What happens when I don't blog for a month

This evening, I went for a nice long-ish run through Madison Valley, arguably one of the nicest parts of Seattle, and ultimately down to the shores of Lake Washington. At the end of the road is a dock that pokes out over the lake. I was about 3.5 miles into my run at this point, and decided to sprawl out on the dock beneath the horizon-bound sun for a solid 10 or 15 minutes before continuing my run. To say that I felt grateful to be alive in that moment is an understatement.


This picture was not taken today, but this entry feels like a good excuse to share this shot I took about a month ago after running to Golden Gardens - yet another lovely Seattle park on the water.
The sky felt big today...full of those massive, puffy clouds that didn't mind sharing sky space with the sun - a rare breed here in Seattle. I had the dock to myself, and nothing but the sounds of the water lapping against its legs beneath me. The temperature was perfect lying-on-a-dock-in-a-sweaty-t-shirt-and-shorts weather. I could see to the tops of Cougar and Tiger Mountains both, my running playgrounds, and some of the snowy peaks in the North Cascades as well. Really lovely indeed. I couldn't stop thinking, I live here. I ran from my doorstep to this place. I live here.

I got together with Lu last week for dinner (Thai food, yum!) and dessert (Yogurtland, yum!) and a lot of overdue catching up. At some point, we got to talking about how easy it is to forget that Seattle is a city surrounded (not entirely, obviously) by water. Although a city of hills opens itself to the possibility of amazing vantage points and views in surprising places, there are also plenty of spots in the city that proffer no view of the water at all. My daily walk to work is one of them.

So, in keeping with the lyrics that inspired the name of this blog, I do appreciate the times I'm able to be near the water. It's a rare run I go on that doesn't have me running along, around, or over some body of water. I love it.

It has been a week of quiet, content moments like that, and catching up moments like the one over hot noodles and curry with Lu, and also a week of letting go and embracing change. As many of you know by now, I was offered a full time copywriting gig at REI Headquarters for the summer - an opportunity I am beyond thrilled about, though it has meant a swift departure from many other aspects of my daily life this past year.

In the span of two weeks, I went to my last (for now) web design class, my last (for now) in-office day at the magazine, and on Thursday, my last day (for now) selling shoes at the Seattle REI store. Although the goodbyes said this week are not permanent in the sense that anyone will be out of my life entirely...my day-to-day routine will indeed change drastically, and the faces I see at work every day won't be the same. The "goodbyes" of this week reflect the inevitable groan of change that happens in our lives, and dang, it's never easy, even when the changes are exciting.

Cobbling together part time jobs and classes and the occasional freelance contract project has made for an interesting, wonderful, and full (!) two years in Seattle, but I am hungry to try life on a regular schedule again.

Over a year ago, when I went through my last "Whoops, I have too much on my plate" crisis, I remember a conversation with my friend Tom about how being stressed out not only sucks up your time, but it also deprives you of creative flow. Without the ability to let your mind genuinely wander, unencumbered by the onerous need to constantly monitor your mental to-do list, making art or envisioning anything new at all is difficult. Creativity and innovation flow only once you've decluttered your brain enough to make room for their possibilities.

Happily, since being offered the job this summer and starting to wean myself off my current mosaic schedule, I have felt more balanced and content than I have in a long time. I haven't been stressed. I have read a bunch of books. (Ann Patchett! Toni Morrison! Hello again, world of literature!) I have had time for my friends and for myself, and it's been quite lovely indeed.

With Alan in town for nearly the entire month of May, we got in a lot of nice adventures, including a day of hiking and sunshine and waterfalls and breweries and bookstore browsing up in Bellingham.




Several weekends ago, Alan and Elodie and I spent the better part of our Saturday gorging ourselves on free cheese samples at Seattle's annual Wine and Cheese Festival at the iconic Pike Place Market. Did you catch the part about it being free? Drool. Alan and I came home and filled our fridge with blue cheese, young Gouda, coconut cheese (infused with coconut oil, for real!), smoked cheddar, and acted as temporary hosts to Elodie's trove of soft, stinky French camembert.


