These are the things that float to the top of my list of activities that I want to do for the year 2012 when I am 45 years old. The list is comprised of things that I have either never tried or have wanted to try and just didn't have the courage or time to do it. Follow along and watch my progress and feel free to comment or add words of encouragement to help keep me going for the next 365 days!
Just a quick post to update the status of the list...I have had to change a few things in the interest of time and physical ability, but many things remain the same. I am in the home stretch of the year and the list and truly hope to accomplish all of them.
• Get physical exercise 5-6 times a week for 45 weeks - Ongoing
• Austin 5k - Run for the Water • Danskin Triathlon - June • Highland Lakes Challenge - October
• 135/8 - Ongoing • Masters swimming meet/ 3x3 Challenge - TBD • Diva Dash - April • Change Hair - January
• Passport Vacation - TBD • Trip to San Diego with Kim & Stacy and others – July/August • Paragliding - August • Surfing - August
• Snowboarding/skiing – November/December
• Chicken S*&t Bingo - Fall • Zip lining - March • Make bed each weekday morning - Ongoing • Plant garden/produce veggies and herbs - Spring • Get an egg from hens - Spring • Empty kitchen sink each weekday night - Ongoing • Redecorate Nicole’s room for 10th birthday - June
• Blanton B Scene Art Party - November 30 • AMOA Opening - Janauary
• Lenoir Special Seafood Dinner – November • Opera – Lucia di Lammermoor – February • Broadway Across America – Wicked – February • Ballet – Fall • Paramount Theater – Summer • UT Football home game -Opening game vs. Wyoming
• Symphony - December
• Volunteer for Thanksgiving or Christmas • Texas Advocacy Project – Handbags for Hope became KW Red Day • SXSW – Focus Movie – March
• Austin Film Festival – October • One handwritten note a month to Nicole – Ongoing • One handwritten note a month to a Friend or Family member - Ongoing
• Photography Class - TBD
• Art Class - TBD • Top 45 at 45 Blog – Ongoing • Courage to Change Blog – Ongoing
• The Artist’s Way morning pages and art dates – Ongoing • iPhone Apple class – January • Practice French – Ongoing • Whole Foods or Central Market Cooking class became Le Cordon Bleu Class - TBD
• Organize Family Birthday Calendar
• Turkey Trot or Jingle Bell run 5K
I can't really apologize for not posting in a while since it has happened before ... I have been busy with work and actually took a vacation. I figure it is time to get back to blogging.
2012 Danskin Race Number
I finished the Danskin! Every year I say to myself, "This is the last time I do this race." Not because I don't like doing the triathlon, however I just don't like this course. As I mentioned before when I wrote about the Diva Dash, it is quite hilly and an unforgiving course. The bike ride, for me, is really tough with 4 major hills and the run is even worse because in addition to the hills, the ground is covered in stones and large chunks of wood disguised as mulch and are both serious risks to my knees and ankles.
2012 Danskin Race Results
Nonetheless, I improved my time from the Danskin 2008 (the last time I had done the race) by at least 10 minutes! A large portion of that time came from the swimming and biking legs of the race. From 2008, I improved the swim by 6 minutes and the bike by 4 minutes. My transitions were a wee bit long in both years but the run stayed the same...no real surprise there since I trained mostly in the swim and bike. To give an idea of how strong I am in the swim, I finished 27th of 821 total entrants with my time in the swim...it goes downhill from there. My bike placement was 310 and my run was 572. I of course have to have a new strategy of training and that is to spend more time on the bike and running while keeping up with my true passion which is swimming.
Needless to say, I felt great in the swim and was pretty much passing people regularly in the water and noticing that I was the only light blue cap getting out of the water with other various colored caps that represented the different waves of start times. That changed too drastically once the bike started and I could see from the Sharpie numbers that people were passing me at a regular pace who I had passed in the swim. I still thank my Masters Swimming teammate, Meryl, for all her help on the bike course. The help from the advice was immeasurable to that portion of the race.
I didn't feel great on the bike portion, merely adequate. The hills were still pretty tough, I just felt like my recovery after the hills was better than in past years. I was conscious of needing to be sure to hydrate and consume some calories to finish the bike part and prepare for the run.
Since I had just done the run portion when I did the Diva Dash, there were no surprises to overcome. What is interesting to note for me is that the run time at the Danskin was pretty much what I had done on the Diva Dash minus the obstacles. Of course during the Diva Dash, I did have a swim/bike warm up either.
I still am not sure if I will do the Danskin again, although it is tempting to see if I can improve my time once again by training better...only time will tell. One thing is for certain, I don't do it for the medals...this years medal was a little too blingie for me, and heavy to boot!
Boy I am really behind! I have been so busy with work and clients that I don't often want to be on the computer after I am done and prefer to stare brainlessly at the TV or just the ceiling.
