The Feds are looking for me

Seriously, they are. I used to be married to a guy in the Navy....long story. But we divorced, I'll always be thankful for that. On Saturday, while I was at the spa getting my mani/pedi done a federal investigator knocked on the door. Husband answered and the guy asked for me. He said he needed to do a face-to-face interview with my previous involvement with my ex-husband. Apparently, the ex, is applying for some kind of top secret clearance with the military and since I'm part of his past, I'm also part of his background check.

Oh how much fun can I have with this? A lot. This seems to be a karma situation. I have the chance to wreck his chances of a career move and it would be such sweet revenge for all of the horrific things he did to me (now that I'm a grown woman I realize I was just as responsible for allowing those things to happen...but when you're young and stupid you just don't see it that way, do you?). But I'll behave and watch gleefully as my karma account builds up:) I do have a very full karma account already, you see? ;)

Les checked out all of his credentials and made sure he was legit before sending him on his way. We watch way too much Court TV to ever be taken advantage of weird schemes that involve robbery and murder. I need to hook up with the guy at some point this week or the next. I'll keep you posted.

Blogging is hard to keep up with....

....especially since work is totally busy right now. I'm sure I'm not complaining about work because when you're in sales you pray to be busy. But DAAAAAMN...I've been at work past 7pm most nights and even after 10pm one day last week.

In a nutshell, I'm busy at work. Just got started in school again. My first class was this morning. Remember that I'm not a morning person? Right. Still not a morning person even though I have to be now. My workouts were intermittant for the past three weeks due to a) my period b) working very late and c) my cravings for peanut butter cookies outweighed the want to workout:)

Keep rockin' everyone:)

What the Carter's have been eating

Chocoloate Chickpea Cake I really wanted chocolate, but didn't want the guilt associated. So, I made this version of cake that camoflauges itself more like an after workout snack:) It's made of chickpeas instead of flour, and cocoa/cardamom rather than chocolate. I have the recipe here.

Chicken and Sprouted Wheat Parpadelle Pasta I bought this pasta at Trader Joes with very little expectation of taste....I was wrong. It's not your typical cardboard-like wheat pasta. It's got a very nutty and pleasant taste. This pic isn't wonderful, but it thickened up a bit after some more freshly grated parmeseano reggiano. I think I mirrored a Giada De Laurentis recipe from a recent show of hers.
Sausage and Onions This is another take on a Giada De Laurentis recipe. Hers is Sausage and Onions and Peppers....but I don't love bell peppers and didn't feel like going to the store...I had everything else on hand. I used Chicken & Apple sausage, so they lent a sweet factor to the tomato-y onion sauce. This turned out really good. I will make it again.

Ulitmate Chili I was craving some comfort food and this is the quintessential comfort food for me. Thick, meaty and rich. I served it with cornbread muffins and some grated cheddar cheese.

We ate really good this past week, for the most part it was healthy. I have gotten more interested in cooking again because of my new knife set that hubby bought me for Christmas:)

Spin Class Atrocities

OMG. Tonight was attrocious. A spinning debauchle, if you will. There was a sub for the normal instructor tonight and he was aweful. Here's the laundry list:

1) No warmup...at ALL...none
2) Straight into a high-energy track and made us do 5 seconds in the saddle 5 seconds out...for the entire length of the song.
3) Every subsequent track skipped through the ENTIRE song...and he never attempted to fix it.
5) Just lots of up in and out of the saddle. No sprints, no endurance, no alternating techniques....just up and down out of the saddle!
6) His cleats kept getting stuck in his pedals and he'd disrupt the class while he sorted himself out.
7) No real instruction, just some whispering into his headset and we'd have to follow his lead.
8) There's more but I'll stop here.

I'm not exaggerating about how bad it was....the class started with 10 people....and it ended with 4. I never quit a workout unless I'm at my vomit zone, but I came really close to walking out. I felt sorry for the guy though, so I sucked it up and finished the workout.

