the may running recap.

total run mileage:50.63 miles
highest weekly run mileage: 14.14 miles
# runs: 12
# rest days: 13

# xtraining workouts: 7

favorite run: the midnight 5k in st george! it was my friend tarmishas 1^st 5k and we had a blast driving up for the evening :)

finishers!

most hardcore run: my usual runner group route about a week and a half ago. it was the first run over 100* and i didn’t drink enough that day to be prepared. but i made it, as slow as it was, ha!

current reads: i finished 2 this month, that hasn’t happened in a really long time, dang grad school.

1.   last night at chateau marimont by lauren weisberger. i downloaded it while in england but didn’t get a chance to really dive in. i finally started and finished, really good! i love her books, such a good author!

2.   fifty shades of grey by e.l. james. yes, you read that correctly, i of all people read this book. with all the buzz and the rumor its turning into a movie i couldn’t resist any longer. i legit finished it in 3-days. i just had to know what happened.

current shame-inducing guilty pleasure: see #2 above! if you didn’t know i am a bit of a prude and was pretty much blushing the entire book. but seriously, good, put it on your list! and by that i mean the 2 that follow it as well, oops.

source

current obsession: planning. weird i know, i mean graduations, trips, events, days. i just have an odd need to plan things lately. i kind of feel like im planning so i can figure out when the down time is.

current drink: water and sangria hehe. it feels like forever since i could have a drink whenever i had a whim, so i had a glass or 2. delicious!

yum!

current song: i wont give up by jason mraz. love :)

current wish-list: new running clothes. it might be time to update my running wardrobe soon, i mean with all my magic money ;)

current need: to make some race decisions for the rest of the summer before nike. i had this great plan to be low-key and do a few 5ks and 10ks while kicking off a new training plan. but some habits die hard and i found myself trolling the ½ marathon race websites lately to find one before then. oh goodness im addicted.

current triumph: i am officially in my 7^th class for my grad school program! my finish date is january 5^thand i cannot wait to finish. im also finding it hard to believe that i am already 60% done!

current bane of my existence: the return of the summer heat, yuck. we are already under an excessive heat warning. yesterday morning on my way to work it 90* at 1030am, gross!

current goal: keep myself busy. we have some family things kicking into high gear and i need to keep moving so i don’t dwell. this week i have been doing great with it, heres to continuing!

current indulgence: well not at the moment, but this month i did overdue it a little bit with my diet. nothing crazy, but i had fast food more than i should have in a week. or that extra glass of tea sounds so much better than water. the 2^nd half of the month has been much better than the 1^st couple of weeks.

i went to san genarro fest with tiffany,
amazing.

oh yeah those are brownies and strawberries!

current excitement: nwm. it is quite far away i know, but i am already scoping out hotels, tours, sights, bay cruises:) i need something to look forward too! 

the havasupai hiking/camping adventure part 1.

since i have known richard he has always talked about this camping trip his best friend mike takes every year to the grand canyon. and how bad he has always wanted to go. then i met mike, and he started talking about the same think trying to convince me to go. he showed me beautiful pictures and talked about all the fun they have. last year mike tried to recruit us, but it didnt work out with our florida vacation. as soon as we got back though mike went to work on us again. richard was totally on board but i wasnt. i love the outdoors, im a runner for goodness sake. however i am not a hiker. lets go play in the park or at the beach? i am there. lets go hike a mountain for fun? see you at the bottom with lunch. then there was the camping aspect. i grew up camping as a kid, and always had a good time. but my version of camping is driving to the campsite, taking your cooler full of alcohol and hamburgers/hotdogs, and having flush bathrooms somewhere close. but richard really wanted to go and wasnt going to leave me behind. so i finally gave in and said i would go. i had noooo idea what i was getting myself into.

we started planning in about february for our trip in the middle of june. i started hearing more details about this "adventure." like how you need to take all your food with you, that means freeze dried. there is a 10 MILE hike to the campsite. there is no fire. you need a headlamp to see at night. i will admit, it was starting to freak me out. what was i doing? then came this list, and i wondered even more.

after we got back from nashville, lora volunteered to take me shopping so we could start putting things together. i thought this was a little early, but figured it was good info. we started at rei to get an idea of the right size things for me. how big of a pack do i need, what size shoes do i wear in hiking boots, how much are camelbaks there? it started out easy enough, then i started to get more and more overwhelmed. the pack was $250, but apparently i can get one online for about $30. how does that make sense?! the hiking shoes were at least $120. the five finger sandal shoes that i needed were over $100. i had to start buying all these things like the next day and in all the same brands she suggested.

