Beautiful Rainy Days Ahead

Bad Blogger!

2011-09-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

Wow - what a terrible blogger I've been lately! So many adventures, so little time to write about them! I promise I'll (slowly) start catching you up on our spring and summer adventures soon. But in the meantime, know that I'm still alive and I hope you'll still be a reader even when I go on a long hiatus for no good reason.

Starting the Conversation: National Infertility Awareness Week

2011-04-30T13:19:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of National Infertility Awareness Week. Infertility awareness is an issue that is near and dear to my heart, and I've mentioned it in this blog before. I was trying to figure out a way this week to increase awareness and I did something kind of bold, even for me. A section of my work's online newsletter is called Healthy Living and I thought it would be a great area to write about infertility awareness. I spoke to the editor and she thought it was a good idea as well, so I started writing. The whole concept was a lot more difficult than I initially thought. I needed to find the right balance of sharing personal information along with education for people who don't know much about infertility. The article finally was distributed to 2,000 people this week, and I got a great response! I've had about 20 people (mostly strangers) email, call, or stop by my cubicle to thank me for sharing my story or offer support. Most of the people contacting me have had experiences with infertility and were happy to see the silence broken on the subject. And I've had a few people who haven't experienced infertility just thank me for sharing information with them. One woman in my office is just starting the process of getting diagnosed and dealing with infertility and we're scheduled to go out to lunch soon to discuss our shared experience. I was very nervous about the article coming out and sharing such personal information with my co-workers and boss, but after the feedback I've received, I'm positive I did the right thing. The article is below for your information!

Starting the Conversation: National Infertility Awareness Week
My husband and I are among the 7.3 million people in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with infertility. It has been more than two years since we made the decision to have children, and we’re still childless. After a variety of intrusive tests and exams, we’ve been told that it is highly unlikely we will ever be able to conceive without expensive medical intervention.

So, why am I making this big announcement for strangers, co-workers and friends to read? Because National Infertility Awareness Week is April 24-30, and I think it’s a great time for people to learn more about infertility and how to support those who are experiencing it.

Infertility is a disease of the reproductive system. Reproductive endocrinologists (doctors specializing in infertility) usually diagnosis infertility if a person has not achieved a viable pregnancy after 12 months of trying, or 6 months if the couple is older than 35.

Doctors estimate that one in eight couples experience difficulty in conceiving a child and, contrary to popular belief, infertility is not just a woman’s problem. According to Resolve, The National Infertility Association, 30 percent of infertility cases can be attributed to male factors, and 30 percent can be attributed to female factors. In about 20 percent of cases, infertility is unexplained, and the remaining 10 percent is caused by a combination of problems in both partners.

There are dozens of reasons that a couple may experience infertility. A woman may have diminished ovarian reserves, ovarian cysts, clotting disorders or endometriosis, a disorder that causes tissue normally inside the uterus to grow outside the uterus. A man may have poor sperm quality because of genetic factors, cancer treatments, hormone levels, etc.

Even though infertility is a problem with the body functioning improperly, most insurance plans do not cover the costs associated with diagnosis or treatment. The out-of-pocket expenses can quickly become overwhelming. In fact, that’s the reason my husband and I still don’t have children: we have to save thousands of dollars (I’m talking more than $10,000) before we can pursue the treatments we need.

Many people who suffer from infertility do so silently; they don’t share their struggles with co-workers, friends or even family. The reasons for secrecy are personal, multiple and varied. In the past, I haven’t shared our diagnosis widely because sometimes I don’t want to deal with intrusive questions or opinions about my treatment choices. Also, if I gain a couple of pounds or complain about feeling sick, I don’t want people to look at me suspiciously, trying to figure out if I’m pregnant yet. (Trust me – I won’t be pregnant for a long time, if ever.)

Infertility is so emotionally devastating some days, it’s difficult enough to keep it together on my own without having well-intentioned people give me “support” that really doesn’t help. For example, telling me to “relax” doesn’t change the medical condition that’s preventing us from conceiving.

Another phrase that makes many infertile couples cringe is, “Why don’t you just adopt?” My husband and I are very open to the adoption route and would love to grow our family in any way we can. But the same thing that’s preventing us from infertility treatments is preventing us from adopting; adoption can cost more than infertility treatments. In addition, not every person is qualified to adopt, the process is not quick or easy, and it is unbelievably emotional.

Starting a family is an intimate and personal decision, even more so once infertility becomes a factor, so I understand why some people are not comfortable talking about their experiences with the disease. However, with one in eight couples suffering from infertility, awareness of the disease should be higher than it currently is.

I encourage people who have dealt with infertility to share their stories, dispel some of the myths and gently correct people when they make inappropriate comments. I also think that having honest discussions about infertility and treatments might eventually lead to better insurance coverage and more funding for research. This week – National Infertility Awareness Week – is a great time and reason to break the ice and ease into the conversation!

To learn more about infertility, you can visit Resolve, The National Infertility Association and the infertility page on PubMed Health.

Also, I especially like this article about infertility etiquette.

Oscar Movie Marathon

2011-03-20T20:56:00.001-07:00

So have I mentioned before that we're huge movie fans? We have over a thousand DVDs in our house. Robb's the one who's really into it, but I think he would agree that I have good taste and can appreciate films better than most. So a couple of years ago when I was working at Panera on the weekends I noticed people coming into the bakery with movie passes hanging around their necks. I asked what the deal was and was told that they were attending an Oscar movie showcase at the AMC movie theaters. I had never heard of that before! They were attending all five movies nominated for best picture at that year's Oscar ceremonies in one day, the day before the Oscar ceremony! I thought it was such a cool concept and I knew Robb would love it. Since then the Oscars have increased the number of movies nominated for best picture - now there are 10 movies and AMC breaks the showcase into two weekends. This year Robb and I finally got our schedules organized enough to go to the movies two Saturdays in a row.

I was pretty apprehensive. I love movies, but to see five in a row in the theater sounds a little intimidating. But you know, it ended up being pretty easy. It was nice to be in a theater with other people who love movies and are a respectful audience (no talkers, texters, etc.) We got there about an hour before the start time to secure our seats. The seats you choose for the first movie are the seats you are stuck with all day - we were pretty happy with our seats (we like to get seats where you can stretch out your legs.) There were about 15-25 minutes between each movie to get up and stretch. In the early evening there was an hour long break for people to go get dinner if they wanted. The first weekend we grabbed a burger. The second weekend we packed our own picnic (including a sugar cookie sold at Metropolitan Market that was in the shape of an Oscar award)! Included with our passes were gift cards to buy food at the concession stand, so we snacked on popcorn and soda throughout the day.

I had a pretty good idea that we would be attending the Oscar Showcase this year, so as movies came out in the previous months that had Oscar buzz, I made sure that we did NOT go see them. So we went into the showcase having only seen two movies previously - Toy Story 3 and Inception, which were great movies so we didn't mind seeing them again.

I don't want to review all of the movies, because I don't want to give everything away and I don't think my words could do the films justice. But, a brief overview will do. On the first day we watched: Toy Story 3, 127 Hours, The Kids Are All Right, True Grit, and The Fighter. I thought all of the movies were really good, except for The Kids Are All Right. I was really looking forward to that movie the most and it disappointed me on several levels. I really had no desire to see 127 Hours, but I ended up loving it, which kind of shocked me. On the second day we watched: Winter's Bone, Black Swan, Inception, The Social Network, and The King's Speech. I was impressed with all of the movies this day. My favorite movie of the entire showcase was Winter's Bone. I'm not quite sure why it spoke to me so much; the depiction of poverty was powerful and the story drew me in. We had a great time at the showcase and I hope that we can do this again in the future.

Our Oscar cookie!

Polar Dip, Opera, Wooden Boats

2011-03-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

On my 30 Before 30 list I had written that I wanted to see a live opera. For Christmas this year my parents were kind enough to get me opera tickets for January! And Robb's Christmas present to me was to make a whole weekend out of the event. He made hotel and dinner reservations so we could have a great night out in Seattle.

The weekend started with with us getting up early on Saturday and heading to Alki Beach in West Seattle. My running club were having their annual run and polar dip, followed by a potluck brunch. If you'll recall, I did my first polar dip last year and was the only girl to participate. This year, there were a lot more of us running into the cold water. I was a little uncomfortable doing so this year because the rumor was Puget Sound was very polluted because of all the rain in the previous weeks and the run-off/pollution from the roads. But, right before I jumped, a flock of birds decided to take off and poop all around me and on me. I must say, most of the poop was around me, but a lot of poop was on me. That sealed my fate of running into the freezing Puget Sounds.

Soaking wet after the plunge!

After the run, plunge, and breakfast, Robb and I headed to our hotel for an early check-in. We had a great view of the Space Needle. We took a nap and then started getting ready for our night on the town! Originally Robb had made reservations at an Italian restaurant, Il Bistro. He had made the reservations weeks in advance and had even secretly made plans for a private booth, rose petals on the table, and champagne. A week before our night out Robb got a call from the manager saying that Il Bistro was actually closed and he was so sorry that somehow reservations had been made. The manager was apologetic and offered to help us make reservations at another restaurant. We finally decided on 94 Stewart. We walked to the restaurant from our hotel, dressed in our finest, and found that the manager at Il Bistro had arranged for rose petals, champagne, and privacy at 94 Stewart (and he paid for those amenities to make up for their mistake,) It was a lovely evening and meal. We enjoyed drink and an appetizer of fried avocado with corn relish and dungeness crab. Robb had pork belly for dinner and I had a delicious salmon. We would definitely recommend a visit to 94 Stewart and hope that we can hit up Il Bistro soon.

After dinner we rushed to the monorail station to take the train to the theater where the opera was being performed. It was our first time on the monorail. It was kind of fun and a pretty cheap and fast way to get from downtown to the Seattle Center. We semi-ran to the theater because we were running a little late, but luckily got there in time. I had decided that I wanted to see a classic opera for my first opera experience - so I chose the Barber of Seville. We had fantastic seats and were so impressed with the opera. It was really funny and the guy who sang "Figaro" was wonderful. (I loved hearing "Figaro" and not seeing Bugs Bunny at the same time.) The opera was super long and while I loved it, I was also a little glad when it was over. Luckily we managed to catch the last monorail of the night and made it back to our hotel around midnight! Let me say that I'm really happy that I chose this opera to see for my first and I would be more than happy to see another opera in the future. Another 30 Before 30 list success!

The next day we went to breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe. We probably waited close to an hour for a table - this place is popular and that's why we wanted to try it. Robb even went to Starbucks to get us coffee while we waited and read the paper. Our meals were pretty good and I wouldn't mind going to Portage Bay again, but there are so many other places to try for breakfast that I don't know if we'd go back on our own. Our next destination was the Center for Wooden Boats. I had read that on Sunday afternoons they provide free boat rides. We were there a little early so we took some time to walk around and look at some other boats in the docks. Then at the appropriate time we piled into a 100+ year old sail boat with a few other families and took a frigid sail around Lake Union. It was cold, but fun (and at least it didn't rain)!

Whidbey Island - Our Five Year Anniversary

2011-03-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

On December 30th we celebrated five years of wedded bliss. Every anniversary I am amazed that we've been married for so long; we're still newlyweds as far as I'm concerned! Five years is a big milestone, so we had to do something special for a long weekend (but still affordable). In our constant quest for exploring more of the fabulous Pacific Northwest, I determined that we should visit Whidbey Island. I'd heard the towns were cute and the scenery fabulous. After lots of research I came up with an itinerary and made reservations at a B&B. A few days before we were scheduled to leave, Robb started fighting a pretty serious flu and even missed work he felt so bad. Our reservations at the B&B were nonrefundable at that point and we had really been looking forward to our little vacation, so Robb brought a ton of medicine with him and toughed it out. The first day he still felt pretty bad, but he felt better every day and I think it was good that we were out of the house and doing things. And we were unbelievably lucky with the weather that weekend. It was super cold (well below freezing the entire weekend with some serious wind chill), but sunny and no rain!

On Thursday we headed north to Whidbey Island. There are two ways to get to the island, by ferry and by a fantastic bridge over Deception Pass. I had heard such wonderful things about the beauty of Deception Pass that I knew we should drive the extra distance in order to see the area. Deception Pass is a narrow gap of fast moving water between the mainland and Whidbey Island with long bridges to take you from one side to the other. There are places to park before the bridge so you can get out and take in the scenery. We parked at the first pull-out we saw and thought we would take a short walk to look at the bridge and Pass. We actually ended up spending quite a bit of time there because you could walk under the bridge and see different views of the water and the bridge. We were beyond impressed with the views and so happy we started our weekend with Deception Pass.

We got back in the car and drove a couple more minutes to Whidbey Island and stopped at a beach. We ate our picnic lunch in the car because it was too cold to eat outside. A naval air station was nearby and we were fascinated with watching fighter jets doing training maneuvers during our meal. After we ate we walked along the beach for awhile until the sun started to go down.

We decided it was time to drive to our next destination, the town of Coupeville. The Blue Goose Inn was amazing - our room was really lovely without being flowery/obnoxious, like many B&Bs are prone to be. We hung out for a bit and decided to finally go to dinner at Christopher's. I was so excited to try Christopher's because Coupeville is situated along the water of Penn Cove. This is where Penn Cove mussels come from - which I love. I couldn't wait to try the mussels in this restaurant. We walked to the restaurant and got there a couple minutes after 8:00 to see a closed sign in the window. There were still people inside so we popped our heads in, hoping that the sign was incorrect. Nope, a waitress came over and told us they were closed. We expressed surprise that a restaurant had closed so early and she said, "Well, this is Coupeville." We walked around the main street and saw most of the restaurants had already closed. We ended up going into Toby's Tavern for food and a drink at the bar. The food was okay and it was interesting to be in a small town tavern where everybody seemed to know everybody. But I was pretty disappointed to not get my Penn Cove mussels from Christopher's and to not have a romantic anniversary dinner. In fact, I was so bitter, I decided that Christopher's would not be getting our business at any other point that weekend.

The next morning after a delicious breakfast we went to Fort Casey. The weekend before we had been in Fort Worden with my parents, which is across the water from Fort Casey. Fort Casey was very similar to Fort Worden, but Casey had several cannons still on site. Fort Casey also had a beautiful lighthouse and great Pacific Northwest beaches. We explored Fort Casey for several hours. We saw both a sea lion and harbor seal swimming in the water, deer, and even a submarine being escorted out to sea. We headed back to Coupeville for a late lunch at Mosquito Fleet Chili, which was okay. The location was great, right on the water! The plan was to spend the rest of the day wandering around town to pop into shops. But, as it was New Year's Eve and this was small-town Coupeville, most of the shops had closed by mid-afternoon for the holiday.

Sea Lion

Submarine

Can you see the cannon pointing over the water on the left-side of the picture?

Since experiencing small-town Coupeville was a bust, we headed over to Ebey's Bluff. There was a trail that went along the ridge of a cliff overlooking the Sound and then went down to loop back around along the beach. We had hoped to hike the entire 5+ mile trail before the sun went down, but as we walked along the bluff we realized we wouldn't be able to make it, the sun was just moving too fast. So we turned back around and got to the car as dusk started to settle in. We ended up going back to Ebey's Bluff the next morning to complete the hike, but we were so happy to see it that afternoon as well. The late afternoon sun bathed the bluff in spectacular glow and we were able to see both Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker in the distance. That night we got a bottle of wine at a grocery store and picked up Thai food and ate in our room, watching cable (which we don't have at home). Happy New Year's!

Coupeville

Mt. Baker

Mt. Rainier

Originally our plan for the last day was to drive down to Langley to check out another cute Whidbey Island town, visit a winery, and then take the ferry back to the mainland. However, considering it was New Year's Day and we had experienced a small town on New Year's Eve where most shops were closed, we decided Langley probably would be shuttered up as well. So after breakfast we loaded up the car, stopped at the Knead and Feed for some pastries to try later on (ohmigod were they delicious), and headed back to Ebey's Bluff.

After completing our hike we drove back north towards Deception Pass again. We stopped in Oak Harbor (the biggest city on Whidbey Island) for Robb to see a "roadside attraction." He's got this thing on his cell phone that helps him find weird roadside attractions. I let him indulge in this hobby every once in awhile. So we saw the Flinstone's car in Oak Harbor. We went to the BBQ Joint for lunch and were so glad that we stopped! Washington isn't exactly known for its barbecue options and my Kansas husband has been missing it. After our meals we went up and got another sandwich to share because I just couldn't get enough of the pulled pork!

The hosts at the B&B had told us about Mt. Erie and said we just had to take a visit to the top. Luckily there was a road all the way to the top and some great viewpoints. After Mt. Erie we decided to head for home. On our way we decided to stop in La Conner. We had been in this cute town once before and we thought it might be fun to check out the stores again. And of course, Robb found another roadside attraction - a statue of Biter, an homage to a stray dog in the 70s that was apparently well-loved and cared for by the town. (Later that night we made one more stop for a roadside attraction in Everett - a flying saucer.) We didn't spend too long in La Conner, but we did find a beautiful Christmas ornament that we can put on our tree next year. And on our way out of town we saw one of the most incredible sunsets I've ever seen. Several cars ended up pulling off to the side of the road so that people could take pictures. Our pictures don't even do it justice.

Christmas Weekend 2010

2011-03-12T21:18:00.000-08:00

This year Christmas was extra special because my parents decided to visit from Florida; it was the first time for them to visit us during Christmas. They arrived at 1:45 in the morning on the Thursday before Christmas (can't argue with cheaper plane tickets.) After a quick McDonald's stop so they could get some food we headed home and went straight to bed. The next day we slept in and spent time running around town to deal with chores, buying groceries and such. That night my running club had our annual Jingle Bell Run. As a club we meet up and do a short run to a neighborhood that goes all out in decorating. Then we running around the neighborhood randomly stopping to sing Christmas carols (badly.) The neighborhood is known for their decorations, so tons of people drive through it at night to look at the lights - and they are extra lucky on that night because they get to hear us caroling! It's a lot of fun and this year my Dad and Mom decided to join us. I was really glad they could meet my running friends; and I was surprised that even my Dad sang.

On Christmas Eve day, while Robb went to work for the day, the rest of us went to Seattle in the morning so we could take the Underground Tour. Robb and I went on the tour a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it; we think it's a must-see for tourists. After the Tour we came home and while we started watching Christmas movies Mom and I started prepping food for that night's and the next day's meal. Normally, our tradition is to eat Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, but this year Robb was working and we decided that with his schedule it would be better just to eat appetizers for dinner. We had pastry squares with homemade veggie cream cheese, shrimp cocktail, and baked onion-brie dip. It was delicious and we were comfortably stuffed as we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (a long-time Christmas Eve tradition in my family.)

Pioneer Square, Seattle

Family Togetherness - Robb, Me, Mom, Dad

Because there were two extra people here this year, Christmas morning seemed a little more impressive because there were more gifts under the tree. As always, we got great gifts and had a nice morning. We convinced my Mom to make sausage bread for breakfast, a delicious, but time-consuming to make breakfast (bread baked with sausage, onions, peppers, and cheese tucked inside.) She kept vowing that she would never make this breakfast again because it's so annoying to make, but I think we can convince her again in another couple of years. We just lazed around the house that day, calling relatives, watching movies, and taking naps on the couch. That afternoon we had cheese, bread, and butter for a snack. And that night we were able to share our Christmas meal tradition with my parents - an aged New York strip roast with a garlic-herb crust. So delicious, especially paired with the mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, fried corn with bacon, spinach salad, fresh-baked apple pie (my great-grandma's recipe), and wine.

Christmas Morning

On Sunday we decided to venture to Port Townsend. It's a bit of drive to get there, but we thought it would be nice to check out Fort Worden, some wineries, and the cute town. Robb and I had been to Port Townsend once before when I ran the Rhody Run and had been wanting to return to explore it more. It rained the entire drive there, but it cleared up as soon as we got there, which really lucky for us (it started raining as soon as we started heading home that afternoon.) At Fort Worden we went first to see the lighthouse. The wind on the beach was most impressive and almost blew us away! We then checked out the little artillery museum (my Dad was an artillery man after all!) After the museum we walked up to see the ruined gun emplacements. It was nice to spend so much time outdoors and see such a cool, classic army fort, with so many buildings still intact. We went to downtown Port Townsend for lunch and stopped into Waterfront Pizza. It looked like a hole-in-the-wall place and the menu wasn't super-exciting. But man, we were impressed with the flavors! It was really good pizza and we had a great view of the main street. Because it was Christmas weekend, a couple of the wineries and hard apple cideries we wanted to visit were closed, but we did make it to the Fair Winds winery tasting room. The wine was decent and we even tried mead, which was a first for all of us. It was a long drive for a relatively short trip, but Fort Worden was really cool and I think a success.

