Where in the World is KIMpossible?

I know, I know...I've pulled a disappearing act.  I'm back, though.  So that's what matters, right?

This is gonna be a hodgepodge of stuff.  Bear with me.

I know I owe y'all (and me) a checkpoint, but well...big shocker here...I haven't been quite as dedicated and diligent as I planned.  Back on the wagon, though, so I guess it can be said that at least I don't give up.  =/

My brother and sister-in-law planned a vacation to Jamaica.  A flight from Los Angeles (where they live) means a necessary lay-over.  They were able to manage an overnight one on Friday, 9/30, which allowed for my entire family to celebrate older sister Cathy's birthday.  We went to Perry's Steakhouse and had a most wonderful meal followed by this:

and maybe a little bit of:

Afterwards, Cathy opened up her presents.  My siblings went in on the gift thing with me, so we were able to get her some Brighton jewelry that she wanted and perfume.  Here is my cute packaging:

Oh and in other news, I chopped off all my hair.

I decided this hairstyle looks better straight than curly, so I've been straightening it daily.  There is the fast way - round brush - and then there is the slow way - Chi.  Nine times out of 10, I do it the fast way.

Oh...and I'm embarrassed to say I blew off my first race.  I did not end up doing the Beach Palooza 5K obstacle course on 9/24.  I woke up that morning and was just not feeling it....the drive all the way to Galveston by myself...the fact that the only friend I knew who was racing it had a time slot a couple of hours before mine...and finally that I want to be able to run a 5K outright again before I sign up for another. 

I have my See Jane Run half coming up on Sunday.  My training has, of course, not been as I had hoped for, but I am still excited.  I will be leaving on Friday after work to enjoy a nice leisurely Saturday meeting up with friends from days gone by (college) and perhaps even a blogger meet-up later that day.  My father's birthday is also on Sunday, so I will high tail it home after my race to celebrate with my family.

I had some Chinese food at family lunch and this was my fortune:

Can I substitute "dogs" in place of "children" since I don't have kiddos yet?  No?  That's okay cuz I don't think I would ever call my dogs the most wonderful - haha!  I do love them dearly, though.

This past Saturday, we all ended up hanging out at my parent's house - swimming, eating, and watching the dogs play.  On Sunday, my dogs were both dead to the world.  Besides breakfast at 6am and a prompt return to bed, Penelope didn't join the world of the living until 3:30pm.  Yikes! 

I have a slight obessesion with Tai Pei's wonton soup.  I eat it almost every day for lunch and I buy it in the frozen section at Walmart.  Don't judge me.

Another slight obsession I have is with dystopian and/or post-apocalyptic novels.  I just can't get enough!

We are planning young sister Linda's baby shower.  It's going to be so fun.  My mom has made a motorcycle "diaper cake".  Wait until you see it!  I've been commissioned to make a watermelon carriage like I did for Melissa's baby shower and I'm also making fruit salsa to be eaten with cinnamon & sugar pita chips.  I love party planning/preparation!  So fun!

I've been watching Medium on my Netflix.  Oh my goodness, it's so very good.  I'm half way thru with season 6 (out of 7 seasons).  I've picked out my next show once I finish.  It's gonna be Friday Night Lights cuz my parent's swear by it.  Have you seen it?

Okay, that's all I have for you for now.  I better start catching up on reading all the blogs I've been neglecting!

what a wonderful weekend!

What a fun Saturday!  I started off my morning knocking out some mileage.  One word:  HOT.  

To cool off, I used my happy Metha body wash from Bath and Body Works.  Get some now.  Trust me.

source here

I then went to pick up my cute mom so we could do breakfast.  No family lunch this Saturday since we are doing a Father's Day / Brother-in-law Jay's bday celebration on Sunday.  My cute mom and I went to IHOP.  I ordered the SIMPLE & FIT Blueberry Harvest Grain 'N Nut Combo.  Yum.  I'll just say it right now - my egg substitutes never come out tasting quite like that!  Next we went to see Mr. Popper's Penguins.  I don't know why the rest of my party pooper family members didn't want to see it - it was such a fun movie and we adored it!  I was able to get a diet vanilla root beer at the movie theater - mmmmm.

