Twenty

Twenty years ago today, these two youngins decided that they liked each other enough to start dating. It was the best decision they've ever made. And throughout the years there were some ups and downs, but mostly ups. They make a good team in most things they do. They make each other laugh, even though neither of them would admit that they're funny. Every now and then, they still argue about who is the "lucky one", because they both think they are.

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Letters and Numbers and Coupons, Oh My!

I thought this day would never come, but I have finally finished all 26 letter templates!  This blog post is brought to you by the letters W, X, Y, and Z!  (And the numbers 6 and 7 too!)   All of these new releases are available at both my LDD store and at Listgirl Designs.




All new products in both stores are 20% off on Tuesday only.

I will be giving away some random coupons at both my Facebook fan page and Twitter later this week, so look for it!   I also have some exciting things coming up in the next few weeks, so stay tuned to your inbox or visit my blog for details to come!

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Muddy Buddy

A while ago, Todd had mentioned the idea of doing the Muddy Buddy to me. I just wasn't that interested in the hassle of getting all dirty for a race, plus I'm not a regular offroad bike rider so I felt intimidated. Todd's Toastmasters friend Ashley to the rescue! Ashley has finished a full Ironman Triathlon (2.4 mile swim, followed by 112 miles of biking, followed by 26.2 miles of running). :: stare :: So yea, I think Todd was fortunate to have her as a partner! Plus, she provided the bike.

So this morning around 7am, Ashley came to our house and we piled our stuffs and us into our Explorer and off we went, headed on the hour-long drive to the backcountry of Temecula for the Columbia Muddy Buddy race. I couldn't wait to get photos of Todd and Ashley!

When we got there, we had to park in a makeshift grass parking lot, then walk about 1/3 of a mile to the event.


One fun thing about this race is that you and your buddy are encouraged to dress up in costumes. They even have a costume contest before the race. So I found some good ones.


On the walk in from the "parking lot", I turned around and saw this breath-taking view.


A photo of Todd and Ashley before the race started, when they were still dry and clean!


I set up my chair near the finish line, with the intention of reading a book. But about 36 minutes after the race started, the winners came through, followed by a steady stream of finishers. So I took some photos.










I almost didn't see Todd and Ashley until they came out of the mud pit, because everyone sort of looked the same when covered with mud. :p Good thing I'm quick with the camera.






I caught up with them after the finish line.


Well, we can just forget about these shoes.


Off to "the showers", which turned out to really to be a "hosing station".




Albeit a hosing station situated on the edge of beautiful Vail Lake.


After the cleaning up, we walked back to the car.


Well, it looked like fun but I'm glad Todd found a partner to do Muddy Buddy with, because I'm still not sure about the mud. :-| You can read Todd's side of the story on his blog here.

This evening our friends Anne and Gilbert invited us over for dinner, which was exciting enough already.  But they actually cooked stuff from the cookbook that we made and gave them!   Dinner was awesome, but the company and stories were even better. Unfortunately, Gilbert had an emergency at work and had to leave, but Anne kept us plenty entertained with good stories. AND we ended dinner with lemon blueberry cupcakes, which I ate two of.

Yea. And I didn't even do the Muddy Buddy today!


Thanks Anne and Gilbert, for an awesome evening of good food with good friends! :)

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Challenge + Prize

My friend Sherrie Piegdon (the Pixel Gypsy) is running a challenge on her blog.  This time it is to Twist-a-Lift one of my pages!


You can find out the details and deadline here, as well as link up your layout to participate.  Sherrie will pick a winner on April 7th.  Plenty of time to participate!  I am the prize sponsor for this challenge, which means if Sherrie picks you, you win a product of your choice from my store!  Yaaaaaay!  So go check it out and twista-a-lift!

Today we did not run with our running club, because it was a trail run and we're not fans of trail runs, plus Todd is in a race tomorrow and we didn't want him to run too much today. So we headed to Miramar Lake around 9am and I ran and Todd rollerbladed. It was already sunny and around 80 degrees at 9am today, which is quite unusual for this time of the year. I don't like running in the sun but I powered through it anyways! It wasn't too bad.