Can you see the rainbow in the middle of the picture?

On Monday we headed to Seattle again. We stopped at REI and spent way too long in there - my Dad finally bought slippers and Robb got some pants. My Mom and I tried many clothes on, but unfortunately didn't find anything to purchase this trip. Next we headed to West Seattle and took a little hike around Lincoln Park. I like this park because it takes you through some woods and also allows you to hike down to a typical Seattle beach (lots of rocks and logs), which is really different than a Florida beach! For a late lunch we went to Cactus on Alki Beach, a restaurant that Robb and I had been wanting to try for a long time. It was risky taking my parents to a restaurant, especially a Tex-Mex style restaurant, we hadn't been to before (we're pretty snobby about our Tex-Mex food because we lived in Texas for several years.) But it ended up being pretty good, especially for Pacific Northwest Tex-Mex. We'll definitely go back at some point. That night my parents left to go home. I was so glad they were able to visit - it made the holidays extra nice this year.

Lincoln Park

Thanksgiving Week - Snow and Food

2011-01-29T19:30:00.000-08:00

On Sunday it started snowing. However it was light snow and was supposed to melt Monday morning. If I recall, there was snow on the ground that morning, but the roads were fine. I went to work with no problems. Throughout the morning it would spit snow, but it wasn't sticking. Robb called me later that morning to ask if I thought it would be safe for him to go to work. I said that of course he should go to work! That afternoon there was sunshine and not a drop of snow in sight. I had heard that the snow might start in the afternoon, but it looked fine outside; so I made the executive decision with my vanpool to leave at 5:00, instead of a little early like we had discussed that morning. I kid you not, at 4:45 it started snowing hard and sticking. Our commute home is normally 1.5 hours. That night it ended up being a tense 3 hours. The problem was the ice on the roads, covered by snow. There were car accidents upon car accidents. We sat on I-5 for a solid 30 minutes without moving at one point. We even saw a mini-snowman built in the median of the interstate because we had been sitting there for so long. We never went above 30 miles an hour the whole time. It was a scary, tense night. I feel bad complaining about my 3 hour commute though. Because when I got home and started watching the news I saw that commuters from Seattle were stuck in traffic that was much worse. I have friends who were stuck in buses for 8 hours. Some people got home at 3:00 in the morning. Cars were abandoned on the main roads. Buses got in accidents. It was an outrageous night, which was a combination of ice and snow showing up at rush hour, and Seattle's notorious problems for not being able to deal with snow. That night it took Robb about 3 hours to get home. The on-ramp he normally uses to get on the interstate when he leaves work had a nine-car pile up. He managed to use some side roads to avoid some of the traffic and hills. The next day we stayed home as the road in front of our house was a sheet of ice. In addition, after each of our exhausting commutes the night before, we felt we deserved a day off for relaxation.

The Snow Starts

Icy Neighborhood Road

We both went to work on Wednesday and then had Thursday off for Thanksgiving. It was nice to have a quiet Thanksgiving, just the two of us. We cooked a couple of items from scratch (like the turkey, my fried corn, and my amazing pumpkin pie), but most of the other food was pre-made this year. We decided since it was just us two we wanted to relax and not stress about cooking all day. We watched the Macy's Day Parade and then took a walk through the neighborhood, which still had quite a bit of snow on the ground. We decided to walk to a nearby gas station to pick up cheap beer (we use it to cook shrimp in for shrimp cocktail.) It really was a lovely morning for a stroll! We spent the rest of the day eating, watching Thanksgiving episodes of Friends (we own the whole series), Charlie Brown, and Garfield. And we decided that night to start a new tradition of watching the original Miracle on 34th Street. I love this movie and I think it's a great way to start the holiday season, especially since the movie starts with the Macy's parade! Robb took quite the nap during the movie, along with one of our fat cats - Malibu! It was so cute! And what a great holiday!

We've got a nice short trail through some woods in our neighborhood!

Po Dog, Burke Museum of History, Museum of the Mysteries, and Pumpkins

2011-01-29T18:44:00.000-08:00

In keeping with our theme of museums in October (Royal BC Museum, Museum of Flight), we decided to spend another weekend in October at the Burke Museum in the U-District and then the Museum of the Mysteries in Capital Hill. We had a quick stop at Po Dog first. I believe I've told you about this hot-dog restaurant before. I tried a hot dog with BBQ sauce, melted cheddar, and crispy onion straws. Robb's dog had cheese sauce, mustard, ketchup, and crushed potato chips. Both of those were good. The last hot dog that we shared was not! A hot dog, wrapped in bacon, deep-fried, and smothered with raw onions and chili is not good - now that I write it out, I can't imagine why I thought it would be good in the first place. But we're weird like that and like to try "new" things.

The Burke Museum of History, housed at the University of Washington, is a place we'd been wanting to visit for awhile. But maybe because we were so impressed with the last two museums we'd been to, the Burke Museum was a bit disappointing. The natural history part of the museum had lots of fossils and skeletons, but we wished that there was more information about the exhibits. The exhibit about peoples from the Pacific Rim seemed a little forced. There were little displays about culture in China, Hawaii, Japan, Philippines, etc. But it seemed like a lot of the displays were reproductions and pretty generic. The temporary exhibit on display was about weaving. Several woven fabrics from around the world were displayed, but most of them were actually woven in the past 50 years - while beautiful, not exactly historical. No photography was allowed, so you'll just have to imagine our disappointment in the whole museum.

We next went to the Museum of the Mysteries fully expecting the kitsch to overwhelm us. While we didn't have high expectations, we were still a little disappointed in the lack of information. This museum displays foot print castings of Bigfoot, pictures of crop circles, and a discussion of ghosts. And randomly there was also a display about Bruce Lee and artifacts from various World's Fairs. As weird as all this stuff is, I felt the museum could have done a better job of providing more info and pulling everything together. If you're going to have a weird museum, at least do a good job at putting it together!

That night we went to a pumpkin carving party. Our hosts provided those patterns and tools so you could carve cool pumpkins. Although I chose a two star (our of four), it ended up being the most difficult pattern I could have ever chosen. It took me hours to complete this stupid pumpkin! But it did look pretty cool!

Marination and Museum of Flight

2011-01-29T17:58:00.000-08:00

The day after Robb's birthday we finally made it to Marination, a food truck in Seattle that has won numerous national awards. We got there right after they opened, but realized they take cash only. So we took about 15 minutes to walk around to find a cash machine. By the time we returned, the line was probably a 20 minute wait! We basically shared one of everything: a pork slider, a Spam slider, a pork taco, a chicken taco, and a beef taco. All of the food had a Pacific Island feel to it (an Asian-inspired slaw) and was absolutely delicious. So, so, so yummy!

Our afternoon was spent at the Museum of Flight. It's a pretty famous museum around here, especially considering the importance of Boeing to this area. While I had heard it was a good museum, I wasn't expecting to be blown away. (I mean, I'm not normally the type of girl that cares about the history of transportation.) This museum was incredible though and we were so sad that we only had 4 hours to explore everything before they closed and kicked us out. We probably could have spent two days there. We learned about the history of flight, about different types of airplanes, about records set, and even rockets. There were a few simulator games and a few planes that you could sit in. While I had a good time, Robb was even more excited. He had read about a lot of the historical planes and was so excited to see them. The Museum of Flight is right next to one of the Boeing airfields, so we were also lucky enough to see a Air Force plane land that has a weird disc on top that takes some type of scientific measurements. All in all, a great museum, even if you think you don't care about planes!

For some reason I loved this plane - it was my favorite!

Tiger Mountain for Robb's Birthday

2011-01-29T17:22:00.000-08:00

Robb's 31st birthday in October was low-key and even a bit disappointing. I waited too late to buy tickets for a concert my dear husband really wanted to go to, so they were sold out on the day I planned to buy them. We had planned on going out for a fancy dinner in Seattle, but couldn't get reservations in time. We ended up eating left-overs for dinner. The poor planning on my part started our weekend out on the wrong foot. But we did enjoy our hike at Tiger Mountain and got some great shots of the two of us, thanks to the GorillaPod that Robb got this birthday (it's a small tripod for the camera that can wrap around tree limbs, etc.)

Birthday Morning, complete with coffee from Starbucks!

We decided to hike up to Poo-Poo Point on Tiger Mountain. Tiger Mountain is a popular mountain for hikers year-round because it's close by and not high enough to be affected by snow. Poo-Poo point is the summit of the small mountain and it's actually an established launching point for paragliders and hang-gliders. The day we went hiking was beautiful, so we were able to see a few people take a leap of the mountain!

Our last stop of the day was the Issaquah Brewery. Rogue (Robb's favorite beer) owns the bar and we were able to get some of my favorite pumpkin ale. Robb tried a new drink - a Snicker's Bar, which consists of half chocolate stout and half hazelnut brown ale. He's a fan!

Victoria, BC - Beyond the Marathon

2011-01-29T16:25:00.000-08:00

When choosing where to do my first marathon, I did a little research on which marathons were good for beginners and which marathons were close to Seattle. I decided that I would either need to complete the Portland Marathon in Oregon or the Victoria Marathon in British Columbia. Portland would have been a logistically easier and cheaper trip. But I thought Canada would make for a more memorable trip (as if I needed anything to make my first marathon more special!) Over three years in Washington, and I still hadn't made it to the border. So I thought it was about time to visit Canada, eh, and I had heard nothing but wonderful things about Victoria. (By the way, we heard lots of Canadians actually say "eh" while we were there. It was all we could do to not crack up when we heard it the first time in a real situation.)

This trip required some logistical planning. First, I needed to worry about crossing the border. I have a passport. However, I never updated it after I got married and changed my name, so it was a little out-of-date. Instead of spending a lot of money to get that updated right now, I decided just to get an enhanced Washington driver's license. For a small $15 fee I updated my current driver's license to an enhanced version that allows me to cross the Canadian border. In addition to the driver's license, I also had to plan our travel. Victoria (the capital city of British Columbia) is on Vancouver Island. The easiest way for Washingtonians to get there is through the ferry system. I eventually decided on driving two hours to Port Angeles, parking the car there for the weekend, and then walking on to a clipper ferry. Victoria is known as a walkable city so there was no need for a car. And walking onto a clipper in Port Angeles was the cheapest option of all the ferry choices out there. I was really lucky to find a hotel room, because I waited to make reservations only a few weeks before the big race. That's really not a smart thing to do when a city has thousands of runners converging in one day. But I found a great little hotel that had lots of personality. It was obviously an old inn - it didn't have air conditioning and the heater was a radiator. But the price was right and the location was great. I would definitely stay at the James Bay Inn again.

So on Saturday, October 9, we headed to O' Canada! Our first ferry ride was awesome. I was nervous about the race and crossing the border. But the excitement in the air was palpable - the ferry was filled with runners and their families heading over for the race. We made it through customs and wheeled our suitcases through the rain in Victoria to find our hotel. After dropping off our bags we headed back out to explore the town. We probably walked a little too much that day, considering I was going to run a marathon the next day, but we really did get to see the city. Government Street is the main drag through Victoria, and while it has a touristy vibe to it, it is also lovingly maintained and beautiful to walk along. The Parliament buildings were beyond gorgeous and rivals architecture I've seen in Europe. (By the way, people in the Pacific Northwest are told that if they want to experience Europe, but don't want to spend the money that Victoria is a great alternative. It has a very European/British feel to it.) My big disappointment from the weekend was not being able to tour the Parliament buildings. It was the one thing that I had really cared about doing. But the buildings were closed for the weekend and then closed Monday for Canadian Thanksgiving. I was so sad to miss going inside! We walked to Chinatown so we could see the second oldest Chinatown (after San Francisco) in North America. Also, we wanted to see Fan Tan Alley, which is the narrowest street in Canada. We stopped at the Bard and Banker, a Scottish pub for a snack and a beer. It was a really fun bar/restaurant and we ended up back there for dinner the next night. That night we carbo-loaded with running friends at their timeshare and then went to bed early.

Our ferry!

Riding the ferry

View of Victoria from the water

Chinatown

Fan Tan Alley

On Government Street in Victoria

The next morning was the marathon (which you can read about in a previous post!) While I was running, Robb walked around the city and visited the Victoria Bug Zoo, which he really loved! After the marathon we went back to the hotel, showered, and rested for an hour or so. And even though every muscle in my body was begging me to go to sleep, I knew that it was important to make the most of our long weekend and experience more of Victoria. We made sure to stop to take plenty of pictures of Parliament and also the famed Empress Hotel. We walked to Big Bad John's, a total dive bar that is pretty famous in the area. We went early in the evening so that we could experience the bar without the crowds. I don't really care about bars, but I could tell this one had good atmosphere and Robb loved it! We had dinner that night at the Bard and Banker. While the atmosphere of the Bard and Ballard was great, we decided the food was a bit overpriced. But that's what you get with a tourist joint I suppose!

Parliament

Back of Parliament

Empress Hotel

Parliament at Night

On Monday we started out with a visit to John's Place, famed for their breakfast and cream-cheese syrup. Wow! Cream-cheese syrup was awesome and since then Robb found a recipe online and modified it to make it here at home. Our next stop was the Royal British Columbia Museum. It was probably one of the best museums I have ever been to. We're really into history museums, and this one had a little bit of

everything, from natural history to the history of Victoria, BC. We loved the First People's exhibit and totem poles (the Canadians call Native Americans - First Peoples). That afternoon we wanted to eat a late lunch at Red Fish, Blue Fish - but they were closed early for Canadian Thanksgiving. So in trying to decide where to get a quick meal before catching our ferry that evening, we decided on McDonald's. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but growing up my family made it a point to try McDonald's in every country that we visited. It seems silly and we definitely spent more time at truly local restaurants, but we would sometimes just stop to get french fries and a coke so that we could say that we did. We even drove miles out of the way once to visit Lichtenstein (a very tiny country in Europe) so we could have McDonald's there. I thought it was important that Robb start joining in this tradition. Robb swears that Canadian McDonald's french fries tasted different. But, trust me, they didn't! On our ferry ride home that night Robb bought a beer using the last of our Canadian coins. I'm really glad that I chose Canada for my marathon debut. It really was a perfect race and, beyond that, a memorable weekend in a new country!

Canadian McDonalds!

Candian beer on the ferry!

Blogger Frustrations

2011-01-17T15:58:00.000-08:00

I'm really getting frustrated with Blogger right now. I've been trying to add pictures to a new entry since last night and am having annoying technical difficulties. I remember it used to be much easier to add pictures to my blogs, but for the past year or so it's been very time-consuming. I just wanted to let you know that I am working on it!

It's Time To Get Personal

2011-01-14T23:56:00.000-08:00

Tonight’s post is to get me in the writing mood again. I also thought I might get a little more personal than I normally do. I try to stay away from sharing too much (believe it or not) beyond our fascination with this part of the country. But I've been feeling a little sorry for myself lately and sometimes it feels good to wallow. I’m overwhelmed with how behind I am on my blog. There is so much to write and so many pictures to post that I’ve found the easiest solution is to ignore it. Of course, that makes everything that much worse. I don’t want to gloss over the past couple of months; I want to record what October through December looked like for me in the Pacific Northwest because it was amazing. I had a great time this fall and want to record it for posterity and share it with you. I believe I have a fair amount of time this weekend to catch up, so my hope is to make a dent in this blog over the next few days.

I've been trying to figure out why I don't keep up with my blog. I've started to realize that I fill my weeks with binges of distractions and then binges of laziness to recover from the busy days. I keep myself too busy to blog and during my few hours between work, chores, and runs, I tend to veg out and ignore doing anything productive. I distract myself so I don't have time to think too much. But the funny thing about trying NOT to think about something in particular is that it ends up being all you can think about. I try not to think about how crappy it is that my husband and I have jobs with opposite schedules and barely see each other. I try not to think about how I am in a job that doesn't challenge me or allow me to live up to my potential. I try not to think about money and how just when we think we're getting ahead, something like medical bills or car repairs puts us back again. But most of the time I try not to think about infertility. I fail the most at this one - infertility takes up the majority of my thoughts. I can't even begin to describe the emotions involved in our journey to grow our family; infertility changes you forever. We're ridiculously in love with each other and deserve to share that love with children. Two years down, several more to go until we can afford the next step. How is that fair?

So in my efforts to move pass my bitter disappointment that life does not follow my perfect timeline that I envisioned a decade ago, I binge on distractions - on training for marathons, on planning my next local day trip, on watching new movies, on knitting scarfs, on reading The Economist, on going out to dinner with friends. And the distractions make me happy. But sometimes, when I stop and take a breath, I start thinking. And I get sad. I'm thinking a lot lately. I need to add a new distraction - perhaps updating my blog more?

My First Marathon - Victoria, British Columbia on 10/10/10

2010-10-30T15:25:00.003-07:00

I've been training all summer for this race, slowly building up my mileage and endurance. Three weeks before the big day I did my last long training run. The plan was to run about 20 miles, but as there were no mile markers on the course that my running buddies and I chose, we just ran for time. After that run I felt pretty sick and disheartened. I hadn’t really eaten a proper breakfast, there wasn’t enough water to drink as we ran, and the sun was pretty intense that day. It was the first time I thought that I might not be able to complete a marathon. I mean, if I felt that sick after 20 miles, how could I do 26.2? But when I looked at a map later on that day I calculated that we had, in fact, run 22.5 miles. Knowing that I had run 22.5 miles and only had a few more to go on marathon day (instead of an extra 6.2 miles) made me feel confident again. After that 22.5 mile run it was time to start tapering. For you non-runners out there, that means that you slowly take your mileage down so that on race day you have plenty of energy left. So the weekend after the 22.5 miler I did a 12 mile run, and the next weekend was an 8 mile run. Most, if not all, marathon training plans have a couple of weeks of tapering. And I followed the plan. But it made me a little uncomfortable. I mean, for weeks I had been building up my mileage every weekend and I felt like I had great momentum. Now, I had gotten all the way to 22.5 miles and I was expected to go the other way. I was scared of losing my groove. So I worried about losing my momentum, but other than that, I didn’t really think much about the race. I was more worried about our travel logistics (Which ferry to take to Victoria? What time did we need to leave the house in order to get to the ferry on time? Which maps and confirmations did I need to print before we left the house? What was the exchange rate for Canadian dollars?) So I didn’t have time to ruminate over my impending run.

On Saturday, October 9, Robb and I successfully made our way to Canada. (It was my first visit to the country and I’ll write a separate blog post detailing the tourism aspect of our trip.) That night we met up with my running friends for a carbo-loading dinner. Becky, Molly, and Laura are all seasoned half-marathoners and were running 13.1 miles the next day. Larry and I have both run half-marathons before, but it would be our first time running a full marathon. After eating we discussed logistics for the next day and then Robb and I headed back to our hotel to get some sleep.

Carbo-Load Night: Me, Larry, Laura, Molly, Becky

After a fitful night’s sleep I woke up on October 10, nervous and excited. The marathon start-time was late, not until 9:00, so I had plenty of time to shower, dress, and hydrate. Robb and I stopped in the restaurant downstairs so I could eat an English muffin with peanut butter and one fried egg (turned out to be an excellent breakfast for marathon fuel) and then we made our way to the start line. It was a cool morning and while a little chilly standing on the street in my shorts and t-shirt, I knew that the clothing I chose would be perfect once I started running. I was just thankful that it wasn’t raining. The forecast for that weekend included heavy downpours, but we lucked out on marathon day. (Our friends in Portland, Oregon running a marathon at the same time weren’t so lucky and were subjected to heavy and cold downpours during their entire race.) I was a little nervous in the minutes leading up to the start gun going off, and I think I even told Larry that I had changed my mind about this whole marathon thing. But mostly I was calm and just working on trying not to psyche myself out.

