Ditto

Laboring Away

I am behind on my blogging because I keep doing exciting things with my weekends.

Labor Day Weekend:
10. Drive all over Cary and Morrisville to borrow tents and get food and other supplies

9. My parents helped us avoid disaster with a house key
8. Check out the campgrounds, set up tents, build fire, roast marshmallows

7. Stay up all night the first night with a major headache
6. Enjoy beautiful beach weather, fantastic surf, and good company

5. Cook dutch oven dinner of chicken pot pie and foil dinners, get rave reviews
4. Visit lighthouses

3. Try licorice with pixie stix as an alternative to s'mores
2. Tell worst dating stories as ghost stories around the campfire
1. Pack everything up in the pouring rain

So I loved the beach part of the weekend, and the company on the trip was great, but I could do without the bug bites, and the actual work of setting up camp and taking it down.... hmmm... sounds like a hotel :)

Triathlon Weekend:
5. No one tells you you will be standing around in just your bathing suit for an hour

4. No one tells you that you will have to run barefoot to get your bike

3. Seeing my sister and my mom on the run was cool, otherwise, it was pretty much a solo event
2. Crossing the finish line to Beyonce's All the Single Ladies, and having my two BFFs there was the fun part (Yes, I was imagining Justin Timberlake dancing to that song)

1. Months of training boils down to one hour and fifteen minutes, a time I can be proud of, and I could still walk the next day

I gotta give a shout out to my dad, who packed our stuff up and drove, and to my mom and sister, who are amazing athletes, and totally kicked my butt!

And to entice you to come back and read, this weekend is Cali Weekend!

Joining a Gym

On Tuesday I was talking to a co-worker about a problem. As I was talking, I was gesturing with my arm, and I felt something funny...... there was an extra wiggle following my arm around....... I looked and realized that where my triceps should be, I have some flab that wiggles! This was so traumatic, I went to the gym that night to check it out. I am currently on a trial to use the gym for a couple of days to see how it goes. Bottom line, I have already decided to join. My mom has been going to a gym for almost a year now, and she has awesome arms, and I went to a class, and the women there didn't have flabby arms, so I am sold.

As a side note, the class I went to was a "core strength" class. I learned that I have no core! There was one exercise where you put your feet on a yoga ball, and you put your hands down, so you are stretched out like a plank. Then you are supposed to lift one foot off the yoga ball and bring your knee to your chest. I couldn't lift a foot without rolling off the yoga ball! So the instructor was like, do a different exercise until you get enough strength to do this one.

What I have learned is that training for a triathlon does not mean you are physically fit. So here's to me, having rock solid abs and big guns for christmas :)

Wax on, Wax off

When I was in Elementary School and Junior High School we lived in a duplex in Maryland. It was great because my best friend lived at the corner of our cul-de-sac. One summer we decided to start a business venture together. We would have a "camp" for kids in the neighborhood, and we would teach them origami. The supplies would be cheap, just some colored paper, and we would have a registration fee. We thought we had enough origami shapes to take up 2 hours, but it turns out it was only about 15 minutes. So then we struggled to keep the kids entertained for the rest of the time. I was talking to my mom about this years later, and she said it was the cheapest babysitting in the neighborhood! I got to relive my origami dreams at Borders last week. I will admit, I am still not very good at it. I tried to make a dragonfly and failed :)

This past week I had dinner with my sisters, and had them come over and watch TV. This is why I enjoy living close to my family. It is fun to hang out.


I also went to a museum exhibit on Chocolate and an exhibit about Pirates. The pirate one was interesting because they talked about how to preserve ship wrecks and artifacts. It reminded me of the exhibit I went to in Missouri about a family that recovered a ship that had sunk in fresh water, and how they had to learn how to preserve it. The chocolate exhibit just made me hungry :)

What about second breakfast?

This past weekend I visited my sister in Utah. It was a totally awesome trip! I found a direct flight, which I totally recommend. It is really great to get on a plane, and get off in your destination, without running through an airport and waiting a couple of hours in the middle. At first my sister said there was nothing to do in Provo, where she lives. She proved herself wrong. Here is all the amazing stuff we ate, and did, and we didn't even get to alot of her suggestions. I recommend a visit!



