Where has my memory gone to?

Away. The answer is that my memory has gone..AWAY! In my update post, I mentioned several things we had been up to and places we had gone to. We, then I, actually went several other places than previously mentioned and can't believe I forgot! How could I?! One visit was to visit my dearest friend Amy (who, if you remember cheered me up with this basket) Everyone needs a Friend Amy (she deserves a title) and I have one! And guess what else? At the beginning of the year, Friend Amy and her sweet hubby moved to a small town on the Oregon coast, (a little over 3 hours away) and ever since, we haven't seen as much of each other. Anyway, we were able to go visit them and their cute coastal town in May and it reminded me how much I miss my Friend Amy! It was soooo good to catch up with each other and to explore that part of the Oregon Coast. Poor Brent had to work a lot that weekend, so Friend Amy was our bonafide tour guide most of the time. She took us to see some of the local coast, then the beautiful Umpqua lighthouse (where you can stick your head inside the light of the lighthouse.....BEAUTIFUL!!), along with a pretty good museum and an awesome, hole-in the wall bakery (don't remember the name but Amy and I bought pink pigs that were like homemade twinkies!!). Then we went four wheeling on the beach, built a bonfire and caught up some more (along with some hot dogs,beer and marshmallows.)

The Umpqua lighthouse (coast guard housing is stationed around it)

Friend Amy and I!!

Aaron and I

The view from inside the lighthouse lamps

The piggy twinkies...mine is on the right :)

My beautiful, sparkly nails- compliments of Friend Amy

Hanging out around the bonfire after four-wheeling

Reunited!!

So that was one awesome trip I failed to metion, BIG TIME! Again, how could I? I can't wait to see them again!

Another one I spaced was a few weeks after that. I went with my family to a graduation party of a little girl I used to babysit. We camped out in my parents new travel trailer (nice!) and then went to a "grunguation party." What's a grunguation party? Well, we were told the theme was to dress grunge (like Nirvana-90s-grunge) or so we thought. My family went all out and dressed the part. However, we were the ONLY ones dressed up in grunge. Embarrassing and funny and never again!

My version of grunge

My sister and I hanging out as 2 of the 4 grunge members at the grunge party...haha!

My cute parents

My sister and I dressed in real clothes

And there you have it! Two more trips done in the time I was away!!

It was the best of times, it was the worst timing

I think I failed to mention in my update post that Aaron is now a bicycle mechanic at a local shop. As a result, he is able to keep his finger on the pulse of what bikes are available. Luckily, he picked out an awesome Giant bike for me and we've been riding a lot lately. I told him I wanted to try trail riding and so we've been doing a lot of that lately too.

Yesterday we went on a (wait for it) 15 mile trail ride at a Lake 45 minutes from our house with some of the same friends we did the Dirty Dash race with.  It was hard for some of us (ME), especially since there were a lot of hills.

Just the same, it was also a lot of fun....until the very last stretch. I'm no sure what happened. I could have been going too fast and one of our friends said I had been standing pedaling, sat down and let go of my left handlebar. At that moment, though, I hit some loose sand and gravel and ate it...in front of everyone. The result? This guy:

The worst part is that I had survived the entire ride and I only had possibly 1/10 of a mile to go on the flattest part of the trail and I ate it.  I think my pride was hurt a bit too.  But today, my leg hurts a lot worse than my pride and looks worse to me too, but what do I know? I'm kind of a drama queen when it comes to my own injuries and this is pretty dramatic/traumatic. So I took the day off and have been resting up. I've read it can take up to two weeks for the pain to stop and I can't wait.

Outfit Post

I'm so rusty with posts, I can't even think of a witty post title (sigh). But in my opinion, here are a few things to write about: For only the second time this summer, I actually did my hair. Because I never do my hair, I was actually surprised with how much it has grown. I also remembered to take a picture of an outfit AND I'm posting it....so that's not nothing, right?

Shirt: Maurices

Skirt: Boutique from a trip

Sandals: Ross

Hallo there! Where have YOU been?

Let me get this straight...it's been TWO WHOLE MONTHS since I've posted anything? You mean I didn't even bother to stop by and let you know I'm still alive?! Well, rest assured. I am alive (as most of you who know me and have probably seen me in person already know...) and kicking- with some bouts of screaming involved...but that's another post. So how bouts a quick update, hmm? First off, my "personal" computer is still broken. I guess it hasn't been as much of a priority as I originally thought, and so other things have filled its' place. To be honest, the break from blogging has been nice and I hadn't missed it at all until I decided to stop by and check things out. Then the guilt of not keeping up slapped me in the face and I got to writing!

Since May we've managed to keep somewhat busy, mainly plugging along with work and day to day activities (my goodness! It's been so long since I've blogged that I can't remember where I left off...excuse me while I catch myself up with what I've done in my life lately).

Okay! I'm back. Now I know where to begin. Since my last post in May, I've tried out several new recipes. Some have been bad and others good: eggless cookie dough for pure, unadulterated consumption, anyone?! Don't worry, I plan on sharing the ones that turned out.

I also went wake-boarding and actually STOOD UP!! on the board/water after more tries than I'd like to admit to.  I could hardly make a fist or pull up my pants for a couple days (too much info?). I've stopped by Goodwill and scored a few finds, but only a few since I'm still trying to simplify.

We just got back from a trip to Fort Bragg, CA where we visited some amazing friends.  We played on the beautiful beach and ran into the turquoise ocean's waves. We also ate some amazing food (Piaci Pizza and Cowlick's Hand Made Ice Cream) and sampled some equally amazing beer: Kilt Lifter and our friends' very own homebrew. All was delicious!  I think I have a crush on that little coast town now!

