Yard work

Undoubtedly, the biggest task for a homeowner is yard work. Maybe every house is like this but I swear we seemed to find the house with the biggest area to keep up versus the square footage. I am not fond of yard work. I know there are people out there who are but I'm just not one of them. All that aside, it's really not too bad when you have clear goals (we're going to weed to HERE and then eat dinner) and gloves.

The picture above shows a patch of land behind our house that no one ever sees. Does that mean it doesn't exist? Sadly not. Even though no one sees it, we still get to keep it weeded. I don't remember what it looked like when we moved in last April but by THIS April, it looked like a greenbelt. See that small patch of weeds toward the back (technically the front) fence? Imagine weeds like that all the way up to the nearest window well. It was BAD. But after two sessions of weeding, it now looks like the above. We found all kinds of creepy crawlies who have hopefully found new homes NOT on our property (I "relocated" the slugs to our neighbor's yard... they're renters, they won't know) and it's nice to look out the office window (the one nearest the chimney) and not see a forest. I really wish I had taken a before picture because it's such a dramatic change but you'll just have to use your imagination.

Ahh yard work. It's painful at the time but you sure can see the fruits of your labor!

Running recap

Kelly, Della and me -- the hardcore runners of the family!

I went all public with my running resolutions here and wanted to give an update on them. I ran my third half-marathon a couple weeks ago in Portland, Oregon, my first Portland Rock ‘n Roll. I knew the two-hour goal was a long shot so I aimed for 2:10 instead, a 10-minute mile average. I didn’t quite make it in 2:10 but did manage 2:12, shaving off five minutes from last year’s time! Even though I was short of my goal, I was still pleased to have taken off minutes from my previous PR. And now I have about four weeks until my next half-marathon, my third time at the Seattle Rock ‘n Roll. Four weeks to take off two more minutes!

As for running four times a week? Well… I’ve been managing three. When we had our church small group on Mondays, I was able to easily run Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Now that we’ve been attending small group on Thursdays, I’ve had to switch my running schedule to Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. And let me tell you, it’s HARD to run on Fridays. We so often have plans that it’s pretty difficult to throw a run into the mix. But any other day would have me running three days in a row and I don’t think I’m strong enough for that. So right now I just have to be fine with not getting in that fourth run if that’s what happens. And that’s ok.

And the treadmill? Guys, I haven’t been to the gym in ages so I don’t think I’ve touched a treadmill since February. I got much better at braving the cold and rain and doing my winter runs at the local high school track, which meant I didn’t have to truck it to the gym to get in my running. So, that’s that. And that’s ok.

My new goal that I’ve been tracking is to run at least 50 miles each month. April saw 63 miles and May saw 52! May was the real shocker to me considering I took two weeks off running, one because I was in Colorado and another to “recover” from the half-marathon. I’m really getting my money’s worth out of these shoes of mine.

Sarah’s wedding weekend

Last weekend I drove to Spokane to participate in a friend’s wedding! I grew up with Sarah in my hometown of Greeley, Colorado and she was also in my wedding, along with two other girls we grew up with. Now that Sarah’s hitched, we’ve all been in each other’s weddings! Megan got married in 2006, I got married in 2008, then Breanna in 2012, and now Sarah in 2013. It’s the end of an era for us; I joked that we needed to find some more marriageable friends because the weddings have been a great excuse to get together. After all, who wants to be the one girl of the foursome who can’t make the wedding?

Sarah’s wedding was pretty convenient for me because Spokane is drivable – about four and a half hours from Seattle. I took the day off on Friday to make the drive and arrived at the venue just as everyone else was getting there to start setting up and decorating. After the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, I went to the airport to pick up Megan. We shared a room in Sarah’s apartment for the weekend and it brought back such great memories of sleepovers from middle school and high school. At one point I told Megan I felt like we were in her old room in Greeley and there should be glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling… and we should be listening to Sarah McLachlan. She asked if I remembered the hammock she strung up in her room and I had to confess I’d forgotten until now! As soon as she mentioned that I could remember a lazy summer day where we laid in the hammock and watched a war movie on her computer. Rough life, am I right? I miss summers.

The view from the Davenport.

I feel this picture perfectly captures Sarah's beautiful, loving spirit.

Saturday was a wonderful day spent with my friends. Sarah treated the bridesmaids (all 12 of us!) to brunch at the Davenport Hotel, a beautiful landmark of Spokane. If you’re ever in Spokane, you should check it out – the hotel has a ton of history behind it and had an interesting walking tour. Breanna, Megan and I explored it for a while and then went up to get ready with the rest of the girls. The wedding went off without a hitch and before I knew it, Sarah and Tom were getting ready to leave! My phone was in my purse most of the time so I didn’t get any good pictures of us – I know that Tom got a picture of all four of us on his phone though so we need to track that down. The wedding ended early enough that Breanna, her husband Johnny, Megan and I could go out afterward for a drink. We ended up at a bar called Fast Eddie’s, which seemed like a really popular place to be on Saturday night. We saw at least two limos drop off or pick up groups of people who looked like they were having way too much fun.

Breanna and Johnny

Me, Breanna, Megan

The next morning I woke up way too early (4 a.m.) to take Megan and two other girls to the airport. Someone asked me if I was going to head to Seattle after the airport run and I said, helllllll no! Heather’s got to get her beauty sleep! I think I would’ve been amped up for the first hour of that drive but might have had to pull over after that. Plus I’d already made plans with Breanna and Johnny to meet at Frank’s Diner for brunch. The restaurant is located in a converted sleeper car – really cute! Plus the food was great. And there was a ton of it!

