6/27 Alaska Marathon Recap

Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision. - Muhammad Ali

When I first started fundraising and planning the trip to Alaska I didn't imagine what a challenge it would be. Physically it was a challenge because I didn't train well. Yes I've ran other marathons, but when life gets in the way...well people cope the best they can. Each time a brick wall was placed in front of me I started thinking what would my aunt say? She would have told me to push forward. But I admit there were many times I wanted to quit, but it's not in me to quit.   

My aunt Andrea passed away a year ago on 6/18/2010. When I saw that the Alaska marathon would be ran on the anniversary of her death I knew I would do this race in her memory. I know she was with me every step of the way. 

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A quick recap of my trip.

Alaska Day 1 6/15: My day was filled with shopping, munching on a reindeer dog, and we went on the search for Sarah Palin. You betcha' we did! Oh and can't forget...our first night hanging out at Humpy's. 

   

Alaska Day 2 6/16: Early in the morning we went on a quick trip to the Anchorage Museum. More shopping and then the rest of the team arrived a little later and then we were off to Moose's Tooth for for some awesome pizza. Then of course another trip back to Humpy's.

The best part about all the "shopping" I did was this cute owl beanie hat. Because honestly that was the only thing I NEEDED to have and really all I purchased. hahah...

Alaska Day 3 (6/17): More sight seeing more window shopping and our inspiration dinner.  



At every inspiration dinner I tell myself...don't cry..don't cry. I cry because I know what I am doing is making a difference. I am so happy I got to share this experience with some amazing people. 

Alaska Day 4 (6/18): Marathon Day.

   

My most amazing friend ever. Audrey Duffy. 

 The full marathoners had to be up an hour earlier than the half marathoners. Our race didn't start until 8 am so we met up at 5:45 am in the lobby of our hotel. YEAH talk about sleeping in! Audrey met us down in the lobby to wish us all a great race. She truly is incredible.  

Check out the smiles on our faces. L - R Elisabeth, AL, me, and Rachelle. Here we are before the race. Whose afraid of 26.2 miles...not us. haha I'm smiling because I'm ready. Ready or not here I come. :D

The course was amazing!!! Anchorage was beyond beautiful. The weather was perfect. Check out the blue skies. Jealous yet?  

  

Here are a few pictures taken by the course photographers.  

I use to cry when I crossed the finish line. Now I just look for the beer garden. :) No wait first my medal then the beer garden. This years medal was HUGE. I know Mark had total medal envy. He did the 1/2 marathon and while his medal was beautiful too, mine was bigger. :D

Alot of people laugh when I say the best thing to do after a marathon is to go dancing. No really. So here is the proof of the dancing after the marathon. 

I always say, and will continue to say it, Alaska Mayor's Marathon is the best Team in Training experience ever. Just ask anyone that has ever done this event. I am still smiling. I love hearing Mark's view on it all. When he talks about our trip he is all smiles. It really was a great getaway. I'm ready to plan our next trip. 

Alaska Day 5 (6/19): Excursion to Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. 

First stop. Bird point. The sign said: What's the Point? Bird Point is a place to reflect and enjoy. 

Look at the beautiful scenery. Really enjoyed this place, so much that I can't wait to go back.  

And now off to Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. 

I love this picture of my friend Al. We were inside a cabana and I clicked a picture of her taking pictures. Hi Al. :D

And then here is my Mark, enjoying the view.

A moose. Up close and personal.

Hugo the bear. Kind of glad there was a fence between us. I was intrigued and amazed but yes I am scared of bears.

The bald eagle. So beautiful, words can not describe.

More bear cubs.

Then off back to Anchorage and off the the Farmers Market. 

Lets just say...the furs were interesting. 

I did at one point try on a fur coat, just to say I tried one on. I felt a little...lets just say fur coats are not for me. 

  I did love this tea pot wind chime. I could totally see the ourside of my house having a couple of these. :D I wish I would have taken a picture of the most amazing Halibut taco I had. Truly amazing. I want to go back now. Just a couple of more days please. 

Boo Hoo. Time to say good bye to Anchorage. While I wanted to stay longer Mark couldn't. I think he now realizes why I wanted to stay longer. Maybe next year??? There is so much more I want to do. So much more I want to see.

