From This To That

Before

After

Merry Xmas!

The Holiday Spirit

While I enjoy the feel goodness that the holidays brings out in people - giving gifts to needy children or paying off families balances on lay away - I hate the fact that it illuminates our feeling of need for things. People do not need gifts on christmas. People do not need things in general. If our society was less driven by this desire for objects, if there was less pressure to provide items to show appreciation for our loved ones, if holidays were less commercialized, than people who can't afford necessities wouldn't be stretching themselves beyond their means just to meet these societal expectations. 

The truth is that people are no less in need during the holidays than any other time of the year. This drive we feel to make sure that everyone is minimally (however you define that word) provided for should stretch the entire length of the year - not just a few months time. 

So if the holidays drive you to want to help provide for someone else - great - but take a look at why you are doing it and ask yourself why you don't feel the need to more often. If you happily go and buy gifts - objects people probably don't need - for those in need why do people get so up in arms about providing housing assistance, food assistance, and health care to these same people?

This isn't meant to be political, I just genuinely don't understand. If you'll spend $100 for toys for a family at christmas time, why are we not willing to give that same family $100 for food in July.

Gobble Gobble

I just pulled a 20 lb turkey out of the oven.

Yup.. at 1 am..

That's just sort of how it works around here.

mmmmmmhmmmm good.

Today We Give Thanks

Every year people gather with their friends, families, or themselves and reflect on what they are thankful for. Often times this comes down to being thankful for the people in their lives and the good fortune that has found itself to them.

Laying in bed this morning reflecting on what I was thankful for I found that I could sum it all up in a single word.

Time.

I am thankful for time. Time to screw up and make things right, time to experience and learn new things, time to work through hard days and time to have better ones. I am thankful for time to enjoy the sunrises and sunsets - and yes time to better get to know my family and friends. I am thankful for the time to evolve myself into a better person, to exercise random acts of kindness and to read more books. I am thankful for the time to be thankful, and thankful that I realize that at any moment there may be no more time for me or anyone else. I am thankful for the time I have had in the past and the people who shared that time with me even if they are no longer a part of my life.

I am thankful for my time, for your time, and for the opportunity to have the next hour, two hours, day, week, month, year or decade(s). Whatever amount of time it is, I am thankful for it.

Splash

Took another run in the rain after work today. I love that feeling. That's probably a good thing since it's going to rain for the next 10ish months here. I could feel one of my ankles tensing up while I was running, and expected that I would be feeling some tendon soreness afterwards but so far so good in that department. I haven't gotten out to take pictures of that trail yet, being the slacker that I am.

It was raining fairly heavily for Seattle rain today, but I still enjoyed every moment of it.

I think the parts of running in the rain I enjoy most are that you stay pretty cool, there is never anyone else out, and you get to splash in puddles along the way.

We've actually done quite a bit that I haven't written about none of it too exciting though.

Monday, Monday

I hope you have a wonderful Monday.

Random Musings - Need Some Holiday Cheer?

I went for a run yesterday. I ran 2.5 miles or somewhere around there, I don't really know. I'm pretty sure I can run infinitely as long as I don't worry about how fast I go. If I take the next day off I shouldn't have to worry about my tendons. We'll see how that works out for me.

There's this little nature trail by my house that I've walked part of before but I have never explored all the offshoots. I don't have any idea how long it is but it's like a little piece of trail running tucked away just for me. I will try to get out and take some pictures tomorrow. It's a nice little trail, I'm not sure why I hadn't ran it previously.

It's staying dark later and getting dark earlier these days. I'm fine with running in the dark, but not so much running in the dark while pushing a jogging stroller. So my options are really I can either get up early and run before work (yea, I'm going to be honest.. that's probably never going to happen) or I can run right after work - bleh.

I'm going to work on it though. I've been trying to limit/cut my processed carbs I eat at work because they seem to drain the life out of me.

Something else I've been thinking about, and I will probably re-vist this in the weeks to come. . .

I'm not really a fan of the holiday season. I always viewed them as being for families, and I didn't have one. I used to always volunteer to work every holiday - I'd offer to work a double that day. I didn't have anything else to do, and other people should be able to be with their families because they are lucky to have them. Holidays always just depressed me and made me feel extremely isolated and lonely.

Even now, they sort of just remind me of all that I am or was lacking. Reflecting on things familial are just sort of saddening to me.

There's no reason for anyone to feel that way.

