Monday, May 28, 2012

The Laundry Mat and the Grocery Store

Today is Memorial Day.  I am thankful for those who have given their lives, fighting for our many freedoms.  I am also thankful for the many friends that I have, who serve in our military currently.  My hats go off to them today!

Even though it is a holiday, I needed to do laundry something fierce!!  And I really do not like to grocery shop... the last time I went was about a month and a half ago.  Let's just say I have been really hungry the last few days.  Granola bars don't carry me for very long... and I have 2 left! Ha ha.

So, naturally I took care of both situations today.

Let me say that I learned something doing my laundry today, and that is, that there are three types of people at the Laundromat.

1.  The Normal-  You can decide what normal is for yourself, but these people are like me.  We want to get in and out.  Be done as fast as possible, so that we can get on with the rest of our day.

2.  The Crazies-  These people are like the man I encountered today.  He yelled at a woman for drying her clothes... and then  accused her of bringing in wet clothes and then using the dryers.

3.  The Pushy-  These are the people that put there stuff right up against yours, on the folding table.  So, you move over a bit... and then low and behold there stuff is right up against your stuff again.  This keeps happening, until you are straddling your laundry cart and are folding your things in 2 inches of space.  How did this happen?

If you were previously unaware of these three types of people, like I was, I hope I have encouraged you to look deeper into your surroundings, when next at the laundromat.  Ha ha.

At the grocery store today, I was thankful to be there when all of the Stater Brothers, at the same time took a minute of silence for all fallen military personnel.  I was surprised by the amount of people who actually stopped everything they were doing to be a part of this. It made me happy to see this type of respect/ patriotism for our country.

What ever you are doing today, think of those you know, and maybe those you see from afar... that give their time (family, personal) for you and me... so we may live the lives we chose to live.


Friday, May 25, 2012

Smart Cookies

I found this recipe in Woman's Day recently.  They are way fast and easy to make!  A perfect title for the cookies I would say... clever Woman's Day, very clever.




Easiest-Ever Peanut Butter Cookies
Active: 25 minutes
Total: 35 minutes
Makes 5 dozen

1          cup chunky or creamy peanut butter  (I used creamy)
3/4       cup packed brown sugar
1          large egg
3/4       tsp baking soda


1.  Heat oven to 350ºF.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.  Using an electric mixer, beat all ingredients in a large bowl until fully incorporated.

3.  Drop level teaspoonfuls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 1-1/2 inches apart.  Bake until the cookies are puffed and starting to lightly brown around the edges, 8 to 10 minutes.  Let cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Per cookie:  35 calories, 2 g fat ( g sat fat), 3 mg chol, 35 mg sod, 1 g pro, 3 g car, 0 g fiber


I used a tablespoon for my cookies and they turned out small, so I cannot imagine what they would look like as teaspoons.  If you like cute little baby cookies, then the teaspoon would be perfect!

These taste like you are eating peanut butter straight from the jar!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Downtown Riverside

On saturday, my mom and I went into Downtown Riverside, to see 'Miss Saigon'.  She was really excited about this...  I had heard of the show, but didn't know anything about it.

My mom and I are hardcore musical fans and have been lucky enough to see a ton of them as well.  With that being said, I think at times we can be a little critical.  However, we both went in with open arms, because neither of us had ever seen the show and we didn't know the music either.

More on this in just a moment.

Before the show, we went to dinner.  We decided to eat at 'Crescent Jewel'.  It has a bunch of stuff in the burger and salad categories, but with a bit of a Cajun twist.

Crescent had a lot of promise... nice staff and fun presentation.  That all flew out the door when the nice staff was really slow and our food was brought out lukewarm.


We got 'frickles' (fried pickles) and smoked gouda smothered fries, with bacon as appetizers.  They came in cute little cups.  The taste on the fries was really good... but they were warm, not hot.  The frickles were not crispy and toward the end tasted a little too salty (also warm).  And I love salt!



For our main dishes, my mom got a lovely salad with chicken and the chicken was actually a good temperature.  I got... a grilled cheese sandwich with smoked gouda, applewood smoked bacon, and green apple slices.

I don't eat stuff like that... ever, so I feel like I really went out on a limb here.  It was pretty good, but I would have liked the sandwich to be hot.  I just couldn't figure out why it was taking so long to get the food to us, as there were not very many people in the restaurant.

