i ran a marathon. just typing that still makes kind of laugh 'cause it seems so unlikely.

since college i'd been running somewhat regularly & my mom has always wanted us to run a marathon together. i kept telling her no way. for some reason last year i started thinking more about it, especially since there is one right here in San Diego. i looked at training schedules & they didn't seem THAT bad. i started to think i could actually do it. so i finally told my mom i'd run the SD one with her. of course it turns out that this year the race was the same day as her Ironman qualifier, so it was out. instead of being relieved, i was kind of disappointed. i thought about running it anyway. i debated the half marathon, but i'm stubborn and i don't like doing things halfway, i knew i'd regret not doing the full. so on january 31, the last day of sign up at the cheaper price i'd had a few drinks & decided i could totally do it and signed up!! ah, liquid courage. :)

less than a week later i was struck down with pneumonia. ha. cruel world. i was out of commission for almost 3 weeks. on the day that i signed up i had exactly 18 weeks 'til the marathon, which is pretty much the minimum amount of training they say you can get by with (most recommend more like 6 months or up to a year). again, stubborn girl that i am i decided to just start at week 5 of training and go on. i figured if it was really hard i could always switch to the half marathon.

so off i went: running every tuesday, wednesday, and thursday, with the long run on saturday. my longest run ever before training was 6 miles. since i'd started 5 weeks in, my first long run was 10 miles. i was shocked when it wasn't as hard as i thought. the next week i set off ominously for 12 miles...and survived that too!! with every long run i was more and more impressed with myself and more confident that i could actually do it. when i hit 18 it hurt. bad. i started to worry, but i'd come so far. 20 miles almost killed me because i ran in the afternoon & it got hot & i gulped all my water. luckily i hit a gas station at about mile 18, stopped, pounded almost a liter of water, rested for 10 minutes, and successfully made it back. finally i got to taper down. kinda fucked up this part since i got a bit cocky & also busy so i really didn't run as much in the last 2.5 weeks as i should have. add an injured shin into the mix and i was pretty nervous come race day.

i had to wake up at 3am & cyrus, champion that he is, got up with me, fetched me water & things while i ate breakfast, helped me secure my race bib & timing chip & sent me off on my way. i had to get to qualcomm stadium (go chargers!) to park the car & catch a shuttle to the starting line. it was so so cool to be surrounded by so many runners & so many people with the same goal. despite the early hour, it was a rush. there were people from all over the world, people in costumes, first timers, and pros. so cool!!

we all lined up (almost 30,000 of us!) and they started us in waves at 615! i'd prepared my playlist so it would start slow & pick up the pace as the miles wore on. the opening song was Arcade Fire's "Wake Up," which is one of my all time favorites, so beautiful. to start the race surrounded by other runners & to hear that song & to know that I was finally starting the race I'd been training so long for...? i almost cried. it was amaaaaaazing.

the first 9 or so miles were awesome. it was perfect running weather & it wasn't nearly as crowded as i'd feared. i was free to run almost immediately, unlike horror stories i'd heard of being shoulder to shoulder for the first 2-3 miles. the first couple of miles was also a route i'd run regularly so it was cool to see it with so many others. there were a group of drag queens giving out high fives in Hillcrest! it was awesome. it was so strange and so amazing seeing downtown deserted of cars & full of runners. despite the early hour there were a lot of people out cheering us on, which was really amazing. after about 7 miles we turned on to the 163 (they closed the freeway so we could run on it!) it was such a cool experience too!! i had to stop to take a picture because it was so neat (yes, i ran with my phone).

the sun came out at about mile 12, just as i was exiting the freeway. it got hot FAST, which i'd been super worried about since we all know i get heatstroke pretty easily. i saw Cyrus at mile 13 and was SO happy to see him & i was in great spirits, i didn't even need the extra water or snacks he'd brought me! Friars Road had a ton of spectators on it too. i was shocked at how many people were watching overall. it was soooooo great to have so many people cheering! there were people giving out high fives & people read my name from my bib & would cheer for me by name! i was really touched. i couldn't believe that so many people came out & so many volunteers were out distributing water, etc. i thanked as many people as i could at the water stations because i was just overwhelmed that people would give up their Sunday to support others. it temporarily restored my faith in humanity. :)

miles 15-17 through an industrial neighborhood & some houses were a bit tough 'cause it was really warm by then & i just wasn't that familiar with the area. but i was surprised at how good i was still feeling. seriously, at the 13.1 marker i was thinking "wow, a 1/2 would have been so easy!" ha. finally we hit Mission Bay. i was sooooo happy to see the ocean & feel the breeze, but the route there was pretty much just one long stretch that seemed to go on forever. at mile 20 I jumped up & started yelling to no one in particular (and everyone really) "only 6 more miles!!" i was tired, but i knew i could finish.