After the movie, my mom and I ran some errands.  We then ended up at Panera for lunch.  I heart Panera.  I hung out at my parent's house for a while before deciding to rent a couple movies from Red Box on my way home.  I chose I Am Number 4 and Just Go With It.  I enjoyed both movies.

Sunday meant family day. I met up with younger preggo sister Linda, brother-in-law Craig, and their dog Coco at my parent's pool around 12 noon. Of course I brought over my beasts as they desperately needed a play date. Older sister Cathy and brother-in-law Jay joined use a bit later when my mom served us up a yummy lunch. We then hung out, laughing bunches, and later headed to our dinner at Del Friscos in the Galleria area. They were running a pretty awesome special for 2 where each person got to pick a salad and then it came with an 8 oz filet, a crab cake, your choice of side, and your choice of dessert. I coupled of with my mom. We had such a great meal. I just love spending time with my family.

After dinner, we headed back to my parent's house for my dad and Jay to open up presents.  My mom is like Snow White in that animals seem to flock to her.  She is not so welcoming of them.  There are frogs that end up in the grotto under the waterfall in the pool.  There is a bird that keeps nesting in the backyard (my mom is not a bird lover).  Now there is a turtle that has traveled to the front door.  Here she is.  She's shy, clearly.  haha.

It was a wonderful weekend filled with fabulous food, family fun, and movies - what more could a girl ask for?

How was your weekend?

my birthday: a tale of happy mixed with a bit of woe

I'm a little upset about something.  Well...okay, a lot upset about something.  I have been making an effort to take more pictures of my life.  It doesn't come naturally.  We weren't raised this way.  Sure, sure...there are pictures here and there, but then I have some friends who are so good at capturing the moments of life and it makes me super jealous that they just know what to do and when to do it.

I bring my camera with me everywhere I go just in case I remember to whip it out on a whim.  Rarely do I purposely plan in advance for its use (bad blogger).  I had it with me on Friday night, my birthday, for the friend celebration (remember how I celebrated my fake birthday with family a week ago?).  I decided to do the same thing I did last year - a dinner gathering at Los Cucos.  This year was a bit different as I actually had a date.  =D  Older sister Cathy surprised me by bringing a turtle cake from Rao's, so I had her take a picture of that.  Then I took some pics of my party peeps.  I handed off my camera to others to take pictures of the people I couldn't get, including me with my date (the first picture of us).  I must have forgotten to put my camera back in its rightful place in my purse once it was handed back to me because the next day I noticed it was missing.

After family lunch at Red Robin on Saturday, I went over to Los Cucos to inquire as to whether or not they had found it.  Nope - no one had seen it.  Hmmm...me thinks there is a thief amongst them.

So...now I am sad.

I did manage to download a couple of pics on Friday at work before I left for the day.  I must have had a 6th sense that my camera was going to disappear.

This is a picture of the cake my mom ordered from R.J. Goodies and brought to work for me.  My dudes at work think every 3rd Friday of the month should be cake and ice cream day, by the way.

This is a picture of the red roses that were delivered to me.  They were completely unexpected, so very beautiful, and most appreciated.  ;)

My parents took me to lunch, I was able to unite some of my friends and some of my siblings (brother Eddie and sister-in-law April not in attendance since they live in Los Angeles) for my dinner, and I got some MORE really great presents!  I was gifted with a lot of great books, so I best get to reading!!!  I also got the earphones I wanted - I put them to the test on Sunday and loved them!  yay!

Despite the camera incident AND the fact I had to work on my birthday, it was a wonderful day!

I have thought about going to local pawn shops and asking if they have the camera that fits my battery charger and picture uploader.  Wouldn't it be cool to turn this into a Cinderella story of sorts?  They can have it back as soon as I get my pics.  *sigh*

Fake Birthday

In my family, we have a tendency to celebrate fake birthdays.  That is...we celebrate someone's real birthday just not on the right date...cuz...you know...more often than not one's birthday doesn't fall on a convenient day.

