March musings

The rains have finally arrived in Northern California. I know we need the water, but man, I don’t know how I ever lived in the Pacific Northwest! I truly hate the dark skies and cold water dripping down from above. Add the omnipresent darkness of current events and it’s really hard to find stuff to write about that isn’t just ALL CAPS PSYCHOTIC RANTING. But lord knows there’s enough of that on the internet already, so I’ll confine myself to random tidbits from my life.

Wildflower is looming large on the horizon. Thankfully, a good-sized number of folks from my tri club are doing it, so there is a training plan to follow and group workouts I can join when I need company/ass kicking. Especially for getting out on the bike when it’s cloudy and cold:

(Photo by Charlie Keen. I’m in the back on the left. I think you can see my arm… )

But little by little I’m finding my mojo again. It’s been a LONG time coming. I’ve been getting up at zero-dark-thirty to get on the bike trainer or go to the pool, which I never managed to do consistently before. On Friday, I made it for my pre-work, outdoor swim in the actual rain. (I was feeling like such a badass about this, until the aquacize ladies rolled in and showed me what hardcore really was. It’s one thing to do an activity where you’re largely under heated water during a cold drizzle. It’s another thing altogether when you’re treading water with your full torso out there. Mad respect, ladies!)

Yesterday, I went out to do a long, hilly bike ride. Originally, Todd was going to join me, but he had some work stuff and his back had been twingy, so he stayed home. I decided to ride out near where I worked and tackle a climb that I’d bailed on the only other time I’d attempted it – Patterson Pass. I figured it would be a good confidence builder, assuming I could do it, and a chance to bump down to a shorter distance if I failed.

Patterson is a long, somewhat relentless climb. It seems like it goes on forever. I generally like climbs like this for training because they build mental strength, along with the physical.

And, of course, there was a ridiculous little steep section before the last part of the climb where I had to stop and take a wheezing/panting/recovery break…

But, I made it to the top and the view was AMAZING:

It was crazy to look down on all of those windmills, completely the opposite of the view I usually have. That climb was followed by many miles of screaming fast/slightly terrifying descents and then some lovely riding through the country. I was feeling so good that I decided to take on a second climb that had eluded me – the road up to Del Valle regional park.

My brother and I have ridden part of it as part of lunchtime and weekend rides, but we’ve never made it all the way to the top. Usually, it’s a million degrees and we have time/fitness constraints, but it’s always bugged me that I’ve never finished it. It’s another long, relentless climb with about a million switchbacks that seem to go on forever. It was the end of my ride and I was tired, but I put my head down and basically willed my legs to get me there. All in all, it was 40 miles of confidence boost. I was tired, but also really proud of myself.

Aside from all of that craziness, life has been work stuff and random adventures with this guy:

And this one…

Even when the weather is bumming me out, I know I’m so deeply blessed to be able to do this crazy athletic stuff and have such wonderful people (and dogs) in my life.

It’s complicated

On one hand, 2017 was a real trash heap of a year. I’m typically pretty good at managing my media intake so that I don’t become overwhelmed with current events and political rhetoric, but that was pretty much impossible. The stakes are too high and the current administration’s strategy seems to be to carpet bomb the populace with terribleness, so that we can’t possibly keep up. UGH!

Not to mention, it seemed like everyone I knew was having terrible things happen. Beloved pets died (more on this in a bit… ), job losses, family member illnesses, and just random terrible things happening to people I care about, etc. Perhaps it’s confirmation bias due to the aforementioned political situation, but it sure seemed to be everywhere.

But I also had some really great moments in 2017. I tried to start writing a post on this blog so many times, but it just seemed so frivolous and dumb in the wake of all that was going on. So, I’m just going to say fuck you 2017, you can’t take all of my joy. Here’s a list of some of my personal highlights from this year:

Finally got back to triathlon
In April, I did the sprint distance at HITS Napa, which was freezing cold (like, for real, not just by my wussy California standards… ) I couldn’t feel my feet until mile 2 of the three mile run. But I ran every step and finished with a smile on my face:

I also joined a tri club and toed the line of the Oakland Triathlon Olympic distance. I was way undertrained, but it was so much fun to race in my city with a bunch of new friends (plus one of my rad Seattle book group ladies!) Definitely looking forward to coming back next year with some actual consistent training!

