random

100.

100 days. Yesterday marked 100 days until our wedding. While I’m not yet freaking out, I am much more aware of all the overwhelming things I need to do in 100 days. Well, 99 days now. and counting. Oh goodness.

26.

Shout out to J-Gib, my Gemini twin. Today is her 26th birthday. Saturday is my 26th birthday. Two years ago we celebrated our ‘Sweet Sixteen and a half’ birthdays together. I think everyone, except for the two of us, was confused as to why we called it that. Uh…16+(1/2 of 16)=24. We thought it was clever.

I was on crutches and painkillers as a result of my marathon shin fracture debacle, but I’ll always cherish that birthday. Hopping around like a disabled princess, yet surrounded by friends.

10

10 hours of driving in Todd’s car is not comfortable. I felt like a crumpled up piece of paper by the time I got out of the car. We made a ‘quick’ 5-hour drive to Idaho for his Uncle Ken’s memorial service and had to turn around and get back to Seattle without much time to rest. But I’m glad we went, I only met Ken two years ago, but there was never a dull moment when in his presence. We’ll miss Uncle Ken and his great sense of humor (and homemade wine). It helped me reflect on my own friends and family who’ve left us all too early, but as someone perfectly stated it yesterday, we experience these hardships so that we can come to know God and appreciate the life he’s blessed us with. Amen to that.

Todd bought me 2 pounds of cherries, 3 pounds of apricots, 1 cantaloupe, 5 apples and 1 bundle of asparagus at one of the roadside fruitstands that dot the landscape in Middle-Washington. I should do something great and make a pie or cobbler, but likely will just end up snacking on them and giving myself a tummyache. Totally worth it!

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!!

I’ve been away for awhile. Not so much physically away, but more so mentally.

We had some layoffs at my company, which cut my department in half and left me with twice the workload. The last two weeks were unbearably crazy, but thankfully this week has slowed down and allowed me time to breathe.

I reorganized my cube, hung some engagement photos, traded in my office chair for an exercise ball (I’ve only fallen over once), and adopted a couple of plants.

I feel as though I’m in dire need of a vacation. Not just a lazy weekend or a random day off of work, a REAL vacation. With complete freedom to do whatever I want to do and not worry about deadlines and to-do lists.

We went to Idaho last weekend to visit Todd’s parents, and for the next three weeks, we have a steady stream of friends/family visiting. (which I LOVE, don’t get me wrong. I’d even love more people to visit Seattle!)

It’s just that I think I’m fed up with my job and ready to be done with it and do something I enjoy. Still trying to figure out what that will be.

My running seems to have taken a vacation though. I’ve had a sore heel for over a week. And I’m doing my best to go against my normal way of dealing with injuries—which is to keep on running anyways— and give it some decent rest to heal before I start ‘training’ for some undetermined summer race.

In good news, my co-worker’s girlfriend works at Brooks Running headquarters and got me some new shoes with a sweet discount, plus she threw in two pairs of free shorts. I love free swag.

With the lovely weather today and through this weekend, I’m hoping to get in some pain-free runs. Oooh, and maybe go kayaking! Have a picnic! Something fun in the sun. With sunscreen, of course. I don’t mind the recent cloudy, cool Seattle weather, but it’s always exciting to see the sun come out to play.

Since moving to Seattle, I’ve become more eco- friendly, sometimes without even making a conscious effort to do so. Compared to the Midwest, it seems people here are much more concerned about the environment and aware of taking measures to protect it.
It’s easy to see why Seattle is in the top 10 Greenest Cities in the U.S.

I love it. Living here encourages me to take advantage of the beautiful outdoors, eat locally grown and/or organic foods, take public transporation, recycle, etc. I don’t even drive my car (Goldie) but once a week to bible study. Maybe twice a week if necessary, but sometimes Goldie sits undriven so long, I forget where I parked her.

I love being able to walk or ride the bus practically everywhere. Maybe I enjoy it because I was deprived of that option before. I love the bus. Or, as we prefer to call it….BOOSE!! (pronounced like goose)

My preferred method of grocery shopping involves me running to Trader Joe’s— with my cloth shopping bags rolled up and tucked under my arm like a football player—and catching a ride on the bus back home.

I realize in many places it’s difficult, maybe even impossible to walk to the store or work, but there are so many alternatives that you can do to be kind to Mother Earth.
-Reduce your shower time in order to save water
-Use non-disposable cups, plates, utensils and avoid using paper napkins/towels
-Get some reusable grocery bags, and if possible, tell store clerks you can do without a bag. Plastic bags are evil!
-Recycle, recycle, recycle
-Shop at your local farmer’s market and buy locally grown produce that wasn’t trucked in from clear across the country

It’s simple. Start small. We all have a long way to go, but even by changing just one small thing, you can help.

