Livin' the Dream in Lima

Guess who's here! Mom & Dad! They drove out to the Bean Town to cheer me on in the marathon tomorrow! I'm so excited. We started the carb-load a day early with dinner at our new favorite restaurant, Thai Jasmine. Yes, it looks like a jail and it's in an interesting part of town. But it will surprise you when you go inside. And sorry for the bad picture... my Business Man couldn't quite slow down enough as he was turning into the drive. View from our booth. Like the gold-fringed awnings on the bar? Yea, I do, too. These might be going up in our future place. My mom & dad had never eaten Thai food, so of course we had to order some appetizers. That would be a crispy roll and a spring roll. Crispy rolls are my favorite. Think an egg roll on crack. Thaaaaat good. For my entree, I ordered the Sesame Noodles, to start my carb-load for the marathon. It was deeeee-lish. (I haven't quite mastered the art of taking good food photos in

So... (as if you didn't know already)... I am running my first marathon on Sunday. I am excited/nervous/petrified/happy all at the same time. I know, it takes talent to feel all those feelings at once. In discussion with some of my friends/co-workers, a lot of people have told me, "Just run for fun! It'll be such an accomplishment to finish!" And yes, it will be a huuuuge accomplishment to finish a marathon! But, the competitive side of me thinks about the numbers. My finish time, pace per mile, negative splitting. After running competitively for 8+ years straight, I'm not quite ready to just "run for fun." According to several online "running pace calculators", my half-mary time (from November) of 1:36 puts me at about a 3:20 marathon, 7:38-pace. Yikes! That is crazy fast (for a marathon). So, in a desperate attempt for reassurance, I emailed my former coach last week asking for advice. [ Side note : He has run many, man

What does one do with all her free time during the last week of taper before the marathon? Nap . Naps are good. Definitely fell asleep for a good hour after coming home from school yesterday. Too bad I wasn't napping with this cutie... sadly she is back in IL.  Read  for fun. No textbooks or basal readers for this girl. I'm in the middle of In the Woods ; it's pretty good so far. We have book club on Thursday. Will I finish it? Probably not... but of course I will still go for the yummy eats and conversation. I love the bumper sticker on my fridge. "Love People. Cook them tasty food." And yes, there is a bumper sticker on our fridge. Don't ask. Obsessively check the weather forecast for the marathon on Sunday. Can't we just exchange the forecasts for Saturday & Sunday? Pump myself up by looking at old racing pics of myself. Yes, it might be a little weird to look through pictures of yourself, but at this point I need all the pumping-

Like I said in my last post, my Business Man's family came to visit for Easter ! It was so good to visit with them and spend the weekend together. Before they came in on Saturday, my Business Man and I spent Friday taking a quick trip down to IKEA in Cincinnati with some friends just for kicks and giggles. We didn't make any big purchases, but Amber & I both came home with some lovely orchids for Easter. We also exposed John & Amber to the wonder that is Red Robin....... and my conclusion is that bottomless fries are so good. Posing with our orchids in the store... John's being a creeper in the background.  In addition to a beautiful flower, I also brought home a new loaf pan from IKEA! We just had one loaf pan before (the horror!) and it was super-small so I was excited to find this one, which is super-long. Why so long? It must be a Swedish thing... I had to test out the new pan ASAP, so Saturday morning after my last long run (!) for my marathon,

No, not the Easter bunny... But my Business Man's family! We aren't able to go home for Easter (stupid work), so we invited both our parents to come out and spend Easter here in the Bean Town. My parents decided to come next weekend (for the marathon !) instead, but my Business Man's family is still coming this weekend! His brothers go to college about 100 miles from here, so they'll be joining us as well. So this will be my first 'official' big holiday meal. In our teeny tiny apartment kitchen. Cooking dinner for 8.  Now, before I start blabbering on about what will be served at our Easter celebration, I want to rewind back to last night. My Business Man had a networking event to attend up in Toledo, and of course I got to accompany him. With the promise of a yummy meal afterward. This gave me an excuse to dress up a bit today. I mean, not that I don't dress nice everyday for school, but I made sure to look extra-cute. I got this dress