My birthday actually isn't until Friday, so naturally we would have celebrated it on the following Saturday, but we thought my mom was going to have to go out of town.  We made plans to celebrate my birthday this past Saturday night instead.  Now, as it turns out, my mom isn't going out of town, but...well...plans were already made.

I didn't mind, though.  Since I'm a mid-March birthday, I've always managed to celebrate for an entire week as my birthday has always fallen during Spring break.  I'm pretty clever to use it to my advantage that way.  Just because I've been out of school for um...a few years now doesn't mean things should change in that area, now do they?!  I think not.

I mentioned to my dad a few months ago that I have a love for the souffle.  It's one of my favorite desserts, actually.  I believe I had my first one, a chocolate souffle, at a restaurant called Neros in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas during one of our Thanksgiving trips many moons ago.  Such airy delightfulness.  Mmmmmm.  Most recently, I had the pleasure of consuming a Grand Marnier souffle when I went on a cruise two years ago.  My taste buds didn't get to experience much happiness during that trip as I got incredibly sick with strep throat and bronchitis while on-board, but I do remember that dessert with fondness.  Ah, but I digress.  shocker.  So anyway, my dad told me I needed to go to Tony's someday as they are known for their souffles and they have many, many different flavors.  I must know more of this Tony's he speaks of!  I asked if we could go for a special occasion...say perhaps my birthday?  He said it was a bit too pricey.  =(

A couple of weeks ago, my dad had a change of heart.  He informed me that he decided we could go to Tony's.  Oh dear heavens...all I cared about was that I was going to get souffle!

We dressed up in our nicest attire - we all looked stunning, I must say - and we headed over to the restaurant.  It's valet only, don't you know?!  I decided to be bold and daring and order the wild boar tenderloin as my main course.  Over half my family thought I was nuts, but it was yummy, so I felt validated.  I started my meal with a delicacy I normally wouldn't order because of the calories and fat content, but...well...it was my fake birthday.  Oh how do I love lobster bisque?  Let me count the ways.  This was the best lobster bisque I have ever eaten, by the way.  rich creamy loveliness.

We decided to order two souffles for the table - I didn't mention the souffles at Tony's are HUGE - and serve 4 people a piece!  My mom got to pick out one flavor - bananas foster - and I got to pick out the other flavor - while chocolate Grand Marnier.

Since my dad had mentioned it was my birthday, our server brought out a special plate for me.  So sweet.

After they served us all a piece of each flavor, two servers walked around with sauce toppers for each souffle.  For the bananas foster souffle, we had a caramel sauce with bananas.  For the white chocolate Grand Marnier souffle, we had a white chocolate sauce and a Grand Marnier infused whipped cream.  They did not disappoint, each bite was a bite of heaven.

Then, the awesome Tony's staff brought me out a martini glass filled with pink cotton candy for my birthday.  How funny is it that such an expensive restaurant would serve cotton candy?!  love it!

As we left, the hostess handed each of us a bag of delicious biscotti.

We then went back to my parent's house for presents.  I did not get all my parents, so all the more reason to keep extending the ol' birthday (well that and my real birthday hasn't happened yet - ha!).  I got some new pillows for my bed, a subscription renewal to Runner's World, new pajamas, a car mount for my cell phone for when I'm using the Navigation function, and the matching trash can and tissue holder for the bathroom accessories I got for Christmas.

source here

So far, I'm having quite the birthday week!  Maybe...ahem...34 isn't going to be so bad, after all!  =D

a celebration of sorts

My dogs are so cutesie.  sometimes.  I came out of the shower and discovered them all cuddly like this on my bed.  Sweet little love muffins.  You probably wonder how I could ever talk bad about them when they look so precious and innocent.  This is how they lure you. 

