A little announcement!

It's been a quiet week, but I've got a little announcement (no. not pregnant!).

Plans are in the works for visits back to MD. We'll be in the area the week of May 20th bouncing around visiting family and friends. I'll also be making a quick visit to MD again early in June for Ck's baby stuffs. I'm pretty pumped to see everyone. Especially because it looks like we'll be extending our stay out here for a bit longer everyone.

They are thrilled!

I know, I know, the last time we all talked I said we would be back on the East Coast at the end of summer. and that was the plan. But some hard to turn down offers came up and now we're looking at another year or two out here. Everything is good and we're very excited. Clearly, Apple just doesn't want to let a good thing go - a sentiment I can fully understand. Just think, it gives you all another two years to come visit and enjoy the California life for a little while! And it gives me more time to try to convince Ed how convenient a visit to Hawaii would be from here... I kid, I kid... mostly. :)

Now, with that announcement out of the way, I can fill you in on the week. We've got ballroom dancing classes lined up again and just like before, I'm pretty excited. Fingers crossed it doesn't get canceled due to low enrollment again!

Training is going according to plan. I did 9 miles this past Sunday. Never in my life would I have imagined being able to run 9 miles. Of course I don't think it's running, I would say it's more like jogging. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Tirade time!

I have to remind myself of the above sentiment so often. There's nothing wrong with how fast I'm running. I go as fast as I can but that doesn't stop me or others from judging my pace as being 'embarrassingly slow.' No, no one has ever said that to my face, but friends and family have said that about themselves and when I read that on Facebook or Fitocracy it completely gets under my skin. They aren't just saying 'this was a bad run.' They say running an 11 or 12 min mile is bad and embarrassing. Those are verbatim the words they use.

Here's the thing. My average pace, on my really long runs, is an 11 to 11:30 mile. Other runs my miles are 10:30, some are 9:30, and I even eeked out a 9 min mile the other day. You may think that's really slow, you may laugh, but I'm working damn hard. My heart rate hovers around 180 the whole run, I can't talk during the run, and hey, you know, I've lost just about 15 pounds so far since I really got serious about running and dieting in February. I feel very proud of my progress. But I still get these bouts of intense shame about my pace. When I see someone say how embarrassing that time is, it makes me despair. I know it's not about me and it's each person's own battle. I just think it's one thing to say, hey, this was a really bad run for me, and another thing to say a certain pace is embarrassing or shameful. It's a really small thing, but you never know who is reading your words and taking inspiration or taking discouragement.

End of tirade!

On a lighter note (get it? get it?) check out my tan line from my running capris! Sexy right?

Easter was quiet and wonderful. Ed made the most delicious leg of lamb and we celebrated the end of Walking Dead and the start of Game of Thrones with two donuts from Psycho Donuts. We have a TON of leftovers and the one person in Ed's office who is always giving us leftovers (I was eager to reciprocate) is out of the office. Of course. Looks like all lamb dinners this week!

I finished two books, Requiem and May I Be Happy? which I both recommend if you enjoyed the Hunger Games series and Eat Pray Love respectively. 

 

I'm trying to rekindle my reading passion but I haven't found a book that really speaks to me since reading Where'd You Go Bernadette? I know I'll find something out there! I'm keeping my eyes open and dragging my feet through some other books in the meantime.

"Oh reckless abandon, like no one's watching you"

Such a fantastic weekend.

Lately Ed and I have been discussing our plans for leaving CA more and more, trying to work out the details, and in the process, trying to appreciate what we have out here more. We've made up a short list of things we want to experience before we go and this weekend we checked one off the list:

• Visit Tomales Bay and eat fresh oysters

I'd been there once before with Dad and Debbie and had an amazing time. Well, mostly. The ride home was pretty miserable because of a combination of eating waaaaaay too many large oysters and the curviest roads I have ever been on. Horrible. Never, ever, order large oysters. They are bigger than you can even imagine. Medium is plenty for fanatics and small is good for most. But other than getting in over my head tummy-space wise, that first visit was fantastic. The oysters were salty and delicious and it's just a beautiful area, muddy, beachy, hilly... It's hard to pinpoint what makes it so invigorating.

The weather really cooperated, so much so that we left with a bit of a sunburn. The sun was bright, there was a cool breeze and you could smell the eucalyptus trees all over. Add the smell of all the grills and - so, so many hot pots! - and the brine, it was heavenly.

Man these guys had a ton of meats on their grill, and I don't think they ever stopped grilling the whole time.

