Here Comes the Sun, Doot n' Do Do

Well it's been a heck of a day I say, a heck of a day. It's the first nice day of weather we have had in months. Yesterday Cassi and I spent a good few hours cleaning out our closets. We got rid of 5 trash bags full of clothes that I donated to Goodwill this morning. Our closet is so organized, we got rid of all that extra stuff we've been trying to cram in our drawers that we just don't wear. It's a good feeling to donate all those clothes too!

After I dropped Cassi at work and went to the Goodwill I came home and put my running shoes and ran the Lake Union loop again. It was the first time I was able to run it without a sweatshirt and there were so many people out running and enjoying the weather, we've all been patiently waiting for far, far too long. When I got home I sat on my balcony iced my knees, and drank water and then made myself lunch.

For Lunch: Green leaf lettuce with carrots, purple cabbage, pecans and crimini mushrooms with a simple homemade Dijon-Honey vinaigrette. Oh yeah and I had a couple eggs and coffee for breakfast.

Cassi came home from work and we walked down to the park and played frisbee. I plan on playing a lot of frisbee this year. I am feeling great and am so excited about the summer and my plants and my plans to get in top Triathlon shape, and also, excited for Cassi, she starts Nursing school at UW very soon!!!!! Wahooo!! Go Dawgs!!!

Happy Easter Folks!

Let's Get Physical

Well, it's been a few days and I have been very busy and I have a lot to fill you in on. Last Wednesday Cassi and I ran the Lake Union Loop again and beat our time by another 5 minutes. 6 1/2 miles is starting to feel okay, not easy yet, but easIER. The next day, I woke up and did a balance ball workout that really kicked my butt, Later that day Cassi and I met up with my mom and  we went for a nice bike ride. About 12 miles all together but boy was it chilly!! I woke up and sent Cassi to work and I went on the run again. 6 1/2 miles, three times in one week, plus biking and working out!

Friday night Cassi and I went to an event with her parents, it was fun and the food was catered by Tom Douglas the company I work for, it was really good. It was a really long night and after running the loop I was ready for bed pretty  quick. 

I worked at 9am on Saturday morning it was busy, but I worked in the biscuit bar and was the barista for the morning, I probably made 100 lattes. After work, later on that night I met up with a friend Ally and we went to the new Tom Douglas Gastro-pub, Bravehorse Tavern, we tried the food, burgers, oven baked pretzels, Bravehorse Ale and even the onion rings. All were fantastic. Mom and Dad went there a few night later and said that the fries were there best in the city, something my mom has been on the hunt for, for many many moons.

Sunday I worked a double and met up with Cassi and her parents later on. Alan and GiGi were the guest judges at a Karaoke contest downtown and we sat with them while they judged. 

I just got home from work and am sitting on the couch, I just made myself dinner and am ready for bed soon. I work a double tomorrow and I am so sleepy.

For Dinner: Tofu with Sauteed green beans and caramelized onions. 

I transplanted some of my plants to outdoor large pots today, I hope they survive!

My little ones . . .

This is my spring line up, this is the first time I have ever planted anything from seed and so I tried a whole bunch of different things to see what was going to come up. I am excited to tell you that everything has come up! We will see how everything goes!

Sage

 Cilantro

Dill, and some sweet basil. 

This picture has dill, marjoram,  and some basil

Italian flat leaf parsley

More parsley

Spring Time, Time For Grillin'

Today I spent a lot of time on my balcony. I prepped all of my planting pots with new organic soil and got my beds ready for transplanting the seedlings I have inside in egg cartons. I also made dinner on the grill tonight.

For Dinner: Grilled mahi mahi and grilled veggies in the grill top pan, onion, bell pepper, and zucchini!

However before dinner I met mom at Greenlake and we jogged the 3 mile loop together. After the quick three miles mom had to get home but I decided to roller blade the loop. It was great, tiring after running 3 miles but I definitely felt like I wanted a bit more.

Cassi came home after work and I fed her dinner and we watched a movie and made out way to bed pretty quickly.

Weekend Update

First of all I have to tell you that I did the Lake Union Loop again, this time with Cassi. We ran it on Friday, pretty awesome that I wasn't too sore to do it two days in a row. Our time was almost the exact same as when I did it by myself on Thursday.

I decided to go on up to Arlington with my parents and hang out with them. Cassi was working Friday night and all day Saturday so I figured I could get out and she wouldn't miss me too much! We ate a fantastic dinner at "The Bistro San Martin" in Arlington. It is honestly the only nice place to eat dinner around.

For Dinner: I started with a spinach salad with strawberries and onion and for my entree I had fresh Alaskan Salmon with fresh veggies. It was perfect.

We went home to the house and lounged around until bed time.

In the morning Mom and I got up and ran some errands and in the afternoon we come down to Seattle and dropped Dad off at the airport, he's off to the UK for business.

