Paradise

Hubs and I just got back from a fabulous 10 day vacation to Waikiki Beach on Oahu, Hawaii. Let me just say, this place was paradise! If I could have stayed there, I think I would have. I just have this immense love of mountains and beaches all rolled into one island. It reminded me quite a bit of our honeymoon in Jamaica, only this time we were on a vacation twice as long and got to relax a heck of a lot more than our honeymoon last year.

This was also my longest flight to date, 8 hours in the air. I can say, I wasn't really a fan. I love flying, I do, I get antsy when I haven't been on a plane for a while, but 8 hours in the air when you feel like barfing is not so fun. Seriously. The morning we left we had to be up before dawn, 3:10 am to be exact, given that I didn't end up falling asleep the night before until about 11:45 pm, I was not a happy camper. Then enter in a delicious, but-oh-so-greasy asiago cheese bagel with cream cheese and 2 cups of coffee from Einstein Bros, and well, you see where this is going...

I felt better the minute we landed though, sunshine and the ocean and white sand beaches were just to alluring to keep myself shut up in our lovely hotel room. So onward to the beach and frozen beverages we went. By then end of the day though, after being awake for 24+ hours, I was sure glad to flop down on that cushy Hilton bed!

The rest of the week went by pretty fast, there was lots of pool and beach time with friends, a traditional Hawaiian luau, lots of fancy dinners, a tour of Pearl Harbor and the U.S.S. Missouri and Arizona Memorial, a hike up Diamond Head, parasailing, and a wedding and all related festivities to attend! Whew! Now you see why we needed 10 days! Now for our trip in pictures:

Oahu from the plane

Beautiful view from a lookout spot

Look! A waterfall!

Pearl Harbor, Bookends of War out in the harbor, U.S.S. Missouri where the Japanese signed the surrender in 1945 on the left, and the memorial for U.S.S. Arizona, which catapulted the U.S. into WWII on December 7, 1941 on the right

Us on the bow of the Missouri

Plaque on the Surrender Deck of the Missouri

What's left above water of the U.S.S. Arizona

Memorial wall inside the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

View from the Punch Bowl National Cemetery of Honolulu

Us after the luau

Gorgeous view from Diamond Head

Almost at the top of Diamond Head, but look at that water!

Looking at the mountains from the very top of Diamond Head

Waikiki from the top of Diamond Head

Quite possibly my favorite photo from this whole trip, this is from a lookout spot on the Diamond Head trail

The view from our balcony at the Hilton Kalia Tower, along with a gorgeous rainbow!

And finally the reason we went to Hawaii, the bride and groom!

I can't wait to go back to Hawaii someday! I hope we'll get to, as it truly was magnificent! I couldn't have asked for a better "second honeymoon" or birthday trip for Tony's big 3-0 birthday! And to the newlyweds, we hope you guys are as happy as we are! Congrats again you two!

One Year!

One year ago today, we did this:

Today, we celebrated the last year and look forward to another wonderful year full of surprises ahead! Here's our day in photos:

We opened gifts....

I got this pretty trinket, rubies in honor of July...

We went to Ruth's Chris for a fancy dinner and got all dressed up...

 

Plus they decorated the table...

And gave us dessert, which we promptly demolished...

We came home and blew shit up, it is the 4th of July after all...

Then, these babies may have made an appearance....

(Our Waterford toasting flutes given to us my our best man and his wife)

Overall, it was a fantastic day and night! I can't wait to see what the next year brings us! I'm a little sad to see our newlywed phase end, but am happy that we are settled into our married life. Happy Anniversary Baby!

Motivation Where Are You?

I've lost my motivation. We're going on vacation to Hawaii in a month and I have no motivation to work out or try to lose these last 10 lbs that I have been trying to lose for a while now. I keep telling myself I will begin the 30 Day Shred again, and try to tone up and be bathing suit ready, but each day passes without me getting up off the couch to do it. I miss running, but not enough to actually go out in the 100*+ heat or battling the crowds at the gym. Motivation, please come back! I need you right now! Anyone have any spare motivation they would like to send my way? I would really appreciate it!

