In Your Face El Zarape Burrito...

Six mile run completed. Thanks to Sophie for suffering beside me. And now it's time to eat this strange tofurkey sandwich Ryan made me for lunch...

Week So Far

Dinner on Monday was pretty healthy and tasty. I stir fried some chicken and veggies and made a corn and egg scramble. Tuesday dinner consisted of penne with this delicious pasta sauce we found at Henry's, called Mama Cocco's or something. I was surprised by how much I liked it, given how cheap it was (not to be snooty or anything). Tonight's dinner was the usual massive El Zarape burrito, which would have been fine except I ate about a third of a box (yes it's a big box) of TJ's oyster crackers before hand, effectively negating my double duty workout yesterday (run at lunch, yoga at night). Ugh, what a rollercoaster - you work out like a madwoman and then you pig out like a madwoman. Such is the life of an Obsessive. The Vegas trip has totally thrown off my workout schedule so I'm determined to hit the gym tomorrow and run 6, hear me SIX, miles. I'll do it so help me...

The rest of the week has been spent tinkering with my new computer. After transferring over my most important files (20GB of music still left untransferred), I was puzzled as to how I'd go about reinstalling all my programs. When I first got my old ThinkPad five years ago, I was able to get cd copies of Office, Photoshop, Illustrator, and others from friends or family. This time around, I decided to check out what the web had to offer in terms of pirated software. After some googling, a surprisingly number of tutorials showed up on YouTube. I was able to modify an xml config file to turn my trial version of Windows into a full version. I was also able to obtain Photoshop and Illustrator, two of the most important programs for my blogging and wedding diy projects. God bless hackers. Now that I have 4gb of memory, I've decided to revisit SimCity4 which has been gathering dust. I can't wait to see how the graphics look as compared to the haltering movement on my old 512mb memory machine.

Additionally, I noticed that a sequel to Diner Dash has come out called Cooking Dash. Amazing. I played the trial version which has been pretty fun but it's already locked me out. As soon as my credit card billing cycle rolls over next week, I'm going to buy the full version so I can play obsessively until I beat the game. Ryan remembers how I was with Diner Dash. So sad...so scary...

Daily Puppy

Here is a site dedicated to making my brain explode. Each day, it features a different adorable puppy. Is this for real??

Pooped

Where to start...

On Friday, Ryan and I left work early to drive to Las Vegas for the Obama Drive for Change campaign. We originally volunteered for next weekend (final push before the elections) but decided to go earlier since Ryan's aunt and cousins would be there this weekend. After a painful six hour drive, we arrived tired and famished. We hustled over to the Bellagio where aunt Kaye hooked us up with a free meal at the buffet. There I proceeded to eat 3 plates of food, some of my favorite items including kobe beef brisket, new england clam chowder, creamy polenta, rack of lamb, manicotti, mac and cheese, sweet potato hash, and creme brulee. We were literally close to hemorrhaging from fullness. By the time we finished eating, everyone else was ready for a Chinese dinner so we sat with them and just drank water and had good conversation. After the food coma wore off, we stopped by the chocolate shop and I got a bag of cognac truffles and a box of assorted truffles for us to take home - ps the cognac truffles were finished off tonight. Finally, we headed to the Westin and crashed for the night.

On Saturday, we woke up at 7:30, checked out of the hotel, and headed to the volunteer site. Apparently we're not allowed to blog about canvassing, probably because they don't want to publicize any strategy or whatever, but we were essentially going door to door. It was a very interesting experience, and a lot more tiring then I thought it would be (stupid hot Vegas weather). To our surprise, Obama was scheduled to speak at a local rally and we were given free tickets to attend. Unfortunately, by the time we finished all our doors and rushed over to the rally, we'd just missed his speech. Bummer. Again, we were famished, since it was 3:30 and we only had a nutrition bar for lunch, so we rushed back to the Bellagio and AGAIN ate at the buffet. Luckily we had learned our lesson and only ate two plates of food. Still so delicious. Afterwards we stopped at the chocolate shop AGAIN to get Ryan's parents a box of truffles and to pick up a sandwich for the ride home. Armed with a latte, we got in the car for the long drive home. I took the first shift and actually ended up driving the whole way. It only took four and a half hours since it was night time and there was no traffic. My butt was pretty numb by the time we got home and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Ryan woke up early for soccer today while I lounged around in bed until an indecent hour. I really did consider waking up for a 4 or 5 mile run but after the exhausting trip to Vegas, I figured I deserved a break. When Ryan got back, he was craving pizza so we dined at BJ's (not glamorous but hit the spot). I was pleasantly satisfied with their buffalo wings. Afterwards, we went to circuit city to get a new laptop since mine had suddenly stopped working - I realized this late last night when I got home. I ended up getting a lenovo at a pretty good price for the spec so I was very happy. Ryan upgraded his Blackberry to the latest model since he had some credit available. Stocked with gadgets, we went home like kids on Christmas day but didn't get a chance to play with our new toys since we had a couple's massage scheduled in the afternoon at the Estancia spa. The occasion was prompted by Ryan's recent sale of an old laptop on craigslist. We've both been exercising so much that we figured it was long over due. Boy, was it relaxing. We both had the knots wrestled out of our bodies. Afterwards, we hung out in the steam rooms, showered, and then headed to Henry's for some groceries. Back at home, we immediately began tinkering with our new toys and consuming massive amounts of chocolate. God damn you wedding diet!! I'll start it again tomorrow :)...

