Blazin Bratwurst Batman!

One of my favorite summertime meals is the compact charred sausage of the God's, the almighty Bratwurst. It isn't that the bratwurst is completely flavorful on it's own, nor is it actually healthy since they are generally loaded with fat. I think that the greatest part of the bratwurst is that it is cooked on the grill, which ultimately means it is getting close to summer.

I love summer cookouts where we can enjoy the warm summer days with no thought of needing a jacket until the sun goes down. Which, now that I'm cold all the time is a significant benefit of the summer months. As the days get longer and warmer, I'm looking forward to more cookouts with grilled bratwurst, chicken, veggies and fruit. Yum!

Cloud Hopping

As a parent, I have had to use time-outs as a punishment for bad behavior from my son. I know I am not alone in my use of this type of behavior modification and for those of you that use it, you know perfectly well that it works! I personally view it as a gift although I'm sure my son would argue incessantly that it is quite the opposite. It gives them a chance to reflect on their actions, decompress from the amount of stimuli they have been exposed to and regroup their thoughts yielding a renewed focus on future behavior. I don't know about you, but that sounds like something all of us could use! I think it is important to take breaks from our grown-up world view. We need to regularly experience the world with a fresh set of eyes focused only on the creative use of things in our everyday lives.

This week I had to travel to Dallas for a training seminar and unfortunately had to book my flights at the last minute. This meant that in I had to suffer through non direct flights with not only one, but two stops, extending a 2 hour flight into 5+ hours. With the department expansion effort at work there is plenty of work that I could have been doing but I needed a bit of down time before heading back into the throes of the hectic pace tomorrow. So, I decided to put myself in time-out. I'm certainly glad I did because if I hadn't I would have missed a terrific moment.

After a very brief stop in Amarillo, we headed on to Denver where we travelled through some pretty amazing airspace complete with the most beautiful cumulonimbus clouds I have ever seen (yes, i had to look it up). All at once I felt like a kid again having dreams of being able to hop from cloud to cloud sitting atop the world looking across the vast expanse of blue sky and open landscape. As a kid, I used to think that those type of clouds might feel like big squishy cotton balls and taste like the mist amazing vanilla cotton candy. As we cruised along I wondered what my son, Justin, would think or rather, has thought about the clouds when he's gotten the chance to travel in similar conditions.

For those few moments I realized just how lucky I am. Despite the pressures of balancing work, home, exercise, school, personal time and developing my business, I truly am lucky to have just that one moment where nothing else mattered. Life is good and I believe those few moments will give me the fuel I need to press on for a while longer but, and this is the most important part, with a bit more spring in my step.

Schedule your time-out; you deserve it.

Officially a Runner?

At what point do you consider yourself a runner? I can tell you that in my life never did I think that my name and runner would be used the same sentence. I dreaded it, hated it, nay, in fact, I loathed it.

Running was a dreadful activity and I could never ever fathom why anyone would want to do it for fun. I always assumed those were the people that weren't quite crazy enough to be committed.... Yet. Even in high school I marveled at those willing to join the cross country team. "They must be accepting bribes", I thought to myself. Why would anyone want to punish themselves voluntarily? Now, I find myself drawn to it.

In my first ever "race", my brother dubiously tricked me into it by claiming that it was a charity walk. Walking, I like, in fact I'll would have walked to the ends of the earth and back if my iPod would have lasted that long. But this was a formal 5k, complete with timing chips and runners who are clambering to the front of the line while clinging to the hope of shaving a second or so off their personal records. I was now amongst them, me and all of my 289 pounds of flesh.

I walked the entire way, comforted only by the fact that I was still passing folks. (Lest we talk about the fact that they were either ancient or newly walking toddlers). Nevertheless, I finished and even jogged the last 100 yards before I needed a lung transplant. I have to admit however, that the mere act of participating in an event such as that was a bit exciting and brought back a flood of memories from the 4 years of high school track and field meets that shaped my very being.

After surgery, I reflected on that first 5k and thought it might be a good goal and motivator to get my butt moving in the exercise arena. One of the hottest trends in the sport are mud runs, invented I am sure, in order to attract a fresh audience who might otherwise shun the sport in favor of other less boredom inflicting pursuits. Given that I was a reluctant participant, I thought that the mud and obstacles might make for an interesting break and make running suck just a little less.

The MS 10k Mud (and obstacle) Run was my first real (voluntary) foray into the world of running. While interesting in concept and perhaps fun for others, I found the mud an unnecessary obstacle that, at times, seemed hell bent on making me wish I were dead. Granted, it probably didn't help that I was only 3 months out of surgery and attempting to slog through 6+ miles of mud and sand on less than 600 calories. However, I still find no use for an interruption in my pace. Give me some tunes and just let me go.

