dragon named Yoda.  Must go over and feed it 10 crickets.  That should be interesting!

6.  No real plans for the weekend.  It is beautiful weather here, and am hoping to get in a swim or bike ride (with Little Miss’s new trailer attached to my road bike).  Oh yeah, and some extra sleep.  That’s always nice.

Ciao!

Nice…  So IE8 has a “compatability view”, which enables me to write on my blog in WordPress while in IE8.

I was trying to come up with an image to include in a meeting invite for a Post-Mortem meeting. I should have known better than to do an image search for post mortem. The results are just plain disturbing…

I don’t know what it is about the Reno area, but all of the cool run races are jam packed within about three weeks of each other.  I’m working up to meet my New Year’s Resolution goal of completing a 10K…  Next weekend, JB and I will be doing the 8K Journal Jog.  I might be smoking crack, as I signed up in the Jogging Stroller division, as I thought it’d be a cool family outing.  Problem is Little Miss hasn’t sat in a stroller in about a year.  I think I’ll be able to bribe her to stay in the stroller, and am hoping that the excitement of the race will keep her distracted. 

The Race for the Cure is Oct. 5 (a weekend when my parents are in town, and I’ll be seeing if I can convince them to participate), and then my final hurrah, the Run For Education 10K will be October 19.  Phew!  That’s a lot of races over the course of a month. 

Training is going well.  My only nemesis right now is the blister that keeps cropping up on my right foot…  Anyone have suggestions for preventing blisters?  I at first thought my problem was the shoes, so I bought new shoes, and am still getting a blister in the same spot on the arch of my foot.

Speaking of blisters, my brother did his 10K run in the triathlon on Sunday without socks, and his feet were covered with blisters.  He powered through, and it didn’t seem to slow him down.  Me, on the other hand, I’m a wimp when it comes to blisters!

Back in the office after yet another weekend on the road…  But at least this morning I was granted the gift of a new computer, which so far has made me very happy!  I now have a HP Compaq 8510p, as I was on the verge of chucking my Toshiba Portege off the roof with its poor performance on Vista.

Anyway, this past weekend we went to Folsom, where my brother and JB competed in the Folsom International Triathlon.  The guys didn’t fail to impress me, both with second place finishes in their divisions.  My nephews even escorted JB to the finish line, running along side him. 

Last weekend, we were in Mammoth, where I got to go kayaking, trail running and road biking.  I even got to take Little Miss on a real horseback ride.  I have a ton of pics to post, so I hope to get that done this week…

Ciao!

I got a kick out of this snippet from the Reno Gazette Journal this week:

Curly hair advantage

It might be time to give the straightening iron a rest. According to a story last week on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” employers are more likely to hire a woman with curly hair. A behavioral study found that woman with curls are considered self-starters, low maintenance and trustworthy compared to their flat locked peers.”
 

I love it! I knew there was a reason I wasn’t putting out the effort to straighten my hair all these years! (Besides not wanting to take the time to do so.)

With another birthday looming, it was comforting today to be told my Real Age is only 28.7.  Phew! Here’s to reverse aging!  How old are you?

Edited to add: Great, my brother that is 7 years older than me has a RealAge of 28, so now I’m not so proud of my 28.7.

OK, admittedly after watching this, open water swimming doesn’t make for the best TV.  BUT, watching the Olympic open water swim is good on your computer, as you can jump through to the good parts really easily.

This is for any of you nutty people like me that are interested in watching the women’s 10K Open Water Swimming event.

View the video on MSN

yum

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed watching the Olympic swimming this past week.  I’m blessed with a husband who also enjoys watching swimming, so we watched together with baited breath, and constantly rewinded to see different techniques that we saw.  I have to admit I’ve developed a swimmer’s crush on Michael Phelps.  Not only is he an amazing swimmer, but he has a great laid back personality with a ton of humility and sportsmanship.  It’s already evident that he has brought the sport of swimming to new levels of respect.  Non-swimmers watched him avidly, and swim teams across the nation are seeing an influx of interest.  I even found renewed interest in myself to get back into swimming and hone my technique. 

