Half Marathon Tips

This is the big week! PB and I are tapering as the Half Marathon is this Sunday! It is finally here.. It feels almost counterproductive to run so little this week, but I know it is the right thing to do! It is making me feel kind of yucky though!

Does anyone have any tips for us for the day of the half and how to make it through strong and in one piece?!?! any and all tips would be appreciated!!!!

Phillies Phanatic!

As promised, here is a pic of my friend, the Phillies Phanatic, and I!




Jealous?

Addicted to Scrabulous!

Does anyone have Facebook? There is a new application called "Scrabulous" which is- you guessed it- an online version of Scrabble. You can play any of your friends!

PhillyBoy and I ran games allll day yesterday! Whenever we had a break from work we would take our turn and let the other one know it was their turn. I lost of course, as it was one of my first times playing.. but I will beat him soon enough!

It is SO ADDICTING!

8.46 miles!!!!

Yay! The HM is only 10 days away I can't believe it! Time flies when you're having.... fun.

My run yesterday was the best one yet- definitely the boost I needed after my horrendous weekend! PB and I decided to do between 8 and 8.5 (separately)... I was going to stop at 8 which was right in front of the market, do my shopping and then walk the last .5.... well, I was having such a blast and was in such a groove I just ran the whole way and, er, drove to the market after!

It took me about 85 minutes when all is said and done, so I am guessing I did 10 minute miles? I used mapmyrun and it said 8.46 but I bet I was a little off :)

I only have 2 long runs left before the HM... let's hope they are as fun and successful!

Menu Planning Mondays!

After seeing others do this in the blogworld I am going to try it too! Let's see if I can keep up!

Monday: Grilled chicken and asparagus. veggie filled salad
Tuesday: grilled salmon, risotto with peas and mushrooms, steamed spinach
Wednesday: leftovers from Tuesday's dinner
Thursday: WF tuna and avocado roll. WF salad bar
Friday: pizza and salad Fridays with PhillyBoy

Check out other delicious weekly menus here: http://orgjunkie.com/

If I could have anything, what would that be?

Have you ever thought- I mean really thought- about what you want out of your life? I know what is important to me, but I am just learning about what I love, what I want, and about how I will achieve that.

A few of things I know...

-I love being in sunshine. I love exercising under the sun even more.
-I am proud that I have muscles, and I want to be more fit and in shape.
-I love really good food... healthy and tasty to be more precise.
-I want to travel to both new and old places. I want to see the world.
-I really enjoy being a hostess and having all types of parties. I want to be better at doing that.
-I love FAMILY and all it represents. I want to have a big ole' family with lots of kids and I want to stay close with the family I have now.
-I want $$ to do the things I like to do. I want to always be able to afford nice (nice-ish) things and good food and a home and travel expenses and to send my kids to college.
-I don't want anyone I know to ever go through any type of serious illness, and I want to do everything I can to be as healthy as possible.
I want PB to me in my life forever :)

I am sure there is lots more but that is what I could come up with for now...

What do you want?

Phillies Phanatic!

I went to my very first real baseball game... not the PawSox or another minor league but a REAL MAJOR LEAGUE GAME! Phillies vs. The Mets! We had Diamond Club seats, and had such a fun time... and the Phillies won!

oooohhhh.... but the best part of all! The Phillies Phanatic! My friend G overheard the bartender telling some little kids that when the green guy was done he would be coming through that area to leave, and G hurried over to us to let us know! I got so excited! We ran (RAN!!) inside and practically trampled him over! and, yep, we got a picture!!!

Yayayayay! I will be posting it soon!!! He was so funny.. when we ran up to him he kind of yelled a little and laughed hahahaha! we were so much crazier than the little kids!

Rest Day!

15 Days until the half... eep!

Today is supposed to be a rest day which I am thankful for as I took PB to the train station at sunrise this morning, got to work at 6:45 and am leaving at 4 to go to the airport to fly down to Philly! I feel guilty though! Yesterday morning's run was so easy and relaxed and it is making me feel guilty that after such an easy run I am taking a day off! Oh well, I guess tomorrow and Sunday's runs will make up for it!