French Vanilla Chocolate Mini Chip Ice Cream

As I said in my last post, we've been on an ice cream kick lately. Shortly after the mint Andes ice cream was gone we again decided to make some more. Told you I was an ice cream fanatic! So this time we decided to go with a french vanilla base with mini semi-sweet chocolate chips added in. I usually use the recipe in the book that came with the attachment, but decided to tweak it given that I didn't have all the necessary amounts of ingredients and that I liked the directions better from the last time I made ice cream, so I combined the two to make my own recipe. This made a little less, as I had less of the ingredients, if you'd like to make a full 1.5 qt, just increase everything by 1/4.


French Vanilla Ice Cream with Mini Chocolate Chips

Ingredients:
2 cups half and half
1 cup heavy whipping cream
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract
3 oz mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Combine the half and half and heavy cream and place in medium saucepan over medium heat. Heat until hot and steamy, but not boiling, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
2. Place egg yolks in mixing bowl and whip in medium speed, add sugar and continue to beat until lighter in color and slightly thickened.
3. Add a little bit of the cream/half and half mixture to the the egg mixture and continue beating on low - medium speed, keep adding in the liquid gradually.
4. Transfer the new mixture back into the medium saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly. Heat until very hot and steamy and small bubbles form around the sides, do not boil!
5. Transfer to a heat/temperature proof bowl and add in the vanilla and stir.
6. Allow to cool on counter top for about 30 minutes or so and then put lid on container and place in fridge for about 8 hours or overnight.
7. Freeze according to ice cream maker directions, for me it was put freezer bowl attachment on Kitchen Aid, assemble dasher and set to STIR, add in custard mixture from fridge using a container with a spout (I used a large measuring cup) and then let spin for 20 minutes, adding mini chocolate chips in during the last 2 minutes of freeze time.
8. Serve immediately if soft serve texture is desired, if not put back in container and freeze for an additional 3-4 hours.

Mint and Andes Creme De Menthe Chunk Ice Cream

Last year after our wedding we splurged and bought the ice cream maker attachment for the Kitchen Aid mixer. I made ice cream a couple times last summer and then let the freezer bowl sit in the freezer for the winter and spring. Well summer has arrived again, and with it the horrid heat and now constant appetite for ice cream! I am an ice cream fanatic, I mean seriously, there are some days I have to use every ounce of self control I have to not drive into Sonic and get a Reese's Sonic Blast or a McDonald's McFlurry. The other week we decided it was time to break out the Kitchen Aid attachment. My husband was insistent that we try a mint ice cream and add some Andes Creme de Menthe baking bits in it. I found a recipe that I thought would work thanks to the Food Network and Alton Brown. I doctored this recipe a bit, mostly because I wanted a creamier ice cream and also didn't have peppermint oil, just pure mint extract, plus my hubby insisted that mint ice cream had to be green, so green food coloring was added. My modifications are in parenthesis and italics.

Ingredients

• 3 cups half-and-half (I used 2 cups)
• 1 cup heavy cream (I used 2 cups)
• 8 large egg yolks
• 9 ounces sugar
• 1 teaspoon peppermint oil (I used 4 tsp pure mint extract)
• 3 ounces chocolate-mint candies, coarsely chopped (I used 3 oz Andes Creme de Menthe baking bits)
• 2-3 drops green food coloring

Directions

1. Place the half-and-half and the heavy cream into a medium saucepan, over medium heat. Bring the mixture just to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and remove from the heat.
2. In a medium mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the sugar and whisk to combine.
3. Temper the cream mixture into the eggs and sugar by gradually adding small amounts, until about 1/3 of the cream mixture has been added.
4. Pour in the remainder and return the entire mixture to the saucepan and place over low heat. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon and reaches 170 to 175 degrees F.
5. Pour the mixture into a container and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
6. Add the peppermint oil and stir to combine. Place the mixture into the refrigerator and once it is cool enough not to form condensation on the lid, cover and store for 4 to 8 hours or until it reaches 40 degrees F or below.
7. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker; I also added in 2-3 drops green food coloring at this step, add the chopped candies and process according to the manufacturers directions. This should take approximately 25 to 35 minutes. Serve as is for soft serve or freeze for another 3 to 4 hours to allow the ice cream to harden.

The verdict? This ice cream was absolutely delicious! We will definitely be having this again, and hopefully sometime in the not too distant future!