I arrived Friday around 9 AM, so we first hit a breakfast place. While we both agree it is not as good as the Bongo Room in Chicago, it was pretty good. I had an apple pancake, which was in a German pancake style. Very yummy. Then we headed up to Park City, and toured the Olympic Park. They had some fun games where you can try to be a ski jumper. My sister won :) Then we watched people do ski jumps into a pool. It was really cool to see people come flying down a slope, flip in the air, and land in the pool with skis on. It was a gorgeous day, beautiful blue skis, sunny, a breeze, not to hot. We walked down and watched people do the zip line down the mountain. Then we walked through the downtown part of Park City. It is a really cute street with little shops. Of course we got some gelato, and then we saw people riding the ski lift, and one of them lost their shoe! Then we drove through the mountains down to Provo. My sister gave me the official tour of Provo, driving by her work, her favorite house, the water park, BYU, the downtown street, and other things I have forgotten. We relaxed at her apartment, and then got a J-Dog! The special sauce is awesome (this is a hotdog stand near BYU). Then we went out to dinner with some friends at Zupas (a great sandwich/salad/soup place). I got a mango salad that was really excellent. Zupas always gives you a chocolate covered strawberry. I think this should be part of every meal. We followed dinner up with a movie. By the time that was over, I was exhausted! So I went to bed.

Saturday we ate at Kneaders. They have all you can eat french toast, with syrup, strawberries, and whipped cream. The french toast is thick and amazing. Then we went into Salt Lake and checked out the Library. It was a pretty amazing building, with an open area, and then just stacks and stacks of books. It had a university library feel, more than a regular library feel. Then we went over to temple square, and saw one of my sister's friends outside the temple having wedding pictures taken, which is just funny. We watched the new Joseph Smith movie, which was really cool. I hadn't seen it. Then we walked around temple square, and saw the tabernacle which has been updated to survive an earthquake. It looks the same on the inside, but the roof is now a bright silver. Again, it was a gorgeous day. Saturday started out looking rainy, but it cleared right up and was beautiful. Not too hot with a breeze. Then we went to the Gateway, which is a shopping place with the Olympic park. Kids run in and out of the water in the fountain. I discovered that in Utah the store Down East Basic is actually a store, and not an online thing only. So now I will be putting in orders with my sister :) We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, and tried the whole set of appetizers. Lesson learned: The corn cakes and guac egg rolls are still the best. We also tried the pineapple upside down cheesecake. It was not as good as we had heard. At least we got the tuxedo cheesecake, because that was fabulous. I love cheesecake. Then we went to see an outdoor performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. We had a sleeping bag to sit on, but the hill was very steep, so we were sliding down the hill. The venue was nice, and the weather was gorgeous, but the performance itself was more like a roadshow than a broadway production. The primary kids were super cute, and the green go-go boots were definately the hit of the costuming. It was just funny, and I enjoyed it.



Sunday we went to church, and my favorite part was my sister running to another apartment to borrow the perfect shoes for her outfit. It is like having 10 times as many clothes when you have friends that live so close. I also benefited from this because I borrowed a jacket from my sister. There was a munch and mingle after church. This is different than the "break the fast" my ward has. It is on the third sunday and the ward provides the food, it isn't a pot luck. This time it was baked potatoes. Yum. We sat and visited and it was alot of fun to meet people and get names associated with faces. Then we took a Sunday afternoon nap (or I did), and then we went for a drive through the canyon, singing fabulous songs all the way. It was a beautiful drive up through Sundance. Once again, can't say enough about how gorgeous the weather was. It did get a bit cold up in the mountains. My sister was lamenting the fact that it was fall already, but I really enjoyed the break from the humid 100 degree days. Then we cooked some pizza and went to Ward Prayer. This is amazing to me. The entire apartment complex is one singles ward, and because they are all in the same complex, they get together in the courtyard and have ward prayer Sunday night. It is a social thing, with a short spiritual thought and games. Then the party came to my sister's place where we continued to play games. Provo is definately a social place.

