Vegas!

I guess better late than never. This blog is going to be heavy on pictures. I met some bunz in Vegas. Who are bunz? Bunz are some GALS i have been friends with online for 4 years. 4 years! that is insane? am i an insane for flying 2.5 hours to meet a bunch of strangers that could murder me? guess so.

well i am happy to report there were no murders or mischief. for those that have online friends it is always so weird when you finally meet in person. it is odd because you know people so well but you have never been in their physical presence. you kinda feel like you should hug but it would be like hugging a co-worker you see and talk to every day which would just be weird. it is an odd feeling.

so we (s&i) flew into Las Vegas on Friday morning. I met J (WAVEDANCER7), A (MARLIE13) , S (WAVEDANCER7'S FRIEND) and H (HOPERY) in our hotel lobby to drive them out to get their race packets. Honestly I was a bit skeptical the race is going to happen at this point due to some weirdness on the internet the week before. the race did happen though as you will see. We drove out to the lake to a little village and they got their packets. we returned back to the hotel and met for dinner at a little Italian place at the Venetian called the Trattoria Reggiano. Tiny restaurant and the Italinan waiter/owner were really concerned about part of our party being late. I took this picture while we were waiting for D (ZIRCARDIA) and her husband/sister to come.

 

Trattoria Reggiano

 While we ate some yummy pasta (well the GALS were carb loading for their marathon) there was a pink gorilla staring us down. A and H love this gorilla. I am not sure of their reasons but who is to question why?

That night the running bunz had to go to bed early. So S and I met up with my parents who also happened to be in Vegas and we did a little gambling (penny slots) in our casino at the MGM Grand. We partied it up and were in bed by midnight bwahahahaha.

My alarm was going off at 430am so I could go and get the halfer bunz to take them out to the race. When i got off the elevator to go into the lobby there was some girls looking a little rough. I noticed they had no shoes on, then i noticed they were not even carrying their shoes. They must have had quite a night when they gave up on their shoes. We went out in 2 groups. H and D went out earlier because they were running the full marathon (crazy bunnies).

So we drove the 45ish minutes out to the race in the dark. Driving through the desert. We found the race and it was still dark. We saw the sunrise in Vegas which is something I will never probably see again. It is really pretty out at Lake Mead. However, if I was ever going to live somewhere warm it would be tropical.

 Derry our friend came out too. 

Guess who isn't running?

This race was just nasty. It started up this huge hill. The whole race was hilly so I felt sorry for the bunz. My calfs would have died on that first incline. What a way to start a race!

J starting the race up that dang hill.

A saying Hi!

So I knew the course would be hard. I brought a book to read but I didn't have coffee so I drove back into Boulder City to get myself a Starbucks. I also stopped briefly at the Hoover Dam which I have been to before. Driving through the desert I kept signing that song "i've been through the desert on a horse with no name..."  while i drove. That killed a bit of time. I came back and sat on the edge of the desert waiting for the return of my friends. Hoping a coyote or rattle snake or some tumble weed has not taken them out. Eventually they all did return and they were all smiling. The finish line is beautiful. You got to run down hill and towards the lake. Very scenic. Here is some pics.

Best Friend Butts

Gangnam Style Finishers

I had fun driving them. Once home everyone around here keeps asking me why I didn't race. Most people assume I am still running. They don't know I stopped. I will be honest. I didn't even really have a twings of "i should be racing today" too while i watched the race. I enjoyed being a spectator.

We didn't wait for H and D to come in for their marathon as it was going to be at least a couple of hours.

At that point we went back to our hotels. S and I went to the pool for a couple of hours. I needed my vitamin D. i was hoping to meet up with my bunz later that night but my back deteriorated throughout the early evening. We went out to Henderson to see my parents for dinner. When we got back to the hotel I hurt bad so I ditched the bunz (sorry gals) and ended up just playing some penny slots again. What show did you end up going to h and a? i don't think you ever said. 

The trip did have one hitch. My BACK. the day before we left I twinged it. It has been a mess since even with chiro. I thought it was getting better than a few days ago again I was cleaning the kitchen table and it went out again. i don't know what is going on. so i have been doing some light cardio when i can. I was sad to miss my boot camp class.

Also this is the first trip that both S and I have left H alone. Yes he has been away from us. For even weeks at a time but usually it is him going somewhere with my parents or something and not us leaving him. He kept calling and calling and calling. S didn't believe me until I showed him my cell with like 8 missed calls on it. I think part of it was boredom. He also doesn't understand the concept of roaming charges. I will be showing him my cell phone bill for sure!

