mad mad mad mad MAD

Ok, I lied. One post this week. Then I'm on hold til next week. But this couldn't wait. I'm MAD. Last night we decided last minute to go to the track and run a little. Turns out you can't feel a 5.6-magnitute earthquake while jogging around a track.

Why would this make me mad? I'm one of those true blue native Californians who love love love earthquakes. I find them so fascinating. I mean, when else in your life do you get to feel something so powerful that the ground under your feet moves on its own? The only earthquake that has ever actually scared me was the '89 earthquake (yeah, it was pretty big and I was 8 years old). Growing up in Hollister we felt our fair share of earthquakes. The shell mobile (it wasn't a mobile, but I can't remember what those hangy things are called right now) in our room would swing back and forth. Our parakeets would go crazy. The house would rattle. And I would sit there as still as I could in order to feel every movement.

Most earthquakes start out jerky and shaky and then start rolling smoothly if they are big enough.

I haven't felt an earthquake since before college. There was an earthquake a couple years ago, but I was walking around our office and didn't feel it. (WHAT THE HECK?!) For the last year I've been telling people that I really want to feel an earthquake, because I miss them. And just last weekend I was telling someone that I hoped there would be an earthquake soon.

So last night on the way home from the track, I talked to Christian on the phone and he proceeded to tell me all about this earthquake and how fun it was. Everyone is talking about it. It's on the TV. It's on the radio. My co-workers are talking about it.

Is this my reward for working out?? Bleh.

Oh, and to top it off, I was so annoyed last night about missing the earthquake that I decided to take a bath. But 5 minutes into my bath, Christian came in and told me I had to get out right away because water was leaking in the apartment below us. Blasted crappy apartment complex!

Good thing today is Halloween. At least that makes me feel an eensy bit better.

Anyone up for an aftershock? I could really use one.

blog on hold til next week

Busy at work. Busy at school. Busy at home. Blog on hold til next week. :)

good idea / bad idea #7: being on time

Good idea: Leaving for work on time.

Bad idea: Leaving for work on time, but riding to the wrong train station only to remember that the train doesn't stop there for another half hour, having to sit and wait in the cold, and having bullet trains fly by so fast that they knock over your bike from the wind. Maybe next time I'll pay more attention to where I'm going...

random thursday thoughts

Random Thursday thoughts from Molly (jotted down during much needed breaks from working):

1. We should all be outside today. The weather is perfect. Not hot. Not cold. Perfect Autumn weather. Why do we have to spend so much of our lives indoors??

2. I eat low sodium cottage cheese mixed with yogurt or fruit. Super yummy. But today I bought yogurt and cottage cheese from the deli here at work. It's not low sodium, and it tastes like someone poured salt water all over my sweet snack. Disgusting.

3. It's amazing how long I will sit at my desk having to go pee... just because I don't want to walk 30 feet to the bathroom.

4. Much better.

5. This morning I missed my train, because I was at home fixing my bike seat when I should have been rushing off to the train. And then by the time I got to Stanford, it had loosened up again. So I had to sit down at the train station and re-do the whole thing. I'd say I'm a pro now, but the fact that I had to do it twice clearly shows that I'm not a pro.

6. I don't have a Halloween Costume. And I don't have a Halloween Party. It's a sad, sad year. I don't exactly have time to make a costume anyway, so I guess it's a good thing. For the first time in 5 or 6 years I'm actually going to get a full week's worth of sleep leading up to Halloween. Yay!

7. Tyler gave Richard a ride home from the young men/young women activity last night. Thanks, Tyler! You're the best!

8. When Meghan found out that I know Lenessa (whose name came up on the way to seminary, because I asked Richard if Lenessa was at the activity), Meghan tried to convince me that I should go to Girls Camp this coming summer. If I wasn't taking a week off in June for the AidsLifeCycle, a few days off (hopefully!) for Deirdre's wedding in Hawaii in July, and a few days off for a family reunion in Oregon at the end of July (oh yeah, siblings--Dad mentioned a Carter reunion for the end of July), I might actually consider going to girl's camp. Especially when Meghan mentioned that I should go on the 18-mile hike! But would I really want to spend a week with a bunch of teenage girls singing camp songs? Not so sure about that.

