Our first crop. I threw in a screw for size reference. These things are tiny. I don’t know if Paul is picking them too early of they are just dwarfed for some reason.
These were our tomatoes about a month ago:
They have since exploded.
And apparently they’re all roma (we forgot to put labels in the pots. Oops.)
Enough of that gripping topic. Today I jet off to Boston for my cousin Jess’s wedding. Family events with either side of my family always involve a million people and chaos. They’re my fav.
Oh, and speaking of family, yesterday my parents celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary. That…is a long time. In honor of them, and since I can’t find pictures from the olden days, here is a picture of the two of them overlooking the ocean in SF last year…with me interrupting in the middle. Just like real life.
…and to wrap up this pretty pointless post…enjoy your weekend.
I didn’t see this ASICS ad when it came out last fall to promote the NYC Marathon, but it’s awesome. A 60-foot interactive wall video in the Columbus Circle subway station that lets you race marathon Olympian Ryan Hall for 60 feet at his marathon pace. Not to ruin the surprise, but basically nobody can keep up. For 60 feet. But what an inventive way to engage people.
In honor of the new whale-shaped scar on my arm (stitches are out!), here are some pictures of a beluga blowing bubble rings and playing in the bubbles. Frickin. Awesome.
…speaking of sea life, my full, looong Hawaii race report (for those of you who are either masochistic or seriously bored) has finally been posted here.
Fortunately, we have this hand-crocheted egg warmer shaped like a chicken (a wedding gift from Paul’s German aunt, she made them), boiled egg holders, and special spoons to scoop the eggs out of the shell. So at least we were properly equipped when his craving kicked in.
Apparently the Germans take their soft boiled eggs seriously.
We also happen to be overflowing with eggs (anyone local interested in some fresh eggs, let me know.) Romy and Michelle are UNSTOPPABLE.
…and for your enjoyment, the best way to peel a hard boiled egg, courtesy of Tim Ferris.
I have been a lazy piece since I got back from Hawaii. Largely because I have been (self-)prescribed rest to recover from my injury, I’ve worked out exactly 0 times.
I have, however, started walking everywhere I can…including the 2 miles to work and 2 miles home every day until I get back into some sort of schedule. Rain or shine. I figured that in addition to just moving, on the sunny days, if I wear shorts in the afternoon, it might help get rid of my attractive race tan lines that will. not. go. away.
Plus it’s a nice way to start and end the workday.
breaking free
Paul is 2 weeks out from Boards, so I’ve been seeing him just about never. The chickens are still kickin ass and taking names, though Michelle has started laying her eggs from one of the perches inside the coop. If the straw isn’t positioned correctly on the ground to catch the egg, it breaks. So we’re working on a better answer to that problem.
Paul also moved Spike’s old doghouse into their pen and filled it with straw, hoping they’d start laying inside. So far all they’ve done is go in every day and kick all the straw out. Every morning, Paul goes out there and puts the straw back inside. It’s a battle of wills.
Figuring out what’s up next this weekend. Getting back into the swing of things.
So, I didn’t say a lot about the actual race in my last post, but I was looking through some race day photos by sports photographer Liz Kreutz, and this one of Lance Armstrong does a pretty good job of capturing how strong the winds on the Queen K and the road up to Hawi were that day. I was essentially terrified for 3 hours. Those trade winds are no joke.
Back at work, in my cubicle, drinking the “coffee” from office kitchen, looking out the window at the rain, I think about where I was a week ago today:
Seriously.
So, just a little background, two weeks ago I traveled to the Big Island of Hawaii to do the Honu 70.3 with my friend Alix and her sister Catherine. It was my first time to Hawaii. On the plane, I pretty much ignored the rules to turn off electronic devices as we were landing.
reefs from the sky
Alix’s parents are pretty frickin amazing and let me crash with the family at the house they had rented. They also fed me delicious delicious food to prep us for the race. It was…ridiculously awesome.
We all arrived 2 days before the race. Our first day there we went to this beach near Puako for a 30 minute swim, as instructed by Coach Allison.
I miss swimming in the ocean. A lot. And swimming in this particular part of the ocean, I considered never getting out. We saw clownfish, parrotfish, pufferfish, butterflyfish, humuhumunukanuka’apua’as (yes for real, they’re everywhere), and (the best part) a SEA TURTLE…or honu, in Hawaiian, which I took as a sign of good luck for our race. I was in love.
