there's no place like home. huh?

my wake-up call on the morning after the hub's client christmas party came all too quickly.  and man, early winter alarms are rough - it's still so dark at 6am.  nevertheless, i dragged my ass up and tiptoed into the bathroom to get ready for the venice christmas 10K run.

i'd managed to sweet-talk amber into picking me up at the hotel.  at first, i'd considered asking the hotel if they had a driver who could take me to the start line, but it was much nicer to ride with my friend and head over there together.  when we pulled into the parking lot that was designated for that day's race participants, i glanced to my left and realized that i could totally have walked over.  ha!  oh, well.  it was still way more fun to sit and chat with amber anyway.  and not long after we got there, kirkette arrived with her husband to complete our happy little holiday running trio.

yes, we totally coordinated our outfits with headgear courtesy of amber.  kirkette looked adorable with her little painted-on nose.  and amber and i were amused to find that we'd actually dressed exactly alike save for our headbands.  my elf "hat" slipped off constantly, but i loved it.

there were tons of people there, and i'd seen on our race shirt that this was the 35th year of this run.

obviously, this is a tradition for a lot of folks.  we stood in a sea of red and white, with lots of silly costumes to gawk at.

as the race began, i found myself trotting along behind this chick.  i spent a few minutes trying to figure out how on earth dorothy from "wizard of oz" could possibly be a christmas-related costume, and then i got over it and passed her ass up.

between the three of us, kirkette is most definitely the most seasoned runner.  she's done countless half and full marathons, and she'd also done the spartan race the same day i did.  anyway, i was pretty proud of myself for managing to keep up with her all the way to the first u-turn.  i don't remember how far that was, but i gratefully slowed down and took a walk break and that's where i lost her.  amber found me after awhile and we kept pace with each other for a bit until she, too, left me in the dust.  heh.

the last stretch of the run took us all along famed venice beach.  i didn't really take a lot of pictures as i was focused on getting through the 6.2-mile course.  it was the longest run i'd done in weeks, although it was timed just when i needed it as i train for my second go at the tinkerbell half at disneyland.  it was funny to be cheered on by all sorts of random people along the way.

i really had to push myself to keep going - there was even a man who tried to motivate me to keep from walking with a "come on, girly, you can do this.  i'm 75, you can't let me pass you up" - and so i was pretty excited when the finish line was finally in sight.  even better?  santa was high-fiving everyone who crossed it.

we were all pretty satisfied with our performances, and i was especially pleased to find that i'd managed to set another PR.  i managed to beat my time from the awesome 80s 10K by a full two minutes, with a finish time of 1:03.  sweet.

this is how happy i was:

when i got back to the casa del mar, i found my family relaxing on the pool deck, enjoying quite a lovely view after a leisurely breakfast.

after i got cleaned up and packed all of my stuff, we checked out and headed out to find something for me to eat.  i was starving, and the hub surprised me by pulling into a place i've always wanted to try.  plus, khloe and lamar had their rehearsal dinner here!  whee!

because it was so early, we basically had our pick of tables.  the hostess seated us at the corner table with a fabulous view of santa monica pier, which made the bean happy.

but don't worry about me.  i was pretty stoked myself.  this was the best crab cake i've ever had:

and i decided that i couldn't have a meal at a place called the lobster without having some...well, lobster.

holiday-themed run, check!  this one was really fun, and i'm hoping the girls will want to do a repeat next year.  and now i get a little break from organized races until january 5th, when the teen and i tackle our first run of 2013 with the new year's race.  it goes through downtown l.a. at night.  sounds fun, right?

just nod your head and smile.  thanks.

wan-derfully excited

you know, i haven't done a whole lot of cooking lately. at least, nothing to really report on - if we've stayed in, i've just busted out some sort of repeat dish. booooring.

but a few days ago, i picked up a couple of smallish lobster tails on sale at the grocery store. literally, two 3-oz. tails - very small, and not really enough to make two complete dinners out of. so when i polled my twirlies (that's my twitter girlies, don'tcha know) and the girls on the cooking board on the nest, i got a nice handful of suggestions. the one that stood out the most was one for giada's brown butter risotto with lobster, from my awesome buddy blake_monster.

so i went home, gathered up all my ingredients, stuck the lobster tails in my steamer basket to cook, and melted and browned up some butter:

the lobster cooked up quickly:

it was my first time ever making any sort of risotto, so i was a little apprehensive. but the recipe was rated "easy," and it was. i added my chicken broth a little at a time as it instructed, and watched my arborio rice puff up and soften to a lovely chewy consistency. and, as it turned, out, when i freed the meat from their shells, it was just slightly undercooked. so i chopped it up and added it to the mixture towards the end of the cooking process, to cook it very lightly and not turn my precious lobster meat into rubber.