I enjoyed watching all of the US team, and especially liked Natalie Couglin as well.  I’m sad that there is no more swimming to be seen (probably for another 4 years unfortunately), but I do look forward to catching the open water swim highlights on TV. 

I signed Little Miss up for swim lessons this week.  She has been what I call “God’s practical joke” when it comes to swimming, as it is my favorite sport in which I taught swim lessons for 7 years and coached for 3 years, but my toughest pupil yet is in my own daughter.  She is “cautious” (i.e. wimpy) in the water, and I’ve spent countless hours working with her, but I’m to the point where I’m sick of dealing with her extreme caution, and I think that some peer involvment would help her get over her issues. 

Anyway, congratulations to Michael Phelps, whom I call Phelpsy in our household.  I’m so proud of him, and look forward to seeing what he will continue to do in growing US Swimming.

This kept me conscious while in a really long, boring meeting:

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6am so that I could take a 45 minute walk before work.
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds – like the sparkle, feel guilty for the way they are harvested
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?  Sex and the City, seen with like 30 women from work.  So fun!
4. What are your favorite TV shows? Grey’s Anatomy, ‘Til Death (which has a scary depiction of our marriage), The Office, Scrubs, Sex and the City, John and Kate Plus Eight
5. What did you have for breakfast this morning? Protein shake, with V8 juice for a mid morning snack (I’m in phase 1 of the South Beach Diet)
6. What is your middle name? Lynnette.  No, seriously, it is.
7. What is your favorite cuisine?  Perhaps New Mexican, simply because of my limited access to it.  But I enjoy Indian, Thai, and sushi
8. What foods do you dislike? There aren’t many, and that is my problem.
9. Favorite chips? Soy Chips
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Aren’t CDs passé?  I listen to internet radio (Pandora.com) with the Frank Sinatra station
11. What kind of car do you drive?  2007 Toyota RAV-4 (i.e. my Mom car).  And yes, I still miss my 2000 Trans Am Ram Air (sniff)
12. What is your favorite sandwich? Winter’s Best bread with ham, cheese, avocado, onion and green chili
13. What characteristics do you despise? Being deceptive or selfish.
14. What are your favorite clothes? Pajamas, shorts, jeans
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation? I’ve been wanting a nice beach vacation for years…  One with tropical blue waters, white sandy beaches…  And after I get that, I’d like to go to the South of France and perhaps Spain.  But I don’t envision taking Little Miss on a trip like that, nor do I want to leave her for that long, so Europe will have to wait.

16. What’s your favorite brand of clothing? I’m not really into brands.  Right now, I’m enjoying my clothes from Banana Republic, J Jill, Anne Taylor and Talbots.
17. Where would you want to retire?  I wouldn’t mind retiring in Reno or a place like Reno.  I need access to the great outdoors as well as an established city with plenty of things to do.

18. Favorite time of day?  Snuggle time with Little Miss right before she goes to sleep.

19. Where were you born? Nuevo Mexico.  The new one, not the old one.   Did anyone see the reference on the show Las Vegas to New Mexico?  The character Samantha said, “not everything new is good.  Look at New Mexico.”  Ouch, that one stung.

 20. What is your favorite sport to watch? Swimming.  I know, I’m a freak.  Can’t wait to watch Michael Phelps and Dara Torres in the Olympics!

21. Pepsi or Coke? Diet Coke

22. Beavers or ducks? Ducks  (we’re rather partial to ducks in our household)

23. Are you a morning person or a night owl? I’d love to be a night owl, but motherhood prevents that. 

24. Pedicure or manicure? Pedicure – manicures never last.

25. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share?  Just heard the possibility of a business trip to Barcelona in the Fall (not holding my breath on that one).

 26. What did you want to be when you were little? An exotic dancer.  Really – I thought it meant a “fancy” dancer.  Then I wanted to be a writer…  A dream still unfulfilled.

