Grenada!
I will head down there 4/17 for 10 amazing days spent doing nothing but getting a tan and lying on the beach with my friends Shawn and Shauna.
I am pumped. Now...time to hit the gym like a crazy woman!!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
New pics of the Chunka!
Sort of a creepy doll..... :)
She looks pretty dang pumped about all those presents!
I found a Romertopf....
I love to cook and I love kitchen supplies. So Saturday afternoon was a good day for me…lemme tell ya why.
I went to Goodwill to do a little shopping. I love thrift stores. It’s an excuse to be silent and to lose myself in piles of other people’s junk…which usually ends up being my treasure! While walking through the kitchen accessories aisle I see a terra cotta pot. It was unused and the stickers were still on it. I look at the top of the pot. It’s a Romertopf. I looked twice to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me! They weren’t. So I freaked! Romertopf are the top of the line for these terra cotta pots. I have wanted one for a very long time but they are super expensive. The one I found was a medium size. Will hold about 2-5 lbs of goodies inside. I checked the price tag. $5. FIVE BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me? Clearly someone at Goodwill has no idea what this was worth. So I put the Romertopf in a football hold and stiff-armed my way to the checkout before anyone figured out the gem I just found. WOOT! I looked it up online and the one I found is worth more than $50. Double WOOT!
So I seasoned it (baked it with salt water. Then some lard. Then it was good to go.) and then did a little happy dance around my kitchen. Yesterday after church I walked to Pike’s Place Market and picked up the goodies for dinner. I decide ‘Chicken and Roots” sounded good. I picked up 1 of each. An onion, carrot, rutabaga, parsnip, turnip and a chicken breast on the bone. Once I got home I soaked the pot in water for about 15 mins then threw it all in there with 6 cloves of garlic, 2 sprigs rosemary, chicken stock and pepper. Oh my goodness….can you say most delicious meal ever! I got my grub on for sure. And I had wonderful leftovers for lunch today!
I am so excited about my $5 purchase that I want to cook with the Romertopf every night this week. 
I went to Goodwill to do a little shopping. I love thrift stores. It’s an excuse to be silent and to lose myself in piles of other people’s junk…which usually ends up being my treasure! While walking through the kitchen accessories aisle I see a terra cotta pot. It was unused and the stickers were still on it. I look at the top of the pot. It’s a Romertopf. I looked twice to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me! They weren’t. So I freaked! Romertopf are the top of the line for these terra cotta pots. I have wanted one for a very long time but they are super expensive. The one I found was a medium size. Will hold about 2-5 lbs of goodies inside. I checked the price tag. $5. FIVE BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me? Clearly someone at Goodwill has no idea what this was worth. So I put the Romertopf in a football hold and stiff-armed my way to the checkout before anyone figured out the gem I just found. WOOT! I looked it up online and the one I found is worth more than $50. Double WOOT!
So I seasoned it (baked it with salt water. Then some lard. Then it was good to go.) and then did a little happy dance around my kitchen. Yesterday after church I walked to Pike’s Place Market and picked up the goodies for dinner. I decide ‘Chicken and Roots” sounded good. I picked up 1 of each. An onion, carrot, rutabaga, parsnip, turnip and a chicken breast on the bone. Once I got home I soaked the pot in water for about 15 mins then threw it all in there with 6 cloves of garlic, 2 sprigs rosemary, chicken stock and pepper. Oh my goodness….can you say most delicious meal ever! I got my grub on for sure. And I had wonderful leftovers for lunch today!
I am so excited about my $5 purchase that I want to cook with the Romertopf every night this week.
Friday, January 2, 2009
1.1.09 WOD
When a workout is named after a Medal of Honor receiving Navy Seal one can assume it’s going to be hard.
LOL oh such an understatement.
So let me preface the story….
I do CrossFit. It’s hard to explain…here is how they briefly describe it:
“CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.”
So basically it is an in-your-face-kick-your-ass-until-you-hate-life type of workout. Not for the faint of heart….and too be honest, not really for people who don’t have much of an athletic background. I love it. I have just started (few months) but I can already see the definition in my arms returning (bat wings…sayonara!). It’s not for the faint of heart...wait, did I already mention that? If you don’t think you can (wo)man up to the challenge then you need to get the heck out of the gym.
