My city

Millesinge. I'm not sure what will happen with this but each time someone visits my population goes up! So go visit and let's see what happens! check it out!

It's official now

The results are in, I did better than I thought. 16 seconds better. ; ) 31:44. I can do better and I will do better. Just watch me!

Here's a picture of the mighty racing girls in the car on that blustery morning. (stolen from jenny)

it's not official

Friday night I went to the Century Ballroom to see Wayne Hancock and do some dancing. Turned out to be a fabulous night for me as I was the only girl in my group of dancing friends! I two-stepped, jived and east coast swung until about 12:30. Oh I also spoke a little French. Got home about 1, woke up at 7 and made it down to Jenny's in federal Way by 8:30am Sat. morning.

It was a cold morning but at least the sun was shining! We drove down to Kent, pinned on our numbers and rushed back to the car to preserve a little heat. I could not fathom taking off my winter jacket and going back into that cold to wait at the starting line. Yes, Sat. was the day of my first 5k.

I'm not sure how I feel about races. There were so many people on that one little trail. I couldn't keep up with Jenny. That girl has a need for speed and she found it! So I was alone and assumed that eventually things would even out and someone would automatically become my running partner. Not so much.

We ran along the Green River and the blackberry bushes along the banks had a straight line of mud from where the river was several feet higher just a few days ago. Huge earth worms littered the path. Most had already been stepped on but one was stretched out to almost a foot long. I had to turn around and save it. I couldn't bear the thought of someone's heartless foot coming down on it.

It was shortly after the worm save that I decided to walk. The trail seemed to go on forever and without knowing where the end was I couldn't keep my legs moving. I had no watch so I couldn't tell you how long I walked for but I don't think it was too long at all.

When the end was in sight, I felt my strides get longer and I passed by a few folks. I saw Jenny rounding the corner to get a spot where she could cheer me on. (Thanks Jen!)

My legs are sore today. I don't remember the last time my legs were sore for running. Even when Phil and I went four miles over Thanksgiving they didn't feel like this. It's a good sore though and it means I ran had and I feel less bad about walking. It also shows what great shape that Jenny is in! Holy crap, girl!

It's not official but I think I came in at about 32 minutes.

Nature is so amazing!

Disclaimer: I do not want people to get hurt or for their property to be damaged, but nature is AMAZING!

Seattle was just hit with over 5" of rain over the past couple of days. We are used to rain, yes, but not quite like this. Our soils have not developed over thousands of years to regularly absorb this kind of water. Flooding is natural, however. That is why we have such fertile areas like the Auburn Valley and fields of tulips up north. When the river spilled over its banks, historically, it would displace nutrient rich silt we still enjoy today.

Over the past two hundred years (give or take) we have cut forests, paved land, drained wetlands and straightened streams. No one can argue that these practices have altered the natural flood regime. We try so hard to control nature that when an event like this occurs, I cannot help but cheer nature on! "Lay your silt! Gouge those river banks! Find your own way!"

I am sorry for those who are facing injuries and damages to their property.

sunchokes!

They look like ginger, cook like a potato and taste like a yummy! This new veggie came in my CSA box this week. I put it in a barley soup with potatoes, carrots, broccoli and my favorite secret bullion. They are so tasty!! Some say they taste like artichokes..I don't know about that, but I like 'em!

I really hope someone out there is readin this..

I just came across a hilarious link!! It asks what a powerpoint presentation would have looked like if Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address today! It's awesome. : )

this is a lie

Get a Cash Advance

Want to see my underpants?

I had mentioned I ripped apart one of my favorite pairs of underpants. Well, today I made the pattern and sewed up a pair! I used an old staff shirt from when I was a naturalist for the Girl Scouts. I thought the pink thread would be cute but now I"m wishing I had used something that matched better. Oh well. The best part is I"m wearing them right now! ; )

confidence booster

40 year old men love me. And it's more fun when they're hot!

Now if only they were closer to 30 year old men....sigh.

100th post, 100th monkey has 100 things to say

I had such a fun time last night at book club chez Jenny! I got to meet new girls and chat with two friends I don't see nearly enough! Unfortunately, I bought my book for book club new and so I need to decide what to do with it now. I was joking when I suggested this, but now I think I might do it! You know how you get dollar bills that people try to track across the country? Well this is a way to track your book. You just leave it somewhere and hope someone logs in its location. It's a way to share your books so others don't consume more AND a fun experiment! Now where should I leave mine? In Ballard or on the airplane?

I didn't exercise for an entire week. I will go today, after I digest these three donuts.

I turned on the heat in my bedroom for ten minutes last night. It felt luxurious. It's 59 degrees in my living room and I need to go study, I'm tempted to turn it on out there for a little while to take the chill off. I don't know why I feel so guilty using heat.

I got my zen stone plus. It's bigger than a Shuffle, I learned that last night but I heart it still!

Oh AND Jenny gave me four knitted squares, my sister left one before she left a few weeks ago and my mother's coworker gave me 8 crocheted squares. YAY! Getting closer to being able to put this together!

