Lost Coast

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You may be familiar with the Lost Coast Brewery? NO? Well, shame on you. It's in Eureka, CA, which if you don't know where that is, is in Humboldt County, yes the one of the legendary weed, and also the home of CSU, Humboldt. Also, another random factoid: do you remember the scene in Return of the Jedi when they are in the forest with the Ewoks? That is Fern Canyon, and it too is in Humboldt County. And it is gorgeous!

The reason I picked this as my beer of choice for Kim's blog hop is that, as you may know, I went home last weekend/week. So my this weeks Look What I Did Last Week (<----- click here for my older beers and posts) has a lot of California in it. So, get your beer in hand and get comfortable!

The big event and reason I went to CA was...this little girl's 1st birthday! How exciting! 

She is my best friend's daughter, aka, my neice. Can't you see the resemblance?

In honor of her birthday, my friend's MIL wanted to throw her a big party. With hundreds of people, and decorations and favors and food and...(you are probably wondering WHY, but this my friend is another story in itself!)

So we made 300 cake pops. No joke. 

You can find the recipe HERE. 

We had a few casualties. What do you expect? The poor thing was like, "Nobody sees me as an individual! They just want to use me! Don't they see I am more than just a sweet little ball of strawberry? Cake pops have feelings too! There is nothing left for me in this life!" 

Plop.

 Just a very tiny part of our 300 pop assembly line. A.Very.Small.Part. (it took 3-6 of us 12-14 hours to make all 300, roll them, dip them, sprinkle them, wrap them, tie them and label them). 

Then I got up really early  the next morning and snuck out for a (very awesome 6 mile, 60 degree) run before anyone could make me wrap another cake pop (or dip. or sprinkle. or roll. or.....PLOP!) 

But they found me. And made me start helping with the decorations.

See those small balloons? I tied all those balloons. I am not exaggerating. 20 tables, 3 balloons each (the big ones, praise the lord, were self closing) plus extras for the porch and the gift table etc. My fingers were sore for days. I could barely open a beer. Kidding. This was a booze free party - I am not sure why...is there something wrong with an alcohol fueled 1 yr old birthday party?

Then I went home for a couple of days so I could get a vacation from the party! I did not take these while driving. Okay, maybe I did.

I took advantage of my favorite time of year at home and one of my favorite fruits by picking some blackberries (YUMMY! pick one, eat one, pick one, eat two...etc) and making blackberry cobbler! The recipe will be posted later this week.

(ps I can't believe I paid $3 for a tiny tub of these at the farmers market. If only they were ripe every time I went home!)

I went to visit my oldest friend. Not oldest like she's 100 years old, but the one I have known the longest. Remember this post about my first day of school -- she's the one with the Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox. I was so jealous of that box. It was metal and her mom gave her way cooler things in her matching thermos. Way. Cooler. Now she's a mom and will soon be packing a way cool lunch for her little boy.

I cut off her head. Hehe. It's all about the kids.

I ate so many straight-from-the-garden items. I was in heaven! 

Grape Tomatoes -- I eat them like candy!

Crenshaw Melon

Yellow Zucchini

I forgot what this one is called. Weird flower shaped squash.

 I took advantage of the nice cool weather and ran up some hills. 

You can read more about that HERE.

Yes, that is right! And it says 60! Wonderful!

I hung out with my Mom, drinking coffee and waching....

My favorite coffee cup

....blue-jays eat the cat food. I was seriously only about 2 feet from him. Cheeky little...

 I miss home already!

Dog Rock

Don't worry California. I will be back soon! 

 How was your week? What did you get up to? 

Are you enjoying the last of your summers? 

This post is part of these hops:

Back to The Basics

I grew up in a small town. When I say small, I don’t mean thousands, or even hundreds of people. I mean tens. Barely. My elementary school was a tiny school with only two classrooms and was the same one my dad went to. I believe that when I started going there, there were approximately 50 kids total, split into K-3 and 4-6.

I remember my first day of school, standing there with my best friend and her strawberry shortcake lunch box, waiting for the car that would come and pick us up. Yup, we had a car, because there were only three kindergarteners and we went to school later than the older kids.

