We're IN!!!! (oh my God...we're in)

As you may recall, I recently signed up for my first 1/2 Marathon (La Jolla - April 27th) and also signed up in the lottery for the Nike Women's Marathon in SF this October. We have a team, made mostly of North Carolinians (either past or present), and are being coached by the very bold and determined lovely ladies, Geri and Malena.



So this is the first year that this particular marathon had to go to a lottery system, which has made us all anxious and nervous to say the least. I am the only one who lives in SF, but all others have to arrange travel for themselves and our vast team of supporters as well!

GOOD NEWS came early - we found out on Thursday that we were "accepted" into the marathon!!!! So this makes it official - we are about to become marathoners! Lindsay is running, along with a growing team of 14 of us....now called the Fast and Furious Flamingos (don't ask!). WOO HOO!!!!

(now....who wants to volunteer to actually run this thing for me???)

"OMG, Brooke....We are officially 'Marina'."

That is the comment Valerie made to me on Monday night after we finished our first Bar Method class. As much as I wish "Bar Method" were an alcohol-related event, it couldn't be further from that. It's an exercise program that Valerie roped me into trying for one month. We are only going one month because it is outragously expensive. Now I know I'm on the cheap side, but seriously - this is ridiculously expensive. The classes are $24/each or $250 for "unlimited" per month. SERIOUSLY!?!? Yes. And here is the kicker - the place is PACKED!!!! So, fortunately for us, they let you do one month of unlimited classes in their studio for $100 (one time only), so we are taking advantage.

So here is the 411: classes are in a room with a ballet bar and a huge mirror on the side and it integrates stretching, light weights and basically utilizing your own fat-a$$ weight to make you work your bootie off...literally. I've spoken with people and read stories about people who claim their booties were completely transformed in no time flat (no pun intended).

For our first class, we did these exercises along the bar where you basically get on your tip-toes, then go into a squat (while still on your tip toes). While my upper-half was in complete control, my lower-half was demon-posessed. I was shaking from the waste down like a convulsive FREAK. The instructor was kind enough to lightly say that "shaking is completely normal - you are reshaping your muscles" - but it didn't help me feel like I was fitting in any more. Somehow, Valerie and I made it through the class and left feeling surprisingly pleased. The workout is different than anything I've done before (including yoga, pilates, etc.). I didn't sweat much (which psychologically bothers me because I feel like a workout doesn't count if you don't sweat), but my body told me a COMPLETELY different story the next day (Tuesday) when I could barely walk.

So back to the title - what exactly is a "Marina Girl"? The Marina is the area of SF where we live. It's filled to the brim with yuppies, young professionals, etc. The daytime "Marina Uniform" for stay-at-home moms pushing strollers while shopping at crazy-priced boutiques along Chestnut as well as the girls my age that I can't possibly figure out HOW they make a living since they are cruising the streets during the day instead of sitting a cube like any other Good Solid American, is a uniform consisting of $100 Lululemon "yoga pants" and a tight tank, giant sunglasses and designer sneakers. For the Bar Method, you have to wear pants, so I stopped at Target to get my first pair of "yoga pants"....silly me wore those with one of my normal faded, ratty, oversized t-shirts that I normally work out in. I looked (and felt) like a complete schlub while in the class. Dave said I looked cool because I didn't give into the hype. So on Day 2, what did I do?

Went back to Target for a trendy (inexpensive) tight tank top to help me "blend" more.

Ahhh, Marina.

For a full description of my favorite neighborhood in SF, check out this blog post with a write up from one of my fave tourist books. The description of the Marina could not possibly be any more accurate. Heaven!

Party Like a Rock Star

So - the big 3-0 Birthday Party was a week ago and we're ALIVE! We had a great time and all went well! Here is a recap of the weekend!

Wednesday: Mom arrived on Wednesday and we headed to a neighborhood Italian restaurant for a bite to eat for dinner.

Dinner at E'Angelo

Thursday: Lindsay and Jon arrived on Thursday and I picked them up at SFO with this sign. Just one day prior, Lindsay landed a NEW JOB!!! She starts this week at a non-profit organization geared toward teaching underprivileged youth the skills and lessons of golf and life. We are SO proud of her!

Congratulations, Lindsay!

