Presentation is Everything

As much as I'd like to take credit for this I can't. I saw this posted on another blog and I loved the idea of a mason jar contained salad. Here is my take on it. Sure, you can put the salad contents in a plastic container, but look how pretty it looks in a jar. Presentation is EVERYTHING!

I saw a lot of Pinterest pictures of people using the Kerr brand jars, so this weekend I went in search of them. Yeah, those babies are kind of pricey. The cheap-skate in me went home, dug through my fridge hoping I'd find something in a jar that had expired. SCORE! After a scolding hot rinse, I had a clean/re-usuable -- "great value" (pun intended) jar. I'm so green. If I have enough jars I can make about 3 salads at a time, in separate containers. Yes, a TIME SAVER. It's time to purge the fridge again and see what else it rotting in there.

In the future, I'll make sure to reverse the order of ingredients. The tomatoes should've been on the bottom and spinach at the top. You can add other ingredients later, when you are ready to serve, like fresh fruit, avocados and don't forget about the dressing. I prefer making my own dressing, Oil/Vinaigrette/Lime, but lately, I've been skipping the dressing all together and going with Louisiana Hot Sauce. The ingredients are Aged peppers, vinegar, and salt <-------that's it. 

Closet Growth Chart & Recovering

Cheyenne is back in town with us. She's such a sweetheart, it's nice having her back. The house was too quite without her. Yesterday, she spent the afternoon at her table coloring and watching CareBears.




Here are the latest pictures of us measuring her height. Yes, we write on the walls.

She looks so big in this photo and all sophisticated with her dangly earrings. Before too long, she'll be asking to borrow the car.

Looking Back
8 Months

10 Months


12 Months

08/02/10

03/21/11

08/18/11

Present Day


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Road to Recovery
I decided to sleep in this morning and not workout and my body is loving all the rest & recovery. After a race (a half or greater), I typically take at least one does of Tylenol. The last two days, I took some, but today, I don't think I'll need it.

In case you are wondering what's in the plastic baggie, it's pork rinds. My taste buds must be changing because up until recently, I hated them. I also hated dark chocolate and now, I crave the stuff.

Depending on how I feel tonight, I may workout on my home elliptical. I'll wait until after Cheyenne is in bed for the night. Oh, here is my DailyMile Log from last week. The reason you see 15 miles for Sunday is because I counted my Cowtown parking hike! Why, not? It was a nice little workout!

I Miss My Little Bear & I Lift Paper Weights to Help With the Recovery Process

Cheyenne has been out of town since Friday. Today, I will see her. I've missed my baby bear. Here is what she's been up to, in Abilene ---

Shopping and Visiting with grandparents

Going to the Circus with her cousin DJ
And riding a pony
 
In other news, Owww!!!!! I'm sore. Trey and I had a gym date this morning and all I did was a short upper body workout with paper weights (to be fair they were 4 lbs). --  To balance out my workout I hit the bike for a 3 mile recovery ride.

Hey, check out my new car decals, I found these at the Cowtown Expo.

2012 Cowtown Half Marathon

Let's talk numbers.
Distance: 13.1 miles
Overall Time: 2:21:06
Compared to my PR of 1:56:49
(AKA 20 lbs lighter and not slow cooking a baby)
Average Pace Per Mile: 10:47
Overall Place: 3,863 out of 6,323
Age Group: Placed 269 out of 504 women
Overal Gender Place: 1496 out of 3277 women
Power Song: Karmin's Chris Brown Cover, Look at Me Now
Runner Up Power Song was Kanye West, Through the Wire

It was probably around 48 or so degrees at the start line. Not bad! No need for gloves, when your long sleeves double as hand warmers.
 
Right before the race started, a random runner, looked down at my stomach and said, "Right on!" He then fist bumped me and we were off --- Dakota and I were running a half marathon.

From the get-go, it was a tough race. My pace felt right, but Dakota felt heavy. Oh, and my iPod went all demonic on me and that threw me off, my game. It would start, stop, and fast forward -- it was so annoying. I worked hard on my playlist and I was determined to listen to it, so I powered off my phone, rebooted it and restarted my iPod playlist -- that did the trick. It worked after that!

Around mile 5, I thought -- This sucks, I'm uncomfortable. I'm calling Trey and I'm going to have him pick me up. I thought about that for one second. The good thing was I didn't have to stop to use the bathroom, however I did cough and well -- you can only imagine. HA! It wasn't that bad - really. The bad was I chaffed. I have pregnant thighs, which mean my legs rubbed together for over two hours and now it burns. This never happened to me with Cheyenne, but then again, I never ran that long. I think if I had worn tights, I wouldn't have chaffed. I've been walking bow-legged all afternoon. I look ridiculous! Another bad is I feel like I ran a full marathon. I'm sore. I feel like since I ran for two, I should multiply my milage by two. 26.2 baby!

Spectators! 
I saw the EnduraLAB folks at three different locations. I saw Jake and Becca in the Stockyards and the Lululemon girls at mile 10, downtown. There was so much support! It felt amazing. Every time I'd see my friends, I'd get a burst of energy. It helped! Oh, and the best spectator was Trey. He was waiting at the finish line.

The last leg of the race, the 5K was the best. It felt like I was running downhill and cruising in. When I crossed the finish, I was so happy to be done. I just wanted to find Trey. I forgot to stop my watch as soon as I crossed the line. Oops!

My finisher shirt and post half marathon food. Not pictured: Blue Bell Ice Cream -- Trey was working on that.
 
Trey and I watched Sherri cross the finish line. Her marathon time was 3:45, just 10 minutes shy of Boston Qualifying. She's a speed demon and I know soon, she'll reach her BQ goal.

