I am an adventure seeking wife and mother first! Travel, and endorphins are my best friends. I will try anything once, unless I know
I would be in danger. I have a crazy love of God, running, triathlon, the outdoors, dirt, wine, friends, good Vegan food, Yoga,
animals, happiness, and life! I truly believe the only limits in life are the ones set by ourselves. So get out there and expand the limits!!
~~Only she who attempts the absurd can achieve the impossible.


Monday, January 30, 2012

Virtual Run for Sherry Arnold


As per the usual, many runners, including myself get up early, before the sun is up, or as it is rising, to get our beloved run in.  We don't have many thoughts, other than putting on the clothes we have laid out, lacing up our shoes, grabbing our fuel belts, spibelts, water, and we are off.  Out the door to greet the day.  Our only thoughts are the sounds of our feet pounding on the pavement, the sounds of our breath...its our favorite time of day.
I personally never give a whole lot of thought to anything else, certainly not that tragedy could strike.  On January 7, 2012 the running community lost a special person.  Sherry Arnold.  A teacher, a mother, a wife.  A runner.  She left her home this morning on a run, and the events that took place that morning are tragic.  They set me back when reading about it.  Taking for granted life, which is so precious.  Taking for granted the "safe" place I feel like I run.
I followed fellow runner, and blogger Shut Up + Run (read the story here) as the events played out.  This is her cousin.  It has been heart breaking.  It has rocked the running community to its core.  
It has given me every known emotion.  First shock, then great sadness for her family, her school and students, her community, then anger, fear, uneasiness and apprehension about running on my own.
What now??  What can we do as a running community?  On Feb 11, 2012 there will be a Virtual Run/Walk to honor Sherry.  I urge you to participate.  

Facebook Page: Here
Printable Bib: Here
More info: Here

Gather a group of friends, your running group, your Tri group, your training group, your group of girlfriends and walk, run, hike, skip, jump.  Print your bib, and GO.  Run with Sherry in your memory.  Honoring her, and her family!!

Be safe out there.  Never take a day for granted.  Every single day is a gift.  And may Sherry forever be in our hearts and minds, and may she be resting in Peace.

***For us local runners, there will be a group of us running together from Fleet Feet on the morning of Feb 11, 2012

Sunday, January 8, 2012

2012 A New Year


Well, here we find ourselves.  Post Thanksgiving bulge (actually my most favorite holiday…and not because of the feasting) and post Christmas chaos, and into a New Year.  2012, the year of the end of the World!!  Bold!!  I do not believe this!  Who can know?
Our Christmas was incredible.  And not chaotic at all.  We try to not get caught up in the hype, and focus on what our true gifts are. We had a luscious, little dinner and games at Grandma and Grandpa’s, a lot of laughter with our whole family, a wonderful Spirit-filled service at church to celebrate the birth of our Savior on Eve, and a Christmas Day filled with relaxation, food, relaxation, games, relaxation, movies, and jammies!  Greg played his new ukulele, Ellie played the piano, it was decadent!  Greg and I felt our feathers plump up having all of our kids here.  Chicks in the nest! Ha!  What a feeling!!

A Boy and his Ukulele

Now we are well into the New Year.  Greg and I have sat for the past week, milling over our goals, and desires for this year.  Of course, we have a few great races that we are excited about.  Wildflower Triathlon in CA and Ironman Canada in Penticton, BC, Fueled by Fine Wine ½ marathon in Portland, sprinkled with a few smaller races.  We are looking forward to being back on track with training, eating well, and carrying on our healthy lifestyle.  I have been creating, and coming up with some pretty fantastic Vegan meals, and have decided to start making Sundays our prep-day.  It has worked out great!!  So nice to come home starving from a workout and have a meal on the plate and ready in under one minute!  Mostly raw, whole foods.  Protein rich, with a lot of fruit and green leafy’s.  We are cutting out a lot of our eating out.  We are not fast food people, but do eat out quite a bit, and it has become unsatisfying for us on occasion.  Not to mention that anything we are cooking at home far-surpasses restaurant meals in taste, quality, and healthiness.  So we are reining that in a bit.  Occasional with friends of course.  Cooking together is a huge passion for both of us.  Aprons on, music cranked, drinking wine.  Most of our favorite nights include this!!

Vegan Mediterranean Pizza

Vegan Inside

Baked Kale chips.  The Bomb!!

Other than that, we have reconnected with yoga.  Ah!  Both of have such a huge love, respect, and craving for yoga, and always have.  We just got a little off track.  So we are back at our practice twice weekly, and looking to add a third day!  Hoping to perfect our head/handstands!! =)
Looking into this year, we have some incredible travel that will be taking place again.  Not just for races, but also for pleasure…we will don our backpacks and set off…destinations TBD!

I am also, on a de-clutter mission.  Our house, our minds, our life.  Closets, bookcases, brains, souls!  We are pretty un-cluttered people in general, but everybody needs a good clean out.  A little rejuvination.  A freshness.  Do you do this?  A sort of Spring-cleaning for the soul? 

We are also both feeling a little heart-tugging.  Praying about the mission field.  We adore people, and kids, new cultures, travel….so naturally for years this has been on our heart.  So both of us are standing arms lifted, heart open for an answer from God in this department.  It seems every day that goes by, we feel more and more led in this direction.  So…we shall see.  This is not our timing, and although, we feel that tug, it could still be a while…or next week.  We are not in control of that…just listening with our whole hearts. 
It’s interesting that last week, we practiced Yoga with the premise of “courageous vulnerability” which can lead into so many aspects of life.  And as I think about a mission trip, and how courageous that causes us to become, along with the vulnerabilty, it’s exciting!!  That unknown.  That stretching.  That leap of faith.  I think because Greg and I are both “live by the seat of our pants” people, that we have that courageousness to set forth on any path that God puts us on.  So, we will wait patiently for that.
What are your New Year intentions?  Thoughts?  Prayers?  Goals?



PS:  Almost forgot to add my favorite picture for 2011  LOVE THIS! If love can survive a riot....
Here's to hope, love and kissing!



Another PS:  After having some requests, here is the pizza recipe:

Any vegan crust that suits you from http://vegweb.com/index.php?board=472.0
Bake the crust first.  Then I top with 
My Hummus:
1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans with 1/2 of the water drained
1/4 cup Tahini
1 lemon squeezed of juice (I always use a real lemon, it just tastes better)
2-4 cloves of garlic pressed
1-ish TBSP EVOO
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1-1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika OR 1-ish TBSP of chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
~Blend all in a food processor

After you bake the crust spread with hummus, add sundried tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, red onion, parsley
IF you want cheese, add some feta, but I just sprinkle the hummus with nutritional yeast for a cheesey flavor.