Homemade nachos with smoked cheddar. So much for my dairy and gluten avoidance.
I also managed to make it to two of four days of the 40th Annual Northwest Folklife festival - a big old hippie party at the Space Needle every year, that Seyeon took me to for the first time in 2005, and which was a big part of why I thought I'd love living in this city. Voted "Biggest Flower Child" by my peers in my high school yearbook, is it really any surprise I went to Oberlin College and eventually wound up here?




Let's see...what else? Two evenings of dinner parties with good friends in a row - Kate and Jeff's Memorial Day deck warming party, complete with grilled burgers and mini cheesecake tarts, and Megan and David's kitchen warming/anniversary party, complete with spicy Thai soup, chocolate-covered strawberries, and the best homemade bread, made by my favorite Dutch mother currently living in the continental U.S.


Sunset last night from Dave and Megan's living room window.
Speaking of delicious food, Lauren and I hit up the brand new Skillet Diner on Capitol Hill; I'm definitely becoming one of those urban foodie divas that wants to try out all the hot foodie spots. Aiee. Seriously though...plaid shirts on all the wait staff, beer and wine in mason jars, damn good fries, and again, all within walking distance of home.

Earlier in the month, Alan and I trekked up to the small, old navy town of Port Gamble with the Outdoors NW crew for the Beast Adventure Triathlon. 6 miles sea kayaking, 16 miles mountain biking, and an embarrassingly short 5K trail run at the end...Neal, being the rockstar he is, covered the first two legs of the tri, before I took over for the final brief running leg. The weather was miserably characteristic of the Northwest, so we both got wet and cold, but (well, I speak for myself) had a blast nonetheless.


The mountain biking part was very hardcore.


Coming down the finishing chute!


Team ONW!
I've gone for some lovely runs with friends, including exploration of the water tower at Volunteer Park with Zanna (4.5 stars on trusty Yelp; go read about how people give themselves heart attacks climbing the stairs for the best free view of Seattle, then imagine the two of us RUNNING up those flights...heck yes), and my first time cruising around Carkeek Park with Ron - a sweet morning run sandwiched between delicious, raw, Incan-superfood-charged smoothies. Why am I friends with so many men (well, two at least) who eat weirder things than me, run in Vibram Fivefingers, speak with exclamation marks, and have adorable little boys I wish I could hang out with all the time? Life is good.


Summer is in the air, and I am grateful as ever to be alive and here. Hello June!

Anatomy of a long (urban) run

I'm done with my winter quarter of school! Slept in today, awoke to kitty paws and sunlight pouring through the blinds. It didn't seem right not to do a long run today, even though I had plenty of other things on my to-do list nagging at me. I decided to borrow an idea from my friend Alex, whom I met at last year's Orcas Island run (where he totally smoked the men's 50K) and took my camera along for my long run around Seattle today and snap away consistently while in motion.


I found that running with my photographer's eye engaged made for a totally different running experience - first of all, I ran more slowly than usual, which was actually a blessing. I typically don't have the patience for proper "LSD" as it's called among runners - i.e. "Long, Slow Distance", the key component to any decent endurance runner's training schedule - but I took today significantly slower than my normal pace, and it was really enjoyable. I noticed all sorts of new things, found myself smiling pretty much the whole time, and appreciated Seattle so, so very much.


The full album, with captions, in chronological order, can be found here. (Kudos to you if YOU have the endurance to make it through all of the pictures.)

They showcase:
- Cherry blossom trees, skyline views, shimmering lakes, Puget Sound, beaches, bridges, doggies, hula hoops, kites, paper cranes, palm trees, biker butts, the number 33, and me showing some love to a bottle of Gatorade
- Capitol Hill, South Lake Union, Queen Anne, Magnolia, Ballard, Fremont, and more Capitol Hill at the end
- Cal Anderson Park, Lake Union Park, Kerry Park, Discovery Park, Gasworks Park, and Volunteer Park


Woot! This was great. I love, love, love my long runs (three weekends in a row with 3+ hour runs = heaven!) While I treasure their solitude and the quiet space in my head to detox from stress, it's great, too, to be able to share my run with others, in a way. Bless the internet. And Seattle, and my able body, and everything in my life that has led me to where I am right now.


