10

Ten...that's what we ran today. Ten miles were good today. Ten miles were hard today. Ten miles were fast today. Ten miles were the farthest I've run since the 26.2 that I did in October and for that I am ever so grateful and happy since this means I'm on the up and up mileage wise and I'm getting close to another race...although I could also argue being somewhat apprehensive about that race, but that's the way I feel before every race, so whatever to that. I haven't blogged much about my relationship with running, but it's one that I value greatly and feel so lucky to have. I started running to run, not just running around a yard or something, when I was 14, and I started running on a team about two years later. I ran cross country and track in high school but it wasn't until I started running cross country and track in college that I actually put effort into the running and got faster and more dedicated to it. Towards the end of my senior year in college and at the beginning of outdoor track season I started to really slow down and felt like I was running through pea soup. I was apparently a very anemic girl at that point and had to stop running which was "ok" by me since it had gotten so exhausting. It would be two more years until I started running again. When I was found to be so anemic and had to stop running, I was actually really ready for a break. I had been running steadily and heavily for several years and was a prime candidate for time off. However, my first two years of teaching kicked my boot-ay into the atmosphere and beyond so it wasn't until my third year after college that I felt ready to get back into running. Physically I was better and I finally wasn't comatose after school each day, so there I went. 
I've since done two half marathons and a full one as well as a handful of shorter distances, things I never felt like I could do in high school or college when races were super stressful. The marathon, in my eyes, is worthy of its own post, so be patient, fair reader(s[?]) but I can say now that I've really loved having the outlet of my daily (or maybe every other day!) run and the racing is just a bit of extra (sadistic?) fun. If I'm exhausted after school, I don't always make it out the door, but on the days that I do, I feel better and less tired than I would've imagined earlier that day. 

Anyway, this is so not well written and a bit rambling, but it's what I'm thinking; I love running...most of the time and whether I realize it or not. There; I said it.

Also, we had pizza for Ben's birthday last night and I took some pictures...yay! We made one batch of dough that didn't rise so well and cheated with some Trader Joe's ready made dough. 

Mike and the Birthday Boy pizza making…

All participating...

Gretchen

Cooking…

...cooked!

Everyone kind of pitched in and made his/her own pizza and there was salad and a Dairy Queen Reese's Blizzard cake...delish! Mike and I got Ben some sort of Nerf gun and the gift bags at Target were a bit too small so I grabbed a gift "sack" but failed to read the dimensions and when Mike opened it we realized that it was big enough to fit like two adult bikes, so we supplemented the gift with bunched up newspaper...Ben was pleased. 

The giant birthday bag…

We ended the night with sparklers and I quickly fell asleep when we got home.

We just finished dinner and I'm dreading tomorrow since I'm taking almost 60 kids on the light rail to Mountain View on a field trip and I get just so anxious about field trips. I breathe the biggest most dramatic sighs of relief when we get back to campus. Wish me well and enjoy the pictures from last night. Also, have a great start to the week!

A photogenic couple if I may say so myself ☺

 Yes...I take the majority of my pictures of animals...so what

Michael wasn't so thrilled with the cat

But I sure was!

One of the kids decided that Mike was chilled and needed a cover...he didn't resist.

Snow! I mean "Hail"!

This morning this is what I woke up to:

 
Our neighbor's roof aka the view from our bedroom window. The hail woke me up in the middle of the night but being as bat-blind as I am and considering the late hour, I just assumed it was intense rain and that the white spots on the roof were mere reflections of the water. Morning's light showed me otherwise!

 
 
 

While it wasn't technically snow, it sure looked like it! 

TGIF for sure, man. Last night I saw the school musical which was a production of Aida and was super great. I hadn't known the story and really liked the show. Some friends and I ate at Sweet Tomato's before hand and I thoroughly stuffed myself to the gills enjoyed the all-you-you-can-eat.

Not much else is happening. The next week is going to be killer. I'm taking kiddos on a field trip on Monday to an amazing organization (more to follow), going on a retreat with my homeroom on Wednesday, submitting my application to Santa Clara to FINALLY finish my credential and possibly finishing my taxes before Friday...whew! After that, though, comes the long awaited spring break and then May and then JUNE and then working on the wedding and then school begins and then WE GET MARRIED =)

I'm going into work tomorrow to help schedule the incoming class so I have a short weekend. Mike and I are making pizza with my cousins as a birthday celebration for cousin Ben, hopefully I'll get some good shots of that, and then we're doing our first double digit long run on Sunday in preparation for the Avenue of the Giants half marathon we're doing at the end of this month (yes, we are a tad behind on training...) and then Monday brings that busy week.