6/10 - Super easy calendar

In honor of my son's upcoming 21st birthday I've been posting (on his facebook wall) tons of baby pictures of him. Look wasn't he the cutest baby ever.

In my kitchen I love to hang my DIY calendars. For this month I bring you my son Johnny. This picture is of him on his first birthday. And to think the little sucker is going to be 21 in a couple of days. Yes ladies, I am accepting applications for daughter-in-law's.    

DIY Calendar if you want to make your own click on the link (  
bucket_2011.abr) and download the photoshop brushes. Print on an 8x 11.5 sheet of card stock. Decorate. I hanged my layout on an 9 x 12 piece of cardboard with some clothes hangers and some twine. Super easy. And you can make a unique calendar each month. :) enjoy.    

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Happy Almost your 21st Birthday Johnny

5.12.2011 Pocket full of sunshine

Have you watched that film Easy A? Emma Stone's character, Olive, receives a music card from a grandparent. She opens up the card and it starts singing, over and over again, I've got a pocketful of sunshine.... etc. She quickly closes it and says..worst song ever! Then all of sudden she sings it all weekend long..here click on the video below.

Well yesterday morning started off for me like that. Mark started playing that song for me and it was stuck in my head all day. I kept telling myself being "technically" over 40 isn't all that bad. Unless you have a child who loves to tell you "Mama you are old." I wanted to tell that brat yeah but not old enough to still spank you. He is just excited he is going to be 21 in a month. So what. 21 just means you are more of an adult than ever! So what if you can go to bars. So what if you can go to Vegas and gamble. whatever Johnny don't make me start telling all of your potential girlfriends how you use to cry while watching Lion King. 

All in all it really was a good day. Started off with a nice walk around the UCLA Campus. Came home. My young men (blah) were there waiting for me. I cooked dinner. I had been craving those little  Lasagna Cupcakes. Totally YUMMY!! They are small and perfect. Just add a bread roll and a yummy salad..and presto dinner is served. I love cooking with this little woman! Thank you for helping me Mariah.     

Instead of a cake we had Tea Cakes from Coral Cafe in Burbank. Don't tell Mark but yes I actually like them. He tries to 'push' them on me saying they are so good this and that...I always say they suck only because he loves them..haha but no really they are very good.

See here we are at my little birthday celebration. It was perfect. Quiet, at home, aahhh relaxation.

L-R. My mom holding Scarlett, Mark, Joshua, Mariah, Me, Marcus, and that one trying to bite me is my almost 21 year old Johnny. 

Thank you Mona for taking this beautiful picture. 

 

I have this little tradition, I try to take a picture of me with my men, but can you tell they really aren't into it. I'll take a picture, look at it, oh that sucks lets do another one. Totally frustrates them :( punks, so here are the best ones.

I tried. I would have loved to have one photo of all three of us together, but yeah right. Trying to tear them apart from the TV just wasn't going to work. But that is OK I was happy. Happy to have all 3 of them here with me. Gosh I sound all mushy, but yes I was very happy. Then I decided to take photos of me, to remind me to enjoy what is around me and know that I can't fix everything but to enjoy the moment.

Top Left Picture - My contact wanted to fall out of my eye, my eyes weren't use to smiling so much. hah

Top Right - That is me trying to take a cutesie sort of picture.

Bottom Left - I was trying to bring out my inner hippie with a peace thing. But really I wondered, what do I look like laying down. What does Mark see when coming to bed. hahaha

Bottom Right - Is me looking at my mood ring and telling Mark..it says NOT IN THE MOOD. hahaha

All in all it was a wonderful birthday spent with those I love. Thank you for for the wonderful emails and phone calls. It really made my day.

5.11.2011 - It's my Birthday

Yes this is me, my mom said I was the prettiest baby ever!! I haven't changed much right?

Today in honor of my birthday I thought I’d write about my favorites. Favorite songs, favorite things to do, etc. Lately I’ve become that friend that doesn’t smile. Me…the one who was voted having the best smile in my high school graduating class, yeah that just made me laugh too. Today I am making it a point to smile until it hurts. And for those of you wondering…Bucket are you at work today? YES I AM! Today I will be that person who is walking around with the biggest smile. You know that person who you see walking down the street and you wondering..Humm what the heck are they smiling about and you just want to slap that smile off their face - haha …yes that will be me!!

OK on to my favorites.

