Gingerbread House Madness!!!

There are so many fun festivities this time of year! One of those that is now becoming a tradition at my family's home is a gingerbread decorating party. We make all of the gingerbread houses from scratch. This can be quite a process and can take a fair amount of time depending on how many we have to make. This year wasn't too bad. We ended up making 27 houses and out of those 25 survived and were worthy of being decorated.Here is how the week went with creating these lovely little gingerbread houses.

We started baking them on Wednesday. It only took a few hours to get them all (or most of them) rolled out, cut, and baked, but we ran out of one of the key ingredients and were unable to finish right then. Luckily, I had a swim that day and was already planning on going into town after we finished baking them. I didn't return home until about 9:30pm and we wanted to have all the houses baked and done so we could start setting them up the following day. Hence we didn't finish till about 11:00pm.

Now the real fun begins...putting them together. This part of the process has to be done in two steps. The first part is placing all the walls together with royal icing. And the key is to make sure the icing is not too runny or too thick, because in either case the walls will not stick together. After they are successfully place together you have to let them sit for a day to harden up. The following day, which would now be Friday, is time to put the roofs on. As we were putting them on most of the houses became complete with a few difficulties, such as sliding off. However, there were a couple houses that could not handle the weight of the roofs or they were too soft, therefore they collapsed! At least it was only two that did not survive (which is why we made sure to make a couple extras in case that was to happen!).

Saturday was now here and it was time to complete the gingerbread houses, which is to put them on a board and we always add an ice cream cone for a tree. We had four tables set up and each of them was covered with our cute little gingerbread houses. All we had left to do was make the icing for everyone and that is always easy. All you need is 3 ingredients and a mixer!

We also had a huge roaster full of stew and fresh baked bread for everyone to enjoy. Or perhaps to fill everyone up so they don't eat so much candy and make themselves sick! I must comment on our bread. My mom and I have been making bread for quite some time but the batch we made that night came out absolutely amazing!!! Usually we have left over bread but that certainly wasn't the case here. Everyone else must of thought it was amazing too since all five loaves were devoured!

All in all, our gingerbread house party went very well and was a lot of fun! It's always fun to see people's creativeness with decorating. Especially with young kids and adults. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

How to find motivation!

Sometimes it is almost impossible to find motivation to get yourself out the door to do a workout. This was the case for me this last Sunday. I was to do a 1.5-2 hour bike ride followed by a 20 minute run. Usually I don't have a problem getting outside unless I'm really tired, which I guess may have been the reason this last weekend. Friday and Saturday my family and I spent all day moving furniture. I don't know if you've ever had to move furniture but it can be quite taxing. Plus, you end up getting sore, especially your back! The weather also wasn't very inviting. It was overcast and a bit misty with no signs of sun and around 48 degrees.

I actually don't mind having to run in weather I just described, I usually rather enjoy it. But I do have a hard time wanting to ride in this weather because usually the roads are wet and I'm always freezing when I start on my ride. However, I could've taken the option of riding indoors. But I did not want to have to do my long ride inside and deal with being absolutely bored and soaked in sweat! So since the weather was at least decent enough to ride in and not pouring, outside I went. I have actually been lucky enough that all my long rides as of yet I have been able to do outside, but there's still many more months of rain to come! So I'm sure I will end up inside for a few of them. Ok, enough of the excuses for me not wanting to go for my bike ride. The question is how did I find the motivation to finally get out and do it!?

Well, to be honest my family was a big help in pushing me to go do my ride. They kept saying I'll feel better once I do it or if I don't I will feel guilty (I had these same thoughts going through my head). And that is the truth! I'm sure if I had decided to take the day off I would have been fine (fitness wise) but would not have been psychologically. I did not want to have to deal with that so I finally got up and starting on the motions of putting on my bike shoes...helmet...glasses...gloves... etc. Now I was finally outside and ready to mount my bike and take off. As said earlier, I was rather cold as I started on my ride, but I knew I would get warmed up pretty fast because after a mile I had about a 1.4 mile hill climb.

I ended up finding another hill to climb later on in the ride. I had never ridden it before but am glad I did. I feel it made the ride worthwhile and fulfilling. Especially since it was tucked in a forest. Nature always makes me feel good and in a way rejuvenates me. I'm so glad I decided to ride outside and wasn't a pansy by riding indoors or just completely taking the day off.
However, since it took me so long to get going on my ride my run ended up being in the dark. I guess this will serve as a reminder for me that even if I don't feel like doing my workout I should try and find the motivation a little earlier in the day! Or maybe that will be my motivation :)  That is one thing I love about summer....the long days where it doesn't get dark until 9pm!

