O Christmas Tree

On Sunday, Keeper and I got our Christmas tree and decorated it. Our place smells so lovely with the scent of fresh Oregon pine:) I was happy to pull out my NEW ornaments for this year: a sushi roll from Jen, a horsehair pottery ball with a Native American bear etched on it by a local artist, and a painted ceramic ball from the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest giftshop from our summer vacation. Yesterday, I had to stop at CVS on the way home from work and just HAD to buy a black lab ornament. It was on sale and it looks just like our Nene :)

Thanksgiving 2010

This year we had Keeper's family come out to visit us. Corbin and Gayle arrived Tuesday night and we spent a few days catching up and relaxing. Keeper had a clinic shift Wednesday afternoon and I had to go to school on Wednesday morning, so our guests just relaxed most of the day (although Keeper took them hiking in the morning). We later met up with some relocated New Yorkers that Corbin knew at the market/wine bar/coffee shop where they hold the central Phoenix farmer's market. It was a cute little space (I had never been to the indoor part-- only the outdoor farmer's market) and we tried 2 flights of all Arizona wines. We eventually found one worth buying a bottle of :)


Thursday we had a gourmet feast at our house. We had roasted red pepper & tomato soup, caramelized onion and apple fritters, beer-brined roast turkey, sweet potatoes & granny smith apples topped with bourban-glazed pecans, sourdough & sausage stuffing, and pumpkin ravioli. Everything was delicious. We had to head out to watch the Jets game on TV since Keeper and I don't get the NFL network but luckily a few places are walkable from our house. After the game, we came home for dessert: apple butter pumpkin pie and cranberry-swirl cheesecake.

Friday was spent mostly relaxing. We met up with our friends for brunch at Scramble and then took Corbin and Gayle to the Japenese Friendship Garden in downton Phoenix. Props to Keeper (and the Yelp reviews he read) for finding this place. It was very beautiful and hidden in the middle of a downtown park. Friday night we enjoyed the gourmet leftovers and watched Elf to get us in the Christmas spirit. Saturday was a hike in the desert, a lunch of leftovers, and then Keeper dropped his family off at the airport.

NC XC 2010

Here's to the end of another great cross country season...

There were many ups & downs but overall, I love those kids and have so much fun (and work so hard!) coaching and running with them. We spend so much time together, I really do feel like they are my "children". I definitely had a better girls' team this year. We had more talent (and more girls overall), however the struggle this year was getting everyone in the same competitive mode. My number 3 runner suffered a stress fracture early in the season and ended up only racing once with us which was a huge disappointment. My 2 seniors stepped it big time and had great seasons. My underclassmen, although great girls, were a little disappointing in the commitment area. We had girls playing club soccer during cross country season and so a few Saturdays were missed and I could tell they were tired by the end of the season. My freshmen just need to toughen up a little bit and I am sure they will develop into great, great runners. It is bittersweet to me, being only my second cross country season as a coach and it is my last at North Canyon. I think if I had another few seasons with them, we could be really really good. I am excited for our end-of-season banquet coming up this week!!

Jill's Wedding

We're back (correction, been back for a week) from a 48 hour trip to the east coast for Jill's wedding. We managed to book a nonstop flight for Friday morning (landed in BWI Friday afternoon) which put us in town for the rehearsal & rehearsal dinner on Friday night. It was great to see family and friends and enjoy my first personal day of the year (although half of it was spent on a plane). Saturday morning was an early run, followed by hair appointments for the bridal party, lunch at home, and then the wedding + reception at my church. It was so great seeing everyone. Jill looked beautiful. Keeper and I had a blast with our nephews:) Sunday we slept in (a little) and then I did a 14 mile run on the Rail Trail. The fall weather was BEAUTIFUL. I love fall. I had an awesome long run and an even better lunch at home (mom's lasagna & chocolate milk). Mom even took me to Rita's so I could get my fix until next summer. We hopped back on the plane Sunday evening and were back in Phoenix Sunday night. It was MUCH too short of a trip but we were glad to get even 2 days of fall weather!!!

Where are Keeper & June?

...We're here, but it's been a busy few weeks.

Keeper has been:

~doing an insane clinic rotation of 10 (4 hours each) shifts every Monday-Thursday. 2 days a week he is gone from 7:30am to about 9:30pm. He assures me that next quarter won't be that bad :) I'm sure he could post much, much more about his rotations this quarter and maybe he will actually have time...when the quarter ends next week.

