Two Triathlons And A Birthday

This week I raced in two short sprint triathlons and celebrated my "25th" birthday. Okay, well maybe double that number and subtract two to get my real age, but what's a number, right? I feel better and am stronger now than I ever was in my twenties.

Let me tell you I had the best birthday I've ever had and I mean EVER! How could it not be good when I'm at the beach with my wonderful husband, all my cats, on a gorgeous day, racing in a triathlon and eating cake afterward.

Perfect! 

On Thursday evening I raced in the Portofino Sunset Series triathlon and this morning I raced in the Pensacola Beach triathlon. Both races are sprints meaning short and fast as opposed to long and slower.

Portofino Sunset Series Triathlon - Thursday Evening

Team MPI, a multisport coaching organization, puts on a series of super short sprint races at Portofino Island Resort in Pensacola Beach. They do around 6 to 8 of these from April until August or September. The maximum number of participants is around 60, but there were only about 25 of us last Thursday.

It is a perfect race for beginners who have never done a triathlon or for racers looking for a fast workout. The swim is 300 yds in the Santa Rosa Sound, 7.5 mile bike ride and 1.5 mile run. All fast and flat. It was a lot of fun. I did the race as my cardio for the day instead of my usual "brick" indoor workout at the gym.

It's time to get outside now!

After the race, the Murph and I had dinner and then birthday cake. The Murph told me he wasn't going to eat any of it but changed his mind after he saw me shoveling spoonfuls of it in my mouth. We got the cake at Walmart during our grocery shopping expedition and he was telling the cashier that it was a "one person cake".  I thought he meant me since I was the only one who was going to eat it, but now I'm not so sure who that "one person" was since he was the one who finished it off the other day before I could get another piece of it!

He even ate the other rose! This size cake clearly isn't big enough for the Murph and I.

 Pensacola Beach Triathlon - Saturday morning

This morning I raced in the Pensacola Beach triathlon which was much bigger, but also great for beginners since the swim is only 400 yds and was also in the Santa Rosa Sound behind the restaurant, Flounders instead of being in ocean waters which can sometimes be a little rough.

Transition area for the bikes was across the street from Flounders in the Casino Beach parking lot. The bike was 10 miles heading east going a little past Portofino Island Resort and back. The run was a little over 3 miles.

Pictures in the transition area.

Pictures behind Flounders Restaurant.

The run from Flounders back across the street to Casino Beach was a little tricky since I was running barefoot. I noticed when I got out of the water that the smart people had left flip flops over there to run back in. Oh well, they might not have stumped a toe, but I'm pretty sure it slowed them down!

I'm fumbling around in transition trying to get my running shoes on. I need to work on this!

I placed second in my age group. See the first place finisher in the middle? She looks fast! Four minutes faster than me! She did the race in less than an hour. No way could I have done that at this point. It's too early in training for me!

Overall, I was very happy with my times in both races especially considering my lack of swim training and time on my tri bike.

Right now I'm tired, happy and a year older!

Fashion Friday - A Little Floral

On toes: China Glaze - Pink Voltage here

Dress: Free People old, but newer floral bodycon version with lace here

Sandals: BCBG MaxAzria

Bracelets:(silver) David Yurman here,  (black) Avon

Music And A Happy Place

A couple of days ago we moved the last two of our three cats down to our beach home. I'm still recovering from it! Our first mistake was not doing our normal routine that morning and the cats instantly picked up on it. They know by now what it means when suitcases are loaded in the car. Cadence immediately runs and hides. Ed usually does too, but this time for some reason he didn't.

We loaded everything in the car and then it was time to get the cats last, but where was Cadence? I looked in my closet because that was where he was last week when I was looking all over the place for Phantom, who had run and hid because he probably thought he was about to go to the vet again. He doesn't really like that.

This time, no Cadence. That would be too easy. After looking in all his normal hiding places I finally found him up under the guest bed, tucked away tight up inside the box springs.

I couldn't reach him through the hole in the cover. I reached down and pushed on the bulge that was him at the bottom of the bed. He moved further away. I couldn't get him to scoot to the hole and grab him at the same time. It was a two man job. I called the Murph for back up.