 27. What is your best childhood memory? Wow, just one?  Well, I’d like to say Christmas mornings

 28. Piercing? Just one in each ear.

 29. Ever been to Africa ? NO

 30. Ever been toilet papering? Ah, this was quite the pass-time in middle school and high school.  I used to regularly TP and fork the lawn of my big crush, whom I later learned was the next door neighbor of my siter-in-law

 31. Been in a car accident? Yes.  I was the passenger in a car that was hit by a UPS truck.  Now that was riveting!

 32. Favorite Day of the week? Saturday

 33. Favorite restaurant? Country Gourmet in the Bay Area.  They have generous portions of delicious and healthy food, no corkage fees, and an entire play area for kids in the back room.

 34. Favorite Flower? Hard to pick just one…  I like red roses, as they make me think of my wedding, daisies, as they make me think of my Mom, and the Stargazer Lilly because they smell so darn good.

 35. Favorite Ice Cream? Cake batter

 36. Favorite fast food restaurant? QDoba

 37. How many times did you fail your drivers test? 0

 38. From whom did you get your last email? Crap, I receive hundreds of emails a day, so there is no such thing as a last email.

 39. In which stores would you choose to max out your Credit card? None.  I’ve never maxed out a credit card, and don’t plan on doing that.  I’m just not that into shopping.

 40. Bedtime? 11 ish usually

 41. Last person you went to dinner with? JB – went to Rapscallion to celebrate his bday.

 42. What are you listening to right now? Blah blah blah blah blah blah

 43. What is your favorite color? Red

 44. How many tattoos do you have?  None.  Never found a symbol I thought would last me a lifetime.   Just can’t think of anything I’d want on my body when I’m eighty.

I love the summer Olympics, as it’s one of the only times I get to watch swimming on TV (one of the only sports I actually like to watch on TV).  This year, I’m rooting for Dara Torres, the 41 year old mother competing against a bunch of teenagers.  I think it is so awesome to see her be competitive against girls young enough to be her daughters!

And of course, I’ll be waching my Phelpsy (Michael Phelps).  Not really a fan of the Mark Spitz mustache he’s sporting, but I do like why he is sporting it, as he aims to break Mark Spitz’s record of 8 gold medals!  Plus, he’s not hard on the eyes!

This weekend, I did the best birthday surprise ever for JB.  It completely blew his mind!  I told him we were going somewhere on an overnight trip.  I told him to pack all kinds of random things, including swim fins, a dress shirt, goggles, running shoes, etc.  I didn’t let on until we pulled into the long term parking at the airport that we weren’t actually going anywhere, but that we were going to pick someone up.

You should have seen his reaction.  It was hilarious.  I then called the surprise guest, JB’s best friend Jon, and Jon answered the phone saying, “the eagle has landed”.  I marched JB to the bag claim area, and then just told him to keep an eye out for people he recognized. 

My husband had perma-grin all weekend.  And not only did he get time with Jon, but he got to go to the Steely Dan  concert that he has been drooling over for weeks.  In fact, at one point last week, he asked if he really had to go on the surprise trip, as he wanted to go to this concert.  It made things all the sweeter that Jon and JB had been Steely Dan fans together in their college days.

Before the concert, we went out to eat at Cabo Wabo’s in South Lake Tahoe.  The concert was really good (very interesting people watching as well).  I hate to admit that I only knew 2 songs, but I guess that’s because the band was popular in the 70s, and well, I don’t have much memory of the 70s. 

Afterwards, we went out to Cabo Wabo’s for the bar scene, and they had an awesome cover band that had me dancing like crazy as the boys hung out.  There were bachelorette parties amuck in there, and I have decided that the next bachelorette party I throw will need to be there. 

Sunday, the boys recovered most of the day while I hung out with Little Miss.  I was on low sleep as well, but didn’t have the hangover issue that they did.  Little Miss got to spend time at her cousins’ house, so she was thrilled.  Next weekend, it’s my turn to watch her cousins, which I can’t complain, because babysitters are flipping expensive, and there aren’t three little girls I’d rather hang out with than my nieces and daughter.

On a side note, congrats to my brother G, who finished second overall and first in his age-group in the Vineman AquaBike race over the weekend.  This nutty event is like an Ironman without the marathon run, including a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike.  His athletic prowess never ceases to amaze me.  Thanks for being so selfish with those athletic genes, bro!

