a day of yay!/boo.

so i managed to totally horn in on a lunch outing with my friends lilcee and tater by replying to one of their conversations on twitter.  it really wasn't my intention to finagle an invitation to join them, but it was a total win for me and the bean.  heh.

tuesdays are the one day of the week that we have nothing going on, and lately we've been heading out to disneyland to ride some rides and get a little exercise in (like you didn't already know).  but it was nice to have something else to do for a change, and after i got my dose of the 30 day shred done, i got us both ready and out the door.

as soon as we got on the freeway, i noticed that i'd forgotten my wedding ring.  crap.  my hand feels so naked without it, and my thumb kept rubbing the empty spot where it usually is.  then a guy totally merged in front of me without bothering to see if it was clear.   and an old lady did the same thing as she lumbered over four lanes to get into the carpool lane.  then the car ahead of us damn near slammed to a complete stop.  on the freeway.  oh, and that first asshole who cut me off did it again as i was transitioning onto the next freeway. 

i was so frazzled and irritated, i was thisclose to just turning my apparently invisible ass around and going home to curl up into a ball and suck my thumb.  but i wasn't gonna let those jerks foil my plans and ruin my day, dammit.  i couldn't let them win.  so i soldiered on, chatting with the bean and explaining to her that i'd laid on my horn for a full minute because the people on the road are morons weren't paying attention and needed a heads-up. 

by the time we pulled up at the farmers market, i'd calmed down and was ready to have some fun.  i lucked out and found a sweet parking spot, and we rolled into pottery barn kids at the grove for storytime.  but it seemed that the crappy attitude on the freeway spilled over into the moods of the folks who'd brought kids for a story.  all of the little chairs set up were occupied by parents and nannies, leaving almost no room for other kids who were arriving.  and as lilcee and i found a spot to squeeze our kids into, more people arrived and either demanded for us to move or squeezed through us rudely without so much as an "excuse me" or a "sorry."  i swear, manners are completely non-existent in this society nowadays, and when the parents are assholes, that obviously means they're not teaching their kids how to be polite.  ugh.

we were happy to get outta there when it was over, and with about 15 minutes before tater was due to arrive, we decided to take the girls to see santa.  i know, i know, it's not even december 1st yet, but he was there, we were there, and there was only one other kid in line in front of us.  sue me.

the girls were excited, although you can't tell from the look on mini cee's face and the fake, joker-like smile on the bean's.

we weren't really allowed to take pictures inside - obviously, because santa and his elves need to make a profit - but tater (who found us inside santa's workshop) managed to get a couple of the girls anyway.

there was a video camera rolling during each kid's encounter with santa, but with a $30 price tag for a DVD, we skipped it (despite the utter cuteness of watching them walk hand-in-hand to see the man in red).  i opted instead to buy the photos on a flash drive (so high-tech and fancy!) instead of prints, and these are my favorites:

we headed back over to the farmers market to grab lunch, and for me and the bean that almost always means magee's for corned beef.  the others followed suit, and we sat and chatted and watched the girls devour their macaroni & cheese along with slices of meat.  before we were done, both kids needed to hit the potty, and when we got back we found our table cleared of all dishes.  this would normally be totally cool, except that we hadn't exactly finished our meal.  poor tater, she tried so hard to tell the woman that we weren't done, but she either ignored her or didn't understand what she was trying to say.  funny, i thought "no" was pretty universal, but maybe not.  in any case, i'm about to draft a strongly worded e-mail to the folks at the farmers market to unleash the wrath of a woman whose delicious lunch was cleared away way before i was ready to say goodbye.  hmph.

the girls were easily pleased, though - a little ice cream goes a long way.  watching them reminded me of earlier this year, when we met up with nanette and em for lunch at this very same spot.

for the bean, it's not a visit to the grove without a stop at the american girl place.  she let out the most awesome maniacal laugh as we walked in, and had a blast running around with mini cee and showing her all the fun stuff.

i swear, she isn't choking her friend in this shot.  they really love each other.

our last stop was at the coffee bean, where everyone got something to whet their whistle.  the bean lasted for about five minutes in the back seat before she passed out cold.  too bad it didn't last, though - we got home in 40 minutes and the moment i put her down in the house and covered her with a blanket, she woke up and refused to go back to sleep.  drat.

oh!  and only in l.a.:

i'm not gonna lie, i would totally take the teen and rock-ell on this tour.  i bet it's super fun.

go go gadget coaster

remember this little gem from a few weeks ago?