Ed came to check it out. He was really creeped out by me on the floor half under the bed with the camera in my hand.

After all, that was his hole that he chewed in the box spring covers many years ago. His hiding spot too! The box spring cover that was on the Boy's bed was cut away many years ago for exactly this reason. Once Cadence is up in there it is almost impossible to get him out.

The Murph came and pushed on the Cadence lump and guided him to the hole where I was ready to make a grab for him.

Finally he got close enough and I grabbed him.

I had him for about a minute before he managed to get away. I had him by the back leg but had to let go because I realized he would just as soon lose the leg than let me keep him. I was screaming, he was meowing, it was chaos.

I finally cornered him downstairs and managed to cram him in the cat carrier.

 Ed was easy to get in his carrier, (sorry, no pictures, we were tired and an hour later leaving than planned), but not a very good traveler considering he hadn't been in a car in 10 years. He started meowing and continued for about 2 hours. It started out a low meow, but by the time we got on the interstate it was a loud, angry, fangy face meow.

I couldn't get a picture because I was driving. Take my word for it, it wasn't good!

I didn't hear a word out of Cadence. He zoned out the minute the carrier door was closed.

Jazz music playing on the radio didn't work for Ed like it works for Phantom. I finally figured out halfway through the trip that Ed likes rap music or music with a little more beat. He loved Flo Rida and was pretty fond of ABBA too.

It's always good to know the music choices of the cats because it makes traveling so much easier!

Phantom loves jazz favorites by John Coltrane, Lester Young, Ben Webster and others. He likes mellow, moody jazz. He also loves the sax and the trumpet! Phantom is a romantic at heart.  Here's one of his many favorites.

Ed loves rap and music with some beat. He loves the drums! He likes rhythm! He freaking LOVED this song. The fangy faced meowing ceased immediately!



And Cadence is so traumatize that he hears nothing while in the car. He goes straight to his happy place!

They are both doing great in their new home, especially Ed. He's 13 years old so we decided this is his official retirement home. The Murph says it's his Boca and all he needs are some black socks and some Bermuda shorts and he's all set.

The trip over to pick Phantom up from the Boy's apartment the next day was another "adventure". I'm pretty sure that Phantom was ready to get the heck out of there! He planted himself by the front door and looked at me meowing. No problems getting him in the car this time!

The only problem was I didn't have a carrier to put him in and suddenly while we were getting on the interstate, I heard the back window going down. I looked back and there he was propped up looking out the window with his paw on the window lowering button.

I managed to get the window back up before he made a leap for it onto the interstate.

And then I had lots of wine when I got home. LOTS of wine!!

The scenery helped too!

Last Week In Pictures

Since I didn't have the computer cord for my camera with me last week, I couldn't download all the  pictures I took so I'll just post them now.

Starting with the ones from Cinco de Mayo and meeting the Babysitter for swirl margaritas.

The Babysitter came with a bag full of gifts of perfume samples, ear rings, and Lady Gaga sunglasses (sorry no picture of the sunglasses).

 I showed all the loot to the Murph when I got back home.

And the photo bombing little cat.

I really love the red neck wine glasses that Little L gave me as a going away gift. She doesn't want me to forget sweet home Alabama when I'm living in Florida.

Red neck wine glasses

I told her that the part of Florida we are moving to is pretty much the same as Alabama, just not called Alabama. I also told her we could still end up back in Alabama, just the lower part of it.

I was really afraid that the Murph wouldn't like the red Dixie cup wine glasses since it took many months to break the Boy and I from using them. They were a staple in our house when I was a single mom. No dishes to wash! The Boy still misses them.

I haven't tried drinking out of the wine glasses yet. Little L said I should pour the Murph a beer in one. That would be funny! Do I dare?

Then we had the big move Part 1 last Monday. My car was full of clothes, boxes, 2 broken remote control airplanes that the Boy needs for some unknown reason and a cat in a large carrier. (or should I say a large cat in a carrier?)

Ready for take off!

