Its Official- I made the Cut for the 2009 Nike Marathon random Drawing!

What a nice way to end a long and boring MONDAY at work... getting an email like this:

Dear Nike Runner,Congratulations, you have been selected in the 2009 Nike Women's Marathon random drawing! You are now registered for the 2009 Nike Women's Marathon. Your credit card has been charged the race fee, and you will begin receiving emails with more information about the race. In the meanwhile, don't forget to check out the Nike Women's Marathon website at nikemarathon.com for additional information.

Yeah!!!! so exciting. Anyone else get in? We can train together if you like :) Lord knows i need help on the long runs!

XOXO

Eve

And just in case you were wondering,

one tinee tiny little bag of plain m&m's is 5 WW points. FIVE. Thats a meal people.

XOXO
Eve

Im Quitting M&M's today!
I feel like a stuffed sausage in my clothes.
Something must be done!

Check out our New Couch!


Heres a link to our new crate and barrel couch! We bought it this weekend off of craigs list- it is only 7 months old and kept in storage the whole time! I got it for 50% of retail, gotta love a good fire sale! It is a queen sleeper sofa, so now when you come to visit me you will have somewhere to sleep, oh yeah! Only problem was getting it up to our 3rd floor apartment. It suffered a minor fabric scratch, but its well hidden by the fabulous pillows! This thing was SOOO heavy, i couldnt even lift it. Luckliy our big strong neighbor was there to save the day.

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=936&f=11073&q=axis&fromLocation=Search&DIMID=400001&SearchPage=1


XOXO
Eve

Im addicted to M&M's.

No matter how many times i try to quit them, I always go back.

they are the perfect afternoon work snack.

the hard crunchie outside contrasts perfectly to the smooth chocolately insides.

they dont melt in my hands and make a mess on my paperwork.

I think I'd rather have 5 extra lbs on me then give up these delicious treats.

I just can quit them!

Busy Season is Over .... Halehjehal!!!

In case you're wondering why I haven’t been very responsive via phone or email, The last 2 weeks I have been crazy busy at work for my quarter end. This means 12-14 hr work days including 8 hrs on Sat & Sunday. This means no working out. This means free food from gourmet restaurants provided by my company. This means 5 extra pounds on my tummy.

Oh, I’m so glad it’s over and I can get back to the gym, cooking healthy meals, and surfing craigslist for deals.

Now to relax for the next 2.5 months until the next quarter end (June 1-14). Ohhhh and the cycle continues….

Presidents Day Long Weekend-

Sean and I were in Washington over the LONG weekend visiting my sister Betina's family. We got to meet our new little niece Georgia who is 6 weeks old! She is just as cute and fuzzy as a peach :) Betina complains that she is at least 2 sizes larger than she ever hoped to be in her life, but truth be told she is my size now... She looks great having just given birth 6 weeks ago! (I dont have this excuse, and should probably go on a diet).

My nephew Oakely is still the cutest thing ever...I seriously want to eat him up for breakfast. I love that kid! After the blessing we had a nice lunch in the church gym. Oakley was spotted grabbing Ivy's celery stick from her mouth, throwing it on the floor and laughing while Ivy burst into instantenous tears. As a mother Im sure i would have been furious with him... but as an auntie, I couldnt help but laugh out loud! He also pinky swore that he would still want cuddles when he turns 5 in July.

Eden is growing up so fast and is showing so much maturity. When I was evening out her hair (from an unfortunate Supercuts cut), she was all wiggly and and I told her "stay still, it hurts to be beautiful". To that she responded, "that's what hairdressers ALWAYS tell me when i get my hair cut!" Hahhaha... too funny. I told her to get used to it.... there would be much pain in the pursuit for beauty as she got older.

Ivy is a stubborn 2 year old and knows exactly what she wants. A child after my own heart. She wanted Uncle DAN all weekend long. Dan... did you put something in her bottle ??? She loves combing Eden's lucious hair.. and im sure there will be plenty of hair envy in her teenage years.

