My 7K

I remember asking my friend Courtney once what the hardest part about running a marathon was. "The first mile", she said without hesitation.

I had to keep reminding myself of this as I ran a 7K this morning...but before I get into that, there is something I don't get. It was a 7 mile run. But they refer to it as a 7K. Basic math tells me that 1 mile does not equal 1 kilometer, because
1 kilometer < 1 mile, so maybe this post should have been titled My 7 Mile.

So the hardest part was the first mile. It was early, cold, and I just couldn't really find my "groove". It did get better, and I actually kind of zoned out towards the end and I felt like I could have just kept going and going. I summarized my experience in this little graph:



Our good friends from Pennsylvania-now-Seattle, Chris and Jennifer, and their 3 kids came and spent the weekend with us. Chris did the run with us while Jen stayed back at our house and took care of the 5 kids (which is harder? Debatable.) Here is a pic of Chris and Dale and I.


Here is Dale about to cross the finish line. He was laughing at his hair in this picture.


I just crossed the finish line in this pic.

PS

PS...I have tons to blog about. Lots going on, I have an ongoing list. We have house guests this weekend...Dale and I are running a 7K with some of our friends on Saturday...stay tuned for updates. But it may be a while still!

My Boss

Dr. Bowers really is a nice boss. Never once has he had the I'm-the-boss-so-you-must-bow-down-to-me attitude. He never gets mad, he never micromanages, and he believes in his employees.

He loves to fish, and on a regular basis during the spring and summer he will bring us all salmon. Fresh or smoked? he'll ask. It's great.

Today was fish day. I couldn't wait to get mine home and gobble it up. As I was getting ready to leave work today, I found myself in a pickle. I remembered I had ridden my bike, and how would I get my salmon home?

So I asked Dr. Bowers if he had a bungee cord. I was just going to fasten my salmon to the rack on the back of my bike and head for home (now that I think about it, I would have looked awfully funny riding along with a fish strapped to my bike). When he asked what I needed a bungee for, I told him that I had no other way to get the salmon home. "I'll just drive it up to your house for you", he said. My house isn't far from the office, but it's completely out of his way. He insisted. There was no talking him out of it. So that's what he did. (He actually took my purse and jacket for me too).

Thank you for the constant generosity, Dr. Bowers!

1 Jeep, 2 Jeep, Red Jeep, Blue Jeep

About a month ago, my husband treated himself to a new jeep. This is his third one. I am not sure why he is so fascinated by them. When we first started dating, he had a red jeep Cherokee. Then, the day I passed the licensing boards, he announced he was going to upgrade to a black Wrangler (I thought to myself, I pass the boards and you get a new car? Something's not right here.)


So he trades in the old black jeep for a new black jeep. I've driven it once...I was pretty hard on the clutch (haven't driven a stick since the college days so I'm pretty rusty). Bella is having a hard time accepting that the old jeep is gone. She says she misses it, asks if we can go visit it...kinda sad.

Greater Than? Less Than?

As a hygienist I have to use the greater than and less than symbols quite a bit when documenting in charts. For instance I would write Pt's perio pockets maintaining, none >3mm. In school I knew I had to quickly teach myself a way to keep them strait.

Today I had someone ask me which direction the V goes to indicate greater than. So I showed her my little trick. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but she pretty much thought it was genius. So I'll share it with all of you.

Here you have your symbols:



The greater than symbol then turns into a "G" (for greater than...see?) Then the other is a slightly tipped over "L" (see where this is going?) for less than.


Clever, eh?

Do You Remember This?

Today is the 29th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Who remembers this? I do, sort of. I would have just turned three, but my memory is quite stellar. I actually have a picture in my mind of the picnic table in our back being covered in ash. It was like a light dusting of snow, only it was gray.

What do you remember?

UPDATE Medical Teams International

You might want to refresh your memory with this post. Remember how I said I had my heart set on a time and place but I wasn't going to say it just yet?

Well, it was Indonesia in August.

I recently sent off my application (goodness, the hoops I had to jump through) and earlier today I got a reply. For all intents and purposes this is what the email said:

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with MTI and serving in Indonesia...
Unfortunately we have had to put on hold dental teams to Indonesia over the next few months. This is due to us having to change our organization's registration from the temporary tsunami response authority to the central government Ministry of Health in Jakarta. Until we complete this transition we are unable to send any further teams...
I apologize that our website dental opportunities page has not been updated to reflect this, I'll get that taken care of...If you have any questions or need further information please do not hesitate to send me an email. Thanks again for your interest in serving with MTI...

I was let down again. Why is this not in the cards for me? This is 3 for 3.

Then I talked to Debi. Debi is my co-worker, she's got 30 years on me, and we've always had this mother-daughter kind of relationship. I told her about the bad news I'd received earlier today. Then what she said to me made the whole thing make sense. "Your mission just isn't ready for you yet. You have to understand that there is a reason these keep falling through. It's fate. There is either someone you're supposed to meet or someone you're supposed to help or someone you will influence and someone that will influence you. You don't know right now. Your mission will happen when it is supposed to happen."

She's right. I need to just sit back and trust in God's plan for me.

KansasRachel and TahoeRachel

I have two good friends named Rachel. They are both bloggers and both comment on my blog fairly often. One of them lives in Lake Tahoe and the other in Kansas. The problem, you guys, is that I never know which Rachel leaves the comment since it just says 'Rachel'. They even have similar personalities! So, Rachels, you have to tell me if you are KansasRachel or TahoeRachel.

BTW...KansasRachel...I know that last one was from you. The tornado reference gave it away.

Miss you guys both.

April Showers Bring May Showers

I was just standing in my room folding clothes on my bed and I thought to myself...What is bugging me? Why am I feeling so sad?

I am not usually affected by the rain much. I live in the Pacific Northwest. This is what I signed up for. But it has been raining so much lately. Everything is very lush and green...but man, today it is just getting to me.

Happy Mother's Day!

I snuck these pictures from my mom's house the other day and she just might kill me for this, but...




Happy Mother's Day, mom! I love you!!

Mikey Jr.

My husband's boss, Mike, is one of the funniest people I know. He named his dog after (who else?) himself. Mikey Jr. is an English Bulldog, and Mike brought him over recently for a photo shoot. There are a few things about Mikey Jr. that I know for certain:

1. He is always moving.
2. His tongue is always hanging out of his mouth.
3. He scares the living daylights out of my children.

When Mike and his son first arrived, we took a few shots in the house...but my kids simply couldn't handle it. They were screaming/crying/shaking/inconsolable if Mikey Jr. was within 20 feet of them. They've never spent much time around dogs before, and the only preparation I gave them was "There's a puppy coming over, guys! He'll be here any minute!" As you will see, he is not a puppy, and in fact is quite big for a bulldog. I didn't intentionally mislead my kids, really. Now they are facing years of therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Check them out:





Now here are some of my favorites from the shoot.

Starbucks For One, Please...

Sorry...I know nobody likes to be left out of an inside story.

Mel, you are still a great friend. Thank you, and you are forgiven.

Days With My Father

Check. This. Out.

I am always so amazed at how some photographers can evoke such emotion through their pictures.

Give yourself a few minutes to get through this. It's worth it. You might want to have some Kleenex ready, too.

Just click on the photo to start.