Spin - 60 mins
Upper body and abs - 30 mins

Sunday Boot Camp

Since I'm designing Lawrence's website, we have an agreement that he trains me once a week. We needed more pictures for his site so we got a group of people together to do the boot camp class. I LOVE this class. Even though I was mostly picture-taking, I still did a modified version of the exercises. It's so much damn fun. It was a hard workout, but so worth it. Lots of drills, sprints, plyometrics and groundwork. I wish I knew more active people that cared about these types of things so they would go with me. All of my friends and husbands friends are lazy bastards. I need new friends! Just kidding, I love my friends. Here is our group photo at the end of our super-sweaty day:)

1.5 hrs boot camp (average HR - 160)

Saturday AM Spin Class

My friend Melinda is a spin instructor and I she invited me to take her class on Saturday. I asked her what time and she said, "8:15"! WTF? Soooooo early on a Saturday. But I did it anyway...reluctantly...hit the snooze on the alarm only one time:) I was so glad I went because it she is a fantastic instructor. Really great music - friends will all the house DJs we know...of course it would be great music!

After the workout we went to Le Boulanger for bagel and egg sammies. Totally hit the spot because that class drained all the food out of my muscles.

Spin - 1hr (moderate intensity, average HR 165)

Jerk Chicken

I made jerk chicken tonight, first time ever. I found the recipe at Yahoo Recipes. I noticed that most of the reviews complained that there wasn't enough heat in it. Well I know how to fix that...urm....just add more pepper. Geez. I added lots of pepper and it was HOT. I normally underestimate the power of freshly ground black pepper. But not anymore after tonight.

I served it alongside some polenta and carrots. Was a marginal dinner. Nothing fantastic.

On a separate note, today was a day of reckoning for me. For the past month I've been feeling a bit stir crazy and it seemed as though the house was closing in on me. I realized that's because our christmas tree was taking up half of our living room. So, tonight I took it down. And took down all of the other decorations. And now I feel much better. I feel like I can breathe again. The house is bigger and I'm already more organized. I really thought I was going crazy.

I don't normally do any resolutions, but what I would like to do this year is simplify. Just get back to basics. We have too much stuff. We're always getting more stuff. Stores and TV are always manipulating me to want more stuff. Enough already. I plan on getting rid of all of the "things" in the house that serve no functional purpose. There is no need to have so many candle holders or extra bottles of lotion or so many damn towels in the closet. Enough! This crap must get out of my house and the money must stay in my pocket.

Getting back to it

I swear this holiday season has been the worst in terms of being too busy to find time for anything. It was all about running around and being stressed. So much stress all I wanted to do is eat. And I did eat. I ate without working out to keep up with it. Stupid delicious desserts and food all over the place! My workouts suffered in a major way but now I'm back to it.

I had the most awesome day of snowboarding on Friday at Kirkwood. I wasn't even sore. Thank you traveling lunges and jump squats!

Today I took Huggy out for a four mile run and came back in the house for some abs and push ups. It felt fantastic to get a nice workout in. I need to learn to wake up early because when school starts I won't be able to worko out after work. Work work work. Geez.

Happy New Year

Life is good. Seriously good. Let's all keep it that way:) Happy New Year to everyone, I wish you the best in 2007.

We spent NYE in Tahoe with our friends. Did some snowboarding, lots of eating/relaxing and had some really tasty champagne. While hubby and friends were at Sierra Ski Ranch, they apprehended a drunk driver by pulling him from his car in the parking lot. This drunk guy almost hit many people getting into their cars and rammed his truck into a few other cars. Once the cops showed up, they arrested the guy and took him away. Hubby and friends were given the royal treatment at the resort and didn't have to pay for anything all day:)

Here they are in action - My hubby is a total bad-ass!

Holiday Hermititude....

....is in full effect at the Carter's house. Well, almost full effect. We're almost ready to get our hermit on. We just need to do our grocery shopping for Christmas dinner and a couple of last minute gifts to put into stockings. That will be done before 2pm today. I've made it my life's mission to get it done before 2pm.


Then holiday hermititude will begin. This means we don't leave the house, we hole up in our winter pyjams (pronounced: pie-jams. These are pajamas - I have snowboarding monkeys on mine and Les has dancing polar bears on his.) drink mulled wine and cider and watch lots of movies. I was raised on How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I never cared for Frosty the Snowman or any of the other ones. But the Grinch is my very favorite.