Songs

1. Pumped Up Kicks – Foster the people

2. You are the best thing - Ray LaMontagne

3. I do - Cobie Caillat

4. Till the world ends - Brittney Spears 

5. Peacock - Katy Perry  Ok well this is not the offical 'Katy Perry" music video..but I LOVE IT! And hey is that Gretchen from the RHOC? haha I love it.

6. The Cave - Mumford & Sons

7. Lazy Song - Bruno Mars  This song totally describes me! I'll be lounging on the couch just chilling with my snuggie - oh doesn't that sound great!!

8. Rumour Has it - Adele Actually anything by Adele. I love her music. I hinted a few months back to The Man that I wanted to go to her concert. So if you have a friend, who has a friend, who knows a friend that wants a friend to go with them to any of the Los Angeles area concerts...CALL ME.

9. Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees

10. I adore mi amor - Color me Bad Yeah I know you love this song too..admit it! Just watching the video really makes me laugh!

11. Blame it on the rain - Milli Vanilli

12. Ain't no Fun - Snoop Dogg 

13. Look out Weekend - Debbie Deb

14. C'Mon 'N Ride It - Quad City DJ's

15. Living on Video - Trans X

16. Smile - Uncle Kracker

17. We like to Party - Vengaboys

18. Señorita - Justin Timberlake You do know he wrote this song for me. 

Whew that took me forever to do. I had this silly idea, oh wouldn't it be great to post 41 of my favorites songs. Really? No.

Things I like to do, and this may sound like a match dot come add.

I like to take long walks, hold hands, go to the movies, share ice cream, cuddle, dance like no one is watching, sing at the top of my lungs, and smile lots..yes see I am smiling. On-line shopping, scrapbooking, marathons, people watching, shopping, love concerts, love trying out new foods, love meeting new people - when actually I am very shy, long drives, best of all I love lounging on the sofa and watching movies.

Ok that's it. I really have to get back to work. And with that I leave you with a photo from my 40th Birthday party. And what a party that was. :)

5.3.2011 Bad...Bad....Blogger

Fake it. That is what I tell myself each time I’m about to update. Make it sound awesome. Make it sound like you have a life. Truth is..I don’t have one. Well not an exciting one anyway. I think it’s not exciting, but maybe it’s not all that bad.




For example. A couple of weeks ago I attended my cousin Rudy’s birthday 40th party. The party was held at Frank’s loft. Hahah I thought we were going to a club called Frank’s Loft. The address was in Downtown Los Angele in the Fashion District area. So here I thought how cool. Ends up we went to a loft that belonged to their friend Frank. Well..what can I say..technically it was Franks loft. Haha and a beautiful loft it was. David, Rudy’s Partner, sure knows how to put on a party. The finger food was delicious. The cake was to die for. And David totally spoiled Rudy. It was a great night spent with my family.

Top Left Picture - L to R. David, Espi, Rudy and me.
Next Picture. Me and Veronica on the roof top enjoying the Downtown LA View.
Bottom left Picture - Me and my funny looking cousin who is going to buy me a mood ring for my birthday! Rudy don't piss me off! hah
Bottom Left - what can I say about this. It all started pretty innocent. My sister Veronica is a little "WILD" yes wild is the word. Here you have Veronica, My cousin Espi - think she got behind Veronica because she was scarred her boob was going to get grabbed, then you have Nana (Adriana), then me. I am the innocent one. haha
 

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Am I still running? It's been a slow process. Stress + injuries + stress + no motivation + stress = just not into it. I've been trying to motivate myself. This last weekend was good. I was able to push out 16.45 miles. I didn't run at all. Each time I tried to run..OUCH. So I figured, ok screw the running and just walk it. So me and my friend Rachelle walked and talked. It was nice. 

Afterwards I felt great. You'd think I’d be super sore but I wasn't. My ankle felt good. My shins weren't throbbing. I had told myself if I can do these 16 miles then I can do the full marathon. I was ready to bump myself down to doing the half marathon. L I know it’s the stress that is just totally affecting me. Stupid stress.

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What else...oh YES..Can't forget it's my birthday month. I have one of those Heidi Swapp Calendar's in my kitchen and each month I try to create a layout that represents that month. For this month's layout I created this. I love these photos. My mom always made my sister and I homemade cakes and jello. Thinking back she always gave us the best birthday parties ever. We always had tons of friends over. I won't lie I do wish I could go back and just be a fly on the wall. I would love to see what I was like as a kid. Lucky for me I have a great mom that loved to take lots of pictures.

