Happy 30th Birthday Patrick!!

On Saturday a bunch of friends and co-workers gathered to celebrate Pat's birthday. We started the night off at Sigma Grill. Pat's mom and dad attempted to make it a surprise party, but the cat got out of the bag. It was a great evening that eventually ended up downtown at Big Al's. I enjoyed catching up with friends from the past!

Happy Birthday Patrick!



You can check out the slideshow from the party here.

UPDATE - Double Tall, Nonfat, No Whip, No More Mochas

I FOUND MY CAMERA!!!

Apparently my camera is small enough to fit in the smallest pair of jeans I own. Who knew??!! My day of sorrow has turned out to be a day of miracles!! YAY!!

Double Tall, Nonfat, No Whip, Mochas are back on! ;-)

Double Tall, Nonfat, No Whip, No More Mochas

I am completely sad and disgusted with myself. I somehow failed to maintain the where-abouts of (ie, LOST!!) my brand new digital camera on Saturday night. :'-(

Since I have been on a complete spending spree here lately, I have decided that before I can buy a replacement I am going to give up my morning drink of choice from Starbucks. Furthermore, I will not consider a replacement until my road bike is paid off. This is such a sad, sad day.


ATTENTION PEOPLE WHO FREQUENT BIG AL'S:

If you have any information regarding the location of a little digital camera with a cute red leather strap, please contact me immediately.

Thank you,
Ms. Responsible

A Parent's Worst Nightmare

**Warning: The following post is not for the weak!**

Aside from the death of my children, any major illnesses, or being abducted there's basically one thing I don't want to experience as a parent. Unfortunately for me (as Kev completely lucked out on this one) this experience occurred tonight.

I had just finished putting the kids in the bathtub and was going to let them play for a few minutes. During this time, I was checking my email and reading up on some triathlon news. Then I hear it....my 5-year old daughter starts yelling for me...."Mommy!!! Andrew pooped in the bathtub!! It is disgusting!"

O....M....G....

Of course my first reaction is, "Jordan, are you serious?" as if she would lie about something like poop in the bathtub. I calmly walk to the bathroom and peek around the door hoping that it's just one floater that can be quickly scooped out (with a cup and gloves that come up to my elbows). Nope. Of course this would NOT be my luck.

I then proceed quickly to get the kids out of the tub and start draining the water. After it starts draining the thought occurs, what happens if the drain gets clogged? Oh well, I will deal with that if need be. So now I have to somehow re-clean the kids. The bathroom sink, yes! I will just put Drew in the sink run some water and wash him off with some soap, perfect. Ok, where's Drew? He's running around the house naked. I suppose the possibility of him dropping a deuce on the living room floor is pretty much zero since he cleaned out in the tub....but I don't want to chance it. I chase him down and go to put him in the bathroom sink only to find out he doesn't fit in it. Has it been that long since he was taking his baths in the sink?? Damn....I need a bigger sink....off to the kitchen! Finally, I was able to lather him up really good and I only pray that he got clean.

As for Jordan, she got to wash off in our shower. (We just have a stall shower, no tub.)

As for the bath tub....it's getting a major bleaching. Jordan and Drew don't know this yet, but by the time they wake up in the morning all bath time toys associated with this disaster will be in the trash.

As for me, I think I am experiencing post-traumatic stress. Maybe an apple martini will help....yes, good idea.

I'm In Love!!

Belated Post For A Belated Birthday Party

A week after Marisa's birthday, we all finally had time in our schedules to meet up for her birthday dinner and dessert. It was great to hang out with everyone since it has been a while. Our normal tradition includes finger foods, veggies, cheeses, bread and crackers, a TON of wine and a late night full of gossip and laughter.

This time around, however, we had a toned-down 'healthier' version. The main course was an awesome soup prepared by Beth that consisted of chicken, salsa verde, white beans and chicken broth. It was accompanied by a salad. For dessert, we had homemade sherbet.....well....sort of sherbet. It was definitely homemade though. haha! Our alcohol consumption was limited to one glass of champagne. (Note to self - find out what kind of champagne we had so that I can enjoy the entire bottle.)

The funny part about dessert is that it looked like cat food.

I think it was because the 'sherbet' had not softened up enough and it just chipped away as Beth tried to scoop it out. It was pretty tasty though!

Here's Nicole and Katrina poking a little fun at the dessert concoction.



As expected, it was a good time in good company.

Happy Birthday Marisa!!

A Treat For YOU!!

Yes, I know, three posts in one day. Sweet. Because we all can't get enough of Velvet. ;-)

Tonight's the night!! I have been waiting sooooo long for this! I am bouncing off the walls with excitement!! (maybe that's the Enviga I just drank.....) My skin is prickling with goose bumps!

My favorite reality show couple are BACK ON TV!