This is a good place.

Cheaper than therapy

So, I've been struggling with something unusual and fairly disturbing lately...

Feeling bored while running!

My gosh. To my friends out there who frequently tell me I'm crazy and they have no idea why I enjoy running, I think I finally understand you. I have no idea what to blame for this unprecedented emotion, but the vast majority of my runs recently have just felt...dull. And mostly me just thinking about wanting to be done. Tired feet, tired body, feeling like I'm just dragging it through the motions. And resentful that I have some big races in the next few months (starting next weekend!) that I have to train for, so just not running if I don't feel like it is not really an option; I'm committed to those races.

Okay, maybe I have some theories:

1. I've been running in shoes that I've put over 1,000 miles on. Footwear faux pas/fail...and I should know better.
2. I've been running almost exclusively on pavement around the city, rather than out on trails in the mountains.
3. I made a New Year's resolution to run more regularly; not necessarily more miles overall, but changing my running habits from 1-2 ridiculously long (10-25 mile) runs/week to 3-4 shorter (3-7 mile) runs/week + the occasional longer one. The problem is that my runs usually don't start feeling good until 7 or 8 miles in...the first few miles always hurt and make me wonder why I do this to myself again and again. But then, inevitably, I hit my stride, my runner's high, and it all comes flooding back to me, and I can't wait to do it all over again. But of course, ridiculously long runs take ridiculously large swaths of available daylight hours - of which there are few these days, between work, school and January in Seattle.

Nevertheless, it's been bothering me a lot. Running gives me energy and pride and identity. Running makes me feel strong. Running is cheaper than a gym membership and cheaper than therapy. Running lets me eat whatever the heck I want and not worry about it. Running has helped me get to know Seattle in and out - its multitude of diverse neighborhoods, its parks and canals and bridges, its "backcountry" trails, its hidden public stairways, its best mountain views, its prettiest places to watch sunsets, its most hardcore hills, its nicest waterfront areas, cafes and bistros and independent shops tucked away in residential areas to go back and explore later. Running has romanticized the city for me in so many ways. (That's thanks to Amsterdam, the city which truly made me fall in love with running..., and where I learned the joys of exploring cities by (fleet!) foot.)

I don't want to be bored with running!

Fortunately, I've had a couple good runs this past week that have given me back some confidence. Maybe I do just need to rescind that New Year's Resolution, because the good ones were both 2+ hour runs, while all the meh-runs have been the much shorter ones. (This is why I always tell non-runner friends: If you don't like running, the solution is to do it more! The more you run, the more fun it gets.) One of the stellar, ah-I-DO-still-enjoy-this runs was at Cougar Mountain, my first serious trail run in a good while. It was raining, and the rain fell increasingly harder as the hours passed. I ran through so many washed out trails and mud puddles, and was soaked and chilled to the bone at the end of it - but deliriously happy! I felt like myself again: rejuvenated, alive, content.


The woods are lovely, dark, and deep...
Then today, I planned a long urban run between work and class - one of my favorite routes around the city, starting in Belltown, running alongside Lake Union, through Fremont, along the ship canal trail (so reminiscent of Amsterdam - bikes and drawbridges included!), through Magnolia, around my favorite loop trail around the wild Discovery Park with stunning waterfront views of the Olympic Mountains, then back and to Gasworks Park for a good skyline view, and around the east side of Lake Union again. Did 17 solid miles today, and took the following set of cell phone pictures of all the reasons running was not boring today.


The sun finally crept out from under the clouds.


Bald eagle(s) sighting! See if you can see the pair of them hanging out in the tree. Seeing them in the wild out here still stops me in my tracks, every time.


Sunset reflected on Lake Union, with Space Needle in the fuzzy background. No colors digitally altered here in any way. It truly was spectacular.

So, I guess I'm still a runner.

Whew.

Impromptu rooftop concerts and urban sunsets

Overall, this has been a good past couple weeks of working hard, but maximizing my relaxation and enjoyment of the outdoors with the free time I do scrounge up.


