Happy Birthday Husband!

Yesterday was my husband's birthday. Since it was on a Monday, we celebrated all weekend. On Friday, we headed out on a bike ride to Wash Park to play some tennis and have a wine and cheese picnic.


After reading Jenna (from Eat, Live, Run) rave about Murphy Goode's wine, I picked up a bottle of their Sauvignon Blanc. Our cheese selection included Smoked Gouda, Fresh Mozzarella and an Apple Cider English Cheddar. All three were delish and went really well with the Blanc.

On Saturday, I surprised the Hubs by taking him to dinner at a new restaurant called the Squeaky Bean. We had an awesome meal there! This area is not known for having any ambiance, but we had a great time sitting on their patio enjoying our food and drinks.


We ordered:

crispy medjool dates- cambazola, prosciutto
tuna tonnato - sliced ahi, spicy cucumber and fennel piccalilli, tonnato sauce
beets - roasted beets, hazelnuts, pecorino
shrimp BLTA - shrimp, tomato, boar bacon, green, avocado, roasted pepper aioli
The only dish I wasn't crazy about was the tuna tonnato. To drink we had the squeaky spritz, which is a mix of Prosecco, Aperol and Sparkling Water. According to google, Aperol is an Italian aperitif. This drink was muy delicioso! They have happy hour Tues-Sat so we will be back very soon.



Happy Birthday Hubs!!! I love you very much and hope you had a great birthday weekend!

La La's Wine Bar and Pizzeria

Last weekend, I met some of my best girl friends at a wine bar/pizzeria in town called Lala's Wine Bar and Pizzeria. We decided to meet at 6 pm since their happy hour goes until seven. To start off the night I ordered the Y3 Chardonnay from Napa. Since I will be in Napa in a month, I have been trying to order different wines from that region. It was delicious, but defintely full bodied and would have been probably better suited for my second glass and not my first. The other wine I tried was the King Estate Pinot Gris from Oregon. It was delicious, and I am definitely a fan of the sweeter wines!

For dinner I split the Lala’s Pollo Salad (Herb grilled chicken, seasonal apples, spring greens, candied walnuts, Gorgonzola Dolce and organic cider vinaigrette) and the Il David (Naked (of course) three cheeses, herb grilled chicken,artichokes, oven dried tomatoes, roasted garlic and Peppadew peppers) Both were absolutely fantastic! The manager on duty came over and asked if it was our first time here. When we said yes, she offered us FREE dessert. We decided on the Chocolate Giovanni (Housemade chocolate ganache with a Frangelico hazelnut anglaise and raspberry puree). It was a perfect dish to split and a great way to end the night!

Me, Kristin, Darcy, Pam, Becca

For those of you that just started a blog and for those that have had one for awhile. How long did it take you before you told your friends about it? I have told some people, but definitely not everyone. I am curious how people responded when you told them!

Rocky Mountain Half Marathon Race Report

On Sunday, I ran the fifth annual Rocky Mountain Half Marathon. This was my very first half marathon race so it is very special to me, and a race I hope to run every year. I was really skeptical Saturday night about my ability to really run fast at this race. Andrew's Grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on Friday and Saturday night so we had been going non-stop all weekend and of course, eating really delicious food (aka not good for running).

I woke up Sunday morning still feeling apprehensive. I went through my usual pre-race routine (oatmeal, water, check the weather, stretch, peppermint pill, etc.) Dave, Pam and I met at 6:30 to walk over to the race start. We made a few porti-poty stops and did a lot of stretching and warming up. Finally, the race was ready to begin. We lined up in our corrals, and then proceeded to stand for another ten minutes! The race was suppose to start at 7:30, but the gun didn't go off until after 7:35.

I went out way too fast, but this was part of my strategy. I knew the latter miles were going to be really HOT and really HILLY so I decided to make up some time in the beginning while it was still cool. Dave and I stuck together for the first 3-4 miles. We tackled the first big hill and then winded our way back through Downtown Denver and onto the Cherry Creek Bike Path. After about mile 5, I knew I was starting to slow down into a more comfortable race pace. The weather was very hot for racing and I think I stopped at 8 out of the 10 water stations. Usually, I run right through them but this race I decided to let myself stop and walk to really get a lot of water down. I took some Cherry Blossom Honey Stinger Chews at mile 5 and again at mile 10. The worst hill of this race is between mile 5 and 6. I try to train here regularly, but it still gets me every time!!!

Andrew found me a few times between miles 7 through 10 and then again at 12.5. This year they changed the course around so the last 3/4 of a mile is ALL uphill! I knew I was close so I charged as fast as I could up that damn hill.

With the finish line in sight, the clock was at 1:46:30 so I sprinted to get in under 1:47. Final stats are:

1:46:41/AP 8:08
196/1497 Overall
51/912 Overall Women
6/111 Age Division

Pam, Me

Me, Andrew

I can't believe I was sixth in my age division! This is closest I have ever been to receiving an award! What is even more exciting for me is I was able to shave 17 minutes off my time last year which was 2:03:30. It is absolutely amazing what your body can do with a lot of hard work in a short amount of time.

My mom and Pam's mom joined us at the finish line to cheer us on. It it always so great to have their support! After loading up on samples of Granola and Lara Bars, we headed to Dixon's for a post-race breakfast celebration. I ordered the Eggs Mazatlan( Three scrambled eggs and guacamole rolled into a warm flour tortilla. Topped with green chile and white cheddar cheese. I changed it up a little by adding in spinach.)

Pam and I also ordered a peach blossom (champagne, peach schnapps and orange juice).

Pam, Dave, Me, Andrew

This was such a fantastic race for me. It still had some challenging parts and it really made me question how I should approach "racing" San Fran.

Root Down and Red Trolley - TGIF!

This past Friday, Pam and Jen met up with hubby and I to grab some drinks and food at a new restaurant in Denver called Root Down. When we got there at 6:00, the place was packed. Luckily, we found a table on the happy hour patio and sat down to some delicious mojitos, veggie burgers and sweet potatoe fries. I really enjoyed this place because the restaurant was retrofitted in an old car garage shop, and the restaurant follows many sustainable business practices and recycles EVERYTHING! It also has three large patio areas.

Pam, Me, Jen



Jen, Pam, Me, Hubby


We decided to end the evening by grabbing ice cream at Red Trolley a few blocks away. I tried the saltwater caramel and chocolate gelato. It was delicious but really really rich.


We made it home just in time to make a mad dash into our place before getting pelted wtih hail. We curled up, stuffed and ready to watch Benjamin Button. All in all a great evening with great company!