You can kind of, sort of see Phantom in the back seat inside the carrier. He's not real happy! He calmed down as soon as I turned the satellite radio to the jazz channel. It had to stay there the entire drive or he would start meowing and drive me nuts.

We had a couple of really beautiful beach days and got lots of sun.

And ate lots of seafood. I love shrimp and grits!

 And had some adult beverages.

Then before we knew it, we had to take Phantom to stay with the Boy while we headed north again for more stuff and more cats. It was a very long and tiring process that required trips to Walmart, lots of out of the way driving, sorting and cutting pills in half, disinfecting the Boy's filthy bathroom, loading up bags of trash and once we finally got home, more adult beverages.

Cadence was happy when we got back to Birmingham. He meowed loudly at us for about an hour. I tried to take pictures of him but they all came out like this because he kept moving around.

 And meowing!

Ed hid under some furniture at first but he was glad we were home too,

 Next trip they are going with us. It will be an interesting drive since Ed hasn't been in a car in about 10 years.

I don't really know why this picture was on the camera. It was the last one I took Saturday morning after my run. Maybe it's to show how healthy I'm eating these days. But really I had to eat that healthy stuff because we were out of just about everything else, including Lucky Charms.

Also, the coffee mug next to the bowl of cereal is kind of cute and pink.

I just hope we don't have to go to Walmart again this week! Moving the cats will be bad enough!

Happy Mom's Day!

It's so good being back in Birmingham (briefly) showing the house today and taking my mom to breakfast this morning. My nephew came along as well. I guess it isn't hard to tell who the eaters are in my family! It's the ones who show up for breakfast.

Here I am with my mom and I'm shoving ice or something in my mouth, dumping water down my shirt and being a wrecking ball even back then.

At races I'm still dumping water and ice down my shirt. Some things never change!

I made sure I ran with Little L this morning before the breakfast pig-out fest. We ran our usual 10 mile loop and I have to say, I am going to miss running with her on our familiar loop. I ran yesterday with our little group too. We ran almost 9 miles of every hill we could find in Mountain Brook, except the big one on the Statue to Statue 15k. That one is on the other side of Mountain Brook and we didn't run that long.

One thing I never do on Mother's day anymore is ride my bike. My worst bike crash ever happened on Mother's Day about 15 years ago. I landed right on my head and ended up in the hospital with a concussion and plenty of road rash, not knowing what happened or how old I was or where I was even though I was told a billion times. No short term memory. I fully recovered (my husband would argue that point) except for a scar on one of my shoulders.

I was out of the hospital the next day, but to this day I never bike on Mother's Day. In the past, I would do Gulf Coast triathlon on the Saturday before Mother's day so I was "recovering" on Mother's day, no chance of getting on my bike. I wouldn't have anyway!

The Boy is still at school and plans to stay there and work this summer. He was accepted into a research project with some of his professors and a few other computer students. I knew the Boy wouldn't remember that it's Mother's Day so I of course I called to remind him that he needed to wish me a happy Mother's Day! Lord knows I earned it with that kiddo!

The Boy is taking care of his cat, Phantom, who has heart disease and has to take medication every day. I've called him the last couple of mornings to remind him to give the cat the meds and by the time I call, he's already given them to Phantom. I was worried that he would forget, but it looks like the Boy is taking good care of the cat. He was really glad to see Phantom and Phantom seemed happy too.

Phantom is such a boy's cat. He loves hanging out with the Boy and his friends. He just tolerates me. They both do! That's okay because I'm tolerable.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!

Not A Real Post, Just A Lame Excuse!

I know I've sadly neglected this blog more than usual this past week, but I just wanted to say that I'm still here. I will be back!

 It's hard keeping up with it since we are in the process of moving. It will be a rather slow process of going back and forth until we either sell our house or list it with a Realtor.

And then we've got three cats to juggle and house/kitty sitters to deal with and the Boy who's in another city and will be kitty sitter to one of the cats for a while. I can only hope he remembers to give Phantom his heart medicine. The Boy also reminded me that his meal plan has ended and since he won't have one this summer, we will need to grocery shop.

Oh the fun!

