Right Up My "Alli"

Jeggings? Really??

2011-02-08T12:52:00.001-08:00

... Just because "skinny jeans" weren't tight enough, we now have "Jeggings". ??? Really people?! Oy. Why. What happened to the day of the relaxed fit jean? HA! Okay, I'm not THAT out of touch, I see the cute gals running around with their skinny jeans and boots looking all equestrian and preppy and what-not, and I won't lie, it looks really cute on some gals... but I'm a girl who loves to wear jeans with sneakers and a cute top. I want jeans that fit nicely (not bustin' a sag, not a hula-hoop waist and tight butt/thighs, not so low they give me plumber butt... but a nicely fitting perhaps even "bootcut" pair of jeans that look great with a super hot top and heels OR a long sleeved t-shirt and sneaks.

Anyways, today I was in the GAP and I love the GAP... but I saw their jeggings and just busted out laughing. "REALLY?!" I said as I held them up to Ryan, "what ARE these??!"... HA! Alas, I did find myself a wonderful pair of jeans today at GAP... they are the curvy fit... they sit just below the waist, but don't "bare all" when I sit down or bend over (I'm a mother here people), they fit at the waist, through the rear and the thighs, and they open a bit at the ankle so they give my pear-shaped body a bit of balance. And the best part? I didn't have to buy a size 12... phew, this mama is back to a size 10, which, at Gap, is about right for me. An 8 is a goal, but not a necessity. Phew. :)

Next topic... I started my sit-ups challenge last night! I did my initial test last Wednesday and decided to start fresh this Monday, so last night I did the following with 60 second breaks in between, while watching 'How I Met Your Mother'... 21, 27, 21, 21, 31. Excellent! Today is an off-day, and tomorrow I'll hit up Day 2, Week 3, Column 3. Join me!

Oh, and my kickbox class at Futo Kan was AWESOME... why does everything have to be so EXPENSIVE though? If I want to continue after my Groupon rate is up, it's $75 for a month... um, yeah, I can MAYBE make it twice a week... on a good week... that's a bit steep for me! Oh well! I'm loving my TurboFire workout DVDs, so I'll just stick with those till running season kicks into high gear outside! (Sure it's fun to run in the snow/rain/etc, but not with a stroller!!!).

Okay, enough rants for one snowy Tuesday...
Stay warm!
*alliwilli

I'm baa-aack!!! Time for a CHALLENGE!!

2011-02-02T12:42:00.001-08:00

Okay! Well I don't get much time to myself these days as the momma of a toddler, but I want to start taking more time for me! And the best way for that is through exercise and challenges for myself!

So I just signed up to do the 200 Sit-Up Challenge through my work. Today I did the initial exhaustion test and did 63 "sit-ups" (note: when you go to the webpage you learn they really are crunches but you hold them at about 35 degrees for 1-2 seconds and then lower slowly). Not bad! So I'll start on Week 3 in Column 3. Hopefully I'll be at 200 in no-time. HA!

In addition to that, I purchased TurboFire(R) through BeachBody.com before Christmas, so have been doing those workouts here and there when I can, so I want to commit to doing 4 of those workouts per week if I can. And then I also bought a Groupon to ilovekickboxinglittleton.com so I get 4 classes for a steal! So tonight I'm going to my first one! YEAH! Can't wait. I hope I get addicted. :)

More to come! Once I get my exercise challenges in sync I need to challenge myself to drink more water and eat more healthfully... It's hard for mommies to be healthy and take care of OURSELVES because we're so busy taking care of others! Time to focus on ME.

Back later gators!
alli

Wow. Way Behind...

2010-02-04T12:10:00.000-08:00

Wow! I am WAYYY behind on this blog, so I'm going to "defer" and point you to my family blog so you can catch up... I'm a mommy!!! (Uh, duh, hence being so far behind!)...

Riley Randolph Williams was born at 1:01am on Sunday, December 27th and was a whopping 6 pounds 10 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long! He's just perfect and we are SO in love with him.

Here he is on his big day:

And here we are as a little family...

I'm going to try to be better about updating this blog once I go back to work, but for the week of maternity week that I have left, don't expect too much as I will be just enjoying my little guy. In the meantime, as I mentioned, take a peek at the blog entries that I have made on the Colorado Williams blogsite...
Best!
Alli

Just checking in...

2009-12-17T11:31:00.001-08:00

Well, the holidays are fast-approaching! I think we're almost done with Christmas shopping, only a few more people to shop for, and then I have to hit the post office and get things mailed. I should probably do that pronto, huh? :)

Good thing I have the holidaze to distract me from being just over 2 weeks from my due date... I'm kind of at the point where I'm chomping at the bit! I don't dislike being pregnant, so much as I just want to meet this little man... what do you look like? What is your temperament? How big will you be?... and then of course I'm scared out of my brains about labor & delivery... how much will it hurt? how long will it last? When will it happen? AHH! I'm a planner, there are too many unknowns! And people wonder why I'm not sleeping...

I really would like to go sans epidural... we'll see. I have a flexible birth plan and will do whatever needs to be done. My mom had all 3 of us kids without one, and I feel that God blessed me with these hips for a reason, so I have to imagine that that reason is bearing children... right? HA! Anyways, we watched all our videos on labor & delivery and on the drugs available and we have a good understanding of which drugs are used when and for what and so we feel comfortable with our flexible birth plan. I would like to be up and moving around through most of the laboring, using gravity to my advantage, so I would prefer to not numb my midsection and not be able to get up and move around... among other reasons... we all have our reasons for all the decisions we make, especially during something as personal as child labor, so to each their own! And by being flexible, I hope that I'm able to enjoy the miracle.

Wow. I'm rambling. Today we had our 38 week OB appointment... all my stats are posted to the family blog. All is well in belly-land. :)
*alliwilli

Christmas Fun Q & A!

2009-12-09T13:51:00.001-08:00

My friend Carmine did this on her blog and I loved it, so I had to follow suit...

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Um, why not both? I'm not one to leave somebody out... I say both, and if you can, why not MIX them... egg noggy hot cocoa? Sure!!!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Most definitely wraps them. Most definitely. Unwrapped gifts just do not cut it. ;)

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Colored lights on the tree, and just white candles in the windows of the house

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
We don't have any! I need to get some. My mum and dad always had some (fake) hanging in our house growing up... gotta get me some to hang!

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving, but sometimes the tree doesn't go up for another week or so... this week, no tree for us because it's just too much work with the impending arrival of Baby Willi! We'll plug in our little 3-foot tree instead.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
I love Christmas cookies, mulled (ie, spiked, okay maybe not this year) warm apple cider, and soft peppermint candies. Mmm.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
We had a lot of tradition in our Christmas growing up... all of them are fond memories... from the Kelley Family Christmas (fondly referred to as KFC) the weekend before Christmas, to Christmas Eve at the Boyd's and Tracy's homes followed by midnight mass, to the obligatory pajama pictures as we came down the stairs Christmas morning to discover the loot that Santa left... then we would all choose one or two items to take with us down to Pearl River to Nana's Christmas day, one particularly funny memory was the year I got the ever-desireable Strawberry Shortcake doll and of course I chose to take her with me to Nana's... but OMG, what a mistake... her hair was strawberry shortcake scented, and we all felt SO nauseous by about halfway into the 2 1/2 hour drive, so we drove the rest of the way with her head wedged out the window of the car. We'd rather freeze than die of strawberry shortcake smell. Whewee.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
What truth about Santa? That he's awesome? Or that sometimes he has to come in the front or back door because he doesn't fit down the chimney?... ;)

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
The real question is "do any gifts make it to Christmas morning?"... doh! Ryan and I are major cheaters... we love opening gifts early... sometimes it's hard to even wait till Christmas Eve!!!! Perhaps now that we have a munchkin on the way we can do all our gifts to one another on Christmas Eve and then do his gifts and family gifts on Christmas day or something. ;)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Are we looking for a strategy here? Cuz it ain't pretty. Last year I had a moment of super-strength and became SheRa and somehow moved the tree from the roof of the Acura to our living room without any help from anyone... it was standing in the stand by the time Ryan got home from work. He was stumped. How did you get that IN there?! Anyways... from there, we work the lights on... no real strategy... top down, usually. Then we have a ton of ornaments from my childhoold and some from Ryan's as well that we hang on the tree, and then some that we've collected together over the years. That's about it! Voila! Tree! This year I was planning to hit up the Container Store and get some of those plastic bins that have separate slots for each ornament because right now we have lots of little boxes and lots of tissue paper that we wrap each ornament in and then pack them in bigger boxes from there... quite a mess.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Are you kidding me? I'm dreaming of a White Christmas!!!! Love it! I'm a skier! Bring on the powder days! (Hello, we live in Colorado... if I hated snow I might want to rethink my residence...)

12. Can you ice skate?
Yes, and I love it! But the hubs does not... and it's UGLY. So maybe someday I can take the kiddo out. :) I mean, I'm no Nancy Kerrigan or anything... no flips or spins or anything... just speeding around the rink.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Ryan is the gift-master... he is very creative with gifting... I receive lots of jewerly, but always in a neat way (be it in a blender or worn by a stuffed animal), and one year he got us dancing lessons! THAT was pretty freakin' cool! But my best Christmas gift so far was my dad's successful open-heart surgery back in 1997 over Christmas... and then, after this year, I hope to be able to say that my best was the birth of a healthy baby over the 2009/2010 holiday season :)

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Family and being thankful for all we have and can give to others

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Favorite? Jesus' birthday cake. Mmm. So deliciously green and red. (It's a layer cake made from white cake that you poke holes in while the cake is still in the pans and pour hot green (lime) jello over one cake and hot red (cherry or raspberry) jello over the other and let them set in the fridge... then when you take them out, you simply ice with cool whip or whatever your favorite white frosting is and when you cut into it you get one layer of red and the other of green!)

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
I love that we are now creating our own holiday traditions... and I cannot wait to create some special ones for our growing family. I love the Christmas Elf that comes and leaves little gifts (candy, generally) each day in December for Ryan, though that rite will probably be passed to the kiddo :)

17. What tops your tree?
Well, last year it was a star that was made of wood and fake cranberries that is super-cute, but it was kind of heavy so it was all crooked... so we may need to re-evaluate next year and get something new. But still a star, I would imagine!

18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving?
I love both, I won't lie. I love love love giving gifts, especially when I feel like I've done well in coming up with thoughtful gifts for people... but hey, I won't deny the love of receiving a thoughtful gift either! I love baking Christmas goodies for friends and neighbors as well.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
I don't know that I have a favorite?! I love a lot of them, I am listening to XM Radio's Holiday Classics on my DirecTV right now... I love the classical music of the Moscow Orchestra and the soundtrack of the Nutcracker... I also love caroling, particularly I love singing "Hark the Harold Angels Sing" with a british accent like in one of the 'Christmas Carol' musical movies... :) Get me and my brothers together with my dad and we really belt that one out... it's hilarious.

20. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum?
People don't like Candy Canes? For real? (says the dentist's daughter whose favorite candy is Candy Corn, the world's least favorite candy) Yum. Yum and Yum. And why don't we put one in our egg nog hot cocoa from question number 1 while we're at it?... :)

21. Favorite Christmas Show?
I have 2... I love love love 'A Christmas Carol', especially musical versions... my dad has ALL of them. And then Ryan has taught me to adore 'Christmas Vacation'... priceless. Hilarious.

22. Saddest Christmas Song?
Hmm, not sure? Perhaps 'What Child is This?'... maybe because of the key it's in?

(Can you tell I'm bored at work?)
Happy December! Be good for goodness sake!
*alliwilli

Vegas, Baby!

2009-12-08T14:07:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true, at 36 weeks pregnant, I climbed onto a plane and flew to Vegas for the weekend... some may call me irresponsible, but I had an appointment with my OB 2 days prior to leaving and got the go-ahead and even a note from her saying that I was okay to travel. So I went! I found it interesting that the same weekend I flew out, another woman due in January, gave birth on a flight from Chicago to Salt Lake and they had to be diverted into Denver. Some of the folks making comments to the article on 9news.com really felt strongly that the mother was a jerk for flying so late in her pregnancy... personally, I think that if you get the okay from your doctor, and are not prone to pre-termn labor, then why not?! Ya know? Some people are just way too outspoken and opinionated. It's kind of none of your business, people!!! Ha!

Anyways, be it irresponsible or not, we had a wonderful time on our little Babymoon to Vegas this weekend. I didn't take many pictures because we didn't to much that was "picture worthy", and I was too lazy to just snap shots along the way, I guess.

We flew out Friday and Ryan had a softball practice that afternoon, and then we went out to dinner and enjoyed an evening at the Stratasphere with some of his teammates (including a trip up the tower to check out the views... see, I was responsible, I didn't go on the rides up there at least, ha!). Then Saturday their first game was at 12:40pm and I was the score-keeper... they ended up making a valient come-back after being down by 8 runs in the 3rd inning, but still couldn't pull out the win, they lost 18-17 in 7 innings. Then they played again at 4:10pm in a must-win since it was a double-elimination tournament, and again, they played great, they were up most of the game, but the other team had a big scoring inning in the 5th and we just couldn't come back enough, so we ended up losing that game 13-12 in the 7th as well. Bummer. So by around 6pm on Saturday, the tournament was over for the Outlaws. Oh well! We enjoyed the hot-tub (well, I put my feet in, the rest of the gang enjoyed it) and then went back to the strip to walk around and have a late night dinner. Sunday we slept in a bit and then went and watched the Broncos game at Hooters (gotta love it!) and then rested a bit... then Ryan tossed around the football with the guys and I went and hit the stairmaster in the fitness center for a bit and then we all got cleaned and dressed up and hit up the Mandalay Bay Buffet... mmm, I out-did myself, I really did. Did someone say crab legs? Yes please. Mm, so good. After the 3-hour buffet experience, Ryan and I went to collect his football bet winnings at the Stratasphere and then went back to the hotel.

Monday was our last day and we had until 2pm at the hotel and then our flight was scheduled for 8:10pm, so we slept in and packed up and got lunch and relaxed a bit and then eventually we took off for the Hoover Dam... unfortunately it was a cold rainy day, so the amount of time we spent on the observation deck overlooking the dam was limited to how much we could stand of the lovely "desert" weather! But here's a picture of Ryan peering over the edge of the observation deck and saying "can we go back inside now?" and then a picture of me saying "sure as soon as you take a picture of me!!"... :)

I promise to be a better photographer when I'm a mommy... I know I'm bad about capturing moments now... I used to be better and need to be in the future, that's for sure!

Anyways, so that was our Babymoon! We made it! No mid-air baby emergencies or complications, just a wonderful busy but relaxing trip to Vegas a mere 4 weeks before our little bundle is due to arrive :)
*alliwilli

The Family Jewels

2009-12-03T13:21:00.001-08:00

Hello, and welcome to December... brr, it is COLD here in Colorado so far this December! Good thing we're getting out of Dodge and are heading for the desert! Las Vegas, baby! Yeppers, yesterday we had our 36 week OB appt and Dr. Gibson gave us the go-ahead to enjoy the weekend in Vegas (assuming I relax and stay off my feet as much as possible, and stay hydrated while flying and all that jazz). I'm planning to bring my camping chair and just park myself by the softball fields and watch, read, relax, enjoy the warm sun. Can't WAIT.

So anyways, while we were at the doctor, she did an ultrasound to check the baby's position (head down, yay!) and fluids (all good), and also asked us if we wanted her to try to find out the gender since our first ultrasound was a bust in that regard, and we were like "YES PLEASE!"... and that's when she found them... the family jewels... tucked there between HIS legs. Yep! It's a boy! Ryan is very excited. All that knuckleball practice this summer will come in handy after all... hahaha!

So hooray for knowing the gender! It seems surreal at this point because we'd come so close to the end without knowing, but now we can get some cute boy clothes, so that is very fun. I feel like it can't possibly be true because we haven't known for so long. But it's so cool! I posted pictures to our family blog if you're interested.

Anyways, I will report in next week after our Vegas Adventures!
Happy December!
*alliwilli

Oh, that's why she hasn't posted in a while...

2009-11-23T17:18:00.000-08:00

So, November has been eventful, and not in a good way. Don't get me wrong, Ryan and I are doing very well and we feel more and more blessed every day to have our health and our families, however we have had quite a couple of weeks surrounded by others' losses.

Ryan's best friend Jeff's mom was diagnosed with esophageal cancer back in May and lost her battle on Saturday, November 7th. It was heartwrenching. The memorial was held the following Sunday, November 15th at her church in Boulder.

Then, my oldest friend Sara was expecting her 2nd child in April and went in for her 20 week ultrasound on Monday the 9th only to learn the baby had died in utero sometime in the last few days :( So she had to be induced that Friday to deliver the baby girl who ended up being diagnosed with Turner's Disease (only 1 sex chromosome). Sure, a blessing in disguise, but those kinds of blessings are very difficult to take!

And since these things always come in 3s, we also found out that weekend that one of Ryan's flag football teammates was arrested for manslaughter... he stabbed his girlfriend to death and then tried to take his own life, unsuccessfully. After being released from Denver Memorial Hospital he was taken into custody and is on suicide watch in the prison system.

So it's been quite a month, November. I won't say it's been all bad, just a few really upsetting things, but all in all it has made us even more thankful for what we have and appreciative for our health and our blessings. We have much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.

~love and gratitude~
alliwilli

Oh, and more will be posted to our family blog in a few minutes as well for updates on Belly-Dweller and the Nursery :)

Costuming the Belly

2009-11-06T08:44:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was Halloween and I knew what I wanted to be for a while, so I was excited to put together my costume and have it come together so nicely! I had decided I wanted to be a gypsy fortune teller and let my belly be my crystal ball... so fun! So I went to Goodwill and got a tanktop and skirt and then at a halloween super store got some non-toxic face paint (white and silver) and some bangles and hoop earrings and with a little time and some scissors, I had myself a costume! I even managed to do rags in my own hair... I think the last time I had rags done was when I was 12 and my mom did it for me. Trickier to do it yourself than with help, but still the same curly-hair effect!

Anyways, after all that work, here's how I turned out:

And yes, that's a non-alcoholic beer... it was a fake wheat-beer, even... mmm... my favorite. Not quite the same as the real thing, but hey, it was good enough to have 2!

(I've updated my family blog again with baby updates and what-not... if you're interested :))
Later gators!
TGIF!!!

Nesting... Upholstering a Headboard!

2009-10-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I have definitely been nesting. I am a nesting fool, actually. I love projects. Not just for the baby, but for the house in general. I want to get this that and the other thing done before the baby arrives because I know it'll never happen AFTER the baby arrives... so it's go-time, people.

This past weekend was our Baby Shower, which was WONDERFUL. My friends and family were so creative and thoughtful it was just completely unbelieveable. I posted more about it on my family-blog site, so check that out for more details on the shower (rather than my being repetitive).

And because my mum wanted to bring out my old cradle and rocking chair and be here for the shower, she DROVE out last week and got here last Wednesday and stayed till today. In fact, I just got a text saying she was in her seat on the plane and shutting off her phone. So au revoir, mum! But while she was here, we went to work on my nesting. I wanted new curtains (either for us to make them or buy them) and a new upholstered headboard for our master bedroom. I also want to paint our master bathroom and put in new towel-bars, those 2 projects we didn't get to, but I will take care of them no problem (don't worry, I'll use VOC-free paint!).

So we found curtains that were JUST what I wanted at Target for $19.99 per panel, score! And then we gathered our goods to MAKE the headboard. I found the "how-to" on this website: BeJane.

We modified a LITTLE, but not much... we went to Home Depot and got a giant piece of 1/2" MDF board instead of plywood because it's not supposed to warp like plywood does. And then while there we asked the nice man about the brackets in the BeJane directions and he suggested French Cleats instead with these nifty "EZ Ancor" screw anchor things that go into drywall so you don't have to hunt for studs. So we got them and man the french cleats worked like a charm! We also got an electric staple/nail gun and staples since we didn't have one yet. Next we went to JoAnn fabrics to gather the rest of the goods... the 2" foam (which was on sale!), the quilt batting, and the fabric of my dreams, a gorgeous green and gold demask that goes with the color scheme in our bedroom beautifully. We were also planning on doing some tufting with buttons using the HGTV quick version of tufting (cheating), using a staple gun and glue gun to stick the buttons on... but that didn't work, so no tufting for us! No matter, it looks great. Anyways, so after stockpiling all our goods, we got to work!

First we had to cut the foam to the right size and then glue the 2 pieces of foam together with special foam glue and we ironed the fabric... didn't take a pic of those steps. Once all the layers were ready, we laid them down... Fabric first, then quilt batting, then foam and finally the MDF board:

Then we started with the quilt batting... because we were unable to get a piece big enough to really wrap all the way around like the directions indicated, we decided to staple that to the MDF first so it wouldn't bunch. I think it was the best decision we made. It really made things neat and tidy. I was SO glad we decided to do that.

Next we did the same with the fabric, being very careful to pull evenly so it was a nice even pull from the front side, and we folded over the edges kind of like a hem before stapling so it wouldn't come unraveled at all. My mom is the nursing corner master, so I let her fold and figure out the corners, and dang she did a nice job, didn't she?!

After that came the moment of truth... how did it look?! So we propped it up to take a look... NOT TOO SHABBY!!! LOVES IT! This is when we put blue painting tape on where we were going to tuft buttons, but after attempting to put them on, the staples wouldn't go through the 2" foam and the batting and stick into the wood, so alas, no buttons, but I'm okay with it, it looks fantastic.

So, moving on. We then attached the french cleats to the back of the headboard and to the wall. We were very careful in our measurements here, ensuring that we had our cleats evenly spaced on the board, and then placed perfectly on the wall. I wanted the headboard to go down about 4-6" below the very top of my mattress, so we made sure when measuring that we accounted for that. We centered it on the wall and the french cleats have a neat "level" feature that truly tells you when your cleats are level. They are awesome!
(and yes, of course we signed the back with the date!)