My work hell continues…  It started on Thursday night, through Friday, and then started up again Sunday night at 7pm, through the night, and escalated to a customer yelling at me at 7am Monday morning for systems failures that were completely out of my hands.

Is it Friday yet?

To make things more fun, I woke up Saturday with pink eye, so I marched into Urgent Care first thing Saturday morning.  After going through paperwork and getting my vitals checked and waiting for 30 minutes in the exam room, I was told the doctor didn’t show up.  So then I got to go to another Urgent Care and start the process over.  Just how I wanted to spend my Saturday morning!

On Saturday afternoon, I took Little Miss to Great Basin Adventure Park, where she got her first ever pony ride.  I hadn’t told her about the pony rides because I didn’t want to get her excited if they weren’t running them that day.  So it blew her mind when I marched her up to the pony rides, where she was first in line, and I thought her head might pop off when she got lifted up on top of the pony.  I have NEVER seen my child so happy and smiling so broad.  When the ride was over, I marched right back to the ticket booth and bought her another ride.

To add to the entertainment, it was Mormon Pioneer Days at the park, meaning the place was teaming with Mormons dressed in Pioneer costumes, but part of me was wondering if for some of them it was their regular garb.  I have never seen so many pregnant woman in one place, and every pregnant woman had at least 2-3 children trailing behind her.  Except, that is, for the seventeen year old pregnant girl that was chatting me up in the restrooms.  Those Momons, they know how to procreate!

On Sunday, I took Little Miss on a short hike in the morning, and in the afternoon, we did a family outing to Lake Tahoe.  I got to do some open water swimming in rough water with at least 5 foot swells, and after a half an hour of getting tossed around and swallowing half of Lake Tahoe, I threw in the towel.  So it was a lovely afternoon/evening until I joined a conference call at 7pm to find my work about to blow up in my face.

Arrgh. 

While we were at the beach yesterday, JB looked at the lifeguard and said, you should get a job here as a lifeguard.

I laughed, and told him if that would pay the bills, I’d do it in a second.  There is nothing more I’d like than to sit on the beach of Lake Tahoe every day than to deal with the stress I’ve been having.

*closing my eyes and going to that happy place now*

I’m off to Seattle on Wednesday.  Hopefully things will settle by then.

Wow, it’s Friday again.  Why is it the weeks in the summer just fly by?!  Probably because there is just so much to do around here compared to the Fall and Winter…  Quick recap:

• Last weekend, JB was supposed to do the Donner Lake Triathlon, which was cancelled due to smoke from the CA fires.  The man then managers to pick up a ticket for the Death Ride on Friday, and then did the Death Ride (from 5am to 4:30pm) over 5 mountain passes the next day.  Only my husband would attempt that ride without the proper training!  JB made it 4.5 passes (had to quit due to hail and a flash flood), but my brother made it all 5.  Those guys amaze me. 
• I did “happy hour” at the beach last Friday with the girls (including Little Miss), and Saturday, we hung out at the pool for 2 hours.
• Sunday, a friend and I went up to Lake Tahoe early in the morning for some open water swimming.  The water was smooth as glass and it was absolutely gorgeous.  Made me so happy!
• Last night, we went to a concert where the band from our wedding reception (Uncle Funkle) was playing.  It was nice to hear them again, and Little Miss really got into the dancing.
• This weekend, it’s the maiden voyage in our pop-up camper.  More beach time and one really long run are on the agenda.

So that’s about it on the update front.  We decided we’re a bit fed up with our day care this week, so I’ve spent all kinds of time calling preschools to see what the lists are like…  Par for the course, preschool lists are nutty too…  It will take at least a year to get a space for her somewhere else.  Man, is it frustrating to want to make a change in childcare but have my hands tied by limited availability!

Sorry for the lack in posting.  I’m sick with a cold, and just can’t find motivation to do much above the basic daily requirements of work and motherhood.  Don’t give up on me.  As soon as I’m off the cold meds and my mind clears, I swear I’ll post something witty.  You just wait.

Yes, I’m stil alive.  I honestly haven’t had anything exciting to report.  I feel like I have moved to Seattle, as for the last week, we have had cool, gray and rainy weather.  It was a bummer to have this weather system settle over Reno for the holiday weekend, but it meant that I didn’t have any plans (going to the beach and outdoor pool were OUT), so we lazed around and just enjoyed some quiet family time.

