Friday Four - Random things that have nothing to do with the other

1. I'm "Judgey McJudgey Pants" in the check out line. I look at what you're buying, I look at you, and I make assumptions. Well today, I would hate to think what people were thinking of me.

Usually I'm all veggies, lean meats, and whole grains.

Today...not so much:
- hot dogs (turkey dogs...but still),
- hot dog buns (white enriched flour buns, not the whole wheat ones),
- chili (hormel...not Amy's Organic which I would have felt less guilty about),
- steak fries (cause I'm running low on tator tots and prefer steak fries),
- and a box of wine (cause it's Friday and I'm thirsty).

Happy Friday!

2. We are finally having our Housewarming. If you weren't invited it's because I either don't have your email address (send it to me) or I don't know you but I appreciate you reading! Since we live in the sticks (a good 30+ miles from many of our friends) our theme is "Putting on the Sticks" - Kebabs and appetizers on toothpicks.

3. Charlie is the best darn dog in the whole universe! We finally found a dog park close to us (then three days later I found out about another one). I also figured out that he is not a running dog. Well, maybe he could be a running dog, provided he is off leash. Attach the leash and he becomes s-l-o-w walking dog!


4. George Clooney was apparently in town and he didn't call. :-(

13

1. Middle of the week holidays RULE! Happy Veteran's Day yesterday to all those who are serving/have served.

2. Work is busy so exercising, sleeping, and quality time has gone to the wayside.

3. But because I had to be at work by 0730 I decided to go to swim practice this morning. Yep, you heard me right, swim practice...at 0530. And today is the day the coach decided to video tape me and critique my stroke. Um, hello, this was my first day back after a four month break. I'm more concerned with survival then stroke technique. (But I did notice the increased speed once I corrected to what use to be natural)

4. I forgot the side effects of morning swim - goggle wrinkles for half the day, starving ALL DAY LONG, and the joy of a neon red left eye. Oh, and I am exhausted!

5. I seem to have hurt my right knee by sitting on my ass for 8-hours. A couple weeks ago when we went to Williamsburg I spent Sunday working on my laptop in front of the TV. Something about the way I had my leg, I pulled the tendons behind my knee. But, after months of PT for IMS I apparently learned something. I am doing the same exercises, taking the same OTC pills, and doing the same icing of the leg and it seems to be healing.

6. Oh, I forgot to mention my temporary wading pool. I got a call from my neighbor at around 0700 on Monday morning saying there was water leaking from my garage door. Hmmmmmmmm..... My water heater faucet completely broke off and by the time I got home my single car garage had about four inches of water built up. So, 8 hours and $900 later I am the proud owner of a new water heater (thanks Lowe's) and a clean/organized garage (thanks Dude).

7. Lesson learned from #6 - Give your neighbors your contact information! If I hadn't done that (just this summer) I wouldn't have known about the leak for a good 12 hours. Imagine the damage (and the water bill)!!!

8. Looks like everyone from Team Z had a great race in FL (and Holly is now an Ironman after her Beach 2 Battleship (B2B) race). It was fun tracking them on-line and there were some fast times - I still think if I do another Ironman sanctioned Full Ironman it will be FL (or Arizona).

9. Thanksgiving menu is ALMOST finalized. So far we are having 7 people over, possibly 9.

10. Men Who Stare at Goats = GOOD (and not just because they show George Clooney's naked arse). Where the Wild Things Are = BAD (and not because it's a kids movie - it was just depressing and seemed to reinforce bad behavior)

11. I made an incredible Rachel Ray recipe of Pasta with Pumpkin & Sausage (Cook 101 #23) on Friday night. By incredible I mean 4/4 FRC's. The only changes I made from the link are used spicy Italian turkey sausage instead of sweet Italian, used light cream instead of heavy cream. I served this on its own and it was quite filling. And did I mention incredible?


12. I met with a realtor about my townhouse. It seems I was overestimating the market. It looks like I can break even once all the fees are paid. I'm now seriously considering is renting it out. I can definitely cover my mortgage and I know having a rental is a great tax benefit.

13. I can't believe 2009 is almost over. Where'd it go?

Thursday Thirteen - Breakfast in Bed

Forget the “which 5 people (living or dead (which is just creepy)) would you like to have dinner with” question. Most people list a bunch of pretentious blowhards, or obscure writers, philosophers, musicians, etc. Perhaps I’m jealous because my list would be as shallow as this one:

The 13 Men I’d like to have Breakfast in Bed With

Adorable Dude


Halle Berry’s Man Toy – Gabriel Something-or-other - does his name matter?!


