More Cupcakes

I was too lazy to post cupcake pictures from last weekend. I am a cupcake junkie, but never really blogged about it until recently. There are a couple of bakeries in Houston that do cupcakes.

Sugarbaby's is a cupcake boutique. I've been there twice and both times, the cupcakes I tried (chocolate, vanilla, red velvet and cookies and cream) were pretty much terrible. The place is adorable and the presentation is great, but the actual cupcakes--dry and flavorless. Definitely not worth the price. I ate about half of each and dumped them.

Dessert Gallery has very basic no frills cupcakes. They are all wonderful. The presentation for non-special orders is very plain and simple, but the cake is moist and flavorful and the icing is great. I like sweet buttercream icing and Dessert Gallery delivers. If you are not into super sweet icing, they are probably a little too much. The special orders decorated cupcakes are a little more festive. Dessert Gallery also has amazing whole cakes and fabulous cheesecake and in general they are my favorite place for sugary treats in all of Houston.


I haven't been out to Cupcake Cafe in Sugarland for about two years. But when I went, the cupcakes were very good and very nicely decorated. They are also very large!! I need to revisit and review them again. I don't remember what I had, but I tend to always try vanilla, chocolate and red velvet on first visits. Video of the place here.

Last weekend, I headed to The Cookie Jar after hearing twice in one week about their great cookies and cream cupcakes. We ended up with a vanilla, 2 cookies and cream, and a strawberry shortcake. I was planning on a flourless chocolate raspberry too, but they did not have any. The vanilla was good, but not as good as I hoped. The icing was a whipped cream icing and I tend to prefer buttercream on vanilla cupcakes. The cake was decent, but not as moist as I'd like. I would opt for something else than plain vanilla from here. The all vanilla at Dessert Gallery is better. The cookies and cream chocolate cake was really great. It was very chocolatey and moist. The icing was pretty great as well, although it had a bit of a "crisco" aftertase. I would buy these again. The strawberry shortcake was AWESOME. The cake and cream icing were perfect. I would buy these again for me to eat myself and would not hesitate to order them for a party. I had wished I bought more of them! The Cookie Jar does beautiful decorating too. Check out their photos!









I haven't tried the cookies at The Cookie Jar, but plan to. For cookies, I love Paulie's. There are no better in Houston as far as I'm concerned.

Labels: cupcakes

Silverlake results

15/22 in my age group. Ugh. Anyway.

Swim- 11:10 (gag me please)
T1- 2:01 (was having pity party for myself about the bad swim)
Bike- 35:12 (17 mph)
T2- 1:03
Run- 27:52 (9:17 mile)
Final- 1:17:16

I am thinking of going to Twin Lakes on Saturday if the weather is good to shake off the bad swim mojo.

Also- I see that the Eastside Tri is in June. Has anyone done this one? What's the 411? I don't want to do any events in a pool, so this looks like the only open water sprint before Iron Babe in August.

Labels: triathlon

Silverlake Tri

I'm not sure why I thought it would be a good idea to do a tri when I have been sick for 7 days. My cough is as strong as it was a week ago. I had a very rough time in the water b/c I couldn't put my face in due to the nonstop coughing. Hard to swim with your face out of the water. The swim was so rediculous that as I was out there I looked at my watch a few times and was like "WTF, this is so stupid." It was one of those super frustrating moments where your body just won't do what you want it to no matter how much you try to will it to do it. That swim should have been awesome. The water was perfect and I know I could have rocked it. Just not today. But that's ok. I still feel really frustrated, but I just kept repeating to myself "this is good practice, this is good practice." I'll get it back in August at Iron Babe.

The bike was okay. I was still coughing. Same for the run. Actually, by the end of the run I caught up to Sarah (she nearly passed me on the swim and she was in the wave after mine) who had zoomed past me on the bike and I was just happy to see a familiar face and I did not care what my pace was or the finishing time. I just wanted to get to the end and I would have really liked to just run next to Sarah the rest of the way, but I didn't want to invade her space, so I didn't.

