I saw this commercial at the gym today, which includes a second version, all from earlier versions seen here and here. LOVE them. Whoever created the ads is a genius. Pure genius. How can you not smile when you watch them?!? I love that by the end of the commercial everyone is totally rocking out. I was so into the commercial that I almost started dancing on the treadmill while I was watching it. (That probably would have ended poorly.)
Deep down everyone loves to dance. Sometimes you just need your grill to inspire you. If you can't bust a move with your grill in the backyard, where can you shake it? Grab your tongs & go crazy!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Let sleeping dogs lie
It's true, you don't want to disturb their precious down time.
Sometimes they twist themselves into the oddest sleeping positions. Take this one for example:
This was too cute to pass up.
Sometimes they twist themselves into the oddest sleeping positions. Take this one for example:
It's hard to tell, but she has her head shoved up against the wall to keep it propped up. She has a thing about propping her head up on the wall or table leg or chair leg. It never looks comfortable.
These two sad sacks, on the other hand, are always snuggling:
SPARKLES & HEARTS! SPARKLES & HEARTS!
As I perused Running Skirts for their latest, I came upon a running skirt with a mini heart-pattern. Not only did it have hearts, it was on sparkly material. I squealed. Out loud. No way could I pass up this skirt. "If I treat myself to this (kinda pricey) skirt, I WILL run the Grandma's Marathon & I will run faster because of this skirt." Didn't take long to sell myself on it.
Yesterday, the skirt arrived. I squealed again.
I also bought a pair of their compression socks (a second pair so when I do another mud-soaked long run, I can change into a dry pair of compression socks post-run). The socks I bought are pink with a single white heart at the top.
I went for a run with my new skirt & compression socks while wearing a light green long sleeve. I looked like a cupcake. Or an escapee from Candy Land.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
New bathroom window!
As you may recall, our bathroom window took a dive (literally) & we were left with a gaping bathroom window covered by a shower curtain. Steve recently took an afternoon & installed our fancy-pants new window.
Ooooooh, new window. And it's frosted glass, so our neighbors don't call the cops when we're showering because they think we're nudists.
Foam insulation
THE BLOB!
We have plans to use a curved threshold-style tile to "cap" the window frame & provide transition between the shower tile & the window, but the most important thing was getting in the window. Thanks honey!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Mother Nature, you are such a tease
So much for 60+ degrees & warm sun-kissed skin. Mother Nature, I bet dollars to donuts you are responsible for 90% of psychological cases.
Forecast
Just call me Sweaty Meatball
To put it simply, today's weather was insanely perfect. Temps reached 62 degrees by noon & the sky was clear blue but for a few simple, wistful, lazy clouds. Just warm enough to be in short sleeves, not so warm to cause immediate sweat gland action. (Or maybe I'm the only one who has to worry about sweating - my nickname as a child was, after all, Sweaty Meatball)
Needless to say, it's obvious the entire town of Sheridan is desperate for comfortably warm days. Out for a run after work, I saw more than a dozen people walking, running, & biking the sidewalks & bike paths. Sadly, to see more than a dozen people doing some sort of physical activity around town is an anomaly. Usually it's two. And those two would be Steve & me. Despite heavy lids from a restless night, stiff legs, & a sore left ankle, my run was wonderfully fabulous, simply for the fact that the sun shone bright & I was sweating profusely. The last time I sweat profusely during a run was when it was 20 degrees outside, freezing rain was falling, & I was on the dreadmill at the gym. It's the little things, people.
67.1 °F 0.0
Needless to say, it's obvious the entire town of Sheridan is desperate for comfortably warm days. Out for a run after work, I saw more than a dozen people walking, running, & biking the sidewalks & bike paths. Sadly, to see more than a dozen people doing some sort of physical activity around town is an anomaly. Usually it's two. And those two would be Steve & me. Despite heavy lids from a restless night, stiff legs, & a sore left ankle, my run was wonderfully fabulous, simply for the fact that the sun shone bright & I was sweating profusely. The last time I sweat profusely during a run was when it was 20 degrees outside, freezing rain was falling, & I was on the dreadmill at the gym. It's the little things, people.
Now
Clear
Temperature
Feels Like 67.3 °F
Wind(mph)
Sunrise / Set
6:30 AM
7:47 PM
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Napa Valley, Food & Drink Favorites
As I've already said a million times, I think Napa Valley hooked me with food. It's no surprise - a popular place to travel, especially for the wealthy, would only attract the best. And there is a lot of competition to be the next best place to eat in such a popular destination.
And we don't have to say too much about drink. Duh, it's wine country. Knowledge of great wines runs rampant. Microbrews are widely popular, but there are a handful of places that we thoroughly enjoyed.
