Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Oops! False Alarm

Hello All!!!  Today is very exciting - it is my 100th post!  No, no it's not, sadly I cannot count... it's only my 98th.  And as such I have so much to cover - Alyssa's birthday, Bob's birthday, Curious George Live, Halloween, and Costumes for a Cause.  Oh yeah, and there's a slightly big event coming up this weekend...

I had previously mentioned Alyssa's birthday in passing, but I forgot to mention what I got her!  I made a gift basket fit for a Running Buddy - Power Bars, Honey Stingers, Cliff Bloks, Gatorades, a running magazine, a Camelbak water bottle (like the one I have with the bite valve), Body Glide, Tiger Balm, and a mini almond torte from Prantl's.  I do believe she enjoyed it!  Her birthday was celebrated with friends at the Saloon in Mt. Lebanon, deep fried pretzels, and Hello Kitty cupcakes from Sam's Club (surprisingly delicious!).

Curious George Live was in town which meant Boo and Seth were here!!!  Thursday night I cooked dinner for them plus Angelina and Dan; we had - cider glazed pork chops and shallots, mashed sweet potatoes, roasted asparagus with brown butter hazelnut sauce, Mancini's rolls, and really yummy caramelized pecan brownies (from a box).  It was so much fun and they didn't leave until around midnight because we all lost track of time telling tour stories.  Seth showed me around backstage on Friday and Boo got me tickets for Saturday's show - I took MJ (from work), her son, and her granddaughter.  The show was fun, but sadly it is closing in just a couple weeks.

Saturday night we celebrated Bob's birthday by everyone getting dressed up for Halloween and going to the Hofbrau Haus and Claddaugh's Pub on the South Side. 

Everyone's costumes were:
Alyssa - Katy Perry (from the SNL sketch)
Bob - Conan O'Brien
Boo - Rick James
Justin - Sesame Street martian (also known as a Yip-Yip)
Andrea - Slutty Hogwarts student
Kristi - angel
Tom - death (black robe with a skeleton mask & hands)
Me - sassy Elmo (google it)

Also there were 2 of Andrea's friends, Angelina, Dan, and Angelina's twin sister Christina.

At Hofbrau Alyssa, Bob, Boo and I did a "shotski" (a ski with shots lined up on it that everyone does together) of Swedish fish shots.  I've never had a Swedish fish shot, but they were quite yummy, and I've never done a shotski, but it was quite fun.  We did discover though that all persons doing said shotski should be the same height - by the time the ski was fully tipped Alyssa and I were on our tiptoes trying not to have liquor dumped on us! 

Sunday was Costumes for a Cause, which was possibly the best race all around ever!  After a slightly late start and an unexpected detour we checked in just in time to warm-up before the race.  There were over 300 participants split into 3 categories - a kid's fun run (which took place an hour before the 5K), and then 5K walkers and 5K runners.  At least a third of the people were in costume and there were even 3 pierogies!  If you have ever been to a Pittsburgh Pirate game you probably know all about the pierogies - every game there is a pierogie race between two of the innings, and they all have fun names like: Sauerkraut Saul and Cheddar Chester.


Here are all the runners getting briefed on the course...


 Almost time to start running...


Alyssa crossing the finish line...
(the course went around the lake you can see in the background)


And me 8 seconds later...
(not quite sure what's up with my pants though, I must have had them hiked up to my rib cage!)


What's a race without Smiley cookies?


Here come the Pierogies!!!
I was impressed by the pierogies, even in those exceptionally restricting costumes they came in at about an hour.

The swag bags were awesome as well - a long sleeve t-shirt, small LED flashlight, pen, notepad, cookie, toothbrush, travel sized toothpaste, sample of BioFreeze, sample of Biore makeup wipes, and a 50% off coupon for an hour long massage!

It was the best post-race party too - the kids painted pumpkins and were playing catch with a football, there was a costume contest, spiced apple cider, hot dogs, popcorn, Smiley cookies, Frownie brownies, and door prizes!  Alyssa won a free ice cream sundae, and I won a camo print backpack from the National Guard. 

Alyssa had only one complaint about the whole event - they got her name wrong and she was listed as Amy.

Only 4 days left until the half marathon, our 5 mile run on Saturday went great, Sunday's race we were content with and now just a couple short runs left!

Check back in the next couple days for more photos from last weekend and more info on preparations for this weekend!


1 comment:

  1. Amy Mounts...still amuses me to no end!!

    Plus...you asked what a race is without Smiley Cookies but failed to answer the question so I will: UHHHH...#*$&ING ZOOZILLA?!!

    ReplyDelete