IT'S OKAY TO BE FAST

My husband Mark is a Runner.  

He is addicted to running like an alcoholic is to booze, a smoker to cigarettes, 

a drug addict to cocaine... 

Well maybe not that bad, but he gets bitchy if he doesn't get his running in!

He just ran the Chicago Marathon in October 09'.  It marked the half way point to his goal to run all 5 World Major Marathons.

 

BOSTON 2008

2:58:50

 NEW YORK 2008

2:55:06

 

CHICAGO 2009

2:53:11

He really amazed me, he ran his personal best time of 2:53:11!  However, like all the marathon's before this one, he immediately started evaluating his run and how he could improve!

He ran his first marathon in 2007 at the Walt Disney World Marathon and surprised us all by running a 3:18:13.  After that, only missing quality for Boston by 2 minutes, he was on a mission. He followed up with running the Niagra Falls Marathon in that same fall with a time of 2:59:54.   Every runner dreams of breaking the 3 hour mark and he did it. This qualified him to run Boston (3:15:00 was required with a 60 second allowance).

I run too.  I run to the store, I run to the bathroom...

Foodie Friday

I Confess...I am a FOODIE

Mark and I love to eat out. We love to have dinner parties. We love to go to friends for dinner. When we plan our vacations, we make our dinner reservations before we book our hotel or flights! We've dined at some extremely fantastic restaurants and the bill at the end of the night has ranged from reasonable to..."don't EVER tell my mother we paid this for dinner"!

Here at home we have our own favorite restaurant, our own CHEERS... People often ask for a recommendations at home and places we've been. There are WAY too many to review in one post so I will start close to home at one of our faaaaaavy places.

~The Whalesbone Oyster House~

This is our "CHEERS". Owned by Josh and Cheri, located at the corner of Bank and Gladstone in Ottawa. The restaurant isn't big, it probably seats 35 people, make sure you make a "REZO" or I like to sit at the bar. The kitchen is open concept and they play old vinyl records on a turn table and even the customers have donated their old LP's. My brother SEAN is the entertainment behind the bar and champion SHUCKER!

There is always something new and exciting on the menu to please everyone and I can say I have had the best lobster of my life sitting at the harvest table with friends. Actually, when it is on the menu, I order it EVERY time.

This is "THE BUTTER POACHED LOBSTER. It comes completely out of the shell and each section of the lobster is cooked separately to ensure it is perfectly cooked. I even have a little fun with it, it sparkles (look closely)!

I recommend starting with the "Shuckers Platter" to get the night started. If you have never had an oyster before, Sean and Josh will guide you through it and announce you as the "OYSTER VIRGIN" as you suck one back.

The restaurant has been featured in the Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa's Capital Dining, Ottawa's Best. Make your REZO today and make it for four so we can come too!

Halloween Carving

Every year since my oldest nephew, Brett, was born I have made it a tradition to head over to Leanne's to carve pumpkins at Halloween. Brett and I always discuss a pattern and create a master piece! Over the years our group has grown with Jordan and Chelsea. Uncle Mark helped Jordan with his scary pumpkin and Jan and Doug were in town to help Chelsea. At the end of the day, we had 3 good looking pumpkins!

I look forward to it every year and now that Brett is 15, I wonder how much longer he will want to carve with me!

A BLOG IS BORN!

I CREATED MY BLOG TODAY!

October 4th, 2009

I thought of 100 topics that I could write about in my first post. I figured it wasn't officially a blog until it had a post. So, instead of jumping in feet first, I thought I would just celebrate the birth. The birth of my new hobby. My BLOG.

My best friend Michelle has had her own blog for about a year now. It has been a wonderful window into her life that has allowed all her friends and family across the miles to keep up to date on her life. It has inspired me to start one of my own and with her help my blog is born!

I hope you will all enjoy the tales and stories about my life, travels, hobbies, interests and of course a photographs. I hope this hobby stays around for a while and doesn't end up in the basement of past hobbies...