I was really glad when this race was over. It was fun, but I know it would a lot more fun to do it when I can breathe and not cough my head off. In the water, 2 lifeguards asked me if I was okay b/c of the coughing. I'm sure I sounded like I was about to drown. I was fine. I just couldn't stop coughing. And during the run, the AED guy on the bike asked me 3 times if I was "good?" I felt like saying "Do I sound good to you?!" but I just said "yes, thanks" each time.

I am looking forward to Iron Babe in August and hope to do this tri again next year healthy and finish faster.

Congrats to Katy for finishing her first tri! She did a great job! And also to Sarah for 3rd place Athena! I hope I didn't bug you too much when I ran up and started talking.

Thanks to Jon, Waverly, Edwin and of course my #1 supporter, Manny, for coming to cheer us on!

Now I'm going to drink some Robitussin and go to bed. Tomorrow- doctor.

Labels: sick, triathlon

Shades of gray

Back when I started running for real- as in to run races and train and not just gasp my way around the park- I had a difficult time finding athletic sunglasses that would fit the tiny mouse features of my face. I have a narrow face, narrow nose bridge, very short distance from front/side of face to my ear. I tried and tried to find glasses that would actually fit and stay on. Almost every pair I tried were way to big in the nose bridge and hung over my ears a good 3 inches. I have one pair of Oakley's that I use for daily wear at work, and while the fit is better than most others I tried, they bounce on my face when I run with them.

The only glasses that truly fit me are by Rudy Project. I love my Rudy Project the most ever--they rule! I have worn the Graal SX in solid black for about three years. I wear my sunglasses almost 24/7, so I really do need at least two pairs of sport glasses and the Oakley's don't count. Especially now that I am running and biking. I am always looking for my glasses- half the time they are in the bike bag, half the time with my run stuff. A year ago, I exchanged the lenses in my Rudy's (after 2 years of hard use) and they are still in great shape. The Rudy Project glasses come with a lifetime lens replacement guarantee--just send them the scratched lenses (or broken lenses) and $15 and you get a new set. Oakley's don't replace their lenses--you just have to buy new ones. That sucks. All you runners, bikers, triathlete, athletic peeps, if you are looking for glasses, Rudy is the way to go! I recommend them to everyone. They should send me some free stuff...seriously. Rudy- call me.

Anyway, I finally got around to ordering a second pair of Graal SX. My other pair are the solid black- I change the lenses to orange depending on the light level outside. Hey, that's another great thing about Rudy glasses. They come with 3 sets of interchangable lenses and are super easy to switch. Oakley's come with one set. You have to buy more if you want them. So yeh, I bought a new pair and they just arrived. Fabulous!



The next thing I need to get is a new bike helmet. Mine is solid black and gets very hot. I have no idea why I bought a black helmet to wear for hours in the Texas sun.

Other than coughing my head off, I am feeling ok. I haven't slept the past 2 nights because of all the coughing. I hadn't taken any medicine for it b/ I'm an idiot. Finally at 5AM today, I got up after coughing the whole night and getting no sleep, and drove to CVS. I bought regular old school Robitussin, took it, and promptly stopped coughing enough to go to sleep. Why didn't I do that 2 days ago???

The plan is to be at Silverlake unless I get worse. It won't be my best performance, but I want the practice of racing and swimming open water with it full of other people.

Labels: sick, stuff, stupid me, triathlon

8 Things

I'll get to 8 at the bottom....

I feel like I am literally hacking up a lung here. I can't stop coughing. I think I coughed for about 7 of the 8 hours I tried to sleep last night! Despite that, I did complete my swim workout and my scheduled run yesterday. They say exercise when sick isn't necessarily a bad thing, so even feeling crappy I tried it and figured I'd see how far I could get. The swimming was the easier of the 2- I sailed through my workout even through I think the lifeguard thought I was drowning myself b/c of all the coughing!

The run was another story. Running made me cough even more and also my chest hurts from coughing- the muscles are sore- and I could feel it on the run. Plus the dust in the park didn't help.