Badge Of Honor

I got my first black toenail this last week after running the Navy Ten Nautical Miler a week ago. I have feared the black toenail since I started running and began soaking up all available information I could find pertaining to the sport on the internet. The idea of my toenail turning black and possibly falling off seriously grossed me out! I could not fathom how I would ever be able to survive or look at my feet if this were to happen to me. But then March came along, and with it came the Germantown Half Marathon, and in the course of running that race my husband ended up with this obsidian treasure. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and the good news is it never fell off. So here I am 9 months into my running journey, having run 4 races, and I don't even know how many miles, and I have officially earned my first physical running badge of honor! While I can't say it's the prettiest thing, I can say I no longer fear it, and I am wearing my badge proudly!

 

Navy Nautical Ten Miler Race Recap

It's been a while, life has just gotten so hectic that I have been neglecting updating my blog lately, so sorry faithful readers! I stopped training for this race, but I still ran the Inaugural Navy Nautical Ten Miler yesterday. After not running for 5 weeks, I did better than I thought I would!

My day started at 5:45 am, got out of bed, tried to eat a bagel with some natural peanut butter on it, but I just can't eat that early in the morning, it just doesn't happen. I ate about a quarter of my big delicious looking bagel and then gave up and decided to go get dressed and ready. I spent the next 30 minutes or so fiddling with the placing of my bib number. At first it was too high, then it was too low, then it was crooked, the list went on and on, finally I just gave up and left it the way it was, threw it on, put on my contacts, grabbed my ipod, laced up my shoes and headed out the door. When I got to the race location, it was about 8 minutes to start time, I was so panicked I was going to miss the start like I did in March's half marathon. I made a quick pit stop at the port a potty and then went to line up, which I did just in time, because as I was getting out there they announced that it was 15 seconds to start time! Next thing I knew, the gun was fired and we were off!

The race actually began with everyone walking over the starting line because there were over 400 runners, and no corrals, we walked just until the road opened up and we could spread out and run. I was running at a pretty decent pace, about 10:30 per mile and was feeling good, despite the heat. I kept running up until Nautical Mile (NM) 1, which is where the first aid station was, I walked on through, got some water and then continued on. Somewhere between NM 1 and NM 2, I decided to walk. My run/walk pattern continued throughout the rest of the race.

NM 2-5 were pretty uneventful, the only thing that helped me get through the heat and the dead feeling in my legs were seeing all the volunteers out along the course out there to cheer us on. It made me feel so awesome to have them telling me I was doing great! Although it was hot and I wasn't feeling so great, I kept telling myself that it was okay and that I could make up my time later in the second half of the race and get a decent time. Well, I got to NM 5 (about 5.75 regular miles) and my time was 1:07:35, I knew then if I wanted to make my goal of 2 hours I would have to hustle, but then the pain in my right foot began, and I knew I had a blister. I tried running, it just wasn't happening for more than a couple minutes at a time. So, the rest of the way I ran/walked. The sun came out in full force around NM 7, and that's when it really got hot. I was drenched in sweat and it was already so humid, the sun did not help. Somewhere around NM 8 I met up with a nice girl who ran/walked with me for a bit, we talked and shared stories of past races, she really was great company and a sweetheart. We stayed together for a while, but then one of us would want to keep going and the other walk, we actually played the passing game pretty much the whole race!

NM 9 was the last aid station and I knew I was almost home free. A little while later I rounded the curve and could see the finish line in sight, but I just didn't have the energy to run that whole way, so I walked, then ran, then walked again, and then with it less that 400 meters away I began sprinting. I heard them announce my name as I was about to cross the finish line and heard all the applause and cheers, and waiting there right in the center was my husband smiling and clapping! I did it! I was handed my big gold anchor medal and immediately ran into my husbands arms for a hug and a kiss. He then led me over to the recovery tent to get some water, Gatorade, a banana, and a beer. That banana and then that beer tasted so awesome just then. I then took off my shoes to examine my blisters, sure enough, there was a huge one on the edge/ball of my right foot, along with a sore second toe with a blister and what I think is going to end up being a black toenail.

My final time was 2:24:20, I came in 12th out of 15th in my age group ( F 25-29). Overall, I'm not too upset about my time, I was hoping I would have come in around 2 hours, but, with not really training for this race, and the heat/humidity, and the blisters, I think it was a fairly decent time. Next year I am hoping to make that 2 hour mark, and hopefully I will have more ample time to train and prepare myself. Also, I think next time I will seriously consider a fuel belt or a cool wrap thing for my neck. I leave you now with a photo of me at the finish line post race and recovery.