Unfortunately I still haven't found my camera but Betina did sent over 2 pictures from the visit (see below. Note that these are in black and white, so you still cannot see the orange glow of my hair).

ORANGE

So- as most of you know, i turned myself into a vibrant red head last spring... well, its been about 10 months of being red, and i need to return to my blonde roots. I just missed the way i felt as a blonde. I felt younger, prettier and friendlier. With red hair, people looked at me differently... like i was scary and intimidating. In the fashion world, this would be called Fierce... but I’d rather be friendly. After 10 months as a "fierce" red head...I can honestly say that blondes really do have more fun!

I spent 6 hrs in the salon on Saturday. One of my old teachers (a color specialist) worked her butt off to get the red pigment out of my fine locks. A very delicate process you see, since I've got fine hair, it is very easily damaged. Red pigments are dominant and are hard to erase. So, long story short, I was there for many many hours, and the results are really not what I was going for. I wanted darker (level 7) cool blonde with platinum highlights (level 10). Instead I got a medium warm blonde.... which under bright lights looks Orange/Yellow to me. I don’t mind the yellow so much... but the orange makes me want to barf.

Had I not been to beauty school...i would have been really upset right now. But after a weekend of staring in every mirror I passed, and rationalizing that i as long as I stay out of floursent lights for the next year (this means no visits home), maybe no one will notice??? I know that my colorist did the best job possible... and it will probably be another year and several more salon visits before I can return to my dark cool blonde roots, with platinum highlights. Until then...i hope you can all still be my friend even though my hair is Orangish. My hair is going through some tough times right now and it really needs some TLC. Super strength shampoo, weekly deep conditioners and heat seal spray prior to heat styling here i come. Maybe I'll resort to wearing a pony tail for the next year. I'll post a picture when i can find my camera again :)

XOXO
Eve

Congratulations to one of my nearest and dearest friends ms. Marjie Ralf!!

She's engaged and getting married June 4, 2008.

Her groom to be loves her dearly and treats her like a princess

There will be a bridal shower in Orem, Sat April 25th. If you're going to be in town
then please join in the fun!

XOXO
Eve

My Confession


Ok.... so December was a really really hard month for me. It was year end at my new accounting job, and it kicked my ass. I havent had to work those hours since public accounting and it did a serious number on my head, my health and my attitude. I got the christmas blues in a big way, and I decided not to celebrate the season. No tree, No christmas music, No decorations of any sort, No christmas cookies, No presents, and I didnt even make our annual christmas card (so no, YOU weren't excluded from my mailing list... I just didnt send any out). This is very out of character for me, as I am usually quite a fan of christmas, and I never miss a chance to bake , decorate and give away christmas cookies. But with work kicking my ass from Dec 1 through Dec 20, and the fact that Sean was working and my family was in Washington I just didnt feel any christmas love. So.... my confession is this....

All of those lovely Christmas cards you lovingly addressed to me with your sweet letters and beautiful pictures of you and your family...... yes those are the ones I mean.... well.... I kind of threw them all in the trash without reading them. PLease dont hate me for this. You see.... with work kicking my ass ( the theme of this blog) I didnt have any time to open any of them. THen when Christmas morning finally rolled around (when i was all by myself) I was tooo sad, depressed, and lonely.... and then seeing those cards gleeming with christmas tidings..... well they made me angry. So in a fury of rage and tossed them all in the trash, unopened.

There.... thats my confession. I promise I'll be better next year. Even if Sean has to work, I'll travel to see my family solo. And I'll send out cards.... probably early so that everyone can re-include me on their christmas mailing lists again.


XOXO
lonely girl

Sunday Fun

Today I gave a cut and color on my new friend Katie from church. I'm always a little nervous to do someone new, as I'm not quite sure of their "vision", so its nice when our minds meet. In this case she was smart and referrenced a current celebrity hairstyle, and since we all know I am a celebrity gossip whore, this works for me. Plus she was super specific with the color- she knew exactly what she wanted. Thanks for trusting me with your beautiful locks Katie- it was so fun getting to know you better!

