A Birthday Celebration in Sin City

My son and my other half love visiting Sin City! We usually head to Las Vegas a couple of times a year both in the winter and summer months. The purpose of this trip was to celebrate a birthday.

I enjoy visiting Las Vegas too but the summer heat kind of gets to me. It was 107 degrees the entire weekend. At 10:00 p.m. is was still 102 degrees. We try to beat the heat during the day by staying indoors or hanging out by the pool and then walking the strip at night. My son really enjoys the pool and cannot stop talking about how badly we need a pool of our own. We hung out by the pool for a few hours and it actually started pouring rain for about 10 minutes and a bunch of people picked up their stuff and left. I thought it was refreshing and just laid in my chair and waited for it to end. 

My son also insisted on having that huge drink without alcohol of course. He was embarrassed to drink it because he said everyone was staring at him thinking he was drinking alcohol!

We have seen most of the shows in Las Vegas and this time we decided to see Love by Cirque Du Soleil. The theme was based on the music by the Beatles and it was a great show. My son really enjoyed it and he watched the entire show without talking to us. That is a good sign for him!

I wanted to do two things while I was in Vegas and I was able to do both of them. Of course they both involved food.

1) Eat breakfast at Hash House a Go Go. The portions were huge but we had fun staring at all of the food they brought out to others who were dining in the restaurant. The pancakes were really thick and about the size of a medium pizza. It was way to much food for us so we all shared yet we were not successful in finishing all of it.

2) Buy some cupcakes from Retro Bakery. We had to drive about 20 miles from the strip to get the cupcakes but it was worth it! Our favorites were the hop scotch (their best seller) and the milk and cookies. We have not tried all of them yet and I brought some for my daughter to try too. I promise not to eat the whole dozen by myself.

Have you ever been to Las Vegas? 

What are some of your favorite things to do in Sin City?

Why I Might Give Up Eating Cupcakes!

I am not a big donut eater and not because I stop myself from eating them. They just don't do the trick for me. I am a cupcake lover/eater by trade and those are what appeal to me the most but that might change. Once in a while I will eat a glazed donut but for the most part cupcakes have always been my biggest weakness!

The people  in my workplace love good food ! It is everywhere! If you are not careful you will find that you are gaining weight everywhere as well! Last week someone brought in some donuts and since donuts are not my thing I was going to pass as I usually do but these looked different. Someone brought in blueberry donuts and they were in a pizza box! They smelled so good so I gave in and tried one! OMG they are the next best thing to ......cupcakes! I had to find out where they came from and the donut shop happens to be about 10 minutes away. That can be pretty dangerous but I promise to control myself!

If you get there at the right time, the donuts are fresh and hot! This place has been known to have a 4-5 hour wait for the blueberry donuts which is crazy! They sell them in pizza boxes since they are too hot to put in the standard pink donut boxes. They are moist and cakey in the inside and crispy on the outside and you can buy them with or without the glaze on top. They are delicious and probably have more calories than my beloved cupcakes! But who is counting? I have been trying to convince myself that these donuts are healthy since they have blueberries in them but I don't think so!  

If you are ever in California, or if you already live here, you have to try these blueberry donuts just once! It is located pretty close to Disneyland so you can just hit both places up on the same day! 

What is your favorite dessert?

Cupcakes or Donuts?  

Three Things Thursday

1. I am a Chapstick freak. I cannot leave my house without it and I always have one with me so matter where I go. Chapstick is even listed on my race day list because if I run without it I feel like my lips are going to fall off! Well, Christy won a giveaway for this Limited Edition Chapstick (the girl is on a serious winning streak) and I really want it now! It fills my Chapstick and cupcake addiction all in one shot! The problem is that I cannot find it anywhere except on Ebay for 10 X the price! I am thinking that having the taste of Velvet Cupcake and Cake Batter on my lips at all times may help stop my cravings for cupcakes....probably not but it's worth a try!

2. I won a great giveaway from Christy@ My Dirt Road Anthem! I won a pair of compression socks from Spun Performance Apparel and I am really excited to try them out. I have started wearing compression socks on all of my runs because I seem to recover much quicker, especially on my long runs. Thank You Christy, I hope my winning streak is as great as yours has been!

