Monthly Archives: November 2011

The Liebster Blog Award

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I was quite touched to hear that my friend Jen, of poor scientist. will blog for food., had nominated my happy little blog for the Liebster Blog award!  To quote Jen, “it’s basically like a blog chain letter, only much cooler. The idea is to spread the love from one small blog (i.e., less than 200 followers) to other small blogs, in order to build community, readership, and karma. The origins are hard to track down, but “liebster” in German means “dearest,” so I guess the idea is to spread the word about the blogs near and dear to your heart.”

Isn’t that awesome?!?!?!  Thank you, Jen, and thank you for reading! Continue reading →

Today’s Reason: Thankfulness

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Feeling somewhat recovered from the gluttony that is Thanksgiving, I can finally sit back and consider all the blessings that surround me- and what a great feeling that is!  Rather than feeling full of food, I feel full of love, happiness, and optimism for the impending new year.  (Usually, I’m not quite so sappy but we had such a great Thanksgiving that I just can’t help it!)

Foremost, I am thankful for my amazing family- these are the people that I love unconditionally and give meaning to my life.  My husband, my children, and my in-laws are the ones I know I can count on and vice versa.  In my life, family comes first and I am so lucky to be surrounded by so much love.

True Love is: my son, hubby, and daughter

Continue reading →

Oakland Marathon Training: Weeks 1 & 2

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circling coach, ready to RUN (photo credit: fellow TNTer Brandi)

And so it all begins again…

I had such a fulfilling experience training for and finally completing the Nike Women’s Marathon with Team in Training that I applied to become a mentor for the following season, and whadaya know, they were crazy enough to keep me around!  HOORAY! I currently have a group of 9 mentees and most, like me, are training for the Oakland Marathon while some are training for the Marathon in Rome. Continue reading →

Culinary Nirvana. Defined.

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This blog is not at all about restaurant reviews but I just have to share my birthday dinner experience last Wednesday at one of the most acclaimed restaurants here in California, The French Laundry.  So if you are a foodie, get a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and get comfortable as this will be my longest post since the marathon recap.  If you’re not a foodie, read this and you will be!

kneeling in gravel in the freezing cold and taking pictures of signs, that's how i roll

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Today’s Reason: Positivity

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my new mantra

I realize that my last three posts have been pretty negative- from post-marathon depression to half-marathon disaster to stomach flu.  So very sorry about that! Normally, I am a happy and positive person, I swear, but my recovery from the marathon has, obviously, been a bit of a struggle.  Nevertheless, when my alarm went off at 5:35am this morning, I happily bounded out of bed, threw on my running shoes and hit the road thinking, “It’s time to turn this all around.”

It felt great.  I feel great.  Running is great.  (Profound, I know.) Continue reading →

Meatless Monday (Stomach Flu Style)

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On Saturday night hubby made a feast of baby back ribs, baked beans, and coleslaw and I gobbled it on up, followed by I don’t know how many home made chocolate chips cookies from my BFF Andrea.  Sunday morning, I woke up and my tummy was definitely off. Figured I just over indulged and it would go away but by the afternoon, I had fever and chills, major abdominal cramping, a lot of fatigue, and felt like this:

just put me out of my misery, please

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Race Recap: US Half Marathon

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I’ve raced near, around, and under the Golden Gate Bridge several times but have always wanted to actually run across it, so when a friend offered up her bib for the US Half Marathon this past Sunday- I jumped at the chance to finally complete that goal.

Little did I know what lay ahead… Continue reading →