Water, Water, Everywhere

As most people know there is no shortage of water here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. For instance, this morning it was pouring from the sky. As I went for my run it was fun to watch the water dance around on the asphalt to the musical sway of the wind. Instead of the water moving down the road it swayed up. As the wind died down it went back to the natural movement of flowing in steady ripples like a brook. It is quite a peaceful and relaxing thing to watch. Of course, I was not in a standstill but rather running as I was taking this in.

However, this is not the entire point of this post but rather the lack of pools in my area. Yes, we get a lot of water here! And perhaps this is the reason for not having many pools. Come summer time everyone either goes to the numerous rivers or to the few lakes around here. So if you can do that, why would you want to go to a pool! I know I really enjoy playing in the river and swimming in the lake, but it is hard at times to get in a good workout. First off, you don't know how far you've swam, second, the water often is quite cold and takes awhile till warm enough to swim in, third, there is often too many boats and people that it can be unsafe to swim, fourth, you shouldn't ever go swim by yourself, and fifth, sometimes you can creep yourself out by letting your mind wander about from the many movies that have been watched. Therefore, by all these reasons, it is often best to get the majority of your swim workouts in at a pool.

The closest pool that I live to and can swim at any time is in Corvallis, which is about a 45 minute drive one way. Or I have the option of swimming at the local high school pools, that have only a few designated lap swim times a few times a week. Here lately, they have cut back the lap swim time because of the high school swim team. So this makes it a bit more difficult especially since I do not swim the same days every week.

Therefore, this is my dilemma of not having enough pools to swim at. But perhaps, one of these days I will just build my own pool and be able to swim anytime I want, day or night! Anyone got a shovel?

Dessert Crepes!

I told you I would do another post pertaining to food! This one is going to be about how to re-create amazing yumminess! I was first introduced to dessert crepes in San Fransisco. I was with my sisters and we were out and about discovering all that San Fransisco had to offer (since this was our first time here). We made our way to Japan town. Once there we saw many people walking around eating these adorable desserts that had cute faces made out of various types of food. We finally found the origin of these cute desserts. Therefore, we had to get one.

My little sis and I

They are so cute!

The aftermath of devouring our adorable crepes!

Since I am not in San Fransisco very often and these have become one of my favorite treats I had to figure out how to make them at home. Of course, they don't have the adorable faces on them but still turn out tasty!

Here is the recipe I use for the crepe mix:

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cooking oil
3 tablespoon sugar

I just add them all together until the batter is smooth.Then pour a small amount onto a hot pan. Circle it around the pan until it is thin and smooth. Once the batter is no longer sticky then remove from pan and transfer to a plate to let cool. Once it has cooled for about 5 minutes then you can add ice cream, whip cream, berries, or anything else you wish to have.

The great thing about this dessert is you can be creative with the inside contents! Enjoy!

Christmas Lights!

It is that time of year again to break out all the festive decorations. Among those are the Christmas lights! Every year I am the one to put these up. I'm still unsure why I am the designated one to install these, as everyone enjoys them. I think I've come to the conclusion that I am the most flexible in the family and can crawl all over the roof like a monkey with little effort. Maybe this was developed from all the roofing I did in previous years. Considering that I use to be afraid of heights and edges, I've come a long ways! However, I still have this fear. Just not so much on single story homes that don't have a crazy pitch!

The lights are stored in our attic. So I made my way up to retrieve them. As I was doing so, I was not paying attention to where the ladder was lined up and I hit my head on the garage rail! Ugh, it really hurt. Then later as I was getting the boxes out of the attic I hit me head again in the same spot! It aches a little as I type this :/ I guess it's part of the process?... I'll try to avoid this for next year though!

My dad and sister helped me go through the strands of lights to check which ones worked and to put some of the bulbs back on. Every year they pop off because they get filled with water and then freeze, so off they go! For some reason, every strand that I grabbed did not work. I don't know why this happened cause from what I remember, last year they all worked. I think I was jinxed! Therefore, I let my sister and dad finish up that part as I started to install them on the house.