A few of our favorites:
Calistoga Inn & Brewery
The beers were de.lic.ious. Their Oatmeal Stout was smooth, creamy, & so incredibly drinkable. Our first night, we weren't very hungry but instead decided to try some appetizers. Their crab cakes & seared tuna were perfection - the crab cakes were not overly breaded & processed like so many crab cakes & the seared tuna as cooked just perfect with a pink center & a surprisingly tasty seaweed salad.
Casa Nuestra
By far my favorite winery. Totally off the beaten path with very friendly staff and an owner they claim is a self-described hippie. And they allow dogs. No better way to enjoy a winery than with a couple cute dogs hanging out. Delicious wines.
Silverado Brewing Company
The only place we went to eat twice. Two words: Lamb Burger. Their beer was tasty, but their lamb burger was out-of-this-world delicious. The flavors in the burger meshed so incredibly well - locally raised lamb, rosemary aioli, & feta were the three major players in a bite that was heaven in my mouth. Angels sang, the heavens parted, & sun rays shone down. Something about their feta was different than typical store-bought feta - it was creamier, slightly less tangy, & more similar to a shredded feta than crumbled feta.
Excuse me while I wipe drool off my laptop.
Gott's Roadside
According to the Milat winery owner, Gott's is a yuppie roadside diner. It totally is & definitely a tourist trap, but they make some damn good "diner" food. Thick, juicy burgers, tasty hot dogs, & super yummy garlic-parsley fries.
Zuzu's
Hands down, without a doubt, my favorite place. It's a bit "fancier," but well worth the prices. Service was excellent (a server that made excellent recommendations based on true knowledge of the products), food was ahhhhhhhhhhmazing, & atmosphere was warm. I would recommend a trip to Napa Valley solely to eat at ZuZu. We shared three tapas: Jamon Iberico de Bellota with Grilled Garlic Bread & Olive-Anchovy "Garum," Pan-Fried Manchego w/Roasted Poblano Chiles & Guajillo Sauce (we think the manchego would have been better without being fried), & Niman Ranch Pork Meatballs w/PX Sherry & Piquillo Pepper Sauce. Since we were splurging, we went for dessert & had tres leches cake with mango curd. I just fainted from memory of that dessert. The cake was not soggy like many tres leches can be, but perfectly moist. And the mango curd. The mango curd. Oh my. The mango curd. Words escape me.
I loved it all. There are more places we ate & drank not mentioned, but we enjoyed everywhere we went.
And we don't have to say too much about drink. Duh, it's wine country. Knowledge of great wines runs rampant. Microbrews are widely popular, but there are a handful of places that we thoroughly enjoyed.
A few of our favorites:
Calistoga Inn & Brewery
The beers were de.lic.ious. Their Oatmeal Stout was smooth, creamy, & so incredibly drinkable. Our first night, we weren't very hungry but instead decided to try some appetizers. Their crab cakes & seared tuna were perfection - the crab cakes were not overly breaded & processed like so many crab cakes & the seared tuna as cooked just perfect with a pink center & a surprisingly tasty seaweed salad.
Casa Nuestra
By far my favorite winery. Totally off the beaten path with very friendly staff and an owner they claim is a self-described hippie. And they allow dogs. No better way to enjoy a winery than with a couple cute dogs hanging out. Delicious wines.
Silverado Brewing Company
The only place we went to eat twice. Two words: Lamb Burger. Their beer was tasty, but their lamb burger was out-of-this-world delicious. The flavors in the burger meshed so incredibly well - locally raised lamb, rosemary aioli, & feta were the three major players in a bite that was heaven in my mouth. Angels sang, the heavens parted, & sun rays shone down. Something about their feta was different than typical store-bought feta - it was creamier, slightly less tangy, & more similar to a shredded feta than crumbled feta.
Excuse me while I wipe drool off my laptop.
Gott's Roadside
According to the Milat winery owner, Gott's is a yuppie roadside diner. It totally is & definitely a tourist trap, but they make some damn good "diner" food. Thick, juicy burgers, tasty hot dogs, & super yummy garlic-parsley fries.
Zuzu's
Hands down, without a doubt, my favorite place. It's a bit "fancier," but well worth the prices. Service was excellent (a server that made excellent recommendations based on true knowledge of the products), food was ahhhhhhhhhhmazing, & atmosphere was warm. I would recommend a trip to Napa Valley solely to eat at ZuZu. We shared three tapas: Jamon Iberico de Bellota with Grilled Garlic Bread & Olive-Anchovy "Garum," Pan-Fried Manchego w/Roasted Poblano Chiles & Guajillo Sauce (we think the manchego would have been better without being fried), & Niman Ranch Pork Meatballs w/PX Sherry & Piquillo Pepper Sauce. Since we were splurging, we went for dessert & had tres leches cake with mango curd. I just fainted from memory of that dessert. The cake was not soggy like many tres leches can be, but perfectly moist. And the mango curd. The mango curd. Oh my. The mango curd. Words escape me.
