Since I spend quite a bit of time walking every day, I like to listen to podcasts. I have some old favorites and recently found a few more to try out. Here's what I currently have queued up on my iPod (* = new discoveries).

WNYC's Radiolab
Science. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich
I've been listening to this one for several years. I got my family hooked on it after queueing up a bunch on a recent road trip. They usually roll out an hour long episode once a month and toss in a few shorts in between so it's not a daily listen but when a new hour long show comes out I drop everything else to check it out.

Spilled Milk
Food. Hosted by Molly Wizenberg (Orangette) and Matthew Amster-Burton (Roots and Grubs).
These come out about 3-4 times a month. The episodes are short and sweet and always hilarious. They pick a food item, discuss and (sometimes) cook. Laughter ensues. (And not to be stalkerish or anything but I spot Molly in my neighborhood quite a bit and I always want to yell out to her that I love her. I'm sure she'd love that.)

Jillian Michaels Podcast
Fitness & Lifestyle.
Episodes come out once a week and fit perfectly into my lunchtime walk (about 40 minutes). There are times when I find Jillian a little annoying but when she stays on point I enjoy hearing her take on diet, fitness, and living a happy, healthy life. Her side-kick and producer, Janice, is also a hoot. The call-in portion of the show is my favorite. I always finish up a podcast feeling energized and optimistic. Just get up and move that ass. No excuses allowed!

America's Test Kitchen Radio*
Food. Hosted by Christopher Kimball and Bridget Lancaster.
This one's a recent discovery and I LOVE IT. If you've ever watched the PBS show, you know that Christopher and Bridget are top notch; both are funny, witty, and totally know their way around a kitchen. They take caller's questions, focus on a few cooking tips and have a main theme/story for each show.

NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour
Pop Culture (duh). Hosted by Linda Holmes, Stephen Thompson, Trey Graham, and Glen Weldon.
These folks play really well off each other. They discuss all things pop culture: current tv, movies, music, books, and comic books. They also cover other topics like movie theater etiquette, the best road trip movies, and why they either hate or love Game of Thrones. Each episode ends with a "What's making me happy" section which always gives me something I want to look into further.

NPR's Ask Me Another*
Puzzles, Games, Trivia. Hosted by Ophira Eisenberg (with music by Jonathan Coulton)
Here's another new one for me. I've only checked out one show so far. Loved it! I found myself yelling trivia answers out loud as I walked down the Burke Gilman Trail. I'm THAT crazy lady.

Professor Blastoff*
Science, Philosophy, Engineering. Improv. Hosted by Tig Notaro, Kyle Dunnigan, and David Huntsberger (plus the occasional guest).
I recently listened to Tig Notaro's "I've Got Cancer" stand-up set and have adored her ever since. She and her two comedian buddies discuss a different topic in improv format every episode. They can be very funny at times but they tend to wander around quite a bit and I find myself wishing that it was a shorter show. It feels somewhat like sitting around in someone's basement, drinking a beer, and chatting with a few funny friends. I'm taking a wait-and-see stance with this podcast. I have to admit I oddly like their dorky "Name That Punky" gameshow... (@ 53:37)

Backstory*
History/Current Events. Hosted by Ed Ayers (19th century guy), Peter Onuf (18th century guy), and Brian Balogh (20th century guy)
I've only listened to a few and it's a really well put together show. They bring up a current event (let's say, gun control) and then discuss the history of gun control in our country. Guess what? To the average non-history buff, the facts may surprise you. I really like it! I've been into history a bit lately (I've been having my morning coffee while watching the millions of Ken Burn's documentaries) and these guys make you think. Super cool.

WNYC's Here's The Thing*
Interview. Hosted by Alec Baldwin
Alec interviews various people: celebrities, politicians, authors, etc... The questions are somewhat non-typical and the interviews often take place in interesting locations (for instance, he interviews Michael Douglas in Michael's Manhattan home and his young daughter comes home from school and gets to be part of the interview). I've listened to the first two episodes -- two thumbs up.

So there's my list. Lots of variety. Lots of fun. Sometimes I take a walk JUST SO I CAN LISTEN.