We made it through about 50 oysters, with maybe 20 of them cooked? We were surrounded mostly by families and hipster gatherings who looked to be around our age. The young crowd came stocked: Champagne, olives, clementines, cheeses, prosciutto, fancy olive oils and balsamics. We were not quite as thoroughly packed, but our Triscuts, hummus, hot sauces, and olives were just as good! I mean, we brought organic lemons from our upstairs neighbor so... boom! We can hipster it up too ya'll. Many of the families were grilling up tons of different meats and using hot pots and piling toppings on the oysters. Everything looked and smelled delicious.

We remembered gloves! I thought so many people were going to impale themselves...

Post-grill, pre-opening...

Post-grill and pre-gullet :)

Nothing beats raw and fresh!

View of the farm

Ed testing to see how far he can get before the mud eats him whole

There isn't much more to add other than we drove up, ate, drove home on the 1 along the coast and had an incredible day. It just really framed why we love being out here so much. It's hard being away from friends and family, but living in California is such a dream when we finally get out there and enjoy it.

Pull-off on the 1 on the way home, in Marin Headlands

Looking towards S.F. and home

This past weekend was also packed with movies: Ted, Pitch Perfect and Mama. None totally disappointed, and one left me with solid nightmares to haunt my middle of the night bathroom trips. If Ed wasn't here at night, I'd be living with all the lights on... probably all the time. Although the ending of Mama was terrible, everything up until the last 5 minutes made for a fantastically scary movie. I can't get enough of Guillermo del Toro. If I haven't recommended you all read his The Strain trilogy written with Chuck Hogan, then I will say it again - it's creepy as hell. Rumor is it might be a show on FX soon so read up now!

Speaking of reading I finished two more books:
Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli
I'll try to do a write up of these later, but for now I'll leave you with this: Where'd You Go Bernadette is on my top 10 favorite reads right now.

Everything else is going well. Running is... going. I'm trying to get my time down but it's really fighting me. At least I'm getting out and doing it regularly, that's all I can ask for, keeping up with my measly 11-13 miles per week. Ed's workin' away, poor guy didn't even get today off. Next weekend I have a dentist appointment and I'm getting my first crown. I am terrified. Terrified. The weekend after that brings us February! The best month ever. I'm really looking forward to my birthday this year... just feels like a big one. :) That's all for now folks!

S.F. within sight!

"The city is my church, it wraps me in the sparkling twilight"

Whoops, sorry for the delayed post! I've been a bit busy! This will be quite a long post so forgive me :)

Last week.... I visited Ck!!!!! It was so amazing. Ed joined us for the weekend but I stayed a couple extra days just to have girl time. We had the most ridiculous dinner out together at Animal, an incredible restaurant that leans to southern cooking. We had:

-Chicken Liver Toast (Ck's first time having liver, and she didn't hate it! I'm always a fan of liver, reminds me of my Omi)

-Marrow Bone, Chimichurri, Caramelized Onions (Ck's face was hilarious when she saw it was served from the bone. But she really liked this too. It was pretty good, the toppings were unbelievably flavorful. Probably my favorite marrow dish to date - still not in love Mr. Bourdain no matter what you say)

-Crispy Pig Head, Chow Chow, Sour Cream, Ginger-Scallion Vinaigrette (It's not what you're thinking, or what we were thinking, it's just a couple discs of fried pulled pig head meat. So different and good with all the components, especially the pickled vegetables of the Chow Chow)

-Beef Heart, Baba ganoush, lima bean, tomato, harissa (Ck really liked this. It was really fresh and herb-y, I thought mint maybe... surprised me. I told her she should now start cooking up the organs you get in whole roaster chickens. She did not seem to be as into that idea) :)

-BBQ Pork Belly Sandwiches, Slaw (SO GOOD. Of course this was irresistable because anything with any form of bacon on it is amazing. If we didn't have so much else to eat, I'm sure we eat could have cleaned a whole plate of these on our own. I've had some bad pork belly [at Againn in D.C. - I shudder at the thought of that tacky feeling, funky tasting dish I had years ago], but this refreshed my good opinion of pork belly. And as a temperate fan of slaw? I'll take that tangy bright topping from Animal any day of the week!)

