Then and Now: May

Another month gone by already. It seems like only yesterday when I was talking about how I couldn't believe it was May already. Today is my Dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Dad! Now for the Who, the What and the Where -- May 2011 vs. May 2012.

The Who: 

In 2011:

I spent some time in Australia with Mr. L, then it was back to the US for:

Baseball with the broski, his lady and Gma, and my friend Hashi and his lady

Birthday fun with the parents

Mimosa Brunch in the Mission with K and A

In 2012: 

 Good times were had by my Relay team

Another Giants game with the trio (a tradition, it seems)

Mother's Day/Birthday with my two families

My, look how she's grown! 

2011 vs 2012

The What: 

Books:
2011: / 2012: 8

I definitely had extra time to read this year, due to the fact that I was traveling a lot last year vs this year. Also, my computer was down for about a week and a half in 2012 and it's amazing how much reading I got done because of it! Some of my favorites: Secret Daughter - Shilpi Somaya Gowda, Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin. See my Bookshelf page for more!

Running:
2011: 0 / 2012: 157

This month was not only the start of the ramp up for marathon training, but I also added a few miles due to some longer trail runs and a new goal to try to complete an ultra. I think that this is my highest mileage month to date.

Races:
2011: 0 / 2012: 2

This month I participated in The Relay, which for my portion was 23 miles over 4 runs over 24 hours. I also completed race number 5 of the 12 in 2012 challenge, which was a trail race in Oakland called the Cinderella Trail Run. You can check out my Races and Places page for more!

Cakes: 

2011 vs 2012

Apparently I turn 5 years old every year.

The Where:

In 2011, after getting back from Australia, 

I spent a lot of time in California. 

Also, note that it snowed. I think that photo was taken on May 28th.

In 2012,  I also spent a lot of time in California. 

San Francisco, Sierra Nevadas, Napa, Oakland

 
The verdict? My hair is longer, my fitness has improved tenfold, and it seems like the birthday baseball game with grandma and the kids has become a tradition (as well has the Mother's Day with my second family). It does seem like May is when the weekends start being full of outdoor related and other fun activities, no matter where I am! All in all, I would give two thumbs up to both May 2011 and May 2012!

How was your May this year? How is it different from last year? Is it better, worse, or the same? 

The Spice of Life

When I was growing up, my family had a lot of phrases that were used in order to keep us in line or to remember things. They were used frequently, some more than others. I am not sure that sometimes they were even true. However, I have a few examples below. You can tell me what you think.

Waste Not, Want Not: For example, if you were full and you still had food on your plate. Or maybe you were giving an ugly sweater given to you by a distant relative to Goodwill. This is a close cousin to “People are Starving in China”. Although I am not a fan of needlessly throwing things away, I believe this was a ploy put in place by my family to make me eat my Brussel sprouts. No, but really it's good to learn early to use what you have rather than needlessly buying more things!

The Lazy Man Always Works the Hardest: This was a classic and was used frequently. For example, when stacking firewood, if you took one piece at a time and carried it from one pile to another, you were deemed the “lazy man” because you should be taking several sticks as a load, rather than one. I actually agree with this one to a certain degree. I am not sure if the lazy man works the hardest, but he definitely takes the longest! So, it essentially means: sit down and take time to figure out the most efficient way to do a job before running willy-nilly all about the place.

Cheaters Never Prosper: Obviously, this one is pretty common and is self-explanatory. Don’t cheat. It won’t get you anywhere. This is a good lesson to be learned, except that it is not always true. However, true or not, you should hold yourself in a high esteem and follow it, even if other people do not. This goes well with “Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right”, which was another family favorite.

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned: Financial responsibility started early in my family. This saying is interesting, because if you turned it around to a Penny earned is a Penny saved, it may or may not be true, depending on who is doing the earning. The way that it is, it may still be debated, such as, isn’t a penny saved just a penny saved? Either way, I started saving my pennies early in life. I guess the point is that it's easier to save one that you already earned than to earn one more from working more.

A Pint’s a Pound, The World Around: I am still not sure if this is true or not, but I do use it anyway to figure out the weight of liquids. For example, a gallon of milk = 8 pints, therefore, a gallon = 8 pounds. It's a good rough estimate.

