Disneyland Half Marathon

Yesterday was the big day. I completed my first 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles). I wasn't sure, if I could complete the entire race, and if my ankle would hold up. But I succeeded. I crossed that FINISH LINE!!!! Woohoo ME!!!!!! Although, I didn't meet my goal time, I'm still pleased, since it was my first half marathon. I definitely give mad props to folks who run full marathons. Not gonna lie, this half marathon was BRUTAL!! I still don't know how I was able to finish - considering I still hate running. Initially, I picked up running as goal to lose weight for my wedding, but still stuck with it, since it's a good work out. However, it doesn't mean that I have to love it. Nonetheless, I'm still damn proud of myself for completing 13.1 miles, considering I've only been running for one year. Anyway, back to the race. I was able to run straight through until mile 9. Then I had to take short walking breaks between my runs, since my right thigh kept cramping up. However, once I reached mile 11, I was determined to finish the remainder of the race running, which I did. Boy, was I glad when I saw that finish line. Well enough of my ramblings, here are some pictures. LoL, of course I had to take the opportunity to snap some pictures with some Disney characters, since the race entry fee of $120 didn't cover the cost to visit Disneyland afterward. Crazy, I know. Enjoy the pictures, I know there are a lot, but I had to post most of them. Oh, and I'll be taking a few days off from working out. I'm in pain!!! I'm soo sore, I can hardly walk.

Personalized Race Bib and T-shirt.

Waiting for the race to begin

Running towards Angel Stadium

Entering Angel Stadium

The long awaited Finish Line

It's been awhile....

Wow, it's been awhile since I blogged. I'll try to blog more.

Simple Red Rose

Today, I had some to practice my photography and my photoshop skills. Now, I need your help. Which image is best? Constructive criticism is welcomed, so that I can become better.

Original Image

My attempts @ using Photoshop Cs4

Bon Appetit!

Everyone in my family knows that I'm not a great cool. And to be quite honest I don't really enjoy cooking. However, Mr. J has been working for the past 5 days 10h shifts, I decided to try my hand at cooking. Of course, Mr. J thinks it was delicious, but I think he's just being nice. See for yourself, if you would eat it or not.

Mediterranean bell pepper

Scrambled eggs with feta cheese, bell peppers, spinach & red onions
served with fresh fruit and two slices of cinnamon raisin toast

Spencer Donlee

Last weekend, Mr. J and I finally had the chance to visit my best friend Marlith and her hubby down in San Diego. She recently gave birth to her first child. Unfortunately, her husband Spencer missed the birth of his first born son by one day, as he was on a flight back after being underway for 6 1/2 months. But all that didn't matter after he set eyes upon his beautiful little boy.

Here's a picture of their precious little angel:

Fun in the Park

Here are a few pictures I took of the kiddies, while we were at the park. We had a small picknik at the local park. It was quite fun. Naomi enjoyed herself immensely so did Jr. However, it still was extremely hot at 4:30pm, so that we only stayed for an hour. Enjoy!

Check out this little photo series of Jr. There's also no need for captions, as the pictures speak for themselves. He definitely knows what he wants. LoL

New Do

I've been wanting to change something about my hair style for awhile now. So this morning, I decided I'm going to the hair salon to do something about my crazy hair. Initially, I wanted to get a cute little bob. However Mr. J wasn't to thrilled about me chopping off my hair, so instead I got subtle streak put in and gave my hair a 3inch trim. It definitely needed it. Of course, I took some pictures. Actually, while I was sitting underneath the hair dryer I remembered that I had my point and shoot with me, so there I don't have a before picture. What do you guys think?

3 inches off and a few subtle streaks

Red, White & Blue

Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone had a fun filled, yet, safe weekend. I will post more about my weekend tomorrow.

******EDIT***** Weekend recap. And Pictures.

Friday July 3rd: Grandma's Beach, California:

The one and only Grandma's Beach.

Naomi & Jr.

Naomi enjoying her swimming pool at Grandma's Beach.

Of course, I had to join in the fun. =)

Aren't they adorable?!

My boss is pretty cool. He has two kids of his own, and he showed me the kiddie pool, he had bought for his kids. Once I saw it, I had to get one for my niece and nephew as well. But he offered to pick up/buy one for them. And they definitely loved it.

Saturday, July 4th:

Naomi ~ a little frightened being in a real pool

On Independence Day, we didn't really do much. We had a small BBQ and then took the kiddies to the local swimming pool and watched some fireworks later on.