I have resumed trail running now that ski season is over, and I had forgotten just how much I love trail running.  There is a gorgeous trail with a mild incline 5 minutes from my house, and it is almost therapeutic for me to immerse myself in the smell of the forest, the crunch of the dirt under my shoes, and the sound of the rushing stream that is at its peak flow right now.  I have felt really strong running lately, and I think it is now time to venture to more difficult trails.  Anyway, the weather was perfect for trail running, as it was cool, and the clouds made the mountains look very much like those in Washington state. 

On Sunday, after a glorious run, I decided that Little Miss should enjoy the trail as well, so I took her and our dog Shadow up to the trail for a short hike.  She was really excited to hike, and kept following Shadow around, doing everything that he did.  When Shadow sniffed a bush, she would sniff a bush, when he’d raise a leg to pee, she would raise a leg and pretend to pee.  It was really funny.  She made it a long ways — at least a mile, which is great for a 2 year old.  I figure we’ll keep working her up on distance this summer, since she has boycotted the jog stroller and the backpack.

This week is starting to get busy for us.  Tonight is a birthday party for a 4 year old at Chuckie Cheese (woo — haven’t been there since I was in Brownies), tomorrow night is girls night out with women from work, where we’ll be going to happy hour and then to the premier of Sex and the City.  Then this weekend, it’s wine tasting, a family kick ball tournament, and a birthday party for my brother, who is having the big 4-0 celebration.  We’ll have all of my family together this weekend, and I can’t wait.  It will be chaos, but such fun chaos.

I’m starting to map out our camping plans for the summer, as we’re ready to put our new camper to use.  Anyone have suggestions of good camp sites in the Northern Nevada/California area?  On my hit list are June Lake, Gold Lake and Lake Almanor (can you tell we like to go to lakes?).  What other sites should we try?

I think many people in my circle of family and friends don’t understand why I blog, or why women would want to blog about their children.  One of my favorite bloggers, Heather from Dooce.com, said it so eloquently on her site today:

“Will you (her daughter) resent me for this website? Absolutely. And I have spent hours and days and months of my life considering this, weighing your resentment against the good that can come from being open and honest about what it’s like to be your mother, the good for you, the good for me, and the good for other women who read what I write here and walk away feeling less alone. And I have every reason to believe that one day you will look at the thousands of pages I have written about my love for you, the thousands of pages other women have written about their own children, and you’re going to be so proud that we were brave enough to do this. We are an army of educated mothers who have finally stood up and said pay attention, this is important work, this is hard, frustrating work and we’re not going to sit around on our hands waiting for permission to do so. We have declared that our voices matter.”

I couldn’t have said it better.  Not only is blogging a great and easy way to keep family and friends posted on our goings on, but it’s also an outlet for the frustrated unpublished writer in me.  I can publish myself at any time simply by clicking on the button that says, “publish”.  And this site has reunited me with so many people from my past — so many people that I would have fallen out of touch with.  Like Regan, from my high school French class, that just recently made Little Miss an adorable dress (oh, and she lives in London now), or Karen, whom I met the first day of high school and now lives on the East coast (married to another good friend from high school), but we still have a pulse on what the other is doing.  Just this week, Pennie, with whom I double dated to the Homecoming dance my senior year (with the infamous picture of my 90s hair from last week), commented on my site on how she remembered that dress.  How cool is that, people?!

I have also virtually met women that I never would have met such as Kristen from Krisalis and Kris from Web-Goddess.  I’ve followed along with their lives for years, and feel like we’ve been friends, even if all we do is read each others’ blogs.

I’m not as courageous as Heather from Dooce, meaning I won’t say anything on this site that will anger people I care about or jeapordize my employment, and hence I can’t make my living blogging as she does, but it is still quite a fun and entertaining hobby.