the last loop before the finish line was around this small island called Fiesta Island, and it was the worst!! i'd never been there, but it's all just dirt & also seemed to stretch on & on. i had no idea where we were in relation to the end & couldn't remember how many miles were on the island. there were hardly any spectators 'cause i don't think people could access it. so it was just dirt & sun & tired & pushing to the end. but i started to pass a lot of people, which made me feel really good about myself. finally i could see the tower of the Sea World parking lot & was so so happy. we exited Fiesta Island and started running on a path & I saw the 25 mile marker and told myself to just run hard & go for it. as we took the final bend and I could see the finish line I got such a burst of energy (my iPod tells me I was faster on the last mile than the first by a good 30 seconds!). i was high five-ing everyone and yelling & then I saw Cyrus and was screaming incoherently at him as I kept running & raising my arms in victory (the video of this part is hilarious). then i heard "Wake Up" again & thought they were playing it on the speakers, but it was my iPod because my playlist had started over! so i knew i was way off my target, but i was so happy that i didn't care. i ran across the finish line sooooooo elated; the commentator even said "look at that girl, she's just smiling away!" and i crossed the finish line & got my medal and it was over. and i was on the other side. i'd run a marathon, i couldn't believe it! i chugged a water & grabbed a banana & sports drink and wandered around in a daze.

final time ended up being 4:53:27. not what i wanted (my goal was 4:22, averaging a 10 minute mile), but it was less than 5 hours & damn, i finished so really that should be the ultimate goal. :) and really, it wasn't THAT hard. i mean it was difficult, but the miles went by so much faster than i expected & i just kept running and it never felt insurmountable. that was shocking to me, especially since i knew I hadn't really followed my training as well as one ought to.

so yeah, my mom still really wants to do one together so that is probably in my future. i really liked the race & will probably do some more shorter ones this year if i can find them. ai, and this was just one day out of the past how many months that i haven't updated...? i'll try to be better. :)

i've been inspired to post for awhile now, but haven't gotten around to it. obviously. and i just realized it's been TWO MONTHS since my last post! ai, bad bad megan. so much has happened since then and yet...as of today, i'm kind of right back in the same place...which makes me less inspired to write about all that stuff i was excited about. sigh. but i will, maybe it will help me wrap my head around things. okay, will write soon.

Testing....

I downloaded an app that lets me post to LJ from my phone. We shall see if it works.

1046p and I'm sitting at the bar waiting. Thought the band I'm here to scout went on at 1030 but turns our it's not til at least 1130. Sigh. I am not as young as I once was. Kai I'm very impressed that you're probably dancing and all made up right now. :)

Okay, feeling lame now...signing off.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

sometime in December Cyrus started hinting that he'd made special birthday plans that were going to be a surprise. i was super curious but also determined not to think about it since I'd figured it out last year and spoiled the surprise. I had some ideas, but wouldn't let on.

On Friday, the day before my birthday, I got home from work & didn't see anything in the house. Cyrus told me he was going to take me with him to pick up my birthday present. We went to the airport & I kinda freaked out that we were gonna go somewhere & I didn't have ANYTHING with me! But no, we were there to pick up Kelsey!!!! I was SO EXCITED to see her!! It was awesome! And they were so cute, totally high fived each other because they were so pleased that they'd pulled off the surprise. Love it!!

We went to dinner and talked & talked and then went to our most favorite bar, Hamilton's, for delicious beers & more talking. Our favorite bartender was working, so that was awesome. He bought us a round of beers and at midnight rang the bell and had the whole bar sing me Happy Birthday. I know most people get embarrassed by that but I love stuff like that!! He came home, Cyrus went to bed, and sister and I stayed up talking & watched the final Tonight Show w/ Conan. So good! I'm gonna miss that guy.