Finally the gun went off and Larry and I started running our first marathon. We spent the first mile or so finding our pace and watching the crowd thin out. We both are slow and steady runners and we had a lot of people pass us. We probably hadn’t even gone a ½ mile before I decided that a port-a-potty stop was in my near future. During all my training runs I had never had to go to the bathroom during my runs. But on race day I was worried about making sure I had enough hydration and probably drank way more than I usually do. So within two miles of starting our race, I already had to stop. I told Larry to go on without me and we would meet up later. Luckily, that early in the race there isn’t a long line of runners waiting their turn for a bathroom break, so I was in and out pretty quickly. At that point I felt much better and just settled in for the long haul. I had my iPod shuffle playing (which my husband had lovingly filled for me with my favorite work-out music) and I just ran. There were a few spots along the route where musicians had set up to entertain and encourage the runners, and at those points I would just pause my music for awhile; my favorite performer was the lone bagpiper. The course was beautiful and had a ton of variety; we ran through the streets of downtown Victoria, around the royal Parliament buildings, around a local park, through high-end neighborhoods, and along the coast. My favorite part of the course was anything that was alongside the coast, especially as the day wore on and the sun started shining through the clouds and highlighting the water and rocky shores.

Eventually I caught up with Larry and we ran together for a few miles. We pointed out some random scenery or interesting-dressed runners every once in awhile, but mostly ran silently next to each other, thinking whatever thoughts we needed to in order to keep going. When we passed the 12 kilometer marker, I reminded Larry that we had just finished the equivalent of the Rhody Run – I think that run in Port Townsend was the first race that Larry and I ran together. Those Canadians are smart and follow the metric system; it was interesting running along a course that had more kilometer markings than mile markings. The miles were only marked every 5 miles, which I actually ended up appreciating. I wasn’t thinking with every passing mile about how far left I had to go; I only had to see those 5 mile increments to know that I had just managed to achieve running 5 more miles. I loved seeing the 15 and 20 mile markers.

I did experience a couple of difficult mental blocks at times. For example, a large part of the course was an out-and-back section. When I first saw large crowds heading towards the finish line, while I was still trying to make it to the half-way point, I thought to myself “Well, good, I’m almost to the half-way point because look at all these people who have already turned around.” I kept expecting the turnaround point to be just around the next corner. I was amazed at how good I felt and that I was almost half-way done. But that feeling was a big, fat, fail. Most runners were much faster than me, and I still had several miles to go before I would reach the turnaround point. The longer it took to get to the turnaround point, the more disheartened I became realizing how naïve I was to think that I was almost half-way done. I think that emotional turmoil wore me down and once I reached 12-13ish miles, I started slowing down. Larry pulled away from me and took the lead. I continued to run, slow and steady, but felt doubt that I would be able to finish feeling strong.

I had been told by a friend who had completed a few marathons before that it was helpful to have a special saying that you could repeat to yourself to help inspire you and focus on finishing. I tried to find or think of any quotes that could help me before the marathon began, but I went into the race without finding the words that would speak to me. Luckily, a few miles into the race I saw a couple of little girls on the sidelines, obviously cheering on a parent. One of the girls had a homemade sign with the most perfect quote on it, "Keep Calm and Carry On.” Those simple five words spoke to me and became my mantra. I repeated that to myself throughout the race. After the 15 mile mark I started to feel excited again. I was over half-way done and I only had 11 miles left. At the 23 kilometer mark Larry decided it was his turn to stop at the port-a-potty, which allowed me to catch up and actually move ahead. While he almost caught up with me at one point, and we said hi to each other, I picked up the pace and continued pressing ahead. I reached the 20 mile mark and couldn’t believe that I was already done with the previous 5 miles – only 6.2 miles left to go. I kept expecting to hit “the wall,” but I don’t think I ever did. Then I started passing people who were running slow or walking at that point. While I’m not a fast runner, my strength is in running a steady pace. Other runners have variations in their speed and tend to go a lot faster in the beginning. While it’s nerve-wracking to see so many people go faster than you in the beginning of the race, I know that I will end up passing a lot of those people towards the end of the run. The closer I got to the finish line, the more I repeated “Keep Calm and Carry On,” but I knew I would finish. I hit the 25 mile marker and then shortly after that reached the “1 mile to go” marker and picked up my pace. Let me tell you, the last mile of a marathon is the longest mile you’ll ever run. It seemed to go on forever. At a little less than the “1 kilometer left to go” sign I saw my running friends cheering for me. Laura ran up to me and patted me on the back and told me that I just had a little bit left. I smiled to my supporters and continued the long ½ mile towards the finish line. I came around the last corner and the finish line came into my sight. I started scanning the crowds looking for Robb and finally heard him cheer for me. I ran past him, giving him a smile and a wave as he watched me cross the finish line.

A medal was placed around my neck, a plastic “blanket” was wrapped around my shoulders, and I started walking awkwardly through the finishing chute, picking up water, bagels, and cookies to give my starving body some fuel. Robb met me at the exit and was positively beaming – he was so proud of me. I, on the other hand, was somewhat numb. I couldn’t really think about what I had just accomplished, I just was thinking about how hungry, tired, and sore I was. Larry finished the race a few minutes after me and after we took a victory photo together. I later found out that my parents in Florida were able to watch me cross the finish line for my first marathon in Canada, thanks to the live streaming video showing the finish line on the marathon’s website.

I ended up walking a lot the night of the marathon and the next day because we were being tourists in Victoria. It was probably good though to stretch out my legs and muscles instead of sitting at home on a couch. I was sore for the next week. I walked a lot slower and had a hard time going down stairs. I had a little knee pain, but that didn’t last for too long. I was surprised to discover that my hips were really sore, and I wonder if that pain is what older people feel all the time. The pain in my Achilles’ tendons is the most concerning. While they don’t hurt all the time now, they still hurt a little bit in the mornings when I first get out of bed (my Mom has had this problem for years, so I need to work on stretching those muscles more now before the pain gets worse and/or permanent.) I took a week off of running to relax and let my body heal, but am back to running several miles every week.

My goal for this marathon was to finish and run the entire time (except through the water stops. Have you ever tried running while drinking water from a paper cup? It’s pretty difficult.) And I’m proud to say that I achieved that goal. Other than the brief walking as I re-hydrated, I ran the entire time. My finishing time was 5 hours, 3 minutes. I would have preferred to be under 5 hours and actually expected to finish closer to 4.5 hours, but I really can’t complain because my other goals were met and this was just my first marathon. Yup, I said first; as in the first of many. I’ve decided that I will probably attempt to run that daunting 26.2 miles once a year. I promise I won’t go crazy and do multiple marathons a year (although I initially thought one marathon in a lifetime was crazy.) Training for a marathon is time intensive, so one a year is about as much commitment as I am willing to make. Plus, I want my body to have plenty of time to heal in between races. But ultimately, I think one marathon a year will be good for me because it will continue to help me with my motivation to exercise and it will allow me to work on getting faster! Plus, now instead of saying that “I ran a marathon,” I will be able to say “I’m a marathoner.”

World Championship of Sand Sculpting in Federal Way

2010-10-30T14:27:00.001-07:00

You don't get to go to a world championship competition in your own town very often. This year Federal Way hosted the World Championship of Sand Sculpting for the first time. It was supposed to bring tourism and prestige to our strip-mall town. Federal Way has an inordinate amount of strip malls that are half-empty and that's really what our city is known for. And that's exactly where they decided to put the World Championship of Sand Sculpting - in the parking lot of an abandoned shopping center, not even off the main drag. The location left much to be desired and I think a lot of locals didn't even know it was there. I know that the city didn't break even this year, but I hear they're going to try again next year in a better location and with better publicity. With that being said, the sand sculptures were incredible. We were so glad that we saw such beautiful and fanciful works of art; it made us sad to know that they wouldn't last!

Running Party and Underwear Run

2010-10-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Robb and I were able to host our first party in September. My running club has an annual membership meeting/party and this year we offered to host it. Besides the 5-10 minutes of discussing actual club business, it was a good party. The chili cook-off this year only had three entries (when last year's chili cook-off had like 10 choices), but the food was still yummy. And of course, the most important part of the fall membership meeting was our annual underwear run. While the men actually stripped to their underwear, the women changed into boxers and t-shirts to run down the street into the dark. (I made sure that our run headed away from our landlord's house.) Most people hung out on our back porch all night, snacking, drinking, and overflowing into the yard. It was a good night and a successful party.

Florida Visit - Labor Day Weekend 2010

2010-10-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

I spent Labor Day weekend in Florida to spend time with my family. I can't believe it had been about 1.5 years since the last time I had been to the Sunshine State. It was time for me to make an appearance (and I left Robb at home to save money and have quality parent-daughter time). Thanks to a red-eye flight, the holiday, and our "temporary lay-offs" in Washington once a month to save money, I only took one day of vacation and managed to spend five days in Florida with the family.

We went to some of my favorite restaurants, including a great tapas restaurant, my favorite beach restaurant, a high-end fish restaurant, a modern Italian restaurant, and a pizza joint with my favorite crust. Basically, as in all of my family vacations, we planned our time based on meals and where we were going to eat. I spent time with the grandparents and some aunts and uncles. I spent a lot of time by the pool and on the beach working on getting a little color to my pale Washington skin.

The most memorable part of the trip was our kayaking adventure. Mom, Dad, my Aunt Margaret, and I decided that we needed a little tandem kayak action. Mom and I shared a kayak, while my Dad took on kayaking with Margaret who had never been on a kayak before. Mom and I are an excellent team and really do well steering and powering through the strokes. Unfortunately, Margaret doesn't seem to have an inherent sense in the kayaking realm, so my Dad struggled a little bit with controlling the kayak. We kayaked along the mangroves to look at water birds and then made our way to a spit of sand to get out and swim for a bit. We also were treated to an amazing dolphin show within a small harbor. A mama dolphin and her baby were swimming around in circles and surfaced many times. And then the baby decided to get frisky and play. That little dolphin started flapping it's tail against the water and then started leaping! It was basically doing circles around us by continually jumping out of the water. It was the cutest thing! After the natural dolphin show we started to paddle back to the kayak rental return. We were half-way across a busy channel when somehow my Dad and Margaret's kayak tipped and they tumbled out. My Mom and I rushed over and started to retrieve items that fell from the boat. Luckily they tipped in a location where their feet actually touched sand, which made hoisting themselves into the kayak a little bit easier. It was actually pretty funny, but I have a feeling it may be a long time before Margaret and Dad go kayaking together again.

I didn't take very many pictures, and somehow most of my pictures were lost. But here are a couple that I took on my phone, even though the quailty isn't great: the beach, me and Dad, me and Mom.

Crater Lake National Park, Diamond Lake Camping, and Random Oregon Road Stops

2010-09-11T18:55:00.001-07:00

One of the big items on my list of 30 Things to Do Before I Turn 30 was a visit to Crater Lake National Park. I'd say that three years ago I had never even heard of Crater Lake before. But in my constant hunt of Pacific Northwest activities I stumbled across a description of Crater Lake, Oregon. I discovered that this was the deepest lake in the United States. It was formed in a crater of a volcano and had some of the purest and bluest water in the world. So I decided Crater Lake should go on my 30 Before 30 list. And this summer Robb and I finally decided to create a long weekend for ourselves to drive the 7+ hours down there to camp and visit the park.

When we moved to Washington Robb and I both were interested in spending more time outdoors and going camping together often. His work schedule doesn't allow us to have as many weekends off galavanting in nature as we would like, so it has taken us a long time to get prepared and organized enough to plan this camping trip. While eventually we plan on trying backpacking, this time we decided to camp in a designated campground that had toilets and showers. As a kid my family used to do a lot of this type of camping, but I was a little nervous about it because I hadn't been to a campground in at least 10 years and this was going to be Robb's and my first camping trip together. But we spent a lot of time preparing and making the necessary packing lists. And after a stressful couple of weeks (due to work, life, etc.) we left town Friday morning with our Honda loaded to the brim with supplies.

Close to 8 hours later we arrived at Diamond Lake. I waited too late to make reservations at the Crater Lake campground, so we were forced to find accomodations at Diamond Lake which was only a few minutes from the Crater Lake North Entrance. The Diamond Lake campground was huge and quite lovely. We actually ended up appreciating that we weren't at the Crater Lake Campgrounds because we were able to experience a couple of lakes in one weekend. We had a campsite right on the lake and our tent was somewhat isolated from other campers and the fire pit. As soon as we got to Diamond Lake the mosquitos started biting, so we applied bug spray and really didn't go without it for the next three days (even spraying ourselves directly after taking showers.) Other than the mosquitos and the spiders (stupid nature), the camping was absolutely perfect. The weather was not too hot or cold, the skies were clear, and seeing the Milky Way and shooting stars every night was so peaceful! During the entire weekend we ate hot dogs and brats grilled on a stick over the fire, we tried freeze-dried meals (which were actually very good), had oatmeal, ate sandwiches with tuna, and of course devoured s'mores and lots of wine.

Saturday morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and headed straight for Crater Lake. We drove through the Pumice Desert (made by the exploding Mt. Mazama thousands of years ago) and to the rim of Crater Lake. The first views of the Lake were absolutely breathtaking. I have never in my life seen water so blue and pretty. The rim of the collapsed Mt. Mazama is the border of Crater Lake. There is no water source other than snow (40+ feet a year) and rain, which means that there is no outside polluting to change the water color. We fell in love with Crater Lake from the moment we saw it.

Our next stop was the Visitor's Center to listen to a mini-history lecture and talk to the rangers to help us plan the rest of our trip. We decided to hike the Cleetwood Cove trail that afternoon. This trail is the ONLY access point to get to the water. It's a mile hike down, with a 700 foot elevation drop. There were a ton of people at the water's edge. The park does provide a guided boat tour of Crater Lake, but the $30 price tag per person was a little steep for Robb and me. So we just decided to wade into the lake and hang out for a bit by the water. Robb was brave enough to take a real swim in that cold water and then we started the hike up the hill. Now a 700 foot elevation drop isn't bad. But a 700 foot elevation gain in a mile is terrible! It was a tough hike, but we were pretty impressed with our finishing time.

On Sunday we headed straight for the Mt. Scott trailhead. We were told that Mt. Scott was the highest point in the park and the hike was worth the view of Crater Lake. At the parking lot we were a little apprehensive looking up to where our final destination would be. But we decided if we didn't try the hike we would always regret it. So we did it. We hiked up 1500 feet in 2.5 miles. Wow, were those views incredible from 8,929 feet!

We spent the rest of the day driving around the rim of Crater Lake and stopping at viewpoints and scenic overlooks to take pictures and marvel at nature. We also stopped to look at the Crater Lake Lodge and learn a little history about the opening and renovations of the Lodge. Leaving Crater Lake National Park that evening, close to sunset, was really difficult because I fell in love with it so quickly. I had heard from other people about how beautiful and amazing it was, but I was scared my expectations were not going to be met. I was so wrong. It truly was as phenomenal as everyone said it is. Pictures cannot do this place justice and I cannot overemphasize enough how important it is that I think everyone try to visit Crater Lake and experience it themselves.

Monday morning we woke up, broke down our camp, and loaded the car. We decided to randomly stop at any roadside attractions that looked interesting and take our time going home. Our first important stop was the Lowell Covered Bridge. While this bridge is no longer in use, it was recently refurbished and several informative history panels were posted inside the bridge to read. We were both fascinated by the history of covered bridges and that area in Oregon. Brownsville, Oregon was our next random stop because Robb saw a sign for Pioneer Museum. After driving four miles away from the interstate we finally found the itsy-bitsy cutie-pie town of Brownsville. The muesum turned out to be huge and had tons of local town artifacts and inforamtion about the Oregon Trail. We also discovered that the movie "Stand By Me" was filmed in Brownsville and we took a little walking tour of the town to see areas that were shot in the movie. Our final stop of the day was in Wilsonville, Oregon. We stopped for a Coke from McDonald's and saw a sign for a Korean War Memorial. We found a simple, but lovely tribute to the Korean War veterans, whether they be American soldiers, NATO forces, Korean soldiers, or civilians.

Our long weekend was really great. The drive was a little long for a 3 night trip, but I think it was totally worth it. And because our camping trip was so succsesful, we hope to plan 2 or 3 trips for next summer!

Summer End Review - The Tidbits

2010-09-10T20:43:00.000-07:00

So there are a few summer events that don't necessarily deserve their own blog post or are kind of boring. But I think it's important to write down what else we did this summer. I actually feel pretty satisfied with everything we have fit in. Summer goes by so quickly that it's easy to run out of time; but we were busy and productive all season long.

Robb

Robb moved to a new Metropolitan Market; he now works in the brand new Kirkland store. He's happier in this store than he was in the Seattle store and has more regular hours. He's finally managed to get a semi-regular schedule that allows for Sundays and Mondays off just about every week. It is really nice for us to have at least one day every week were neither of us are working and we can spend time together. While he is working mostly nights now, we do have that Sunday together every week.

Robb had knee surgery this summer in an attempt to fix knee pain he's had for a few years now. Scans and x-rays showed a torn meniscus and a possible cyst on his knee. However, once opened up neither concerns were actually there. So Robb has spent the summer trying to recover from a knee surgery he didn't really need to have and he's still experiencing knee pain. We're trying to figure out the next steps. Hopefully physical therapy will do the trick. Even though he had to deal with the pain of knee surgery, he enjoyed his week off for the surgery and recovery immensely.

Fairs, Festivals, Farmer Markets

The U-District Street Fair in Seattle was in early May and is kind of the kick-off to summer and the street fair season. We hadn't been to this fair before and were excited to attend. It was a nice festival with blocks upon blocks of good booths and large crowds. I don't want to say that I'm over festivals, but they're all starting to look the same to me. And I really don't like large crowds.

We made it to the cheese festival in Pike Place Market again this year. However, we probably won't be attending another cheese fest in the near future. Because of Robb's job, we've actually ended up buying and eating most of the cheese that is sampled at the cheese fest - and I hate fighting the crowds for free cheese that I already know about.

We visited the Green Festival last year and had a really nice time exploring the booths and listening to the speakers. This year the Festival was a little disappointing. There were a lot less booths and the topics of discussion were not as interesting to us this year. But I did enjoy listening to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! speak; and I also learned a lot about why corporate banks are bad, and why I should move to a local bank or credit union.

We visited the Bellevue Art Festival on the hottest day of the year. This festival, like the city of Bellevue, was actually both classy and pretentious. There were hundreds upon hundreds of artists displaying and selling their art. We were impressed with quite a few of the artists, although we could never afford to buy their work. The best part of the day was our strawberry-lemonade we bought from a vendor that mixed up the strawberries and lemons right in front of us. It was a delicious cold refreshment to help with the 90+ degree heat.

Robb had been wanting to visit the Des Moines waterfront farmer's market for quite some time. So on a dreary summer morning we went on over and checked out the very tiny market. We bought some sub par cheese bread, and a decent head of lettuce and that was about it. We looked at a famous Des Moines statue (a man kissing a fish and grabbing the fish's breasts), ate at a hot dog restaurant, and browsed a used book store. I actually read an article recently about the saturation of farmer's markets in the Puget Sound area. Almost every community and neighborhood feels the need for a farmer's market now and farmer's are getting strained. It's difficult for them to bear the costs necessary to be at all these different markets, and some markets have less participation because of this.

We recently visited our absolutely favorite farmer's market which is in Ballard (and I believe it was just voted the best farmer's market in Washington). While we didn't buy any produce that day, it was nice to walk around. This market is about a couple of blocks long and has a huge variety of vendors selling everything from potatoes, to tomato plants, to organic beef, and fresh fish. It is always bustling and has a great vibe to it. Afterwords we strolled around Ballard and then took in a movie at the Majestic Bay Theater. The Majestic Bay is one of those old revitalized theaters that make you feel very artsy and independent for attending. It was a very nice theater and if we lived in Ballard I am sure we would go there all the time.

Running
In addition to my other running adventures this summer, I also participated in two local races. The first was the Tacoma Sound to Narrows 12K. This challenging course requires a run through Point Defiance Park, and up some challenging city hills. This race is supposed to be very difficult, and with the heat the day, it was a bit rough, for sure. But I felt very prepared because I had run, at some point or another, all parts of this race before during my regular training runs. For example, I've run around the Point Defiance Five Mile Drive several times (sometimes two times in a row)! And every single Tuesday for the past few months I've been running about 4 miles with a friend who lives in Tacoma. Our route takes us down and back up the killer Vassault Hill that is a death trap for most people finishing the Sound to Narrows race. While the hill looks daunting for your last mile of the race, it was somewhat of a breeze for me because I knew what to expect and I run up it every week!

The second race I completed was a 5K that my running club hosts. Our races series is small and intimate (and super-cheap because we don't provide prizes, t-shirts, etc.) So I ran the 5K and won my age division! I got a first place ribbon. Now the fact that I was the only person in my age division might bother some people, but I'm still happy with my ribbon and my finishing time!

