It's time

Well, after 4 months of training, the time is upon us. We are now less than 24 hours away from the 1/2 marathon, and even the thought of it makes me queasy!

I've spent a lot of time considering the options for how to deceive myself tomorrow. For example, a 3 mile warm-up followed by 2 5-mile runs doesn't sound quite as bad as 13 miles. I've also considered 3 4-mile runs + a one mile cooldown. Or my latest tactic is to try to convinve myself that I'm actually running the full-marathon and then 13 doesn't seem so bad.

My longest run thus far is around 9 miles, so we'll see if I have the stamina to add 4 more onto that (4 plus 9 doesn't sound so appealing - yikes).

So check back in a few days to see how it all turned out!

I'm a muh model, if you know what I mean

Last night I went in to get my blonde-ocity worked on and therefore, today, I have salon hair. And yes, I am now considering a career as a supermodel.



It's insane what those girls can do with a hair-dryer and roll brush. My hair today is perfectly straight with a perfect inward curve on the bottom that I could never have accomplished if I had spent 3 hours on it. Maybe they threw on some of Hermione's Sleeking Potion when I wasn't looking.



I just walked into town to get a bagel and the mail and could feel every head turn as I walked past. Ok, maybe not but I like to pretend so in my head.

So, while it will never last, I am enjoying my 24-can-I-stretch-it-to-48 hours of salon hair.

Blogger's Delight

Have you noticed how my list of blog links seems to be growing exponentially? I know. It's awesome.

Welcome to the newest people in my life that blog (hmm . . . that was tricky. Their blogs are new not them being in my life).

The Platt Family (yay for pictures of my niece), Kali Mathias, Thomas and Melissa Richie. Be sure to check them out!

I've decided that blogging enriches your life on many levels. Here are some examples:

1) You stay better connected with friends and get to be a part of small things in their lives. This proves especially effective when scattered across the country.

2) You begin to look for and appreciate smaller things in life. I suddenly judge all thoughts, events, social gatherings in my head as blog-worthy vs. not blog-worthy. The best is when an event is unfolding and you are already writing the blog in your head as it is happening.

3) Emproved riting skillz - my blog sentences tend to be much more coherent than my email short-hand. If I was an English teacher, I would have my students blog rather than old-school journaling like we used to do in Mr. Dobbins' class. It's great practice.

4) A quick and convenient way for sharing photos without having to go through Snapfish, Shutterfly, etc. or having to send mass emails to people.

5) Self esteem boost - my average blog hits per day has recently risen to 42. That means 42 people everyday care about what's going on in my life. Not too shabby. Of course I'll ignore the fact that probably half can be attributed to me but 21's still not bad.

6) Self-worth revisited in the form of commenting. Thats right. Ahhh, the glorious moment of discovering a new comment on a recently composed blog. And on the flip side, when no new comments are found, the realization that my worth is not found in my blog but in Christ alone (you Saddlebackians know . . . your self-worth is not judged by your blog-worth . . . isn't that how the saying goes?)

In conclusion, if you are reading this and do not have your own blog, I am compelled to ask why? Clearly you must now be convinced of the intense personal gain to be had. Won't you come join us?

Not for the faint of heart . . .

I suspect that the culprit was Mrs. Rosenbaum, in the Master Bath, with the pearl earring.

Yes, it was a traumatic night last night at the Rosenbaum house. After making quick work of my husband in Boggle, I headed to the Master bathroom to finish the task that I have been dreading for several weeks now.

You see, my left ear tends to be a little difficult. For my 13th birthday present, my parents allowed me to get my ears pierced; what a way to usher in your teen years. Yes, I did cry in the middle of Claire's at Cool Springs mall for fear of how badly it would hurt. But I persevered and survived the pain.



During the coming years, I was very involved with softball and was always having to remove my earrings as no jewelry was allowed on the field. Eventually my left ear re-closed altogether. Back to Claire's I went for my second piercing of my left ear. And it happened even again. 3 times I've had the left ear pierced with only 1 hole to show for it (do you really think Sallie would have let me walk around with more than 1? In my dreams . . . ).

So last night's activities officially bring us to a grand total of 4. Thats right. After a few stressful weeks of barely being able to squeeze them in, my earring hole officially re-closed. I definitely did not want to go to the local mall and explain the whole situation to some 15 year old working at an accessories store. So, using the beautiful pearl earring that Melissa gave me at her wedding (who knew how handy it would come in), I just re-pierced it myself. Wow. It gives me the heeby-jeebies just thinking about it now.

There definitely were a couple of really disturbing popping noises that I am trying to forget. I just kept thinking, if Shannon and Katie can endure labor, surely I can get through one small puncture like this. I think that the creepiest part is that today, it's not even vaguely sore. I'm thinking that's probably not a good sign.

I'm never taking these earrings out again.

March Album of the Month: I am who I am.

