I’m blogging over at the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood today!

The Rubies are Golden Heart Finalists, Class of 2009, who have formed a strong bond, tight-knit friendship, and wonderful blog over the years.

In a blog series leading up to Nationals this year, they’re featuring the new Golden Heart Finalists, Class of 2012. So today’s my day!

C’mon over and leave a comment! I’m here: http://www.rubyslipperedsisterhood.com/meet-2012-golden-heart-finalist-laurie-sanchez/

So here’s where the weight-loss story starts getting comical:

In the spirit of “The Biggest Loser” competition at my work, one of my coworkers planned a “Fitness Friday” lunchtime hike at one of Orange County’s wilderness parks, and at first I thought “I’m in!”

I love the outdoors. And I love Orange County’s wilderness parks — they’re kind of desert-y, but they have some beautiful oaks and sycamores, plenty of wild birds and rabbits to make you realize you’re in another world, an amazing fragrance of California sage, and a true “get away from it all” feel. Just recently, in fact, I was chatting with my old neighbor about joining the OC Hiking Club, which is something I suggested years ago to my friend Debbie (but we each got busy with our kids, and weekends suddenly filled up).

Plus I love vacations to Tahoe or Yosemite, and we always find at least one fun hike to do there each trip.

But, admittedly, my version of “hiking” involves a camera, a slower walk, and the time it takes to notice my surroundings. And the last couple of vacations, I admit, I’ve had a rough time during the steeper hikes. Twice recently we went on hikes with really steep elevations – once in Yosemite and once in Montana – and each time I barely made it to the top. (In fact, I probably wouldn’t have made it to the top if it weren’t for the fact that the top is where the next activity began! In Yosemite, we were hiking up to the base of Nevada Falls – I nearly died – and in Montana we were hiking up to the beginning of a descent into a set of caverns. On the Montana one, the only other woman who had as much trouble as me was toting a baby in a sling on her front!) I never used to have this kind of trouble hiking before — it’s only been in the last 4-5 years — but I knew I was getting myself into some jams.

So I said “I’m in!” to the OC hike with a little trepidation …

I figured their definition of “hike” was probably different than mine (I figured theirs wouldn’t involve cameras or noticing the California sage).

And then I learned that the hike they chose is one of the notoriously steep ones – a 650-foot immediate elevation over only 1.5 miles, up the Willow Canyon trail in the Laguna Canyon Wilderness Park.

And suddenly I thought, “I’m out!”

But over the weeks, a few co-workers talked me into it. (They claimed they’d stay back and walk with me, or would probably go as slow as me, but … NOT.)

Now, I work with a bunch of really competitive people – I mean, they’ll compete over everything from a golf tourney to a poker game, with absolute determination. So I should have known better about the offers to help!

Sure enough, everyone raced to arrive there, pay, and get out to the trail head before each other. Some brought sand bags to carry for an “extra workout.” Then they seemingly began racing to the top. …

I just stood there in the swirling dust. I think I got one good photo as they began their ascent, but then, as expected, everyone was gone around a bend. I knew I was in trouble — if I couldn’t keep up at the front of the group, I certainly wasn’t going to keep up at the back. And, sure enough, about a quarter of the way up, the breathing troubles began. My lungs felt like they were shriveling up and couldn’t get enough air in them through the straw that is apparently my windpipe. So I sent off the one coworker who was walking with me – I didn’t want to keep her too far behind – and just took my time. I stopped, tried to catch my breath, took a bunch of pictures, started again, would go up one more elevation to a level place, then try to catch my breath again, etc. It took me forever – and I never made it all the way up – but I still got a good workout. (My legs were nice and pleasantly sore the next day.) And I got a lot of nice pictures! I also saw a hummingbird, lots of rabbits, some really cool caves that Nathan would love, and got a chance to smell the sage. …

(I don’t think I’m going to be a competitive athlete!)

Here’s a picture of a hummingbird I saw:

And here’s one of the rabbits:

Here’s a view from about as high as I got. See that white rock down there that looks like it has a face? Everyone calls that “ghost rock”:

And here are my coworkers, leaving me in the dust:

Anyway, the good news is, the whole experience actually made me want to join the OC Hiking Club even more.

Next up for “The Biggest Loser” competition at work? A hike to Holy Jim Falls, which is so far and treacherous to get to that very few people in OC have even seen it! Ayeeee. …

So the weight-loss thing is getting more comical and more intense at the same time. … (Comical will be explained in a later post this week.)