Monday we got up and got a pie shake for elevensies. Yes, this is taking a piece of pie, putting it into a glass with ice cream, and blending it together. Amazing! Then we went to Thanksgiving Point, which has gardens and a dinosaur museum. We watched a glass blower create a vase of some kind. Then we walked around the gardens. They were amazingly beautiful, especially with the mountains as a backdrop. It was just fun to wander around. Then we drove by several temples, so in all I saw 5 temples on this trip. Then we got a slurpee and a "Beyond Glaze" donut, which is a glazed donut but decorated with other flavors, like Key Lime. Then it was time to drop me off at the airport. Sad.

Bottom Line: Provo is a very exciting place to meet people and do tons of fun things and eat lots of yummy food.

Slow and steady wins the race

I usually try to exercise before work because there is no one in the neighborhood pool, but this week it didn't work out. So I went after work. I was swimming my laps during one of the adult swims, and a bunch of kids were sitting around with their feet in the water waiting to get back in. I didn't finish all my laps in the time period, so then the kids jumped in and challenged each other to a race. So they swam past me. Then they challenged each other to swim ten laps, and they were going super slow, and I am pretty sure they were making fun of me :)

Then I was riding my bike. I wear regular work out shorts and a tshirt, and I have a mountain bike ish type, so I don't ride all hunched over like on a road bike.... basically I ride a bike like I did when I was a kid. So I am riding along, slowly, and this guy speeds past. He is on a road bike, with the whole spandex outfit, the shoes that clip in, the water thing on his back... you know, a real professional. So I can only imagine how comical I looked in comparison.

This weekend was tax-free weekend in North Carolina. So I went to the outlet mall with a friend for some good clothing sales. We had a blast, and got some good deals. I also got to see a Durham Bulls game. The best part was the fireworks at the end of the game. They were so close it was amazing! It was a great weekend.

That was totally wicked!

This week I moved offices, so now I sit near my manager's boss. I was wondering if it would be awkward to leave work early yesterday to go to a Coldplay concert, but when I left, she was already gone. I wonder if she went to the concert?

My roommate and I got a 4 pack of lawn tickets, so we decided to meet at our house to drive down to Walnut Creek. Walnut Creek is notorious for bad traffic, and my roommate got lost the last time she went to a concert there, so I was in charge of navigating. My roommate has noticed that I like to drive on back roads, so she suggested we do that to avoid traffic. One of our friends was like, I have only driven this far on this road, I had no idea it continued. So I pointed out the house that the peacocks live at, and other interesting sights. So if you would like a guided car tour of Raleigh, let me know.

We decided to leave the house right after work and pick up some food along the way. So we stopped at a Wendy's and tried to go through the drive through.

"Hi, can we place 4 orders?"
"No, we only take two orders"
"Ok, first order, jr bacon cheeseburger etc etc. Second order..."
"Can you repeat that?"
"Which one?"
"Both"

So we got the two sets of food on that one, and drove back through the drive through, but this time, pulled up so the back passenger window could order and pay. We asked for ketchup, and the guy at the window said they were out. Maybe it was because they let people do 4 orders at a time. :)  We were laughing hysterically through this whole thing because it would have been faster to walk in.

We finally got to Walnut Creek, and were directed where to park by the parking experts. We then found a spot on the lawn that was close to the center of the stage. Unfortunately, we did not bring any tarps, and the ground was wet from rain in the morning. Apparently everyone else there had forgotten their tarps, and was walking around had wet pants, which was funny, but also kind of unpleasant. It was a gorgeous evening, not too hot or humid, which is so rare in August in North Carolina. The best part of the opening bands was the fact that we could still talk, and they had some violins playing with them. Then it got dark, and Coldplay came out! It was awesome! They played all my favorite songs, plus some great ones I didn't know. Then they came out to the back and did a Michael Jackson tribute, Billy Jean. Awesome! And then, we got a free CD of the songs live from the concert.

Then it took an hour to get out of the parking lot, so we just listened to the concert again on CD. Fun times.  

(Sorry, coldplay videos cannot be embedded, and apparently I haven't improved my picture taking abilities)