Here are some favorites from last week’s annual birthday/Christmas shopping trip to New York:

Bakeries

I have been eating a bland diet since September and fully planned to indulge after CIM. I may not have been able to finish the race, but I was determined to reward myself for months and months of training.

My number one goal was to visit as many bakeries as possible. I can’t remember all the names of the bakeries I dropped in to, but the ones that stand out are:

Minamoto Kitchoan
A Japanese bakery with the best wafer cookies and jelly candies. It was so good that I visited two days in a row. I am eating my last vanilla wafer as I write this. Thank goodness they have a San Francisco location!

Two Little Red Hens
My cousin had been raving about this place ever since she got her birthday cake from here in June. The Apple Pie is the freshest apple pie that I’ve ever had – and it had lots of crust (my favorite).

Since pies are my favorite kinds of dessert, I also had the Dark Chocolate Pecan Pie, which was pretty darn good too. I also tried their biscuits which weren’t as good as Clinton Street Baking Company’s, but still delish!

Laduree

I first tasted the infamous Laduree macaroons in Paris back in September 2007. Since then I have visited their web site many times and contemplated having some FedEx’d to me. They are *that good*.

When I heard they finally opened their first (and only) US location I was determined to visit.

The 4+ years was worth the wait and I was thrilled to be reunited with it. I got a box of 8 and would have to say that the Coconut and Coffee macaroons are my favorites.

Restaurants

I fully admit to eating my way through the town. I think I ate at just as many restaurants as I did bakeries. The ones worthy of mentioning are:

Dos Toros
When I was here this past Spring, we went all over the City searching for a decent place to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and found nothing. In fact, we ended up having sushi instead – on Cinco de Mayo!

A friend of mine told me about Dos Toros – a taqueria started by two Bay Area brothers. I had a chicken burrito, which was not greasy or messy at all. And the guac was among the freshest I’ve ever tasted. Definitely “California-worthy.”

Locana Verde
We ate here after visiting the 9/11 Memorial. It’s an Italian restaurant that is owned by Robert de Niro. The food was amazing, but we had heard that their hot chocolate was among the top rated in the City.

We perused the dessert menu and was disappointed not see it listed. Turns out that you just had to ask for it! It was served with 2 huge marshmallows and did not disappoint.

Ippudo
It’s no secret that I love ramen. My Bay Area runner friends and I have had many a post-run meal at Genki Ramen in San Francisco’s Richmond District. I had a hard time believing that any place would be better than Genki, but I was proven wrong.

Ippudo > Genki.

{those are ramen noodles under the bar glass}

Like at Genki, I had a veggie-based ramen. In addition to the usuals, it also had pieces of the type of nori that is wrapped around cone sushi (sorry, I think only my Hawai’i friends will understand this). It was a nice add of a different kind of flavor.

You could also order an extra plate of ramen noodles, which I did (of course). You know you’re at a good Asian restaurant when the place is filled with Asians and this Asian gives it 5-stars.

{i don’t eat pork buns but i heard they are good}

Good ambience too.

Woodbury Common Outlets

On my birthday, we went to the Woodbury Common Outlets located outside of the City. My favorite stores were:

Lululemon Outlet
You can’t be surprised about this. I first visited this Lulu Outlet last year. For an outlet, I was so impressed with the wide selection of items in all sizes. The prices were significantly cheaper than current retail value and I was able to stock up on pants, and jackets, which are typically the higher priced items.

This year, the selection wasn’t as good. There were only dance and yoga products, no running gear. Also, there was a limited selection of smaller sized items. I just picked up a few yoga items and that was it. Still exciting to visit though!

AG Jeans
I first visited the AG Jeans Outlet during my first Woodbury trip back in 2005. On that trip, I got some Sam & Bailey AG Jeans for $30. Yes, $30. Retail price on AG Jeans are about 5 times that amount.

It just so happened that I was wearing one of the Sam & Bailey jeans during this visit, which the salesperson noticed as soon as I walked in. I knew I was in good hands. Any girl will tell you that shopping for jeans can be a long, tiring and possibly stressful process.