Random Oberlin sighting of the week! Saw this window sticker as I was sitting in traffic passing through Wallingford over the weekend.
I went for a long run on Cougar Mountain today...it truly is a trail runner's paradise there...50+ miles of trails, ranging in difficulty level from flat stretches to steeper, more technical single-track routes, and all interspersed with intriguing landmarks like a giant clay pit, an old mine shaft, several small waterfalls, a glacial boulder called the "Fantastic Erratic", and an old anti-aircraft military base. I've run at Cougar several times before, but this was the first time I set out on my own with a trail map in palm, water and energy gels strapped to my back, and just took to the woods for hours of solo exploration. It was 70ish degrees and sunny, but the forest is highly dense in most places. I ran in and out of cool stretches, warm pockets of air, sunshine and shade alike. Great way to spend my day, though it thoroughly wiped me out. I napped away my afternoon.

Jess is moving back to North Carolina at the end of this month, but we spent last Friday afternoon wandering around the lovely neighborhood of Ballard. Alan and I went back the following day so I could buy (finally, Tom, finally!) a cute lunchbox for myself to encourage more creative, thoughtful lunches to take to work. (Yes, expect a lunchbox blog post in the near future.) We also stopped in a cozy outdoor beer garden in Ballard to soak up the afternoon sunshine and watch the beginning of the Sounders game amidst a sea of fellow futbol fans. Did I mention that I love this city?

Zoe came over from Bainbridge Island later that evening so we could hang out. I met her at the ferry landing and we went out for Thai food down by Pike Place Market before going to the Hard Rock Cafe to see a band that she'd seen at the Ballard Market perform: Luc and the Lovingtons. The Hard Rock Cafe is a new addition for Seattle, having just opened its doors in February. I'm no Hard Rock Cafe groupie, but in all truth, it was a sweet venue. In addition to showcasing dozens of dolled up high schoolers for their prom dinner on Saturday, it boasts a super-sweet rooftop terrace with a nice view of the market and the Sound. In exploring up there, a couple members of the band recognized Zoe ("You're Ballard Market Girl!!") and we all hung out on the roof until the show started. The show itself was spectacular; their album got reviewed by the Seattle Weekly in the same breath as the Blue Scholars' album...woohoo local music! They're a feel-good reggae/funk sort of band whose music is all about peace, love and happiness, with special interest on their album in post-Katrina New Orleans, Latin America, and Africa.

Oh! And Jason Mraz has covered their "Freedom song." Rad.

After they played, some guy gave them $500 in cash to continue playing on the rooftop around the "campfire." It worked for a while, until condo neighbors complained and Hard Rock's bouncers kicked us all off the roof...but all in all, it was a truly magical night.


Cell phone photo. Pardon the poor quality.
In other news about my friends whose names begin with the letter Z...Zanna's birthday was this week! She had a rockin evening picnic, complete with Lady Gaga (in Ipod format, not in the flesh, sadly), volleyball net, yummy Trophy cupcakes (which just broke a record!), watermelon, frisbees, and a lot of good company.


Good, silly times were had by all.
There were also some lovely sunsets this week. Here's one Alan and I managed to catch from atop the Mount Baker neighborhood - a totally under-appreciated part of Seattle on the southeast side with spectacular views that most people don't seem to know about.


Most Seattle skyline photos are taken from Queen Anne hill, where the Space Needle features prominently in the view of the skyline. It's in this picture, too, but so tucked away behind the buildings that it's barely even a speck.


+ the moon.
So, I'm feeling much calmer and balanced than I was awhile ago. Crazily enough, I'm still averaging anywhere from 40-50 hour work weeks, but somehow I feel like I'm just managing better. The extra sunlight hours are helping my energy levels a lot. Running regularly again helps. And vacation just around the corner is a big deal! Onward...