Saturday (birthday!!) we woke up and Cyrus made us a delicious breakfast. After everyone was showered & dressed we took Kelsey to Ballast Point for delicious local beers & to meet our friend Amber. After some beers there we went up to the in-laws for home made kheema. it's this Inidian dish that Adi makes that i LOVE. Cyrus is so funny, he doesn't like most indian food because they ate so much of it growing up, but i friggin' love the stuff. I eat like 3 helpings any time they make anything. yum! So Nicole & Robbie came up to and we had family lunch. So odd seeing Kelsey at that house, but so rad!

After a long lunch & visit we came home for a nap. We spent a quiet evening at home, playing Wii, having beers, and just hanging out. It was so so nice. Cyrus went to bed, leaving me & Kelsey to talk and hang out. Around 1am I could not keep my eyes open any longer and had to go to bed. Such a wuss!!

Sunday morning Cyrus had an evil stomach ache, which was such a bummer. Sister & I went to the zoo on our own. Saw all kinds of animals and on our 4th visit to the panda exhibit, the baby was awake!!! He was soooooooo adorable! He was wrestling with his mom and trying to climb walls and just an insanely cute ball of fur. Loved it!!! We met up with Cyrus for a late breakfast & then rushed Kelsey to the airport for her 1:30 flight. Even though we got her there 45 minutes before her flight and she didn't have to check any luggage, they wouldn't even let her check in 'cause they said her flight had already boarded! Such BS! I've never even STARTED boarding 45 minutes ahead of departure, let alone FINISHED by then. Lame. But then we got more time with sister! We wandered around Balboa Park, caught some of the AFC championship game, and just hung out.

It was so awesome just to have time to hang out with sister again. I so so miss those days when we lived together and would have whole weekends to just hang out, make Rice Krispies cookies, watch random TV, go on adventures, etc. So it was really really nice. Also love that Kelsey & Cyrus get along so well. Makes my heart happy.

Oh!! Also last weekend we finally saved up enough for bikes to replace the ones that got stolen!! We got better bikes, a cross between road bikes & mountain bikes. They have the drop down handle bars, which Cyrus is super stoke on. I'm still getting used to them. But I'm SOOOO happy to have bikes back, I missed riding places so much! Driving sucks. :P

Date:	2010-01-10 11:57
Subject:	name
Security:	Public
Mood:	curious

as previously posted, i've already started the paperwork to change my name. on friday at work i had to sign some kind of international tax forms thing. i paused before i wrote and signed my name. i'm pretty sure Megan Lloyd is still my legal name...but i wasn't sure. at what point in the process does your name legally change? is it already changed because i put it on my legal marriage document? is it changed once the social security paperwork goes through or do i have to wait 'til the DMV knows too? brought about an interesting question...who really determines what your name is? like, if it is legit once the social security office gives me my new card then they obviously determine it. so do people without a social security card not legally have a name? anyway, just random thoughts.

almost every night this week i've had a totally random dream...

sunday night:
dreamt i was somehow back working for ken. he was going to open up some sort of restaurant/bar thingee & wanted me to go to some convention in philadelphia (of all places!) to learn about it. so the sunday before i'm supposed to go i'm at the home of one of my former co-workers when ken's accountant calls sobbing saying ken had a heart attack & she's activating the phone tree & we need to call ken's heart doctor. and i freak out 'cause i know he's going to trial the next day and text jen 'cause i know she's not next on the phone tree. extra weird bit: i actually did know that ken was supposed to start a trial this past monday. i e-mailed jen to tell her to watch out for ken's health. ha.

monday night:
dreamt i was back working at the ath (my college job). there was some huge party coming in & the guests started to arrive but we couldn't get in touch with the host woman who had organized all of it. finally she texted to say she wasn't coming, but by then we'd already sat everyone! so we decided to give them fancy glasses & wine to distract them and ran around pouring wine & lighting candles. odd. i know there was more to the dream, but that's all i can remember.

wednesday night:
dreamt that kevin strong was helping me plan/organize nikki smith's wedding. nikki was convinced that everything would be fine, but then started getting nervous when the (bright) blue plastic cups didn't match the (cobalt) blue plastic "silverwear." so kevin & i were running around trying to help get stuff organized. meanwhile my mom was sewing them a quilt & trying to put all of nikki's family's initials in pink thread on the quilt. but no one knew her fiance's or her brother's middle name so i was trying to call nikki's mom to figure this out. why was kevin there??