-Poutine, Oxtail Gravy, Cheddar (Hoo, we got this as one of the last two dishes to come out and it was so rich and unctuous and impossible to eat at the end because we were just too full. It's the kind of delicious, naughty food you can imagine seeing on TV and thinking, I need to immediately leave the house and put this in my belly. Wish we had more room for this! By the way, if you don't know what poutine is, check this out for s&g's or this if you're looking for actual information)

-Braised Rabbit Legs, Green Beans, Mushrooms, Potato Puree, Mustard Jus (This was the most disappointing of the dishes. It looked beautiful. The green beans made it look like some architectural masterpiece. But taste wise? Just alright. Nothing mind blowing or unique here. If you like rabbit, you'll be pleased with it. But it was no where near all the other dishes, which were, as ridiculous as it sounds, other-worldly-good.)

-Tres Leches, Dulce de Leche (Picked on recommendation from just about everyone  including Michael Voltaggio of Ink., this cake was the perfect finish. Perfect amount, just as creamy and sweet as you want at the end of a massive meal. Lived up to every compliment)

All in all, such a great meal. They had these cute and kind of silly little glasses for beer and for their mint tea. The tea comes out in a french press which seemed appropriately hipster-y. Unfortunately I managed to break my french press and stab my foot with the falling glass. The waiter was very kind about it all. I didn't even realize it was falling glass (honestly, I didn't notice until the end of the meal when I tried to pour tea and it ran out everywhere through the broken glass. I thought someone had just dropped silverware on me!) Sorry about the press guys! Highly recommend this place. Be prepared to wait though, we were only able to get a 9:30 pm reservation, were told to come 15 mins early, and then had to wait until 9:50 pm under the heat lamp outside. Popular place - worth the wait.

On our own, Ed and I visited the Getty because he missed out on the family trip to check it out last year before Thanksgiving. We had a pretty good day and had a chance to see all the famous works and not get caught in too much traffic driving around.

Skyline

We hit up Matador Beach which was incredible. It looked like every California beach scene you've ever seen in the movies. I think I've mentioned it before, but you don't really notice it until you live in California - so many movies are so obviously filmed in California no matter where the plot claims they are... It's a struggle to find movies where they are outdoors and the trees actually look like east coast trees. It's hard to describe but once you've seen what the flora looks like out here, it's so very different than everything else on the east coast and middle America.

Ed's new home :)

We had brunch at Duke's which was awesome. Pretty much everything you could ever want: pancakes, poke, ceviche, waffles, sausages, chocolate strawberries, omelets, bagels and lox.... so much goodness.

After Ed left us we kept it pretty low key, went shopping (which was SO nice to do, I'm sure you can guess how enthusiastic Ed gets when I talk about clothes shopping...) and to Ed's relief we did not stroll into any Kate Spade or Ferragamo stores. Ck took me to her Salon and we got to play allllll day long. I don't know how she did it, she was on her feet for hours and hours. Started at 11 and finished at 6:30. I think the only thing we didn't do was strip my hair! (Fun fact, the longest I've been at a salon is 8 hours when I went in with long very dark brown hair and came out with very blonde, very short hair)

We did this smoothing treatment on my hair that Ck said changed her life and so far, I'm going to agree with her. I've never had such manageable hair. It reminds me of high school when the girls with great hair claimed that they just woke up and dried their hair without any fancy products or brushes. I remember thinking 'yeah right' at the time, but now? Man, having this treatment makes me think they weren't lying! Too bad I didn't have this back then. I told Ck I already think this is at the top of my birthday wishlist :) I think Kate from Ben & Kate is my current hair-spiration... not intentional but seems to be about right.

It was a really great visit and I'm sad it flew by so quick. I even made a new best friend with Ck's cat Creature. I love that little thing. It's so cute and weird and noisy, and that's pretty much love to me with animals. It even drools when it gets really happy. Such a special cat. There's also a hilarious video of me trying to babysit the dogs and creature and being tackled by all of them trying to get petted. It was a good visit!

Ck is home visiting Mom now for the holidays and she's under very serious instruction to somehow mail me back Omi's delicious dinner rolls. Those are my faaaavorite.

Poor Fonso was not interesting in joining the family picture :(

Creature! You drooly cute thing you!

Other than the visits, Ed and I have been preparing for the holidays and our mountain race coming up on the 8th. That should be interesting.... We did a long, steep hike this past weekend and my knee.... it was killing me on the downhill parts. Of course I forgot my brace and that is certainly never going to happen again. Either way, I'm determined to get back out there and do as much as I can. Below are some pictures from the hike.

South bay view from Los Gatos-ish

P.S. New Robbie Williams video, enjoy!