Market Basket

I love these market baskets! I totally laughed when Andrew's mom showed up with one. I thought that I would never use one, and now, I'm hooked! I have a small one in pink, but I have my eye on a large one. I just got the small one, so for now it's the most amazing lunch basket ever! Okay, in all honestly, I gave the small basket to my mom and now her basket is the most amazing lunch basket ever; mine is being used to hold my knitting. Wow, carrying my knitting around in a picnic basket, you're jealous of my coolness, I knew it.


In all seriousness though, if you have a chance you should give one of these babies a try!

Vaccinated

I have been getting all of my shots for the nursing program. And being the genius that I am I decided that it would be a good idea to get an H1N1 shot just in case, why not?? Well, today I got a second TB test, apparently they don't trust just one, and swung on over for my H1N1 shot. Woo!
I felt really crappy after my seasonal flu shot but somehow thought this would be different. Hmmm.
Now I am sitting at my desk wishing I could go and take a nap, anywhere.
Did I mention the outrageous amont of chocolate I'm eating? There are just some times when other things hurt that I assume that eating gobs of comfort food will help. Not today.
Bummer.

Photo Class

In an attempt to learn more about my camera and to take better pictures I decided to take some tips from a class that Andrew's Aunt Jody is taking. She has passed some of the "assignments" on to me in order to challenge me. The first task was to take a picture of each of the following:

1. Someone you love

2. Two people you love

3. Your favorite food

4. A flower, tree or plant in your yard or nearby park

5. A landscape picture

6. A person or pet in action (i.e. a child riding a bike, someone running, etc.)

7. A candid photo (try not to let your subject know you're photographing them!)

8. A self-portrait (you can hold the camera out in front of you, take a photo of yourself in the mirror, or use a self-timer)

9. A favorite object in your home

10. A group portrait

Let it Snow!

Next week Andrew and I will be heading up to the mountains for a few days with his family. I am so looking forward to the first runs of the season! The ski report couldn't be better. As they say, we are truly being blessed by beautiful weather! Now it just has to last a few more days. I can't wait to ski fresh snow!

I love being called "Auntie Caitlin"

I love being "auntie" to my little Kira. We had a lot of fun together. And, look at those big, blue eyes!

I got to spend the last two days with the most beautiful little baby girl, my niece, Kira. She gives me so much joy! I went over on Monday and picked up Mom and Dad from the airport and then we met Josh and Kira for lunch and Claimjumper. Yum! Kira wasn't feeling it however. She gets really irritated when she gets hot, she prefers to be nice and cool. She let us know that she was not happy so Josh had said to take her outside, so of course I snatched her up and out we went. Literally the second I stepped outside she went from screaming to silence, even laughing. Silly baby! She knows what she wants! Mom and Dad took Kira for the rest of the afternoon so that Josh and I could do some Christmas shopping. What a blessing it is to be able to have time to spend with my brother, just the two of us, just hanging out! We didn't end up buying a lot but had a lot of fun none the less.

Hours later, after we finished shopping we went and picked up Kira from Mom and Dad at Aunt Cyn's house. It was very cool to see one of my aunts getting to coo over my niece. I can now relate to that feeling and really understand how special I am to my aunts and uncles. Anyway, Josh and I took off and stopped for some Starbucks on the way back to his house. I ran in to get the coffee and he stayed in the car with the baby. When I got back Josh had stripped down to his undershirt and was outside of the car cleaning the spit up off his messy daughter. It is moments like these that catch me off guard; seeing him be such a dad! He is such a wonderful dad! I just never imagined Josh getting down to the nitty gritty of laughing as he cleans up a messy little girl. I ended up sitting in the backseat of Josh's truck with her the whole way back to his house. It's funny how a little baby like that will just stare at you. So there she say, with hiccups, unable to take her eyes off of me. Melts my heart!!

The next morning we spent the day playing, dancing, feeding, picture taking and altogether just drooling over Kira! Josh and I had a very relaxing morning just being able to hang out together. We do not get time like that very often. We literally just HUNG OUT. Kira was in such a good mood and was totally smiley the whole time. One of the things that I love the most is the look she gets on her face when she sees her mom or dad. If I were holding her on Monday night she was cool with it, but then she would spot either Shawna or Josh and she would just break into smiles! Then the next day when she was familiar with me, she would bust into the same smiles when she saw me! What a beautiful little girl, what a gift!! Mom would hold her and she would look around for me until she found me and then flash me a huge, fall-in-love-with-me smile.

