happy birthday!!

Luke and I had a great trip to LA. Stayed with C&J in LA. I haven't seen C. since last April. It was great seeing them. We went to Hide Sushi a Japanese restaurant on Sawtelle Blvd on Saturday night. Then Luke and I want to BCD Tofu House on Sunday night. We had a lot of yummy food in LA. Here's picture of the Soon Tofu. It tastes much better than it looks.

pan chan

LA bound

Yet another trip! It's a short one. Luke and I are heading down to LA for the weekend. We are staying with a friend of mine. Luke is turning 35 on Monday, so for his birthday we are LA Dodger's game bound:). It was a surprise trip for Luke, but I think he was "sharp" enough to figure it out before I told him last night. We are leaving tonight after I volunteer at the Y.

It got really cold yesterday. I'm looking forward to warm weather again:). Luke prefers the cold and fog. I prefer Teva weather.

dinner party :(

So my dinner was a bit of a flop in terms of the edibility of the food. It was semi-edible, but I could definitely improve.
honey ginger chicken was way overcooked, it was like eating really tough rubber
salmon, the flavor didn't really soak in
blueberry cobbler, the dough was still raw
the beans actually turned out okay
the best thing was the Canada Dry ginger ale for a hot summer evening

oh well, more practice.

We want to a Red Sox game last night. The final score was 13-5. It was pretty intense game. I forgot which inning, but I thought the A's was going to come back, it was 6-5 at one point. But they didn't:). Whew!

dinner party

I'm having friends over tonight. I hardly ever cook, but I do enjoy cooking. I made the chicken marinade last night. Today I'll go get the chicken and fish. I think the beans will take the longest since I'll have peel each bean. I'll be using the oven quite a lot, probably not the best idea since it's been really hot in the Bay Area. Global warming! Also I have to go to the eye doctor again. My eye is getting much better.

My menu will be:
honey ginger chicken
alder-plank salmon in asian marinade (minus the alder plank, I don't have one)
garlicky beans (oven-roasted)
rice (bought, since our rice-cooker doesn't cook enough rice)
blueberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream

ginger ale
lemon-lime seltzer water
water

itadakimus (same as bon appetite)

Carneros Wine Country Half-Marathon and goals

net time 2:29:32, pathetic, I just couldn't get my legs to go any faster; track workout soon!

Goals: I was listening Star 101.3, the John Tesh radio show, Intelligence for Your Life. I listen to it pretty regularly since I like 80's music, but I am not ashamed to say I like to listen to his show. The other night, John Tesh quoted some tips from Jack Canfield(the chicken soup guy). Jack Canfield said to write down your goal, writing them done helps you stay committed to them. So, here goes with my list of goals, not in any particular order:

1. qualify for the Boston Marathon


2. cook at least 3 meals a week


3. visit All God's Children home in Zimbabwe


4. clean out my garage (by end of summer)


5. clean out my room (never ending task :()


6. read the Bible once a day or at least once a week


7. run 1 marathon per year


8. visit Prague


9. visit Eastern Europe


10. visit Russia


11. learn to swim better


12. get a MA in Early childhood education


13. open up a family day care


14. visit India, basically travel, love to travel:)


15. learn to drive a stick shift


16. learn not to sweat the small stuff, which I do everyday:(, I'm way too uptight, Luke can testify to that


17. learn to laugh at self

that's all for now

bloody eye

On Tuesday, July 18, while I was putting on my MAC eyeshadow, I got some in my eye. I dabbed it out with my finger, which was not a smart idea. I was fine all day. Then around 8pm, Luke noticed my eye was blood shot red. I also noticed I had a bit of throbbing pain around my left eye. I got up on Wed morning and it didn't get any better, so I went to the optometrist. The optometrist said I probably punctured my eye b/c there's a bit of blood around my eye. I got some topical antibiotics, which cost $90 for 5mL. Thank goodness I have insurance. Here are some pictures of my left eye. It's pretty nasty, but I like to document my injuries:)

close up shot:

next race again

To clarify my earlier post, meant my next marathon race:). I can't say I'm addicted to running. I need races to keep me motivated. If I don't have another race signed up, I'll probably be sitting around watching Korean soap operas:). Yes, I'm a Korean soap opera fan. My favorite part of training is tapering. Training sucks, but crossing the finish line for any length race is amazing! So I can't say I'm a die hard runner, but I do plan on running and racing until my legs fall off.

I have a race coming up this Sunday(7/16). It's a half-marathon. I feel ready for it. My old injury was bothering me again last week, but I rolled on the good 'ole foam roller and tennis balls and I feel much better now. The race is from Napa to Sonoma. It'll be hot, but scenic. I don't think I'll do another marathon this year, I plan on focusing on halfs.

7/16 Run Carneros
10/8 San Jose Rock n Roll Half
11/5 US Half

Hmm...I might have to rethink this. It's about $60 per race, costly.

next race

Trying to decide what my next race will be. A colleague of mine just got back from Montreal. That gave me a thought to run in Canada somewhere. Montreal marathon did not get good reviews, so am thinking between Ottawa or Vancouver. Here are my pros and cons:

Vancouver
+
*will be supported by my runninng club, since it's on the same day as Ave of the Giants
*cheaper
*might be able to stay with a friend
*one of Luke's favorite cities

-
*been to Vancouver quite a few times, want to visit a different city
*might need to take extra vacation days

****************************************************************************
Ottawa
+
*new city, 2 - 2.5 hrs from Montreal
*on Sunday before Memorial Day weekend, so don't have to take as many days off
*race got good reviews

-
*plane ticket more expensive than Vancouver most likely
*negative, mostly money factor

post-4th of July

I spent 4th of July with Luke and Luke's parents. I had a grand tour of where Luke grew up, his home, elementary school, and high school. Then I got to see his childhood photos. You can definitely tell Luke grew up in the 70's, the long, feathered back Sean Cassidy hair:). Maybe one day he'll see my childhood photos. Of course, we weren't as stylish:).

I finally went through all my Alaska photos and captioned them accordingly. I had 3G worth of photos to go through. In this case more is better:), but I have to say I'm sick of looking at sea otters, caribous, dall sheep, and mosquito netting.

my running shoes

These are my running shoes. They are ugly as heck. You can't tell how ugly they are from the plan view. Maybe I'll take a picture of them from the side. They look like space shoes. After 2 marathons, I decided they have been put through good use, so I bought a new pair.

New Balance 1010. I'm a severe pronator. The guy at La Foot, the running shoe store, I buy from said I have highly mobile feet. My feet are as flat as they can get, no arch whatsoever. He also said I still have some life in my old shoes. Bummer, I was hoping to recycle them. I'll try to alternate my shoes then. Can't wait to tryout my new shoes. They look so much better, looks are important, eh?;)