 3. Just when I though I had my fill of Girl Scout Cookies (because we ate all of the ones that we bought), my local cupcakery puts out their St. Patty's Day menu and announces that they are also baking up these yummy Girl Scout Cookie inspired cupcakes! I really hope I find that Chapstick (see #1 above) because resisting these is going to be really tough!

Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Running

What a weekend! My Thanksgiving was great and I think I have been eating and snacking nonstop since Thursday! Our Thanksgiving dinner was delicious and turned out really well. I ran 8 miles in the morning and then showered and finished cooking. The dogs had their own little special meals too! They loved and it and are now wondering why they are back to eating the same old food again.

We relaxed for a little while after dinner and then headed over to Target for the Black Friday sale that started at 9:00 p.m. The line was already wrapped around the building when we arrived at 8:30 p.m but they everyone who was in line in was able to get in when the store opened. I was able to get everything that I wanted including my iPad. I also grabbed a camera for $99.00 and a few DVD for $10.00. We waited in line for about 30 minutes to pay and by the time we left Target it was incredibly packed.

Our next stop was the mall but we only needed to go to one store. The mall was super crowded and most of the stores were not able to let everyone in so they had long waits just to enter the stores. The lines at Victoria's Secret and Coach were over an hour long. We went to Sports Authority and then left the mall. We got up the next morning and headed to Kohls, Petsmart and two malls to see what was left. The Nike Store was a complete mess. I could not believe that people would actually do something like this and not even care. What is so hard about trying on a pair of shoes and then putting them back where you found them?? Very sad...

I was pretty beat after all of that shopping but the good thing is that my Christmas shopping is about 95% complete!  I actually did a lot of my shopping online this year and really focused on the kids in my family. It gets expensive trying to buy for everyone. I wish my family would draw names and make things easier. 

I am still running and had a couple of great runs this week. My pace is getting better and my pain is just about gone! I ran 25 miles this week and I am really happy! I think I am going to hit 100 miles this month! I am 24 miles away from a 100 mile month and will also double my goal for Pile on the Miles! I am still taking it easy though and have not signed up for any races for the remainder of the year. I am really wanting to do a Christmas race but I have not signed up as of yet. I am kind of enjoying this pressure free running right now to be honest with you. I am focusing on increasing my long runs since I do have some races coming up in the beginning of 2013.

Tuesday: 6 Miles

Thanksgiving: 8 Miles (planned on 7 but felt great and kept going)

Saturday: 11 Miles (I planned on 10 but decided that I needed to push it a little since I have been eating too many goodies for the past few days.) Speaking off goodies, this also happened on Saturday. 

Saturday was Small Business Saturday and American Express offered a $25.00 statement credit for any purchase of $25.00 or more at local small businesses who accept their credit card. My favorite cupcakery was on the list so I bought a dozen. I shared them with my running buddies and kept a few for us at home. They were so good and will only cost me $5.00 after the credit from American Express. Can't beat that deal!

Today was spent going to church and picking up some decorations for my front yard and eating again! We have been wanting to try a burger from The Habit and happened to see one while we were out and about. It was good but I was not too impressed. I think In and Out Burger does it ten times better!

Now that Thanksgiving has ended, it is time to get in the Christmas spirit and decorate the house both inside and out! I love it when my house is all decorated but I dread taking it all down and putting it away. I think I am going to get busy on that now!

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you Turkey Trot?

Mine was great but I have to stop eating so much! Thanksgiving is over!

Did you get any good Black Friday deals? What did you buy?

Who makes the best burgers? 

I am voting for In and Out!

My Thanksgiving Plans...

Why did I not take today off from work? Maybe because I took a ton of time off last week! I feel like I am so behind today in preparing for Thanksgiving. I still have to buy several things for my Thanksgiving Dinner and I have to prepare and pop the turkey in the oven tonight. I actually cook my turkey in a roasting pan at a very low temperature overnight. When I wake up the next morning, the house smells so good and the turkey is done. It comes out so tender in the roasting pan and we love it!

