MDW 2012

This Memorial Day Weekend was a bittersweet weekend.


My big brother came into town for the holiday weekend which was so awesome!  We spent the entire weekend with family, BBQ-ing, taking the Duffy boat out around the bay, working out together, and sharing a lot of memories of Mom.

Me and my brothers 

Me and my cousin, R

Me and my cousin, S

Me and my hubby

We had so much fun all together.


Unfortunately, this weekend also brought some sadness.  Two weeks ago, our sweet Bagheera was diagnosed with a rare kitty disease called FIP, which sadly is 100% fatal.  We tried everything humanly possible, including an experimental drug, and for the first week he was happy and acting completely normal.  Unfortunately, he took a turn for the worst, and on Saturday our baby Buggy passed away.  He was 9 months old.  We were with him and kept him comfortable and loved.  I know Mom is taking good care of him now (Mom called him Biggie Smalls haha).  I miss our Buggy so much and it sucks.  Rest in peace our sweet Bagheera, I love you so much.

<3

Happy Friday!!

Happy Friday!!!

1.  Last night I finished my spring semester of grad school!!  I am beyond stoked!!  Only 4 more classes to go and I’ll be an MBA!
2.  Tomorrow I’m throwing my future Sis a bridal shower!  I’ve been planning it for months and I’m so so so excited!  She’s going to love it and we are going to have a blast!!
3.  Four years ago today I graduated from college!  Since then I’ve started my career, begun earning my MBA, run 8 half marathons (something I never thought I’d do), married the love of my life, bought a house, have two adorable kitties, and so much more. I am so blessed. It’s amazing how quickly time flies when you’re having fun :)
4.  I have a few workouts planned this weekend including some running, biking, and maybe I’ll even get a swim in!  Triathlon training begins July 1, but why not start now for fun?!  This week I didn’t get many workouts in with work + finals + studying + research paper + final presentations, so I'm making up for it.

5.  And just because they're so dang adorable, I'm going to leave you with some pictures of our boys, Tantalum (silver baby) and Bagheera (brown baby) lounging around and playing with their feather <3

Have a wonderful weekend!!

OC Color Run 5K Recap!

This post comes super late, but better late than never right?

On April 22, my cousin and I did the Color Run in OrangeCounty and man oh man it was so much FUN!  It's a 5K run/walk/crawl/skip, whatever you want to do to complete it, and at every kilometer there is a color station with volunteers throwing a bright colored powder.  The first color station was yellow, the second green, the third purple, the fourth was pink (which I went crazy for because pink is my favorite color!) and at the end of the race is the grand "Color Throw".  Every participant is given a packet of colored powder when they register, so at the "Color Throw" finale, all participants gather and throw their color into the air!  Needless to say, if you weren't colorful from the color stations along the course, you were definitely colorful after the Color Throw! This happened every 15 minutes so everyone could participate.

We signed up when registration opened and good thing we did because it sold out in a day!  Our hubbys were going to do it with us, but no luck.  So it was just us and we had a blast!!  I wrapped my iPhone in saran wrap which was awesome because I was able to get some sweet pictures without destroying my phone.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

In the Color Throw cloud 

We learned that the Color Run was going to be in San Diego in November, so my cousin, our husbands, our brothers, and friends signed up as Team Color Me Bad immediately before it sold out!  Round 2, here we come!!

Dear Mommy, I love you

I just thought I’d say
I love you and goodbye
We will miss you dearly
I promise I won’t cry.

I will never forget our talks
Conversations on the phone
How happy you were to see me
When I finally came home.

You worried so much about me
I worried about you too
I know this is the hardest thing
We've ever had to do.

I know you'll always be with me
Wherever I will go
No one needs to show me
I will always know.

I don’t know what to do Mom
I never thought I’d loose you
Where I'll go from here
I still haven't got a clue.

I hope you'll watch over me
Be my guiding light
Giving me the strength I need
To win this endless fight.

You're my guardian angel Mom
Sitting on my shoulder
Whispering your words of wisdom
To use as I get older.

I don't want to say goodbye
But we'll meet again someday
We'll pick up where we left off
Before you went away.

Me and Mom, Christmas 1986

Two months ago you became my guardian angel.  You will always be the best mom I could ever have asked for.  I miss you so much.  Happy Mother's Day, Mommy.  I love you.

Signed up for my first Triathlon!!!!

I signed up for my first triathlon!!  I'm bursting at the seams with excitement!  It's on my 30-before-30 list, but I didn't think I would do it this year until my friend told me she was going to sign up and that we should do it together!  No convincing necessary!  Done deal!  So yesterday I signed up for the Long Beach Triathlon!

And to make things even more exciting, two others are doing it with us, and it’s all our first tri!!  I have pretty much everything (running gear, swimsuit, goggles, cap) and I'm going to borrow my Dad's road bike.  So I really just need to get a helmet and a wet suit.  If anyone recommends any tri wet suits, please let me know!  

