Irish Vacation

MTH and I are trying to plan our trip to Ireland. Since we've been to Dublin before, we're going to check out the rest of the country. We're thinking of going to Belfast as well. Anyone out there been to Belfast? If so, what would you recommendn doing?

We know that we'll be going to County Cork and County Clare later in the week. Do you recommend any other places that we must see?

I've found an interesting website that helps you to find places to stay along the route. But, if you anyone has any suggestions based on their past experience, we'd love to hear about great places to stay.

I hope to hear from a few of you!

Adirondacks

I'll be posting more pictures from the latest triathlon I've attended this coming weekend. For now, I'll share some scenic pictures of nature from the Lake Placid area.

It's the real thing! Like Christmas in July

Clear water of Mirror Lake

There's Lake Placid

Looking East at the top of White Face Mountain

Kickball

Did I mention that I'm in a kickball league? It's called the River City Sports and Social Club. I met a friend (MusicPhD) of a friend (Vespagirl) while having drinks with MusicPhD and Britgirl. Vespagirl asked if anyone was interested in joining a kickball league. I decided that it might be a good way to meet people so I signed up. We've played five games and have lost five games. But, we're still having fun. I sometimes join them at the bar after but unfortunately, I've not gone as much as I would have liked. Last weekend, they went to Veritas for wine tasting. It's too bad it wasn't on a different weekend because as you know, we were in Geneva, NY for MTH's Musselman. There's another one planned so I'm hoping it will work out for MTH and me to go. I'm also planning to host them for a cookout in August at some point.

I have to leave soon for our sixth game of the season. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can win at least one game for the season although at this point it might be better to play like we're playing Hearts (shoot the moon)! We only have 2 more games after tonight!

ETK to the Rescue

So, you may have noticed the wonderful pictures in my previous post. Those are thanks to my new camera. When I took pictures in MTH's triathlon in June, I found that I could get at most one picture each time he passed. As you might imagine, I sometimes messed up so would be left with no picture for that pass through. Therefore, I decided I needed a new camera. Then, ETK posted about her new camera. I talked to her about what I wanted and voila, I have a new camera. It's not quite as nice as hers but it's close. I can now take almost continuous pictures as MTH rides by on his bike. My pictures of Phoebe capture her as she does something cool, not just her backside.

Now, I just need to take some classes. My kickball games will not allow me to take the next available one as they conflict. But, hopefully, I won't have any conflicts in the fall.

Two New Musselmen

What is a Musselman? Some of you may say they are crazy people. That may be true but they are also very tough people. This past weekend, my husband, MTH, and my sister-in-law, KSH, finished a half ironman length triathlon in Geneva, NY. It is called the Musselman Triathlon (thus, the fact that they are both now Musselmen). The distances are: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. The day was beautiful. It started out around 60 degrees and ended around 82 degrees. I'll let the pictures tell the story:

Picking up MTH's bike in Geneva

KSH and MTH getting ready for the swim

MTH mentally preparing for the day

MTH's wave of swimmers - they all start at once!

MTH exiting the water

MTH heads off for the scenic bike route

KSH is off on the bike

First guy out for the run - he won

MTH coming back in from the bike ride

MTH off for the last leg - just a half marathon to go

KSH gracefully dismounts the bike after a multiple hour bike ride

She's flying!

And, she's done!

Here comes MTH

Finally, time to relax

MTH's Triathlon

MTH ran the "I Heart The Tavern" Triathlon this morning. It was 750 meter swim, 18 mile bike and a 5k run. He finished in about 1 hour and 44 minutes. I'll update with the exact results once they're posted. Here's some highlights from the race:

MTH informed me that he's at the front of the pack and not even in this picture :)

Look at MTH run in flip flops!

He's getting quicker in the transition area!

Going out for the bike ride

Looking good after the bike ride

Only 5k more to go

What? Did I just do a trail run?

I'm ready for another round.

My Life Lately

This post was originally written on 6/24 but I didn't publish it until today, 7/1.