***

A note about my listening habits. There are parts of my walk when there's a lot of traffic nearby so I tend to turn up the volume a bit during those sections. I *try* to turn it down again when I'm in a quieter area. I don't want to damage my ear drums. However, Robert has pointed out that lately I've been hard of hearing (he had to repeat it twice). Shut! Up! Just don't.

I want to write a little about a few changes I'm making in my physical fitness routine. Earlier this year I wrote about not giving up running no matter what. That's still true. However, after some health issues, I've reassessed my goals.

In early March I contracted some kind of G.I. issue. At first I thought it was food poisoning but after about 5 days I worried that it might be IBS or something worse. I started altering my diet and cutting out foods. I cut out a lot of nutritious stuff that I normally love (raw veggies, whole wheat, cheese) and dropped about 6 pounds. After 6 weeks of that I got so weak I could barely lift my legs to walk to my car. I felt horrible (both physically and emotionally). Fortunately, after 2 months of this annoyance my stomach issues dissipated and I started feeling like myself again. I was determined to get back all of my energy and to work on being strong. I'ma gonna grow me back some muscles.

See, that's the problem I've had with running. After I turned 40 I had a harder and harder time maintaining muscle. Much of it was due to distance running, I'm sure. Additionally, this past year I've walked an average of 20 miles a week. All that muscle burn wasn't going to come back with a few Jillian Michaels workouts/week (her workouts probably made it worse, really).

Time for some new goals.

• Build muscle with heavy weights
• Add more variety (but focus on strength vs. cardio)
• Run shorter distances at a faster pace
• Eat MORE (!!) and supplement

Experiment with Heavy Weights

Once I decided I wanted to get stronger I started right away with the heavy weights. I practiced my squat and deadlift form per Mark Rippetoe's tutorials. Once I got that down and felt like my back was strong enough, I added weights to the barbell (50# + barbell) and started doing heavier deadlifts. Unfortunately, since I was doing this at home I was stuck without a squat rack and once I put those weights on the barbell I had to give up squatting with it (because it's a huge pain to take that shit off once it's on, while lying on the floor). I've continued doing squats with 20# x2 dumbbells. I definitely need to add more weight.

Since I'm doing this all at home, it'd be nice to have a few extra items. I'm thinking of getting this bench which I can also use for a squat rack. It's a bit bulky, though. I need to decide if it's worth taking up space in my garage. It'd also be nice to have pull-up bar.

Add variety

I've picked up a few crossfit type workouts from Go Kaleo and added them into the mix. I'm still learning the terminology for all this stuff and hoping I'm sort of getting it... So far I've done these combinations:

10 Rounds:
10 hindu pushups (I cheated and went down to the floor and I could only do them for 4 of the 10 rounds)
10 running reptiles (10 each leg)
10 dynamic squats

3 Rounds:
8 deadlifts @ 70%/8 burpees

Both left me pouring sweat. But I like them. They're short, intense workouts that I can do when I get home from work but before I have to make dinner.

I've also sampled a few online Barre3 workouts (I got a free week's worth). They feel almost too easy but then again, I only tried out the 10 minute workouts. I like that they focus on controlled movement and include a lot of yoga stretches but I'm not sure I'm going to invest in the $15 monthly subscription.

Another one I'd like to try (because this woman looks amazingly fit and the suggestions all sound fun) is the Blond Ponytail summer shapeup plan.

Run shorter distances, faster

I took my legs out for a short spin yesterday. Nothing says short like a 1.5 mile run. Heh. Actually, I'm starting to run with The Dot and she's a noob and terribly out of shape so were doing short sprints (30 seconds to start off with) and slow jogs/walking for 60 seconds in between. These "runs" leave a lot to be desired at this point but The Dot will get better as we continue to do speed work and shorten up the rest periods -- before she knows it she'll be up to 5K distances without resting. Last month I took her out for slow runs and she had a much harder time with them than yesterday's sprint workout. Sprinting is pretty fun.

Eat all the food

I upped my daily calorie consumption. Yes, I'm eating more food. I'm also eating less often. On average, I take in between 1800 and 2000 calories/day, divided between 3 meals. I'm never hungry and I'm never stuffed. I'm just right. :) Also, for now, I'm supplementing iron & calcium (in a perfect world I'd eat all the perfect things and never need supplements but I'm not perfect and I'm super lactose intolerant and I'm often anemic).

