Life…

I haven’t had the heart (or the time or energy) to update my blog over the last month and a half. Since I last posted my whole world has turned upside down. I will share with you that my husband, you know him as J. Alabama, was seriously injured over in Afghanistan in early June. Baby Jay, myself and some family have been to Germany and then onto San Antonio to be with him. He is still alive and doing better each day, though we are not out of the woods and still have a long road ahead.

I wanted to leave a quick little update here that I will not be blogging here anymore. This blog has been an amazing outlet to share my life but I feel it only appropriate to step away at this time.

Your thoughts and prayers are always welcome. I will still be available through email at destination26.2 at gmail dot com if you would like to check in from time to time.

Thank you all again for your support now and throughout the last three years. It is sad and very hard for me to step away, but due to the nature of this situation it’s the best choice for me and my family.

11 Randoms

Aneta from My Running Bucket tagged me in “11 Randoms”.

Here are the rules:

1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people!

Here are my 11 Random things:

1. This is the longest I’ve gone without a job since I was 16 years old. (3 months)
2. My favorite movie of all time is Empire Records.
3. I’ve traveled to Italy, Spain, Switzerland, France, Peru, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, and Guatemala.
4. My favorite party drink is the Basque favorite, Kalimoxto. (Half a glass of Pepsi, and half a glass of red wine –over ice).
5. I was never big into running before 2009, but in 4th grade I was on the track team and once took second place in a sprint race.
6. My latest snack obsession is brie cheese and figs on wheat thins.
7. I’m a Sorority girl! (I was part of a local Sorority during college)
8. I didn’t learn how to french braid until this past summer.
9. A special treat for me is an iced chai latte, with a pump of chocolate syrup. Chocolate Chai = awesomeness!
10. I am named after Lindsay Wagner, The Bionic Woman.
11. I’ve been skydiving,  but honestly hated it.

And now to answer Aneta’s Questions:

1. What is your favourite song on the radio right now? Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 (I know it’s been out for awhile but I still dance a little whenever I hear it).
2. Brad Pitt or George Clooney?  Brad Pitt
3. What is the last movie that you saw in the theatres? Sherlock Holmes II
4. If you were on death row, what would your last meal be? Dad’s lasagna and glass of red wine.
5. When was the last time you sent a real letter? A birthday card to my best friend Maria in Boise.
6. Blue or Black pen? Blue
7. What is the last book that you have read? The second book of the Hunger Games Series! (Currently reading the third!!)
8. running, biking or swimming? RUNNING!
9. coffee or tea? Coffeeee, coffeee, coffeeee!!
10. cats or dogs? I’m a cat person, but J. Alabama has me convinced that I could be a dog person.
11. What is your favourite colour? Pink

Now here are MY Questions:

1. What is your favorite dish to make?
2. Would you rather sing in a karaoke contest or be in a dance competition?
3. If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would it be?
4. Pepsi or Coke?
5. What is your favorite movie?
6. High heels or flats?
7. Where were you born?
8. Do you watch Reality TV? (If yes, which shows are your guilty pleasure?)
9. Have you ever met anyone famous? (Name them if yes).
10. What’s one thing you would like accomplish in 2012?
11. Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate or White chocolate?

***You’ve been TAGGED!

1. Amy — Army Amy
2. Cynthia – Run, Dream, Laugh
3. Kim – Just Another Running Mom
4. Kim – ilaxStudio
5. Meg – Life is Better than Fiction
6. Fran – Dutch Girl Gets Healthy
7. J – Morning Runner
8. Robin – Robin’s Blog
9. Katie – Legally Fit
10. Biz – My Bizzy Kitchen
11. Cambry – The Road to Happiness

Have a great weekend!!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas,
From The Alabama Family

The Experiment: Day 5

It’s getting harder and harder to fit in these experiments before our celebration, but we are doing our damnedest to stay as true to the experiment as possible.

***

The KY Intimacy Experiment Day five… 

We were challenged to engage in an activity that was new to both of us. Something that neither of us had ever done together before. The suggestions were to take a class, sing karaoke together, or go out to lunch…etc.