Playing with Dad. They are dancing here. It cracks me up because he holds her up and she likes to move her hips back and forth.

I am so lucky to be her aunt. My brother and Shawna have given me the most amazing gift in Kira.

Partners

I have the best fiance ever! Really, truly, he spoils me!! It is super cool to be in the period of our relationship where we are really just coming into the partnership in everything. It is so cool to have been given this guy that just steps in to help me out when I crumble. I have a tendency to get stressed out a little more than he does. Just a little. Maybe that's an understatement, but either way, he stays calm when I am bite-your-head-off crabby. This morning was a little rough, I was running around trying to get out of the door, the roads were icy, I made it part way to work and realized that I was driving Andrew's car because he had let me use it to take over the pass and I had gotten home late and hadn't had a chance to drive over to his house to switch our cars back. That meant that my car was with at work, and with my car, were my car keys, and with my car keys were my work keys, and no one else was going to be at the office! ERg! So I turned around and drove out to Andrew's office on the other side of town, got my car and my keys and headed to work. When I arrived at work one of our maintenance crew guys reminded me that the office Christmas party was tonight, TONIGHT?!?!? I thought it was tomorrow, in fact I was SURE it was tomorrow! I had not made the dip that I had offered to bring and I hadn't gotten any white elephant gifts to exchange. Wow I was really 0 for 3 this morning! BUT Andrew, calm as can be gives me a huge hug when I show up to get my keys, about as crabby as can be, then when I told him about the party he offered to go and pick up white elephant gifts for both of us. Did I mention that while I was gone in Seattle he stayed at my parents house to watch the cats, which he is allergic too??


I am just so thankful, today especially, that I have been given such a good partner! I am so excited to marry him!

Seattle Half Marathon

After Thanksgiving Andrew and I headed to the west side to run the Seattle Half Marathon. We met Naomi there and Lauren and Garrett were kind enough to host all of us. Lauren even decided to sign up the night before! She's such a tough gal! She totally went for it and kicked butt!

We look fierce, don't we? Ready to conquer those 13.1 miles!

Not so fierce, but fun!

After the race, back and L and G's place. We were blessed with perfect weather: 50 degrees and no rain! It was such a nice day to be running and such a gorgeous course. Starting at the Space Needle was a great kick-off. Lots of hills to this course, but nothing the four of us couldn't handle. It was fun to see everyone's reaction to the race afterwards. I am so proud of Andrew, Lauren and Naomi for doing such a good job and having such a good race!

Thanksgiving Weekend

I had a very fun filled Thanksgiving weekend! It was filled with lots of friends and fun. Many, many things to be thankful for. Here is what I was up to:

Got to spend two days with Naomi and Lauren. We (well mostly Garrett, but we shopped) made an awesome dinner from Whole Foods, my favorite grocery store. I think that I would be really poor if I lived any closer to one! I might be poor, but I would be WELL fed.

Andrew and Naomi and I shopped our way through Pike Place Market.

Mom and I spent Thanksgiving morning just the two of us. Dad was visiting him Mom and Andrew was golfing. I watched the parade, went for a run, and helped Mom cook dinner. It was SO relaxing and very enjoyable! I made her take this picture with me. She wasn't happy about taking pictures in jammies with no showers, but these are memories!

Lauren and Garrett spent some time on our side of the mountains, fun to meet up with them!

Getting Crafty

I am learning how to sew. Mom is a good teacher, but she's much more of a perfectionist than I am. Project pictures to come.

Cabin Fever

I want to go skiing! I have the itch so badly, I am ready to go! I want to bundle up, be outside all day, try new runs, wipe out...I'm ready. Andrew and I got in a lot of skiing last year and I enjoyed it so much.

I would like to think that I was the "most improved" skier last year. Let me tell you, my first run out was a bit rough, okay, more than a bit, A LOT. But, I kept at it and by the end of the season I had many more minutes of enjoyment than I had of terror. I can't wait to get up on the mountains this year and get going!