Anyways, once we had the cleats in place on both the board and the wall, we mounted the board onto the wall. PIECE OF CAKE! It was awesome! Thank you Mr. Home Depot guy for introducing us to the french cleats! And you can just kinda slide it back and forth until it was centered where we wanted it. Fabness.

Then we moved the bed back into place, made it up and VOILA! Fabulous new "adult-looking" headboard! Okay! Now I'm ready to have a baby! :)
Thank you Grandmummy-to-be!!! :)

So! If you're interested in doing this, it's TOTALLY worthwhile and definitely rewarding. It was NOT as hard as I was afraid it would be (especially with those nifty french cleat and EZ Ancor things!) and you can do it in any color/pattern you like! I recommend reading through the BeJane instructions on the link above, and then change what you want like we did!
Go forth and be crafty. ;)
*alliwilli

Nothing says "Happy Anniversary" like Sonic Drive-Thru and Cold Metal Bleachers... :)

2009-10-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

Ha! Yep, that's how we spent our 4 year anniversary evening yesterday! But that's just who we are, so why should anyone expect anything different!?!

Yesterday, October 14th, 2009, marked our 4th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been 4 years!?! Craziness! It seems like just the other day we were planning for all the hoopla! But what a great 4 years it's been. :) So yesterday I drove my fabulous husband into work and then came home and we both worked full days. Then I went to a 5:15 TaeBo class, grabbed some Sonic Drive-thru for dinner (mm, tater tots) and met Ryan in the very fancy lobby of his Lockheed work building, where we dined on our take-out... after eating he changed into his softball gear and we headed north to Arvada for his Wednesday league game at 8:15pm.

The game was a real nail-biter... whichever team was at bat, was the team winning, which was scary because Ryan's was the visiting team, so they would not have had the last bat! However, at the end of regulation, it was tied, so it went into "extra innings" which has all different rules (to keep us from sitting out there all night long, kind of like "sudden death" in football/soccer). Each player only gets ONE pitch... if you don't swing and it's a strike, you're out. If you swing and it's a foul ball, you're out. If you swing and miss, you're out. If you don't swing and it's a ball, you get to take first base. And if you swing and make fair contact, then the ball is in play. Sheesh! Anyways, our team was able to produce 4 runs during this wacky inning, but when the home team came to bat, they were only able to produce 2 runs, so we won! Hooray! Ryan played like a crazy-man out there. The catcher on the other team said to him about half-way through the game when he came up to bat, "Hey, no more of that monkey business in the field, huh?"... HAHAHA! He was THRILLED with how well he played, but boy is he feeling it this morning... achy braky back (and neck!)... :)

We got home at around 10:30 and hit the hay. And that was our 4 year anniversary. :)

We plan to celebrate out to a nice dinner at the Brown Palace Hotel's Palace Arms Restaurant in downtown Denver either this coming Tuesday night, or in a couple weeks when things slow down for us a bit. Either way, we will honor our special day with a special dinner sometime soon.

Here we are, the happy couple, this past Sunday at the Rockies' NLDS Game 3... it was MAYBE 30 degrees when the game STARTED at 8pm and probably closer to 18 degrees when the game finished at midnight. We were SO bundled up we looked like Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum... and to top it all off, we bought some 2XL shirts at WalMart to sport over our 80 layers of warmth, just to show our team flare. :)

Oh yeah, and I'm still pregnant... uh huh, you betchya... just entered my 3rd Trimester and am doing GREAT. For more info on that, you can check out my OTHER blog, as usual, since that's where I talk about all things pregnancy and family. :)
Later taters,
*alliwilli

Monday Randomness

2009-09-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't have anything in particular to blab about, but just feel like blabbing, so let it begin. First I'd like to share a few websites with you!

For any of you who are mommies, my friend Ally introduced me to diapers.com, so I know I'll be taking full advantage in 2010! They even sell gDiapers. The diapers (and other various & sundry baby items) are discounted a little AND the shipping is free! Score.

Another good site is a friend's blog. She's a runner, and I used to consider myself a runner (before pregnancy) and I love her motivational blog updates and recipes, etc. So for your enjoyment: A Running Girl's Blog.

The weather is changing now here, and I love it. My favorite season is fall, and so I welcome the crisp cooler air and even being downright chilly. I sleep better and get in better workouts and just feel better about myself period. I love fall flavors as well... soups, stews, chilis, apples, pumpkin this-n-that, and of course, candy corn... mmm. The fall also brings some crazy pre-winter weather... we might have 80 degrees on the front range, but we can look out and see the snow-capped mountains in the distance now, which I adore. :) And the other day I saw the most beautiful rainbow. Gorgeous. Check it out! You can even see the secondary rainbow along side it. You'll notice that the colors are reverse of one another... red being the color on the upper band of the primary, and the lower band of the secondary. Aren't you fascinated like me? Please excuse my physics geek shining through... I did an independent study on the optics of rainbows my junior year at SMCM. :)

Anyways, just wanted to say hello, no big news or anything!
*alliwilli

my OTHER blog...

2009-09-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today I just updated my other blog... the one that's supposed to be for family... so if you're looking for an update on me and the fam, that's where you can find it! Total cop-out, huh? HA!

Also, I'm SO proud of myself this afternoon, I actually went for a run again! I went on Saturday morning and it was wonderful. The cooler weather makes all the difference in the world. I haven't been able to get out and run/walk in a while because of the heat. Today was warmer than I would have liked it, but I still got out there and busted a move! Yeah! I started at a 2 min walk + 8 min run (we'll call it running anyways) but after 2 sets of that I backed off to 3 min walk + 7 min run... gotta listen to the ole body, yeah? Yeah! But either way, it was great. I went 3 1/2 miles in about 41 minutes. Not too shabby for my "condition". :)

Tonight I have a book club dinner out with some girls. I only think I know 2 or 3 of them, but it'll be fun all the same. We're meeting at a restaurant in the Highlands called Lola, which I believe is southwest cuisine... mm, Baby Willi's favorite. And we're discussing the book 'The God of Animals' by Aryn Kyle. It was a great young adult fiction novel. It'll be fun to hear what the other gals have to say about it. I'm not sure I'd suggest it to a pre-teen or early teen, it's kind of heavy for that age, but maybe I'm just aging myself and showing how disconnected I've become with "our youth". HA!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!
Oh! Speaking of! Tonight is the premiere of The Biggest Loser! I'd better go set up the DVR to record it!!!
xo
alliwilli

Respecting my Body...

2009-09-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

Well, today I learned a whole new level of respect for my body. I'm not one to give up or give in, even when my body hurts or is over tired. I generally suck it up and "just do it" as I've been told repeatedly by Nike marketing. However, I had a long week with very little sleep and it was beginning to catch up with me. I was supposed to be able to sleep in late yesterday (Saturday) and then get up today and go do the Fans in the Park 10K downtown... but yesterday we had to get up early and head to the fields for Ryan's 8:30 and 9:30 flag football games, during which I ran and did resistance band exercises. So again, another night without enough zz's (only 4 1/2 hours to be exact). So last night Ryan asked me if I thought it was smart to again get less than 8 hours of sleep and get up and attempt to "run" a 10K. I mulled it over and decided he was right. It's time to listen to my body, which very much needed to sleep in without an alarm to wake it up, only waking when it was recovered. So I bailed out of the race. I NEVER bail out of a race. I paid my $20 and I never just let that money and the freebie T-shirt go... this is a first. Part of me felt like such a loser-jerk, but then I remembered that it's not about me, it's about an unborn baby that needs its momma to be healthy, which not only means good nutrition and regular exercise, but also plenty of sleep. So I'm going to pat myself on the back for this one, instead of beating myself up. :)

Health Update

2009-09-08T07:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry to leave you hanging on how Ryan's dad is doing... So he had surgery last Monday to have a tumor removed from his bladder and that surgery went really well, very successful. The tumor was removed completely (or so they think) using a scope and he had the catheter removed Thursday. He stayed with Megan & Mike from Tuesday when he was released from the hospital, until Friday morning. He seems to be in good spirits and is feeling a thousand times better. No more pain when he pees and he's able to "hold it" now, which is wonderful.

However, on Thursday when he was at the doctor having the catheter removed they were able to give him his pathology results from the biopsy of the tumor, and the results were positive, as in malignant/cancerous. :( So now we wait for this Friday's oncologist appointment to hear what the plan is from here on out... as I understand it, he will undergo a PT or CT scan on Friday to learn if the cancer was in fact constrained to the tumor itself and whether they got it all or not, keep your fingers and toes crossed that it has not spread anywhere else. After they know the extent of the cancer, they'll create a plan... whether he does radiation and chemo, or has further surgery to remove his prostate and bladder will be determined once they know what they've got.

So, we're all kind of coping with the news. Ryan seems to be doing pretty well, all things considered. None of us like the waiting between appointments, so hopefully the oncology office will be good about getting Randy information and services, otherwise Megan and I will probably get snarky towards the office.

Anyways, sorry for the downer-post, but I know you all wanted to know what came of the biopsy and such... thank you for your thoughts and prayers, please continue to keep Randy in them.

On a lighter note, we had a wonderful Labor Day weekend, did you? I had a Greek themed girls' night on Friday night full on with Guitar Hero Rock Band, then Saturday we got lots done around the house and went to the Rockies' game, and then Sunday Ryan had a softball tournament that his team WON!!! Awesome! He hit the game-winning hit! Woo hoo! Then we had friends over for the Rocky Mountain Showdown, and CSU WON!!! YEE-HAW! Then yesterday we truly relaxed... we slept in, I finished my book, we went to A Taste of Colorado downtown for a crazy sampler lunch... and then more relaxation. Very nice.

Hope you're all doing well! Enjoy the short work-week!
xo - alliwilli

P.S. If anyone needs/wants an LLBean Ultralight Sleeper Sofa, we're selling ours... or giving it away... we need to get it out of the room that's going to be the nursery, and we have no where else to put it... I posted a listing on craigslist but if you're interested, let me know and I'll send pictures. :)

A Visit Home, to the Berkshires

2009-09-01T07:26:00.001-07:00

First, for any of you wondering where the Berkshires might be... check out the latest issue of 'SHAPE' magazine and there on page 42 you'll get a full description of the best way to stay active in the Berkshires and just where it is exactly! Ha! No, but really, the Berkshires are the rolling mountains, and the county I grew up in, in Western Massachusetts... beautiful.

So this past weekend I flew back for my best friend from high school, Becky's wedding!!! SO EXCITING! :) She looked absolutely gorgeous. Wow. Very simple, just like she is, but stunning. She was nervous about the make-up because she doesn't usually (ahem, EVER) wear any, but I think it just made her look fab. The wedding was held on Saturday afternoon at Ford Hill Farm in Sheffield, MA. Though it rained all weekend, Mother Nature took a little break Saturday afternoon to allow Beck & Keith to get married at their desired location outdoors in a beautiful field with wonderful views of the Berkshire mountains. Then they held their reception at a great BBQ restaurant! It was perfect. My date was our other good friend and soccer compadre, Sarah Peace... SO fun. Man did we laugh... good times! HA!

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy...

T Barry walking Becky in... yes, that's an antique fire engine... that's what the newlyweds made their arrival to the reception in, siren and all! HA!

Here's Beck & Keith getting married with the amazing natural backdrop

Here's the trio that played at the wedding, and the bathtub up on Ford Hill... I couldn't stop laughing... what the heck?!?! HAHAHA!

And here the 3 of us girls are at the reception

Here's a quality shot of what Beck and I looked like in most of my memories... you'll see a similar picture of she and I on facebook from when we were like 14! Ha!

In addition to the wedding on Saturday, I had a wonderful visit with my family the rest of the weekend. As soon as my mum passes along the pictures from our family cookout on Sunday, I'll post some of those too, assuming there are some fun/good ones :)

On a more somber note, say some prayers for Ryan and his family... His Dad had a bladder tumor removed yesterday and they are biopsying it this week to see if it's benign or malignant. We're obviously hoping for benign so that the surgery is the last of it, so pray for that good news. We're also waiting to hear from the neurologist on why Ryan's brother-in-law, Mike, is having seizures... he has an appointment today to follow up on an EEG amongst other tests, so we're hoping for some kind of determination on that front as well. Talk about a scary week on the Williams' side of things :(

Best to you all! (Wow, 2 blog posts in as many weeks... I'm cookin' with gas, now! Ha!)
xo*alliwilli

Bad Bad Bad Blogger.

2009-08-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

Howdy partners!

Well, I suck. I'm bad at this. I never lied and said I'd be good at it though! So Neener!

Anyways, I just updated Ryan and my family blog with the recent news that's fit to print, so I'll refer you there for baby updates/news... Hangin' with the Wiley Willi's.

Outside of that, the only other stuff to report in is the usual what we've been up to, I guess... August is always a crazy month for us because we have lots of birthdays to celebrate and my parents usually come visit in August! This year has been no different! I had my birthday on the 3rd and it was a wonderful day made super special by my fabulous husband, full on with taking me out to brunch in the morning and then to the driving range and shopping in the afternoon, then even out for ice-cream later that evening! Fabulous. I returned the favor for him on the 17th for his birthday... we both took both days off, and for his birthday we went out to eat and we went on a tour of Coors Field that was AWESOME! Here's a picture of Ryan being the team manager in the dugout, and then one of the two of us on the field... so cool!

My parents did indeed come out this month, too... they arrived on Saturday the 8th and stayed till Friday the 14th. We had a wonderful time with them, and here's the scary proof. HAHAHA! If you're ever in the Denver area and would like to try some true game, head to The Fort in Morrison, so fun! and delicious!!! (They DO have normal meats and even a vegetarian option for the less adventurous!)

The day my parents left we went on our posse's annual August Birthday Camping Trip and had a wonderful weekend at Blue Mountain Campground. It's just south of Lake George off of Hwy 24 in the Pike Forest. If you're ever looking for a nice place to camp, this is it. It was wonderful and relaxing, and also nice to spend a weekend away from the pace of life, with our friends.

This coming weekend I'm heading to the Berkshires because my dear old friend Becky from middle and high school is getting married! YAY! Saturday the 29th. I cannot wait! I need to go find a dress today at some point to wear to this event!

Hmm, what else? Oh, Milo can't poop and we're worried about him... :( We noticed on Saturday morning that he was going to the bathroom REALLY often, but nothing was coming out… we thought it was a prostate problem or something and that he couldn’t pee, and when we called the vet she thought that it could be a urinary blockage which is common in male kitties… and apparently can be life threatening, so off we went to the animal emergency clinic (not cheap) and they took some radiographs (xrays or something, I guess) that showed no urinary blockage, but that he was literally full of shit. :( So he stayed with them and they gave him 1 enema, that didn’t work, so they gave him another… poor basturd… and then he STILL didn’t “produce” anything… so they sent him home saying maybe he’ll go at home… that was at 9pm Saturday… and we separated the kitties into different areas of the house and gave them each their own litter box and low and behold, Sunday morning, still nothing from Milo… omg, how is that even possible? Well, then by 2pm yesterday the doc called to see if he had gone yet and I said no and she said to bring him back in and so they gave him ANOTHER enema (yes, that’s THREE)… and then took more pictures and the good news was that the poo had moved all the way down and is ready to come out… but the bad news is he’s not pushin’ it out… ARGH!!! Why not!?! So again at 9pm last night we picked him up and came home… still no poop this morning… ?!?!?!?!?! UGGGHHH… I hope he doesn’t have the worst-case scenario which is called “mega-colon” and means that his colon isn’t doing it’s contraction job and helping him go… cuz that could be life-ending… :( So C’MON MILO!!! POOP!!!!

So that was the excitement of our weekend… good times! Ugh. Poor little guy. I hope he goes soon… I really do. They gave us some drugs for him to take, one is a kind of stool softener that we’re giving him, and the other that we pick up today at some pet pharmacy is an intestinal stimulant that will cause the colon/et al to contract and hopefully will force him to push that stuff outta there… so here’s to hoping… however, if he doesn’t go on his own, it’s further indication that it could be mega-colon… :( Please no. He’s still a young spry kitty… not a geriatric kitty on the brink of phoning it in… I can't even consider that. Nope!

So there you have it, I don't write for forever, and then I end on a shitty note... HAHAHA!

Here's a picture of my cute little non-shitter... gotta love him...

until next time I decide to catch you up...
xo

Monster Zucchini

2009-07-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

Well, not much to report here! We had a nice weekend, and yep, you guessed it, Ryan had another softball tournament... but again, it was drama-free, and thankfully, it was a one-day tournament here in Littleton. PHEW! So I got in a good run around Johnson Lake at Clement Park during his first game at 8am, and then stunk up the stands by sticking around to watch the rest of their games! It was a men's only tournament, and they didn't do as well as they have in the past, but they seemed to have a good time all the same.

Last night it poured rain and gave our gardens and yard a nice saturation, thank you Mother Nature! So today I busted out the lawn mower (always an adventure for me to get that darned thing started) and took care of mowing the lawn, and then I checked out our veggie garden and to my surprise, I encountered the largest zucchini I have ever seen in my whole life. It's more like a large eggplant than a zucchini. Lisa just told me that you're supposed to harvest them at around 5 inches... this one's like a foot. OOPS! HA! I checked it on the weekend and it was maybe 5 inches but skinny, so I wanted to give it a little more time, but DANG! I gotta watch those squash carefully! Holy smokes! Take a look at this bad-boy!

Still in the garden:

Next to an average sized friend:

Anyways, like I said, not much going on... waiting for a friend to go into labor so we can meet her 3rd daughter, and looking forward to my upcoming birthday and my parents' visit in another week or so. :)

I was SO good about running nearly everyday last week, but this week I've been so focused on cleaning the house that I've run out of time both yesterday and today... tomorrow, I start fresh with a good early morning run while it's nice and cool and before the car exhaust takes over The Ranch.

Happy 36th Anniversary to my Mum & Dad! You're my heroes! :)
~alliwilli

So Sorry to Disappoint... :)

2009-07-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

We had a LOVELY drama-free softball weekend in Vail! It was fabulous! So for those of you awaiting the next installment of Softball Tournaments Gone Wrong, sorry! But man, we were thrilled to have such a wonderful weekend!

Friday afternoon we had our 16 week doctor appointment and all seems well. It was our first appointment with my OB Doc, Dr. Jodi Gibson, instead of our RN, Joan. So it was nice for Ryan to meet her, and it always gives me a warm fuzzy to have the doc come in and say "everything looks good!"... I've gained a bit more than I'd/they'd like in the last month or so, but she said not to worry, that every woman is different, so to just keep up with the healthy eating and exercise and I'll be fine. We heard the heartbeat again, which is wicked cool. It sounded a bit like galloping horses this time (in the 160 bpm range)... the doc said it sounded like a girl... HA! Sorry Ryno! ;)

Then Friday night we had our last Friday night co-ed softball league game up in Westminster for the summer league, and we won! No, not just the game, but the whole league for the season! We scored some sweet long-sleeved t-shirts that say "Champions"... I'm a Champion. HAHAHA!

Saturday morning we got up early and headed to Vail for the team's first game at 11:00. The Outlaws then proceeded to win 4 games in a row! 11:00, 12:00, 2:00 and 3:00!!! I kept official score for all the games, which I'm now obsessed with... loves it. Thanks for teaching me that, Dad! And then Ryan and I packed it up and went and found our hotel right in West Vail (the Holiday Inn Apex Vail) and got changed and cleaned up and then made our way into the Village of Vail and walked around and found some supper at a Pizza place (the only thing we really can afford in Vail! HAHAHA!). Then we went back to the hotel room to hang out and relax and eventually met back up with a few teammates at a sports' bar to watch the Rockies' game! Oh, and we went to Sports Authority and I scored a very cute sun-hat to sport at all the games and avoid hair-part-sun-burn. ;)

Sunday I got us some Egg McMuffins at McDonald's for breakfast and then we got to the fields with plenty of time for their next game, at 10:30am. Again I kept official score, and the team won! On to the CHAMPIONSHIP GAME they went! Yee-haw! The championship game was at 12:30 and unfortunately even though we were up 9-3 in the 5th inning, in the 7th inning the wheels came off our team, I think we were just tired, and the other team scored 10 runs making it 13-9 and we just couldn't make up the difference so we ended up taking 2nd in the tournament. Not too shabby if you ask me! But the team was a little disappointed. But all in all a great weekend!

It took us 3 hours to get home due to mountain traffic and then after a couple hours resting at home, we played our co-ed Sunday league game at 9pm and won by a landslide... I think we 15-runned them in the 4th inning. Doh! Fun times!

So a much less dramatic weekend, but way more fun and a lot less stress!

Here's a picture of the 2nd place Outlaws:

(Back, L-R: Pat, Dale, Ryan, Eric, Brian, Zach; Front, L-R: Ann, Kim, Connie, T-Bone, Darcy)

And a picture of Ryan and me (in my fab new sunhat):

Another Weekend, Another Softball Tourney Fiasco... HA!

2009-07-15T07:15:00.000-07:00

Well, the Title of this entry pretty much wraps it up... yup, Ryan had another softball tournament this past weekend up in Summit County. Last weekend's was a men's league, so we thought "no drama b/c no women?!" but alas, no, plenty of drama (read my last post). So this past weekend's was a co-ed league, but the team has been together for a long time, Ryan was the newest addition, they are a solid bunch, so we thought "alas, no drama"... wow. We were wrong, again.