Celebrated 20(!!!) years of marriage
Since I still feel like I’m in my 20’s… maybe early 30’s, this was a crazy milestone. But we went to New Orleans to celebrate and had the best time. We stayed in a gorgeous bed and breakfast, ate and drank ALL OF THE THINGS and generally just fully enjoyed our first, but hopefully not last, time visiting that wonderful city.

Went to freakin’ Japan!!!

I need to write some retroactive posts for this trip because it was AMAZING. Seriously, find a way to go visit because it is worth it. We joined up with Erik and Nerissa for this trip, which made it even more fun.

Got to see Hamilton

Christmas present from Erik & Nerissa. It was fantastic. See it if you can.

A few random travel adventures
A Las Vegas trip with Erik & Todd, work trips to Boston and Napa (I know, rough life!) Plus, we got up to Oregon to celebrate my parents 50th anniversary and down to visit Heidi and the fam in LA. So many fun excursions, so little time…

And more!
Plus, as I scrolled through my Instagram to remind myself of what else happened this year, there were so many great photos of culinary excursions, wine tastings and general life awesomeness. Even though two good local friends moved away, one went to her dream job and the other to a pretty perfect fit for her hobbies and well-being. I look forward to adding both of them to the random travel adventures category in the near future.

So, let’s all cross our fingers that 2018 is all of the good stuff for the majority of the population and let all of the bad stuff rain down on a certain administration.

One year later…

A year ago, I wrote a lengthy blog post and detonated the remains of a really important relationship in my life. I’ve thought often about what might have been different if I’d known we’d be moving in six months. Could I have been patient? Would she have actually talked to me? Or was the feeling that she was ghosting out of our friendship correct? Who knows…

Healing is a funny thing. It has helped tremendously to be in a totally new environment. (Especially one in which I didn’t know her when I lived here before.) And for the most part, I’ve made my peace with the situation, but I find myself wishing I could text her about super random things. Like when the guy in front of me is buying a bag full of lemons. Or my mother-in-law goes to an impromptu Jazzercize class down the street. And those are the times that I miss her the most.

And while I am tremendously sorry that my blog post hurt her, and there are definitely things I would have phrased differently if I hadn’t been in such a messed up place myself, I can’t say that I’m sorry that I wrote it. I learned exactly how universal and strange losing a close female friend is and had some amazing conversations with people about it that I never would have otherwise. It definitely helped the healing process.

I still wish that she’d reach out, but I’m not counting on it. Whatever happens, I hope that life is treating her well and that she’s happy. I’m grateful for the parts of our friendship that were awesome and for the lessons learned from the less-awesome parts. I guess that’s all we can really hope for, isn’t it?

A rebuilding year

I’m not much of a sports enthusiast, but I’ve always liked the phrase “rebuilding year.” I’ve heard it invoked when a team gets a new coach or a bunch of players graduate or what-have-you and I just really like the idea of it. I’m in the middle of a job search – a process that, for me, requires a lot of reflection as I examine what I want to be doing and how to present my skills, etc. and I’ve decided that 2016 is going to be a rebuilding year for me. I’m cutting myself some slack and just working on making small sustainable steps to change the things that I want to improve in my life. It’s hard work, but feels like I’m on the right path.

Otherwise, life here is pretty great. We spend a lot of time with these goofballs:

We also added a few members to the “extended pack”. Erik & Nerissa adopted this handsome fellow:

His name is Finn and while they’re still getting used to having a young, exuberant dog after only having an older dog, I think they are enjoying him. Austin is certainly a big fan:

We also dog-sat for Todd’s boss’ dog Natasha, a.k.a. Austin’s boss. (T’s office is dog friendly, so Austin goes in a couple of times a week.) It’s pretty crazy watching this tiny thing lay the smackdown on two big dogs. She’s fearless and apparently indestructible:

She also spent a lot of time stealing bones and hoarding them on the couch

We’ve also been enjoying our new surroundings. In February, I took a PTO day and tagged along on one of T’s trips down to Santa Cruz. Yes, you read that right – FEBRUARY:

I’m a sucker for a cool lighthouse:

There were also these cool things shaped like giant jacks along the jetty. I’d love to know what they were originally:

There have been some lovely hikes:

And some urban excursions around Lake Merritt (which reminds me a lot of our old neighborhood in Seattle):

And, of course, lots of culinary adventures. Such as a fancy ice cream place that makes your ice cream to order with some crazy nitrous-using mixer:

Brunch research (It’s important to know what your options are!)

