Monday, February 24, 2014


Nothing running related here today folks, just a girly/random cache of memories type post.

Today Eric and I wandered around Portland for awhile.  We'd intended to see the movie Philomena, so we tried killing time at the mall but got bored with that, so we walked down to Macy's.  I'd been mulling over buying a bottle of nice perfume to wear occasionally, and I really do mean occasionally since I'm not a huge girly girl, and I also don't like to choke people to death with crazy perfume.  I was certain of one of the perfumes I wanted, a really nice amber scented perfume from Estee Lauder called Sensuous that I had a sample for and ran out of after 3 years.  But back in my mind, I had another obsession, an itch to scratch if you will, so bear with me in my story because it does eventually come back to perfume.

I have really been obsessively thinking about my late grandmother lately.  I mean I think about her every single day because she was totally amazing, and was one of my favorite people in the entire world, but   around Christmas I just got this really intense sadness about missing her.  Her name was Marion, but we called her Mammy for reasons that I honestly don't know.  (You did NOT refer to her as grandma or maw maw, that would warrant the cussing fit of all cussing fits...and people wonder where I get it from.)  Anyway, this is her when she was younger.  Crazily enough, she thought she was ugly...clearly one of the few things she was wrong about.

Mammy died of ovarian cancer when I was 17 and she was 81.  Obviously in most people's eyes she lived a long life, but an eternity wouldn't be long enough in mine.  She was a hilarious, kind, loving, special lady and I do really miss her.  I often remark to Eric that I mourn the fact the two of them never met, because she would have absolutely adored him.  Like her, he has a razor sharp, quick, sarcastic humor, and I can totally picture them having a good laugh.

Like I said before, I got a bee in my bonnet around Christmas thinking about her even more than normal.  Little things started to happen.  I was thinking about her in the car one day, then turned the Sirius radio over to 40's on 4 (which I never listen to but felt compelled to switch over to), and they were playing Henry Mancini.  Mammy had a cassette of Mancini's greatest hits, and would play it by my request on the way to preschool.  After finishing the Louisiana Half back in January, my aunt reminded me that it was the anniversary of Mammy's death, and that she couldn't think of a more fitting tribute.  I cleaned out a bunch of closets this week and found a ton of cards I'd kept from her, and of course sat and read every one of them and cried my damn eyes out.

A couple of weeks ago I was puttering around the house and found this gold compact thing of hers that once held solid perfume, but not just any perfume..evil Estee Lauder's Youth Dew.  For as long as I can remember Mammy wore Youth Dew perfume, and we all absolutely hated it.  I relate to the Sex Panther scene in Anchorman, because that was totally my feelings on Youth Dew.  I know there is a long history with Youth Dew, and it was very popular back in the day, but good God.  As I remarked to my aunt today, the roughly 5 to 7 sprays that Mammy used probably didn't help matters, but Youth Dew smells like gasoline.  And what the hell perfume is BROWN other than Youth Dew??  But, it's what she wore, and I was surprisingly sad when I opened the compact and took a whiff, because I couldn't smell anything.  I had the urge to smell Youth Dew just once just for that memory, so when I couldn't it made me want to go to a perfume counter and ask for a spritz.

So we walked into Macy's today and I went to the Estee Lauder counter, and there it was, just as I remembered it.  Brown perfume in a glass bottle with a gold bow on it.  The perfume lady almost looked amused when I picked it up, probably because only memaws usually pick up Youth Dew.  I sprayed it on a card and nearly choked to death, because it still smelled like gasoline.  I told the lady I was going to walk around for a bit and then come back.  I rubbed a tiny bit of the perfume from the card on my wrist, and a funny thing happened.  Not only did the memories of Mammy and the perfume come back, but once the perfume settled out on my skin, it wasn't that bad!!  In fact, as I walked around it really grew on me.  After a lap around Macy's I went back to the counter and not only bought the original perfume I intended to buy, but also a small bottle of the Youth Dew bath oil to use as perfume.  When I got home I put a little more on my wrist (and I do stress a little bit, because the shit is aggressive), and after letting it open up for an hour or so I totally, totally get it and why it was popular.