Is This a Joke...

It's the end of Oct and it was 88 degrees out today. I ran a painful 4 miles at the gym. So hot, so dry, so parched...Hopefully it'll be cooler tonight when I hit up my yoga class. I did repeat my wheel to standing transition at the gym so I know it wasn't just a fluke! Ok back to work.

Shaping Up

This weekend I hussled around trying to collect all the different flowers that will be used in the wedding. I wasn't able to find them all but I did gather green and white spider mums, orange circus roses, green button poms, white mini calla lilies, and a bunch of greenery. On Sunday, I brought a big bucket of flowers over to Sophie's where we had our last design session. We came up with a beautiful centerpiece arrangement, pictured here, and hashed out some cool ideas for the ceremony. I'm really getting excited now because everything seems to be coming together and I know the wedding decor will be gorgeous. Until then here's a pic of a bouquet Sophie made for me to take home (above), a small bouquet i made for myself with the gerbera daisies we didn't use (below), and some orange and greem poms (last).

FINALLY

Today, I had another yoga breakthrough. There I was doing, the usual rounds of Urdhva Dhanurasana (upward wheel) and on the fourth one I thought I'd try to come up to standing. Here's a video of a man that makes this transition look way too easy.



Now, I've always come very close to completing this but the fear of falling on my head has prevented me from seeing it to completion. Thus I usually wait for the teacher to give me a hand or walk close to the wall so I can give it a small shove for the forward momentum. Today though, I noticed the teacher was helping someone else so I figured, what the hell, just do it (as Sophie would say). So I rocked a few times, energized my legs, and pushed off, miraculously popping up to standing with little effort. That's it? That's what I've been afraid of all this time? I was so happy I did a fist pump in the middle of class.

Also, in yesterday's class (which left me ridiculously sore today), I was able to kick up into Pincha Mayurasana with much greater ease than ever (against the wall of course). It's very encouraging to have these breakthroughs in yoga. Makes me think I'll actually be able to do scorpion one day.

On top of class, I went to the gym at lunch and ran 4 miles at a steady 10min/mile pace. Nothing like double header to help you lose lots of water weight and give you the false pretense of actually losing real weight. Not that that's why I did it (well maybe a little hehe). I'm still trying to figure out my workout schedule to accommodate both running and yoga. I think I've figured something out and posted it on the right. I may end up shuffling things around but for sure I'll do yoga 4x a week and run at least 3x a week, which is what I'm doing now. Thank God tomorrow is a resting day.

Baby Happy

Yesterday, we attended Kristin's baby shower which was held at Ron and Laura's place downtown. It was a blogger/amateur photographer's dream - so many cute things to photograph! Laura is undeniably the queen of entertainment. The thoughtful details she adds are worthy of any top professional. Look out Martha Stewart!




In honor of Simon, Kristin's Irish husband, there was a "Kiss Me I'm Irish" frog...


And other cute animals aplenty...




And of course some beautiful flowers...


Including a beautiful bouquet from Grandma Bea...


Food was a plenty, including platters of sandwiches, wraps, fruit, cheese, salad, and eggrolls...








Laura even made a yummy tofu and spinach lasagna (who knew lasagna could be so healthy and fresh)...


And my favorite portion of the meal...DESSERT! There was a "Happy Baby" carrot cake and a "Baby Happy" chocolate cake. Of course I had a slice of both :)...





Last but not least, there were presents. Oh boy were there presents. It made me wish I was the one having the baby, at least until Simon pointed out that the presents would be for the baby not me...


Here's the future hubs...


An attempted artsy picture of Kim (sis)...


