Halling Go To Alaska

Sunday My Pumpkin cat.  She was over me taking her picture by this point.  Monday My medals from this year's and last year's Nike Women's Marathon (half). Tuesday Beautiful clouds! Wednesday The 10yo working hard on form. Friday The pumpkin carving contest at City Hall.  Friday fail Saturday One of the floats at the Nevada Day parade.  Big fire is cool!

Over this last week since The Sisterhood announced their FitBloggin'11 giveaway, I've been having dreams about it.   The first was had Mel in it.  She entered the vlogging grand prize and WON! I was pissed because she had already bought her ticket and I thought she was just being greedy.  (Thankfully, I know Mel, and she's neither greedy or mean!) Then there were a couple other ones where I don't remember the details other than I didn't win.  Wait! Now that I think about it, there was one where I *had* won, but for some reason it was revoked.  (Not sure what I did, but it must have been bad for a hooker to have her ticket revoked.) Bottom line.  I think I *might* want to go to FitBloggin.  Maybe.  Tomorrow's the day, right? RIGHT?

Sunday My medal from the NWM. Monday Tiffany made this purse and I dug it out last week.  It's so soft and colorful. Tuesday The tree in my front yard.  Love the blue of the sky and the red of my neighbors tree in the background. Fall is here. Wednesday  Driving home from gymnastics.   Love the Sierra Nevada mountains. Thursday My RLAM shirt that I picked up from Sarah and Dimity in San Fran. Friday I should have cropped this a bit.  See the look on Sweet Pea's face? She's looking at her "boyfriend" in the blue stripy shirt.  They are smitten.  It's adorable... because she's 4. Saturday My oldest is 10.   Dang. 

The Sisterhood  as you may or may not know is very near and dear to my heart.  They have helped me in the last 2 years to be consistent with my exercise and gain confidence in my own skin. Last year all (?) of the contributors and writers went to this little conference in Baltimore called FitBloggin. They had a blast.  They had experiences and met people who have helped them make The Sisterhood a better place.   FitBloggin '11 is going to be bigger and better - and again in Baltimore, which is a city I love.  The Sisterhood is giving away a ticket to the conference along with $100 cash for expenses related to attending.   In order to be entered to win, I have to vlog.  So I did.  (Hopefully this works!) My life is crazy.  I've said many times that I didn't think attending FitBloggin was possible.  But if I win, I will go.  I will figure it out and be there to share in the experience.  *crossing fingers* Good luck to everyone w...

Had you asked me 5 years ago where I would be in fall 2010 I would *never* have guessed.  I would have no way in aych-ee double hockey sticks would I be back "home". If you had asked me 3 years ago how I felt about being home, I would have told you that I was adjusting. If you had asked me 2 years ago if some of my staunchest allies would be people I had yet to meet, I would have cocked my head to the side and given you a funny look. But today, here I sit.  In my hometown.  A place I once swore I would never want to move back to.  A place I didn't think was right for my girls. My girls, in the year 2010, will turn 10, 8, and 5.  When did I get to be the mother of a 10-year-old? When would I have ever thought that I would be planning trips around running races? If you had asked me one year ago if I would willing sign myself up and train to run a marathon, I'd have told you that you were crazy. And yet, all of these things have happened.  And I have too many ...

How did it happen?  She's this many today.  I get this look a lot.  Sometimes with more laughter in her eyes.  Sometimes with significantly more venom. But this smile is her.  She got braces this year.  And grew out her bangs.  She became more proficient in gymnastics. Almost fearless.  But those blue eyes those freckles and pink lips She will always be my baby. 

Disclaimer: This is very long. But it's the whole story.  Also posted on the running blog. Oh my.  I'm not even sure where to begin with this race report.  I was thrilled to have been picked in the lottery again this year.  So thrilled that I immediately tweeted when I got that happy email stating my name had come up.  Months of training for the Rock N Roll San Diego half with Team and Training mixed with months of training over the summer and fall along with a healthy mix of injuries and varying degrees of broken-ness lead up to this day. This was an awesome weekend because not only was I revisiting the place of my first half marathon a year ago, I was also going to be sharing the race course with  Renee , Lauren , Megan and of course T, but some friends from our town had gotten picked also.  One of the best parts? Beki and her knight were going to be driving the hour from her house down to San Francisco to cheer us on! We had planned to leave Frida...

