#94 Hike every trail at Point Reyes

Marshall Beach Trail
2.4 miles

This was a beautiful trail that brought you down to the water. The only problem was that the hike started at downhill, so the way back was all uphill! I have always liked to do the strenuous part of the hike at the beginning so I can cruise on the way back.

After the hike, we stopped for bbq oysters & clam chowder at Marshall Store in Marshall, CA. Fantastic!

#26 Eat at 500 Great Restaurants

Restaurant #110 is SEED in Santa Rosa, CA

I have always wanted to try a raw food restaurant and Seed was a great first experience. It is a tiny place tucked away in a residential section of town, though our waitress told us that they were searching for a larger location. The decor is clean and sparse, not much room for anything but the 6 or so tables.

Seed specializes in Raw, Vegan & Organic items. Here's what I ate & how I liked it:

curried pea soup A+
A chilled, pureed soup that was topped with red bell pepper. A must have!

greek pizza A-

An almond crust with onions, zucchini hummus & olives. One you get past the fact that this is not really pizza, it is quite tasty.

stuffed mushrooms A

Crimini mushrooms stuffed with kalamata tapenade and topped with zucchini hummus

corn chip w/jalapeno crème A+

This chip was so delightful that I was sad I only got one!

ravioli flower B+

Rutabaga was sliced thin to make these raviolis. They were stuffed with macadamia puree topped with marinara. It also came with a little caesar salad, that was my only disappointment of the entire meal. Not that the caesar was little, but that it was bland.

cheezcake A+++

A lemon cashew filling over macadamia nut crust with strawberry puree. Pure yummyness! I have no idea how they made this cheesecake without cream cheese, but they did & it was the best!

#13 Play the Stock Market

My sister-in-law says that it is "time in the market, not timing the market" and she's probably right, but I sure am having a great time trying! I have been "day-ish trading" since Jan 2009 and so far I am up 85%. By no means am I an expert, but here are the strategies (if you want to called it that) I use:

• I put all the stocks that I currently hold and the ones the I am watching in the stock application on my Iphone. When the stock market is down (all my stocks will turn red on my Iphone) I buy and when it's up (they turn green), I sell. I know, you're saying..."duh"? But, I really believe that it is as simple as that.
  
• I try not be too greedy. As Warren Buffet has said, "I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over". I only try to make $100 on each stock trade and believe me there are many times when it has been hard to sell at the $100 mark without just wanting to take my chances at making more. But, in my head the words "don't get greedy" float around.
  
• When the market is down, I turn to Motley Fools to help me pick my stocks. I go to their Top Tens "Hot 5-Star Stocks" and choose something in my price range.
  
• I try not to complicate things. My stock vocabulary consists of: trade, limit, chart, stop loss and market. I don't get too involved in all of the rest of the lingo because I feel like it will just complicate the simple "buy low, sell high" strategy.
  
• Patience. I am patient, I wait for the market to go significantly down & significantly up. Sometimes this take 1 hour and sometimes 1 month...I wait.

Here's a the list of current stocks I am holding: DNN (Denison Mines Corp), CPE (Callon Petroleum Co.), WRES (Warren Resources Inc), SIRI (SIRIUS), CSE (CapitalSource Inc.), TGB (Taseko Mines)

I hope I can officially double my money by the end of the month! Watch out Warren!

1000 things to do before I die, whats on your bucket list?

I am trying to complete a list of "1000 things to do before I die". I only have about 350, so I am looking for 650 more! Anyone have any unique ideas?

#36 Run (at least) a 5K

Week 4 Couch to 5K

help...me...i...can't...catch...my...breath!!!!

Week 4 is:
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

Alright I am going be honest and admit that I couldn't complete the last damn 5 minutes. I have two more times to try this week, so there is hope. What is discouraging is the girl who was running in front of me ran 4 miles at 7.0!! I wasn't even sure how her legs could go so fast. I can only run at 4.7 right now and I seriously feel like I am cruisin'! Most people are still walking at that level. What's up with that?

#84 Try 50 New Foods

# 11 Pied de cochon (pig trotters)

This was suppose to be just a drink date at Central Market. The owner Tony was nice enough to give us a complimentary appetizer. I have to admit, when he set it down I was ridden with nerves...what if I didn't like this indescribable delicacy? It would be extremely rude not to finish a gift from the proprietor! Before I took the first bite he came over to explain what was in front of us. Holy Crap! It's pigs feet!! Okay, there are just some parts of an animal that I don't want to eat and pigs feet is right up there with sheep's brain. Thank God I already had had a glass of liquid courage (aka: wine), so mangia!

Really it just tasted like some sort of mixture with a bacon flavor. Not bad...pretty good really...if only I didn't know what it was.

You think you might like pigs feet? Check out this recipe for Pied de Cochon.

#36. Run (at least) a 5K

Just started week 3 of the couch to 5k training...sort of! The corner of the coffee table accidentally hit my knee and put me out of comission on my first day of training. This weeks goal was suppose to be: Brisk five-minute warm up walk, then do two repetitions of the following: Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) - Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) -Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) - Walk 400 yards (or three minutes).

I did give it the old college try, but the pounding on my knee wouldn't allow me to continue. So I opted for the steam room & sauna. Oh well, maybe tomorrow!