Easter Eggstravaganza

Santa Monica Place hosted a Easter bag decorating event, complete with egg hunting at several stores. The girls also got face painting, cotton candy, and balloon rabbits. Afterwards, we walked along the Promenade and checked out the Buy Local Expo, mainly grabbing free food and recyclable bags.

I wonder who painted the painter's face

Modeling their paintings

Yummy cotton candy

Decorating recyclable bags at the Expo

Baby blue

Easter egg hunt at Sophie's school

Sophie's famous wink

January Jones at the pediatricians again

Sharing

Today I volunteered at Sophie's class, which was more fun than usual because the kids made cupcakes. Yes, I had to pass the bowl around 6 times so that each kid got a chance to do each step...pour in flour, stir, etc. I normally don't let my kids help in the kitchen because it gets awfully messy, but this experience helped me see that it wasn't so bad.

Sophie shared my marathon medal in class

She wanted to wear it all day

Cupcake time! I also brought some banana chocolate chip cupcakes to celebrate Sophie's upcoming birthday. Lots of sugar today!

In the afternoon, we met Snow and Elizabeth at the food trucks to get a free meal. BBC America was promoting their new show No Kitchen Required by giving everyone a ticket for an entree, drink, and ice cream. We spent three hours standing in lines, but it was a lot of fun. It's not every day that we get to eat lobster rolls or crepes from a truck.

Joining the food frenzy

I got to watch some of the show on the big screen while waiting in the crepe line. It's pretty interesting, think Survivor meets Iron Chef.

Food trucks are everywhere in LA and quite popular

Windy rainy Sunday

We revisited The Beachcomber Cafe with Cora this morning; we went last year for our girlfriend getaway as well. It was awfully windy and the forecast called for rain, but it was nice and dry during brunch with the plastic screens down. Then we met Mike and Minji in Irvine where I stocked up on some pastries. For lunch, we introduced Cora to our favorite spring rolls at Brodard and to awesome Vietnamese food. With a couple hours left to kill, we got out of the rain and walked around Manhattan Village just before dropping Cora off for her flight back home to Houston. We had one last meet-up with Bert and Judy at Fritto Misto for dinner before our busy weekend ended.

Aunt Cora and the girls at Crystal Cove

Brunch is served

Buns, anyone?

Cora and her Cali family

Ojai

After a manicure and pedicure, the last of my self-pampering, on Thursday, I picked up my sister-in-law Cora from the airport, thus, beginning our girlfriend weekend. We had a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant Alejos and grabbed a crepe and milk teas afterwards. Then we spent the afternoon walking the Promenade in misty weather, but still enjoyed the freedom from our kids. By 5, both my kids were back and we had a simple crock pot dinner with Snow and company. During this time, the idea of watching the midnight showing of Hunger Games was being tossed around and after some arrangements and hours of trying to stay awake, we hit the theatres. The movie was great and know I have an urge to read all the books.

Friday, after dropping Sophie off at Elizabeth's place, Cora, Snow, and I had breakfast at Amandine Patisserie and then hit the outlets. We literally spent hours there until our eyes couldn't stay open any longer and our stomachs were growling with hunger. We spotted an Olive Garden off the highway and arrived to Ojai Valley Inn & Spa around 10 PM; Jean, Cora's cousin met us moments later.

Yummy breakfast at Amandine

Girlfriends

The next morning we had an awesome buffet breakfast, with all sorts of delicacies...smoked salmon, strawberry butter, and wine-infused fruits. Then we joined a yoga class to start off our spa day. Jean moved her massage time up six hours, so the remaining gals went exploring while she was away. When Jean finished, we had a light lunch before the rest of us got our facials. We spotted actress Kim Raver of Grey's Anatomy and 24 at the spa too, which was pretty cool though expected as the resort is a favorite amongst celebs. Around 6, we got ready to head out and have dinner, and enjoyed a shaved snow at Blockheads before calling it a day.

Good morning, Ojai!

Ojai Valley Inn & Spa

Talk about rolling hills!

Snow grabbing her 100th pixie tangerine. :P They were sooooo sweet!

Hand painted scarves

Chillin'

Thanks for a wonderful day!

Dylan at True Food

Needless to say, I was very sore for the next couple of days and going down the stairs at home was especially torturous. I still walked (like a zombie) with Lydia to and from school though so my muscles wouldn't lock up and to my Mom's night out with Lydia's classroom moms. I did, however, get some pampering earlier in the day with a make-over at Sephora and a haircut. I even ran into a celebrity at dinner, Dylan McDermott, and made a complete fool of myself. Oh well, life is short. :P

I sat right next to Dylan while waiting for our table, but my buzzer went off and I didn't have time to ask for a picture like I intended. Instead, I just snapped this quick one on the way to our table.

