Happy Tofurkey

Ah finally, a chance (and some energy) to blog! This weekend has passed by in a flurry of activity. I'll do my best to recap:

On Wed, my mom drove down from LA, bringing with her a VitaMix blender and a variety of fruits to liquefy. We puttered around that afternoon before heading out to Henry's to gather some missing ingredients for our Thanksgiving potluck. That night, Kristen brought baby Sophie over to visit and my mom lulled her to sleep in what Ryan called a "Taiwanese sleeper hold".


On Thursday, Ryan and I woke up at the crack of dawn to run in the PureFitness 10K Run for the Hungry. The race was held downtown by Petco park so we parked at Kevin's and the three of us jogged over to the start of the race. While waiting for Kevin to register, we found Sophie and Bryan and the kids, but got separated again when they went in search of restrooms. This was Ryan's first race (and actually the first time he's ever run 10K distance) so he was surprised to see so many people. We started out pretty fast but slowly scaled backed to a comfortable pace. The course was relatively flat with a gradual uphill at parts, but nothing too painful. At mile 3 it started to drizzle which was nice since it kept us cool but as we approached the last mile, it really started to rain. At that point we saw Sophie in the distance and caught up to her and the three of us sprinted for the finish, soaked but happy to have ran the entire race. My Garmin reported that we ran 6.27 miles at an average pace of 9:37 min/mile. Whoo hoo!

After the race, we met up with Kevin who had finished already and was waiting for our victorious return. As the three of us walked back to the car, we were caught in a torrential downpour so we decided to take a quick dip in the jacuzzi before heading back home. Once I was showered and clean, I began to frantically cook the four dishes I had planned for the potluck: mac n cheese, stuffing, sauteed chards with cranberries, and tofu bites (a recipe Kristen got from her friend). Luckily my mom was quick to pick up the messy pots and clean them so the kitchen wasn't a disaster when I was done. Kim brought salad and wine, Kristen brought two pumpkin pies and champagne, and Ron and Laura brought a tofurkey, roasted potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin cheesecake. Everything was delicious and I was completely stuffed at the end of the meal.






In addition to the pumpkin desserts, Laura surprised everyone with a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake in celebration of the November birthdays (mine and baby Sophie's). I love ice cream cakes!! Sadly, there was about half a cake left after the meal and today there's only about a sliver left. I swear wedding diet will be on lock down once we pass the two week mark...which is tomorrow eep!



Friday was spent recouping, hanging out with the ma, and making wedding programs. On Saturday, my mom drove back to LA and I went to my yoga class at 11:30. After the race and no stretching (other than my stomach), yoga kicked my butt. I was so tired afterwards but in a good way. That afternoon, Ryan and I headed over to Sophie and Bryan's for a jam session. Ryan set up his drums in their garage while Bryan played the guitar. Sophie and I wandered aimlessly around, sometimes listening to the boys, sometimes knitting (her) and putting together programs (me), and sometimes playing flute (her) and playing piano (me). It was lots of fun and is totally motivating me to practice piano and guitar again. Afterwards, we met up with Kevin, Leslie, Kim, and Kim's friends downtown for thai food at Rama. The service was slow but the food was as tasty as ever.

Now it's Sunday and I'm about to start cleaning and preparing for the week. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to practice some guitar later and of course work on the programs. When the sun goes down a bit, I'll head out for my dreaded 8 mile run. I definitely need it after this weekend!