Anyway, as I said, this upcoming week's going to kick my booty so I'm going to make the most of this weekend and I hope that you do too y'all!

Green...what?

Beautiful green spring days, that's what. I'm lame because I failed to take a picture of the ethereal lighting that results from bright green leaves everywhere (thank you March and April rains!) paired against a gray sky in the late afternoon...delicious. I thought that I love June the most, and I really do think that I still do, but middle of March through May is oh-so-wonderful with it's abounding life after a winter of discontent. That's being a bit over dramatic, I admit, but you get what I'm saying: I love when we bounce back from winter, it's an amazing time of year. Amazing if you think that extreme amounts of grading is a fabulous thing, that is...alas, that is the plight of the teacher. Spring break comes late this year which is "OK" I guess if you think about how quickly summer will arrive after break but from the other end of the vay-cay, the end where it's hardly peaking over the horizon, it stinks. We've got a full week left before that time off and I'm so looking forward to the mountain of grading that I get to do putting aside work and taking some time for myself to read, cook, bake, run, blog, go to Carmel, maybe go to the Ferry Building market, sleep in...can you sense my desperate tone?

In all honesty, though, things are quite nice. The weather and day light savings time are in full swing as is wedding planning. I finally got pictures from the last two months uploaded to photobucket so I can post with pictures (when it's not late Wednesday night, though) and I'm trying to figure out neat ways of posting those pictures (lightbox help anyone??). That actually is my explanation for those past two "test" posts; I have kind of figured out how to do that thing where you click on the picture and it pops up and makes the background kind of gray-ed out and then a little "next" button appears to use (kind of like what facebook does), which is called "lighbox" like I mentioned, but it's not quite working for me. I'll tinker with it or figure out a better way or something.

Last week we had some excitement when a stray dog came to us and was our dog for like a day and a half and we named her "Dolly" and Guinness was even getting used to sharing his people, but out of responsibility I took her to the SPCA to be checked in and she was microchipped so she got to go back to her family which I'm sure was quite worried and happy to have their puppy back so all's well that ends well =)

My amazing grandmother is celebrating a birthday next week which I'm excited about; a good dinner is sure to be involved...and Bundt cake! We apparently love our cakes in this family. Mike celebrated his day two weeks ago and we ate ourselves silly at Henry's Hi-Life (we fell for the prime rib special...the 16 oz ones...each [it is supposed to disturb me that one can gain a pain, more or less, in one sitting, yes?]) and then enjoyed a key lime tart...yum!I gave the birthday boy this special watch which is gps enabled or some such thing. He used to have one that I usurped and loved to use because it tells you how fast you're running and your total distance, which is great for slightly type-A personalities like moi. Then I lost it. I left it on the hood of the car after a run at a local park so that I could stretch without it on my wrist and drove away and didn't realize it for like three days. Then someone stole it right off of my dainty little wrist and I could do nothing about it.

Moving backwards, we celebrated St. Paddy's day in our traditional style which is corned beef and veggies and this year I made Colcannon too which I was pretty excited about; thanks Martha!

   

 I've also been making soda bread for a few years now. There are two recipes I like (again, thanks Martha!); one is a bit sweet and the other is very wheat-y...but don't worry, BOTH are delish with butter!   



  
Anyway, this has been oodles of fun (staying up late for no reason at all when I have work tomorrow =) ) but I must retire for the night...be good y'all!

Test #2

Another test!

Testing

This is a test-post...just testing!



 

Identity Crisis...

There obviously have been some changes around here and probably there will be some more (I just don't love my header and I'm getting familiar with photo editing software {that is what it's called, right?} so hopefully I'll have a better one pdq). I just want this to be cute, y'all!! I've been enjoying my our wedding blog and how cute I think it is and it's been making me want a cute non-wedding blog. Anyway, I'll get to more real posts later this week.

Love to all!

:nioauerrrrhrefaresfa!

