Stampeding

It was great. Third year at Stampede and I probably drank a third of what I drank in my first year. At this rate, if I go next year, I'll have some Bailey's in my coffee the first morning and that is it.

 

Having been to Stampede twice before I no longer attend for the rodeo, pancake breakfasts and excessive drinking. Stampede is the excuse to visit with my 8 good friends from my national team rowing days. The first year it was just Clark and I hanging out with PVR and Rozzo. Then next year Sarah and Rachel joined in. This year Andie, Darcy and Jacqui made it out there and the 'team' was complete. We all descended on Calgary for our yearly meetup and Stampede happens to be at the same time.

 

While those new to Stampede were mildly disappointed at the lack of excessive partying, I was quite happy with seeing my friends and enjoying copious amounts of meat. We had burgers and steaks at every meal (or so it felt). I had a couple of coronas at 8:30am while we watched a parade. I wore a cowgirl hat for 3 days straight. And I caught up with all of my rowing friends. It was good times.

 

And the two newbies that complained about the lack of partying did manage to get a bunch of free drinks and taken to a restaurant for nachos (in a limo) by someone they think might have been a mobster. He also had a stripper from Vegas with him that had breast implants in size F. This was long after many of us had called it a night but I think they still have a great story even if nobody got totally out of control.

 

Not sure what next year's plan is but I am hoping for a lakeside cabin somewhere with wine.

Grouse Grind + 14k

Well I made it through my double workout Sunday. See graph below for my speed versus heart rate during my 14k (yeah Garmin!). The first 30 minutes of my run felt like I had cement blocks attached to my legs but then I warmed up. Richard and I did our fastest GG this summer just 4 hours prior to the start of my run. For going 5 minutes faster it was significantly more challenging. R and I have a theory that while we both enjoy getting a workout done in the morning, physically your body is ready for it in the afternoon.

Today, while others go to work, I am on day 3 of staycation. I have plans to go to foot reflexology with a friend, workout/stretch (my legs are feeling slight worked over) and read in the sun. That is it. It should be great.

4 Errands and Pizza Night

It was a busy Saturday. My first full day of staycation.


Ritchy and I started off the morning with bootcamp. Impressive as we had just been on Friday and I was still sore. I babbled something at the end of the class about staying to do some cardio but Richard said there was walking to be done and it would provide for extra cardio.

No luxurious brunch this Saturday. Not sure why. Maybe because I made Rachel breakfast Friday morning after bootcamp when I was working from home.

We headed out for errand #1; eyebrows. Eyebrows cleaned up and colored so that they could be seen (eyebrows are really the frame to your face) we headed to the West End farmers market for fruits and vegetables (errand #2).

It was slim pickings there. Stuff looked okay but was not really jumping out at me as something better than what I get at Kin's Farm. Rachel bought some salmon.

Errand #2 (fruit & veg shopping) not complete, we walked over to Running Room. I purchased some new water bottles for Rachel's belt pack (thanks to her being knocked up I am getting to borrow it) and we both bought some special laundry detergent for workout clothes. It may just be a scam but my clothes develop a stank real fast and I want to keep'em smelling ok for as along as possible. That was my errand #3 complete but we still needed to track down those elusive fruits and vegetables.

We hiked up to the West End Kin's Farm and scored some good produce. I think I picked up some over priced cherries but considering peppers are usually $4.99 lb at the IGA downstairs, I felt good about my purchases.

Laden down with produce we are made our way back to Yaletown to our respective homes. I google mapped it and it was over 6k of walking so I did get that extra cardio in.

I then did errand #4 and got a library card. Seeing as how the library is just around the corner from me I think it is about time I check out what they have to offer. And...I got rid of cable so I am looking for some entertainment. Was overwhelmed by the place but picked up some good travel books and some light summery reading.

Richard came over in the evening and we made pizza (see pics below). A first at my place. Shout out to the GF Dunnets for the inspiration. R made the dough and I cooked up some chicken, chopped veggies and grated cheese. We made 3 pizzas in total and will both be eating pizza for the next 4 meals. My microwave is broken so I hope it tastes good cold. Ritchy also made some kind of zucchini loaf that was super tasty. And we watched Pleasantville. That movie is still great the 5th of 6th time around.

Off to bed as I need to rest up for day 2 of staycation. It looks like it will be Grouse Grind, followed by brunch at home, followed by a 13k run, a massage and then possibly going to a friend's for dinner. I am a maybe on the dinner as I think I will be totally exhausted from the double workout.

Take me out to the ball game

So I went to my first baseball game the other weekend. Combined a trip to Seattle with R to watch the Clumsies play with a ball game on Sunday.

I headed down Saturday morning. Hit the outlets (no luck with finding any good size 12 shoes!), purchased a new workout outfit (thank you Nike) and then rolled into town in time for dinner pre-show.

My foodie friend in Seattle gave a me a list of recommended restaurants. We were going to try and hit one up but got lazy and wondered around the area of the Crocodile Cafe (where the gig was) to find something. Stumbled upon an Italian restaurant amidst a sea of Japanese tapas bars (who knew Seattle was a hotbed for Japanese tapas bars). We went for it. Review: over priced but very tasty. R was impressed that my friend ordered a half bottle of red that was $50. I had a taste of the red. It was good.