I'll be in Utah for thanksgiving, so Im looking forward to do Margie's Hair again. She always lets me do whatever I want (and she really means it), she even lets me experiment with fun colors and placement techniques, so Im super excited for the next visit. She was also my hair model for my state board test. I didnt write about the occasion, but lets just say it is a long grueling day in which she couldnt talk, I gave her about 20 different hair services, I chopped about 6 inches off her hair, gave her a fake nail, a perm (with fake chemicals) and many other unpleasantrys. She was such a champ- so thank you margie. Free cuts and colors for life- I owe you.

XOXO
Eve

Me and my pops-
My dad came to see me last weekend and we had a great time. Whenever he comes he requires that I keep him busy and that we do something new. After 5 yrs of semi-annual visits I have always come up with something new.... This is afterall wonderful california where endless opprunities await. Here are a few pics:

I tried to post more pics but blogger is super slow right now... grrr!

Nike Women's Half Marathon 2009

As I've mentioned before, I am a Craigs list addict. Whatever you need, whenever you need it, its there. It’s like the best friend that you can always count on (for a fee). Anyhow, I decided on Tuesday last week that I wanted to run the Nike Women’s Half Marathon the following Sunday. This race sells out Months in advance, so I decided to look on Craig’s list for a bib, and guess what, I found one! The price was heavily inflated, but its all about supply and demand baby, let the market set the price. Everyone that posted a bib got at least 100 emails from anxious buyers, so I was just glad to get one. And whatever price I paid, it was well worth the experience, as the race was so much fun!

Physically I felt a million times better running this race compared to 3 weeks ago at the San Jose Rock n roll. My legs were not sore at all, which made such a huge difference. The weather was perfect for running, cool and cloudy. There were 20,000 plus women (and a few men) competing, and the mood was lively and enthusiastic! (At first I thought all of the “men” were transsexuals being SF and all, but I was informed later that the race actually allows men to register to, go figure.)

I met up with Julia, Maren & Molly at the start line and then we were off! Julia is such great running inspiration; she’s always got another event on the docket, and is perpetually training for something! Oh, and did you know, she is a NWM “legacy” member, meaning she’s run the race all 5 yrs of its history. Thanks For the inspiration Julia!

The course was way harder than SJ, with some fairly steep hills, some long gradual hills, and lots of rolling hills. However I was mentally prepared for this, plus since I run the Stanford dish quite often, it wasn’t too bad. I kicked those hills asses! Ha!

Starting at mile 8 they started “serving” the best race refreshments ever. Thank you Kaiser for the fresh Orange slices; they were exactly what the doctor ordered! Thank you for the Luna gummies, I was so sad earlier when I realized that I left my personal stash in my bag check bag. And thank you Ghirardelli for the milk chocolate square at mile 12, delicious! Seriously good stuff.

To top it all of the finishers “metal” was a beautiful sterling silver Tiffany’s necklace delivered by the San Franciso fire department. (Sean- next year you should volunteer for this). If I were single, I would have hung out at the finish line for a lot longer- that is all I have to say.

After we all crossed the finish line we went out for a nice breakfast (after the 2 mile walk to Kaylynn’s car). It was so nice to see everyone again!

And finally my results: I couldn’t believe it but I actually did better than at San Jose Rock n roll. I thought for sure it would take longer since there were so many more hills, but I guess San Jose was just a warm up.

My Time: 1:53:17
My Pace: 8:38
My Rank: 472/ 20,000 (ish)
My Name: Denise Wong- thanks Denise!

I think Im going to go for a full sometime next year………… maybe...

