From the Plane to the Party

My husband is home!  I am no longer reduced to communicating with him by E mail and Facebook.  After a 14 hour international flight from a country with a 17 hour time difference, a two hour flight delay and a two hour drive from LA he finally made it home around 5:45pm.  Just in time to hop in the shower and put on the clothes I'd picked out for him so we could go to a friend's B Day party downtown.  He literally went from the plane to the party which is insane if you asked me.  I get jet lagged and worn out just traveling on a 1 hour flight where I don't switch time zones.  

Reunited and it feels so good

We met his friends at Red Pearl Kitchen downtown and had a good time.   I was a little skeptical because it's a Pan Asian restaurant and I'm so picky but there were things I liked.  Everything was served family style so we got to try a lot of different dishes.  If I had to rely on chop sticks I would have starved.  I'm the only one at the table who had to ask for a real fork so I could actually eat.  It was Anne's 30th Birthday and she celebrated it in style.  After dinner we walked to their hotel room at the Hard Rock Hotel and had a few drinks there.  It had a great wrap around balcony with a nice view of the city.  Mj was too tired to get too much of his drink on so he had announced himself designated driver and I took full advantage.  As the night went on he was still hanging in there....but just barely.  When everyone headed down to the club we headed for home.  By the time we walked into the house he was practically sleep walking, I was tipsy drunk and we both slept like rocks. 

A Gift from Mj.  Hand made jewelry box

It's so good to have him back home.  Australia was his last long work trip of the year.  His family reunion is this weekend in Delaware so there is one more out of state trip but I won't miss him.  'Cause this time I get to go too.

Tomatoes & Exercise

Home Grown

The tomato plant we planted in April is thriving.  The leaves have started to wilt a bit but it's gotten so big and the tomatoes started to grow in earlier this month.  Still no oranges on the orange tree but we expected that and the herbs are doing well too.  Mj put me on plant patrol and I'm in charge of the watering since he's been gone.  I'd be in big trouble if anything dies on my watch.  I don't really eat tomatoes although these are so bright and pretty it almost makes me want to!! I plucked all the red ones off and took them to my mom's house for her to enjoy.  There are plenty of little green ones that haven't quite matured yet that will be ready for Mj to have when he gets home. 

My little nephew is walking now!  He'll be 1 years old next month, has five teeth and is still just the cutest thing ever.  I had him to myself at my parent's house for a couple hours on Sunday and took him outside and watched him go.  We had lunch at a friends house then my sister and I went and got our favorite yogurt from Golden Spoon.  It's all Non Fat and Fat Free soft serve and I got my three favorite flavors Coffee, Peanut Butter and Peanut Butter Cup.  Next time, I'll try do something different and get the Red Velvet.  I had a great time with my family.  There was lots of fun, wine (what else is new) and lots of eating. 

Which led me to this sudden and quite unusual desire to go out running on Sunday night when I got home.  I don't do this very often ever and I know my endurance is pretty low so I started out doing 5 minutes running then 5 minutes walking and so on.  By the end I ran 8 minutes straight which is pretty good for me.  After 40 minutes I ended up doing 24 minutes of running and 16 minutes of walking.  Even though it kinda sucked when my legs felt like lead and it seemed like I was running so slooooow it kinda felt good to do it.  I'm basically an Elliptical junkie so it was good for me to do something different and with a higher impact.  I should probably keep my running on the treadmill though.  The next day I was painfully reminded of why I don't run on the unforgiving concrete too often.  My left hip felt like it was going to snap off!!   I'm definitely not in running shape.  My hip got better as the day went on but my legs were so sore I could barely walk myself into the gym.  I am proud of myself for slogging my way through my 1 hour Elliptical work out anyways.  I have successfully managed to work out twice a week (or more if I'm feelin' it) all year so far which is a huge victory coming from someone who refused to go for well over a year.  I'm even going again today after work.  Le Sigh. Burning 500 calories in one shot gives me this huge sense of accomplishment, which is part of the reason that I stick to the Elliptical and haven't done Pilates or anything else in a while.  Building muscle helps speed up metabolism so I'm trying to get myself to branch out into using the weight machines.  Plus, it's probably a good idea to mix things up so I don't get too bored.  I'm such a creature of habit.

Since Mj has been in Australia we've only gotten to talk here and there for about five minutes at a time.  There is a 17 hour time difference and he's usually asleep while I'm in the middle of my work day.  He FINALLY comes back Saturday and I'm really looking forward to having him home again.  The week is almost half way over and I'm glad!  Hope everyone is having a good week so far. 