Our first runs this season will probably be on a trip we have planned with his family to Mt. Hood Meadows. I have only skied there once so I'm looking forward to checking it out. I can't wait - about a month from now we will be up on the hill enjoying the early snow! Can't wait!!

Thanksgiving Recipes

Usually we have a whole house full of people at our house for Thanksgiving which means we stick to the basics and everything that we have goes into making two turkeys, ham and some bbq. This year however one of my cousins is getting married on the East Coast and many members of our family will be attending. Unfortunately, I'm not going to the wedding because I have finals in the weeks to follow and cannot miss class. Even though I am bummed about not going to the wedding I am really looking forward to a "quiet" Thanksgiving. A smaller crowd means that I will have time to make some more interesting dishes and take on some challenges. This year I have had a new appreciation for squash of any kind, sweet potatoes, pumpkin etc. So when browsing through Tastespotting this recipe caught my eye. I have memories of people making sweet potato dishes growing up but somehow they are one ingredient that hasn't made our Thanksgiving spread in recent years. When I was younger I thought sweet potatoes were disgusting, icky, not something I wanted to waste time on. Now, I'm dying to try some recipes to find the perfect one. I love sweet potatoes. Sweet potato fries are one of my favorite side dishes, I can't wait to add a casserole to that list. Mmmm...Thanksgiving is coming...

"May the God of hope rill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."


Romans 15:13





Over the past weeks and months I have been waiting to hear back from the nursing program, but what is more, is that I have been craving to be closer to my God. For the first time, when I was faced with a situation that I found difficult I felt keenly aware of where my focus should remain. I feel like it has taken a lot of hard situations to make this come out of me. To now try to fix something myself, jump in and take the reigns from God's hands (ha! yeah right!!!) and put them into my own. I like to be in control of my future and I like to know what is coming next. However, I have learned that this does not work. My driving skills are horrible, I speed, I have no perspective from which to make these decisions and really have no idea what is best for me. Sounds helpless, right? Well, I do know that it have a God, a Father, who is in control and knows what's best from me and has the perspective of eternity from which to view my life. He sees what is coming, what has gone before and where my heart is today, right now, this moment.





The reality of my situation during the past months is that my future was unknown; to any of you who know me, even a little, you know that this is a HUGE challenge for me. I want to speed things up, fast forward to being in the nursing program, planning my wedding and moving forward. Yet, here I was, right where God wanted me. I am a list maker, a calendar keeper, a planner. I like to know what is coming next. I find the most joy in the preparation, the anticipation. I don't like to be caught off guard. I am not a spontaneous person. I do now like to do things on a whim. Really. Call me boring, go ahead, do it, but don't ever call me unprepared.





I am learning trust and to wait. Because of my need for control, at least over my own life, trust is something that I struggle with. Or at least, really need to focus a lot on in order to get just a tiny little bit of it. Through this experience I finally saw, a glimpse of what it looks like to know that no matter what happens, God is still there and working out the details. One of the things that I had to keep in the forefront of my thoughts was that God hadn't forgotten my plea, he hadn't ignored my request. He was doing a work in me every moment. Even though I felt like I was being forced to stand still, HE was moving me forward. I don't want this to come off as if I never have had any faith in God's care of my life, nor that I have learned a perfect trust. I have just learned that perfect patience and faith in Him is what is called for. I have walked slowly, cautiously, feebly through the past few weeks, like a child, truly dependent on a Father.



"Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

James 1:4 KJV

Simple Pleasures of a Sunday

Andrew and I had a lot of running to do on Sunday. Thankfully, it seems as soon as November hits my mom gets a hankering for turkey, so she ended up making an entire Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, notice that stuffed bird? It's as if November comes, those turkeys are calling her and suddenly, it's time to feast! Yum. Anyway, it's a lot easier to be motivated to run long when you know that a freshly roasted turkey awaits. At least for me.
These are the pumpkin bars I kept promising myself I'd make. They were delicious! This was the first night and they were already almost gone. Dad said they tasted like "fluffy pumpkin pie." I think he was right. Some of the pumpkin cakes/breads/bars/cookies that I've made end up way too dense or with a strange overly-chewy texture (bleck). This had the consistency of a normal cake and still offered the perfect amount of pumpkiny goodness. The link to the recipe is in the previous post. You can't go wrong with Paula Deen, can you?