Last, but not least, Aaron and I entered and completed the Dirty Dash race.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the race, it's a 3.5 mile run/obstacle course with a whole lot of mud involved. It was SO much fun!! Our team was loosely based off of 'Monty Python and the search for the Holy Grail.' Our team name was "Muddy Python and the search for the muddy trail." Aaron was the "Famous Historian" and I was his bewildered wife. We are the two on the lower left, in the front row.

Pre-race

After the race...SO muddy!

After the race, I had mud everywhere. We walked to a nearby river and just bathed in it instead of using the available showers! But it was so worth it!

This week I'm getting ready for a yard sale for next weekend. It's all part of me trying to get rid of as much unnecessary stuff as possible, and make a bit of money off of it too!

Well! That's it in a nutshell!! I will keep you posted (MUCH sooner than later this time!)

Stinkin' technology

And now for a completely different excuse for my absenteeism...

No. My dog did not eat my computer. (To be honest, I don't even have a dog.)  Okay, okay. I can't even come up with anymore lame excuses, so I'll just get to the real reason, and quickly.  You see, my computer flat out died. It turns on and flashes an error something or other, but that's it. For now, all of my pictures and other "secret stuff" is stuck in the not-so-little-laptop-that-can't anymore. It does make me a little sad. But at the same time, it's a little refreshing to step away from the technology once in a while.  I guess we need to take it to the computer Dr but I haven't had time. But in the meantime, I try to borrow my Hubby's laptop and do what I need to do, quickly. That's because I don't love it so much. I keep hitting random buttons on the smaller than average keyboard, deleting sentences...you get the idea!

In the meantime, please be patient while this major/minor glitch occurs. Have a good one!

On the treadmill (again)

There are a lot of ideas floating around out there about body image, health and the like. It's hard to know what to think...what to believe. One idea is that no matter what your size, you should be happy with it. I both agree AND disagree with that statement.  I agree that you should never be ashamed of yourself, that what really matters is what is inside. But, when you get to a certain size or shape and have reached an unhealthy weight, things need to be reevaluated.  The latter is where I'm at.  I'm tired of feeling the way I do and have finally owned up to it that patterns and habits in my life need to change. I'm not super happy about my appearance and I also know that I am at an unhealthy weight.

So to start things up, a friend and I agreed to become accountable to each other. We report back and forth to each other about what we ate and the exercise we did for the day. We also have a weekly weigh in to keep us on track. We did this same routine back in 2011 and it worked really well!

Also to help me out, I signed up to do another 5K at the end of June with a group of friends.  It's my "fitness goal."  This race, the "Dirty Dash," also has obstacle courses so its something where I really need to get into good shape, but can also have fun with. I'm looking forward to it!

It's only 8 weeks away, so I've started an 8 week training program and have started (finally) to clean up my diet.  So far, so good. I've already managed to lose 3 pounds!!

I'll keep you posted with my progress!

Where I've been and what I've seen- Part 4 (Ashland)

A couple of weeks ago, we needed to get out of town soooo bad.  So we quickly went to Ashland. This time around, we decided to try a few new places out (don't you now that virtually all of our trips revolve around food?!). So, we did!
We left town early enough to eat breakfast in Ashland and Morning Glory.  I read about it on Trip Advisor and the ratings were pretty high, so why not? We found it pretty easy and only had to wait 15 minutes or so to be seated. According to the reviews,  there is always a line. We got inside and it was cheery and bustling with happy/fed people. And guess what guys? It was deliciously amazing! I ordered the lemon ricotta stuffed french toast with raspberry syrup and Aaron chose the Alaskan red crab omelet with artichokes, parmesan, smoked garlic cream and scallions (what?!)

After breakfast, we were stuffed! So we ( okay, I) decided to visit a few of my favorite shops. Prize, a lovely shop of French descent (my description all. the. way) was the first stop. Most of everything in there is so lovely, but a little out of my price range, so all I can do is window shop and dream. But it's a great place to do so!
Then we walked to Paddington Jewel Box, a great place with unique jewelry and some pretty cool, vintage clothes. The clothing brand is Darling and I decided that one day, I will own at least one article of clothing from Darling! But instead, I bought some earrings (the only purchase made by me that day!)
By that time, we (okay, I) worked up an appetite for something to drink in the way of a memorable Bloody Mary. The reason I said memorable was because years ago, I had that same drink at Standing Stone Brewing and thought it was the best. one. ever. I've been on a bloody mary kick lately, so I wanted to give it a try! We stopped by, and gave it a try. Drum roll please............It was good, but not the best one I've ever had... (sorry Standing Stone!) Aaron gave the "I <3 Oregon" beer a try and liked it! Their water was also delicious, as it was served to us ice cold in adorable milk jug type carafes! Overall, a success!

We had plans of moving on to Caldera Tap house, but it ended up being closed. It also started raining while we stood by the door and tried to decipher the Open/Close hours. Oops. So we just snapped some random, self-portraits.

Because we had no real plans, we decided to move on to Medford. Aaron had been wanting to stop by a newer brewery called Bricktowne. He tried a sour beer (his newest love behind bikes and moi) and I ordered a cider and cajun tots! The brew-master was super awesome and showed Aaron around his establishment and talked about yeast-strains (it went over my head, but I was happy with the tots!)

We stuck around Bricktowne for a while, then realized we had better get ourselves back home so that Aaron could attend a work-related meeting! It was a quick trip, but so very enjoyable and exactly what we needed.
Thanks Ashland!