Movie Monday (An Ode to the Little-Known, the Under-rated and/or the Cult Classic)

     
      Finally a movie that was made during my lifetime! (Made in 1998)  To serve as a little motivation for my half-marathon training, this week's movie is about one of the most legendary runners in history - Steve Prefontaine.  The movie is Without Limits. 
      Prefontaine captured the attention of the nation in the 1970's as a cocky, larger than life runner.  My dad first introduced me to Prefontaine when I was in middle school, when he rented Without Limits right after it came out.  Although I was a slightly chubby, shy, thirteen year old, this infamous athlete was someone I somehow connected with.  He was a man with heart, determination and an un-wavering belief in himself.  He could dig deep within to find something that no one else believed he had.
      Without Limits is the quintessential sports movie (a genre I've always had a huge weak spot for, surprising as it may be)- with struggle, triumph, and some good-old male bonding thrown in.  The thing that makes this particular sports movie so special is the man it's based on.  There is simply something fascinating about who Steve Prefontaine was.
      Check it out, it's an inspiring and awesomely made movie!

 Billy Crudup in Without Limits

The real Steve Prefontaine

Training Update- Week 4

One word for last week's running stats- abysmal.  I ran a pathetic 7 miles this week.  I was so sick on Thursday and Friday that it was impossible for me to run.  I felt better on Saturday and tried to get a run in but I just didn't have my wind back yet and had to slow down to a walk after about 10 minutes.  I'm not at all down on myself, I know that this week will be better!  I had a great run today and this is going to be a long process, if I ever do make it to Disneyland - and staying healthy is my top priority!

Sunday Funday

I've been working non-stop this weekend (including today in about... oh, half an hour) so I haven't really had time to post anything but I wanted to share a really cool, little thing that I found on another blog, A CUP OF JO .  It's a photo project in which the photographer gets the people to re-create their childhood photos.  It amazes me how well people are able to make the exact same expression that their toddler-selves made so many years ago it's really fun!

Who votes that I re-create this photo of me, circa 1998?  Yikes!

Travel Thursday!

In December of 2009 my family and I were going to spend our first non-traditional Christmas in Italy where my sister, Amanda, had been studying abroad for the previous 4 months.  Plans changed when my darling Mommy was diagnosed with breast cancer in October of that year.  Her treatment would keep she and my Dad from coming but, awesome parents that they are, they still urged me to go and stay in the apartment that they had rented for the family.  It was a scary time for my family but my sister and I decided that the chance to travel in Europe just the two of us was too good an opportunity to pass up- so we stayed up until a few days before Christmas and then flew to California to be with my parents for the actual holiday.

This was my first time traveling abroad by myself, which was an adventure in itself.

I landed in Rome and had to make it to the hostel where I would meet Amanda.  That was were the adventure started.  I got on the train and eventually found myself gazing out at the beautiful Italian country side - wait... country side?!  My hostel was in downtown Rome!  Okay no big, wrong train.  What's a lone 24 year-old American tourist to do?  Find other lost American tourists, of course.  I started eavesdropping on a nice thirtysomething, Midwestern couple who were in the same boat and latched right on to 'em.  The husband had been stationed in Rome several years before so he talked us into a couple of train transfers that turned out not to be the right ones and felt so bad that he paid for my cab right up to the hostel's doorstep.  It was only around 10 am but I was jet lagged out of my mind so I snoozed in the lobby (the rooms weren't available for check-in until 3pm) until a strange man who was also staying in the hostel asked me to lunch.  Now I'm a very safety conscious traveler, so naturally I wasted no time in saying... "yeah, sure".  And thus, I enjoyed my first Italian pizza.  Delicious- the pizza in Italy is so unlike the pizza in the US - really fresh and simple, so good!
Amanda eventually met me at the hostel and we spent the next day exploring Rome.  It's very Eurocentric of me, but there is nothing that interests me more than European history.  It was like a dream come true getting to visit the places I'd spent so long learning about.

The wonders of Roma...

 The Trevi Fountain

 Saint Peter's Square

 Pantheon

The Coliseum

And... GELATO!

Our next stop was Siena, Italy- where Amanda had been studying.  It's a really beautiful little Italian town.  We're talking narrow, cobbled streets and everything. 



The next city we went to was beautiful Florence.  Amanda and I spent the day looking at the famous duomo in Florence and priceless works of art at the Uffizi Gallery.

Seriously, where else can you find sidewalk chalk art like this?

Venice was the last city we visited in Italy.  It was a stunning city but it snowed the first night we were there and the streets were totaly flooded the next day - they set up catwalks all throughout the city that all the tourists walked on, the locals just wore thigh high wader boots and walked through the water.  Still an experience!

The absolute best thing about Italy is how very Italy it is.  There's really no other way to describe it.  Everything that you read or see about Italy is true - it has such a strong sense of self and it's unlike any other place.



20 Years Ago

Me at age 5, I'm loving the early 90's haircut

Childhood and the passage of time is something that has always fascinated me.  I can still identify so much with who I was 20, 15, 10 and 5 years ago that it really blows my mind sometimes that I'm even old enough to remember 20 years ago.  When you're a child it seems that you'll always be one.  You'll always live with your parents, you'll always be in school, you'll always fight with your sister.  Life moves at a snail's pace and even though you can't wait to grow up, it seems like you never really will. 

Lately I've been drawing parallels with the feelings my 5 year old self had about growing up to the feelings I have now about starting my "adult" life - I'm excited and I know it's coming but it's still so abstract.  Each stage of life is so precious and, although it is beyond cliche, you never really appreciate it until it's in the past.  As those who have read my blog before know, I talk a lot about quarter-life crises and the angst that sometimes comes with being a 20-something (it almost puts my teen years to shame- almost), but it's also one of my goals to capture this moment in my life and the beauty that comes with it - although I can't see it yet, I know- with absolute certainty- that this period in my life will someday be washed in the rose-colored, hazy, nostalgia that allows me to view the rest of my past so fondly.  So, for the next few weeks (or whenever I feel like it) I will be giving a snapshot of who I was 20, 15, 10, 5 years ago and then see if I can capture who I am now.

Twenty years ago I was 5 years old.  I was in Kindergarten at a brand new Elementary School, Abia Judd, and I was psyched out of my mind to be there.  I was mere months away from meeting my best friend to this day, Caitlin. 

As with all 5 year olds, my parents were the center of my universe and there was nothing more exciting than when my Grandparents or Aunts came to visit.  My mom took my little sister and I to our little small-town library probably once a week and it was always the highlight of my week (probably why I'm such a bookworm now).  I subscribed to the magazine Highlights, my favorite books were Maude and Claude Go Abroad and Bread and Jam for Frances.  My favorite movie was the Disney version of The Jungle Book (my Dad still cannot hear the song "Bare Necessities" without wincing).  And I loved loved loved the re-runs of the cartoons "Rocky and Bullwinkle" and" Fractured Fairytales" that were always on and I'm pretty sure I wanted to be "She-Ra" and the girls from "Jem".

My sister (who is now my ultimate best friend) and I have had a constantly evolving relationship, so it will be really interesting to make little notes on that in these posts.  When I was 5 Amanda was 3 and she was like my built-in playmate.  We spent hours playing dress up or Candyland, sliding down the stairs on our Little Mermaid sleeping bags.

Being 5 years old was a magical time.  You're still young enough to totally enjoy being a kid, without worrying at all about growing up faster or acting cool and there is so much of the world left to discover- although, when isn't there?  The things you're discovering may change, but there will always be so much more.  

Cute Little DIY

Check out the tutorial to making your own Mason Jar Terrarium I found on Apartment Therapy- it's super cute and really easy! 

Supplies;
Any size or shape mason jar,
Potting soil,
Terrarium charcoal (so it doesn't start to smell),
Pebbles,
Preserved sheet moss (easier to find than I thought it would be- I found mine at Michael's),
Any cute little decorations (I totally copied the example and used a tiny deer figurine- also found at Michael's)

In a clean, dry mason jar layer the pebbles, terrarium charcoal, soil and preserved sheet moss (just tear the sheet moss into pieces and layer them over the soil).  Then simply water the terrarium until you can see a little moisture all the way down to the pebbles and screw on the lid and you're good to go!

Here's the picture of mine

Pretty Whimsy

Check out this article about a beautiful little Victorian inspired cottage.  The woman re-did the cottage herself (it was built as a small hunting cabin), much of it with vintage/salvaged stuff.  This little cottage gives the impression of a grown-up version of a playhouse and I would absolutely love to spend my time here!  Well I'm off to dream of my own tiny dream house...