This is "pre" run. Andrew came over to find me in my pile of studying madness (notice the spread of notecards, notebook, computer, handouts, etc) and tried to convince me to take a nap with him. Now, if you know me, you know I'm a sucker for a good nap, especially on the kind of drizzly day it was and with such a cute fiance...but, WE HAD RUNNING TO DO! On Sunday we were exactly two weeks out from 1/2 Marathon Day, and now, we are even closer, eek!

Pumpkin Bars

This morning, Saturday, I am studying, again. I am trying to cram knowledge of every possible kind of prokaryote into my (small, stubborn) brain. Is the gigantic cup of coffee any indicator of my struggles? Please forgive the bed hair, smeared makeup and general lack of primping, my micro book doesn't seem to care what I look like. Thankfully. (We've been spending a lot of time together lately.)

While I am studying today, I am dreaming of baking. I can't help it, everyone needs a goal! Right? Every fall it seems that I plan to bake bundles of pumpkin delights and before I know it Thanksgiving has passed and there is Christmas baking to be done. So, today, once I know all of these bacteria, I will be baking! Woo hoo! Pumpkin bars! Happy November baking to me! And you, if you are Abby, because you will probably be receiving some. You can find the recipe here.

Bit was not happy with me when I shut him in the food room. He hassles the other cats when they are trying to eat, he could eat us out of house and home, so when the other cat wants to eat, Bit has to eat in the food room or else the only one to get any food would be him. This cracked me up though a few minutes later when I walked by and saw his fluffy paws stretched out underneath the door.

I woke up and stumbled out into the kitchen a few days ago to find J.C. seated at the counter, seemingly, ready for breakfast.

A few weeks ago Mom and I made a day trip to Spokane. This tree was absolutely gorgeous! I had to jump out of the car and get some pictures of it. Look at all of those colors! Happy fall.

Keeping Pace

Right now, today, I sit and wonder how I will fit everything that needs to be done into the space of one day. How will I memorize all that I need to know? How will I workout to maintain sanity, health and, oh did I mention, my figure? Don't forget work, that has to fit in there too, at least, if I want to get paid. Funny how that works, they are so picky around here.

Tofu for you?

I tried something new this week, something that I had wanted to use before and never had. I've eaten it in miso soup and I think that is just about it. Then I stumbled across this recipe, and yum yum yum, I'm in love, with tofu! Well, I'm in love with this recipe, maybe not tofu quite yet. This recipe was so simple and turned out great! I have made it twice in the last week, eaten it as leftovers, you should too!
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/slurptastic-herb-noodles-recipe.html
101 cookbooks has lots of great, beautiful, recipes. Most of her recipes may be a little bit outside of my palette range but I have been tempted by so many of them. Instead of the spinach noodles I just used whole grain spaghetti and it worked well. We have just been starting to get some real fall weather and these noodles are perfect to come home to. Enjoy!

Birthday Half Birthday

Today is Dad's birthday...which also means that today is his mom's half birthday - 99 1/2 years! Not to steal Dad's thunder, but come on! The scary thing about today is that she is having surgery to fix a shattered leg, broken in three places. So today, instead of having a very merry unbirthday, we are facing the reality of celebrating 99 1/2 years, today that reality is very thick with the human condition.
So in celebrating Gram's half birthday it seems fitting to celebrate the birthday of her youngest son, my Dad. I took this picture of him this weekend. He came in from the garden where he had been rototilling and harvesting and getting the ground ready for the winter. He was covered in dirt and I was laughing because as he sat down to eat lunch he had mud smudged on his face, not that that bothered him much. As I am watching him help his mother finish her life here, it has become so important to me to remember the "normal" day-to-day moments that we share. Days when Dad comes in sweaty from the yard smeared with dirt. Those are the times that even though they seem a dime a dozen now can too easily pass unnoticed and slip away.
I hope this picture makes you smile. It makes me smile. Happy Birthday Dad! Happy Half Birthday Gram - what an awesome Dad you gave me!