thursday night:
dreamt that my college freshman crush object matt (well one of many i suppose) was in town because he was a musician and he was opening for duncan sheik. (weird 'cause duncan sheik IS in town & i was debating going). anyway, he was there & we kind of flirted and i promised to come to his show and kissed him on the forhead.

i'm quite entertained by all these flashes from the past. wonder what's going on.

happy birthday kyla!!! your last one as a single woman! ha. :) i wish i was there to celebrate with you!!! i can't wait to see pictures!!

happy birthday em!!! woo, one more hits 28!!! hope you and the family have a wonderful day. :)

oh my god, my last entry was two months from yesterday!! bad bad megan...

so...is livejournal dead...?

happy anniversary to em & randy!!! i know it was weeks ago & i totally did not recognize it. i'm sorry!! (btw, what is your actual anniversary date that you guys are celebrating?) i can't believe it's already been a year!!! i'm so glad i got to be a part of it.

ugh, so i know i've been shitty shitty shitty at posting. now i can't even remember the whole list of things i had to post about before. i really should make myself notes.

the job is going well. i'm still not a huge fan of the hours, but i've been WAY better about getting my ass out of bed and going to the gym or running in the morning which really makes a huge difference in my outlook. plus it's been staying sunny later & later so that helps too. i'm sure i'll be way depressed come fall, but for now it's good. i still feel like i spend a good portion of my day wrangling interns but i am learning stuff and i do enjoy it so it's overall very good.

cyrus & i managed to do less over memorial day weekend than we do with a normal 2 day weekend. suck. way too much drinking & not enough activity. oops. it's made me more determined to make the most out of the rest of the summer...even though it's been super effing gray & rather cold for the past 3 weeks or so. locals keep chirping at me that it's "may gray, june gloom!" and i want to punch them. since when is it NORMAL to be grey and cold in southern california in the summer?? laaaaaame. it even RAINED all weekend and we had thunder & lightning today!!! wtf? okay, the thunderstorm was pretty cool. but still, megan wants sun & warmth.

the wedding is getting super super close and i'm still not doing nearly enough for it. shit.

what else? sad. surely the past month cannot be summarized in 2 paragraphs...

okay, well, we'll consider this breaking the ice and hopefully i'll post again soon.

Date:	2009-05-11 20:08
Subject:	weekend!!!
Security:	Public
Mood:	happy

such a great great weekend. even though i've still got so much else to catch up on, thought i'd recap this before i forget...

friday:

i checked out the website for lestat's, a coffee shop super close to my house that does live music. saw a band that looked pretty good & e-mailed cyrus to see if he wanted to go. yay scouting trip!!

we decided to grab a few beers first and headed to toronado on your bicycles. they have a ton of awesome beers on tap & also a collection of board games. i found chutes & ladders and it was game on. cyrus beat me 2 games to 1. then we headed up to lestat's for the show. no one was on yet, so we headed to the actual coffee shop part (which we'd never been to) and got some coffee. it was super cool inside with couches & art & yummy looking desserts, so yay for that!! the band still wasn't on and we found out they were running about an hour late so we headed down to another bar we'd been wanting to check out: the old sod. it was super tiny, but packed, and there was even a country band shoved into the corner. awesome. after a drink there it was back to lestats. (all this journeying done via bicycle, ha!) sadly, the band ended up kind of sucking. oh well, still really glad we got to go. having had multiple drinks, we ended up at 7-11 getting chili dogs. oops, sorry belly. but damn that tasted good.

saturday:

we already knew saturday was gonna be a busy day. last weekend we'd gone to a beer & chocolate tasting. who knew truffles & beer went together so awesomely? whilst there we talked to the dude that makes all the chocolate & he mentioned they were doing a chocolate-themed brunch for mother's day. we immediately made reservations for 10am saturday at eclipse chocolat. oh. my. god. the brunch was soooooooo amazing. i saved the menu so i could type it up a la kai:

starter cocoa-glazed duroc bacon, chile maple links, and cocoa nib sage sausage patties custom-made by local "knight salumi"
holy dog. the chocolate-glazed bacon was unbeleeeeevable. so freakin' tasty. YUM. the sausages were also super tasty, but damn. that bacon. damn.