I loved it all. There are more places we ate & drank not mentioned, but we enjoyed everywhere we went.
Napa Valley, Part 3
I wholly admit...we did a horrible job taking pictures on our vacation. The rain really put a damper on the desire to hop out of the car & take pictures in front of every winery we visited. So the rest will have to do...
Our third & fourth night were spent at Mountain Home Ranch. Trip Advisor, HUGE fail. Sure, Mountain Home Ranch is quiet & peaceful, but for the money we spent on one of their "nice" cabins, we were sorely disappointed. The cabins are piecemeal & not the comfortable experience we were picturing. The proprietors are very nice & cooked us a wonderful breakfast our last morning, but we don't plan to return in future visits.
Napa Valley, Part 2
Our first two nights in Napa were spent at the Calistoga Inn & Brewery. It's more similar to a hostel than an inn (mainly, shared bathrooms). However, it was well-priced, had a brewery on location (yes!), & rooms were spacious & clean. The town of Calistoga turned out to be our favorite town in Napa - it was much quieter & laid-back than Napa, Rutherford, St. Helena... If you're bothered by music late into the night, don't stay at the Calistoga Inn - they regularly have a DJ or live music in their bar, which is below all the rooms. Their beers were delicious & the food was amazing (my first glimpse of what I consider Napa's finest feature - FOOD!). With all the rain, we lacked the gumption to take pictures & thus did not manage to get one picture of our room. Fail.
We did, however, manage to snap a picture of our first night's dessert - a local wine & a super yummy peanut butter pie from the Calistoga Inn's restaurant. The wine we found at Wine Garage, a place we knew we had to visit. They proved to be a great wine store of friendly, knowledgeable, & NOT fancy shmancy stuck-up wine snobs.
The next day, we made a trip to Milat, upon recommendation from the 'rents. A family-owned vineyard, we met one of the owner's, Mike. Very interesting guy. Certainly not your Napa "standard" - in fact, he steered us away from the "yuppie restaurants" (his own words) & to the more local, less touristy, food places.
Stunning California Poppies sent against the gray/green background
Olive oil is another big venture in Napa Valley & I almost jumped out of the car when we drove by this place. Olive oil tastings?? You betcha! I convinced Steve to stop & check it out - we thoroughly enjoyed the incredibly variety of oils & flavors, but couldn't decide on one particular oil (& were slightly swayed with the $42 price tag for a small bottle).
RACE DAY! It rained. And there was lots of mud. I lost my drive & ended up running only the half-marathon while Steve toughed it out to complete the full.
As we were trying to leave the park, a family was standing in the middle of the road, trying to take pictures. Many of the adults in the family had completed the race; they obviously didn't care about time or the weather - they were just so proud of each other & enjoying their time together (seriously, I think there were 15-20 family members). Needless to say, when they saw us waiting for them to move, the family member trying to take the picture came running over to our car & said "since you're waiting, would you mind...?" We hopped out, took their picture, & in return, requested they snap our photo too.
RACE DAY! It rained. And there was lots of mud. I lost my drive & ended up running only the half-marathon while Steve toughed it out to complete the full.
Napa Valley, Part 1
If someone asked me to compare Napa Valley to Willamette Valley, my answer would be "Willamette Valley is Napa Valley circa 1978." Willamette Valley is mom-and-pop wineries, where the person running the tasting room is also the vintner & the owner. Sure, they have their fair share of big name places - Domaine Serene, Sokol Blosser, Archery Summit - but Willamette Valley is laid-back, peaceful, friendly. Napa Valley is big money, tour buses, expensive tastings, & crowds - Sutter Home, Robert Mondavi, Silver Oak. NOT to say it's not beautiful & filled with extraordinary wine & food. But personally, Oregon is more our speed, while California is more the speed of the bored & wealthy. (It probably doesn't help that Steve & I are more Pinot Noir fans - Willamette Valley is Pinot Noir country, Napa Valley is Cabernet Sauvignon country)
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip & can now say we've traveled to a new place we've never been or experienced; traveling is a must in a rich & fulfilling life (in my humble opinion), so I'm always happy to see new places. Napa Valley vacation = success. On a side note, a friend & I were discussing domestic traveling. It's often easy to overlook travel within the United States as worthwhile, but it's necessary to have a combination of international v. domestic travel. Traveling abroad is amazing but it can also be a lot of prep & sometime stress (new language, different culture & lifestyle). Obviously worthwhile. Domestic travel, however, is often easy to prep & make happen (not to mention cheaper).