Sunday Our salt and pepper shakers purposefully placed my the 9yo.  She set the table for dinner that night so it would be "pretty". Monday The beautiful sun setting over the mountains as seen through my filth windshield. Tuesday The crazy frog bouncy thing at the park.  Wednesday My gymnast practicing her floor routine. Thursday BSU is T's alma mater.  This raffle benefits our niece.   Of course  I bought tickets. Friday Totally didn't take any pictures.  I drove to the bay area so the camera was in the trunk.  Forgot to take it out and take a picture when we got to my uncle's place. Saturday ( more than one picture because it was a great day, and I can) The north side of the Golden Gate bridge. After lunch at The Crab House.  Beki , Renee , Coach Joe , me, and Renee's friend (I forgot her name!) I got to meet Dimity and Sarah of Run Like a Mother fame along with other great RLAM-ers.  They signed my book, I bought a new (releasing tomorrow)...

So this is a hard post to write.  And I'm sure T is going to wonder why I won't buy a bikini after this post goes live.   I've always been thin.  I had "chicken legs" when I was little, or so I was told.  But those chicken legs made it 5 miles when I was 5 or 6.  I have always had a pretty good self-esteem about my body.  I never cared much about how I looked in a swimsuit, but then again I never really had cause to be paranoid.  Even at my unhealthiest, I wasn't big.  I was the unhealthiest thin person you ever did see.   I did sports in junior high.  My participation in organized sports stopped by my sophomore year.  The friends I hung out with were more fun than sports; and none of them participated.  I ate candy and Coke's for lunch and dinner, if I was working, was McDonald's.  So, yeah. I had a great diet in high school.  Looking back I am so thankful for my genetics.  Because I'm sure without being blessed...

We don't have cable.  We don't have a satellite dish.  We have bunny ears plugged into our TV.  But at least we have a flat screen. (Shh. Don't look in the gold room where our 30-something-inch boob tube is hooked up to the Wii.)  We haven't had cable since 1997.  Gawd, just typing that makes me feel old.  I shut it off when I moved in with T after his mom passed.  I wanted to save money by not having the movie channels.  The local cable company wanted to charge me to turn them off.  I'm not sure if they thought they could get an extra $20 out of my 19-year-old self or what.  My response? Shut it all off.  There are times I miss having 100 billion stations to choose from.  Like Discovery and The History Channel and National Geographic.  But my life is busy.  So if I had those channels I might get even less housework done.  (Just ask T how impressive *that* would be.)  But over the years PBS has become my fri...

How the heck did we just finish week 40 of the year.  That means there is only 12 weeks left of 2010. Sunday Girls on a wall.  My three with T's cousin's 2 girls.  Monday We met Mickey! Tuesday We had snow in the mountains on our way back from SoCal. I was a smidge worried.  I didn't have a jacket or closed toe shoes.  I breathed through all the "what-ifs" going through my head. Wednesday Fail Thursday Spike.  aka "The Prince of Dorkness" as he's known in my house.  Friday I have mixed emotions about seeing deer this far in town.  I love seeing them,  but that means their food sources are low outside of town.  They've been spotted this far in town for many years now.  Saturday Love this slogan.  Might need to get me a t-shirt with it. 

When I was a kid my dad drove a beat up old Datsun pickup truck, green, with a camper shell.  It was a 1971.  I only remember that because that was the year my parents were married.  But they didn't buy that truck new.  He bought it in '73, I think.  My dad drove that truck until close to 1990 if not just passed that point.  My brother and I traveled cross country more times than I can remember in the back of that truck with a camper shell on it.  When it came time to retire the pickup, did he take it to the junk yard? Sell it for parts?  Nope, my dad had the cab lopped off and turned the bed into a trailer. The lawn mower he had when I was growing up never had the switch to turn it on - well at least I never remember it having an actual switch.  You had to turn the teeny, tiny switch down by the motor before you would yank on that cord as hard as you could praying it would turn over so you could mow the lawn for $5 a week.  Hey, that wa...

This is belated because I didn't have wifi access at T's aunt's house this past weekend!  But it's here.  Sunday Re-taught the girls how to play war.   It was hours of fun for them. Monday The kitty dinner que.  Tuesday The state of my kitchen table.  Bondi's for sale , the laptop for posting, notebooks for record keeping.  Fundraising is a tough business.  But so worthwhile.  Wednesday A requested hairdo.  Thursday There is goofy in my house!  Friday The beautiful sunset we saw in the middle of the California desert.  The girls' first response to seeing it,  "why don't you stop and take a picture, mom?" Saturday Eels are creepy!  (Long Beach Aquarium)