I honestly can't find half my clothing now. Hopefully everything will turn up and I will somehow miraculously get organized again. Or maybe just throw my hands up and live in a state of disorganized chaos for the entire summer.

Hey, I am called the "wrecking ball" you know!

I'm A Little Late Doing This Post But... Surviving Cinco de Mayo

Image from margaritagrill.com

I know I'm a little late writing this post seeing that Cinco de Mayo was two days ago and now I can't even add my own pictures in the post because once again I don't have the camera cord that hooks to my computer. We were on the road yesterday with the big move part 1. Needless to say, the last couple of days have been busy!

I am fully recovered from all the Cinco de Mayo festivities and even made an exception and had a few margaritas despite the fact I don't do well on tequila anymore. (you can read more about that Here ). The Murph doesn't care for margaritas or Mexican food, so he opted out of the festivities.

My friend, the Babysitter and I decided to meet at a local Mexican restaurant and have a couple of drinks and some chips, salsa, cheese dip, guacamole, the works! I've missed my Mexican food fix since the Boy went away to college.

The Babysitter use to keep an eye on the Boy when I was out of town. That's why she's called "the Babysitter." Mostly she"baby sat" for him that time in 2010 when he was 18 and I was racing in Ironman Canada and he was still in high school. He calls her "the crazy lady", but he still preferred her to his anal retentive dad that weekend. He actually thinks she's pretty cool, but would never admit to it.

After we had a couple of drinks and chips at the first busy, but calm restaurant, we decided to head over to another restaurant down the street called The Margarita Grill.  It is the Boy and my all time favorite Mexican restaurant. We use to be regulars there and I love the taco salad with chicken and the chicken enchiladas. I was excited that I would have a drink there and then get a taco salad to go.

The place was packed and we had to park way down the street. The tables were full and it was standing room only by the bar and into the outside patio area. A band was playing. When we walked in I saw more friends S, the baby chick pinger and C, the cat killer.(you can read more about how they got those names Here) I started talking to S and the next thing I know a ruckus starts right next to us between two sisters. The Babysitter looks over at me and says, "Girl fight!" S runs over to her friend who was the calm sister in the girl fight. I think to myself, "oh know!" and back away and began texting the Murph. "Help, come get me!"

Next thing I know I hear, "Get your hands off of me NOW!!" I look over to see the Babysitter restraining a very irate blond girl. The Babysitter refuses to unhand her and begins screaming for the bouncer to come throw her out. Here's kind of how the Babysitter looked during this scuffle...

They promptly threw the blonde out and calmness resumed.

Close call!

S and C came over and asked where the Murph was. I told them he's at home won't come over, so C grabs me and tells S to take a pic with her phone and send it to the Murph.

"I bet this will get the Murph over here, " he said as he attempted to grab me in a bear hug as I struggled to get away. S laughed and snapped the pic to send to my husband. I'm thinking, oh great I'm in trouble now!

The Murph got a good laugh out of it, but still had no desire to come over. I can't say I blamed him at that point! With all the commotion going on, I failed to keep an eye on the Babysitter. Left to her own devices, this could mean trouble.

Why does it seem like most of my friends are like that?

I saw that the Babysitter was sitting at a table with what looked to be a bunch of 20 year olds and she was laughing and having a great time. Maybe a little too great! I decided I better head on over.

When I got to her table, one of the young guys looked at me, pointed at the Babysitter and said, "SHE"S LOOKING AT MY BUTT!!"

The Babysitter started laughing and shaking her head. While I didn't believe for a minute that she was looking at his butt (wishful thinking on his part), I played along and apologized for her and told him I just couldn't take her anywhere!

At that point a young girl came out of nowhere and began to chew the guy out. The Babysitter hurriedly gets up from the table and once again I'm clueless as to what's going on. The Babysitter told me the girl is mad because he's flirting with her. Maybe that's his girlfriend. Who the heck knows!

I realize at this point that I need to get the Babysitter out of there and fast! Forget the taco salad!

I told her to follow me and we made our way out through the wall of people. When I got home and told the Murph he shook his head, laughed and said the Babysitter is just a troublemaker. I reminded him that he thought I was a troublemaker too. He agreed, but said I'm a different kind of troublemaker.  He said she gets a little too involved in other peoples business and she should stay out of it.

