Oh man is Lucy at a fun age.  Even when she does something she isn’t supposed to it’s cute.

On Thursday Lucy didn’t take a nap at daycare.  On Friday, she was at my sister’s house with our sitter in the morning.  I went to pick her up for naptime and the sitter said that she was REALLY tired (not surprising).  I brought her home and she DID NOT want to nap.  I rocked her for 10 minutes and she was still wide awake.  I put her to bed and she babbled for 40 minutes.  I went into her room and told her it was time to go to sleep (in my sternest voice) and rubbed her back. That seemed to help but as soon as I left the room she started babbling again.  Finally at 3 (I put her down at 1:30) there was silence and I thought, “Success!” 

I was working away when about 25 minutes later I hear light knocking.  I ignored it thinking it was just my house making noises.  About 2 minutes later I hear more knocking.  I get up to go answer the front door and as I pass by Lu’s room I hear the knocking coming from HER room.  I open the door and there stands my 2 year old on her stepstool in front of the door.  Apparently she had been trying to get the door open.  That silence?  Well that was her getting out of bed (which she has never done before without either Shaun or me in the room), taking her stepstool and using it to get her blankets and books off of her shelves and then to try and open the door. Oh yes, and to get into the vaseline.

I didn’t notice at first that she was covered in clear goo.  I brought her upstairs to Shaun (who was home sick) and asked him to watch her for a little bit longer so that I could finish up work.  I came back upstairs and notice that she’s VERY shiny.  I asked, “what’s on her?” and Shaun said, “I think it’s spit.”  I go to wipe it off and know IMMEDIATELY that she had gotten into the vaseline.  The picture above is after I tried to get it out.  Lovely, huh?  And she’s so dang proud of herself too!  Luckily she only got it in one place in her room (on her rocker) and after a good bath her hair is mostly back to normal, albeit a little greasy.

In other Lu news, yesterday she told me, “Mama, behave!”

It’s a good reminder

~~~~~

Food and Exercise Update

I did my first Zuzana workout on Friday and OMG, I am very sore.  I’m going to get out and do a run later today and I hope that that will help the soreness.  A girl can hope!

Yesterday, I went a did a big stock up grocery trip and I made hummus, pumpkin date oatmeal bars (still perfecting the recipe but they are GOOD), and raw almond butter (it is so much cheaper to do it at home, vs. buying it at the store!).  It was a good day!

I know the month in halfway over but I wanted to put a plan together so I worked backwards.

Last year I posted something that I was thankful for everyday the month of November. I loved it and fully planned to do it again this year.  The wedding in Mexico sort of derailed the beginning of my November though and I completely forgot.  My friend Stephanie (who is a frequent commenter) started doing it on Facebook and I remember how awesome it was.  I was going to do do 2 things a day to make up for the 10 days that I missed but then I decided to do it for a full year!  SO.  Every Thursday will be Thankful Thursday around here until Thanksgiving 2011.  That’s 54 things to be thankful for.

Today?  I’m thankful for our veterans.  You have given up so much to keep America free.  Thank you.

[source]

My brother got married this weekend in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  I always hesitate to post when I’m going to be out of town because I worry that someone will break into my house or cyber hack me.  Is that weird?

We had a really great time.  Such a great time that I forgot to really take pictures.  I guess I was too busy enjoying myself   I didn’t even get pictures of Lucy and Tessa as flower girls-oops!  There are plenty of those from other people though and I’ll just have to wait until they are posted to share them with you.

My Mom and Dad, Aunt and Uncle, my sister and her family, and my family all shared a villa.  It was gorgeous and so much fun to just hang out with everyone.

Tessa enjoying breakfast:

The guys went fishing on Friday and caught a TON of tuna.  Here’s about 1/100th of it:

That is by far the freshest sashimi I have ever had!

These next few are blurry but oh so cute.  My Mom got the girls crowns for the rehearsal dinner.  They loved them!

Lucy helping Mimi decorate for the rehearsal dinner that we hosted at our villa:

The awesome Marichis that my brother hired-SO FUN!

Single for one more night!

I love this picture of them:

There was lots of diaper time!

Lots!

No really.

Did you know that they only make Cheetos, Fritos, and sugary cereals in Mexico?  No?  That’s what the girls think.

