You Know What Grinds My Gears?

People on rollerblades pushing their baby in a jogger! Does anyone else see the problem in this? I see the culprits on the boardwalk all the time. The boardwalk adds another element too; a little thing called SAND. Anyways, these people make me nervous and the whole situation really Grinds My Gears.

If I have offended any of my readers who like to go blading while pushing their baby on wheels.... Stop it! Oh, I mean, sorry. Please buckle up baby for safety!

On Your Mark, Get Set.... Go!

Easter has to be one of my favorite holidays. Like any holiday, I love it for the obvious reasons of being with my family and eating wonderful food, but it is the not so obvious reason that makes Easter stand out to me. It's my families Easter Egg hunts! Yes, hunts... plural.

The first hunt reminds me of my Grandma Vera, who I will always think of on Easter (along with my Grandpa Paul). When we were young we would wake up with hazy eyes and run excitedly to see what the Easter Bunny had brought us. From the moment we'd wake up we would catch little glimpses of color all over the house. We'd start memorizing where each one was. When it was time, we would get our bags and go on our first egg hunt. If you haven't already guessed, the little glimpses of color were in fact chocolate eggs. This year (since I guess we are adults now) Shannon just put chocolate & Reese's eggs all over the house for some one to leisurely pick up as desired. :)

Of course, the Saenz' had more than enough food. We went against the grain this year and made our Easter brunch a Mexican feast. My dad wasn't so sure you can have Easter without ham, but I think everyone was happy with the result (results below). My dad made his mexican casserole, Aunt Toni made our families enchiladas, Peter's mom made stuffed peppers and Dougie even made Scottish eggs for dessert (those things are a heart attack in themselves... but delicious!).

Finally, the big event! Yes, we still have an Easter Egg hunt even though half of the group is over 30. Adrenaline runs high while we are all in the "waiting area." When the eggs have been placed my mom yells to come out and hands us each a bag. *note - Nate didn't get a bag... a huge disadvantage in my mind.* Then it's just, "Ready, Set, Go" and we are off.

Nate and I had a game plan of covering as much ground as possible, but to no avail. The "big winner" was Dougie. He found the $100 egg. Nate and I got lovely door prizes, but, hey, there's always next year!

Boredom + Photo Booth =

Nate and I came up to Huntington this weekend for Easter. Nate went golfing with the boys and Shannon is taking a nap, so this is what I came up with. Enjoy!






Boredom really does wonders to my face.

What's Nikki Been Up To?

In case you've been wondering how I've been spending my days, I have a sad confession. It all started when I felt like I was neglecting my Wii. I hated the feeling that I wasn't getting my $'s worth on the awe-inspiring invention. So last weekend Nate and I headed to the store to purchase a new Wii game. My mind was undecided between Super Mario Brawl (a multi-player game) and Super Mario Galaxy (a single player game). I followed my gut and went with Super Mario Galaxy.

I don't know where to start.... this game is AWESOME! It takes the classic Super Mario Adventures to a whole new level! I'm hooked!! And the sad part is, as previously mentioned, it is a single-player game. Only true "gamers" (aka nerds) game by themselves for hours...

Ohhhh Well!

My Deprivation of Motivation

So this week I am totally unmotivated to run.  I've taken 2 (yes 2!) days off of my training and I'm feeling a little guilty.  The thing is, I must be feeling this way for a reason.  Right?  My body is still adjusting to all this work I'm putting it through; I'm tired, sore and feeling rebellious. I'll get over it... but today, I'm gonna soak up all the laying around I can. 

That being said, I think I'll head back to the couch.  

Hey, not lazy... just "motivation deprived."

A Thousand Splendid Suns..

This weekend I finally finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (author of Kite Runner), I thought I'd give a small review of it (without giving away the storyline).

For those of you that are looking for a heart-warming tale of love and tranquility, DO NOT read this book. This story intertwines the lives of 2 Afghan women. The book follows the women through the many historical obstacles of Afghanistan since the Soviet's had power until the present, as well as displays the hardships the country's women must endure in both their public and private lives. This book was heart-wrenching because of these many hardships and there were times when I was reading and was sick because of the abuse that was happening at the book.

That being said, the book was wonderful. Hosseini ties the women's lives together beautifully to create a relationship that can stand up to anything. Although, there were times I found myself upset by what I was reading, it was because the book enveloped me as a reader and I felt connected to the lives I was reading about.

For those who can endure it, I definitely recommend this book.

Photo Journal: Making Turkey & Artichoke Stuffed Shells

The Ingredients:

My favorite Arrabiata Sauce (in the works):

Shells cooking, Sauce about done:

My favorite kitchen convenience, the Chopper:

The Goods:

Stuffing:

Pre-oven Shells:

The Finished Product (w/ a little extra mozzarella):

The Happy Customer:

*** A special thanks to the clean-up crew***

99 March Miles

So I set my ultimate goal on Nikeplus.com of running the Rock N' Roll Marathon in June. The way "My Goals" works is to create monthly goals that are supposed to help you attain your ultimate goal. What I did for March was add up all the miles on my training schedule for the month (I even gave myself 2 breaks from my Thursday runs, just in case). After adding them up, I was a little shocked... They added up to 99 miles! For 1 month!