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and with that...I leave you with this cutie. She has been pushing that button...that I really want to have a baby with Mark button. Lucky for her the button is stuck and has an out of order sign on it.

Oh in case your wondering about an update on the wedding. haha no updates. Well I picked up my dress. It's sitting pretty in my closet. It is really cute. I think I am going to do one of those mass texts hours before the event. And yes an event it will be. I need to keep the Famarazzi (Family Paparazzi)at arms length. I think with everything else that is going on the wedding thing is the furthest thing on my mind. So hey save your McDonald's coupons, your invitation is coming soon. :)~

4/8 Project Life Update

It's not that I haven't been keeping up with my photos, its that uummm.... let me think about a good excuse and get back to you. Here goes.

Week 10 Project Life Pages

Week 11 Project Life Pages

For this week I decided to do a layout on my dress. :D *Big Cheesy smile*. My little sister Diana helped me pick out the dress and I absolutely love it. I can't wait to wear it.   

Week 12 Project Life

Blurry Picture? It's of my baby nephew. He is too young to be exposed to the Internet. haha.. no really just respecting my sisters wishes and not posting his picture. Welcome to the word baby Z. May you keep your mom and dad up all night and holler like there is no tomorrow. :D Nothing like being new parents right?

The Price is Right!!! On a whim I asked for tickets and got'em. It really was the best time ever. I've had this crush on Drew Carey for a long time. Then...finally I got to see him. My heart went pitter patter. I love a man that can make me laugh and he sure can. Him and his fake cigarettes...I love it. You had to be there.

Best training shirt in the world arrived! Marine Corps Marathon 2011...YEAH! And I think Mark has finally admitted to himself he is going to do the run. He kept saying no, but finally is saying he is doing the race. YEAH!! 

...that's all folks.

4/6 What a mess...but a happy mess

Mark and my dad have been talking about redoing the kitchen floor. If you have ever been to my house you would have seen that my floor really needed replacing.



I knew my dad was going to start working on it, but still the mess always gets me right here…A.R.G.H. It’s me. What can I say. I know I will love the finished product but look at my kitchen. :P

My dad said there were about 3 layers of vinyl flooring. Mark and my dad picked out all the flooring. I can't wait to see the completed floor. :D

But that isn't the only thing going on. My shower had been leaking and me not being a plumber thought you could just replace the thingie...the thing that pull to turn the water on and off. Heck.. I'm not a plumber I don't know what it's called.  

Well instead of replacing that thing...the plumber had to tear out all the guts. Can you see it? Only thing that makes me sad is that the tile is a vintage soft yellow and very hard to find. I have a feeling I am going to have mismatching shower tile. Oh well....but I get a new shower head and all the other stuff. So I am happy. BUT in the meantime I have to use the boys bathroom..kinda gross but I came out alive.

This is the face I got from my dad when I walked in the door yesterday. No reason I am posting this but just to say thanks Dad..i love you mucho.Cute right? Now you know where I get my looks from. 

Since I couldn't cook dinner...hahah... i decided to scrapbook. 

It's been a while since I scrapbooked and really not having a kitchen available to me gave me the excuse to go hide in my room. :) I've missed my room.

Not more then 20 minutes later I got the cutest visitor.  

 If you haven't seen all the photos of her on Facebook, this is Scarlett she is Mark's baby niece. We had the best visit yesterday. At one point I was holding her and she just started talking to me, yes baby talk but it was the best conservation ever. She is absolutely adorable.

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I haven't talked about my training lately and here is an update. Pure A.W.E.S.O.M.E.ness!!!! OK who bought tickets to the dodger game in my name? No really?? Who are are you? I can't thank you enough! I received a total of $370 from the Dodger game fundraiser. I know of about maybe 20 tickets or so, but I wasn't expecting 37!! THANK YOU!!!

My fundrasing total is currently at $1,905. I have 1 matching gift ($800) that I am waiting to hit my paycor account and once it does...the rest is just down hill. WOW...WOW..WOW...Yes I am patting myself on the back. This has been an amazing fundraising season. Thank you all who have donated.  

My next event is Drag Queen Bingo. If you have never attended one of these events you must. Email me if you want more info.