Side note- did anyone know the NCAA Div 11 Championships for softball/golf/lacrosse are going on in Memorial Park. I got home from work and the park had been transformed. Cars were lining my street (my house overlooks the softball field), pizza vendors, taco trucks, tv crews, and hordes of people everywhere! Also, these sports spectators do not follow the pedestrian right of way rule while driving in the park. I nearly got ran over by three different drivers who ignored the fact I was crossing the street in the pedestrian crosswalk in front of Beck's Prime. WTF!?!

Anyway, back to the workout. I ran the intervals as scheduled, but I was a tad slower than normal. AHR was 171 and MAX was 191.

Swim was 250 warm up, 8X25 yard drills with 10 sec rest, 4X100 at moderate speed with 5 sec rest, 4X25 at full speed with 20 sec rest, 250 cool down.

Run was 11:30 minute warm up, 6X30 seconds hard intervals with 1 minute recovery, 11:30 cool down.

8 things- please y'all, only 8?! I came up with 100 in 2005.

I had to update the list b/c a lot has changed since then!

1. I share a birthday with Abraham Lincoln.
2. I love tattoos and would love to have lots of them! A full sleeve would be perfect.
3. Because I have to work, I only have four tattoos- a shamrock, Tigger, an African sankofa and tahitian flowers. Soon to be only 3 as I am in the process of removing the shamrock.
4. I was born and raised in West Virginia, but I grew up in Ohio.
5. I can’t sing or write songs, but more than anything I’d love to be a singer/songwriter.
6. When I was a little kid I begged my father for a piano and lessons. He made me sign a contract promising to repay him for the cost of the piano if I ever quit playing it. I quit and he never made me pay him back, but he still has the contract signed in my childish scrawl.
7. I believe in God, and I am happy I finally found a church home.
8. My favorite food is ice cream.
9. I really want a boston terrier and I'm going to get one eventually. As soon as my husband will let me.
10. I once told someone I was in love with them even though I knew I wasn’t.
11. In 6th grade, my boyfriend Josh broke up with me in front of everyone from school to go out with a friend of mine. Josh and I had been best buds since second grade and we never spoke again. I still remember how much that hurt and to this day, I don’t like him because of it.
12. I believe in karma, so #10 worries me.
13. I saw my biological father one day a many years ago for basically the only time in my life and the only thing I felt at that moment was overwhelming love for my mom and dad.
14. I can’t draw or paint or take pictures well, but I’d love to be an artist or photographer.
15. I got married and I never thought I would. I want children, but they scare the heck out of me.
16. I think my iPod is one of greatest inventions ever.
17. I am a Chi Omega.
18. I have Illiotibial Band Syndrome.
19. People always think of me as quiet and innocent until they really get to know me.
20. I went to Europe with my best bud Phillip and we had a blast!!
21. I think I'd like to get my nose pierced.
22. Sometimes I feel incredibly alone.
23. I hate cold weather.
24. My mom and I rarely agree, but I think she is an amazing and wonderful person all the same.
25. I don't really believe in horoscopes, but I read mine everyday and I think I fit my sign.
26. I am an Aquarius.
27. I am a card-carrying member of the Janet Jackson fan club.
28. I drive a red Toyota 4Runner.
29. I want a red convertible Mini Cooper S.
30. I don't have a favorite movie.
31. I really want and need to learn Spanish.
32. I am addicted to Reese's peanut butter candy.
33. I have a celeb crush on Taye Diggs, McDreamy, John Mayer, John Legend, Madonna, and Mariska Hargity (from SVU).
34. I'm addicted to Law and Order SVU. I've seen EVERY episode at least twice.
35. I'm a Tiffany girl (the jewelry, not the singer).
36. I went to graduate school because I didn't know what else to do with my life at the time.
37. I used to be a research historian for NASA at Johnson Space Center.
38. Now I'm a federal agent.
39. In high school I planned to go to college to be a newspaper editor.
40. I'm not a tomboy and really wish I could be more girly, but I suck at doing hair and makeup.
41. I miss going roller skating.
