We're running our first 5K tomorrow morning--The Run for the Roses.
I'll report back the results, but I'll tell you right now that I'm merely going for completion and don't care at all how long it takes me.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Weekend at the Coast
Saturday morning was a challenge for me. The weather in Portland had been scorching, and I assumed that the weather on the coast would be similar, When I realized Saturday morning that it was going to be much cooler, it completely changed my packing plans and forced me to do some hasty loads of laundry. I ended up missing a friend's baby shower due to my poor planning and time management, which was a bummer. Anyway, Marc and I stopped by at Pete and Court's to tend to their cats while they're out of town, then we headed west.
We checked into our suite a little after 3:00. We stayed at the same place as last time, when we witnessed the absurd wedding pictures. This time we stayed in one of the guesthouses down the block from the main building. Not quite oceanfront, but with a bit of a view of the water, our suite had a king bed, full kitchenette, and fireplace in the main room and a separate room with a queen bed. Very spacious, very nice.
We were pretty hungry shortly after we checked in, so we headed down to Mo's for dinner. Mo's has quite a reputation as a coastal institution. However, our last couple trips (this one and one on the central coast a couple years ago) have pretty much ruined it for us. Marc's salad had the wateriest bleu cheese dressing we've ever seen, and our fish and chips entrees were overpriced and greasy. Our lemonades went without refills. It was just a subpar experience.
Back at our room that night, we watched Juno—finally—and really enjoyed it.
Sunday morning we slept in. Thank goodness for those drapes that block out all the light! The morning and early afternoon were foggy. We got dressed and tried to go to the Pig'N'Pancake for breakfast. Bad timing—it seemed the whole town was there. Then we went to a little bistro around the corner from our building. The food on the menu looked fabulous, but the cramped dining room was full of screaming children that Marc couldn't handle, so we finally landed at Dooger's where breakfast, though nothing fancy, was fast, hot, and tasty.
Sunday afternoon, we put on our running gear and hit the beach. It was my first time running 3 miles straight, and I ran it at a faster pace than I've ever maintained. It was nice running outside in the cool air. I wish I could run on the beach everyday!
Since it was still cool and foggy, we decided to hit the sauna, hot tub, and pool up at the main resort for a bit. I LOVE saunas. There's something very refreshing to me about them. We headed back to our room for a bit, and then the sun came out!
We headed down to the beach with a kite, Frisbee, and towels. After lounging around for a bit, we started throwing the Frisbee. I was throwing into the wind, and it kept flying way far from where I was aiming. Once it flew into the middle of a family and plowed a little kid in the face. We moved closer to the water and away from all the other people, but we still didn't have good luck with it. When we got sick of running all over creation to retrieve the disc, we gave up and I flew my kite for a little while.
We headed into town for dinner and had a great burger. Then we stopped at a candy store for some fudge and ice cream. Thoroughly stuffed, we went back to the room and watched Dan in Real Life. Cute movie, but not nearly as funny as I was expecting.
Then, the great mystery of the trip: What happened to Marc's running shirt? He realized it was missing when we started doing some preliminary packing. We tore that room apart looking for it. We unpacked everything. We practically stripped the beds. He moved every piece of furniture. We walked back down to the beach to see if it was dropped (and not yet picked up by someone else). No luck. Marc's paranoid side thinks that someone from the hotel came into our room while we were out and stole just his shirt. That makes me laugh.
Sunday night we went to bed a little before midnight, but I couldn't sleep. I just laid there for HOURS, tossing and turning, before I finally switched pillows and fell asleep sometime after 3 a.m. We had planned to get up early and run on the beach again, but that just didn't happen. We rolled out of bed at 10 and finished packing our stuff.
We checked out at 10:45 and arrived at the Pig'N'Pancake no more than 10 minutes later. We were seated right away, and we ordered pretty quickly. Then we sat and waited nearly 40 minutes for our food. Tables that came in after us got their food first. So that was annoying, but the food was fine.
Overall, it was an awesome weekend away. We agreed that it was really nice to have 2 nights there so that we had one full day to do stuff. Now if we could just figure out what happened to Marc's shirt, the weekend would be a total success.
We checked into our suite a little after 3:00. We stayed at the same place as last time, when we witnessed the absurd wedding pictures. This time we stayed in one of the guesthouses down the block from the main building. Not quite oceanfront, but with a bit of a view of the water, our suite had a king bed, full kitchenette, and fireplace in the main room and a separate room with a queen bed. Very spacious, very nice.
We were pretty hungry shortly after we checked in, so we headed down to Mo's for dinner. Mo's has quite a reputation as a coastal institution. However, our last couple trips (this one and one on the central coast a couple years ago) have pretty much ruined it for us. Marc's salad had the wateriest bleu cheese dressing we've ever seen, and our fish and chips entrees were overpriced and greasy. Our lemonades went without refills. It was just a subpar experience.