2011 Cover Girl Classic

Chelsie during podium training
[Photo Source:  Universal Sports]

Gymnastics doesn't get too much TV time.  I'm lucky if I get to watch it twice a year so I was thrilled to be able to watch the Cover Girl Classic live online on Universal Sports.  It's the first big competition of the Elite gymnastics season and there are three comebacks that should make the line up between now and next year's Olympics in London very interesting.  Chelsea Memmel and Alicia Sacramone put the word Women's back in Women's Gymnastics.  They are so strong at the ripe old age of early 20's and it's just great seeing these ladies in action.  Alica's comeback isn't really and truly a comeback because just a year ago she was at this meet after not competing since the 2008 Olympics.  She ended the year by making the World Team and has been off the radar since then after the season ended.  She's just that good that whenever she decides she wants to go to an Olympic or World Championship, she just trains and makes the team like it's nothing.  I'm most impressed with Chelsea.  She made an aborted comeback attempt in 2009 that didn't quite pan out but I think she's really going for it this time.  She did all four events and could use a little bit of clean up in form but looked so solid in all of them.  She has always been such a strong competitor and injuries are the only thing that has ever held her back.  I was at the 2003 World Championships in Anaheim where I saw her win her first World gold medal on bars.   She was on the 2008 Olympic team in Beijing along with Sean and Alicia but due to an injury was limited to only one event-uneven bars.  She has the bad luck of always getting hurt before the Worlds or Olympics and has battled back from so many injuries that I can't believe her body is still letting her do this.  I really hope she can hang in there injury free and make it to 2012.  If anyone deserves to be on that team she does.  Non gymnastics fans might remember Sean Johnson most from Dancing With The Stars which she won in 2009 but her much bigger accomplishment is winning Gold on Beam and the Silver in the All Around, Floor and at the 2008 Olympics.  She only did two events (beam and bars) at Cover Girl and fell on both.  She was admittedly very nervous and scared but I think she'll get better at Nationals next month.  I can't even imagine the pressure she must feel.  I takes a lot of guts for a high profile gymnast like her to make a comeback after three years off of gymnastics with so many eyes watching her every move.  Aly Raisman won the All Around, Chelsie placed 2nd and new comer Sabrina Vega was 3rd.  Very few actually competed all around so this competition seemed to be less about winning and more about warming up for Nationals.

Alicia Sacramone and Sean Johnson during podium training [Photo Source:  Gymnastike]

Missing from the lineup was the 2010 All Around National Champion Rebecca Bross.   She is coming back from an injury (ankle) like so many and couldn't get it together in time.  She was there but scratched at the last minute.  It will also be interesting to see what reigning All around Olympic Champion Nastia Liukin decides to do.  She's been on the fence for a while about if she will go for 2012.  I really like it that a lot of NCAA Collegiate gymnasts are doing Elite during and/or after their Collegiate careers.  They bring so much competition experience with them and it's good to show that "older" girls can still be competitive and that Elite gymnastics isn't just for teenagers.  In addition to the comeback ladies there are many established gymnasts (like Bross) and new up and comers who want their shot at the Olympics too.  The saddest thing is that there are only five spots available down from six.  There just isn't too much Olympics to go around.  There will be many highs, lows and heartbreaks along this journey and I'll be watching glued to the TV screen or internet as might be the case for any coverage I can get.

See full competition results here at InternationalGymnast.com.

Hostess with the Mostess?

I've never been the hostess type.  Homebody type maybe, but never hostess.  I think years of tiny living spaces and my aversion to cooking made it something I've just never been into.  Mj is out of town again so I figured it would be a perfect time to invite some ladies over for a little get together.  It's amazing how much prep was required just for my small group.  I did my grocery shopping Saturday.  I woke up Sunday morning and cleaned, got into the kitchen, then ended up running to the store again because I was afraid I didn't buy enough tortilla chips.  It's so hard to tell how much people are going to end up eating or drinking.  I was ready by 2pm.  It was a pretty last minute decision and a very small group but it turned out well if I do say so myself.

So what does a non hostess serve to her guests when her much better at hosting husband who cooks is out of town?  Surprise, surprise, but not EVERYTHING came from the frozen foods aisle.  Only some of it.  One of my girlfriends didn't even think I'd have any actual food but she totally underestimated me.  Ok, so it wasn't anything nearly as fancy as Mj would have come up with but I think I did a pretty good job.  It was actually nice being in control of the food because I got to make it so that everything was pretty healthy.  I put out tortilla chips and put together a cheese and crackers spread for starters.  I bought some Jose Ole Chicken Taquitos and Garlic Parmesan Flat Bread that I was able to pop in the oven for 10 minutes.  I made two side dishes.  Baked red potatoes in the oven and whole grain pasta salad with light Italian dressing.  For dessert I bought two kinds of pound cake (one in a Sugar Free version) and light Vanilla ice cream and we had plenty of wine flowing from start to finish.  Easy and simple works for me.

We listened to music and got caught up on what everyone has been up to.  We are all so busy with work and life that we often go a long time without getting together and when we finally do it's usually happy hour so it was really nice to have them over hanging out at my house.  We've been in our house a year and some of them hadn't even seen it.  Oops, I just realized I forgot to put out the salsa!  Oh well.  Everyone had a good time and enjoyed my offerings despite my novice hostessing abilities.  I would never be mistaken for the hostess with the mostess but I work with what I got and it's good enough for me.