It’s crunch time around these parts and I don’t know about you, but the courthouse was screaming our name. I asked J. Alabama how he felt about taking a little trip down to the courthouse.

And you know…making it all official. 😉 Oh how I love him.

He simply smiled and said…well it’s definitely not something either of us have done before.

And that was that. We made a little lunch date, which I’ll have you know is something we do from time to time. But honestly not enough. So I welcomed the chance to see him during the mid day, and squeeled when we pulled up to the front of the courthouse.

Oh gosh, we are really doing this. We are really doing this!

We took our number, waited our turn and filled out the necessary paperwork.

And I can honestly say there is nothing more exciting, than making it official with the one you love.

Well I guess it’s legal now…not quite official.  You’ll just have to wait 9 more days for that!

**

I wrote this while participating in a blog campaign on behalf of K-Y® Brand and also received product samples to help facilitate my review. For more information, visit the K-Y Intimacy Experiment tab on Couples Place.

The Experiment: Day 4

*I am participating in The K-Y Intimacy experiment and will be blogging about my thoughts and experiences during this process.*

Last night’s experiment was exactly what we both needed.

The theme of the day was to get outside your comfort zone. At a certain point in any relationship things get a little too comfortable.

You know what I mean…like leaving the door open while using the bathroom, or clipping your toe nails in front of your partner. (Not that I would ever do either of those but still)…

Our actual experiment last night involved being uncomfortable in the sense of seeing each other for all that we are. You know, in the bare flesh.

I of course immediately skipped ahead in the experiment to the part that involved a massage. Because who doesn’t love a back massage right?

What I took from last night’s experiment was to make a little extra effort wherever I can.

To me that means this… giving back massages to J. Alabama (he always gives to me, but I don’t give as much to him, maybe retiring my comfy pajamas one night and upgrading them to something more appealing to the eye, or even just putting away the computer for the night (sorry bloggies) and just read a book next to my love instead.

***

We are still loving these little challenges in the experiment and it’s honestly forcing us to be more intimate during a time that it’s needed most.

I say needed most, because my head is spinning everynight from wedding plannning. But the experiment reminds me what I’m doing it all for.

For him. And for US!

***

I wrote this while participating in a blog campaign on behalf of K-Y® Brand and also received product samples to help facilitate my review. For more information, visit the K-Y Intimacy Experiment tab on Couples Place.

The Experiment: Day 3

Last night’s experiment presented somewhat a challenge for us we had booked several wedding related appointments in the early evening. But in the name of K-Y I was determined to make it work!

The experiment called for rediscovering that newness feeling  in our relationship. You know those butterflies you had the first time you and your significant other met? Yeah…that!

(This was taken shortly after we began dating.  I was super tired after a wedding, but can honestly remember how amazing his kisses felt that night. Especially because this was the night he first referred to me as his girlfriend). 

So our task was to find that feeling again, but was suggested to do so in the way of roleplaying.

***

I figured there was no better way to re-create this newness feeling then by going on a “first date”.

So after our wedding appointments, we went our separate ways and planned to meet up at a bar at a certain time.

I got all prettied up in a fun summer dress and actually got a little nervous before our meeting. I pulled up to the bar and saw his car was already there and walked in pretending like I was going to meet him for the first time.

And there I spotted him,  cock-gobbler  in hand.

He looked up from his drink and nodded over at me to come sit.

Then I asked him about himself. He proceeded to tell me about his investment banking ventures as well as his travels to foreign lands. I said something about how I loved yoga and we giggled as we tried to pretend we were two other people on a first date.

All was going well, until I realized I knew the bartender and his girlfriend. And it was too hard to explain that we were on a second first date, and oh yeah we were sort of trying not be ourselves.

Once we broke back into our normal characters, we continued to enjoy ourselves over conversations of our future life together.

We talked about our finances and how we are going to set-up our joint bank accounts, and even talked about future purchases we need to save our money for. Romantic I know! But honestly we got a lot of personal and much needed discussion out of the way.

Who knew a few cock-gobblers and talk of finances would spark those feelings of newness again. Or maybe it was just a Wild Turkey buzz.

