My first time, sadly.

So guess what I discovered at Kaiser today?? I have bronchitis. BOOOOOOO!!!!! I don't think I've ever had it before. Luckily since my cold was nearly two weeks ago -- and the cough has lingered -- I'm in the early stages of acute bronchitis. The positive to take away here is that I am no longer annoyingly coughing, there's a diagnosis and I've been given a prescription now.

After my hour and a half jaunt at the doctor's, my throat hurt from all the coughing. Armed with my new meds, I needed food to wash it down.

You know what I'm going to say, don't you?? I ordered a nonfat frozen chai from Starbuck's ;)

I returned home just in time for dinner... and our weekday dinner plans had already been made in advance! I bought so much fun stuff at Trader Joe's (shocking) that we agreed on trying it all each day of the week. On the menu for tonight's meal was home-made orange chicken sort of like in a stir fry bowl. I bedded mine with brown rice and tossed in edamame, green beans, broccoli and some almonds.

P.S. Trader Joe's orange chicken is DELICIOUS!!! It's much healthier than the Panda Express orange chicken. I did use the chopsticks for a bit, but the edamame proved tricky so I eventually opted for a fork. Usually whenever we go out for Asian food, hot tea is always served out of cute little kettles. I was feeling in the mood -- and so was my throat! -- for some green tea. Enter my giant box 'o tea. From France (also, shocking, right??).

After dinner and getting owned by Jeopardy! (usually it's the other way around, guys!!!) my throat still bugged me. Despite amoxicillin. Despite Robitussin. Despite Halls cough drops. What's Monique's remedy then??

That's right.... frozen yogurt!! I mixed a little bit of blueberry, pomegranate and tart yogurt together and adorned them with dark chocolate chips, blueberries and kiwi at the yogurt shop. When I got home I dumped in the remainder of yesterday's mango. It's a surprise I'm not orange after all the mango I've been eating today!

And that's all she wrote, folks. Hopefully I'll get a better night's sleep now that the dog is accustomed to his cone and I'm on cough meds. (Yeah right....)

What's your favorite fro-yo flavor and topping combination?? I looove anything fruity, tart and dark chocolate-y.

I wanna be sedated (too)

Like my puppy, I've been sort of groggy today with an overall feeling of just  going through the motions. It could be due to Woodstock's lack of sleep and overall discomfort with the cone around his neck. Poor little guy kept me up all night. Well, more like the combination of him moving around and me hacking up a lung. Eventually I fell asleep around 6ish, then slept through my alarm until about 9:30 a.m. Oops.

I told my boss I'd be in late today (he knew about Woody's surgery) and then dozed a bit longer. Then I finally hopped in the shower, braided my hair and assembled some breakfast to bring to work.

Apparently I was in luck the day I went to Trader Joe's -- they just got a first-time shipment in of these little beauties:

Unfortunately, I only bought one. But oooooh my gooooodness, I will be back for more! I topped mine with the last stolen muffin, freshly cut-up mango (has anyone ever cut up mangoes??? that's a chore and a half) and craisins.

I had two decently-sized projects going on at work today to keep me busy until 1 p.m. When I finally reached a good stopping point, I went home to feed Woodstock his first real meal since 10 p.m. the night before his surgery. In case you're wondering, he's doing fine today! He's much more animated and jumpy again -- not too much since I'm supposed to keep him calm -- and he even ate!!

As did I. First, I soothed my throat with some chocolate soy milk... in a "juice box"!!!!

Then I repeated last night's dinner. The microwaved leftovers really weren't pretty, so I'll just show you some photos from dinner. We had peppercorn garlic crusted pork tenderloin, asparagus and rosemary roasted potatoes.

Oh. My. God. I'm not a pork fan (exception being pulled pork), in fact I steer clear of tenderloins and pork chops. But this made me rethink my entire stance!!!!! We plopped it in the oven for 25 minutes and let it do its thang. The result came out being tender and juicy and fulllll of flavor. I'd buy it again!

For dessert after lunch I continued my theme of feeling like a little kid with sliced apples dipped in peanut butter ;) Ah, the simple pleasures in life.

Since I forgot to snap a photo, I leave you with last night's dessert. One of the best things I've had in a loooong time!!!