Schedule this weekend:
Saturday: 6 miles easy- with hills hopefully
Sunday: 9 miles at "race pace"

I had only ONE glass of wine at my dad's gallery night last night, and I was wasted! I didn't realize how much running like this and eating less/healthier would impact me! also, I am sleeping beautifully- better than I ever have!

that's all for today.. happy friday, and enjoy the sunshine!!!


ooohhhh... p.s. i just had the BEST smoothie- 1 banana, 100 g strawberries, 50 g blueberries, ice, water and 1 oz of fage! srsly delish.. all I needed was to be sitting on the beach enjoying it!!! can't wait for beachtime!

For Romina...

This is a pic of.. you guessed it.. Berlusconi! It is from Carnevale in Viareggio in 2004, and his pants kept going down and up... it was the best float besides the Bush one!!!!



can anyone identify the other folks?

here's the one of our president...

Sunshine Run + PB Here + Accident!

PhillyBoy came into town last night (for Gallery Night tonight!).. he got in late and was hungry so after I fed him we went to bed = very late! it was SO hard waking up to run before work, but we did it.. not one of our best... 6 miles in 59.5 minutes ewwww. it's ok though, we were exhausted! we DID have a nice convo though, and the sunshine felt really nice!

I am going to take him to lunch at Cafe Luna this really cute place in Garden City (a small shopping center in Cranston)...

This morning when we were walking out the door (he was taking me to work so he could have my car).. I did the worst thing ever! I dropped my oatmeal! and it was in a glass container! I was so so so sad, but he cleaned it up for me and LUCKILY I had one more serving at the office! My day wouldn't have been the same without it!

That's all for now. happy thursday!

p.s. i am already all packed for philly this weekend!

New dress! Roomba Ronald! Clean cabinets!

A. I bought a new dress. This makes me happy.

I am probably going to wear it to my dad's art gallery (soft) opening on Thursday, that is, only if PhillyBoy can make it!! If not I will save it for a nice dinner with my boy....and it will be perfect for summer events such as bridal showers, engagement parties, rehearsal dinners and fun summer dinners!

B. I bought a Roomba a month ago, and boy oh boy do I love it! I seriously only have to vacuum the little nooks and crannies in the kitchen- Roomba Ronald takes care of everything else! I haven't had to do a serious vacuum since acquiring him.. I have, however, had to take him to the Roomba doctor (i.e. Dr. RhodeyGirl) because he sometimes gets stuck in my heat vents.. the little guy will simply never learn!

C. I finally did Friday's planned big kitchen cabinet cleaning.. oh how beautiful they look now! I wish I had taken some before pics... but I did take an after pic of one of the cabinets!

before: picture a reallly messy cabinet full of spice bits, cans everywhere and things just generally out of place and not in order

after:


p.s. I am not posting a pic of my new dress until Thursday bc PB reads the blog and I don't want him to see it! classy and cute dress- will post next week!

Help!

EDITED TO ADD:

We have decided to make:
Apps:
-Pita bread and baby carrots with homemade baba ganoush
-Armenian string cheese, crackers and kalamata olives
-raw almonds in water (when you leave them in water for an hour they plump up and are sooo delish!)

Entree:
-Penne with ground turkey, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and fresh mozz
-Spinach salad with fennel, orange segments and toasted almonds
-Big loaf of italian bread

Dessert:
-ehhhh maybe nothing or some fruit?


*************************************************************************
PhillyBoy and I are going to have a few of his friends over this weekend for a relaxing night... with his Wii...

Here is what I have planned so far for food:
-tortilla chips with salsa, guacamole
-pita/carrots/pretzels with baba ganoush and hummus
- ????????????????

what else can we make that is easy to make, easy to clean up, and is a picky, fun food? we are not doing an all out dinner, but we need to provide fun snacks!!!

unless we do a simple dinner instead?
-penne with ground turkey, artichokes, sundried tomatoes and fresh mozz
-a big salad with toasted almonds, fennel and orange segments
-bread with olive oil

help! which should we do?!!? and what are other easy things to make?!?!

19 days until the half marathon...

I am starting to get really nervous. yesterday's run was supposed to be so easy... just .25 miles more than last week's long run... 8.25 miles. then why did it feel so so so hard?!?!?!?!