After I began gunning to lose at least the 10 pounds of holiday weight I’d gained (with some up-and-down success – I still haven’t gotten the full 10 pounds off yet), my company decided to launch into another “season” of its “Biggest Loser” competition.

Now, I work with a bunch of really competitive people: poker tournaments, golf games, golf pools, football pools, you name it – they’re in it to win it, no matter what it is.

So a couple of years ago, they started playing “The Biggest Loser,” and have had two big competitions (lasting 3 months each) over about three years. The pot gets pretty big, and payout goes to first through third place. The guys always win over the gals, but the winner is determined by percentage of body weight lost, so ultimately it should be fair. Since I handle social media for the company, I usually blog about the competition and tweet/FB it.

But this time …

This time I decided to play.

(Egads.)

The timing was good – holiday stress was over, but the holiday weight was stubbornly remaining. And I was ready to work on taking those pounds off anyway. So I hesitantly tip-toed in. …

More people than ever jumped into this “second season” for us (the first group played from Jan-March, this one goes from April-June). And ultimately, because so many people joined, our CEO said the company would match the winning pot. (That’s getting into the thousands of dollars now.)

But remember what I said about the poker tournaments?! This is a hard-core group. They’re working out twice a day, taking supplements, trying juicing techniques, running 10 miles on the weekends, etc. That money isn’t even going to be close to being mine. (In fact, I’ll be lucky if I don’t come in last place!)

But it’s cool. … The good news is that even when I don’t win, and even if I come in last place, I’m still losing weight! Yay! It’s only about a pound a week, but it’s coming off. We have our first weigh-in next week (second of four), so I’ll post how many pounds it is officially, but I think I’m averaging a pound a week. Not fireworks time, but the scale is at least in a downward trajectory. And if I count since Christmas, I’m at 9 of the 10 I wanted to lose, so I’m at least back into some of my clothes more comfortably.

Being in a competition, I have to admit, is helpful. I’m counting calories and getting in some exercise simply because I don’t want to completely embarrass myself. If nothing else, I’ve managed to scramble to find a “free” 30 minutes every day in which to exercise (with the help of Superman, who offered to take our daughter to school in the mornings so I could have that time to exercise). And that’s huge for me, really, because I’ve known for a long time that I need to exercise (for my heart, for general health, to stave off diabetes), but it’s so hard to find the time when you’re a full-time working mother in a five-member household. So carving out that simple half hour in the morning was really a gigantic step.

So onward. … I’m sure I’ll have amusing updates. Just wish me luck to not come in last place!

Yesterday in the mail I received my official Golden Heart pin and invitation to the big RITA/Golden Heart gala in July! It feels so “real” to get the pin. …

A couple weekends ago, all four of us went to a local nursery we love around here, Roger’s Gardens (here’s a post I wrote about Roger’s Gardens for my other blog), and we oooh’ed and aaaah’d over all the beautiful spring flowers and Easter decorations. (Nathan mostly just tried on the funny men’s gardening hats and played with the windchimes.) I think we were all, though, just in the mood for spring, sunshine, pastel colors, rabbits and eggs. …

Rene had decided earlier in the week that she wanted to plant some flowers in our brick flowerbed, so we let her pick out some annuals. She also found two succulents she loved. As soon as we got home, she went into the back and spent about an hour in gardening gloves and planting soil.

Here’s what she planted. So pretty!

A “rose” succulent:

These cool bright-green succulents that looked so adorable in this heart-shaped clay pot (so we got the clay pot, too, and she re-created the look at home!):

Some bright purple pansies and daisies (and a little pink, for accent):

And a couple yellow pansies, which she put in our nonworking fountain:

It’s feeling like spring now!

Ah, that was a fun spring break!

We kicked it off with a road trip through the desert:

Then cruised into Arizona:

Picked Ricky up from the airport in Phoenix:

We thought we'd kid around, and set Nathan out there in front of the terminal with a sign saying "Ricky" (like the limo driver standing behind him).

Went to Angels Spring Training at Tempe-Diablo Stadium:

With my parents:

And watched some really close-up ball:

We also sat by the pool, went to hotel happy hours, caught up with my parents, caught up with my boy, relaxed, read (I’m reading The Hunger Games), tried to stay off line, relaxed some more, went out to eat at some fun places, and did a road trip back with my college boy in the car.