Sunday, July 5th:

7th Inning ~ The bases loaded

I and Haydee

Mr. J and I in front of Angels' Stadium

Mr. J and I again on our way to our car

Typically, I find baseball games very boring. Just not my cup of tea. But some friends of ours had some free tickets and Mr. J. really wanted to see another Angel game. Of course, me being the good wife, I obliged - also because we never have been to a game together. Here are some photos.

Go Shorty! It's my Birthday!

Woohoo! Today is my birthday. It was pretty uneventful, since I'm coming down with some sort of bug. I just feel horrible and completely congested. Therefore my day has been pretty uneventful, just work and later out to dinner. I didn't even complete my work out today. Just don't have the energy to do it. However once I feel better I'll just have to work twice as hard. Anyway, here's a birthday picture of myself.

**EDIT**Still need to post picture of the beautiful flowers I received.

P90x

I'm on a blogging roll. haha! I've been meaning to blog for quite some time now, but I've been soo

tired and exhausted, that all I want to do is watch mundane TV. Anyway, I finally started my new work out regime this Monday. Boy, it's definitely kicking my butt. However, I'm loving it! Can't wait to see the progress I've made after 30 days.

The P90x seems to be the latest craze, and I've jumped on the bandwagon as well. Of course, I'm still keeping up with my running (wish me luck, so that I can complete my first half marathon this September), but just needed something extra to keep me toned and lean. Not to mention, I did not want put on "my first year marriage weight". Almost every Newlywed I spoke to gained a few pounds after their first year of marriage. My P90x is a preventative measure, plus I always feel better after a good hard work out. Also, I'm no longer in my early/mid twenties, therefore my metabolism is slowing down and I simply can't eat everything and anything.
On Day 1 (Monday) I took some "before" pics of myself. And I will be brave enough to post them on here as well. However, it will have to wait until tomorrow,. I'm sweaty/stinky and just want to jump into the shower. Hopefully, I can keep up with this work out regime! It's definitely intense. Well, I'm hopefully that I will see difference in my Day 1 and Day 30 picture. Ok, I'm off to the shower and then hitting the sack.
*******EDIT UPDATE******* Mr. J took these pics of me, so excuse the shadows behind me. Not to mention I look horrible in all these photos. But I figure once I posted them online, it will remind me to stay motivated.

Utah Olympic Park

Last week I traveled to Lehi, Utah, for my work. It turned out to be great business trip. As some of you know, I work in the Insurance Industry. The company I work for is medium sized Insurance Brokerage aka a Retail Insurance Agent. Anyway, I don't want to bore you guys with all this insurance mumble jumble. To make a long story short, one of the companies we work with frequently is located in Utah. Every year they put together seminar/conference/retreat for all of their Insurance Carriers/Retail Agents and Insurance Brokers. Typically Insurance conferences are pretty darn boring! Trust me, I'm not exaggerating. Right after these conference everyone runs to Happy Hour, including ME!! Naturally, I was pleasantly surprised that this business trip was actually quite fun.
While I was in Utah our host company took us to the Utah Olympic Park. It's quite an impressive park. Of course, they have several activities visitors can participate in, such as the bobsled ride (it's the second fastest track in the world). Some of the bob sled athletes reach about 80-90 mph. The zipline is another activity one can participate in. It's approximately (not quite) at the same height as the Nordic Ski Jumper. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my point and shoot, since I thought I was going to a boring Insurance seminar. I did take some photos with my my camera...but my camera is a piece of s#$% and won't let me upload any pictures. So sadly I can't post any pics of the original olympic medals, they displayed in their museum.
Nonetheless, I did find some pictures from the park online. Please enjoy.

Weekend Fun

Sadly this weekend is coming to an end. It was a fun and relaxing weekend, and of course too short. I had an extremely long long work week. Perhaps, it had something to do with that fact that I just returned from our honeymoon. This weekend, Mr. J. and I decided to head out to San Diego to spend some time with my best friend Marlith, who is due with her first baby in a few weeks, and her brother Calvin. Also, to return the camcorder they had graciously lent us. Spending time with them is spending time with family! It was a lazy Saturday in San Diego, which consisted of eating way to much food, taking nap and watching movies. The cute dog in the pictures is Sydney. And she's the most adorable lil Jack Russell Terrier.

Getting our grub on.

Calvino and J. bout to go on a bike ride.

J. making a silly face.