I was cruising along until mile 6 where I seriously had the worst side stitch/cramp/whatever they are called these days. I almost yelled out in pain- I actually doubled over in pain and had to stop for a minute. There was a guy walking on the street and he was pretty freaked out- asked me if he should go get his car to take me home.. I wasn't going to give up so easily! So I walked for a minute or two, trying to stretch out that area, lifting my arms above my head, trying everything.. and started to jog again. I was doing ok until the end of 8 miles... my legs just couldn't do it anymore. It was the first time I actually felt muscle fatigue. They didn't want to move! I headed up the last hill (that annoying .25 miles left!!!) and stopped halfway, walking the rest.

How am I going to complete a half marathon if I couldn't even finish my 8.25 miles in a strong way?!?!?! It was the first time I had felt such frustration and sadness. What do I do?!?! PhillyBoy and I decided our goal is to finish the half with an average 10 minute mile pace. I don't know if I can do it.

I haven't had any major struggles at all so far, even though I have never been a runner... and I haven't had any side stitches either!

thoughts?!!? i'm freakin out!

Fridayyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

I haven't been so thankful it's Friday in a long time.

Plan tonight (in order):

get sushi to go
put on sweats
lay on couch and watch tv/eat sushi/read book
and... later

REORGANIZE KITCHEN CABINETS! I've been a little shopping crazy for cute serving bowls etc lately and now we have no room! Must reorganize!

and... THAT'S IT! doesn't it sound like a great, relaxing evening?

I can't wait!

Happy Friday!

Poor Little Squirrel!

On Wednesdays I literally sprint out of work, rush home, clean my tupperware, change for the studio and zip over to class so my girls don't have to wait too long (I teach dance 1 night a week).

Well, yesterday afternoon I get home and there is a squirrel in my roomie's parking spot, and a cat attacking him! I jump out of my car and start walking towards the fight zone and the cat rushes off- the squirrel doesn't move... I call my roomie because I don't know what to do, is he alive is he dead? and she tells me to toss a little stone nearby to see if he'll move. I do that and the squirrel (I named him Charlie) sort of hop hops away... his tail was all bloody! well, he continues to sort of hop hop every few minutes so I call the local police station who gives me the number for the EP (what does that stand for, environmental something but what?!!). I call them and they say it will be about an hour because their guy dealing with a situation.. I go to teach dance, I come home and still the EP hadn't come... and Charlie was laying on his side on a rock... dead. :( poor Charlie! I was so so so sad! None of us (my neighbors had come home at the same time I got home from work) wanted to touch him before to bring him to the vet down the street because squirrels are known to bite and have rabies, and we thought we could trust the EP, but apparently not... I didn't think I would be so sad, but I was... Poor little Charlie.

I left my heart in Firenze.....

Sometimes I have these pangs in my heart because I miss my mom, or I miss PhillyBoy... but other times it is because I miss.... Florence.

My junior year of college was by far my favorite year of school, probably because I spent 8 months of it in Florence, Italy. I left in the middle of January, and came home a few days before fall classes began.. what an experience it was! I felt like I finally learned who I was and what I wanted; I became completely independent; I saw, felt, tasted so much! I always felt at home in Italia because not only do I speak Italian fluently but I have one of those looks that can blend into a lot of different cultures (which is funny because although my mom was from Italy, moving to the states in the 1980's, she was a BLONDIE because she was from the north.. but I have olive skin and therefore everyone always assumed I was Fiorentina anyway haha)

So yesterday I realized that I picked up more than a few habits from my time in Italia...

When I was studying abroad I couldn't always tell the difference between the Italians and the stranieri (foreigners), that is.. until the spring came! During the first days of sunshine all the stranieri would be in their flip flops and short sleeve shirts and new spring jackets, yet the italians would remain in their winter boots and coats. Yesterday the sun was shining. it was 60 degrees! and I saw SO MANY PEOPLE in short sleeve shirts and capris... and of course I chuckled to myself as I walked by them in my winter boots and fleece... without even realizing it, I still had some of my habits of my time abroad.. four years ago....

so funny the things we remember, the habits we pick up...

