So since I am not really a great cook and such... I got excited a few months ago when I made up this recipe after having Chicken Salad on low-carb diets and got sick of the normal run-of-the-mill b.s. chicken salad... and it tasted good! Thought I would share since I know quite a few people who like curry/spicy food and you can make this as spicy as you want.

1 roaster chicken, deskinned and deboned (I usually grab one of the $5 precooked rotisserie ones in the grocery store... they have a Thai flavored one at Albertsons that is yummy)

3/4 cup chopped celery

1 1/2 diced red jalapeno pepper (or whatever spicy pepper you prefer)

3 tbsp mayo

3 tbsp light sour cream

2 tbsp dijon mustard

2 teaspoons of green curry paste (more or less whatever you like)

1/2 teaspoon of onion powder

2 teaspoons of low sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)

I usually mix everything, but the chicken, in its own bowl first and put it aside and let the peppers flavor the mayo and such. Then I debone and deskin the chicken tearing it into small chunks. Mix the wet mixture in with the chicken and chill. I usually eat it on a bed of lettuce with a hardboiled egg but have also made it into a sammich. Either way is yummy... ok and now I'm hungry heh

Oh is it really sunday? Boo hiss... well at least Dexter and Californiacation come on tonight

Even though Christopher's birthday was last wednesday we finally had birthday cake today and damn I admit... it was pretty good. I hate how bakeries can't seem to get shit right when putting names on cakes, but at least it tasted damn good. Was the Parisian flavor from Freed's... chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling and topping... I got them to add three chocolate covered strawburries. Yum yum.

The sad thing is they don't sell Blue Bell here in Nevada. Shocking I know... but I found out a few months ago that Outback carried Blue Bell since their food service provider is Sysco. I went there for a to go order and told them I wanted a bucket of Blue Bell... since we go there every day practically I got a container and they said just bring it back whenever. Awesome. My only other option was driving to Arizona or ordering 4 half gallons online for the low low price of $119. Highwaydamnrobbery!

Other than that this weekend was pretty uneventfull. n_o_m_i_c just got into town yesterday for the next month to help work on some development side stuff for one of our sites. Can't wait to get this one under the belt :)

Next up... Kystal (formerly of Austin) is in town.. yay! Crab fest at Green Valley Ranch for dinner..

After the server crashed and such (and all of the photos were on it) there was a delay in them all getting up but alas! Here they are :)


France Photos

Here's the pictures I took at the conference we went to originally in Paris the first part of the trip.. quite boring for most people here but whateverrr


Drupalcon Pictures

So after getting back from France (yes I am still going through photos as we speakith!) everything seemed to crash. Transformer in kitchen light went out, server upstairs bit the bucket, had to get several light switches changed,... wtf happened while we were gone!? Now I have a head cold. Suckage

I will post the pics from the vacation or the other random social media websites. They would have been posted sooner if the server hadn't crashed with every photo on it but now since Christopher the great has transferred many a gigs... its all safe and sound. Yippie!

Now... bring on Halloweenie!

But it seems all I talk about on here is my dang running schedule. Whateverrrr though.. It's nice to look back and see the progress I made in only a few months.

Tuesday was the "end" of the first full week of the 1/2 marathon training. I say end in quotes because it was supposed to end on Sunday but I was too tired, and then Monday I forgot to eat an hr before and thought I was going to DIE after one mile. It was the weirdest feeling ever and scary... heart skipping around and usually my first mile now feels like a warm up. That sounds crazy but it's true.

Anyway the end of the first week has you working up to running 4 miles straight and I can't believe I actually *did it*. Yea I take about 10 second water breaks between almost every mile but other than that no walking was involved. Running for 50 minutes.. just sounds freakin nuts to me. I can't wait to get further and further along in this whole thing. Just hope I don't end up some crazy ass marathon runner or ultra marathon nutjobs

I just wish my times per mile were better, but I really don't care how fast I'm going, as long as I do it and keep going. I must confirm - that Couch to 5K thing really does work :)

The name for the 5k race last weekend spoke the truth.. it truly felt like I was running right through hell. I couldn't believe the people starting the 50 mile race before I took off. Before running in this race I was running about 20 min straight.. walking a for a bit then finishing the rest of the 3 mile run. I was really disappointed that I didn't run this whole race through but dear GOD the terrain and route was *difficult*. Rolling hills in a valley next to Lake Mead (it gets hotter on the lake than in town.. believe it or not) and by the time 7am rolled around it was 90 degrees and no breeze. (sun rises at 4:30 here or so which makes the sun high up at 7am unfortunately). Either way I made it... never been so exhausted and walked about 3/4 mile of it but still ran it in 38.50 min

I guess whatever I did pushing myself through that race flipped a switch and now I am running the 3 miles straight without stopping. It feels awesome and I just want to keep going. I also need to quit blabbin about it... i talks too much.

Anyway... pretty excited about going to Texas for the weekend though it sucks not being able to really plan to get out and see friends while we're around (damnit I wanna meet Stacey's papoose!).... so I just wanna apologize ahead of time.. I love and want to see you all but not enough time :( Def wish a trip to Austin was in store too..