The third race I did was the Seafair 5K. Robb and I had signed up a long time ago to do this race together. If you recall, I did the 8K about 2 years ago and Robb did the 5K last year. This year Robb wanted to run the 5K again to beat his time from last year and I wanted to run it with him so we could run our first race together. Now, for some reason I'll never know, Robb ended up scheduling his surgery only 1.5 months before race day. He recovered enough to run/walk the 5K and we did it together. Even though we walked a few times, Robb still beat his time from last year! I'm actually pretty sure that we won't be running Seafair again next year. They changed the course this year, which led to a much more crowded area for the finishing chute. Also, even though I registered months in advance, when I picked up my packet on race day they didn't have my shirt in the size I ordered; instead of a small I could choose between a large or extra-large.

A Fall Preview
So I've got one more summer post to complete about our visit to Crater Lake, Oregon. Then it's time to move into the fall posts. We've got a lot going on in the next couple of months. On Labor Day Weekend I visited my family in Florida. I hadn't been to Florida in well over a year, since my sister's wedding in March 2009 (post is coming soon about that trip). At the end of September Robb and I will be hosting our first large party. Members of my running club are going to come over for a membership meeting, chili cook-off, and underwear run (not sure what my neighbors will think.) Then in October we'll be heading to Victoria, British Columbia for my first visit to Canada and my first marathon. We're also hoping to have a lot of vegetables in the next couple of months from our garden. We've had a pretty cool summer, so our garden is only now starting to take off. The cucumbers, summer squash, and spaghetti squash are finally starting to come in. We've got tons of green tomatoes on massive tomato plants; I hope they turn red before it gets cold again. We had a dark, chilly, rainy day recently that really made it feel like summer was over. I'm looking forward to pumpkin spiced lattes, sweaters, and boots - but I'm also mourning our all too short summer this year.

Four City or State Parks in One Day

2010-08-31T20:43:00.001-07:00

We've done a pretty good job this summer in spending less money and spending more time outside. While we want to spend more time in the national parks in our area, we also want to minimize gas costs and daily park fees. So we've tried to find more outdoor activities that are closer to us. We took one warm and beautiful day to pack a picnic and go on a local mini-park tour.

Our first stop of the day was Brown's Point Lighthouse Park. This park is fairly small and is just a on a tiny spit of land. The tide was low while we were there so we spotted a ton of giant purple starfish. The lighthouse, as it stands now, is a functioning concrete tower. But pictures show that it used to be a white clapboard-styled lighthouse that lighted the way so people could cross between the Brown's Point area of Tacoma and downtown. The original lighthouse keeper's house still stands and Robb's research shows that you can apply to spend the weekend in the cute little house to act as an honorary keeper.

Next we headed to Saltwater State Park. This park is exactly half-way between Tacoma and Seattle. In the 1920s citizens from each town joined together here to literally bury a hatchet to end the hostilities between the two cities. But I don't know how many people know about that, as I still here quite a bit of Tacoma-bashing. This park is really one of the more popular ones in the south end of Puget Sound, so it was pretty crowded with people picnicking, hiking, and running around the playground. But we found a nice picnic table and ate our brie, proscuttio, and onion jam sandwiches and enjoyed the breeze and people watching.

We randomly looked up parks in our GPS and found a park in Kent called Old Fishing Hole. I'd driven by this city park several times before, but had never stopped to actually look at the Fishing Hole. The Fishing Hole is a small pond that is actually not very old (I think it was created in the 90s) along the bank of the Green River. It is a Fishing Hole designed for the exclusive use by children, ages 14 and under. The park was well-maintained and really a cute little area. Plus, they had a giant totem pole, which is always cool.

Our last stop of the day was in our own town at West Hylebos State Park. The Hylebos is a designated wetlands area that has a mile-long boardwalk loop through old growth trees and ferns. Since our first visit I've now run there several times during my long runs to make a couple of loops through the quiet forest. I've seen squirrels, rabbits, and even a giant owl. The Hylebos is a definite gem in Federal Way.

Black Diamond Cemetery & Flaming Geyser State Park

2010-08-28T22:25:00.000-07:00

I don't know how we managed to resist visiting a park with the name "Flaming Geyser" until now. It just sounded so cool and every time we passed a sign on the road with the name we said we needed to visit. In July we finally found the time to visit this park that is less than a 30 minute drive from us.

Before Flaming Geyser, we drove to the town of Black Diamond first. I had visited this itsy-bitsy town once before with my running group and had eaten at the Black Diamond Bakery for breakfast. As Robb and I were hungry and wanted to eat in an independent restaurant, we decided to try lunch there this time. In general I'm not a huge fan of diners - the food tends to be sub par and disappointing. Most of the time I can handle diners for breakfast; it's hard to screw up eggs and potatoes (although it has happened before). By the time we got to the Bakery, breakfast had already stopped being served so we were forced to eat sandwiches. They were not good. My French dip was bland and Robb's meatloaf sandwich bordered on disgusting. It was an unfortunate eating experience and solidified my views of eating non-breakfast items in diners.

Our next stop was the Black Diamond Cemetery. Black Diamond was originally a coal-mining town and there was a huge Welsh and Italian population. So a lot of the old headstones (some dating from the mid-1800s) were in Italian or Gaelic Welsh, rather than English. It was a lovely cemetery with some incredible headstones.

Finally we made it to Flaming Geyser State Park. Before our visit there, I imagined a park with a giant water spout. "Geyser" equals "water spout" to me. And for it to be flaming meant that it had to be huge. Well, that turns out to be not quite right. The Flaming Geyser is literally flaming. It is a geyser of fire. The geyser is a vent of methane gas from an abandoned coal-mining operation. It was lit on fire and used to shoot nine feet in the air. Now, as the methane slowly burns away, the flame is only a few inches high. And when it's windy the flame blows out and rumor is you have to re-light it. It was fairly underwhelming. We had wanted to hike on some of the trails, but they were wiped out in recent flooding. So we walked along the open grassy fields and the Green River. We realized that the river is actually a hot spot for fly-fisherman and tubers! We definitely plan on returning one day to go tubing down the Green River. Beside the underwhelming Flaming Geyser, the park was actually quite lovely.

Our last stop of the day was Weyerhaeuser. You may have heard of this famous logging company, which is headquartered in Federal Way. The grounds are amazing and have miles of trails for public use. I had visited this area a few times for running trips, but Robb had never been. So we decided to take a mini-stroll around the lake. Besides our poor meal, the day was deemed a success.

Seattle Gay Pride Parade

2010-08-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

At the end of June Robb and I hit up the Seattle Gay Pride Parade and Festival. We missed the Fremont Solstice Parade earlier in the month because Robb was recovering from knee surgery. So we decided to try checking out the Seattle Pride Parade this year to get a little Seattle culture and cheer on the LGBT community. The most interesting thing about this parade (besides its 2+ hour length) was the inclusion. There were big companies represented (like Macy's and Verizon), there were on-the-fringe leather/bondage groups, there were churches, there were politicians, and there were families. It felt like everyone in the world was coming together to support the LGBT community and it was absolutely lovely. Now, the pictures really speak for themselves.

(Rainbow cross on the left. Girl in a vagina costume on the right.)

(That shirt says "Jesus Had two Daddies")

(Sign says: Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, I Love My Mommy and My Mama Too!)

(A few naked painted bicyclists showed up!)

Running on the Pacific Crest Trail

2010-08-25T20:05:00.001-07:00

Larry, Laura, and I usually meet up to do a long run on Saturday mornings. In July Laura asked if I wanted to join them on a long trail run on the Pacific Crest Trail. Larry and Laura wanted to get some altitude and uphill training. I wanted to get a 12 mile run in. Even though I’m not a huge fan of trail running (yet), and I knew nothing about the trail, I decided it might be fun to do the run with them. It would be a little different and I would get to see someplace new. We got up early and started the long drive to the Snoqualmie area, picking Becky up along the way to join us for this particular run.

We parked at the trailhead, applied bug spray, adjusted our hydration systems, and started running up the trail. Within the first mile I started to regret agreeing to this madness. I don’t know what I expected of this trail, but I just imagined an easy meandering trail with birds chirping, lovely forest shade, and maybe an occasional waterfall crossing. After we got back from the run I looked up the statistics and found out that this trail had a 2700 foot elevation gain in only 5 miles. And let me tell you, as if the elevation gain wasn’t hard enough to overcome, the terrain didn’t do us any favors either. Much of the trail was narrow and rocky. And as we got to the higher elevations, snow patches covered the trail at places and we had to carefully climb over the packed snow. I’d say I did much more hiking than running so that I wouldn’t trip over my feet and I could catch my breath from running uphill. But when we got to the top we were rewarded with incredible views; it was one of the prettiest trails I’d been on in a long time.

If only that was the end of my story. But the day ended up being much more interesting than just a super-hard trail run. Shortly after we had turned around at the top of the trail to make our way back down, we came across one of the snow patches. The snow covered the trail, but the snow had started melting to make an extremely narrow muddy path right next to it. I carefully placed my foot in the mud, so as to not fall and also minimize getting my clean running shoes muddy, but the mud gave away and I started to slip. I lost control and started sliding off the trail and down the hill (some might say cliff). Larry tried to grab me and save me, but the momentum and gravity were too great to be conquered; Larry started sliding down the hill too. I was sliding on my right side and looking at Larry, who still had a hold of me. I couldn’t see much else, but I felt that we weren’t stopping; the hill/cliff was too steep. I was blindly grabbing the earth, hoping that I could grab a tree root or rock, but my hands only found more mud. Somehow Larry was able to turn himself around and could see down the hill. He spotted a rock and aimed for it. He hit the rock and the rock started sliding with us. But after a few seconds the rock lodged itself into the mud and we were able to stop with it. We sat there for a minute silently, processing what had just happened – we had slid off the trail and down a cliff for 20-30 feet. We decided that neither of us had serious injuries and we started the process of scrambling up the hill, with Laura and Becky guiding us and yelling out directions. We got to the trail again, covered in mud (so much for keeping my shoes clean), and assessed our injuries – just some bruising and scraped up arms and legs. We were incredibly lucky that we didn’t sprain or break anything and, come to think of it, we didn’t die either. I feel absolutely awful that I was the cause of Larry sliding down the mountain with me, but at the same time, I’m very glad he was there to help save me!

When it’s all said and done, I actually don’t regret the trail running that day. Sure it was tough, sure the fall was scary, and sure I was nursing my injuries for the next week. But you know what? The accomplishment of that day felt incredible. We ascended 2700 feet, made it above the tree line, survived a fall down a mountain, and ended up with a great story to tell about the 12 mile run that day. (I’m not ashamed to say though that the next weekend I ran a great 12 mile route in the suburban jungle that is Federal Way – paved trails and roads, no mountain cliffs!)

Rainier To Ruston Relay

2010-08-25T19:48:00.002-07:00

I’ve discovered a new joy in running – the relay team! Before I joined my running club I didn’t even know about relay races. When I heard “relay” and “running” in the same sentence I thought we were talking about a high school track meet and passing batons. But apparently there are grown-up relays that don’t involve the nerve-wracking baton hand-off.

The first weekend in June, on National Trails Day, I was part of a a 6-person team that ran the Rainier to Ruston Rail-Trail Relay. This race raised money for the Foothills Rails to Trails Coalition, which is attempting to create a contiguous, non-motorized, public trail from Mt. Rainier all the way to Tacoma. The relay is just over 50 miles and luckily is mostly downhill. There are 12 checkpoints/hand-offs and we all carefully calculated our 2 legs we would run weeks ahead of time. No uphills for me? Check! Reasonable mileage for each leg? Check! More solid terrain? Check!

The day of the race we met at 6:45am in Puyallup to carpool in two cars to the top of Mt. Rainier. The trunks of both cars were loaded with gear – extra clothes, extra shoes, lots of food and water, and all of our maps. Our team shirts were distributed (donated by a chiropracter who was friends with Ron; this means I'm a sponsored runner, right?!?) and signs were taped up on the back windshield that said “Runners on the Road.” We felt lucky that this Saturday happened to have gorgeous weather, but with the elevation gain, we were chilly by the time we arrived at the Mt. Rainier starting point. We didn’t have to wait too long for the start and Laura was our first person to run (she also ended up with the most elevation gain as well, but she seriously rocked those hills.) As we drove our cars to the next checkpoint, we stopped a couple of times along the way to cheer Laura on. As Laura arrived at the first checkpoint, Becky was ready to go. Laura ran under the checkpoint, rang a little bell that signaled she was done, and slapped Becky’s hand. Becky took off and ran the most technical part of the race on some serious unpaved, deep forest trails, which involved crossing rivers on fallen logs, running through mud pits, and even falling down a couple of times. I ran the third leg, mostly on unpaved trails and tried to avoid the copious amounts of mud and puddles. Katie ran the 4th leg, Molly the 5th leg, and then Ron ran the 6th leg. We essentially ran the next 6 legs of the race in the same order, with Molly and Katie switching it up. And Ron and Laura ran the very last leg to the finish line together. We ran a combination of unpaved trails, paved trails, neighborhood sidewalks, and even some soft sand along the Puyallup River. It took us approximately eight hours to run the entire trip.

I think the thing that surprised me the most about the relay was that I thought there would be a lot more downtime in between the running. In fact, I never once opened my magazines I had brought with me. As soon as one runner would take off and start their designated leg, the rest of us would pile into the cars, drive to the next checkpoint, and cheer on runners who were coming in. There was so much fun and excitement throughout the day! An eight-hour day of just running and driving never moved so fast! And at the end of the day, when we were waiting along the Tacoma waterfront for Ron and Laura to make it to the finish line, the clear weather allowed for perfect views of Mt. Rainier off in the distance. (In the picture look to the left above the Tacoma city buildings.) And we realized that we had actually run all the way from that beautiful mountain to Puget Sound. How cool is that?

So, relays are my new thing. I couldn't do anymore this summer because I've been trying to stick to a strict running schedule in preparation for my October marathon. But I will for sure try to run more next summer.

House Repairs - Or Why I Am Glad I Am A Renter

2010-08-19T21:35:00.001-07:00

So this year our nice little rental house is starting to show its age. For example, this winter some tiles in our shower started to separate from the wall. When we went on vacation our landlord came in to fix the tiles and found that the water damage in the wall was pretty severe. So instead of fixing a few tiles he ended up taking a few day to dry out the wall and re-tile the entire shower. Also, recently our kitchen sink was leaking pretty bad and then one day the handle just broke off, so he had to replace that too. (And before we moved in he replaced the hot-water-heater. In the first year we lived here he had to replace a window and fix the gutters.) But that's nothing compared to our little problem this May in the backyard.

We were working on our garden on one of the first nice days of the summer and discovered part of the yard/garden was extra squishy and seem water-logged. Our garden is surrounded by cinder blocks, and some of the cinder block holes had sitting water in them. Very odd. We decided to start experimenting. I went into the house and turned on the sink. Robb reported that the water started rising and then sunk back when I turned the sink off. I flushed the toilet, again the water in the cinder blocks rose and receded. I immediately went next door to report the problem to our landlord. He came over and took a look at our yard. We decided that a tree root must have burst a water pipe, which was causing the yard to flood. But it didn't make sense, water pipes would be in the front yard, going down to the street, not in the front yard. Robb and I asked the landlord if it was possible there was a septic tank in our backyard. He was adamant that the house hooked up to the sewer system in the '70s. He lived in the neighborhood as a teenager when the sewer system was put in and everyone was asked to hook up to it. He was pretty sure that the owner of our house had hooked up. Plus, we've been paying a sewer bill for the city. We asked our other neighbor who was outside at the time, and he wasn't sure. He thought that the former owner hadn't hooked up to the sewer system because it would have been too expensive for her. And, he reported, even if you don't use the sewer system, you still have to pay a sewer bill because you have the right/possibility to hook up. So, our landlord left that evening promising to call the city the next day to find out if we were sewer or septic.

The next day the landlord discovered that our house had never been hooked up to the sewer system. Yup, we have a septic tank. Not only that, but we have a septic tank that no one knew about for years and hadn't been pumped in decades. (A silver lining, even though we still have to pay a sewer bill, we actually had been overcharged. The city provided a refund for the months that we had already payed and our bill now is a lot lower.) So the landlord brought in a person who cleans septic tanks and she came and started cleaning the tank. At that time she discovered not only was the tank filled to the brim, but the overflow container and pipes had disintegrated, which caused our soggy yard problem. It had probably been broken for a long time, but our backyard soil is mostly soft sand that does a good job of draining water and waste. So the landlord now needed to bring someone in to fix the septic tank. It turns out if you live in certain areas now that have the ability to hook up to sewer, and your septic tank needs repairs, you can't actually fix the septic tank - you are required to hook up to the sewer system. Well that is quite expensive. Our landlord decided to bring in some professionals who were willing to fix the septic tank on the side (shhh!).

Unfortunately our garden was sitting right in the middle of the yard and on top of the septic tank. We had spent quite a bit of money last year buying nice topsoil, fertilizer, etc. We didn't have too many plants in the ground yet, so Robb used a shovel and wheelbarrow to move our entire garden to a tarp out of the way. (And he did it twice. The first time he put it in one part of the yard, but then was told that pipes would be put there. So he had to move it again.) The contractors came over one sunny afternoon with a small backhoe and new supplies to fix our tank. They dug up our entire backyard. There was hardly a blade of grass left and trenches were four feet deep. I tried to take pictures of the yard, but the contractors were concerned that there would be evidence of them there illegally. (Little do they know that I blog!) But, for some reason, the aforementioned contractors offered to let me drive the backhoe. And they even suggested that Robb take pictures. (Now why we couldn't take pictures of the illegal work in our backyard, but they encouraged pictures of an unlicensed operator on a serious piece of construction equipment, I will never know.) Operating that backhoe requires a fair amount of coordination. I managed to move one small pile of dirt and then let the men get back to work. They did a great job; all of the work was completed in less than 2 hours. The landlord then put out grass seed and our grass came up a few weeks later. And we had the opportunity to move our garden. Last year Robb placed our garden kind of in the middle of the yard, and I wasn't a huge fan of its location. So because our entire yard was dug up, we were able to relocate our garden to an area that made more sense and allowed for greater use of our yard.

Luckily, for Robb and me, this has turned out to be an interesting, light-hearted story. (I mean seriously, how did the landlord not know we had a septic tank!) But if we had owned this house we would be out thousands upon thousands of dollars. We don't have to pay a cent for repairs and we are so lucky for that. I know that a lot of people feel buying a house is an ultimate goal for young couples, but we feel comfortable renting right now. Not only do we not have to deal with outrageous house repairs, but we also have a lot more flexibility. We aren't tied down to this area; if we decide to apply for jobs someplace else we don't have to worry about selling a house first (which would be stressful in this economy). We are spending our money on other things right now that are more important to us than a down-payment for our own home, so I don't see home-buying in our immediate future. And if we ever do buy a home, you better believe we'll be triple-checking to see whether we're hooked up to a sewer system or have a septic tank!

(I took this picture secretly from my kitchen window)

(Yup, that's me using heavy construction equipment. I look like a natural, don't I?)

Discovery Park and Lincoln Park in Seattle

2010-08-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

My friend Deb lives in Seattle and we try to together every few weeks to catch up. The last couple of times we've seen each other we have met up a Seattle park so that we can get some exercise, fresh air, and walk her dog. I think it's great because Deb seems to know a lot about the different parks in Seattle (she does live there after all), so it's nice to go with her and have my own tour guide.

Discovery Park is pretty famous in Seattle, as it is the largest park the city has to offer. Once you walk away from the parking lot the trees surround you an you feel like you're in Mt. Rainier National Park, rather than the middle of a city. We hiked through forests, meadows, and along the beach. While we were sitting on the beach we spotted a bald eagle that had caught a fish and was eating it. I was able to get pretty close (and also got a close up of some interesting barnacles and what-have you) to get some pictures, without disturbing the giant bird. We also visited Lincoln Park one day which is in West Seattle. This park, while large, is not quite as big as Discovery Park. But I loved the beach access. People in this state love walking on the beaches when the tides are low. I think they like exploring the rocky shores and the starfish, barnacles, and urchins that live among them.

My Restaurant Raves

2010-08-14T21:32:00.001-07:00

I've been to some amazing restaurants in the past few months. Unfortunately I don't have pictures, but these places deserve mentions. I'm sure I've been to additional restaurants lately, but none stand out like these places. I highly recommend a visit (and invite me along too)!