LA Marathon

After 8 weeks of training, the big day finally arrived. I barely slept, getting only three hours of straight sleep and waking up every hour until 3:3o AM. After a quick breakfast of a bagel with almond butter, Trung dropped me off at the Santa Monica City Hall where a shuttle took me and hundreds of runners to Dodger Stadium. When I arrived, I grabbed a banana and found a spot in a heated tent to keep warm for the next couple of hours. Everyone I talked to was very nice and it made the time go by faster. About thirty minutes before race time, I joined the masses at the porter potty lines. I didn't think the lines would be so crazy long and I had to go pretty badly, so I had to cut in front of about a dozen people, so that I could pee next.

Afterwards, I made my way to the 12.5 minutes per mile section and waited until start time and for everyone to start moving. I couldn't feel my feet for the first two miles, but once they warmed up, I felt more comfortable. I just told myself to keep running and not to stop; starting up again is harder anyways. I drank something every other mile at most unless I was eating something and needed help getting it down, and ate Clif bloks every 5 miles. When I needed some motivation, I would high five supporters and fish for cheers by pumping my arms. Someone recommended putting my name on my bib, so every now and then, I would hear someone shout out my name, which was very cool. The last 6 miles were rough; each mile took forever. By the time I hit Santa Monica and saw Patti and Cady, my first fans, holding a "Go Grace Go" sign at San Vicente and 26th St., I was nauseous, but oh so glad to see some familiar faces. They even ran with me for a few feet.

When I finally reached Ocean Ave, the wind kicked in and I had to fight it to the finish line. On the way, I saw Tom, Isabelle, and Ryan. Tom kept snapping pictures and even left his kids to run with me; I had to keep telling to go back to his kids...I seriously almost cried from the support. Just before reaching the finish line, I saw Trung, who ran behind the crowds screaming "go Grace, go Grace...whooo!" He stopped when he reached Snow and gang, and Sophie & Lydia. Everyone was cheering and I was overjoyed. After finishing, I slowly walked over to grab some snacks, take a finisher picture, and meet Trung at the reuniting area about five blocks down. Once I sat down, I couldn't get back up, so everyone knelt down next to me, taking pictures and chatting away. Then we walked over to Santa Monica Place, where Snow and I left our families for some much deserved spa time at Tikkun. I got a massage, which hurt like crazy, but I'm sure it did me some good. After relaxing for another hour, we went to Elizabeth's house for a delicious corned beef hash dinner. We got home around 8 and I conked out at 9, only to be woken up by soreness, but a great sense of pride. I did it!

Trying to stay warm with a trash bag over my legs

My view of the man with super short shorts who wouldn't sit down for the longest time

The forecast predicted a 60% of rain, luckily we didn't see a drop. Even the sun started to shine before the race started.

And we're off!

Mile 2 at Downtown Chinatown, where I finally could feel my feet again

Sunset Blvd was awesome! There was tons of people cheering and the Hollywood sign was straight ahead.

405! Finally, a sign that I was getting closer to home

Spotting Tom

and Isabelle and Ryan.

Blowing a kiss

*muah*!

I did it

AHHHHH!

Approaching the finish line

My loving family

...and friends. Thank you all for believing in me!

Marathon Expo

After the rain subsided, we piled into the minivan and headed to Dodger Stadium for the LA Marathon Expo to pick up my package. It was awfully windy, but it was exciting with the energy of the upcoming event. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the free samples, but I think they probably had one too many energy bars. :P

Dodger Stadium and the starting place of the marathon

Welcome!

All ready for the big race!


After the Expo, we met a large group of friends at Souplantation for dinner. It was a great place for carb loading before the race, but too bad I had to avoid the yummy salads.
Washington West alumnis

Here we go again!

It's swim class time! Already? Yup! The girls have been anxiously awaiting the beginning of their swimming lessons and the time has come. Even though the weather has been in the mid-60s and the girls freeze when I'm changing their clothes after the lesson, they are still really enjoying it. Lydia has forgotten how to come up for air and with only one teacher this session, we may just be paying for water time. Hopefully we can teach her some techniques during Spring Break in a couple of weeks. Sophie, however, is really beginning to swim, but her petite size is holding her back a little. She is a trooper though!

All smiles for swimming

A swimming Sophie

Lydia racing along

A double birthday and playdate

We attended Marina's 3rd and Sunny's 1st birthdays this morning. Even though there weren't many kids, there was plenty of action. Sunny literally dug into her cake and Marina was her usual spunky self. We stayed at the party the full three hours, but seemed to be only ones to leave at the end time. Then we were off to Virginia Park to meet up with Annie, June, and Faye, who we hadn't seen since school started back in August. The kids immediately started playing again and Annie and I were able to catch up. Hopefully it won't be another seven months before we see each other again.

The birthday girls

Sunny was the only of four kids that really dug into her cake

Marina's Tinkerbell cake

Kindergarteners Lydia and June

Our only friends thus far whose kids are the same ages and gender as ours.