Friday Leftovers (Jan. 8)

The holidays sort of put a cramp in my Friday Leftover posts but they're back, as I know you all were anxiously awaiting their return... or not.

Word Association

Play along here.

1. 365 :: Days
2. Tombstone :: Movie
3. Dumb :: Dumber
4. Intrusive :: Exclusive
5. Fat :: Boys
6. Axe :: Rose
7. Planned :: Parenthood
8. Spike :: Dog
9. Bleach :: Blonde
10. Shopkeeper :: Innkeeper

I don't even have an explanation to where some of these came from.

Shout Outs

A few blog buddies have some awesome races coming up and wanted to share.

* Christy of It Just Looks Like Slow Motion is running her first marathon on Sunday! She's running in the Disney World Marathon in Orlando, Fla., which is a fantastic venue for a race. At least, I think it would be. Anyway, I know she's going to rock those 26.2 miles and I'll be pulling for her from sunny SoCal.

* Mark of Random Ramblings signed up for the Mud Run! Woo hoo! He's going to run it on the next weekend that I'll run it, the third of the four races slated for June. I'm pulling for ya, Mark!

* She doesn't have a blog (but she should) but Tahoe Girl also signed up for the Mud Run!!! Wait... she lives in Michigan, you say? True, but she's going to be in SoCal in June, and will get to run the Mud Run!!! Double woo hoo!! Needless to say, I'm quite excited to meet her as we'll be out at Camp Pendleton on the same day. All hail Tahoe Girl! And she's running a half marathon in April because she's awesome.

* I'd love to be up in Washington on March 21. Blog buddies Zoë of run, Zoë, run! and Kerrie T of Mom vs. Marathon each signed up for the Mercer Island Half Marathon, along with a few of their other Seattle-area blog buds. Plus, Kerrie is tackling the beast and has decided to run a marathon, in early June. Mad props to both of you.

* I also just came across Tricia's blog, Endurance Isn't Only Physical. Check this post out. She went from wearing size 24/26 pants to wearing a size 8. In. One. Year. She's training for a half marathon and has plans for a full. Stunning transformation.

ADD *** Sue Ann Jaffarian of Babble n Blog is going to run the 2011 Los Angeles Marathon! Sue Ann ran the Mud Run last June and inspired a post of mine. She's an accomplished author, you know, which is doubly cool. Anyway, you know I'll be pulling for you, Sue Ann. And since the Lopers might switch back to training for the LA Marathon, I might even run the same race that day.

Under My Tree

I never got around to posting about some of the cool things I got for Christmas, so I'll do that now.

* Best present: It has to be my new BlackBerry Bold. It's so effing cool. I'm a crackberry fiend and this is totally better than my old Pearl. The Web looks like the Web, and I've got Pac-Man and Scrabble on there. They're only the demos and I'll have to dish out about 20 bucks combined to get them, but still, it's pretty sweet nonetheless.

* Running gifts: I scored in the running department. Mrs. LB got me two new pairs of running underwear, which I desperately needed since I kept washing the same three that I have over and over again. My SIL got me some running shorts, one of which zoomed up to the top of my running shorts list. The pair I love the best is a Nike dri-fit and it's very light. I can barely feel them on me. They don't have any pockets, so I'm going to have to debate whether I should use those in the marathon or take the ones I had originally planned to take. I also got running socks and a new pair of gloves, which I'll probably use at Surf City.

* Most unique present: a friend of mine gave me some recipes in a notepad. What makes these unique are that they are from his cousin, who spent three years in prison and learned to bake there. So they are authentic prison baked goods recipes. Here's a sample:

Preheat oven 325 low fan
1 gal water in bowl
Add 20 pounds brownie mix
Mix w/paddle
Add 1/2 gal water
Mix 15 min

Oil 4 pans, add tray liners
Smooth out oil liners
Bake 25-30 min
Let cool 20 min
Cut edges, flip into clean pan

Obviously, it's for a large crowd. It's a pretty cool gift. Unique for certain.

Music For LB

I also got an iTunes gift card in my stocking and have used all but a couple of bucks of it. I have to choose my remaining two songs wisely. I bought myself the new Alice in Chains CD (I'm a big fan of theirs, and my first tattoo is off one of their CD covers). I also bought a couple of George Michael songs. Wow, I can't believe I just admitted that. Here I am, rocking out to Metallica and other hard stuff buying George Michael. But hey, I'm going to put both Faith and Father Figure on my Surf City playlist, and I'm going to enjoy listening to them. You got a problem with that?