A couple of weekends ago, I took a class at the Le Cordon Bleu here in Austin with my friend, Samaneh. We got a tip from my other friend, Melyssa, that Travelzoo was featuring half-price classes at the school and decided it would be fun to do it. I looked over the class schedule that ran through the fall and had my favorites picked out and ended up choosing Grand Hotel Favorites because I liked the class description AND it was happening on a weekend when I was pretty sure I didn't have to work. Not having to work was a HUGE part of the decision. My second choice, All about Thai ( or a title close to that) takes place when I am supposed to be in San Diego attempting to surf so Grand Hotel Favorites it is!
Our instructor was Chef Macry and he really made the class enjoyable. He had a really good sense of humor and really knows his stuff.
Chef Macry
We started out learning how to make a Ceasar salad from scratch, in other words, how to make the dressing from scratch using fresh garlic and anchovies, then we made a shrimp and scallop seafood cocktail. The tricky part about both of them is that the recipe cards were not exactly how Chef M. prepared the dishes as our demonstration and I am not the best at following recipes all the time. I could have drank the dressing for sure and kept dipping the homemade croutons into the 'sauce' while assembly my plate. The seafood cocktail was pretty straight forward and you can see the image below of both apps.
Yum!
The entree, Veal Oscar, was a little more involved with several steps that sort of slipped my mind when we went back to the kitchen to prepare it. My biggest mistake was seasoning the veal too early so when I breaded it and cooked it, the breading didn't stick to the meat and the oil was a bit hot so it browned (in other words burnt) the breading before the meat was really ready. Oh, and the crab cake was more cooked on the outside then on the inside so it kinda fell apart when I was plating it. You know how sometimes pictures don't do some things justice? In this case, the picture does the entree WAY more justice than it was in person. The veal tasted pretty good, however I was so full from eating the extra croutons from the salad, that I really wasn't that hungry.
Veal Oscar with butter reduction
We were at least 30 minutes behind finishing up so we did not make the dessert so Chef Macry prepared a dessert for us that was yummy even though I couldn't finish it all. Below is a pic of the dessert and then one of Samaneh, Chef and myself.
Ice Cream with Chocolate Chambord Sauce
Les Chefs
I have run out of mental energy write much more in this post...I did have a great time with Samaneh and hope to do another cooking class even though I have met my quota for this year's list.
Remember when you were in college and you would go out with your friends for a night of drinking? I am speaking hypothetically of course but picture this. You pick a bar downtown that is playing some fun music and decide to be a little wild and start ordering shots. After the first one, you think, I am not really feeling it so I should have another. Then you repeat this same 'thought and action' routine say 2 or 3 more times. It is after the last shot that you start feeling the effects of the first one. You think, hey, this is feeling good...about 15-30 minutes later, the second and hypothetical third shot kicks in and that is when you start thinking, "Oh no, there are still a few more shots that haven't fully entered my system." If you are lucky, you get off easy and all the dancing you do will help work off the effects of the tequila, aka tokillya, as well as the greasy burger/taco/BestWurstSausage you consume on your way home. If you aren't lucky, you spend the night in the bathroom or in bed watching the room spin.
Going to boot camp is kind of like doing too many shots of tequila. At first you think, 'Wow! Even though this is only the second time I am taking this class and I am feeling great!' About 30 minutes into the class, you are still feeling pretty strong but your legs start to not perform from all the lunges and squats. Finally, toward the last few minutes of class you can barely kick your legs out while attempting the 50th burpee. One day I will be able to do them like this extremely fit woman on YouTube.
You would think I would learn my lesson from the last time I did boot camp at 24 Hour Fitness with Kellyn, but I didn't. The first time I tried the class was just a few days before I went zip lining with my buds Alison, Amy and Missy. The timing was not good for having to trek up hills to reach the zip lining stands. I made it through the zip lining adventure despite my sore-from-boot-camp body.
Just like the slow integration of the tequila into one's system on a night out, so too is the slow progression of pain throughout my body after doing boot camp. While I am actually doing the class, I feel pretty good and strong, it is the 24 to 48 hours later that it hits me. As I was laying in bed unable to move very easily 48 hours after this second time I did boot camp, the analogy dawned on me that taking boot camp is like playing drinking games or doing shots in college. I start to feel a muscle twinge in say my neck and arms and eventually I can barely walk and resort to waddling around my house, to and from Nic's school and having to explain to my clients my slow motion walk while showing houses, not unlike the hangover walk.
While I do want to do more boot camps very soon, I have decided that it is best that I NOT do another one until after the Danskin Triathlon in early June. I have to devote my exercise time to swimming, biking and running, none of which I can do for 2-3 days after taking boot camp.
