Diego turns 2!

Well, technically Diego turns 2 tomorrow, but we all got together for lunch and cake earlier today. The family will get together again tomorrow, but I will be traveling so I am going to miss the soccer ball cake. Since I won't be there, I hope somebody will pick up the slack and take some good pictures and maybe even a video of the Happy Birthday, and the traditional mañanitas. 

10.3 Miles!

This morning I got up early for my 10 mile run.  The sun was just coming out, so several deer also came out to give me a quick hello. Overall I felt really good and kept a great pace, although for the last 3 miles my right foot was bugging me. I thought it was a blister, but turns out it wasn't. It was just my skin not liking the rubbing too much. I am going to have to find a way to avoid that for my future runs. 

Sneaker Ball 2013

Last night, for the second year in a row, we went to the Sneaker Ball to support the Inner City Tennis Project. I was really tired, so I didn't necessarily feel like going, but once we got out of the house we had a good time. It was nice to see some of our friends, and the dinner was at the Cintas Center of Xavier University - our Alma Mater - where we hadn't been in a long time.  In the meantime my mom stayed with the kids at Gabi's house, and although both Bella and Diego stayed crying, my mom said they calmed down quickly and behaved just fine for the rest of the night.

Red face

A few weeks ago Bella got very upset because one of her friends drew her with a red face. Her teacher told me that she was very surprised that Bella - who is always in a good mood - was so bent out of shape for that. Apparently she even cried for a little while. That same day I asked her about it when I picked her up, but she appeared to be over it by then ... Except... this is the drawing she made earlier this week. When asked about it, she indicated the girl with the red face was the one who drew her that way the other day. Ha!

Cardio tennis

Yesterday morning Lionel went running, so I had to take the girls with me to cardio tennis. Unfortunately that meant that it took us forever to get out of the house, and I basically missed the entire first half. It is a good thing that after that we still had our private class. After tennis the girls wanted to stay and play because all the gymnastics equipment was moved upstairs to the basketball courts - so we did. I waited for them for a full hour while they were running around and having fun.

Miami marathon

Earlier this week, when Sofia and I were at the orthodontist, I found a copy of Running magazine. In it, I found an ad for the Miami marathon and half-marathon, which will take place in early February. I am seriously thinking about it, and so are several of my friends. That would be fun, so I hope my friends and I quickly make up our minds. Actually I am very quick to make up my mind and I definitely want to do it. I just need to make sure that the logistics will work out.

Do the Right Thing Video

A few weeks ago I was asked at work if I would be willing to participate in a video that would be featuring multiple employees, at different points in their career, for something that we call Do the Right Thing Week. "Sure, why not", I thought, and agreed to help out. The video shooting was this Wednesday, and consisted of somebody [who was off camera] asking me questions, and filming me with my answers. I sure hope they can edit the heck of out of it so that I sound at least a little bit smart. I don't know if I will look good on TV or not, but sounding smart is a must.

Flying high

Earlier this week I got to travel on the corporate plane, a treat not many regular people like me get to experience. So I was really looking forward to the opportunity, and the experience definitely did not disappoint. We only got to do it because somebody pretty high up in the company was coming on a recruiting trip with us, who by the way was very nice to all of us. You would think people like that live in their own little world but truly, at the core of it all, they are just like the rest of us. People may normally just see him as the high ranking executive who always gets to call the shots at work, but I got to see a different - more human - side. I got to see a dad who is proud of his daughter as she moves to a new city and starts her own career, but one who is also sad that she is leaving him behind. What parent, regardless of the age of their children, can't relate to that?

This trip was such a great and unique opportunity, that I truly believe just thinking about it put a smile on my face the entire week. It may never happen again, but getting to do it at least once was super sweet!

On our way there...

On our way back...

MB in Indy, and our quick sister's trip

Last Sunday Gabi and I made the drive to Indianapolis to see Michael Buble in concert once again. I love going to see him whenever I get a chance, and I was also excited to spend time with Gabi (sans the kids) and take the next day off so we didn't have to rush back home.

The drive to Indy went by quickly, but once we got there we got stuck in traffic for about 40 minutes because the Colts football game had just ended, and all the fans were trying to get back to their cars and get out of there. While we were stuck there we joked about rolling down our window and screaming "who dey" to the fans walking by, but we knew that wouldn't end up so well. Eventually we made it to our hotel, but by then it was a bit late and we only had about 20 minutes to check in, change our clothes, and head out to the restaurant where we had dinner reservations. So it was kind of rushed, but we managed to make it to the restaurant pretty much on time. After dinner we walked the 5 or 6 streets to the Arena, only to realize that I didn't have with me the credit card I used to buy the tickets online. Since I had fan club tickets, the only way to get in was by swiping my credit card, so I had a moment of panic and anger at myself for making such a mistake. Luckily that night the ticket windows were open, and with my ID - and my look of "help me please" - they printed the tickets for me and let us in.