They're premade sorbets in fruit cups. This one was orange mango in a hollowed out orange. I topped the cups with fresh mango and blueberries. It tasted so fresh and tropical and awesome. My sore throat loved me.... for a little bit anyway. My only regret is that just one cup remains in the freezer.

Anyone with a Costco card want to buy me some new ones?!?!? I'll pay you back, I promise :)

In a couple of minutes I'm actually going to the doctor. J.D. and my coworkers are annoyed concerned with the coughing fits I've been having. One lasted for several minutes last night and left me with strained abdomen muscles. It really sucked, slash, hurt. So I guess I'll go get it checked out just to be on the safe side. I mean, it has been nearly two weeks since I've been sick now.

Banana soft serve fail

I know. Everyone's raving about banana soft serve. With temperatures being in the 100s here, my bananas are turning brown and yucky in less than a day. What's the most obvious solution, then?

Freeze the bananas! Naturally, with frozen bananas, I figured it was finally time to give into banana soft serve.

I don't know about you guys, but I chopped this sucker up into small little pieces and then proceeded to blend it up in my Cuisine Art processor. Except, it didn't get all creamy and smooth. It was lumpy and warm and runny. In the time I tried to process the banana, it basically melted and took FOR-EVER to blend up. I figured I'd try to salvage it with some strawberries, but it didn't help a whole lot.

Look how runny and bubbly it is :( Because the consistency was so lackluster, I eventually left it in the freezer to firm up during dinner. Fail #2: I completely forgot about it until bedtime. By then I started whipping up some overnight oats and realized this blend was waaaay too hard for consumption. Fingers crossed, I put it back into the fridge along with my overnight oats, hoping it'd soften up by the morning.

Eventually it did, but the blend reverted back to its soupy texture by the time I was ready to eat. I half-heartedly mixed up my oats and readied a parfait glass for strawberry banana soft serve overnight oats. Topped with blueberries.

Apparently I'm 0-for-2.... I put a bit too much milk in the overnight oats ;) In all, it tasted fine. Just like fruity overnight oats. Nothing special, or life-changing. I was kind of hoping for something like that. Alas, I may have to try again. Any suggestions as to how I can make this a more enjoyable dining experience??

I went out with some co-workers for lunch, since I didn't have to feed Woodstock for lunch. He got his business taken care of at the vet today and as it starting hitting 98º -- yes like the boy band -- after 4 p.m., I had a craving for some kind of icy coffee beverage. Except, when I picked him up and took Woody home, I saw this unhappy little face.

He's so drugged out and groggy, he's done nothing but sleep all day. I'm supposed to keep a close eye on the pup to make sure he doesn't jump on anything or run around all crazy and fast. I knew I couldn't leave him home alone while I walked to Starbucks, so I got creative and made some iced coffee at home.

I put a splash of milk in a glass in the freezer to let it get all icy and chunky, then French pressed up some coffee. The coffee was waaay too strong for my liking in this application, so I added in a spoonful of home-made caramel, compliments of my sister Aimée!

The caramel iced coffee hit the spot! And it worked two-fold in that I got to stay home with the baby while he recovers :)

Dinner awaits me on the table, so I must go tend to it!! :)

Then I'm from Venus??

Ok, I've been putting it off forever. But guess what kids.... I RAN LAST NIGHT!!! It wasn't that spectacular because my lungs still burned for a little while afterwards. I know, baby steps, I'm trying. I also had to wait until after sunset to run since it hit 102º yesterday, yikes!

Good news about waiting so late to run, however, is that I got to see this (well, not literally, but same thing just on a different skyline):

(Source)

Since the sun sets well past 9:00 p.m. here in California, I get to see Venus setting on the horizon! Venus is distinguishable from all the stars in the sky in that it's not a giant ball of gas, therefore, doesn't flicker in the sky! It's a piercing white light that sets in the horizon shortly after the sun, but on rare occasions it can follow the moon as seen in the photo above. Not too far behind it is Mars, a beaming red point that sets in the horizon. Booyah, freshman year Astronomy!