How our story began...

have I seriously never written the story of PhillyBoy and I?!?!?! I think it is such a good one too... but of course I am biased!!

Two summers ago I had to go to Philly for a friend's engagement party... she is from RI but her future hubby is from Philly. So my dad, bro, his fiance at the time, and I went! So at one point I went to go sit down and I noticed a table of 3 really cute guys. They were kind of checking me out but I just kept to my business (texting like crazy with my then bf who was at a wedding back home). Then.... two of the guys got up, leaving me and this one guy sitting a table away in each other's line of sight (talk about AWKWARD). So anyway, he ended up coming over to me and we chatted for a looong time. He never asked me for my number or anything though! I was like, weird I totally thought he was flirting? Anyway, that was that, I went back to little Rhodey and went on with my life. (note: I found out later a few things.... 1. he had his DE bar exam that Monday so he was totally sober, totally stressing, and was just stopping by the party out of respect for the couple 2. his friends got up because he was being too lame to get up and talk to me, therefore forcing him into the situation 3. his friends teased him for the entire next year for not "sealing the deal" and getting my number).

So fast forward to this couple's wedding day... I had sort of remembered PhillyBoy but I didn't remember his name or what he looked like, mostly I just remembered that he had awesome eyes and had talked my ear off. Anyway... I was sitting next to my sister-in-law at the church (my brother and her had gotten married that dec!) and there was this really hot altar server I kept staring at during the mass (I felt seriously guilty for staring btw). I kept pinching my sister-in-law and whispering to her that it was so unfortunate that the hot guy on the altar was becoming a priest because he was sooooooo hot (I didn't know that in the Armenian church altar servers are adults and therefore had assumed he was a priest-in-training haha!) I pinched her a ton of times during church (totally inappropriate)

At the cocktail hour I see church boy with a stiff drink in his hand and he nods at me with this kind of cocky nod and says "Sabrina, right?" with this hugeeee smile! It was PB! A couple of minutes of awkward convo and we found out we were going to be seated at the same table (coincidence or planned, I still do not know!) so of course I was excited by then!

When I got to my table there were only a couple of people seated so I sat and coyly put my purse at the seat on the left and my placecard at the seat on the right (psycho move, I know....). PB's cousin came and asked to sit next to me, then his friend T did the same, leaving no room for PB! T offered me a drink, and right after he got up to get me one PB sashayed on over, picked up T's pacecard and said "who is sitting here? T? (tossed it to the next seat and said) he'll understand!" (what a punk!!!!)

So that was that... We TOTALLY hit it off and danced/chatted the night away... at the end of the night he wanted to go out for breakfast but all the places in RI close at 2 (at least the good places) so I rounded up my cousins to meet up at my condo for a late night snack (I wouldn't go to my condo alone with him, didn't want to give him the wrong idea- it was honestly just that RI late night spots close early!!!!). We all had snacks, then at like 4:30 in the morning I drove him back to the hotel where the wedding had been. It was such a fun night.

And so my love/hate relationship with Southwest was born..... oh, whoops, I guess I should say.... and our love story began.....

here's a pic from that first night... don't we just look meant to be?

Office Meals

Am I the only one that eats both breakfast and lunch at the office? (And my afternoon snack!!). I typically get in around 7, and at 6:30 I am just not hungry. So I open my office, get settled and eat my breakfast at my desk. I actually really enjoy those few minutes of eating breakfast, doing non-work stuff on my computer, and generally settling in...

This is what my morning breakfast looks like these days... steel cut oats with a small banana, a teeny berry smoothie (berries, ice and water), and an earl grey lavender tea yum yum!



I really miss PB. We won't see each other this weekend because he is going to L.A. with his friends (lucky guy to go to such a warm place!) but then we get the next FIVE weekends together yipee!! So our schedule now goes...

weekend off, philly, philly, providence, providence, philly (half day work that friday bc we are going to a friday wedding!), then TWO weekends off ewwwww... can you guys tell I am missing him?!?!?!

Here is a pic of us last month....



we need to take more pictures of ourselves! we have been taking tons of pics of our cooking "experiments" but not enough of us whoops!

T-24 days to the half marathon!

Battle Lemon!

