Happy National Run at Work Day - Friday 5

Today I'm going to share my celebration of National Run at Work Day. So, what did I do? I ran at work! Here are some photos of my lunch time run. I'm so fortunate to have a nice offroad trail behind my building... plus locker rooms with showers!

I start by running behind the building and down the stairs to the park.

There is another flight of stairs at the far end of the park that goes under the street.

From there I hook up with the trail to Whiting Ranch. It's a pretty off-road trail.

Here is the killer hill that I have to run up on my way back... FULL SUN, LONG, STEEP... KILLER!

Unfortunately, it has to end back at work.

That was my National Run at Work Day. Thanks for coming with me!

TGI Friday-5

Labor day weekend... the last weekend of summer! Where are we going to spend it? AT THE BEACH! We went jet-skiing for an hour. Everyone drove but me. I HATE those things! When I turn I want it to TURN... not think about it, maybe it'll turn... soon I hope... it'll get around to it... maybe now, hmmm... maybe not...


Chris and I had a nice run down at the beach. Look at my little guy... not so little anymore. When did that happen?!!!


Nothing like doing nothing... Here's Jim and the kids playing video games and unwinding from a busy busy day.

I wanted to get a back to school picture of Chris, but I was told, "no way!" He starts school at 6:45am. I'm so glad he's a morning person, or we'd have some nasty morning battles.

I hope everyone had a great week back at school!

Friday-5

Welcome September! Wow, this year is flying by! Checkout the ticker at the top of the screen. I've almost made it all the way to Woodsfield, Ohio!... and it's only taken me 9 months longer than I thought it would. Slow and steady wins the race... not that I've ever won a race... Mary, watch for me! I'll be there in only a couple more weeks, hehehe...

This week I started a new digital class called "Me: The Abridged Version." As part of the class I took the VIA Survey of Character Strengths from University of Pennsylvania's, Authentic Happiness website. Here are my top-5 character strengths:

Industry, diligence, and perseverance
You work hard to finish what you start. No matter the project, you "get it out the door" in timely fashion.

Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness
Thinking things through and examining them from all sides are important aspects of who you are.

Curiosity and interest in the world
You are curious about everything. You like exploration and discovery.

Self-control and self-regulation
You self-consciously regulate what you feel and what you do. You are a disciplined person.

Honesty, authenticity, and genuineness
You are an honest person, not only by speaking the truth but by living your life in a genuine and authentic way.

Cheryl said that if she saw these character traits on a bio at eHarmony, she'd give that person a pass. Well... even to me I sound boring. Maybe I am boring?! I think I'll have to work on that!

TGIF!!!

What a week! Jim and Chris were gone, the van broke down, and work is crazy! I had to run/walk home from work one day because Cheryl was at work and couldn't pick me up. Welcome weekend!!!

No time to put together a Friday-5 this week, but I do have a share. We are painting the house... FINALLY!!! Right now the house is all one shade of gray. I want to go brown to match the roof, but the association we live in regulates the colors we can use. We have about 15 shades of beige to chose from and they are arranged in sets of three (dark, medium, light). Here are the medium and light from two different sets; one set painted beside each window. We plan on using the dark from the set to paint the front door. Which set do you like?

Brush Abilities - Day 5 - Friday 5

Today's PSE class was on clipping masks. I've done clipping masks before so there was nothing new to learn today. I decided to combine my class post with the Friday 5 post... well, actually I have more than 5 to share today! All with clipping masks added! hehehe... These are all photo from the Barcelona vs Galaxy game last weekend:

The game was held at the Rose Bowl. We got there 3 hours early and tail gated in the parking lot with some friends. We set up right next to the VIP tent and oggled the people getting their catered lunch. Here is Mauricio Cienfuegos in the black. He came over to say "hi" to the kids.

Here we are in the stadium with over 93,000 other people! We are hoping for a great show!

Here are both teams lined up. Messi is standing right next to Donovan, and Beckham is all the way on the right.

Here he is!!!! The GREATEST soccer player in the WORLD!... LIONEL MESSI!

Followed by the GREATEST soccer player in FRANCE!... Thierry Henry! You can see Beckham in the photo too. He's on the right.