And one of my personal highlights was finding this guy while wine-tasting. Meet Clarence, the wine-barfing unicorn. He’s pretty much my favorite thing ever:

So, that’s my update. We leave for Hawaii in a little over a week, so get excited for a super obnoxious play-by-play of our awesome vacation! 🙂

Highs and lows

I’ve started to write posts for this blog five different times. So, this post is going to be, shall we say… meandering. A random sampling of things that have been happening, interspersed with cute dog pictures. Part of this is as I mentioned earlier, because this summer has been a bit tumultuous and some of it is because my life is just not that interesting. ;-P

My work life has been particularly dramatic. My boss just gave his notice so that’s definitely shaken everything up. But prior to that, I came very close to getting a new job (or at least thought I did), only to have the process end in a very abrupt and bewildering way. Luckily, I have AWESOME friends:

And, of course, these bozos:

I’ve been really lazy with my training lately, for no good reason really. I’ve had spurts of busyness, but mostly, I just haven’t felt like getting up early and hauling my ass up a mountain in the hot weather. Finally, I bit the bullet and joined a really awesome group for a field trip to Pacific Coast trail.

The view was a little obscured, but it was still beautiful:

Plus, there was this interesting little sight:

I am super out of shape, but it was fun to get out there. It even inspired me to drag the boy and Mr. Austin out for a Cougar Mountain outing the following weekend:

It was toasty out, even in the shade. Here’s poor little frog dog recovering in the parking lot post-run:

The boy has been working on a big home improvement project – refinishing our 15-year old bookcases. Here’s a little before and after sneak peak:

He’s been cranking through them, so I’ll share a shot of the final product soon. I can’t wait! Otherwise, there isn’t much to write about. We started getting our veggie box, so it’s been fun to have beautiful veggies to play with. Like these technocolor beets!

Hopefully, I’ll have some new fun adventures to write about soon…

Hanging in

First off, I want to thank everyone for your amazing support. I couldn’t believe how many people reached out with their own stories of lost friendships or just some sympathetic words. It made being the blocking on Facebook and Instagram (of not just me, but pretty much anyone she knew through me) a little easier to bear. It’s dumb how much that hurts, but I suppose it’s a symbol of the larger hole in my life.

I’ve been trying to deal with the whole situation in as healthy a way as I can – going to yoga, keeping the eating healthy, trying to focus on the positive things in my life and look forward. That’s not to say there aren’t the occasional “too much wine” nights or sulking in the backyard moments, but I’m working on it. It helped that we had some great sunny weather last weekend, which lifted the whole city’s spirits. Here’s Wally soaking up the last of it with me on Monday evening:

This weekend, the boy and I celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary (!!!) He’s got some epic surprise planned, so I’m sure there will be some good blogging material to come. Then after that, I’ve got a few awesome adventures planned for the first part of May, so this blog will get back on track soon with some more light-hearted posts.

2014: Year in review

I always want to do one of those “year in review” posts on this blog and somehow I never manage to do it before the year is up, and then it’s January something and it just feels dumb. But this year, I decided that I’m doing one anyway. After all, this year has contained some pretty crazy stuff. In fact, I’m dubbing 2014 “The Year of the Unexpected Adventure.”

From T’s heart attack to all sorts of travel, both planned and spontaneous, it’s been a pretty eventful year. As I was looking through my photos to select ones for the collage, I was struck by just how much happened this year. And not just to us – friends adopted babies and moved to new places. All in all, 2014 was a roller coaster. I’m not sure what I hope for in 2015, I guess more adventures of the “spontaneous travel” variety and less of the “unexpected trips to the emergency room” sort.

Bring it on, 2015!

Endless summer

Seattle continues to have the most awesome summer weather ever. We’ve broken records for most days over 80 degrees in the history of ever. I’m definitely in the minority of people who are happy about that, but given what the rest of the year’s weather is likely to be, I’m enjoying every second of it. Unfortunately, this leads to blog neglect, so I’ll share some snapshots of our summer adventures.