I explained to the salesperson exactly what I looking for. She set me up in a dressing room and brought me pair after pair of jeans to try on. I didn’t have to search for anything myself! There were two pairs that I was happy with and was out of there within 30 minutes! It was the most painless jeans shopping experience ever.

Kate Spade
The Kate Spade Outlet had a 90% off sale. Repeat – 90% off. At first we went crazy and compelled to buy something just because it was discounted so much. But then we decided that we shouldn’t force ourselves to buy something just because it was “such a great deal.” We ended up not buying a single thing from this store, which was a big deal for me – I feel like I’ve evolved as a shopper.

Other Highlights:

The 9/11 Memorial

The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular
I fully admit to falling asleep during the show. The Rockettes were fun to see, but the Nutcracker storyline bores me every time and automatically makes me zzzzz.

{treated myself to a rockettes cupcake from magnolia bakery}

Shops at Bryant Park
They reminded me of the Christmas markets in Europe and it was fun to watch the ice skaters at the free ice rink.

The Tree
I guess I have to mention the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. It’s a must-see but to be honest, it’s kinda ugly up close during the daytime…

…and is way too crowded to be at in the evening.

Tuesday, November 22

AM: 1-hour (6-miles exactly) Easy Run

PM: Bikram Yoga

Wednesday, November 23

Since this was the last day of work before the long holiday weekend, I worked from home and was able to spread my workouts out over the course of the day (and still get in a full day’s work):

AM: 45-minute Swim. Didn’t count laps again, instead, I just swam freestyle (cause that’s the only swim stroke I know) to the tempo of whatever song was playing on my playlist. The thing is, I forgot to change the playlist on my iPod so I swam to my running playlist, which is all fast songs. Thus, this turned out to be an up tempo swim.

Lunch Time: 1-hour Strength Training with my Trainer. I hate push-ups and was under the belief that doing push-ups on the TRX was much easier than doing traditional push-ups on the ground. I usually negotiate with Dave to alternate between the two every week. This time, he decided to prove to me that TRX push-ups were harder than traditional push-ups by making me do “Atomic Push-Ups”:

You better believe they were every bit as hard as they looked. And I did at least 50 of them. Actually I think I did more, but I was so traumatized I lost count.

PM: Bikram Yoga

Thursday, November 24

Every single muscle in my body ached from those damn atomic push-ups. I had nightmares about them. I’m not quite sure how I managed to pull it off, but I did 6.23 miles of Speed Work.

Then I proceeded to *stuff* — and I mean *stuff* my face for the rest of the day. Hey, I haven’t had any dairy since September so I fully enjoyed my Dungeness Crab Brie Mac and Cheese, as well as all the other fixings. I didn’t regret it at the time, but now that I am starting a very light last-week-before-a-marathon week, I wish I factored that in before overdoing it.

Friday, November 25

Rest Day. It was Black Friday and we kept up our family’s 20+-year tradition of spending it in downtown San Francisco:

• Drove up to the City and valet parked at Nordstom
• Got a hot drink from the Nordstrom Espresso Bar
• Shopped at Nordstrom, and then checked our bags into their Concierge Desk
• Walked to Neiman Marcus for lunch at the Rotunda Restaurant – because their Chicken Consommé, Popover’s and Lobster Club Sandwich are all a part of the Black Friday tradition. Then perused the handbag department.
• After lunch, shopped at the stores on Grant St; i.e., Banana Republic, Lululemon, Kate Spade, etc
• Made our way back toward the San Francisco Center; stopping at Macy’s to see the SPCA pups and kittens in the window displays

{this kitten looks like how I feel}

• Perused Bloomingdales and the other stores on that side of SF Center.
• Had a light afternoon snack at the Nordstrom Cafe
• Did a final round at Nordstrom, picked up our bags and then called it a day

Unlike the crazy discount stores that open at midnight, downtown San Francisco doesn’t get crowded until the late afternoon when families start arriving for the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Union Square.

As for the purchases, since I’m going to NY on a shopping trip next week, I kept things to a minimal and just got a few essentials (Tip: get a proper bra-fitting at Nordstrom), a bunch of basic black and white T’s from Banana (40% off), and a new bag from Lulu (as well as one for my sister). It was definitely a great day to get into the Christmas Spirit.