So my friends, this is my offer to you.


If you'd like to receive a holiday card from me, just let me know. I know it's not much - but everyone deserves to know that someone, somewhere took 5 minutes out of their day to think of them - even if it's from the most unlikely of places.
I'll even take a step farther - If you know someone else that could use a little extra holiday cheer this season, I'll send them one too.

Wednesday July 16, 1975 - Thursday October 20, 2011

I hope you died deep in your memories of the wonderful life you lived, the many lives you touched, the people you changed and those you shared your very happiest moments with. In times free of cancer, free of suffering, and filled with your infectious happiness. People will speak highly, affectionately, and lovingly of you in death not because of the sainthood death brings, but because of the life you led. Cheers to you my friend for making me a better me by knowing you.

Thai, Occupy, Frank

I feel like running. 

RIGHT NOW 

but it's quarter to twelve, and I have to work tomorrow. 

I'm afraid if I run now I won't sleep at all tonight. 

I'm one of those weird people that the more energy I burn, the longer I stay awake. 

Figure that one out. 

Tonight we went out to my favorite Thai restaurant (we can only go there when we have a babysitter because it's not really kid friendly), got some coffee and took a stroll downtown to look at the Occupy Seattle crowd. I really need to invest in a nice point and shoot camera for the times I don't feel like, or am not comfortable, lugging my DSLR around. Just something about carrying an $800 camera around after dark makes me uneasy.

Over dinner we talked about things we'd like to do, and decided that over the summer if we can get the little man in a summer camp program that we'll take up bouldering at the local bouldering gym (hear that Jim?) Pretty excited to get a chance to give that a try - just hard to do with the tight schedule we have.

There had been a march yesterday which saw the movement spread into the thousands. They marched form the park they have been occupying to the famous pike place market, sitting down in one of the roads closing it for around 10 minutes. There's been some arrests - but all of it has been respectful and peaceful - protestors even thanking the police for doing their job respectfully.  The park is supposed to close at 10 pm - but they have only been arresting people who refuse to take down tents/shelters.

Where they are gathered, or 'occupying' is in an open area smack dab in the shopping district of downtown - across from the mall. Today there was tons of tents (I think I read about the night of 500 tents to take place yesterday evening...) When we went by it was still fairly early in the night but there was at least one news stations, a big police van/bus and at least 5 cop cars. Interested to see what happened with all of that tonight - so far nothing on the news websites about anyone else getting arrested.

Afterwards we headed back up to Neumos to see Frank Turner. As a side note, Neumos is a great venue, but to tell you the truth Seattle has tons of awesome, small venues. There was a few bands playing before him, we managed to miss the first one and the second one, while not bad, seemed to go on forever. We were only able to stay for about half of Franks show, but it was good and fun none-the-less.

Not bad for a GO phone cell pic eh?

During the opening act (that we caught) there was a bunch of kids (guessing high school) moshing. Which is funny - because this is sort of folk punk music. The band stopped to tell them during the set - it wasn't Pantera or anything, chill out.

When Frank came on the guitarist that was playing as part of the band looked drunk or drugged out of his mind, or maybe he was just suffering from heat stroke and dehydration from the amount of sweat pouring off him. All I could think was damn, these guys must be really well hydrated.. and the fact that the people way up front must be getting spit on.

But! it was a good time, glad we went, and need to figure out a way to do it more often.

By the way, if you don't use Pandora, you should.

Falling Into Fall

I love fall. 

It's by far my favorite season. Probably part of the reason I love living in Seattle.

I love carving pumpkins. 

I love some nice hot apple cider.

I break out my tea in fall. 

I enjoy the crispness of the air. 

Nice to see you fall.. hope you stay a while. 

ps. I did another night time run this weekend. No rain this time. 

Running in the Rain

Sunday I managed to make it to REI to get a headlamp. So Sunday night I went for my first night time in the rain run.

and it was awesome. 

I took music, put on an upbeat tune (It was Matt and Kim, but I don't really remember what track? I think it was block after block but you should also check out daylight, and cameras by them.. I'll link at the bottom. And you're welcome in advance!)

I had a good pace (couldn't tell you what since I didn't look at the clock) and my legs were moving on their own as I was rocking out. Stuck with just 2 miles since I hadn't ran in a while.