February Air

Spring's arrived in Seattle! Playin' outside.
So, long time, no blog. And before I say anything else, I'd like to address my recent hiatus from Cup o' Joe Mondays...they will return, I promise. Perhaps not as regularly as every Monday, but know that I haven't given up on coffeeshop reviews altogether...just doing a lot of re-centering of my time and energy and priorities, I suppose. And I'm trying not to let my blog just devolve into coffee and running ramblings all the time :)

The past few weeks have been warm, lovely, adventure-filled, and brimming with good company. Ruth flew all the way from the Big Apple to visit Seattle for what she thought was the first time in her life (though learned once here that she'd, in fact, been here as a toddler before.) So, Seattle decided to reinforce all its stereotypes in Ruth's four days here - overcast and rainy every day, except for a few small windows here and there in which the clouds flirted with the sun and we managed to squeeze in some play time at Seward Park:


...and an afternoon hike up Tiger Mountain:


   

We also spent a day out on Bainbridge Island, which I hadn't been out to yet. My friend Zoe from Oberlin is doing a grad program out there, and her blog entries and photos have left me yearning to experience the beauty of Bainbridge firsthand, but somehow the fear of the unknown has kept me from hopping on the ferry. But Ruth and I had a grand time playing on the Island (albeit in the rain), visiting with some relatives of hers that live out here, and touring a co-housing community and Native American artwork of the Suquamish tribe.

A good majority of our other Seattle adventures centered around food, as I find that when people come to visit, the things I want to share with them foremost are the parks and mountains - but barring decent weather to do so, food comes next: Ethiopian delicacies, Himalayan (Indian/Nepali/Tibetan) cuisine at Annapurna Cafe on Broadway, sweet potato hashes and organic pancakes at Portage Bay Cafe, Mighty-O Vegan Donuts, other yummy pastries and Italian espresso at local coffeeshops, ice cream at Old School Frozen Custard or Blue Bird or Molly Moon's (notice my particular attention to quality ice cream in this city...), free samples of dark chocolate coated cherries and honey crisp apples and chocolate linguini at Pike Place Market...

Ruth and I experienced many of the above, as well as making some of our own! After shopping around Uwajimaya, a huge Asian specialty supermarket walkable distance from our apartment in Seattle's Chinatown/International District, we had all the ingredients for a rockin homemade sushi night (sans fish.) Aside from the vast majority of the friends I invited having previous plans/work/homework/a cold/misc, we made quick work of our rolls and cans of Sapporo.


Zanna and Wes joined us in the festivities, which concluded with a trek to the Garage to go bowling and play pool - to my New York friend's shock, for the pretty price of $5-10/hour. Apparently bowling costs $50-60/hour in the big city? Geez. Sometimes I miss the Midwest.

On the other hand, I spent yesterday driving with the windows down and basking in the blazing sunshine on a beach with a bunch of half-naked sunbathers and happy children and rollicking dogs, surrounded by towering, snowy peaks on the horizon.

(Not in the Midwest anymore.)
Seattle folk seem to be pleased with the Northwest's reputation for crappy weather because, as they say, "It keeps the rest of the world from realizing how perfect this place is and moving here, too." And so far, Seattle's certainly done its part to look wholly unappealing to any and all visitors who've come to see me. For Shari's, Ruth's, John's, and a good deal of my dad's visits to Seattle, it just poured and poured and poured. Mount Rainier stayed hidden behind a gray wall of clouds.

I guess Alan gets off the hook since he pretty much officially lives here now, too (hooray for both of our Washington-plated cars!) He came back into town the day after Ruth left, and arrived to 60+ degree sunshine, which has lasted the entire duration of his time in town so far. Although I've been working a lot, we've gotten out when we can to play in the sunshine.


Still can't believe this is a CITY park.


Olympic Mountains + Puget Sound + Sailboats = Beautiful Sunday


Mount Rainier, and the tide-washed sand in the foreground.


Playing in my Vibram Fivefingers.
We rounded out the day with cold microbrews and good food on the waterfront in Fremont and watching America kick Canada's butt in hockey. We also managed to finally get around to seeing Avatar last week - splendid! Yes, of course, the plot was trite and the characters hollow and predictable, and certain scenes felt emotionally on par with Disney movies - but the visuals, as promised, were stunning. The fact that we saw it in 3-D in a six-story Imax at the base of the Space Needle didn't hurt either.