It's a very glamorous perfume, something that someone like Lauren Bacall would have spritzed on before grabbing her mink coat and leaving for a night of drinks and dancing.  It's definitely a perfume with balls, and not suited to girly girls who like super sweet or flowery perfumes.  It's not something that you'd want to wear to your cubicle job, and definitely not a perfume you want to really shower on.  I am so glad I got it, I have been snorting my wrist for hours remembering how everything down to the TV Guides in Mammy's house smelled like this perfume.  I don't see wearing it to my job or something persay, but I definitely will wear it now and again.  Mammy is probably having a good triumphant smile at me buying this today!

And just so my other perfume doesn't feel left out....

This one is a great perfume too and probably a little more "likable".  Definitely more of an every day perfume.  At this rate, I will not have to buy any type of perfume for the next 7 years, because that's about how long it's going to take me to get through these!

Monday, February 17, 2014

Heart Breaker Half Marathon - Race Report


















Thursday, February 13, 2014

The Great Thaw

I meant to post a couple of days ago with all the dramatic pics of the actual thawing we had after our crazy snow storm, but then I forgot, and then I just got too lazy to do it.  Now it just seems awkward.  Just take my word for it, we thawed out.  ;)  It was mostly pictures of Molly looking incredibly irritated and snooty about having to walk in slushy snow, and if you've seen one of those, you've seen them all.

I am definitely thrilled that we are not trapped in the house anymore and that we can go out and do stuff.  Today we took Molly back to the dog park to see if she would maybe enjoy the experience a little more now that the ground wasn't frozen.

The verdict?  The old heifer still hates it, and just paces around and stands at the gate with her sad praying mantis face wanting to be let out. We finally gave up and leashed her back up and took her for several laps around a track they have at the park.  She has been driving us bananas here at the house with her antics, so I wanted to make sure she was good and worn out.  Must have worked, she's actually next to me and sound asleep right now!

And about that thaw, I was super pleased that all of my plants made it through the snow and ice, including those primroses that I thought were dead.  I removed all of my frost blankets and  found lots of pleasant surprises underneath, like my new lavender looking healthy and vibrant.

And the primroses that I thought were toast?  Not only were the leaves just fine, but it had brand new flowers waiting to bloom.

I can't wait for the weather to get a little warmer so that I can get some more flowers to fill out the backyard.  I have a lot of plans for this year, and really want to turn the backyard into an oasis!

I guess the next time I will be chatting with you guys is to give you a race report for my Heart Breaker Half Marathon!  Wish me luck, and I can't wait to tell you guys all about it!

Sunday, February 9, 2014

You're As Cold As Ice

Okay, the snow isn't fun anymore.  Well, the snow isn't the issue, it's that we got an ice storm last night that covered everything in an inch and a half coating of ice glaze.  Kind of like this:

Or like our poor patio table...

That is not water, that's an inch thick crust of ice.  Any surface that was shoveled or any snow that was stomped down and compacted turned into that.  Needless to say, we didn't get out for a walk today much less a drive!  It's funny how normally I love nothing more than being on the couch binge watching some Golden Girls (or the last couple of days, the Olympics).  But when you CAN'T leave your house, suddenly you begin to feel antsy and totally crazy.  And Molly, OMG....I was about to just drop her off at an orphanage today.  She decided she was terrified of the ice, so getting her to go outside and potty became this battle of wills.  Then she decided that the sound of idiots driving on the ice (despite there being a statewide plead for people to not drive) was the most terrifying thing on the earth, so getting her to even get up to go outside was complete drama.  I got so mad about it all that I spent over an hour outside trying to clear the yard so that she could go pee in peace.  I was having to use a normal shovel to chip up the packed ice, and then the snow shovel to shovel it all to the side.  I definitely got my exercise in, and got so sweaty that I had to just ditch my hoodie and finish up in a t-shirt!

I am kind of worried that some of my plants are not going to make it.  I'd just planted a couple of primroses, and those are definitely good as dead.  So much for wanting a little splash of spring in my yard!  I'd also just planted a bunch of lavender and moved my blueberry bushes and apple trees around.  Everything was coated in ice, including my poor blueberries, which were just starting to bud out.

