Tuesday, August 31, 2010

It's Back!!!

I am currently sipping on my first of many Pumpkin Spice Lattes!  This is officially the start of Fall!  I was not expecting to be able to get one until tomorrow, so this is such a treat.  I am now only burning Fall candles and Christmas is just around the corner!  It might be 100 degrees here in Kansas City today, but in my office, it is 100% Fall.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

A Little Wagering...

It is no secret at our house that Ken and I like to place bets with one another.  We have competitions with one another, including who can run the fast, farthest, and who can do the most push ups.  Ken asked if I wanted to put a little wager on the my Chicago Marathon results.

Well, of course.  The low down:

3:59 to 3:55, Ken will run a 5K
3:55 to 3:50, Ken will run a 10K
Under 3:50, Ken will run a half marathon

Well, seeing how I have never run a marathon under four hours, I am not sure if Ken has much to worry about!  He seems to think that I will run super fast in Chicago since it is so flat, but I have my doubts.  I do much better on rolling hills.  I am still doing my speedwork and hoping I can make Ken have to suit up for a race!

Another competition going on in our house, we are talking about hiking Pike's Peak in Colorado.  I overheard Ken mention to a friend on the phone last night "I cannot let Keri out do me."  Um Ken, is this the same Keri that is training for her 6th marathon?  I am pretty sure I can totally out do you.  We have been reading up on Pike's Peak and just might be trying this adventure next month.

Monday, August 23, 2010

When It's Hot It's Hot...

Sunday morning I set out to run my long run with Susan.  I knew it was going to be another HOT morning.  You would think that I would have gotten some salt tablets, but I still relied on out faithful...Morton's Table Salt.  I think at this point, I should just keep the canister in my car. 

Susan asked me how far I was running.  I shrugged my shoulders and said I am not sure.  Since I ran 16 miles last week, I was okay with running shorter this week, but also thought that if I was feeling great, I might run more.  Um, let's just say that the last part did not happen. 

I was thirsty.  Man, oh man, was I thirsty.  I just could not drink enough.  I knew it was going to be a long morning when we ran past Sonic and I wanted to order a large cherry vanilla Diet Coke.  That is all I could think about after we ran by there.  I ended up only running 12.25 miles.  I will call this a step back week. 

All in all, it was decent run.  I was soaked after we finished.  When I got in my car, I noticed that the temperature was 81 degrees, at 8:15 am.  Summer, it is okay for you to leave Kansas City, I have had enough. 

My husband did remind me of two things:
  1. I told you it was going to be hot. 
  2. Oh just wait, you will be whining about the cold and ice soon enough.
Thanks Ken.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

A Fantastic Sunday...

I woke up at 5:30 am on Sunday so that I could be out the door at 6:00 am for my long run.  I had a moment where I told myself to forget it and stay in bed and run on the treadmill later, but I was really already awake and decided just to get up and get the run done so that I could enjoy the rest of the day. 

So glad that is what I decided to do!  I ran 16 miles with a few hills included.  It was hot, but definitely much cooler than it has been.  It was a great run.  I finished the run, took Miss Kya for a walk, and then went to Panera to pick up breakfast for us. 

Later in the day, I met my friends Jen and Jill at Panera (Panera again, I love Panera!) for lunch.  It was so nice to spend time with them.  They were my two first friends when I moved to Kansas City.  Such great girls.  After lunch, we went to see Eat Pray Love.  It was great!  I do like the book much better, but I had expected that going into it. 

I cannot believe that August is half over.  I started to get out all of my pumpkin stuff on Saturday and Ken told me that it is too early to put it out.  Fine, I will wait to put it out this weekend then!  Just kidding, but it will all be out on September 1st!

Paid in Full...

We had a monumental event at our house over the weekend, I mailed off Ken's very last student loan payment!  So exciting.  Ken was shocked and could not believe that his student loans are finally paid off.  I think he thought I was joking when I kept telling him that they would be paid off in August.  We could not be more excited that we are writing one less check each month!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

A Hot 14 Miles...

On Sunday I got to run with my running buddy Susan.  She and I trained together in 2007 when she was training for the NYC Marathon and I was training for Memphis.  It is so wonderful running long runs with her again!