I don't really know why that pumped me up, but it did! And even though I've steered clear of running for several days now, I got back into it real quick. I just wanted to start light and ease back slowly so I only completed a 2.13 mile loop. But get this, my first mile was at a 7:22 pace!!! Insane, right?!? Eventually I finished the entire thing at an 8:04 minute/mile so do the math and figure out what my second mile's pace was -- I'm not mathematically inclined, so unless my iPhone tells me, I have no clue what my pace is, ha.

On my way back from the run, I stopped to see if I could spot Venus again. Indeed it sat lower on the horizon, but still slightly visible! I was also sort of bummed because the first constellation I ALWAYS can spot no matter where I am, is Orion's Belt. Not this time however. Instead, I located both Dippers and also Scorpio meaning that Orion probably wasn't too far away. It had to have been super clear last night. Pretty cool, huh?

So let's rewind then and go back through my moderately fun-filled day.

It started off with my "stolen muffins" from the Sunday brunch. They were so delicious, I had to snag two! It was some sort of zucchini-carrot hybrid with raisins and cranberries inside and coconut sprinkled on top. It was the inspiration behind my morning oatmeal -- I notice a lot of you guys put muffin crumbles in oatmeal so I wanted to play too!

Inside my BetterOats Raw Chai Spiced oatmeal went blueberries, half a banana, a drizzle of almond butter and of course the glorious muffin!

These, by the way, are AMAZING!!! It's part of the new school of oatmeals which are trying to cut down on packaging usage by making smaller containers. I'm not sure how much we're actually saving here, since the package only includes five oatmeal packets instead of the usual 12ish most boxes offer.

Either way, I love chai spice. I love it so much I eat it in my oatmeal now :) Inside of my travel series London coffee mug, I did not have chai. Sorry to disappoint! Instead, it was Republic of Tea pineapple guava white tea. So tropical and awesome.

For lunch I came home to feed the baby and also myself. I was in a rush to get back to my office so I had a PB&J sandwich on whole wheat bread, pita chips, edamame and carrots all to be dipped in my new olive hummus. The hummus didn't live up to my high expectations, but it was tasty. I polished the meal off with a white nectarine, which was much to my dismay, not yet ripe.

I felt like a little girl with this lunch!

Work was a frenzy of activity and before I knew it, it was already 4:00. So I went home and played with my dog. J.D. wasn't in the mood for dinner when he arrived -- apparently lunch made him sick -- and I still felt congested from my yucky sore throat, so cold cereal sounded good. I'm hoping this weird craving for non-substantial foods ends with my cold ASAP.

I didn't have much time to eat anyways, so the cereal fit the bill. As did the first College World Series game. It felt super weird watching it on TV!!!

Smart Start with craisins and a baseball game!

After my "dinner" we rushed out the door to take Woodstock to his puppy training class. Can't believe he only has three more before graduating!! We both feel super bad at what's going on today so we decided to overload him with all the activities he'll miss in the next week due to his recovery. After puppy class we let him play at the dog park until the sun set and then J.D. even let him sleep on the couch while he watched TV and I ran ;)

Post run, you're pretty much caught up now! I went to work here and then called it a night.

Bet you'll never guess what kind of tea I had while catching up on blogs. That's right, chai spiced tea. I should see a group for this or something.... But how cute is the tea bag platter?!?! My mom bought it for me in France a few years back ♥

Question: What motivates/inspires you to run? Maybe unrelated, but do you like to star-gaze??

Sunday Brunch, Inspired Dinner & Boy Things

Have I ever told you guys how much I looove Sunday brunch? Well if not, consider this me shouting it from the rooftops. Or typing quietly from my dining room. Whichever image seems more appealing to you.

The one yesterday morning was no different, my friends. J.D.'s parents -- whose last name is Fox -- took us to a shocker of a restaurant in Lodi called The Dancing Fox.

I don't lie.

From what I gather, it's a bakery that serves pastries, coffee, sandwiches and also has a wine tasting room in the back. Sundays it shuts down all operations in favor of the Brunch Buffet, which includes their "world famous" bread pudding, pastries, fruits, French toast, bacon/sausage and the omelet bar.

I kept my sampling light opting for half a plate of fruit, sausage and one crab cake eggs benedict. Just like last night, I forwent the egg yolks and also the English muffin below.