Other Friends I saw, after the race, Thao and Cindy.
 
We had terrible AT&T service near Will Roger Memorial Center. I tried calling Trey after I crossed the finish line. My phone call finally went through after trying off and on, for 10 minutes. Once I met up with him, two men approached us and asked to use Trey's phone so they could call their family and reunite with them. I think Cowtown should do what Dallas White Rock did and have Metro PCS at the finish area providing complimentary phone service. After I finished Dallas White Rock Marathon, I walked in the expo building, found a Metro PCS booth and called Trey. We reunited immediately.

I've decided, this was by far the toughest race I've ever ran. It was a huge challenge. No more races for me, not until I'm postpartum. I have more to say about this race, but I feel like this is enough for now. Goodnight. Let the recovery begin!

Date Weekend & Spectating at the 2012 Cowtown 5K & 10K Race

This was suppose to post yesterday. I'm off to run the half marathon!
-----------------------------------
Today (Saturday), I spectated the Cowtown 5K and 10K, but first I want to tell you about my Friday night date. Yesterday, I met Trey immediately after work for a date night. Cheyenne is spending the weekend in Abilene, with grandparents --- So we're child-free this weekend.

While we were on our date, we went to a boot shop and tried on Cowboy boots. I'm kind of obsessed with the Lucchese 1883 brand. My friend Krista let me borrow hers awhile back and I fell in love with them. The Lucchese boots I tried on last night retail for $499. Trey wrote down all the info, like he plans on buying them for me in the future. I told him don't even think about it! 

After trying on boots, we caught the 7 pm showing of The Vow -- since the movie was at the Movie Tavern, we had dinner there. AFterwards, we split a brownie bowl from Sweet Sammies. AFter all of that, we were not ready to go home yet, so we went to Avoca Coffeehouse.
SPECTATING AT THE COWTOWN 5K/10K
While I was spectating, I saw Gayla and Kevin, running the 10K. Kevin is Trey's boss.  
I also spotted my friend Laura.

 
My friends, over at EnduraLAB organized a Cowtown's Runner's Rally Lunch Meet-up at the Food Park. Trey and I went to hang-out, but we didn't eat there.
Lunch at La Familia. Trey was waiting on for his fajita plate to arrive.  
I got a breakfast plate.

Dean-Kingston is going out of business. Check out this stylish jacket Trey tried on...He really needs a winter coat that is not sports related.

The Night Before Cowtown Half Marathon (2012)

Cowtown Half Marathon is Almost Here

The last time I worked out was Wednesday, with EnduraLAB. Mid-run, I started experiencing discomfort. Dakota feels like a rock. The only way I know how to describe it, in the most lady-like-way is -- things feel low. I feel good enough to run, today -- but I think I should just wait to run tomorrow or Sunday, during COWTOWN.

Don't ask...

Speaking of Cowtown, I'm so freakin' excited! This is my playlist. I like to listen to my music in shuffle mode. When I work, I like to listen to mostly indie rock or folk music. When I run, I prefer a mixture, but mostly rap/hip-hop and pop. You'll see an eclectic mix here, everything from indie - Of monsters and men to rapper - Kanye West. Sorry, if the playlist is fuzzy, if you click the image, you can see it better.


Where you can find me on Sunday 
I'll be running the Cowtown Half Marathon, just look for the pregnant runner. I'll be in Corral 2. How did that happen? There will be an official pacer in my corral, his pace will be 9:10. No, thanks. You'll see me hanging with the slow-pokes and I'm okay with that. When I registered for the half, I don't recall, putting my expected finish time, I think my time was estimated based off of previous races, I ran. Honestly, I belong in Corral 4 or 5, but I'll just go where my bib says and fall back in the pack, when the gun goes off.

Tomorrow, I plan on spectating the 5K and 10K race.

Crunchy & Salty Snack
I made homemade plantain chips. It was really easy. I put a spoonful of coconut oil in a pan, sliced 'em, fried 'em and sprinkled them with sea salt. Next time, I will coat them with oil and bake them. Cheyenne and I loved them!

They didn't make good left-overs. I stored them in a ziploc bag, but the next day, they tasted soggy, like stale french fries.
'
I may have to bake or fry them longer or just plan on eating them fresh, right out of the over or pan.

This was my Friday Brown Bag, special. Fresh Veggies, hard boiled egg and apple slices.

I'll leave you with the most random picture...My camera was on the counter, facing up. Everyone have a fantastic weekend.

Who Wants to Join Me in Las Vegas?

My flight has been booked, hotel reservations have been made, and my registration is paid for. I'm going to the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas in April.

This will be my fourth trip to the NABShow. I'm particularly excited about, the Post-Production World Conference Track <<<<-----that's my WORLD! I'm eager to attend because there have been major updates to FinalCut Pro, which is the main editing software I use. It's kind of shaken my professional world, so out of all my trips to the NAB, this one seems more important than all the previous conferences, combined.

The only thing is --- I wish you were going with me. Seriously, the hotel expenses will be covered, all you have to do is hop on a plane. I need a girlfriend to keep me company, when I'm not in class. Who wants to join me? I looked at flights and it looks like the average price, right now -- round trip is around $250. If Trey and I wanted to splurge he could join me, but I don't think he'll be making the trip with me.

The last three times, I've stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton, but this year -- I decided to try out the Monte Carlo. They seem to give me more for my $$, so that's why I picked them, this time around. Did you know in order to use the gym at the Hilton you have to pay like 20 bucks a day? They also charge for Internet usage. The reason why, I like staying there is because it's walking distance to the Convention Center and it's familiar. However, I feel comfortable riding the mono-rail, so I'll just do that, this time around.