This machine is out of order

I always tell myself I'll post at least once per month. FAIL! November came and went. And I am so multiple-personalitied that it takes a lot for me to remember what is going on in my life long enough to write about it, but I'll try.

- Election - I have hope. I have some hope that sooner rather than later, the hearts of the American people and the intelligent and seemingly good and honest nature of our President Elect will bring this country to a happy place again. I have to say that the older I get, the more my views change, and I am proud to say that I have friends that are smart and devoted enough to certain issues that have shown me the light where my once narrow-minded political views kept me ignorant. I know that there is still a lot left to be done, but I have faith that in time, what is right will prevail.

- Knitting. Another "hobby" that came and went. Stupid casting off concept ruined it for me. It was that or the ~$150 or so that this short-lived hobby cost me.

- Crocheting. See above.

- Clementine. Poor Clementine. She sits in the garage crying for companionship with a pricetag that mocks me every time I pass her. Whatever.

- Running. I lost steam after the Long Beach race and never rallied my mojo back up. Soon enough. After all, I signed up for a February race. I'll get that surfboard medal if it kills me!

- Exercise. What? Who cares! I have a bad attitude about exercise right now. At least I walk at lunch 3-4x a week. Give me a straw hat and hot pink Keds and I've fast forwarded my life by 30 years. Oh well.

- Budgeting. My latest obsession. Stupid obsession. I've been eating pork rib/corn/mashed potato Banquet meals more than I care to admit, but for $.89, it fits nicely into my budget. What I have realized though is that I spend entirely too much on eating out at places that are not even that great at all. As a penalty, I've budgeted myself to eating out at lunch 1x max per week for the month of December. I am doing great so far. Granted, I'm only 4 days in, but it's the thought that counts. Lesson: alcohol in water bottle smuggled into restaurants and movie theaters Is.Your.Best.Friend.

- Business. I'm a bidness woman! I opened up my shitty little half.com bookstore that has generated $70ish dollars in income! I have also signed up to do a focus group that will give me $150 extra for the holidays. Wahoo.

- Reading. Jen Lancaster. Love. Thousand Splendid Suns. Oh yeah. Marley and Me. TBD but love it so far.

- Twilight. The long awaited movie premiere (sp?) didn't disappoint! I don't care what people say, seeing Rob Pattinson on the big screen is more than I could have asked for in the movie. Love.

- Thanksgiving. I love my family. I was having mixed emotions this year, but I have to remember to be grateful for my blessings right now. My health and the love and health of my family, foremost, the love of my friends, and to be gainfully employed doing a job that I love. I should not ask for more. Yet I do. But I shouldn't. I love my life for what it is. And for what it isn't, I just won't dwell on that because it's just not worth it.

Nicotine withdrawals blow. Blow.So.Hard.

Bad news is - side effects from quitting smoking can be really hard. Like right now. I'm sitting here with my 3rd mojito (big no-no) and I want to ride my friggin bike to the liquor store to buy a pack of smokes. What's stopping me is that, quite frankly, I think I'd eat dirt real bad because it's late and because I'm not fit to drive or ride right now.

Good news is - I have been quit for 1 Week, 2 Days, 12 hours, 46 minutes and 19 seconds (9 days). I have saved $33.35 by not smoking 133 cigarettes. I have saved 11 hours and 5 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 10/5/2008 11:30 AM....(I love this widget I downloaded that calculates all this information for me whenever I type ctrl+F12)

So yes, for the 3rd or 4th time in my life, I am trying to quit smoking. My last attempt lasted about 3 weeks, and the one before that lasted about 6 months(ish). I know now that one smoke leads to more, and that I can't lie to myself that just one smoke will end at that one smoke.

I make myself sick right now. Seriously, I want to go to the store to buy a pack. I'll report bac in the morning and let you know if I made it through the night.

**PS - I didn't even lead into this post, but yes, this is 10yt, a "runner". What a joke. And yes, I've smoked all through my running training. Yeah, I seriously disgust myself right now. Please wish me luck on this, I need it. I know what sets me off from past experience, I just pray that this time I can withstand the temptations that have sent me back to smoking before. Blegh. Bah!!! I hate this. I feel like an addict. But then again, I guess I am, or, I was. Same thing.

I need to change my name...

...to 12yearstogether because today, September 21, 2008, it has officially been 12 years with Mr10yt. Yay! When you get marriaged does it mean that you start ignoring your old anniversary? Maybe, but this day is special because it's also Mommy and Daddy10yt's 35th Wedding Anniversary today! Wahooo!

Anyhow, it's been a...wild and interesting ride these past 12 years, and I wouldn't have done anything differently because if I had, we might not be where we are today. That makes everything worth it.

A few pictures I'll share of us over the years.

1996: Mark was in the USMC and I was working at Charlotte Russe. Silly kids.


1999: We were big into working out together this year. We each thought we were hotter than the other. Heh.


2001: We had the flu together. Even when I was sick, back then I did my eyebrows and put on makeup to take picture. Moted.


2003: Starting to grow up right around here. Mark was working his first real "career" job and I was about to graduate and get my very own career as well.


2004: Feeling like grown ups now, dressing like it too.


2005: Don't stop believin...


2006: He finally gave in.


2007: Settled. Satisfied. Happy.


2008: Best it's ever been, at least so far!


Thanks for reading. =)

**For my EC lovers** Hommona hummunaahhhh

I just had to have a place where I could get a whole lotta goodness at one time. If you have other pictures that I've left out, PAHleeez email them to me and I will add them.

Rawwwwwr!!!!

Baby???? What the fffffff.....