There's a certain amount of freedom that the dark brings. It's so much easier to just pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist when it's just you, the darkness, your light and some music. An added bonus is that you can really tell if you're being all sorts of bobbly when you're running with a light on your head. As I was gliding along my light made a steady line, no jerky up and down movement. Sweet. And it was raining, which made it just that much more fun.

I know a lot of people dread getting out in the rain, but I love the rain.

You don't live in Seattle if you don't have a certain amount of affection for the rain. After living in Arizona for 1.5 years.. I LOVE the rain. I don't love the downpours type rain the rest of the country seems to get, but the misty don't even really notice it rain we have here, is wonderful.

G+

I like Google plus.
The problem with G+ is that so few people are there.
So here's your personal invitation
Come on over to G+!

You can find me here

Let it be, Let it be

**disclaimer - I don't know how to write this. I should probably wait. My brain is jumbled**  

In our day to day life we worry about so many useless mundane things. Things that if we took a step back we would realize don't matter at all. 

How is my hair

My clothes

Damn that person who cut me off!

Rush, Rush, Rush.

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late

I want, I want, I want. 

More stuff.

More things. 

Lets fight about religion 

Lets fight about debt

Lets fight about politics 

Lets waste our energy hating people based on 

Race, Sexuality and Religion

or lack there of.

Lie, cheat and steal from each other 

to get 'ahead'

I need, I need, I need

Money, Money, Money

The newest technology 

The biggest house

The nicest car

I'm right

You're wrong

Just stop

Breath

Breath

Breath

We spend so much time worrying about tomorrow

that we miss out on today

We spend so much time consumed with the 

maybe

what if

perhaps

sometime

someday

that we miss the moment we're in 

right now

Did you see it? 

or did you miss it again. 

Try again 

Stop

Close your eyes

Inhale

Exhale

'Just love to live and live life today

Don't spend too much of today on yesterday.'

Your hair is fine (or lack there of!)

Your cloths are doing their job of keeping you warm.

Maybe that person really needs to be somewhere

Take your time, it's in limited supply 

so enjoy ever last millisecond

You'll be happier without them.

Let it be, Let it be.

If Sally and Jen want to get married

What difference does that really make in your life?

What difference would it make? 

Let it be, Let it be

You will bleed and die just as quickly as the next guy.

So are you really ever ahead?

More things to break

More things to fix

More things to distract you from the moment you're living in.

It doesn't have to be one way or the other. 

Even what is true is not stagnant. 

Just because something is true today doesn't mean that it will still be true tomorrow 

so why worry about it?

 

Now

breath

breath breath

I'm sad tonight. 

My brother-in-law by proxy (my BIL brother) 

is in his final days. 

He's 36 years old. 

He is a teacher. 

He has brain cancer. 

For the second time. 

He's been fighting it 

this second time around

For almost a year now. 

And he's on his final stand. 

I sent him flowers. 

I've been told that's a bit depressing.

To send someone flowers before they die. 

I disagree. 

Flowers serve the living much better than they do the dead. 

I am also of the opinion 

that men don't get flowers nearly often enough.

On and On and On

It's raining in Seattle again.

Did it ever stop raining in Seattle?

I don't remember.

I've been a major running slacker goob and haven't ran in over a week. Actually I don't remember the last time I ran, but I remember it was a good run.

Second reason for being a major slacker goob is because I haven't been riding my bike to work, which makes no logical sense. It actually takes me longer to get to work via car than via bike most days. It's that ridiculous. It can take anywhere from 7 minutes to 40 minutes to get the whole 4 damn miles to my job via car. I don't know what my issue or mental block is. I need to get over it. 

And get a head lamp. It's getting dark much earlier now, and not getting light out until later in the morning. 

This is where I make excuses for my slacker tendacies now. 

School is in full swing and I'm still adjusting. I am not used to getting up early in the morning. I hate waking up, even more than I hate going to sleep. 

Got a hair cut, after not cutting it for 5 months, happy to cut it again. Seriously considering shaving it in the semi-near future. No lie. 

Ordered the boy a pair of preschoolians. Currently he doesn't have any shoes that fit him, just a few pairs of suede sole slippers.... which is fine except it's wet out and he needs shoes to go to his playgroup. I'll let you know what I think of them when they get here. I ordered the "I'm walking barefoot" sole. . we'll see. 

Need to plan a trip to NY. 

Maybe December, Maybe February 

Hate spending the money on airfare.

Craving tattoos.

Come On Everybody Sing It 1, 2, 3, 4

He's playing at a local (small!) venue next month, time to find a sitter?