Frank's Diner

This guy was my booth-mate. Yeah… kind of creepy. Funny story: we told the waitress we were in Spokane for a wedding. For some reason, she turned to me (the alone one) and said, “Oh congratulations!!” Which led to an awkward, oh not me, hahaha, our friend! Isn’t that weird? I mean, did she think I had left the new groom at home?

After brunch it was back on the road again. My visits with the girls always go by so fast!

New running shoes

I think I’m finally at a point where I can favorably offer an opinion of my new(er) Brooks running shoes. I recently bought a pair of Brooks Defyance 6 (and YES it bothers me that they spelled defiance this way – really, is anything gained by intentionally misspelling a word to use in a product name?) These are the newest iteration of my previous shoes and I’d liked those well enough to stick with the brand. I used my Defyance 5s for about a year until I started noticing the signs that they were wearing out – unusual aches and pains that I was reasonably sure I couldn’t attribute to normal exercise. To be honest, I was disappointed the shoes didn’t last longer but we all know how hard I am on clothes and such. Well, maybe only I know that – but take my word for it! For the record, I logged 297 miles in them before I switched over.

But when I did switch over, I thought maybe I’d made a mistake. The nagging pains continued and forced a weeklong break from running to figure out what was going on. My feet felt heavy and the shoes didn’t feel as I thought they should – we were not one with each other! However, six weeks after buying them and 13 runs later, I finally feel like they’re comfortable. Maybe it just took me that long to break them in? Whatever the reason, I’m relieved. I really didn’t want to have to try out another pair!

Space cadet

I don’t know what’s with my brain lately.

I locked myself out of the house on Tuesday after my run. But let me back up. Mark left for his soccer game around the same time I was leaving for my run and asked if I wanted him to leave the key to the house. Nope, I said, there’s one under the mat! I watched Mark leave as I stood there psyching myself up for the run. Then I decided I needed my hat. So I took the key from under the mat, unlocked the door, and grabbed my Mariners cap from downstairs. In case of rain. Without thinking, I left the key inside, locked the door and left. It never even dawned on me that I’d forgotten to put the key back until I returned from the run and picked up the mat for the key! Cue the sinking realization that I was stuck outside. On a positive note, our house is pretty hard to break into. Because I tried.

I didn’t have my phone or I might’ve called Mark’s sister for the spare key. I thought of going over to our neighbor’s house to wait inside but… let’s just say I wouldn’t wish post-run Heather on anyone besides immediate family. Plus it’s not like it was raining or anything. So I sat outside for 45 minutes waiting for Mark to get home from his game. And when he did, he said, “Why didn’t you walk over to Ingraham?” OF COURSE. I’d completely forgotten he told me his game was at a high school a 10-minute walk away. Come on brain, you’re really letting me down!

You know what the hardest part was? It wasn't the cold. It was the lack of entertainment! Speaking of someone who is addicted to her phone, being without my blogs/Pinterest/Facebook/Words With Friends was devastating. So I sat there and listened to my Caedmon's Call anthology playlist (yes... I have every Caedmon's Call album ever released and put them all into one big playlist) and quietly sang to myself. True story. Now I'm the weird neighbor.

Roll with it.

Sometimes you just can’t control it all and you have to let it go.

Last Friday I got off work at 2:15 so I could get home and hopefully be out the door and on the road to Vancouver by 3:15. We were going to a wedding at 7 and I figured (hoped) that would be enough time to make it from here to there. As the day would have it, Mark got off work late and we didn’t get out the door until closer to 3:45, which would’ve still been enough time had traffic been good. But no, traffic turned out to be awful. We ended up missing the ceremony altogether and arriving just as the wedding goers were moving to the reception area. We blended right in. ;)

Some lady in the bathroom as she and I were washing our hands: “Wasn’t that just a beautiful ceremony!”

Me: “Um… yes, yes, it sure was!”

When in doubt… agree?

I was originally upset when it became apparent we were going to be late. But hey, sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and accept the situation and move on! And I’ll be honest, I was much happier when I accepted that we were going to be late and heck, it was going to be all right. The wedding police weren’t going to be fining us at the door for missing the first 45 minutes. We got there for the cake and that’s a win in my book.

A shot at sewing, part 2

Last time we chatted, I mentioned I was taking in the sides of this blazer. I’m proud to report that I finished the other seam, re-hemmed the jacket, and it’s now as good as new! The second seam was easier to complete than the first, which boosted my confidence a little. I’ll be the first to say that this isn’t quality work by any means. I wouldn’t want anyone with experience to take a close look at the seams but I can at least say that I didn’t ruin it!

I’m still unsure on whether I’d do this again. I didn’t fail so that does help my case, but obviously a tailor would do a much better job. I definitely wouldn’t do an alteration on a full-priced item. Though actually, I wouldn’t buy a full-priced item that needed alterations anyway. Or even a full-priced item!

The cost of the alteration was pretty low, especially considering I’ll continue to use the tools I bought.

• Mini seam ripper: $5
• Dressmaker’s white pencil: $3 (DON’T BUY – it didn’t work for me)
• White and blue marking pens: $5

Total: $13

And I think I had coupons so it was less than that. Win.