Why do you ask?!? Because I was saving up room for an OMELET! I asked if he made egg white omelets and the man, bless his little heart, was so cute. He walked over to the fridge and skillfully cracked and separated the eggs with one hand in front of my eyes, dazzling those in line for omelets. So cute!!! Inside my two egg white omelet went spinach, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, olives and artichoke hearts. DI-VINE!

I may or may not have wrapped some pastries in napkins for a breakfast to come. This chick steals glasses from bars and now pastries from buffets?! Classy. After we filled our bellies, J.D. and I went in search of a car dealer that actually had cars on the lot. I am IN LOVE with the Ford Fusion or the Ford Edge. He thought it'd be fun if we went out and test drove cars, but the puppy needed lunch and I don't plan on buying a vehicle for at least three more years. Have to bum around in the Taurus a little longer than I'd hoped apparently....

Well, we also got serious about cleaning post-vacation when we reached the house. Because a gnarly mess awaited us. I'm not going to lie and say we finished. But it's getting manageable. I cleaned the kitchen, dining room and living room and for the most part, cut back on all our clutter piles that have been neglected due to us working every weekend solidly from August to May. We also dusted top-to-bottom.

After all that hard work and 100° temperatures, a cold treat was very much in order! I went for pomegranate raspberry mixed with blueberry tart yogurt and then topped it off with blackberries, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries and dark chocolate/yogurt chips.

Yes, I ate it ALL!

Oh man the Midwest is missing out on this! We went on a mission nearly on a daily basis and could not find any make-your-own-yogurt shops. Why are you guys hiding them from tourists?!?! No worries though, since I got my fix back home :)

We both came to the conclusion that the best way to treat ourselves after yogurt was to stay inside with the AC on full blast and catch up on all the TV shows we missed while away. Again, not even close to caught up, but we did watch several episodes of Jeopardy! and Next Food Network Star ♥ Then my stomach beckoned to me. I was up to the challenge and answered its call.

Dinner was entirely based around my new find at T.J.'s from Friday:

Unfortunately I subjected them to a horrible fate (other than consumption, duh). Surprisingly the patties were quite large, so I butchered them into quarters and made four sliders for Mr. Fox and myself! Complete with sweet potato frites:

And a fruit spinach salad with MORE basil. I'm on a basil kick, for real. Good thing I've kept the plant alive for several days now, eh? Can we call me a green thumb? Too soon?

And I also poured us a sweet treat with dinner -- gotta love my ever-present sweet tooth!

Trader Joe's sparkling clementine juice. I tried to be good and cut mine with La Croix grapefruit sparkling water, so it was like a half-and-half. But, totally defeats the purpose when you have a refill -- twice. So it was like I had a full glass of the juice and a full glass of the sparkling water. Oh well ;)

After dinner I took the little wiener out for a walk and now that he's learning to go outside without any stage fright whatsoever any more, he's introducing new things into my life. Boy things... Like lifting his leg -- this started about two weeks ago. Today was another new one. Marking his territory. Oh no, what have I done?!?! I guess I should let him, it's the least I can do before we strip him of his manhood tomorrow :-\ Yep, the big boy-cutting day is nearly upon us. Sorry puppy!

Do you have pets?

How I'm staying cool

Ah, summer. Glad you're finally here. I love nothing more than high temperatures, over-sized sunglasses and lounging around by the pool reading trashy magazines and high-brow novels. Alright, you got me, I don't read trashy magazines. I rarely even buy magazines (but am currently on a little Runner's World kick, ha, get it?).

Yesterday I had a great deal of inspiration to keep myself cool, but also staying semi-healthy to make up for the liquid calorie fest in which I'd indulged the night before.

After breakfast, I had this craving for carnival fare. However it'd have to wait. Lunch was the leftover "light dinner" I was supposed to have at Applebees, but instead binge drank. The meal itself wasn't half bad. It was on the lighter options: Grilled Shrimp with Island Rice and Veggies. I had several skewers of very spicy and deliciously flavored shrimp, steamed veggies and the most surprising and wonderful rice I've had in a very long time! Why island rice, you might ask?? Oh, because it was FULL of tropical flavors, inside the seemingly average side of rice they stuffed slices of mandarin oranges and one of my favorite fruits of all -- PINEAPPLE! Went well with the piña colada I had the night prior, hehe. The rice was a very tasty surprise and I might have to make this at home some time. In all the dish was 550 calories, but since I only had half of it the night before I had extra room for my carnival-inspired snack. Sidenote: I beefed up my lunch by adding some more veggies because I had eaten most of them at dinner. In went some edamame and carrots then it all went into the microwave for Round 2 of eating.