It actually never takes too long to put them up. My legs just occasionally burn a little from crouching along the edge forever. Since there were so many strands that decided not to work, there wasn't enough to go around the entire house. This makes me very sad! But good news, I found some other lights in the attic that we have never used and put up some of those in our courtyard area. I did not finish, as I was running out of daylight! It is suppose to rain for about the next 2 weeks, so I am hoping that there will be a break in there to finish putting up the lights. Otherwise, I will just have to do it in the rain!

Here are a few pictures from today's work. It was foggy pretty much all day today. Some of the pictures capture it but others not so much.

I think I'm out of shape......for socializing!

It's kind of a funny concept to be out of shape for something other than physically working out. But I am definitely out of shape for socializing. Thanksgiving weekend has been a long weekend of socializing.

The weekend started with picking up my little sister at the Portland Airport. It is not hard to socialize with my sister by any means. Once she was home it was like she never left :D I was glad to have her home from school, so we had to spend as much time with her as we could before we had to send her back this morning. Therefore, it was inevitable that there would be late nights and early mornings.

The weekend continued with working out and putting on a dinner for family (As shown in a previous post). Then a brunch on Sunday. By this point I was starting to drag. But it was very nice to see my family, especially since a couple relatives (that I have never met, or remember) came out from Texas to visit. They were a lot of fun, and now I will have to make my way to Texas to visit them.

Sadly, Monday morning finally came and it was time to take my sister back to the airport to finish up her semester. Got up at 2:30am to make it to her flight on time, but we had to make one little detour before dropping her off. Voodoo donuts!!

We each got a mcminnville cream, which is basically just a maple doughnut with cream filling. I will have to admit though, having sugar at 4:30 in the morning doesn't settle all that well, but it did stay down. It was then time to give hugs and say our goodbyes as we watched her go through security. She won't be back home for 4 weeks.

The rest of the day went by in an unconscious mode. Glad I made it through without a scratch! After doing a swim, bike ride and grocery shopping. Now just relaxing, watching a movie I have not seen in a very long time! The Air up There.

Nom Nom Nom!

This is going to mostly be a picture post. My day started off with an hour run, baking, ice bathing, cooking, socializing with the extended family, and enjoying a hard cider!

It was raining during my ice bath, was quite refreshing

Dozens of pumpkin cookies

One of the tables set

Our beautiful bread

Chicken and saffron rice & Lasagna

Enjoyed a hard cider, would've had another but there wasn't enough 

I Sleep With an Egyptian...

I sleep with an Egyptian...well actually an abomination. His mother is a purebred Egyptian Mau of show quality and his father is a stray, scruffy manx whom we don't know the identity of, therefore my egyptian is a bastard. Not only do we not know who his father is but he was also born with five toes in the front and six toes in the back. He has a total of 22 toes. Not only did he get blessed with extra toes he also got a kinked tail. This little abominations name is Jasper.

Jasper is now 2 1/2 years old. He sleeps with me every night. Most of the time he will sleep by my feet but on occasion when he is feeling the need to cuddle he will work his way under the covers and snuggle with me. However, this usually happens after he has been feed. If he hasn't been feel he is very consistent on trying to get me up so he can go indulge in his breakfast. Here lately, his method has been going under my bed and clawing underneath it as he drags himself across the floor. He will also jump on the bed and whine relentlessly in my face.

Jasper is a creature of habit. After he's done eating he has to go for his nap and that is on a red cushy pillow on the rocking chair. This is his pillow, as he will not let any of his other companions sleep on it. I believe the reason for this is because he is part royalty, tracing his blood lines back to Egypt.

Because of his royalty and mannerism his nickname is "presh presh." It is very appropriate for his personality and his insanely soft fur!

It has now come to that hour of bed time, and I will now be taking my little Egyptian to bed with me!

Just in case you haven't guessed, he is my cat!

Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving is a great holiday. Not only because you get to stuff your face with as much good food as you can but because it is a reminder about being grateful for what you have in life. Instead of doing this once a year I have been trying to make this more of a daily habit. I have found that you go through the day feeling happier because the more you have to be grateful for the less you can complain about.

Since it is Thanksgiving I will share with you some of the things I am grateful for.

