Just a lot of cuteness in a small space 
“I wish Mommy would let me drive!!”
“I know you bought me a dog bed for every room, but I’ll lay on your clothes instead!”
“I love rides!!”
“Come outside and play!!”
“But Mommy, stay home with me! Don’t go to work!”
“I’ll find my sunny spots anywhere in the house!”
“Mommy loves me!”
“Have a happy day!!
Ali
Posted in Ali's Corner
Tagged Ali the Pug
I know it has been over a week since I have blogged, but it’s been a rough, stressful, scary week. This blog post explains the source of the stress. I am SO pleased to announce, if you haven’t seen my Facebook announcement already, that Dr. Iverson was able to remove ALL of the tumor (and the small one on her hip) with clean margins, and rule out spread of the tumor!!!
Ali and I went to Petco after she got her stitches out 
Since being given the news, I have finally been able to breathe and decompress, and actually enjoy my weekend off. I have done nothing but run, read, and spend time by the pool with my mother-in-law, Ali, and Cuan, her Uncle Doberman . That is why I have been a little bit absent. I am SO glad to be back, and to be SO relieved!
Today, I decided to throw some pork chops in the slow cooker with some stuff influenced by this recipe. I honestly did the Rachael Ray thing, and didn’t measure what I put in, so I will estimate the amounts of ingredients.
Fresh Squeezed Orange Molasses Pork Chops
6 to 9 thick cut pork loin chops
Juice of 4 freshly squeezed oranges
Juice of one apple (optional)
Zest of one orange
1.5 cups water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown spicy mustard
2 cloves of garlic minced
salt to taste
Cooked white or brown rice to put pork over
I turned the slow cooker on low, and placed the chops ialong the bottom.
I used my juicer to juice the oranges and the apple.
Then, I poured the juice over the chops in the slow cooker, and added all of the other ingredients, including salt, to the mixture and stirred.
I let the chops cook for about 7 hours on low, then for an hour or so on high.
I cooked some long grain white rice in my rice cooker, put some in a bowl, and put one pork chop on top of it. Then, I put a few large spoonful’s of the juice over it.
The pork had great flavor! The only thing I would like to try is thickening up the juice so it turns into more of a sauce. Also, I think adding some veggies to the mix might be fun for next time. Not sure which veggies I’d use, though….any suggestions for either idea? I am by NO means as good of a cook as my friends Ari and Nicole, but they inspire me to try! So that is what was for dinner tonight. Healthy, full of lean protein, and fresh! You could also use brown rice (my hubby prefers white, so I made white.)
Have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day everyone!
Happy Trails!
Stacey
Posted in Ali's Corner, General, Healthy Eating
I’m sitting here between my training session this morning and my 3-9 OT shift tonight trying to think of something to do. So I am blogging! I haven’t posted very many of our San Francisco pics on here yet, since I was so excited about the race. It’s time to show ya’ll why San Francisco is SO much fun!
This is the famous cable car of San Francisco.
We learned very quickly not to stand in the line at the cable car turn-around. Walk up to the next cable car stop, and you won’t wait an hour in line, you’ll wait like 5 minutes! Each trip one way is $6. If you are planning on staying in the city for more than a day, then invest in a 3 day pass for $21 per person. They are good for the cable cars, buses, trains, and I think trolleys. Definitely a good deal.
They’re not kidding when they say SF is hilly!
It’s kind of amazing how it is uphill, then downhill, then uphill again in another direction all through the city. The hilliness has to do, I believe, with the earthquakes that have happened in the city over the years. I don’t think it is the only reason for the hills, but it has contributed. Earthquakes and fires in the city have greatly contributed to the architecture throughout. There are streets where, on one side, all of the buildings are from before a certain year and on the other side, they are from after that year because they all had to be rebuilt after a fire. Very interesting history.
They are everywhere! I think they said in San Francisco, there are 114 Walgreens stores and 89 Starbucks. I might be able to live with that!
Docks at Pier 39 in the wind—look at that wild hair!!
Hey Cam’ron! Cool kids sit in the back of the bus.