We were having such a great time! We managed to stay at the bar for a few hours just talking and laughing like we had when we first started dating.

I realized then that this was something we really needed. Just to hang out like friends in a neutral place with just each other.

Then he took me to Pie Hole for a late night slice of the pizza and tried to teach me how to play Donkey Kong on an old table top game system.  And proceeded to laugh at me as I failed horribly.

It was the most fun we’ve had in such a long time!

I’m loving that each day of this experiment brings out different things in our relationship and helps us to grow even closer.

***

I wrote this while participating in a blog campaign on behalf of K-Y® Brand and also received product samples to help facilitate my review. For more information, visit the K-Y Intimacy Experiment tab on Couples Place.

Run in the name of Love!

Now I fully admit that things have gotten a wee bit crazy over here. Usually this space is reserved for sweaty post workout pictures of me, enthusiastic run reports, and my newest and craziest fitness fad of the week.

Though lately, it feels like a mish mash of  “experiment’s” and crazy wedding jibber jabber. I hope you will stick around.

Cuz seriously, running is what prompted me to start this blog. And starting this blog is what prompts me to keep running faster and farther. So don’t think I’ve forgotten the purpose of “Beyond Destination 26.2”. Because I haven’t. And I never could.

So to appease all of you who just come here to see my after glow photo shots, here’s one for ya!

***

And if that isn’t quite enough, maybe you will go out there and run. For me?

Yeah, remember my Virtual Bridal Shower? Do it!…this weekend is your last chance to run in the name of Love!

Take part in the Love.RUN.Bride virtual run and leave a msg over at Aneta’s place giving a piece of marriage advice, love advice, wedding advice, or heck even running advice! The run closes on July 10th and Aneta will be posting about it on her blog on Monday, July 11th!

***

Have a great weekend friends! This weekend I’m looking forward to a 10 mile run, a sweet DIY wedding project and welcoming my bridesman back from Costa Rica & celebrating his birthday! Woo hoo!

The Experiment: Day 2

*I am participating in The K-Y Intimacy experiment and will be blogging about my thoughts and experiences during this process.*

***

The first part of the experiment for day 2 was all about reflecting on the connections made with your partner outside the bedroom.

Our first task at hand was to determine how often we engage in certain physical activities.

Such as kissing, holding hands, saying I love you, complimenting each other, emailing each other, checking in on one another throughout the day, doing chores together, participating in mutual hobbies….etc.

After discussing these different activities we felt pretty darn good about our relationship as we pretty much do them all together, (except I’m an email person and he is not). We’ll work on that! 🙂

I’ve been told that we may still be in the “love bubble” but I like to think that kissing, holding hands, and complimenting each other is something we will always do. It’s been over two years and we are still going strong!

According to the K-Y Experiment Intimacy handbook, touching your lover is very important. Positive touches (even just holding hands and kisses throughout the day) actually cause the brain to produce the chemical oxytocin, which in turn helps to create a sense of emotional intimacy, and also helps relieve stress and improve mood.

Bring on the positive touches! Anything to relieve stress and improve mood is exactly what I need these days.

So far, J. Alabama and I are just enjoying these little moments during the experiment where we just get to focus on one another.

***

I wrote this while participating in a blog campaign on behalf of K-Y® Brand and also received product samples to help facilitate my review. For more information, visit the K-Y Intimacy Experiment tab on Couples Place.

The Experiment: Day #1

Things are spicing up over here! 

I am excited to announce that I won a chance to participate in the K-Y Intimacy Experiment from Drunk Auntie awhile back.

And I couldn’t have been more ecstatic when my fun box arrived over the weekend.

At first I thought the package might be a wedding present, but upon further inspection the words K-Y caught my eye. We’ll just call this an “early” wedding present to both J. and I.

***

The K-Y Intamacy experiment is a 10 day experiment that was developed to help spice things up in the bedroom as well as help couples to reconnect on a more intimate level.

When I thought about the timing of this experiment, I wondered how could we possibly need to spice things up in our lives right now, we are 18 days away from marrying eachother. But once I thought more about it, I realized this is the absolute PERFECT time to jump start a lifetime of love and intimacy together.

