Run, Fat Girl, Run!

I know it's not that big of a feat, but tonight I went out for a 2 mile walk tonight (with 300 feet of climbing) and I RAN HALF OF IT!!! I'm pretty proud of myself, even if it was a fat girl's kind of running (shuffling of feet). I haven't ran a mile since high school. Now I've ridden my bicycle 100 miles since then, but haven't pounded pavement since I had to do so to graduate from SWHS.
I have to admit, it was easy to run home as I watched the sky turn fuchsia over the purple mountains (majesty). Ah Bellingham, how I love thee.

How to run like a girl: cell phone, pedometer, ipod (complete with BEP's, Brian Wilson, and Adele), and a stick to poke any bad guys. I really did run with that stick in my hand the whole time, with a plan of attack in the back of my mind... if I ever turn up in a ditch, look for the DNA evidence I gathered ;) On our way home from dinner with our folks (all of 'em) I saw this cloud that looks like a feather. I also had 3 glasses of wine courtesy of my father-in-law, so I may be wrong on this.

***I'm starting to believe that each of my posts must have the obligatory blurry photo. I think I've dropped my camera one to many times.

It's All About the Chrome

...According to the cool Harley-Davidson t-shirt I won tonight at the Betties Bout.

After a sunny afternoon lakeside with some friends, I headed to the bout with my sfam (can you guess what that means?) Tracy and others and watched a great bout despite the betties getting their vampy asses handed to them. The Jet City Rollergirls were just plain meaner and faster. We're just not that way in Bham. But Everett? Those girls...those girls are, well, they're Snohomish county girls, they have a certain reputation. I mean one of their secondary teams is called the Camaro Harem. It fits Everett perfectly.

I know, Erin, I know! But how can I not comment on how stinking cute he is??!!

A little family of ducks that our children scared out of hiding.

Blurry, but brutal. There is a lot of "rumping" in derby.
I decided these two girls played "lets reach into our closet and wear whatever we pull out." That is the only reason I could rationalize their wardrobe choices: Girl #1 wore a tweed vest over bikini top with olive green skirt (with "girl boxer" underwear underneath) finished off with striped woolen socks and sandals. Girl #2 had a purple striped spandex tank with corseted lace rose skirt with tie-dye tights and green plastic peek-a-boo high heels.

Then we couldn't help but notice the awkward flirting that was happening between these two... which then made Tracy and I act like 13 year old girls. Lots of elbowing, pointing, and giggling.

Josh and I had similar reactions to this hairstyle, along the lines of What the Hell? His buddy had an interesting mustache for a fella in his 20's, but the hair? Ponderous man, really ponderous.

I keep it Stanky

After Kate and I walked from Memorial park to Whatcom Falls and back...

After Kate and I walked today (and I walked some more) when all was said and done, my pedometer said 8.23. Not bad. But as I stated, I'm stanky and my feet hurt. I get really hot feet (yet another reason I'd like to live barefoot) and the balls of my feet are on fire! Anyone know some remedies?

I rewarded myself by reading a magazine and having a glass of iced tea (passion) on the deck. Nice.

Ski to Sea team names

The results are in, that means finding out how well our friends did in each leg (nice work on the bike, Brooke!). And searching for the results also means laughing at all the creative team names.
Back before Costco sponsored their own team, their team name was "Our Members Come First" a little tongue in cheek about our customers as well as being an all-male team. But on to my favorites:

*Franks and a Bean (7 men, one woman)
*Well Hung Jury
*Kicked in the Nooksack (the name of a river around here and other things)
*Menaces to Sobriety
*REI Speedwagon
*Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot (WTF to the lay person)
*Wine before Ski except after Sea
*Sofa King Fast (the 12 year old boy in me likes this one)
*Lactic Acid Trip
*Unsafe At Any Speed
*Urine Trouble
*Octomom's Kids
*Undertrained and Overconfident
*The Costco Dogs (Costco's "other" team, an homage to the $1.50 deal)
AND
*Venus Envy (an all women team)

Happy Memorial day!

Just before bed last night I was walking through my dark house and this wave of gratitude washed over me. I am so thankful for where we live.

When I was 13 I took a trip to Washington D.C. and New York City with my girl scout troop (#1443 in case you were wondering). I was at that age where I was rebellious and discovering all the classic music from my parents generation like the Beatles, Country Joe and the Fish, and the Mamas and the Papas. When we arrived in D.C. I realized (in a 13 year old way) what all that music was about. I visited the Wall, I saw the gravestones that reached past the horizon at Arlington National Cemetery, I watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. I watched my girl scout leader who was an Army nurse find and touch names of her fallen friends, and I watched her weep for them. That trip made me understand what being an American meant.

So today as I enjoyed a beautiful day with family and friends, I wasn't taking advantage of a "day off"; I was celebrating the fact that I get to BBQ, laugh and be free to love who I want, free to have a drink on my deck, free to walk down the street, free.

Week of celebrations

Mt. Baker at 9:15pm from Kate's driveway.

Mmmmm...S'mores.

On the run.

My daughter is so lazy. How lazy is she? She is so lazy, she has people slip and slide for her! Ba-dump-bump!

Natalie after her graduation ceremony at Elizabeth park.

Up close and personal with Katie. Just how she likes it.

Friday we walked down to pick up Brady from school and were delayed due to a marching band crossing. While we were watching the band, someone tried to pull into their house. We were joking that she thought that she'd won the publishers clearing house sweepstakes! How often do you get a marching band in your front yard?

Besides my friend Kate and her hubby celebrating 8 years of wedded bliss on Tuesday, Natalie also "graduated" on Thursday and now she is an official preschooler. Thursday evening was also graduation from swim lessons, and both kids get to move on to the next level!

Thursday was also an odd day for coincidences: a gal who is doing some contract work for us at our office and I went down south to attend a Medicare billing seminar (woo-hoo!) and we got to talking about this and that and it turns out she and I basically share backyards! I can see her house from my back deck (we both live at the end of our cul-de-sacs)! Weird! Then, as we pulled up to the medical center (which is quite large) I said "I think my Aunt Jane works in this building" not knowing if that was true or not, let alone what doctor or floor. Well, the directions to the seminar were wrong, and we ended up on the 3rd floor where we decided to find someone to ask. Who do we find to ask? My Aunt, of course! It's like we walked right to her! That was a nice little treat.

Then today we went downtown to watch the Grand Ski to Sea parade. We met up with Erin and her boys, and found Brooke and EB in the crowd and they joined us as well which was a nice surprise (EB is at that age where they are everywhere and nowhere all at once making mommy work double time!) I loved all 2 hours of it, minus the CHAIN SMOKERS (who happen to be parents of a classmate of Brady's. God I love public school). Besides it being disgusting to be trapped in a crowd with 2 chain smokers, we also were with Ashenafi who we all know has TB (don't ask me to spell it). Tuberculosis?

Once again, I forgot to bring sunscreen with me to the parade (sunscreen doesn't come on to my radar until June). So now I have a pink patch on my chest and a nice stark contrast of pink/white on my arms.

THEN we headed straight to the Rankin ranch to celebrate their new home with some of their friends and family. The kids had a wonderful time, except the boys seemed to be always short one gun or one light saber. The food was delish and it was nice to visit with Kates' dad (I may adopt him) et al.

The kids were still awake when we got home, so we all jumped in the bathtub to scrub our feet of earth and wash the marshmallow (and more earth) from their faces. All are clean and cozy in bed.

Don't put the cart before the horse? A one-horsepower engine? Actually both are wrong since it's a mule.

Seriously??!! Check out her toenails!

The full profile. Very cute. Don't ask me what they were in the parade for.

Hey, did anyone drop a baby in the road? Anyone?

Guess what genius photographer didn't realize the shutter was half open?

I think the half-open shutter gives my photos an artistic edge. Yeah, that's it; artistic.

Hey, here's that marching band that has the habit of wandering our neighborhood!

500!

This is my 500th post! And I couldn't have anything cooler to post about than this:

I won a Dryers Ice Cream Neighborhood Salute party! I get to throw a party for 100 of my neighbors and friends on Dryers! I won a gift (thank you Pioneer Woman!) that I get to give as a gift, how cool is that?!

I don't know any more of the details (like when), but you know I'll be posting about it when it happens! And you're all invited!