Me and My Bestie - First Day of School

My first teacher was a hippy. Well, it was 1983 and there was some carryover from the 70s, I suppose. She played the acoustical guitar for music hour. We sang Joni Mitchell, The Beatles and Anne Murray songs. I still know all the words to the Yellow Submarine. She ate something that at the time I thought was the strangest thing ever – seaweed! I now know this as sushi.  Our “Christmas” play was “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. I played a key role; I was a branch.

The cook was named Bobbi. I will never forget her – she used to check to make sure we ate all of our lunch. We would try to trick her by spreading things out, mixing them around or flattening them down, but she was never fooled. We also used to dare each other to mix whatever was left over all together and eat it. Gross. I think this is where I developed my strong dislike of milk. Have you ever eaten mashed-potato-pizza-green bean-milk?

I looked forward to school. My best friend was there; I liked learning. I enjoyed the social interaction and the games. We built forts out of pine needles and played with our care bears. We played kick ball and steal the bacon and tag. The older kids chased the younger ones around, either trying to beat them up or kiss them. I know it sounds weird and I actually don’t remember being kissed, only being chased around with the threat of being kissed.

We used to play on the flipping bar! Remember the flipping bar? I could swing around with one leg and no hands. I think about that now and it makes my tummy hurt. I can’t believe I did that. It’s so dangerous! Do they still have the flipping bar in schools?

I have many good memories of my school days. I always looked forward to going back to school. I think back on that time and wonder: are things inherently the same now? We have so much more technology and kids are being crammed into public schools. Will kids have good memories of their school days when they are my age?

Do you have good memories of your school days? What kind of lunchbox did you have? (I had a care-bears lunchbox.) Do you have kids now? Are they excited to go back to school or do they dread it? 

This post is linked up with:

This weeks theme: Back To School

Running Amongst Mountains

Yeah, I said "amongst". Shoot me. It sounds fancier.

You have all probably watched Sound of Music, and if you have, you have heard this song a bunch of times:

"Climb every mountain, search high and low
Follow every byway, every path you know.
Climb every mountain, ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow, 'til you find your dream!"

If you haven't, Shame on You! You need to Go and watch it RIGHT NOW! 

This week, I went home for some much needed R&R and wonder of wonder, joy of joys, cooler weather. Weather I can run in without dying! Weather I, wait for it, WANT to run in. I know. Crazy, huh?

Since I started running more often (and longer distances), I have lived in the hottest, most humid places you could live in the US. Florida and Louisiana to name a couple (and the worst). And remember how I was saying in this post that sometimes I don't like to run. Well, now I see why. I have been running in the wrong places.To "find my dream" I had to go back home to the "path I know". And it was great.

The only problem about where my parents live is that there is not a very good place to run. They live right on a (scenic) highway in the middle (literally) of the mountains. So, the choices are...the highway, where there are blind curves and NO shoulder or...straight up the hill via old logging roads. So, up I went.

Oh, there IS another problem. Snakes. As you may remember in this post, the last time I went for a walk in the area, I ran into a not-so-little friend. Luckily, I know what to avoid. Unfortunately, where I was running, some of those things were unavoidable. Snakes love to hang out in all these places, so I watched my step here!!

In addition to having to be on snake lookout the entire time, the run was HARD. Luckily it was not too hot!! My total elevation gain was 1375 feet.

The mountains were brutal. The road I took was an old logging road and was not in the best condition. It was very rocky, so not only was I worried about snakes, but I also feared I would twist my ankle.

 I went pretty high!

To get to the top, there are something like 39 switchbacks. I DID NOT get to the top!

Here are a couple Google Earth Images just becuase it's kind of fun that you can see a) the road, b) all the switchbacks and c) the mountains! I made three markers (which turned out kind of small). One for the top of the mountain (~4500 ft), one for how high I ran (~3100 ft) and one for where I started (~2000 ft) What's really sad is that 4 years ago there was a massive fire on the same side of the river that I ran on and so now all the trees are burnt (these images are from 2006).