Ryan's ridiculously cute half Korean half Jewish niece...


Baby showerers...

Battle of the Bulge

The wedding diet has been nonexistent so to make up for it, I woke up at 9:30am and ran 4 miles. It started out cool and breezy, but as I went into the second half of my run, the sun came out in full force. Not only that, I should have worn some sun screen because I noticed a big fat tan line when I got home. Unacceptable! I can't have no sports bra tan showing up in my wedding pictures. I guess I'll have to start running under the cover of darkness. Either that or wake up earlier (ha!). Aside from being the worst morning person ever, I absolutely hate running without having eaten a full meal so the later option is out. Not sure how night time running will play in with the yoga schedule though...bah.

Speaking of yoga, I've been going 4x a week and I think I've had two small breakthroughs - first, I can finally kick up into a handstand on my own and can even balance without the wall for a seconds, and second, I can now kind of do a jump through after having practiced with blocks and doing so many goddamn vinyasas in my primary series class on Saturdays (that probably means nothing to you unless you do yoga and know how hard it is to do a freakin jump through). Anyway I'm nowhere near graceful when I do it but whatever, I'll rejoice in my small victory. Sadly, I can feel myself losing flexibility as I start running again. I hope I can find a good balance between the two.

In other wedding beautification news, I bought some Crest Whitening Strips. I haven't whitened my teeth in over a year and drinking coffee and tea everyday has not been kinda to my pearly whites. I've also been slathering on my Orlane moisturizer and my skin has been feel quite nice. Sorry this post has gotten quite girly. Time to go to TJ for some grocery and to gather more flowers for my floral design session with Sophie later. More to post on that. Also, tons of pictures coming soon from Kristen's baby shower yesterday!

Crack Foods

There are certain foods I'll never be able to resist, no matter how badly I want to avoid them.


1) Flaming Hot Cheetos

I've been known to give myself heartburn on numerous occasions with the overconsumption of this fiery treat. Once or twice I even ate an entire king sized bag in one go. Where is the crack hidden?? How are these legal?? Who thought it would be a good idea to stock the vending machines at work with these?? TELL ME!

2) Massive Burritos

Any large overstuffed burrito is a burrito I want to eat. Ryan and I have recently made Wednesdays burrito day. On his way home from his soccer game in El Cajon, Ryan makes a pit stop at our favorite burrito joint El Zarape in University Heights for some house chicken mole burritos (pictured here). Smothered in both their red and green sauce, these burritos are pure heaven. Sadly, I eat the whole thing even though it's large enough to feed a family of three. More recently we've also discovered a place downtown called La Puerta. Their burritos are incredibly delicious as well and their micheladas (called Barracudas at the bar) are so refreshing.


3) Anything with chocolate

Ok yes this is pretty broad but you knew this was coming. Chocolate chocolate chocolate, how I love thee. From decadent cakes to creamy ice creams, elegant truffles to a plain Hershey's bar, if it has chocolate I will eat it. And not only will I eat it, I will gorge myself on it. Ugly thought? Well, it's an ugly truth. A truth that Ryan is well aware of and yet he still brings home a 100 pack of chocolate candies from a recent work function. What the...

Challah Disaster

Monday was the day I finally baked some challah. Um can you say disaster? The recipe called for 8 cups of all purpose flour and I only had 4 cups left in the pantry. I did however have plenty of whole-wheat flour. Rather than running to the corner store to restock, I let laziness get the better of me. Boy did my results suffer. The bread looked beautiful coming out of the oven but it was as dense as Palin at a chess match. The texture was all wrong and it tasted overwhelmingly of wheat and yeast. We tried generously spreading strawberry jam over the bread to hide my failure but it was a futile effort. With a heavy heart, I threw both loaves away. One day, when I'm recovered from this traumatic experience, I will try baking challah again...one day...

Animal Friends

As soon as we live in a place that allows dogs (hopefully a place of our own), we plan to get a puppy. In fact, we might even get two puppies, just so they can romp around together. It's been so sweet watching Fred and Henry grow up together. Not to sound like the crazy cat lady that I am, but they really are my babies. No matter how bad a mood I'm in, I can't resist perking up a bit when there's a kitty curled up on my lap purring. As for the puppy, we definitely plan to get a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Ryan is more partial to the Cardigan type but I'm giving him free reign with the second puppy breed so we're even. We've considered a Great Dane since they're beautiful and have great personalities, but unfortunately they have short life spans and are prone to a lot of healthy problems. Until that fateful day when we add a new animal friend to the family, I will continue to obsess over adorable pictures of corgis - see below for an example.