Yup. 'Tis been a good couple weeks indeed.

Free your feet, and your mind will follow.

Yesterday was fantastic. Just a perfect Seattle day, in every way. I only worked a short shift in the morning - so my whole day didn't disappear, but I still got the pleasure of seeing many of my favorite people, and getting to do what I've honestly come to love - impart knowledge and help outfit people for their worldly adventures in the great outdoors!

Got off work, changed into running gear, and made the short and scenic drive up to Shoreline to meet up with Tom for further trail running and playing in the woods. For the first time, I tried out my brand new Vibram Fivefingers - a crazy but generally awesome innovation designed to help your feet mimic barefoot motion, but still get protection underfoot from the elements. The first word out of my mouth about ten seconds into our run was, "Ow." I felt everything. I described the experience as that feeling you get when you get a rock in your shoe, except there were a dozen of them, and no getting rid of them.


This is what they look like.
With that said, though, there's something cool about being that...ONE, for lack of a better word...with your environment. Seyeon's gotten really into running in Fivefingers, not to mention a good many of my coworkers. (Though for every one of them who swears by them, there's another ten who shun the things as though they're the devil's creation, and upon figuring out I got myself a pair, will undoubtedly denounce me as a lost and brainwashed soul, looking like a complete dork to boot.)

As Tom and I were climbing around and balancing on rails in the park, we did get asked by a guy walking by how we liked them. He'd had a friend or two who'd gotten some and loved them. I have this conversation twenty-five times a day with customers at work, as REI is the only place in a 500-mile radius that carries the Fivefingers, and we get more questions about them than just about anything else in the department (though UGG boots (i.e. glorified socks, priced at a hefty $140-$220/pair) are a close second. *Sigh.*)

Anyway. I needed that run, badly. The sun, the mountains, the forest, the joyous ache in my muscles for working new ones amidst the trees... Sinking my toes into the damp forest ground by Hidden Lake wasn't too shabby either. I think I'm going to like this "barefoot" running thing.

As I drove back into the city, I witnessed one of the most stunning sunsets I've ever seen. Words nor pictures can even begin to do it justice, but I did get off at a random exit to surge to the top of a hill and try, at least:


My dad's in Seattle now for the weekend (after a harrowing 26 hour trip to get here - damn you, Midwest snow!), so I'm looking forward to a few more days off from work, explorations, adventures, good food, and getting to share this lovely city with someone I love! Happily, I got to do just that last week, too, as Shari spent a few unexpected extra days in Seattle with me, and even though I had to work through a good deal of them, we had a good time staying up, catching up, and eating chocolate pasta.

Lastly...Oberlin and Kansas Run-ins of the Week:
1. Running into Celeste from Harkness Co-op at the local Trader Joe's
2. Sean, whom I played intramural soccer with, showing up to REI with his whole family
3. Randomly hopping on a bus in the U-District only to find Lu, my fellow Muser from high school, on it!
4. Haven't run into each other yet, but my elementary school friend Caitlin just moved to Seattle this week - cheers!

Endorphin-fueled musings on my crazy coworkers...among other things

I am transforming, and it's an awesome feeling. I have felt more consistently happy and calm and unstressed and myself than ever before, and I owe it to several factors, the following of which I'll explore here: life stage, environment, endorphins, and friendships.

I feel liberated, not being in school anymore. The academic environment, undoubtedly, is exciting, and powerful and motivating and wonderful, all at once...and I'd be lying to say I don't miss being in it. But I am so grateful, too, to be beyond that period in my life, to have more freedom, fewer constraints, more responsibility and independence.

Not that this life is without stress...but it feels more manageable than school stress did. There's so much pressure in college - academically, to push yourself, to please professors, to accomplish, to exceed all expectations...and socially, even at a purportedly nonconformists' haven, to "fit in" with the status quo, to want to always be in big group situations, to go out every weekend, to not "be lame" and stay in or go to bed early or ever spend time alone. Until I got to enjoy small-town Ohio post-graduation, and spend time off campus too, and with people not just my own age/race/socioeconomic status/etc, I think I really, really struggled with Oberlin.