I have learned that early elementary is not the place for me. I do not deal well with boogers and wet pants. OMG, please don't touch me with those hands! It was awful.

I just ripped the seams out of a favorite pair of underpants that were nearing the trash. I'm going to copy the pattern and try to make a new pair. And I JUST put away my sewing machine. Sigh.

Five out of six

I ran allllll the way around GL (plus my .2 to make it an even 3 miles) without even my water break. Then I did some more.

All in all I ran about five miles out of six (including warm up and cool down). It took freakin' forever. This is the first time my legs have told me to stop before my heart and lungs did. woot!

Spike!!!!

An orchid inflorescence is called a spike. I bought this orchid 3.5 years ago after my grandpa died and this is the first time it's starting to spike! This is NOT a good picture, my camera isn't good with the upclose-iness, but you can see it's there!



Here is a picture of what the original spike looked like.

Shiver me timbers!

It is Nov. 1st! I can now give myself permission to turn the heat on. I am going to continue trying my damnedest not to, though. I refuse to turn on the heat unless it drops below 60 and then I only heat up to 65. Lots of layers!

Check out Crunchy Chicken's blog! She has challenged people to lower their heat this season and over 80 people have accepted the challenge! One person has pledged not to turn on the heat at all....damn I hope that person lives in Florida!

Squares

I just found 6 mystery squares in my apartment! I think they came via my roommate who still works at my old job and I have a coworker there whipping them up like crazy! She's donated 14 crocheted squares!

My current count is:
Crocheted: 28
Knitted: 30

I can probably make one twin sized afghan if I combined them. Otherwise I'm about halfway on both. Admittedly, I've been slacking on making them too. I need to pick up my hook and needles!

want vs. need

We live in such a disposable society that we often forget what's really important for our survival: food, water, shelter and clean air. So we eat Twinkies, drink bottled water, build McMansions and drive cars that pollute our air.

I really want an Ipod Shuffle. I know I don't need one, but hot damn they're cute and I get so bored running! I also don't have the 70 some dollars to spend on one. So give me the strength to resist...or wait until someone gets me one for Christmas.

dammit, and now I want a Twinkie.

harder better faster stronger

So I went to Greenlake this afternoon after much procrastination. I clocked with my car the extra .2 miles I would need to make the tour de Greenlake 3 full miles. I did 3 miles in 31 minutes including my stop for a drink of water and perpendicular walk to let the water settle.

But then you know what happened? I kept running. I did 4.2 miles and RAN 4 of those miles! RAN! That doesn't include warm up and cool down either! HOLY CRAP! All in all 4.6 miles in about 50 minutes.

I almost cried when I crossed the 3 mile mark and again when I hit the four mile mark. In fact, when I hit the four mile marker (GL has quarter mile markers I just noticed today) I jumped on it, startling the woman behind me. HAHA!

That's right Jenny, I'm coming for you! ; )

time for a new plan

I started a new weight plan today and decided to up my cardio too. I know when I run I have a hard time surpassing my goals so today I decided to go past the usual 30-some minutes to make sure I got 3 miles in plus some cool down. Yes, today I went 45 minutes and over 4 miles. I'm hoping this will help me actually run the three miles without always having to walk. I'm pretty sure it's all in my head and that I CAN run 3 miles but I just get so bored....

Anyway, I'm lying on my floor exhausted and I don't know if between the extended run and the new weights if I"m going to be able to do my Sat. run but I"ll try.

I'm not sure how it got there...and it's doing better than the sprout I planted in a pot. It even has flowers. If only I had as much persistence as this plant does.....

I did it!

I just ran around Greenlake! I stopped once to talk to some friends for literally a minute and then got to the other side of the lake and got a drink of water and walked the opposite way for like two minutes so I didn't jiggle and slosh around.

They say Greenlake is 2.9 miles and I did my best to run in the middle of the path because I'm not sure where they take that measurement. I also ran past my starting point and then back to my car so I could feel good about saying that I ran 3 miles. OUTSIDE even! With hills and weather (was that sun blinding today or what?!) 3 miles and 35 minutes not including warm up and cool down. And I think I could've gone longer! I'm good at achieving my goals, but not at surpassing them.

I'm so excited!

*edit* It's 2.8 miles around Greenlake. I also thought that when they said the outer path was 3.2 miles that they meant the outside of the regular path but I just did the math to figure out that no, the 13.5' path is not wide enough to make that much of a difference. That's right, I sat here and literally did the math, I can even show my work! Still, since I ran past my starting point and then back to my car I think I was pretty close to that 3 mile mark and next time I'll go even farther.

Get a grip!

Another awesome friend came with me to buy tires today! He walked in, spouted off some numbers and now I have shiny new tires that smell like grape. I got 80,000 miles off my factory tires and hopefully I'll get that much off of these new tires especially since now I know how often to rotate them! (far more often than once in 5.5 years!)