9. The fact that it's Thursday once again just reminded me -- What was with Comcast last Thursday?? At about 8:45pm, all the stations had the same audio (some boring interview). So we had to watch the last 15 minutes of Survivor with no audio! Rude! So then we didn't even get to watch The Office, because only a few stations got their audio back. Let's hope this doesn't happen again tonight.

10. I've written a blog about the Nike Women's Half Marathon we ran this past Sunday. But I have to put pictures and everything in. That takes a while. It's coming soon. Maybe tomorrow. No, tomorrow is busy. Maybe over the weekend.

11. One more day til the weekend. One more day.

fitness update: day 8

Fitness Update

Date	10-22-07 (Day 8 - Monday)
Weight	131
Calories in	1140
Calories burned (exercise)	0
Net calories	1140
Water intake	30 oz
Exercise summary	nada
Did well	Kept my calories where I wanted them.
Need to improve	Ate a big lunch, but a small dinner. Should spread my calories out a little better.
Comments	I was planning on doing yoga when I got home from class (about 9:30pm), but Christian reminded me that he had an Off the Wall soccer game. Of course, I went to that instead. So I had a small dinner and got to go watch his team beat the #1 team in their division! Christian had some awesome goals. That's my hubby. :)

fitness update: day 7

Fitness Update

Date	10-21-07 (Day 7 - Sunday)
Weight	130.5
Calories in	2630
Calories burned (exercise)	1500
Net calories	1130
Water intake	45 oz
Exercise summary	Ran 13.1 miles - Half Marathon!
Did well	Other than running my race, not a whole lot.
Need to improve	I just kind of ate whatever I saw after the race. Should have been more healthy. Dinner in Hollister was great, but 2 1/5 chocolate eclairs for dessert was completely unnecessary -- but SUPER yummy!
Comments	Ok, so I was doing great until Friday. It's always the weekends that people have trouble with, because they go out to eat and pay less attention to what they're snacking on. I need to be more careful when I go out to eat. I'm sure my Monday weight will reflect the weekend. Although, keep in mind that day-to-day weight has a lot to do with how regular you are pooping. Gross, I know, but true. So I have to average out my weight over the next week to really see my progress.

fitness update: day 6

Fitness Update

Date	10-20-07 (Day 6 - Saturday)
Weight	130
Calories in	1780
Calories burned (exercise)	0
Net calories	1780
Water intake	no idea
Exercise summary	Didn't run since it was the day before a race. Really wanted to, since it was such a beautiful morning. Next time I think I'll do a couple miles anyway.
Did well	I ate relatively healthy throughout the day.
Need to improve	Could have done without so much bread at dinner. Don't let Christian buy big bags of chocolate at Target, because I end up eating most of it...
Comments	Ended up eating about 500 calories over my goal, because we went out to dinner with running buddies in preparation for the Nike Women's Half marathon. Problem--could have cut out 300 calories by only having a little bit of bread at dinner and another 200 by not eating Christian's chocolates.

fitness update: day 5

Fitness Update

Date	10-19-07 (Day 5 - Friday)
Weight	129
Calories in	1920
Calories burned (exercise)	475
Net calories	1445
Water intake	35 oz
Exercise summary	4-mile run in the morning
Did well	Ran my 4 miles 2 minutes faster than Thursday morning.
Need to improve	Um, I think I shouldn't eat ice cream cake and a bowl of ice cream all in one night...
Comments	I tutor a nanny from Japan. At our tutoring session on Friday, the family was having a birthday dinner for their 3-year-old, so they brought us ice cream cake. No problem since I was at 129 pounds before I should have been. Only on the way home I found out we were going to the Derby's for Amber India, which was followed by peppermint ice cream. How could I resist? So much for healthy eating on Friday.

i love target

On Saturday night, Christian and I drove Richard and his friend, Meghan, to a youth church dance in Morgan Hill. Morgan Hill is a little over a half-hour away. We weren't about to make the hour-long round trip just to turn around and do it again. So we decided to waste from 9-11pm in Morgan Hill.

We had this great idea to catch a movie. Only there was nothing good playing at the theater. I had this great idea to go get ice cream, but dinner at Buca di Beppo with friends in Palo Alto left us too full. We could have gone to the haunted house and corn maze in Hollister, but that was a half hour away and would have been the equivalent of driving back to our house.