I have something to confess. Last year was the first time that I ever made a turkey! I learned how to make a turkey from some of the girls at work. I always thought that it was too much work but it turns out that it really isn't. Honeybaked Ham was my best friend up until last year! My kids are not big turkey eaters and they love the ham so I ended up buying a ham anyway. I also love their oven roasted turkey breast so I had to get one of those too! We love the crackling sweet glaze on top of their ham and turkey breast!

My dinner will also include mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, warm rolls and some veggies.  I will make all of the sides on my own without the help of Honeybaked! I haven't quite decided what dessert will be but I am thinking on stopping by my favorite cupcakery and possibly picking up some of these irresistible goodies on the way home!

I decided to pass on the Turkey Trot this year but will still be getting a run in on Thanksgiving morning. In the evening I plan on hit up some of the sales that are starting because I have to get the iPad deal at Target! If you are a crazy Black Friday Shopper like me make sure you read my post about on Black Friday Survival Tips!

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

I will be staying home and spending time with my kids and maybe my grandparents if they are up to it!

Are you cooking for Thanksgiving? What's on the menu?

Three Things Thursday

1. Sugar is not a happy camper! She had surgery on Tuesday which included a teeth cleaning, a hernia repair and a spay on top of that! She is wearing the cone of shame and will not eat or drink with it on so we have to remove it so she can eat and drink. She has to wear it for a week so hopefully the time goes by quickly because I feel really bad for her. I am considering buying her a Pro Collar like Kari used for Bungee.

2. I decided that I am going to run the Long Beach Half Marathon and not the full. I was able to go on-line and pay $5.00 to downgrade but I have not received a confirmation from Long Beach yet so it is not official.  This change was down after the 8/31 deadline so I am keeping my fingers crossed that they honor my request.

3. Tomorrow is my birthday!  I am taking the day off because I never work on my birthday.  I don't have any big plans but just don't want to spend the day working. I am hoping to get a short run in tomorrow morning since I have not ran all week due to my shin pain. The shins are starting to calm down so hopefully I can do a little something tomorrow to kick off my birthday weekend. I am sure the birthday celebration will include some of these things that I cannot resist! I know I am bad but YOLO (You Only Live Once)!

Three Things Thursday

1. I have to stop eating all of these yummy cupcakes! My local cupcakery is always trying out new flavors and they get me every single time. This Mint and Chip cupcake was heavenly! How can I pass up a cupcake that is the same flavor as my favorite ice cream? I can't....

2. I have another long run planned for the week.  I want to do 20 miles but I just might settle for 18 because my calves have been feeling pretty sore lately. I think I will map out a run that is not too hilly and maybe that will work out better for me. If my calves are still sore, I will be doing much less than 18 or 20 for sure!

3. I will be leaving for South Carolina in less than a week. I am getting really excited to see my sister and her family but at the same time I am going to miss my family and my pets! My niece is really excited to be going back home because she misses her mother. I sure I will have a great time and I hope to be able to get some runs in but this weather may change things.

Do you enjoy running in the rain? 

I don't mind light rain since it can be refreshing but thunder and lightning kind of scare me!

Fabulous Friday!!

Today turned out to be a great day. It started out with a very decent run this morning. I haven't hit these numbers in a while and I was starting to believe that I never would again.  It just kind of happened today and I am not sure how or why but I hope it continues.

After sweating like crazy after a great run, I just had to give in and treat myself to these mouth watering cupcakes. No, I did not eat all four them! I had lots of help. We usually cut them into fours and samples all of them so it's really like having one full cupcake, right?  It makes me feel better about it if I explain how it just equals one cupcake! 

We finished off the night by having dinner at BJ's. I have been wanting to try their new Thai Chicken Mango Salad and my husband has been wanting to try their new Hawaiian Mahi Mahi.  They were both really yummy!! I would definitely order this salad again and it was pretty filling.

Wishing you all a great weekend.  No big plans for me except maybe another great run on Sunday (fingers crossed!)

Meet the Party Animals

Yesterday was my dog Roxy's 12th birthday and we celebrated. I bought her a peanut butter flavored doggy bone cake from Three Dog Bakery. Sprinkles cupcakes is next door to the dog bakery so I decided to treat myself to a cupcake so I wouldn't be left out of the party!