THE best investment we made on our trip was the 48-Hour Hop-On, Hop-Off bus tour passes. We got our Alcatraz tour ticket included in the price for around $70 per person. We were able to use the bus routes for transportation all throughout the city. Not only were we getting cool tours, but we could hop on the bus and hop off at our leisure! Highly recommended by Cameron and I if you ever decide to do the tourist stuff in SF.
Ghirardelli Square! We didn’t get our banana split this trip, so I guess we’ll have to come back!
The articulate ornamental designs you see around the arches and rails and other areas of this house are how people back in the day displayed their wealth.
The Golden Gate bridge. Beautiful!
Getting ready to go over the GGB from the tour bus. They dropped us of in Sausalito to walk around and see the shops.
Try to pretend the fence isn’t there. What an amazing view!
At this point, my phone ran our of juice, so I had no camera. Cameron took the rest of our pics on his phone.
Now here we are on our way to the expo for the race.
My OOTD (Outfit of the Day)-top from Ross, shorts from Kohls.
Isn’t he cute!!
Shoes were on clearance from Target. Such a cute expo!!
Union Square, where I wish I could’ve shopped alllll day long!!
Us at the entrance to Chinatown, on our way to get amazing food!
Now THAT is a real dumplin’!!
Dim sum is the way to go in Chinatown!
After lunch picture by the really cool wall in the restaurant.
Like a true blue girl from Southern Indiana, and born in Louisville, we had to find a TV to watch the Kentucky Derby!!
My pharmacy Mom, Joni, and her husband Tim just so happened to be in SF the same weekend we were!! We met up at Pier 39.
Jelly Belly heaven
And more heaven….I scraped that cup clean of chocolate!!!
How cute were these little guys! Pugs, pugs and more pugs!! They were at an animal shop at pier 39.
Yay for the sea lions!!
He’s posing….
That’s it for the day in San Francisco. I will post some really cool pictures from our Alcatraz tour very soon, once I get them from Cameron’s phone. I hope you enjoyed your “tour” of San Francisco!!
Happy Trails!
Stacey
Posted in General
So my Sweetie Poo Bumpkin Butt, A.K.A. Ali, our pug, has a mast cell tumor that we are having removed Friday. Our vet, Dr. Stephanie Iverson at Foothills Animal Hospital, is the best! She said that the cytology report said that the tumor is likely a grade 1, possibly grade 2, and that it is well differentiated. In non-medical terms, that is a good thing! For grade 1 tumors, they are surgically removed, making sure that there is a good sized margin, and that all of the tumor tissue is removed. From there, it will be sent to the lab and graded to find out exactly what level of aggressiveness we are dealing with. A treatment plan follows based on those results. Here is a really awesome website that explains what I just said in a nutshell, in greater detail.
Ali said “tumor schmoomer!! Dr. Iverson (my favorite vet!) says there is a really good chance of survival. So I’m going to have Fro-Yo (well, at least I’ll try to get them to feed me some) with Mommy, and Auntie Ari and Auntie Nicole! We’re going to take a walk with the duckies by the pond, too!” So I said “ok sweetie! You’re coming with me to Fro-Yo!”
So we met Ari and Nicole today at Coffee Rush for an iced coffee, and for Fro-Yo at Swirl It. I got a large iced coffee with skim milk and sugar free cherry mocha syrup. It was amazing!! Then, at Swirl-It, I got Red Velvet and Pineapple Fro-Yo with lotsa candy on top.
They have SO MUCH CANDY to choose from!! Look at our cups!
So we then took a nice leisurely walk down the path by the lake by the ducks. The ducks are fearless! SO cute, too.
Ali is totally geeked out! She loves being outside, especially in the grass! (Even though she’s allergic to Bermuda grass, she still loves it!)
My girls are SO awesome! They have been there for me this week during this stressful time, no questions asked! They walked and stopped, and walked, and stopped when Tater decided she was tired and hot and wanted to lay down. Then, they sat down with her and I, and just chilled. I am grateful to have such wonderful friends!
Ali’s surgery is Friday, so keep her in your thoughts and prayers. She is in great hands! I will report back Friday and let you all know how she is doing 
.