Since I am back to regularly scheduled workouts of swimming, biking and running, this morning I decided to take a run around the neighborhood since I had an appointment that would keep me from swim practice. The run felt really good, I was well hydrated and the temperature outside was pleasant. My biggest concern in making the transition from running the neighborhood to running during the Danskin is twofold. First, I have all my running accoutrement as seen in the photo below:
Running Gear
The biggest thing that I can't use during the Danskin is my iPod and Nike case....I should be able to wear my Nike Fuel band and Garmin to track my fuel points and heart rate and speeds on the bike and run.
Second, as I mentioned in my post about the Diva Dash, I don't like the course as it is hilly and littered with large chunks of wood mulch and small stones and I won't have Kellyn there to motivate me up the hills. I am sure I will do fine as I have run more, swum more and will be back on my bike this week, I just want to do better than fine. I did have a good run this morning (see photo below), keeping a good pace and finishing better than I have in recent months, so I am definitely looking forward to June 3!
My swim team is doing an open water swim this coming Saturday and one of my teammates has offered to bike the Danskin bike course with me once or twice before the race so I am getting more training than ever.
In the fall, I received an email from Karen E. about the SHAPE Diva Dash just as I was finalizing my top 45 list and it sounded intriguing enough to add it to the list especially since I was going to be doing it with some fun people including Karen, Holly, Marcelle and Kellyn.
You know how sometimes in a professional players' contract they forbid them to do certain activities like skate boarding, pogo sticking, or motorcycling in order to avoid injuries that could cost the player and the team a lot of money? Well, Karen E. went skiing in January and this is what happened to her:
Karen's personal escort down the mountain.
She ended up needing knee surgery and not getting to train for the race. She was a great sport though and actually came with us, mostly for the free swag bag and beer, but we really appreciated the fact that she drove us to the race and took some great photos. Below is a picture of the 5 of us pre-race:
Divas from L-R: Holly, Me, Karen, Marcelle and Kellyn
Before the race, the four of us who were actually running that day made a pact to end the race together. I was to benefit from this pact because the other Divas are actually faster than I am at running. Another fact of note is that I had to psych myself up for the run since I knew the course all too well having done it 3 times during the Danskin Triathlon in the past. I don't like the course, period. It is more like a trail run up and down hills with large pieces of wood mulch that spread all over the course to prevent it from getting too muddy in case it actually rains in Austin. The course is also quite hilly with large and small rocks scattered all over the place and hazardous to people like me who are prone to twisting their ankle on a flat surface just merely walking down the sidewalk. Even with all these things against me, I was determined to run the entire time and knew that the other three ladies would be there to encourage me.
The first obstacle was fairly easy and consisted of walking across a balance-beam type maze raised about 8 inches from the ground. If you slipped off the beam you were supposed to go back and start again...this rule was not really enforced, but I made it across the first time so it was no big deal. The second obstacle you can see in the photo below:
We had to run through the inner tubes on the ground like football players while simultaneously trying to avoid getting knocked to the ground by these pink Hoppity Hop or Jumping Balls that had these oddly wicked looking smiley faces on them.
A couple of the next obstacles were similar and had us ducking under those plastic flags woven over a maze or bungie chords crisscrossed throughout a wooden frame. My favorite 'challenge' came next and was a tent without a top on it and was filled with bubbles! One of the odd obstacles, in my opinion, was when we had to pick up a small log and run up a hill then down again ala the movie An Officer and A Gentleman. I was wearing my Nike Fuelband and decide to just carry the log under my right arm to be sure to keep my left arm moving in the proper motion because I was getting as much credit for this run as possible!
One of the last 'ground' obstacles featured 5 rows of those plastic barricades that we had to maneuver over which brought us to the last hill of the course. My guardian angel, Kellyn, noticed that I was pretty far behind our pack and came back to encourage me up the hill and to keep moving. When we came up the hill and around the curve, I could tell it was the final leg because we were next to the water. The breeze off of the water was refreshing and because I love to be in the water, I really enjoyed two of the last three challenges. The first consisted of five long buoys floating in the water that we had to hop over and then in the second water challenge we had to grab an inner tube and place it around our waists then go out into the lake a short distance around some pyramid shaped buoys and return to shore. The very last obstacle was a wall made of rope that you climb up one side and down the other. The hardest part of this one was making sure not to get kicked by someone trying to throw their leg over the top of the wall. I met up with Holly and Marcelle on the other side and we all waited for Kellyn to get over then we crossed the finish line together.
We Made It!
Not my favorite photo but Whateva!
We all enjoyed the experience so much we are planning on doing it again next year. Dressing alike like other participants in matching outfits including but not limited to tu-tus, tiaras, matching socks etc. is still up for debate.