Peso's Kitchen: This restaurant has been the most important find for us and we've already eaten here three times. It's rare for us to eat in a Seattle restaurant more than once because there are so many places we want to try. Peso's is in the lower Queen Anne neighborhood, pretty close to the Space Needle. This restaurant is really popular and has quite the "meat-market" feel to it. It's hopping at night and the bar is packed and loud. The decor also has a really cool urban, Mexican vibe.Their Happy Hour doesn't have cheap drinks, but rather boasts super-cheap food. The crab fundido (a crab/cheese dip for chips) is phenomenal. They do great enchiladas and have a spicy and flavorful salsa.

Southern Kitchen: I had heard about this Tacoma restaurant for a long time. It was supposed to be authentic Southern cooking with huge portions. It also was featured on the tv show "Diner's, Drive-in's, and Dives." So Robb and I finally made it there and were super-impressed. The strawberry lemonades were beautiful (actual strawberries on the bottom of the glass, with lemonade poured over the strawberries and whipped cream on top), the fried chicken perfectly cooked, and the fried green tomatoes were delicious. It was true Southern cooking, and so yummy

Po Dogs: This is a gourmet hot dog joint, locations in both Capitol Hill and the U-District. Robb and I only shared one hot dog when we popped in one day (we had other big eating plans that day), sharing the Seattle Dog. This hot dog is topped with cream cheese and scallions. Other dogs on their menu that we will check out one day include toppings a southwestern style dog with pico de gallo and guacamole, or a hot dog with peanut butter and jelly on top, or even a hot dog wrapped in bacon and deep-fried.

Over the Moon Cafe: A friend and I went out to this little cafe in Tacoma as a special treat when I changed jobs in March. This is one of the top-rated restaurants in Tacoma and was beautiful and romantic inside. The menu changes with the season and I tried an amazing dish - chicken, covered with apples and a sage sauce. One day I'll have to take Robb to this romantic restaurant - if he's lucky.

Sunbreak Cafe: This is eatery is in the city of Auburn and has the most amazing breakfasts. I've been twice now, both with a friend and with Robb, and the waits are at least 30 minutes. And you have to stand in line to wait; no giving your name to a receptionist at the door. You stand in a line that goes out the door. But the wait is so worth it. The service is great and the breakfast is out of this world. They have both full and half orders. But trust me, you will never want the full order. The half order (three egg omelets/scrambles, a mountain of hash browns, and your choice of bread) is more than enough food. And trust me when I say you must eat the banana bread.

Gari of Sushi: A friend and I decided to meet up for dinner one night and were both in the mood for sushi.I did a little research to find the top-rated sushi joint in Tacoma. While the outside of the building looks pretty scary and unappetizing, once you walk in the recently renovated inside makes you feel a bit better about eating raw fish. I'm not a sushi expert, but I know that this Tacoma restaurant has beautiful sushi and delicous rainbow rolls.

La Carta de Oaxaca: This restaurant in Ballard has real Mexican food. Not the Tex-Mex style, but Oaxacan style, with corn tortillas and a killer mole sauce. The wait is long, and the place is loud and crowded. It actually seemed like a tapas restaurant - the plates were small and the food a tad over-priced for the amount you get. But it was nice to try something that wasn't all about the burrito.

Michelle Visits - Quinault Rain Forest and the Pacific Ocean

2010-08-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

One of the big goals during Michelle's visit was to see the Pacific Northwest rain forest in Olympic National Park. My Mom and I had visited the Hoh Rain Forest, but it was a little too long of a drive for a day trip and Michelle and I wanted to cut costs; so we decided to visit the Quinault Rain Forest area instead, which is a little closer. It wasn't very crowded when we got to the Quinault area; I'm guessing because it was a weekday and the weather was miserable. We tried going to the visitor's center, which was closed. So we had to make our own itinerary. We completed two hikes, one to see the world's largest spruce tree and the other to see a waterfall. The Quinault Rain Forest has some of the world's largest tress in the world - a spruce, hemlock, douglas fir, and red cedar. We only saw the Sitka Spruce, which is 191 feet high and a thousand years old. We really wanted to check out some of the other trees, but it started to rain hard and we were cold and ready to move on.

After we left the rain forest we decided we were close enough to the Pacific Ocean to drive to a random beach and take in the views. We listened to my Garmin and took a turn onto a street that would take us to the Ocean. Interestingly enough this road took us directly onto the beach. The road turned into sand and all of a sudden my car was driving on the beach. We looked up and down the beach and saw a few cars and SUVs parked on the sand. I parked close to the road because I didn't want to be driving around on the beach and get my little Honda stuck. We got out of the car and looked at the beach and water. There's nothing to say expect that it was the weirdest beach I have ever been to. The way the waves stirred up the mud in the ocean, and the sand that went on forever was very unnerving. It felt like a post-apocalyptic world and we felt very isolated and disturbing. After taking a few snapshots we quickly got back in the car and left. I've never seen anything in nature that made me feel that uncomfortable before. Unreal.

Well, that's the end of Michelle's visit. I'm pretty pleased with everything we got in during the visit. We got in our Seattle tourism, Pacific Northwest nature, and a lot of girlfriend talk and relaxing. (We even dyed Easter eggs the last night she was here.) Her visit went by way too quickly. I am so glad she came to visit and I can't wait until another friend from the East Coast makes it out here so we can show off our amazing state.

Michelle Visits - The Seattle Tour

2010-08-14T19:53:00.001-07:00

Robb and I took one day while Michelle was here to take her on a mini-tour of Seattle. We took Michelle to some of our favorite Seattle places: the Fremont Troll, Golden Gardens, the Locks in Ballard, Archie McPhee's, and Kerry Park. Of course we had to bring Oreo too. I've given you the low-down on all of these places before, so instead of talking about them again, I thought I would just share my favorite pictures.

Archie McPhee's

Fremont Troll

Hiram M. Chittenden Locks

Golden Gardens

Kerry Park

Michelle Visits - My 27th Birthday Celebration

2010-07-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Michelle is a teacher and during her spring break was able to visit me for an entire week in March/April. I took a couple of days off and we managed to fit a lot in while she was here. (And, like great friends do, we also relaxed a lot and talked about anything and everything.)

Michelle arrived on March 27, one day before my 27th birthday. Because it was a Saturday I wanted to celebrate that night, even though I knew it would require Michelle to be a superstar dealing with jet lag. Normally, I don't need to do a lot to celebrate my birthday. But I felt like 27 was a big deal; my entire life I've always wanted to be 27. I guess I've imagined that 27 is an age where you are still considered young, but you're old enough to be confident and know your place in the world. So I wanted to do something a little special for this birthday. First, Robb, Michelle, and I ate dinner at Wild Ginger in downtown Seattle. I had been eager to try this Asian-fusion restaurant before we even moved to Seattle. While the food was good, I was a little disappointed. I think part of it is because I'm used to Asian-fusion and have tried a lot of it; this restaurant didn't present anything especially unique. Also, you know when you're excited to try or do something for a long time and you anticipate it and build it up in your mind? The problem was I'd been looking forward to eating here for, literally, years, and I don't think it could live up to my over-sized expectations.

So we finished up dinner and made our way to the Waterwheel Lounge in Ballard. I had done some research and discovered that this bar was supposed to be phenomenal for karaoke. I had never sang karaoke before, and it was on my list of things to do before I turned 30. I thought it would be fun to sing karaoke with one of my best friends in attendance and as a birthday celebration. Another friend, Doreen, met me at the karaoke bar and I started getting prepared with some liquid courage. This karaoke bar was packed and the list of people signed up to sing was a mile long. Doreen had arrived at the bar earlier and ended up letting me use one of her karaoke spots so I could sing. I chose "Joker" by the Steve Miller Band and the karaoke host quickly told everyone that I was a karaoke virgin and it was my birthday; with all that, I had quite the crowd paying attention to me. I had a great time. Robb took video (when I got the courage up to watch a few days later, I discovered that I was pretty bad, but I gave it my all and had fun - which is all that is important in karaoke right?)

The next day we woke up to a rainy, rainy day for my actual birthday. (Actually, the entire week that Michelle was here it was a miserable, rainy week. Sure, Seattle is expected to be rainy and cold during the spring. But this weather was not typical Seattle mild rain and temperatures. We had a week of downpour after downpour and very cold temperatures.) At any rate, we weren't going to let the weather stop us from playing tourist. We decided to spend the day inside and visit the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. This tourist attraction is in the Seattle Center area (near the Space Needle) which provided a great opportunity for Michelle to take touristy pictures of Oreo. As I mentioned, Michelle is a teacher and throughout the year the students in her 4th grade class have been taking turns bringing a stuffed monkey home with them to take pictures and write stories about what Oreo does and sees. Michelle decided she would take Oreo to Washington for spring break; and we spent WAY too much time coming up with cool poses for Oreo throughout the week.

The EMP presents the evolution of music, with a strong focus on guitars, Seattle's music contribution, and hands-on exhibits. My favorite exhibit actually was a selection of the most important and best photos of rock.

The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame is somewhat connected to the EMP. While Michelle and I were interested in checking it out, Robb was fascinated with the place and spent a lot of time looking at props and placards about sci-fi movies, books, TV shows, etc. He took way too many photos and eventually we tore him away from the place.

The next few days Michelle was on her own as I went to work. She hung out with another local friend for a couple of days. And one day she and Robb did some touristy things together, like visiting Ye Olde' Curiosity Shoppe, taking the Underground Tour, and visiting Pike Place Market. Since I didn't join in on those activities, I can't really speak to them. But in a future post I'll talk about the rest of Michelle's visit and our tourist destinations.

My First Comic-Con and Kerry Park

2010-07-03T22:41:00.000-07:00

I'll admit it. I have a husband who likes comic books. When we started dating in high school I knew this, but it seemed like he wasn't really into comics anymore. I had assumed he was growing out of them. He's carted around with him, during our various moves, boxes of comics, but I thought it was a nostalgia thing. But in the past couple of years he has started to pull out those boxes and read them again. He's started visiting the local comic store and looking for books to fill out the series. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I figure it's a pretty harmless hobby. Plus, in the grand scheme of things, he isn't a real comic book guy. He likes a few series, but is not crazy about it (at least not like a lot of Comic-Con attendees!)

Robb was interested in visiting this year's Comic-Con. He told me I didn't have to go, but he thought I might find it interesting. So, because I love him and like to hang out with him when he actually has a weekend off, I said I would go. The people in costumes were pretty interesting. We didn't watch any of the presentations because most of them wouldn't mean much to us. I spent a lot of time waiting as Robb looked for specific comics. The whole idea of Comic-Con actually ended up offending me. Basically you have to pay for the privilege to get into a giant room where you spend more money on the comics you want to buy. I ended up enjoying the hour long show by Unexpected Productions. This is the local improv group (we've gone to their shows a couple of times.) They did great skits based on all things comic-book geek. Quite a few of the jokes I didn't get because I didn't have the base knowledge, but overall I could appreciate the humor.

The part of our day I did like was my first visit to Kerry Park. Before we spent our afternoon in Comic-Con, we decided to start the day with a picnic in Kerry Park. Robb had told me about this park; he had accidentally driven past it before I moved to Seattle. But he hadn't been able to find it again. He knew it was somewhere in the Queen Anne neighborhood, among the mansions, but hadn't been able to locate it. With the GPS we got at Christmas though, it's become quite a bit easier to find places of interest in Seattle. Kerry Park is a tiny strip of land that has the most incredible view of downtown Seattle, the waterfront, and even Mt. Rainier on a clear day. The view took my breath away. We had a lovely picnic lunch and enjoyed looking out on our Emerald City.

Capitol Hill, Columbia City, and Georgetown

2010-07-03T21:59:00.000-07:00

So because I'm so behind on my blog, I use my husband's blog to remind me of what to post about next. I can read his and remember what we did and when we did it. Then I can write my version of the day and post my favorite pictures on my blog. It works pretty well. Until he forgets something, like our mini-neighborhood tour one Sunday.

So I'm pretty sure that in February or early March we headed first to the Capitol Hill area. We visited Dick's for the first time - an iconic burger chain in this area. The burger was pretty good, but for a Seattle chain, I like BurgerMaster's better. (Of course the best burgers ever happen to be here in Federal Way at Burger Express.) We then decided to use our City Walks: Seattle cards to give us a mini-tour of Capitol Hill, specifically the Broadway area. We saw a beautiful Gothic-style Baptist church, apartments that used to be an old fire station (the arched doorways were built to accommodate horse-drawn fire wagons), and Cal Anderson Park. Cal Anderson Park is built on top of a reservoir to provide the community a green square with really beautiful fountains.

Our next stop was Columbia City. The Columbia City neighborhood is attempting to revitalize itself and its main street is really cute. They've got a tiny library that is in the Georgian Revival style and built in 1915. Our biggest reason to head here was to visit the Columbia City Bakery. Robb has long been wanting to visit this famous bakery. We were not disappointed. We tried a few pastries, coffee, and a savory egg concoction that was delicious.

Our final destination was to Georgetown. We understood this to be another neighborhood that was attempting to revitalize and was somewhat funky (if a little industrial.) We drove there and found nothing. I've been told that they've got a pretty good bar scene - but at 5 in the afternoon on a Sunday, there's not a whole lot going on.

Our camera had technical difficulties, so we only have a few shots that we took with our phones.

Our First Snowshoeing Adventure

2010-07-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

The weekend after we got back from sunny Hawaii we headed for the snowy hills of the Cascade Mountains. My running club has a "snow day" every year where members meet in North Bend and head to a snow park for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. I was really looking forward to this little day trip. On my 30 Before 30 list I had written down that I wanted to go snowshoeing. But I was too nervous to do it on my own. So I was really happy that I knew people who knew what they were doing and could show us where to go. (That's right - us! Robb had been interested in snowshoeing too and was able to take the day off and go with me.) We rented a couple pairs of snowshoes from REI the day before the trip and got up early the next day to head to the mountains.

As I recall, the weather was pretty good. We had an unseasonably warm and dry winter, and that day was warm enough that we didn't need heavy coats. The problem with the dry winter though was it hadn't snowed in quite some time, which meant there was less fresh powder (which I'm told makes snowshoeing more fun.) Our group kind of got separated into two and we found ourselves with a group that snowshoed along the John Wayne Trail. I think this part of the trail used to be train tracks, which allowed for a lot of room and a clear path. With hindsight, we think it would have been more fun to snowshoe through the woods and make our own trails, but as this was our first trip, I was a little nervous about leaving the trail by ourselves.

We really did enjoy ourselves and wouldn't mind owning our own snowshoes and doing this more in the future. So if anyone wants to provide a random gift, keep that in mind!

Maui, Hawaii

2010-05-31T16:58:00.000-07:00

How did we end up in Hawaii? Well, my Mom had a milestone birthday the end of January. My Dad decided months ago that he was going to surprise her with a trip. Not only was he going to surprise her with a trip someplace awesome, but he also was going to surprise her by having her daughters and their husbands show up to celebrate the milestone birthday as well. So Briana and I began helping my Dad plan a secret Hawaii trip months before the big day! We decided to visit Hawaii (Maui in particular) because none of us had ever been to Hawaii and we all see vacations as a chance for adventure and something new. We researched hotels, car rentals, flights, and activities. It was so difficult to keep the secret from my Mom, but so much fun at the same time! Our family trip was only going to be about four days, but Robb and I decided that since we were there already and we had the vacation time, we would add a few extra days for just us after the extended family left. Finally all the reservations were made. Mom still didn’t have a clue. Her actual birthday was a week before we left for vacation. My Dad decided that it would be best to tell her on her birthday that he was taking her to Maui. But he didn’t tell her that Bri and I would be there as well. So that gave her a week to be excited and a week where Briana and I had to feign surprise and interest!

On the day of the big reveal Robb and I got to Maui first. We gathered our luggage and went to pick up our rental van. By the time we had our van ready, everyone else had landed. Briana was sneaking around the airport so she wouldn’t run into Mom and Dad. I called Bri and we managed to meet up; we kept low and spotted Mom and Dad in a corner waiting for their luggage. We ran up to Mom screaming Happy Birthday and the surprise was revealed. I wish we had one of our husbands taking pictures; it was so much fun! We managed to fit all six of us in the mini-van, along with all of our luggage (it was a little tight) and headed to the resort.

One of the many reasons we decided on Maui for our Hawaii vacation was that it was the best island and the perfect season for humpback whale watching. As we drove along the coastline towards our hotel the first whales were spotted. There was not a single day of our trip that we did not see the majestic creatures. We arrived at the Hyatt and were overwhelmed at the beauty. My Dad graciously paid for all expenses for the trip and Robb and I got to experience a luxury that we’ve never been able to see before and probably won’t see again for a long time. The hotel was amazing – open air lobby, a variety of birds on display, the biggest pool I’ve ever seen, and rooms with views of the ocean and countryside. We had breakfast every morning in an open-air room, overlooking a waterfall.

The next morning we had signed up for a sunrise whale watching tour. We all woke up entirely too early and headed to the docks in Lahaina. We got on a boat before the sun was up and headed out with our eyes looking out for whales. As the sun came up over the island we saw a ton of whale activity; they were slapping their fins on the water, breaching the water and babies were sticking close to their mama’s. It was really quite spectacular, and a great start for the morning.

The next day we were scheduled for a kayaking/snorkeling trip. The six of us were the only ones in the group besides the tour guide, which made it a really fun special trip. It seems that our family is pretty good at the kayaking thing so we were able to move quite fast, which is pretty important when you’re chasing whales. Yup, we spent most of our time looking for whales and trying to get closer to them. We learned a trick that involved putting our paddle in the water and holding the other end next to our ear; that helps you hear the whale songs. We saw whales swim under our kayaks and come up for air only 100 feet away. We were so sometimes so close that we could hear the whale songs ABOVE the water, without needing our paddles to hear their song. After whale-chasing, we spent an hour swimming and snorkeling off of our kayaks. Everyone agrees that it was one of the coolest days of our lives.

Our big failure during our Maui trip was the Haleakala Crater. We drove upcountry to view the remains of an ancient volcano, but as we made our way up the mountain, we got more and more worried. Fog completely surrounded us. We’re told that the Crater is spectacular and out of this world, looking like a Martian landscape. But all we could see was fog. Another cool little trip was to the Nakalele Blowhole. Driving to this natural blowhole was really spectacular. We drove along cliffs with gorgeous beach views. We were able to spot a surfing competition. And the blowhole itself was really neat – waves crash along a rock formation causing water to shoot up in a stunning display of power. We had some alone couple time too. Robb and I spent some of our time snorkeling and also visiting a whaling museum.

After a few days it was time for us to drop the rest of the family off at the airport and switch rental cars. Robb and I headed to a bed and breakfast for the next couple of nights. We spent one day checking out the Iao Needle and moving from beach to beach. I read about so many great beaches that I wanted to see several of them. So we spent an hour or two at one beach before moving on to the next one. We had hoped to get some good snorkeling in, but the waves were pretty intense and our snorkeling wasn’t as great as we had hoped. But you really can’t complain about sitting on the beach all afternoon and enjoying relaxing with your husband.

The next day we woke up early and decided to drive the Road to Hana. A lot of people drive as fast as they can to Hana (a pretty boring little town) and then head home. But, as we saw it, the whole point of driving to Hana is the drive itself and the sights you see along the way. The road is scary - over 600 curves and 52 one-lane bridges. The driver (which was me) is constantly tense and must be exceedingly careful to not kill anyone. And you’ve got to be careful of those local construction trucks that barrel around corners and across bridges without a second glance. The Road to Hana is less than 60 miles, but with all the curves and stops it took us all day to get there and back (we left at 8:00 in the morning and didn’t get back to civilization until about 7:30 that evening). We stopped at amazing little towns and saw beautiful waterfalls. We managed to swim in the cold, cold water of little waterfalls and saw a rare black sand beach. While we were really excited about seeing the Seven Sacred Pools at the end of our journey, we were disappointed to find that a drought had caused them to dry up and limit our swimming. But we did see Charles Lindberg’s grave and saw amazing scenery throughout the day.

The Road to Hana and whale watching was by far our favorite adventures. Robb and I feel so blessed (which is pretty incredible since we’re not religious) that I have such fantastic parents that were able to provide us the opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. We had such a good time as a family and then such a special time as a couple. This trip is something we will never forget (and all these months later we still talk about how cool it is that we were chasing whales.)