The title of this post adequately sums up my feelings on the following:

•        The business of work the past three weeks

•        The glorious, glorious advent of Spring! Trees are starting to be green and some even have lots of leaves and blossoms ♥

Grades were due two weeks ago and it felt like one thing after another came up at work. Things are still pretty intense, actually, but I think that’s just part of the territory of March during the school year. Our spring break looms ahead, not for several weeks, but it’s still coming up thankfully. 

We had quite a bit of fun back at the old corral the past three weeks also. Mardi gras was celebrated, we had our Irish-American dinner, I saw Maeve(!), we sent out Save the Dates (yay!) and planned a bit more of the wedding. Spirit week happened at work/school, which made dressing professionally this morning pleasantly mundane.

The running has been kind of hit or miss, mostly hit recently though, which is nice. After a long run a few weeks ago on the embarcadero in San Francisco we ran right past Nancy Pelosi, which was quite a thrill. That same day we drove to and hiked at the Marin Headlands which was beautiful. 

Some students had these awesome nails so I asked about them and I got ddirected to Tar-jhay for purchasing and I'm loooooving them, though M says that they’re merely another example of how I’m more like an adolescent girl than someone my age…oh well I don’t care they’re fun yay yay yay!

I’m on the couch watching Seinfeld and hoping that M will make me two grilled cheese sandwiches with cheddar and a bit of mustard smeared on the bread, though I have a sneaky suspicion I will have to make that sammy myself. Speaking of, tomorrow is the guy’s birthday (Happy Birthday Sweetie!) and I’m so excited to take him out to Henry’s Hi-Life for dinner, the very same place I celebrated my birthday 4 years ago and he surprised me at. 

This has been quite the stream of consciousness and that’s ok with me. I’m pretty tired from seeing Maeve last night since I'm old and am not used to going out with people and fun stuff like that and I'm enjoying some un-structured time. I’ll have some pictures up soon from those parties and hiking. My computer, sadly, is slowing down quite a bit these days and uploading and then importing to photobucket takes forever, something I’m not entirely up to right now.

Anyhoo, happy almost middle of the week!

 

Monday, Monday

Well all of that grading didn’t happen as I had planned, but plenty of other things did. I had a lovely time doing some cleaning and reorganizing in our room. The big thing that had been niggling me was my jewelry; it has always kind of languished here and there, in boxes, in piles, in boxes, and so not pretty and organized. I had been meaning to do something about it all and had kind of thought I would go the jewelry hanger option, where you buy something specifically made to hang my jewelry on, but I didn’t particularly love that idea. Instead, I went with the corkboard route. I used one that had been housing just a few random pictures and cards. I sifted through my various boxes and put pieces I don’t wear into my goodwill bag and arranged the rest on the board. Earrings I just pushed in and everything else is hanging on a pin. I love it! This way I can see everything I have and instead of wearing just the two or three things that I always do, I can rotate through things; yay!

On Saturday night we went to that polenta feed that I had mentioned. The food was yummy and my cousin Gretchen brought luck- she won two club level tickets to the SF Giants! On Sunday I did that cleaning/organizing and some laundry and lounged around, then ran 3 miles in the reinstatement of my fitness. I was going quite well from early February but kind of fell off the wagon with the crummy weather that arrived almost two weeks ago and yesterday was a good start. I followed up with 5 more today and though I wanted to go to yoga, still felt really good after the run.

I gave into these cookies from a coworker’s daughters and they arrived in my cubicle this morning to tease me! I left them at work for the night since I had planned on making sugar cookie-Nutella sandwiches and those plus Samoas, Thin Mints, Do-Si-Dos…oh my…would be just too much sweetness in one night; though is that possible?! I already made the dough and will probably just whip them up ASAP, so stay tuned for pictures of only the finished product.

Also, my dad and I ventured down the block to an estate sale where I picked up a lovely addition to my apron and vintage cookbook collections, pictures to follow soon. I’ve never been a person to have collections, but just as I write this I realize that these are two things that I’ve been collecting here and there in the past few years…those and old pyrex! Well, maybe I am more of a “coleccionsta” than I had thought!

Anyway, we’re gonna have a late dinner and I need to finish those cookies (the dough is chilling in the fridge) so bon nuit!

 

PS

Did y’all watch the academies last night? I am so not a fan of Anne Hathaway, which I’m sure is some sin or something, but oh well, I stand firm, but James Franco was dreamy! I’m so glad that “The King’s Speech” won Best Picture; it as such an uplifting and warm film and Colin Firth is cute-as-a-button. Happy Monday Night again!