Delilah & Penelope

Today is Delilah's "Gotcha Day".  It's the day we celebrate me bringing her home to be part of our family.  For 3 years I've tried to convert her from a hood rat to a dog.  We are assuming she is 4.  I feel kind of bad celebrating her Gotcha Day considering I am the worst kind of mother to my one true love, Penelope, and forgot to celebrate her 10th Birthday on February 5th.  Perhaps tonight should be a joint celebration? 

The thing is I can buy Delilah bones and she will devour them.  I can buy Delilah toys and she will destroy them.  I can't buy Penelope anything.  She very rarely chews on a bone.  She very rarely plays with a toy.  She used to be quite the Frisbee enthusiast before she went blind.  Every blue moon she will still grab a rope toy to be thrown which is nine kinds of pathetic cuz...um...how is she going to find it once it reaches its destination?  I hate celebrating with food, but they do lovie themselves some Beneful Prepared Meals, so I will probably buy one for each of them and let them go to town.  Normally I buy one for them to share when I feel guilty about something.  I'm very predictable.

So, one thing I don't do often enough is take my babies for walks.  I know, I know...I'm awful.  Let me explain, though.  First and foremost, I have to take them separately which is kind of obnoxious.  I wish I could say that this is because Penelope is blind and it's easier to navigate her that way, but the truth of the matter is that I had to do it this way before she went blind because they are both unruly and undisciplined during a walk and pull in too many directions.  Secondly, Penelope makes cRaZy noises since she can't see and everything catches her attention, so I find myself making announcements to everyone who stares at us that she is blind as if that makes it all less awkward for any of us.  AND then beyond that, I really don't have any excuses except that I'm just bad.  =/  Tonight, however, both of my monkeys will get walked (and then mama shall run).

Do you celebrate your pets' birthdays or am I just a weirdo not sporting a beardo?





I love the 80s (well..parts of it)

You know what's really rad?  Being all decked out in your coolest 80s attire and having to stop at the gas station for some ice.  It's not uncomfortable AT ALL, oh no.  =/  haha!

Saturday marked my brother-in-law Craig's birthday and thus - a birthday bash was born.  It was a themed party - 80s, if you will, and Linda and Craig went all out with their decorum.

There were movie posters throughout the house representing some of the best movies - Goonies, Ferris Buehler, Gremlins, Back to the Future, etc...

There was an Alf cake.

There were slap bracelets.

There were famous quotes and other such era indicators printed and posted about.

The office was set-up with the original Nintendo gaming system with your choice of several games to play.  Of course, the favorite was Super Mario 3.

The dining room was set-up as a Karaoke room.  80s hits were belted out by many.

The wardrobes, however, stole the show.

Baby Liam - Congratulations to Melissa and Greg!!!

I knew early on that my friends Melissa and Greg were expecting their first child.  They told me in a most special way - we were at a birthday party for a mutual friend and Greg mentioned to me he had a pancake recipe that he thought was South Beach friendly for me out in their car and wanted to know if I wanted to take a look.  I thought it was kinda peculiar that he didn't just bring the recipe book inside the house, but I'm a go-with-the-flow kinda girl, so I went outside to go look at the book.  Melissa went along with us and mentioned something about having a special bookmark for the recipe.  Um...okay.

Pause here while I insert (once again) how I'm a total Aggie when it comes to putting together pieces to the puzzle.

Okay, so we get to the car and I ask if I'm supposed to read the recipe or look at the special bookmark first.  I don't recall who said what, but one of them told me the recipe and the other said the bookmark.  They looked at each other and laughed and then chose one, only the funny thing is I don't actually remember what order I looked at them.  Let's just say I looked at the bookmark first.  It basically informed me that Melissa was preggers (yay), but that it was a secret so SHHHHH!  Apparently the look on my face was worth a thousand words as Melissa said she wished she had her camera and she gleefully laughed and said it was priceless!  I, was honored to have been given the gift of knowing.