<------So for my birthday, my mom bought me a six foot inflatable Grinch that reaches into the chimney and pulls the christmas tree out! I love it, it's outside in the courtyard. It's completely and utterly awesome and I can't wait until we have our new house next year so it can go in the front yard for everyone to see!

On Christmas Eve, I'll beg and beg and beg Les to let me open one gift. But he'll say no and we'll go to bed but I won't sleep a wink. I'll be too excited! Then I'll wake up early - the only day of the year I voluntarily wake up early - and jump on the bed to wake him up. We'll start a fire and put the Christmas music on. Mom and Raquel are with us this year so I'll wake them up and they'll all groggily follow me to the living room. I'll pass out everybody's stockings and we'll munch on the sweet treats found inside them while Raquel plays Santa and passes out all of the gifts. We'll all fall into gift-coma and Les will start making our Christmas dinner:) Can't wait!!

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanuka/Hannuka/Purim, Mele Kalikimaka, Happy Kwanzaa, Feliz Navidad, Milad Majid, Glædelig Jul, Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad, Selamat Hari Natal, Selamat Hari Natal, Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu, Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand, Chung Mung Giang Sinh - in any language or whatever your beliefs - I wish you all happiness and prosperity through the holidays and forever!

xxoo
KT

Irony....with a capital "I"

For our anniversary dinner, Les had the notion that we should make it together rather than go out. I was floored by that idea though because Les never wants to make any dinner! So I jumped on the chance to have him in the kitchen with me. It also made perfect sense since we're saving our pennies to buy a house next year.

So, we decided to make lasagna from scratch...the noodles, sauce and all...from scratch! Neither of us had ever made noodles but Les pulled it off, they were perfect. It was dubbed "love lasagna", buy the way;) And for dessert we made chocolate mousse. Rich, dark, meltin-your-mouth mousse.

The irony, you ask? Because we're watching "The Biggest Loser" whilst eating it. That, my friends...is irony. Especially since I never got a workout in today!

My marriage philosophy thus far....

Today is our four-year wedding anniversary. Four years of total wedded bliss. I'm not even trying to lie either. My husband and I 'clicked' from the very first day we met. We were attached at the hip from our first encounter and our bond has only gotten stronger as the days go by.

We are so much different than what I was exposed to with my parents. Their constant screaming at each other was brushed off as "just the way we communicate". Their story ended in divorce...no surprise there. Les' parents are still married after 32 years, but seem to have their off days as well. Our friends that are dating are having some major issues within their lives which leads me to believe that things won't work out....one that includes a pregnancy - and extremely disfunctionaly relationship if there ever was one. Two of our friends just got engaged and they are the closest to Les and KT happy that I've seen so far.

Les and I really make people sick with how happy and content with each other we are. We don't throw it in anyone's face, we just love. That's all. It's really very simple but for some reason everyone makes it harder than it needs to be. So, I've put some thought into this and am going to give you some of my own secrets to our success. In no particular order, they are:

1) Play, laugh, smile - all the time. Just be happy. You're not dying, you're still breathing. Nothing in this life deserves negative energy....stay positive in all things and keep a smile on your face.

2) Respect each other and embrace your differences. I really don't think this needs explanation.

3) Snuggle, cuddle, nuzzle, hug, hold hands, kiss and have SEX. You must have closeness, without it, you lose your bond. Without a bond, you have nothing.

4) Talk about anything and everything. I'm sure I talk my husband's ear off, but at least he knows where I'm coming from at all times and he's never surprised. He is the quiet one for sure, but I know what's going on in his head most of the time.

5) Don't be a nag. Nagging does NOT help anything and it never works.....so just zip it. Talk to each other like equals and just ask for what you want like an adult.

6) Have your own things to do. Time apart and indulging in your own hobbies/activities keeps you from going crazy, becoming dependant and losing your own identity.

7) Stop carrying around your past. Closed chapters are exactly that. Move on and find someone completely different than the one that always breaks your heart. Don't be afraid to give your heart away to the one that truly deserves it.