An average day looks like this:

Breakfast
Whey protein powder shake w/ almond milk, berries, and almond butter, plus 1 slice bacon and 1 boiled egg.

Lunch
Leftovers, usually. Protein (chicken, salmon, tuna, or beef) with a veggie, grain or pasta salad (salads often have cheese and nuts in them in addition to avocado & olives). A little homemade sauerkraut on the side for tummy health.

Dinner
Varies. Maybe salmon, brown rice, and spinach one night. And spaghetti, meatballs, and green salad the next. Often there will be a beer (or if I'm lucky, wine) with dinner.

I'm feeling so much better. I stormed up the steep stairs between the Montlake parking lot and Padelford Hall (@UW) during my lunchtime walk and barely felt winded.

Wanna know how to save a buttload of money on food? Plan ahead. It's easy. Come on. I'll show you how!

Warning, this is really long and pretty boring.

First of all, you need a weekly menu. It's so ridiculously easy if you make a habit of it. I have a Google doc that I open several times a week when I get a meal idea. I jot it down in my doc and close the doc again. I follow several recipe type blogs and now and then I'll see a really appealing recipe so I'll bookmark that in Google Reader Feedly so I can refer back to it when I get down to making the final draft of my menu.

On Saturday morning I brew a cup of coffee and get down to business. I don't eat breakfast before I start because I kind of want to be hungry when I plan everything out. More inspiration. I open my Google doc and finalize my menu. I try to make some of the same things every week so I really only change a few things here and there. This last weekend's final menu looked like this:

• saturday: steak & coconut spinach & ginger rice
• sunday: roast chicken w/ asparagus
• monday: coconut rice w/ ginger scallion* shrimp & snow peas
• tuesday: salmon w/ broccoli & cauliflower
• wednesday: leftover roast chicken w/ veggie soup
• thursday: spinach & bacon frittata
• friday: aidells sausage w/ black bean chili

*Check out that ginger scallion sauce. It is AMAZING!! (Also, versatile.)

Here's my thought process as I plan what to make each night:

Saturday is a wild card day. Sometimes we eat leftovers, sometimes we'll go out. Most of the time I just want to make up something quick and delicious. Steak often does the trick.

Sunday is often COOKING DAY. If I'm going to make anything super complicated it's going to be on Sunday. However, this particular Sunday I made plans to read and read and read and get in a little workout and cook as little as possible. That's where my magic roast chicken comes into the picture. Always fast and tons of delicious leftovers for lunches.

For the rest of the week I try to fit in a rotation of proteins & veggies. I'm still on my special diet (still having some tummy issues) so no pasta, bread, or added sugars, (and minimal to no dairy), but I've reintroduced rice into the mix on occasion with good results (happy tummy).

Now I have my menu. It usually takes me about 15 minutes to finish.

Now, The List. Once my menu is complete, I make up my shopping list which hopefully only takes a few minutes to type up and print out. I'm pretty in tune with what I have in my pantry, my fridge and in storage so it's an easy task to write down what is needed to make each meal come together. I do rely on The Dot and Robert to jot down their food needs on a paper list we keep in the kitchen as things come up throughout the week.

Let the shopping commence. With menu and list in hand I'm all set. But first, I eat breakfast. No shopping when hungry. Don't do it. If I use my time wisely, I'm home by noon-ish with all my groceries put away and I can move on with my weekend.

Costco:

• 5-pack ribeye steaks*


• 2 organic whole chickens


• almond milk


• frozen sockeye salmon


• organic berry blend


• sliced cheese


• cheddar block


• calcium & b12 supplements**

*I'm hoping to one day find grass fed beef in their selection; they do have organic ground beef so they're getting there.

**I'm trying a thing. More on that stuff another time.

Total for Costco: $139. A month's worth of 3 types of protein plus supplements will do that. Fortunately, I won't have to buy more protein for a long while. My usual Costco trip is closer to $70. I park in the secret place that doesn't allow carts which also helps in keeping my shopping to a minimum. If two of us can't carry it in one trip we can't have it.