as for the teen, i threw together a fun dish using some stuff i'd forgotten about in the pantry. i boiled up some chow mein noodles, tossed in some frozen veggies, and thickened up a bottle of teriyaki sauce with a little cornstarch and some brown sugar. i mixed it all together, and voila! a lovely meal that she really enjoyed.

earlier that afternoon, i'd printed up a recipe that my buddy ssinca had linked me to - a rice krispy concoction that incorporated half a cup of nutella and some crushed-up chocolate hazelnut wafer cookies. the teen cut it up and had a hunk of it for dessert, and the bite i had was SCRUMPTIOUS. oh, so good.

and, a couple of non-food related items - my beloved stella & dot just came out with the most adorable line of little girls' jewelry. while it's supposed to be for mini divas 3 and up, i figured that the bean could handle it - at least, long enough for me to snap a couple of shots. i want to get some better pictures of her modeling the pieces to use in my own advertising, but that'll come later. for now, this is the best i got:

lastly, there's something new that's been occupying a good amount of my time and attention. a couple of weeks ago, during my last visit with my esthetician for a brow shaping, she mentioned that she'd just participated in a fun party with a friend of hers. said friend has a lovely, large home and is always being asked to throw sales parties - jewelry, make-up, cooking products, you name it. well, she finally got tired of being asked and decided to just pick a day to have everyone come and set up a table in her expansive living room. everyone invited a few friends, and had a blast.

i realized that this could be a great way to get more exposure for stella & dot, as well as to offer the opportunity to other ladies who do direct sales from home. and then i thought it'd be fun to expand it even further and maybe make a live action mini-etsy out of it. i put the word out to a bunch of my buddies, asked them to spread the word, found a venue, picked a date, and less than a week after the fire was lit under my ass, we had this:

do you love the name? 'cuz i do. haha! i'm pretty excited about it, because not only are we doing this in less than a month, but it looks like the idea has gone over so well with a lot of vendors that we're already on track for a repeat. i'm dying of curiosity as to how the first WWE (hahaha, i still crack up at the acronym) will go, but wouldn't it be cool if it turned into a monthly thing, in different venues and cities, with all sorts of fun vendors?

if you're local and find yourself with some free time on june 5th between noon and 4pm...come out and see us! and if you've got something to sell and would like to join us for future WWEs, drop me an email.

so fun! i can't wait.

tuckered-out thursday

okay, i'm super tired and bummed to be at work today. we did a quickie getaway down to san diego on tuesday evening and spent the day there yesterday, enjoying the cooler temperatures. i'm back at my desk now and kicking my own ass for thinking it would be a great idea to "break up the week" with this getaway - because now all i want to do is put my head down and take a nap - when i'm not scratching my 15+ mosquito bites. blech. of course, a more detailed recap is coming, but not now. i lack the energy.

i started my work week out with a new outfit, though - that forever 21 shopping spree did wonders for my choices in the closet. i also decided to try something different with my 'do and flipped it out for a change. i love the bright, happy color of this dress - which was, by the way, all of $11.50. holla!

i finally busted out those coffee ice cubes i made over the weekend. they're actually really good and add a lovely flavor to the iced coffee as they melt.

i also decided to make more of that dee-lish watermelon lemonade, since the teen was home to enjoy it. too bad for her, she decided to hang out at BFF's and didn't make it home before we polished off the entire pitcher. heh.

i picked up a couple of those slipper lobster tails to enjoy with our nice, cool salad - they were still on sale, and i thought i'd just take advantage while i could. this time, i decided to broil them. i'd read that they retain more flavor when broiled vs. steamed/boiled, and i'm all about the fla-vah.

dudes, bagged salad is crazy expensive. one little bag of salad barely enough to feed two people was almost $4! and right next to it was a bag of three romaine hearts for half that. so i went with that and then chopped it all up when i got home. i added some cucumber, tomato, edamame, and corn and tossed it with a really good homemade dressing. it's so easy, too:

3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 cup mayonnaise

the hub and the teen aren't huge mayo fans, but what they don't know won't hurt 'em. and it's not a lot in there, anyway. so you blend that all together and toss it in the salad, and you get this:

and look at how pretty the lobster tail looked next to the salad! let me tell you, it was just as tasty as it looked. i just put a little dab of butter in the shell and served it up. the hub and i "mmmm"d our way through the entire thing.

i finally got the bean on video, sharing some of her favorite animal noises. and one at the end, which is the result of a dare from the teen to me.


like the poopoo video, i don't think that's ever gonna get old.