2 Years Already?!?!

I seriously can't believe that it has already been 2 years since Mando and I got married. Time has definitely flown by, but we were very excited to celebrate this little milestone.
We planned a staycation and had an amazing weekend. We started by doing some shopping/spoiling at the Forum Shops, grabbed a delicious dinner and saw Mystere at the Treasure Island. We have seen KA and O, so we were definitely wanting to complete the cirque experience by seeing Mystere; and it did not disappoint! We had a nice room at the Treasure Island that we retreated to after the show and rounded out our anniversary weekend with a nice breakfast and little more shopping the next day. The best part? Not having to travel home.



I feel like these past 2 years have been so busy, but we definitely have accomplished alot. We got our new home, new car, new furniture, I finished college, 2 Half Marathons and Mando has continued to be completely motivated and such a hard worker to ensure their company does well through this crappy recession. I coudln't have asked for a better husband and best friend. 2 years isn't anything as far as we're concerned, I mean, after all, we've been together almost 9 years <3

San Diego Half Marathon!

Running has become an addiciton. If I miss a day I feel horribly guilty; yes that bad of an addiction. To fuel this addiciton, my running buddies and I signed up for the San Diego Half Marathon - which meant more training and Saturday runs together. Well, after months of training, we ran our race this weekend, (along with 8,000 other people) and we all BEAT our previous times!
My time from our first half marathon was 2 hours and 15 minutes, but I had set a goal of finishing in 2 hours for this one. I trained hard and ran with the girls on the weekends to keep up my motivation - and what made this even better?? My best friends for years Amber and Natalie were going to be joining us in San Diego! Natalie lives in Beaumont CA, so she at least got to practice in beautiful weather, while Amber, living in Suprise AZ, had to bear the heat like us, only she didn't have her running buddies there! Regardless, I really enjoyed spending time with them and the other girls in San Diego for the weekend.
I ended up finishing the race in 1 hour and 53 minutes! Very excited to have met my goal!

We were at Balboa Park at 5am to hop onto the bus that took us to Cabrillo National Monument where the race started..





This was such a great trip and the race course was beautiful, I'm positive we will make this a yearly thing. I've definitely learned alot about running and training the past 8 months and can't wait to further that with more races in the lineup!

[Out with the Old and In with the New]

My weeks of training are coming to an end. I have 4 more weeks until myself and 5 girlfriends head to San Diego to run another 1/2 marathon, and new running shoes were a priority. Over the past 6 months I've learned alot about training, eating healthy, supplements, and little tricks to get in a better run. Wearing the right shoes make a huge difference. Did you know running shoes are only good for about 200 miles? Yep. They break down after that, and by the looks of the ones I bought right before my 1/2 marathon in March, I believe it. They are tore up. Running dirt trails lately didn't help their appearance either. So it was time to get a new pair to break in before this upcoming race. I'm especially excited about these new shoes because I have a pretty awesome pair of running shorts that match them perfectly. I have this theory that if I look cute, I have a better workout/run.. or that's my excuse to constatly buy gym clothes.


My oldies have been good to me though.. I can't just toss them aside like a tube of empty/dried up mascara.. they helped me finish my very first 1/2 marathon in 2 hours and 15 minutes (I'm positive I will beat my time on this next one)and they most certainly were there for the daily runs that I thought would be the death of me. Attached much? maybe.


On a random note - I constantly have this on going dilemma of whether or not to cut my hair or grow it out.I have been growing it out because within the next year I would like to get pregnant, yes it's that time to add a red headed mexican baby to the family, and I have this fear of gaining weight in my face and having no hair to hide behind; which is why I have been growing it. But as I look through old pictures of my super short hair, I just fall in love. Short hair takes like 5 minutes to dry and always looks styled.. compared to lately when my hair is always in a pony tail between working all day and spending my nights at the gym.
I had my hair done today and I can proudly say I resisted chopping it all off.. well more like my hair girl refused to chop it.. Either way, it's still growing long until I can be 100% sure. (actually i think i'll chop it after the race.. we'll see how i feel in 4 weeks)
See what I mean?? Constant debate and dilemma running through my mind..
Anyway, Janelle added a little red to my hair, just to brighten it up a bit.. and I love it. Thank you Janelle for not caving into my demands for short hair and for giving my hair the pick-me-up it needed.

Catching up on Everything..

I FINALLY walked! I finished my Bachelors degree in Business Administration in December '09, but NSC only has 1 graduation ceremony a year - So it's all official now. Degree in hand - I'm DONE.





We played at Knott's Berry Farm for a day.. which led us to believe its about time for kids; watching little kids get so excited for rides and face painting gave us a quick sickness of baby fever..




We visited Huntington Beach.. One of our favorite laid back getaways..



I really wanted to get out of the heat, so Mando and I headed to Ely for some fishing and rhino riding for the 4th of July weekend.





Sorry it was a long one, I'm definitely going to try and update on a regular basis.. or so I think

New Addiction: Running

RED ROCK 1/2 MARATHON

Starting on New Year's day, I decided that I wanted to get back into shape and make a habit of exercising regularly. Myself as well as four girlfriends all decided to sign up for the Red Rock 1/2 Marathon that was March 6. We had 8 weeks to train, and we had a great time doing it. It was also such a fun experience in itself, but to share it with friends and have weekly runs together made it that much better.

The night before the race, we met at Candice's lovely home to have a huge pasta dinner with our husbands in tow.

I got up at 4am to be ready to leave by 5 for Red Rock. This is right before the race... Chelsea got us all these super cute flower pins, so of course we wore them to our race!



Candice finished under 2 hours, she is seriously an amazing runner and such a photogenic one at that!

Grant finished before Candice (but we decided boys are just naturally faster than girls)
but he ran back to finish it out with Amy when she got to the end. Amy finished just over 2 hours. She was my motivator for this whole race -

Mando jumped in to run the last 50 yards with me... I finished in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Chelsea came in soon after me.. fist pumping and clapping!

The running itself was only half the experience. Spending time with the girls and acquiring a new hobby has made this more enjoyable than I thought. I think we can all say that it made our friendships that much better.

I seriously feel like such a giant after seeing this pictures!

Addison, Grant, Amy, Chelsea, Candice, Me, and Brittany

And of course, we spent that afternoon at the spa. Not only because we had just accomplished this 1/2 marathon, but it was also Amy's birthday! Massages and pedicures were an awesome way to cap off the race.

SPECTRUM 10K in St. George

2 weeks after our 1/2 marathon, Amy Candice and myself signed up for the Spectrum 10K in St. George for March 20.

Friday night after work, we loaded up and had a fun girls road trip to St. George. We stayed with my parents and they were more than happy to have us there.

We got up early Saturday morning and headed up to Snow Canyon where the race began.


Of course, Candice the rockstar runner, finished in 47 minutes..

Amy and I finished in 54 minutes...

And it felt like such a breeze! We all beat our normal pace/minute, so we were even more excited to cross the finish line.

My parents were there to cheer us on, take pictures, and of course make us a huge breakfast after the race. They're pretty amazing.

We wore these ridiculous white bows in our hair. We felt like we were in high school going to a game or something; but it did get us a few compliments from fellow runners.

24th Birthday Fiesta!!

I wasn't too thrilled about turning 24 this year, but once Mando and I decided to do a full on fiesta, I perked right up! We got sombreros and moustaches, made enchiladas, beans and rice, and invited close friends over to celebrate!

With all the friends around and the celebration going, I have to say I had one of the best birthdays. I felt very fortunate to have such good friends and such a loving husband. One of my best birthdays yet.