8) Go out. Get out of the house and do fun things. Together and with your own friends. Let your partner have their time out and you get yours too.

9) Love. Just love. Don't half-ass it either. Just let your heart be full of it and give it away without abandon. Because it's really what we all need just a little more of;)

There don't always have to be lists of ten....so I'm all done.

XoXo
KT

Monday Sculpt

I've been meeting Jojo at the gym lately....we're both suffering from post-Lawrence training depression. So, now that we're on our own, we must forge ahead and lean on each other for motivation. We do a Monday night sculpt class, Tuesday night plyo/cardio workout and Wednesday night spin class. It's working out well so far and hopefully our schedules can keep up with it.

Speaking of schedules....my college courses start at the end of January and they're in the morning. I'm not a morning person...in the least bit. So from now until then I need to force myself to wake up early no matter what. This means the alarm clock must be moved to my side of the bed so the husband won't snooze our lives away as tempting as it may be. It also means that I'm barely going to have enough time to do the extra fun things we're used to doing....like sleeping and eating and all those other fun things.

I'm looking forward to it though, I'm taking two classes and will continue to do so until I have a damn degree. I'm tired of feeling like less of a person at work because all of those braniacs have been to college and I haven't. I know my salary is suffering because of it as well. So, now's the time. Wish me luck:)

Workouts and such

Oh yes, I've been working out, but have not had many minutes to spare for blogging the thoughts out of my brain. Work is always busy at the end of the year for me, but much moreso now that almost all of my counterparts are on vacation and I'm covering for them. It means business for me, but an extended and severely altered workload. But as long as I can keep smiling, all is good.

Last week, I did something I probably shouldn't have. I worked out by myself towards nighttime along the Guadalupe River Trail in downtown San Jose. There are some seriously sketchy areas there as that's where a lot of the homeless make their...well..homes. I also did a spin class and the usual gym workouts with cardio and weights. Nothing special.

Les has been sick for a week now and keeping him hopped up on Sudafed, Comtrex, Tylenol PM and Mucinex. Luckily I have not fallen victim to his germs yet thanks to my suped-up immune system. Ahhhh...one more benefit of consitent exercise and healthy eating:)

Cheap Date Night

While at Larry's birthday party last week, he mentioned that he was going to take Sheri to Grapevine Wine Shop in San Jose for their cheap date night. The last time they went Sheri told me how much she liked it so we've been wanting to try it. We finally had a free Wednesday and spent the evening with Larry, Sheri, Janet and her beau. It was a lot of fun, the grilled cheese sammies were all do die for except the brie and cranberry and the wine was tasty. We left with two bottles of Pinot Noir and are grateful for the company of good friends. We are blessed with a really excellent life:)

Weds Workout

Lawrence has hurt himself, so Tuesday's urban assault didn't happen this week. Which is fine because I was so busy at work, there was no way I could get out until after 6pm. It was dark and icky and I just wanted to go home and snuggle with the hubby.

I had a short workday on Weds because my phone wasn't ringing off the hook as it usually does. So, I was able to finish all of my sales calls and organize for next week. I went straight to the gym and had a nice long workout.

10 minute warmup - treadmill
15x 2x 20lb standing row with lunge
15x 2x 20lb sitting bicep curl with crunch
15x 2x 20lb shoulder shrug
15x 2x 20lb bicep curl with shoulder raise
15x 2x 20lb hammer curl with shoulder raise
15x 2x 45lb squat press
15x 2x 45lb leg press
15x 2x 45lb squat press with jump
15x 4x 45 lb calf raise
15x 2x 60lb lat pull-down
15x 2x 24lb tricep pull-down
LOTS of abwork, too much to write down.

Good workout, lots of sweat, felt great.

Monday Spin Class

My friend Melinda is a spin instructor and I've been talking to her about how I might get certified to teach spinning...or at least just be a fill-in for other instructors that can't make their class. According to her, it's so easy it's a joke. She sent me this link and it explains that you have to attend an nine hour orientation filled with instruction on spinning and two spin classes. Sounds like fun so I think I'm going to do it the next time they have one in San Jose.