Birthdays and Pies

On Saturday, the clan traveled up to LA to visit Grandma Ann for her birthday. Ryan, Kev (bro), and I drove while Ryan's parents and Kim (sis) took the train. The plan was to take Grandma and her overweight chihuahua Ronnie, named so after Ryan's dad, on a nice lunch outing. We walked quite a ways to our destination, the Farmer's Market, but the day was brisk and sunny and therefore perfect for an afternoon jaunt. I must mention that on the way we stopped at a Jewish deli for the world's best matzo ball. I'm no matzo ball expert but everyone agreed it was undeniably the best they'd ever eaten. The thought makes me drool right now...

At the market, I was a bit dazed by all the choices. There were food stands everywhere: funnel cake stands, greek food stands, bbq stands, philly cheese steak stands, the works. Being the predictable people that we are, Ryan, Kev, and I honed in on the mexican food stand like flies to honey. I got a veggie burrito, a side of fried plantains, and a horchata. The food didn't look particularly impressive but it tasted pretty darn good. Afterwards, Ryan's dad generously bought us a coconut cream pie to take home. Fyi, we've already eaten most of this pie as it's much too delicious to leave untouched for long. With our bellies full beyond belief, we strolled through the Grove, which is a pedestrian street packed with stores, and eventually found our way to a triplet of female singers performing old songs from the 40's. It's was lots of fun and I'm sure Grandma was touched to hear familiar songs from her yester years.



On our drive home, we stopped by South Coast Plaza to visit the Gucci store. A few months ago when Ryan and I were vacationing in Las Vegas, Ryan found a beautiful Gucci tuxedo jacket (for the wedding) on sale at Barney's. Unfortunately, there were no matching pants so he's been on the hunt since then. Sadly, the South Coast store did not have the pants either, but luckily we could get some custom made in the same exact fabric. Score! Now we just have to find a nice dress shirt for the wedding and our attire will be all squared away.

So I'm officially declaring the start of the wedding diet. I really should have started this a month ago, but I think two months is still enough time to work with. I plan to eat lots of fresh fruit and veggies and heavily cut down on the sweets (so difficult). My last binge was this afternoon when Ryan and I tried a new burger joint we found on citysearch. It's called Boomerangs and is out in the middle of nowhere Clairemont. The buffalo wings we ordered were overcooked but my house burger with bbq sauce was really delicious. Of course I had to get the sweet potato french fries which were like crack, and chase everything down with a pitcher of hefeweizen. After lunch, we decided to finally visit Henry's Marketplace and see what all the hubbub was all about. Boy were we pleasantly surprised! Not only was the food fresh and relatively cheap, there were so many organic and all natural options. It totally satiated our need for green. In addition to food, we got some bio-degradable shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. We also found some Fat Cat wine that we couldn't resist buying.

Running Update

Determined to build up some mileage (and yes partially irritated that the girl next to me was running SO fast and for SO long), I ended up running 5 miles at the gym yesterday. I felt pretty good until mile 4, but then for some foolhearty reason I decided to do some sprints. That definitely took the wind outta me. I barely made it to mile 5 before I lumbered off the treadmill to do some half assed stretching.

To motivate myself to run, I've signed up for the Komen 5K Race for a Cure. There were some posters floating around work about joining the company team so I thought it'd be a good opportunity to train while contributing to a cause. I've never ran as part of a team before. I envision us all wearing matching t-shirts, holding hands, and skipping in unison towards the finish. Hmmm. I hope my team members won't think poorly of me when I take off running like a mad woman. I haven't run a 5K race in forever so I'm definitely curious to see what my time would be.

Yesterday at lunchtime, Ryan and I went downtown to apply for a marriage license. I was slightly envious of the couples waiting for a civil ceremony. Imagine all the money they're saving, I thought to myself. But then again, I know our wedding will be very special and memorable. It was just momentary savings envy - most likely spurred on by this ailing economy. I hope things bottom out soon. My investment portfolio and 401K can't handle anymore punishment...

Second Debates

Yes, healthcare is a RIGHT for everyone. Go Obama!

Yes, we can all do a little more to reduce our energy consumption and play a role in saving the planet. Go Obama!

Yes, we all need to share an equal burden during this economic crisis. Go Obama!

As for you McCain, please stop calling me your friend...

Pampered But Sick

I woke up this morning with a horribly sore throat. Where did this come from?? Every swallow felt like broken glass. This put a big damper on my running and yoga plans, but I'm hoping with lots of fluids and sleep I'll be back at it tomorrow. Unfortunately, this also put a damper on my challah making plans. Looking forward to baking this week. In the meantime, Fred has been showing me a lot of TLC.