Life Update

2010-04-30T20:26:00.004-07:00

I'm super anal about blogging about our lives in chronological order. I've had lots of activity lately in my life, but I can't post about it because I haven't yet written about my epic, once-in-a-lifetime trip to Maui in January/February. I've been overwhelmed with the idea of writing about Hawaii and uploading all of the amazing pictures. I'm going to try and finish the Hawaii trip post this week so I can move on to the rest of my life and catch you up. This needs to happen because the longer I go without writing, the easier it is to forget my adventures. And believe it or not, this blog exists for bigger reasons than just as entertainment for my loyal readers. I also like to keep the blog to act as a journal or record. For those that don't know, I have a pretty poor memory, so this blog is a way to document my life.

But let me update you on a couple of major things that don't necessarily warrant a full post. First, I started a new job on March 1. I applied for and went through the interview process to be a Management Analyst. As you recall, I used to be a Management Analyst and my position was eliminated in July due to budget cuts. I was able to move into another job as a Case Manager without a change in pay/benefits/etc. It was nice to have a job, but I never really enjoyed the role as a social worker. Since July I've been looking for positions that would better match my background, education, and interests. So I finally found a new position and am a Management Analyst again. It is for a different agency, but it is still within the State of Washington; and it's essentially a promotional opportunity. So far I enjoy the job and I'm glad to be back in my field. I'm commuting to Olympia again, but I re-joined my old vanpool to help save money on the commute. Because this position provided a little bit of a raise and my commute is so long, I decided to quit my part-time job at Panera again. It's nice to have my weekends back and it's nice to be in a job that feels like a good career path for me again.

There's one other thing I wanted to share. This week is National Infertility Awareness Week and I've decided it's a good time to share that we are experiencing the grief and stress that is infertility. Approximately 1 in 8 couples will experience infertility. After trying for a kid the old-fashioned way for a long time, Robb and I decided to see a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE) to figure out if anything was wrong. It looks like we both have medical factors that mean we will be unable to conceive children naturally. We've already completed a few tests and will spend the next few months dealing with additional tests. At this point - in the pessimistic/realistic sense and going on the tests that we've already completed - it looks like our only possibility to have a biological child may be in-vitro fertilization (IVF). This is very expensive (infertility is not covered by our insurance) and a very invasive procedure. We are starting to cut out most of our discretionary spending so that we can save every penny to go towards having a chance at a family. All of this is pretty overwhelming right now and the emotions are tough. We know that one day we'll be parents, whether it's through medical treatment or adoption (which by the way, is even more expensive than IVF), it's just sad that we may have to wait many years before this happens.

As an FYI, I probably won't post a lot about our infertility struggles because 1) This is a blog about living our lives in the Pacific Northwest; I don't want it to turn into an infertility blog. 2) Many of the tests are invasive and I don't want to share information about our bodily functions and I'm thinking most of you don't want to hear about that crap anyways (if anyone is actually dealing with infertility and has specific questions though, I'd be happy to talk with you one-on-one.) 3) It will be a long time before we can afford to proceed with IVF; there's not much else to say about our reproductive lives until that can happen.

So that's the latest on our everyday lives. Like I said, I hope to get back to blogging more regularly soon. Can you believe it's May already???

Polar Plunge

2010-02-28T17:50:00.003-08:00

Did I mention that becoming the president of my running club has made me officially a crazy person? Before I became a runner, I always thought runners were stupid or crazy. Now that I'm a runner, I can tell you that we're actually both. For some stupid and crazy reason I think I can run a marathon now (I'll let you know how that goes in October, after 10/10/10 in Victoria, British Columbia.) And for some stupid and crazy reason I've become the leader of a group that does things like annual underwear runs and polar dips. This year I skipped out of the underwear run (I wasn't president yet so I didn't feel the need to prove myself.) However, I was president by the time the annual polar dip rolled around and I felt compelled to participate!

I'm sure you've seen polar dippers on the news before. A lot of them jump into very cold water around New Year's Day. Well, our running group has an annual run every January that is followed by a jump into Puget Sound. When I was asked if I would participate this year I emphatically said "No Way!" I said I would do the run, but I would not be jumping into the freezing water, I'd be watching the polar dippers and laughing at them instead. I was told that it was my duty as president to jump. I again said "NO!" I explained that I am a warm water girl. I grew up swimming in the Gulf of Mexico where the water feels warmer than the bathtub. This cold water up here in the Pacific Northwest is not up my alley. (Do you remember this summer when it was unseasonably hot and Robb and I went to natural swimming holes up in the mountains? It was all I could do to put my feet in the water. I couldn't imagine getting into that water when it was 90 degrees outside! How would it be possible for me to jump into Puget Sound in the middle of winter?)

But, as my friends in the running club often do, they just plant a seed in my mind and I start thinking it over and it starts to grow. I started to gradually think about doing the jump. I thought how cool it would be to say that I did it, especially because I'm a warm water girl. I thought about the fact that very few women have participated in this club ritual, and it might be fun to carry the torch (or icicle if you will) for my gender. I thought about how participating in a polar plunge would be a real Pacific Northwest-y thing to do. I thought about how moving to Washington without a job, without knowing a soul, and without looking back 2.5 years ago was a pivotal point in my life that allowed me to prove that I could take on adventures I never dreamed possible before. I thought that in 50 years I want to look back on my life and be proud of the opportunities I took and the experiences I had. So I decided to take the plunge. And I started telling people I would do it so I wouldn't back out!

The day of the run was a cool January day. It started out raining and miserable, but by that afternoon the sun was shining. We ran 5 miles to a little bridge in Gig Harbor, WA that is the perfect place to jump. Arriving there though we discovered that we arrived at very, very, very low tide. If we were to jump off that bridge, the fall and landing into the shallow water would probably maim us (if not kill us.) I was relieved and disappointed at the same time that my polar plunge wouldn't happen. But a couple of brave souls decided that instead of jumping we should just run into the water instead. So, the plungers (all men and me!) changed our shoes, took a few before pictures, and then ran in! It was cold, but I went all the way, dunked my head and entire body under water, and ran out as fast as I could. You know, it wasn't as cold as I thought it would be!

We've learned our lesson and next year will be timing the run and jump with the tides. I'm actually glad that the tides were low and we ran in this year, because the jump off the bridge would have been very scary for me. But, now I have a whole year to anticipate a polar plunge in January that involves a jump off that bridge. It will be another experience I have to try!

U-District

2010-02-23T20:41:00.006-08:00

On December 30th we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. The day was lovely and we both took the day off to do something fun. We decided to visit the U District in Seattle. This is where the University of Washington is based and we hadn't really investigated this neighborhood yet.

Awhile back Robb got me a really cool deck of cards that had Seattle walking tours on them. Each card has a different suggested walking tour of a neighborhood, places to see, restaurants to stop in, and unique shopping experiences. I really like these walking tour cards because it gives you a starting point to exploring a new neighborhood, which as you know, Robb and I love to do.We took these cards to walk through the University District and take a short tour of the University's campus. The campus was lovely - and the library, both inside and out, was phenomenal. We'll be going back to the U District soon to check out the Burke Museum and walk through some of the gardens while in bloom.

We ate an early dinner at a pupuseria (El Salvadorean food, which we've tried before and really enjoy) and then headed out of town. We wanted to catch Avatar in 3D, but tickets were sold out and we didn't manage to get to the movie until several weeks later.

We planned on spending quite a bit of money in Hawaii only a few weeks after our anniversary. So with that in mind, our 4th anniversary was low key, but fun. And like always, we enjoyed exploring a new part of Seattle.

Christmas 2009 - Quick Recap

2010-02-23T20:09:00.005-08:00

Our Christmas holidays in the past few years have tended towards low-key, with the focus on food and relaxation. This year was no different. We both worked the day of Christmas Eve, but I was determined to have a traditional Christmas Eve dinner. We ended up eating pretty late at night, but had a fantastic herb-crusted roast tenderloin, mashed potatoes, and baked cauliflower.

On Christmas Day we opened gifts, called family, and watched Christmas movies all day. And Jack and Malibu enjoyed the Christmas paper. (Yes, Jack does look like a walrus at times - although that is a particularly unflattering, but funny, first picture of him.) I love the Christmas holiday. The relaxation and family love is so immense, I can't get enough of it!

Thanksgiving 2009 - The Family, Snoqualmie Falls, and Rattlesnake Ridge

2010-02-06T18:45:00.007-08:00

My family invited themselves to the West Coast for this year's Thanksgiving. Mom, Dad, and Briana (her husband didn't make it this year, didn't have enough leave time after starting a new job) joined Robb and me for the long weekend. It was the first time Briana has managed to visit Washington and it was nice to show her around!

Everyone flew in on Thanksgiving day and evening. Briana's flight was really late, so dinner was an all night affair. Briana is a vegan (no animal products of any kind - no butter, cheese, milk, eggs, meat, etc), so Robb and I spent a lot of time planning a menu that she could eat. We had a traditional turkey and my family's favorite fried corn, but just about everything else that evening was vegan and it was all delicious - mashed potatoes, couscous stuffing, lemony garlic spinach, etc.! Briana said it was the first time she has been stuffed at Thanksgiving in years. (Normally when she goes to other people's Thanksgiving celebrations she brings herself a frozen meal and that's generally all she can eat.) Unfortunately my great-grandma's pumpkin pie recipe did not turn out okay. My mom conveniently forgot to tell me that I should use electric beaters to mix the ingredients. So the pumpkin pie was a bust, but luckily I had made a German chocolate pecan pie, which was more than enough for dessert (Bri had vegan pumpkin doughnuts we had bought.)

(I was excited Briana was there!)

We decided to make Friday an outdoorsy, Pacific Northwest day. We first headed to Snoqualmie Falls. Robb and I hadn't been to the Falls yet, but we had been wanting to go. The Falls are featured (I think) in the show Twin Peaks. They were truly magnificent. I think that may have been the biggest and most forceful waterfall I have ever seen.

(Briana and I were presenting the waterfall.)

Our next stop was Rattlesnake Ridge for a 4 mile round-trip hike in the midst of the Cascade Mountains. This was a hike that had been recommended to me before and I was glad to finally get there and share it with the family as well. It was a steady incline up to the top of Rattlesnake Ridge. Around 3/4 of the way up my Mom's shoes completely fell apart and she had to flop up the rest of the mountain and then flop down. While it looked like a painful way to hike, it was really funny to walk behind her and see her make her way up the mountain. And I think she was grateful to hike through the pain because the views at the top were spectacular. Rattlesnake Ridge is definitely a hike you'll want to do in the Pacific Northwest; it's not too difficult and the views are a great payoff at the end, especially on an overcast day!

(Robb's on the left side of this picture can you believe how immense this view was?)

The rest of the weekend was low-key. We made it to our favorite Indian restaurant in Federal Way. We walked around Pike Place Market. We went to the vegetarian restaurant Cafe Flora. We spent time together and drank lots of coffee and wine - a very traditional family reunion for us!

Oregon in October - Sunday

2010-01-24T20:28:00.005-08:00

Our last day of Robb's birthday weekend started at Voodoo Doughnuts. This doughnut shop has been featured on a couple of Food Network shows and we were VERY excited to try it out. The line for doughnuts was out the door and was a good 30 minute wait. When we finally got inside we were overwhelmed by all the choices. We chose 4 massive doughnuts for just the two of us to share in the car on our way out of town: Triple Chocolate Penetration (chocolate doughnut with chocolate icing and topped with cocoa puffs), Memphis Mafia (banana fritter topped with chocolate and peanut butter icing, chopped peanuts, and chocolate chips), Old Dirty Bastard (glazed doughnut with chocolate and peanut butter icing, topped with crushed oreos), and the Bacon Maple Bar (maple frosted doughnut topped with slices of real bacon.) Now I thought the Bacon Maple Bar would be disgusting, but I must admit that it may be the best doughnut ever made. Robb and I have never had better doughnuts. We love Voodoo Doughnuts!

We headed towards the Pacific Coast and the tourist town of Cannon Beach. Our ultimate destination was the Haystack Rock, but we stopped first at Ecola State Park. This park had a few hiking trails and phenomenal views of the Pacific. It was the first time Robb had seen the Pacific Ocean and it was super impressive. The weather was cooperating so we could see Tillamook Light House about a mile away in the middle of the ocean. We walked around quite a bit to get the best views and pictures we could. Next we drove down to town and the beach. We walked along Cannon Beach to see Haystack Rock. This sea stack is one of the most famous monoliths in the Pacific Northwest.

We thought about eating lunch in Cannon Beach, but the tourist fare didn't impress us and we were still full from our doughnuts. We decided to drive on to Astoria, Oregon. This town is famous for the movie The Goonies. The film was set in this town and we made sure to drive around to see the jail and the house from the movie. We also went to the Astoria Tower, a tall tower at the highest point in town, to climb up and see the views of the Columbia River and the surrounding countryside. The view was exceptional. The only way to get home from Astoria was on Highway 101, which is really beautiful during the day, but at night and in fog was quite scary to drive on. Luckily we managed to make it home so Robb's 30th year could continue. All in all, a fantastic weekend to celebrate Robb's big milestone birthday!

Oregon in October - Saturday

2010-01-22T19:34:00.006-08:00

Saturday, October 17th was Robb's actual birthday. Robb was intent on going to Gravy, a diner that he had read great things about. The wait for a table was about 30 minutes, but our brunch was really quite incredible. Robb had country fried steak that was incredible. I'm not big on southern breakfasts, but man that was an awesome country fried steak. After brunch we headed back to Rogue so we could sample some more beer and I had the most amazing pumpkin ale I think I've ever had.
After our beers, we headed to an open air market along the river in the Old Town district. This market was huge, taking up several blocks, and had independent booths, performers, and food. We bought two cupcakes from an independent seller to save for later, in lieu of traditional birthday cakes. I'd never had a sweet potato cupcake before, but it was just about the most amazing cupcake I've ever had.

We had our fill of walking around in the rain and made our way to the Pittock Mansion. By the time we got there the sun was shining again and the fall leaves were glorious. This historic mansion is built on a 43 acre hilltop that overlooks Portland. We took a guided tour and learned a lot about the mansion, the Pittock family, and Portland. The views from both inside and outside the mansion were incredible. If you ever go to Portland, I think the Pittock Mansion should definitely be on your to-do list.

We went back to Nob Hill for the rest of the evening, sampling and buying cheese from Steve's Cheese and checked out a gourmet grocery store, Zupan. We ate dinner at a Typhoon, which actually has locations in the Seattle area (didn't know it when we picked it, we just thought it looked like a good Thai restaurant). I had a very boring soup, but Robb's pumpkin curry dish was phenomenal. I'm glad that on Robb's birthday he ended up ordering the best food of the day!

Oregon in October - Friday

2010-01-18T19:43:00.005-08:00

Robb turned 30 in October. We decided to celebrate by taking a long weekend to visit Oregon. We spent Friday and Saturday in Portland and on Sunday we made our way to Cannon Beach and Astoria.

As soon as we got to Portland we headed straight for the Rogue Distillery and Public House. Rogue Brewery makes Robb's favorite beer - Rogue Dead Guy Ale. The actual brewery, while in Oregon, is no where near Portland. But the distillery, where they make three liquors, is in Portland. We first ate yummy lunch (think bar and grill food, with a twist - most food is made with some of their many beers.) Then we took a tour of the distillery. I really learned a lot about how liquor is made. And, I just love how they make their gin! Gin is made using spruce needles. Well, you might wonder how this small distillery collects their spruce needles. Apparently they engage the use of a local boy scout troop to collect spruce needles. Rogue gets their spruce needles for free and the boy scouts get their foraging badge. I think there's something so poetic about using boy scouts to make alcohol.

After Rogue, we decided to walk around the Pearl District, meander in and out of stores, and then go through Powell's Books. If you're a book-lover, you may have heard of this book store. It may just be one of the biggest bookstores in the world and includes new and used books. You could spend hours in there, and it is absolutely, positively, overwhelming. We then stopped at Deschutes Brewery to try a flight of beers. Finally we made our way to Nob Hill, which is another cute little shopping/walking district and where our hotel was. We checked into the hotel and walked around Nob Hill. We stopped for dinner at a bland burrito place and then found ourselves in a McMennimans. This is a local brewery/chain, and this bar happened to have a billiards table. Robb and I don't really play billiards, but we had a lot of fun trying!

I'm Back!

2010-01-18T16:55:00.005-08:00

I didn't realize it, but I needed a break from blogging. I'm just sorry I abandoned it for so long without a word. I hope I haven't lost all my readers. This blog is supposed to be a fun way for me to share my adventures in the Pacific Northwest. But for some reason every time something blog-worthy has happened to me in the past few months, I've dreaded blogging about it. It takes a fair amount of work to upload the pictures in the proper order, and the thought some days of posting all the pictures I want to is just exhausting. But I'm ready to start again. It's a new year and a time for renewal.

Before I get into the fun stuff, here's the basic update on everyday life. I started working again at Panera. I randomly ran into my old boss in September and he asked if I would come back to Panera, working once a week. I decided that I might as well. As I've said before, it's a pretty easy job. It's a nice way to make a little extra money. And, with Robb working most weekends, it's not like I have anything else to do with my time. Plus, they're being pretty flexible with my schedule, so if I have something else to do on a Saturday morning, I can change my work-day to Sunday. So I'm back to working 6 days a week. Might as well do it when I'm young, have the time, and have the energy.

We found out in November that the grocery store that Robb works at would be closing at the end of December. The company promised to transfer everyone to another store in Seattle, Kirkland, or Tacoma. So starting in January Robb started commuting to Seattle. It has been quite the difference, commuting 0.3 miles versus a 20+ mile commute in traffic. While his position and pay is technically the same, he has to pay quite a bit for gas and a parking pass now. Also, these first few weeks at the new store he's not managing as much as he'd like. He has to learn how the new store operates, which means he's had several shifts that have started at 5:00 am. My dear husband is NOT a morning person. And he's definitely not a morning person when he has to get up before 4:00 am just so he can commute to work. So he's still in an adjustment phase with the whole work and commuting thing. It's odd, in 2009 both of us lost our jobs because of the economy, but we were both lucky enough to be employed with the same organizations, just in slightly different roles. While we may not be happy with the changes, we're grateful to be employed.

I'm still running quite a bit. I have to decide on my next big race. I'm thinking about doing another half-marathon in the early summer. And I'm gearing up mentally to train for my first marathon in October. I always promised myself I would never run a marathon. But now that I've run a half-marathon, a full 26.2 miles doesn't seem that daunting. I've become one of those crazy runner people; I've even become the president of my running club. I don't know what happened to the girl who used to hate running and celebrated running just 2 miles.

Robb has been working out quite a bit too. For his birthday he wanted a gym membership, and I decided to go ahead and get that for him. So he goes to the gym usually 4-5 times a week for several hours. He wants to continue running, but has had a little difficulty. He was finally diagnosed with a torn meniscus. The guess is that the injury occurred in elementary school, but it is now causing him pain in his knee when he runs. While he doesn't technically need the surgery, in order for him to be able to run long-term, he will need the surgery. So we may be scheduling a surgery later this year. As far as the rest of his health is concerned (you know, that whole thyroid cancer diagnosis thing), he's doing pretty well. They're still trying to find a right dosage for his thyroid replacement medication. So he still has occasional blood tests, but otherwise is doing well.

So that's the latest. I'm hoping in the next couple of weeks to get completely caught up since October. Be on the lookout for posts about Robb's 30th birthday and our visit to Oregon, my family coming to visit for the Thanksgiving holiday, and our low-key Christmas.

I'm back, with a shorter haircut again!

Leavenworth Half-Marathon

2009-10-26T20:16:00.003-07:00

Can you believe it? I ran my first half-marathon on October 3, 2009! It's hard to believe that I ran 13.1 miles. As with all of my running accomplishments, it's something I could have never imagined doing just a couple of years ago. But with determination and a strong support team (my running club), I was able to get all my training runs in and go into the race feeling ready and strong.

After the race (exhausted!) with members of the running club I belong to.