So now I have 2 bunz left to meet (SKYFYRE, BRUIN2).

vegas time is coming

10 days bunnies until i can meet you guys! it is coming. it is coming. hoping your race works out for you and actually happens. if it doesn't happen i still get to meet ya. yeah!!!! don't forget to check out this bunny above at the vegas airport!

i haven't written in over a week. not much to say. working, working out, running h around, shopping, eating, sleeping, watching tv....

last week i finally sucked it up and did the boot camp at the gym i have been walking by for 2 years and watching from the comfort of an elliptical machine lately. my friend kept egging me on to come. it is intense. there is no rest for 75 minutes. basically it is set up in stations which you go through twice. it is 90 seconds at each station. there are no rest stations. examples of stations are trx stuff, ab stuff, cardio stuff, core stuff, kettlebell stuff... i know that was really specific. it was super hard and fun. when i was done i was exhausted. i have only felt that exhausted after running a half marathon. i do not joke. like i need a nap now but omg somehow i am supposed to work today??

the best part of it was i skipped, with a rope, for 90 seconds without stopping or tripping. seriously you don't know how exciting this is. do you remember the 80's? do you remember jump rope for heart?? it was a way of fundraising for the heart and stroke foundation. well my dad was in charge of it for basically all of western canada. he travelled/coached with skipping teams all over north america and did fancy skipping demos for schools and for competitions. stuff like this (video link to youtube with fancy dancy skipping). i on the other hand have never mastered the basic jump. so skipping for 90 whole seconds made me feel like i made my daddy proud. i suddenly felt like 8 year old Jenny. look at me daddy. unfortunately i ended up stopping to change stations and my dream died.  it was very very very exciting though for those 90 seconds.

i plan on doing the class again tomorrow.

anything else going on? hmmmmm.

i have ran twice in the last couple of weeks. running is probably not what i should call it. intervals i guess. both times i felt like my insides were going to rip out. i bet you loved reading that. odd. hurts a ton. "running" for 2 mins and walking for 1 minute. my dog enjoyed it. he is about the only one that did.

i haven't been eating well lately. most days i am over my calorie allowance. i am still tracking. i am proud i am tracking even though i am going over. on days i do not exercise i am always over. i am not that motivated to exercise lately beyond my 30 mins 5x a week most of the time. i am not enjoying spinning lately. the world may have stopped spinning?? however, i am not eating too much so not a huge deal. i am just not planning and planning is the most important part. having leftovers helps too so i stop eating on the run.

ok. i'm out. catcha on the flip side.

i am boring

ok, not much going on to write about around here. last weekend was thanksgiving here and it was a nice weekend. weather was nice, being off work for 3 days was nice, no sport things with h was nice, and time with family was nice.

on saturday we went to the pumpkin patch. first time in my life it wasn't a messy muddy mess. seriously like in 35 years. ok i have not been to the pumpkin patch every year of those 35 but i can say for the last 5 or so it has NEVER been this dry. the weather has been amazing this fall. on monday the kids were actually playing in the sprinkler (24c). crazy. it has been foggy though the last couple of days and the RAIN is supposed to be here by the weekend. so sad. so i am being proactive and planning a sunny holiday for february. i was thinking cancun or cuba again. so was s. now he is thinking orlando which i am not so excited about. i will win. yes i want to disney/universal but i want to relax more. the thought of theme parks, driving, eating, ... makes me anxious. i think cuba/mexico and i sigh with relaxation. i seriously just sighed. i love holidays. if we do orlando i think i want to do it with more people.

i am drinking a herbal mojito tea. i was hoping it would magically transport me to somewhere tropical.
nope, i am still here.

here is a picture from the pumpkin patch. my son and 3 out of 4 of my nephews. this is what happens when there is a gang of boys around. i can not show you the pictures when they included the little pumpkins as another male part of the body. seriously, they are embarrassing.

So bad but SO good

So this is what i am making for dinner. Oh my gawd it is good.  I have been sneaking mouthfuls of it all day and it was yummy BEFORE i put an entire pack of cream cheese in. Next time i will use half a pack or none. I added bacon. Of course i added bacon.

So yummy.  Pinterest link below.