So what did we do?

We went to Target! We're normally in a hurry when we go to Target. We normally have an agenda and a list of things we're looking for. But this time, we were free as free can be. So we moseyed on over to the brand spankin' new Target off the Cochran Exit. It was great.

I spent almost the whole time looking for clothes on the clearance racks. I don't like work clothes. I go to work in jeans as much as possible. I'd much rather just be comfortable. I'd dress up a little in skirts (which I also love), but riding a bike on cold mornings doesn't exactly mesh well with cute skirts. So it practically kills me to buy work clothes. Who wants to spend money on something they don't want to wear? I refuse. So Christian and I walked around the clearance rack, and (now keep in mind this NEVER happens to me) I found 5 pairs of work-worthy pants and capris all for $5 or $6 each! I now have enough boring stuff to wear to work and it only cost me about $30!

I love Target!

545 miles on a bike

For the last couple years, my sister Ashley and I have been talking about doing the AIDS Life Cycle.



For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a training program that people join to raise awareness and money for AIDS research and support. Oh, and did I mention that you ride a bike 545 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles? Yeah. That, too.



In 2004, Julia asked me if I wanted to run a marathon. The fact that I practically died every time I attempted to run over a mile momentarily skipped my mind, much the same way the fact that I already have plans next Friday night skips my mind when you ask if I want to hang out, so of course I responded, "Sure!" So I signed up for Team in Training and joined something amazing. Team in Training ("TNT" or as Ashley calls it, "tit") participants raises awareness and money for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkins disease, and myeloma research while training for a half marathon, marathon, triathlon, or adventure race. I signed up for the 2004 Honolulu marathon and decided to train in honor of my cousin, Kevin, and my childhood neighbor, Cameron, who both passed away from cancer. The whole TNT experience was amazing. You improve your physical strength, you improve your mental strength, you learn more about the battle against cancer, you make great friends, and you directly help the cause by raising money for research.

Stephanie, Julia, Me, Tanya, Erica, and Kelly halfway through our training season at the Nike Women's Half Marathon, October 2004.

I'll be honest. Fundraising was not easy. I have a very very very hard time asking people for money, even if it is a great cause. But I fundraised and I ran the marathon and both were totally worth it. And I've been running ever since. Thanks, Julia! But after running for a cause, sometimes I feel selfish just running for myself. It's hard to explain. Spending so much time training to "stay healthy" or "improve my body" or "improve my race time" or "clear my mind" is not a bad thing, but it's a little self-centered.

Where was I going with this? Oh yeah.

I used to do a lot of community service in high school. I miss it. Just like Team in Training, the AIDS LifeCycle would be an awesome way to get involved in a good cause. Not to mention it would be an awesome experience doing the ride with Ashley!

Am I ready for fundraising again? I know it's hard. I know it's worth the effort. I'll keep you posted.

fitness update: day 4

Fitness Update

Date	10-18-07 (Day 4 - Thursday)
Weight	130
Calories in	2025
Calories burned (exercise)	595
Net calories	1430
Water intake	35 oz
Exercise summary	4-mile run in the morning, sit-ups
Did well	Followed through with my plan to run in the morning, because I knew I would be eating a lot during the day.
Need to improve	Should have skipped the huge cookie in my box-dinner. But it was just staring at me. :)
Comments	Yesterday at work we had a huge pasta bar for a lunch meeting (pasta, sauce, salad, dressing, garlic bread, cookie--which I resisted) and box dinners at an evening meeting (veggie wrap, pasta salad, fruit salad, cookie--which I ate). How did I know I'd be eating a ton today at work? I set up all the catering orders. Food, food, and more food.

fitness update: day 3

Fitness Update

Date	10-17-07 (Day 3 - Wednesday)
Weight	130
Calories in	1615
Calories burned (exercise)	150
Net calories	1465
Water intake	20 oz
Exercise summary	Power yoga and sit-ups in the morning
Did well	Ate dinner after class even though I was at my calorie goal already. See below. More worth it to go over calorie limit to eat something healthy than to just rely on junk food calories.
Need to improve	Definitely didn't drink enough water. Bring enough food to eat between work and Wednesday night class.
Comments	Stomach has been grumbling for a few days now--not out of hunger and not from an upset stomach. Just rumbling and grumbling. Kind of amusing. Net calories a little higher than I wanted, but my train was 20 minutes late after work, which made me late to class. Didn't have time to grab a real dinner before class. Relied on sponge cake (our class treat that night) for dinner, which left me hungry after class, so I ate real food when I got home. Sponge cake was 310 calories. Would have hit my calorie goal if I had brought my own food and was able to have a real dinner between work and class. (But the cake was really yummy!)