One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure: This is true. How many times have you gone through your friend’s old clothes and found a nice new outfit for yourself? However (see Waste Not, Want Not), when you have a slight tendency towards hoarding, you need to be careful or everyone’s trash may be your treasure. My family is not on the scale of Hoarders, by all means, but you still have to watch what you save. Sometimes it really is just trash.

A Job Worth Doing is a Job Worth Doing Well: Amen to this one! I hated it when my Dad would inspect my sweeping and mopping job with a fine toothed comb, but now I know he was just trying to teach me not to do a job half way. I have worked with many an adult that has still never learned this lesson. They just do the bare minimum and it drives me nuts. If you are going to do a job, do it right.

You Learn Something New Every Day: I have talked about this one before in my What I Learned posts, but this was a common saying around the dinner table at my house. I understand now that this was probably just my parents way of getting us to talk about our days, as well as trying to get us to realize that we really do learn something each day, whether it’s book smart or street smart or just a joke told to us by a friend. Don’t sell yourself short.

Variety is the Spice of Life: Oh, the spiciness of variety. This one could give you the wrong message. Maybe it means: don’t get married? Or perhaps: don’t eat chicken EVERY day? I think it means that we should try not to be close-minded and we should try new things, go to new places, see new things and meet new people. It means that we shouldn’t limit ourselves to the small world that we live in.

Of course there were many, many more, but the above were some of the ones that stuck with me!

What sayings were used by your parents to keep you in line? What phrases do you use with your kids? What is your interpretation of the "penny saved" phrase?

Last Week (2)

Hello and happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend! I had quite the eventful week last week. Here are a few of the things I spent my time on.

I started some seeds. We shall see how it goes. 

I am sure there will be a future post on this.

I am excited to try! My houseplant thumb is green; we will see how my veggie thumb goes.

I celebrated my birthday. 

For some reason Marlboro sent me a birthday card. 

(a) I don't smoke

and (b) even if I did, how the heck did they know it was my birthday?  

 

For my birthday, I had dinner in the city. 

And wandered. I love wandering. 

 

I love this sign. 

 

I went to see my parents. 

We took a nice hike. 

 

To a waterfall. 

 

 On Saturday, we went to the farmers market. 

Have you ever seen green eggs?

My dad ran a 5k and got 2nd in his age group! 

Go Dad!

 

Then something bad happened. 

I think Mr. Dell is mostly dead. 

I am hoping he will snap out of it. 

 

Sunday I ran 19 miles to volunteer at this race. 

It was hot.

I made some new friends.

This deserves a post of it's own. 

 

How was your weekend? Have you ever had computer issues? Is all your stuff backed up?

Last Week

Well, another week is beginning again! What a fun weekend! I hope everyone had a great time with their mothers and/or their children! I was lucky to spend time with my mom and dad, as well as my 2nd family (aka people who have put up with me for a long, long time). We got together and had a really nice brunch, took a walk and sat around and shot the breeze. It was nice to see both families and to spend time with everyone.

Last week also had a few more fun things going on.

There was some yoga. 

I found a good power yoga video here. 

After the relay, I was pretty sore, so this kicked my butt pretty hard. 

Remember the mini carrot cakes I was talking about? 

Here they are. And the  mini cheesecake. 

And the mini pecan pie. 

I must have eaten at least 28 of these.

 

Once my legs got a little less sore, I tried out my new shoes. 

So far, so good. 

 

 This is how we buy pickles in our house. 

These will probably last us a couple of days or so.

Saturday night I went out with some friends for Mexican food, complete with margaritas. 

Unfortunately, the scary doll was sneaking sips behind my back. 

Soon after, she had a little lean going on. 

 

By 7:30, she was toast. 

I told you dolly couldn't handle her booze. 

 

Mother's day brunch with the munchkin. 

She loves the iPhone. And specifically Google. 

 

After brunch walk on the American River Parkway (of walking on the left fame). 

This is not me.

I wish it was. I totally have kayak envy.

