Real Simple!

From the pages of the latest issue of Real Simple--Turkey Meatloaf!!



I make a very good meatloaf already, but I liked the idea of putting in spinach. It was quite delicious.

Lemony shrimp with white beans and couscous on page 184 was also very good and very fast to make.

Carlsbad Pictures

Walking to the start.



Frontrunners, courtesy of R. Quite a difference in form compared to the runner in the next photo. You can be sure they still looked like that as they crossed the finish line, less than an hour later.



Chugging along, with less than 1/2 mile to go.



If you can pick out where I am, on your right, you can see that my arms are working. My real time was 2:23, not the "clock time" 2:31 showing. I was in wave #4.



Homeward bound!

Half a marathon is better than no marathon at all

That's the first part of the Triple Crown, with the LaJolla Half in April and the America's Finest City in August yet to go.

I honestly don't feel like 13.1 miles is that far, because I've been training for it. I also don't think that I should've had as much trouble with it as I did. Man, it was painful, mentally and physically. At about mile 7, I seriously wished I could just stop. But I DIDN'T! I kept pressing forward and crossed the finish line faster than my last 1/2 marathon, a little over five years ago. I even had enough in me to kick the last 100 meters, arms pumping, knees lifted.

At the risk of it seeming trite, I have to express my gratitude to Heavenly Father for giving me a strong body and stubbornness to push through tough things. He also blessed me with the time to be able to train for this as well as a great support network. Oh, and for making such a beautiful place as Carlsbad, California, and providing us with the perfect weather this morning.

Thanks also goes to:

RMB for getting up at 5:30 with me to drive me to Carlsbad, hanging out for 2.5 hours with nothing to eat or do but still having a good attitude about it, and for giving me that last jolt of energy at the end.

Disturbed, the Marley family, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and the Magliozzi brothers for entertaining me--particularly Disturbed for giving me a push at a critical juncture.

The good people who make Cytomax, and the inventors of the iPod and the Garmin wrist GPS.

My current coach, Lee Ann, and my past coach, Ramon. Lee Ann planned out pretty training runs the last two months, and Ramon taught me to "Behave!" That means that you don't waste energy charging up hills, being exuberant with your movements through the aid stations, and high-fiving people along the route.

Jeanette for yelling, "You're not tired!" at o-dark-thirty, three days a week.

Past running partners Jaime, Amberly, Jane and Melissa. Remembering runs with them almost made me forget about the pain I was trying to push through.

Running water for hot baths and showers. (Nope, Steph, I didn't have the courage to take a cold bath. I'll regret it tomorrow.)

In-n-Out for making such a yummy post-race meal.

Gee, I thought of so many other things to be grateful as I was playing the Grateful Game miles 7 through 13, but I guess I'm too tired right now to remember them.

More than just a housepainter,

Andy is an artist. Behold our new living room fireplace...

before:

after:


A portrait of the artist and his helper:
(l) Jason (r) Andy

"Good one, God!"

said Jason the Painter about the sunset tonight, as seen from out back balcony.

Starlite, Starbrite

We ate at Starlite tonight. Both The Seamstress and The Housepainter recommended it, and now we do, too. It's another place that has delicious, local, in-season food.

I had a salad with crispy chickpeas and a Moroccan-spice dressing, a sausage plate with a delicious pork roast reduction and a delicious virgin cocktail with ginger beer, bitters and lime. Everything had a distinctive taste, but nothing clashed.

Dessert was the best! A toffee cookie ice cream sandwich with pistachios!! I will be dreaming about that for years to come and scheming how I can make it at home.

More Positive Thoughts

I thought of another good thing about Salt Lake: Settebello pizza!

