Valentine's Day And Beyond

Valentine's recap:

Family Stuff: Lots of fun was had. The kids played Little Big Planet - a wee, silly & chaotic video game. There are poppet figures and skate boards and stickers and a spaceship pod. Much laughter rang through the house. Saturday Angus had a gift certificate to KitchenWorks he wanted to spend. He is my guy who wants to be a chef. He got himself a blue knife, a blue mug with dogs and bones on it, and a blue mortar and pestle. (Do you know how hard it is to find blue stuff on a weekend where all the displays are red things? "Angus, Angus, quite contrary." It may not rhyme but it fits.)
Iain finally let me take a picture of him smiling with his braces showing. He's totally cute but don't you think he looks like a total redneck in this picture?

We ate yummy heart-shaped food. These are Donna's special iced oatmeal cookies. They were gone in a flash. (Which is a good thing because they are not Zone friendly!)
We also had Valentine's empanadas:
Some were stuffed with chicken and some with beef but my favorites were stuffed with spinach:
The empanadas were especially fun to do because it involved re-connecting with a high school pal of mine who has returned to the US after living in Peru for four years. She now writes a blog and posts recipes of South American food to about.com.

Job Stuff: John is still waiting to hear about the next round of interviews. It is nerve-wracking to wait in silence but we found out his references are being checked. Yay! There is forward momentum.

Training Stuff: things have been going well. We had a great five mile run. It's amazing what sleep and good nutrition will do for you! I got my five hours in last week and am on track to get my five hours in this week. I feel focused and committed. The consistency is building. Good thing! The first phase of our official half iron plan starts on Monday. I've gotten all the pieces in place (I think) except for figuring out the exercises listed for the speed workouts at the track. I had planned to work on that this week but with the return of cold, dark, rainy days - that's a no go.

Racing Stuff: I think we are not going to do the Country Music Half Marathon after all. It's $100 this year! There is a half marathon in High Point, NC the next week for half that. I'll run on my own for the week I'm in Nashville and then come home and do the more affordable, local(ish) race.

Random Stuff: Do you ever do things that bug you? I catch myself rinsing out water bottles before putting them in the recycling bin. I go to take off my shoes and they are double-knotted. Why?! I mean, I know I am the one who tied them, but I'm not four. I can retie my own shoes if they come undone - which they don't. Having them double knotted is pointless and way more irritating than helpful. I'm working so hard on living and moving through the world intentionally and yet... Oh well. Progress, not perfection, right?