My family. I would not be who I am today without them. They have supported me and helped me develop into the person I am today.
Where I live. I love living in Oregon. I know the rain can get old but I love the change of weather here and how it keeps you guessing. I also love how fresh the air is and how green all the vegetation is.
I am very grateful to all the people I have met in the triathlon world that have helped me get to where I am right now. In particular, Gilad who sold me a great bike and has put me in touch with a coach. To all the people that have taken the time to train with me and help give me advice to better my form or give me any other helpful pieces of advice.
I am grateful to have my coach, Erich Wegscheider, who has done a great job with my training and has been very supportive.
I am also very grateful to all my sponsors. They have helped me so much.

Now some details on my day:

My Thanksgiving has been very enjoyable and relaxing. Today it was just my immediate family. My little sister is home from school. We picked her up last night from the Portland airport and didn't get home till about 3 am this morning. But I can't complain for getting home so late because I am glad to have her home to enjoy the holiday with us. Of course, I have been a little tired from it all day. Considering that I was only able to sleep in until about 8:30 (I have a hard time sleeping past that).
Since my little sister hasn't had the opportunity to try some of my pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin pie, I was requested to make those for today, and that is pretty much how I spent my morning. After I was done making those I got to go outside for a lovely 30 minute run. The weather was very agreeable. I hope it holds through tomorrow because we will be putting up Christmas lights.
After I returned from my run we got to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal. Unlike most families, instead of having turkey we always have prime rib. And it, as always, tasted amazing! Along with our other side dishes, the meal was great!
The rest of the evening has been enjoyable. Just enjoying the efforts from this morning while we watch movies!

And of course, I am very grateful to all of you, my faithful readers!!! I hope everyone has had a happy Thanksgiving and is enjoying time with family and friends.

Here is a video that my sisters showed me earlier that should give you a good laugh. Enjoy!

Are cats ambidextrous?

As promised. You are in for a treat. A friend of mine wrote this for me and I found it to be very entertaining and has quite a bit of truth to it! Enjoy :)

Every now and then - most often on rest days - I enjoy observing my pets from a distance and hypothesizing about their various behaviors and tendencies. Most recently, I have collected data about whether or not animals, cats in particular, are ambidextrous.

Why is this worth knowing? Consider this: Say you go out of town for a few days. You keep the cat's food in a mudroom and the door to that room opens outwards. If you left that door just barely ajar and, say, your cat, who we will call, Peturr, is right-pawed, it would be quite likely that Peturr would struggle to open the door with his left paw to gain access to his salmon-flavored crunchy bits. Being that cats are lazy and Peturr is like most cats, he would likely regard opening that door as futile. Therefore, he'd retire to a warm spot to nap. In his slumber, he'd dream of frolicking with field mice and playing air hockey with delectable spiders, which would make his stomach growl, or rawr. Again, Peturr would go back to the mudroom to realize that he is still unable to open the door, because his left paw might as well be a stranger to him as he is a right-pawed feline. Once again, he'd return to a cozy nook to nap, but now his energy levels are getting dangerously low, as he's lacking the vitamins and nutrients his salmon-flavored crunchy bits provide. Soon, he would grow so weary, that he would be unable to rise from his cozy nook and would waste away in his food deprived state. Then, you'd return home from your weekend away to realize you starved Peturr to death. No longer do you have your lap companion, your weekend alarm clock, your beloved carpet shredder...

Makes you think, huh?

Fortunately, through my analysis, my data leads me to believe that cats are in fact ambidextrous. To validate this hypothesis, I arranged several scenarios where my cat would have to open doors or cupboards with either his left- or right paw. Oddly enough, my cat was more efficient opening doors and cupboards with his left paw, suggesting that he may have a preference. On average, he was 4.63-seconds slower to open doors or cupboards with his right paw.

To increase the validity of my study, I knew I needed to increase the sample size. So, I drove around one afternoon kidnapping neighbors cats. I also temporarily adopted cats from animal shelters, but returned them after claiming that my sister is allergic to them. 

With an increase sample population of 20, 17 of the felines tested showed adept abilities with both their right- and left paws. The other 3 were super sketchy and didn't cooperate whatsoever. Therefore, they are outliers, which I will disregard. 

In conclusion, cats are ambidextrous. Go ahead and leave your cat alone for the weekend! S/he will figure out how to get to their food. That is, unless you actually shut the door.

Alpaca Excursion!

I suppose I am going to have to admit an embarrassing fact about myself that I would prefer to keep hush, but I'm sure I'm not the only person who has suffered from this. This little fact is that I will sometimes over look little details that can have quite an affect on what you are trying to achieve. Maybe I should just call this a blonde moment?