Prior to Melissa and Greg finding out the gender of their baby, Melissa did a poll on her blog.  I was in the minority to choose "boy", but I stuck to my guns on the day when Melissa and Greg had their ultra sound that determined the gender and called me up asking if "boy" was my final answer.  I was right!  I love being right.

Melissa and Greg had made the decision to keep the baby's name a secret until his birth.  I didn't concern myself with trying to guess it...I really didn't think too much about his name, honestly...until the night before his birth...er...the wee hours of the morning.

Here's what happened...I got a text from Melissa around 6:00pm on Wednesday letting me know that her water broke and she was heading to the hospital.  This was 3 days before her due date.  I was uber excited!  I got another text message around 10:30pm letting me know she had the epideral and that they were going to give her petocin at 4:00am.  My dogs woke me up around 1:45am to go potty.  This was when I could not go back to sleep.  All the sudden my head started getting flooded with names for the baby.  I thought of Donovan, Cameron, Jeremiah (was a bullfrog, don't ya know), Nicholas...and others.  Names kept rolling on in.  All I had to go with were a few clues Melissa had dropped along the way - she had never had a student named this name and that it was a trendy name, but not toooo popular.

I somehow someway eventually fell back asleep.

The next morning, I got some more info via Facebook postings Melissa had made.  Then, at 10:30am, I got a text message from Melissa's mom letting me know that the baby was born and that everyone was healthy, but that was all she knew because she was outside the room.  She said she would update me later when she had more info.  Finally, an hour and a half later, I received all the info...with the most important piece to the puzzle solved...little baby Liam was born to his proud and loving parents.

Liam, by the way, is one of my very favorite names.  I've always had a thing for the Irish names.  My plan since she went into labor was to go visit them after work.  I realized they must be tired and that perhaps I was being rude to push myself upon them, so I emailed Greg to say as much once he sent out a group email informing everyone of Liam's arrival.  He replied back with "He's asked to see you."  That made my heart swell.

I called my sister Cathy and explained I had yet to buy Liam's "welcome to the world" gift, but I didn't want to go to the hospital empty handed.  I asked if I should bring flowers.  She asked if there was something food related Melissa would prefer instead.  My initial response was a pepperoni pizza as Melissa had said that after she gave birth she wanted a pepperoni pizza and a coke.  I then laughed and said that didn't seem very practical, so maybe some banana pudding.  I left it with "I would think about it".

Before I left work, I text Melissa and Greg to see what kind of contraband I could bring them.  Melissa called me and asked if I could bring them a pepperoni pizza and her a coke!  HA!  How perfect!  I asked where from and picked up a pizza from Grimaldi's Pizza.  I ordered it, picked it up, bought a Coke from a Chick-fi-A drive-thru since Grimaldi's only had Pepsi products, and went off to meet Liam.

I met up with Greg's sister, Lisa, and Melissa's brother, Terry, and sister-in-law, Lisa, at the hospital.  We had a lovely time getting to know little Liam.  He sure is a cutie - already so alert - already so loved!  I can't wait to get to know this little guy!  I love him already!  Happy BIRTHday, little Liam! 

picture Lisa took when we first saw Liam!

picture Greg took



sweet little baby Liam!



weekend recap

It was a good weekend - much better than last weekend - THANK GOD!  After my 9-miler on Saturday morning, I came home to be lazy for a bit.  I eventually took a muscle soaking bath.  I know, I know...ice is better, but I just wanted to read and be cozy and I can't imagine an ice bath being cozy.  Then again, I can't imagine taking one at all *shivers*.  We'll see...I may have to once I start getting into the big mileage.

We didn't have family lunch because we were doing a joint celebration of older sister Cathy's bday and my dad's bday that evening at Pappas Grill.  This meant I had the afternoon to run some errands and finish birthday shopping for them.

Of course I had to return to the library to get another audio book.  I'm almost done with my current one and I couldn't risk being without one since it makes my car rides bearable!