Saturday, November 26

AM: 8-mile run at a pace much faster than I intended. This left me sorer than I wanted to be.

PM: Bikram Yoga

Sunday, November 27

Run Wild for A Child 5K Race

We are now down to 6 days until CIM. S-I-X days.

Okay I’m back. It’s been a busy, busy month so far and I have lots to blog about. But first I want to pick up where I left off, and finish recapping my weekend in New York. I mean, the whole purpose of the trip was to visit Woodbury Commons, so I must write about it!

Its like the heavens were shining down on Woodbury…

For those of you who don’t know, Woodbury Commons is the fabulous outlets about an hour outside of the City. I’ve often been asked, “What’s so great about them? Aren’t they just like the Gilroy Outlets?” To which I answer – “N.O.” While they have some of the same stores that Gilroy has, Woodbury has so much more. I refer to it as “my Disneyland” aka “my happiest place on earth.”

I made my first pilgrimage there four years ago with Michi and her mom and sister. Back then we rented a car and could not fit even more one shopping back in to it. This time, since it was just Michi and I, we pre-purchased bus passes on Grayline. They have designated buses just for the excursion.

On Saturday morning, we got up at the crack of dawn and headed to the Port Authority to catch our bus.

Note: if you pre-purchase your bus pass, you must go to the Grayline counter to redeem your voucher and get your actual ticket. They will tell you which gate to go to.

We thought we were pretty early but at 30-minutes before the scheduled departure time, there was already a line of shoppers, most of whom were foreigners. There were some people there who had empty suitcases that they stored as luggage. I thought it was pretty funny. Little did I know how smart those people were.

The bus ride there took about 45-minutes. During this time we reviewed the layout and strategized as to what our game plan would be. We both wanted to hit the Lululemon store first, so as soon as arrived, we headed straight there.

You have no idea how much I love Lululemon. I mean, take a look at my Fav’s page – all Lulu stuff. Their West Coast Community Relations person happened to come across my blog. Last year we met up in the City when she was here visiting the Bay Area stores and now we often exchange emails. In fact, she’s the one who sends me photos of new products so I can post on my site. ☺

So going to the Lulu outlet was nothing but pure JOY. Most of the items were in the larger sizes, but there was plenty for everyone. I ended up getting several pairs of pants, headbands, several tops and a jacket, and saved about 60-65% off of list price. That alone was worth the whole trip!

But alas, we shopped more, visiting Burberry, Juicy Couture, DVF, David Yurman, etc, etc. When we got to the Uggs stores, there was a line outside waiting to get in. We stood in that line for about 35 minutes with the temperatures at about 27 degrees and windy. Not kidding. But it was worth it. We tried on every type of Ugg possible.

We were on such a mission that we didn’t both to stop for lunch. In fact, all we ate the entire day were scones for breakfast, a shared turkey sandwich and a handful of mixed nuts. At one point I thought I was going to pass out from starvation.

By the afternoon, my back hurt from carrying all my bags. I looked at those people with their suitcases and wished I’d done the same. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait for the bus to return to the City. When we were ready to leave, the buses were ready and waiting.

It was such a fun day and seriously worth the trip; perfect for a girls weekend!

…a successful day…

After 2 exhausting days, my 3rd and final day was pretty low-key. To be quite honest, I didn’t want to do much at all, I was so tired. So we slept in, lounged around and then decided that we needed to sneak a little more shopping in. I mean, after all, it was a shopping trip. ☺

So we spent some time at H&M and Bloomingdale’s, which I personally think is much better than the Bloomingdale’s in San Francisco. We got to meet and have lunch with my running coach, which was really great to put a face to a name!

Then we capped my visit off with a visit to Dylan’s Candy store, where I went a little nuts on the sweet stuff. ☺

It was such a quick trip, but so much fun. And the best part was being able to hang out with Michi – I had so much fun with her and we’re already planning our outings!

