"Girl you gonna show the world that something good can work"

Good grief. Yesterday was a great day, but it was also the worst. I was so convinced it was Thursday. I really committed to it. I was convinced all my favorite shows were coming on, I told Ed how excited I was for The Office and Parks and Recreation and how excited I was that tomorrow was the weekend. And worst of all, I did my workout like it was Thursday. Meaning, I was anticipating a day off. Monday and Friday I weight train and don't run. So I try to really push hard the day before those days off, knowing I'll have time to recover. Damn you fake Thursday!! My legs are killing me today and I still have to run. On the bright side, my running is going amazing. I was having some real problems with all the attachments in my right leg the past week, but that seems to have passed with a bunch of babying. I'm up to 24 minutes, non-stop, 3k. I actually hit the 3k mark yesterday and I did a little celebratory dance and fist pump while on the treadmill. I'm sure I looked ridiculous but you have to understand. I've never run so far or so long IN MY LIFE. I'm not one of those people that once could do this and am doing it again. This is brand new and amazing. And I'm super proud of myself and most of all, super grateful for Ed pushing me to do this. :)

Mom also said something interesting the other day, that weddings are the biggest motivators to lose weight and usually the most successful motivators. I cannot stress how LITTLE I think about the wedding. I actively avoid thinking about this wedding in hopes that some kind fairy godmother will step in and do everything for me and I can just show up and be all cute and surprised:

 'Wow! You did all this for little 'ole me?! I had no idea! You all are the sweetest!' 

Alas. I do not think this will happen. (...still hoping.) The thing that's really motivating me? The race. The idea that I am faced with an immutable task in May, that I have always wanted to be able to do, gets me running every time. 

So let's see what else can I fill you in on... Oh yes, I turned 26! :) Time flies by. It was a fantastic birthday, filled with unbelievably delicious meals, fun activities and even a couple free food items and drinks. And I even got carded! What more can a girl ask for? Ed was truly amazing. He even ordered the exact cake I wanted, Prinsesstårta (with orchids on it)!  We spent Saturday in Sonoma, wine tasting and eating at our favorite places and then went to a member's club party at Jacuzzi Winery. We went to Tyler Florence's restaurant downtown, Wayfare Tavern for dinner (having to battle the Chinese New Year parade, we even got stuck behind the floats!) And on the day of my birthday? We relaxed. I got to take a nap (my favorite thing ever), we had pho for lunch and for dinner went to a wonderful Italian restaurant in Palo Alto. It was just the greatest weekend. And my big surprise birthday present?? An ice cream maker!!! (also my favoritest thing ever) It was all perfect. :) 

Valentine's Day was likewise, perfect. We actually ended up staying in and having a lovely homemade meal and champagne. Ed brought me the most beautiful roses. And surprised me with the Voltaggio brother's cookbook! It's so far beyond our skill level, but hands down the most interesting cookbook we own now.

I know I've been terribly lax about writing here... . We've just had lots of activities involving food (We went to our first Michelin star restaurant last night! - the most interesting and creative dinner I've ever had - sorry Volt!) and exercise (training, training, training) and there's only so much people can read when it comes to those topics. Gets boring reeeeeal quick. Though... I've had a suggestion that I take on a challenge like Julie & Julia and work my way through a list of something. The list being the INSANE number of classes offered at the YMCA. If I can get myself to the first of these classes, I may endeavor to attack the list... we'll see. So I apologize in advance for possible overload of information about exercising! 

There should be many more exciting things to talk about coming... a wilderness survival class, another beekeeping class, trip to Monterrey, possible trip to a popular island with mai tai's? :) and some of my and Ed's best friends are coming to visit in March and my sister may come to see them too so that could be fodder for some great activities. I'm really looking forward to seeing friends from home and showing them around our nice little life here. 

"I'm an extraordinary machine"

Ok I'm gonna brag. And I'll admit I give people grief (silently and in my own head of course) when they brag. I don't care how much weight you've lost (I actually do and I'm jealous) or how far you can run (once again, jealous) or how much you enjoy your work out (super envious on that point). So it's been really odd for me to be on the other side of that for once. I'll be damned if I turn into one of those people who only talks about their exercises but I just HAD to come on here and tell the world that I am OFFICIALLY a runner! Like I mentioned last entry, my family and I have signed up for Bay to Breakers (this is so NSFW for the love of God, but you should absolutely do a google image search for Bay to Breakers if you're at home). So I've been training and following a plan Ed made up for me. You must understand, when I've 'run' in the past, it went something like this: walk for five minutes, and then run one minute and then walk one minute for about 30-40 minutes. This is not an ideal way to run a race. I don't know what got into me, but when Ed gave me my assignment, I said okay. And proceeded to run for 20+ minutes a day straight. No break. No slowing down. I've dreamed about running like this for so long...

The sheer freedom of lacing up your sneakers and just going somewhere from your own strength and determination... it's exhilarating! (Anyone else think of that ad they pitched in What Women Want? Mel Gibson will forever be associated with peaceful women's running) It's also appealing in that it's just one long meditation. An extended assignment in focus and clarity of thought. In her new book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Mindy Kaling (from The Office) talks about using elaborate revenge fantasies to get her through exercises. Turns out I like envisioning scenes from musicals, tv shows and books in great detail. If I start thinking about the fact that I'm working out or traveling or any thought at all about my actions I immediately start to feel exhausted and weak. So I just keep on trucking. I'm also kind of a baby in terms of working out without music... It's just so alien and barbaric that one would workout without any kind of distraction... But I've been doing that too. As much as I enjoy my scenes in my head, I've started testing out just being quiet and running. And that's not been awful either!

Ok that's enough exercise talk. I just wanted to tell the world how ecstatic I am to run finally. It's like learning how to do a cartwheel or something! (I have no idea how to do a cartwheel but since I've always wanted to do one and they look like so much fun, I imagine it's the best feeling in the world)

In other news, I'm plugging away at my reading challenge. The whole Game of Thrones series really slows me down, but I love it. I'll probably love it more when the show comes on again. I also picked up another book that really got me, Discovery of Witches, which is a trilogy, and has all that lovely romance and vampire-witch relations that I can never get enough of. I'm truly a sucker for vampires at the end of the day.

And! I've officially tried my hand at canning. It wasn't as hard or complicated as I thought. It WAS as messy as I was worried it would be. I have yet to taste my strawberry jam, but fingers crossed it's delicious. It's hard not to be delicious with bright berries and a metric ton of sugar added. 

Strawberry Jam! Hopefully edible...

Enjoying the day in Mountain View

I feel as if maybe in the first few months out here, I really kind of stalled. I just was dragging my feet and refusing to tackle all these dreams I had... maybe for fear of failure or because I was still bummed about moving? I still very dearly miss MD, my friends and family. But... I believe I'm finally seeing this as home? At least as in, this is Ed and I's space here. Our little corner of the world where we can and play with crazy cats and make potato bins (yeah, I'll post about that craziness next time), and I can address things I've always wanted to do, or just do better. It's a nice feeling :)

Cabernet flight at Savvy Cellars

Also one last little programming note - today is my stepmom's bday, and she and Dad are in Hawaii. I would like to express my happy birthday wishes to her along with a heaping dose of jealousy that we are not in Hawaii as well, snorkeling with dolphins, turtles and who knows what else :) Happy Birthday Debbie!

Brunch at Louis'