Spontaneity

I did something I rarely do anymore…. I was completely , 100% spontaneous! On Friday afternoon around 3pm I met a new co-worker named Lynn. We were both talking about races and how we love to be involved in outside, physical activity. Anyhow…. We were surfing active.com together and saw that the Tri Girl Tri was the next day (Saturday) and they were taking same day registration. Since the last time I did this race in 2006, it was sold out months in advance so I figured that this was a sign, so we both decided to do it together. I went home, packed my gear, picked up some goggles at sports basement, and woke up at 4:30am Saturday morning. We drove to Napa (2hrs) and were ready for the race at 9am. It was a really windy cold day to start, but by the time the race was done, the sun was a shining, and it was beautiful outside! I love Napa. Too bad the road to Lake Berryessa is so damn curvy. We were both carsick and took a good ½ hr for our stomachs to settle. After the race we drove to Mc Donalds for lunch (if only I could get my eating under control- maybe then I’d loose some lbs!), and headed home. It was super fun, and Im so glad I made the most of my Saturday and made a new friend, Lynn.

Oh and by the way, for all you tri girl tri’ers out there. They changed the race up a bit this year. They moved it down the road and with the new location the mileage went down a bit. I kinda wish it would have went up instead of down to add to the challenge, but it was great fun none the less. The mileage is now: .5m swim, 12m bike, 3m run. Still the same hills though- theres no getting away from them!

If anyone is down for this next yr, lets sign up in the spring time!

San Jose Rock n' Roll Half Marathon

Thanks Liz for the "Borrowed" Picture.


Today I ran my 2nd half marathon with Liz and Molly. It was such a great time, and such a great feeling when I finished. I think i even teared a little bit while crossing the finish line, I was so glad it was finally over! I wasnt very well prepared for the event in terms of training... my longest distance prior to the race was 7 miles, so 13.1miles was a big stretch for me... like double the miles i had trained for! silly me. This of course is completely my own fault. Maybe if I would have gotten out there and hit the pavement with Molly and Liz, I would have been better prepared.

In any case, my legs were sore all the way up to mile 10, weird right? Then I felt like I was soaring from miles 10-12, then the final mile was hard.. but there were so many people there cheering that it was ok.

During the run I just kept thinking that running a whole 26.2 mile marathon is crazy. I dont know how you crazies do it! And many people do it over and over again! I just dont get it.. so much pain! But I do envy your ability to do this- what amazing drive and self control you must have. For me, i think the hardest part is committing to all of those long Saturday runs for training. Maybe one day...

Sean didnt come to watch me as he was working, but Liz's husband Brad was there with his doggy and a camera (speaking of which, Liz, please send me the pic :) He took pictures and then we all went out to hobbes for brunch (my most favorite meal and my most favorite breakfast place) and topped it off with coffee cake. Yummy!

ANyhoo.... I had a blast hanging out with Liz and Molly- thanks for the good time girls! Lets do this again soon.

Here are my offical results-
Eve
Payne
Mountain View
CA
Age: 27
Sex: F
Chip time: 1:54:33
Clock time: 1:55:31
Sex Placing: 548 ( out of 5375 Female finishers)
Age/grade 57.5%

The maddness has to stop! Im certifiably Craigs List Crazy!!

Ok, so like i mentioned in my last post.... im really into craigs list furniture shopping. Well... let me tell you that this favorite past-time has progressed into a full fledged addiction/disorder. And, whatever it is, its contagious, bc Sean has it as well! We both search craigs list with the key words "crate and barrel", "pottery barn" and "restoration hardware" multiple times daily. One friday night, i was so excited for the new listings to come out that i woke up at 3am and starting surfing the postings until 5am! And no... im not joking, this was real. Sad but true.

This obsession has totatly replaced my love of perez hilton and teddy & moos. (Well, actually, i dont check perez much anymore bc he no longer blogs about anyone on Sony's music label, which are pretty much all the big celebs that i want the juice on. But that is besides the point.)

For those of you who have come to cali for a visit, you know that we live in a 1 bdrm, 600 sq foot apartment. Its teeny tiny.... so small that sean uses the hallway closet for his clothes, and our computer desk too is in the hallway. Well... unfortunatly our apartment is now at capacity and there will be no more craigs listing for me. I must find a new obsession to fill my time inbetween excel spreadsheets at work... any suggestions?

