All grown up
Posted by Gypsy on Feb 23, 2009
My baby sister, Samantha, turned 18 last Wednesday and to celebrate she came out to sunny San Diego to visit me. So what do I do her first day here? Take her to be tortured. *insert evil face here* In reality, she’s the one who chose to be tortured as she wanted to spend her 18th birthday getting her first tattoo. Since I haven’t been tattooed in San Diego, I had to do a little research to find a place to go. Ultimately, I chose American Tattoo, just up the road from Miramar. There, we met Dustin, who created a really nice butterfly design for her. Unfortunately for him, Samantha didn’t realize just how painful getting tattooed can be. She’s been with me for a few of mine, but it’s just not the same as having it done. So there were a few tears at first, but she quickly braved up and suffered through it, even managing a big smile when it was all done.
Since she had never been to San Diego before, we wanted to make sure she saw some of the awesome things San Diego has to offer. This is how we ended up at the San Diego Zoo on Thursday. Because, really, you can’t come to San Diego on vacation and not see the panda bears. Even better, it was a perfect day out, so we could cruise to the zoo in the Porsche.
Friday was more of a laid back day. Andy and I had stuff to take care of in the morning, so we didn’t even head out to sightsee until mid-afternoon, but that didn’t stop us from making the most of the day by driving up the Coast Highway to Oceanside to wander the pier before grabbing chinese food. We even saw a pelican on the pier, which was supercool as I’d never seen one before.
With Saturday being Samantha’s last full day in California, we met up with our friend Charles and headed to Sea World. Since Samantha and I had never been to Sea World, Charles offered to show us around. Apparently, it’s his favorite place on Earth and he knows his way around the park pretty well. This was good as it meant we were able to catch the Shamu show right away and wander before making it to the dolphin show. Both were pretty awesome and I’m pretty jealous of the trainers and kinda wish I could swim so I could be one We also hit up a couple of the petting areas, where we got to pet a dolphin, a stingray and a Patrick (aka a starfish). We also saw whales, polar bears, penguins and bunches of other fun sea life. Oh, and the Budweiser clydesdales that are housed at the park.
All in all, it was awesome to have Samantha in town for the week and we had a great time seeing some of the sights of San Diego. As of this writing, she’s finally home and sleeping off the jet lag, but before she left I stole all her photos to post them up here.
Christina Cooks: Asiago Shrimp with angel hair pasta
Posted by Gypsy on Feb 19, 2009
This was one of the first recipes I ever tried when Andy and I moved into the house. I got this recipe from Tastefully Simple’s Web site and it does use one of their fall/winter products which can be ordered here. It is so easy that it’s also the first recipe I ever made that came out perfect on the first try. Total time is about 15 minutes, but most of that is waiting for the water for the pasta to boil. Actually cooking time is about 7 minutes.
Ingredients:
1 lb. of raw shrimp (I use the 31/40 count)
1 packet of Tastefully Simple Go! Go! Asiago Dip Mix
1-1.5 sticks of melted butter
angel hair pasta, prepared (I use whole wheat angel hair)
Directions:
1. Saute shrimp in butter over medium high heat until shrimp is cooked through. It’ll turn pink when it’s done. This takes about 3-5 minutes.
2. Sprinkle with dip mix and toss to coat.
3. Serve over pasta.
Seriously, doesn’t get much easier, or yummier, than that.
Happiest day of my life + one year
Posted by Gypsy on Feb 16, 2009
Andy,
When we met I wasn’t looking for this. I was newly single and just wanted to have fun. But you decided right away that you wanted to be with me and nothing was going to stop that. It may have taken me a little longer to realize I wanted the same, but I’m grateful I did because I don’t want to spend another day of my life without you. Where you go, so goes my nation. Even if that means we get sent to BFE for a few years.
You know that I love you with all my heart and you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I never thought I could love someone as much as I love you and I’m thankful every day that you are my husband. This past year was difficult with the deployment, but we survived it and are stronger because of it. Even with the uncertainties we are facing as we start our second year, I know it still will be better than the last because we’ll be together.
I love you.
Happy anniversary.
New shoes: check. Nice weather: sporadic
Posted by Gypsy on Feb 11, 2009
Living in Southern California, I expect every morning is going to be the perfect morning for a run. Unfortunately that is not always the case. Most of the time when I head out at 7 a.m. it’s still nice and cool and perfect for a 5-mile run. Then there are days like today, where I wake up and the rain is pouring down like a sheet. Luckily, I’ve already got an easy 15 miles in for the week, but with two days to go I need another 5 miles to hit my goal and yucky weather in the forecast.
On the plus side, I’m starting to see real improvement in my running. When I first started, it was taking me about an hour and six minutes to get through an easy 5-mile run. This week I was able to drop that to about an hour without any extra effort. This is a huge improvement. At this point, I’m hoping to get a couple more easy 20-mile weeks in before I bump that up and add in some speed training. I may do this earlier, though, if I find I’m recovering from my runs quicker.
Helping me out is the new shoes I bought last weekend. I got the Nike Zoom Elite+ 4, which is a performance stability shoe with tons of cushioning. At first they felt a little awkward, but that’s just because I’d been wearing my old shoes for about two years. So maybe just having some cushioning was a new sensation for me. Either way, I love them and definitely want another pair. I have them in blue, but am on the look out for them in purple as well so I don’t get the two pair confused. I’m an 8.5, so if you find them, let me know.
I’ve also registered for the America’s Finest City Half Marathon in August. Between now and then I’m hoping to do a few more races around San Diego to get prepared, mostly 5K and 10K distances. Still working on deciding which ones I want to do, though.
And now, here’s a pretty chart that shows what I’ve been up to running-wise:
