And so we start another week.

Sort of a catch all random post today.


I had a nice and relaxing weekend.
We didn't do a whole lot.
I did a tiny bit of shopping-Christmas decor, presents and lights and also got some things to organize stuff.
I cleaned and organized our bathroom which now looks amazing. It was getting cluttered and cramped on our counters and was really bugging me. No longer. :)
We filled up the Marshmallow for the first time on Friday night and I averaged 39.67mpg! Super happy about that!



When I was at CrossFit on Friday they got some photos of me working out which actually turned out pretty good.
I'm really excited about this because without dragging everyone I know to the gym, this is the best way for me to share/show what it is I do 4 days a week.

Our workout on Friday was:

7 Rounds of:

Row 150m
7 ChestToBar Pull-ups
7 Front Squats
7 HandStandPushUp

Because(believe it or not) I don't sit in front of the mirror and flex for hours on end, I had NO idea my back had gained so much muscle. Kinda cool. :)
In this photo I was mid way through the pull-ups. I was using a thin yellow band to assist me in doing these because I'm still not strong enough to do 49, especially when I have to bring my chest to the bar and not just my chin like normal.

This is a front squat. I used 65lbs for this workout. So I did a total of 49 of these.

And from the front. :) Squats are one thing I tend to do well with. I have a lot stronger legs than I do arms.

This is my version of a Hand Stand Push Up. I'm still not strong enough for a real one. This was REALLY hard for me as it was. Again, did 49 of these.


Now this was "extra credit". I'm learning the different Olympic lifts. It's actually quite fun and nothing like anything I've done before.
In this photo, I'm in an overhead squat. To finish this move, I have to stand up with the bar still overhead. The most weight I did for this "lift" was 53lbs.

This is mid-way through the lift. I basically start on the ground and "snatch" it overhead while in a squat and then stand up.
As uncoordinated as I can be sometimes, this one is going to take me a while to learn.


As you can see, I need practice. I'm only holding 45 lbs in this photo. As I use more weight, if I can't complete a lift, I will drop the bar instead of hold it like I did in the photo.
At least I'm having fun!

Last thing I did Friday night was back squats. I hold the bar like in the photo and squat. Not a lot to it.
On Friday, the most weight I did was 94lbs and I did that 20 times. Which means, I can probably do quite a bit more weight less times.


Just one thing I want to add.
I hear a lot from female friends that lifting weights and training will make you bulky/gross and they aren't interested in it because of that.

That's totally wrong. Weight training is NOTHING like body building.
There have been countless studies done that prove the benefits of weight training for women that show everything from helping bones and boosting metabolism.

I not worried whatsoever that I'll look like a body builder(puke) ever. It's just not possible with my fitness goals and diet.
I would love to go into more detail, but I don't have the time right now.
:)




Last but not least, I was given this award by Jeska over at Living Our Love Song.
Her blog is great and she has a really cute little dog. :)
Thanks for the award!


Now I get to tell you seven things about myself you may not know:

1. When I was young I was very sure I wanted to be a Marine Mammal Biologist.

2. I could eat sushi(cooked and veg) every day. Even for breakfast.

3. I really really like the buttered popcorn jelly bellies. And since no one else does, more for me.

4. I'm stupidly afraid of bees. Way more than any normal person should be.

5. I still have stuffed animals on my bed(Ryan must love me to put up with that).

6. I never in my life thought I would be someone who's into exercising and actually enjoys it.

7. I really like my job and believe in my company. I know I'm very lucky to feel that way.


I'm going to give this award to:
Kelsey @ This Is The Story Of A Girl
Jenny @ So Say I
Ashley @ My Carnival Ride

Whidbey Island Adventure

In the middle of September we went to our friend Ryan's cabin on Whidbey Island for the night with him and his girl friend/my friend Kelsey.

We had a great time relaxing, playing board games and checking out the beach. It was just a quick little trip, but I know everyone enjoyed themselves.

Waiting for the ferry in Mukilteo. It SHOULD have been a 30 min wait, but it turned into a 2 hour wait because one of the boats was broken. We were not happy and were all hungry because we were planning to BBQ when we got up there. We didn't get to the cabin until 9:00pm.

Wandering around the Mukilteo waterfront while we were waiting for the boat.

Kelsey

My Ryan.

Poking around the beach near the cabin the next day.

Every time we turned over a rock, tons of little crabs would come out and crawl around. It was neat.