fitness update: day 2

Fitness Update

Date	10-16-07 (Day 2)
Weight	131
Calories in	1845
Calories burned (exercise)	550
Net calories	1295
Water intake	25 oz
Exercise summary	Power Yoga in the morning (45 minutes), track workout at night (45 minutes - speed and ab work)
Did well	Got two great workouts in. Stretched. Stopped at Togos for extra food on the way to tutoring when I realized my calories were going to be too low.
Need to improve	Need to drink more water.
Comments	Calories were just about where they should be. Track workout was great -- chatted it up with Erica and Richard. Discovered a power yoga class on TV that I can do every morning when I get home from taking Richard and Meghan to seminary. Now I look forward to yoga on the way home instead of getting back in bed!

fitness update: day 1

Fitness Update

Date	10-15-07 (Day 1)
Weight	132
Calories in	1520
Calories burned (exercise)	0
Net calories	1520
Water intake	30 oz
Exercise summary	Went to visit my sister after class instead of exercising. Stretched.
Did well	Resisted chocolate from my boss's office and Christian's peanut M&Ms in the car
Need to improve	Did not exercise. Need to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Comments	1520 calories is only about 100 calories less than I should be eating to maintain my weight. I should be netting closer to 1200 calories in order to lose a pound a week. Looking forward to Day 2!

5 1/2 weeks

I am quite comfortable with my body. I would say my body is a pretty average build and average size, and I'm pretty average looking (and not in a negative way). I consider myself an athlete (running, biking, and swimming--but don't expect me to do anything that requires more coordination than that).

I try to eat healthy foods, but I'm a sucker for anything sugary. Last year I lost almost 20 pounds by cutting portion sizes, exercising almost every day (and some days twice), and paying attention to my net calories. I have never been fat. I have never considered myself fat, even at my highest weight. After I got married, I gained about ten pounds. It was a subtle weight gain that even I barely noticed. But let me show you. Here is a photo of me at my highest weight and lowest weight:



Ok, ok. You caught me. I picked the worst bad picture and the best good picture. But isn't that half the fun of before and after photos?

I'm not a nutritionist by any means (although I'd like to be), but I had a pretty good little system going. Last year I was being very healthy and my body knew it.

So I know you're all asking what exactly the point of this blog is. Well let me tell you. Since January, I have gained back 6 of the 20 pounds that I lost. You might say that 6 pounds is not very much. I agree. It's not. But I believe that maintaining a healthy weight means taking action early. That means losing the 6 pounds before they turn into 10.

So today I begin my Get-Back-Into-Tip-Top-Shape challenge. Yesterday was my birthday. I ran a half marathon, I took a wonderfully long nap, and I had cheesecake, peppermint ice cream, sparkling cider, and cupcakes for my birthday dessert. Yep--I went out with a bang!

But today I start new. Eating healthy, exercising every day, and recording my net calories. This is the key for me. Some days I eat way too much, and other days (ie when I run over 10 miles) my net calories sometimes end up way below healthy levels. Healthy eating means eating enough just as much as it means not eating too much.

There are approximately 5 1/2 weeks between now and Thanksgiving. My goal is to eat healthy foods, maintain healthy calorie levels, train hard (speed work, hills, power yoga, cycling, 16-, 18-, and 20-milers), lose 1 pound per week, and by Thanksgiving, I should be back at my ideal weight and fitness level, and ready to run the Cal International Marathon a week later.

Back to my original point. I am quite comforable with my body. I don't mind people knowing what my pant size is, how much I weigh, or what the circumference of my booty is. So to keep myself motivated, I will post my stats every day, including what I did well that day and in what ways what I can improve.

Besides, there's a really cute pair of jeans in my closet that I haven't worn since February. And they're calling my name.

homecoming

Nothing will make you feel old faster than hanging out with an 18-year-old and a 16-year-old. Let's talk about the 16-year-old.