I knew it was going to be hot, even if we started at 6:00 am.  I left my house with my small handheld filled with water, another bottle of water, a bottle of Gatorade, a Gu, and a pint of salt.  I realized at the last minute that I needed salt capsules and did not have any.  What better thing to do than go to the pantry and take the entire salt container?

When we started, it was 78 degrees.  Wow, what a hot one.  We ran on a few hills and tried to stay in the shade as much as possible.  Susan stopped at 11 and I went on to finish the rest.  I was shooting for 13 to 15 and when I got to 14, I decided to stop.  It was just too hot.  When I got in my car to leave, the temperature was 85 degrees.  Yikes, just so warm.  I am very excited about cooler temperatures this Fall and promise not to complain when it is freezing!

Two months until Chicago!  I am hoping for a very cool October day on 10/10/10!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Day 6...Heading Home....

I did not take any photos of our last day.  We woke up and packed up the car and started the drive back to Sacramento.  We took in the amazing views of the vineyards on our way.  A few things to take note of:

  • 11 bottles of wine is the most you can fit in between two suitcases with a weeks worth of clothes.  We of course had 12 and had to pay $50 to check my bag.
  • Next time I will check an empty suitcase for wine.
  • Headlsburg is our favorite area.  My second favorite is probably Kenwood or Glen Ellen.  I can go without ever visiting Napa or the acutal city of Sonoma again.
  • Sacramento looks just like Kansas. 
  • Ken and I can fly halfway across the country and be with each other almost 24 hours a day (except for when I would run) and not have any spats.  It just amazes me that we never annoy each other on vacation.
  • I would move to Northern California in a heartbeat.
Thanks so much for this amazing trip Ken!  Thank you to Michelle for checking on the kitties for me and getting our mail.  The kitties and Kya were both so happy to see me! They all three laid on me all day Sunday.  I think Ken was a little jealous that they did not miss him as much.  :)

Day Five...Downtown Sonoma and Healdsburg...

Our day started off with me getting up early and running on the hotel treadmill.  I wanted to get in speedwork, but it was so hot in the fitness center that I thought it would kill me.  I ran a nice six miles and it was a great way to start off the day. 

We started the day off with a little shopping in downtown Sonoma.  We did see a lady walking two huskies.  I did get to pet one of the huskies and it only made me miss my girl that much more.  Kya would love the cool mornies and evenings.


Ken thinks this is so funny since I am only 4'10.  He said look, there's a Keri store.  Nice Ken, it is a good thing you have those pretty blue eyes.  :)


It never gets old looking at vineyards on the drive


We stopped at a few wineries where we forgot to take pictures, Anaba and Arrowood.  We decided to stop at Deerfield, since their tasting room is in a cave.  It was really cool. 

Wine barrels in the cave.




Ken loved the trees we saw leaving Deerfield


Our last winery to visit was Russian River Vineyards


Our tradition at the our last winery of the trip is to buy a bottle to take home and one to open and enjoy at the winery.  We ended up getting two types of Syrah.


Chester, the winery dog.  I may have loved on him a bit, shh...do not tell Kya.


In case you cannot tell, we remembered that my camera has a black and white setting and we started going crazy with it.

Just enjoying life. 

What a fantastic afternoon!

After our wine, we drove to Guerneville to visit Armstrong Redwoods Reserve.  This is another reason Ken and I love this area so much, there is such a variety of things within just an hour.  I was a little disappointed with our pictures.  When I took the setting off of black and white, I guess I put it on the wrong one because our pictures did not turn out great.  Unfortunately, I did not realize this until I uploaded them at home.

It is amazing how big the redwoods actually are in person


Ken and I both commented about how quite it was.  It was surreal.  I am so glad we were able to take it all in.

See little me by the big trees?  Such a gorgeous place.




Living in Kansas, we do not have to parallel park pretty much ever.  I was very proud of Ken nailing it on his first attempt, especially since he has not parallel parked in a good five to seven years!


Ken decided to try oysters at dinner.  He liked them a lot.  We had our last dinner at this amazing restaurant in downtown Headlsburg called Willi's.  They serve everything with small plates, so we ordered several things.  My favorite was ahi tuna.  Ken was surprised I liked it since it is served cold.  I guess I will try anything after a full day of wine tasting.  :)


What a great dinner and amazing trip! 