Source: laurabrowe.blogspot.com via Jen on Pinterest

How you doing? (say it like joey, come on i know you want to)

so how am i doing? i am doing well. adapting to working full time still and trying to squeeze life in. we seem to be doing ok. mondays and tuesdays i am now working a couple of hours earlier so that means i can be home for dinner 2/5 week nights a week and home before he goes to be every night. that is definitely a huge bonus. i am enjoying being a supervisor but i would not want to do my normal job full time. i think i would go nuts or nutser? right now i am supervising until the end of november and then we will see where life takes me. wow, that was very chill for me. ommmmmm.

besides that i have not been exercising a ton and when i do it isn't really intense. i did strength train twice this week and i hadn't done that a while. i also did not ride my bike this week but i do not care to discuss that right now. i am walking and doing the elliptical mostly. i am not burning a crazy amount of calories or working out nearly as intensely as i used to. you know what i have noticed? i am not having huge hunger cravings nor junk cravings. i am able to stay in my range of 1200 net calories most days. when i used to exercise the way i did i would think about food all the time. ALL the time. now i do believe part of this is because i am working all day for 5 days and i am not home alone and somewhat bored so turn to food.

nothing else really exciting going on. trying to figure out our vegas trip. s keeps flopping back and forth if he is coming or not. then he was going to go with a friend for the same weekend but not stay with me? weird? i refuse to sleep in a room with another strange man cause i have never even met this dude. i would like him to come with me and when i am spending time with my girls he can spend the time with his guys but i would like to come home to him at some point. oh, vegas is dumb expensive on the weekend. seriously. 2 nights is going to cost us what 4 weekday ones usually cost us.

we are also looking at a trip south in February. likely cancun or mayan riviera. however, i found a package to panama that looked pretty cool and was on sale. only issue flight to panama is almost 8 hours compared to 5.5-6 to cancun. i haven't been to either but panama obviously feels more foreign. not sure if it matters if we mainly stay on the resort anywhoo.

below i put another picture from Kauai which i stole from s's facebook page. it was taken at a place called Queens Bath. very pretty. pictures never do places justice.

tata for now! gotta go finish cleaning my oven. i am using a way i found on pinterest.

Source: somewhatsimple.com via Jen on Pinterest

change is hard

why is change so hard sometimes? i am not even talking about crazy big life changing experiences.

 having a baby?
getting married (ok i never actually bothered to get married)?
moving?

the above all are easy peasy compared to say slightly changing your everyday routine.

today i went out for a bike ride before work. i rode (walked up the hill) with h to school and then off i went. last night i preplanned my route. i decided i was going to try something new. i usually do an out and back route for a few reasons; easy to calculate time/distance, flat farm road with little to no traffic, and it is predictable. the only time i usually deviate from this route is when i need to find a hill cause we have no hills close to where i live so my 'hill' is going over a bridge. ok, back on track. so i started out, same route i normally do, when i get to the point where i normally would turn around but i am 'planning' on continuing i start to feel physically ill, nervous, panic, resisting the urge to just turn around... i actually physically stop, get off my bike, 'stretch' for a moment before i suck it up and continue on my way. yes there is more traffic the way i continued but there is bike lanes and the roads are still flat farm roads. i survived, i didn't die, i got home and still got to work on time.

oh yeah, i wore gloves this morning. the weather is dry and clear but it was about 10c while i was riding. when i got home i took a hot long shower. i haven't had to do that since i stopped running and the weather has warmed. fall is officially here.

side note on running: i have run (intervals) on the treadmill a couple of times. i am guessing as the weather gets yucky i will probably start running a bit on the treadmill. it would be silly for me not to since i have a treadmill at home which i pass by every time i go up and down the stairs. i am not planning on counting any running miles or doing any races soon. running for now is just a cardio means to an end.

i am still tracking. my bunz who followed me to myfitnesspal are super motivating. i am eating within range most days. still have not seen a real 'weight loss' yet. sigh. going to keep plugging along. this week i will be working out 5 days in a row. i will likely take saturday/sunday off. next week may be a bit different as some days i will be starting at 930am so i can't really workout before work. i guess i could but getting up before 7am is just ridiculous.

Seriously ridiculous.     

i made a yummy quesadilla for dinner tonight at work. so yummy. i forgot to take a picture before i ate it. it wasn't complicated at all: flour tortilla, marble cheddar cheese, orange bell peppers, 1 chicken thigh and mrs dash chipolte something seasoning. really yummy though. trust me. yummy.

I know, I know

I know I haven't blog in a while. Kauai was wonderful. It depresses me cause I am not there. I would move there in an instant. I don't want to tell you too much cause I don't want to let the world know how great and wonderful it is. I do not want it to change and end up like Waikiki or even Maui. It is mine. All mine. Bwahahahahaha

I am also waiting for my parents to return from Hawaii because they have a bunch of pictures I would like to include.

I am writing this from a massage chair while getting a pedicure. Whoa it is bouncy. I am going black with sparkles.

My work/union was on a one day strike. I walked for 4 hours this morning. I was exhausted after. I had planned on a long bike ride but I ended up just doing 4 miles with the dog trailing behind me.

Been tracking food. Exercising consistently and I am gaining weight. Seriously annoying. Not going to give up.

I see Miss Amee has blogged. I need to go read that.

Laters