Week in review

Friday was good. We went to dinner with some friends then came back to our place and played some Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Pictureka. We've been hanging out with them a lot now and I have really been enjoying it. We used to go months at a time seeing each other, so it's a nice change.

Saturday was the NBA All Star Events. We went down on the light rail around 2:00 to check everything out, the atmosphere and such. We went in to the arena around 4:30 to see it all and find our seats (they were different for this event) and grab dinner before everything started at 6:00. We were seated right behind the hoop where the Slam Dunk contest was to take place. We were all given Slam Dunk score cards to rate the dunks and for those in my section, we got free Sprite Slam Dunk shirts. We had a great time. We took close to 300 pictures of the whole thing.

Sunday I went to the gym for my mini tri of the week. I swam the distance I need to swim during the race, then biked 5 miles, then ran/walked 1 mile. I was exhausted after that.  But, we were asked to go to a free event at the Desert Botanical Gardens to see Chihuly, the glass stuff that is in the lobby of the Bilagio hotel in Vegas. At this event it was all like cactus and such mixed in with the desert landscape. It was really very pretty.

This week is the return of the Suns. We have a new coach after firing our new one today after 51 games. Hopefully the team starts to turn things around, but only time will tell I guess.

In preparation for Paris, I'm getting my hair cut and colored. It needs it, I haven't had it done since October, but I've been putting it off until shortly before the trip. I'm thinking of something like this (my hair is shorter than this right now, but not by a whole lot): 

What do you think?

No joke:

Jason and I hung out with some friends last night. We had dinner at one guy's place then went to the Phoenix Symphony.

Anyway, this guy has a roommate named Ross. Ross has a sister. Her name is Monica. Ross also has a girlfriend. Her name? Yup. Rachel. Now, where are Joey, Chandler and Phoebe?

Great week

Last weekend my parents came out. It was the first time my mom got to see our house since our first full week in it and it was my dad's first time seeing the house at all. It was nice for them to get out here, especially at a time when its not 90+ degrees outside.

Saturday I took them to see some homes as they may sell their house soon and move out here. Saturday night we all went to Majerles for dinner before the Suns Bulls game. Our highlight was the Suns Locker Room tour during the 3rd quarter of the game. We go down to the court side club to start the tour and find out that our tour guide, for just the 2 of us, is former Sun, Mark West.  If you have ever been to the www.sunslockerroom.com website, the locker room really does look like that. I just didn't think that the ceiling would be as high as it was (besides for the fact that they have players that are 7 feet tall). We got to see the way they do  their game boards and leader boards and weight training boards. And, if you think Shaq's feet are huge, you have no idea until you actually see his shoes. A size 23 is HUGE!

Sunday we all just hung around the house until it was time to go to our friend's super bowl party. Sadly, the Cardinals lost, but they played really well. My birthday was Monday and really, it was just an additional day off. Though of course we did go to Oreganos for lunch. It was good as always.

My triathlon training is finally starting to really move. I re did my weight loss blog and turned it into a training blog and I hope that will really help.

Let's try something different

I'm going to try to make it a point to update this once a week. We'll see how that goes.

Last weekend we had some friends over for some Wii games. They also brought over the card game Munchkin. It was actually quite enjoyable. It was a lot of fun. We don't have friends over too often so we went out and bought more beer and made sure to make it a night.

This weekend my parents are coming out to visit. My mom came out in September the week after we moved but my dad hasn't been out yet. I'm excited for him to finally see our house. It was with (mainly) his generous gift to us for our wedding that enabled us to be able to buy the house. And, they are actually going to stay here. The other times my family has come out to visit they have stayed at hotels, so we'll see how it goes with them sleeping on the Ikea bed in the guest bedroom. Saturday morning they want to go look at the Del Webb community Fireside. Once again, my mom has already seen it, but my dad has not. With the economy, they are really thinking of selling their home now (or putting it on the market now) to move here and invest the rest of the money from their sale to their retirement. Then, Saturday night, we are off to the Suns and Bulls game.

The Suns have a virtual locker room. I think the website is www.sunslockerroom.com. A few weeks ago they had a contest (Jason goes there all the time) to find a hidden APS shirt in the locker room and if you did, you could enter a contest to win a tour of the actual locker room. Well, Jason found it, and after reading the rules, I also entered it. The day of the US flight into the Hudson, I got a call from the Suns. I won the tour. So, with the tour comes 2 lower level seats to the game. The game is this Saturday game against the Bulls, so my parents will take the lower level seats, we take our seats, then the tour is during the 3rd quarter of the game. I'm pretty excited about it!

And of course, Sunday is the Super Bowl. My parents can't stay the whole game, but they can stay through part of it. 

The triathlon training is coming along. I've got to get my work schedule straightened out so I can really begin training every day. I am going to do it, I just can't only train Saturday and Sunday.

Well, hopefully I'll check in next week, I'll be 28 then! I'm taking Monday off (post Cardinal victory perhaps, but really for my birthday) and then I'm off on Friday, so I should get on to recap everything.