I have been:

~teaching school; we're halfway done week 5!!! I'm a lot busier planning and grading papers with 180 students this year! It's insane. I had 2 of my 5 classes top out with 41 kids (EACH). My other class numbers were 35, 33, and 31... It's a far cry from my 17 kid average class size in NJ....sigh...

~coaching cross country; we're ready for our 2nd invitational this coming Saturday. We did really well at our first meet 2 weeks ago. I have a great group of girls this year and love running with them!

~marathon training; my charity running group meets at 5:30am on Sunday mornings for our long run. So far training is going well; every week the weather gets a little cooler in the mornings and I can't wait until we can push that 5:30am time back to 6am or 6:30am :)

No pictures to post for now but we're really looking forward to:

~east coast trip in 3 weeks for Jill's wedding (it will be a whirlwind; get in on Friday afternoon, leave Sunday evening)

~our November visitors!!! We can't wait to see our families again!!

~November/December races (for me); I plan on running a 10 mile, a 1/2 marathon and maybe a 10 or 12k thrown in there too!

We were really trying to plan a New England fall trip but I have no break (from coaching) until after November 6th (State meet). Keeper's break runs into the weekend we're already in PA for Jill's wedding, but he has shifts on the Thursday before. Our October weekends are booked; either I have cross country meet, Keeper has a seminar, or something else is going on. So it looks like we'll see everyone in December for the holidays!!!

Water Dog!

I have no real updates other than to say Keeper has been super busy with his shifts this quarter and I started school 2 weeks ago and have been really busy teaching and coaching (and marathon training!)

I found some pictures on the camera from a few weeks ago that I forgot to upload so I will post them now. A good friend of mine from school who has 2 dogs got a part time summer job working for a "Dog Excursion" company. Basically, it is like day camp for your dog (not to be confused with doggie daycare). You pay ~$85 per day, they

pick up your dog at your house in the morning, take it to parks, take it hiking, take it swimming, play with it (basically tire it out), and then they drop it off at your house in the evening. My friend invited Onyx and I a few times when she had "clients" so we went along for free. We drove Onyx, my friend's 2 dogs, and the 2 dogs who were her regular clients down to the huge dog park in Gilbert, AZ that has a dog lake. Onyx loved it! She certainly is not a "dock dog" who will take a running jump into the water but she will swim for tennis balls and kind of "plops" off the dock once in awhile:)

Pinetop!

Keeper's summer break this year was almost non-existent ( 3 days instead of 3+ weeks) so we had to plan for our summer getaway a little closer to home. We opted for a trip that was in cooler weather and where we could bring Onyx with us. We decided on the White Mountains of AZ, more specifically Pinetop (about 3 hours, 45 minutes from Phoenix). We rented a cabin from Moonridge Lodge & Cabins for 3 nights and were apprehensive about the quality of the place. We got a "studio" which consisted of a big open floor plan (kitchen, bathroom, couch, tv, fireplace, double bed, and single bed). We tried to find reviews on Yelp of the place but there were none up there. I did find some sketchy ones from Yahoo; half of them were positive, half were negative. All the positive reviews were written the same day, all the negative ones were written the same day....something fishy was going on.
We decided to just see how it was and keep the reservation. We left Phoenix in the afternoon (after the World Cup final) and drove up the Bee Line Highway to Payson. From Payson, we took Route 260 east and saw a sign that said "Caution: mudslide: 9 miles ahead". Um what? The road was not closed and everyone seemed to still be driving ahead although it was obvious that there were storm clouds... well 9 miles ahead and we were in a dead standstill...for an hour and half. People were getting out of their cars and walking forward to try and see what was going on. Finally, an emergency vehicle drives by and announces that the road would open up in 10 minutes. Traffic started moving slowly and we did see (eventually) the spot were the mud (rivers) had flown over the road and down the mountain. Keeper at this point, had no idea what time we'd make it to Pinetop. He called the lodge and the lady told him we had 3 options: 1) come up in the morning and stay and extra night at the end of our trip (not an option since Keeper had class on Thursday), 2) reschedule the whole trip and use our 3 nights anytime in the next 6 months, or 3) get their after the office had closed, she would leave the key and a map to our cabin and check in in the morning... we decided to motor on and got to the cabin around 8pm. It was surprisingly clean and charming... phew!Monday morning we woke up, made breakfast, found a coffee shop and headed out to do a short hike in the morning. We chose Springs Trail, which was about 3.5 miles round trip. It was perfect for getting used to the elevation and Onyx LOVED the shady, soft dirt path and the creek to play in. We love being able to let her off the leash and get her exercise. After the hike we went back to the cabin so Keeper could check in officially. We made a picnic lunch and headed to Woodland Lake Park to do another quick hike and have lunch. The area was less shaded and it had gotten warm so Onyx wasn't going to make it that far. We had our lunch and walked another 3.5 miles before we got caught in a thunderstorm and decided to call it a day. We came back to the cabin, showered, took a nap, and then Keeper made steak for dinner on the grill!Tuesday morning, I woke up early and went for a 7 mile run. I mapped out the run to start from our cabin, head uphill for 2 miles to the park we went to the day before and do a lap and half around the lake (paved path) before heading back. I was worried about the altitude but the cool weather outweighed the altitude and I had a great run. Keeper and Onyx went to the park while I was running. Then we all had breakfast, packed a picnic lunch and drove north to the Petrified National Forest/Painted Desert for the day. The park was only 70 miles away from where we were staying so I figured why not? We drove in through the south entrance, stopped at the visitor center, did a quick walk, and then drove the 28 mile road through the park stopping at various peaks to take pictures. It was much warmer here than in the mountains and Onyx really minded the heat. After a few stops we decided to not take her out of the car each time. It was a really beautiful place and I'm glad we got to experience it.
On Wednesday morning, we slept in, checked out, and ventured back to Phoenix a different way than we had come. We drove down through the Fort Apache Indian Reservation and were amazed by the views. We took Route 60 (through Globe) and were treated to a magnificent view of the Salt River Canyon. We arrived home in early afternoon... enough time to take a nap, unpack, and grab a run on the treadmill before it was back to school for Keeper on Thursday!