After all my running around, I got ready for dinner and headed over to the parental's house.  My dad drove Cathy, Jay, my mom, and I to the restaurant.  Linda and Craig met us there.  We had a wonderful meal - I ordered the horseradish crusted filet and then, because it was a special occasion, I went ahead and had some garlic mashed potatoes (not South Beach friendly).  One of the reasons we love Pappa's Grill so much is because of their salad bar - pure deliciousness!

After dinner, we all headed back to my parent's house for dessert (a cake from Rao's bakery), presents, and a fashion show.  We apparently do the fashion show thing a lot, huh?!  This time Linda was trying on some dresses Cathy and my mom had picked out for her to wear to next weekend's wedding and Cathy was trying on some clothes that she had received as gifts.  It was a great family night!  I love my family!!!  =)

I went to bed way late on Saturday (shocker) with the hopes of getting a good solid 8 hours of sleep.  I woke up at 5:30am.  Blech.  I went back to bed and the dogs woke me up at 6:45am.  I fed and watered them, let them go potty, and then I played Mafia Wards, Rummikub, and Sorority Life for a bit.  I went back to bed at 7:30am and didn't wake up until 11:20.  Yikes!  I had lots and lots of sleep!  I must have needed it - I'm thinking it was recovery from my run!

Today I did something really cool - I went to a Pampered Chef party hosted by LaShaune.  I bet you are wondering who LaShaune is, huh?!  Well, it just so happens she is a blog friend who I now have met in the real world - she's actually the first one I've met in the real world!  I had the best time today hanging out with her and her friends and even her mom!  We ate great food and sangria!

The plan is to go to bed NOW so that I can get up early in the morning for my first crack of dawn run - since I have my gear.

How was your weekend?

Labor Day Weekend

After working a *fun* filled day.  Yeah...notice those astricks - big thick sarcasm can be heard from miles away!  My family all boarded our respective airplanes and headed to The Windy City.  Yes, I was just there and Yes, I will be there two more times before this year is through in case you are keeping tabs on me.  ;)

Most of my immediate family departed from Houston.  Younger sister Linda with her husband Craig, older sister Cathy with her husband Jay, my mom, dad, and I boarded our 7:15pm flight with non-stop service.  As in all other times we fly together, I end up on team Cathy and Jay.  It's funny to think how just slightly over a year ago we weighed collectively over 320 lbs more than we do now.  Do you know tightly we used to be squeezed into that airplane row?  Do you know how much more comfortably we fit now?  It's amazing!  Cathy and I tried to convince Jay that another person could fit into our row, but he wasn't having it.  ha!

My brother and his wife April flew in from Washington, D.C.  Since they arrived first, they were already whisked away to my aunt and uncle's house.  My uncle came to pick-up the whole lot of us in our party van - a 15 passenger blue number.  We shuffled in with our luggage in tow and headed to the house.  My aunt is like ol' faithful when it comes to hospitality - especially food.  Good Lord - the woman even has a dish of York Peppermint Patties in the powder room (no, I didn't eat any of them).  We ate, laughed, gossiped, and retired for the evening.

On Saturday, my family threw a surprise 80th birthday party for my grandmother.  The "adults" meaning my mom, dad, aunt, and uncle headed out in my uncle's car while the "kids" headed out in...yes, you guessed it...the party van.  I suggested a Chinese fire drill at one of the lights, but it got the veto because of our high heels and dresses.  I thought those details would make the entire process even that much more amusing for spectators, but alas...the veto stuck.  It was 7 weeks before my grandmother's real birthday, so the surprise part wasn't too hard to pull off.  The guest list included family near and far, some select employees from our family business, and some of my grandmother's dearest friends.  I believe there were around 200 people total in attendance.  It was an open bar event with brunch served and, of course, dessert.  The best part of all was seeing my Grandma get emotional when she realized what was going on.  She made me tear up!  It was a beautiful event, but alas...the day was not over when it was over.  Oh no...we had about 2 hours before party #2.  All out of town guests and immediate family were gathered at my aunt and uncle's house for dinner.  Do you notice a theme?  Food!  Lots and lots of food!