Ahhh, high school. What a fun and simultaneously horrible time. Richard seems to be enjoying it. I mean, who wouldn't if they had his social group? He hangs out with 20 "Naughties." At least that's what we refer to them as. No, we don't mean naughty in the traditional sense. It's just that Richard hangs out with a bunch of hot girls who are also smart and into school. Nerdies + hotties = naughties. (We could spell it "notties," but what fun would that be?)

So Richard picked one of his naughties and asked her to Homecoming. I hear she's a really nice girl (through trustworthy sources). So of course, Richard has to get an outfit that matches her dress. Christian took him shopping this week. What a great big brother! Well, that was my impression until I realized Christian volunteered me to take Richard shopping a second time, because, in Christian's words, he doesn't know how to shop for other people -- just himself. Silly Christian.

So last night was absolutely insane. After getting home at 7:20, showering, trying to figure out how to record Survivor and the Office on an old "Look Who's Talking Now" VHS while we were gone, and taking Christian's wallet to him at San Jose State so he could get his car out of the parking garage after class, I made it to Nordstrom Rack with Richard 20 minutes before it closed.

Problem #1: His date's dress is brown and pink. I'm not a fashion guru, but I do know that brown and pink are not in this season. They were in like a year ago. The colors for this Fall are black and gray. Try finding brown or pink dress shirts or brown or pink ties right now. It's impossible.

So we went to Target (Target to the rescue -- as always!) and found this shirt:

It looks better in person. And the guy in this picture looks like a dork, which is a little distracting.

So we made it home with something for him to wear. Phew!

Problem #2: Richard doesn't know how to dance. You can't ask a girl to a dance and then stand there the whole time! So we had a little dance party in our living room last night. Dianna and I were having a ton of fun. Richard was laying on the floor refusing to dance. So I told him he either had to dance right then or after Christian came home. That did the trick. He danced for a couple minutes and then cemented his butt to the couch and refused to move. So Dianna and I kept dancing.

Problem #3: None of his naughties know how to dance either! Last time Richard went to a dance, he came home and told us he doesn't like school dances, because all people do is "rub up on each other." (And he gave us a very amusing demonstration.) So last night I said that if you don't know how to dance alone, then you don't know how to dance. We actually found out from another of Richard's naughties that the only thing they know how to do is freak (Translation for anyone who for some strange reason doesn't know--rub up on each other--is there a new way to say that? Grind? Do I sound really old?) as a big group of girls and that they don't know what to do otherwise. Translation: not even the girls he hangs out with know how to dance!! Does no one know how to get their groove on to a little hip-hop music without freaking?? Give me some hip-hop (and I mean good hip-hop, none of this hifi crap--keep an eye out for a blog about hifi crap coming soon) and I can dance by myself for hours. Even before I was married, if I were at a club and a guy tried to dance with me, I almost always pushed him away (well, unless he was really really cute). I don't go to clubs to freak. I go to dance. There is a difference. And it makes me sad that none of these girls know how to dance.

My humble opinion? A little freaking never hurt anyone. But only if you can prove first that you really know how to dance.

Feel the rhythm, ladies. Feel the rhythm. Oh, and you too, Richard.

sista

My sister Ashley is moving to San Jose!




(Not to be confused with my sister-in-law Ashley ,who lives in Sunnyvale and is not moving anytime soon...I don't want to start any blog rumors...)

I'm very excited. She says she's moving to the ghetto.



But we don't mind the ghetto, do we?

Now maybe I'll see her more! Or maybe I'll just see her about as often as I see the rest of my friends who live down in San Jose... maybe once a month or every other month? Oh well. At least the drive won't take as long.

Although I know she's dreading living closer to me, because I'll probably invite her running more often. Poor girl. :)

updates from the mauer household

Updates, updates! But more importantly -- pictures, pictures!

1. Back in September, Veronica came to visit! (V is Christian's sister. Savannah is V's beautiful daughter.) So we had a little party.

Paula and her first grandchild, Savannah!

Christian, Steve, and Richard. The men of the family.

What's a Mauer party without a pinata?

Work that body, Veronica!

And of course -- cake!

A trip to the beach is a must when visiting California.