QFC:

• orange juice


• greek yogurt


• whole wheat bread


• tamari (wheat-free)


• olives (green, mixed?)


• knudsen's cranberry juice


• amy's veggie soup


• amy's black bean chili


• apple sauce


• almond butter


• orange sherbet


• veggie corn dogs


• zoe cheese pizzas


• amy's gluten-free burrito


• mouthwash


• tp*


• lemons


• apples


• bananas


• spinach


• snow peas

*Scott's 12-pack. Robert refuses. REFUSES. to buy Costco tp.

Total for QFC: $116. I had quite a few items at home for this week's menu so my shopping list seemed small. The total cost, however, ended up not being so small. I shoot for a sub $100 bill. Amy's stuff is pretty expensive but as I've been researching good stuff/bad stuff it's always a win and I try to pick out the stuff on sale whenever possible.

Geeky note: You won't know this unless you shop at the QFC on Holman Road, but my QFC list is a thing of perfection. Items on my list are ordered by the store aisles so no searching around the list and no wandering around or backtracking (I get sad when I mess this up). Come to think of it, that Costco list is pretty much in order as well...

Also, this particular QFC has a front and back entrance. The back entrance is the secret entrance only used by seasoned shoppers and old folks (so, us). We always get a parking spot right by the door and if we wanted to (which we don't), we could stick around and chat with the old timers about the first world war.

***

And that's my shopping for the week besides Robert's occasional stop to make a beer purchase (hmm). All of our breakfasts and lunches are homemade (fruit & yogurt, whey protein shakes, eggs, sandwiches, nuts, veggies, olives & leftovers) so there isn't any need to spend money throughout the week on outside dining while we're at work/school. Ideally, there would be no dining out at all, but realistically, there's going to be a time or two when I need to buy a meal or a snack outside the house. I ate out once last week and spent $10 (including the tip).

If you're really curious, so far this month, with 7 days to go, we've spent $607 on groceries and $62 on dining (dining meaning we bought prepared food outside the house and paid a tip). For a family of 3, that's not bad. Especially when you consider that I currently have 2 freezers stocked full of protein (I fetched shrimp and beef stew meat on a prior Costco shopping trip this month).

I can't wait to help The Boy live off of $10/day next Fall when he ditches his dining plan. Manhattan can be cheap enough if you know where to look plus he'll also have an adorable little kitchen. Fun!

I'm trying a mainly non-carb eating week (I've had some annoying tummy issues this past month and I'm hoping that cutting out pasta and bread, and eating as clean as possible will help sort it out). I made my weekly menu on Saturday morning and also wrote a prep note to myself.

I was so excited about making sauerkraut that I put it on the list twice!

After a grocery run (that included Costco, Central Market, and QFC) I came home with the booty. A little more greens than I normally get, more fruits for The Dot (she's trying to eat healthier these days, at least somewhat, and I splurged on a Smart Chicken, grass fed ground beef, and a few other oddities (chicken liver and beef bones).

After a rather boring lunch of sauted bokchoy w/ kimchi and sardines (Notice I didn't say gross? I like all these things perfectly fine. Honestly.) and an afternoon run (yes, I'm running and have no injuries to complain about!) I did a bit of prep work.

I tossed items in the slow cooker to make bone broth. I made a pared down version of this bone broth recipe from Nom Nom Paleo.

The strained broth this morning. I'll wait for the fat to harden, remove it, and warm up a little cup of broth. Can't wait!

I boiled some eggs. A few leftovers from Easter got added to the bowl. Yes, that's Gus and Vespa.

I then made some sauerkraut per this recipe. It's funny how things strink when you add salt. I predicted I'd need 4 jars but only ended up filling 2. This was a lot of fun to make.

And finally, I roasted my chicken for dinner using my favorite non-recipe from Michael Ruhlman.

Dinner was so easy to make. I watched a few episodes of my new favorite, Trailer Park Boys, while the chicken roasted. After taking the chicken out to rest for 15 minutes, I sauted some asparagus with coconut oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar and a dash of salt.

Today, I'll make the rest of the items on the prep list (the spaghetti squash will play a big part in my lunches when I don't have time to make a big salad) and I should be armed with enough ingredients to get me through the week, with very little extra effort. And let's hope I feel better. I woke up this morning already feeling a lot like my old, jolly self.