1. NASC: I’ve gone 1 week of being artificial sweetener-free and I gotta say, it hasn’t been difficult at all. With my main grocery stores being Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, that practically eliminates any chance of me purchasing products made with artificial sweeteners. The majority of items they carry are made with no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives, no MSG and no added Trans Fats. What did I ever do without a Trader Joe’s??? I ate fake food, that’s what.

2. Running: Last week was a great week for running, I put in 20 miles. 3 miles on the treadmill, 5.5 miles (around Lake Union, then to Trader Joe’s for groceries), 3 miles on Thursday morning, and 8.7 miles on Friday evening since the weather was so nice. I figured I would do my long run on Friday instead of Saturday since we had a busy day planned.

Check out that early hill climb. The elevation chart doesn’t even do it justice. It was a killer on my quads, but I knew it would be all downhill after mile 2 so that helped ease the pain.

3. Say Cheese: Saturday we met with our friends Chris and Laurie for a six-hour engagement photo excursion (with a break for Thai food in there somewhere). They have a professional-grade camera and were willing to put up with our nonsense so we took advantage of the lovely spring day and went to a few of Seattle’s best locations for photo ops.
(I’ll post some more pictures later when I get a chance)

Chris also had two tickets for a harbor cruise that they couldn’t use, so Todd and I sailed off at 9 pm and spent three hours cruising around the Puget Sound with a bunch of 40-50 year olds. It was a great evening but we were both so wiped out from the day that we were ready to jump ship after an hour and go to sleep. Still, it was fun to go on a nighttime cruise and we spent some time just talking and entertaining ourselves with a game of who-knows-who best. I don’t remember who won. Let’s just say it was a tie.

Day 3 of my ‘no artificial sweetener challenge’ (NASC)

My biggest fear with NASC was that I wouldn’t be able to go without gum.

I’m a gum addict.

I chew gum when I finish a meal or coffee drink. I chew when I’m bored or don’t have any food handy. I chew when I workout. When I run. Practically the only time I don’t chew is when I’m sleeping. That just seems too dangerous.

My favorite gum is Extra Polar Ice. I keep a stash of it on hand and make sure I have a pack in every purse or gym bag I carry. I frequently find gum in my bathroom, makeup bag, coat pockets, coffee table, shoes….it’s like a special surprise everytime I find a forgotten pack.

So I went cold turkey. No gum. Ugh.

But wait! Just when I thought all hope was lost, (ok not even 24 hours had passed) I found this.

Imagine my glee (pun totally intended) when I discovered Glee.

It’s all natural, no preservatives, or artificial flavors or sweeteners. Natural means that they use chicle, derived from the sap of a certain tree in Central America, which in turn, helps sustain the rain forest. Glee is good for everyone!

My only gripe with it is that the flavor doesn’t last long, but it is good to chew following a meal. At least I won’t have stinky breath. And I’m helping the rain forest, which isn’t something you do by chewing Extra gum.

I’m giving myself a new challenge. It’s part mental, part health-related.

I’ve decided to go a month without ingesting any artifical sweeteners. I’ve been known to carry around packets of Splenda with me, but I’ve been cutting back on my intake recently. And when I had some in my coffee yesterday, I realized what people mean when they say it leaves a ‘chemical-like’ taste. Plus, with all the possible medical side effects, I figure I might as well cut myself off now.

This means no diet soft drinks, no Splenda in my coffee.

In fact, I found a list of possible ‘no’ foods: Soft drinks, vitamin & herb supplements, yogurt, instant breakfasts, candy, breath mints, cereals, sugar-free chewing gum, cocoa mixes, coffee beverages, instant breakfasts, gelatin desserts, frozen desserts, juice beverages, laxatives, milk drinks, shake mixes, tabletop sweeteners, tea beverages, instant teas and coffees, topping mixes, wine coolers, etc.

Hmmm…perhaps I haven’t thought this fully through. I’m fine with no diet soda and no Splenda, but….No gum?!! No sugar-free Jell-O? No more of my favorite yogurt?

I do like that this presents a definite challenge for me. I’ll just have to be more aware of what I buy and I’ll have to eat the real versions of certain foods. Because when you think about it, artificial sweeteners just make our foods fake. Not how God intended it.

I started my challenge today and I’m aiming for one month of non-sweetener life*. This could either be a good month— improving my health, eating more natural foods, etc. Or, this could be a bad month— bad breath, crankiness, weight gain….this list goes on and on.

I’m hoping it’s the former.

*This does not include meals I can’t control: eating out at restaurants and/or not knowing what specific ingredients are in foods.