Brief update

Christmas was good. Jason and I went to spend Christmas with my family in San Jose on Christmas Eve. The 26th we left and headed for Disneyland. After coming back for a quick 3 days, it was back to Disneyland for New Years Eve. Only, I had a fever of 102.5 the night of the 30th and the fever was still there on New Years Eve and into New Years Day. At least it wasn't my first New Years Eve at Disneyland.

We now have the Wii Fit and Guitar Hero, World Tour. Those have been fun. 

Otherwise, I finally got a bike! I'm so relieved. This past Monday we bought ourselves road bikes. Jason wanted one so he could ride with me and keep me motivated. So, now I have no excuse! The triathlon is on! May 9th, here we come!

Sunday we watched a good friend of ours run the half marathon at the PF Changs Rock N Roll marathon. Then afterward we went to her parents house to celebrate and watch the Cardinals punch their ticket to the Super Bowl. So, with that, I am taking my birthday, February 2, off of work. Because its my birthday, and because its the day after the Super Bowl.

I'm sure there's more, but I'm not sure at the moment. There's a brief update for you though!

Inspirations

Jason and I are on the SixthMan advisory board for the Phoenix Suns and their season ticket holders. Our first meeting was last Saturday before the Utah Jazz game. We are 2 of about 45 people, some of whom have had tickets for all 41 years, some of whom are in their second year, some full season, some half season. We met in one of the Suns War Rooms that sits right over the Casino Arizona Pavilion. The first meeting was mainly introductory, we all introduced ourselves and gave one suggestion or gripe that we had. Many ticket holders complained about the lack of leg room and when people need to get by them to get to their seats and the fact that their season tickets no longer come with perks when its time to renew their tickets. Sure, those are complaints, but they are not going to tear down the arena! And, they haven't needed any perks for renewing because there has been a wait for a few years for tickets thanks to the D'Antoni era. Silly people. I hope they wise up and learn to suggest something else.

In other news, a friend of mine decided recently to participate in a women's only sprint distance triathlon this coming May. I was listening to her talk about it and I thought, that I would not do a marathon, (no way I would want to run 26 miles!) but that a triathlon (especially since I did swim for so many years) sounds doable. This triathlon has a 1/2 mile swim, 14 mile bike ride and a 3 mile run. Not too bad. So, after some thought and talking with Jason and my mom, I am going to aim to do it as well. I hope she doesn't think I'm stealing her thunder, because that is not how I intended it. She just inspired me to jump in and do it too. The only thing standing in my way is getting a bike for the race. The bikes can be pretty expensive... I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on a bike if this is only going to be a one time thing. I figure if I do like it and enjoy it, I can always upgrade later. Anyone know where I can get a bike from? Nah, that's ok. I'll keep checking out craigslist and ebay for one. Hopefully that will do the trick.

Well, I'm off to a Wrapping party, time to hang out with friends and wrap presents and drink cider!

Christmas TIme is Here

Jason and I after hosting Thanksgiving in our apartment last year for 12, decided to spend it alone, just the two of us. I don't see us doing that often as I think it is meant to be spent with your family but that is what Jason wanted to do and my family flew to Mississippi to be with my grandma and Jason's parents were thinking of going camping.

It was a nice relaxing day though. Jason cooked a turkey breast for us to eat and some of the traditional sides. We spent the rest of the day putting up some of our indoor Christmas decorations and getting our game plan together for how we were decorating the outside of our house.

Black Friday came, we were up at 4am. I had never participated in Black Friday before and it was something I really wanted to do. Especially as the economy is not great right now and we knew the sales were going to be really good. Jason went to Best Buy to get presents for his parents and then when he got out (20 minutes after they opened) he met me in line at Target waiting for them to open so we could buy presents for my family. With that, we were done shopping early Friday morning. Not too bad! We came home and put up the lights outside (I'll post pictures at some point) and then crashed for a nap.

One thing that we started for the holidays 3 years ago now was buying a new cookie jar each year. Our first one was the year we got engaged. It is a little snowman. The first year we were married is a penguin in a scarf and Santa hat. This year we found a cookie jar that looks like a holiday present. If we were to have more than one kid, automatically, each kid gets the one from the year they were born (unless we have multiples, in which case we would probably buy 2, one for each). The rest would have to be decided on at some point. We like this idea though as it is something that we started together as our own family tradition to add to the traditions we are bringing from our own sides (like my dad's cookies on Christmas Eve). 

We are preparing for our 2nd annual holiday party with our friends. I don't think we'll have as many this year due to how close it will be to Christmas, but with our schedules (ok, Jason's schedule), it was almost impossible to find a time to have it. The other thing we have to find time for is when we want to go to the Phoenix Zoo Lights. Last year we went on Christmas Eve, and I think when we spend Christmas here, that is what we'll do. But, this year we are leaving on Christmas Eve to spend it with my family, so we'll have to find a new time to do it.

Now I think it is time to wake up the sleeping husband, and our two kittens.