Black and White Dude (although that would be weird if he was suddenly in black and white in a world of color)


Bradley Cooper – Where’d this guy come from?! All of a sudden he's in everything. BTW - go see "The Hangover" - don't buy a soda because it will come out your nose!


Cheesy Smile Dude (in front of the Duda Bar) – he does this cheesy smile in various pictures.


McSteamy from Gray’s Anatomy - Remember the scene where he's coming out of the shower? Yowza!


Winter Dude – He even looks cute in a hat!


Josh Turner (country music singer) – The eyes, the smile, the voice, *sigh*


Animal Activist Dude – we found a lost birdie in Italy so Dude moved him to a safer location


Toby Keith – doesn't he just look big and cuddly?


Funny Dude (in front of a delivery truck for the best named liquor store in Beaver Creek, Colorado)


George Clooney – Duh, have you been reading my blogs?


Goofy Dude with a guest appearance of Frog

Lake Como Italy = BLISS!

This is a picture story. Which means you are in luck! A picture is worth 1,000 words, right?! So imagine how long this could have been!

On Monday Dude and I boarded a train to Lake Como, Italy. Switzerland to Italy in the Alps – words can’t describe the beauty so here’s my favorite photo from this leg (ignore my reflection):


The train ride was suppose to be a major highlight of the trip and this is how I enjoyed it:


Got to Lake Como and we had to figure out how to get to the marina to catch the boat to the hotel. It was about a ½ mile so we decided to walk. Nobody mentioned the stairs I had to walk down…with my suitcase…and my tri bag…and my laptop THE DAY AFTER IRONMAN(view from the bottom):


We made it, boarded the boat and about 15 minutes later we made it to the hotel. Here is our lake view from the balcony.

Straight out:

To the Left:

To the Right:


We got cleaned up and I packed up all of my IRONMAN finisher gear, removed my Athlete bracelet, took off my Heart to Tri necklace and became a GIRL for the rest of vacation. Girly Clothes, Hair, Makeup, Heels – the works! It was just one of those things I wanted to do to put the IMS obsession behind and concentrate on us. We went for a walk around town looking for a place for dinner. Finally we found La Baia Bar and Restaurante. Ok – it looked more like someone’s house with balcony seating. The owner, Mario, was the host/waiter and his mother was the chef. ABSOLUTELY incredible food! We started with carpaccio, my main dish was the special of the night – asparagus stuffed ravioli’s, but I can't remember what Dude had. Here's a pic of the restaurant (there were maybe 10 tables on that balcony) and a blurry shot of Dude with Mario (owner), his mother, and the waitress (picture was taken a couple nights later).


Tuesday – Tourist Day/”5 scoops of Gelato Day”
We took a 2 ½ hour boat ride to Varrena – the stop just North of Bellagio because the tour book said it was as nice but not as “touristy” as Bellagio. The boat ride was GORGEOUS (one view):


While aboard we went Villa Shopping and narrowed it down to this one:


Or this one:


What do you think?

Got to Varenna, and had the first of 5 scoops of gelato for the day. I tend to stick with pistachio but also find banana quite tasty. Walked around a bit (had more gelato) and found a museum/botanical garden (Manastareo) to explore. Couple pics from there:




After taking 100’s of pictures we wandered back into town, had more gelato and decided it was time for a drink. Here is Dude’s review of the 1st place we tried:
Rudest waitress EVER – you can see her in the doorway.

So we went next door. Dude’s review of this place:


Dinner was back at a place close to the hotel where I had salmon fettuccine (the salmon was actually IN THE PASTA – oh my Gawd – Incredible). And Dude had Spaghetti with Fruitta de Mare which can only be described as the essence of Italy in every bite.

Wednesday – Isola di Comacino/Cinque Bottiglie Di Vino
There is one island in all of Lake Como called Isola di Comacino. On the island are the ruins of S. Eufemia basilica and an incredible restaurant with no menu but endless amounts of food. You basically have a choice of fish/no fish, wine/no wine. We went with no fish/with wine. We soon found out it was bottomless wine. Yeah! The food was incredible, basically course after course of vegetables in olive oil (best onion I’ve ever had in my life), pancetta, parmesan, gelato, and bread (and some coffee that you had to drink to break the island’s curse). Here's Dude and I after some wine and one with me and the restaurant sign.