On Sunday, I woke up super duper early to do my long run.  Normally I would have hit it up on Saturday, but I hadn't gotten much sleep with flying in late and we had to leave for down town relatively early PLUS I was scheduled for a 6 miler which takes a turtle like me a bit o' time.  It was 52 degrees!  At first when I walked outside I wondered if I would be better off changing my attire, but then I told myself to "man up" and hit the streets.  My aunt told me I could leave their cul-de-sac and head down to the main street all the way to the next main street and back and that would be 2 miles, so I decided to duck down a few side streets here and there.  I ran non-stop for 3.3 miles and then went back into the house for a bathroom break.  I went back out again to do the other 2.7 miles, but the strangest thing happened....I still had lots of energy left in me, so I ran for another 3.2 miles (without walking) making it an even 6.5 mile run.  I'm such an over achiever!  I still could have kept on going, but there were 2 parties planned for the day (yes, another 2).  We went over to my Aunt Janet's house for my cousin Rachel's bridal shower (party #1).  Once again - ridiculous quantities of food.  After the shower, the men folk came back to the house after playing golf (and the others who didn't play golf joined us) and we had a barbeque.  In case you were wondering....more food was served for our dining pleasure.  After eating, laughing, gossiping and all that jazz, we headed back to the house we were staying at to just chill and we might have eaten some cookies.

On Monday, my mom and aunt's brother met us up at the house and all of us went to the Walker Bros. Pancake House.  This is a staple for us whenever we go to Chicago.  It was delicious, as always.  Once we finished, there was just enough time to relax for a bit back at the house before heading to the airport.

In short, we ate too much.

I had my camera...didn't take a single pic, but pics were taken, so they are out there somewhere and when I get my grubby hands on them, I shall post them.

How was your holiday weekend?

Family Fun!

I felt really guilty missing Mother's Day.  I was in Playa del Carmen for my vacation...ooops!  When I got back from the trip, I still had a few days off, so my mom and I celebrated our own special way - we went to lunch at Los Cucos and to see Disney's Oceans.

Now, it's Father's Day!  My dad picked out Perry's Steakhouse for lunch.  The funny thing is that there is one like 3 minutes away from my house, but it has a reputation for bad service, so whenever we go to Perry's, we caravan up to the one in The Woodlands.  I was glad he chose lunch because I don't like a heavy meal sitting in my stomach late at night.   I decided to start with the tomato mozzarella salad and to finish with the pork roast.  Well, to be fair...they call it a pork chop, but it's ridiculously huge - I should have taken a picture to prove it to you.  Oh...and in case you were wondering, I practically licked my plate clean.  I also had one forkful of mashed potatoes that younger sister Linda and her hubby Craig had ordered.  I haven't had mashed potatoes in 11 1/2 months.  They were creamy dreamy buttery wonderfulness, but alas...it was just a bite.

Friday was my other brother-in-law's birthday (Jay).  We always do a combo celebration for Father's  Day and Jay's bday, so my mom had Jay pick out the cake.  For the past few years, my mom has ordered all of our cakes from Rao's Bakery.  They have amazing cakes, y'all!  Jay picked out The Original Dobasche.  Here is the description:  This scrumptious cake is crafted of six layers of chocolate fudge cake and old fashion butter cake. Each layer filled with a special creamy rich custard and chocolate pudding. Then iced with a fudge icing and covered with walnuts. To top it off we add a poured on fudge iceing.A New Orleans Original.  Now, I had decided to partake in the dessert - just a small slice.  This is a big deal for me, though, because this is the first family dessert I have since I started South Beach.  I declined on the ice cream, though.  Let me just say...my slice of cake was a slice of heaven.  It was rich and sweet and just plain AWESOME!

After lunch, we went back to my parent's house to give Jay and my dad their gifts.  We hung out for a while and then we all parted ways. 

I just love hanging out with my family!  How was your weekend?

Birthday Week Summary

Ever since I was a wee little kid, I've always taken pride in the fact that I can manage to stretch my birthday across a week like no other! It all started when I went to school and realized my birthday was always going to fall during Spring Break which meant I was always going to get screwed out of getting the attention I deserved on my special day.