  

well, ever since then, the teen has been trying to get her sister to ride it with her.  and as you can imagine, the bean adamantly refuses to set foot on the gadget coaster again.  so when we hit up disneyland last week and strolled through toontown, the hub took the bean to say hello to the mouse (yes, again) while the teen and i got in line for the ride.

"you're gonna take video with me this time, right?" she demanded.  but of course!

i love that i'm even wearing the same exact shirt in both videos. awesome.

so while that madness was going on, the hub and the bean somehow managed to get through the line at mickey's house in record time.

gotta love it.

a team green shower

after my 5K run, the next item on my agenda for the day was my dear friend diane's baby shower.  i skipped the awards ceremony (after all, if i didn't win, do you think i really cared?  psh) and hit the shower with just an hour to pull myself together.  lilcee was coming to carpool with me, and i didn't want to be late.

except that as i was finishing up my hair, i heard voices coming from the bean's room and realized that i was running behind after all.  d-oh!  but as i was working the flatiron magic on my 'do, lilcee popped in and one look told me that all was not well.

"i'm not going," she said.  "i've been so sick and i've gotta get to urgent care for some meds."  poop, i felt so bad for her - she'd driven all the way out to my house just to drop off the gifts that a few of us had pitched in for.  if i'd have known she was ill, i'd have gone to her, instead of vice versa.  she's such a trooper.

our friends APK and AMP had worked together and planned this whole shindig, choosing the old spaghetti factory as our venue.  OSF is one of my favorite chains, and i was looking forward to a yummy lunch with a bunch of my favorite people.

i'd chosen to wear my new nude platform pumps, which went nicely with my ensemble but weren't broken in at all.  i must've looked ridiculous, hobbling in to the party with my camera over one shoulder and juggling two giant gift bags and a third bag containing the cookie favors.  and as soon as i put the bags down, courtney snagged me to take a picture for the guest book. 

(i totally swiped this picture from courtney's facebook page)

you'd think i could've put my shit down and taken my bulky sweater off first, but i was just so relieved to have arrived on time and without breaking anything.  i'd anticipated being late due to that 5K, but somehow i managed. 

the hostesses had done a lovely job of decorating and adding some special touches for the mommy-to-be's scrapbook.

our friend yahpee did a phenomenal job with the cake.  so cute, right?

here's my cookies.  these little baby faces are among my favorites to make.  they always make me smile.

i managed to secure myself a spot at a table with some fabulous ladies.  i always appreciate when servers are willing to take a picture for us, but damn...super fuzzy.

when i caught sight of this lovely looking coffee spiked with bailey's, i had to order one for myself.

too bad they ran out of the cute mugs by the time i got mine.

see that gold star?  that meant i was getting the best entree on the menu - pasta with their yummilicious browned butter/mizithra cheese sauce.

the guest of honor came around to all of the tables. 

while we enjoyed dessert - spumoni ice cream and a piece of that adorable cake - diane opened gifts and we played a little baby shower bingo.

from lilcee to diane, a special gift.

group photo (also swiped from courtney.  thanks, yo)!

it was a lovely afternoon, and mini-diane is already so loved by all of [his or] her aunties.  she opted for a surprise on her labor day, but somehow i'm feeling team pink for this one.  no particular reason, although so many of our friends have had boys this year and i think diane's the one to break the streak.

come january, we'll see!  can't wait!

gobble, gobble

hope your holiday is filled with blessings, love, and delicious food!

you've got me feeling emotions

the bean's willingness to showcase her various facial expressions kill me.  i bark out random emotions, and she complies.  observe:

"surprised!"

"scared!"

"angry!" (which looks more like amusingly annoyed)

"happy!"