Anyways, since my family and I were in Eugene yesterday for my race it is most efficient for us to do our errands at the same time since we live so far away. And of course, to have fun while we're doing it! The one thing that I wanted to do was to get some alpaca or wool yarn. I decided this year that I would make my Christmas gifts for my family. I am definitely not an artist like my sisters, so the only thing that I can really do (besides triathlon) is knitting. I am by no means an amazing knitter. I pretty much only know how to do 3 different kinds of knits, but I can still make cool projects with those.

It will be a slouchy beanie

Most of the bigger craft stores, such as Michaels, only carry the crappy yarn (acrylic) which forces me to look for specialty stores. The reason I do not like this yarn is because it can very itchy and is low quality. Sure this yarn is great for certain projects like slippers, pot holders, etc, but I'm doing pieces that will be near the face, therefore soft and warm yarn is essential. Thus, alpaca is perfect!

We were in Eugene so I decided to look up yarn stores that would have alpaca. There was about 6 or 7 that showed up. I went through most of them and looked to see if they were open, and as it turns out most of them are closed on a Sunday. Who would have thought! But there was one that I found, Aragon Alpacas, that was opened and the name looked very promising. Therefore, we punched it in our GPS and off we went. As we were headed that way we started moving out past the city, and it was turning more country. Then we started to question (or rather my family started to question me) if this was in fact a yarn store. So I looked it up on my phone and did a little further reading, and apparently they just sell the actual animal, Alpaca!

At least we didn't make it all the way out to the place, but it would have been fun to see the Alpacas. Perhaps, some other time when our actual plan is to look at the animal!

EWEB Run to Stay Warm 5k

It's been quite awhile since I've done a road race. I've been racking my brain trying to remember what race it was and I think the last one I did was a 10k road race in January of 2010...So it's been awhile.

I was excited going into this race to see where my fitness was, since my training has been going very well. I have Erich Wegscheider to thank for that. He has been coaching me since October, and I feel I have been responding very well to his training plan. I am very grateful to have been put in touch with him. Now to the details of the race..

This morning when I got up, which was about 6:00am, it was fairly windy and rainy out. I was hoping that it would die down some by the time I was to start my race, as it was also about 48 degrees, which actually isn't too bad to race in. But throw in some wind and rain and it can get miserable real fast. To my benefit, the weather cooperated as I wanted it to. There was no rain and a very light breeze, and it was, of course, still cold. However, after I did my warm up the temperature was just about perfect. I did an easy 15 minutes with some speed accelerations through it, and was feeling good. It was now that time to line up for the start.

There was already quite a mass of people already lined up. I don't like to start a race in the back so I just placed myself up in front, which was no problem, there was plenty of room! I was standing next to this girl waiting for the officials to send us off, and I got the feeling that she didn't really like me standing next to her. You know those people that you try to be friendly and they just don't want any of it. I don't know, maybe it's an intimidation thing? Anyways, after we stood for about 5 or so minutes waiting for them to send us out, we were off.

I was right about the girl. She bolted out to get in front of me along with some little kids (they're always so cute!) and I tried to go around her but she kept cutting me off. So I swung out to get up ahead. She stayed with me for a little while, but I knew I had to drop her within the first mile. And that I did! She wasn't too far back. I could still see her out of my peripheral when I would look to the side to see how far back she was. Towards mile 2 she started to close the gap a little bit so I started to pick it up. I was not going to let her catch me! Once we hit mile 3 I was feeling pretty good so I picked it up more and by that point I knew there was no way she would be able to catch me. She didn't finish too far behind me, as I was still in the finish chute when she came through. I turned around to say good job and shake hands and I got the feeling she didn't want to but did anyways. It's always good to have competition. I have her to thank for pushing me today!

On the home stretch

I ended up finishing first female overall for the 5k with a time of 19:19. I was very pleased with my time. Considering that I was unable to run that fast all season, and then I run that time without any speed workouts! So now I am really excited for next years triathlon season :D

Just Finished

Refueling

I must say, overall winners get pretty good awards. I got a $50 gift card to Nike, along with a pint glass (that everyone else got as well). The gift card didn't last long. Since we were so close to the Nike store I figured I might as well use it now. Of course, being that it is Nike I was only able to get one item, which was a pair of flashy running capris... I think capris are one of my favorite garments.