 No, all of the party animals don't belong to me. Cinderella, the smaller Pom that looks very much like Roxy, belongs to my daughter and I am still thinking of what I am going to do with Sugar. She is getting really attached to us so I have to formulate a plan quickly to avoid breaking her heart. I would like to say that Roxy (top left), Buster (bottom right), Sugar (bottom left) and Cinderella(top right) had a blast but it was kind of a fiasco to say the least. Cinderella is a barker and all of the other dogs don't really care for her behavior so they got nervous/excited and started scrambling/hiding and things got kind of chaotic.

The good news is that they all loved the doggy cake, especially Cinderella. She was able to scare all of the other dogs away with her barking and eat most of the cake herself.  The party was officially over when Cinderella pooped in the middle of the living room! Nobody wanted to get blamed for that one!

  Roxy has been part of the family since she was a few months old and she is the best dog ever.  She is so sweet and super smart. She knows how to do lots of things other than the standard sit, stay and lay down. Roxy knows how to play dead,  roll over, finds things on command, and brings you specific toys when you ask her for them. Roxy does not like baths, nail trims or teeth brushing but she loves to eat her doggy beef jerky and any kind of table food that she can con you into giving her!

I noticed a few months ago that Roxy was starting to lose her hearing so I took her in for a Senior Wellness Exam to make sure she was in good health.  The vet gave her an exam, did some blood work, a urinalysis and cleaned her teeth.  Roxy is starting to lose her hearing but she can still hear us when we are within close range of her. Other than the issue with her hearing, she is a pretty healthy girl! 

Happy 12th Birthday Roxy Girl!!

Three Things Thursday

1. I tried nuun for the first time this week and have been experimenting with it on my boring treadmill runs.  The Strawberry Lemonade flavor was pretty good so I think I have found a new form of hydration that I really like.  I also to try the Fruit Punch and Grape nuun too. If I am able to run the OC Half Marathon on Sunday, I will be using it to hydrate.

2. The OC Half Marathon is still up in the air!  I am about 60% "yes" and 40% "no" right now.  My runs have been going really well but mentally I am not sure if I have the confidence to get out there yet.

 3. I will be busy avoiding my favorite local cupcakery for the next couple of days to make sure that I do not indulge in these special Cinco de Mayo cupcakes! I love the Mexican Hot Chocolate!! Cupcakes would be best after a half marathon and probably not before, right?

 

Who is running a race this weekend? What is your favorite post race treat? What is your favorite flavor of nuun?

Hills and Thrills!!

This week was not a very productive week in terms of running or any kind of workouts for that matter! I did way too much resting this week that's for sure! Here is how last week turned out:

Monday: REST

Tuesday: REST

Wednesday: Spin Class

Thursday: REST..I was all dressed and ready to walk out the door to go to the gym, then my daughter called me and needed to talk so I didn't make it!  I swear I was going to do my speed work but I had to be a good Mom and be there for my daughter when she needed me.

Friday: Ran 2 miles on the dreadmill and then did 45 minutes on the elliptical

Saturday:REST

Sunday: 14.81 Miles of very steep climbs for the first 6 miles.  This was by far the steepest climb I have ever done in my life! Although it was downhill at the end, it was a pretty good workout! This run may have somewhat made up for all of the resting I did in the beginning of the week!

Friday after work I met up with Maura, a friend from Daily Mile.  We have conversed and emailed for the past couple of months and we finally set up a time to meet and chat.  As I mentioned before, Maura is a great runner and I know that I can learn a lot from her. On Sunday, I ran 14.81 miles with her and she warned me about the steep climb for the first six miles! The highest elevation we reached on this run was 3000 feet. My quads are really sore now to say the least!

I enjoyed the fresh clean air and I will definitely be back to do it again!  It is a challenging run and I am sure that it will make me stronger!!  Maura and I will be running a 16-17 miler together this Friday but on a much flatter course at a much faster pace. Maura gave me lots of good tips on how to be a better and smarter runner so I will be testing out her tips and maybe I will be running a 3:17 marathon like her soon.... it's okay to dream, right?