The gym is set up so that everyone is there at a specific time of day (I usually go at 5:30 or 6:30pm). Everyone does the same workout…so there is an air of competition. For those of you who know me well…you can only imagine how much I love heading into something knowing that I can and will beat someone else’s time or reps. Suckas! Competition drives me…..probably in an unhealthy way at times. As long as I just keep the competitive edge in the gym I should be fine. Right…?
Anyways…so I walk in yesterday to the freezing gym. It’s always cold in there….like wicked cold. But it’s nice when you get done and are trying to not keel over and die and the cold air is the only thing keeping you from passing out (sounds fun, right!) It’s New Years Day and I decide “No way am I punking out of doing CF today….I need to start 2009 off right”. Then I look on the whiteboard to see the WOD. The Workout Of the Day. Two Words. “The Murph”. Hmmmmmm……ok? This could be good or this could be bad…and who the heck is “Murph”?
The “Murph” is a workout known by a previous name (of which I do not know) but was later renamed after Lt. Michael Murphy who was a Navy Seal killed in Afghanistan in 2005. Google him…it’s super interesting.
He was an avid CrossFitter (even the Navy Seals know what’s up!) and this workout was his favorite workout. He used to call it “Body Armor”.
Anyways…..so before I explain what the workout is….let me just say that this is the 1st time after reading what the WOD was, that I actually wanted to try and sneak out of the gym and go home to each some chips and salsa.
“The Murph”
1 mile run
100 Pull Ups
200 Pushups
300 Squats
1 Mile run
Completion cutoff is 45 mins
Now everyone starts with the 1 mile run (if you are new to CF you can do half of everything listed! I chose not to…) and then once you get back into the gym (you are running around the block a few times) then you just hit it hard. The reps can be done any way you want….you just need to bust out the prescribed amount. The best way is to do a set of 15 squats, 10 pushups, and 5 pull-ups. Barf. Repeat 20 times. Oh and if you thought life sucked then……now get up and run another mile. LOL it looks so ridiculous even when I type it out. 200 pushups! LOL!
Well Kids….I did it in about 40 mins. Some people beat my time….and of course I schooled some people on their time. But in the end…all you can do is laugh at how hard the WOD of the day was and express gratitude that you completed it and are still alive. Oh and the cold gym makes for some fun steam coming off of your head afterwards. We all looked like we had smoke coming off our hair!
And most importantly…..I can walk away with joy that I am physically able to push my body in this way. Lt. Murphy loved this workout and would still be busting it out at CrossFit today if it wasn’t for the ultimate sacrifice he made for our country in June 2005.
LOL oh such an understatement.
So let me preface the story….
I do CrossFit. It’s hard to explain…here is how they briefly describe it:
“CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.”
So basically it is an in-your-face-kick-your-ass-until-you-hate-life type of workout. Not for the faint of heart….and too be honest, not really for people who don’t have much of an athletic background. I love it. I have just started (few months) but I can already see the definition in my arms returning (bat wings…sayonara!). It’s not for the faint of heart...wait, did I already mention that? If you don’t think you can (wo)man up to the challenge then you need to get the heck out of the gym.
The gym is set up so that everyone is there at a specific time of day (I usually go at 5:30 or 6:30pm). Everyone does the same workout…so there is an air of competition. For those of you who know me well…you can only imagine how much I love heading into something knowing that I can and will beat someone else’s time or reps. Suckas! Competition drives me…..probably in an unhealthy way at times. As long as I just keep the competitive edge in the gym I should be fine. Right…?
Anyways…so I walk in yesterday to the freezing gym. It’s always cold in there….like wicked cold. But it’s nice when you get done and are trying to not keel over and die and the cold air is the only thing keeping you from passing out (sounds fun, right!) It’s New Years Day and I decide “No way am I punking out of doing CF today….I need to start 2009 off right”. Then I look on the whiteboard to see the WOD. The Workout Of the Day. Two Words. “The Murph”. Hmmmmmm……ok? This could be good or this could be bad…and who the heck is “Murph”?
The “Murph” is a workout known by a previous name (of which I do not know) but was later renamed after Lt. Michael Murphy who was a Navy Seal killed in Afghanistan in 2005. Google him…it’s super interesting.
He was an avid CrossFitter (even the Navy Seals know what’s up!) and this workout was his favorite workout. He used to call it “Body Armor”.
Anyways…..so before I explain what the workout is….let me just say that this is the 1st time after reading what the WOD was, that I actually wanted to try and sneak out of the gym and go home to each some chips and salsa.
