List #2 Places I Can Visit Over and Over Again

Now don't get me wrong, I love visiting new places. But there are some places I love to go back to again and again. And thanks to Michelle for pointing out the error with my list - where is Disney World, because we know I that I can (and have) visited there over and over!

1. London
2. Disney World
3. Rome (plus it is only a short distance from Florence which almost made the list)
4. Paris
5. Lisbon
6. Prague
7. Maui
8. Krakow
9. Cannon Beach

14 Days to Go!

Only 14 days until the half marathon! I have one more long training run before a weekend off in Houston. What have I learned on these long runs? That I need to take along some sort of fuel.

Something else I have learned - I really like short distances. I am enjoying the challenge of the longer distance and it has been good to push myself, but I will happily go back to 10Ks after this! :)

My last 2 long runs have been 11 miles and I have finished in about 2 hours and 30 minutes. Which means with the time limit of 3 hours and 30 minutes, I should have around an hour to complete 2.1 miles, a bathroom break or two, and maybe even a few picture stops along the way!

Now comes the hard part - what to wear in the race? It is a princess race so I wanted to do something a little princessy. I have a tiara I can wear, I also have a baseball hat that just says princess. Somehow I think the baseball hat is going to win out. I have a couple different options - several different combinations of pink and black. I'll probably take a couple and decide on race day.

ETA: I got the 14 days from the race website, but then realized technically it is more like 16 days to race day, but 14 days to check-in day. So it's 14 or 16 days to go, depending...

List #1 Gold Stars I Deserve or things that I'm good at

Mandi has taken up a great project of making lists (via Hula Seventy who is doing a weekly list). I love lists, I really do. While I don't know how ambitious my list-making will end up being, I am going to give it a try. Right now I have several lists started, but none of them are feeling complete to me but Mandi's list of gold stars gave me a great place to start! Plus I liked that we had a few in common!

1. Laughing. I can laugh at a lot of things (including myself). And I’ve been told I have a nice laugh. In fact I also have a laugh that carries across the office.


2. Observation / Details. I usually pick up on the little things. I am great at sitting back and observing a situation.


3. Packing. It probably comes from packing my suitcase so often! :) I can usually look at a space and look at what need to go in the space and figure out the best way to cram it all in, utilizing all of the space.


4. Traveling. Maybe this is why I do it so often – because I’m good at it! :) And I’m becoming more proficient at map reading as well.


5. Remembering. Maybe this plays into the details one above. It isn't only elephants who can remember! Although lately, my remembering skills have fallen a bit off, perhaps because there is too much clutter in my brain. But I'm usually the person who can remember meeting someone after one time. And when people say, oh you may not remember me, inside I'm thinking actually yes I do remember you.

And there you have my first list! What are some other ideas of lists for me to make?

32 Things Update

6. Try out a new recipe. Mmm, Italian Stuffing and Black Beans & Quinoa.

10. Make it through a hot yoga class doing all the postures. You have to love the hour classes! I made it through a power class and several hatha classes (all an hour), starting every position. At times I may not have lasted through the entire posture, but I at least attempted each one.

15. Run (emphasis on run) a 5K. To be perfectly candid, when I wrote this goal, I wasn't sure I would be able to do it. It's interesting to think back to when I was running one song, walking one song and now I ran a 5K!

30. Go for a hot air balloon ride. We’re going to change this one to Ride Tower of Terror, because really that should have been on the initial list. And I definitely can check it off! Once with Jana at WDW, and twice with Michelle at DL!!

Valentine's Day Dash

Today I ran in the Valentine's Day Dash along with 2,000+ other people. Notice anything about the verb in the previous sentence? That's right - there are no quotes around the word ran! Yay me! And just like that #15 on my 32 Things List is done.

I started off slow amongst the hordes of people. As I came up to the first mile marker, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it, but I kept plodding along. Once I hit the second mile marker I knew I was good. After all, I only had one mile to go! The last mile went by fairly fast, and then the last little bit to the finish line. Woohoo!

I finished in 37.23 - which is pretty good for me.

My feet after the race

Black Beans & Quinoa

One of my goals (it even made the 32 Things List), was to cook more. Slowly but surely I am trying out new recipes. And after hearing from several people the benefits of quinoa, what better recipe to try than one that involves quinoa? I found this fairly simple recipe and it turned out pretty good. I topped it off with a bit of sour cream and salsa. Yum!!


1 teaspoon vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

There are no more bananas today

So in my last five senses, I talked about how I was excited to be eating banana mango salsa at Cafe Mexico on Saturday. Guess what? They changed their menu and one of the the things they changed was the banana mango salsa. It is now mango salsa with jicama instead of bananas. It was not as good as the old salsa. Boo.

Five Senses Friday #15

Seeing:
* A beautiful rainbow, although that might have been last week that I saw it...

Hearing:
* The benefits of quinoa - I have now heard from several people that quinoa is good for women runners. Hm, might have to try out a new recipe.

Tasting:
* I will be tasting some sweet potato fries & banana mango salsa on Saturday! And I'm not even going to think about how many weight watcher points they are! :)

Feeling:
* Ice packs - wow, anything over 6 miles and it is time to break out the ice packs for my knees and lately, my lower back. Only 27 more days until race day!!
* Hungry - I re-signed up for weight watchers to kick this weight loss into gear. I had forgotten how hungry I can get the first week until I get used to it. And of course most of my conversations revolve around food.
* Sore arms - I really tried to work on my chattarongas (sp?) at hot yoga the other day and I am feeling that effort.

Smelling:
* Popcorn - it seems to be the snack of choice this week and since I sit near the kitchen I have been inundated with the buttery popcorn smell.