family

Busy busy bee….that’s me.
June is here! Without a doubt, my favorite month of the year.

It’s the transition from spring to summer— when the days are long and the cool breeze blows in through the open windows while I’m sleeping. It’s prime-time strawberry season. My #1 favorite berry. Yes, that’s correct, I have an entire list of my favorite berry rankings. Perhaps I’ll share that with you someday. And of course, it’s my birthday month! No additional explanation for excitement needed there.

As I mentioned in my last post, it’s been a busy couple of weeks, with my friend Cat and my parents all visiting back-to-back.

Some favorite highlights of mine include our multi-restaurant ’sushi crawl’, going kayaking in Portage Bay, Espresso martinis at Chandler’s, my first Mariners’ game (and my annual eating of a hot dog), sailing in a 19th century wooden boat on Lake Union and having both Todd and my parents in town to meet for the first time. And that’s only the short list— I’ll try to round up some pictures to post later.

I love having visitors— showing them my beloved adopted city and even experiencing new things myself— but I’m in serious need of some ‘katie time’. I need to enjoy it while I can before wedding prep chaos takes over.

Then I’ll be crazy bee. I’m sure all around me are looking forward to that. MuahahaHAHAHAAA!!

Kansas City, here I come!

We’re off to our homeland before the sun even rises, catching a 4:30am bus to the airport. Ugh. Who planned that?

Oh yeah, I did.

I had to, in order to get the most out of our short visit, packed with wedding vendor meetings, a couple’s communication class at the church, tux/bridesmaid dress fittings, and squeezing in as much time as possible with family and a few friends.

That’s the bad thing about going back home. I love making the trip, but it’s impossible to see everybody I want to, or even try to see everyone with all the other items to check off the to-do list. And this time more than any previous, it seems like there’s a gazillion to-do items.

It’s a weird mix of fun and stress, but I’m excited for it and wouldn’t want to spend the next four days any other way.

My brother said we can play Nerf gun war

I went to REI last night to buy Todd a new Nalgene water bottle since he’s on a ‘no soda’ rule and I thought I’d make it easy on him so he could keep one at home and one at work. While there, I found my new favorite thing.

Introducing……my SIGG.

(only mine has the twist top, not the cap top)

SIGGs have many appeals, including:

1. The aluminum design is eco-friendly and doesn’t leave a ‘plasticy’ taste. In fact, I think it makes the tap water taste better (that’s probably all in my head though). And with recent studies claiming that plastic bottles can potentially leak toxins into their contents, I figure I’ll do my best to avoid that risk.

2. Very cool graphic art exteriors and various lids to choose from.
(here are just a few)

3. They’re made in Switzerland, and I’M made in Switzerland! Ok, technically, I wasn’t MADE in Switzerland, but my maternal ancestors were, which makes me 1/2 Swiss.
I love all things Swiss…Swiss Cheese, Swiss Chocolate, Swiss Army knives, Swiss watches, Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa (although this isn’t actually made by the Swiss, it’s made by Nebraskans). And most importantly, the Swiss’ neutrality during World Wars. Gotta respect that.

This is where I segue into my lifelong dream to travel to Switzerland….ever since I was little and my grandparents would talk about their ancestral land, I’ve wanted to go there and stay at a chalet and eat cheese and chocolate and play an alpenhorn while frolicking in the Alps in some lederhosen with my hair braided like Heidi. Someday, somehow I’ll fulfill that dream. And I’ll be sure to have my trusty SIGG by my side.

Pop Quiz:

Dallas was _________.
a. a nice change from Seattle’s weather
b. sunny and warm
c. cold

The correct answer is C. Dallas was cold.

Who would’ve thought? I packed my bags Friday night based on the forecast that it will be warm and humid, with a chance of rain.

WRONG.

While I was glad to not be running in warm and humid weather, I wasn’t *quite* prepared for 40 degree temps. In hindsight, I probably should’ve packed some old gloves and a long sleeve shirt to wear before the race. And some warm pants would’ve been nice too.

But despite the weather surprise, it turned out to be a great race and a fun weekend with my cousins Leann, Ryan and his wife, Lindsay.

The course was flat and fast, the scenery was good and the crowds were impressive considering the ‘not-so-pleasant-to-be-standing-outside-for-hours’ weather. Ryan made an excellent running partner and pushed me at a faster pace than I normally run, but it felt great (up until the last mile).