T did an open-water swim race at Lake Meridian. I’ve done this race twice as part of my Ironman training, so it was weird to watch it from the comfort of a camp chair. Here he is suiting up and getting ready to go:

Off into the wild blue yonder:

And they’re off!

He did very well, beating my previous best time by ten minutes (bastard!) Plus, he got some valuable race experience and I got a lot of time to read my book in the sunshine. 🙂

We continue to be entertained by these two bozos:

Austin got a new toy eggplant and he’s obsessed with it. Such a silly puppy…

We’ve been enjoying our summer cocktail of bourbon lemonade. I’m embarrassed to admit how quickly we went through this Costco-sized bottle of Maker’s Mark:

We balanced it out with our veggie box bounty and, of course, the occasional treat:

We also got to attend a fun Pink Martini concert at the zoo:

Courtesy of our friends’ adopting this little nugget:

T’s training has reached the point where you’re on the cusp of various injuries and battling all sorts of aches and pains. We did a century (100 mile) bike ride down in Portland where he had such severe lower back pain beforehand, I wasn’t sure he was going to make it four blocks. But he rallied and did the whole route and was looking pretty spry at the end. Then threw his back out adjusting the bike in the back of the Element. So, it’s been lots of physical therapy with Dr. Austin (in addition to his real PT, of course.)

Over Labor Day weekend, I had him do another long swim to make sure his lower back wouldn’t seize up. We headed over to Seward Park, so he could do a long swim but still be close to shore in case something happened. Plus, there was a path along the shore, so I could keep an eye on him. Here he is heading out, so hardcore!

I think we’re both looking forward to the race getting here already.

White weekend

Life is slowly returning to normal. The boy had a follow-up with the cardiologist and it sounds like he will make a full recovery. There was no damage to the heart muscle and no expected change of his life expectancy, at least from this. Which is a huge relief, of course.

We had a nice Saturday evening hanging out with M & J. T even bonded with his nemesis Mushroom:

When we went to leave, we were greeted with this surprise sight:

T drove home and I took pictures/cowered in the passenger seat:

When we got home, we got to introduce our Texas dog to his first Seattle snow. You can tell he’s a lab by his initial reaction (MUST EAT ALL THE SNOW!!!):

But he and Wally also had fun romping around in it.The next morning we woke up to a winter wonderland:

T’s “special” tiny snowman:

I walked over to the supermarket to pick up some breakfast supplies. Green Lake was so beautiful in the snow:

When I got back, the boys greeted me with some more snowy hijinks:

I love this shot of Austin’s ears. He looks like Dumbo!

Best of all, the snow started melting in the afternoon, saving me a trip down to my office to get my laptop. Instead, we spent a nice cozy evening watching movies. I like snow just fine when it only lasts for one day.

 

 

 

 

Playing catch up

I’m sorry I’ve been such a bad blogger. I had a post lined up to write about our trip to the coast (and I may still) and then I don’t really know what happened. This time of year is always tough for me. I like fall in theory, but the actual onset of the gray weather and the early evening darkness always bums me out. This year has been particularly bad, combined with a series of other events has just thrown me for a loop. I came very close to getting a cool job opportunity (#2 out of 200 and something applicants) at the same time that my current job is turning into a Dilbert cartoon. (Actually, I think a Dilbert cartoon would be a huge improvement… ) Add to this some family stuff and it just hasn’t been a great time.

Basically, I’ve spent the last two months feeling like I’ve been jinxed. Which makes it very hard to write blog posts that anyone would want to read. But I’ve got some fun Thanksgiving stuff to write about and I’m just going to rally and start posting again. In the meantime, here are some random photos of the last two months:

We watched Susan’s dog Blue for a little over a week back in October. He’s bigger than Wally at just under a year old. He’s very sweet and pretty shy. I think Wally liked having a buddy to play with and we all got to remember what young dogs are like (Much more energy than lazy Wally, but he could chill out sometimes.)

And of course, so many pictures of sweet, sad-faced Wally:

And here’s a bonus Godiva picture to balance out all of the dog pictures:

I think it really highlights her personality. And spawned a hilarious ballad from T called “Fat Ugly Cat”. Stay tuned for more hijinks.