Happy Trails!
Stacey and Ali
Posted in General
I ran 12 miles yesterday with this girl because us crazy runner girls are, well, crazy! Ari is training for another half marathon that is coming up here next month. A twelve mile long run was on her training schedule, so that’s what we did! We made it. It was one of those runs where, without each other, we would’ve been toast! (At least I know I would’ve been!) So thanks, Ari, for your positivity and motivation!
Then, I had a meeting, and ran by Sole Sports afterwards to get THIS:
I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time! Yes, I am one of those people. 13.1 on my car, and proud of it!!
Then, I went to 24 Carrots, which is a really good vegan restaurant in Chandler that serves food made with locally grown produce and homemade everything. I got their Harvest Salad with their Veggie Chowder (made with soy milk, not heavy cream), and a strawberry peach tea.
It was very good, and I highly recommend you try it if you live in AZ.
Then, I went to Bellagio Med Spa to use my Living Social deal I purchased for 2 laser tattoo removal sessions. I got a tattoo when I was 18 with my awesome sister, Mel. I liked it back then, but I really do not like it now. (Don’t worry Mel, I still LOVE my butterfly!!) So when I saw the deal, I had to take advantage of it!
It hurt like a bitch! It takes several sessions to get a tattoo fully removed, so I expect to have several more treatments before it is significantly gone. It makes me never want to get another tattoo!! I still probably will someday, though….I know myself. I have made sure that the last two tattoos I have gotten have had a true meaning. The one I am getting removed was just a cool design that I liked at the time. It has more sentimental meaning because it was my first tattoo, and I got it with my sister. I also got my second one with Mel, so I don’t feel so bad about removing my first one. The moral of the story is, if you get a tattoo, make sure it has meaning or you really like it and can hide it if you have to; because getting them removed is worse than actually getting them!!!
Then, this morning, I spoke at my meeting, and got this:
I talked to my awesome Mom today for awhile, since I am working tomorrow, and tomorrow is Mother’s Day! I love my Mom, and am SO blessed to have her as a best friend in life! She has done amazing things by putting up with me all of these years, and raising a pretty decent daughter (even though I always had this thing where I didn’t like to listen….lol!) She somehow got through to me, and I turned out pretty well; so thanks Mom! I love and miss you!!! I will still probably call you tomorrow, too . Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!!
Ms. Tater Tot and I went on a very short walk this afternoon. It is SO HOT!
Come on weather! It’s only May, it can’t be summer yet! I still have to figure out how to be a morning person so I can run early in the morning before it gets hot! Gosh…anyone have any pointers on how to become a morning person? At least a running in the morning person??? I’m still stuck in a rut on this one….
Are you a morning or a night person?
Have you overcome the hereditary tendency to not be a morning person?
How????
Have a wonderful weekend, and Happy Trails!
Posted in General
Yesterday morning, I woke up after a long day of walking and about 5 hours of sleep, and decided to go on a little run by the water.
Saturday, we were out in San Francisco all day, and I managed not to walk too too much. Then we decided we wanted to go home from Fisherman’s Wharf, which is at the far north side of the city. We made a wrong turn walking to the trolley station, and ended walking for WAY too long. My feet actually started to hurt. I knew I was screwed, so I decided to call it “tapering cross-training” to make myself feel better 
Back to the morning of the race. I arrived around at the race about an hour early, because I wanted to make sure I got there with no problems. Thank God I did, because this was a women’s event with over 5600 women-all of which had to pee before the race-including myself!
Yup, that’s the line for the porta potties. It took about 25 minutes to get through the line. I still got to the starting line with plenty of time to spare.
Here was part of the pancake flat course:
I found my corral, which was based on average pace, and we were off within about 8 minutes of the scheduled start time.
You’ve gotta love a sea of pink!
So we were off! The first 4 to 5 miles were good. I kept my pace at or around 10 minutes. As I approached the end of mile 5, the girl who ended up winning passed all of us going the other direction. She was amazing!! I think she finished in about 1:28! Right after that, I had to take a potty and a stretch break. I was starting to feel the tiredness in my legs.