I have babied those things along for over 3 years now, and was happy to finally plant them in a permanent space, so I am going to be pretty mad if this snow and ice killed them!  Same for my poor apple trees, which are only a couple of years old.  I tried to cover everything, but some of my frost blankets blew off before the snow hit, so some of the stuff was exposed.

The temps hit at about 38 degrees today, so I am hoping that things thaw out pretty quickly now.  I am dying to get back to taking some walks and runs.  So speaking of runs...apparently a video from one of our Oregon news affiliates went viral this week.  Eric and I were actually watching the news when all of this went down, but one of our news people was interviewing this couple who was running during the height of the snowstorm.  Eric and I both were like, um they are fools.  The girl was blathering on about how perfect snow is to run in, and then this happened...

I know that I tend to lean towards the lazy and fat way of life, but THAT is why I don't try to run when the weather is ridiculous.  My tailbone hurts just watching that, and I will do my next run when all of this garbage is thawed, thank you very much!  Speaking of, my next half marathon is a week from now!!  Yikes!

Has anyone been watching the Olympics?  I didn't think I would watch much of it simply because the winter games don't quite interest me as much as the summer games, but I've actually managed to see quite a bit of it.  The snowboarding stuff is actually pretty exciting to watch, even though I am so nervous for the athletes that I practically need Xanex!  They really do some crazy maneuvers, and with my fear of heights I am just totally scared to death for all of those guys!

I also thought the opening ceremony was the most beautiful and cool one that I've seen in awhile.  I am fascinated with Russian culture, dance and art, and this certainly had all of that in spades.  I know there is political drama around the games being in Russia, and I definitely disagree with Putin and Russia's stance on a lot of things.  However, I try to just focus on the athletes and their hard work to get there, and the coming together of so many countries for a common purpose.  The Olympics are a special thing, and I always manage to feel a little teary when I see an athlete freaking out when they've won a gold medal, no matter what the country.  It takes so much sacrifice and hard work to get to that place, and that's something we can all put aside politics for to admire just for a little while.

Hope everyone is staying warm and getting some good exercise in!

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Let It Snow

So we had an unseasonable little surprise this week when we got a snowstorm that dumped 7 inches (at least in my town) of snow all over the place!  Despite what some may think, snow isn't really that common in Portland, and it certainly doesn't come this late or heavy.  Usually our "snow" is a few piddling flakes that melt within 30 minutes, and the big storms only come every 5 years or so.  We were due for one, but I was still surprised when the weather forecasters were right and it actually did start snowing on Thursday like they said it would.

I am pretty neutral on snow, some people really despise it and some just about burst themselves from happiness when we get snow like this.  I lie somewhere in the middle of the two camps.  When I am at home watching the snow fall, or taking a walk around the neighborhood where it's quiet, I absolutely love it.  Yesterday Eric was taking a nap and I was listening to some vinyls, making bread and drinking wine while watching the snow fall, and it was one of the most peaceful moments I've had in such a long time.  However, if I'm out trying to drive, then I get more irritable than usual at both the state of Oregon and other human beings.  Oregon owns very few plows, and those they do own don't touch the city of Portland, and they sure as heck don't come down to where I'm at.  Oregon also does not put salt down on the roads because we love the environment and may kill a spotted owl or something if we salted the roads.  I normally am very pro-environment and touchy feely about that kind of stuff, however, that goes away pretty quickly when you have a situation where it is impossible or downright deadly to leave your house because the roads are so clogged with snow.  It's insane, you can't tell where the lanes are, the sidewalks are, anything.  To top it off, no one around here can drive when it snows, and they completely panic.  They either go too fast, tailgate, text and drive, or all the above.  I had to drive yesterday and can't tell you how stressful it was.  Not only did I almost slide into a light pole when going down a hill, I had to deal with idiots who were tail gating me and driving like nuts.  I was so happy to get home so that I could enjoy the snow from the comfort of my home and away from morons!!