The most exhilarating part of the race was running through downtown Dallas at Mile 12, the band was playing, the fans were cheering and the announcer shouted “Go Katie! You rock! One more mile!” My legs moved faster, my eyes teared up, and I pumped my fist in glee. But….that last 1.1 mile was the LONGEST ever. I kept trudging on though because I didn’t want to slow Ryan down. (we talked after the race and he felt the same way about not wanting to slow me down. talk about good silent motivation!)

And when it was all over, we both walked away with a PR of 1:47:19! (This even despite our back-of-the-pack start and a 10:00 first mile.)

To top it all off, Leann and Lindsay (who ran the full marathon) both qualified for Boston!

I’ll have more pictures to post soon, but now I’m just wrapping things up and heading back to Kansas City for a good ol’ family Christmas time! Let’s just pray the ice doesn’t interfere with our fun.

I get to enjoy a lovely evening by myself doing laundry and tucking myself into bed by 9 pm. It’s a super early start for me tomorrow with a 7 am flight and since I’m confined by the bus schedules at such an early hour, my only chance to get there in time is to take the 4:15 bus. If I miss that bus…..well…..I’ll be spending my weekend in chilly Seattle instead of deep in the heart of Texas.
I’m super excited for the weekend, although this will be the fastest cross country trip I’ve ever made. But it will be nice to spend time with my cousins and the weather looks like it won’t be *too* bad:

It’s my cousin Ryan’s first half marathon and our plan is to run it together, so I’m really looking forward to having an entertaining run.

More details on the flip side!

Whew!!! i’ve finally had time to sit down and recap where i’ve been for the past week. i got two new tires on my car, was able to pick it up in time to meet my parents at the airport and set out on a fun-filled week with them. i feel like the time passed so quickly, but i was able to show them so many things that i love about seattle. We did the obvious: Space Needle, Pike Place Market, ride the ferry to Bainbridge Island, etc. But I was glad that being a semi-resident, I was able to take them places most tourists don’t get to go.

We enjoyed a picnic at Gas Works Park, where my dad was able to watch all the seaplanes take off and land. The Todd gave them a tour of the Microsoft campus, and we spent several hours at the ship locks and salmon ladders, which was really quite interesting. We walked a lot and took the bus as much as possible, except for Friday when we were headed to the Museum of Flight.

This is where my plans changed….much to my surprise and total obliviousness, my brother and sister-in-law flew into Seattle for the weekend. I was totally surprised and confused, but I finally got ahold of things and we picked them up and headed out for another round of Seattle sightseeing. We went back to Pike Place, rode the ferry, and Todd met us out for dinner and we all went up the Space Needle that evening. It was really great having my entire family here, even though at times there were six of us piled in my car and I had to deviate from my planned schedules.

Saturday we ventured out to Snoqualmie Falls where us kids did a small hike and then took a tour of Columbia Winery.

The weather turned rainy so we enjoyed an evening at the hotel with wine and Scrabble fun. I wish they could’ve stayed longer, but I’m glad we were able to spend time together and I could show them around the area. And it was nice, having their familiar faces, because every once in a while I do get a little homesick.

Consequently, I took a week off from running since I was playing chauffeur and did an ample amount of walking. But it was enjoyable to get back out for a 4 mile run yesterday. I think I’ll do a short run along the Lake Sammamish trail this evening.

It’s not like I needed a vacation from a job, but I welcomed the vacation from searching for a job. Friday morning we headed to Idaho to spend the weekend at Todd’s parent’s new house in the Post Falls/Lake Coeur d’ Alene area, about 4 hours east of here, just across the Washington border. After 3 hours of driving, we decided to take a pitstop at the Latah Creek winery in Spokane Valley for a free wine tasting…..and then we left there with 3 bottles of fruity goodness. (note: I did most of the tasting since I was just the passenger)

Saturday morning I was able to get in a 3 mile run down by the river, but after the previous night’s delicious, yet very garlicky Greek dinner, my stomach just didn’t have the gusto to do much more than that. We all drove about 45 minutes north to the quaint little town of Sandpoint, ID where they were having an arts festival along Lake Pond Oreille. I never knew Idaho was such a vacation destination, but after spending some time at their mountain lakes, it’s easy to see why.

Who would ever guess this is in Idaho?!?

On the way back to Seattle on Sunday afternoon, we stopped in Spokane to walk around the riverfront area and took a gondola ride above the waterfalls.

It’s looking to be a very busy week, I have a couple interviews and my parents are flying into Seattle for a 5 day visit. I’m super excited to show them around. But just my luck, my tire has severe damage and i have to take it into the shop tomorrow, manage to find my way downtown on the bus in time for my interview and hopefully meet up with my parents sans car. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. Good night.