Maybe it’s because I’m green when it comes to earthquakes, but the 4.7 magnitude quake that hit Reno at 11:30 Friday night SCARED THE BLEEPITY BLEEP BLEEP OUT OF ME!  I was talking on the phone with JB (he was on a business trip in Phoenix), laying in bed ready to go to sleep when the quake hit.  The whole house was shaking and shuttering, and the garage door was going BOOM BOOM BOOM and JB got to witness my freak out as I yelled, “EARTHQUAKE!  EARTHQUAKE!  OH MY GOD, EARTHQUAKE!”

I leaped out of bed and ran to a doorway, just as I’m thinking, “dear God, my baby is upstairs!”  I had horrible visions of the second floor crashing down, and as I ran to the stairs, the quaking stopped.  I haven’t found any damage to our house, but the adrenaline rush was intense.

According to this video link provided by my brother, it is forecasted that we may get a 6.1 quake, as these could be “foreshocks”.  YIKES!!!!  I sure hope all the structures around here hold.  We have been having numerous little quakes in the past week.  They were mildly entertaining as I’d be sitting in a meeting and we’d say, “look, the projector screen is shaking — that must be an earthquake,” and we’d all chuckle.

Friday night was no laughing matter in my eyes.  More details here.  Fingers crossed for us!

I had to get up at the unGodly hour of 5:30am today, and am currently at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport awaiting my flight to Seattle.  I’m headed up for three days of marathon meetings.  Aren’t you envious?!

The Mammoth trip went well, despite JB getting sick the day we departed for the mountain.  Little Miss had a blast hanging out with her grandparents this weekend.  It was hard coming back on Sunday only to leave her again on Tuesday.  When I told her yesterday I was going to get on an airplane, she said, “no, Mommy, no airplane”.

I’ll post pics from our trip soon.  Flight is boarding.  Ciao!

I’ve been thinking all day about what April Fools post I could do, but I just don’t have the energy right now.  I seriously thought about posting that I was done blogging and shutting down this place as my joke, but then thought my 10 readers might take it seriously and never come back again.

So anyway, I’m very sleepy lately.  I think it’s because we tend to jam pack so much into the weekends that by the time Monday morning rolls around, I’m just pooped.  On Saturday, I took Little Miss to the pool, which she still loves, but is wanting to spend most of her time in the hot tub (time which I make her earn).  I do find that the hot tub helps extend our water time when she starts to get cold. 

Anyway, that afternoon, we took out my bike for our maiden voyage with a child seat behind my seat.  The fit is really tight on my bike, meaning I have to put my feet really far up on the pedals and her poor face is right behind my derriere.  I had visions of us riding to the park, pool and store this summer, but with the tight fit, and how off centered I felt, we may resort to rides around the neighborhood and on flat bike paths.  Being that we live in the foothills, rides to the park, pool and store require a pretty steep climb that with my funky position on the pedals and not really being able to stand up and pedal, that could be a challenge.

On Sunday, we met up with my brother and his family at Kirkwood for some skiing.  My sister-in-law offered to watch Little Miss so that JB and I got a chance to ski together for a few hours — for the first time since January.  It was quite a treat, despite the conditions being cold and icy.  Because a crappy day of skiing beats a good day at work anytime.

We also picked up our latest purchase from my brother — a 1995 pop-up camper complete with teal and pink curtains.  Rockin’!  I’m so excited to start camping more this summer, as tent camping and a toddler just didn’t mix well last year. 

So that’s all I have to report.  The in-laws are coming in this weekend and JB and I are sneaking off for a quick ski weekend at Mammoth.  The weather forecast is looking good for some nice slushy ego snow.  I look forward to the time away with the hubs, but know it will be a hell of a workout, as keeping up with him has become quite the challenge.

Just wanted to offer out a virtual pat on the back to my NMSU Aggies, who gave the smack-down to University of Nevada, Reno (I LOVE it when that happens), and made it into triple over time against Boise State for the WAC Tournament title.  Take it from me, that is an amazing performance for my alma mater!

I totally thought I could type a lot faster than this.  Thanks to Web-Goddess for the link.  Go try yourself and let me know your score!  I type 78 words per minute…  And lovely WordPress isn’t letting the pretty graphic post for some reason…

78 words

Speedtest

What a good weekend.  I write this with a belly full of steak, a nice wine buzz, and the glow from spending a half day out on the sunny ski slopes of Mt. Rose.  The weather here this weekend was just perfect, inviting us out doors to relish in it. 