You may have noticed that there haven't been any running updates in over a month on this old blog of mine. I started back into an easy running routine in January (a few miles at a time, a few times a week) and tossed in some strength exercises on my non running days (in particular, I did some short kettlebell workouts to work my glutes). Within a week of starting back up I started to feel pain in my left hip again and a bit of lower back stuff as well. Seriously? I was basically doing 20% of the activities I'd done 6 months previously. What the hell.

Anyway, after 3 weeks of training, my back totally went out. I spent about 4 days pretty much unable to walk, get out of bed, or stand from a sitting position. Once the major pain went away I was left with sciatic pain and a grumpy face.

After 4 weeks of physical therapy I attempted my first run in over a month this past weekend. Per my physical therapist's instruction, I walked 5, ran 2, walked 5, ran 2, etc... for 30 minutes. And my hip/back pain is back. It's minor, but it's there.

If you'll recall, goal #3 is Don't Give Up.

I'm heading out for another walk/run tonight. I'm shortening my stride. I'm emailing my PT for advice. I'm working my core. I'm doing one legged squats and wall squats and clamshells. I'm sitting on my lacrosse ball. I'm doing all the shit.

I'm not giving up. Those 30 minutes out there this last weekend made me feel alive again. Alive! Plus, this weekend we change our clocks forward. I need to be out there, sweating and watching the sun set on the Puget Sound.

And let's not forget my upper body (which needs a bit of work). Wyatt got me back into 100 pushups. As you can see, I'm up to 26 pushups (no knees). You can see my progress where I left off in 2011. I swear I was doing no knee pushups back then but I highly doubt I could do 81 in one session.

Several years ago I blogged about wanting to make goat curry. I finally did it!

Only, I was too chicken* to fetch the bag of goat so I used beef instead.

*For one thing, I can't really picture myself asking anyone for a bag of goat. Also, I think goats are cute.

I scoured the interwebs for an appropriate recipe and came up with one that sounded pretty similar to what I was looking for: Jamaican Goat Curry. One of my favorite things about this curry is that, unlike most meat curries and stews, this one has bones. Bones add so much flavor and when you get that meat-falling-off-the bone effect, it's absolutely wonderful. Since I was subbing beef, I headed to the store intending to buy some kind of bone-in roast but when I got there the only thing I could find was oxtail and beef shanks so I fetched a few packages of each (and so cheap, like under $10 for all that meat).

Then I came home and made it. I switched up the above linked recipe a bit (I simmered the curry for 3.5 hours and served it on plain white rice). The final dish was AMAZING. And seasoned perfectly. Next time, I'll use just beef shanks since they are easier to eat and the bones are bigger.

The entire neighborhood probably smelled like delicious curry for a few days. Perfect.

Oxtails and chopped shanks

Browning the curried meat. I didn't want to overcrowd them (because that would cause steaming vs browning) so it took me 3 batches to get them all done.

A critical ingredient: habaneros

After a day of refrigeration, I removed all the fat.

All the fat. In the compost and not in my arteries.

Eating time. Get in my belly.

Jamaican Goat Beef Curry - Adapted from Hank Shaw
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 4 hours

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6-8 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp allspice (see step 1)
3 pounds beef (preferably on the bone)
Salt
2 onions, chopped
1-2 habanero or Scotch bonnet peppers, seeded and chopped
A 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1 head of garlic, peeled and chopped
1-2 cans coconut milk
1 15-ounce can of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
1 Tbsp dried thyme
3-4 cups water
5 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

METHOD
1. Make the curry powder. If you can find Jamaican curry powder, definitely use it. If not, use regular curry powder (I used madras curry powder) and add the allspice to it. You will need at least 6 tablespoons of spices for this stew, and you can kick it up to 8-9 depending on how spicy you like it.

2. Cut the meat into large chunks, maybe 2-3 inches across. If you have bones, you can use them, too. Salt everything well and set aside to come to room temperature for about 30 minutes.

3. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Mix in 2 tablespoons of the curry powder and heat until fragrant.