Thanks for the link, Auntie K! <3

Movie Monday (An Ode to the Little-Known, the Under-Rated and/or the Cult Classic)

Image via

This week's movie is Chinatown.  It was made in the mid-70's, was nominated for 11 Oscars and was decided to be so culturally important that the Library of Congress is keeps a copy in order to preserve it forever- yet very few people (my age, at least) seem to have seen it or even heard of it.  Although, once you see the movie I guarantee you'll start to notice references all over the place in pop culture history. 
Chinatown is a murder mystery but, at least to me, the style and feel of the movie are even more important than the story-line.  Faye Dunaway is totally stunning in this movie and it's awesome to see such a young Jack Nicholson. 
I will admit that, compared to the fast pace of movies today, Chinatown can seem to start out a little slow and reading the synopsis might put you to sleep - but Chinatown is iconic, an absolute classic. 
"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown"- watch the movie and I promise you'll start hearing this quote everywhere- and now you'll understand it!

Image via

Training Update - Week 3

Well I didn't quite hit my 15 mile goal this week, but I'm going to have to blame the 12+ inches of snow that closed the gym and covered my car.  I did get 12 miles in and I'm setting my goal for next week at 18 miles!  I'm off to gym as we speak!

Snow Day

When I was growing up there was nothing like waking up in the morning and finding a fresh blanket of snow outside.  The way the snow transformed the everyday scenery in my own backyard was absolutely amazing to me.  As corny as it sounds, the way the snow sparkled before my young eyes and the feeling I got when I was walking in snow that no one had ever set foot on before was magical.  Some of my most vivid childhood memories were from snow days.

As time has progressed my attitude towards snow has changed.  Instead of eagerly anticipating a morning of waking up to snow, I find myself hoping that the weatherman had it wrong and that by some miracle the storm passed without dropping a flake.  Instead of hurriedly throwing on snow clothes to spend hours literally relishing in my time to play in the snow, I find myself grudgingly throwing on boots and gloves to dig out my car.  The inconvenience of snow never crossed my mind as a child, but now it seems to be all I see.

Good old northern Arizona (Flagstaff to be exact) got over a foot of snow this weekend and I'm trying my hardest to ignore the looming hours that I will have to spend shovelling my sidewalk and driveway, the everlasting wetness at the hem of my jeans, and the necessity of wearing snowboots everywhere for the next several days at least.  I will try to honor my 6 year old, 8 year old, even 12 year old self and the love she felt for snow.  Even if I never manage to get out and build a snowman, have a snowball fight or go sledding, I will remind myself of how quiet and peaceful everything is when it's snowing and how small everything seems after it is covered with snow - and also that I may not always live in a place that gets snow and how much I'll miss it then. 

I spent the weekend collecting beautiful images of the winter wonderland I'm living in...

Healthy(ish) Recipe

I had to add the "ish" to the recipe for this Mediterranean Melt because it does include pesto (hello, fat!) and ciabatta bread (I'm typically part of the semi-low carb school of thought).  However, you do get a great big helping of veggies- and that's got to make up for it a little bit, right?  

Ingredients:
1 loaf of fresh ciabatta bread (mine was a huge square loaf so I just cut it into what seemed like a reasonable size)
1 zucchini
1 small yellow squash
1/2 yellow onion
1 package of baby bellas (mushrooms)
1 red bell pepper
Sliced mozzarella cheese
Pesto
Extra virgin olive oil

*First slice all veggies.
*Next sautee baby bellas and onions in a sauce pan with olive oil and a dash of sea salt (until onions become translucent) 

*Then mist the sliced squash, zucchini and red bell peppers with olive oil and grill until they are tender- I used my baby George Forman and it worked great.

Then spread a little bit of pesto on one side of your ciabatta bread (don't go too crazy- a little bit goes a long way, and as I mentioned, pesto has a pretty sizable fat content) and place a slice of mozzarella cheese on the other side.

*Next place your grilled veggies on top of the bread and bake in the oven (open-faced) for about 10 mins at 275 degrees just to melt the cheese and get the bread a little bit crispy

Then enjoy!  If you are watching what you're eating most or all of the time it's really nice to have some dinners every once in a while that feel a little bit like cheating.  The bread, cheese and pesto totally give this sandwich a forbidden feeling, but where you're cooking at home and know exactly how much olive oil, pesto, etc is going in to your food you're always ahead of the eating-out curve.  So if you're low-carb savor the bread, and if you're low-fat relish the pesto and enjoy!