Location: Miramar Lake
Distance: 5.00 miles
Time: 54:40
Avg pace/mile: 10:55
Calories: 498

We came home and showered, then headed out to In-N-Out Burger for lunch. That place was packed at lunch today! We decided to get it to go, because there were no seating left and lots of people waiting for seats already. Even the drive-through was a long line. We love our In-N-Out Burgers here in SoCal! :p

Todd has made homemade bread twice now. Each time yielded several loaves. If you want to see photos and recipe, go here to Todd's blog to check it out!

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Go Speed Racer, Go!

Last night our friends and neighbors Pete and Cassandra came over for dinner.  Todd made Korean-inspired chicken and minted cucumbers, while Pete made braised carrots.  Todd also made blueberry-lemon cupcakes.  Dinner was awesome, then we played Lego Rock Band and Beatles Rock Band, which was super-fun!  I sang, played the drums, and played bass and guitar.  It was my first time playing bass/guitar and it was way more fun than I had ever expected.  For photos and more, go to Todd's blog post here.  :)

Todd and I took the day off today, because we had purchased a Groupon for a 2.5 hour GoCar GPS tour of San Diego, and it expires at the beginning of April, so we had to find some time to use it.  We had seen this on a San Diego tourism video and totally thought it would be fun.

Here we were in the parking lot. This thing has a motorcycle engine, so it's not very fast (NOT Speed Racer!) The top speed is around 30 mph, so there's no taking it on the freeway! Oh and helmets were mandatory.


The car is equipped with a GPS hooked into the radio. As soon as you start driving, it talks to you, tells you where to turn, narrates stories of the places you're seeing, and also cracks jokes with you. You don't have to worry about knowing where to go, because the GPS voice totally tells you where to go!


We started out downtown at Kettner and Hawthorne streets. The open air GoCar was perfect for taking great street-level photos! The weather was perfect, sunny and around 70. Here we are on the way into Little Italy.




To Harbor Drive. The ship on the right is the H.M.S. Surprise, which was the ship used in the film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World". The ship on the left is the Star of India, the world's oldest active sailing ship.  They are both docked permanently in the San Diego harbor, but sail several times per year on special occasions.


I was looking into Todd's helmet and found a clever photo to take.


Next we drove up to the pier where the U.S.S. Midway museum resides.




Back onto Harbor Drive, with hotels and palm trees lining the street.


The San Diego Convention Center on the right.


Horton Plaza


U.S. Grant Hotel


Balboa Theatre


Gaslamp Quarter




A couple of different views of Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres baseball team.




Firestation #4, in service since 1938.


The Gaslamp again, with Ghirardelli chocolate and ice cream shop on the right side!


House of Blues (Todd has played there with two different rock bands!)


St. Paul's Cathedral




After over an hour of touring around the city, we took a break inside Balboa Park. Loved all the greenery!


Todd running back from a potty break, with his helmet still on, LOL!


Man and GoCar


Museum of Man


San Diego Museum of Art

At this point, we took a break and parked outside the museum and ate some oranges. Suddenly a ton of kids on a field trip appeared out of nowhere and started ooo'ing and ahh'ing at the GoCar and taking photos of us. They got really excited, LOL.

Spreckels Organ Pavilion


San Diego Air and Space Museum


A view of the city from a secret lookout behind the Air and Space Museum. I guess it's not so secret now, ha ha.


The entrance to the world famous San Diego Zoo.


After that we went up Park Blvd into Hillcrest. Well, what do you know? Our favorite bakery Bread and Cie is right there on the corner of 4th and University. Must park the GoCar and stop in for Todd's favorite brownie in San Diego.


Somebody (who shall remain unnamed) couldn't wait to take a bite before lunch even.


Returning the GoCar, back to Kettner Avenue, with the ocean ahead of us.


Best two-hour tour of San Diego ever!

We love playing tourist in our own town, because it reminds us how fun our city is, and how much there is to do around here.

After the tour we had a late lunch at Point Loma Seafoods, our favorite place for reasonably priced FRESH seafood. Todd always gets the halibut sandwich, because why stray when he loves it so much?

I had the calamari sandwich, which is my favorite. Yum!

Sorry for the massive amount of photos in this post. I went through my 158 photos I took today and there were many scenic ones! Thanks for coming on a virtual tour with us. :)

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