Skiing today was so much fun.  I ended up finding a ski buddy in a tourist that was visiting from New York City (JB and I were switching off skiing and spending time with Little Miss).  Anyway, my ski buddy had remarkable skillz for a New Yawker (lived near Whistler for years, explaining this conundrum), and we were both out on the slopes without our spouses, so the company was welcome.  The Chutes were just awesome today.

Little Miss and I went to the pool again yesterday, and she is progressing at a remarkable speed.  I am salavating at how much fun we’ll have at the outdoor pool and lakes this summer.

Off to enjoy the rest of my wine buzz…  And I just want to say I’d like to extend one big virtual hug to whomever decided to move the time change forward 3 weeks.  I love the new time, and am thrilled that I’ll have sunlight after I get off work so that Little Miss and I can now go on walks and trips to the park in the evenings.

 Ciao!

I can’t tell you how sad I am about Brianna Denison, the 19 year old that disappeared off a friend’s couch one night a month ago, and whose body was found this past weekend.  She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death.  They found her in a field behind JB’s office; a field that I drive by every day.

I stopped by that field yesterday, which has been turned into a memorial, to pay my respects.  This whole case is disturbing.  There are posters, fliers and bumper stickers about her all around town, all saying “Bring Bri Home”.  The poster that was by the memorial had been changed to say, “Bring Bri Justice”. 

She was a beautiful girl that seemed to be warm and very loved.  The whole community feels a sense of loss now, and it is haunting to know that her killer is still out there, on the loose.  I think back to my college days, and how many times I crashed on someone’s couch without thinking a thing about it.  Or how many times we probably left a door unlocked and nothing ever happened.  I could walk around our campus alone at night and never feel afraid.  I felt so safe at college.  And now, with all of the school shootings and incidents like this, I cringe to think what college life has and will become.  Will colleges need to start having security at the level of airports?  Will my daughter have to pass through a metal detector and have her bags x-rayed on her way to class each day?

The fact that Brianna’s body was dumped in an area I frequent almost every day is also disconcerting.  On my drive home yesterday, all I could think was that the killer probably drove that very same road after he dumped her body.  They say the killer has strong local ties and that they believe he is still in the area. 

The local paper has an entire web section dedicated to Brianna’s case.  Let’s hope that law enforcement finds this guy and he gets the punishment he deserves.  My thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends, as even though I didn’t know her, I too feel her loss.

I’ve been home sick this week.  I enjoy working from home, but this week, I have felt the looming deadline of getting Christmas decorations up in our house.  I was having an especially ba-humbug moment today when I contemplated not decorating and ditching my company Christmas party so that I didn’t have to go out and buy a dress.

But then I knew that I wanted to decorate so that Little Miss could start experiencing Christmas in our house, and I also knew that I would regret not going to the company party.  So, I went out and bought a dress and some fancy stiletto shoes (let’s see if I can walk in them for the whole night), and spent tonight decorating.  I still have the huge project of the tree to tackle, but at least it’s starting to look like Christmas around here, even if it’s warm and rainy outside!

I’m making a mental note not to get bogged down by the massive to-do list that comes with the holiday and to savor the moments that make it special.

About 10 minutes before I was scheduled to do a presentation to my peers, I was informed that my boss’s boss’s boss’s boss (i.e. 4 management levels up) would be attending.  EXCUSE ME?!

Internal panic ensued.  I ranted to myself about how I would have created the presentation much differently if I had known this big wig would be attending, regretted my wardrobe choice, and then frantically reviewed my slides.  Thankfully it went smoothly.  Crisis averted, but man, was that an adrenaline rush!

I have so much to be thankful for, but no time to list it all in a thoughtful manner.  So I’ll just say that superficially, I am so glad that Thanksgiving will include a quiet affair with just my in-laws and going to a nice restaurant.  I hear all my co-workers talking about 20+ family members coming to dinner and cooking multiple turkeys, and can’t help but think that my day will be so much more relaxing!  And now I turn off my computer, and hope to keep it off until Sunday.  Adieu!