After the break, through the turnaround and into mile 6, I started to feel a hot spot around my big toe. Just after mile 6, I took my first and only gel, a Strawberry Banana Gu. Of course, I picked the no caffeine one by accident when I needed caffeine the most!!
I kept going through mile 6 into 7, and I felt something “release” and burn a little bit under my big toe. The blister split open. OMG. I got so scared that I was done for! Blisters can be show stoppers if you still have a lot of distance left to go. For me, I was only a little bit over halfway. As I continued, the pain of the blister didn’t get any worse. Thank God!
I think it was during mile 7 that I stopped to re-tie my shoes and stretch a little bit. Mile 8 was hard, because I had to go to the bathroom again, and my legs were starting to feel like lead. I told myself I wouldn’t stop until the next porta pottie. That was around mile 9. I stopped to use the restroom, and sat down. There are toilet seat covers in these things in SF! I did not want to get back up. My legs were fatigued. After spending way too much time (probably 3-4 minutes!) sitting and stretching, I got back on track and continued running.
It was at about this point where I really started to struggle. My legs were like lead, and both feet started to feel tingly like they were on fire. They weren’t tingling because my legs were numb, like a nerve tingle. My feet were bothering me just from running so far in my shoes! It was horrible! The ends of my toes were even hurting. For the last 5K, I decided “screw my time, I cannot run the rest of this. F*$& putting so much pressure on myself, because in this condition, I’ll be lucky if I finish. I cannot believe I signed up for a half, I’ll NEVER be able to do a full!! Not if I have all of these issues!!” I ran and walked the next 2 or so miles, until I got to about mile 12. The crowd started to thicken up, people had signs and were cheering, and I knew I was getting close to the end! I kept looking for the tiara and boa station, because I knew it was right at the finish. When I saw it, I got SO excited! I had managed to keep running the last mile and not stop! I grabbed my tiara and slung the boa around my neck, and took off! Then, right before the finish line, I saw Cameron with the camera and got all geeked out and waved and smiled!! Then I really gave it all I had for the last stretch, and crossed the finish line at 2:28:29!! I grabbed two waters, and a banana and took down almost a whole bottle! Here are my splits:
Even though I had an “F this $#!T moment” during the last part of the race, I am still SO happy that I did it! Here I am post race decked out in my Diva gear and my amazing medal!!
This was a completely awesome event! The Divas Half Marathon series is well organized, energetic, and a lot of fun! The only complaint I have is that the “coat check” which is the gear check they had took forever to get us our bags after the race. The line was longer than the bathroom lines at the beginning, and it took Cameron and I 45 minutes to get my bag. If I hadn’t checked my brand new $50 VS Pink hoodie, we would’ve said forget it and just left it. Other than that, I highly recommend this event to anyone that likes girly fun stuff (and loves to run!)
There are, as I mentioned in an earlier post, events in other fun places; including Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Maybe we can plan our first Hawaiian vacation around a future Divas Half Marathon!
There is a really great picture of Cameron and I and “Rockman” the DJ from the race that I wanted to include. I can’t post it right now, though, because my phone is having issues with its internet connection hotel room. I will save it for the next post.
Thanks again to everyone that followed me on my journey through my first half marathon! It means SO much to me to have such support!! It made it that much more fun to have all of you cheering me on! It really helped with motivation during the hard times, as well.
What is the worst race experience you have ever had?
What on earth am I doing wrong to cause my feet to epically fail in every way possible during long runs/races???? (This problem MUST be fixed for me to continue training at high mileage.)
Tell me about your first half marathon? How was it? Did you have a F&”#! this $#!% moment at any point during the race?? Did it take you some time to finally realize you want to do it again?
Happy Trails!
Stacey
After getting to SF yesterday morning, and taking a nice long nap, I got restless. Cameron was completely sleep deprived, so I went out on my own to explore.
I forgot a jacket, so I went to good old Victoria’s Secret to get me some Pink. I figured if I was going to buy a jacket, I might as well invest in something I know I’ll wear all of the time!