(click on each photo to enlarge)

(click on each photo to enlarge)

I miss the pines!

So to butcher paraphrase the words of the Rodgers and Hammerstein,

"I Climb every mountain, I search high and low (for snakes)
I Follow every byway switchback, every path you I know (while trying not to trip on rocks).
I Climb every mountain, I ford every stream (while waiting for a snake to jump out and bite me),
I Follow every rainbow unmaintained logging road, 'til you I find your my dream second wind!"

Can anyone tell me -- when running hills, what is the "normal" elevation gain? What is the normal procedure? I have never done hill training runs before. This one was kind of forced, and I had to take it pretty slow! And most importantly, have you seen the Sound of Music?

This post is linked up with Jill at:

My Seven Links

I know everyone has already done this and I am way behind on the times. That is okay. The town I grew up in just stopped pegging their pants last year.

This is hard, since I have a lot of posts and some of them were written 5 years ago! Also, I know that over the years, this blog, and I with it, have changed. So, some of the ones I wrote in the beginning had a good idea but bad delivery, or they were good but nobody read them.  Also, many of them were more like journal entries than crowd pleasers. However, it was kind of fun to go back and re-read some of my older posts, trying to find a good post to link to. This idea originated here. I am not following the rules. I have not been nominated. I will not nominate anyone. If you want to do this, do it. I give you my nomination now. Do it.

This challenge asks you to identify these 7 links:

Your most beautiful post: This one is hard. Is it referring to a photo, wise words or some deep insight from within? I love taking photos and I love Where I Live so that is probably the most beautiful post(s) I have for you.

Your most popular post: I guess this one is easier because it is quantifiable. If it goes by page hits, it’s Chopped (see below for link). However, if it is down to the number of comments, it is. It’s a Wrap tied with Why I Blog.

Your most controversial post: None of mine are really controversial (ie. sparked a huge debate between followers and me or followers themselves.) However, some happened during controversial times in my life, and during controversial times in my mind (sometimes different times, funnily enough) On Being in Limbo was about a controversy within.  

Your most helpful post; Essential Travel Items or Why Weight? which is a tutorial on calories and eating.

A post whose success surprised you:  Chopped, which is the one I wrote when I decided to go from over a foot of hair to basically none, in the name of Locks of Love. I think this one gets a lot of hits because it comes up the most on search engines, because for some reason people search things like “cut my hair”, “chop my hair” and “locks of love” more often than anything else. (side note of interest: I also “chopped” my hair in 2008 and wrote about it. This post was not popular at all. This goes to show that sometimes it depends on which words and phrases you use).

A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved:  I am Not a Plastic Bag. I wrote this when I was just writing to write and nobody read it and I didn’t care. But I had a lot of fun writing it and I thought it was well thought out and researched. I just didn’t have an audience then. C’est la vie!

The post that you are most proud of: I really like writing about Travel. I enjoy seeing new things and remarking upon them. The post called Kung Fu Fighting that I wrote about braving the trains in China got comments from my mom, who almost never comments. So I was proud that day. (I am also proud of Racing For Your Life because I entered it into a blog contest and won 3^rd place!)

What is YOUR favorite post of yours? Or if you want to answer any other categories and put the link in the comments, I would love to see what you think your 7 links are. If you have already done this meme, tell me what your second place links w

Sierra Nevada!!

This post is brought to you by my home town brew, Sierra Nevada. The reason for this is...I am home! In the Sierra Nevadas! (<------- PS if you have never been to the Sierras, click this link and look to see how beautiful they are. And then come and visit. You can stay with my Mom.) 

As you are reading this, I am probably stuffing my face and hanging out with friends. So, kick back, grab a beer and join me for Kim's Grab a Beer and Look What I Did Last Week series. 

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On Sunday Morning, I got up for a 6 am run.

Man was I glad I did, becuase THIS is a way better temperature for a run. 

(insert obligatory weekly picture of a car thermometer here)

It took this many hair dohickeys to keep my hair out of my face. 

But I ended up having a great run!