"sad!"

"pirate!" okay, that's not an emotion, but i love this face.

add this to the growing list of posts she'll likely kill me for one day.

i believe i can fly

first 5K race, check!

do you know who bryan clay is?  he won olympic gold in the last summer games in the triathlon, and started a nonprofit organization that focuses on mentoring kids to motivate them to use their talents for good and not evil.  okay, that's my definition, but it's pretty much what their website says.  anyway, he's a local guy, the hometown hero, and because glendora didn't have a race of its own, he decided to start one. 

not realizing that it was the same day as a baby shower for my dear friend diane, i signed up for the run.  it was timed perfectly according to my half marathon training program, and i was excited to see if i could break a 10-minute mile.  because it was only a little over 3 miles (if you'd have told me a year ago i'd be saying "only" and "3 miles"  in the same sentences, i'd have laughed myself silly), i set myself a goal of crossing the finish line in half an hour.

and then i had a disaster of a training week.  like, i can't even talk about how bad it was.  well, i think i already have, but i'm not gonna harp on it.  focusing on it is totally killing my motivation, and that's not a good thing considering i'm just a little more than two months away from the half marathon.  i decided to redo the week and had a pretty decent run yesterday morning.  so let's just say that i bought new running shoes yesterday, and will be busting them out for their first run tomorrow.

the hub had signed up to volunteer during the race, and the teen and the bean were set to meet me at the finish line.  and so i headed off to check in, stretch, and warm up all by my lonesome.

somehow i've managed to lose both of my wristbands, and the only one that the teen had to lend me was this one.  haha, maybe this explains the super weird jonas brothers dream i had that night.

there were lots of people already there, but registration was a snap.

there were lots of booths set up by local businesses, but i didn't really take a lot of pictures.  i did wander over to the concessions stand to see what was available, but i didn't want to throw myself off by eating any of it.

i spotted the man himself standing off to the side, doing an interview.  i may have semi-stalked him until i found a good opportunity to ask him for a photo.  heh.

wow, i was super puffy looking that morning.

i have zero pictures of the race itself.  it was a course i'd already run several times before, though, so i knew what to expect.  the first maybe mile and a half of it was on a slight incline, which always sucks because i tire easily.  but as the race began, i found myself carried along by the adrenaline and the novelty of having a big ass crowd of people to run with.

with less than a half mile left, i spotted the hub standing at his designated spot, directing traffic and cheering the runners on.  i knew he'd seen me too as i watched him pause and then break into a big ol' grin, which mirrored the one on my face...as i teared up.  seriously, i got all emo for a moment there.  but i sucked it up, kept running, and blew him a kiss as i ran past him.

and then as i approached the finish line, i scanned the clumps of people gathered on either side and found the teen and the bean standing there, waiting for me.  and yes, i teared up again.  it was so nice to see my family there to support me and cheer me on, and i waved at them and heard the teen let out one of her ear-splitting screams and the bean yelling "go mommy go!"

actually, you can hear it for yourself:



oh, and did you happen to catch the time on the screen?  because as i was about to cross the line, i looked over and saw it:  29:59. 

that's right.  i met my goal!  i totally threw up my arms in triumph, and then yanked them back down because i figured that made me a complete dork.  heh.  but the one photo that was captured of me is pretty silly looking.  like, did i think i could fly or something?

that's probably the worst photo of me ever.  look at that dumb expression on my face!  ugh.  and yes, i did lift it off of the website.  whatevs.  i turned around to find the girls coming towards me, and while i spared them from the hideousness of a sweaty, jubilant hug, i did manage to get this.

back at the registration booth, i happily accepted my goody bag before we headed back to say hi to the hub, still at his post.

and for donating a bag of used clothing, i got refunded $5 of my registration fee.  yay!

now i think i want to find a 10K to do locally between now and the end of january.  according to lilcee's hubby, who's a veteran at the racing thing, i could run around the rose bowl twice to test my 10K-ness out.  i'll probably give that a shot.  and i'm also figuring out that maybe i'm not such a loner after all - it actually is kind of fun to run with other people around. 

we'll see.