Found Objects

I've decided to take time every day to clean out closets, drawers, etc., in the weeks before we move. Tonight, I took about 45 minutes and went through the top shelf of my closet. Well, my closet in our bedroom, that is. Not "my closet" in the office. I divided things into toss, DI and garage sale sections. Here are some of my more interesting finds:

$0.67
1 Pottery Barn gift card with $8.75 left on it--it went toward a gravy boat and ladle
3 bracelets, one of which I have been seriously looking for
1 bottle of black shoe polish (Oh yay! I needed to polish several pairs of black shoes. Oh darn! There's a crack in the bottle.)
3 tins of foot powder
10 bottles of hotel shampoo
1 love letter from my husband
6 passport-sized photos
10 million tampons, or so it would seem

...and all at once, it was summer again.

The high temperature for today in SD was 83 F.

Two Thumbs Up

I highly recommend the recent documentary, "Man On Wire", about Philippe Petit and his 1974 wire walk between the Twin Towers. It's an interesting story, well-told with interviews, archival footage and reenactments.

Looking Forward

Rowdy and I had pizza today at Pizza Port in Solana Beach. So many things about that caused great wistfulness in both of us about leaving here. We had to play the "What about moving to Salt Lake will be good or fun?" game.

Here's what we came up with (in no particular order except for #1):

1. Being able to see J, K and M much more often.
2. Having the opportunity to be closer to extended family members, both on the Dahlstrom/Bright and Bricco sides, as well as still being somewhere that will bring my parents and sisters to visit.
3. Being near so many of my dear friends.
4. BYU football. (Okay, and the U, too. Whatevs.)
5. Cultural events, including being able to see the Babidges in performance.
6. Outdoor activities, like snowboarding, mountain biking, hiking, and climbing.
7. World SuperBike Championships and Miller Motorsports park being so close for Rowd.
8. Rowdy going to school and all of the fun and exciting things that go with that.
9. Hopefully a lateral pay move for me, but a lower cost of living than SD.
10. New and different work experiences for me.
11. Having a shopping accomplice in Lezlie. (Sorry Ter!)
12. Using the decorating principles we learned from Christine in setting up the new house.
13. "Training" at altitude.
14. Four seasons.
15. Going to Conference in person. Can you believe that in eight years of living there, I never went to Conference? I'd like to do that just once. Being able to watch it at home in my jammies, eating cheese toast and drinking apple juice is really the best way, though.

Yeah, still working on the list. Feel free to give your suggestions!

Wheels in Motion

R got an exciting email yesterday--he's been granted an interview for the U of U PA program!! I'm so excited for him. He'll knock their socks off.

I have started applying for jobs in Salt Lake. Whew! It's kind of scary to go from somewhere I'm very happy to the unknown. We just feel like it's so important to be a short drive from the kids at this point in their lives that it's worth facing some professional uncertainty for a little while.

We're going to keep our house here and just rent in Salt Lake. I know there are some amazing rental deals on very nice, newer homes in the south end of the Valley, but it will be easier on R if we live close to the U. If any of you know of a suitable home that will be available sometime around March or April for rent, please let us know.

R's in SLC this weekend to ordain K, who just turned 16. I love that K's worthy and willing to be advanced in the Priesthood. He and his dad went to jiujitsu today. He's definitely planning on keeping up with that when we move and R can go with him every time. And he's finally putting the effort into his schoolwork and getting the kinds of grades we all knew he was capable of.

Our 14 yo decided that the fun thing he wanted to do when he next visited us was go skydiving. Now, most moms would just freak out at that, but I'm actually quite proud of him for wanting to do something so adventurous. I know that his dad won't let anything bad happen to him, and it's a big self-esteem booster to take a chance and do something well-out of your comfort zone. M also bought an Italian Book of Mormon while they were picking up some Primary stuff for me at the Distribution Center. That's also pretty gutsy, since he doesn't currently speak Italian beyond, "Il conto, per favore." I think it shows faith that someday he'll be given the opportunity to use that Book of Mormon to share the gospel.

The girl has shown up all four of her parents by racking up the highest ACT score in the family. Way to go, J!

Finally...how 'bout them Chargers?