im supposed to carry that for 10 miles??

i always wanted to try these!

 then we stopped at walmart to look at their camping things. this was equally as overwhelming! she wanted me to buy everything that night. there were 2 problems with that plan. 1 richard was going to question every single thing i bought because he wasnt there to get the story. not something i was willing to go through so early. and most importantly 2 i wasnt willing to turn my dining room into camping central for the next month and a half.

i went home that night completely freaked out about what i was getting myself into. i never thought about getting out of it, i just wasnt sure i was going to be able to handle it. plus there were other outside voices telling me there was no way i was going to be able to handle this trip. once richard got home he calmed me down a little bit and i started to feel better. i did just keep thinking to myself though, i really dont want to go. and really hoped that feeling would go away as the trip got closer.

richard and i went shopping a few weeks later at sports authority. instantly i started feeling soo much better! we found good hiking shoes for only $60 and sandals for $30. we talked to one of the associates there and he gave us really good insight to the trip. he had done one similar a few years back and had some great advice. i finally admitted to richard that night over dinner why i had been a little crazy about the things to buy. i was getting so much "advice" from other people about the exact thing to buy that i was afraid if he bought anything different they would blame me. he told me that we were gonna take the "advice" and use as much as we could, but also make some of our decisions and stand by them. this trip was really startin to put me on edge! thank goodness i had richard who was just so excited that he wasnt going to let anything get him down about it.

not sure these are up to my fashion code...

the trip started drawing closer and closer and our dining room had started to transform. also friends were starting to drop like flies. mike had built in a buffer for this to happen, as it did every year. it all sounds like a good idea 6 months ago when we they didnt have to buy things or the reality hadnt actually set in that they really had to do it. if i was going to back out, now was the time. i decided i was in for the long haul. i had actually scored a pack from a friend's family that had done this trip multiple times! richard had also scored a pack from someone not able to go on the trip. we had also been able to borrow someones tent and 1 sleeping bag. that meant we only had to buy one. we had both bought our shoes and sandals. things were finally starting to fall into place.

the week we were going to leave was upon us and there were changes left, right, and center. our original plan was to drive together with matt since he was driving solo. no point in taking more cars than necessary. then 5 days before we leave matt completely pulls out because there is no camp fire at the site. now the 2 of us were left scrambling a bit to tune up richards car so we could take his. we then went over to get richards pack from mike and loras house and to start making final plans. when we got there lora was not lookin so good. turns out she had tweaked the hell out of her back earlier in the week walking her 2 60 pound dogs when another one had gotten out. she could barely drive to work across town she was in so much pain. with that injury we werent sure she was going to be able to go at all! we made plans to have mike and lora come by thursday night to help us pack since we had no idea what we were doing. richard wouldnt be there, but we could put his together no problem.

thank goodness they came over to help! our packs would have been all kinds of honked up without their help. lora also told me she wasnt going to be able to go:( we were finally going and she wasnt able too. the only plus was that we were able to borrow some of her things. this way richard and i could return a few things we bought and save some extra cash. we finished up and decided to meet the next day at their house about 545p so the 3 of us were going to drive together.

things for my pack.

things for richards pack. i think he needs some more things??

having our packs put together the night before was genius! when i got home friday from work we basically put our last things together and ate something fast before we were out the door to grab mike. he added a few things to richards pack that he was missing, like a sleeping pad, and we were ready to go. that morning was the first time i had woken up and was actaully excited about going. its like we had done soooo much talking and planning and wondering what if, that it had taken away from the fun. it was too late to make tons of changes or wonder what we missed. there were plenty of people going so if we did forget something, we could borrow from the group. it was finally time to go!

ready or not i was going!

the birthday bash.

birthdays are one of my favorite times of the year.  mostly because you get to focus on one person and make sure that their day is the most special of all.  i had plans this year of doing nothing less than the best for richards birthday.  this would be my 2nd year planning his birthday festivities and i was ready for the challenge. 

boys are often not much help in birthday party planning for themselves.  they seem to have no opinion other than to have fun and be the ones to just show up.  i learned this the previous year, thank goodness i had great help.  this year seemed to be a little tougher though.  richard was definitely starting to struggle with the idea of turning 29 and i was completely unsure of how to party plan around that.  do we go big because this is the last of the 20's?  do we go small and save all the really big stuff for next year when he hits the new age group?  quite the dilemma.