Birthday Half Birthday

Today is Dad's birthday...which also means that today is his mom's half birthday - 99 1/2 years! Not to steal Dad's thunder, but come on! The scary thing about today is that she is having surgery to fix a shattered leg, broken in three places. So today, instead of having a very merry unbirthday, we are facing the reality of celebrating 99 1/2 years, today that reality is very thick with the human condition.
So in celebrating Gram's half birthday it seems fitting to celebrate the birthday of her youngest son, my Dad. I took this picture of him this weekend. He came in from the garden where he had been rototilling and harvesting and getting the ground ready for the winter. He was covered in dirt and I was laughing because as he sat down to eat lunch he had mud smudged on his face, not that that bothered him much. As I am watching him help his mother finish her life here, it has become so important to me to remember the "normal" day-to-day moments that we share. Days when Dad comes in sweaty from the yard smeared with dirt. Those are the times that even though they seem a dime a dozen now can too easily pass unnoticed and slip away.
I hope this picture makes you smile. It makes me smile. Happy Birthday Dad! Happy Half Birthday Gram - what an awesome Dad you gave me!

More Steph

This picture may not be Steph's favorite, but it was the only one that I didn't have to edit to get the window out of the picture. I like that it's just her, the red bench and white wall. The idea is good, execution is a bit lacking. But that look on her face is priceless! Maybe this is right as she noticed the HUGE spider above her head...

Steph's Shoot

When Steph and Ellen were up visiting last month we had a few extra minutes one morning and of course, I begged Steph go out and let me try to get some good pictures of her. The place that we stayed at was a home in the middle of a green belt which was a beautiful setting in itself but the home also boasted a huge garden which was fun to shoot in. We also found this little red bench that happened to be set up against a completely white wall of the house. It was fun to play around with the color contrast. I'm just learning so I still need LOTS of practice! Thankfully, Steph is a very gracious and patient subject. She'll do whatever I tell ask her to and is up for anything! It makes for lots of hilarious photos and lots of fun. I am so grateful for a friend like Steph. Everytime we get together is truly cherished time. It was so nice to have her in the Great NW for the weekend especially because she delights in the surroundings...it's so fun to watch her enjoy FALL. I hope some of these pictures can truly reflect to everyone how beautiful my best friend really is.

The trouble with Facebook.

My story starts a few months ago when Andrew and I decided that we needed to run and went on to decide that if we were going to run we needed a definite goal to work towards or no real running would happen. So, we set out to do the Indian Summer Half Marathon here in TC. Well, we got off to a great start, kept to our schedule, and then...August hit! For me, the month of August compares to getting sucked in face first by a black hole. Come about the second week in September I look at Andrew and wonder..."who is this guy and why is he so nice to me?" Oh yeah oh yeah, I do have a life outside of the fair and this guy is my fiance - cool! Needless to say, our running schedule got a bit derailed thanks to ME, I take full and complete blame for lack of forward motion during August and now into September.

This is where Facebook comes in. It's really easy to show someone website links but simply posting them to their Facebook page. So, I posted a link for the Seattle Half Marathon on Andrew's wall. The problem with that is that it them becomes public information. This is not a good thing! Andrew and I toyed with the idea of running the race and had pretty much settled on being lazy for a big longer and running a race in January instead, and then, Naomi logged on. Naomi being the runner of all runners sees mention of this on Andrew's wall and as it looks on Facebook (let's remember that most of what you see on Fb is lies, all lies!!!) Andrew and I are hoping to run the Seattle Half Marathon and she thinks this is a fabulous idea! Crap. So then she tells us that she had been planning on running it and blah blah blah blah. Can you guess what I did today? Yes that's right, figured out how in the heck I could be ready to run a half marathon in just 10, TEN, short weeks! Andrew doesn't know it yet but here is our training plan for this week, wish us luck!:

Monday, September 21: 40 minute run, easy/moderate

Tuesday, September 22: 40 minute cross train, moderate

Wednesday, September 23: Rest

Thursday, September 24: 40 minute run, moderate

Friday, September 25: 30 minute cross train, moderate

Saturday, September 26: 3 miles, conversational pace

Sunday, September 27: Rest

*Training plan adapted from the book "Marathoning for Mortals" by John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield.