There was beach time. We went twice but I only got one picture?!?!

And, the only picture I took at the wedding?

That’s the father-of-the-bride’s dessert plate.

Perhaps it was all the killer Aunt Marci margaritas?

P.S. My aunt, sister, and I squeezed 6 quarts of lime juice, by HAND, for the rehearsal dinner.  We love my brother.  It took us 4 hours.  It was worth it. YOM.

Wow! What a weekend! Lu got to wear her costume at least 5 times this weekend.  She loved it!  We’ve washed it and I’m sure it’ll be making an appearance again!

The first event? Playgroup where they practiced with their costumes, “bobbed for apples” (scooped crab apples) and “trick or treated” (they knocked on doors and Moms would open them and give them a block in their bucket-it was cute!

“Bobbing for apples”:

Lucy (the Giraffe) and Tessa (the Zebra) on their way to The Y Party:

There were too many people there for Lu’s taste but Tessa LOVED it:

On Saturday we went to the Boise Philharmonic Philharmonsters, first there was activities-an instrument petting zoo where Lu tried to play a violin but REALLY liked the xylophone.  Lu wanted her face painted but couldn’t get the nerve up to let the lady do it.  Mommy, Auntie Lala, and Tessa all got hearts but Lu wasn’t so sure.  After the activities, the different sections of the Philharmonic (strings, wind, horns) played spooky music. We were running into lunch and naptime and the girls lasted about 30 minutes.  It was really neat.  Here we are before going in:

Shaun got an ear infection this weekend and while he slept it off and after Lu’s nap, I went grocery shopping and Lucy hung out with Auntie Lala and Tessa.  Auntie Lala figured out how to get Lucy to wear her giraffe hood-wings!

It’s a fairy giraffe!

On Halloween, we took the girls in the wagon down to Harrison Street. 

On our way there we saw a beautiful double rainbow. What does it mean?!?!

Harrison Street is CRAZY on Halloween.  We just went to check it out and visit our friends that live there. They stop when they hit 1,000 trick or treaters!!! This was at 5:15-I can’t imagine it at 7 or 8!

Look at these pumpkins!

Trick or Treating was a success!

Next up? Unkie Jake and Aunt Amy’s wedding in Mexico!!

For some reason, I always thought that making granola was really difficult.  When I ate the last of my Mom’s secret recipe yummy granola this week I thought to myself, “I should try to make some granola.”

Today, I was on a roll-we got up and cleaned the entire house, I made Shaun’s lunch for the week, I had lentils stewing away on the stove, I had a chicken in the crockpot, and I thought, “I SHOULD make granola.” I searched for “granola” online and Alton Brown’s recipe came up.

Here’s my take on it.  It seriously took me 10 minutes or less to put together.

Ingredients:

-3 cups GF oats
-1/2 cup slivered almonds
-1/2 cup roughly chopped raw almonds
-1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans
-1/2 cup sunflower seeds
-1/4 cup chia seeds (optional)
-1/4 cup flax seeds
-1/4 cup sesame seeds
-3/4 cup shredded coconut
-1/3 cup palm sugar (you can use brown sugar)
-1/3 cup maple syrup
-1/4 cup coconut oil
-3/4 teaspoons salt

Instructions:

-Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

-Mix oats, nuts, seeds, shredded coconut, and palm sugar in a large bowl.

-In another  bowl heat up the coconut oil and then add the maple syrup and salt.

-Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix well.

-Spread mixture out on two large cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. 

-Stir mixture every 15 minutes for even baking.

-Let cool and ENJOY! YOM!

Lucy, Tessa, my sister and I all gave this a 5 out of 5 stars!  Shaun isn’t a granola kind of guy, so he hasn’t had any yet-he doesn’t know what he’s missing!

Not eating meat has helped me TREMENDOUSLY.  I haven’t felt this good in YEARS.  Maybe since the last time I didn’t eat meat or dairy?

(look at that glow! It could also be that I’m 24 in that picture not almost 30!)

But! I’ve found that I’m so unmotivated to cook anything for myself.  I’ve kind of been living on rice and beans with a little tofu thrown in. I’ve also found that I’m ravenous at night and can’t eat enough.  Last night I broke down at midnight and ate:

-A GF tortilla with melted cheese and hot sauce
-A bowl of rice and beans (surprise) with melted cheese
-about 15 slices of Pepperoni-WTF?!?!  It was Gluten Free but really Chelsea, really?