Next I’ll recap another whirlwind trip – this time to Los Angeles this past weekend for the LA County Half-Marathon. Seriously, craziest month ever…

Its Saturday morning and I’m lying in bed trying to muster up the energy to head out for a run. The nice thing about being Fall/Winter is that I can head out later in the day and not die from heat exhaustion. While I’m trying to make myself get moving, I thought I’d write a quick post about a jewelry party I went to this week.

I am not a jewelry person. At all. Mostly because:

1. I’m usually running late and don’t have time to figure out what pieces go with what outfit.
2. Too many purchasing options tend to overwhelm me, and I end up buying nothing.
3. The only new clothes I’ve gotten recently are workout or running clothes which don’t really go with jewelry.

I’d never heard of Stella & Dot before, but a friend was throwing the party and she has a new puppy that I wanted to see, so I rsvp’d. Plus I knew she’d have good food.

As soon as I walked in, I went straight to Ruby, her brand new 9 week old Golden Retriever.

Isn’t she the cutest thing ever?

Unfortunately, she was really tired and not up for playing…

…to the point of being comatose.

I think she got annoyed at me for constantly bothering her and interrupting her nap.

Eventually I left her alone and to see what all this jewelry craze was about. I *loved* what I saw!

Lots of versatile pieces that can fancy up even the most basic of outfits! I’m very much a t-shirt and jeans kind-of-girl (I admit to having obsessions with Michael Stars & James Perse) so these pieces would go very well with what I wear. It reminds me very much of some of the J Crew accessories, but I think they’re better, more options.

I am finding myself developing a bit of an obsession with the charms:

(Hint to my family…expect these in your stockings at Christmas…)

What’s even better is that Stella & Dot is based in Burlingame, California, only 10 minutes away from me! Gotta support the locals, right?

Thanks so much to my friend Jerri, and Kari Somerville, the Stella & Dot stylist who introduced me to them!

A common trait that people always seem to write on their resumes is “able to multi-task.” Employers often look at this as a good thing – that one is productive and can get many things done at once.

But I believe, multi-tasking isn’t always great. When you try to do too much at once, you almost always end up doing nothing very effectively.

Such had been the case with me for the past several months. If you’re a new reader to my little blog, let me fill you in.

Last Fall, at about the same time, I became a volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House and joined a running club. I was so excited for both new ventures! The problem was, they were on successive evenings and were both about 30-35 minutes away from my house (each way). Having to battle traffic to make it there each week, on time, was both stressful and exhausting.

I got burnt out. I found myself skipping one, or the other, or both. For the past few weeks I struggled on what to do about it and finally decided that I had to take a break from both of them. Hopefully I’ll be able to return at a later time.

But I still loved the idea of both volunteering and being part of a run club. I found some new, more flexible volunteering projects that I could do from home, but still was looking for a new run group.

Lo and behold, I logged on to Facebook and saw my local Lululemon store post a reminder of their Tuesday night Run Club! I had completely forgotten about it! they started it at the start of the year, but I remember telling the manager that I couldn’t go because that was my volunteer night. Well now I’m free so last week I went to check it out!

The group meets at a track that’s MUCH closer to my house, and its a small group of all different levels of runners. There are short distance runners, triathletes, middle-of-the-pack runners, and some who just signed up for their first race.

At the first workout I went to, I honestly thought I’d show up at the store and we’d go for a leisurely run around town. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that there’s a coach (who’s a triathlete) who puts the group through a structured workout every week!

At that first workout he had us running 400′s; i.e., one full lap around the track at a sprint. We’d recover for a minute, then go again. We did this for what seemed like forever (actually it was more like 45 minutes). I came thisclose to reaching the puke level. This speed stuff on the track is not really my thing. I am more or less the kind of runner that can push myself with distance, not speed. But its good for me to mix things up and doing track workouts like these can improve my speed and overall performance.

Last night was my second workout with the group. I was so tired after work I debated not going, but having skipped my morning workout, I forced myself to go. And I’m glad I did.

After a short warm-up, we did 4 x 1 mile repeats. Having just ran 17 miles 2 days prior, with another long one planned for this weekend, I wasn’t about to go all out and take myself to puke level again. Instead, I just tried to run at a steady pace. I was the slowest person there, but these days, that doesn’t bother me. Putting in the work is what its all about. And I surprised myself with sub 10 min/miles!