Thank GOD I got it, too, because it was hella windy today going over the Golden Gate Bridge! I’ll get to that later.
Back to last night. The last thing I did was get dinner at the Houlihans downstairs in our hotel. I had this amazingly yummy salad:
Good thing I only ate a little over half. NOT a healthy, low cal salad!!!!
Then, to bed I went. The bed in our room is SO comfy!! Our bed at home just sucks, so I guess anything other than our bed would be heavenly. It really is nice, though.
Today, we decided to tackle San Francisco. It was my birthday, so I had to at least do my hair and makeup for the occasion! 
You know you’re still a girly girl, (even though you’d rather sleep an extra hour before work than take the time to do god makeup) when you pack all of this makeup for only 5 days!
Random-anyway!
We took the hotel shuttle to the airport (very close, and free!), then the BART to the cable car station at Powell St. The cable car was SO fun! They really are exactly like I always imagined!
We took him (yes, the cable car is a boy) down to Fisherman’s Wharf.
CRAZY windblown hair! I told you it was windy on the bridge!
Then, we proceeded to get our tickets for the 48 hour “Hop-On, Hop-Off” bus tour. Cameron got us a pass to all of the tours, which pass by each stop every half-hour. This allows you to hop on and hop off whenever you want at each stop, so you can stay as long as you want in certain areas of the city. It also allows you to use the buses as your main form of transportation throughout the city. Today, we took the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and back tour.
Don’t you just wanna run across that beautiful thing!! I am still trying to convince Cameron to rent a bike and ride over it with me. There were a TON of people doing it! You just ride across it, and take the ferry back to SF. I’ll keep you posted on my progress in that dept….
My phone ran out of juice on our way over the bridge, so Cameron has out pics from Sausalito on his phone. I’ll show some of those in a later post. We did learn, though, that Otis Redding wrote his famous song “Sitting On the Dock Of the Bay” while sitting on a bench overlooking SF from Sausalito. Then I had the song in my head for the rest of the night. Thanks tour guy….
After we got back from the tour, we went to Union Square, had dinner at a halfway decent restaurant (not good enough to really take the time to review, but not bad enough to complain about), and made it back to the hotel pretty quickly.
Tomorrow is the Health and Fitness Boutique (a.k.a. the expo)!!! I LOVE expos! I am SO excited! So we have an early wake up call to get there by 10am so we can get up to the city at a reasonable time. Nighty night from San Francisco!!
Happy Trails!
Stacey
Posted in General
You know it’s 2012 when you can blog, and upload that blog, from 40, 032 feet in the air. We are on Southwest flight 832 from PHX to SFO right now, and will land in t-minus 40 minutes. I made it to the parking lot, from the shuttle to the airport, through security, to the gate, and on the plane with about 10 minutes to spare. That’s Stacey style for ya.
I had three of Ari’s amazing birthday cookies she made for me for breakfast this morning 
. They are were absolutely heavenly!
I am SUPER excited for my race on Sunday. If you have never heard of it, I am running the Diva’s Half Marathon. The Diva’s Half Marathon series includes races in San Francisco Bay, North Myrtle Beach, Long Island, Puerto Rico, and Honolulu.
There is a half marathon and a 5K. Half marathoners get a really cool medal that includes a place to put your picture!
They have a feather boa and tiara station right before mile 13:
Champagne (or Gatorade!) and roses at the finish line:
How fun does this look?? I am SO excited! Did I already say that?
Being in San Francisco Bay area, you would think the race would be hilly, right? Wrong! “The course is even flatter than the “California Flat” and by definition can be called “Pancake” flat.” Source
Believe you me, that is the first thing I checked when I saw where the race was! Me + hills = hating my life. I was pleasantly surprised by this, and the closer it gets to the race, the more thankful I am that it turned out this way.
It is pretty cold today in SF, but it is supposed to warm up this weekend.
The weather looks perfect for Sunday!! So stay tuned to my blog for a recap of the “Diva’s Boutique” a.k.a. the expo, and for more from San Francisco!
Happy Trails!!
Stacey
Posted in General