Here are some pictures of our latest (and final) acquistions. Unfortunatly there really isnt any room to walk anymore, so you'll probably never get to come over and check them out... unless of course you dont mind sleeping on a really beautiful pottery barn coffee table :)


A matching set of 2 end tables and 1 coffee table from PB
A dark wood, distressed Armoire from CB
Vintage wrought iron queen bed (its solid... i checked)

Really cute White PB Madeline dresser.

Its actually from PB kids, but its good enough for grown up me and way nicer than any dresser i had as a kid!

And finally, a new desk.. our last one was particle board and was slumping in the middle from the weight of our computer monitor. And we have a flatscreen... so it was not a sturdy desk.

Craigslist- the Ultimate Garage Sale

So, maybe there is a little bit of mom in me after all. My mom LOVES garage sales. She goes religiously every Saturday morning around 8am in the summer time. She usually buys things that she already has 5 of, but because they are such a “great deal”, she just can’t seem to pass anything up. She buys up everything she can find that is at least 30 yrs old. One summer I rounded up all of her old school vacuums, and found about 12 of them, four of which actually worked (well sort of worked). Anyways… the point is my mom loves garage sales and so do I.

The only difference is that I do my treasure hunting on Craigs Lists. I love it. People in the Bay area buy really high end stuff and then move 3 yrs later and sell it for 25% of the original cost. Its sooo crazy the stuff I’ve found. My most recent purchases include:

Crate and Barrel mango wood dining table w/chairs.

Crate and Barrel distressed Mahogany Queen bedframe and matching Armoire

Crate and Barrel 7ft chocolate brown leather sectional.

We’re pretty much getting rid of all of our old stuff (also purchased on Craigs list 4 yrs ago) and replacing it with new Craigs list finds. Craigs list is sooo much fun too… the good stuff goes really fast so you have to monitor the listings religiously. Then when something new is posted, you must email asap and then find a way to get over there to see the item that day. Sometimes this means taking a sick day, sometimes this means missing a family dinner. Sacrafices must be made!

The golden rule of Craigs list is that the first one to show up with the cash gets the prize…. Even if the seller has basically promised it to you! This happened to me with a restoration hardware coffee table going for $100 (an insanely great deal). I was just about to leave to pick it up and then I called her for directions and she said she just sold it. I was bummed…. But it makes the thrill of the hunt that much better when you are victorious in the battle of the craigs list’s fittest.

Here are a few pics of me, patience, my mom and my seany sean from last weekend. They came for a visit and we had oh so much fun together. Mom and poo came to the salon with me on saturday (i did poo's blonde locks), my mom got a perm from another student, and then we feasted on Chipolte burritos and went to the movies.... a perfect day! Sunday we laid out in the sun and went for a big long walk. Monday was all about shopping, cheesecake factory and frozen yogert. Thanks so much for coming!! I love visitors!

Im a red head!!! crazy. TEll me what you think! Im starting the interview process to look for a job in a salon, so i needed to spruce up my look a bit. I was going for feirce :)

The Paul Mitchell West Coast Show Here are some pictures from the big event i sold shampoos to attend... it was such a blast!! (above- me with a couple of our models)

Dancing in the prep room


my friend Josh.


My friend Virgil.


This is me and Takashi- the Paul mitchell Cutting specialist. Hes a god in the hair world- so this was like meeting a celebrity... only totally friendly.






This is Cari- my model (and friend) for the show. I cut and colored her hair.






Me and my roomie Yanin... shes 18... i am always giving her big sis type advice.






Me at the Paul mitchell stage at the show. IT was MASSIVE!!! totally better than any other stage at the event



Thank you to everyone who bought Shampoos so i could attend. If you bought them but havent yet paid... please do so.... I have bills to pay!!

XOXO
Eve