I am also thrilled about some great deals that I scored at the REI Half Yearly sale his past Saturday!  I have been wanting to upgrade my Garmin 305 to a newer model but just didn't see the logic in replacing it when it works perfectly fine.  Well, if you can buy a used Garmin 310XT that is in great condition for much of nothing then is worth spending the money. A new 310XT retails for about $399.99 so I scored big time on this one! The 310XT can be used for other sports like biking and swimming but I will be using it just for running. I tried it out on my Sunday run with Maura and I really liked it. The face seems smaller than my 305, it feels lighter and it has the wireless data transfer option which is pretty cool too.

I also bought four other Garmins that were super cheap.  I bought two 305's, a 405, and another 310XT. Some do not have boxes and are missing some of the parts but those can be replaced for much of nothing. I will have to find homes for all of these once I test them all out and make sure that they are working properly.

I have touched on the fact that I love cupcakes, right? Well, I was also thrilled to death when I received the special Christmas menu from my local cupcakery!  Their Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcake is to die for!!  It tastes just like the real thing in the form of a cupcake!  I have never tried some of these special flavors so I guess I will be buying a ton of the minis and sampling them all! 

I am still catching up on wrapping presents but managed to finish up all of my last minute Christmas shopping. Buster kept me company while I attempted to wrap presents. He is just the sweetest little boy. Just two more days of work left and then I will be off for ten days!  Time to relax and spend some much needed quality time with the family....

What is your favorite treat that makes you cheat? Mine is obviously cupcakes!

What are your plans for the holidays? I will be home spending time with my family.  My sister will be visiting from Florida so we will be busy catching up and trying to squeeze in a million things into a weeks time.

San Dimas Turkey Trot 5K: 11/26/11

I think I was pretty turkey trotted out the morning of this race!  I was not in the mood to run and I was seriously considering being a no show.  I finally got it together and decided that I might as well run it since I paid for it!  I guess I was feeling pretty satisfied with my PR from Thursday and got a little lazy!

Since bib pick up was only available the day of the race, I had to get up a little earlier than I wanted to.  When we arrived at the race, it was 43 degrees and I was so glad that I wore my new running tights! I had never ran in tights before so this was a change for me too since I always run in shorts. After picking up my bib, we went back to the car and finally decided to head back 15 minutes before the start time.

Can you find me?

The course was in a familiar place where I do lots of my long training runs but I had never actually ran in this particular area of Bonelli Park. The course was a bit hilly, in my opinion, and I didn't care for the way the course did a turn around half way through.  Any speed that you had going at that point was lost because you had to run around two cones and make a u-turn!

I was feeling really slow and lazy in the beginning and just kept telling myself to just go with what I felt.  My splits were not great and I know that I could have done better and pushed myself much harder. The air was so cold that it was difficult to breath normally and I never experienced that before. My feet were also frozen! Strange morning for me to say the least. My splits went something like this and I also forgot to stop my Garmin at the finish...FAIL!

Mile 1: 7:35

Mile 2: 7:42

Mile 3: 7:48-I dropped my water bottle and had to stop to pick it up..FAIL! I lost some serious time here but didn't really care for some reason.  A girl who had pretty much been running with me the whole time came over after the race and told me that I had a nice finish in spite of having to stop to hydrate.  Uh, that was not a hydration stop...it was a "I am too cheap to leave the dropped bottle behind stop!" 

I hope I finished before him!

The volunteers were serving pumpkin pie to the participants after the race and my son quickly volunteered to eat mine for me!

Good thing my son ate that pumpkin pie for me because I decided to support my favorite small business on Small Business Saturday and celebrated like this instead!

This turkey trot was a very small event with only 216 participants which is the only reason why I placed 20/216, 3rd overall female and first in my age group with a time of 23:56.  I ended up walking away with three medals in spite of a less than great performance. These small races can really give you an ego boost when you least expect it and it was nice to walk away with three medals.

I tried out my Handful bra for the first time and I have to say that I really like it.  It was super comfy and I actually looked like I had a handful!!  I think I am going to invest in another one or two or maybe I will add them to my Christmas/Fitness Wish List.