The Nephews

I have a younger brother and older sister while Andy is an only child. I have 4 nephews: Dylan, Wesley, Trenton, and Cooper aka ‘The Nephews’. Here is their Christmas photo that was taken at my mother’s request:

The Nephews

Oh to have been a fly on the wall during that photo shoot.

Christmas in San Francisco

Andy and I went to San Francisco to spend Christmas with his mom and stepfather. As usual, we had a great time. We ate, laughed, drank, ate, drank, laughed,etc.

Christmas Eve in San Francisco

Andy took this picture from the car

Cooking crab and being silly

Look at the expression on his face

(Andy's mom) and look at her expression.

Bill (stepfather) and Shannon (mom) opening gifts

more gifts

Hi!

Bill wishing Aleta would stop taking photos

Tourists at the top of Hyde St. looking at the most crooked street in the world.

More tourists

Merry Christmas

At the airport

Cats are happy to have us back home

Moving Phun

Sorry. I’ve been neglecting adding photos of our moving phun. With moving, work, training for the 50k, working on a new site, and going to San Francisco – I’ve been a wee bit busy. That’s how I like it though.

lint trap after drying 2 blankets. That's cat hair folks!

Boxes, boxes, and more freakin' boxes

It never ends!

Taking a break for silly pictures

Never seen this closet empty.

Tired, hungry, and in need of a shower

Need to buy rugs for the new place.

"What the Hell is going on here?"

Cabin at Lake Wygant (the new place)

The Cabin at Lake Wygant

We are officially moved into our small little place. At the beginning I referred to it as ‘The Hobbit House’ due to its small size of 600 square feet. Andy didn’t like that so much. Then we called it the ‘Wygant Place’ but that never really fit. The new neighborhood doesn’t really have a lot of sidewalks or good drainage. So areas of standing water are pretty common. There is one large body of water that can be referred to as a small lake so now we are calling our place ‘The Cabin at Lake Wygant’. Just thought you should know.

2010-Year in Review

Yes. Another blog post reviewing the year. But honestly, this year totally rocked! I look back on the last 12 months and am so proud of how much I have accomplished. Here is what I’m particularly proud of:

1. Finishing my first marathon
2. Finishing my first half marathon
3. Finishing my first sprint triathlon
4. Finishing my first duathlon
5. White water rafting for the first time!
6. Completing my SQL class with a B! (I’ve never worked so hard for a B in my life!)
7. Going on my first overnight hiking/camping trip the day after a 20 mile run. (That was tough!)

2010 was definitely the year of firsts. In October 2009, I decided to train for the Portland Marathon and I never imagined how hard/awesome/tiring/fun/exhausting/wonderful/life changing the experience would be. In October 2009, I had never run farther than 8 miles. And 8 miles was a HUGE milestone for me. I actually cried after I finished. I learned all about the wonderful world of chafe, blisters, IT Band injuries, and had to bite off more stray toenails during my run than any person should ever have to do.

My world went from happy hours and leisurely baking experiences to 5 hour long runs and napping. Oh glorious napping! Andy bought a drying rack to lay out all of our workout clothes. I went from cotton shorts to wicking material and running tights (which are awesome!). I felt like I had a purpose a plan for my days. No longer was it “What am I going to do today?” It was “I am going to run/swim/bike/or lift weights today.”

Getting in really good shape gave me the confidence to agree to my first overnight hiking/camping trip. Next time, I won’t go on a 6+ mile steady incline hike after a hard 20 mile run the day before. I also had the opportunity to go white water rafting which is one of the funnest things you can do!!!

So after the year I had, how will I continue this wonderful adventure? Well, I am planning on running my first 50k in February, going on my first international trip in June (Germany!), and running a few more marathons in late spring early summer. Andy graduates in June and hopefully we will be able to go on more adventures this summer!

Fat Pictures of Days of Old

I found this picture of me. I think it was taken in October of 2007. In late 2005/early 2006, I had lost a good amount of weight. Almost 50 pounds. I quit smoking in February of 2006 and my best friend died. I gained almost all of the weight back pretty quickly. So in October of 2007, I was fat. Again.

I slowly lost some weight. Not a lot. Thankfully I found running. I lost weight. And gained muscle. A lot of muscle. Now these legs kick ass. Serious ass.

Me and Jordan. Mile 23

Moving Fun

We spent the majority of the day getting ready for the move. Andy and I cleaned out our dresser drawers. How did we get so much stuff?!

Minimalism

With our move looming on the horizon, Andy and I have been trying to get rid of a lot of possessions. I look at the huge stack of books and think “Do i really want to pay to store these” or “Do I really want to carry these?” I packed up my closet and it took 3+ boxes. What the hell do I have in there? Stuff. I have a lot of stuff. And I need to have less stuff.

I’ve been reading blogs dedicated to minimalism. There are some really great ones out there: “Be More With Less” and “Castles in the Air” There is a whole community of people out there who are dedicated to living a less consumer driven lifestyle. And they seem really happy with their decision. To me, having less stuff means having more free time. If I don’t have as many dishes, I have less dishes to wash. If I have less clothes, I have less clothes to launder and take care of.

I don’t know if Andy and I could ever truly live a minimalistic lifestyle but we really need to prioritize our belongings and start getting rid of a lot more stuff.