See those spikes? They are my water stops. 4 water stops, 4 spikes.

I tried to eat healthy.
This day I did good.

The last farmer's market tomato. Sad.

This day I did not. This was the day of the rodeo and...as much as I would like to blame the funnel cake, you can probably see that I had a few beers. And a glass of wine.  Just those alone were almost as much as the food calories I had that day. Eeek. AND I did not go running. Also, pay no attention to my strange meals. I was trying to clean out the fridge before going home.

Some coworkers and I went to the Current River to go tubing. On the way there we stopped at a gas station/mini mart/fishing tackle store/CASINO? Yes. Casino.

I got the nicest card from my friend which totally made my day. Also she drew this, which I think kind of looks like a butt. Yes, I am twelve. 

The time capsule item got finished (more on that later!) and wrapped and made it to California. 

I went to the rodeo. You can hear more about that HERE. 

I would like to be THAT photographer!

There was also a concert. 

This guy told me to "talk to the hand".
Step off, dude. 
I ain't playin'.

How was your week? Did you have a good one?

What a Difference a Day Makes

I run, but I am not a runner.

I wear a ratty old t-shirt; I don't have the newest lululemon quick-wicking, poly-propylene, fire-resistant $78 dollar t-shirt. I still struggle a lot. I lack motivation. I dread going out some days, even though I feel great once I am done. I still think, as I am running, about how much I would like to walk. This happens all the time. But I always tell myself, "just one more mile, just one more mile."

And that is how I run. One mile at a time, for 3 miles, or 6 miles, or 8 miles. Or 13.1 miles. And someday I will run for 26.2 miles. And then I might move to Turkey and lie on the beach all day eat dolmas and hummus and never move again.

On Saturday, my thermometer said it was 93 degrees. While this is hot, I have been running in the evenings most of the time and it is generally around 90 degrees then, so I thought nothing of it. I went out and did what Hal Higdon calls an "easy pace run", where you run only 3 miles at your half marathon pace. Sounds like a cinch, right? But I was dying. Literally. The sweat/humidity was dripping off of me; my face was the color of lobster bisque; I was panting like a Pomeranian. It was Hell.

So, my next day on the Hal Higdon schedule of Hell was Sunday, the long run day, and my goal was 8 miles. After my 3 mile "easy pace" run, I was sitting in the car crying/hating running with the AC blowing full speed on my face and as my brain cooled off a bit, I (got really smart and) decided that in order to not fall over dead of heat exhaustion and to keep myself from hating running completely from now on, the long run would have to be at a cooler time. So, along came the 5:30 am wake up plan. This is all well and good, except that Sunday is my ONE chance to sleep in. Out the window that went in the name of running. Ciao sleep (sorry mommies, I know you are thinking, "Dude, I never get any sleep and this girl is complaining about one little Sunday morning. Boo hoo her")!

Sunday morning I got up, had a cup of coffee and some breakfast and hit the trail running. Literally. It was 78 degrees outside. I ran. I kept waiting for the feeling to come back, you know, the one that I have had pretty much EVERY DAY that I have run in MO, but it didn't. I ran and was happy, not too sore, not too hot and not feeling like walking! One hour and 18 minutes later I was done. It wasn't even 8 o'clock yet. I was already done.

And I felt good. Not just physically good, and believe me, I felt physically GREAT, but mentally good. I felt confident that when my race comes in the fall, I am going to nail it. I am going to finish, not with dread in my heart but with a good feeling. I have been doubting that a lot. The runs I have been doing have been draining, even the short ones. And, while I may not be running at my goal pace (9 minute miles for a half marathon, which would bring me to a sub 2 hour half), I am feeling better about myself and my running.

Even if I am not yet a runner.

This post is a Fitness Friday linkup with Jill at: 

I have a couple of questions for the more seasoned runners (or smart people in general!). One: My iPod keeps dying. I think it's from the humidity. Does anybody know a way to protect it/fix it? Two: The strap that keeps my iPod on my arm is giving me chafe. Three: I have never used Gu or any of those supplements. What is your take on that? Any tips?