Their first game was scheduled for 5:30pm on Saturday in Breckenridge, so we left here at just before 3pm and arrived to a rainy (very rainy) Summit County. The game in front of Ryan's was playing despite the rain, so Ryan got ready, but then the rain really picked up, so there was a rain delay from about 4:45 until 6:30 or so, which gave them a little time to rake the fields and move some of the standing water on them around to make them playable. At 6:30 the game resumed and Ryan's team started warming up. At 7:00 Ryan's team played its game and won! Yay! No drama. Then the original schedule was supposed to be Ryan's team's game at 5:30, then a game played by 2 other teams at 6:30, followed by the winner of the 5:30 game at 7:30 and the loser of the 5:30 game at 8:30. Well, as you can guess, with the rain delay, that all got jacked. Now, mind you, they had a hard-stop at 10pm because the lights on the field are on a TIMER and shut off at 10pm, period. No ifs ands or buts about it. Done at 10. So, Ryan's game ended at around 8:00 or so, and then the other game played until around 9:15, and finally they were going to play the game that was supposed to be at 7:30... however, clearly they didn't have an hour to play it. So the umps decided they'd play 35 minutes of 1-pitch-ball. That means that the game would go SUPER fast... awesome! We'd all be able to pack up our things and get to our cars before the lights in the entire complex shut off and it went pitch black! Oh, and side-note... the team they were playing were apparently a nemises team of ours?! Whatever. Anyways, so they played ONE INNING of the 1-pitch ball, and then the other team complained that the game on the south field was playing a regular format game, so the umps and captains huddled and decided to go for it. So as of the 2nd inning they played a regular game. WTF? Now it was 9:30 and we only had a half-hour to get in 40-45 mins of ball. Super. I was annoyed. So yeah, things were pretty heated between the two teams, the score would fluctuate with whichever team was at bat, was winning. So anyways, at 10:00, with a mere 4 minutes left in the game, the lights went out (surprise!) and though we were down by 4 runs, were up to bat next, so probably could have won it... so the umps said "this game will resume tomorrow morning at 7am"... um, excuse me? We didn't even plan to spend the night and here it is 10pm and we have to be ON THE FIELD playing at 7am? Time to get a hotel room. Anyways, so people were annoyed, the teams were tossing smack-talk back and forth, but whatever, it meant nothing to Ryan and me, so we left.

Here's a couple pictures from the Breck games on Saturday, hey, at least the scenery was gorgeous!:

We knew that 2 people on our 10-man-roster wouldn't be coming back for Sunday because of previous engagements, but we also knew that 2 people who weren't there Saturday, would be there for Sunday's game (which was originally for 1pm, a little different than heading up the hill for a 7am game from Denver...). No problem, right? So whatever, we went and got a hotel room at the Holiday Inn in Frisco for the softball tourney's discounted rate of $65 and were ready to crash and burn because we were so tired. Then, before going to bed, I called T-Bone (the gal captaining the team) just to make sure that Pat & Courtney would be able to make it in time for the 7am game, because if they weren't going to make it, then there was no point in getting up early and going out to the fields at 6:30am if we'd just end up forfeiting, right? Right.

So T-Bone answers, I ask about Pat & Courtney, she says yes, they're coming, but we're still 2 people short. ??? HUH? So I was like, wait, why? She said "because Eric and Kara aren't playing tomorrow", and I was like "yeah, I know, but that's why I called to check on Pat & Courtney, so 10 minus 2 plus 2 is still 10"... and there was a pause... and then she was like "Ohhh, you left right away, didn't you?" and I was like "yeah, why?" and she was like "Diane and DJ got ejected from the tournament"... HUH!!?!?!?! WHAT?!!!! These grown adults did WHAT?! So okay, apparently the other team was talking smack to Diane, so she was talking smack back, and DJ was putting their stuff away, in the dark, so he had his bat in his hand and went over to back up Diane, and the umps caught a glimpse of him holding the bat and talking smack and called it agressive and booted them from the entire tournament. FABULOUS. Fantastic. Nice work, people. Mind you, the rest of our team backs Diane up in saying that the other team "started it" (yes, we are back in grade-school) but the other team didn't receive any repercussions at all. Nice. Oh, and let's step back and talk about what pieces of work the people on the other team were... example: I was keeping score for our team and someone on their team hit a fly foul ball into the parking lot and you could hear it hit a car, and I joked "if that hit my car I'm comin' after you!" and the batter smirked but the TEAM CAPTAIN who was coaching 3rd base and was right by me, started talking smack to ME like I was serious, like "nope that's the risk of parking front row, you should know that if you know anything"... and I was dumbfounded... I gave him a "are you retarded?" look and then said "yeeaaah, I was kidding"... GOOD GRIEF! And that's just one example how their team was getting all up in our team's grill the whole game, and not just our team, but our fans, too! Sheesh! I love middle school antics.

Back to the ejection and team situation... so, now it's after 11pm and we're still 2 people short. T-bone is trying to call people in Denver to see if they'll fill in, and like 4 people on our team are like "let's just stand them up and take the forfeit"... so eventually Pat calls T-Bone and is like "I agree with the team"... HA! So at 12:30 we got a call from T-Bone saying "Don't show up for the 7am, we're taking the forfeit but we're not calling to tell anyone"... HAHAHA! So the other team showed up for the 7am game and we slept in until 10am. HA! Loves it. Best part of the whole thing. The best part was when their team captain called our 3rd basemen Ann at 7:10am and was like "thanks a lot for just not showing up!" and Ann was like "no problem, any time". HAHAHAHA! wow. Un-freaking-believeable.

So, I bet you think that was it, huh? You're naive.

So Sunday we slept in and it was a beautiful morning, we putzed around and eventually went to Subway for an early lunch at 11am, then to WalMart to get an umbrella because I'm sick of being caught in these afternoon deluges without one, and then back to the hotel to pack it up and head to the 1pm game.

So, we still only had 8 people, right? But one extra guy came up with Pat & Courtney from Denver to fill in for Eric, and then we grabbed a gal off of Ann's women's team (which WON the women's division!!) and voila, 10. Phew. So the 1pm game went great! We won it and were ready to play the 2pm game when the other team "challenged our roster". OMG are you KIDDING ME?! They decided that they didn't like our team and that they thought we were cheating by having new people on the team, and so they challenged the roster. But, it gets better. I mean, sure, 2 people weren't on our original roster, so that could have been bad anyways, but it turns out, that on Saturday, none of the umpires would TAKE our roster from T-Bone, and then she forgot to hand it in at the Dillon fields on Sunday morning, so our team didn't have an official roster on file, so DISQUALIFIED. Boom-bye, see-ya, Gone. OMG. Yup, that was it. Done.

I hope you're laughing. It took us a while to come around and laugh, but eventually, we were. Good GRAVY.

And here's a couple pics from Sunday's game in Dillon, again, just beautiful:

So that was Tournament Weekend Number Two. And guess what?! Despite my saying "we're never doing this again" on Saturday night to Ryan, on Sunday they invited him to do the Co-Ed tournament in Vail this weekend, so yeah! We're heading on up for Round 3, *DING*!

Vail, here come the Outlawas... are you ready for us? HA! :)

4th of July Weekend

2009-07-07T15:53:00.001-07:00

Well, no news is good news, right? :) Sorry, still bad at blogging regularly! So, this past weekend was the 4th of July... on Friday (the 3rd) we went over to Anna's for a BBQ and then crashed early because Ryan had a softball tournament in Loveland all weekend starting Saturday morning.

So, Saturday morning I got up early and got in a nice run before the heat hit, and then we hit the road to Loveland at just about 8:30, getting there at just before 10am. Ryan's first game was scheduled for 10:20, but they ended up playing at around 10:45 or so. Ryan's Dad came to the first game so I had company while watching which was great! They lost their first game, but since it was a double-elimination tournament, they moved to the losers bracket and their next game was scheduled for 12pm, but they didn't play till 1pm. After winning their second game they were due to play again at 3pm, but then a big storm rolled in and the fields became swimming pools... this was where the tournament staff started to cause us concern... we all stood around until 3:30 at which point they told us there'd be a delay until 4:30. Yeah right. Like they'd clean up the oceans by then... but alas, we went to Chili's for a quick bite with the team and returned at 4:30 to see that they had, in fact, ressurrected TWO out of the TEN fields. Yeaaahhh, that was NOT going to cut it. They needed ALL of the fields to complete the brackets as planned that night, but did they make a decision and send some of us home? Nope, we all kinda mingled around for a while, which was fine because Ryan's Mom and her husband came to watch the next game but ended up just hanging out with us. It began raining again at around 5:00 and we stood around waiting for them to call it until 6:30pm. Oy vey! Finally they sent us home and said they'd post online when to expect games for the next day (Sunday)... so home we went.

We got home at around 8:00pm, which was just barely after EVERYTHING closed, we had quite a time finding some supper and ended up with KFC (the new grilled chicken ain't too shabby). We went to the Highlands Ranch fireworks at 9:30, found out Ryan's game was scheduled for 10am the next morning and called it a night.

Sunday morning we hit the road again by 8 or so and he was ready and raring to go for that 10am game... too bad his whole team didn't show. This tournament was QUITE a fiasco. Wait. It gets better. So, adult rec softball is played with 10 players (that's 4 outfielders instead of 3 for all you confused sports' fans out there), and apparently for this particular tournament you NEED to have 9 players to start the game. They had 8 at game time. Luckily, a guy named Ikena ("ee-kenna") was almost there so we were able to stall the umps till he jumped the fence just in the knick of time... so, game on. However, since you're supposed to have 10, that 10th spot is an automatic out each time it comes up to bat on the line-up... yuck. Oh well, off they went... Game On. So, they were up 3-0 and then one guy hit a homerun and guess what?! Homeruns are illegal in this tourney! So that not only counted as an automatic out for him, but then he was no longer allowed to bat and his place in the lineup also became an automatic out... yup, that's right, we now have 2 automatic outs in our line-up. Awesome! So, they continue. They are then down 5-3 but at the bottom of the 5th inning they were on fire, they had the best part of their line-up at bat and the first 2 guys got on base, woo hoo! No outs and the go-ahead run was at the plate... everyone was excited... and then Ikena (who was coaching first base) suddenly STORMS off the field using some colorful language stating that he doesn't need this kind of BLEEEEEP and he's outta there, he mumbled something about no one being able to pronounce his name right (um, hello, it's a hard name and these people don't know you for more than 24 hours) and then literally LEFT. He left. Now guess what... we have 8 people. Game Over. He literally left the team HIGH AND DRY. They had to take a forfeit. Tournament over for the Rockers. Home again Home again jiggity-jig. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?! This is a GROWN man!!!???!!! Wow. No words. Rather comical at this point. But very irritating at the time!

The rest of our weekend was far less eventful... we got home early Sunday afternoon and Ryan hit me some fly balls in the outfield to practice my right fielding skills, and then we chilled out a bit watching the Rockies. Then we invited our friend Alicia over for supper because she's new to the area just this weekend, and her hubby already had to go away on work travel! So that was really fun!

Here are some pictures of my fab hubby playing his softball... this coming weekend he has another tourney up in Summit County, so I hope for less drama but more pictures, especially of the beautiful scenery up yonder way.

My kitties are cuddling in the cutest way, I must go cuddle with them!
Thanks for 'listening'!

Oh, and yup, all is still well on the pregnancy front... no news! Our next OB appointment is next Friday (the 17th), so more news then probably. :)

We're Pregnant!

2009-06-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

You read it right! PREGNANT! I'm 12 weeks 2 days at this point and this weekend we decided to share the news with extended family and friends, and over the course of the next couple weeks we'll share with others.

This has been quite an adventure already! I can't wait to enter my second trimester. :) Our due date is January 2nd, 2010! A new years' baby! My Grampy Kelley (may he rest in peace) was born on Jan 3rd, 99 years ago, perhaps this little miracle will share his birthday!