Let's face it. I am who I am. And that includes:

1) Being a little more than fashionably late.
2) A die-hard Patty Griffin fan.

I know that you are all tired of hearing me yap about her, but seeing that she had a new album that came out in February, I can't resist.

Patty did actually have some stiff competition this month, as March was a month of excellant music. So in honor of the Madness, here's how things shaped up:



Last year, we saw Patty in December's album of the month with Impossible Dream. What an amazing album. But her latest, Children Running Through, is actually significantly better, if that is even possible. It has such a great eclectic feel with a mix of many styles: rock, country, folk,soul. I love the passion and emotion that she sings with, and yes, it has made me cry on more than one occasion.



Here are the album highlights for me:
#5 - Burgundy Shoes - My favorite song of the album (I think). This is the one that makes me cry. A beautiful ballad with amazing piano! I think my bro-in-law Matty should learn this one and come play a personal concert for me everyday. I was initially super excited to hear the Bangor reference (pronounced Ban-Gore, not Bang-er), thinking that I was super great that I, too, have been to Bangor, Wales. I recently realized that she's probably talking about Bangor, Maine, since she's from Maine. But in my head I still prefer to picture her as a little Welsh girl.

#6 - Heavenly Day - I think this one had gotten the most public acclaim so far, and well-deserved.

#7 - No Bad News - This one is on the verge of pushing a political agenda and I love it. My very favorite part is the mariachis during the bridge. I can't help but rewind those 20 seconds over and over. I've developed a great affinity for mariachis since I've lived in CA and have gotten to hear some amazing ones. I don't really miss the days of the Los Compadres mariachis . . .

#9 - Up to the Mountain (MLK song) - In case the title doesn't tell you how powerful this one is, I will! It has the feel of an old spiritual with such hope and conviction.

#10 - Don't Ever Give Up - Have I mentioned that she can sing? I think I sounded pretty good on this one, too, on the way to work this morning.

4 of the above songs are on her MySpace. But she's totally worth the $9.99 on iTunes - go for it!

Jackpot!!

On Sunday, Adam and I went to Ralph's (the western version of Kroger's) for our weekly grocery run. Luckily, I stumbled across a most delightful discovery: Easter candy. I'm a sucker for 2 things: 1) a good bargain and 2) chocolate. So as you can imagine, I was on cloud 9!

There were definitely three grocery carts filled with Easter candy for . . . guess how much a bag (I played this game with Adam in the middle of aisle 9). $1.00? Nope. 75 cents? Nope. 50 cents? Nope.

25 cents. 25 CENTS! What a steal! At first I thought it was all Peeps and off-brand chocolate bunnies filled with that mysterious white substance that resembles marshmallows.



But the deeper I dug, I discovered the good stuff. Thats right - we bought 5 bags ($1.25 total!!) of Crunch Eggs, Reese's Eggs (the hard kind), a different type of Reese's Eggs (the soft kind), and assorted Hershey's miniatures. Anyone like Mr. Goodbar? Unfortunately they still aren't any better when wrapped in pretty Easter colors.



The very sad ending to this story is that as soon as we got home, my husband proceeded to hide the candy from me in various locations all over the house. He was muttering something about me eating it all in one sitting . . . I'm not really sure what he was referring to. Don't tell him that I found the Reese's eggs in the blue casserole dish this morning.

Easter Sunday

We spent this Easter weekend in California which was so great. It's one of the first years in a while that I have actually attended Easter service at my own church, as usually I am back home with family. Have we mentioned that we love our church? It's called Rock Harbor (here's an article if you are interested in knowing more) and our Easter service was held outdoors at an amphitheatre in Costa Mesa. There was a fabulous dramatic interpretation (yay for the arts) and a great service of celebration and outreach. Apparently I've turned into what some may call "a crier" over the past couple of years so of course it brought tears to my eyes to really look at what Jesus did for us and the hope He has brought me and that, hopefully, others saw for the first time last week!

After church we went to Balboa Peninsula for an Easter beach picnic with the Kings!


We had chicken salad sandwiches, fruit, deviled eggs, nan bread and chocolate chip cookies. Lauren brought her goodies in the infamous mother-in-law basket:


All four of us savor moments like these of just laying on the beach and listening to the ocean! What a great Easter!

Samuel's coming!

It's crazy to me that my friends are starting to have babies. How did we get old enough for this? It absolutely blows my mind but is such a joy to see my friends becoming parents!

Shannon and Josh's nine month wait is coming to an end as we speak and I couldn't be more thrilled!! I feel like I am going to be an aunt!!

So, in honor of Samuel's impending arrival, I have to share the greatest picture of Shannon from her pregnancy. Her younger brother got married in Texas just a few weeks ago, and her family took a legendary RV journey to the festivities. Couldn't resist this great barefoot and pregnant moment!

We can't wait to meet you Samuel!!