Soaking up the...uh...shade.

A trip to the Boardwalk and my very first caramel apple ever!

More pics are on our smugmug page!

2. Amy and Ivan's wedding! It was wonderful! Of course, I didn't like any of the dresses I found in the stores, so...

Doesn't look like much yet...

A little bit of lace...

And voila! What a good looking family! Me, bro Tyler, sis Amy, newest family member Ivan, baby Diego, mom Chris, dad Mike, sis Ashley, and bro Ian.

Amy let me do the flowers for the big dinner! (Special thanks to Ashley for all her help!)

All my pics of the wedding are on my smugmug page!

3. Remember all my many projects I was going to get done? I can check #1 off my list. Here is my new entertainment dresser. The top drawer drops down on a hinge to reveal our electronics. The paint job isn't as good as I would have liked, but I'm pretty easy to please and don't really have the drive needed to make all my projects perfect. So excited it's done! Christian is saving up for a projector. As soon as he gets one, we're saying bye-bye to Uncle Bud's TV and hello to the big white wall behind it!

I need to find my mom's picture of the original. Huge difference.

4. Yesterday I was running out the door to catch the train (my morning ritual) and caught a glance of myself in the mirror by the door. I exclaimed to Christian, "I look like catsup and mustard!!!" But I didn't have time to run back into my room to grab something else. So I looked like a hot dog all day.

All American, indeed.

5. I got out my Halloween decorations the other day. I have two. And I love them both.

My mom gave me this witch last year. I love it so much!

Just got this with my mom last week. It's an UglyDoll bat! Doesn't get much better than this.

6. A washer and dryer! Although the circumstances under which we are receiving this washer and dryer are less than ideal, it's still exciting to have them. We have to get the dryer fixed (it's the one on top with the blanket holding the drum in place for the ride to our house), but we don't mind. Can't wait to start doing laundry in our very own laundry room!

Yeah, the dryer needs some work...

7. No pictures of this, but Dianna just a second job (or maybe I should say third considering all the babysitting she does) working 8-hours-a-week at the ballet studio where she takes classes, and not only are they going to pay her for her work, but they are going to let her take all of her classes for free on top of it!! That's like $300 a month! What a huge blessing for her. That deserves to make my update list. Go Dianna!

So that's the latest update in the Mauer household. Not to mention I think I'm getting high off second-hand marijuana smoke drifting in from my neighbor's balcony. ;)

beauty

I'm a people watcher. If you ever find me staring at you, don't take it personally. That's just what I do--and half the time I don't even mean to. In fact, most of the time I don't even realize I'm looking at someone until they look back at me. Oops!

Sitting on the train--I watch people. Walking down the street--I watch people. Sitting in church--I watch people. Eating in a restaurant, sitting in a meeting at work, even on the freeway (while Christian is driving, of course).

(Side note: Have you ever compared people to their cars? It's a great way to pass the time on the freeway. Most people match their cars quite well, but the most amusing cases are when it looks like a homeless person is driving a Lexus or a completely-way-over-done-wanna-be-rich-girl is driving a rusty old clunker. Try it sometime.)

I'm fascinated by people. They way they interact. The way they move. And especially the way they look. I love looking at faces, butts, arms, legs, hair. But most of all, I like looking at faces. It's amazing that in almost every society there is a standard for beauty. The standard is different across cultures, but every culture or society has a norm to which people are compared.

In one of my classes at school, we have a very diverse student population. First and second languages include English, French, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Mandarin, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Korean. (English is most often the second language spoken by my classmates.) Most of my classmates are foreign students. Since I have an incredibly hard time paying attention in class, I find myself easily distracted by my classmates.

It occurred to me just the other day that everyone in my class is beautiful. If I put them next to each other, my initial impression would be that some are better looking than others. But as I looked at each person individually, it was obvious that each person was amazingly beautiful--people who I would not have labeled as beautiful right off the bat. Our society's definition of beautiful is so engrained in our heads (we've been socialized to such norms since we were born) that it takes a minute to see past the traditionally acceptable qualifications for beauty.

I wish I could post pictures of my classmates on this blog so you could see them all. The way they smile, the way they express confusion, the way they laugh, the way they answer questions.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but it's just been a source of happiness for me lately and I wanted to share. :)