Back at our room that night, we watched Juno—finally—and really enjoyed it.
Sunday morning we slept in. Thank goodness for those drapes that block out all the light! The morning and early afternoon were foggy. We got dressed and tried to go to the Pig'N'Pancake for breakfast. Bad timing—it seemed the whole town was there. Then we went to a little bistro around the corner from our building. The food on the menu looked fabulous, but the cramped dining room was full of screaming children that Marc couldn't handle, so we finally landed at Dooger's where breakfast, though nothing fancy, was fast, hot, and tasty.
Sunday afternoon, we put on our running gear and hit the beach. It was my first time running 3 miles straight, and I ran it at a faster pace than I've ever maintained. It was nice running outside in the cool air. I wish I could run on the beach everyday!
Since it was still cool and foggy, we decided to hit the sauna, hot tub, and pool up at the main resort for a bit. I LOVE saunas. There's something very refreshing to me about them. We headed back to our room for a bit, and then the sun came out!
We headed down to the beach with a kite, Frisbee, and towels. After lounging around for a bit, we started throwing the Frisbee. I was throwing into the wind, and it kept flying way far from where I was aiming. Once it flew into the middle of a family and plowed a little kid in the face. We moved closer to the water and away from all the other people, but we still didn't have good luck with it. When we got sick of running all over creation to retrieve the disc, we gave up and I flew my kite for a little while.
We headed into town for dinner and had a great burger. Then we stopped at a candy store for some fudge and ice cream. Thoroughly stuffed, we went back to the room and watched Dan in Real Life. Cute movie, but not nearly as funny as I was expecting.
Then, the great mystery of the trip: What happened to Marc's running shirt? He realized it was missing when we started doing some preliminary packing. We tore that room apart looking for it. We unpacked everything. We practically stripped the beds. He moved every piece of furniture. We walked back down to the beach to see if it was dropped (and not yet picked up by someone else). No luck. Marc's paranoid side thinks that someone from the hotel came into our room while we were out and stole just his shirt. That makes me laugh.
Sunday night we went to bed a little before midnight, but I couldn't sleep. I just laid there for HOURS, tossing and turning, before I finally switched pillows and fell asleep sometime after 3 a.m. We had planned to get up early and run on the beach again, but that just didn't happen. We rolled out of bed at 10 and finished packing our stuff.
We checked out at 10:45 and arrived at the Pig'N'Pancake no more than 10 minutes later. We were seated right away, and we ordered pretty quickly. Then we sat and waited nearly 40 minutes for our food. Tables that came in after us got their food first. So that was annoying, but the food was fine.
Overall, it was an awesome weekend away. We agreed that it was really nice to have 2 nights there so that we had one full day to do stuff. Now if we could just figure out what happened to Marc's shirt, the weekend would be a total success.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
New Shoes
Marc signed us up for tennis lessons yesterday, so today we went shopping for true "tennis" shoes. A new Sports Authority got built a couple miles up the road, and we had a coupon for $25 off a $100 purchase, so we decided to check the place out.
We parked in an almost-empty parking lot. There were hardly any customers there.
We walked into the store and were greeted by the girl at the register.
We spent about 30 minutes in the store without a single other employee--including 5 that I made eye contact with--saying a word to us. It was amazing in a bad way.
We were successful in our hunt for tennis shoes, though, so I guess it all works out.
Tomorrow is Friday, which I'm happy about. On Saturday, I'm going to a baby shower, and then we're heading off to the coast for a couple nights. I have Monday off of work, so it'll be a nice long weekend. Considering that it's supposed to be in the mid- to high-90s the next couple days, we're seeking some relief at the beach.
We parked in an almost-empty parking lot. There were hardly any customers there.
We walked into the store and were greeted by the girl at the register.
We spent about 30 minutes in the store without a single other employee--including 5 that I made eye contact with--saying a word to us. It was amazing in a bad way.
We were successful in our hunt for tennis shoes, though, so I guess it all works out.
Tomorrow is Friday, which I'm happy about. On Saturday, I'm going to a baby shower, and then we're heading off to the coast for a couple nights. I have Monday off of work, so it'll be a nice long weekend. Considering that it's supposed to be in the mid- to high-90s the next couple days, we're seeking some relief at the beach.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Employee stores are bad but oohhhh so good
I know I wrote before about the bad effect our visit to the Columbia employee store had on our wallet. The Nike employee store was just about as bad today. Marc picked me up from work, and we headed over to Nike, where Courtney had put us "on the list." We shopped for 2 hours--no joke!--and we both got lots of new running gear. I picked up a couple of "regular" clothing items, too. Awesome deals!
