The Panther!

I LOVE THIS CAR! I call him the Panther - it looks crouched & ready to pounce!!

I LOVE the stereo. Bose. Big ole subwoofer in there somewhere - you should hear the bass. In fact, you can FEEL the bass. :D

The Panther has a sunroof! And cruise control! And electronic seat adjustments! And TONS of room. AND TURBO! Love, love, love, love my new Panther.

Isn't he beautiful?! He's the nicest thing I've ever owned.

I switched insurance companies today too - was using Progressive and I called Darren's Allstate agent and he was able to get me better coverage for less. Makes me happy. Super nice guy too, he took the time to explain everything to me and didn't make me feel stupid at all.

Looks like I'll continue to be working OT!

Farewell to Kyle at the Airport

All good things must come to an end. Kyle (the big one) went back to Nebraska on Wednesday. We had a good time while he was here though.

Sean will be with us for another month. Next planned activity is blowing things up on the 4th - whoo-hoo!

Rare Mermaid spotted on the rocks at the jetty in Newport!

Can you tell I'm freezing my fins off?

Darren pilots a kite at Seal Rock

Look at that kite soar! My man - I'm so proud! :D

Okay, the kiting was a bomb, but the ocean was beautiful (although cold and windy that day) and a good time was had by all. I brought all the accoutrements to make a killer sand castle, but wussed out because of the weather. Now, of course, I wish I'd been tougher.

We went out to lunch at Georgies by the Sea... and ate HAMBURGERS. Shoulda had the halibut!

The Boys Are Back In Town!

Joyous Summer! Kyle and Sean are here - both of them have gotten even taller, if you can believe that! This is all of us at Sahalie Falls. Beautiful! We had a fun day exploring and posing.

Why it's called Sisters

The town is named Sisters for the mountains - they call them the "three sisters" - they are beautiful. Darren wants to climb the south one... I'm not sure about that. Something to shoot/train for I guess!! We also went to Smith Rock again - didn't have time to hike it so just strolled around and took a few pictures & watched the rock climbers.

Cabin at Sisters OR

These are pictures we took last weekend. The deer was right outside the sunporch of the cabin we stayed at. There's a few pics of the cabin too - we love that place and plan to go back this summer w/ the kids. Sisters is high desert and very similar to Flagstaff.

Good Times

Things been busy! I had a rough week at work and made matters worse by some poor choices this weekend, but my super-hero boyfriend, aka The Stallion, has talked me through it and I'm pulling out of the funk! So, today getting caught up on some things to further remind me of all I have to be grateful for. We went riding in the mountains at Oakridge a few weeks ago - it was beautiful - there was snow on the ground in some places yet it was warm and sunny. We had a wonderful time! Then, last weekend for my birthday we went to Sisters, OR and took the bikes - we rode in a new place and had a BLAST! Darren got me new riding pants & jersey for my B-day - Fit perfect & look awesome. I don't have a picture of those - he took one on his camera, but I don't have it yet. Here's some pics from Oakridge.

How do I love thee? Let me count my shoes...

Today's project was fun! I've been meaning to do this for a while... check out my shoe collection!

Riding at the coast

Last Friday we and several other friends went riding at the south jetty at the coast in Florence. It was SO FUN! I did my first hill climb in the sand. It took me some time to work up the spit to ride down into the deeeeeep bowl and then zoooom up the side of it. The first time I did it no problem... then I got cocky and thought I'd do it again... but the next time I stalled out while climbing out.... and the next time I got stuck too... but the next time - success! Needless to say, I didn't go down there again! We had a great time. Unfortunately I think I either sprang or fractured my arm. Going to the Dr. Tuesday to have my stitches from the biopsy removed and am hoping they can take a look at my arm then.

Have been running and working out faithfully. Also been doing very well with eating healthy and logging all the food I consume (at the Self.com challenge website). It's very cool - counts up everything I eat and then gives me a weekly progress report - how many calories in a week and a daily average, also includes fiber, carbs, protien. I've lost 6 pounds. Of course, some of that is water (just got my period) but my clothes are already fitting looser.

I'm loving lifting weights with Darren... nothing sexier than watching him pump iron! YUM!

Another day, another run

Howdy - went for a run today. 3.26 miles in 37:49. Felt great. Took extra time to stretch before and after, and also took the time to cool down with a little walk at the end. That's a big deal for me - I always take my shortcuts in the stretching and cooling down departments but I am sure that's how I hurt myself!

Darren and I went to the gym again last night - 30 minutes with the weights on arms, abs, and back and 32 minutes on the treadmill running/walking intervals.

