Teach a Boy to Fish...

It's Wordless Wednesday!

Countdown

Do you see that ticker over on the right? Only 16 days until the big race!! I'm getting SO excited about it. A while back I was a little apprehensive, feeling like it really was going to be hard and while I knew I'd finish, I feared that I'd suffer through it and the days after. I haven't been doing nearly as much walking as I should, or as I'd like, so I feared that the 13.1 miles really was going to be a challenge.

Last weekend my walking pal, Heather, and I set out to do our "long" walk. We'd been to a local running store for a clinic they put on about walking athletically. The talk was given by a gal that is a former national level race walker. She had some good tips and information about walking, stride, technique, etc. And on her advice, we needed to do our "long" walk soon. So we decided on Sunday. I picked Heather up and we headed to the local interurban trail, which goes 6 miles south down to a state park, winding thru the forest and past fancy houses that overlook the bay. There was a part of the trail that was actually more like hiking than walking: a steep narrow path peppered with rocks and tree roots, with hairpin turns and some serious elevation gain.

Long story short, we did it. We walked all 12 miles and though we were a bit physically tired (and hungry!!) at the end, we felt a real sense of accomplishment and felt confident that we could have easily gone on for another mile. We both agreed that the adreneline is going to help carry us along on Race Day, not to mention the other 24,998 people that will be with us.

The fear is gone and now I'm just super excited about the race, knowing that I can do it.

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"People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success." --Norman Vincent Peale

Flashback Friday

One year ago (tomorrow, to be exact) we watched as they broke ground for our house. It was the start of quite an adventure...

Sunny Days

The other night I was coming home around 7:45pm and was treated to this view. As soon as I walked in the door, I grabbed my camera. All around me was dusk, but the mountain was basking in the last rays of the day. It was stunning.

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I got a wild hair the other day and suddenly turned into the love child of Bob Villa and Ciscoe Morris and this is what I ended up with.

It all started a while ago when PW posted step-by-step instructions on how to build these garden boxes and since time was marching on and we were making no progres towards getting our shared garden in the ground, I took matters (and drill) in hand and did my own thing. Hubby helped me with the first one but then I decided one wasn't nearly enough space and built a second one the next day. We dumped in a bunch of topsoil and I got things planted and we are on our way. Next year when we get our big garden going, I can use these boxes for strawberries or my dahlia garden.

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The weather has turned unusually warm for this time of year and I am LOVING it. My housekeeping has gone the way of the dinosaurs because I'm too busy lolling around in the sunshine to care about the state of my floors or the availability of clean underwear. My mind turns to mush when the sun comes out and I am only capable of draping myself lazily on my lounge chair, intoxicated by the scent of suntan lotion. Seriously, it's one of those rare occurences where I am voluntarily still. I just hope we're not getting our summer weather now and will be freezing when it actually is summer. All the more reason to soak it up now, I say!

Good Times

Our Memorial Day Housewarming Party was a smashing success. It was a fantastic day and so much fun. My pulled pork turned out well and everyone brought something to share. My island was covered with food, as you can see, so no one went hungry.


I was a bit concerned that everyone would have a good time because we had a mix of people here: old friends, local friends and work friends. But, as I should have known, everyone got along fabulously, introducing themselves when I wasn't available to do so and mingling effortlessly. The kids raced around outside, inventing various games (usually Star Wars themed) and generally having a great time. It made my heart happy to see them all out there, laughing and playing. And wearing themselves out.

We started up a bonfire in the evening and, like moths to a flame, we all gravitated to it. When the sun started to go down, things cooled off and the warmth of the fire felt good. Even the smallest party attendee seemed to enjoy it.

My sweet chub of a nephew, Kieran.

It was a really nice day, one that Josh and I had been dreaming of when we were building this place. We imagined all our friends over, everyone talking and eating and laughing, kids racing around in the grass, and everyone gathering around a bonfire toasting marshmallows.

Turns out dreams do come true.

Party!

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Today we're having a BBQ and get-together with friends who have yet to see The Big Red House. Should be a good time. We've got a keg of beer coming, 12 lbs of pork butt smoking on the grill, a ton of other food and beverages, and some of our favorite people coming. I get to love on my ever-growing nephew, Kieran, who is now 6 months old (my favorite age) and the sun is shining brightly. Woo-hoo!

It's gonna be an awesome day.

Hope you're enjoying your's too!

Lost & Found

I seem to have lost my blogging mojo. Anyone seen it?

Seriously, I still think like a blogger...."Man, I totally should be taking pictures of this to blog!" or "This would make great blog fodder!". But somehow when I sit down at the computer, the words just aren't flying out of my fingers the way they used to.

I'll be honest, life has just conspired against me and has been demanding my attention elsewheres. I've been making a conscious effort to be more involved with Sam in an effort to improve his attitude towards school, which has totally worked to such an extent that his teacher emailed me asking if I'd noticed that he was way more positive about school. He's even told me several times "I love school, Mom!". And with the weather getting nicer, we're not stuck indoors all the live long day which then translates to less time on the computer.

Anyway, today I was cleaning out my email inbox and ended up going back to read some previous posts and it's kind of inspired me to write again. I was feeling a little frustrated because it felt like no one was reading what I was writing, and as we all know, as bloggers we LIVE for comments, which are the only way we know anyone is reading. It's nice to have that validation that Hey! I'm not talking to myself again! A tip for those of you who don't have blogs of your own: you can comment anonymously by clicking on "Anonymous" below the comment box. Then just sign your comment with your name and I'll know who you are!

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In an effort to get you up to speed on my life, here are some bulleted highlights of what I've been up to:

• Hubby & I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary yesterday. We went for drinks and appys down at the marina, then to dinner at a little mexican joint, which had tasty sangria which may or may not have contributed to the tiny headache I had when I woke up.


• I have been trying to do as much walking as possible in preparation for the half marathon I signed up to do the end of June with my friend Heather. Our longest walk so far has been 7.5 miles, which we've done twice. Time to up the distance. Unfortunately the weather and life have been thwarting our walking efforts but we're determined to get more miles in.


• Sam is still in swimming lessons and doing good. We had signed Zoë up for another session but the new class had a very cute boy teacher, and she wouldn't even get in the water. So I got my money back and we'll hope for a girl teacher next time.


• I went swimsuit shopping and was successful. Seriously, I got the cutest suit and it is so flattering. I might actually wear it in public.


• Only 16 more school days left!! I can't tell you how excited I am about that. I love summer.


• We're working to turn our yard into an actual yard with grass and flowerbeds instead of the mudpit it currently is. We had a load of topsoil brought in and spread and then it rained, which led to this:

In addition to the half marathon the end of June, I've also signed up to do a 7 mile race in July. Unfortunately, my walking partner found out she had a prior commitment after I'd already signed up so I guess I'll be walking alone. But whatever. (Totally kidding! Love you Heather!) Anyone want to walk with me?? Oh! And there's a 15k in September we I want to do. Hopefully not alone. (wink, wink..)

I have been picking up extra shifts at work while I wait to find a position with more hours. While I am still stressed about money, so far we're doing okay. I have faith it'll all work out.

Life is just really good. I am so incredibly blessed and I appreciate that fact every single day. I have my health as does my family, a gorgeous home that I love more every day, the sweetest husband who I am so proud of, two awesome kids, the best friends, a good paying job, and so much on the horizon to be excited about.