Happy

I have had a sore throat & chest cold sickness this past week. Today I finally felt good enough to get outside. I couldn't really run though because breathing heavy made my chest feel like it was on fire. It was great getting outside though! It felt so good. I took a lot of pictures because it was so pretty.

 I ended up covering 10 miles or so. It has been so long that I was actually in some pain on mile 9 and 10. Bummer. I need to get back on the trails!! 

Annual Blogger Gift Exchange

I got my gift from the annual blogger exchange hosted by Jill! It was very exciting to open the package and I love everything I got!!! I am really excited to try all these awesome fuel options! 

Thank you MCM mama!! I loved my gift it was awesome!! 

Have a great holiday everybody!!

Thanksgiving in Utah

I ended up driving to Utah with my faux fam this year for thanksgiving. We stayed in an awesome cabin up in the snowy woods. I felt like I was in some sort of Lifetime christmas movie. 

This lake was just down a stretch from the cabin.

Mirror Lake

 Martinellis on ice. 

Yum!

We had two turkeys this year... one from the oven and one from the BBQ. My favorite was the BBQ.

 Freaking amazing!

Good guys vs. the bad guys. The good guys won!

There were about 15 people cooking in the kitchen so I just hung around and took the pix. 

After we slept for a bit... it was time for a hike. :-)

It was a very cold day as there were no clouds. Very very pretty though.

Ebby is the pro hiker now. 

We take her too many places for her not to be awesome.

The hike was supposed to be a quick half mile jaunt to this "really cool" ice cave. Sounds awesome right? An ice cave?! Yeah, lets do this!! After the hike, the plan was to go sledding/snowboarding. 

We had a 3 month old, a 3 year old, and a 6 year old so it was supposed to be a quick hike.

However someone made a mistake and it ended up being much longer than a half mile.

Several miles later we ran into some bunny tracks.

Then some deer tracks.

Saw some cool looking trees.

Many many miles later we see the sign!!

Yes!! We made it!! We are so close!!! 

Tired but almost there!

 So we hike a mile more.

There it is! The ice cave!!

The Ice Cave.

Really? This is it?

Ebbs looking around for a different cave.

I don't know what they thought it might look like... but I was imagining some sort of beautiful crystal overhang with loads of icicles hanging down, that created a small structure that you could walk into.

Instead it was a dirt pit with logs sticking out. Hm. Life.

We ran back.

It was a great hike!

Ebby was done by the end. She just wanted to sit.

I loved this white tree against the blue.

She found a tree just her size.

It was great to just relax after. 

What a great time.

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving too.

Graduate School Barbie (TM)

A new gift idea for your loved ones: Graduate School Barbie (TM).

Graduate School Barbie comes in two forms: Delusional Master's Barbie (TM) and Ph.D. Masochist Barbie (TM).

Every Graduate School Barbie comes with these fun filled features guaranteed to delight and entertain for hours: Grad School Barbie comes out of the box with a big grin on her face that turns into a frown after 2 weeks or her first advisor meeting (whichever comes first). She also has adorable black circles under her delightfully bloodshot eyes.

Comes with two outfits: a grubby pair of blue jeans and 5 year old gap T-shirt, and a floppy pair of gray sweatpants with a matching "I hate my life" T-shirt. Grad School Barbie talks! Just press the button on her left hand and hear her say such upbeat grad school phrases like, "Yes, Professor, It'll be done by tomorrow", "I'd love to rewrite" and "Why didn't I just get a job, I could have been making $40,000 a year by now if I had just started working with a Bachelor's. But noooooo, I chose to further my education, I wish somebody would drop a bomb on the school so that I'd have an excuse to stop working on my degree that's sucking every last drop of life force out of my withered and degraded excuse for a soul..." (9V lithium batteries sold separately)

Grad School Barbie is anatomically correct to teach kids about the exciting changes that come with pursuing a higher education. Removable panels on Barbie's head and torso allow you to watch as her cerebellum fries to a crispy brown, her heart race 150 beats per minute, and her stomach lining gradually dissolve into nothing. Deluxe Barbie comes with specially designed eye ducts. Just add a little water, and watch Grad School Barbie burst into tears at random intervals. Fun for the whole family!

Other accessories include:

Grad School Barbie's Fun Fridge (TM) Well stocked with microwave popcorn, Coca-Cola, Healthy Choice Bologna (99% fat free!),and a small bottle of Mattel Brand Rum (tm).

Grad School Barbie's Medicine Cabinet comes in Fabulous (pepto-bismal) pink and contains Barbie sized bottles of Advil, St. Johns Wort, Zantac, and your choice of three fun anti-anxiety drugs! (Barbie Medicine Cabinet not available without a prescription).

Grad School Barbie's Computer Workstation. Comes with miniature obsolete PC (in pink of course), rickety desk, and over a dozen miniature Mountain Dew cans to decorate your workstation with (Mountain Dew deposit not included in price. Tech support sold separately).

And Grad School Barbie is not alone! Order now and you'll get two of Barbie's great friends! GRADUATE ADVISOR KEN, Barbie's mentor and advisor in her quest for knowledge, higher education and decreased self esteem.

Grad Advisor Ken (tm) comes with a supply of red pens and a permanent frown. Press the button to hear Grad Advisor Ken deliver such wisdom to Barbie as "I need an update on your progress," "I don't think you're ready to defend yet", and "This is no where near ready for publication."

Buy 3 or more dolls, and you can have Barbie's Thesis Committee! (Palm Pilot and tenure sold separately.)

REAL JOB SKIPPER, When Barbie needs to talk, she knows that she can always count on her good friend Real Job Skipper (tm), who got a job after getting her bachelor degree. Press the button to hear Real Job Skipper say, "Sometimes I wish I went for my masters degree" and "Work is so hard! I had to work a half an hour of overtime!" Real Job Skipper's Work Wardrobe and Savings account sold separately.

WARNING: Do not place Grad Student Barbie and Real Job Skipper too close to each other, as there have been several cases of children leaving the room and coming back to find Barbie's hands mysteriously fused to Skipper's throat.

Excited for Thanksgiving Break!!

I can't believe I haven't posted since before Halloween! Time slips away from me too fast. Halloween was a blast. The Chinese Dragon was a hit and the party was really fun. :-)

Getting ready in our psych lab before we left.

Here we are in formation.

I actually baked and decorated these. I am not too domestic so it took a long time and there was a lot of green frosting everywhere.

Since the Triathlon I have gotten back to the trails. I missed them.

I have been running Chino Hills the most.

I love November in California!

These next two pictures were taken from a run I fit in after school in my old stomping grounds (Sycamore Canyon) in Riverside. I used to run these trails everyday until I moved to OC.

The best part about going slow on the trails are the little ones you can take with you.

They did really great for 3 and 6, both completing a tough 4 mile hike. Only had to carry the little one for the last mile or so.

Today was great! I biked to Chino Hills Park from my house in Brea which was about 8 miles. Then I ran/walked 6 miles of trail and biked 8 miles back. I got back home right after it started raining. What a perfect day for pictures. :-)

I really liked the little white flowers on this branch.

This is my favorite time of the year to trail run. It is so pretty here in November. :-)