 

How was your weekend? Are you a mom? What did you do for Mothers Day?

Weekly Doings

After an entire week of rain, last week it cleared up and was beautiful. And then it was in the 80s and I sweated my booty off. This week's highs are supposed to be in the 70s which is perfect! Spring has sprung for real, I think! I had a great week doing lots of things outdoors!

First, I did some of my favorite things: 

Coupon clipping, reading and coffee drinking in the sun.

You can't get much better than that. 

The book, Train Like a Mother*, was good. It's about running.

You can read my review here.

I went for a run on the trails near my house. 

One bad thing about Spring? 

Poison Oak. 

Leaves of three; don't touch me! 

 

Then I headed up to my parents house for the weekend. 

There is still snow on the mountain tops! 

I love it there! It's so beautiful!

 

I put my Dad to work, trail running with me. 

I even made him leap small buildings logs in a single bound.

Then he put me to work raking, gardening and towing things. 

Touche father, touche.

My parents made homemade cheese! 

I had to taste it to make sure it wasn't poisonous. 

I haven't died, but I still may need to do further testing to be sure.

 

The apple trees are just getting their flowers and the bees are getting busy! 

It only took me 2,361,384 attempted photos to get this one useable one. 

 

Yesterday, on my way back home, we went for a hike. 

The two hats are my Mom and Aunt, sitting mighty close to the edge of that cliff. 

 

No hike would be complete without an attempt at kite flying. 

Notice I said attempt. 

The wind was not cooperating. 

(I heard a man behind me say, "If you have to run, it's not windy enough". Lazy or smart? You decide)

 

I drove home, which takes about 4 hours, and listened to Ape House on the way, which totally makes the time go by fast (I have been doing it while running too. It's awesome).

*I received Train Like a Mother for free from the authors. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a review.

Have you ever read a running related book? Have you ever had poison oak (or ivy)? Have you ever listened to a book on CD?

Then and Now: March

Looking back on the last year is fun. I like seeing where I was then vs where I am now. Some things are SO different; others are exactly the same. Last year I was traveling around Southeast Asia. I chopped off my hair in Bangkok, I had a few bad days, and I dealt with some money problems. This year I chopped off my hair again, my fire got put out by some hot firemen, and I tried a couple of new things.

Let's take a look at what happened March 2011 vs what happened in March 2012, the Who, the What and the Where.

WHO: 

2011: 

A few monks and a few monkeys

2012: 

Mr. L, Dad, Lucy the dog

WHAT:  

2011 Activities: 

Scuba Diving, Not so much running

2012 Activities: 

Paddle boarding, Running

Running Miles: 

2011: 0 / 2012: 106

March 2011 was a no running month. I did do some hiking and walking, but no running. I am glad that this year I am focusing more on running (as well as still doing some hiking and walking!)

Races: 

2011: 0 / 2012: 6

 Bidwell Classic (Half Marathon)
  Let's Move it Mama's Spring Fever Virtual 10k
Armadillo 10k
Detroit Runner's I Just Felt Like Running Virtual 10k
Spatula Runners Virtual 10k
Diva Dash 5k

2011 Food: 

Fresh Fruit Breakfast and Pad Thai Lunches

2012 Food: 

Veggies!  Oats, fruit, nuts!

Reads:

2011: 8 / 2012: 2

It seems that with an increase in running comes a decrease in reading. I can't say that March's books were all that interesting; maybe that is the reason for less reading. I sometimes try to find other things to do if my book isn't capturing my attention.

WHERE: 

 2011:

Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore

2012:

Oakland, Florida, Kansas City

The verdict? March in both years was pretty good as far as eating and traveling goes, but my activity levels have increased a lot since last March and my reading levels have decreased a lot. I am really having a great month this month visiting lots of friends and family, running and making new meals! I will be happy if April continues along a similar vein.  

What were you doing last March? What things in your life have changed in the last year?

Sick Leave

My plan this weekend was to drive to my parents and stay the night, since I had a race on Saturday morning in their area. Everything was fine until Thursday, when I felt horrible. I was achy and hot and cold and tired. Remember the yoga and weights I did? I thought maybe I was just sore from that. But it didn't get much better, so I decided to go up to my parent's house early, since I wasn't going to get anything done. Soooo...Road trip!