My Gift card

Most Frequently Asked Questions

This is kind of a follow up post to yesterday's questions and answers, or perhaps I should say it inspired me to write this one. Instead of me just answering questions (I'll probably answer them too) I will be writing some of the questions that I seem to be asked on a regular basis. I'm also very interested to see what some of your most frequently asked questions are? Write them in the comments section!

My answers to the questions are in purple.

1. "How old are you?" ............ I'm 24 ..... Reaction: "Oh, really? Cause I thought you were 16!"
2. "Can I see your ID?"...........*hands over ID* .... Reaction: *Stares at ID for awhile, then hands it back*
3. "How did you get involved with triathlon?"....... Well, I have a background of running. I ran all through high school and 2 1/2 years for OSU. I got burned out and lost the love for running. So it was time to find something else. As I am not a person to do nothing. I'm still not sure how I heard of triathlon but I did a lot of swimming for cross training when I ran and any biking that I did I always enjoyed. Thus, I became a triathlete! ........ Reaction: "Wow, that's cool"
4. "Why don't you have a boyfriend?"....... I'm waiting for the right guy ..... Reaction: "Oh"
5. "How much do you workout?"........ I workout just about every day ....... Reaction: "Wow"
6. "How many miles do you run every week?"...... It depends on the week but right now around 20..... Reaction: "Really?"
7. "Are you a twins?" ...... No, we're a year apart. I have three sisters (4 sisters total, including me) and we are all a year apart...... Reaction: "Oh, cause I could of sworn you were! Maybe, 2 sets of twins or quadruplets?" 

My sisters: Starting from Left: Cassandra, Me, Devynn, Shavonne

Don't forget to write some of your frequently asked questions!   :)

Random Q & A

I was feeling lazy this evening and found this survey of questions. Feel free to post your answers to any of the questions below.  :)

1. Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel?
1. Yes
2. Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?
1. out
3. Do you like to use post-it notes?
1. Yes
4. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of a bees?
1. Probably a swarm of bees, cause I would be able to out run them...I hope!
5. Do you have freckles?
1. A few
6. Do you always smile for pictures?
1. Most of the time, otherwise a silly face
7. What is your biggest pet peeve?
1. Dishes left in the sink
8. Do you ever count your steps when you walk?
1. Sometimes
9. Have you ever peed in the woods?
1. Yes...many times
10. Do you ever dance even if theres no music playing?
1. Yes
11. Do you chew your pens and pencils?
1. No
12. How many people have you slept with this week?
1. None, I just sleep with 3 cats every night!
13. Is it okay for guys to wear pink?
1. Yes!
14. Do you still watch cartoons?
1. Yes..mostly anime
15. Whats your least favorite movie?
1. The Graduate
16. What do you drink with dinner?
1. Most of the time water
17. Were you ever a boy/girl scout?
1. No
18. Can you change the oil on a car?
1. No
19. Ever gotten a speeding ticket?
1. No :D
20. Which are better legos or lincoln logs?
1. I only had lincoln logs as a kid, and I loved them
21. Are you stubborn?
1. Yes
22. Afraid of heights?
1. Yes
23. Ever used a gun?
1. Yes
24. First concert?
1. Shania Twain
25. Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing?
1. Professional Triathlete
26. Have you ever cried because you were so happy?
1. Yes
27. Tea or coffee?
1. Tea
28. Can you swim well?
1. I sure hope so
29. Can you hold your breath without holding your nose?
1. Yes
30. Which are better black or green olives?
1. Black
31. Can you knit or crochet?
1. Knit
32. Do you want to get married?
1. Yes
33. Whats your favorite color?
1. Red
34. Do you miss anyone right now?
1. Yes

How to Core an Apple like a Pro!

There are these gorgeous, firm, shiny red and sometimes green fruits called apples. Grab one that looks most appetizing to you and run it under cold water and then dry.

Now we will begin the steps of how to core this apple and later enjoy the rewards of our labor.

1. Grab a sharp knife
1. Be sure to check the sharpness of the blade
2. Place the voluptuous apple firmly on the designated cutting board 
3. With the stem facing up cut the apple in half
4. Set one half to the side
5. Grab the other half and cut in half
6. Repeat step 5 on the other half
7. You should now have 4 pieces
8. Grab one of the quarters and start cutting from one end of the center to the other (there should now be no core reminiscence)
9. Repeat step 8 to the other 3 quarters
10. Now comes the tricky part: decide if you want only the four pieces or want more slices
11. If more slices, grab one of the quarters and cut in half or thirds
12. Repeat step 11 to the other 3 quarters
13. You have now successfully cored and sliced your succulent apple
14. Eat with great pleasure!