Which leads me to: Seattle! Another big factor in my transformation. And along with that, REI. It's still too early to tell whether my REI friends are a good selection sample for all of Seattle, but if so, this is truly, truly my kind of city. It's been criticized for being a socially cold city - albeit a polite one, but one that's difficult to break into beyond surface pleasantries. But I feel like you could make that case for just about any city, especially as a young adult who's been accustomed his/her whole life to situations (grade school, summer camps and programs, team sports, college, study abroad programs, etc.) that make not making friends just about impossible. No matter where you are, it's hard to be thrown into a totally new place and try to develop meaningful friendships from the ground up. It involves a certain level of effort - to get out of your own apartment, to be bold, to be open-minded, to occasionally take the reins and organize gatherings, to be willing to try new things...

But in other ways, the friendships I've made here just...make sense. Instead of being friends with somebody because you're thrown into the same situation (class, dorm, house, etc.), friendships are built on mutual passions. Here, I have hiked, run, walked, biked, and played in the woods with acquaintances who, in turn, have become close friends. There are plans in the works also: snowshoeing, camping, serious trail running, snowboarding, and maybe someday, mountaineering. Anybody who's been in touch with me in the last two years knows how much I adored my coworkers at Dick's in Ohio - but honestly, I was a little bummed after I got hired there to realize that most everybody there was more fan than athlete. Not that sports retail is my lifelong career track, but I'd definitely sought out that job in hopes that I'd meet fellow runners and hikers and lovers of the outdoors, and it just didn't quite happen that way in Ohio. (Though I got other wonderful, unexpected gifts from them instead!)

At REI, I can hardly keep up with my coworkers. There's Jeff, who's climbed Rainier and doesn't run much but woke up last Sunday and decided spur of the moment to go run 26.2 miles...and Tom, who's celebrating his forties with a skateboard and barefoot trail running and 200km bike rides and absolutely kicking my butt in the woods...and Ryan, who did a full Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, 26.2-mile run) just out of college...and Michael, who's at Cyclo-cross Nationals in Oregon this weekend...and Suzi, who went to Boston to row at the Head of the Charles a few weeks ago...and Chris, who hunts with a bow and arrow and built his own kayak and sewed himself a pair of moccasins out of a deer he killed. There is serious peer pressure to ride a bike (or walk) to work, and everybody seems to pack themselves a healthy lunch each day. No fatty fast food for any of us; we all just sit down with our tupperware of quinoa or fresh salads - and it's awesome. It's just great, positive energy to be around.

Today, I went for a 9-mile run in West Seattle with Kate and Jenica. It's cold here, cold enough to make this fountain freeze over:


...but we bundled up, and had a blast traversing trails in Lincoln Park (which I wrote some about in July) and then running through quaint little beach-town neighborhoods to get to Alki Beach. Imagine the Florida Keys, except in 32-degree weather, and surrounded by mountains, and you get the idea. Cute beachside cottages, little palm trees, stretches of public beach, crab shacks and beach bars everywhere...plus the joys of mountainous, densely-forested trails!



Apparently, working out in threes is awesome. This was the second time this week, the first being an incredible three-hour forest workout with the afore-mentioned Chris and Tom, modeling our afternoon after the MovNat philosophy - training your body through natural movements like running, jumping, climbing, carrying, balancing, swimming, etc. We ran trails (the two of them "barefoot" in Vibram Fivefingers), vaulted over logs, crawled across fallen trees on all fours, leapt over creek beds, scrambled up off-trail hillsides, picked up logs and carried them around on our shoulders, climbed into trees, jumped off of them, jumped up and down staircases, balanced on rails, slacklined, and basically, just played in the woods. It was the most invigorating and fun workout my body's ever had, and four days later, my muscles are still feeling the burn...in a good way :) Here's what it looked like:

    

In conclusion? These people make me feel alive. It's not all working out; we have egg nog parties and hideous holiday outfit parties and Rockabilly-themed bowling parties. We have hot cocoa dates. We hit the local German pub with two dozen of us and pass around a giant glass boot of beer. We go out for open mic nights and concerts.