It has been a while since my last post...been a VERY busy two weeks as I was away on business so the week prior and the week after are always busier than usual.
This past Sunday, April 22 was earth day so I thought it is only fitting to have a garden update. It would have also been my father's 88 birthday but he passed away 9 years ago this coming September. Here is a picture of him by some wildflowers taken by my older sister Ginny. I know that I got my love of nature from both my mom and my dad and fondly remember many days spent out of doors as a family. We had an old mobile home in the country near a lake called Lake of the Woods Club where we would spend summer weekends. It didn't have running water, but we loved it. We would make aluminum can pull-tab chains and drape them throughout the forest making trails for us to follow, have bonfires at night, fish and swim during the day and each night have a new report put on by us kids.
When we were younger, we moved a good bit mainly because our family was growing from 2 to 4 to 6 and finally 8 children. One of the first houses we lived in that I can remember was on Ingersol Drive and it is where I met my oldest and best friend Kim Mulhall (now Kim Hickey). We sold the house to the Spencer family when I was about three years old and I distinctly remember meeting Mary, who was my age, and vaguely remember her red hair and her frilly pink dress she was wearing when we were standing in the front yard of that house (Mary's family still owns that house as far as I know). Mary Spencer ended up going to the same St. Albert's Catholic school that I attended with Kimmy and we are still friends over 40 years later. Below is a photo of us in 2005 just before the 20 year reunion party for our graduating class from Alter HS. I didn't actually graduate from Alter, but I had gone to school with so many from the 1985 graduating class, 9 years with many of them, that I felt more connected to this class than the one in South Texas.
After Ingersol, we moved to the house on Rosalyn. This was one of my favorite houses from childhood. It had a HUGE backyard with apple trees and my mom, with help from my brother-in-law Steve, planted a BIG garden in the back. We had 52 rabbits at one time in cages along the side of the backyard and other animals including dogs and cats. I remember many fall days picking up apples from the ground and from the trees so that my grandmother could salvage all good parts from the apples to make pies and apple sauce. I would spend lots of time in the backyard looking at bugs and watching the plants grow. Below are several photos of our garden this year and one showing Nicole standing in between two corn plants. I have no idea how the harvest will be, but we are having a good time trying and Nicole is such a good little helper, often going out after school to water the garden without even being asked.
Nicole in the corn!
Our fav, tomatoes!
Praying for some cantelope.
The last house that we lived in before we relocated to Texas was on Claridge. There was a North and South Claridge and at one point, we figured out that there were at least 25 kids of various ages living on the loop. I remember walking to school in large groups, climbing the big tree in the front yard with perfect limbs for getting up high, playing kick-the-can into the late hours on summer nights and building all kinds of forts in the snow. As I sit here writing this post, it is really driving home the realization that I had a few months ago that our current home really is a combination of my favorite homes as a child. Nicole lives on the street with her very best friend, Grace who she has known since she was 18 months old (Kim and I met around the same age). There are some really good trees in the backyard for climbing. Presently, there are only 9 kiddos on our cul-de-sac of different ages but we often walk as a group up the elementary school that is a block away that I have dubbed the "Arrowpoint Gang." Nicole and I have a garden in the backyard and will have chickens again, maybe even rabbits (sorry Alison). Either I am trying to relive my childhood or pass on the best parts of my childhood to Nicole or maybe it is a combination of both.
I will update the garden growth over time....
Next Post: Diva Dash
PS. For those grammarians out there, I fixed some of the typos. If you find anymore, send me an email and I will correct them ; ) .
I know that I keep promising to do a post about the spring garden and while I was outside watering it this evening, I think I realized I am hesitant to post anything because the garden always seems to need weeding or I want the plants to be bigger because they look wimpy to me. There is definite progress in growth, just not a lot of 'WOW' factor. Because it is already getting warm here in Austin, I am hoping we will be able to harvest something before the ground shrivels up. To keep me from shriveling up tonight while eating dinner, I actually had one of these:
Cerveza! Compliments of Pedro
Those of you who know me pretty well, know that I am not a big beer drinker stemming back from an incident in high school and some quarters, but I am not going to get into that now. The beer just sounded like a good idea and it was nice and cool on a warm evening while watering the garden.
When I came back inside, Nicole had a little surprise to share with me, actually two of them. The first one is best shown in photos:
Now you see it...
Now you don't!
I keep forgetting that there are still some baby teeth in her mouth! She of course asked me if she was going to get some money from the tooth fairy. When I asked her if there was a tooth fairy she said, "Yes, it is you and you should dress up in wings and sneak into my room with the money in exchange for the tooth!" She really isn't greedy at all...maybe that will change in her teens.
The second surprise is this letter that she wrote to me while practicing her cursive in school today.
Understandably, It left me a little verklempt...talk amongst yourselves for now.