first course buttermilk & chive biscuits with house made cocoa nib-infused butter. mmm. perfectly flaky delicious biscuits. only got a hint of chocolate in the butter, but it was all super tasty.

second course grilled pineapple ring with fresh mango, papaya, and strawberry with 38% milk chocolate-curry glaze. YUM. the chocolate-curry glaze was soooooo tasty and paired perfefctly with the grilled pineapple. mmm.

third course you could choose from a) pan-fried brioche with fried quail egg and chile-burnt caramel hollendaise, served with a vanilla bean-dressed salad frisee, or b) buttermilk and malt waffle with 55% dark chocolate chunks, maple syrup and honeyed creme friache. i don't like fried eggs or hollendaise, so i went with the waffle, which was amazing. perfectly light but super chocolatey and yum. apparently the egg was quite tasty, i'll take nicole's word for it.

fourth course slow-risen buttermlik yeast dough cinnamon roll with vietnamese cinnamon, muscavado brown sugar, cayenne, and white chocolate cream cheese frosting. DROOL. i was STUFFED at this point, but it was deeeeeelicious and i devoured the whole thing. we all did.

omg, the whole meal was just divine. the shop was also full of exotic truffles, fabulous cupcakes, savory and sweet hot chocolates...omg, die. this place is DANGEROUSLY close to our house. yikes.

after completely stuffing ourselves & saying good-bye to mom, we headed out to stone to try this barley wine on tap. we went straight from there to hamilton's tavern. hamilton's is another great beer bar near our place. on the 2nd saturday of every month they feature a brewery and devote almost all those taps to that one beer. we also heard rumors that free food was served! this month was rogue brewery out of bend, oregon so we were super excited to go. got there, had some delicious beers, and sure enough at 5pm a bell rang and free food was set out buffet-style. omg, this was not just bar snacks. there was spicy marinated skirt stake, smoked salmon, grilled corn relish, garlic mashed potatoes, and brownies made with imperial russian stout. ohhhhhh my goodness. the steak was tender and spicy & juicy & delicious. the SALMON though. i cannot even describe, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. juicy & smokey with a sweet chile glaze or something on top. i was dying. we were sooooo full but definitely took 2nd helpings. wow. yeah, it was a grrrreat food day.

we would have stayed at hamilton's for hours, but we had to rush home, shower, and get ready for the opera. cyrus' parents have season tickets to the san diego opera. cyrus' dad was still in singapore so they gave the tickets to madame butterfly to us! i was really excited, even though it happened on an already booked day. but we got dressed in record time, rushed downtown, and RAN to the opera house. seriously, me in a white satin cocktail dress & heels, cyrus in a suit & tie, RACING through downtown san diego. the opera was good...except there were subtitles & we were far enough away that i could NOT read them and the strain of trying to gave me such a headache. the effort combined with the beers...well about 40 minutes into it i started nodding off. oops. and while the story was really good (as it was explained to me in the program), the set was very minimal and since i couldn't even read, it wasn't the most fun thing to follow. oh well, we were still all dressed up at the opera, which made me giddy. the opera house was beautiful too. long spiral staircases & this huge amazing chandelier. sadly, i did not realize there would be such coolness & i did not bring my camera. tried to take pics w/ my phone but couldn't get both of us in there & was too shy to ask some fancy opera attendee to take a pic for us w/ a cell phone. oh well, i know we looked good. :)

sunday:

given the complete feasting of saturday, sunday called for some physical fitness. after some breakfast we headed out on bikes to explore some trails a bit south of us. we have mountain bikes but tend to use them more on streets than anything else. we've only just started to go on trails more. i'm always scared 'cause the terrain is rough and it's unstable and i fall quite a bit...especially trying to pedal uphill when your wheels are just barely grasping dirt & sand. but it's pretty & cyrus looooves it so i'm trying. :) after our trail riding we found ourselves just down the hill from the zoo. spontaneous zoo trip!! :) the hill turned out to be a monster so my legs were shaking by the time we got there. ai. so we just did a short trip. that's the joy of having memberships. sometimes you can just go for half an hour, say hi, and go! we finally saw the spectacled bear & the sloth bear which are always hiding & asleep. so it was a fun morning.

