Monthly Archives: October 2010

a lovely sun day

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Yesterday Mark and I participated in the 2010 Tour de Tempe Community Bike Ride… and absolutely had a blast! The morning started rocky but quickly picked up and soon Mark and I were racing past tons of people, mostly trying to pass up the big boy booking it on his mountain bike. We could have beat him, really we were so close but by the end of the ride I was WEAK and let him pass me. BOO!

The event was described like this:

More than 1,500 people are expected to participate in the 15th annual Tour de Tempe community bicycling event on Sunday, Oct. 24 from 7 – 11 a.m. at Kiwanis Park 6111 S. All-America Way in the parking lot just north of Guadalupe Road. Admission is free. Activities include:
• 12-mile community ride – Enjoy a leisure bike ride led by Mayor Hugh Hallman and Tempe Bicycle Action Group along the Western Canal. Registration starts at 7 a.m. with the ride starting at 9 a.m. Fill out a registration form online and bring with you the day of the event (registration form serves as your raffle ticket). Helmets are required. Please bring your own water. Free t-shirt for the first 800 riders.
• Breakfast foods and coffee – Enjoy early morning snacks by Wildflower Bread Company, Whole Foods, Back East Bagels and Starbucks.

I think it was more than 12 miles. (Not to mention our 6 mile ride to the start line from home and the 6 miles back… that’s 24+ miles we put in that day! Go us!) I don’t know that there was 1500 participates; and I never saw the Mayor. There was “breakfast snacks” as far as I could see but I made Mark late so we missed out on that… and the free tshirts. Boo me again!

Mark was not a happy camper with me when he found out he was going to have to ride without breakfast because I cut off all the alarms that morning:

But he tried his best to pretend cause he loves me!

After the long ride they were offering FREE (yea that’s right FREE) massages from the students at the local massage school! YES PLEASE! It was amazing and afterward I felt so loose and ready to go! I’m pretty sure I was falling asleep in this photo because I have no recollection of Mark taking it.

Here are some more photos of us cheesing it up after the ride.

Have I mentioned how much I love our weekends together!?!

it’s a love/hate relationship

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Running that is! You all didn’t think I was talking about Mark did you?!? But truth is, it all started with Mark!

In 2007 I had a HUGE crush on Mark and he liked to be active. When we first started talking he would tell me about his 12 mile bike rides and 6 mile runs. I told him I didn’t have an ounce of athleticism in my bones but that didn’t stop him from inviting me to run with him. (I didn’t have a bike at the time.) There I was dealing with my first crush and I find I’m agreeing to anything if it meant I got to see him. (CHEESY I KNOW!) Ugh! How could I have known this man was going to end up my husband!?! And I would never be allowed to stop running! I shouldn’t have tried so hard to impress him. Dang I set the bar too high!!!! <- That’s a joke… kind of.

I haven’t told too many people this but Mark was pushing me to run the San Antonio Rock & Roll. I told him I’d think about it but as the date got closer I got scared and quit. He begged me to run it. My father-in-law offered to pay my entry fee. I was so shocked by everyone’s insistence and it hurt at the same time because I didn’t feel ready. (I really wasn’t either!) Turns out he fully intended to propose to me after I completed the race! Even if I took 6 hours I could have been engaged in November! He still proposed in the most amazing way in December, but still!

Knowing how much this all meant to Mark I signed up for my first half marathon The Cowtown 2010, quickly followed by my second Hills & Heels Half. Last month I decided, with lots of encouragement from Mark, to sign up for my very first FULL marathon. Ahi… Dios… Mio! Apparently his love still has an effect on me!

Cause I HATE RUNNING! But I’m pretty excited that I will able to be among the 1% of Americans that can say they’ve completed a Marathon. Wish me luck!

I have to admit running is rewarding in the end. My body reacts fast to losing water weight. I’m so glad Mark pushes me as much as he does. And I mean literally. Every morning my alarm goes off and I slam around until it’s silent but then Mark rolls over and pushes and pushes until I’m just about off the entire bed. Sometimes I get up and sometimes I curl up into a little ball in a place where I know I won’t fall off or I wrap my arms around my warm husband like a little monkey and grunt when he tries to make me get up. He’s so amazing!