The Difference Between Good Runs And Bad Runs

I tend to not do enough of the 'essential to life' things such as eating, sleeping and drinking water. To be honest, most of the time it doesn't occur to me that I need to do them. I go without eating until I'm lightheaded/cranky/starving to death, I go without sleep until I realize it's late and I should probably go to sleep (one of the reasons I keep a scheduled afternoon nap!), and I've had days where I can't remember drinking a single drop of liquid.

Now I know none of these things are good and I try my best to be conscious of them. Recently though, I started to notice a trend.

My 'bad' runs (where my legs felt heavy and movements felt forced, the ones where I'd feel my lungs cramp up) occurred after days of less than stellar hydration. Duh.

Since I've been really paying attention to my water intake my last few runs have been much better, I'm still sticking to two miles, but hope to be able to increase it soon.

New York, NY

I grew up in New York. 

Long Island to be exact - in the town of Amityville (yup, same place as the movie). 

My parents had been divorced for nearly my entire life (from the time I was 4) so once a month my mother would load me into the car and we'd travel 2.5 hours to meet my father at the half way mark to his house. The trips would only be for the weekend. I moved to my fathers house when I was 15.

With that in mind you can figure that I traveled over the Throgs Neck Bridge a minimum of 264 times (twice a month, twelve months a year, 11 years). The reality is that it was probably more than that, but we'll go with that number. It would be a game for me to spot the NY landmarks from my window The empire state building and the twin towers.  I could only see them going home if I remember correctly.

I can distinctly remember the last time I saw them. It was late April 2001. I can close my eyes and see the New York haze clouding their view. I remember thinking that I wouldn't be seeing this skyline much anymore. You see, I was making this trip to attend my mothers funeral. I made a point to remember it. I didn't realize that it would be the last time I'd ever see that sky line and in just a few months it would look dramatically different.

I was 16 on September 11, 2001. A senior in High School. I was in my psychology class, upstate New York,  4 hours from the city. We spent the rest of day in front of televisions until they sent us home. We sat, and we watced. I walked home alone, as I always did. The skies were eerily quiet and empty. I never noticed how many planes were in the sky until there were no longer planes in the sky. I was worried for my good friends that still lived in NYC.

My cousin was supposed to be at the twin tours that day, but wasn't. Ultimately, no one I directly knew was killed that day, but there's likely only a one or two person degree of separation to know someone who died that day. Here's mine.

Peter O'Neill Jr

http://longisland.newsday.com/911-anniversary/victims/Peter-ONeillJr

He lived a few blocks from me (ironically in the 'Amityville Horror House'), and I went to school with his younger brother Thomas (along with tons of his cousins that I knew - it seemed everyone was related to the O'Neills in Amityville). One of his uncles was my middle school principle. I played soccer on a team with a few of his cousins. His service was held at the church associated with the school I had attended with his brother, the same church my mothers service was held at just months before.

Think of peace and happiness today my friends.

What You Miss When You're Going Too Fast

Yesterday on my run I found a dollar bill.

I like to think I've found a fair amount of money laying in the street in my life. I wonder how long it laid there before someone came strolling by paying enough attention to the ground they were walking on to notice it.

On our bike trip across the country, I found an entire wallet that contents had been strewn on both sides of the street for about 1/4 mile. I don't remember the exact amount of each but hundreds of dollars in cash, giftcards, and also some credit cards along with ID etc.  All because I saw the license upside down on the road. I would have never seen it if I had been moving faster (as a matter of fact, my better half rode right on by it - he was running with me yesterday as well and stepped right over the dollar)

The wallet ended up belonging to a teenager that had just graduated high school (that's why there were so many gift cards). He was lucky enough to live in a small town where his last name only brought up one name in the phone book. We were able to get it all mailed back to him.   


I've been slacking a little bit on running. We went to a family event that took us down the Oregon coast and away from home for four days, after a hike that was supposed to be 8 miles but turned into about 12 ( I think, more on that later), only to come back and start going to work to get things ready for the start of the school year. It's getting darker earlier now so with work starting I'm going to have to really figure out a schedule for running in order to make it happen. I tried going for a run in between there, but got about .5 miles and wasn't feeling into it so I headed home.

Happy trails - slow down and enjoy the view! 

Just Some Random Days

I've been a slacking a bit on my posting. Lets see what have we been up to.