Before the wipe-out

 
Ok, I found another video from last summer; not all readers (if there are any at all, that is ;)) can appreciate this but if you're tall and blond and from Nebraska, then this is for you!

 

Digging

Here’s something funny I came across from last summer…I hope the video works. We were hanging out in the back yard and we have this old bottom half of a wine barrel as a planter that had nothing in it. Guinness found something though! Please ignore my ugly voice and that bizarre clicking in the background(how is it that a teacher who blabs all day doesn't really like to hear her own voice?! My poor students!)...maybe just leave off the volume! Happy Saturday!

One more thing!

My dear Dad surprised me at work today, right before heading to my last class- I think it’s obvious how taken aback I was by the look on my face! It's a good thing he was ready for a picture so that I can remember. It’s so funny when two worlds (work + family) collide randomly. It was a nice break in the middle of my day; thanks Dad =)

Musings

This was my weekend last weekend and unfortunately it’s shaping up to be this weekend as well ;/ Oh well, such is the life of a teacher…

I’ve been keeping busy with grading piles like this one and trying to run (though not wanting to since it’s not sunny and beautiful out) and making lunch at night and laundry and dishes and some wedding planning and yeah, that might be it. I was thinking today about how nice it is to write out things at the end of the day and that I miss blogging so regularly but honestly, the school year and its schedule and flow just zap the life out of me; I can’t even imagine how people with kids do it!

M and I are on a plan to be ready for a half marathon in early May, but I’ve been quite naughty about giving into the warm couch after school instead of going out to run; and we live in the Bay Area- I obviously need to remember those cold Minnesota college days a bit more and realize that our weather ain’t no thang. The race is this and looks beautiful and fun. I think we’re going to do the Bay to Breakers later in May as well. I did it once in high school before I really liked running the way I do now and have wanted to do it for quite a while as a grown up. Plus, there are constantly rumors that it’s the last year and it’s getting too rowdy and etc. so I’d like to do it if there’s any truth to the rumors.

My grandmother is making bread pudding and there’s cinnamon in it so the whole house smells like Ikea (from their cinnamon buns) which reminds me that it’s been well over a year since my last visit and that it’s high time for another. M detests the Swedish superstore but my dear aunty loves it, so maybe in a few weeks we shall sojourn.

As it’s been alluded to, M and I are indeed tying the knot. It will happen in September and I’m getting more and more excited about the blessed day. I ordered the STDs (save-the-dates) yesterday and have actually had my dress since November. The months ahead will bring us quite a bit of planning, I fear, but this is a once in a lifetime experience and there’s no one else I’d rather share it with than my sweetie so I’m going to enjoy every minute up until…forever!

Love day was lovely. I wore a hot pink sweater and we ordered pizza (a big treat!) and watched the first night of Watson’s Jeopardy run which was kind of a disappointment. The first two days just had too many interruptions about how amazing Watson is and how he was made, etc., instead of good old Jeopardy questions. The third day was better though I certainly finished those episodes with a wary feeling of technology and a fear of machines being too smart.

We ate at my school’s annual crab feed since the last time I posted and it was dee-lish with melted butter on top. Per usual, we did not win the raffle, but much fun was had by all. Tomorrow night is another feed at a one of the Catholic Churches, but this time it’s polenta and it’s a smaller event so here’s to crossing those fingers for the raffle (we did win our tv here last year, but that was a TOTAL anomaly)! 

Late in January I completed another year of my life. It was a pretty and sunny day and we celebrated by having lunch at Gayle's (gorgonzola blue cheese mac & cheese: MAJOR YUM) and then my good ole (not in age, though) pops gave into my requests for his famous dry rub smoked ribs and it was SOOOO good. The evening was topped off with a purple princess cake from Gayle's and it was just a nice way to kick off a new and very special (cue wedding march) year. By the way, for those of you who think that a princess cake is something involved with Disney, please read here and here and know that it is actually European in lineage and yummy and great and has nothing to do with Ariel (not that she's my favorite princess or anything like that), though I have nothing against the Disney girls.

Prinsesstårta!

M and our friend E and I went on a neat hike to Alamere Falls in Bolinas to visit their waterfalls and then M took me on a different hike to see different waterfalls to celebrate my special day. More on that later. There is a nap to take and a Friday evening to enjoy.

Happy weekend!