Ohio!

Last weekend Keeper and I flew to Detroit, rented a car, and drove to Toledo for the weekend. We left bright and early Saturday morning (6am flight) and were in Toledo by early afternoon. After checking into our hotel, we got Keeper a much needed haircut and me much needed pedicure. We met up with our friends at Fifth Third Field for a Toledo Mud Hens minor league baseball game.
Sunday morning I needed to get a long run in (kind of a first for me in a new town!). Keeper found a park within walking (running) distance of our hotel (1.5 miles away) that had different trails and the longest one was 3.3 miles. Swan Creek Preserve Metropark was perfect. Although the weather was very hot and humid, I strapped on my fuel belt, ran to the park, did 2 laps around the longest loop (and saw some very cool birds and deer!) and then ran back to the hotel to finish out the 10 miler. We met up with friends for lunch and then had a nap before the big wedding.The wedding was outdoors in a very pretty garden. The heat/humidity was torturous but we sweated through the ceremony and cocktail hour and then cooled off as the sun was setting. The reception was held in an old high school gym so it was a very funky, quirky, retro setting. The band was fabulous, the food was good, and it was so good to hang out with Keeper's (and my) college friends. We hadn't seen them all since a wedding 2 years ago so it was great to hang out with everyone again.

East Coast Trip

I have once again returned from my summer east coast trip...each summer they get shorter and shorter! This year's trip was 12 days (as opposed to the one month trip I took after our first year here!)
My trip highlights included:
~Jesse & Melissa's Wedding, specifically the splitting of Jesse's pants while dancing and the confirmation of said split pants by Melissa
~meeting & bouncing the newest addition to our family: Sean William
~snuggling with the gold blanket, my teddy, & Blake Henry (with the blue blanket and his teddy)
~teaching Blake my cross country stretches and the Princess Pat song




~chicken pot pie lunch at Grandma & Pap's
~ dinner at Erin's
~Grandmom's crabcakes...and wine spritzers (merlot from a box + diet 7up; who knew?)
~3 trips to Rita's (flavor of the trip: black cherry gelati)
~tax free shopping at TJMaxx and Ross (and Tuesday Morning & Gabes) with mom
~ many hot and humid runs through the rolling hills of New Salem, Macungie and the Rail Trail
~crab omelette & monkey bread at Miss Shirley's
~Mr. Yogato
~discovering my new favorite beer at a bar in Fells Point with Eric & Company (Silly Pink Killer)I had a great trip and am looking forward to the time when I do not have to fly to see my family... a drive down for a weekend here and there will be much more practical than a big trip every summer (without Keith & Onyx).