But getting outside is the biggest part of it. The quote "You are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with" has been of serious inspiration to me these past few years, and with that in mind, I feel lucky to be where I am.

Photo album catch-up

New banner for the blog! (I find Photoshop oddly therapeutic and relaxing after a long day at work.) I tried to include all my favorite iconic Seattle things, as well as the topics that tend to dominate my entries. From left to right: (1) fresh tomatoes growing over the summer in Seyeon's garden, (2) me running the Seattle marathon, (3) sunset over Puget Sound, as seen from Queen Anne hill, (4) Space Needle, of course, (5) a cup of Vivace cappucino, (6) the shelves at the infamous Elliott Bay Books, and (7) an evergreen with Mount Rainier (very, very faintly...look hard!) in the background.

My legs seem to have fully recovered from the marathon by now. I did a 10-miler yesterday, and for the first time ever, I made it back from the shores of Lake Washington without having to walk any of the brutal, endless uphill blocks from there until home. I'm more motivated and determined than ever to conquer Seattle hills, and I'll be damned if the cold front that's sweeping the entire country, it seems, keeps me inside.

In the meantime, I rediscovered some lovely, autumn-in-Seattle pictures I took several weeks ago, when the leaves were still richly colored...it's no longer quite this autumn-like, but given that the last few days here have been clear and beautiful, these photos aren't too far off the mark for how this city's felt lately...just cold. Really cold.


Pretty Seattle.


Cal Anderson Park, Capitol Hill


Fallen leaves.
If my memory's serving me correctly, it hasn't rained (not really, anyway) since last weekend, before the marathon. This feels unreal for Seattle, but the sunshine and clear, spectacular views of the snow-capped mountain ranges on both sides of the city have been fantastic. It's just the darn brutal cold. (Although Seattle's "brutal cold" has got nothing on Ohio's hardcore lake effect weather patterns, so I'm not complaining.) REI's rockabilly-themed holiday party was last night, complete with bowling, pool and awesome catered food...but WOW was the walk in red tights and an argyle mini-skirt COLD.

No photos (yet?) of that evening, so instead, I'll just include a precious couple from the last great REI event - our end-of-the-year meeting, which was Winter-Olympics-themed and therefore awesome. Each department represented a different country. Footwear was Italy, and as such, we dressed to the nines and Cam and Jeff made us all amazing cardboard Vespas on which to ride proudly into the meeting room several weeks ago. I collaged mine:


Furthermore, as part of our department's pentathlon team, I donned a kiddie hiker pack and a helmet and jumproped across the room and back...


...then hopped on a longboard, where I was pushed back across the room by a coworker in snow boots. Ahh, nothing better than getting together with four hundred other outdoors-loving dorks to play with all the cool stuff REI sells. Our awesome CEO, Sally Jewell, came out for it, and there were free ice cream sundaes and company holiday presents (awesome day hike packs emblazoned with "REI Staff") for all of us, and Jeff was granted a prestigious Anderson Award... = major company-wide recognition, his name engraved in a brick at headquarters, and an all-expenses trip with Sally to go play in the wilderness for four days. Basically, I love love love REI.

In other exciting seasonal news, Alan and I got a Christmas tree! I also finally managed to get the plates on my car switched over (Washington has to be the pickiest, most stubborn state in this country; I still haven't managed to convince them enough yet of my residency in their state to be eligible for a Washington state driver's license), so here she is, in all her Washington-ed and Christmas-ed out glory:


And, as promised, a few photos from around the apartment:


The Christmas tree, installed.


Chloe plays tetherball with a Christmas ornament.


Cuddlefest on the living room couch. (Take note of Chloe; she kind of blends in with the couch.) Photo courtesy of Seyeon!


Me demonstrating my butternut-squash soup enthusiasm


More kitchen.


Bookcase! Thank you, Goodwill.
More soon. It's now almost midnight, and I just realized it's Monday. And I got nothing to show for it, coffeeshop-wise. Shoot! My humblest apologies...