I’d say as far as spring breaks go, that was tops. It was fun to travel with my parents, fun to have Ricky home for a week, nice for him to “thaw out” from the Montana snow, and great to enjoy some sunshine and baseball.

Nothing beats the smell of the grill, the sound of the bat, the sun beating down, and the general joy of baseball to get you ready for summer. …

This was an ideal spring break.

What are some of your favorite spring traditions?

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter, if you celebrate it.

We did something different this year and had an Easter brunch at my house instead of Easter dinner at my parents’ house.

The change was mostly due to the fact that we had to take Ricky back to the airport to fly back to college (after his spring break) at 4 p.m. Plus, one of my brothers was gone, along with his wife, since they’re traveling this month in the Phillipines.

So … little different this year … but it was really fun. I’m getting used to changing up some traditions now.

We had my parents over, plus my other brother and my little nephew. (It was fun buying “Easter bunny” things for a little one again!)

And the brunch menu was fabulous! Here’s what we had (wish I took pics of the food, but I was too busy … er .. eating …):

• Strata — my mom made a great egg dish with ham in it and — this was the unique part — hash browns in it. Yum. 
• Sausage
• Curly baked fries
• Deviled eggs
• Strawberry-and-goat-cheese salad with pecans – A recipe I got from Lifescript! It was delicious. It’s here.
• Cinnamon rolls
• Lemon cupcakes
• Mimosas

We definitely had plenty of food! It was all very good.

What did you do this Easter? Do you change up your traditions from time to time?

The roses Superman bought me on Monday.

Wow! Well, that was a crazy coupla’ days. … Crazy week, really.

After finding out I was a finalist in RWA’s Golden Heart competition, I quickly found out what exactly that meant — I had no idea what a wild ride I was going to be on.

There were a gazillion emails, tweets, Facebook updates, loops to join, secret societies to join, and handshakes to learn (okay … kidding on those last two). There were beta readers to contact (and thank), critique and writing partners to reach, and friends and family members who’d been so supportive that I wanted to write to and thank each personally. There were champagne glasses to toast, roses from Superman to put in a vase, a celebratory dinner with my parents, and lovely congrats to acknowledge. There are pictures to take (haircuts to get beforehand!), photos to mail in, registrations to fill out, a gown to buy (egads!), tickets to purchase, and more. There were more than 1,000 messages to keep up with on a new 2012 Finalist loop alone, other previous-finalist loops to be part of, blogs to join, special memberships to join, plus open calls from agents for GH finalist submissions, and even personal emails from agents asking us if we had representation, and — if not — would we like to submit?

It has — to say the least — been wild.

In the middle of it all, I had a vacation already planned — just a long weekend, really — but it felt weird to unplug and take off when I knew another 1,000 emails were going to pile up. … But I did. (And I’m glad I did!)

Now I’m back in town, though, and ready to get back to work on this finalist thing.

First steps:

1. Catch up on ridiculous amount of email. (Working on it.)
2. Join RWA. (Did that at lunch today.)
3. Get a haircut. (Old-lady hairdos are threatening.)
4. Get a picture taken, quick!
5. Find an agent.
6. Join my local OC chapter.
7. Register for Nationals.
8. Fill out the paperwork that’s due Monday (addresses of local newspapers to contact, etc.)

Wish me luck with all this planning! I’ll keep you updated on the process, if you want the play-by-play on how all this goes. …

Ricky for KBGA Radio

All my kids are writing these days, and I couldn’t be more thrilled!

Rene has tiptoed into the realm of fiction with a great short story and some beautiful poetry. (She uses “beats” so naturally, and her sentences have gorgeous variety.) Nate just wrote a really funny, clever “commercial” that he had to film in his class — he took on the whole writing aspect for his entire group, plus did the reading as the narrator, and was thrilled to get applause from his fellow seventh graders! And Ricky’s been sending me his articles for his journalism classes, and they’re terrific. (Great, natural use of quotes, as well as lyrical sentences.) Ricky’s also been reading news and sports on his college radio station, so I get to tune in every-other Tuesday and hear his articles live and hear him banter the news. (So fun!)

The trick was — all these years — I couldn’t ever actually suggest they get into writing of any kind. (Because then it would’ve been a rebellious kind of Mommmm, no!) And I still have to bite my tongue all the time and try not to suggest it too much.

But when they discover it on their own … then … yes!!! … they get to experience the magic I always did.

Have you ever wanted to push your kids into talents or professions, but simply had to control yourself?