Do you like to eat crappy carnival food? The 4th of July is rapidly approaching and I could NOT wait until then. Last summer I visited my sister in Newport Beach and she told me about how much she looooves frozen bananas. Intrigued, I purchased one but was not pleased. The banana was WAY too hard to eat, but the chocolate melted by the second. It tasted alright, but it was hard work!

So I bring you my healthier take on this goodie. I've had a banana in the freezer for quite some time now. Putting it aside on the counter for five-ish minutes, I whipped up a bowl of microwave chocolate! The contents included a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips, a splash of milk, a veeeeery tiny cube of butter and a spoonful of Maranatha's dark chocolate almond spread. Frankly, I didn't have the patience to wait for it to melt on a double boiler, nor the patience to clean it up, so in the microwave it all went. Two minutes later I had creamy, blended melted chocolate, with a dark twist.

Upon finishing I sliced off the ends of the semi-thawed banana and set forth with the daunting task of peeling a frozen banana. Which, wasn't actually difficult at all! Since I lacked the foresight to put a stick in the banana when I froze it, I plopped it down on some parchment paper and spooned the chocolate right onto the banana. Then rolled it around in some chopped walnuts and indulged in some girly, pink sprinkles.

Don't judge: I know this looks disturbing but it's SOOO GOOOD!!!

Perfection! My only complaint is that I left the banana out to thaw for too long. Imagine that. It kept sliding out of its chocolate casing, but still, was like a party in my mouth. A 4th of July party? Maybe. I'll let you know next week.

During the afternoon, Woodstock started to get a little stir crazy, so I had to find a way to occupy him. While it's taken four months, he's starting to understand asking to go outside to do his business!! YAAAAY!!! Every time he had to go, he did it outside yesterday and once today. This is a big day, people!!! But, he loved it outside so much, he brought the outdoors in. I was reading blogs and before I knew it, an entire flower bush sat in my dining room. What the heck?!? I attempted to put it back outside, but I think the damage is done.

I didn't do it!!

This is why we can't have nice things.

The two of us were by ourselves because J.D. was out for the second night. I was a good girl and cleaned the house after being away for two weeks took the dog out for a loooong run at the dog park after his destructive little afternoon. Time whizzed by, I didn't even realize we'd been there for an hour! But I think Woodstock made a girlfriend there ;) He played with a short-hair lady weenie FOR-EVER! They were so cute. He was actually kind of sad to leave.

When I came back home, I played around with that new basil plant I purchased. Because I'm silly and forgot to buy tomatoes and mozz. Oops.

Instead, I was craving a green smoothie! What do you want from me, I'm sick?!?! I can have breakfast for dinner if I so please :) So I tested out a Basil Green Smoothie:

• 1 peach
• 1/2 c blueberries
• 1/2 c strawberries
• 1/2 c mixed melon
• 1 c spinach
• 6 basil leaves
• 1/2 c skim milk
• 1/2 c orange juice
• 1/2 scoop Aria protein powder
• splash raspberry extract
• handful of ice

And you know what, it actually turned out pretty good! I may have gone overboard with the basil, so if you're a first-timer, maybe opt for a little less. I'm a huge fan of basil in desserts, especially with strawberries. I sampled after the addition of each ingredient so that's where the tweak of raspberry extract came from. And the orange juice; I had so much basil it needed to be cut with some acidity. For those of you who are pros at green smoothies: HOW DO YOU GET THEM SO GREEN?!?! Mine always look sickly brownish. I did notice, however, after refrigerating the other half that it appeared to have gotten greener after about 20 minutes. Thicker too. Interesting, maybe that's the trick??

I imagine this would be good with more strawberries, mango or even a banana to absorb the savory flavors. I was just a little banana-ed out today and my mango's not ripe enough yet. It could use some playing around with, but it turned out to be pretty darn good.