Here is the training plan we are going to use, courtesy of TriNewbies.com:

I also reached out to my blogging buddy, Ms. Efo, for any tips/advice since she ran her first tri last summer.  She gave me some great tips.  Thanks Erin!!  I really appreciate it!!

If you guys have any advice or tips for a tri newbie, please let me know in the comments or email me at Love 2 Mags (@) gmail dot com.  I'd really appreciate it!


Weeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D

Weekend of running, hiking, and hanging :)

This weekend was so wonderful!


Friday after work I met my cousin for dinner and drinks at an awesome local joint.  She makes me laugh so hard, I love hanging with her!

Saturday morning was so beautiful that I just had to run on the beach path.  It was one of those mornings where it was crystal clear and sunny with a bright blue sky.  I got a solid three miles in, and it was the kind of run where I felt so strong and 3 miles ticked by so quickly!  I probably could have run longer.

Saturday night my Dad, Uncle, and I went out to dinner for BBQ.  It's actually funny...we read there was a 1st Annual BBQ Cookout down at the Queen Mary, with all style BBQ: Texas, Kansas City, North Carolina, etc.  So we cruise down to the Queen Mary only to discover it's next weekend!  We were in a BBQ mood, so we ended up going to a local BBQ joint and sat on the patio.  Perfect Saturday evening.

Sunday morning was incredible!!!  My friend is a huge hiker, and she took me and my cousin up to Malibu to hike escondido falls!!  It was beautiful!!  It was a rugged course too, complete with climbing ropes, rock climbing, and getting down on our hands and feet!  It was rigorous and SO FUN!!!  We definitely went off trail (accidentally) a couple times!  Our hike/climb ended up being 6 miles.  I felt so energized and zen the rest of the day.  It was wonderful! 

This was a LOT more vertical than it looks!

Leaving the trail.  So beautiful with all the wild mustard flower!

This weekend was wonderful and exactly what I needed!  My hubby had to work most of this weekend but we did have a nice dinner date night followed by drinks and live music :)  

I love this man to the moon and back!! <3

Sunset :)  Heaven

This weekend was amazing!

How was your weekend?

Do you like to hike?  What's the best trail you've been on?

Hope, Steps, & A Cure 5K and Walk

Last weekend I ran and walked for Mom as part of Team Pat Reep at the Hope, Steps & A Cure 5K Run and Walk for Aplastic Anemia and MDS.

I am still completely blown away at the turnout we had for Team Pat Reep.  We had more than 50 people show up and they all were wearing the shirt I designed.  I’m getting goose bumps thinking about it.  It was so moving to see so many of mom’s friends come out in her memory.  I know Mom was with us and smiling.  Together, our team raised more than $15,000 for MDS, and the event overall raised a grand total of $72,474!!  Amazing!!

It was the most beautiful day we’ve had this year and a perfect day for our race and the Walk.  The day began with a 5K run at 8:00am, which some of my family, few friends and I did.  It was really fun running along the beach, and it ended up being more like 5 miles than 5 kilometers.  It was their first 5K (they’ve done the 1-mile walk event in the past, but this was the first 5K run), so of course hiccups are to be expected.  The hiccup here was that there was no turn around point so everyone just kept running.  Finally we all just turned around and ran back.  It was still fun!  My bro won 1st place in his age group and my cousin won 2nd in his age group!

Then the main Walk began at 9:30.  It’s a 1-mile loop along the shoreline.  This was incredible.  The event drew 200+ people, 34% more than last year, and we were a sea of red all walking for aplastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndrome.  It was so powerful to see.  Here are pictures from the day:

Hope, Steps, & A Cure walk

We love you Mommy!!!

Team Pat Reep (there were even more people for TPR that aren't in the picture)

5K course

Me and Lisa running the 5K

Post 5K family

My cousin and big brother

My mom's best friend and her daughter

Me and my Aunt

Me and my cousins

Big bro, hubby, me, little bro

With my brothers, Daddy, Uncle, and Aunt

Me and my cousin

Jay, Me, Koko

Little bro and cousin won first and second place!

Friends :)

Love

For you, Mom!  I love you!

Some of our team

Team Pat Reep

My hubby and mother-in-law

The Walk

Such a beautiful sight

Big bro: "Go Team Pat Reep!!"

The Queen Mary

I loved seeing the shirts and Mom's "Rockstar" picture

After the run and walk we went to the BBC (Belmont Brewing Company)
for beers and lunch :)

The day was beautiful and filled with lots of laughter and tears.  Great stories were told and memories remembered.  Team Pat Reep will be back next year, and we hope to double our fundraising efforts for 2013!!  Mark your calendars to come run and walk with us:  April 27, 2013!!