I then dealt with gastrointestinal issues for a good 2 hours after that.  Thankfully this morning I feel okay.

Here’s my deal, a meal without protein feels so WRONG to me and doesn’t feel like a meal. BUT when my only source of protein is either tofu, beans, or nuts (which don’t really feel like protein) I feel stuck and like it’s Groundhog Day.  I KNOW that there are a TON of blogs out there that are dedicated to this but I just don’t have the time to search OR I guess I haven’t made it a priority.  I need to.  I need to get back on the cooking band wagon and make myself some real food!

Any ideas?  Suggestions?

Oh and I’ve been CRAVING a bacon cheese burger with avocado for about a week now.  I’m tempted to just go get one and deal with the consequences and have that be a lesson to me to never eat it again.

[source]

I tried the craze yesterday.  Yes, I know it’s been around for years but yesterday was the first day I tried Zumba.

What did I think?  It was okay.  I think I need to try it again to really know if I like it or not. It was a strange experience. Let me explain.

I walked in to the group exercise room and it was PACKED with women.  They were all in groups chatting and I was an outsider-TOTALLY expected and not a big deal.  Many of them had scarves on their waists like this:

[source]

I went looking for the scarf, thinking that it was something provided by the class (sort of like the bar in Body Pump or the step in Step Class).  Apparently, all of those women had bought those scarves and brought them to class.

Class starts and the SUPER in shape instructor tells us that she is a sub but that she is SO excited to be subbing and that she loves Zumba.  Zumba changed her life.  She started doing Zumba in September 2009 and has lost 70 pounds since then. The first 45 of which came off by January 2010.  She did Zumba 3 times a week.  Now she loves it so much that she decided to become an instructor.  I’m thinking “COOL!  That’s awesome!”

We get started and the first 2 songs I have a huge smile on my face.  This was FUN! 

Then I start noticing that really what I’m doing is really silly dance moves that I do when I’m trying to dance silly.  This is a great example of how I felt:

[source]

Then I notice that I’m getting really confused and the teacher is pretty confused and the rest of the class is pretty confused. Then I noticed that really the teacher isn’t a very good dancer.  In fact, she’s a really BAD dancer.  I think that she was a new instructor, she was a little nervous and probably is a GREAT student of Zumba but maybe not the best INSTRUCTOR for Zumba. So yeah….I think it could be really fun and a good-ish workout BUT I need to go the regular instructor and see if my experience is any different. 

Spinning and Body Pump are definitely better workouts for me but they are different.  I do enjoy dancing so this would be fun to incorporate into my work out from time to time.

I enjoyed how enthusiastic the instructor was.  I enjoyed how everyone in the class was enthusiastic and cheered after every song. 

I did not enjoy how confusing it was.  I did not enjoy doing the sprinkler I did not enjoy that the class was only 45 minutes.  I also wish that I had gotten a better workout.

The highlight of the class? The 60 year old man in the class (the ONLY man in the class) who had short shorts on and had his own moves which included MANY high kicks.  He kept a smile on my face the ENTIRE time.

We went to a pumpkin patch this weekend!  First the tractor came and go us:

We all got on and rode out to the patch!

They took us out to a real pumpkin field with pumpkins still attached to the vine. Lu and Daddy looked:

Uncle Will and Tessa looked:

The girls looked:

Lucy found one!

And tried to pick it up.

“It’s STUCK Mama! IT’S STUCK!”

Tessa got one of a more manageable size.

While they got weighed, the girls played.

And afterwards we had really great Mexican food in Kuna! I got the Camarones Borrachos in a Molcajetes. YOM!

Lu liked it!

Our pumpkins are now safe and sound at home.

I have a bit of a pumpkin obsession and I’m only allowed to buy 1 pumpkin for each member of the family (pets don’t count) and I have to be able to carry them myself. (Shaun is SO MEAN-a girl wins one 125 pound pumpkin 6 years ago and never lives it down…) I’m happy with my purchase.  The 2 non-traditional looking pumpkins can be baked and eaten and are quite delicious. SCORE!