for lunch we went to this little greek place by our house that we've been wanting to try. we actually have a whole list of places within walking/biking distance of our house. yum. the food was really good and nicely priced and left us both feeling healthy, not all weighed down like the day before. then we rode bikes to the park & played on the swings & i rode down the slides & cyrus played on the monkey bars. so fun!!! we spent the rest of the day just hanging out. cyrus started some tomato seedlings a couple weeks ago & on sunday he put them into large pots. then we went to explore this ethnic market by our house & found all kinds of neat things: they had spices & produce from turkey, russia, the middle east, india...super fun just to explore. i even found octopus in a box! not even refrigerated! wacky.

went home & cyrus made us delicious homemade chili for dinner and we sat and had wine and sat outside in the last hour of sunshine. then we built a fort in the living room and watched cartoons and iron chef.

overall a really delightful perfect weekend. :)

Date:	2009-04-06 09:45
Subject:	Down with WaMu and Chase!!
Security:	Public
Mood:	annoyed

a vent.

so my debit card was due to expire in April 2009. given the fact that i'd moved twice in 7 months & was about to move a third time i decided to visit the bank mid-march and see where my debit card had already been sent & update with my new addy.

March 13: inquire about debit card. new one hasn't even been sent out yet! strange since my old one is gonna die in 15 days. apparently they're delayed 'cause they're printing out all new cards w/ the chase logo. hm. so the nice man at the bank offers to order me one since it hasn't been done yet, i say okay. i update with my new address & he tells me it will be there in 5-7 business days.

March 27 (i.e. 14 days later): still no card & when i log-in online they're urging me to activate my new card. i return to the bank. they claim that it was sent & since i never got it and my card is now gonna die in four short days they order a second one, apologize, and tell me again it will be there in 5-7 business days.

April 6 (i.e. 10 days after 2nd card ordered and a full 24 days since 1st card ordered): still no card. what. the. fuck. okay, seriously, i need to buy gas & shit. and carrying a checkbook is annoying and if i want cash i now need to go to the bank during business hours. this is super inconvenient. i understand you're reorganizing or whatnot but if you want to keep your current customers you should at least give them access to their damn money. if this isn't resolved by this friday i'm taking all my money out and switching banks.

happy girls' day to my lovely ladies!!!

xoxo

Date:	2009-02-24 08:58
Subject:	where did we all go?
Security:	Public
Mood:	calm

huh, lack of posts here...everyone must be super busy, no? i myself am sitting here on the couch waiting for my temp agency to figure out my timecard situation and call me back. we've already been back & forth on this for the past HOUR and it's just super annoying right now 'cause i want to go to the gym and i have other shit i need to do, but need to be here when they call back so i can follow online & do my timecard correctly so i can get PAID. first pay check in over 2 months. essential. sadly it is only for one measly day since i only got one day of work. but it was still work, so score there. positive outlook, right?

ugh, i cannot believe i've been down here for like 9 weeks now and gotten so little done. no job. no super hot ass body from going to the gym for 2 hours a day like i thought i might, ha. no magical organization of all of my projects that i brought down with me. rah. but getting there, right? slowly, hopefully getting my ass in gear, getting off the couch, getting off the internet, and getting to work.

so let's play catch up since it's been quite a while since a real post...

end of january we did our engagement shoot, which was super fun. thanks everyone for all the nice comments! on a whim i e-mailed ashley and asked her if she'd be willing to fly out to hawai'i to shoot our wedding. since she's just starting out & still has a full-time non-photography job i didn't know if a) she'd want to take vacation time to work, b) she wanted to handle a full wedding on her own, and c) who knows what other reasons. but she wrote back and said YES!! and not only that, she's not going to charge us at all for the shoot AND she's gonna bring her husband to be the 2nd shooter. she just wants us to pay for their airfare & 2 nights hotel. now, this could get expensive except that ashley's mom is a flight attendant for united so can get them standby tickets for only $200/each AND they want to stay in na'alehu (which i'm finding stuff for about $100/night) so total cost for TWO photographers and our entire wedding & all photos is gonna be like $600. sweet. i'm so so so so so relieved & HAPPY 'cause i already love her. YAY!!!!! huge weight off of me. (too bad there's like 2300 other things i still need to do for the wedding, but hey, one day at a time!!)