4. Pat the meat dry and brown well in the curried oil. Do this in batches and don't overcrowd the pot. It will take a while to do this, maybe 30 minutes or so. Set the browned meat aside in a bowl. (When all the meat is browned, if you have bones, add them and brown them, too.)

5. Add the onions and habanero to the pot and sauté, stirring from time to time, until the onions just start to brown, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle some salt over them as they cook. Add the ginger and garlic, mix well and sauté for another 1-2 minutes.

6. Put the meat (and bones, if using) back into the pot, along with any juices left in the bowl. Mix well. Pour in the coconut milk and tomatoes and 5 tablespoons of the curry powder. Stir to combine. If you are using 2 cans of coconut milk, add 3 cups of water. If you're only using 1 can, add 4 cups of water. Add the thyme. Bring to a simmer and let it cook until the meat is falling-apart tender, which will take 2-3 hours.

7. Once the meat is close to being done - tender but not falling apart yet - Add the potatoes and mix in. The stew is done when the potatoes are. Taste for salt and add some if it needs it.

8. You might need to skim off the layer of fat at the top of the curry before serving. Do this with a large, shallow spoon, skimming into a bowl. If you prefer, leave the beef on the bones when serving. Shanks have a nice bit of marrow to be savored.

Serve with white rice.

Yield: Serve 8-12

BTW, I made this in late January when The Boy was still in town and he and The Dot had taken a walk somewhere while I was prepping the meat (which is always good because The Dot puts up such a nasty stink when she sees meat). They sent me a text of something they ran into during the walk:

So cute. I'm glad I used beef instead.

I was too ashamed to tell the professor that I made it and subbed out the goat. I really wanted to have him taste it but I felt like an uber wimp and totally unauthentic.

Earlier this month we finally got our car back after a $15K repair job. It had a few quirks upon return, including a fuse box cover flying out of the engine area when we made a turn, a screw falling out of the door upon opening it and a warning that our tire pressure was low. We took it back right away and had the fuse box reconnected and we were assured that our tire pressure was fine and they could turn off the error...eventually. The screw is still out but I think the door will remain attached.

So with that, we immediately took off on a mini-road trip with teens in tow.

Day 1: Seattle to Astoria via Aberdeen. Highlights included lunch in Olympia and visit to a Kurt Cobain memorial in Aberdeen. At the memorial, we hung out "under the bridge" for a few minutes. I may or may not have had a tiny tear in the corner of my eye. We arrived in Astoria just after dark and settled into our house rental in the Uniontown neighborhood. The house was, literally, located under this bridge. Once we checked out all the rooms of the rental house (always my favorite thing to do), Robert and I took off to Fort George Brewery. The teens stayed back at the house to watch illegally downloaded copies of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

Taken at King Solomon's Reef Cafe & Lounge in Olympia. I love this photo of The Boys.

Kurt Cobain memorial in Aberdeen

Day 2-3: Astoria. After Robert showed off by going on a long run while the rest of us slept in really late, we headed out to see the Peter Iredale shipwreck and Battery Russell. We then visited the Astoria Column, The Goonies house and grabbed a drink at Rogue's dock-side pub.

Peter Iredale shipwreck

Battery Russell. Definitely a good place to film a creepy horror movie.
 

Looking southwest from atop the Astoria Column

The next morning we drove out to Cannon beach then headed over to Tillamook Cheese Factory. We stopped for ice cream, cheese tasting, and a quick tour of the cheese making factory. Always my favorite (and so quiet this time of year compared to our summer visits). Silly photos were taken.

I had a hard time picking my favorite Cannon Beach photo so you get to see THEM ALL!!!
 
 
 

She looks the same, but she's not the same

This van is a total sham. No pedals, even!

Teen enthusiasm. No really.

Day 4: Portland. Just a quick stop. We walked from our hotel over to Powell's because how can't you? Later, The Boy and The Dot checked out a Woody Allen movie (Hannah and Her Sisters) at Cinema 21 while Robert and I drank tasty beers at Cascade and Hair of the Dog.