I told the Murph that that is impossible. It's against her religion. We were in the restaurant barely 5 minutes and she's trying to single handedly break up a girl fight.

 I told the Murph that the Babysitter was coming to visit us at the beach on her birthday, which is the same weekend that there is a big festival on the beach. It should be FUN!

He said that would be okay, but first she's going to have to sign a waiver. She MUST sign a waiver! No trouble making and stay out of other people's business, fights and such. A non trouble making waiver.

Knowing the Babysitter, that's not gonna happen! She might sign the waiver, but it would be next to impossible for her not to get involved in things. Next to IMPOSSIBLE!!

I'm Officially Hiding Out And It's Necessary For My Sanity

I have to confess that I've been avoiding the Boy as much as possible these days. It's so much easier than it use to be now the he's away a college! He use to always find me when he was home, even when I didn't answer his screams for "MOM!!" I would be as silent as possible as I listened to him running through the house screaming my name until he eventually found me. These days though it's not so easy for the poor guy to find his mom when she doesn't want to be found.

Image from paypal.com

What has made me avoid him lately? Well what doesn't, but the latest thing that has made me avoid him like the plague is his new "business venture" idea.

I guess it's is an Asperger thing, obsessive interests and such, but whenever he gets his mind on something he can be brutal. Just brutal!

The latest is his idea to create this product (that is highly secret so I can't say what it is on here) and then sell it on ebay. The only problem is he doesn't really know how to sell on ebay and felt he needed someone more established and experienced on ebay to sell his new item.

That's where I come in. Not that I've ever sold anything on ebay or anything like that and he knows this so that's not where I come in.

Here's where I come in.

He called me a few weeks ago to ask me if I knew anybody who could sell it for him on ebay. My mistake was ( before getting more information) saying, "Why yes, I know a couple of people. I'll ask them." After that he called my every single day, morning and night to find out if I had asked them and gotten their email address so he could contact them.

He need to "discuss" things with them he said.

It was my understanding that all he needed was someone to put these items on ebay for him and when the items sold, these people would get 20% commission and the Boy would get the rest. What I didn't know was the Boy needed about $3000 to get the components to build these items in the first place and was going to try to get these ebay friends of mine to front him the money!

WTF!

Good thing I found out about this scheme BEFORE I called them or gave the Boy their contact information. After getting this last bit of information (that I should have found out in the first place),  I told the Boy to just forget about it.

 Focus on school work. Get an hourly job on campus. This wasn't the time to invest in a business. Wait until you graduate!

I reminded him of that last business when he and a friend had "incorporated" and we're still dealing with the tax ramifications on a corporation that existed, but not really even though legally it did according to the government and a bunch of legal papers.

Try explaining it to the government. "Well uhhhhh, they were just 17 years old and still in high school and the business never made a profit and really isn't a business at all because they never had time to build it because they had school work to do so do they really have to pay that $2000 in penalties and back tax?"

No, I don't want to go there again!

I hope the Boy can't find me!

May Day Fashion And Time For A New Cat Yoga Pose

 Dress: New Romantic from Free People, old;  Shoes: Christian Louboutin, old;  Bracelets: John Hardy Bracelet similar Here and David Yurman Bracelet Here;  Lips: MAC Girl About Town, Here

Jacket: Soho, old;  Tank:  Helmet, Here;  Shorts: American Eagle, old;  Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell;  Lips: MAC Girl About Town, Here

A couple of my favorite pairs of shoes! I got the Louboutins on sale during a trip to Atlanta a few years ago. They are my most comfortable pair of Louboutins. I can barely walk in the Christian Louboutin black pumps I bought several years ago so they don't get worn much, but I still love to look at them.

The pink Jeffrey Campbell shoes were purchased last year. I love them mostly because they're pink!

Also, happy May 1st and time for another kitty yoga pose for the month of May!

This pose is called Pip Triangle Pose Variation and Ms. May does it so well! I'm going to have to pass on this one though. Looks like it requires to much balance and coordination.