I give Crescent Jewel 3 out of 5 stars.  I would try them again, just to make sure our time there wasn't part of a fluke.  A bunch of potential here.  They have a nice outside dining area and that helped in my grading.

On the way to the Riverside Fox Theater, we stopped by Casey's Cupcakes.  They won 'Cupcake Wars' and we were excited to try their cupcakes.  They don't close until 9pm, so we figured since it was  just after 7pm, that they would have plenty of cupcakes left.

FALSE.

They had zero cupcakes left and none of the staff thought to make any more cupcakes to carry them to closing time.  When we walked in a staff member said, "As you can see we are all out of cupcakes."  The staff was not very nice and told us to come back at 9am the next morning.  That would be all good and well, if we were going to be there at that time.

Casey's Cupcakes... get it together!




Now for Miss Saigon.  This production deals with the complexities of war and the lives that are connected to it.  They  speak of love that is separated by vast oceans... children left behind by their American fathers, like they don't matter at all.  These things happened in real life and so there is an emotion that comes along with that.

I wanted to feel something as I watched this musical... but everything felt rushed, pushed along.  They didn't give you enough time to form a connection to the faces of the real babies in an orphanage, left behind because their mom's had been forced into prostitution and their dad's went back to America.

They didn't give you enough time to feel the struggles of the women and other people in a war torn country.

There just wasn't enough time...
Not enough thought...

All of this left me wondering, if the production that my mom and I saw was extremely different than the  original, that won many awards.  And for that, I am not grateful.  I am sorry if you love 'Miss Saigon', but it really left me wanting... more of everything.




On a side note, the last time I was at the Fox Theater was around 2006 and they were just about to start the renovation process.  It looked horrible.  What I saw over the weekend was amazing.  The new look is fantastic!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

A Visit with Grams

May 6th marked one year since my granma's passing.  We went to visit her.  For me and my mom, this was our first visit.  I know for me I hadn't gone because it is still too strong of an emotion.  But, on her one year anniversary,  I wanted to visit her and take a long moment to remember her.

While there, I talked to my mom about taking naps with my granma, when I was a little girl.  Something so small as that is a huge memory to me.  She was a great woman and I truly miss her.

Love you grams!



They take great care of the markers at the National Cemetery.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Races I've Run and Run Prospects

I have been keeping a list of all of my races, since the beginnning.  I hadn't realized how many races I had finished until typing the list.


Disneyland 5k- August 31, 2008

Camp Pendleton Mud Run 10k- October 18, 2008- 1:41:50

Run Through Redlands 5k- April 19, 2009

Yucaipa Iris Festival 10k- May 16, 2009

Lighting the Way (Redlands Fire Fighters) 10k- November 22, 2009- 1:16:13

Camp Pendleton Mud Run 10k- June 12, 2010- 1:42:24

Long Beach International Half Marathon- October 17, 2010- 2:52:57

Palm Springs Half Marathon- February 13, 2011- 2:53:59


San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon- June 5, 2011- 6:46:49

Camp Pendleton Mud Run 10k- June 11, 2011- 1:39:09

Providence Rhode Island Rock n' Roll Inaugural Half Marathon- August 7, 2011- 3:15:47


San Jose Rock n' Roll Half Marathon- October 2, 2011- 2:57:36


Las Vegas Rock n' Roll Half Marathon- December 4, 2011- 3:18:22


Carlsbad Half Marathon- January 22, 2012- 2:59:52 (1 of 3 for Triple Crown)

The Color Run 5k- April 22, 2012

La Jolla Half Marathon- April 29, 2012- 2:52:50 (2 of 3 for Triple Crown)


Upcoming Races:

Camp Pendleton Mud Run 10k- June 9

America's Finest City Half Marathon- August 19 (3 of 3 for Triple Crown)

The Color Run San Diego 5k- November 3

The Holiday Half- December 9 (10th in my race to 50 (Half or full marathons by 50)


Races I want to do Next Year:

San Diego Half Marathon at Petco Park

Silver Strand Half

Tinkerbell Half


... And a few others.  I am sure this small list will change significantly... like it won't be the same at all.  The next year of races is going to be wild!


Total 5k races:  3

Total 10k races:  5

Total half marathons:  7

Total full marathons:  1