earlier in the year he had told me that he would love to do something revolving around an outing for his birthday.  a concert, vacation, or a sporting event for example.  soon after we found out that flogging molly would be coming to las vegas the day after his birthday and it was a friday night.  we knew that we wanted to do something interactive during the day with the guys on saturday and then go out that night.  he had already decided to take that friday off for whatever was planned, so it was working out perfect.  after much debate and research, theres really not much to do in las vegas for locals, richard decided on paintball saturday, dinner at buca di beppo, and then heading to fremont street.  we made a reservation for dinner and were excited because with a larger group we could do family style.  and found a paintball place that was decently priced for rental, paint, and play deals. 
 
i had decided what i was going to buy richard for his birthday months ago when i was looking for valentines presents.  it was too big for the day of love and honestly not mushy enough, there i said it.  when we moved into our apartment one of the 1st things richard started lusting after was an old fashioned popcorn machine.  he wanted the red one that looked like the ones you find in a movie theater.  so i started doing my research, found a great one on amazon that i ordered 3 weeks before his birthday arrived, and had it delivered to my office so i could store it there till his birthday was here.  he had been begging me for weeks to tell him what it was, but i am an excellent secret keeper. 

richards birthday actually falls on st patricks day...its a built in party for your birthday every year!  he didnt want to go out that night, wanted to save his strength for the next night of drinking and debauchery.  i came home from body pump and gave him a small present to open in the morning.  a transformer bag full of a new workout outfit.  he had been saying for months that he wanted new workout clothes and i found the coolest pair of reversible shorts i just couldnt resist.  i told him his big present was going to be there when he gets home that night, he was just going to have to wait.  later when i got home from work i went straight into set up mode.  i had found some really cool popcorn bowls and had read the directions multiple times for set up so there would be hot popcorn when he got home.  i have to say, i was pretty proud of myself...

i also found butch.  he is a running joke after we saw an 8 year-old running around the orange county swap meet with a balloon dog.  richard thought it was the greatest thing on the planet and still brings him up at least once a week.  about 2 weeks before his birthday we found a very similar one at albertsons and richard had not stopped talking about him since. 

when he got home that night i realized i could have just bought the dog and that would have been the best present ever.  he was literally more excited about the dog than the popcorn machine. 

while all of this was going on the weekend event plans were falling apart.  some friends were weary about money, some didnt understand why were doing a whole separate day on saturday to celebrate, some thought they would be too hung over to participate, some were going out of town (for a very good reason though), and some were attending other dinners planned after this invite was sent.  it even got to a point that richard considered canceling the whole day because it seemed like more of an inconvenience to everyone rather than a fun day that was planned.

once friday arrived concert plans were coming together.  vanessa had rented a hotel room at hooters so we would have somewhere to convene, crash, and use as a home base.  a few came over to our apartment in the afternoon so we could all drive down to the strip together.  we hung out at the hotel for a few hours and the guys chomped down on wings, we were at hooters after all.  somehow, as usual, there was also beer pong involved.

finally it was time to go to mandalay bay for the concert and meet up with the rest of the concert goers.  now wrangling everyone together was quite the task and it seemed to take forever.  we made it inside where we needed wristbands for the floor and most of the group already needed more alcohol. 

ready to make our way to the floor you could feel the excitement building.  we made it for the 2nd opening band and the floor was surprisingly still a bit empty.  i was really glad!  richard had decided earlier in the week he was going to do the mosh pit.  this was his 1st big venue concert and he was really excited.  

well he made it through the 1st round and came back so exhilarated that he was instantly ready for round 2.  that one didnt go quite as well.  he came back so out of breath and just kept laying on me while trying to collect himself.  after awhile he still couldnt catch his breath and was trying to sit on the ground.  at this point we went up to the top where the snack bars were and took a break for awhile.  he still couldnt catch his breath and seemed to somehow be falling asleep at the same time.  we decided we would go back to the hotel, take a nap, catch him up, and then meet everyone back out when the concert was over.  after finally walking toward the exit he started to feel better and we ended up hanging out around the event center and had a really good talk instead.  we made it back right at the end of the concert for the last song and the encore. 

after the concert the group was all pretty drunk and it was a lot later then we had thought it was going to be so we decided to just head back to the hotel.  plus we were starving and there was a late night restaurant at the the hotel!  we started on the worlds LONGEST walk back to hooters stopping every 5 feet it seemed like and most of the group just getting really frustrated with each other.  finally making it we headed to the restaurant only to be greeted with a 30 minute wait at 1230am.  once getting a table the group was really quiet and honestly everyone just seemed mad at each other.  i dont know what happened in that last 1/2 hour, but it was a super awkward dinner.  about that time it was 2 am and it was definitely time to go home.