I loved to hate them in their separate Survivor seasons. I loved to love them in Survivor: All-Stars. I watched with tears of sorrow as they finished as runners-up in the Amazing Race 7. I watched with tears of joy as they vowed to be together forever in their televised wedding. And now, they are back....

Rob and Amber will be taking on 10 other teams in the Amazing Race: All-Stars!! Wahoo!!

I am looking forward to the countless hours of unproductive tv watching. I mean, with a show as captivating as Rob and Amber....er, I mean the Amazing Race....why would anyone want to stop watching tv??

The food sign up list for the season finale party coming soon!

Product Review - Enviga

There's a new so-called 'calorie burning' product out on the market called Enviga. The product claims that a normal weight person between the ages of 18-35 can burn between 60-100 calories, just by drinking this product. It has antioxidants including the metabolism boosting one called Epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG. It also contains about 100mg of caffeine per can.

You have to drink 3 cans of this stuff to receive the 'optimal' calorie burning effect. And as the can states, drinking more than 3 cans will not have an additional effect. It has 5 calories per can and provides 20% of your recommended calcium. Lucky for consumers it is available in three flavors: Peach, Berry & Green Tea.

At first taste, I was reminded of Red Bull with it's carbony zing. Even more so like Red Bull Light with the substitute sweeteners. I have only tried the Berry and Green Tea flavors. The Berry was pretty good. But as with most drinks (other than alcohol) it's hard to have more than one. You just get bored of it. Maybe if you chug it real fast then you wouldn't get sick of it. Or, maybe we can have Enviga-vodka instead of Red Bull-vodka......hmmm....it would definitely be a more healthy alcoholic drink. It has antioxidants!

I don't know why I even picked it up. Maybe it was the thought that I could burn calories by not doing anything. Yes, as I am typing this I am thinking about the calories that are burning away inside. burn baby burn.

The only problem, you burn at most 100 calories, assuming of course you drink the 3 recommended cans. 100 calories.....blah. It's not worth it. In order to lose 1 pound, you have to burn 500 calories a day for one week. Alternatively, you can decrease your calorie intake by 500 calories per day for one week. Even better, decrease your calories 250 and burn 250 calories per day for one week, i.e. diet and exercise.

I am not for sure how this product will take with consumers. I am sure it will follow the normal weight loss craze that new products often endure. It will probably fizzle as quickly as it came to market. Here's the problem with this product:

1. It's expensive. Although I can't be 100% on this as I myself didn't look at the price (a bad habit, I know), but I am sure it was at least $1.50 per can. And don't forget, you have to drink 3 a day.

2. It's target market. The product states, "Three cans per day of enviga have been shown to increase calorie burning by 60-100 calories in healthy normal weight 18-35 year olds." Um, hello??? Shouldn't your target market be non-normal weight people? Have you not listened to the news that the majority of people are not healthy and are over weight, they are in fact, obese?? Good job guys! Even as I write this I should have known this product wasn't for me since I don't fit into the 'normal weight' category. geesh.

3. It has caffeine. I don't know how your heart handles 300 mg of caffeine, but mine can't handle it.

Maybe their true intent is to provide a healthier alternative to caffeinated drinks like coffee and Red Bull. But they add the calorie burning aspect which makes me think of weight loss.

My vote: nay!

Bad Design - Clear pacifiers

I don't know what I was thinking when I purchased the new pacifiers for Drew. I believe it went something like, "Oh cool! Clear pacifiers, how neat!" You can now replace those words with, "Where the hell is that damn pacifier? Does anyone see Drew's paci?"

Whoever thought a clear pacifier was a good idea didn't have a crying kid looking for a lost one!

Valentine's Day.... Bah Humbug!

Before I get to the really great parts about Valentine's Day, let me tell you about my experience with Valentine's day with kids.

So, just like last year, Jordan comes home with the class roster so that we can write out Valentine's Day cards. She also comes home with a slip of paper saying to bring in chips and dip for the 'party'. No big deal. I buy the cards for Jordan, she preferred Hello Kitty this year, I spend about an hour with her. I have to spell the names out for her and she writes them on the card. This is a great exercise with my patience. At least this year she wrote out about 99% percent of the names herself. Cool...done.

Jordan came home with the her class roster about a week ago, plenty of time to prepare. Well, the other day, I get this sheet of paper of from Drew's class....it's his class roster. At first I thought, how cute! I will write all the kids names on the cards and give them all suckers. It will be so nice. I mentioned this to Kev and I basically got 'the look'. This 'look' can be vocalized as, 'haha, yeah right, I don't think so." I am sure most of you know this look. I quickly dismiss my 'it will be a good motherly thing to do' idea and say, 'you're right dear, why would we do that?!" Let's face it, A - they are 12-24 month old babies, B - they can't write, C - they can't read, D - they can't even eat cool candy like the conversation hearts! A complete waste of time.

