I’ve always been a tomboy in many ways – but loving sports was never something I did. I remember when I first met Chris and he was in love with basketball. I would hang out with him while he watched it but I always just used it as “nap time”. Ha!

A few years ago I attended a San Jose Sharks hockey game with my cousin and I had a good time. I didn’t know what the hell was going on but the energy from the crowd was something I’d never witnessed before! When the opportunity came up to go to another game with my Mom, I was excited to go back. It’d been a very long time since I had been to the first game and things had gotten even better! Our arena had upgraded some stuff including the jumbo tron. After that game, I was HOOKED!

I started watching the games on our little TV and Chris would complain that hockey was hard to follow – that he didn’t wanna watch! I kept at it and would go to games every 2 weeks or so with friends & family.

After a few weeks, Chris slowly started to learn more about the game and the players. It didn’t take long until we were both looking at the schedule I’d pinned to the fridge to see when the next game was. My mom & brothers were getting hooked at the same time. We had a few family members who were Sharks fans but it had taken us a while to catch on, I guess!

On Valentine’s Day in 2008, Chris bought me a 50 inch HD TV. Now we were no longer struggling to see the puck on TV – now it was a whole new experience!

The last few weeks have been filled with pre-season Sharks hockey and I’ve been lucky enough to attend two games already. I don’t know what it is about the energy of the crowd, the excitement of seeing that little puck shoot in the net like a shotgun bullet, or the fun of just being so passionate about something but I’m hooked! This hockey team has become such a big part of our lives – I can’t imagine what it would be like to not be a huge Sharks fan!

September 29 w/ Sharks Mascot, SJ Sharkie

Me: Can I please get a grande iced chai with non-fat milk please?
Starbucks Barista: Chai?  Sure!  What size?
Me: Grande, please.
Barista: Great!  Is 2 percent milk ok?
Me: Non-fat, please.
Barista: Great!  Did you say you wanted vanilla?  It’s so tasty!
Me: No thanks.
Barista:  Let me make it for you – it’s tasty!  It’s free if you don’t like it!
Me:  Ok… I’ll try it!
Barista:  Ok, is 2 percent milk ok?
Me:  Non-fat milk, please…
Barista:  Ok, great!

I found humor, not so much frustration, in the above situation.  I think it mostly has to do with the fact that I, myself, don’t listen to people very well so if I were a barista, I’d do the same thing!  I guess it’s just odd because every other Starbucks I’ve been to – they’re pretty good at getting the order right off the bat.  Anyway, I did get my coffee – thank goodness for everyone involved!   And the vanilla, it WAS tasty! 

Wow – I haven’t blogged in a while!

Life has been great!  I’ve continued running – not as much as I’d like but we are doing our best to fit it in a few times a week.  I made the mistake of running on the treadmill twice and had a hard time the other day when we tried to run outside.  I told myself that moving forward I will stick to outside running.  On Saturday morning we got up and hit the road and I was able to run the 2.5 miles that I wasn’t able to get thru a few days earlier so I’m glad I pushed myself.  I have never sweated so much – TMI, I know.

We did finish the last 6 episodes of Ugly Betty on this lazy Sunday and I’m so sad to see the show end.  What a fantastic show – I’m so upset that it got canceled.  I don’t know why – I don’t feel like it ever jumped the shark.  I love the writing and the characters and they really did end it well.

Now I’m back into the new fall TV show premieres which keeps me up late at night with my TiVo!  Terrible, I know, but I HATE not watching shows the night they air.I’m excited for Desperate Housewives tonight, aren’t you?

Hockey season is now kicking off with pre-season games.  I was lucky enough to go to one last night and the Sharks won!  Yay!

Ok, well, this was a little grab bag of little nothings.  Just wanted to post an update!

What a great weekend! We hit the road bright and early on Saturday morning to make the drive to Madera. We wanted to leave early to be able to make a few stops and still check into the hotel with time to rest.

The Madera Fair was pretty small and it didn’t take long for us to walk around the whole thing – three times. lol

LeAnn Rimes put on a great show and it was so fun watching it through the eyes of a 9 year old who was at her first concert. She kept describing everything as “AWESOME!”

Two stops at the same Coach outlet on each day – once on the way down and once again on the way home – that was the cherry on top.

Back to reality!

I’m super excited about a road trip my mom, my cousin and I are making this weekend. We are heading to see LeAnn Rimes at a concert at a fair about 2 hours from here. Not that big of a road trip – BUT – it’s long enough for me! lol Anything more than that and I would go nuts.

We are heading down Saturday morning to go to the Madera Fair and then LeAnn’s concert is in the evening. It’s my 9 year old cousin’s first concert so I am SO excited for her. Plus, I haven’t seen LeAnn in years so I’m stoked!

We’re going to just stay one night in Madera and head home Sunday. I’m already making lists of what to pack and what to buy for the trip. I assume we’ll listen to LeAnn’s music during the drive.

Yay!

I’ve had time to let it sink in that yesterday we ran in an “official” 5k and the excitement & the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment is still very much there. We already have our sights set on the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving and I will spend the next few weeks running 3 miles as many times as I can to work on my speed & stamina! I’m not going to lie – running the 3.1 miles yesterday was very difficult.

I’ll post my official race photos when I get them.

For now I’m working, yes, on Labor Day and hoping for a nice quiet day of crossing things off my giant list of “to-do”s today. I’m way behind on work because we literally slept half the day yesterday after the run. Hehe!

I get to cross one of my goals off of my list – today I ran a 5k!

I am now going to train for the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving and try to beat my time. I’m pretty stoked to have ran the whole thing and there were hills and dips I wasn’t prepared for so I’ll take 41 min and change! I’m so proud of the group of great people I ran with. More later!

I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for months – it’s the weekend of my 5k!

Tomorrow I need to run a few errands, including getting our t-shirts to wear during the race, and picking up our “goodie bags” and bibs for the race. We then are meeting up with friends for a celebratory pasta dinner before coming home early enough to get a nice rest before the race on Sunday morning!

Running BFF and I got in one last run this morning before Sunday’s run and my body was pretty tired. I was able to run the 3 miles on Monday no problem so I hope with plenty of rest and water that the 5k won’t be too bad.

Work is really busy today but I wanted to take a moment to blog since it’s been a few days. I hope everyone has a great & safe holiday weekend!