I arrived Thursday evening and got right on the cozy chair with my blanket. It's so nice having Mom around when you are sick, even if she doesn't do anything. Just her presence is enough. She used to feed me chicken noodle soup and orange juice when I was a kid, but this time I was so hungry! Remember I mentioned that? And the not being motivated feeling? Well, now you have it. I thought it was feed a fever, starve a cold, but I was confused; it's actually starve a fever, feed a cold, so I guess I had a cold? Whichever I had, I ate a TON of food!

There's this place on the drive up that started as a Farmer's Market type store that sold whatever fruit and veggies they had in season. Now they have all that, plus candy and tortillas and nuts and pickled things and dried things.  So I stopped and bought a few of each ($0.99/lb for brussels sprouts) and ate most of a two pound bag of dried apples on the drive. I also stopped for a Frappuccino. Once I got home at ate some coconut peanut brittle, a piece of Mexican bread (Pan Dulce) and then dinner. What the heck! I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I am usually not a fan of sweets. At all. Or bread. But these ones are red!

Pan Dulce -- This one is called a Concha

Friday was spent pretty much the same way and so I was wondering if I would feel well enough to run on Saturday. Luckily by Friday night my temperature was down and I decided to play it by ear the next day, but was leaning toward running the race. I know, I know, I need to take care of myself, but I was feeling fine Friday night and was banking on feeling even better the next day.

Saturday dawned bright and clear.

I felt good, so I decided to run. Race recap will be coming in a few days! 

What was your mom's go-to meal/drink for you when you were sick? Do you have a sweet tooth? Have you ever had Mexican bread?

Then and Now: February

Maybe because we had an extra day this year, February was a little long for me. It went by fast but it was a weird month motivation-wise, emotion-wise and mentally in general I guess. This is strange, because I had a month filled with family, friends and good food as well as adequate exercise. However, for some reason, I am feeling a little strange this month. Hopefully March will bring a change in seasons and attitude!

Here is my February recap, the Who, the What and the Where, where I compare what I was doing one year ago to what I am up to now.

WHO:

2011: 

Mr Lovely, 

A Vietnamese Butcher and 

a thousand people, chickens and items on motorcycles.

2012: 

K and A and A, 

The parentals and

the Broski.

(as well as many other friends and family who are not pictured).

WHAT:

2011: 

Squid on sticks, 

Dragonfruit and

Pho for breakfast. 

2012: 

Frjtz fries,

Turkish sampler,

Beet salad and

an apple crepe.

Miles Run: 

2011 = 0 / 2012 =111

Lucky number 111! This is good, because I would like to keep up a base of at least 100 miles a month, since I may sign up for a marathon at some point this year and I want be halfway ready at any time!

Races: 

2011 = 0 / 2012 = 3

Thank goodness for virtual races! They are a fun and inexpensive way to supplement your normal racing schedule!

Bay Breeze Half Marathon (Race #2 of 12 in 2012)

Run For Sherry Virtual Race

Grandma Lill's 95th Birthday Virtual Race

Books Read: 

2011 = 3 / 2012 = 5

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford: This book was about a Chinese boy growing up in Seattle during WWII. He has a Japanese friend, and when she gets sent to the concentration camps, he is devastated. Not only that, but he has to deal with his father's hatred of the Japanese.

Tisha -  Robert Specht: This is a true story about a young teacher in the 1920s who gets sent to a small town in Alaska to teach. She learns quickly that the divide between the whites and Indians is deep, but somehow manages to not bend to the white men's prejudices. Her struggle is moving and her courage is inspiring.

You can see the other books HERE.

WHERE: 

2011: 

Cambodia, 

Vietnam and 

Thailand 

 

2012:

San Francisco, 

Home

What I see by looking back is that I am spending way more time with family and friends this year, which is great. I have also traveled this February, but only within the State, whereas last year I traveled much further. But no matter what year it is, the food is always good!

Do you like squid? Are you loving this February more or less than last February?