In less than 3 months I will be running 26.2 miles and I would never have imagined doing such a task had it not been for the love of my life!

hobbies, spaghetti, and LA baby!

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10 days later… never too late for the 4  month update!

Every month so far in our wonderful marriage has been quite the unique experience. We have grown so much both as individuals and as one together over the past four months.

I don’t think we’ll ever have as many exciting photos to share as the first couple months but I’m finding that so many of my memories lately are the ones that can’t be captured on film. (Although we did have tons of fun on a road trip this month!)

I haven’t been in the best of moods this month… compared to others. I’ve been back at work for almost 3 months now, and the excitement in that has pasted. Often I come home tired and cranky. I’m hesitant to write some of this because it seems so much more dramatic when written than what reality is. Although maybe that’s what I need. To put it right in front of my face in black and white, in 1′s and 0′s (a little computer nerd reference), so that I remind myself how silly it is to bring work stress home.

The kitchen the month hasn’t been cleaned every day, the bed isn’t always made, we’ve eaten out way more than I would prefer. Today was the most ridiculous day at work that I’ve ever had which is why I just realize this post is really negative!

So let’s flip the switch. What has pulled me through this month, and made me love Mark even more! Since we’ve been married I’ve picked up a few new hobbies and some old ones. I currently have (what I consider) a HUGE garden on my back porch. It consists of basil, 3 types of tomatoes, 3 types of peppers, rosemary, lavender, strawberry plant, mint, sage, a type of cilantro, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten something; and I can’t forget my original plants the Aloe Vera, Succulent Plant, and Cactus. They are huge now! Remember then from our two month post?

It seems silly our little garden on the shelve but it actually helps me so much with stress. I spend 15-30 minutes working on it a day; clearing out wilted leaves, watering, ect. I love seeing how much each of the plants have grown day to day; and if one unfortunately does take a turn for the worst it is the best feeling when I treat it and come back the next day to see it standing tall and extra green! It’s kind of an expensive hobby but I love the investment! And I have to thank my beloved for introducing me. He basically said ‘You need this” in such sweeter words!

The hobby Mark picked up since our marriage is fixing bikes, and he is so good at it! If it was up to him he’d keep every bike he touched, but with a little loving encouragement he’s sold two already! We happen to have four though. He has a great explanation for why we need two bikes each, and I love both of mine so much I conceited easily to his explanation. Here is one of bikes he has customized to perfection!

Some highlights of this month were definitely participating in our first church event. We loved it and had so much fun! It was a spaghetti dinner to sponsor the finishing touches on the school’s new kitchen. We thought we were just buying dinner tickets to support and were going to swing by and pick up some spaghetti and head home. Boy were we wrong! It was a 3 course dinner, starting with a salad, then a huge portion of spaghetti, THEN a nice piece of a cake of our choice; all served to us by the Sisters and other volunteers! The music director played awesome music from the 60s and 70s for us during dinner, and there was even some hilarious Catholic humor from one of the members who did a little stand-up comedy! Mark and I tried to take our photo several times that night to capture how much fun we were having but the phone wasn’t cooperating! But the photos came out fun anyway.

Right before the 4 months ended we found out that our PRIMO ( and the best man @ the wedding) was going to be in Las Angeles. The best part about living in northern Arizona is it’s centrally located to pretty much anywhere in the western side of the US.  A trip to L.A., Vegas, Colorado, ect is as simple as the trip between Fort Worth and Houston! So without question we headed out there for a visit! Carlos had to work pretty much the whole time but we were still so glad to see him for the bit we did. We miss family sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much! Did I emphasize my points with enough o’s? The trip deserves it’s own post and it definitely will get it… eventually! For now I have to post me being a fat kid with the best tacos from a taco truck, EVER!

AHH! I need to blog more! There have been so many great moments this month, like driving through Hell, Mexican Nyquil, Native Gallery openings, Mexican Galleries, a little Edward James Olmos… you know the little events. ;)

So my goal for month 5 is definitely to post more, and it’s half way gone so I better get to work!