Torkie wasn't too sure about the mini crabs everywhere.

This was one of the bigger ones we found.

Super creepy giant jellyfish. It's one of the largest I've ever seen and brightest colored too.

It was dead so we poked it and took some photos.

:)

Sharing is caring

I ordered a bunch of lotion from Bath & Body Works last week because they have stopped making/carrying my favorite scent and I needed to stock up.

Well I got this wonderful coupon with my order and I wanted to share it with people.
It's never too early to get your Christmas shopping started and 20% off is pretty great.

I hope someone can use it, I know I'm going to! It needs to be used by 11/19 online, fyi.
Go HERE to order online.

What I'm loving Wednesday

Things that I'm loving today:

Blue skies out my office window. It was super cold when I left for work, 41°, but I am loving this weather!

Christmas time is coming! I admit it's a little early, but I'm really really excited. I can't wait to start decorating. I even started listening to Christmas music on the way to work yesterday. I told Ryan that we're putting up a tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving, no matter what! :D

I'm really loving getting my butt kicked at CrossFit.
I love that I am getting stronger and feeling better all the time. There are muscles in places I never have had before. It's pretty amazing.

Doing a "skin the cat"(yeah gross name) on the rings.

Kettlebell swing with a 44lb kettlebell.

I did 105 clean & jerks last night with 65lbs. I wasn't sure if I wanted to puke or pass out afterwards. Fortunately I didn't do either.

The week is almost half over. I hope the weather holds for the weekend!

The new member of our (auto) herd.

So I'm sure everyone is aware how much I love(sarcasm) riding the bus. I've finally had all I can take with crazy people/bums/gross smells/wasted time and no longer am going to ride it.
At least for a while.

So, the most logical thing for me to do was look for a commuting car. Something that gets good gas mileage and was cheap.
I love my Subaru, but I don't want to rack up the miles on it with my 50mile round trip commute every day. Not to mention, all though it gets good mileage for what it is, I'm usually only getting about 25mpg on my drive to work and back.

Enter our new ride.
I originally thought about looking for an older Toyota, but even with a 4 cylinder engine I'd have been lucky to get 30mpg.
VW diesels on the other hand are known to get 40-50mpg. Perfect.
As I started looking for used ones on craigslist, it quickly became apparent that they are very sought after and tend to hold their value. (sigh)

Lucky for me, we found one for a good price up in Lynnwood(only 15 min away) and when we checked it out it seemed like a great little car.

Honestly, I never in my whole life thought I would own a Beetle. Ha. Never say never.

Our new little friend:
A 1998 Volkswagen New Beetle TDI.
White.
136,000 miles(these motors can be good for over 300,000 at least).
Black leather interior.
Tinted windows.
5 Speed.

Ryan purchased some cheap but really nice/brand new wheels on CL to make it look more sporty. I think they look great and to be honest, I'm really starting to love this little car.
It's roomy inside, the backseat isn't too cramped and it's actually fun to drive.

And his name is Marshmellow! :D

p.s. I kinda want to start listening to Christmas music already... is that weird?? :)

It's 7:45am and still dark.

What. The. Heck.

I don't usually notice it get light out because my desk faces away from the window, but I was surprised when I turned around and it was black. Ugh. Gross. Plus, it's rainy.
What a start to November.
Speaking of, wow.
October sure flew by.
I think this crappy weather and shorter days have made me unmotivated about my blog. Or maybe the fact that I have a bunch of photos to go through, which will take forever, is making me lazy.
I HAVE had the time to blog, I just haven't wanted to. Maybe a break will have helped and I'll be able to get it going again soon.

So, in other news, here's what's new in my life:

• The garage is close to being done. The final wall is being finished today. All that is left is inside stuff, eg: wiring, insulating, sheet rock.


• I had been thinking about it for a while, but finally made up my mind, and I am going back to school in January. I registered last week at Lake Washington Technical College. I am going for an Accounting Assistant cert. It's only 7 classes, but I will be working full time during. I'm only planning to take one class a quarter so I don't burn myself out. I'm excited and not excited about it. I already feel like I don't have enough hours in the day, but it will be good for my career and life. On a related note, I kicked butt on the placement test. :D I got 100% in reading and writing and got placed into Math 90(algebra), which is awesome since I've done little to no math since HS 7 years ago.


• Work is good. Nothing new really. My boss is very supportive of me going back to school though. They are willing to work around class schedules if in the future I can't get evening classes. That is great for me and I appreciate it a lot. The main reason I am going to school is to make myself more valuable to my company.


• We only had 1 Trick or Treater last night. It was sad. Ryan gave her 2 full size candy bars. :)


• I went to Bath and Body works on Saturday with Ryan(who by the way, is one of my favorite shopping companions. He's great!) because I had a coupon for a free travel size. I was utterly disappointed to find that they are no longer making my FAVE scent! Two Christmases ago, Ryan's mom gave me a lotion from there called Vanilla Noir. I LOVED IT. I bought more after I used it up and every time I went in they still had it so I thought it was going to stick around. Well the good news is they had it online still! I just ordered 4 bottles so now I wont run out! Yay!


• We're getting a home phone for the first time since we've had our house. We've never needed/wanted one, but it's one of those situations where it is going to make our cable and internet cheaper. So weird how that works.


• So best for last. I cut my hair!!! :D It's the shortest it's been since I was about 9 years old, just below my chin. I love it though. It's super cute and soooo much easier. Ryan really likes it too. The photos are from Saturday night, my attempt at dressing up for Halloween, hence the darkish makeup and one from my phone right after I got it done. :)

I was also tagged in a Q&A by the wonderful Amber at A Day In The Life Of Amber.

Here are my answers. I'm too lazy to tag anyone back at the moment. :P

1. What is your favorite dessert?
Creme Brulee would be my first thought. I'll stick with that.

2. Ever tried to cook something and failed miserably?
Not miserably, but I have failed. It helps me learn though!

3. Is there a dish you haven't made yet but really want to?
Hmm.... Not really. Making bread for the first time from scratch was a huge deal for me though. I was really excited about it.

4. What is your favorite food?
Oh geeze. I love tortellini. I love sushi. I'd say sushi is the front runner currently. I never get sick of it.

5. What is your least favorite food?
Fried junk or anything with horse radish... Bleh.

6. Do you have any seasonal meals you like?
Not really. I'm a total weirdo and don't really enjoy thanksgiving foods.

7. What's your comfort food?
Mac and cheese with broccoli and turkey hot dogs.

8. Chocolate: milk, dark or white?
I really like dark chocolate stuff. Plus, I can pretend it has some health value which makes me feel better. :)

Montana adventure Labor Day 2010

Well what do you know. I actually got some photos done.
You might be wondering what the big deal is.
Well let me just say I started at 7:15 and it's now 8:40. I just got done loading all the photos onto blogger. Because my photos are rather large, I can only upload 2-3 at a time.

On Labor Day weekend I went to Montana with Torkie to visit my mom.
It was my first trip this long with just me driving. I felt very confident though.
It ended up only taking me about 11 hours on the way there, with very little stops. Mostly just gas.
I got great gas mileage too. One tank I got 30 mpg, which for a sporty car like mine is really great. I arrived around 6:30pm mountain time.

The day I left I woke up pretty early. My moms outdoor thermometer read 36º. Brrrrr! My doors were almost frozen shut!
I made it home in 9 hours! I don't really understand how, but I did. It was amazing.

Photos from the weekend:

Our first day consisted of heading out to Virginia City to poke around. It's an old town with a lot of historic buildings.

Some famous road agents were hung and buried above Virginia City on what is known as boot hill.

It's a little hard to see, but this is miniature and says "rodent agents". Hahaha.

Grave markers of the road agents

On Monday we went to Yellowstone National park. I was happy to get a chance to go there again. I've been there more times than I can count, but it never gets old.

Torkie got to come along. He had a nice time even if it was a bit chilly.

Up at the Mt. Washburn overlook.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone(yes it's really called that). So awesome.

Our first animal sighting. Bison meandering along.

Then we came upon a whole herd.

Silly looking baby bison.

One of the geothermal spots.

Lake Yellowstone... which is huge.

Torkie and me at the continental divide. This is an invisible line that naturally determines which ocean any water flows towards.

My mom and Torkie. They love each other.

Amazing sunset in the Paradise Valley on our way home from Yellowstone.

At 5:30 am, I was travelling west on I-90 probably about 45 min from Livingston. The sun was following me home.
This is the most amazing sunrise I've ever seen. I had to pull over on the side of the highway, dig out my camera and take some pictures. I did NOT touch up these two photos.

The sky was on fire.

It's 9:08pm and now I'm finished. :)