If you want to skip all this nonsense you can purchase an apple slicer at your local store. However, this means you are lazy and have no talent! Plus, the apple slicer is never accurate with removing the entire core!

You make the decision!

15 Uses for a Spatula!

15 uses for a spatula you never knew about! We all know the main use for a spatula is for cooking in the kitchen, but have you ever thought about trying these:

I prefer the wood ones!

1. Oar: Easy to carry, light and doesn't take up space.
2. Swim paddles: Don't want to spend the money on swim paddles? Just grab a couple spatulas from the kitchen and a couple of rubber bands. Now you're all set!
3. Spanking your children: Some of you may have had experience with this!
4. Digging: We all have those projects around the house for yard work. Why not use the spatula to help you dig that perfect spot for new plant
5. Clean the cat's litter box: For all those who have cats, you know you've got to clean their litter box everyday and a spatula works perfectly for this. Probably the ones that have holes in them
6. Back scratcher: There always seems to be that one spot on the back that you just can't quite reach, just grab a spatula!
7. Swim cap assistance: It can be a pain to put on a swim cap. Just grab a couple spatulas and place one on each side of your cap while putting it one your head
8. Hammer: Why not?
9. Aerobars: These can become quite spendy. You may not be able to hook your shifters through them, but they'll get you by
10. Sword fighting: You're never too young to play swords
11. Bat: Can't find your bat from when you use to play, just go grab a spatula
12. Lever: Sometimes you need to hoist something up and don't want to go find that iron rod in the garage, grab a spatula. (in this case, if its heavy I would suggest a wooden spatula)
13. Hair stick: Just sharpen the edge so it goes into your hair easier and now you have the newest fashion and will for sure be noticed!
14. Massage tool: Need to work out that muscle...grab a spatula
15. Dodge ball: It's hard to find enough balls for this game but I'm sure you can find plenty of spatulas

What to wear for training in Oregon

I figured it was about time I wrote a post about something pertaining to the weather in Oregon. I suppose the best thing to say is that you can’t always predict the weather here and it can change on you in a second. It could be sunny and then turn to rain to snow to hail. You just never know!

Rain! There is no shortage of it here in Oregon, but I can’t complain because that’s what makes it so green and fresh here.  For running when it rains, I have found that tight clothing is best. As far as length goes, if it is cold rain then full tights and a long sleeve work well. There is also the option of a waterproof or water resistant jacket, but I hardly ever wear either, as it gets to be too many layers and can cause you to get too warm or sometimes cause rubbage. If it is warm rain then a lot of times spandex or capris with a long sleeve work well. I’ve noticed that a lot of people will wear a hat for this kind of weather. The only time that I will is if it is raining really hard or if it is really windy with rain. Otherwise, I get too hot with the hat since so much heat leaves from your head. 

Snow and Cold! Dressing for this weather is very similar to rain weather.  The only thing that I would add here for when it gets really cold is some gloves and ear warmers and sometimes a beanie would be appropriate. Also, make sure that my top is a thicker, warmer long sleeve. 

Sun! Everybody loves the sun. I’m sure it’s not hard to figure out what clothing is best for this weather. Most of the time I will just wear a sports bra and shorts. However, if I have not seen the sun in a long time I will wear a shirt so I don’t get sunburned. But once my skin has seen the sun a few times I usually don’t burn after that!  And there is the option of sunscreen, but I don’t like to go through the hassle of putting it on, therefore, I leave that for race day.

All of my recommendations that I have made are for running and are based on my experiences with running in Oregon for about 11 years. Of course, I’m sure it is different for everyone because some people are naturally cold all the time and some are warm all the time. Plus, it also depends on where you are from. For instance, I know our winters here are not nearly as bad as other places. So people have a tolerance for that area. The same thing goes for summer. Our summers here in the Willamette Valley are very nice and hardly ever hit the 100’s or even the 90’s. Therefore, training here is very nice! Rain is the only one that can sometimes be a nuisance, but usually not for running. It’s more so for the biking. But I have not done a whole lot of biking here and what I have done I have not had the proper gear. So once I have the right gear for rainy, cold weather I’m sure biking will be more enjoyable and tolerable here!