But before we could have any real fun, there was bike maintenance, race registration, transition bag drop off, and, of course, the race. A short race summary with pretty much all you need to know:
Honu 70.3: A Haiku
Blow blow blow great wind
Make waves, knock me off my bike
I saw Lance Armstrong
I was a ways off my goal time, and Alix got 2 flats (and fixed both of them herself…way impressive), but it was a pretty awesome experience and we all survived.
After the race Alix rented a truck and we took a trip around the whole island. There were more beaches…
…some with black sand…
…and some paddleboarding at Kona where we ended up smack in the middle of a pod of dolphins for about 10 minutes. It was amazing, but nobody brought a camera.
There was some camping in the higher altitudes at Volcanoes National Park…
…where the ground smokes…
…and volcanoes live.
Some hiking through the jungle along the Kilauea Iki Trail…
…down to the hardened lava lake below that was created by an eruption in 1959.
can you find alix and shayna?
(steam still spills out of a lot of the fissures along the ground, it’s awesome)
We also walked through a lava tube.
From there we headed north towards Hilo, into the rain…
…then back around to Kawaihae, to our final camping spot at Spencer Beach Park (which, btw, closes it’s gates at 9pm…for future reference).
We found a little secret path and decided to follow it…
…that took us to a little, empty, white sand beach.
We got to spend our final evening with a family of sea turtles that were hanging out in the shallow water. After that we headed out to a dinner of unbelievable sushi. On the way out there were rainbows rainbows everywhere.
It was going to be the perfect ending to an amazing trip.
Then, while trying to get back into the campsite after dinner, I fell in a lava field and we spent the rest of the evening in the Kona ER.
20 stitches in this unassigned tourist’s right arm. We all flew out the next day.
I felt pretty bad about ruining the last night in Hawaii. At least someone was happy to see me when I got home.
But seriously, a major thanks goes out to Alix and her family for their generosity and all of their help with everything. The whole trip was a truly amazing experience and I absolutely wouldn’t have been able to do it (especially in such style) without them. Far above and beyond anything I expected.
I’ll leave you with a pic of my favorite sign in Kona.
…and back from Hawaii! I know I really fell off the boat (is that even a phrase?) in terms of keeping this thing updated, but things got a little insane right before I left and I didn’t use the computer once while hanging out on the Big Island.
So what was I doing all this time away from the computer?
Well, a little bit of this…
…a little bit of this…
…and a little bit of this.
Yes, I found the most flattering picture I could, taken by a friend who was thoughtful enough to pull out her camera while I was getting my wound numbed up before they put in stitches.
And if you’re wondering what kind of face that is, it’s a “oh no biggie I’m tough done this a million times this doesn’t hurt but really I feel like I’m going to barf or cry or both but I see someone has their camera out so I’m going to try to smile/give a thumbs up for the picture” face. Turns out that probably isn’t the look I should have gone for.
I have a million things happening right now and no time to do anything, especially write on here, and sappy stuff isn’t really in my wheelhouse (as you’ll see). But, for me, it’s important to slow down for just a second and take a moment to remember why I get to spend this amazing free Monday outside in the sun instead of sitting in my cubicle participating in my daily battle with Microsoft Outlook.
NPR’s Story Corps is always good for a cry on the way in to the office. This past Friday they played this story a WWII bugle player told to his grandson. It’s an amazing story to hear first-hand.
Thank you to all those who serve, soldiers and civilians alike.
As I mentioned earlier a group of us (including Paul) headed down south this past weekend for some back-to-back races at Memphis in May: a sprint triathlon on Saturday and an olympic on Sunday. In addition to the Paula Deen buffet, the race had an Amateur Challenge with cash prizes for the top 15 combined times for men and women who did both races.
Again, to spare you from pages of detail that most of you don’t care about anyway, below are haikus highlighting the important parts.
Race #1: Sprint Saturday (400m swim, 14m bike, 5k run)
Out of the water
Freak clown monster face like woah
So terrifying
Race #2: Olympic Sunday (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run)
New triathlon suit
Means zipper chafing on chest
Legs feel like cement
Paul’s 10K leg of the Olympic Race
Paula Deen and heat
Cannot stop this beastly man
From dominating
56 minutes
Paul was super relieved that he didn’t die on the run. I ended up 7th in the Amateur Challenge which = DOLLA DOLLA BILL! (almost enough to cover my entry fee…ha) Still stoked. Spike missed us and was very happy when Paul came home to study with him again.
Rambulatory Ambulatory 