If you're craving a sweet, fruity smoothie this is not the thing for you! However, I wanted fried egg whites and toast with lemon curd, so it was the perfect compliment to a salty-sweet meal. Last night I started attacking our pile of post-vacation laundry because in just over and hour we're off to brunch with J.D.'s parents. I hear they have an omelet bar so you KNOW my camera will be in tow.

Question: What kind of smoothies do you like?? Do you ever get adventurous with weird flavors?

Whoop Whoop

I probably shouldn't make fun of this. But I've had this frickin sore throat/cough for over a week now. Yesterday, it was so bad it started hurting jaw and giving me headaches. And I realized I wasn't actually coughing for a reason, but it seemed like I just had a massive irritant in my throat that kept triggering these fits of coughing.

Then I went online to update my Google Reader, and became overwhelmed by the 102 posts I'd missed over the course of the day I tried to catch up on sleep and went back to work. Putting that off for a little bit, I read some news article on my homepage about a Whooping Cough epidemic in California. Then I started reading the symptoms and freaking myself out (shocking, right??). Basically, anyone who has a cold is described in the "early stages" of Pertussis. But of course, me being the worrying freak that I am, I figured I must have these symptoms. Then I wised up and realized I've only had a cold for about a week now. One of the more painful colds I've had in a while, but you know.

At least I'm back to eating semi-normal again. With the exception of this minor hiccup last night....

Late night happy hour at Applebee's

Right, well besides a $200 bar tab amongst six people -- keep in mind that it was happy hour -- I did mention that I'm getting back on track after stuffing myself silly with crappy food on vacation. I would get so tired and lethargic from eating like that. Honestly, when we returned home I felt like I gained over 5 lbs.: my pants fit tight and shirts felt uncomfortable. But really, I didn't gain anything at all. It must have been due to all the sweat I lost in the humidity, all the walking we did, running up the pressbox stairs and the two runs I got in while on vacation.

After work yesterday I made a much-needed trip to Trader Joe's and $80 later (shared by two people, mind you), this is what my fridge looked like:

Full fridge = happy Monique! Especially since it's full of fruits, veggies, meat, eggs, Greek yogurt and chocolate soy milk :)

I also paid $2 for a basil plant, which turned out to be a good call since a small box of chopped basil was $3! Last time I killed the basil plant by keeping it in too much sunlight outside. So I came up with this solution today:

Hopefully this new home doesn't kill it

I'm hoping Woodstock doesn't get too upset since the bookshelf was the previous storage spot for all his treats. He used to sit under it all the time and when he weighed under 5 lbs., used to nest in the bottom shelf, haha.

Lunch after my T.J.'s run was fulllll of produce, something I'd been lacking over the past two weeks.

This decision to go to Trader Joe's was spurred on by my lack of food for lunch. After work, I stayed home and helped take care of the dog before realizing that it was 1:30 and I was STARVING. I craved a pre-made salad from T.J.'s and then decided to go all-out grocery shopping. I even treated myself to something pretty.

Which is funny, because when J.D. came back from his baseball coach's retirement banquet, he snagged one of the centerpieces which consisted of yellow daisies. He told me it'd been a while since he bought me flowers, so he thought he should bring me some. Awww :)

So after our dinner/drinking at Applebee's last night, I woke up feeling like my entire throat had been swollen shut. Honestly, I think drinking might have been a good idea because my medicine hadn't been working all day. I was suffering from another TMJ-related headache every time I coughed. Alcohol was a great way to numb that feeling, momentarily.

So now I'm trying to get myself up, but waking up to Landon Donovan USA soccer isn't a bad perk up! ;) My boys are watching from the couch, Woodstock may be even more intent on this game from J.D.'s lap while I enjoy a new buy. I love testing out and mixing different cereals for texture. Today it was Smart Start with a new T.J.'s granola, topped off with half a banana, blueberries and almond butter.

Yum, yum, yum. I need to get running soon. THANK YOU ALL for talking me out of this weekend's race. It would have been hell. I'm thinking about maybe delving into some yoga later, I don't know, we'll see.

What do you like to do when you're sick?? Do you try to work out?? I think I'm getting a workout by coughing haha, and lounging in my bed or in front of the t.v.

Guess not.