Does this seem crazy to anyone else?

My 'Rents Came to Town...

... and what a great time we had!!  As previously mentioned, it was my mom's B-day so she wanted to come down and celebrate it with her favorite daughter, Nikki (hehe..  I'm gonna be in trouble for that one).   My parents came down Friday.  Nate and I took them to our very favorite Italian restaurant, Marino's.  Luckily it lived up to our praise.  I had planned on taking a picture of my lasagna when it got in front of me, but what do you know, when it arrived I dug right in :/  Here's a pic of my parents at Marino's:

Saturday morning I had a soccer game.  Having my parents there reminded me of my good 'ol AYSO days of orange slices and after-game snacks.  Later, we went to the Maritime Museum.  My dad had been wanting to check it out for a while so we all went.  The biggest ship was the Star of India.  The pirate man on it told me it had circled the world 21 times..

Here is Captain C. Saenz..

Ahh, and here is his First Nate..

We also checked out a Russian submarine.  It had to be the most cramped thing ever to live in, but it supposedly held up to 78 sailors. Yikes!  We had to climb through some holes to get from section to section.

My mom and I were good sports, but while the boys had their backs turned we took a picture of how we really felt about the Maritime Museum...

haha.  Just kidding, Dad.  Here is my mom standing on the submarine.  Behind her is the Star of India.

After all that learning about all that sea life, we went ahead and had ourselves some.. We went to Brigantine's in Point Loma.  It was delicious!  Mom and I had the Ahi, Dad the Mahi Mahi and Nate got the Swordfish.  I definitely plan on going back for more. 

After our weekend of fun with my 'rents I only have one thing to say.. COME BACK SOON!

Happy Birthday Mama!!!

You Know What Grinds My Gears?

When you are shopping at a certain department store (Let's just say the big one starting with Nord, ending in strom) and you are casually shopping, picking pieces up and draping them over your arm. In time the pile has grown to a size big enough to award you a notice from a salesperson. They look at you.. and the first thing out of their mouth, "Have you been helped?"

Well that really GRINDS MY GEARS. No "Hello" or "Can I help you?" Nope. Just, "Have you been helped?" What this loyal sales person is really saying is, "Has anyone grabbed up commission on your buy yet?"

To further my point... if you have been helped and you say so. They answer, "Okay" and walk away, leaving you under the weight of the clothes. Ugh! That really GRINDS MY GEARS.

My Sunday Detour..

I had quite the impromptu adventure happen yesterday, so I thought I'd share. For my marathon training, my "Big Runs" are Sundays. I was up to 12 miles yesterday and I set out at 8am for what I thought would be a less than 2 hour run. 12 miles is also a distance I had run before, so I confidently grabbed a cliff bar for breakfast and headed out the door. I decided not to bring my watch because I didn't want to be checking the time too much, it can turn into a bad habit that makes time go more slowly. Besides, I had my Nike+ which would tell me everything at the end (distance, time, pace, even calories).

For my route, I had gone to my new favorite site where people submit running routes all over the country - http://www.usatf.org/routes/. I went to my route starting place and realized that I had made a mistake. I had just bought new shoes, therefore, did not have the Nike chip to enable Nike+ to work. Crap. No watch, no Nike+. Well at least I printed out my map. I left it in the car, but no big whoop, "I think I can remember the path." Famous last words.

I was running and got to a place where I couldn't remember which way to go... I just picked a direction and went with it. Well I picked wrong, so after a quick loop around a camping ground, I chuckled to myself, got back on the path and went on my merry way. "How silly of me," I thought, "okay so I added another 1/2 mile."

Well I kept on going... I had brought some Gu, so I had that to give me some extra energy. About 5 miles later I hit another place where I wasn't sure which way to go. So I just picked. Wrong again! This time I ran further off the course and found myself surrounded by water. How the heck did I do this to myself again? Am I going to have to call Nate? By this time, I was exhausted. What was funny before, now made me want to cry. I was FAR off this time and wasn't exactly sure how I was going to get back. After a quick talk with myself I realized all I could do was keep going. I mean I am going to have to run this distance at some point anyways. So I kept on going. I found my mistake and got back on track. There was one big hill ahead of me, but at least I knew where I was.

Well, eventually I did make it back. I stopped and stretched a few minutes and then headed back to my car. When I got in, I saw it was 11am!!! I had been out for 3 hours. Given I did stop and stretch and there was one point when I walked to try and find a path (when i was surrounded by boats and water), but still that's a long time.

I can only guess, but I think my 12 mile run turned into a 15 mile excursion. When I got home my roomie, Erin, said she was giving me 5 more minutes before she was calling Nate. Nate, who couldn't stop laughing at me and saying things like, "You can't run 15 miles on a CLIFF BAR," lightened my mood. AND, like the good boyfriend he is, knew just what to do - take me to lunch.