While I used to run sub-10 miles a while ago (like 2 years ago), these days I seem to only run that when I’m sprinting a 5K. I’m starting to see progress already!

So not only am I enjoying this new club because:

1. ***Its closer to home***
2. Its a small group
3. There are mixed levels

but also because:

4. I am used to running alone so this lets me run in a group and meet other people so running can also become a social thing for me.
5. Learn to run without music. I kid you not when I say I can’t even run 2 blocks without music. This is a way for me to learn to adjust without it and explore of the benefits of running music free.
6. After the workout, there’s always snacks and shopping at Lulu!

Actually I don’t know if #6 is a good or bad thing. I was supposed to run an easy 2 miles tonight, but after the track workout, my body was screaming that it needed to rest, so I skipped it and went back to Lulu instead and ended up getting 2 new run shorts that were on sale.

Their marketing strategy of offering a free run club has already earned them their return on investment with me!

As the Winter Olympics nears, I have been anxiously awaiting to see what Lululemon had in store for the Olympics. If you didn’t know, Lulu is headquartered in Vancouver, BC so I knew that they had to have something great planned to celebrate the Olympics being in Vancouver. I’ve been so anxious that I’ve been asking them what they had planned. They teased me by responding, “We’re all about being involved in our community! ”

Sure enough, they didn’t disappoint. They recently released their “Cheer Gear” line to celebrate the occasion!

And ever since it came out, I have been obsessed with it! I’ve been looking at all of the items online and couldn’t wait to get to my local store to see the items in person.

Over the weekend, I was having dinner on Burlingame Avenue and finally had the chance to drop in to check things out. I don’t know if its a good thing or a bad thing that when I walk into the store, they know who I am. Like really know who I am. Know my name, know what race I’m training for, and ask me how my training’s going. And not only that, a lot of the staff members are training for the same race too! See why I love them so much?!

Well I was utterly disappointed to find that they didn’t have any of the Cheer Gear line in stock. Only select stores, like the one in U-Village in Seattle, have in-store items. While they do have free shipping for online orders, I have a sneaking suspicion that not all items are available online. No offense to Germany and Sweden, but why would they sell items for those countries when they don’t even have stores there? I immediately sent a text message (while in-store) to my cousin Lauren who goes to the University of Washington, asking her to go to U-Village to see if they had any USA items there.

Not able to walk out of Lulu without getting anything, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had the new “Happy Hips” yoga DVD that they featured in week’s promo email. Although no one in the store had tried it yet, they told me that the instructor on the DVD was the very first Lulu ambassador so I decided to get it. He had 2 other DVDs that also piqued my interest, but I decided I need to try one first, before I invest in all of them. I’ll be trying it later this week and will report back on what I think of it.

Even though I’m disappointed about the limited access to the Cheer Gear line, I have to give kudos to the genius Marketing team at Lulu. They have embraced social networking as a way of business. Between their Twitter feed, Facebook groups, weekly Wednesday emails and blog posts (with RSS feed enabled so new posts just show up in my Google Reader), they have turned me into a major Lulu addict and the Cheer Gear line alone has me SO EXCITED for the Vancouver Winter Olympics!

Monday Run
This morning I was scheduled to do a 4-mile run. These days I’m a big wimp and have been doing morning runs indoor on the treadmill. I started to psyche myself up for this run last night and walked into the gym really pumped up for it. It looks like the New Years rush has already died down because there was a whole row of treadmills open. I got on, warmed up for 5 min and then started to run. I wanted to keep a low heart rate so stayed at a 5.5 or 11 min/mile the whole time.

What made the dreadmill more bearable today was that I ran to the music videos that I have on my iPhone. Say what you want about J-Lo and Britney’s music, you can’t deny that their music videos are energizing. They make running feel like dancing – so much fun. And let’s not even talk about motivating…Britney in “I’m A Slave for You”? Just seeing her body in that video makes me want to run for days.

Anyway, back to the run, my Garmin does not work well indoors. It told me that I ran .82 miles when in fact I did the 4 miles as planned. If anyone knows what settings I’m supposed to set it at for indoor workouts, please tell me. I’ve gone through all the settings so many times and just can’t figure it out.