Day 5: Hood River. We planned to take scenic highway 30 from Troutdale to Multnomah falls but about 10 minutes before hitting the falls we saw a sign that said "road ends in 1 mile." Did we really just see that sign? Yes, we did. And the road, in fact, did end. It would have been nice if they'd told us that in Troutdale. Anyway. We backtracked a bit and made it to the highway. We got off again just before the falls and it was then that The Boy mentioned that he might need a little air. We stopped, got a soda out from the back, switched seating arrangements (him in front, me in back) and kept the windows open a bit (he was fine, in the end). We then continued on the windy road for a bit towards Multnomah Falls when we started hearing a horrible squeaking sound. We pulled over and stopped (and could tell that there was definitely a really bad sound coming from one of the wheels). Uh-oh. So maybe the message about low pressure was correct? Since it had been on all trip we'd just ignored it. The Boy and Robert popped out of the car to check things out and, PHEW, the tires were fine. We pulled out onto the road again and the sound was gone. Who knows what it was, possibly a rock from the heavily graveled roads (due to an earlier snowfall). We were all a little on edge after that and we pulled up to the falls, we quickly popped out of the car, quickly checked out the falls, and immediately popped back into the car to make sure it really was still all right.

It was, and within an hour we pulled into Hood River. We ended our trip visiting Double Mountain Brewery, doing a Full Sail brewery tour, checking out yet another beer joint (after dropping the teens off at the Hood River Hotel to do whatever it is that teens do), and finally, visiting a few wine places. Funny how I'm the wine lover yet we always seem to do the beer trips. Maybe Robert will someday surprise me with a trip to Walla Walla. One can dream.

Multnomah Falls

Wine. At last.

The next day the rain arrived. We drove home along highway 14, the Washington State side of the Columbia, until we hit Vancouver, WA. From there on, into Seattle, we were dumped on with rain, low visibility and miserable driving conditions. When we arrived home the rain continued pouring down. It was kind of depressing. (We also discovered that Gus kitty was suffering from another bout of urine crystals. Poor buddy. He's on the mend now with his super expensive prescription food. Sigh.)

We spent the rest of January trying to stuff in as many movies, walks, games and family stuff as we could handle before The Boy returned to college. It all passed too quickly. The Boy is back in NYC and classes start tomorrow. The Dot is taking a running start painting class at Seattle Central Community College twice a week in the evenings. And the house is suddenly too quiet and we're all a little melancholy. I'll get used to it, I suppose.

BTW, I started this blog 8 9 years ago TODAY [edited because I can't do math]. 904 entries, people.

In 2011 I ran 442.22 miles in 79.51 hours (full stats here).

In 2012 I ran 466.06 miles in 80.28 hours.

At the beginning of last year I wrote "If I remain injury-free and healthy in 2012 it should be a great improvement over 2011". Did I remain injury-free? No. But I still greatly improved. I ran faster and my race times were PR's. I'll take it!

The beginning of this year is a bit different than last year. For one thing I've barely run in the last 4 months, while last year I ran steadily through the fall and winter and ran my longest and best runs in January through March (before I got my first injury... WAH-wah). I haven't run further than 2.6 miles in a very long while and I still have a hint of a hip click.

So what are my 2013 running goals?

1. Sign up for some races. I need them to motivate me. I've never done a 10K so I'll definitely find one to sign up for and I'll definitely sign up for at least one half marathon. I'll need a few weeks to look over the races/dates/expenses. Since I'm all budget girl these days I need to consider what I can cut back on to afford the entry fees.

2. Set up a new exercise schedule. Guess what happens when you quit a regular workout routine? You pretty much talk yourself into doing less and less of everything else you were doing before. You lose momentum. By the last two weeks in December I was down to just walking. No yoga. No Jillian Michaels. No situps. Remember these abs? Gone! All gone! That wasn't supposed to happen.

I'm going to schedule 2 weeknight runs right after work and one weekend longer run plus 2 strength training workouts+yoga on non running days that'll happen later in the evening, post-dinner. That leaves me 2 free days to do whatever else or nothing. I'm also maintaining my commuter & lunch walks which total about 90 minutes per workday. I'd be a total mess if I hadn't kept up with those during the past several months.