What a FUN GAME! We (Galaxy) never expected to win, but at least we weren't creamed!... afterall, Barcelona are the European Champions. The Galaxy played great! Too bad they can't play that well all the time.

What are soccer photos without one of Becks?

Friday-5 : Obon!

It's the end of July already! I can't believe that summer is almost over. It's Friday and it's an early Friday-5 for a change! Today I'm sharing some photos from the last weekend's Obon.

Here's my mom and all the kids, decked out to dance!

... a little dancing action. There was a good turnout... three circles of dancers!

Here are the BIG kids, Chris, Cheryl and Hana, getting ready for the Fan Dance.

Jim decked out, LOL!

On the way home!
Cheryl is not going to be happy with me for this one, hehehe...

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!

Happy 5-Friday!

We are now officially in the middle of summer and this is the time of year where we usually go to Kauai. I love Kauai! The air has a wonderful sweet smell, it's beautiful and green, and I have family there. It's a great place to rest and unwind... eat and be lazy... hike and swim... Here are five of my favorite shots from summers past.

Friday-5... 5K Mud Run!!!

Here are promised photos for the mud run. It was less than exciting... I mean the mud run AND the photos. I didn't marry my husband for his photography skills, that's for sure, lol!

It was HOT, it was CROWDED, it was CRAZY! Every time we got to an obstacle, there was a huge backup of people. I ran with Cheryl, and Chris took off with the front pack... there's no holding that guy back. He even admitted that he's too competitive. It drives him crazy to have anyone pass him.

Here we are before the race. We couldn't find the staging area, so we waited at the starting line.

Here's Chris going by. You can see one of the mud pits behind him.

Here's me... or at least half of me.

Here's Cheryl. She ran the entire way (except of course where the group came to a dead stop.)

Here's our after photo. You might be wondering why Chris isn't muddy... well, he fell in crossing the lake.

There were photographers on the course so maybe they'll post some photos of the race. If I find some good ones of us, I'll post them later.

Maybe I'll feel different about it in a week or so, but to sum it up in a nutshell, "That was kind of FUN, let's NOT do it again..."

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Friday-5 (on Saturday)

Well, I just finished going for a run. WHEW! It's 96F out today, hot, Hot, HOT! Here is my promised Friday-5. I'm so proud of myself! I even edited the photos using my new Photoshop Elements program, YIPEE!

Here they are... the promised photos of our trip! It was hard to limit myself to just five. I have a TON of photos! LOL!

Here we are still in Long Beach, exploring the ship, getting ready to leave. Look at my hair! I'm so in need of a haircut!

Here is the ship, Carnival Paradise. It seems small when we're on it, but standing next to it at dock like this, it's like standing next to a huge condo complex!

Snorkeling in the Catalina Marine Preserve... There were SO MANY FISH! No colorful tropicals (except the Garibaldi). The water was FREEZING! Brrrr.....

Now this is the life, kayaking! I LOVE kayaking! We took a bus to Bufadora, rented a kayak and paddled to the Bufadora Blow Hole. Look at the water BLOW! I think it's bigger than the Poipu Spouting Horn, but it's hard to tell. I've only seen the Spouting Horn from the top of the cliff.

I had to put this one in! This is the first time that I've dance with my husband since our wedding! I dragged him out of his seat during the dinner show. I knew he wouldn't refuse with all the other people at the table watching him, hehehe...

It was so nice to get away, even for just a short while. I paid for it this week though... it was insanely busy at work! I'm so glad it's weekend!

Friday-5

It's a wonderful Friday! The start of a week of vacation. We leave for Mexico on Monday for FIVE days of fun in the sun! Can you guess what next week's Friday-5 will be on? hehehe....

Today's FIVE are five photos of flowers growing in my yard:

This first one is the hanging pot in my front yard. YES, I finally replanted that pot (to the neighbor's relief, lol!), and it's coming in nicely!

The day lilies that I transplanted last fall are blooming GREAT!

I love the hyacinths this time of year! All winter they look like dead sticks, but they really put on a show in the spring and all through summer.

Not the greatest photo. I love the colors in these columbine!

Look Mom! The orchid you gave me is blooming! The first orchid that I didn't kill. Mom was right, they are indestructible!

Thanks for checking out my FIVE!
Have a great weekend!