I guess I didn’t really post any deep relationship growth in this post. Like I said some of it is so hard to write, but just writing about our month has put me in a better mood and made me even more grateful for Mark! (And he’s now dancing around our living room to the Pandora station we have on; but don’t tell him I told you! I LOVE THIS MAN!) If you made it this far… thanks for listening me vent.

recipe: banana nut bread

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It only took three years and a lot of side comments at the fact …

but I finally made my husband my Legendary Banana Nut Bread.

My mom was given a banana nut bread recipe when I was about 16 or 17, and when I nailed it I felt the need to make it just about every other week. If I may say so myself it’s the BOMB with a cold glass of milk! I lost that recipe long ago. Or my mom threw it away because it was covered in caked on flour and sugar; and over time I’ve forgotten it. But I found a nice recipe on AllRecipes.com and tweaked it a bit. I think after a couple more tries I could get it back to the perfection I use to create but this was a close try!

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans (I prefer chopped walnuts)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup mashed bananas (Extra ripe ones, meaning pretty much black, make the bread extra moist!)
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour loaf pan. (I use a stone ware loaf pan from Pampered Chef!) Set aside.
  2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Stir in nuts, eggs, bananas, oil, and vanilla extract.
  3. Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. (It will probably take longer but after an hour I test the bread every 5-10 minutes. Place in top shelf of oven.) If it’s too low the bread will burn at the bottom.) Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from pans.
This bread took me about 80 minutes to make. After 40 minutes I covered the loaf pan with tin foil. I added another banana because I didn’t think the recommended measurement was enough. Mark really liked it and has eaten almost the entire loaf over a couple days, so I would call this a success!

Enjoy!


La Cura

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I’m a bit under the weather. Dr. Mark has diagnosed it as a cold, and since I was just highly uncomfortable and irritable but I don’t feel like death I could agree with this.

My free weekend off isn’t turning out how I had planned it. I’ve spent most of it in bed sleeping with the little ones warming my feet. They oh so gently let me know when they’re ready for me to wake up to take them out by pawing at my arms. Guess they don’t think I’m that sick. (I still can’t figure out why they think I’m the only one that can take them out.)

Enough about that though. This post wasn’t to whine. I wanted to write because this is my first time I’ve been sick as a married woman; and it has been a surprisingly different experience.

First this is the shortest cold ever and I think it’s because I’ve been cared for so diligently… in such an old fashion Mexican way! “La Cura” really works, I don’t care what anyone says!

When I first felt the sore throat coming on I decided to have a little Sprint since that’s what my mom always gave us when we had sore throats. I’m not really sure the theory behind that medical treatment but some things you just don’t question.

Mark said I looked like I was enjoying the Sprite a bit too much. And I probably was but it wasSprite from Mexico! While it did sooth my throat a little bit I woke up with a full fledged cold Friday. I tried going to work but only for a couple hours before throwing in the towel. On the way home Mark bought me a fruitas paleta! LOVE THAT STUFF!

When I got home Mark made us Hot & Spicy Shrimp Ramen Noodle Soup. This stuff is no college room Ramen! It was awesome!

After lunch I was given a what Mark calls “Mexican Nyquil”. I still don’t know what’s in that stuff but let me just say it tasted like the best Margarita I ever had! He served it in a Jack Daniel’s glass. I guess that seemed appropriate. I really wanted to blog right after lunch but drowsiness hit fast and even though I tried to fight it I quickly lost that battle.

While I was asleep Mark made an amazing Caldo de Pescado! WOW! I may need to get a cold more often! (Not really. I’m a huge baby when it comes to this stuff!)

After lots of fluid, only a couple Tylenol Cold & Sinus pills (for the headache), and all that amazing food, I’m already feeling so much better. No sore throat and just a little congestion in the chest. I can not thank my husband enough for all the love he given me! He’s been so self sacrificing. While he wanted to do so many things on my first weekend off he hasn’t complained once. While it’s just a small cold it means so much! I truly believe it’s the small things in a marriage that make the biggest difference.