first weekend in feb we went on a hot air balloon ride!! i think i posted that this was supposed to be my b-day present but we got rained out on my actual birthday...so we re-scheduled. i've always wanted to go up in one & we always see them from cyrus' parents' house on the weekends so it was super fun. our pilot was super knowledgeable about the area and pointed out all kinds of cool stuff from way up high. yay!!

then the next weekend we finally finally got to go to oregon!! we left thursday morning from long beach, getting in to portland thursday afternoon. met up w/ sister at her office, met everyone, then went to wander around portland 'til she got off of work. went to the awesome deschuttes brewery and had delicious beers & foods. then that night we met up with some of kelsey's friends to go bowling! i was super excited, but the bowling alley ended up being way popular & crowded so we never got the chance to bowl. but we did get to hang out with her friends, who were all awesome. best part was when i brought out facemonkey & they were all excited 'cause they knew who he was from pictures kelsey has. haha, facemonkey was super excited to be a celebrity!

kelsey got friday off so we spent the morning at the gorge, which was gorgeous, though a bit cold. came back to portland, had lunch @ deschuttes and then headed down to eugene to see daddy!!! yay!!! so so so good to see him. we got there just as he got home from work, hung out, and went out for dinner & drinks. yum!!! just super nice to be with family & chill and talk and to have cyrus there...just awesome.

saturday we gave cyrus a tour of eugene and then headed out towards the river for beautiful scenery & some sunshine! wow!! chill afternoon all around, capped off by a trip to rogue brewery for some super tasty beers. we picked up track town pizza (yum!!!!) for & went to the stepfamily's house for family dinner. my stepsisters' kids jarrett (7) and rhys (3) each had friends over so there were four kids running around & screaming & playing wii like crazy. wow. wow. um, kind of scary. more on that & the impact on me & cyrus and the whole kids concept in a future post. overall though a fun time.

sunday we got up early so we could have breakfast with dad before driving back up to portland. he made his famous delicous waffles & brewed fresh espresso....sooooooo good. sadly we had to leave much to early 'cause the latest flight out of portland was at 2pm and it's a good 2 hour drive from eugene and we had to drop off keroshi & then the rental car. so despite being in oregon for "4 days" it felt like we only got a little less than 1.5 days with dad...which is almost what we would have had anyway @ christmas. sad. but at least we got to spend time with him AND we got to explore portland, which is just a super awesome city. a really really great trip overall.

the following weekend, valentine's day, whatever. zoo ended up being fine and we finally saw the pandas (including the baby panda!!!) so i was stoked. cyrus & i left the house just for some alone time and had a few too many beers then came home & he managed to make a delicious dinner of halibut and lobster tail. YUM!!! (wow, there's a lot of "yum" exclamations in this entry, no?)

last weekend we went hiking saturday morning/afternoon and then met up with liz rock & her husband and some of their friends for super awesome sushi in downtown san diego. i have mixed feelings about downtown. there's a lot going on & it's fun in that way...but parking is horrendously awfully expensive and, as downtown areas tend to be in big cities, it was definitely a little sketch in places. so yeah...definitely a fun place to hang out, but not too often. :) it was really fun to see liz! we had lunch a few weeks ago...i worried it might be awkward since we were never really close friends (in the hang out after school sense) but it was sooooo fun and we did not stop talking. so yay, someone to hang out w/ in sd! she says hi to all of you. even cyrus liked her & he's definitely not shy about telling me his honest opinions about my friends, ha. so yay for a fun night out!!!

whew, okay, that was a bit of a whirlwind.

oh, yeah, not much to report on the job field. i'm now signed up with 3 different temp agencies. one sent me on a "real" interview (to interview at the actual company for a temp position) and it lasted all of 8 minutes and i didn't get it. a definite blow to the ego, but what can you do? another agency got me a one day position (yesterday) filling in for the front office of a pharmaceutical company. their office was gorgeous & filled with all kinds of cool stuff like free sodas & a coffee machine that could make anything on command. a far cry from the catanzarite offices. good to know that such things exist. :)

kai has been awesome and working with me on our wedding website, which i'll share soon. having the site has totally forced me to be more committed to the research of the whole matter & getting organized. also panicked that it is less than 7 months away and i still feel SO underprepared, but hey...i'm marrying the love of my life. if there aren't napkins, it will hardly seem important.

a few months ago i saw a post on wedding bee from re: free engagement photo sessions. this girl was starting out as a photographer and was offering free engagement photo sessions to "fun, quirky couples" to build her resume. of course i jumped on the opportunity. due to a few scheduling conflicts on both sides we ended up not being able to take the pictures 'til january 31. when we finally met up with ashley rose she was so cute & fun & full of enthusiasm. even though cyrus & i have never taken "real" photos together, she made us feel totally natural & even cyrus (who i don't really think understood the concept) really enjoyed taking pictures. she just posted some favorites on her blog:

http://www.ashleyroseblog.com/2009/02/megan-cyrus.html

enjoy!