Oh, and this was my George stalking day. Apparently he’s dined at this restaurant so I got my picture taken with him (kind of):


We went back to the mainland and took a terrifying bus ride to the next town which required us to have more wine. Then a boat ride across to our town where we had more and more wine. Then we rested up for dinner. We went back to the restaurant from the first night where they made me Fruitta de Mare and I have no idea what Dude had. By the way, we had more wine. And my camera died so no more pictures.

Thursday – Final Day
We hung around the hotel in the morning and went swimming in the lake. Finally packed up and headed to Como and I FINALLY got to have pizza in Italy (this was a quest everyday). It was a miserably hot day and I was thankful to get on the train to head to Zurich. In keeping with my original travel nightmare the train was delayed and we didn’t get to the Zurich hotel until well after 8 (left at 2 – should have been 4 hours max). We did room service because we had an early flight to catch in the morning.

Friday – Travel Day
In keeping with my original travel nightmare, we were suppose to leave at 10 am (got to the airport at 0800) but we finally had wheels up at just after 7 pm. Because of the delay we obviously missed our connecting flight. We finally got home at close to noon on Saturday. Ask me how I feel about American Airlines!

Besides the travel issues this was the best and most relaxing vacations I've ever been on. Since I recently received an email saying I won $1 Million Euro I'm seriously considering getting one of those villas. Just as soon as I send my bank account information back so they can deposit my winnings!

Potential Scene of Es’ Future

But first, a training/injury update. I am...

... after taking it easy since the Kinetic race. IMS training is now on recovery week so everything is at an easy Z2 pace.
Mon – Plan Off - I hiked the Billy Goat Trail in Great Falls on Monday (minimal pain)
Tue – Plan Swim AM / Bike Off – I Swam and did 30 min on trainer (minimal pain)
Wed – Plan Run 40 min – I did Strength in AM, then did the run at the track (first run since 5/16 and no pain)
Thur – Plan Swim AM / Bike 30 min – Swam and skipped the ride (did 20 minute warm up at PT today and there’s a storm brewing tonight. I’m bagging the final 10 minutes). Besides it’s an Es tradition to skip some of recovery week training for some beer and wing time with the boys.

I do plan on making the team run on Sat then heading to W&OD on Sunday for the two hour ride. And I will do an open water swim on Sunday.

So, I’ve decided on Lake Como for post Ironman. The train trip is 2 hours shorter, straight shot, found a nicer hotel for the money, and it’s just as pretty as Portofino and the other beach-side choices. Also, while this didn’t play into the decision-making process, well, there’s a certain dreamy actor that has a house there.

Now on to the Scene from Es’ Future (Ok, I guess we can call it a fantasy - but a G-Rated one)

Dude and I are at a fancy dinner enjoying a romantic evening. Of course I look fabulous - duh, I’ll be an Ironman so I’ll be glowing, radiant, and I’m with Dude so I’ll have that in-love goofy perma-smile. We hear musicians playing outside and Dude goes out to see if they will come in and serenade us (ok, in my fantasy Dude is obscenely romantic and I got this idea from a friend who’s husband actually did this). While he’s gone, George comes over and starts hitting on me. Not in the pervy-meat-market way with horrible lines, roaming eyes, and intentional pawing. No, he comes over with stars in his eyes ready to offer me the world. So he’s there trying to woo me when Dude returns (with the musicians who couldn’t turn down such a romantic gesture).

Dude: Can I help you?
George: I couldn’t help but notice your beautiful wife. I had to…
Dude: She’s not my wife.
George: Perfect. I hate to do this to you, but I’m going to have to steal her away.
Dude: I’d like to see you try.
George: Come on, I can offer her fame, fortune, a life of leisure…
Dude: How bout you pay us a million dollars to sleep with her (oops – somehow real Dude snuck into this fantasy)
George: I couldn’t do that, once I have her once I know I’d want to keep her forever (which I have to admit is true)
--Lots of banter back and forth as they are fighting over me – voices are raised, there’s even a little bit of pushing and shoving. Finally…

Dude: Well, she’s an adult, it’s her decision.
Es (Takes a LARGE drink of wine- with tears in her eyes): Sorry George – you should have paid the million dollars. While you’re hot, rich, famous, and the most eligible bachelor in the world, you’re still no Dude.

George wanders away, crushed. And wondering what the hell Dude has that he doesn’t.

Besides me, that is.