waking up the next day without a hangover was fantastic (thats what happens when your in training and cant drink).  it was actually a little cold and windy that day so it was nice to not be outside.  we went over to matts to hang out in the afternoon and watch a movie.  it was literally the weirdest movie i have ever seen.  it was called the game with michael douglas,  im still not even sure if i liked it.  and the whole afternoon was a little weird honestly, we kinda felt left out and there were only a few people there.

dinner that night was much smaller than expected, but the table was surrounded by great people.  we even got the waitress to sing happy birthday, against richards very strong wishes otherwise.  the best part, definitely the monster size sundae...

with the evening being rather windy fremont street was a little too much.  there was a ufc fight going on that night so that took prescient anyway.  we headed back to matts and the guys had decided to get a poker game going while the early fights were on.  richard tried to win money, but no such luck.  this was more of an early night, especially with all the craziness from the night before.

sunday evening was my turn!  i had planned a super special dinner that i was hoping he would love.  i found out over last summer that his favorite all time meal is the chicken cutlets his aunt makes.  i messaged her a few weeks back for the recipe and she was totally on board.  we woke up late that afternoon and hadnt really done much other than grocery shop, it was a great lazy kind of sunday.  i had kept the secret pretty well and was really nervous about making this dinner.  for some reason richard had decided to take a really late nap and slept through most of my cooking.  when he woke up though, he was not very impressed.  i knew that mine would never taste as good as aunt mar's, but i thought he would have been a little more excited.  i thought they were delicious, and they made fantastic leftovers.

i made a few realizations this weekend.  one, with family so far away and not able to see him every day the way i do, i am going to be the biggest cheerleader/celebrator in his life right now (which is definitely ok with me).  two, keep his best interest at heart no matter what others say/do.  three, i am an excellent secret keeper.  four, i will always be more excited about things and thats ok.  i think for a 29th birthday weekend and the ups and down this turned out to be a good one.  for sure one to remember!

the ornament party.

a few weeks before thanksgiving we had decided to have our very first christmas party.  i was super stoked, always wanting to have my own place to throw a party.  richard was equally stoked to show off our place now that we had lived there over 2 months and to have so many of our friends together.  there was of course a great debate on which weekend to have it, as finally settled on the 18th of december.  i had decided not to put up a facebook invite after we got home from our thanksgiving weekend because i thought it was too soon and people would probably forget by the time the party rolled around.  other planning was beginning to come together though.  we thought about doing a secret santa, but that would be hard with such different groups of friends not knowing each other.  then we thought about white elephant, but werent super excited about that so we decided to just make the decision when it got closer to time.

when we got home from thanksgiving richard went over to hang out at matts house and found out that he was also planning some kiond of holiday party.  richard told him we were thinking the 18th and they said no problem, they would figure out a different weekend.  a few days later the facebook invite showed up in my requests folder while i was at work and i knew this was not going to be good.  it was also for the 18th.  now mind you, we had not sent ours out yet because i thought it was too soon, guess not.  the invite had said they were flexible and realistically so we were we, we hadnt set the actual date yet.  i received a text from richard asking what we were going to do now and see it hadnt been too early for the invite.  i suggested we talk to the matt and see what other weekend they were thinking and then go from there.  while i emailed matt, the we should have sent it out turned into a quick downward spiral into maybe we just shouldnt do this at all because it wouldnt be the right weekend.  after emailing a few times with matt i realized how loose their plans were and knew that we could easily figure this out, richard however was not at all convinced.  while on lunch that day i called him to tell him what matt and i talked about, but he was still not convinced and the spiral was going farther down.  luckily matt actually walked into the lunchroom at that moment and he and richard ended up talking about the whole thing and figuring it out in about 2 minutes flat.  we would keep the 18th and he would take a friday either the day before or the weekend before, problem solved!

planning continued and we finally decided on a theme for the party!  since it was our first year in the new place our tree was a little sparse and we were trying to come up with ways to fill it.  with help from jodi we decided to make our theme an ornament party.  instead of spending money on a secret santa gift, guests would take the money and purchase an ornament for our tree that would remind us of you and that we would keep for seasons to come.  we had also decided to do appetizer/dessert foods so that people could come and go as they needed to.  the weekend was getting closer and closer and we just had to buy the last few things to be completely ready.  i didnt have to work that morning, but did have a 2 year-old birthday party to attend that afternoon for a family friend.  my plan was to get everything baked, cleaned, and put together before i had to leave so when i came home i had very little to finish up.