I’m looking forward going to Yoga Tune-up tonight to balance out the run.

Make it a great Monday!

Wednesday night means a Tattersols workout (running club).

When I got home from work, I plopped down on my couch to watch the World Series and inhaled a bowl of Erin Baker’s Double Dark Chocolate Chunk granola. I was so tempted to blow-off run club and just lie there all tonight. I just wasn’t feeling it…

– My abs hurt from my morning workout
– It was already getting dark
– I was tired
– This game could be the last of the baseball season

Then I thought of all the reasons why I should go…

– I just ate about 250 calories worth of sugared granola
– I really need to get a speed workout in this week and there’s no way I’m going to do it on my own
– I paid to join this club so I shouldn’t let my money go to waste
** After tonight’s workout is a field trip to Lululemon **

That last reason was enough for me to jump up off the couch, put on my Lulu workout clothes and head out to the track! Running + shopping = heaven!

Well the track workout was great but brutal. You can read about it here. Now to the shopping part…

Its a well-documented fact that I am a Lululemon fan. More like an addict. Some of my friends even call me “NJ-Lulu.”

– I follow their blog
– Am a Facebook fan
– Follow them on Twitter
– Subscribe to their weekly emails (plus the weekly emails from all the stores in the regional area)
– Surf their web site daily
– Go to their free classes

…pretty much a groupie. And why not? Their products are awesome and they promote an entire culture of “living a longer, healthier and more fun life.” I love their manifesto. I have it on my fridge at home, on my wall at work and even my water bottle!

The run club was getting new team gear so we had some pre-selected items to choose from that would be embroidered with the team logo. Its a sad thing when I already own most of the items that we could choose from, so I picked out the two things I don’t have:

Cool racerback

Shape jacket

Some of my other favorite items are:

– Groove pants – reversible, great for yoga
– Running pants – has a special fabric over the calves, form-fitting for running
– Dress – great for lounging on the weekend (mine is in black)
– Wrist thing – I use this whenever I run outdoors, holds my keys/ID

– Run Speed shorts – great for running
– Run Swiftly Tee – also great for running, but I must admit, I’ve worn it to work too, super soft

A friend of mine told me she had a party at the Union Street store a few years ago, so I asked the manager if they would do it at the Burlingame store too. She said they hadn’t before but she’d be all for it — they love to have parties (just another reason to love them!). I am seriously considering having my birthday party there next month…I mean, a Lulu store is like my Disneyland — the happiest place on earth! And just how cute are these Lulu treats?!

Its been a really busy week and I haven’t blogged at all, so before I take off to Vegas for the weekend, I thought I’d write a quick post.

I’m not a big Halloween person. My friends will vouch for this. When they were all dressing up as french maids and genies, I would always show up wearing black with cat ears — that was the extent of my costume. But since I’m headed to Vegas this year, I was told I “had to go all out.” I agreed, only if someone else did all the creative work. So of course, Mikilani, the master of all Halloween costumes, came up with this Lady Gaga Poker Face costume:

She did all the research in finding where to buy the outfit components and finding YouTube videos on how to make the mask.

I ordered the outfit component ages ago but of course, waited till the last minute to make the mask and shoulder thing.

I spent all day on Sunday making the mask; I think it turned out pretty ok!

The shoulder thing was a whole ‘nother problem. I had no idea how to make it and Miki didn’t have any reference material for me to follow. During a WebEx meeting earlier this week, I unsuccessfully tried to figure out how I would make 3D paper diamonds out of card stock. My colleague who was in the room with me asked if he could take a shot at it, so I said, “sure go ahead.” Lo and behold he came up with exactly what I was looking for! My next challenge was figuring out how attach it to my outfit. I am not the arts and crafts girl – I had to call for help from across the nation — seriously! Conference calls with Miki, Chris, IM’s with Wendy, and poor Belina — I sat at her desk for an hour trying to figure out how to do this.

I finally decided that safety pins would be the best way; I’m going to wait till I get to Vegas to assemble everything together…and yes, I am hand-carrying this stuff on the plane.