Today we were a little stir crazy because we have been cooped up in the house, and since both of us are off, we're used to going out every day and doing a walk or something active.  We were starting to run out of groceries, so we decided to walk to the grocery store since it would be safer than driving.  Talk about a workout!!  It was a 2.5 mile walk round trip, plus we were trudging through snow, and then carrying heavy groceries on the way back.  I am glad we did it though, since I got a good sweat in, and it was kind of fun to walk through all the craziness.  I have taken tons of pictures throughout the storm, so I thought I'd post a few.

A very crazy, cold couple...

Serene street...
You're never too old for snow angels!

So the funniest aspect of this snow storm has been Molly's reaction.  The last snow storm like this we had was in 2009, which was the year she was born so I am pretty certain she has never seen snow.  When the storm went down on Thursday and we first let her out into the yard to go potty, she was totally startled and not happy.  We have kept trying to get her to play in it, but she wants absolutely no part of it, and has been completely peeved that this white stuff is ruining her normal walks.  For the record, we'd be more than happy to take her for her normal daily walk, but after a lap in the snow, she is pulling my arm out of the socket to come back in.  Finally today she lightened up a little and started playing, just in time for the snow to melt tomorrow.  I wanted to capture her emotional journey from hating snow to making peace with it, and that's what I'll leave you with...

Day 1:  "WHAT is this shit?!"
Day 2:  "Whatever.  I'd sooner pee myself than get up from under this blanket to go into that snowy yard."

Day 3:  "Hmm.  I'm still not sure, but the snow is KINDA neat."
"Maybe I'll run just a little to see what the fuss is about."
"Holy crap, this IS fun!!!"

"Death to snowballs!!!"

"The final verdict?  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!"

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Cold Run, Obsessions and The Biggest Loser (Spoilers!)

People it is COLD here!!  Not East Coast cold, but we are in the low 20's and there is a bitterly icy wind blowing.  Naturally I decided that it would be a perfect time to go for a run, although I mainly decided to do so after watching the Biggest Loser finale.  I definitely wanted to talk about the finale, but since I will be talking about spoilers, I'll wait until the last paragraph.  If you haven't watched it yet and don't want to know anything (though I'm not sure how you escaped it), you have been warned!

I dressed in a comically unlike me amount of layers and drove out to the spot where I did a lot of my marathon training runs, and oh what a difference a few months makes.  I remember trudging mile after mile in the heat this summer, angry and sometimes crying over how hot and miserable I felt.  Well not today my friends!  I'm pretty sure I stepped out of the car and said in one breath "Oh this isn't that bad, oh shit it's cold!"  Even with two pairs of gloves on my fingers were SO cold!  I had put a thin layer of Vaseline on my cheeks and lips before I left the house, but even so my cheeks felt like they were on fire from the icy wind.  After a mile and a half I finally got to a "comfortable" state, and if I'm that cold, you know something is wrong.

It was a pretty satisfactory little 4 mile run, weather aside.  I did my first mile in sub 12:00, which definitely thrilled me.  I have not worked on speed in a really long time, and definitely feel like I have regressed when it comes to pace.  I can't remember the last time I did a mile in less than 12 minutes, and didn't realize how much that bothered me mentally until I looked at my Garmin and saw that I had the chance to run a sub 12 mile.  Overall I was satisfied with the run and was happy I propelled myself to get up and do it.  My knee did bother me during the run unfortunately and led to me walking more than I would have liked.  I am really hoping that BS works itself out soon.

After my run I was craving a fresh salad like no one's business, so I got some stuff at the store and made a really amazing, huge salad that I wish I'd taken a picture of!  I used baby kale and arugula as the base, and topped it with hazelnuts, goat cheese, strawberries, pomelo and roasted turkey.  It looked so beautiful, tasted SO good and really hit the spot!  It's actually a nice segway to talk about one of my newest food obsessions (a healthy one for once!), the pomelo.  I am not sure if you guys have ever had one, I certainly hadn't ever tried one until earlier this week, but they are heavenly!

They look like a grapefruit, but are 10 times more awesome.  The skin has an incredibly beautiful floral scent to it, so much so that I could smell them from inside the grocery bag that was on the back seat.  I imagine the peel would make the best candied citrus peel ever!  The flesh itself is out of this world, and tastes like a cross between a ruby red grapefruit and a really sweet orange.  I am totally hooked!