I know that I haven't posted much lately. Here's a quick review of what's been going on:

1st week in June:
I went to a Happy Hour with my kickball team at Nacho Mama's. We're called the Bad Guys from Fraggle Rock. I'm not sure what the significance of that name is. That weekend MTH and I went to DC for the Lawyers Have Heart 10K. The night before the 10K, AL and I went to the Village Bistro and The Dairy Godmother, home of the best French custard. I definitely miss Alexandria! I had hoped to stop by Cheesetique and Whole Foods before leaving the DC area but MTH had to hurry back on Saturday in order to work and work out.

2nd week in June:
We had our first kickball game. We lost (badly). But, we did have fun at Sine after the game. That weekend was the James River Scramble and the James River Splash that MTH and I took part in. For the rest of the weekend, I hung out with my parents. MTH was working a lot of that time unfortunately. He did get to catch up with us over dinner on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. SM, Mom and I made a cake to celebrate SM's and MTH's birthdays early. We also tried out barbecuing chicken on the grill with woodchips. I made a homemade bbq sauce that we brushed on the chicken at the end. It turned out quite nice.

3rd week in June:
I missed our second kickball game on Tuesday as I thought I was going to be traveling to Northern VA for work. I ended up staying in Richmond until Wednesday. I was going up to NYC to go to a work party with MTH. As a side note, MTH has been basically working out of the NYC office lately. My flight was originally supposed to leave at 7:15pm. Instead, we left around 10:15pm. Because I was so delayed, MTH and I landed at LaGuardia about the same time. He was coming from a day trip to Dallas. We took a taxi to our hotel, W New York. When we go to check in, they inform us that they are sold out and that they've rebooked us at their sister property, the W New York Court. They pay for the taxi ride there. We go to check in there and they were so slow that it was at least another 15 minutes before we got to our room. We were in bed by 1am. MTH had a wake up call at 7am but neither of us got up. Six hours is just not quite enough sleep for me. I was up and working by 8am though. Then, I left for the party at 3:15pm. It was in a place called Rye, NY. We took a black car there. The party was quite nice. It was catered with Cuban/Latin inspired dishes. After dinner, we had a Texas Hold 'Em tournament. I did respectably but did not win. We ended up not getting back to the hotel room until after 11pm. I'm too old for late nights during the week! I got up the next morning at 7am in order to head over to KSH (my sister-in-law) to work for the morning. She and I then headed to Grand Central Station for lunch with MTH and MDH (her husband, MTH's brother). MTH canceled on us as he had a phone call for work. After a nice and extremely quick lunch at Junior's, I headed to LaGuardia. I had a 2 hour meeting from 2-4 but my flight was scheduled to leave at 5:19pm so I needed to be inside the security area in order to be on time for the flight. I was inside by 1:30pm. But, then I couldn't find a place with power or wireless for my computer. So, I bought a one day pass to the US Airways Club. It worked out for the best anyway as there were no announcements in there. That makes for a better situation when you're on the phone. Unfortunately, my flight did not leave at 5:19pm as scheduled. Instead, it left around 10pm. At this point in my life, I am not at all fond of US Airways. They are extremely unreliable and on top of that, they do not communicate very well with their passengers. The only good part about the evening is that MTH and I were there together. If I hadn't been in NYC with him, he would have been in the airport trying to get home while I was at home in Richmond, waiting on him to get there. Yesterday, we slept late in order to catch up on our sleep. I then went for an hour long walk with Britgirl. MTH and I met up with Britgirl and BL (her boyfriend, my friend from work) at Millie's for a nice dinner. Britgirl will be going back to England next weekend for a month. She's changing her visa to a student one as she's going back to school in the fall. After dinner, MTH wanted to see the DC United soccer game so we headed to Penny Lane Pub. While MTH and BL watched the game, Britgirl and I played some terrible games of pool but they were fun. We also played some games of darts. They were not as fun. Today, I've gone for a 4 mile run and am now getting a list together to go to the store.

That's June in a nutshell so far.