Moving on to pictures...
The cheap motel we chose the night before flying out of Billings in the early a.m. Cheap, free shuttle & parking? Yes please. Apparently it hasn't been updated since 1962. I had to snap a (horribly blurred) picture of the amazing mustard-yellow bathroom. Someone somewhere thought these colors were all the rage? Ouch.
Attempt at self-portrait. Notice Steve's overly happy face & my pinched nose. He claims he saw an elephant run under the bed shortly after letting out a big stinky one.
Smell has passed. I do not, however, know what is going on with our hair (maybe we're going for the Crested BobWhite look).
We made it to California!
Driving the scenic route from Sacramento to Napa Valley. Notice the gray sky? It stayed that same color four days straight.
The Monticello Dam.
Best part of the dam is the spillway (affectionately known as the Glory Hole)! See here. I was sure with all the rain that water would be gushing into the spillway; no such luck. It was still pretty cool to see.
This particular spillway is from Lake Hennessy. We weren't intending to stop but the enormous splash of water had all the motorists stopping for pictures. I found a video of the spillway in action, splashing about the same amount that we saw. It was incredible!
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip & can now say we've traveled to a new place we've never been or experienced; traveling is a must in a rich & fulfilling life (in my humble opinion), so I'm always happy to see new places. Napa Valley vacation = success. On a side note, a friend & I were discussing domestic traveling. It's often easy to overlook travel within the United States as worthwhile, but it's necessary to have a combination of international v. domestic travel. Traveling abroad is amazing but it can also be a lot of prep & sometime stress (new language, different culture & lifestyle). Obviously worthwhile. Domestic travel, however, is often easy to prep & make happen (not to mention cheaper).
Moving on to pictures...
We made it to California!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Well hello world
It's been awhile. We've been busy & it's resulted in a lack of blogging. Our sincerest apologies, we'll now return to regular programming.
We recently took a vacation to Napa Valley to run a race & explore the region (aka wine taste). The area is definitely beautiful, but the constant rain made it slightly difficult to enjoy the beauty. So we ran a race in the mud & then spent the rest of the vacation indoors, drinking wine & microbrews. A perfect vacation, no? The rain began the day we flew into Sacramento & did not stop until our last day in Napa. Then the sun came out, the winds stopped, & the temps rose to 70 degrees. Feeling slighted by Mother Nature was unavoidable. But it was wonderful to be away from Sheridan, eat at many wonderful restaurants (I think food was one of my favorite parts of the trip - Napa Valley definitely has an abundance of amazing chefs), taste some delicious (& not-so-delicious) wines & beers, & relax. Pictures to follow.
In the meantime, I'll leave you with our regularly featured feathered- & furred-friends.
We recently took a vacation to Napa Valley to run a race & explore the region (aka wine taste). The area is definitely beautiful, but the constant rain made it slightly difficult to enjoy the beauty. So we ran a race in the mud & then spent the rest of the vacation indoors, drinking wine & microbrews. A perfect vacation, no? The rain began the day we flew into Sacramento & did not stop until our last day in Napa. Then the sun came out, the winds stopped, & the temps rose to 70 degrees. Feeling slighted by Mother Nature was unavoidable. But it was wonderful to be away from Sheridan, eat at many wonderful restaurants (I think food was one of my favorite parts of the trip - Napa Valley definitely has an abundance of amazing chefs), taste some delicious (& not-so-delicious) wines & beers, & relax. Pictures to follow.
In the meantime, I'll leave you with our regularly featured feathered- & furred-friends.
A dog thoroughly enjoying his Sunday afternoon nap
Spring has sprung! And our neighborhood squirrel friend has awoken from his winter hibernation. He's also managed to find all the unharvested corn stalks from our garden & spread them over the entire neighborhood (as pictured). If a neighbor asks why there are small corn stalks in their yard, I plan to play ignorant.
Don't watch me eat!
Heyyyyyyyy laaaaaaadies!
You'll have to excuse the two bare-bottomed chickens (on the right). They are not diseased. They are not dying. They are not the rare varietal chicken known as "featherless butt" (no such chicken). The white chicken on the left just happens to be a bully & has been caught pecking the feathers off the other two ladies' rear ends. Poor things can't avoid her. Imagine having to put your ass in the air every time you want to eat?
(Despite their oddities, everyone should go out, find some scrap wood, build a chicken coop, & purchase a few small, peeping, cute, fluff ball chicks. Other than a few months of no-laying in the winter, we're getting 2-4 eggs each day. It's amazing.)
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