I also got some amazing local, raw, honey.  I can’t wait to break into that stuff! Have I mentioned lately that I love it here?!?!?!

“You are beautiful. You are strong.” That was my mantra while running yesterday.  I went into the race with a goal of running 12 minute miles.  I finished with an average of 12:02 minute miles.  YAY!

Here I am before the race with Shaun and Lu:

and Luke and Megan:

I was confident I could do it but worried about my hip.  I had started to have some twinges of hip flexor pain on the left side earlier in the week.  The last time I ran a half marathon without swimming and biking beforehand (Half-Ironman Distance Triathlon) I hurt my right hip flexor.  I got bursitis and tendonitis in my right hip after the 2005 Nike Women’s Half Marathon and was in physical therapy for months.  I thought I’d never get to run again. Of course I did run again and even did the Ironman 2 years later. 

Running exclusively has always been hard for me and I’ve learned that I can only run 3 times a week.  The rest of my training has to be cross training or I hurt myself.  I’ve attempted to train for 2 marathons and both times, I hurt myself.

ANYWAY, I was worried.  I did a ton of stretching and tried to think positive thoughts.  I didn’t think about my race much but the morning of I started really worrying that my hip would fail me.

I tried to put that thought in the back of my mind and lined up to race!  First, let me say that this is the smallest race that I have ever been a part of.  We drove up and parked right across the street.  I got there 45 minutes early and I could have arrived 15 minutes early.  It was crazy how cozy and not stressful it was-CRAZY.  At about 8:55, they announce, we’re starting in 5 minutes, make your way over to the start!

Start we did! There I go!

My first mile was my fastest and most painful.  My hip REALLY hurt and I was feeling VERY discouraged.  When my phone announced that I ran the first mile in 10:50, I decided to slow down and massage my hip a bit.  By the 4th mile I was feeling pretty good and by the 6th mile I was in my groove.  The course started off pretty, then was UGLY, then was really pretty again.  Around the time that it got pretty again (mile 11) I was starting to feel it.  I slowed down (and had my slowest mile at mile 12) and got discouraged again.  Then I told myself that ANYONE could run 2 miles and that that it was less than half an hour of pain.  Thankfully my awesome cheering squad (Luke, Megan, Lissa, Tessa, Shaun, and Lucy) had set up camp just after I heard that I had run an almost 13 minute mile.  They almost missed me because the girls were having so much fun playing.

I saw them yelling and running towards me and I though “Ha! Those people almost missed the person they’re cheering on. That’s funny. OH wait, those are MY people!”  They came running and I got cheered on by some of my favorite people in the world.

Here’s Lu and Megan cheering on other runners and giving them fives:

They were seriously at the right spot!  It was all I needed to light a fire under my butt and make me run!

When I hit mile 13, I started crying-they were happy tears.  At some of my lowest times after Lu was born and I was being so hard on myself, I thought my racing days were over.  They’re not!  I finished strong and my cheering squad was right there at the finish line!

Stats:

Mile 1: 10:50 min/mi
Mile 2: 11:36 min/mi
Mile 3: 12:09 min/mi
Mile 4: 11:56 min/mi
Mile 5: 12:13 min/mi
Mile 6: 11:48 min/mi
Mile 7: 11:50 min/mi
Mile 8: 12:08 min/mi
Mile 9: 12:06 min/mi
Mile 10: 11:58 min/mi
Mile 11: 12:33 min/mi
Mile 12: 12:50 min/mi
Mile 13: 12:33 min/mi

Finish time: 2:37:41 Average 12:02 min/mi

I mentioned above that I “heard” my pace and that my phone “announced” how fast I was going.  My Garmin broke about 2 months ago (it won’t turn on) and I downloaded a free app for my phone called Endomondo.  It’s awesome!  It tells me at every mile how fast I went and how long I’ve been running.  I just put it in one of the pockets on my fuel belt and I have a great training partner PLUS if I get in trouble, I have my phone to call home.  I will not be getting a replacement for my Garmin!  You can also set a “goal” time and it will tell you if you’re going too slow.

Look at the cool readout it gives me online:

I highly recommend it!  It works with: Works with: Nokia, HTC, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, HP, Eten, Palm, Motorola, as well as Garmin devices.

So, there you have it.  I did it!  I’m really proud of myself and can’t wait for the next race!