Starting from the top left and moving right, a recap of my summer:

1. Dominic did Mutton Bustin again at the fair, always lots of fun!

2. The fair's second annual fun run, lots of stress but totally worth it! So exciting to see a dream come to life.

3. I got a brand new baby niece, Kira! I'm love her pieces already.

4. Annual camping trip with the Campbell's at Priest Lake. I'm getting better and better at camping.

5. Went to Mt. Rainier for the 4th of July with the girls. So pretty!

6. Amanda and I headed to Seattle to see Kenny Chesney at an amazing concert. I think we were both hoarse the next day from screaming.

7. Dad, Andrew and I took a helicopter ride over the Snake River down at Uncle Gene's. I think that a short ride was long enough for me.

8. Mom and I went to California to see Steph and Ellen. This is a picture of us at Disneyland, it was a great day!

9. Danielle had never been to Canada after living in the NW for almost 6 years - it was time, so again, we went camping. Holy cow, I did a lot of camping this summer. Strange.

10. Mom and I at Dana's graduation party. I love this picture of us. She is such a beautiful woman.

11. Andrew asked if I would marry him. I said yes. :)

12. Because I'm a dork, Dom is on here twice. He's cute, huh?

Summer Started

Summer seems like it has flown by. I wanted to put up a few pictures to highlight some of the events that took place this summer. It was a great summer filled with many blessings, too many apparently to fit into one post. So, here's a look at how my summer started....

My cousin Dana graduated, and became a Coug...

Andrew's cousin Kevin graduated as well and with in a weak moment made a bad choice, he is now a Dawg (bummer).

Mom and I headed to California to spend time with some of our best friends, The Keens. Steph and I of course soaked up our time together.

And oh yeah...on May 21st I got a new ring. :)

Fair Stories...This is mine, what's yours?

Dominic ready to ride his sheep!

Having a fairgrounds packs with animals implies one thing : Flies! Abby, was gracious enough to kill some of those in the office, even if they were sitting on my arm at the time.

I made it! We made it!

We did it, the fair has come and the fair gone. Sitting here on my bed now it feels as if we all stood through a hurricane and are left with the aftermath. The grounds are still covered with remnants but we are left with what is a virtual ghost town, a shadow of what was a bustling festival at this time last week. The office is crammed with leftovers, lost and found, supplies, banners, paperwork and four women tired and busy with wrap up. There are so many things that I love about the fair, among them are:
....the people that come to the fair. They are excited to be there having looked forward to it all year. People that come to the fair are not middle of the road, they are so glad that it's finally fair time again.
....the animals. It took me awhile to finally catch on to the fact that the huge sale that they were doing on Friday ended with all of the animals being sold, not being sold as a pet to another loving home, but that many of them would be bacon before next week. How had I missed this reality? Denial is a powerful defense.
....the mutton bustin. Dominic rode again this year. There is really nothing funnier to me than strapping a small child on to an angry sheep and seeing how things work out. What is up with that? Who came up with this game? Thankfully Dom is a good sport and finds it fun.
....but most of all the thing that I love the most about the fair is the people that I get to work with. There are so many things that are thrown at us during the week that I cannot imagine not having support from the people that I work with. These girls are some of my best friends. To go through a fair together is to understand the good and the bad of each person you're surrounded by. We know each others strengths and weaknesses. We know what makes each other smile and what makes each other bitchy. Thank you girls for making me laugh throughout the week! So many memories were made in the past week.
When I think of the memories that I made in the last week, I like to think about the memories that others made because we put on our fair. What does it mean to have a week of community coming together to share what they are proud of, what they are passionate about, what drives them. We have artists, cowboys, farmers, cooks, bakers, vitners, all coming together to show to others what they are most proud of, to share with others what it is that drives them. I saw a 99 year old gentleman run in a three mile run, running as part of his community. I watched as one of my employees showed her reserved grand champion hog as the two of them won fitting and showing. I saw a young boy donate his sheep to TETWP and raise $12,000 for women in OUR community with breast cancer. I also got to remember the place that started mine and Andrew's story. Every year it's fun to think about the week that I met Andrew and the week that I was given the man I would marry. I wonder how many other stories come from the week of the fair, how many stories begin, end or are made more full because of our humble fair.