42. In the summers when I was in pre-school and kindergarden, I went to the bowling alley every day with my Granny. She was in a league and I would sit with one of those little troll dolls with the wild hair and watch her play. She would rub the troll's hair for luck before each turn.
43. The highest I ever bowled during high school gym class was a 43.
44. My Granny had Alzheimers disease.
45. Granny died shortly after I added #44. I miss her.
46. I have camped deep in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil.
47. I was always the first girl to fall asleep at slumber parties. I'm still ready to go to bed at 9pm every night.
48. I love to go horseback riding, but I haven't done it since I moved to Texas.
49. I have jumped out of a plane on purpose.
50. I am absolutely in love.
51. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say "time period." As in, "It was during the 1960s time period that Kennedy was assissinated." Time period is redundant! ARGH!
52. My nickname is TIGGS. My college friends still call me that.
53. Other nicknames include "Cass", "Mama Cass," "Cassanova" and my personal favorite, "Cass Master of Disaster."
54. My mother calls me Cassie Lynn.
55. She hates nicknames, especially "Cass."
56. My father has called me "Cass" my whole life.
57. My mom came up with my name from watching too much Battle Star Galactica back in the 70s. A princess on that show (played by Laurette Spang) was named Cassiopeia.
58. I've ran 2 marathons.
59. I want to be an Ironman, or at least half of one.
60. I need to learn how to swim better.
61. Next to SVU, my favorite TV show is the original CSI. Then Grey's. Then Top Model!
62. I'm not like any of the girls on Sex and the City.
63. If I could go anywhere right now, it would be Tahiti
64. It's taken me over 3 months to think of this many things about myself to add to this.
65. My favorite city is New Orleans.
66. I love Mardi Gras!
67. I like Marble Slab better than Cold Stone.
68. If I had a favorite movie it would probably be Lost In Translation with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanssen.
69. I am a white water rafting junkie, but the last time I went was 7 summers ago.
70. My favorite musicians/singers/entertainers are Janet Jackson, Lucinda Williams, John Mayer and John Legend. A very eclectic bunch.
71. My favorite book is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Houston.
72. I love to take bubble baths!
73. One of the best things about visiting home is going to Dairy Queen for a Reese's Cup blizzard.
74. I usually get along best with people who are older than me.
75. My favorite beer is St. Arnold's Lawn Mower.
76. My favorite drink is Raspberry Stoli and tonic. I love chocolate martinis but they don't love me.
77. My favorite meal is steak fajitas and a frozen strawberry margarita.
78. Someday I want to adopt a child.
79. My two longest previous relationships before I met my husband were both with boys named Eric. Their middle names were identical and their last names both started with the same letter!
80. I am addicted to blogging!
81. I ran the 400m open and relay in elementary and junior high track.
82. I am proud to be an American.
83. I'm not proud of a lot of things America does.
84. I hated high school. I was in the right crowd, but it was still a miserable experience.
85. I was editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper.
86. I miss my parents, but I don't miss living at home.
87. I think Texans are weird for eating things like Frito Pie and fried oreos/twinkies/snickers.
88. Texans think I'm weird for eating things like Hot Dog Sauce and CoCo Wheats.
89. I love Skyline Chili and Graeters Ice Cream.
90. I bet a lot of you have never heard of either one.
91. I hate most 80s music. My 80s music list includes Madonna, Janet and U2. That's basically it.
92. I am pro-choice.
93. I think people should be able to marry whomever they want regardless of sexual orientation.
94. I love Sprite and Mt. Dew Code Red, but hardly ever drink either one.
95. I used to be a cheerleader.
96. I won a national cheerleading championship.
97. That's not funny, so stop laughing!
98. I had 2 best friends growing up. We grew up in the same rural town and spent equal time with each other's parents as we did with our own, but all 3 of us are as different from one another as possible now.
99. I am sick of this list.
100. It took me almost 4 months to think of 100 things about myself. I left the original date and time I started it below.

