More like.. where have I been?

I realize I haven’t blogged in a few weeks – bad Leslie!

This past week we were busy entertaining out of town guests. It’s nice to have people visit who haven’t ever been to the Bay Area because it’s an excuse to do all the fun touristy things! We were able to go to the Tech Museum, Winchester Mystery House, Egyptian Museum, Rose Garden, California Academy of Science, Pier 39, and walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.

We’re back onto our regular schedule this week so I’ve got an arms length list of errands.

I can’t believe Christmas is almost here! I decided that this year, I’m going to get us a cute tree and decorate it. Our place is really small but I really want to have a tree – so I’ll make room!

Last week I was able to decorate our fireplace mantle for fall and I just love how happy it makes me.

46 days until Christmas! Yikes!

When we arrived at our room on Saturday at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, we had a huge surprise!

Let me back up – when we checked in, the guy who worked there gave us our room keys and when he went to show us our room number, he said “oh! you guys are the lucky ones! Enjoy your room!” We were too tired to press for more information and headed to our room.

When we arrived at the door, the room had a name. Besides having a number it had a sign on the door that said Le Mans. I thought that was odd because none of the other rooms had a plaque with a name on the door.

When we went in we were overwhelmed with what we saw. It was a beautiful room. We always book the cheapest rooms available and it was apparent that this was not the room we originally booked!

The room had a small “living room” area with places to sit with a coffee table and a flat screen TV. It also had a full bar with a fridge, sink, and coffee maker. I noticed a doorway so I assumed it was the restroom.

The doorway led to a hallway. On the left was the bathroom (pictured below) with a whirlpool tub and his & her’s sinks. To the right of the bathroom was a toilet closet with a toilet & bidet.

When you went right in the hallway you were led to a vanity area as well as a walk in closet!

I picked up the phone and called the front desk – I was SURE there was a mistake!

The helpful woman assured me that there was no mistake and that we were upgraded because of occupancy issues. She ended the call with “Have a great vacation at Paris!”

What a great surprise and it really did make our vacation amazing from the start! We were exhausted when we got to the room but the excitement of our over-700-square-foot suite made us kinda amped so we ended up heading down to the casino for a snack and a little bit of people watching.

I’ve never had this kinda thing happen to me before and it really made my day!

Today I turned 30 years old. I can hardly believe it.

We had some work to get done today in the home office before heading to a business meeting in San Francisco and we were able to eat dinner there before heading home. We then went and walked around a local nice outside shopping center before Chris surprised me with letting me pick out an awesome dock/speaker for my iPhone. I’ve been wanting one for YEARS but I couldn’t justify spending the money. It was a wonderful gift! I’ve got it all hooked up!

I received over 70(!!!) Facebook birthday wishes and it was so fun reading them throughout the day! Here are some of my favorites that made me smile/laugh:

My mom: If I had enough money I would have gotten you this for your birthday, but I’m financially embarrassed … maybe next year! Happy happy birthday! <:o) [she linked to a 5 million dollar iphone lol!]
Ex-coworker: What a cute kid! You’re one of the only people I know to keep the toe-head sporting into your 30′s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! [commenting about my FB profile pic of me at 2 years old having a birthday tantrum! lol]
High school classmate: Happy birthday, Leslie! 30′s aren’t so bad… it’s like the 20′s… except with money. hahaha!
A BFF: Happy birthday. Now you’re a hoar AND you’re old. Love you so!! xxo [hoar is mispelled on purpose- inside joke]
One of my brothers: Good thing we have a lot of friends in common. Had about 70 people remind me it’s your birthday!!! Haha jk jk. Hope you have a good one…

I’m getting tired in my old age but wanted to blog about today and save some of the cute FB comments. I truly am a very lucky girl surrounded by the most amazing friends & family.

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!