Tour de Europe

We're back! Now that my brain and body are finally in the same time zone (seriously, it was harder coming home than going there), I figured I'd put together a summary post. Check out my Facebook page for all of the pictures - I'm so glad we had our new camera - I took almost 2,000 photos!
Switzerland was absolutely amazing. In fact, I'd say it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We spent a couple days hiking around the Interlaken valley and really enjoyed the Swiss Alps. The pictures and views were breathtaking! It reminded me a lot of Yosemite, only much much bigger! We spent our few days there doing some serious hiking and had some of the most amazing times! I loved the long hike we did on our 2nd day there - we were literally out all day long... hiking, snacking, and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Beautiful Waterfall

The Amazing Mountains

In addition to a fantastic trip, I've also crossed another item off my bucket list - riding up the Alp d'Huez:

Buy a house - completed 2007

Get married - completed 2011

Run a marathon - completed 2012

Ride my bike up the Alp d'Huez - completed 2012

Own a horse

Have babies

Climb Half Dome

See the Fall on the East coast

Visit Africa

Visit Australia

Let me tell you, I'm so glad I did the marathon earlier this year. I hadn't trained very much for this ride, but the running definitely helped beef up my cardiovascular health! This was incredibly hard for me, but a really cool experience. I'm so proud to have this one checked off! And I bought a really cool jersey as a memento!

The Switchbacks Of Alp d'Huez

After that, we watched stage 16 of the Tour de France which was one of the big mountain stages. This was my first experience watching a huge race like this (before I had only seen the Amgen Tour of California) and it was quite a spectacle. About an hour before the riders came through, they had a parade. A serious parade. They threw all sorts of fun stuff at us (sausage, candy, magnets, hats, etc) and the cars were all decorated like parade floats. Then we saw the helicopter come over the ridge and the riders were right behind them! They were absolutely flying down the hill into town... it was so much fun to see!

Float In The Parade

Thomas Voeckler - The Winner Of Stage 16

After watching the Tour, we drove up to Caen to see some of the famous places in Normandy. One of the things I love about going to Europe is how much history is there. Everywhere you look there is an old building or a marker. And the history goes so far back! I had really wanted to see the D-Day battlefields (Mike had been before and said it was breathtaking). Breathtaking does not even begin to describe it. We went to the Caen Museum the first day we were there and caught up on the history... but standing on those beaches, knowing what happened there gave me goosebumps. It was also really touching to go see the American Cemetery.

Omaha Beach

American Cemetery

We finished the trip in Paris. One of the first things we did there was watch the last stage of the 2012 Tour de France. We headed out to camp out along the finishing route around 10am and got some great spots. It was seriously awesome to see the pros riding so incredibly fast down the streets of the Champs-Élysées. We also did some of the touristy sight seeing and made some time to head out to visit the World War I trenches of the Somme.

Us In Paris

Tour de France Finish

This trip was an amazingly fun adventure with my husband that I will never forget!

The Big Day

It's rare that I do any blogging about work, but today I have to give great praise to Intel. In just a few hours, I begin my sabbatical. That's right - 8 weeks off, paid, with no work to do. Time to have fun and recharge. I absolutely can't wait! The beauty is that I get one of these for every 7 years that I work here! What a great benefit!

Seven years ago, it seemed like I would never get to sabbatical... yet, here it is! We've got a great trip planned, I've got a bunch of concerts to go to, and some fun projects around the house that I've wanted to work on for a while.

Happy day!

New Camera

Wow... what a difference a new camera makes! I decided to be a big girl and get a "real" camera... not just point and click, but a DSLR camera. That's basically fancy talk for "you can now totally screw up your pictures". I went with the Canon EOS Rebel T3i and so far I LOVE it. I've only had it for 2 hours, but I just went outside and shot these pictures (with no photography experience):

Woodpecker Feeding It's Baby

My Handsome Boy

This Looks Like An SPCA Commercial

Action Shot. Look At Those Ears Fly!

Ant

Oleanders

Hydrangeas

Seriously, this thing is awesome. I need to read the 400 page manual though! This is going to ROCK in Europe!!!

Wicked Review

Mike and I received tickets to see "Wicked" as one of our wedding gifts (great idea, isn't it?!). We went last Saturday night and had a great dinner at Cafeteria 15L and then walked over to the Community Center Theater for the show.

Synopsis: (from www.wickedthemusical.co.uk)

"Wicked" tells the incredible untold story of an unlikely but profound friendship between two girls who first meet as sorcery students at Shiz University: the blonde and very popular Glinda and a misunderstood green girl, Elphaba.