After that shopping excursion, we swung by the parks and rec center to renew our membership cards. Marc's signing us up for tennis lessons there now. Then, we were supposed to go back by work to get the truck, but we forgot... after picking up some Chinese take-out, we got home and realized we were missing a vehicle. We ate and then went back to work to get it.
In other (exciting to me) news, we're signing up for our first 5k. It'll be a cake walk for Marc. I'll need to do some additional training over the next month. But I'll get to do it in new clothes! Yay!
After that shopping excursion, we swung by the parks and rec center to renew our membership cards. Marc's signing us up for tennis lessons there now. Then, we were supposed to go back by work to get the truck, but we forgot... after picking up some Chinese take-out, we got home and realized we were missing a vehicle. We ate and then went back to work to get it.
In other (exciting to me) news, we're signing up for our first 5k. It'll be a cake walk for Marc. I'll need to do some additional training over the next month. But I'll get to do it in new clothes! Yay!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Quick Random Updates
Busy week at work--over. Yay!
We did happy hour at Chili's yesterday for the first time in a long time. Our waitress seemed pretty disappointed when only 4 of us showed up and 2 of us weren't ordering alcohol. I did enjoy my molten chocolate cake, though.
Today I got back on the treadmill for the first time since I was in L.A. last month. Then we ran errands. I was completely dumbfounded by how cheap our lunch at Costco was! Two polish sausages, two sodas, and a churro for a grand total of $4. $4!! There were LOTS of yummy samples being given away around the store, too. The most exciting thing we got was some new sheets for our new bed.
Then we went to the Portland Running Company to get Marc some new shoes since he's worn through a second pair already. I'm still on my first pair. I'm the running slacker, I guess. He also got the Nike iPod running thingamajigger. Lucky. While he was trying things on, I picked up a couple of brochures for 5k races in the PDX and Seattle areas. There's one here in town on June 1 that I'm trying to talk Marc into. I think I need something like that to kick me into gear.
Finally, tonight we went out to dinner with Pete and Court at Outback. We were afraid we'd have to wait forever for a table, especially after a limo full of teenaged prom-goers showed up, but we snagged a table in the bar section after waiting just a few minutes. Now we're home so that we can lay around on the couches with our full bellies for the rest of the night.
We did happy hour at Chili's yesterday for the first time in a long time. Our waitress seemed pretty disappointed when only 4 of us showed up and 2 of us weren't ordering alcohol. I did enjoy my molten chocolate cake, though.
Today I got back on the treadmill for the first time since I was in L.A. last month. Then we ran errands. I was completely dumbfounded by how cheap our lunch at Costco was! Two polish sausages, two sodas, and a churro for a grand total of $4. $4!! There were LOTS of yummy samples being given away around the store, too. The most exciting thing we got was some new sheets for our new bed.
Then we went to the Portland Running Company to get Marc some new shoes since he's worn through a second pair already. I'm still on my first pair. I'm the running slacker, I guess. He also got the Nike iPod running thingamajigger. Lucky. While he was trying things on, I picked up a couple of brochures for 5k races in the PDX and Seattle areas. There's one here in town on June 1 that I'm trying to talk Marc into. I think I need something like that to kick me into gear.
Finally, tonight we went out to dinner with Pete and Court at Outback. We were afraid we'd have to wait forever for a table, especially after a limo full of teenaged prom-goers showed up, but we snagged a table in the bar section after waiting just a few minutes. Now we're home so that we can lay around on the couches with our full bellies for the rest of the night.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Pictures from the Party
It has been a week of constant meetings at work. By the time I get home, all I wanna do is lounge around on the couch and do brainless things like play games. However, I was reminded that I haven't posted pictures from last Saturday's party... so here they are. (If you're on Facebook or if you play detective well on YouTube, you'll also find a couple of videos from the evening.)
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| Tres de Mayo - Greg's 30th |
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Derby Day
In another part of the country, the big thing today is the Kentucky Derby. When we were out at lunch today after seeing the 10 a.m. showing of Ironman (which was a pretty good movie), they had some pre-race stuff on t.v. Now we're home for a couple hours before the trifecta party, and I'm watching more Derby coverage. It kinda makes me homesick. It looks like they have nice weather, and the infield appears to be packed. Next year, I want to have a Derby party... of course I've been thinking that ever since I moved out here and never done it. We'll see.
This evening's trifecta should prove to be fun. Greg's 30th. Cinco de Mayo. Jello and pudding shot contest. Pictures to follow...
This evening's trifecta should prove to be fun. Greg's 30th. Cinco de Mayo. Jello and pudding shot contest. Pictures to follow...
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