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Sunday, April 29, 2012

a sunday hike

i am not an expert in marriage;
(i only have 3.75 years of experience)
but i do know that its important to know when to choose the other and not yourself.
this morning, i had it penciled in my calendar to run another half marathon.
(it'd be my 4th race this month)
a couple times this week, DB had said,
"if you don't run this weekend...would you go on a hike with me?"

i knew...i needed to choose him and to choose us, and not myself.
we slept in, had coffee and breakfast together; made banana bread, ironed his work shirts, cleaned up the apartment....and then we packed up for an epic hike.
the trail was 8.8 miles.  up 1500 feet.
good thing he had a map :)

here we go

the trees

snacks by the creek


DB dared me to kiss the banana slug (but i didn't do it)

one of the views

very sweaty after 3 hours in the sun

we had a great time together today.
hiking and walking and jumping over muddy sections of the trail coupled with time to talk, aske dquestions and really listen to the other was better than anything else we could have chosen to do with our time today.

Friday, April 27, 2012

when in calistoga...

... go wine tasting!
a fantastic wine tasting experience
vincent arroyo winery

we had the opportunity to take a tour, to do a barrel tasting and meet the winemaker.
our host was amazingly knowledgeable


visit chateau montelena
(have you seen bottle shock?)




...go on a castle tour!
castello di amorosa


 
 a wine maker decided to build a new winery/tasting room as a small spin off of his popular winery/resturant he owned. 
15 years later, he realized he had build a 121,000 square foot castle; with over 180 rooms and no one lives there.  

its purpose is to make wine, and store wine.

 in addition there are tours every day all day. 
there are 4 stories  below the ground and 4 stores above ground; the place is huge!
we thoroughly enjoyed our castle tour, which included wine tasting in our own little room!


...stay at hotel d'amici
a chilled bottle of wine awaits your arrival, in addition a basket with fresh pastries and juice are at your door when you wake up:)
oh it was glorious!


....eat at the calistoga inn

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

silverado half marathon, calistoga

this past weekend we were up in the wine country.
on the northern end in a little, off the beaten path in a little quaint town of calistoga.
beautiful.
hot.  85-88 degrees.
coming from the city that resides in the 50-60's....80+ is hot.
specifically when we went to run!  
we also had the time to go wine tasting and castle touring and took time to relax too.
 
 DB gets the gold medal; this is the 3rd weekend this month he has taken me to a running event!

kristy told me i should give him a break from all these events, and let him have a weekend off!
the race was small-ish, approximately 1000 participants; out and back course on the silverado trail which takes us past some great looking vineyards.


after the race we cleaned up and had one last meal together
and then we had to say good bye to a fun filled weekend with our friends

Thursday, April 19, 2012

cookies, water and parking meters

i've been wanting to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for a few weeks now.
not sure why such a specific thing to want to make, i haven't made cookies in a while,
nor do i usually make oatmeal chocolate chip ones..
but bake i did

i didn't have any chocolate chips on hand, but i did have a handful of left over see's dark chocolate eggs from my easter basket (thanks mom!)
so i used those instead:)

i don't keep many cookies around the apartment, so i took them to my store
which my team loves, like really, they love them
as in i took a bunch in today; they were all gone before 4pm
and not every one had a chance to enjoy them
i am going to make more cookies tonight, so everyone can have some!

on tuesday night i met up with DB at the gym after i got off work.
this tends to be our tuesday tradition,
but this week, and laughed at me when i walked in with a large white cup!

little did he know, it was filled with water, as i couldn't find my water bottle!

today, i needed to pay a parking meter
but was totally blocked by this guy

he was asking others for money, and when i asked him to feed my meter, he pocketed the change i handed him.
luckily for me, i didn't get a ticket.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

stripes & santa barbara

Sarah, DB and I met up with Audrey and Ruby for dinner last week.
The dress code was, stripes!

(no, we didn't plan it!)
it was a little good bye dinner for our wonderful friends who are moving to a sunnier part of the state.
freaking, santa barbara! to live on the beach!
so dreamy.
i'd love to live in a warm, sunny beach town!
we are going to miss our friends, but will be visiting them soon im sure:)

Sunday, April 15, 2012

presidio 10M, 2012

today was the presidio 10 mile. sarah and i ran it last year (last year's post here)
this year...we did it again!

the race route changed this year, as there is a bunch of construction going on in/around the presidio.
of course there were hills, but they weren't as crazy hard this year.
the weather was cool, yet it was perfect for the event.

(wouldn't it be funny if sarah knocked those road cones over to take this picture!)
DB was fantastic (as always) dropping me off at the start line, and then joining up with me at the 8th mile!

post race...DB made sarah and i brunch! it was delicious!

for a bit of the afternoon, we hung out at a sunny warm park!


and as tradition continues, DB made us dinner!

today was a fantastic sunday!

p.s. while running today, sarah presented me with a challenge....she said...
"...if half marathons counted as 2, i think you could challenge yourself to run 30 races in your 30th year...."
(i have less than 8 weeks until i am 30!!)

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

the morning tally

this morning, DB tallied his hours!!
as of today.....he is at...3300.

3300.
just had to say it again!!
holy moly, thats a lot of hours, and they have been completed in less than 24 months!

his application will be submitted soon!
ohmyword... i might be more excited than he is :)

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

a stay-in-vacation

we both decided a few weeks ago, we needed some mid-week time off, together.
so we booked ourselves a little vacation.
originally the plan was to get out of town,
but as time was approaching, and the weather became rainy
we changed our plans to stay in town, spending time at home; together.

we have a huge to do list, visiting the insurance agent, calling our travel agent, getting to costco, ikea, picking up the area rug we ordered a few weeks back...etc.
but what is glorious; time off together.
even though we have things we want to accomplish, its truly feeling like a vacation.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

a chico weekend

DB and I went to chico for the weekend; mostly for the race i posted about yesterday.
But also, just to get out of town; take a melatonin every night, and sleep.
We were in some serious need of rest, down time, relaxation and time away.
We hung out with the grandkids of course, and that was very fun!
these two wanted to go for "a walk" which meant "go look for puddles"

these two wanted to play jenga the moment we put down our forks after dinner!


DB and I cooked 2 out of the 3 nights,
which is always a fun for us and for my parents;
as they are thrilled to sit on the opposite side of the counter
and watch someone else take care of whats going on in the kitchen

Monday, April 2, 2012

trail less traveled, 1/4 marathon.

yesterday; DB, kristy and i ran the trail less traveled,
it was a muddy, narrow, hilly 1/4 marathon trail run up near chico.
my parents were originally planning to run with us again this year
but they had a rescheduled golf tournament they had to prioritize
holy moly, this trail run!
it was the same event i did last year with sarah and my parents
(last year)
hamburger hill is no joke!
from mile 1.9 to 2.6 is all uphill with minimal moments of rest/flat ground
i knew this year what it entailed, so i wasn't as scared
but still a full 1/2 mile straight up a muddy hill is not an easy feat.
here we are getting ready...


here we are finishing...

celebrating we did it!


i am kind of bummed my shoes are dirty now