Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Walker

Yesterday n turned 11 months old, and he celebrated by taking 10 steps by himself!
11 months old

fireplace
k likes to cheer n on in his walking efforts.

olympic mascots
As a side note, here are the Olympic mascots that sit by our tv. I am sad that they have received absolutely NO exposure on tv so far. Not even in the Opening Ceremony, unless I missed it? They are so cute!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

V-Day & Vancouver

I know a lot of people dislike Valentine's Day because it can be commercialized, cheesy, etc. However, I enjoy the idea of having a special day just to celebrate love. It was also nice how Valentine's Day was on a Sunday. D and I celebrated just the two of us at Honda-Ya on Saturday night. Today was more of a "family-love" day with the kids. We gave k a little bag with a mini globe from the dollar section @ Target, a pair of heart socks from Old Navy and a few Hershey's hugs.

I started a Yelp account, so I will try to set up a link to all of my restaurant reviews. The short version is that we arrived at Honda-Ya a little after 5, knowing that it opens at 5:30 and gets pretty crowded. We were first to put our name on the clipboard hanging outside the door. My suggestion would be to arrive by 5:20, and you would still be in for the first seating. By the time we left at 6:30, there was a sizeable group waiting outside. We shared a bunch of the little plates, a lot based on suggestions from D's co-workers. The grilled items were quite tasty and D was surprised that he liked the agedashi tofu.

Sorry, no pictures. Our camera, which we were thinking of replacing soon anyway, broke. That is the main reason that our blogging has been quite spotty recently. That, and the fact that we have become obssessed with the Winter Olympics. D and I visited Vancouver/Whistler in 2005, pre-kids, so that city holds a special place in our hearts. Also, D was born in Windsor, Ontario, so he has the Canadian spirit. I was never into the Winter Olympics until I met D. After trying snowboarding/skiing, I have a much greater appreciation for all of the athletes' skills. We also like to add our own banter/color commentary, so it's a good time. Unfortunately, it really puts our 40-hour Tivo to the test, since we failed to clear it up before the games began.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

2010 Surf City USA Marathon

This journey of running my 2nd full marathon started back in October. That is when I started my training program. The training didn't go as planned since my foot hurt for over a month and I also got roto virus. However, all the distractions actually helped me learn how to focus on what I can control. I tried not to focus/worry about just the race results but on the process of training and the satisfaction of improving a little day by day. Even though the early morning runs including the two 20 milers were difficult and tiring and I complained a lot, I did take enjoyment checking off my daily runs on my training schedule.

I got a PR of 4 hrs 17 mins and 4 sec. 4 minutes and 15 seconds faster than my first marathon. I am offically retiring from full marathons. I got under my goal of under 4 hours and 20 minutes and can be satisfied in accomplishing that goal. I have signed up for the L.A. Rock N Roll Half Marathon since my buddy Chris from Atlanta wants to run it. I would like to break by PR of 1 hr, 52 mins, 53 secs; but I have a couple months to be lazy before training starts.