I opened gifts while enjoying champagne at home prior to dinner. Lindsay, Jon, Dave and I agreed to adjust our gift-giving strategy starting with Xmas of 2007, and instead of giving each other traditional gifts, we have begun a savings account in ING called "Let's Go!" and it has become a vacation fund for us to use to go away together in the near future. We agreed to put $100 per person into the account per birthday and $100 per person for Xmas, so that we'd save $1600 per year towards our vacation fund. I love seeing it grow and grow!
The biggest surprise gift was from Dave's family. We did our first Video Chat with them via our first-born (aka Dave's MacBook Pro) and it was awesome. The gift they sent was for both of our 30th birthdays (Dave's is Aug. 28th) and it blew us away. They sent us a gift certificate for a restaurant called French Laundry up in Napa...a restaurant by famed chef, Thomas Keller. French Laundry is one of those dream life experiences...I say life experience because the tab - before tax and wine - is $240 per person! I don't think I can possibly do the description justice, so check out their website and their Yelp reviews. Now we just have to get the reservation!
Back to the birthday celebration.... After the gift-opening experience, we then headed to dinner at Bistro AIX (another neighborhood place that we hadn't yet tried). We sat in their outdoor courtyard and had a delicious meal!


Dinner at Bistro AIX

Mom then went back to her hotel and "the kids" went to Matrix Fillmore (yet ANOTHER neighborhood place I hadn't been to yet!). It's a great lounge/music bar on Fillmore where we enjoyed a couple of martinis before heading home.


Dave and Jon at Matrix Fillmore

Friday: Friday was the big day of the party! Lindsay, Jon and I went on my "normal" Friday 4-mile run along the Marina towards the Golden Gate Bridge and back. It was a lovely morning and I really enjoyed sharing this part of my life with them! After the run, it was lunch and then work time to get the apartment whipped into shape for the party that night. With 5 able bodies, we had everything done about an hour prior to the party start time and we could sit back to relax and enjoy some champagne before guests arrived! With space constraints and minimal "party-friendly" furniture, we set up a bar utilizing two stacked tupperwares and lined them with a white tablecloth, then laid out the majority of food and bar items on our dining room table which we pushed to the back window. Lindsay created cute food tags to describe the yummy treats.


Party Set Up








Jaime, Lindsay, me and Valerie


Dave and Mama at the party


Me and Jaime

My favorite part of the "decor" wavers between the Apple TV, which had a rotating photo slideshow that we created, including photos of every single party guest, and the chalkboard, which was transformed into a tribute to ---- ME!





We somehow fit everyone in the apartment and enjoyed ourselves until about 10:30/10:45, when it was time to leave the "40-year-old party" of cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, and hit up the "20-year-old party" of dancing at Gravity! First things first - I had to change into my "20-year-old" party outfit with my new shared-initial namesake...Big Black t-shirt (yes, from MTV's "Rob & Big" fame)



We had a fun time at Gravity, dancing and enjoying every moment of being with friends!






All in all, it was a really fantastic weekend celebration! For more photos (do you really need more after this novel of a blog post? YES!), check out the photo gallery.


Thank you, love!.

Kickin' it in Flo-Rida

Though this is a little late, I wanted to share our fun experiences in the original Flo-Rida. We headed down to Ormond Beach, a town outside of Daytona on Florida's east coast. Dave's family has a 2BR house there that used to be his great aunt's. It still has a lot of her..."charm" as we may call it and we had a great time playing...well...dress up!









This one was a shout-out to Bike Week, which was also taking place in Daytona the same week!


The great part of the week was spending time with Justin and Diane (Dave's cousin is Justin). They used to visit us every year in San Diego and we have missed that time together for the last couple of years, so it was great to spend time together again! We played golf, went to a wine tasting and scoured Daytona for the best restaurants (not always easy to come by in that part of Florida!). All in all, it was a great week!

Break Dancing on JibJab

Our friend Malena (quite possibly the most thoughtful person I know in my life), sent this incredible JibJab to me for by birthday! This is AWESOME, but this isn't why she gets the title of "most thoughtful"...that is a whole nother story involving Lindsay's wedding, being an incredible marathon coach for me, helping me keep sanity at Lindsay's bach party last year and so much more....

But I digress. You must-must-must check this out - it is seriously HILARIOUS!

You will have to sit through a short commercial first - well worth it:


Thank you, Malena! xoxo

The Dirty Thirty is HERE!

Yep, today is the big day. The Big 3-0 has finally FOUND ME!!!

It has started out a fantastic day! Dave got up with me at 5:45 (that's AM, people....we don't have kids, so Dave had no idea clocks even "worked" at that hour). He made banana pancakes and fresh fruit, which were delicious! Mom arrived yesterday from La Jolla and she walked over to our place (her hotel is just 2 blocks away) to join us for breakfast which was great!

I then went out to my car to start the drive to Cupertino and found huge helium balloons decorating the outside! Our friends Valerie and Beth literally RAN them over just an hour prior (Dave saw them running with the balloons at 6:00am when he was walking to the grocery store for aforementioned pancake supplies). Hilarious!

So I'm working today, but picking up Lindsay and Jon from the airport this afternoon and then the true party begins! We have an action packed schedule this weekend (including, of course, the PARTY!) - photos and blog posts with updates to come soon!

Love you, Mom and Dad! Thanks for making me ME!