Following an encounter with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths. Glinda's unflinching desire for popularity sees her seduced by power while Elphaba's determination to remain true to herself, and to those around her, will have unexpected and shocking consequences for her future. Their extraordinary adventures in Oz will ultimately see them fulfil their destinies as Glinda The Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.

I absolutely love this story. It tells you how both Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West became what they were in "The Wizard of Oz". In fact, next to "Phantom of the Opera", this may be one of my favorite musicals. The music is really great - my favorite song was "Defying Gravity". I also really liked "I'm Not That Girl". I had read the book years ago, and I actually think I like how Elphaba is portrayed in the musical a little better. In the book, she truly becomes wicked (rightfully so), while the musical makes her a little more likeable.

If "Wicked" comes to your town, I would definitely recommend getting tickets to see it. It's funny, heartfelt, and a story about true friendship. This was a really great night out and we had the perfect seats. Thanks Chris!

Bucket List Additions

I've decided that it's just about time for me to update my bucket list - having only one thing left on it sort of made me feel like I should be 98 years old and in a movie starring Ryan Gosling. I still have more to add eventually, but this is a much better start. 

• Buy a house - completed 2007
• Get married - completed 2011
• Run a marathon - completed 2012
• Own a horse
• Have babies
• Ride my bike up the Alp d'Huez
• Climb Half Dome
• See the Fall on the East coast
• Visit Africa
• Visit Australia

San Diego Rock 'n Roll Marathon Recap

Well folks, like I said in my super short post on Sunday, I ran a marathon. It wasn't exactly what I expected or how I planned, but I did it. My final time was 5 hours, 44 minutes.

My Finisher's Medal

When we got to San Diego on Saturday, we headed over to the expo to pick up my shirt, swag bag and race packet. I was really excited about the shirt... these ones were pretty awesome:

Awesome Shirts!

After that, we headed over to our hotel to check in. The girls at the front desk were all excited when they found out who I was (ok, it's really much less celebrity like than it sounds). My parents, sister and brother-in-law had sent me an edible arrangement! It was such a great idea because real flowers would have probably messed with my allergies and this was FANTASTIC after the race!

My "Flowers"

Here's what I look like at 4am the morning of a race... absolutely petrified.

Pre-race Picture

The run started at 6:15am, but by the time my corral crossed the starting line, it was around 6:45am. I could not have asked for more perfect weather - it was cloudy (hello June gloom!) and cool, with a slight breeze once we got near the water. The first 9 miles felt fantastic - I was running my pace, I felt good and I was really enjoying the scenery.

Then, at mile 9, disaster struck. We were running on the freeway (they close down a chunk of the 163 for the race) when my stomach really started to bother me. Like the "you need to stop at this nice blue porta potty on the side of the 163" bother me. From mile 9 all the way through mile 26, I was in serious pain. I visited many of the conveniently placed porta potties along the route. At mile 15, I called Mike. I told him I was sick and didn't know what to do. He told me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. That's exactly what I did for the next 17 miles. I am so proud of myself for continuing on when I know a lot of people would have stopped. And I love Mike so much for telling me to keep going, even though he could hear how badly I was hurting and knew (from personal experience) how long 17 miles can be.

Now, on a lighter note, here are some of the funny signs I saw along the way:

"Run faster mommy, I'm tired of holding this sign" (held by a cute little boy)

"This sounded like a good idea 6 months ago"

"Don't stop - people are watching you"

"Tomorrow you'll think this was fun"



Believe it or not, I'm really glad I had this experience. This was honestly my worst fear going into the run and it actually happened. But I survived, I kept running and I didn't give up. Yes, my time wasn't what I was aiming for, but I feel like I overcame a lot more than just a time goal. This whole process has been quite a journey and has tought me a lot about what I can handle both physically and mentally. I'd like to send a great big thank you out to everyone who called, texted, facebooked or emailed me encouragement... I read each and every one and appreciate it!

Finally, something I've been waiting to do for a long time... cross this one off the bucket list (and apparently start thinking of some other things to add to it!):

• Own a horse
• Buy a house - completed 2007
• Run a marathon - completed 2012
• Get married - completed 2011

I Ran A Marathon Today

Holy crap, that was hard. Like really, really hard. I ran into some tummy troubles at mile 9 and became well aquatinted with the blue porta potties for the rest of the race. It hurt, it was awful and I wanted to quit more than anything. But I didn't and I finished. I'm so proud of myself! More when we get home and I have some great pictures!