This really is the trip that won't end. Not in a good way, however.

Our flight from Omaha to Denver ended up boarding at 9:15 p.m. -- over TWO HOURS after our originally-scheduled departure. Luckily for us, the flight from Denver to San Francisco had also been delayed. Except, not. As soon as we touched down into Denver we ran off the plane, having been told we'd still make our connection. But when we got to the gate, the plane was ready to go, if not for the fact that the flight had been canceled. United apparently automatically rescheduled us for the 7:45 a.m. flight out of Denver. We ran trying desperately to find United's last flight to California and there was a 10 p.m. flight to Sacramento...... that just left as we reached the gate. We were screwed.

Apparently everyone and their mom has been delayed near this airport, so all the hotels within a 5-mile radius were booked to the brim. United notified us that we had to pay for any further accommodations at our own expense since all the delays and cancellations were due to a tornado watch that shut down the entire Chicago airport. Are you kidding me?!?! Weather requires us to pay for our own hotel/shuttle/taxi????

Long story short, with no hotels available, we overnighted it at the airport. It was still is probably the most painful thing I've ever done. Yeah we saved $100 or so, but we're both exhausted and sore and utterly run down. Sometimes I really hate traveling.

We looked kind of like this, but with more drool.

(Source)

Honestly though, I'd much rather stay in the sketchy hostels we camped at in Europe. And, well, speaking of worldwide travel, check out this article I ran across at 3 a.m. while tossing and turning on an airport bench:

It happens to me every time I travel overseas. I talk with people who hear about where I’m going, and they always say the same thing: “That sounds amazing! I wish I could do that.”

My reply is always the same: “What’s keeping you from it?”

I’m not being judgmental; I’m just trying to figure out what people’s motivations and priorities are. There really could be a good reason why someone doesn’t travel much, but the responses I hear back is usually variations of these answers...

Intrigued? You can read the entire article here. I think I might start reading more of this guy's writings.

As I write this the sun is rising -- can't tell you the last time I saw that -- so I'm going to briefly enjoy it and simultaneously forgot how beat I am right now. And then I'm going to venture down the gate to Pour la France, a French bistro and bar. A little espresso and a croissant sounds magnifique right about now. Plane boards at 7:05 a.m. Mountain Time. I hope to be back home in the early afternoon. Then crashing for several hours.

I can't believe we're going home!

Again, I failed to reach my goal of waking up early and running today. Last night I went to bed around 1:30 a.m. (our last game finished around 12 a.m.) and set my alarm for 7:45 a.m. I planned on working out for around 45 minutes to an hour in order to grab some free hotel breakfast before it closed down at 9 a.m. Instead, I continued to hit snooze until it was my turn to shower at 10:30 a.m. No storms to report today, so that's good news.

Sleep was wonderful. I'm still feeling slightly sick, but on the upswing.

This morning we headed out for some touristy time in Omaha's Downtown Market area. We decided to keep lunch light with Subway. I opted to try their new orchard chicken salad sandwich on wheat. The only other items I put on my sandwich were spinach, bell peppers, cucumbers and olives. No cheese, no sauce. It was decent. My usual order is a 6" turkey on wheat with Swiss cheese, but I'd switch it up again for this sandwich.

On the side I tried the new Baked Lay's, Parmesan Tuscan Herb. Again, pretty good, but I couldn't finish. To drink I had about a half a cup of Fuze green tea with a touch of honey.

We walked around the Omaha Market for a bit, getting lost in all the fervor and excitement this city has for college baseball. One of the stores even had a chalk bracket being updated on the window near its front entrance. People here love themselves some college baseball. Nearly everyone we walked by was sporting some kind of team-affiliated gear.

Then before heading back to the stadium for Game 7 (ASU vs. South Carolina) at 3:30 p.m., we grabbed a quick cup of ice cream at Maggie Moo's. J.D. had the nastiest combination I've ever tasted in my life (which he loved, btw): mango sorbet with peanut butter sauce drizzled on top. I opted for a mix of cocoa amaretto and lowfat vanilla ice cream with bits of Heath bar. It was heavenly. I could only eat 3/4 of it.

Not very pretty, but tasty!