Why did I do this? I went to www.makemebabies.com from a link that my girlfriend found. Apparently you can fuse you and your partner's pictures together to see what your hypothetical baby would look like. Results were...wow.

Here are the results. Boy or girl? Who knows. I can't tell. No further commentary necessary for these:

The Joy of Soy...

I bought Yves brand "Meatless Ground" from Trader Joe's to see how it would taste as a ground beef substitute for my spaghetti. Not bad but not totally great. It definitely doesn't have that "beefy meaty" taste I used to love and that I, quite honestly, miss. The good thing is that since it's made from soy, it has 0 cholesterol.

It LOOKS like ground beef at least.


I planned on making it for my dinner tonight and was pretty excited until I came home from the gym only to walk into a house that smelled like bbq chicken wings. It really hurt my feelings because I just love wings. So I was pretty bitter as I cooked my spaghetti.

Oh well. The spaghetti (pic is not mine) was pretty good and I'd make it again for one of those quick go-to meals. The sauce is Ragu because I'm lazy and classy like that. Shut it.

If you aren't a foodie or aren't very picky about food, check it out!

I'm ready to ride! New stuff yay!

Soooo....I said goodbye to Penny after a spill that scared the beegeezus out of me. She was too fast and I am too clumsy and inexperienced to handle a bike that fancy. I was fortunate enough that the LBS (local bike shop) where I got Penny took her back even though this was outside of their policy. I HIGHLY recommend checking out Two Wheels One Planet in Lake Forest. Jeff was really nice and spent a lot of time fitting me for the right bike.

I now introduce Clementine, in technical terms she's a Trek 7.5 fx WSD. She is halfway between a true hybrid and a roadbike in weight so thankfully a tad slower and heavier but the carbon fork makes for a smooth ride. She has the flat handlebars that give me the security I've been wanting. I love her already!


I also ordered a bike pannier so I can ride to the grocery store every now and then and pick up a few things without having to use my car. Team Green!


So that I don't hit runners and people know when I'm coming from behind, I got a turtle squeaky horn.


And since it will get cold shortly, I got cycling leg warmers.


I'm ready to ride!

Oh PS Mom don't worry, I got a helmet and also my gloves like you said so my hands don't freckle from the sun!

Time to update!

Hi Lovers!

Quick updates on me:

Summer was good and filled with seeing family and friends, catching up, working at my job which I'm really loving since I got there last November and keeping up with my health/fitness.

Mark and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary! Whew!

I gave up meat (beef, chicken, pork, turkey, lamb, veal), milk, and cheese (milk and cheese products are harder to cut out but I'm trying). Still eating fish though. I thought I'd see if I felt better physically and to be honest, I watched a PETA video "Meet Your Meat" and read the book Skinny Bitch and I felt compelled to at least try it. To top it off, the doctors have told my dad that if he wants to live past 60 (he's 55), he better watch his blood pressure and cholesterol, as well as his family history for late-onset diabetes and that a good step would be to cut out alcohol and fatty meats. Hmmm...me thinks that if my dad has to watch it then maybe I should too. Is it permanent? I don't know, but it's been a month and I don't miss it too much but the thought of no more prime rib or buffalo wings hurts my heart something awful.


Got a bike, named her Penny (short for Penelope) and boy is my girl FAST! I am joining Orange County Wheelmen, but unfortunately they've told me I need to be able to ride for at least 15 miles at a 12mph speed before I can ride with them. Soon enough!:


I officially start my swimming lessons on September 16th with the YMCA. With the help of Yahpee (Aline), I hope to be able to swim 1/2 a mile in open water by around March 2009. Considering that I can only doggie-paddle about 10 yards at a time with the comfort of the pool edge within my reach, this is a big deal for me. This is me currently:


August 31, 2008 Disney Half Marathon - CHECK! Aline, Kim, Kim's MOH Michelle, Joy, Claire, Andrea and Me did the race together. I had my best time ever! 2:06 and change wahooo! After waking up at an unGodly hour of 3am and being at Claire's house by 340ish so that MVP Tim could take us there, we set off. It was pretty great, except for the muggy heat. The cool ass medal and post-race Soup Plantation sure as hell made up for it though.

RIGHT before the gun went off...pretty exciting


I can officially say I've ran a race through the Magic Kingdom (Castle? Whatever). My everlasting pacing partner Andrea and Me (still giddy at mile 2-ish):


Hurting hurting hurting....I think this is around mile 10ish:


Disneyland was such a rush that guess what I've signed up for for October 12, 2008? Yes, a race that is 100% along the shoreline. How can you beat that?



Twilight. Edward Cullen. Yummehhhh.... No further explanation needed to fans and non-fans alike. November 12th can't come soon enough darling.





Cheefy Beefy Romanian Melts, with a can of Pepsi. I'm STILL crying. Oh hell.

That's about it.

Stuff like this makes my day!

Some pictures of my Alaska trip

A week ago we went to Anchorage for a short vacation. That wouldn't be my first choice of where to go but last year we promised my cousin that we'd go for his promotion ceremony and celebration for the Air Force.

It didn't get dark until about 130am and then the sun rose at 430am - crazy! I got a chance to do a little sightseeing downtown and took a day cruise on Prince William Sound to see the glaciers. It was really pretty, and although I'm glad I visited, I can't say I'd go back. I got bored.

Congrats Lt. Col. G!


My "shopping experience in Anchorage":












Day cruise on Prince William Sound:







I get motion sickness, it's so sad. So I had a few margaritas made with glacier ice, so after a while I got more comfortable.



I always make time for yoga!


I'm king of the worrrrrld!