Once in we quickly settled into our floor seats, which were also right smack in the middle and were the first row in that section, which means nobody was sitting in front of us. That gave me plenty of mobility during the concert for taking pictures and for walking to the back stage when it was time for Michael to sing there. So what can I say? As usual it was a great show from beginning to end.

After the show we stopped by the sports bar that was like 20 meters from the hotel because Gabi offered to buy me a drink. We didn't stay long though. We were tired and looking forward to going to bed.

The next day we walked around the Canal for a little while, took some pictures, and ate at a local Mexican-Asian fusion restaurant before we headed back home.

It's a blur...

This full week has been a total and complete blur, simply because I have been out of my routine from beginning to end. But I will try to recap everything that has gone down since last Sunday. Here I go...

Kings Island 2013

Today we went to the company's annual Kings Island weekend. As usual, Lionel complained about waiting in line to get the free product we get once a year, but as usual, I insisted on getting it because a) It is fun to see what is in there and b) With my hard work I have certainly earned every single item.

I am not a big amusement park fan, as the roller coasters are more torture than anything for me, but we mainly do it for the girls. Of course, sometimes you wonder why you even bother because the girls were not in the best behavior, and by the time we left the park I was quite tired and annoyed with them. Bella kept not listening, and Sofia would complain when she played a game and we didn't let her win. Lionel told her she was a sore loser (an expression of course) but all she heard was "loser" and started to whine even more. So something that was meant to be fun often became the source of unnecessary conflict.

The highlight of the trip was "Lovey", the cute round stuff animal I asked Lionel to buy for me because a) It is a French Poodle [get it? French!] and b) After dealing with all that whining I certainly deserved a little treat. The name "Lovey" was not my doing. It was already written in the tag, along with what supposedly is its birthday (weird!). Of course later in the evening poor Lovey became the girl's obsession [mainly Sofia], and when they were not fighting for it, they kept giving me an update every two seconds about what Lovey was doing at the time. Lovey was playing with the other stuff animals. Lovey was reading a book. Lovey was getting ready to go to bed. The lack of silence was simply exhausting!

After Kings Island we stopped by Costco to get some food for the week, and on the way home the whining finally stopped ... because the girls fell asleep. By then I seriously needed to decompress. So even though I had already been walking around for hours, and my long run for the week was not due until tomorrow morning, I decided to do it tonight. The weather was perfect for it, and even though my legs were tired, my blood pressure certainly thanked me for it.

Now everybody is asleep, which is why I am enjoying a few minutes alone - just me and my thoughts. It is really late, and I should probably be in bed by now, but it is just so difficult to give up my quiet time.

Kissing up

Sometimes I feel that certain people at work are nice to me not because they truly like or appreciate me at a personal level, but because I am doing well and they probably figure that they better stay on my good side now in case I am in a position of power later. I, of course, can see right through that and know exactly who my true friends are. But for the rest of them, I still find it flattering that they feel like I am one to watch.

Excellence Awards

Earlier this week we had a work event to celebrate the most relevant projects my organization worked on all year. One of my projects was nominated, which is why I got to attend, as did my other work friends. I didn't expect to win - quite frankly I was just happy to be there - but we did. I probably should be more excited about it, but this was certainly not the most difficult project I have ever worked on. So it feels weird that this one won and the other ones never did. Regardless, my VP was super excited about it, so that is good for me and my team. The event was also a good opportunity to wear a fancy dress that I got last minute because I procrastinated to get it as much as I could. I was just afraid that I would have to pay a lot, and get something that was just Ok. But I got lucky, and got a beautiful, comfortable dress for an awesome price. So, from a super frivolous perspective, it is a good thing that we won because I got to walk to the stage and everybody got to see my lovely dress.

Limitless

This morning I got up at 7:00am and ran 9.37 miles at a pace of 10 minutes, 7 seconds per mile. This is a pretty good pace for me, especially because of the long distance and several quite steep hills. And even though my feet started hurting, and I slowed down towards the end of the run, for the most part I maintained a pretty even pace.

As I finished stretching, and got back in my car, I got to thinking that I like running because I never thought I could do it. So every time I run, and I do it faster or longer than ever before, it reminds me that there are many other things I have yet to accomplish in my life, and that even if they don't look all that feasible, yes I CAN! 

Sharon Woods

This afternoon we went to Sharon Woods, one of the Cincinnati parks about 30 minutes from our house. Sofia said she really did not want to go, but eventually she came around when I showed them couple pictures, and Bella said she would go with me. We went to the boat house and rented a pedal boat for one hour, then went to one of the playgrounds, had ice cream, and then checked out another playground before walking by a creek, where Bella played for a few minutes, and heading back home. A great afternoon overall!