As Chrissy observed, “This is is the most effort you have put into a Halloween costume. Ever.”

A couple of other things memorable things from the week that was:

Shopping Soulmates
So chemistry is defined as “the interaction of one personality with another.” It is rare for me to have great chemistry with another person, but when I do, I instantly recognize it. Such was the case on Shopping Saturday with Samantha. We’ve known each other for years and have worked together at two difference companies, but only now have we gone shopping together. And our rapport was fabulous — instant shopping chemistry!

We started the day out by working out at the pool. She’s a swimming pro and I was so lucky to get to swim with her. She suggested some adjustments and corrections to my form that made a huge difference! After swimming, we headed to the City to shop. We had a plan — boots for me, jeans for her — anything else would be gravy.

Now I had been searching for boots for years…YEARS. Within 15 minutes she found the perfect boots for me. And within another 30 minutes she got the right jeans for her. Mission accomplished within 45 minutes!

I am so excited to have found my shopping soulmate!

Volunteerism

About two months ago, I started the process to become a volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House. I was inspired by my friend Dodger Dan. Yes, as in “that” team (but I don’t hold it against him, even though he sends me trash-talking emails). Dodger Dan works for the Ronald McDonald House in SoCal. He tweets updates from the House, which piqued my interest in the organization. I always drive by one of the houses, but really didn’t know much about it. After doing some research, I was inspired to get involved. I sent an email to the staff and they invited me to an orientation. The only thing about the orientation that scared me was the 6-month commitment…its a really long time. But after going back and forth with the volunteer manager, we were able to work out a shift schedule that works for me. The application process took sometime, but I finally completed it on Monday night with my final interview.

They didn’t waste any time in putting me to work — my first shift was on Tuesday night! I was nervous, not knowing what to expect. I like kids a lot, but sometimes they don’t always like me (just as Jasmine). But surprisingly, it went really well! I spent the first hour going thru orientation and then the second hour I was on my own. It was a little slow, but I had a great time with the few kids that were there. I will need to work on learning how to play video games…

Flight 1712
And finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the 20-year anniversary of Aloha Island Air Flight 1712.

Brief Background: I come from Moloka’i — small Hawaiian island of about 7000 people — everyone knows everyone. Our high school — 700 kids, 7-12th grades (about 100 students per class). One high school in a 3-island school district, meaning – if you participate in sports and extra-curricular activities, you travel.

On Oct 28, 1989, one of the planes carrying members of the high school volleyball teams crashed into the mountains, instantly killing everyone on board. It was devastating for our school and the community. My class lost four classmates. We were only 14-15 years old. No matter what age you are, you never forget something like this. And for my schoolmates, it probably changed all of our lives forever.

I always remember this anniversary. Always. Its also how I remember the Loma Prieta earthquake and the ’89 World Series. All happened at the same time. I started recalling the time about a week ago, earlier than usual…maybe because its a milestone year. I didn’t realize anything was being done for it, but yesterday, on the anniversary, I found out from my parents that the school dedicated a new plaque in their memory. My mom was kind enough to send me this picture of it.

Click here if you want to read more about this.

So that was the week that was…

Tonight I’m off to Vegas and really hope this whole costume thing turns out. If it does, I’ll write a post on it when I get back. If it doesn’t, you’ll never hear about it again.

When I started training for my first half-marathon, my cousin Michi, an avid runner, told me, “Whatever you do, don’t stop.” So whenever I’m out on a run, I always hear her voice saying this to me and I have always listened. Until yesterday.

(The view)

I set out to run seven miles, my normal weekend distance when I’m not training for a race. It was a beautiful, but cool morning. Forgetting how quickly it warms up, I wore a long-sleeved shirt and left my grape Propel in my car. Big mistake. Huge.

When I start out, I usually feel like dying during the first two miles, then ease into my groove. This time, I felt great from the start. I was cruising along, listening to some Snoop Dog and Dr Dre thinking, “This is going to be a great run. I feel this good already!” I’m a second half runner so I thought, “If I’m feeling this good during the first half, then I’m going to fly during the second half!” Wrong, wrong, wrong.