Mom and I were on a mission to find her new running shoes and we stopped first at Super Jock n' Jill and it was the best costumer service I have ever witness. The guy was amazing and Mom found shoes that were perfect.

Let's see . . .  then we spent two hours being indecisive about where we wanted to eat dinner and we finally stumbled upon a little place called Nettletown right in Eastlake, up the road from my apartment. All I can say is that is was decent. I really like the concept, mostly foraged and found edibles, fiddle head ferns, nettles, local wild mushrooms, etc. It seemed like there wasn't a lot of culinary creativity to match the ingredient creativity. Things were good, but not awesome and in Seattle, every meal can potentially be awesome, I prefer awesome.

We called it a night pretty quick, Cassi finally got off work and Mom went back to the condo and we went to bed.

Now I am on a quick break from work and wanted to come blog real quick. I worked at 8:30 this morning and am back on at 4:30. I hope it's mellow because I am real tired. Depending on how late I get off work tomorrow I really want to run the loop again, Mom and I already have plans to run it on Tuesday! I'm lovin' it!

On the right TRACK

Hello, Hello. I just got back from my second trip around Lake Union. Cassi volunteered at Harborview this morning and I decided I would run without her today. I used the "My Tracks" app on my phone for the first time today, and found it it be really great. It uses GPS so it is very accurate on how far I run, how fast, where I go and records even when I am stopped at cross walk or something like that. I was so impressed with the app and equally impressed with myself. I beat mine and Cassi's time from last Friday by about 5 minutes. I also finally got an accurate reading on how far the Lake Union loop really is. 6.44 miles! Pretty awesome for an old goober like myself. This time around it took me 1:10:07 and my average running speed was 5.89 miles per hour. I think it's a great starting off point. I just uploaded a picture of the map.

The pink marker is where Cassi and I live and there's the loop I hope to be doing 2-4 times a week. AWESOME!

Wow Woo Wee Woo to Technology and Jogging!

I have got to run, make myself and smoothie and shower because I am hungry and sweaty!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I am super exhausted. Today I woke up and made breakfast for Cassi and myself. She had French Toast, I had a couple of eggs and we both had coffee.

I went to work and came home around 2:30 and changed and rode my bike over to Ballard to meet my parents. I rode back home and it rained on me pretty good. It has been nice a few days and now it's rainy again. I am ready for the spring and ready for some sun! I was actually pretty exhausted so I laid low, made myself dinner and now, I am ready for bed.

For Dinner: Sauteed Cabbage, apple and crimini mushroom salad with green onion and a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive oil.

That's all for today, night, night.

Work Week.

It's been so long since I have blogged that I guess I should fill you in. I am working at Serious Pie Westlake, a shmancy pizza joint, one of Tom Douglas' restaurants. It is awesome; the money is great, the food is fantastic and the people are even better. There is also room for opportunity, which I will explain in another post. I work all day Sunday, Monday and Tuesday mornings and Wednesday night. That's it! I have 5 shifts which makes me full time, but I have three days off in a row which is going to make it so great for me to train and have fun during the summer.

This summer will be the first summer in two years that I will have both legs!!! Let's re-cap:

Summer of 2009

There I am, front and center!

Summer of 2010

This is a couple hours after I got home from the hospital, I think I am a little out of it.

I am ready to have a real summer, big time!

KNOCK ON WOOD

KNOCK ON WOOD

KNOCK ON WOOD

KNOCK ON WOOD

KNOCK ON WOOD

My weekend is all over and I have to go get ready for work, I really have to do my hair before it air dries all flippy like a little Dutch boy. Talk soon, promise.

Why, Hello Again!

Wow, it has been a super long time. I am excited to get back on my blog and motivate myself again to kick my butt into shape and really feel the burn. Last weekend Cassi and I went to visit Ally, my sister, and her husband Shay in San Francisco. It was a great trip! We drove which to most people sounds absolutely absurd but it was actually really nice. It's a 12-13 hour drive and we timed it right so we wouldn't hit any traffic in the cities we were passing through. When we got there we had a fantastic time; we shopped, we ate, we drank, we danced, we laughed . . . it was great.

When we got back to Seattle both Cassi and I really felt like it was time to start fresh. So we went grocery shopping and tidied up the apartment and decided to get back on track. It's Spring folks! Wahoo!

I have started jogging again and am already feeling great. Yesterday Cassi and I did the 6 1/2 mile loop around Lake Union, non-stop. It felt really good and I was really surprised I could do it.

After the run we went down the the market and walked around. It was so nice yesterday. I love the market, It's really touristy but still the colors, smells, and people watching is great!

San Francisco Pictures!!

Cool painted van at the side of the road.

The heart at Union Square

Love this picture of Cassi 

 This picture is blurry but its the only one with everyone in it. 80's night

 We went all out and danced our hearts out at an 80's themed night at a local bar.

Wing Span of the Golden Gate this one.

Just for the record I AM kneeling, I am not THAT short.

Wine Cave, look at all that wine!

Benziger Winery, love this pic.