“The Murph”
1 mile run
100 Pull Ups
200 Pushups
300 Squats
1 Mile run
Completion cutoff is 45 mins
Now everyone starts with the 1 mile run (if you are new to CF you can do half of everything listed! I chose not to…) and then once you get back into the gym (you are running around the block a few times) then you just hit it hard. The reps can be done any way you want….you just need to bust out the prescribed amount. The best way is to do a set of 15 squats, 10 pushups, and 5 pull-ups. Barf. Repeat 20 times. Oh and if you thought life sucked then……now get up and run another mile. LOL it looks so ridiculous even when I type it out. 200 pushups! LOL!
Well Kids….I did it in about 40 mins. Some people beat my time….and of course I schooled some people on their time. But in the end…all you can do is laugh at how hard the WOD of the day was and express gratitude that you completed it and are still alive. Oh and the cold gym makes for some fun steam coming off of your head afterwards. We all looked like we had smoke coming off our hair!
And most importantly…..I can walk away with joy that I am physically able to push my body in this way. Lt. Murphy loved this workout and would still be busting it out at CrossFit today if it wasn’t for the ultimate sacrifice he made for our country in June 2005.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
What are your 2009 resolutions...?
So here are mine....
1.) To be more generous. Whether that involves time or money…but I want to give more, serve more and share more with others….especially with those who have less than me.
2.) To be quiet. To take time out daily for silence and solitude. I can’t hear God when I don’t slow down and stop talking/doing/moving etc.
3.) To do the best I can to avoid “celebrity news” like reading those crappy gossip mags in the grocery aisle or checking People.com etc online. Who cares who is wearing what or dating who? It’s a waste of time and I think it is killing my brain cells.
Over and out.
1.) To be more generous. Whether that involves time or money…but I want to give more, serve more and share more with others….especially with those who have less than me.
2.) To be quiet. To take time out daily for silence and solitude. I can’t hear God when I don’t slow down and stop talking/doing/moving etc.
3.) To do the best I can to avoid “celebrity news” like reading those crappy gossip mags in the grocery aisle or checking People.com etc online. Who cares who is wearing what or dating who? It’s a waste of time and I think it is killing my brain cells.
Over and out.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Woah too much snow!
Seattle doesn't do well when the snow comes. It rarely snows here....at least not too the extent in which the entire city shuts down. I can handle the snow...I grew up in Montana and Woming so I know how to drive in it. But people from Seattle don't. They have no clue what they are doing and that is what makes a big snow storm dumping on Seattle so dangerous. I have seen people on mopeds and bicycles riding down icy streets covered 6 inches of slick snow. BRILLIANT! 
I live on Queen Anne Hill. We are talking a serious hill here people. There is no safe way to get down or up when there is snow and ice on the roads. I live close to work so I have been forced to make the 40 min walk to and from each day. I actually don't mind it too much. The good thing about living on a big ol' hill is that they close the roads off because no one...not even a 4x4 with super chains can get up them. So when roads close.....they soon become sled runs. WOOT!
(BTW the gray abyss looming at the end of this road is the Puget Sound. The sky and the water were the same color of gray. Very strange!)
Youtube "Queen Anne Sledding" and you should find a whole lotta ridiculous videos.
My roommate Felicia and I needed to head to Trader Joes to pick up supplies to make Lentil Stew for our neighbors and I. We decided to make it a grocery run/sledding adventure.
Now I don't own a sled. Sleds don't work very well in the rain. And since rain is usually all we get one doesn't think to invest in a sled. So F and I finagled up sled ideas. The soft luggage topper for my car sort of worked. As did cardboard boxes. Luckily, the entire neighborhood was out sledding so we were able to borrow other people's sleds for an hour or so. My favorite was the boogie board. It was pretty dangerous and you had to be willing to bail at a moments notice because there was no way to steer.
(I had to bail!)
(I had to bail!)
The best sled in terms of entertainment value was the resuable Trader Joes grocery bags we had brought along to carry our lentil stew ingredients home. LOL we laughed our A's off sledding down the hill with these.
The bags have these handy handles to help steer....well sort of!
We arrived home rosy cheeked, tired, cold, snowy, and delirious from laughing.
Oh and the Lentil Stew was DELICIOUS! But then again...everything tastes good after a few hours of sledding!
Monday, December 8, 2008
MOM JEANS!
