What a crazy weekend!

Although the sun was shining beautifully, Matty and I had a tough weekend. There were so many people to see and things to do that we got a little worn out.

Renae and Joe were over this weekend with Ryan and Tiffany. They had their own agenda of going out to lots of places and eating some of J & R's favorite foods. I did get to tag along with them to one of the restaurants, Pam's Kitchen, in the University District. I thought the food was amazing, but it was a tad spicy.

Matt's good friend Matthew was in town from N.C. for his sister's wedding. We went to the rehearsal dinner on Friday night as well as the wedding on Saturday. Shelley's wedding was very sweet and beautiful. We had a little trouble finding the reception, as my direction reading skills were not at their best. One wrong turn from W. Seattle and you end up on 99 North and can't get off until downtown Seattle! And then you run into a mob of super excited Sounder's fans and you are in an instant traffic jam! The reception was fun. It was great to see so much of Heather and Phil this weekend and of course Matthew who we hardly ever see.

On Saturday night our fish died! We think that maybe Leo had something to do with his untimely death, as the top of the fishtank with the light was submerged in the water when I got home that night. The light was burned out and we found the fish upside down at the back of the tank. Lovely! I got it all on video. (Okay, not the actual death of the fish, but Matt discovery of the fish) Maybe I will post it sometime.

Sunday was crazy. Matt left his lights on in his car and the battery burned out. So we missed the meeting and walked over to Bob & Annie's where my car was.

We did a lot of fun things on Sunday. I don't have any pictures since I inconveniently left the SD card out of my camera. We rode beach cruisers on Alki. We went all the way to the end of Alki and to the side that faces Puget Sound and Vashon Island. Beautiful! Then we enjoyed iced lattes and slices of pizza and sat in the sun. We met up with the crew from Spokane and went the the Lockes in Ballard. That was really fun! Matt & I got fish & chips afterward. In the evening we had dinner and Heather and Phil's house where we enjoyed BBQ brisket. Phil did an awesome job preparing it.

Okay I realize this is an awfully long entry that probably no one will ever read. They will only skip to the end. The point is, the weekend was awesome, yet exhausting and I am so glad to be back in real life. I have been healthy today with my eating and did elliptical trainer for an hour tonight. Back to real life!

Thanks for reading it all if you did!

I love a lazy Saturday

It has been weeks and weeks since I've been home on a Saturday morning and not had to work! I have been doing a lot of traveling.

I LOVE waking up on Saturday to freshly brewed coffee and my dear husband in the living room, already awake for hours. Today I woke up at 7:30 because Leo and Flash were GOING AT IT! Literally there is hair EVERYWHERE! When they fight they tend to pull each other's fur out and it gets everywhere. I think its all in fun...but sometimes I wonder.

Matt is so nice. He is doing laundry at the moment and he just cleaned the kitchen.
I am drinking coffee and eating cereal for breakfast. My favorite Saturday meal!

I scrapbooked a little yesterday and made an HUGE mess on my scrapbook table. I think I got everything out. Today I made one more page, but before I did I took a photo of my mess. I love messy scrapbook table pictures, they are so inspiring!! Whenever I see one I want to go scrapbook!
Matty and I are listening to Fitz in the morning VERY LOUDLY! He also vacuumed so it has been a very loud morning. Perfect for waking me up!

The sun is shining! It is supposed to be seventy degrees today!

We are going to Shelly & Rich's wedding today at 2:00. I need to get off the computer and get ready soon because I am heading to the scrapbook store this morning with Renae, and I want to be all ready beforehand. Our favorite store is closing down up north and so everything is 30% off! And punches are 50% off! Of course I don't need anything, let alone more punches. But it will be fun to shop anyway!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Race Day!

Despite a throbbing knee and a less than trained body...I finished the race! I ran with Anne-Marie and Christina and had a blast. Bloomsday is always a really fun race.