it all sounded like such a great plan, until you actually put life in there.  richard did errands in the morning to finish his things up, and nothing was going right.  he couldnt find the things he needed and people were in the full christmas mean mode of shopping.  i ended up staying about 45 minutes too late at the birthday party, which meant i was late getting home.  he was upset cause i lost track of time, i didnt think it was that big of a deal as long as i got everything done, which was going to be tight.  he offered to help put the last minute food things together so i gave him the punch detail.  as he was combining things together we realized there wasnt enough alcohol for the punch recipe, and all hell broke loose.  he was mad at me because i didnt tell him the right amount.  i was mad because he didnt look at the recipe i gave him.  he was mad because i stayed at the party too long and didnt plan well enough.  i was mad because the last minute things were taking too long.  both of us stomping around mad at the other, richard decided to go get the alcohol and i decided to stay and finish my things.  i finished a few minutes before he got back so i decided to take out the trash to help.  on my way to the dumpster i passed him and he wouldnt even look at me.

we came back upstairs and didnt even speak to each other, oh except for him to ask if i was going to take a shower because i stunk, which definitely helped my mood.  i finished my appetizer things and left for the shower still not talking.  after getting dressed i knew we had to at least figure this out a little bit because all our friends were coming over in about an hour.  i finally broke the silence and apologized for running late, well that just opened a whole door of pent up things.  we had a pretty serious discussion the weekend before because i was pretty upset and thought things had been resolved, guess not.  he had said his piece, i felt about 3 inches tall, but knew we couldnt have an all out argument because we were running out of time.  so i kept it all in and finished getting ready.   he seemed better once getting it all out and was helping set the table and arranging food so i ran with it.

the party was a definite hit!  everyone really got into the ornament buying and had to find the perfect one.  they loved the food and could not believe how many decorations we had for just being our first year.  it was a small party, which was fine with us, but it was definitely a good tradition to start.

that same night there was a pretty big ufc fight happening, which i was afraid was going to totally derail the party plans.  but the guys had been big thinkers and taped the fight to watch once the party was over, thank goodness.  (ufc fighting is just not one of my favorite things, im not so good with that stuff.  but richard loves it and so does his friends.)  right around 10 everyone was pretty full and the guys were ready to go watch the fight.  i stayed home, gladly, to clean up and hang out with the newest girl in the group (had to feel her out).  i think it was one of the best things for richard and i to spend a few hours apart anyway, still not super settled on our fight.  we hadnt really hung out a lot during the party, both keeping busy on purpose with others.  this was our first really big fight since we moved in together and we were trying to figure out how to do all of this.

girl time with heather and a very drunk lora is exactly what i needed.  mike and lora had shown up right as the guys were headed over to matts to watch the fight.  so we kept lora with us and mike went with the guys.  i was going to take heather home later and pick up richard when they were done with all their manly things.  the girls talked about so much and i got great advice from lora.  like i said, it was exactly what i needed.  i realized some things i definitely had done wrong and was able to clear my head so that richard and i could talk about them later and not be defensive.

as the guys finished the fight lora left to pick up mike while heather and i stayed for awhile longer.  the original plan was to drop heather off at matts and pick up richard at the same time when he was ready.  after both of us falling asleep on the couch we decided to just take her home and i would go out again later and get richard.  i was trying to give both of us space and had no problem going out again later.  right as i was getting home he called.  he said he wasnt quite ready to come home and anthony would actually bring him home later.  i was a little sad, but so glad he had called, i knew that everything would be ok.

once he got home that night i was already asleep and he was not feeling good.  he woke me up to let me know he was home and then he started getting sick.  he hadnt really eaten that day, then drank all night, and we had a pretty big fight.  i immediately got up and tried to help out anyway that i could.  it actually was a blessing in disguise.  we both started openly talking and being very vulnerable to each other.  we both apologized and admitted to those we had done wrong.  we realized in that night that the newness had really worn off.  we really lived together and were starting to find out a whole new level of the other person.  a friend had told me the first year is the hardest thing ever.  the second year is so much easier, and the third year is amazing.  up until this point everything had been so easy.  i really thought we had skipped the hard part, definitely realized we were not any different than any other 2 people who lived together.

the holiday party was a great success, even with all the things that went awry.  we definitely figured out a little bit more about each other and that it was ok to fight and then take space.  as long as we came back to the table and could talk openly with each other.  and we had a whole new set of fantastic ornaments added to our tree!