The weekend of my race was very busy and unfortunately didn't leave a lot of wiggle room for playing a tourist. Leavenworth is about 3 hours from where I live. It's a town in Washington that used to be all about the logging industry. As the industry petered out the town was about to die. In a desperate "Hail Mary" move, the town decided to re-make the entire town in the Bavarian style. Every single building in their downtown area looks like the buildings in a German village. (Even the Starbucks and gas stations - when I lived in Germany, I never saw a fast food joint or gas station look 'Bavarian,' so that part isn't truly authentic, but whatever, they're trying.) The entire town's livelihood is based on tourism. Elaborate festivals are sprinkled throughout the year to encourage tourists. The half-marathon I ran in was attached to Leavenworth's Oktoberfest. Friends from my running club were able to stick around and check out the festivities after the race - but I drove straight back to Seattle where I volunteered at a fundraising dinner. So, seeing as how I got to Leavenworth after dark Friday night and left early Saturday afternoon after my run, I didn't get to see the town the way I wanted to. But it is one of my goals to get back to Leavenworth and do the tourist and festival thing at some point. The reason for this trip was solely to run.

The course was beautiful and the weather was perfect. My time goal was to stay at 2 hours, 15 minutes or under. I finished the 13.1 mile run in 2:13:43. So my time goal was met! I felt strong and finished the race feeling like I could have gone a little bit faster if I had wanted to. I was also fairly pleased with my rankings.

Overall: 620 of 1149

Females, All: 342 of 775

Females, Ages 25-29: 76 of 175

I could not be happier with my first half-marathon. It was a truly memorable experience that I will always be proud of. And I'm pleased to report that I ran my second half-marathon (a club group run, but 13.1 miles nonetheless) just this past weekend. Two half-marathons in one month. I'm awesome. That is all.

The Fremont Brew Ha-Ha, the Space Needle, and the Kilt

2009-10-25T18:21:00.005-07:00

One of Robb's goals before he turned 30 was to run a 5K in his new kilt. I don't understand the man, I just married him. Luckily Robb chose to run his 5K in Fremont, the section of town that is the epitome of "do your own thing and no one will take a second glance at you." He ran the Fremont Brew Ha-Ha 5K, a celebration of Oktoberfest. It was a small and relaxed race; Robb ran in the Beer Belly Division, which meant he got about a minute head start ahead of the regular runners. He reports that he got lots of compliments from fellow runners on his kilt as he ran through Fremont. He finished the 5K without walking and wasn't last place - always the goal to shoot for in my book.

After the 5K we decided not to check out the beer tents and instead go to lunch at Gordito's Healthy Mexican restaurant in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood. This place was definitley a winner, with awesome burritos with amazing freshly grilled meat. (I don't know if the portions that we ate would qualify as "healthy", but whatever, that's why we run.) Always on the lookout for a good burrito, we've now got a few serious contendors in Seattle if the mood strikes us.

Our last stop of the day was the Space Needle. It was an absolutely beautiful day outside and we decided it was finally time to put out the money ($16 a ticket) to take the elevator to the top of the Space Needle, our city's iconic landmark. You don't want to spend that money on a cloudy day, but this day couldn't have been more perfect. We were expecting some decent views, but we were blown away by how amazing everything looked from 520 feet. We were more impressed than we thought we would be and a little less bummed about spending all that money.

Museum Weekend

2009-09-30T20:13:00.004-07:00

Robb and I both had Labor Day Weekend off and decided to take the time to get in a lot of local activities that we have been meaning to get to. It was a rainy and cool weekend, so we did the museum thing.

On Saturday we hit up the Tacoma Glass Museum. Robb and I had been told by multiple people that this museum was incredible and we would be impressed. Even so, while we knew we needed to see this local attraction, we couldn't actually imagine loving a museum of glass. I mean, how exciting could a building full of glass actually be? Well, the Tacoma Glass Museum is beyond impressive. It was an amazing museum with awesome exhibits. I never knew glass could be so versatile and beautiful. The glass museum starts outside. You have to walk over a bridge that is lined with pieces of glass work (by the famous Dale Chihuly) to get to the museum, which is surrounded by glass sculptures. Once you go into the museum, there is a glass-blowing room where you can watch the artists create their craft. And in the permanent gallery, the exhibit shows the contrast between different styles of glass. (For example, glass can be perfectly smooth or textured. Glass can serve a scientific purpose or be a piece of abstract art. Glass can be big and bulky or tiny and delicate.) Another gallery featured an exhibit by Preston Singletary. This artist features his Tlingit Indian roots in his work. This glass work didn't even look like glass; it looked like wood carvings or stone. The entire museum was fantastic. On Sunday we went to the Seattle Art Museum (otherwise known as SAM). Robb and I really aren't "art" people, but we thought we should see our local museum. Some of the exhibits were impressive. I really, really liked the Andrew Wyeth collection and the photographs by Imogene Cunningham. And the museum had a little bit of everything, including Monet, Warhol, and some freaky weird modern art. Overall, it was a nice museum, and much larger than what we expected. But we really ended up preferring the Tacoma Glass Museum during our museum weekend.
The last big event of the weekend (not museum-related) was Robb's purchase of a Utilikilt. He has been saving money and planning for quite some time to buy a kilt from this Seattle-based company. These kilts aren't your traditional, plaid Scottish kilts. These are kilts made out of modern, hardy material (think khaki and Dickies) meant for wearing everyday. I've seen quite a few men in Seattle wear these kilts. It's kind of a punk fashion statement. Don't ask me why my husband decided that a kilt was a fashion statement he wanted to make. But, overall, I support the purchase. I'm a little uncomfortable with him wearing the kilt any place but Seattle, (like our Federal Way suburb), but I suppose I'll get used to it - just don't mind the permanent furrowed brow I have. Stay tuned for kilt pictures...

Life Update and Roller Derby

2009-09-19T17:45:00.008-07:00

I know, I know. I've been a bad blogger. I've been a tiny bit busier on the nights and weekends, but not too busy that I couldn't have blogged at some point in the last month. What have I been up to in the last few weeks? Well, mostly I've been running. I'm training for my first half-marathon, which is quickly approaching in early October. Look for the update on that in October! I've also recently started working for Panera again. I'll work there every Saturday in the opening shift; yup, that's 5:00am! I ran into my old boss and he asked if I would come back. I figured, why not? It's nice to get that extra money for work that isn't very hard. And finally, Robb's 30th birthday is in mid-October, so we've been trying to cram in a lot of activities on his "30 Before 30" list. We've completed a couple of movie marathons and been to a few different tourist attractions in the last month.

One of those activities that Robb, for some unknown reason, decided to put on his list, was to go see the Rat City Rollergirls. We were not really familiar with the roller derby, but as you may know, it's made quite the comeback in the last few years. We went to the last "bout" of the season. I wasn't exactly thrilled about seeing a roller derby; I thought it would be somewhat offensive to women and expected to see some cheap fights between the girls on skates. However, as we watched, I surprised myself with how much fun I had. I really enjoyed this sport and really appreciated the athleticism, passion, and skill these women had for this alternative sport. These girls were fast, they weren't really violent, and they could even jump over other skaters that had fallen. Robb and I didn't really know the rules as we watched, although by the end we could definitely tell how points were scored. I think I cheered much louder than Robb did. It was truly a blast and I'm sure we'll go again next season.

Denny Creek and Franklin Falls

2009-08-16T14:01:00.008-07:00

The end of July and early August we had miserable weather. We had days in the triple digits. Seattle experienced the hottest day ever recorded - 103 degrees. I know that much of the country experiences extremely hot weather. But those places generally have air conditioning. Most houses here in the Pacific Northwest have no need for air conditioning. We only had one tiny fan. Robb bought another one - one of the last - at a Wal-Mart one night. People were happy to go to work because office buildings have air conditioner. Then the evenings were spent in the movie theaters and malls. I just sat in shorts and a t-shirt and tried not to move; we avoided cooking or turning on the stove.

One Sunday (it wasn't in the triple digits that day, but I think it was in the 90s), Robb and I headed to the mountains to beat the heat. We wanted to do a little hiking and get around some water. I did some research and found a couple of easy trails to try out.

First we went to Franklin Falls, probably a mile hike from the trail head. This waterfall was absolutely beautiful. When we first arrived there were a few people hanging out and splashing through the creek. By the time we left the area was packed with families and kids. The water was cool and inviting in the heat. Even I waded through the water - and I'm a warm water type of girl. It felt so refreshing!

Our second trail of the day was close by and was along Denny Creek. This trail promised to take us to a natural swimming area, complete with rock slides and picturesque waterfalls. We were not disappointed. We arrived at the swimming area and found several different pools and waterfalls. The creek and pools just kept going and going, along with the people. Again tons of families and teenagers were cooling off in the water. I think that both Franklin Falls and Denny Creek are great hikes for families. Each hike is only about 2 miles round trip; families and kids get to experience nature, get some exercise, and then get to swim in an unforgettable location. Robb calls it God's Natural Waterpark. I couldn't agree more. On a hot day this is a much more exciting place to take the family then a local swimming pool.
Our final stop of the day was at the town of North Bend to visit Twede's Cafe. I've never seen the show, but apparently this is where Twin Peaks was filmed/based. There is famous cherry pie in the show, and Twede's is the place that makes it. Robb and I ate a couple of hamburgers (decent, but not the best I've had) and then tried some cherry pie. I'm not a big cherry fan, but I must say the sugar crust was delicious!

Robb's First 5K - Seafair

2009-08-16T13:30:00.004-07:00

Last year I completed the Seafair Torchlight 8K. I considered that my first serious race and have been running and building up my mileage ever since. Robb was my big support last year, cheering me on and taking pictures. This year I was lucky enough to be his support and document his entry into the running world! He completed his very first 5K at this year's Seafair. His goal was to finish the whole 3.1 miles without walking. To be honest, I was a little worried. He really didn't start training early enough. The longest run he had completed without stopping before this race was only 2 miles. But it turns out the crowd and race day excitement was the ticket! He ran the whole thing and finished his first race! I was so proud! Unfortunately, since then, he's been diagnosed with runner's knee. (I think a combo of being on his feet all day at work, combined with running, combined with running too much too soon, has something to do with his ailment.) But hopefully once he gets it under control he'll be back to training and we'll be able to run a race together!

Maryland and DC Visit

2009-08-04T21:29:00.005-07:00

Michelle's wedding ended late Friday night and my Dad and I drove back to my sister's house in Maryland. Briana was a phenomenal hostess while I was there. She took me to the Metro station and let me use her Metro card. She let me drink her wine. She even let my friend Megan spend the night at her house so that we could get a good chance to visit. Plus, Briana and Adam took Monday off of work to gallivant with me around Baltimore before my flight left that night. I hope that when they finally come to visit me that I can be as accommodating as they were.

Even though Michelle's wedding brought me to DC, I had a huge agenda to see tons of people while I was there. Because I attended college in Virginia and the vast majority of my friends are in the surrounding areas, I had a lot of visiting to fit into only a couple of days. On Saturday I woke up early and took the Metro into Washington DC. I was on a mission to spend the day with Amanda and Christine, two fantastic friends from college. We started out with lunch in Georgetown then headed to the National Portrait Gallery. I think museum was really wonderful and we loved seeing the Presidents' portraits. We didn't stay terribly long though because museums aren't really conducive to girlfriends catching up after not seeing each other for several years. We walked around downtown DC, grabbed Starbucks, and talked about everything. I even spotted a Starbucks in "Chinatown" that was spelled out in Chinese. I have never noticed anything like that in Seattle, even with our huge Asian population! That night I had dinner with my Dad, Bri, and Adam. We went to a great "French-inspired Vietnamese" restaurant. I'll spare you the picture of my steak. But imagine a steak smothered in a lime sauce with a fried egg on top. It was awesome! On Sunday my Dad left to go home to Florida and Briana and I drove to Arlington, VA. As luck would have it, one of our high school teachers from Germany was in the area for a couple of months. We chatted with Mr. Schmidt and one of his kids, a girl who is now a shy, grown up 12 year old, when I used to babysit her as a precocious 3 year old!

After coffee, we drove back to Maryland to wait for my dear friend Megan to join us. Megan and I go all the way back to 2nd grade. We've stayed the best of friends even though I have moved all over the country in the years since we first met. Megan drove to spend the afternoon and evening with me and left early Monday morning. Our first order of business was to do a little shopping. Then we headed to the Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard. This Maryland winery boasts that they're the only local winery to have their product served at the Kennedy Center. Megan and I tried a 10-wine tasting and then enjoyed another glass in their outdoor seating area. The wine was okay. I'm not sure if it was my favorite wine or worth the prices, but the ambiance of the winery was pleasant and relaxing. On Monday, Briana, Adam, and I went to Baltimore for the day. It was a city that none of us had really spent any time in. It seemed to be filled with history. Our first stop was the Baltimore Inner Harbor, where we decided to tour the USS Torsk and the USS Constellation. The Torsk was a submarine in commission during WWII. And the USS Constellation was one the last commissioned all-sail ship in the Navy. The Constellation help fought slave trafficking in the 1800s. Both ships were really interesting. I had never been in a submarine before; even though you an imagine the tight space, it seems even crazier to see it in real life. We had a mediocre lunch in a charmingly-decorated Italian restaurant. We then went to see the original Washington monument. (The one in DC was created after the Baltimore one.) We wanted to do a lot more historical/tourism things, but we didn't want to continue to spend money and the free locations seem to be closed on Mondays. At any rate, the money we spent on the ship tours was money well-spent and Baltimore is on my to-do tourism list in the future. That night I flew out of Baltimore and headed back home. All in all, a great trip with fun, friends, and family.

For my next posting, I'll get back to our regularly scheduled Pacific Northwest fanfare...

Michelle's Wedding

2009-08-02T11:28:00.005-07:00

One of my best friends in the world got married in July. I made my way to the East Coast to be a part of her beautiful day. I flew out of Seattle on a Wednesday night; I took a non-stop red eye to Baltimore with the hope that I could get some sleep and avoid taking off an extra day of work. The sleeping part didn't work too well; I only got about three hours of sleep during the flight. My sister picked me up at the Baltimore airport on Thursday morning and we made our way straight to the Pentagon, where she works. Briana gave me a mini-tour of the Pentagon, we ate lunch, and she sent me on my way via the Metro to Northern Virginia. Michelle picked me up at a metro stop and we spent the afternoon getting food, much-needed coffee, and primping. The evening was spent rehearsing, eating, drinking, and catching up.

Robb wasn't able to come to the wedding, his cancer treatments this year took up all his vacation days. But I was so lucky that my Dad was visiting DC from Florida for business that week. He decided to stay the weekend to be my date at the wedding (my parents love Michelle and vice versa). I love spending time with my dad, plus he danced with me and was my designated driver. The wedding was simply gorgeous. And the night was filled with dancing and fun - my legs hurt for two days afterwards. And of course it was wonderful visiting with Michelle, seeing Michelle and Jason pledge eternal love, and celebrate with such fantastic people. I felt so privileged to be a part of their day.

Garden Thriving, Broccoli Failing

2009-07-27T19:25:00.004-07:00

The garden, for the most part, is incredible. We've been eating lettuce for quite some time now. And we had our first zucchini the other day. Our tomato plants are just huge and the tomatoes look like they'll turn red soon. I ate peas straight from the pod the other day - my first time! We've got a variety of herbs in bloom in the flower box on our front porch (I love my cilantro!) We've also got spaghetti squash, cucumbers, bell peppers, eggplant, onions, and potatoes in the works. Our failure is the broccoli. In fact, I think we're going to dig it out. We just can't get it harvested in time before it flowers. But at least we tried. Taking the broccoli out will make sure there's more room for the spaghetti squash to move. Everything looks like it's on the cusp of becoming a real live vegetable (of course, not counting the vegetables that we're already eating - those are obviously real.) Soon we will have more veggies than we will know what to do with.

Federal Way Fireworks

2009-07-27T18:54:00.006-07:00

I'm behind again in the blogosphere. This week I'll attempt to catch up.

So on the 4th of July, after I rode the ducks, Robb and I decided to hit up the Federal Way fireworks. The hoopla surrounding the fireworks wasn't great. It looked like a decent place to bring a family; there was a teen dance floor and kiddie games. But there were only a couple of food vendors and some fairly poor entertainment. We found a place for our blanket on a hill, which seemed like a great spot. (However, the hill was so steep we kept sliding down and had to re-adjust.) The fireworks were actually pretty darn good for being in a "small" town in the midst of a recession. I think it may have been the only time Robb and I have spent an Independence Day together. Normally he works at night, so it was nice to experience some fireworks together!

Riding the Ducks

2009-07-14T20:45:00.004-07:00

On the 4th of July I met a friend and her family in Seattle to "Ride the Ducks." This Seattle tourist attraction takes you on a tour of the city in amphibious vehicles, you know those military trucks that go from the road, to the water, to the road again. While I expected a seriously corny ride, the level of cheese that our particular tour guide entailed was astronomical. If he would have toned it down a little, my ride would have been a lot more enjoyable. At any rate, I did learn a few items I hadn't heard before, so it was a successful trip. Did you know the Space Needle used to be orange? Seattle was the first American city that used cops on bike patrol. And the Elephant car wash was the first automatic car wash in America. Elvis had his car washed here and President Kennedy's limo was washed here as well, requiring a special Presidential clearance.

If you look closely on the right hand side of the picture, you can see Mt. Rainier in the background. It's directly to the left of the skyscraper.

On the 4th of July the Seattle fireworks are lit from Lake Union. The big viewing area for the city fireworks are at Gas Works Park; we got a unique view from the water. You can see the hill on the left has a blow-up head of the Statue of Liberty and hundreds of people already staking out space for the show later that night.

Fremont Fest 2009

2009-07-05T15:13:00.005-07:00

My grandfather and his wife, Kim, were in town to visit in mid-June. Robb entertained them the first couple of days of their visit, while I went to work. Robb took the family to Pike Place Market and Olympia. And on Saturday, we took them to the Fremont Summer Solstice Fair. Last year Robb and I went to the Fair on a Sunday and had a fantastic time; but we were bummed because we missed the Saturday parade, preceded by the naked-painted bicyclist exhibition. So, this year, we were bound and determined to make it to the parade -- even with grandparents in tow. The bicyclist parade was everything I imagined and hoped it to be. Hundreds of people had painted their bodies and rode down the streets displaying themselves for the very excited crowds. The paint jobs were extremely creative. Only in Seattle!
After the bicycles made it on their merry way, the actual parade finally made it down the street. It was a really colorful parade, complete with music, hand-powered floats, drag queens, and not a written word or advertisement in sight.

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the festival to see the booths and sights. (Check out this car dirt art!) We bought some crafts, ate fair food, and got sunburned. I would highly recommend anyone planning on visiting Seattle to coincide their trip with the summer solstice, so as not to miss out on TRUE Seattle culture.

Lakeview Cemetery and Volunteer Park

2009-06-28T20:18:00.009-07:00

Robb and I spent a recent day off together checking out some interesting parts of Seattle in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Our first stop of the morning was the Lakeview Cemetery. The main draw at this cemetery was to see the graves of Bruce Lee and his son, Brandon. However, an added bonus for these history lovers turned out to be the many, many graves of Seattle city founders. We found the graves of many founders, whose street names and neighborhoods now decorate Seattle. We saw impressive family plots for Mercer, Denny, Phinney, Renton, etc. And we also saw the grave of Princess Angeline (the daughter of Chief Seattle.) It was a beautiful cemetery with obviously lovely views of Lake Washington.
After a solid 1.5-2 hours in the cemetery, our next stop was a stroll through Volunteer Park. This park boasts a really neat observatory/greenhouse. There were several rooms, featuring orchids, cacti, carnivorous plants, and orchids. The orchids were beyond beautiful. Robb came away from the greenhouse with a couple of fun carnivorous plants.
Going through the park, we next found ourselves next to this round sculpture, called the Black Sun. If you notice, right next to it you can see the Space Needle in the distance.
After the Black Sun, we made our way to the Water Tower. We climbed up 106 steps to see the views from the top. At the top of the Tower were also several historical placards about the parks system in Seattle.

After Volunteer Park we drove around looking for Bimbo's Bitchin' Burrito Kitchen. We had read about this place in an outdated guidebook several months ago and tried to find it, but a parking lot was in the place where the building should have been. But Robb researched it when we got home and we knew that it was just located only a couple of streets away. So we finally found it on this particular trip (although it's renamed Bimbo's Cantina, I will ALWAYS call it Bimbo's Bitchin' Burrito Kitchen) and we had amazing burritos!We left Seattle mid-afternoon and stopped on the way home at a movie theater to watch Pixar's Up in 3-D. It was a really amazing movie (and fun in 3-D); I really think Pixar movies are better for adults then children. The themes and lessons and stories are just amazing. A great ending to a great day.