First off….you need to find the SNL commercial titled “Mom Jeans” and watch it. Watch it numerous times….and then you will come to appreciate the phenomenon that is “Mom Jeans”.
Saturday night my friend Brad and his fiancée, Lindsay, were hosting an Ugly Sweater party at their house. Ahhh ‘tis the season for hideous knits! And because Seattle loves Ugly Sweater Parties around the holidays there seems to be a shortage of really really hideous sweaters.
I found a very 80’s sweatshirt that said “I Believe in Santa”…it was red…it was retro, but by no means was it hideous. I can't very well show up at an ungly sweater party wearing a gently worn 80's sweatshirt! So I decided to up the ante a bit. I mean if you are going to do it….do it BIG I say! What if I wear my sweatshirt with some awesome pants?! HMMM? I have a pair a sweet Mom Jeans….Calvin Klein Mom Jeans if you want to be snooty about it. I found them at Goodwill around Halloween for $5. They look like they were sown just for me (Thanks Calvin!). The tapered leg stops right at my ankle (Which is a miracle considering how long my legs are. Uber-washed worn jeans are never long enough for me. At least I have never found a pair at a thrift store before!). The waist of these jeans buttons above my natural waist. Let me explain how high that is. The waist line buttoned about 5 inches below my bra. We are easily talking about an 8 inch zipper here, folks!! GROSS! I have never felt so trapped by a pair of pants before. Don’t believe the lies that those Chic Jeans commercials tell you…..I did not, in any way, shape, or form, feel like a “natural woman”. I felt hideous. Yet somehow I strangely felt attractive (The upside down heart butt will do that to you!). But that lasted for only a moment. I think it was the moment where I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and shuddered!
So after I did the shimmy shimmy dance to wriggle into these hideous jeans I accentuated the sweater/jeans combo with a pair of gloriously chintzy gold clip-on earrings, gold braided belt, and a gold purse with a gold chain as the handle. I was the epitome of class (if we are talking early 80’s class!). I made sure my hair was nice and big…just to complete the look.
Those stupid pants kept me from eating more at the party. It’s hard to eat…or sit…when your pants button up near your diaphragm.
Saturday night my friend Brad and his fiancée, Lindsay, were hosting an Ugly Sweater party at their house. Ahhh ‘tis the season for hideous knits! And because Seattle loves Ugly Sweater Parties around the holidays there seems to be a shortage of really really hideous sweaters.
I found a very 80’s sweatshirt that said “I Believe in Santa”…it was red…it was retro, but by no means was it hideous. I can't very well show up at an ungly sweater party wearing a gently worn 80's sweatshirt! So I decided to up the ante a bit. I mean if you are going to do it….do it BIG I say! What if I wear my sweatshirt with some awesome pants?! HMMM? I have a pair a sweet Mom Jeans….Calvin Klein Mom Jeans if you want to be snooty about it. I found them at Goodwill around Halloween for $5. They look like they were sown just for me (Thanks Calvin!). The tapered leg stops right at my ankle (Which is a miracle considering how long my legs are. Uber-washed worn jeans are never long enough for me. At least I have never found a pair at a thrift store before!). The waist of these jeans buttons above my natural waist. Let me explain how high that is. The waist line buttoned about 5 inches below my bra. We are easily talking about an 8 inch zipper here, folks!! GROSS! I have never felt so trapped by a pair of pants before. Don’t believe the lies that those Chic Jeans commercials tell you…..I did not, in any way, shape, or form, feel like a “natural woman”. I felt hideous. Yet somehow I strangely felt attractive (The upside down heart butt will do that to you!). But that lasted for only a moment. I think it was the moment where I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and shuddered!
So after I did the shimmy shimmy dance to wriggle into these hideous jeans I accentuated the sweater/jeans combo with a pair of gloriously chintzy gold clip-on earrings, gold braided belt, and a gold purse with a gold chain as the handle. I was the epitome of class (if we are talking early 80’s class!). I made sure my hair was nice and big…just to complete the look.
Those stupid pants kept me from eating more at the party. It’s hard to eat…or sit…when your pants button up near your diaphragm.
Revel in the glory of MOM JEANS!
P.S. So in January....a big group of friends and I are having a "White-Trash" themed party. This involves going to a Monster Truck Rally in Tacoma. I have a feeling that these jeans and maybe a stylishly cut Def Leppard t-shirt might be sported to said truck rally.
**NEW PICS ADDED**
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