We've been eating VERY healthy! Poor Darren (and probably his gut) are in shock. We have both started a vitamin regamin as well. I'm pleased at how well he is adapting! He didn't even kick up a fuss (or much of a fuss) over losing his beloved bagels. LOL - now we're eating whole grain, whole wheat english muffins (no high fructose corn syrup!) on the days we would normally have had a bagle.

I signed up for and am participating in the Self.com fitness challenge - so far it's a lot of fun. They have great tools that are easy to use. Plus you can win PRIZES! Wish me luck! I'd have invited you both to sign up too but I didn't want to give your email to the spam generating machine!

After my super healthy lunch I'm headed to Cottage Grove to get my hair cut & colored and visit my mom and my precious baby boy, Bill! Hope you're both having happy, healthy days!

Whew! Thank goodness that's done...

Well, here's the dang orange shirt. Still too big! But, it's cute. Not very comfy (there's a sequin in the arm pit!) and it sheds little orange fizzy's on everything. I think that pattern is going into the trash. Or, maybe I'll save it and need to learn how to fit patterns to my bod!

On a happier note: This is my new running buddy - see how cute and pink it is? It's a Sony Walkman and it'll hold 1,000 songs, video & pictures, and has FM radio. YUM.



Me & my man worked out together at the gym today. Yep, pumped some iron and ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes. We liked it and plan to go three times a week... wish us luck!!

Next race is...

Having completed my 5k I immediately signed up for another one! This will be the 2009 Eugene Marathon 5k on Saturday May 2nd. I wish I was doing the 1/2 Marathon on May 3rd... maybe next year!

Pit Crew

And a Big Thanks goes to my pit crew, Darren, who stood in the rain and ran the camera - what a good sport he is!

Lucky Clover 5k

Today was the Lucky Clover 5k. I chose the trail run. It was beautiful - through filbert orchards and along the Wilamette river. It RAINED. There were bagpipes! I finished in 37:30 - better than I thought I would. I passed 6 people and I ran the entire race... NO WALKING!

Glorious Day!

We couldn't have asked for a better day to go riding! It was sunny and around 60 degrees! I ventured off the "easy" trails and tried some "more difficult" and definitely pushed my limits! One hill was so steep and rocky my bike stalled and I started to slide backwards.... scared me! I had to have Darren ride it up over that part for me. The steep hills are spooky - you have to really sit far forward on the bike and lean over the handlebars to keep it from rolling over backwards. You know it's steep when you start to feel that front end lift up!

We had a great time yesterday but are both sore this morning, hobbling around like a couple of fogies. We have decided to start working out lifting weights so we can better enjoy our rugged hobbies. Darren's work has a great fittness center that we can both use for only 8 bucks a month. That will help the shoulder and leg soreness... I don't think there's any help for the tender tushie syndrome though.

This black and white print knit is going to be the same Maggie London dress that Kelly made - I liked it so much on her I had to try it! The coral sequined stretch velvet is going to be another sleeveless shell. I will give this pattern one more shot....

This is my first shirt. It's actually the second try for this pattern, See & Sew #B5311. It was marked as "easy" but with bust darts, full lining, princess seams and top stitching I think I could have found an easier one! I had a lot of trouble sizing it and it's still too big, but I like it. The bust darts were really a problem for me too so I ended up just gathering where the darts go into the princess seam and am happy with the result.

Plans for the week

Well, I didn't get to ride Xena this weekend (my 350 Warrior quad = Xena Warrior Princess) because it was cold and rainy but I'm hoping that we can go next weekend.

My youngest Nephew turned 20 yesterday. We texted back and forth for quite a while yesterday morning and it sounds like he's happy and doing well and it was very nice to catch up with him.

I just got new running shoes (thank you "Joe's New Balance Outlet" - Over 50% off!) and while they are pretty, they seemed to aggravate my budding shin splints. I plan to ride my bike this week and do some swimming at "Splash" swim park, which is just down the road, to keep to my training schedule for the upcoming 2009 Lucky Clover 5k on 3/21.

Darren and I will be attending the Northwest Royale rock concert next weekend, Saturday 3/14. Should be a good time!

My plans for my week off include: Cleaning house, swimming, biking and rearranging furniture! Whoo Hoo!

I'm currently working on plans to construct a 'sewing cubby' - much like the one listed on Kelly's blog. I don't have a closet to convert, so I'm going to build one. I'm excited.

Darren and I are going to get busy with another project - putting in french doors to the front room. I'm hoping that John Olson will be available for consulting and assisting. : )

Willamette Trail

We did Willamette Trial a couple of weeks ago - this time it DID rain on us - winter hiking up here is tricky!

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