My second obsession is an Australian brand of yogurt called Noosa.  I've only seen it in our foo-foo natural food store, and it's expensive as hell, but it is worth every single penny mainly because they have a passion fruit yogurt that sends me right up to Cloud 9.  I am a complete hussy for all things passion fruit, the taste of it is just ethereal and unlike anything else on the earth.  You don't see many passion fruit things around, which is why this yogurt is so exciting to me.

The yogurt itself is pretty stellar, and tastes/feels like a slightly less tart cheesecake.  Underneath the yogurt is a the best part...passion fruit puree, complete with crunchy seeds.  Every bite contains this creamy, sweet, ridiculous yogurt paired with tart and floral passion fruit.  It's pure heaven.  It's also not low calorie, one of those containers will cost you 270 calories and 11 grams of fat.  However, I think this works wonderfully as a dessert treat.  You get more bang for your nutritional buck than you would eating something like ice cream, and it's also a bigger serving than ice cream.  I mean ice cream is typically a half cup serving, which bitch PLEASE, who only eats a half cup of ice cream???  What I'm saying is, I'd way rather eat this because I get a little more, it has calcium, cultures and protein, OH and it's delicious!

And speaking of trampy broads who like delicious food, check out Molly when I was eating my yogurt.  First she thought that rolling on her back and giving me a cute look would result in her getting a bite of yogurt.

When that didn't work, her next tactic was to get super close to me and stare me down, all while making sad noises.

Oh Molly...I don't share my Noosa with anyone.  Go eat a dry dog treat and kindly piss off.  She is cute though right?  ;)

Ok, so time for some Biggest Loser chat....if you want to hop off here to avoid spoilers, go for it.

So I logged onto the computer this morning and since I hadn't had coffee quite yet, I'd forgotten that the Biggest Loser finale aired last night.  However the good old Internet stepped in to remind me, and I won't mention the name of the asshole homepage that spoiled the result of the BL for me, but it was right there on the front page in a headline with no spoiler alert.  I mean really, in the year 2014 a website doesn't know to not spoil a finale in the freaking headline??  I was definitely peeved about it being spoiled, even though I was pretty positive by about the third episode that they'd rigged it for Rachel to win, and I was right.  I've watched BL for years, and it's pretty obvious early on with the way that they edit the show who is going to win.  Anyway, I figured what the hell, might as well check on Facebook to see more details, and went on the BL Facebook page.  I was surprised first of all that they didn't have a post congratulating Rachel on her win, and then I started seeing a ton of comments about how disturbed people were about the finale and how Rachel looked.  There was so much blowback that I finally had to watch the finale on my DVR.

Wow.  I want to be careful here, because I really hate when women are cruel to other women, especially when it concerns their looks.  Rachel is a real person, who I don't know at all, and she could theoretically stumble across this blog some day.  I would feel terrible if I made someone feel bad about themselves, because Lord knows enough bitches made me feel bad about myself when I was younger, and I don't want to put that kind of karma back into the universe.  Having said that, my reaction was similar to the majority of the internet's today.  When she walked out I was completely in shock, followed by complete sadness.  I am certainly not an expert, a doctor or a trainer, but I simply couldn't imagine that she is at a weight that is healthy.  Again, I am no expert at all, I just know that Rachel's appearance immediately made me uncomfortable.  I wasn't uncomfortable because I am a chubster who hates thin, beautiful women.  I am more than happy to give a hot woman her due.  I was uncomfortable because she looked weak and frail, and because she is now being used as a "thinspiration" on pro-anorexia sites.  Don't believe me?  Do a quick internet search.  I am certainly not saying Rachel has an ED, because I don't know her or her weight loss methods from Adam.  I think more than likely she got overzealous in her need to win and be competitive.  But she is definitely being put on a pedestal by those who are anorexic, which I think says volumes and is also massively troubling.