We had been "not trying but not preventing" for about 9 months when we finally got the positive test in April. Very exciting, and terrifying! We found out on April 25th, a Saturday. I woke up at 6am because I had signed up to do the March for Babies Walk for March of Dimes, in Colorado Springs, with Nichole and Elisa and their little ones. Because we had a wedding to go to that evening, and I was "late", I decided to take a pregnancy test that morning. It was the 3rd test I'd taken in the last week, I assumed it would be negative like the others had been, and that my cycle was just as irregular as usual, however, when I was done brushing my teeth and washing my face, and glanced over to see what it said, I noticed there was no "Not" in front of "Pregnant"... !?!?! OMG! But it was too early to wake Ryan, so I just went to the Springs, did the walk, the whole time thinking "I'm pregnant?! OMG!"... so when I got home at around 1pm, I went and bought another pregnancy test and took it, just to be sure... and voila, also positive! So that's when I told Ryan. He was in the shower and I bombarded him. HA! We then had to come up with a plan for how to avoid adult beverages at the wedding that night!

It's been quite a ride so far. We didn't know when we had conceived, so we went for our first prenatal appointment on May 8th, they did an ultrasound and found us to be only 5 weeks 6 days along, and gave us the due date of Jan 2nd. We then went back for a second appointment on May 19th to ensure things were still on track, and they were! So at that point we were 7 weeks 3 days along. We had our last appointment last Tuesday, on June 16th at 11w3d and heard the heartbeat! It was amazing! So speedy! It was about 175 bpm when she first found it, and then maxed out at around 186 bpm as we got more and more excited. :) So cool!

Anyways, that's our big news! Hopefully things continue to go well! We're already attached to the little buggar. :)

Welcome Baby Willi!

I'll be updating my family blogspace with Pregnancy notes, so this blog might just be a straight-up cut & paste from there when it's pregnancy-related. But maybe I'll share more of the gory details here... HA! We'll see! :)

Undeserved!

2009-06-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, so, I haven't been good about blogging of late... I have a good reason, and I'll get to that in a week or so... but anyways, in the meantime, my friend Ally over at All things Ally gave me the blogging friendship award?! Now, I think this is undeserved. I mean, I am SO bad at blogging, that you cannot just befriend me based on the meager blog I post out here every blue moon... but alas, I must have some bit of fun and entertainment in my notes when I do blog, enough so that people come back and check in when I do post something new, so I thank her and welcome the honor and now will do my best to pass it along to someone who I know TRULY deserves it... Carmine, at The Heilig Family Journey!

Carmine you are SO good about keeping us all up to date on your blog. You make sure to have new pictures and stories posted at least weekly, if not bi-weekly, and because checking blogs is one of my favorite things to do (especially when pictures are included), I have to say, you are the best! You can definitely get to know you by way of your blog, it's very much you and so I say that you really shine through as a wonderful mother, wife and friend on your blog. So I'm passing along this award to you!

The award calls for me to give to 8 recipients, but let's face it, I don't have that many blogs that I keep after, so I will just give it to Carmine, and then will also have some honorable mentions that I'd like to pass the award along to as well, even though I'm not as good at keeping up with these blogs... First Heather and her taste-testers at Mummies Yummies for her fabulous recipes that just keep on coming, she doesn't just share her own recipes, but pulls together favorites from other people and posts them as well, THANK YOU! And then I would also like to share Stretching a Buck with all of you... it's not a personal blog, but who can say someone's not being a friend when they're saving you money?! :)

So now you have to "pass it on"... Here are the rules:

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbon of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Congrats again to Carmine, and to Miss Ally, thank you VERY much, I would surely turn it around on you again, but alas, I think that might be against the rules! ;)

Mother's Day in the Garden

2009-05-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you mommas out there! It was a bit of a drizzly cold day here in Colorado, but a beautiful day for digging in the mud since the ground was so soft and forgiving. :) So we spent the afternoon moving some flowers and bushes out of one garden to other areas of our yard, to make way for a brand new vegetable garden. We are SO excited to have homegrown veggies! And I think our choices of what to move where, though strenuous and exhausting, were wonderful and well worth the hard work. A big shout-out Thank You goes to my Mother-in-law and her husband for helping us do the work this afternoon! What fun we had in the mud!

So we started by removing an old dead bush that was in the back of the yard, and making a giant hole for a bush we love that was in our veg garden area.

Then came the very tough task of getting that GIANT bush dug up and moved... did I mention this is a pricker bush? OUCHIES!

We also dug up a rose bush that was in that veg area before moving the big doozie of a bush, because it kept pricking Ryan as he tried to dig... ha! So I moved that bad boy right away, and pulled up the Columbines around it while we were at it.

We finally got the giant Barberry bush up and moved to the back of the yard and I hope hope hope that it loves it's new home and thrives there eventually. I really love that bush and its coloring, so I hope to get many more seasons out of it.

Then, we tied up the trumpet vine plant that we have, to make it more of a "vertical element" as my MIL said... ha! And then had PLENTY of room to till the new veg area and plant some red bell peppers, hot banana peppers, jalapenos, cucumbers, and even have dared to put in a zucchini plant... note, we put it in a "sequestered" area by itself so it doesn't overtake everything else... :) I can't wait to make zucchini bread. mmmm.

What a day! We're beat, but man, it was worth it! How satisfying!!!

Spring in Colorado...

2009-04-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Spring in Colorado... per my previous requests, you now understand that "spring" in Colorado doesn't mean that it's safe to put away your parka... nope, you can, however, bust out the flip-flops :) I was hoping we were done with snow, but we woke up to 4 inches yesterday morning after it began as rain Sunday night. So who the heck knows! I am loving that everything is turning green and flowers and trees are blooming though, it's so refreshing. I have all my windows/doors open this afternoon and the kitties are tied up out back... ha!

Spring also brings Colorado Rockies Baseball... and my husband is their number 1 fan, and I won't lie, I absolutely love it myself, so we got a share of seasons tickets this year, meaning we got 2 tickets to 7 games! Woot! Our first of the 7 was on Easter Sunday and it was a blast- Check out the view from our seats: Section 145, Row 2, Seats 1 & 2:

Spring means the beginning of another wedding season, too, we don't have a ton of them this year, but we did have one this past weekend and the couple were beautiful and the wedding was perfect, just amazing. Here they are cutting the cake:

And here we are at the wedding, I was laughing... I look like a goob. :)

So that's about it for now, I know I'm behind on posting, but for now this'll have to cut it! I'd like to wish the happiest of birthdays to 3 of my gals: Ally, Emilia and Sara whose birthdays are the 26th, 28th and 29th of April! Congratulations on another trip around the sun, girls. heh heh...

xo
alliwilli

This is fun!

2009-04-15T11:59:00.001-07:00

So, my friend showed me this website that allows you to create really low-grade animated "movies"... and it can be HILARIOUS. Here's the one I made of a typical conversation en la casa de Willi... :)

Spring?! Could it be?

2009-04-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well, we've had some funky weather since mid-February... it was warm and springy in the winter and wintery and cold in the early spring months. So what does the rest of April and May hold in the cards for us? I'll be happy to get a bit of moisture here and there, but hopefully in the form of April Showers, not Winter Storm Warnings! Ha! I'm ready for spring, that's for sure... longer days, more warm sunshine, BBQ'ing on the back deck, yard work, flowers, even mowing the lawn! Yep. So here's to hoping we're really entering Spring now.

So I haven't updated my blog in a while, but I haven't really had much to say. Not too much of interest going on. The biggest excitement in my life recently was going to Valley Forge, PA for work last week and turning it into a boondoggle to see my old college roomie, one of my bestests, and her hubby (who we drove just as bonkers at St. Mary's as we do now). She's nearly 8 months pregnant and looks freaking fabulous. They're having a baby girl so we spent some time pow-wowing Irish girl names, which was a blast. It was SO good to see them. I always get really sad when I have to leave, even when I only see them for a day or two. Even though at this point I know how to get on I-95 from their house, it's a bit confusing and when they first moved to their house she started leading me to the highway and then pulling over and would wave as I passed and honked in my rental car, which is usually a giant monstrosity... so it's fun to watch her laugh as I blow the horn on my boat and pass by onto the highway, but you can see the same pain in her face that I feel in my gut as we start laughing hysterically about my car. I spend the rest of my drive north to PHL with a smile on my face, but tears in my eyes. It's just hard to live so far away! But alas, we always have a truly good laugh together.

Here's a picture of my rental car this time... Avis did not let me down, I was able to give my girl a good laugh as sailing past her onto 95 North on Friday morning...

Upon arriving home on Friday, the hubs and I had a double-header softball game and our team won both! Yahoo! Then Saturday we helped a friend move some 3 1/2 tons of river rock in her back yard, and then Sunday was Easter, which we spent at Coors Field cheering on the Rockies in the cold rain! And though they lost to the stupid Phillies (which, by the way, Phillies' fans SUCK... BOOOO!!! ;)), it was still a WONDERFUL way to spend the holiday.

Oh, and my mum sent me these gorgeous candles to spruce up our kitchen table for the Spring! Aren't they fabulous?! Love them!!!

Well, I really do lead a boring life and don't have much else to share... I'll post if my brain musters up some good stuff. :)

Uncalled for...

2009-04-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

I just read another person's blog and the "comments" associated with her latest post, and was appalled that someone would be so mean and hateful towards someone they don't know at all. Now, I'm not going to pretend that this blog is full of meaningful heavy information, no, it's not, it's fluff about the day-in-day-out life of a stay at home mom... but she's not pretending either... she's just putting some fun posts out there for those of us who have reached the end of the internet to read on occasion.

If you don't like it... don't read it!

I said my piece and don't want to get caught up in the swirl of the nasty comments now going back and forth on that page, but I will say this... my initial comment was this:

"My mother always taught me that if I don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all."

To which this anonymous commenter stated "Your mom is wrong."

If I WERE to respond, this is what I would say to that...

"Is my mom really all that wrong? I agree that when you have something that’s not-nice to say, but that adds value, I can see the need to share it, but usually that’s to someone who you are close with, to offer guidance, support, or a bit of constructive criticism… but I don’t see what value a spout-off like this could add to anyone’s life, and it appears to simply be hurtful."

So I maintain, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"... particularly in the blogging world. There are SO many blogs out there. Some are for politics, some are for helpful hints on how to do x, y, and z, and some are like mine, and this other gal's, and are just for fun... a way to journal our lives and our thoughts and really aren't up for criticism. Please don't criticize my blog. I'm just a goofball with some thoughts.

Blog on, people. :)

I never was any good at diaries...

2009-04-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, so as stated above, I never said I was any good at journaling or blogging, so for those of you who actually check this and hope for updates and continue to see that annoying bobble-head of me walking the March for Babies... sorry... :) But anyways, I'm going to try to get all caught up in one quick blog-attack!

I'll start with the CRAZY weather that Colorado is experiencing these last few weeks... we had a really mild winter, February crept up into the 60s and even 70s a few times, which is absurd, and then in March when all our baby tulips and other various flowers started to poke their way up into the world, BAM, snow storm... that's right, last Thursday we got nearly TWO FEET of snow... ??!!! Um, excuse me? So first of all, I did as I was told and covered up my flowers and made our front yard look like the only thing it was missing was a beater car on blocks...