Upon our arrival at the stadium, we finally got a chance to play tourists before the stands began filling up. We also had a few minutes to catch Arizona State's batting practice, which apparently didn't work out so well since they gave up 10 runs in the first four innings, ouch.

It is elimination day again and after yesterday's loss Florida went home, so I decided to wander the Fan Fest area in hopes of scoring some reduced priced gear. I snagged some good buys though -- for my family, awww.

Today is our last day here at the College World Series and we have two total games to work. After this current one, dinner is slated to be chili dogs. No worries, I won't be taking pictures of that mess. I'm glad this is the last day eating here, it's been so good, yet so bad for me. We fly out tomorrow at 7 p.m., so we'll have one more half day of sightseeing here in the Midwest. If you're curious about seeing all the pictures I've snapped and haven't included in this blog, check out my Facebook album from this week.

When I return home, there are two consecutive 5Ks I'm thinking about running. One in Lodi this weekend -- maybe not a great idea since I'm still sick, but I could use it as training instead of actual competition -- and one near my parents' house on the 4th of July.

What do you think, should I run in both??? Because guess what, half marathon training begins next MONDAY!!!!! I still haven't yet picked one because I'm waiting to see if we will be moving in the next month or not. As soon as I know, I'm signing up for one! :) Oh and the next time I blog here, I'll be back in California! ♥

TGIV

I have been MIA. From the College World Series. But no damage done, since yesterday was highly delayed due to rain and this:

(Source)

Like I've been saying, I'm terrified of thunderstorms. I was even nervous for J.D. since he was camped out in the super tall metal press box as lightning bolts struck within five feet of the stadium. For every strike in the six-mile radius, the game was postponed 30 minutes. Long story short, it ended up being over a nine-hour game when taking into consideration the rain/thunderstorm delays.

While this mayhem went on, I stayed home sick. Very, very sick. Waking up in a cold sweat, hot and shaky sick. And my throat is still killing me. As J.D. left for the field, I stayed in bed until 12:15 p.m. Thankfully, we're staying at a friend's house instead of in a hotel so I got to lounge around in good company and watch TV.

When I felt better Beth made me a grilled cheese sandwich. Then after a few hours of House Hunters and the on-going delay of the only College World Series game played last night, we needed to venture out for food. Mexican sounded good for some reason, so I indulged in a bowl of tortilla soup. Except, spicy food is probably the worst choice I could have made with an irritated throat. Boo. At least it tasted good before I choked uncontrollably.

Bedtime came and went and I rolled around in bed freaking out with every roar of thunder. The lightning became so intense it illuminated our entire room -- with both the blinds and curtains closed -- on multiple occasions. I'm such a wuss out here. I don't know how long it would take me to get used to nights like this if I had to live out here.

This morning, feeling much better, we stopped at Starbucks with the morning rain delay for a grande nonfat chai and cup of oatmeal. Forgive me for lack of photos here, but I'd feel really weird snapping photos eating at the press dining rooms. Ehhhh.... maybe I'll brave it another time?

Lunch has been more buffets of fruit, veggies and burgers/sandwiches. I swear to God, I'm eating sooo unhealthy here with only having one meal that involves fruit/veggies a day!!! Can't wait to get back home to Trader Joe's and abundant produce and home-cooked meals!

So what exactly am I doing here you might ask? Well, first and foremost, playing tourist. Rosenblatt Stadium has held the CWS for 60 years and will be closing after this month. As a baseball contact in collegiate athletics, I owed it to myself to see it before it shuts down. Secondly, I'm volunteering my services for the media relations crew. That means during the game I go into the dugout and find out which players will be appearing in our official press conference. I wait for the game to finish, collect the players and guide them to the conference room. During the conference all I have to do is take notes and write down who asks what question. Piece. Of. Cake.

Now while I wait for the end of the game to roll around, take a look at some of what I've seen here at Rosenblatt:

View from Clemson's dugout

My pressbox camp for the week

Game 1: Florida State vs. TCU

Rosenblatt Stadium

Now, it's elimination time. Teams are starting to go home as of today. After this we have one more day of volunteering and then fly out Wednesday evening. I'm hoping to wean myself off of these cough drops and Dayquil pills before then. Wishful thinking, maybe?

Oh well. TGIV (Thank God It's Vacation, people).