Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was Ryan's 27th birthday. We have been somewhat dieting so this was a special occasion where all dieting was put on hold for one day. Yippee. With that being the case we did not waste anytime before a juicy burger was in our mouth. We went to The Porch for breakfast/ lunch. The birthday boy scarfed down a Stodg Burger*- Aged Cheddar, Apple Wood Smoked Bacon & Fried Egg on Foie Buttered Bun, not at all diet friendly. For entertainment we went to the Magnolia Theater to see Che. A special feature showing part one and two back to back, for a total of four hours! wheew that was long. Good but long.

Ryan and I are faithful watchers of Top Chef. Tom Colicchio (the main bald headed judge) has a restaurant here in Dallas called Craft, we had to see if he merited the pretentious attitude. He does. His restaurant was very good, worth a recommendation. The worst part about it was at the end we looked over the dessert menu for fun, knowing that I had made a birthday cake and that would be our dessert. ( A little background on the cake I slaved hours over, literally. I got the recipe from our favorite San Fransisco bakery, Tartine. I have had it planed weeks before his birthday. It includes four layers of homemade chocolate cake, homemade caramel, and homemade chocolate ganache repeating. I made everything from scratch I was proud of my work. For me it was the most anticipated moment of the day.) OK back to the restaurant. We noticed a chocolate devils food cake layered with chocolate ganache, something very similar to what I had prepared. The waiter came back to see if we made a decisions, we declined letting him know we were having birthday cake at home....a few minutes later he sent over a mini chocolate cake with a candle, the one we had read on the menu. It was amazing, the ganache was perfectly silky and the cake was perfectly moist. It was Delicious! Needless to say I was no longer excited to go home and eat my cake. Thanks Tom for putting all my hard work to shame.
For Ryan's birthday present I got him an "athletic" watch the Garmin Forerunner 50 . It moniters your heart rate, keeps track of how far you have gone, he can sync it to his bike too... and it does lots of other cool stuff.

Cancun, Mexico

Ryan and I decided to head to Cancun for a couple of days. We had such a good time; I really had a hard time leaving. The colors were so beautiful, between the bright blue ocean and all the plants and flowers. Where ever there was space available something was growing. The first day we got there we spent our time exploring. That evening the resort hosted a Mexican show with yummy Mexican food, and performances by some talented dancers.

The next day we heard it was supposed to sprinkle on and off, which it did, so we decided to use that day to visit the Mayan Temple, Chitzen Itza. It was just named one of the new Wonders of the World. It was pretty incredible to see. The Mayan people were so smart and everything they built had a greater significant meaning. For example, the main temple, around every spring and autumn equinox at the rising and setting of the sun, the corner of the structure casts a shadow in the shape of a serpent. In addition it had four sides with four stair cases. Each side had 91 steps totaling 365. The Mayans were one of the first people to understand the mathematical significance of zero. Another one of their structures, the observatory, had a tiny window at the top and when the sun shined directly through they new exactly what time of year it was and when to harvest. The Mayans also did a lot of crazy things too. Mexico is made of lime stone, when water penetrates under lime stone it erodes and creates a giant sink hole called a Cenote. The Mayan people thought of Cenotes as holy and would sacrifice children and valuable things like Jade (meaning eternal life) by throwing them in the Cenotes. On our tour we had the chance to swim in a Cenote, scary!! It actually wasn’t at the same location as the Mayan ruins but who knows it could have been used a sacrificial site.

The rest of the trip we spent relaxing on the beach. Oh and we went snorkeling, but I have to say I though Cozumel had better snorkeling. I haven’t got my under water camera developed yet, but when I do I will post some pictures of our finds. For now here are the some pictures of our trip above water…

Relaxing

Our hotel we stayed at, The Royal Cancun

Chitzen Itza, the main temple
ornate detail

The Observatory
Columns in the the temple of a Thousand Warriors
This was a crazy wall with skulls engraved on the stone,
underneath there were real human skulls
The Cenote where they did all of the sacrificing

The Cenote where we swam Ryan jumping in the Cenote

Bold in the Cold

This morning Me, Lindsay, Ryan, and Matt faced the cold weather for a little 5k. It was so cold, around 30 degrees + wind chill. Speaking for myself I was not in any shape to be running. This run was to jump start the season to get motivated to work out. Afterward we went to Waffle Way where we all made a commitment to an Olympic Triathlon at the end of this season. We will see if it comes true.

Sugar Bowl

GO UTES 13-0

The start of a New year

Happy New Year!New Years Eve last picture of 08

We started the new year off right, watching football with good food and good company. Matt and Lindsay had us over to watch the the Rose Bowl. Matt BBQ bacon wrapped fillets, squash and zucchini. They were delicious. For dessert we enjoyed a yummy pecan pie from Tootie Pie Co.

Matt could not keep his eyes off this football game