Since I've been in the spin mood lately, I checked out the class at Bally's. It was not as brutal as I remember previous spin classes to be. I think this is directly related to the fact that I am more in shape now than I ever have been.

After spin class, I hit the weights for a little bit of upper body work. Nothing exciting.

I'm wicked and I'm Laaaaaaaaazzzzyyyy

There was house cover of that David Byrne song a few years ago and it was amazingly fantastic. One of my very favorite songs. It has one of those slow-head-bob melodies and drawn out words that put you in a lazy mood. That's how I feel right now, wicked and lazy.

Today was all about spending time with the wonderful hubby of mine and just being. We had breakfast at Hobee's and then did some shopping. I actually agreed to go to Fry's because Les wanted to get a labeler and I need a new set of headphones for working out. We got what we needed and then we went over to the appliance section and found the stove/oven/fridge/washer/dryer/DLP HD TV that we want when we buy our house next year. I'm glad that's sorted. I was really worried that we wouldn't be able to spend thousands of dollars in one place, but it turns out we absolutely can. I loathe Fry's and the thought of handing over that much cash to them makes me ill. But they have what we want. Bastards.

After spending many hours on the internet doing F*ck all today, I finally got off my butt and went out running with Huggy.

Today's workout:
2.5 mile loop 24:16
30x2 single leg lunges
20 alternating lunges
30 squats
25 push ups
15 V-Ups
15x2 alternate crunch with leg lift
10x2 oblique crunch with leg lift

Felt great, was a very quick workout. Tomorrow me and GB go for a ride:)

Spa day with Mom

Mom's birthday was last week and since this was the first chance we had to get together, we celebrated for her today. It was ALL about Mom today.

We drove to Calistoga ( about 20 miles north of Napa) and enjoyed the mud bath, mineral spa and massage at Dr. Wilkinson's Day Spa and Resort. This isn't your typical trendy/frou frou spa experience, this is for folks that don't mind a somewhat sterile hospital-like feeling. it's for people that want to just get down to business and get spa-ified without the pretense and snobs all around.

We were relaxed and felt so pampered, the only thing left to do was to eat a delicious lunch. Mom had seen Brannan's Grill showcased on Eye on the Bay and so we gave it a try. This is what was left of the chocolate lava torte we shared for dessert. OMG.

I highly recommend this place to anyone looking for food in Calistoga.

On the way home we talked about lots of mother/daughter things. It was a perfect day:)

No workouts today.

Oh man, it's only Tuesday and I'm already tired of sleeping all day being on vacation. Okay, so I'm not sleeping ALL day, but I am in bed all day. I'm swapping channels between Food Network, Discovery Channel and TLC so I can catch "What Not to Wear". I didn't get out of bed until 3pm and I took a shower. Then I went to the store for some household items and off to the gym.

Today's workout - Tuesdays are my favorite!
Urban Assault with Lawrence and Jojo. We run through downtown San Jose to Guadalupe Trail and run up and down the stairs five times. Then we run to Adobe and use their outside playground for circuit training - pushups in the alphabet wall, squats and jump lunges on all the chairs, and wall kicks on the number wall. Then we use Adobe's shipping ramp for five hill repeats and then run back to the gym. It takes us about 1/2 hr to do all of it and it's so much fun! My heart beats so fast and hard that I think I'm going to die, but afterwards it's such a great feeling not to be dying of boredom in a workout.
Then at the gym -
2x 45lb dead lifts
2x 45lb squat with row
2x 45lb squat with overhead throw
15 inverted pull-ups
3 mins of plank (2x30seconds front and both sides)
10 mins stretching

Excellent workout, I think tomorrow I'm going to take Huggy to LG Creek Trail tomorrow for the par course. I'm so addicted to endorphins. I'm a total junkie.

Today I ate well during the day and then an hour before my workout I had a personal size cheese pizza:( And I made mediterranean turkey burgers for dinner tonight (thank you Rachael Ray). They were super delicious and like all things RR makes, were very easy to put together. think I ate too much though because my belly is sticking out a lot.