5:07PM June 13, 2005

Labels: me, sick

Iron Babe Super Sprint Race Recap

After spending 3 hectic days running around New York, I was a bit apprehensive about my ability to perform at Iron Babe on Sunday. I went to bed on Saturday night thinking I would be dragging ass the next day. This feeling was made worse by the fact that when we arrived home, we discovered that the upstairs air conditioner had gone out and it was over 90 degrees in our bedroom.

We had to sleep downstairs in the guest room where it was much cooler. However, that bed belongs to Max and he was NOT happy to share it. I hardly got any sleep because Max did not want us in his bed and was also pissed at us for leaving him at home for a few days. He cried and cried all night and kept getting in my face and standing on my chest. He just wanted me out of his bed. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true. He is very spoiled. I woke up at 4:15, about 15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off and the first thing I heard was pouring rain and thunder. I laid there in the dark and lightening was flashing across the room. Perfect race weather. NOT!

I woke Manny up and he assumed I was staying home, but I got up and checked the weather online and it showed that the storm was rolling through and should be gone near race time. So we got up and got ready to head out to the race. The whole drive there the rain/wind/lightening was going wild. 610 had standing water in several places that was deep enough to cause a bit of worry about driving through it. As we made it to the park, the rain stopped. Then the sun started to peek through a little bit.

I set up my transition. I was two rows back from the swim in and run out area. I racked my bike, got body marked and picked up my chip. I was ready to go with at least 30 minutes to spare. I saw Sarah and checked out the course set up. And mostly we stood around and watched the lake. The waves were quite large. They were actually cresting and the volunteers trying to set out the buoys were having a hell of a time. The buoys kept pulling loose and floating away. The guy in the kayak was really using up alot of energy trying to get maneuver in the water. And the poor lifeguard out in the water on the boogie board looked like she was getting worked over pretty good. After several tries, they got the buoy line secured. We were ready to go!

I was in the third wave (25-29) along with the 20-24 year olds. I thought I would be nervous due to the water conditions, but as soon as I stepped down onto the boat ramp and my feet were in the water I was ready to go. Based on the wave motion that was forcing everyone right, I tried to line up as far left as possible. I was about 3 people deep to the left.

I didn't hear a gun or anyone signal to go, but all of a sudden the people in front of me lurched forward and we were off. I dove straight into the water as soon as it was deep enough and took off. Freestyle swimming wasn't getting me too far and neither was breast stroke. I turned to my side and side stroked as fast as I could. That was much more efficient in the waves.

I was passing people from the previous wave left and right. The swim out went by fast and I felt pretty good. At the turn around, it got a a little messy. There were ropes holding the buoys and they were floating up and it was a tangle of rope out there. My legs and about 4 other girls legs were all stuck in the ropes. I wasted time and energy getting untangled from rope and other swimmers. I actually found a rope that was pulled tight, stood up on it and jumped over. How crazy is that!

On the way back in, it was harder going. I don't know if it was because the waves were on my other side or what. The water was more crowded on that side and other swimmers were calling for help, panicking and several actually grabbed ahold of me and were trying to use me to help them float! I felt like a bitch, but I just kicked at them or pushed them away b/c they were dragging me down. More than once I had to flip onto my back to keep my face out of the water b/c of people hanging onto me. I passed many girls on the way back in who were hanging onto the buoy rope and using it to pull themselves to shore. I reached the shore in 7:36. I had predicted 4:30 in calm waters as I can do the 200 in the pool in 4 minutes. Much slower swim than I had anticipated. I was 19/41 in my age group.



Coming out of the water, I felt winded and a little dizzy. I had to sit down to put on my bike shoes b/c I was losing my balance. My transition was better than last time- 1:37 compared to 3:01 last time or 10/41 in my age group.