Then the snow hit, as promised, and it was CRAZY... here's a snapshot of the front of our house AFTER the hubs and I had already shoveled the drive and walkway once! Doh! That'll teach you to wait till Mother Nature is DONE. Though, we did have some fun romping in the snow, well, I was shoveling, and he came up from behind and shoved me and then buried me... bbbrrrrrr... I got him back though. :) So front of the house and shot of the snow on and around the hot-tub out back.

So, that was Thursday and Friday, then over the weekend things warmed up and we actually had a couple of 50-60 degree days!?! Craziness. But it was nice because it meant that the roads were driveable all weekend. Phew!

Last week I won tickets from my awesome Realtor, Ben, for this charity event raising money for the Junior League of Denver, that was called Chocolate Afternoon Delight, and boy was it! Ryan opted out, and he was glad he did, all the favors were really girlie, so I took my gal pal Carmine with me. She's about 4 months pregnant and was all for anything with Chocolate in the title. HA! Anyways, it was fabulous. It was held at the Builders’ Appliance Center, which had amazing kitchens on display so we both had to just keep shielding our eyes lest we bring home ideas to our husbands. For the first hour or so we all just mingled around drooling over the amazing kitchens, and they had endless free wine and champagne for sipping as we browsed around. They eventually got started and Chef Keegan Gerhard did a cooking demo of 4 courses and we got to taste each as he made them… Here's Chef Keegan doin' his thang...

So the first course was just a simple avocado and mixed green salad with a very simple “dressing” that was just EVOO, lime juice, fresh grinded pepper and salt, apparently he’s VERY big on the quality of ingredients, that’s what he kept stating over and over…

Then the 2nd course was a seared sea scallop, the biggest scallop I’ve ever seen and it was cooked SO tenderly it just melted in our mouths… and that was over a green apple coleslaw (like, instead of the cabbage/lettuce mixture, he used the usual coleslaw dressing but on very thinly sliced (like match-sticks) granny smith apples) with a raspberry/vanilla sauce drizzled on the side… omg…

Then the 3rd course was a vanilla rum roasted pineapple granita over coconut ice-cream, I think… I mean, it doesn’t matter, it was SO fricken good, I licked the martini glass it was served in… heh…

And then the final course was what he’s famous for, his pastries/desserts… and this was what he calls the D=MC3 “D = MC-cubed”… or Dessert = Milk Chocolate Three Ways (and then some)… and it was basically tart crust made to look like a rectangular cookie, topped with chocolate ganache that was HUGE, it was like a SLAB of ganache… and then on top of that there were like 3 scoops of white, milk, and dark chocolate… and then there was a side of raspberry compote/granita? And a raspberry reduction drizzled on the side. OMGGGG. Retardulous.

Oh, and I forgot… between the pineapple deliciousness and the D=MC3 deliciousness, he served us a ridiculous pomegranate martini… OMG. So that was AMAZING. Carmine and I had a really nice time, and even though it was good rich food, it was served in teeny tiny portions, so that was perfect (except the D=MC3, that felt GIANT to me). So here we are very happy, and apparently a bit stunned, from the deliciousness that had just occurred... :)

So that's about all the EXCITEMENT I have to offer... I'll try to be better so these blog entries aren't MILES long!

Happy April!
xo
alliwilli

March of Dimes!!

2009-03-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Click here to help me reach my goal!

Spring is Coming!

2009-03-16T08:09:00.001-07:00

How do I know? Well, there's the lovely weather we had this weekend, and then... softball is starting this week! Yup! We were invited to play by the guy who's in charge of Ryan's flag-football and basketball leagues, so we accepted! I think he plays in some unGodly number of leagues, so we told him that I would be willing to do 2 per week and Ryan would max out at 3... so we're both currently signed up for 2 co-ed leagues that start this week... Mondays and Fridays. Hooray! Oh, but here's the catch, both leagues are up in Westminster. Oops. We did NOT know that when we signed up. We thought we were playing at Redstone Park here in Highlands Ranch. Alas, nope. Instead of a 5 minute drive down the road, it'll be 45 minutes on a good day! Yikes. Oh well, hopefully it'll be a fun team.

Yesterday we dusted off the cleats, gloves, bats, and balls, and spent a good chunk of the afternoon enjoying the gorgeous weather over at Redstone Park hitting grounders and pop-flies to one another, then threw the ball for a bit and topped it all off with a few tokens worth of balls at the batting cages (which truly is my favorite part)... whewee, good stuff! It was good fun, way better than in California. We kept talking about how not fun it had become out there and we can't figure it out... we think that the fields were so poorly cared for that we just both hated the constant unknown of where the grounders were going to take their bad-hops and when we'd get one where it counted... (ie, face for me, and "junk" for the hubs... heh heh). So even though we're both a bit rusty, we truly are looking forward to getting back in the swing of things (heh heh, pun intended...).

So our first game is tonight at 8:15pm... followed by Friday at 6:15pm... wish us luck!!! I'll report back in with scores and details :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day EVE! :)

** UPDATE **
We won our first game on Monday, and our Friday-night-game has been moved from 6:15 to 8:15pm, which is a blessing because I was not looking forward to driving through Denver on a Friday night right in the midst of rush-hour! Phew!

If I were independently wealthy...

2009-03-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

... I would have a full VERT membership, a full TaeBo membership, and a full Corepower Yoga membership, and I'd bop around from one fabulous gym to the next. I always feel SO fabulous when I am at these places working out, I'm so centered and focused, and then I feel great when I leave. It's so invigorating and amazing. It's painful and it hurts, but it's just good stuff. I wish I could afford to keep them all up! However, the decision is going to have to be made here in April... to whom do I pay the big bucks? I'm thinking I'll pay for the TaeBo, and then maybe get my teaching certification and hope that she'll give me a free membership as my pay. THAT would be wonderful. Then I could afford the occasional drop-in yoga class or VERT session.

What brings this on, you may ask? Well, this weekend I felt gross... so frumpy, ew... and then sure enough, Monday I "weighed-in" at a number I haven't seen in like 2 years. Not SO horrible, but not what I want to see. So Monday I dragged myself back to an amazing kick-butt TaeBo class at 5:45pm, then this morning I went and let Jeremy kick my bum with a ridiculous VERT session, and then I joined Jamie for a Hot Yoga class at CPY. What a day. I could seriously be happy as a clam if I could go to a TaeBo or VERT session in the morning, and then hit yoga in the evening, not always hot yoga, but just yoga. It'd be awesome! And of course I was tortured by fantastic Lululemon clothing in the yoga studio... if only it were my job to wear those all day. Maybe being an instructor is my calling. :)

Lately I've really been struggling a bit with depression. I feel sad for Ryan that he has to deal with me in such a stuper. I don't know what it is. I think I'm just dissatisfied with work and then overwhelmed by my to-do list otherwise. Plus, it's really hard to work at a job I don't particularly like from home when surrounded by all the things on my to-do list. By the end of the day I'm just grumpy! Not good. So that's why I'm really trying to work from 7am-4pm and then skidaddle to an evening workout so I can "reboot" between work and home. It's tough. I can tell when I let the two merge and don't get enough "me time". It's bad. So I really need to ensure that I stay focused, that I take some time to myself, and that I figure out a schedule for my life that keeps me motivated and happy, and also that allows me to have a neat and tidy home, because I find that I eat poorly, make bad decisions, lounge more and am more depressed when my house is a mess. So that needs to be a priority.

Anyways, so there you have my state of mind and my goals and wishes... hopefully I can stay on target and stay happy. :)

~Love always~

Links to my favorite workout spots...
www.corepoweryoga.com
www.5280fit.com

VERT !!!

2009-02-24T18:06:00.000-08:00

Okay! Hello! Sorry I've fallen out of my blogging routine, but this might be more like how it goes for me... this is always how I've been with journaling anything, so no big surprise... if I have something to say, and time to say it, then here I am, if I'm busy or boring, then sorry Charlie, I got nuthin'. ;)

Anyways, so today I went to my first freebie VERT session... What is VERT?, you may say... well, VERT is an acronym that stands for Velocity Enhanced Resistance Training. Essentially, the amount of resistance you are working against, is directly proportional to the rate at which you're performing the exercise. If you are very slow, then no resistance is added... if you are very quick, then lots of resistance. It's intense. Here's a clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7AtSBAvJi8. Or you can go to www.vertfitness.com to check it out as well.

I was able to experience this amazing opportunity as part of my 3-month trial membership to 5280 Sport & Fitness in Highlands Ranch. With the 3 months unlimited classes at 5280, I also received 1 month free VERT sessions! They recommend that you participate in TaeBo for a month before trying VERT, so I did, and today was my first ever attempt at VERT. I was scared. I won't lie. But it was AWESOME. Oh, it was hard... very hard... I was DRIPPING with sweat... but all the same, it was an amazing workout, and what a cool experience to have such personalized training. It was just myself and another woman with a personal trainer.

Here's what we did in our hour-long session...

First I warmed up on the treadmill for 10 mins at about a 9:30 min mile or so

Then we started with some exercises not using the VERT machines:
- 1 minute of toe-tapping on platforms (30 seconds on a platform about 6 inches high and 30 seconds on one about 12 inches high)
- 1 minute of one-legged squats with side-leg-raise (30 second on one side, then switch legs)
- 1 minute of push-ups with one hand on the floor and one hand on a 12 pound medicine ball, that we would roll from one hand to the other between push-ups
---- we repeated this circuit 3 times (OUCH)

Our next circuit utilized the VERT machines that have pos and neg resistance (so in both directions):
- 30 reps of quick squats
- 30 reps of bench press
- 30 reps of an exercise using pullys (one in each hand) and we would squat with one leg on a bosu-ball while pulling the pullys back, then as we released the pullys up, we would hop up and over on the bosu, and then squat down on the other side while pulling the pullys back again...
---- this was also repeated 3 times (more OUCH)

Next circuit:
- 2 minutes standing on an inverted bosu in a half-squat position while using one of those arm bicycle thingys for our arms (basically like pedaling a bike but with your hands...???)... forwards for 30 seconds, then backwards 30, then repeat forward 30 and then back another 30
- 2 minutes strapped to one of the pullys around your waist, we'd run out at a 45 degree angle like 3 or 4 steps, lunge down and tap a cone, back-pedal, turn to the other 45 degree angle and run out and touch a cone on that side, and back... over and over.
---- repeated 3 times (yeowzahh)

Final Circuit:
- 1 minute hopping on the ground side to side in rings that Jeremy laid on the floor (there were like 8 rings, staggered 2 per row, basically... then when you get to the end, turn and go back, over and over)
- 30 reps of over-head press on the VERT machines
- 1 minute of standing row (kind of... holding a weighted bar with hands close together, and then pulling straight up to your chin with your elbows out to the side)
---- this one we repeated only twice (phewf)

Then we stretched and called it a day. WHEWEE!!! Burn baby burn! It was INSANE! I loved it!!! So even though I will dread it and be scared of it and it will hurt... I signed up for it again on Thursday morning, and then next Tues/Thurs as well!!!! Yeah! So I'll be doing TaeBo on Mon/Wed/Sat and then VERT o n Tues/Thurs and Power Yoga (also offered there) on Fridays. Yay! Eventually when my membership runs out, I hope to be in stellar shape and it will be warm out and I can get back to running outdoors... :)

So anyways, that's my news of the day... I'm trying to avoid the topic of sadness in my life (my brother and his wife are separating and are probably divorcing)... so this is really my big UP for now... please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers as we struggle through this loss... we are sad to lose a wife, sister, daughter and friend...