Really? Michael Jackson is dead? So sad... I hope he didn't suffer long

Birthday was fun but then yesterday I tried running off the whole piece of cheesecake I had in one run... 5 miles (not straight of course.. did the week 4 part of the running schedule for 3 miles then did 3 min running 3 min walking for the last two miles). Today I didn't feel sore so I did the 3 miles again.. dear god I thought my legs were going to fall off. Tomorrow I will just do something different instead of running.. need a break before I start the more challenging looking week 5.

In other news.. I had an awesome bday and really enjoyed a photo workshop I got to go to in LA the weekend before. It was mostly supposed to be a pin-up model shoot but just ended up being more glamour than the typical pin-up girl from the 50's. All good.. I am really out of practice and have often times have lacked in giving directions to models, so this was a great opportunity to meet some models and how to direct/shoot.

Click on the pic to see the top 6 pics taken


Click on this pic to see the rest of the photos from the shoot


And here's some from my actual bday stuff :)

So I am really mad at myself for screwing off this past weekend. It's really set me back running schedule wise and weight. I swear it only takes me 2 days of normal food to gain back everything I lost in 2 weeks. Sucks

Anyway.. today was my first day back at the running schedule.. pretty difficult but it's my fault for having too much fun at Mark Farina and the club at TI. Tomorrow I will start the week 4 schedule.. whew

I've decided to run a 5k at the end of this part of the training that's going to be held along the shores of Lake Mead... appropriately named "Running with the Devil" It's going to be hotter at the Lake than in Vegas and starts at 7am. It's pretty hot by then in late June but, I think the view will make up for it :) Can't wait!

So week three of running began today... I really like the progression this schedule gives me so I don't feel like I am just completely over doing it. I've lost about 7-8 pounds since we got back from France (minus the Wine Fiesta this past weekend which set me back) but I really need to add a day or two a week to tone. I am feeling more fit running but want to reduce the jiggle hehe

Got the bike fixed up too so I can add that to different exercises.... yayyy

So... the heat and sleeping in... then drinking way too much has prevented me for running the last three days. DOH. THis morning I was just too damn tired but maybe I can run later on when the temperature drops. 104 today? WTF Vegas it's not mid june! Damn

Anyway... this weekend was a blast. Went to an event hosted by the Wine Spectator.. had 212 wines to taste. We knocked out the first oh.. 100 in a good amount of time but decided to grab some (poopy) food from the buffet line. Was really disappointed in the set up the Venetian did (I mean.. they have conferences and food set ups several times a day... you'd think they would be prepared). The food was pretty poor and wasn't being replaced often... the event had several hundred people and they only had 10 small small tables set up for people to eat at. Kinda whack to be in a little dress and sitting on the floor eating bad food. So when we got back up and start where we left off we saw that some people (especially the big well known French chateaus) were getting close to running out of wine. Kinda ticked that Chateau Margaux, Chateau Haut Brion and.. Lafitte Rothschild were out.. these places have so much $$ they dont know what to do with and only brought 1 case for 400-500 people to taste. Either way.. it was a good time and when we got back home to see what we had tasted vs what we had bought when we were in France... there were 5 wines we had actually purchased that we went out on a limb and bought... and were some of the best wines at the event. YAY! These bottles were $80-$100+ so shops wont open them for you to taste... so this was a great event to find out what we had gotten.

After that we met up with a friend from Texas that we haven't seen since the last time she was here 4 years ago. She's had a kid and moved out to Waller since then.... but Saturday we just had a hilarious time running around the Strip. Had mojitos at Delmonico's, then went to the Mirage to meet up with two of her coworkers, went into Jet, then headed to the Wynn for more mojitos at Parasol Down.. wandered over to the Encore and had more drinks there. I don't even know what time we left there to head home (and of course took a taxi) ... silly us we took two cars out so I had to take a taxi BACK to get one of the cars yesterday. DOH

Fully recovered today.. watched Lost finally last night... next is getting my replacement phone... YAY!

One of these and you want to run or keep track of distances, it's so worth the $$. I use it when we go skiing to keep track of the distances we go... it can get wet... and when you synch it with your computer you can see the exact routes you went and your speed on a graph. If I could only find my heart rate monitor...

It sounds like I work for Garmin but dont hahaha. I wish! Christopher uses the 301 model but it seemed huge on my arm... I am really starting to use this thing after it being neglected over the past year or so. Makes me appreciate it all the more!