I was zonked out at this point!  I had way too much fun eating, wine tasting, and just spending time with my husband.

Day Four....The Russian River and Healdsburg Wineries...

I think this was Ken's favorite day.  Last year, we floated the Russian River and he had a small incident with a giant rock that caused him to dislocate his shoulder and spend time in the Headlsburg District Hospital.  With all of that, we only made it about a mile on the float, but he still took me to visit wineries.  I think he knew he had no choice.  So this year, we were thrilled to complete the entire float with no visit to the ER.  We did drive by the hospital though, just for memories.  :)

It was a little chilly to start

Here is the rock


Ken paddled over to the rock to get a better understanding as to why he fell last year.  Hmm...I wonder if it is because the rock is very slick with no traction and because he had on flip flops.  Just thinking outloud.  Oh and did I mention that I told him not to do it right as he fell?  Boys


Since I am not really a river kind of girl, I count animals along the way.  I saw 10 ducks, nine turtles, one blue herring, and too many fish to count.  I would have been upset if I did not see any fish.  Especially after calling them with "here fishy fishy".  No, I am not kidding, but I do understand that this is not the reason I saw the fish.  Hey, I stayed entertained this way.


Ken working hard paddling

This is what I do while Ken paddles.  I ride Princess.  I told this to the two boys that dropped us off and they looked at me like I was crazy.  Check out my odd combination of clothing.  A denim jacket with running clothes.  I was not expecting it to be so cold. I had brought a swim suit and cute cover up dress, but Ken said he did not want to hear me complain the whole time about being cold.


It is very pretty.  I love this picture with the birds flying away.

I did put my paddle in the water at one point.  Just to prove I can paddle if I had too.




Ken warmed up

I on the other hand, was still cold and had Ken's fleece covering my legs.  Best outfit ever!


I told Ken that this picture was fitting.  He was working hard paddling and I am just smiling having a great time.

We made it to the end!  It was a fun thing to do.  I enjoy spending time with Ken while he does something he enjoys.  I just do not want to do it all of the time.  Once a year is great.  Plus, I do not think he would enjoy it as much if I went everytime.  :)


Our fist stop after I changed out of that awful outfit, was Christopher Creek Winery.  We visited this winery last year and it is our favorite.  We decided to become wine members so we can receive shipments.  We like all of the wines and the guy that has been there both times is so sweet.  He and his wife are getting ready to go on their second international cruise.  We enjoyed talking to him last year and were thrilled when he was there again this year and told us about his trip they took last year and about his upcoming trip.  It is a tiny winery, but very quaint.  This is a must visit for us anytime we are in Sonoma.

J Vineyards was our next stop.  It was very modern on the inside.


We also stopped at Rodney Strong which was right next door.


Simi was our last stop of the day.  We were so worn out that we had dinner at our hotel and went to sleep very early that night.  It was such a fun day.  I was able to spend time in one of my favorite areas of the country with my favorite person.  Does not get much better than that!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Day Three...Bodega Bay and San Francisco!

We woke up early on Tuesday and decided that we would drive to the coast and visit Bodega Bay.  My friend Scott had raved about this area, so we decided to make the drive to see it for ourselves.  It did not disappoint!  The views were amazing!


We walked about two miles down the beach.  It was so quite, except for the waves and the view was this dreary fog.  It was very peaceful.



We walked down the the rocks and just enjoyed the scenery.










It was such a clear day!  Last year, it was so foggy we never could see the bridge in full view.

My very handsome husband


Such a gorgeous day!

Alcatraz, since we toured it last year we decided to skip it this year.  It is still very intriging!

Our next stop was to Buena Vista.  They serve amazing Irish Coffee.  Here is a bartender pouring a fresh batch.

Cheers!

We love all of the freaks down on Fishermans Wharf!


Ken's favorite

I love the sea lions on Pier 39!  There were not as many this year.  The only thing I like more than the sea lions, is the chocolate store that sells $3.50 truffles.  They are so delicious!

Having a drink before going to the Giants game


We were so excited to visit this stadium!


The fire department boat out in the bay

The stadium is so goregous

Leaving to head back to Sonoma.  It was a long, but wonderful day.