We then watched the Clumsies play and got quite drunk. Well, not Rachel but I did. It was super fun and the first time I've seen almost a full set. I usually get too tired and have to leave but this time I planned ahead and had a nap. Along with a number of red bull and vodkas. It was super fun. The friend I was with was very impressed with them. As was I. Good times.

Next day I took my mild hangover out to Safeco Field to watch the Mariners. Small cluster trying to get us all tickets together at the last minute but we didn't even miss the first inning. Maybe a home run but not the entire first inning. The 9 of us sat down to bake in sun and watch the Game. Really, I just rotated through sitting next people and catching up and the game was going on in the background. Awesome to see everyone and the people watching at the Game was unreal. Apparently it is even better at the Seahawks so I may have to go back to watch some more professional sports in the near future.

We left Seattle, stopped at Olive Garden for dinner, I picked up some bud light lime (so good!) and then we headed home. A great weekend and, I hope, the kickoff to many great weekends of the summer.

Nespresso

Yes, I like shopping...but really only for gadgets or good deals. You know this from my blog description.

Well I've finally found my coffee solution. Since becoming a coffee addict (going on 2 and half years now) I've been searching for a better deal, and coffee, than shelling out $5 to Starbucks everyday. I've tried the french press (doesn't that sound dirty), I've bought a number of bialettis (electric as well as conventional) and I think I am on my second milk frother. The annoyance of them all is that there is a ton of clean up, the coffee is ok but not great, they don't make real espresso and I frequently have to clean up spills.

A few weeks ago I had a major coffee incident at home. I was making my morning latte using a bialetti where you are supposed to heat the milk in the top portion and it builds steam and you are supposed to get a real espresso latte out of it. What really happens is that the seal sucks, some coffee leaks into the milk early on, the coffee is heated in the milk and the whole thing tastes like crap. It was $69.99. I had given up on adding the milk in there but must have poured past the fill line for the water. Coffee explosion. Large lake of it. Major hassle to clean up as I was running out the door to work.

This same day I was heading for dinner with a friend. I didn't even get to my coffee drama when she told me about how she only drinks coffee at home since she bought an espresso maker. I lamented that I wanted one but they are like a grand and I just can't afford that and I'm tired of all the clean up with the cheaper stuff. Then she told me about Nespresso. Now this friend knows about the finer things in life and strikes that balance between over the top expensive luxury and good value. So I knew this was a good deal.

And is it ever. The whole system cost me $340 (incl. tax) and I also got a $50 credit for buying coffee. There are 16 different types of coffee/espresso that come in individual pods that equal one shot of espresso. They cost 58 cents each. Definitely cheaper than a Starbucks latte. I was thinking the pods thing was kind of a rule breaker for good espresso but apparently in Europe (where they know coffee) this is the way to go. And the adds for it in Italy have George Clooney. That totally sold me.

Clean up is almost nil and the coffee is so good. You can order it on-line or buy at the store. I figure I am breaking even on this machine, in comparison to buying a latte everyday, after 3 months. Trying to get a group of people at work to go in one for there. We will need it starting in the fall.

Come by my place if you want to taste Nespresso good. You can also go to their store and they'll make you a coffee. They're in the Bay (although not affiliated with the Bay) on the market level.

Joey's Birthday!

Better late than never with this one. Summer is here and I just don't want to be on the computer when I am not at work.

Joey turned 40! Almost all the Dunnet kids were in town and Mum hosted a birthday party. Cake, kids and balloons all made it very festive. Chach made some super cute name tags. Big year for the Dunnet family with an all Dunnet children reunion scheduled, first sibling to turn 40 and first Dunnet daughter to have baby. Man are we ever getting old.

Rachel with two, or is it three, boys. I like to think she is slightly clairvoyant and was hanging out with the young men to get a sense of what then next few years will be like.

Garmin good

In a fit of wanting to get back into running I made a few purchases. While actual running is free there are a few necessary pieces of equipment.

So I went to the running room and laid out $180 for new shoes (ridiculous cost but I can't put a price on my health/knee and joints) and got some good socks. Then I decided I need a new gadget to make the training more fun and help me figure out if I am getting enough kms in to do a 1/2 marathon in the fall. I only want to run 3 times a week max so those runs really need to count. I've been coveting the Garmin Forerunner 305 as my new gadget. I checked it out at the running room, said I would think about it, and then went over to Costco and bought it for $90 less than what they were selling it for there.

It is amazing. Wore it for a walk first and it was super cool to come home and download the walk and see an actual map of Vancouver where we had been.

Then I put together some of the workouts I would normally do on the Garmin Training Centre software and loaded them up. Since I am all about the run/walk training method I am pumped that this puppy does it all. Heart rate, speed, time...you name it I can enter it in as the method to calculate intervals. You can even denote intervals, like a one minute rest, as actual rest so it doesn't calculate into your average speed for the workout. There are 5 heart rate zones and 10 speed zones which you can adjust for yourself. For instance, the default fast jog is my 1/2 marathon pace and speed zone 10 default is faster than I could ever run. So I adjusted for my less than speedy running capabilities.

Amazing. And worth every dollar. Love that you can see where/when you get tired and how your heart rate is up and your speed is down.

Now if they could just combine this with an ipod I would be down to just the one gadget.

PS Totally realised on my 9.5k run yesterday that the ipod is way off on mileage. Like way, way off. It was a punishingly long 9.5k followed be the cold bath/hot shower at home to recover.