Perhaps my illness is retribution for my fun filled day yesterday. After an intense yoga class, we went to Fashion Valley where I had a free Orlane facial at Neiman Marcus. I was taken to a secret room where I was pampered like a wealthy older French woman (Orlane is a French skincare brand). For about an hour, many luxurious products were lathered on my face, neck, and hands, and at the end my skin felt like a million bucks. Unfortunately, nothing comes for free as I was subsequently guilted into buying a few products. Trickery! Afterwards, Ryan and I walked around and checked out the new Barney's Co-op that opened this weekend. I came close to buying a Vince top but was able to reel myself in with Ryan's help. I did confirm that my GoldSign jeans are a size too big by trying on the correct size in the store. Sigh. Lastly, we left the mall and stopped by DSW where I found a cute, very comfortable pair of Modern Vintage pumps at 50% off! Gotta love the clearance racks at DSW. Since it's one of the bigger locations, they frequently have great brands like Prada, Celine, and Marc by Marc Jacobs at sharp discounts. Be prepared to dig.

After shopping, we met up with Kevin and Leslie for dinner in Linda Vista. Leslie's Thai friend recommended a restaurant there as having delicious and authentic food. While I thought the food was spot on, I can't say the same for decor or ambience. The place was tiny with only four or five small tables. Definitely worthy of take out, but not of sit in dining. I ordered tom yum soup, a green curry with beef, and a thai iced tea. The tom yum was one of the best I've ever had!

On a side note, I'm on my company's new careers website. A few months ago, HR asked some of us to participate in a campaign to better brand the company to potential employees. They had a photographer and videographer come in to take photos and conduct interviews to be used on this website and elsewhere. As far as I know, they used clips of my interview on this site and on the presentation they will show to all new-hires. I'm also on the Marketing newsletter. Great. Not only did they put way too much makeup on me, but I look slightly sweaty. Welcome to Illumina.

Blessed Friday

Today was an incredibly slow day at work. Productivity was at a minimum while procrastination was at an all time high. Don't get me wrong, if I had any sort of interesting work to do, I would have done it. That just wasn't the case today. So instead, I indulged in an extra long lunch workout where I ran 4 miles and did some sporadic lifting. I suffered side cramps around mile 2 but was able to muster my way through them. That puts me at 7 miles this week so if I can just find the energy to do 3 miles this weekend in between yoga classes, then I'll be happy.

In the afternoon, I took every opportunity I could to strike up non-work related conversations. Luckily, everyone had an opinion on last night's VP debates so I was able to waste a good amount of time on that. Last night's debate was not as entertaining as I'd hoped it'd be. Unfortunately, Palin did not run offstage or break down and cry or even implode (so disappointed). Instead she successfully accomplished what she's been coached to do for weeks - she stuck to her main points (at times in blatant disregard for the moderator's question) and tried to endear herself to the Joe Shmoe's of the country. Almost every pundit agreed that Palin redeemed her image (after several laughable performances on televised interviews), implying that she'd done a good job. Wait a minute...if someone watched that debate without any prior knowledge of the candidates, he would have clearly identified Biden as the winner. He would have thought Palin gave very broad sweeping statements that were not back by any facts. He would have thought Palin's flippant demeanor was not befitting of any top office and he would have thought her whole performance was very scripted and staged. For the love of god, her strategy was so obvious from the beginning when her opening response involved asking what parents at a soccer game would think of the economic crisis. Lame. And how many freaking time is she use the word "maverick" and ridiculously referring to herself and McCain as a "team of mavericks"? Lame. Are there really no new tricks in the bag? Yes she came across much better than in her recent appearances. Yes she seemed believeable in a governer role. But hello, VP?? I think not. One word sums this woman up quite nicely: FLUFF.

On the other hand, I thought Biden gave an outstanding performance. Yes he too had a strategy. Don't pick on Palin directly and don't sound imposing or condescending. Luckily he stuck to the plan, although it's unfortunate that he had to hold back like that as I would have loved to see him rip into her. Too bad Hillary wasn't the VP candidate because then the Republicans couldn't play the sex card. But aside from that, I thought Biden was passionate, sincere, very knowledge, and most importantly presidential. There were two standout moments in my book - the first was when Biden countered Palin's "mom experience" by pointing out his own personal story as a single father, and second when he shot down the characterization of McCain as a "maverick". Great job Joe!