(Coming up on Mile 3)

At the half way mark, the clouds shifted and the sun started blazing down on me; I was dying in the heat. Then, right after the turnaround, is a steady, uphill climb. I may not have speed but I take pride in my endurance and my ability to run hills, but this time, I just couldn’t do it. I had nothing in the tank and had to stop and walk. I couldn’t believe it! Maybe I will still feeling the effects from the sleeping pills I took the night before. Who knows, but I could not make myself go. I was so disappointed in me.

(Downhill before the turnaround back uphill)

(Deer sightings)

As I ran/walked, I also ended up having to take my long-sleeved T off and run with it tied around my waist. I hate that; its such a distraction. At this point I was so aggravated and bothered, to the point where I felt like I was crawling out of my skin. Even my music was annoying me.

Then all of a sudden this old lady ran past me and I thought, “Oh hell no, this old lady is not going to beat me.” And from that point on I ran.

I don’t know how I found the energy, but I did. And all I could think about was my cold grape Propel waiting for me in my car. Thankfully, Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know” came on to carry me through the last mile. I don’t know what it is about that particular song, but at the most difficult moments during a run, that’s the song I want to hear. Its so inspiring to me. Maybe I identify with the piano in it since I play the piano too. Or maybe its the determined yearning in Tom Chaplain’s voice as he sings the lyrics that helps me press forward to the end. Whatever it was, it got me to finish and beat the old lady.

After I stretched, I came home to rest for a bit, then headed to the city for some shopping. I still needed to find a dress for the wedding I’m going to next weekend. Like the run, I don’t know what got into me but I had the hardest time finding a dress! Now if there’s one thing in this world I can do is shop, so not being able to find something was frustrating!

Actually, I take that back. I found a couple of dresses that I LOVED, but they were $500. Ummm, yes, I did consider it (they were soooo pretty), but in the end, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I ended up getting a dress that I didn’t like but felt that I just needed to get something.

Then I decided to take a second look at Nordstrom where I found this dress that I loved. Its definitely not the look I was going for, but a girl can never go wrong with a LBD. Plus, I think it will be a great dress for the Fall, paired with some knee-high boots. So I returned the dress I hated and left satisfied with this one.

Option 1

When I got up this morning and looked in my closet, I saw three other dresses that I forgot about that I could also use to the wedding, so now I’m back to square one in having no idea what to wear. Which one should I pick?

Option 2

Option 3

Option 4

Oh, one last purchase – I ordered a new work bag online last week and it arrived this weekend!

I’m so excited to use it to work tomorrow. It even has a sleeve for my laptop and a little makeup bag. I’m hoping it will provide with me with renewed motivation!

Several months ago I received an Athleta catalog in the mail. I had never heard of Athleta and till this day, have no idea how I got the catalog. Nevertheless, I thought it had really cute workout and swimwear. I meant to order a few items from it but never did.

Fastforward to last Friday when I read a tweet from @ChicAlert:

“@ChicAlert: Athleta warehouse sale in Petaluma, CA. Deets here: http://bit.ly/4aDkVr (via @athletaofficial) Fri 9-6. Sat 10-4p sun 10-2″

As soon as I read this, I knew I was going. Being rather last minute, none of my friends were able to come along, but it didn’t matter, I went anyways – solo.

Although its only about 60 miles away, I knew it was going to take over an hour and half just because of traffic. Luckily, it was a beautiful day in the Bay Area and I passed the time listening to KNBR and their “Dodgers Suck” rap contest (pretty entertaining).

My favorite part of the drive was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.

Approaching the Golden Gate Bridge

Crossing the GGB

I got to Petaluma in just under two hours; by this time, I was ready to shop!

It was the second day of the sale and clearly, the goods had already been picked over. But I was able to find some deals:

Puffy Jacket for $40

Running Pants for $9

Compression Shorts

Swimsuit for $6

And this reusable Athleta bag for $4:

The drive home went by much faster, and I decided to take the scenic route home, through the city.

Coming back it was foggy at the GGB

Part of the Palace of Fine Arts

City Hall

By the time I got home, I was starving and stopped off to have a nice lunch on the water!

Shrimp & Crab Louis Salad

Great way to spend a Saturday!