New Job = New Challenges

2009-06-22T20:51:00.003-07:00

Well, no unemployment for me. No lapse in benefits. No stressful days looking at the checkbook. My last day in my current position will be July 15. My new position, still working for the state and in the same Division, will start on July 16. All of my insurance, vacation, sick days, seniority, same pay, etc. just transfer over. I will be much closer to home; instead of an 1+ hour commute to Lacey, I now will be commuting about 20 minutes to Tacoma. My job will me much different. Instead of a Management Analyst, I will be a Case Manager. It's not something I ever imagined myself doing, but it should be an interesting experience. I think I will learn a lot and grow a lot as a person. I'm not sure if I'll stick with it for a long time, but it's nice to know that I won't have to worry about unemployment right now. We'll see how I like it and go from there.

It just feels very nice to be so well-liked by the people I work with, that they did everything in their power to find me another position so I would stay with the Division. I think they want me for the long-term. So even though my current position was eliminated in this tough economic climate, they recognize that I'm talented in many ways and can take on new challenges. It's great to feel like an asset.

State Deficit = State Lay-offs

2009-06-14T19:56:00.002-07:00

Now I thought working for government was supposed to be a more secure type of employment. That's the deal: low pay, but at least it's really hard to lose your job. (Now, as someone who is a fan of new public management - thank you grad school - I don't support this plan. I think government employees should be held accountable and paid appropriately. But that's a conversation for another day.) Well, in this economy, all rules are off. I found out in the beginning of June that my position is being eliminated in mid-July. Our Division is having to deal with massive lay-offs (I'm talking 100s of people across the state), so I don't take it personally. In fact, I've got a lot of people working on finding me a different job in the Division; it seems like management adores me and doesn't want to lose me.

I'm feeling very positive about this. I'm ready for a new challenge and feel that everything happens for a reason. I should know more in the coming weeks about job options, but I'm not too worried. (Well, I suppose I'm a little worried. I haven't been sleeping great. I've been having crazy dreams about losing my job and looking for a new one.) In fact, after I was told of my impending joblessness, I came home and Robb and I had champagne to "celebrate." Of course, I didn't want to open and consume an entire bottle, so Robb found these cute little cans of sparkling white wine that open like soda (is a flip tab the word?), are pink, and had awesome straws. I love new beginnings.

Commemorate Lay-Off Day!

Seattle Bathhouse

2009-06-14T18:41:00.004-07:00

Wow, I'm behind. If my mother tells me that I need to blog more, that shows I need to keep more on top of this blogging commitment. Let's get started on catching up. So Robb has a list of 30 things to do before he turns 30 in October. (So do I, but my list has a few years to get to. Therefore, we haven't really focused on getting through my list yet.) On his list was to see a play in the Seattle Public Theater at the Bathhouse. After some research we decided to attend the play A Wedding Story on a Thursday night.

Robb had the day off so he took the bus to Seattle and spent the day having Seattle fun without me. After work I picked him up in downtown Seattle that evening and we headed to Greenlake. Apparently some people swim in Greenlake (although I don't know why. The warnings about and copious evidence of geese droppings were disgusting.) But Greenlake has a lot more going for it then swimmers with questionable tastes in hygiene. There are paths all around the lake for runners and walkers. There are crew teams practicing their rowing. And there are plenty of places to sit and reflect.

The Bathhouse was built in the 1920s next to the concrete steps into the water. It has since been converted into a very small public theater. (I'm guessing maybe a 100 people would fit in there.) The venue was small and uncrowded on a weekday evening. The play we saw was really good. The small cast were incredible and onstage for the entire 1.5 hours without a break. It's hard to describe the play's plot, but themes included descent into Alzheimers, losing a spouse to the disease, parents and children's relationships, lesbian love, Casablanca (the movie). A funny, beautiful and moving show.

After the play we headed to Burgermaster. When Robb first got to Seattle he had visited Burgermaster a couple of times, but I had never been. It's a local small chain that is a drive-in, eat in your car, type of joint. A recent Seattle Metropolitan magazine had included Burgermaster in their top places to get a burger this year. I had a really awesome double-cheeseburger.

It was a really fun date night. Robb and I don't go to the "theater" very much, but it was really fun to do something different, especially on a work night!

Port Townsend and the Rhody Run

2009-05-31T20:10:00.008-07:00

I completed my first 12K in mid-May. The Rhody Run (Rhody is slang here for 'rhododendron' a very popular flower in these parts) was in beautiful Port Townsend, WA. The reason I chose this race for my first 12K was because several people in my running club were planning on attending and promised a beautiful run. So I joined the group, wearing our club jerseys. At first I was a little disappointed in my time; it took me 1hr, 16 minutes. Even though I was a little slower than I had hoped, I was still happy because I didn't walk at all and the day was VERY hot for the Pacific Northwest. Then I found out my stats compared to the rest of the runners. I'm not so disappointed with my time now; I am beyond excited with my race results!

Overall: 535th out of 2137 (top 25%)
Women runners: 189th out of 1229 (top 15%)
Females age 25-29: 26th out of 88 (top 30%)

Robb and I had a long day, both before and after the race. The drive to Port Townsend isn't easy. Especially because a key bridge to get there is currently closed for repairs. So, the drive was extra long to go around parts of the Sound, rather than across it. While this made for a long (3 hour) drive, it also made for a beautiful drive through gorgeous countryside and along the water. We got to Fort Worden (race location) around 10:30, enough time to pick up my registration number and get ready for the 11:00 race start. Fort Worden is a historic fort a few miles from downtown Port Townsend. Fort Worden is where An Officer and a Gentleman was filmed. And while I ran it provided a great distraction for Robb to walk around and take in the scenery. The race started and ended in the Fort, with wide country roads in between. Most races have sanctioned water stations every few miles. The Rhody Run not only had official water stations, but also unofficial ones. Several families who lived along the running route created their own water stations. And about a mile and a half away from the finish, one family even had a champagne station! (I did not partake, it was still too far for me to go!) Additionally, tons of people had put their sprinklers on to spray directly into the street so the racers could run underneath them. (It was a particularly hot and sunny day for a long run.) I finished the race and got a great t-shirt to show off in future runs.
After the race I changed and Robb and I started towards downtown Port Townsend to do the tourist thing. First we stopped at Mt. Townsend Creamery. This Creamery creates some of our favorite cheese that is sold at Metropolitan Market. We got to look at the cheese room and try a few samples (and look super-cute while doing so).

We ate a late lunch at the Public House Grill and both ordered the same thing (something we NEVER do, but had to because this meal sounded so good), a phenomenal cheeseburger with a portabello cap, dipped in mushroom jus. Ohmigod was it good!

Then we walked around downtown and popped into shops and took in the scenery. The town was super cute, with definite Victorian undertones. The houses were beautiful and historic. The rhododendrons were in full bloom. The water was crystal clear. There was even a deer lying down in someone's backyard. This town was charming! I'm hoping in the future we can spend a couple of days exploring it more. Maybe next year we'll go do the race again and this time we'll camp there the entire weekend (instead of a 6 hours of our day going to the round-trip drive time.)

Taking Angela to Fremont and Ballard

2009-05-23T14:31:00.004-07:00

I met Angela while I was living in Florida. She moved to Portland a few months before we came to Washington and we've been able to visit each other a couple of times since we live only a few hours apart. Her husband has recently joined the Army and is now in basic training and Officer Candidate School. While she waits for him to get done with training, she's decided to move back to Florida to hang out with her family, before they get stationed. Luckily, she came to visit me and hang out one more time before she headed back to the Sunshine State.

Angela got to town around lunchtime and we headed straight to Burger Express here in Federal Way. Burger Express is a local burger joint that boasts probably the best burgers ever. Robb and I feel lucky to have this awesome local restaurant in our very own town. After Burger Express we hung out at the house a bit to chat and then headed to Seattle. We visited the REI flagship store and then walked around Fremont. It was a typical, chilly and rainy Seattle day. But, being the Northwesterners that we are, we just put on our rain jackets and walked around anyway. Plus, I got to wear my awesome new green rain jacket that I got from REI for my birthday in March. I love this jacket; it's suited perfectly to this area. It's breathable but has a warm lining and is waterproof. I feel like a Seattle girl when I wear it.

Have I mentioned the Fremont troll before? It's an art project under a giant bridge. The car the troll is holding is actually a real VW bug. Robb and I love taking visitors to the Fremont Troll, but this was the first time we've been able to get a picture of BOTH of us in front of it. After the troll we checked out the local independent shops and then we hung out in an Irish pub and had a few beers before making our way to Ballard.

At Ballard we finally got a chance to eat at the artisan pizza restaurant, Madame K's. Robb and I had been wanting to try the place for a long time. Apparently the building that Madame K's is in used to be a brothel, so the decor is all about luscious red walls and lingerie hanging from the lamps. We thought the pizza we tried was a little boring; it wasn't bad, just wasn't as flavorful as the menu description indicated it could be. But Robb and I have decided that we won't write Madame K's off altogether. We'll, visit one more time and try something new before we decide whether or not it's a keeper.

The whole day and evening was planned around attending a midnight show at The Tractor Tavern in Ballard. Robb and I had found out about and planned on attending a performance by Cash'd Out, a Johnny Cash tribute band for awhile. Once we figured out when Angela could visit (she said that she was also a Johnny Cash fan), we planned on attending the 8:00 show that night. But, somehow, we accidentally got tickets for the midnight show. I'm the type of girl that usually is in bed by 9:30 or 10:00 on weekdays and 11:00 on weekends (on a good day). So a midnight show was a little ambitious for me, but we thought it might be fun to act like adults in their 20s, without kids -- considering that is what we actually are.

The Tractor Tavern is a bar/music venue that I'd heard about as being a great venue and fun time. It was a pretty neat place with cowboy boots on the wall and plenty of space to watch a show and/or dance. The performance wasn't quite as good as I would've hoped, but it was their second show of the night and they were not actually the real Johnny and June Carter Cash. The most exciting part of the night for me was seeing two separate bar fights during the show. I don't generally spend a lot of time in bars, especially that late at night, so it was my first time witnessing such shenanigans. A little exciting and more scary then I thought!

The day was pretty good, despite getting home at 3:00 in the morning. The other great thing about this weekend is that I now definitely know how to get to Fremont without a map or directions. And I know how to get to Ballard from Fremont. And I know how to get home from Ballard and Fremont. And I know how to get to REI from the interstate and from Ballard and Fremont. Considering these are my two favorite Seattle neighborhoods and my favorite store, there is nothing else I need to know. Who needs a map? Not this local girl!

Our Green Thumbs

2009-05-08T21:31:00.010-07:00

When we moved into the house last August we knew it was too late at that point to get a garden going. But we immediately started imagining a vegetable garden for the next year. We were excited about producing our own food and saving money. Last September we bought a compost bin for worms. We finally got some worms this spring and they are eating much of our food waste. In March we started to do our research on what type of garden we wanted to do. Robb got me a gardening book and various starter plants for my birthday. We got approval from the landlord to tear out some sod in the background in order to make a raised bed. Then we got started.

Robb planted some pretty bushes under our front living room window and we've also got honeysuckle growing around the mailbox. But, by and large, our main gardening goal is edible produce! Our first project involved planting strawberries in a shaded corner in our backyard. Robb planted potatoes in a couple of large bins. Onions were planted against the house. We've also got garlic thriving in a little pot. We're also attempting to grow a blueberry plant in a large pot. Robb took a day to tear out several feet of sod. It looked like really hard work. I just watched and took pictures. The garden was lined with cinder blocks and then Robb filled the area with a TON of soil. A few days later I was able to till the soil a little bit. That's hard work (but not as hard as tearing out sod by hand.) Then we finally were able to plant our first plants. We bought little starter plants that included: broccoli, tomatoes, red leaf lettuce, and field greens. The plants have been in for a couple of weeks now, and they are thriving. They are getting larger and stronger. Robb recently put in cucumber seeds. Eventually we'll put in squash too. We also tried to start several different herbs from seeds. I was in charge of planting the herb seeds in a little greenhouse-type thing. Robb planted some veggies and marigolds in another greenhouse. I blame Robb for the seeds not sprouting. I think he drowned them and then dried them out. (Who knows, I've never done this before. I could have put too many seeds each little section. At any rate, no sprouting seeds for us.) So Robb bought herb plants and we put those on our front porch flower box. Maybe creating a huge veggie garden and expecting to grow some things from seeds was too ambitious for beginners. We'll try seeds again at some point, but for now I'm happy with the seedlings we buy from the store.
It also smells an awful lot like Starbucks around our yard lately. Used coffee grounds are considered a nutritious food for plants. If you go into Starbucks and ask they will give you huge bags of used coffee grounds for free. The plants seem to love the coffee, but the fresh grounds, especially after watered, definitely make for a strong-smelling brew! I love how the Northwest combines gardening and coffee. The other night Robb harvested some greens from our garden to include on fish tostadas. Those greens were incredible (after he washed off the coffee grounds of course.) I can't wait for the other vegetables to be ready to eat. This is a great project for us. We can do a lot of it together and it's so satisfying to grow food (something I've never done before!) As our garden progresses this summer, I'll be sure to post more pics and updates.

Radioactive Iodine

2009-04-23T21:15:00.004-07:00

So Robb's radioactive iodine treatment has been completed. Like everything else in this thyroid cancer saga, the actual process was much less scary and less intrusive than our Internet research had led us to believe.

Here's Robb's explanation of the radiation procedure:

"The procedure was not as complicated as I had understood it to be; I was in a secure room, to be sure, but the attendant was not wearing a hazmat suit, or even a lead blanket, for that matter. I was presented with a metal box, and when the box was opened, there was a silver canister inside. The canister was removed, and the lid was taken off of it. Inside this thick little canister (called a "lead pig") was a small plastic tube. The technician, using forceps, removed the top of the plastic tube and placed it aside. I was then instructed to take the tube out of the lead pig, drop both pills into my mouth, drink some water, and swallow them both at once. The scariest part was that when I entered the room, there was a Geiger counter sitting on a shelf nearby, and it clicked slowly and softly, reminding us that there was some radioactivity going on in the room. When I removed the plastic tube containing my magic mystery pills, the Geiger counter went berserk. Swallowing the crystal clear capsules didn't help; the radiation was obviously not hampered by my flesh, regardless of quantity."

He came home and had a great weekend. Even though we couldn't spend extended amounts of time together, we could still hang out with appropriate space between us. It was a beautiful weekend and we worked on our garden. (More on our garden in a future post!) I was worried about Robb contaminating our soil and vegetables, but the Dr. claimed it would be fine for him to garden. (So, who wants veggies this summer?) And on Saturday night Robb could eat regular food again and was VERY happy. He ordered pizza that evening and carefully planned out his menu for the next couple of days. On his low-iodine diet he lost close to 15 pounds (which was okay because he had gained a fair amount since his thyroid was removed). It should be interesting to see how much he puts back on now that real food is allowed again.

Hopefully the last step in this process (for this year anyway) will be the full body scan he has next week. This hour and a half slow scan of his body will show where the radiation went. That will indicate if the thyroid cells have spread anywhere and if the radiation went where it should. If the cells have spread, it may mean more surgery in the future, but the Dr. indicated that was rare.

So we're almost done with the thyroid cancer saga for this year; hopefully just a few more days...

Green and Purple

2009-04-12T16:13:00.005-07:00

The last weekend in March I celebrated my 26th birthday. We started our Saturday early and headed to Top Pot Doughnuts. This Seattle chain sends some of their doughnuts to the local Starbucks in the Puget Sound area, but we had been wanting to try the doughnuts in downtown Seattle. They were pretty good, but I don't know if they were more special then any other doughnut. But it was nice to finally try this local chain. After doughnuts and coffee we headed to the Green Festival. This giant expo was held at the Seattle Convention Center, which has beautiful views down to Pike Place Market and Puget Sound. There were hundreds of vendors, speakers, presentations, and nonprofits. We learned about gardening, organic cleaning, buying sustainably, living more simply, cloth diapers, bamboo utensils, paper made from elephant dung, etc. All of the food was vegetarian and organic. There were "Bag Monsters" walking around to demonstrate how many bags an average person uses in a year. There were food samples and coupons galore. It was an overwhelming and informative experience. Robb and I have really gotten into the "green" lifestyle, so this Green Fest was perfect for us. We learned some new things to incorporate into our life. Plus, for my birthday Robb got me gardening supplies and seeds. We have been planning to start a vegetable garden and I was able to make it to a couple of presentations on gardening and irrigating, which were very helpful!

After the Green Fest we walked to Cafe Ladro, Robb's favorite Seattle coffee house, to kill some time before our dinner reservation (and get a little caffeine power to make it through the rest of the day). Robb had made reservations at Purple for my birthday dinner. Purple is a wine-tasting bar and cafe. We decided to go the tapas (little appetizers) route and have appetizers with the suggested wine pairings. We had an amazing halibut ceviche, artichoke spread, beef carpaccio, and a trio of cheeses. We also finished the night with a flight of wines (sample of four Washington reds). It was really fun to try the different foods and wines and see how they complemented each other. The restaurant was a great experience. While the little square building was dwarfed by skyscrappers and seems very unassuming, it was decorated beautifully inside and we loved the urban feel. We don't get the chance to have dinner in Seattle very often, so it was a great time.

Thyroid Cancer Update

2009-04-04T19:46:00.004-07:00

We met with Robb's endocrinologist in late March for a long overdue explanation of his cancer diagnosis, treatments, and how this will affect the rest of his life. Robb has Stage One cancer, which is extremely treatable and his life expectancy is not affected by the cancer. His staging is so low and expectations so good because he is so young. His age trumps everything when it comes to looking at his cancer. So that's great.

Robb has multi-focal papillary carcinoma. He had one large tumor on one side of his thyroid. He had two smaller tumors on the other side of the thyroid. It could be that the first tumor spread. But it is more likely that Robb is prone to growing thyroid cancer and he had three separate cancers on his thyroid. The surgeon took out 7 lymph nodes and half of those showed that the cancer had spread to those nodes. That wasn't unexpected and doesn't change the treatment at this time.

After all this initial cancer-killing process is over, he will have to be tested for the rest of his life for recurrence. That will involve blood work and body scans. Recurrence of the cancer is most likely to happen within the first five years, but it can happen anytime. It is a very slow-growing cancer too, which means it may not be caught quickly and it's not really a huge risk if it starts growing back. He will also, obviously, be on thyroid medication for the rest of his life. It will take a few months to find the right balance of medicine. The past few weeks have been difficult for Robb. He has gained some weight, has experienced some depression, and has had to deal with brain fog (leaving keys in the door, forgetting what he's doing, etc.) These are classic sign of hypothyroidism (not having enough thyroid hormones.) The doctor described this as "cold, fat, and slow." So the doctor added some more medicine to his regimen, which will hopefully balance everything out soon.

Radiation will be much less disruptive then the Internet research had led us to believe. We thought an overnight hospital stay was in order, as well as at least a week of isolation. However, the biggest issue will be the low-iodine diet beforehand. The body needs to be starved of iodine so that when the radioactive iodine is administered it goes straight to any remaining thyroid cells in the body. That will kill those thyroid cells and also indicate if the thyroid cells (and cancer) has spread to any other parts of the body.

The radiation has been scheduled for April 17th. He will drink radioactive iodine and then go home. He will spend the 17th, 18th, and 19th at home, isolated. I will be able to see him an hour a day, at arm's length away from each other. There will be some minor activities that need to be done to prevent contamination. (For example, he'll have to wash his clothes and dishes separately. He'll have to flush the toilet twice. He needs to keep the cats away from him.) And after only three days, he'll be able to go back to work. He doesn't even have to go off his thyroid medications before the radiation, which is a fairly new procedure. So, all in all, a process that won't completely suck.

What does suck is the low-iodine diet that he started April 1st. He has to be on this diet through his radiation. Among the banned foods are anything from the sea, anything colored with Red #3 (red, orange, brown food), potato skins, processed or manufactured foods, anything from restaurants, salt, sea salt, foods prepared where an iodine-based sanitizer was used to clean equipment, all dairy, chocolate, baked goods, etc. He can have 5oz. of meat a day. If you start thinking about it, just about everything has salt in it. He's eating a lot of fruit and veggies. He's hoping that during the next two weeks he'll at least lose the weight he gained since the surgery. Robb's already trying to decide what he's going to eat after his diet restrictions are lifted.

We're looking forward to this whole thing being over soon. Robb's first doctor appointment was in November for breathing issues. The surgeries, radiation, medicine changes, diet, etc. have been exhausting. I'm hoping that things will start getting back to normal in May...