We didn't take as many pics of our battle this time, but we had way more fun! We decided to prep as much as possible on Saturday night so that on Sunday we could be more relaxed and have fun with my cousins..

Here was the menu:

Apps:
PB: Greek Lemon Soup
ME: Spinach salad in parmigiano frico cups with lemon dressing

Entree:
PB: Lemon and Herb Risotto Cake
ME: Lemon Spaghetti

Dessert:
PB: Lemon Cookies with french vanilla ice cream and candied peels
ME: Vanilla lemon cupcakes filled with strawberry lemon mascarpone and topped with vanilla lemon icing. served with raisin lemon macaroons.

We forgot to take pics of the final product!

But... here are some random pics from the day...

all the ingredients plus us!




making a mess




finally finished the cupcakes!




parmigiano cups, lemon cookies, and candied peels


the final table
]

the ballot!

Dinner Party on Friday!

The dinner party with some of my friends from college was so much fun!

Here was the menu:

Apps:
carrots and hummus
cheese and crackers
homemade pizza

Dinner:
a simple mixed greens salad with tomato in a homemade lemon olive oil dressing
grilled chicken
grilled eggplant, zucchini, and portabella mushrooms
tortellini in a cream sauce

Dessert:
coconut macaroons (it was my first time making these!)
chocolate covered strawberries
fried ricotta balls

and I made 2 pitchers of sangria yummmmm!

here are some pics....

He's gone.

It's just getting harder and harder. The goodbyes this morning really stunk! Two weeks apart before I get to see him again.... I miss him already and he just left!

At least we had an AMAZING weekend!

Friday night's dinner party was a success- pictures to post tomorrow.

AND! Battle Lemon winner is/was.... ME!!!! I will also post these pics later/tomorrow along with the menus!

Hope these two weeks fly by....

Fried Ricotta Balls

Growing up my mom would make fried ricotta balls with raisins as a treat once in a while.. On Easter I asked my auntie to teach me to make them.. so recipe in hand we made a huggggge batch! Here are the pics from start to finish....

**The Ingredients**

**The Dough**

**A Big Batch Frying**

**A Little Fishie!!**

**My Plate With Some Strawberries**

**One of the Serving Platters**

**Me, The Chef, Tired, but DONE**

**A Bunny Who Laid Some Eggs!!!!!**


P.S. They are soooo delicious but way filling since they are fried etc but, again, sooo delish!
P.P.S. Want the recipe? Just ask!

April Fool's Part II

I made a calendar for PB's office. Note: He is a LAWYER, yet of course I put lots of funny pictures and some cute romantic ones (no smooching of course!). I made a copy for myself too, and every time I look up to check a date in April I just laugh all over again- seriously!

here is the April pic spread:



the pic on the left is from New Year's Eve and PB is making a really weirdo face. The pic on the upper right section is me pretending to be one of the copper monkeys.. but the best one, in honor of April and April Fool's, is a pic of PB's long ago desired replacement guinea pig... Spike.

Am I cruel for putting a picture like that in his romantic calendar? hahahahaaaaa

In honor of April Fool's Day, I will tell you this story.

PhillyBoy kept a diary for a long time growing up, and wrote in it faithfully every single day. Being the organized guy he is, every day had the same format: He gave each day a percentage rating, and ended each entry with Goodbye!

A few months ago we came across his box of old diaries, and he allowed me to read them. Well, boy oh boy was he a cute kid!

Sometime in March of his 11th? 10th? year his poor guinea pig Curly died. PB was so sad. That day had one of his lowest ratings (80%- such an optimist!) and he said his day was only bad because Curly died and he was sad. He continued by asking "Why did God have to do this? What is this, out with the old, in with the new? Why did Curly have to $%^&$ #$%^&&*^$# die?" (prob all the curse words he knew). Poor kid. Felt so bad for him.

I only felt more sad for him when I read his entry for April 1st of that year.

It read something like... "100%. Today was a great day. My parents got me another guinea pig and I named him Spike. APRIL FOOLS!" The poor guy was so sad about missing his guinea pig that he april foolsed his OWN DIARY!

The poor little guy.... I wonder if he ever recovered from losing Curly.....

Goodbye!