Much love always,
allimaewilli

An Early Valentine's Day...

2009-02-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

Last night Ryan and I celebrated Valentine's Day early! I hate fighting with the crowds on the actual holiday, and I can only imagine that on a Saturday it'll be even worse than usual. Eek! So we decided to do it this week! For our 3rd wedding anniversary in October, my parents gave us a very generous gift certificate to the Brown Palace Hotel & Spa which we decided would be best spent at their very swanky restaurant, The Palace Arms. My parents had taken us there in celebration of our 30th birthdays back in August and we loved it.

So I picked Ryno up at work at around 6:45 and we scooted downtown to the BPH and what an amazing experience! The valet met us at the door and took our car, then the maitre'D greeted us "Mr. & Mrs. Williams, yes?" and took our coats and seated us in a booth where we could both sit on the same side of the table and look out to people-watch... fabulous ;) Then they do kind of a team-waiting thing, so we had about 4 or 5 servers... so first they got us water and then brought us the wine list, and then the wine guy came by to help us select between 2 pinot noirs... we went with one from the Willamette Valley in Oregon and it was fantastic. Then the bread-lady came by and offered us from an assortment of rolls and crackers on a large tray... yum. And then they brought us their menu and explained all the foods to us... mmm... we made our selections... we both got the 5 Course Taste Sampler where we each got to choose an appetizer, soup, salad, entree, and dessert.

Ryan chose the Beef Wellington appetizer, which was very different from what you're thinking. it only sat on a small piece of puff-pastry, and there was fois gras and pate ... divine. I got the crabcake appetizer which was a small crabcake setting in the center of a delicious citrus cream sauce that had a little kick to it... just amazing. Then the soup du jour was a cauliflower soup, we were both skeptical, but it was phenomenol. It was followed by an arugula salad, and then we both got the same entree, the famous Bison Filet that sets upon some kind of a little cake/bread of some kind, with a smear of fois gras and then there is the most amazing sauce drizzled overtop. Good GRIEF, people. I have no words to describe how delicious this is. No words. I mean, it's fan-freaking-tastic. Orgasmic. There, I said it. Then for dessert they came and made Bananas Foster table-side. OMG. What a menu.

I loved how all of the courses were "tastes" so they were much smaller than a full portion and thus though we were very satisfied at the end of the night and couldn't eat anything else, we took our salty chocolates with us to-go, we were by no means stuffed and uncomfortable or sick or anything. It was just perfect.

And quite a treat, not something you do everyday, or every month, we discussed and we'd like to treat ourselves once a year. Perhaps we'll get another gift certificate next year that we can use :)

Thank you Mama & Papa Dward! What a WONDERFUL Valentine's Day!

IOU Pictures!

2009-02-11T11:24:00.000-08:00

Okay! Well, IOU pictures of the master bedroom. Last Friday it was another balmy day here in Denver, so I was able to open all the windows and paint our master bedroom finally! As mentioned on Thursday, I already had the paints picked out and purchased... I got Midsummer Gold as my dark accent color, and Slender Reed as my base. I was hoping to at minimum get the large window wall painted in Midsummer Gold and then the 2 accent borders as well while I had the color out and going... but when I finished those I was on such a roll that I decided to keep plugging and did the other 3 walls in the Slender Reed! Woot! I ran out of slender reed before I was able to get one section way up high, but it can wait. I will paint that when I finally paint our master bath this spring. I'm hoping to carry the slender reed into the bathroom as the base color and then use 'Treasured Jade' (a dreamy blue color) as the accent. Fab!

So anyways, it was a huge success and I don't think that these pictures do it anywhere close to justice, I am NO photographer and don't know how to make the flash do magical things to ensure that the colors come across right, but as promised, I'm posting some pics.

Also, please excuse the furniture mess that is my master bedroom. We fully intend to stain our nightstands to be more of a mahogany color, and then we have the dresser to match but it hasn't made the move up to the new house yet... 7 months later... still waiting... grrr. And then all our furniture will match. I'm also hoping to make us an apholstered headboard that has light/sconces built in. I know, I have high hopes, but maybe someday HGTV will come help me. HA! :)

Enjoy!

Pinch Me...

2009-02-05T08:49:00.000-08:00

For real? Is it February in Colorado? Because here I sit at my kitchen table working with ALL of the windows open in my home... it's going to be 68 degrees in Denver today. Is that absurd to anyone else but me? WHOA. Don't worry, it's supposed to snow by Saturday night. Ah yes, if you don't like Denver's weather, stick around for a day or 2, it'll change... drastically. HA!

Anyways, I think I'm going to take advantage of the ridiculous weather and finally paint my master bedroom tomorrow! It's an off-Friday for me and I was considering going up to the mountains to ski, but I really want to get that room painted so why not take advantage of the ODD winter weather and being able to have the windows open?! So, tomorrow my bedroom will become 'Slender Reed' and 'Midsummer Gold'. Lovely. (Check them out at www.freshairechoice.com - Loves it!)

As for today, I have quite a bit of work to hammer out before calling it a week, so I'd best hop-to-it, probably. However, it's going to be a rough day because I could NOT fall asleep last night. I think I lay awake in my bed till like 2:30am or so before finally dozing off. Argh! What's up with that?! My brain was on rapid-fire. That's how I came up with the paint-plan, actually... I was able to sleep in a bit this morning though since I didn't have any meetings, so that was good. I'm going to give myself the day off from TaeBo Madness as well and rest the bod and brain a bit. I have a volleyball game tonight and that will suffice for activity. I am in SO much pain/soreness from this week's classes! The 'Old School' circuit class on Tuesday was a DOOZIE. It was pure awesomeness, but Good GRAVY! I'm barely able to hobble around. I thought going to TaeBo last night would help break up the lactic acid and reduce the soreness, but alas, I'm just hobbling around even worse! It was a toughie class! So I'm walking like I'm 80. No biggie. Volleyball should be interesting. Hopefully I'm a bit more mobile than Nana by then. Sheesh!!!

And today is February 5th, so I'd like to give a shout-out to my Daddio... Happy Birthday, Dad!!! Yay! And today he shares his birthday with my cousin's son, Joshua Reilly Kelley-Cohen, born this morning in Maine. I will share more details when his mothers pass it along.

Correction!!! I just got word that Joshua was actually born yesterday, February 4th at 9:31pm and was a whopping 9 lbs 13 oz... good LORD! Whewee... giant healthy baby boy! :) Welcome, Joshua!!!

Best to all, today!

This Sore Throat Ain't Goin' Anywhere...

2009-02-03T07:38:00.000-08:00

Rats! This is the third day in a row that I've woken with a sore throat... and it's getting increasingly worse... I also noticed that I'm more tired than usual, which also happens when I'm getting sick. I just wanna keep sleeping in the morning. It probably doesn't help that I haven't been getting to bed at a reasonable hour, and didn't drink enough agua yesterday, but still, zzzz. I think that tonight I will make a valient effort to be IN my bed by 10pm. I know the hubs will want to watch a couple shows in bed, but that doesn't mean I can't get a head-start on bedtime. Gotta nip this cold in the bud.

Yesterday I went to TaeBo again, it was awesome as usual, just dripping sweat and sore this morning... but the instructor was not my favorite. She's the owner of the studio, so I was expecting it to be really intense and difficult, but not in the way that it was. I find with all the classes that they are really hard because it's so taxing on your body, but with hers it was also taxing on the brain and I couldn't keep up with her crazy combos toward the end... there were too many moves. I was like "hey, lady, we all have brain-melt, stick to 3 moves per combo, 7 is way too many"... I found myself just doing my best to keep shuffling side to side so I didn't get punched or kicked by the people around me!!! Ha! But alas, all that matters is that I keep moving, right? Burn baby burn. I really am loving this studio and these classes... they are really hard, but you feel so good at the end, that it's totally worth while. Plus, it's a fun environment! I think I really just needed something different to motivate me and this was the perfect solution! Tonight I'm going to try their class called "Old School" which is apparently a circuit class, so cardio and strength. I'll report back with how that goes later! Eventually I'm going to need to evaluate my schedule and start working some runs in, too, because I'd like to run a half marathon this Spring, and also the Bolder Boulder 10K on Memorial Day! But in the meantime, I'm going to just enjoy these classes and the change of pace.

The only other thing going on here in Dwardland (my husband calls me Dward) is that my manager mentioned an opportunity for my virtual cohort and I that I'm getting more and more interested in... it would require that we go IN to an actual Lockheed facility a few days a week, and it turns out, I think I need that. I think that if I could have the best of both worlds, I might actually be a lot more satisfied in my job. I love being able to work from home, but man, I think I'm getting a bit of cabin fever... I miss getting dressed up a bit and interacting with people and collaborating face-to-face. So I think if this opportunity comes to fruition, we'd work a few days at the Aurora Facility, and a few days from home per week! How fab would that be?! It'd make me appreciate working from home more, AND it'd get me out of the house a few days. Here's to hoping!

Have a Lovely Tuesday!

Welcome to my New Blog...

2009-02-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

So, "Right Up My Alli"... kind of a take-off from "Right up your alley"... I dunno, it's silly, but I like it, and my husband said once that if I had a column in a paper, that I should call it that, so since that'll never happen, here's my chance... heh heh.

Anyway, my dear friend CaliAlly told me that I really do have plenty to blog about, and so I realized that I do have plenty to say, but didn't want to post it to my "family" blog page, so I decided to give this a whirl and make a page of my own to vent off all my random thoughts and all that jazz. We'll see! I've never been a good diary/journal person, but perhaps this will be different?!

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *** ** ** ** * ** ** **

So my thoughts for today are that I'm concerned that I always have to have something new and exciting going on in my life to be happy... like, when we were in Colorado Springs, I was always wanting to move to Denver, and then we took a TDY in California, so I was excited for that experience to happen, and then while there, I spent most of my time pining for the move back to Denver and buying the new house and all that, and now we've made the move back and I'm wanting what's next... I am not very good at living in and enjoying the present. I need to make that a better priority. For instance, even this morning I was thinking "maybe we should do another TDY somewhere"... Whoa. Stop the press. I am happy here in my fabulous new home in Colorado, loves it. Sheesh! Simmer!

How can I help myself to enjoy what I have now and live in the present. I'm always looking so far forward that I forget to cherish what I have in the moment.

Sure, I may be a bit job-frustrated now, and it's okay to be proactive and trying to find an avenue that better suits me long-term for my career... but in the meantime, I shouldn't let that run my life and dampen my spirits.

So let today's blog be a reminder to myself to "Live in the NOW, Dude..." (I forget what movie that's from, but I can totally hear the guy saying it...)

Thanks for listening!