We went berry picking - our seasons are all out of whack because of the cold weather we've been experiences. We got our Raspberries from Biringer Farm -they just came into season about a week ago. We picked our Blueberries a few weeks ago at Bill Pace Fruit and Produce . We'll probably go back to the blueberry fields before the seasons over to stock up a bit, but we went a little overboard with the raspberries and ended up picking 12 lbs. Opps!

This was the result of our berry picking adventure. He enjoyed himself.

This is what his hair always looks like.. it's uncontrollable.

We also went down to visit my in laws who live down by Portland and went to the county fair. Lots of cows, chickens, llamas and the like and a bunch of a cool old firetrucks.

I have a soft spot for llamas. They're so goofy.

 They also had a live pony merry-go-round. Surprisingly he liked it more than the fake kind. He's usually busy trying to grab back onto one of us as soon as it gets going.

We took a walk downtown. I'll have to write about Pike Place Market and how there's so much more to it than the fish throwing that everyone sees. Pike Place is huge and includes several levels and alleys.

Silver man repainting his glasses...

Almost forgot to add - I'm now up to running 2 miles at a go.. and the other day I ran a mile in the morning and another 2 in the evening. Baby steps, baby steps.

Where these soles have led me

This is me

Hiking Wallace Falls 

Ten months out of the year I work at an infant to kindergarten inclusion school. The other two months of the year I spend my time exploring new places, skills, and information. 

A few years ago (3 years ago?) this led to a cross country bike trip. My husband and I traveled 3,045 miles in a 50 day period. We camped all but a handful of days, carried all of our own gear, got ridiculous tan lines (or burn lines in my case), and raised money for livestrong. 

The route we took

Now we're not cyclists. As a matter of fact, until a few months before that trip neither of us even had bikes to use. Just the ambition, some time, and the ability to ride a bike. We wore tennis shoes and t-shirts. It was a pretty good time until Montana. Northern Montana anyone? No thank you. 

Route 2 in Montana is 666 miles long. Enough said.

The following year our son was born.

Over the next year after that I taught myself how to knit. Then I taught myself how to dye yarn.

I now sell knit goods online on the side as a way to support my hobby. I mostly sell wool pants that are made as cloth diaper covers. 

If you're interested, I have a facebook page set up here. 

This year I've done two polar bear plunges, and gone sky diving.  

'

Recently, I've taken an interest in running. I played sports when I was younger, but I have never been much for running. I've said plenty of times that I hate running. I always obsessed too much when trying to get into running. Time, breathing, speed - blah. I was intrigued when I saw Vibram Five Fingers at REI one day and really liked them, despite my life long aversion to things between my toes.

So I got a pair and started jogging. Not only that but I was actually enjoying it.

Naturally, once I find something new I want to know everything about it. Dr. Google to the rescue!

On my information quest I came upon the book Born to Run. I got a copy, read it and had that Aha duh running epiphany... why did it matter how fast or how far I ran. 

After reading more online about the benefits of barefoot running I was sold on completely changing my lifestyle to incorporate either being barefoot or in a minimal shoe. As a child I had flat feet, had orthotics, and my feet constantly hurt. I was always bound to my shoes to use the orthotics in order to keep from having shooting pains in my arches, over correction of my knees to make up for my ankles falling in and a cascade of other aches and pains from my ankles to my back.

Sometime in my teenage and adult life I stopped wearing shoes all the time. When barefoot I learned to walk mostly on my forefoot, which led to less need for an arch, and less pain from not having one. Without me realizing it, in a few years I had accomplished what a lifetime of orthotics couldn't I had an arch (even if it is just a small one). Of course, I didn't realize this correlation until my recent exploration into the world of barefooting.

I got a little over exuberant in my new found life and found myself with a little case of sore peroneal tendons that I've been resting up since.

    

I'm likely going to get a pair of not-quite-minimalist shoes with my transition to make it a little smoother. I'm going to continue jogging barefoot (I've decide to ditch the Vibrams, at least for now) and have a pair of Luna Sandals waiting at the warehouse to be picked up.

(( Lunas were a win win for me. They were running a sale, and they are local. When I was first looking to get a pair of Unshoes and I still might in the future - but Lunas ended up cheaper with the discount code and no shipping fees. I also ordered a pair for my son. ))

So join me (and my feet) on my adventures this summer around beautiful Seattle and it's surrounding areas as we adapt to our new found unshod freedom and lifestyle.