I have a few thoughts..
.-My diet has to start tomorrow! I was TERRIBLE this weekend and several weekends prior. Its time to start anew.-My knee is not so great at the moment. This will be a week of cross-training for sure.-I have been reading the book "Born to Run" which is amazing! I am so inspired by these ultramarathon runners. I am not inspired to run 100 miles. But I am inspired to do more fun running and less stressful running. My goal is to do some trail running this summer.
-I have been traveling so much this past month (Ephrata twice, Spokane once, and Spokane twice at the end of March) that my house has really fallen apart. Its so messy!
-I watch too many silly TV shows.
-Here are a couple pictures of the weekend...Joe & Renae's amazing feast on Saturday night
Race Day photos!

Bloomsday weekend is coming up!

I am so excited for the coming weekend and my favorite race of the year. I will be racing as a one legged gal, but oh well. Its all in the fun! There is something about the crazy crowds that just so appealing about Bloomsday. I also love the little fair the day before when we get our race packets and pa-rouse the trade show booths. This year I hope that they have the awesome scales where you can check your body fat. Maybe I will register in the "athletic" range. One can only hope! They didn't have that booth last year because of the economic downturn, but I hope its back!

Here are some photos of some previous Bloomsdays...

Bethany and I in 2008.

Matty and I after our race in 2009, wearing our new t-shirts!
This will be the fourth year running it! I looked for a photo from 2007 but it is nowhere to be found.

Beezley Burn

Matt & I had a lot of fun with Josh & Ellen this weekend in Ephrata. Matt & Josh competed in the Beezley Burn, which is a difficult mountain bike race that they do every year. I thought I would just quickly share a few pictures from the weekend...

It was a beautiful weekend and I'm really glad we went. I just have one more photo, which shows my raccoon eyes!

I am running!

Yes, I forced my dear husband to take a picture of me. How many pictures do I have of me on a run? None! Well this picture was taken this morning in Ephrata before I went on a little three mile jog. It was a gorgeous day. I love this day.
It is sunny and warm and the scenery here in this town is just beautiful. I love the way the canal reflects the bright blue of the sky. I love the way it is so quiet when I run. MOSTLY I love the way I wasn't in pain this morning on my jog. Three miles! Seems so short, but its the longest run since my injury. I am so happy today.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. :)

How my scrapbooking has changed

I got an idea from the "Ideas for Scrapbookers" blog. I took some photos of my REALLY old pages and it just shows a little how my style (and stash!) has changed.The first pages I made when I first started a scrapbook in 8th grade. An aunt gave me scrapbook products as a gift, and I also had my mom's punches and decorative scissors to work with. I made the whole scrapbook in less than a day, which was just the beginning of my "fast" scrapbooking.
Notice how there isn't any title and no captions, just lots of photos. The first page is the very beginning of my scrapbook and it doesn't even have my name on it! Oh well, I was 13 years old.

The next page is from 2006. I started scrapbooking a little right after we got married. All I had to work with were my engagement photos, and I didn't have very much time either. I only made a few pages. This page is really my first real scrapbook page ever! I used some stickers from the dollar store and Walmart. I really did love that mulberrry paper and loved the "tearing" look.The next two pages I made in 2007. I graduated from college and started to scrapbook EVERYTHING. I mostly just cut up my photos and added stickers from Jolee's that I got at Joann's. On the second page I really tried to be creative! I just loved that silver pen, used it for everything.

In 2008 I really started to try new techniques such as inking and stamping. I also discovered thickers! I started cutting up my papers more instead of using 12x12 pattern paper all in one piece. I did lots of stitching on my 2008 pages.
In 2009 I got a little lazy. I just had so many supplies, including a slice and cuttlebug. I had so much paper and embellishments as well! I had tons of fun scrapbooking, but got slightly lazy about using new techniques. Sad. :( This next page is one of my favorites from 2009. I discovered October Afternoon papers last year! I used them on this page for the first time! This year I have been doing less cutting of pictures and placing them very close together, usually in a grid-like pattern. I take so many photos and just cant stand to not use them all. In order to fit more photos on a page, I tend to squish them in pretty tightly! I think my style has gotten a lot of more simple in the last year, but I would still like to take more time to do more details.

Here is the website where I got this idea: ideasforscrapbookers.blogspot.com