Yes, yes....I know I should just get over it like so many other grievances I have like the fact that my parents didn't love me enough to give me a middle name...like the fact that I have such a common first name...like the fact that I have SMCS (Severe Middle Child Syndrome)...I could go on and on, but I will stop the whining here.


Anyway, this year was no exception. On Tuesday night, I met my friend Kim for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Cafe Red Onion. It had somehow been six months since Kim and I had last seen each other which is WAY too long - especially for two friends who live in the same city!!! She was my first college friend and we shared our first apartment together with our other roomie and friend, Laura. This is a picture of my dinner. It was so delicious and it came with a cup of onion soup plus I added a side of refried black beans because how often do you see that at a restaurant?!

On Wednesday night, I met my friend Amy for dinner at Chili's. We had really crappy service from our server, but thankfully the company made the night awesome regardless! In case you don't know how I met Amy, well almost 2 years ago she answered a CL ad I posted looking for a workout buddy. Turns out we like to eat out together more than workout, but I made a life long friend!!!

On Monday, I did my morning meeting with my crews before sending them out on their respective jobs. I made mention of the fact that my birthday was the same day as the beginning of March Madness. One of my guys said, "oh yay...that means we get cake." I told him it was unlikely since I don't eat cake anymore, so I really don't see my mom doing that this year. I told my mom about it later that day and guess what?!?! On Thursday, she brought up a birthday cake (for the guys to eat), a fruit tray (for me) and some flowers. Then my parents took me out to eat for a great grilled chicken salad. I actually didn't have any plans on my actual birthday night with anyone, though I was invited to go to Greggy and Mellie-D's house to watch Flash Forward (yay). Unfortunately, I had to clean house because....

On Friday, I was having a small get together with some friends, my siblings, and their spouses at Los Cucos (we all know I have a slight obsession with them lately) and then I had invited everyone back to my house for dessert (sugar free cheesecake and sopapilla cheesecake).

Jay, Cathy, ME, Linda, and Craig

Meliska & Kimska

me and my Amy

Joe didn't do his famous dance for me - no fair!!!

Lauren!!!!

Sarah - friend AND massage therapist - doesn't get much better than that!

Vicki & Andrew - a treat to get them out on a Friday night!!! yay!!!

On Saturday, I got to choose a restaurant for my family to dine at in joint celebration of my 33rd and Craig's 32nd birthdays. I picked Pappas Grill Steakhouse and Craig was so okay with this! I love this place because your meal comes with the salad bar (and they have 3 huge blocks of cheese and we all know how much I HEART cheese). After dinner, we went back to my parent's house for dessert. My mom bought a cake from Rao's Bakery. I, of course, did not partake, but it looked REALLY good. I just ate another slice of my sugar free cheesecake instead. I also got to open up all my presents! Yay! The wish-list Nazi (otherwise known as Cathy) told me my list was no good - apparently she didn't approve of my mostly running-themed items (even though she did humor me). All in all, this ranks up there as one of my favorite birthdays to date! =)

Happy Birthday to ME as I turn 33!

You know what's really funny? It seems that the older you get, the more depressed you are supposed to be about aging - at least that's what society feeds us. I don't feel depressed. Then again...I've always kinda marched to the beat of my own drum.


I would also like to take note that I'm wearing 4 dress sizes smaller this birthday than I wore on my last birthday. Here's a picture from my 16 Candles x 2 celebration in 2009.

I'm actually excited about what 33 will bring me cuz I have big plans for it, y'all! For those of you not in the know, on Monday I signed up for my first 1/2 marathon. Ironically, it wasn't the one I've been talking about - The Houston Half which is on October 24th. Nope...it's the Rock 'n' Roll series Chicago 1/2 Marathon which is on August 1st.

So this is just one adventure in what I'm sure will be a year chalk full of many, so I say "Bring it!" to 33 with open arms and a big grin!