I go and pick up the kids today, totally excited to see what kind of candy Jordan would be bringing home. I am leaving Drew's classroom and the teacher hands me a brown bag.....filled with Valentine's Day cards and candy. Are you kidding me? I mean, didn't these other parents realize that this was a complete waste of time?? APPARENTLY NOT!! One set of parents even went as far as making rose-tinted rice krispy treats!! Whoa! Now that, my friends, was an awesome treat. Ridiculous.....yummy, but ridiculous.

Did the parents really think that I would believe that these cards were hand-picked and 'from' their 18-month olds? lol...



Ok, so on to the good stuff! Check out my cutie pies!! Check out the difference from last year with these below. Man oh man....they are quite the trouble makers so don't let these pictures fool you! I am sure they would try to rip your head off if you took their suckers!









Of course the most amazing husband in the entire world went the extra mile to buy me flowers and cook me an awesome steak dinner. He even remembered the red wine! :-)

Snowshoe Trip 2007

Finally....a much needed break from life, in general. Last Thursday a group of us went to Snowshoe for 4 days of skiing and snowboarding. Thanks to Jilian who did all of the arrangements and by coincidence scheduled the trip after good snow fall! The conditions on the mountain were perfect.

I attempted snowboarding for the first time and in one word, it was painful. It was definitely harder than what I expected. Everyone said that I needed to give it more than one day, but there was no way that I could physically do it after one day of trying. I was sore everywhere. It was fun to try, but maybe I will get some more practice in the future.....maybe.

I rented some demo skis that were shorter than the skis I own. I couldn't believe the difference in the control I had. I think my skill level increased 100% just by switching the skis. I completed my first black diamond runs at Snowshoe. By the last day, I was able to handle the Western Territory like a pro. haha....ok, maybe not like a pro, but at least like someone with experience. I definitely felt confident going down those trails. I feel like I have a lot more to practice though. Especially keeping my skis closer together. I wish we could ski there every weekend!

Some highlights from the trip:

*imagining what it looked like to see myself wipe out every 10 feet on the snowboard (painful)
*listening to the boys pick on each other almost 24/7
*learning about 'fives'
*playing the boxing game on the Nintendo Wii with Kev and kicking his butt ;-)
*playing the golf game on the Nintendo Wii using the character Jilian set up (left-handed) and not realizing why it wasn't working for me until it was over.
*BrianH saying, "Hey we can all fit on this lift"
*and then almost dying on the same lift when Matt decided to putz around and not get in front of it soon enough while trying to load
*laughing at Matt and Mike who were under dressed for our first night out on the town....apparently I was right when I told them that a short-sleeved shirt and a denim jacket wouldn't cut it in zero degree weather.
*making everyone run from the comedy club to the dance club - somehow the fact that snow making would be occurring on the mountain didn't cross my mind at all.
*watching Todd's face as he saw Kevin R make a beeline towards our group and hockey stopped only inches away from the whole group - there was a split instance where the snow covered the entire area and I thought we were all going down
*learning that Webmail.us hit another single day SMB sales record and telling Cameron that we should pay for him to take vacations more often ;-)
*Mike trying to start a mosh pit at the dance club.....and almost being thrown out about 3 times
*Matt trying to memorize all of the trail maps
*conquering the Western Territory - congrats to both Mike and Matt who also hit these trails on their first visit to Snowshoe. They went from doing greens all day Thursday to hitting the blacks Saturday and Sunday - awesome job guys!! :-)

Other pics can be viewed here.

There are rumors that next year's trip is getting started! Next year - the house that sleeps 21 people....sweet!! Who's down??

Getting Fitted For a Road Bike

I never thought I would get fitted for a road bike. Especially after my first experience in a spin class that was completely dreadful with two days of walking funny and not being able to sit. And after I claimed I was dying after my first triathlon.

I have been thinking about how to take my triathlon experience to the next level, i.e. place in my age division. Of course there's the obvious, train to be more efficient at all three disciplines. Then there's the equipment side of things. Better gear. Improving my bike is definitely one piece of equipment that can help me.

Apparently, there are all kinds of special angles and sizes of bikes that affect your power on the bike. I went to East Coasters today to get measured and find the right bike for my body. It was a great learning experience, to say the least. The biggest ah-ha moment was during the discussion of the pedal cycle (like looking at a clock face) and understanding the muscles involved at each point during this cycle. With the incorrect fit of the bike I used last year and the fact that I didn't have clipless pedals, I wasted about 1/2 of the power I was putting into the pedal. Wow...all that hard work I put into the bike was giving me half of the results!

Just by getting the fitting done, I think I learned twice as much about the road bike than what I knew before going in the store. What's next? Well, I am waiting for the measurement results and analysis on cost to either enhance my bike to fit me or purchase a new bike. Once I get the results back maybe I can convince a company to sponsor me so that I can afford the enhancements or a new bike. Any takers??? ;-)