Date:	2009-01-26 17:13
Subject:	good things
Security:	Public
Mood:	cheerful

first, i just want to say thank you to everyone for your comments on my last entry. it really really meant a lot to me to hear such great things and to know that i'm not the only one who has such thoughts. i've read all of your comments several times and they truly mean so so much, thank you.

in an effort to be more positive and happy, i'm going to make a list of good things that have happened recently:

1. i did not spend my birthday at catanzarite law corporation. my goal for the past 2 years (at least) has been to not spend another depressing birthday at work...you know, the knowledge that you've been there yet another year...people pitching in to take you out to lunch where everyone makes somewhat awkward conversation and/or people singing off tune with a cake...? yeah, that. i turned 23 there, which seems like so so long ago and i wasn't about to do it again. so though my birthday was hardly what i expected, i wasn't there bemoaning another year "wasted" at my job.

2. adi & marcia got me a wii fit for my birthday! i had no idea it was as cool as it is. cyrus & i spent a good 3 hours playing with it yesterday. as someone who has always loved taking her blood pressure at those machines at the supermarket i'm totally into the fact that it measures my center of balance and shows it to me on screen so i can make corrections! it's awesome. plus the exercises actually work! i was feeling the burn, much to my surprise. so far cyrus & i are addicted to the yoga game & seeing who can get the best score (score depends on keeping your center of balance constant). totally fun, totally love it AND getting a bonus workout, yay!

3. i got my W2 way earlier than expected. so not only can i do my taxes in my spare time, i can hopefully get a refund way sooner. yay money! PLUS, possibly more immediately exciting, since this was an official document sent to me at my new address i was able to take it to the library and get a card & check out books. picked up nick hornby's "how to be good" and am already 3 chapters in and loving it. also got some resume books which at least have a few pieces of advice.

4. the dark knight was re-released in IMAX!! i've already seen it once in the theater & twice since getting it for christmas, but i'd really wanted to see it in IMAX when it came out this summer & now i get the chance. yay!

5a. i found a super yummy hawaiian food place in encinitas (about 15 minutes north of cyrus' parents' house). AWESOME teri beef, really good mac salad, and yummy kalua pork! AND they have a REAL shave ice machine!! they charge $2.75 for a regular shave ice (wtf?!?) so i haven't ponied up for it yet, but it made me so happy to see it. great plans to go back more times to try the shave ice, portuguese sausage, lomi salmon, and malasadas. mmm.

5b. cyrus & i found a super yummy and super cheat pho place!!! mmm. we went on saturday and it was really really good. cyrus always said he hated pho & i was shocked & convinced he'd just had bad pho. so i ordered pho and he ordered something else and after i had my broth all doctored up i gave him a taste and he liked it. score! we almost went back the very next day, but resisted. mmm, i <3 pho.

so these may not be huge things, but they all made me happy. will attempt to find more of these things in life to lift my spirits.

whoa. so it started out as an innocent quest with a lot of time on my hands (cyrus is not getting home 'til TEN tonight!) i wanted to see if i could figure out when john got me my goldfish boo. he'll be 6 years old pretty soon & cyrus mentioned getting him a new tank for his birthday. so i started looking at my jan/feb '03 livejournal entries, but didn't see anything about boo, but saw a ton of other stuff that i'd forgotten about and/or that was interesting....so i ended up reading all the way through september, 2003. i'd probably still be going if i didn't have such a damn headache right now.

strange how soooooooooo much has changed, and yet so much is still exactly the same. huh.

favorite moment of the move: i'm in the bedroom packing up yet another box. he's taking a box to the truck outside. then he comes running into the house all excited and says "megan! do you want to see a really cool caterpillar?" and we both run outside and watch this AWESOME caterpillar (gray, kind fuzzy, with orange spots & black spines!) crawl up the wall.