Delayed Seattle Post

Per usual my life has been a crazy mess of running from one thing to another. I like my life busy, but maybe I need to re-think this "do it all" mentality I have going on. But until then, I can't pass up an adventure.
Earlier this month Talena and went to Seattle. Why? Why not? Neither of us had been there and Talena had a cousin who has been begging her to come visit.
It was a great weekend. Seattle even put on a show for us. We had only one day of rain and only in the morning, just long enough for me to have an excuse to buy a jacket at the REI flagship store (I may or may not call it the Mother ship).
I am pretty sure I am in love with Seattle and must find me a job working for REI so I can move up there.

Here are a few highlights from the trip

1. The jumping and clapping from Robbie when he picked us up from the airport. Everyone should be greeted this way.
2. Beautiful views from the Space Needle of Mt Rainier. And being treated like a VIP as we got to pass everyone and go to the front of the line...totally worth the extra $.
3. Being offered rubber overalls by the Pike's Place fisherman.
4. BIG REI heaven. Need I say more.
5. Interesting Seattle history and underground tour.
6. Preforming with "cousin red" (our band name) at the EMP.
7. Lots of desserts: Cow Chip Cookies, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Specialty Cafe Bakery and lots more 
8. The troll (cause it isn't a Seattle trip without it)
9. The weekend (oh did I mention it was the 4th of July weekend) wasn't complete without watching fireworks over the water with Mt Rainier in the background.
10. Learning to play Tripoley with 3 fanatics.

Yep, we were there.

Next time I am kayaking

Gasworks park with Lady Liberty is cool

Watching planes land on the water is cool

Paddle boarders are cool (ok I'm done)

It is a joke we single ladies tell ourselves to make us feel better  :)

Tourists

I heart fish

Tripoley sad face (didn't get to use any of these beauties)

They love Tripoley. We took this for their Grandma.

BEST sandwhich

Space Needle

Super tourists

Love this view ... mountains!

Cousins

Roommates

Upside down vegetable steamer

Sweaters to keep them warm

Fashion poses for the sweater trees

Going in the depths of Seattle

Not so scary

But maybe a little spooky

EMP art

Annie being artist

Miss-Mix-A-Lot

I rock!

It came highly recommended...very tastey

I love the ferns, reminded me of New Zealand

Washington beach...must see

Out for a stroll

Artism 

pretty

We watched fireworks with this as a backdrop

Can you see Mt Rainier in the background? love it

The end of a great trip

Zoo keeping

I forgot why my parent's had so many photos of zoo animals. I went with my family and friend's kids to the zoo yesterday and I was constantly asked to take pictures of this snake and that bat and this turtle and that bobcat. It was so entertaining.
But it was a lovely day because I can't get enough of this face...

Cutest niece

even if her mom doesn't think so

How does your garden grow?

The garden is coming along very nicely. Well, at least for my garden. I was biking pass a house this weekend and looked at their garden then came home and looked at my garden...well let's just say her plants would eat mine. But my garden is producing, even if it ends up being really little I am happy with my first gardening attempt. Maybe I don't have a black thumb.

First jalapeno growing slowly but surely

I love bell peppers. I planted 3 variety, this is looking the best.

Oh Yeah! That is a bean.

I'm starting to see a few tomatoes on each of my plants.
But my cherry tomato plant is going crazy. Can't wait to eat them right of the vine.

This garden thing is great, lunch time

I am really enjoying this garden thing. The sprinklers have been doing great keeping all my plants alive. I give of few areas some extra water every few days, but really sprinklers are great. I have been coming home everyday and pulling any pesky weeds I find. Those vine weeds are the worst.
It was my brother's 30th bday on Monday (Happy Birthday Matt!) so at family dinner I got a few plant tips from my mom and sister.

• Cut off the flowers on my cilantro...check. 
• Dish soap and water in a spray bottle will get rid of my bugs...check. 
• And I can plant carrots every 2 weeks and keep harvesting all summer...check.

Today, was particularly fun. I came home for lunch and made a salad. But not just any salad, a delicious salad with delicious lettuce. Delicious lettuce that I grew in my little garden. Yes, that is right I am already harvesting some food. When my lettuce gets to a reasonable size I cut off the leaves for my dinner. It then grows back for me to cut again and again. I like this lettuce thing.

So lunch today was a steak salad with garden fresh lettuce, slivered almonds, crumbled feta cheese (my favorite), tomatoes (from the store, but soon to be replaced by garden fresh) and a little cube steak all topped with my favorite spicy chipotle dressing. I do say it was a great lunch. Don't you think?

The MS Ride and Number Seven

Half way to completing list item number seven. Saturday was my annual MS ride. This marks year six. I am sure I have talked about it a lot so I will only say this, my riding experiences haven’t always been positive (check out what I'm talking about here and here).

Joni and I at the start of the race

This year was a good one though. I rode with my friend Joni. She is so fun. We rode 40 miles through the beautiful Cache Valley and chatted about travel, boys, bikes, work, boys, bike pains and even tried to come up with names for our team. We have decided next year to create a team in her honor. Joni has MS and has been doing this ride for the last four years.  Next year you might see us sporting our team jerseys for team "Smedium" (sometimes you are not small or medium and you need a in-betweener) or "Hunt for the Cure" (sadly it might be taken) or something else awesome, but definitely not something lame like "Team Joni."

Four years and she still smiles

Six years and counting

Participation medals are the best

Tri This

Two years ago my friend Marne convinced me to compete in my first ever triathlon the Salem Spring Triathlon. And somehow she was able to convince me again this year. The only photographic evidence we have of the race was the finish line photo from Race Day photography. Marne, Billy and Brian ran with me across the finish line so that we would have a group photo for the event.

It was a really good race. I was disappointed in my swim (again). This time not because I was scared about putting my head in the water, but because I had only gone swimming once before the race and I was just really tired. I was able to make up time with shorter transitions as well as improving my bike and run times to come in overall 2 minutes faster than my previous year's time.
I couldn't have expected better since I only went swimming once, biking a handful of times (mostly mountain biking) and ran a dozen times.  That isn't very good training. I have signed up for an olympic length tri which is double the length of a sprint tri (1 mile swim, 25 mile bike and 6.2 mile run). The olympic tri held at Yuba Lake later this summer will be more difficult and I will have to train.  Therefore, training started Monday and I'm going to be really dedicated to it.

Bike People

I love my bikes. I haven't loved the rainy spring we have been having in Utah. But the sun has peeked through the clouds long enough for me to go on a few rides. I would consider myself a bike person. And I am not the only one. I follow a blog for an organization called People for Bikes.  It tries to make the world a little more bike friendly (even if it is to get old fat men in their trucks to stop trying to run us off the road). I really wanted to share this sweet video they created for last month's National Bike Month. (I know I am a little late.) And if you feel so inspired, you can sign the pledge and join "People for Bikes."