My Big Events

Over the past 2 weekends, I ran in two different 10K's. The first one, Lawyers Have Heart 10K was in Georgetown. MTH was also supposed to run it but there was travel issues that occurred. He was flying into DCA from LGA but didn't get in until after midnight. I had to get up at 6:30am in order to be ready for the 8am start. Needless to say, MTH slept in a little later than that. I ran it in 61:22 which is about 9:53 minutes. But, my split (the first 5K) was 33:20 which means I ran the second half of the race much faster. The reason for that was all the people in my way in the beginning. Therefore, I actually think I could go faster! Next time, I'm going to push myself.

The second 10K was the XTerra James River Scramble. It was a trail run through the James River Park system in the middle of Richmond, VA. As you may or may not know, the James River runs through the middle of Richmond. Because of the river, there are all kinds of trails like you might find out in the country but in the city. It was a really cool race that I enjoyed much more than a normal 10K. I'm ready for another one. I'm hoping to update this post with a picture from the race where I'm running over some rocks to cross the river (no water in sight).

That same day, MTH did the James River Splash, a one mile swim in the James River. Unfortunately, it was 15 miles from where my event took place so we didn't get to see each other. The good part was that my parents and my sister were in town for Father's Day weekend. My mom and sister went with me to cheer me on. My father went with MTH to cheer him on. MTH did well in his event (as expected!).

Bed Stuff

I went shopping this weekend with Britgirl. We went to Stony Point Fashion Park and Short Pump Town Center, the two main malls in the Richmond area. I wanted to find some new bed linens. I found some that I loved at Reservation Hardware but they were, of course, very expensive. I decided to wait and look around a bit more. We then went to West Elm where I found some I liked just as much for at least half the price! And, I got a new file cabinet with wheels. Here's some pictures of the newly dressed bed.

Overall Picture

Palm tree accent pillow

Busch Gardens Europe

I didn't quite write my post on the fun day later that day. Here's my update. We rode all of the roller coasters including the new one, the Griffon.
That one is awesome. MTH has to go back with me so that he can ride it too. If you like roller coasters, you would love this one. We also did bumper cars. I always love that one with a group of people. Then, you can go after you people and have fun running into them.

Running Update

I haven't talked about running in a long time. MTH and I are signed up for a 10k next week - Lawyers Have Heart 10k. It's in Georgetown. It'll be nice to head up to DC and see a few people from our old life. Today, I ran 5 miles. It was a little hard at the end but I think I'll be able to do the 10k (6.2 miles). I'm sure there a hills which may make it hard but I'm looking forward to a race. I haven't done one since April 2006 when I ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. Father's Day weekend MTH and I are both doing events at the James River Adventure Games. I'm doing the James River Scramble. MTH is doing the James River Splash One Miler. My parents and sister are coming to visit so they'll be there to cheer us on. After that, I have no events planned for myself. Of course, in mid-July will be the big day for MTH. He'll be swimming, biking and running in the Musselman Half Ironman Triathlon in Lake Geneva, NY. We're staying at a bed and breakfast as there were no hotels in the town available. It's called Belhurst. We've decided to drive so I'm hoping that there will be time to stop by a winery or two.

Phoebe The Terror Cat

So, Phoebe went to the vet today. Not a good scene. First she was weighed and that went ok. She's 9 pounds, 3 ounces - healthy! Then, it went downhill. She jumped off the exam table. The vet tried to get her and if any of you are familiar with Phoebe you know what happened next - she started hissing. Then, of course, since the vet wasn't going to leave her alone - she needed her distemper and rabies shots - Phoebe started growling as well. After putting her back in the cage, bringing in an assistant, getting some huge leather gloves and a towel, Phoebe got her shots. At the end, the vet apologized for not doing the full exam - she wasn't able to look at Phoebe's teeth. I can't say that I blame her for not looking! We don't have to go back for a year. The vet said that she can give us a pill for Phoebe next time that will make her more docile. So, basically, Phoebe has to be on drugs to go to the vet!

Nova

I heard an interesting story the other day. When Chevrolet tried to sell their car, the Nova, in Latin America, it did very poorly. Can you guess why?