Being a woman in your 20's sucks.  It's a super confusing time and you're still figuring out so much stuff about yourself.  It's easy to fall into the trap of trying to please others come hell or high water, or get into a mode of having to look or dress a certain way to please the world.  You believe a lot of the hype from the entertainment industry and fashion magazines about what constitutes as beautiful.  I was so thankful to turn 30 and have my "oh wait, I don't give a damn what you think" gene kick in.  Rachel is 24, so I can certainly understand the pressure, especially if $250k is at stake.  Whatever the truth is, I certainly wish her well, and hope that now that the competition is over that she can maintain her weight loss plus 10 pounds.  She is a pretty girl, a talented athlete and seems very intelligent as well, so I can only hope that there isn't something more sinister going on and that she'll dial whatever she's doing back a little.  Life is too short.

I am definitely throwing major shade at Biggest Loser in all of this.  The show used to be super inspirational, but like most reality shows it's become bloated and ridiculous with all of the staged dramas, product placement and game play.  The product placement especially irks the hell out of me, since most of the products they promote are processed crap.  But this is a new low, and I have the feeling that they will have to make some major adjustments after this.  It's pretty telling to me that they have posted nothing to their Facebook page about Rachel even winning, much less anything addressing the controversy.  I guess time will tell on that.

Anyway, sorry to have rambled so long about it!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

"Run" at the Dog Park

The weather here in Oregon took us by surprise started snowing!  We knew that it was going to be cold, but the snow was a bit of a surprise.  It certainly wasn't anything dramatic like the East coast has been getting, it snowed consistently on and off throughout the day,  but nothing stuck.  Instead of staying inside with a hot drink like normal people, we decided to take Molly out to a dog park that we passed by yesterday so that she could be off leash and get some runs in.  We have been looking for a closed in place to take her so that she can be by herself, since she gets grumpy around other dogs sometimes.  This dog park caught our eye yesterday because it was in the middle of nowhere, and not a single soul was in it.  So we made the trek out there, and to our surprise the park was empty again and I assumed Molly would be stoked to be off leash and run.  Um, not so much.

I look at Molly sometimes and wonder how the hell she ever raced professionally.  Besides the fact that she is incredibly stubborn and has the attention span of a hummingbird on meth, she seems to like the idea of going for outings more than the actual outings.  When you get her somewhere, she seems content to walk for about 15 minutes and then she's done, even though she acts completely insane in the house when she thinks she's going out.

When we got her in the dog park and enthusiastically told her to go run, she looked at us like we were complete morons.  Eric and I started sprinting back and forth in the field to try to encourage her to run, but the most we could get out of her was a reluctant trot.  And it's like, I know it's colder than Frosty's b-hole, but Molly you are a GREYHOUND for God's sake!  She kept going to the gate to try to see if she could leave, so Eric and I devised a scheme to get her to run.  One of us would take her to the opposite end of the field and hold her, while the other person would sprint to the gate and then yell "Bye Molly!"  Whoever was holding her at the end of the field would let her go, and she would haul ass to the other person since she thought she was going to go back to the car.  I am quite sure we both looked like complete idiots to anyone passing by.  We did that back and forth for about 30 minutes, and even in the 32 degree, snowy weather I was getting sweaty!  I'm pretty sure I got more exercise than Molly, though of the 3 of us I need it the most!

NOT impressed...
After about 45 minutes (clearly) Molly was ready to get the hell out of there, but we took her for two laps on the path that circled the entire park after putting her leash back on.  I figured we drove all the way out to the country so the old witch could get some exercise, so we might as well keep going.  It was actually fun and relaxing to go for a walk in the snow, though again I think we enjoyed it more than Molly did.

I have been concerned this week about my knee.  Ever since our run Sunday, I've had this painful pinching sensation in my right knee.  It really hurts during bending motions like walking up the stairs, or going into a squat mode to sit down.  It was definitely pinching and hurting when we were horsing around at the dog park today, and I am hoping that it rights itself before my half marathon in a couple of weeks.  I'm sure it will, but it's definitely worrisome.  I honestly think it has more to do with my yard projects last week more than it did our short run, especially since I was using the shovel a lot and digging up dead rose bushes/planting apple trees.  Ah well.

The next few days are going to be quite cold!  We're supposed to get down in the teens, but hopefully Eric and I will be able to keep getting out for some walks and exercise!  It really has been nice going for so many outdoor walks and runs!