Once on the bike, I tried to take in some gatorade, but I had swallowed a lot of lake water and my stomach was hurting. I sipped at my gatorade and tried to hammer it out on the bike, but I was really thirsty and couldn't drink. I forced the gatorade down and ****this will be gross, sorry*** and soon after, it came right back up along with lake water and stomach acid. Nothing like spewing while pedeling! I just spit and spit, rinsed my mouth with more gatorade and kept going. I actually felt a little better after that. My cycling computer is messed up, so I couldn't tell how fast I was going. I could read the cadence and tried to keep it as high as I could. Not having the mph was a liability for sure. I need to get it fixed this week.

Total time on the bike for the 8 miles was 27:37 or 11/41 in my age group. That's 17.3 miles per hour.



I came off the bike feeling good legs wise, but just ok stomach wise. There was a traffic jam coming into transition and I couldn't bike/run around the girl in front of me, so my transition was slowed a bit. Still better than last time. 1:03 compared to 2:02 last time or 17/41 in my age group.

I REALLY didn't want to eat my gel, but after the transition I slowed to a walk, downed the gel and half a bottle of water. It was gross, but I did it. I took off running again and I ran as fast as my stomach would allow. I finished the 2 mile run in 18:36. It should have been faster. I had anticipated something like 8:30 miles, not 9:15s.



Total time was 56:30. My goal had been 55 minutes or less. Close, but not quite. Damn swim!!! That time was good enough for 9/41 in my age group and 76/266 overall.



I am supposed to race at Silverlake this weekend- however, I too have been struck down with the germs that got Sarah. Maybe it was something in the air at Lake Houston. If I can get in some workouts this week without feeling like death, I will be there Sunday.

*oh yeh, I forgot to mention it, but Monday, May 12 was my four year blogaversary! 4 years!

Labels: triathlon

Weekend of Food

New York was fun, but very tiring as New York is supposed to be. Our friends were in town from London to celebrate their son's 3rd birthday. We stayed with them in a rented house in Brooklyn (they used to live there in Carroll Gardens until about a year ago and their son was born in downtown NYC). Thursday was a nice day weather-wise and we did a lot of walking around. We went by the Today show, but we were late and only Kathy Lee was there and not worth watching. We went to the NBC studio shop as well. By NBC outside Christies, was a LOVE statue.



We went to Times Square to the big Toys "R" Us to birthday present shop and while we were there, we went on the gigantic ferris wheel that is inside the crazily huge toy store. Actually, I went twice on the ferris wheel!

The first time, Manny and I rode in the My Little Pony car and the second time, I went with Alexis in the Toy Story car.






Then we went to Billy's Bakery in Chelsea, so I could do some cupcake sampling. On my last trip, I went to Buttercup Bakeshop, which sucked. They sucked so bad, I'm not linking them. Billy's was awesome. I tried daisycake with vanilla butter cream, daisycake with chocolate buttercream, chocolate with vanilla and double chocolate. By far the all vanilla daisycake was the best! It was SUPER sweet, but perfect. The rest were all very good too.

The overall winner!





Then we played in the park in Union Square and as I was playing the "bad guy" I was put to the death by light saber.




Then we went for pizza. It was good, but I'm a Chicago style girl.

Friday it rained and rained ALL day. It was nasty. We went to MOMA. It was good, but I was tired and the rain made it worse. Friday night we went to see Mario Cantone at Carolines! He was exactly what I expected-very good if you love very cabaret comedy a la Jack 2000. If you don't know what that means, you wouldn't have liked it! Anyway, Mario was great.

Saturday we went to a 3 year old birthday party at Chuck E Cheese in Brooklyn. Wow. It was a little weird b/c we were the only people at the party (and in the whole place I'd assume) that didn't have children. I felt very out of place. It was fun, but after being there a couple of hours, I was feeling very overwhelmed with children. Whew. Makes me VERY nervous to think about having one of my own in the future.

For the birthday, we got more cupcakes of course. These came from One Girl Cookies in Brooklyn. The icing was yummy. The cake was too dry and lacked flavor. The pumpkin whoopie pie cookie was divine.



Saturday night we got home around 9pm and I had pre-packed everything for the Iron Babe, so I went to bed. I was up at 4:30AM to the sound of pouring rain and thunder....but more on that later.

Labels: nyc, photos, vacation