Irrigation System, How Do I Love Thee

MTH's parents came to visit this past weekend. The arrived around noon on Friday. By the time I came home at 4pm, they had installed an irrigation system in our front yard! It's so great. We now don't have to worry about remembering to water. There's a timer and it automatically comes on in the morning and waters all of our nice plants. Here's some pictures of the system that they installed in the back yard on Saturday.

There's the sprayer

There's one of our beautiful plants

Today is a Fun Day

Today is the quarterly Work Fun Day. We're going to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. I haven't been to an amusement park in a few years so it actually should be fun. I'll give an update later today on the activities of the day. And, maybe I'll post about other things!

Our Front Yard

MTH, SM (my sister) and I planted a few flowers and ornamental plants in the front yard on Cinco de Mayo. Here's some pictures:







I will also post several pictures throughout the spring and summer to show its progress. Hopefully that progress will be a good progress and not a lot of weeds!!

The plants are:
geraniums, ornamental variegated leaf thing (don't remember the name), lily turf grass, impatiens and begonias. We also fertilized the azaleas. Hopefully they'll show their appreciation!

I also planted an herb garden in the backyard. The herbs are: rosemary, lavender, oregano and thyme. I'll have my very own fresh herbes de Provence.

I've been tagged....

What is tagging you might ask? Apparently a sort of '"get to know you'" game that bloggers play.

The Rules:
• Start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself
• People who are tagged have to write their 7 things on their blog
• Then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names
• Don’t forget to leave them a comment to tell them they have been tagged

Seven Random things about myself:
(1) I worked at McDonald's.
(2) I don't have a middle name.
(3) I know how to clog.
(4) I call a shopping cart a "buggy".
(5) I know how to make bread from scratch.
(6) I've now been to Las Vegas 4 times in 3 years (I think I'm done)
(7) I think I'm ready to move again.

Loud took all of the blogs I know so I had to tag mostly random bloggers:
http://kitchenmusings.typepad.com/
http://humdrum-girl.blogspot.com/
http://rosy-and-grey.blogspot.com/
http://awkwardthingsisaytogirls.com/
http://chewyyyy.blogspot.com/
http://scottpharr.blogspot.com/
http://valereelynn.blogspot.com/

SM's Visit

My sister came to visit the weekend before MAK. I'll be posting some of our handiwork soon. She helped us to plant flowers in the front yard. It looks so much better. We also enjoyed cooking out and eating out. She had to leave one day early because of a job interview. We're keeping our fingers crossed (no word yet).

Grilled Pizzas (again)

I know that I’ve talked about grilled pizzas in the past. I had my team over this past Tuesday for dinner. I decided that grilled pizzas would be fun since each person can make it how they want. In Alexandria, I could buy pizza dough at Trader Joe’s or at Whole Foods. In Richmond, none of the grocery stores seem to have pizza dough. So, I had to go to Plan B – call a pizzeria. That was a lucky break. The pizza crust was the best we’ve ever had. It made the pizzas that much better. I’ll be buying it from a pizzeria from now on! 2.718 – Have you tried grilling pizzas yet?

Everyone – have you grilled something on the grill that at first seemed weird but turned out very good? I love trying to find new things to grill that you wouldn’t expect to be good. My new things for this year are bananas and strawberries.

Weekend with MAK

I had a great weekend with MAK. It was 5/11-5/13. She got in around midnight on 5/11 and we went to sleep around 1am. Impressively, we got up at 7am and went for a 3 mile run in the neighborhood. Then, we had a great breakfast of Greek yogurt, maple almond granola, toast with strawberry preserves and peanut butter and coffee. MAK enjoyed it so much we had it again on Sunday morning. We then headed to the mall to shop for a little while. When we came back, we had a lunch of gourmet cheeses, bakery bread and champagne. Then, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Due to the time difference, MAK did take a nap for a little while but not for as long as I expected. We had dinner at a place called Bacchus. Then, on Sunday, we went for another run, had the same breakfast and then walked around Carytown. Then, she left to go home. It was a whirlwind trip but a lot of fun! I’ll see her again in August for her bachelorette party at her Mom’s.