A note about my weeknight runs: One thing I noticed right when I decided to take a break from running in September was that I was so much more excited about cooking again. I no longer had to stress about making time to prepare dinner AND get a run in and I returned to that happy place where I have a lot of fun planning my weekly menus and eating stuff that is well thought out and mostly healthy. It seems as if I can only have one or the other and that makes me angry. This time around I'm going to approach dinners with a new plan. I won't run on the days that Robert runs which means that on my running nights he's in charge of dinner (it also means he needs to keep a regular running schedule as well). I'll still plan it all out but I'll make it easy-ish for him. He doesn't know where 80% of the stuff in the kitchen is and if I left the planning and preparing up to him, I'd be eating sandwiches or instant mashed potatoes for dinner. I think I can teach the guy to bake chicken. I think I can show him how to steam broccoli. It's even possible he could learn to enjoy it. Mwahahaha. This should be an interesting experiment.

3. Don't give up. I had people say that maybe I should switch to another sport to avoid nagging injuries. To them I say, nope. I can't think of anything else I've enjoyed more than coming to the 4 mile turn around on the Burke Gilman trail on a sunny Saturday morning. Or running through the finish line after 13.1 miles. Or flipping on my headlamp and dashing out, shivering, only to return 30 minutes later, rosy and warm. Those long runs and those runs in the rain and the dark make me feel really alive. I may have to run them slower but I'm going to keep at them until my legs fall off. Once you've been there — to that elevated place — you can't go back. How about that?

The Boy didn't get to come home for Thanksgiving so he was really looking forward to his trip home for Christmas. Since NYU is on the semester system he gets 5 weeks off so you can imagine his excitement! He spent his last few days in Manhattan finishing up finals, washing his bedding (without any prodding from his mother), and packing his bags (he tossed all his dirty laundry in there...so sweet of him).

Several hours before his flight, he texted me to tell me that he was bored. Bored in Manhattan. The poor thing. I should have told him to immediately head to the airport and sit it out there. Too bad I didn't because he ended up missing his flight (caught the subway too late, the transfer to the AirTrain was slow, and other various travel mistakes were made). Fortunately, the airline booked him for a flight out the next day (he arrived at the airport 3 hours early for this one) and eventually made it home. We were all so excited when we met up with him at the airport. It was like a Folgers commercial.

The following day we did our usual "Friday before Christmas" downtown adventure. We saw The Hobbit, ate too much Mexican food and walked around to see the lights. We snuck in a few moments at Pike Place Market and mostly avoided the crowds.

On Christmas Eve the kids made loads of cookies and we celebrated in style with nachos, A Christmas Story, games, books, and cat ties.

On Christmas day we tried something new. Open a present. Eat breakfast. Open another present. Clean up. Open another present. Play a game. We managed to stretch it out until about 2pm. The Dot made some really cool presents. She gave me some beautiful prints made with her Hipstamatic "foodie" lens, framed nicely with the help of Robert. She also did a painting for The Boy. He loves it.

Finally, The Boy brought us some very thoughtful gifts. An art book for The Dot, a travel book for me, and a pretty awesome hat for Robert. Oh, and a new hoody for me. I will proudly wear it around the UW campus. Love it!

We ended Christmas day with a pot of Guinness beef stew, shared with friends. I hated to see it end. It was a lovely Christmas and I'm so happy to have my family and friends to share it with. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well!

Earlier this month we attended The Dot's first art exhibit down in Pioneer Square. She participated in the 30 Day Art Challenge which requires each participating artist to complete 30 canvases during the month of October (so, yes, they can take one day off, at least). The Dot fully embraced the timing of the project (October) with macabre nudes. Pieces are selling for $50 each and will continue to be on sale at least through this week down at the studio.

Here are some samples of her work (amongst other pieces) along with the titles she gave them. There are about 6 missing; we either didn't see them or they actually sold which would be awesome!!

edited to add that my personal favorite is "werewolf"

headless

tree

mask

giant

webs

deformed, blood

claws

snakes, eyes

skull

veins

werewolf

crow

pumpkin

carrot

ghostly

scales

tentacles

possessed

fire

red

ball jointed

wings

The pieces we didn't get photos of are
-elf
-holy
-shadow
-cyclops
-puppet
-wounded

I love the look of all the canvases tiled together. Each canvas is so different but as a panel it turns into a whole new piece of art. Just a sampling of what else was there (in all, there were over 3,000 pieces of art):