I've found lately that I've gotten stronger and less likely to fall over dead at the thought of participating in a marathon. While I hated the mud run, I continued to use running/walking as my cardio exercise of choice. I have had quite a few breakthroughs recently that I'd like to share with you, if for no other reason than to get a few "atta girls!".

When I first began "training" I couldn't run for more than 30 seconds at a time rendering every single couch to 5k program useless and disheartening.
Three weeks ago: I ran for 2 minutes straight.
The week following: 5 minutes
Last week: 10 minutes with an average pace of 13:02/mile
Three days later: average pace of 11:45/mile

I might not ever make it to the coveted elite classes of runners with paces in the single digits, but by hell, I think I'm a runner now!

God's Untimely Reminder

The death of a loved one always seems to bring us back to the reality that life is infinitely precious and we need to do a better job of using our moments more wisely.  Two weeks ago I was unfortunately reminded of this when a very dear friend of mine, Matt Lassen, suddenly passed away from cancer at the age of 42.  Matt was not just a friend, but he was also my first boyfriend. 

I wasn't much of a "dater" in high school, well, to be honest, I didn't date at all.  As a matter of fact, the only reason I got to go to prom with a date, was due to the break up of my two friends Frank and Roseanne.  Looking back on those years, I am glad that it was that way.  Your first love is always one that you will remember, but since I was in college at the time that I met Matt I was able to truly appreciate the relationship.  I have always held him very dear to my heart.  He once said that I was one of the most influential people in his life and that I helped him grown-up and I believe that he did the same for me.

I loved every minute that I was able to spend with him even though Matt wasn't the type of person that I could have made a life with.  He could be abrasive, cynical, intolerant and above all, argumentative, not unlike someone else I knew intimately at the time, (a.k.a. me).  He loved to question and debate ideas and in his mind, his opinion was right.  Unfortunately for him so were mine.  ;)  We had some fun ones, Matt and I.  I remember once, we debated for hours while sitting on the tailgate of his truck one summer night.  We had just finished watching Contact and were discussing what we would do if we were the POTUS and found out that Aliens were hovering right outside our atmosphere.  I think back on that night and wonder why it ended with us being mad at each other.  It was a silly debate that was purely speculation and opinion.  I suppose that is what happens when you are young and both people "know everything".

Matt was such a tender-hearted soul.  He was always concerned about those around him and was always the first one to think of everyone else.  He had a deep love of music and if you ask his family, this was a constant in his life from the time he was very young.  He was never able to teach me how to play the guitar, lest I forget the chord progression lessons, but I was more content to listen to him play.  He was always more than willing to share a tune with me and just a few years ago, sent a song to me that he had written and finished called swimming in your smile.  Unfortunately, I can't post it here since a virus wiped out our hard drive and I lost it along with all the other documents and pictures that were so important. as well.


Matt taught me so many things that I am proud to claim as personality traits now.  I am eternally thankful to him for the time we had together, I only wish that I could have said goodbye in person.

Easter Sunday 2012

With the girls living in St. George with their mom and Justin visiting his dad in Oregon, this Easter weekend was a great time for Chad and I to reconnect as a couple.  The weather was unbelievably beautiful with highs near the low 70's. 

 
We decided to go to the University of Utah Red Butte Gardens to see what plants were in bloom.  














While most of the plants and trees where still shaking off their winter slumber, some early risers were ready and willing to greet us with their colorful smiles. (and yes, that is snow below :)

I can't wait to go back in a few weeks and explore the grounds to find out what other beauty we can discover.

After walking around the grounds for a few hours, Chad and I were pretty hungry, as you can see by Chad's attempt to eat the cacti and my Yelp Restaurant search, so we headed to downtown Salt Lake City for a bite to eat. 

We had two options in mind, Bruges Waffles and Frites, or Caputo's Deli where we would have probably spent a chunk of change on cheeses and specialty meats.

But instead, we ended up at Gracie's around 2:30 pm where we were happily surprised to find that weekend brunch didn't end until 3pm and the food was pretty dang delicious. 

I ordered a Bloody Mary to go along with the few bites of jalepeno and ham Quiche du Jour that I was going to savor.  My drink had plans other than the one I laid out however, and decided to jump out of my glass, through the metal mesh tabletop and onto my white pants.  Arrgghhh!!!  Hopefully Spray and Wash will come to the rescue so I don't have to break out the bleach.

 Today was a good day and the sunshine did great things for my mood.  I am feeling rejuvenated and ready for the week ahead.  Bring it on!