So... earlier in the week I walked 2 days approx 4 miles... then I found the running plan and started doing that the last few days. Took a day off then did the running plan... which I was kinda bummed it only made my run 1.5 miles.. so I extended it and walked an extra mile. Yesterday I went 4 miles but only did the running section towards the end of the workout.. seems like running is a little easier already :) I love seeing and feeling the changes when your body gets more used to handling running. That in itself keeps me going :)

Pushups still suck though. bah


Yesterday was exciting finally getting all of the wine out that has been collected over the years and with the new French collection... and oops we drank two bottles (between 3 people btw!) and.. another glass at dinner... and... ok there was a strip club with a corona and.. I watched the game sadly haha (damn you Lakers!). Somewhere along the way my tummy freaked and it wasn't pretty. Weird

Here's a shot I took once we had everything out on the counters.. haha

So after the trip to France and such... I've decided on a goal. Along with working out and such I thought it would be a good idea to work towards something BIG. I've done 2 5k's and they were no biggie.... since December is a ways off I thought it would give me plenty of time to train myself to run and do the half-marathon in Vegas. This year it's supposed to be bigger and better... and what is better than running down a blocked off strip... downtown and then back? Apparently the new company that bought the rights to the marathon are putting bands along the way to motivate. Eh my ipod is good enough! The funniest thing I think happens is the run through wedding chapel on the route.. doesn't get more vegas than that.

I suck at running a half mile right now (but easily walk 4-5 miles) so my friend from college recommended the couch to 5k program. I started that this morning and it was slightly challenging but a good pace to keep with. I think the three days a week thing sucks but.. I'll do something the other two days to move up on my progress.

After I get good enough to run 3 miles more or less effortlessly to the point I could jog AND hold a conversation (HAH that seems so impossible right now) then I am going to move onto this program for half-marathon training. I have approximately 30 weeks... I don't think it's too crazy of an idea. I'll keep up my progress on here when I can :)

Oh and pushups: I've been ruined for years by the girly stuff they teach you in school... I want to get good enough to do the real ones! I'm still sore from 3 days ago.

Wow... we were gone for a while and had an awesome time... nice to get back home though and sleep in your own bed.. get back to the daily stuff. I will have pictures soon as soon as I go through the 950 pictures or so and upload them/tag them before I forget everything that happened over the 3 weeks.

Now.. its time to work all of those eclairs off! sheesh

So today is the last day of Drupalcon DC and it indeed has been fun. I did learn a valuable lesson on not drinking do much at the PRE party, but in the end its been a great mingling experience. Was kinda disappointed that the sessions were more developer centered than design or theming, but hopfully that will be made up in future conventions since the design community is finally expressing their voice. It was only 8 people last year and now we had a room of 50 people wanting to participate. Last night we hosted a great mixer for the design community and it went off GREAT. Downstairs at La Tasca was packed and sangrias flowed a plenty. Afterwards we went to the Phase // party at Clydes and then hopped in a taxi to a street with a bunch of bars and the BIGGEST slice of pizza I have ever seen. Seriously big.

More drinking was had and missed the first part of today but luckily most of the videos of the sessions are going up quickly. Must get pictures up here soon.... sorry if I tweeted people to death this week :)

So I am getting pretty antsy for the trip next month to Washington DC for Drupalcon... Boston last year was fun and after making a handful of friends at the Drupal event in New Orleans over the holidays (quite a few from the DC area) I think we're going to have a blast and learn drupalish things! Plus I haven't been to Washington since I was in 8th grade (if I could scan some of those pictures, you'd get a good laugh!) and I don't recall too much except for it was a great trip.

So I must rant a bit... I haven't been and I know it's a big deal to a lot of people but I swear hearing about it 10 months out of the year has made me never want to go. I am referring to Burning flipside... the event happens, then the decompression talk happens for another month, then no one speaks of it for a month or two and then the talk picks up again and it continues for the rest of the year. I know people really look forward it, but it's all I hear for ever and ever and... ugh. Eeeyores birthday used to be our annual mecca but I don't recall us rambling on it for months on end. All the talk and such just has made me lose interest in ever attending... and that's sad


Another exciting development!? Going to Europe for 3 weeks in April. Tickets are being booked as we speak! With the pound declining (it was 2.1 to 1 back when we went 2 years ago which made simple things, like buying a coke, a big expense. 3 pounds for a coke makes it 6 bucks?! I'll take water) and the euro down as well, along with silly ticket prices from here to Europe... the stars all aligned to take advantage of economic chaos and go on a vacation. This trip will include a visit with Robin (who is moving to Maidstone, UK) London, Edinburgh Scotland, York, Paris and some wine country.
Can't wait..

Rainy day today makes me want to go back to bed.. ugh

So been away from lj for a while.. though I keep up with everyone elses stuff as much as I can. Had a great Christmas in Texas... went to a skiing trip in Colorado that was soso (well the SKIING was good.. for sure) and now finally getting back in the daily groove and coming back onine. WOO!

Hope everyone is well... I'm still not up to writing much. bleh. I will say this.. happy anniversary to us! Today marks yr #9.. wowsers! Here's to many more!

After a much sucky delay.. I mad it to New Orleans last night just in time for one session of the workshop we are attending then went to a group mixer where we met some Austin peeps. Headed out to Acme oysters, then heard some jazz and got some nice warm baileys and coffee (damn it was cold and raining), then Lafeittes for a hurricane, then Pat O's and finished off the night with hot coco and beignets. It was awesome and what's even funnier is the people we were hanging with know Chuck... he's famous!

Anyway having a good time so far and it snowed here this morning. Houston snowing happens every few years but New Orleans?? That shit is weird