With all the wedding planning comes not a lot of time or focus for anything else. So J. Alabama and I vowed to take on this 10 day experiment as a way to become even closer before our big day.

So I will be blogging about my experience of the experiment over the next 10 days.

***

We kicked off the experiment last night!

Day #1: Our project was to create a “Love Nest”.

With J. Alabama moving into my apartment in a few weeks, this project came as a godsend. Let’s turn this mess into a  love nest! 🙂

Before: 

After:

We were encouraged to add candles and sensual smells to the room as well as doing away with all clutter.

Before:

After: 

I realized that I have no framed pictures of us in my house and bought some cheap and cutsie frames from target to frame a few of our favs.

And I set up the iPad to the Damien Rice station on Pandora to get us into “the mood”.

Before: 

The after picture had the look and feel of a hotel room! Love it!

Before: 

Who knew that just closing the doors would block out all that noise of the cluttered closet.

***

Part two of the experiment for Day 1 was to reap the rewards of our hard labor of making our love nest.

The candles, the mood music and lack of a mess and clutter made it so J. Alabama and could fully focus on one another for the entire night. It was definitely a night that ended in a firework show. 😉

***

I wrote this while participating in a blog campaign on behalf of K-Y® Brand and also received product samples to help facilitate my review. For more information, visit the K-Y Intimacy Experiment tab on Couples Place.

Paella & Sangria

 

I have always been intrigued with Basque food.  And lucky for me, Boise has quite a large Basque influence making it easy to indulge in it whenever I want. 

But the question always come to mind, how can one make such delicious tasting food at home?

As a fairly belated birthday gift to my bestie, I treated her to a Paella & Sangria Cooking class at The Basque Market last night.

The Basque Market sits in the middle of the Basque Block in downtown Boise. It’s a great little place to snag a delicious bottle of wine, fresh meats & cheeses, or even pre-made croquettes. (If you’ve never had a croquette, you are truly missing out).

We were anxious and excited to finally take this cooking class. Her birthday was in January, so this has been a long time coming.

 

Included in the price of the cooking class ($30/person) was a tasting of several Basque wines, tapas, a full plate of paella, and Sangria!

The evening began with a nice glass of Tempranillo wine as we mingled and looked around at all the fun Basque foods and paella making supplies inside the market. .

Then we  watched as they brought out a few tapas for us to taste.

The strawberries were stuffed with goat cheese and sprinkled with ground pepper, and topped with a pomegranate molasses. Holy yum!

The second plate, was actually a piece of toasted baguette topped with potato salad and a green olive. It was actually quite good despite the sound of it.

***

Next up it was time to talk about & cook Paella!

Paella can be described as very popular rice dish originating from Spain. Paella may contain rice, fish, chicken, pork, shrimp and chorizo. Also saffron is an essential part of the dish, turning it it’s signature golden color.

They talked about the order of cooking the different ingredients, and how to cook the dish. It is actually a very similar cooking method to that of making risotto.

While the Paella cooked we made some Sangria!

 

You can use either Red or White wine to make your Sangria. And it is so easy to make!

Take a bottle of white wine, mix into a pitcher with 1 cup Brandy, 1 cup simple syrup (2 cups sugar & 2 cups water boiled until sugar dissolves), and 1/2 cup fresh orange juice.

Mix well, then add 1 cup of assorted sliced fruit (limes, oranges, mango, strawberries etc) to pitcher right before serving.

Cheeers!!!!!

   

Then it was time to give the Paella a try!

Our Paella included, chicken, mussels, clams, chorizo, green beans…There really is no wrong Paella combination!

And of course, I had to pair it with the Red Sangria, because I needed to really have the full taste experience, ya know?! 

Absolutely divine!

I loved taking this cooking class because I learned a lot. We learned about the history of the dish and how to make it as well as how to prepare two different types of Sangria.

And I came away with a few good tapas ideas (those strawberries will make another appearance!)

Cooking class success! Have you ever taken a cooking class?

***

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!! 🙂