Rants, Recipes, and Running

As you probably know by now, one of our favorite things about living in Tucson is the hiking. In fact, every time I start feeling negative about living here - I remember the beautiful hikes that are right outside our front door. So I thought to compile a list of our favorite hikes in the area. I'll be honest and say that no matter where you hike, you're guaranteed to have views of beautiful desert landscape and challenges. But this is a list of our favorites, in no particular order. #1 Mount Wrightston from Madera Canyon. Where it's at : South of Tucson. You would take I-19 south to the Pima Mine Road exit. It's a pretty drive through the pecan groves. You drive into Madera Canyon, and there is a variety of hiking trails. Our favorite trail : Follow the signs to "Old Baldy". This is more of a "woodsy" hiking trail, in opposed to Tucson's typical desert landscape. What it's known for : Bird watching. You will see many beautiful birds,...

Happy Moments from the week. As with all weeks, there were happy moments and not-so-happy moments . The not-so-happy: 1. Our HOA are being, well, "HOA-y". I think your imagination can fill in the blank. Just remember when you own a home in a strict HOA, that is apparently a crime to try to increase the value of your home. Such as hiring professional painters to paint the exterior (with colors approved by the HOA book). They apparently would like your home to rot, and have paint peeling off like some of the other homes in the neighborhood. Okay. I'm ranting. 2. The tone at work was stressed . We had the big triennial inspection/audit. And no matter how much preparation you do for these things, it always just puts everyone on edge. So I greeting Friday evening with a big smile ( and a cold beer ). But despite some shortcomings this week. There were some really fantastic moments that I prefer to focus on: This week we finally are experiencing our 1st mornings whe...

It's been awhile since this blog has seen any "shop talk". In fact, if you are involved in my day to day life, you would find I don't like to talk about work very much. Is it because I don't like my job? Not at all. I am currently in a state where I'm not excited about it. I know. "Abby, it's called work for a reason. You're not going to be springing out of bed every single morning singing and dancing in a fit of joy over your job." (I repeat this mantra to myself at least weekly) Since I've graduated from college, I've tried quite a lot in my career for a nurse my age. I did a short stint in rehabilitation nursing (just to tide me over until the contract with my hospital was official), telemetry nursing, charge nurse, administrative house supervisor, emergency room nurse, travel nurse, and finally case manager. I'm coming up on my "4 year anniversary" as a RN. That's a lot . Don't worry, my resume isn...

All these vacation posts may have one thinking, "She must have falling off the wagon on that half ironman training!" Not entirely true. However, I will say that week-long trip away did give me a little break from the constant circus of running from the pool, to the pedals, to the road! It was heavenly . It has also been extremely difficult for me to get back on my bike since we've returned. Those 3-4 hour rides are so mentally difficult for me. Dealing with traffic, stop lights, sharp turns, worry of having to change a tire....it all gets me quite worked up. Plus, 4 hours on that tiny, torturous seat becomes barbaric. I am currently in my final push before the taper. Race day is October 19. I can almost say "I made it!" Which is a pretty cool feeling. Because I'm working this weekend, my training is a little screwy. I had Wed and Thurs off this week, so should have gotten a 50 mile ride in. But I just didn't have it in me. So here is a sample of m...

I left off with our vineyard day in the Napa countryside, which left us rested and rejuvenated after a grueling 30 hour race! Monday morning, about half of the crew had flights back to AZ out of SFO. So we packed up the van for the last time, and made our way back to SF. Ryan and I stayed at The Prescott , which is a boutique hotel 1 block away from Union Square. It was wonderful, and we'd definitely come back. It definitely had that historical, San Francisco-charm with a hint of elegance. It had rolling staircases, and crown molding, and just details you don't get at a Marriott. We had 1 day left in the city, so we set out on a mission ! We put on our good walking shoes, dropped our bags,and set out. We walked through some of the shops on Union Square, like the 3-story Louis Vuitton store housing $300 belts. Or the 8-story Macy's. It is amazing how these places stay open?! Then we walked through China-town,North Beach, and to Fisherman's Wharf to get our prized...

Where I left off was our 30 hour Ragnar race.... Our team crossed the finish line Saturday afternoon at 3:30. Which means from Friday at 4am-Saturday 3:30pm, we were either running or in a van. And we were quite  delirious  tired. Saturday night we went to dinner at Oenotri in downtown Napa. It was an Italian restaurant that made their pasta to order. I had a delicious rigatoni with a red sauce with fresh basil and walnuts. It was like red sauce meets pesto. At that point - saltine crackers would've tasted like gourmet cuisine .....so this meal was exceptionally incredible!!! #hungry #famished #dehydrated Happy, hungry, celebratory faces The beautiful vines ready for harvest! We were in bed by 8:30 and slept until 7 am! Some of the team had flights to catch in the morning early Sunday morning, but there were 7 of us who stayed in Napa to tour wineries - so we had a busy day ahead of us. We actually knew a girl through the race that lives in S...